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This Week's Torah Portion


Now we are up to the Abraham story.

For an ebonics version of this weeks Bible portion, check out Ma Nishtana blog.
Posted by Miriam at 1:54 PM 2 comments: Labels: lech lecha, ma nishtana, torah portion


A Few Pictures:

Just some scenes from Israel... these are of Arabic towns.

An Arab Town: A mosque: A neighborhood and its mosque: Posted by Miriam at 10:44 PM No comments: 

Blowing My Trumpet

This is a response I would like to post on Black Woman Blow the Trumpet blog, for the post titled: The African Divide with Black Americans--Revisited.

I debated whether to post it there but figured that I'm coming in too late and there are too many dissenters which makes for edgy-ness even on my part and possibly cause folks to become too defensive. So, I don't know if my post would be heard or not after all that. So rather than jump into a possible brawl, I figured I'd post it on my own blog.

The Hostess (Rev. Lisa) wrote:
"I don't think that most black women in this country understand the power of American citizenship throughout the world. If we did, there would not be as much reluctance to venture abroad. We need to understand the power and privilege that we have if we intend to skillfully wield it."

I just wanted to pull that part out because I think it ought to be stressed more.

Its as if some Africans may be jealous of Black American privilege whereas some/many Black Americans aren't even aware of the privilege that they have! One hiding a negative and the other unaware of the good. So, in terms of perspectives, the scale looks skewed.

Could this be a key to special interest solidarity between the two? I haven't figured out the machination of it all yet, but I see a leverage. For example, an AA BW who wants to live in an African country would be one of the very few with such a privilege -that's an interesting position to be in.
I must admit I was a little nervous about this post. Too many faults and negative info about Africans all concentrated in one place. Too much concentration of anything negative can leave a bad smell to the soul.

However, I understand the purpose of it. Black Americans need to understand the points you made. There is a false pride some Africans have that need to be popped because its detrimental to AA but even unto Africans themselves its not good.

Pride is like confidence in the superficial.

Its better to be humble about the faults and negative points one has and grateful about the benefits and goods one has. The combination makes for a confident person. It makes for truth.

But I suspect, there are those who would rather hide/deny the faults and on top of it all swell with pride in the showing of only the good points. That's delusional. When such a thing happens, eventually, someone will come out with facts and data, etc., and bash that pride.

To keep that from ever needing to happen, better to be confident. Knowing and accepting the hard, not so good parts (not dwelling too much on it though; that could lead to depression) and being grateful and dwelling on the good parts joyously.
And there are good points for everyone. Enough to go around. What is success for one may not be success for another. What some one holds as a marker for success, may be totally irrelevant or not held with such greatness to another. Success has many faces and many clothes.

But the main thing is to be truthful to oneself. Each one know your values; what you view as success and check with your own barometer if you've attained that value. It may be monetary, peace of mind, spirituality, living as a hermit, whatever. And if two come and say, "Look! You are not successful!" Its up to the individual to remember their value, their truth and decide for themselves. Indeed the two may be factual, but it may not necessarily be truth.


Posted by Miriam at 3:36 PM 2 comments: 
Yay! Camera Sighted!

I am so happy I finally unpacked my camera. Yes, I am still unpacking after three months. Well, now I can take some pics and post them.

Posted by Miriam at 5:36 AM No comments: I just found out from a friend how easy it is to create a pond in our yard. It would be a great project to work on.

Friends of mind are getting married. That means I better start working out! lol. With all the dancing involved in a wedding, I have to make sure I'm fit.

Former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is STILL making headlines-- even as he's in a coma. First someone said he's about to emerge; then it was denied. Typical of information nowadays. A flood gate of stuff so no one knows the truth.

What's up with you?
Posted by Miriam at 4:29 AM 5 comments: 

Strictly for Pro-Israel Folks

A great documentary of the situation by FACES.
Posted by Miriam at 12:07 AM No comments: 

Chinese Jewish

(IsraelNN.com) For the first time, a group of seven descendants of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China has moved to Israel.The new arrivals, who were brought here by the Shavei Israel organization, arrived at Ben-Gurion airport late Tuesday night.
The city of their birth, Kaifeng, sits on the banks of the Yellow River and was home to a flourishing Jewish community for more than a millennium.

