A Priceless Gift

The Gift Of Friendship 

Friendship is a Golden Chain,
The links are friends so dear,
And like a rare and precious jewel
It's treasured more each year...

It's clasped together firmly
With a love that's deep and true,
And it's rich with happy memories
And fond recollections, too...

Time can't destroy its beauty
For, as long as memory lives,
Years can't erase the pleasure
That the joy of friendship gives...

For friendship is a priceless gift
That can't be bought or sold,
But to have an understanding friend
Is worth far more than gold...

And the Golden Chain of Friendship
Is a strong and blessed tie
Binding kindred hearts together
As the years go passing by...

Friendship is a priceless gift
That can't be bought or sold,
But its value is far greater
Than a mountain made of gold...

For gold is cold and lifeless,
It cannot see nor hear,
And in your times of trouble,
It is powerless to cheer...

It has no ears to listen,
No heart to understand.
It cannot bring you comfort
Or reach out a helping hand...

So when you ask God for a gift,
Be thankful that he sends,
Not diamonds, pearls, or riches,
But the love of a real, true friend...
[Helen Steiner Rice]

Closely Monitor Our Thoughts

Mystical tradition explains that thought – as opposed to speech and action – is the mode of human expression that never ceases. If one wishes to avoid a certain way of speaking or acting, he can merely choose not to speak or not to act. If one, however, wants to expel an undesirable thought from the mind, he cannot just stop thinking. He must actively choose to think about something else, for the mind is never truly empty.

In the absence of productive thoughts, the mind plays host to self-made demons of destructive thinking. Just like the kind of flour a mill produces depends on the grist placed within it, the mind turns out feelings and behaviors according to the ideas it actively entertains.

The alcoholic or addict in recovery knows all too well the troubles of an overactive mind. Our mental mills are fast and frenetic. We, therefore, endeavor to maintain constant vigilance over our thoughts, actively choosing such thinking that we would like to dwell upon and quickly replacing thoughts that tend to do us in. This requires alertness. But if we are lax about what kind of thoughts we allow ourselves to entertain, we find later that our sloppiness in this area costs us dearly. While thinking is free, its effects can levy a steep toll; it affects our serenity, our usefulness and our conscious contact with God.

We mustn't forget that our disease is not only a physical allergy to alcohol or drugs, but a mental disorder as well. Thus, even in sobriety, when alcohol and drugs don't enter our system, we still must fend with the psychological aspect of our illness. If we are not sufficiently watchful, our own minds quickly unleash their arsenal of self-destruction—unleashing devastating mental weapons of resentment, fear and self-obsession.

So we watch ourselves closely, quickly identifying the beginning of a negative thought pattern before it spirals so far out of control that we are actually convinced of its worthiness or urgency. In our daily Tenth Step we may ask ourselves whether we have endeavored to have holy, pure and selfless thoughts. Conversely, we ask ourselves whether we have been sufficiently watchful about quickly displacing negative thinking. When we closely monitor our thoughts and judge ourselves swiftly and relentlessly in this matter, we find that the effort expended is well worth the reward. Our energetic minds are just as capable of creating heaven on earth—as they have already been proven capable of the alternative. [Ben A]

Whitney Houston and Worship Of Celebrity

News headlines everywhere have informed the world that the singer with the larger than life voice "Whitney Houston Found Dead In Her Hotel Room, Aged 48". The shock and grief from fans worldwide was immediate as fans mourned Houston's death in different ways  inside and outside the Beverley Hilton, Saturday night. Outside grieving fans laid roses and flickering candles on the front and back entrances of the sprawling complex.

Which begs the question. In general, what is the fascination and logic in the worship of the Hollywood celebrity and global leader(s)? When they die so young (more often than not the cause being drugs, alcohol or suicide), what exactly are we shedding the tears for? What exactly are we "worshipping" or "idolizing"? Besides talent, what remarkable values and legacy did they leave behind? What kind of role model were they for our generation and the future ones?

{Key notes from video shown below}
19:00 "Role of identity is so false it destroys the people and yet we find ourselves looking up to them as they are destroying themselves. If the most popular, the most rich, the most famous can't seem to find joy in life what chance do we, who are not part of Hollywood, what chance do we have?
They have all the glamour. They have all the wealth. They have all the fun and all the opportunity and they kill themselves. Well life stinks. What will it take to have a good life?

So by defining them as their lives as the good life and then watching them deteiorate in front of our eyes it's really depressing. So if we are an unhappy society it is probably because of celebrity" - Manis Friedman

21:10 "We have to be very careful where we put our admiration what it is and who it is we admire. What is the proper if they are the idol what is the truth? What is the trueform of popularity?"

21:45 "The person who should be popular is the person who has an idea, a vision,  a view of life that is not only good for them but also good for others. It's an idea that offers direction, and it lifts the spirit. It doesnt pamper it doesnt pander it lifts, it moves you it forces you to move to higher ground. It forces you to be your better self rather than your lesser self and that's just minimum . Ideally a true leader causes you to be better than themself, better than your best self  because his ideas are new to you"

22:56 "A true leader has ideas that the average person hasn't thought of yet which means its better than their better self. Higher, greater, bigger. The people we admire is the people who respect their philosophy"

25:30 "We want our role models to be consistent. We want their lives to refelct their message. No matter how great the message is if it isnt even working for them how is it gonna work for anybody else?"...

