Let it snow ;-)

I was going to post pictures of snow in vancouver cause it's snowing here in Nov! it's crazzy. anyhoo that's all for now

snowed in

HI everyone. the reason i haven't been writing for a while is becuase the computers at my school don't like this site and have cookies problems every time i log in. which means i have to go to the public library to access it, which i don't go to very often and when i do only have an hour at most on line that i use for otherthings. Anyway so that's why i haven't been posting.

Yira in the right place

I was just thinking about the fact that we don't have enough yirat shamayim. Many times a robber may hide from police but when no one's looking he'll do what ever he pleases. This a very unhealthy manner of Behaviour. Mostly because the person will continue to do things that are forbidden for a reason. This reason is usually that it's not good for the person. Such actions can have negative results that are only perceived in the long run. There are spiritual repricautions for actions whether we like or understand it. We need to keep check that we're not doing embarrassing things in private. There actions are relative to the person in question. Next time I do something I need to ask myself if I'd be doing so with my Rav or Ima standing enfront of me. This way we can fulfill a very important mitzvah to constantly be aware of haShem and His presence in our life. As we develop this 'talent' we can start substituting the mentor figure with the rightful one, haShem. I hope this message serves as chizuck to all those reading, keep up the great work!

Take it to Heart

Many times a week or day we'll get lil' messages from HaShem that something's not right. These can be as small as a paper cut or as big as a flood in the basement.

( Well it's all on your preseption.)

We tend to ignore the 'meanings' or implied reasons behind these events.

I see them as hints, lil' pushes from HaShem telling me to smarten up and get something right. It could be an atitude change or charater reassestment?

I don't know.

I DO know that i have to change something.

I'm being sent a message that i need to be bette, more improved.

Anyhooo, I'm rambling right now.

You get the point.

We're all here to improve anyway, don't wait for something big to do so,

it might be too late?

To My readers:

I must thank those who read and comment on what's written in my blog.

It's very hard for me to know if i should continue to post on this blog and put energy into it's up keeping. Besides for helping myself i hope to help others.

So please, when you visit leav a comment, and insight, and make that lets me know you where here. I have been known to post comments so don't be shy.

Thank you for your input.

Enjoy the blog

Just a Reminder

Those who haven't guessed or don't know, I go to a non-Jewish college. In an atempt to stay sain, and frum for that matter, during my degree period I have set up this blog. The point is to remind me what life's all about. When surrounded by goyim all the time it can get a lil' hard to keep focus and priority.

I've reciently realized that a constant check on what you're doing and why is very nessecary to ensure your continued treck on the right path. I suggest and few points to be constantly aware of. These are not my own. I have absorbed them after many years of Jewish education, as well as pure experience. Enjoy!

1.- Remember WHO runs the world. It's NOT money, corporates, or anything else but HaShem. He can do what ever He sees fit to help you out and make sure you're doing fine.

2.- Why are you doing this? What is your goal in the long run? Where do you want to be in 5-10 yrs?

3.- Is what you're doing really gonna help you get there?

4.- When's the last time you ask a Rav for advice, or Rebbitzon? Make sure to be in constant contact with daat torah!

5.- Don't stress too much! You can't help anyone if you're not peachy.

That's all for now. I needed the reminders and thought you might too? Who knows? Have a great week- chodesh tov!

.........???

Ma rabu ma'asecha HaShem!As i'm learning in bio...

there are so many different, let alone thousands, of molecules and macromolecules in matter. HaShem takes great care and 'time', if we can say He's run by such, to organize and run the world! Aswell, He pays attention to YOU!
breathe taking
NO more words
ignore the rainbow please. Just do teshuva instead
Fall is coming, don't go dwon with it. Hold onto what you got from the chagim and work your way UP! remember and review what we were tought last year at this time.

Umm...

I don't have words to describ the emotions that pushed me to chose these pictures, orto spell that word wonrg for that matter. but here they are: Our life support IS from a greater power- HaShem!
NO words*
tech is pretty cool eh!
Where'd the land go?
Yes we are being watched.

