cool pic

3D chalk art, nice how they make the frog pop out

more of these here

Light up the nights

Happy Chanukah

Like the small group of Chamona'im(maccabees) defeated the huge Greek army, this shows us that anything is possible.

In the Chanuka story, there was a spiritual threat to us from the Greeks; Jews physically fought for what they believe in. Yes, some went astray, but some stuck to their heritage.

In the Purim story, there was a physical threat to us from Haman. The Jews fasted and prayed and did teshuva and survived.

Sometimes we need action, sometimes prayer. In general though, they are both important.

During those times

Message inspired by a situation I read about

Sometimes things are very hard.

We feel discouraged

and wonder why this?

We don't know.

During those times,

our challenge is to hold on

and look towards

the light at the end of the tunnel.

Things might take time,

but with hope and faith,

the hardship i s alleviated,

at least a little.

When you overcome it,

you find yourself stronger than before.

It's very hard sometimes.

But we can do something

positive, and maybe help others

in the same boat.

Cute cartoon

Saw this on the cool Jew site and wanted to share it.

It's so true, lol

keep going

Inspired by my own personal experience



They thought that they had improved
in this area, this middah(trait).
And they were glad about
their improvement.
Then they relapsed a little
and someone criticized them about it.
They felt down and felt they only hear
criticism and not acknowledgment.
Their friend gave them some
acknowledgement also, but the
criticism still stung.
What do you expect, for me to be
Perfect? The person thought and asked.
The friend answered, no you don't have
to be perfect.
It's natural to fall back sometimes.
We just need to continue making effort
and go forward.
---



Because of my experience, I felt discouraged. I've tried to improve my temper, and have succeeded many times, BH. But once in a while I relapse. I'm not a praise junky, but a little acknowledgment of my improvement is nice and lets me know I can succeed. Later though, I realized that even if I'm not acknowledged or just receive a little of it, I should still work on myself because it's the right thing to do. Plus, in truth, every effort counts towards reaching my potential.

music

nice vid Shlomo Katz at a concert

Grand Cayon from plane

While on a plane, I tried to take a couple pics of the Grand Canyon

The pics are not perfect but still nice

Here's some closer pics on google images of it click here

musical stairs

The pink sun

These are a couple of pics that I took as the sun was setting and looked very colorful. It actually looked darker in person.
I was thinking, I have to take a picture.

Importance of knowing why

Many are taught what to do in regards to our tradition, and we know different infomation about it. - Sometimes we feel it inside, and other times we don't. What helps us to continue it is to know 'why', then we understand the importance of doing what we are taught. Here's the basics to help encourage us

First, lets look what happens with our actions and behaviors. We know our actions have an impact on the world. But besides having a physical impact, they also have a spiritual impact, in which we either bring down good or bad energy, depending on whether we do mitzvos or aveiros. It is our choice what we do. Everyone does both of them. We all have ups and downs. What people need to do is pause and think about what effect a certain action might have, whether the action is between person and person, or one between person and G-d.

Besides that, it also effects our neshama. Our neshama needs food just like our body. Thus we have Torah and mitzvos. It's our source of nourishment and connects us to Hashem. We might not feel it sometimes, and it might just feel like rituals. That's why it helps to learn the meaning of a mitzvah, and try to do the mitzvah with joy. With continuous effort and time, the feeling inside will grow.

Finally, we should remember that it is our obligation to uphold the laws, traditions, ethics and values that we Jews are meant to keep, ever since that everlasting promise at Mount Sinai.

If you want more info you can ask and read here or ask someone in person

rhetorical questions

Recently I had an exam in this class, psychology of marketing. At the end of the exam, there were a couple of questions that were not related to the exam. The teacher justed wanted to know our viewpoint.
They are the kind of thought provoking questions inwhich the answer is subjective.

The first one was, 'if an author writes on a certain page that this page is blank, is the page still blank or not?'

The second one was about how do you prove to yourself whether you are dreaming or awake?

These remind me of that rhetorical question that many have heard, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?'' To me, this is not a good example. If you think about it, the sound waves are still there, whether someone is there or not. It doesn't disappear because nobody is there to listen. That's my thought anyhow

shalom