Hello, it's Me. I've been Living under a Rock

 Dear Henry,

      As an outreach, blogging, tweet'n, Facebookin, Insta-grammin, Insta-grannyin' Snoopifyin' rabbi with thousands upon thousands of readers across the vast expanse of the universe, I consider myself to be of the worldly type. Growing up more secular, I can quote you Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and 2pac by heart. I was therefore shocked when I discovered four days ago a new singer who apparently is very popular. Even more popular, claims a friend and colleague who we shall call Barbara, than Britney Spears herself. You see, oh Henry, every Jewish holiday presents an opportunity for spiritual growth and reflection. But now in the era of YouTube, it also provides an abundance of holiday music videos. Usually these videos include very catchy songs that I immediately take a liking to. And until about 6 months ago, I thought these songs were originals composed by the Jewish musicians singing them. But then, when I was at Top Golf a few months ago and one of the songs came on as I was preparing for a monster drive, I got extremely excited with the idea that a large venue like Top Golf plays the Maccabeats to the hundreds of people there, the vast majority of whom are not even Jewish. But then, as I returned to my table after my shot and began sipping my ice cold Blue Moon, I noticed that while the music was similar to the Maccabeats, the words were very, very, very different. It was then that someone explained to me that in fact, it was the Maccabeats who made a parody of this, the original song. The same thing happened to me this past Chanukah-I was enamored with the sheer brilliance of Six13's Watch me Spin my Drei Dei- only to realize that they too made a parody of a very, very different type song by a guy named Silento called "Watch me nay nay."
      With that rather lengthy introduction, I can tell you, my thousands upon thousands of readers world wide what happened last week. Last week I saw literally dozens of my friends posting an Aish.com video called " Adelle/Bieber Passover Mashup." People were literally going crazy over this video, so I thought I would give it a watch. The only thing I knew going into this was that I have a sweet, kind, enormously special relative named Adele who has been a grandmother figure for me throughout my whole life, and that Justin Bieber is a singer who looks like he's straight out of a boy band from the 1990s, who once humbly reflected that Anne Frank was a "great girl" who would have been a huge fan of his. So as I opened up the video I was greeted by the characters from Ten Commandments singing a slow ballad, in a tune that I had never heard in my life. Realizing how excited so many of my friends were getting, I decided to do a little research project, to see if in fact this Aish.com song was based on another song. What I discovered truly astonished me: While I did not identify if in fact Justin Bieber's song is parodied here, I did come to the conclusive conclusion that there is a singer named Adelle who has a song called "Hello" that is the basis for this new Passover video. Upon doing a little more research I landed on the original YouTube video which totally, completely blew my mind. The reason, oh Henry I was so stunned, was that I saw that on the You Tube page, around 1.5 BILLION people had viewed this very video. That is 1.5 BILLION people! And until last week, when aish.com brought it to my attention, I had never even heard of this singer, let alone her apparently, very, very, very popular song! I was stunned.
      After this crazy realization, I did a bit of self reflection: How is it that I had never heard of Adelle, or her song boasting 1.5 billion views? Do I live under a giant rock? Do I live on a remote island devoid of any form of modern technology or other human beings with whom to interact? Am I hermit living in an abandoned house on a prairie? Then I remembered the decision I made over nine years ago, as I prepared to get married to the Better Half. From the day I got married, I made a conscious decision to stop listening to secular non Jewish music, and I also made a decision to cold turkey, stop watching movies. The reason behind this seemingly archaic move on my part is really two fold: For one, the type of music I happened to like listening to was very often about not nice things. Violence, domestic abuse, and the objectification of women. As I began to embark upon my life building a home filled with kedusha, holiness, I realized it would be inappropriate to have these concepts and jingles anywhere in the vicinity of my head. I had to rid myself of it completely. That is why I traded in my Eminem CD for Yeshiva Boys Choir CDs. That's why I exchanged my Ludicrus CD for my Yaakov Shwekey and Simcha Leiner CDs.
        The second reason I abandoned secular music and movies is because as I prepared to start my life as a young husband, I understood that one of my primary job's in life is to take care of, honor, respect and revere my wife. She is my world-- and represents the paradigm of what it means to be a woman, a wife and a mother. As a matter of fact, the Sefer HaChinuch writes, in a phenomenally beautiful manner, how there is a mitzvah we call Shana Rishona. The basic premise behind this mitzah is that a newly married couple spends their entire first year together. The husband is not meant to go to the army, and they are not meant to take vacations apart from one another. The Sefer HaChinuch writes that the reason behind this is so that their natures become unified, and that the newly married husband becomes so used to his wife, that the ways of any other woman on the planet are foreign, and downright bizarre to him. His wife becomes the epitome of a woman. It is for this reason, Henry, that I stopped watching movies and listening to music. I don't need images in my head of other women. Many times Holywood actresses are pretty. I don't need them in my mind. I don't need to compare my wife- in my mind the essence of femininity- to them. Many times secular non Jewish singers like Adelle or Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez have nice voices. I don't need to hear them, and to think of the nice looking person behind the voice. Don't need, or want that imagery in my head. That is why I proudly traded in my Spice Girls CD for my Chevra CD- My Britney CD for my Mordechai Shapiro CD- my Mariah CD for my Mesivta of Waterbury CD.
       I am not here to deny there is an abundance of phenomenal, inspiring music and movies out there-- there clearly is. To those millions of people who enjoy that, G-d bless you all, I bear no ill judgments against you. But for me, there is something so remarkably beautiful about my life underneath a giant rock.

