A quick reflection: Rosh Hashanah vs. secular New Year

In Western civilizations the last day of December is always an exciting time where people look forward for an unknown new year…

Most people blindly simply celebrate just the fact of watching the change of years on the count down of minutes until midnight. Some start it on drinking and with a big hangover the next day, what a way to start, hum?

In the Traditional Religious Jewish New Year, we pray, pray and pray in awe asking G-d for a good year and there’s no fireworks whatsoever, but the trust in G-d’s ultimate mercy towards our fragile beings.

It’s so interesting that people can endure even the cold in New York to watch a ball drop with millions of other people – celebrating the New Year.

Who of those among the millions last December would know how bad 2008 turned to be in a Global perspective? Now, everyone thinks that in a turn of a magic ball drop everything can turn out different for the better once again…

I really hope things would get better in the long haul for the World – but it takes a lot of effort and it doesn’t happen on the blink of an eye.

I always wished people in general would know that over drinking and acting overly crazy won’t do them any good, but rather causes more harm; of course that many of those drinking probably feel bad about their current transition, therefore they drink.

Why can’t people try to get themselves together and use it as a good excuse to improve themselves?

The bad guys in Dubai cancelled the New Year’s celebrations and fireworks off in solidarity for the “Palestinians cause”…I find it so bizarre that the world finds very plausible.

For most the Jewish world it’s a night like any other – though one has to acknowledge the calendar where one lives.

If most people don’t celebrate the religious Rosh Hashanah – I really wish the world should try to improve itself in 2009…Everything which is good starts from within with self-reflection and prayers.

YEHUDIT – A HEROINE’S MESSAGE

A message of Chanukah
By  CHANI.

Nowadays, much is talked about how everyone should “understand” modern day’s assassins of good people, as if there were reasonable appeals for their wicked behavior.

The world has always tried to find a way to blame the victims of atrocities, while defending its murders. So, many people have blamed the very existence of Israel for terrorism per se that it’s beyond belief.

I remember that right after 9/11, I got a call from a “friend” that I used to give foreign language lessons to, and this person told me that the reason of the attack was America’s support for Israel. I was shocked to hear such untrue statement.

First of all terrorists have an agenda, they want to destroy everyone that doesn’t agree with their “religion”, point-of-view and hunger for evil and death. They pride themselves as “warriors” who aren’t in love of G-d’s ultimate gift which is LIFE.

These evil doers despise life and their deity is death itself, therefore they hate the idea of freedom for “infidels” in their distorted minds.

When, terrorism was only in Israeli territory, the whole world would give signals that it was Israel’s solely fault! Now, that it’s gone global, the “guilty minded liberal” mentality still seems to point fingers at the victims.

Meanwhile nothing is really done to prevent these horrific actions…After, few weeks of the Mumbai attack where Westerners, Israelis and Jewish people were terribly attacked, the government of Israel releases a “bunch” of perpetrators.

So, here comes a message of Chanukah that’s right on the corner – Yehudit the Jewish heroine, a feminine figure of the miraculous events that happened in Chanukah which illustrates that she was observant, pious, modest, yet charming and beautiful with a strong faith in the G-d of Israel.

This Jewish heroine teaches everyone that she didn’t only pray, but she embraced the mission of cutting off the enemy herself; first of all, she believed that if the Jewish people kept G-d’s commandments, they wouldn’t perish – nevertheless, she took upon herself a mission which in modern time would sound insane!

She prayed to G-d to protect, guide and deliver, thus, she went after Holofernes the Tyrant Syrian-Greek General – she went with a maid, and eventually after stuffing him with her delicious cheese and wine killed him with a sword by herself!

I’m not saying in anyway, that women or men should take “vengeance” matters on their own hands, but, into certain extent we must fight to cut off the evil that threaten us.

Governments shouldn’t be sleeping, thinking that the taking of one innocent life is fine, when it’s not; the blood of the innocent is crying out to G-d.

Women and men alike should take into consideration that we must trust in G-d, thus, put on armours of righteousness. Gentlemen should be working on being “good” and “loving” husbands to their wives and vise versa. Parents should be really compassionate with their children, and when these are wrong, shouldn’t be pat, but instructed with love, and daughters and sons should be compassionate towards their parents as well.

In resume, Yehudit the heroine’s story should resonate to Israel and the whole world; miracles do happen, but one has to do their part – we can’t close our eyes to the barbaric killings of innocent and say that it’s okay. No, it’s not okay, we must exclaim in words and in actions NOT to release the evil doers, but rather cut off the evil among us.

Teenage Holocaust Victim's Diary Revealed For First Time!

I had to share this beautiful touching video about another teenager called Rutka who had a diary about the war and secured it with a non-Jewish friend.
It's worthy watching, so that everyone in the world shoudn't close their eyes to such atrocities.
I don't mean to be posting sad things, but it's an interesting story - We should know the truth and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE BLINK OF DARKNESS

A lesson of life

By Carine

We have recently watched a righteous among the nations save the life of a little baby from the hands of terrorists in Mumbai – Sandra Samuel, the incredible nanny risked her life in order to save little Moishe. Miraculously, G-d has placed this heroine in little Moishe’s life.

We have no doubts that Moishe’s own mother gave her own life up for saving her precious baby Moishe; Rivka Holtzberg probably did everything to secure her baby and in despair called for Sandra’s help.

The super righteous non-Jewish nanny didn’t think twice to save his life. The fact that we can still see righteous people’s outstanding actions in the blink of darkness throughout history is comforting.

Not long ago, the world has found out about stories of righteous people who went out of their way during the holocaust to save in particular the lives of Jewish children; these non-Jewish heroes risked their lives, because they followed a conscious and didn’t feel intimidated by cruel tyrants who imposed torture and death penalty upon those who helped Jews.

Just recently, we came to know about the existence of such heroes like Sir Nicholas Winton and Irena Sendler, a polish catholic nurse that was able to save 2.500 Jewish children – most of those children that Mrs. Sendler saved were placed in non-Jewish homes, nevertheless she dug up a jar containing the children’s real family names, so that after the war, they could look for their real families. Some children were lucky enough to have a relative alive, others ended up adopted.

Mrs.Sendler’s story demonstrates an emotional and encouraging attitude in the midst of darkness. Even though, she was nominated in 2007 for a Nobel Prize – she didn’t get, instead Al Gore got it! Not long ago, she passed away.

Recently, many Jewish survivors saved in Poland are finding out about their Jewish ancestry, since they went through the horrors of the War and afterwards communism.

All righteous people should be honored and receive everyone’s reverence – of course, we all must act righteously; and the world would be a much better place if all people acted upon it, yet, those who do so – should receive our respect and honor.

Many current heroes are not known - yet, through their good deeds the world is saved everyday. The Holtzbergs were also heroes in Mumbai, serving and saving the spiritually hungry, and because of that were killed.

We must follow their examples, even if it’s not easy, and most of the times real heroes are forgotten and didn’t even get a Nobel Prize; we must give honor for the righteous heroes but – the more people joining in righteousness and chessed in the blink of darkness – more light will break the force of darkness.



Source about Irena Sendler: http://hmturnerfoundation.org/html/artjar.html;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZSu00RN2wk&watch_response

http://www.irenasendlerfilm.com/

http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous_new/sendlerova.html



Irena Vs. Al Gore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVw1PANUcdg&feature=related#



Other righteous among the Nations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoh6y8TX3M&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7xxS8VqZ9E

POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The importance of prevention and treatment - reaching for help

By Carine

Postpartum depression (PPD) also known as postnatal depression affects a large amount of women after giving birth to a child – yet many people are unaware of its symptoms and serious risks.

Many new mothers might experience a variety of emotions after childbirth; some may experience anxiety, excitement, others baby blues; but, some will experience a more severe sadness which is known as postpartum depression.

The matter of the fact is that it’s a very serious issue; and it should be taken with lots of precaution – especially in the Frum Jewish community - as the higher the birth rate in a community is, the higher are the chances of that group of women experience postpartum depression.

The percentage of risk in the Frum community is really high and many young couples aren’t familiar with the challenges of parenthood, and when facing the intricacies of human care, it can be too overwhelming.

Besides the devastating sufferings originated from PPD; many Frum women might feel guilty, embarrassed and ashamed to reach out for proper professional help.

Undoubtedly, Frum mothers bear full responsibilities to bring loving and healthy children up and therefore this overwhelming task can trigger easily new mothers into postpartum depression – causing a lot of suffering to families and especially husbands who don’t know how to handle the situation.

We all know the important role that Jewish mothers play to the very continuity of the Jewish Nation – the “Yiddish Mama” is the pillar of every generation – so, from this perspective itself, we all should be aware of how challenging this role can be for new mothers and in general to mothers of many young children!

Frum women shouldn’t feel embarrassed, in other words, they should reach for the proper help; be it as prevention or a treatment.

That’s why by realizing the great challenges and importance of the health of Jewish women – Esther Kenigsberg in a selfless mission to help the community has founded a non profit organization in the heart of Borough Park called SPARKS dedicated to help mothers and their families with awareness, relief, knowledge and support.

Sparks is made up of mostly Frum volunteers and highly qualified doctors who are well trained to help Jewish families overcome the obstacle of childbearing depression and secure the health, happiness, joy and the most important of all the continuity of the Jewish Nation.

Sparks organization’s mitzvah is enormous and plays a decisive role in the lives of our community members – that’s why in times of darkness, let us see the obstacles and fight it with the right weapon of chessed.

