My Life , My Blog

Het volgt een diverse groep nazi-jagers die in 1977 in  New York City  wonen en ontdekken dat talloze ontsnapte nazi-officieren samenzweren om een  ​​Vierde Rijk  in de Verenigde Staten te creëren.   Een parallel plot-element betreft de ontdekking van  Operatie Paperclip  , de operatie van de Amerikaanse overheid waarbij Duitse wetenschappers (velen van hen nazi's) naar de VS werden overgebracht. De personages in de serie zijn gebaseerd op een aantal echte  nazi-jagers  uit de afgelopen decennia, maar zijn niet bedoeld als een specifieke weergave van een van hen. Al Pacino  als Meyer Offerman / Wilhelm Zuchs, een nazi die aan arrestatie ontkwam door een Pools-Joodse  Holocaust-overlevende  genaamd Meyer Offerman te vermoorden. Zuchs stal vervolgens Offermans identiteit en onderging plastische chirurgie om meer op Offerman te lijken. Onder deze gestolen identiteit rekruteert en leidt Zuchs, die een enorm fortuin heeft verga...

  "And Elokim spoke to Moses, and said to him, "I am Hashem" There are three forms of Divine expression: 1.Elokim 2.Hashem 3.Hashem is Elokim 1)Elokim is the Divine connected with nature. The Creator of nature, and manifest within nature. 2) Hashem (the Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey) represents the Infinite, the transcendent Divine that is beyond nature. 3) Elokim is Hashem, is the unity of the two. The numeric value of Elokim is the same numeric value of the words Kli Hashem / the vessel of Hashem. ----- 1) We sense Elokim in our lives when we feel guided. When the details of our lives come together, we feel the interconnectedness of things, and we sense purpose. 2) We are aware of Hashem in our lives when we feel as if something miraculous and extraordinary has occurred to us. 3) We sense that Elokim is Hashem when we live with the recognition that every moment of life is truly a miracle, and nothing is expected or routine. ---- The Divine Names: Experientially: Elokim – Feeling Pur...

  "Animals do not gaze at the stars, and angels are confined to the realm of the spirit, but Man is G‑d’s bridge between heaven and earth. Our bodies are formed from the dust; our souls are of the essence of G‑d. We alone can look at a physical world and see spiritual life and beauty. We who are beyond both heaven and earth, form and matter, spirit and body— we alone can fuse the two." The Lubavitcher Rebbe Artwork - Joyful Spirit THE Rebbe

  Our Torah tells you that you must not fear. Even if an army is charging towards you, you must not fear. For there is no danger worse than fear. But you are only human. Do you truly have control over the dread and panic pounding in your heart? Yes. Not directly, but through the power of your mind. If you will choose not to dwell on those things that instil panic and dread, those emotions will wither and fade. And the choice is yours. What do you want to speak about? What do you want to think about? For the thoughts of your mind are the mother and the father of the emotions of your heart. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman Artwork - Jewish-Chilean artist Mauricio Avayu

  #OnThisDay 16 December 1942, the Plonsk ghetto was liquidated and the last of the Jews of Plonsk were sent to Auschwitz. This transport contained young people, professionals, those considered “privileged” by the Judenrat, as well as 340 children from the children’s home in the Plonsk ghetto. Recounting the ghetto’s liquidation, Shoshana Szydlo-Kahane recalls:“At 4 am, we all stood in the square fully dressed, with our packages in our arms… we were placed in rows, and between 5-6 am we left in a long line towards the train station. The non-Jews watching us bowed their heads and crossed themselves. Immediately, the Germans began screaming, and then there was pushing accompanied by whips. We were barbarically forced into an ordinary passenger train… we used our elbows to get in faster, faster, without thinking of anyone else, so we could avoid the blows. After we were inside, they closed the doors. In the car in which I sat with my family were Franka Kirsztejn, her sister and her m...

  "They translate it as “The Bible,” or “The Law,” but that’s not what the word means. Torah means “instructions.” Whatever piece of Torah you learn, you must find the instructions it is giving you. Instructions to you, here, now." Rabbi Tzvi Freeman Artwork - Writing The Torah Scroll By Albert Benaroya

  Laat de lichten van Chanoeka een periode van vrede  .... en geluk en een betere wereld voor de hele mensheid inluiden. Ik wens iedereen een seizoen vol licht, liefde en gekoesterde momenten. 

You may consider yourself a single person, but there are many characters playing their own script inside you, each capable of detaching itself from the others. Intellect will blast off on its own journey happily detached from emotion. Emotion will burn itself up in a fire that never comes to action. Your arms and legs can go through mindless, heartless, meaningless actions day in and out. And the soul can fly high, oblivious to anything that concerns your down-to-earth life. But when you eat your meal mindfully, do business with a conscience, treat a cranky child with loving patience—in all these things a harmony of parts is achieved. All of you becomes one. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman  

  How to unmask a blessing in disguise: Stare it in the face and say, “I know you are not just a lousy day or bad luck. I know you are a good friend—even if for the life of me I cannot determine how. I know there is only one Source of All Things, and nothing can convince me that evil descends from Above. Evil descends from the constraints of my perception. You are no more than a blessing in disguise.” This blessing, if truly a great one, will not surrender its cover easily. You will need to hold your ground like a mountain against the sea. You will need a composure that demonstrates you meant every word you said. You need to surprise yourself with your own resolve. And then you can turn over a world. A world that once distorted every blessing that squeezed through its gates will open wide. And the blessings that have already entered will sigh a breath of relief as one by one they discard their scary costumes. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