"I am very excited to be here in the Holy Land," said Yaakov Wang, one of the new immigrants. "This is something that my ancestors dreamed about for generations, and now thank G-d I have finally made it." read more here.

(Although, I don't think this is "for the first time". I knew a smaller group that came to stay much earlier. Maybe this is the same group? I don't know.)
Posted by Miriam at 10:44 PM 2 comments: 
God's Secret Agent

There is a story in the Talmud:

When God was creating the world, He originally made the moon the same size as the sun and put them both in the sky. The moon, feeling a bit arrogant and not so happy that the sun was sharing the sky with her said to God, "Can two rule the sky?"

God replied, "You are right. So, diminish yourself!"

And so the moon diminished herself and the sun ruled the sky. However, as the story goes, in the end of times, the moon will realize that indeed, two can rule the sky and then it will regain its size again.

The moon represents women, and the sun represents men. Women are an interesting bunch. They wax and wane just like the moon. And just like the moon in our story, they have the potential to "rule" the sky right up there with the sun. But notice, no one is stepping on anyone's toes. No one is emasculating the other. They can both rule the sky --at the same time, they just think they can't.

Quite often, folks will quote the story of Adam and Eve in order to remind women of her 'mistake'. While I admit that I don't know the true depth of the story, I like that the rabbis have given various interpretations -meaning, there are many ways to look at the same story. It can be seen in a bad light, but not necessarily. The views range from "we've been had, (by God)" to "Eve knew that she could handle internalizing right and wrong and still choose right; and so she ate the fruit; but Adam could not handle it." to "she did wrong and fell for the serpents temptations" etc.

At any rate, many a women are made to feel bad, inferior and that should not be. In fact, I suspect that those who treat women so badly or make them feel inferior are really opposed to God. They just can't hurt Him, so they go after his agents. Come, friends, let us journey through the Biblical journey of women and find their source of confidence and glory together...

When the Blessed One created man and woman, they were first made as one. The woman was attached to his back facing away from man. He then put man to sleep and formed independent woman out of Adam's living parts. God created woman to be an "ezer kneggdo" to man. The more accurate translation is ezer =help, kneggdo (kneged)=opposite. Thus, woman was man's help-opposite. When man did the will of God, woman was his help; when man went against the will of God, women becomes his opposer!

(This facing away, then separation, and then the aim of coming together again, but this time face to face is a deep secret to alot of life. It also reminds me of the cherubim on the ark.)

Its interesting that women were made from living, live parts. Live wires! lol. They are so busting with life that they are like portals to bring even more life into the world. Life from life to give life hahaha. And why the rib? Why not the skull or something? Why the part that protects the heart and lungs? Me thinks even that was not by accident.

Man was told to leave his father and mother and to cleave to his wife. The wife -I suspect- doesn't have to marry if she doesn't want, I don't think. But it would be detrimental for the man to remain unmarried (spilling seed, no growth, etc.).

Sure enough, throughout the Oral and Written Tradition, we see examples of women helping their men and opposing them when they had to:

Ezra - the Help

When the newly freed Hebrews walked away from Egypt, the women form a circle and danced and sang in gratitude to God. But even while in Egypt as slaves, it was Miriam who encouraged her father not to order the men to abstain from their wives --even as Pharaoh made the decree to kill every baby boy that was born. (Both the Jewish people and the Egyptians via astrology were able to know that a savior was to be born. For this reason Pharaoh tried to kill all the boys, and those with prophecy, i.e. Miriam, knew it was crucial to keep having children).

When the men were too tired to bother with um not abstaining, the women went to the men in the fields. They went with mirrors and made themselves pretty. Then they would position the mirror so that both the woman and the man could be seen in it and they said to the men, "I'm prettier than you." Basically, they would flirt and arouse the men. (it was for this reason that the controversial mirrors were added in the tabernacle).

When Korach decided to oppose Moses. Some knew the uprise was doomed to fail. One particular women, the wife of On, sought to save her husband from going with Korach. She let her husband sleep and sat outside her house with her hair uncovered. Woman covered their hair as a sign of modesty. So when Korach's men came for On, they didn't feel right coming in when there was On's wife sitting immodestly at the doorway. Thus he was saved.

During the golden calf idol worship, the women did not participate.

