Monthly Archives: December 2013

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Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Ketty Bat Olga who is undergoing surgery tomorrow, Friday morning (NY time 6 AM) at NYU Hospital.   Please daven that the surgery serve as a shaliach for her complete healing and she and all others in Klal Yisrael suffer no longer, Amen!

Today, the 9th of Tevet, is the yahrtzeit of Ezra, the leader of the Jewish people at the time of their return from Babylonian exile and the building of the Second Temple. Ezra was the founder of the Great Assembly, a body of 120 prophets and sages who established important matters like the standard text found in Jewish prayer books today. (Aish.com)  May we always be zoche to have great righteous leaders to guide us in this world in the path of Torah, Amen!

We are seated now in the heart of winter with snow thinking we will never see sunshine again.  The trees even appear lonesome as the animals go into hiding.  Should we snuggle into a corner too?

The Torah teaches that what goes on around us in the physical world is a reflection on what happens in the spiritual worlds and is meant to convey a message to us as well.  When the sun shines brightly during the warm months of spring and summer there is a sense of revelation due to the immense light and warmth.  Yet when the climate is cold there is certainly an aspect of withdrawal and cold lifelessness.

However we must reveal the hidden good for there is plenty to unearth.  At the onset of Tevet we should begin digging inside to discover what has been concealed from us, recognizing the weeds and thinking about what we wish to replant. This is the required condition to prepare us for the month of Shvat in which the sap begins to spill forth to nurture the seedlings.

This notion defines the fast tomorrow, the 10th of Tevet as well.  The inner essence of fast days is good for it since it cuts us off from our material ends. Although in current times we seemingly appear as a lost nation without the ability to shine, these days are destined to become days of joy and happiness.

We can glow, we can shine and we can rededicate our lives to Hashem no matter how dreary we feel and how distant we’ve traveled.  May it be a meaningful fast and may we walked away renewed and strengthened with resolve in our avodat Hashem, Amen!

Tomorrow, the 10th of Tevet is the yahrtzeit of Reb Noson  (January 22, 1780 – December 20, 1844) born Nathan Sternhartz, who was the chief disciple and scribe of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov ztk’l. Reb Noson is credited with preserving, promoting and expanding the Breslov movement after the Rebbe’s death. Rebbe Nachman himself said, “Were it not for Reb Noson, not a page of my writings would have remained.”  May his merit serve on high as an advocate for Klal Yisrael, Amen!

Have a wonderful Shabbat.

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Everything is from Hashem!  This statement is nothing new to the readers who have been with the Daily Dose of Emuna for quite some time.  Yet as many of you write to me on a regular basis it is a difficult challenge to push the emuna button when hardships arise. The question that is repeatedly asked, “How do I get the emuna in my mind to affect my heart and impact my feelings so I will pulsate with emuna vibes through and through?”  I want to feel it, but I don’t!

It is the struggle of our current generation and a crucial necessary tool we need to learn every moment possible in order to lead happy, more fulfilling and emotionally balanced lives.  Chazal teach us that just as a body needs food, the soul needs emuna.  Without emuna the soul suffers and the result; negative emotions begin to flood our entire being.

Many think that I have reached my emuna pinnacle and don’t get frustrated with the curve balls thrown to me in life.   I am on an emuna journey just like you traveling the path to see and feel Hashem’s existence in every aspect of my life.  My emotions often ‘get in the way’ too and I must learn in my own way to ‘Cast my burden onto Hashem’ just like the rest.

I began writing the emuna articles in order to teach myself that Hashem loves me more than ever and is walking side by side with me everywhere I go.  I never thought anyone else needed to learn the same message like I did. Two and a half years have passed since then and thousands of you have inspired me to keep writing and teaching the crucial message of why we need Hashem in our lives.

B’chasdei Shamayim, I know the impact is widespread and it has changed coutless lives.  Rabbeim have written to me, though I prefer not to mention names, that they themselves have tremendously benefitted from the emuna lessons since they are real and practical and are taught with such passion.   What a humbling experience.

This is why the forthcoming book “180 Degrees in 180 Days’ is so essential to the Klal.  Everyone needs this and I need your help to make this book.  This is going to cost me to produce, design and edit, so whatever you can contribute please do.  As little as $5 – as much as a million dollars and you’ll get great rewards both material and spiritual because every dollar you give, it’s a mitzvah going toward Torah learning.

