G'mar Chatimah Tovah

Wishing everyone a good gebentche yor. A year filled with health, wealth and time to enjoy it. A year where we will have good positive energy which will enable us to be good friends, siblings, parents, teachers...together with our loved ones. A year with less suffering, more shidduchim and more precious healthy children born. A year of safety for our chayalim and chayalot...and for Artzeinu Hakedoshah...A year where H.K.B.H. answers all of our prayers and all of the prayers of Am Yisrael L'tovah. A year which which will bring the geulah shleimah.

Shavuah Tov!

Happy Fourth Of July

Birkat Hachamah - AKA Slumdog Millionaire

This morning after almost no sleep my family woke up to daven vatikin and then to do Birkat Hachamah together with our shul. After Shacharit the kehillah proceeded outdoors and it was too cloudy to see the sun. They decided to walk a bit to see if they could see it in a more open area. As they turned towards my corner I made a silent T'fillah that my house should serve as the conduit for this holy unusual mitzvah. Lo and behold when they reached my front lawn we were able to see the sun! As everyone sang "karah lashemesh vayizrach or" happy tears streamed down my face. While the whole world is trying to remember where they were twenty-eight years ago, and where IY"H they will be twenty-eight years from now, I would like to propose that everyone focus on the miracle of where they are RIGHT NOW, and all of the good that HKBH bestows on us daily. It occurred to me this morning that twenty eight is the numerical value of "koach" as in koach ugvurah natan bahem...may it be thy will that we all have koach to do the ratzon of Ha-shem and that we are blessed with health and happiness. Chag Kasher V'sameach to all.

My Daughter Karen Is Engaged!

Karen with her new chattan Dovie









A new phase of life has begun! I am thrilled that my daughter has met her chattan in Israel! As I continue to cry at various moments I remind myself that these are tears of joy. Karen and her wonderful chattan live in Israel and I am still living in galut. But even though I wasn't at her vort tonight in Israel I have immense pride and joy that her aliyah is now reaching a new level.





The cookies that Karen's future in-laws put out at the party in their honor.







Here are the words that I wrote that were read at the engagement party by my sister for me.

Michael and I would like to thank Sharon and Chaim for hosting this engagement party and Judy, Shira and Sharona who are the best sisters anyone could have! Though it is hard to not be at this simcha tonight, we take enormous pleasure in knowing that Dovie and Karen have found each other and that they are so happy together.

My Grandmother on my mother’s side used to always quote the gemara that says that finding your bashert is as hard as kriat yam suf. B.H. Karen, together with the help of Nomi and Avishai and the KBH you have found your special zivug.

Karen, you have always followed your dreams and done what you feel is right in life. Even at a very young age you were always able to pick the best chevra in every class and become friends with amazing people. You knew early on that you would make aliya and you followed your dreams without ever looking back. Even at times when things were a bit tough and I would ask you if maybe you wanted to return for a couple of years you wouldn’t even think of it as an option. When I asked you if you were coming home in the summer about a year ago you said “Ima I am home.” Karen you are right – you are in your home and now B.H. you are on the way together with Dovie to building your own home within your larger home. Abba and I both met Dovie on separate occasions and we both agreed that he is a wonderful ben Torah and a perfect complement to you. We couldn’t be happier. This coming week’s Parshiot complete B’nei Yisrael’s building the mishkan. How appropriate that this is the time that you are building your own mikdash me’at together with Dovie!

Mishenichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha….Karen and Dovie you have both found true simcha this Adar and Abba and I just want to give you both a bracha from the depths of our hearts that the simcha that you feel now should continue and multiply throughout your lives together and that you should be zochim to build a bayit neeman b’yisrael!!!!! We love you!

P.S. Tzipporah and Yonah can’t wait to meet you Dovie!




Karen with her two brothers who are in Israel with her.

P'nei Shabbat N'Kablah

Wow! It's amazing how Shabbat can make you feel better both physically and emotionally. I went into Shabbat not feeling well, not even wanting to go to shul Friday night where my shul was hosting Yisroel Williger and Rabbi Eliyahu Bergstein for a Carlbach Shabbat replete with Friday night meal and then a Tisch. I literally had to force myself to get dressed and go to my seat for Kabbalat Shabbat. With tears in my eyes, pain in my throat (physical) and heart (emotional) I was glad that someone had forgotten to turn on the lights in my section. I allowed a few tears to fall - happy that no one could see me as I didn't want to invade their beautiful happy personal space. Then slowly it happened. Shabbat, the davening the essense of our beautiful shul, my religion and all the good that I do have began to take over. My mood began its transformation. When my Rabbi later spoke of the power of Shabbos and then the guest Rabbi spoke of P'nei Shabbos N'kablah I truly understood and internalized what they were saying. In a nutshell...this is only a fraction of it...we know that we are married to Shabbos...we know that every night of sheva brachot we need panim chadashot except for Shabbos. Most say that that is because Shabbos (or HKBH) is the panim chadashot. The new idea that struck me though is that if we don't let Shabbos slide by then EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US get our own panim chadashot on Shabbos. That is what we say in L'cha Dodi...P'nei Shabbat N'kablah. I feel lucky for all the good that HKBH has bestowed upon me. Now that Shabbos is over I hope that I can hold those great feelings and let them spill into the chol...and IY"H by Wed. night I will feel healthier and be ready to get onto that El Al plane and to fly to my favorite place in the world. Hoping that everyone else was transformed on Shabbos and that this week will be a good one for you, your loved ones and all of klal yisrael...Shavuah Tov and Gut Vuch.

Simple Truths

As I get older there are certain things that have become obvious to me.
1. The more you pray for others the more HKBH answers your prayers.
2. The more that you allow HKBH to control your life the more in control you become.
3. The more you go to shul and surround yourself by the inspiration of good people (especially good divrei Torah) the more fulfilled you become.
4. The more you control the little things the more the big things fall into place.
5. The more you focus on the positive the more positive there will be.
6. The more you believe in HKBH first and yourself second the happier you will be.

I heard a DT by a colleague and friend which she heard from Sarah Yocheved Rigler. The root hod (hey, vav, daled)is found right in the name Yehudi! This emphasizes the concept of Jews being a nation of people who understand the importance and intrinsic value of hakarat hatov. I loved this so much that I gave it over to my preschool children. I wrote the word Yehudi on a dry erase board highlighting the three middle letters hod in red and leaving the others black. As I was showing them this and talking two things dawned on me. First and foremost...I didn't want them to think that I was implying that non-Jews couldn't have this wonderful middah as well. Then it hit me as a wow! The two letters left in black the book-end were two yuds. That was my answer! For a yehudi the hakarat hatov is encompassed by a life surrounded by HKBH and all that that entails. In fact, if you allow HKBH to be the book ends of your life then you will be thankful because it is intrinsic to your name, fiber and very being. Shavuah Tov and Gut vuch!

Kol D'Asah HKBH L'tav Hu

My son gave over a d'var torah last night that really resonated for me. So simple, so beautiful, so true. I mentioned that this week was the yahrzeit of Reb Shlomo ZTZ'L. So he told a dt that he had heard last year at our shul's Carlbach Shabbaton. He heard it from Rabbi Twerski. In the Shma HKBH is mentioned by both Ha-Shem and Elo-keinu signifying both Rachmim and Din. It seems strange that in the pasuk that is declaring G-d's oneness that he should be referred to by two different names/attributes. The answer that was given is that rachmim and din ARE indeed one. Even when HKBH deals with us in what we call middat hadin in reality it's not...we just can't see it! There are so many examples of terrible things that happen to us. Years later, we realize that these things were indeed rachamim, we just thought they were din.