The CHOFETZ CHAIM and the Solar Eclipse

The CHOFETZ CHAIM and the Solar Eclipse

In 1914 an eclipse was predicted in Radin. The Chofetz Chaim commented about the upcoming event,

“Due to the awesome strength of the sun it has been worshipped since the days of Enosh. To remind man that the sun is a mere creation, Hashem makes the sun lose its power by means of a solar eclipse. Therefore, I declare it a mitzvah to watch it.”



When the day arrived and an eerie red light began to bathe the village streets of Radin, the Chofetz Chaim stepped out into the street with Tallis and Tefillin.

“Let mankind see that the sun is not an independent being, but one of Hashem’s creations,” the tzaddik’s voice thundered through the crowd.As one, the people of Radin responded with “Shema Yisrael . . . .”

Interestingly, this happened on Erev Rosh Chodesh Elus, just like this year’s eclipse.




Source: Mishpacha Magazine [Adapted from Yairchen Bais Yaakov, Issue 40, Elus 5722].
Photos: The Chofetz Chaim in front of his home, the Synagogue of Radin, and (it seems to be) an Infirmary. (google)

A Family History Page of Radin

SAVED BY AN ECLIPSE

SAVED BY AN ECLIPSE

Christopher Columbus discovered America; but he nearly died mid-journey, and was saved by an lalmanac and a natural spectacle.


In 1503, on Columbus’s fourth and final journey to the New World, his ships were attacked by ship worms that ate away at his ships.

On June 25, 1503, two of the ships docked on the island now known as Jamaica, hoping for help from Europe. The Arawak Indians living there first treated the crew like royal guests but later abandoned them. No food or shelter spelled death for the stranded Europeans.

Long ago, ship captains relied mainly on astrological charts and Columbus had with him the two books he always brought along.

One was Ephemeris by German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Muller von Koenigsberg. This was an almanac with astronomical tables covering the years 1475–1506, giving detailed information the sun, moon and planets, as well as stars and constellations to navigate by. The second was an almanac of more than 300 pages of astronomical tables called Hachibut Hagadol (Perpetual Almanac of the Heavenly Bodies) by Rabbi Abraham Zacuto, who also served as royal astronomer to the King of Portugal.

From these books, Columbus learned that a lunar eclipse was predicted for the evening of February 29, 1504, and came up with a brilliant plan.

He told the Arawaks that G–D was very angry at them for no longer helping the stranded explorers, and therefore, their moon would be taken away from them in 3 days. Three days later, the terrified Arawaks watched as a beautiful full moon began to be nibbled away by something or somebody! In moments they were on their knees begging Columbus for forgiveness. Columbus promised to return their moon. When the eclipse was over, so were the troubles of his crew until aid arrived from Spain.


Source:  Mishpacha Magazine

NIBIRU Coming Closer . . . and ELECTROMAGNETIC INCREASE

MYSTERIOUS SIGHTING BAFFLES BRAZILIANS

Residents in the Brazilian city of Teixeira de Freitas were left baffled after a mysterious cloud formed over the city on August 17. Joao Paulo Magalhaes shared this video to Instagram from a petrol station, showing the cloud column hover over the neighborhoood of Bairro Santa Rita as the sun set.The jaw-dropping cloud formation didn’t last long, however. Magalhaes said the cloud dissipated within five minutes.




WSO BREAKING - BRAZIL Residents FREAK OUT over Weird Cloud...LOOK FAMILIAR?




Electromagnetic RADIATION in the ~Human Domain~ | What's in your space?
August 18, 2017: Relevant you should probably know better than the outside temperature.
[ME: IS THIS BEING CAUSED BY NIBIRU FLYBYS?]

[Commenter: Are they gunning us with radiation from that big white thing in the sky that's in front of the sun?]




Wikipedia: About Electromagnetic Radiation

Short definition: "a kind of radiation including visible light, radio waves, gamma rays, and X-rays, in which electric and magnetic fields vary simultaneously.”