Forever Yours,
Danny Wolfe

What Honeywell Thermostat Company Taught me about Life

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1


Dear Henry,

      I am not one to usually toot my own horn, or even blow my own shofar,  but at the risk of sounding arrogant, I wanted to share with you something I did that I am proud of. You see, last Friday was a rather warm day in the Denver Metro area. We were well into the 70s, approaching the low 80s. When I went into my house I noticed it was uncomfortably hot. It was even hotter than a hot air balloon floating peacefully over an Alaskan Rain-forest. Naturally, I walked over to my Honeywell Thermostat to turn on the air conditioner for the first time all season. And as I tried lowering the temperature to a heavenly 67 degrees, to my chagrin, I remembered that for some mysterious reason my thermostat does not go lower than 72 degrees. As that unfortunate realization set in, I began to accept the fact that I would be spending the upcoming Shabbos shvitzing like a overheated porcupine in the Zimbabwean swamp lands. 

      In a state of sheer desperation, a thought flashed in my head like a bolt of colorful lightening: maybe it would be worth a shot to go ahead and call the kind folks at Honeywell to see if they could help me. Sure enough, oh Henry, that is exactly what I did. After dialing the number I spoke to a man, for anonymity sake we will call Carlos. Carlos patiently listened as I explained the issue. After putting me on hold for two minutes he gave me instructions. I followed his instructions and to my utter delight, I was able to lower my air conditioning as low as I wanted it. Apparently someone in the past had  set it up such that it could not go under 72 degrees, and for many years that was the lowest temperature the thermostat could go-- that was at least until Carlos came to the rescue.

     I genuinely was overwhelmed with joy. I pictured walking in from synagogue the next morning, eager to enter my house to escape the treacherous heat. And I envisioned that blissful feeling one experiences when walking into his colder than ice cold house on a hot summer day. Without thinking, I expressed my joy and satisfaction to Carlos, who was still on the line. I explained to him how happy he made me-- how I didn't think this thermostat issue was fixable without replacing my whole furnace. I told him that I had not experiences such joy since the day the Broncos won the Superbowl. I instinctively asked him if his manager was there so I could tell them how wonderful Carlos was to me. A bit taken aback, Carlos readily obliged and put his manager on the phone. I proceeded to describe in gory detail how helpful he was, and to express how I didn't understand how any human being in their right mind wouldn't turn Honeywell when looking for a new thermostat. 

        Upon hanging up with Carlos's manager, a lady, for the sake of anonymity we will refer to as Chelsea, I heard the furnace kick into full gear. I ran to nearest vent and places my bear hand against it, feeling the ice cold air filling up my house. Basking in joy, I started dancing. I then decided it would be appropriate to take to Twitter. I recall many times reading angry tweets people direct to companies (usually airlines) complaining about the service. I decided to take to Twitter to tweet to my hundreds of followers (you, too, my dear reader can  be included among them by following @dannywolfe1) a happy tweet, praising the Honeywell customer service.

As you can see above, I tweeted, and I know quote, "@honeywell_home I thought my thermostat was busted until your customer service guy saved the day! Great work!" Honeywell then responded, and that's when's I tweeted them the following: 

Honeywell appreciated that, and even gave me a compliment telling me I am "too funny."

