THE MIRACLE OF THE FEAR/LOVE OF GOD

Which to choose? To have The Fear of G-D or The Love of G-D? Can we love someone Who we fear? Is it necessary to have love at all? Or is fear all we need? Can we thrive as righteous individuals on having this fear instead of love? Can we have our cake and eat it too?

To be a lover of this fearsome G-D and because we love Him, we are feared, as is our G-D.

The Big Bad Wolf, The Sheep In Wolf's Clothing, The Blood-Sucking Vampire, A Werewolf, a Wolf-Woman, a Monster of the Deep, King Kong, The Hulk, a Black Raven not a white dove.

To feel this fear of G-D and not instead fearing humans. To be feared yourself by others. To have this fearsome G-D on your side so you fear no one, except Him/Her.

To be the Knight in Shining Armor, The Mighty Warrior, a Sight for Sore Eyes, a human person but struck with the fear of G-D and becoming the source of light that is brighter than the fires in the lava of an exploding volcano!

To fear G-D and to have others fear you because you fear G-D. To then turn this fear into love because it is so unbearable to be feared and to be fearful.

To be loved and feared, to be loved because you are feared, to fear G-D and to be feared for fearing G-D. To love AND fear the Jewish G-D. Is this possible?

Love and Fear united in ONE Body, ONE mind, ONE heart. To love as is our commandment in the Torah, to love the Almighty G-D as is His/Her desire of us to do, to love Someone, a Higher Power, a ONE greatness and to turn His/Her Greatness into Our love of all, each other, landsmen, fellows, our neighbors. Not to instead love a ghost or spirit, to love the Greatness of the ONE Almighty G-D Who you have on your tongue in Hebrew language meditation. Love and to be loved by the Jewish people, by all peoples, to have a love from a Great ONE G-D and if this is very awesome for you, love Him/Her , every day, all night and all night. Never to feel He/She does not love you back. Count on G-D's goodness and talk to Him in prayer as much as you need to. To feel this love you give Him/Her and to count on His/Her's love for you.

 Never to give it up!

A KOSHER TURKEY ON THANKSGIVING

A full tummy, a belt that needs to be hooked on a further notch, pants that feel tighter than they did yesterday, a churning stomach like the churning of ice cream, a creamy dessert of dairy but not mixed with meat, a turkey who once gobbled being instead gobbled by you.

A Kosher Turkey, a Turkey who was Blessed, an elevated soul in your stomach to elevate your soul to a higher level, to a level of Blessedness, a level of Goodness.

A Turkey who was not killed in vain but instead as your nutrients to furnish you the heat of its calories to fight off a forthcoming cold winter wind.

A Turkey who is happy to be yours, your personal Blessed Turkey to draw an upward smile on your face, curved like the crescent of a new Rosh Chodesh moon, as you wear this Turkey well, having shared it with others in the spirit of GIVING as a Thanksgiving Holiday Dinner.

A full dining room table of many people Blessed to accompany you in your Blessedness of eating a Blessed Kosher Turkey, all souls in the dining room with you toasting to good health, to digest a Turkey who is Good, a Turkey whose life was not wasted, a Turkey to become your fuel as you then are able in turn to fuel others with the energy of Goodness.

A truckload filled with Kosher Turkeys who sweetly sang aloud, they "gobbled" so you could gobble them up!

A movement of Righteousness of Blessed Souls of Kosher Turkeys to remind of us the loving-kindness and generosity of OUR ONE ALMIGHTY G-D.

The ONE G-D Who gave us The Torah Commandments as a seasonal Holiday gift, the only real reason for us to give "THANKS" as we are in "GIVING" on this autumn Holiday of THANKS-GIVING.

THE MIRACLE OF PEACE NOT WAR

Not a "Veteran," not someone who fought a battle in my life, never on a battlefield, never to have struggled with my conscience, never drafted into the army, navy, air force, someone who instead stayed on the home front and kept the peace in my own home and in the home of my family.

A person to never break the Torah Commandment of "Do Not Murder," never to have must killed the "enemy" in the name of one's country's Constitution.

Never to own a gun, never to even need a slingshot. Never to need to sling a rifle over one's shoulder.

To live a life to learn Hebrew Tefillah, the peaceful singing in the Hebrew language for Peace.

A place of this constant peace, never to must fight a war or even a battle; except the battles that surface in one's own mind.

Not to have sailed on a warship, not to have aimed a canon. Not to have needed to make a split decision whether or not to kill the "enemy" when confronted with him face to face.