"Ultraviolet light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, as are radio waves, infrared radiation, X-rays and gamma-rays. UV light, which comes from the sun, is invisible to the human eye. It makes black-light posters glow, and is responsible for summer tans — and sunburns.”

IMPORTANT: There is a clear classification of the biological effects of harmful electromagnetic interference (EMI). Too much electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emissions from electrical and electronic systems can cause biological damage. Too little background radiation from electromagnetic shielding can also cause biological damage and may be the root cause of "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity". We discuss the known biological effects of electromagnetic radiation exposures on the Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane) house plant.


[Comments: I found that my fruit trees were sterile in RF fields and that they would flower but later drop the fruit buds. The RF was also stunting my trees. Southwest Gas has installed the Itron 100G AMR meter at my home in Tucson, AZ, in January 2013 and that device is biologically toxic to the human! Fatigue, feeling hung over in the morning, lethargic, fuzzy thinking and concentration problems showed up. I now have to sleep on the floor to reduce the severity of the problems! Biological terrorism!]

[You have to be very careful with electromagnetic shielding, as you may make yourself sick. It is an extensive subject and my latest research on it is in the book Electrical Forensics which came out in August 2013 on amazon]

The Solar Eclipse: A Jewish Message

The Solar Eclipse: A Jewish Message

The connection between covering our eyes when we recite the Shema and when looking at the eclipse.

The world will soon be witness to one of the 

most spectacular events in the universe.

On August 21 the sky will suddenly go dark in the middle of the day. The temperature will noticeably drop by many degrees in a few short moments. Birds will stop chirping and flee back to their nests. And millions of Americans will gather under the heavens, from Oregon to South Carolina, to view the first total solar eclipse to cross America in many decades.

It is an awesome spectacle – and throughout history, in many eras and in countless cultures, its occurrence was fraught with fear and consternation. For those who lacked the scientific knowledge to understand the temporary darkness due to the coverage of the sun by the overlapping of the moon, superstition bred many myths and fanciful folklore. The very word eclipse comes to us by way of old French from the Greek for abandonment or forsaking – as if the sudden darkness expressed divine displeasure so severe that God chose to temporarily remove the gift of his presence.

How do Jewish sources view a solar eclipse?

At the very beginning of the Torah, Jewish biblical commentators find a direct allusion to the phenomenon of an eclipse: “And God said, ‘Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens … and they shall be for signs and for appointed seasons and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:14). What is the meaning of “for signs”? The classical commentary of Rashi tells us this refers to the times when the luminaries are eclipsed – and “this is an unfavorable omen for the world”!

Does that mean that we ought to now be very afraid?

Remarkably, Rashi concludes his commentary with a reference to words from the prophet Jeremiah: “… As it is said ‘And from the signs of the heaven be not dismayed, etc’ (Jeremiah 10:2) When you perform the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, you need not fear retribution.”




If an eclipse is a prediction of imminent divine punishment, as Rashi inferred from the verse, why would Rashi immediately negate that very idea with a quote advising us not to be dismayed or fearful of heavenly signs? The answer is profound and rooted in the supreme importance Jews attach to the concept of free will, the ability of mankind to directly affect their destiny by virtue of their self-chosen actions. The concept of Greek fate runs counter to Jewish thought; fate can be altered by faith. As the High Holy Day formula puts it, “Repentance, prayer, and charity override the evil decree.”
It's a moment that reminds us of God’s awesome power and goodness.

An eclipse may be an omen but it is not a verdict or a final judgment. It is a moment in time which serves as a reminder of God’s awesome power and goodness. Without the benefit of the sun, its light, its warmth, its power, its energy and its role in the solar system, we could not survive for a moment. That is why, with infinite wisdom and at preordained times on the calendar, God removes us from its rays for the briefest of times so that we might reflect on the miracle of its otherwise constant presence which we so readily take for granted. It is that which the Torah refers to as “a sign.”

