Apple Fair

Today I wen to an apple fair down by the famous University in Vancouver. I went with two other families because they're husbands weren't available to come and they needed another pair of hands to take care of the collective 8 kids, BY'H. It was really fun and I enjoyed tasting all the different kinds of apple that they grow in Vancouver and being out with PEOPLE and not just with my books.
One of the really interesting things about whole fair is that there are SO many different types of apples and they all taste the same. You'd think that apples are apples, how many different flavours can you really get out of apples. But here, there were TONS of different types will all different flavours.
So I started thinking 'Wow, HK'BH (G-d), it's amazing how many different types of fruit You made, but look at all of these different flavours in one fruit!'
I wanted to share that idea with you, as well as the experience. Besides for being very frightened by the mere size of the campus, and woodlands around the area, I really enjoyed the fair. I felt that it was a sort of welcoming party for fall.
I hope that you are all doing well and that school and work are going well. Keep on smiling.

Rosh Chodesh Chesvon

The time has come, it's rosh chodesh chesvon, (first day of a new month). Many people call this month 'mar chesvon' because there are not chagim during this month, were there are during tishrei and kislev, the two adjacent months to chesvon.

We also know that, in general, rosh chodesh has a special meaning for women in particular.

How can we apply this concept to ourselves?
I found a very nice article on aish called 'The Gift of the New Month.' You want a deeper explanation, she goes through it very nicely.

In short, I'd just like to say, that the moon represents the ability for renewal and rejuvenation. Similar to the concept that one must fall to get up again. Here too, one can attain a certain amount of chizuck (inspiration) from the moon as it reminds us that we can always pick ourselves up again.
This perspective is very useful as well enter Chesvon. Here, we're leaving the month or intense joy and revival, to enter a comparative dessert. What message should we take with us?

The message that we must retain as much of the spiritual elevation from tishrei as we can, an hold it for not only the next month but the next year. We will fall but we MUST get up and learn from our mistakes and put ourselves back together again, just like the moon does, and be hole.

I'm sorry that I didn't properly develop this theme. I'm tired (though that's normal and therefore no excuse) if ANYONE is confused by poor communication skills at this hour, please let me know I will take the time to clarify. Have a GREAT rosh chodesh and shabbat!

Shoresh.

Take care of the world

Although I'm tired and about to go to bed, I wanted to writing something for Leah.


We know that the world around us has been set in motion by HKB"H (G-D) as we read in the parsha (weekly Torah Portion) last week. He created everything in this world before creating humans. This has tought us that this world if for us to us and take care of. As Adam is asked to be the shomer (guard)of the garden.

How can we apply with concept to our personal lives? Well there are many ways. To name a few, one could be more environmentally friendly and reduce, reuse, and recycle. Right now, annoyingly, the city of Vancouver is under strike so there's not public recycling collection, which is making 'some people's' lives difficult. But, there are other ways to help.

Secondly, one could be kinder to the things living on this planet, with us. One could make a bracha and be mekadesh the ruchnius of every object. I could go on, but you get the message.

Lastly, I just wanted to mention something that just came to my mind about the idea of chessed (kindness) that I learned from "Ahavas Chassed." It writes that the actions that we do habitually, holding the door for the next person, helping someone pick up their spilled goods, could be come a mitzvah of chessed if we have the kavana (intention) that that's why we're doing it.

I could elaborate on this idea, but I really need to go to bed... so I'll try to pick it up later. I just wanted to write something, besides for me annoying personal updates.
Thanks again for your time. Good night/day.

Feeling On Top

B"H! (Thank G-d) I've been able to complete my homework! I still have more to do tomorrow :S, but that's always the case. I was even able to enjoy the presence of my family for two hours, and babysit for 5 hours, and still complete my hw!

B"H, my french hw and studying will be done in time for my quiz and test, this week.

Thanks for putting up with my up dates. I'll try to sit and write something inspirational really soon. Just give me some time, eh?

Have a great week, good luck to everyone in their own respective work and assignments.

All the best :D
Sarah

YES!

This is for SEP, thanks for the respective picture that you put on your blog I really liked it and now have found a cute one as well, though yours I like better!

I'm very proud of myself, I'm not listening to a shiur (class) on tefillah (prayer) and I have a great hour of learning with Mrs. M.

