Gates of the Castle
The Salmon is an interesting fish.  It has a built in, G-d given system, always to find its way back to where it was spawned.  Having lived in the Pacific Northwest for many years, I have watched Salmon  swim almost vertically up a stream.  There are waterway ladders that man has built to assist the Salmon, in a man made environment with glass on one side so a person can watch the trek of the Salmon.  I could see that some lost parts of their bodies, some had cuts or gashes in their sides.  It was very difficult for me to stand there and observe the physical pain I thought they must feel.  Salmon take it very seriously, this compulsion to return to their roots.  They don't have the capacity to reason, to be confused, or to doubt.  They just MOVE FORWARD against the current.  Some do not make it.  They are either eaten by the bears or caught by the fisherman.  Yet still, they are compelled by that inner spark to press on ~ by faith ~ knowing that when they arrive to that birthplace they will be HOME.  Their circle will be complete.
As the Salmon returns to its roots, its beginnings…..So did I.  As you will see, the journey takes many turns.  Yeshiyahu (Isaiah) speaks about this in Perek (chapter) 45:1- 3 that we are walking in a maze, a crooked path,  and as we walk this path, HaShem's path, He will make the crooked way STRAIGHT, and as we approach the gates of the castle, finally getting thru the maze, we must have the faith to walk thru the gates.  And behind us, HaShem pulverizes the gates and they exist no more.  As we enter the palace courtyard we are given the treasures of darkness, and the hidden riches of secret places.  WHY? ~ that we may know that HaShem, who calls us by our name, is the G-d of Yisroel.  (Commentary by the Malbem.)

Personal Background
I was born into an Army family.  My father was an Army officer and a CIA agent.  I spent my young years, the youngest of 3 children, all over the U.S., Japan and Europe.  Traveling was a way of life, we never spent more then 3 years at any one place.  That, of course, was the Army way.
Leaving high school, I decided to experience the Height Ashbury scene in San Francisco.  Many of us in the 60's sought opportunities to express ourselves in the unusual.
Quickly tiring of that, I joined the U.S. Marine Corps.  During those years of the Viet Nam War, I was a Top Secret Courier to the Pentagon in Washington D.C.  Today I still stay away from the Viet Nam, movies remembering all to well the men returning home with missing limbs and such deep sorrow.
My first strong Jewish impression came at the birth of my son.  I was married just after being discharged from 2 years of Marine Corps service.  Along side my bed in the hospital was a Jewish mother with her child and visiting husband. 

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