I present you with a video below, a talk by famed American educator and lecturer R' Manis Friedman on the "Worship Of Celebrity - Celebrityhood Is A Terrible Idol".

Well worth listening to the video in its entirety. Thoughts?

R' Manis Friedman - "Today's society reveres famous people just for being famous. What is the difference between celebrityhood and true leadership?"

People Are Pebbles Too Sending Ripples Of Effect Through The Pond Of Our Reality

Throw a pebble into a vast still river and watch its ripples. Our actions are like stones dropped into a pond, creating ripples that travel outward. For we are all somehow incredibly interwoven and connected.

Have you ever thrown a pebble into a still pond and watched the ripples? It's neat, isn't it? Even a small pebble thrown in one end of a pond can cause ripples at the other end. Bigger pebbles, bigger ripples. If you wanted to create waves at the far end of a pond all you'd have to do is throw a pebble into the near end of the pond. Such power. Such beauty. So simple.

What happens when you throw a bunch of pebbles into a pond? All of them send out ripples simultaneously and the waves crash into each other. The ripples stop going where they intended to go and get diverted in a new direction.

People are pebbles too. Every action you take, every choice you make, sends ripples of effect through the pond of our reality. Small acts, small ripples. Big acts, bigger ripples. What you do impacts other people. What they do, impacts you.

What is your pebble doing right now? Is it sending ripples of love, compassion, and courage throughout our pond, or is it sending out ripples of envy, anger, and fear? How would you like your pebble to behave?

What happens to our pond when we all get upset, angry, and frustrated? The ripples from those waves can be violent, hurtful, and dangerous. Even if you wanted to stop them it would be tough if everyone else was throwing pebbles into the water with negative intentions. Your peaceful ripples would barely change the flow of the pond. But we must take back our pond! Do you want to live in a pond where the water is sloshing around violently and drowning people or do you want to live in a peaceful pond that's beautiful and life-giving?

Get control of your pebble, people. The ripples you send into our pond will come back to you, three-fold, ten-fold, a hundred-fold! Consciously decide what kind of ripples you want to send into the ocean of our lives. And when you feel a ripple of anger hit you square in the face, try to ignore it and let it pass through you. Sending out your own ripple of anger just gets everyone splashed.

I've made a conscious decision to send out positive ripples of love, compassion, and kindness. Sometimes I get upset. Sometimes I get flustered. Sometimes I even yell. But I'm working on it, consciously. If you're going to choose to send out negative energy ripples, then please keep your pebble far away from me. My part of the pond thanks you. [Erin Pavlina]

Often we look at our lives and are disappointed by how little of it is directed towards a higher purpose. We would love to learn more, but can only spare a few minutes a day. We wish we could give more to charity, but are able to give just a small amount. In truth, however, every action extends backwards and forward in time and has a ripple effect in every area of our lives. We may have studied for just a few minutes, but a single new idea will affect our thinking throughout the day. We give a few dollars to charity, and the time and effort we expended to earn that money are "elevated" along with it. Like a small pebble cast into a pool, a single Godly deed will reverberate through our life and infuse it with purpose and meaning.[Yanki Tauber]

Single handedly we alone can turn ripples in to waves to transform and create lasting change.

The Dangers Of Power, Wealth And Luxury

Building A Peaceful Society On That Which Is REAL.

Isn't it strange how just because someone is wealthy there is a widespread perception that they are automatically imbued with all other attributes as well? Why would you logically assume that an entrepreneur or wheeler-dealer would have any innate appreciation for the arts or can be trusted to decide public policy? Not every money-manager is an intellectual giant. The acquisition of wealth demands a specific skill-set and this does not necessarily translate into other disciplines.

The Torah warns us against developing a skewed view of reality.

"Be careful not to forget God and fail to keep His commandments… You might eat and be satisfied, build good houses and live in them. As your herds and flocks increase, your silver and gold accumulate and everything you have grows, your heart may become arrogant and you might forget God" (Deuteronomy 8:11-13).

A chilling and timely lesson to all of us about the dangers of wealth and luxury, however encoded in the words we can read a message about how to relate to the wealth of others:

Just because a person has houses, gold and silver, don't automatically assume that everything he has also grows. Keep things in perspective; riches do not confer intellectual legitimacy. Scholars are our true aristocracy and the role of rich men is to support the study of Torah and to supplement the functioning of society.

Wealth can be a challenge for those blessed with it. Always remember who your true friends really are. Money comes and goes, but character lasts forever. If you forget this timely reminder you run the risk of arrogance and disgrace.

