Spiritually speaking, the basic key to dealing with unpleasant incidents or comments is to use them as tools to improve yourself.

Looking beyond both the very real and understandable emotional hurt and the often ugly messenger, Hashem wants us to focus on the actual message.

And rather than feeling like a horrible person who is as low as the person who struck out at you, you hopefully realize that Hashem simply magnified your own nugget of character flaw thousands of times in the form of the ugly messenger—all so that you don’t miss the message.

And it’s out of love.

Hashem intended you to be more than whatever you are now and out of love and the knowledge that He created you as a special person who indeed can be more, He keeps nudging you upward in the right direction until you reach His Goal for you.

But I noticed that there are three other reasons why you might find yourself under attack.

You might recognize the behavior as one you used to engage in - once upon a time.

• You don’t do it anymore and you can’t imagine doing it now, but maybe you just need that atonement or that reminder. You need to feel what your former targets felt, so you get it in This World, leaving your place in the Next World all clean and shiny.

 

• Additionally, maybe you changed, but didn’t officially confess it. So now you can say to Hashem, “I did this-and-such and I am sorry. It was really wrong of me and I regret it. I have resolved to distance myself from such unfitting behavior by now doing that-and-such.” Along those lines, maybe there is someone you need to apologize to and reassure that you would never do this-and-such again.
  

If you tend to be hard on yourself (and I tend to go very hard on myself), you can get bogged down in the awareness of how flawed you are.
Then Hashem brings along someone to show you that it’s possible to be much worse!
Hey, you’re not doing nearly as badly as you thought!

For example, there are things you might do occasionally by accident that others do frequently on purpose and with great relish. Thank God, you’re not them.

It’s really a point of humble gratitude because while your flaws are from Hashem, your positive attributes are from Hashem, too.

Whether He imbued you with, say, a certain amount of empathy or a thirst for meaning, or whether you got that from your upbringing (either because it was so good or because it was so bad, it inspired you to live differently), He apparently didn’t do that for the other person.
For example:

• There are people who genuinely get a little thrill when they hurt someone else, even if that person is their own child or someone else they supposedly love.
  
• There are people who genuinely value Las Vegas over Jerusalem.

Despite everything you might hear in countless lectures and frum literature, Hashem actually DOESN’T want you hanging around problematic people (as is explained in numerous classic Jewish works like Tehillim, Pele Yoetz, Orchot Tzaddikim—to name just a few) as a misguided attempt to avoid sinat chinam and strengthen ahavat Yisrael.

(Please see Part I: How to Deal with Blabbering Fault-Finders for a detailed description of this.)

Furthermore, you are NOT ALLOWED to give the benefit of the doubt to people who consistently and intentionally indulge in halachically forbidden behavior.
(The exception is IF you have the power to influence them positively, then you may associate with them for that purpose, as explained in the Pele Yoetz and the Kli Yakar, among others. For a detailed discussion of this, please see Part II: The Happy Cure for Blabbermouthed Fault-Finders.)

And if you’ve internalized Torah values to some extent, you’ll see on your own that you’ll start to feel uncomfortable around halachically forbidden behavior, whether it’s lashon hara or your sister eating a bacon double cheeseburger right in front of you.

Finally, Judaism’s rule of thumb is that good people are designated as agents of good while people who aren’t so good are designated as agents of bad. So even if there is a Heavenly din on you decreeing that you must be sniped at or slandered, this din generally won’t be carried out by a good person.

So when you encounter people who enjoy being snipey or materialistic or whatever, that is a Heavenly hint for you to create some distance.
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However, all emotional and physical distancing should be accompanied by spiritual caring, such as praying for the problematic person.

I was talking to someone who was visiting Eretz Yisrael from one of the most materialistic and flashiest areas of America.

It is also a place of tremendous corruption and immorality just beneath the bright shiny surface.

She became frum a few years ago and has needed to go in for all the “frumified” luxuries and lots of loopholes in order to feel comfortable enough to maintain a frum lifestyle.

It’s hard to understand her compulsion for this, yet at the same time, it’s hard to judge her for this.

Why?

Because if you’re really honest with yourself, at some point you realize that all your positive attributes (like, for example, an innate attraction toward more spiritual matters and a kind of “nice, but is it really worth it?” attitude when faced with luxury) are simply gifts from Hashem that you were either born with or imbued with via your family and/or your school—or, if you’re REALLY lucky—both.

And how can you honestly take credit for that OR disdain others for not having been presented with either of those advantages?

If someone neither received an innate "spirituality magnet" nor received a spirituality-focused upbringing, then how much is she really responsible for her tendencies?

Yet when she told me about her shopping plans in Israel, I said, “I’m really happy for you. I think you’ll have a good time and you’ll also be able to pick up some stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to get in the US.”

(Note: This is a very common theme of conversation. A lot of religious Judaica is more easily obtainable and cheaper than in the USA, depending on where you live.)

But she got defensive and huffed, “Oh, you guys have Golf (the clothing line), but you don’t have [the name of some product chain that I didn’t recognize and can’t remember], so it all balances out. Okay?”

I felt like someone just sideswiped my brain. Golf? Bed 'n' bath linens? What in the world was she talking about?

It never occurred to me to compare Israel to the USA in terms of material goods and their availability. That’s not what Eretz Yisrael is about or for. Just the fact that, materially speaking, it has been increasingly easier and more comfortable to live in Eretz Yisrael is good enough for me and for most people I know.

But what really got me was that “so it all balances out” comment.

No. It doesn’t.

Accessibility to the most luxurious and exclusive item in no way compensates for living in Eretz Yisrael. Even frum people who live in staffed mansions in the USA understand that living in Eretz Yisrael is still more desirable in Hashem’s Eyes (which is why many of them send their children to live in Eretz Yisrael).

Her parting remark was along the lines of: “Oh, the 5-star luxury hotel in Israel was nice, but if you could experience hotel hospitality where I come from, you would wish that every place would be like that. SOOOO excited to be going back home!”

Yes. Where she lives, I’m sure the hotel staff is fabulously accommodating and friendly. There is fierce competition among hotels in that area and a tremendous amount of money at stake.

The hotel staff, concerned about their reputations and career advancement and bonuses (and fearful of what will happen if they DON’T dance to the tune), will certainly make every effort to make you feel like a valued customer.

The emphasis on just making you FEEL like you have value—not that they actually value your worth, just your money and your recommendations to your friends.

Where is this addiction to "feeling good" coming from?

With the increasingly pervasive strain of narcissism weaving through society, people need to feel important and have their egos coddled.

The 5-star hotel staff in Israel varies; some are personable and friendly while others do their job efficiently and courteously without extra ego-stroking.

Is that enough of a reason to feel SOOOOO excited to be going back “home” to your shiny fake lifestyle?

(Especially since, if you're a Jew, America is not your true home.)

Now, it goes without saying that she doesn’t represent a lot of frum Jews stuck outside of Eretz Yisrael. There are many frum Jews living decidedly NON-luxurious lives:

• Jews who would love to make aliyah, but feel limited by family obligations (like elderly parents or shared child custody with an ex or older children who may or may not weather the transition)
  
• Jews who fear the differences in economic opportunity and culture
• And so on.

But there is also this other type, the type that cannot see beyond the fact that good-quality clothes, appliances, and housing cost more, and that you can’t get certain brands of whatever has become your favorite item. They can’t see that Israelis, who will often not only treat you courteously, but even exceed expectations to help you out if they see you really need it—but will NOT kiss your feet, no matter how important you think you are or how wealthy you seem (or how much you threaten them).

When I first came to Eretz Yisrael, Israelis were shocked to hear that in self-defense classes, people were taught to yell, "FIRE!!!" when under assault because otherwise, no one would even attempt to come to their rescue. Israelis couldn't imagine ignoring a cry for help and not even calling the police, let alone running there in person to intervene.

With the exception of gun-toting Southerners and Jews in frum neighborhoods, Americans hesitate to help, even in a way non-dangerous way, like calling the police.

When my family and I pile into a relative’s apartment in Tiveria (with a dozen kids between the two of us), we are a 2-block walk from the Tomb of Avigail (David Hamelech's wife), Yocheved, Bilha, Zilpah, Elisheva (Aharon Hacohen’s wife) and Tzipporah (Moshe Rabbeinu's wife) and a very pleasant place to pray.

Depending on where you are in Eretz Yisrael, Kever Rachel or the Kotel is just a bus ride away.

Getting thirsty or hungry is no problem because there is likely a kosher café or grocery right there, and the same can be said in many places about catching a minyan.

But most of all, every step you take is a huge mitzvah. Running to catch the bus in the rain or trudging out in humid heat to pick up diapers at the local makolet automatically grants you Eternal points without you even meaning to.

And nothing else can ever compensate for that.
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To be fair, some people are so addicted to their materialism that they genuinely can't imagine compromising on it one iota. Deep down, they know they're wrong, which is why they get defensive when faced with life in Eretz Yisrael. But their psyche feels torn because on one hand, they see that it is possible to live happily without such exclusive luxuries. But on the other hand, they truly feel that it's not within their personal ability to do so.

This morning, I clearly saw the half-Moon in the sky at around 10:00 AM.

Over the past several months, I've gone for many, many walks at this hour and never saw the Moon at this time.

This follows along the lines of the Moon's fascinating appearances observed by so many people around the world throughout this past year as described in the post Thoughts on Nibiru-Part I: The Scientific Pros and Cons.


Furthermore, our Sages stated that sometime after Mashiach comes, the Moon will gain her original status equal to the Sun, a status that was originally diminished (although compensated for by granting her Rosh Chodesh and Birkat Levana via the Jewish people and an array of accompanying stars).

The Jewish People
As written in Thoughts on the Unusually Visible Erev Yom Kippur Moon, the Moon symbolizes Am Yisrael and also women (the Sages often referred to the moon as "the Levana," the feminine form of the word "white"). And its increasing illumination and edging into the Sun's realm is a very good sign that our light and authority is increasing, too. Although it doesn't appear that way in This World, the Kli Yakar says in Parshat Bo (scroll down to the section on "Heavenly Assassinations") that before events happen down here, those events must occur in Shamayim.

The Kli Yakar gives the example of the Sar (angelic representative) of Mitzrayim being slain in Shamayim before the Egyptians even started in pursuit of Bnei Yisrael as Bnei Yisrael stood looking out at the not-yet-parted sea. They Egyptians were doomed before they even began their pursuit, but never realized it until the waters were actually crashing down upon them.

Women
Regarding women, the Kli Yakar explains in both Parshat Beshalach (scroll down to "The Jewish Women at the Crossing of the Sea") and V'Zoht Habracha that in the Mashiach-ruled future, women will achieve a certain equality with men. No, not the feminist view of equality, but a genuine spirituality-based equality, which includes experiencing joy equally. Women will no longer suffer from their reproductive system, for example. He doesn't say that women will become men (that's not the goal), but that "males and females will be equal." He explains that women won't have the tzaar (the suffering) inherent in pregancy and birth (and presumably niddah).

He also says that both men and women will shed their physical bodies, which implies a spiritual existence unencumbered by the limitations of gender for either men or women.
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Though we Jews may very much feel like we're under the thumb of Yishmael and Esav, the truth is that our light and realm are actually increasing, as shown by the behavior of the Moon in recent months.

May Hashem illuminate pure emuna for all of us.

While many people today erroneously view “talking to God” as a Breslov thing or something that “only truly great people do” (rather than the way truly great people became, well, truly great), the truth is that anyone can do it and reap incredible benefits from it.



