So I cannot quite do this justice without first showing the way the plague of locusts was described in a child's parsha reader, however:

Reading between the lines, we have discovered the 2nd shortest prayer in the Torah:

Grasshopper - time for you to go

Now don't everyone practuce your Kung Fu on me at once.

What's the shortest prayer?

I was refering to Moshe's prayer for Miriam:

Please G-d, heal her now.

That's what I thought.

Are you gossiping about me?

Raybin - are you the one who taught the boy how to snatch the marble from his teacher's hand?

Rob- I see your time, and it is true that my first son, who is now 24 was a Little Rascal but I never knew of him snatching a marble from a teacher's hand. So I guess not!

Also, you made me curious to know what the shortest verse in the Torah is.

i wonder if its only me that has read this thread at least ten times and still doesnt understand...

Nope, it's not just you. I feel we are intruding on a private conversation.

Alright - there used to be a TV show in the eary 70's or so named "Kung Fu", staring David Carradine. The theme of the show would take place in early America with many flash backs of scenes from the lead characters youth in China.

In one scene played over and over on his first day at his school, the master instructor asked the young boy to try to snatch a pebble from the teacher's hand, and the teacher was able to close his hand quickly enough or anticipate the student's actions well enough that he kept the pebble.

Furthermore, the teacher had given this student a nickname of "grasshopper".

The teacher told the student that when he would be able to snatch the pebble from the teacher's hand, it would be time for him to leave.

Therefore the show also had a scene with a young man snatching the pebble from his teacher's hand, and the teacher saying:

Grasshopper, time for you to leave.

Moving forward to my Shabbos table, a child's parsha reader book was presented which refered to the plague of locusts as grasshoppers.

And the book reports in one paragraph that Pharoah asked Moshe to ask Hashem to remove the grasshoppers. And the next paragraph reports that the grasshoppers left.

Reading between the lines, we deduced that Moshe did as Pharoah asked, and asked Hashem to remove the grasshoppers.

Now that I have had to explain this attempt at humor, which was a bit hit with the kids at our Shabbos table, I would vote to just delete the thread.

Rob, I understand all that. In fact, I used to watch "Kung Fu" whenever it was on TV.

What we don't understand is where Raybin fits into all this.

B'HaShem
My parents are Jewish, besides that there are no natural causes.

Honestly, Idid not know anything about Kung Fu except that my brothers watched it. So I didn't understand Robs question about the marble and really did not know how to answer the question any other way for it to make any sense to me.

When I asked if you were gossiping about me I just assumed that the combination of "Grasshopper time for you to go" and "Please G-d heal her now" was referring to me. Obviously, I should be off of the internet soon. It really isn't a good place for anyone to be, but I have no other activities as of now. I am sorry if I implied that the world revolves around me because it doesn't.

Shalom

Shalom Raybin:

The Global Yeshiva would seem to surely be the right place for you be, and I am grateful that Hashem has entrusted the internet to our generation.

Furthermore I do feel that anyone who would forsake this powerful communication medium will be held accountable for doing so.

Thus please do not in any way think other than if you were to log off for an extended period, I and others would miss your postings.

And should you come to such a thought based on my attempt at discussing this thread, I would surely feel terrible about the metter.

I am sorry that I was not clear about the reference I had intended in my inquiry.

Raybin, it is your choice if you want to stay off the internet or not, but nobody here is telling you to go. And that is a fact.

And the internet is not bad in itself. It is a great gift, as Rob said. You just need to be sure you go only to good places and read only good things. The internet is just another part of life. Life isn't bad just because there are bad places in it. Seek the good and avoid the bad. The internet could be very good for you. If you need healing, it can help you in this. You just have to find out what are the places to go.

You really did jump to conclusions before, with what Rob said. He was just discussing a topic. And you can see from his last post that he is actually wanting and asking you to stay. I guess you did take things too personally and that is a way of thinking to avoid, as I am sure you know. We really need to ask ourselves if something is about us or not about us. And we don't know the answer to that unless we can saw what is the proof: Just feeling it isn't enough; our head has to agree.

Perhaps next time you get a bad suspicion about somebody you could write to them privately on this site, using one of the special functions available here. Then you can ask the person "quietly" if it is true. This way you do not confuse people who are trying to follow a topic and you will get the answer, the truth, rather than trusing your imagination to tell you the truth. The imagination just can't be trusted to guide us by itself - the great sages often talk about such things. We need to learn what it takes to become wise and make good ideas and actions. But that's no easy task, of course. Sometimes I think I have learned hardly anything to make me wise - and I've been working hard at this all my long life .

quote:

Originally posted by Raybin:
B'HaShem
My parents are Jewish, besides that there are no natural causes.

Honestly, Idid not know anything about Kung Fu except that my brothers watched it. So I didn't understand Robs question about the marble and really did not know how to answer the question any other way for it to make any sense to me.

When I asked if you were gossiping about me I just assumed that the combination of "Grasshopper time for you to go" and "Please G-d heal her now" was referring to me. Obviously, I should be off of the internet soon. It really isn't a good place for anyone to be, but I have no other activities as of now. I am sorry if I implied that the world revolves around me because it doesn't.

Shalom

Please G-d, heal her(Israel) now.
Thank you-
I think that that prayer of Moshe's has multiple meanings and can be applied in many instances.
The reason I said "Gossip" was because I was referring to Miriam and her afflictions. I did not mean it in a bad way, as indicated by the angel. Also, I knew it was safe to call my son a "Little Rascal" because that is what his dear Grandma called him. I was thinking... could the marble represent a diploma?
Rob- I hope your thread improves

Rosemary- Thanks for the little pep talk. According to the Torah, people have lived a really long time so your years are short in comparison. Take it from one whose father told her that she would live to be 240 years old. We know that we were born but we don't know when or if we will die. Hashem can work miracles if we allow him. So always look past the 100 mark!

