Still sleepy? Was there a noise in the middle of the night that awoke you? Was there a thunderstorm that pummeled out thunder in a clapping cracking sound as loud as a bass timpani kettle drum? Did electrifying lightening light up your bedroom like the lights on the dance floor of a nightclub? Couldn't get back to sleep? Tried and tried, but now you are half awake/half asleep, aware of all the creaks and squeaks on your floor, imagining them even when they are not there.
But sleep is like death! I don't want to get back to sleep, but so tired, eyes blurry, mind sluggish, body slovenly, legs inactive, fingers drifting, no blood circulation, need more sleep, desperately needing more sleep. A state of mind even coffee cannot cure?
Closing your drapes, closing the blinds underneath the curtains, locating your eye mask to wind around your forehead over and closing your eyes. Dead darkness all around. The only way to get to sleep, all visionary images gone. No music, no stimulation, TV set off, yes, I am going to give more sleep one more try.
Plug in earplugs into your ears, not to hear a thing except The Great/Good Lord snoring in whispers like music, your imagination, like crickets playing the violins with their legs in the middle of the night.
In complete silence and darkness now, crickets receding, no song except a memory of a lullaby. Lullaby changing and becoming the steady clocklike regular sounds of your shallow easy breathing becoming dreaming. No wheezing. As relaxed as a nursing kitten, in the comfort of a goose-down quilt piled up into pillows on pure white bed sheets.
Good night world! The Psalms tells us that "The G-D our Lord visits us as His beloved in our sleep." We can count on that!
Bridling yourself as if you were a horse or a dog to stop barking, to not indulge in joining in with the barking of other dogs as they try to disturb the peace, a dog who barks by himself, not you barking with him.
To stay steady and keep the peace, to move away from the commotion and keep calm. To feel the protection of The Lord as you do not join in the fight, to let them fight by themselves, not to indulge in negative activity.
As the Psalms says "To allow G-D to chase away the wicked and they will be no more."
To then sit down and catch your nerves as they try to overwork in an adrenaline rush and instead of panting, breathe slowly and normally.
Let G-D be the ONE to take ahold of the situation and be easy, be cool, be sure.
Walk away from the violence, unscathed, with your chin up.
Overcoming loss, finders keepers losers weepers. Someone who now has your property and will not give it back. A thief to find to have your revenge, the items never found and never recovered, no one admitting their claiming your property as theirs.
What to do if you have lost property. To recover its whereabouts and recall it home, to find it and be reunited, to find something just like what you lost and so now have it again. To see it on the street, to pick it up and now become the owner of property just like that which you lost. Someone offering you money to repurchase the item. The one who has your stolen items losing it himself. Not to try for revenge, it is not an eye for an eye, it is a legal court case, a civil lawsuit if the item has enough monetary value to be worth the court costs.
But what else can we do?? To pray to Saint Anthony if that is your schtick to find the lost item, or to go straight to The One G-D All-Mighty Himself and mourn the loss of your property. Pray to Adonai every night before bed for you to have the forgiveness of those thieves who have dishonored your property. Pray to forgive those who will never return it, to not go wild in vengeance or be as angry as a raging bull if you cannot get it back.
Add the stolen or lost property to your list of what you mourn and ask G-D to find you a replacement for it. Or go to Psalm 23 and pray "The Lord Is My Shepherd, I lack nothing and I want nothing."
To be happy with the lack of responsibility achieved since now you are no longer the owner of the item and have no ownership responsibility. It is no longer in your care and this causes you freedom.
To instead be in the constant presence of The Lord and ask Him to fulfill your needs to have enough sustenance so you can forgive and accept that the stolen item(s) cannot be recouped.
Don't cry over spilled milk.
Do all prayers need to be prayed in a Synagogue? Or can we pray for our deceased and living anywhere we want to pray for them at anytime?
The Kaddish the prayer for the deceased ideally needs ten minyan members in a Synagogue or nine plus the Torah to open the Torah Scroll and recite the Kaddish.
On specific other Jewish Holy Days we have the Yizkor which is also a Prayer we pray for our deceased.
But if we are not in a Synagogue can we remember our dead?
Yes, of course, we can remember and mourn the passing of anyone at anytime, at any place. We could go to the cemetery and put a stone on a gravestone. Or we can just have a personal one on one talk with G-D Who can reassure us that our deceased family or friend is in peace as G-D is now protecting the deceased in The World To Come.
If we need strength, we can remember our Father if he is deceased, or our Mother, we can just lean against a wall as we are walking and call to G-D to talk to us, He talks to us through The Torah. We ask Him to care for our dead after death the same as we asked Him to care for our now deceased as when s/he was alive. We remember our heroes but not as ghosts.
Our lives are projections of our parents' lives, who if are now deceased they cannot pray. So instead of them praying, we must pray for them, in their stead.
Wisdom? Never forget a deceased family member. Remember their yahrzeits and their birthdays. The Yarhzeit candle can be burned for 24 hours. Talk to your deceased family member, yes, as you similarly talk to Abraham and Sarah while reciting the Amidah or on Sukkot the Jewish Holiday when we call the deceased into our backyard Sukkahs.
