FOODS THAT CAUSE YOU GREATNESS

The day after The USA Thanksgiving Holiday, a day with leftovers of foods in your fridge, a lot of foods for creative recipes to cook--putting the leftovers into a pie, to make the crust of the pie like a "pot pie" and to spread the turkey pieces into this crust and to cook it. To make what is called a "stuffing hash" to add eggs to the stuffing and they become a quiche, or as called a "hash."

Finding a large soup kettle and adding together all the turkey meats with veggies to cook a soup of all the Thanksgiving foods leftovers, even to add the turkey neck-bone, something in the soup to slurp, to chew and nibble the meats off the bones.

Turkey sandwiches? My advice is to yes, add the meats to bread, but subtract one piece of bread, to have an "open-faced" sandwich, to not overdo the breads so to not raise your triglyceride levels with breads that convert to sugars when digesting in the body.

Green lettuce and tomatoes? My advice is one can never overdo the greens! Lots of lettuce and the deeper the green color the better, but what on tomatoes? Tomatoes are enticing in their bright red color, but they are considered a "spicy" food and they create the reflux heartburn indigestion in your stomach that wakes you up at night with a full throat of upward moving acid and all you can do is try to swallow it down. Better to avoid the tomatoes and use cucumbers instead. Cucumbers sliced thinly with the peel of chewy tougher skin removed, cucs sprinkled with a tasty vinaigrette dressing, cucs too in a smaller size as pickles.

Kosher pickles? Or Polish pickles? Sometimes one has a choice! A full jar of these pickles of natural green veggies with added spices to tickle your throat with this pickle, a tickle of a pickle! If one has this choice, whether to choose a GREAT Kosher pickle vs. a mediocre Polish pickle, to always choose the greater of the two, and in this way to have a "GREAT" day!

FEEDING THE POOR ON THANKSGIVING

People in chronic body pain, elders, sick, disabled, people using wheelchairs, people without a leg or legs, enduring pain as a constant companion, a body that hurts and does not stop hurting, a desire to walk but you only have one leg.

Complaints by these people to their doctors, doctors who have no miracle cures, pain medicine swallowed like chocolate flavored candy M&Ms, not healing, just aggravating the condition as these medicines lower body temperatures and make the body a place for infection to invade.

People with pain in their feet, feet being bound in cloth wrappings, a foot that cannot move in a special foot boot, a person who hobbles, a foot that is dragged along. A crutch to lean on instead of your leg, your leg then becoming weaker and weaker without use.

People on the winter Holidays who are told to enjoy them, but they are enduring physical pain and so enjoyment only comes when the pain decreases or lets up. A smile on someone's face that is actually a cringe from a sharp pain, a smile in reaction to this nerve stimulation.

Charity opportunities for these "smiling" people, a place to give, a place to fund another crutch for another person who hobbles. This winter Holiday season, to keep these people in your constant prayers and to give them something when what you own is two and can give away one.

A cold winter ahead for the poor who have no homes. A season to find these people and provide for them, to be a winter holiday season where everyone is happy and can enjoy it.

THE VIRTUES OF PATIENCE AND WAITING

Having the virtues of patience, a self-imposed constraint on the fulfillment of your desires, to wait for them, to wait and to wait and to wait...

To not always desire an immediacy of someone's services to you, to wait patiently each morning for the sun to rise, and not to rush this sunrise; to wait patiently each evening for the sun to set, and not to rush this sunset.

And then, gloriously, as you successfully exercised your patience, you see this sunset/sunrise in all its purple, pink and blue gloriousness! An ability to contemplate on the fluffiness and freedom of each colorful cloud you see in the sky. To appreciate this awesomeness even more because you waited for it and in waiting you EARNED this experience to have this beauty in the sky to be pleasing just for you!

To cook and to wait for a piece of meat to become either rare/medium/or well done. The passionate cooking fires that spit and lick the meat in the red hotness of its rising flames that each get hotter and hotter! Taking carefully measured time to cook the meat to its best delectableness and roasted perfectly to meet the expectations of your tastes, to wait and then to eat and to curb your appetite so you hunger no more.

We are waiting, we continue to wait, we are waiting on a reply to our emails, we are waiting on a kind word, we are waiting to see the happy faces of our loved ones.

We are waiting and waiting, and waiting for our favorite foods to go "on sale" in the grocery stores as we wait in the long lines at these stores for the cashier. We wait at pharmacies and we wait in doctors' offices, tapping our feet to our inner music as we wait.

The most ultimate of all our waiting is our waiting for The Coming of The Messiah!

To wait, to be patient, to be satisfied after waiting, to have all our needs met sooner or later, (but the sooner the better!)

70 DIFFERENT WAYS TO SAY NO

How to say "NO" and get someone to properly respond to you and to follow, to obey your wishes, to listen to your command. How to prevent someone from walking all over you and smashing you down into a splotch on the ground.

70 different ways to say "NO" like there are 70 faces (or opinions) to interpret the teachings of The Torah.

To be like a mule, a mule who has a mind of his own; to be a goat, a goat with a mind of his own; to not be pushed or pulled like a "Push-me Pull-you" creature that has no control over his actions other than to let others be the ones to control him.

To politely say "NO THANK YOU" sometimes works and sometimes it does not. It all depends on how polite is the person who is trying to sway you, to get you to perform the action he wants you to do, but that you do not want to do.

"TAKE A BUS, GUS" is another way to respond, using the fight/flight reaction that is given to you in your body through the secretion of the hormone Cortisol from the adrenal glands. But, before you let it get that far, to must use "flight" as a choice to avoid discomfort; to instead be firm, stand your ground, dig your heels deeply into the Earth (that is YOUR Earth too). You have this human right to be where you want to be, and to do what you want to do, or think what you want to think, no matter where is your location or who is the one trying to control you.

To be polite, conditionally, and to simply "opt out". To check this "opt out" box on your form, to be the one who decides if you want to opt out or not, and not let others be the ones to make this choice for you, especially if the choice they make is against your will.

To participate when and where you want to, with whom you want to, at your G-D given choice.

To say "NO" and to mean it and to get results!

IS HONESTY ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY?

Lying to keep the peace, telling someone an untruth when his knowing the actual truth could hurt him, an untruth being told to preserve someone's health, to help and not hurt someone.

