Chanukah Songs on 40th and 7th

I wonder if one would find, if he did a statistical study, that more Chanukah songs are song by people as they walk past the intersection pictured above than at any other intersection in the city?

Stories From the Zohar - Part 4! - Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Here is the next part in a series of articles on stories from the Zohar by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman. You can find the first article HERE.

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar
By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

4. LAYER UPON LAYER

How rich and effulgent with spices it must have been, the garden that King Solomon used to meander about and gather roses from (see Song of Songs 6:2). And one can only imagine how copious in texture and color his nut-garden must have been, too (see Ibid. 6:11). In any event, the Zohar tells us that one day Solomon “set out to penetrate the depths of the nut … so he took hold of one by its shell and began to contemplate its different layers” right there in the garden. He came to realize that “just as the nut itself is surrounded by many shells, so too is the world, with shells both above and below. For, from the beginning of the mystery of the Heavenly Point (all the way up, all the way) down to the lowest of degrees, each thing is subsumed in every other thing, and each serves as a shell to the other” (Zohar 1, 19b).

That’s to say that Solomon came to understand that each and every thing is encased in something else, which is encased in yet some other thing; and that the whole functions as a sort of puzzle within a puzzle which we often can’t solve. For, most of us stumble about and soldier-on doing what we must, never quite sure what’s overhead and what’s within.

We’re told for example that though he was a prophet and privy to all sorts of revelations, Ezekiel saw “a tempest coming from the north, (along with) a huge cloud and a flaming fire with a brightness over-covering it; and from its midst was like the color of the Chashmal (an untranslatable term) from the midst of the fire” (Ezekiel 1:4), one within the other. The Kabbalists tell us that that’s an esoteric depiction of the layers of our being, but at the time Ezekiel was so thunderstruck by the complexity of it all that he didn’t quite grasp what he’d seen for the moment.

Well, touching on this same theme (and we’ll see exactly how so later on), the Zohar presents us with a tale in which it’s recorded that Rabbi Yehudah was walking with Rabbi Abba when Rabbi Yehudah asked the following: “If G-d knew that Adam was destined to sin in His presence (by eating from the Tree of Knowledge) and that G-d would sentence him to death, then why did G-d (bother to) create Him?” (Zohar 3, 159 a-b). Good point!

Thinking Rabbi Yehudah had tread upon ground he shouldn’t have (understand that Rabbi Yehudah was a younger disciple at that point), Rabbi Abba rebuked him and said, “What need do you have to know the ways and decrees of your Master?” After all, he went on, “You can question what you’re permitted to question…”, but “you can’t question G-d’s ways and the supernal secrets that He has hidden away!”

But apparently that didn’t sit quite right with Rabbi Yehudah. In point of fact, he wasn’t the only sage to have wished to have the Great Curtains of Heaven opened for him but couldn’t. After all, none other than Moshe once asked G-d to grant him insight into His governance of the world but he received only an arcane answer (Menachot 29b).

It only stands to reason that Rabbi Abba would have been reticent to disclose a secret to him, though; for weren’t we warned that “the secret things belong to G-d our L-rd” (Deuteronomy 29:29) and not us? And isn’t it said in Sefer Yetzirah that when it comes to certain things that we’re to “stop (our) mouth from speaking and (our) heart from thinking” about them, and that if our heart “runs” there because we want to delve into it, that we’re to “return to the place” -- the subject at hand -- only intermittently and warily (1:8)?

And haven’t we also been cautioned not to “seek things that are too hard for you (to decipher), and not (to) search for things that are hidden (from you), and (only) to think about things you have been permitted to; (for) you have no business with secret things” (Chaggiga 13a)? Nonetheless, sometimes the soul yearns to know and the heart can’t live without insight, and that was apparently true of Rabbi Yehudah.

But Rabbi Abba continued to discourage him. “Who can know and grasp G-d’s hidden thoughts?” he remonstrated him. “Common people (like us) haven’t permission to speak of concealed things”; only people like “the Holy Luminary”, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei do, not us, he went on to say.

Nevertheless it seems that something had him change his mind. We don’t know what did it -- whether Rabbi Abba suddenly came to see that the younger Rabbi could be trusted with the secret; whether the mention of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei evoked his presence, and Rabbi Shimon himself allowed Rabbi Abba to go on, or something else -- but Rabbi Abba suddenly went on to reveal the following to Rabbi Yehudah and to us as well, his onlookers. It’s based on the famous verse, “And G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d did He create him” (Genesis 1:27) and it too speaks about our inner and outer layers, and of how interlaced they are.

