Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

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2 Tammuz 5759 - June 16, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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HOME & FAMILY

Charity Begins at Home
by R. Chadshai

You dress more casually at home than you would outside. Your general conduct is more relaxed and you are not too particular about the minutiae of manners. You speak more freely, and in general, do and say things which you would not dream of doing outside your own home.

Letters, Eitzes, Feedback
Lots, this time. One from Y. C.

Dear Yated Ne'eman,

I am writing in response to your "Dear Diary" articles. As a baalas teshuva of twenty-some years, I would like to share my thoughts with you.

Dearest Diary
by R' Pinchos Kantrowitz

Dearest Diary,

O.K. I know that you're curious. Can't blame you. But I want to tell first things first. But one hint I'll give you, if you're already trying to guess. Our plane tickets, three of them, are dated August 7, which is also the date displayed on the calendar behind the front desk of the King David Hotel. So... you ask. Figure it out yourself or just be patient.

WHAT'S COOKING?
Something non-edible, something edible.

Baking Soda Baking Clay (non- toxic)
by Nechama Berg and Chaya Levine

COCONUT CRISPS
by Rivka Tal


Poet's Corner

The four holy cities represent the four elements of this physical world, say our sages, with Jerusalem corresponding to fire and Tzefas to air.

There is something very spiritually stimulating about the air in Tzefas, our poetess assures us. Which is why we have been discovering so much talent up there.

Heartbeat
by Rifca Goldberg

Z'fas. Holy city nestled on top of a mountain of purity.

Wherever I go within its loving arms
I feel accepted, calmed, serene.
But there's something more. Something deeper.
Not a dance.
Not even a swaying.
But a pulsating.
A heartbeat.
How can a mountain have a heartbeat?
I don't have the answer, but I feel it.
Pulsating through the ground,
Through my legs
Insinuating into my cells
Being absorbed into my mind.
I try to find the same rhythm within myself
Tapping my foot on the ancient cobblestones
While the gnarled olive trees nod to me knowingly,
But my own pulse has a different beat.
It fights the even measure.
The pulsating motion interrupts my thoughts.
At first frightening,
Then slowly soothing.
Now the need to tap diminishes
With this soundless pulse
Throbbing.
I look up.
All around me, Z'fas is framed by low unhurried clouds,
Tranquil pine trees fingering the deep blue sky
While golden sunrays smile at the harmony below it.
I walk through the arched alleyways,
The busy mainstreet, the lush hillside,
Watching the trees, the stones,
The houses all breathing the steady rhythm.
Inhaling it. Exhaling it.
And the pulsating continues.
Flowing through me.
Surrounding me.
Embracing and claiming me.
Finally,
One with me.


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