B"H! (thank G-d) I did a lot of hw, though I'm still confused about some of the IF function :S.


Otherwise, I"m leaping up and hoping to stay up for a little bit. I'm gonna go to sleep now and wake up early so that I can accomplish as much as possible.

So oh yeah!

I hope that everyone is having a great day! Here's other pictures that I put on my other blog Just for Fun

One check for me!

I am breathing and being productive, b'H! (Thank G-d)
I just finished my take-home midterm. YAH! I figured out that I can cut and past pieces of a pjf file onto a word document, thus allowing me to retain the over all look of the midterm that was emailed to me and still be able to answer the questions. YAH!

So now I'm going to go daven minch (pray the afternoon prayer) and then I'll attack excel and try to teach myself IFs and stuff like that.

Then, later, I'm gonna charge at my french hw, scary, and see how much I'll be able to do. B"H! (thank G-d) I have another day to do more homework! And I might not even need the whole thing, but I don't want to jinx it....

I hope you're having a great day and had a great chag (holiday) Look forward to my continuation of Crystal's Secret Adventures next sunday!

It's All going to work out.

So, this is my exam schedule for next week:

Monday -

• (canada) Thanks Giving. NO SCHOOL! means
  
• a.) homework attack, all day long.
  
• b.) babysitting at night, yes I'm crazzy.

Tuesday-

• BCAP 1200 excel practical
• Math take-home midterm due.
  

Wednesday-

• Geology Lab Exam
• English Essay due.

Thursday-

• Dictée en français.
  

Friday-

• Examen en français, unité 1 et 2.

Isn't that a great week! Well, lets just say that by the 15th I'll be one happy camper, if everything goes well and I'm able to retain my GPA.
B"H (G-d willing) everything will work out just fine. He's taken care so far and I'm sure, since I'm doing the best that I can, He'll continue in the future.

Have a great chag (holiday) Thanks for listening.

Green Is the Theme.

I'm about to go write the rough draft for my english essay, even though it's 20 to midnight. B"H, (abbreviation for hebrew saying 'G-d Willing.' the - replaces a o) I'll finish with something workable by 1 am. I really hope this goes well and that I'm able to GET TO SLEEP.

I might just post the rough draft here.

Since I've been spending ALL of my time doing homework, and not socializing, this is going to have to be my connection with other beings for the moment.

Thank you all for listening.

Oh, btw, my essay is going to define a recurrent 'green theme' that appears throughout many poems. Using quotes from the passages, themselves, and my own 'brilliant' ideas, I'll make my first totally creative college essay. Up until now they've all be RESEARCH.

Anyhoo... thank again.

A tout a` l'heure.

Just to let off some steam, after working on my math assignment for the past two hours!, I'm gonna share with you my accomplishment. Don't worry, you don't have to read or understand it, it will make me feel better though!

20a.) The student is correct to put the 3 over the hundreds place, the 1, because 7 isn’t going into 2, it’s going into 21. However, the student forgot to follow suit with the 49. 7 is not going into 4, it can’t, it’s going into 49, and should then be put over the 9, giving an answer of 307.

b.) Firstly, the student forgot to put the 2 over the 13, not just the 1, because 4 is going into 13, not 1. Additionally, 4 can go into 13 four times, to equal 12 with a remainder of 1.

50a.) 24 x 11 = 264, 14 x 11 = 154, 62 x 11 = 682. I seems that when a two digit number is multiplied by 11, the product is a thee digit number, whose first and last digit are that of the original number, and whose middle number is the sum of the first and second number.

b.) If you replace the two digit number by ab and plug it into the equation, it becomes clear why this happens, and that is holds true for any two digit number. :

A lot of the graphs wouldn't show up... so that's that. have a great chag.

Taking a Closer Look.

Today I was babysitting and the kids decided to watch this movie. Now, I don't watch movies but I had to sit there to make sure that the 'scary' parts were fast forwarded.
As it turned out, I ended up watching the whole things. I was so shocked at what I saw. Many dancing scenes involved skirts flying up to the waist, or higher, and Ms. Hanagin was so slutty she made me want to throw-up.
I found myself dreading the next scene and skip most of the movie.

This is a KID's movie. It's supposed to be nice and cute, not seductive and leg showing.