Thanks Raybin. I'm glad I didn't offend you

My great grandmother lived till 96, I think. And I hope to do so too. I last saw her when she was 93 and she was doing fine: you would have thought she was in her 70s. And she was very lucid, etc. I think a secret to how well she went was that she kept her life full of things to do and she went for walks daily. I am currently trying to start taking walks too. Do you have any tips on that?

Sometimes it seems like a gift from Hashem to have us die. My elderly father died recently and suddenly. He was beginning to look quite aged and frail and was having falls. He would not have liked to have become an invalid. Death is not the end anyway: It is just the end of a phase.

Maybe that 240 years was not meant to be taken literally. Maybe your father meant only to suggest "long life". But good luck if you want to make it to 240!

At the time, when my father said I would live to be 240 he meant it literally. So I always try to believe it. But you are right. It was comforting to me just to hear him say it because I was afraid of being sacrificed, like a red heifer offering. Not that he knew, but to me it was his way of saying I would be safe. I guess I have unusual fears. Since then, I have learned that everyone is given a portion of 120 years and you can use it up before the end of that time. So maybe it just means that I was given a double portion, which I could use up in fifty years. Only Hashem knows our hour of death. We should honor our parents so I honor my father by believing him. But it makes me wonder, if he would say that about me, then why couldn't he live as long as I do? I am sorry to hear that your father died recently. It must be difficult to lose a parent. When Moshe prayed for Miriam, she must have been on her deathbed. Otherwise, it would not have been such a miracle that she was healed.

You have worked out a number of conclusions about certain things ,but I do not know that such things are true. My sisterly concern is whether wise, observant Jews would endorse your views. I myself would not believe such things unless I could validate them. But I am one stubborn person and truth really matters to me. Nonsense talk is a waste of time and of life.

Yes, we must honour our parents. But that does not mean believing everything they might say. That would be called gullible, and worse. We have to grow up and take on the task of thinking, adequately, for ourselves. My grandfather used to play a game with me when I was a little child, of putting his hand on my nose and then quickly pulling it away with the underside of his thumb sticking up through the next two fingers in a fist and he would say something like "Got your nose!" That used to really upset me till I realised it was just pretend and my nose was still on my face. Even if the parent believes a false thing they say, we would be out of touch with reality to believe it because they said so. This is also not being a good Jew as we are not taking responsibility and seeking G-d's truths: Instead we are turning the parent into an idol -which is called idolatry. We need to find a good basis for what we believe or we will believe nonsense and get called "crazy". Maybe we will even become crazy because we don't practice doing a good job of thinking for ourselves. And, if we believe incorrect things we will not be able to have our life go well, in all sorts of ways.

If you have unusual fears, it is important to face what they are and see if they are nonsense or not. If they are nonsense, acknowledge them and think to yourself that however they are not reasonable fears; and then turn your attention to what you want to do. If you are afraid of doing something and want to do it, as long as there is no realistic likelihood of a bad outcome, you" Face the fear and do it anyway", as the saying goes. If you keep doing it, the fear goes away. If what you are really afraid of is your own negative emotions when you do the thing, face the fear. And emotion is just a passing thing, like a storm. It's no big deal really if you stay the boss of yourself.

I am going to be tough on you if you say things that obviously don't make sense . Either I say it or I ignore it. So far I am saying it and I hope that is ok with you.

I think Miriam was in big trouble. Go read about it in Torah.

And yes, I have found it hard to lose my father. Thank you for your kindness.

quote:

Originally posted by Raybin:
At the time, when my father said I would live to be 240 he meant it literally. So I always try to believe it. But you are right. It was comforting to me just to hear him say it because I was afraid of being sacrificed, like a red heifer offering. Not that he knew, but to me it was his way of saying I would be safe. I guess I have unusual fears. Since then, I have learned that everyone is given a portion of 120 years and you can use it up before the end of that time. So maybe it just means that I was given a double portion, which I could use up in fifty years. Only Hashem knows our hour of death. We should honor our parents so I honor my father by believing him. But it makes me wonder, if he would say that about me, then why couldn't he live as long as I do? I am sorry to hear that your father died recently. It must be difficult to lose a parent. When Moshe prayed for Miriam, she must have been on her deathbed. Otherwise, it would not have been such a miracle that she was healed.

I notice the times have been edited. I could have sworn the last time I entered a post was at 117, so I went and read psalm 117.

Rosemary-You have to excuse me for writing that. My head was covered. I was wearing a dress. It was the wrong time of month for me, and I went off of my medication momentarily.

I don't think what you are saying has much to do with being Jewish, but has alot to do with being a Psychologist.

Also, I have great respect for my parents, but I do not idolize them. They have faults too. But, personally, I do not believe that my father was at fault when he implied that I should look at life differently than most people do. If you believe the Torah, then why do you have a problem believing that it is possible to live that long?

In Judaism it is important for a woman not to be familiar with close relatives such as a father, brothers or sons. So I moved very far away from all of them. I rarely speak to my father on the telephone, but always my mother. I do not idolize my father at all, but only listen to what he says. That is all.

You asked me earlier about walking but I neglected to answer you. Then that Shabbos I layed in bed all day and then when I woke up I remembered a psalm that I have forgotten for about 20 years. Psalm 84: 11. It goes something like this: "The L-rd G-d is a sun and shield. The L-rd will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly."