Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy 2013 with A train ride for you




Disapproval May Not Be Warranted


Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz commented, "There will always be people who criticize the behavior of others, regardless of how great they are or what they do."

When someone disapproves of your behavior, it does not necessarily prove you are truly at fault. It is always possible to complain about others' behavior. Another person's disapproval of you may be his personal opinion or critical tendency.


 Love Yehuda Lave



A TRAIN RIDE FOR YOU
Floyd Cramer at the piano. Wait for the pictures to come on and have your volume on. We wish you a wonderful ride right through the 2013 year......

Click on the Link below










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Sunday, December 30, 2012

A view from a smart Saudi--- It can’t be any clearer than this !!! And amazing magic show





Allow Yourself to Experience Happiness Now

You have a right to experience happiness right now, in the present. This is a very important concept to keep in mind. You don't need to wait until you accomplish your goals before you are happy.
Many people think, "Only after I accomplish my goals will I be able to be happy." These individuals mistakenly think that they need to wait in order to be happy. They feel that they can't be happy right now. They tell themselves that they first need to achieve what they would like to achieve before they can be happy.
But happiness is a birthright. You were born. You are now alive. You are breathing now. Right now you have a right to be happy. You can choose to be happy now

Love Yehuda Lave

Subject:
Amazing magic show with birds

I saw this amazing documentary about faith after the holocaust. A Religous Orthodox family whose children are Yeshiva students in Israel go to Poland to discover their historic roots.
Although it was made in 2004, it is very current with those of us who are dealing with faith after the holocaust.  The modern orthodox father is shocked by the fact that the holocaust has closed the minds of serious orthodox students about the Jew's role as being a light onto the nations.

He brings his children to Poland to experience their past and open their minds.
It should be available on Netflix to you, as I saw it last night.


Menachem Daum, the son of holocaust survivors, and a New York Orthodox Jew worries that both of his sons, full time yeshiva students who live with their families in Israel, are becoming seduced to intolerance by their religious studies. "All religions today are in danger of being hijacked by extremists." To open their perspectives just a little he sets off with his wife, Rifka, and both sons, Tzvi Dovid and Akiva, to visit the Polish towns where his parents grew up and to try to find the Catholic farmers who hid his father-in-law from the Germans. Enduring the bemused tolerance of his sons, Menachem persists until they find Honorata Matuszezyk Mucha who as a young woman brought food nightly to Rifka's father and his two brothers for 28 months until the end of World War II. The Daum sons perspectives widen a bit to allow for good Gentiles, but they also encounter some resentment from the Poles who heard no word from the three brothers after they left their hiding place, not even a postcard with a thank you. A lot of issues are surfaced but left unresolved in this well crafted documentary.


A view from a smart Saudi It cant be any clearer than this !!!

 
Abdulateef Al Mulhim is retired from the Royal Saudi Navy at the rank of Commodore and writes regularly for Arab News. He poses interesting questions and a challenge for the Arab world.
Sunday, 7 October 2012 | Dhulka'edah 21, 1433

Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy

·                           
ABDULATEEF AL-MULHIM
Saturday 6 October 2012
Last Update 6 October 2012 2:53 am
Thirty-nine years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third major war between the Arabs and Israel broke out. The war lasted only 20 days. The two sides were engaged in two other major wars, in 1948 and 1967.
The 1967 War lasted only six days. But, these three wars were not the only Arab-Israel confrontations. From the period of 1948 and to this day many confrontations have taken place. Some of them were small clashes and many of them were full-scale battles, but there were no major wars apart from the ones mentioned above. The Arab-Israeli conflict is the most complicated conflict the world ever experienced. On the anniversary of the 1973 War between the Arab and the Israelis, many people in the Arab world are beginning to ask many questions about the past, present and the future with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The questions now are: What was the real cost of these wars to the Arab world and its people. And the harder question that no Arab national wants to ask is: What was the real cost for not recognizing Israel in 1948 and why didn't the Arab states spend their assets on education, health care and the infrastructures instead of wars? But, the hardest question that no Arab national wants to hear is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and the Arab people.
I decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the under developed Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and the destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and the reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East.
The common thing among all what I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries. So, the question now is that who is the real enemy of the Arab world?
The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.
These dictators' atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.
In the past, we have talked about why some Israeli soldiers attack and mistreat Palestinians. Also, we saw Israeli planes and tanks attack various Arab countries. But, do these attacks match the current atrocities being committed by some Arab states against their own people?!
.
In Syria, the atrocities are beyond anybody's imaginations?
And, isn't the Iraqis are the ones who are destroying their own country?
Wasn't it Tunisia's dictator who was able to steal 13 billion dollars from the poor Tunisians?
And how can a child starve in Yemen if their land is the most fertile land in the world?
Why would Iraqi brains leave Iraq in a country that makes 110 billion dollars from oil export?
Why do the Lebanese fail to govern one of the tiniest countries in the world?
And what made the Arab states start sinking into chaos?

On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was declared. And just one day after that, on May 15, 1948 the Arabs declared war on Israel to get back Palestine. The war ended on March 10, 1949. It lasted for nine months, three weeks and two days. The Arabs lost the war and called this war Nakbah (catastrophic war). The Arabs gained nothing and thousands of Palestinians became refugees.
And on 1967, the Arabs led by Egypt under the rule of Gamal Abdul Nasser, went in war with Israel and lost more Palestinian land and made more Palestinian refugees who are now on the mercy of the countries that host them. The Arabs called this war Naksah (upset).
The Arabs never admitted defeat in both wars and the Palestinian cause got more complicated.
And now, with the never ending Arab Spring, the Arab world has no time for the Palestinians refugees or Palestinian cause, because many Arabs are refugees themselves and under constant attacks from their own forces. Syrians are leaving their own country, not because of the Israeli planes dropping bombs on them. It is the Syrian Air Force which is dropping the bombs. And now, Iraqi Arab Muslims, most intelligent brains, are leaving Iraq for the east. In Yemen, the world's saddest human tragedy play is being written by the Yemenis. In Egypt, the people in Sinai are forgotten.
Finally, if many of the Arab states are in such disarray, then what happened to the Arabs' sworn enemy (Israel)?
Israel now has the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. Many Arabs don't know that the life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab World.
Wasn't one of the judges who sent a former Israeli president to jail is an Israeli-Palestinian?!
The Arab Spring showed the world that the Palestinians are happier and in better situation than their Arab brothers who fought to liberate them from the Israelis. Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.

— This article is exclusive to Arab News


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Friday, December 28, 2012

A drop down a former Brazil volcano and we control our response


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Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5375 - Release Date: 11/05/12


We Control our Response

To a great extent, we create the world in which we live. While many events are beyond our control and we are unable to have a direct influence on them, to a large degree we still have the ability to control our attitudes towards any given situation. Hence, the emotional consequences of events is largely up to us.

It is unrealistic to expect perfect control, but anyone who works calmly and persistently on his thoughts will be able to improve.
My friend Joel, has lived with diabetes his whole adult life. He can't control the fact he has the disease, but he works twenty-four hours a day, at minimizing the physical effect it has on him. As important, he works on his response in his brain, to really know that one has to be in the moment to live!! He knows that no one guarantees live, love or happiness. He works to appreciate what he has now and how to be happy with it.

Love Yehuda Lave




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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Who profits from your donations ??? and how to help a stroke victim



Have the Character to Admit Mistakes


A person who feels he must always be right in an argument may be manifesting a lack of self-esteem. Such a person could be telling himself, "Unless I am always right, I am a failure and a nobody." He fears to admit making a mistake, because he thinks it will lower his value as a person.

