Rejewvenation

I love to watch new blogs as they grow and develop. Here is one that I am very excited about. Its called Lev Basar and the title is taken from the verse in Yechezkel (11:19) that says

I shall give them one heart,
and a new spirit shall I place within your midst.
I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh
and give them a heart of flesh (lev basar).

I am a language nut. I admit it. I enjoy grammar, syntax, semantics, phonology, phonetics, general communication... you name it! These things are simple pleasures in a world of confusion and disarray. The idea of universal grammar is both thrilling and challenging. To a certain extent, then it is only natural that I would enjoy the study of Hebrew, a language that is filled with power of expression, concretized abstractions, and interesting grammatical structures and patterns – not to mention the spiritual creative power that accompanies this language according to Jewish lore.

On the other hand, there are those for whom language study is not a pleasure. The prospect of setting out into a vast unknown land may frighten them beyond words, or they may bravely venture out into that land of discovery only to find that once they have left their comfort zone, it's more than they bargained for. The well of motivation dries up, the clouds of uncertainty settle in, and soon they find that they've lost their footing.

If you are one who has reached that point in your study, this post is for you! Read more here

Posted by Yehudit at 8/18/2008 Comments

Posted by Yehudit at 8/14/2008 Comments

Please visit Kumah!

Posted by Yehudit at 8/13/2008 Comments

Mashiach Yavo, Mashiach Yavo, Letaken et HaOlam, et HaOlam Kuloh
Messiah will come, His anointed will come to fix the world, the whole world

Hashem Ivneh Beitoh, V'Hashem Ivneh Beitoh, Lehashrot Shahm Shechina, Shechina Kodshoh
Hashem will built His House, and Hashem will build His House, to allow to rest there Divine Presence, His Holy Divine Presence.

Posted by Yehudit at 8/13/2008 Comments

Okay, so as you know, this blog started out as a place to document our journey toward aliyah. That has been put on hold temporarily due mainly to financial concerns.

So, I was corresponding with Yishai Fleisher recently, just updating him as to where we stand at the moment. He told me about a blog called "Praying for Aliyah". The gist of the blog is that people who desire to make aliyah, but are unable to for whatever reason, are paired up and commit to praying for each other.

Possible ways to pray for someone:

- In the middle of Shemoneh Esreh, during the prayer of Shema Koleinu, ask G-d to bring this person to live in Israel.

-Say Tehillim (Psalms) with the intention that this recitation should benefit your person spiritually so that he/she/they can make aliyah. (Ideally, Tehillim should be said in Hebrew, but a sincere Jew saying Psalms in English is also very powerful. If you don't know Hebrew well, E-mail me and I'll suggest some good English translations)

- Simply talking to G-d, anywhere*, at any time, in any language. Ask that G-d bring your person to live in Israel.

By praying for each other, rather than just for ourselves, we increase our chances of the fulfillment of our prayers.

We also create an amazing achdus - unity - by connecting to each other and sincerely caring about our fellow Jew. The Holy Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred. Perhaps we can speed up its rebuilding through love, concern, and prayer for each other.

Posted by Gavrielah at 6/17/2008 Comments

Please check out the latest post from Rav Lazer Brody where he summarizes the points made in an emergency message by Rav Shalom Arush!

Here are the Rav's key points:

* Hashem has brought us to a wonderful situation where there is no one to depend on but Him, for there is no political or military solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.

* Our only power is prayer and emuna.

* Israel is in grave danger, since Hashem has turned His countenance away.

* There's nothing left to do but to cry out to Hashem and to spread emuna far and wide - no Jew in the world is exempt from the obligation to wake up, yell to the Heavens.

* The Lubavitcher Rebbe had 100% holy spirit - his warnings have materialized to the letter. The Rebbe said that the minute you give one millimeter of Eretz Yisrael to the Arabs, the tables will turn - rather than Hashem performing miracles for us, He will turn His countenance on us until we wake up and make teshuva. That's the situation we are in today.

* Hashem loves the people of Israel - that's why He's put us in a situation where no one can help us but Him.

* The martyrs of Mercaz HaRav were a substitute for a harsh judgment that demanded the lives of maybe 80,000 Jews or more.

* The only Israel Defense Force is the army prayer and spreading emuna.

* Emuna is prayer and prayer is talking to Hashem.

* Hashem doesn't want us to retaliate against the Arabs. He doesn't want us to depend on any military might. He only wants prayer, emuna, and teshuva.

* Any immodest Jewish woman or girl delivers our people into the hands of our enemies.

* Listen to Rav Shalom cry his heart out in Track 10 - this is no joke. He's begging all of us to wake up. He addresses the Jews outside of Israel who think they're safe and says, G-d forbid, if anything happens to Israel, your governments will throw you out with nothing.

* Every day is getting worse. We are at war. Everyone is sleeping. The time of Geula has arrived. There's nothing left to do but to wake up and yell to Hashem. Hashem won't forske us, ever. So please wake up, for Hashem is with us and will hear our voices and redeem us, amen.

Posted by Gavrielah at 4/10/2008 Comments

Posted by Gavrielah at 11/01/2007 Comments