Aron’s posterous

Leadership responsibility.

A leader is meant to be responsible.  A leader is meant to be accountable. 

Where are our leaders? Who are our leaders? Are you a leader?

Was Alan Greenspan responsible when he enabled rampant borrowing and widespread leveraging?  Did he take accountability for his mistakes? I think not.

Financial managers.  Were they responsible in giving loans at variable interest rates to people who wouldn't be able to afford to pay up? Are they accountable or is it the people that are bearing accountability? I think ... the people.

A father of a family.  Was he responsible for taking out loans that he didn't fully understand? I think not.  Does he hold himself accountable or does he pass the blame? Pass the blame.

In todays Chumash, "When a leader sins...he shall bring an offering".  The term used is אשר, much like אשרי meaning, "fortunate".  Fortunate is the generation in which the leader admits to his sin and brings an offering for it.

Fortunate is the generation whose leader takes responsibility for his sins.  Fortunate is the generation whose leader admits a mistake and holds himself accountable.  Fortunate is the generation where the leadership can take the blame.

You are a leader of your own generation.  When you make a mistake, take responsibility.

(Your generation are your actions.  The actions you generate!) 

Good Shabbos.

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People do business every day.  Business is something which consumes our time, energy, and focus. 

Inevitably we try to come up with tricks and tactics with which to cut corners, lower costs and increase our profit margins.  Sometimes ... at the expense of others.

Make sure you are honest in your business dealings.  Brutally honest.  In the hubbub of our business dealing we may 'accidentally'  commit an act of stealing.  Even if it may be a small, seemingly trivial act.

Hashem doesn't accept Tzedoko from that which has a hint of theft.

Animals and birds were both brought to the Altar as a sacrifice.  The stomachs of the animals were accepted as part of the offering and were burnt with the rest of the animal.  The stomachs of the bird, however, were not accepted as an offering and were discarded to the side.  Why the difference?

Birds fly.  They are difficult to impose restraints on.  Animals don't fly.  They are easier to restrain. 

As birds journey from place to place they may sometimes feed off of private property, thus containing a trace of theft in their stomachs.  Animals are less mobile and thereby less prone to feeding off of private property.  The birds stomachs were cast aside, the animals were accepted.

Hashem accepts something 100% clean.  100% legit.  Not even a trace of trickery allowed.

Are you being one hundred percent honest in your business dealings?

     

Click here to download:

Animals_Birds_Honesty._--_A_Pa.zip (10 KB)

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"I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one."  - Mark Twain

Opportunities come and go - quickly.  You either capitalize on them or they slip past. 

Taking advantage of opportunities demands alacrity and vigilance.  It demands keeping your eyes open.  It demands being alert and perhaps most of all being prepared to capitalize when they do come your way.

This past Sunday, I went shopping with my wife for diapers.  It was an eye opening experience.  I found two rather surprising things.

(1)  There were two of the exact same pair of diapers for the exact same price.  However, One packet had 94 diapers and the other had 98.  94 diapers = 150 R. 98 diapers = 150R.  Go figure!

(2) The same exact diapers one of them said "Jumbo pack" and had coins on it, giving the impression that they were cheaper.  The other one was a regular pack, turns out that the "Jumbo pack" is 15% more expensive than the regular one.

All of this on the exact same shelf. Vigilant people surely would have taken the opportunity to buy the cheaper ones. 

In this weeks Parsha, the Jewish people took advantage of the desert fundraising event, they gave money very quickly.  They gave the money so quickly that the leaders who were watching in, didn't have anything left to give.  They didn't take advantage of the opportunity.

When a Mitzva comes your way, don't pass up the opportunity.

Keep your eyes open for the next opportunity to do something good. 

     

Click here to download:

Opportunity..zip (9 KB)

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Livelihood.

The first few days of breast feeding are the most difficult.  Mother and child are just getting acquainted with each other.  Baby is still trying to figure out how to latch.  Mother's breasts are not used to milk flowing through them.  Mother's nipples are sore from baby latching.  Those first few days are demanding.  "All beginnings are difficult." This is one of those beginnings.

In those first few days, I remember Baby getting herself all worked up because she was hungry and wanted milk.  She got herself so worked up that she wasn't able to latch properly and the milk was unable to flow.  All she had to do was relax and the milk would start to flow and she would get her grub.

G-d is the mother.  We are all little babies.  Milk is money.  When our 'milk' is not coming we work ourselves up.  We get all tense and start screaming at everyone in our vicinity.  Sometimes all you may really need to do is relax and the 'milk' will come.  G-d wants to give you milk but if all you do is scream and shout all you do is cut off the milk from flowing to you.