Tack what you will from this.

it's been a while so i guess i have a duty to folfill:

It's choel moed and i wouldn't even guess it. By the looks of my surroundings, the only thing happening is midterms and papers due.

Should I step out, step back, and take a look?

I can't forget what time of year it is of appear, once again, unprepaired for the chag on shabbat. What'e fast approaching and soon to end? Why am i looking forward to next weekend, when Ill have time to do homoework on sunday, instead of focusing on this time now?

What is simchat torah all about? and shmini atzeret anyway?

I was searching through aish.com and found this:

by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
God adds a special day at the end of Sukkot, a day of great intimacy with our Creator, as He asks His Jewish children to remain with him for extra personal time together.
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Imagine you throw a huge party and invite everyone you know. But this is no "regular" party: It's one solid week of food, music and fun. Eventually things wind down and people begin to leave. As the host, you quietly go over to a few of your best friends and whisper: "Stick around after everyone else leaves -- that's when I'm breaking out the good stuff."
Each year God has a weeklong celebration called "Sukkot." In ancient times in Jerusalem, the service in the Holy Temple during the week of Sukkot featured a total of 70 bull offerings. This, the Talmud explains, corresponds to each of the 70 nations of the world. The Temple was not just for Jews. When King Solomon built the Temple, he specifically asked God to heed the prayer of non-Jews who comes to the Temple (1-Kings 8:41-43). And the prophet Isaiah refers to the Temple as a "House for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7).
The Temple was the universal center of spirituality, a concentrated point where God-consciousness filtered down into the world. In fact, the Talmud says that if the Romans would have realized how much benefit they themselves were getting from the Temple, they never would have destroyed it!
And then, at the end of Sukkot, God added a special day. It's called Shmini Atzeret, literally the "Eighth Day of Assembly". On that day, only one bull was offered -- representing the Jewish people. It is a day of great intimacy with our Creator, as He asks His Jewish children to remain with him for extra personal time together. (Talmud - Sukkot 55b)
Shmini Atzeret is a full public holiday, as described in Leviticus 23:36. Even though it immediately follows the seven-day Sukkot festival and is often considered part of Sukkot, it is, in fact, a separate holiday. This means that the She'hechiyanu blessing is recited, and the obligation to sit in the Sukkah does not apply.
TAPESTRY OF SEVENS
Nachmanides (12th century Spain) explains a beautiful kabbalistic concept: Seven is the number of the natural world. There are seven days in the week, seven notes on the musical scale and seven directions (left, right, up, down, forward, back and center). "Seven" -- represented by the seven days of Sukkot -- is the world of nature. "Eight" -- represented by Shmini Atzeret -- is that which is beyond nature.
The Jewish people, says the Talmud, are beyond nature. We have survived every imaginable persecution, exile, hardship and expulsion. And still, we have achieved and thrived far beyond our numbers. As Mark Twain wrote: "All things remain mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
The "secret," as we know, is the special gift that God gave to the Jewish people: The Torah. As Rabbi Emanuel Feldman writes:
"Torah is the mysterious bridge which connects the Jew and God, across which they interact and communicate, and by means of which God fulfills His covenant with His people to sustain them and protect them."
Therefore it is no coincidence that on Shmini Atzeret we also celebrate the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. This event is lovingly referred to as "Simchat Torah," literally "Rejoicing of the Torah." (Outside of Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated the day after Shmini Atzeret.)
Why are we accustomed to both finish and re-start the reading of the Torah on the same day? The Sages explain: "To show that the Torah is beloved to us like a new object and not like an old command which a person no longer treasures. Since it is brand new to us, we all run to greet it." We sing and dance for hours around the bima (the platform where the Torah is read), carry the Torah Scroll, and express our joy at having the opportunity to come so close to God.
On Shmini Atzeret, as we complete this holiday season, we offer a special prayer to God for rain. Rain represents the blessings of growth and abundance. Through all the hard work of Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, we have come a long way. Our task now is to carry that energy throughout the year.

So basically what i got out of it was that there we have just gone through a very intimite time where our relationship with G-d has been strengthened and hightened, i hope. and we have been previliged, with the start of rosh hashana, to pass undder HIS judgment and still come out with life and a favorable mazal, b'h. and if we did our job properly, we are now given a clean slat where was can persue all the lost desires of pervious spiritual hights.

