Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | To Err Is Human A student of Rabbi Nochum Zev Ziv once erred in the pronunciation of a word when publicly repeating the Amidah prayer. Someone pointed out the correct pronunciation, and the student repeated the word accurately. However, the student became confused and nervous and made many more errors. After the prayers, Rabbi Nochum Zev approached him and said, "How is it possible to be so arrogant? Do you think you are so perfect that you cannot possibly make any mistakes?" When I told the above story to someone, they asked, "Won't the student feel even worse and more upset by the fact that his teacher told him he was arrogant?" It depends on how such a message comes across. If said with understanding and concern, the message is, "I care about you. Why do you have to make yourself so upset over a minor error? Of course, you are fallible and make mistakes. Expect to make mistakes and keep trying to improve, but do not feel devastated when you err." Love Yehuda Lave I returned August 15 to Jerusalem after a 16 day absence. I visited over 100 synagogues, graves and holy spots throughout Czech and Vienna, along with castles and tourist spots. My friend the Cabalist, says like the Bal Shem Tov, I was gathering up the holy sparks of Jewishness that has been trapped there and bringing the spiritual energy back to Jerusalem. I hope I have accomplished that goal, but I know for sure that I brought back lots of pictures. There are too many to share at one time so I am trying something new and sharing them day by day as experienced with a 16 day delay. I will repeat this introduction each day. I have been studying Jewish history and Israel in my time in Jerusalem, but the history of the Jewish people in modern times from 1492 to 1945 was in central Europe where the majority of the Jewish people lived. It is worth studying and knowing about and by sharing it with you my friends, I hope I am expanding your knowledge as well. | | Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Ben Yehuda | | Famous Writers quotes He had delusions of adequacy . -Walter Kerr, Writer and Broadway theater critic and Jean Kerr's husband PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES. He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure. -Clarence Darrow, Trial Lawyer Inherit the Wind. He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary. -William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway) Writer Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it. -Moses Hadas Teacher, a classical scholar, and a translator of numerous works
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. -Mark Twain, Public Speaker
He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends. -Oscar Wilde, Pundit
I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one. -George Bernard Shaw, playwright, to Winston Churchill
Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one. -Winston Churchill, in response I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here. -Stephen Bishop, Singer-songwriter, actor, and guitarist He is a self-made man and worships his creator. -John Bright, Statesman I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial. -Irvin S. Cobb, Author, humorist, editor and columnist He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others. -Samuel Johnson, Author of the Dictionary of the English Language He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up. - Paul Keating, former Australia Prime Minister In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily. -Charles, Count Talleyrand, Statesman and diplomat He loves nature in spite of what it did to him. -Forrest Tucker, Actor Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it? -Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn & Tom Sawyer His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork. -Mae West, Actress Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. -Oscar Wilde, Pundit He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination. -Andrew Lang, Poet, novelist, literary critic, He has Van Gogh's ear for music. -Billy Wilder, Filmmaker I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I'm afraid this wasn't it. -Groucho Marx, Comedian | | Czech Unesco Trebic 080618 | | Milford Sound – the Eighth Wonder of the World Milford Sound is a fiord in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island. It's known for towering Mitre Peak, plus rainforests and waterfalls like Stirling and Bowen falls, which plummet down its sheer sides. The fiord is home to fur seal colonies, penguins and dolphins. Milford Discovery Centre and Underwater Observatory offers views of rare black coral and other marine life. Boat tours are a popular way to explore. | | Liberal Jews are destroying their own religion By Jonathan Neumann American Judaism is broken. When two of the Jewish community's most celebrated writers, Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman, write an open letter stating that: "Any Jew, anywhere, who does not act to oppose President Donald Trump and his administration acts in favor of anti-Semitism; any Jew who does not condemn the president, directly and by name, for his racism, white supremacism, intolerance and Jew hatred, condones all of those things," you don't have to look far to see why. American Judaism is broken because the Jewish left broke it. A tiresome fixation on "tikkun olam," which literally means "repair of the world," has allowed Judaism to fall into disrepair. The phrase "tikkun olam" was quietly lifted out of context from a Jewish prayer before the Second World War to mean social justice. It was popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by radicals like Michael Lerner, who founded the extreme left-wing magazine, Tikkun. Since then, we have been led to believe that the purpose of the Jews in the world is to campaign for higher