When the Jewish people arrived to the Land of Canaan (Israel), they sent spies to scout out the place. Many in leadership positions didn't really want to enter the land because they were enjoying their positions of power. So they slandered the lands. "The people are giants there!" "the fruit there are grossly huge" "Its a place of sadness, everyone is in mourning!" They wanted to discourage the people from wanting such a place. Then, the men (with the known exceptions of Caleb and Joshua) all cried crocodile tears --but the women did not participate.

There is a saying, "Behind every great man is an even greater woman!" And so it goes that even as Abraham was thought to be a great man, Sarah was even greater.

In the case of Moses, there is an Oral Tradition that as Moses was wrapped up in trying to save everyone from Egypt, he did not take the time to circumcize his son, so Tzipporah, just went and did it herself. Its also telling of Tzipporah's stature that Moses should choose her to marry.

Samson's mother was able to see the angel who spoke of Samson's birth. But she always took the time to try to find Manoa, her husband (who I think was a little slow?) to come and see the angel too.

There are endless examples.

Its as if women are like God's representative. Indeed, women represent the Shechina- the female aspect of God- in the world.

All this, I think is enough to swell a woman's head. lol.

And I think that if she thinks she's superior to man, then then she diminishes herself -she's gong in the wrong direction. The world works upside down from the way heaven works.

The antithesis is that there are women who feel they are superior to man or choose to oppose God (God forbid). She is so powerful that with her two bare hands -BARE HANDS-- she can tear down a house. This is a strong force that the book of proverb talks alot about.

There is Jewish Joke in which a man goes to a rabbi complaining that his wife was mean to him and even threatened to poison him. So the rabbi said he'd speak with the wife. The next day the man called the rabbi back, "Nu? So? did you talk to her?" The hesitant rabbi explain. "Yes, I spoke to her....I, I think you should take the poison."

This post is getting really long and also I don't feel the need to dwell on the problems, there are enough folks out there ready and willing to point and accuse women and make us feel inferior with me adding fuel.

Suffice it to say, I think the power of the women is in her right hand (chessed /kindness, mercy) together with her left hand (gevurah/ strength, restraining, judgements). At times it feels like somebody's got woman's left hand twisted behind her back in such a hold that she can't get loose.

This removal of the left hand and all that it represents leaves women with just their right hand. Kindness. Over done kindness, over done mercy, with no mitigating factor is not good. One balances the other. In America, this results in men being forgiven even as they are not remorseful, regretful or in no way planning to change their bad behavior. It manifests in women donating without looking at what they're donating to. It comes out in women thinking that rather than free themselves of this hold, they instead imitate man. In other parts of the world in manifests in women submitting to laws that are detrimental to their lives, detrimental to their health or that curbs their ability to raise their children or otherwise removes their say in anything.

There is another saying in the Talmud: 10 measures of speech was given to the world. Women took 9 of it!

Surely there are those who will say, "that's why women chatter so much!" And that is probably the bad (?) side of a COIN. Coins have two sides. The good side of that is 9 measures of speech! Speech is what distinguishes mankind from animals. Almost everything points toward women being very far from animal and very close to Godliness. And there are people who don't like that. But, again, just as the moon can already be seen in the sky even when its only half full; if we women can know even half of our good, if we can acknowledge and act upon even half of our glorious nature, we can change the world and rule the sky -irregardless of what the sun is doing.
Posted by Miriam at 7:45 AM 6 comments: 



As long as we're concerned about how others see us, or respond to their perception of us, we have allowed them to define us.

-- The First Domino

Posted by Miriam at 3:19 AM 2 comments: Labels: perceptions, quotable quotes


Food for the Soul

We have an orange tree in our backyard. Its blossoming at the moment and boy, does it have a wonderful fragrant!
Posted by Miriam at 5:59 PM No comments: 
Y-Love Coming to Israel

Not sure if the rumors are true, but I heard Y-Love has become Na nach! Also, I heard he's coming to Tsfat to meet the gang. That should be interesting! Must think up a shidduch/match for him. ***puts on matchmaker hat** lol!

Please God, don't turn him away empty handed...

Na nach nachma nachman m'uman!!
Posted by Miriam at 9:05 AM No comments: Labels: na nach, tsfat, y love

Fake Blog


Does any one know what ever happened to this blog that was fake. It was supposedly run by a BW but turns out it was some kind of survey collecting site or something like that. Can anyone fill me in???


