Monthly Archives: December 2017

BS’D

“Love your fellow as yourself.”

Rabbi Israel of Rizhin illustrated this with the following story:

” A Faithful Friend”

Once there were two friends whose souls were intertwined with a great love. They lived very far from one other. One of them was falsely accused of a crime, convicted and sentenced to death. A proclamation was made that everyone in the land must attend this criminal’s execution.

When his friend came to the execution, he recognized him. He cried out loudly, “Leave that man alone! It is I who committed the crime.”

The execution was stopped. The matter was brought before the king, who he summoned both men and asked them the truth of the matter. Only one of them could have committed the crime, so why is the other one willing to die in vain?

The friend of the condemned man answered the king, “I know that my friend did not commit any crime. I know his character. He couldn’t have done it. And so this is nothing but a miscarriage of justice. My life depends on my friend’s life. It is better that I die and not see his death. In fact, if I have received such a punishment as having to see my friend’s death, I must myself be deserving of death.”

And the other man replied in a similar fashion.

When the king saw the great love between these two men, he let them both free. And he requested of them, “You are such great friends that I would like you to take me into your circle of friendship, with that same amount of love. And I will be the same kind of friend to you.”

When we reach the level of “you shall love your fellow as yourself,” Hashem desires to rest His presence amongst us, so that we will also love Him, and that He will be our faithful Friend.
Imrei Tzaddikim, by Meir Barenstein, p. 38

BS’D

Many of us share a spark of ratzon (desire) to make a change in one aspect or another in our lives. A fundamental stepping stone to create change in any area of our lives is to first work on our thoughts. The ideas and thoughts that most often occupy our mind space are the ones that we tend to believe and trust in the most. In other words, because they are so familiar to us we don’t tend to question them and place our trust in them. Therefore, it is essential to become keenly aware of what thoughts we entertain and give notice to.

Let’s say for example that I am accustomed to negative degrading thoughts about myself and give them space to flow freely in my mind, I am now driven to act upon that negativity. Discouraging thoughts are the greatest impediment to creating change in our lives. Yet, it doesn’t have to be this way. We cannot control the thoughts that ‘pop’ into our minds; nonetheless we can control our response and the ‘space’ we give them to stay there.

Like unwanted guests who are given a cold welcome and will think twice to return, we can do the same with negative destructive thinking patterns. The choice remains ours whether we choose to give our time and energy to these thoughts or not. It is a battle however inviting Hashem to help us defeat this negative pattern of thinking is the only way to succeed.
Speaking to Hashem, “Hashem, I can’t do this without You. I want to cherish and empower myself to make real change. Guide me… Show me what to do” WILL make a difference and bring bracha into your desire to set a renewed tone to the way you use your mind.

BS’D

Through tefillah, we are able to bond with Hashem in an irrepressible manner. Tefillah centers us on how dependent we are on Hashem for everything in our lives. From the seemingly miniscule to the apparently significant events, all is personally taken care of by HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

However, the messages we receive from the Western world media is precisely the opposite. ‘Your strength and intellect has brought you success’ is what is being told to us. Just as soon as we reinforce our minds and hearts with emuna, we walk into the ‘big world’ and our vantage point is smashed to smithereens.

At that point, we are plunged into thinking once again that we are calling the shots, and the more we do, the more we will accomplish. The matter of hishtadlut vs. emuna is beyond the scope of this emuna lesson, but it has been discussed previously. For now, the main point is to understand that in order for us to reach a point where we attain a level of unwavering emuna free from worry and anxiety is no simple task. Working on emuna is a lifelong mission for each and every one of us, as we are told by Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe ztk’l. However, we must not forget that Hashem gave us the power to strengthen or even create our emuna through tefillah.

Tefillah is that time of day that reminds us how much we need Hashem every step of the way. Walking away from tefillah should be an invigorating experience filled with reconnection and realignment to the truth; that Borei Olam is intimately involved and governing the world and therefore we have nothing to worry about.

BS’D

From the well-known incident which occurred between Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa ztk’l and his daughter, we can develop many teachings.

