The phone rang on the eve of Rosh Hashana...

It was a woman....
a very soft spoken woman....
I asked what she was calling about...
And she said, "God knows what you did for your mother"...
"God knows how you've honoured your parents"
"how you've obeyed his commandments"....
The crazy thing was that I was 1 block away from my mom's place when the call came....
I was stunned....
Who was this woman ?, I asked...
There was no response....
"God loves you", she went on...
"He will not forsake you"...
"He will care for you magnificently for all the days of your life"....
I had pulled the car over, sobbing, thanking her....
She hung up, said, "God bless you"...
I went to my mom's...
I told her the story...
Tears welled up in her old, tender eyes....
"You see", she said through the tears....
"I always told you, Honey, that God will NEVER leave you"....
My friends, I can tell you with absolute certainty,
 that I experienced a Miracle on that day....

G'mar Chatimah Tovah....

May this coming year END the cycle of Karmic Backlash for once and for all...
May the slate be wiped CLEAN as we enter the next stage of our lives...
May all things superfluous, superficial,
take their appropriate place at the BOTTOM of our list of priorities...
May our relationships PROSPER as a result of our new, enlightened ability to EMPATHIZE....
May ALL things  EXTERNALLY BEAUTIFUL be directly reflective of INTERNAL GOODNESS...
May our families and friends be blessed,
not ONLY with esteemed, good health and happiness...
but with a TRULY REFINED, MORAL COMPASS...
and a GRAND APPRECIATION of lessons learned....
And finally....
May LUCK ,OPPORTUNITY,
and the ABILITY to SEIZE and RECOGNIZE them as such....
 be forever ingrained into our MINDS and HEARTS....

G'mar Chatimah Tova,
Toby Gotesman Schneier

Choices....Consequences therein...

Is it safe to say that EACH choice comes with a cadre of consequences ?
Must everything in life liken itself to A+B=C ?
Is there such thing as a
"SOLID DECISION TO ACT"
 that comes with a PROPER GUARANTEE
of  'only'
 LOLLIPOPS and SUNSHINE and FLUFFY, WHITE COMFORTERS ?
Do the CONSEQUENCES live up to the ORIGINAL issue ?
Does the PUNISHMENT befit the CRIME ?
How do we KNOW what to do ??!
What makes one person 'wishy washy'...indecisive...weak...
while the OTHER person is QUICK on the uptake....
IMPULSIVE.....a RISK TAKER ?
Which is the ultimate BETTER position ?
Can CHOCOLATE be eaten with CUCUMBER SALAD ?
 ""TOUT ENSEMBLE""  ??
Just asking......

Missy and Max sat on the steps of the Old Bank.....

smoking cigarettes,,,,
eating Hershey's Kisses....
Canoodling......
while the aromas of tobacco....and chocolate....and wet lips....
 wafted through the sublimely, humid air....
One could only IMAGINE what thoughts were taking form in Max's boy ish/man ish mind...
Well...truth be told....
one only need take a GANDER at Max to see EXACTLY what was UP !!
LOLOL
And Missy, well...
She was SMITTEN....
He was SO DIFFERENT...
SO FAMILIAR...
SO HOT !!!
Yup...
These two would have MANY "Illicit THOUGHTS" to beg pardon for on these
coming HIGH HOLY DAYS....
Well...
after all...
This was the NATURE of the BEAST, wasn't it ???

So it goes like this....

You happen across a person along your multi-directional path....
Whomever they may be....
No matter...
a Doctor....a Newspaper Guy....a Clerk at the local supermarket...etc.
And this person strikes a CHORD within you....
and you can FEEL it immediately....
a FAMILIAR chord....
someone you seem to KNOW...
but NOT....
perhaps a past life relative, spouse....
and you KNOW that THEY KNOW it too...
and you dance around the great, big ELEPHANT in the room...
because there are simply NO WORDS to assign to this weirdly familiar meeting....
And things begin to HAPPEN...
Strange, Inexplicable things....
And you KNOW FULL WELL that they are happening as a result of this COUPLING...
And there is really no CATEGORY for this Odd, Metaphysical Relationship...
just a profound sense of HEALING mixed with perhaps a MODICUM of LUST...
You really must PONDER this NON-COINCIDENTAL meshing of souls...
For therein lieth the secrets of TRUE ABUNDANCE....
of MANIFEST DESTINY...

KARMA's Inevitable Cycle...

The School of Gergievian Philosophy.....
 (the ultimate school of PRACTICAL APPLICATION!)
suggests that KARMA runs a course of 7 years...
Meaning that ....

"deeds unwarranted, undeserved",
which are 'carried out' by a person...

will most certainly reap a 7 YEAR period of  PAYBACK....

So...
If you find yourself utterly and continuously behind the proverbial "8 BALL",
a ''metamorphasized manifestation" of  BAD LUCK...
you may want to examine the deeds done on your part,

precipitating this HEAVILY TAXING period... 

The really INTERESTING thing about this UNIVERSAL TRUTH...

is that the ACT, DEED, etc....

is INITIALLY the result of some form of our human descent into ANIMAL TERRITORY...

It was NOT thought out clearly....

NOT examined, so to speak....

And we know FULL WELL what is said about...

"The Unexamined Life"...
(just not worth it)....

