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!