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The post A Gift For Donors appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-03-02T23:04:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-03-03T04:37:00+00:00" }, { "id": 36950, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/nuestros-padres-fundadores/", "title": "Nuestros padres fundadores ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede darnos su opini\u00f3n sobre nuestros padres fundadores? Me refiero a los padres fundadores de Am\u00e9rica?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no es mi lugar aqu\u00ed desaprobar o menospreciar a nuestros grandes h\u00e9roes nacionales. Creo que deber\u00edamos honrarlos. Te dir\u00e9 algo, no creo en los sellos que representan a poetas ni a directores de orquestas o anarquistas ni a nadie m\u00e1s, excepto los patriotas que lucharon cuando nuestra naci\u00f3n se estableci\u00f3 como una rep\u00fablica. Creo que todos los sellos deben dedicarse a honrar a esas personas. Y la tendencia hoy en d\u00eda de alabar honrar a las feministas y a los anarquistas es una deslealtad a los ideales sobre los cuales se fund\u00f3 este pa\u00eds. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, todos ellos. Benjamin Franklin. \u00a1Ciertamente! \u00a1Los H\u00e9roes Nacionales! S\u00f3lo a ellos se les debe dedicar sellos.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, eso es para Go\u00edm. Y cuando hablamos con los gentiles, as\u00ed es como hablamos, en su idioma. Pero sabemos que incluso los h\u00e9roes de las naciones, los mejores, no son nada en comparaci\u00f3n con la grandeza de una casa jud\u00eda. No admitir\u00edamos ni los padres fundadores de nuestra Rep\u00fablica, no los admitir\u00edamos en nuestra compa\u00f1\u00eda, en nuestros hogares, porque no eran iguales a los ideales de una familia jud\u00eda. El mejor Goi no es compa\u00f1\u00eda para una familia jud\u00eda. Tenemos diferentes formas de vida; no s\u00f3lo por Kashrut ni por los Dinim y Minhagim, sino porque nuestros ideales son totalmente diferentes.
\n\n\n\nHablemos sobre George Washington. Ahora bien, admiro a George Washington. Pero George Washington asist\u00eda a danzas donde hombres y mujeres bailaban juntos. Y abraz\u00f3 a una mujer que no era su esposa y la estaba sosteniendo en sus brazos. Nada de malo para \u00e9l. \u00a1Pero para nosotros eso es un Toev\u00e1, una abominaci\u00f3n! \u00a1As\u00ed que aqu\u00ed hab\u00eda uno de los mejores Go\u00edm, y para nosotros hizo una de las cosas m\u00e1s bajas!
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 podemos decir? Un hombre que baila con mujeres extra\u00f1as, esposas de otros hombres, no pertenece a nuestra sociedad. Esos hombres bailaban con mujeres en la \u00e9poca colonial. Y as\u00ed, aunque los honramos por lo que hicieron por este pa\u00eds, pero en privado sabemos que no son nada comparado con nosotros.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #599 (junio de 1986)
\nThe post Nuestros padres fundadores appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-23T06:14:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-23T06:14:31+00:00" }, { "id": 36937, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-naturaleza-un-libro-abierto/", "title": "La naturaleza: un libro abierto ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSe puede leer el apikorosut que se encuentra en los libros sobre Niflaot Haberi\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo estoy seguro de que entend\u00ed la pregunta, pero supongo que quieres decir as\u00ed: \u00a1Si vas a leer libros sobre las maravillas de la naturaleza, \u00bfno podremos encontrar all\u00ed declaraciones que puedan llevar a la gente al ate\u00edsmo y al apikorosut?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es ciertamente encontrar\u00e1s eso all\u00ed. Y nunca dije que deber\u00edas leer esos libros. Pero lo que s\u00ed digo es que tenemos un tremendo libro de texto cuyas p\u00e1ginas est\u00e1n abiertas ante nuestros ojos: la naturaleza es evidente y obvia para cualquiera que est\u00e9 interesado en verla. \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05da. Todo en este mundo est\u00e1 alabando Hashem. Hay tantas cosas que est\u00e1n disponibles todos los d\u00edas en nuestras vidas que no necesitas ning\u00fan libro.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, si vas a ser maestro, puedes leer libros si eres capaz de entender el veneno y saltearlo. Pero para la gente com\u00fan, no se recomiendan esos libros gentiles.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #492 (enero de 1984)
\nThe post La naturaleza: un libro abierto appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-21T04:52:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-21T04:52:44+00:00" }, { "id": 36933, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-terouma-5783/", "title": "Paracha Terouma 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Terouma-5783The post Paracha Terouma 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-20T03:23:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-20T03:23:42+00:00" }, { "id": 36927, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "23-\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-20T03:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-20T03:21:03+00:00" }, { "id": 36923, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-nature-the-open-textbook/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Nature: The Open Textbook", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should one allow himself to absorb the apikorsus found in books about niflaos habriyah?
A:
I\u2019m not sure I understand this question but I suppose he means this: If you\u2019re going to read books about the wonders of nature, won\u2019t we also find there statements that can mislead people to atheism and apikorsus?
And the answer is certainly you will. And I never said you should read those books. But what I do say is that we have a tremendous textbook whose pages are open before our eyes \u2013 nature is apparent and obvious for anybody who is interested in seeing it. \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05da. Everything in this world is praising Hashem. There are so many things that are available every day in our lives that you don\u2019t need any books.
\n\n\n\nHowever, if you\u2019re going to be a teacher, you can read books if you\u2019re capable of understanding the poison and omitting it, skipping over it. But for ordinary people, these gentile books are not recommended.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 492 (January 1984)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Nature: The Open Textbook appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T22:17:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T22:17:57+00:00" }, { "id": 36920, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-forcing-the-willing/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Forcing The Willing", "content_html": "\nQ:
In this week\u2019s parsha the Am Yisroel said \u201cNaaseh v\u2019nishma,\u201d so it seems like they accepted the Torah willingly. So how do we understand the medrash that says Hashem held Har Sinai over the Jews like a barrel and threatened to drop it on them if they wouldn\u2019t accept the Torah?
A:
There\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0gemara\u00a0that tells us\u00a0that\u00a0Hashem said He\u00a0would destroy the\u00a0Am Yisroel\u00a0if they wouldn\u2019t accept the Torah.\u00a0Now, we have to understand that\u00a0not everything that\u2019s written in the\u00a0Agadata\u00a0should be taken exactly literally.\u00a0
In a general sense the idea was\u00a0that this is your one opportunity in history.\u00a0If you take it\u00a0then you\u2019re going to survive. And if\u00a0you won\u2019t take it\u00a0then what happens to Bavel and to Persia\u00a0will happen to you too.\u00a0 You\u2019ll go under\u00a0just like all the nations of the world eventually go under.\u00a0 That\u2019s what it meant in a general way.\u00a0If you want to exist forever\u00a0then you\u2019d better accept the Torah.
And specifically it means this \u2013 that Hakodosh Boruch Hu at that time engendered in them such a fear, that they went beyond what they would have done on their own. I explained this idea many times already. It\u2019s like a convert; let\u2019s say he\u2019s willing to be converted and he did everything, but now he came to the bris milah and he\u2019s lying on the bed and here\u2019s a man with a scalpel, a very sharp knife, who\u2019s approaching him. And he gets cold feet and he\u2019d like to run away.
\n\n\n\nYou know, when they circumcise\u00a0Russian boys \u2013\u00a0you know there are Jewish boys who\u00a0come from Russia;\u00a0they\u2019re big boys already,\u00a0eighteen-year-old boys and they\u2019re not circumcised.\u00a0So when they send the\u00a0mohel\u00a0down to do the\u00a0bris milah,\u00a0along with him they send\u00a0six strong solid Lubavitchers.\u00a0And\u00a0their job is to\u00a0hold him down!
So it could be he might get cold feet and he\u2019ll\u00a0start\u00a0to back out of it\u00a0but they won\u2019t let him move;\u00a0it\u2019s because his good intentions that he had before are now being rewarded.\u00a0He\u2019s shouting, \u201cLet me go!\u201d and they\u00a0say, \u201cNo!\u00a0In\u00a0reward for your good intentions, you\u2019ll go through with it!\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re holding him down! And afterwards, he\u2019s happy he did it.\u00a0
Our forefathers at first wanted to accept the Torah \u2013 they said \u201cNaaseh v\u2019nishma\u201d \u2013 but when they started seeing what the Torah meant, the fear of the Torah, the responsibilities of the Torah, so they began to think that maybe it\u2019s too much already. So Hashem put extra fear on them and they were forced to go through with it. And that fear was a gift min haShomayim as a reward for their initial intention to accept everything. That\u2019s what that gemara means.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 268 (June 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Forcing The Willing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T22:14:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T22:14:34+00:00" }, { "id": 36909, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-terumah-5783-artificial-man-golden-heart-2/", "title": "Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart", "content_html": "Deceptive Chassidim
\n\n\n\nI want to begin by telling you a true story. Right now it will be just a story but I hope that by the time we finish tonight you\u2019ll understand it very well.
\n\n\n\nSomebody was once talking to the Lubavitcher Rebbe; I think it was the previous one, Rav Yosef Yitzchak, zichrono livrachah. And he was complaining to him. \u201cYour talmidim,\u201d he said, \u201care deceiving everyone. They’re putting up a front as if they are very frum Jews, the way they dress and act. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s so true. I know some of them and I think it\u2019s a deception.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Rav Yosef Yitzchok told this man, \u201cThe Mishnah (Peah 8:9) says that if someone deceives the public in order to get charity \u2013 for example, he acts like he has a swollen belly, like he\u2019s suffering from starvation; or if he acts like his foot is chopped off, he bends his knee up to make it appear like he\u2019s one-legged – so the Sages tell us that someone who does that, he presents himself with an artificial behavior on the outside, so he\u2019s guaranteed that \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b5\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4, \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05d3 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 the end will be that’s how it will turn out. One day he\u2019ll be in a smash up and he\u2019ll lose his leg. Or he\u2019ll be stranded somewhere with no food and he\u2019ll suffer from starvation. The way you behave on the outside to deceive people, that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to turn out in the end.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd so,\u201d Rav Yosef Yitzchak said, \u201cLet my students, my chassidim, keep faking their tzidkus, their piety. Let them act that way on the outside until it actually happens to them. The way they behave, that\u2019s how it\u2019ll turn out in the end.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Heilige Pnimiyus
\n\n\n\nNow before we go on, I must give credit to one of the Chachomim of two doros back; he made a statement that is an introduction to the subject. Rav Simcha Zissel zichrono livrachah said that when studying the Torah it\u2019s necessary \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 to take off the outward form and see the pnimiyus of the subject. Again, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 to take off, be poishet the outwardliness, the chitzoniyus, and see what the pnimiyus is about.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a principle that we apply to many things. It means that when you\u2019re learning about the mitzvah of korbanos, you should want to uncover what the korbanos are all about. When you\u2019re studying the details of hilchos tzitzis, you should understand what the tzitzis are teaching. When you learn about Pesach, about the matzah and marror, you should make sure to peel away the outside layer and understand what\u2019s doing underneath, That\u2019s called \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4. Instead of only thinking about the externality of a mitzvah, we should peel back the layers of the chitzoniyus and see what the pnimiyus is telling us, what the core of the commandment is.
\n\n\n\nThe Heilige Mishkan
\n\n\n\nNow, we can\u2019t in one night peel away the outer layer from all of the various parts of the Mishkan \u2013 it\u2019s too much to do. But there\u2019s an interesting idea that our Sages tell us about the Mishkan; they say that the Mishkan symbolizes the structure of the human body.
\n\n\n\nThe whole Mishkan was like a body. Outside, on the roof, there were special hides covering the building like the skin that covers the body. And the pillars of wood, the kerashim, were like ribs, like bones, that hold up the body. And there was a separation between the heichal and the kodesh hakodoshim, just like there is a diaphragm in the human body that separates between one part of the body and the other part of the body.
\n\n\n\nThere are so many details in the structure of the Mishkan and since each one relates to the body and its organs, so each one involves lessons that have to be uncovered. The menorah symbolizes important ideals and the shulchan other ideals. There\u2019s the mizbeiach hanechoshes and the mizbeiach hazahav and all the keilim and procedures associated with them, and they\u2019re all teaching lessons.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s one keili mentioned in our sedrah that, if studied properly, will reveal to us a very important way of living successfully. I\u2019m sure that the lesson we talk about tonight is not the only one, but there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s one of the very valuable examples of how being mafshit the tzurah will open up for us a new insight into the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Heilige Aron
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05e2\u05b2\u05e6\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2026 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e6\u05b4\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d6\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05d1 \u05d8\u05b8\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u201d. We are commanded to make a wooden ark and to cover it with gold inside and out. Now, the seforim say that the heart of a person \u2013 it means his essence, the neshamah \u2013 is symbolized by the aron habris. That\u2019s not what I say \u2013 the meforshim explain it so \u2013 only that I\u2019d like to tell you something from my poor little head; maybe together we\u2019ll be mafshit the tzurah a little more.
\n\n\n\nYou know, we\u2019re all born with a neshamah. But that\u2019s not the same neshamah you\u2019re expected to bring back at the end of your time here in this world. If you come back to the One who sent you with the same neshamah that He sent you into the world with, that\u2019s a failure. And therefore the possuk here is telling us to get busy. We have to take our fleshy hearts, our minds, our neshamos, and cover it inside and out with pure gold.
\n\n\n\nHow do you do that? How do you transform your mind? So the Torah is telling you here. You have to start covering it, pouring on layers of gold, inside and out. Gold on the inside means we must be genuine, we must have true ideas in our hearts. Every person has to cover the inside of his mind with the truth of the Torah ideals and attitudes. He studies Torah and mussar and changes his pnimiyus \u2013 that\u2019s pure gold. That\u2019s \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc, covering it with gold on the inside.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, you can\u2019t ignore the outside; the chitzoniyus. How your feelings and ideas are expressed outwardly should also be gold. As much as you have to inlay the underside of your heart with pure gold, the Torah is teaching us here that it must be overlayed with pure gold too. The outside of the heart you have to cover with perfect behavior too.
\n\n\n\nAnd what happens when you do that? The box made of wood, a material that should be perishable, is protected now by gold, and now it will last forever. The human soul, when it’s coated mibayis u’michutz with zohov, becomes eternal.
\n\n\n\nThe Heilige Chitzoniyus
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s a secret here, a secret for how to cover your heart with gold. According to the Sages, when they made the aron habris they first covered up the outside of the wooden box with gold and then afterward they covered the inside (Rashi Terumah 25:11). It was gold-plated inside and out but there\u2019s a lesson here, a lesson about what comes first. The way to do it is first by means of the outside.
\n\n\n\nOf course, what matters most is what\u2019s doing inside. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1 \u2013 that\u2019s what Hashem is looking for; your pnimiyus, the inside of your heart. But how to change your inside, that\u2019s the question. And that\u2019s what the Torah is telling us here. Get started by covering up your outside with gold. Be artificial!
\n\n\n\nYou know, our Sages tell us (Yuma 72b) a rule for proper living and if we study their words we\u2019ll see that this is the advice they give: \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 A person should always make his inside be like his outside.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is why say \u2018your inside like your outside\u2019? It should say baro ketocho; his outside should be like his inside. You should make yourself a tzaddik, an eved Hashem, and then, once you\u2019re an authentic servant of Hashem then you can be one on the outside too. Then you can reveal yourself to the world. Otherwise you\u2019re a fraud. You\u2019re going to make believe you\u2019re good when really you\u2019re not so good yet?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, absolutely! Chas veshalom if a person will make his outside like his inside. Whatever he feels inside, he should show in public? Chas veshalom!
\n\n\n\nThe Natural Failures
\n\n\n\nPeople think it\u2019s a virtue to be \u2018natural\u2019. It\u2019s not. When you live unnaturally, that\u2019s the way to become naturally good. That\u2019s what it means tocho kebaro; you make your insides follow your \u2018unnatural\u2019 outside. And therefore the number one thing is to get this out of your head. Forget about being natural. To be \u2018real\u2019, to be \u2018natural\u2019, that\u2019s a failure.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that everyone can see that people who live naturally are failures in life. I\u2019ll tell you about natural people. Here\u2019s a person; he\u2019s sitting in public, at the bus stop, and he puts his fingernail into his ear and then he inspects the results of his mining expedition. Very natural!
\n\n\n\nWhat happens to natural people? Oy oy oy! I can tell you stories of natural people, what happened to them. A natural woman, she became angry at her husband and she was natural.What a downfall! What a disgrace! Tragedy of tragedies. And she had to be divorced because of that. A stain on her name and a stain on her neshamah forever and ever and ever! Such a thing should happen in a frum family?! That\u2019s because she was natural.
\n\n\n\nThe Unnatural Success
\n\n\n\nNow listen to this. I\u2019ll tell you now about an unnatural woman. Her husband gave her a slap. He was natural, a natural wild donkey. Terrible! A terrible avlah! But then he went out and bought her a box of candy. It\u2019s a very small apology. He gave it to her. He didn\u2019t say anything; he was ashamed to say anything. He just handed it to her.
\n\n\n\nYou know what she did? She took it! She accepted it! It\u2019s very unnatural what she did. If she was natural she would have taken that box of chocolate and broken it over his head. But she was too smart to be natural. I\u2019m sure she was still angry at him, but she knew it doesn\u2019t pay to be natural. It doesn\u2019t pay to break up.
\n\n\n\nWhen I told this story two years ago, somebody wrote me a letter. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t she take him to court?! She should have called the police on him!\u201d That person who wrote me is a natural person, a failure. This unnatural woman, she ended up walking her children and grandchildren down to the chuppah together with her husband.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the first thing you have to know, you can\u2019t be natural in this world. You\u2019ll save yourself a whole lot of trouble, a whole lot of heartache. Even if you\u2019re not looking to purify your heart, to cover your mind with pure gold, don\u2019t be natural. Be artificial! Be unnatural! You\u2019ll be happier and more successful in this world.
\n\n\n\nLayers of Gold
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not the most important thing. We have to understand this subject of living artificially in a broader and more important sense. It\u2019s not merely a way to get along with others and to succeed in Olam Hazeh. That too, but it\u2019s much more than that, much more than success in Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re learning from the gold covering of the aron that if you want to be authentically good, then you must start by being artificial. You can\u2019t be natural in this world and make something out of yourself. That\u2019s a big limud we have to get into our heads \u2013 if you want to be authentic, if you want to be a good Jew, you have to start by being artificial.
\n\n\n\nLiving unnaturally, being artificial on the outside, that\u2019s how you change on the inside eventually. You have to start layering up the outside of your heart with pure gold. And little by little your outside is going to change your insides.
\n\n\n\nThe Golden Grocer
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you are a grocer and you have customers that come in all day long, and many of them are big nuisances. They\u2019re bothersome. One of them wants to return an open can of sardines. \u201cIt\u2019s not the ones I wanted. Take it back and give me my money.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat will the poor grocer do with the can of sardines? It\u2019s a loss. You know what he\u2019s thinking? He wants to be natural. He wants to take the open can of sardines and pour it onto her head. But he knows that it would be a big mistake. He has to make a living and this is part of it. So he takes it and puts it in the garbage can. He gives her the money and he keeps quiet.
\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s always saying, \u201cYes, yes.\u201d Women always come in and bother him and complain. But he smiles at all of them and he\u2019s agreeable to everything because they patronize his store and he needs them.
\n\n\n\nYou should know that this grocery business of his is not merely for parnassah in Olam Hazeh. He’s making a living in Olam Habo as a result. Because the more he acts that way \u2013 artificially \u2013 on the outside, the more it\u2019s changing him on the inside. After years and years, he becomes a patient man. He trained himself to be a mentch. He’s gaining good middos. He\u2019s quiet, and he\u2019s kovesh es yitzro. He\u2019s being koneh shleimus.
\n\n\n\nThe Golden Rebbi
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why I say it\u2019s good to be a melamed. If you\u2019re a melamed, a teacher, so everyone knows that \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05df \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u2013 if you’re angry you can’t be a teacher (Avos 2:5). He wants to keep his job; maybe he can get a raise too, so he\u2019s nice to all the boys. They’re kicking their feet under the table to each other and making all kinds of trouble for him. He’d like to take a strap and give them a beating; \u201cooh, would that be good\u201d. That\u2019s what he\u2019s thinking. But he can\u2019t; he\u2019ll lose his job. So he smiles and caresses the little boy\u2019s cheek. He\u2019s patient and he’s koneh shleimus. He becomes better and better each time he acts unnaturally. And so, more than the salary that they give him in the yeshivah is what he\u2019s giving himself in perfection of character.
\n\n\n\nRabbonus too. Rabbonus is wonderful because you have to act better than you are. And you eventually become better than you are. I\u2019m telling you from experience. It works.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the secret the Torah is teaching us as we study the aron. Hashem wants you to change yourself. Our purpose in life, the function of being created, our entire success is based on changing ourselves, our character. And the way to change your insides is by means of your outside. Even if you don\u2019t mean it but you act artificially. You must be artificial!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a surprise to many people. To the American ear it\u2019s especially grating because it means we are not born in this world to live a natural life. We’re here to live an unnatural life. And the quicker we get this into our heads, the more we’ll be ready to start on the journey towards shleimus. The success of a human being is not in being natural.
\n\n\n\nFake It and Make It
\n\n\n\nNow, this subject of pretending to be better than you actually are is the great principle enunciated by our great teacher in the Mesillas Yesharim (Ch. 7). We\u2019ve said it here a number of times but it\u2019s never too much. And that is the principle of \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 the outwardliness stirs up the inwardliness. What you do outwardly affects what you are inwardly. Behave as if you are good and little by little you’ll become what you pretend to be.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, that’s the principle involved in being an artificial man. In order to make some progress in life, it is important to go one step ahead of what you actually are now. You cannot \u2018be yourself\u2019 and make any progress. To become better than you are, you must start acting as if you actually are already good right now. Tocho kebaro – cover yourself with gold on the outside; keep pouring gold on the outside until little by little your inside follows along.
\n\n\n\nNow one of the areas in which a person can make tremendous progress by being artificial is in the area of bein adam lachaveiro, how we act with our fellow man. If you\u2019re ambitious to make something out of yourself, to be a good person in your tocho, the first step is to be a good person on the baro, on the outside. And even though you know you\u2019re a fraud \u2013 you know that it\u2019s not you; you\u2019re a faker \u2013 it\u2019s a mitzvah to be a faker.
\n\n\n\nSo when you deal with people, you\u2019re dealing with your wife or with your husband or with your neighbors or with the man on your street, with anybody you talk to or look at or deal with, think, \u201cI want to get that person to have a good opinion of me. I want to fake it until I make it.\u201d And if you\u2019re serious about it, you\u2019ll make it. I guarantee you\u2019ll make it.
\n\n\n\nFake Love
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you go out of here tonight and on the sidewalk outside you see someone who is not your friend. Naturally, you\u2019d like to ignore him. But you remember what you heard in the lecture and you figure you might as well try it, so you smile and let out a big \u201cShalom aleichem, Berel!\u201d In your heart, you might despise that man. You didn\u2019t learn yet how to love your fellow Jew, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8. You didn\u2019t think about that yet. But right now it doesn\u2019t matter because tonight you\u2019re being artificial. \u201cShalom aleichem, it\u2019s so good to see you,\u201d you say to him. \u201cOh,\u201d you\u2019re thinking, \u201cit feels so unnatural.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo matter,\u201d Hashem says, \u201cThat\u2019s My boy! Finally you\u2019re getting started. Finally you\u2019re going to make something from yourself.\u201d And even though it\u2019s not real, you\u2019re only an actor, you\u2019re putting on a show, nevertheless, you should know that these things are for your benefit.
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t think this is stam talk. You should know it\u2019s avodas Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \u201cI\u2019m giving you the right, I\u2019m giving My permission; you have permission to do that.\u201d Because once you start out on such a career of making believe you\u2019re a good man, what\u2019s going to happen to you? You\u2019re going to become a good man. Absolutely you\u2019ll become a better man because of that.
\n\n\n\nIf day after day you\u2019ll meet people and you\u2019ll say, \u201cOh, I\u2019m so happy to see you again.\u201d You\u2019re not happy to see them. But if you say that a thousand times, after a while, a little bit comes into your mind. One day you might even become an oheiv Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThrow in a Blessing!
\n\n\n\nYou want something else? This is extra credit. It\u2019s for the serious ones, the ones who mean business. When you meet somebody and he says, \u201cShalom aleichem,\u201d and you\u2019re a natural man so you say, \u201cAleichem shalom.\u201d That\u2019s natural; you\u2019re not going to ignore him after all.
\n\n\n\nBut after he finishes talking, he goes away, so now you become artificial and you say noch a mohl, \u201cAleichem shalom.\u201d After he went away. He\u2019s not listening anymore, he doesn\u2019t hear you. After he went away, you say, \u201cAleichem shalom, a blessing of shalom on him\u201d. Who is listening? Only Hashem is listening. That\u2019s unnatural. That\u2019s artificial.
\n\n\n\nNow you really don\u2019t mean it. He went already but you\u2019re saying it anyhow. \u201cAleichem shalom!\u201d, because you\u2019re interested he should have shalom in his life. And if you\u2019re not interested yet, keep saying it, eventually, you\u2019ll be interested.
\n\n\n\n\u201cGood Shabbos,\u201d a person says. You say, \u201cGood Shabbos.\u201d That\u2019s natural. But now you want to be artificial. He walks away, so you say, \u201cYou should enjoy the cholent. You should enjoy the Shabbos seudah and you should sleep geshmak on Shabbos. Everything should be nice and quiet in your house.\u201d Give him brachos that his family should all be healthy. Say these words. Say these words. Yes! It\u2019s false. It\u2019s absolutely false. You don\u2019t think it at all. But do it anyhow. Say it anyhow.
\n\n\n\nFool Your Spouse
\n\n\n\nWhy not deceive your wife? It\u2019s a good idea; deceive your wife. Let her think you\u2019re a good fellow. You can\u2019t deceive your mother or father; they know who you are. But your wife you can deceive. Put on a good face. Compliment her that she cooked a good supper, that she\u2019s a good wife, that you\u2019re proud of her, you\u2019re happy with her. You\u2019re not proud and happy with her, but say it anyhow. And she should say it about her husband too. Say it. Say words. And the more you say it, the better you become. One day you\u2019ll mean it too.
\n\n\n\nSmile too! Practice it tonight when you get home. Practice it on your wife, on somebody you’ll meet in the hall. Practice it on the street. Here comes your neighbor from down the block. Now you’re not interested in that person. You’re interested in getting home as soon as possible and that person means nothing to you. Oh, what an opportunity that is! You\u2019re not interested but you\u2019re going to be artificial now. Ooh wah! You\u2019re already a different person.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what it says in the Mishna \u05d4\u05b2\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 Greet every person with a pleasant countenance. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd means every man. Now how can you do that to every man? Sometimes you\u2019re bored from this fellow; he\u2019s a nudnik. Sometimes the fellow likes to talk a lot and you’re in a hurry to get rid of him.
\n\n\n\nSo how is it possible to greet every man? The answer is panim yafos – you can do it with your face; it\u2019s not necessary to do it with your heart. With your face, you can smile at everybody even if you don\u2019t feel it in your heart. And if you do it frequently enough with your face, then some echo of that will be represented in your inner feelings.
\n\n\n\nA human being, by means of his external behavior can change himself. Ok, so you\u2019re not so good. But right now, act like you’re good. Always try to gain honor in the eyes of people, don\u2019t worry that you\u2019re doing it for your kovod. If you\u2019re doing it because you want to cover yourself with gold in order to eventually cover your inside with gold too, then absolutely there\u2019s nothing better than that.
\n\n\n\nDishonest with Hashem
\n\n\n\nNow, I have another about five hundred examples I could give you, ways of encouraging your insides by means of your externality. I have a lot to speak on this subject and I can keep you up until one o\u2019clock at night. But since you don\u2019t want to stay that long, and I also want to go upstairs to sleep \u2013 we\u2019re going to turn now to a new part of this subject.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m going to reveal to you a secret now, that you have to be artificial with Hashem too. You hear that chiddush? If you want to inlay your heart with gold you have to be artificial with Hashem too.
\n\n\n\nIn the Shulchan Aruch (OC 231) it states a halachah; when you eat, you should eat l’shem Shomayim. So here\u2019s a man with a hearty appetite and he sits down to a table of food and he says, \u201cI\u2019m eating l’shem Shomayim.\u201d It\u2019s sheker, 100% false. But he\u2019s saying it anyhow. \u201cI\u2019m eating these delicious pancakes \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3, to make my body healthy, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, in order that I should be able to serve Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat man is a liar. He\u2019s eating because he likes pancakes. He\u2019s hungry and the food tastes good and smells good. But he\u2019s a chochom. He\u2019s training himself by saying a falsehood.
\n\n\n\nTraining for Mitzvos
\n\n\n\nNow imagine he says it every day; he wants to train himself well, so every day he says it. His wife shouldn\u2019t hear it by the way. She\u2019ll laugh at him. But when she walks out into the kitchen, he should say it. He should say it b\u2019peh, with his mouth. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05dc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. He should say it again and again, again and again. And he should know he is accomplishing something solid, a real achievement, because little by little, someday a little bit of l’shem Shomayim will creep into his mind too.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a klal in many things. It can apply to very many things. Tomorrow morning you could even say, \u201cI\u2019m putting on tefillin l’shem Shomayim.\u201d It\u2019s not true. You\u2019re not thinking anything. But you started now. You put a layer of gold on the outside of your heart \u2013 it\u2019s a flimsy layer, a very thin layer but it\u2019s the beginning
\n\n\n\nAnother example: when you see a mezuzah. In the mezuzah it says, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05da\u05b8. Now we have to know that ahavas Hashem is a mitzvas asei min haTorah; it\u2019s openly stated more than once. And all the monei hamitzvos enumerate love of Hashem as a mitzvah. It means you have to learn to love Hashem. And it\u2019s not so easy. You have to admit, it\u2019s not easy. Because to love what you don\u2019t see with your eyes openly – even though you have emunah shleimah – it\u2019s very difficult.
\n\n\n\nTraining for Love
\n\n\n\nAnd now, as you pass by the mezuzah and you remind yourself, \u201cIt says in there that I have to love Hashem. I don\u2019t yet but maybe I should try out this method I heard in Rabbi Miller\u2019s lecture.\u201d So you stop for a moment; if nobody\u2019s listening you say, \u201cI love you, Hashem.\u201d Nobody should hear that. They\u2019ll think you\u2019re meshuga. But say it anyway! \u201cIch hob dir lib, Ribono Shel Olam.\u201d Say it when you pass by the mezuzah. You never did it once? It says \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc in the mezuzah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m not on the madreigah,\u201d you\u2019re going say. \u201cIf I learn all the 10 she\u2019arim of Chovos Halevavos, when I get to the last shaar, Ahavas Hashem, that\u2019s when I\u2019ll do it. The Chovos Halevavos is like a ladder. You climb up. When I climb up, if it\u2019ll ever happen that way, I\u2019ll reach the top madreigah. I\u2019ll do it for real.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo! Don\u2019t wait! Don\u2019t wait! Who knows how long it\u2019ll take? Start right now and say, \u201cI love you, Hashem.\u201d And don\u2019t think it\u2019s wrong because it\u2019s not natural. Sure it\u2019s not natural. Say it anyhow. And keep on saying it every time that you can, as much as possible, and little by little, you become different. You\u2019ll change. It\u2019s guaranteed.
\n\n\n\nGo Bananas!
\n\n\n\nAnother form of being unnatural, artificial. Whenever you see a fruit, an orange, a banana, a grape, don\u2019t be natural. Natural means, \u201cI want to eat it, that\u2019s all.\u201d No. Be artificial. Admire it. Stop to admire it. Peiros are made beautiful, not only to make them attractive to eat. Hashem wants you to look at it and admire maasei yodov shel Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nNow you have to know this is something that\u2019s not done, and if it is done, people think it\u2019s exaggerated, it\u2019s false. And I\u2019m telling you it is! It is exaggerated and false. But only at the beginning. Later it\u2019s not so.
\n\n\n\nI passed a fruit store today. Outside was a huge tub full of watermelons, huge watermelons! It looks like it came from a factory, artificial watermelon. But no, it grew by itself. Watermelons grow by themselves. It\u2019s a nes. A huge peiri and inside delicious red meat, colored red to make it look beautiful and more luscious, more appetizing. Inside there are seeds and every seed has a million plans, blueprints for how to reproduce a watermelon plant.
\n\n\n\nIf you teach yourself to stop and be amazed, you\u2019re a wise person. Yellow bananas! Beautiful oranges! Blue grapes! And green grapes! And red grapes! Plums! Red plums! And blue plums! And purple plums! All kinds of apples! Delicious apples! Every kind of beautiful and luscious peiri and you\u2019re looking at it and you\u2019re admiring it.
\n\n\n\nNow, at first, it\u2019s not sincere. You\u2019re not interested at all. Adam Harishon, when he saw Gan Eden, it was \u05e0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc, the fruit was desirable to him, he understood that it would make him wise. Don\u2019t wait for that. Even though you\u2019re not getting wise right now, start saying it. \u201cThe fruits are so complicated, so full of chochma and wisdom\u201d. Of course, you don\u2019t know anything about it, so you have to be artificial. And so, even without appreciating it, say it anyhow, \u201cHow beautiful are the fruits, Hashem. I admire those peiros. How beautiful they are and I thank You Hashem for creating such beautiful things in the world!\u201d And little by little, it starts coming into your mind that way; little by little, you learn to admire the peiros.
\n\n\n\nHealth and Wealth Wishes
\n\n\n\nAnother detail in this department of artificial bein adam l\u2019makom is this: \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 Always be mispallel to Hashem that you shouldn\u2019t become ill (Shabbos 32a). You\u2019re in perfect health. You\u2019re young and robust; you\u2019re not even thinking of illness. You have to be mispallel to Hashem anyhow. Always! It means even if you don\u2019t mean it. Even when you\u2019re young, ask Hashem rachamim not to become ill.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a healthy boy, sixteen years old. He heard this shmuess. He walks out on the street and says, \u201cRibono Shel Olam, keep me well.\u201d Now he thinks he\u2019s perfectly well forever and ever, for the next 100 years. He should say it anyhow, \u201cRibono Shel Olam, keep me well.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou have to do that. L\u2019oilam, forever. We have to ask Hashem always, \u201cPlease keep us well!\u201d Again and again. You\u2019ll be changed on the inside. You\u2019ll grow in your emunah and bitachon.
\n\n\n\nOne more. \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 A person should always ask Hashem that he should never become poor. It\u2019s a Gemara (ibid. 151b). It\u2019s like a commandment. You have to ask Hashem never to become poor.
\n\n\n\nNow every day you say it in birkas hamozon, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b5\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd, but nobody\u2019s thinking about it at all when they\u2019re saying these words. It\u2019s a very artificial thing. Your father has plenty of money and you have enough food in the house and you never thought of poverty. But no. Even the wealthy man, the millionaire, has to say that. You have to ask Hashem every day, a few times every day, \u201cPlease, Hashem, I shouldn\u2019t become a beggar.\u201d
\n\n\n\nImproving With Age
\n\n\n\nNow you will say, \u201cYou brought us here to tell us these things? To be fakers? You\u2019re wasting our time with fakery?\u201d And the answer is yes. You have to learn to be artificial. The way to greatness is to be an artificial man. You\u2019ll be artificial and artificial and artificial, again and again and again, until you become real, a real servant of Hashem. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cDo that and you\u2019re going to see what\u2019s going to happen to you. You won\u2019t be the same man.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d6\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Talmidei chachomim, the older they get, the better they get (ibid. 152a). Why? Because they\u2019re always working to make themselves act good and therefore they become good. They\u2019re always acting like they\u2019re decent people and they become decent people. But \u05d6\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 an old am ha\u2019aretz, what happens to him? He gets worse.
\n\n\n\nWho\u2019s an old am ha\u2019aretz? He doesn\u2019t learn Gemara. He doesn\u2019t learn Mesilas Yesharim either. Just an old man that works, that\u2019s all. He works. He works and he eats. Maybe he davens, but he davens like an am ha\u2019aretz. He\u2019s natural! \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d6\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u2013 the older he gets, the worse he gets. You become more and more natural. Naturally you\u2019ll be a beheimah. Every person who\u2019s natural is an animal. And so, when a man is a natural man, he\u2019s going to miss out on all the good things in life. And of all the good things, what\u2019s the best thing in life that he\u2019s going to miss out on? Becoming better; he will never improve.
\n\n\n\nTale of Two Tzaddikim
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back to the story that we began the lecture with, the story of Rav Yosef Yitzchok\u2019s chassidim. But I\u2019ll say a similar story with another tzaddik.
\n\n\n\nIn Slabodka someone asked the Alter zichrono livrachah. He said, \u201cDo you know that your boys are deceiving you? Your boys act as if they were ba’alei mussar. They act like they are men with great ideals of ethical behavior and attitude. They act as if they have mussar but they’re deceiving you.\u201c
\n\n\n\nSo the Alter said, \u201cThey\u2019re trying to deceive me. They\u2019re busy deceiving me and deceiving me more until I deceive them. I deceive them because eventually they become the baalei mussar I want them to be.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo it\u2019s \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 with two stories, two different tzaddikim, that\u2019s a good eidus that this is the way. Automatically, you\u2019ll never become a tzaddik. Forget about it. It\u2019s only the result of hard work to become a tzaddik. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cKeep deceiving Me \u2013 of course you\u2019re not fooling Me but keep going through the motions and you\u2019re going to see what\u2019s going to happen to you. You won\u2019t be the same man. One day you\u2019ll find that not only did you overlay your heart with gold but inside as well, your tocho, that also became pure gold.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAcquiring A Golden Heart
\n\n\n\nThe aron symbolizes the human heart, which must be inlaid with gold inside and out. The procedure for doing this, is by starting with the outside. This principle is set forth by the Mesillas Yesharim – \u201cThe exteriority influences the interiority\u201d. We must become artificial people in order to grow.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder set aside a moment each morning to plan out three artificial actions I will take that day. Whether it\u2019s an artificial expression of love towards Hashem, and His Beloved Nation, Yisroel, or an artificial compliment towards my spouse. Perhaps it will be an artificial declaration of l\u2019shem Shomayim intent or an artificial prayer for health, wealth, or artificial exclamations of awe and wonder at Hashem\u2019s Handiwork. Whatever it is, each day I will take at least three artificial actions on my road toward acquiring a golden heart.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 42 – Keeping Ahead of One\u2019s Self | 177 – A Good Actor | 544 – Middos – Whom Hashem Chooses | 867 – Shaping The Soul By Acts And Thoughts | E-230 – The Artificial Man
\nThe post Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T03:45:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T03:45:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36916, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-terumah-5783-artificial-man-golden-heart/", "title": "Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart", "content_html": "TA-Terumah-5783The post Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T03:44:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T03:44:43+00:00" }, { "id": 36908, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-terumah-5783-artificial-man-golden-heart/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart", "content_html": "TA-Terumah-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Terumah 5783 – Artificial Man, Golden Heart appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T03:44:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T03:44:06+00:00" }, { "id": 36906, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/mejitza/", "title": "Mejitz\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay un jiuv de poner una mejitz\u00e1 en una boda? A veces veo casamientos ortodoxos donde los hombres y las mujeres se sientan juntos.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, soy una persona muy peque\u00f1a y por eso dar opiniones hal\u00e1jicas no es mi lugar. Pero no hay duda de que debe haber un ideal de que los hombres y las mujeres no se sienten juntos. Ciertamente, eso deber\u00eda ser un ideal que todo el mundo deber\u00eda esforzarse por cumplir. Y si eres el jat\u00e1n o la cal\u00e1, entonces debes pensar desde el principio que ese es el tipo de jatun\u00e1 que quieres.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 en ciertos casamientos no hacen eso? No me corresponde decir esto porque no s\u00e9 cu\u00e1les son las circunstancias. Creo que lo mejor es preguntar a los interesados. Pero no hay duda de que la mezcla es un problema. No hay duda de eso, amigos m\u00edos, as\u00ed que \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 deber\u00edamos enga\u00f1arnos a nosotros mismos? Mezclar hombres y mujeres no es bueno; los hombres son maravillosos y las mujeres son maravillosas, pero cuando se juntan, ninguno de los dos se vuelve bueno. Esa es la pura verdad. Incluso si se re\u00fanen, hombres y mujeres, para estudiar Zohar o para estudiar Jovot Halevavot, en una mezcla no es bueno. No importa cu\u00e1l sea el prop\u00f3sito.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #42 (enero de 1975)
\nThe post Mejitz\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T02:54:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T02:54:49+00:00" }, { "id": 36904, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rezar-por-un-millon-de-dolares/", "title": "Rezar por un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay algo malo en mi tefil\u00e1 a Hashem si le pido que me mande un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDepende de lo que hagas con el mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares. Normalmente es una molestia tener un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares. Una vez que obtienes un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares, tu vida ya no es vida. Eres un esclavo de tu dinero. Tienes que cuidar tu propiedad. No tienes menuj\u00e1. Un hombre pobre se va a dormir por la noche y nadie lo molesta. Un hombre rico siempre est\u00e1 en movimiento.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, si deseas un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares para construir una gran ieshiv\u00e1, reza por un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares, s\u00ed. Si eso es lo que quieres, entonces s\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nSi rezas por otras cosas, seguramente es bueno. \u05d4\u05e8\u05d7\u05d1 \u05e4\u05d9\u05da significa que debes abrir bien la boca y pedir todo. \u00bfQui\u00e9n dice que solo un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares es bueno? Abre la boca y di: “Ribon\u00f3 Shel Olam, ay\u00fadame a saber todo la mas\u00e9jet. Me encantar\u00eda saber Bav\u00e1 Kam\u00e1 desde el principio hasta el final”. \u00bfNo ser\u00eda grandioso saber Bav\u00e1 Kam\u00e1? \u00bfY tal vez Bav\u00e1 Metzi\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n? Tal vez Bav\u00e1 Batr\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n? \u00bfSabes qu\u00e9 felicidad ser\u00eda si supieras tres masejtot desde el principio hasta el final? Ser\u00edas un verdadero millonario. Nadie podr\u00eda compararse contigo.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que primero reza por un p\u00e9rek. P\u00eddele a Hashem que te ayude a saber un p\u00e9rek perfectamente. Entonces sabr\u00e1s otro p\u00e9rek y otro, y poco a poco, tal vez se convertir\u00e1s en un millonario en Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nDebes rezar para tener buenos hijos tambi\u00e9n. Aseg\u00farate de rezar por todo. Y si rezas por un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares tambi\u00e9n, no es un jet. S\u00f3lo tienes que saber que en caso de que suceda, no es un asunto tan simple. Tienes que esperar una gran cantidad de complicaciones.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-15 (junio de 1995)
\nThe post Rezar por un mill\u00f3n de d\u00f3lares appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-19T02:52:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-19T02:52:35+00:00" }, { "id": 36888, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-mechitzos-and-mixing/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Mechitzos and Mixing", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there a chiyuv to have a mechitzah at a wedding? I see sometimes Orthodox functions where the men and women are sitting together.
A:
\n\n\n\nNow, I’m a very little person and that I should give halachic opinions is not my place. But there’s no question that there should be an ideal that men and women should not sit together. It certainly should be an ideal that everybody should strive to fulfill. And if you are the chosson or you are the kallah then you should make up at the very beginning that’s the kind of chasunah you want.
\n\n\n\nNow why certain functions don’t do that, this is not in my place to say because I don’t know what the circumstances are. I think it’s best to ask the people concerned. But there’s no question that the mixing is a problem. There’s no question about that, my friends, so why should we deceive ourselves. Mixing men and women is no good; men are wonderful and women are wonderful but when they get together, they both become no good. That’s the plain truth. Even if they’ll get together, men and women, to study Zohar or to study Chovos Halevavos, in mixture it’s no good. No matter what the purpose.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 42 (January 1975)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Mechitzos and Mixing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T22:55:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T22:55:55+00:00" }, { "id": 36890, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%97-%d7%a9%d7%a0%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%a0%d7%90%d7%98%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9b%d7%a2-%d7%a7%d7%90%d7%98%d7%90%d7%a1/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d7: \u05e9\u05e0\u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, \u05e0\u05d0\u05d8\u05d9\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9\u05db\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d0\u05d8\u05d0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e8\u05d0\u05e4\u05e2\u05e1, \u05e2\u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05d0\u05d2\u05d9\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-258The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d7: \u05e9\u05e0\u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, \u05e0\u05d0\u05d8\u05d9\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9\u05db\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d0\u05d8\u05d0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e8\u05d0\u05e4\u05e2\u05e1, \u05e2\u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05d0\u05d2\u05d9\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T22:53:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T22:53:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36884, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-praying-for-a-million-dollars/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Praying For A Million Dollars", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there anything wrong with me davening to Hashem that He should give me a million dollars?
A:
\n\n\n\nIt depends what you\u2019ll do with a million dollars. Ordinarily it’s a nuisance to have a million dollars. Once you get a million dollars then your life is no longer a life. You’re a slave to your money. You have to take care of your property. You have no menuchah. A poor man goes to sleep at night and nobody bothers him. A rich man is always on the go.
\n\n\n\nHowever, if you want a million dollars in order to build a big yeshivah, then pray for a million dollars, yes. If that’s what you want it for, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nIf you pray for other things, it’s surely good. \u05d4\u05e8\u05d7\u05d1 \u05e4\u05d9\u05da means you should open your mouth wide and ask for everything. Who says only a million dollars is good?\u00a0 Open your mouth and say, \u201cRibono Shel Olam, help me know a whole mesichta. I would love to know Bava Kama from the beginning to the end.\u201d Wouldn’t that be a glorious thing to know Bava Kama? And maybe Bava Metzia too? Maybe Bava Basra too? Do you know what a happiness it would be if you knew three mesichtas from the beginning to the end? You’re a real millionaire. Nobody could compare to you.
\n\n\n\nSo first pray for one perek. Ask Hashem that He should help you to know one perek perfectly. Then you’ll know another perek and another one and little by little maybe you’ll become a millionaire in Torah.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nYou should pray to have good children too. Make sure to pray for everything. And if you pray for a million dollars too, it’s no cheit. Only you have to know that in case it happens it’s not such a simple matter. You have to expect a great deal of complications.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-15 (June 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Praying For A Million Dollars appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T22:47:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T22:47:57+00:00" }, { "id": 36880, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-self-confidence-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Self-Confidence", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the Torah\u2019s idea of self-confidence?
A:
A question that\u2019s asked many times. People say, \u201cHow can I build up my self confidence?\u201d\u00a0
And I say, what do you need it for? What do you need self-confidence for? Here I am; look at me \u2013\u00a0I have no self-confidence. But\u00a0I have to speak to the people so\u00a0I do it anyhow. I do it without self-confidence, that\u2019s all. I\u2019m a bashful fellow. I do it anyhow. Who needs self-confidence? Go out and do what you have to do, and that\u2019s all.
TAPE # E-9 (May 1995)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Self-Confidence appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T22:33:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T22:33:25+00:00" }, { "id": 36875, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-lost-love-lasting-loyalty/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Lost Love, Lasting Loyalty", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should one react if they find that they don\u2019t love their partner anymore like they did in the beginning?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that love is not the criterion of behavior in marriage. Love should be a result, but the criterion is loyalty.
\n\n\n\nWe say in Yiddish, azoi vi men bet zich ois, azoi shluft men. It means \u201cthe way you make your bed, that\u2019s the way you should sleep.\u201d Look before you leap. Once you leap, hold onto it. That\u2019s it forever. Because if you\u2019re going to regret and maybe there\u2019s somebody better yet, then you\u2019ll never remain married. Every day you\u2019ll change.
\n\n\n\nSo the attitude of Torah \u2013 not only Torah; lehavdil decent gentiles once upon a time in their wedding ceremony used to say, \u201cDo you take this person for better or for worse?\u201d and they said, \u201cI do.\u201d And we, lehavdil, surelydo that!
\n\n\n\nLike I said, \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7 \u2013 loyalty has to be the criteria. And forget about love. Of course it\u2019s a duty; \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da \u2013 you have to love every fellow Jew. And those people with whom you are frequently in contact, certainly! And there are very many reasons why a woman and a husband should love each other more than strangers do. Of course, you can never forget the fundamental duty to love a fellow Jew. You must love a fellow Jew! We just don\u2019t have time to think about everybody, to bestow love on every Jew. We don\u2019t have big enough hearts for that. You need to be Avrohom Avinu or a big chossid. But for one\u2019s own spouse, it\u2019s not that difficult. So from time to time, it\u2019s possible to generate some love.
\n\n\n\nBut no matter what, even if romance long ago flew out of the window \u2013 and it does fly out immediately; of course, because it\u2019s a false concept \u2013 nevertheless loyalty takes its place through thick and thin.
\n\n\n\nHere I see in the street a fat husband waddling down the street and a fat wife next to him. They\u2019re middle aged. Nothing romantic. But they\u2019re loyal to each other. They\u2019re married and they\u2019re going to stick together. They\u2019ll be buried side by side. Nothing lovable anymore. I look at them \u2013 I couldn\u2019t imagine any romance between them. It\u2019s long past that age. And still they\u2019re intensely loyal to each other. If he would have a nervous breakdown, she would nurse him. She wouldn\u2019t send him away to the insane asylum. If she\u2019d be old and decrepit, he\u2019d push her in a wheelchair.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t you see an old man pushing an old woman in a wheelchair loyally? He doesn\u2019t say, \u201cI\u2019m going to get rid of her. She\u2019s too much of a bother.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s an old husband; he\u2019s in diapers. He\u2019s senile. But his wife is loyal to him till the end. She changes his diapers every day five or six times. Because she married him and she\u2019s going to remain with him til the last minute and she\u2019s going to the next world and be side by side with him in Olam Haboh.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the ideal of a marriage. It\u2019s not built on romance. It\u2019s not built on any ideas of a Prince Charming or a princess. It\u2019s built on the idea of \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7, loyalty. You\u2019re together forever. It\u2019s like part of your body. You\u2019re not going to say goodbye to part of your body because it\u2019s not as good as it used to be. You may have an old hand or even an old heart. You\u2019ll hold onto it as long as you can.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 574 (November 1985)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Lost Love, Lasting Loyalty appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T22:23:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T22:24:54+00:00" }, { "id": 36870, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/confianza-en-uno-mismo/", "title": "Confianza en uno mismo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es la idea de la Tor\u00e1 sobre la confianza en uno mismo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsta es una pregunta que se hace muchas veces. La gente dice: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo puedo aumentar la confianza en m\u00ed mismo?”
\n\n\n\nY yo digo, \u00bfpara qu\u00e9 lo necesitas? \u00bfPara qu\u00e9 necesitas confianza en ti mismo? Aqu\u00ed estoy yo; m\u00edrame, no tengo confianza en m\u00ed mismo. Pero tengo que hablar con la gente, as\u00ed que lo hago de todos modos. Lo hago sin confianza en m\u00ed mismo, eso es todo. Soy un hombre t\u00edmido. Lo hago de todos modos. \u00bfQui\u00e9n necesita confianza en s\u00ed mismo? Sal y haz lo que tengas que hacer, y eso es todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-9 (mayo de 1995)
\nThe post Confianza en uno mismo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-16T04:53:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-16T04:53:09+00:00" }, { "id": 36867, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/amor-perdido-lealtad-duradera/", "title": "Amor perdido, lealtad duradera ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo debe uno reaccionar si descubre que ya no ama a su pareja como s\u00ed ocurr\u00eda al principio?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que el amor no es el criterio de comportamiento en el matrimonio. El amor debe ser el resultado, pero el criterio es lealtad.
\n\n\n\nDecimos en idish: azoi vi men bet zij ois, azoi shluft men, que significa “la forma en que haces tu cama, as\u00ed deber\u00edas dormir”. Mira antes de saltar. Una vez que saltas, sostente. Eso es para siempre. Porque si vas a lamentarte y pensar que tal vez hay alguien mejor, entonces no podr\u00e1s permanecer casado. Cada d\u00eda cambiar\u00e1s.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que la actitud de la Tor\u00e1 y no s\u00f3lo la Tor\u00e1; lehavdil los gentiles decentes en una \u00e9poca en la ceremonia de boda sol\u00edan decir: “\u00bfToma a esta persona para bien o para mal?” Y dec\u00edan: “Lo hago”. \u00a1Y nosotros, lehavdil, tambi\u00e9n debemos hacerlo!
\n\n\n\nComo dije, \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7 – La lealtad tiene que ser el criterio. Y olv\u00eddate del amor. Por supuesto, es un deber; \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da – Tienes que amar a cada compa\u00f1ero jud\u00edo. \u00a1Y con m\u00e1s raz\u00f3n con aquellas personas con las que est\u00e1s con frecuencia en contacto! Y hay muchas razones por las que una mujer y un marido deben amarse m\u00e1s que lo que aman a los extra\u00f1os. Por supuesto, nunca puedes olvidar el deber fundamental de amar a un compa\u00f1ero. \u00a1Debes amar a un compa\u00f1ero de jud\u00edo! Simplemente no tenemos tiempo de pensar en todos, otorgar amor a todos los jud\u00edos. No tenemos corazones suficientemente grandes para eso. Necesitas ser Abraham Avinu o un gran jasid. Pero para al propio c\u00f3nyuge, no es tan dif\u00edcil. Entonces, de vez en cuando, es posible generar algo de amor.
\n\n\n\nPero no importa qu\u00e9, incluso si el romance hace mucho tiempo vol\u00f3 por la ventana – y vuela r\u00e1pidamente, por supuesto, porque es un concepto falso – sin embargo, la lealtad toma su lugar.
\n\n\n\nMe imagino en la calle, un marido gordo y una esposa gorda junto a \u00e9l. Son de mediana edad. Nada rom\u00e1ntico Pero son leales entre s\u00ed. Est\u00e1n casados y van a seguir juntos. Ser\u00e1n enterrados uno al lado del otro. Ya no hay romance. Los miro, no puedo imaginarme ning\u00fan romance entre ellos. Ya pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo. Y a\u00fan son intensamente leales entre s\u00ed. Si \u00e9l tendr\u00eda una ruptura nerviosa, ella lo calmar\u00eca. Ella no lo enviar\u00eda al asilo. Si ella fuera anciana, \u00e9l la empujar\u00eda en la silla de ruedas.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfNo ves a un anciano empujando a una anciana en una silla de ruedas? \u00c9l no dice: “Voy a deshacerme de ella. Es demasiado molesta”.
\n\n\n\nUn viejo marido; usa pa\u00f1ales. Es senil. Pero su esposa le es leal hasta el final. Ella cambia sus pa\u00f1ales todos los d\u00edas cinco o seis veces. Debido a que ella se cas\u00f3 con \u00e9l y ella se quedar\u00e1 con \u00e9l hasta el \u00faltimo minuto y ella ir\u00e1 al siguiente mundo y estar\u00e1 al lado de \u00e9l en el Olam Hab\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nY ese es el ideal de un matrimonio. No est\u00e1 construido sobre el romance. No se basa en ninguna idea de un pr\u00edncipe encantador o una princesa. Est\u00e1 construido sobre la idea de \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7, lealtad. Est\u00e1n juntos para siempre. Es como parte de tu cuerpo. No vas a decir adi\u00f3s a parte de tu cuerpo porque no es tan bueno como sol\u00eda ser. Puede tener una vieja mano o incluso un coraz\u00f3n viejo. Lo mantendr\u00e1s todo el tiempo que puedas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #574 (noviembre de 1985)
\nThe post Amor perdido, lealtad duradera appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-15T03:56:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-15T03:56:20+00:00" }, { "id": 36864, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-michpatim-5783/", "title": "Paracha Michpatim 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Michpatim-5783The post Paracha Michpatim 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-13T00:09:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-13T00:09:03+00:00" }, { "id": 36859, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "22-\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-13T00:06:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-13T00:06:11+00:00" }, { "id": 36857, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/no-ser-un-cero/", "title": "No ser un cero", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay algo malo si un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 va a ver juegos deportivos de vez en cuando si tiene cuidado de cuidarse a s\u00ed mismo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo s\u00e9 qu\u00e9 significa eso, “cuidadoso de cuidarse a s\u00ed mismo”. La respuesta es que ciertamente est\u00e1 mal que un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 asista a juegos deportivos. Un bajur ieshiv\u00e1, no s\u00f3lo un bajur ieshiv\u00e1; creo que todo jud\u00edo frum deber\u00eda desvincularse de las diversiones p\u00fablicas. Algunas personas est\u00e1n tan americanizadas que se identifican con todo lo que es estadounidense. Debes saber que todas estas cosas son lugares donde las personas son v\u00edctimas. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 estupidez venir y ver a otras personas hacer ejercicio! \u00a1Y pagas dinero por ello! \u00bfNo es est\u00fapido estar entusiasmado cuando la gente est\u00e1 patinando o jugando baloncesto o f\u00fatbol, lo que sea, y est\u00e1s pagando por verlo? Si pudieras entrar al campo t\u00fa mismo y patear la pelota, al menos haces ejercicio. Pero est\u00e1s sentado en una silla y todo lo que est\u00e1s haciendo es tener hemorroides por sentarte en una silla dura. Y si no tienes hemorroides est\u00e1s engordando. Y est\u00e1n recibiendo dinero de ti. As\u00ed que has sido victimizado. No seas tonto por simplemente unirte a la manada que est\u00e1 siendo conducida al matadero.
\n\n\n\nEn general, aunque no hay nada malo en un juego, pero es est\u00fapido, no tiene sentido. \u00bfA qui\u00e9n le importa qui\u00e9n gana? Y el mero hecho de que te identifiques con la manada, el hecho de que la manada te atrape es una tragedia. Est\u00e1s perdiendo tu identidad: eres el Am Hanivjar, la naci\u00f3n elegida; tienes cosas diferentes. No te interesa esa basura. Y, por lo tanto, cuando vas a una reuni\u00f3n de rock and roll u otra m\u00fasica, incluso a lugares k\u00f3sher, es tan tonto ser parte de una gran multitud sentada escuchando ruido, golpeando el tambor y soplando la flauta. \u00bfQu\u00e9 es? Es m\u00fasica que no significa nada. No existe un ideal de eso, por lo que debemos desvincularnos de la multitud de no pensadores. Incluso de la mafia ortodoxa. Se espera que seamos \u05d4\u05df \u05e2\u05dd \u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d3 \u05d9\u05e9\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u2013 He aqu\u00ed la naci\u00f3n que habita sola, \u05d5\u05d1\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05ea\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1 \u2013 y no somos contados entre los go\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, cuando se trataba de votar, dije que todos deber\u00edan votar porque ese es un voto para Am Israel: votar por Reagan fue un voto para salvar a Estados Unidos del desastre. Baruj Hashem, tuvimos un ieshu\u00e1, fuimos rescatados de ese personaje podrido de Mondale y el otro personaje podrido de Ferraro; ambos deber\u00edan caer muertos de inmediato. Habr\u00eda sido la mayor tragedia si hubieran sido elegidos. \u00a1Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos dio una gueul\u00e1 veieshu\u00e1! \u201cBaruj at\u00e1 Hashem\u201d, tenemos que gritar de felicidad. No nos damos cuenta de lo que fuimos rescatados.
\n\n\n\nPero de lo contrario, aparte de votar, mantente alejado de los go\u00edm y simplemente haga lo que hace Am Israel. Si quieres ir a un lugar donde se canta, entonces ve a un Rebe; ve a un gran melave malk\u00e1 donde un rabino est\u00e1 sentado en una mesa y tal vez quinientos jud\u00edos est\u00e1n sentados all\u00ed y est\u00e1n cantando juntos. Eso es algo que podr\u00edas hacer si quieres. Yo mismo prefiero sentarme y estudiar en motza\u00e9 shabat. Pero si te gusta un melave malk\u00e1, ve a un melave malk\u00e1; hay muchos lugares a donde ir. Vaya a lugares donde los jud\u00edos se sientan y escuchan Tor\u00e1 o estudian Tor\u00e1. Identif\u00edcate con el Klal Israel. No te identifiques con nadie m\u00e1s. Por lo tanto, un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 que va a ver un juego de deportes, y aunque se est\u00e1 “cuidando a s\u00ed mismo”, no est\u00e1 hablando con nadie, s\u00f3lo se sienta y disfruta, pero ese hombre se est\u00e1 convirtiendo en un cero. Y es una tragedia cuando puedes convertirte en un mill\u00f3n y en cambio te conviertes en un cero.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #527 (noviembre de 1984)
\nThe post No ser un cero appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T23:54:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-12T23:54:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36854, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/padre-exitoso/", "title": "Padre exitoso ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted mencion\u00f3 anteriormente que un padre debe usar la palabra “por favor” cuando le habla a un ni\u00f1o. \u00bfPero decir la palabra \u201cpor favor\u201d no implica que el cumplimiento de la solicitud por parte del ni\u00f1o realmente s\u00f3lo va a ser un favor por parte del ni\u00f1o?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo. Cuando un padre le dice \u201cpor favor\u201d a un ni\u00f1o, pero lo dice con firmeza, y el padre insiste en que el ni\u00f1o lo haga, entonces el ni\u00f1o tiene la idea de que debe hacerlo, y aprende de sus padres a decir \u201cpor favor.” Depende del tono del \u201cpor favor\u201d.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si dices \u201cpor favor\u201d y el ni\u00f1o te ignora, entonces eres un fracaso. Eres un negligente en tu deber como padre. O no le pides al ni\u00f1o que haga eso, o si lo pides, debe llevarse a cabo. Tu pedido debe ser llevado a cabo. Y por lo tanto, antes de preguntar, debes juzgar si es factible.