A sign asks us to take note. It has a message. Fail to heed it and suffer the consequences reserved for those who take God’s gifts which make life possible for granted. It is not hard to believe that the Creator of the universe built signposts predicated on natural law as ongoing reminders for mankind.

The awesome message of an eclipse 

and its meaning for us 

has a remarkable parallel 

to a universal Jewish custom.

It is extremely important, NASA and other experts tell us, that we cover our eyes and not look directly at the sun when it happens. Failure to heed this counsel could lead to blindness. I cannot help but think of the very same admonition to cover our eyes when we recite the Shema. At the moment when we contemplate God’s uniqueness and greatness we indicate that His splendor is beyond the capacity of our vision; to think we truly see His essence with the limited perspective of our eyes is to be blind to the reality of His infinite magnificence.

The eclipse reminds us of a universe so much vaster than our ability to fully comprehend. Don't fear it, rather welcome it as a sign, as the Psalmist King David reminded us, that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”(Psalms 19:1).

Source: Aish.com

_____________________________


Why Solar Eclipses Happen (Live Stream here)

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: LIVE FROM THE U.S.A, with Eclipse Map covering the entire globe. Also CAUTIONS on how to view the eclipse.

Parshas Re’eh – Comfort in the Storm

Comfort in the Storm

By Roy S. Neuberger

My wife and I got married in the “old days,” before we discovered Hashem. I had not wanted a rabbi to officiate at our wedding, but my wife’s grandfather insisted, so we searched for the most reform of the reform. This person provided us with a document that contained an echo of Torah, a piece of paper on which was written, “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li … I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.” This was his version of a kesuba. 

We are about to enter Chodesh Elul, the month of teshuva.  This possuk, “ani l’dodi v’dodi li,” (Shir HaShirim 6:3) is understood to refer to Elul because the first letters of each word spell out the name of the month. (Vayikra Rabbah) Of course, this “shtims” perfectly with the avoda of Elul, which is all about reconciliation with the Ribono shel Olam. 

“Majestic, Beautiful, Radiance of the universe, my soul pines for Your love. Please, O G-d, heal her now by showing her the pleasantness of Your radiance.” (Yedid Nefesh)

Our entire existence is based on a relationship of love with Hashem. Because of that love, our relationship with Him is eternal. We have only to come back; He is waiting for us. 

Teshuva is the most upbeat process in the world. It is completely “empowering,” because teshuva is based on the knowledge that all our ills originate from our own weaknesses, and we can fix them. When apparently bad things happen, that is a sign that we have to fix something. 

It is within our power to correct everything. As the Novi says, “Where is your mother’s divorce document with which I sent her away?” (Yeshiah 50:1) We have to know that we will succeed!

We have to know that even one person can bring the Geulah. Moshe Rabbeinu brought the Geulah! Yosef Hatzaddik brought the Geulah!

My childhood was Gehenom, as I have often mentioned. Life without Torah was black as night and confusing as a maze. I could not breathe because of constant agmas nefesh. I had no idea what was wrong, which in itself was a terror. But I thank Hashem for all this, because, as a result, I knew that I needed Him. If I had not been in such pain, then I would have remained in that blackness for eternity, chas v’Shalom. 

My wife and I own an apartment in Yerushalayim. Recently, we had a robbery; the entire place was ransacked. One’s first reaction is shock and anger. You feel violated. You feel helpless. You desire revenge. It’s our home! How can people be so evil? 

However, you also want to say, “gam zu l’tova … it is all for the best.” (Taanis 21a) But how do you say it? What could be good about this? So I tried to think: how is this good? 

I had a thought. We tend to feel that we own this world. When things go well, we want to say that it all came about through “my strength and the might of my hand….” (Dvarim 8:17) I have a house. It is mine. I am happy there. What more do I need? This is potentially dangerous. As we read recently, “When you beget children and grandchildren and will have been long in the Land, you will grow corrupt and anger [Hashem]….” (Dvarim 4:25)

Something can easily go wrong when we become comfortable. We tend to forget that this is Hashem’s world. It exists only as a result of His willing it to exist. What would happen if He changes the way the world looks? What will happen when Moshiach ben Dovid comes? Will the world look the same? Will we live the way we do now? Maybe I’m hanging onto the old world, the world of Golus, and impeding the advent of Moshiach. 