The challenge for the rest of society is to accept and honor a man proportional with his intrinsic worth, not his bank-balance. We must never forget that God is the one who rules the world and we are ultimately answerable to no one other than Him. [Elisha Greenbaum]

To know that this world is not some wild jungle where whoever is stronger or richer or smarter can abuse and destroy without regard for those beneath them - this is not a matter of religion or faith, particular to one people or group of believers. This is the underlying reality - that this world has a Master, and it is not any of us.

The Creator has also granted the human being freedom of choice, which means that every empowerment we are given carries a certain degree of risk. We can use our resources to accomplish our mission, or we can use them to sabotage it, and even sabotage the good that other souls are trying to achieve.

A peaceful society can only endure when it is built upon that which is real. [The Rebbe]

Learning Lifes Lessons From A Ship At Sea

 Costa Concordia Cruise Ship

An Italian passenger cruise ship the  Costa Concordia ran aground and tipped over late Friday the 13th, killing at least three people, injuring 30 and leaving up to 40 others still missing.

The ship struck a reef that got stuck inside the left side, making it (the ship) lean over and take on a lot of water in the space of two, three minutes.

The ship’s Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, was detained late Saturday and is being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Officials say the captain appears to have taken the vessel close to shore in a dangerous manner, Reuters says.

Passengers described a scene reminiscent of “Titanic” — which sank 100 years ago this April.

The sinking of the Costa Concordia brings this parable to mind;

Once upon a time, a wise man went to the docks to watch as ships entered and left the port. He noticed that, as one ship sailed out toward the open sea, all the people on the dock cheered and wished it well. Meanwhile, another ship entered the port and docked. By and large, the crowd ignored it.

The wise man addressed the people saying, "You are looking at things backwards! When a vessel leaves, you do not know what lays ahead or what its end will be. So there really is no reason to cheer. But when a vessel enters the harbor and arrives safely home, that is something to make you feel joy."

Life is that journey and we are the vessel. When a child is born, we celebrate. When a soul returns home, we mourn. Yet if we viewed life on earth the way the wise man viewed the ship, perhaps we too could say, "The vessel has gone on its journey, it has weathered the storms of life, it has finally entered the harbor and now it is safely home." [Midrash, Shemot Rabbah]

Taking Care Of Our World; A Safe World

At one time we thought human ethics could care for the world. "Human intelligence," we argued, "will find truth and protect it."

We discovered we were wrong. The nation that cultivated the human mind to its highest degree committed the most horrifying crimes of our age. Human intelligence today has not saved the world, but ravaged it.

Humankind cannot live securely on this earth until we recognize it for what it is: A creation cherished by its Creator, who continues to involve Himself in it at every moment with all His essence and being. And so it is full of wisdom and beauty without end.

He has put this masterpiece, and the masterpiece of our own bodies and selves in our hands and told us how to care for them.

All of it looks to us, to see if we will come to know that which is beyond us, and take care of our world as we were charged. [The Rebbe]

Thousands Of US Troops Deployed To Israel

The Juniper Cobra exercise in 2003.(Quique Kierszenbaum/Getty Images)

The US military is preparing a massive military campaign against Iran, sending thousands of American troops, warships and weaponry to Israel.

An unnamed source said the military deployment of US anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel will occur in January and later this spring, Global Research reported.

Commander of the US Third Air Force based in Germany Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc said it is not just an "exercise," but a "deployment," The Jerusalem Post said.

Washington and Tel Aviv have planned to hold what they call the largest-ever joint military exercise this spring.

The US commander visited Israel two weeks ago to confirm details for “the deployment of several thousand American soldiers to Israel.”

The US General also visited one of Israel's three Iron Dome anti-missile outposts. The Israeli Air Force has announced plans to deploy a fourth Iron Dome system in coming months.

While US troops will be stationed in Israel for an unspecified amount of time, Israeli military personnel will be added to United States European Command (EUCOM) in Germany.

This is while the US is reportedly bringing its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and ship-based Aegis ballistic missile systems to Israel.

The White House has resumed its anti-Iran war rhetoric after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report in November, in which Tehran was accused of conducting activities related to developing nuclear weapons. Iran strongly dismissed the allegations.

US analyst Robert Parry said the documentary evidence showed that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was installed with the support of the US and that he privately indicated to US and Israeli officials that he would help advance their goals regarding Iran.

In December, Iran's Navy launched massive 10-day military drills in the strategic Strait of Hormuz to show that the country is ready to defend itself against any attack.

"We wanted to send this message to certain powers that Iran is always prepared to defend itself against foreign aggression," Iran's Navy Deputy Commander Admiral Amir Rastegari told Press TV.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law fresh economic sanctions, targeting Iran's Central Bank and financial sector.

Anti-Iran measures provoked by the US and Israel are aimed to deny Iran's right of having peaceful nuclear program.
Tehran, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, has repeatedly stated that its nuclear activities are solely for civilian purposes. [AGB/HGH/IS]

Our Nature Afire

By our nature, we are afire. We burn with anxiety, the angst of survival in a hostile world.

For this fire, we have meditation and prayer. We fan a fire of love for that which transcends this world. One fire swallows another and we are set free.