\n\n\n\nCierto gran hombre me dijo una vez: “\u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9 tengo la reputaci\u00f3n de ser un hombre de poder?” Y era un hombre que ejerc\u00eda mucho poder. Me dijo: \u201cPorque nunca intent\u00e9 nada que no pudiera llevar a cabo\u201d. Solo intent\u00f3 cosas que sab\u00eda que pod\u00eda llevar a cabo. As\u00ed que ten\u00eda la reputaci\u00f3n de que ten\u00eda \u00e9xito en todo. \u00a1\u00c9l siempre ganaba! \u00a1Siempre lo consigui\u00f3! Porque nunca intent\u00f3 nada que pudiera perder.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, si quieres ser un padre exitoso, insiste en las cosas que sabes que puedes ganar. \u00a1Cuidado! Vigila tus pasos y no hagas un pedido sobre cosas que no ganar\u00e1s, cosas que no se cumplir\u00e1n. Porque entonces te convertir\u00e1s en un perdedor a los ojos de tu hijo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #498 (marzo de 1984)
\nThe post Padre exitoso appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T23:52:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-12T23:52:34+00:00" }, { "id": 36849, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-sports-identity/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Sports Identity", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there anything wrong if a frum yeshiva bochur goes to sports games once in a while if he\u2019s careful to watch himself?
A:
I\u00a0don\u2019t know what that means, \u201ccareful to watch himself.\u201d The\u00a0answer is that it certainly is wrong for a yeshiva bochur to go to sports games. A yeshiva bochur \u2013\u00a0not only\u00a0a yeshiva bochur;\u00a0I\u00a0think that every frum Jew\u00a0should disassociate himself from public amusements. Some people are so Americanized that they identify with the American scene. You must know\u00a0that all these things are places where people are victimized. What a stupidity to\u00a0come and watch other people getting exercise!\u00a0And\u00a0you pay money for it!\u00a0Isn\u2019t it stupid to be enthusiastic as people are skating or playing lacrosse or basketball or\u00a0soccer,\u00a0whatever it is, and you are paying to watch it?!\u00a0If you could get on the field yourself and kick the ball around, so at least\u00a0you get exercise. But you\u2019re\u00a0sitting on a chair and all you\u2019re doing is getting hemorrhoids from sitting on a hard chair. And if not hemorrhoids you\u2019re getting fat.\u00a0And they\u2019re getting money from you. So you\u2019ve been\u00a0victimized. Don\u2019t be a fool to just join in the herd that\u2019s being led to the slaughter.
In general, even though there\u2019s\u00a0nothing wrong in a game, but it\u2019s stupid, it\u2019s meaningless. Who cares who wins? And\u00a0the mere fact that you identify with the herd, that fact that you\u2019re being stampeded by the herd is\u00a0a tragedy. You\u2019re losing\u00a0your identity \u2013 you\u2019re the\u00a0Am Hanivchar,\u00a0the chosen nation;\u00a0you have\u00a0different things. You\u2019re not\u00a0interested in that garbage. And\u00a0therefore when you go to a rock and roll gathering or other music \u2013\u00a0even kosher places \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s so silly to be part of a big crowd sitting and listening to syncopations,\u00a0to noise, banging on the drum and blowing on\u00a0the flute. What is it? It\u2019s music that means nothing. There\u2019s no ideal to it and so we should disassociate ourselves from the mob of non-thinkers.\u00a0Even from the Orthodox mob. We are expected to\u00a0be \u05d4\u05df \u05e2\u05dd \u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d3 \u05d9\u05e9\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u2013\u00a0Behold the nation that dwells alone,\u00a0\u05d5\u05d1\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05ea\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1 \u2013\u00a0and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0not counted among the\u00a0goyim.
Now, when\u00a0it came to voting,\u00a0I said\u00a0everybody should be counted, everyone should\u00a0vote because that was a vote for the Am Yisroel \u2013 to vote for Reagan was a vote for saving America from disaster, and that means us sitting here.\u00a0Boruch\u00a0Hashem, we had\u00a0a\u00a0yeshua, we were\u00a0rescued from that rotten character Mondale and the\u00a0other rotten character Ferraro. It would have been the\u00a0biggest tragedy had they been\u00a0elected. Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us a\u00a0geulah veyeshua! \u201cBoruch atah\u00a0Hashem,\u201d\u00a0we have to\u00a0cry out in happiness. We don\u2019t realize what we were rescued from.
\n\n\n\nBut otherwise, outside of voting, stay away from the goyim and just do what the Am Yisroel does. If you want to go to a place where there\u2019s singing, then go to a rebbeh; go to a big melave malka where a rebbeh is sitting at a table and maybe five hundred Jews are sitting there and they\u2019re singing together. That\u2019s something you could do if you want. I myself prefer to sit and learn motzei shabbos. But if you like a melave malka, go to a melave malka; there\u2019s plenty of places to go. Go to places where Jews are sitting and hearing Torah or learning Torah. Identify with the Klal Yisroel. Don\u2019t identify with anybody else. Therefore, a yeshiva bochur who\u2019s going to the sports game, and even though he\u2019s \u201cwatching himself,\u201d \u2013 he\u2019s not talking to anybody, he just sits and enjoys \u2013 but that man is making himself into a zero. And it\u2019s a tragedy when you can become a million and instead you become a zero.
TAPE # 527 (November 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Sports Identity appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T12:42:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-12T12:42:38+00:00" }, { "id": 36838, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mishpatim-5783-doing-and-listening-2/", "title": "Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening", "content_html": "Doing More
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a statement in Pirkei Avos (3:9) that I would like to speak to you about tonight and it\u2019s as follows: \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9, \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 If a person\u2019s deeds are more than his knowledge, then his knowledge has a permanence; it will endure.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll say it again because I want you to hear the problem with these words. \u201cIf your mitzvos outpace your knowledge, that\u2019s considered a special success.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow let\u2019s understand what that means, \u201cif your deeds are more than your knowledge\u201d. He\u2019s telling us that if a man learned, let\u2019s say, fifty halachos; he learned fifty laws of the Torah but he performs more than fifty, so because he performed more than he knows, then these fifty laws are going to be permanent. Exactly what it means \u201cpermanent\u201d we won\u2019t worry about right now but we see there\u2019s such a thing as doing more than you know.
\n\n\n\nSo Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuva (2:10) asks a question. How is it possible for a person to do more deeds than he has knowledge about? If a man knows only fifty laws, can he fulfill sixty laws? Halevai that his deeds should be as much as his learning; but that his deeds should be more than his learning? If you didn\u2019t learn those deeds, if you didn\u2019t learn the laws that command you to do certain things, then you can\u2019t do those deeds. That\u2019s a kashe from Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuva. How can it be that a person\u2019s \u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 are \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9?
\n\n\n\nUnderstanding Naaseh V\u2019Nishma
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, Rabbeinu Yonah turns to the Avos D\u2019Rabbi Nosson. The Avos D\u2019Rabbi Nosson is a beraisa that explains Mesichta Avos, and on that mishnah the Avos D\u2019Rabbi Nosson says like this: \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u2013 What does it mean that your deeds are more than your wisdom? It means the same thing that the Bnei Yisroel said in this week\u2019s sedrah, \u201c\u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 – Everything that Hashem says, we will do and we will listen\u201d (Mishpatim 24:7).
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s not yet an answer for us. It\u2019s too brief of a comment. We know all about naaseh v\u2019nishma. At Har Sinai when they accepted the Torah they said, \u201cNaaseh, we will do, v\u2019nishma, and then we are going to listen to what You\u2019re telling us to do.\u201d And so, right away we see that something is doing here because the order is inverted. \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 means \u201cWe\u2019re going to do\u201d and \u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 means \u201cWe\u2019re going to hear,\u201d and that can\u2019t be; first you have to hear what you\u2019re commanded to do and only then you\u2019ll do it. It\u2019s similar to our mishnah, but it doesn\u2019t explain anything.
\n\n\n\nSo Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha\u2019arei Teshuva explains it to us. Our forefathers didn\u2019t just say \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 willy-nilly. When they were told that they were about to receive the Torah, they got busy preparing themselves. \u05d4\u05b1\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Be prepared in three days (Shemos 19:15). It doesn\u2019t mean that for three days they took off from everything and they loafed. It doesn\u2019t mean they were shopping on the avenue for cheesecakes for three days. \u05e0\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd means that they prepared their hearts with a great hachanah; for three days they were preparing for the function of Kabolas Hatorah, readying themselves in ahavas Hashem and zerizus to do everything that Hashem was going to request of them.
\n\n\n\nIt took a tremendous preparation of love and eagerness; a sincere willingness to do everything that Hashem would request of them because they understood that it was going to be something big. They expected big demands and so they were preparing for everything. It takes work to have a frame of mind like that, a mind that is ready to accept the Torah.
\n\n\n\nThey Meant Business!
\n\n\n\nAnd finally when Moshe Rabbeinu came and proposed the Torah, they were ready. They were prepared for the proposal and they said \u201c\u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u201d. They didn\u2019t say it because they knew it was going to be recorded in the Torah and they wanted to make a good impression on us. They meant business.
\n\n\n\nWhat business did they mean? The Bnei Yisroel didn\u2019t hear yet what was being demanded of them. After all, they didn\u2019t receive the whole Torah at once. It was only over the course of many years; Moshe Rabbeinu would go into the Ohel Moed, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, and he heard Hashem speaking to him from between the two keruvim (Bamidbar 7:89) and only then, gradually, did they begin to discover what they had accepted.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, they didn\u2019t know what they were getting but still, they accepted; they accepted the ol Torah, the yoke of Torah. \u201cWhatever it is, naaseh, we\u2019ll do it! Not \u201cNishma v\u2019naaseh \u2013 we\u2019ll learn, and when we\u2019ll know what to do, we\u2019ll do.\u201d No! Right away, \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cWe\u2019ll do; no matter what You tell us to do. We\u2019re so full of love and willingness and devotion to Hashem that \u2018we\u2019ll do\u2019 no matter what.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOf course we\u2019ll be \u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 too; of course we\u2019ll listen and we\u2019ll learn. But first things first, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to do. We\u2019ll run into fire and water for You, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If the Torah would say, \u2018Stand on your head every morning for ten minutes,\u2019 we\u2019ll do it.\u201d It\u2019s lucky we don\u2019t have to do that, but they were ready to do that too! And more!
\n\n\n\nAnd they were serious about it. They meant it! They were so full of gratitude to Hashem for taking them out of Mitzrayim, so full of pride that they were being chosen now to receive the Torah, that they said, \u201cWe accept! Even the things we don\u2019t know yet, we accept!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSecret Reward
\n\n\n\nAnd because they accepted it with such a sincere heart \u2013 Hakadosh Baruch Hu looked into their hearts and He saw that they really intended to do whatever He would ask of them no matter what \u2013 so it was considered for them as if they had already learned everything and they had done everything. That\u2019s the key, the secret to Kabolas Hatorah! Because they accepted with such sincere devotion of their minds, it\u2019s like they had already done it. After all, they want to do it! Only that they don\u2019t know yet.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back now to our Avos D\u2019Rabbi Nosson, to the explanation of what it means \u201cto do more than you know.\u201d How could you do more than you know? It means that you\u2019ve created the same attitude that our forefathers created for Kabolas Hatorah; that you\u2019ve accepted to do even the things you don\u2019t know about.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Rabbeinu Yonah explains. When a person reaches such a stage of devotion to Hashem, his heart is full of fire, love for Hashem and he declares to himself that \u201cwhatever the teachers of the Torah are going to admonish and tell me to do, no matter what, I\u2019ll do it!\u201d, then he receives full reward as if he actually did everything.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a remarkable statement but Rabbeinu Yonah says it. He\u2019s an important personality, Rabbeinu Yonah. He\u2019s not merely giving a pep talk, exhortations, promising us empty things. It\u2019s a sefer that\u2019s considered very authoritative and he says there, black on white, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu looks into a person\u2019s heart and if sees that it\u2019s true, that this man is sincere, then that man receives reward immediately as if he had learned and as if he had done. Isn\u2019t that a bargain?
\n\n\n\nYour True Desires
\n\n\n\nOf course it\u2019s not such a bargain because you have to generate such a fire of devotion within you so that it should really be a true resolve. It\u2019s easier said than done. Right now, everyone will say, \u201cOh, I desire everything that\u2019s good in the Eyes of Hashem,\u201d but in his heart, if we could pry it open and take a look, he\u2019s desiring, let\u2019s say, travel. He\u2019s thinking about how nice it would be to go on vacation in Florida. Or maybe he\u2019d like to go eat in a restaurant; he\u2019s desiring other things.
\n\n\n\nBut when our forefathers said \u201cnaaseh v\u2019nishma\u201d, they meant it. We know they meant it because Hakadosh Baruch Hu cannot be deceived and He put His stamp of approval on their acceptance. He said, \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u2013 Would it be so always, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 they should have the same mind as now to fear Me all the days (Devarim 5:25).
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a tremendous seal of approval. A man, he can be fooled. \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 A man looks only what the eyes can see (Shmuel I 16:7). Let\u2019s say you see a frum young man who is accepting everything. He comes into the yeshivah and his heart is sincere. The rosh yeshivah sees that he means business. He\u2019s a sponge. He soaks up everything. But who knows? Maybe there are some spaces left in the pnimiyus halev, certain reservations he has. Could be he\u2019s not accepting everything. Right now, so far, he\u2019s accepting but who says he\u2019s mekabel b\u2019lev shaleim everything he\u2019ll ever become aware of? Maybe when you tell him this or that it won\u2019t fit with his aspirations, his attitudes, and he won\u2019t be so enthusiastic anymore. So we don\u2019t really know.
\n\n\n\nBut \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1 \u2013 Hashem sees all the way down into the depths of the heart (ibid.). There\u2019s no fooling Him; and so if Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cHalevai that this should be their attitude forever and ever,\u201d then you can be sure that He saw that it was without reservations.
\n\n\n\nA Hasty Nation
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a remarkable thing. It was everyone, like it states \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05df; they encamped like one man around the mountain. Like one man, they said naaseh v\u2019nishma! It\u2019s a remarkable episode in history that the nation rose to such heights that they were able to accept a kabbalah unreservedly.
\n\n\n\nAnd at that moment, they fulfilled this great attitude of \u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9. Now to sign a contract without reading the contract, I don\u2019t advise it. You should never do it. A goy once criticized us for that (Shabbos 88b). He said, \u201cYou\u2019re an ama peziza, a hasty nation, you put your mouth before your ears. You said naaseh before you heard nishma.\u201d He ridiculed us for that. Who signs his life away without knowing what\u2019s in the fine print?
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to Kabolas Hatorah, that\u2019s our greatness. No matter what He’s going to tell us, beforehand, we’re accepting all the obligations even if we don’t know about them. We are so much in love with Hashem for all that He had done to us that we were so ready and so willing and so happy to receive the Torah.
\n\n\n\nAlways More To Learn
\n\n\n\nNow this idea, Kabolas Hatorah, is an important principle which it pays to study because if we understand it and follow it, we can acquire merits, zechusim, beyond our abilities. We\u2019re learning now, not about Matan Torah, the tremendous gift that Hashem gave us at Har Sinai. We\u2019re learning now about the subject of Kabolas Hatorah, Accepting the Torah.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very important principle and it pays for people to think about that because you\u2019ll never know everything. As much as you study there\u2019s so much, so much to learn and do, and therefore the best eitzah is to be mekabel, to actually inspire yourself with an enthusiasm and a dedication to Kabolas Hatorah.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s not a shortcut to avoid learning because such a person, if he\u2019s sincere, will certainly be eager to learn. All your life you should have an ambition to continue learning. No matter how old you are, you\u2019ll always discover new things to do that you never knew about.
\n\n\n\nVacuums Of The Greats
\n\n\n\nEven Rabbi Yochanan, the great teacher Rabbi Yochanan, when he was told about a certain statement that Reish Lakish had made, he was surprised. He had never heard it.
\n\n\n\nSo he said (Yevamos 72b), \u201cWhere do you get it from?\u201d
\n\n\n\nReish Lakish said, \u201cFrom the Sifra.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSifra?\u201d Rabbi Yochanan hadn\u2019t learned the Sifra. So he got busy for three days memorizing the Sifra.
\n\n\n\nSo you see even great men have certain vacuums, certain spaces that are not yet filled with information.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s not possible for a man to actually fulfill every detail that Hakodosh Boruch Hu desires of him. And so even though there\u2019s no question everybody should spend a great deal of time in studying the details of mitzvos, halachos, and so on, but it\u2019s also of the greatest importance to engender a love for the Torah, a love for mitzvos. Because the heart matters! \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9 \u2013 Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants a man\u2019s heart. And if he\u2019s sincerely interested in knowing, he wants to know it and do it all, that is counted for him as if he did it.
\n\n\n\nBecome A Thinker
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so important for people to acquire the right attitudes. It\u2019s not enough merely to do mitzvos. Attitudes are supremely important because the attitude gives you credit for things you will never hear about. You have to become a thinking person by learning mussar or those subjects that inflame the heart with enthusiasm. You have to spend time in contemplation, thinking. You have to create that desire for Kabolas Hatorah. You get inspiration to be a doer; you wish you could do everything.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you didn\u2019t learn Zevachim and Menachos. Maybe someday you will but right now you didn\u2019t; or it could be you did but it was to you merely details and technicalities. But imagine now that you would put some effort into the Kabolas Hatorah of the korbanos, of the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re walking let\u2019s say to the store or to the office and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cSomeday when the Beis Hamikdash will be built, I\u2019d like to bring an offering\u201d \u2013 maybe it won\u2019t be built in your day; let\u2019s hope it will but even if not, your attitude is going to reap for you dividends as if you did it.
\n\n\n\nInspiration Is Important
\n\n\n\nAnd so you\u2019re walking on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cIncluded in my Kabolas Hatorah is that one day I want to be walking not in Flatbush but in Eretz Yisroel. And I\u2019ll walk from my home in let\u2019s say Dan or Be\u2019er Sheva and I\u2019ll travel towards Yerushalayim and bring whatever offerings I\u2019m commanded to bring. I don\u2019t know the details but whatever the Chachmei Hatorah say, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do. It\u2019ll cost me good money \u2013 but I\u2019ll do it with a full heart.\u201d And because you have such a devotion to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that you surely will bring offerings, it counts as if you did it. You\u2019ll receive reward as if you brought offerings.
\n\n\n\nNow this seems farfetched. People say it\u2019s abstract. We have so much to worry about in practice, so why should we start longing for things that are not available to us now? And the answer is, you\u2019re making a big error. They are available! Because to Hakadosh Baruch Hu the heart is just as important. And if we learn the great ideals, if we acquire a leiv of Kabolas Torah, then that is a very big achievement in practice. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to emphasize now.
\n\n\n\nAnd those people who neglect the field of emotions in Torah, they think that inspiration is not important \u2013 all that is necessary is just to learn and to do \u2013 they\u2019re making a mistake. Certainly learning and doing is very important, but it\u2019s necessary to generate such a fire in your heart that even those things that you never will hear about are included in your accomplishments.
\n\n\n\nTurn Up The Heat
\n\n\n\nSuppose you\u2019ll spend an hour this Sunday afternoon thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, about what He\u2019s doing for you. I know you won\u2019t do it but let\u2019s imagine you did it for five minutes. And suppose you did it the next Sunday too. And maybe ten minutes on Wednesday and then Sunday again.
\n\n\n\nNobody knows but you\u2019re sitting at the table and you\u2019re thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You think about what He did for you; you look back on your life and you see how He has guided your footsteps, how He has guarded your life. He has given you happiness that you\u2019re normal, that you\u2019re functioning and He supported you with food and clothing and shelter until today. You\u2019re thinking about all that until you don\u2019t know what to do. \u201cHow can I thank Hashem? \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 What can I return to Hashem for all that He bestowed on me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nOh! Now you\u2019re ready. I don\u2019t imagine you\u2019ll come anywhere near where the Dor Hamidbar was, but every degree, no matter how weak it is, is an achievement in itself. Even if it\u2019s not the top heat, it\u2019s a little cooler than the naaseh v\u2019nishma at Har Sinai, it\u2019s excellent \u2013 according to the madreigah it\u2019s an achievement. And so you\u2019re ready now and in your heart of hearts you make this declaration: \u201cNaaseh v\u2019nishma! I\u2019m mekabel everything.” That\u2019s what Kabolas Hatorah was. It was a lot of things but it was especially this \u2013 the eagerness and devotion to fulfill.
\n\n\n\nNow, this means that people have to work on themselves to acquire this middah of Kabolas Hatorah \u2013 it\u2019s a middah of character called Kabolas Hatorah. Did you ever hear anyone say, \u201cI\u2019m working now on the middah of Kabolas Hatorah\u201d? No? So let this be the first time.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a quality of character, an attitude, that you have to work on achieving. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s done already, something that our forefathers did the job for us and now we can lean back and relax. No! We have to continue to perform Kabolas Hatorah; we have to be more and more willing, more and more ready every day.
\n\n\n\nNaaseh V\u2019nishma Every Morning
\n\n\n\nNow in order to complete the subject, it\u2019s worth noting an important passage in the daily tefillos that most people ignore; they\u2019re not aware that there\u2019s a Kabolas Hatorah every day. It\u2019s after you say keriyas shema and you start saying \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8. You\u2019re talking about how great is this subject that you just finished saying, that\u2019s the subject of reading the shema.
\n\n\n\nAnd you say, first of all, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when He performed all these great things for us and He came to us and offered us the Torah and our forefathers accepted it, it\u2019s not only accepted by them, but right now we are accepting it all over again. \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 It was on our forefathers; they accepted it at Har Sinai. But then we add a certain word; if you\u2019re in a rush you might not notice it: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 and it\u2019s upon us too!
\n\n\n\nNow think about that. It\u2019s an important item in the morning tefillah because it means you\u2019re accepting it the same way they did \u2013 you\u2019re committing to try at least. It means that Kabolas Hatorah is not a one-time thing. People think it happened at Har Sinai once, very good. Once in a while they think it might happen again to an individual.
\n\n\n\nNaaseh V\u2019Nishma In New York
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a girl, let\u2019s say, who marches into a synagogue, she takes a seat in the ladies’ section, opens up a siddur and reads the English. For the first time in her life, she\u2019s in a synagogue. Something stirred an emotion in her, a little flame was kindled. She was walking on the street in Manhattan and she saw through the window of the synagogue an old Jew wearing tallis and tefillin and a tiny holy flame began burning in her heart. So she walks in now and she\u2019s mekabel the Torah. Whatever her Torah is, it\u2019s pretty small, but she\u2019s mekabel her Torah.
\n\n\n\nOr maybe a boy comes from Midwest to New York on a train. He brings with him his baggage, all his worldly possessions and he\u2019s in the railroad station. Why did he come to New York? He read a book, a book on Torah ideology, and he came here looking for the Torah. A true story. That\u2019s a Kabolas Hatorah. He accepted the Torah.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not the only thing. We\u2019re making a Kabolas Hatorah every day. Just like our forefathers accepted the Torah, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing every day; if only we would wake up from our daydreams and think about what we\u2019re saying. That\u2019s actually what we\u2019re saying; we\u2019re being mekabel the Torah \u2013 the whole thing.
\n\n\n\nAccepting The Shulchan Aruch
\n\n\n\nWhat are you accepting? Choshen Mishpat. Ohohohoh! Choshen Mishpat \u2013 who knows if you\u2019ll ever learn that. And even if you\u2019ll learn some of it, but the entire Choshen Mishpat is not a small text to learn; it\u2019s a very big sefer. It\u2019s quite heavy. Even just the pnim, just the Shulchan Aruch of Choshen Mishpat is quite a scholarship, but you have to learn also the meforshim on it. And in the meforshim there it tells us halachos in business and in damaging other people\u2019s property, obligations in money matters.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no end. Choshen Mishpat has more obligations than Yoreh Deah and that\u2019s saying a lot. Yoreh Deah talks about kosher and treif and shechitah, about taharas hamishpacha and nedarim; and many other things. There are very many halachos in Yoreh Deah, but Choshen Mishpat has even more; and more complicated ones. Money matters that are quite abstruse and complex.
\n\n\n\nNot that we should despair; we shouldn\u2019t give up. No. We won\u2019t give up, but still it pays to play safe because there are many things you might never know about. And so if you are mekabel now b\u2019lev shaleim, you\u2019ve already accomplished Choshen Mishpat; you haven\u2019t learned it yet but because you accepted b\u2019lev shaleim so Hakodosh Boruch Hu accepts that.
\n\n\n\nYou have to work on that though. You have to keep on convincing yourself every day more and more. \u201cI am accepting the Torah on myself forever and ever. It\u2019s \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05df and so on and so on. All the adjectives have to be understood. We can\u2019t do it now but every word there means something important to our Kabolas Hatorah. But anyhow, you do your best even if you don\u2019t understand them. You work on having a real acceptance of the Torah in your heart every day; and little by little you become a more sincere mekabel haTorah and that will give you reward for all the deeds that you may never hear about and therefore you may never do.
\n\n\n\nMy Sister, My Bride
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not interested in being a spoilsport but actually there\u2019s a kashe on everything we said till now. But first, a little introduction: SeferShir Hashirim, you know, is a conversation between two people. It is in the form of a drama and the two main personalities are a young woman and her beloved, a dod and a dodah or a raayah and a dod. And they speak to each other throughout the whole sefer with a few exceptions where they speak to other persons too.
\n\n\n\nAnd whom do they represent? The young woman represents the Knesses Yisroel, the Jewish people; and her Beloved is none other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself. And the dialogue describes what Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to say about His beloved people and what the Am Yisroel have to say about the Heavenly Beloved One.
\n\n\n\nIn perek daled, possuk tes, Hashem is talking to us and He says \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 You have captured My heart, My sister, My bride. Sister is just a term of affection. It means, \u201cOh, My bride, you have captured My heart.\u201d \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cYou captured My heart, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 – with one of your eyes.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean \u201cwith one of your eyes\u201d?
\n\n\n\nBeauty Through The Niqab
\n\n\n\nImagine a man is meeting his kallah, his intended, but she wears a veil as it was formerly the custom and only one eye is peeking out from behind the veil. So he says, \u201cThat one eye is so beautiful, you captured my heart.\u201d He wants to see the other eye too now.
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara (Shabbos 88b) says that Hashem is talking to us and He says, \u201cYou took My heart with one of your eyes.\u201d It\u2019s a mashal. The mashal is when the Am Yisroel stood at Har Sinai and they were approached with a proposition to accept the Torah, a very unusual reaction took place. The people were so enthusiastic; they were so full of devotion and fire for Hakadosh Baruch Hu that they all shouted with one voice \u201cNaaseh v\u2019nishma! Everything that Hashem says, even what we don\u2019t know yet, we will do and we will listen.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, \u201cAt that time, when you said these words, you showed Me one eye. That fiery commitment to do whatever will come your way took My heart and I fell in love with you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt was only one eye however. \u201cWhen you accepted \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2, it was a beautiful eye that you showed Me from behind your veil,\u201d Hashem says, \u201cBut later, \u05dc\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9, when you\u2019ll actually do it, then it\u2019ll be two eyes. So I\u2019m waiting for you to fulfill your promise in living a life according to the Torah; that will be your two eyes and then I\u2019ll surely love you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Question and The Answer
\n\n\n\nSo the question is, why do you need doing? What about everything we said here tonight about the great perfection of \u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9? If accepting is the same as doing, so why should Hakadosh Baruch Hu wait in order to fall fully in love with us? Why does it say, \u201cWhen you\u2019ll do, it\u2019ll be like two eyes\u201d? As soon as we said \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2, it\u2019s exactly as if they did it already.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, it\u2019s not exactly as if they did.
\n\n\n\nNow we come to a very important principle because a mitzvah has to be divided into two parts. There\u2019s a merit of a good deed and there\u2019s a perfection that a good deed achieves for you.
\n\n\n\nVisiting The Hospital
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention to this. If a man wanted to do a good deed, \u05d7\u05b4\u05e9\u05b7\u05bc\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 he intended to do a mitzvah; let\u2019s say you packed a lunch for somebody who is ill and you went to the hospital to bring him some delectable foods to nourish him, to encourage him. But when you came there, his bed was empty. They said, \u201cWe\u2019re sorry Mister. He left the hospital already; he was discharged this morning.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou don\u2019t know where he lives so you\u2019re stuck. You go back empty-handed; you bring the food basket back home and you unpack it. \u05d7\u05b4\u05e9\u05b7\u05bc\u05c1\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 you wanted to do a mitzvah, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05e0\u05b7\u05e1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 but an accident happened and you couldn\u2019t do the mitzvah. So what\u2019s the conclusion of that maamar, the punchline? \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 it\u2019s considered as if he did it (Brachos 6a). It\u2019s considered as if he did it! You get reward for your good intentions as if you had done it, as if you nourished that man and encouraged him and helped him heal.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose however that you came to the hospital and you found that man still in his bed and you gave him the food and fed it to him \u2013 it\u2019s much better. Do you know why it\u2019s better? Because besides the reward for the mitzvah, there is the perfection that a mitzvah achieves when you do it. A mitzvah has a certain effect on the doer and that effect makes him different; it changes him. Like we say \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e7\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, you become kadosh because of the mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nTorah Transforms You
\n\n\n\nYou understand the point now? There\u2019s a reward for doing mitzvos and that reward is forever and ever. And it\u2019s true, even if he couldn\u2019t do the mitzvah but he sincerely wanted to do it, there\u2019s also that same reward. If he was mekabel the Torah b\u2019lev shaleim, with enthusiasm, then everything that he would have done, things that he doesn\u2019t even know about yet, he\u2019s rewarded for \u2018doing\u2019 them. When you intend to do a mitzvah sincerely, you receive reward. Reward is a big thing! We\u2019re not going to disdain and look down on reward! Oh no! Don\u2019t think it\u2019s nothing. Very important! Na\u2019aseh v\u2019nishma was very important!
\n\n\n\nBut Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \u201cDo you know when I really fall in love with you? \u05dc\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9 \u2013 When you\u2019ll have the perfection of doing it.\u201d Because when you\u2019ll actually live according to the Torah, it\u2019ll transform you. Doing is what elevates you. You have a different personality! That\u2019s a special reward, in addition, over and above the reward for doing it or for desiring to do. The doing, the action itself, transforms you.
\n\n\n\nA Jew gains kedushah in this world by doing mitzvos. How lucky you are when you\u2019re able to do something. The fact that you put on tefillin is making you a different person. You\u2019re not aware of it? So what? Many times people are not aware of what\u2019s happening to them. You\u2019re subjected, let\u2019s say, to the sun\u2019s rays; as the sun hits your skin, it creates a certain vitamin. The sun creates vitamins. Do you know about it? You don\u2019t know about it, but it\u2019s there anyhow. Many benefits people acquire even when they\u2019re entirely unaware. Same thing, when you do a mitzvah, you are changing. You\u2019re changing your nature; you\u2019re changing your mind, you\u2019re changing your neshamah and you\u2019re gaining in perfection.
\n\n\n\nAcquiring Divinity
\n\n\n\nLet’s say they’re about to nail a mezuzah on your doorpost. And you make a brocha beforehand, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e7\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5. It means \u201cThis act that I’m going to do is going to change me; it\u2019s going to make me saturated with a certain quality that’s similar to Elokus, to Divinity.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou hear what that means? It means when you’re doing a mitzvah you’re making yourself kadosh by means of that mitzvah. It\u2019s not drush what I\u2019m telling you; this is the plain translation of the word. It says (Bamidbar 15:40) \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 when you do all My mitzvos, \u05d5\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 you will become kadosh.
\n\n\n\nEven if you don’t have any mind at all! Let’s say you\u2019re a hedyot sh\u2019bihedyots, a boor, an empty fellow \u2013 but an orthodox one. So you take a hammer and two tacks and now you’re ready to do the mitzvah of putting up a mezuzah. And even though you’re not thinking of what’s written in the mezuzah \u2013 that’s the real purpose of the mezuzah; the real purpose of the mezuzah is to know what you\u2019re nailing up on the door post. It\u2019s not just a piece of parchment; you have to know what it says there.
\n\n\n\nBut alright, we’re talking about a hedyot, an empty fellow. He doesn’t understand anything – he’s just nailing in two tacks in the mezuzah and that’s all; and then he goes away and forgets all about it. No matter! When you take in your hand the hammer and the two nails and you bang it in, you’re making a change in your soul. Your neshamah is becoming different.
\n\n\n\nKabbalistic Auras
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that not only your neshamah is becoming different; your hands are becoming different. Your body becomes kadosh. If you look a little in kabbalah seforim you will see that we have no idea how holy a frum Jew is. There is no question that the kedushah transforms the quality of the body. When we do something in the service of Hashem we gain a certain aura, a certain nobility of status that transforms both our minds and our bodies.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the plain truth; Torah living transforms you! In so many ways. Jews who live by the Torah are a holy people. You can\u2019t help it. You do mitzvos. You walk to shul. You don\u2019t mingle with low people. You can\u2019t think even low thoughts. You have to watch your language. You have to be careful whatever you do. You\u2019re living a holy life \u2013 a life of good character, a life of thinking about Hashem always. It can\u2019t be helped \u2013 you change!
\n\n\n\nNow, good intentions to do that, it\u2019s excellent! Very good! You deserve reward for those intentions! But if you\u2019re able to live such a life, then it\u2019s more than reward \u2013 you\u2019re being transformed! You have a different personality! You\u2019re more kadosh, more perfect. That\u2019s an especial reward over and above the reward for desiring to do.
\n\n\n\nFull Love
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, as much as we\u2019re going to spend all the days of our lives being mekabel the Torah \u2013 every day a little more, a little better, a little stronger \u2013 and by means of that avodah we are rewarded as if we\u2019ve done everything, but still we always want to do and do and do. We want that perfection of \u05dc\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0.
\n\n\n\nWhen we do, when we actually fulfill, we achieve such a perfection of the body and soul that now Hashem loves us ingantzen.
\n\n\n\nOf course the Kabolas Hatorah helps; it helps tremendously because \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 in the way that a person sincerely wants to go, Hashem leads him. If you want, if you desire, to fulfill the Torah then Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give you opportunities. He\u2019ll take you on the path that you want to go. He\u2019ll help you.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, both aspects of this avodah – the Kabolas Hatorah and the Kiyum Hatorah, the actual fulfillment of the Torah – are what make us the Am Hashem. We say \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u2013 the Torah we accepted is true and faithful and desirable \u2026 everything, it is. We want it so much!
\n\n\n\nWe accept it b\u2019lev shaleim! \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 It was on our forefathers; they accepted it at Har Sinai, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 and it\u2019s upon us, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 on our children, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 and all our generations, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d6\u05b6\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and all the generations of the Am Yisroel, Your servants. We want to fulfill everything! We want it! And at the same time as much as possible we are looking to fulfill naaseh in its most elementary form, by doing, because that gives us a perfection of character, of soul and body, that can\u2019t be achieved otherwise.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAccepting The Torah Every Day
\n\n\n\nIn our parshah we read about how our forefathers accepted the Torah with blind enthusiasm, ready to do whatever it takes to serve Hashem. Rabbeinu Yonah tells us that when one is fully prepared to serve Hashem in every possible way, he receives reward as if he has actually done it. Rabbi Miller explains that one has to actually study the Torah as well, while desiring to do all the mitzvos. This week I will bli neder spend half a minute each morning after Keriyas Shema thinking about my desire to emulate my ancestors and accept whatever Hashem commands me to do. Later in the day I will think for half a minute about how I can actually implement this in practice.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 313 – Mitzvos and The Body | 384 – Career of Aspirations | 508 – Receiving The Torah II | E-116 – Wealth of Achievement By Thought | E-183 – Freedom For Servitude | E-209 – Acting With Free Will
\nThe post <strong>Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening</strong> appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T03:17:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-11-07T16:23:31+00:00" }, { "id": 36844, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mishpatim-5783-doing-and-listening/", "title": "Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening", "content_html": "TA-Mishpatim-5783The post <strong>Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening</strong> appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T03:12:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-12T03:12:32+00:00" }, { "id": 36837, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-mishpatim-5783-doing-and-listening/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening", "content_html": "TA-Mishpatim-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Mishpatim 5783 – Doing and Listening appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-12T03:12:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-12T03:12:06+00:00" }, { "id": 36830, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-moshes-shidduch/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Moshe\u2019s Shidduch", "content_html": "\nQ:
How is it that Moshe, the greatest man who ever lived, married a Midyanite woman, the daughter of Yisro?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou must understand, number one, a very great principle, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is most interested in a person\u2019s character. \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05e0\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e2\u05d9 \u2013 Hashem wants the heart. And Yisro was a most remarkable man with a remarkable heart. He was a man who made a break with his past. Yisro was a priest of idolatry and he was enthusiastic about it too. \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05d8\u05dd \u05e2\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d6\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 He used to fatten the calves for the idol. When he had a mitzvah of offering a calf, he refused to bring it right away; instead he spent time fattening it so that it should be a mitzvah min hamuvchar. He was an enthusiastic idolater.
\n\n\n\nAnd when this man finally discovered the truth he became an enemy of idolatry. He became enthusiastic about fighting idolatry. And because of that, he was ostracized by his people. He was in danger. Nobody would even help him. And the Medrash tells us that because of that his daughters had to go out and tend his sheep. And they were persecuted until Moshe came and he rescued the daughters from the persecutors. So we see that Yisro was a man who was suffering for his principles.
\n\n\n\nNow when a man demonstrates greatness of soul, we don\u2019t care what nation he\u2019s from. And therefore, Tziporah was certainly a fit wife for this great man, Moshe Rabbeinu. Because he too was able to ignore his environment. He was born in a palace and he had all privileges and yet he forsook it to go out to help his downtrodden brothers. And so there\u2019s no question that this was a perfect match and there\u2019s nothing to criticize in the shidduch of Moshe Rabbeinu.
\n\n\n\nNow why did it turn out just like this? It could be hashgacha; Hashem wanted to teach this great lesson that the nations of the world can attain greatness if they\u2019re willing to overstep the boundary between them and us.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what happened to great people in every generation. Rus became great because she forsook our nation and joined ours. And if you look further, you find Shmaya v\u2019Avtalyon, the great teachers of our people, also came from converts. And you look further, you find even Rabbi Akiva is descended from converts. Rabbi Akiva is the main teacher of our people in the period of the Tanaim, from the times of the Beis Hamikdosh until the milchemes Beitar; all that we have came through his mouth. And he was the son of converts. You see Unkelus HaGer. He made Targum Unkelus. And his work is in the Chumash. It\u2019s even printed in the Chumash above Rashi Hakodosh. Right next to the Torah itself.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, that\u2019s a great principle that the doors are open for the chosen souls of the nations of the world. And therefore when you look at this inspiring story that Tzipora, a giyoress, was married to Moshe Rabbeinu, that\u2019s a tremendous lesson for the world. The door to greatness is open for everyone.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 449
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Moshe\u2019s Shidduch appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-10T17:04:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-10T17:04:01+00:00" }, { "id": 36828, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ayudar-a-medinat-israel/", "title": "Ayudar a Medinat Israel ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede usted decir que los jud\u00edos deber\u00edan evitar hacer el servicio militar en Israel si hay millones de jud\u00edos que necesitan protecci\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nOh, esto me recuerda una vieja discusi\u00f3n. Entonces, en caso de que seas sionista, mant\u00e9n tu presi\u00f3n arterial baja porque no te voy a ocultar nada. Sin embargo, no tienes que aceptar lo que yo digo, pero tampoco yo debo aceptar lo que t\u00fa dices.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, le preguntar\u00e9 a este se\u00f1or aqu\u00ed, el interrogador, \u00bfqu\u00e9 est\u00e1 haciendo aqu\u00ed? \u00a1\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 es un holgaz\u00e1n?! Hay millones de jud\u00edos que deben ser protegidos, ve y enr\u00f3late. La respuesta es que tienes tus razones. Piensas, tal vez, que en este momento quieres estudiar aqu\u00ed y convertirte en m\u00e9dico y eventualmente ir\u00e1s all\u00ed y ayudar\u00e1s de esa manera. Entonces, tienes un plan para ayudar a las personas de all\u00ed de una manera diferente; no poni\u00e9ndote un uniforme ahora mismo. Esa es tu idea de ayudarlos; suena razonable.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, tambi\u00e9n nosotros tenemos ideas de c\u00f3mo ayudar a la gente de \u00c9retz Israel. Y una idea es enviar mucho dinero a las ieshivot, a los pobres talmid\u00e9 jajamim. Ese dinero va para la econom\u00eda del pa\u00eds. Cualquier dinero que env\u00edes se gastar\u00e1 all\u00ed; se gasta en las carnicer\u00edas y verduler\u00edas. Se gasta en productos y, por lo tanto, est\u00e1s apoyando a las personas que trabajan en las f\u00e1bricas. Cualquier dinero que env\u00edes a talmid\u00e9 jajamim que viven all\u00ed va directamente a la econom\u00eda. Es muy importante. Cr\u00e9anme, si le preguntaran a la gente que est\u00e1 a la cabeza del estado: \u201c\u00bfEximir\u00edan a unas veinte o cincuenta o cien o mil personas del ej\u00e9rcito para ir a los Estados Unidos y recaudar grandes sumas para su econom\u00eda?\u201d Con gusto estar\u00edan de acuerdo, porque el dinero es la sangre de una naci\u00f3n. No se puede hacer la guerra sin dinero.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si realmente quieres ayudar, te dar\u00e9 una lista. Tengo una lista de familias pobres que est\u00e1n haciendo un gran trabajo para \u00c9retz Israel. Est\u00e1n criando muchos ni\u00f1os. Sabes, hay otros jud\u00edos que no est\u00e1n criando ni\u00f1os. \u00c9retz Israel es un pa\u00eds de muchos abortos. Las autoridades han dicho que al menos un mill\u00f3n de ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos fueron abortados desde el comienzo del estado hasta hace unos a\u00f1os. Eso fue hace a\u00f1os; ahora es mucho m\u00e1s. Mientras tanto, los \u00e1rabes est\u00e1n teniendo hijos como si no fuera asunto de nadie. Nunca antes hab\u00edan tenido tantos hijos. Porque los \u00e1rabes en \u00c9retz Israel est\u00e1n recibiendo el mejor tratamiento m\u00e9dico. Los \u00e1rabes en Israel est\u00e1n aumentando m\u00e1s que los \u00e1rabes en cualquier otro lugar del mundo.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfcu\u00e1nto tiempo pasar\u00e1 antes de que los jud\u00edos sean superados en n\u00famero? Es s\u00f3lo cuesti\u00f3n de tiempo. Incluso en este momento hay un gran problema: los jud\u00edos est\u00e1n disminuyendo y los \u00e1rabes est\u00e1n creciendo como una bola de nieve. As\u00ed que aqu\u00ed tienes algunos jud\u00edos que est\u00e1n ocupados tratando de igualar la poblaci\u00f3n; ellos son la esperanza del futuro, los apikorosim en Tel-Aviv no est\u00e1n haciendo su parte, por lo que debe enviarles dinero y ese dinero se destina a la sangre vital de la naci\u00f3n. Esa es una forma de ayudar a defender al Am Israel. Es una hermosa manera de apoyar a la gente de all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nY si quieres otra forma de ayudar a los jud\u00edos all\u00ed, presta atenci\u00f3n. Tienes que saber \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d4 \u2013 Hashem es quien hace las guerras contra el Estado de Israel. Ahora bien, por supuesto que no lo creer\u00edan, \u00a1pero nosotros s\u00ed! Hakadosh Baruj Hu es el Hombre de Guerra. \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 \u00c9l hace las guerras. Y hay razones por las que \u00c9l hace las guerras. \u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9 hace guerras contra Israel? Esc\u00fachame; pero mant\u00e9n tu presi\u00f3n arterial baja. Un hombre me dijo hoy que estuvo en Israel en 1966. Fue al cine. Este es un hombre que no es un shomer mitzvot. Fue al cine y vio, ahora, tendr\u00e9 que lavarme la boca despu\u00e9s de contarte esto, vio pel\u00edculas en las que se practicaba cierta forma de toev\u00e1 en la pel\u00edcula, en la pantalla. Ahora bien, lo que eso significa, es suficiente, no puedo decirte m\u00e1s. Y se supon\u00eda que era s\u00f3lo para adultos. Significa pasados \u200b\u200blos diecis\u00e9is. Diecis\u00e9is en adelante, eso es adultos all\u00ed. Pero \u00e9l estuvo en lugares, estuvo en varios teatros all\u00ed, y esto es lo que me dijo. Me dijo que vio ni\u00f1os de cinco y seis a\u00f1os en estas pel\u00edculas. Lo que significa que la juventud en \u00c9retz Israel est\u00e1 siendo condicionada para una vida de degeneraci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nLos gays est\u00e1n planeando el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o una conferencia mundial internacional de gays en Ierushal\u00e1im. Y dijo que tienen dos sinagogas de homosexuales en \u00c9retz Israel. Y en Tel Aviv tienes todo lo que puedes encontrar en Times Square.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, queremos salvar a \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d1\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df, queremos ayudar a los jud\u00edos que viven en \u00c9retz Israel. Queremos parar las guerras; y, por lo tanto, si vamos a luchar contra las influencias adversas all\u00ed, si vamos a ejercer presi\u00f3n sobre el gobierno para que remedie estos males, tal vez podamos ayudar a proteger a los jud\u00edos en \u00c9retz Israel. Queremos que eliminen la pornograf\u00eda. Queremos que dejen de reclutar ni\u00f1as en el ej\u00e9rcito. Porque las chicas en el ej\u00e9rcito s\u00f3lo significan una cosa. Como ese general israel\u00ed que escribi\u00f3 un libro sobre el ej\u00e9rcito israel\u00ed. Podemos confiar en lo que nos dice. Y declara abiertamente que para la mayor\u00eda de las chicas la inducci\u00f3n al ej\u00e9rcito es su primera experiencia en zenut. Para la mayor\u00eda de las ni\u00f1as israel\u00edes, el ej\u00e9rcito es una casa de prostituci\u00f3n. As\u00ed que ahora tienes una instituci\u00f3n, el ej\u00e9rcito israel\u00ed, que es una gran casa de prostituci\u00f3n y las chicas son obligadas a entrar all\u00ed. Esa no es mi declaraci\u00f3n. Es una declaraci\u00f3n de un general que escribi\u00f3 una historia de las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel y hace esa declaraci\u00f3n abiertamente. No lo hace de una manera clandestina y secreta que tienes que leer entre l\u00edneas. Lo dice abiertamente. No se averg\u00fcenzan.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tenemos que ejercer presi\u00f3n porque no queremos eso. Porque \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05de\u05d7\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05dc\u05d4\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9\u05da. Dice que Hashem camina en medio de ti para ayudarte contra tu enemigo. Pero dice \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05da \u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1 \u05de\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05da \u2013 Si \u00c9l ve inmoralidad entre nosotros, la Shejin\u00e1 se ir\u00e1. Significa que \u00c9l dejar\u00e1 que seas derrotado. Entonces, si queremos ayudar a la gente en \u00c9retz Israel a protegerse de los enemigos, es nuestro trabajo hablar y luchar contra toda la inmoralidad en el Estado de Israel. Entonces, al igual que este joven que no va en este momento y se pone un uniforme porque quiere ayudarlos eventualmente convirti\u00e9ndose en m\u00e9dico, tambi\u00e9n estamos ayudando a nuestra manera. Es una ayuda muy grande si escribes cartas y protestas contra lo que est\u00e1 pasando all\u00ed. Por supuesto, ahora hay un r\u00e9gimen mejor. Hasta ahora hab\u00eda un r\u00e9gimen marxista pero ahora hay un r\u00e9gimen mejor y esperemos que estas cosas vayan a cambiar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #204 (febrero de 1978)
\nThe post Ayudar a Medinat Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-09T23:30:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-09T23:30:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36826, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/papas-de-colores/", "title": "Papas de colores", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu hizo que la fruta fuera hermosa para que podamos reconocer su amabilidad. \u00bfNo podr\u00edamos reconocerlo a\u00fan m\u00e1s si tambi\u00e9n hiciera papas hermosas?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsta persona quiere saber por qu\u00e9 Hashem no hizo que las papas sean m\u00e1s coloridas.
\n\n\n\nSi tuvieras una hermosa papa roja con un toque de amarillo tambi\u00e9n, y fuera tan hermosa que inmediatamente la tomaras y comenzar\u00edas a masticarla, no reconocer\u00edas a Hakadosh Baruj Hu para eso. Te agarrarla la panza y dir\u00edas: “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Hakadosh Baruj Hu me tent\u00f3 por nada?”
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que todas esas frutas y verduras que no est\u00e1n en condiciones de comer de inmediato, Hakadosh Baruj Hu los hace no coloridos para generar paciencia. El color suave significa, “S\u00e9 paciente”. Significa que no tengas prisa porque no es bueno comerlos de inmediato. Pero todas esas cosas que est\u00e1n precocidas en el \u00e1rbol y est\u00e1n listas para comer, son hermosas.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, hay algo que es apto para comer, pero tampoco es hermoso, como una sand\u00eda. Y la raz\u00f3n es porque es una pena; si una hermosa sand\u00eda estuviera roja en el exterior o en amarillo, as\u00ed que la contar\u00edas de inmediato y comenzar\u00edas a comerla y el resto se pudrir\u00eda. As\u00ed que, por lo tanto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu le da un color “paciente” que no te atrae de inmediato. Solo cuando toda la tribu se re\u00fane y todos se ponen en cuclillas alrededor de su sand\u00eda y luego deciden abrirla, entonces todos comer\u00e1n su parte y no se desperdiciar\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tenemos dos razones, dos casos por qu\u00e9 el color no es atractivo. O bien la cosa no es apta para comer ahora; es perjudicial para comerlo ahora y el color te advierte que s\u00f3lo te causar\u00edas da\u00f1o a ti mismo al comerlo ahora. Y el segundo es, si es demasiado grande para una persona, el color hace que seas paciente hasta que la familia se re\u00fana y luego puedes hacer el mejor uso de \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #293 (diciembre de 1979)
\nThe post Papas de colores appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-09T23:27:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-09T23:27:51+00:00" }, { "id": 36823, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%96-%d7%9e%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%9b%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%a2-%d7%a7%d7%90%d7%a0%d7%a6%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%98%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d6: \u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05db\u05e9\u05e8’\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d0\u05e0\u05e6\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8\u05df, \u05d0 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d8\u05dc", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-257The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d6: \u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05db\u05e9\u05e8’\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d0\u05e0\u05e6\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8\u05df, \u05d0 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d8\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-09T22:54:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-09T22:54:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36819, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-successful-parent/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Successful Parent", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav mentioned earlier that a parent should use the word \u201cplease\u201d when speaking to a child. But doesn\u2019t saying the word \u201cplease\u201d imply that the fulfillment of the request by the child is really only going to be a favor on the part of the child?
A:
No. When a parent says \u201cplease\u201d to a child, but he says it firmly, and the parent insists that the child do it, then the child gets the idea that he must do it, and he learns from his parents to say \u201cplease.\u201d It depends on the tone of the \u201cplease.\u201d
Now, if you say \u201cplease\u201d and the child ignores you, then you are a failure. You are remiss in your duty as a parent. Either don\u2019t ask the child to do that thing, or if you do ask, it must be carried out. Your request must be carried out. And therefore, before you ask, you have to judge whether it\u2019s feasible.
\n\n\n\nA certain great man once told me, \u201cDo you know why I have a reputation of being a man of power?\u201d And he was a man who wielded a lot of power. He told me, \u201cBecause I never tried anything that I couldn\u2019t carry out.\u201d He only attempted things that he knew he could carry out. So he had a reputation that he was successful in everything. He always won! He always succeeded! Because he never tried anything that he would lose.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, if you want to be a successful parent, insist on things that you know you can win. Watch out! Watch your step and don\u2019t make a request regarding things that you won\u2019t win, things that won\u2019t be fulfilled. Because then you\u2019re going to become a loser in the eyes of your child.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 498 (March 1984)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Successful Parent appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-09T22:17:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-09T22:17:40+00:00" }, { "id": 36806, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-helping-out-in-medinas-yisroel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Helping Out In Medinas Yisroel", "content_html": "\nQ:
How could you say that Jews should avoid doing military service in Israel if there are millions of Jews who need to be protected?
A:
Oh, this is a harking back to an old discussion. So in case you\u2019re a Zionist, keep your blood pressure down because I\u2019m not going to spare you anything. However, you don\u2019t have to accept what I\u2019m telling you \u2013 but I\u2019m not going to accept what you\u2019re saying.
So, I\u2019ll ask this gentleman here, the questioner, what\u2019s he doing here? Why is he a slacker?! There are millions of Jews who have to be protected \u2013 let him go and sign up. The answer is, you have your reasons. You think, maybe, that right now you want to study here and become a physician and eventually you\u2019ll go there and you\u2019ll help them out in that way. So, you have an idea to help the people there in a different way; not by putting on a uniform right now. That\u2019s your idea of helping them; it sounds reasonable.
\n\n\n\nSo, we also have ideas of how to help the people in Eretz Yisroel. And one idea is to send a lot of money to the yeshivos, to poor talmidei chachomim. That money goes into the economy. Any money you send is going to be spent there; it\u2019s spent in the butcher shops and in the grocery shops. It\u2019s spent on products and you\u2019re therefore supporting the people who work in the factories. Whatever money you send to talmidei chachomim living there goes straight into the economy. It\u2019s very important. Believe me, if you asked the people at the head of the state, \u201cWould you excuse about twenty or fifty or a hundred or a thousand people from the army to go to the United States and raise big sums for your economy?\u201d so they\u2019d gladly agree, because money is the blood of a nation. You can\u2019t make war without money.
\n\n\n\nSo, if you really want to help out, I\u2019ll give you a list. I have a list of blue ribbon poor families who are doing a big job for Eretz Yisroel. They\u2019re raising a lot of children. You know, there are other Jews who are not raising children. Eretz Yisroel is a country of a great deal of abortions. Authorities have said that at least a million Jewish children were aborted from the beginning of the state until a few years ago. That was years back; now it\u2019s much more. All the while, the Arabs are having children like nobody\u2019s business. They never had so many children before. Because the Arabs in Eretz Yisroel are getting the best medical treatment. The Arabs in Israel are increasing more than the Arabs in any other place in the world.
So how long will it take before the Jews will be outnumbered? It\u2019s only a matter of time. Even right now there\u2019s a big problem \u2013 the Jews are dwindling and the Arabs are snowballing. So here you have some Jews who are busy trying to equalize the population; they are the hope of the future \u2013 the apikorsim in Tel-Aviv are not doing their part \u2013 so you should send money to them and that money goes into the lifeblood of the nation. That\u2019s one way of helping to defend the Am Yisroel. It\u2019s a beautiful way of supporting the people there.
And if you want another way to help the Jews there, pay attention. You have to know \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d4 \u2013 Hashem is the one making the wars against the State of Israel. Now, of course they wouldn\u2019t believe that, but we do! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Man of War. \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 He makes the wars. And there are reasons why He makes wars. Do you know why He makes wars on Israel? Listen to me; but keep your blood pressure down. A man told me today that he was in Israel in 1966. He went to a movie. This is a kind of a man who\u2019s not a shomer mitzvos. He went to a movie and he saw \u2013 now, I\u2019ll have to wash my mouth out after I get through telling this to you \u2013 he saw movies where a certain form of toeiva was being practiced in the movie, on the screen. Now, what that means, it\u2019s enough, I can\u2019t tell you anymore. And it was supposed to be only for adults. It means past sixteen. Sixteen and up, that\u2019s adults over there. But he was in places, he was in various theaters there, and this is what he told me. He told me that he saw children of five and six years old at these movies. Which means that the youth in Eretz Yisroel are being conditioned for a life of degeneracy.
\n\n\n\nThe gays are planning next year an international world conference of gays in Yerushalayim. And he said that they have two synagogues of gays in Eretz Yisroel. He said three but I want to make it within the bounds of surety. And in Tel Aviv you have anything that you can find in Times Square \u2013 they\u2019re not behind a bit.
\n\n\n\nNow, we want to save \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d1\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u2013 we want to help out the Jews who live in Eretz Yisroel. We want to stop the wars; and therefore if we\u2019re going to fight against the adverse influences there, if we\u2019re going to exert pressure on the government that they should remedy these evils, maybe we can have a hand in protecting the Jews in Eretz Yisroel. We want them to wipe out pornography. We want them to stop drafting girls in the army. Because girls in the army means only one thing. Like that Israeli general who wrote a book about the Israeli army. We can trust what he tells us. And he states openly that for most girls the induction into the army is their first experience in znus. For most Israeli girls the army is a house of harlotry. So now you have an institution, the Israeli army, which is one big house of prostitution and the girls are forced into it. Now that\u2019s not my statement. It\u2019s a statement by a general who wrote a history of the Israel Defense Forces and he makes that statement openly. He doesn\u2019t make it in a clandestine secret way that you have to read between the lines. He says it openly. They\u2019re not ashamed.
\n\n\n\nSo we have to exert pressure because we don\u2019t want that. Because \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05de\u05d7\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05dc\u05d4\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9\u05da. It says Hashem walks in your midst to help you against your enemy. But it says \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05da \u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1 \u05de\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05da \u2013 If He\u2019ll see immorality among you, so the Shechinah will depart. It means He\u2019ll let you be defeated. So if we want to help the people in Eretz Yisroel be protected from the enemies, it\u2019s our job to speak up and fight against all of the wickedness in the State of Israel. So, just as this young man who doesn\u2019t go right now and put on a uniform because he wants to help them eventually by becoming a physician, so we\u2019re also helping in our own way. It\u2019s a very big help if you write letters and protest against what\u2019s going on there. Of course, now there\u2019s a better regime. Up till now there was a Marxist regime but now there\u2019s a better regime and let\u2019s hope that these things are going to change.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 204 (February 1978)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Helping Out In Medinas Yisroel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-08T22:32:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-08T22:32:53+00:00" }, { "id": 36801, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-bland-colored-potatoes/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Bland Colored Potatoes", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav said that Hakodosh Boruch Hu made fruit beautiful so that we should recognize His kindliness. Wouldn\u2019t we be able to recognize Him even more if He also made potatoes beautiful?
A:
This person wants to know why Hashem didn\u2019t make potatoes more colorful.
So here is a beautiful red potato with a touch of yellow too, and it\u2019s so beautiful that immediately you take it and start chewing on it. You won\u2019t recognize Hakodosh Boruch Hu for that. You\u2019ll be holding your belly and saying, \u201cWhy did Hakodosh Boruch Hu tempt me for nothing?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo all those fruit and vegetables that are not fit to eat right away, Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u00a0makes them not colorful in order to engender patience. The bland color means, \u201cBe\u00a0patient.\u201d\u00a0It\u00a0means don\u2019t be in a hurry\u00a0because it\u2019s not good to eat them right away. But all those things that are pre-cooked on the tree and\u00a0are ready to eat, they are beautiful.
\n\n\n\nNow, sometime something is fit to eat, but it\u2019s also not beautiful, like a watermelon. And the reason is because it\u2019s a pity;\u00a0if a beautiful watermelon was\u00a0red on the outside or yellow, so you\u2019ll cut into it right away and start eating it and the rest would rot away. So therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u00a0gives it a \u2018patient\u2019\u00a0color that doesn\u2019t attract you right away. Only when the whole tribe gathers\u00a0and you\u2019re all squatting around your watermelon and then you decide to open it up, then everybody will eat his share and it won\u2019t be wasted.
\n\n\n\nSo we have two reasons, two cases why the color is not attractive. Either the thing is not fit to eat now; it\u2019s injurious to eat it now and the color warns you that you would only cause harm to yourself by eating it now. And the second is, if it\u2019s too big for one person so the color causes you to be patient until the family gathers and then you can make the best use of it.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 293 (December 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Bland Colored Potatoes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-08T14:57:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-08T14:57:01+00:00" }, { "id": 4688, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tu-bshvat-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Chamisha Asar B\u2019Shvat", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should we celebrate Tu B’shvat? \ufeff
A:
\n\n\n\nThere was a minhag in Yerushalayim \u2013 I don\u2019t know if they do it there today, but in the olden days there was a minhag that chachomim came together the night of Chamisha Asar B\u2019shvat and they ate peiros. But eating is only a superficial act that is meant to awaken your mind to thinking thoughts of Hashem. Because that\u2019s what fruit are for \u2013 to remind you about Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe gemara (Brachos 44a) says that Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish used to go out \u2013 it doesn\u2019t say when, maybe it was on Purim, but they used to go out to Ginosar and they would eat the fruit of the orchards there. And they ate so much until they almost fainted from overeating. Rabbi Yochanan ate so much that his forehead was slippery and even a fly couldn\u2019t land on his forehead; it slipped off his forehead. Reish Lakish, it says there, ate so much that he became wild, almost drunk with happiness. Maybe it was grapes or something like that. Whatever it was, he was wild with thoughts of the chesed Hashem. And finally Rabbi Yochanan had to ask the Nasi to send policemen to take Reish Lakish home.