If you just start talking and force yourself to get past the stuttering, tongue-tied obstacles, and discomfort, Hashem leads you the rest of the way.

To illustrate this, let’s look at the example of someone who is not even Jewish.

Brown Face, Big Master

I came across the example of Jamaican-born Joyce Ford Gladwell (mother of best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell) in her son’s book, Outliers. Back in the Sixties, Joyce wrote a book of her own called Brown Face, Big Master—“Big Master” being the Jamaican term for God.

Joyce descended from biracial relationships on both sides of her family and while obviously black, Joyce inherited the lighter side of brown skin. In Jamaica, lighter-skinned black people benefited. The biracial progeny of the white men and their Jamaican mistresses (who surprisingly often lived together as if husband and wife) were seen as being friendlier and more trustworthy by the white colonists.

So these children were given better jobs and opportunities. Jamaican society thus developed along racial lines, with lighter skin being highly prized, even within a single family unit. Lighter-skinned black people received better jobs and better lives, and achieved great successes. For example, by 1850, the mayor of Jamaica’s capital was a light-skinned black person.

Joyce’s lighter skin granted her success, too, and she and her twin sister went on to university in London, where Joyce met and married a white English mathematician named Graham Gladwell.

As a young couple with a baby, this educated and well-bred couple sought out an apartment near London. After an exhaustive search, they finally found one in the suburbs. But the day after they moved in, their racist landlady insisted they leave, saying angrily, “You didn’t tell me your wife was a Jamaican!”

Now, unlike today’s microaggressions and imaginary penalties, this was real racism with extremely unpleasant consequences.

And Joyce had every right to be hurt and offended, which she was - at first.

But, having been raised in a religious environment, Joyce responded by turning to God.

And the outcome was very different and more transformative than lawsuits and demonstrations:

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This is exactly what Judaism’s continuous exhortation to turn to Hashem and cry out to Hashem does for us.

Joyce obviously already had a relationship with God; she didn’t just start off their relationship with complaints. And she turned to Him for answers and solace. In return, she received the full loving message Hashem intended via the deplorable behavior of the white landlady.

And this transformed Joyce into a better person than she was the moment before.

Interestingly, God did this for Joyce even though she probably didn’t have real emuna.

Raised in a strong Christian environment, it’s safe to assume that Joyce misguidedly believed in God as one of divine set of triplets. Yet when she turned to Him, He still lovingly and compassionately helped her out.

All the more so will Hashem do with those of us who truly seek Him out and come to him as genuine monotheists, despite our foibles and transgressions.

Why would Hashem need to send something like Nibiru?

What follows is solely my own opinion, based on my own subjective observations and discussions with Hashem.

Your conclusions may be very different.

So here it goes:

I keep getting the “message” (for lack of a better word) that there is very, very heavy din [judgment] hanging over all of us.

And this is what Nibiru symbolizes.

But there is also a tremendous amount of love, too.

Tremendous!

Jewish, non-Jewish, secular, traditional, frum—doesn’t matter.

The reason why Nibiru’s existence isn’t entirely clear yet is because the judgment hasn’t been sealed. (Again, no proof, just my thoughts.)

Yet.

Hashem is still giving us a chance to make teshuvah out of love, out of a sincere to desire to come close to Him and to become better people.

And it doesn’t need to be heroic measures. Baby steps are just fine for beginners or backsliders.

There is tremendous love in Shamayim and the time is ripe for even the smallest step in the right direction.

Some people have suffered so much and are also caught up in Western society’s values (even if they think they’ve lived such a frum life that they’re unaffected by Western mores) that they honestly can’t see the right way.
(Please see How to Avoid being a Victim of Mind Control for more discussion.)

Taking that first baby step feels like taking a step off a cliff while blindfolded.

Way too many people dismiss core Jewish values and even outright halacha as things that “only tzaddikim can do” or things that “people did back then, but it’s not for our generation” or else they present such a watered-down superficial version of the original Torah exhortation that it’s like saying a soggy tissue is the same as the tree from which it came, with the same qualities, strength, and fruit.

The road on which the baby steps must be taken consist of 2 things:

• Talking to directly to Hashem in your own words
• Cheshbon hanefesh/self-introspection to scrub out the stains mucking up your otherwise pristine neshama.

Now, it goes without saying that trekking down this road can involve fails, stumbling, careening, belly flops, potholes, and completely spinning off in a fit of pique.

That’s okay. Those fails are all from Hashem, too.

The main thing is to start walking. Even just a tiny step.

Trials and tribulations are meant to bring us closer to Hashem.

As life presses down on us and closes in, we’re supposed to realize that we have no one else to turn to—and turn to Hashem.

But many times, we don’t do that.

There always seems to be yet another expert with whom to consult, yet another method, treatment, or medication to try. There are addictions and other self-harming behaviors. Or sometimes we just remain in a constant state of anger or in a constant state of detachment and disassociation, lashing out our frustrations and fears either aggressively or passive-aggressively at whoever seems to be the most suitable target.

Anything so as not to face up to the truth and do the work necessary.

Yet despite all our most strenuous efforts, things get worse (or they improve temporarily and then get worse) as described here.

A lot of people are angry at or afraid of Hashem. They've been traumatized and Hashem doesn't seem Compassionate or Loving or Merciful. Deep down, they believe He's punitive, harsh, and sadistic.

And that's why even taking one baby step is so meaningful - because it is so hard to overcome all that false and negative programming.
__________________________

As seen in Part I, there are definitely indications that something might be out there, but there is no clear undeniable pie-in-the-sky proof.

So does Nibiru exist? It does and it doesn’t.

Is it heading our way? Yes—and no.

It depends.

In the meantime, Hashem is holding it off.
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I began to notice a sharp plunge middot and derech eretz that hit people starting around the age of 35.