Posted by Miriam at 9:01 AM 2 comments: Labels: fake blog, survey


In The Beginning...

So, in the Jewish world everyone is starting again the reading of the Torah. We read about Adam and Eve story. I wanted to write a post with a few words on that portion of the Bible but I am too tired mentally (and physically) to put it together.

But its worth thinking:

Its been a long time now. Has the "curses" that we've had to endure, have these decrees been sweetened any? Have we come a long way?

Well we have Childbirth pains. Thank God, nowadays we have epidurals and operations and other ways to make the actual birth not be so painful.

Mense. Advil.

Toiling by the sweat of one's brows to bring in money. Many are reaping income simply from the interest of their capital. No sweat there!

Hmmmmm....dare I think the unthinkable? lol.
Posted by Miriam at 11:25 PM 4 comments: 

Faith, Holy Boldness, Weapons


There was a funny statement that Rebbe Nachman said once. He said, "I like my followers fried!"

When I first heard that, I laughed. Nervously. I wasn't sure what he meant and me being a follower of his teachings I got a bit nervous.

Then I thought more about my life. I went through terrible abuse at the hands of my own family members. For years! Then I had to unravel all the psychological and emotional hurts --not to mention physical, sexual. Goodness, was any stone left unturned?!

I was so twisted and hurt, etc. I had to start way way way back to the beginning. Even my religion had to be trashed.

In order to even start fighting the abuse as a child, I had to realize to myself that no matter what, I know that what I felt was wrong and had to fight it. I had to disbelieve all the "we are right, its YOU who's wrong" statements, all the "but I love you!" statements. Everything had to go in the trash. Nobody was trusted. Redo from start. Some would say I lost my faith, but I think I had to turn to raw faith. Its like a no name brand of faith. Faith without clothes. Ultimate faith in the Godly part of me that no one gave a name to.

I think I was fried.

People who go through great hurts, I think, get "fried". So burned and hurt from so much that they reject everything.

Eventually, I could leave that constricted mentality when I was out of that abusive situation and then I had to rebuild. I had to give faith clothes again. But this time instead of putting on the old garments that my family gave me for faith -- the cross, the preacher's hats, the robes, the church, the way to salvation, etc. As I wandered through the garden of goods and truth looking for garments for my faith, instead I found a kippah, fringes, Torah, good deeds (mitzvot), etc. Basically, I found Judaism.

Likewise, I know of people who are Jewish who went through serious traumas and left Judaism. Somehow they stripped their faith from those garments and dressed it up anew.


But it takes holy boldness to do this. Its not a simple thing. Very often as you try to dress up faith --after having been fried lol-- you encounter people who will insist that you put on this garment on faith. Or they'll counter that you just can't arrive to truth without that garment. Somehow, they will attempt to coerce people to go on a certain path. BEWARE!!!

If we go without holy boldness, we will never arrive to the truth! If somethings are unable to be questioned, it should be rejected. (of course there is a certain point where there is no answer and we just have to accept things on faith. I mean simpler questions like why do we have to do such and such a ritual, for instance).

In my situation, I feel that Judaism is closest to THE TRUTH, whatever that absolute truth is. In the beginning, I accepted Judaism, but I still had questions. I am happy that I pursued these doubts and questions until I found answers.

One example of that was many tried to tell me that some people don't have a neshama (the high part of the soul that is still connected to God). I didn't buy it. I pursued my question until finally I learned that many do not know kabbalah and don't even try to learn deeper other than the halachot (laws of what to do and what not to do), and some not even that, they just stick to learning about the arguments. But once I pressed deeper, there it states clearly that every human being has a neshama --some are just so far removed from God that its as if they don't have a neshama.

Another example is that some rabbis teach that one should not learn other languages. Only Hebrew (and Yiddish, of course **smirk**). But I didn't understand why. It was not until later that I learned the reason. Simply, one can learn other language for business reasons, but the reason its discouraged for other reasons is that each language carries in it the "sin" or the "lust" of the people of that language. Whatever they are struggling with will be embedded in the language. For instance, if some group of people have trouble with being patient. They want things Now now now. Instead of calling things "instant gratification" they'd say "convenient" or "amenity" or something that covers up the fact that they can't wait. Or, if someone lusts to kill, rather than calling it what it is, they'd say, "prosecute to the fullest extent of the law" or use cruel humor towards a person. I have to think up better examples. Its not to say that Hebrew or Yiddish is better, but to say: why take on extra problems? We have our own struggles embedded within our own language, why unknowingly take on other group's fetishes or what have you.