“The Holy One, blessed be He, is hidden in the midst of three worlds”, he said quite curiously. “The first one is very lofty, it’s the most secret of them all… and it’s only known to Him, as He’s concealed in it. The second, which is connected to the first, is the one in which G-d can be known …. And the third, which is the lowest, is the world in which… the angels dwell, and where G-d Himself is (both) there and not there.” That means to say that “while He’s there now” to be sure, “He nonetheless leaves it once you start to reflect upon and grasp Him” and He escapes your grip.

Thus, if you want to find G-d you’d need to pass through three separate layers, one deeper than the next: first, past how He presents Himself in this world, where He’s knowable to us on some levels but not on others; second, past how He is when He dwells up high where He’s knowable to sages and prophets; and third, deep within the highest level, where He’s only known to Himself. The point is that all three levels are intertwined, to be sure, but finding G-d anywhere along the line is still and all a challenge.

Now, man, who is created in G-d’s image as we’d learned, is like that too; and this is Rabbi Abba’s point as well. For, man also occupies three “worlds”, if you will. The first is the one in which he is at once both “there and not there” -- that’s his physical existence, where he’s most manifest but where he doesn’t really belong at bottom. His “second world” which is “connected to the supernal worlds, is man’s (experience of the) … Garden of Eden” after he passes through this world. And his “third world” which is “supernal, mysterious, concealed, and hidden” is also “incomprehensible”, because it’s even beyond The Garden of Eden.

His point here is to illustrate that “all (below) is as it is above”, in that we too have our inner and outer realms, which are also intertwined. Thus, if you want to understand man you’d also need to pass through three separate layers, one deeper than the next: first, past how he presents himself in this world; second, past how he is when he dwells in the Garden of Eden after his passing; and third, deep within his being, where man’s essence is “supernal, mysterious, concealed, hidden” and “incomprehensible”. For uncovering one’s own makeup is also a challenge, since we too are comprised of layer upon layer of being over-covering our essence.

Having touched upon the Afterlife, and bringing the conversation back to where it had started (when Rabbi Yehudah asked why man must die), Rabbi Abba then makes the point that just as we were created in G-d’s image and thus are comprised of various layers of being, we’re likewise worthy of “a supernal inheritance” from our Father, immortality. For man “will never be annihilated but will enjoy (residence in) goodly, supernal, and precious worlds” after death, he assures us. In other words, Rabbi Abba is telling Rabbi Yehudah that though death is inevitable and daunting, it’s nevertheless purposeful and beneficial.

So we’re to “rejoice when the righteous depart from this world” rather than mourn. For the truth be known, “had man not sinned, he would never have tasted death”; but since he did, we must all “taste death before (we) enter the other worlds” we’d cited above. And on some level life and death are intertwined, too; as everything lies within everything else like shells upon shells.

© 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Help Win a Sheitel for a Woman who is an Agunah

My wife asked me, as a chessed opportunity, to post the following:

If you have a Facebook account you can do something that will help a fellow Jew, and it will take literally 10 seconds max!

An organization called Yaldeinu is running a contest where they are giving away a free sheitle (donated by Chaya's Precuts). There is a woman who has been an aguna for 8 years who runs her family solo. She works from early in the morning to late at night. My friend knows her and she can only afford a synthetic sheitle. Please help her win the free sheitle so she can feel like a mentch in a human hair sheitle
Like the following two links:

1. First like YALDENU:
2. Second like this link:

That is it! you are done!

If you know anyone who can help out also, please let them know.

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Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern at Lubavitcher Rebbe's Ohel w/MBD - Video

Courtesy of COLLive (many more pictures available there). HT Avi Feinberg.

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Tu B'Shvat Shiur with Rabbi Lazer Brody in Woodmere - 1/19 at 8:30 PM

On Wed Jan 19th at 8:30 pm in the home of Zahava and Seth Farbman (354 Eastwood Rd., Woodmere), there will be an uplifting TuBshvat celebration. Rabbi Lazer Brody, of Garden of Emuna and other inspiring books, will be speaking and Eitan Katz will be singing.

There is no charge, this is not a fundraiser.

Men and women are invited.

If anyone would like to speak to Rav Brody privately please email ZahavaF (at) aol.com and an appointement will be made.

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Bilvavi Update - Far Rockaway & Woodmere Shiurim Tonight NOT TAKING PLACE

UPDATE: The shiurim in the Aguda in Far Rockaway at 5:30 is CANCELLED and the 8 PM in Aish Kodesh in Woodmere tonight in major doubt. Updates forthcoming See below for the information.

5:30-6:15 PM
Agudath Israel of Long Island -
Far Rockaway, NY - 1121 Sage St.
Shiur on inyanei Shovavim

Woodmere, NY
8 PM - Monday night, December 27th at 8:00 PM.

Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
and Da Es Atzmecha seforim will be speaking in the Shul

The shiur is open to men and women.

The Rav speaks in an easy-to-understand Hebrew, and the topic of the shiur will
be Shovavim. We are looking for sponsorships for the shiur, which will be used to enable the publication of more of the Rav's seforim in both English
and Hebrew.

Please contact Benyomin Wolf at 212-715-9417, 516-668-6397, or benbenabe@aol.com to sponsor the shiur. Donations are tax deductable.

English and Hebrew seforim, as well as mp3 CDs will be available for sale at the shiur.

Picture courtesy of XYZ. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H in early January. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Reminder about Bilvavi Shovavim Seminar Today Flatbush - Snow Info

Reminder! Rav Shwartz's seminar in Flatbush is this afternoon and he's giving a shiur at 8 PM in Flatbush as well. See below for the information.

Snow: If you can't make it because of the weather, you can use the following dial-in code: 712-432-8773 - Access code: 613613#.

Flatbush - Cong. Sheves Achim - 1517 Ave. H (corner E. 16th, across from Q train - But on this particular Sunday, the Q does not stop there in either direction. One would have to get off at either Ave J or Newkirk, and walk about three blocks)

The shiurim will be at 12 PM, 1:15 PM, 2:30 PM.

There is a $20 suggested donation for admission and sponsorships are encouraged. Admission includes all three shiurim and a free mp3 CD of the Rav's drashos. Donations are tax deductable and all proceeds will go to enable the publication of more seforim in Hebrew and English.

English and Hebrew seforim and mp3 CDs will be on sale at the drashos at a discount.

Please contact Benyomin Wolf at 212-715-9417, 516-668-6397, or benbenabe@aol.com.

8 PM - Flatbush - 1601 Ave. P (Corner of 16th)

The Rav will be giving a shiur for men in an Israeli kollel, but others may attend as well.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Bilvavi Author Speaking in Flatbush, Far Rockaway, & Woodmere Next Sun/Mon.

Rav Itamar Shwartz will be in Flatbush, Far Rockaway, and Woodmere this coming Sunday and Monday, Dec. 26th & 27th. See below for the Schedule:

Sunday, Dec. 26th
Flatbush - Cong. Sheves Achim - 1517 Ave. H (corner E. 16th, across from Q train - But on this particular Sunday, the Q does not stop there in either direction. One would have to get off at either Ave J or Newkirk, and walk about three blocks)

Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh and Da Es Atzmecha seforim, will be giving a one day intensive seminar on Avodas Hashem in the winter Shovavim time. The shiurim will be at 12 PM, 1:15 PM, 2:30 PM.

There is a $20 suggested donation for admission and sponsorships are encouraged. Admission includes all three shiurim and a free mp3 CD of the Rav's drashos. Donations are tax deductable and all proceeds will go to enable the publication of more seforim in Hebrew and English.

English and Hebrew seforim and mp3 CDs will be on sale at the drashos at a discount.

It is preferred if you register in advance. Please CLICK HERE to register. The Rav is available to meet with people privately to discuss inyanim in Avodas Hashem after the Flatbush seminar by appointment only. Please contact Benyomin Wolf at 212-715-9417, 516-668-6397, or benbenabe@aol.com.

8 PM - Flatbush - 1601 Ave. P (Corner of 16th)

The Rav will be giving a shiur for men in an Israeli kollel, but others may attend as well.

Monday, Dec. 27th

Far Rockaway, NY - White Shul library - 728 Empire Ave
8:45-9:15 AM

The shiur is after the 7:30 minyan and before the 9:30 minyan

The shiur will take place in the White Shul's library and will be a va'ad on inyanei Shovavim.

5:30-6:15 PM

Agudath Israel of Long Island -

Far Rockaway, NY - 1121 Sage St.

Shiur on inyanei Shovavim

Woodmere, NY
8 PM - Monday night, December 27th at 8:00 PM.

Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
and Da Es Atzmecha seforim will be speaking in the Shul

The shiur is open to men and women.

The Rav speaks in an easy-to-understand Hebrew, and the topic of the shiur will
be Shovavim. We are looking for sponsorships for the shiur, which will be used to enable the publication of more of the Rav's seforim in both English
and Hebrew.

Please contact Benyomin Wolf at 212-715-9417, 516-668-6397, or benbenabe@aol.com to sponsor the shiur. Donations are tax deductable.

English and Hebrew seforim, as well as mp3 CDs will be available for sale at the shiur.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Blackberry Message from G-d

It is an exciting moment when my Blackberry buzzes. I am about to
discover what Hashem wants me to do next.

