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Life Vest Inside
Click the image below and watch the inspirational video
as the camera tracks an act of kindness as its passed from one individual to the next
and manages to boomerang back to the person who set it into motion.
Yom Kippur on the North Pole
Yom Kippur at the North Pole with Rabbi Shmuel Lew
Click the image below to watch the inspirational video
Carelbach Shul Selichos With Yehuda Green 2012
Click the image below to watch inspirational video of
Selichos in the Carlebach Shul With Yehuda Green 2012
Always offer help to those that need it
One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain-storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away.
Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console colour top of the range computer was delivered to his home. A special note was attached.
It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. G-d bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."
Always offer help to those that need it.
Check your own pockets ...
Reb Mendel Futerfas, of blessed memory, was one of the outstanding heroes who survived Stalin’s Gulags. After many years of forced labour as punishment for his “crime” of helping strengthen Jewish life in the Soviet Union, he was eventually able to leave Russia and reunite with his wife and children, who had escaped Russia years earlier and were living in London. He was later appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to serve as head mashpia (spiritual mentor) in the Lubavitcher Yeshivah of Kfar Chabad, Israel.
Often he would sit with fellow chassidim and students, and recall his prison experiences and the lessons that he learned from them.
Rabbi Hirsch Chitrik retold the following anecdote that he heard from Reb Mendel.
One of the activities prohibited in the Gulag was card playing. It was considered a severe crime, and harsh punishment was imposed if one was caught violating this prison rule.
Somehow, the inmates managed to smuggle in a deck of cards, and would while away their free time with the forbidden game.
The guards were told about the breach, and came to inspect the prisoners’ quarters. They found nothing.
As weeks went by, and the games continued, the guards were baffled.
“Are these uncouth prisoners really outsmarting us?” they wondered.
They finally decided to put an end to this affront to their authority and pride, and carried out a surprise inspection, checking every inch of the barracks as well as the bodies and clothes of the inmates.
They found nothing.
They came to the conclusion that the informer had lied to them, either to curry favour in their eyes or to make a joke out of them.
As soon as the inspectors left, the cards appeared and the games continued as usual.
Reb Mendel couldn’t understand how it had happened: the inspectors had checked every possible hiding place.
Eventually, he was let in on the secret.
“You see,” the head thief began, “we are professional pickpockets. As soon as the guards would enter the barracks, we would slip the cards into their pockets. Right before they would leave, we would slip them back out again. Obviously, it never occurred to the guards to check their own pockets ...”
The lesson is clear. If you want to make an accurate assessment of reality, start your search by checking your own pockets.
Often, when we make our spiritual and personal inventory, we instinctively look to place blame on those around us. “My parents are responsible,” “my wife/husband is responsible,” “my education is responsible,” etc. Everyone is blamed except oneself. That is an easier and less painful way to do things, but it is not effective in the long run. In order to really put your life into order, you must not overlook your own “pockets.”
Old Cherokee Story
Dr Felix Zandman - 1928-2011
THE FINAL VICTORY: THE STORY OF FELIX ZANDMAN (2004) - A Film by Haim Hecht
The story of Felix Zandman is an incredible tale of how a small Jewish boy who survived the Holocaust in a grave-like shelter pulled himself together and achieved a life of fame and success in business and scientific achievements. Dr. Felix Zandman, who died in June 2011, was a world renowned scientist whose inventions in the fields of stress measurements and electronics have greatly contributed to science and industry.
Click the image below to view the inspirational and moving documentary, it is an hour long, but well worth the time spent.
The princess and the pears
There was a king who had a daughter who was very ill. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She just seemed miserable and cried often.
One night the princess dreamed that if she ate a pair of very special pears she would get well. In order to learn what would make the pears so special, she would have to meet with each person who brought pears to her. Her mother the queen, decreed that whoever brought in the very special pears that healed the princess, would have the opportunity to marry the princess, if she wanted to marry him.
Hundreds of young men brought baskets of pears to the princess. She talked for a long time to each of the young men, and ate their pears, but none of them made her feel better.
One farmer who had very sweet and juicy pears as well as three sons told his eldest son, the most handsome of the three, to take a basket of pears to the princess. On the way to the princess the handsome son met a dwarf who related how hungry he was. The dwarf saw the basket and said, “You must be taking pears to heal the princess. Please give me a few pears so I will not starve.”
The handsome son didn’t want to give away even one pear, especially to a dwarf. He was afraid that any pear given away might turn out to be the special one of the pair that would heal the princess. Then he would lose the chance to marry her.
So he said to the hungry man, “The only pears I have in this basket are pairs of pig’s feet.” The hungry man, who was really the prophet Elijah in disguise, replied, “Amen! So shall it be.” Then he walked away.
When the handsome son was brought to the princess, he opened his basket to show her his pears, and it was filled with pairs of pig’s feet. The princess fainted. The king ordered the eldest son to be thrown out into the street.
When the handsome son returned home he didn’t want to tell anybody what had happened so he just said that the pears didn’t work. The farmer then decided to send his middle son, the one who was tall, strong and had lovely blond hair, to bring the farmer’s best pears to the princess.
On the road to the castle the tall blond son also met Elijah, who was disguised this time as a poor beggar who was deaf in one ear. The blond son also didn’t want to help the beggar, even though he seemed very hungry.
The tall blond son said, “I can’t help you. The only pears I have in this basket are pairs of pig’s ears.” “Amen!” said Elijah, “so shall it be.”
When the tall blond son was brought to the princess he opened his basket and it was filled to the top with pairs of pig’s ears. The princess became nauseous and threw up. The king had the blond son thrown out the window into the street. When the middle son returned home he also didn’t tell anybody what happened.
The youngest son wasn’t very handsome, and he wasn’t tall or blond, but he was very kind and considerate. He begged his father to let him go because he wanted to help the princess, although he didn’t think she would want to marry him. On the road to the princess he also met Elijah disguised as a beggar with ugly sores and scabs all over his face and arms.
He felt sorry for the ugly beggar, and even before the beggar asked, he offered half of the pears in the basket to the man saying, “I pray these pears are good for you.” Elijah took them and replied, “Amen! So shall it be good for you.”
When the youngest son opened his basket before the princess she asked why it was only half filled with pears. He told her about offering half the basket of pears to the beggar who was covered with sores and scabs. The princess began to cry. The youngest son apologized for making her cry, but to his surprise she suddenly hugged him. They spent the whole day talking and the princess felt better and better. By the next day she was feeling great. A month later she told the youngest son she wanted to marry him, and that is what she did.
The boy’s father could never figure out what was special about the pears that the youngest son brought to the princess.
The meaning of Kaddish
Click the image below to watch an inspirational video
featuring Charlie Harari on
The Meaning of Kaddish
Remember the forest - do not get too caught up in the trees.
Al Eileh - Acapella
Eli Beer sings Al Eileh Acapella - Click the image below to watch the inspiring video.