Before Am Yisroel left for Har Sinai, Mitzraim collapsed. In order for us to leave that world and meet Hashem, we had to sever our relationship with that powerful, enticing world of Mitzraim. 

What will happen when Moshiach ben Dovid comes? Will the world we know today look the same? Maybe the world as we know it will collapse the way Mitzraim collapsed. Maybe we will have to be willing to give up our familiar world in order to enter a new world.

After the robbery, I thought: Hashem is training us for the world of Moshiach. Maybe He is telling us, “You have to know what it is like when your world is turned upside down. You have to learn that this apparent cataclysm is in fact ‘l’tova.’ I am going to bring you into a world that is infinitely better than the world you think is normal today.”

I have to know that the pain and the anguish are a bracha. If I know they are a bracha, then perhaps I will be able to deal with the anguish. If we can look at the chaotic events of our times in this way, then perhaps we are going to be able to accept the future that Hashem is preparing for us, a future infinitely greater than what we have seen up to now. 

It’s not easy. I’m giving a possible scenario. But because so many people are finding so much difficulty coming their way, we need to see a pathway to redemption. 

“Oh, storm-tossed, unconsoled one, behold, I shall lay your floor stones upon pearls and make your foundation of sapphires…. All your children will be students of Hashem and abundant will be your children’s peace.” (This week’s Haftarah) 

May we see that beautiful and perfect world soon in our days! 

*          *          *          *

Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2017 by Roy S. Neuberger

HERE COMES NIBIRU . . .

WSO - Chicago Traffic Report Captures RED ORB OBJECT WITH TAIL

Zohar Prophecy of the Wars of the Future

Do Not Wait – The Time is Now

The Zohar reveals the wars of the end of time and who is going to win and be protected.

Zohar prophecy of the wars of the future. Zohar Vaerah #204, 205,206




Much of this was given to us by Reb Dov bar Leib in his blog, EndofDays. The link to this video was included as a comment on the blog, so I thought it important in any event to bring it to you. Plus how you can join the DailyZohar Lessons at https://DailyZohar.com.

HOW COULD ONE NOT TAKE THIS TO HEART:

[T]he Holy One, Blessed be He, brings redemption to the people of Israel, redeems the Jews from all over the world and brings them to the Holy Land. If we want to understand what is happening in this world, this is "Gog and Magog" – the Jews will come to the Land of Israel to settle here. If they will ignore His warnings, the Creator will continue to complicate and divide the whole world, except the Holy Land, to shake and shudder it with the elements, the floods, the volcanoes, inferno and fires, severe winds and storms. The earthquakes will continue and tsunami will not be late. All this is done by our Father in Heavens so that the Jews will flee from the lands of the Diaspora and immigrate to the Holy Land so that the Jews who live in Israel will not go abroad. It will also be that all the people who wish to disturb the Holy Land of Israel and the Jews in the Land of Israel will be preoccupied with the floods, earthquakes, fires and storms The Creator of the world confuses them and brings quarrels among them, diseases and in short: the ten plagues of Egypt.

Any country that will work with the Land of Israel, in trade and in any other fields, that will support the Land of Israel and the Jews, will immediately feel the help of the Creator of Heaven. If they will continue to deceive the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Creator will continue to strike them very hard, until all the nations and all the presidents and kings understand clearly that they must not touch the Holy Land of Israel, but praise the Holy Land and the Jews who live in the Holy Land.

The Land of Israel is flourishing and growing, all the Jews of the world must come to the Land of Israel; the Messiah is in the Land of Israel working and acting, building the Third Temple. The world will not be destroyed, nothing will happen! There will not be a third intifada, nor a Third World War, and not a nuclear war. Everything that happens, all the chaos in the world, are solely for the sake of the Jews so they will come to the Land of Israel and for all the countries that disturb them to be in 'chaos.' If they will redeem themselves, they will have only goodness.