(i'm in a rush to clas so excuse my spelling and gramar)

But it is soon all to end and we will enter the void where we dont see another chag for over a month, almost two. here HaShem grabs onto to us and holds us tight, allowing us to bask in His radiance once more before we feel stripped.

He cries to us to stay close to Him of our own doing and free will when we don't have the chagim. and stick to out promises of bettering ourselves.

In doing that we will prove to HIm that we're trying, still, very hard to be with Him and close even when it's not easy and we're byt eh goyim.

and that's why we have shmini azertet.

it's not sukkout anymore but Hashem is still giving us taht last chance to grabe on.

only the most elite are invited to the party, only klall yisroel, not the goyim.

we must savor this time and grow, once again, closer and stronger in our connection and devoution to Hashem, even when we're going to college and just want our weekends back to do homeowork.

don't lose your priorities, keep them clear as you imbark alone away

FOOD!!!!

SO...

today we're all obstaning from food. Why? Is it to retain the, some what, gloreous figure we once held before Rosh Hashana?
I don't think so.
As for me, i think that it's a good opertunity to actualize all the 'promises' we made over the past month. Espeacially over the past two days, we've been telling G-d that we're sorry, i hope, and that we are going to try our BEST to NOT repeat our ofenses. An then we're thrown into a fast day. We are given the opertunity to stop and think about what we've commited ourselves to.
Today are we going to try to daven with a wee bit more kavana? Are we going to be a lil' nicer to our parent(s) and sibling(s)? You don't have to tell me the answers to these questions, just think them to yourselves.
For me this fast as been an extra reminder that i'm different then the people around me. Right now i'm sitting in college, not wanting to be here, and hungrey. But the fast day is giving me a constant awarness that i have higher priorities that are above my school work. They are what i 'owe' to G-d and i must deliver them. I can't be late. I have one week to perfect myself or at least atempt to make that my goal for the up coming year.
This monday is going to repreasent my monday's for the reast of the year.... How am i gonna use it? How are YOU gonna use it as well?
Chag Samayach.

(Inspiration from a friend, one word, sapling, thank you:)
Day in, day out, we struggle with out 'scheduels' and atempt to remain calm and sane as the day wares on.... We see the challenges ahead of us and try our best to confront the challenge with strength and vigure. We fail to realize that all along, some one is watching. And no i'm not referring to the 'one above ( and inside for that matter) who is always there, though this is true, i'm hinting to all passer-byers, i have no idea how to spell that word.
All the positive things we do in our day are seen by random ppl whom HaShem want's to witness our deeds. Through these 'encounters' we inspire and spread kadosha, as ppl reflect on their own lives when watching how we run ours.
And thus sprout saplings along our journey through life and this long road where we walk. If WE look back many times we don't see the trail of enfluence we've left behind, there are MANY 'baby trees' growing along the way.
I hope this makes sense to you because it's really late and i'm not trying to hard to translate this from my thoughts to words....
regardless, my point is that a;) above and b') we need to stop focusing on what other ppl are doing wrong. it's hard enough to fix ourselves we can't possibly have enough energy to do the world as well. So as long as we're trying ourbest to be the best ppl we can and serve G-d in the best way ppl will see that and feel our confedence and strength in what we believ in and know and do. and that way we will change the world, one encounter at a time. the chafetz chaim tried to change the world, but it was too hard then he tried to change his communtiy and failed as well, next his family but that too..... finally her 'resorted' to change himself and now he's changed the world!!!
Please translate my wrods properly and hear what i'm trying to say- do'nt get discouraged that everyone's watching and all is lost, my point is to stop judging other unfavoribly and just concentrate on being the best person you can be....
that's it for now- thanks for listening, this is for you Elese- i have no clue how to spell your name. and thanks Devo

Again, the following was a comment a very good friend of mine wrote- i thought is was 'worthy' enough to be posted for all to see

"Also, just a short vort I heard from R' Feigenbaum, for Rosh Hashanna. Everyone now, in the time before Rosh Hashanna takes on new things. On the contrary, instead of taking on something new which we may or may not hold to, take something you've been doing since you were two years old and be mechazek THEM. We can keep on taking on new things till we're blue in the face, but there's so much to improve that we've been doing all our lives. Take a simple thing like saying modeh ani and AS SOON as you open your eyes say it. There is always room for improvement on things that we just do by rote. THis vort comes around every year, but it's always good to have that reminder. Ksimah v'chasima tova!

