Kindness
by Audrey Coatesworth

Kindness



Is it really too hard to smile?

Or walk that fraction of a mile?

To bend down – maybe - once again

Pick up something for one in pain?



To offer your seat when all have gone?

Make someone laugh who has no fun?

To help to carry too heavy a load

Of one who is limping down the road?



Some people seem to be unaware

That in their lives other people share

An act of kindness passes by

They don't notice and they don't try



They behave as if they are blind

To others’ needs and do not mind

But they lose out, make no mistake

These do not give, they only take



But they will never have the feeling

Of inner peace - that is so healing

An inner knowledge of doing well

Which others have no need to tell



Why not find out which one you are?

Actions speak louder than words - by far

‘Survival’ is built into every mind

But, it’s also true , all could be kind

Light of Chanuka
beautiful soul,
untainted,
innocent,
deepest wisdom within
yet simple and humble
its pure light
gently dispelling
all darkness and pain

Healing silence
Is one of acceptance
Receptive, open

Protective walls created
Preserving the light within
So that when finally brought forth
Its with wisdom and love

Your are invited in
Providing you knock gently
Prior to entering
As a guest
To be honored and respected
In the home of the host

Healing silence is not sullen
Its not self absorbed

This type of silence
Gives birth to words
Of deep wisdom
Light-filled letters
Warming and Illuminating
All entering
The sacred home of the heart

Essence of our bitter exile
Is our inability
To unite our Nation’s heart
As One
So we ask Him
“Please unite us a One”

A truly broken heart
Is whole
Complete
Broken up, releasing
Overflowing compassion
Love and unity
Bringing forth one’s true essence

Breakfast
Is God’s way of telling us
Enjoy your day
Make the most of each moment
Just as this food gives you
Energy and pleasure
Now go
And fill the Universe with the same

At the end of the day
My weary brain and tired body
Aches to rest

God’s grace gratefully remembered
Welcoming me at night
A comfortable bed, warm covers
Pillow softly caressing my head

Emotional peace, a warm wife
Soothing presence of a tired soul
Closing my eyes, My Creator
Holds me in an embrace
And slowely, gently,
Releases me into the dawn of a bright new day

Though night of darkness has its pain
It can also be a soothing
Kind friend
Rest for a tired soul
To sleep and meditate peacefully
In my night abode
So as to feel refreshed
For a new beginning
Of a new day of life

Just as a small seed
Planted in soft fertile earth
Can grow a beautiful tree
Of many leaves and fruits
So too, God plants
A seed of light
In our fertile minds
To sprout forth an abundance
Of healing light

I saw a quote today

"To a worm in horseradish,the world is horseradish"

and a world view of a person who lusts is very narrow ,and though to him it's his whole world,he is just simply stuck in his own horseradish

Nu, at least his sinuses are clear.

dov wrote on 08 Jan 2012 19:19:


yep,that's his comfort zone in the horseradish,his sinuses are clear.

Men have tried
Digging up treasures and wellsprings
From the depths of the earth
Since the beginning of time
Not realizing
That those special gifts he is seeking
Are within him all along

Light Notes # 10-Crying out to Hashem -Shemos 5772

Dear Friends,

The Mei Hashiloach puts forth a most powerful and encouraging concept before us. He says that the beginning of the salvation of Klall Yisroel was when they cried out to Hashem from the oppression they were suffering from. As soon as the Bnei Yisroel cried out, their pleas reached the heavens and caused the yeshuah to take hold 

Until then, the Bnei Yisroel couldn’t cry. That was the real crux of their Galus. Their heart couldn’t cry out. And when Hashem wanted to save them, He aroused them to cry before Him. That crying, or more precisely that feeling in their hearts to need to cry out to Hashem that was the spark and the beginning of their being saved. Before that time of crying out, a person does not fully feel his lack and his flaws. Once Hashem decides to save and help, that is when Hashem shows a person his flaws!!! The all powerful devastating realization of a person’s own inherent flaws, and that he cannot live with himself anymore, is precisely the sign from above that Hashem wishes to save him!!