\n\n\n\nNow, we\u2019re talking about great men and so we must understand that the gemara is telling us something here! We have to know that fruit are one of the wonderful creations of emunah. \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05de\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e2\u05e5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05dc \u2013 Fruit is most desirable because it brings wisdom (Bereishis 3:6). Look at a beautiful orange, or a beautiful apple. Why is the color so beautiful? Is it an accident? It wasn\u2019t beautiful when the fruit was still green, when it was sour and unripe. Only when it became fit to eat, then it turned into a beautiful yellow or a beautiful red. Doesn\u2019t that show something?! The fruit is trying to make you wise with Awareness of Hashem \u2013 every fruit is a demonstration of the chesed Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTosfos explains in one place (Brachos 37a) what it means \u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e8\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05df. It means that Hashem made many different creatures and supplied them with all of their needs. But in addition to that we add the words \u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05dc\u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9 \u05db\u05dc \u05d7\u05d9 \u2013 He also provided Mankind with luxuries, besides for the things they need. \u05dc\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d2 \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d0, he says, \u201cJust for the purpose of giving us pleasure.\u201d And what are the luxuries? Tosfos says \u05db\u05de\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e4\u05d5\u05d7\u05d9\u05dd, apples for example. You could get along without apples. Apples are like a dessert; they\u2019re an extra chesed.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that everything is chesed. The piece of bread is also chesed. But apples are an added chesed. Hashem is not merely satisfied that you shouldn\u2019t be hungry. Let\u2019s say a guest would come to your house to eat, would you give him just a big plate of bread? A pile of bread, a mountain of bread? No; you\u2019ll give him something else as well, something to add to the bread. Some butter maybe or something. Whatever it is, something else you\u2019re going to have to give him. You can\u2019t give him just bread.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say you give him a meal. And since you have a good heart, after the meal you give him some dessert too. That shows that you\u2019re a real ba\u2019al chesed. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives us fruit too; He\u2019s giving us desserts all the time.
\n\n\n\nSo when you pass a fruit stand, don\u2019t walk by like a horse walks by. Take a look! Those delectable fruits are resplendent testimonies to the niflaos ha\u2019Borei, the wonders of Hashem. A fruit is a miracle! Every fruit has a skin around it that protects it and keeps it fresh for some time. And inside when you finish eating the delicious content of the fruit, you find a coupon that entitles you to another package \u2013 the seed! You spit out that seed and it\u2019s more niflaos ha\u2019Borei. What that seed has inside it is remarkable! That seed contains more information than the most sophisticated computer!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore you have to know that fruits are a wonderful opportunity to gain emunah and ahavas Hashem. And that\u2019s how to eat fruit on Chamisha Asar B\u2019Shvat. And that\u2019s how you should be eating fruit all year long as well.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 812 (November 1990)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Chamisha Asar B\u2019Shvat appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-06T22:25:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-06T22:25:04+00:00" }, { "id": 8445, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-proof-is-in-the-fruit/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Proof Is In The Fruit", "content_html": "\nQ:
Can you prove clearly that there is a G-d?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a question that I like to hear. I\u2019m going to prove it clearly right now to you. And I won\u2019t charge extra for it.
Now, some of our people here are veterans, but bear with me for the benefit of the newcomers.
One night I slept in the country. And outside my window there was a wild cherry tree. Now, for months the wild cherries had been available only to birds. If you couldn\u2019t fly or you didn\u2019t want to climb the tree you couldn\u2019t get them. But that night, all night long, I could hear the pit-pat of falling cherries. Pit pat, they were falling on the lawn. Pit-pat, pit-pat, all night long they were falling. And I was thinking, \u201cWhy all of a sudden are they coming down? The cherry was holding on tightly all the spring months. What makes it come loose and come down?\u201d
\n\n\n\nIf you study a little bit of botany, you know that a fruit doesn\u2019t fall by accident. Because if so, why doesn\u2019t it fall by accident at the beginning of the season? It first has to become ripe \u2013 it has to become sweet. And then, at the same time, it has to acquire a pleasant color. And only then, certain cells start developing in the stem \u2013 where the stem is connected to the twig of the tree certain abscission cells develop. And it is these cells that cause the fruit to fall.
\n\n\n\nSo the question is, why is it that when the fruit is still unripe it doesn\u2019t fall down? That\u2019s a question that we have to face \u2013 and don\u2019t try to dodge that question because it\u2019s question that is of the utmost consequence: Why does the fruit let go only when it\u2019s ripe? You\u2019re not talking here about a random hurricane that comes and blows down unripe, green fruits. Why does the fruit fall only when it\u2019s ripe? Every time!
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that we couldn\u2019t get up to it otherwise. The tree knows you don\u2019t have wings. The main eaters, the most important eaters of the fruit, don\u2019t have wings. And that\u2019s why the tree lets go when the food is ripe.
\n\n\n\nNow, pay attention to something else. Why is it that before the fruit is ripe, that it\u2019s always green? All unripe fruit are green. Whether the fruit eventually becomes bright yellow like a banana or an orange, or beautiful purple like grapes, or bright red like apples \u2013 whatever happens \u2013 but before it\u2019s ripe it\u2019s always green. Why is that?
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s only one answer. Because you have to understand \u2013 why isn\u2019t it another color? Why isn\u2019t it bright yellow when it\u2019s unripe? Why isn\u2019t it bright red when it\u2019s unripe? All over the world wherever you go, you won\u2019t find a single fruit that when it\u2019s unripe it should be any color but green. You know why? Because green is the color of the leaves. The fruit is hiding among the leaves. When it\u2019s unripe the fruit is saying, \u201cDon\u2019t look at me \u2013 I\u2019m not old enough yet.\u201d And it doesn\u2019t fall down. It\u2019s holding on tight because it\u2019s not fit to eat yet. Even if you shake the tree, it wouldn\u2019t come down. Maybe one might fall, a sick fruit. But all the healthy fruit hold on tight.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only when the fruit becomes ripe, then it acquires an attractive color. Then it says, \u201cLook at me.\u201d And so, when you look at the tree, you\u2019re look at a miracle! Who hung all those beautiful and luscious fruit on the tree? And they\u2019re packaged in such gay colors!
\n\n\n\nNow, if you never saw an apple tree before \u2013 I was a city boy and the first time I saw an apple tree full of of apples it was an apparition to me. A tree with apples on it?! I had never seen apples before except in a basket. Apples hanging on the tree! And they\u2019re all brightly colored! And you give the tree a little shake and they start tumbling down.
\n\n\n\nThe question now is why is it that this series of adjustments took place? That the apple, all the fruits, when they\u2019re unripe, they\u2019re all green. Do you think that happens by accident? Do you think it\u2019s a coincidence that green is also the color of the leaves? It happens by accident that the fruits can hide among the leaves? And why is it that when a fruit is ripe \u2013 and only then \u2013 does it acquire a conspicuous color. By accident, apples become red? By accident bananas become very yellow? By accident, grapes become red or purple? And why is it that when they\u2019re ripe, they\u2019re ready to come down?
\n\n\n\nAnd you want some more? Why is it that when you\u2019re finished eating the apple, you come to the inside there\u2019s an area that\u2019s hard to eat, and you\u2019re discouraged from eating it? That\u2019s the ovary \u2013 it\u2019s where the seeds are. Because the ovary has in it plastic pieces in order to protect the seeds. If you try to swallow it, it\u2019s sticks in your throat; it sticks in your gums. It\u2019s inedible. You can\u2019t eat that plastic. So why is it that when you walk sometimes in the morning and last night there were gangs roaming the street \u2013 boys and girls eating apples \u2013 you see apple cores scattered everywhere? And had it not been a paved street, but an earthen field, it would have taken root eventually. What is it that makes people spare the seeds and spit it out for next year\u2019s planting?
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like eating a box of cereal and when you get down to the bottom of the box, there\u2019s a coupon there entitling you to another free box. That\u2019s why you spit out the seeds \u2013 and that\u2019s what you do, you spit out the seeds; you always spit out the seeds. If you don\u2019t spit out the seeds, they\u2019ll spit themselves out. Try and eat a piece of watermelon, and the seeds shoot out in all directions. They\u2019re made slippery for that purpose.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is: Why is it that you have seeds in the apples? Why is it that there are seeds in every living thing? And what is a seed? That\u2019s also a question;\u00a0a \u00a0little question. A seed has within it 100,000 details;\u00a0all the blueprints for a new apple tree are in that seed. It\u2019s the chromosomes of the seed, telling it how to make another apple tree; how to produce leaves, and how to produce sap and bark and flowers \u2013 all kinds of flowers \u2013 and how to produce more apples. More apples with more seeds inside them. All of these plans are in the blueprint of the seed! So the question is: How is that possible? And therefore if you look at a red apple it\u2019s enough proof for you. It\u2019s enough proof for anybody. Nobody can dispute this proof that there\u2019s a Creator with an intelligence that is far beyond the ability of all the scientists put together to even begin to fathom.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #116 (April 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Proof Is In The Fruit appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-06T22:16:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-06T22:16:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36790, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-yitro/", "title": "Paracha Yitro", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Yitro-5783The post Paracha Yitro appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-06T05:45:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-06T05:45:10+00:00" }, { "id": 36788, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/demostrando-la-existencia-de-dios/", "title": "Demostrando la existencia de Dios", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede demostrarme claramente que hay un Dios?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsa es una pregunta que me gusta escuchar. Te lo voy a demostrar claramente ahora mismo. Y no te cobrar\u00e9 por ello.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, algunos de los presentes aqu\u00ed ya son veteranos, pero tengan paciencia conmigo en beneficio de los reci\u00e9n llegados.
\n\n\n\nUna noche dorm\u00ed en el campo. Y fuera de mi ventana hab\u00eda un cerezo silvestre. Ahora bien, durante meses, las cerezas silvestres hab\u00edan estado disponibles s\u00f3lo para los p\u00e1jaros. Si no pod\u00edas volar o no quer\u00edas trepar al \u00e1rbol, no pod\u00edas conseguirlas. Pero esa noche, durante toda la noche, pude escuchar el golpeteo de las cerezas al caer. Pit pat, estaban cayendo sobre el c\u00e9sped. Pit pat, pit pat, toda la noche estuvieron cayendo. Y yo estaba pensando: \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 de repente est\u00e1n cayendo? La cereza aguant\u00f3 con fuerza todos los meses de primavera. \u00bfQu\u00e9 hace que se suelte y se caiga?
\n\n\n\nSi estudias un poco de bot\u00e1nica, sabes que una fruta no cae por accidente. Porque si es as\u00ed, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no cae por accidente al principio de la temporada? Primero tiene que madurar, tiene que volverse dulce. Y luego, al mismo tiempo, tiene que adquirir un color agradable. Y s\u00f3lo entonces, ciertas c\u00e9lulas comienzan a desarrollarse en el tallo, que est\u00e1 conectado a la ramita del \u00e1rbol, y all\u00ed se desarrollan ciertas c\u00e9lulas de abscisi\u00f3n. Y son estas c\u00e9lulas las que hacen que la fruta caiga.
\n\n\n\nEntonces la pregunta es, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 cuando la fruta a\u00fan no est\u00e1 madura no cae? Esa es una pregunta que tenemos que enfrentar, y no intentes esquivar esa pregunta porque es una pregunta de suma importancia: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 la fruta se suelta s\u00f3lo cuando est\u00e1 madura? No est\u00e1s hablando aqu\u00ed de un hurac\u00e1n aleatorio que viene y derriba frutas verdes e inmaduras. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 la fruta cae s\u00f3lo cuando est\u00e1 madura?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que no podr\u00edamos hacerlo de otra manera. El \u00e1rbol sabe que no tienes alas. Los comedores principales, los comedores m\u00e1s importantes de la fruta, no tienen alas. Y es por eso que el \u00e1rbol suelta a la fruta cuando la comida est\u00e1 madura.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, presta atenci\u00f3n a otra cosa. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 antes de que el fruto est\u00e9 maduro, siempre est\u00e1 verde? Todos los frutos inmaduros son verdes. Ya sea que la fruta eventualmente se vuelva de color amarillo brillante como un pl\u00e1tano o una naranja, o de un hermoso p\u00farpura como las uvas, o de un rojo brillante como las manzanas, pase lo que pase, pero antes de que madure, siempre estar\u00e1 verde. \u00bfPorqu\u00e9 es eso?
\n\n\n\nS\u00f3lo hay una respuesta. Porque tienes que entender, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no es de otro color? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no es de color amarillo brillante cuando no est\u00e1 maduro? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no es rojo brillante cuando no est\u00e1 maduro? En todo el mundo, donde quiera que vaya, no encontrar\u00e1s una sola fruta que cuando no est\u00e9 madura sea de cualquier color que no sea verde. \u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9? Porque el verde es el color de las hojas. La fruta se esconde entre las hojas. Cuando no est\u00e1 madura, la fruta dice: “No me mires, todav\u00eda no tengo la edad suficiente”. Y no se cae. Se est\u00e1 agarrando fuerte porque todav\u00eda no est\u00e1 en condiciones de comer. Incluso si sacudes el \u00e1rbol, no se caer\u00e1. Tal vez una se caiga, una fruta enferma. Pero toda la fruta sana se agarra fuerte.
\n\n\n\nS\u00f3lo cuando la fruta madura, adquiere un color atractivo. Luego dice: \u201cM\u00edrame\u201d. Y as\u00ed, cuando miras el \u00e1rbol, \u00a1est\u00e1s mirando un milagro! \u00bfQui\u00e9n colg\u00f3 todas esas frutas hermosas y deliciosas en el \u00e1rbol? \u00a1Y est\u00e1n empaquetados en colores tan alegres!
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no s\u00e9 si viste alguna vez un manzano, pero yo era un chico de ciudad y la primera vez que vi un manzano lleno de manzanas fue una revelaci\u00f3n para m\u00ed. \u00bfUn \u00e1rbol con manzanas en \u00e9l? Nunca antes hab\u00eda visto manzanas excepto en una canasta. \u00a1Manzanas colgando del \u00e1rbol! \u00a1Y todos son de colores brillantes! Y le das una peque\u00f1a sacudida al \u00e1rbol y comienzan a caerse.
\n\n\n\nLa pregunta ahora es \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 se llev\u00f3 a cabo esta serie de ajustes? Que la manzana, todas las frutas, cuando no est\u00e1n maduras, est\u00e9n todas verdes. \u00bfCrees que eso sucede por accidente? \u00bfCrees que es una coincidencia que el verde tambi\u00e9n sea el color de las hojas? \u00bfSucede por accidente que los frutos pueden esconderse entre las hojas? \u00bfY por qu\u00e9 cuando una fruta est\u00e1 madura, y s\u00f3lo entonces, adquiere un color llamativo? \u00bfPor accidente, las manzanas se vuelven rojas? \u00bfPor accidente los pl\u00e1tanos se vuelven muy amarillos? \u00bfPor accidente, las uvas se vuelven rojas o moradas? \u00bfY por qu\u00e9 cuando est\u00e1n maduros, est\u00e1n listos para caer?
\n\n\n\n\u00bfY quieres un poco m\u00e1s? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 cuando terminas de comer la manzana, llegas al interior y hay un \u00e1rea que es dif\u00edcil de comer y no te animas a comerla? Ese es el ovario, es donde est\u00e1n las semillas. Porque el ovario tiene en su interior piezas de pl\u00e1stico para proteger las semillas. Si tratas de tragarlo, se te clava en la garganta; se pega en las enc\u00edas. No es comestible. No puedes comer ese pl\u00e1stico. Entonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 cuando caminas a veces por la ma\u00f1ana y anoche hab\u00eda pandillas deambulando por la calle, ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as comiendo manzanas, ves corazones de manzana esparcidos por todas partes? Y si no hubiera sido una calle pavimentada, sino un campo de tierra, eventualmente habr\u00eda echado ra\u00edces. \u00bfQu\u00e9 es lo que hace que la gente ahorre las semillas y las escupa para la siembra del pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o?
\n\n\n\nEs como comer una caja de cereal y cuando llegas al fondo de la caja, hay un cup\u00f3n que te da derecho a otra caja gratis. Por eso escupes las semillas, y eso es lo que haces, escupes las semillas; siempre escupes las semillas. Si no escupes las semillas, se escupen solas. Prueba y come un trozo de sand\u00eda, y las semillas saldr\u00e1n disparadas en todas direcciones. Est\u00e1n hechas resbaladizas para ese prop\u00f3sito.
\n\n\n\nAhora la pregunta es: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 tienes semillas en las manzanas? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 hay semillas en todo ser vivo? \u00bfY qu\u00e9 es una semilla? Esa tambi\u00e9n es una pregunta; una peque\u00f1a pregunta. Una semilla tiene en su interior 100.000 detalles; todos los planos para un nuevo manzano est\u00e1n en esa semilla. Son los cromosomas de la semilla, dici\u00e9ndole c\u00f3mo hacer otro manzano; c\u00f3mo producir hojas, y c\u00f3mo producir savia, corteza y flores, todo tipo de flores, y c\u00f3mo producir m\u00e1s manzanas. M\u00e1s manzanas con m\u00e1s semillas en su interior. \u00a1Todos estos planes est\u00e1n en el anteproyecto de la semilla! Entonces la pregunta es: \u00bfC\u00f3mo es eso posible? Y por lo tanto, si miras una manzana roja, es prueba suficiente para ti. Es prueba suficiente para cualquiera. Nadie puede disputar esta prueba de que hay un Creador con una inteligencia que est\u00e1 mucho m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la capacidad de todos los cient\u00edficos juntos. CINTA #116 (abril de 1976)
\nThe post Demostrando la existencia de Dios appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-06T05:37:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-06T05:37:32+00:00" }, { "id": 36782, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "21-\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-06T05:30:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-06T05:30:46+00:00" }, { "id": 36771, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-yisro-5783-together-at-sinai-2/", "title": "Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai", "content_html": "Emunah and George Washington
\n\n\n\nI once heard a certain Rosh Yeshiva speaking to a group of boys in Manhattan. He had come from Europe and he was talking to American boys. And I was there; I was a young man still and I was standing there and listening.
\n\n\n\nAfter he finished speaking, there was a discussion and the boys were asking questions, all types of questions about emunah and Torah ideology. And I remember how one American boy asked him, \u201cCan we prove what happened in the days of old? What\u2019s the proof that there was a Maamad Har Sinai?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Rosh Yeshiva asked him, \u201cDo you believe in George Washington?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boy said, \u201cYes.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDid you see him?\u201d That\u2019s what the Rosh Yeshiva asked him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, I never saw him.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDid you see anybody who saw him?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\n\n\nGeorge in Africa and China
\n\n\n\nHe never saw George Washington and he never even saw someone who did see him. The truth is that not many people saw him anyhow. How many people saw George Washington when he was alive? Maybe 10,000 people at most. A million people surely didn\u2019t see him. When George Washington was alive, nobody in Poland knew about him. Nobody in Africa knew about him.
\n\n\n\nEven today, if you go to Africa, they never heard of him! In Poland, they don\u2019t know about George Washington. In America they talk about him a little bit, but in other countries who knows about George Washington? The people of China don\u2019t have any tradition about George Washington. The Japanese never heard about George Washington. The Hindus never heard of George Washington.
\n\n\n\nWhen you\u2019re asked however, \u201cHow many people were present at Har Sinai?\u201d so the answer is at least two million. Six hundred thousand men between the ages of twenty and sixty. And there were younger ones and older ones. And women too. At least a million women! It means that millions of our grandparents, our elter zeides and bubbes, stood together at the foot of the mountain and they heard Hashem\u2019s Voice: \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 \u201cI am Hashem your G-d\u201d (Yisro 20:2). So if you believe in George Washington, surely you believe in Maamad Har Sinai.
\n\n\n\nMuslims and Christians Agree
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t an obscure event, an unknown incident. Like it says, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 From the beginning I did not speak to you in secret (Yeshayahu 48:16). The entire Jewish nation witnessed the giving of the Torah. It wasn\u2019t done in secret.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s not only us who say that. All Mohammedans believe that Hashem gave the Torah at Har Sinai. There\u2019s no question about it. It states openly in the Koran. The Christians too. All the Christians believe that Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish nation. It\u2019s in the New Testament openly; they all believe in it. So the whole civilized world believes that the Torah was given to us. The whole civilized world admits that we were millions standing together.
\n\n\n\nThis is an important point because it\u2019s unequaled in the claims of all the nations. The only case in history that such a claim is made is by the Jewish nation. And not only a claim is made but it\u2019s stated again and again, in the most open and bold words; \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd, face to face did the Almighty speak to your entire nation (Devorim 5:4). The story is told at length, in detail, twice in the Torah.
\n\n\n\nLet another nation come forth and tell us a story that millions of their people heard their deity talking to them. There is no such thing in all of history because anyone who wants to say a falsehood is careful to cover up. That\u2019s a very important principle here. Nobody in the world, no nation had ever claimed that their entire nation has heard the voice of their deity speaking to them. Nobody ever said that. At least, let them claim that. No, that\u2019s too much for them to claim, because people will say, \u201cYou know it\u2019s not so. You can\u2019t pull the wool over our eyes.\u201d
\n\n\n\nFake News!
\n\n\n\nWhat do the other religions claim? Not much. They make big promises, and they tell about incidents, but never will you find a statement by them that Hakadosh Baruch Hu appeared to the entire nation and spoke to them. Because even the biggest falsifier has limits to what he can claim.
\n\n\n\nMohammed never claimed that a deity appeared to a multitude of Arabs. At best, some miracles are claimed. But even according to his statement, they were not performed in the presence of a great multitude. He claims he came out of his tent where Allah spoke to him privately. Who was there to testify to that? Not one person! And therefore the Rambam calls him \u2018the meshuge who came out of the desert\u2019. He came out of his tent and he said, \u201cThis and this was told to me.\u201d So, go believe him.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s nothing; all garbage. Only that when an empty claim is backed up by a sword \u2013 a sword that the Muslim missionary is willing to use \u2013 so it has an effect. Mohammed marched with his army into a town and he announced, \u201cEither you believe that they spoke to me from heaven or with the fire and the sword I am going to destroy you.\u201d Anyone who went to sleep early that night discovered in the morning when he got up that he was now a Mohammedan. They saw proclamations everywhere on the walls that they\u2019re Mohammedans now. That\u2019s how he spread his doctrines, with his sharpened sword.
\n\n\n\nMore Fake News!
\n\n\n\nAndChristianity? Same idea. Oso ha\u2019ish or even his disciples never claimed that Hakadosh Boruch Hu spoke to him in the presence of a multitude. He was constantly faced by disbelievers but he never did any miracles for the multitudes.
\n\n\n\nNobody critical was ever present for his miracles. The great Sages were not present when he did anything. He always waited until they went away. I have notes at home on the New Testament, I had permission from a great man to read it and I took notes with certain pertinent quotes. When they said, \u201cShow us a sign,\u201d he said, \u201cNo! You’re disbelievers!\u201d But then in the next chapter when nobody was around except the ignorami then he showed signs.
\n\n\n\nHe came out of the grave, they say. He had techiyas hameisim. You know who testifies? Two harlots were present. Two zonos testified that he came out of the grave. The \u2018best\u2019 type of eidim.
\n\n\n\nMissionizing The Kings
\n\n\n\nSo how did the Christian faith spread in Europe? When the missionaries came to Europe, in the beginning, to proselytize for Christianity they didn\u2019t bother to talk to the masses – the masses were docile herds of people. The masses didn\u2019t have any voice. They went to the rulers. Missionaries came to the kings and converted them \u2013 the kings weren\u2019t always the sharpest tools in the tool shed \u2013 and the king said to the ignorant masses: \u201cThis is it. Accept it.\u201d The masses didn\u2019t know what to do, if the king told them, they accepted it.
\n\n\n\nOnce the rulers for some reason were willing to cooperate, the rulers issued an edict and everybody, whether they wanted or not, was converted. There\u2019s no two ways about it. People didn\u2019t have anything to say, people didn\u2019t have anything to learn. They didn\u2019t come together to study the tenets of the church. There were groups of elite in the church itself that knew the laws of the church, but the general masses didn\u2019t know anything, they accepted everything. A king, a Roman king decided to become a Christian so he made a proclamation to all the dumb Romans and he said, \u201cFrom now on, you\u2019re all Christian.\u201d Alright.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why all Christianity is based on the principle of blind faith. Because if you\u2019ll ask questions there are no answers. So they preach the importance of blind faith. They call it \u201cgrace.\u201d People don’t understand what it means. I\u2019ll explain to you. Grace means there’s no such thing as repenting. There’s no such thing as winning out by good deeds. In Christianity you could try your best to be a tzaddik. You could be the kindliest person. You do the most charity and benevolence that the world can ever see, and it won’t help you because you\u2019re born no good. It’s a built-in gimmick to sell Christianity. You were born a lost soul, and the only way you can gain \u2018salvation\u2019, salvation means help, the only way you could be helped is if you’ll sign up on the dotted line.
\n\n\n\nOpen Enrollment At The Club
\n\n\n\nI told you this story once. Once a Roman came to him and asked him to pray for his sick child, so oso ha\u2019ish said, \u201cWe do not cast our bread to the dogs,\u201d which means we don’t pray for dogs. He didn\u2019t like you if you weren\u2019t from his disciples. Only when this person said, \u201cBut master, we believe in you,\u201d that was enough. \u201cOh,\u201d he said, \u201cif that’s the case, I confer upon you the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Right away! He didn’t wait for any good deeds. As soon as you sign up, you belong to my club.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to join up. If you don\u2019t then nothing will help you. You can be the most righteous man in the world, even lehavdil Avraham Avinu, but it won\u2019t help. The Christians say Avraham Avinu was in Gehenom, in H.E.L.L. all these centuries. He was waiting for this fellow, oso ha\u2019ish, to come along. Oso ha\u2019ish came along and he saved him from Gehenom.
\n\n\n\nLehavdil, the Am Yisroel. We turn our back on man-made forgeries based on blind faith. Moshe Rabbeinu never once demanded of the people to believe in him. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu told him to go to the Jewish people and speak to them, he said, \u201cThey won’t believe in me. They\u2019re not like that.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, \u201cThey will. They’re going to believe.\u201d And they finally did. You know when? When Hashem showed Himself to us! The Makkos and Kriyas Yam Suf and then finally the greatest event in the history of our nation, Maamad Har Sinai.
\n\n\n\nA Nation of Prophets
\n\n\n\nBy us there was no need for swords or kings with ignorant subjects. Because when our nation heard the Voice of Hashem at Har Sinai, it was, according to our records, millions who heard that Voice! Millions! Millions claim that they were there! That\u2019s our history! Not, one person told one person and then they spread it, propaganda among the masses. At Har Sinai, lehavdil elef havdalos, there were at least two million people present.
\n\n\n\nSo who told us about what happened? Millions of parents told it to millions of their children. And the children believe their parents and then the grandparents told them too, the same thing. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Let make known to your children and to your children\u2019s children, \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d1 \u2013 the day that you stood before Hashem in Chorev (Devarim 4:9-10). And so these children heard it from their father and from their grandfathers \u2013 on both sides. So they believed them; it went into their blood and they told their children.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we\u2019re still here! We might be the \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, the smallest of all the nations (ibid. 7:7), but our tradition is intact. Our ancestors were present at Har Sinai and therefore we have a right to stand up and say what our forefathers told us that their forefathers saw. Moshe emes v\u2019soraso emes! Hashem spoke to us and gave us the Torah! And He did it in front of millions!
\n\n\n\nA Transformational Experience
\n\n\n\nNow, that great day, that great experience, did more than give us the right to claim that we are the bearers of truth in this world; that every other religion is man-made, while ours was received at Har Sinai. It\u2019s true that Maamad Har Sinai did that, but it did much more than that.
\n\n\n\nListen to what Moshe Rabbeinu said in the name of Hashem about the purpose of that great day: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 I came and Spoke to you, the entire nation, in order to elevate you (Yisro 20:17). \u05e0\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea means \u201celevate\u201d from the word \u05e0\u05b5\u05e1, \u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b9\u05c2\u05d0, to lift up.
\n\n\n\nAtHar Sinai we were lifted and we became elevated above all the nations. That\u2019s what Hashem said about Matan Torah. \u05d5\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 \u201cYou, the whole nation, will be for Me a special treasure from all the nations\u201d (ibid. 19:5). \u201cI\u2019m going to do something now,\u201d said Hashem, \u201cthat\u2019s going to change your nature. If you\u2019ll stand at Har Sinai and say, \u2018Na\u2019aseh v\u2019nishma – yes, Hashem, we accept You forever and ever,\u2019 then I\u2019m going to make you into an Am Segulah, an exceptional type of people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMore Than Just a Title
\n\n\n\nNow, Am Segulah doesn\u2019t merely mean \u201cI\u2019m going to give you semichah; I\u2019m going to give you a rabbinical certificate to hang on the wall and you\u2019ll be honored just by the title.\u201d No; it\u2019s much more than that. Segulah means that your character will be entirely metamorphosed and you\u2019ll become an entirely different type of people than you were before. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 And you will be for Me a Kingdom of Kohanim and a Holy Nation (ibid. 6).
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean we became a new creation, a different type of people? Many things. I\u2019m sure that our neshamos were transformed from hearing the Voice of Hashem. I\u2019m sure that there was a certain kedushah that changed our nature and elevated us above all flesh. It was such an experience that we were transformed in ways I\u2019ll never be able to explain because I myself don\u2019t understand.
\n\n\n\nBut I want to tell you now something we can understand, about a transformation that took place in our loyalty to Hashem. \u05e0\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd, to elevate you, means that the great day of Maamad Har Sinai lifted us up in our loyalty. The spectacle of Matan Torah had such a powerful effect on us that it elevated us up to a loyalty from which we could never fall down.
\n\n\n\nA Permanent Effect
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s because of that great day that there will always be a frum and loyal Jewish nation. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05d7 \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d6\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9 (Devarim 31:21); the Torah will never be forgotten in all generations. You can take a walk today, in Boro Park, Flatbush, Williamsburg, in frum Jewish neighborhoods, and you\u2019ll see! People are studying the Torah like they did in Bavel, like they did in the great yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel; the same Torah we were given at Har Sinai. That\u2019s all a result of that day \u2013 at Maamad Har Sinai the zera Yisroel were lifted up in their loyalty forever.
\n\n\n\nOf course, individuals might go lost. If someone is looking to fall down, chas v\u2019shalom, to climb down from the great heights of that day, then anything is possible – a person always has bechira and so there could always be backsliders, some weaklings who fall off. But because of Maamad Har Sinai the Am Hashem will always be around, no matter what. Hearing that sweet dreadful Voice of Hashem made us forever maaminim bnei maaminim. What was experienced at that time is without precedent and it made such an impression on us that we can\u2019t swerve from that loyalty forever.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Rambam says (Iggeres Teiman), a certain statement that I\u2019ve mentioned to you other times. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 Anybody who departs from the way of the Torah that was given to us at Sinai, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd, he doesn\u2019t belong to the seed of those people who received the Torah.
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam is saying that Matan Torah had such a powerful effect on the Am Yisroel that it made them eternal in their loyalty. It was so powerful that it went into their genes and their children inherited that quality. And if anybody strayed away from the Torah, it\u2019s a sign that his ancestor did not stand at Har Sinai. Because that day, that Maamad, lifted us up forever. It\u2019s impossible to give up our loyalty now. We\u2019re the Am Hashem now and we\u2019re not interested in anything else.
\n\n\n\nSilencing The King
\n\n\n\nWhy would we be interested? Here is a nation that heard the Voice of Hashem, millions of people standing together witnessing Matan Torah with their own eyes. Do you want the Jewish people to exchange our Maamad Har Sinai for the empty, made up dreams of liars? It\u2019s so stupid.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Ramban said to the King of Spain. It\u2019s well-known, it\u2019s documented, the encounter that the Ramban had with the King of Spain. He was confronted by the king who wanted to force the Ramban to admit that Christianity was true. Now, the Ramban was caught in a tight place there, in the presence of a great public, and he had to answer. The king said, \u201cYou must accept Christianity!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Ramban said: \u201cI\u2019m willing to accept. But under one condition. The Torah was given to us in the presence of an entire nation. Even you admit that. So if Hakadosh Baruch Hu will come once more and address our entire nation and tell us that He abolished our Torah, then I\u2019m willing\u201d.
\n\n\n\nAnd the king didn\u2019t answer anything. There is nothing to answer. The Ramban won the debate. He had to leave the country though. That\u2019s how it was in those days. If you win the debate against the king, you have to leave the country.
\n\n\n\nWe Agree With All Religions
\n\n\n\nSo the loyal Jew leaves the country. The Jew will give up everything \u2013 his livelihood, his life, his country \u2013 because of that day we stood at Har Sinai. Look, our forefathers lived in the ghetto. They were mulcted, they were harried, they were spat on. They could have walked out of the ghetto and said, \u201cYes! We give in!\u201d That\u2019s all the Christians wanted. \u201cGive in, accept our religion.\u201d But who would be that foolish, that shortsighted?
\n\n\n\nMaamad Har Sinai means not only that we ignore all theman-made religions. Today it doesn\u2019t require too much seichel or too much loyalty to reject the other religions. It\u2019s so easy to see that they\u2019re nothing. Today there are two hundred and fifty six sects of Christians fighting each other, calling each other liars. And we believe all of them. And the Mohammedans and the Christians are fighting each other. They’ve had wars against each other. They slaughtered each other on the battlefield and each one called the other shakranim. And we agree with both of them. Both of them are frauds.
\n\n\n\nBut today there are other blandishments that try to wean us away and weaken our loyalty. There will always be tests. New ideologies, new attractions. Socialism and evolution and humanism and liberalism. There\u2019s no end to how the yetzer hora and the nations are trying. Every generation, every day, new things that try to woo us away.
\n\n\n\nGan Eden and Gehenom
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam in his Igeres Teiman describes this\u2013 in that letter he quotes from Shir Hashirim (7:1) and he explains that Shlomo Hamelech is telling there how the other nations wish to woo the Jewish nation away from the Torah. He compares them to wicked men who are attempting to seduce a woman. That\u2019s how the comparison is made; the nations of the world are like seducers who come and try to persuade the Am Yisroel to forsake her true mate, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and to come over to their forms of worship or to their ideologies.
\n\n\n\nAnd they say to her, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 \u201cTurn back, turn back, you Shulamis\u201d. Shulamis is a name, but here it intends the perfect nation, from the word shleimah. The gentiles say to the Am Yisroel, \u201cTurn back you perfect nation,\u201d It means: \u201cCome and join us; be with us. We have it all\u201d.
\n\n\n\n\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 \u201cWe\u2019ll show it to you. Come with us; we foresee great things for you. You\u2019ll be in Gan Eden together with oso ha\u2019ish.\u201d Only they don\u2019t know but he\u2019s in Gehenom; that\u2019s where he is. You can tell that to a goy by the way, in case he starts up and begins missionizing with you.
\n\n\n\nOnce I was passing by, and a gentile called me something nasty so I said, \u201cGo to Gehenom.\u201d I didn\u2019t say it like that; I said it in his language so he\u2019d understand. So he said \u201cYou should go to heaven, to Yushke.\u201d I told him that I meant the same thing. He should go to Gehenom and be with Yushke. And that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be whether you tell him or not. All the nations promising you heaven will go join Yushke in Gehenom eventually. What a heaven they\u2019ll have.
\n\n\n\nOur Great Gathering
\n\n\n\nSo the Shulamis answers to all those who want to seduce her: \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05d7\u05b1\u05d6\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 \u201cWhat can you foresee for us? Can you foresee for us what we once saw already? Will you be able to give us \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd? Those are very important words here. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd. Like the ring-dance of the camp. And the Rambam said that\u2019s Maamad Har Sinai. \u201cWill you foresee anything like that for us,\u201d we tell them, \u201clike that great gathering we already had when we camped around Har Sinai?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe nations look upon us and they want to wean us from Maamad Har Sinai, when we accepted the Torah \u2013 all their efforts are to cause us to forsake that commitment that we made to G-d at Har Sinai. But it\u2019s impossible because we already have the real thing. After Maamad Har Sinai, what else can there be to match that great day?
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the Rambam, in his letter, reminds the people in Teiman who were facing a shmad, he was encouraging them to always remember that great day. He speaks to the people of Teiman and he urges them to work on one very important ikar of the Torah which is one of the biggest forms of encouragement, at all times. What is that? \u201cYou, my brothers, you should raise your children with the description of that great episode of Maamad Har Sinai. Speak about it in public. Speak about it in your homes with your families. Talk about that great episode because that is one of the most important of all subjects that the Jew has to keep in mind.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNot only this week, when it comes up in the sedrah. Not only on Shavuos. \u201cAlways and forever teach it to your children \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9, so that they should grow up with the thoughts of Maamad Har Sinai in their minds.\u201d Because that\u2019s the source of our emunah, our loyalty.
\n\n\n\nTorah Is Flourishing
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why long after the Rambam wrote his letter, Torah learning continued to flourish; and not less, no! Huge libraries of Torah chiburim were composed after the Rambam; there are great kehillos of frum Jews all over the world who still talk about Matan Torah.
\n\n\n\nAnd today, everywhere, young people are studying Torah. The Jewish nation is forging ahead in all the places where they live. Frum Jews everywhere are founding institutions. We have today hundreds and hundreds of yeshivos ketanos and mesivtas, even in America alone! Bais Yaakov girl schools, Bais Rochel schools; they\u2019re everywhere. Frum children, frum families, everywhere.
\n\n\n\nSo baruch Hashem we see today how the great event that took place three thousand years ago in the desert \u2013 the entire Am Yisroel together, millions of men, women and children hearing the dvar Hashem \u2013 will continue forever. Boruch Hashem! Our loyalty to that great event is forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nHoliness Brings Holiness
\n\n\n\nNow we come to a new subject, one of the lessons that we gained from what happened at Har Sinai that many people, even chashuvim, don\u2019t appreciate fully. It\u2019s the subject of strength in numbers.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Brachos 39a) says that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e8\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d0. It means that anytime ten kosher Jews get together \u2013 not for the purpose of hearing jokes, or for amusement and entertainment, but to daven or to learn Torah \u2013 so the Shechinah is with them. Of course one Jew sitting by himself is also kadosh but when you come to a beis haknesses and there\u2019s a minyan or sometimes you make a private minyan in the house, you have to know that it\u2019s something special. You have to walk with respect now. The Shechinah is here.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is why should that be so? And the answer is because every Jew is a kadosh, and so when ten kedoshim come together more Shechinah rests on them. Now that\u2019s something to practice up. It\u2019s a shleimus of character to make that part of your mindset; to feel the Shechinah is where frum Jews come together.
\n\n\n\nHoliness in New York
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why when I go to Boro Park, when I ride through the streets in a car and I see everywhere frum Jews, frum women, frum children, boys and girls, so I always make the remark, \u201cThe Shechinah is in Boro Park.\u201d Or the frum Jews of Williamsburg. I ride through Williamsburg and I see frum Jews on all sides. \u201cBoruch Hashem,\u201d I say, \u201cthe Shechinah is shoreh b\u2019Yisroel!\u201d I\u2019m not doing it merely to make a remark. It\u2019s an expression of emunah that the Shechinah comes where frum Jews come together.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Moshe Rabbeinu said, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Hashem, come and rest Your Shechinah on the thousands of ten thousands (Bamidbar 10:36). And the Gemara (Yevamos 64a) says that it means: the Shechinah rests on rivevos, two times ten thousand, and alfei Yisroel, two times a thousand – on 22,000 Jews.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s already a different kind of Shechinah! Ten Jews, certainly it\u2019s a Shechinah. Eleven Jews, even better. But twenty two thousand Jews? Something clicks and a different kind of Shechinah comes down. There\u2019s that much more kedushah and so there\u2019s that much more Shechinah. Even though you don\u2019t see it, it\u2019s more real than the people there. A special hashro\u2019as haShechinah, a special Presence of Hashem is there.
\n\n\n\nMore Than Holiness
\n\n\n\nNow, the Ramchal in his sefer Derech Hashem tells us that this is what happened at Har Sinai. The Torah tells us that \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05df \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 And he, Yisroel, encamped there near the mountain (Shemos 19:2). Who is \u201che\u201d? So the Gemara says that \u201che\u201d means they came together like one person, with one purpose, to become the Am Hashem. Ooh wah! When 600,000 Jews came together in one place, with one ideal, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: \u201cNow, I can come down on Har Sinai. Because 600,000 Jews means that much more kedushah!\u201d And therefore, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05df \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 when the Am Yisroel all encamped in front of the mountain, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9 \u2013 that\u2019s when Hashem came down to give us the Torah.
\n\n\n\nNow, what is this idea of numbers? Why is it that more numbers means more kedushah? The answer is that numbers means strength \u2013 strength of conviction, of dedication and loyalty. When you\u2019re surrounded by other people of the same spirit that gives you a confidence that cannot be measured with words.
\n\n\n\nEvenwhen ten Jews come together, that\u2019s already something. When ten frum Jews come to daven, to learn, to tell sipurei tzaddikim, any avodas Hashem, so each one of the ten sees the other nine and they become mechuzak in their convictions. The number, to a certain degree, adds enthusiasm and spiritual strength. And that\u2019s what brings the Shechinah down! Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, if you have the spirit in you, if you\u2019re excited about Me, then I\u2019ll give you even more spirit.\u201d And the Shechinah rests on those ten Jews who were uplifted and strengthened now by each other.
\n\n\n\nNow what happens if it\u2019s even more Jews? Let\u2019s say 22,000 Jews come together for avodas Hashem. Ooh wah! That\u2019s already something else because each one of those 22,000 persons sees so many other people and each one is fortified; you become oifgelebt! 22,000 frum Jews all together! It\u2019s a tremendous encouragement, a tremendous chizuk; each one is so full of a fire because of the numbers \u2013 the power that numbers give.
\n\n\n\nStrength At the Stadium
\n\n\n\nYou know, when the Agudas Yisroel made a siyum, twenty thousand Jews came. Twenty thousand Jews at a Siyum Hashas! Oh, it knocked the eyes out of the New York Times. So many Jews! It hurt them to no end. Very good! But that\u2019s not as important as what it did for the ones who were there. That\u2019s really what the New York Times should have been worried about! Because all of those Jews were strengthened! They became empowered much more than before. So much so that the Shechinah came down there.
\n\n\n\nWhen the Belzer made a chasunah, it was a tremendous chasunah, a royal convention \u2013 bigger than a royal convention. All frum Jews, all wearing shtreimelach, all dancing, singing shirei kodesh. Each one went away from that chasunah with a new chizuk, with a new kind of loyalty to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Everybody became frummer and frummer as a result.
\n\n\n\nSo now we understand that at the time of the Giving of the Torah, 600,000 Jews were necessary not only for kedushah. Kedushah is very good but there was something else that was very important. The multitude of Jews was required to create a spirit of enthusiasm that would enthuse every individual person. The effect on each one was so powerful because everybody shouted \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e2 together. \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u2013 They said it together. Everybody made the same promise, the same kabbalah, with the same dedication and devotion.
\n\n\n\nThe Most Impressive Effect
\n\n\n\nIt was a tremendous experience because to see so many other Jews who were accepting the Torah made a tremendous impression on each one of them. You weren\u2019t alone. \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05d6\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Each one helps his fellow man, \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b8\u05e7 \u2013 and he says \u201cChazak!\u201d (Yeshayahu 41:6). Not by saying anything, just because of his presence; he\u2019s also there serving Hashem, so that gives encouragement to his neighbor. \u201cWe\u2019re so many Jews being mekabel the Torah together;\u201d it went into their blood and it changed them from the top to the bottom. It changed their nature, it changed their neshamos, it changed their genes forever.
\n\n\n\nAnd now they were so convinced, so enthusiastic, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, then I\u2019m going to show Myself to you.\u201d \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d0\u05de\u05b9\u05e8. Hashem began speaking to them, just because there were 600,000!
\n\n\n\nI think that\u2019s why the Avos didn\u2019t receive the Torah. Matan Torah is something that even Avos weren\u2019t zoche to. Why didn\u2019t Hashem come down and give the Torah to the Avos? To them and their families? Maybe to the shivim nefesh? They were big enough, so why didn\u2019t they have Maamad Har Sinai?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is \u2013 one of the answers \u2013 that as great as the Avos were, they weren\u2019t a multitude. If the Torah had been given to them, the impact would have been dulled if it had been given to a small family. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu waited until we were already a numerous nation. Only then did they assemble together for that spectacular event of Matan Torah, and then, when this great nation accepted the Torah together, it made its most impressive effect.
\n\n\n\nNumbers Are Everything
\n\n\n\nIt means that numbers are everything! Quantity! The greater the quantity of good Jews, not only the more kedushah, but the more emunah and strength of conviction. That\u2019s the great success in the ribui of maaminim.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a very important point for ourselves by the way. Because just like we received the Torah in multitudes, with big numbers, that\u2019s the best way to continue being mekabel the Torah and to continue benefiting from the Maamad Har Sinai. It\u2019s so important to always make sure to be among many of our people. If you have people who are together with you, it causes you to have much more loyalty, much more steadfastness, much more strength.
\n\n\n\nThe more you have Jews who demonstrate that they are loyal to Hashem and to His Torah, the easier it is for you to be mischazek, to strengthen yourself, in your emunah.
\n\n\n\nHoshana Rabbah In Satmar
\n\n\n\nI remember I once went to see the Satmarer Rav, the old Satmarer Rav, zichrono livracha, on Hoshana Rabbah. The place was packed, it was jam packed with people and the Hoshanos were four hours! It had a tremendous effect on me. Such a large crowd of people, standing together for avodas Hashem. It had a permanent effect on everyone there.
\n\n\n\nYou shouldn\u2019t be a philosopher, only learning sefarim. Just seeing so many frum Jews for hours and hours is enough to have a profound influence. It was a kiddush Hashem, a tremendous encouragement. By seeing that alone, without any kind of sevaros, without any kind of logic, any kind of persuasion. You see so many Jews, all were unanimous in serving Hashem. It had a tremendous effect.
\n\n\n\nNow, we should not ignore this principle. And we should know that whenever you go to a place where you see a big number of Jews, you\u2019re going to come back not the same person anymore.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s so important not to waste the opportunity. Nobody has to wait for the Belzer chasuna or the Siyum Hashas or Hoshana Rabbah. The best thing is to live among frum Jews! Live where it\u2019s most crowded with frum Jews.
\n\n\n\nTrucks and Buses
\n\n\n\nA crowded Jewish block, little Jewish boys and girls playing in the street, it\u2019s a big demonstration. They\u2019re all demonstrating that we are frum Jews and the truth is with us. Black hats, yarmulkes, sheitels. Boys with tzitzis hanging out! The more black hats, the more frum Jewish children with yarmulkes, the more frum Jewish women pushing baby carriages with two inside the carriage and five running alongside the carriage, the stronger we become.
\n\n\n\nA reporter came from the New York Times to Brooklyn. He said, \u201cThere are so many baby carriages in Brooklyn.\u201d That\u2019s what an impression it made on him; his heart hurt him when he saw that. In Manhattan there are no baby carriages. They don\u2019t have baby carriages.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you see a great truck almost a block long, with the big words \u201cChalav Yisrael,\u201d we\u2019re emboldened. So much cheese and milk! Who is that for? It\u2019s because we have so many frum Jews eating cholov Yisroel! So many! Kein yirbu!
\n\n\n\nWhen the yeshivos close down on Friday and the buses start rolling down, twenty buses from this yeshivah and twenty from that yeshivah. All over the town, buses full of yeshivah boys and yeshivah girls are riding home. Baruch Hashem! Kein yirbu!
\n\n\n\nYou know what that means? A tremendous chizuk. You may not admit it. You\u2019re a philosopher, a chacham; you want to read the Kuzari or maybe the Chovos Halevavos. Fine. But this is more important than anything else. The numbers, big numbers, Jews crowded together in the service of Hashem, that\u2019s what gives us the strength that we need to be around forever. That\u2019s how we became the Am Hashem at Har Sinai and that\u2019s how we\u2019ll be the Am Hashem forever and ever!
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nGrowing From Sinai
\n\n\n\nThe Maamad Har Sinai, when our nation stood together to hear the Voice of Hashem, was an immensely powerful occasion which reverberates throughout the ages. It is what formed our nation and created us as a People.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder spend a minute each day utilizing that great day in our history. I will spend half a minute thinking about that great occasion when our people came together as one in the experience that made us maaminim forever. Then I will find one opportunity during the day when I\u2019m among other Jews \u2013 in shul, yeshivah, shopping in a kosher supermarket or even on a crowded Jewish street \u2013 and I will spend another half minute reflecting on the holiness inherent in the coming together of a multitude of Jews and the chizuk that it provides, especially to the one who thinks about it.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 508 – Receiving the Torah II | 992 – The Count of Bnei Yisrael | E-12 – Together at Sinai | E-34 – The Craving to Excel | E-70 – Priceless Remorse | E-245 – And My Shechina Shall Dwell Among You
\nThe post Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-05T03:55:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-05T03:55:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36778, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-yisro-5783-together-at-sinai/", "title": "Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai", "content_html": "TA-Yisro-5783The post Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-05T03:54:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-05T03:54:25+00:00" }, { "id": 36770, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-yisro-5783-together-at-sinai/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai", "content_html": "TA-Yisro-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Yisro 5783 – Together at Sinai appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-05T03:54:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-05T03:54:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36768, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shiduj-2/", "title": "Shiduj", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos estar realmente seguros del verdadero car\u00e1cter de nuestro futura pareja antes del matrimonio?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPuedes consultar a un nav\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nSegundo mejor, preg\u00fantale a sus maestros en la escuela donde ella fue. Si ella fue a una escuela, pregunta a sus maestros. Ahora bien, un profesor no es suficiente. Preg\u00fantale a todo a quien puedas. Preg\u00fantale a los vecinos. Muchas veces los vecinos tienen rencor y te dir\u00e1n la verdad. Tienes que preguntar.
\n\n\n\nSi eres demasiado perezoso para preguntar, est\u00e1 bien; pero est\u00e1s tomando un riesgo.
\n\n\n\nY todos est\u00e1n enga\u00f1ados hasta cierto punto. Todo el mundo eventualmente termina en parte desilusionado. Rara vez sucede que no descubres m\u00e1s de lo que pensaba. Sin embargo, lo mismo se aplica a ti. La est\u00e1s enga\u00f1ando tambi\u00e9n. As\u00ed que ambos se enga\u00f1an entre s\u00ed y as\u00ed es como tienes que vivir. Nadie es un pr\u00edncipe azul y nadie es una princesa. Son dos seres humanos con todos sus errores y fallas. Tienen que casarse como sea.
\n\n\n\nHay una receta, una receta para el \u00e9xito. No es suficiente buscar la mejor persona; es importante tratar de ser la mejor persona. No importa lo que realmente seas, trata de ser el mejor.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, ciertamente conviene preguntar todo lo que puedas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #587 (febrero de 1986)
\nThe post Shiduj appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-05T02:17:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-05T02:17:47+00:00" }, { "id": 36764, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/poca-tefila-con-cavana/", "title": "Poca tefil\u00e1 con cavan\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs m\u00e1s mitzv\u00e1 decir todo el S\u00e9der Hatefil\u00e1 todas las ma\u00f1anas o decir parte de la tefil\u00e1 y pensar m\u00e1s en el significado de lo que estoy diciendo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo te dir\u00e9 mi propia opini\u00f3n; s\u00f3lo te dir\u00e9 lo que dice el Tur: \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05e2\u05d8 \u05d1\u05db\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05db\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4: decir un poco y pensar en lo que est\u00e1s diciendo es mucho m\u00e1s valioso que simplemente decir toda la tefil\u00e1 r\u00e1pidamente.
\n\n\n\nEs muy importante aprovechar la tefil\u00e1. El Jovot Halevavot dice que el prop\u00f3sito de la tefil\u00e1 es \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e0\u05de\u05e9\u05db\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d3\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8, que tus pensamientos eventualmente deben seguir a tus palabras. Y una vez que te acostumbras al \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05da, a decir estas palabras de las canciones de David tu siervo, y revivir un poco las grandes emociones que expres\u00f3 en su amor por Hashem, luego se despierta en nosotros una respuesta y tambi\u00e9n ganamos un poco de ese sentimiento. Y, por lo tanto, es muy importante pasar un tiempo haciendo eso durante pesuk\u00e9 dezimr\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nLa Shemon\u00e1 esr\u00e9 tambi\u00e9n. Ahora bien, no puedes decir todo el Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 con iun porque entonces llegar\u00e1 Minj\u00e1 y todav\u00eda estar\u00e1s de pie diciendo la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9. Sin embargo, si tomas todos los d\u00edas una peque\u00f1a parte de la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 y piensas en eso, te sorprender\u00e1s de lo que descubrir\u00e1s. Es como una mina de oro.
\n\n\n\nLa gente no se da cuenta de que Ansh\u00e9 keneset Haguedol\u00e1 que compusieron la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 eran Neviim y grandes jajamim. Y pudieron concentrar mucha sabidur\u00eda en las palabras de la amid\u00e1 y, por lo tanto, te sorprender\u00e1s de cu\u00e1nta sabidur\u00eda hay escondida en ellas. Ahora bien, por supuesto, a veces puedes imaginarte Perushim equivocados, pero cuanto m\u00e1s piensas en las palabras, ver\u00e1s m\u00e1s y m\u00e1s qu\u00e9 tan profundas son. Y el prop\u00f3sito de hacer tefil\u00e1 con cavan\u00e1, despu\u00e9s de todo, no es simplemente decir las palabras, sino Leitpalel, lo que significa “hacerte pensar”. Pilel significa ‘pensar’ y Leitpalel significa “hacerte pensar” y ese es el \u00e9xito que una persona consigue con la tefil\u00e1. Eleva su mente y lo lleva a la conciencia de Hashem y Ahavat Hashem.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #950
\nThe post Poca tefil\u00e1 con cavan\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-02T23:17:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-02T23:17:34+00:00" }, { "id": 36761, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%92%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%a1%d7%90-%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%90-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%90%d7%99/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d5: \u05d2\u05d9\u05e8\u05e1\u05d0 \u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05df", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-256The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d5: \u05d2\u05d9\u05e8\u05e1\u05d0 \u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-02T23:11:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-02T23:11:01+00:00" }, { "id": 36757, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-shidduch-investigations/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Shidduch Investigations", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can we be really sure about our future partner\u2019s true character before marriage?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou can consult a navi.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSecond best, ask her teachers in the school where she went. If she went to a school, ask the teachers. Now, one teacher is not enough. Ask all you can. Ask from neighbors. Many times neighbors have a grudge and they\u2019ll tell you the truth. You have to ask.
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re too lazy to ask, alright; but you\u2019re taking a risk.
\n\n\n\nAnd everybody is deceived to some extent. Everybody is eventually disillusioned. Rarely does it happen that he won\u2019t discover more than he thought. However, the same applies to you. You\u2019re deceiving her too. So they both deceive each other and that\u2019s how you have to live. Nobody is a Prince Charming and nobody is a Princess. It\u2019s two human beings with all their foibles and faults. You have to marry each other for better or worse.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s one prescription, one recipe for success.\u00a0 It\u2019s not enough to look for the best person; it\u2019s important to try to be the best person.\u00a0 No matter what you really are, try to be the best.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nHowever, it certainly pays to inquire all you can.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 587 (February 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Shidduch Investigations appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-02T22:02:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-02T22:02:37+00:00" }, { "id": 36753, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-little-davening-with-a-lot-of-thinking/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Little Davening With A Lot\u00a0of Thinking", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it more of a mitzvah to say the whole\u00a0seder\u00a0hatefillah\u00a0every morning or to say part of the davening and think more into the meaning of what I\u2019m saying?
A:
I won\u2019t tell you my own opinion;\u00a0I\u2019ll just say what the Tur says:\u00a0\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05e2\u05d8 \u05d1\u05db\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05db\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u2013\u00a0To\u00a0say a little bit and to think about what you\u2019re saying is much more valuable than to just speed through the whole davening.
It\u2019s very important to utilize the opportunity of the\u00a0tefillah. \u00a0The Chovos Halevavos says that the purpose of davening\u00a0is \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e0\u05de\u05e9\u05db\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d3\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8,\u00a0that your thoughts should eventually follow your words. And once you accustom yourself to the \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05da,\u00a0to saying these words of the\u00a0songs of Dovid\u00a0Your servant, and reliving a little bit of the great emotions that he expressed in his love of Hashem, then it awakens in us a response and we also gain a little bit of that feeling. And therefore it\u2019s\u00a0very important to spend some time doing that during\u00a0pesukei d\u2019zimra.
Shemona\u00a0esrei\u00a0too.\u00a0Now, you can\u2019t say the whole\u00a0shemona\u00a0esrei\u00a0with\u00a0iyun\u00a0because then it will come time for\u00a0mincha\u00a0already and you\u2019re still standing\u00a0shemona\u00a0esrei.\u00a0However, if you\u2019ll take every day a little part of\u00a0shemona\u00a0esrei\u00a0and think into it\u00a0you\u2019ll be surprised what you\u2019ll discover. \u00a0It\u2019s like a gold mine.
People don\u2019t realize that the\u00a0Anshei Knesses Hagedolah\u00a0who composed the\u00a0shmona\u00a0esrei\u00a0were\u00a0nevi\u2019im\u00a0and the greatest\u00a0chachomim. And they were able to concentrate very deep\u00a0chochma\u00a0into these words and therefore you\u2019d be surprised how much you\u2019ll get out of it. \u00a0Now,\u00a0of course sometimes you might imagine wrong\u00a0peirushim\u00a0but the more you think into it, you\u2019ll see more and more how profound are their words. \u00a0And the purpose of davening with\u00a0kavana\u00a0after all, is not merely to say the words, but\u00a0l\u2019hispallel,\u00a0which means \u2018to make yourself think.\u2019\u00a0Pillel\u00a0means \u2018to think\u2019 and\u00a0li\u2019hispallel\u00a0means \u2018to make yourself think.\u2019\u00a0And that\u2019s the success that a person gets from proper\u00a0tefilla. It elevates his mind and brings him to awareness of Hashem and\u00a0ahavas Hashem.\u00a0
TAPE # 950
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Little Davening With A Lot\u00a0of Thinking appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-01T22:03:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-01T22:03:31+00:00" }, { "id": 36750, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/libre-albedrio/", "title": "Libre albedr\u00edo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi es que los ataques terroristas en \u00c9retz Israel ocurren debido al jilul Shabat y a la rebeli\u00f3n contra Hashem en el pa\u00eds, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 muchos de los muertos son personas frum en lugar de las personas que realmente se rebelan?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 muchos de los asesinados son personas frum? Debo explicar algo aqu\u00ed. Es un principio fundamental que Hakadosh Baruj Hu oculta su mano. \u00c9l no quiere demostrar que es un nes.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, supongamos que s\u00f3lo matar\u00edan resha\u00edm; supongamos que s\u00f3lo Mejalel\u00e9 Shabat y Ojl\u00e9 Trefot ser\u00edan asesinados. Entonces todos har\u00edan teshuv\u00e1. Digamos que todos los jud\u00edos que caminaran en la calle en Shabat y encendieran un cigarrillo, se murieran de inmediato; nadie fumaba m\u00e1s en Shabat. Incluso los puertorrique\u00f1os har\u00edan a Teshuv\u00e1. La ieshiv\u00e1 de Mir se llenar\u00eda de puertorrique\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que Hakadosh Baruj Hu lo oculta. Para dejar espacio para la Bejir\u00e1, para el libre albedr\u00edo, lo hace parecer camuflado; para que no veas su mano abierta. Y eso es lo que dice, \u05db\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05d7\u05d9\u05ea: cuando un Mashjit tiene poder, \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 – no hace distinci\u00f3n entre un Tzadik y un Rash\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nComo dice en Mitzr\u00e1im; cuando el Malaj lleg\u00f3 a destruir a los primog\u00e9nitos en Mitzr\u00e1im, Hashem dijo: \u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e7\u05e8, no debes salir en las calles toda la noche. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no? \u00a1No hicimos nada malo! Los egipcios son los que nos oprimen, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 deber\u00edamos tener miedo de caminar por las calles? La respuesta es no. Una vez que el Mashjit est\u00e1 suelto, entonces no hace distinci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu no hace ninguna distinci\u00f3n. Las personas deben saber que una vez que hay una Tzar\u00e1, la Tzar\u00e1 se acerca a los Tzadikim y a los resha\u00edm del lugar. Ese es un principio fundamental de c\u00f3mo Hashem gu\u00eda al mundo para dar lugar al libre albedr\u00edo; as\u00ed que su mano no deber\u00eda ser tan evidente.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #942 (noviembre de 1993)
\nThe post Libre albedr\u00edo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-01T04:02:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-01T04:02:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36745, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-the-frummeh/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why The Frummeh?", "content_html": "\nQ:
If it\u2019s\u00a0so that the terror attacks in Eretz Yisroel are coming because of the chillul Shabbos and rebellion against Hashem in the country\u00a0why is it that many of those killed are frum people rather than the people who are actually rebelling?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhy are many who were killed frum people?
\n\n\n\nI must explain something here. It\u2019s a fundamental principle that Hakodosh Boruch Hu conceals His hand. He doesn\u2019t want to show that it\u2019s a neis.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose only reshaim would be killed; suppose only mechalelei Shabbos and oichlei treifos would be killed. Then everybody would do teshuva. Let\u2019s say that every Jew who walked in the street on Shabbos and lit a cigarette, he would fall dead right away; so nobody would smoke on Shabbos. Even the Puerto Ricans would make teshuva. The Mirrer Yeshiva would be filled with Puerto Ricans.
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu conceals it. In order to leave room for bechira, for free choice, He makes it look camouflaged; so you shouldn\u2019t see His open hand. And that\u2019s what it says, \u05db\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05d7\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 when a mashchis has power, \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 \u2013 he makes no distinction between a tzaddik and a rasha.
\n\n\n\nLike it says in Mitzrayim; when the malach came to destroy the firstborn in Mitzrayim, so Hashem said, \u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e7\u05e8 \u2013 You shouldn\u2019t walk out in the streets the whole night. Why not? We didn\u2019t do anything wrong! The Egyptians are the ones who oppressed us \u2013 why should we be afraid to walk in the streets? The answer is no. Once the mashchis is loose, then he makes no distinction.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t make any distinctions. People should know that once there\u2019s a tzara, the tzara comes upon the tzaddikim and the reshaim equally \u2013 that\u2019s a fundamental principle of how Hashem guides the world in order to leave room for free will; so that His hand shouldn\u2019t be so evident.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 942 (November 1993)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why The Frummeh? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-31T21:54:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T21:54:33+00:00" }, { "id": 36741, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-messages-of-terror/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Messages of Terror", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should we react when we hear about these hostile attacks by the Arabs? What message are we being sent?