Liberated from fear, we face the world no longer as slaves, but as masters. [The Rebbe]

Watch: Sydney New Years Eve 2012 Fireworks

Deposing A Dictator And Transforming Nations

Never underestimate the power of a simple, pure deed done from the heart.

The world is not changed by men who move mountains, nor by those who lead the revolutions, nor by those whose purse strings tie up the world.

Dictators are deposed, oppression is dissolved, entire nations are transformed by a few precious acts of beauty performed by a handful of unknown soldiers.

In fact, it was encoded by Maimonides in his code of law, "Each person must see himself as though the entire world were held in balance and any deed he may do could tip the scales." [Lubavitcher Rebbe]

There are good regimes and evil ones. Sometimes the leaders of good regimes are greedy and corrupt and need to be prosecuted, but the motivations and governing principles of these nations are not evil.

And then there are "evil empires," whose nations are led by dictators, because the masses are rarely innately evil – are on a pathological ego trip. Their goal is to dominate others. They have successfully forced their own populations into submission, and now they are drunk for more.

It seems then, that the Torah's account teaches us that you don't negotiate with evil. Idealistically speaking, this is because negotiating with evil lends legitimacy to an illegitimate entity. Practically speaking, the evil party won't negotiate in good faith. If he's evil, if he's rotten to the core, then he'll always be looking to undermine you and will pounce at you when the moment is opportune.

An individual or entity that thinks that power is the answer to all will only be vanquished through a stronger demonstration of power. [Naftali Silberberg]

The process of nation building is our own. We need to have the will to transform our own natures. It's all in our own making.

We are engaged in thousands of interactions, choices, and decisions each day. Unlike an animal, which is preprogrammed to perform in a particular manner, the human has free will to choose how he will respond, react, and deal with every situation.

We bring down God's goodness to earth by training our souls to love the good and that which is creative and useful and to refrain from all that which is destructive.

It is our human duty towards our fellow man and woman to act with ♥Love ♥Kindness ♥Mercy and ♥Peace between one person and another, between body and the soul and between the human being and God. All are necessary for blessing, and God needs all of us, regardless of attributes, to make the world.

Behaviour is contagious and it spreads from person to person. Good acts by a handful of individuals really can make a difference. Pay it forward.

Seek Peace And Pursue It

There is nothings as good as peace and as bad as disputes.

David declared "Seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34:15).
The Sages comment,  “Seek peace for your loved ones and pursue it for your enemies; seek peace where you live and pursue it elsewhere; seek peace with your body and pursue it with your resources; seek peace for yourself and pursue it for others; seek peace today and pursue it tomorrow.’’

This final exhortation means that one should never despair of making peace; rather he should pursue it today, and then tomorrow and then the next day...until he attains it.

If thick ropes which pull a wagon are strained regularly they will become weak, and eventually will tear. So it is with strife. If one does not succeed in making peace on his first or second attempt, nevertheless, he should not abandon his pursuit of this sacred achievement. Ultimately his words will accomplish. If he will have no effect at all on the quarrelers, because they have become overpowered by the appetite for triumph and are blind to the truth, he may be able to influence those who have been drawn into a quarrel that is not their own. In this way he will save them from  the bitter retribution which results from strife, in the way of Moses who saved Ohn and Korach's sons. [Chofetz Chaim]

By perservereance and patience one can beat all impossible odds even when one thinks they can't do it and all seems hopeless - where there's a will there is always a way.

We should understand that peace and loving others run along the same lines. How is that? Because it’s only through loving others that one could guarantee that there will always be peace among them. This could be learned from Ethics Of Our Fathers, 1;12 which states “Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace and loving others.” Why does  it state “loving peace” - what’s the connection to peace? The answer is that as a result of loving and pursuing peace one will come to love his fellow beings. This should be every man and woman's deepest and truest strivings.

A Slave To Your Surroundings

Sometimes a person does not realize that he is a slave to his surroundings. He commits improper acts, he is sold to his money-making, he is possessed by a desire for honor, and is a prisoner to his desires. By awakening the fiery love of God imbued in one’s soul, one frees oneself from slavery.

We are limited by the very fact that we have human form. There is no freedom in following our whim, only further slavery to our own limited selves. Freedom can only come by connecting to something infinite and beyond us.
[Lubavitcher Rebbe] 

The Blessings Of Financial Problems

By Rivka Levy

Why our financial problems were one of the best things that ever happened to us.

I wrote all the blessings down – and I was astounded by how many bona fide good things had come about as a result of our not having two shekels to rub together. I got such a good feeling off my ‘being in debt’ list, that I decided to share it with you, and also to invite you to add to it, in the Comments section at the end of the article.

Get ready to be truly grateful for your money problems….

Why? Because….

1. They ‘pay off’ our spiritual debts

Everyone sins. Even righteous people sin. It’s part of being human. Financial debts are a great and relatively painless way of paying down the ‘spiritual mortgage’ that we all have. And once that big spiritual debt is paid off, an hour a day of personal prayer will make sure you don’t slide into a massive ‘spiritual minus’ again.