Right now I feel that I am living a more authentic Judaism and I"m closer to the Truth -if I can say such a thing. I am wary of many religious leaders from all religions. Especially the more recent ones. But I love the Jewish Tzaddikim and especially Rebbe Nachman, I'm cool with.

Holy boldness means being true to yourself. See what fits. If it doesn't, ask. If the response is not satisfactory pursue the matter in another way or move on. Keep growing. But it has to start with a genuine love for God and a genuine awe towards Him.


How to arrive at such a place without "getting fried"? That is a great question because I don't wish turmoil on anyone. If there is a way to arrive at that simple faith place and then grow into whatever you were truly meant to be --without all the turmoil, hurt, frying, etc., that would be awesome.

For me, it was reading Rebbe Nachman's books, Likutei Moharan, Outpouring of the Soul, Crossing the Narrow Bridge, etc. For me it was meeting genuine Na Nach people who live their lives with such mesirut nefesh /self sacrifice only to help people out. That really inspired me that people can want good and pursue good.

Another great weapon is prayer. Hitbodedut -talking to God, one on one, as if He's a close friend. You can shout out your frustrations, reason with the Holy One, question things, be yourself with no rules from anyone. Just you and the Creator of the Universe having a conversation. A monologue? No, I said a conversation! Yes, He responds but you have to "listen" more carefully -and not just with the ears lol. Its better to do this in a field or other natural surroundings.

Prayer is an interesting weapon. It's like a sword, or a light saber, that must not veer to the right (overly done kindness: i.e. asking the Blessed one to completely forgive an unrepentant murderer) nor must it veer to the left (overly done harshness: i.e. being too severe). Somehow it has to be aim precisely at the target.

To turn on the light saber, one needs to give charity. Giving money is almost like giving a pint of blood hehehee. Its giving of yourself -like a sacrifice for the wrongs that you have done. It also changes whatever the scale is in heaven. If, for instance, your scale of good deeds vs bad deeds was tipped on the bad side (i.e. too many wrongs to your credit), then giving charity tips the scale a bit (i.e. at least you give something towards good). If the balance was equal, then giving charity pushes things most definitely to your favor.

Okay, charity is given, the gates of prayers are open, light (saber), camera (trees, bushes, flowers are watching), Action!! What do you say?

Gratitude and acknowledgement is a good start. Not because God needs to be flattered, but because, we need the boost of confidence that God has helped us before. That way, we feel less intimidated to put forth a request. Praises -especially- in the form of a song, is another good key. Music is the language of the Neshama (high part of the soul, the part that is still connected to God).

Faith, holy boldness and the weapon of prayer are very subtle things that can take us a long way. The only suggestion I have is to find a way for yourselves to avoid the "frying" part, and jump to pure faith and take it from there.
Posted by Miriam at 7:21 PM 6 comments: 
A Feminist Revolution?

New Feminist Revolution?

I'm waiting to hear interesting news on the women's camp.

I firmly believe a revolution has already started in the Jewish camp. Many may not know it or think it. But ever since Rebbe Nachman, I don't think things will be the same again.

I also see the seeds of revolutionary happenings in the BC (black community). Many BW are throwing away the shackles of old ways of thinking, and most importantly they're blogging!

When there is a harsh decree set out against someone or a group of people, we pray. We pray that God would change things to our favor. However, if the decree has already been passed then what? We still pray! But in a concealed way. Either via story telling, talking or I'll add blogging.

But that still leaves two groups. BM and women in general. I suspect BM will get pulled along in the BW surge. What about women? I still don't hear anyone caring for the Arabic women who must suffer from certain abuses in Muslim countries. In fact, I really don't hear much from the feminist camp at all.
Posted by Miriam at 7:16 PM 6 comments: 
Jews, BF, and Women

Hooray! Someone who sees things almost as I do!

Francisco Gil-White writes a book on why some want to (and how they) resurrect racism in the modern times against BF. He also gives it a good comparison with how these racists have enticed those with hatred already embedded in their hearts to also hate Jews.