taxes, sexual permissiveness, reduced military spending, illegal immigration, opposition to fracking, the banishment of religion from the public square and every other liberal cause under the sun — all in the name of God. But the truth is that tikkun olam and its leftist politics have no basis in Judaism. Tikkun olam is not Judaism at all but a distinct religion, whose adherents, it might be said, have culturally appropriated this ancient faith. This religion of tikkun olam commands the allegiance of most non-Orthodox Jews (and some Orthodox ones), who make up the overwhelming majority of the American Jewish community. The dogma of this religion is appealingly simple: Judaism is tikkun olam, which is social justice, which is liberalism. The Jews are called upon to do no less — and no more — than cultivate a liberal paradise in America. In this, liberal Jews have often had the hypocritical backing of the celebrity corps — literati, Hollywood executives, academics, politicians and financiers — who say one thing in public while, in several cases, doing unspeakable things in private. But above all, this liberalism — this tikkun olam — teaches that the Jewish People is an outdated and chauvinistic relic, with no need for a nation-state of its own in its ancient homeland. Consequently, Jewish social justice activists help to defame Israel and weaken America's bond with the Jewish State. Jewish social justice activists help to defame Israel and weaken America's bond with the Jewish State This dangerous ideology culminated in the election and administration of Barack Obama, who was hailed as the "tikkun olam president" and (synonymously) as the "first Jewish president." He repeatedly referenced the significance of tikkun olam to his own life, nurtured by his liberal Jewish mentors in Chicago, and it was because of this commitment to tikkun olam, not in spite of it, that he was the most hostile president toward Israel in history. But now the tikkun olam movement is in disarray. Its activists have been evicted from the White House, together with their messiah, replaced by a coalition of religious Christians and traditionalist Jews. And natural as it comes to the political exiles to oppose the new administration, these activists are discovering that left-wing social justice marches have no place for Jewish warriors. And so the Jews have to choose between social justice and being Jewish. Chabon and Waldman have made their choice. But there is an alternative. A new generation of traditionalist Jews, proud of their heritage and jealous to preserve it, is unimpressed with America's broken Judaism. These Jews know that their ancestors did not live to worship a political party nor die for faddish causes. They recognize that the American Jewish future depends on overcoming the superficial and ignorant equation of Judaism with leftist politics. What is needed is a real Jewish renewal — a community that stands for religious liberty, not against it; affirms the alliance between America and Israel, rather than undermines it; and above all believes it is a community that has a compelling reason to persist. It's time American Jewry repaired itself instead of the world. Jonathan Neumann is the author of "To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel" (All Points Books) out Tuesday. | | Postage stamp heros from my sister It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass, Social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman 1965 US Postage Stamp
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway Novelist, short story writer, and journalist 1989 US Postage stamp
Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken. Albert Camus Philosopher, author, and journalist Multiple French Postage stamps
I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted. Joan Didion Journalist and writer
Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken. M. F. K. Fisher, Food writer. You can't break what's broken already. LeAnn Rimes, Singer, songwriter, actress and author
Love is a promise delivered already broken. Steve Martin Actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician
Government can supply bread, but it can't mend a broken spirit. Rand Paul, Politician and physician
I don't want to be on a Postage Stamp. It means that I am dead and someone else is licking my butt. Hadassah Goldberg
| | The incredible moment a river is REBORN in the Israel desert March 19, 2014 to the delight of watching locals who predicted its return The waters of the river Zin are seen gushing down a dry riverbed, much to the delight of locals in a video recorded on Friday The return of the flood waters are because of heavy rain in mountainous regions several miles away from the arid land For centuries the dry area, which is a massive creek bed, has seen the disappearance and return of water in a series of flash floods The re-birth of a river after years of drought has been captured on camera in the Negev desert, Israel. The waters of the river Zin are seen gushing down a dry riverbed, much to the delight of locals and a highly excitable dog. It is thought the return of the flood waters are because of heavy rain in mountainous regions several miles away from the arid land. The landscape is dramatic in places with plunging canyons and meandering dusty paths, which cause small waterfalls and the water to ride over the bumpy, dusty terrain. The wave is impressive considering it is caused by rainfall miles away, and it does not take long for a convincing stream that gushes down holes in the rock to appear, strengthening all the time. The appearance of the river is highly unpredictable and it has been years since enough rainfall has caused a flash flood in the desert, experts said. | | See you Sunday--Shabbat Shalom I am back from my trip, so if I missed answering an email earlier in August, resend to me now. Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