In fact in order to make this book a reality it only takes 120 people to contribute $102 (the gematria of the word EMUNA).  It can be spread out over 6 months; just under $18 a month.  I know Hashem will see this project through, but I also know that He wants me to spread the wealth and reward with the people who benefit from the emuna lessons and know how it has affected their lives first hand.

Please take the time to contribute.  Every dollar is a note of appreciation that you are sending The Daily Dose of Emuna that you care and want it to continue.  I can’t do this alone. Please join me.

All contributions can be made either via paypal email oritriter@gmail.com, credit card via http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/daily-dose-of-emuna, check or wire bank transfer. For contributions of $180 or more we can send you a tax deductible receipt, which is of greater value before the 31^st of December 2013.

All donations can be used from Ma’aser as they are 100% being used for Torah learning.  Thank you for your generous support. Please pass the word on!

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Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Raphael Elisha Meir ben Devorah a six year old who is tremendously suffering from brain cancer.  May Hashem shower him and his family with all of the yeshuot in the zechut of the miracle of Chanukah and may he be completed healing amongst all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!

Last night R’Aryeh Wolbe in Houston responded to the critical medical situation of Rafael Elisha Meir ben Devorah (Cohen), who is suffering with aggressive brain cancer.  The doctors gave the parents the devastating news that “there is nothing more we can do for him.”

R’ Wolbe said right now Rafael Elisha’s fate is in Hashem’s hands and he needs our tefillos.  Please daven for a speedy recovery for Rafael Elisha Meir ben Devorah.   He may have days to live, the doctors don’t know.

An update on the earlier message. 

The parents were going to try Antineoplaston Therapy at the Burzyinski clinic, which I said in a previous email.  A number of you sent a note saying that that clinic has issues, which is also why the FDA withheld approval.  Nonetheless, the parents have comfort knowing that 30,000 people signed the White House petition for FDA approval for compassionate use of an experimental medication that may have the potential to save his life  (sign the petition) and that they are receiving support worldwide from the Jewish nation.   Mrs. Cohen was in tears when she spoke with R’Wolbe.

In addition the family does have to pay medical bills to keep him alive.  You can donate here:

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-raphael-elisha-meir-ben-devorah-cohen/104108?utm_source=cohen+plea&utm_campaign=urgent+plea&utm_medium=email .

The goal is $100,000 and when I just donated the total was $75,147. 

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Our book sponsorship campaign is headed into a new phase. Your support means the world! Please visit today and become a partner! click here

Da’at is the expansion of one’s spiritual awareness.  We acquire it by working on heightening our spiritual sensibility; a lifetime task being that our conscious mind was sent into exile at the same time when our physical essence was.

Therefore when our da’at, a state of conscious expansion (our ability to see beyond the here and now), is in exile our finite thinking minds are constricted.  The goal: to search beneath the surface and rise above this narrow place.

One of the fundamental ways to work towards living with a more keen awareness of Hashem’s existence is to regularly ask the vital life questions:  “Where is my place in this world?” “What difference can I make with my limited stay here?” “What can I do to make my life more meaningful?”

The risk we take when leaving our da’at in exile is the possibility that we will experience more difficulty when hardships c”v come our way.  The antidote is to widen our vision and begin focusing on the ‘big picture.’  There is an afterlife, there is eternity, there is reward and consequences for every thought, every action and every iota of effort and longing we extended to hold onto our emuna.

Seeing beyond the now will most certainly require constant reinforcement and work.  The payoff:  eternity!

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Our book sponsorship campaign is headed into a new phase. Your support means the world!  Please visit today and become a partner!   click here

Tevet is the coldest month of the year and therefore lends itself to craving for bodily contact and warmth.  ‘All follows after its beginning’; we learn from here that being that Tevet starts with the intense warmth and embrace of the Chanukah candles it holds within it the power to illuminate even the darkest and coldest of months.

This enlivens our emuna as it hints to the fact that although we may be experiencing numbness and confusion, a sense of loneliness due to the challenges in life, the message from Hashem to us is:  I am here with you guiding you along your path.  No matter what happens the message is an eternal one for us always to remember!

The koach (strength) we hopefully accumulated during the awesome Chanukah holiday keeps shining and glowing and B’H will enable us to rededicate our lives to living with emuna shleimah. 

Once again, it is not a matter of understanding what is happening in our lives, it is a sense of trusting that it is all good and we simply cannot see the entirety of it right now.  But one day, B’H b’rachamim, we will.

Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Avraham ben Bracha, an 18 years old student who just found out that he has stomach and liver cancer.  Please Hashem shower this beautiful neshama with rachamei Shamayim and shower him with a complete healing amongst all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!

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As we are experiencing the last miraculous lights of Chanukah we are still able to embrace the Ohr Haganuz, the hidden light of creation.  There is a deep Kabbalistic elucidation that teaches the events that brought about the shattering of the vessels. These vessels essentially are parts of creation which could no longer contain the ohr haganuz when it shined in full force and as a result were scattered and descended to the lower worlds; our world as we know it.

Each one of us carries selected sparks from these fallen sparks and comes into contact with them at different stages of our lives.  Although these sparks are described as ‘fallen’ they still hold within them some of the hidden light.  One of the greatest tasks in life is for us to ‘redeem’ these sparks and return them back to their source on high through living a life of Torah and fulfilling the mitzvot.

Every Shabbat this hidden light peaks through and shines onto the Jewish souls to assist them in rectifying their personal sparks connected to their individual souls.  Consequently, when we involve ourselves in the holy aspects of Shabbat we are repairing our souls. Let us see how.

In effect when we observe Shabbat we are receiving an amazing gift from Borei Olam.  The hidden light, which glimpses forth on Shabbat, is compared to a magnet which acts to draw that flicker of light embedded in the fallen sparks.   Beginning with our pre-Shabbat spiritual and physical preparations and continuing forth by honoring Shabbat itself, we are for all intents and purposes strengthening our vessels to ‘catch’ this hidden light which is enclosed in our fallen sparks.

To bring this multifaceted notion to a simple point – when we properly prepare and observe Shabbat we are providing a holy abode for the ohr haganuz to stay until it ascends back to its source on motzei Shabbat.  The more actively involved we are in making ourselves holy, the more we are able to retain the holy light that beams each and every Shabbat.

Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Elisha Meir Raphael ben Devorah a six year old who is tremendously suffering from brain cancer.  May Hashem shower him and his family with all of the yeshuot in the zechut of the miracle of Chanukah and may he be completed healing amongst all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!

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Please sign this petition to help save Refael Elisha Cohen who is six years old and very sick with brain cancer.

Please see note below from his father and mother, who are very special people and are at their wits end.

No money being asked for, just a few moments of your time to sign a petition that just may save his life.

Please feel free to forward on.

They need 100,000 signatures for the White House to consider granting an approval  for a medicine that has the potential to save their 6 year old son and 2 other kids with rare brain tumors.

They would really appreciate if you could sign and pass on!

Click here to sign a petition

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Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the hatzlacha of the entire Last family.  May they be blessed with health, happiness, joy and an abundance of spiritual and material bracha amongst all of Am Yisrael in the zechut of Chanukah, Amen!

Aish.com will now be publishing a new series of brand new articles on emuna by the Daily Dose of Emuna.  Check in regularly:  http://www.aish.com/sp/ph/Faith-in-God-A-Jewish-Perspective.html

Today, is Rosh Chodesh Tevet.  Today is the day to daven for coming back to teshuva.  Today is the day when Yismael did teshuva and we can tap into this spiritual energy.  Ask Hashem to enlighten the eyes of Klal Yisrael especially those who have strayed from the path of Torah.  It is praiseworthy to also light a candle in the merit of Rabbi Meir Ba’al HaNess.

The Greeks’ mindset was simply, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die” – meaning focus on here and now – there is no future plan, only the present.  However, there is nothing further from the truth as the Jewish people are instructed to believe in the World to Come and eternal life.

If the concept of eternity is not placed at the forefront of our minds on a regular basis, we will fail to properly make our way through life in this world.  Eternal life is what makes this world worth living and investing effort in.  Without considering this fundamental piece, this world seemingly fails to serve truth and justice or reward and punishment.

How can we understand the odds and ends of this world when we only live through a chunk of it?  It is likened to coming into a movie a half hour after it has begun and leaving a half hour before it ends and expecting to understand the entire plot!  Yet there is a before and after, though we are not privy to see it all right now. We will though in due time, B’H.

With that in mind, it is much easier to live with the advice of Rebbi Nachman ztk’l – accustom yourself to give thanks to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.  We must work towards illuminating our words with gratitude since this will connect us to Hashem’s truthful light.  How?  Measure for measure by uttering words of truth and expressing appreciation for the goodness we believe that Hashem is constantly bestowing upon us, we eradicate falsehood and create an opening to faithfulness.

