Not Me

Other people are not me
And they are under no obligation to be
Yet they are part of G-d just like me
And so to respect them is to respect me and G-d you see
To want and desire to understand another
Is to empower ourselves and each other
To insist that others should be as me
Is to ignore the parts and miss the whole
Limiting my part of G-d ,my soul
Preventing me from my fuller life my Divine role
So every day I endeavor to go beyond me
And taste a little more of what it is to be Divinely free

Wanting To Connect

In wanting to connect with a loved one more

So much that it reaches your core

But you find their actions overflowing with distaste

So forward you go and you back off in haste

Torn inside, misguided on the outside

You think you have good intent

Yet others your actions start to resent

And the distance between causes you to lament

You start to accept that change has to come from you

For you value the relationship more than any issue

So with honest resolve and belated humility

You know that to do what you need you have the ability

So suddenly you see the person as more than before

A whole made of different parts with so much in store

On their own path with Divine value to add

So no matter what just like you they cannot ever be all bad

Love from above

Israel,when I came to you I fell in love.

I immediately knew your beauty was from above.

To extol your praises where do I start
For so full and overflowing is my heart

You are my only home no matter where I was born
To be away from you would mean to be torn

As walking on this land that is you
Tradition and nation feel Divinely true

To live in the land where G-d never looks away
Is heart and soul where I want to stay

Love yourself

Love yourself you are worth the time
Love yourself you were made Divine
Love yourself the world needs your shine
So stop dwelling on what you feel is not fine
Because no matter what you never lose your Divine design
Love yourself you have a whole world inside
That is only camouflaged by your pride
Love yourself and get past the divide
So you can find so much more of you on the other side
Let yourself free to really and truly be
That is when it's okay for me to be me
Then your beauty and greatness within
Comes out with passion , and thats no sin
So love yourself you are worth the time
Don't cheat yourself and don't stay blue
For the world was created for you to be you

There is always a diamond

There is always a diamond even if you only see the rough

If there it stays no matter how tough

It will never be enough

For no diamond is going to shine when covered in grime

So if you want the value you are going to have to put in the time

To discover , dig , and get it out

To shape it and shine it then you find what it's about

The diamond was always a diamond even when underground

But if all you see is the ground the rough , the muck

You will never look for the diamond and will always be stuck

If the diamond is in your mind it is the diamond you will find

Seeing past the ground, seeing the abundance that will abound

You are the diamond no matter how tough the rough

Keep that in focus , do the work and you will shine that's no bluff

Me

Everyone has a song for what is going wrong

Sadly those seem to be so very long

Keeping them in a tunnel that leads to night

As it is more comfortable to wallow in that sight

It takes so much energy to knock down that wall of pride

That you turn around and run to hide

But maybe when we learn to see some light

Whether a flicker or shining bright

We change our song to what is going right

No matter how small , no matter our plight

For we like to feel that to life and us there is more

With hope and joy for what could be in store

That wall of pride is knocked down in our stride

And out we come from life's wrong side

Choosing to see all that can be

For G-d's greatest gift is giving me to me

The You That Has More

If you think you have gone as high as you are going to go

That is testimony most lucid that there is much you do not know

For is it not hubris beyond compare to maintain there is no higher me?

For no one has the fullest picture of whom they can truly be

If you decide that your life has reached it's ceiling

You have drained it of any continued meaning

For how can you matter if for you, more life does not matter

Open your heart and forget not to be humble
No matter the journey , no matter your stumble

For folly it is to assume full knowledge of that that which you did not create

So you stand willing , wanting and thirsting at possibility's gate

At the ready to learn and welcome the you that has more

As always with excitement to see what else is in store

How do I find joy

How do I find joy in life
When all I see and feel is strife
Wherever I turn wrong seems rife
And regret has the cut of a searing knife
For some reason eventually I take pause
And it dawns on me that maybe I am the cause
Of what I choose to see and where I stand
So despite any strife I let my vision expand
To include what goes right ,what is magnificent and grand
I then busy myself with thank you so I have no time for why me
It suddenly becomes possible for me to authentically be
I choose better over bitter so that good is what I feel
then enduring joy no matter how big or small become totally real

True Courage

True courage is also when the going is good Taking an honest look at what is under the hood
You get more miles when you care & maintain
Getting rid of the camouflage,seeing what is plain

Because when you treat a car as it if it were a plane
You go through the pain but you find no gain

When you get that no matter what it is you,you must face
And build a willingness to do what you need to change and replace

It will all start to be more authentic and real
And your true courage and greatness you will start to feel

Life no matter your age,situation or circumstance
Will then reveal it's true tune and most enjoyable dance

Shine Divine

Hashem you give me this moment,It's mine
To give it my all and release my shine

So I let go of needless distraction
Which gives me no meaningful traction

I look for the wonder no matter how small
Knowing that I am taller than any wall

Because this moment is truly a gift
I will do what I need to make the shift

Finding myself standing strong in a light
That seems so much brighter because I am willing to fight

To take this moment to it's unlimited peak
Revealing that it has so much more than I seek

So I open myself up to all I can receive
For now I am truly willing to believe

That in my every choice
Lies the opportunity to find my true voice

I decide in this moment to realign
And to never give in or resign

For mine is a beautiful and unique design
With all of me in every moment shines Divine

Each day

When you choose to see each day as a gift

You can't help but let the blessing give you a lift

Even when you are feeling down
You find a smile ,your upside down frown

As you know that where you send your mind
Is the world around that you will find

Sometimes you just get so full of fear
But with gratitude you know miracles are near

