This was cute!
The little boy holding his mom’s hand and running around the track.
While many kids would cry and resist the exercise, this kid actually ran after his mom to go with her.
It was nice to see!
Never too young to train!
This is how excellence is born. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Synagogue or Sickness?“
When I was a kid and my father would {strongly} encourage me to go to synagogue. My father was a man of deep faith and he used to say warningly to me: “It’s better to go to synagogue than to the hospital.” Obviously, he was implying that if I didn’t follow G-d’s word, then G-d forbid, he would punish me and instead of going to Shul, I would go to the hospital. Maybe not the best way to teach someone to want to go to prayer services, but I know he meant it out of complete love for me and ultimately for my best.
Yet ironically, now with coronavirus preventing us from practicing the many communal aspects of our faith, so many of us can only but wish that we could just go to synagogue to celebrate the holidays and Shabbat together once again. Unfortunately, for now at least, we don’t even have the option to go to synagogue—the choice has been taken from us. G-d willing, hopefully soon, we can once again go—with willingness and love—not only to pray at synagogue, but also to the holy Third Temple in Jerusalem itself.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
There are already 32 states under lockdown orders and more surely to come.
It is good to see the children playing outside (even in smallish groups).
It’s trying times with schools closed, many parents trying to telework, and the need to take care of the children (especially the younger ones) at the same time.
We can’t lose sight that the children are our future.
They are everything in this world.
Even with the Coronavirus pounding away at our older and more vulnerable populations, we can still thank G-d that not many children have been infected.
Even in challenging times, G-d shows His mercy to us. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
This is absolutely what I call:
Hope Amidst Coronavirus.
Life is hope.
The children are our future.
Love and caring is our continuity.
G-d’s is the Master over it all. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
My daughter had a great idea for improving on our Hebrew language skills.
Start small…as in children’s books.
She got a few of these from the library and it actually was fun to read these.
Aside from taking me back a few years in parenthood and bonding as a family over these, I found it useful to solidify my learning.
Dr. Seuss definitely had the right idea. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal with attribution to book בּובי בוא בובי לך by אמי רובינגר)
I saw this in one of the student lounges at the local JCC.
It says:
“Don’t Cut Down Others”
It’s far better to build people up then to tear them down.
Jut like with trees, it’s better to plant a trillion trees than deforest the Amazon Rainforest.
Trees are life and people are life.
Be constructive and not destructive.
Offer a nice word or compliment; provide an attentive and empathetic ear; give direction with some advice and guidance; lend a hand to someone in need; and in general, be a good influence.
Unfortunately, too many people default to cutting down the old cherry tree! 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
One of my good friends told me a funny story.
The friend of his daughter was wearing one of those cropped shirts which expose the belly.
She said that her dad told her to throw a party for her clothes, so that her shirt could meet her shorts.
I guess all dads worry about the modesty of their daughters.
This was a good tznius story that hammers home the point and is also pretty funny. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Why Only Two Daddy?”
The father goes on to explain that these are the commandments that G-d gave to the Jews (when they were redeemed from slavery in Egypt). He enumerates just two examples: keeping the Shabbat and honoring your mother and father. The son asks, ‘What are the other commandments?’ The father hesitates either not knowing any of the other commandments or simply unable to remember any more of them on the spot. And all of a sudden, the little boy starts wailing to his father: ‘Daddy, why do you know only two, why?’
Knowing the Torah and commandments is not only for ourselves to do what’s rights, but also to pass on the torch to the next generation. It’s not always easy to be good examples, but it’s the challenge we all face. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So this was pretty funny.
We have a sign in our house that people should take off their shoes when they come in.
Heck, it’s part of being a neat freak and somewhat germaphobic.
But of course, the kids invariably don’t follow the house rules and we get the shoe dirt all over.
And guess who has to always clean it up?
Well the other day, my daughter was looking to purchase a condo, and when she found a place she liked, she was walking around the apartment and saying:
When I have my own place, everyone is going to take off their shoes.
Hmm, when the place is yours and you have to clean up the messes, all of a sudden the house rules are in effect and big time. 😉
(Source Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)
So I’ve been helping some family members with some really big decisions lately.
As we all know, there are pros and cons to every alternative.
I remember how you can diagram decisions out like the branches of a tree with probabilities for each branch to try and get to the highest value decision.
The problem is we don’t know everything that may happen down the road or even know the probabilities for each possibility–or as they say:
We don’t know what we don’t know.
So it’s hard to make a great decision and not second guess yourself.
Well, what if…
You can “what if” yourself to sleepless nights and death and never decide or do anything meaningful.
We have to make the best decisions we can usually with limited information.
Using gut or intuition is not a solution either–those can end up being very wrong especially when we let our raw emotions dictate.
So I do not take decision-making for myself or helping others lightly, especially my family.
I want to protect them and help them make good decisions that will bear fruit and joy down the road.
I definitely don’t want to waste everyones time and efforts and lead them or myself down a dead end or worse off of a cliff.
In the end, we have to turn to G-d and whisper:
Oh G-d, please help us to make the right decisions, because only you know what the results will be from it.
And so, I am definitely whispering!
At the same time, we need to move forward and not let fear and doubt get in our way of living.
Yes, we have to be prudent and take calculated risks (everything worthwhile is a risk), but also, we have to look at the potential rewards and the costs for these (every decision is an investment of time and resources) and then just try our best. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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