What am I saying here with all this pseudo-esoteric HOO HAA ???
Simply this....
When you find yourself perpetually asking,
"WHY ME?"
take inventory 7 years back...
EXAMINE the LEDGER of "Checks and Balances" leading up to this
"UNBEARABLE TIME"....
You will SEE ,,
with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY,,
the ERROR of your ways....
You will also see.....
 the LIGHT at the end of the TUNNEL of your OWN Nonconformity....

Do we perhaps go TOO far ??

Does 'commemorating' a specific event
have the same connotation as 'memorializing' said event?
Do people go too far with regard to sensationalizing certain kinds of TRAGIC occurrences ?
Painful , Horrible CALAMITIES....
indelibly etched into their souls,,,,
 regardless of POMP or CIRCUMSTANCE....
When does DRAMA warrant its own 'sacred verarcity' ?
And when is ENOUGH ENOUGH ?
Is there a 'statute of limitations' on pain ?
Do we WANT to REMEMBER the details ?
Does remembering make it BETTER ?
Does remembering PRECLUDE it from RE OCCURRING ?
Should we build MONUMENTS as a reminder of the TRAGEDY  ?
or,,,
Are TWO, STOIC  BEAMS OF LIGHT so much more POIGNANT and POWERFUL ?
Of course, the people who perished should be
MEMORIALIZED and CELEBRATED and MOURNED....
But...
Should the EVENT be treated in the same PROFOUND manner ?
Do people simply go TOO FAR ?

She had walked through those days in early September...

haunted by the memory of that FATAL morning....
haunted even by the SMELL of the EXPLOSIONS....
as if it had occurred just a moment before...
10 years had passed...
10 years of FEAR and RESENTMENT and RACISM and MOSQUES...
of BURKAS and SUICIDE BOMBERS....
of SHARIA this and ALLAH that...
10 years of the THREAT of TERROR poking its nose around every corner....
around every bend...
Perhaps it was not a CONCENTRATION CAMP they were living in per se...
But it was surely a PRISON reality all the same...
Waiting ALWAYS for the other shoe to drop...
HATRED had emerged STRONG from that MESS of BLOOD and GUTS and SINEW and RUBBLE...
from that catastrophic haze of  SMOKE and BURNING FLESH....
She would never forget the scene that afternoon....
thousands of people walking up the avenues...
THE WALKING DEAD....

They had taken the 'then' baby to the park....
The other parents had done the same...
in a WEAK ATTEMPT at some modicum of normalcy...
as the throngs of New Yorkers continued by on their death march....

EVERYTHING had changed on that day...
irreparably...irrevocably....

She shivered as the images took shape yet again in her mind's eye....

The Spinsters and the Divorcees Descended the Hampton Jitney....

one by one....
in a SOLID string of madras plaid, bronzer,  and high heeled flip flops////////
looking....ummmm...
Hopeful ???
Nope...
They had looked 'hopeful' at the conclusion of Memorial Weekend...
But this particular Monday of Labor Day...the END of Summer...
they actually appeared somewhat 'defeated'...
for their SEARCH for the PERFECT MAN had weathered yet another Haute Season...
without CLOSURE....without CONSUMMATION....
Well, perhaps there had been SOME level of consummation...LOL
but not the 'beginning of a relationship' type!
Nope...
They would ALL have to 'WOMAN UP'
and invest in the Charity Dinner Circuit for ONE MORE season...
They would SURELY meet their 'Prince Charming' at one of the 'exhalted' affairs....
Well...Wouldn't they ??

Suffering in Security or Weathering Through the Uncertainty ?

Which is the better choice ?

Is entrapment in your present CAGE....

 knowing FULL WELL that ""THIS""

 is the BEGINNING and the END of your miserable, compromised existence....

SUPERIOR to...

taking a GIGANTIC leap of faith into the vulnerable and potentially 'threatening' unknown ?

Is it more advisable to STAY COMPLACENT ??

(Well, actually NOT complacent, but rather, lets call it 'UNHAPPILY RESOLUTE')...

or

Is the adventure and calling of the unknown future,

 (the essential COMMITMENT to following the heart),

the BETTER alternative ?

Someone once said ,

"You are nothing but a PRISONER, in a cage made of GOLDEN BARS..."

It struck me THEN....all those years ago....

And it continues to RING TRUE even today....

Can we shrug off known SECURITY .....

 EXFOLIATE the present "dead cells"....

and LAND in the RESULTING, NEW territory ....UNSCATHED ???

The Power of the Green Candle...

Ferries and Mosquitoes and Angels.....

twirled and sparkled and danced

 around the circumference of the

 POWERFUL, GREEN CANDLE...

The BLOND girl had carved it....

(And when the BLOND girl carved, the EARTH SHOOK!)

In its smokey, fiery, "SEEMING" vicissitude....

one could actually make out VISIONS....

blurry , yet CLEAR,

visions...

of a family....sitting at a table....

eating what looked like CHERRIES....

However, the cherries were indeed BLUE....

STILL,,,,one KNEW that they were cherries...

There was a PALM TREE in the corner of the room...(in the vision)

The dog, however, (in reality),

 was sleeping near the GREEN CANDLE....

The dog shivered....

Mystics say that dogs pick up METAPHYSICAL waves....

unseen to the human eye....

And the whimsical smoke had the heady AROMA of "SAPPHIRE"....

And so it went....