However, a person who is a truth seeker and readily admits his mistakes, will gain both the respect of others and will ultimately have more self-respect. Instead of looking at admitting mistakes as a sign of weakness, he looks at it as a sign of intellectual honesty.
Love Yehuda Lave


                                                                                       ;                                   
Important information with the holiday giving season ahead.

THINK BEFORE YOU
DONATE
 
SOMETHING TO
THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS: 

As you open your pockets to donate
 please keep the following facts in mind: 

 
----------------------------
The American Red
Cross

President and CEO Marsha
J. Evans'
 
salary for
the year was $651,957 plus expenses
MARCH OF
DIMES

It
is called the March of Dimes because
 
only a
dime for every 1 dollar is given to the needy
.
The United
Way

President Brian
Gallagher
 
receives a
$375,000 base salary along with numerous expense
benefits.
UNICEF
CEO Caryl M. Stern
receives
 
$1,200,000
per year (100k permonth) plus all expensesincluding a ROLLS
ROYCE.
 
Less than 5 cents of
your donated dollar goes to the cause.
 
 
GOODWILL 
CEO and owner Mark Curran
profits $2.3 million a year.
Goodwill is a very catchy name for
his business.
 
You donate to
his business and then he sells the items for PROFIT.
He pays
nothing for his products and pays his workers minimum wage! Nice
Guy. 
$0.00 goes to help anyone! 

Stop giving to
this man.

  
Instead, give
it to ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
 
  
GO "GREEN"
AND   PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE IT WILL DO SOME
GOOD:
 
The Salvation
Army

Commissioner, Todd Bassett
receives a small salary of only
 
$13,000 per
year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar
organization.
 
96
percent of donated dollars go to the cause.
The American
Legion

National Commander
receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans
and their families and youth!
The Veterans of Foreign
Wars

National Commander
receives a$0.00 zero salary.

Your
donations go to help Veterans and their families and
youth!
The Disabled American
Veterans

National Commander
receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans
and their families and youth!
The Military Order of Purple
Hearts

National Commander
receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans
and their families and youth!
The Vietnam Veterans
Association

National Commander
receives a $0.00 zero salary.
 
Your
donations go to help Veterans and their families and
youth!
Make a Wish:For children's last
wishes.
 
100% goes to
funding trips or special wishes for a dying child.
St. Jude Research
Hospital
 
100% goes
towards funding and helping Children with Cancer who have no
insurance and can
not afford to pay
.
Ronald McDonald
Houses
 
All monies go
to running the houses for parents who have critical Children in the
hospital.
 
100% goes to
housing, and feeding the families.
Lions Club
International
 
100% OF
DONATIONS GO TO HELP THE BLIND,BUY HEARING AIDES, SUPPORT MEDICAL
MISSIONSAROUND THE WORLD.  THEIR LATEST UNDERTAKING
 
IS MEASLES
VACCINATIONS (ONLY $1.00 PER SHOT).


Please share this.
  