And if they didn’t catch themselves (meaning, if they didn’t even try to start taking baby-steps toward a raw personal relationship with Hashem, which includes authentic continuous self-introspection/cheshbon hanefesh), they became progressively worse.

For example, I know people who always behaved with sterling middot, and now you wouldn’t believe the hostility and irrationality they express now—for absolutely no reason, completely unprovoked.

In fact, sometimes, they get hostile after you tell them something genuinely positive about themselves or give them comforting chizuk.

Other times, they wait until you’re in a vulnerable moment, and then they kick you when you’re down—which is incredibly nasty. I’m talking about people that I’ve known for 10-20 years. And even those who didn’t have sterling middot, per se, they still started off as pretty good people.

And this turn that starts at around age 35 affects EVERYBODY—including me.

I personally feel that if I hadn’t read Garden of Emuna and started talking to Hashem directly and making a real cheshbon hanefesh, then I would be a really horrible person right now. Or on medication. Or both!

And other people have confided the exact same thing. They also feel that if they hadn’t caught themselves and started talking to Hashem and doing real nitty-gritty teshuvah, they would be just awful right now.

Doing teshuvah and connecting personally to Hashem don’t mean that you act angelic all the time. Only tzaddikim are good all the time.

But it does save you from becoming the embodiment of Erev Rav.

Prescription "Fatalities"
I've had friends who ended up on Prozac for the long term.

What I didn’t know at first was that one of the possible side effects of Prozac is that it makes its user shoot off his or her mouth.

And it’s done in kind of cheerful way because of the false mood Prozac imposes upon its user.

He or she becomes less sensitive to other people.

In fact, sometimes people on Prozac even say shaming or insulting things to you in a loud, gleeful voice (which is really bizarre and embarrassing).

Because Prozac is usually used for depression and because depressed people see the world and often themselves very negatively and hopelessly, they see you that way too. Then they project their own self-loathing and life-loathing onto you.

So they feel better...but everyone else feels worse.

And let me tell you, it is very ugly to be on the receiving end.

I noticed that some people on Prozac showed no interest in me or even in my response to their words, skipping lightly from subject to subject without pause until they ended the conversation with a light "Well, that's all I wanted to say now...bye!" as if they were starring in a one-woman show, monologuing before an attentive yet passive audience.

Yet others still snipe and cheerfully insert insulting comments even when you don't talk at all, expertly finding something hurtful to say even when you provide no "springboard" and remain totally silent.

With the Prozac-sniper, explaining yourself or calmly confronting his or her misperception (i.e., “Why did you call me ‘neurotic’? I’m not acting ‘neurotic.’ I’m showing enthusiasm. Being enthusiastic is not the same as being neurotic.”), you'll receive a blissful smirk in return. There is never any apology, no admission of misunderstanding, nothing. Your feelings simply do not register through the haze of Prozac. They may even imply that if you are bothered by their behavior, then that is a clear sign you need to be on meds, too.

In fact, I've known Prozac-users who encourage others go on meds. Many even start any children who are just old enough to also go on meds. They do this despite the fact that some meds (such as...Prozac!) are contraindicated for young people. For example, the rate of suicide in Prozac-users at age 13 or younger is so high that even the greedy pharmaceutical community was compelled to issue warnings about prescribing Prozac for that age group.

I saw that some of these Prozac enthusiasts want everyone medicated so that they can continue verbally abusing people (including their own children) without feeling any repercussions (such as healthy guilt or remorse).

And yes, of course, many of them have their own story.

• Some have suffered through the selfish, irresponsible, emotionally abusive upbringing typical of upperclass Liberal parents.
• Their marriage may be unhappy (although I’m not sure who’s really at fault)
• financial problems
• health problems
• chinuch problems

In other words, underneath it all, there is a wonderful person who has been broken by life.

But as things stand right now, their behavior is insufferable and I haven’t the fortitude to continue even the most superficial relationship with such people.

What will it take to wake them up?
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Answering the Wake-Up Call
We have millennia of mussar by all our Sages telling us that the trials and challenges in life are supposed to make us turn to Hashem.

But right now, there are people cracking under the weight of marital problems, health problems, chinuch problems, financial problems, problems with neighbors and schools, and much more...and they can't bring themselves to connect directly with Hashem.

And it doesn’t matter whether they are frum from birth or baal teshuvah. Many are in a situation in which they no longer have anywhere to turn. They’ve exhausted resources, schools, “experts,” methods, medications, treatments, and so on.

And they still won’t turn to Hashem.

And they won’t do a cheshbon hanefesh.

Oh, they may say Tehillim or do 40 days of Perek Shirah or give tzedakah or go to the grave of their favorite tzaddik or tzaddika.

And those are VERY good and powerful deeds.

But they aren't a replacement for direct connection and chesbon hanefesh.

It all goes together.

For example, some people keep Shabbat, but they don't keep kosher. Some people engage in serious learning while also engaging in serious machloket and lashon hara. Some people do chessed, but also chisel away at the self-worth of the very people they're supposed to be helping. And so on.

There has to be an attempt to keep the whole package of mitzvot and not just the ones considered easy or more appealing.

Likewise, some of people may go over an interaction in which they feel they may have spoken or behaved inappropriately. And they may even apologize—which is all very good.

But they don’t finecomb through themselves and their decisions and their overall behavior and hashkafah on a daily (or even weekly) basis. They don’t dig down and get dirt under their nails, spiritually speaking.

Rockets from Gaza, terror attacks, tragic accidents, the recent upending in American and British politics, mental health issues (considered “incurable” by standard mental health “experts”), chronic physical problems, rising Jew-hatred, chinuch problems, marital problems, societal problems, and much, much more…and some people are answering the wake-up call.

Personally, I needed the wake-up call several times over many years before I forced myself to answer, as described in How I Only Discovered Emuna 20 Years after I Thought I was already Religious and The Erev Rav Strategy: Following the Biggest Bully.
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When Bread and Circuses Just Won't be Enough

This post has given examples from within the frum community.