You can see his website and read the introduction to his book.

The only thing he didn't do was to bring on women into the picture. I believe these groups have been the most hurt of all history -and for a reason.


Posted by Miriam at 7:11 PM No comments: 



"Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and threw it away!"

--A witty friend
Posted by Miriam at 10:36 PM 2 comments: 


The Night Time Prayer

I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

Every night before the children go to bed, we recite the Jewish night time prayer. Its sounds like a haiku in Hebrew. In English it goes something like this:

Hear O Israel, The Lord is your God, The Lord is ONE!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources. Let these matter which I command you today.... be upon your heart. Teach them diligently to your children. Speak of them when you sit in the home, when you walk on the way, when your laying down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign upon arms and as tefillin between your eyes. Write them on the doorpost of your home and upon your gates.

Every night, every religious Jewish home recites this prayer. But now that my girls are five and they are in their own room. When I remind them to say their night time prayer before going to bed, it reminds them of when we used to all cuddle up together in the same room and shout out this prayers as we're laying together, "Shema Israel!!!..." Then they get nostalgic and want to sleep on my bed!

This reminds me of a holocaust story:

A certain priest decided to take a whole bunch of Jewish little boys and put them in a monastary and raise them Christians. They were very young when he took them. The priest dressed them up in these non-Jewish garments and began his deprogramming.

A certain man decided to seek out and retrieve these children. He searched and searched until, thank God, he found the monastery there were in. "Give us back our children!" He said. "There are no Jewish children here!" Retorted the priest.

Now, what could he do? These were little children and could not prove anything. So he stood a distance and shouted with all his might, "Hear O Israel, The Lord is your God, the Lord is ONE!!!!"

All the boys began crying "Momma!" "Momma!!" Their little, young hearts yearned for their mommas, their Shechina representatives in this world.

One by one, the man could claim them as Jewish and bring them back to their camp.

Its beautiful when the girls get nostalgic for their momma when I tell them to say their prayers. Its deep inside them. But I still want my bed! LOL!

Well, I guess I'll have to do this prayer with the kids a little bit before bed time...
Posted by Miriam at 8:58 AM 4 comments: 
Oy Positivity

As long as there is another sunrise, there is always hope, a chance to repair, an opportunity to renew.

I read this at a blog:
"One thing is clear – no matter where one goes around the world, Black people ain’t worth the sh*** on anyone’s shoes." I just came from reading about an AA BW Sophia Stewart who claims that she was plagiarized by Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers then came out with the Matrix and the Terminator -concepts that she says she introduced to them! Way cool if she came up with these ideas.

Then there was the Caster Semenya victory battle wounds.

Then there were these Australian guys in blackface, mocking the Jackson five. Once upon a time the Jackson five was a pretty great group to say the least. Michael Jackson became known as the "king of pop music"!

Can anyone sew? Let's lace all these things together and get a good picture of what's happening.

If I were to write a triumphant story. I could potentially end each chapter with the heroin's failures --her failures just prior to the next battle victory. Or, I could end each chapter with triumphant battles. Either way, its the same story -just different perspectives.

Basically, what I'm saying is that what they (the mockers) are doing doesn't change the truth. We can get upset at it -with good reason. But let us not allow it to "paint" our view of ourselves. Let's not forget the reality, the good, the victories.
Posted by Miriam at 12:00 AM 6 comments: 

Sophia Stewart An African American BW, Sophia Stewart, is fighting the giant media machine. She says Warner Brothers stole concepts from her script, The Third Eye, in order to plagerize and create the Matrix and the Terminator movie.

That these concepts should come possibly from a BW is not surprising. Also, if that is the case, then that explains why part 2 of Matrix was such a flop -nobody to copy from; and why it was all mostly about sex orgies - folks who lack imagination resort to this.

May justice prevail.
Posted by Miriam at 12:36 PM 6 comments: 

Neshama News


I suspect that whenever someone says "I am not scared to die!" they are usually pretty scared. Maybe its because of where I live, I don't know.

America should know that Israel experiences so called "terrorists" who hope to be captured in order to avoid the real terrorists who are hurting them and their family. I am not saying this is the case, but oy, things can get so complicated.


Obama won the Nobel Peace prize. It seems the internet is abuzz with what they think ought to be done about this. Whatever the case, it would have had more weight, in my opinion, had they waited just a bit longer.


