Lazer Beams

Hashem's Commando

My very dear friend, singer and composer David Dome, in the middle of hitbodedut, received a sudden inspiration that resulted in this song:

Hashem's Commando

He left his old life behind

Now he tidies the mess in our minds,

To bring us from the dark into the light.

Confronting the things that are wrong,

In the places where lies don't belong,

And changing our grey into black and white.

Hashem's Commando faces the fight,

Changing the darkness to the brightest light.

Hashem's Commando shows us what to do

To help us become Commandos too.

The things that are not in his control ,

He hands over to the Master of his soul,

And whatever he gets is for the very best.

His yetzer wants to give him a hit,

Well , he ain't having none of it,

Keeps his composure and says thanks for the test.

Hashem's Commando takes on the fight,

Changing the darkness to the brightest light.

Hashem's Commando sees only the good,

In the people who feel that they never could.

We must try with the best of our ability,

To find our way to The Trail of Tranquility

Emuna's Garden is such a beautiful sight .

When we get there we're gonna see,

Thousands of Commandos living joyfully,

In Love and Peace having won the fight.

Hashem's Commando he gets the last punch,

Hits the yetzer so hard, sends him right out to lunch.

Hashem's Commando will help us pass the test,

And see that it's all for the very best.

Thank you so very much, David; this lovely melody put more than one tear in my eye.

The River's Song

Osyio (Greetings - LB) Rabbi Wolf Brother,

I was so happy to hear that our Tsa la Gi (Cherokee - LB) brothers in Tennessee and Texas also hold the opinion that we have Hebrew roots. So much is the same - I follow your teachings about personal prayer in solitude with the Holy One out in nature and I'm moved to tears about the Jewish Perek Shira song of creation. Our meditation, the fringes on our clothes, our language, and our clinging to the One God (in the old way, not the way the white missionaries did to our people) are all signs of our mutual roots. Now that we have DNA testing, there is no doubt.

As a small token of appreciation for the love and respect you have honored our people with, I'm enclosing a film clip of Wayra, a Bolivian Indian who plays the native American flute like we do. To the best of my knowledge, King David also had such a similar flute. May you enjoy it, and may the Holy One bless your journeys in life with smooth and pleasant paths.

Looking forward to the day when the lost tribes will be returned and reunited with mother Israel, your friend and brother, Silver Cloud from Oklahoma

Flight 613

You can learn about emuna from all the stimuli in your environment and in your daily routine. "Flight 613", a little 2-minute inspirational shot of emuna, is the product of my thoughts on a recent plane trip. I hope you enjoy it.

Everywhere I Walk, I Walk in the Land of Israel

Concluding our Eretz Yisroel series this week, here is a clip of Guy Tzvi Mintz and I singing Rebbe Nachman's famous quotation, "Wherever I walk, I am walking in the Land of Israel." A basic tenet of Breslever Chassidic thought is to strive to move to the Land of Israel. Even if one can't, one should yearn so much for the Holy Land, that one's thoughts and feelings are actually here. The more you love someone, the more you think about them.

Deborah's Song

This Shabbat is "Beshalach", also known as "Shabbat Shira", the Sabbath of Song, since the Torah portion tells how Moses and the Children of Israel sang to Hashem after having been miraculously saved from the Egyptians at the Red Sea. The "Haftorah," or weekly Prophetic reading, also talks about song, particularly the Song of Deborah the Prophetess (see Judges, Chapter 5), after Israel miraculously defeated formidable invading enemies.

Last year at this time, I made a special trip to Tel Kadesh in the Upper Galilee some 350 meters from the Lebanon border to pray by Deborah's gravesite. Several miracles happened shortly thereafter:

1) Our neighbor's daughter inlaw, named Deborah, still had no children after several years of marriage. 10 months after I prayed for her at Deborah's gravesite, she gave birth to a healthy son.

2) Rebbetzen NB here in Ashdod had a history of miscarriages and very difficult child-bearing. When I arrived at Deborah's gravesite, Rebbetzen NB was again in the hospital, this time in labor for 14 hours. She was in danger and so was the unborn baby. The doctor's were preparing for an emergency Caesarian - before they had the chance, Rebbetzen NB suddenly gave a quick an unexpected natural birth to a baby daughter. At first, the doctors thought that there was damage to the baby's lungs. Shortly afterward, that proved wrong too. Today, this healthy baby girl is named Deborah.

3) Itai the son of Deborah, hit by a car the week before, came out of a coma.

That wasn't all...

Up Tight?

Have a wonderful, relaxing, and fulfilling Shabbat Va'era.

The Miracle of the Last Grad Missile in Ashdod

A few hours after the ceasefire was declared on Sunday, a surprise Grad missile landed in Ashdod, in a beautiful residential area near Ashdod's southern riviera. This was the last Grad missile of the current war, and it was accompanied by a major miracle.

During the dozens of missile attacks here, the Red Alert siren system worked impeccably, giving us 35-45 seconds to run for cover. This time, the Red Alert system failed to activate the sirens.

On the street where the missile fell, there is an above-ground concrete edifice where passersby would take cover whenever the siren went off. Since there was no siren this time, nobody took cover there. The missile landed right there in a direct hit, smashing the concrete edifice and spraying deadly shrapnel all over the place, injuring one woman. Hashem only knows the catastrophe that was avoided by the fact that the sirens didn't function and no one was taking cover where the missile fell in a devastating direct hit.

Hashem is yelling at us to return to Him. By the way, there's still no rain in Israel...

Apropo miracles, ten days ago, we told the story about the old lady in Black that the father of an infantry soldier in Gaza told me. Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, may Hashem bless him with long and healthy days, confirms the story.

To be worthy of the Holy Land of Emuna, we must strengthen our emuna.

Footprints: The Story of an Israeli Soldier

This is a timely film clip that we produced a year and a half ago, which contains autobiographical elements, a universal IDF soldier's biography, and the story of your life as well.

Birkat Cohanim: The Priestly Blessing

Close your eyes, and imagine that we're together in the Holy Temple in rebuilt Jerusalem. Here is a blessing for all of our viewers and readers, from the mouth of a "Cohen", a member of Israel's priestly tribe, my cherished friend with the golden honey-coated voice, Shlomo Katz.

Emuna Concert with Menachem Herman

  For your weekend enjoyment, our friends at TorahAnytime.com have just posted their superb film of Menachem Herman's Emuna concert from six weeks ago. The film is 57 minutes long, of which the first half is an inspirational talk with yours truly, and the second half is music, including Menachem and Lazer singing "Sweet Home, Jerusalem."

Click here to see the film.