You can pray for anyone, anywhere, anytime, because G-D can hear us no matter where we are. His intentions are to care for our dead and to care for us and to care for our living family and friends.
It's called Tikkun Olam. What is Tikkun Olam? Answer: a Hebrew transliteration that means "Heal or change the world."
It is our obligation as Jews to participate in deeds and mitzvot that would change the world to become a better place, to try as the messiah would, to increase quality of actions that would heal the world.
Where can we start?? Is it up to us to pick up all the garbage thrown on the streets single-handedly just because it needs to be done? Or to become the mayor of a city like Rahm Emanuel did in Chicago and then as he did instate recycling with trucks and passing out plastic recycling bins to all the Chicago citizens, West Chicago as well. Before Emanuel became mayor, W. Chicago had no recycling, so how come there was garbage everywhere?? How can we teach people how to recycle, now that they all own the bins and have trucks picking up the garbage?
Are you walking in a parking lot and you see someone's car headlights are on and no one is in the car? It is your responsibility to take down the license plate number and give it to the security department of that parking lot.
Find money or jewelry or other unidentifiable goods on the street or sidewalk? If it cannot be identified it cannot be returned to its original owner. A wallet or purse with an ID can be returned. No need to give unidentified goods to security staff because what happens is they themselves keep the item when no one picks it up. It is said to be "Losers weepers, finders keepers."
A missing dog or cat? If there is no leather collar with a name or address of its owner, the animal is dangerous because it is not eating and may never find its way back home. The city dog pound can find the owner if there is a collar on the pet or a phone call was made to the city by the original owner.
What to do to change the world? It is up to you. Use your talents, skills and intelligence to heal the world as you yourself are healing because you are contributing goodness to the world; helping to change it to a better place, and therefore you yourself will change into a better holier person.
It feels good to get something, to receive, you thereabout fulfill a need, if you are given food you are therefore not hungry anymore. But it is not your soul that is fed, it is your stomach.
Yes, we need food for sustenance in order to Study Torah, especially today, on Sunday being a day designated as a study day in the Jewish religion. So getting served food is not a wasted activity, but this serving that is done for us, to eat our bagel and lox, is to fuel us to find out what we can do individually or as a group to feed others.
Is it food we need to feed others? There is also "food for the soul.' What can we do to feed people who yearn for food for their soul.
Got a banana? I've got 3, do you want 2? Let's sit down and talk as we munch on this fresh fruit. What do I know that I can tell you that you do not know but that would benefit you? A piece of fresh fruit and a fresh idea. More than 2, how about 3 fresh ideas?
How about the idea that you can say the number three 3 anytime and it has no power to change your religion to a belief in the "trinity" unless you weaken and give it that power. Be strong, be determined, be steadfast.
Baruch Atah Adonai...
How to connect with G-D and not lose Him? Simply feel Him inside your body and brain, The Keeper of the balancing and solidity of your two souls. Let G-D have the run of the mill, His power to be the source of all your thoughts and actions, your Leader and your Follower.
Feel Him moving your blood in your veins and arteries, a smooth continuous flow of blood as life, the power behind the flexing of your fingers and legs, within the security of the stable 4-legged chair you sit upon at the stable 4-legged table where you work.
Four as the best of all numbers, 4+4=8. What is 8? It is the number that represents Infinity. G-D is now in your body and He will always be there and always be in your brain as a Companion.
Do you have a twitch? It is the static electricity G-D adds to your circulation system to feel the wind blowing by, to show you that although there is separation, we are all connected. In this breeze we all are part of The ONE G-D.
My father once told me, that "He And My Mom Were ONE".
In this ONE-ness, We are a unified people, all peoples under ONE G-D being together to thank and praise G-D for fulfilling Our desires as We are in love and in peace within this ONE-ness.
Is it ethical to claim what you have is "wisdom"? To say you know something another does not? If you are willing to share a secret or a treasure cove to someone? Or is it arrogant to claim you know something another does not? The word "wisdom," does it only come with a legal diploma earned at a university. Are there people with "street knowledge" who know more than the average Joe? Who can we trust to tell us something that we do not know but would benefit by knowing.
If you fail at a task or even at a life's occupation, you are never too old to start again. Do we have to retire when we get social security or can we go on to do more? To find a way to contribute to the world and our friends/family without earning an income that would not be accepted when you retire with SS. What is left for someone who is old who does not want retirement but wants and is eligible for social security government income?
Ever wanted to go into the Arts? The Humanities? Now is the time to join a troupe of actors and use your talents to entertain others; or become a writer and write on a blog or website. Ever wished you could sing? Ever wanted to play an instrument? Can you feel adventurous enough to pick up a violin, harmonica, or flute? No matter how old you are, if your children have left your nest, you still are viable and could try out a second childhood. To be in the front, at the beginning, instead of at the end.
What is this key to longevity? How can we feel like kids again even when we are told that we legally fit into the category as "senior citizens." To learn from our grandchildren how to continue to love life, to try new things, not to worry about failure, to jump into a pool of cool water into a spa on a hot day and try new things! Living life again! And again!
Are you 90+ years old or older? The number ONE is at the beginning of the number line, 91, not the end...
L' Chaim! To life! Long live the Queen!