  People are afraid of joy. They are afraid they’ll get out of hand and lose control. These people haven’t experienced real joy—the joy that comes from doing a mitzvah (commandment/precept) with all your heart. Where there is that joy, the Divine Presence can enter. Where there is that joy, there are no pits to fall into, and all obstacles evaporate into thin air. The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, said that the gates of wisdom and divine inspiration were opened to him only as a reward for his joy in fulfilling a mitzvah. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

  "Humility is not an inferiority complex. It's doing the right thing and not being dependent on the opinion of others." Rabbi Noah Weinberg Artwork - Yosst Rosenstein

  Chanukah 1932 ″It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our light will outlast their flag.’ My grandfather, the rabbi of the Kiel community, was making many speeches, both to Jews and Germans. To the Germans he warned that the road they were embarking on was not good for Jews or Germans, and to the Jews he warned that something terrible was brewing, and they would do well to leave Germany. My grandfather fled Germany in 1933, and moved to Israel. His community came to the train station to see him off, and before departed he urged his people to flee Germany while there’s still time.” – Yehudah Mansbuch Written on the back of the photo: “Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights”. Today, both the Posner famil...

  “These words that I command you today should be upon your heart.” (Deut. 6:6.) “Every day, the words of the Torah must be new to you.” (Sifri, Rashi.) Tradition is not life. Tradition preserves life. But it does not give life. Goals are not life. Goals inspire life. But they are not life. Life is here in this moment now. To be alive, every moment must be a moment that never happened before. Which means that Torah must not be about tradition. It cannot be grounded on a memory of the past. Those are important, truly vital. But a Torah life cannot be built upon them. Real life, Torah life, is about who you are now, where the core of your soul lies at this very moment. For if it is not about the moment now, then it is not your life. And if it is not your life, then what is? Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

DE-VICTIMIZING Just who are the oppressors of which you are victim? People? Institutions? The Laws of Nature? They are but tools in the hand of their Master. Or are you the victim of your own Creator? The Designer of this cosmos does not contrive schemes to undermine His own creations. He knows us as He knows Himself; He sees His world from our eyes; He is our life and our essence. When He makes demands of us, He meets us on our own ground, not according to His unlimited power, but finely measured to the capacity He has hidden within us. There are times when you compare the burden on your shoulders to the strengths you know you have, and it seems impossible. But He knows better the hidden powers of your soul. And He has faith in them. For He is there within them. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman  

  Sometimes it may appear that you are stuck in a place where, according to all considerations, no good can come. An obstacle prevents you from accomplishing something beneficial. A friend cannot be approached to help do someone a favor. A gathering of people seems meaningless. The appropriate thing to do in such a situation is to throw out all considerations and just do. Your job is not to determine if. Your job is to determine how. Do, and you will see miracles. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

Review :  S eizoen 2 begint met het stel dat nog steeds in een impasse zit over de vraag of Joanne zich zal bekeren … en ze zijn het hele seizoen door in een impasse. De laatste aflevering herhaalt, ongelooflijk genoeg, veel elementen uit de finale van het eerste seizoen, tot aan het stel dat bijna uit elkaar gaat tijdens een feestje vanwege de religieuze kwestie, maar toch weer bij elkaar komt, zonder een beslissing te hebben genomen. Hoe vaak gaan we dit nog doen?  Er zal een grens zijn aan hoe lang je een serie met dit soort premissen kunt volhouden – waarom niet mikken op een strakke drie of vier seizoenen, waarbij elk seizoen het verhaal daadwerkelijk verder brengt, en je daaraan houden? We kunnen hier geen seizoen langer over doorgaan, want het blijkt dat het enige dat nog irritanter is dan een langdurige liefdesdriehoek, een langdurige kwestie is waarin ze het wel of niet met elkaar zullen doen tussen een meisje en een religie. Waar ik me vooral over verbaas, is hoe vaa...

  Op Bevrijdingsdag hebben we stilgestaan bij de vrijheid die ons werd teruggegeven na oorlog en onderdrukking. Maar vrijheid is meer dan een historische verworvenheid; het is ook een innerlijke opdracht. Wat betekent het om werkelijk vrij te zijn — in denken, in voelen, in zijn? De Tenach, die we in het Westen het Oude Testament noemen, met haar eeuwenoude verhalen over onderdrukking en bevrijding, blijkt verrassend actueel op deze dag. Denk aan het volk dat de slavernij van Mitzraim, het land van de angst en de benauwdheid (Egypte) ontvlucht, de woestijn intrekt, geleid door een wolkkolom en een vuurzuil, op weg naar een land van melk en honing. Het zijn geen verhalen van toen — het zijn archetypen van nu. Ze spreken tot ons innerlijk leven, tot onze strijd met angst, afhankelijkheid en verlangen naar bevrijding. Carl Gustav Jung en Joseph Campbell helpen ons om deze verhalen niet alleen met het hoofd, maar met het hart en de ziel te lezen. Ze nodigen ons uit om de verhalen te ve...

  To ascend the ladder to Heaven is easy, once you know hows it's properly done. To descend into the depths of the unconscious does not have to be hard once you understand what it actually means. There are many paths before us that are only hard in the mind of the beholder. It is personal perception that makes a path either hard, or easy to walk. Your mind is a powerful tool. Your mind is what connects you to Heaven. At the same time, your mind is what connects you to Earth. Do you see it? Do you understand? Your mind is the ladder that bridges Heaven and Earth. The ladder is inside you. The ladder is YOU! You can ascend into Heaven or descend into the unconscious, as a matter of Will. You have the power, and internally, you already know the Way. All you need to do is remove the many hindrances that litter the road, making your passage seemingly more difficult. We call this road repair, rectification. When looking outside ourselves all we see is chaos. When looking inside ourselves...