Please Remember MaKayla Dyer

Please keep the family of MaKayla Dyer in your thoughts and prayers. She is the little eight year old girl that was shot with a 12 gauge shotgun and killed by an eleven year old neighbor because she refused to let him see her puppy. Please consider making a donation to help the family on funeral expenses too. http://www.cooke-campbellmortuary.com/book-of-memories/2262786/Dyer-MaKayla/obituary.php

Would you like to increase the odds of success for your child? Do this & it’s FREE!

Words are like spotlights that reveal things to those who know them that are hidden from those who do not. The acquisition of words creates a treasure that cannot be taken from your child. With those treasures your child will be able to more accurately make distinctions between things that exists – as well as between reality and fiction. The odds of making good decisions in life increase exponentially as this treasure grows.

(1) Reading aloud is widely recognized as the single most important activity leading to language development. Among other things, reading aloud builds word-sound awareness in children, a potent predictor of reading success.

(2) Reading aloud to young children is not only one of the best activities to stimulate language and cognitive skills; it also builds motivation, curiosity, and memory. 

(3) Research shows that the more words parents use when speaking to an 8-month-old infant, the greater the size of their child's vocabulary at age 3. The landmark Hart-Risley study on language development documented that children from low-income families hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers before the age of 4. 

Giving this free gift is very important for another reason -- when you give it you are actually giving your child two gifts. Turn your phone, computer and TV off. Give the gift that no one else, no program or no app can give – your undivided attention. In today’s world, learning how to give another person your undivided attention will increase your odds of success, too. It will not take very long to begin to reap the rewards -- especially the priceless rewards that can only come from your child.

Read the article about the benefits of reading aloud at -- http://www.reachoutandread.org/why-we-work/importance-of-reading-aloud/

Pope Francis Speech to the United Nations

This is a speech well worth reading and its loaded with TOV Values -- http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122916/pope-franciss-address-united-nations-transcript-his-full

Insurance Company pays Travis DA’s office more than $400,000 to prosecute acts of fraud against it.

The contract between the company and the district attorney’s office is up for renewal on Oct. 1. Texas Mutual declined comment Tuesday. Under the arrangement, allowed under a decades-old state law, Texas Mutual Insurance pays more than $400,000 a year to fund a special unit in the Travis DA’s office dedicated to prosecuting acts of fraud against the company. Several local elected officials have criticized the deal and called for reforms, saying the cozy arrangement between government prosecutors and a private company at a minimum creates the appearance of a conflict of interest. Makes you wonder if Lady Justice is peaking under her blindfold these days. How many more public institutions of Justice are being paid like the one in Travis County? Read the article at -- http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/22/travis-county-cant-stop-privately-funded-prosecuti/

Why public beheadings get millions of views

This is a very important subject that every American needs to understand. Please take a few minutes to watch Frances Larson’s Ted Talk.

“We're fulfilling the murderer's desire to be seen. When the victim of a decapitation is bound and defenseless, he or she essentially becomes a pawn in their killer's show. Unlike a trophy head that's taken in battle, that represents the luck and skill it takes to win a fight, when a beheading is staged, when it's essentially a piece of theater, the power comes from the reception the killer receives as he performs. In other words, watching is very much part of the event.”

View the video at -- http://www.ted.com/talks/frances_larson_why_public_beheadings_get_millions_of_views#t-10979

It is Time to Start Talking!

TOV To the Left of Me; TOV to the Right of Me; There’s TOV All Over!!!

Tonight starts the Jewish High Holy Days with Rosh Ha'Shanah (literally, the Head of the year). Many people mistakenly think this is the New Year on the Hebrew calendar. Actually the Jewish new year or first month happens in the spring. The Hebrew month of Nisan, begins the Hebrew/Jewish calendar. People will greet you with Happy New Year, but this is the seventh month. Maybe this time period had some agricultural or fiscal importance in ancient times.

The Hebrew greeting, L'Shanah TOVah, To a Good Year, a TOV year! Remember, TOV also means, “Words, Thoughts and Actions that Preserve Life, Protect Life, Make Life More Functional and Increases the Quality of Life.” But the TOV doesn't stop there!

Next week is the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. We fast and pray and reflect on our past actions. We ask for forgiveness for transgressions against the Creator. Repairing all other relationships is OUR Responsibility, whether we are the one whom has been hurt, or we were the one doing the hurting.

The Tradition says that on Rosh Ha'Shanah all of our deeds were written down and on Yom Kippur, our fate is sealed for the year to come. (Difficult, since Judaism also says we have free will and free choice!) The greeting on Yom Kippur is, G'Mar Chatimah TOVah -- literally, May your (fate) be sealed for/with TOV (Life).

I’m just getting started – TOV is everywhere in Judaism!!!

● A Jewish Festival is called a Yom TOV, literally “A TOV Day!”

● When Shabbat ends we wish others a Shavuah TOV, “A TOV week.”

● There's Boker TOV, “A TOV morning – and -- A TOV afternoon; A TOV evening.

● A Shem TOV, A TOV(good) Name.

● Tam TOV, A TOV Taste.

● Ish TOV, A TOV man.

● Ishah TOVah, A TOV woman.

● Anashim TOVim, TOV People

OK,OK, I'll STOP!!! And the point is -- TOV encompasses everything having to do with all the Facets of Light and Life, for each of us and for all of creation.

Make learning about TOV and all the opportunities for creating TOV a commitment this coming year. It opens up the world of our humanity and lets us examine our MEMES (the thoughts in our minds), connects us with other people helping to make our little corner of the world better, safer, stronger and more peaceful.

I wish for all of us a “Year of TOV” – a year of acknowledging all the TOV in our lives.

L'Shanah TOVah

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor