Deal With Others as They are Now
In your relations with other people, live in the present. Reviewing past misdeeds and failures of the people you associate with just adds fuel to the fire of resentment. Try to deal with people the way they are now. True, they might have offended you in the past, but what do you gain by thinking about it now?
If you find it difficult to stop thinking of others' past offenses, write a list of what you gain by thinking of that past, and another list of how you lose by doing so. When you see the harm you are causing yourself, you will be more motivated to let go of the past.
In your relations with other people, live in the present. Reviewing past misdeeds and failures of the people you associate with just adds fuel to the fire of resentment. Try to deal with people the way they are now. True, they might have offended you in the past, but what do you gain by thinking about it now?
If you find it difficult to stop thinking of others' past offenses, write a list of what you gain by thinking of that past, and another list of how you lose by doing so. When you see the harm you are causing yourself, you will be more motivated to let go of the past.
Love Yehuda Lave
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Hi Yehuda, Its CD Eichler I met you while we visited San Diego like 8 years ago!
I enjoy ur emails very much!
I produce the music group A.K.A. Pella and we just released a brand new acapella single and music video for Pesach.
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crossing the Narrow Bridge
By Laibl Wolf
Freedom – Despite All Odds
Can you find Israel on this map? (follow red arrow and use microscope!)
Again I return to Israel. Again I find myself in the center of the world. Inexplicably this tract of earth, the size of Vermont or New Hampshire in USA, or one third of Tasmania, the smallest state in Australia, has been the subject of wars fought by the super powers of history right down to the present day.
Surrounding it are Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, whose land masses total 500,00 square miles compared to Israel’s mere 10,000. They could fit little Israel 50 times into their lands! And 87 Israels could fit into Saudi Arabia. And they continue to fight over this tiny piece of earth, called Israel, a veritable set of Goliaths against an impossibly small David.
Even the super powers of USA, Russia, and the pretender power known as the European Common Market, devote extraordinary attention to little Israel. The current USA Secretary for State seems to be popping in on Israel almost weekly.
Yet little Israel has produced more technological advancements per capita, contributed more technical skills per capita, is amongst the highest number of Nobel Prize winners per capita, in the world, and this while surviving more wars in the post second world war era, than any country in the world.
These amazing indicators point to a remarkable country whose existence for over 3500 years defies logic and history.
So small is it that I could drive from its southern tip, Eilat, to its northernmost point, Rosh HaNikra, well within a day.![]()
And the drive from the western Mediterranean city of Ashkelon to Tiberias in the West is a third of that time. This mere drop in the constellation of the world’s political entities exercises a totally disproportionate power on the world. It is the cradle of civilization, the source of the Judea-Christian values, and the home of Jaffa oranges to boot!
Why? Because it can? But it can’t, or shouldn’t be able to, and doesn’t try to.
And all this today amidst internal strife between its secular and religious Jewish populations, between Arab resident extremists and Israeli citizenry, between illegal African immigrants and Tel Aviv establishment, between doves and hawks, between a newly generated Philistine nation calling itself Palestinians that practices terrorism as its modus vivendi and a legally constituted member of the UN…and the beat goes on.
So here I am walking the very earth that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob walked. The land that Moses led several million Jews into, millennia ago; the land that the world family of nations returned to its rightful owners as a ‘guilt offering’ after the holocaust. I sense I am walking through history, that I am transcending time, and that the earth underneath me harbors much blood, sweat and tears.
I strongly believe that every part of the earth has a spiritual connection to a people who belong to that time and place. In that regard Israel holds spiritual prominence as the country of the ancient Hebrews and and their Jewish successors. The Jewish people are eternally spiritually connected to that small sliver of the world’s real estate, all 9000 square miles – a mere dot if superimposed onto a map of USA.
In the land of Israel, Jews experience their historical freedom. An emancipated slave-nation marched into ‘the promised land’ with Joshua at its head. To the present day, Israel and the Jewish world celebrate their freedom through the festival of Passover. The Passover ceremony (Seder) may be characterized by the ‘poor man’s bread’ (Matzo) and the bitter herbs of raw horse-radish (Maror). But its truer character is that of spiritual victory coupled with miraculous blessing from Above.
Israel’s existence is a historical anomaly, a political dilemma, a cultural pot pouri, and to many, a thorn in their side. But to its inhabitants and supporters around the globe, Israel is the symbol of freedom and liberation, the expression of hope and taste of freedom for an ancient people that has survived, against all odds, into the modern era.
Again I return to Israel. Again I find myself in the center of the world. Inexplicably this tract of earth, the size of Vermont or New Hampshire in USA, or one third of Tasmania, the smallest state in Australia, has been the subject of wars fought by the super powers of history right down to the present day.
Surrounding it are Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, whose land masses total 500,00 square miles compared to Israel’s mere 10,000. They could fit little Israel 50 times into their lands! And 87 Israels could fit into Saudi Arabia. And they continue to fight over this tiny piece of earth, called Israel, a veritable set of Goliaths against an impossibly small David.
Even the super powers of USA, Russia, and the pretender power known as the European Common Market, devote extraordinary attention to little Israel. The current USA Secretary for State seems to be popping in on Israel almost weekly.
Yet little Israel has produced more technological advancements per capita, contributed more technical skills per capita, is amongst the highest number of Nobel Prize winners per capita, in the world, and this while surviving more wars in the post second world war era, than any country in the world.
These amazing indicators point to a remarkable country whose existence for over 3500 years defies logic and history.
So small is it that I could drive from its southern tip, Eilat, to its northernmost point, Rosh HaNikra, well within a day.
Why? Because it can? But it can’t, or shouldn’t be able to, and doesn’t try to.
And all this today amidst internal strife between its secular and religious Jewish populations, between Arab resident extremists and Israeli citizenry, between illegal African immigrants and Tel Aviv establishment, between doves and hawks, between a newly generated Philistine nation calling itself Palestinians that practices terrorism as its modus vivendi and a legally constituted member of the UN…and the beat goes on.
So here I am walking the very earth that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob walked. The land that Moses led several million Jews into, millennia ago; the land that the world family of nations returned to its rightful owners as a ‘guilt offering’ after the holocaust. I sense I am walking through history, that I am transcending time, and that the earth underneath me harbors much blood, sweat and tears.
I strongly believe that every part of the earth has a spiritual connection to a people who belong to that time and place. In that regard Israel holds spiritual prominence as the country of the ancient Hebrews and and their Jewish successors. The Jewish people are eternally spiritually connected to that small sliver of the world’s real estate, all 9000 square miles – a mere dot if superimposed onto a map of USA.
In the land of Israel, Jews experience their historical freedom. An emancipated slave-nation marched into ‘the promised land’ with Joshua at its head. To the present day, Israel and the Jewish world celebrate their freedom through the festival of Passover. The Passover ceremony (Seder) may be characterized by the ‘poor man’s bread’ (Matzo) and the bitter herbs of raw horse-radish (Maror). But its truer character is that of spiritual victory coupled with miraculous blessing from Above.
Israel’s existence is a historical anomaly, a political dilemma, a cultural pot pouri, and to many, a thorn in their side. But to its inhabitants and supporters around the globe, Israel is the symbol of freedom and liberation, the expression of hope and taste of freedom for an ancient people that has survived, against all odds, into the modern era.
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