Need less to say, I left feeling gross, right now I'm still trying to get over it. I told the mother that I thought is was a bad movie and that I had to skip most of it.

So that's that, be well. Thanks for listening.

Going in the RIGHT direction.

That's right, I"m on the right road. After finally sitting down and finishing my hw, I was ready for relaxation by 10:15pm. If I would have known that it was only going to take me an hour to finish my hw... I would have started it a LOT sooner. So that's the recent update on my school overload.

Tonight, I hope, I won't go through the annoying depression again. I'll just have to sit down and ATTACK the work, get it over and done with.

Thanks SEP for being available to consult me. You really helped to put things into perspective. You rock.

Feeling Overwhelmed.

OK, so it turns out that I got a lot of non school related things down today. I got more toys for kids club over sukkout, I took a shower, I helped with the sukkah, I learned on the phone for an hour, I switched my summer and winter clouther, I changed my bed sheets, and now I'm updating my blog. But... I still have four exercises in French to do, a math journal entry, and I was hoping to get some 14th century English lit Chaucer read tonight as well.

I guess I have to a.) get cracking and b.) face reality that I'm not superwoman.
It's 9: 15pm now so I'll get going and see how far I can get.

I'm gonna try to look on the bright side a.) I still have 3 hours till I gotta be in bed, and b.) I'm not even going to THINK about the up coming chag and all the class time that I'm missing, and consequently, all the hw I'm missing as well.

We'll see how I'm doing on motzei shabbat when I'm staying up late trying MADLY to get as much work done as possible.

Until then, I'm off to complete my french exercised ( Je vais commencer mes exercices l'francais.)

Thanks for listening.

I hope all's well with you.

Have a great day/night.

Looking Back

Now that the yomim noraim are over, and the fast has been completed, what are we going to do with ourselves now? Many of us may feel a sort of floating feeling. We've just poured out hearts out to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and confessed out mistakes and errs of the past year. We've, hopefully, begged for forgiveness and promised to do our best to make the coming year more productive then the last.
But what should be our first step, or one of the first steps we take?

My Rav said a very nice speech by Neila. He mentioned that after praying a whole day in shule and privately confessing before HaShem, neila is a time to prove that prayer and confession true and show that we're reading to start anew. After spending the whole day to bedeck ourselves in new, clean, clothing, we now much change the inside to match the outside.
But neila's over. Can we still do this now? YES! We've gotten rid of our smelly, old, and stained clothing. We've adorned ourselves in fresh, trim, garments. We now have the task to look inside that match the inside to the clothing.

This is no easy task. So how can we try to accomplish it without becoming too discouraged or overwhelmed?
What should we do?
My advice is nothing you've never heard before. But as Kohelet says, nothing's new under the sun, and as the Ramchal writes in Mesilos Yesharim, it is the information that everyone knows, that everyone takes for granted and forgets. So I will now repeat the advice that had been given to me countless times.
Look inside yourself, at your characteristics and your personality. This is the thing that makes you most different from everyone else who walks upon the Earth. Search within this special part of you and try to find ONE thing that needs to be changed.
Make this thing small. Chose davening shachrit, or having kavna during birchot hashachar. It doesn't need to be about teffilla, it could be saying hi to the first 3 people you meet in a day. But make sure to chose one thing.
Then work on this thing for a month. Try to make a chart and give yourself a check at the end of the day if you've completed the task that you've set for yourself. Then, at the end of a month, see how you've done.

You may need more then a month to perfect, or get good, at this act. If so, go for it for another month. When you feel confident with your behavior in this act, add another one. Then continue with your checking chart with these two acts on it. See how you do in both of these acts after a month.

You can continue this act for the whole year. It could be that you don't get past two changes, but that's two things different in yourself from this yom kippur to the next. And that makes this year a productive year, one that HaShem will be happy to have given you.

It could be that this approach doesn't work for everyone. I don't know, it's just a suggestion.

I wish everyone a chatima tova. We should all be kaim the mitzvout of sukkout, as much as we can be as women, and be matzliach in the coming year. Let's make is worth HaShem's while, kaveiachel.

All Caught Up

B"H! After missing 1 class in three courses and 1 classes in another course, I'm all caught up in homework , exams, and assignments. I was actually very proud of myself! I studied for my french test (that was on monday) on wed. morning, saturday night, sunday night, and monday morning! Since Rosh Hashana was on wed night-friday night. and shabbat was friday night- saturday night, this was a big accomplishment, and the good grade reaped the fruits! B"H!.