To keep someone "In The Dark" because if he knows this truthfulness of  this "Light" he will not benefit, he actually could be burned by the intensity of this truth.

There once in Greek Mythology was a Father named Daedalus and his son named Icarus. Daedalus was flying in the sky as these gods were able to do, and his son, who was following him decided to fly too close to the sun and his wings melted and his entire body burned up. A myth, yes, an untruth, yes, but a fable to know that could help you to save your own life, as you do not fly too close to the sun and find out a truth that could hurt you not help you.

The truth of a situation could be disabling to one's happiness as you find out that your hero is not ethical after all, or you find out that someone you love does not love you.

When Abraham said his wife Sarah was not his wife but his sister, he lied, and told this untruth to save his life and also the life of his wife Sarah. When Jacob lied to his Father Isaac and told him he actually was his brother Esau and not Jacob at all, Jacob was able to use this lie, this untruth, to become blessed by his Father. He was more qualified than his brother Esau to use this blessing to benefit the world.

Sometimes, as we call it: "A White Lie" is better than truth that is the color Black. 

LOOKING FOR GOD IN YOUR BACKYARD

Looking for G-D? Where to find G-D, how to feel Him, where to look, how to feel G-D's holiness?

You feel G-D's love in your love for others. To have compassion for those who struggle, to bond with the motherless, fatherless, widow, orphan and stranger. To feel the plight of the poor as you fast on Jewish fast days, to hire the poor who are unemployed, to show someone how to feel the peace you feel from your worship of The Sovereign.

To take someone under your wing, to be the Mother bird to feed its young. To have a commitment to this Mother bird, her teachings as being the teachings of your study of The Torah.

To open the Ark cabinet where The Torah is hidden. To keep up your dedication to the Torah Commandments, to be the drummer in your own band, but as an individual who is part of a group. To have a commitment to the sustenance of this group as well as to your own individual needs. To be sure of yourself and not to sway with the breeze of everyone's passing, to be firm on your feet, to know the tune of your song.

The chirping of the birds are their cries of their hunger for foods. The birds being hungry and calling for their Mothers to hear them, to put a worm or a seed into their mouths.

The bird then flying away from its nest, no longer a baby, learning to feed itself as well as feeding its own young.

Feeling the presence of The Lord, however you want to, not being without holiness or goodness, to feel G-D as goodness, to know what goodness is and to feel this goodness in everything and everywhere.

To know that if The Torah says "G-D Created Light" and The Torah says "Light Is Good" then this is knowledge we can count on. Not to be like a palm tree that sways in the wind dropping its coconuts on the ground below where they just rot.

To be firm, in your Jewish roots and Jewish training and to crack your own coconut and to eat its good white meat and drink its milk.

A Tree of Life, firmly rooted, self-sustaining, a tree taller than all the other trees in the forest, a tree with a mind of its own that provides its fruit for others to eat.

THE PURENESS AND HOLINESS OF CLEAN MOUTHS AND WORDS

Like a camel in a desert packed up high on his back with supplies, to have pockets in your pants loaded up like this camel's back, but not traveling in Jordan, instead traveling in Israel upon a camel to the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

In your pockets to have a toothbrush and toothpaste. What!!! Why a toothbrush and toothpaste??

The toothbrush being a red, white, and blue toothbrush to represent the Nation of the United States of America, having our flag in those colors. To have a clean feeling in your mouth as you speak cleanly about our Great Nation.

The toothbrush in your pocket in a brilliant sky blue toothbrush case, an Israeli flag blue, in your pocket to protect your toothbrush, a sturdy completely blue case that opens and closes, a shape like a bar or tube, like the tube we as Jews use to hold our "Yads" which are pen-like pointers we use to follow the Hebrew print as we read The Torah. A toothbrush case like a case of our Yad.

A tube of toothpaste to fit in your pocket as a companion to your toothbrush, a toothbrush married to its case, a toothbrush with a mate, a friend, a tube of Aim Toothpaste that is in a pure white colored tube but the actual toothpaste being again, this holy sky blue, the blue of the Israeli flag, and the paste tasting so fresh and so delicious!

Temptation in your pocket to brush your teeth with this blue paste and to use a patriotic toothbrush in a holy blue bar-shaped long, firm and sturdy, protective plastic case, a case that opens and closes at your command.

To be holy, and to not touch these items in our pockets, as we do not touch the tzitzit of our Tallit Katans or Tallit Prayer Shawls, but to know that we always have this cleanness in our pockets, so we can always be clean in our teeth and in our mouth and our words and speech; being clean people then, like our teeth.

To use clean teeth and refreshing breath without tooth decay to pray our holy Hebrew songs to The ONE TRUE ALMIGHTY G-D.

To have inherited clean white teeth like the teeth of our Jewish Parent(s) and to be proud of our Parent(s) and proud of our teeth and proud of our cleanliness, purity, and holiness as Israelites.

GOD IS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU

Do you wish that there is someone, a human to take the place of The Almighty G-D in your life? This is impossible.

To want a human with human fault and inherent error, to take the place of the holy G-D in your life is unrealistic and puts undo demands on others and will ultimately always lead to disappointment.

People are not like G-D, they cannot "be there for you" like G-D The Almighty is able to do. People have imperfections. To instead of trying to get a human to "be there for you" to be the human who is there for them. But not unrealistically, all you can do is to give it a try and to ask forgiveness when you fail someone. To let someone know that it is all in G-D's Power, in His hands, not yours, to depend on G-D's perfection and not on a human's.

But to know that even G-D is not perfect. But, He is more perfect than a human and more perfect than an Angel, but even G-D can error.

Depending on G-D instead of the frailty of humans to meet your needs. To talk to G-D, to personally have Him in dialogue conversation with you, especially when your IPhone needs charging, or it gets disconnected because you did not pay the bill.

A constant "connection" with the Divine, more dependable than any other connection, better than a phone, or Internet email connection, or postal letters.

Never forget each morning to awaken and say "Hello" to The ONE True Almighty G-D, because it is G-D Who is the ONE Who is "there for you."

THE HOLINESS OF WATCHING A FOOTBALL GAME

How to be a giant??? How not to be a grasshopper, even though grasshoppers are good, they are Kosher foods. To become instead of a grasshopper, to become a giant! A giant as big as a NY Giant Football Player!!!

To have good ethics as you watch these Football Games on TV or on your video player online, not  instead watching dirty porno.

