cheshvan 5770

Boy, what a busy month. b"H we had a baby boy a month ago. You all remember the blog post about my zada? b"H i was zocheh to naming our son for him, Eliyahu Mordechai.

Other things: soon you'll all be able to read Galia's latest message in English. It's being edited... I discovered something about myself. Ben and Daniel arouse in me yiras Hashem (fear of Heaven) and Galia arouses in me ahavas Hashem (love of Hashem). That's why they go hand in hand.

Here's an interesting link to check out: http://hosem.gotdns.com/Banned-UN-Watch-Speech.html

and something else that sure raises eyebrows:

"*Special Edition
November 2009 Cheshvan 5770*
*Fight New $750 US Tax - Stop it Now*

*
AACI has learned that the new Health Care Reform Bill as proposed by the US
Senate contains a $750 per year Excise Tax per person for all US Citizens
living outside the US.*

The proposed law requires all US citizens regardless of country of residence
to buy into one of the proposed US insurance plans or pay $750 per person
per year Health Insurance Excise Tax.

The proposed US insurance plans will not cover medical expenses outside the
US.
This will force us to pay for health insurance we cannot use.

A similar Health Care Bill has already been passed by the US House of
Representatives. However, in that bill, all US citizens residing abroad are
exempt from the Excise Tax. Unless we are exempted by *both* the House
bill *and *the Senate bill, we could be taxed when the two bills are merged.

The Senate is currently debating its bill and is close to bringing to that
bill to a vote. We need to urge our Senators to exempt us from the Excise
Tax in their bill.

*AND we need to act NOW!*

Click here <http://www.aaci.org.il/articlenav.php?id=163> for a sample
letter which you can personalize.

To register your opposition, you must FAX your objections whether using the
attached letter or one of your own making. Emailing does not have the same
impact. When you FAX a letter, the letter is immediately seen and counted.
Be sure to sign it and give your Israeli Address. This validates the FAX.

To help you, AACI is providing you with a link to the names and fax numbers
of every US Senator.

AACI urges every US citizen to contact their two US Senators and voice their
opposition to this Excise Tax for US citizens residing abroad.

*We can make our voices heard!*

Click here<http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm>for
address information on your representative."

American Jews, things really are getting worse. Please read the signs and spare yourselves tzaar.

a gut chodesh to you all!

Rosh Hashanah in Uman!

For all those that saw the post on Dreaming of Moshiach about Rav Berland shlita, I must emphasize that my cousin who is one of his students from many many years said Rav Berland DID NOT tell his followers not to buy tickets. Also, Rav Brody emphasized that the opposite is true, the followers including one of his greatest - Rabbi Arush have all bought tickets. Uman is not something to put off until something actually happens. Even if the war were to break out right before Rosh Hashanah, just the fact that a person buys a ticket to go to the tzaddik is a tremendous thing for that person and his family. In any case, I still believe that no one will tell us exactly when the Geula is coming, so we have to live normally until then.
I wish you all a very meaningful, teshuva'dik chodesh Elul!

Scandals left and right

Well, we'll see what this turns into...
let me go back a bit. I rode on the 40 bus in J-lem today, a mehadrin bus in Ramot. The women sit in the back and the men in the front. A group of secular Jews got on. Not the usual thing for Ramot daled - a totally charedi area. 2 young guys came to the back of the bus. an elderly woman told them in Hebrew that its a mehadrin bus but they ignored her. I thought perhaps they were American tourists, so I told them in English. They ignored me, said, "Bla bla" and proceeded to sit behind me in the back.
Then I noticed they were part of a bigger group of women and men and the rest of the group sat in the front - including the immodestly dressed women. NO one said a word to them. Maybe this time it was just as well. A woman sitting near me kept hinting out loud how she was sure they were journalists trying to start a scandal, and she used the filming one of the men in the front did to back up her claims. I told her I want to be "dan le kaf zechus" and I wasn't so sure she was right.