    The Talmud tells us a story in Shabbos 31A about a non Jew who wanted to convert. He came before the great Sage Hillel, who told him what he needs to know about Judaism: What is displeasing to you, don't do to your companion-- this is the entire Torah, everything else is merely commentary, Now go learn!
     We see from this a very basic principle that the Torah itself alludes to when it says, "Love your neighbor like you love yourself." What we would want for ourselves we should do to others, and what we wouldn't want for ourselves, we should not to do others. That means that if I wouldn't want an angry customer criticizing me to my boss, I shouldn't be so quick to critique an employee to his boss. If I wouldn't want to be be pushed out of the line for kiddush, I shouldn't push my way to the front of the kiddush line. If I would not want to be spoken about behind my back, I should not speak about others behind their backs. If I would not want the entire audience I am speaking to during a sermon fall asleep, I also, should try my hardest not to fall asleep when other people speak. Conversely, if I would want other people to compliment my efforts to my boss, I should be quick to compliment workers to their boss. If I would want to receive an encouraging comment, I should be quick to give a nice comment. If I would want help shlepping groceries from my car, I should be quick to help others shlep groceries from their car. If I would want company and companionship when frolicking in a Kansas meadow, I should be quick to volunteer my time to friends in need of companionship. If I would want the Better Half to buy me some M&Ms from an Idaho rest stop on a long road trip, I should also be naturally inclined to buy her M&Ms at an Idaho rest stop, even if she didn't ask, and I am not a prophet who knows for sure what she wants without her communicating that to me.
      Many times in life we are quick to see, and point out, the negative in other people. But our Rabbis also teach us that if we want G-d to give us the benefit of the doubt, we sure as heck better give everyone around us the benefit of the doubt as well. There is no doubt that if we take the time to acknowledge the good in G-d's children, G-d, will take the time so to speak,  to acknowledge the good in us as well.

Forever yours,
Danny Wolfe

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1

Kobe Bryant vs. Derek Jeter: It's No Comparison

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1


Dear Henry,
      As the madness of Kobe Bryant's last game wears off, I wanted to share a few reflections. For those of my thousands upon thousands of readers across the vast expanse of the universe who perhaps do not follow the NBA, let me provide some background: At the beginning of this year, Kobe Bryant, undoubtedly one of the greatest NBA basketball players of all time, announced that he would be retiring after the season. Since his announcement, every game he played was part of a grand farewell tour, where people flocked to the games to watch his lousy team play. Fans from all over the country gave him thunderous ovations, acknowledging their appreciation for his contribution to the game of basketball. This week, as his final game approached, Kobe was the talk of the World. His nickname is the Black Mamba, and Twitter declared yesterday, April 13, his last game, to be #MambaDay. Kobe was the talk of all the Sports Talk Shows in the country.
     What I wanted to write to you about today though, is not about Kobe's career. Nor is it about how I personally find the whole Farewell Tour concept that he embraced to be distasteful, as it removes the focus from his team, and places it squarely on himself (in contrast, by the way, with how Peyton Manning walked away from the game.) What I wanted to write, oh Henry, is about a tweet I saw earlier in the week from the one and only Skip Bayless. Skip excitedly announced to his 1.8 million followers that on his show, The First Take, he would be debating with Stephen A Smith on the topic of who had a better career: Kobe Bryant, or Derek Jeter. Upon reading this seemingly innocent inconspicuous tweet, I felt a little bit of my Wheaties start to come up in my mouth. I thought to myself how Skip apparently did not read my brilliant masterpiece blogg about Snoop Dogg. I thought to myself, how truthfully, we can never compare any two people because everyone is so different and has such a unique set of life circumstances. BUT, if we do compare athletes, perhaps it would make sense to compare athletes in the same sport. And if we do compare athletes in the same sport, perhaps it makes sense to compare athletes who play the same position. And if we do compare athletes who play the same position, it makes sense to compare athletes who played in the same era. Thus, perhaps it would make sense to compare Kobe Bryant, a shooting guard, to other great shooting guards in the league at the time, like Dwayne Wade, or maybe even Michael Jordan, who briefly overlapped with Kobe. That, oh Henry, kind of makes sense,
      But to compare Kobe to Derek Jeter? Why do we need to do that? Can't we be content with the notion that they were both legendary athletes in their respective sports? Why can't that be good enough? Why do we need to compare apples with oranges, pickles with ground beef, and pianos with the beautiful tulips in my garden ? Each athlete had a unique role on his respective team, each won five championships, each was enormously successful. Do we say that Kobe was the better athlete since he could nail the three pointer better than Jeter could, or do we say Jeter was better because could snag a ground ball coming to him at short stop? What on earth am I missing? Why do we always have to be comparing people to each other? Why can't we just stop and appreciate each person's inherent worth in and of itself? Why can't we suffice to stop and acknowledge the impact each player had on his own team and sport?
      We need to stop comparing ourselves to others, and we need to stop comparing others to others. Every human being is unique and has a totally unique purpose in this world. We need to hope that each person realizes his/her mission, and becomes the best him/her that he can be. As I alluded to above, and as I quoted on these pages in February, we need to follow the example of Snoop Dogg: We "got to be doin' me. I don't know how to do nobody but me. It's hard doin' you but I could do me very well." 
      As a life long fan of sports, I am tremendously grateful that Kobe Bryant did Kobe Bryant and that Derek Jeter did Derek Jeter. We sports fans could not have asked for anything more.

