What to Do for a Wanna Be Shabbos Jew?
A lot of people mistakenly believe that since I am no longer covering my hair or wearing skirts exclusively that this somehow means I am no longer observant, that I have "slipped" in that area or that I am no longer interested in halacha. Even close friends have voiced this opinion. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When I took a new Hebrew name, part of that whole thing was finding a way to be ME - look like me, act like me, talk like me - and still be committed to halacha. These things go together. I don't have to dress overtly frum to be a modern, observant Jew. It is not a detraction from my Judaism. It is coming to my Judaism more authentically.
Anyway, that was not the purpose of this blog entry; it was just a side note. While I am on side notes, we are getting ready for the next renovation to make our house one step closer to being ready for sale...and when that happens, the dilemma below will no longer be a concern because the idea is to move somewhere IN the community and also be one step closer to being a Shabbos-observant walker.
One issue that comes up repeatedly at our home is what to do on Shabbos! With no Jewish neighbors, and no kids in the neighborhood that our children play with for that matter, there isn't a whole lot to do on Shabbat. We usually hang around shul for quite a while, being one of the last families to leave. Now what? No where to walk. Nothing to do.
Recently, I found these activity books that contain large faces with a series of stickers of eyes, noses, jewelry, headbands, etc. to stick on the faces to make a person. They are kind of fun! My question is this: Are these permissible on Shabbat? And while I am asking questions...beyond the usual napping and playing board games...what does your family do on Shabbat to beat the boredom when community is far away?
When I took a new Hebrew name, part of that whole thing was finding a way to be ME - look like me, act like me, talk like me - and still be committed to halacha. These things go together. I don't have to dress overtly frum to be a modern, observant Jew. It is not a detraction from my Judaism. It is coming to my Judaism more authentically.
Anyway, that was not the purpose of this blog entry; it was just a side note. While I am on side notes, we are getting ready for the next renovation to make our house one step closer to being ready for sale...and when that happens, the dilemma below will no longer be a concern because the idea is to move somewhere IN the community and also be one step closer to being a Shabbos-observant walker.
One issue that comes up repeatedly at our home is what to do on Shabbos! With no Jewish neighbors, and no kids in the neighborhood that our children play with for that matter, there isn't a whole lot to do on Shabbat. We usually hang around shul for quite a while, being one of the last families to leave. Now what? No where to walk. Nothing to do.
Recently, I found these activity books that contain large faces with a series of stickers of eyes, noses, jewelry, headbands, etc. to stick on the faces to make a person. They are kind of fun! My question is this: Are these permissible on Shabbat? And while I am asking questions...beyond the usual napping and playing board games...what does your family do on Shabbat to beat the boredom when community is far away?
Comments
Thank you B P Shomrim (especially my friend Pinny U R the best!) for teaching Klall Yisroel by example how to go out all the way to be kind and help another person in need
The King of Jewish music Reb. Mordechai what a Tzadik of a Yid, who ever reached out to him for help he was always responded generously to them, we must have HaKoras Hatov in return
But listen here Rabosi… unfortunately it’s not over yet. It seems that there’s another storm on the horizon “New, Storm May Hit East Coast” being reported in the news, how should we look at these hard times and what can we learn from it???
AGAIN: It’s Heartbreaking to see it coming again, but I guess if we didn’t wake up enough with the Franken-storm the first warning that Hashem sent us, we have to suffer another storm, not nice to compare but Pharaoh and the Mitzriyim also didn’t wake up from the Makos, so Hashem had to keep on pounding them with many more hardships till they eventually drowned
The storm and the warning we just had wasn’t very harsh to many of us, even though many suffered and some are still suffering, i.e. no phone service, no electric, long lines at gas stations and after waiting four hours in line they tell us “sorry buddy no more gas left” etc. I don’t get it. Haven’t we just lived through a massive storm of destruction, how can we ignore it? Hashem is literally begging us to make big changes in our lives in all aspects; He is trying so hard to wake us up from our deeeeep sleeeep. Why we are still ignoring him? The proof that we are still ignoring him is that he is sending us another storm
There are sections of the region that were damaged so badly beyond recognition. Houses burned to the ground, basements flooded, Like in Sea Gate, structures damaged beyond recognition, no refrigeration, no freezer, no Boiler, no hot water even just for Erev Shabbos showers, no stability, Thousands are trying to find a place for Shabbos. Boruch Hashem web sites have been set up for Brooklyn and Lakewood to help them, but it’s not enough to handle the thousands who still don’t have power, (and might not get back power for another seven weeks) who will be spending Shabbos in the cold and dark, many are freezing not being able to sleep because it’s so cold without the heating that we have (come to feel as a necessity at) this time of the year
Put on your thinking caps: Just in the past year: Some of The Tzoras Worldwide, we have lost so many Rabonim, Roshai Yeshivas Gedolim, Rebbes, young children, young parents, so many NEW orphans, who are filling up our Shuls and saying Kaddish for their loved ones at such a young age, that’s enough to break my heart and make me cry out to Hashem saying “Hashem we are ready to live like a true Yid” get rid of our bad habits that the Yetzer Hora implanted inside of us.
The list goes on and on, how about the financial situation? NO JOBS, The rising cost of our simple everyday needs, like water, FOOD, batteries, gas, tuition, clothing, many services that we took for granted are becoming unaffordable.
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We have entered a new era, a time that the world has changed completely from the way it was for the past 5772 years, our Hishtadlus is almost worthless, why don’t we realize that with all the money in the world that thousands of us are ready to spend to get their electricity back on still they are totally helpless? No matter how wealthy we are, we are still helpless? For the big Chachomim (smarty pants) who think they can outsmart Hashem, and the storm will not affect their electricity, by having generators, do they have sufficient gas or oil to run the generators? We all know that the answer is absolutely NOT; to them too, Hashem is sending a message saying “your money is worthless I won’t enable you to purchase enough gas or oil to run your generators, because I want you to turn back to me and do Teshuva!!! Hashem is crying out loud and saying “I Love You my dear children” Help me to bring the Golus to an end hoping to see the Geulah and Moshiach today.”
Take a quick look (online) to what happened at NYU Hospital in NYC they prepared all kind of generators and back ups, but at the end it “all” failed, they had to evacuate hundreds of sick patients.
Now a new storm is being forecasted and if we do real Teshuva we can at least prevent it from hitting our region, I beg you my family and friends, Klal Yisroel of all ages and communities, please lets wake up now before we lose many more lives, homes etc. before we encounter more tragedies so we can make Hashem proud of our new Derech our new and improved way of life to enable us to see the Bais HaMikdosh instead of another powerful rainstorm Chas VeSholom.
With tears and love to Klall Yisroel