It’s business as usual in Jerusalem.

Mostly.

For the people who aren’t lugging their phones all over the place, and scrolling the fake news.

If you want some insight into the rockets etc going on here, I highly recommend the kipaduu Telegram channel – she is putting up a lot of the videos from the social media networks, that challenge the official narrative.

CW is also bringing a lot of good videos, but I wish he’d tone down the rhetoric, as personally, it’s hard to keep reading rants day after day, even if the information is very helpful.

But mostly…. I am continuing to ignore what’s going on, as much as possible.

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Yesterday, I sat with my grown-up daughter and made some Fimo beads and other stuff.

It was a lot of fun.

I also did some pilates at home, watered my plants, started translating a bunch of stuff from the Rav, took a breath, appreciated how beautiful life really is, still, in the middle of the madness unfolding.

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I also came across this video, that someone shot of the stars at night with a Full Spectrum Sony A7 (whatever that means….).

The point is, the stars are still there, and shining, just we can’t see it because of all the man-made ‘enlightenment’:

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Hiding behind all this is God.

God is the One keeping Jews in Israel, in Israel – for our own good, however we’re meant to be experiencing what is going on here, right now.

We can’t run away from God, after all, even though many people are tempted.

My daughter showed me an ad doing the rounds on social media, of some guy with a skidoo in Ashdod offering to take people across the sea to Paphos for 25,000 shekels – if they weigh less than 75 kg, and are happy to be sat on a skidoo for 12 hours, as it skims over shark-infested waters.

Personally, I’d rather take my chances here.

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Whatever reality we are building, or have built, for ourselves, that’s what we are now experiencing.

If a person spent the last few years working on their emuna that ein od milvado, God is running the show, every last little bit of it – that is now paying some massive dividends for them.

If they spent the last few years building up the Tikkun Haklali routine, so they can knock off one, or three, or seven TKs a day – that is now paying out for them, big time.

It’s hard to describe how much peace of mind you get, when you say three Tikkun Haklalis a day, or do some hitbodedut and connect back to God in a real way, or get down to the Rav’s prayers on Ido HaNavi, every single night, starting around 8ish.

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There is no way on earth, otherwise, that you can come through what we are experiencing here in Israel currently, calmly and peacefully.

Even for me, I am still having some very deep panic and fear welling up occasionally, usually at night, in my dreams.

The only way I can cope with all this, really, is to keep returning to the routine of hitbodedut, TKs, praying with the Rav, working on the emuna that God is behind all this, and it’s all for my good, somehow.

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I want to send you something that a reader shared with me, with their permission, about another way of acquiring some ‘peace of mind’ in today’s crazy world:

I have been paying strict attention to what the Rav says and he is truly amazing !! Like 93 !! I also have been sending the Kollel Chatzot their allotments and I see that has also brought about an amazing sense of peace in my entire body and especially my mind.

I almost at times feel like my mission down here is finished and Hashem is giving me extra time to pay all my debts, almost have all credit cards paid off!! And then He can come and get me if He needs me for something else. There is an amazing sense of peace knowing truly who the Rav is, and knowing what comes next in our spiritual progression. 

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As I keep mentioning, the pidyonot paid to the institutions of the True Tzaddikim are the short cuts to peace of mind.

If someone can’t or won’t say a bunch of TKs, do hitbodedut, recite a few of the Rav’s prayers, work on their emuna, go to the ma’ariv prayers etc – this is still an option that’s open to them, and that works on some very deep levels.

You can do that for the Rav’s Kollel Chatzot HERE.

Or if you prefer to ‘deal direct’, more, go to the RavBerland.com site HERE.

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We are all making our own reality now, mamash.

That reality can either consist of panic, fake news, false prophets and a lot of anger, fear and pointless speculation about what is going on.

Or, it can consist of TKs, hitbodedut, prayers, pidyonot, teshuva and an increasing sense that God is running the show, only God, and the best hishtadlus in the world is just to get with God, and to get real.

And to get with the True Tzaddikim, like Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, and Rav Eliezer Berland, and to follow their spiritual advice, and their spiritual path.

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Right now, the holy sites in Israel have been closed down ‘because of the war’.

The Kotel and the Old City are barred to anyone who is not a resident of the Old City.

I know R Meir Baal HaNess was also closed, I haven’t been elsewhere, but I’m guessing they are doing this with other sites, too, or trying to.

Hashem is forcing us to turn inwards, into the only real ‘safe space’ that is available to us, inside, where we can talk to God, and know He is with us in all this, and ein od milvado.

If we do that for an hour a day – or at least, five minutes! – then everything that is going on becomes way more manageable, our perspective shifts into a much healthier frame of mind, the fear goes down, and the emuna goes up.

That’s the whole point.

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Bottom line: who is really firing all these rockets at Israel, via proxies and puppets, is Hashem.

The ‘stick’ will still be punished, in due course, but we can’t lose sight of Who is wielding the ‘stick’, i.e. Hashem.

Ditto, Who is keeping the Jews in Israel: Hashem.

Who is shutting down ‘regular life’ here, to get us all to turn inward and to get real: Hashem.

Who is destroying the materialistic world of lies before our eyes: Hashem.

Who is whipping-up anti-semitism all over the world, especially in places like the USA, so that complacent Jews remember that there is more to life than stockmarkets, holidays and expensive wigs: Hashem.

Hashem is doing all this, and it’s all for our ultimate good.

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If a person does their best to remember that, then even in the middle of the madness, it’s still business as usual.

Every day, I have to deal with my fallen fears, my bad middot, and put God back in the picture of my ‘real life’.

And now is no different.

Just now, my ‘reality’ includes sirens, rocket attacks from the ‘Iranians’ (ahem) and a house full of grown children, etc.

Business as usual.

The stars are still shining, the world is still turning.

And the birth pangs of the beautiful world we are all yearning to see builtare getting more intense.