Back to life...

That's it, the fast is over.
The nine days, the three weeks are all but a part of the past.
Now it's time for laundry, music, swimming activities, fleishig suppers… in short, back to life.

But what do we take with us?
Can we just go ahead without one glance in the past?
Without carrying ahead the lessons we've learnt?
The yearning for Geulah, the working on ourselves… wasn't it all real just yesterday?

It was. And it hopefully still is.
It's up to us to make sure we keep it up, even while getting back to our "regular" life.
And hopefully, next Tisha b'Av will be a real yom tov.

Tisha B'av

We all know we're supposed to be sad on Tisha B'av. But why are we sad?

Are we sad because the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed? Or are we sad because it wasn't rebuilt yet?

I would say it's a mix of both.
We know that if the Bais Hamikdash is not rebuilt in one's times it's as if it was destroyed then. So by mourning the fact it wasn't rebuilt, we're also grieveing the fact it was destroyed.

What do you think?

Future?

"A rose among the flowers
A treasure to the king
דודי ירד לגנו
ללקוד שושנים"

Yet another tragedy has struck
One of our precious lives
Leaving behind
One's shattered future

How can I be certain
This isn't
My last half hour?

I really said that? No way!

I should've come up with this one on my own, but my friend beat me to it. Oh well!

I love texting, emailing, and chatting.
I can answer at my own convenience, and say exactly what i think or feel.
I don't have to face the person i'm talking to, so I can really say what I want.

And the best thing is: the conversation is saved, so i can go back and read everything i wrote.
But then I realize I sometimes say embarassing things - things i would've never said if I was facing the person I was talking to.
But it's all there, black on white. I said it, there's no denying it. I just have to face it.

Well, the same will happen to us when we reach Shamayim: everything we'll have said and done throughout our life will be "written" there, and there'll be no denying. We'll just have to face the consequences.

Simchas Hachayim

A friend of mine recently told me the following: "People think that in order to give an impression of being deep, they have to look sad. Because if they walk around smiling and happy, they look shallow."

Well, I disagree. Really strongly. I think it takes a certain deepness to appreciate all that we have, value it and be grateful for it.Yes, there are terrible things happening to us, right and left, there are a lot of sick people among us, orphans, widows, poor people... the list can go on and on...

Suffering comes in all sizes and shapes - I remember learning that just pulling the wrong coin out of your pocket is suffering - and it happens to all of us.
But guess what, good things come in all different sizes and shapes also. Whether it's your ears, your feet, your veins, or even a fingernail... Whether it's your clothes, the food you eat, the roof over your head or even your friend next door.... just look around and there's so much to see, so much to appreciate, so much to enjoy!
No, we cannot ignore all the pain that surrounds us, the same way we can't ignore all the joy and good things that are part of our life.

And like we know:...לכל זמן ועת, there's a time for everything
...לבכות ועת לשחוק עת ספוד ועת רקוד..., a time to cry and a time to play, a time to lament and a time to dance...

There's room for all of it in our world, we just have to learn to juggle it all!

If that's what you want....

My friend's hair has this strange habit of always flipping out.
No matter how long she blows it in the right direction, it always ends up flipping out.
She one day decided to blow it flipping out because that's how it ends up being anyway.
And as she was telling me this, one thought crossed my mind:
"בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך בה מוליכין אותו"