Family members who fought in WWI and WWII, coming back home from their battles still alive, unscathed, not to be a disabled Veteran, not to be a homeless Veteran. Family who survived, and we were there at home to welcome them back home.

Never to have worn army boots, never to must step in a mud puddle, not needing khaki colored clothes of greens and browns. Not to ever need to spray mace. Just carried a canteen with a strap over my shoulder filled with clean pure water, never to go thirsty.

The miracle of living a peaceful life and learning while in this peace how to increase one's peace and to increase the peace of those around you. To have survived the battles that exist in one's mind, to be in a merry dance and not in a high-stepping march.

Make Peace, Not War And Bring Our Soldiers Back Home.

A GARDEN OF EDEN HERE ON EARTH

Where is this Garden of Eden that is here on Earth? Do you mean to tell me that it is not a fictitious place created somewhere thousands of years ago that is no longer in existence? Is this place like "Heaven" the place where no one has come back to Earth from to let us know what it is like?

A Garden of Eden is here, it is within you, it is always at your accessibility, it is a place where you can always be, no matter where is your geographical location.

A Garden of Eden is a place just for you, it is a place YOU create with your imagination to go to whenever you want to be there and from wherever you are standing.

The Garden of Eden is the place of the peace of The Shema. A place that shows you the existence of the presence of G-D when you "Shema" or listen for Him.

To have the power to listen for G-D as the repetition of The Shema sings over and over again in your mind, and you listen to the rhythm of this singing, the melody and tune, the tonality, whether you prefer bass or soprano.

To have this song of The Shema in your songbook in your brain, a song that eases you, that calms you, a song that means something to you.

The Garden of Eden being the "place" or state of mind of this peacefulness one can give to oneself as he sings The Shema.

A place of richness, a place of rest, a place being where G-D is listening to you, He hears you singing to Him and He then is all around you celebrating and dancing to your tune as you sing this song to G-D and you please Him.

He therefore will please you in return.

IN MEMORY OF A GOOD FRIEND

Having had a friend who was a true friend and who did not want anything in return for her friendship, a person who was such a good friend, she risked her life to help me, she went out of her way to guide me, she had my best interests always at heart.

Seeing her face as big as life, as bright as a new moon her smile as she always had care, love and concern for me, a woman who was guided by The L-rd. Someone who was always there. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Sparkling eyes, but not the eyes of Santa Claus, instead real eyes on someone who really exists, someone who is not a myth or pretend, someone who cared for me, someone who was a real live human, with human faults but she always tried her hardest to overcome her mistakes, even when her mistakes were so rare, having a life of perfection as she was an Angel while she was alive, not only in death.

A mother figure, a grandma figure, a woman to always remember, a kind-hearted woman, a woman who gave me respect from day one.

Someone who understood me, a woman with advanced medical knowledge and training, a woman whose study and work guided her in her appreciation of my life. She deep down, feeling all my pain, and helping to ease the pains so they were no longer there.

A miracle in my life to have had this friendship, a friend never to forget or minimalize.

The truth of someone's love for me to feel for a lifetime.

DUMPING IDOLS INTO THE GARBAGE

Another true miracle in your life! How to be so lucky, instead of calling it "luck" to call yourself "BLESSED" to be given two items so you can give one away, not needing two!

To have two shoes on your feet and to be blessed with free travel, a brisk walk into your backyard where you have everything you ever wanted and needed, so not to even need two shoes! To give away one of your shoes away to the poor, so he has a complete set.

To have this ONE shoe, like what you have is ONE G-D, and this shoe, like a lucky horse's shoe is on your foot and brings you strength, as having only ONE G-D brings you strength, not diluting your ONE G-D with other gods and yet another god and still another god..., like potent fruit juice diluted with so much water it becomes tasteless, and you are so confused you do not even know the names of your gods, all weak in power, multiple weak gods who weaken you.

Not using "sex toys" you feel in your pants pockets as sexual deviancy as a way to feel the "power" of G-D. Keeping pure and true, honest and righteous, not subservient to "a pocket full of posy".

Wearing blue jeans on a Sunday that represent your Jewish inherited GENES and do not use front pockets for your hands to "please only yourself."

Instead to use your right AND left hand righteously: to help someone, to drop a donation of cash into your Temple's charity box after you spent the weekdays working to earn money so you too have cash and so do not hate the rich.

Not using a pocket in your blue jeans with two red/green round "toys" so you instead of loving people, you selfishly love only yourself.

