Lazer Brody's Blog, page 336

Ten-Plague Rap

Passover is only 11 days away. OK, since you're surfing on the web instead of preparing for the holiday, here's a little Passover review in a rap, courtesy of Matt Bar (see lyrics below film clip). Have fun, and a great Shabbat!

CHORUS: 
Moses at the red sea, like "who's gonna follow me?"
Pharoah's in the tide, we gonna ride, to our destiny, 
In back of me, so sad to see, them bodies in the red sea 
chariots get buried, b-b-buried in the red sea 
Pharaoh sat and laughed when a staff became a snake, 
too long we've been your slaves, just let us go and pray, 
said "don't make this mistake," no pardon his heart was hardened, 
so started what we regard as: the days of 10 plagues...

ONE: blood in the river gonna shiver, gonna freak out 
lips take a sip now there's blood in your mouth

TWO: frogs in your house on your beds on your plate
don't matter what's for dinner better like frog legs

THREE: knats buzz buzz watch the dust turn to bugs
itch itch hard to think with all the lice in your mugs

FOUR: beasts roam your streets when you step outside
there's a tiger on your tail nowhere to hide

Five: death of your livestock,  flesh dries up
b-b-bodies in your barn Pharoah when you gonna wise up?

CHORUS

SIX: boils on your flesh no less than torture
careful of the ash in the air it'll scorch ya

SEVEN: hail rains down beats your brains down
like a message from the heavens better lay our chains down

EIGHT: locusts from the coast you can hear their wing click
eating crops eating trees til they're used as toothpicks

NINE: darkness, dispatch, 3 days pitch
remember when this started and you thought it was just witchcraft

Death of the first born how did it come to this
TEN is what it took so we all would remember this

Percival's Answer to all Your Questions

Ya'lili

Our "Yiddishkeit is Cool" department is delighted to present the "Eighth Day" Band, who've come out with a delightful song that enhances Jewish unity - we commend them and are pleased to feature them on the Beams. Going to the Supermarket can be fun...

Jerusalem or Bust

My special friend filmmaker Ari Joseph from Lakewood heard a story from me and put it to film. This not-too-dynamic dude is waiting a whole week to catch a ride to Jerusalem, hitchhiking by the side of the road. After 7 days of waiting and camping out, he finds out that Jerusalem is only a 20-minute walk down the road. It's a message for all of us - get it in gear! Enjoy the flick...

Jerusalem or Bust from Ari Joseph on Vimeo.

A Day of Rejuvenation

Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the new Hebrew month of Nissan begins this year Monday at sundown and Tuesday, April 5, 2010.

It's been a rough winter, not only in Israel, but around the world. The natural dreary feeling of the year's frosty months became even more acute as a result of natural disasters around the world, political unrest in the Arab world, and a sharp increase of terrorist activity within Israel. Yet, there's no need to despair. Hashem gave us a special gift, a remarkable time for rejuvenation known as Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the first day of the Hebrew month of Nissan.

The very first commandment that Hashem gave to the Jews as a people was to establish Nissan Nissan as the first month of the year (see Exodus 12: 1-2). The first day of the Hebrew month of Nissan is also the date when the Mishkan – the temporary portable Temple that was used in the desert – was inaugurated. Nissan therefore has an innate quality that's conducive to rejuvenation.

In the holy Land of Israel, springtime bursts forth in all its glory on the first of Nissan. The entire country has an intoxicating fragrance of citrus blossoms that make Chanel No. 5 seem like a washroom aerosol. On this day, we are allowed to recite the Blessing of the Trees, a very special blessing that we say once a year during the month of Nissan...

Continue reading A Day of Rejuvenation in this week's very special issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.

Don't miss these other stimulating articles:

Rabbi Shalom Arush: The Conditional Blessing

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Holy Chutzpa

Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh: The Moses of Every Generation

Zev Ballen: Follow the Dots

Rivka Levy: Where Our Heads Are - The Key to Successful Aliya

Racheli Reckles: Soul Food

Dovber Halevi: The Grateful Bread

Rabbi Erez Moshe Doron: Rising Above the Enemy, from Warriors of Transcendence

This week's Torah portion is Metzora.

There're only two weeks left until Passover. Let's not forget the poor. Halacha requires all of us to participate in the mitzva of Kimcha D'Piskha, helping to provide food for the needy during Passover. Brelev Israel will help you perform this wonderful mitzva right here.

Big Beam Blessings for a Beautiful week!

Life's Thorns

This time of the year is magnificent in Ashdod - the air smells like perfume and everything is blossoming. The citrus flowers make the atmosphere smell like Gan Eden here. Even the weeds and the thorns are in bloom.

Why did Hashem make the thorns so beautiful? Pictured below is thistle flowering in a meadow east of Ashdod - it's purple color, argaman in Hebrew - is one of the main colors used in the Holy Temple. Yet intrinsically, the thorns are beautiful, like all of Hashem's creations. They symbolize our challenges and "prickly" times in life. These are our growth opportunities, not the easy-street jolly hours. Life's thorns - like everything else Hashem does - are for our ultimate benefit. More than anything, they bring us closer to Hashem.

 

Japan Song

Danny Finkleman, producer of the Unity project to benefit Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, has created another stunning music video, this one featuring two of the top names in Jewish music, superstars Shloime Daskal and Avraham Fried.

