Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement.

After years of wanting to see my roots, I went on a four country (seeing eight cities) 16 day tour of Europe. I traveled 4500 km by air and 1000 km by car seeing Hungary, Austria, Czech and Germany. The highlight of the tour was discovering my Grandfather's Grave in Germany, and learning about my only Aunt and first cousin  on my Mother's side deaths in the Holocust and leaning about their birthplaces and lives

The Jew were in the countries and cities I saw for over a thousand years. It was these places that took the Jews from the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem into modern times. Many of the historic Jewish spots are still there and there are every day Jews living and working to keep their Jewish communities alive. Over the next few weeks I will have pictures and stories from my trip to share with you as part of my daily blog

Accept Material Lack

If you give up your demands for more possessions and material matters, you will save yourself much needless sadness.

Sadness does not come from lacking possessions, but from your "lack of acceptance" at not having them.

Next time, when you are unable to acquire something, accept that you do not have it -- and avoid adding emotional pain to your practical problem of not having that thing.

Should you avoid material possessions? No. Just don't make oneself sad about those things you do not have.

Love Yehuda Lave

Oldest Washington, D.C. synagogue moved to new home at Capital Jewish Museum

Washington, D.C.'s Adas Israel Synagogue, the first and the oldest synagogue in the U.S. capital, was moved to its new home on Wednesday. The 143-year-old synagogue will be housed at the Capital Jewish Museum, which is set to open its doors in two years. The move was expected to take up to six hours to complete.

The Balancing Act of Freedom: Knowing When to Be What By Hanna Perlberger

We took a little three-day family outing last week, bringing loads of luggage to New York City, the land of “everything.” We left home an hour-and-a-half past our estimated departure time (don’t ask). Ten or 15 minutes into the trip, we had to turn around and come back home to get a forgotten item (really don’t ask). And I couldn’t help but wonder how Moses managed to get a few million Jews out the door carrying all of their possessions, leaving Egypt in one fell swoop.

In the Torah portion Bo, we see the unfolding of the last three plagues, the laws of Passover and the leaving of Egypt. That’s a lot of stuff for Moses to be dealing with, and so I was curious about the insertion of two lines that seemed really incongruous. G‑d said to Moses and Aaron: “This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. It shall be for you the first of the months of the year.”Embedded in these two cryptic lines is the command to sanctify the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) and also to ensure that Passover always occurs in the spring season.

Controlling (and Managing) Time

In essence, in the middle of one of the biggest events in history, G‑d commanded Moses to create a “calendar”—and not just any calendar—but a unique calendar based on both the lunar months and the solar year. In fact, the Jewish calendar is the only calendar based on both the sun and the moon. Only these two systems (lunar and solar) are not in sync; thus, it requires adding “pregnant years” with an extra month and other adjustments to reconcile the two over a perpetual 19-year cycle. What was so important that it had to be commanded on the eve of leaving Egypt, and why make it so complicated?

The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, from the word meitzar, which means “narrow” or “constricted.” In leaving Egypt, the Jewish people were going from narrowness to expansion, from a bounded country to a limitless open desert, from slavery to freedom.

One of the hallmarks of being a slave is the inability to control anything, specifically time. When G‑d commanded us to be in charge of publicly announcing the new moon (Rosh Chodesh/the new month), we were given the gift of being able to declare and sanctify time itself. And as the Jewish people were coming into their newly liberated status, it was important that they understood that freedom is not the same as a “free-for-all,” and that expansion and freedom requires a balanced approach.

Masculine and Feminine Energy

Jewish mysticism teaches us that the differences between the sun and the moon are not just physical, but spiritual, and that the masculine spiritual energy of giving (the sun) and the feminine spiritual energy of receiving (the moon) are two cosmic forces that need to be brought into balance and harmony.

The characteristics of masculine energy are “top-down;” they are proactive, exert will, impose external solutions, fix situations, overcome and emit. When masculine energy interacts with the world, the predominant energy is the execution of the will of the giver or executor. The characteristics of feminine energy, on the other hand, are “bottom-up”; they see potential, cultivate, build, reveal innate qualities and transform. When feminine energy interacts with the world, the emphasis is on the receiver, not the giver.

