The end of 5773. The new beginnings

There are only a couple of hours left from 5773. The new beginnings are always exciting, especially for me, but till then, I still need to finish arranging some plates and to read my Tehillim portion for today. 

I can't imagine how far I was one year ago and how many accomplishment I did in the last months: a lot of learning and reading, a lot of mitzvot, thanks to the wonderful people I have around me, that asked me to be part of their endeavours. I had the chance to understand a lot about shalom, need to help those in need and stop being judgemental. I offered myself to help with an open heart, as my mother z''l used to do. 

A special rav said recently that when the grandchildren keep Yiddishkeit, their grandparents were deeply committed Yidden. I do not have any memories of my grandparents and my parents did not have too much time to know their parents either, but somehow, the pride of being what we are and the fight for making this world a better place for us, without being pushed to assimilate helped me to go beyond survival. Thinking about the tragic fate of my grandparents keeps the flame burning and determined my decision for a committed Yiddishe life. 

I've read that Ramhal said that before Moshiach will come, there will be some terrible times when the Jews will get away from belief, but will return individually, each and every one of them fully convinced about their commitment. Those of us who decided to return in humility and have the chutzpah of a fully observant life, against all odds and ironies can be an example that everything is possible when your will is strong. It also shows that it is important to keep from being judgemental, and appreciate the beautiful soul of every Yid who is back. All of us, regardless of the years spend in the yeshiva, we have so much to learn from each other and from the wise people before us. 

I will daven for a good year, for more mitzvos and for more learning. As for my blogging life, after one year of intense learning and another one of intense practising, I hope that I reached the right balance for being able to spend more sharing my thoughts and experiences. I also prepare a project aimed to focus on the Jewish historical heritage iy''H and to continue exploring the Jewish literature of the diaspora and from Israel. I also hope that in the next months to have more posts in Hebrew and to expand my learning and knowledge to Hebrew and Yiddish literature. 

May it be a new and happy year for everyone, healthy and peaceful, with enough challenges that may help us to see what it really matters in life!

Shana tova!

Happy 5773!

For me and my family, 5772 was a full year, with a lot of personal changes, ups and downs, discoveries and understanding of the power of silence when no need is for worries, as long as Hashem is guiding us.

Wasn't always easy, but looking back I cannot be but amazed by the tremendous process I went through. 

And I wish to have the wisdom and force to continue for many years from now.

Shana tova and may all be written in the Book of life!

Be back soon after 5773 is here!

Bird-Shaped Challah Holds Special Holiday Meaning – Forward.com

Preparing the menu for Rosh HaShanah: Bird-Shaped Challah Holds Special Holiday Meaning – Forward.com

Book Review: The World to Come, by Dara Horn

Thanks to this book, I reconsidered and reconfirmed many of my ideas about writing. Actually, the World to Come is what I call a good book.

As in a Chagall's painting, you are flying over time, countries, doubts and misunderstandings. The whole book it's a spiritual mystery you don't grasp always the sense or the meanings. As in real life: do we understand always the chains or are we always able to find the missing links? Life is art and art is life and sometimes there is not an obvious meaning in what we are doing or what it's happening to us.

The story is based on a real fact: Chagall's Study for Over Vitebsk was stolen from a gallery in NYC during a cocktail. The study represents a bearded man moving over the houses of a snowy street. He looks like a shadow flying and hurrying up. Where is he going to? Where is he coming from? What can we do in this respect abour ourselves?

In the book, Ben Ziskind, the former wonder-kid, recently divorced and currently making quizzes for a TV show, stole the 1 million-dollar painting during a cocktail for singles at the Museum of Hebraic Art from New Jersey. The painting belonged to his family, his Russian grand-father Boris Kulback being a former pupil of Chagall during his teaching time in an orphanage for Jewish children. There, Chagall befriended the Yiddish writer Pinkhas Kahanovich called the Nister (The Hidden One) writing Hasidic stories with a hidden key. Some of his stories were hidden on the back of some of the paintings.

Ben's mother, an illustrator and writer of children book, sold the painting after the death of her husband - former Vietnam veteran - for offering to Ben and his twin sister Sara a good education. Doubts are surviving regarding the authenticity of the painting and till the end of the book we gather a bunch of unanswered questions most of them built around the painting: how the painting was brought to Europe from Russia, was it faked in Russia by the expert that used to be Kulback's neighbor?

The key for all our answers is in the world to come, a Chagall-tailored world where the old souls are together with the new ones, the only moments when we can have authentic answers to our overwhelming questions.

From a generation to another, the parents are always missing: Kulback was orphan, his daughter will survive alone after he is imprisoned by the Soviets and Ben and Sara should overcome the death of their father and after, their mother's. The parents are transmitting to their children mysteries to solve and the mystery if the world to come. As in Chagall paintings, we are flying from the Soviet Russia and its revolution, to the Vietnam War and the daily American East Coast life.

From the beginning to the end, the pieces of the kaleidoscope are rearranging over and over again. In the middle of the stories, we are transposed to dreams about singing paradises with colourful butterflies or fluid universe of the world as it is before we are landing on Earth.

What it is all about? Each moment, we are the making our present and future: we are taking decisions and actions. The world to come is the world we are building carefully while waiting for the world to come.

A wonderful story, perfectly fitting the special time before Rosh HaShana.