It was erev Shabbat just before candle lighting, and the daughter of R’ Chanina was saddened since she had poured vinegar instead of oil into the candle holders. When she realized that oil was not available, her father replied, “My daughter, The One who gave permission for the oil to light can tell the vinegar to light” and so it was. R’ Chanina did not pray to Hashem that it shall be so. He simply made a statement of emuna peshuta (simple words of emuna), and as a result of his emuna, the vinegar served as a lighting source for the Shabbat candles.

For R’ Chanina, there was no miracle in that a candle can be lit with vinegar since using oil was just as miraculous in his eyes. This message is strengthened by the words quoted in Masechet Makot, “In the way that man wishes to go, they guide him.” The forces in life are meant to test us. Hashem allows for these conflicting powers to persist in order to provide us with free will. Nonetheless, we must remember that they are all tests of faith to challenge us to see Hashem, not nature or cause-and-effect.

A question which may arise from the case of R’ Chanina could be why didn’t Hashem bring about a smaller miracle by providing him with oil to light the candles as opposed to a grander miracle of enabling the vinegar to be lite? The answer – for R’ Chanina the usage of oil or any other substance is a revealed miracle. The term nature simply did not exist in his mind. Therefore, Hashem ‘responded’ to him measure for measure in a miraculous way.

From here, we learn that if we work towards experiencing Hashem in every aspect of our lives, we will surely merit finding Him, whether in ‘natural’ circumstances or ‘supernatural’ events.

BS’D

“All of Your commandments are emuna” (Tehillim 119:86). The Zohar HaKadosh teaches that the 613 mitzvot are fundamentally 613 pieces of advice on how to strengthen the bond with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Each time we do a mitzvah in effect we shrink the gap between Klal Yisrael and Hashem. In order to supercharge our mitzvot we must incorporate our hearts as well as our minds into every mitzvah.

Body and soul are enjoined in this world for the purpose of revealing Hashem’s presence. The body is inclined to physicality; it sees the outer casing. The soul penetrates the surface and digs to uncover purpose. The body needs the soul as much as the soul needs the body to fulfill its mission on earth. The mind needs the heart as much as the heart needs the mind to capture the power rooted in each mitzvah. We experience the powerful benefits of each mitzvah when we pair what we know to what we feel.

During this time many of us want to help our soldiers, the Jewish communities situated in the South of Israel or anyone in harm’s way. What can we do from the four corners of our home that will supercharge the merits of Ahm Yisrael? Pump emuna into our mitzvot. Here’s one way how:

Next time we begin doing a mitzvah let’s envision that we are creating a perfect angel. As we complete the mitzvah let’s picture shipping this angel immediately to a soldier in Gaza to shield and protect him.

Send the angel to move a rocket to hit an open field or into the sea. Maybe send that angel to a friend or family member who is experiencing hardship; pack him up with extra love and hugs. What about sending him to a person that we may be on bad terms with?

Imagine the power Hashem has given us when He appointed us to be co-partners with Him to bring G-dliness into this world. Let’s take advantage of it.

BS’D

Chanukah is the festival of emuna, the light that glimmers in midair and has the power to dispel darkness in an instant. The glow of light is a flicker of hope and testimony that Hashem can do anything.

Everything that occurs in life is sunlight enveloped in blackness. All is hidden and concealed before the human eye so that we may choose our path without readily seeing which way it leads. Our soul knows and drives us to choose spirituality, yet our body sways us to material avenues. The constant battle between cloudiness and clarity is the journey of a lifetime.

Chanukah is a holiday where we physically act to increase light in our homes for all to see. When things look dreary, hopeless and desolate especially as the days are shorter and physically there is less light shining in the world, we declare, “There is no despair in this world at all!” HaKadosh Baruch Hu instructed us to engage in the deed of lighting the menorah so that we can personally participate in the creation of light.

The emuna that the Maccabim portrayed by fighting against the Greeks, against all odds for a chance to win, brought about their yeshua. They trusted in Hashem’s intervention and saw themselves as a child of Hashem in dire need of His help. That was the key to their salvation. “Hashem, we are Your children, please help us”; that brings victory! It was not natural to survive. Now it is our calling to display that same emuna as the Maccabim.