A:
Look, I\u2019m not saying that the message is that we should therefore walk across the border with outstretched arms to embrace the Arabs and make peace \u2013 because most likely they\u2019ll greet us with gunfire.
But there is a message from Hashem that we have things to fix inside of Eretz Yisroel. A lot of things. Maybe, for instance, we have to start pressing for the observance of Shabbos in the Land of Israel. The Torah says, \u201c\u05de\u05d7\u05dc\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d9\u05d5\u05de\u05ea \u2013 those who profane the Shabbos will be put to death. The Torah says that. And the Gemara says \u201c\u05d0\u05e3 \u05e2\u05dc \u05e4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d1\u05d8\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e1\u05e0\u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u2013 even though we do not have a Sanhedrin to execute sinners today, \u05d3\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05e8\u05d1\u05e2 \u05de\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d8\u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 the judgement will still be carried out.\u201d So maybe when men fall at the border, or when a hand grenade is thrown into a bus, or when people are gunned down in Tel- Aviv, maybe we should think, maybe we should suspect \u2013 and it\u2019s a reasonable suspicion \u2013 that maybe Hakodosh Boruch Hu is carrying out what He said He would do. If buses publically travel on Shabbos and if the Ministry of Labor is giving out permits to so many factories to allow them to open on Shabbos \u2013 so many factories are open in Eretz Yisroel on Shabbos! A lot of factories, with the explicit permission of the government. In the Land of Israel, it is now accepted to profane the Shabbos! We should think about this!
\n\n\n\nMaybe we should think about all the recent immigrants from Georgia who are begging to be allowed to raise their children in Orthodox schools but the government won\u2019t allow them. Maybe we should consider that the government must change its policy of taking the immigrants out to irreligious kibbutzim where there are no Orthodox schools. And the government is forcing immigrant families to go there. When the new immigrants have protested and said that they want to be placed in religious towns, the government has responded with threats, warning the immigrants that if they won\u2019t go to live where they are sent, they will not get any work. This is all a fact \u2013 it\u2019s not deniable. And that\u2019s why the children of the Moroccan immigrants have all turned out to be irreligious. Although they came to Eretz Yisroel with payos and were children of Orthodox parents. Because government policy is to see to it that religion is stamped out in Israel. And hundreds of thousands of Jewish children have been weaned from keeping the Torah because that\u2019s the policy.
\n\n\n\nThey\u2019re destroying Jewish souls! So maybe, if you\u2019re destroying Jewish souls, that\u2019s why Jewish bodies are being destroyed. It\u2019s really not hard, not difficult at all, to look for reasons for why things are happening. Of course, if you don\u2019t have ears, so you say, \u201cWell, this is nothing. Every new state has troubles. Growing pains. They have battles in the beginning. For the first hundred years they have to battle.\u201d
But the truth is that it\u2019ll never get better. And it will get worse and worse. So there are plenty of messages being sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu that we have to listen to.
TAPE # 24
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Messages of Terror appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-31T20:56:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T20:56:08+00:00" }, { "id": 36729, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/museos-sobre-el-holocausto/", "title": "Museos sobre el Holocausto", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre la proliferaci\u00f3n de los museos sobre el Holocausto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nMuchas personas est\u00e1n interesadas en invertir dinero en instituciones sobre el Holocausto. Sin embargo, hay que ver si realmente esas instituciones son efectivas. Ellis piensan que a trav\u00e9s de estas instituciones podr\u00e1n lograr que los gentiles se averg\u00fcencen y remuerdan de lo ocurrido y, a partir de entonces, estar\u00e1n protegidos de que no vuelva a suceder. Sin embargo, existe la posibilidad de que ocurra lo contrario, de que los gentiles reciban ideas que normalmente no pensar\u00edan. Y pueden llegar a pensar: “No es una mala idea …” Tienen sugerencias. S\u00ed, se les ocurre.
\n\n\n\nEse dinero si se gastara en las instituciones para ense\u00f1ar Tor\u00e1 a los ni\u00f1os, donde no cuesta mucho dinero anotar a un ni\u00f1o, ser\u00eda un dinero que est\u00e1 mejor gastado. Hoy es caro. \u00a1Si tuvi\u00e9ramos m\u00e1s dinero, podr\u00edamos hacerlo casi gratis! Y luego podr\u00edamos traer a muchos m\u00e1s hijos al mundo de la Tor\u00e1. \u00a1Ese es el mayor logro!
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Es una pena! Los millones que van para otras cosas en lugar de ir para jinuj, para ieshivot, es un dinero desaprovechado.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, no hay duda de que los fondos que se utilizan para aquellas causas ciertamente podr\u00edan haber sido mucho m\u00e1s beneficiosos si se hubieran dado a instituciones de Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #930 (septiembre de 1993)
\nThe post Museos sobre el Holocausto appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-31T04:33:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T04:33:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36724, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-31T04:10:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T04:10:58+00:00" }, { "id": 36718, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "20-\u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-31T03:59:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T04:00:00+00:00" }, { "id": 36697, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-edad-del-mundo/", "title": "La edad del mundo", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo le respondo a alguien que me muestra un art\u00edculo reciente sobre la evoluci\u00f3n en la revista Jewish Action y est\u00e1 tratando de decirme que la evoluci\u00f3n es verdadera, s\u00f3lo que fue causada por Hashem?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es, Bereshit bar\u00e1 Elokim. Y dice all\u00ed lo que hizo en el primer d\u00eda, y en el segundo d\u00eda, en el tercer d\u00eda, en el cuarto d\u00eda, en el quinto d\u00eda, en el sexto d\u00eda y Shabat fue el s\u00e9ptimo d\u00eda. El s\u00e9ptimo d\u00eda, no el s\u00e9ptimo per\u00edodo de mil millones de a\u00f1os. Shabat fue el s\u00e9ptimo d\u00eda. Un Shabat de un d\u00eda. Y si es un Shabat de un d\u00eda, entonces el sexto d\u00eda tambi\u00e9n fue un d\u00eda. Y el quinto d\u00eda fue un d\u00eda, y el cuarto d\u00eda tambi\u00e9n. As\u00ed es como todos nuestros kadmonim han aprendido peshat. Y cualquiera que venga y diga lo contrario est\u00e1 influenciado por los resha\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame explicarte algo. Hoy en d\u00eda no hay ninguna excusa para dejarse influenciar por los resha\u00edm. Hay un movimiento de cient\u00edficos hacia la creencia en la creaci\u00f3n del mundo tal como lo creemos. Muchos cient\u00edficos, son cristianos, pero muchos de ellos son cient\u00edficos destacados, han escrito muchos trabajos, libros, trabajos de investigaci\u00f3n y art\u00edculos acad\u00e9micos, mostrando que el mundo es joven. Es un mundo joven. Hay muchas formas independientes de mostrar eso. Lo pueden mostrar desde las Cataratas del Ni\u00e1gara, seg\u00fan el desmoronamiento, la erosi\u00f3n, de las rocas sobre las que descienden las cataratas. A ese ritmo, muestra que es algo que sucedi\u00f3 dentro de miles de a\u00f1os. S\u00f3lo han pasado unos pocos miles de a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nEn sus dos grandes obras, Worlds in Collision y Ages in Chaos, Velikovsky ha demostrado que recientemente se ha producido una gran destrucci\u00f3n en este mundo. Por eso en algunos lugares encuentran ballenas en lo alto de las monta\u00f1as. \u00bfBallenas en la cima de las monta\u00f1as? S\u00ed, porque all\u00ed hab\u00eda oc\u00e9anos. Una gran inundaci\u00f3n cambia las cosas. Incluso las inundaciones m\u00e1s peque\u00f1as provocan grandes cambios. El Mabul pudo cambiar las cosas de manera r\u00e1pida. Cambios que otros intentan explicar con millones y billones de a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 tratan de explicarlo con millones de a\u00f1os? No porque tengan pruebas. No tienen evidencia clara de que fue hace millones de a\u00f1os. No tienen absolutamente ninguna evidencia de que fue hace millones de a\u00f1os. Es s\u00f3lo porque la evoluci\u00f3n no puede ocurrir sin esos a\u00f1os. Incluso la mesh\u00faguene, la loca idea de que a partir de una c\u00e9lula se desarrollaba un organismo completo, no pod\u00eda suceder en esos a\u00f1os. Es lo m\u00e1s est\u00fapido posible. Es como decir que de una pluma estilogr\u00e1fica se desarrollar\u00e1 una m\u00e1quina de escribir. O una computadora. Crean millones de a\u00f1os porque se necesitar\u00edan muchos cambios graduales para acumularse, muchos cambios milagrosos, para que un organismo se desarrolle. Pero incluso eso es una tonter\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nPero hoy hay cient\u00edficos que demuestran que el mundo es un mundo joven. Entonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 tienes que ser m\u00e1s piadoso que estos gentiles? Hay muchos cient\u00edficos gentiles que dicen que el mundo es joven y que el mundo fue creado en seis d\u00edas. Dicen que no hay que buscar nada m\u00e1s de seis d\u00edas. Y cualquiera que ceda al ambiente exterior s\u00f3lo est\u00e1 siendo influenciado por su asimilaci\u00f3n al mundo exterior. Es la asimilaci\u00f3n de tu mente a las tonter\u00edas y mentiras del mundo exterior. No debemos ceder ante el medio ambiente. Y tenemos muchas buenas razones para no hacerlo. En primer lugar, y lo m\u00e1s importante, la Tor\u00e1 nos dice la verdad. Todo los Guedol\u00e9 Israel de todas las generaciones nunca aprobaron tal cosa como dice en ese art\u00edculo. \u00bfQue a Najm\u00e1nides, el Ramb\u00e1n, no le importar\u00eda decir que Ad\u00e1n y los simios provienen de la misma fuente? Eso es un shetut. Un apikorosut. \u00a1Tremendo jilul Hashem lo que hizo la Acci\u00f3n Jud\u00eda!
\n\n\n\nY no es s\u00f3lo nuestra Tor\u00e1, nuestra mesor\u00e1. Tenemos cient\u00edficos; personas que tienen credenciales; escritores, investigadores. Y todo un ej\u00e9rcito de ellos. Y dicen que no hay absolutamente ninguna evidencia a favor de la evoluci\u00f3n. Entonces, adem\u00e1s de nuestra Tor\u00e1 Hashlem\u00e1, y la Tor\u00e1 habla abiertamente al respecto, los hechos de la ciencia tambi\u00e9n nos hablan a nosotros. Entonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 escuchar la ciencia falsificada de aquellos que quieren rechazar la verdad? Escucha la verdadera ciencia de los dem\u00e1s. Y aquellos que escuchan la ciencia falsificada son solo debiluchos que se doblegan y se rinden ante el entorno perverso.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-238 (julio de 2000)
\nThe post La edad del mundo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-30T02:41:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-30T02:41:54+00:00" }, { "id": 36709, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-holocaust-memorials/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Holocaust Memorials\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the Rav\u2019s opinion of the proliferation of Holocaust museums and memorials?
A:
Many people are interested in investing money in the institution of Holocaust memorials. However, there is a question how effective it is. They think that they can shame the gentiles into remorse and from then on they\u2019ll be protected against a recurrence. However, there\u2019s a possibility that the gentiles are given ideas that ordinarily they wouldn\u2019t think about. And now they\u2019re thinking, \u201cNot a bad idea\u2026\u201d They get suggestions. Yes, it occurs to them. It never occurred before.
That money if it would be expended on institutions to teach Torah to children where it wouldn\u2019t cost much money to register a child, it would be be money that\u2019s better spent. Today it\u2019s expensive. If we had more money, we could make it almost free! And then we could bring in many more children into the Torah world. That\u2019s the biggest achievement!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a pity! The millions that go for other things, when it should go for chinuch, for yeshivas, is money misspent.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, whatever you\u2019ll say about that, there\u2019s no question that the funds that are being utilized for those causes could certainly have been brought much more beneficial results if they were given to the Torah institutions.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 930 (September 1993)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Holocaust Memorials\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-30T01:24:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-30T01:24:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36687, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-bechalah-5783/", "title": "Paracha B\u00e9chala’h 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Bechalah-5783The post Paracha B\u00e9chala’h 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T20:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-30T04:10:11+00:00" }, { "id": 36682, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-beshalach-5783-gifts-of-shabbos/", "title": "Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos", "content_html": "TA-Beshalach-5783The post Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T20:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T05:55:38+00:00" }, { "id": 36675, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-beshalach-5783-gifts-of-shabbos-2/", "title": "Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos", "content_html": "Black Gold in Pennsylvania
\n\n\n\nMany years ago, in the mid 1800\u2019s, there was a person who owned a farm near Titusville, Pennsylvania. It was a nice-sized farm but it didn\u2019t produce like he expected \u2013 the crops were always poor. And so, after struggling with it for some time, the owner finally became disgusted and he sold it off to someone else.
\n\n\n\nNow, the man who purchased it, one day he was walking around to survey his possession and when he stopped by one of the waterholes where the cows were gathered to drink, he noticed that they were refusing to touch the water. He looked down into the pool and he saw an oily scum on top of the water.
\n\n\n\nSo this man investigated \u2013 he did some digging and called in some experts \u2013 and discovered that this black scum was actually oil. There\u2019s a reason why oil is called black gold; an oil gusher is just as valuable as gold, and this man became a millionaire overnight. You can imagine, when the first man heard the news subsequently, he regretted that he had not known what a treasure he had possessed under his feet all that time. He considered it a terrible misfortune. And he was right. For the rest of his life he was always thinking, \u201cIf only there would have been someone to tell me to take a look into that waterhole, to see what\u2019s doing, I would have found that treasure.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYour Black Gold
\n\n\n\nNow, there is a certain treasure that all of us possess, a valuable treasure sitting right under our feet that Hakodosh Baruch Hu has given us, only that we\u2019re unaware of what we possess. And because Hakodosh Baruch Hu doesn\u2019t want us to end up like that poor fellow in Titusville, therefore when He first gave us this gift He made sure to say to us, \u201cLook! I want you to see what I\u2019m giving you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat am I talking about now? Which treasure is sitting under our feet without us realizing? In this week\u2019s sedrah, when Hakodosh Baruch Hu was about to give the mitzvah of Shabbos to the Bnei Yisroel, He told Moshe Rabbeinu that he should go and tell them like this: \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b7\u05bc\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 I want that you should see that Hashem is giving you Shabbos (Beshalach 16:29).
\n\n\n\nNow that word, \u201c\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 see!\u201d is a remarkable introduction that we don\u2019t find by any other mitzvah. It doesn’t say, \u201cLook! Hashem is giving you korbanos,\u201d or \u201cSee that Hashem gave you kashrus or Pesach.\u201d By all the other mitzvos we don\u2019t find such a thing \u2013 only by Shabbos, Hashem said, \u201cSee what I am giving you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow when someone gives you something and tells you, \u201cMake note; pay attention to the importance of this gift,\u201d it\u2019s not for nothing that he says that. It implies a desire of the giver that you shouldn\u2019t think it\u2019s a small matter; that you should properly use and enjoy it.
\n\n\n\nAll-In-One Computers
\n\n\n\nIf someone gives you an expensive computer, let\u2019s say, so you could use it maybe to put things on top of it. Let\u2019s say when you\u2019re washing dishes or pots and pans, you might deposit them on top of it to dry. Or you could hang your clothing there. A computer is good for that. It has various nooks and crannies where you can stick in a hanger. But that\u2019s not making full use of it \u2013 it\u2019s very far away from what the giver intended.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Hakodosh Baruch Hu said, \u201c\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 see that I am giving you Shabbos.\u201d Because the Shabbos will be utilized for a very great benefit by the recipient only if he knows what a treasure he has. It\u2019s a great pity that the tremendous wealth of Shabbos that lies under our feet is not being utilized.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a simple subject, it\u2019s a very big subject. But if Hakodosh Baruch Hu says \u201c\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc,\u201d it means He wants you to study it, to ponder its benefits in order to gain everything that He had in mind when He gave that Gift. It\u2019s only because not enough has been said on this subject and because it has not been studied enough, that\u2019s why the treasure is being squandered.
\n\n\n\nLet My People Know
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara in Beitzah (16a) tells us a little more of the backstory. It reveals some more of what Hakodosh Baruch Hu told Moshe Rabbeinu when He gave us the Shabbos: \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 Hashem said, \u201cI have a precious Gift in my treasure house which is named Shabbos, \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 and I desire to give it to the people of Yisroel, \u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 go and let them know. It means, \u201cLet them know what they’re getting.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara is at first bothered by that statement. Why was Moshe sent on a special mission to inform the people about Shabbos? It\u2019s avida l\u2019gluyei; it\u2019s something that would be discovered by them anyhow. Like every other mitzvah, like shaatnez and tefillin and everything else, they\u2019ll study the mitzvah and they\u2019ll learn all the details.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what they were busy with in the Midbar for forty years. Learning Torah! You have to remember that the dor hamidbar was a kollel generation. They were entirely unemployed. They didn’t have any fields to plow and no work to do. Their food fell min hashomayim. They didn’t have to sew any garments. \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Forty years they didn’t wear out their garments. They had nothing to do for forty years. What did they do? All day long they learned from Moshe Rabbeinu.
\n\n\n\nNation Of Learners
\n\n\n\nMoshe Rabbeinu taught them every day. Every day! That’s a rebbi! Remember what Moshe Rabbeinu said (Devarim 4:5): \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05bb\u05e7\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e6\u05b4\u05d5\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cI taught you all of the details of all the mitzvos just like Hashem commanded me.\u201d And if he said it, he didn\u2019t exaggerate, he did everything, exactly as Hashem commanded.
\n\n\n\nNot only Moshe. There were many great teachers in the Midbar. The shivim zekeinim, and there was Aharon and Yehoshua and Miriam; very many Torah teachers who would study and understand the laws of Shabbos and they would explain it to the rest of the people! Just like every other mitzvah that was learned in the Midbar. \u201cAnd therefore,\u201d the Gemara asks, \u201cwhy was it necessary to send Moshe Rabbeinu on a special mission to teach them hilchos Shabbos? It was already included in his job.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara says, that\u2019s true; they would know all about Shabbos. Certainly, they would learn all the details. And they would learn it well! You think they were nobodies, the people who received the Torah? They were great souls! So there\u2019s no question that they would learn everything. But there\u2019s something they wouldn\u2019t learn, the Gemara says: \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9 \u2013 the reward of Shabbos is something they wouldn\u2019t know about. Oh, that\u2019s something different already. The reward you\u2019ll get for keeping Shabbos, that was the mission Moshe was sent on; to tell them about the schar Shabbos, something that was not expressly understood.
\n\n\n\nMeasuring Eternity
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s the answer the Gemara gives but it still has to be explained. Because we understand that the same is actually true for any mitzvah of the Torah; \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 you don’t know the reward for any of the mitzvos (Avos 2:1). If you put up a mezuzah, nobody can calculate the extent of that reward. If you drop a penny in the pushka, it\u2019s impossible to know the reward for that. Because a mitzvah is not paid in this world. It can\u2019t be paid in this world because all the happiness and all the success of this world will never be enough to pay for one mitzvah. We have to get that into our heads. Mitzvos are eternal rewards and eternity cannot be measured.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if Moshe Rabbeinu was sent to tell the people the rewards of Shabbos, so the question arises: What could he tell them anyhow? Every mitzvah has an endless reward of happiness in the Next World that can\u2019t be measured. Millions and millions of years will go by in happiness and you\u2019ll never tire of that happiness. Whether it\u2019s Shabbos or mezuzah or a penny in the pushka, it\u2019s going to be eternal. What\u2019s so different about Shabbos?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, it\u2019s true that we don’t know the reward for dropping a penny into a tzedakah box or for putting up a mezuzah. We don\u2019t know the reward. But at least we know what we did. We did a specific deed, and that deed is going to pay out reward forever and ever and ever and ever.
\n\n\n\nBut Shabbos is something altogether different; because from Shabbos comes forth a fountain of mitzvos, an endless gusher in such abundance that it’s impossible to calculate how many mitzvos the Shabbos brings to us.
\n\n\n\nShabbos In Nursery
\n\n\n\nShabbos is a nursery where the seeds are produced to plant even more nurseries. Suppose you have a garden and this garden is full of beautiful plants and trees. But not only does a garden grow beautiful fruits which are enjoyable to look at and to eat, this garden produces the seeds that will plant thousands of other gardens. That\u2019s the greatness of this garden! The entire world can be cultivated by the products of this one garden! Ooh wah! Now we begin to appreciate that garden more. If it\u2019s such a garden that it\u2019ll make the whole world a garden, then that\u2019s the most precious gift. Not merely that you benefit from the fruits of this garden itself, but you can picture the endlessness of the results of this garden.
\n\n\n\nShabbos is such a garden; it\u2019s the source of achievement of every kind. That\u2019s why Shabbos is called the fountain of blessing, the mekor habracha. All things that you can never imagine as a connection with Shabbos actually flow forth from the Shabbos. All the mitzvos of the Torah, all the ideals and attitudes of the Torah, are like nurslings that grow in the soil of Shabbos. And then they\u2019re transplanted and they continue to fill your life with achievement and with happiness all as a result of Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara means that \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9 \u2013 the reward of Shabbos will never be known. The reward of any mitzvah is not known; it cannot be known in this world but at least we know that this mitzvah is going to have a certain reward. But suppose you have a mitzvah that\u2019s going to bring on an endless number of other mitzvos, an endless number of other opportunities, then you don\u2019t dream of the vastness of the reward because it\u2019s exponential; it\u2019s creating gardens and gardens of avodas Hashem!
\n\n\n\nAll Because of Shabbos
\n\n\n\nSo Moshe Rabbeinu was told to tell them, \u201c\u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc, the reward of Shabbos, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9, is something that you couldn\u2019t know. I have to inform you that by keeping Shabbos properly, there\u2019s going to be a result that will amaze you in its extent! Vastly more than the mere keeping of Shabbos!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, after 120 years when the Jew comes to the Next World and he is confronted by a whole treasury of wealth and he\u2019s told, \u201cThat\u2019s all yours,\u201d so he says, \u201cHow did I earn all that? What did I do to get so many deeds of merit?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd they\u2019ll tell him, \u201cIt\u2019s because of Shabbos.\u201d He didn\u2019t realize that Shabbos was bringing him so many different forms of achievement, so many opportunities to accomplish and to earn everlasting happiness.
\n\n\n\nFount of Blessings
\n\n\n\nNow, this is a subject that we won\u2019t be able to do justice to at all because it would need not one hour. It would need weeks and weeks and even then we wouldn\u2019t finish. But at least we\u2019ll make an attempt to talk about some of these things that are seeded in that grand garden of Shabbos. We\u2019ll take a few examples of what Shabbos means to the Am Yisroel in the sense of Shabbos as a fountain, an artesian well, a gusher of blessings and mitzvos that makes it impossible to calculate the benefits of Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nAmong the blessings of Shabbos, the one that comes to mind first is that it\u2019s a national day of rest. I don\u2019t mean now in the sense of the 39 melachos; I\u2019m talking about actual rest, a cessation from the grind of the workweek. Do you know what it means when a person is forced to take a rest on Shabbos? It\u2019s a lifesaver!
\n\n\n\nMany Jews are hustlers and their businesses would never close. When there\u2019s an opportunity to make money, a lot of people don’t know when to stop. Don\u2019t you see some stores have a sign, \u201cOpen Seven Days a Week\u201d? And it\u2019s a dangerous thing because people are overworked; they\u2019re tired and broken down.
\n\n\n\nGrounded By The Grind
\n\n\n\nMany people have even left this world early because of that and were never able to enjoy the fruits of their labors. And the others, even if they lived, when they finally retire they are broken people; they have bad hearts or diabetes. The grind of the workweek has ground them down and when they finally retire, they’re old and sick; they\u2019re not able to enjoy their retirement.
\n\n\n\nAlong comes the blessing of Shabbos, one day every week, and the Jew retires in the prime of his life. He doesn\u2019t retire to the old age home or to doctors\u2019 appointments in Manhattan. He retires to his home, to his family, to good meals and happy times. That\u2019s what the Kuzari points out; he says that the Jew retires every week for one day while he\u2019s still young. And that means that Shabbos is a blessing for your health. The Yom Menuchah becomes actually a day of recovery and convalescence from the labor of the week.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no question that Shabbos saves a lot of people from premature deaths. I\u2019m not talking now about the fact that we can\u2019t travel on the highways. Just the fact that we\u2019re forbidden from getting into our cars is a gift, because Shabbos is the day when there\u2019s the biggest number of traffic casualties. Do you know how many gentiles would remain alive if it wasn’t for Saturday? Every Saturday, while we\u2019re sitting at the Shabbos table eating our challah and fish, they\u2019re smashing up on the highways. That’s an important point; the fact that you cannot drive on Shabbos is life insurance. It’s a very important point.
\n\n\n\nSweet Blessed Sleep
\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m not speaking about that. Just the fact that a person rests and sleeps, he\u2019s rehabilitated. Not to work \u2013 now most people who don\u2019t work won\u2019t appreciate the subject that much, but working people they\u2019re waiting for Shabbos. Uh! You can hardly bear until Shabbos comes. Ah! Shabbos! Shabbos is a ta\u2019anug, not to work.
\n\n\n\nIt doesn\u2019t mean that you should climb into your pajamas and remain there all Shabbos \u2013 there are too many other Shabbos blessings that you\u2019ll lose out on if you sleep all day long. But there\u2019s no question that sleep is extremely important for our health, and therefore, included in the schar Shabbos is that because of Shabbos, many people are able to survive the week \u2013 otherwise, they would collapse from lack of sleep.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not only a day of rest, that we rest physically. Shabbos is also a day of menuchas hanefesh, when our spirit rests. You know what a prophylactic, what a healing that is, one day when your mind is relieved? The fact is that many Jews would have completely worn themselves out with worries and anxieties; but every week Shabbos comes, and they banish all these thoughts from their head. We can\u2019t even talk about anything! If a Jew expresses a worry on Shabbos, everybody else says, \u201cShah! It\u2019s Shabbos today. Don\u2019t talk about it!\u201d That\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be. That\u2019s how Jews are expected to live \u2013 you don\u2019t talk about anything sad on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nOptimistic Life
\n\n\n\nAnd so for one day, we have respite, a rest from all worries. And there\u2019s no question, the psychological benefit is inestimable. You know what that means in terms of health? In terms of longevity? It\u2019s blessings upon blessings upon blessings. It\u2019s health and life and menuchas hanefesh.
\n\n\n\nIf once every six days you take vacation and you enjoy life, it\u2019s going to make the other six days much different. The whole week becomes different. That\u2019s why the Jew lives a more happy life, a more optimistic life, than anybody else. Even if he\u2019s not a thinking man, just this, that every six days he goes on vacation, it changes his life. His life is punctuated with relaxation every six days. The Jew was always more optimistic about this world, more capable of living successfully than all the nations of the world, because when Shabbos came, he relaxed his body and his mind.
\n\n\n\nBut not only do we rest our bodies and relax our minds, but Shabbos means oneg Shabbos; it\u2019s a day of good times. On the seventh day it\u2019s a special mitzvah to have a good time in this world.
\n\n\n\nA Day of Pleasure
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why on Shabbos we are required to eat things that we like and to add a meal, a third one. Even if you’re a poor man, whatever you’re eating, you should try to smack your lips and feel how delicious it is. A piece of bread, how delicious it is on Shabbos! If you have more than that, surely.
\n\n\n\nThere was one tzaddik who used to gorge himself every Shabbos in order to feel the taste of more and more food. I\u2019m not recommending that. You shouldn\u2019t do things that are injurious to your health. But there’s no question it’s a very big mitzvah to put upon the table every kind of delicacy that you can afford in order to honor the Shabbos. In what way? All the ways.
\n\n\n\nNow, I have to explain something to you. Some people don\u2019t appreciate what oneg Shabbos is capable of doing for a person; oneg Shabbos is one of those brachos of Shabbos that is capable of transforming a person\u2019s life!
\n\n\n\nLife Transformation
\n\n\n\nShabbos is a day to enjoy, in order to feel how great the kindness of Hashem is to us. Shabbos, you know, commemorates the creation of the world out of nothing and that Hashem made a world of Kindliness. One of the best ways of bringing that truth into our heads is by means of our stomachs. You should feel the kindness of Hashem in the pleasant tastes of Shabbos. As you take your first bite of the challah, you\u2019re thinking, ahh, Hashem created this out of nothing! And then you take another bite, \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4. Ahhh, He did it out of Kindliness, for me to enjoy!
\n\n\n\nNow, once you get busy practicing that up, your life becomes a different life. Not only does it add to the happiness of Shabbos, it adds to the happiness of life. Oneg Shabbos becomes a lubricant for the weekdays too. When your Shabbos is a day of happiness, a day spent with the family, sitting together around the table and singing zemiros, eating good food. Shabbos changes the whole week. Sunday is different and Monday is different. Your whole life is different.
\n\n\n\nPrison of Happiness
\n\n\n\nBut even more than that, Shabbos protects the Am Yisroel in a more important way. When we rest on Shabbos we turn inwards; we are forced to turn our backs on the outside world. You don’t go to work on Shabbos. You don’t go to school on Shabbos. You can’t even travel on Shabbos. You’re stuck at home.
\n\n\n\nDid you ever hear about Shabbos being a prison? I heard that already. A girl, a chassidishe Orthodox girl, called me up from the insane asylum and she was complaining to me; she said, \u201cShabbos is a prison.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat can I tell her? She never learned that it\u2019s a great gift to have one day that we isolate ourselves from the outside. Shabbos you’re homebound, community-bound, and that means that Shabbos causes us to be kept apart – at least one day in the week – from contact with the nations of the world.
\n\n\n\nThe Mean Rabbi
\n\n\n\nEven on the street you can’t associate with the gentiles, you have to be careful. Let’s say if a ball is thrown by a gentile child into the street and he says, \u201cMister, if you don’t mind, give me that ball.\u201d You can’t do it. It’s very embarrassing.
\n\n\n\nI once passed by a ballfield near Downstate Hospital where medical students were playing and the ball came over the fence near me on the sidewalk. So they called out to me, \u201cPlease throw us the ball.\u201d But I couldn\u2019t. I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I can\u2019t\u201d. I shrugged and went on. So they said, \u201cThank you, rabbi.\u201d It was quite embarrassing. The medical students were thinking, \u201cHere is a rabbi and he\u2019s a mean fellow\u201d. Actually I\u2019m not. On the weekdays I don’t hesitate. I pick up the balls all the time and hurl it back to them. I always do that. But I couldn’t do it on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nA Day For The Environment
\n\n\n\nShabbos forces us to keep away from everybody except your own. On Shabbos we are protected. We’re in a holy environment; the am kadosh retires to its homes and we separate from the outside world. On Shabbos you cannot tune in on the radio. Your mind cannot be polluted by the lies and the evil of the media. Unless somebody is so eager to spoil his Shabbos that he brings in a newspaper. You shouldn’t read newspapers on Shabbos. Protect your Sanctuary against invasion by foreigners!
\n\n\n\nOf course there are happy things to do too on Shabbos. We eat meals on Shabbos, and we put on special garments for Shabbos, and we rest on Shabbos. But the entire time in the Sanctuary is a period of sacred diversions, of holy occupations. We’re alone with our families and our friends, our communities. For one day, we are alone with the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNow to be separate from the nations of the world that\u2019s of inestimable benefit. That’s one of the blessings of Shabbos. Do you realize how many blessings come as a result of that? Shabbos is a refuge for our nation and from that came forth numberless mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nA Day For Mishpacha
\n\n\n\nThere was a man who came here once, a Reform Jew who came to New York from Philadelphia, and he was trying to convince me that the gentiles are \u201cfamily people\u201d, that we should be jealous of them.
\n\n\n\nHe says that he went to a treifeh restaurant on Saturday night and in that restaurant he saw a family gathering of Italians; they came together for the New Year or something else and they were eating together, eating and talking and laughing. And this person said to me, \u201cWe, Jews, unfortunately don\u2019t have such things.\u201d That\u2019s what this Reform Jew from Philadelphia told me. He was so jealous \u2013 a big family gathering of Italians. He saw the brotherhood of a family when they came together. \u201cWhy can\u2019t Jews do that too?\u201d he wanted to know.
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that the Jewish nation does that every week. The truth is that no nation in the world enjoys family ties as does the Am Yisroel. Every week, no matter what. It\u2019s a great happiness when the father and mother and sons and daughters are together for an entire day. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05d7\u05b7\u05d3. It\u2019s a great pleasure when family comes together! They find solace and comfort in each one\u2019s company. Nobody has such opportunities like the Jewish people because Shabbos is the day of the family. It\u2019s the Yom Mishpacha. Every week the Jewish nation comes together and they renew their family ties.
\n\n\n\nWhere\u2019s Waldo?
\n\n\n\nOnly that this ignorant Reform Jew, he gave it all away. He sits down at the table and he looks around for his son.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhere\u2019s Jerry?\u201d he asks his wife.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHe drove to his friends in Manhattan tonight.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat about Dorothy? Where is she?
\n\n\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s at the library studying for her exams.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe went there. She went there. It\u2019s not a family. Your children are using your home just as a dormitory and they\u2019re living off of your largesse. You’re supporting them but they do what they want.
\n\n\n\nThe Royal Family
\n\n\n\nBut the Am Yisroel, the ones who are loyal to the Torah and plant the seeds of Shabbos in their lives, they reap the benefits of Shabbos. The fact that the Jew is forced to be together on Shabbos with his family, is a blessing that is immeasurable \u2013 only that we\u2019re so accustomed to it, that we forget to appreciate it. We become oblivious to the blessings of family that Shabbos brings.
\n\n\n\nShabbos makes the family an organization. Everyone comes together; the father sits at the head of the table and near him sits the queen and all the children, the princes and princesses, sit around the table. You see your children. You can talk to them. They have a certain responsibility towards you. It\u2019s a real family.
\n\n\n\nNow, that family unit is of most precious importance to us because happiness in our lives is usually measured in terms of family nachas. It\u2019s so important to preserve the family, to be together at all times, and build that family unit of kindness and warmth and camaraderie. And that’s what the Shabbos gives among its many blessings.
\n\n\n\nA Day For Ami
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not merely the blessing of the immediate family; Shabbos is a day when the Am Yisroel becomes a family again. Shabbos is for the community too because it\u2019s a day when you can associate with your friends in the beis haknesses or in the yeshivah. Shabbos causes Jews to be identified with their community.
\n\n\n\nLook at the irreligious Jews lehavdil. They’re not identified. They’re lost. Each one is an orphan. They don’t have friends. They make friends casually; they\u2019ll see each other here and there by accident. But Shabbos means that you have a community. Whether you’re this community or that community, you belong to a group of people. It’s your address.
\n\n\n\nThese people, many times, help out in a time of need. Many times they supply friendship to you. People ask where you were last week and they hear that something happened and people sympathize. Many people have been rescued from business disasters by their friends in the synagogue.
\n\n\n\nPeople come together and to a certain extent they are all one family. When there\u2019s some problem for the Jewish nation or for the local people, they make it their business to solve it on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nA Day for Appeals
\n\n\n\nIn the olden days when Jews came together on Shabbos, they didn\u2019t speak only divrei Torah. They spoke divrei chol too. What did they speak about? \u201cWhat\u2019s going on with Reb Yankev?\u201d they asked. \u201cAll week he is wearing his Shabbosdige kapoteh.\u201d They noticed that. It means he has no clothing left. He\u2019s poor. All week he wears a Shabbosdige kapote. So they got together to think of ways and means of helping him. Jews came together on Shabbos because that\u2019s when they had time to meet and they planned how to help.
\n\n\n\nSomebody said, \u201cYou know, Reb Berel is in trouble. He has to pay the government because of something that they\u2019re suspecting him about and we have to bribe the officials to get him out of trouble.\u201d So the Jews came together, a pidyon shvuyim. Shabbos was the day when money was collected, when they appealed among people privately and they raised sums to help everybody.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Shabbos was a mekor habrachah for all the needy of our people. It\u2019s a remarkable thing! Shabbos doesn\u2019t mean you come to shul to daven and then you go home. You don\u2019t merely come for that. Everybody comes to worry about all their neighbors, what\u2019s happening with them, what they need and they put their heads together to solve problems and to help the needy of our people.
\n\n\n\nThe Princely Pauper
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that Shabbos was a blessing for the poorer Jews even without tzedakah. Because on Shabbos every Jew became a prince or a princess. If not for the Shabbos, generations and generations of Jews who were poor would never change their garments. But Jews put on bigdei Shabbos, they change their clothes in honor of this great day. And so, even the wagon driver, when he came home Friday just before Shabbos, he took off his big boots. They were filthy with manure. And his clothing sloshed with mud, and he quickly took a little bath. He put on his Shabbos garments, and he was transformed.
\n\n\n\nFrom a hard-working servant he became like a king now, and he marched off to shul with his hands behind his back, slowly, with kavod, like a prince. The Shabbos changed us and made us a nation of dignity. They dressed up on Shabbos, and they all looked like kings. Even the poorest dressed up on Shabbos, and they walked to the beis haknesses with their families.
\n\n\n\nRabbi Miller\u2019s Favorite Subject
\n\n\n\nI want to add one more thing \u2013 there\u2019s much more but this one is my favorite subject and I can\u2019t leave it out. Among the great benefits of Shabbos is the opportunity to study Torah. Ahh! Talmud Torah! And if you think that\u2019s a small thing, you have to know that \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 the Torah is the very biggest of all gifts; it is the core of our nation. We are the Am Hasefer, the People of the Book, and Shabbos is the day that made that happen. The Torah was given on Shabbos for that purpose to let us know it\u2019s \u201cA Day of Torah\u201d.
\n\n\n\nIn the very ancient times, when Jews came together on Shabbos, it was all day long in the beis hamedrash. Mammesh all day. The Syrian Greeks when they spoke about the Jews, when they describe us in their chronicles, they always spoke about the Jewish Sabbath houses, how the Jews spent all Shabbos in the houses of study. Besides being with their families for the seudah, and a short nap, they were gathered together and studying.
\n\n\n\nI remember in the old country, in Europe, the shuls were packed on Shabbos. It was a time when everybody looked in a sefer. Some said only Tehillim. Some went to learn Ein Yaakov. Some learned Gemara. But everyone was in the shul. On Shabbos the Am Yisroel all went to school. \u2018Schule\u2019 means school. They called it shul. They went to shul on Shabbos, to school, and they learned. The Am Hasefer, the People of the Book, gained on Shabbos a great deal of intelligence. That was one of the glories of Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nRabbi Miller\u2019s Shabbos
\n\n\n\nToday it\u2019s the same thing. We have people who come here Friday night. They come here about seven, seven-thirty and they sit here learning till almost eleven-thirty at night. They\u2019re working people, professionals. They sit here in the shul for four hours on Friday night. Some a little less. On Shabbos afternoon people come to study here; on the longer days they study all day long Shabbos afternoon, in groups and individuals.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a gift that Shabbos brings into the home all week long. A home where the father is in kollel all Shabbos long is a different home. The children are different children, the wife is a different wife, a different mother. It\u2019s a matan schar of Shabbos that reverberates all week long in the home.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the especial gift of Shabbos. It reverberates in our lives in so many ways. The Shabbos brings Torah into the home. It confers upon the Am Yisroel dignity and physical health and mental health. Shabbos brings along with it tzedakah and chesed and family and community and happiness and oneg and protection from the outside world. Shabbos is endless matan schar!
\n\n\n\nBlessings On The Surface
\n\n\n\nNow, Rabbosai, there\u2019s no question that I haven\u2019t even yet scratched the surface of what it means \u2018the Gift of Shabbos\u2019. There are many more things; we\u2019re just beginning. And you can be sure that the Jews who were sitting in the Midbar and listening to Moshe Rabbeinu were enlightened a million times more than you heard tonight. There are so many benefits that the Torah Jew receives from the Shabbos, so much schar Shabbos, that it would be presumptuous of me to imagine I could tell them to you \u2013 even if we could sit here together and speak for the rest of our lives, it wouldn\u2019t be enough.
\n\n\n\nAnd we\u2019re not talking yet about the ikkar of Shabbos, about utilizing the Shabbos the way Hakodosh Baruch Hu intended. We\u2019re speaking now only about being impressed with the outward blessings of Shabbos, the side benefits that spring forth from the Shabbos day, but actually we\u2019re expected to become philosophers on Shabbos, to become thinkers.
\n\n\n\nThe greatest blessing of the day is when you spend time thinking about the lessons of Shabbos. About briyas ha\u2019olam yeish mei\u2019ayin, how Hakodosh Baruch Hu created the world out of nothing. About how Shabbos is our badge of honor, the day that is an \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc. Other things too. On Shabbos we should be thinking about the Yom Shekulo Shabbos which is Olam Haba. We should think about the Mann that fell and the lessons of bitachon we learn from that. All of that is very important; very very important. That\u2019s what Shabbos is for; for creating a Shabbos Mind.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not our subject tonight. We\u2019re talking about the \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc that\u2019s \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9, the rewards of Shabbos, the seeds that are planted in the garden of Shabbos that create new gardens. Shabbos is the most special treasure because \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9, you’ll never know what a great reward the Shabbos holds in store for us because it\u2019s never-ending. It’s not merely a gold mine under our feet. It’s endless. It’s a gold mine that goes through and through the earth and continues until eternity.
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAppreciating the Gifts of Shabbos
\n\n\n\nShabbos is an endless fountain of gifts from Hashem which He wants us to appreciate. This week I will bli neder set aside some time each day to think about Shabbos and to recognize how much benefit Shabbos brings me. Every day I will spend one minute thinking about the happiness Hashem bestows on us on the special day – the day of Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 106 – Preface To Shabbos 1 | 482 – Preface to Shabbos 6 | 536 – Preface to Shabbos 8 | 791 – Ten Aspects of Shabbos | E-38 – Blessings of Shabbos | E-109 – Patience
\nThe post Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T20:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T05:57:35+00:00" }, { "id": 36674, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-beshalach-5783-gifts-of-shabbos/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos", "content_html": "TA-Beshalach-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Beshalach 5783 – Gifts of Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T20:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T05:54:44+00:00" }, { "id": 36703, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/new-videos/", "title": "New Videos", "content_html": "\nTo view updated videos, please visit our new website
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe post New Videos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T17:11:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-29T17:11:43+00:00" }, { "id": 36699, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-old-is-the-world/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How Old Is The World", "content_html": "\nQ:
How do I answer someone who shows me the recent article about evolution in the Jewish Action magazine and he\u2019s trying to tell me that evolution is true, only that it was caused by Hashem?\ufeff
A:
The answer is,\u00a0Bereishis bara Elokim.\u00a0And it says there what He did on the first day, and on the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day and Shabbos was the seventh day. The seventh day, not the seventh period of a billion years. Shabbos was the seventh day. A one-day Shabbos. And if it\u2019s a one-day Shabbos, then the sixth day was also one day. And the fifth day was one day, and the fourth day as well. That\u2019s how all of our\u00a0kadmonim\u00a0have learned\u00a0pshat. And anybody who comes along and says differently is influenced by the\u00a0reshaim.\u00a0
Let me explain something to you. Today there is no excuse at all to be influenced by the\u00a0reshaim. There is a movement of scientists towards a belief in the creation of the world as we believe it. Many scientists \u2013 they are Christians but many of them are outstanding scientists \u2013 have written many\u00a0works, books and research papers and scholarly articles,\u00a0showing that the world is young. It\u2019s a young world. There are now many independent ways of showing that. They can show it from the Niagara Falls, according to the breaking down, the erosion, of the rocks over which the falls descend. At that rate, it shows that it is something that happened within thousands of years. It has only been a few thousand years.
In his two great works, Worlds in Collision and Ages in Chaos, Velikovsky has shown that a very great destruction took place recently in this world. That\u2019s why in some places they find whales on top of mountains. Whales on top of mountains?! Yes, because there were oceans there. A great flood changes things. Even smaller floods make great changes. The\u00a0Mabul\u00a0could change things in quick ways. Changes that others try to explain with millions and billions of years.\u00a0
Now, why do they try to explain it with millions of years? Not because they have evidence. They have no clear evidence that it was millions of years. They have absolutely no evidence that it was millions of years. It\u2019s only because evolution cannot happen without those years. Even the\u00a0meshuganeh, crazy idea that from one cell a whole organism developed, couldn\u2019t happen in those years. It\u2019s as stupid as possible. It\u2019s like saying that from a fountain pen, a typewriter will develop. Or a computer. They create millions of years because it would take many gradual changes to accumulate \u2013 many miraculous changes \u2013 in order for an organism to develop. But even that is as silly as can be.
But today there are scientists who show that the world is a young world. So why do you have to be more pious than these gentiles? There are plenty of gentile scientists who say that the world is young and that the world was created in six days. They say that we don\u2019t have to look for anything more than six days. And anybody who yields to the outside environment is only being influenced by his assimilation into the outside world. It\u2019s the assimilation of your mind into the foolishness and lies of the outside world. We shouldn\u2019t yield to the environment. And we have plenty of good reasons not to. First of all, and most important,\u00a0the Torah tells us the truth. All the\u00a0Gedolei Yisroel\u00a0of all the generations never countenanced such a thing like it says in that article. That the Nachmanides,\u00a0the Ramban,\u00a0wouldn\u2019t mind saying that Adam and apes came from the same source?! That\u2019s such a\u00a0shtus. An apikorsis. A terrible\u00a0chillul Hashem\u00a0what the Jewish Action did!
And it\u2019s not only our Torah, our\u00a0mesorah. We\u00a0have scientists;\u00a0people who have credentials;\u00a0writers, researchers. And a whole army of them. And they say that there is absolutely no evidence at all for evolution. So, besides our\u00a0Torah ha\u2019shleimah\u00a0\u2013 and the Torah speaks openly about it \u2013\u00a0the facts of science speak to us too. So why listen to the falsified science of those who want to reject the truth? Listen to the true science of the others. And those who listen to the falsified science are just weaklings who are buckling and yielding to the wicked environment.
TAPE # E-238 (July 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on How Old Is The World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-29T16:04:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-29T16:04:52+00:00" }, { "id": 36671, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/mi-madre-y-mi-esposa/", "title": "Mi madre y mi esposa ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeba un hombre decirle algo a su madre si sabe que su madre le est\u00e1 diciendo cosas desagradables a su esposa?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Ay! \u00a1Esa es una pregunta importante! \u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer un hombre cuando sabe que su madre se est\u00e1 entrometiendo? Est\u00e1 abriendo la boca sobre temas en los que no deber\u00eda involucrarse o est\u00e1 diciendo cosas poco halag\u00fce\u00f1as a su esposa y est\u00e1 causando fricciones.
\n\n\n\nDice en la Tor\u00e1: \u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05e2\u05d6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7 \u05d1\u05d0\u05e9\u05ea\u05d5 \u2013 Por tanto, el hombre abandonar\u00e1 a su padre y a su madre y se adherir\u00e1 a su esposa. Si ve que uno de sus padres est\u00e1 interfiriendo en su vida familiar o est\u00e1 causando angustia a su esposa, debe aclararle a su madre que ella no debe hacer eso. \u00a1\u00c9l no deber\u00eda dudar! Ese es su deber como esposo. \u00a1\u00c9l debe intervenir!
\n\n\n\nY no s\u00f3lo defender a su esposa; discutir con su madre. Debe decirle as\u00ed: \u201cMadre, cuando surja este tema, por favor no digas una palabra. \u00a1No puedes decirle esas cosas a mi esposa!” Y que lo diga con un poco de maldad. Ahora bien, tal vez ella se enoje; entonces habr\u00e1 una pelea, pero esa pelea salvar\u00e1 a mil. \u00a1Hay que hacerlo de una vez por todas! El esposo debe evitar que su madre se convierta en una fuente de conflicto en la casa. De lo contrario, no hay final; se abrir\u00e1 una caja de problemas que no tiene fin.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #154 (febrero de 1977)
\nThe post Mi madre y mi esposa appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-27T05:00:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T05:00:25+00:00" }, { "id": 36669, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/declarar-que-alguien-es-tonto/", "title": "Declarar que alguien es tonto", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nA veces vemos en la Guemar\u00e1 que los jajamim de \u00c9retz Israel se referir\u00edan a los jud\u00edos de Babel como \u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, tontos babilonios. \u00bfC\u00f3mo encaja eso con la idea de que se supone que no debes ridiculizar a la gente?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, \u201cEstos necios babilonios\u201d. Cuando los Jajm\u00e9 HaTor\u00e1 de \u00c9retz Israel quer\u00edan enfatizar una buena pr\u00e1ctica o una buena actitud, ten\u00edan que lidiar con el hecho de que algunas personas en Babel pensaban de manera diferente. Y entonces, a veces, la tonter\u00eda hay que mencionarla. Si debes se\u00f1alar que es tipshut, tonter\u00eda, no significa que todos los Babli\u00edm sean tipshim; no significa que Rava y Abaie fueran tipshim, no. Pero hay \u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9. Tienes que se\u00f1alarlo; \u00a1tienes que ser claro y franco!
\n\n\n\nSi la gente tiene malas actitudes o malas acciones, tienes que decirlo; \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no? Digamos, si la gente en Estados Unidos, digamos jud\u00edos ortodoxos modernos, que se juntan con agunot – convenciones de agunot, entonces dices \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05e7\u05d0\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, “Esos tontos estadounidenses”. Se juntan y alaban a todas las agunot. Algunas de estas agunot son agunot hechas a s\u00ed mismas. \u00bfC\u00f3mo se convirtieron en agunot? Se enfada con su marido y llama a la polic\u00eda. As\u00ed que echa a su marido de la casa y la polic\u00eda emite una orden de protecci\u00f3n. \u00a1Ech\u00f3 a su marido de la casa! \u00bfDeber\u00eda ser feliz? Ciertamente \u00e9l no quiere darle un guet. No lo culpo. \u201cTambi\u00e9n es mi casa\u201d, dice. Ella lo ech\u00f3 de su casa. Entonces “\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d2\u05d5\u05e0\u05ea \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9” y “\u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9”. Ciertamente, hay que condenar la maldad.
\n\n\n\nHay una cierta sinagoga en Manhattan donde el rabino contrat\u00f3 a dos mujeres como pasantes. \u00bfSabes lo que significa pasantes? Hablaban, y los hombres las escuchaban. S\u00f3lo cosas malas resultaron de eso. Luego, despu\u00e9s de un par de a\u00f1os, lo par\u00f3; pero ya era demasiado tarde. Es una cosa terrible. \u00a1Un tipesh! \u00a1Un tonto! As\u00ed es como puedes describir a ese rabino. \u00bfQu\u00e9 m\u00e1s deber\u00eda decir sobre \u00e9l? \u00a1Es un shot\u00e9! \u00a1Peor que un shot\u00e9! La gente tiene que saber eso.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tenemos que decir claramente que los reformistas son peores que los shotim. Algunos rabinos son incluso peores que los shotim. Los que proponen el matrimonio homosexual – es dif\u00edcil encontrar adjetivos para describir eso. Debemos decir algo al respecto. \u00a1Absolutamente!
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-234 (mayo de 2000)
\nThe post Declarar que alguien es tonto appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-27T04:57:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T04:57:52+00:00" }, { "id": 36666, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%9c-%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%93%d7%90%d7%95%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%a2-%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%a9%d7%91/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d4: \u05e6\u05d9\u05dc \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d3\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df, \u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05e2\u05d3\u05d6\u05e9", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-255The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d4: \u05e6\u05d9\u05dc \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d3\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df, \u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05e2\u05d3\u05d6\u05e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-27T04:53:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-27T04:53:26+00:00" }, { "id": 36662, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-my-mother-and-my-wife/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on My\u00a0Mother\u00a0and My\u00a0Wife", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a man say anything to his mother if he knows his mother is saying not nice things to his wife?
A:
Ah! That\u2019s an important question! What should a man do when he knows his mother is butting in? She\u2019s opening her mouth about subjects she shouldn\u2019t be getting involved in or she\u2019s saying uncomplimentary things to your wife and it\u2019s causing friction.
It states in the Torah, \u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05e2\u05d6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7 \u05d1\u05d0\u05e9\u05ea\u05d5 \u2013 Therefore a man forsakes his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife. If he sees that one of his parents is interfering in his family life or is causing distress to his wife, he must make it clear to his mother that she should not do that. He shouldn\u2019t hesitate! That\u2019s his duty as a husband. He must step in!
And not just to defend his wife; to argue with his mother and go back and forth. No; he says like this: \u201cMother,\u201d he says, \u201cwhen this subject comes up, please do not say one word. You cannot say such things to my wife!\u201d And let him say it with a little bit of viciousness. Now, maybe she\u2019ll get angry; so there\u2019ll be one fight, but that one fight will save a thousand. It must be done once and for all! The husband must prevent his mother from becoming a source of conflict in the house. Otherwise, there\u2019s no end; a box of troubles will open up that has no end.
TAPE # 154 (February 1977)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on My\u00a0Mother\u00a0and My\u00a0Wife appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-26T22:14:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-26T22:14:35+00:00" }, { "id": 36658, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-calling-out-stupidity/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Calling Out Stupidity", "content_html": "\nQ:
Sometimes we see in the\u00a0Gemara\u00a0that the\u00a0chachomim\u00a0in Eretz Yisroel would refer to the Jews in Bavel as\u00a0\u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, those foolish Babylonians.\u00a0How does that fit\u00a0with the idea that\u00a0you\u2019re not supposed to ridicule people?
A:
\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, \u201cThese foolish Babylonians.\u201d\u00a0When the\u00a0chachmai haTorah\u00a0in Eretz Yisroel wanted to emphasize a good practice or a good attitude, they had to contend with the fact that some people in Bavel did it differently or thought differently. And so sometimes foolishness has to be called out for\u00a0what it is.\u00a0So if you must point out that it\u2019s\u00a0tipshus,\u00a0foolishness,\u00a0it doesn\u2019t mean that all the Bavliyim are\u00a0tipshim;\u00a0it doesn\u2019t mean that Rava and Abaye were\u00a0tipshim,\u00a0no. But\u00a0there\u00a0are\u00a0\u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9. You have to point it out;\u00a0you have to be clear-cut and\u00a0outspoken!\u00a0
If people have wrong attitudes or wrong deeds, you have to say so;\u00a0why not? Let say, if people in America, let\u2019s say Modern Orthodox Jews, who come together with\u00a0agunos\u00a0\u2013 agunah conventions, so you say \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05e7\u05d0\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9, \u201cThose foolish Americans.\u201d\u00a0They come together and praise all the\u00a0agunos. Some of these\u00a0agunos\u00a0are self-made\u00a0agunos. How did they become\u00a0agunos? She gets angry at her husband, and she calls in the police. So she drives her husband out of the house, and the police issue an order of protection. She threw\u00a0her husband out of the house!\u00a0Should he be happy? Certainly he doesn\u2019t want to give her a\u00a0gett. I don\u2019t blame him. \u201cIt\u2019s my house too,\u201d he says.\u00a0She drove him out of his house. So \u201c\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d2\u05d5\u05e0\u05ea \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9\u201d\u00a0and \u201c\u05d1\u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d8\u05e4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d9\u201d. Certainly, you have to condemn wickedness.
There\u2019s a certain synagogue in Manhattan\u00a0where the rabbi hired two women as interns. Do you know what interns means? They spoke, and men were listening to them. Only bad things resulted from that.\u00a0Later, after a couple of years, he stopped it;\u00a0but it was too late already.\u00a0It\u2019s a terrible thing. A\u00a0tipesh!\u00a0A fool!\u00a0That\u2019s how you can describe that rabbi. What else should I say about him? He\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0shoteh!\u00a0Worse than a\u00a0shoteh!\u00a0People have to know that.
So we have to say clearly, that the reformers are worse than\u00a0shotim. Some rabbis are even worse than\u00a0shotim.\u00a0The ones who propose gay marriage \u2013 it\u2019s\u00a0hard to find adjectives even to describe that. We should say something about it. Absolutely!
TAPE #\u00a0E-234 (May 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Calling Out Stupidity appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-26T22:06:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-26T22:06:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36652, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-danger-of-misgendering/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Danger of Misgendering", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is it that Hashem is referred to as \u201cHe\u201d or \u201cHim\u201d? Why don\u2019t we say \u201cShe\u201d or \u201cHer\u201d?
A:
Because we\u2019re not completely meshuga yet. We didn\u2019t get there just yet.
Look; here\u2019s a man and he has a beard. A woman has no beard, right? You\u2019ve see many women in your life and you\u2019re yet to see a woman with a beard. And a man is taller than a woman. A woman is the shorter of the two. That\u2019s how Hashem made this world; the man is the more powerful. He\u2019s stronger, bigger, and he instills more fear.
\n\n\n\nSo, if you\u2019re going to choose a model, a model for one who\u2019s in charge of the world, are you going to choose the model of a soft, sweet woman?! Isn\u2019t that being ridiculous?!
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why we have a government today that takes our money to pay women to be policewomen. Because people are stupid. People are ridiculous. I\u2019m walking down Kings Highway, and here\u2019s a policeman, six feet high, and standing next to him is a policewoman who is up to his belly-button! It\u2019s a joke, a waste of our money. It\u2019s just liberal window-dressing that costs us money for nothing.
\n\n\n\nThe whole idea of elevating women to places of power, is nothing but the insanity of the liberals. Women are dignified and are to be honored and the Jewish women are a treasure; they are the foundation of our nation. But do they represent strength and power and control? Does the woman signify might? And therefore, there is no question that when you speak of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, we speak of Him as a man.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 990 (December 1994)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Danger of Misgendering appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-25T22:36:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-25T22:36:33+00:00" }, { "id": 36648, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-utilizing-rosh-chodesh/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Utilizing Rosh Chodesh", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s so special about Rosh Chodesh that we say Hallel and that it\u2019s called a \u05de\u05d5\u05e2\u05d3?
A:
There are three elements that can be easily seen in every Rosh Chodesh. And if you ignore them or just think about them in a superficial manner, then you are wasting a valuable opportunity. And many people do waste this opportunity. Yes, many people.
First of all, we must look back and thank Hashem for letting us live through the past month. Do you think that it\u2019s a small thing to live a whole month?! Many people haven\u2019t made it to this Rosh Chodesh. Boruch Hashem we\u2019re still around! Boruch Hashem! And that\u2019s why we say Hallel. Hallel is to thank Hashem for the past month.
Now, Rosh Chodesh is also a \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd (Musaf Davening Rosh Chodesh). It\u2019s an opportunity for a kaparah, an atonement, for the sins we did in the past month. Look back and remind yourself of the things you did wrong during the past month. Not only the things you did wrong but even more important \u2013 the good things that you didn\u2019t do. What a loss. What a loss! Look back and do teshuva. It\u2019s a \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4, a special opportunity for teshuva and atonement.
And the third element is that it\u2019s a \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 for the upcoming month \u2013 it\u2019s a special day for davening. At minimum you must say \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 \u2013 the words of \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 are an important tefillah for the coming month \u2013 but you can daven much more than that on Rosh Chodesh.
So these are the three elements. Again: One is to thank Hashem for the past month. That\u2019s Hallel. And the second is to be \u05de\u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 to examine your deeds of the past month and do teshuva. That\u2019s \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4. And the third is to ask Hashem for help for the coming month. These are very important ideas. And that\u2019s why Rosh Chodesh is a very important occasion \u2013 it\u2019s reminding you, another month just went by.
You think that a month is a small thing in our lives?! A month is not a day. It\u2019s not a week either. It\u2019s a whole month! That\u2019s a big slice of life! If you look back and you see that you didn\u2019t accomplish anything in the past month then you should be worried. Yes, you should worry. And make up your mind that in the next month you\u2019re going to start doing all the good things that you hear here. At least that. Get busy doing all these good things next month \u2013 make up your mind that a month shouldn\u2019t be wasted.
TAPE E-266 (February 2001)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Utilizing Rosh Chodesh appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-25T22:22:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-25T22:22:22+00:00" }, { "id": 36644, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-starving-talmid-chochom/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Starving Talmid Chochom", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is it that causes a young man who is learning Torah and is seemingly doing well in his studies to feel dissatisfied and to yearn for success elsewhere?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat can only be due to his lack of understanding of Torah.\u00a0 And that could happen because many people learn Torah\u00a0\u00a0like they learn accounting\u00a0l\u2019havdil.\u00a0\u00a0And even though they have quick minds and they can repeat the shiurim, but it\u2019s not approached by them in the right way and it\u2019s not put to them in the right way. Because Torah doesn\u2019t mean only a rebbe\u2019s shiur.\u00a0 Torah means a lot of things.\u00a0 It means the spiritual content of Torah too.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when people in yeshivas, especially young boys, learn the Torah in a dry desiccated way without the idealism it leaves them hungry and thirsty. The soul thirsts for inspiration. There\u2019s so much in the Gemara that can inspire but unfortunately in most places they skip those things.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it\u2019s very important to do what they do in the mussar yeshivas, like they did in Europe. At least twice a week they had big dissertations on mussar; inspiring talks that spoke about the pnimiyus of Torah, that spoke about the idealism of the Torah. And therefore even those people who were assiduous in studying and were brilliant in debating Torah, they also received that vitamin that they needed.
\n\n\n\nBut when people eat only the starches and they don\u2019t get the necessary materials to augment their diet, so they can eat a lot of Torah and still be starving.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s one of the reasons why many times you find yeshiva men who are dissatisfied. Because they don\u2019t know, they don\u2019t feel the glory of Torah. If Torah is taught properly, there\u2019s no reason why he shouldn\u2019t be happy and always inspired.
\n\n\n\nTape # 177 (July 1977)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Starving Talmid Chochom appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-25T22:15:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-25T22:15:53+00:00" }, { "id": 36640, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-stubborn-lose-out/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Stubborn Lose Out", "content_html": "\nQ:
Makkas Barad it says that \u05d4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd, the ones who feared Hashem, brought their animals inside before the hail began in order to save their property. But didn\u2019t they all see what Moshe Rabeinu had been doing with the Makkos already for such a long time? How could there be anyone who wasn\u2019t yarei es Hashem?