Forever yours,
Danny Wolfe

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1

Rabbi by Night, Crime Fighter by Day: A Gripping Tale of Keeping our Streets Safe

Tweet


Dear Henry,
       Now that Peyton Manning has retired, I think I will begin referring to you, once again, as Henry.
I wanted to tell you , oh Henry, and my thousands upon thousands upon thousands of readers across the vast expanse of the Universe about my most recent Monday. You see, Henry, a lot of people think that I am just a simple Western, rap appreciating rabbi, and family man. This is true. However, if someone were to attach those labels to me, they would be selling me short. Because in addition to being a rabbi and family man, I am a crime-fighter dedicated to keeping our streets safe. Heck, I am a husky, mean, crime fighting machine.
       And to be totally honest Henry, my crime fighting career did not start this past Monday. It actually started during my short tenure living in Washington Heights. On one occasion, I heard my BFFEEE having a conversation outside my window at around 12:30 AM. Assuming he was getting mugged, I picked up my hammer, and came to his aid. As G-d's providence had it, it happened to be that he was not being mugged, but rather being given directions by a tremendously righteous Hasidic rabbi.
      A few short months later someone made the mistake of stealing my umbrella while I went to pick up my wife before heading out to the A Train. Needless to say, I got that umbrella back. Since then, my crime fighting days have been limited.
      And that brings us to Monday. Usually on Mondays we have a staff meeting at the office at 12:00 PM sharp. However, on this particular Monday, we ended up getting a late start. Usually the Better Half stays for the meeting. However, after my baby woke up, the Better Half decided to head home before the meeting with the baby. And that is when she saw some suspicious activity. You see Henry, as my wife was pulling out of the office she spotted two individuals stretching. Now, if we were at a park, or a bike path, or a football stadium, that would seem normal. But we were on the intersection of two busy streets. She called me and alerted me of the activity, and I took a look for myself. Sure enough, they looked like they were gearing up for a rigorous exercise of fence jumping and running. At this point in time, two memories popped into my head like a cherry pop tart pops out of the toaster. The first memory I had were the posters I constantly saw in my days riding the New York City Subway: If you see something, say something. The second memory I had was reading about a slew of home break ins specifically in the neighborhood I saw these individuals walking to. With those two vivid memories in mind, I told the Better Half to call the Police. And by golly, its a good thing we did, because when they returned to the car with a backpack filled of stolen goods, the Cops were there to greet them. You see, at TJE we don't just educate; we keep our streets safe.
       In analyzing this incident I tried to come to an understanding of how this incident provides us profound wisdom for life. And I think the first, very important lesson is that we are meant to live our lives with our eyes wide open, observant to the world around us. Every morning while passing the cherry blossoms, do I stop to admire them, or do I just walk past them, oblivious to everything around me? When frolicking in a Kansas meadow do I look down to savor the dandelions, or I frolic right over them as if they were not even there? As the great Rabbi Avigdor Miller once observed, " If the happiness of life passes by unnoticed, it also passes by un-enjoyed."  G-d gave us a magnificent world that, if ever we stopped to appreciate, we would be rendered speechless.
        Another profound life lesson that emerges from all of this is what we call Hashgacha Pratis: G-d is running the world in a very deliberate, purposeful fashion. Yes, at the time it was a little annoying we were starting the meeting late. Yes, it was a bummer my littlest Princess was waking up before the meeting started, promising a difficult meeting ahead. Yes, I was depressed the Better Half was leaving and I wouldn't be able to spend the next hour with her. But if not for one of those factors--those apparent 'coincidences,' these criminals would still be on our streets, robbing our homes. As the famous quote goes, "coincidences are G-d's way of remaining anonymous."
       Additionally, the mantra "If you see something, say something" has a place in (some) of our daily interactions. To apply it to our daily lives, I would emend it to "If you see something good, say something!" For example, if I come home, and supper is on the table, I can A) assume the Better Half is a prophetess and knows how grateful I am for the scrumptious supper she worked so hard to make for me, or, B) I can say thank you to her for her love, time and effort in taking care of me. We can assume people know our warm fuzzy feelings about them, or we can go ahead and tell them, and acknowledge their hard work on our behalf. I can assume that my colleagues know how grateful I am for their help, or I can tell them.
     