But then, lo and behold, at the second to the last stop, the bus almost empty, one woman came to the back and asked the woman sitting in front of me what her opinion was of the mehadrin set up. "Isn't it crowded for you back here?"
"Oh, no, it's very nice." replied the religious woman.
The woman admitted they were journalists.

I couldn't keep quiet any longer. Hashem was giving me a chance to stick up and speak up.
"We are all very happy in our community about this set up. We LIKE it. We don't feel like the women are being degraded, this is what we want. And we want mutual respect from the seculars. We have maybe 3-5 mehadrin busses - let us have our peace..., give us at least that." i lectured a bit, but with a friendly smile.

After I got up to get off I added, "you know, when a person does teshuva and becomes charedi, he does it not in order to be a radical, anti-everything, etc. he does it because he loves Hashem and wants to follow Hashem."
"Thank you. Shana tova." she bid me.
"Shana tova" i bid her.

Let's see what they publish in the paper. Not a one charedi said a word to them, much less did anything violent, as they longed for. Hashem help us.

yetzer hara growing or dying?

Well, on the one hand, the evil inclination is dying in the sense that it knows that the upcoming Geula, beezras Hashem means its final death. But I feel like the yetzer hara is very differen form a human. When a human is dying, he is usually very weak, too weak to do very much of anything.
Contrarily the yetzer hara seems to be strengthening.
All of a sudden certain middos we thought we worked on, seem to be causing us problems, maybe even more than before. The temptaion for worldy and materialistic things seems to have grown. Suddenly things that never really interested us before, seem to be winking at us now. I don't know if anyh of you noticed this, but maybe its a good idea to. I find myself haivng to remind myself constantly that the yetzer hara is playing out its final show and trying to do the best show its ever done before. It seems to be testing us now to see who will give up their very difficult battle now right before the Geula and scream, "encore!" or who will hold out.

The autistics once said (as is written in the mekoros) that right before the end of this world Hashem will shake the rope so hard to see who will stubbornly hold on and who will give up. I can really feel that rope shaking. SO many tests and trials now. People are going through so much sadness, troubles, illnesses and pain. And somehow, the gashmi world of the Olam Hazeh does its best to offer medicine and therapy. And some things look so inviting and are so convincing its hard to resist.

I just want to give strength to those experiencing these battles and say, "I really do know what you're going through. I am going through the same. We are in this together."
But beyond that, let's not fight this alone. One of the biggest yetzer haras now is solitude. Everyone is afraid he will be let down and hurt by others they prefer to just be in this alone. But lets fight that. Lets get groups going - support, tehillim groups, lessons together, whatever. We need to strengthen each other now and fight for Hashem together. Just as an army knows they are in it together for better and for worse, fighting for the same cause, and that strengthens them and helps them win the opposing sign, so must we now gather together as much as possible. go to your friends, neighbors, family, anyone, strengthen them and give chizuk to each other. Let's unite! no one has to go through this battle alone! ther are more of us out there - you know who you are. Fighting the yetzer hara, fighting to bring Moshiach already. You can do this online in a group (i can help and join), you can do it in your area wherever you are.

Most of all, keep the simcha going!

Recommended for all Jewish Women

Gut voch to you all!

I came across a series of books, written by the healer, "Miriam Millhauser Castle". The first book is called, "Inner Torah". I found it very important and beneficial to read because although many of us want to do the will of Hashem, we want to be good Jews, good wives and good mothers, sometimes the road to were we are going is paved with rough and sharp stones that cause us to stumble and despair time and again. Times like this can be very building or destructive.
If we had a way to deal with these times, each time, calmly, empathetically, we would be able to overcome them and learn how to glide easier over the sharp stones on the road, or even sometimes how to maneuver ourselves to be able to steer ourselves around the stones instead of right into them.

I found that the Inner Torah book series is a gift from Hashem to help us get to where we are going. Give it a try, what can you lose?

Be happy and keep smiling! Don't give up now, ladies...