Honesty with one’s self is another powerful way to experience Hashem’s truthful reality.  I must see myself for who I really am; an eved Hashem (servant of Hashem). This is my truthful place and the sooner I accept my role, the clearer my path in life will become.

Zot Chanukah tonight, the eighth day of Chanukah, is the day that seals the judgments that were made in the Higher Heavenly Courts on Rosh Hashanah.  It is an auspicious day for beseeching our endless list of requests and wishes while building on our emuna to see and accept that it is all good.

Tonight is a special night to daven for zera bar kayama, children. We ask Hashem that in the merit of the eight day’s of Chanukah women around the world should merit celebrating the bris of their newborn children soon.  It is also a segula to daven for one’s zivug, soul-mate. 

The lights of Chanukah will accompany us throughout the year and illuminate our eyes to see through emuna glasses.  Take as much time as you can to gaze at the lights tonight.  Allow your vision to become blurry with tears  as though it is a bonfire while staring at the glow of the candles.  There is no clearer way to see life!

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Today’s daily dose is dedicated l’iluy neshmat Osnat bat Carmela z’l.  May her neshama bask in the Divine radiance together with all of the tzaddikim who have departed from this world, Amen.

Sefer Bereshis describes how the world looked initially: tohu veh’vohu, total chaos.  Hashem then gave form to this disordered universe; each creature was given purpose thus providing direction in the universe.   This is one of the meanings behind the verse, ‘let there be light’ since light brought clarity in the place of where confusion previously was.

We can all relate to times of utter confusion in our lives whereby darkness reigns.  It is for this reason that we are instructed to place the menorah at our doorways so that the holy light of Hashem illuminate our paths as we walk through life.  The doorway and window sill are places of transition between our homes and the outside world.  We need the tefillah of Shema Yisrael on one side of the door and the warm embrace of the Chanukah lights on the other to direct us with clarity.

The warm light of Chanukah gifts us with lucidity that we can share with others.  The dynamics of a flame is such that we can share it with others while not decreasing its ability to continue to shine with the same energy.  When we see our life as whole and complete, view our existence as a gift that is filled with goodness, then we can give of ourselves to others without feeling that we are extracting from ourselves.

Therefore one of the tools we need in order to keep that light is to acknowledge our inner light, our ability to shine and warm others; our healthy emotional state of being.  In front of the Chanukah lights let us ask Hashem to heal our wounds with His awesome soothing flames, amen!

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Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Leah Tamar bat Shira Golda.  She is a three year old girl undergoing urologic surgery today.   May HaKadosh Baruch Hu send the malach Raphael to guide the hands of the doctors and may Leah Tamar bat Shira Golda merit a complete healing amongst all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!

There were a number of victories won on the Greek battlefront.  One of which is taught to us in the bracha of Al Hanissim, “…Chukei Retzonecha (…. the laws of Your will).”  Why the need to say Your will?  We all know that the entirety of Torah laws and guidance are divinely rooted.

To answer this question we must go back to the basics of creation and Hashem’s existence.  Chazal teach us that nothing can exist in reality without it being completely enjoined with the will of Borei Olam.  Simply speaking, nothing can exist in this universe without ratzon Hashem.  We see from this that if we do not align ourselves with fulfilling His will we are not embedded in truthful reality, only illusion.

Many of the nations of the world agree that Torah offers a complete system of moral and ethical values that are crucial for healthy existence.  However this is not why the Jewish people are instructed to fulfill Torah study and performance of mitzvot.  We are to do so as an eved to his master.  No rhythm or reason other than to  align ourselves with the Divine purpose of creation.

The Greeks did not have any qualms about keeping Torah, however keeping laws for the sake of being loyal to a Supreme Authority, that could not be tolerated. Giving pleasure, nachat ruach, to Borei Olam, was considered absolutely absurd to them.

From here we see the direct link as to why we are told to say Your will.  There should not be a mental or physical separation between that which we do and the fulfillment of Hashem’s will; they are two sides of the same coin.  Succeeding in finding the jug of sealed pure oil was testimony that Hashem’s will is not to be ‘mixed up’ with anything else.  There is no room for logic, social acceptance or in keeping with the times.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not stamp the Torah with an expiration date or renewal clause.  It is valid for eternity and it is our link to infinity!