So you decide never to give up hope
And you carry on climbing even a slippery the slope

The day may be full of apprehension
So you give it all over to G-d's attention

You do your best ,doing what you must
But there is a time that you just have to Trust

So with each new day that has come your way
Fill yourself with gratitude and don't astray

So that you remember that you are worth the fight
Because the world is in need of your authentic light

The Land Woke Up

Israel was a land that was mostly sand

On which many for centuries dreamed to stand

It's vitality in hiding , milk and honey not flowing

For Israel without it's people had not much for the showing

The people began to recant and return

And the Land woke up and felt it's turn

Much sand receded giving way to redeeming green

Flowers , fruit and trees began to be seen

Beauty & potential aplenty still lie beneath the land & within the nation

Challenges abound with much work and anticipation

For 2000 years as individuals with not much more than a dream

Getting a nation to understand they are one takes time but we remain keen

I am here

Israel is alive as long as I am here

For to wander no matter how long,is neither here nor there

Israel is vibrant through my simple life

No matter the attempts to augment national strife

In Israel the routine of going to the store

Ignites history making it so much more

Travelling to Jerusalem transcends what in my heart I will

For that seemingly mundane journey is a prophecy I fulfill

In Israel to live you cannot replace

As only here can our nation find it's true face

All that we aspire

Israel is a Land that stands alone

In it's unique ,sublime,transcendent zone

Found in the limits of time but also above

For no matter those who attempt to destroy and shove

Israel survives because of G-d's enduring love.

So many in Israel try to be like any other nation

Missing the secret to meaningful elevation

They try to fit in and in many ways assimilate

In a feeble attempt to avoid some fearsome fate

For only those who are ignorant of their unmatched value

Will look elsewhere with envy and ask "What have you?"

Only as a nation in Israel when we learn to unite and each other inspire.

Will we be a light unto the nations and achieve all that we aspire

Sublime of Heart( Mina Leah)

What will I do without your light
That warms the darkest night

Whom do I find so devoid of anything negative and full of care?
That exudes such a love from a heart beyond compare

I sit in solitude , the memories flood in , taking me oh so far
Whisking me away to a world where you still are

For a second I think, I wish I could stay
For then you would never have to go away

I find some joy in the many tears that flow
For they are testimony to our the deep connection that I was always proud to show

I will meet you every day in my thoughts, deeds and speech

Endeavoring daily to cherish, live and pass on the magnificent example that you us all did teach

Most of all you will live in my heart
For from you I cannot bear to be apart

And so my Gran so good and sublime of heart

this is not the end but a most meaningful start

Mina Leah

Mina Leah, a lady of quality & grace

No matter what she may have to face

So loving , caring, giving and kind

Even when challenged and in a bind

Thinking about others never wanting to be a bother

A light so bright and beautiful like no other

You opened your home with angelic pleasure

Where all & sundry felt a warmth so much more than a treasure

Always caring and full of concern

Looking to help always asking when is it my turn

A hug from you so thorough and whole

As it is from the depths of such a magnificent soul

With amazing love you massaged your grandchildren's feet

they so looked forward to that joyous bedtime meet

Family was paramount yet you found time to volunteer

For so much was your love without match or peer

To write about you one can never truly stop

For all who meet you always land up feeling on top

"Without gratitude what is life"

Without gratitude what is life ?

Good is blurred with the cataract of strife

All that is seen gives reason to complain

So what sits at the forefront is discomfort and pain

Life seems like nothing but dark tunnel vision

With each day making it"s debilitating incision

But the moment we choose to see life as a gift

Everything that was begins to shift

Expectation transforms into appreciation

The blessing of a new day ,a reason for elation

When it hits home that nothing is a foregone conclusion

We start to see the difference between enduring joy and illusion

The smallest things in life revealed as huge

Blessing and miracles become a daily deluge

For they were always around for us to see

As soon as we allowed gratitude to set us free.

Israel-no longer a dream

Israel today no longer a dream

All Exile is ,is blowing off steam

For 2000 years there was many a scream

As in the Desert G-d's word was taken bad

So the children of Israel didn't see what they had

It has taken too long for our eyes to see

That in Israel we belong to truly be free

So time for the dream to go upstream

And Israel to continually be more than they seem

Time for us to stand as one man one heart

Understanding that the best is yet to start

Never forget( remembering the 6 million)

So many of you died on the pyres of world hate

In the nazi darkness because the world did no more than wait

By the time the nations awoke for you it was too late

We cannot forgive them for closing their gate

Clear is the lesson that Jews have no friend

As always with the Jew do their morals bend

From the fires of destruction we built a state

That said no more to other nations dictating our fate

A state that has always known trouble and battle

For it irks the world that we are no longer cattle

But a nation eternal that against all prediction

Survives all the giants who wished her eviction

We will never forget those millions we lost

how tragic and terrible the horrific cost

We will live as a nation eternal standing tall with pride

For our enemies now know it is they that should hide

I am not Breslev, Chabad or Dati Leumi

I continue the tradition of Avraham HaIvri

I am not Belz , Vishnitz, Gur or Satmar

I choose "One man as One Heart" at the foot of the Har

I am not Litivish , Yeshivish,Chardal or Chareidi

I keep it simple and clear leaving no one as a maybe

I am not Modern Orthodox or Open Orthodox

I choose our Traditions Eternal , not the trends ,not even the lox

I am not traditional or secular or free for all

I choose purpose and meaning a reason to stand tall

I am just a Jew with Torah as my light

Leaving G-d to decide when and how others light will shine bright

See the Jew always and not the label

Then maybe Redemption will come willing and able