To see good men who wear tight WHITE clean pants with Israeli holy blue football jerseys. Watching these white pants with muscles protruding as they shake and shimmy to make a TOUCHDOWN!!!

Not to worry or fret about these gorgeous men you love to be in danger, they wear helmets to protect their glorious heads. Not to worry about feeding them. Their bodies well-trained, in shape, in constant everyday exercise and they are eating well.

The hands and arms of the referees in an upward swing!!! As they touch the Throne of G-D in the blue skies and blow their whistles with wholesome wind in their lungs! Raising THE TORAH scroll high into the skies!

Whistles with pursed healthy lips like a SHOFAR blown in holiness of THE L-RD to awaken you and to bring your body and mind stimulation, a good feeling in your body, not breaking any Commandments of The Torah to feel good.

To watch these glorious "fighters" but not as boxers who bruise each other, instead to be a holy minyan of Football Players to delight and dance to your fancy, to wet your body with the sweat of their hard-working brows, all in clean fun.

Footballs no longer made out of pig skin, footballs we can touch and hold like soft babies in our clean washed hands.

Football, a clean game, a clean sport, a holy sport, an inclusive sport for all to see on TV. TVs sold in all stores accessible to everyone.

Football, a clean holy inclusive game for ALL: Men, Women, and Children.

THE DIRECT EXPERIENCE OF FEELING YAH IN A SUNSET

The place of no images, no lifeless reproductions in photographs that try to take the place of real live people with warm skin to touch and words they can whisper into your ears.

Not to use a photographic image as a replacement for the real thing. To not hide behind a camera lens that separates you from actual eye to eye contact with the greatness of a blue sky, to see these pink colors too in a sky when you look to the East towards Jerusalem, this pink color as representative of the rights given to women in the Israeli Constitution for Jewish women to pray equally at the Kotel: The Wailing Wall, with the men.

This pink color in the East not coloring a pink to be a picture, but actually coloring your own brain and mind, and heart, a pink color instead of using a photo.

Having had a true experience directly with this Havdalah pink color in the skies of a sunset as it floated over a lake, a Great Lake, The Great Lake Michigan, that is a place for everyone to swim, and a place for all to see this sunset, this pinkish sky, to look to the East, the holy East, where we can bow to our ancestors and to do the worship of Yah, our G-D Who is a G-D for both men and women, and children.

A LIFE WITHOUT ADDICTIONS, HAPPINESS THAT IS REAL

What to think if you share with someone a difficulty you have faced and how you overcame it, and the person who you told this to responds with sorrow for you and says dishonestly that he has no problems at all? How can we believe someone who consistently denies having everyday problems that happen to everyone, and how can we believe someone who says they never have a problem?

Washing away every problem with a drink of red wine, flushing it all away as you sip red wine that becomes your problem, in addition to these everyday problems you are having but say you are not having.

To endanger your kidneys and liver, so all your everyday problems go away, but now what you have is Fatty Liver Disease and Kidney Disease instead of an admittance to normal everyday problems. Sipping this wine and forgetting all bad occurrences, getting dizzy in the brain to chase away these everyday problems that happen to you, as to everyone else, just so you can lie and say "You do not have any problems!"

Having an inability to feel compassion for those who trust you with their life's trials and tribulations, red wine coloring your spectacles rose-colored, so you cannot feel the plight of another and therefore cannot help others when they need you and come to you for your help and affection.

Aggressiveness, fits of uncontrollable anger, as a result of too much red wine! An inability to concentrate, your blood as red as this red wine, bleeding everyday like everyone else, but laughing in a drunken state while bleeding.

Warming yourself, heating up your fires, fires of anger and fires of passion. Losing good heartedness as you lose concern for your problems as well as concern for the problems of others.

Laughing instead at someone's problems because they are their problems and not yours. Not being happy for other's when they have happiness, instead to be happy if someone has troubles, the red wine being the cause of your hatred as it alters the state of your brain and emotions.

To have the greatness to be free of an addiction to the chemicals in liquor that are the cause of this hatred, anger, and unhappiness from poor health that will be your condition in the long run.

Having a healthy liver and kidneys, and a healthy attitude of life, to be able to be there for others, not to laugh or make fun of other's problems, not to make light of someone else's plight.

To have a smile that is real, and not caused by addiction or drunkenness. To be blessed with having true honest happiness, that comes to you because of your acts of loving-kindness, not from your drinking of red wine from the bottle.

Finding an old wine bottle in the lake with a message inside that reads: "DO NOT DRINK."

To then be able to throw a full bottle of red wine back into the lake, so it drowns itself and does not drown you.

RAISING CHILDREN AS DOCTORS INSTEAD OF JANITORS

Raising children, is there more to it than changing their diapers?

To love your child, to guide him, to have high expectations of your children, to bestow upon them your encouragement to succeed their parents' achievements.

To be there for them and to nurture and believe in them. To not be their judge, instead to be their motivator. To let them know when they error and do wrong. To tell them what you expect of them is to reach their highest potential, encouraging them to strive higher than you did.

To encourage a child to do better, to know more. To be a leader to your child, to have footsteps that are good enough for them to walk in. To teach your children not to hate but to forgive. To not harbor your children's bad experiences but to teach your child to overcome them, to put them behind him.

To be slow to anger, to not in a fit of anger teach your child to respond to obstacles with such anger, but to show them how to be influential, diplomatic, and to use justice in their dealings as you study it in The Talmud and then they study it.

To love your child but not with a smothering suffocating love, to encourage your children's social abilities with others not to be just under your wing exclusively, to allow them to soar like the birds and to hover like the Angels.

To teach your children of the Commandments of The Torah. To not get pregnant and not have children at all if these are functions you cannot perform.

Loving your kids, means more than putting their food on their table, watching instead your own p's and q's so your child has a good example in you that they can follow.

NURTURING FROM THE HOLY JEWISH SPIRITS ON SUKKOT

To not expect or solicit kind words from others as your encouragement to make it through each day. To not expect a parent or sibling to show you respect or boost your morale. Instead of relying on a brother when you are in dire need of feeling the approval of others, rely instead on a friend. A person who has no blood ties and is not in a competition with you to be the first one or the best one or to be Mommy's "little girl." Not to ask a family member for support when they themselves are dried out and burnt out. To not be the one to be in need of their "unconditional" love that you are dependent on, and you continue to ask for it, but then, find that the wells are dry.