Additionally, i successfully completed all math assignments (due today) and the one that's dure on thurday. Furthermore, I've gotten notes from my missed geology and math. Lastly, my computers quiz went very well today, i hope.

All in all, HaShem helped me for fulfilling His mitzvout! We'll see how i do with succout, i'm sure it will be fine as well :D

Thanks for your patience in my late posting. I hope that everyone else is having a great day as well!

Wow i haven't posted for two weeks

I'm really sorry that i've been neglecting this blog for the past two weeks. I've even had ideas about what to post but the time is what i'm lacking right now. even at this moment i should be studying french, or english, or doing my math homework.

But i felt so bad that I hadn't posted in so long, that i wanted to hay hi and apologize. I really will be running around crazy till Oct, so please bare with me.

I hope that everyone is doing well and having bit of time to breathe and reflect. I wish you well. All the best.

First day back

I"m so excited to be back at school learning things. I know that it's only been a month, but i feel happy to be back. I don't know if that's how I'll feel in a few weeks, but right now I do.

I had a great first day of class. Of course, have of my classes ended early, that was awesome, so I had a really chilled day.

The best part is that I only have one class tomorrow, my lab doesn't start till next week.

Yah!

Otherwise, I'm being good and responsible and doing my homework. I"m SURE the work load is going to pick up really quickly, especially since I"m missing so many days for the chagim, so I don't know how often I"ll be able to post later.

All the same, i hope you're doing great! Thanks for stopping by and reading this :D

Hello Everyone

I Just wanted to send a personalized hello. I hope that everyone is doing well. I know that I haven't spoken to a few of you in a LONG time, and I'm sorry. Hopefully this recording of my voice will make up for it :P

Latest Thoughts

B'h, I just came back from my chavrusa. We're touching on elul and yomim norim. The sefarim we learned from tonight are Praying with Fire and Elul (with lightening on the cover).

One of the feelings i left with the shadow of the emotion of heart break that accompanies the guilt of a wrong doing. As in, when one realizes that one's actions were wrong, and that, therefore, one had committed an act AGAINST HaShem, there is usually a feeling of guilt that quickly follows with a heart breaking realization that something must be done to rectify the wrong deed.

This is what i felt tonight.

B"h, i was able to glimpse into yom hadin and actually prepare myself and start the teshuva process. This is what elul is all about, and i think what it's supposed to be. I wanted to convey that experience with all of you in the hopes that i can ignite the same response in you as well. I pray that we'll all be able to properly, at least to some extent, prepare ourselves for the yomei hadin that are fast approaching us, even if we don't go to slichot every morning.

I was reminded tonight that I have done wrong, and, B"H, I am not a malach. I don't know why I have gone through what i have, or why others so close and dear to me have gone through hardships as well.

I don't know why the world turns the way it does, or why our gallus seems to be standing still at the moment, ch's.

I do know that i'm a bat Yisroel and a bat melech. I need to act that way CONSTANTLY and realize that in my human actions i have not only done good.

With this reminder i hope to preform accordingly.

Good night. Kol tov. Thanks for listening.

Sarah Rut

P.S (Picture Source) http://www.oldeducator.com/reminder.gif

The Start of a New Semester

I can't believe I'm starting my second year in college. Last year I was quaking at the thought of going to college and starting a the four year journey of post secondary education. B"H, i can now look back and say that one year has flown by.

With the commencement of another semester brings the rush of excitement for new classes and supplies, as well as the anxious thoughts of homework. And so, i'm looking forward to starting another year of college.

Furthermore, I'm apprehensive about the amount of 'free time' i will have, on account to a five course load of work. I ask for patiences and support as I start the new school year.

Additionally, being that the yomim tovim fall in the second, third and fourth week of September, bleeding into the first week of October, I'll have a lot of school work to make up. Therefore, I'm going to be extra busy during the month of September. Regardless, i'll try to keep posting and updating my thoughts about the chagim and such.

I want to wish everyone in college hatzlacha, and everyone not hatzlacha as well.

Stay in touch. Be well.

ants, continued

Ants

Does anyone know if regular ants can pose a hazard in a house. I don't think they're carpenter ants, just normal ants that have decided to nest in the house... well the basement.