Just relax.  Mommy wants to give you your milk.  Just relax.  G-d wants to give you your 'milk'.

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Order is the structure for the house of G-d.  Order is your infrastructure for a productive life.

ABCDEFG.  That is order.  DFGACEB.  What is that?

The structure of the Mishkan was made out of beams.  In Hebrew the word for beams is קרש, Keresh.  You will notice that those three letters follow each other in the Hebrew Aleph-Bet.  (Like abc)  Order is the structure for the house of G-d.

If you switch the letters around and introduce chaos, you land up with שקר, which means a lie.  A lie is unsustainable.  Disorder is unsustainable.

If you bring order into your life you will have provided the very beams for a sturdy house.  If you bring chaos into your house you have a house teetering on destruction.

Your choice.

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Recently I finished reading a couple of Holocaust stories.  Stories of courage and hope.  Stories with characters who rose above the pettiness of humanity as I know it.

A mere  67 years ago, people couldn't afford to be petty.  They couldn't afford to quibble over whether this dress matched that top.  They couldn't afford to worry if they had to write down all of their assets. (Yes all of their assets, not some of their assets.)  They focused on life itself.

Humanity at that time was focused on survival.  They were focused on something so precious as life itself. 

Let us focus on something greater than our petty little losses.  Let us focus on something greater than our petty little quibbles.  Let us focus on making this world a better place.  A more loving place.  A haven for future generations. 

Let us bring light with one good idea at a time.  Let us bring light with one good word at a time.  Let us bring light with one good action at a time.

Stop the pettiness.  Bring light.

(Bring a smile to someones face today, that is light.)

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WYSI not WYG (For the less tech savvy amongst us  --  "What you see is not what you get")

Life frequently throws curve balls at us.  Just as we think things hunky dory, a wrench comes hurtling our way.  We get dealt a difficult lot.  Our threshold is pushed to its limit.  Life is tough.

My Purim message is ... "What you see is NOT what you get!" Things in life are not as they appear to be.  You frequently expect one result and an entirely different result shows up. 

A dark cloud hung over the heads of the Jewish people for a year.  They were faced with the threat of annihilation.  Haman (the evil character in the story) had managed to secure an edict of wiping the Jews off the face of planet Earth.  (Even something Hitler never managed to do.)

WYSI not WYG

In a small period of time the situation was reversed.  Haman and his sons were hung, the enemies of the Jews were killed and the joyous festival of Purim was set up.

My wife wanted to have a natural delivery.  Deep into her labor the midwife told us that she must have an emergency Caesar.  My knee jerk reaction was one of apprehension.  I really did not want her to have to go through a Caesarian.  WYSINUG!  Turns out after going through the Caesar, the umbilical cord was wrapped around the babys neck.  The Caesar averted an almost tragic outcome.

Next time you are dealt a curveball, just remember WYSI NOT WYG.  Things are frequently not as they appear to be.

Has your banker closed your credit facility? Have you just been laid off? Are your kids following the path of the straight and narrow?

Open yourself to life's possibilities.  In G-d we trust. Do you?!

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After a few days of just dealing with the baby, I finally got a chance to peep my head out of the water and write this post.

With great thanks to the "One Above", on the 9th day of Adar we named our beautiful little daughter, Rivka Shaina.

Joy is greater than sorrow, and happiness prevails over sadness. 
After having received all of the Mazel Tovs and good wishes from people I have come to the realization that people enjoy sharing in peoples Simchas.  (It definitely beats sharing in their difficult times) Hence I would like to share with you the meaning behind our little bubeles name, Rivka Shaina.

Facts first.  Explanation to follow.

Facts:
Name: Rivka Shaina.
* Rivka Shaina was born on the 7th day of Adar --- Moshe Rabbeinu was born on the 7th day of Adar.
* Rivka Shaina was named on the 9th day of Adar --- The Friediker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, landed on the shores of America on the 9th day of Adar.
* Rivka Shaina was born in the month of Adar --- Adar is a festive month, highlighted by the holiday of Purim.
* Rivka Holtzberg, was murdered recently Al Kiddush Hashem in Mumbai whilst serving as an emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.


Principle:
Our matriarch Rivka was a rose amongst the thorns.  She brought light to a dark place.  Our Rivka born on ז' אדר, named on ט' אדר, in the month of Adar.  May she, please G-d, only bring light into the world.

Explanation:

Matriarch Rivka:
She was born into the house of Betuel.  Her brother was none other than "Laban the Trickster".  Upon her it is said, Rivka is the "Rose amongst the thorns."  Her family was a thorny family and she was the rose amongst them.  Her job was to bring light unto thorny places, thorny environments, and thorny people.