BS’D

Our war for light is a fight for the truth to be revealed. When we live in darkness we are cut off from reality – we do not benefit from HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s presence or take pleasure in our relationship with Him. We are left empty and alone – separate.

However, within this darkness we can find ourselves; it is a road to self-discovery to make positive changes in our lives. The Ba’al Shem Tov HaKadosh teaches that the greatest difficulty we endure is when we live in darkness and don’t realize that it is dark. We reside a blackness and sense it being brightness.

The galut becomes comfortable and we adjust to our surroundings not feeling that anything is wrong or out of place. How can we find our way through that? A fundamental rule in psychology is that you cannot help someone if they refuse to be helped. How can we work towards the geula if we don’t sense discomfort in the galut?

This is the delusional power of the yetzer hara. Rebbi Nachman ztk’l brings down that during our generation the yetzer hara will be renamed – the power of delusion! We are lacking our natural habitat and yet accept it. Therefore it is here where we need to fight.

Tonight, when we light the menorah we must turn to Hashem and ‘demand’ the geula. We should tell Hashem that we refuse to live in darkness and need light – Borei Olam’s light, the light of truthful reality. Chazal teach us that this is the tefilla that Hashem ‘craves’ and ‘yearns’ for. A demand for Him to reveal Himself and for His name to be universally recognized and glorified.

A fight on the emuna battleground is what it should be called. Our constant conflict between body and soul, clarity and confusion, emuna and doubts must be done with once and for all.

Tonight, request light; peaceful light in your homes, intimate light in your relationship with Hashem, loving light in Klal Yisrael, joyful light in every home, healing light for the sick, zivug light for singles, baby light for childless parents, blessed light for our parnassa, and the light of teshuva to the wandering souls in B’nai Yisrael. This is one war we all need to fight together … and cannot afford to loose!

BS’D

Attaching rich meaning and purpose to life’s challenges equips us with the vital gear to combat them. A person would be happy to dig a hole no matter how difficult the task appears, knowing that he will be planting a garden in that pit and soon enjoy a beautiful floral display.

In fact often times it doesn’t matter if we personally benefit from the hardship rather than someone else; as long as it is of value. Willingness to work out at the gym is likely to be stronger if we hold onto the foresight and long term goals associated with healthy exercise.

It is basic human instinct to resist difficult occurrences. Nonetheless it is of great significance as it adds to character growth. The level of greatness that one can attain through challenging times is possible particularly because he is lifting himself up while feeling weighed down.

Could it be that we have been chosen to show our strength by example to others while we experience difficulties? Maybe the troubles are meant to elevate us personally in ways that were previously hidden?

Yet, the possibility always stands that we may not comprehend the reason why and not be able to answer the ancient question, “Why me” or “Why them” or “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Yet we have a better chance of accepting even that which we cannot grasp with our limited mind by learning Emuna. Knowing that Hashem eternally loves us and is guiding us through life moment by moment, day by day ties purpose into challenge.

BS’D

Music is merely a type of revelation of the soul and its feelings. The soul manifests itself in the words that a person utters his joyful and/or painful thoughts and feelings. Our holy texts teach us that when a person’s suffering overwhelms him c’v, he can no longer speak, but can only cry out and moan without words. In the same way, a tune, which is comprised of sounds of joy or bitterness, arouses a person’s feelings, and within these feelings the soul surfaces and begins to express itself.

Our task in life should be to dedicate ourselves to Hashem. Thus, in order to connect our soul to Hashem’s holiness, we should accustom ourselves to spiritual singing and music. Just by merely closing our eyes, swaying back and forth and envisioning ourselves standing in Hashem’s presence can mend a broken heart. At first we sing in order to arouse our soul from its slumber. However, little by little we will feel that our soul has already begun to sing on its own.

Our soul ascends and descends along the passage of life. The tune comes together, and lifts up our soul and brings it closer to Hashem. This does not necessarily occur only with a brokenhearted tune. It can also take place with a joyful tune. Anytime, anyplace – whenever you feel that the time is right, you can sing; and you do not have to raise your voice, for a person can sing in a hush, and his voice is heard in the heights.