A:
\n\n\n\nLet me tell you something. Everybody has middos; and there were many people who were opposed to Moshe Rabeinu. The Mitzri’im especially. They were angry at him, and they thought that Moshe Rabeinu was limited in his ability to do things. And even though they could be convinced because of the past nissim that took place, the akshanus in them made them stubborn and say, \u201cNo. It won’t happen.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI’ll give a mashal today. Today there is a world of evolutionists, apikorsim. But it’s been shown to them already that things are so purposefully complicated that it’s possible only if it was \u201cdesigned by a great intelligence,\u201d like one writer said. He himself said he doesn’t know who made it, but one thing is for sure, it didn\u2019t make itself. That’s out of the question. And still the evolutionists are stubborn and they continue despite all the proofs. There’s a whole literature now against them; it’s a shame to be an evolutionist today.
\n\n\n\nI saw an article in The Wall Street Journal. The title was The Church of Darwin. Darwin has a church. It’s an emunah. They believe in it, that’s all. It\u2019s stupid, it\u2019s sheker, it\u2019s impossible, but they don’t care. They believe in it anyhow.
\n\n\n\nAnd so there were people among the Egyptians who were stubborn and wouldn\u2019t listen to Moshe Rabeinu no matter what. Yes; there were plenty of them. You see that Pharaoh always continued to be stubborn and refused to listen.
\n\n\n\nNow there were some people, however, who had learned from experience to be afraid of Hashem. They had learned that. They become yarei from the previous experiences.
\n\n\n\nWhen a man becomes a\u00a0yarei\u00a0because he learned already what happened before, there’s a chochmah in him. There’s a certain chochmah of learning from experience. And by the way, \u05d5\u05d2\u05dd \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05e8\u05d1 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd\u00a0 \u2013 when the time came to go out of Mitzrayim the best people of Mitzrayim went along with them. And some of them were people who had learned\u00a0yiras shomayim.\u00a0Some Egyptians learned\u00a0yiras shomayim;\u00a0\u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05ea\u05d3\u05e2 \u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5. That was the purpose of the Makkos, and some people learned that. And they were the ones of Mitzrayim who came out. And therefore there were some who were\u00a0yarei es devar Hashem.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut why were some not yarei? Because that’s the nature of people who are wicked and refuse to acknowledge the truth no matter how many proofs they heard to convince them.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-215 (February 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Stubborn Lose Out appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-25T22:03:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-25T22:03:30+00:00" }, { "id": 36628, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-peligro-de-confundir-el-genero/", "title": "El peligro de confundir el g\u00e9nero ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se hace referencia a Hashem como \u201c\u00c9l\u201d? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no decimos \u201cElla\u201d?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPorque a\u00fan no estamos completamente meshuga\u00edm. No llegamos a ese nivel todav\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nMira; el hombre tiene barba. La mujer no tiene barba, \u00bfverdad? Has visto muchas mujeres en tu vida y a\u00fan no has visto a una mujer con barba. Y el hombre es m\u00e1s alto que la mujer. La mujer es la m\u00e1s baja de los dos. As\u00ed es como Hashem hizo este mundo; el hombre es el m\u00e1s poderoso. Es m\u00e1s fuerte, m\u00e1s grande e infunde m\u00e1s miedo.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si vas a elegir un modelo, un modelo para alguien que est\u00e1 a cargo del mundo, \u00bfvas a elegir el modelo de una mujer suave y dulce? \u00a1\u00bfNo es eso ser rid\u00edculo?!
\n\n\n\nY es por eso que hoy tenemos un gobierno que toma nuestro dinero para pagarles a las mujeres para que sean polic\u00edas. Porque la gente es est\u00fapida. La gente es rid\u00edcula. \u00a1Estoy caminando por Kings Highway, y hay un polic\u00eda, de seis pies de altura, y de pie junto a \u00e9l hay una mujer polic\u00eda que le llega al ombligo! Es una broma, una p\u00e9rdida de dinero. Es s\u00f3lo un escaparate liberal que nos cuesta dinero por nada.
\n\n\n\nToda la idea de elevar a las mujeres a lugares de poder no es m\u00e1s que la locura de los progresistas. Las mujeres son dignas y deben ser honradas y las mujeres jud\u00edas son un tesoro; ellos son los cimientos de nuestra naci\u00f3n. Pero, \u00bfrepresentan fuerza, poder y control? \u00bfLa mujer significa poder? Por lo tanto, no hay duda de que cuando hablas de Hakadosh Baruj Hu, hablamos de \u00c9l como un hombre.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #990 (diciembre de 1994)
\nThe post El peligro de confundir el g\u00e9nero appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-25T05:19:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-25T05:19:13+00:00" }, { "id": 36618, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/un-talmid-jajam-insatisfecho/", "title": "Un talmid jajam insatisfecho", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 es lo que hace que un joven que est\u00e1 estudiando Tor\u00e1 y aparentemente le va bien en sus estudios se sienta insatisfecho y buaque el \u00e9xito en otra parte?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEso s\u00f3lo puede deberse a su falta de comprensi\u00f3n de la Tor\u00e1. Y eso podr\u00eda suceder porque muchas personas estudian Tor\u00e1 como estudian contabilidad lehavdil. Y a pesar de que tienen mentes r\u00e1pidas y pueden repetir los shiurim, no lo abordan de la manera correcta y no se les presenta de la manera correcta. Porque Tor\u00e1 no significa solo el shiur de un rebe. Tor\u00e1 significa muchas cosas. Significa tambi\u00e9n el contenido espiritual de la Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, cuando las personas en las ieshivot, especialmente los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os, estudian la Tor\u00e1 de una manera seca y sin idealismo, los deja hambrientos y sedientos. El alma tiene sed de inspiraci\u00f3n. Hay tanto en la Guemar\u00e1 que puede inspirar, pero desafortunadamente en la mayor\u00eda de los lugares se saltean esas cosas.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, es muy importante hacer lo que hacen en las ieshivot de musar, como lo hicieron en Europa. Al menos dos veces por semana ten\u00edan grandes disertaciones sobre musar; charlas inspiradoras que hablaron sobre el penimiut de la Tor\u00e1 y sobre el idealismo de la Tor\u00e1. Y por lo tanto, incluso aquellas personas que eran asiduas en el estudio y eran brillantes en el debate de la Tor\u00e1, tambi\u00e9n recib\u00edan esa vitamina que necesitaban.
\n\n\n\nPero cuando las personas comen s\u00f3lo los almidones y no los materiales necesarios para aumentar su dieta, entonces pueden comer mucha Tor\u00e1 y a\u00fan as\u00ed morirse de hambre.
\n\n\n\nY esa es una de las razones por las que muchas veces encuentras hombres de ieshiv\u00e1 que est\u00e1n insatisfechos. Porque no saben, no sienten la gloria de la Tor\u00e1. Si la Tor\u00e1 se ense\u00f1a correctamente, no hay raz\u00f3n por la que no deba estar feliz y siempre inspirado.
\n\n\n\nCinta #177 (julio de 1977)
\nThe post Un talmid jajam insatisfecho appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-24T03:55:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-24T03:55:08+00:00" }, { "id": 36608, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "19-\u05d1\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-23T04:53:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-23T04:53:26+00:00" }, { "id": 36596, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bo-5783-bitachon-relying-on-hashem-2/", "title": "Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem", "content_html": "Where\u2019s Egypt?
\n\n\n\nWhen you begin learning Nach, in the beginning, in Sefer Yehoshua, you see that the Bnei Yisroel were busy conquering Eretz Canaan. That\u2019s a good part of the first many chapters of Nach. Al pi Hashem, they were fighting against various kings and tribes and taking over the land, town by town.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you think about it for a little bit there\u2019s something quite surprising about this period in our history. And that is that we don\u2019t hear anything about Mitzrayim. We\u2019re reading the Sefer Yehoshua and the Sefer Shoftim and Shmuel Aleph and Shmuel Bais, and we find no mention of Egypt. It\u2019s as if it didn\u2019t exist. Other countries, other nations, yes. They had trouble with all nations around them; Aram, Edom, Amon and Moav, the Plishtim. But Mitzrayim? Nothing.
\n\n\n\nOne mention is made. When Shaul went to battle with Amalek, so it\u2019s mentioned derech agav that one of the Amaleki slaves was an Egyptian. That\u2019s the one mention \u2013 an Egyptian slave boy! It\u2019s unusual. An Egyptian should be a slave? Egyptians weren\u2019t slaves. They were a master nation. And here\u2019s an instance where you find a Mitzri slave. But otherwise, besides for that passing story, we would think that Egypt didn\u2019t exist.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s Egypt!
\n\n\n\nNow, if you know anything about ancient history and especially about Ancient Egypt, it\u2019s a very big question. Everyone knows that Ancient Egypt was a powerful country. Already when Avrohom Avinu came to Mitzrayim he found a rich civilization, and it continued to grow and develop for a long time. And then when a once-in-a-lifetime famine wreaked havoc on the whole Middle East, Egypt, by means of its store of granaries, was the only country that remained standing. And then on the backs of Jewish slaves, they grew greater and greater after that. They were the breadbasket of the world, the superpower of those ancient days.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Egyptians were not such nice people that they kept to themselves; they always wanted to have hegemony over all the nations around them. And so how could it be that a little nation of Jews settled right next door to them and yet for five hundred years there\u2019s no mention of trouble? It\u2019s very strange! Eretz Canaan had always been the province of Egypt; it\u2019s right next door! In their own backyard, would the Egyptians allow somebody to conquer their provinces? The nation that came in from the desert was living in villages and farms, spread out in the open country, and they were easy prey for a country like Egypt. And yet we hear nothing. You don\u2019t hear a word out of Egypt. For a country like that to just disappear from the scene?! It\u2019s a remarkable fact of history.
\n\n\n\nBut actually it\u2019s only remarkable if you haven\u2019t studied this week\u2019s sedrah. You remember how the Torah describes Pharaoh\u2019s advisors begging him to reconsider his decision to keep hold of the Bnei Yisroel: \u05d4\u05b2\u05d8\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05dd \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t you see that Mitzrayim is lost already?!\u201d (Shemos 10:7) Lost already!
\n\n\n\nAnd it wasn\u2019t an exaggeration. Mitzrayim was laid so low from the makkos that it couldn\u2019t even lift up its head; they couldn\u2019t make a peep. Now, if they had been able to, if they had been the great nation they were formerly, absolutely they would have interfered constantly. The truth is, had they been anything they would have intruded constantly in the history of our people.
\n\n\n\nHistory\u2019s Hole
\n\n\n\nBut \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 they were destroyed. They were so destroyed that from the time that the Bnei Yisroel went out of Egypt, that superpower is not heard from again for hundreds of years! Everything went quiet. There is a five hundred year gap when Egypt just vanished from history.
\n\n\n\nNow this gap is so queer, so unusual in the history of the world, that it became one of the primary causes for a disruption, a big error, in the chronicles of world history. Anyone who is familiar even a little bit with the studies of the history of ancient nations knows that the secular historians are fond of making a fuss about a discrepancy of about five hundred years that they\u2019ve found between their calculations and ours.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is, I don\u2019t feel much of a need to reconcile their chronology with ours because we are the ones who have an exact chronology according to generations. We have enumerated in our Tanach every generation in sequence from the beginning of time. And Josephus, writing at the end of the second churban, says that we have in writing all the generations of our priests from Aharon Hakohen down to his time. Now, if you have our Torah chronology and also from Aharon Hakohen down to the Churban Bayis Sheini, that means you have from Adam Harishon to Churban Bayis Sheini!
\n\n\n\nSo we have pedigrees, clear-cut pedigrees, from the beginning of history. And therefore it\u2019s gratuitous, it\u2019s entirely unnecessary, for us to bother our heads to reconcile our chronology with theirs. Let them worry about reconciling their records with ours because we are the ones who have an exact chronology according to generations, every generation in sequence, from the beginning down to today.
\n\n\n\nInventing History
\n\n\n\nPeople are so na\u00efve, so weak-minded. They don\u2019t realize what\u2019s behind the secular histories. The secular histories are riddled with errors. First of all, many of the earlier historical works were rigged for the purpose of justifying the Gospels of the New Testament, books which are full of falsehoods anyhow. Calculations and chronologies were created and manipulated to promote a false narrative. And they did quite a poor job at it. It\u2019s a joke! The Christian books weren\u2019t written by scholars. Anybody who knows a little bit about their books can recognize the ignorance of the early Christian writers and the untruths as they create generations out of thin air.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Ancient Egyptian records are even more lacking. You have to understand that the ancient Egyptian records are like a palimpsest. You know what a palimpsest is? It\u2019s an old scroll written on parchment, and then someone needed some page to write on, so he erased part of the parchment and wrote something on top of the old letters. So experts who want to discover what the original writing was, they photograph the present writing, then they erase it carefully, and they try to find underneath the furrows that were caused by the stylus of the original writer. That\u2019s a job for experts. It\u2019s one kind of writing imposed on another kind of writing.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s what happened in the Egyptian chronology.When the Makkos devastated Egypt for a full year, so during that desolation almost all of the Egyptian records were destroyed. And later when they began to rebuild and write again, it was like writing on top of old records. And so when Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, began to copy his history from ancient Egyptian records, what did he do? He took the two sets of records that were overlapping and he thought they were consecutive. He pieced together the ancient Egyptian chronicles that were before this period and after the period and he considered them one continuum because he didn\u2019t know there was a five hundred year gap in between when Egypt was desolate.
\n\n\n\nAges In Chaos
\n\n\n\nThis subject is explained at length in the work \u201cAges in Chaos.\u201d It\u2019s a secular Jewish writer and therefore I won\u2019t give him the honor of mentioning his name and I\u2019m not recommending that you read it either, but that\u2019s the place where it\u2019s spoken about most fully. He states there that there\u2019s a very big mixup in the secular chronology because all of the secular histories of antiquity are based on Egyptian records, and that\u2019s why they are hundreds of years out of line \u2013 because it was something unfathomable, that the once proud powerhouse, the land of Ancient Egypt, should be so utterly destroyed.
\n\n\n\nNow, our little cheder boys and our little Beis Yaakov girls, on the other hand, already know all about it. They all learn the Chumash and remember what the Egyptians themselves were saying: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 \u201cOur Egypt has gone lost.\u201d But the secular historians, what could they do? They\u2019re bumbling around in the darkness of a long-lost history and they\u2019re tripping on every little thing, making mistakes at every turn.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that today even the secular historians admit it. They\u2019ve begun to begrudgingly admit it because of ancient records they\u2019ve found. Our possuk doesn\u2019t need any proofs from the goyim but today they\u2019ve already found ancient papyri with the testimony of Egyptians who lived through the makkos. We have the Papyrus of Ipuwer. In the early 1900\u2019s a certain gentile professor published these papyri, composed by an ancient Egyptian sage who witnessed these events with his own eyes. \u201cThe river is blood \u2026 Blood is everywhere \u2026 Men shrink in disgust from tasting \u2026 That is our water \u2026 What shall we do? Everything is in ruination!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou can read the descriptions over there. \u201cThe land is turned over like a potter\u2019s wheel \u2026 there is no end to the noise \u2026 trees are destroyed \u2026 no fruit nor herbs are found \u2026 gates, walls and columns are consumed by fire \u2026 the land is left over to its weariness like the cutting of the flax \u2026 the cattle moan \u2026 all the animals, their hearts weep \u2026 there is no light in the land.\u201d (The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage From a Hieratic Papyrus in Leiden; Alan H. Gardiner)
\n\n\n\nWe Know All About It
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s news to the secular historians \u2013 these papyri were published quite recently \u2013 but we know all about it; we grew up on these stories. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d3\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd (Bo 10:15). Whatever little bit was left after the hail, was completely destroyed by the locust. There was nothing left at all. Destruction and darkness, that\u2019s all. No Nile, no vegetation, no food, no safety and security.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a remarkable thing how low Egypt was laid. The makkos were one blow after another, until everything the Mitzrim relied on was completely destroyed. Egypt was so ruined that it didn\u2019t have the nerve to get up out of the dirt! For five hundred years, they laid in the dirt prostrate!
\n\n\n\nThe Lesson
\n\n\n\nThe question is what was the purpose of such a destruction? After all, in order to allow the Bnei Yisroel to go free, no makkos and no miracles were necessary. Egypt could have had an internal revolution or some other misfortunes that would have divided them and the Bnei Yisroel could have left in a natural manner. Didn\u2019t the slaves in America go free without ten makkos? There could have been an Egyptian Abraham Lincoln too; why not? There could have been a civil war and the Bnei Yisroel would walk out to freedom without the land being destroyed. So what was the purpose of \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd?
\n\n\n\nWhen Hakodosh Boruch Hu began the series of the ten makkos, one plague after the other, He introduced them with a preface that reveals their purpose. The Torah states as clearly as could be, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Mitzrayim should know that I am Hashem! (Shemos 7:5).Or \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 in order that you should know there is none like Me in all the world (ibid. 9:14). It means, \u201cI\u2019m the Boss here\u201d.
\n\n\n\nThe ten makkos were ten courses of instruction in emunah, reminders of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But not only for Egypt \u2013 after all, the people of Mitzrayim are long gone; they\u2019re not learning anything. It\u2019s the Am Yisroel, the ones who still study sefer Shemos, who are expected to learn the lesson of \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, of why the most powerful nation of the time was laid so low that their disappearance caused a gap to appear in world history. By means of studying the destruction of Mitzrayim and why it happened, we are the ones who gain; we\u2019re the ones expected to be recipients of that lesson!
\n\n\n\nCareful What You Wish For
\n\n\n\nThere is a principle called bitachon, which means trust in Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It\u2019s most fully treated in the sefer Chovos Halevovos; there\u2019s no other work where this is spoken about at such length. And in his famous Shaar Habitachon the Chovos Halevavos says as follows: \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 In order to continue receiving some benefit that you have, you should not trust in it. It\u2019s a few words and it\u2019s easy to memorize. It means that trusting in something may cause that thing or that cause to be removed; and therefore, if you want to preserve what you have, make sure not to rely on it.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Chovos Halevavos is not coming here to give you an eitzah tovah, how to keep your property safe. He\u2019s not interested in that right now \u2013 of course he is, but that\u2019s not his purpose here. What he\u2019s telling us is the way of Hashem in this world, how He guides a man to a successful Torah mind, a mind that relies solely on Hashem. That sometimes He\u2019ll take away something from you, something that you trusted in, in order to teach you \u2013 and anyone else who is willing to learn \u2013 not to transfer your reliance on Him onto anything else. That\u2019s one of the lessons we\u2019re expected to learn from this week\u2019s sedrah and that\u2019s the crux of tonight\u2019s talk; now let\u2019s begin.
\n\n\n\nLand Of The Nile
\n\n\n\nYou know, there\u2019s a certain reason why Egypt is called Mitzrayim. Meitzar in lashon kodesh means a boundary and meitzarim means double boundaries. Mitzrayim means a land with two narrow boundaries; a long and narrow land.
\n\n\n\nNow, why is Mitzrayim a long and narrow land? Why can\u2019t it be wide? The answer is that the fertility of Mitzrayim depends on a long and narrow river, and the country developed alongside that river. Everyone knows that the Nile rises every year and it overflows the lowlands for a certain distance on both sides of the river. And when the water recedes, it leaves behind a rich sediment, a loam that fattens the earth and provides one of the most fertile areas in the world. And so, because they were dependent on that river, so the length of the Nile, that\u2019s the length of the civilization of Mitzrayim. Beyond that, it\u2019s arid; it\u2019s unproductive and unsettled.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the Nile was the pride of Egypt. A big majestic river ran through the land and there were irrigation ditches leading from the Nile to everywhere. It was beautiful to behold as the life-giving waters swept through the land and caused the entire narrow Nile valley to be a beautiful picture of fertility.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only sustenance it gave them; there was plenty to bathe in, plenty to wash your laundry in. They had a way to travel, to navigate their ships. It also freshened the air; the Nile, as it traversed the land was their biggest pride, their chief benefactor.
\n\n\n\nPharaoh\u2019s Nile
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s whyYechezkel Hanavi (29:3) portrays Pharaoh as saying the following: \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 My Nile is mine and I have made myself. It means because the Nile belongs to me, I have been able to be self-sufficient. That\u2019s what it means that Pharaoh was \u05d9\u05b9\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 he went out to the water; it means he went to worship the Nile. That’s the plain pshat. There’s a Medrash that everybody knows from Rashi (Shemos 7:15), but the plain meaning is that he went out to the water to pay homage to his benefactor. The Nile was his support, his everything.
\n\n\n\nNot only Pharaoh. You know our Sages tell us (Bereishis Rabbah 39) that there was an annual celebration in the land of Egypt, a big holiday. It was called yom te\u2019atrun shel Nilus, the day when the theater of the Nile was being presented. It means the nation assembled to give honor to the river Nile that every year it rose and performed its functions dutifully. Not only they were grateful to the Nile, not only were they proud of it, they put their trust in it!
\n\n\n\nOhh! That\u2019s already looking for trouble. To put your trust in an intermediary?! \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 If you expect to continue receiving some benefit, the last thing you want to do is trust in it. Because if you do, Hashem might have to teach you a lesson; He might send you a reminder about Who really is your Benefactor.
\n\n\n\nThe Stricken Nile
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Nile was stricken first in the makkos in Egypt. Because the Mitzrim were so confident in their river, Hakodosh Boruch Hu struck them right in the river and the Nile became now a source of a great deal of trouble. First of all it turned into blood; it became a nuisance. Instead of the life-giving water, it became a messy substance that ruined the fields. You couldn’t use it for drinking and it spoiled the vegetation. It means that the god in whom they had so much confidence turned around and gave them a big kick in the pants in order to show them that \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 that all the intermediaries that you relied on are elilim; they\u2019re nothing-gods \u2014 from the word al; al means nothing.
\n\n\n\nIt doesn\u2019t mean the Nile is nothing. The Nile was very important! But it matters to whom you attribute your success. If you don\u2019t see the One standing behind the success, then sooner or later you might lose it.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m going to give you a little parallel. It\u2019s not exact but it\u2019s the same thing. Today in America we worship the ideal of democracy; we even consider it worthwhile to send American soldiers to fight to make the world safe for democracy. And not only the gentiles. Frum Jews praise \u2018democracy\u2019 and \u2018the Constitution\u2019 because we have our rights, our religious freedoms.
\n\n\n\nThe End Of Democracy
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s a good thing to have democracy, absolutely, but once the people put their trust in it, it can turn out to be a very great bane, a troublemaker. I\u2019ll give you an example. In Germany before World War I, they didn\u2019t have real democracy. There was a kaiser. The kaisers would never permit Nazis to get power. They would never permit Jews to be persecuted. They weren\u2019t lovers of Jews, but the kaiser had certain principles of decency, of law and order.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? When Germany finally changed from a royalty, a monarchy to democracy, so many Jews thought it would be a yeshuah. \u201cWe can trust in democracy, in freedom, in rights and self-determination.\u201d So now Kaiser Wilhelm was no longer in charge and instead there was popular elections. And whom did they elect? They elected Hitler.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a lesson. \u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc b\u2019democracy!\u201d I\u2019m afraid to say that maybe one day it will be used here for terrible things. I\u2019m not saying gas chambers chas v\u2019shalom, but don\u2019t you see already that they\u2019re voting to allow all forms of immorality, the worst sins in the Torah. The Constitution might become the source of wickedness. And then we\u2019ll suffer terribly because of that.
\n\n\n\nIn G-d We Trust
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, those organizations like the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee that are fighting to preserve the Constitution, they\u2019re a danger to us. They\u2019re fighting that the government should not give federal aid to the yeshivahs because it will attack the principles of the Constitution! They want to preserve the Constitution at all costs because that is their benefactor. That\u2019s their security blanket. These people are putting their trust in the Constitution instead of in Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nOh no! That\u2019s the most dangerous thing. That\u2019s our big sakanah; to trust in something other than Hashem. If we Jews wish for America to continue as a country of tolerance, of freedom, we should not put our trust in the Constitution. Our minds, our speech, our attitude must always be that it\u2019s Hashem and only Hashem. The Nile is nothing and democracy is nothing and the Constitution is nothing. It\u2019s a big error to think that the Constitution is the wall that stands between us and persecution.
\n\n\n\nIf we wish the Constitution to remain as a guarantee of freedom, we should not trust in it. We should trust only in Hashem. And then with the Constitution or without, our good fortunes will persevere. It doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t encourage democracy, but don\u2019t trust in it! Because if you trust in it, if you forget that it\u2019s all Hashem, then just like the Mitzrim trusted in the Nile, the Constitution might just turn the country over on its head.
\n\n\n\nThe Nile was everything to Mitzrayim. Very good, absolutely they needed the Nile. But they relied on the Nile. They trusted in the Nile. And therefore when the time came to deflate the arrogance of Pharaoh and his people, the first plague was sent upon the Nile and that source of prosperity turned into a source of foulness. As the river flowed through the land, it befouled the entire land and it became a source of desolation for Egypt. And that was the lesson that was intended.
\n\n\n\nNever Forget!
\n\n\n\nAnd that was the beginning of the end. The entire country began to totter because \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, Hashem was executing judgment on all the things that Egypt worshiped, all the intermediaries they trusted in. They relied on the Nile. They relied on the soil. They relied on the weather and their secure borders and their fields. And it all turned out to be nothing but a great disappointment. Everything was smitten by the Hand of Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, Mitzrayim was ruined. You have no idea of the ruination that came on the land. And it came in order to teach a lesson \u2013 so that we should learn the lesson \u2013 that a nation that trusted in its land, that trusted in its own power will lose that land and that power.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not saying that Egypt didn\u2019t deserve destruction for other sins too. There certainly were forms of corruption in Egypt that deserved punishment, but of all forms of wickedness, the most extreme is forgetting about Hashem! Forgetting that what you have, whatever you acquire, what you achieve, whatever you will ever achieve and acquire is given to you from Hashem. Otherwise it\u2019s plain old atheism.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, if you\u2019re going to learn one lesson from the makkos, let it be this one: if you wish your good fortune to continue, do not put your trust in that thing that causes your good fortune. If you have a diploma, if you have a good head or good hands, if you have the gift of gab, if you have a rich uncle or a good business, or even a not so good business, whatever is the cause of your success, if you wish that it should continue, make it your business to have no confidence in that cause \u2013 instead always always always remind yourself that it\u2019s Hashem. Always attribute all of your good fortune to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That\u2019s what it means to be a baal bitachon, someone who has acquired that precious jewel we call bitachon.
\n\n\n\nBitachon and Hishtadlus
\n\n\n\nYou know, some people ask questions when they hear the word bitachon \u2013 they want to know, \u201cAm I supposed to be mishtadel this much or that much? In this situation am I doing too little endeavoring? Or should I have more bitachon?\u201d There\u2019s always a tug of war. \u201cShould I do or should I not do?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow if I could answer those questions, I wouldn\u2019t be here. I would open an office on the avenue and become a millionaire because very many people have asked me that question during the years. I get calls on the telephone all the time with this question. And you know what I tell them? I tell them that it\u2019s impossible to know.
\n\n\n\nIt’s not a simple subject; it\u2019s always complicated because that\u2019s one of the great tests of life. Nobody knows, and that\u2019s part of the test. And nevertheless, we\u2019re expected to stand up and do the best of our ability in choosing the right way. Someone who practices up trusting in Hashem, he\u2019ll find the way forward in life. He\u2019ll use his native intelligence and make the right decisions to the best of his ability. Could be he\u2019ll blunder once in a while too, but he\u2019s serving Hashem; he\u2019s doing the best that he can.
\n\n\n\nIn Thought And In Practice
\n\n\n\nBut even though there is no question that there is a difference in some respects how a baal bitachon will behave \u2013 a baal bitachon in some ways behaves differently than a non-baal bitachon \u2013 that\u2019s not our subject at all right now. Because we are learning Chovos Halevavos, which means not Duties of the Limbs, but Duties of the Mind. And it\u2019s important to know that whatever choices a person makes \u2013 \u201cShould I make hishtadlus here or should I not?\u201d \u2013 the real fulfillment of the mitzvah of bitachon depends primarily not on what you do but what you think.
\n\n\n\nIn Slabodka, the Alter, zichrono livracha, was once approached by a talmid. \u201cRebbi,\u201d he said, \u201cWhy is it that all your lectures, all the shmuzen, are not lemaaseh? There\u2019s nothing in practice – you only talk about thoughts and ideas?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Alter said, \u201cI don\u2019t understand. It\u2019s all for practice; everything I say is lemaaseh.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAd kan the conversation between the talmid and the Alter. That\u2019s the end of the conversation as it was reported by the talmid. But the person who related the story to me added a commentary: \u201cBecause who says practice is only with your hands? There is practice with your mind too.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHustle For Nothing
\n\n\n\nSo how much exactly you should endeavor, only Hashem knows. But what we do know is how to think. When it comes to thinking, to the attitude of the mind, there\u2019s no question about how much or how little \u2013 it\u2019s all Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nOf course, you\u2019ll try to make a living. And you\u2019ll hustle too \u2013 you\u2019re not fulfilling your side of the bargain if you don\u2019t hustle. Everybody should try to work and support himself. You\u2019ll buy life insurance too. And you\u2019ll save money to buy a house and to marry off your children. You\u2019ll treat your boss with respect because he\u2019s the one handing you your paycheck at the end of the week. You\u2019ll put window guards on all the windows and you\u2019ll watch your health. Everything you have to do, you\u2019ll do. But at the same time, bitachon requires us to feel that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the One who is Feeding us; He\u2019s the One standing behind every success. It\u2019s to Him you attribute your paycheck and your health.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not easy. \u201cBut I went to school. I learned how to be a computer man and I worked hard all week. Certainly I deserve to get paid.\u201d So we have to understand that it\u2019s all nothing. Zero! It\u2019s zero! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving it to you.
\n\n\n\nIf you made money on the stock market or you made money by being a hustler, or you made money because you patented an invention, it\u2019s all a deception. No matter how much effort you invested in making a living, at the end of the week when you come home with your check, Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave you a handout, not your boss.
\n\n\n\nFull Of Mercy
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, all of life becomes nothing but a test. We\u2019re being tried and tested, we go through all the motions and therefore we\u2019re doing it ourselves, but we must know that nothing is being done by us. It\u2019s all nothing but Hashem!
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back now to those sagacious words of our teacher, the Chovos Halevavos. \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 In order that some cause which supplies you with happiness or benefit should continue, it is necessary not to trust in it. Because if you rely on something, that trust you have may cause that thing or that cause to be removed.
\n\n\n\nNow what\u2019s the reasoning behind this? Is it just a punishment? No, no. The principle is that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 whatever the Merciful One does, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u2013 He does for good. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is \u05d7\u05b8\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5; He is kindly in all of His deeds.
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s a misfortune for a person when his benefactor is removed. Absolutely. But it\u2019s a much bigger misfortune when one transfers his trust from Hakodosh Boruch Hu to something else. Much bigger! And sometimes that bigger misfortune is rectified by means of a smaller misfortune \u2013 by means of removing the intermediary.
\n\n\n\nRemoving The Splinter
\n\n\n\nJust like sometimes when you go to a physician because you have a splinter under your fingernail, so what does this kind doctor do? He seizes your hand and holds it tightly and then he presses the forceps underneath your nail and begins wrenching. That kindly physician is making your finger hurt like nobody ever did before. But that\u2019s the only way that he can extract the splinter.
\n\n\n\nSame thing, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to remove a splinter from our minds sometimes it must be done by painful methods. And you know what is one of the biggest splinters that we have stuck in our minds? It\u2019s the feeling, the attitude, the belief that whatever I achieve, whatever I accomplish, whatever I acquire, it\u2019s the means that helped me.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the poisonous thought that comes sneaking in whenever someone is afforded success. When a person has happiness or security or pleasure or honor or parnassah by a certain means, it\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of attributing his success to that means.
\n\n\n\nThe Wise Guy
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say someone is a capable factory worker or a successful businessman. He has a good head or capable hands or whatever it is, and this has caused him \u2013 as far as he understands \u2013 to be promoted or to be successful. He pays the rent on time and he\u2019s up to date with the schar limud. He\u2019s a success! Like it says, \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8 \u2013 a rich man is wise in his own opinion (Mishlei 28:11). He considers himself wise, otherwise how was he matzliach? \u201cI was a hustler. I worked hard. I was a good businessman. I had the good sense to make investments.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cYou\u2019re leaving Me out of the picture.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu has pity on this man and He wants to rescue him from this dangerous \u2018success.\u2019 Hakodosh Boruch Hu in His mercy performs an operation and He removes the wealth from him. That\u2019s a great kindliness because now as he goes from job to job applying for positions and everywhere he\u2019s turned down despite his business ability, he is taught the great lesson that \u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 accursed is the man who puts his trust in men, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 and he makes flesh his strength.
\n\n\n\nIf a man transfers his bitachon from Hakodosh Boruch Hu to his business and then his business goes lost \u2013 even if he has nothing at all now \u2013 he should be happy. It\u2019s the best thing for him. An operation was made. It\u2019s like a man who had a dangerous tumor and now he walks out of the hospital minus a tumor. He\u2019s minus $10,000 too, but now he\u2019s happy. He considers it a success because the tumor is gone. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu made an operation and took his business away from him. That was a tumor that caused him to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But had he had trust in Hakodosh Boruch Hu, he would have had the business and it wouldn\u2019t have been a disease.
\n\n\n\nA Principle For Life
\n\n\n\nOh, now he\u2019s living successfully! The Doctor removed that tumor of \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9, a mind turned away from Hashem (Yirmiyahu 17:5). If you trust in something else, so your mind no longer dwells on Hakodosh Boruch Hu and that is the biggest of all splinters because you\u2019re losing one of the chief purposes of life, and that is to learn the awareness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We are in this world to learn Awareness of Hashem, and by putting our trust in something else, we are being robbed of this awareness.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s one of the great principles of the conduct of Hakodosh Boruch Hu towards men. He wants to teach them this important lesson because success or failure in this knowledge spells success or failure in one\u2019s entire life.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s our job to apply this attitude to all fields of life.
\n\n\n\nWhen you take a medicine, when you go to the best physician, do not trust in anything but Hashem. It\u2019s a great error to think that the medicine will heal. Of course you must take medicine because it says \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 you must heal by natural methods, but when you take the medicine, you should say as follows \u2013 if you can\u2019t say, then think it: \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e1\u05b6\u05e7 \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 May it be Your will that this business should be for me a cure,\u201d because Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the One Who heals.
\n\n\n\nRun Until You Drop
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t rely on your healthy exercises. Do it, absolutely! I recommend walking. But don\u2019t trust! There are people who have bitachon in the wrong thing \u2013 James Fixx wrote a book on jogging; a book about how jogging prolongs a man\u2019s life. If you jog this and this amount every day, your heart will be healthy into your old age. That\u2019s what he said. What happened? He died while jogging at the age of fifty-two. That heart that he relied on, turned on him.
\n\n\n\nOr the man who was particular about carrying a revolver to protect himself; but once in the middle of the night, he had a bad dream and he pulled out the revolver and shot himself. So his protection killed him.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t take care of yourself. Absolutely you should go through all of the motions. But you should never, never attribute success to the motions. Whatever you do \u2013 and you should do \u2013 you should do everything that\u2019s necessary to preserve your health, to preserve your property, to succeed at everything in the home and outside the home; and nevertheless we should beware of the pitfall and keep in mind always that the way to guarantee our safety and our success is by putting our trust solely in Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd the more a person reminds himself throughout the day \u2013 it\u2019s never too much \u2013 the more of a success you become. You\u2019re doing the same thing that everyone else; you\u2019re working and cooking and eating and doing and going, but you\u2019re always always reminding yourself that every success, from the most complicated to the most simple, it\u2019s not yours \u2013 it\u2019s His. I\u2019m not relying on my family or my job or my hands; I\u2019m not relying on the food stamp money or welfare or my rich uncle. No! All day long, in everything I do, I constantly remind myself that all these things are deceptions. It\u2019s only You. It\u2019s only You! All day long. That\u2019s the way a person begins to transform himself or herself into the baal bitachon of the Chovos Halevavos.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAcquiring Bitachon
\n\n\n\nThe Egyptians relied on the Nile and it was smitten first by Hashem. As the Chovos Halevavos explains, \u201csomething you rely on will not last\u201d. Bitachon means that we rely exclusively on Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThis week, I will attempt to acquire this attitude of relying only on Hashem. Every day during davening, when I say the words \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b5\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d7\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc – let us not lose out because we trust in You\u201d, I will bli neder take a moment to reflect on this great lesson, that we rely only on Him.
\n\n\n\nTapes: S-13 – Bitachon 4 | 31 – Hashem Is King | 47 – Reliance on Hashem | 118 – Preface to Pesach 2 | 504 – Pesach 13 | 937 – Aspects of Bitachon
\nThe post Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:42:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:42:28+00:00" }, { "id": 36603, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bo-5783-bitachon-relying-on-hashem/", "title": "Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem", "content_html": "TA-Bo-5783The post Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:40:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:40:57+00:00" }, { "id": 36595, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-bo-5783-bitachon-relying-on-hashem/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem", "content_html": "TA-Bo-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Bo 5783 \u2013 Bitachon – Relying on Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:40:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:40:28+00:00" }, { "id": 36590, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:26:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:26:07+00:00" }, { "id": 36587, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-bo-5783/", "title": "Paracha Bo 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Bo-5783The post Paracha Bo 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:19:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:19:46+00:00" }, { "id": 36585, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/temor-a-hashem/", "title": "Temor a Hashem ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn Shabat antes de Rosh J\u00f3desh, cuando bendecimos el nuevo mes antes de musaf, le pedimos a Hashem un mes de \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 vida con temor de Hashem. Y luego, unas pocas l\u00edneas despu\u00e9s de eso, decimos: \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd: una vida en la cual tengamos nosotros temor a Hashem. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se repite?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nBuena pregunta. Te dir\u00e9 algo que escuch\u00e9 hace m\u00e1s de sesenta a\u00f1os, de mi javrut\u00e1 en Slabodka, un buen bajur. Los alemanes lo mataron; Reb Aar\u00f3n Birzem, zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1. Te dir\u00e9 lo que dijo sobre esto: Le pedimos a Hashem que nos d\u00e9 \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd, una vida que tenga irat sham\u00e1im \u2013 una vida de un entorno de irat sham\u00e1im; vivir en un ambiente de conciencia de Hashem y respirar el irat sham\u00e1im. Debemos vivir este mes entre jud\u00edos frum, entre buena gente, para que el ambiente nos anime a pensar en Hashem. Y entonces \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd es el medio ambiente. P\u00eddele a Hashem; \u201cDanos un ambiente frum\u201d.
\n\n\n\nDespu\u00e9s de eso decimos: \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 – tambi\u00e9n queremos tener nosotros irat sham\u00e1im. Adem\u00e1s de nuestro entorno, queremos tenerlo tambi\u00e9n, dentro de nosotros mismos. El medio ambiente es una cosa tremenda. Muchas personas son frum debido a su entorno. Es muy bueno; pero es incluso mejor cuando, adem\u00e1s del medio ambiente, tambi\u00e9n agregas tu propia peque\u00f1a adici\u00f3n, por lo que pedimos que sea un mes en el que logremos \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd; tambi\u00e9n queremos lograr la conciencia de Hashem en nosotros mismos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-244 (agosto de 2000)
\nThe post Temor a Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-22T03:13:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-22T03:13:41+00:00" }, { "id": 36581, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%99%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d4: “\u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05d9\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05da”, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05d5?", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-254The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d4: “\u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05d9\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05da”, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05d5? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-19T22:47:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-19T22:47:27+00:00" }, { "id": 36579, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/analizar-los-actos/", "title": "Analizar los actos", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo esta noche que cuando alguien se enferma o se lastima, no debe culpar a Hashem, sino que debe culparse a s\u00ed mismo por no cuidarse adecuadamente. Pero, \u00bfno deber\u00edamos mirar hacia atr\u00e1s para ver qu\u00e9 pecados cometimos como para ser castigados por Hashem con el resfr\u00edo o el virus o lo que sea?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutamente. \u00a1Absolutamente! \u05d9\u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5. Debe investigar sus actos. \u05d0\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Si una persona ve que le vienen problemas, debe investigar sus caminos y sus obras (Berajot 5a). Pero entre el \u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e9 que busca debe estar: \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 hice para descuidar mi salud? \u00bfEstoy durmiendo lo suficiente? \u00bfEstoy abrigado? \u00bfEstoy comiendo adecuadamente? \u00bfTengo cuidado cuando cruzo la calle?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTampoco debes descuidar esos pecados. Una persona es responsable de cuidarse a s\u00ed misma. Hashem dice: “Te di un cuerpo y no tienes derecho a descuidarlo”. Entonces, mientras revisas tus actos, recuerda que este tambi\u00e9n es un tema muy importante que debes analizar. Porque muchas veces t\u00fa eres la causa de tu enfermedad porque no te cuidas. Y eso tambi\u00e9n es un pecado contra Hashem.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-172 (mayo de 1999)
\nThe post Analizar los actos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-19T22:43:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-19T22:43:40+00:00" }, { "id": 36575, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%a9-%d7%91%d7%94%d7%9d-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\nQ:
On the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh, when we bless the new month before mussaf, we ask Hashem for a month of \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 life that has in it fear of Hashem. And then a few lines after that we say,\u00a0 \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 a life that has in us fear of Hashem.\u00a0Why is it repeated?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a good question. I\u2019ll tell you something that I heard more than sixty years ago, from my chavrusa\u00a0in Slabodka, a good bochur. The Germans killed him; Reb Aharon Birzer,\u00a0zichrono livrocha.\u00a0I\u2019ll tell you what he said about this: We ask Hashem to give us \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd, a life that has in it yiras shomayim \u2013 a life of an environment of yiras shomayim; to live in an environment of awareness of Hashem and to breathe in the yiras shomayim. We should live this month among frum Jews, among good people, so that the environment encourages us to think about Hashem. And so \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd is the environment. Ask Hashem; \u201cGive us a frum environment.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAfter that we say: \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0\u00a0\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5\u00a0\u2013 we also want to have\u00a0in ourselves\u00a0yiras shomayim. In addition to our environment, we want to have it too, inside of ourselves. The environment is a tremendous thing. Many people are frum because of their environment. It\u2019s very good; but it\u2019s even better when in addition to the environment, you add your own little addition too \u2013 so we ask that it should be a month in which we achieve \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05ea\u05d4\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd; we want to achieve\u00a0Awareness of Hashem in ourselves as well.
TAPE # E-244 (August 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-19T18:55:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-19T18:55:33+00:00" }, { "id": 36571, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-taking-the-blame/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Taking The Blame", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav said tonight that when someone gets sick or hurt, he shouldn\u2019t blame Hashem, but he should look to blame himself for not taking care of himself properly. But shouldn\u2019t we be looking back to see which sins we did to cause Hashem to punish us with the cold or the virus or whatever it is?
A:
Absolutely. Absolutely! \u05d9\u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5. He must search out his deeds. \u05d0\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 If a person sees that troubles are coming upon him, he should search out his ways and his deeds (Brachos 5a). But among the \u05e4\u05e9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e9 that he searches should be, \u201cWhat did I do to neglect my health? Am I getting enough sleep? Am I dressed warmly? Am I eating properly? Am I careful when I cross the street?\u201d
You shouldn\u2019t neglect those sins either. A person is responsible to take care of himself. Hashem says, \u201cI gave you a body and you have no right to neglect it.\u201d So while you\u2019re searching out your deeds remember that this as well is a very important subject to look for. Because often you are the cause of your sickness because you don\u2019t take care of yourself. And that\u2019s also a sin against Hashem.
TAPE # E-172 (May 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Taking The Blame appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-19T18:38:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-19T18:38:43+00:00" }, { "id": 36564, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/complejo-de-inferioridad/", "title": "Complejo de inferioridad ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nHay un chico frum que sufre de complejo de inferioridad. \u00bfQu\u00e9 deber\u00eda hacer al respecto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo s\u00e9 exactamente a qu\u00e9 te refieres con eso, pero tienes que saber lo siguiente: el complejo de inferioridad no tiene nada de malo, deber\u00eda estar contento con eso. Si te sientes inferior, eso es maravilloso: eres anav.
\n\n\n\nEl \u00fanico problema es si no est\u00e1s satisfecho con eso; si no est\u00e1s satisfecho con el complejo de inferioridad, entonces no eres un anav. Realmente quieres kavod; te gustar\u00eda ser un guibor jactancioso, que todos te admiren y te alaben, y te duele que no tengas el atrevimiento de hacer cosas. \u00bfEse tipo de complejo de inferioridad es el que est\u00e1s preguntando? Entonces lo que aconsejo es que estudies musar y aprende lo tonto que es, lo in\u00fatil que es ser un mandam\u00e1s. Estudia musar y te dar\u00e1s cuenta de la suerte que tienes de ser un baish\u00e1n, un tipo t\u00edmido. \u05d1\u05d5\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d2\u05df \u05e2\u05d3\u05df \u2013 Si una persona es t\u00edmida, es candidata para el Gan Eden (Avot 5:20). \u00bfSabes cu\u00e1ntos pecados se le perdonan? Aquel que es audaz y no se averg\u00fcenza, ese es el que puede caer en todo tipo de averot, en toda tentaci\u00f3n. Pero un hombre que es t\u00edmido, est\u00e1 protegido de much\u00edsimas tentaciones.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #502 (abril de 1984)
\nThe post Complejo de inferioridad appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-18T12:26:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-18T12:26:41+00:00" }, { "id": 36559, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-resolving-an-inferiority-complex/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Resolving An Inferiority Complex", "content_html": "\nQ:
There\u2019s a frum boy who suffers from an inferiority complex. What should he do about it?
A:
I don\u2019t know exactly what you mean by that, but you do have to know the following: An inferiority complex is nothing wrong at all \u2013 he should be happy with it. If you feel inferior, that\u2019s wonderful \u2013 you\u2019re an anav.
The only trouble is if you\u2019re unhappy with it; if you\u2019re unsatisfied with the inferiority complex then you\u2019re not an anav. You really want kavod; you\u2019d like to be a blustering gibor, that everybody should look up to you and praise you and it hurts you that you don\u2019t have the boldness. That kind of inferiority complex you\u2019re asking about? So we say, learn mussar and learn how silly it is, how useless it is to be a bigshot. Learn mussar and you\u2019ll realize how lucky you are that you\u2019re a baishan, a bashful fellow. \u05d1\u05d5\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d2\u05df \u05e2\u05d3\u05df \u2013 If a person is bashful, he\u2019s a candidate for Gan Eden (Avos 5:20). Do you know how many sins he is spared? It\u2019s the fellow who is bold and not ashamed, that\u2019s the one who can fall into every kind of aveirah, every temptation. But a man who is bashful, he is protected from very many temptations.
TAPE # 502 (April 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Resolving An Inferiority Complex appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-17T22:53:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-17T22:53:04+00:00" }, { "id": 36555, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tv-rebels/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on TV Rebels", "content_html": "\nQ:
If a child comes home every day begging for a TV, should we let him once in a while go to a friend\u2019s house in order to prevent him from rebelling?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, suppose a child wanted to eat something not kosher. His mouth is watering to eat something treife. Would you yield to him once in a while?
\n\n\n\nAnd treifus of the mind is a hundred times worse than treifus that you eat with your mouth.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the answer.
\n\n\n\nWe must know, TV, especially today, is mamesh treif like lard, like chazer schmaltz.\u00a0 And it shouldn\u2019t even enter our minds that a child should even view it once in a while.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-16 (June 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on TV Rebels appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-17T22:36:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-17T22:36:47+00:00" }, { "id": 36544, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rebeldia-a-causa-de-la-tv/", "title": "Rebeld\u00eda a causa de la TV", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi un ni\u00f1o llega todos los d\u00edas a casa pidiendo un televisor, \u00bfdebemos dejarlo ir de vez en cuando a casa de un amigo para evitar que se rebele?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, supongamos que un ni\u00f1o quiere comer algo no kosher. Se le hace la boca agua por comer algo taref. \u00bfTe rendir\u00edas ante \u00e9l de vez en cuando?
\n\n\n\nY el terefut de la mente es cien veces peor que el terefut que comes con la boca.
\n\n\n\nEsa es la respuesta.
\n\n\n\nDebemos saber que la televisi\u00f3n, especialmente hoy en d\u00eda, es mamash taref como manteca de cerdo, como jazer schmaltz. Y ni siquiera deber\u00eda pasar por nuestras mentes que un ni\u00f1o deber\u00eda ver TV de vez en cuando.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-16 (junio de 1995)
\nThe post Rebeld\u00eda a causa de la TV appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-17T13:29:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-17T13:31:26+00:00" }, { "id": 36541, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/abuelos-con-television/", "title": "Abuelos con televisi\u00f3n ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debo hacer si mis padres tienen televisor y mis hijos quieren ir a su casa a visitarlos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es, dile a tus hijos que no deben ir a casa de los abuelos a ver la tele. Y si van de visita, deben asegurarse de ir a una habitaci\u00f3n diferente a donde est\u00e1 la televisi\u00f3n. Y diles a tus hijos que cuando los abuelos digan: \u201cVen aqu\u00ed y mira la televisi\u00f3n\u201d, deben decir: \u201cNo me gusta la televisi\u00f3n. No estoy interesado en la televisi\u00f3n\u201d. Eso es todo. No critiques a los abuelos. S\u00f3lo que el ni\u00f1o debe decir: “No me gusta la televisi\u00f3n”.
\n\n\n\nEnse\u00f1a a tu hijo a despreciar la televisi\u00f3n. Dile que va a envenenar sus ojos y su mente al escuchar las palabras y ver los actos de payasos y tontos. \u201cNo necesitas payasos y tontos\u201d, dile. \u201cTu mente es la posesi\u00f3n m\u00e1s preciada que tienes.\u201d Ens\u00e9\u00f1ale al ni\u00f1o eso. Ens\u00e9\u00f1ale que no puede permitirse poner en peligro su mente y ponerla a merced de esos tontos, de esos degenerados. Especialmente hoy en d\u00eda. Y de esta manera podr\u00e1s ense\u00f1arle a tu hijo a evitar la televisi\u00f3n; es posible.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, cuando el \u00f1i\u00f1o visita a los abuelos que vaya a la cocina o se sienta en el comedor donde no hay televisi\u00f3n. Ellos est\u00e1n en la sala de estar y \u00e9l se sienta en el comedor. Y si lo desea, puede abrir un Jumash o Naj. Que patee la silla con los pies hasta que llegue el momento de irse a casa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-17 (julio de 1995)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebo visitar a mis suegros si tienen un televisor en su casa?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSon personas shomr\u00e9 Shabat?
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nS\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nVis\u00edtalos en Shabat.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #60 (abril de 1973)
\nThe post Abuelos con televisi\u00f3n appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-16T13:54:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-16T13:54:42+00:00" }, { "id": 36537, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tv-grandparents/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on TV Grandparents\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should I do if my parents have a TV and my children want to go to their house to visit?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, tell your children that they should not go to the grandparents\u2019 house for TV. And if they go to visit, they should make sure to go into a different room than where the television is. And tell your children that when the grandparents say, \u201cCome in here and watch TV,\u201d they should say, \u201cI don’t care for TV. I’m not interested in TV.\u201d That’s all. Don’t criticize the grandparents. Just that the child should say, \u201cI don’t care for TV.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTrain your child to despise TV. Tell him that it\u2019s going to poison his eyes and his mind by hearing the words and seeing the acts of clowns and fools. \u201cYou don’t need clowns and fools,\u201d tell him. \u201cYour mind is the most precious possession you have.\u201d Teach the child that. Teach him that he can’t afford to endanger his mind by putting it at the mercy of these fools, these degenerates. Especially today. And so you could teach your child to avoid TV; it\u2019s possible.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd so he visits the grandparents. He goes in the kitchen or sits in the dining room where there\u2019s no TV. They\u2019re in the living room and he sits in the dining room. And if he wishes he could open a Chumash or Nach. Let him kick his feet against the chair until the time comes to go home.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-17 (July 1995)
Q:
Should I visit my in-laws if they have a TV in their house?
A:
Are they shomer Shabbos people?
Q:
Yes.
A:
Visit them on Shabbos.
TAPE # 60 (April 1973)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on TV Grandparents\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T22:08:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T22:08:52+00:00" }, { "id": 36531, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "18-\u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T20:12:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T20:12:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36525, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T20:08:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T20:08:39+00:00" }, { "id": 36517, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vaera-5783/", "title": "Paracha Va\u00e9ra 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vaera-5783The post Paracha Va\u00e9ra 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T04:07:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T04:07:35+00:00" }, { "id": 36507, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vaeira-5783-consulting-the-sages-2/", "title": "Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages", "content_html": "The Free Tribe
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah, we find that Moshe and Aharon were constantly coming into Pharaoh on a mission to have the Bnei Yisroel sent free. They would come into the palace delivering messages from Hashem, negotiating, and then they would walk out and go home. A few days later they would be back again with a new message, a new ultimatum. Again and again, back and forth, back and forth.
\n\n\n\nNow many people are surprised by this \u2013 and rightfully so \u2013 because why weren’t Moshe and Aharon busy performing the tasks that Pharaoh’s slave masters imposed on all the Bnei Yisroel? Who gave them a pass to have so much freedom, so much time off from work? What\u2019s that all about? Weren\u2019t all the Bnei Yisroel subjected to a program of hard labor?
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is that it\u2019s an even bigger question because it wasn\u2019t only Moshe and Aharon \u2013 we know (Shemos Rabbah 5) that the entire shevet of Levi was free! Isn\u2019t that a remarkable thing? We forget about that when we think about the 210 years of shibud Mitzrayim. The tribe of Levi was never enslaved; they continued to live their own regular lives in Mitzrayim. I suppose they suffered some run-of-the-mill gentile persecution. I\u2019m sure that epithets were hurled at them. Maybe some physical attacks too; I imagine they had stones thrown at them every so often. But still, as much as the Shevet Levi suffered from the Egyptians, it\u2019s an interesting fact of our history in Mitzrayim that this one family was not meshubad; they weren\u2019t subject to Pharaoh’s system of hard labor.
\n\n\n\nA Surprising Answer
\n\n\n\nAnd so the question arises, how did that happen? How could such a thing be? The Bnei Yisroel were one family after all. What was it that saved the Shevet Levi from all that trouble, all those years of slavery?
\n\n\n\nNow, listen to the answer because it might surprise you. The answer is that they had an old grandfather around, an old grandfather who was mean to them.
\n\n\n\nWhat was the story? When the Bnei Yisroel began to increase so Pharaoh began to worry and so he said to his people, his advisors, \u201cWe have to do something about this. Before we know it they\u2019ll be swarming all over and \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5, the end will be that we\u2019ll have to leave. It will become the land of the Hebrews and they\u2019ll throw us out.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Smart Generation
\n\n\n\nNow, Pharaoh couldn’t just come out and make a decree, \u201cStop having children\u201d or something to that effect. It wouldn\u2019t work such a thing; the people in the ancient days were too smart for that. Today, in a stupid generation, so stupid ideas can take hold, and therefore ZPG is the style. That\u2019s roshei teivos for Zero Population Growth, which means to stop having children. They made a big fuss in the world, a panic, that children are pollution. Every child uses up so much water and so much air, so much energy and fuel, and we have to do something about it. But in those days people had children; nobody thought otherwise. The old time Egyptians didn\u2019t reach the lunacy of today\u2019s gentiles.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Pharaoh came up with a plan to break the Bnei Yisroel down by means of heavy labor \u2013 they would become a tired people with no koach, no interest in having children. Buthe couldn’t just say, \u201cYou must come. I want to enslave you.\u201d To just enslave a people willy-nilly? The Bnei Yisroel weren’t captives of war and Pharaoh wasn’t a wild tyrant. He was a decent king who had regard for public opinion. What will they say in Egypt, among the populace? What would they say in other countries?
\n\n\n\nSo he couldn\u2019t just come out one day and make them slaves; such a thing wouldn\u2019t work. And therefore he had to lead up to it gradually. \u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 means it was done with cunning. First he announced a new building campaign, a patriotic endeavor to establish big edifices that would be a glory to the Motherland and give a name to Egypt in the world. And they did; even to this day the pyramids are associated with the glory of ancient Egypt. And so Pharaoh began by appealing to the patriotism of the citizens of Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nThe Patriotic People
\n\n\n\nNow who volunteers first when it’s a matter of showing loyalty to your country? The Bnei Yisroel. They were grateful for the haven that Egypt had given them in the time of famine. When their father Yaakov sought asylum in Egypt, Pharaoh had welcomed them and he gave them the land of Goshen. And therefore the Bnei Yisroel felt a debt of gratitude.
\n\n\n\nThat’s how it was here also until recently. Up until recently Jews were so happy with the country that they kissed the soil of America. Because they were fresh from Europe, they appreciated the freedom that this country gave them, and therefore in all patriotic things the Jews were first. When it came to war bonds the Jews had campaigns in the synagogues. Jews had American flags hanging from their homes.
\n\n\n\nToday already the climate has changed and it went out of style to be patriotic. Once the spirit of lunacy began to pervade America, all the values changed, but until recently being a good Jew meant you were makir tov to a country like America and you participated enthusiastically in all patriotic endeavors.
\n\n\n\nAnd in order to appeal especially to the Bnei Yisroel, Pharaoh said, \u201cWe are going to continue with the great work that was begun by your forefather Yosef, the Tzofnas Paneiach who led our country for so many years. The building plan that your great Yosef began, we’re going to continue.”
\n\n\n\nSymbolism and Fanfare
\n\n\n\nPharaoh even took a golden brick and hung it by a golden chain around his neck and with that he went forth to the people to let them know that the drive was on, a drive to build Egypt. Just like sometimes the governor comes when they\u2019re starting to build a new hospital or some other big institution, and he has a spade and he gives a symbolic dig into the ground. Sometimes it’s a little difficult; it’s winter time and he has to break the hard earth, so with his foot on the spade he tries to knock it in. He does a little publicity work and it’s photographed in all the newspapers.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Pharaoh came with a brick around his neck as a symbol of the program they were undertaking. And he encouraged the people, \u201cWe\u2019re all in this together! Everyone should come and take some clay and each one should mold a brick. Be builders!\u201d he said. \u201cAnd don\u2019t be knockers! People shouldn’t criticize when things go wrong. Everybody should just lend a hand and do their fair share.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere were no photographers in those days but there was applause and speeches and there were honors. And everyone was excited to contribute a symbolic brick on that first day just like Pharaoh; they were happy that they had made a token contribution to the beginning of this great campaign.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Bnei Yisroel joined in. Why not? Nothing wrong! \u201cWe\u2019re building up our country, the country that\u2019s our home for now. It\u2019s only right!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Old Zeide
\n\n\n\nThere was one person there however who didn\u2019t like the idea, somebody who said it\u2019s not right. There was one old man, a very elderly Jew, who was standing there watching everything unfold and he saw through the whole thing.
\n\n\n\nWho was that? And so listen now to the rest of the story. When the time had come to volunteer so the Shevet Levi also wished to volunteer like everybody else. They weren\u2019t any less makir tov than all the shevatim, but they possessed what no other shevet had. They had an old grandfather, an old patriarch. Levi ben Yaakov was still around. Levi was the last of the brothers to survive. All the brothers had already died out but Levi, the old patriarch, was still around. And he had the old wisdom that he imported from \u2018der alte heim\u2019. He wasn’t a real Egyptian. He still spoke with an accent; he couldn’t speak Egyptian perfectly. And more importantly, he didn’t have Egyptian brains on him. He had an old time Jewish brain and old-time Jewish traditions and he saw through it.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, the old zeide spoiled their fun. When they wanted to go out together with all the people of the country so he was mean to them. \u201cDon’t go. Don’t mingle with the umos haolam. It’s not healthy for you to fraternize with gentiles. I want you all to stay at home and skip the whole thing.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThis Booklet Is Written In Goyish
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like the family that has living with them the old zeide who came here from Europe. He was in the yeshivos in Europe, in the shtiebelach in Europe and so he has a different spirit, the flavor of the old-time Yiddishkeit. And when he hears the children talk English he pipes up, \u201cKinderlach, don\u2019t speak goyish; we don’t talk in a gentile language.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMany years ago, that was a given \u2013 Jews don\u2019t speak a gentile language. When I was in Europe, I spent a little time in a small town. Nobody spoke Lithuanian. If you had to do business with them, you spoke their language but otherwise nobody spoke anything but Yiddish. Even the reshaim. There were plenty of reshaim in those days already. Before World War II there were plenty of reshaim among the Jews but even the reshaim didn’t speak a gentile language. If a Jew spoke a gentile language, it was a bizayon. And this old zeide, he lets the children know what he thinks.
\n\n\n\nSo the children protest: \u201cBut Zeidy, this is America. We have to know English.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cKnow shmo,\u201d Zeidy says. \u201cWhatever it is, you don\u2019t have to speak goyish in the house.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what happened in Egypt too. \u201cBut Zeidy Levi! Everybody is doing it!\u201d And the old patriarch said, \u201cEverybody shmevrybody, that’s why you shouldn’t go. Whatever everybody else does, you shouldn’t do.
\n\n\n\nThe Elder\u2019s Opposition
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don’t like the idea,\u201d Levi said. \u201cAll of a sudden, they’re going to build up Egypt? Yosef Hatzaddik already established enough granaries. If they needed more, wouldn’t Yosef have made more? Are you going to cover the whole land with granaries? How much grain does Egypt produce even in the good years? I don’t like the idea. It smells rotten \u2013 there’s something behind this.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, the other shevatim, the younger fellows, they didn\u2019t have any old grandfather to be mean to them. And so they ridiculed Levi\u2019s opposition. I\u2019m sure they didn\u2019t say it with their mouths but they were thinking: \u201cLook at this old fashioned fellow; he just doesn’t understand. He\u2019s still living in the past, in the old country, with his tribal ways. In Canaan they didn\u2019t know of granaries. This is something new in modern times. You have to look ahead to the future. You have to plan ahead; not like you lived when you were in Canaan. You lived from hand to mouth and whatever grew that year you ate, and then the next year you starved. But the Egyptians, they know what they’re doing. They have heads on their shoulders. After all they’re organized, they’re civilized, they’re cultured. They are more advanced.”
\n\n\n\nAnd so all the patriots \u2013 I don’t mean to ridicule patriotism – like I said earlier it’s a good middah to be a patriot. But not against the advice of the Sages. If the roshei yeshivah say \u201cBe a patriot,” then be one. But when they tell you “Watch out,” then it’s their advice we have to follow.
\n\n\n\nChampion Of His People
\n\n\n\nNow, this brings us to the story of one of the great men we once had among us. There was an old sage, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah, who was one of the famous Gedolei Yisroel. In addition to the fact that he was one of the chief Torah sages \u2013 he was the Av Beis Din of the Sanhedrin \u2013 he was also the champion of the Jewish people in their disputations with the sectarians of all kinds.
\n\n\n\nIn those disturbed days, after the churban Beis Hamikdash, a number of sects arose in the Am Yisroel. The Christians were prominent among them but there were others too. And these sectarians, because of their hostility to the body of the Nation who remained loyal to the Sages, they had the practice of defaming their fellow Jews to the Roman government.
\n\n\n\nNow, when somebody was needed to be a defender of our people, so the Am Yisroel inevitably turned to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah. He was a man of quick mind and a ready tongue and he was courageous too. And he was so successful and adept in disputations that he became the one who stood up to defend the Am Yisroel against all their enemies.
\n\n\n\nWhenever the Nation had to be represented, it was Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah. The Gemara in Bechoros (8b) even tells us about how he traveled to Athens and he disputed with the Senate of Athens; he took on the Senate singlehandedly. He used to open his mouth and talk back to Romans, to Christians, to Gnostics, to every form of heretic. And because of that he acquired the title \u2013 among the gentiles too \u2013 \u05d7\u05b7\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9, the wise man of the Jewish people.
\n\n\n\nThe Losers Are Frustrated
\n\n\n\nNow, the fact is that when the apikorsim used to go into dispute with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah he made them into idiots. Usually, that was the result; they couldn\u2019t keep up with his quick wit and sharp retorts \u2013 besides for the fact that the truth was on his side. And he was no patsy either, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah. He would ridicule their foolish interpretations and shame them.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara tells us that one time Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah was involved in a disputation with a certain min, and he\u2019s described as speaking with an especial sharpness. There\u2019s a description there of how he showed up his opponent. And upon losing the argument, his opponent announced \u2013 I imagine he was frustrated \u2013 that Rabbi Yehoshua is an unpleasant person. And he quoted the following verse: \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b5\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 (Micha 7:4) which means as follows. \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd, the best of them, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b5\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7, are like thorns. It means the best of the Jewish nation, their leaders, are thorny, That’s their nature. \u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8, the righteous ones, \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05d4, are like a fence of thistles. He was complaining about his interlocutor, Rabbi Yehoshua: \u201cYour pointed retorts are too sharp for me, too prickly and painful.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s true \u2013 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah had to be a thorn when he was defending the Am Hashem, the Torah. He\u2019s not going to sit back and allow half-baked Jews or quarter-baked Jews or Jews in-name-only to uproot authentic Torah Judaism. But Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah looked into this verse and he saw another meaning.
\n\n\n\nFence Of Thorns
\n\n\n\nYou know, thorns have a purpose. Nothing in nature is useless and thorns have an important function. What is the function of a thorn bush? It is to protect fields so that animals should not come in. Before men invented barbed wire, they didn’t go to the hardware store; they planted fences of thorns. It was a cheap and natural commodity and it meant that you have armed plants with daggers protecting your property.
\n\n\n\nA fence of thorns around your property, would keep your cows in or keep your cows out according to your desire. And also intruders. It’s quite efficient; a thick hedge-wall of thorns is just as good as barbed wire.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the sharp-witted Rabbi Yehoshua replied. He said, \u201cThe mashal is exact. The Sages are like thorns who protect our people. Tovam kachedek \u2013 that’s the purpose of the good ones in the Am Yisroel. They are like a hedge of thorns to keep out the wrong influences and they keep in those who might stray out.\u201d And so when his opponent said to him, \u201cYou old Jews are like thorns\u201d Rabbi Yehoshua said, \u201cEin hachi nami, it\u2019s true, and it\u2019s these thorns that save the Jewish nation.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt means that when our leaders are thorny \u2013 when they tell us no and no and they act as a thorn fence, not letting us stray from the straight path, and not letting in the influences from the outside \u2013 and we are loyal to them, that\u2019s our success.
\n\n\n\nIn every generation that\u2019s the job of the Chachomim; instead of flattering or even remaining silent against people who are veering off the beaten path of Torah tradition they\u2019ll be that thorn bush on the side of the path that won\u2019t let you move off to the side. You might try but you\u2019ll get a poke. Without the good ones who protect the people, there always are individuals who are going to attempt a sally into the outside world. There are always frum people who do risky things.
\n\n\n\nCanceling The Cheering Expedition
\n\n\n\nLast week a girl called me up and asked my advice about a question in yichud. She\u2019s in a group and they\u2019re going to a certain place of irreligious Jews, and she was worried about the sheilah of yichud, maybe it\u2019s not kosher to be in that house because you don’t have enough men there, or whatever the technicality it is.
\n\n\n\nSo I asked her, \u201cWhy do you go to such a house for Shabbos? What’s your business there?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShe tells me she\u2019s going to cheer up a sick young man. \u201cA mitzvah,\u201d she says.
\n\n\n\nI was thinking, \u201cA girl, a frum girl, is going for Shabbos for the purpose of cheering up a sick young man and they’re only worried about the sheilah of yichud? How do you cheer up a sick young man?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so acting in a role of thorns \u2013 of course, I’m not one of the righteous ones, but a thorn I am anyhow \u2013 so I told her, \u201cNothing doing! You’re worried about the wrong problems. A technicality of yichud?! Is that the problem here?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd she obeyed. A frum girl, a Beis Yaakov girl, and she accepted the prick of the thorn. And she\u2019s only better off because of that. Better off in both worlds that she didn\u2019t go on that cheering expedition.
\n\n\n\nTelevisions and Toilets
\n\n\n\nNow, it didn\u2019t take too much brains on my part to give her a poke but the really great ones, our Torah leaders, that’s one of their jobs all the time \u2014 to be a fence of thorns, to fence us in and to keep the outside influences outside. And therefore Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah said tovam kechedek, the good ones are like a fence of thorns.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s our job to want that. If you go only to places where you find smooth people who don’t have thorns on them, so you\u2019ll lose out. Let\u2019s say you’ll go to a big synagogue someplace out in a modern neighborhood where five hundred people come Shabbos morning. Why do they come? Because the man who speaks is not thorny. He\u2019s a pleasant kind of personality. He’s affable. No thorns on him. So he’ll never tell you that you must stop shaving with a razor, or that you must get rid of your television set.
\n\n\n\nA real rabbi tells you the truth, that if you have a television set, then you might as well forget about having a holy Jewish home. Why deceive yourself? It’s just as possible to have a Jewish home with these machines in it as having a clean home with a pipe from your toilet bowl leading directly into the dining room. Every time you flush, the contents empty out on your dining room floor. And that\u2019s an understatement.
\n\n\n\nPeril In Midtown
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, a fence of thorns is our salvation. We must keep the good ones home. They shouldn’t stray. Outside of the fence there are lurking many perils. To go out on the search for the holy grail in Midtown seeking to buy a bargain \u2013 many times you\u2019re exposing yourself to perils. It\u2019s not so simple for a woman to be waltzing around in New York today. It\u2019s not so simple.
\n\n\n\nThings have happened unfortunately and people just close their eyes and say, \u201cThere was an accident.\u201d Three years ago something happened. A woman went shopping, a young woman. They took her to a wholesale place where she gets special prices and a tragedy happened in the elevator. An evil man followed her into the elevator and a tragedy took place. And after that tragedy she ended up losing her life too, unfortunately. He took her into the basement there, in that building and he held her head in a furnace until she passed away.
\n\n\n\nAnd so I\u2019ll be a thorn to you and I\u2019ll tell you, \u201cJews beware! Jewish women especially. If you can keep out of Manhattan, do so. Manhattan today is teeming with crooks and with perverts, and they\u2019re experienced in performing crimes. And therefore, stay away from Manhattan if it\u2019s at all possible! If you have to go there to work, it can\u2019t be helped, but try to shop in your neighborhood. It pays to shop locally and lose money.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBeware Of The Office
\n\n\n\nOf course, if there is no alternative, it couldn’t be helped, but otherwise wherever a woman ventures, she is risking. Even to go to work, so that her husband can learn in the kollel, it has to be done with chochmah, fenced in by tall and thick thorn bushes. It doesn\u2019t pay for a girl to ruin her soul for the sake of her kollel husband. Should a woman be in a place mixed with men? She should be among chatzufim and reshaim?! That\u2019s a very delicate question and you must exercise caution.
\n\n\n\nThis I know from much experience. People call me up every day. My phone, my two phones, are ringing every day with questions, and I know what happens. Sometimes they do very terrible things to pious women in the offices, very fresh things. And the fact that the pious woman doesn\u2019t succumb is not enough. Because there remains a stain on her soul, however. So it doesn\u2019t pay. That\u2019s just my private advice, but it\u2019s built on solid experience. Don\u2019t mix. Don\u2019t mix!
\n\n\n\nAnd not only women, men. Men must beware of adverse environments. Now sometimes they can’t help themselves. Men must make a living. But you must know if you’re a school teacher in the public schools, so you’re mingling with many others of low character, men and women, and you’re exposed to adverse influences.
\n\n\n\nListen To The Zeides
\n\n\n\nI know a case of an orthodox man, a ben Torah who was a school teacher and he was lured away from his wife by a gentile teacher in the same school, and he forsook his family for the sake of a gentile girl. It was unthinkable that this should ever happen, but that’s the result of wandering in different fields, straying.
\n\n\n\nOf course, physically, geographically, it’s not possible always to be locked in, but if a person has tovam, has some good ones over him, if he’s in contact with the good ones, who will stand over him and supervise and criticize and scold and serve as a thorny fence, so he’ll remain inside, at least spiritually.
\n\n\n\nNow, what happens when you ignore the thorny old zeide? That\u2019s what we learn in our parshah. It was years and years of shibud! That\u2019s what happened to the shevatim who didn\u2019t appreciate the thorns of Levi
\n\n\n\nAll the people who had volunteered to do a little bit \u2013 the whole Bnei Yisroel except for Shevet Levi \u2013 they were hooked and they had to continue to come. It took some time but that\u2019s what happened. And even though they were suffering now, they were carrying heavy loads on their backs of clay and bricks, but it was too late. The scheme had worked. The trap had been set and they were caught. They had snuck through the fence of thorns and it was to their detriment.
\n\n\n\nStories As Commands
\n\n\n\nNow, these stories, the Torah stories, are not meant for entertainment. It could be they\u2019re interesting, they\u2019re entertaining, but that\u2019s not the purpose. You have to know that whatever is written in the Torah, even in the form of a story, is a tzivuy, a command to us. Hashem says, \u201cAre you listening? I\u2019m telling you something now about what happened with Shevet Levi so that you\u2019ll learn a lesson for how to succeed in this world.\u201d And what\u2019s the lesson? That the Am Yisroel must listen to its elders.
\n\n\n\nAny zeide, any bubbe. Any elder! If you have somebody around who\u2019s willing to tell you something you don\u2019t want to hear, someone who can be a thorn in your side, that\u2019s your yeshuah.
\n\n\n\nThe old-time Jewish people understood that. I still remember when an old Jew would stop you in the street and wag his finger at you, \u201cBoychik, don\u2019t do that!\u201d And we paid attention. A woman passed by and rebuked a little boy or a little girl for being wild, \u201cZei nit vild,\u201d and the children didn\u2019t answer back. We looked with respect and quieted down. Not only because we were embarrassed. We knew that the zekeinim were there to tell us off.
\n\n\n\nRight and Left
\n\n\n\nAnd the ziknei Chachomim, kol shekein, even more so. In the Torah (Devarim 17:8) it says that \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d3\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 when something will be too difficult for you, so you should go up to the Sages in the Lishkas Hagazis in Yerushalayim and they\u2019ll tell you what to do. The old Sages, they are the \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4, the eyes of the nation, and whatever they say, you should obey them even though it seems to you to be wrong. If they say go right even though it seems to you left, or if they say left, and it seems to you right, you have to follow their words. The Sages are called einei haeidah all throughout the Torah. They\u2019re the eyes of the people.
\n\n\n\nOnly what? Every Jew, no matter how ignorant he is, he thinks he sees as well as anybody else. If you know people, that\u2019s a fact. There isn\u2019t a Jew, no matter how ignorant, who doesn\u2019t think he understands as well as anybody else.
\n\n\n\nBut Torah, you have to know, is not a simple matter. You can\u2019t learn Torah on one foot; it\u2019s a very big job with many branches. But like a teenager who looks at the adults and he\u2019s not impressed \u2013 he thinks he knows everything already \u2013 every ignorant and half ignorant Jew thinks he knows. Who needs experts when you know everything?
\n\n\n\nFollow The Experts
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is why is it that when it comes to medicine these same people admit that there are experts? They go to people who are acknowledged as experts and they pay them good money and they obey their judgment. But when it comes to Torah practice, to Torah ideology and policy, they\u2019re willing to go anywhere \u2013 or usually nowhere at all. Are spiritual matters less important than matters of health of the body?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is \u2013 and it\u2019s the plain truth \u2013 that Torah is not really important to them. When it comes to a growth on his brain, or whatever it is, he goes to an expert because it matters. But when it comes to a growth on his neshamah, he thinks that even without Torah he understands what\u2019s what. He thinks that Torah is not important for his life \u2013 that\u2019s the plain truth.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the story of Shevet Levi comes to tell us, \u201cDon\u2019t make a move without the zekeinim. Otherwise you\u2019re negligent!\u201d It\u2019s like a person who is lost; he\u2019s sitting in his car and he\u2019s not sure if he should be going on this street or that street. And he\u2019s in a different neighborhood; it\u2019s not so safe. So, the common sense procedure is, the first gas station or the first policeman he meets, he asks directions. To ignore such a simple expedient means that this man is reckless.
\n\n\n\nSame thing, to ignore the simple expedient of approaching the old Torah authorities, the ones most competent to guide the people, that\u2019s plain recklessness. And all the negative results, chas v\u2019shalom, in your own life and in the lives of your children and grandchildren and the whole Jewish community, you only have yourself to blame.
\n\n\n\nPublic Policy and Leaking Radiators
\n\n\n\nAnd not only in halachah matters; in all matters of policy, the old Gedolei Yisroel \u2013 the older the better \u2013 are the ones most fit for this function. When you need to come to a decision in Torah or a decision in public policy, we do only what our Torah leaders tell us to do. If the Gedolim tell us to march out in the street for this and this purpose then it\u2019s your duty to do it. Otherwise, you stay at home. If they tell you to vote for this and this candidate, that\u2019s it. If they say that this and this thing or this and this book or this and this machine can\u2019t be in a Jewish home, then there\u2019s nothing to talk about.
\n\n\n\nSometimes there are dangerous questions, things that could not be discussed in public without harm, things that are new that need a great deal of deliberation, and young men, hotheads, rush in where Gedolim fear to tread, and they not only offer their opinions, but they publicize them with fanfare, as valid Torah opinions.
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you want to ask how you can repair your leaking radiator, don\u2019t go to him. But if you have questions relating to matters of public policy \u2013 any question of behaviors of communities or of how to deal with people, with current events and current problems, they are the ones. And don’t tell me stories that the Gedolim are busy sitting and learning Torah and that it\u2019s the political manhigim who know what\u2019s going on in the world. That’s a statement that cannot pass unchallenged. The Gedolei Yisroel are the ones who should make public policy!
\n\n\n\nThe Ones To Listen To
\n\n\n\nPeople don\u2019t understand that. They think, let\u2019s say, that Rav Kamenetzky in Monsey or Rav Moshe Feinstein on the East Side, are good for asking them a question in halachah \u2013 especially when you want a kulah, a leniency. You call them up and he says yes, so now you can say, \u201cRav Moshe Feinstein said it\u2019s muttar.\u201d That\u2019s all you need. But to ask him about a matter of public policy? It\u2019s not necessary, you think, because my head is as good as his head.
\n\n\n\nDon’t think that there are areas where a gadol has a right to say and areas where he doesn’t have a right to say. A gadol, a Torah gadol, has a right to say on everything because the Torah is the only source of true wisdom and the ultimate source of all eitzah.
\n\n\n\nOn East Broadway, we have a Rav Moshe Feinstein. He\u2019s the one! Rav Kamenetzky is in Monsey. From Williamsburg, the Satmar Rebbe is a tremendous influence everywhere. There\u2019s a rosh yehivah right here in Flatbush \u2013 I won’t mention his name because other roshei yeshivah will be jealous \u2013 who\u2019s been heading a big yeshivah for a long time; many, many years. When I see him, I think, \u201cThat\u2019s one of the Chachmei hador.\u201d He\u2019san anav; heruns away from kavod but he’s a gadol baTorah.
\n\n\n\nThese are the ones to listen to. They\u2019re the ones to control all the affairs of the Jewish people in America. I remember there were some modern rabbis who rebelled against Rav Aharon Kotler. One of them said \u2013 he said it in public \u2013 \u201cWe are going to refuse to make any appeal for the Lakewood Yeshiva unless you stop being so extreme.\u201d A chutzpah! I embarrassed that rabbi in public because it’s a question of being a Jew. He\u2019s lucky I only embarrassed him \u2013 I was itching to take a swing at him. I don\u2019t know how long he will have to be in Gehinom for that! It\u2019s apikorsus. It\u2019s against kol haTorah kulah. A Jew has to know where to look for leadership. \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05d2\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d6\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 ask your elders, the Sages, they’ll tell you. You can’t ask anybody else. You just can’t help it. You can’t get away from the principle of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nDo You Belong Here?
\n\n\n\nWe only believe in Gedolim. And not in little rabbis, in public speakers, in radio speakers, in television speakers; not in synagogue rabbis, in newspaper editors. In the newspapers, there are people who are incompetent; writers, half-baked Torah scholars, self declared authorities, who answer every kind of question; new sheilos. No, we\u2019re not interested! We don’t believe in anybody except the great Chachmei HaTorah. It\u2019s a principle on which our whole Torah stands. If you don’t want to accept it, you don’t have to, but you don’t belong here, that’s all.
\n\n\n\nIt’s the difference between being a Jew and a non-Jew. A Jew listens to Gedolim. That\u2019s it. There’s no two ways about it. If you don’t listen to Gedolim, you’re not a frum Jew. This, I would never yield to you. Some things you can argue with me; you can say \u201cIt\u2019s Rabbi Miller\u2019s opinion,\u201d but when it comes to whom do we ask for leadership, we ask only our great men.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean that you have to take up their time to sit hours with them \u2013 they\u2019re not therapists, they\u2019re Chachmei haTorah and they can tell you in a few minutes what you need to know. The Jewish nation is blessed with capable Chachomim. If you live in Brooklyn you are especially privileged \u2013 there is no lack of people to whom you can go. Don\u2019t ask me who though. I\u2019m not going to molest any good man and bring a landslide on him; but boruch Hashem there are very many whose guidance we should be following.
\n\n\n\nI Don\u2019t Decide
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the success of Shevet Levi teaches us; that we should follow one rule. Whether something is right or wrong is not for us to decide. When it comes to asking for counsel, whether it\u2019s about your future or about the future of your family or your community or the future of the country or the nation, who are the ones who are most trustworthy? The old heads. Old Torah heads are calm and seasoned heads; they\u2019re the ones seasoned by Torah experience.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know my audience. Not everybody here is steeped in Torah yet, and it will take many years to get this across. Because people come from the street with the street ideas that rabbis should take care of rabbi business. Outside of rabbi business they have nothing to say. And today especially, the youth think that they can see better than the Gedolim. Today every Chaim Yankel thinks that he can make decisions for the Jewish nation! A little yingel is deciding what yes and what no. We can\u2019t allow that! We have to hammer it in over and over again, for years and years, until we get it into our heads that there’s no other way. The Torah view is we have to ask everything to the Gedolei HaTorah and Gedolei HaTorah means the ziknei hador. The rabbonim of the shuls, of the communities, all have to turn to them for every question; that\u2019s the kiyum of the Am Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWe are the Torah nation and we walk on the same path that the Shevet Levi walked. That’s the program for life. That’s the way the Jewish nation is and that’s how we will be until Moshiach will come. We’re not going to change. Despite America we won’t change! We are a nation that lives according to the Gedolei Yisroel! The Torah covers every phase of life and therefore if we want to succeed in our lives \u2013 not only as Jews; if we want to succeed as human beings \u2013 we have to take guidance from people who are competent. And who is competent for the Jewish nation? The Gedolei Yisroel. We have great Torah leaders, great men, old men, who are willing to be the fence of thorns that we need. May the Almighty give them long lives and may they increase.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAppreciating Our Sages
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s parsha we see how the children of Levi were saved from slavery by clinging to the instruction of their elders. It is our duty to realize that \u201cEgypt is not different\u201d and neither is America. We do not follow new fads and ideas, we follow the sage advice of our elders, the ziknei Yisroel who are the einei haeidah. Every day we daven for the tzaddikim of our generation who guide us in everything we do. This week I will bli neder use the opportunity of that bracha in shemonah esrei, Al Hatzadikim, to reflect for a half minute about how important the tzaddikim are to us and how I will strengthen myself in following their advice and guidance.
\n\n\n\nTapes: R-22 – Hyrcanus\u2019 Downfall | 74 – Consulting The Sages | 248 – Clinging To The Sages | 320 – Levi | E-267 – Remember Me
\nThe post Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T03:35:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T03:35:44+00:00" }, { "id": 36513, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vaeira-5783-consulting-the-sages/", "title": "Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages", "content_html": "TA-Vaeira-5783The post Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T03:34:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T03:34:17+00:00" }, { "id": 36506, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vaeira-5783-consulting-the-sages/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages", "content_html": "TA-Vaeira-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vaeira 5783 – Consulting the Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T03:33:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T03:33:53+00:00" }, { "id": 36504, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hacer-sin-confiar-en-si-mismo/", "title": "Hacer sin confiar en s\u00ed mismo", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede alguien que no tiene confianza en s\u00ed mismo ganar confianza para lograr cosas?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que la persona tiene que aprender a hacer las cosas a pesar de su falta de confianza. \u00bfPara qu\u00e9 necesitas confianza? Lo principal es hacer. Entonces, una vez que est\u00e9s en la condici\u00f3n de hacer las cosas de acuerdo con cierto procedimiento y sepas qu\u00e9 hacer, sigue adelante y hazlo y di: “S\u00e9 que no tengo confianza en m\u00ed, pero lo har\u00e9 de todos modos”.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes cu\u00e1ntas personas ganaron, cu\u00e1ntas personas obtuvieron victorias y tuvieron \u00e9xito sin ninguna confianza? Hay personas que son oradores p\u00fablicos que son personas muy t\u00edmidas, personas extremadamente t\u00edmidas, y son oradores p\u00fablicos exitosos. Hasta el d\u00eda de hoy, siguen siendo t\u00edmidos. Pero, \u00bfqu\u00e9 pueden hacer ellos? Tienen que hablar.
\n\n\n\nSi tienes que hacer una determinada misi\u00f3n, adelante, hazla y olv\u00eddate de tu falta de confianza. Hazlo de todos modos y que no te importe lo que vaya a pasar. Al final ver\u00e1s que lo hiciste mejor que otros. En la mayor\u00eda de los casos, eres mejor que el compa\u00f1ero de al lado. Aquel que tiene mucha confianza en s\u00ed mismo por lo general lo hace mal, mientras que el hombre con falta de confianza tiene mucho cuidado de hacerlo bien.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, eso no es suficiente sobre el tema, pero tambi\u00e9n tengo que responder otras preguntas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #441 (enero de 1983)
\nThe post Hacer sin confiar en s\u00ed mismo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-15T03:24:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-15T03:24:51+00:00" }, { "id": 36499, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-accomplishing-without-confidence/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Accomplishing Without Confidence", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can somebody who lacks confidence in himself gain confidence in order to accomplish things?
A:
And the answer is that person has to learn how to do things despite his lack of confidence. What do you need confidence for? The main thing is to do it. So once you get into the condition of doing things according to a certain procedure and you know what to do, go ahead and do it and say, \u201cI know I don\u2019t have any confidence but I\u2019ll do it anyhow.\u201d
Do you know how many people won out, how many people gained victories and were successful without any confidence? There are people who are public speakers who are very bashful people, extremely bashful people, and they\u2019re successful public speakers. To this day, they\u2019re still bashful. But what can they do? They have to speak.
If you have to do a certain mission, go ahead and do it and forget about your lack of confidence. Do it anyhow and don\u2019t care what\u2019s going to happen. At the end you\u2019ll see you did it better than the next fellow. In most cases you\u2019re better than the next fellow. The fellow who has a lot of confidence usually does it wrong while the man with a lack of confidence is very careful to do it right.
Now, that\u2019s not enough on the subject but I have to answer other questions too.
TAPE # 441 (January 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Accomplishing Without Confidence appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-13T16:34:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-13T16:34:21+00:00" }, { "id": 36497, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/mantenerse-en-el-camino/", "title": "Mantenerse en el camino ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 hay tantos muchachos y muchachas que se est\u00e1n yendo del d\u00e9rej?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar, digamos lo contrario. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 hay tantos chicos buenos en el d\u00e9rej? Siempre digo lo mismo. Una vez me invitaron a hablar en una reuni\u00f3n de chicas frum, chicas de un Bet Iaakov. Dos mil chicas estaban sentadas all\u00ed. Fue hace a\u00f1os – en este momento todas ya est\u00e1n casadas \u200b\u200by tienen hijos. \u00a1Dos mil chicas frum! Y despu\u00e9s la gente me dec\u00eda que no es nada, que hay mucho m\u00e1s. Hay dos mil chicas en este lugar, mil all\u00ed. \u00a1Baruj Hashem! Baruj Hashem, tenemos muchas escuelas hermosas con ni\u00f1os en todas partes; en todas partes hoy. Muchos miles de personas hoy en d\u00eda est\u00e1n criando a sus hijos de la manera correcta. Aqu\u00ed hay una escuela de ni\u00f1as frum. \u00a1Diez autobuses est\u00e1n alineados afuera! \u00a1Yo lo vi! \u00a1Una larga fila de autobuses escolares! As\u00ed que concentr\u00e9monos en eso.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, es una l\u00e1stima si algunos de ellos jas veshalom se fueron del d\u00e9rej; pero antes que nada, apreciemos la tremenda metamorfosis, la tremenda mahapej\u00e1. Se est\u00e1 produciendo una revoluci\u00f3n. Am Israel est\u00e1 aumentando y multiplic\u00e1ndose, y mucha, mucha gente se est\u00e1 volviendo frummer. \u00a1Baruj Hashem! \u00a1Nos regocijamos en ellos! Cuando veas jud\u00edos, dales una beraj\u00e1. Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere que crezcan y se multipliquen. Ese es Su principal deseo, que Am Israel crezca y se multiplique.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, s\u00ed, hay ciertas cosas que se deben hacer – ahora no es el lugar para hablar de eso – para que las escuelas sean m\u00e1s efectivas en la capacitaci\u00f3n de ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as en irat sham\u00e1im y c\u00f3mo vivir con \u00e9xito. Algunos chicos no son capaces de estudiar Guemar\u00e1. Necesitan m\u00e1s musar, m\u00e1s hashkaf\u00e1. Hay ciertos cambios que tienen que ser instituidos. No, no todo es perfecto; no. Sin embargo ahora mismo debemos concentrar nuestras mentes y agradecer a Hakadosh Baruj Hu por la gran felicidad que sentimos hoy al ver que la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda va en aumento.
\n\n\n\nPor cierto, en \u00c9retz Israel esa es la principal preocupaci\u00f3n de los resha\u00edm. Los resha\u00edm est\u00e1n muy preocupados. Ven que si no hacen algo extremo pronto el frummer se adue\u00f1ar\u00e1 de todo. Eso es lo que les preocupa. Son como el Fara\u00f3n; dijo \u05e4\u05df \u05d9\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4. Entonces Hashem dice \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-246 (agosto de 2000)
\nThe post Mantenerse en el camino appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-13T04:28:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-13T04:28:52+00:00" }, { "id": 36494, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%92-%d7%92%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%a9%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%a6%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%a2%d7%a7%d7%98%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%a1/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d2: \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea, \u05e7\u05e8\u05d0\u05e6\u05de\u05e2\u05da \u05dc\u05e2\u05e7\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8\u05e1", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-253The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d2: \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea, \u05e7\u05e8\u05d0\u05e6\u05de\u05e2\u05da \u05dc\u05e2\u05e7\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8\u05e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-13T04:27:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-13T04:27:38+00:00" }, { "id": 36490, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-on-the-derech-phenomenon/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The\u00a0On-The-Derech Phenomenon\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why do we have so many boys and girls going off the derech?
A:
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, let’s say the opposite. Why are there so many good children on the derech? I always say the same thing. I was once invited to speak to a gathering of frum girls, Bais Yaakov girls. Two thousand girls were sitting there. It was years ago \u2013 by this time they’re all married and all have children. Two thousand frum girls! And later people told me it\u2019s nothing, that there\u2019s much more. There are two thousand girls in this place, a thousand there. Boruch Hashem! Boruch Hashem, we have many beautiful schools with children everywhere; everywhere today. So many thousands of people today are raising their children the right way. Here\u2019s a frum girls school. Ten buses are lined up outside! I saw it! A long line of school buses! So let’s concentrate on that.
\n\n\n\nOf course it’s a pity if some of them chas v\u2019shalom went off the derech; but first of all, let’s appreciate the tremendous metamorphosis, the tremendous mahapeichah. A revolution is taking place. The Am Yisroel is increasing and multiplying, and very, very many people are becoming frummer and frummer. Boruch Hashem! We rejoice in them! When you see frum Jews, give them a brachah. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants them to increase and multiply. That’s His main desire, that the Am Yisrael should increase and multiply.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, yes, there are certain things that have to be done \u2013 now is not the place to talk about it \u2013 in order to make the schools more effective in training the boys and girls in yiras shamayim and how to live successfully. Some boys are not capable of learning gemara. They need more mussar, more hashkafah. There are certain changes that have to be instituted. No, everything is not perfect; no. Nevertheless right now we should concentrate our minds and thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu on the great happiness we feel today when you see that the Jewish nation is increasing.
\n\n\n\nBy the way, in Eretz Yisroel that’s the main worry of the reshaim. The reshaim are very much concerned. They see if they don’t do something extreme soon the frummer will take over everything. That’s what they’re worried about. They\u2019re like Pharaoh; he said \u05e4\u05df \u05d9\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4. So Hashem says \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-246 (August 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The\u00a0On-The-Derech Phenomenon\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-12T22:46:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-12T22:46:18+00:00" }, { "id": 36486, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-body-and-soul/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Body and Soul", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there a connection between the body and the neshama?
A:
Is there a connection between the body and the soul? There\u2019s a tremendous connection because the body influences the soul. Let\u2019s say you have a body. So you sit your body down at the table and your wife gives you supper. That\u2019s for your body. So you have to think, \u201cMy wife cooked a supper for me. It took her at least an hour. And it tastes good too! As a result I\u2019m going to appreciate her. I\u2019m grateful to her.\u201d That\u2019s a very great benefit for your soul. So because of your body, your soul is improving.
Your wife puts out fresh laundry for you from time to time. She washed your laundry for you. It takes time to wash laundry and your body likes fresh clothing so you stop and think for a half minute: \u201cI appreciate my wife.\u201d So your soul changes.
\n\n\n\nBecause of your body, your soul changes. You sit down to breakfast. There\u2019s bread on the table. You\u2019re hungry. And you put the bread in your teeth and you chew it. Ah! A pleasure! \u201cI love You Hashem because of the bread!\u201d That makes a change in your soul.
\n\n\n\nThe entire change in your soul is only because of the body, and that\u2019s why the body is so important. We\u2019re grateful to the body and that\u2019s why we have to take care of the body and appreciate it always. And when the time comes to say good bye to your body, when you\u2019re leaving this world it\u2019s a sad farewell because the body says \u201cPoor me! I\u2019m being put into the earth and you\u2019re going to Gan Eden.\u201d So you tell the poor body, \u201cV\u2019ene\u2019eman atah lehachayos meisim. Trust in Hashem. Someday we\u2019ll be reunited again. Don\u2019t worry. It\u2019s not forever \u2013 it\u2019s only temporary. Au revoir but not goodbye. We\u2019ll meet again.\u201d That\u2019s how you console the body and you should do it every day when you say vene\u2019eman atah lehachayos meisim. \u201cMy poor body. You served me faithfully. I\u2019m not going to forsake you forever \u2013 only temporarily. We\u2019ll come back again to each other.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a very great connection between the body and the neshama!
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 799
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Body and Soul appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-12T22:40:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-12T22:40:06+00:00" }, { "id": 36482, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-boys-and-girls-men-and-women/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Boys and Girls, Men and Women", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a little boy be prevented from playing with girls?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat depends on which age. And it depends on the circumstances. You cannot make a rule. The parents have to use their judgment.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no question that big boys don\u2019t play with girls.
\n\n\n\nNow this business of segregation of girls and boys, we must know is the foundation of society.\u00a0 Once upon a time,\u00a0lehavdil,\u00a0even the umos ha\u2019olam themselves understood that.\u00a0 All the schools separated high school boys in one\u00a0institution\u00a0and girls in a different institution.\u00a0 And by the way, they were miles away.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have the schools close together.\u00a0 I remember that.\u00a0 Miles and miles away.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore they didn\u2019t have the myriad problems that are in existence today. They didn\u2019t dream of the wickedness that would result from abandoning this principle. Co-ed education is destroying America. It has ruined all the colleges. The colleges today are the worst places in America. There\u2019s no place worse in all of American society than the colleges, than the dormitories of the colleges. And it\u2019s a result of forsaking this principle that men and women should be separate.
\n\n\n\nNow I don\u2019t want to talk too much because it will step on people\u2019s toes but in Europe in Orthodox society, women were even more separated than in America. They didn\u2019t work in offices together with men. Now, I don\u2019t want to say anything because some women are kollel wives and they feel justified but in the Slabodka office in the Slabodka Yeshiva there wasn\u2019t a woman, not a single woman. There were all men. Not a single woman. And it wasn\u2019t in the yeshiva building. The office was someplace else a few blocks away. And still there wasn\u2019t a woman in the office.
\n\n\n\nNow I\u2019m not going to say too much about it but this principle in general, like I said, is the foundation of society. And women shouldn\u2019t feel slighted. It\u2019s not because of any lack of consideration. It\u2019s human nature; men and women are at their best when they\u2019re separate.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-16 (June 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Boys and Girls, Men and Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-12T20:44:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-12T20:44:03+00:00" }, { "id": 36471, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/cuerpo-y-alma/", "title": "Cuerpo y alma", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfExiste una conexi\u00f3n entre el cuerpo y la nesham\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfExiste una conexi\u00f3n entre el cuerpo y el alma? Hay una conexi\u00f3n tremenda porque el cuerpo influye en el alma. Sientas tu cuerpo a la mesa y tu esposa te da la cena. Eso es para tu cuerpo. As\u00ed que tienes que pensar, \u201cMi esposa prepar\u00f3 una cena para m\u00ed. Le tom\u00f3 al menos una hora. \u00a1Y sabe bien tambi\u00e9n! Como resultado, la voy a apreciar. Estoy agradecido con ella\u201d. Eso es un gran beneficio para tu alma. Entonces, debido a tu cuerpo, tu alma est\u00e1 mejorando.
\n\n\n\nTu esposa te saca ropa limpia de vez en cuando. Ella lav\u00f3 tu ropa para ti. Se necesita tiempo para lavar la ropa y a tu cuerpo le gusta la ropa limpia, as\u00ed que te detienes y piensas por medio minuto: “Aprecio a mi esposa”. Entonces tu alma cambia.
\n\n\n\nDebido a tu cuerpo, tu alma cambia. Te sientas a desayunar. Hay pan en la mesa. Est\u00e1s hambriento. Y pones el pan en tus dientes y lo masticas. \u00a1Ay! \u00a1Un placer! \u201c\u00a1Te amo Hashem por el pan!\u201d Eso hace un cambio en tu alma.
\n\n\n\nTodo el cambio en tu alma se debe \u00fanicamente al cuerpo, y por eso el cuerpo es tan importante. Somos agradecidos con el cuerpo y por eso tenemos que cuidar el cuerpo y apreciarlo siempre. Y cuando llega el momento de despedirse de tu cuerpo, cuando te vas de este mundo es una despedida triste porque el cuerpo dice \u201c\u00a1Pobre de m\u00ed! Voy a ser puesto en la tierra y t\u00fa ir\u00e1s al Gan Eden\u201d. As\u00ed que le dices al pobre cuerpo: \u201cVeneeman at\u00e1 lehajaiot metim. Conf\u00eda en Hashem. Alg\u00fan d\u00eda nos reuniremos de nuevo. No te preocupes. No es para siempre, es s\u00f3lo temporal. Au revoir pero no adi\u00f3s. Nos veremos otra vez.” As\u00ed consuelas al cuerpo y debes hacerlo todos los d\u00edas cuando dices veneem\u00e1n at\u00e1 lehajaiot metim. \u201cMi pobre cuerpo. Me serviste fielmente. No voy a abandonarte para siempre, solo temporalmente. Volveremos de nuevo el uno al otro\u201d.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Hay una conexi\u00f3n muy grande entre el cuerpo y la nesham\u00e1!
\n\n\n\nCINTA #799
\nThe post Cuerpo y alma appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-12T05:37:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-12T05:37:42+00:00" }, { "id": 36459, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ninos-y-ninas-hombres-y-mujeres/", "title": "Ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as, hombres y mujeres ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSe debe impedir que un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o juegue con ni\u00f1as?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEso depende de qu\u00e9 edad. Y depende de las circunstancias. No se puede hacer una regla. Los padres tienen que usar su juicio.
\n\n\n\nNo hay duda de que los chicos grandes no deben jugar con chicas.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este asunto de la segregaci\u00f3n de ni\u00f1as y ni\u00f1os, debemos saber que es la base de la sociedad. En una \u00e9poca, lehavdil, incluso los mismos umot haolam entend\u00edan eso. Todas las escuelas separaban a los chicos de secundaria en una instituci\u00f3n y a las chicas en una instituci\u00f3n diferente. Y estaban a kil\u00f3metros de distancia. No ten\u00edan las escuelas juntas. Yo recuerdo eso. Kil\u00f3metros y kil\u00f3metros de distancia.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, no ten\u00edan la mir\u00edada de problemas que existen hoy. No podr\u00edan haberse imaginado los males que resultar\u00edan por abandonar este principio. La educaci\u00f3n mixta est\u00e1 destruyendo a los Estados Unidos. Ha arruinado todas las universidades. Las universidades de hoy son los peores lugares de Estados Unidos. No hay peor lugar en toda la sociedad estadounidense que las universidades, que los dormitorios de las universidades. Y es el resultado de abandonar este principio de que los hombres y las mujeres deben estar separados.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no quiero hablar demasiado porque molestar\u00e1 a la gente, pero en Europa, en la sociedad ortodoxa, las mujeres estaban a\u00fan m\u00e1s separadas que en Estados Unidos. No trabajaban en oficinas junto con hombres. Ahora bien, no quiero decir nada porque algunas mujeres son esposas de abrejim y se sienten justificadas, pero en la oficina de Slabodka, en la ieshiv\u00e1 de Slabodka no hab\u00eda una mujer, ni una sola mujer. Todos eran hombres. Ni una sola mujer. Y no era en el edificio de la ieshiv\u00e1. La oficina estaba en otro lugar a unas cuadras de distancia. Y con todo eso no hab\u00eda una mujer en la oficina.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no voy a hablar mucho al respecto, pero este principio en general, como dije, es la base de la sociedad. Y las mujeres no deber\u00edan sentirse menospreciadas. No es por falta de consideraci\u00f3n. Es la naturaleza humana; los hombres y las mujeres son excelentes cuando est\u00e1n separados.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-16 (junio de 1995)
\nThe post Ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as, hombres y mujeres appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-11T06:14:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-11T06:14:38+00:00" }, { "id": 36455, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-jasidim-de-jabad-lubavitch/", "title": "Los jasidim de Jabad Lubavitch ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfRav, qu\u00e9 opina usted sobre los jasidim de Jabad Lubavitch?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nBueno, tengo una buena opini\u00f3n de ellos porque uno de mis maestros era un Lubavitcher. Me enviaron a \u00e9l cuando era un ni\u00f1o pobre y se supon\u00eda que deb\u00eda pagarle. Pero no ten\u00edamos dinero para pagarle. Nunca le di ni un centavo. Y de todos modos me ense\u00f1\u00f3 durante un a\u00f1o entero todo Mas\u00e9jet Ketuvot sin cobrar nada. Entonces hicimos un sium en el shul N\u00fasaj Ari de esa ciudad; un sium \u2013 solo \u00e9l y yo con la gente del shul.
\n\n\n\nPor eso los miro con cari\u00f1o. \u00c9l era mi maestro. Sol\u00eda \u200b\u200bcontarme historias porque era un verdadero Lubavitcher. Proced\u00eda de Lubavitch; estudi\u00f3 en Lubavitch durante diecis\u00e9is a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que, naturalmente, les tengo afecto. Pero no soy un Lubavitcher porque no estudi\u00e9 all\u00ed. Sin embargo, tengo afecto por todos los jud\u00edos que son shomr\u00e9 mitzvot.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed es como deber\u00edamos ser. As\u00ed que si me preguntas mi opini\u00f3n sobre Satmar, mi opini\u00f3n sobre Lakewood, mi opini\u00f3n es que halevai pudiera tener el zejut de estar con ellos. Ieh\u00ed jelk\u00ed imahem.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #459 (junio de 1983)
\nThe post Los jasidim de Jabad Lubavitch appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-10T04:16:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-10T04:16:33+00:00" }, { "id": 36450, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-my-lubavitcher-rebbe-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on My Lubavitcher Rebbe", "content_html": "\nQ:
What do you think about Lubavitchers?
A:
\n\n\n\nWell, I must have a good opinion of them because one of my rebbis [Rav Avraham Eliyahu Axelrod z”l] was a Lubavitcher. They sent me to him when I was a poor boy and I was supposed to pay him. But we couldn\u2019t afford it \u2013 I never gave him even a nickel. And anyhow he learned a whole year and a whole Mesichta Kesubos with me for nothing. Then we made a siyum in the Nusach Ari Shul in that city; a siyum \u2013 just he and I with the people of the shul at minyan.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd so I look back with affection on him. He was my rebbi. He used to tell me stories because he was a real Lubavitcher. He came from Lubavitch; he learned in Lubavitch for sixteen years.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo naturally I have an affection. But I\u2019m not a Lubavitcher because it happens to be that I didn’t learn there. I have an affection, however, for all Jews who are shomrei mitzvos.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how we should be. So if you ask me my opinion of Satmarer, my opinion of Lakewood, my opinion is that halevai I should be zocheh to be with them.\u00a0Yehi chelki imahem.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 459 (June 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on My Lubavitcher Rebbe appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-09T22:20:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-09T22:20:55+00:00" }, { "id": 36444, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "17-\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-09T05:44:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-09T05:44:20+00:00" }, { "id": 36439, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-5/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-09T05:39:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-09T05:39:25+00:00" }, { "id": 36437, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/aprovechar-el-tiempo-en-las-fiestas/", "title": "Aprovechar el tiempo en las fiestas ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi alguien tiene que ir a un evento familiar y piensa que ser\u00e1 una gran p\u00e9rdida de tiempo, \u00bfc\u00f3mo puede protegerse de las influencias negativas?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tipo de evento?
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nUna boda.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi alguien tiene que ir a una boda, \u00bfc\u00f3mo puede protegerse? Buena pregunta.
\n\n\n\nTe dar\u00e9 un consejo, pero no se lo digas a la gente de all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nMientras est\u00e1s en la boda, piensa en Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Piensa en eso. Hay mucho en qu\u00e9 pensar. \u00bfEn qu\u00e9 pensar\u00e1s? Escuchaste algo esta noche. Has o\u00eddo hablar de Tz\u00e9lem Elokim. Piensa en eso. Y cuando dicen \u201cMazel tov, mazel tov\u201d, y bailan, haz todo con ellos; pero piensas estos pensamientos todo el tiempo.
\n\n\n\nTe dir\u00e9 otra cosa qu\u00e9 hacer. Mientras est\u00e1s en la boda, mira a todos los jud\u00edos frum. Todos son jud\u00edos frum. Deber\u00edas pensar: \u201cHashem deber\u00eda bendecir a este con una larga vida\u201d. “Este deber\u00eda vivir mucho tiempo”. \u201cY \u00e9ste deber\u00eda vivir mucho tiempo y ser saludable\u201d. Si bendices a los jud\u00edos, es una gran mitzv\u00e1. Es una gran mitzv\u00e1 bendecir al pueblo jud\u00edo. \u00bfT\u00fa lo sabes? \u00bfNunca pensaste en eso? \u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u2013 Bendecir\u00e9 a los que te bendigan.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que digamos que est\u00e1s sentado en una jatun\u00e1. Y est\u00e1s aburrido. \u00bfQu\u00e9 debes hacer? La gente est\u00e1 sentada comiendo. Entonces piensa: \u201cHakadosh Baruj Hu deber\u00eda bendecir a este jud\u00edo\u201d. Ahora bien, no lo digas, pi\u00e9nsalo. \u201cHashem deber\u00eda bendecir a este\u201d. “Este deber\u00eda vivir mucho tiempo”. \u201cTiene que casar a sus hijas\u201d. \u201cQue gane mucho dinero\u201d. “Qu\u00e9 sea feliz”. Est\u00e1s bendiciendo a todos los jud\u00edos frum, uno por uno. Est\u00e1s haciendo una mitzv\u00e1 muy grande. \u00bfSuena loco? Vale la pena estar loco.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si quieres pensar en Hakadosh Baruj Hu, est\u00e1 bien. Si quieres bendecir al Am Israel, hazlo. Y as\u00ed, mientras est\u00e1s en la boda, est\u00e1s haciendo mitzvot todo el tiempo. Cada vez que dices \u201cLe doy una beraj\u00e1 a este jud\u00edo de all\u00ed, que viva mucho tiempo. Debes saber que est\u00e1s haciendo un devar Hashem. Hashem quiere que bendigas a Am Israel. \u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da. E incluso Bilam dijo lo mismo. \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da. Bendecir a un jud\u00edo es algo maravilloso.
\n\n\n\nSi no tienes nada m\u00e1s que hacer, te dir\u00eda que mientras est\u00e1s sentado all\u00ed, hables sobre el Ketzot Haj\u00f3shen. \u00bfAlguna vez estudiaste el Ketzot Haj\u00f3shen? Oh, es un limud maravilloso. Piensa en un Ketzot Haj\u00f3shen. Piensa en c\u00f3mo puedes hacer pidi\u00f3n hab\u00e9n con un koh\u00e9n kat\u00e1n. \u00a1Un maravilloso Ketzot Haj\u00f3shen! Un koh\u00e9n kat\u00e1n, \u00bfpuedes hacer el pidi\u00f3n hab\u00e9n? No tiene iad para ser kon\u00e9. Es una pregunta. Est\u00e1s pensando en eso. Puedes decir que tal vez sea d\u00e1at aj\u00e9ret makn\u00e9. El padre tiene iad as\u00ed que es diferente. Entonces dices que no, eso es s\u00f3lo si es tu dinero. Pero es tovat hana\u00e1, este dinero. No es tu dinero. Tovat hana\u00e1 no es mam\u00f3n para ser makn\u00e9 al ied\u00e9 d\u00e1at aj\u00e9ret. Est\u00e1s pensando en un Ketzot. \u00a1Ah! Es una cosa maravillosa. Si conoces un Ketzot Haj\u00f3shen, pi\u00e9nsalo en una boda.
\n\n\n\nNo pierdas el tiempo. Es una pena desperdiciar tu vida.
\n\n\n\nSugiero dar bendiciones. Eso es f\u00e1cil. Todo el mundo puede dar bendiciones. O piensa en lo que escuchaste esta noche. Piensa en Tz\u00e9lem Elokim. Piensa en Adam en el Gan Eden. Hay tantas lecciones maravillosas. Nuestras mentes deben estar llenas de estas cosas. Si recuerdas un pedazo de Guemar\u00e1 beal pe, dilo beal pe. Sea lo que sea, no debes desperdiciar tu vida.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-251 (octubre de 2000)
\nThe post Aprovechar el tiempo en las fiestas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-09T03:42:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-09T03:42:42+00:00" }, { "id": 36432, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-greatness-at-the-wedding/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on\u00a0Greatness At The Wedding", "content_html": "\nQ:
If someone has to go to a family event and he thinks that it\u2019ll just be a big waste of time how can he protect himself from the negative influences?
A:
What kind of event?
Q:
A wedding.
A:
If someone has to go to a wedding, how can he protect himself? That’s a good question.
I’ll give you some advice but don’t tell it to the people there.
\n\n\n\nAs you stand at the wedding, think of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Think about that. There’s so much to think about. What will you think about? You heard something tonight.\u00a0 You heard about tzelem Elokim. Think about that. And as they say \u201cMazel tov, mazel tov,\u201d and so on and as they’re dancing, you do everything with them; but you think these thoughts all the time. All the time.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nI’ll give you another thing to do. As you’re at the wedding, look at all the frum Jews. They’re all frum Jews. You should think, \u201cHashem should bless this one with a long life.\u201d \u201cThis one should live long.\u201d \u201cAnd this one should live long and be healthy.\u201d If you bless Jews, it’s a big mitzvah. It\u2019s a big mitzvah to bless the Jewish people. You know that? You never thought about that? \u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u2013 I’ll bless those who bless you.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say you’re sitting at a chasunah. You’re bored. What should you do? People are sitting and eating. So you think, \u201cHakadosh Baruch Hu should bless this Jew.\u201d Now, don’t say it \u2013 think it. \u201cHashem should bless this one.\u201d \u201cThis one should live long.\u201d \u201cHe should marry off his daughters.\u201d \u201cHe should make a lot of money.\u201d \u201cHe should be happy.\u201d Youre blessing all the frum Jews, one by one. You’re doing a very big mitzvah. It sounds crazy? It’s worth being crazy.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo if you want to think about Hakdosh Boruch Hu, all right. If you want to bless the Am Yisroel, do it. And so while you’re at the wedding, you\u2019re doing mitzvos all the time. Every time you say \u201cI’m giving a bracha to this Jew over there he should live long. That Jew should live long,\u201d you should know you\u2019re doing a devar Hashem. Hashem wants you to bless the Am Yisroel. \u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da. And even Bilam said the same thing. \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da. To bless a Jew is a wonderful thing.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nIf you have nothing else to do, I would say that while you’re sitting there, talk over the Ketzos Hachoshen. You ever learned Ketzos Hachoshen? Oh, it’s a wonderful limud. Think of a Ketzos Hachosen. You\u2019re thinking about how you can do pidyon haben with a kohen katan. A wonderful Ketzos Hachoshen! A kohen katan, can you give him pidyon haben? He has no yad to be koneh. It’s a question. You’re thinking about that. You can say maybe it\u2019s da’as acheres makneh. The father has a yad so it’s different. Then you say no, that’s only if it’s your money. But it\u2019s tovas hanaah, this money. It’s not your money. Tovas hanaah is not mammon to be makneh al yidei daas acheres. You\u2019re thinking about a Ketzos. Ahh! It’s a wonderful thing. If you know a Ketzos Hachoshen, think it over at a wedding.
\n\n\n\nDon’t waste any time. It’s a pity to waste your life.
\n\n\n\nI suggest giving blessings. That’s easy. Everybody can give blessings. Give blessings, certainly. Or think about what you heard tonight. Think about tzelem Elokim. Think about Adam in Gan Eden. There are so many wonderful lessons. Our minds should be full of these things. If you remember a blatt gemara ba’al peh, say it ba’al peh the blatt gemara. Whatever it is, you don’t need to waste your life.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-251 (October 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on\u00a0Greatness At The Wedding appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T22:22:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T22:22:27+00:00" }, { "id": 36428, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-wild-names/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Wild Names", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why do Jewish males have names of beheimos temeios, of non-kosher wild animals? I\u2019m thinking in particular about the name Dov, the bear, and Aryeh, the lion.
A:
Why do Jews have names of animals, like the bear and the lion? The answer is that these names are really prayers. Every name is a tefilah. It’s a prayer that this Jew should have a quality of gevurah. He should be a hero.
Now, when you see a bear walking down the street at night, you’re not going to walk up and shake hands with him. If you see him even five blocks away, you\u2019ll stop a taxi and you\u2019ll take it in the other direction. If there\u2019s no taxi, you\u2019ll climb the telegraph pole.
\n\n\n\nA Jew has to be a bear. A bear means he has to be a hero. He has to be strong and he has to be willing to go into combat for the honor of Hashem. A Jew has to be a lion. He has to be strong-willed and fearless like a lion. A Jew has to be all the good things.
\n\n\n\nBinyamin ze’ev yitrof (Vayechi 49:27). Not only we give names but Hakodosh Boruch Hu, by means of His prophets, gave names like that. Binyamin ze’ev yitrof. He’s a wolf. A wolf is hungry, always hungry, and Binyamin is hungry for mitzvos. He’s hungry to serve Hashem. He doesn’t serve Hashem like somebody who has to do it; he can\u2019t help himself so he forces himself. No; for avodas Hashem he has an appetite like a wolf. When a wolf eats up a sheep, he doesn’t do it leshem mitzvah, like somebody who ate a lot on erev Shabbos and now on Friday night he\u2019s not able to eat any more but what can he do; he has to sit down at the seudah and eat some more. No! He’s hungry for mitzvos. That’s why you call him a wolf. And therefore all these names represent certain desirable characteristics of service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 441 (January 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Wild Names appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T20:36:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T20:36:06+00:00" }, { "id": 36417, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shemos-5783-in-the-merit-of-righteous-women-2/", "title": "Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women", "content_html": "A Historic Event
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s parsha we encounter a unique event that happened only once in our history. Something that never happened before and never afterwards did a thing like this happen again. What was it? It was the time when the Bnos Yisroel, the women of our nation, made a stand against the psak of the gedolei Yisroel, asking them to reconsider their halachic decision.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s definitely rare. Jewish women should urge the gedolim to reconsider a psak? Generally Jewish women are entirely loyal to the psak of the gedolim; even in private \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc, a loyal Jewish woman obeys her own husband. No women in the world are as loyal as the Jewish women. And here all the Bnos Yisroel were united in a great effort to attempt to persuade the gedolim to rescind their psak. It\u2019s an unusual story.
\n\n\n\nNow, I don\u2019t want to keep you in suspense but it requires a short introduction. In Parshas Shemos the Torah is telling the story of the birth of Moshe Rabeinu and it begins with the marriage of his parents: \u05b7\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 And a man from the House of Levi went and he took as a wife the daughter of Levi (Shemos 2:1).
\n\n\n\nA Unique Introduction
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019re familiar with the Chumash you know that when the Torah wants to talk about some great person, it never introduces it by telling us that his father went and married a woman. Naturally, if this person is on the scene we understand that his father married somebody. And so, if the Torah merely wanted to introduce the personality of Moshe Rabeinu, it could have said that \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u2013 and to Amrom was born a son. That\u2019s enough; with that, the story could have begun. But to begin the story with the wedding of the parents \u2013 it seems entirely superfluous.
\n\n\n\nBut it isn\u2019t of course. Nothing in the Torah is superfluous and if the Torah tells it so we understand that it was an event of the greatest weight; it was a very important incident when \u2018a man went from the House ofLevi and he took the daughter of Levi\u2019.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? In those days, when the Bnei Yisroel were suffering terribly under the deadly gezeiros of Pharaoh, a decision was made that it was not right to bring children into the world anymore; it\u2019s not right to bring children into a world just to have them destroyed.
\n\n\n\nAnd it wasn\u2019t the decision of ordinary people; it was a decision of gedolei Yisroel. \u201cWhen Amrom saw that Pharaoh was going to throw all the newborn boys into the Nile he said, \u2018Should we continue having children just so they should suffer the agonies of being drowned in the river?!\u2019 And so Amrom separated from his wife\u201d (Sotah 12a).
\n\n\n\nThe Great Men Decide
\n\n\n\nNow, Amrom was a leader of the generation and all the great men concurred with this weighty decision. And so, what happened? \u05e2\u05b8\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05b5\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05df \u2013 The leaders of the shevatim followed in his footsteps and within a short period of time Jewish men all over Mitzrayim were separating from their wives (ibid.).
\n\n\n\nNow, the leaders of our nation had their cheshbonos. They understood that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has promised to Avraham Avinu to make him into a goy gadol and therefore they knew it would be fulfilled one way or another; there will always be some bnei Yisroel around as seed from whom to plant a whole nation, a goy gadol. \u201cBut right now,\u201d they said, \u201cwe have to employ the middah of rachamim. It is pikuach nefesh; it\u2019s too dangerous for people to be born right now.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, how did the women of Yisroel respond to that decision? With hachnaah? With bowed heads and humility? No! They didn\u2019t want to accept it! When Miriam saw that her father had separated permanently from her mother, Miriam became bold. Because she saw that others were following suit and she couldn\u2019t just sit back. She spoke to her father and urged him to take back his wife.
\n\n\n\nThe Women Fight Back
\n\n\n\nNow, we know that Miriam did this with the inspiration of the dvar Hashem that spoke in her, but we have to know that it wasn\u2019t just one Miriam. Miriam was great but she wasn\u2019t the only one; she was only expressing the attitude of the Bnos Yisroel in that dor.
\n\n\n\nAll over Mitzrayim the Bnos Yisroel were urging the gedolim to reconsider. And all over Mitzrayim it was being repeated \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 this one went and remarried his wife and the other one went and remarried his former wife. All the men were taking back their wives. Of course Miriam was the most important, she is the one who was a neviah, but there were very important people then among the Bnos Yisroel and all of them participated in this concern about the new generation of Bnei Yisroel. And it was this concern, this attitude, that was the beginning, the foundation, of Yetzias Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nLook how the Torah begins Sefer Shemos. It\u2019s such an important sefer: Yetzias Mitzrayim, Kriyas Yam Suf, the Mann, Matan Torah, the Mishkan, so many important things. But the very first story is \u2018hameyaldos haIvriyos\u2019, the Hebrew midwives. It seems interesting, valuable, but is that the very first thing to talk about?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that this story of the meyaldos ivriyos is told to us because that is the whole secret of Yetziyas Mitzrayim. And it is told at the beginning because it is of the most urgent importance in understanding sippur Yetziyas Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Midwives
\n\n\n\nPharaoh said, \u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 let\u2019s deal cunningly with them lest they increase. It means Pharaoh was planning that they should not increase. And he gave the midwives orders that they should make sure his plan was fulfilled.
\n\n\n\nNow, the meyaldos after all were women; they weren\u2019t men. They weren\u2019t warriors or statesmen; they were midwives. And when a melech, especially in ancient times, gives an order, so even statesmen are overwhelmed with pachad, even warriors tremble. And women especially so. In those days there was no such thing as disobeying the king.
\n\n\n\nBut these women had different ideas. They were shaking in fear, but despite their terrible dread they refused to obey. Because there was something they feared even more. \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b6\u05d0\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05df \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 The melech of Mitzrayim gave them orders and still the women despite everything had so much yiras Elokim that they disobeyed the command of a monarch!
\n\n\n\nAnd in what did they express their yiras Elokim? They saw to it that the Bnos Yisroel should succeed in bearing children. And they went all out in this endeavor. \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05df\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, they saw to it that the children should live!
\n\n\n\nNot Just The Midwives
\n\n\n\nNow, the story of the meyaldos is of the vastest importance because it wasn\u2019t merely these two women. We have to understand there is a principle in the Torah that \u05d9\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b9\u05d3 \u05e1\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 we learn what is not explained from that which is explained. And so if we want to know about the women in Mitzrayim, what did they think, who they were, what their attitudes were, here we have one prat, a detail, that explains a great deal. We learn that the Bnos Yisroel in Mitzrayim were moser nefesh, were willing to risk their lives that the Bnei Yisroel should increase in numbers. That is what the story of the meyaldos is for.
\n\n\n\nAnd as much as we will dwell on this episode of these meyaldos who were summoned to the palace and were able to withstand the royal edict of a mighty king, it won\u2019t be enough. As much as we will be maamik into the sakanah, the real peril that they faced and nevertheless refused to do other than had been agreed among the bnos Yisroel that kein yirbeh, that they must increase, it won\u2019t be too much because from this incident, this episode, we learn about all the Bnos Yisroel in Mitzrayim, about their intentions.
\n\n\n\nAnd by no means was it easy for them. We have to know that Pharaoh when he made the decree that they shouldn\u2019t increase, he made all kinds of cunning schemes. He took the men far away in work camps; he isolated them and they had no contact with their wives. So what would happen to the best intentions? It\u2019s a fact; they are separated. Like it states in the Haggadah \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5, they were separated. And so what does it help that the women wanted to build the Am Yisroel?
