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Looks great, feels terrible

When we were having our three day break up North, we decided to spend a couple of hours at the Hamat HaGeder hot springs.

HERE‘s their official website, snippet below:

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We went the day after the mini-hurricane up North, so I was hoping it would be pretty empty.

It wasn’t.

It was packed full of old people with health issues, a bunch of Arab ladies wading in in full jelabiya swimmies and headscarfs (honestly, good for them!) – and a smattering of IDF soldiers, many of whom were toting their machine guns around the place.

I was trying to figure out how you could visit the hot springs AND keep your weapon under your control the whole time…

I still don’t know.

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Long story short, it was the least enjoyable part of our break – as well as being the most expensive.

We stayed for an hour (it would have been way less, but it was hard to get a turn under the hot spring ‘shower-thingy’, pretty much the only bit we liked about the place.)

And then we went to look at the crocodiles in the crocodile park, which was kinda cool, but also kinda of lame.

So, we blew the whole ‘shmirat eynayim’ thing for that?!

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Back in the car, I realised how so much of what I think is going to be ‘fun’, and going to be ‘good’ is still affected by all the PR, manipulation and brainwashing I’ve experienced about what ‘a holiday’ is actually meant to be.

Not for the first time, I realised that the walk around Tsfat and watching the sun set over the ancient cemetery there; the evening spent playing my guitar as my husband tried to sing along (bless him…); the shakshuka I cooked for us both on the simple gas range; the good books I read, the visits to the kivrei tzaddikim, to the Rashbi- this is what really made me happy.

This is what really made me feel as though I’d had a holiday.

That I’d done something useful with myself and my time.

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Then I thought about all those poor people in Hamat HaGader, for whom that place was meant to be ‘the pinnacle’ of their holiday experience.

Or the people who spend their time in Disney Lands, or ‘holiday resorts’, or jetting all over the place trying to grab on to ‘the next big thing’, the next ‘once in a lifetime experience’ – and how empty it actually all is.

It looks like heaven, but it feels like hell.

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Back home, I opened up ‘A Bit More Advice’, and I got to this, No: 52:

You – and every one of us human beings – must know that all the pleasures of the world, all the honor and glory, and all the cravings in existence that were satisfied are, in reality, nothing.

None of them has any substance whatsoever. Because at the end, nothing of your pleasures remain….

Even if the bulk of your life is devoted to serving God, but you don’t quite succeed at it, know and never forget that the only true benefit in life is to constantly yearn and long to  live for the eternal purpose.

Even the yearning and longing for the ultimate truth is greatly precious and dear to God.

Truth is, the desire is the most important thing, especially if it leads to actually doing, whether Torah study, prayer or other good works….

The most important thing is that whatever good things you do, your intention should be for the sake of Heaven, without any bluffs.

Because that good is all that will remain of you for eternity.

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I was talking to one of my family members in the US a couple of days ago.

She has a good job in hitech, her husband is a doctor.

They have two gorgeous kids, everyone is healthy, BH.

But, she told me that they are trying to stuff as much money as they can into their retirement plans, so they can retire as early as possible.

They both hate their jobs, even though their jobs pay pretty well.

And even though they both have good jobs, they are still struggling with the cost of living in the US, and can’t see any way of being able to buy their own home, without totally moving out of ‘the big city’ – something they can’t really do, and find the sorts of Jewish schools they currently want for their kids.

I thought of Rabbenu’s words above, and how so many of us are trapped running after things and jobs that don’t even fill us up, and make us feel ‘happy’.

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[A]ll the pleasures of the world, all the honor and glory, and all the cravings in existence that were satisfied are, in reality, nothing.

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We live in this world where appearances are totally deceptive.

If you ever go to the prayers down by the Rav on Ido HaNavi Street, you’ll be struck by just how shabby and kind of filthy the area looks.

There’s very little money in the community, as every penny is still being squeezed out of the kehilla to pay the astronomical fine landed on the Rav, for the crime of daring to give blessings to sick people.

A lot of people stand the whole hour, because there are not enough plastic chairs for everyone.

Externally, the whole scene kind of looks bonkers.

And yet, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been down there, and I’ve arrived feeling ‘constricted’, anxious, angry, upset – and left feeling so, so much better.

The appearance is the exact opposite of the real, felt experience.

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So, unless you really like the smell of sulphur and hanging out with a bunch of elderly Arab men with massive stomachs, Hamat HaGader may not be your ideal holiday destination.

In this upside-down world, you find the real ‘diamonds’ precisely in the trash.

And those spiritual gems stay with you forever.

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Rav Natan of Breslov’s hiloula – come celebrate tonight!

There seems to be a pretty ‘down’ vibe beat floating around at the moment.

2023 is beginning with the same stupid crud about ‘covid variants’ that 2020 began with – three frigging years ago!!!

Can you believe that?

We’ve been sitting here, being lied to about covid plandemics for three whole years already….

So enough, already!

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Last year around this time, I had a very strong lesson in why there really is no yeoush (despair) in the world.

It was when the State of Israel was trying to pin a murder on the Rav that had nothing to do with him – and everything to do with the people who are actually working for the State of Israel, to keep pulling the Rav down.

But for a few weeks, it really looked as though his opponents were going to pull it off, and that the Rav would end up in prison for the rest of his life, God forbid.

God forbid for a lot of reasons, but not least, because whatever happens to the Rav kind of ‘happens’ to the rest of us, too.

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Rav Berland got arrested, violently, precisely a week before the State of Israel ramped up into full ‘plandemic’ mode, and locked us all down in involuntary house arrest for months.

So, December of 2021, things were looking really, really bleak.

I had that feeling that things were never going to turn around, that the Rav was going to be kept in prison forever – and that bad would just win, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

And then.

A miracle happened.

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I had been working on trying to get ‘One in a Generation Volume 2’ translated into Hebrew for about two years.

You would not believe the miniot (obstacles) that was going on with that book.

I had two different translators, because the first one was so bad. The second one was very good – but caught ‘Covid’ and was taken out for months.

Then, there were all these technical changes required, which were almost impossible to make, so I kind of edited the Hebrew version of the book by ‘guessing’, based on the English version, where the stuff was that needed to come out.

Then I couldn’t get the punctuation to work in the Hebrew fonts.

Then, the book designer for the Hebrew text ended up costing a huge fortune.

On and on and on it went, and I gave up about fifty times, at least.

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But, the person who had paid for the translations kept on nagging me to finish the job….(even though at that point, the Rav was now facing trumped-up murder charges, so I was sitting here thinking no-one is ever going to read this book anyway….)

And then, I had the totally crazy idea that somehow, getting that book out in Hebrew was connected to the Rav getting out of prison.

Lots of weird things have happened around the publication dates of all the ‘One in a Generation’ books, so it wasn’t totally without precedent.

But still, while I was actually working on finishing the book, I was in the very depth of despair, and the idea that the Rav was getting out of prison ever seemed totally ridiculous.

And then – a miracle happened.

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The same day that I picked up 1,000 copies of the Hebrew One in a Generation in Bnei Brak, which I took straight to the hiloula celebration for Rav Natan that was happening next to the Rav’s prison in Ramla, we got the news that the Rav was being released from prison.

It was a totally stunning, totally unexpected turnaround.

And it happened in the blink of an eye.

And it taught me a very powerful lesson that there is no despair in the world, and that open miracles can and do happen!

Even in our days.

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That was a year ago, tonight.

And tonight, Shuvu Banim is celebrating Rav Natan of Breslov’s hiloula, and the miraculous release of the Rav from prison.

You can read more of the details of tonight’s event HERE on the Rav Berland site, below I’m cutting and pasting:

Schedule of events:

7:00 pm — Maariv prayer on the night of the Hilulah in the courtyard of our Prayer Hall on Rechov Ido HaNavi together with our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a

8:30 pm — Netilat Yadaim for the Yahrzeit meal combined with the Seudat Hodaya

9:30 pm — The main event with Rav Berland shlit”a

Women’s section on site

Entrance is free

By instructions of the Rabbis of the community, the public is requested to donate for the considerable expenses of United Hasidei Breslov Shuvu Banim a minimum of 50 NIS per person. But certainly the more one donates to offset expenses of tens of thousands shekels the more merit they receive. It’s possible to donate by direct donation, or at the stands at the Hilulah, or by way of the Breslov information line — *9148

Exact details about the location of the events hall will be announced tomorrow (Monday) on the Breslov Information line *9148, and on the English hotline 02-301-1995.e

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The hiloula is happening in Talpiyot Jerusalem, and if you are local – come and join it!

And if you’re not, please consider supporting the event by donating to it (details above).

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On the eve of the Fast of Tevet, we know that the darkness is very dark at the moment.

So many of us are feeling it.