Xmas being a time of the year to receive these "toys" so your "Mommy kisses Santa" instead of kissing your Father. To then be a child to a Single Mom with no Father, and living in poverty so you covet and hate the rich and hate the poor, but loving the "toys" in your pocket. Your real pockets being empty because you do not have two, you do not even have ONE.

A life of emptiness without worship to the ONE true G-D Who is a G-D of goodness.  

THE MIRACLE OF SINGING HOLY HEBREW PRAYERS

Singing songs! Using your voice box as a musical instrument not needing to play a violin, sweet song belted out loudly or quietly in a wishful wonderful whisper, whatever is your choice, it is up to you! To feel this song in your gut as others sing songs to you, for only you to hear, singing as a way to communicate, singing as a way to feel peace, love and meditation.

Singing long verses of words of the Hebrew language, having "tefillah" the Hebrew words of songs memorized, sitting quietly in a chair, closing your eyes to block all bright light, to put your three fingers in a "Shin" sign on your forehead, to sing the holiest prayer ever created: The Shema, and to feel its essence. To feel the peace of this song, this prayer, that simply says "G-D is One." Echad being the Hebrew word for ONE, the oneness of G-D, G-D not being a multiple milieu of confusing gods in mythology. Praying using song to A ONE G-D, a G-D we can all understand, no confusion of thought, no confusion in the heart or mind.

This repetitive singing, chanting, expressing yourself in the Hebrew language, a prayer on your lips at all times, a musical beat to accompany the natural beats in your heart, a melody, a way to feel G-D.

A way to praise G-D, to thank G-D.

A Rabbi who sings your Hebrew name along with your Father's and Mother's Hebrew names when he calls you up for Aliyah, your name sung in beautiful notes wonderfully above the din! Your name not scolded instead by a parent, your name becoming song, sweet melodic great incredible singing of songs!

Having ownership of your name as it legally belongs to you, a birth certificate as a legal document that declares your name, possessing a name that is so beautiful deservingly sung to G-D to ask Him to help you. A name becoming an aria, a name that is good, a name to remember, a name with a history, a story behind a name, a Prophet in The Torah having your same name.

Singing in Hebrew, over and over again in your mind soothing to your thoughts, quietly to yourself so no one hears, or loudly to an abating audience.

Singing holy several thousand year old songs, songs that led large armies into battle for wars to win to overcome evil, songs after a battle won, becoming songs of peace, all people after a war can feel this peace, one side defeated while the other dances, dancing to songs, a song for all to learn to mend broken hearts.

The SHEMA, the greatest of all songs, the greatest of all prayers, always there for you on the tip of your tongue, a song to wake you up in the morning and a song to put you to sleep at night, a gentle lullaby.

THE MIRACLE OF A HALLOWEEN WITHOUT FEARS

The miracle of being Jewish and so not afraid of the ghosts, monsters, witches, and goblins of Halloween. Having Judaism as a religion so to be blessed with the prayers to honor our deceased family members along with The Prophets and Prophetesses of The Torah, without summoning their ghosts with sorcery. The spirits of our loved ones being everywhere as our G-D Almighty is everywhere, and so we are in constant exposure to their loving-kindness.

Children on Halloween dressing up as ghouls and ghosts as intimidation to homeowners to be forced to provide them with a treat, or else; if not, they will give you a "trick." Tricks on houses at this time of the year that are not decorated with pumpkins and spider webs; being "teepee'ed" with rolls of toilet paper on your trees and bushes. The dirty tasteless "trick" they call harmless and "all in fun."

Children taught to be threatening in their scary costumes, how to moan like a dead man or growl like a lion. Overseas in Jordan schools children being taught how to be terrorist suicide-bombers. Whose afraid of the big bad wolf? Not me! Because I had a Jewish Dad who was as brave as the greatest of all Prophets, as brave as Moses!

Halloween, a time to joke and be merry, to laugh in the faces with humor and good cheer of those who think they scare us! And then to eat their chocolate candies and delight in smashed pumpkins on the front porches of front yards.

A time of joy for everyone! Halloween! The beginning of the winter Holiday season, but thank G-D, with the holiness of Hanukkah just around the corner.

THE MIRACLE OF A SWEETHEART

Lucky enough to be called "Sweetheart." Having someone see and feel your "sweet" side, as you sprinkle golden raisins into your sweet breads and give them away as gifts. Adding both brown sugar and white sugar to your chocolate chip cookies, using dark chocolate bits, soft cookies with the chocolate that melts on your fingers (as you sneak a lick when no one is looking!)

