Powerful video on the Western Wall
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/one-of-the-most-amazing-videos-about-jerusalem/
Gratitude Exercise
This "gratitude exercise" will have a positive effect when you practice it at least 10 times a day. It is advisable to practice it at least once an hour for the first week. You'll be grateful you did.
[Touch forehead]
"I am grateful for my mind to think good thoughts."
[Touch near eyes]
"I am grateful for my eyes to see good things."
[Touch ears]
"I am grateful for my ears to hear good things."
[Touch near mouth]
"I am grateful for my mouth to speak good things."
[Raise hands]
"I am grateful for my hands to do good things."
[Move feet slightly]
"I am grateful for my feet to walk to do good."
"I am grateful for all that I can be grateful for.
Love Yehuda Lave
Worth the time...valuable history Rabbi Wein on Jewish History
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-story-of-the-most-remarkable-nation-that-ever-lived/?omhide=true&utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=New+Documentary+Reveals+What+is+Really+Happening+on+Campuses+Across+the+UK&utm_campaign=20150526_m125949751_Wednesday+5%2F27+Today%27s+Israel+Connection%3A+New+Documentary+Reveals+What+is+Really+Happening+on+Campuses+Across+the+UK
An Unexpected "Love Letter" to Israel.... a perfect message...
We know that visiting Israel can be trans-formative.
We know that when people see Israel and experience its beauty, its energy, its dynamism and its extraordinary humanity,not only do their opinions about Israel change, in many cases they themselves are transformed.
At this time, with Israel increasingly under attack on many campuses, educational travel to Israel for students and faculty has become a central pillar of CJP's Israel Advocacy strategy.
Recently, a group of Harvard students, of all backgrounds and faiths, visited Israel. They were led by extraordinary Israeli students at Harvard who planned the Harvard Israel Trek with the support of Harvard Hillel and leading local foundations and donors, including CJP. More than 300 students applied for the 50 spaces on the Trek, making it possible to select a cohort whose experience in Israel, seeing the country in all of its marvelous complexity through a very special lens, would have the greatest impact on campus.
Sometimes the impact of a trip like this cannot be captured in prose; it can only be captured in poetry. What follows (and linked here) is a poem, posted on the Harvard trek blog, that reflects one Harvard student's transformative experience.
The author, Oliver Marjot, is a sophomore medieval history concentrator from Guilford, England. He expected the Trek to be a confirmation of his "European certainty of your arrogant oppression." That's not quite the way things turned out.
I think you'll agree that it underscores the value of visiting Israel, and beautifully expresses the splendor and complexity of the country that we all love.
(Here is his poem):
Oliver Marjot
To My Newfound Love
I came to you, Israel, wanting to hate you.To be confirmed in my reasonable European certainty of your arrogant oppression, lounging along the Mediterranean coast, facing West in your vast carelessness and American wealth.
I wanted to appreciate your history, but tut over the arrogant folly of your present.
I wanted to cross my arms smugly, and shake my head over you, and then leave you to fight your unjust wars.
I wanted to take from you.To steal away some spiritual satisfaction, and sigh and pray, and shake my head over your spiritual folly as well.
To see the sad spectacle of the Western wall, and bitterly laugh at your backward-looking notion that God sits high on Moriah Mount, distant and approachable.
I wanted to smirk in my Protestant confidence, knowing that God is with me, even if you refuse to turn to him, standing instead staring blankly at a wall of cold stone, pushing scribbled slips of paper into the Holy mountain, not daring to raise your face, and ask with words.
I wanted to see your sights, to bask in your sun, to tramp my feet over your soil, to swim in your seas, to eat the fruit of your fields.I wanted to be amazed, to be interested, to be engaged. I wanted.
I didn't realize you were broken as well as wealthy, fragile as well as strong.I didn't realize that you suffer from a thousand voices clamoring in your head, and that some of those voices care about justice and democracy, and that some of them love their neighbors.
I didn't realize that a thousand enemies press on your borders, hoarding instruments of death, as chaos and darkness and madness consume the world every way you look.
I didn't realize that you care about your past - that some of those voices of yours treasure the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob every bit as much as I do. I didn't realize.
Nobody told me.
Or maybe they did, and I refused to listen.