Hashem put into this Yid’s heart a special awareness of his flaws and the heavy pain of being in such a state. Hashem sends him the power of prayer and supplication into his heart. When that point occurs, and the lost man or woman cries out to Hashem, that is when Hashem really begins to show His kindness to that person.To heal him or her from their emotional pain. Until that time, the heart was stuffed up, there was a denial, a blockage. That “terrible” rock bottom feeling that creates in a person the need to cry out. You can call that the worst moment in your life. But in reality it was prior to that when the worst occurred. Because that terrible rock bottom desperate feeling that compels a person to make those changes,that is already the beginning of the salvation


And so it is with Hashem chessed that you are all here. Whether “caught by others” or “caught by yourselves” ,when you hit that point when you can’t live with yourself the way you are anymore and ask Him for real to help and save you, it’s that bitterness about your matzav is Hashem’s way of telling you to call out to Him. He is telling you that He is ready to help you. The yeshus has begun. The self awareness, the mindfulness of your soul and how it has been dragged down to the depths, as terrible painful as that may be is actually the seed from where all salvation and healing will come.

In Mitzrayim it was a much tougher situation. Speech itself was in exile. It took this terrible affliction to open their hearts, but it need not be that way now. After leaving Mitzrayim, after receiving the Torah, we don’t need to wait for that arousal from Above. We can tell Him that we are ready to change even if that is not yet felt in the heart. We can ask Hashem to open our hearts to change. But  know that once we feel it, once we experience that terrible pain of coming face to face with yourself and your situation, that is when the real blessings take place. But we cant let that feeling just pass. We need to act upon it with prayer and a serious recovery program.

Sometimes a lost soul
Wanders deeply
Into an intricate complex maze
Of a deep dark forest
As he wanders off “aimlessly”
Feeling completely lost and abandoned
Not realizing
That this painful wandering
Had him reach a point
That is very close
To the great highway
Of the King’s Palace

It just happened on January 1st at the Yeshiva in Teaneck....

After the passing of the Mir Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel z"l,  R' Mordechai Grunwald, the executive director of Yeshivas Mir and close talmid of R' Nosson Tzvi, was asked to deliver a hesped at the Yeshiva Gedolah of Teaneck. Amongst many stories that he told about R' Nosson Tzvi, he related the following:

Approximately 15 years ago there was a family from New York who lost their father, a distinguished Talmid Chochom, and talmid of the Mir. Rav Nosson Tzvi had a particularly fond relationship with the deceased father and took it upon himself  to ensure that his orphans will have a fatherly figure to turn to and that they will receive proper chinuch. He told the children to correspond with him through letters and that they can ask him any question that they have on their minds or write to him about any issue they may encounter. R' Nosson Tzvi kept photos of these orphans in his pocket as a constant reminder of his "other" family.

The children took advantage of their surrogate father and would correspond with him about everything, even inconsequential . Rav Nosson Tzvi, with great difficulty due to his Parkinsons disease, would write a letter in response. This went on for many years until the boys grew up and came to Eretz Yisroel to learn in Yeshivos. R' Nosson Tzvi got the boys into various Yeshivos that catered to each one's uniqueness. Every Friday night, the boys could be found enjoying their Shabbos Seudah at the table of the Rosh Yeshiva. He kept his word towards those orphans for the rest of his life.

After R' Mordechai Grunwald completed the hesped, he was approached by one of the yungeleit of Yeshiva Gedolah of Teaneck. The yungeman said that, "The story about the orphans is an unbelievable one, but it doesn't end there...you see, there was a little 8 year old girl among those 4 orphan boys. Unlike her older brothers, that little girl didn't know how or what to write to R' Nosson Tzvi. After a while of not receiving any letters, she was saddened that she didn't have a close relationship with the Mir Rosh Yeshiva. That saddness was transformed when her mother handed her a letter from Yerushalayim addressed to her. She excitedly opened the letter and pulled out the paper inside.  It was a hand-drawn picture of a large heart shape with a loving message to her, signed by Rav Nosson Tzvi on the bottom. Since her father had passed away, she never felt so loved. That little girl was my wife and, to this day, she recalls how happy that letter made her feel."

notice that he didnt ask her how long her skirt was or how thick her stocking are,he adressed the person,not the clothing.