Shopping With A Shopper

When it came time to shop for props for my daughter's bat mitzvah, a dear friend offered to help me out.  I thought it was so sweet, and readily said yes.  Little did I know that this dear friend is a shop-a-holic.

Like most major cities, Los Angeles has a downtown wholesale shopping district (well, it feels wholesale and you feel like you're getting a deal).  My dear friend, my daughter and I went downtown one Sunday with the intent to doing some light shopping, maybe stopping off for an ice cream.  I'm not a real shopper and don't like walking from store to store.

Oh my gosh, we walked from store to store.  And the thing is, downtown, all the stores look alike, and pretty much carry the same items.  One thing I will say is, you can haggle with the Hispanics, but not the Asians.  Man, they are tough.  If you want it bad enough, you pay their price.

My daughter, bless her heart, does like to shop, but my dear friend even wore her out.  How does a person get that kind of energy?

It's a gift.  G-d bless her.  Without my dear friend helping out, the party would not have been as merry.  I only know that G-d gives us the strength when we need it.  Even to shop.

Let Us All Say Amen

Besides it being Friday, the 13th and Eruv Yom Kippur, it's actually a beautiful day here in Los Angeles, where the sun always shines and all 10 million people who live here were on the freeway with me simultaneously.  I bet I can train my mind to watch TV and drive at the rate I'm traveling.

It's all good.  Here's a loving Daily Dose from the Rebbe.  Easy and meaningful fast to those who do.

Delight	Tishrei 9, 5774 ·September 13, 2013
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson

G‑d has many delights:

The delight that comes from a pure and simple act of love.

Greater than that, the delight that comes from an act of beauty sparkling in the darkness.

Greater than that, the delight when a child who has run away returns with all her heart.

Delight lies at the essence of all that is.

Shedding More Tears

There are two young women in my community who lost their mother quite unexpectedly just over a month ago.  They are both married and moved away, but their mother was so much a part of the Jewish life here that they came back for the holidays in her last home.

On Sunday, during our monthly Tehillim gathering, the eldest daughter told us a story of how she connected to her mother this Rosh HaShanah.  Tearful over her loss, and advised by a wise woman to do so, the young woman just started talking to her mother, pouring out her heart about how much she missed her and wished they could still be together.

The first day of Rosh HaShanah, after prayers, another member of the congregation came up to the oldest daughter with an old Mazchor, or prayer book for the holiday.  Inside was her mother's name, and throughout the book, handwritten notes by her mother about the significance of various prayers.  Amazing indeed, as all Mazchorim are locked together in a cabinet all year and are used by both men and women alike.  That this Mazchor ended up on the women's side of the room was a miracle in itself.

This daughter told us, through tears, that her mother had indeed been with her that Rosh HaShanah, and that her heart felt wishes had been, in part, answered.

Those of us listening who also lost mothers cried with her.  But we are all limited.  The book, while satisfying, is not a mother's touch, her voice, her smile.  Time makes the physical distance fade, but it's always there.

Pegging Us As People

As much as I would like to blog on a daily basis, something always pulls my away.  It's called exhaustion.

Here's something that came to my email yesterday, and I think it's worth putting out there:

Bouncing Up	Tishrei 6, 5774 · September 10,         2013
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M.   Schneerson

Why does the human being destroy? Why does it wreak havoc in the world?
The way this world was made, there is no step forward without first a step backward. Night comes before day, pain before pleasure, confusion before wisdom.
But then G‑d made the human being, who strives beyond the design of things, who yearns to leap past its own nature, to embrace the infinite. This creature, too, must first fall so that it can leap upward. But since its leap is beyond its bounds, it must first fall beneath them.
That is sin—a fall beneath your own boundaries.
And that is the power of return
—to leap beyond any bounds at all.

Beating Back Bad

This week's parsha discussed a lot of mitzvahs, or laws.  It's a custom between me and my row partner to read the short Chassidish explanations in the Torah reading.  One of the explanations discussed the yetzer hara, or the evil inclination, and how it hides itself behind what makes you feel good.

Like today, when I has just about done reading Psalms, and realized it was time for the Shabbat class for women.  I looked at the clock, and said to myself, even if I get dressed and Ieave the house right now, I'll never make it in time. . .

I knew it was the bad in me choosing not to make the right choice, justifying it with staying home and finishing Psalms.  But I gave into myself, finished the reading, and was just about to sit down for a late lunch when there was a knock at the door.

This is not the first time my dear friend D saved me from myself, and I pray it won't be the last.  That's right, D came unexpectedly to pick me up for the class, and we went.

Sometimes it takes friends to help us beat back the bad.  Thank G-d for friends.

It's All Good Again

I've been having some troubles at work lately, and this Shabbat, when I know we should be thinking holier thoughts, I decided to share my dilemma with friends.  One good friend, in particular, also had her stories of woe.

After davening (prayer), the women in my shul gather around for a a shuir, or lecture, usually given by one of us.  This Shabbat we had a visitor speak, a much beloved woman who always has a smile and a kind word.  She looked at both my friend and I, surely by coincidence, and said, in essence, even if you have negative thoughts, you have to think positive because if you do, the outcome will be positive.  We both got wide eyed over that one.

Later, as I was walking back from another shuir with another dear friend, who should I see but a former boss, the first sighting in years, bringing me back to a happier time in my life..  Later on that night, I bumped into another old friend, reminding me of another miracle (she's the star of the tale I told here some years back about starting a Jewish club on campus).

Altogether, the three were good signs.  Something good, something miraculous will happen.  I just know it.

Getting The Message

My treadmill broke (actually, it was a friend's treadmill that she let me borrow forever), so I've taken to walking a little over 2 miles in the morning around my neighborhood.  I alternate my routes every other day, and try to keep upright (yup, I fell earlier this week, but because G-d loves me, no one was driving by to see the graceful event ).

Knowing about my walking expeditions, a dear friend invited me to join her hiking on Sundays - up a mountain.  My daily hikes are on flat land, so after a few outings on the mountain, I realized I needed knee braces and now make them part of my daily routine.

Well, this dear friend decided to have a party at her home for all the birthday girls of summer - including me. I told another dear friend who was going to remind me so I wouldn't miss it.

My reminder came the night of the party from my other dear friend.  I could barely make out what she was saying as she was eating food - at the party itself.  Hello, I told her, it doesn't count as a reminder to call me from the party.

I guess it doesn't matter.  I ended up at the party all the same (truly only because she called), and had a great time.  No matter when and how it was delivered, I got the message all the same.