Let Us Not Continue To Reject The Land Of Israel

by Tamar Yonah

Tonight I will be sitting on the floor in the dark with a candle with my kids and read from the book of Eicha (Lamentations).

Please, wherever you are, say a prayer that we may merit the Holy Temple and the Moshiach, and then, make a plan to go and implement that. Tisha B'Av became a day of mourning because we rejected the Land of Israel. The place that G-d gave us as a homeland, the place where our forefathers are buried; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and our foremothers, Sarah, Rivka and Leah (all burried in Hebron) and Rachel, burried in Bet lechem (Bethlehem). Our kings are buried here as well, King david, King Solomon, etc... This is where our history is, and this is where our future is.

Let us not continue to reject the Land of Israel. If you haven't made aliyah, go to www.NbN.org.il and check out how it has never been easier in history to come and make aliyah and return home form our long exile.

Do good deeds, pray, and plan what you CAN do to bring the redemption.

May The KBH, the Holy One Blessed Be He, have mercy on us, and may we merit through our deeds and love, the rebuilding of our Holy Temple. Amen.

If you like, you can leave a prayer below for the return of our Holy Temple that will be a light not just to Jews, but to all of Mankind. We have no idea what we are missing.

Who should we turn to for help?

With President Barack Hussein OAliBabaBama pandering to the Arab world, what will be? Who should we turn to for help?

Don't worry. לב מלכים ושרים ביד השם. It's all part of The Plan. Israel needs to be in a state of הן עם לבדד ישכון just as we were 70 years ago. It can no longer have "friends" like the USA to fund defense projects or veto UN resolutions since this "friendship" comes with a price. If the price is removing Jews from parts of our Holy Land, and to add insult to injury - giving that land to our sworn enemies, then the price is way too high.

A true friend would not use "tough love" when no toughness is warranted. A true friend would understand the needs of the friend and tell the friend's enemies to go you-know-where. This is why I use "friends" in quotes, and this is why OAliBabaBama is no friend of Israel.

We say every day אל תבטחו בנדיבים בבן אדם שאין לו תשועה - we cannot rely on people. People are limited - there's no Teshu'a in people. Rather, in עקבתא דמשיחא, there's one thing for certain: אין לנו על מי להשען אלא על אבינו שבשמים. We're certainly heading in that direction, if not there already.

And we're ready to rely on Him forever more.
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Stress-buster: 3-minute Ancient Hebrew Meditation

by Rabbi Lazer Brody

It's unfortunate that so many people search the ends of the earth for some meaningful spirituality - a true, pure, and uncomplicated connection with The Almighty - when they're not even aware of their own fabulously rich spiritual heritage.

People ask me if meditation is kosher; if it brings you to cling to Hashem, by all means. In case you don't know, meditation originated with our ancestors, the ancient Hebrews.

Hebrew meditation is a form of "hitbodedut", or secluded personal prayer where a person yearns to cling to The Almighty with all his or her cognitive faculties, body, and soul. Nothing is so conducive to inner peace as merging with G-d, in the way that a small flame of a candle merges with and completely nullifies itself to a great flame.

By meditation, we communicate everything on our heart to Hashem, beginning with expressions of praise and gratitude. Then we do soul-searching, cleaning out those hidden cobwebs of past misdeeds that are liable to haunt us. The more we develop sensitivity and receptiveness by frequent daily hitbodedut, the more we are able to hear the soft flashes of Hashem's messages that illuminate our souls.

The following film clip is a gift to you, my dearest brothers and sisters, wherever you are. In less than 4 minutes, it will magically uplift you from the depths of stress and worry. True spirituality is somewhat like popcorn or potato chips - you always want more.

The music in this clip is Native American, composed by Grandmother White Eagle, esteemed elder of the Texas Cherokee nation and our very dear friend. Fiercely monotheistic, the Cherokee Nation has its roots in the ten lost tribes of Israel. The lovely native American melodies are therefore strikingly similar to the ancient Hebrew shepherds' flute, conveying a yearning to commune with God, as we see in this sea-side meditation based on the prayer "Nishmat" coupled with a Hebrew Tai-Chi style meditative exercise. Feel free to forward this clip to someone you love, by clicking on the "permalink" and pasting the URL to an email. Enjoy and G-d bless.

Swine Flu Update - Cutting Through The Fluff

Mystical Paths

Wall Street Journal - "Don Weiss, director of surveillance in New York City's bureau of communicable disease, said authorities do not have the resources to test everyone. The only place in the world where testing is being done is at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The CDC is working to expand capacity for testing around the country, Mr. Weiss added.

"There are probably 10,000 people with the flu in New York," he said. "We just don't have the capacity to test that. People with the flu should stay home and call their doctor."

World News Reports state as of today there are 1,000 confirmed cases of the Mexican Swine-Type Flu worldwide. However, community news reports state confirmed cases all over. Similarly, World News Reports state "symptoms not unlike regular flu", but more direct reports state much scarier symptoms such as extremely high fever, loss of use of limbs, and hospital level care to recover for healthy adults.