2. They are the easiest way to do a serious soul correction

Why? Because it’s only money, and money comes as easily as it goes. One day you make a million, the next day you lose it; the day after that, you make two million. God has all the money in the world, and He can just as easily give it as take it away. Money is not a serious health issue, God forbid, or a terrible relationship with your spouse. It’s not a kid who’s going seriously off the straight and narrow – all of which are infinitely more painful, difficult and heart-wrenching than a big overdraft at the bank.

Does it bother us to be poor? Sure. Does it bother us enough to do some serious soul-searching? Usually, yes – which is why it’s one of God’s favorite ploys for encouraging people to get closer to Him, and to re-evaluate their lives.

3. They spur us on to make repentance

Before I had serious money problems, I never dressed modestly. My husband never made a point of learning. We never ‘spoke’ to God; we never tried to see God in our lives, and to acknowledge Him.

Once we hit skid row, I started trying to talk to God every day, and my husband joined a religious seminary for men. Once I understood ‘Who’ was behind my financial woes, I was prepared to change – a lot – to try to alleviate the situation. My bank balance goes up and down – but all that amazing repentance(returning to God) stuck. I’m doing far more deeds than ever before, and Thank God, they are all going to stand me in good stead when I get Upstairs.

4. They helped me to stop spoiling my kids

When I had to start saying ‘no’ to my kids – and meaning it – my kids got so much more appreciative of all the things they were actually bought. Also, getting things became a joyous occasion, as opposed to a routine event. We also started to think about whether the things they wanted were actually good for them, as opposed to just ‘nice to have’. Did they really need that ultra-fashionable $100 rucksack for school? Err, no. Did they really need 24 pairs of shoes? Err, no. Was it really useful for my four year old to be doing extra-curricular English, ballet and drama every week? Err, no.

Lastly, it also taught my kids that you don’t need shopping and ‘things’ to be happy – which is almost the biggest present we could have given them.

5. They helped me to stop buying things I don’t need

Ok, put your hands up: who here has an ice cream maker they use once a year? Or a pasta machine that’s still in the box? Or a juicer that sounded like a great idea but is too much of a hassle to clean?

Who here is struggling to contain all the clutter of unnecessary, surplus-to-requirement things that is threatening to swamp their whole house?

Too many ‘things’ block God’s light, and weigh very heavily on our souls. Now I don’t have a lot of money, I only buy the things that I really, really need. And it’s such a relief…

6. They helped me to reassess what I was doing with my life

For the first time ever, I had to ask myself: “am I working to live, or living to work?” For the first time ever, I also realized that there was a ‘cost’ to having more money, namely, an increasingly strained relationship with my husband; ever-mounting stress; very unhealthy eating habits, as I didn’t have time to cook; and miserable kids who hardly ever saw me when I wasn’t preoccupied or exhausted. The price of having more money was simply too high – so I quit my soul-destroying job.

7. They got us to move to a much more ‘suitable’ community

If we would have been able to pay the mortgage, I would never have considered moving out of my massive house – in the wrong neighborhood. Thank God, we couldn’t pay the mortgage and had to downsize to a place that was much more ‘us’, religiously.

8. They humbled us

As the famous dictum says, God can’t be with an arrogant person. But once you lose all your cash, a lot of your arrogance disappears with it – and that’s when you’ve finally got some space in your soul for God.

9. They taught us the limits of ‘working hard’

So many of us are taught that hard work can accomplish anything – but it’s rubbish. You can work as hard as you like, and if God doesn’t want you to succeed, you won’t. Conversely, you can make the minimum effort necessary, and if God wants it to work, you’ll achieve amazing things.

Once we realized that working even harder was not the answer to solving our financial problems, it took the pressure off us to ‘do’ more. Wow, you mean I’ll still have livelihood if I don’t work 24/7 and throw my Blackberry in the garbage? I don’t have to always say‘yes’ to the boss or client when they ask me to stay late or work weekends? Things will actually get done if I don’t do them? Yup. You just need a bit of faith.

10. They helped us to experience miracles

We have seen so many miracles since we’ve had money problems. Some of them are more ‘hidden’, like the fact that my husband has a great job that still lets him learn part-time; or the way that we’ve bought and sold houses in Israel so easily, and always at a profit.

But we’ve had other miracles, too. Like the 90,000 shekel tax rebate that appeared out of nowhere; or the 7,000 shekel unexpected bonus that came just when we needed it.

Each time we experience a miracle, it reinforces our faith that God really is running the world, and that He’s looking after us. That, in turn, makes it easier to ‘let go’ of all the money stuff, and just do our best to learn Torah, grow our faith and enjoy our lives, because for as long as God wants us around, it’s on His expense account.
Now, over to you – what blessings have you experienced as a result of your money problems?

War And Peace, The Opposing Forces Within

From the time you begin to breathe, a war rages within.

From the time you attain citizenship of this world, you must struggle with your own frailties to stand upright, as a human being was meant to stand.

