Easydaven - Dedicated to instant Refuah Shleymas

Return from Israel

2009-02-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

I was in israel last week with the family. Partly pleasure and partly obligation as my wifes grandfather is currently not too well (view daven page here). Thanks Hashem he was very happy to see us - it gave him Chizuk.

I always have these moments post going to Israel. Someone said that life throws you mortality checks throughout your life that urge you to reflect on where you are, what your doing, what's important and where your heading.

Israel was and always is a very spiritually uplifting visit for me. Combined with a short film (seal of truth) that many of you have seen together with a visit to a not so well known Kabbalist, this visit had a particular effect on me.

A rav once told me that "the most important thing is that the important thing, is the important thing."

Whilst in israel, I lived simply, slept on a bed on teh floor of a relative, no computer, no TV, totally disconnected. I soaked up teh atmosphere and life was simpler and slower.

I've been yearning to make aliyah for a long time and am stilll trying to convince my better half though work is in progress.

In israel, the things I guess I value are not as good. The things you CAN put a price on are better here in the uk, but the free thngs those things as a father and and a jew are priceless.

-> Walking the street without fear
-> Walking the street as a proud jew knowing you wont get comments
-> Seeing kids playuing late at night in safely (I know it's not toally safe but you get my picture)
-> Seeing the dustman with a kippa

For me as a jew, i didnt feel threatened and seeing my children play with their cousins was tremendous.

Courese being a tourist and livingin in israel asre two different things. The politics, beurocracy, 6 day week, pittence of a salarY soon bring you back to reality.

But the question then becomes, what is your reality? is it to aspire to have the means and knowledge of your boss> or of that Zaddik?

Money cannot purchase midot, money can make this life somewhat easier, smoother maybe and unlock the key to tranquility. But is that the purpose for being?

I thikn I realised more than before that our reason for being is a gift and gift and a loan.

What we do and how we behave and what we make of ourselves takes a whole new meaning when seen through the eyes of heaven.

I got my wakeup call in Israel and hopefully can stay inspired alittle longer than the last journey.

Rosh Hashanah message

2008-09-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Some words for Rosh Hashana

Some little gems written, for a year almost past
Some can't believe it went by so fast

Some luckily gaze up, others less fortunate gaze down
Some anticipate the Shechinah in it's magestic white gown

Some got rich, others fell poor
Some ate less and, some bought more

Some saw the truth and some lived a lie
Some really changed and some didn't try

Some searched for meaning, gave their souls some healing
Some changed the world, consealed till the day of redeeming

Some cherished time and others rationalise
Sometimes we rationalise our lies

Some were born, parents blessed with a kid
Some prayed every day for success with their bid

Some were lost and some moved up
Some sat by Hashems house, drinking knowledge from his cup

To life to life, inscribe us in your book
Don't judge us for death, take one last look

Your angels walk this world, downtrodden and worn
The yetzer challenges all and does his work in all forms

But with your help Hashem, we'd return every day
This one day of Judgment, don't turn us away

For we know there is life, there is recompence there is hope
Another year of tasks, we're sure we can cope

Inscribe us in your book for a year sweet and new
Of teshuva, tzedaka and tephilla, mitztvot precious to me and you

Let your judgment be favourable, let it not make us shiver
Trust your people, your nation, to be strong and deliver

Shana Tova to you all and Refuah Shleymah to all those who need our prayers.

Jonny Wilks

Shabbat invites in England... is it just me?

2007-11-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Evening all.

The other evening my wife and I were talking about Shabbat and the fact that we don't get invited out as much as maybe one would like.

It just so happens that one night last week I had to go out quite late in the evening to get some petrol lest my wife be careless in the morning. On my way back, I happened to be passing past a maariv at our local Kollel. I parked up and whilst walking to the Kollel heard a beep from a passing car in my direction. Turing, I noticed it was one of my ex neighbours - a nice guy who I rarely talked too.

After a little small talk (I really was getting late for maariv) I mentioned that we hadn't seen each other for Shabbat recently. So I said "oh, you must come over for Shabbat" to which my neighbour said for get that... we always come to you... you MUST come to us....

silence.....

smiles at each other.....

I now have a bigger smile on may face...

silence......

OK----- So here is what's going on in my head. I'll replay the above to you...

So I said "oh, you must come over for Shabbat"(why don't you invite us?) to which my neighbour said for get that... we always come to you... you MUST come to us....

silence..... (I know this...why don't you invite us then?)

smiles at each other..... (why don't you invite us... I'm not kidding man!)

