Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet

Taken from my Back 2 Reality Blog.


Rosh Chodesh Adar! It's here. Besides for it being me Hebrew birthday on the 19th (:-D) it's going to be purim in about 15 days!

So excited, mishe mishe mishe mishe, .....

I wanted to share a thought, and a great point, that I deduced from and article written by an SFU student, Kristen McCathy.

She was in the downtown east side, otherwise known as 'crack town' and gave a loonie (dollar) to a homeless man on the street. She comments, on reflection, that the money was given for her not for the poor man.

How did she reach this conclusion? She asked herself, how far will that money go? What can a dollar buy? NOTHING> not even a bottle of water. (Well, maybe half of a big mac.)

If she was giving money to help the man, then she would have at least given him a $5, something that can buy a meal down there.

But she was giving to make HERSELF feel better, and so she admits.

What can we learn from this?

I think it's pretty clear.

Especially now, when we're getting our mishloach manot ready, we need to remember to spend more $$ on matanot l'evyonim.

We need to open our hands for others, not for ourselves. To help them, not just to make ourselves feel 'good.'

We should be matzliach in using these mitzvout of the month to inspire growth in achdut (unity) amongst klal Yisroel. Thus, bring gaula (redemption) and turning yom kiPURIM into PURIM.

Shabbat Shalom,
Kol Tov.