But when I look outside the frum community, I see even more solidly anchored complacency.

An extremely intelligent and successful Jewish professor once told me, “If someone held a gun to my head and said, ‘Choose a religion!’, I’d choose Orthodox Judaism.”

“Not Reform?” I said. “Not Conservative?”

“No,” she said. “I’d definitely choose Orthodox.”

But the gun isn’t to her head and she has been happily intermarried for years and contentedly lives a life completely devoid of Judaism—no Yom Kippur, no Shabbat candle-lighting, no Chanukah candles or Pesech Seder—nothing.

Most people I know who are assimilated Jews and non-Noachide goyim are content to be as they are. Even a life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one does little to jolt them out of their haze.

The only thing I see that can nudge people into taking that first baby step is something that can’t be dealt with or controlled or smoothed over or ignored.

A large pale green dwarf star appearing in our sky cannot be medicated away.

No “expert” can instruct you in the right method for treating it.

Reality shows, mindless novels, Internet surfing, yoga, Buddhist quotes, “giving it your all!”, atheism, raw food diets, addictions, temper tantrums, chocolate fudge cheescake, pretending not to see it, platitudes, getting angry, and giving away parts of Eretz Yisrael to those who want us dead will not touch Nibiru’s effect in any way.
Nothing can stop it or even deter it.

(And all those underground luxury bunkers are bunk. For all their hype, they cannot survive a direct hit from an asteroid or being in the middle of an earthquake fault or massive flooding. Hashem decides where things hit and He has perfect aim.)

If Nibiru does come, I’m kind of hoping it shows up before the scheduled Amona destruction because then I think the big fake Libtards will forget about Amona and just panic (or do teshuvah!).  

People will finally have to confront themselves—and deal with God and what it all means.

And I will, too.

(Believe me, as much work as I’ve done on my own middot, I’d be working a lot more intensely if I had a massive brown dwarf star system visibly bearing down on me.)
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Here are some resources for getting started in talking to Hashem and cheshbon hanefesh:

• Garden of Emuna by Rav Shalom Arush
• The How, What, and Why of Talking to God by Rivka Levy: a free download

(You can also get the hard copy pocket book from Amazon or Book Depository.)

• How Davening for Others Can Work
• How to Overcome Obstacles Blocking You from Doing a True Cheshbon Hanefesh
• Question Time with God: How to Do It Right
• How to Borrow Hitbodedut from the Torah
• Dancing for Din

And here is how good deeds and emuna can rearrange the stars (including Nibiru) for your benefit:

• Winning the Battles against Ourselves and the Stars: The Kli Yakar
  

I’m in two minds about Nibiru:

• On one hand, there seems to be scientific evidence and indications of its existence.
• On the other hand, maybe there isn’t.

We'll get to the pros, but first, let’s start with the cons:

• What is the definable obvious difference between a “sun dog” and Nibiru? (I’ve looked this up and can’t find an answer.) How do we know these images aren’t sun dogs?

• How do we know the images aren’t faked or optical illusions? Apart from wacky charlatans, many of the light green discs labeled as Nibiru resemble the light green or red discs seen in any photo directed at light (to my eyes, anyway).

 

• A third of the time I see a photo claimed to be Nibiru near the Sun, I can’t see anything.
  

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However, I did notice unusual visibility regarding several planets. But that could be related to their closeness to Earth or the Sun or, as I found out recently, their position relative to the Earth and Sun.

So I looked up the following planets:

Saturn
Saturn’s closest approach to the Sun was in 2003 and has been moving farther away until it’ll reach its furthest point in 2018.

However, Saturn was its closest to Earth around May-July 2016. So that could easily explain why it was so visible.

Mars
In October 2016, Mars was the closest to the Sun it has been since 2014.

On May 30 2016, Mars was the closest it has been to Earth in 11 years.

So its close approach to both the Earth and the Sun could explain its light and visibility.

Venus
Venus came closest to the Sun in July 2016.

And in fact, Venus will attain its greatest brightness in February 2017.

(This article explains the factors contributing to Venus’s brightness, specifically Venus's position as it relates to Earth and the Sun.)

Venus is also extremely close to Earth now and will continue to approach even closer throughout March 2017.

So we see that the brightness and visibility of Venus, Saturn, and Mars are easily explained and don’t mean that another light-giving body (like a brown dwarf star) is shining on them.

The Moon
The Moon is the outlier here, with pros and cons.

During the Summer, I regularly noticed the Moon in the sky around an hour before sunset.

That’s pretty bright.


I already wrote in Thoughts on the Unusually Visible Erev Yom Kippur Moon of seeing the Moon very early on Erev Yom Kippur afternoon. For the month of October 2016, the Moon was farthest from the Earth on October 4 and closest on October 16. Erev Yom Kippur was October 11. (Then the Moon swung in on November 14 for its closest approach since 1948.) Yet I didn't notice the Moon so early on any other day.

And I’m far from being the only person to notice a wide halo around the Moon at times.

So it seems like the Moon’s increasingly bright and unusual appearance can’t only be explained by its nearness to Earth.

Now for the pros:

In  December 2015, Discover magazine published this article:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/12/10/a-new-planet-in-the-solar-system-not-so-fast/#.VmrqoKbOK5J
Oddly, the title is misleading, making it sound like, "New planet? Not so fast!"—as if it was all a big mistake, as if no new planet was discovered...when it is really about they DID discover a new planet with an estimated orbit—so why the misleading title?

Yet just 5 days later, Astronomy magazine reprinted the exact same article:
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/12/a-new-planet-in-the-outer-solar-system-not-so-fast
Yet this time, a sub-headline was included: "Astronomers quietly submitted a research paper claiming they may have found a large planet on the far fringes of our solar system."

So the sub-headline totally contradicts the headline.

