Yom Hashoah 2018
Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In honor of all those who perished, were murdered in the Holocaust, and what lessons we can learn from remembering, I send this to you.
My parents are Holocaust survivors, or now, were Holocaust survivors. In their honor and memory, I remember. In memory of the six million Jews who were murdered, I remember. For this I say “Never Again”. We remember to honor those who were murdered and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, anywhere.
“What does it mean to remember? It is to live in more than one world, to
prevent the past from fading, and to call upon the future to illuminate it.” Elie Wiesel
Today, I am sad not just for the remembering, I am sad and fearful as I see that Anti-Semitism is on the rise again.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. – George Santayana
Often, it’s repeated because we are fooled as it never comes dressed in the same clothes. Anti-Semitism is again on the rise and this time, it is not only coming from where it traditionally sprang.
Along with the current rise in Anti-Semitism, Christians, Yazidis, Syrians, and many others are being persecuted and murdered around the world.
“The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. In a world awash with hate across religious divides, people of all faiths and none must stand together, not just to defeat anti-Semitism but to ensure the rights of religious minorities are defended everywhere.” – Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
“It’s not the differences that divide people, but rather the indifference.” – Francesca Schwartz, my Aunt, she was a Holocaust survivor who was a victim of Dr. Mengele experiments
I write this because I cannot be indifferent. I must speak up. I must do something. I hope that this something touches you and that you feel the same.
It is traditional and respectful to observe a moment of silence.
If we observed a moment of silence for all of the six million, we would be silent for eleven and a half years!
Let us all observe a moment of silence. Let us all vow to not remain silent!!!!
“Never Again”
Pharaoh Or Moses*
This week the Jewish people are celebrating Passover, their Emancipation and Exodus from 210 years of slavery in Egypt. There are many valuable lessons in this celebration that apply to everyone.
Here is one of them
Jews are commanded to constantly remember the slavery of their ancestors. More than that, they are commanded to remember it as though they were there as slaves.
There are several very valuable lessons in doing this. One of the universal messages of this remembering, is the lesson that while we are no longer physical slaves, we are still slaves. This time we are our own Pharaoh and the slavery is of the self-imposed spiritual and emotional variety.
We hold ourselves back from becoming the person we were created and meant to become.
We each have a Pharaoh inside of us that holds us back with our fears and insecurities. We also have a Moses inside of us that can lead us to freedom. A freedom that we can use to continually grow and improve.
Who would you rather listen to?
The only one who can free you now is you!
Heart and Soul
*updated from a previous post
Quotes, Quotes, and More Quotes
Everyone loves a good quote
“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotations.” – Isaac Disraeli
So I’ve added a new feature. It is a Quote page. The page already has many quotes listed and a new one will be added almost every day.
To see the Quotes simply click on Quotes in the upper right hand corner of this page, or simply click on the this link Quotes
After you’ve read all the quotes there, make it a habit to regularly visit the page and see the most recent quotes. You will be moved by them. You can quote me on that!
Heart and Soul
Thoughts For Valentine’s Day
Here is a past thought posted here again for Valentine’s Day
“Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing”*
“A man without a woman is like a ship without a sail. It’s like a boat without a rudder. It’s like a kite without a tail. A man without a woman is like a ship upon the sand. There’s only one thing worse in this universe, it’s a woman, without a man….” – unknown
Too often what we seek in another is what we want or need, rather than what we can give, or what we are needed for. When you have met that someone for whom all you wish to do is give, you will have found true and unconditional love.
Do not fear that it will be a one-sided relationship. If that person is the one, then all they will want to do is give to you. So by definition, both of you will be receiving without the expectation of a return for your giving. Giving in order to receive often sets us up for the disappointments that eat away.
“Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says: ‘I need you because I love you.” – Erich Fromm
“Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.” – Dalai Lama
“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert Heinlein
“You don’t truly love someone until you can take what they need to give you.” – David Suissa
In this giving, don’t fear losing yourself. You will be enhancing yourself. Your uniqueness, value, and purpose remain intact. You keep it by sharing it with the other and vice-versa.
“Love turns one person into two and two into one.” – Rabbi Don Yitchak Abarbanel
“Two people, two souls, synergize the best in both and overcome the least in each.” – Chassidic Adage
Sometimes the wants block finding love using the excuses of geographical distance, age difference, financial desires, he or she doesn’t do this or doesn’t like that…., etc., rather than letting go and letting the love flow
“Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them.” – Bill Russell
“We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.” – Tom Robbins
“I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.” – Nicolas Cage
Primary rule of a healthy and lasting partnership – communicate, communicate, and communicate
“Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” – Henry Winkler
What Love does
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” — Theodor Seuss Geisel
If you have found that love, you know the above to be true and indeed how “Splendored” it is
Click here to read all of the thoughts in the Love section for Valentine’s or any tine’s
Heart and Soul
* Title of the Academy Award winning movie and song.
A Lesson From The Road Runner
Here is another story to help keep you focused on your dreams and goals
The previous story gave the lesson from a Tightrope Walker, who reminds you to Always stay focused on the goal and yet still be in the moment.
Now let’s look at a lesson from the Road Runner
In the “Road Runner” cartoon, the Road Runner is always frustrated and being chased by Wylie Coyote. There is always the scene where the road runner is racing ahead and as he gets to the precipice of a cliff, he darts behind a bush without Wylie Coyote seeing. So Wylie Coyote continues the chase and doesn’t see that he runs past the edge.
Now visualize this scene of Wylie Coyote running with nothing but air beneath him. When does Wylie Coyote start to fall? He starts to fall when he looks down. When he looks down and realizes where he is, fear sets in.
Fear is paralyzing!! Fear is one of the most common excuses/reasons that hold many back from realizing their dreams and goals.
Always look ahead towards your goal. If you are not looking ahead now, you will be looking back later.
Never look down and let fear take over.
Never look back. If you are always looking back your future will look like your past.
Heart and Soul
Part of the Eye Of The Tiger series