Look instead to G-D to be the One to supply you with what you need and require for your daily support, and not be dependent on support from a mortal who errors and who cannot give you what you need.

Petition G-D in a personal prayer, just from you to Him, and ask Him to fulfill your needs, to even go beyond fulfilling your needs and to even fulfill your most earnest desires. To not depend on mortals who have not the power or ability to be there for you, to look to G-D instead Who is everywhere, His goodness being just a smile away, instead of asking for your cup to be filled, to use G-D's love to fill the cup of your neighbor's whose cup is empty. Not needing them to thank you for your mitzvoth instead to give anonymously so only G-D is the One Who knows that you have given generously, not to embarrass those who receive your charity.

After asking G-D to be there for you and to sustain your efforts with His constant strength and kindness, and to receive His love, as His beloved one, to feel His presence in your environment wherever you happen to be.

To love the color GOLD and to then see this color in the trees in your back or front yard, to be supplied with so much gold as it is the color of every one of thousands of leaves on these trees, to turn each golden leaf into a spirit as it then falls from these trees, and to honor these spirits in these leaves as being symbols of the holy spirits of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. To then add your own deceased family relatives to this list of spirits with whom you can connect.

To soon be in a Sukkah on the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot and each day of this Holiday to welcome another holy spirit of the Prophets and Prophetesses with your personal family members into this Sukkah with you to be in a place of richness, even though just in a hut, to be in this poor hut called a Sukkah but to be surrounded with the emotional richness of the constant love of those who mean the most to you, to be always nurtured by the greatest of spirits from The Torah and by your deceased family, to be surrounded in this Sukkah by your true friends.

To have this love and nurturing on this Jewish Holiday of Sukkot as you attract those who love you and those who you love.

A BODY THAT TURNS HEADS

Gaining/losing pounds around your midriff, peeling off pounds one at a time, one day at a time, turning around at the waist, wasted calories not heat or energy around your waist.

Climbing up upon a standing weight scale once a month, watching the pounds drip off like water after a bath, feeling your once-too-tight pants bagging in the back, pulling up trousers as they fall, tightening a belt buckle on a closer notch, summertime's around the corner, bathing beauties of muscles not fat.

Avoiding that extra chocolate chip cookie, removing one piece of bread from your sandwich, scraping off the jelly eating only the peanut butter. Choosing leafy greens over pizza slices, craving salads instead of cakes.

The numbers going down, losing a few pounds consistently every month. Exercising everyday with long walks, playing basketball, tossing a Frisbee to a dog in the park, climbing up the ladder of a children's slide to enjoy sliding down as does your kid.

Feeling a bitter cold blast of wind that causes you torque as you fight against it, using more energy, using more calories, a body that fights the life of a sluggard, feeling your high boots getting tighter as your leg calf muscles get firmer.

Feet that can carry you everywhere, not to be dependent upon a car or sleigh or boat, to beat the heat in long steady strides of strong legs, to feel then as if in flight, to be as light as the feather from a bird falling from the sky.

Having a body of which you are proud, a body that shows off your work in the gym, a body that craves and eats holy green foods, to shun the afternoon snack, to be in control of your hunger cravings and to be the one in control of snack urges.

Sipping that extra glass of pure filtered drinking water instead of popping a chocolate candy. Filling up with liquid hydration instead of loaves of bread.

Not to be called a glutton, avoiding being a pig as you also never eat pork. Being the one to open your mouth or to not, to tell your teeth to or to not take a bite.

Earning their second look as you pass them by with a body like a magnet that attracts all eyes. A body with grace and good looks, the sleekness of a cheetah, the strength of a bull. A body with a mind to match, good looks and good thoughts, a winner of prizes in every contest.

Having everything it takes, and putting it all to good use. Body, mind, head and heart. All perfectly balancing with the ease of a stork who rests on one leg. Being the great Huron who then flies away with the fish in its mouth, never to be without the bait that wins the fish.

THE HOLINESS OF THE JEWISH FAST OF GEDALIAH

Weakness in your body, depleted of foods and drinks, not anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions, not cleaning one's hands or teeth, giving it up to feel total weakness as a means to not feed the fuels of anger.

Anger dissipating with the shortness of fingernails, the absence of sharp nails, becoming naturally weaponless, hunger shrinking the size of your stomach.

The body not pumping up with fuel, foods being fuels like charcoal or gasoline, feeling the joy of an empty plate, a plate without taste, a plate without fuels that feed the intensity of your hatreds and thus putting out your fires.

Fires being put out with an absence of strength, not to keep them fueled.

Feeling thirstiness but not giving in to your desires to drink. Keeping a parched tongue so you do not lash it out to say something that will later cause you tears. A tongue that sticks to the roof of your mouth, weak and limp, not to chatter, not to gossip, not to slip and incriminate yourself or anyone else, a tongue that craves water but is not satiated, a tongue to keep in your mouth, to bite it, to gird it, to put it in a muzzle, not to use it as a weapon.

Fasting for a reason, to commemorate a great Jewish leader Gedaliah who was murdered in cold blood. To not have the strength of body to nurture anger against his murderer, instead as you grieve the loss of your body's strengths, to feel grief, sadness, because of our loss of the great life as our leader of the Jewish people. A sadness against those who nurture anger and use it for war instead of to create peace, the loss of a life of a great leader.

A Jewish Fast to keep your body still and your mind inactive, not to fuel fires, but to feel tears, to feel a body that cannot fight, so this sadness causes you peace.

To taste a tasteless tongue in your mouth that is dry and keeping a quiet mouth, with quiet tears, a time to feel an ache in your gut as it is not fed food, to feel this absence of anger as your hunger instead takes you to a place of grief.

A feeling of no arrogance, you are another hungry person in an unemployment line, a stomach that is not fed, not pumping yourself up with unnatural confidence, having a stomach like all other stomachs of all people everywhere that needs food to fill it. Being one of many with an empty stomach leaning on one leg, feeling the weakness of the other leg.

Having weakness, not hating, not in a fight, an absence of a fighting rage, a time to reflect on the plight of those who never have food, to feel compassion for those who must fast everyday.

Walking slowly kicking stones, as the weakness of your body gives you an appreciation for this day of peace, no aggression, not even to whisper a word of anger, no strength in your speech. Feeling your parched tongue, not having a forked tongue, not using a fork to lift food into your mouth. An absence of food, an absence of words.