And why did they submit such a paper quietly? And why the emphasis on them doing so “quietly”? Usually, astronomers are crowing over this stuff, like when they got their Pluto-Charon images in July with the accompanying discoveries.

Not long after that, I discovered an astronomy forum thread by people knowledgeable in astrophysics. They make some interesting points, like how a disruption (indicating another planet) in Neptune's and Uranus's orbits has been well-known for a while in the astronomy community (which I vaguely remember hearing about years ago) and one commenter observes:
"The field of view of ALMA [the Chile telescope] is very narrow so the probability of finding a planet-sized body in just that position is extremely low. On the other hand its brightness indicates that it's a significant object. Something's not adding up here."
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/a-possible-super-earth-or-brown-dwarf-in-our-solar-system.847783/

So it seems that there is definitely something visible and provable there. But the thread dies out and this topic isn’t really discussed again.
(FYI: I had to look up the terms appearing in the thread KBO and TNO, which are Kepler Belt Object and Trans-Neptune Object.)

A month later, this article appears:
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/01/researchers-see-signs-of-a-real-planet-x

In the Physics Forum, there are also the following threads:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/why-is-planet-x-always-depicted-as-being-blue.884132/ (September 16, 2016)
You'll need to scroll down to the last message in the thread for more links.

And as many (if not all) of you know, Devash has been Tracking Nibiru.
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Furthermore, many photos and videos have captured another sun-like object in the sky—and maybe those aren’t sun dogs. I’ve also taken photos of the Sun, but my tablet died and I can’t access them now.

Additionally, I was hanging laundry one night when I thought I saw the Moon swing around in a tilt for a split-second. I stared at it, but I couldn’t remember how it usually looked or how it looked before I thought I saw it tilt.

My eyes must just be playing tricks on me, I thought. It must be that all this Nibiru stuff I've been reading is affecting my brain.

Yet within the next day or two, I suddenly came across a post on Shirat Devorah, which indicated that other people also thought they saw the moon tilt.
(Can’t find the link now.)

That’s really weird.

I’ve never thought I’d seen the moon tilt before and it never occurred to me that it could possibly do so. If it was just my imagination, why would so many other people “imagine” the same thing on the same night?

Also, the Moon has been VERY bright for a while now. Even before sunset, when the sky is so light, the Moon isn’t just visible, it’s bright.

Again, does that mean another luminary body is shining on it?
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Increasingly Violent Weather & Geology
There do seem to be more weather catastrophes, but they can be solely ascribed to God simply waking us up; it doesn’t necessarily need to indicate anything else.

It could mean something else. But it doesn’t need to.

Hurricanes
For example:

• 5 “named” storms made landfall in the US, more than any other since 2008.
• Hurricane Mathew was the first Category 5 hurricane to hit the Atlantic basin in 9 years.
• This year also showed the most active hurricane season on record for the eastern Pacific.
• And who can forget the 2015 hurricane that hit Yemen, the first since 1922 and the strongest on record?

Tornadoes
Tornadoes have gotten a lot of attention, but the truth is that violent (F3-F5) American tornadoes peaked at under 90 in 2011 (2012-2016 all show under 30 violent tornadoes per year) compared to 1974, which saw the largest number of violent tornadoes at close to 140. So violent tornadoes haven't increased. And the seeming increase in minor tornadoes has to do with a better detection system.

Earthquakes
Earthquakes really are increasing.

• In 1979, we had 10 major (measuring 7 or more on the Richter scale) earthquakes each year.
• But starting in 1992, we started seeing 12.5 major earthquakes per year.
• And starting in 2010, we started seeing almost 17 major earthquakes per year, although 2014 dipped down to 11 major earthquakes that year, leaping up to 18 major earthquakes in 2015 and 14 in 2016.

Meteor Fireballs
Meteor fireballs have also increased.

The number of meteor fireballs in America stood at around 500 in 2005 and has steadily increased to over 9000 in 2015.

Note: Some of this data could be affected by the fact that up until 2014, one system tracked the number of meteor fireballs and then from 2014, NASA tracked it. But NASA still shows a jump of several thousand between 2014 and 2015.

Volcanoes
Volcanic activity has also increased.

One study showed that minute changes in the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun on earth quicken the Earth’s rotation, causing an almost imperceptible shortening of the day (by milliseconds). But this miniscule change possibly corresponds to an increase in volcanic activity due to a massive release of energy. (See Terra Nova.) 

Just as one example, in a list going back to 1934, a large percentage of those volcanoes re-erupted in 2011 alone. (Sorry, I lost the link to that list.) Usually, we see 50-60 eruptions of varying degrees per year. But 2010 saw 82 eruptions and 2013 saw 83. And 2015 saw at least 21 MAJOR eruptions.
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Again, this doesn’t have to mean that a large brown dwarf system is coming our way. But if a large brown dwarf would indeed coming our way, its gravitational pull would certainly affect Earth in such a way as to increase meteors, volcanoes, and earthquakes.
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But what are the spiritual reasons for Nibiru?
And why all the scientific uncertainty?
(Meaning, there doesn't yet seem to be clear, undeniable proof.)

Find out in Part II

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So...what are the take-aways?
​

• Evil people and societies don’t sit around rubbing their hands together while cackling gleefully, “I’m soooo evil—and I love it!” Nor do they realize they are crazy. They ALWAYS think they are the victimized class and see the real victims as oppressors - which gives them the feeling that they can do ANYTHING they want.

 

• “Nice” people are perfectly capable of going along with and even actively maintaining very evil policies and values. (And I don’t mean pretenders, but people who genuinely value “nice” behavior). As counterintuitive as it sounds, being “nice” doesn’t mean you can’t also be a bad person. Of course, truly good people also behave nicely, but people must be judged on the actual values they uphold AND display, and not on how “nice” they are.