Due to their dedication to help their fellow brethren, regardless of affiliation, level of Yiddishkeit and social status, is the reason that I write about their mission.

If you are not aware of postpartum depression symptoms, risks and complications you can check SPARKS’s website: http://sparkscenter.org/about.htm - Thus, if you know somebody that is suffering, don’t be shy and contact them. If possible, you can also donate for this cause, since it’s a cause that involves the very birth of Jewish souls.

Ps: By clicking on this text tittle, you will be redirected to their informative website.

A WORLD WAR II HERO – NICHOLAS WINTON

Meditating on how can we really be alive

Here goes a small video documentary of one not so known hero of the World War II, his own wife didn’t know that he had helped thousands of Jewish children to escape the horror in the Slovak Republic. His name is Nicholas Winton – during the war, he was visiting Slovak and witnessed the fear of Jewish families; and thought about a manner of helping Jewish children move out of there.

So, he arranged a manner to get them in England. I can’t imagine how hard it might have been for the parents to let them go, even on the break of extermination.

This good man helped to save thousands of children…it’s worthy looking up the video. It’s touching and moving to see that Baruch Hashem, some innocent children were saved from the barbarian camps.

It’s very touching to see that those children had children and are alive and well, and that Mr. Winton had a significant part on that; but I hope that their grandchildren never forget that their ancestors went through such persecution because monsters wanted to exterminate the Jewish Nation.

Therefore, besides escaping alive and sharing their beautiful story – I hope that they may maintain Jewish tradition, so that the Jewish Nation so much tormented may flourish more and more and keep growing in numbers, spiritually and materially.

That’s the way to surface the death of millions – through passing from generation to generation the beauty of the tradition of Am Israel, otherwise our enemies win. We should think about it.

That’s why I think Chabad is doing an excellent job in telling everyone that the only way we can fight the action of terror is with adding more light unto our very lives.

By Carine

MEETING A NAZI’S DESCENDANT

A meditation on the challenge of choosing life’s paths


In this last week edition of the Jewish Press, there’s an article by Elliot Resnick, a reporter staff who wrote about a challenging task that a Holocaust survivor took upon herself: Meet the daughter of a former Nazi commander called Goeth; as the daughter of the Nazi called Helen Jonas out that she desired to meet her.

Now, after 60 years of the horrendous Holocaust tragedy they met in Poland; the meeting is going to be portrayed as a documentary airing on TV. I’m not so sure how genuine the documentary is going to be, but if it really is – it’s probably a story that catches attention due to its implication.

I’m aware that there are few descendents of Nazi commanders that even converted to Judaism and happened to give speeches; but this seems a different case, the daughter whose name is Monika Hertwig was willing to meet Mrs. Jonas who was saved by the real famous hero Schindler ( Schindler’s list by Spielberg) during World war II.

What would cause a daughter of a Nazi look forward to meeting a Holocaust survivor who used to live in her father’s village? Would it be due to a sense of trying to distance herself from the image of her father? Mrs.Hertwig only found out about her father's past either at the age of 11 or 13.

I think the whole curiosity itself involving the story is the reason to film a documentary. Should we blame a daughter of a Nazi for the behavior of her father? Whatever one may conclude about the complexity of this fact; she probably has to bear the fact of being connected with her father.

Human beings in general are judged in society by our family branches, because we happen to carry their DNA, whether good or bad. Nevertheless, every individual has their personal “marks” and personality character – though there might be tendencies.

When, one’s ancestors are good loving people, we hope to see that their descendants are going to be good and hopefully surface their Mitzvot. Yet, throughout the whole Torah we see all kinds of mixed cases.

As Torah describes some brothers acted good and some bad to name a few: Cain vs. Abel (good), Jacob vs. Esau (wicked) and what about Korach’s sons that not only didn’t agree with their own father’s wickedness, even endured the shame of being Korach’s son and they totally separated themselves from their wickedness's influence and were able to compose inspirational Psalms (Tehilim) to G-d due to their desire to reach higher divine levels.

What about the opposite path of Absalom? Having as a father the righteous David HaMelech( king David) chose the wrong path.

Korach’s sons chose the right path, removing themselves from the evil influence of their father; so how much easier it should be for all of us to reach higher grounds and win the battle of evil we face?

In regards to Mrs. Hertwig, we should consider that the fact that she wants to dialogue with a Jewish survivor may proof that she’s trying to expel herself from the darkness of her father’s ideology.

In resume, whatever the case of a person might be there's a choice; in the case of the Jewish nation - we must emulate the ultimate goodness of our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


By Carine


The trailer of the documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGAJpE3LOhs

Jewish Press article about the encounter: http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/37366/Holocaust_Survivor_M.html

Ps: P.O.V will be streaming film until January at http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/inheritance/fullfilm.html - if you click on the title you can be redirected to the streaming video.