Being so sweet, with such a compassionate kind personality, that you become the substitute for sugar in someone's life. Having the sweetness of a smile that you faithfully reserve just for them, a smile so sweet it becomes like raspberry jam on the bread in someone's day.

As Moses threw the piece of wood into the River Nile to sweeten it, as Ruth gave birth to a child for Naomi to bounce upon her lap, as bitterness washes away in the waves as the Great Red Seas Split and the Hebrews walk upon dried sands to the Promised Land, leaving behind the Egyptians with their horses to drown in these same waters that were a blessing to the Hebrews.

Feeling like a "Sweetheart" as someone identifies you as such, living up to their expectations of you, being the icing on their cake without the calories. "Sweetening" someone's life with a smile, a laugh, a tickle, a look of love upon your face.

A face that lightens up brighter than a Hanukkah Menorah, more colorful than a Christmas tree, a face that glows with Divine light, a face that takes the place of darkness, not ever to have a scare, to have a Halloween without the fright in the night, following this face as your guiding light, it sparkling like your personal diamond.

The miracle of having a "Sweetheart" in your life, someone for just you that you do not have to share. A one and only, a one-of-a kind, a nurturer with an endless supply of sweet milk just for you, for you only to drink.

Tell someone today: "You are my Sweetheart" and bring love into their life and into yours.

THE MIRACLE OF THE COMING OF THE JEWISH MESSIAH

Miracles in your everyday life. G-D causing manna to rain upon your head instead of raindrops. A lifetime of working for others and then having the opportunity to be your own boss. To need to count your pennies and then to never need to purchase anything. To always have a party where to go and it is next door within walking distance, not needing walking shoes or a car.

To have a transit pass that takes you all over the IL Chicago area for free, to board one bus after the other, take any train to anywhere, to never need a transfer pass, to go anywhere at anytime. To never feel homebound, to never need to make repairs on your vehicle, to have this free transportation come to you as a gift from G-D.

The miracle in your life of having once worn many hats, to have learning experiences galore that then become teaching lessons for you to give to others. To have been both a blue collar and a white collar worker, a domestic housewife, and a CEO entrepreneur of your own company. To also have been a musician, a visual artist, a creative writer, and a public speaker. To once have been married to a man that your Father chose for you to marry. To have had it all, to then this way have an abundance, a variety, different life experiences that come together as a composite to use as subject matter in creative writing, drawing straws from many hats, having lots to say, being the life of a party and so having a standing invitation to attend parties all day everyday.

To be in waiting for the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot. A weeklong everyday Holiday when what we do is pray for rain and have acceptance and patience as one day, a day when we will have no sunlight, and a whole night long without light either, no moon reflections, on this day that is in our future, to welcome the Messiah as our Savior as soon to be, our world as now is destroyed everywhere, will become healed with this coming of our Jewish Messiah, and everyone everywhere will enjoy "simcha" which means joyousness!

Waiting and wanting with patience and desire for the leader of the world The Messiah, to appear from the clouds and descend from the Heavens to save us all.

THE JOYS OF EATING KOSHER BRISKET

Kosher Brisket! How can we describe this meat to one who has never had the pleasure of tasting it and who does not know how to cook it? We must first go to The Torah and talk about its origins from over 5,000 years ago, about Jewish cooking and which foods we are allowed to eat and which foods not, and why?

In The Torah, we as Jews became blessed to eat Kosher Brisket, it all started because of the triumph of the Prophet Jacob who struggled with an Angel and won the fight. He overcame evil and wickedness as G-D instructed him to change his name from Jacob to Israel, the name Jacob meaning "holder of the heel," referring to his brother Esau's heel, and the name Israel meaning "May God prevail, he struggles with G-D, G-D perseveres; contends. In the Torah when Jacob was in his nineties as a token of blessing G-D changed his name to Israel."

When Jacob fought with this Angel, he tried to overcome evil, and the socket of Jacob's thigh became injured in this struggling and fighting.

We then were instructed by The Torah to never eat the back end of the thigh meat of an animal, the area of an animal of this thigh socket, in this way we honor Jacob's fight for righteousness and show him compassion for his injury that was a result of this  fight.

We cannot eat "round" meats or pot roasts, these meat cuts come from the back end of an animal.

Instead we are instructed to eat meat cuts that come from the front of the cow. Brisket meat is a cut that is located on the chest area in the front of the cow.