 

• Love of animals, veganism/vegetarianism, appreciation of nature, and a calm and healthy lifestyle cannot make you into a good person and by themselves are not even signs of goodness.

 

• Historically, when society demands a savior and then willfully ignores the blatant flaws in their designated savior, this is a precursor to tough times and bloodthirsty movements.

 

• Historically, movements that focused primarily on income equality or general economic prosperity (i.e. materialism) and “sticking it to the other side” led to bloody outcomes. Movements that focused on God and core values and morality (i.e. the Ten Commandments, the Noachide Laws, etc.) have done much better. A society that values morality will also have more freedom and economic prosperity.

And based on historical events and what I see unfolding now, here is what I think could happen:

• Anti-Israel sentiment will continue to rise. With the exception of the alt-Right (alternative and extreme Right), people cannot allow themselves to target Jews directly (especially seeing as the Left itself is comprised of many secular Jews) and still FEEL like a good person (because feeling good has trumped actually being good in most of society today). But like that former Hitler Youth member mentioned in Part 4, they feel it’s okay to yell “Death to…!” a country.

 

• President Trump will want to go down in history as the leader who made peace in the Middle East (which for some reason, always means "in Israel" and ignores all the wars between countries and clans in every other country in the Middle East). He has already made statements alluding to this. And seeing as the Israeli government is easier to push around than any other government in the Middle East, and Israel will pressed to make suicidal and halachically forbidden concessions.

   

• The American Left will up its battle against religion because it is religious people who are standing in the way of abortion-on-demand, same-gender marriage, and all the trans hype. (Although they are not standing in the way ENOUGH. Yet to Leftists, any limits are bad.) But again, because attacking Jews would harm their self-image as good people, Leftists will attack the Jewish religion (along with other religions, except for Islam) along with whatever they consider “Orthodox interpretation” while saying that the Reform movement and secular Jews are okay. (Sort of like in Rav Schach’s story in Part 2.)

Following these points, Jew-hatred will be increasingly expressed as Israel-hatred.

But maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

Regardless, the main thing is to cultivate a close and personal relationship with Hashem, invest in deep self-introspection to scrub out bad traits and polish up good traits, and keep on doing mitzvot.

As is a well-known Jewish truth, bad omens and bad prophecies need never come true.

Teshuvah has the power to change everything.

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One of the most powerful weapons of propaganda used by the Left has been TV and movies.

Nazis and Communists also used entertainment media as weapons. Back then, radio took the place of today’s TV, but movies were certainly utilized to push the desired narrative.


For example, children dying for the Nazi cause were glorified, especially in one film based on a true incident in which a teenage boy died in a brutal streetfight against Communists in Germany.

But Hitler also appeared on screen. In one 1934 docudrama, Hitler makes a speech which contains statements like:

It almost sounds like Sesame Street.

Except that he left out the part in which hundreds of thousands of Jewish babies are dumped into fire pits.

Making Moral Degeneracy Appealing

The American film industry has always been horrible.

Film and TV producers were moral degenerates. Time and again, movie stars engaged in behavior so disturbing that Hollywood conspired to hide it from the public. The American reaction to such behavior depended on the times.

In the Fifties, having a child conceived extramaritally was terribly scandalous (as it should be) and the appearance of virtue was de riguer. Today, standards are nauseatingly low. A racist epithet uttered by a white person (reverse racism is okay, though) could erase a celebrity’s popularity, as could violating a child (not a teenager, but an actual child). But almost anything else goes.

It depends.

But the point is that the main influence on American culture has always been run by moral degenerates who were always pushing the bar of decency to reflect their own values and make the world a more comfortable place for moral degenerates like themselves.

And in order for them to succeed, they had to make their worldview appealing.

A few years ago, someone showed me a 20-minute 1928 Laurel & Hardy film. I was shocked at how indecent it was—and all the indecency was covered up by theatrical “Har-har, just kidding!” wackiness:

• Cops were portrayed as petty incompetents.

 

• Convicted criminals escaping from prison were portrayed sympathetically, with the audience clearly meant to hope for the prison escapee’s success.

 

• The running joke through the movie was getting pinched on the backside by hermit crabs (naughty kindergarten humor) and there was even a scene that clearly hinted at same-gender relations in an alley, but to innocents, would merely seem like more naughty kindergarten humor (i.e., two men exiting an alley after using it as a bathroom).

And this was 1928!

Back then, most Americans considered police officers to be the good guys and prison escapees as posing a serious threat to public safety. But in the movies, you could completely switch these values as long as it was all in fun.

Even today, as long as you make people laugh, you can get away with anything on TV.

Emphasizing the "Right" Look: Nazi Germany and Modern America
Just as the Nazis promoted a certain “look” as Aryan, Western media also portrays attractive people in a certain way—even if that way changes slightly from decade to decade. Women and girls have been particularly targeted, with the result being a dramatic increase in eating disorders, plastic surgery (including bizarre plastic surgery, like the Pacific Asian girls who change their bellybuttons or eyelids to conform to those of Caucasians), and the increasingly complex use of cosmetics.

And despite all the “black pride” blather, female black celebrities continue to use hair treatments, make-up, and Photoshop to achieve the “white” look considered more attractive (to Hollywood people, anyway).

In fact, despite all the media focus on “racism,” I think that a fat girl or boy is much more likely to experience harassment and discrimination than a black boy or girl in an all-white environment.

Hollywood-Style Strategic Propoganda and Brainwashing
In his bestselling book Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV*, Ben Shapiro (a Modern Orthodox activist for political Conservatism) goes through the greedy history of TV programming and shows how even family-oriented TV shows promoted Liberal values. He also captured on tape the TV producers’ blatant agenda to warp American values via their TV shows.

For example, the 1983 made-for-TV movie, The Day After, which freaked out my generation with its graphic images of the effect of a nuclear bombs, was produced and directed by a man who stated: "My private, grandiose notion was that this movie would unseat Ronald Reagan when he ran for re-election."