Natural disasters will continue, as long as the Jews continue to be disturbed. The sea is raging and noisy, wanting to take over and purify the earth, and the Holy One, blessed be He, stops it for now. There is an angel in the sea waiting for the instructions of the Creator of the Universe.

All the disturbances against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are from money that came from abroad to a group of mostly non-Jews and a few left-wing Jews, to bring down the right. They have no problem with Netanyahu; they want to topple the right-wing government in order to destroy the Holy Land. They are looking for a political way to destroy the State of Israel. Netanyahu is a wise man, a wise politician who does not agree with them.

All the disturbances against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are from money that came from abroad to a group of mostly non-Jews and a few left-wing Jews, to bring down the right. They have no problem with Netanyahu; they want to topple the right-wing government in order to destroy the Holy Land. They are looking for a political way to destroy the State of Israel. Netanyahu is a wise man, a wise politician who does not agree with them.

All the signs in the world attest to the period of revelation of the Messiah, the discovery of the foundations of the First and Second Temples - in order to continue building the Third Temple! When the Messiah is revealed in public in the Land of Israel and in the world, all the goyim will flee on foot outside the borders of Israel - the time is near! Everything we've written here is all precise!

Source: From the Words of Nir ben Artzi

Parshas Re'eh: I’m Putting in Front of You Today, the Blessing and the Curse . . .

Do Not Wait – The Time is Now

I’m putting in front of you today, the blessing and the curse . . .

Rabbi Mizrachi speaks current events.

• Rabbi Mizrachi also speaks about the marching Nazis in America, the Arabs, and why they bother the Jews. From Shamayim Hashem directs the Nazis against the Jews – The Hand of Hashem.
• Also about the “signs” (and they were many) in Switzerland.
• Jews are the No l tourists in Turkey.
• Hashem is waking up the Jews all over the world.
• In India a hospital did not pay its electric bill, so the company shut their electricity and 60 children died (who were connected to oxygen machines). (They knew about it, but because of money they did it anyway.)

“Drug Use is a Response to a Lot of Pain. . .”

After reading the below article about the children dying of drug overdose in the Brooklyn Community of Boro Park, I returned to the Mishpacha article (read previously) to find glaring instances of “moments of crisis” reflecting a community in crisis, that could/should have been flashpoints of hypocrisy that gave way to pain. 
The golus is taking its toll on our Jewish Communities (worldwide). A sure sign of the proverbial "End of Days Scenario”. History reflects the “wandering Jew” who goes from country to country seeking rest from hatred, violence and anti-semitism, only to meet it once again. The wandering Jew from the ashes of the First Beit HaMikdash, finally reaches the shores of the last anticipated resting place in the ¶Southern Hemisphere, America. And there they rebuild the nation of Jews who survived the Shoah. 
After tremendous growth came affluence and abundance. The freedom found on this stop on the Galut Train has taken its toll on the remnants of thousands of years of wandering. Freedom is not free; there are ramifications, a loss of spiritual balance.
The final test of Returning to Hashem is being played out, with devastating results. Teshuva is not just a religious experience of ‘returning’ or ‘coming closer to Hashem', but the realization that our History has a purpose. We see that purpose unfolding in the Neshomas making Aliyah to **Eretz Yisrael. 
From that fateful day when the Sages returned with a slanderous report, after scouting out Eretz Yisrael, that frightened the people, fast forward to 2017, the people are finally entering our Promised Land. History is not over yet, there remains many Jewish neshomas in Chutz L’Aretz that need to awaken to the Promise of Hashem,  that our Land is a good and fruitful Land waiting for its children to return, to return to Hashem, and the Jewish way of living in our Promised Homeland. 

Below is one of the articles I read, and a selection from the second article. 