This is not about being a man or a woman. These are energies and qualities that we all have, and it goes back to the beginning, with the creation of Adam, that occurs in two parts. First, as a being created in the image of G‑d, Adam was given dominion over everything. If it crawled, walked, swam or flew, Adam was in charge. This was proactive masculine energy. Second, when G‑d blew His breath into Adam’s nostrils, placed him in Garden of Eden and told him to “tend it,” Adam was tasked with care-taking, cultivating and nurturing. This was feminine energy. We need both energies, both ways of being, but to be a free and fully functioning person, we need to know “when to be what.”

The Right Time for Everything

There are times when we need an immediate solution to something—where there is a crisis, calling for fast and effective leadership in a top-down, strong way. And there are times when leadership serves by building consensus, collaborative brainstorming, building relationships and cultivating talent. There are times when we need to impart concepts and information, and times when we want to foster the process of learning. There is a time to be active and a time to be passive; a time to be the conqueror and a time to be the cultivator.

In Built to Last, authors Collins and Porras conducted a six-year study at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, studying 18 truly exceptional and long-lasting companies, as well as their direct competitors. They were looking for an answer to the question: “What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies, and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?” In other words, was there a secret to their success?

And what they found was that exceptionally visionary and enduring companies all shared this in common: They knew “when to be what.” They knew when to be hierarchical and when to be flat, when to micro-manage and when to full-out delegate. They had a fixed core of values, as well as the flexibility to change on a dime. By being able to embrace both sides of the coin, they knew “what to do when” and “when to be what.”

Jewish mysticism teaches that the era of redemption will see the return of feminine energy. Masculine energy can win a war and impose a ceasefire, but true peace is a bottom-up, an inside-out process. In the times of the Messiah, said the prophet Isaiah, “the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun.” Thus, these cosmic forces and energies will be in balance and harmony.

When we left Egypt, we received the Torah, and we were tasked with being the light unto nations. We have to be conscious of our ability to receive and our strength to give. We must be conscious of our collective soul, as well as our individual missions, and to bring our families, our communities, the world, and ultimately ourselves, into a state of balance. When the whole world knows “when to be what,” the sun and moon will be equal. This is what freedom looks like, and this is why we were freed from Egypt—for the purpose of balance, harmony and ultimate redemption.

Internalize & Actualize:

1. Has there been a situation that you met with a proactive, forceful, task-oriented, decisive and immediate energy, which could have been better-served if you had met it with a nurturing, collaborative, long-term, team-building and receptive energy? How about the reverse? List at least one situation from each.
2. Is there a situation right now that would benefit from your immediate attention and action? What do you need to be doing right now that you are avoiding taking on? Which approach do you want to take, and does that differ from the approach you should take?
3. Think about your hesitation to either tap into the more active, top-down approach or the more passive, bottom-up approach. Where do you think that hesitation comes from? Do you assign the roles to gender; for example, do you feel you are being too manly if you do things a certain way? Write down five ways you could incorporate the less natural approach to you that you feel would improve and benefit these areas in your life (being more assertive when speaking to co-workers, not criticizing as much when your children/spouse admit a mistake, etc.).

By Hanna Perlberger Hanna Perlberger is an author, attorney, spiritual teacher and coach. She speaks to people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning and spiritual engagement. This article is excerpted from A Year of Sacred Moments: The Soul Seeker’s Guide to Inspired Living. More from Hanna Perlberger  |  RSS © Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.

Three Steps to Father’s House By Rav Mordechai Torczyner‏

  Rosh Kollel YU TMT Zichron Dov, Toronto  Over a two-week period our ancestors were told how to prepare for our national Exodus. Those commands, recorded in our parshah, described three activities:
· Designation and sacrifice of the korban pesach (Shemot 12:1-6);
· Placement of blood from the korban pesach on the entrances of their homes (12:7, 21-23);
· Circumcision of all males (12:43-50).
 
We could view these three activities as elements of the korban pesach. However, we might also see in them a broader theme, crucial for the Exodus.
 