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How to Help Someone Who Has Had a Stroke
  1. I am not stupid. I am wounded. Please respect me.
  2. Come close, speak slowly, enunciate clearly.
  3. Repeat yourself. Assume I know nothing and start from the beginning, over and over.
  4. Be as patient with me the twentieth time you teach me something as you were the first.
  5. Approach me with an open heart and slow your energy down. Take your time.
  6. Be aware of what your body language and facial expressions are communicating to me.
  7. Make eye contact with me. I am in here - come find me.
  8. Please don't raise your voice. I am not deaf, I am wounded.
  9. Touch me appropriately. Connect with me.
  10. Honor the healing power of sleep.
  11. Protect my energy. No talk radio, TV, or nervous visitors! Keep visitations brief {5 minutes}.
  12. Stimulate my brain when I have the energy to learn something new. But know that a small amount will wear me out quickly.
  13. Use age-appropriate {toddler} educational toys and books to teach me.
  14. Introduce me to things kinesthetically. Let me feel everything, as if I were an infant again.
  15. Teach me with monkey-see, monkey-do behavior.
  16. Trust that I am trying - just not with your skill level or on your schedule.
  17. Ask me multiple choice questions. Avoid yes/no questions.
  18. Ask me questions with specific answers. Allow me time to hunt for an answer.
  19. Do not assess my cognitive ability by how fast I can think.
  20. Handle me gently, as you would a newborn.
  21. Speak to me directly, not about me, to others.
  22. Cheer me on! Expect me to recover completely, even if it takes 20 years.
  23. Trust that my brain can always continue to learn.
  24. Break all actions down into smaller steps of action.
  25. Look for what obstacles prevent me from succeeding on a task.
  26. Clarify for me what the next level or step is so that I know what I am working for.
  27. Remember that I have to be proficient at one level of function to move on to the next level.
  28. Celebrate all of my little successes! They inspire me.
  29. Please don't finish my sentences or fill in words I cannot find. I need to work my brain.
  30. If I can't find a memory, help me to create a new one.
  31. Know that I may want you to think I understand more than I really do.
  32. Focus on what I can do rather than bemoan what I cannot.
  33. Introduce me to my old life. Don't assume that because I cannot play like I used to doesn't mean that I won't continue to enjoy music.
  34. Remember that in the absence of some functions, I have gained other abilities.
  35. Keep me familiar with my family, friends, and loving support. Build a wall of cards and photos that are labeled so that I can review them.
  36. Call in the troops! Create a healing team for me. Send word out to everyone so they can send me love. Keep them abreast of my condition and ask them to do specific things for me - like pray/visualize me being able to swallow with ease, or rocking my body into a sitting position.
  37. Be protective of me but do not stand in the way of my progress.
  38. Show me old video footage of me doing things to remind me of how I spoke, walked, and gestured.
  39. Remember that my medications probably make me feel tired, as well as mask my ability to know what it feels like to be me.
  40. Love me for who I am today. Don't hold me to being the person I was before. I have a different brain now.



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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

World PowerPoint tour and Les Miserables opens as an Oscar potential film



Be Open To Suggestions


"Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you." (Proverbs 9:8)

A wise person is someone who continuously wants to grow. He appreciates when you point out what he is doing wrong. His goal is self-improvement, and he welcomes every opportunity to become a better person.

Be wise. Be open to suggestions on how you can improve. Thank the person who gives you positive suggestions… even if it's not worded in the best the way.

Love Yehuda Lave
As fire fighters are shot and more violence happens in our society, lets examine the spiritual question of

Reconciling God's attribute of Justice with Mercy.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech


Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Adapted to the stage as a musical, it became a global sensation in the 1980s, and is now an epic motion picture generating Oscar buzz.
It is a profoundly moving story that deals with some of the most universally relevant tribulations of mankind. But what I find most fascinating is that in his French preface, Philosophie, Commencement d'un livre, Victor Hugo revealed that he originally intended Les Misérables as a religious book.
Of all the themes to be found in this incredible work, there is one that comes to grips with a fundamental question every one of us who aspires to live life honestly and ethically must encounter. It revolves around how best to resolve the conflict between mercy and justice.
Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, the two chief protagonists of Les Misérables, are locked in lifelong battle. By the strict standard of law, Jean Valjean, the hero, is a criminal. He stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. For this crime he is imprisoned for nine years and subsequently forced to carry a yellow badge identifying him as former convict - something that resonates with post-Holocaust Jewry far more than Victor Hugo could ever have imagined.
His nemesis, Inspector Javert, is the ostensible defender of law and order. Remarkably, Javert has no first name. A first name is personal. It defines us as individuals. It grants us our uniqueness. It is the key to our friendship and closeness with others. But Javert is too cold, too formal, too officious to be acknowledged with a first name. He is simply not sufficiently human to deserve it.
Inspector Javert is law without feeling. He seeks only blind justice. He refuses to admit the possibility of repentance. He is obsessed with re-arresting Jean Valjean in spite of his complete rehabilitation. He sees himself as saintly because he dedicates his life to punishing sinners. In his fixation with sin he loses sight of the possibility for salvation.
Victor Hugo conveys a truth that Jewish theologians believe is expressed in the two chief biblical names of God.
The genius of Victor Hugo was to allow us, by way of the novel's ability to personalize two conflicting ideologies, to grasp a truth that Jewish theologians believe is expressed in the two chief biblical names of God.
The opening verse of the Torah tells us, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Divine name that is used, Elokim (transliterated with the letter "k" instead of "h" so as not to needlessly write His holy name) is synonymous with God as Ruler. It refers to the Heavenly attribute of Justice, midat ha-din. It is the God who created laws of nature - laws unbending and indifferent to specific preferences of people.
Yet, as Rashi's commentary explains (Genesis 1:1):
<<<<It does not say "of the Lord's creation of" for in the beginning it was His intention to create it with the Divine Standard of Justice, but he perceived that the world would not endure; so He preceded it with the Divine Standard of Mercy, allying it with the Divine Standard of Justice, and that is the reason it is written in chapter 2:4:"on the day the Lord God made earth and heaven."
God solely as judge is an impossibility. God has another name. To deal with the world, He must also be the Lord - the four letter name of God known as the Tetragrammaton (Ado - nay). That name is the midat ha-rachamim, the attribute of compassion and mercy. God rules with justice; the Lord tempers it with mercy. One without the other betrays the essence of the harmonious heavenly spirit.
This duality of God has tremendous importance for us. We are meant to imitate Him; His attributes are to be ours. The way He acts is the way we must act. We must learn to find the correct balance between law and love, between rigid detachment and empathetic compassion.
Jewish law is a system that mightily strives to merge these two Divine traits. It asks much of us, but it also offers the means to repentance and pardon. It teaches that "in a place where baalei t'shuvah, repentant sinners, stand, even the most righteous are unworthy of standing."
Sin has consequences, crime has punishment. But penitence is always possible. Forgiveness is to be granted to those who have overcome their failings.
Without a heart, justice is blind - and blind justice is ultimately no less than unjust.
Those like Jean Valjean dare not be pursued and persecuted for crimes committed in a distant past, for sins long since atoned. Inspector Javert is the paradigm of those who would pervert the purpose of law from rehabilitation to simple revenge. Without a heart, justice is blind - and blind justice is ultimately no less than unjust.
Victor Hugo found a powerful way to illustrate this very point. Jean Valjean saves the life of his arch-enemy, Javert, placing him in a profound moral dilemma. In emotional turmoil, Javert's mind simply cannot reconcile the image he had carried through the years of Valjean as a brutal ex-convict with his acts of kindness on the barricades. His lifelong commitment to strict justice will not allow him to let Valjean go free. Yet he knows that if he were to arrest him he would be acting lawfully but not morally. For the first time in his life, Javert is faced with the situation where he must decide between the two.
Unable to find a solution to this dilemma, and horrified at the sudden realization that Valjean's past no longer deserved cruel punishment in the present, Javert's entire system of moral values is shattered.
Javert could not make peace with the dissonance between his lifelong commitment to strict law and his newfound understanding of the requirement for compassion. In Jewish terms we might say Javert had only understood the concept of God as Justice but never learned the need to also worship the ideals of the Lord Who embodies Mercy.
Javert found only one solution for his dilemma. Not knowing whether to prioritize justice or mercy, Javert drowned himself in the river Seine.
How remarkable that Les Misérables comes to the same conclusion recorded by Rashi in his comment on the first verse of the Torah. The world cannot exist solely with justice without mercy - and those who attempt it will lose even their will to survive.



