TKP—Climbing Mount Karmel
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Vanilla and espresso cheesecake. Cheese balls with Torino garnish. Cheese salad with two-toned dressing. As we count down the days to Shavuos, delectable dishes and frilly summer dresses take center stage.
Yet deep within our hearts, there’s a yearning, a desire for connection-- for something more. Our innermost selves is desperate for an infusion of information and inspiration, to feed and nourish us through the summer months and beyond.
Meet the Tammy Karmel Project, a group of women whose lives have been transformed by Tammy—and who want to give you the same opportunity.
Tammy, or Yocheved Tamar bas Ita Baila, is a young mother living in Eretz Yisroel whose breath-taking shiurim have taken the Jewish world by storm. Emunah. Sholom bayis. Acceptance of Hashem’s will, even when it conflicts with ours. Listening to Tammy is having your world, the way you’ve always known it, turned on its head.
Yet Tammy herself is the greatest inspiration. She is currently in the advanced stages of ALS, a horrific disease that has trapped her in her body, while her soul soars to greater heights.
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Those afflicted with this horrific disease slowly lose sensation in their limbs, until they are essentially trapped---their atrophying bodies holding their minds prisoner. Eventually they can no longer move their arms, legs, heads, or even breathe on their own, yet their intellect remains unscathed.
For Tammy, her new limitations were especially stifling. Tammy had been a high achiever, a dedicated wife and mother who filled her every moment with worthwhile pursuits. Born and raised in London, Tammy (nee’ Cimmerman) was a spunky young girl. She grew up, married, and settled in Eretz Yisroel, living an idealistic kolel lifestyle.
As she nourished her neshamah and nurtured her family, Tammy began sharing powerful insights with friends and neighbors, through parenting and sholom bayis classes. Shortly after her diagnosis, when her voice began to falter, Tammy forged on, despite unrelenting pain and weakness.
Giving up was not in Tammy’s lexicon. Upon the advice of a family friend, Tammy had her shiurim videotaped, so that her family and friends could continue sharing her journey.
Tammy’s close friends in New York, or the TKP, have made it their life’s mission to spread Tammy’s shiurim around the world. Dubbed “Climbing Mount Karmel,” Tammy’s Project has succeeded in bringing Tammy’s shiurim to every corner of the globe. There are regular showings in Monsey, Brooklyn, the Five Towns, Lakewood, Detroit, Melbourne, Zurich, Belgium, London, and Eretz Yisroel, among dozens of other locations.
Attending a ‘talk with Tammy’ isn’t just inspiring and thought-provoking. Its guaranteed to transform your life.
At a recent TKP event, held at in the lavish Kesser Tzvi Hall in Williamsburg, over 500 women gathered to learn about Tammy, and gain inspiration from Mrs. Ruchie Weisz, whose husband is living with ALS for eleven long years. The women laughed and cried as Tammy spoke to their hearts and souls.
The Tammy Karmel movement keeps growing. It’s adherents range from Rebetzins to young high school girls, and almost everyone in between. Once you listen to a Tammy shiur, its effects are magnetic. Simply put, there’s no going back.
In the words of Rebetzin Faigy Schneebalg, a renowned kallah teacher, “The point that we are our neshamos, not our bodies, and that in every situation we must hear the voice of Hashem is so life-altering.”
Rivky Katz, a well-known social skills coach, added, “I have never been to a training or lecture as powerful as Tammy’s words. I think this is because all the others—psychologists, educators and doctors, were all speaking from their brains and intellect. Tammy was speaking from her neshamah.”
Ann Eizik, LCSW, summarized it thus: “When you listen to Tammy and hear how she comes to terms with her struggles, she gives clarity that I have not heard anywhere else, and it just makes sense. Her perspective is clear, human, and full of emunah and bitachon.”
Tammy’s shiurim are traveling upstate, in time for your summer vacation. Call TKP at 718 853 7246 or email: tammykproject@gmail.com to bring Tammy to your summer home or bungalow colony. Fill your summer with sunshine, relaxation, and inspiration, and come home prepared for the Yomim Noraim.
-C. B. Weinfeld
published in the Yated May 29, 2016