Agnon’s Exodus
In the late 1920’s, S. Y. Agnon wrote a short story called L’Veit Abba, “To Father’s House”. The protagonist begins the story working at home, but he is frustrated by labour which “has neither beginning nor end, which you start without benefit and from which one can never walk away.” He also suffers from an uncomfortable sense that he does not belong there. Abruptly, he decides to go to his father, whom he has not seen for many years, for Pesach. He departs in haste, but he then encounters delays which may be a product of his own ambivalence about visiting his father. Once in his father’s town, he encounters a heretical individual who wants to discuss the end of the book of Yehoshua. A little further along he finds himself in a tavern with “a set table” holding bottles of liquor, even as Pesach is about to begin. Finally, he arrives at his father’s home – but he remains outside, unable to enter, as the story ends.
To Father’s House works on several levels, one of which is a parable for our departure from Egypt. As the Talmud (Sotah 11a) describes, our labour in Egypt was perpetual and unrewarding, and we shared the protagonist’s sense of not belonging. Suffering made us long for the house of our Father, and we left in haste. (Shemot 12:11) We displayed great ambivalence, though, en route to our land; we even claimed that we had been better off in Egypt. The end of the book of Yehoshua (24:2-4) is part of the Haggadah, and the tavern’s “set table” parallels the Shulchan Orech phase of the Seder – but the heretic as well as the liquor, presumably grain-based, don’t fit at a reunion with our Father on Pesach. These events represent our own troubled journey to Israel. And in the end, like the generation of Jews who left Egypt, the hero does not actually enter the land.
 
Leaving Egypt or Going Home?
With this story, Agnon does more than summarize forty years of troubled travel; he puts the Exodus itself in proper perspective, as a central stage in a greater arc. The arc starts with the life of the family of Avraham and Sarah in Canaan, continues with our descent to Egypt, and sees our subjugation in Egypt. Then we leave Egypt, receive the Torah at Sinai, build a Mishkan and journey home. As Agnon hints with his title, the Exodus is not merely yetziat Mitzrayim, a group of slaves departing from Egypt. Rather, it is l’veit Abba, a journey of Hebrews back to the home in which we were raised in Bereishit, from which we had departed, and to which we had always been meant to return.
Seen in this light, the Exodus requires that we be identified as the rightful heirs of Avraham and Sarah, to merit that return home. This is the role of the three preparatory activities outlined in our parshah:
· Circumcision was Avraham’s mitzvah, and it became the mark of the Jew.
· Korbanot were a hallmark of Avraham and Sarah, who built altars each time they settled a new part of Canaan.
· Placement of blood from the korban pesach marks the structure as a home dedicated to G-d, like the landmark tent of Avraham and Sarah.
Having performed these deeds, we were visibly ready to return home.
 
Arrival
The conclusion of this arc comes in Yehoshua, Chapter 5, when G-d “removes the shame of Egypt” from our nation. (Yehoshua 5:9) The males are circumcised. (5:2-8) They bring a korban pesach. (5:10) And they camp in Gilgal (5:10), their first step in building a home in the land.
 
One odyssey met its completion long ago, but our religious and physical wanderings continue to describe a still longer arc. While we work toward the final Exodus, let us remember the need to identify ourselves as part of that original family. Whether through circumcision, korban and the Jewish home, or through other actions, we must identify ourselves as descendants of Avraham and Sarah, as part of meriting the long-awaited return To Father’s House.

AND THE THREAT GROWS BY THE DAY... THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS WILL BE FACED WITH THIS DIFFICULT PROBLEM.

How Many Muslims Won Political Office

The Numbers May Surprise You!...................WAKE-UP AMERICA!! 

REMEMBER …. YEARS AGO THEY SAID THAT THEY WOULD DESTROY THE WESTERN WORLD FROM WITH-IN.  

  WELL, THEY HAVE STARTED.

