Two choices

CNN wipes Israel off the map

Help a lost Family in a Tragic Time


Law students in huge show of support for UT-Austin Israel Studies Prof. attacked by BDS

Glenn Beck interviews, a man who was diagnosed with ALS.

“If I were only given two choices, choice one is to be totally healed but return to my former relationship with God or, choice two, live with this wretched disease but have my current relationship with God,” Paine told Beck. “I’ve already made the choice. I’ll keep what I have.”
Click here to watch a powerful excerpt from the interview.


His words remind me of the curse received by the snake. Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb writes about the insight we can learn from the snake's punishment. Below is an excerpt from his article.


This idea is reminiscent – and the inverse – of a famous insight of R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk regarding the punishment of the nachash, the snake, after the sin of the Etz Ha-da’as. The nachash is punished for its role as the instigator of the whole affair by having to eat the dust of the earth. (3:14)

The Kotzker is bothered by this choice of punishment; after all, it resulted in the fact that the snake is never wanting for sustenance. While other creatures must struggle to find food, the snake never experiences that problem. This actually appears to be a great blessing; where is the punishment?

He suggests that the very fact that the snake is never wanting is itself the punishment because there is, therefore, no need for it to be dependent on Hashem. And when there is no dependence there is also no relationship. And the absence of a relationship with God is the ultimate curse that any creature can receive.
Read full article: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/739260/Rabbi_Dovid_Gottlieb/Parshat_Toldot-_Relationships

A relative once related to me, "If I had tons of money, I would donate millions to Chai Lifeline."
She had seen the amount of help Chai Lifeline provided to her nephew and niece, who had a number of children with medical issues.
This past weekend, a Shabbaton was held in Lawrence for 150 children, family members and Chai Lifeline counselors. Due to a miscommunication with the caterer, there was no Shabbos lunch awaiting the crowd who had assembled at the synagogue. When women in Lawrence heard the news at shul, they went to their homes to bring food from their Shabbos tables. A veritable feast was prepared in a matter of minutes.
Mi keamcha Yisrael.