The good news is there are few reports of deaths from any sources. So far, with doctor's care and hospitalization when necessary, patients are recovering.

That being the case, Mystical Path's advice is: time to upgrade your precautions, but downgrade your worry. On the spiritual side, time to focus davening on your and your family's safety, but be aware when the 'demons' of destruction are loosed they are empowered to ignore regular merit.

(Israel National News) Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar asked Jews on Monday to set aside a day of prayer and fasting for this coming Thursday for the welfare of the world in light of the H1N1 flu outbreak. He also called on people to repent and increase their study of Torah.

Rabbi Amar cited a Talmudic precedent that in the time of Rabbi Yehuda around 1,500 years ago, when he learned that the pigs had a disease, he immediately declared a day of fasting because he said that pigs have a similar digestive system to humans. In another Talmudic precedent, when Rabbi Shmuel heard of a disease in a far off place he also declared a fast, since the disease can pass from place to place.

The Prayer of Prayers

The greatest joy and blessing - coming home to the Land of Israel

by Tzvi Fishman

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov emphasizes the importance of pouring out one’s heart before G-d in words of heartfelt, personal prayer, for all of our problems and needs. Here’s a sample prayer you can say for coming to the Land of Israel. Say it every day, or something similar in your own words, and with G-d's help, you will be one of the lucky ones to make it:

My G-d and G-d of my Fathers, teach me how to pray in a way to draw down Your compassion, put words of fire in my mouth that will pierce through the darkness of my exile and shatter all of the barriers that stand between us, for I feel so far away from You. Fill my heart with a burning desire to come to Your Holy Land, where I can become the Jew that I was destined to be, to play my share in the great Redemption of Your people. For I know in my heart of hearts that only in the Land of Israel can I be who I really am, by retuning to my roots, to the homeland of the Jewish people, to the Land of my Forefathers, the Land of the Torah, where the Torah is meant to be kept, to the place that the Patriarchs longed to live, even when there were savages, and dangers, and idol worship throughout the Land.

Please, dear Father and King, fasten the call of the Psalmist firmly in my heart, that I set “Jerusalem above my highest joy,” and may my longing to be in the pleasant Land increase each day, so that wherever I travel, I will always be longing to come to the Land of Israel, as opposed to remaining here in the exile, in a foreign land, amongst foreign peoples, where we have been scattered in punishment for our sins, and the sins of our forefathers.

Help me, my Father in Heaven, to overcome all of the obstacles, all of the fears, all of the excuses, all of the voices within and without which talk against Your Holy Land, in an effort from discourage me from reaching my goal, which is the true purpose of the life of a Jew, to live a life of Torah in Your Holy Land. Grant me the privilege to achieve the great tikun and rectification that I came into the world to accomplish - by returning my Jewish body and soul to the Land of G-d, the Land of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov, the Land of our Matriarchs, the Land that the eyes of Hashem watch over from the beginning of the year to the end. Deafen my ears to the complaints and criticisms of all the modern day Spies who speak badly against Your chosen Land. Let me run away from them and their evil advice. Give me the strength to cling to what I know is the truth in my heart of hearts, to love the Land of Israel with all of my heart, and to set my path in a straight course for Zion, the dream of our people for three thousand years, looking neither to the left nor the right, in order to reach the golden shores of the Land of Israel and to roll in its dust, just like our Sages of old.

Please G-d, give me the exalted honor of coming to Israel, even though I be small in merit and filled with fears and worries about the unknown. But I know that you are Master of the World, Creator of the universe, and that You surely can provide for me and for my family, especially for someone who longs to please You by giving up everything he has known, in order to perform Your will by coming to the Land of Israel.

Open my eyes to see all of the miracles of the past hundred years, how You have brought Your people home from the four corners of the world, granted us triumph over our enemies, rebuilt the barren wasteland, and raised the Nation of Israel from out of the ashes of the Holocaust to become a marvel in the eyes of the nations, thus restoring honor to Your Name. Let me always remember that it is You who has done all this incredible rebuilding, that this is the realization of the words of our Prophets of old, who all promised that G-d would bring us back to our eternal homeland.

Save me, Hashem, from the bondage of my exile in a foreign land, and rescue me. Grant me the fortitude and the inner will and conviction to come to Eretz Yisrael, knowing that You are with me, to help me in everything I need, and to give me the strength and blessing to overcome all challenges, that are really designed to elevate me in Your service and make me a better, more complete person and Jew.

Thank You, Hashem, for making me realize and understand the vital importance of coming to Israel. It has lit up my life like a bolt of lightning in the depth of the night of my exile. Please, my G-d, strengthen my desire each day, and in Your infinite kindness, bring me home soon to the Land of Life, to the Land of Israel. Amen.