Chasdei hashem!

The Solution for Sanity: Compartmentalize or Connect?

While I knew about it intellectually, I emotionally underestimated the hours and stressfulness of "biglaw." Unfortunately, that stress does not limit itself to the hours I spend in the office. It is affecting my Shabbos and my weekend (non-working) time with the family and this is the most discouraging part.

Background: I operate under the assumption that the extent that the peacefulness that I feel is directly correlated with the extent to which I have internalized the reality of the presence and providence of Hashem.

My first take on how to prevent the stresses of work from invading my personal and spiritual life was to resolve to keep thoughts and feelings related to work in the office, and to leave them there. That would be essentially compartmentalizing my life into a "work" box on one hand and a "personal/spiritual" box on the other hand.

The first problem with this approach is that it is, in my view, one of the major factors underlying a great deal of dishonesty in business, chillul Hashem, and inappropriate speech and socializing by religious people.

My second realization was that it is also not the goal. The goal is to go from a place where one is bringing one's work into his spiritual life to a place where he brings his spiritual life into his work life. This has nothing to do with talking to others about G-d. Rather, it means I must bring my awareness of Hashem from the beis medresh to the office. This unification and connection is the goal of our creation in this world. It is also the way to naturally transform the stress felt in the office into the same peace I sometimes feel which is connected to an awareness of G-d. Compartmentalizing life to stay sane is not the answer.

May you and I be zoche to expand our conscious awareness of Hashem's existence and providence into the most worldly aspects of our lives!

Stories from the Zohar - Part 3 - Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Here is the next part in a series of articles on stories from the Zohar by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman. You can find the first article HERE.

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar
By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

3. CREATION

Arguably the best known sentence in all of world literature is this: “In the beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1), which sets in motion the laying-out of just how G-d created the cosmos. But what does it mean that “G-d created Heaven and Earth”? How did He do that?

Well, according to the Zohar it come to this: “When the King’s Will began to manifest itself, a Firm Spark made an engraving within the Supernal Light that emanated from The Most Concealed and within the mystery of The Infinite One. (That Firm Spark) assumed a Formless Form which was then placed within a circle that was neither white nor black nor red nor green, nor any color at all. And when (that Firm Spark) began to assume size and dimension, it then created radiant colors (Zohar 1, 15a).

Very well, but then what does that mean? The Kabbalists have their explanations, to be sure, but since our task here is to simply catch sight of the wondrous ways the Zohar expresses its truths in all their glory, we won’t offer those explanations.

Before we present a number of other Zohar depictions of creation, though, let’s see the mysterious ways that other early sages depicted creation without recourse to the Zohar’s imagery.

But let’s make a couple of things clear. First off, that when the Zohar and other traditional sources speak about the creation of “the world” they aren’t simply referring to the formation of planet Earth, or even of our galaxy or the entire universe. They’re addressing the creation of reality itself, its known and unknown parts, its physicality and non-physicality: that’s to say the formation of everything other than G-d Himself! And second, let’s underscore the fact that none of this is meant to be taken literally to be sure; it’s all a process of depicting the undecipherable and of laying out the unfathomable.

As such, we’re taught for example that seven things were created before the rest of reality came into being: the primordial Torah, repentance, the Divine Throne, The Garden of Eden, Gehenom, the primordial Holy Temple, and the name of the Moshiach (Pesachim 54a). And interestingly enough, we’re also taught that G-d actually created whole other forms of reality we can’t even imagine -- more than a thousand of them in fact (Zohar Chadash 9a)-- before He created this one which He then rejected (Breishit Rabbah 3:7, 9:2; Kohelet Rabbah 3:11).

Our sages referred to some strange amorphous “primal stuff” from which the world was created, including unknowable forms of “fire”, “water”, and “wind” (Shemot Rabbah 15:22); of “light”, “darkness”, “chaos”, “the void”, and “the deep” (Pirkei d’Rebbi Eliezer 3); and of “water within water” which then turned to “snow” before turning to “earth” (J. T. Chaggiga 2).

And we’re taught that a number of other non-material things played a role in creation, including the twenty-two letters of the primordial Aleph-Bet (Midrash Konen 23-24) which were then arranged into three orders (see Ch. 3 of Sefer Yetzirah), the original Ten Utterances (Pirkei Avot 5:1), and Wisdom (see Proverbs 8:22-29),

But wait a minute, now -- haven’t we been taught that G-d created the world ex nihilo -- out of sheer nothingness? Yes indeed, and the Zohar (as well as many other sources) says as much when it declares that “when the Holy One, blessed be He, created His worlds, He created them out of nothingness” (Zohar Chadash, Breishit 17b). But as it makes the point elsewhere, that the “nothingness” or “non-materialness” spoken of here refers to “a single hidden light out of which all revealed lights emerged and shone” and from which everything else was formed (Zohar 1, 156b). The point is that the series of attenuating lights of “nothingness” all morphed into the universe, and each sage described the process his own way (based on his own insights as well as on his generation’s stature).