It's coming

http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/images/rosh_chodesh_06.jpg

Rosh chodesh elul is nearly upon us. I'm not ready. Does anyone have advice as to how we can enhance this time of year and allow ourselves to grow? I'd appreciate any feedback. I wish you all well. All the best.
SRS

In the near future

I hope that this message finds you well, and that your fast was meaningful and not to straining. I will be on break for the next week and do not know if i will be able to post until the first full week of August. I want to apologize for this delay. I will try, regardless of my busy schedule, to post my daily thoughts and events. Otherwise, please stay tuned, have a great rest of Av and we should all be zochei to proper teshuva and messiach. be well

Sarah Rut

Image source: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/gallery/681/busy_receptionist.jpg

Tears I Need to Cry

Thoughts on Tisha B'Av

Overview: Book of Lamentations
All Suffering steams from one source
These articles are from Aish.com

I thought that i would share some of my thoughts as i sit on the floor on my tush, which is slowly going numb, as i attempt to attain a level of transformation on this tisha b'av:

There are a few things that come to mind, after haven read the above aritcles. Many of the things that i am about to mention are points that were taught to me at some point and time, which i am not expounding on. I want to apologize that i can not, therefore, cite properly where i heard what from.

• I believe that it is necessary to remind ourselves of the importance of unity. This is an amazing force, one which stood up against the gazera to destroy klall yisroel during the tower of bavel. Instead of destroying us, HaShem scattered us around the globe and gave us different languages to disperse the unity that was used for doing sins. But it was this unity that saved us from complete destruction.

So much more so in our time now. How many names are there for tehillim. These are names of physically, psychologically, and spiritually sick human beings who need help. How much kavana are we really devouting to the lip service that we part take in once a day? Are we thinking about the names of our brothers and sisters as they're listed quickly?

How can we better approach the situation? Why don't we chose ONE name, find out the sickness and a little details, so that we can relate to the person, and really daven for him or her. Really pour out our hearts to their recovery, weather physical or later? We have the koach, we are the children of Avraham, we have the power of dibor, we need to use this power that THINK while we speak.

That leads to number two:

• Lashon hara. I"m afraid that this term has become a often attered, hardly felt, word. Sure, now that it is tisha b'av, we ponder the meanings of our words. But for starters, do we know the halachot of shmirat halashon? Are we trying to constantly review them so that they are clear or common in our minds? How else are we to remember then if we're not constantly bring them to our attention? So what should we do?
  

It would be very benificial for one to look into one of the MANY shmirat halashon books that have been printed by the chafetz chaim heritage foundation. One of which is daily companion. These books are split up into daily lessons, allowing for the short read a day, which continue throughout the year, according to the calendar provided.

It would be in one's best interest to learn this with a chavrusa. This can help to a.) ensure that one is understanding the halacha properly by cross referencing it with the chavursa b.) allow one to help another Jew become proficient in the halachout and c.) increase clarity by unitizing two imaginations over one aspect of shimrat halashon.

• One more thing that came to mind was, the cause and affect of our own actions. The latter aritcle put suffering into a whole new prospective for me. If connected every aspect of pain the the loss of the temple, and the loss of the temple is directly the fault of each and every one of us. This equation struck home and made many questions answerable. To expound on her topic, i want to impress upon ourselves the need for responsibility.
  

This word bares great weight on anyone who is willing to shoulder it. It is a word that encompasses many different actions and thoughts. If one is responsible, then one understands that what they do affects not only themselves but others, and that harm can occur on account of themselves. This is a very hard concept to fully understand and keep in mind at all times. Every action has a reaction, if not many chain reactions. If one ditches work without informing their coworkers and employer(s), then that days shift needs to shouldered by SOMEONE and others need to work harder to keep up the same output in performance and product.So too when someone sins. There is a lacking, a void, that needs to be added equally, if not doubly or triply, to counteract and output the same spiritually that is needed to keep the world at a certain level. We are all responsible, therefore, to keep ourselves in check.

Granted, everyone sins and has set backs on the road upward, it's what is done after such set backs that makes all the difference.