The seven minute long video describes the plight of Yoel Zev Goldberg and Yaakov Yosef Greenwald, who are imprisoned in Japan after suitcases that they were carrying for someone else were found to contain drugs. The two, who passed polygraph tests, have long protested their innocence and a third young man, Yosef Bando, has already been released.

Please don't stop praying for Yoel Zev ben Mirel Risa Chava and Yosef ben Ita Rivka. May they come home to Israel soon, together with Jonathan Pollard and Gilead Shalit.

A bright Beam blessing to Gila in Minneapolis for her contribution to today's post.

Shepherd's Purse

An American tourist once asked a Jerusalem rabbi how religious Israelis succeed in having such large families? The rabbi answered, "It's because Shepherd's Purse grows wild by the roadside all over the Land of Israel."

Lately, I've had numerous letters from women that complain of lengthy menstrual cycles that leave them few days of purity and reduce their chances of pregnancy.

Rebbe Nachman says there's no such thing as despair. Save your money, don't run to the gynecologist, and don't fill yourself with pills. There's an easier, more natural way to become clean on the 5th day, so with hefsek tahara and 7 clean days, the unpure period is reduced to 12 days. With ritual immesion in the mikva after sundown of the 12th day, a woman's chances for pregnancy are highest, since for many women, ovulation is on the 13th day of the cycle.

Here's all you need to do (I learned this remedy from the great Rabbi Yisroel Yaacov Fisher ob"m of the Eda Haredis in Jerusalem): Gather 5 or 6 young green leaves from a shepherd's purse plant that grows all over the place here, at roadsides and on empty lots. If you live outside of Israel, ask your local herb specialist for the leaves. Wash them off in cold water and make sure they have no bugs in them. Then, boil them in a small tea kettle with water, letting the herb tea brew for about 5 minutes. It may be a bit bitter, so sweeten the tea with a teaspoon of honey. Drink a glass of this tea on the mornings of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th day of the menstrual period. Before sundown of the 5th day, you'll hopefully be clean as a whistle, so you can begin counting the 7 clean days and therefore immerse G-d willing at the end of the 12th day of the cycle.

This remedy has worked for many families in Israel. Hopefully, it will work for you too.

Read more about Shepherd's Purse here and here.

Missing Pieces to the Japanese Puzzle

King David warned (Psalm 7:16), that if a person digs a pit for someone else to fall into, he ends up falling in it. We saw this on Purim with Haman - he prepared a tree and a noose to hang Mordechai, and he himself ended up hanging on the same tree with the same noose around his neck.

Our good friend attorney Baruch Cohen brought some amazing information to my attention that he gleaned from Rucho Shel Mashiach blog, namely, that Japan has been supporting Iran's nuclear program. You connect the dots:

* The Japanese deputy foreign minister said Japan supports Iran's nuclear energy program.

* The Japanese agreed to supply Iran with nuclear fuel rods.

* The Government of Japan then turned around and "deplored" Jewish construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and added that they don't recognize our rights to our holy city and homeland.

The "measure for measure" that Hashem is doing to Japan is mindboggling. They don't want us to build homes on our land, they're losing homes on their land. They choose to help build nuclear reactors that are intended to destroy us, their own nuclear reactors shall destroy them. Hashem's justice is not something to play with. Let the haughty be forewarned - the Guardian of Israel shall not slumber.

A special thanks to Baruch Cohen and to "Merachefet" from Rucho Shel Mashiach - thanks for the missing pieces to the puzzle.

Japan's Catch 22

King Solomon, the wisest of all men, says (Proverbs 21:30): "There is no wisdom, and no understanding, and no advice against Hashem." In other words, as the Malbim explains in his elaboration of Proverbs, even if you're intelligent and capable, and you've made your best efforts, you can do nothing to fight a Heavenly decree.

The Malbim's explanation is no cause for despair; his intention is that you can't fight a Heavenly decree with material means. But, there are many effective spiritual ways to completely rescind a harsh decree. Prayer, penitence, and expressions of gratitude are capable of mitigating the harshest of decrees.

The Japanese are an intelligent and dilligent people. Their problem is that they don't realize that not every problem can be solved by money or by Hi-tech. After days of reassuring the world that things are more or less under control, yesterday they finally sent up a white flag and declared maximum alert as highly toxic plutonium was the latest contaminant found seeping into the soil outside the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The TEPCO people figured that as soon as they restore power lines, then they'd be able to pump loads of water in to cool the reactors. But that plan has backfired; as workers pumped water into units to cool the reactors down, they discovered pools of contaminated water in numerous spots, including the basements of several buildings and in tunnels outside them. This contaminated water has been emitting radiation exposures more than four times the amount the government considers safe for workers, and that's already a way-higher-than-normal level.

The Japanese are now left with a deadly Catch 22: They must pump in water to keep the fuel rods cool, but since that water has been leaking out, they're now faced with a task of pumping out the highly contaminated water and safely storing it. So, they're in big trouble if they pump in more water and they're in big trouble if they don't. The more they cool down the nuclear fuel rods, the more they're left with nuclear-contaminated water. What can they possibly do?

It's a dead end, materially that is. On a spiritual side, there's much to be done. Hashem was about to destroy Nineveh, but they repented (see the Book of Yona). Nineveh is a precedent - Japan should learn from them. Better yet, if Japan as a nation would learn emuna, accept the Seven Noahide commandments, and turn to Hashem for Divine assistance, they'd see big miracles. Emuna Outreach would be happy to advise the Japanese Government, if they'd only listen.