I now have a bigger smile on may face... (why are YOU smiling?)

silence...... (did you really mean to invite us)

In the end I said... Shabbat... Shabbat lunch will be great!! lets do it, we will come to you - what time is good? 12? 12:30???

Well talk about not being British... I felt so free, so non conventional.

It was great. We said goodby and I was left with the impression that we'd get a facebook invite.

I never did get an invite but thank Hashem, we are eating at my ex chevrutahs.

What's the moshul.... speak truth and avoid falsehood (you may just get tested from those you least expect it

Shabbat Shalom

Jonny)

A long time coming

2007-11-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

Evening guys.

I can't believe it's been four months since I last wrote on this blog.

In truth, I stopped writing form many reasons but one reason in particular was that I didn't want to write fro the sake of writing. Initially I started this blog to keep people updated on the progress of this site. The site has stayed the same now for some while and I guess this is wher I should end it. But I thought to myself, may be, just maybe i should turn this blog into my own one. I'll reference the site from time to time, but think I'll write a little about my thoughts, advice and concerns. Your free to read on...

A befitting Dvar Torah

2007-07-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Thought I would share this Dvar Torah with you all.

Wishing you a peacful Shabbat and Refuah Shleymah to friends and family

Shabbat Shalom

Jonny

*****************************

Weekly Parasha Insights by Rabbi Eli Mansour

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Parashat VaEtchanan- What Happens to Unanswered Prayers?

The Torah tells in the opening verses of Parashat Vaethanan that Moshe pleaded with God to allow him to cross the Jordan River with Benei Yisrael and enter the Land of Israel. However, despite Moshe's
impassioned pleas, God denied him permission to enter the land, and commanded him not to continue praying for this matter. The Sages tell us that Moshe uttered no fewer than 515 prayers in requesting permission to enter the Land of Israel. This number is alluded to in the Parasha's opening word - "vaethanan" ("I pleaded") - which has the numerical value of 515 (6+1+400+8+50+ 50=515). The obvious question arises, if God knew that He would not grant Moshe's request, and that He would ultimately instruct Moshe to discontinue his prayers, why did He wait for Moshe to complete 515 prayers? Why did He not interrupt Moshe immediately as he began praying, and thus spare him the time and effort he invested in reciting the additional 514 prayers?

The Rabbis teach us that there is no such thing as a wasted or unanswered prayer. If a person prays for something and his request is not granted, he must not conclude that his prayer was recited in vain. God stores all our prayers in a "prayer bank" of sorts from where they are "withdrawn" at some later point, perhaps for somebody else, and perhaps only generations later. If a person prays for an ill patient Avraham Ben Sara, and the patient unfortunately does not survive his illness, those prayers will perhaps be effective in bringing a cure to another Avraham Ben Sara somewhere else in the world. During the years of the Communist movement, the children of many righteous Jews and Torah scholars abandoned Judaism and joined the atheistic Communists. Their parents recited untold numbers of prayers and shed rivers of tears asking
that their children should return to their heritage and traditions. Their prayers were not immediately answered, but many children and grandchildren of these Jewish Communists have returned to Jewish observance. The grandparents' prayers were not recited in vain; they were not meaningless. They were stored and preserved in the heavenly "prayer bank" and
ultimately succeeded in bringing scores of Jews back to Torah and Mitzvot.

For this reason, perhaps, God did not interrupt Moshe's prayers despite the fact that the decree was irreversible. He anticipated that in future generations, Benei Yisrael would face crisis and hardship and would lack sufficient merit to earn salvation. Moshe's 515 prayers were necessary to save the Jewish people when they would otherwise be unworthy of being saved. Who knows if our existence today is owed to the merit of Moshe's 515 prayers!

Never should a person despair from praying. Even if one's requests are not immediately granted, they will nevertheless have a meaningful impact and effect on somebody at some point in time. Every heartfelt prayer and every chapter of Tehillim is significant and beneficial -
regardless of whether we can immediately discern its impact.

It's been a while...

2007-07-18T04:38:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone.

The site has grown enormously since my last post. Unfortunately, Cholim numbers have continued to increase too.

Please note that there are a fairly large number of Cholim who have have no one davening for them. I do my best to daven for everyone but need your input too! If you have a spare 5 minutes every day, please say a prayer even if you don't know that person. It makes a huge difference.