From the time you yearn to reach higher, you must engage the animal that comes dressed within this meat and bones, to carry it up with you. You must play its own game on its own turf, speak to it in its own language, meditate upon those matters that can inspire it, bear with it until you can bring it to the side of peace.

You must descend to a place of chaos and madness to redeem yourself from there.

And so this battle plays out not only in the spiritual arena of meditation and prayer, but also in the very human world of eating your meal, of raising a family, of worldly pursuits, infiltrating that world so as to conquer it, to rip away its veil and reveal the Godly sparks it contains, as Jacob dressed in the clothes of Esau, wrestling with his angel on the cold, sodden earth of a night to which he does not belong.

Yet at all times and in every situation you retain access to a point of perfect oneness within, a place where there is no opposition to fight, no choices that could be made, no existence at all, nothing other than “the Creator of all things to whom I am bound as one.”

It is not the battle that defines you, nor the role in which you must invest yourself, nor the opponent with whom you fight. You are none of these. You are that point of peace within.

And so, even your battle is in peace. [Lubavitcher Rebbe]

Money Creation Is A Useful Productive Fiction

Everyone uses money. We all want it, work for it and think about it. If you don't know what money is, you are not like most humans. However, the task of defining what money is, where it comes from and what it's worth belongs to those who dedicate themselves to the discipline of economics. While the creation and growth of money seems somewhat intangible, money is the way we get the things we need and want.

Money is actually nothing but worthless paper created and handed out to us to make us believe we are working for something of value. But money has no value. Even the Treasury admits this, “modern money is known as ‘fiat money’, it is artificially created, has no value in itself and the basis in its use for exchange is typically a government edict.” – FOI request to HM Treasury.

Money has no value because it can be created and there is NO LIMIT to how much can be created. The reason gold and silver have value is because there is a limit. If we want more gold somebody has to go and mine it, and there is only a certain amount of gold available in the world. If a country needs more money all the central bank has to do is type a few numbers into a computer and that’s it, instant money.

Money actually never existed, it was created by the bank and written into existence. The money was created from a debt. This is important to understand because it means that every note and coin you own is actually a debt that somebody owes to somebody else. Without debt there is no money.

Money is basically debt, because without debt, someone taking out a loan, there is no money creation. Money is created from loans.  [wideshut.co.uk]

Money was once valued by the worth of goods, but today it is our goods that are valued by their worth in money.
Every dollar is loaned into existence hence debt came into being.

Money is not a real object, its value is abstract, and controlling large sums of it is imaginary wealth.

Five Things About Money
Money is a fiction. Money is a useful fiction, it's even a productive fiction, but it isn't real. All it is is a commonly held consensus that a digital record stored in the computers of some financial institution, or the equity of a certain property registered in our name, represents a value of X in goods and services. We build further fictions upon this fiction (like the fiction of an anticipated return from an investment) and more fictions upon those fictions (like the fiction of the leverage value of the anticipated return of an investment). Some financial "wizards" have "succeeded" in perpetuating the fiction of money to the 5th or 6th or 7th degree. But no matter how many times you layer over the fiction, it's still a fiction. And when that consensus unravels, when the collective confidence in the fiction of money begins to slip, then we're left with.... nothing.
Money is not a measure of worth. A man wakes up in the morning, logs in to his accounts, checks a few numbers, makes a few calculations, and reaches the conclusion that as of 7:42 am of this particular day on the calendar he is "worth" fifty million dollars. Or $1,308,772.45. Or twenty-five cents. Whatever. And then a certain market halfway across the globe hiccups in a certain way, and now he's "worth" double that?
Really? Is he now a better person? Is he now happier? More loving to his family, kinder to strangers, more fulfilled in his heart? And if, God forbid, the market gives another hiccup and the digits in his portfolio are suddenly half or a quarter of what they were yesterday, now he's "worth" that much less?

Money is a means, not an end. For years we lived for money. We worked to earn it, and when that wasn't enough we worked overtime or took a second job, and expended anxious hours and sleepless nights to manage it and "grow" it. We sacrificed everything – family, community, peace of mind – for our money. And where is all that money now? Turns out that we never had it in the first place – it had us. We learned the hard way (but is there any other way to learn?) that money is a tool for life—not the other way around.

What we give is more ours than what we gain. The money we make never truly belongs to us. It either disappears into thin air at some point, or it saps our strength and steals our lives. But every hour spent with our children, every dollar we give to charity, every positive endeavor we support—these can never be taken from us. They are ours forever.

The true meaning of financial security. For thousands of years, people got up in the morning, worked the land or toiled at their craft, collected a day's earnings or a season's harvest, and lived their lives. Their sense of security derived not from their bank accounts and stock portfolios, but from the confidence that the same God who created them and placed them upon this earth also provides their means of sustenance. No, there are no free lunches falling down from the heavens – after all, God created us to be His partners in the business of life, not free-loading guests – but if we do our part, God will do His.

