Proper response to the Beyonce reaction

At the NFL half time, Beyonce came out with a song and video that honors her heritage and turned it into an entertainment piece.  Here it is:



People became so outraged.  It's almost fascinating to see how the veil is kinda slipping off the head and truth is being revealed in such a blatant manner.

Here is  a good response to all the haters...




It's really worth it to understand that what the media gives you is not always the truth...The portray the Black Panthers and Malcolm X as such violent people, but if you actually learn the truth about them, you will see there wasn't much violence going on.  True, one Black Panther member was accused of killing a cop, but he was later acquitted.  Malcolm X was very pro-Black and that was portrayed as a grave danger.

The media has its own agenda...

Musings: Wizard of Oz, More on Truth, Imagination

As always, I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short. lol.

I get ideas and insights.  But because I'm so far behind, basically starting from scratch, the ideas and insights that I get are stuff many others already know and wrote books about.  If only I knew to read those books, i wouldn't have to wait for the blessings of these insights. But then again I wouldn't even know to look for them until after I get the insights. So there you have it.

Yay!!! yet another mental block has been removed from my mind. Without the use of drugs lol.

It just occurred to me that the movie, "The Wizard of Oz" is quite kabbalistic! There is the world of thought, the world of speech and the world of action.  In the world of thought, we have the scarecrow who fears he doesn't have a brain, when all he needed was validation.

Then we have Tin Man who had heart trouble -the world of speech. O! I have to see the movie again.

Last we have the lion who has no balls.  But in the movie, of course, they say he doesn't have courage.

There you have it: Daat -- Tiferet -- Yesod. they need to all say "mmmmm" and mediate and correct their Malchut.  Which the Wizard helps them with.

After all that, of course I had to go on the internet to see who also had these ideas: Here's such a website

Wonder with the Wizard of Oz

Very nice. Praises to G-d for these insights.

Although I wrote a bit on truth on a different post, i'd like to explore more of it.  So going back to the concept of world of thought, speech, and action.  I think each world has truth in it. And people who don't like truth gave it special, ugly names.

In the world of action, we have the dirty truth about what someone did.
In the world of speech, we have the naked truth of how someone feels.
In the world of thought, we have .... I don't have a word for it yet..  but a way that blocks associations -and thus the imagination.

For example: in America, there is constant, constant propaganda to lead us to believe that blue eyes and blond hair is the mark of beauty. Anything else is just not an option.  Almost every commercial stars some blond blue eyed girl, every pamper bag had some blond blue eyed baby picture on it, every bag, paper, can, bottle, commercial, billboard what have you, more than not, will have some blond blue eyed person selling this.  Its almost enough to close our mind to the possibility that maybe green eyes are beautiful too? that brown eyes are beautiful? that black eyes are beautiful? that brown hair, curly hair is beautiful, etc.  That whole door gets closed -which means a whole slew of associated thoughts are closed off from us.

This must be fought. Maybe some may take drugs to burst open these doors. I say Torah!

Black Jews

Just musing...

There is an interesting phenomenon going on.  There are many Black Jews in existence... and ever increasing. However, there is a great disunity going on within that "community."  Disunity in the sense that many speak of wanting a shul together and yet, it is too hard to do... they speak of social events to participate in and that ends up being a strain on the organizers (trying to encourage people to come and contribute).

All this, when the Hebrew Israelites, people of "the Kingdom" etc seem very organized...so much so that they are traveling across the globe to Africa spreading their beliefs.

As the saying goes...

"Falsehood can get half way across the world before Truth can get its pants on!"

And why is that?

Just to backtrack, I want to look at the Black community in general.  I think there are alot of holy sparks there...but scattered.  We have been encouraged to think that we are lowly and nothing, etc., thus, with the amazing snowball effect occurring, Black folks have taken it upon their own selves to make sure each one knows that they are lowly and shouldn't raise their heads too high or expect to deserve anything. (there are exceptions of course) This is done out of training, out of protection that their loved ones aren't seen as "uppity," partly out of habit, and maybe partly out of not wanting to exert the effort to bring about positive changes and yet not wanting another to show us down either.

But nevertheless there ARE the holy sparks --plain as day-- all around.  And these sparks need to be elevated.  Every group has their share of holy sparks.  For Black folks you can feel it in the music, in the way many flock to the church as their center point-Madea definitely picked up on that one.  It is also seen in the fact that, until recently, a Black athiest was an oddity.

However these holy sparks are fallen.  Scattered on the floor and stepped on without people knowing that they are holy.  And some sparks being picked up but held backwards or upside down -such as listening to the loudest loud mouth.  Or being overly criticizing constantly.  Yes, you can spot a firey person with their "words of coals."  But still one must pay attention to what is being said; just because it's loud doesn't make it right.

The mandingo myth attributed to Black folks once upon a time.  Why? Interestingly there is a connection to sexuality and spirituality... the way the Bible explains how someone KNEW his wife...there is a connection to  knowing and sexuality. And knowing, knowledge, true wisdom is of the wisdom of Hashem.

A more ugly example is the gang rapes that occur, the trains, even that can be seen as a spark gone very wrong.

And in the Black churches, the members are so devoted you would think this was always their religion! They so took it to another level.