I didn't expect to fall in love with you.Your beauty caught me like a hook.
Seeing you, I see what Solomon saw when he wrote about his Beloved.
I see that homeland that Jesus loved.
The lush green of your Galilee, the stark strength of your desert, the bare whiteness of your Judean hills.
I love the Hebrew you speak, the churches you wear like flowers in your hair, the proud golden dome that crowns your head.
I love the strength of your soldiers, the warmth of your sun, the joy of your songs, the peace of your kibbutzim.
This cold Boston air is a mockery of your spring warmth, and in this vast sprawl of concrete and red brick it's no exaggeration to say that I yearn for your troubled horizons, your ancient hills.I'm not ashamed to say it. I love you.
I'm sorry I had to leave you.I know I have no right to love you.
What's ten days compared to a year, a childhood, a lifetime?
Or the five-thousand year lifetime of a people?
I know that you won't remember me, that you probably barely even registered my short time with you.
I'm sure my love means nothing to you amid the whispers of a million other lovers, and you're so very far away.
But I will come back to you.I will.
I'll leave these busy, harried, Western shores, and come to you, to the East.
I'll learn your Hebrew, I'll share your troubles, I'll breath your air, I'll walk in your fields again.
I will. I will.
Until then, Israel, mon amour, my love. Until then, shalom.
A New Song For Every Shabbat Table:
This Song was written by a wonderful and soulful musician named Mordechai Yitzhar to help rekindle a true desire within the Jewish People to return to the Temple Mount and eventually rebuild the Temple itself.
I hope you are moved by this song as I am, and that it will help inspire this generation to take on the great task of returning to THE HOUSE OF HASHEM ON MOUNT ZION!
I would like to encourage everyone to add this song to their Shabbat repertoire of music and that we all be truly inspired.
I would like to encourage everyone to add this song to their Shabbat repertoire of music. Please feel free to learn the song by listening to the above recording. while reading along with the Hebrew words below. I have translated the song as I understand the intent of the song writer. Not every line is translated literally word for word.
Words to the Song - מילות השיר:שוב נעלה אל בית מקדשנוWe will Ascend Once Again to Our Templeשוב נעלה לבית המקדשWe will Return Once Again to The Holy Houseשוב ננגן בחצרות קודשינו
We will Once Again Play Music in Our Holy Courtyard
שוב ננגן בבית המקדשWe will Once Again Play Music in the Holy House======================================================================
Chorus
כיסופנו לא מרפיםOur Yearning has not Weakenedעוד נפשנו בוערת מבפנים
Our Souls Still Burn from Withinזהו ביתנו מדור דורים
This is Our House from Generation to Generationבית תפילה יהיה לכל העמים
A House a Prayer it shall be for All Nations======================================================================
שוב נעלה בשלושת הרגליםOnce Again We Shall Go Up on the Three Festivalsכל ישראל כאיש אחד חברים
All Brothers of Israel as One Manמשפחות משפחות במחולות וריקודיםFamilies upon Families Dancing and Dancingאנא אלוקינו זה חזון הנביאיםO' Lord Shall this Vision of our Prophets Not Come at Last?======================================================================
Chorus
כיסופנו לא מרפיםOur Yearning has not Weakenedעוד נפשנו בוערת מבפנים
Our Souls Still Burn from Withinזהו ביתנו מדור דורים
This is Our House from Generation to Generationבית תפילה יהיה לכל העמים
A House a Prayer it shall be for All Nations======================================================================
שוב ישמח לבבנו בראות פני אלוקיםSoon Our Hearts will be Gladden Before Our Godובריח אפנו קטורת הסמים
With the Scent of Incense Wafting through our Nostrilsנזכה בימינו כבימים קדמוניםMay We Merit in Our Days as Days of Oldותישמע בארצנו שירת הלוויםTo Hear the Singing of the Levites Throughout Our Land======================================================================
Chorus
כיסופנו לא מרפיםOur Yearning has not Weakenedעוד נפשנו בוערת מבפנים
Our Souls Still Burn from Withinזהו ביתנו מדור דורים
This is Our House from Generation to Generationבית תפילה יהיה לכל העמים
A House a Prayer it shall be for All Nations
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