Loving your fellow, being in forgiveness of those who try to destroy your peace, not having the strength to lift a finger against them, no calories of heat in your stomach. Forgiveness of the wicked as a result of fasting, to then be in a place of no wickedness because it hurts you not. G-D as your shield against all punches.

Like a balloon filled up and then pricked and letting out your air, not being pumped up with anger and false pride, not to boast and not to brag, merging with those around you who are hungry too and not satiated, shrinking the size of your big head with a pin to pop it, as you then get off your high horse and see things as they really are, not to be in a place of looking at reality through rose-colored spectacles.

Seeing the reality of the murder of a Jewish leader and the reality of the Lamentations of Zion with Yom Kippur soon to be here, to be in a place to cry for your family who were victims of pogroms and the Holocaust, to use this Fast Day to change your attitudes and use your life to change hatred into love. Being one who feeds the poor as you feel their hunger in your own gut.

Begging G-D to heal the sicknesses of the world and to feed those who hunger and fast everyday because of a lack of the same opportunities of those who enjoy richness.

FOLLOWING YOUR MIND, NOT YOUR HEART

In life, do we follow the desires of our heart and do what we "WANT" to do, or do we follow our intellect and mind and do what is instructed for us to do as it says in print in The Torah as our guide for good ethics?

If we see a fruit pie and it looks enticing and delicious, do we eat seven fruit pies because it is our desire or "want" to do this? Or do we follow the rules against gluttony as listed in our Holy Books?

If we are hurt by someone who abuses us physically or mentally, do we murder this person because we "want" revenge, or do we follow the Commandment in The Torah that instructs us not to murder?

If we see our neighbors just bought a new car, a beautiful expensive brand new vehicle, and has it parked in their driveway next to yours, do we then covet this new car? Do we covet because we "want" this car for our own? Do we then steal this car because we want to own it ourselves? Do we follow our heart and break good ethics listed in The Torah because we follow our heart losing control of our mind, instead giving in to our desires?

If The Torah commands us not to drink alcoholic beverages, do we instead drink ourselves into oblivion and even then drive a car and become the reason for a car accident and for the deaths of those who you hit with your car? Or do we follow our mind and good sense, our brain, and know that we cannot drink and drive, not only because it is the law, but because it is wrong ethically. We especially should not drink specifically because The Torah tells us not to drink.

So, if we all did what we "want" to do, instead of following government laws and Torah Commandments, we would be living in a Libertarian Society, a society with no rules to follow. Is a society without rules to follow more desirable than a society with rules?

If you become a victim of theft, breaking rules no longer seems so desirable. Instead you wish everyone would follow rules, so you would not have stolen property.

Do we do what we want to do? Do we follow someone's teachings if they instruct us to break The Torah and to do what we want to do instead of what must do? Do we follow what The Torah tells us to do?

Explicitly, YES. We follow the teachings as printed in The Torah at all times! We follow the specific Torah version of our chosen Jewish denomination as it is a choice which denomination you follow, you make this choice and you stick to the rules as printed in The Torah of your choice.

In The Proverbs, King Solomon tells us that "We are smarter than our elders because we follow our Lord's precepts."

Be the good example of righteousness for your elders and children and contemporaries, walk in the footsteps of The Lord following the intellect of your head, brain, and mind, and never giving in instead to the cravings and wants of your heart if they take you away from Torah.

GIVE OF YOURSELF TO ANOTHER WHO NEEDS YOU

To have an attitude of sharing, sharing what you have with others. If you have lots of stuff, to share it with those who do not, if you know something others do not, to share this information you have with another to better their lives, yes, if we eat from the Tree of Knowledge we can no longer stay in The Garden of Eden, so is it actually better if we do not know? To "know" is the verb of the noun of Knowledge, to give someone information, knowledge, that would better not worsen their lives.

To share what you have, if you have enough food for two, to keep one plate and give the second plate to someone else. If you have two coins, give one away and keep one for yourself.

The Law is to give 10% of your income away to the poor. And to leave the fallen grapes on the ground in the vineyard for the poor to pick them up and receive them. To keep 1/10 of your farmland field for the poor so they have this land where food is grown just for them.

If what you have is money coming in, to donate this money as charity instead of hoarding it all to yourself. Not to live your life as a greedy miser who gives nothing he has to anyone. If you receive more than you need, to give this excess to someone who has received nothing. When you are counting your coins, to give some away.

Picking a good cause and donating to this cause.

Giving away what you have to someone who does not have it, and doing this anonymously to not receive a reward for yourself, to show someone compassion and not to do it with selfish intent, to give away more than 10%, to give of yourself to another who would benefit.

To give understanding, compassion, unconditional love, and loving-kindness, in addition to more than the 10% to someone who could grow like a green plant and then be of a benefit to the world.

To plant a seed, water it, and then harvest the food, to then have lots of food with lots of love.

THE DON'TS OF GOSSIPING AND SLANDERING

To keep your positive focus, intentions and centeredness, it is imperative to bite your tongue and not to allow yourself the evil intention to gossip about others or to slander them in writing on paper in print.

Not to do damage like Miriam the Prophetess when she spoke ill to everyone indiscriminately about her brother Moses, instead of going directly to Moses about her problem with him, she went to others and talked of her problem with him, this is called "gossiping." The result of her unholy actions was that G-D struck her dead with the illness of leprosy.

It was a family concern that Miriam had with Moses. Moses left his wife Tzipporah high and dry to be a single Mom, and this distressed Miriam because Tzipporah was Miriam's sister-in-law. But instead of going to Moses with her concern for the welfare and future of Tzipporah and Moses's role as Father of Tzipporah's child, Miriam went to outside sources to complain about Moses and to ruin his reputation.

Lesson to be learned: Do not go to anyone on the outside if you are having a problem with another individual, especially if that person is family, instead go directly to that person who you have the problem with only, and talk to him/her about your concerns. This is the only way the problem can be solved. Introducing a third person into the problem, whether or not it is kept "confidential" will not solve the problem. Being forthright and direct, bold and honest in your dealings with others is of extreme importance. Problems could be imagined and created where there originally were no problems if a third person is introduced into the situation.

To solve your problems with other people, give them the respect of letting them know you care about your relationship with them and want to improve the relationship so there would not be a problem, do not talk to other people about them, do no gossiping or slandering of them behind their backs.