“Drug use is a response to a lot of pain,”

The following is an article (full) from JewishWeek–TimesofIsrael, about the Drug problem that is claiming young Jewish lives. And after that another article in Mishpacha Magazine, about a  the young woman, who is also one of the several women discussed below:

Five months ago, Chana Gibber, a 20-year-old recovering opioid addict, woke up in a hospital bed attached to a ventilator.

She had been hospitalized the night before after overdosing on heroin.

“I was homeless and panhandling [at the time],” recalled the Midwood native, speaking to The Jewish Week in an exclusive interview. She grew up in the Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox enclave and attended a high school for troubled girls; she has since broken with the insular community. “I overdosed and flatlined for like 13 seconds. … They Narcanned [administered Naloxone, an opioid antidote] me like six times.”

“Addiction wants us dead,” said Gibber. 

“It wants to torture our lives.”

Despite her unstable condition, she texted a friend from her hospital bed, asking for more heroin. Her friend smuggled the drugs past security and the nurse station and up to her room. Propped up on the sanitized pillows, she injected herself again.

“Addiction wants us dead,” said Gibber, today in recovery. “It wants to torture our lives. … The battle of fighting against it is so crazy.”

Gibber — today over 100 days clean, newly employed and living in Los Angeles — lost five friends to overdose in the past year. Most recently was a close high school friend, Malky Klein, who, like Gibber, had left her chasidic community. She died in Brooklyn in June. She was 20.

The national opioid crisis — a combination of doctor over-prescription and patient misuse that has contributed to an epidemic of addiction and overdose — has not spared Orthodox communities, despite strict guidelines that attempt to shelter youth from outside influences. The crisis seems to be hitting home particularly hard for those who leave the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, self-identified as “off the derech,” or path. Since the beginning of June, 13 people have died of overdoses among Orthodox and formerly Orthodox Jews under the age of 35; since January of this year, that number is over 100, experts say. While 2016 saw an alarming spike in the number of ultra-Orthodox deaths by overdose — 65 in the past Jewish calendar year, according to Zvi Gluck, director of Orthodox social service organization Amudim — this year’s death toll quickly surpassed those numbers.

While prominent members of the ultra-Orthodox community have started to weigh in on potential causes and solutions, those even closer to the tragedies — friends, family members, and individuals like Gibber who have themselves narrowly escaped tragic deaths — are starting to talk.

Since the beginning of June, 

13 people have died of overdoses 

among Orthodox and formerly Orthodox Jews 

under the age of 35 — since January of this year, 

that number is over 100

“People are dying — this is not about religion anymore,” said Mushky Zulauf, a 23-year-old college student living in Crown Heights. She was close friends with many of the young adults who recently succumbed to opioid addiction. Though she grew up in the Chabad chasidic community, today she no longer considers herself part of it.

“They rejected me,” she said, recalling that she was “kicked out” of her all-girls elementary school because the school staff did not know how to deal with her complicated problems. Though Zulauf did not use drugs, she struggled with alcohol addiction and a complicated family life. “When someone is acting out and going against the rules, people [in the religious community] step away — they are scared, they don’t want to deal with it.” The problem is that these “bad behaviors” — partying, drug use, alcohol use — are a “desperate cry for help.”

“By pushing these people away, 

the suffering only gets worse,” 

 “Open your eyes. Realize you can help someone.”

Alhough she has seen many friends struggle — and succumb — to addiction over the years, something has changed in recent months, she said.

“We’re not hiding it anymore,” said Zulauf, referring to an increasingly active — and angry — group of young people who are leaving (or have left) the Orthodox community — either by choice or systematic exclusion. “We used to hide everything we did — not keeping religious rules, partying, doing drugs — we hid that from the community, because we were ashamed, or because of negative feedback. Now, we’re showing our faces. We’re done hiding who we are.”

“‘The religious community only started caring 

once we started dying.”

Perry D., a 22-year-old formerly Orthodox young woman (who requested her full name not be used for privacy reasons), recently posted on her Facebook wall: “‘The religious community only started caring once we started dying.” Her post received a flurry of comments and responses, most affirming the sentiment. (Their comment was reprinted here with permission.)

