*An Excerpt from **The Simple Truths of Service** by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz* Great Service is a Choice No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that...
'Naaman, general of the army of the king of Aram was an eminent person in his masters presence and highly honour for through him had Hashem given victory to Aram the man was great warrior, a metzora'. This is interesting, the translation is not that perfect,...
“This very day, God, your Lord, commands you to perform these decrees and these statutes, and you shall observe and perform them with all your heart and all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 26:16) This is the meaning of the verse, “Let us come and prostrate ourselves and...
A discussion about “Tikkunim,” usually translated as repairs, got Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai into trouble: R. Judah commenced [the discussion] by observing, ‘How fine are the works of this people! They have made (Tikknu) streets, they have built (Tikknu) bridges, they have erected (Tikknu) baths.’...
“Teshuva, Tzedaka, and Prayer, remove the worst part of the decree.” Rabbi Shimon said, “Come and see: All foods of the inhabitants of the world derive from above. The food that comes from heaven and earth is food for the whole world; it is coarse and...
My friend has a large poster of “Sailboats, Regatta in Argenteuil” by Monet hanging in his office. I was staring at it trying to determine if it was in the early morning or late afternoon. I couldn’t tell, and neither could he. The painting reminded me...
It is inevitable that my sesquipedalianism will win out when I intend to bloviate in preparation for the Shofar’s callithump of our seeming victory, albeit frangible, over the Yetzer Harah’s (Evil Inclination) chicanery through acnestis, yeuks, vellication, and obnubilation, and at times, foudroyant attacks. I suspect...
“God is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear.” (Psalm 27:1) David asked the Holy One, Blessed is He: “Master of the Universe, when will the light come?” God replied: “When the time of redemption comes and Jerusalem is rebuilt, I shall make the...
“The honor of the Lord is a hidden thing but the honor of kings may be searched out. The highest heavens, the deepest earth, and the heart of kings cannot be fathomed.” Proverbs 25:2-3 We can examine and even comprehend the glory of kings, but not...
“You shall have a place outside the camp, and to it you shall go out. You shall have a shovel in additions to your weapons, and it will be that when you sit outside, you shall dig with it; you shall go back and cover...
Rabbi Yose taught: Every action in which a person engages that is not in the service of the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns into a breath that goes drifting through the world. And when the person’s soul departs, that breath whirls it through the...
I hesitate to share my personal problems, but I really need your help: My first experiences helping someone bake were with my grandmother a”h, who, never missed an opportunity to share something she had learned while growing up in Slabodka. “Can I taste some of...
One of my father’s closest students offered in 1965 to give me a ride on his motorcycle. “You have to ask your mother,” said my father. “But Ma never lets me do anything!” I complained. Jokingly, my father said, “So, I’ll get you a motorcycle...
Interim By Edna St. Vincent Millay O God, I see it now, and my sick brain Staggers and swoons! How often over me Flashes this breathlessness of sudden sight In which I see the universe unrolled Before me like a scroll and read thereon Chaos and Doom, where helpless planets whirl Dizzily round...
As Time Goes By By Herman Hupfeld This day & age we’re living in Gives cause for apprehension With speed and new invention And things like third dimension And no matter what the progress Or what yet may be proved The simple facts of life are such They cannot be removed Yes, we get a trifle...