But, is it dry? Is it tough? What kind of meat is this anyway? Brisket yes, is dry and tough if you do not know how to cook it. Brisket must be marinated in dry white wine overnight in a bag in your fridge and cooked for at least 4 hours. Tin foil must be used to cover the meat slab while cooking so the moisture of the juices stay inside the meat and it does not dry out. This softens an otherwise "tough" piece of meat into a meat that is so soft it melts in your mouth!

The "Break the Fast Meal" after Yom Kippur is the time to eat this scrumptious meat dish, slurping up the slippery sliced grilled onions with your pursed lips, licking the tomato sauce smeared on the top of the meat slab, swallowing it like a drink, savoring its spicy smooth taste.

A "Rite of Passage" in every Jewish girl's life is the learning of her Mother's Kosher Brisket recipe, it passed down from generation to generation. Which spices your Mother used that other Mothers do not, what makes your Brisket special, a family inheritance, a secret to only tell to your Daughter and for her to tell her Daughter.

To be the one blessed enough to then eat this special "Family Recipe of Kosher Brisket." To have the blessedness never to eat a tough or dry piece of Brisket, to have this taste in your mouth as a memory when you are Fasting on Yom Kippur knowing that at the end of your successful Fasting you will be treated with this Kosher Brisket that makes it all worth the effort!

THE MIRACLE OF WHITE TEETH IN A LOVELY SMILE

The miracle of a lovely smile! Having white teeth like pearls shining and sparkling like stars in a dark night, smiling with these jeweled gems at the people you love, giving away your smile freely as a gift, inheriting your good looks and happiness from both your parents.

Regular dental visits and good teeth brushing hygiene, smiling big and wide to show all your teeth, having teeth that reflect bright lights, teeth without needing braces all perfectly formed and arranged neatly your mouth.

Teeth as friends, licking around the inside of your mouth and feeling all your teeth with your tongue, caring about your teeth, having peace with your teeth and your mouth. Hydrating your teeth with cool drinking water, splashing on refreshing mouthwashes, tasting the spicy cool mint of toothpastes.

Glad to have a full mouth in possession of all your teeth, to even keep your wisdom teeth, to have great wisdom as a result of a mouth full of wisdom teeth.

Loving your teeth and your gorgeous smile, grinning happily for pics, having teeth of which you are proud!

Keeping your teeth, being the "Tooth Fairy" as you use your smile and bright white teeth to bring yourself joy with a wide toothy smile showing them off in a sweet smile that makes others happy too!

LAUGH AND THE WORLD LAUGHS WITH YOU

Experiencing the miracle of things that are funny! Having to chuckle to laugh, to gasp in excitement when something tickles your funny bone. Experiencing this automatic knee-jerk when someone says words like a song that raises your mood and gives rise to your emotions, increasing your emotions of happiness, joyousness, causing you to feel good and to rejoice.

Seeing someone pass you as you walk and that person's face lights up like a bulb and he gives you a smile with his countenance that becomes contagious, causing you in turn to smile back and to then repeat this act of kindness as you automatically smile at the next person you meet. Feeling this person's happiness as he returns your smile and makes your day special.

Telling jokes, having a repertoire on your tongue of tales that are funny and can make someone laugh. The funniness of a comedian as you accentuate your vocal sounds to be the fool, the jester in a king's court, to be the one everyone watches, to have an audience everywhere you go, to be in the spotlight, simply because you have a joke to tell that makes people laugh.

Loving the attitude of funniness and being the one to keep everyone in stitches, curling your lips into a smile for everyone you meet.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.

AN ABUNDANCE OF FRESH WATER FROM A SUMMER RAINSTORM

Loving rain, loving water, keeping rain barrels to catch the fresh water as it falls from the sky, opening your mouth and lips wide to catch the raindrops as they fall like icy diamonds onto your tongue.

G-D giving you everything you crave, giving you an abundance of this sweet rain to fill your empty cups, to keep your winding rivers flowing as G-D gives you a river for your right hand and the seas for your left hand.

Not living in a house in the dryness of the flatlands, having the security of skyscrapers all around you in a city, so no tornado can form and cause grief to associate the rains with flooding.

Stomping in rain puddles with rain boots up to your knees in rubber for protection. Watching worms surface on the grass in yards and seeing birds feasting like kings and queens upon them as they wiggle their way up from the ground.

Walking pet dogs who do not thirst because they stop at an oasis and lick freshly scattered rains from puddles and off their soggy paws.

Being given rain as a gift and reward from G-D for good deeds done, performing mitzvoth and filling your cups, cups that are golden and silver challices, not having a half empty cup but having cup that is half full, petitioning G-D to fill it up all the way to the top.

