Out of the Dumps Story

The counting of the Omer is a journey,
Of transforming freed slaves into royalty,
Let us take a lesson from this story,
And become truly free!

There once lived a family,
That was as poor as can be,
For clothes and food they had no money to pay,
They moved to the garbage dump one day.

They ate leftover food and played with broken toys,
That were thrown out by other girls and boys,
They ran around freely and didn't go to any schools,
They had no chores and no rules.

One day the king rode by,
When he saw the children he began to cry,
He offered the kids an opportunity,
To come with him to the palace and live royally.

The children said, "No, thank you,"
To go to school and have manners they didn't want to do,
They wanted to be free and have fun,
With this life only one boy was done.

Yisrael, was the only boy who was grateful to the king,
He went to the palace and learnt everything,
He couldn't run around and be wild anymore,
But he married the princess and was happier than ever before!

When Yisrael came to the palace, he had to cleanse himself and shower,
For seven weeks, to refine our character, we have the power,
The world laughs and says that the palace rules are extreme,
But following Hashem's laws is what true freedom does mean.

Souvenir: crown rings

Parshat Emor

In this week's Torah reading, to count the Omer it does say,
During this time period, the Omer we count every day,
To receive the Torah we are delighted,
We count for seven weeks to show we are excited.

On the second day of the Pesach holiday,
An Omer, which is a measurement of barley, was offered right away,
It was an offering of thanksgiving,
For the harvest season that was beginning.

What is the connection between the Omer offering,
And the seven week counting?
There is another question that we need to explain,
Why do we count the days that past instead of the days that remain?

When the Jews were freed from Egyptian slavery,
Their spiritual state was one of barley,
Being free was a dream come true,
Now they thought, no one would tell them what to do.

Every Jew has a G-dly and an animal soul,
At this point the animal soul was in control,
Now that they were finally free,
The animal soul said, "Now, it's all about me."

No schedule or rules, for an animal is O.K.,
For a human being it is no fun after a day,
The animal soul has to be trained to see,
That there is more to life than barley.

In this world there are many physical things that are tempting,
When we run after our desires, it is our animal soul that we are serving,
When we give in to our emotions and wants, we are still in slavery,
All the materialism in the world won't make us happy.

To ourselves we need to be true,
We are Hashem's children with a mission to do,
Our mind has the ability to rule over our emotions in the heart,
To follow the Torah rules is where we start!

We count the days that passed,
We concentrate on our accomplishments and make them last,
Instead of thinking about what should be mine,
We make our animal soul shine.

By time the holiday of Shavuot rolls around,
Our selfish animal soul can not be found,
Our animal soul is transformed totally,
We are free to serve Hashem wholeheartedly.

On Shavuot the Jews brought an offering made of wheat,
Two loaves of bread which is made for humans to eat,
The two loaves represent the G-dly and animal soul,
Working together to fulfill one goal.

When our G-dly soul rules over our animal soul we are freed,
To refine ourselves, on Shavuot we succeed,
Shavuot is our wedding anniversary,
We are truly royalty!

Souvenir: Sefirat Haomer chart

Parshat Kedoshim

Long ago lived a sage of great fame,
Hillel the elder, was his name,
Once a man tried to put him to the test,
The entire Torah on one foot, was his request.

While the man stood on one foot that day,
This is what Hillel the sage did say,
"Love your fellow as yourself, is the Torah in its entirety,
All the rest in commentary."

"Love your fellow as yourself," seems like a nice ideal,
Is love something we can be commanded to feel?
On our perspective it does depend,
When we look at the essence, everyone is a friend.

To a candle each one of us does compare,
Candles can be found everywhere,
Candles come in every size, and shape,
There are many different scents like lemon, berry and grape.

Although candles come in every color of the rainbow,
There is one thing we all know,
In essence all candles are the same,
What they have in common is their flame.

On the outside our differences appear,
We have different opinions to share,
Each one of us is special and unique,
Some like blue while others prefer pink.

But on the Inside, we are all the same,
We all have a Neshama, flame,
For every Jew, we can feel love,
Because every Jew is a child of Hashem above.

When the layers we uncover,
We are one family, we discover,
To put the soul first is the key,
The soul is the #1 priority!

To love your fellow as yourself, in this Torah portion we see,
The other 612 Mitzvot are commentary,
Because all the Mitzvot were given,
To reveal the G-dliness that is hidden.

Souvenir: birthday candles

Parshat Acharei

"After the death of Aharon's two sons,"
Nadav and Avihu died because they loved Hashem tons,
To be united with Hashem was their desire,
They died when they brought a strange fire.

What does this have to do with me?
On their level I can be!
Nadav and Avihu paved the way,
So that we can feel passion and desire for Hashem today.

After we reach the level of desire,
We need to know that there is a level that is higher,
Saying "I love you!" or "I'm sorry!" is very nice,
But about the other's needs do we think twice?

It is selfish to just think about how I feel,
Thinking about the other's desires is the big deal,
I enjoy the time that together we spend,
But putting the other first, is what makes a true friend.