Mahmoud Abbas is no longer a Palestinian. This according to Hamas. (from Arutz Sheva News) So what is he? Israeli? Jewish? They tried that with Ahmadinajad.

The world gets curiouser and curiouser...


The Mayan calendar is almost over. The Jewish calendar is almost up (6000 marks the supposed end of the way things are). If I'm not mistaken even the Muslim calendar indicates their Caliph should be around the corner soon.

This sure sounds like the "end of TIMES" to me! I doesn't have to mean, necessarily, end of the world, etc. Just end of times. This year marks the Jewish new year of 5770. This is represented by Hod of hod of Yesod.

Hod of hod: basically the Godly quality of being invisible. Don't people complain alot about that? Being invisible. Well, I wonder if its those people's time to shine?? And not just any hod of hod. But hod of hod of YESOD (more on yesod here; on hod here.).
Posted by Miriam at 9:27 PM 2 comments: Labels: neshama news


Interesting Footage of Iranian Missile Testing

things that make you go hmmmmm....

hat tip: Shirat Devorah blog
Posted by Miriam at 1:06 AM 2 comments: 

Forget the Media

Forget the Media, Israel. Hold on to what you know is truth. Do your thing.

hat tip: Hochma & Mussar Blog.
Posted by Miriam at 4:56 PM 2 comments: Labels: darfur, israel, sudan


You Got to Know When to Fold 'Em....

Muslim Bushido did it.

Michael Jordan in is playing basketball career did it.

Hobson Pilot intends to do it with her harp playing career.

Knowing when to jump in, when to do your thing, and when to exit.

How do people know when to exit? For sure, some people certainly do not know. They fester and become greedy --is that called afference in energy /reflexology talk? -- and more greedy and expand and expand to the detriment of all those around them. Many corporations come to mind. Once they see they've outgrown themselves, they "create a need" and start all over again.

Then there are those who do not even push far enough to attain their goals. How does one gain this internal monitor? The balance between greed vs laziness.

Like the curly hair that exists in the world, one can spiral around and give the same message again and again on different levels. Round about and round about. Slowly spiraling out the message; bringing a complicated concept to a place where everyone can see and understand. Bringing big things down to earth. Breaking it all down for all to see -like a telescope. Until its over. Time to exit. Hopefully, I'll know my time.

Posted by Miriam at 9:59 AM 2 comments: 
Na Nachin' some Good News... I just read some good news from the blog Tradition of Excellence. It was about two BM who decided to become rangers! Very entertaining.
Posted by Miriam at 9:52 AM No comments: 

Sukkot: So far so good

Sukkot is the holiday where we all build little houses and dwell in them. A demonstration to ourselves that security comes from Up Above.

Many folks were predicting horrendous things around this time; war with Iran, quakes, the arrival of the Messiah (!) etc. Thank God, I am not seeing much on the news...

(Well, it would be nice of the Messiah came already!)
Posted by Miriam at 11:48 PM 2 comments: 

The Rabbi's Wife?! Oy Vey!!

My husband teaches at a yeshiva (unmarried men's school)in Tsfat and so people tend to call him "Rabbi". It was hard to swallow for the both of us. We had a good laugh and understood that for the sake of his role, he has to accept that title and move on.

I thought nothing of what that signifies for me.

I thought nothing until one of his students came over to speak to Misha and called me "Rebbetzin"! Goodness, me a Rebbetzin?! I felt rubbery at the knees and dry in the mouth. Does this mean I have to live up to this title? Oy vey. Will people expect me to just know things?

Just as I wrote for Caster Semenya, glory is always pregnant. That means childbirth pangs and a new soul. In my case the childbirth was not so bad. The soul -the new me as a rebbetzin seems okay. I must remember to always give the glory right back to the source, HaShem, the One who truly merits the glory.

So, we do we have another black honorary rebbetzin in the house? lol.
Posted by Miriam at 9:32 PM 2 comments: 

Ketoret Books Yosef, the Maccabe? Ketoret books Jewish Children's books Likutey Moharan News in the BC -October 3, 2010

.Granny's Got a Gun!


Hat tip = What About Our Daughters blog Jewish News October 3, 2010

High Holidays are Over Kippahs from Uganda

Get it straight from the maker.