MOTHER NATURE IS THE SHEKINAH

Who really is this entity that is given the name "Mother Nature"? This feminine name that was given to our lands, seas, and skies, is yes, indeed a Mother of sorts, She has her origins in what we use is the name of G-D as SHEKINAH, Who is the female version of G-D.

G-D as Shekinah containing characteristics of both the feminine and the masculine, so She was given this female name of Shekinah to represent the feminine aspects of G-D, Her job in the world as a "Mother" of nature, The Creator as a "Mother" with a womb from which everything in the world came forth as Her creation, Her children, the creations of G-D.

So, as a "Mother Nature" or specifically as a Mother of Nature, Who instead we will call "The Shekinah," our G-D as a Mother is present in all natural surroundings, She is there with us as we walk on a beach of a lake, as we see live fish swimming in this lake as being "nature," the living animals that use the lake as its home, are Her children.

No, we cannot worship a tree as an idol, instead of the Shekinah, calling a tree a symbol of Mother Nature. Instead we can view this tree as being the source of the wood that is used to create a Torah scroll, its function being holy in this way. We do not call the lands, seas, and skies a fictitious "Mother Nature." Instead when we are present in natural surroundings, it is the Shekinah Who is present. We see Her as G-D everywhere.

She created all the trees and all the lakes, all the blue skies, Shekinah, our female Mother G-D is real, She is present in all nature, She is The Creator of nature. We can see Her in everything, not just solely in a tree.

When two Jewish people meet and converse, when two Jews correspond and connect, it is then that the Shekinah becomes present. She is a force that unites the Jewish people, whatever their denomination: Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform.

It is The Shekinah Who appears with Her loving arms in a warm cozy hug around two Jews as they relate. This hugging of these Jews in Her gentle arms brings Her love into the relationship, as The Shekinah She appears as the holiness of the love that is felt between two Jews.

Mother Nature, yes, is really The Shekinah, and The Shekinah is the G-D of all people of all religions, the female aspect of The Lord.

A HEBREW MOTHER EMAH AND A FATHER AV

 

Having a relationship in your life to a Hebrew Mother, as we say in the Hebrew language, the Hebrew transliteration of the word Mother being EMAH.

To have EMAH floating in and out of your mind, like waves of water on a beach, Emah, Emah, Emah, using the long E sound same as in the name Elizabeth and Emanuel, having an Emah with her husband your Father Emanuel and given a name at birth Elizabeth that begins like Emah and Emanuel with a long E sound.

The letter "E" that begins Emah ends with Mah. as in English we say our Mothers are our Mahs. This M sound in Emah that is the sound a baby makes when suckling "M" Milk from her "M"other's breasts and the Milk being yummy as we say MMMMMMMmmmmm... good!

Sitting on a couch in the living room with a large window across from your Emah who is sitting in a blue upholstered chair across from you in a front room that used to have a window facing east, but this window was destroyed. There is no more eastern contact from any religion in this room as the G-D in that room died with the passing of Av, the husband of EMAH, the Hebrew word for Father being Av. Av also being the month on the lunar calendar of when our Father Av died, having the yarzeit date of Av 13.

But as his daughter like a ghost in the night, Elizabeth travels from room to room in that house, a  house that used to have no easterly direction, but now does, softly padding her bare feet on the living room carpet, showering in the shower in the basement very early in the morning, hygienically swishing tastefully with Listerine, listening to boom-box music in the basement bedroom, being again in that house with her Hebrew Mother Emah, suckling on "M"ilk but not "M"ixing it with "M"eat.

Being in constant "M"editation, whispering to oneself the Hebrew word for Mother which is EMAH over and over in your mind as a "M"antra, sitting up restfully and respectfully in an upright position on the living room couch in a living room across from her EMAH sitting in a chair feeling the warmth of sunshine from the window, being in total calm, as EMAH flows like warm water turning into warm Milk, a baby who was born with a full head of beautiful black curly hair, unmatched, suckling this EMAH Mother's Milk and getting Stronger and Stronger with every Swallow.

A Hebrew EMAH who nurtured her child Elizabeth to be the best person she could possibly be, a child "E"lizabeth, the daughter of "E"mah and "E"manuel, who grew up into womanhood after receiving The Priestly Blessing from a Rabbi, and she then became BATYAH, The Daughter of G-D.

THE HOLINESS OF PREDICTABILITY IN A WORLD OF CHANGES

To have a consistency in your life, having contact at the same times with the same people, to have people who give you a consistency of care, to be in the same places at the same times on the same days.

To have a life of predictability, to not have an exposure to an upset in life of not having what you need when you need it. To not be hungry without an option to eat, to not be thirsty without an option to drink. To not depend on someone for encouragement in your life's endeavors and then to not receive this flow of consistency that you count on.

To have ten Jews regularly attending Jewish morning worship minyans, to not have a lack of ten so to be able always to have enough members to recite The Kaddish for your deceased loved ones.

To have this unfortunate circumstance of losing a loved one to death, but to have this predictability of being able to pray to G-D for them with the love of the other Jews in your minyan that provide you with care and concern.

To therefore feel the love of the Jewish religion as your wounds are dressed, as you wear a tefillin around your left arm like a bandage and so to be able to go on, to continue living, without those loved ones who were important in your life but who are now deceased.

To see the same trees in your yard, but to see the leaves turning colors from green to gold as the autumn months represent this change to us that there is change in our lives, a topsy turnover to our routines, that green turns colors but becomes gold. That these changes we have in our lives, like the losing of a loved one to death, is like green becoming gold. The loss of our loved ones is hurtful to our emotions and is an upset to our routine, and we all must someday face this as a change in our lives.

But if what we can do is see the changes in our lives as becoming golden leaves, to use harmful experiences as a way to get closer to The Lord, to ask Him to help us, and to have the support of our Jewish landsmen too, so we can get through these changes and come out stronger and happier as a result of the care and concern, the love, we get from our love for The Lord.

To love Him and feel His love returned, as green becomes gold, a change from the greenness of badness turns into the goldenness of goodness.

LACKING NOTHING

To be in worship and understanding of the Psalm 23 written by King David: "Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing."

How to be "happy with one's lot." To not look over your white picket fence, thinking it is gray and not white, and to observe your neighbor's lawn and compare it with yours, to then think your neighbor's grass is greener than yours is.