Let’s explore another series of fascinating statements found in Tractate Chagigah (12a) before we return to the Zohar’s revelations.

We’re told there that the world was created by means of ten things: “wisdom, understanding, reason, strength, rebuke, might, righteousness, judgment, loving-kindness, and compassion”. (Students of Kabbalah would easily catch reference to the Ten Sephirot here, but once again, that’s not our area of concentration.) And we’re also taught there that the world is founded upon “pillars” (either one alone, or either seven or twelve in all), which stand upon “the waters”, which stand upon “mountains”, which stand upon “the winds”, which stand upon “the storm”, all of which are “suspended on the arm of the Holy One, blessed be He”.
So let’s now return to the Zohar and see how it differs.

“Come and see!” we’re adjured, that “when it arose in The Holy One’s Mind, blessed be He, to create the universe, He brought forth a Single Flame from a Black Spark which brought about spark after spark . It then darkened and came aflame. And The Holy One, blessed be He, then brought about a Single Drop from the recesses of the Deep, and joined them together in order to create the universe” (Zohar 1, 86b).

But at one point at another depiction of creation, the Zohar likens the world to a “house” that sits “at the very center of all there is” and is surrounded by “hidden holy places where the birds of Heaven build nests” upon “a huge and mighty tree” which “ascends up to the clouds of Heaven”. This “house” which is “nourished and watered by the tree” somehow or another “conceals innumerable heavenly and secret treasures”. At certain points every single day, the Zohar seems to be saying, “when darkness sets in” -- that is, when all is studded with mystery and rich wonder -- “spirits flit about in the air trying to enter … it because they’re curious about what’s in it”, this world (Zohar 1, 172a).

The point seems to be that though reality was formed in all sorts of G-dly ways, at bottom it’s a single, solitary house lying deep in the fold’s of G-d’s bosom, if you will, with life abounding, secrets yet to be deciphered, and wonders yet to be unearthed. If you, too, are “curious about it” like the spirits who revel in its secret messages, you’ll also catch sight of the “Firm Spark”, the “Formless Form”, and the “Single Flame (that emits) from a Black Spark”. And you too will know that G-d Almighty alone is behind it all, fashioning the “house” and residing smack dab in the middle of it.

(c) 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Great New Chanukah Videos

The Maccabeats: Candlelight

Yosef & Leah Urso: Eight Candles Burning - It tells the story of how he became religious through four chabadskers in a Menorah-mobile. The fiddle player here, Leah Urso, is from my hometown back in Dixie!


You can see another video of them playing Jewish country music in their song, Hashem is Gonna Do it Again here:

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Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Rav Mottel Zilber Speaking in Woodmere Tonight at 8

Rav Mottel Zilber will be speaking Sunday (today) at 8:00pm in Woodmere. 1104 Westwood Rd. Hewlett NY 11557

Dixe Yid hopes to be there!

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Benyomin, the Son of Suffering/Kindness

In this week's parsha (Bereishis 35:17), Rochel is having a very difficult time with the birth, and is about to die, and her midwife comforts her by saying, "Don't be afraid. You are having another son."

Perhaps this means that when we go through things that are hard, which can cause worry and fear, that we should not be afraid. On the contrary, we should not worry because even if we suffer in the process, it is all good because some great result is going to come from the process.

Rochel took this teaching to heart too, because in the next pasuk (35:18), Rochel named the son Ben Oni, child of my suffering. Contrary to the common view that Rochel's choice of name was a mournful or self-pitying name, to show others that a great result like this child is the product of suffering, so they should not be afraid either.

But Yaakov names him "Benyomin" instead, to teach that there is an even higher level of consciousness. Benyomin means "son of the right side," which relates to chesed, kindness. He wanted to show that the suffering necessarily produces so much good, so it cannot really be called suffering, oni. Rather, it should be looked at as all chesed, kindness. The suffering itself should be perceived for its true essence, which is kindness rather than as pain.

Benyomin's life essence\name therefore represented the fact that suffering is actually a favor to us and that the ultimate result of the whole process is immeasurably great.

Life is Like Microsoft Word

I have thank G-d that He created an "Edit, Undo" feature in His app called Life.