And so I enter my final approach to surgery....
I will be in the skilled and capable hands of Dr. Joel Sheinfeld and I am confident and optimistic that all will be well.
As I reflect upon all that has transpired these past three months I feel that it is most appropriate that I first must cross the chasm that is Tish'a B'Av before my surgery.
What questions are we to ask ourselves while reliving the day that the 1st and 2nd Temples were destroyed ....a day in which so much tragedy befell the Jewish people over the millenia?
The Children of Israel....indirectly rebuked by Moses in this past week's Parsha Devarim ....Moshe hoping against hope that they stay "on track" and connected to G-d asks them, "How can I alone carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels?"....
The word in Hebrew for How is Eicha which is used only one other time in all of Torah....when Adam....having just eaten the forbidden fruit....now aware of his nakedness....attempts to hide from Hashem....and we then hear G-d call to Adam....Aeicha, the same spelling,(different pronunciation),...."Where are you"?....G-d asks....
These are the essential questions of our lives.
Who are you? Where are you?
Are you on the correct path?
I felt I had known the answers to these questions prior to my current situation.
....but Hashem wanted to make sure....and the magnitude of my current challenge is Hashem's way to make certain that I understand with absolute certainty....as was His hope for Adam as well as the Children of Israel that....
There is only one way....and the journey of our lives must be hand in hand with The Almighty....
When we recognize this we can then sing....
Eevdu Et Hashem B'simcha, Bo'u L'fanav Birnana....Serve Hashem with gladness, come before Him with joyous song.
B'simcha
michael
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Michael,
ReplyDeleteYour redoubled confidence and determination shine through today's posting. It is something we all must tap into and when we do the demons and dragons of our lives melt away into their essential illusion. Hashem is with you, as He was with Dovid HaMelech whose every breath sang praises to Hashem - both in times of obvious joy and in times when others would falter - the hands of your surgeon will be guided, E"H, by Hashem's Loving Hand and you will rejoin us to share your words and love face-to-face.
Love ya, Naph
Michael, I watched this U tube video about Tisha B Av and thought of you. It talks about how we allowed Tisha B Av to happen because we saw our selves as grasshoppers in our own eyes and were afraid and did not have Emuna. That is why Hasham gave us something to cry about. We can do anything as long as we have faith in ourselves and trust in Hashem. Stay strong! http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/98394544.html
ReplyDeleteWe were at Camp Ramah for visiting day with the kids this weekend. Jordana Norry asked for you and Tamir Goodman sends his regards. The kids do a mishaberach for you at their daving.
We are all counting on you and davening for you. You are being sent Koach from the Pocono Mountains to the Temple Mount.
We all love you so much.
Andrea
dearest michael and family,
ReplyDeletesending blessings holy nachlaot from our heart to yours.
i send my personal sympathy and sorrow for uncle bills passing.. to you, aunt evelyn and your family. I was privledged to treat aunt evelyn for her low back and uncle bill, being a doc, wanted to experience what i do...and got on my table and said "fix my neck"...so, i also got to be in the honor of his great sense of humor as well as his great human being.
i am move to share the following as we approach the eve of Tish BAv.
The Complete Building- Rav Shlomo Katz
Tasting happiness can mean so many different things to so many of us.
For some all it takes is a peaceful walk in the park. For some it might take a full day of learning and prayer, and for some all it takes is one powerful melody.
Comes Tisha B'Av and we see that we absolutely have got to stop fooling ourselves.
Throughout the year, it might seem as if occasional moments of happiness and joy are enough to keep us going, but when we go through another Tisha B'Av we are reminded once again that real eternal simcha has yet to come.
The previous Rebbe from the dynasty of Lelov teaches that we touch upon this simcha every Friday night. During the zemirot we say 'Samchem Bevinyan Shalem'.
This Binyan Shalem (complete building) doesn't leave room for any compromising. The ultimate Simcha that every Jew since Avraham Avinu strives for can only take place once the Binyan, the building of our nation is Shalem (complete).
And this only happens when the whole world will come back to Yerushalayim.
Reb Shlomo Carlebach ztz'l would often speak of Reb Yehoshua Wolf, a Bobover Chassid, who made it through five years in Auschwitz. The hell, horror and torture he must have been put through is beyond our imagination, but this Reb Yehoshua would speak of a more terrifying day which surprisingly enough took place on the day the camp was liberated.
While he was in Auschwitz, R Yehoshua was able to survive because he knew that Mashiach has to come after such a destruction. However, when the American army marched into Auschwitz to give them freedom, he broke down and fainted. 'For this I was in Auschwitz, so that the Americans should free me and not Mashiach?'. To be in Auschwitz for five years and to not be greeted by Mashiach… this he couldn't bear.
So dearest friends, after all we have been through, after all the world has been through, it is time we stop compromising. We need to stop compromising on our visions and on our dreams, but most importantly, we need to stop compromising on G-d's dream.
As we unfortunately approach another Tisha B'Av we must remember that after two thousand years that we did not come back to Eretz Yisrael to build a beautiful country.
We came back to Yerushalayim because G-d's dreams for us need to take place.
Ki Beiti Beit Tefila Yikare Lechol Ha'amim
Rav Shlomo Katz
may these words of wisdom guide us to continue our praying and our building...
may you lead yourself and your healing body into this next challenge with all the power,hope,faith and emuna you have led yourself in these past 73 sunrises.
see you soon, here in the holy land as our sun sets and your sun rises.
much love,
tova, dara and daniella
wanted to share this with you, as we approach this Tish BAv together....