To have a song that sings with others, not in competition with others, thereby losing your intentions, focus, and purpose. To sing to be one in a group, not as the loudest, but instead as the sweetest.

At the end of this song, to lack nothing, to not lack in silence or soundlessness, to enjoy the peace of sounds or no sounds, to feel music in the dance of your step without the intrusion of noise they tell you instead is music.

To remember during the day, the peace of the night. To carry with you in memory your dreams, your peace, your deep sleep you had the night before.

To be appreciative of beauty, to see beauty even in the presence of ugliness, to therefore be able to never be in a state of lack, to lack nothing.

UNDERSTANDING A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

To follow The Torah, to honor and respect both your Mother and Father, or Father and Mother, as both sequentially in the two orders are listed as Commandments in The Torah.

To have parents to respect, as the path to be able to honor and respect a higher power, an authority, as G-d The Almighty Himself. To follow the teachings of The Torah as you follow the teachings of your Mother and Father. To have an established family "plan" and to fit into your family like a glove. To have your parents as your Matriarchs and Patriarchs. To love your brothers and sisters like Joseph The Prophet loved his brethren Benjamin, his younger brother. To have this sibling who had the same Mother as you and the same Father. A sibling whose body make-up of DNA and genetics are so similar to yours, to have this "twin" in your life who understands you and has many of the same issues as you. To nurture this twin in your life as you nurture yourself.

To not get lost in a world of imagery. To do as The Torah instructs us "to not create sculpture or images in the likeness of the seas, skies, or lands." To therefore not have an image of The G-d Almighty Himself, to instead of being bound to an image, to use your imagination and to "see" G-D as an entity in all things, all material and all spiritual. To not know what G-D looks like, so to be able to see Him everywhere. To use your imagination, to contrive, to visualize, to memorize, to try to figure out the impossible.

To have keenness of perception, as your G-D follows you everywhere, as you lead G-D everywhere that you go, as your G-D is not in a sculpture that you have left at home, not in a pocket of your pants that are in the laundry, instead not to be dependent on an idol as a physical entity to represent your G-D Who you worship. Having G-D instead as the song on your lips Who you can pray to and petition His help to you whenever and wherever you are or will be going.

Having The Almighty G-D in your body as you choose to eat Kosher foods. Having G-D in all things material as you do not have an image of what G-D must look like.

Being surrounded by The Good Lord, because what you perform are actions of goodness as you learned these actions from The Lord Himself and so can use G-D as a Guide and Savior.

TALENTS AND A CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD

Instinctively knowing what is not there, but actually is there, but we cannot perceive it with our ordinary senses, to have a feeling deep down inside that what is not there soon will be. To take a guess and to have your guess be correct, right on the money, to know what people need when and to be there for them at the exact time that they need you, to fulfill others' needs and in this way also fulfilling your own.

To love luxury and to feel it wherever you are, whether inside an empty dark closet or sitting in golden sunlight on a lawn chair at the seashore with sparkling blue oceans all around you, beckoning the goodness of nature and going for a swim.

To appreciate all you have and what you do not have, to be glad others have it instead, to not worry about losses, to have everything material you need to continue a life, to have a life without worry and without sadness, to not have purposely placated anyone.

To know what you want and to go out to get it. To understand that others who do not have what you have will want what you have, to have talent extraordinaire and to always use it, to be generous to provide people with the goodness of your talents, to better their lives, to have ownership of a good heart to want the whole world to feel the happiness you possess as possessing talents that you use to make others happy too, to never deprive anyone of what they need and desire, to use your talents to help them.

To understand sadness and to be there for those who are sad, even if they are unable to tell you they need you, and pretend they do not need you. To understand this pride that keeps people from admitting their needs, and to be there for them even more than if they could tell you.

Being sure in yourself and your place, your function, and to keep contributing to the whole world with your talents, having talents that make the world a better place for someone, to be there in your life for even just one person, to be the single one in the whole world needed to help this person.

NEVER GIVING UP NEVER GIVING IN

Not giving up, to continue to try and to try some more, not taking backseat, not taking a loss as your end, continuing to pick up where you left off and to give it another try.

Suffering losses but not letting them get to you, patching the hole in your shoe and keep on walking, striving and striding, not allowing a setback to set you back.

If once you gave it a try, but your try was not successful, not to think every time you try it will be a loss. Recovering from what seems like a loss but instead can be turned into a success because you do not accept it as a loss, instead turning it into a gain.

Being gainful in all your attempts, to win not to lose, to continue to play the game, to stay in the ring and come back for another fight, to not accept a loss as the end, to turn around and make lemonade out of lemons, to be the one to never give up, never give in.

Whatever it is that causes you to take another breath, to open your air passageways and to suck in more oxygen, to have the ability to open your eyes to see a bright blue sky, to not think of doom but to use these blue skies as your everyday impetus to do whatever it is you are doing, all over again, to pick up where you left off and to succeed.

To come out on top, to take the blueness of the skies and use it to color your own individual world with its beauty, loving the brilliance of these blue skies and making them yours.

Having the wisdom and perseverance to keep on keepin' on, and therefore to win in all that you do and not ever to lose.

SOLVING PROBLEMS SO THEY NO LONGER EXIST

x + y=? What is your problem? If a problem is labeled as a problem, it exists. If a situation has ramifications to the negative it stands as a problem and must be solved. If one looks at a problem as a problem, it is a problem, it therefore exists. If a problem is not called a "problem" it will lose its significance and not be a problem at all.

To solve all your problems by saying verbally that they are not problems in actuality, have no significance in altering your life, and that these problems which are not problems, have no ability to change your life and make your life an unhappy existence.

To solve all of life's problems as you would a mathematical equation, knowing there is a solution for each math problem and to then find this solution means the problem is solved and therefore no longer exists as a problem without a solution.

To feed yourself when you are hungry, solves the problem of hunger, to drink water when you are thirsty, solves the problem of thirst.

To after sating your needs, to then have no more needs, you therefore become transformed into a state of having satisfaction, no longer being problematic, and therefore not needing anyone to help you solve your problems, because the problems no longer exist.

A LIFE OF CONTINUED LOVING RELATIONSHIPS

How to say "good bye" to someone when you do not want them to leave? Is "parting such sweet sorrow" or is it an abomination, to have losses and to mourn when someone you love is no longer there.