> Power Point Presentation attached
> Worth checking out. Save money on travel--watch this instead



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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Alcohol test for Christmas and Lincoln allows Rabbis as Chaplains



Life as a Growth Seminar

When people go to workshops and seminars that will help them develop and grow, they are willing to try out all types of exercises and experiments. They consider it fun and enjoyable to do things that they have not done before and might even have experienced as distressful. But since it is being defined as part of the growth experience, they reframe it in a positive manner. In fact, the more difficult something is, the more you gain by trying it out. When you view your entire life as a growth seminar and all that happens as just exercises and experiments, each experience teaches you something. You learn something from each reaction. You learn how to prepare yourself for similar things that might occur in the future. The difficult becomes fun. Even what is not that enjoyable is viewed in a positive light for it enriches you and adds depth.


Love Yehuda Lave


11 Tevet
In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln pledged to amend a federal law granting only Christian clergy the right to serve as military chaplains. During the Civil War (in which 6,500 Jews served for the North, and another 2,000 for the South), a religious Jew named Michael Allen had been elected as the non-denominational chaplain of his army regiment. When Allen's Jewishness became "publicized," rather than subject his family to the humiliating ordeal of his dismissal, Allen resigned, citing poor health. The regiment then elected Rabbi Arnold Fischel as its chaplain, in order to test the constitutionality of the "Christian-only" law. Much lobbying ensued, including Fischel traveling to Washington to meet with Lincoln. Six months later, the law was amended to permit Jewish clergy to become military chaplains. It is regarded historically as the first case of American Jews successfully challenging federal legislation.












Subject: Alcohol test
Alcohol test ***** You gotta try this !!!!!! 
T
his is an alcohol test: If you pass it, you can keep drinking, if not, it's time to stop.
Follow the simple instructions below:

1. Click on the man's nose.
2. The link will open for a new window--open the new window - click on the man's nose again
 
3. IF YOU successfully click on his nose, you can drink another glass of wine..
IF NOT, THEN YOU MUST STOP DRINKING!!!

http://www.selfcontrolfreak.com/slaan.html





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Monday, December 24, 2012

Finding Joy BEAUTIFUL and Christmas work out



Difficult Situations


When things are going well and someone says he has trust in G-d, this is not sufficient evidence that he has truly internalized that attribute. The real test comes when difficult situations arise. Then his behavior will manifest his trust (or lack of it) in the Almighty.

Today, when something goers "wrong," recite to yourself: "There are no accidents in the world. Whatever the Almighty does is for my ultimate good."
Love Yehuda Lave


Holiday
Workout Plan ....


You will enjoy this joyful slide show on this pleasant time of the year


Subject: Finding Joy

:


Click here: Finding Joy Movie
 






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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Where was G-d when Sandy Hooks children died? and When a photograph is not just a photo l




Improve Your Tone Of Voice

Gain greater awareness of the "tone of voice" of other people. Listen to the way people speak when they are joyous, when they are cheerful, when they are upbeat. Listen to the way people speak when they are calm and relaxed. And listen to the ways people speak when they are impatient or angry.

Let every positive tone of voice serve as a reminder for you to speak with a pleasant tone of voice to others. Let every negative tone of voice serve as a reminder for you not to speak that way to others.

Love Yehuda Lave

Where Was God When Sandy Hook's Children Died?

