Improving your affluence

I have recently decided to subscribe to a few newspapers on my kindle.  They cost abvout 6-7 dollars each a month.  It does feel like I am stretching my budget, but really, am I?  I must say I do not anticipate reading all of what is printed each day, but I do have a few favorite papers and I do wish to see more of what they print, rountinely.  I have the Miami Herald (I lived there a year), the Cleveland Plain Dealer and of course, the New York Times.  I decided to learn more about Texas as well and subscribed to the Austin American-Statesman.  I did live in Texas a few times and would like to learn more about Texas.   I must say that I am embarrassed to be an American when the woman who ran for Vice President and has been in office in the highest of offices in a state could not even mention one newspaper that she read when prompted. I personally believe that she rarely read the papers.   So thus, I have improved my own affluence.  ( I may cancel one or two of the papers. But I am certain that 2 papers will be in my future for sure.  And I am not including the local paper).

What I learned in the Military

I made one blunder on active duty that I should have seen coming.  I was stung by a scorpion the evening before and in the morning, having survived and not gone to an ER for treatment, I mentioned to my colleagues that I survived a scopion sting.  Bad Move.  Wrong time.  The morning in the miltiary is a time to deny that challenges exist. Better to wait until noon and having finished the mornings chores you are free to speak at will of your outside business hours maladies. 

Regarding mental health in our universities

In light of the tragedies in Tuscon, I have been giving this idea some thought and thought it would be good to document it so that perhaps someone reading this might give it further consideration and perhaps see if this is somthing that might be needed in the future of our educational system. 
It would seem that the college and graduate school system might be a good place to discover any inherent mental health concerns and bring treatment to the student.  Sadly, there appears to be little that ensures that a student must get the therapy and assistance that is needed.  When a student drops out of school, he or she is essentially lost to the supervision and observation of others who may be able to steer him or her to a mental health care situation.  Perhaps an idea, though certainly a big brother type of scenario, might be to mandate that all students matriculating to higher education agree upon matriculation that they will comply with university mental health recommendations as a means of being accepted into their schools.  This way, noone would be lost to follow up and proper treatment can be administered.  I would think this could be university policy or even if need be, law enforced.  This only makes sense and would keep any serious situation from being lost to follow up until dare we say it becomes destructive to a higher proportion. 

One more insight on Jewish prayer

The Shemoni Esrei has one more passage that I believe is greatly underestimated.
That of Davidic Reign:
"the offsping of Your servant David, may  you speedily casue to flourish, and enhance his pride through Your salvation, for we hope for Your salvation all the day."
Did you think this meant a messiah or at least another King of the Nation of Israel like David?  I did.  I prayed it many times and thought to myself, who among us is the bloodline of King David...  Surely someone must exist, but who... is there someone to emerge?
Not quite.  But a king of sorts, and hopefully many and more than one at a time will lead Israel...
This doesnt mean from a stone throne in the holy land.  No no.  This is a cry for people who are the SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING of King David to fill the land.  People with insight and understanding.  People with hope and love in their soul.  People who can lead through the word and the smile.  The expressions of our being.  This is going on even today. I know quite a few.  Elie Weisel would qualify.  This is not a cry for the bloodline of David, rather the line of soul and spirit of King David to continue to grace our homes, synagogues, books, airways, and all that we consume in our daily life.  This is a real thing and by praying this prayer, we are petitioning our Creator to bring more of this type of leader to our people.

The Shemoni Esrei, What does it REALLY call upon G-d to do?

I have to say that over the past few years as I've found myself into a religous synagogue, the Shemoni Esrei has been by far the most interesting of the new found portions of the prayer services that I've discovered in finding Religious Judaism.  (remember I was not in a truly religious congregation as a child.)   That said, it does have its curiousities and I think that in my more educated mind today, I can answer some of the things that we say a prayer for, but really, what are we really praying for?

Most are self explanitory, redemption, insight, repentance, forgiveness.
But what about healing?  Are we praying that our Creator will change the fate of those with medical afflictions?  Stage 4 cancer?   No, I don't think this is a prayer that we can pray.   We can certainly pray for good medical therapy and dare we say in some cases, miracles.  I do beleive these things are possible.   But so too is the healing of the spirit for which we must pray.  This should really be the daveners focus, not physical healing but spirutal healing.  Less self anger and detached emotion.  Less pain and suffering in the mind and soul and being.  Less unanswered prayers of understanding and insights.  More healthy minds and healthy sense of beings.   I do believe that the soul is the focus of the prayer for health and healing.  Not so much the body.

Year of prosperity is not necessarily material, spiritual and financial health.  But really just for good conditions in our lifetime.  Thats pretty self explanitory too.

In gathering of exiles.  This one is worth the read here.  I used to think this meant every Jew moving back to the borders of Zion.   C'mon. really. Do you really think this is our Creator's plan.  I knew it wasn't, but there it was in print.  Ingathering of exiles... from the four corners of the earth.  To where?  to our Land.  This I say is more complicated than it appears.  Clearly noone can actually imagine that every jew will live in and only in the borders of Zion.  And this goes to my point that actually the entire earth is the Jewish heritage as well as the non jewish heritage.  When we say "our land" we are really referring to , in my insight, the fabric of the soul.   Not a physical bordered dirt and water semblance of geographical order.  This is a very important prayer and one must realize to what it refers.   I say that this prayer refers to the ingathering of exiles from the law of Torah to becoming Torah and law orientated Jews.  To ingather, we grasp at Torah and the law and live our lives accordingly.  Wherever physically we are.  Its not a call to move to the holy land.  But if you do that, may you have G-ds blessings.

Restoration of Justice- I do believe it is possible to live in a system where there are true beit dins.   This is exatly what this verse discusses.  But so too it means that we must be fair in our enactments of justice in our hearts.  We are the judge of one another at a psychospirutal level.  We must judge fairly and as we would want to be judged ourselves.

Rebuilding Jerusalem-  Another tough one.  I had previously thought it meant we would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, make Jerusalem a Jewish city and the like.  Not quite.  This is a call for all Jews to be a light before the world.   To be a light to humanity, we are rebuilding Jerusalem.  The capital spiritual home of the Jewish people is established in justice and peace.  This is how we Truly rebuild Jerusalem.

The rest is as it seems I believe, but those few mainly needed some attention.  Give it some thought.

Trouble gone

I must say that in the past few months, I have questioned the truth regarding the great rebbe of the Lubavicher movement.  I have seen some very unhealthy activities coming from the ChaBaD movement including discrimination as well as anger and distancing some of themselves from True Torah observance.  That said, I have been learning more and I have decided to myself that Rabbi Schneerson is indeed a Great Tzaddik and he must be regarded with true brilliance.  It is a fact. This is one of the greatest Torah leaders in our time.  I did not agree completely with what I saw to be a angry following and to that I say, gain more strength in pleasing Hashem with true Torah observance.  That said, I will revere this Rebbe and I most certainly hope that I get the chance to visit his gravesite. 

Painter and painting