         Forever Yours,
         Danny Wolfe

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Shul

Follow @DannyWolfe1

Tweet

Dear Peyton,
      I first feel the need to apologize to my thousands upon thousands of readers world-wide for not writing for a long time. To be totally honest, I have been too busy basking in the orange and blue glow of the aftermath of the Broncos Super Bowl Victory to feel compelled to write a new blogg post. But that all changed this morning. Because a funny thing happened on the way to synagogue. You see, dear Peyton, it was about 6:29 AM this morning, and as I hurriedly got out of my car,  my jaw dropped. I could not help but notice one of the most magnificent sunrises in recent memory. Usually when I observe a sunrise, I focus on the sun making its entrance into the vast sky from the Eastern Horizon. But today, as I was naturally headed west-bound as I approached my shul, I was looking at the western part of the sky, which contained one of the most beautiful clouds I have ever seen in my life. I was glad I had my camera handy, and I snapped a few pictures, and went on my way to my daily morning meeting with G-d.
      During my meeting with G-d I was able to reflect on an incredibly profound lesson from that experience. The first thing I realized was how grateful I was that I was awake to witness that surreal sunrise. And I thought to myself that, as a result of my being awake every morning, I pretty regularly am able to bask at the beauty of the vast colorful Colorado morning sky. And I thought to myself, how bad I feel for all of those people who never get to experience this because they are sleeping, or inside, or are otherwise too busy. And I realized, that unfortunately, this is a phenomenon that occurs in many other spheres of our lives. How many times do we miss out on a profound experience because we were either sleeping or too busy distracted with something else? I am embarrassed to admit how many times my Better Half has called my attention to something ridiculously cute my baby was doing, which I had been missing until that point because I was reading about how Marshawn Lynch has been spending his retirement rapping on camels in Egypt, (for more on Marshawn check this out), some absurd comments Donald Trump had made, or what he was tweeting about chockers and "little Marcio."
      I also reflected how, ironically, sometimes we miss out on experiences because we are too busy trying to capture them. I specifically remember this past summer, as I was hiking near a magnificent waterfall in the Golan Heights in Israel. I deliberately left my phone on the bus, so as not to risk breaking it. As we came out of the hike after a late afternoon swim in a natural spring of water, we were treated to a surreal Bronco orange and blue sunset. I instinctively tried to grab my phone to snap some pictures, but quickly remembered my phone was on the bus. With no other choice, I stopped what I was doing, and admired G-d's masterful handiwork. I experienced His magnificent sunset. And it was specifically because I do not have any pictures of that sunset, that I will remember it vividly for the rest of my life.
     All of us have the opportunity to experience profoundly magnificent events every day of our lives. The question is if we will wake up, and actually do so.

Forever Yours,
Danny Wolfe

Tweet

Life Lessons from Snoop: We are all Broncos

Follow @DannyWolfe1

Tweet


Dear Peyton,

         If ever Snoop Dogg, formerly "Snoop Lion" and "Snoop Doggy Dogg"decides to quit the rap game, he would do quite well to consider a career as a sports reporter. To call a spade a spade, Snoop was simply brilliant today in his reporting for the Rich Eisen Show. His question to Peyton Manning about trying to obtain a fifty percent discount at Papa John's was on point, as was his question whether or not Peyton consults with his legendary family members who also played the quarterback position. What's the secret to Snoop's success as a reporter? Said Snoop, profoundly, "Me, doin' me, I don't know how to do no body but me. Its hard doin' you but I could do me very well."