How many times in a lifetime must we bid someone adieu? Every time we hope to be with someone we love, but cannot be, we again take a blow to the gut, to yearn for someone's company but not to have it, to pray and keep up hopes to continue a relationship with someone you love, but to must take a loss, to face it that your love for them is deeper than their love for you.

To not be fooled into loving someone who cannot return your love. To protect yourself always with the Shield of David or Abraham and wear it so harm cannot come to hurt you. To break the lance in midair as it travels to spear you!

To pick yourself up again, after a loss, after a blow to the gut, to face it that a love did not materialize even though you wished it to, another time that good-byes are said, but to be strong enough to love again.

To have a "rock" in your life, a love that is forever, has permanency and never ends, a rock of persistency to always be there. To keep this love in your life and to continue to cherish it because you are the one who never says "good-bye." To have a love in your life, that you can proudly say is there consistently and will never end, because you are the one who never leaves.

Having this never-ending love to always be there for you, because you are there for them. "To make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold."

THE POWER OF A LOCOMOTIVE AS INSPIRATION

Being the head train cab of a fast steaming locomotive, having someone pull your string as your horn honks as you speed on by, several train cars behind you using you as the example of their lives, to be the first train and to be the one who needs to stay on the tracks, all other cars being pulled along behind you, following your lead full steam ahead.

Being your own GPS, guided not by electronics but by Faith, knowing that this Faith of yours is what it takes to keep your train on track. Coal being fed into the locomotive in shovelfuls, white teeth that eat black coal, steel wheels beneath you spinning, screeching, never stopping to spin, having The Lord lead the train with your family all aboard, being the one who must stay alive to keep the wheels spinning and to lead all the other cars, to be a Matriarch of a family.

Not having the same reasons to live as the others, your impetus coming directly from up high, from the Heavens, being led along by the power of a searching spirit, spirit that empowers your soul, your guidance coming from a silver lining in a cloud that rains down train-power in torrents as you continue to chug along, day after day, long after all the others have quit, continuing to be the first car, riding everyday on a train with sparking steel wheels that never stop spinning.

FEELING THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IN MUSIC

Music, sounds, the tapping of one's foot, having a consistency of sound, one sound after the other, speaking and getting a response, a timely response, hearing the sounds of crickets squeaking their legs together in the night as one would play a violin, sounds, an even flow, music that you can feel in your body, mind, heart, and soul, soprano, tenor and bass voices, mixed together like the batter of a birthday cake, spinning the beaters in the batter and getting sounds of song, licking the delicious cake batter off the spoon as each sound goes around and around in your mind and on your lips, having ears that hear this music, one sound and then predictably another, instinctively knowing what sounds come next, being able to feel the music as it vibrates your body strengthening your heart.

Hearing this music in someone's voice, as we are experts in song, having singing in our daily routine, being able to whisper musically into someone's ear to chase their fears away. Not putting someone in fear because you feel fear yourself, but instead comforting someone as you sing into their ears and they feel your peace and the beauty of your song, a lullaby as to a beautiful baby.

Having the word "Shalom" in your song which means peace, it also unfortunately means "good bye" but in our parting as we walk away from each other we leave each other in peace, because good bye also means to have peace, as you leave human company and then are in the presence of The One True Almighty G-d Who is your constant Friend, your constant Companion, as you are with Him when you feel peace. This peace you have when you are with Him, when you cannot be with your loved ones, cannot be with a Mother or Father, cannot feel the closeness of your Spouse, but instead you feel G-d as He takes their place when they are not there and He brings you peace.

Having this peace come to you in streams of music, musical instruments sounding beautifully, so you experience G-d in this music, in this Shalom, in the soothing words of someone's voice as they sing to you this music and their beautiful voice permeates your mind and heart causing them to function as a totality, as One, as you feel the One G-d in singularity but together with all of The People of Israel.

Having your intellect merge with your heart and in this great wisdom you get as a result, you find peace, you have Shalom, you have constant song, you have music and have the presence of G-d in your music, as He sings to you, whenever you need Him, whenever you desire Him.

Feeling the existence of G-d in music, in His voice, in Her voice, in Your voice, in Our voice.

THE DANGERS OF SENIORS LIVING ALONE

The evils of living alone, to be in a big house, to hear footsteps that you think you heard but are not sure, to wonder if someone is in your basement lurking there behind a door, to think there is someone there who is not, to not know if someone has a key to your house, to be afraid of every little thing, every sound.

Having evil surround you as there is no one there to share with, no one to give you a kind word, you strike out at others and try to instill this fear in them because you are yourself in constant fear, to have hatred come into your being, to be surrounded by spirits not by living people, to wonder why no one visits you, to count on your children as your only friends, to bite them viciously as you are alone even though you have them in your presence, to covet your children's lives, to wish they were living with you again as a family but this wish cannot come true, to hate your children as you live without them as their children live with them, to have jealousies for their activities, to be alone and have this aloneness cause you constant distress, to say the wrong words, words guided by the evils of aloneness, not to be able to bite your tongue before you say words to hurt someone.

The evils of living alone, wickedness will creep into your heart, it will overcome your heart and you will not be able to love.

EATING MUSHROOMS PREVENTS BREAST CANCER

The eating of the vegetable we call "Mushrooms" and why we eat them and how they affect our bodies and our health.

Mushrooms as being the fruit that grows on the ground, a veggie that grows wild and in abundance and can be found and picked.

Mushrooms that grow on tree bark and in between weeds, mushrooms that suck the nutrients out of other plants and grow like leaches in the earthly soil.

Mushrooms that can be purposely planted or randomly searched for and scooped out of the ground as what is called Houby Picking, the picking of mushrooms in Czeskia as a national tradition of this country.

Picking these Houby says the medical societies and eating them is a natural prevention of breast cancer. White mushrooms and brown mushrooms, eaten mixed with other veggies or fried as a snack, have the ingredients that are necessary to prevent breast cancer, having a lineage of generations of women in your heritage who never had breast cancer.

Mushrooms to slurp, mushrooms to suck on, mushrooms that are slippery and slimy, mushrooms that taste like meat but do not raise your cholesterol count.

Eating mushrooms as a Kosher food, a food we pray is healthy and from the Earth, a food that makes our bodies and minds healthy too. "...brei pri ha'adamah."