Challenging God in the face of suffering is not blasphemous.
By: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Published: December 20th, 2012
sandy-hook-vigil blur
I know he was trying to be comforting, but President Obama's comments at Sandy Hook about God perpetuates the myth that we humans ought to always see God in the role of comforter. God is supposed to be our protector and, Biblically, we're supposed to challenge God in the face of suffering rather than believe that innocent people dying is somehow His will.
After reading the first names of all the twenty children who were murdered, here is what President Obama said:
God has called them all home… May God bless and keep those we've lost in His heavenly place.  May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort.  And may He bless and watch over this community, and the United States of America. 
Called them home? What? Their home is with their parents in Connecticut, not at the divine throne in heaven.
"His holy comfort"? Who wants that? We want these kids alive and well, not in some substitute comfort.
May God "bless and watch over this community." Wait a second. Was he watching when Adam Lanza shot each of these children multiple times? And if He was, which I, as a religious man firmly believe, then why didn't He stop it?
Obviously, this isn't about President Obama. It's about a prevalent and fraudulent belief in world religion, captured in the President's otherwise moving speech, that when tragedy strikes our first impulse should be to defend God rather than rail and thunder against the injustice of it all. God's first role is not supposed to be as our consoler-in-chief. Rather, He's supposed to be our foremost guardian. If He could split the Red Sea than He can stop a ‪.223-caliber Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle's bullets. If He could bring down the walls of Jericho then He could have made the walls of the Sandy Hook school impregnable to monsters. And if he could revive the dead with Elisha, then He could preserve the life of these small children.
Why God is silent and seemingly absent in the face of so much suffering is the real question about the Sandy Hook massacre. These kids were innocent. Does God not promise to protect the innocent? The Lord will protect you from 
all evil; 
He will keep your soul (Psalm 121). These kids were vulnerable. Does God not promise to guard the defenseless? The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was humbled, and he delivered me (Psalm 116:6). These kids deserved long lives. Does God not promise to safeguard humanity? I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings (Psalms 61:4).
Judaism gave rise to the defiant man of faith, the man who, like Jacob, spars with angels and defeats them. The Jew is a child of Abraham who went so far as to accuse God of injustice when the Almighty sought to the destruction of both the righteous and the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah at the same time. The Jew is the disciple of Moses, who thundered to God that he wished his name to be taken out of God's holy Torah if the Creator would proceed with His stated intention of wiping out the Jewish nation after the sin of the Golden Calf. The Jew is like King David, who declares in the Psalms, I shall not die for I shall live. The Jew has achieved immortality through an impudent insubordination in the face of historical inevitability, daring to defy fate and forge an audacious destiny.
Our role in life should not be to offer empty platitudes in the face of suffering, about how the murdered children are in heaven. Rather, we have a right to demand from God that He abide by the same values and rules that He commanded us to uphold. Through Moses, He commanded us to always choose life. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live (Duet. 30:19). Must God not also choose life? Are we human beings just so much cosmic chaff that when our children are slaughtered? Are we meant just to bow our heads in silent submission?
No. The role of religion is not to make us compliant. Rather, faith galvanizes us to make the world a better place. That means fighting evil and protecting life. It means building hospitals and developing medicines. And it also means demanding of God that He show Himself in history and help us to make the world a safer place.
We can't stop every monster-psycho like Adam Lanza. But He can. And spare me the arguments that say if God were to stop evil we would not have any freedom of choice. When Adam Lanza grabbed his mother's guns and started over to the Sandy Hook school, he could easily have been hit by a bus and none would have been the wiser. It would not have compromised anyone's freedom of choice.
Challenging God in the face of suffering is not blasphemous. Rather, it is deeply religious and the ultimate sign of faith. It means we believe that God controls the world, controls human fate, controls the world's destiny, and has it in His unlimited power to make the world a happier place.
President Obama is an eloquent speaker. But rather than let God off the hook, in the face of tragedy, I would rather hear him say, "Lord, we Americans are a righteous people. We spend endless blood and treasure around the world to untie the hands of the oppressed, to protect the rights of women, and to safeguard children from terrorists. We give huge amounts of charity and Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques. We have Your holy name printed even on our money, and we have a national day of Thanksgiving to show our gratitude for Your bounty. We deserve better than to see twenty tiny, precious souls slaughtered so brutally. In the name of all that is righteous, and as the Chief Magistrate of this great nation, I ask You, I implore You, I demand of You, to protect our children, Your children, from harm, so that all the peoples of the world will see Your great hand in history and how the innocent are allowed to flourish, prosper, and grow old with children of their own."

About the Author: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, "America's Rabbi" whom the Washington Post calls "the most famous Rabbi in America," is the international best-selling author of 29 books, including The Fed-up Man of Faith: Challenging God in the Face of Tragedy and Suffering. Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.





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