mouth shut. mind wide open

phew

there are so many good people in this world.

Get Crack-a-Lackin

illustration by Pietari Posti


This morning I wake up.
Thank you Hashem.

Sun filters through the blinds with promises of 71 degrees.
(Yeah baby, I love CA on days like these)

It's never good to stay in bed...as the mind starts to wander...

To thoughts of life.
And where
And what
And why
And how.


How each of us is born on a track.

Till one day, for whatever reason, whether by force or by free will, we somehow manage to get bumped off our track.

And onto another.

Only this track don't be leadin' us to the places we ought to be going.
We're trying to fill someone else's shoes.
Dream some other dude's dream.

Or maybe we got bumped so hard, we're not even on a track anymore.
Just speeding over dirt and grass and hills, totally out of control.
Bam, bam, ouch.
Woah.


~~~


Today you wake up.
And say, that'll be all.
I'm sick and tired of this.


Where the world did my track go?


~~~


(This post sounded better in my head. In my bed.
Oh well.)

Go learn some tanya...it's the best track jumper.

:)
Have an awesome day.
c

MissHaia

Postcard of the great synagogue in Budapest

i eat him

Yesterday I call Bluma.

She's running to Hebrew School.
No time to chat.
She hands me off to Meir.

hi chani

hi meir, how was your day?

good

what did you do?

i went to school

what did you learn at school?

(in a bored tone)
just some not jewish letters and not jewish stuff

have some

I feel guilty and gluttonous to horde so much good cheer all to mine self.




so i am here to share it with you on this fine day.



:)
:)
:)



(oh, this smile leaves so much out...


it's missing the expansion in the chest
a giggle in the throat
a lightness in the step...)





peace
calm
joy
song

love
life
live
on

Where We Come From

Avremel sent us a cd with maoz tzur.

The one that my zeidy a'h used to sing.


Mother is not in the kitchen when father pops it into the handy dandy under-the-counter cd player in the kitchen.


I listen with half an ear as I am busy typing about hakuna matata and ain od milvado...


"Nice harmony...interesting...hmmm...i wonder who's in the choir...woah creative...yivunim, yivunim nigbitzee oolai...beautiful."


The song ends.



~~~


Mother walks into the kitchen.

Walks over to the player and presses play.




The song begins.




Suddenly her entire body straightens in concentration.


Breathing changes.

Tears well up.



I can't even imagine what the song evokes...



For her the harmonies don't matter.

Or the choir.



There's a whole world in this song.

A flood of memories.

A different place.

With holy souls and generations past.


~~~



We should be zocheh to sing maoz tzur with all of our zeidehs with moshiach in yerushalayim ir hakodesh tonight!

No Worries

Amazing.

Isn't it.

How there are two roads one can take to no worries...



Road #1

"Hakuna Matata"


















Road #2

"Hakol Biydei Shamayim"


















1.
No worries
Because life is not important
And nothing matters anyhow


-vs-


2.
No worries
Because life doesn't belong to us
And everything is His will



:)
:)
:)


ASHREINU MAH TOV CHELKEINU!



Ah Freilichen, Lichtigen Shabbos Chanukah B'Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh

L'Chaim

Rain Tonight.

Illustration by Eloisa Lou


A rainy chanuka evening...
Can life get any cozier?


The smell of rain.
The smell of olive oil.
The smell of latkes.


mmm mmm good.
I can't wait!!!!!!!!

"thank you far hanikeh"

this post is dedicated to eli


and anyone else who ever said something random as a wee child and was made fun of for the rest of their lives.

Simple

illustration by Audrey Ficociello




As a child you think you need to mature and change so that you can really live.

You need to analyze and sophisticate.
And dress to impress.
You need to know more.
Become something.
Someone.

.
.
.

Until you realize that all this time you were trying to become something...that child you once were was everything you should ever be.



Honest and trusting and real and alive.



~~~



Simplify.

Go back to where you came from.

And take the wisdom of your many years with you...
Through the hills and valleys of life.
Till you reach the meadow of your youth.




:)

On a high from last night

painting by Sylvia Hartmann

It tastes like Moshiach this morning.

Sitting in the backyard.
Sun shining.
So much warmth.
But not too much.
Saying Tehillim on the lawn chair.
Strains of Karduner play through the screen door from the kitchen.



The air smells fresh.
The heart feels happy.
The lips sing words of praise.



I am still on a high after a farbrengen with Rabbi Reuven Wolf last night in honor of Yud Tes Kislev.
This is not the first time I've heard him speak, but it is the first I've heard of his journey to Chabad Chassidus and the unique truth and joy and depth that he couldn't get enough of.

When we got home, on such a high we couldn't go to sleep, I sat talking with my mother till late in the night.


She told me a story.


~~~~


Some thirty years ago my parents moved on shlichus to FL.
One day my mother was visited by one of her chasseedishe cousins from Boro Park.

My mother excitedly told her about the new campaign that they were doing to get Jewish women and girls to light shabbos candles.
This was at a time when shlichus was still somewhat of a novelty to the outside world.
She showed her the candles and candlesticks that was being handed out and shared stories of the lives they had touched through this mivtzah.

My mother's cousin looked at her with a confused expression on her face.

But why do you care?


~~~


But why do we care?!!!!!!!!!!!?????????

AMAZING!

We don't even realize how novel the idea is that we care!
It's so normal and natural to us that we should care about every Jewish neshama.

And even if we don't care every second of the day...we still care.

And even if we don't live up to everything we should be as shluchim of the Rebbe...we still care.

And even if sometimes the pressures of the world get to us and we forget that we're soldiers in HIS army...we still care.



L'chaim my friends.
Here's to an inspired, light-filled week.
May you be blessed with an appreciation for chassidus.
And the joy of living a meaning-filled life.



And the next time you're in LA, go learn with Rabbi Wolf.

You won't regret it.