Life has become more complicated since those simple days, more sophisticated, and yes, more rewarding. Today, "doing our part" means not just getting a job, but also acquiring mortgages, insurance plans, retirement accounts and a slew of other "financial instruments." But the basic equation remains the same: we do our part to better God's world, and God does His part in providing us the means to do so. It is to this partnership with our Creator that we have learned to look as our source of happiness, fulfillment and security. [Yanki Tauber]

Money is needed in this day and age to provide even for the simple things.
Everything we have in this physical world is temporary. There are no pockets in shrouds.

Money is not to be worshipped as an idol on which your happiness, value, or even your sustenance can be depended upon. Never forget where the financial resources came from in the first place. Our truest wealth is our priceless heritage. We should all remember that it is God that provideds that money-or next meal-or a warm place to stay. Money is only a tool, and only one of many, that God can use to provide for our needs!

The Princess And The Peasant

There is a parable about the princess who married a peasant. Her father the king had interviewed a variety of suitors and none qualified. Finally he said: "Let the next man who walks in the door be your husband." And she agreed. And the next one to walk in was the gardener from the estates of the king, and they had to get married. He was so happy and she was devastated. But this was the situation. And they got married, and he prepared the house and he put straw on the benches where they were going to sleep, and she was not happy. And the next day he brought her potatoes and she wasn't happy, and he brought her the best tomatoes from the best of the fields, until she came back to her father and said: "Look, how can I explain to him that I am from the palace of the king? He can't offer me what I need because he has no concept that it exists."

This is a parable of the soul who married the body. The body is the peasant, offering us Wall Street and condominiums and success and power and all other kinds of potatoes and tomatoes. The soul goes to God and says: this peasant is not giving me what I need.

Most of us live thinking that we are the peasant. That is why however much we have it is never enough. Because we are feeding ourselves the wrong thing. It can be everything the peasant has ever dreamed of, but it's still not enough because the princess has been raised on finer stuff.

The teachings of the Chassidic masters allow us to access the consciousness of the princess. They opens our eyes to the fact that we often go through life thinking that we are something we are not, and therefore pursue things that aren't going to give us satisfaction. I had been very involved in academic thought and when I first heard the Lubavitcher Rebbe's teachings. I realized for the first time that there could be someone who completely transcends me. Coming to that point was shattering to my intellect. Until then I knew there could be a person who was like me but more intelligent, or like me but more sensitive. But when I was exposed to the Rebbe's teachings, it was the first time that I encountered someone on a completely different level. I remember sitting in classes in which the Rebbe's discourses were taught and walking out not being able to drive my car home. The Rebbe shattered my axioms about the world. Nothing else did that. This was a changing of one's whole consciousness; changing one's action was just the beginning.

Even though I didn't know what was going on inside, somehow I realized that this tree that can be planted on my own soil, that this will work with my own inner functioning. That was on an intuitive level. On more of an intellectual level, what was important was having access to the Rebbe's teachings, and seeing that his questions began where all my answers had left off.

I believe that throughout our life there are always these essence-questions that we don't even realize we are asking. There are root questions, but we are only aware of the branches. We ask a question and the words that come out are the branches. If we don't know that there's a root, we can be deluded into thinking that we can address the branch. And we will never be happy because there will always be another branch growing out from the root. We need spiritual mentors to make us aware of what our root questions are. [Shimona Tzukernik]

Bankruptcy Of Leadership - Living In A World Of Corruption And Untruth

Realness. Authenticity. Sincerity.

Are these all lost qualities in our day and age?

As you look around you, do you ever feel that our world is full of such hypocrisy, such pretense, such phoniness that it seeps into every facet of our lives?

Our sages call our world a world full of falsehood, where the true perspective and value is often upside down.

Our political leaders reek of it. And unfortunately, often enough, even spiritual, religious or moral leaders don't fare much better.

How often are those very same people who espouse such high values and morals exposed for their own downright unethical behaviour? Spiritual and religious mentors teaching lofty concepts such as kindness, humility and transcendence are in their own day-to-day lives, behind the glare of the limelight, found to have the greatest, thirstiest egos.

So is there anyone out there who is really real?

Of course there are the exceptions—some great leaders and spiritual mentors who lead sterling lives of goodness, humility and kindness. But still, the grand picture that emerges for the most part is quite unpretty. In fact, I think some of the kindest and most sincere people I've ever met—the ones who I'd consider really "real"—were the simplest, least sophisticated types who weren't out to prove themselves to anyone. They weren't seeking a communal reputation as a "do gooder" nor the most social ballots for leadership. They didn't need to prove themselves as "religiously" moral and exacting or adhering to the law. They were just simply nice, kind, honest people seeking to do what's right, largely unrecognized for their simple greatness.


I'm often asked with all the hypocrisy in our world, with all these spiritual people acting so unspiritual, with all these unkind acts done in the name of religion, in such a climate, how does one remain "religious"? Doesn't it ever turn you off from "religion"?

It can.

Or it can turn you on to "real religion."

Precisely in moments when I feel such a bankruptcy of leadership, such a deficiency in truth and realism, does it make me personally want to bypass this whole façade, the whole pretense and cut to the core.

To the Reality beyond it all.