         How deep and wise these words are. Despite the fact that there are about seven billion people on this planet, not one of them is the same as me. I am totally unique; I have a unique physical appearance, unique opinions, unique thoughts and a unique role. No two individuals on this planet are the same, and this is as G-d intended it. Yet so often, people spend their lives trying to be people that they are not. They look around at other people around them, and say, "if only I had a house as big as Patricia has, I would be soooo happy! Or if only I could be outgoing like Rosemary, everything would be better in my life!"

        This attitude is a recipe for a life filled with misery. In order to live a true meaningful life we need to get to know ourselves very well, and be the best us that we can be. G-d gave each and everyone of us unique talents and character traits. It is our job in the 120 years we are on this earth to cultivate those talents and traits and to fulfill our unique G-d given mission in this world. Just like it would have been absurd for Snoop to try to approach his interviews as if he was Al Michaels, it would be equally absurd if I approached my life as if I was anyone other than Daniel Martin Wolfe. The Broncos are not going to win the Super Bowl because they all are trying to be Peyton Manning. They are going to win the Super Bowl because they all understand that they have a unique role and mission on the team. We too, must understand that we are all Broncos in the ultimate game of life. If we understand our mission and our strengths, just like the Broncos, we will thrive beyond belief. 

Forever Yours,

Danny Wolfe

Tweet

Follow @DannyWolfe1

We can all Win the Powerball

Dear Peyton,

      I admittedly purchased a Powerball ticket two days ago after filling up my gas tank with some pure, cheap, Rocky Mountain gasoline. As I looked to my left at the gas station I noticed they were advertising selling Powerball tickets. At the time the winner was promised one billion dollars. I thought to myself, while it is true and undeniable that my odds in winning are about one in three hundred million, what the heck, if the Almighty wants me to win, I sure as heck will.

     And then, naturally I started contemplating what I would do with a cool billion in my pocket. Would I quit my job and travel the world? Would we move to Israel on the spot? Would I donate all my money to saving the whales? But then I thought more about it and I realized that I wouldn't do anything drastic. I love my job, so I wouldn't be going anywhere, and my family and I are very happy people so we wouldn't be making any abrupt changes. I would keep it simple, pay off my mortgage, and college loans, buy a second car and install a garage into my house. I probably would also buy a home in Israel that we'd visit for the holidays each year, and that would basically be it. 

      After fantasizing about these luxuries for a few minutes I reflected on an incredible lecture I have heard several times by a friend and mentor named Rabbi M. Rabbi M speaks at great length about the topic of happiness and how fortunate we are living in this world. For example if G-d forbid I was blind, but had the opportunity to pay for an expensive surgery to restore my sight, what dollar amount would that be worth for me?  Would I pay a million? Ten million? More?

Or if someone offered me fifty million dollars for the opportunity to remove my eyes would I take it? After all, I could then afford to go travel and explore the world. But is it worth being able to forfeit my eyes for the sake of traveling the world if I cannot see the landscape that I am exploring? Or if someone offered me millions of dollars for my two legs, would I sell them? Would it be worth it?
Or how about someone in need of my two kidneys? Would I give them both up, for a few million dollars if it meant I would have to live my life going through dialysis, being unable to process waste on my own? Or what if G-d forbid a person was suffering through a life threatening illness, and only a 75 million dollar surgery could save his life? If he wasn't blessed with having the 75 million dollars, how far would a person go to come up with those funds? And if he was blessed with those 75 million dollars, would he decide it wasn't worth giving up the 75 million to save his life?
      The Torah teaches, "Who is rich? The one who is happy with his lot." It thus emerges, dear Peyton, that with only a little thought exercise, we can come to an appreciation for how unbelievably rich and blessed each and everyone of us are. The mere fact that we are alive is worth hundreds of millions to us, how much more so if G-d has blessed us with sight, hearing, use of our limbs, a body that processes waste, the ability to walk, a loving family or community? If G-d blesses me with a billion and a half dollars, there is no doubt, I will be one happy man. However let's not kid ourselves; I don't need to win this silly lottery to be able to bask in the immense wealth with which G-d has blessed me.

Forever yours,
Danny Wolfe