More of the usual:

Happy Hannukah

As children we grow up with the joy of Hannukah, lighting candles, eating chocolate coins, tasty warm latkes or jelly doughnuts, playing with dreidels, maybe receiving gifts, and as we grow older we start to wonder what this holiday is all about. We won the war against the Greeks. We fought valiantly against a stronger and greater army and won. Then we are satisfied. We understand it and we celebrate it. Yet in the back of our minds we experience the cognitive dissonance that notices we aren’t in the land of Israel with the Holy Temple in the way it used to be. What happened after we won that war?

Some of us will learn more Jewish history and realize that we only won a temporary freedom that was limited and didn’t last. We did eventually lose our prophets and wise men, our Temple and our land. But we don’t want to lose that little holiday of ours so we continue to light the candles and sing the songs. We are temporary joy seekers. We don’t want to face the facts.

But those who realize that the sages knew what they were doing when they made the holiday, and understood throughout the ages that we should continue to celebrate this event, were looking at life on a deeper more spiritual level. They saw the “light”.

The joy of Hannukah is not the war that was fought and won. That was merely a temporary freedom. The joy is the celebration of Divine Guidance during the war, the special relationship with the Almighty that was evidenced by the miracle of the lamp that stayed lit. That miracle is the symbol that our relationship with our Creator will never get extinguished even though we may be living in other countries serving foreign rulers, or even in our homeland with a secular state battling daily for our survival. Our Father in Heaven will never abandon us, and in fact will continue to guide us through all of our challenges throughout history. You can see His hand in Jewish history, and you can see His hand in your own life if you look for it.

Our joy is the comfort of knowing He is with us, and the hope for the future when all is restored to its rightful place.

Just when you thought you'd heard it all.....from the makers of Turkey and Gravy Soda, here's this year's questionable offering
Chocolate Coin Soda
Potato Latke Soda
Applesauce Soda
Jelly Doughnut Soda
for guess which holiday....Chanukah of course. Check out Jones Soda Co. and yes it is kosher. (They even give you a dreidel with the four pack) And if you need one more excuse to buy it, they donate the proceeds to charity.

I went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens with four of my children on Sunday and had a great time; they even had some kosher candy sticks and root beer in the gift shop I got for them. It’s a great time of year to get out and reconnect with the earth. Succos always reminds me how interesting nature is and particularly this year the “four species” – palm, esrog, myrtle, and willow, ignited some botanical fascination for me. Here's Yehuda on a bridge at the Climatron.

And here’s one of Noam in front of the fish tank.

But the most amazing thing I saw there was a plant from Indonesia called a Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes) that consumes insects. It has beautiful cups of nectar that attract bugs (sometimes by having a similar smell to rotting meat) and the insects enter the top and have a hard time leaving and end up drowning in the nectar (what a coincidence), which just so happens to have the enzymes needed to break down the insects into the nutrients the plant just to happens to need.

The universe is an awesome place that the Almighty created. There are many things that make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a designer. If this plant evolved to be like this that makes it even more astounding and shows us that the Almighty is behind evolution. It seems to me that either way, to think this happened somehow randomly is beyond comprehension, and only someone who doesn’t want to believe in a Creator would suggest such a thing. That’s just my humble opinion. There’s too much design involved for it to happen without the Infinite Creator’s invlovement.

The Zohar says that every single plant has an angel that overseas it’s growth.

IMHO - Every botanist alive should believe in an infinite Creator.

Nothing much to do with mysticism, but some friendly parenting advice: If you have a small child having a temper tantrum, even the dreaded "melt down" temper tantrum, and you feel your blood pressure rising and you're about to lose control....play this on your computer for the little tyke and all will be well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-tQalNGY6k
If youtube changes the link, just search "hamster dance".

Warning, if your child loves it and asks you to play it four hundred times, you may feel your blood pressure rising and you're about to lose control......

We are putting up our Succah at the moment and things are going well. Yehuda, our oldest was up (too late) attaching some lights. Purple lights. Yes, he's the frum Hollister boy.

If you didn't see my article on jewishinstlouis.org on Yom Kippur, here it is:

Yom Kippur and the Loss of a Loved One

Yom Kippur is one of the more somber days of the year, spent in fasting, prayer, and repentance, and is marked by many as a special day for Yizkor, the prayer that people say in the synagogue for loved ones who have passed away. Some may shed a tear for those souls that have passed on; missing them, but a tear is also something to be happy about.