This has all been predicted long ago by our sages (Tractate Sotah): "In the time period before Messiah arrives, there will be no one on whom to rely, other than our Father in heaven." And (Sanhedrin): "Messiah will not arrive until there will be no leaders in Israel."

Surrounded by falseness, living in a world of corruption and untruth—perhaps there is really only one place to turn to seek the inherent truth of all existence.

The Creator of all Reality. And the only true Reality.

Real Realness. [Chana Weisberg] 

We Are All Part Of A Universal Mutual Fund

Social Responsibility

A feature of modern life is the practice of purchasing insurance against a variety of unforeseeable circumstances. When a person takes out an insurance policy, he or she is, in effect, joining a group of people who have agreed to be responsible for each other's misfortunes. Should one of them suffer a loss, God forbid, he is compensated from funds generated by the premiums paid by all.

The lesson to be derived is obvious: if such a consensus can be achieved regarding material concerns, how much more so should it be applied to our moral and spiritual selves. We should all consider ourselves part of a universal mutual fund: if a fellow human being lacks something, be it food and shelter or knowledge and guidance, even if he is halfway across the globe and one has never heard his name or that of the city in which he resides, it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to satisfy his need. [M.M Schneerson]

A Destiny In Which Steve Jobs Played A Principal Role

Steve Jobs: Change We Learned To Believe In

iTechnology And  A Better World

By Tzvi Freeman

One day in 1979, 24-year-old Steve Jobs walked into Xerox PARC and saw the first GUI—a computer interface with a mouse, designed to work the way people work. As Steve Wozniak describes the scene, Jobs was jumping up and down like a small child, demanding “Why aren’t you doing anything with this? This is the greatest thing! This is revolutionary!”

The executives responded that the world wasn’t ready for this. My bet is that a lot of them were pretty scared by it. What’s the point of being a techie, after all, if everyone can do it? But Jobs grabbed whoever he could from the PARC team and built the Macintosh.

If he hadn’t, I would never have been able to become a writer—being rather dyslexic and uncoordinated. I wouldn’t be able to hold a job—because I can’t sit in an office behind a desk for more than an hour. In fact, I have no clue where I would be—other than a real lousy, clumsy cog in IBM’s wheel.

I used to joke that Apple was my second religion. Then Apple got too popular, and I was never one for being part of a mass movement. Nevertheless, I believe in Apple, because I share Steve Job’s vision. And I believe the course of history was changed through him for the better—real, real better.

When Steve Jobs started Apple at 19, this world was the world of IBM, General Motors, Exxon, Dow Chemicals and Encyclopedia Britannica. Today, make that Google, Apple, eBay, FaceBook and Wikipedia. Jobs promise was that 1984 would not be an Orwellian techno-1984 that would reduce us to uniformed humanoids, and he made good on that promise.

What has changed? Everything changed. The world has been turned on its head.

There was once a world where you had to memorize a manual to use a word processor—the same one just about everyone used. Where you had to take someone from the IT department out to lunch just to get basic stats about the company you managed. Where you had to hire a computer expert to get simple tasks done much as we hire accountants to take care of our income tax statements today (and I hope, not for much longer).

Today, we live in an iWorld. If I don’t like the encyclopedia entry, I modify it. If I’m fed up with working at a desk, I check my iPhone map for the closest park and go work there. Technology is here to serve me. I don’t need to conform to it, I don’t need to be manipulated by it, I barely need to spend time learning it—because it learns me.

So some of you are asking, "What is so beautiful, so messianic, about an iWorld?"
And my personal answer: the iWorld is the destiny of humankind and its saving grace.

It is the belief that a human being is not a cog in the wheel of a great machine, but the inherent master of all machines. It has enabled us to create a world where everybody knows when justice has been perverted and can scream about it to the whole world loud and clear. It is the power by which totalitarian regimes have fallen and will continue to fall, by granting everyone access to knowledge, which is power. And behind it all stands a tacit conviction that every human being contains something of the Divine, and therefore should be master of his or her world and destiny.

In Jewish terms—at least, the way I experienced the evolution of the past thirty-something years: The iWorld is the world of Moses, a world where every man, woman and child is a member of the covenant, and must therefore know the laws and teachings for themselves. And what Big Machine Inc. et al were interested in building was more like the world of Egypt's pharaoh and its priestly caste, of those who inform you “we have all the knowledge and we’ll let you know when you need to know.”

Around 500 years ago, Western Civilization began moving rapidly towards towards its destiny, towards that iWorld. In the last 50 years, we’ve been rapidly shifting gears upward. Up and away from a world where human beings are tightly squeezed through homogenization filters so they’ll fit into the system, into a world designed to fit the human being. Into a world where knowledge is free, opportunities for expression and creativity lie literally at your fingertips, every voice is heard and almost anything becomes possible even for the most handicapped child.

The world has its destiny, produced and directed by the Master of all destiny. A destiny in which Steve Jobs played a principal role. Sure, his role was nothing more than a provider of tools—it's up to us to use them to create that world for which we yearn.