Few can change the world...

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, they are the only ones who ever have." Margaret Mead

This quote spoke to me. This is why I do Coaching. This is why I love Coaching women.
This is why EFT is so powerful. One to one. Each one taking that next step, whatever it is...
This is why Aliyah is important. This is why unity is important.
What do you think?

Another writer to enjoy!

Here's a wonderful read! I am always touched by the messages in his writing and look forward to the hearty laughter I enjoy from his humor.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208246584405&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Pesach Cleaning-Final stages!

"Cleaning the cabinets causes trouble and friction,
But if it wasn't for Pesach, we'd all be Egyptian"

Yet another reality check!

From an email from a friend

A nice find from Arutz 7

There are stones, and then there are stones.
There are hearts, and then there are hearts.
There are hearts that are stones,and then there are stones that are really hearts.
Anyone who has gone to Yerushalayim a few times will understand...

From Michael Berg, translated into English and posted as a comment
on a blog from Arutz 7.

Please write and share your thoughts on this one!
It made me smile.

Perspective

One thing being here in Israel provides is a keen sense of perspective.
There is nothing definite. All plans are subject to change, cancellation, etc. due to the security situation, or lack thereof.
Itineraries for tour groups read that all plans are subject to changes according to the situation of the day.
What this teaches is flexibility and prioritizing.
Traffic jams can be caused by suspicious objects which need to be checked out by police robot and then many times exploded at the scene. This can take hours.
At the same time, these things are understood and accepted as part of daily happenings.
The effect which this has had upon me is to create in me a very simple checklist of what is important to me. It goes something like this:
1) Everyone in my immediate and extended family is/are safe
2) Everyone healthy(general/overall)
3) Everything else is icing on the cake(there is nothing that can't be worked on with a little time and effort if the above two are fine)
So, for challenges in life which used to intimidate me or scare me as far as relationships and/or personal growth, it's generally all "small" stuff as the saying goes.
I have also developed a keen sense of gratitude for the "small" stuff, because #1 and #2 are
a blessing and not to be taken for granted.
Please write and share your stories of "learned flexibility and priorities" be they funny, sad, frustrating or otherwise.

Purim is a festive time here in Israel. Similarly to in the States, where holiday items are displayed and offered for sale a month before the holiday, here, the mood is ushered in weeks prior to the event.
So many stores have had all types of costumes, large and small, in every imaginable theme, available for some time now. The mood is heightened by the added music typical of the "season" piped out onto the streets around Jerusalem.
Today, though, began one of my favorite sites and the experience of one of my annual pleasures in living here. Today, many schools held what is commonly known as "shuk Purim".
This is a day when all the kids are encouraged to come dressed in their Purim costume to school.
There are generally no classes held. Rather, the kids participate in mini carnivals at their school.
They can play games, earn points, buy tickets to "cash" in for small prizes.
The children look very forward to this occasion all throughout the winter.
The other joy that I reap is to see the kids walking home in their Purim costumes.
This includes children from religious just as well as kids from non religious homes.
This is a national holiday. It is a day of unity and celebration of our survival, as a nation and now, on our own land.
My 15 year old went as a hippy with a few of my headscarves wrapped strategically around her in all colors. My boys went as a rescue worker for Magen David Adom--the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. And my littlest went as Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean.
I haven't yet decided if I will put on a special hat for the occasion.
I am though, partial to some of the very cute antennae which can be put on as a headband and stick up over the head--like rabbit ears or pink fuzzy balls, etc.
I did buy for a friend of mine though, a fake black hat with peyot attached(side locks)!
Will you dress up?
Purim Sameach!
Yehudit

One Big Family

Life in Israel, as a result of being such a small country, is often referred to as being part of one big extended family. That is, that just about anything which happens is felt by just about everyone. Yesterday while introducing my friend from the States to the Kotel for the first time, we go the news that an attack had occurred.
Naturally, concerned, we began to call family to find out who knew what.
Well, in the beginning the facts were a little unclear, but, it was clear that several boys had been murdered and that many had been wounded. It was clear that it was in a neighborhood where we know and interact with many people.
I felt it was important for me to post something about this as this is the an example of the heart of Israeli society and the Jewish heart. Just as being part of a large family we share in joyous moments, so too, we share in tragedies. While it is fun to share and explore the cultural differences between American and Israeli culture, the bottom line is, that when a Jew is killed, we have all lost a piece of ourselves. We may be separated by oceans, borders, cultures and time zones, but, we have all stood together at Sinai, and Auschwitz. These "incidences", in Buenos Aires, L.A., NYC, Sderot, Askelon, Tzfat, Ma'alot, Haifa or Jerusalem, it is about all of us.
This is a point which becomes crystal clear living here. No matter which country or tribe or minhag-Ashkenaz or Sephardi, we are all one. Please let's make every effort to strive to reach out to our fellow/sister Jew, on whatever level, in love and peace and brother/sisterhood and support one another to work together as one community/kehilla. As individuals let's make a concerted effort to do one extra miztva, a good deed, every day.
This is what we try to teach children when they are not getting along.
This is what G-d wants from us-unity, brotherhood and effort towards improving ourselves individually.
with best wishes and a heavy heart
Yehudit
Please write and share your experiences with these "incidences" so that we may all be joined together and grow from one another's strengths.