The Tomb Video

The world has come up with yet another great invention. This new product allows you to embed a flat LCD touch screen on your tomb and have it play any sort of message. You can tell over life stories, get the last word in on a disagreement or share a personal message. Each tomb video has a computer with a hard disc or microchip memory that allows the deceased to speak from the grave through a video message.

From a Jewish perspective we spend our whole life making this video. The video we create will be played in the minds and hearts of the people we come into contact during our short stay here. Will our movie be something that people will want to watch? Will our friends and family be positively influenced by it? Will it have any bearing on their life? How popular our video will be will depend on how much quality time we spent developing it. I would imagine that anyone that does order the Vidstone will be on his best behavior during the recording in order to leave a favorable impression. Sadly if a person did not behave himself while he was alive a tomb video will not help him.

Each day we create another clip that is added to the video of our life. To date we may not have the highest quality video but the Jewish year comes equipped with an opportunity to erase it and re-record. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the times in the year that we can repent for our mistakes and start anew. If we focus on the meaning of these days we will have the opportunity to design a new video to our liking.

The Shabbat Bell

I just returned from a wonderful Shabbos in Jerusalem. The people were incredible, the discussion was interesting and the food was delicious. An interesting thing happened this Shabbos that demonstrated a common theme in life.

As I walked into the family's house I was eating by for lunch I noticed a little ding in the background. Every few seconds a ding would flow out of the kitchen. The stove bell must have broke in the middle of Shabbos and there was no way to shut it off without breaking Shabbos. The ding could be heard as we ate our meal but it did not intrude on our meal, at least overtly.

After the meal a few of us were conversing on the couches and one of the guys said, "Wow, that ding is really annoying!" This young man's comment is really an insight into human psychology. I recently read a great piece by Rabbi Pliskin on this topic in "Gateway To Happiness."

A popular observation states, "Nothing is as easy as it looks. Everything takes longer than you expect. And if anything can go wrong, it will, at the worst possible moment." When you are mentally prepared for events (without being nervous or anxious), you will find them much easier to cope with. If you always expect things to work out the way you wish, ask yourself what is the basis for your expectations. When you realize there is no basis for your expectations you will find it easier to give them up.

What this young man did not realize is that most things do not go according to plan. He was annoyed with the sound because he expected that everything would go according to his plan. The world does not work this way and the more we realize this the happier we will be.