While some Hollywood writers and directors focused primarily on getting a good story on screen, with their programs only incidentally reflecting their Liberal politics, many clearly stated an agenda to actively change the minds of society.

It’s chilling to realize how much thought and care they put into portraying a controversial opinion or character in just the right way, so as to manipulate their viewers.

Some of it was good and fair representation, such as putting non-white actors on TV and moving away from racial pigeon-holing (with positive presentations like The Cosby Show and the introduction of an attractive, well-spoken black couple on The Dick van Dyke Show).

But some writers and directors describe outright their agendas.

For example, some knowingly downplayed the actual behavior common in men attracted to their own gender while portraying women as behaving—not even as straight men behave, think, or speak—but as how men-attracted-to-men behave, think, and speak. They do this knowing that the average woman does not behave this way.

Fathers have been increasingly portrayed as fools or completely irrelevant.

In fact, Hollywood considers the paternal role so irrelevant that a TV program may choose not to feature the father of a baby (unborn or otherwise) at all. 

In some Hollywood minds, fathers aren't just invisible; they don't even seem to exist.

Yet Hollywood responds to any criticism by claiming it is merely reflecting real life.

Sometimes, enclosed within their urban Manhattan or luxurious LA bubble, they honestly believe that the nihilistic, atheistic, pagan, or degenerate views and lifestyles they depict on their shows are, indeed, “real life.” But sometimes, they simply feel that such views and lifestyles should be real life and actively seek to impose this on society at large.

This is one of the most disturbing aspects and most similar to Nazi propaganda:
They willfully portray a group as very different than that group actually is in order to change the beliefs and value system of society.

In other words, they knowingly promote a false image in order to fool society.

It’s really no different than the cultivated propaganda of the Nazi or Communist era. It’s a lot more sophisticated this time around, but no less intentional. And like Nazis and Communists, they intentionally inflame hatred against target groups and ideas while garnering sympathy for other target groups or ideas.

Sacrificing Everything to Moloch - What Altruistic Dedication!
Even more shockingly, Hollywood directors and writers are so committed to their degenerate propaganda that they cast aside their own greed to these deceptive ends.

For example, they’ll fight to keep a show that promotes their sick value system even if the show loses money for their network and even if viewers show no interest (or lose interest) in that show. This kind of warped mesirut nefesh is what the Nazis displayed in World War II when, despite heavy losses on the war front, they diverted their people’s much-needed resources to keep the death camps going.

The Nazis' genocidal ideals became more important than the most basic survival of their society and the physical survival of their fellow citizens. To the Nazis, killing a Jewish baby was more important than saving a fellow German soldier or citizen and even took precedence over the barest survival of their glorified Third Reich.

Likewise, Hollywood Leftists consider the destruction of unborn babies and fundamentally essential institutions (like marriage and basic morality) to be more important than anything else. In fact, the cop shows and music videos of a rap culture that glorifies violence, misogyny, and licentiousness show black people at their worst (all created by  self-preening white Liberals). Such programming not only perpetuates negative stereotypes, but has imposed this culture so forcefully that even white upper-class youth seek to imitate it.

The Very Real and Destructive Effect of Hollywood on Society
As un-PC as it is to say it, widespread unwed motherhood has basically destroyed America's black community and is on its way to destroying the rest of the USA.

Regardless of race or class, prison incarceration, drug and alcohol use, dissolute and indiscriminate behavior on the part of girls, same-gender-attraction, and more can all be traced back to whether there was a steady and positive paternal influence in life or not.

(For example, a lot of problems in the black community - including the higher prison rates - correlate with being raised by an unwed mother with no steady father around. Meaning, that problems in the black community have nothing to do with racism and everything to do with radical feminism. White people raised by unwed mothers show similar statistics to black people raised by unwed mothers. The rate of unwed motherhood in the black community is 70%, which is why you see higher crime rates and the like.)

Hardly anyone wants to talk about or acknowledge this.
(And if you want to point out the pervasive influence of entertainment media on society, the importance of fathers has become somewhat taboo in frum society, to the point that clear halachic obligations applying to men are either dismissed or minimized - despite the fact that many frum people do not watch TV or movies. Yet the influences of general society eventually licks at the frum community, too.)

Of course, some people raised by an unwed mother without any father at all still turn out splendidly and boast of what a wonderful life they've had in their one-parent home. But most people either fare poorly OR fare okay, but could have fared better with a decent father at home.

And the Moral and Virtuous Right Did...Nothing! Of Course!
And right-wing Conservatives basically laid themselves down before the media steamroller. With the exception of scattered individuals, they didn’t turn off their TVs (nor did they limit themselves to watching the very few “kosher” programs available), they didn’t stop going to the movie theaters, nor did they consistently organize massive letter-writing campaigns to protest the programming.
(Sometimes, huge letter-writing campaigns occurred, but not frequently enough.)

And even though Conservatives have the financial resources to do so, they never tried to make a “Conservative TV channel,” even through cable or Internet streaming, and have done very little with independent movie productions (admittedly a big challenge, technologically and financially speaking, but not impossible—and with rising success, opportunities also rise).

And they continue to succeed in brainwashing society to think like them.

For more on this topic, please see:
How Hollywood Corrupted America
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*Due to the incredibly foul language and concepts (and even the plot lines of some of the TV shows themselves) expressed by many of the Hollywood bigwigs interviewed by Shapiro in Primetime Propaganda (which was softened a bit via the time-honored method of “strategically placed hyphens”), I ended up not reading the whole book, but simply skipped to the end where Shapiro offers analyses and solutions. It’s a great expose if you need it (or if someone you know needs it) and Shapiro shows his usual brilliance and thoroughness, but because of the language, it falls in the “Did I REALLY need to read this after all?” category of books as far as I’m concerned, and I no longer own it.

Just being honest.

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