Furthermore, more inline with the article, there would be no suffering if we had the bait hamigdash, for many obvious reasons. a.) would we even have sin? b.) all sad would be turned to happy. This is a wonderful thought, and one which allows us to focus our suffering on the cause and work towards that cause, the rebuilding of the bait hamigdash, for a purpose that's closer to home, our own suffering.

My Trial

Hello Nine Days, how can I use you properly?

It happens to be that this week I've experienced a rude awakening. I've needed to use a lot of personally and social strength to fight against the tide and remain on track. Even with all of these efforts, I'm not sure that success will be my outcome, though i can only hope, pray, and try harder, to see that it will be. Until then, I'd like to share my experience with you, though the details will not be disclosed as it is a personal matter.

I have had a battle of internal struggle, these are think are the most difficult kind. It was one where emotions were pulling and threatening to drown my logic and 'smarts.' It was hard to say that I truly know what to do, and how that decision would continuously affect my future decisions, but that my heart wanted to do what was wrong. I knew in my mind what was best, my intuition told me how i should act, but my heart was giving a dieing battle for what it wanted.

I must stress that the hardship was not only the internal battle but the clarity to which i KNEW what to do and the clarity to which i FELT to do the opposite. And i could see that it was bad, to follow my emotions, and that more struggle might come as a cause of it, but regardless, i was almost willing to lose myself to win my heart.

Thanks to a VERY stubborn friend who sat by me and continuously addressed the real issues, that which my head knew well, i was able, i hope, to keep on track and do what was logically and hashkafically right to do. I must thank her, it could be that through her my 'life' was saved and that much pain was lost. Thank you.

Thank you for not letting me persuade you, as i was myself, and for being the sliach to help my to stay on track :D

Today, as i walked to school, i saw that the year ahead might be more difficult then the one behind. I don't know why, but the things i feared to occur last year are happening now. I hope that they will stop or that i will regain my strength so that i am no longer tried by these issues, and therefore don't notice them anymore.

I now recite my goals to myself and remind myself of why i am here and what i really want to accomplish, i hope that with this i will be able to keep the TRUE goals in mind.

I found it 'lovely' that this test transpired during the Nine Days. I hope that, if this was a test, i won and proved my loyalty, if not then i must try all the more harder for next time.

I wish everyone hatzlacha, may we all emerge as white as snow and pure in heart.

Three Weeks

The time has come.

Am I ready?

Will I ever be ready?

Is there anything I can do

to be ready?

All of these questions are common for Elul.

But it's 'only' Av,

I tell myself.

Why am I so worried then?

Maybe because it's the three weeks and I don'e feel the connection?

I KNOW what time of year it is

and what some of the kochot are.

Yet I don't feel like I'm working hard enough

to produce the proper results.

I'll try harder

I'll ignore the distractions

and I'll focus on the task at hand.

I wish us hatzlacha.

Have a MEANINGFUL

and

PRODUCTIVE

three weeks.

You're on Stage

Imagine if you were an actor, only you had to be yourself instead of acting a different role. Granted, you'd only do things that made you look favorable. Because, after all, you're on stage and everyone can see what your doing, even if the character your playing is YOU.

Now pretend that the audience can hear your thoughts. Then what you would you do? Even in situations, that arouse on stage, that you were uncomfortable with and you therefore attempted to hide your discomfort, the audience would know what was really going on in your head.

So how would you fix this problem? Would you have to change your thoughts all together? Change you perspective so that even your thoughts were good and didn't embarrass you? You'd then need to judge everyone favorably, so that no matter what happens during the play, you see them in a positive light and your thoughts are only good and pure.

Well, it's a good thing that people can't read our minds, because if we were in that position, where is was necessary to watch what we think and how we view others then we'd have a lot of work to do.

Guess what, G-d 'hears' our thoughts. He knows what our true motives are. Now, we're not all garbage, we're upright standing Jews, and if you're reading this and know me then you one of the 10% of our nation who are doing a lot more mitzvout then the other 90% (unfortunately :-( )

But then again, being that we're part of such a small percent we carry more responsibility for our actions.

Hm..... well then. I think I've made my point pretty clear, but I'll restate it just in case.