We have constantly been working on the site behind the scenes and are trying to make improvements to the site. Please email me if you have any new suggestions.

Finally, there is another Jewish project I am working on. Can't say too much right now but if you have an easydaven user name and password, you will automatically have access to this site too so stay tuned.

Will be in touch soon.

Shavua tov

Jonny

Big announcements and press releases

2007-05-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Apologies for not writing sooner - these months or so have been rather hectic.

Unfortunately, the site has started to grow in terms of Cholim numbers however our membership has also increased which is means more people are davening for refuahs.

In the next week or so, we will be having a number of articles in the local Jewish press and online so watch out for a pretty poor photo of me (i'm hoping that won't be included).

Myself and Justin (my programmer) have been thinkingof a number of different ways to expand easydaven. This would not be commercial expansion but simply other ways of allowing people to benefit from the site.

I will be forwarding an email shortly with all the suggestions we have had and invite you to give me your feedback and ideas.

On a final note, please look oout for a major change on the site that will be happening hopefully tonight.

I can't go into too much detail yet but I'm hoping the change will be well received.

Stay tune and please keep davening

Jonny

New instructions and vidoe welcome!

2007-04-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

This is my first post for sometime. I have been fairly busy with Easydaven and am glad to say the effort is paying off (not financially ;))

This quick blog update Is really just to give some tips to users about maximising their use of the site:

When adding cholim (people who need prayers) please write something for the description. Generally, the more detail added, the moere people will daven. It may be a little disturbing but we are a voyeristic generation and detail sells. If you can stop for a moment before writing and think, I would like to try a create a mental image of the person (not too detailed re the illness) I believe this will help to attract people to daven for the cause.
Adding an name to the website allows members to daven for that perosn. But why stop there? you can and should allow your friensa and family to daven for this person or peopl on EdgwareK or the like. You can do this by following thes steps:

Login to your account
Click on the 'view all names tab'
Click on a choleh/ah's name
Highlight the URL(web address) in the address field at the top of your window
Right click the highlighted text and select 'copy'
Open up an email programme (Gmail, yahoo, Hotmail etc)
In a new email, rightclick and click 'paste'

You can now forward this daven page to friends and family, or as your Edgwarek email post

Phew... glad thats over!

Well I said this would be a quick blog and it is!

If you are in the Edgware, Hendon or Goldergreen area, be sure to pickup and Easydaven fridge magnet for friends and family!

And finally...

Yes, I have added a small video to the homepage that describes in essense what this site is about. You can link directly to this video or forwad it to peopl who may be interested in teh site but reluctant to sign up by suppling this link: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=3833441389888643257&hl=en-GB

Will post soon...

Best regards

Jonny

New ads are comin!

2007-03-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

This is just a quick post to let you now I have not disappeared off the face of the earth. Pesach is going to be a busy time and as such I may not be writing for while however things are ticking on in the background as usual. We now have well over 100 members on the site and growing each day. We also have around 40 cholim who still need our prayers on a daily basis.

I wanted to make a quick announcement about the site and its aims and objectives.

Easydaven is a site set up for just that... EASDYDAVENING ;) It's not a site that sends reminders or updates you on a regular basis about Cholim etc. There are other sites out there I think that do that. Easydaven was designed for people who simply lack the time to remember cholim requests.

The site is constantly going through re engineering and revamps. I launched this site pre- maturely for a good reason essentially because I didn't know if there would be enough interest or demand for this type of site. As some of you know, it does take time to develope good sites and I have to decide how much work would go into this whilst at the same time balancing the risks of it not working.

I am happy with the response to the site and know that members get great comfort in receiving messages (I know I do). So we have decided to make some bigger changes to the my account section and the login/registration page which has been an issue ;(

I may also add some new media at some stage explaining how to get the most out of the site.

In the meantime please keep davening and forwarding messages of hope and support.

Also, look out for the new easydaven.com fridge magnets! They should be hitting stores after Pesach so if you want one you gotta be quick (even if you're a member, would be good to take on case you have guests over who may say ooh... that's a cool fridge magnet - and so it spreads)

Finally, thanks to all of you (including Arutzsheva staff!) who sent messages of support after my grandfathers passing. It was much appreciated and really for me, emphasised the need for this site even more.

Shavuah tov

Jonnyd8

Larger font for the daven page

2007-03-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Afternoon guys,

Whilst I was away, my programmer did a great service for the site. He changed the Hebrew font on the daven page. It's now much bigger and clearer to read.