\n\n\n\nBut the women were determined and they became men. The women began to sneak through the forests, through lands that were forbidden for them to trespass. Each woman packed lunches; they took food for their husbands and they stole through the guards. You know what that means?
\n\n\n\nIt is not told how many were destroyed. The Torah tells us only general things, the Gemara tells us general things. But the women risked their lives and they finally came to the camps. Not once; again and again they did that. And they called out their men folk outside the camps and they gave them food. The men were starving, they were famished and weak from the heavy work. And the wives encouraged them and they sat together with them. That is how they rebuilt the families of Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nHoly Mirrors
\n\n\n\nAnd what happened later? Later when they came to build the Mishkan, it says (Shemos 38:8) \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea. When they made the kiyor – where the kohanim washed their hands to do the avodah – they made it and its pedestal out of copper.
\n\n\n\nWhere did they get the copper? Well, they had plenty of copper that they took with them from Mitzrayim but the possuk tells us that they made it from the copper mirrors of the women \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e6\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05ea\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3, that gathered together near the Mishkan. The women came in big throngs \u2013 many, many of them \u2013 and they said, \u201cWe want you to use our copper mirrors to make the washing kiyor and the pedestal.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Medrash Tanchuma tells us that Moshe Rabeinu when he saw this, he said, \u201cMirrors?! Mirrors are used to arouse passion.\u201d That\u2019s what mirrors are for, to beautify oneself. And so he told the women, \u201cPlease, you must go away. You\u2019re disgracing the great purposes of the Mishkan. You\u2019re going to contribute mirrors for this noble purpose?\u201d Moshe was displeased.
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu said to Moshe Rabeinu, \u201cNever mind! That\u2019s what I want, those mirrors. These are the mirrors that raised up the Am Yisroel.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that is why although they had plenty of copper \u2013 they had plenty of other metals too, gold and silver \u2013 but \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u2013 the kiyor was made from copper. Which copper? \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 with the mirrors, \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 of the women who came in crowds. The women who created crowds. And that\u2019s how Hashem expressed His appreciation, His gratitude, to the women of that generation who went all out to build the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nFlattering The Sisterhood
\n\n\n\nNow you understand what the Gemara says, that \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e6\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e7\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u2013 it was due to the righteous women of that generation, \u05e0\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05d0\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 that our forefathers were redeemed from Mitzrayim (Sotah 11b).
\n\n\n\nYou know, this maamar is frequently quoted \u2013 but it\u2019s almost never quoted in connection with its true meaning. A rabbi will sometimes make use of that maamar when he\u2019s speaking to his Ladies Auxiliary to encourage them to buy raffles or to give more money. Or maybe if the Sisterhood will give him a gift, a trip to Eretz Yisroel, so in the farewell address he\u2019ll make sure to quote these words.
\n\n\n\nBut we have to study it k\u2019pshuto, the way our Sages intended. It means that there was a separate spirit among the Bnos Yisroel, above and beyond the spirit of the men. There was a certain greatness among the noshim tzidkoniyos because of which our ancestors were redeemed from Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nGender Ideology
\n\n\n\nYou know, there\u2019s no such thing today as a separate ideology for women. Today the whole Am Yisroel has a common tradition which comes through one channel: the Torah shebiksav and the Torah shebaal peh. That is where we derive all of our ideals. And therefore there is no such thing as men and women having different ideals; that couldn\u2019t be. It couldn\u2019t be now and it couldn\u2019t have been any time since Mattan Torah. But before Mattan Torah the case was different.
\n\n\n\nInthose early days of our nation it was different. The women had a separate greatness of spirit, and it was because of this attitude of the women, that is why they succeeded in being maamid a big dor, a great generation. It was a growth that never again was repeated. It was a bracha in the population of the Bnei Yisroel and all this was due to the spirit of the Bnos Yisroel in Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to ask ourselves: this spirit that inflamed the hearts of the women in Mitzrayim, where did it come from? How was it that the women had such a strength, such an attitude of the mind that they were capable of raising themselves up to such heights? Where did the women get this strength of spirit to overcome all of the obstacles that made it almost impossible?
\n\n\n\nOur Holy Mothers
\n\n\n\nSo to understand this we will skip a little bit and go to the sefer of Rus. In the Sefer Rus (4:11) it tells that when Boaz took Rus as a wife, the women of Beis Lechem gave a bracha to them that Rus should be \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d7\u05b5\u05dc \u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Like Rochel and Leah who built the House of Israel.
\n\n\n\nNow we have to treasure these ancient words; every word is a diamond of tremendous historical value, of tremendous Torah value, because what the women were saying gives us a clue to their attitude. You have to remember that the story of Rus was not long after coming into Eretz Yisroel and the spirit of the women of Mitzrayim still lived among them. And so now we are getting an echo of that old tradition from Mitzrayim. And we\u2019re learning that it was actually an even older tradition from the days of Rochel and Leah!
\n\n\n\nBecause we see now what Rochel and Leah were thinking about \u2013 they were building the house of Yisroel. And each one wanted to have a bigger share in building that house because they understood that the house of Yisroel, that\u2019s the resting place of Hakodosh Boruch Hu in His world. And anyone who has a bigger share in the house of Yisroel will have a bigger chelek in the great achievement of creating the place for His Shechinah to rest in this world.
\n\n\n\nIdealistic Intentions
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why Rachel and Leah vied with each other, they competed with each other, who could build up the Beis Yisroel more. That was the most burning ambition in their hearts. There was nothing more important to them and they generated such an idealism that it went into the blood of their families. They planted the seeds of idealism, of fighting for greater numbers in the Am Yisroel. Rochel and Leah, they were the ones whose every fiber cried out for the fulfilment of this glorious purpose, to build the Beis Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nOf course Yaakov also had something to do with it \u2013 we already repeated here many times the words of the Rambam in his Moreh Nevuchim. He makes there a fundamental statement, a statement that has to be studied and should never be forgotten because it\u2019s a key to understanding this subject. He says that the whole kavanah of the Avos was \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd – to raise up a nation that would serve Hashem. That\u2019s it; to raise up a nation of ovdei Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow that is a big statement to make, to say the whole intent of the Avos was that. But we have to open our ears and listen to these words. Who is talking after all? The Rambam. The Rambam is not a darshan; the Rambam is a very particular and precise writer and now he is making a statement of the greatest weight, the greatest importance. That\u2019s what our Avos lived for \u2013 to create an Am Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Mothering Instinct
\n\n\n\nOnly, as much as the Avos understood this and preached this, the Imahos absorbed it into their bones even more. Why? Because it is the nature of a woman to desire children; she\u2019s born with that instinct. That\u2019s why you see little girls play with dolls. But in ordinary people that instinct is misdirected; a child is like a doll, like a colt l\u2019havdil of a horse, or a calf l\u2019havdil of a cow. It\u2019s another child to take care of. It\u2019s fun too sometimes. Children are cute \u2013 they have to be; Hakodosh Boruch Hu made it that way, otherwise you wouldn\u2019t want to change their diapers. But sof kol sof, it\u2019s instinct primarily.
\n\n\n\nBut our Imahos took this instinct and they were able to utilize the teaching of the Avos, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, in a way that was magnified far beyond what the Avos themselves were able to feel. Because the Avos didn\u2019t have that natural instinct; a man doesn\u2019t possess it like a woman does.
\n\n\n\nAnd so these great women didn\u2019t try to be men; they didn\u2019t try to compete with men in their department of avodas Hashem. Of course they were great in many ways but they especially tried to become great as women; they were women par excellence. Rochel and Leah were dedicated with all their souls to having children to build up the Beis Yisroel. And this tradition they gave over to their daughters, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu more than anything else He wants the numbers of the Bnei Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNumbers At Sinai
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Hashem wants. He wants numbers. That\u2019s why He didn\u2019t give the Torah to Avrohom Avinu. No matter how great he was, Hashem didn\u2019t give the Torah to Avrohom Avinu. The Torah wasn\u2019t given to Yitzchok or to Yaakov, because Hashem was waiting for numbers. Hakodosh Boruch Hu waited until we were already a numerous nation. He waited until they became a great nation because that\u2019s the dearest wish, kavyachol of Hashem. He wants to see a great number of the Bnei Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThis lesson, you must know, was not lost on the generations that followed. When our forefathers were in Mitzrayim, the Jewish women in Mitzrayim had the tradition handed down from Rochel and Leah. They knew what it meant the tremendous privilege of having a child born. And that\u2019s why when Pharaoh made his gezeirah they said, \u201cAre we going to separate from our husbands just because of Pharoah\u2019s decree? If so we might as well die.\u201d
\n\n\n\nLike Rochel had said (Bereishis 30:1) \u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Give me children, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 and if not, \u05de\u05b5\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 I want to die. Now, we think we understand that; there are women who talk like that: \u201cIf I can\u2019t have children I don\u2019t want to live.\u201d You might hear that sometimes. It means, \u201cIf I can\u2019t have a little doll, a human doll to fulfill my motherly instincts, I don\u2019t want to live.\u201d But that\u2019s not what Rochel meant.
\n\n\n\nThe Imahos were living to create a nation, to make the Am Hashem bigger and bigger. And the women in Mitzrayim lived with those words of Rochel. They lived only for that purpose and therefore all the bnos Yisroel arose in revolt against the gedolei Yisroel \u2014 we can\u2019t recommend such behavior because this was just a one-time event in history. But they were so dedicated to the goal of bringing the Shechinah down into this world that they stood up and said, \u201cNo! We can\u2019t accept that psak.\u201d
\n\n\n\nProtesting Pharaoh
\n\n\n\nAnd surely they revolted against Pharaoh. When he tried his best to prevent marriage of men and women of the Bnei Yisroel, he was no match for the flaming tradition of the Hebrew women who knew that their purpose in the world was bringing more and more Bnei Yisroel into the world on whom the Shechinah would rest.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, they began to increase and multiply with a tremendous enthusiasm. Everybody was busy with one thought. Pharaoh was busy with the thought \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cMaybe they\u2019ll become too many!\u201d and the Bnos Yisroel were busy with the thought (Rashi Shemos 1:12), \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cYes, we will become too many!\u201d And the stronger one prevailed.
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t easy. This tremendous mitzvah was achieved under the most difficult conditions. The daughters of Yisroel exerted themselves with mesiras nefesh; we don\u2019t know how many lost their lives in the process. We don\u2019t know how much suffering they had to endure.
\n\n\n\nPerilous Births
\n\n\n\nThey didn\u2019t have any hospitals, they didn\u2019t have luxuries. The time when they had to give birth, they went and hid under the trees someplace, \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 under the apple tree. It was a low tree so people couldn\u2019t see them. And they gave birth by themselves. A woman, to give birth by herself, that\u2019s a terrible tzarah. They had to cut the baby loose themselves and there was nobody to take care of the poor mother. And the baby had to be washed \u2013 I don\u2019t know how they did it. We read in the Medrash that malachim came and helped them but we have to realize that these mothers were moiser nefesh on a scale that\u2019s beyond our ability to even believe.
\n\n\n\nAnd it was all done under the terror of death. A sword was hanging over their heads. They had to hide the children from the Egyptians. They had to hide them in caves. Try to hide little children in caves; the children are crying and making noise. Maybe some children were discovered. Maybe some were killed.
\n\n\n\nBut they did it. And they did it so many times that the Bnei Yisroel \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc, were fruitful, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc, and they swarmed, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc, and they increased. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 they became very numerous (Shemos 1:7). Now every word here means mesiras nefesh under the fear of death.And it ends off, \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 the land was filled with them.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cYou\u2019re a great nation. In the merit of the righteous women, I\u2019ll redeem you from Mitzrayim. Now is the time when I\u2019m going to show Myself to you like I never showed before. I\u2019ll take you out of Mitzrayim and reveal Myself to you. Even \u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 \u201cMy name, Hashem, I never showed to the Avos like I\u2019m going to show you now.\u201d Only because of the great numbers that have now been produced by the daughters of Yisroel.”
\n\n\n\nProduced By Mothers
\n\n\n\nNow, I want to switch subjects before we conclude. It\u2019s actually not a new subject, but it\u2019s the other side of the same coin, of building a family. Because up till now we were talking about building the Am Yisroel. A tremendous opportunity! Increasing the number of Jewish boys and girls means that you\u2019re participating in the great achievement of bringing Shechinah to this world. It\u2019s kiddush Hashem, it\u2019s a mitzvah that\u2019s unequaled. It\u2019s everything good! Building the Am Yisroel!
\n\n\n\nThe world is grateful to you. You walk into a shul, a Beis Haknesses. A minyan full of talmidei chachomim, frum Jews \u2013 where did they come from? The mothers brought them up, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d8\u05b4\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 I brought him up inch by inch, the mother says (Eichah 2:22).
\n\n\n\nI once went to be menachem avel. A little rebbe passed away. He was a rebbe of a little Beis Hamedrash who passed away. His widow was sitting there, a little woman, a tiny little woman, the widow, but I saw her sons \u2013 a whole row of big sons, big chassidishe men, a whole row of them. I had derech eretz for her \u2013 a whole row of sons from that little woman. I was thinking, \u201cWhat a big achievement she accomplished.\u201d Impressive looking men! Each one could be a little rebbe on his own! That\u2019s an achievement! She lived for a purpose! No question about it! She built up the Beis Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nProduced By Yourself
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s something more, something very important, and that is building yourself. To build the Am Yisroel? It\u2019s tremendous! But to build yourself, that\u2019s even more important.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll explain that. You remember when Rochel Imeinu saw that her sister was having children and she was still childless, so she made the decision to build a family in a secondary way, by means of a substitute. And so she suggested to her husband Yaakov that he should take her maidservant as a wife and beget children from her. And she said to Yaakov the following: \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b5\u05dc\u05b5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 I\u2019ll raise her children on my knees and I\u2019ll be built up through her.
\n\n\n\nNow, we should make note of the fact that the word \u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cI will be built up\u201d sounds like \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd – \u201cchildren.\u201d And actually they\u2019re cognate words; they\u2019re related to each other: \u201c\u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05df; I will be built up by means of a child.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, I wouldn\u2019t be bold enough to try and tell you all the things that Rochel intended with those words but there\u2019s no question that everything we said here tonight was included in her words. Absolutely that she wanted to be built up by means of creating a nation, a nation of ovdei Hashem.
\n\n\n\nBut she meant more than that. Because \u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 means \u201cI want to build up myself, my personality.\u201d Rochel understood that having children means that you\u2019re building two separate skyscrapers. One is what we spoke of till now, the building of the Am Yisroel and bringing more Shechinah into the world. But Rochel Imeinu intended even more than that. \u201c\u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 I want to be built up myself from it; I want to build up my personality, my character.\u201d Because that\u2019s one of the most valuable achievements of building a family \u2013 you become a different person altogether.
\n\n\n\nBecoming A New Person
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a girl who is nothing but a girl. She didn\u2019t learn mussar seforim. Could be she didn\u2019t even learn Chumash. She has some traditions of the Jewish people; she\u2019s certainly a frum Jewish girl, she\u2019s a maamin, absolutely. In the Beis Yaakov or the Beis Rochel she learned many things. But you cannot say she is saturated with yiras Shomayim or saturated with the middah of kindliness. The truth is that she\u2019s probably selfish \u2013 she\u2019s thinking only about herself; she\u2019s still a little girl after all.
\n\n\n\nBut when this girl gets married a great change begins to set in. She\u2019s not living for herself anymore \u2013 she\u2019s devoted to her husband now and she tries to make him happy. She asks him, \u201cChaim, does the soup taste good?\u201d That\u2019s an ambition for a good Jewish wife \u2013 she wants to make her husband happy.
\n\n\n\nAnd she becomes a new person because of that; she\u2019s a ba\u2019alas chessed now. When she puts a plate of food on the table she is doing a tremendous act as a shaliach of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. \u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05df \u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u2013 Hashem gives food to all the living but it\u2019s the wife who is handing her husband the bowl of soup. She hands him the bread because that\u2019s what Hashem wants her to do.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what she\u2019s busy with; by being married she becomes a practitioner of chessed. All day long, she\u2019s osek in gemilus chassadim. Isn\u2019t that a great kindliness to cook for somebody? And to make it taste good too? And it\u2019ll be eaten by her husband; it means that she\u2019s feeding the Jewish people.
\n\n\n\nBesides, there are many other things that she does; she keeps a clean house, she washes the clothing. And so amarriedwoman is chessed; that\u2019s what she is. By being married, she becomes a practitioner of chessed. All day long, she\u2019s oisek in gemilas chassadim. She\u2019s building herself into a new person altogether, a more perfect servant of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nBecoming A Tremendous Tzaddik
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the beginning of her career because soon a child comes and an even greater transformation takes place in her personality. A woman who has a child, who has children, is building herself; her personality is improving \u2013 no question.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like learning a mussar sefer all day. You know what would happen to a person if he learned mussar every day, all day long. He\u2019d be someone great, a great tzaddik. And imagine he wouldn\u2019t only learn it; he\u2019d live it. He would become a tzaddik yesod olam, a tremendous tzaddik.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a mother! All day long, she\u2019s working on the middah of chessed. Chessed and chessed and more chessed. First she has to carry a baby around with her for a long time and then she nurses the baby; for years and years she takes care of the baby. A mother puts in hours of hard work for her children. Plenty of times, she loses many hours of sleep because her child is crying. Many times the child wanted something, she had to spend time playing with the child when she had work to do.
\n\n\n\nEverything is hectic. She\u2019s harried, with the worries of each child crowding out her own thoughts. All day long, she\u2019s busy. This child has a cold, this child fell down and cut his finger, he has to get the bus to go to the yeshivah. She\u2019s sits with the little boys and little girls practicing the alef-beis, the kriah. \u201cMommy, I need this. Give me this. Give me that.\u201d All the time. All the time.
\n\n\n\nYou Come First!
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, when a child comes into the world, a mother lives for her child. All of her emotions are concentrated on the love for her child and it changes her personality. She becomes a different kind of a creature. She is devoted so much that she thinks nothing about herself anymore \u2013 all for her child. She\u2019s kulo chessed, kulo chessed, kulo chessed! \u05d4\u05b2\u05ea\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc – Can a woman forget her baby? (Yeshaya 49:15). Never! Someone who is thinking unselfishly of someone else, all the time, by day and by night it is a tremendous tikkun, a perfection of character. So now, her life is transformed and she\u2019s built up. By a child, she is built up. She becomes different.
\n\n\n\nShe is so devoted that she thinks nothing about herself anymore \u2013 everything is for her children. I was talking to a woman yesterday on the telephone. I said, \u201cWho\u2019s more important \u2013 you or your children?\u201d She said, \u201cMy children.\u201d I said, \u201cNo. You\u2019re more important \u2013 no question about it. Chayecha kodmin \u2013 even your child is not more important than you. You come first.\u201d But that\u2019s the greatness of a Jewish mother \u2013 she has to be told that she comes first.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Rochel wanted a child that would achieve this transformation in her nature. It would change her so that she would be an entirely different personality in this world and in the world to come. She wanted a child that would achieve this transformation in her nature. Of course, she would have loved to build it from herself, but at least by means of an agent. \u201cAt least, I\u2019ll make Bilhah my shaliach,\u201d she said. Rochel wanted to build up her character one way or another \u2013 so she said, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ll be built up from her child.\u201d
\n\n\n\nProducing a Father
\n\n\n\nNow, everything we said applies to a great extent to a father too. A father also changes his character to a great extent because of his children. I won\u2019t say as much as a mother but there\u2019s no question that a father of children is a different fellow than he was when he was a bochur in the yeshivah.
\n\n\n\nA father also is constantly practicing the middah of rachmanus on his children and he\u2019s transformed because of that. Maybe not as much as the mother, but absolutely, a father transforms his personality by means of being a father.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a halachah, \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d6\u05b8\u05e7\u05b5\u05df \u2013 An old man cannot sit in Sanhedrin. Why is that? Because an old man lost the feelings of pity on children (Sanhedrin 36b). He\u2019s possul to be a dayan because we\u2019re worried that he won’t have rachmonus badin. But a father who is still in contact with children, he has a certain feeling of rachmonus that he developed because of his duties in the home. And so, the father also benefits.
\n\n\n\nProducing a Family
\n\n\n\nParents are changed by means of building a family. That\u2019s one of the roles of a Jewish parent. Not only are they building the world together but by means of their children they\u2019re building themselves. All of the wrinkles of selfishness, all the wrinkles of their character are being ironed out. One day at a time, one brick at a time, they\u2019re building. And after many years, the edifice they have built is unmatched in the world. Not only the edifice of a fine Jewish family \u2013 they themselves become towering personalities of perfection prepared to enter into the world to come.
\n\n\n\nAnd so every Jewish wedding is a repetition of \u05b7\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9. It\u2019s of the greatest importance because of these two functions of building and therefore it\u2019s so important to appreciate how great is the function of marriage.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a chosson and his kallah; they\u2019re all confused. She\u2019s thinking if her new sheitel is on straight. He\u2019s worried about other things. He might make a mistake and not say the words right. They\u2019re not thinking about idealism at all. They should be thinking about how great their function is. They\u2019re starting now a long career of building. And they\u2019re doing it for Hashem. He\u2019s right there under the chuppah with them! How immense is the holiness of that moment! They\u2019re preparing to bring the Shechinah into this world, more and more children means more and more Shechinah, and at the same time they\u2019re preparing to perfect their personalities for the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nWe were redeemed from Mitzrayim in the merit of the Bnos Yisroel who understood that Hashem desires \u201cthe count of the Bnei Yisroel\u201d. Building up the Jewish Nation is the greatest merit, besides for the fact that it builds up the parents as well when they have children. This week, at least once per day, I will bli neder look at a Jewish family and marvel at the merit of the parents who have achieved so much in building the holy nation and bringing the Shechinah into the world and into themselves.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 900 \u2013 Greatness In The Midst Of Difficulty | 992 – The Count Of Bnei Yisroel | E-18 – Builders Of The World | E-245 \u2013 And My Shechinah Shall Dwell Among You
\nThe post Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:48:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-11-02T12:09:25+00:00" }, { "id": 36424, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shemos-5783-in-the-merit-of-righteous-women/", "title": "Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women", "content_html": "TA-Shemos-5783The post Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:46:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T05:46:52+00:00" }, { "id": 36416, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-shemos-5783-in-the-merit-of-righteous-women/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women", "content_html": "TA-Shemos-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Shemos 5783 – In the Merit of Righteous Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:46:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T05:46:24+00:00" }, { "id": 36413, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-chemot-5783/", "title": "Paracha Ch\u00e9mot 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Chemot-5783The post Paracha Ch\u00e9mot 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:40:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T05:40:46+00:00" }, { "id": 36411, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/nombres-de-animales/", "title": "Nombres de animales", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los hombres jud\u00edos tienen nombres de behemot temeot, de animales salvajes no kosher? Estoy pensando en particular en nombres como Dov (oso) y Ari\u00e9 (le\u00f3n).
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los jud\u00edos tienen nombres de animales, como el oso y el le\u00f3n? La respuesta es que estos nombres son realmente rezos. Cada nombre es una tefil\u00e1. Es una oraci\u00f3n que este jud\u00edo tenga una cualidad de guevur\u00e1. Debe ser un h\u00e9roe.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si ves un oso caminando por la calle por la noche, no vas a acercarte y darle la mano. Si lo ves incluso a cinco cuadras de distancia, parar\u00e1s un taxi y te ir\u00e1s en la otra direcci\u00f3n. Si no hay taxi, subir\u00e1s al poste de tel\u00e9grafo.
\n\n\n\nUn jud\u00edo tiene que ser un oso. Un oso significa que tiene que ser un h\u00e9roe. Tiene que ser fuerte y tiene que estar dispuesto a entrar en combate por el honor de Hashem. Un jud\u00edo tiene que ser un le\u00f3n. Tiene que tener una voluntad fuerte y no tener miedo como un le\u00f3n. Un jud\u00edo tiene que tener todas las cosas buenas.
\n\n\n\nBiniam\u00edn Zeev itraf (Vaij\u00ed 49:27). No s\u00f3lo nosotros ponemos esos nombres sino que Hakadosh Baruj Hu, por medio de Sus profetas, puso nombres como ese. Biniam\u00edn Zeev itraf. \u00c9l es un lobo. Un lobo tiene hambre, siempre tiene hambre, y Biniam\u00edn tiene hambre de mitzvot. Tiene hambre de servir a Hashem. No sirve a Hashem como alguien que tiene que hacerlo; tiene un apetito como un lobo para hacer Avodat Hashem. Cuando un lobo se come una oveja, no lo hace leshem mitzv\u00e1 como alguien que comi\u00f3 mucho en \u00e9rev Shabat y ahora el viernes por la noche no puede comer m\u00e1s, pero qu\u00e9 puede hacer; tiene que sentarse en la seud\u00e1 y comer un poco m\u00e1s. \u00a1No! Tiene hambre de mitzvot. Por eso lo llaman lobo. Y por lo tanto todos estos nombres representan ciertas caracter\u00edsticas deseables en el servicio a Hashem.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #441 (enero de 1983)
\nThe post Nombres de animales appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:31:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T05:31:03+00:00" }, { "id": 36409, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ovnis/", "title": "Ovnis", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeben los jud\u00edos creer en los ovnis (objetos voladores no identificados)?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que esta no es una cuesti\u00f3n jud\u00eda. Pero si le hacen esta pregunta a alguien, si cree en los ovnis, la respuesta tiene que ser: no. S\u00f3lo crees en lo que est\u00e1 probado.
\n\n\n\nPuede ser que hayan objetos no identificados flotando alrededor, pero si son objetos fabricados, entonces provienen de alg\u00fan lugar de esta tierra. No hay duda de que alguien en esta tierra los ha lanzado. Ning\u00fan objeto creado por la inteligencia proviene de ning\u00fan otro lugar del espacio. No hay seres inteligentes pensantes en el espacio. Puedes apostar que es as\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, estoy dispuesto a apostar tambi\u00e9n a que ni siquiera hay vida poco inteligente en el espacio en ninguna parte. Pero no es un principio de la emun\u00e1 decir eso. Si quieres creer que hay ciertas especies de elefantes en alg\u00fan lugar del espacio, adelante. Pero no hay hombres ni seres pensantes en ning\u00fan lugar del espacio.
\n\n\n\nY es una tonter\u00eda. Incluso de acuerdo con los evolucionistas, el hombre es, jas veshalom, ellos dicen que el hombre es el resultado de un inimaginable accidente afortunado. Miles de millones, billones de accidentes afortunados coincidieron, dicen, para hacer al hombre. Entonces, \u00bfvas a decir que ocurri\u00f3 el mismo n\u00famero de accidentes afortunados en otro momento de la historia del mundo? Esa es la locura de los escritores de ciencia ficci\u00f3n. As\u00ed que puedes estar seguro de que nunca habr\u00e1 nada parecido a un visitante del espacio exterior. Y si aparece, entonces ya estuvo en este mundo primero.
\n\n\n\nCINTA # 340
\nThe post Ovnis appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-08T05:29:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-08T05:29:17+00:00" }, { "id": 36394, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-emunah-in-ufos/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah in UFO\u2019s", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should Jews believe in UFOs, in unidentified flying objects?
A:
And the answer is that this is not a Jewish question. Because if anybody will ask, \u201cShould I believe it?\u201d the answer is no. You believe in it only when it\u2019s proven.
It could be there are unidentified objects, but if they are floating around, if they\u2019re manufactured objects, then they come from someplace on this earth. There\u2019s no question that somebody on this earth has released them.
\n\n\n\nNo objects that are fashioned by intelligence are coming from any other place in space. There are no thinking, intelligent beings in space. You can bet your pants on that.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m willing to wager also that there is no life at all in space anywhere. But that\u2019s not a principle of the emunah to say that. If you want to believe there are certain species of elephants someplace in space, go ahead. But no men or no thinking beings are anywhere in space. And it\u2019s as silly as could be to think otherwise.
\n\n\n\nEven according to the evolutionists, the way they say, man is, chas v\u2019shalom, the result of an unimaginable lucky accident. Billions, trillions of lucky accidents coincided, they say, to make man. So you\u2019re going to say the same number of lucky accidents happened another time in the history of the world? That\u2019s the lunacy of the science fiction writers.
\n\n\n\nSo you can be sure there\u2019ll never be anything like a visitor from outer space. If he does come, he already was on this earth first.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 340 (December 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah in UFO\u2019s appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-05T22:35:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-05T22:35:09+00:00" }, { "id": 36382, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parejas-yendo-de-la-mano/", "title": "Parejas yendo de la mano", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs correcto que marido y mujer vayan de la mano en la calle?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAcerca de eso, dice en el jumash – no dice en el jumash, pero alguien lo dijo con respecto a las \u00faltimas palabras del jumash: si es leen\u00e9 kol Israel, es el sof tzu der Tor\u00e1, si es “ante los ojos de Israel”, entonces es el final de la Tor\u00e1 (ver Vezot Haberaj\u00e1 34:12).
\n\n\n\nNo debes hacer cosas en p\u00fablico. \u00a1No hagas cosas en p\u00fablico! Nadie deber\u00eda verlo. Incluso los ni\u00f1os no deber\u00edan verlo. Es absolutamente importante tener una conducta adecuada en todo momento. Y nadie puede darse cuenta de cu\u00e1nto makpid Hakadosh Baruj Hu sobre la conducta impropia.
\n\n\n\nPuedo contarles historias de mi experiencia, lo que he visto que le ha ocurrido a personas que hicieron eso, personas que hicieron precisamente eso. Es notable lo que vi en mi experiencia.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, todos deber\u00edan jas a s\u00ed mismos porque Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere un tzeniut perfecto. Y el esposo y la esposa deben cuidarse de no mostrar cualquier forma de cari\u00f1o especial en presencia de otras personas. Deben ser perfectamente educados el uno con el otro; pero en p\u00fablico s\u00f3lo deben mostrar cortes\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #459 (junio de 1983)
\nThe post Parejas yendo de la mano appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-05T04:53:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-05T04:53:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36380, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/apreciar-el-regalo-de-la-comida/", "title": "Apreciar el regalo de la comida", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 debemos dar gracias a Hashem por la comida que nos da? \u00c9l nos cre\u00f3 y por supuesto que \u00c9l tiene que alimentarnos.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsa es una vieja pregunta que hacen aqu\u00ed muchas veces. Si \u00c9l nos cre\u00f3, \u00bfno deber\u00eda tener que alimentarnos?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 deber\u00eda hacerlo?
\n\n\n\nDigamos que alguien te dio un auto y al otro d\u00eda t\u00fa le tocas el timbre por la ma\u00f1ana. “\u00bfQu\u00e9 es lo que quieres ahora?” te pregunta
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 la gasolina?\u201d le dices a \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\n“\u00a1\u00bfTambi\u00e9n quieres gasolina de m\u00ed?!”
\n\n\n\nHakadosh Baruj Hu te dio un cuerpo. Podr\u00eda decirte: \u201cVe a buscar comida t\u00fa mismo. \u00a1Ve a mendigar! \u00bfNo puedes encontrar una tienda de comestibles? As\u00ed que ve a alg\u00fan lugar del campo; tal vez encuentres bayas silvestres. \u00bfTengo que sustentarte? \u00a1Te di un cuerpo! \u00a1S\u00f3lo por eso deber\u00edas agradecerme toda tu vida!\u201d
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, es s\u00f3lo la ingratitud lo que provoca esta actitud.
\n\n\n\nEs como los ni\u00f1os de hoy, ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as estadounidenses. Dicen a sus padres: \u201c\u00bfQui\u00e9n les ha dicho que me traigan al mundo? Ahora tienen que ayudarme, comprarme un auto y darme dinero para narc\u00f3ticos y todo tipo de diversi\u00f3n que quiero tener\u201d. Y sus padres son lo suficientemente tontos como para hacerlo.
\n\n\n\nLos padres pueden decir: \u201cMira. Te dimos tu cuerpo. Cu\u00eddate de ahora en adelante y agradece que est\u00e1s vivo\u201d.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, si no fueras tan desagradecido, estar\u00edas agradeciendo a Hashem todo el tiempo que est\u00e1s vivo, ni siquiera pensar\u00edas en exigirle que te d\u00e9 comida tambi\u00e9n.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #447 (febrero de 1983)
\nThe post Apreciar el regalo de la comida appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-05T04:51:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-05T04:51:19+00:00" }, { "id": 36375, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-couples-holding-hands/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Couples Holding Hands\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it proper for husband and wife to hold hands in the street?
A:
\n\n\n\nAbout that it says in the chumash \u2013 it\u2019s not said in the chumash but somebody said it on the last words in the chumash: If it\u2019s le’einei kol Yisroel it\u2019s a sof tzu der Torah \u2013 If it\u2019s \u201cbefore the eyes of Yisroel,\u201d that\u2019s already the end of the Torah (see V\u2019zos Habracha 34:12).
\n\n\n\nYou don\u2019t do things in public. Don\u2019t do things in public! Nobody should see it. Even children shouldn\u2019t see it. It’s absolutely important to have proper conduct at all times. And nobody can realize how much Hakodosh Boruch Hu is makpid on improper conduct.
\n\n\n\nI can tell you stories from my experience, what I have seen happen to people who did that, people who did just that. It’s remarkable what I saw in my experience.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore everybody should be chas on himself because Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants perfect tznius. And a husband and wife should beware of showing any form of especial endearment in the presence of other people. They should be perfectly polite to each other; but in public only politeness they should show.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 459 (June 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Couples Holding Hands\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-04T22:57:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-04T22:57:28+00:00" }, { "id": 36371, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-appreciating-the-gift-of-food/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Appreciating the Gift of Food", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why should we give thanks to Hashem for the food that He gives us? He made us; of course He has to feed us.
A:
That\u2019s an old question that they ask here many times. If He created us, shouldn\u2019t He have to feed us?
And the answer is, why should He?!
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say somebody gave you a car and now you ring his bell in the morning. \u201cWhat do you want now?\u201d he asks you.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhere\u2019s the gasoline?\u201d you say to him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou want gasoline from me too?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave you a body. He could say, \u201cGo look for food yourself. Scrounge! You can\u2019t find a grocery store? So go someplace in the country; maybe you\u2019ll find wild berries. I have to support you? I gave you a body! Just for that you should thank Me all your life!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it\u2019s only ingratitude that causes this attitude.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like children today, American boys and girls. They say to their parents, \u201cWho told you to bring me into the world? Now you have to support me and buy me a car and give me money for narcotics and every kind of fun that I want to have.\u201d And their parents are dumb enough to do it.
\n\n\n\nThe parents can say, \u201cLook. We gave you your bodies. Take care of yourselves from now on and be grateful that you\u2019re alive.\u201d
And so, if you weren\u2019t so ungrateful, you\u2019d be thanking Hashem all the time that you\u2019re alive \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t even think of demanding that He give you food too.
TAPE # 447 (February 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Appreciating the Gift of Food appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-04T22:50:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-04T22:50:37+00:00" }, { "id": 36360, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-system-for-true-love/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A System For True Love", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one train himself to truly love Jews?
A:
\n\n\n\nIt’s not a simple question. But the first function is to pick out one Jew and to learn to love that one Jew. Pick out somebody who won\u2019t be too much of a trial, someone who will be easier to love \u2013 a nice, good-looking Jew; clean and polite and friendly to you. And then get busy loving him.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t just react like an animal. An animal also reacts pleasantly to somebody who is nice to him. Practice loving him because he\u2019s a Jew, not because he’s nice looking or friendly. \u201cLook at this beautiful descendant of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov,\u201d you say to yourself, \u201cthis beautiful member of the am kadosh.\u201d And little by little get into your head that you\u2019re loving him because it’s a mitzvah of the Torah, ve\u2019ahavta le\u2019reiacha kamocha. After a while you’ll start loving him and then when you start loving one Jew well, now you can already graduate and love two Jews. And after a while it begins to spread.
\n\n\n\nIt’s not my idea by the way. I heard this from an adam gadol. Fifty years ago he told it to me. That\u2019s how I started loving Jews. Pick somebody and work on him.
\n\n\n\nOur sages worked that way. Anybody who came along, they called him \u201cBni, my son,\u201d or \u201cBiti, my daughter,\u201d in order to accustom themselves to love this person like they love their own child.
\n\n\n\nNow, that’s the wonderful thing of being a parent. A parent has a fountain of love that opens up in him towards his children. There are a lot of people who didn\u2019t love anybody until they had children. Then they began to really love with a deep-seated affection. Now once you love your own children then sometimes your children bring their playmates into the house; a little boy brings little boys in. So you think, \u201cThey’re also beloved by their parents,\u201d and the affection can spread to others.
\n\n\n\nThat’s the system of learning how to love Jews.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 482 (November 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A System For True Love appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-04T22:19:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-04T22:19:23+00:00" }, { "id": 36356, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-to-complain/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When To Complain", "content_html": "\nQ:
In this week\u2019s sedrah when Pharaoh asked Yaakov, \u201cHow long are the years of your life?\u201d so Yaakov answered that his days were not as good as the days of his fathers. What did Yaakov intend by that answer?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhen Pharaoh inquired of Yaakov how old he was, so Yaakov said that his days were less and not as happy as the days of his fathers. That\u2019s your question, right? You want to know why he said that?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that Yaakov wanted to let Pharaoh know that he wasn\u2019t such a happy man, such a fortunate man. Now Yaakov knew that he was fortunate, very fortunate, but it\u2019s always good when you\u2019re speaking to others to beware of making them envious of you.
\n\n\n\nSo if you\u2019re speaking to pious people, then you can tell them how fortunate you are because they\u2019ll say, \u201cLook, if Hashem is so good to tzaddikim, it\u2019s an object lesson for us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut if you speak to a stranger \u2013 let\u2019s say, if a man on the street stops you and asks you for a dime, don\u2019t tell him, \u201cI\u2019m packed with money today.\u201d Don\u2019t tell him that. Give him the dime and say, \u201cI just have a dime on me.\u201d Don\u2019t let him know how fortunate you are \u2013 it\u2019ll make him envious and it might not turn out well.
\n\n\n\nQ:
So why did he say that it\u2019s not as great as the days of his fathers?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what he wanted to say, that he is nothing compared to his ancestors. It was a form of speech; he wanted to tell him, \u201cDon\u2019t think I\u2019m such a fortunate man.\u201d And it\u2019s a good thing. It depends to whom you\u2019re speaking but it\u2019s a good thing to make sure to never cause the wrong people to envy you.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 152 (December 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on When To Complain appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-04T22:04:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-04T22:04:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36346, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/metodo-para-amar/", "title": "M\u00e9todo para amar", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo se entrena uno para amar verdaderamente a los jud\u00edos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo es una pregunta sencilla. Pero el primer paso es elegir a un jud\u00edo y aprender a amar a ese jud\u00edo. Elige a alguien que no sea una gran prueba, alguien a quien sea m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil amar: un jud\u00edo agradable y bien parecido; limpio, educado y amable contigo. Y luego oc\u00fapate de amarlo.
\n\n\n\nNo reacciones como un animal. Un animal tambi\u00e9n reacciona agradablemente ante alguien que es amable con \u00e9l. Practica amarlo porque es jud\u00edo, no porque sea agradable o amistoso. \u201cMira a este hermoso descendiente de Abraham, Itzjak e Iaakov\u201d, dite a ti mismo, \u201ceste hermoso miembro del am kadosh\u201d. Y poco a poco m\u00e9tete en la cabeza que lo est\u00e1s amando porque es una mitzv\u00e1 de la Tor\u00e1, veahavt\u00e1 lereaj\u00e1 kamoja. Despu\u00e9s de un tiempo comenzar\u00e1s a amarlo y luego cuando comiences a amar bien a un jud\u00edo, ahora ya puedes graduarte y amar a dos jud\u00edos. Y despu\u00e9s de un tiempo comienza a agrandar el grupo.
\n\n\n\nNo es mi idea por cierto. Escuch\u00e9 esto de un adam gadol. Hace cincuenta a\u00f1os me lo cont\u00f3. As\u00ed fue como comenc\u00e9 a amar a los jud\u00edos. Elige a alguien y trabaja en \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nNuestros sabios trabajaron de esa manera. Cualquiera que ven\u00eda, lo llamaban “Ben\u00ed, mi hijo” o “Bit\u00ed, mi hija”, para acostumbrarse a amar a esta persona como aman a su propio hijo.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, eso es lo maravilloso de ser padre. Un padre tiene una fuente de amor que se abre en \u00e9l hacia sus hijos. Hay muchas personas que no amaron a nadie hasta que tuvieron hijos. Entonces comenzaron a amar de verdad con un afecto profundamente arraigado. Ahora bien, una vez que amas a tus propios hijos, a veces tus hijos traen a sus compa\u00f1eros de juego a la casa; un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o trae a los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os. As\u00ed que piensas: “Tambi\u00e9n son amados por sus padres”, y el afecto puede contagiarse a otros.
\n\n\n\nEse es el sistema de aprender a amar a los jud\u00edos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #482 (noviembre de 1983)
\nThe post M\u00e9todo para amar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-04T01:24:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-04T01:24:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36335, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%97%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "16-\u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-03T05:34:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-03T05:34:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36331, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dream-interpretations/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Dream Interpretations", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there anybody alive today who can interpret dreams as far as the future is concerned?
A:
\n\n\n\nI don’t know. But I’ll tell you one thing, though; an eitzah, an eitzah tovah. Go to a person who will be poser chalom for you in a good way. He\u2019ll take your dream and interpret it for good. If he interprets your dream to have a good meaning \u2013 whether it’s right or not, it makes no difference \u2013 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05db\u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e4\u05ea\u05e8 \u05db\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4; the way a person interprets it that\u2019s how it will turn out. If he interprets your dream for good then it means Hakodosh Boruch Hu will listen to that to some extent and it will turn out that way.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-246 (September 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Dream Interpretations appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-02T22:11:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-02T22:11:51+00:00" }, { "id": 36328, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tiempo-libre-util/", "title": "Tiempo libre \u00fatil ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo antes que estar demasiado ocupado es un problema y que debemos crear tiempo de ocio para nosotros mismos a fin de tener tiempo para pensar en Hashem y nuestro trabajo en la vida. Sin embargo, otras veces ha hablado de lo importante que es mantenerse ocupado. \u00bfPuede explicar esto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutamente. Esto ya fue explicado. Si eres una persona de principios d\u00e9biles, tienes que mantenerte ocupado todo el tiempo. La Guemar\u00e1 dice que el hermano de Rava, Rav Seuram, sal\u00eda a la calle y buscaba personas con baja moral, personas conflictivas. Incluso entre los jud\u00edos hay personas conflictivas. Muchachos de las esquinas que sol\u00edan patear a los transe\u00fantes, o empujar a otras personas y molestarlas. As\u00ed que Rav Seuram sol\u00eda recogerlos de las esquinas de las calles con los polic\u00edas del pueblo jud\u00edo. \u00bfY qu\u00e9 hac\u00eda con ellos? Sol\u00eda \u200b\u200bengancharlos al carruaje de su hermano Rava. Entonces, cuando Rava, que era Rosh Ieshiv\u00e1, ten\u00eda que ir a la Ieshiv\u00e1 para dar su shiur, en lugar de caballos pon\u00edan estos caballos humanos y jalaban a Rava a la Ieshiv\u00e1 para dar su shiur. Esa era su forma de ense\u00f1arles que hay que mantenerse ocupado en la vida.
\n\n\n\nPorque la libertad s\u00f3lo es buena para las personas que saben hacer uso de su libertad. Pero para estos tipos era lo mejor para ellos que les quitaran la libertad y que en su lugar fueran obligados a tirar del carruaje de Rava. Los salv\u00f3. Los mantuvo fuera de problemas. Y al menos cuando lleguen al otro mundo, Hashem dir\u00e1: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 hiciste? \u00bfQu\u00e9 lograste?”. Entonces dir\u00e1n: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 quieres decir con lo que hicimos? Tiramos del carruaje de Rava. \u00a1\u00c9l iba a la Ieshiv\u00e1 y daba shiur gracias a nosotros!”
\n\n\n\nCiertamente, las personas que suelen buscar problemas deben mantenerse ocupadas. Es por eso que se supone que los go\u00edm no deben guardar Shabat. S\u00f3lo los jud\u00edos tienen derecho a cuidar el Shabat. \u05e2\u05db\u05d5\u05f4\u05dd \u05e9\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05d1 \u05de\u05d9\u05ea\u05d4 \u2013 Un goi que tiene un d\u00eda de descanso, incluso si es martes, es jaiav mit\u00e1. Hakadosh Baruj Hu no quiere que los go\u00edm est\u00e9n libres. Porque, \u00bfqu\u00e9 hacen cuando est\u00e1n en su tiempo libre? Se crean problemas los unos a los otros.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes cu\u00e1ntos gentiles quedar\u00edan vivos si no fuera por el 4 de julio? El pr\u00f3ximo 4 de julio al menos setecientas personas morir\u00e1n en las carreteras. Al menos setecientos, adem\u00e1s de los que se apu\u00f1alar\u00e1n en los asados \u200b\u200by en las tabernas. Supongamos que abolieran el 4 de julio; ser\u00eda una hatzal\u00e1 para los go\u00edm. Se salvar\u00edan vidas. Ahora bien, \u00a1no estoy a favor de eso! El 4 de julio es algo bueno. Pero es una desgracia para aquellas personas que no son capaces de utilizar adecuadamente su tiempo libre.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes lo que es Navidad? D\u00e9jame decirte. \u00bfAlguna vez has o\u00eddo hablar de Norman Vincent Pearl? Es un famoso galaj, un famoso pastor gentil. Norman Vincent Pearl hizo la siguiente declaraci\u00f3n: Dijo: “Navidad es la temporada de m\u00e1s borracheras, m\u00e1s cr\u00edmenes y m\u00e1s tragedias”. Esas son sus palabras. Eso es lo que dijo Norman Vincent Pearl. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05d3\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05de\u05d0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d3\u05de\u05d9. Directo de la boca del caballo.
\n\n\n\nAhora, lehavdil, piensa en nuestra Januc\u00e1. Despu\u00e9s de Januc\u00e1, todos est\u00e1n mejor debido a la gloriosa festividad. \u00bfY P\u00e9saj? Nadie se apu\u00f1al\u00f3 en el s\u00e9der de P\u00e9saj. Pero para ellos, es una historia diferente. Cuando estaba en Lituania, alguien me mostr\u00f3 una vez el Letivus Idis, un peri\u00f3dico lituano. Todos los lunes por la ma\u00f1ana hab\u00eda una lista de apu\u00f1alamientos ocurridos en su d\u00eda de descanso, el domingo. \u00a1Una larga lista! Pero nosotros no ten\u00edamos ni un apu\u00f1alamiento en Shabat.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que todo depende de si sabes qu\u00e9 hacer con tu tiempo libre.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #272 (agosto de 1979)
\nThe post Tiempo libre \u00fatil appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-02T04:17:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-02T04:17:12+00:00" }, { "id": 36321, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-too-dead-to-be-sorry/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Dead To Be Sorry", "content_html": "\nQ:
How do I answer my cousin who says she went to an Ivy League college and wasn’t affected? She says she\u2019s not sorry she went because it had no effect on her.
A:
\n\n\n\nThere was a man who ridiculed the speed laws; he was always speeding in his car and he was warned that he\u2019ll be sorry someday. And now he’s in the morgue. He ended up against a lamppost and now he’s dead.
\n\n\n\nNow this man is not sorry for speeding. He can\u2019t be sorry because he’s dead. Now, if he wouldn\u2019t die, if he\u2019d just be crippled, then he would be sorry; but when he’s dead he can’t be sorry.
\n\n\n\nThat girl who went to college is not sorry because she\u2019s dead. She lost her mind. She became educated which is equivalent to having an operation \u2013 your brain is removed from you. Now, it could be your cousin never had any brain in the first place. That’s also possible. Whatever she had however was replaced by an artificial set of ideas. And today it\u2019s a dangerous set of ideas what they teach in college today. Marxism and humanism. They teach them to be blind to the wonders of nature. When you learn biology, it\u2019s especially planned that you should not see the plan and purpose.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if your cousin tells you she went to college and wasn’t affected, you can tell her it\u2019s because she\u2019s already in the morgue.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 482 (December 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Dead To Be Sorry appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-02T00:51:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-02T00:51:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36311, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%97%d7%99-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T04:52:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-01T04:52:14+00:00" }, { "id": 36300, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayechi-5783-peace-of-mind-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind", "content_html": "A Father\u2019s Death
\n\n\n\nWhen our father Yaakov was about to pass away he called his sons together for the last time and sitting on his deathbed he began to speak to them: \u05d4\u05b4\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05bd\u05d1\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05bd\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u2013 \u201cGather together and listen, you children of Yaakov, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05bd\u05dd \u2013 listen to Yisroel your father. I\u2019m going to be leaving the world now and this is our last chance to be together in this world\u201d (Vayechi 49:2).
\n\n\n\nThe end of life, that\u2019s the grand finale. Those last moments are a very important opportunity to make a lasting impression on your children because at that moment the heart of a child is open to anything the parent will say. You know \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t know, but some do \u2013 the sadness of watching a parent leave this world is almost impossible to imagine for one who hasn’t experienced it. And at that moment, all of your regrets for not treating your parents the way they deserved stand before your eyes, and so, you’re willing to listen and to commit to anything in order to please them. Your emotions open up your mind to hear anything.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the admonition of a father or a mother on the deathbed has a lasting effect. When a parent who is dying exhorts his children to keep the way of the Torah \u2013 not to pursue luxuries and wealth but to live with temperance and be modest in the way that they dress; to always study Torah, to always honor the Shabbos to the extent of their ability, to see that their children are trained in Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs \u2013 whatever it is that the parents will speak to their children on their deathbed, it is going to have a lasting impression.
\n\n\n\nThe Dying Wish
\n\n\n\nI told you once about a family in Baltimore; they weren\u2019t frum people but their father on his deathbed extracted a promise from them that they should keep Shabbos. And they kept Shabbos forever. Otherwise they wouldn\u2019t have anything. They didn\u2019t know anything and all the rest of their peers didn\u2019t even know about Shabbos. But this family, even to this day \u2013 they are old men and women now \u2013 they still keep Shabbos because they promised it to their father on his deathbed.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not only a time for giving general testaments, for telling them the way they should go in life. Sometimes you have to talk tough; sometimes grown children have to be criticized too. You know, when the sons or daughters are big and they did something wrong, a one-time act and it\u2019s over already, so you might feel that it\u2019s not diplomatic to tell them on the spot because they might be offended. They\u2019re big children now and they\u2019re walking b’derech hayashar so you want to be careful about stepping on their toes.
\n\n\n\nBut sooner or later they must know what they did wrong. They must know, because if a man never knows his misdeeds, he\u2019ll never repent and he\u2019ll never change his ways. And sometimes the last moment is the best.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Yaakov did. He waited until the day of his death and then, when his children were standing around his bed and they knew that these were their father’s last moments in this world \u2013 every minute counted now and every word was measured \u2013 that’s when Yaakov made use of the great opportunity.
\n\n\n\nProphecy, Praise and Pillory
\n\n\n\nNow, every word of Yaakov deserves to be studied and restudied. He prophesied and he praised and he pilloried \u2013 there\u2019s no end to the pearls of wisdom you\u2019ll find there. But tonight we\u2019ll spend a little time on what he said first, the first son he spoke to.
\n\n\n\nYaakov turned to Reuven, his firstborn, and he said like this: \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cReuven, you are my firstborn and you could have had all the dignity of the family. \u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 You were the first one, \u05d9\u05b6\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05d6 \u2013 and you had everything. I expected you to come out on top. Everything was yours for the taking!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut what happened? A tragedy. \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d6 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 You were hasty like water. \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d6 means hasty and unstable; like water which is easily directed in any direction. \u201cYou did something in haste,\u201d Yaakov said, \u201cwithout thinking it through. And therefore \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05e8, because of that you will not be raised up above the others. You could have excelled as the bechor, but this quality of becoming overly excited and doing something in haste deprived you of your greatness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, to act with alacrity, with zerizus, that\u2019s a praiseworthy middah. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d6\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea (Mesillas Yesharim 7). Tzaddikim do everything with alacrity, certainly. But haste and alacrity are two different things. Zerizus means that you\u2019re moving quickly, you\u2019re not delaying; but your mind is unhurried.
\n\n\n\nHoly Impulses
\n\n\n\nA person can even sometimes make a spur-of-the-moment decision and yet we\u2019ll praise him for it because it\u2019s not based on a spur-of-the-moment emotion \u2013 it\u2019s the result of a lifetime of preparing for that moment.
\n\n\n\nYou remember when Pinchos seized the spear and killed? He acted in haste, but not because his mind was in haste. His mind was working. He knew the issue that was involved; all his life the honor of Hashem was foremost in his mind. And when he saw it being trampled upon, he took action immediately. It was an act that was the result of a lifetime attitude. A quick decision that\u2019s a result of a lifetime of thinking and idealism, there\u2019s no question it\u2019s good.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, somebody is chalilah drowning, and you\u2019re able to throw a life preserver to him, or jump in and save him so what do you do? You\u2019ll stand and say, \u201cI\u2019ll be deliberate, I\u2019ll take my time?\u201d No; you move as fast as you can. That\u2019s alacrity because it\u2019s something based, not on the decision of the moment. You learned how important it is to save a life. You learned how to swim, how to pull a drowning person out from the water. All the techniques and various problems that might come up, you\u2019re prepared for them. So your mind is prepared and working.
\n\n\n\nHaste, pachaz, is when the mind of a man comes to a decision quickly, a decision based on a momentary impulse. Pachaz, in the sense it\u2019s used here, means to become confused in a time of excitement and to be hasty and do something without thought. And that’s the quality that Yaakov was criticizing in Reuven, and he said, \u201cTherefore, because of what you did, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05e8, you cannot be the leader.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRochel\u2019s Ambition
\n\n\n\nSo what was the story? What did Reuven do with pachaz for which he was castigated so severely by his father? What was the excitement that caused Reuven to do things in a wrong manner?
\n\n\n\nThe story is like this. When Rochel passed away on the way to Beis Lechem, everybody had commiseration with her; everybody sympathized with her tzaar. Not only because of the fact that she was dying young but more importantly, it was the fact that she was leaving this world and she hadn\u2019t had all the children that she wanted.
\n\n\n\nThat was her greatest ambition \u2013 to have a full share in the future of the Am Yisroel. You remember when she gave birth to her first son, the name she gave him was a prayer to Hashem: \u201c\u05d9\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05e3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 Hashem should add even more sons to me.\u201d That was her most fervent wish, to have a big share in the future Am Hashem, the holy nation. What’s greater than bearing children to the Klal Yisroel, especially in the original stages of our history when each child meant a whole tribe?
\n\n\n\nAnd now as her second son was being born and she was dying in childbirth she realized now that her dream was being extinguished. And so she called him Ben Oni \u2013 the son of my affliction, my sorrow. What was her sorrow? Not that she wouldn’t be present to play with him and to see him grow up and to go to his wedding. Of course, that’s a tzaar. It’s a terrible sadness when a young mother passes away and she won’t be present at all the developments in her child’s life; it\u2019s very sad. But Rochel was sorrowing for something more. \u201cThis is the last son I\u2019m going to have. I\u2019m dying now in childbirth and my dreams of a large family are dying too.\u201d That’s why she called him \u201cThe son of my sorrow.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRochel\u2019s Future
\n\n\n\nAnd so at that time everybody was commiserating with Rochel. And it was certain in everybody\u2019s mind that Yaakov would beget more sons from Bilhah, Rochel’s handmaid, as was the practice in those days. That was the ancient custom. When they were slow in having children, they gave their maidservants to their husband and he had children from the maidservants, and they were considered as children of the mistresses, of the wives of the husband.
\n\n\n\nNow, because this is what everyone expected, it caused Reuven to become agitated. He began to panic. He was a loyal son of his mother, Leah, and he knew how much she suffered from the fact that she was the less favored wife and he was afraid that now Rochel’s maidservant would be favored, and it would be another blow to his mother\u2019s honor. And so Reuven felt he couldn\u2019t stand by. \u201cRochel had her chance and she didn\u2019t have children, and that\u2019s all. Her chance is gone and now my mother should remain in ascendancy.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that agitation caused him to become pachaz. He became unsettled, unnerved, and that’s when he did something that caused him a great loss. He did something that prevented Yaakov from taking Bilhah.
\n\n\n\nHaste and Insolence
\n\n\n\nNow, whatever happened there, it was considered a great insolence of a son. It was a lack of respect for his father to intervene in his father’s marital affairs, to try and prevent Yaakov from taking Bilhah. And he did it because he was pachaz kamayim. He acted in a panic, in a hurry.
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s no question that had he taken more time to think things over, had he been less hasty to act, he would have refrained from that act and he would not have lost his superiority as the bechor, the first born of the Am Yisrael. But because he imagined that there was no time to think \u2013 so he acted swiftly without enough opportunity for circumspection. He hurried up and he did something to prevent Bilhah from being taken.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Yaakov castigated him. The last thing his father told him was, \u201cDon\u2019t do things in haste! You should have done nothing! And because you were \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d6 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, you did something in haste like water, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05e8, you won\u2019t excel, you won\u2019t become great.\u201d And then Yaakov passed away.
\n\n\n\nThe Path To Success
\n\n\n\nThat was the last thing that Yaakov spoke to his son Reuven; the last words that went into his heart. And it\u2019s in the Torah because it\u2019s talking to us too: \u201cYou want to become somebody? You want to be \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05e8, to be lifted up and to live successfully? You have to have a calm personality. That\u2019s the path to success.\u201d What the Torah is teaching us here is actually the subject entitled menuchas hanefesh, to have calmness of mind as much as possible. That\u2019s the path to success.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s very important because everyone to a certain extent is a \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d6 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd. I say \u201ceveryone\u201d because it\u2019s not an accident \u2013 it\u2019s one of the stratagems of the yetzer hora, to make you nervous and confused. People don’t know about this. It\u2019s important to understand that one of the tricks of the evil inclination is to make you frightened, mixed up. It\u2019s one of the objectives of the yetzer hora against you, to upset your menuchas hanefesh and to cause you to act in haste.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s true that not everyone has the opportunity to make the error that Reuven made \u2013 everyone is tested in their own way, with their particular circumstances \u2013 but everyone, one way or another, will suffer from this bad middah, the sin of hastiness, unless they make it a goal to acquire menuchas hanefesh.
\n\n\n\nA Sly Snake
\n\n\n\nThere’s a wonderful little sefer called Cheshbon Hanefesh,and in this sefer, among other important subjects, he speaks about this quality of menuchas hanefesh, peace of mind.And to help us understand the subject he tells us about a certain snake in South America that lives on birds; that\u2019s its food. But the snake can\u2019t fly and he can\u2019t climb trees either. What does he do? He waits until the bird decides to take a rest and it perches on a bough, on the branch of a tree, and the snake slithers over underneath the branch and opens up a big fierce mouth underneath the bird.
\n\n\n\nNow, actually nothing would happen. The bird is as safe as can be. But it looks down and it sees that terrible mouth directly underneath waiting to devour it. And it begins to panic. Ay yah yay! Such a big mouth! Such trouble! Something he has to do! And quick!
\n\n\n\nNow if the bird was present here tonight and he heard tonight’s lecture, he would remain calm. He would be relaxed. If anything, if he was a wise little bird he would simply turn around and deliver a little bit of bird feces straight into the snake’s mouth. Finished, snake!
\n\n\n\nFinished, Bird!
\n\n\n\nBut like others who don\u2019t listen to advice \u2013 this is the trouble with many people; they never listen to any advice \u2013 he looks down and becomes hypnotized with fear: \u201cDanger. Quickly, something has to be done.\u201d He loses menuchas hanefesh and he begins to thrash; his wings are flapping and his claws are scratching on the branch. What happens? His hold on the branch becomes weakened and he falls down into that fierce mouth that is waiting for him. Finished, bird!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s all of us, says the Cheshbon Hanefesh. We\u2019re nervous birds. We\u2019re agitated and hasty and we\u2019re always falling into the mouth of the snake; that\u2019s the yetzer hora.
\n\n\n\nAnd so what should be done? What\u2019s the first thing we have to learn so that we shouldn\u2019t make a mistake? Now, I want to tell you the advice of Shlomo Hamelech in Koheles but there\u2019s something that comes before that. Because Shlomo Hamelech is going to tell us what to do when you\u2019re already in a tizzy, when you\u2019re already upset and nervous. But there was someone who once said that \u201dan ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.\u201d Benjamin Franklin said that. He was a wise goy \u2013 that’s why they put his face on a hundred dollar bill. He wasn\u2019t a tzaddik by the way; he was very far from being a tzaddik. I know his biography. But he made some good statements and that\u2019s one of them.
\n\n\n\nAn Ounce of Prevention
\n\n\n\nOften the best advice is prevention, and for our subject there\u2019s no question that sleeping well at night is worth pounds and pounds of cure that you\u2019re going to need later chas v\u2019shalom. Most people, you\u2019ll discover, are subject to stress and other nervous disorders because of lack of sleep. This I know from experience.
\n\n\n\nMany times boys in the yeshivah cause an upset in their nervous system because of a lack of sleep. I myself know two cases of boys who didn\u2019t go to sleep on time and they went insane, nit eingedacht. Yes, it happened. They ruined their lives. But even if you don\u2019t have a breakdown, if you don\u2019t get enough sleep, your nervous system is upset and you\u2019re guaranteed to be a pachaz.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore every individual is responsible for his or her own health and everyone must make it their business to get enough sleep. It\u2019s more important than food. It\u2019s more important than vitamins. It\u2019s the best ounce of prevention you\u2019ll find.