Tears for those we love show that there is love. While we lament a large funeral with many people crying, the truth is that it is much sadder to see a funeral where there is nobody crying. If a person leaves this world without anyone who cares, well that’s testament to the type of person they were. It’s a tear of sadness and a tear of joy at the same time. It’s terrible to lose someone you love and it’s even more terrible that someone is lost to nobody because nobody loved him/her.

On Yom Kippur, we are focusing on what life is all about. We recognize that pain in life is sometimes the proof that life is meaningful. As 17^th C. French writer Jean de La Bruyere is quoted, “Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.” If you feel, then life is real and therefore painful. If you think, without feeling, you can find humor in almost anything. After every tragedy the comedians can come up with something funny. “Remember the great career O.J. had with the Buffalo Bills? Imagine what he could have done with the Sabres.” A catatonic who doesn’t know that the world is at war doesn’t have to be concerned. We are happy that we are aware of the problems of the world. We are not happy about the problems, but we are happy to be aware.

If you look at the news, you have the option of finding out what is new in Iraq, Iran, Korea, Syria, Lebanon, Darfur, Afghanistan, or any of the other places where people’s lives are being shattered or altered drastically. Even if you feel incapable of changing the situation you can pray for them. Or you can skip the world news and go straight to Britney’s custody case or how a man got bitten by a rattle snake by stuffing it into his mouth to impress his girlfriend. Nowadays entertainment seems to be mixed up with politics. What people are curious about and what is important in the grand scheme of things should be clearly separated. You need to know what terrorist threats are being made. You don’t need to know what new perfume ad may be banned. Of course if you want to read celebrity gossip all day, it’s a free country.

What is ultimately important in our lives is our relationship with the Almighty. He loves us. He wants what’s best for us. He’s behind every event in your life. Therefore every event is meaningful and important. Every event good or bad is somehow in your best interest, maybe as a challenge, maybe as a message, maybe as a test, but every event is designed for your benefit.

Even death, which to an atheist might be considered the worst calamity possible, to us is merely the transition from the world of doing to the world of being one with the Infinite. This is why sometimes a sage about to die will ask his students to dance, to show that this world is temporary and we belong in the next. For the soul that leaves, death is not a tragedy. The soul moves on to a more revealed place of reality and oneness with God.

We do believe in reincarnation. There is always a chance a soul may come back again for some unresolved issues, but we don’t know all the rules regarding which souls come back and when. One thing we do know is that sooner or later a soul must go to the World of Truth, and that it is a world of pure goodness and pleasure. Some Eastern religions think they have a handle on these rules. A recent news report said that China is trying to regulate which Tibetan souls are permitted to return.

The government of China, which claims control of Tibet despite the region's vigorous culture of independence, announced in August that it would henceforth require Tibet's "living Buddhas" (special clergy believed to be continuously reincarnated) to get permission from China's religious affairs officials before submitting their souls to be embodied in the future. The government acted, it said, because the reincarnation process needed to be managed better.

Personally, I plan on leaving the whole reincarnation thing up to God. Of course next incarnation I might be a Chinese official. I guess when we get up there we will find out more details about how God organizes all this back and forth from one realm to the other.

It seems everyone is into recycling these days, even God.

May you be sealed for good things for the coming year.

Our daughter, Shevi, has some mystical leanings already. She's not even two. When her older brother says, "Shevi, tell me the secrets of life," she'll go over and whisper in his ear. Well if anyone needs the secrets of life right now it's Owen Wilson. I guess being wealthy, famous, and successful in Hollywood isn't enough. He should read my book A Simple Guide to Happiness:From a mystical perspective. Or at least...talk to my daughter Shevi.

Physical pleasure is God's gift, but put it in perspective.



The Talmud states that when we get to heaven they will ask if we have tasted
all the delicious fruits on earth. This implies that we are encouraged to
engage in physical pleasure. Eat, drink, and be merry. Don't feel guilty.
Try that new flavor of Ben and Jerry's. The Almighty created us with
tastebuds that know exactly how to absorb pleasure from food. He created
wonderful tastes in all kinds of foods and food combinations: salty,
crunchy, cheesy, sweet, sour, spicy, etc.



But in order to stay happy, we have to keep physical pleasure in its place.
It's not a substitute for dealing with life. It shouldn't be an escape. You
shouldn't let it control you.

Food seems to work best for us when it accompanies a special occasion or
Simcha. A birthday, bas/bar mitzvah, a wedding, or holiday meal. Nowadays,
just having the family around the table at the same time is a special
occasion worthy of celebrating.



In short, food is best used for happiness when it accompanies and expresses
your joy, rather than being used as a source or happiness itself.