We're on a stage. That stage is called life. During this life we encounter many people as well build ourselves and try to reach our potential. Many times, most of the times, we encounter people who are quit different from ourselves, and we therefore tend to look down on them for it. (and often, they are very similar to ourselves and we may still look down on them for it.) I think that it's a very important practice to try and look at everything positively. I know that it's hard, but it's necessary. Not only will it help to develop ourselves into better and happier ovedei HaShems, but it will help us to stop speaking lashon hara, and encourage seeing a situation in dam lecaf zechus.

May we all be zochei to have strength to realize what our hishtadlus is in every situation and the courage to fulfill it and see it through to the end. Kol Hakavod to all of you.

YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB. REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE SPECIAL AND PART OF THE 10% OF OUR NATION THAT IS SHOMER. ALL THE POWER TO YOU AND MAY YOU ONLY BE SHOWERED WITH DEW.

Go You Go

I want to wish everyone an easy fast. For most of you it's almost over though.
I wanted to take this opertunity to remind us that everything that happens to in world is a message to all of us. We should take this time look within ourselves and be honest. We need to see if there's anything that we can change about ourselves that will improve us and klall yisroel. I want to wish each and everyone of us the energy and motivation to continue to work on ourselves and be the best we can be

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO, i don't know where all of my viewers went? I feel left out. Where did everyone go? It's the summer, isn't everyone sitting in front of the computer all day? ;-P
Unfortunately, i am, though it's to type up papers and essays.
B"H i just finished half of my 10 page psych report and i feel good. I"m gonna go attack the later half, which of course might be harder then the first.
Otherwise, i wanted to wish a big mazal tov to EVERYONE. those who have just finished school, gotten engaged, had kids, gotten married, graduated, or have any other reason to be happy!
I hope to speak with some of you soon.

(P.S Leah, I'm really sorry that i never called you back.)

SLEEPPP!!!

The past two nights i have not been able to fall asleep, it's really annoying and i don't know what to do about it. I'm about to try to fall asleep again.
I've been sleeping, but i don't feel rested when i wake up.And then during the day i feel really tired. B"H i'll be able to sleep properly tonight. Sweet dreams everyone
My mother used to tell me to "dream of fields and butterflies" so i put up this picture

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He's watching

Hashem is always watching. For the good and for the bad. He loves you, make Him proud

Walk with a Smile

B'h I"m busy, with good things. It happens often, therefore, that I'm constantly thinking about this or that. Weather it's and essay that I'm working on, a phone call I need to make, or the list of homework that i want to accomplish before i head to work, I'm always deep in thought and concentrating on the inner more then the outer. Therefore, it happens that when I'm transporting from one location to the next, I wont pay proper attention to the people around me or what kind of expression I'm carying on my face.
I know that I've completely missed people's presence, consequently, or just ignored them without saying hello. B'h, this was brought to my attention on Sunday. I've, since then, tried to walk in the street with a smile, or at least smile to those that i see.
I know that there is an inyan of this in the gerama or Torah. I just wanted to remind everyone, as well as myself, that when we're walking down the street we should always great the people we know, weather it's to stop and have a conversation with them or to tell them that you're in a rush and just wanted to say, though you're sorry you don't have time to talk.
I think it's very important. A lot of people can be hurt by abrupt hellos or non at all.
I've been privileged to realize/ be reminded of this. Kol Tov

It's your turn

So, I could keep talking about the random things that come to my mind, and I probably will. But if anyone ever had anything to share, just let me know in a comment and I'll make it a post. As well, if there are topics that people find interesting that they'd like me to bring up and talk about, we could do that too. The whole point of this blog is to keep up focused on the Torah and mitzvout, now that we're no longer in-rolled in a Bais Yaakov school. We, as least I, don't have a structured learning schedule where we/I learn every day, so this is meant to keep us/ me on track as we progress through life and the year. Kol Tov. thanks

Princess of Light

That's what we are. That's our job in this world, as the daughters of Hashem, we're supposed to bring light into this world. How do we do this? By making things kadosh (ei: doing mitzvout) we elivate the physical things of this world and make them "light" and kadosh.

I just thought i'd give us all chizuck to keep doing what we are doing and making brachout and working on our middout, and being the best princesses we can be!

Parshat Shlach

Shlach (Numbers 13-15)
Of Ants and Grasshoppers
By Rabbi Aba Wagensberg

"Greetings from the holy city of Jerusalem!

