Is God Ignoring You?

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God, Please Don't Cry!

It is flu season and all the symptoms are setting in. But unfortunately there is one symptom plaguing society that is prevalent all year long: nausea! People have become mean-spirited and jealous and get nauseous every time they see someone doing well. They begrudge people joy and success believing it takes something away from them. They want to be the only star in a one man show. This new generation now takes pictures of their ears, their toes, their eyeballs, etc., in this flourishing trend called “selfies,” i.e., wherein a person takes picture of himself and then tweets it, posts it, Instagrams it as if he has just accomplished some great feat that must be bequeathed upon humanity. And don't tell me to lighten up. It's levity that brought us here to begin with.  Click to read more 

Directions Please!!!

We need directions. We lower the car window and ask, “Excuse me, God, what do I do? I’m trying to reach the Freeway to My Destiny.”  We feel an intensity building as God looks us in the eyes and asks the same question He has once asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” 
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Off with Your Head!?: A Rosh Hashanah Message

O ften when parents send their children off into the fracas of life, they dispatch them with the warning: “Be careful and use your head.” But isn’t that advice all rhetoric and trite? What else would we use to engage life? Our toes? Our elbows? It is only as we grow older that we realize what we once deemed as a parental platitude is wisdom that no sophist can equal. For even though the head sits as the crown of the body, for most people it is every other body part that actually rules. Our palates salivate, so we grab for the extra cookie; our eyes desire, so we spend beyond our means; our desires flare, so we reach for the forbidden; our legs grow weary, so we abandon the treadmill; our tongues grow restless, and so we unfurl gossip. Day in and day out we respond to the dictates of the body, but the head, the supposed capitol of our resolve, our will, our better judgment, well, it seems to be a silent partner. But as the New Year approaches that farewell warning our mothers and fathers gave us while standing by the front gate should echo with solemnity: USE YOUR HEAD!   click to read more 

Say it, Pray it, Do it!

It really amazed me when I first learned that God doesn't recognize the Jewish people from one Yom Kippur to the next. No, it's not because Mr. Schwartz lost ten pounds or Mrs. Cohen got a shot of Botox, but rather because the pure soul that left the synagogue after fasting and praying for its life a year earlier has returned in a blemished state one year later. And I can't help but question, "At what point did good intentions go wrong?" It's like looking at my white carpeting and wondering when did it become so spotted, and after which spill did I stop caring?

I'm not sure why God believes us anymore. We pray, we promise, we vow, we repent and sure enough we mess up all over again. Whereas God and His word are ONE, human beings' actions and their words are so often antithetical to each other, disconnected and so double-faced it is no wonder that God doesn't recognize us.

Maybe I'm dreaming of a time that never was. But I do believe that in the past when people said something, whether to God or to each other, it meant a lot more than it does today. One would think that today our words are made in China because we use them in crass abundance and they seem to come very cheap. With texting, emailing, IMing, Facebooking and Tweeting, we've all become schmoozers, wordsmiths, commentators, seducers and revolutionaries who entertain ourselves and our audiences with grand pronouncements (but little service to God or mankind). We live in a time where the "word" seeks to replace the deed. Wouldn't it be great if we could just work our way into heaven by texting God that cute haloed angel emoticon?

And though man has sinned from the beginning, I think in unprecedented fashion we have lost respect for words because the more we say things we don't mean, the easier it is to continue saying them. We have also found the lazy way out by empowering words so much that we think our mere saying them is good enough and action need not follow. And that is why the Torah warns, "Accursed is the one who will not uphold the WORDS of this Torah to PERFORM them."

As we enter the Jewish New Year I just pray that we will each have respect for the things we say to each other, to ourselves and to God—and mean them. My parents used to always say, "To talk and to promise costs no money." In the end, however, I do believe there is a price and that price is the crumbling of our societal, spiritual and moral foundation. Perhaps after Yom Kippur it's easiest not to follow through on everything we promise God because we think He’ll let us get away with it like a forgiving parent. But we should not be so presumptuous. And so, this year, I wish that our words and vows will bug us, not like parents, but like nagging kids on a road trip who want exactly what we promised them at the outset and won't stop grating on us until we reach our destination so that when God greets us in the coming year He'll say, "Yiddelach, you've never looked so good!"

You Shall Not Steal What?

You shall not steal,” the eighth commandment cautions us in the biblical Book of Exodus (20:13). And so, implemented in most civilized societies, most people won’t walk out of department stores with expensive trinkets they inadvertently slipped into their pocket and for which they “forgot” to pay. But the funny thing is, many of us will pluck a few grapes in the grocery store or grab a few nuts and pop them into our mouths.

            No harm done, right? Wrong. Click to read more

Let My People Know

The biggest challenge for today’s Jews is “to let our people KNOW.” A new generation of Jews needs a good history lesson. They know not what Israel is fighting for, nor how important Israel is to the survival of Jews across the world. Thus this week, in place of my blog, I’ve interviewed a young man, Josh Friedman, 24, who has just returned from his first trip to Israel through the Birthright program which offers free educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18-26.

