Sometimes, We don't have our own words.

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And then things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be as famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't
Because, sometimes they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike,
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never foget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
You're off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Source

Putting it Back Together

With Mount Sinai hovering above, Hashem places the choice before us.  

Accept the Torah, a life of redemption and spirituality, and if not, be buried where you stand.

What does this have to do with today?

שם תהא קבורתכם, You will be buried in that place.  Everyday, we are faced with a choice.  Sometimes it becomes totally clear that Hashem is real, and that there is a definite purpose to creation that we can almost taste.  This can be a terrifying moment for people who come to this realization.  We are all afraid of the unknown, unsure of how to really tranform ourselves, and afraid to fail in the effort to do so.  Yet we are all made aware at times, of the Truth.  It could come from a silent moment of contemplation, a deep niggun, a piece of torah that penetrates our core, a warm breeze.  We carry this God Awareness at all times deep inside, and occasionally, no matter where we are, it manifests itself outwardly.  This is the moment of the mountain hovering above us.  Everything is Clear.

If we retreat in fear and don't cross the line in the sand that faces us, 

שם תהא קבורתכם , a piece of you will be buried at that moment.  We will carry that brokenness around and always be affected by the   שם - where we felt something so real, but couldn't move forward with it.

Rav Nachman teaches that when a person is on a path of spiritual connection and growing closer to Torah and Hashem, they will face many "friendly faces" who seek to undermine that person's newly found conciousness.  These "Friends" (friends, parents, family)  encourage us with comments like "Live in the Real World"  "This isn't who you are"  " This isn't real".  Rav Nachman explains that anyone who does this has been at a point in their own lives where the mountain hovered over and they felt deeply what was real and what was a mirage.  At that point, they walked away.  Every person who has embraced Jewish Spiritual Torah life awakens the old pain in the person who never was able to do so.  They can't tolerate to see someone who " swallowed the blue pill" and entered the matrix.  So, they criticize and try to devalue.

We all have flashes of inspiration and realization.  The moment of acceptance is not a singular moment in time.

Hashem is giving the Torah again every day.  Meaning that each day we have the ability to summon the courage to embrace and accept that which we weren't able to previously.  Mount sinai is an unkown location because it wasn't an isolated moment in time.   Its happening right now.

Redemption can happen to a single person.  Every Jewish life is a microcosm of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, may it be built speedily in our days.  Perhaps this is the meaning of how we end the Silent Amidah every day.  The Silent Amidah is a moment of God Consciousness that we can either bring down into our lives or walk away from.  At it's conclusion we say                ושם נעבדך ביראה. And There we will serve you.  We are recognizing that we can get back to the ושם of שם תהא קבורתכם,  The place where we once walked away from, that we have been silently crying over for all of these year, and we can fix it.

May we be blessed with the courage to embrace our destiny, live according to our inner awareness, and together merit the fulfillment of the prayer

שיבנה בית המקדש במהרה בימינו ותן חלקינו בתורתך ושם נעבדך ביראה.

Surrender to The Flow

Fear is a paralyzing force.  Being uncertain about the future doesn't mean being afraid.  Certainty about future events can't be the recipe for happiness.  שמחת החיים comes from a certainty that although we don't "Know" what will happen, we "Know" that we will be able to deal with it.

In the דרשות הרן it is explained that the sea split with every step that עם ישראל took.  The Sea did not split all at once.  Every step in life that we take forward the next step still remains uncertain.  Crossing through the sea means overcoming Fear.  The walls of the Sea were made of Ice.  Ice is a result of צמצום or constriction.  The properties of Water become constricted and frozen.  Water loses its ability to nourish and give life without heat.' נפשינו חכתה לה has the beggining letters נחל , a stream.  The soul needs to flow.  Fear prevents flow.

May we be blessed with the strength to walk fearlessly through the waters of uncertainty and confusion that we may face.

 

Rav Itche Meir at The Rebbe's Ohel

IS IT PURIM YET?

Z"YA

 

 

 

 

 

כן תהיה לנו

Fixing

There was an error in an earlier post called Brokedown Palaces that needed correction. 
Vhameivin, Yavin.

Metamorphasis

If you have ever contemplated the first of the plagues, Blood,  you probably imagined water turning from a clear liquid into a red liquid.  Each of the plagues is a way for every individual to become that much closer to freedom.  Freedom from the bounds and limitations that 2000 years of Egypatian exilic thinking has placed on us.  I say 2000 years of Egyptian exile because it is known that all of the trials of exile were included in the Egyptian Exile.  The opening words of Sefer Shemos  include the phrase  הבאים .The word  הבאים  stands for בבל אדום יון מדי.  All Galus is included in Mitzrayim.  Each plague is an avenue for contemplation as to how to return to a healthy spiritual, emotional and physical existence.  A person can easily tell if he or she is locked into the toxicity of Mitzrayim.  Paroah's initial decree which embodied all subsequent decrees was enacted because of a fear that Am Yisrael might multiply and become an internal enemy.  Paroah says פן ירבה, a language of MAYBE, PERHAPS, UNSURE, DOUBT.  This is the root of Galus, individually and nationally.  When a person's entire existence is trapped in doubt.  Maybe God exists, Maybe he doesn't.  Maybe I'll be a success, Maybe I won't.  This thinking saps a persons vitality.

The response to Paroah's decree of a life of uncertainty was כן ירבה וכן יפרוץ ,  meaning Absolutely, certainly.  Geulah means living life just knowing, perhaps without being able to prove or explain, that god is real.  R' Yitzchak Vorka זי"ע, teaches that this is the meaning of פן ירבה.  When a person is in spiritual galus, he is in a period of פן ירבה , the פן(uncertainty and doubt, Safek) is overtaking his life.  Our response needs to be כן ירבה , to leave our minds at the wayside and proceed with the certainty that our hearts are filled with. 

So this is what's happening in the transformation from water to blood.  Not just color.  Water has the elemental structure H20, and is inorganic.  Although water is essential for survival, it is Inorganic, and does not contain the building block of physical life, Carbon.  Blood is organic.  The Plague of blood is an energy of transformation from an inorganic life to an Organic one.  As the Maharal explains in Netzach Yisrael, the state of the Jewish people in Galus, under the constant influence of Doubt and Uncertainty, is Inorganic.  Real life can't be developed from doubt.  May we all be granted access to the flow of unending certainty, simple faith, and redemption.