In this week's portion, Moses sends spies to scout the Land of Israel, and they return with a negative report about the land. They say, "The people who live in the Land are such giants that we appeared to be like grasshoppers in their eyes!" (Numbers 13:33). Rashi explains that the Spies overheard the giants saying, "There are ants in the vineyard that look like people."

Many commentators grapple with Rashi's inconsistency in quoting the verse. If the Torah explicitly likens the Spies to grasshoppers, then Rashi should have said that the Spies overheard the giants saying, "There are grasshoppers in the vineyard," not ants!

We can offer a novel approach in understanding this apparent inconsistency based on the words of the Tiferet Shmuel (vol. II). In the Book of Proverbs (6:6), King Solomon advises the lazy person to go and observe the ant. The Midrash (Yalkut Shemoni, Proverbs 938) explains that the ant spends the entire summer gathering kernels of wheat, barley, and beans. In one anthill that was once unearthed, 300 kur - a staggering amount - of surplus grain was discovered. Yet the ant only lives for six months, during which time it is only capable of consuming a kernel and a half of wheat! Why does the ant gather vastly more food than it is capable of consuming?

According to the Midrash, the ant says to itself, "Perhaps God will decree long life for me, and I will be prepared." From here we see that the fundamental characteristic of an ant is that of preparation and saving for the future. King Solomon therefore tells the lazy person to observe the ant, so that he too can learn to prepare in this world for the Next World. This teaches us the importance of saving and preparing in this world for our eternity.

The grasshopper, however, is the antithesis of the ant. The grasshopper is related to the locust, which, instead of saving its food for the future, is constantly involved in eating, in the present. Thus, the grasshopper is symbolic of those who think only of the here and now, materialistically. This is why the verse in this week's portion refers to grasshoppers.

The spies called themselves grasshoppers! These spies were the 10 out of 12 whom the Talmud (Sotah 34a) teaches were carrying the physical fruits of the Land of Israel. Like the grasshopper, they were focused on this world - the materialistic qualities of the present.

Based on this understanding, Rashi's comment about ants does not contradict the verse in the Torah; rather, it is referring to the remaining two spies, Joshua and Calev, who the Talmud teaches were not carrying the physical fruits of the Land. Joshua and Calev were interested in how the spiritual properties of the Land of Israel could help facilitate their eternal existence.

May we all be blessed to view the world through the eyes of the ant. This will change the style of our lives into one where every act, word and thought will be performed with a consideration of our spiritual eternity. "

to expound on the message above:
i wanted to mention that as Jews we are always looking to the future, or should be. Seeing how our actions NOW will affect ourselves and others in the FUTURE. this perspective allows us to act properly, the way HaShem wants us to.

Shabbat sholm. Kol tov

It isn't always as it seems

Today in psych class, before a skit was preformed, the teacher privately gave six people individual rules that they were to preform infront of the class. Later the class rated these people and tried to pick who they were, out of a list of six disciptions. One of the categories was mentally ill. four out of six of the 'actors' had SOME votes suggesting that they were pretending to be a mentally ill person.
At the end of the skit the teacher explained that there WAS no mentally ill rule. However, when observ other people we assume that they're acting 'strange' becuase we don't know the WHOLE sitauation. We can't see into their heads and understand why there are behaving in certain ways.
This is a point that is constantly mentioned to us, that we should judge a person favourably. I wanted to repeat this fact. I wanted to remind myself and you that there are many things going on in everyone's life, just as many as are occuring during OUR life and day. We need to realize that we DON"T see the big picture and that that's OK. But, it's not a licence for us to mis judge someone negatively and think that they're "off" becuase WE don't understand why he.she. is acting that way.
Have a good night/day.

It's Raining...

I love the rain.

Tonight i was walking home from my chavursa's house, after learning and davening a nice mincha at her house, and it started a summer sprinkle.

This sprinkle made me want to sing. So i started to hum, quietly to myself, as i walked home.

Unfortunitely my house is only a ten minute walk from my chavrusa's, so the rain was short lived.

Now, as i sit here about to go to bed, i can still her the pitter patter of the rain on the side walk by my window. And i'm thinking about how wonderful rain is, and how much of a gift it is from HaShem. Instead of flooding the world with water HaShem all at the same time, He gives us little showers.

So too, instead of punishing us all at once He gives us little zaps. anyhoo. i'm falling asleep...