But – just when we can’t take a second more of the darkness, that’s when dawn breaks.

I saw that with my own eyes exactly this time last year.

And BH, more and more of us will see it this year…

The light, the hope, is by the true tzaddikim.

The more you get with them, in whichever way you can, the easier all this becomes.

I keep repeating this, because it’s true.

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There is no yeoush in the world!

Not even the cr*ppy world we currently find ourselves living in, in 2023.

And God’s salvation happens in the blink of an eye.

Just sometimes, we have to hang on one more day, for the miracles to start manifesting.

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PS: A reader just sent me some more links on the RavBerland.com site, related to Rav Natan’s hiloula.

Enjoy!

In honor of the hilula of Reb Nosson bH!

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Rabbenu on ‘the good old days’

It’s human nature to look back and think that ‘the good old days’ were better than ours.

***UPDATED***

And especially in the crazy world we currently live in, it’s very easy to wax nostalgic about a time before i-Phones, internet and Bill Gates.

In the run up to a new secular year, all that looking over our shoulders tends to increase.

But here’s what Rebbe Nachman has to say about this (taken from ‘Wisdom’ (Sichot HaRan), No. 307:

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Every year, people say that previous years were better and times are not as good as they were before.

The Rebbe spoke to us about this at length.

He said that people might say that things were much cheaper in the good old days, but then again, people did not have as much money as they have now.

A simple householder, even one living off charity, spends more today than the wealthy of yesteryear.

He said, “Aderaba. Der Eibershter firt sheiner die velt” – The opposite is true!

God now directs the world better than ever.

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….All this talk about the good old days is the work of the evil inclination.

It wants people to speak like this to make them suffer and worry all the more about their livelihoods. It would like to make them feel that there is no hope at all now, Heaven forbid.

This is all false.

God continuously sustains the world, and people rise and fall financially in every generation.

If you look carefully at any period, you will find people who were poor and had menial jobs, who became wealthy….

[W]hat use is it, to always cry that the past was better? 

The wise King Solomon refuted this idea long ago when he said, “Do not say that the former times were better than these, for it is not out of wisdom that you ask this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)….

In every generation, there have been people who say this. But if you look closely into the matter, you will see that the world is constantly becoming more prosperous.

People continually live better and spend more than in the past.

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What difference does it really make?

If the world were really poorer now than before, that would be all the more reason to flee to God and involve yourself in Torah and devotion.

If there is suffering and trouble in the world, the only place to escape is to God and His Torah.

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Ad kan, from Rabbenu.

I know the world is quite a scary place at the moment, for a lot of people.

But really, that last line sums it all up:

We have to flee to God and His Torah.

If we do that, then whatever else happens, we will come through it in the best possible way, and even if we don’t ‘make it’ physically, God forbid, our souls are still fulfilling their tikkun and will get a really good place in shemayim.

This is really the secret to staying happy and upbeat at the moment: to stop obsessing over what will be, and looking over our shoulders, and to do our very best to add more emuna, more teshuva, more Torah, more mitzvot, into our days.

As always, very easy to write.

And not always very easy to put into practise.

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May Hashem help us all to do this.

And to also keep remembering that :

God now directs the world better than ever

Just for now, that’s still mostly hidden.

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PS: This is headlining on YWN – but is totally missing from the Arutz 7 site:

“Severe Torture” – Duma Attacker Sues Shin Bet For NIS 5 Million

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UPDATE:

So now Arutz 7 are also covering it, HERE.

But here’s another story that they should be covering – in detail – and really aren’t – Moishy Kleinerman’s disappearance.

I just got sent a video in Hebrew of an interview that was recently done with his mother, Gitty:

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BH, I’m really praying that justice will finally be done for Amiram Ben Uliel.

And also, for Moishy Kleinerman.

Because it’s all connected.

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Words from Rabbenu

For a long while, I’ve wanted to just share ‘random’ snippets of Rabbenu’s writings, here on the blog.

I’ve felt a little ‘trapped’ in investigative journalist mode the last few years, wanting readers to take my research seriously, without mixing it up with Breslov too much.

But now….

I am really looking forward to getting back to sharing more of Rabbenu’s teachings, and of course, more of Rav Berland’s stuff, too.

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So today, I opened up ‘Rebbe Nachman’s wisdom’, ‘randomly’, to page 137, and this is what I read:

The Rebbe…said:

“There will come a time when a simple religious person will be as rare and unique as the Baal Shem Tov.”