ReplyDeleteThe Complete Building- Rav Shlomo Katz
Tasting happiness can mean so many different things to so many of us.
For some all it takes is a peaceful walk in the park. For some it might take a full day of learning and prayer, and for some all it takes is one powerful melody.
Comes Tisha B'Av and we see that we absolutely have got to stop fooling ourselves.
Throughout the year, it might seem as if occasional moments of happiness and joy are enough to keep us going, but when we go through another Tisha B'Av we are reminded once again that real eternal simcha has yet to come.
The previous Rebbe from the dynasty of Lelov teaches that we touch upon this simcha every Friday night. During the zemirot we say 'Samchem Bevinyan Shalem'.
This Binyan Shalem (complete building) doesn't leave room for any compromising. The ultimate Simcha that every Jew since Avraham Avinu strives for can only take place once the Binyan, the building of our nation is Shalem (complete).
And this only happens when the whole world will come back to Yerushalayim.
Reb Shlomo Carlebach ztz'l would often speak of Reb Yehoshua Wolf, a Bobover Chassid, who made it through five years in Auschwitz. The hell, horror and torture he must have been put through is beyond our imagination, but this Reb Yehoshua would speak of a more terrifying day which surprisingly enough took place on the day the camp was liberated.
While he was in Auschwitz, R Yehoshua was able to survive because he knew that Mashiach has to come after such a destruction. However, when the American army marched into Auschwitz to give them freedom, he broke down and fainted. 'For this I was in Auschwitz, so that the Americans should free me and not Mashiach?'. To be in Auschwitz for five years and to not be greeted by Mashiach… this he couldn't bear.
So dearest friends, after all we have been through, after all the world has been through, it is time we stop compromising. We need to stop compromising on our visions and on our dreams, but most importantly, we need to stop compromising on G-d's dream.
As we unfortunately approach another Tisha B'Av we must remember that after two thousand years that we did not come back to Eretz Yisrael to build a beautiful country.
We came back to Yerushalayim because G-d's dreams for us need to take place.
Ki Beiti Beit Tefila Yikare Lechol Ha'amim
Good Shabbos
Shlomo Katz
Lisa and Michael,
ReplyDeleteWe send you our best wishes and prayers for a speedy and full recovery. We are thinking of you often. Thanks for keeping us posted.
Dana Saewitz
I think about you everyday Michael. I am praying your surgery goes well.
ReplyDeleteShiroff
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts are so profound, personal and deep - I just wanted to say that every time I see you whether it was at a the Kopel's Shabbas table or in Shul, you always think about everyone else and you make me feel brighter just by knowing how easy you are to talk to. I am glad you exist in this world to be such a light to everyone you meet. There was one time where I saw you daven and thought wow, such kavanah! I wanted to say that I'm wishing you well and thinking of you.
Rachel Rosenzweig
Keep fighting..you'll beat this..our thoughts and prayers are with you..remember you are coming back to Seattle next year and we will hike Mt Rainier together
ReplyDeleteIris
just read this and am praying your bitachon and emunah will get you through this next leg of this journey. may hashem guide your shaliach is dr joel..lila tov warrior.You give me strength everyday.
ReplyDeletelove kim
Please join us in Michael and David Wach's merit
ReplyDeleteDear Friends,
Many people are already praying for a refuah shaleima, a fast and complete recovery, for Michael (Michoel ben Yehudis Miriam) and his father (Dovid ben Gittel). A group of us want to do more and have a suggestion for anyone interested in joining us.
The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation has an excellent program called Morning Machsom L’Fi designed to help us grow in the mitzvah of shmiras haloshon, guarding our speech. The program asks participants to start the day with a commitment to be extra careful with our speech for one hour (9-10) and to spend 5 minutes each day learning about the laws of loshon hora, harmful speech. Of course the hope is that as a result of the learning and of starting each day in this careful way, we will come to improve our speech all day, and that this all should be a Heavenly merit for their recovery.
Here’s how it works: You email us your contact info and we enroll you with the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. They send you an introductory packet in the mail. Every day you receive a reminder email or phone call before the 9:00 hour and an email with a 5-minute lesson on loshon hora. Then at 9:00 you read a short saying committing to be extra careful with your speech for the next hour and asking that in the merit of your efforts, G-d should grant Michael, his father, and any other individuals you’d like to include, a refuah shalema. You also learn the daily lesson emailed (or you can learn directly from any of the books from the Chofetz Chaim Foundation or other sources on proper speech).
Will you help? If so, please email back to us at friendsforrefuah@gmail.com with your name, a mailing address and your email address (plus your phone number if you prefer to get the daily reminder by phone). We will respond back with more info about next steps. We ask that we commit to the program for 40 days. Of course you can stop at any time and can unsubscribe to the emails. Email us at this address if you have further questions.
Please pass this request to anyone else that you think would be interested in learning in Michael’s merit. Of course, if this isn’t for you, any other Torah learning or mitzvahs done with Michael and his father in mind will be a merit for them.
May the merit of all of our efforts bring a refuah shaleima be’mehera to Michael, his father, and all those who are sick and suffering.
Thank you, Rabbi Uri Greenspan and Sid Laytin
Endorsed by community Rabbonim
I recently began to see how knowing something in our intellect, really doesn't automatically transcend to knowing something in our "hearts." And, that it is only once we "know" it from both, that we can truly connect with the Almighty. So from deep down in your neshama, may you feel and "know" all the love,and care we all have for you, Lisa, Adam and Danielle.
ReplyDeleteYou are always in our thoughts, our prayers and our hearts.
Love,
Amy K