arriving at a crucial point

dear all,

we wish to inform you that we are arriving at a critical point in our prayer wheel making studio...

no orders have been coming in anymore (one this month) which is a first for us... never in 15 years did this ever happen.

so, we can not keep up with the costs of the studio and our bills and we both (me and Ayelet) are looking for work out in the real world.

Ayelet has found part time work today and i have a few job interviews this week and next week.

once we are both working, we will close shop.

we will of course let everyone know with a group email to all of our customers.

some one asked me: "what do you mean? nobody wants prayer wheels anymore?"

it seems that our prayer wheels, coming from this land which is now in the headlines around the world, and not the good kind of headlines, must have impacted our prayer wheel orders.

my best guess is that when customers who are looking for prayer wheels see that we are located in Israel, it must impact their choice who they buy prayer wheels from... who they support...

this is of course just my guess.

it is very hard times here. for all who are involved.

we, as Buddhists living here in this bloody land trying to craft prayer wheels for the world Sanga, find ourselves in a perpetual conflict. so many people have asked us why we do not just leave this place? well, being Jewish out there now is no picnic either... at least here we are all together.

my entire family got wiped out by the Nazis in WWII. my dad survived with his parents and they all came here.

i never felt the impact of me being a Jew. i never considered this at all. for me, it meant that i was born here and that is why i have this label. i do not follow the Jewish tradition in any form and it never bothered me that i am labeled in this way.

since October 7th, when this horrific attack on us happened, my feeling changed along with my mind set.

i now realize that no matter where i am in this world, i will be targeted. just because i was born here... this is very very sad and a real eye opener for me!

so, we choose to stay here for now and we basically do not have much choice since we have no money to leave anyway...

and even if we have the funds to leave, i am not sure we would, just because of the Jew hate out there now in the world.

so, just to close up here, i will say that even when we both take jobs, we would try and keep the studio alive for as long as we can since we have still a lot of microfilm, wood, bearings and so forth, so we can still craft prayer wheels if we have time for it. we still believe that this is the most important thing we can do with our lives, but it seems that for the first time in 15 years of prayer wheel crafting, we are reaching a critical point in time where we must choose what to do next.

maybe we have exhausted our prayer wheel making karma? maybe it is time for someone else to pick up this craft and accumulate merit instead of us?

who knows such things...

we love you all so much and appreciate all you have done for us, allowing us to do what was and still is the most important thing we have ever done in our lives... making prayer wheels!

much love

Micha & Ayelet