Demo M., 24, a friend of Meyer Green — an ex-Orthodox man in his early 20s who died in early June (sources close to Green requested that the circumstances surrounding his death remain private) — recalled being cast out of the upstate Monsey religious community before struggling with drug addiction.

“Many of us were cast out — [we] didn’t have family support, or community support,” Demo said. “Maybe it’s the fact that we’re addicts. There are a lot of factors [that contribute to addiction]. One of them is losing community.”

Integrating more sports and creative outlets — like art and drama — into Orthodox schools could steer frustrated youth away from drugs, Demo suggested.

Though few studies compare the rate of mental health disorders in the Jewish community to rates in the general population, there is reason to suspect that those who leave the Orthodox fold have an increased risk of mental health disorders, said Dr. Isaac Schechter, clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Applied Psychology at a 1,000-patient mental health clinic in Rockland County.

“Many of us were cast out"

“When someone disconnects from a community, [the person’s] identity is lost,” said Schechter. Though the data is not “clear enough” at this point to draw conclusions, “falling out of hope” can lead to depression, overdose, and suicide.

Yaacov Behrman, a program director in the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, directs the drug prevention group Operation Survival. He said the Orthodox community is not unique in its struggle against opioids.

“We’re not angels,” he said. “We’re affected by the outside world.” Religious communities, no matter how insular, are not immune to this national epidemic, he said.

“It’s hard for any parent to imagine that their kid is capable of overdosing,” Behrman said.

A challenge that is unique to the Orthodox community, he said, is an absence of awareness, exposure and education about these issues. The “mindset of protection” that pervades many Orthodox homes and schools is actually doing a disservice to its youth, he added.

“Parents don’t want their kids to be exposed to these ugly realities, but it is worth the exposure,” he said. Under Behrman’s leadership, Operation Survival has become the first Jewish program in New York State to register as an Opioid Overdose Prevention Training program; the program aims to provide the Jewish community of Crown Heights with prevention education and overdose response training.

“Awareness is important. It’s hard for parents to have a conversation with their kids about drugs. It’s harder not to,” he said.

Zvi Gluck, founder and director of Amudim, an organization that provides support and mental health services to those in Orthodox community, pointed to a 2016 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse that found that drug use among high school students is on the decline. He attributes the shift to early education and intervention programs. Orthodox schools are slowly beginning to follow suit, he said.

“I am quite pleased overall with the way our Yeshiva systems are making subtle changes in different areas such as training and education,” Gluck told The Jewish Week. “But sadly it is still lacking tremendously in the fields of addiction and abuse,” he added.

Lou Abrams, a social worker specializing in drug addiction in the Orthodox community, said the gratuitous presence of alcohol at Jewish celebrations — bar mitzvahs, “kiddush clubs,” Purim parties — and a general lack of adult supervision increases the risk of addiction, particularly for young people.

“Alcohol is still a big gateway. Rarely does someone start taking opiates before they started experimenting with alcohol or marijuana.”

“Drug use is a response to a lot of pain,”

Still, for individuals like Gibber, the problem is deeper than one too many drinks, or one too many joints.

“Drug use is a response to a lot of pain,” she said. “If you leave religion, you are branded as an outcast and a rebel…you become a ‘bad person.’ [You] ask yourself ‘Why shouldn’t I do drugs if people already assume there’s something wrong with me?’”

The thought process is cyclical and self-fulfilling, she said. It is hard to fight off the despair.

Despite losing several close friends to overdose — and despite her own volatile journey, from relapse to recovery to relapse — she plans to fight for life.

“Hope is everything,” she said.

____________________________

Source Article: JewishWeek-TimesofIsrael

* * * * *

Definition of Opiods (drugs):
What are Opioids? Opioids are drugs that act on the nervous system to relieve pain. Continued use and abuse can lead to physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms. They come in tablets, capsules or liquid. DrugFreeWorld


This is the second article that appeared in the Mishpacha Magazine, entitled “Always My Malky.”