"G-D giving you what you crave," as promised to us by King David in The Psalms.

Fresh falling water as pure as clear lake water, having the properties of a mikvah that falls upon you, not dreading its wetness, but welcoming it, as it purifies your body giving you an ability to show loving-kindness to others as your heart and soul become pure in the holy water.

Showing compassion to others whose cups are empty or because they view their cups as half empty and not half full.

Giving someone a smile, a beautiful smile with white teeth, that they can see as beauty and gorgeousness in the darkness of a storm, to share an attitude of the colors of the rainbow you both will see after the storm lifts and the rainbow becomes a sign of your Covenant with The Lord Who brings this beauty into your lives giving you both the joy you seek.

HOW TO TURN LEMONS INTO LEMONADE

Becoming thankful to The Lord for everything you have and even everything you do not have, to look around you and find beauty in everything you see, to concentrate on this beauty, to internalize it, to not think of anything that is negative, to counter in debate any negative remark or attempt to change your disposition of happiness to instead cause you sadness, to tell someone who tells you that you are lacking in something, that this is not a lack, that it is a gain and that things that are sour can be sweetened, a lemon can be turned into lemonade. Moses too sweetened the River Nile with a tossing of a piece of wood that represents The Torah into the Nile, when the Nile was sweetened with this wood, it was like a sour lemon that miraculously became sweet lemonade. You have the power to do this too.

To have studied The Torah and The Psalms, to know that in Psalm 23 King David tells us that we have an obligation to always "be happy with our lot." He tells us to turn an unhappy lot into a happy lot by changing the way you look at it, changing your attitude, seeing the positive in anything that someone claims is negative.

To therefore never have a setback, all that comes to you that could be colored black or dusty gray can be changed into the purity of bright white, things that seem doomful can be turned around and something positive can be found in anything said instead to be negative. It is your job in life to counter all the darkness and turn it into light.

To be thankful to The One G-D, The Lord, the Elohim Who is your personal Savior, as it is Him Who is giving you all that is good, all that is positive, all that is pure white light, all that makes you happy and all the ideas you have that counter badness and turn badness into goodness, sour lemons into sweet lemonade.

THE MIRACLE OF AN OUTDOOR PATIO

The miracle of having an outdoor patio, a house with a patio with flowers, a place to sit and watch the birds, a birdfeeder to feed the birds, a bag of sunflower seeds for Cardinal red birds to eat, a place to watch all your favorite feathered friends come to snack and eat a meal, to chirp thankfulness into your ears, to sing your favorite songs in bird-language, to be a provider to these birds for them to receive free foods and to then have them sing to you like in a concert hall, to show you their love and gratitude, to be a person who loves nature and to have nature loving you back.

To have the miracle of flowers, planters of gorgeous flowers of all types and all colors in your backyard in your patio. To be able to sniff the air and catch a whiff of these flowers as you pass them by, to see their beauty expressed in potent vibrant colors.

A patio, a place to convalesce, a place to rest, a place to feel the warmth of the summer golden sun, a patio in a quiet neighborhood with next door neighbors you like and get along with, a patio as a place to live out your life, to have a long life, to live in this patio that brings you constant joy.

THE MIRACLE OF A BRETHREN OF JEWISH LANDSMEN

Having the miracle of a community of friends, a group of people who know you who you have been in contact with for many years and as an extended family of cousins whose lineage like yours is Jewish, these people functioning as being your friends as well as your family. Having family who are friends and friends who are family.

Having a family of origin of brothers and sisters but also having "brethren" in a larger circle of people, a circle of family that is all related to you from a distance, but this distance closes and each member has a closeness, a closeness as the families form friendships.

Through these friendships a larger distanced world becomes a smaller world and we have friendships no matter where we go as we see faces who look like ours, people who are related in this large world as a community of Jews, wherever you go.

Being a member of a larger family in addition to your smaller family unit. This way be related to others and to care about them and have them care about you, even if you are motherless or fatherless, a widow or an orphan.

To have a view of the world being a place of friendships of Jewish landsmen and to have them as family no matter where you go, how far away you travel, and also in your own backyard, no matter where your backyard is located.

THE MIRACLE OF A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

Sweet delicious chewy, the miracle of a chocolate chip cookie!

A cookie with smoothness and lickety-ness, a cookie that speaks aloud to you as you crunch it in between your teeth, as each chip melts over your hot tongue like a glacier.

A cookie that blends in your mouth causing salivation as like a Pavlov's dog who heard a bell.

Eating a treat, a snack, a dessert, a way to taste sweetness as when Moses tossed a piece of wood into the River Nile.

Not having bitterness, baking a Naomi a chocolate chip cookie to sweeten a bitter disposition, causing a Naomi to have pleasantness as what her name implies, no more being bitter, instead biting into a cookie to have a bite of bittersweet-ness.

A chocolate chip in a cookie that bursts in your mouth like fireworks on Independence Day, using your tongue to taste every morsel, sucking it in, licking the inside of your mouth, your teeth and your lips.

Eating a cookie with milk like a kid to improve a sour disposition, to have a cookie to sweeten your smile with the miracle of chocolate.

To have a happy ending to a story by licking your fingertips free of melted chocolate. A story of a recipe from a book that caused you happiness and joy.

THE MIRACLE OF MORNING COFFEE

The miracle of brewed coffee! Dark steamy coffee swirling around in a clean white cup, sniffing the coffee smell in the air as it permeates the entire kitchen, getting a free flowing fountain of coffee in large silver coffeemaker appliances, coffee that wakes you up in the morning, and tingles your tongue, an aftertaste of coffee on your breath, coffee that puts a dance into your step, coffee that stimulates the activity of the brain.

Coffees that are gourmet, coffees that taste good, coffees that taste delicious. Always being with coffee when you need it, coffee as a friend, coffee as an old friend who is your companion, a coffee mug that you carry with you wherever you go.

Loving coffee and craving the taste of coffee. Getting free coffee and getting as much as you want, filling up a cup without a bottom, a bottomless cup, an endless cup of coffee, coffee that grows and coffee that seems to multiply in its quantity all by itself.

Coffee and cream, coffee as a best friend.

THE MIRACLE OF THE IMPACT OF THE WRITTEN WORD

The miracle of having a creative talent, to be able to express in the written word anything and everything that is on your mind and to express it in such a way that causes an impact, to persuade or to share information that will help someone, to make a dent into someone's consciousness that will cause them to change, to say these words in written form that have a natural beautiful conversational flow, to use colorful words that cause your reader to see beauty, to use rhyming words that cause your reader to be in a state of song and of music as they read your writing.

To use the pen as a sword, to fight opposition and to battle against hatred or others' wrongdoings.

To use your pen as a bandage to heal someone's woes, to provide comfort to people who read what you write.

To have a dream to use your writing as an occupation, a craft, an art, a way to express your emotions and to use it as a force to do tikkun olam which is Hebrew meaning "the healing of the world."

To be so prolific that your readers fear your written words and attack your thoughts, getting jealousies from people who cannot write, to write even when these enemies attack your writing.

To have the Freedom of the Press, to have the freedom to write anything that is on your mind, to continue to write even when your writing is opposed as people who read it must see the truth even when they do not want to see it. To show in black print on pure white paper the truths that others must swallow when they read it and for them to taste words in their mouths that are hard to swallow, hard to deal with, because the truth is there in stark black and white print.

To not have the evil to be a critic of someone's writing because you yourself cannot write and you covet the talents of a writer.

To use the written word as truths to try to change and to heal. To rub someone the wrong way as you publish your truths, combing someone's hair backwards, but to nevertheless continue to be truthful in your writing and for someone to read it and to then change for the better.

THE MIRACLE OF FEELING THE SHEKINAH

The miracle of hearing/feeling someone smile at you even though you cannot see them smile, to feel a love for this person who has a "smile" for you that is evident in their voice tonality.

To talk on the phone with a smiley person who laughs when you too want to laugh and not instead to be laughed "at." To have this smiley exchange with someone who truly wishes you good will and good health, to have someone aid in your state of health making you healthier just because they laugh with you and find the same things to be funny that you do.

Hearing and feeling this smile when you cannot visibly see it as over a telephone, but anyways receiving the love that is meant for you, even though not face to face.

To feel the cleanness of someone's mouth and the whiteness of their teeth as they smile at you over the phone and encourage you and urge you on to be all that you can be.

To even sniff the air and smell a minty aroma in the air through telephone lines as you talk to someone who breathes even though miles away, and you taste the cleanness in her breath as she smiles and talks to you.

Enjoying the cleanness and freshness of someone who truly wants you to feel good and when they share these good intentions with you, you get a super rush of sensual heightening in this experience you are sharing with them.

To meet "The Shekinah" face to face or over the phone when two Jews meet and there is a holy experience of caring and concern for each other's welfare.