Josh’s answers were so good and touching that I decided not to turn this into a story but just to serve up the Q’s & A’s as they are. Please pass this interview around to inspire other young adults to partake of this incredible program.


Q: What did you know about Israel really before you left?

A: I really didn’t know all that much. I knew it was the Jewish “homeland” and there was a ton of blood spilled to make it happen, and I knew it was a holy land with many landmarks, but other than that I didn’t know much besides what I saw in the media and heard through word-of-mouth.

Q: When you got there was it what you imagined it to be?

A: Not at all. I thought it would be a giant desert with missiles flying overhead and threats of suicide bombers everywhere. What I found was a modern city (Tel-Aviv) and a holy place (Jerusalem) with a lot of open, beautiful land in between. The people, at least the ones I met, were similar to New Yorkers – a bit rough around the edges, but once you crack the surface warm.

Q: Were there any parts that made you cry or touched your heart more than others? Where? When? why?

A: There were many moving moments, but the most intense had to be at Har Herzl. This was towards the end of the trip when we had all bonded with the soldiers. To see the empty space where future soldiers would be buried, with them, was an experience I’ll never forget. I consider them all my brothers and sisters and to see a plot of land where they could potentially end up moved me to tears.


Q: What surprised you most about Israel?

A: The bond with the soldiers surprised me most. I expected to meet them, get along, then say our goodbyes. What I got was (hopefully) life-long friends. I am in touch with all of them already on Facebook and we all can’t wait for them to come to the United States or for me to go back. They were just like American kids I grew up with except for an added toughness and maturity from their time in the army. They showed me what it meant to be an Israeli and a good person.

Q: What inspired you to go?

A: The fact that the trip was free and I was getting closer to being 27, which was the cut-off, and my desire to re-connect with my Jewish faith and roots.

Q: How do you feel about being Jewish now as opposed to before?

A: Religious-wise the same--unsure about what’s out there--but I’m much more proud to be Jewish and have Israel as my home.

Q: What do you want the world to know about Israel?
A: That it’s not what the media says. There aren’t rockets flying overhead, and Israel’s soldiers are DEFENDING Israel, NOT attacking enemies. There’s always a story behind headlines like “Israeli soldier kills Palestinian boy.” Soldiers there act to defend Israel. That’s why it’s called the IDF, Israel Defense Force, not army. Also, Israel itself is much more modern than you might think. Tel Aviv could pass for any American city.

Q: Why is it important for young Jews to go on this trip?

A: Number one, it’s a free trip, that should be enough. But more importantly, it’s a chance to travel to your homeland and truly discover your Jewish roots and to see what your faith really is. It’s a chance to travel to a place that many would kill to get to even once. And it’s a chance to see what Israel is really like, not what people tell you or what you hear. To get to travel to the places you’ve only heard and read about is a priceless gift that every Jew should take advantage of.

Q: What was the most fun you had on the trip?

A: Any activities with the soldiers. They gave us glimpses into their personalities and lifestyles while making us all grow closer as a family. Either those activities or when we spent time at bars in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Not just the alcohol, but it also allowed us to spend time--free of worries--with our new Israeli family.


Q: What food did you like the most?

A: Schwarma!

Q: What did you feel when you saw young men and women, younger than you, in the army?
Would you have joined the army?

A: It really put things in perspective – these kids are defending Israel at an age where I was playing video games and worrying about what college I was going to. They’re mature beyond their years, by far. And they’ve been through more than I could have imagined. Nine/Eleven is definitely the most traumatic event I’ve been through, but all these kids have known at least more than one person killed in the Israeli army and have been in war first-hand.
I am thinking about joining the army, the only thing stopping me is my fear that I’m not tough enough for it.

Q: Please share the range of emotions you felt on this trip.

A: Everything from laughter to the point of stomach pain to tears and everything in between.

Q: How has this trip changed your life?

A: I am more proud to be Jewish and am very much pro-Israel. I was neutral before the trip. After being to Israel and seeing first-hand what its citizens do to defend the land, I have a greater respect for the place itself and its residents. I also am more motivated to set goals in my own life and achieve them, because wasted time is not an option for Israelis, nor should it be one for me.

Q: What is the most meaningful memento you brought back?

A: An Israeli flag. Although I could have gotten that anywhere, the fact that I bought it in Jerusalem and it now hangs in my room will remind me of the trip everyday.

Q: What part of Josh do you feel you left behind?

A: Hopefully the angry, bitter, cynical part, or at least some of it.

Q: Did you have any interactions or episodes with Arabs?

A: No.

Q: Who is your favorite music group?

A: Metallica.

Q: What kinds of fun things do you do in NY?

A: Go to bars, explore Manhattan and sight-see, attend games and concerts, spend time in Times Square.

Q: Did my Gaga for Israel T-shirt campaign, which you helped me work on, influence you in anyway?

A: Yes, because I had not heard of many of the figures before the campaign. The campaign inspired me to find out more, which I did on my own somewhat, but my knowledge expanded infinitely after my trip.
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Josh asks for all inquiries to be directed directly to him: Friedman.josh.d@gmail.com. If he can recruit ten more people to join the next trip he can return again as a counselor.