With regards to membership, we almost have 100 member which I think is quite an achievement for a site that's just turned 1 week old.

In the near future I plan to make a number of changes including the following:

A single button that allows users to copy a daven page link and then paste it into an email
The ability to see which cholim on the site you have already davened for (sure you could daven more than once for someone) but it would be nice to see who you may have missed by accident
The ability to see how many members we have on the site
An add to favourites and make this site my homepage link

We hope to start our marketing campaign early next week in London so keep your eyes open.

Finally, if anyone knows any other ways of spreading the word about this site, please do get in contact.

That's all for now!
Jonnyd8

He lead a long and meaningful life

2007-03-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post for a few days. With Hashems mercy, my grandfather left this world today (19th March). He was suffering for some time with a difficult illness.

I just wanted to say thank you so much for davening for him and giving him those extra prayers to take to shamayim with him. I recorded 44 personal daven sessions on this site for him of which my family and myself are truely grateful.

Arnie Wilks was a strong man, a man of conviction, a father, husband, soldier and provider. He had a fantastic sense of humour and was a keen painter, reader and in his younger years, a talented drummer in a band. I will always remember his flat, hallway and public thoroughfair were filled with his watercolour paintings.

He brough light to this world and to those who knew him, fond memories that will stay in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives. And whilst I sit here writing this message with tears in my eyes I know he will always be part of our lives.

Grandpa, this website is dedicated to your memory

Barch Dayan Emet...

Shiva will be in Birmingham. For details please call 07970298483

New features + Donations for adverts!

2007-03-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Evening guys,
I hope you all had a peaceful Shabbat.
One thing I've appreciated from this site in the few days it's been up is that there are so many people out there who need our prayers. I guess I always knew it however was not in a position to really be affected by it. This site has really made me appreciate how lucky I am with what I have and that Hashem blesses us all in different ways. I wanted to just announce a couple of developments.

Forward to a friend
We have just introduced a new feature called forward to a friend. Once you daven for a choleh/ah, the usual message wil come up saying 'Thanks for davening etc...' however now, you can forward a choleh/ah's daven page to friends and family. Simply add your name, the recipients name as well as email address and submit the form. The recipient will then be able to access the daven page.

Some thank you's
I wanted to quickly mention that Waller Pollins Solicitors in Edgware had made a very kind donation towards the site. This will be completely spent on advertising around the London area starting after Pesach (a glimps of the ad will be revealed soon). Should anyone have further suggestions about sites to promote easydaven.com, please do get in touch at jonnyd8[@]gmail.com. Thanks also go to Rabbi Mitterhoof from globalyeshiva.com who kindly put an advert on his homepage. Will keep you posted on new developments as they happy.
Refua Shleyma to all of Klal Yisrael
Jonnyd8

2007-03-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

Afternoon guys,

This post is just a simple reminder of how to send your daven links to friends and family.

Register First (it's FREE!)

You can register on the bottom right of the page by adding your email address and password.

Once you do that, you need to login to your account. You can then click on the 'my account' link at the top right of the homepage.

Once in the account page, you can click the 'add a name' tab and add the name accordingly, then click 'preview'. If you are happy with the result, click 'submit'.

Once saved go back into your account and refresh the page.

Forwarding links to friends and family

When you click the 'View My Names' tab it will show you the added name.

Click on that name and simply copy and paste the web address to that page (the long address in the browser box right at the top of your web screen) from your browser window into emails that you want to forward to friends and family.

Each time someone davens you will see an additional number next to his/her name in your account.

That's it and yes... we are going to be adding a far easier way to forward links to friends and family.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!

jonnyd8

Eadydaven.com launches

2007-03-15T15:30:00.001-07:00

Hi there,

This is my first post for the Easydaven website.

The site was launched on Wednesday the 14th of March. At the time of writing we have around 70 members on the site.

I wanted to briefly say thank you to the people who work behind the scenes to make this site function. I also wanted to say thanks to those who responded with such kind comments regarding the mission of this site.

I have received quite alot of feedback with suggestions for the site. Many of the suggestions will be implemented soon (site's only been up for one day ;0)

From now on, I will update members of new additions via this blog. I don't intend to write a full diary on the site but rather add user tips, run new ideas by you guys and really just see if there are any ways we can make the site easier to use.

That's it for now

Wishing Refuas to all your close ones

Jonnyd8