Don't Waste Time

“...In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work ... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the L-RD.” – Leviticus 16:29-30

At sunset, Yom Kippur will begin. For Jews, this is our “Day of Atonement” for the sins that we have committed against G-d. It is on this day that we have the opportunity to change the judgment entered into the books of life and death in which G-d inscribes all names. It is our last appeal before these books are sealed. This is our day to demonstrate our repentance and make amends for all the transgressions that have stained our lives this past year.  

Many of us have taken the past week to ask forgiveness from others, I could have done a better job of that, but now is the time that we ask for G-d’s forgiveness of our sins. There are many of these transgressions that can be found in the thoughts and prayers of Jews around the world and across generations. Maybe we didn’t go to services enough, maybe we haven’t read Torah and studied Talmud enough, and maybe there are more serious offenses that we ask to be forgiven.

Those are, for the most part, commonalities that we all share during this Holy time of year but there is something for which I am certainly going to ask to be forgiven which is commonly overlooked. How many hours each year do we spend watching television or aimlessly surfing the internet? How many times have you found yourself zoning out on Facebook reading posts and looking at pictures that you are only going to forget about later? How much time do we waste on an annual basis?

That is what I will make sure to include in my prayers and in my pleas… I am asking to be forgiven for wasting life. There is so much that I can be doing with the time I have to make a difference rather than spending hours doing something that has no lasting impact or meaning. If you find yourself in this situation and such action, or inaction as it were, has affected the life or lives of others you must also ask for their forgiveness. The same can be said for the sin of judgment. We have all judged others to varying degrees whether it is because of how someone looks, their level of observance, the job they may have, etc. Hopefully you have already asked them for forgiveness, but we must also ask G-d for forgiveness for unfairly casting judgment on His creation.

This is the time to learn from our reflections this past week, recognize our shortcomings, and ask G-d not only for His forgiveness for what we have done wrong but for the strength and wisdom needed to prevent us from committing them in this new year. This is a time for transformation. It is a time that allows us to wake up and see the world through G-d’s eyes. This is a time for change.

I Created A Zombie Blog

This is where it all started... a few months after this picture was taken at the Aliyah Expo in Manhattan I started my first personal blog to record our Aliyah experience.

I have been writing my entire adult life but I haven’t always blogged. I started blogging for my former employer back in the fall of 2009 and would post something every month or so as we rotated content development responsibilities throughout the company. However, I still refrained from keeping a personal blog until I felt I had something to write about.

In November 2010 my wife and I decided to make Aliyah to Israel… I had something to write about and created the blog From Goy To Oleh (very loose translation: “From Non Jew to Jewish Man Who Moved To Israel”). After a few start and stop moments, I finally got some ideas together on the topic and began posting on a weekly basis slowly building up my readership and disseminating across the same social media streams through which this blog is distributed. Of course, it was a much more focused effort as the subject matter was tailored to a specific audience so there were other groups such as Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency where the blogs were listed.

The blog came to an end in late June 2011 just before our charter flight to Israel early the following month. While I had planned on continuing to write about our new life that soon evaporated as we found ourselves on a plane back to the states (more about this experience soon, I promise). So, since that time, the blog has remained dormant with the only exception being in May of this year when I posted the official closing blog and directed anyone who was interested to follow me here.

However, the blog lives on in a zombie like state. While no new content is being posted it is still viewed between 200 and 300 times per month. Occasionally people leave comments (and I still reply to them when I have a chance) but, for the most part, people read and move on.

It is amazing to think about the longevity that the blog has had but it isn’t surprising given the interconnected society in which we live when things “live forever” in cyber space. I guess I am just a little shocked that over two years later, since my last real post on that blog, people are still finding it interesting enough to read and it is still relevant enough to show up in searches. It just goes to show that you never know what people are really going to think about something you write until you get it out there.

This is not a new concept for me but it is something that, no matter how many times it happens, I am still a little taken back by it. Every time this occurs I am humbled by the life that creation has independent of the creator. You create and send it out into the world surrendering control of its destiny. It is a very spiritual experience because every time I see the life that my creation has made for itself in this world it brings me closer to G-d than anything else I have ever done.

A bold statement I admit but it is as an authentic feeling as anything you can experience within your faith. It is a bond that you develop over time with your creator that can never be broken. It is a gift that should never be taken for granted and the only means we have to live in this world beyond our years.

Don’t just live life, create life. Don’t hide from experience and participate in the world around you. You don’t have to put words on a page in order to create. Create action, make a decision, and take a stand. Share with those around you the knowledge and/or abilities that you have and affect change in the lives of people. Our creator has given each of us the divine ability to create and it is our choice as to whether we are going to accept this gift. I for one choose to accept this privilege and challenge.

Daydreaming And Driving

Most days and nights I fall asleep and wake up having felt I had just settled into slumber. I rarely remember dreams and the ones I do quickly blur and are taken over by the waking activity of my mind. I can’t recall the last vivid dream which flooded my nocturnal hours.

The dreams I can recollect are those that happen during the times of attention and activity. All my senses are occupied during these times of conscious aspiration and I hold those memories close in order to fill the void which the night brings. These waking wisps of imagination are the catalyst which fuels my motivation to keep writing and to keep pushing forward.

However, these too can escape my grasp on occasion which is why I have employed a dream catcher to hold those thoughts for retrieval at a later time, a time when my creative spirit may be lacking. My belief being that what is used to filter out the bad dreams from entering at night can hold onto the good dreams which blossom in the light of day. The only question was where do I put it? After applying an amount of thought and consideration normally reserved for a blank piece of paper, I found the place which would provide the most benefit. Hopefully the picture above was obvious enough.

As many of my dreams are birthed during the straight monotonous roads where muscle memory is more important than dedicated thought, I decided to hang this powerful receptacle in the back window of my car. With our increased travel lately, my mind has been working overtime during these trips to make up for what is absent during unconsciousness. This is the perfect position.

Will it work? I don’t know but being that my ability to create is so integral to my sense of self, I am willing to try. I have already come close to losing my ability to the void and I know how frustrating it is to have the wealth of life surround you but finding yourself unable to express those experiences on the page. I can’t lose that flame again.

I don’t just want to live life and experience as much as I can, I need to illuminate the world from my eyes, from my perspective. If nothing else, I want to constantly remind myself to dream and to keep pushing myself to create. I need to catch those moments and lock them tight within my words because without the fictional escape of sleep, written reality is all I have so I am going to make it as vibrant and beautiful as possible.