From Your Mouth To G-d's Ear, New Abbreviated Version

By Don Yakov Ben Shalom

The New Abbreviated Version of From Your Mouth To G-d's Ear is the same as the original save for the middle and later chapters of that book dealing with Ones and Threes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Don Yakov Ben Shalom
• Release date: May 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311025210

Don Yakov Ben Shalom

Don Yakov Ben Shalom is a retired Professional Fire Lieutenant and Paramedic and now, thank the One Above, a published author. He lives in a home that was built before the American Civil War, in a city that was established 100 years before the American Revolution and that is four minutes by foot from Temple B'nai Israel.His lovely wife Dena is an over-achiever, his Aishes Chayil, an accomplished woman. She has her Masters in Reading Education, is contemplating a Doctorate, teaches full time, tutors part time and is also a published author, vice president of our local Toast Masters and an accomplished seamstress and award winning quilter.He and Dena parent Don Yakov 's sons and on occasion, his daughter. When able, they travel to Florida and visit Dena's three married daughters, her three strapping sons-in-law and her very cool one and two year old grandsons, her lovely three month and 13 month old grand daughters, and three wonderful step grandkids, thank the One Above again.

Book preview

From Your Mouth To G-d's Ear

The Path To Happiness, Success And Satisfied Desires

By DonYakov BenShalom

New Abbreviated Version

Copyright DonYakov BenShalom 2007-2014

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Illustrations:

Ch. 9 Bar Mitzvah Boy by Frank Hopper, 1970. Ch. 11 George Washington by N.C.Wyeth. Cover art by Don Yakov Ben Shalom

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part One: I am so blessed, you can be too

Chapter 1 A Little Background

Chapter 2 Something from Nothing

Chapter 3 Words...Just Words...

Chapter 4 We Can Rebuild Him, We Can Make Him Better.

Chapter 5 Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Chapter 6 Real Estate 101 Location, Location, Location

Chapter 7 Go East Young Man

Chapter 8 I put together a job for you.

Chapter 9 Temple B'nai Israel

Chapter 10 Some Direction

Chapter 11 Think Good, and It Will Be Good!

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

In these times, we are allowed and duty-bound to reveal this wisdom.

Regarding the secrets of the Torah

Rabbi Isaac Luria (The Ari 1534-1572)

Preface

This book had gone the way of many unfinished works. For whatever reason, loss of interest, increase in distractions, fatigue, life...I had not written for a while. It had started out as a tell-all about how awful my ex was and how wronged I had been by the court. I had some great chapters written and chocked full of juicy divorce dirt I was going to dish up for your consumption.

Then the laptop I had this masterpiece stored on crashed. Those chapters are now safe and sound, cached and collected, cold stored at an average year round temperature of 70 degrees in my basement in a hard drive that will probably never again boot up. I debated rewriting it from memory, but it did not happen, thank the One above. That's probably a good thing for reasons laid out in Chapter 10 below.

Then, after the book sat dormant for several more months I met Rabbi Ascher Crispe.

I transported this brilliant young man from his home outside Philadelphia to the Medford Community Center in New Jersey. He gave an impressive lecture on a fraction of the myriads of innovations occurring in the physical world today and how they were relevant to his Doctorate.

I was privileged to speak with him for the hour it took to get to the lecture and then again on the return trip. Prior to picking him up I had skimmed his lecture promotion page on the web. I missed the relevance to this book thinking he was speaking in spiritual terms understandable to only the most learned rabbis. I am just the driver.

My lovely wife Dena yelled after me as I ran out, You are really going to enjoy that lecture. I had no idea what she was talking about. She too had read the promotion page and made the connection.

As soon as Rabbi Crispe got in the van he showed himself to be an affable, pleasant man. He had a wonderful knack for explaining the most technologically complex as well as the loftiest spiritual concepts in a readily understandable way. Even for the driver.

Not five minutes in the van, I realized what Dena was referring to. I was sitting next to a guy who could quote from memory what Sages knew millennia ago; and now the subject of this book, that G-d recreates the world every moment of every day and He does this using our thoughts and words; and that we have a great deal of control over the input, the data and even the output; the result.

He told me this as I was myself experiencing this same phenomenon. And I related this to the Rabbi. He then explained how important it is that I write this book and urged me to finish it. He cited his reason from a Midrash, an ethic, which said it was indeed my duty.

My paraphrasation of what the Rabbi said is that every Jew has a book, thought, lesson, insight or even a single letter to add to what is tantamount to fulfilling the Torah on earth. If a Jew does not provide his morsel to his brethren then he is a "Ganneff"; a thief. He has stolen a priceless piece of the puzzle.

It is not enough for one to feel spiritually enlightened, warm and elevated. One must use their own spiritual fire and enthusiasm, to make an effort to kindle the candle/soul of another by bringing them also closer to G-d and His Torah and Mitzvot.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber of Lubavitch Ref1

I found in my research it is not only an obligation of the Jew. Both the obligation and the opportunity are available to the world.

Moses Marmonides, a twelfth century sage also known as the Rambam, wrote that the entire world will wish to know the secrets that were given to the Jews. Quoting the Prophet he wrote:

Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of G-d and to serve G-d (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder. Ref2

The Rambam continued;

"How is this? The entire world had become filled with the issues of the anointed one and of the Torah and the Laws, and these issues had spread out unto faraway islands and among many nations uncircumcised in the heart, and they discuss these issues and the Torah's laws." Ref3

So with this in mind; that the entire world had a potential interest in what I wanted to write; the coincident meeting Rabbi Crispe and the kick start he gave me at around the same time I experienced a phenomenon that literally changed my life: I resumed writing.

Introduction

This book deals with a phenomenon that I experienced after being crushed in a Child Custody Hearing.

The court had been misled and ordered me to attend Anger Management classes for 26 weeks. It also ordered that my parenting time be reduced from every other two weeks to just eight days a month.

The divorce itself was five years prior with its motions and counter motions, the expense, pain and dirt. It was no picnic.

At the time, I was a fire officer and paramedic and possessed a very high threshold to physical pain. But to the emotional stress of the divorce and from being away from my kids, I was a basket case.

But compared to my friends' and my new wife's experiences however, my six-month-long divorce was a walk in the park.

Like many others, I had a choice of dealing with it via drugs, alcohol, etc. I was fortunate in that I chose to throw myself into my faith.

I had cried out to G-d and I believe He answered me and directed me onto this path.

He caused me to meet a Chasid, a kind, pious man named Stu Holzkenner at the Chabad in Oakland Park Florida, in the course of my Shule hopping. A Shule is a synagogue. Chabad is an acronym for Chachma, wisdom, Bina, understanding and Daat, knowledge. It is an Orthodox outreach to Jews. Ref4

Stu told me he had been a New York City bartender. He now had a beautiful young wife and the long black beard, white shirt, black hat, pants and shoes that are the custom of these very observant Jews. He let me borrow a Chumash, a Bible containing the five books of Moses in Hebrew with English translation and commentary.

Chumash is also how you say five in Hebrew.

I believe my merely picking up that book began a series of events that allowed me to co-parent my children in spite of the divorce, and shower me with countless other blessings along the way. It also eventually led me to the phenomenon.

In return for His hearing my cry, I started to try to teach myself to understand Hebrew. I felt I owed that at the very least to G-d. There was not an