So what to do with these shards of holiness?  How to help those to see them laying about and to pick them up the right way? And since many are not Jewish, is it even up to them to pick up those sparks? Perhaps its just up to the Jews to reach out in that direction for the sake of those sparks waiting to be elevated?

I want to note that these "shards" are considered holy in Judaism, but I can not speak for other religions. So from the point of view of other religions these may not be holy sparks at all!

There are religions that are close to Judaism --not quite Judaism yet-  but a sort of stepping stone for some or a permanent dwelling place for others.  Hebrew Israelites, Messianics, Kingdom, Commandment Keepers, etc and so forth.  They may at least recognize the shards.

For those Black folks who choose Judaism either at bar mitzvah or upon conversion, among them still many would rather not see these sparks or not do anything about it. Even in the Black & Jewish community, I see folks speaking in the same "keepin' it real" way, but not saying anything different.  In debates, folks still try to talk down or insult others as a means of winning the argument, and most interestingly, many prefer to include amongst themselves Heb. Israelites and others simply because they are black and not necessarily because they share the same values.

At times I wonder if the reason Black Jews don't want to spread their wings or create their own shuls, or help communities in Africa, etc is they would rather enjoy the rich Jewish life --which is plentiful. Lots of holidays, the family or shul is the focus, one can be very busy with mitzvoth, with hitbodedut, with building one's own malchut (kingship).

Another possible factor is that perhaps there is a fear of maris ayin --the appearance of doing wrong.  With the many wayward groups of Black folks disgracing the Black community, I wonder of some are afraid that doing something that appears "too black" may have the scent of maris ayin?



At any rate, whatever the reason may be, there are still the holy sparks to be picked up, brushed off, and made to shine. B'ezrat Hashem (G-d willing) soon.


(and then there are the instigators that dwell among us, who wouldn't care one way or another about a topic really, but will run with the loudest idea just to appear knowledgeable or tough or I don't really know)

Truth and Faith

I don't know if this is the case in the non-Jewish world, but in the Jewish world (in particular, in Breslov), women are compared to Faith and men are compared to Truth.

Well, I sometimes think this is also the case with Black Folks as well. BF are like Faith ,and truth is attracted to Faith.

Unfortunately, there are alot of ugly truths in the world. Many people are haters, they are cruel and hurtful.

If this is true,  then no wonder we constantly get bigots in our faces, etc.

So where do we go for Truth, the real good kind? How do we make sure that we, Faith, encounter more often than not,  the godly Truth?

Those who light their seven candles with clean, good oil, will have a shining countenance. They will also be able to receive and distinguish godly Truth. Those who think they're about truth will only seek Justice and will despise faith (they'll be attracted to and come to Faith, and yet hate her).

"Justice will be the belt around his waist. Faithfulness will be the belt around his hips." (Isaiah 11:5)

Justice and Faith seem to both go in the same place, a belt around the waist. So what's the difference between the two? According to Rebbi Nachman of Breslov, in his Likutey Moharan, lesson #7, they are both forms of judgements. The difference is that in justice, there is no mercy. Who ever does wrong is punished, ostracized, shamed. Whereas (true) Faith comes from a godly Truth which inserts mercy. Here, whoever does wrong deserves punishment, nevertheless, for the good that has been accumulated by that person, the punishment is reduced. So, mercy is the deciding factor. In the godly Truth there is the element of mercy; in justice there is no room for mercy.

So, if we are Faith and we come across someone who thinks himself righteous and is all about justice, he may say hurtful things because he thinks we deserve it. As opposed to someone who is about godly Truth, and even though if he were to judge, he would see perhaps we have a flaw or two, he would also see our accumulated goodness and come to a Truth which includes mercy. He would see us in a more balanced way.

(This reminds me of the story of Noah. Noah was righteous and just. Meaning, he was okay with the world going down and drowning with minimal protest on his part because he felt they deserve it. They did wrong and their punishment must be metted out. Finished.  As long as he and his family could get in that ark and shut the door behind themselves, he was fine.  He was so justice oriented, that when his grandson, Canaan did wrong, rather than giving him reparations to do -as God would- instead he cursed Canaan.  Compare this to Moses, a humble man. Time and time again he put up with the grievance of the Jewish people. He worked tirelessly to bring everyone to the light of the Holy One, Blessed be He because he had mercy on them all. We can even compare Noah to Abraham who, upon hearing of the eminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, pleaded to God, "what of there were 50 good people still in the land? What if there were 40? 30?" and so on and so forth.He cared and showed mercy.)

So, to ask the question differently, How can we, Faith, attract godly Truth more often? Instead of the Noahs of the world, how can we attract the Moses and the Abrahams??

I guess we can only check the candles. Is Mr. Truth's candles bright and shining? Ears. Does he enjoy listening to rantings of bigots and haters? Or does he prefer non-hurtful, pleasant music? Does he listen to positive people? Eyes. Does he read trash? Does his eyes roam? Nose. Does he flare up with anger quickly? Is he forever waiting to "exhale" (i.e. is he always releasing emission on some poor unfortunate girl i.e. is he immoral)? Mouth. Does he lie all the time? Does he speak truth?

That is about as much as we can do. We can't peer into anyone's heart, so we just have to settle for what he consumes and puts out. Through this, hopefully, Faith can meet with Truth and holy sparks will fly!