"A sparkling child growing up in Boro Park. But then difficulty in school. Shattered self-esteem. Rehab. All along Malky’s parents were with her — until it was all over. “I learned,” […] “how readily accessible the most dangerous narcotics are right here in Boro Park, how simple it is to obtain them, how there are dealers all over this neighborhood. We couldn’t do very much, because to cut off the money would have forced Malky to come up with money on her own. We knew we didn’t want that”

“It was the day of Malky’s eighth grade graduation when the message came from the one high school that had actually accepted her. Yeah, well, so that acceptance? Not really. Sorry. [Her mother] decided to take her on a trip to Europe . . . ." Also, Malky’s mother said about Malky, she “loved to dress well, Miss Fashion . . . .”

While in second grade, Malki blurted out during a Shabbos meal, “My teacher says that I really belong in the first grade.”

“… we didn’t realize then that Malky had a learning disability”

During the intervening years’ of after-school tutoring, by the sixth grade, Malky blurted out “Thats it. I’m done with tutors. I can’t anymore.”

After eighth grade the hunt for a high school endured. Finally accepted to a high school, Malky’s mother bought her a brand new brief case . . . The Principal accused Malky of “trying to buy off friends”. Malky was expelled from high school. [because of a fancy briefcase, gifts to her friends, which was a product of her upbringing, family life and her own good hearted graciousness?]

All her life, although with a ‘learning disability’ Malky was a “brilliant girl,” so said the result of a Bd of Ed evaluation. [This girl suffered all through her "growing–up” years, and was left damaged, hurt, and defeated. A clash of principles learned at home vs the community’s educational rigidity – a clash of mores.]

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My comments in brackets. Does anyone see a pattern in these brief selected quotes from the article? To me It’s an indictment on the mores of the social fabric of the Brooklyn Jewish Community, one of affluence that keeps parents overly busy with evening weddings, shul kiddishes, away from the home, while children suffer with personal issues growing up. The dichotomy is glaring and shouting from the pages of the Mishpacha Magazine article. [Nothing is wrong with attending Smachot, but to be out almost every evening and not at home with the children is tearing apart the families. The “Heim” was the center of Jewish live throughout the many years of wandering; there was nothing else to drag parents away from their children.

Beware that you do not forget the Lord, your G–d, by not keeping His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command you this day, lest you eat and be sated, and build good houses and dwell therein,and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all that you have increases, and your heart grows haughty, and you forget the Lord, your G–d, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [Devarim 8:10-14]

‘despair' ‘alienation’ 

'non–acceptance' ‘shunning’

these are symptoms of the crisis

These children, while in their elementary years, were (are) the “Canaries in the Coal Mine,” victims of affluence, a life of entitlement expectations, and rigid codes of behavior that have lost compassion on the weakest among them. This is an existential affect of protecting from the “outside influences” that are strangling many youth. While these articles focus on the young girls, the same is happening with many young men. [Some Israeli Yeshivos are where many lost and lonely alienated youth end up, where they find acceptance, (their) self-esteem, and (their) heritage.]


Hasidic News: A Spate of Suicides Hits the OTD Community
Heroin has infiltrated the Hasidic Community

¶ Southern Hemisphere: In Chassidic thought, America is referred to with the expression, the lower hemisphere.‘ It is stated that the Torah was not given in the lower half of the earth.’ Coming to the lower half of the earth‘ was one further step in a series of exiles

 **For the Lord your G–d is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper.

Rabbi YY Jacobson: Jewish Community Tackles Drug Abuse Problem

Rabbi YY Jacobson: The Journey of a Young Woman from School Expulsion to Overdose

President Trump at a News Conference on Charlottesville

President Donald Trump was in peak combative form as he addressed the media's questions about his response to the racism and violence in Charlottesville during a news conference at Trump Tower in New York.

Anomalous Earthquakes

Anomalous Earthquakes: 

North Korean Nukes or Nibiru?

[watch the following video up to 14:24 min only, plus make video mute]