Federal

Rashida Tlaib (D)

MI 13th Congressional District

WON

Keith Ellison (D)

MN Attorney General

WON

Ilhan Omar (D)

MN 5th Congressional District

WON

Andre Carson (D)

IN  7th Congressional District

WON

State

Sheikh Rahman (D)

GA State Senate District 5

WON

Safiya Wazir (D)

NH State House Merrimack 17 District

WON

Robert Jackson (D)

NY State Senate District 31

WON

Nasif Majeed (D)

NC State House District 99

WON

Mujtaba Mohammed (D)

NC State Senate District 38

WON

Mohamud Noor (D)

MN State House District 60B

WON

Jason Dawkins (D)

PA State House District 179

WON

Hodan Hassan (D)

MN State House District 62A

WON

Charles Fall (D)

NY State House District 61

WON

Ako Abdul-Samad (D)

IA State House District 35

WON

Aboul Khan (R)

NH State House Rockingham 20 District

WON

Abdullah Hammoud (D)

MI State House District 15

WON

Abbas Akhil (D)

NM State House District 20

WON

County

Sam Baydoun (D)

MI Wayne County Commission District 13

WON

Sadia Gul Covert (D)

IL Dupage County Board District 5

WON

Sabina Taj

MD Howard County Board of Education

WON

Mohammad Ramadan

NJ Passaic County Board of Education

WON

Cheryl Sudduth

CA West County Wastewater District Director

WON

Babur Lateef

VA Prince William County School Board

WON

Assad Akhter (D)

NJ Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders

WON

Abdul “Al” Haidous (D)

MI Wayne County Commission District 11

WON

Municipal

Salman Bhojani

TX Euless City Council Place 6

WON*

Dawn Haynes

NJ Newark Public Schools School Board

WON*

Yasir Khogali

MI City of Plymouth District Library Board

WON

Mohamed Khairullah

NJ Prospect Park Mayor

WON

Mohamed Al-Hamdani

OH Dayton Public Schools Board of Education

WON

Mo Seifeldein

VA Alexandria City Council

WON

Maimona Afzal Berta

CA Franklin-McKinley School Board

WON

Jihan Aiyash

MI Hamtramck Public School Board

WON

Javed Ellahie

CA Monte Sereno City Council

WON

Hazim Yassin

NJ Red Bank City Council

WON

Haseeb Javed

VA Manassas Park City Council

WON

Farrah Khan

CA Irvine City Council

WON

Ali Taj

CA Artesia City Council

WON

Alaa Matari

NJ Prospect Park Borough Council

WON

Alaa “Al” Abdel-Aziz

NJ Paterson City Council Ward 6

WON

Aisha Wahab

CA Hayward City Council

WON

Ahmad Zahra

CA Fullerton City Council District 5

WON

Salim Patel

NJ Passaic City Council

WIN

Sabina Zafar

CA San Ramon City Council

WIN

Judiciary

Shahabuddeen Ally

NYC Civil Court, NY County

WON

Sam Salamey

MI District Courts, District 19

WON

Rabeea Collier

TX District Courts, 113th District

WON

Halim Dhanidina

CA Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three

WON

George Abdallah Jr.

CA Superior Court of San Joaquin County, Office 12

WON

Adel A. Harb

--------------------------- --

MI Wayne County Circuit Court

WON

In breaking these down by state, Deplorable Kel formulated a list.

California

Cheryl Sudduth – West County Wastewater District Director

George Abdallah Jr. – Superior Court of San Joaquin County, Office 12

Halim Dhanidina – Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three

Maimona Afzal Berta – Franklin-McKinley Board of Education

Javed Ellahie – Monte Sereno City Council

Al Jabbar – Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees

Ahmad Zahra – Fullerton City Council District 5

Aisha Wahab – Hayward City Council

Ali Taj – Artesia City Council

Farrah Khan – Irvine City Council

Sabina Zafar – San Ramon City Council

Florida

Amira Dajani Fox (R) – State Attorney

Georgia

Sheikh Rahman (D) – State Senate District 5

Illinois

Sadia Gul Covert (D) – Dupage County Board District 5

Indiana

Andre Carson (D) – 7th Congressional District

Iowa

Ako Abdul-Samad (D) – State House District 35

Maryland

Sabina Taj – Howard County Board of Education

Michigan

Rashida Tlaib (D) – 13th Congressional District

Abdullah Hammoud (D) – State House District 15

Abdul “Al” Haidous (D) – Wayne County Commission District 11

Sam Baydoun (D) – Wayne County Commission District 13

Adel A. Harb – Wayne County Circuit Court

Sam Salamey – District Courts, District 19

Minnesota

See you Sunday-Shabbat Shalom

Love Yehuda Lave