"You, I love!" we should say,
"What can I do for you today?
I can see things from your perspective too,
Because what really matters is you!"

Nadav and Avihu said, "I love you very much!"
But with Hashem's desire they weren't in touch,
What counts is what we do,
After we say "I love you!"

To do Mitzvot in this world is the way,
To express our love for Hashem today,
On Yom Kippur "I'm sorry!" we say,
But the challenge is what we do the next day.

How do we keep up the love all year long?
How do we keep our commitment strong?
We realize that we are actually,
A part of Hashem so holy.

To fulfill Hashem's will is our priority,
Because we are not a separate entity,
Hashem's desire and our desire become one.
We won't stop until we are done.

Souvenir: heart stamp

Parshat Metzora

Tzara'as, Hashem said, "I will give,"
On the homes where the Jews would settle to live,
Why does the Torah choose,
To make it sound like a piece of news?

Tzara'as was a punishment for talking negatively,
About strangers, neighbors or family,
Tzara'as came in stages four,
It wasn't something you could ignore.

First on walls, then objects of leather were affected,
Clothing was next and then the body was infected,
Tzara'as was no fun, it is true,
But there is a lesson here for me and you.

When things seem bad we need to realize,
That it is good news in disguise,
In every situation there is a silver lining,
It is really goodness that is hiding.

How could Tzara'as be a blessing, you may wonder,
Let us go back in time and discover,
When the Amorite nation heard that the Jews were coming near,
In the walls they hid their golden treasures so dear.

They knew that because they sinned they would be sent away,
They hoped that the same fate would befall the Jews one day,
To claim their treasures in the future was in their plans,
But the hidden gold would fall into Jewish hands.

Let us learn the laws and see,
How this would come to be,
If a person found Tzara'as on his wall,
The Kohen he would call.

If the Tzara'as spread, unfortunately,
The house would have to be destroyed totally,
At this point the treasures would be uncovered,
The Amorites wealth would be discovered!

In the word Amorite, Amor can be seen,
To say, is what Amor does mean,
Tzara'as transforms evil speech,
So that the treasures within, we can reach!

Souvenir: silver glitter pen

Parshat Tazria

In Parshat Tazria we learn that impurity does come,
After a woman gives birth to a daughter or son,
How can this be when there is nothing greater,
Then partnering with Hashem, the creator.

A baby is holy, precious and dear,
The women's body to a holy ark, does compare,
Because the baby is holy and pure,
When it leaves the womb the woman becomes impure.

When holiness departs impurity immediately sets in,
This is why a woman becomes impure when her cycle does begin,
Because for a holy life there was potential,
When that possibility is lost, to become pure, Mikvah is essential.

The Mikvah is a very special place,
With G-d you come face to face,
Its four walls might be plain,
But they represent the four letters of Hashem's name.

Between the woman and the water nothing can intervene,
Only the woman and G-d, there is nothing in between.
In the water Hashem is found,
His love is felt all around.

When the woman emerges from the Mikvah she is as pure as can be,
She experiences a rebirth and is filled with a spiritual energy!
Let us go back in history,
In every generation, women kept this Mitzvah carefully.

Over Sarah's tent, hovered a cloud of rain,
Representing the rain water that a Mikvah does contain,
To cleanse herself from idol worship, was Batya's goal,
In saving Moshe's life, she played a big role.

With the plague of blood the Egyptians were hit,
Because immersion in a Mikvah, they didn't permit,
The well of Miriam in the desert the women did use,
To keep this Mitzvah they did choose.

To enter the Beit Hamikdash, the Jews had to be pure,
On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol, would immerse 5 times more,
In Masada, the Jews were afraid of being killed,
Yet, Mikvaot, they didn't hesitate to build.

In Soviet Russia the women had to break the ice,
To go to the river they didn't think twice,
During the Holocaust, the Germans filled Mikvaot with cement,
But the women's self sacrifice they could not prevent.

Jewish women were entrusted with the key,
For the special Mitzvah of Family Purity,
We are the next link in the chain,
Our commitment will forever remain!

Souvenir: baby stickers

Parshat Shemini

Eight and Ate

The Tabernacle it was time to dedicate,
For 7 days the Jews did wait,
In this world, forever, G-dliness would permeate,
It all happened on day number 8.

"How is this relevant today?" one may ask,
To bring G-dliness into our lives is our task,
How can we accomplish such a great feat?
By having only kosher food to eat.

Kosher food is healthy for our soul,
To be sanctified internally is our goal,
Kosher food opens up our heart and mind,
So that we can understand the Torah and be kind.

Numbers 7 and 8 are close to one another,
But they are very different from eachother,
7 represents nature, like the days of the week,
8 represents above nature, something unique.

The laws of kosher we don't understand,
We do it because of Hashem's command,
G-d's infinite light in this physical world on day #8,
Is in the same category as kosher food on our plate.

The Mitzvah to keep Kosher is a gift,
It gives our soul a lift,
A Jewish soul is more refined,
For us kosher food is the best kind.

Souvenir: kosher lollipop