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It’s on the same page where he’s also talking about the ‘great heresy’ that will come to the world before Moshiach shows up.

In fact, let’s quote that a bit, too:

The Rebbe said:

“Great atheism is coming to the world….

“Knowing full well that this has already been predicted, it would seem ridiculous for a person to succumb to any temptation to abandon his belief. It would seem obvious that every Jew would have enough intelligence to remain firm.

But still, it’s a great trial.

Many will fall away, and for this reason it is written that ‘the wicked will act wickedly’.

The Rebbe said:

“Still, I am revealing this for the sake of the faithful few who will remain strong in their belief. They will certainly have great conflicts within.

But when they see that this has already been predicted, it will give them additional strength and encouragement.

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There are so many false idols out there, so many ‘false gods’.

(With modern medicine and Trump currently leading the pack….)

We look around, sometimes, and it hurts our souls to see so many people apparently blind to the truth, repeatedly rushing to follow more unscientific ‘mask mandates’, or to queue up for more ‘boosters’, or to buy into more ‘miracle injections’ for diseases and illnesses that are actually deliberately man-made and inflicted upon us by people who think there are too many humans in the world.

But Rabbenu tells us:

Many will fall away, and for this reason it is written that ‘the wicked will act wickedly’.

Not being able to see the truth is a punishment from Heaven, it’s not because they haven’t got ‘enough of the right information’.

Once people make teshuva, in whichever way they need to – and that option is open at all times, to EVERYONE – God will show them the truth.

It’s as simple as that.

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So we don’t need to waste any more of our precious breath trying to argue with the un-persuadables.

Because it’s their own sins that are preventing them from seeing what’s true.

A much better use of our time is in trying to bring people back to Hashem and emuna, in whichever we can.

Especially, via personal example, particularly in the area of how we treat our fellow man.

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I don’t know about you, but this is giving me a lot of chizzuk, and a lot more reassurance that stepping out of the ‘arguing with heretics’ paradigm is indeed the right thing to do.

The people who really want the truth will gravitate towards it – like each and every one of us did, as part of our own journey to understanding what is really going on here.

And the un-persuadables are incapable of seeing the truth, until they make teshuva.

So, let’s all just stop wasting our time and energy arguing with them.

Many will fall away, and for this reason it is written that ‘the wicked will act wickedly’.

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Lastly, take a look at the first thing I quoted:

There will come a time when a simple religious person will be as rare and unique as the Baal Shem Tov.

That’s why sometimes, so many of us feel so lonely.

‘Simple religious people’ are increasingly rare to find.

But they still do exist!

And every effort we make to continue to have emuna, and to continue to believe in the words of our True Tzaddikim, and to continue to work on our own bad middot, and to make every effort to minimise being on-line and maximise our dancing and happiness and prayers – it counts for so very much.

BH, I am still aspiring to become one of those rare ‘simple religious people’.

With God’s help, I will get there one day.

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So, courage, dear reader.

BH in the next post, I’ll bring more words from Rabbenu, about how to actually deal with all the craziness that is our current olam hazeh.

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PS: Thanks for all the chizzuk comments you’ve taken the time to share here, on the last post.

I appreciate them all, but I don’t always know how to respond without it getting all corny and cheezy….

But thank you!

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PPS:

My brother in the UK told me that even some of the MPs over there are starting to publically call out a bunch of the lies being told about the shots being ‘safe and effective’ in the British Parliament.

Watch this:

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And you can read the full transcript of MP Andrew Bridgen’s full speech HERE.

Relevant snippet:

[T]he benefits of the vaccine are close to non-existent.

Beyond the alarming Yellow Card reports, the strongest evidence of harm comes from the gold standard, highest possible quality level of data. A re-analysis of Pfizer and Moderna’s own randomised controlled trials using the mRNA technology, published in the peer-reviewed journal Vaccine, revealed a rate of serious adverse events of one in 800 individuals vaccinated.

These are events that result in hospitalisation or disability, or that are life changing.

Most disturbing of all, however, is that those original trials suggested someone was far more likely to suffer a serious side effect from the vaccine than to be hospitalised with the ancestral, more lethal strain of the virus.

These findings are a smoking gun suggesting the vaccine should likely never have been approved in the first place.

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Or, watch Andrew Bridgen’s speech here:

(Shmirat Eynayim friendly.)

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This video already has around 400k views.

The truth is coming out….

With our without us.

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