Warning

Warning, I'm starting college next week and things might get a lil' crazzy so if i don't post again until next sunday, i'm sorry. But you've been warned. Though i'm sure i'll have to post on funny stories, college comes with those.

If we take the time to stop and look around us we'll get all the reminding needed. As you know, we're fastly approaching Rosh Hashana. And after then, b'h, when we've been sucessfully ma'amlich HaShem, we face our last chance to plead for mercy, yom Kipor.

We all have crazzy busy lives. b'h only busy with the right things. Hopfully we'l use our time to learn, serve, and reconsider the things we've grown a-habit to saying and doing. Now is our time to 'knock' on HaShem's door and plead for His assistance. We MUST reconsider our behaviour.

Every morning and night the sunrise reminds us of WHO runs this world. The splendar in the sight, the colours involved, informs us that there are no limitations for the infinite 'being' we know as HaShem. If HE deems something nesseccary, it will happenWe can't be made to believ and except this world to run in the ways of 'nature.' If i have a degree i get a job.... if i invest in the stocks i'll make money... and so on. We must have a level of understanding and plain bitachon that it will always work out. We do our best with the situations we're put in and try. We can only leav the rest to HaShem b/c it's all in His control anyway! He's caring our load for us. We should realize this. and Sigh with relief when we've done our best. B/c there's nothing else that we can do.
Now is our time to show our creature and 'master' that we're faithful servants. Though we've strayed, even a lil', over the past year, we are looking to return and improve ourself. We know it takes time and mayn even be painful. For characteristics are the hardest things to change about ourselves. They may seem part of out 'nature' but they must be refined and re-chanelled! Life is here for us to untilize our potention and be the best you , that you can be. There is only one you in this world- only you can complete your mission, you must. Or the world will lake for eternity!

the moon is a glorious thing. it shows us the way in the dark. Reminding us that there's nothing to be afraid of. Exept G-d of coarse

starting 'again'

Even when we fall our greatest triumph is to get up again. It's always a possibility.!

Keep your focus onthe road ahead. Many times the path may seem to stray, so make sure that you're walking on one ladden with footsteps. There are MANY before you who have walked this road, some only for a short period of time, but many have crossed it at least once. So don't think that you're alone. Or crazzy, as long as your goals are clear and you know where your going. You'll be fine, make sure yo have someone who know's your goals to check in with. Many times we think we're going up but we're in vertigo- we're going down. Or we think that we've completely fallen, but those steps backward help us to leap forward.
What ever happens don't give up!

We need to stop comparing ourselved to others as a means to stop our own growth. When looking around us we can become discouraged very easily. Everyone else seems to be lush, green, and sprouting new life. Yet us??? we seem, to ourselves, to remain barren and unprotected. As brittle as a twig.

We need to find the strength inside us, which is already there, and use it to reach for the sky. Look heaven ward and ask yourself why the sky IS the limit? we can soar higher then imaginable if we only take one step at a time. If we jump we might fall, but if we go in a slow but steady pace, we insure that our support is there, for each pace we walk forward is being held by the one we perviously walked.

I hope this make some sence, for in my mind it's crystal clear, please take my words in the right way. Use them to grow. Don't listen to the yetzar hara, do stop. for life is here to be difficult, we only need to do the best we can, the rest is rain.

To My Loyal Readers Whom I Didn't Know Where There

I owe you an apology....
I haven't posted in a very long time, being that school is starting next week i've been very busy organizing classes and books, and making money to , b'h, pay for everything. Upon request and reminder, i well, bli'n, be posting some of my thoughts help us stay intouch with the calendar around us.... stay tuned

Mazal Tov

MAZAL TOV Chana Tova and Binyamin!