Moshe Rabbeinu:
(A) Led the Jewish people out of Egypt.
(B) Gave the Jewish nation the Torah. 
(C) A Gematria.

(A) Egypt was a thorny situation for the Jewish people.  They were enslaved for 210 years, anxiously awaiting their redemption.  Moshe led them out of the darkness and freed the people from their tough lot.

(B) The purpose of the Torah is to bring light to the world.  In Hebrew the word for world is עולם, which shares a common root of העלם, meaning concealment.  In Hebrew the word תורה shares a common root with אור.  So Moshe gave us the Torah to bring light into a concealed world.

(C) משה -- is the numerical value of 345.  שיינא -- is the numerical value of 371.  371-345 is 26, which the numerical value of Hashem's name.

The Friediker Rebbe came to America on ט'אדר: 
(A) Judaism in America was undergoing a grave situation. Assimilation was on the rise, religious observance was going out the door.  Rabbi Y.Y. Schneerson's emphasized reaching out to lost Jews. With that the tide of assimilation was stemmed. (At least to a degree.)  He brought light to a dark period.

(B) The Friediker Rebbe had three daughters.  The youngest one's name was Shaina.

Adar:
In the month of Adar we celebrate the festive holiday of Purim.  Purim was a time when dark clouds loomed over the heads of the Jewish people.  The situation was completely reversed and the Jewish nation was saved.  Light was brought to a dark situation.  A festive holiday was born.  A rose was born amongst the thorns. 

Rivka Holtzberg:
Left the comfort of her home to bring light to a place swarming with idol worship.  In a place teeming with spirituality but deprived of all G-dliness, she gave her life to spread the word of G-d and bring her people back to their fold.

Shaina:
Boruch Hashem, she is just a beautiful little girl, so we just decided to call her Shaina.

There are a bunch of other reasons, probably greatest of which is the divine providence given to parents whilst naming their child.  If you come up with any other nice one, give a shout in the comments.  Some Gematriot would be nice. 

I would like to thank everyone once again for all of their warm wishes.  I have attached pictures.

               

Click here to download:

Rivka_Shaina..zip (4597 KB)

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I am a little olive.  They squeeze me for my oil.  They use my oil to make light.

Imagine yourself as a little olive, living a peaceful life on the olive tree.  You receive ample sunshine, sufficient rain, and all other ingredients necessary for you to grow.  Your every need is taken care of.  You don't have a worry in the world.

All of a sudden you are plucked from the tree and squeezed.  You are squeezed so hard that you think the end is nigh. No longer can you bask in the warm desert sun.  No longer can you soak in the raindrops' nutrients.   Your life has come to an abrupt end. Or so you think.

Once squeezed you now take the form of olive oil.  You are poured into a Chanukah candle and used to bring light into the world.   Your status has now changed, drastically.  You have gone from being a receiver, to being a giver.  You have left the world of taking for the world of giving.  You no longer take nutrients, but rather give light.   You realize that this is the beginning.

Shira, my dear wife, went into labor at 2 o'clock this morning.  After a full day of 'arduous squeezing' at 19:20 we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl.  A beautiful soul with which to bring light to the world.

When stretched to your limit, realize, that from there may come the greatest light.

I would like to extend a hearty thanks for all of the warm Mazel Tov wishes! May we only share simchas.

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Where will you be sorely missed? If you just pick up and leave, what will people miss about you?

A parents' love is always missed.  The absence of an affectionate touch is always felt.  Deeply.

I have a very close friend who lost their father, some time ago, in the middle of Sukkot.  On Yom Tov, a couple of days later, when all of the children went under their Fathers' Tallis he no longer had a father to whom he could go under his Tallis.  I remember him breaking out in tears.  

A fathers' embrace was gone.  A loving touch had departed.  A part of his experience had been torn from his heart.

Going under his fathers' tallis was an event which created a bond that when absent, was missed. 

In my family we have the custom to get blessings from my Father every Friday night.  I remember the first time that I left home to go to over night camp.  I missed that blessing. (I remember calling home before Shabbos to receive it.)

Every portion after the birth of Moshe Rabbeinu mentions his name, with the exclusion of one.  This one, Parshas Tetzaveh.  Moshes' name is mysteriously missing from the weeks' Torah portion. 

Moshe was a pivotal and key character in the Torah.  When he goes unmentioned he is sorely missed. 

Where are you Moshe? Where are you Father? Where are my Brachos?

What do you do that will make you sorely missed? To whom do you give your affection? Whos life do you touch?

Post Script: I sent this to a friend of mine, who related the untimely passing of his cousin.  A child is sorely missed - http://is.gd/lk7A. 

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