THE MIRACLE OF LOVE THAT DESTROYS HATRED

Experiencing The Miracle of Love and Contentedness, a miracle that comes as you want it to come and you control the on/off button, love that is so sincere that it is indestructible, no one can take your love away unless you allow them to take it.

Having lovingness and contentedness is a gift to you from The Almighty G-d of Sarah and Abraham, love in a family, love for your children's children, but not just inside a family, but having love for your fellow, and for all humankind.

Accepting the bad with the good as the moisture of your love washes away the dirtiness of evil. Evil that cannot penetrate because wickedness cannot exist where there is love.

Love is so powerful that it can overcome wickedness and so it will  not be able to exist or cause harm. G-d creates badness so we can compare it with goodness and so by comparison/contrast we know what is good and what is not good, what is love and what is hate.

Love is good. Contentedness is good.

Being able to see what badness is and to avoid it. To steer clear of a slippery bridge, to stay in love and to use this love you feel to combat what is not good.

To love and to not allow others to force you to hate instead of to love. Knowing that loving is greater and better than is hating. Knowing that those who hate you will be destroyed by their own hatred and those who love others will live forever into eternity.

Love is a greater force than hatred.

Using love as your weapon and shield and for the powerfulness of love to destroy the horribleness of hatred.

THE MIRACLE OF OVERCOMING FEARS

To have the unique ability to not fear what others fear, to not have other's fears be contagious and for you to fear them too just because they fear them. To have an ability to see love in all things, as you see G-d's goodness in all things, to not fear anything you are brainwashed into fearing because you know it is not a threat because it was created by The Lord.

To not have a fear of The Lord that overcomes your love for Him. To have so much ease and comfort in your environment that fears dissipate and love takes over, to love The Lord more than you fear Him.

To have The One Almighty G-d of Sarah and Abraham as your substitute Father/Mother, to have a Father/Mother in G-d when your birth Father/Mother are deceased, to know this G-d you obey is caring for all your deceased family in His Paradise, in The World To Come.

To have this love for The Lord as He protects you, to not have fears like others have because this G-d is your Shield, your Shield of David and Abraham, a Shield that you always have as a way to defend yourself because His love for you provides you with His protection.

To not be afraid, to be tucked in at night comfortably in your bed as a cradle rocked to sleep with a lullaby sung in Hebrew, a song sung to you every night by The Lord Himself.

THUNDERSTORMING AND BRAINSTORMING

Lightening-like ideas, brainstorming in stormy weather connecting one's thoughts to electricity in the sky as it lights up with white light, light that is white hot, sizzling as you are again struck with another bolt of lightening, another idea, another way to help someone with your ideas.

Rain coming down in sheets as hailstones plummeting onto the body of your car causing dents, grounded, not being able to swing down a street, instead having the runway of an airplane to take its place, an airplane in your head instead, having a head without dents with an airplane inside your mind that can fly higher than anything except an Angel.

Brain 101 becoming Brain 102, brain power as you continue to spend each day learning, sharing your brainpower with others as you rain down your ideas onto their heads making dents, denting other's brains with common sense, washing with water away all ideas that harm society rather than aid it.

A brain that storms, a bolt of lightening that lightens, electricity from a continuous connection to cyberspace, being in outer space, being on the moon, at night dreaming of the joy of a new moon, another Rosh Chodesh, a Jewish Holiday that comes once a month. A moon that is always shining, a brilliancy of light even at night as the sun reflects off the body of a new crescent moon.

Nights not awakening from sounds of thunder, not seeing flashes of stormy lightening in your eyes, rolling over in bed sound asleep, getting enough sleep to stimulate a brain into Brain 103, a brain that never stops thinking, a Brain 104 that is the source of the lightening itself.

Creating your own bolts of lightening with each new idea, having enough electricity in your mind to lighten up an entire village.

A storm, a strike of lightening, and then a clap of thunder! Clapping your hands in a rainstorm that becomes a brainstorm, whetting our minds with more ideas.

A theatrical show, a symphonic concert, an applause in praise of G-d Who continues this ability to brainstorm as He continues the rainstorm.

A prayer to call for rain, a prayer to call for another idea. A prayer to call for a way to aid those who read your ideas, having a word combination of goodness that opens the minds of others like a sieve, having a rain barrel in your brain being this sieve to catch all ideas, to catch all raindrops.

To be the catch-all of these ideas as you think of another one and as it waters the gardens of the Earth with new ways to solve problems, new raindrops as new ideas falling from the clouds of the blue sky of Heaven each day, as we again brainstorm, in another rainstorm...