\n\n\n\nShlomo\u2019s Wisdom
\n\n\n\nBut no matter what you do, no matter how well you sleep, you\u2019ll run into obstacles. The yetzer hora is on the job and he\u2019s experienced. So there\u2019ll always be obstacles; there\u2019ll always be situations of agitation, of nervousness and excitement. So the best thing is to listen to the words of the chacham mikol adam, to this voice of experience. Shlomo Hamelech is advising us: \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 When it happens that the spirit of that powerful one, the yetzer hora, rises up against you, \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u2013 don’t do anything (Koheles 10:4).
\n\n\n\nNow we have to listen prayerfully to these words because although I’m sure everybody here lives a normal well-ordered life, sometimes in everybody’s lives a crisis arises and if you’ll remember these words at that time, it can be of inestimable benefit to you. Many people listening here will be able to use this advice someday \u2013 and very often too.
\n\n\n\nThe yetzer hora can sometimes come in such a guise and do such things that will knock you entirely off balance and cause you to do the most irresponsible thing. He attacks you suddenly with some temptation or some unexpected situation, a problem, and he throws you into confusion. And so, the first thing to know, Shlomo Hamelech says, is what you should do. Don’t do anything! That’s number one. \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u2013 don’t leave your place. Stay where you are. Don’t do anything in confusion because it is probable that you’ll do the wrong thing.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Be Rash
\n\n\n\nLike that young yeshivah man when he was confronted with two big bums, goyim, who were calling him names. He lost his head and he started acting like a hero. He picked up his fist. The biggest mistake! Ay! A tragedy. One of the goyim took a hammer and broke his skull on the spot. Nebach, nebach. But had he learned, he would have known that the best thing to do is do nothing. Just keep on walking. They’ll call you names and in five minutes from now you’ll forget all about it. You can go to lunch and enjoy life. But he wasn’t prepared, and in the excitement, the confusion of his nerves, he did what was wrong.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, how grateful we have to be to our great teacher, Shlomo Hamelech. \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 the teaching of the wise man is a fountain of life (Mishlei 13:14), and he tells us that when the spirit of that powerful force of the yetzer hora rises up against you \u2013 and it happens all the time, in little ways and big ways \u2013 \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7, don’t leave your place. Remain where you are. No matter what happens, stay where you are.
\n\n\n\nYou’re in a fight with your boss? Don\u2019t make any rash decisions. Shalom bayis? No matter what, you continue living at home. Some trouble with your neighbor, with the driveway or his children trampling on your lawn? Don\u2019t do anything. Whatever it is, keep on going to your beis haknesses, continue in your yeshivah, remain in your family. Be as you were before, a loyal observant Torah Jew, and the end will be, you’ll see, that all the things that got you excited at that moment passed away, gam zeh ya’avor. By being a pachaz kamayim you only lose out. You\u2019re overcome by the ruach hamoshel, by confusion, and do things in haste and then you regret it forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nHomeless!
\n\n\n\nHere’s a man; something happened in the house and his wife became very insolent to him. And one day she told him to leave. A big tough wife, she threw him out of the house. A true story. And he was flustered so he left. A few weeks later he came here and he told me his plight. He tells me he\u2019s out of the house.
\n\n\n\nI said, \u201cWhy did you leave?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cShe yelled at me. She threatened me. I didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean? You shouldn\u2019t have done anything. Al tanach! Stay inside. Fall into the bed. Why should you go out?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe police couldn’t force him to leave the house. It’s his house. But he lost his head, and she was making him meshugeh so he went out. She\u2019s driving him out? He should have held onto the bed post. \u201cNothing doing! I’m not leaving!\u201d She would hit him with her pocketbook. She would kick him. Gam zeh ya\u2019avor, it will pass by. She won’t murder him.
\n\n\n\nAy yah yay! If only he would have come to this lecture. But he lost his head, he acted with pachaz, and he went out. Now, he wants to come back but the police won’t let him, it’s too late now. Now it’s established, a chazakah, that it\u2019s her place. He’s on the outside now, an outcast. That’s an error that he made, an irretrievable error in a moment of panic, because in his confusion he wasn\u2019t seeing straight.
\n\n\n\nAnxious Vision
\n\n\n\nToday such things are happening all the time. From all corners I get phone calls; I hear stories of people who acted in behalah. Everybody\u2019s in confusion, in haste, and because of that they\u2019re not seeing clearly, and they make big errors. It\u2019s a Gemara in Mesichta Brachos (43b): \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea”\u05e7 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 A hasty footstep, when you walk fast, it takes away one five hundredth of your eyesight.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a maamar chazal that has to be explained properly to be appreciated. It depends why you walk fast. If you walk fast because you love exercise, you get fun from walking fast, it won\u2019t harm you at all. It\u2019ll put a sparkle into your eyes. It\u2019ll cause your blood to run faster through your veins. Your circulation, your respiration, everything will perk up. It\u2019s a tonic for your body. It\u2019s a good habit to get into; exercise by walking fast. But suppose you walk fast out of anxiety, that\u2019s something else. When people run because of anxiety, \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 a hasty footstep is unhealthy.
\n\n\n\nNow he doesn\u2019t have to run; sometimes he can be sitting at home, but he\u2019s running in his mind. He\u2019s tumultuous with thoughts. And that \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4, that big hasty footstep, \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea”\u05e7, it takes one five hundredth away, \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 from a man\u2019s eyesight. He can\u2019t see right and wrong anymore.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a figure of speech but actually it\u2019s true also because it\u2019s well known that anxiety, excitement harms the eyes. It\u2019s well known. You say it every day; maybe you didn\u2019t notice the possuk. \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e1 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 My eye wore out from ka\u2019as, \u05e2\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 – it grew old, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 because of all my enemies.
\n\n\n\nLiterally and Metaphorically
\n\n\n\nSo if you want to find the best eye advice, it\u2019s right there in tachnun. People don\u2019t realize what a precious gem of healthy living it is. You want to preserve your eyesight, don\u2019t you? Seeing is lots of fun after all. So don\u2019t get frustrated and nervous and agitated! Sometimes excitement brings on diabetes, which causes eventual blindness in many people. It\u2019s a fact!
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s true literally, but it\u2019s true metaphorically also. A hasty footstep, anxiety, takes away more than the physical eyesight. It also takes away your intellectual eyesight. The lack of a calm solid attitude towards life takes away your intellectual eyesight because anxiety makes a man incapable of reasoning properly.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why most of the populace of the world is going blind and crazy today. Most of the populace are crazy. Look, aren\u2019t they crazy if one-fourth end up in divorce court? Isn\u2019t divorce crazy? Here they\u2019re switching partners and looking for somebody else. What will they get someplace else? Somebody better? Sure they\u2019re crazy! They\u2019re all blind! There\u2019s no question that they\u2019re blind.
\n\n\n\nCertainly! Mankind today is blind and crazy! And a very great part of it is because there\u2019s no menuchas hanefesh and everyone is thinking and doing in haste. And therefore it pays to listen well to the advice of the wise king, Shlomo Hamelech, and remember, \u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7! Don\u2019t do anything rash when you\u2019re excited.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYour Dual Personality
\n\n\n\nOf course, this is all easier said than done. You can\u2019t just wake up one day and say \u201cFrom now on I\u2019m going to have menuchas hanefesh.\u201d No, it doesn\u2019t work that way. And that\u2019s why we\u2019ll spend a little time studying a few words from Tehillim together.
\n\n\n\nIn this possuk(116:7) Dovid Hamelech is talking to himself and he says like this: \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cTurn back, my soul, to your repose, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 because Hashem has bestowed upon you.\u201dIt means that Dovid\u2019s mind was speaking to his nefesh, his personality, and he was encouraging himself to acquire the perfection of menuchas hanefesh.
\n\n\n\nThere are two parts to every person. One part is your mind, your intellect. But there\u2019s another part to you and that\u2019s what we call the nefesh, your personality. Your feeling personality, that\u2019s who you really are and that\u2019s what you\u2019re trying to shape all your life. It\u2019s the duty of the mind to constantly work upon and shape the nefesh, toeducate and train and encourage the emotions of your personality.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what it means that Dovid was speaking to himself; the calm, rational side of his character was urging the emotional and feeling side of his character to adjust to the events of the world, to the problems of the world. And he said, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cTurn back, my nefesh, to your original repose.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAll Is Taken Care Of
\n\n\n\nOriginally, the soul had perfect repose, perfect tranquility. At the beginning, there were no problems. But as soon as it comes into this world, it is confronted by the winds that are blowing from all sidesand therefore the original tranquility of the nefesh has to be regained.
\n\n\n\nAnd this tranquility must be regained because that\u2019s where our success lies. The most important ingredient in the service of Hashem and the preface to any kind of accomplishment is peace of mind. And so Dovid was always encouraging himself: \u201cMy nefesh, you can return to your composure.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe question is, how? With what idea was Dovid encouraging himself? \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 Because Hashem has already bestowed upon you. Gamal not yigmol. It\u2019s in the past tense. Not that it\u2019s going to be taken care of; it\u2019s already taken care of! Oh, that\u2019s already something else! There\u2019s nothing to worry about because it\u2019s all arranged already.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s true,\u201d Dovid was thinking, \u201cI have no awareness of how the problem will be solved. I don\u2019t see the solution. But that doesn\u2019t matter because I can have full confidence in the ways of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He loves me and He\u2019s thinking about me and He\u2019s all powerful so I have nothing to worry about.\u201d And so he counseled his nefesh, \u201cIt\u2019s already taken care of. Hashem is on the job and the solution is on the way.\u201d
\n\n\n\nDovid Hamelech is teaching us here the high road to menuchas hanefesh, the ideal way to make your way through the storms of life; and that is to talk to yourself always, to remind yourself that Hashem Melech and that everything is under control, and therefore \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 He already has made arrangements for you.
\n\n\n\nThe Lower Road
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s another road that we could take,the not so high road. And we have to be willing to make use of it because we can\u2019t afford to wait until a person arrives at that madreigah, until he becomes a deep thinker and appreciates that truth, that it\u2019s already taken care of. Life is too important, there\u2019s too much to accomplish and therefore we can\u2019t wait to reach that level. And so we want to utilize any method possible to arrive at menuchas hanefesh.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why there\u2019s a second pshat in those words of Dovid Hamelech \u2013 it\u2019s the lower road to repose of mind. \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u2013 Turn back from your worries, my nefesh, and relax because in the past, didn\u2019t He help you? Gamal means He helped you already in the past.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ll use common sense arguments in order to gain this gem of tranquility. Look back on your own little experiences. How many times were you frantic with apprehension and it turned out to be nothing? You know how many times you worried about this or that? You thought it would be an insurmountable problem and it turned out to be nothing. It\u2019s because \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u2013 He helped you in the past. So take that as a model; He\u2019ll help you here too.
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t that a sensible way of doing it? Look back at your own life, the life of your friends and acquaintances, and you\u2019ll see that He\u2019s helped in the past. This one finally bought a house and the other one married off his daughters. Ki gamal \u2013 He helped. That one is making a parnasah and this one got a good shidduch finally. So what are you worried about? Don\u2019t you know in most cases your worries turn out to be nothing?
\n\n\n\nAll Roads Are Good
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t disdain that road. Don\u2019t scorn that method. If we are not able to attain menuchas hanefesh right away by means of the high road, so let\u2019s use the low road. Any road is good if it takes us to our destination. It\u2019s good for the eyes and it\u2019s good for everything else inside of us and of course it\u2019s good for the neshamah because it\u2019s a mitzvah to have menuchas hanefesh.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why I recommend, one of the easiest ways to mold your nefesh is to do what Dovid Hamelech did. Sit down by yourself and sing \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9. Sing that over and over again. You\u2019re walking on the street by yourself? Repeat the words of that great man again and again. \u201cReturn my soul to Your tranquility because Hashem is on the job. He\u2019s gamal \u2013 He\u2019s already arranged everything ahead of time, before you even started worrying. And He\u2019s done it in the past too.\u201d That\u2019s the lower road of \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 He\u2019s already helped you and others so many times. Say it over and over again and after a while some of it will sink into your neshamah. It\u2019ll be like a balsam on your soul. It\u2019s not a segulah. It\u2019s common sense.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that most of you won\u2019t do it \u2013 you\u2019re not going to bother practicing. You\u2019re too lazy maybe, and you hope that you\u2019ll acquire this perfection of menuchas hanefesh by itself, without any effort. And therefore I want to leave you with a little secret, an eitzah tovah for acquiring this middah that we\u2019re talking about tonight. Because there\u2019s a certain day especially set aside by Hashem for menuchas hanefesh and that is Shabbos. Shabbos is the Yom Menuchah and it\u2019s the best day to practice up this attitude of the mind.
\n\n\n\nSomeOne Is In Charge
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s Friday night. You\u2019re seated around the Shabbos table and you or the master of the house picks up a goblet of wine and he makes a declaration: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5… \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea. You\u2019re announcing now, you\u2019re declaring that Hakodosh Boruch Hu created the entire universe out of nothing. Everything is nothing but His will. Not only all materials all the world, but all phenomena in the world \u2013 it means whatever happens in the world \u2013 is His will. That\u2019s the meaning of briyas haolam yeish me\u2019ayin.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s sit down now on Friday night and contemplate that. That\u2019s the purpose of Shabbos! We declare that Hashem created the world out of nothing. It means nothing is done unless Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants it. So what are we worried about? You mean to say it\u2019s not under control, that He\u2019s not going to handle it properly? The Chafetz Chesed, the One Who desires kindliness and the One Who has full power to carry it out, do you mean to say He\u2019s going to allow it to turn out other than good? Of course, it\u2019s going to turn out good. Absolutely!
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean what we think is good. Many times if we were asked to write a prescription for ourselves, if the pharmacist would say, \u201cCome in and take whatever you want\u201d you wouldn\u2019t walk out alive. But our Creator, the borei yeish me\u2019ayin, knows exactly what to give us; so how can a man have any anxieties?
\n\n\n\nInvigorated By Alcohol
\n\n\n\nNow this great teaching, we don\u2019t merely listen to intellectually, but we down it with a drink of wine; some alcohol is in the wine too, usually. It helps as the wine goes into your intestines, it exhilarates you, so you feel more keenly the great lesson that you just heard or said with your mouth. And then you have the seudah too. The Shabbos seudah takes time. The challah and the fish and the chicken and the potatoes; there\u2019s a lot of time to practice up these thoughts.
\n\n\n\nAnd little by little as the weeks pass by, you\u2019re going to discover that Shabbos is a tranquilizer without any side effects except the beneficial ones. Because when you realize that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Master of the universe and in full control, then everything begins to settle into place. Because the foundation of all understanding, is this principle that Hakodosh Boruch Hu created the world and He\u2019s in charge of the world and His intentions are all kindly.
\n\n\n\nNow I don\u2019t want to make any error here with you people. Don\u2019t think that I\u2019m telling you that you shouldn\u2019t try to improve your lot. I don\u2019t say you shouldn\u2019t try. If a person has some kind of anxiety about his health, certainly he should take steps. About business, certainly you should do certain things. Whatever the problem is, a man should do what his seichel, what his reason advises him. But underneath everything, there has to be a substratum, and that is the foundation of emunah that everything is going according to plan. Everything is under control. And even what you think is a sorrow for you is in reality some great benefit.
\n\n\n\nNothing To Do But Relax
\n\n\n\nNow of course as I said before, there\u2019s another pathway, a very pashuteh simple way. Even on Shabbos there\u2019s the lower road. Because even if you\u2019re not going to think too much, but on Shabbos you can\u2019t do anything anyhow. You\u2019re stuck. You can\u2019t do any business. You can\u2019t make any telephone calls. Whatever it is, you\u2019ll have to let things slide for a while.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say that on erev Shabbos you were frantic. What should I do? Maybe I should run to City Hall? I should call a politician? I should call long distance to Cleveland? I\u2019ll call a tzaddik in Eretz Yisroel and he\u2019ll pray for me. All kinds of things I can do maybe in the last minute to save myself. But then Shabbos comes; \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4. You\u2019re stranded. You can\u2019t do anything.
\n\n\n\nWonderful! You have to relax! So in a simple way, Shabbos is a refuah. You have to give up. What can you do? What else can you do? You\u2019re a frum Jew. You have to keep all the d\u2019oraysas and all the d\u2019rabbanans. You can\u2019t do anything. You can\u2019t even touch a pencil. You can\u2019t even touch a coin. So naturally you relax. You have to rely on Shabbos. \u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u2013 Shabbos can help. That\u2019s in a simple way. It certainly heals.
\n\n\n\nAnd so once a week you\u2019re being reminded by your Creator \u2013 \u201cThis is the mind that I want you to bring with you into the weekdays as well. Remember, I\u2019m in control and I\u2019ll take care of everything. Just leave the driving to Me and that way you\u2019ll live a life of menuchas hanefesh; that way you\u2019ll avoid all the troubles that hastiness brings upon a person and that\u2019s how you\u2019ll live successfully.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAttaining Menuchas Hanefesh
\n\n\n\nAlthough Reuven should have been the bechor and enjoyed all the privileges of the eldest, he lost out because he acted in haste. We must work to attain menuchas hanefesh; whether by the high road of understanding that Hashem is in control and is ultimately doing everything for our benefit, or by means of the easy path; reviewing our own life story and recognizing that things usually turn out okay in the end. This week I will bli neder spend one minute each day reviewing the possuk \u201c\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u201d and remembering its lessons.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 6 – Evil Of Confusion | 99 – Peace Of Mind | 519 – Shuvi Nafshi | 692 – Keeping Calm
\nThe post Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T04:30:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-10-31T09:34:10+00:00" }, { "id": 36307, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayechi-5783-peace-of-mind/", "title": "Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind", "content_html": "TA-Vayechi-5783The post Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T04:28:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-01T04:28:23+00:00" }, { "id": 36299, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayechi-5783-peace-of-mind/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind", "content_html": "TA-Vayechi-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayechi 5783 – Peace of Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T04:27:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-01T04:27:55+00:00" }, { "id": 36296, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayehi-5783/", "title": "Paracha Vay\u00e9’hi 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayehi-5783-1The post Paracha Vay\u00e9’hi 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T04:12:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-02T01:54:41+00:00" }, { "id": 36294, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/cuando-quejarse/", "title": "Cu\u00e1ndo quejarse", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn la sidr\u00e1 de esta semana, cuando el Fara\u00f3n le pregunt\u00f3 a Iaakov: “\u00bfCu\u00e1ntos a\u00f1os son los a\u00f1os de tu vida?” Iaakov respondi\u00f3 que sus d\u00edas no eran tan buenos como los d\u00edas de sus padres. \u00bfQu\u00e9 pretend\u00eda Iaakov con esa respuesta?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nCuando el Fara\u00f3n le pregunt\u00f3 a Iaakov cu\u00e1ntos a\u00f1os ten\u00eda, Iaakov dijo que sus d\u00edas eran menos y no tan felices como los d\u00edas de sus padres. Esa es tu pregunta, \u00bfverdad? \u00bfQuieres saber por qu\u00e9 dijo eso?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que Iaakov quer\u00eda hacerle saber al Fara\u00f3n que \u00e9l no era un hombre tan feliz, un hombre tan afortunado. Ahora bien, Iaakov sab\u00eda que era afortunado, muy afortunado, pero siempre es bueno cuando hablas con otros tener cuidado de que no te envidien.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si est\u00e1s hablando con personas piadosas, puedes decirles lo afortunado que eres porque dir\u00e1n: “Mira, si Hashem es tan bueno con los tzadikim, es una lecci\u00f3n pr\u00e1ctica para nosotros”.
\n\n\n\nPero si hablas con un extra\u00f1o, digamos, si un hombre en la calle te detiene y te pide un centavo, no le digas: “Estoy lleno de dinero hoy”. No le digas eso. Dale la moneda de diez centavos y di: “Solo tengo una moneda de diez centavos”. No le hagas saber lo afortunado que eres, le dar\u00e1 envidia y puede que no salga bien.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 dijo que sus a\u00f1os no fueron tan buenos como los d\u00edas de sus padres?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEso es lo que quer\u00eda decir, que no es nada comparado con sus antepasados. Es una forma de decir; quer\u00eda decirle: \u201cNo creas que soy un hombre tan afortunado\u201d. Y es algo bueno. Depende de con qui\u00e9n est\u00e9s hablando es bueno asegurarse de nunca provocar que las personas equivocadas te envidien.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #152 (diciembre de 1976)
\nThe post Cu\u00e1ndo quejarse appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-01T03:52:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-01T03:52:39+00:00" }, { "id": 36287, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-interpretacion-de-los-suenos/", "title": "La interpretaci\u00f3n de los sue\u00f1os ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay alguien hoy en d\u00eda que pueda interpretar los sue\u00f1os en lo que respecta al futuro?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo s\u00e9. Pero te dir\u00e9 una cosa, sin embargo; una etz\u00e1, una etz\u00e1 tov\u00e1. Acude a una persona que sea poter jalom para ti en el buen sentido. \u00c9l tomar\u00e1 tu sue\u00f1o y lo interpretar\u00e1 para bien. Si \u00e9l interpreta que tu sue\u00f1o tiene un buen significado, ya sea correcto o no, no cambia: \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05db\u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e4\u05ea\u05e8 \u05db\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4; la forma en que una persona lo interpreta, as\u00ed es como resultar\u00e1. Si interpreta tu sue\u00f1o para bien, significa que Hakadosh Baruj Hu lo escuchar\u00e1 hasta cierto punto y resultar\u00e1 de esa manera.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-246 (septiembre de 2000)
\nThe post La interpretaci\u00f3n de los sue\u00f1os appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-30T05:18:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-30T05:18:26+00:00" }, { "id": 36285, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-muerto-no-puede-arrepentirse/", "title": "El muerto no puede arrepentirse", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 le respondo a mi prima que dice que fue a una universidad de la Ivy League y no se vio afectada? Ella dice que no se arrepiente de haber ido porque no tuvo ning\u00fan efecto [negativo] en ella.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHab\u00eda un hombre que ridiculizaba las leyes de velocidad; siempre iba a exceso de velocidad en su auto y le advirtieron que alg\u00fan d\u00eda se arrepentir\u00e1. Y ahora est\u00e1 en la morgue. Termin\u00f3 contra un poste de luz y ahora est\u00e1 muerto.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este hombre no se arrepiente del exceso de velocidad. No puede arrepentirse porque est\u00e1 muerto. Ahora bien, si \u00e9l no hubiera muerto, si s\u00f3lo hubiera quedado lisiado, entonces se arrepentir\u00eda; pero estando muerto no puede arrepentirse.
\n\n\n\nEsa chica que fue a la universidad no se arrepiente porque est\u00e1 muerta. Ella perdi\u00f3 la cabeza. Se educ\u00f3, lo que equivale a tener una operaci\u00f3n: te extraen el cerebro. Ahora bien, podr\u00eda ser que tu primo nunca tuvo cerebro en primer lugar. Eso tambi\u00e9n es posible. Sin embargo, todo lo que ten\u00eda fue reemplazado por un conjunto artificial de ideas. Y hoy es un conjunto peligroso de ideas lo que ense\u00f1an en la universidad. Marxismo y humanismo. Les ense\u00f1an a ser ciegos a las maravillas de la naturaleza. Cuando estudias biolog\u00eda, est\u00e1 especialmente planeado que no veas el plan y el prop\u00f3sito.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, si tu prima te dice que fue a la universidad y no se vio afectada, puedes decirle que es porque ya est\u00e1 en la morgue.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #482 (diciembre de 1983)
\nThe post El muerto no puede arrepentirse appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-30T05:16:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-30T05:16:37+00:00" }, { "id": 36282, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%91-%d7%9e%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%97%d7%96%d7%94-%d7%90%d7%94%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%93%d7%99%d7%95-%d7%a9%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d1: \u05de\u05d1\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d6\u05d4, \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05d4’, \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-252The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d1: \u05de\u05d1\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d6\u05d4, \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05d4’, \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-30T05:08:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-30T05:08:34+00:00" }, { "id": 36278, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0%d7%90-%d7%9b%d7%94%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%92%d7%a2%d7%91%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%98%d7%a1%d7%98%d7%90%d7%92/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d0: \u05db\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d8\u05e1\u05d8\u05d0\u05d2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-251The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05e0”\u05d0: \u05db\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d8\u05e1\u05d8\u05d0\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-30T05:06:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-30T05:06:58+00:00" }, { "id": 610, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-children-and-luxuries/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Children and Luxuries", "content_html": "Q:
\n Is there a problem with taking children to concerts where shomrei Torah u’mitzvos will be singing kosher songs?
\nA:
I will tell you my private opinion. I don\u2019t think that children should become accustomed to unnecessary and superfluous things. Don\u2019t train your children to become accustomed to going places that cost money. They don\u2019t need it and you\u2019re ruining them in the process. You can train them to take walks. They can take walks and get fresh air. They could play a little in the street with a ball and get some exercise, but don\u2019t take them to concerts and things like that. I don\u2019t believe in that at all.
\nI don\u2019t believe in taking children to travel at all. Don\u2019t get them accustomed to luxuries. A child should be taught how to live a frugal life and to desire only what is necessary. Today, people are feeding children all kinds of ideas \u2013 all kinds of wrong ideas. And people think it\u2019s normal. Even to send your daughter to Seminary in, let\u2019s say, Gateshead, I don\u2019t believe in it anymore. It\u2019s a very good place, Gateshead, but\u00a0send your daughter to Boro Park or\u00a0to Yeshiva of Brooklyn. \u00a0There are very good places here.
\nAnd don\u2019t let your daughter travel to Eretz Yisroel either. A man approached me the other day. His daughter wants to go to Eretz Yisroel. She\u2019s a frum girl. He wants to know what I think about it. What does she have to go to Eretz Yisroel for?! It costs a lot of money to go to Eretz Yisroel. What does she have to go to Eretz Yisroel for?! An unmarried girl should waste money on going to Eretz Yisroel?! No, I don\u2019t believe in these things.
\nTeach your children to save their money. They\u2019ll need it someday. A bank account is better than travelling \u2013 a savings account in a bank. Teach them to save money for themselves. And you want to train them to spend money on unnecessary things?! No, I disapprove of that.
\nTAPE # E-217 (December 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Children and Luxuries appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-29T17:23:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-29T17:23:08+00:00" }, { "id": 36254, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-which-miracle-matters/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Which Miracle Matters", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is Al Hanisim mostly about the victory over the Yevanim and not about the nes of the shemen?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou have to realize that even though the nes of the shemen was most important because it was a spiritual salvation \u2013 it was an especial manifestation of the Presence of Hashem for the Am Yisroel, but the people at the time when they were rescued, when they expressed \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05dc\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc \u05dc\u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d4\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc what were they thanking for? Were they thanking for their spiritual salvation? No; they were primarily thanking Hashem for their physical salvation. That\u2019s human nature.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we have two levels. The truth is like the Gemara says, \u05de\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cWhat is Chanukah?\u201d and Rashi there says, \u05e2\u05dc \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e0\u05e1 \u05e7\u05d1\u05e2\u05d5\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cFor which nes did they make Chanukah?\u201d And the Gemara answers that it\u2019s for the miracle of the oil. The nes of the shemen is the most important feature of Chanukah, that\u2019s the truth. But still we should never lose sight of the fact of the physical purkan, the redemption from our enemies. If you lose sight of the smaller chessed because of the greater chessed, you\u2019re making a great error. People should always remember that the chessed of gashmiyus is also very important chessed.
\n\n\n\nHowever, there\u2019s another factor even more important and that factor is as follows. What is the menorah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu? The menorah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Jewish people. \u05e0\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05ea \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd. We are the light for the nations. We are His lamp. We are the ones that will never be extinguished. The nes that never does the flame go out means us. The Jewish people is eternal. Forever and ever the fire of the Torah ideals will burn in our hearts. That\u2019s what we\u2019re speaking about tonight and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll always speak about, forever and ever. That\u2019s the real menorah of Chanukah. And therefore when Hakodosh Boruch Hu rescued our people by means of all those battles against the mighty armies, this real menorah didn\u2019t go out. However, in order to appreciate this menorah it was necessary for the nes to happen with the menorah inside the Beis Hamikdash. But it\u2019s all one nes. We are the menorah that doesn’t go out. We’ll never go out. And so even though the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash finally did go out but it burned miraculously for eight days to show us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu’s Shechinah rests on us and it will rest on us forever.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when we speak on Chanukah about the miracles of the victories over our enemy, we should feel exactly like we’re talking about the candles, the lamps that never went out. They’re one and the same thing. Only that one explains the other.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 485 (December 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Which Miracle Matters appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-29T17:06:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-29T17:06:28+00:00" }, { "id": 36238, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/las-fiestas-de-los-goim/", "title": "Las fiestas de los go\u00edm ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEn qu\u00e9 debemos pensar cuando vemos las luces y decoraciones navide\u00f1as de nuestros vecinos gentiles?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDeber\u00edas pensar que es una celebraci\u00f3n de falsedad. \u00a1Una mujer que tuvo un hijo que no era de su propio esposo, es el peor nacimiento posible, y eso se celebra en todo el mundo como el evento m\u00e1s feliz! Entonces vemos qu\u00e9 gran sh\u00e9ker es el mundo. Lo peor es tener un hijo que no sea de tu propio esposo y aqu\u00ed hicieron todo un tzimmes con eso. \u00a1Y lo est\u00e1n celebrando!
\n\n\n\nCuando vemos eso tenemos que recordar que es un modelo para todo lo dem\u00e1s. Al igual que esto es oscuridad y sh\u00e9ker, y lo est\u00e1n celebrando con luces de colores, as\u00ed que \u05d1\u05d0 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d3 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d6\u05d4, te ense\u00f1a sobre todo lo dem\u00e1s que est\u00e1n celebrando.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, cuando pasas por una universidad – las universidades debes saber que est\u00e1n llena de sh\u00e9ker; no menos que este sh\u00e9ker. El caso es que este sh\u00e9ker festivo tiene a\u00fan menos falsedades que el sh\u00e9ker universitario.
\n\n\n\nLos terciarios, de arriba a abajo son sh\u00e9ker y rishut. Hoy, los profesores de la universidad celebran el comunismo: ense\u00f1an que Estados Unidos no es bueno y que el comunismo es un sistema maravilloso. Es algo notable que en todas las universidades de hoy, en todos los cursos de sociolog\u00eda de hoy; en otros cursos tambi\u00e9n, est\u00e1n ense\u00f1ando que toda la gloria y el i\u00f3sher est\u00e1n en el socialismo.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfAlguna vez has o\u00eddo hablar de un sistema mesh\u00faguene como el que encuentras en Estados Unidos hoy? Todo el mundo tiene que ir a la universidad y \u00bfcu\u00e1les son los cursos m\u00e1s importantes en la universidad? Alcohol y drogas. Es un hecho, \u00a1no es una exageraci\u00f3n! Eso es lo que aprenden m\u00e1s que cualquier otra cosa.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, cuando pasas por donde hay luces navide\u00f1as o la iglesia, entonces puedes pensar: \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no? Que vayan a la iglesia. Aprender\u00e1n algunas cosas buenas all\u00ed\u201d. Un goi que es oved avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1, as\u00ed lo entendemos; \u00e9l es un goi. No estamos contentos de que est\u00e9 adorando a un dios falso, pero a\u00fan as\u00ed, su avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1 le dice ciertas cosas que \u00e9l observa. Y ciertas cosas no son malas para \u00e9l; algunas cosas son incluso buenas para \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nPero las universidades, si dependiera de nosotros, deber\u00edamos cerrar todas las universidades hoy. Porque son guaridas de la peor clase de maldad. Toda la homosexualidad sale hoy de las universidades. Hacen seminarios sobre ese rishut. Lo practican y lo predican y por eso somos m\u00e1s conscientes que nunca del sh\u00e9ker que representa el mundo acad\u00e9mico. Es mucho peor que las religiones falsas. Las universidades son kul\u00f3 sh\u00e9ker hoy en d\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nE incluso hace muchos a\u00f1os, cuando las universidades no eran tan perversas como lo son hoy, tambi\u00e9n era kul\u00f3 sh\u00e9ker. Ense\u00f1aban que el mundo lleg\u00f3 a existir por s\u00ed mismo, ese es el iesod haiesodot del sh\u00e9ker. Mientras que las religiones gentiles no dicen eso. Creen tambi\u00e9n que Bereshit bar\u00e1 Elokim. Y por lo tanto no puedes compararlos. Y por eso un goi, \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d5. No existe la mitzv\u00e1 de deshacerse de un goi, no existe la mitzv\u00e1 de da\u00f1ar a los go\u00edm. Pero un Israel que es un min, no quiero decirte lo que se le deber\u00edas hacer. A un min, cuanto m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido lo destruyan, mejor, porque es un peligro para todo el mundo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #580 (diciembre de 1985)
\nThe post Las fiestas de los go\u00edm appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-28T03:53:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-28T03:53:14+00:00" }, { "id": 36235, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/gastar-dinero-en-cosas-innecesarias/", "title": "Gastar dinero en cosas innecesarias ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay alg\u00fan problema con llevar a los ni\u00f1os a conciertos donde shomr\u00e9 Tor\u00e1 umitzvot cantar\u00e1n canciones k\u00f3sher?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTe dir\u00e9 mi opini\u00f3n personal. No creo que los ni\u00f1os deban acostumbrarse a cosas innecesarias y superfluas. No entrenes a tus hijos para que se acostumbren a ir a lugares que cuestan dinero. No lo necesitan y los est\u00e1s arruinando. Puedes acostumbrarlos a que den paseos. Pueden dar paseos y tomar aire fresco. Podr\u00edan jugar un poco en la calle con una pelota y hacer algo de ejercicio, pero no los lleves a conciertos y cosas as\u00ed. No creo en eso en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nNo creo en absoluto en llevar a los ni\u00f1os de viaje. No los acostumbres a los lujos. A un ni\u00f1o se le debe ense\u00f1ar c\u00f3mo vivir una vida frugal y desear s\u00f3lo lo que es necesario. Hoy en d\u00eda, la gente alimenta a los ni\u00f1os con todo tipo de ideas, todo tipo de ideas equivocadas. Y la gente piensa que es normal. Incluso enviar a tu hija al seminario en, digamos, Gateshead, ya no creo en eso. Es un muy buen lugar, Gateshead, pero env\u00eda a tu hija a Boro Park o a una Ieshiv\u00e1 de Brooklyn. Hay muy buenos lugares aqu\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nY tampoco dejes que tu hija viaje a \u00c9retz Israel. Un hombre se me acerc\u00f3 el otro d\u00eda. Su hija quiere ir a \u00c9retz Israel. Ella es una chica frum. Quer\u00eda saber lo que pienso al respecto. \u00a1\u00bfPara qu\u00e9 tiene que ir a \u00c9retz Israel?! Cuesta mucho dinero ir a \u00c9retz Israel. \u00a1\u00bfPara qu\u00e9 tiene que ir a \u00c9retz Israel?! \u00bfUna chica soltera deber\u00eda gastar dinero en ir a \u00c9retz Israel? No, no creo en esas cosas.
\n\n\n\nEnse\u00f1a a tus hijos a ahorrar su dinero. Lo necesitar\u00e1n alg\u00fan d\u00eda. Una cuenta bancaria es mejor que viajar: una cuenta de ahorros en un banco. Ens\u00e9\u00f1ales a ahorrar dinero para s\u00ed mismos. \u00a1\u00bfQuieres entrenarlos para gastar dinero en cosas innecesarias?! No, no estoy de acuerdo con eso.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-217 (diciembre de 1999)
\nThe post Gastar dinero en cosas innecesarias appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-28T03:50:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-28T03:50:41+00:00" }, { "id": 36230, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-amargura-de-ieshu/", "title": "La amargura de Ieshu", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede contarnos sobre la vida de Ieshu, – si no sabe qui\u00e9n es Ieshu, es el fundador de la religi\u00f3n cristiana – sobre su crecimiento entre los jud\u00edos y qu\u00e9 efecto tuvieron sus primeras experiencias en el resto de su vida?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nBueno, brevemente, naci\u00f3 bajo circunstancias sospechosas. Ahora bien, eso es lo que dicen, no lo que digo. Y, naturalmente, tuvo una discapacidad grave, una discapacidad social grave, porque incluso entre los gentiles, un hombre de familia dudoso no es una persona privilegiada. Y tener a Hashem como padre no te pone en ning\u00fan lugar especial en este mundo. Oh, pero afirman que ha descendido del rey David. Eso es una contradicci\u00f3n, porque Hakadosh Baruj Hu no es de la casa de David. Pero de cualquier manera, debido a esta discapacidad se amarg\u00f3 mucho.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, nunca tuvo \u00e9xito en nada. No se cas\u00f3. Eso no es una coincidencia porque no pod\u00eda casarse; no se le permite a un mamzer casarse con un jud\u00edo com\u00fan. Intent\u00f3 estudiar Tor\u00e1, pero no pudo. Permaneci\u00f3 una persona muy mediocre en Tor\u00e1 porque vemos de sus expresiones una serie de errores brutos que incluso un medio Ben Tor\u00e1 nunca cometer\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, como resultado de esto, \u00e9l estaba, como dije antes, muy amargado. Pero fue dotado de una habilidad y eso fue una tremenda ambici\u00f3n; si lo hubieran psicoanalizado hoy, habr\u00eda sido llamado Megaloman\u00eda. Y cuando un hombre tiene una ambici\u00f3n tremenda, pero no tiene habilidades, el resultado es una amargura terrible.
\n\n\n\nComo nuestro pobre amigo – no mencionar\u00e9 su nombre – que dej\u00f3 Am\u00e9rica y ahora est\u00e1 en \u00c9retz Israel; pens\u00f3 que ser\u00eda bienvenido por toda la gente con los brazos abiertos, pero incluso fall\u00f3 para obtener un asiento en la Kn\u00e9set; as\u00ed que est\u00e1 muy amargado.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que Ot\u00f3 Haish volc\u00f3 su amargura hacia los que tuvieron \u00e9xito. Ahora bien, \u00bfqui\u00e9nes fueron los que tuvieron \u00e9xito en el pueblo jud\u00edo? \u00bfQui\u00e9nes fueron los que fueron admirados por toda la naci\u00f3n? Los sabios, fariseos. Los fariseos eran queridos por la gente. La naci\u00f3n entera adoraba sus hechos y sus palabras. Pero como Ot\u00f3 Haish no se hizo prominente, entonces apunt\u00f3 sus armas contra ellos. Y es por eso que todo el Nuevo Testamento de principio a fin es una larga tirada contra la Tanaim. No hay otro libro en el mundo que tenga tanta amargura contra los sabios de Israel como el Nuevo Testamento.
\n\n\n\nY ese es el secreto del comienzo de esa religi\u00f3n. Fue fundado en frustraci\u00f3n y amargura; y eso caus\u00f3 esa hostilidad que result\u00f3 en la p\u00e9rdida de tantas vidas jud\u00edas en la historia.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #47 (febrero de 1975)
\nThe post La amargura de Ieshu appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-27T04:02:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-27T04:02:12+00:00" }, { "id": 36225, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%92%d7%a9-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "15-\u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T22:37:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T22:37:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36220, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%92%d7%a9-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T22:34:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T22:34:39+00:00" }, { "id": 36205, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayigash-5783-lion-of-yehuda-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda", "content_html": "A Dramatic Scene
\n\n\n\nWe have in this week\u2019s sedrah a very dramatic scene, maybe one of the more dramatic scenes in the entire kisvei hakodesh. The mishneh lamelech, the ruler of Egypt,is sitting on his throne and he\u2019s castigating the shevatim; he\u2019s threatening to take away their little brother Binyomin and to imprison him for stealing the royal goblet.
\n\n\n\nYou remember the story, how the brothers went down to Mitzrayim in order to buy grain and they were dealing now with the mishneh lamelech who was being very tough to them \u2013 they didn\u2019t know it was their long lost brother Yosef \u2013 and now he was taking Binyomin into captivity. And it seemed like all was lost; Binyomin will be imprisoned now and he would remain in Mitzrayim as a slave and die there in prison. And the brothers would have to come back now to their father without Binyomin. That was the psak of the mishneh lamelech.
\n\n\n\nNow, if we\u2019re going to set the scene properly we have to first forget about whatever we think a king is. Today we look at leaders, at presidents and prime ministers, as nothing people, as pushovers. And there\u2019s a good reason for that \u2013 it\u2019s because they are pushovers. Their threats are usually empty threats and their dignity is usually an empty dignity. Who\u2019s our President today? A peanut farmer, an empty suit. Even a king today, it\u2019s nothing; it\u2019s nothing compared to the ancient days.
\n\n\n\nPlaying With Fire
\n\n\n\nBut in the good old days when a king spoke, you quaked in your boots \u2013 if you looked at him wrong, it was \u201coff with the head\u201d. And there were no parole boards and no appeals to the Supreme Court. No silly liberal judge was going to save you. An order was given and the head was promptly removed from the body.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when the mishneh lamelech was telling the brothers what was going to be now with Binyomin, so there shouldn\u2019t have been a peep. It\u2019s true, Binyomim is going lost now and they\u2019ll have to return to their father without Binyomin but there\u2019s nothing to do. With a king you don\u2019t argue.
\n\n\n\nSuddenly something happened. The possuk says \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 And Yehuda approached the mishneh lamelech. They were standing there in great dread but Yehuda mustered up his courage and he approached. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 means he came close to the king \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8, and he spoke to him. Now just to open up a mouth in a king\u2019s presence requires nerve; it requires a stiff spine. The truth is even to stand back and meekly beg for mercy is something already. But to approach the mishneh lamelech? It requires a certain spirit.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only he approached, but he spoke at length. Now, to make a long speech to a king, an argumentative speech, is a most unwise and perilous thing to do \u2013 it’s like playing with the malach hamaves. But Yehuda was moser nefesh and he made himself the spokesman. He spoke with diplomacy but still he spoke, and he spoke tough. And that\u2019s how Binyomin was saved.
\n\n\n\nRav Miller\u2019s Theory
\n\n\n\nNow, I want to tell you something. This following principle is my own; I didn\u2019t hear it from my rebbes and therefore I take the responsibility for it. If it\u2019s not good, I\u2019m to blame. But I\u2019m inclined to say that this parsha is one of the reasons why the Am Yisroel today is made up of Yehudim: the people of Yehuda. Not only are we called Yehudim but to a very great extent, we are Yehudim. Are all Jews today from Yehuda? No. But most of them are. Some are from the tribe of Binyomin, some are from the tribe of Levi. All Kohanim and Levi\u2019im come from the tribe of Levi. And there is a small admixture from all the other tribes too \u2013 it\u2019s a fact that we have a little from every tribe among us. But we are mostly of the tribe of Yehuda.
\n\n\n\nNow, what is the importance that we descend from Yehuda? Why not one of the other shevatim? It wasn\u2019t an accident. Nothing is an accident but something so big like this, the future of our people? There\u2019s something there. And so it\u2019s a fair question: why is it that Yehuda was the one who turned out to be the Jewish nation? What about all the other brothers?
\n\n\n\nIthink that this story is one of the more important reasons. Because we see that Yehuda had a certain quality of gevurah and in order to be successful in anything, especially as a Yehudi, you have to have a backbone. I think that’s the reason why Yehuda became greater than his brothers.
\n\n\n\nBold And Energetic
\n\n\n\nYou remember when Yaakov our father was saying farewell to his sons just before he passed away, he made the following remark (Bereishis 49:8): \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Yehuda, your brothers are going to extol you. Now \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 means two things; it means sometimes to thank but over here it means \u2018to uplift, to be made great\u2019. Your brothers are going to extol you, they\u2019re going to aggrandize you \u2013 it was a prophecy that the entire nation, all of the tribes, will someday recognize the primacy of Yehuda. \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 the children of your father are going to bow down to you.
\n\n\n\nWhy? Why was Yehuda chosen? Because of his quality of boldness, of energy. \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05e3 \u05d0\u05b9\u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 your hand will be on the back of the neck of your enemies (ibid.). Now if a man has his enemy by the back of the neck, it means he\u2019s bold and energetic, no question about it. And Yaakov compared Yehuda to a lion: \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d9\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 a young lion is Yehuda. Why a lion? Because he was known for the quality of being fearless, of not shrinking before the enemy.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the defining quality of a lion that we are urged by the Sages to emulate: \u05d4\u05b2\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d6 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 Be as mighty as a lion, \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 to do the will of your Father in heaven (Avos 5:20). That doesn\u2019t mean the \u2018strength\u2019 of a lion; it could be that an elephant is stronger than a lion. It could be that an ox could pull a stronger load. But a lion is fearless.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Yehuda was considered the one who would be the mightiest, the most persistent in carrying out the service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He was the one who most utilized his energies \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nThe Lion Plunges In
\n\n\n\nYou remember when they came to the Red Sea, to the Yam Suf, and they had to walk into the water; but it was deep water. The water wasn\u2019t open before them. And the nation was in despair. Here on one side the army of Pharaoh was pursuing them to take revenge and here on the other side was the deep sea.
\n\n\n\nIt was Yehudah that decided to enter the water. Nachshon, the prince of Yehudah, went into the water. It took verve and gumption, it took boldness, to do such a thing. The water went up to his neck but he remained a lion and then the waters parted and opened up.
\n\n\n\nAlso, when they came into Eretz Canaan in the days of Yehoshua, and they were commanded to drive out or to destroy all the Canaanim, it was Shevet Yehuda who acted with the boldness that Hashem wanted.
\n\n\n\nThe Lion Conquers
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that this mitzvah of destroying the Canaanim was very unpalatable, very distasteful, to the Am Yisroel. They were rachmanim. They had pity. It was very difficult for them to do such a thing. And therefore the shevatim were lax. They did something but they were lax in carrying out this mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nOnly one shevet fulfilled the mitzvah entirely. Yehuda drove out all the Canaanim. He destroyed all those that remained. It’s stated in Sefer Shoftim that Yehuda fulfilled this mitzvah perfectly. That\u2019s an important point when you want to understand the greatness of Yehuda.
\n\n\n\nAnd because of that, Yehuda was always successful. All the tribes had invasions at one time or another from neighboring countries. There was Midyan and Amon and Moav, even Edom, who at some time or other had some kind of sovereignty over the Jews in Eretz Yisroel. But in the tribe of Yehuda, no foreign nation ever gained a foothold because Yehuda was a fighting people, a people of energy, and their energy was devoted to carrying out their principle of being loyal to Hashem. That\u2019s why Yehuda lasted on the land longer than all the others. They were unencumbered by the umos haolam, and thereforethey became more concentrated in their idealism, in their principles. \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b9\u05d3 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5-\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b8\u05df, Yehudah was clinging to Hashem and was loyal to the nevi’im (Hoshea 12:1).
\n\n\n\nThe Lion Stands Strong
\n\n\n\nWhen the time came to make a break and Yeravam broke away with the ten tribes, Yehuda remained with the Beis Hamikdash. That takes gevurah too, to ignore the multitudes, the rebellious ones.
\n\n\n\nAnd so it’s my theory that this quality that Yehuda developed of being \u05d2\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9, strong like a lion to do the will of Hashem, was what made him great.Of course, a man can have a drive and be a failure; he still has free will and he might utilize his drive to be a conqueror and a tyrant. But that\u2019s a misuse of a very important middah, a middah that was given to you for avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nYou can’t be a weakling. You can’t be a milquetoast and a nebach\u2019l. You have to have backbone to be a Jew. A Jew has to have \u2018fight\u2019 in him, because all around us we are surrounded by enemies. External enemies and internal enemies, we have plenty of internal enemies. We have half Jews and one percent Jews and zero percent Jews and minus percent Jews; and they claim to be Jews, they claim they are the real Jews. We have to fight constantly against them.
\n\n\n\nThe Lion And The Bums
\n\n\n\nNot only as a nation living among the nations of the world but also as an individual living among other people. A person who has a weak character, no matter how virtuous he is, how good his intentions are, usually he doesn’t accomplish much. You need a drive to be something. When the mother says, \u201cYou can\u2019t go the yeshivah; I want you to become a college professor,\u201d then you need to rise like a lion. \u201cNever mind! All the bums in the street have their way, they don\u2019t become anything, they become gutter bums, and I want to go to yeshivah and you are going to force me just because I am good? All the bums disobey and I have to obey? I won\u2019t listen to you!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd you have to fight against yourself too. You have a big enemy within yourself; the yetzer hora is always on the job, you have to fight against it. It\u2019s like Iyov said (7:1), \u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e6\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 isn\u2019t it military service for a man on this earth? Every man in this world is in military service, we are serving the Almighty, but it’s a battle. And so you have to have guts, you have to have fire in you, you have to have viciousness in you.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s what Yehuda was and that\u2019s why the Jew today is personified by Yehuda. That\u2019s why even till today, we\u2019re the Yehudim. Whether you live in Canada, or in New Zealand. Whether you live in South America, wherever a Jew goes, he remains a Jew; he\u2019s a Yid, a zhid, a zwid, a Judean, a Judah, a kike. Whatever it is they\u2019ll call him, in all languages, and in all climes, he doesn\u2019t budge because he knows that\u2019s the truth; no matter what he remains a Yehudi.
\n\n\n\nThe Mighty Softie
\n\n\n\nNow, some people, when they hear this \u2013 I\u2019m talking now about energetic people, people with a natural verve \u2013 so they\u2019re happy with the lecture up till now. They\u2019re Yehudim, they think; they have the energy to stand up and fight.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not so simple. It\u2019s not simple at all. Yehuda was a strong man, no question. Only a strong-willed person, a rock, can stand up to a mishneh lamelech like that. But he was soft too. When he needed to be, suddenly he became soft. You remember the episode when Tamar gave him the opportunity to admit his guilt. Suddenly this bold gibor wasn\u2019t so bold anymore. He didn\u2019t argue. He didn\u2019t talk tough. He didn\u2019t make a long speech. He folded quietly. \u05e6\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m wrong; she\u2019s right.\u201d That\u2019s what Yehuda said.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Yehuda was a model of the perfect gibor, a gibor who knows when to be strong and when to become a softie. That\u2019s one of the reasons Yehuda became Yehuda. Because he was gur aryeh, a lion, who knew when to be a little cat, a soft purring cat.
\n\n\n\nThe King\u2019s Pseudonym
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m going to tell you now about a descendant of Yehuda who trained himself to be like his zeide, to know when to be strong and when to be not so strong. There was a certain character mentioned in Tanach (Shmuel II 23:8) who was called Adino Haetzni. It wasn\u2019t his real name \u2013 it was a title he received. Adino means the gentle one, the soft one, the mild one. And Haetzni means the one who is like wood. He was as hard as wood.
\n\n\n\nNow the Gemara (Moed Katan 16b) tells us that this paradoxical name \u2013 soft yet hard \u2013 refers to none other than one of Yehuda\u2019s most famous descendants, Dovid Hamelech. Dovid was called the gentle one and he was called the tough one. That\u2019s the personification of this great man.
\n\n\n\nNow, we understand that he couldn’t be both things at the same moment; it means that sometimes he was gentle and sometimes he was hard. Sometimes he was Adino, adin, and sometimes he was Haetzni, kasheh ke’eitz. And he was praised by this paradoxical name because that\u2019s the real Yehudi, the one who knows when to be this and when to be that. That\u2019s the trick of successful living.
\n\n\n\nThe King is Belittled
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Brachos 4a) states as follows. Dovid Hamelech would come into the beis medrash to learn \u2013 even though he was already a king he always came to study Torah \u2013 and Mefiboshes was at that time his superior, his Rebbe.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara sets the scene for us. Dovid Hamelech is sitting down before his Rebbe who\u2019s speaking words of Torah; he\u2019s teaching the sugya. And in the middle of the sugya an idea occurs to Dovid, a Torah thought. So he says over his chiddush to his Rebbe. That\u2019s how it was \u2013 there was a give and take between the Rebbe and the student, and so Dovid would present his Torah ideas to his Rebbe.
\n\n\n\nNot only his chiddushim; whenever Dovid had to pasken a shailah he would appeal to his Rebbe for approval. \u05de\u05b0\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b9\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 – \u201cRebbe, did I decide this question properly? \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 Was I right when I said this? Did I say it correctly?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow Mefiboshes was the kind of man who wouldn’t brook any loose thinking; he wouldn’t tolerate any laziness of mind in his disciples. When a disciple demonstrated loose thinking, Mefiboshes didn’t pull any punches. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b4\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 he used to put Dovid to shame when Dovid slipped up in something. \u201cThat\u2019s so silly,\u201d he would say. \u201dI\u2019m surprised at you. You\u2019re not thinking.\u201d He belittled him.
\n\n\n\nSilky As A Worm
\n\n\n\nIt could be that it surprises you but that\u2019s how it always was among the Sages \u2014 loose thinking was considered a crime. Among us, there are worse things. If someone would sneeze into your face, you would rebuke him for his bad manners; and it\u2019s true, it\u2019s a crime. But among the Chachomim if someone said something carelessly, if he was lazy in thinking straight, it was worse than that; it was much worse manners and he\u2019d be excoriated for that.
\n\n\n\nAnd what did Dovid do? Dovid the King swallowed this humbly. The Gemara says \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d3\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea, he made himself as soft as a worm. If you looked at this man sitting in the beis hamedrash before his senior teachers or his Sages, you wouldn’t imagine that he had a bone in his spine. However much his teachers criticized him he bore the brunt. He wasn\u2019t soft but \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d3\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2013 he made himself soft like a worm; he was soft and pliable to his teachers. That\u2019s why he\u2019s called Adino, the Soft One.
\n\n\n\nThe Grim Reaper
\n\n\n\nBut this same man is also called Haetzni, the Man of Wood. Because if we change the scene for a moment and imagine now that we are with Dovid in the battlefield we see a different person. Here is Dovid, the same Dovid who yesterday was in the beis medrash, but now he\u2019s carrying a heavy battle axe. And he\u2019s plunging into the fray ahead of his soldiers, wielding his battle axe, a heavy axe made of iron and shouting. Not only wielding it \u2013 he is crushing the skulls and the spines of his opponents without the slightest compunction. With no quarter, no mercy, Dovid is killing men right and left, causing on all sides that the people should fall like weeds before the reaper.
\n\n\n\nNow, looking at Dovid battling you wouldn’t dream that he had in him any softness at all. Because when he went out to battle against the enemies of his people, it means the enemies of Hashem, Dovid was kasheh ke’eitz. That\u2019s how Dovid is described.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if you were looking at Dovid on the battlefield crushing skulls you wouldn’t dream that he had in him any softness at all. That\u2019s why Dovid is also called Haetzni, \u201cthe man of wood.\u201d If somebody would see him, he would say, \u201cThat man has no heart. He is all iron; he is a piece of wood. No softness in him at all.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut we remember Dovid the Adino from the Beis Medrash too. He was soft and pliable like a worm in front of his rebbes. And what that means is that Dovid wasn\u2019t a one-track person. Like Yehuda his zeide, he was capable of both attitudes. Sometimes he was Adino \u2013 a gentleman; quiet, attentive, humble. And other times, when the situation called for it, he was HaEtzni \u2013 as hard as wood.
\n\n\n\nThe Dusty Tyrant
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t only Dovid.From the beginning of our nation all of our great men were like that.You remember when Avraham said \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 I\u2019m dust and ashes (Bereishis 18:27). It means, \u201cI\u2019m nothing.\u201d Now a lot of people say that, \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8. I know a man, he\u2019s fond of that phrase. He doesn\u2019t mean it though. He doesn’t act like afar v’eifer. When he comes home he opens his big mouth on his wife and he shouts; he doesn’t remember that he’s afar ve’eifer.
\n\n\n\nBut Avraham didn\u2019t only say it, he practiced it. You remember when Sarah said those sharp words to him, \u201c\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 My anger is upon you \u2026 Hakodosh Boruch Hu will take retribution from you because you allowed Hagar to become arrogant against me. (ibid. 16:5)\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, those are very sharp words to say to a husband. It\u2019s a reproach of most extreme vehemence. And it wasn\u2019t even Avraham’s fault. He didn\u2019t do anything. Only because he didn\u2019t instruct Hagar enough how she should behave so Sarah sharply rebuked him.
\n\n\n\nWhat did Avraham do? He was soft, like a worm. He was patient and polite and quiet. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e4\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b5\u05da\u05b0. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. Here, you can do whatever you want to make it good. I accept whatever you\u2019ll decide.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, you shouldn\u2019t think that story is something that happened once. It\u2019s told to us as a model, an example. Avraham was a good husband; he was a quiet man to his wife.
\n\n\n\nThe Stern Leader
\n\n\n\nHe wasn’t quiet to his enemies though. Avraham knew how to wield a sword. You think Avraham was a weakling? He wasn’t a nebach\u2019l. He was a gibor ish milchamah. You have to know that he was a general, a strong stern leader. And when he was forced into battle, he made himself into a lion.
\n\n\n\nAvraham chased the four kings and their armies from Sedom all the way up to Syria. That\u2019s a journey of several days, you know. Several days! And Avraham had a very small force. He had 318 of his own and he had Aneir, Eshkol and Mamrei who were helping him out. I don’t know how many they had, but they weren’t as many as the invaders were.
\n\n\n\nBut Avraham was a strategist. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05e7 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 in the darkness of the night he divided his forces and attacked from different sides (ibid. 14:15), so that the enemies would think \u201cwho knows how many people are attacking us\u201d. And they got up and started fleeing.
\n\n\n\nOf course it was Hakodosh Boruch Hu giving him siyata dishmaya but don’t think Avraham was sitting in the back thinking about chesed, about feeding hungry wayfarers and being polite to his wife. He plunged right into the fray and he was chopping down the enemy. He took a battle axe and he chopped off heads. Ooh ah, was Avraham tough.
\n\n\n\nBut when his wife was angry at him, Avraham said, \u201cDo whatever you want. Yes my dear, whatever you say.\u201d That’s how he answered. He bowed his head and made himself soft.
\n\n\n\nMoshe Rabeinu
\n\n\n\nNow these models of Adino Haetznis are manifold. Not only Yehuda. Not only Dovid and Avraham. You remember Moshe Rabbeinu, when he left the palace to help his brothers? His soft heart ached for the people who were being afflicted. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 he left the palace and went out to his brothers because the kindness of his heart wouldn\u2019t let him rest (Shemos 2:11). He left the palace and put his shoulder under the burden with them.
\n\n\n\nBut he wasn\u2019t a milquetoast. He wasn\u2019t a pushover. When he went out, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, and he saw an Egyptian who was hitting one of the Hebrews so Moshe Rabbeinu picked up his huge fist, he had a huge fist, like a bag of flour, and he gave the Mitzri such a zetz that there was a funeral right away.
\n\n\n\nNow had Moshe been only an Adino, a soft man, he would have gone forth to his afflicted brothers and he would have seen them carrying loads on their shoulders and he would have said like he did, \u201cLet me help you. I have a good shoulder, I can carry it for you.\u201d It would have been a great thing but it wouldn\u2019t have been enough.
\n\n\n\nBut when he saw somebody persecuting his brother and that aroused his indignation, his righteous indignation and he smote him. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9. \u201cOoh!\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cThat\u2019s My man. Because you have both things. You have kindliness and mercy in you, you have compassion, but you also have strength of character; forcefulness, boldness.
\n\n\n\nWe need Yehudim who are able to take their kindness and translate it into action too. A kindly lemech\u2019l, a kindly nebach\u2019l who can\u2019t do anything, all he can do is say, \u201cAh, it\u2019s a pity,\u201d and shed tears for his brothers, it\u2019s very good, but not good enough. A kindhearted man who is a weakling is only half a man. A Jew becomes great, successful, because he can be tough and soft. Tough and soft, adin and eitz. With wisdom and discernment he knows when yes and when no.
\n\n\n\nWalking The Tightrope
\n\n\n\nYou know, when we read these stories in the Tanach it\u2019s unfortunate that they remain just that \u2013 stories. They\u2019re supposed to be examples, teaching lessons. That\u2019s what Torah means, \u2018a teaching\u2019. It\u2019s the Torah\u2019s intention to create precedents \u2013 not presidents, precedents; it means models for us to follow.
\n\n\n\nSo when you learn about Yehuda in this week\u2019s parsha you already have one precedent. Adino Haetzni, another precedent. Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu \u2013 there are so many more; I had planned on talking to you about Aharon and Pinchas and Shaul too \u2013 the Torah and Gemara and Medrashim are full of stories; there are thousands of them, much more than I said here.
\n\n\n\nAnd what is it that we especially see from these people? That life is a balancing act, a tightrope that requires leaning; sometimes to one side and then sometimes to the other side. Rabeinu Saadya Gaon in Emunos veDeos talks about this subject. He says it\u2019s a big error when people choose one way in life. Some people say the success of life is this or that, and they rule out, they exclude everything else. No. There’s no such thing as following one derech in everything. A man must make his life a spectrum of many things and he must learn when this quality is desirable or when another quality is desirable. All the attitudes are true \u2013 it\u2019s the application of the middos that makes them right or wrong.
\n\n\n\nHard On Hotels
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re hearing now a big principle for living successfully \u2013 the Jew must know how and when to manipulate his qualities of character because such important decisions cannot be left to mere intuition. Otherwise you have people who are Adino Haetznis but they\u2019re all mixed up. They\u2019re not in control; their emotions are in control of them and therefore they\u2019re hard when it comes time to be soft and they\u2019re soft when it\u2019s time to be tough.
\n\n\n\nI once told you, there was a certain gentleman, he used to attend my shul years and years ago. Now, this man was a tough man. I remember when I spoke about the necessity of making Pesach in your own home, about how important it is to lug dishes in and out preparing for yom tov, about how important it is to make a seder in your own house, in your own little sanctuary, instead of going away to a hotel. It loses the entire character of that holy night when the traditions are handed over from generation to generation if you go off to a hotel.
\n\n\n\nNow this fellow scorned that, he was tough as nails. He disagreed with me entirely. And he wasn\u2019t soft in expressing his opinion. In the beis knesses he was as hard as wood. He told people I was wrong. He had a backbone. He was bold.
\n\n\n\nSoft On Sukkos
\n\n\n\nOne day I met him on the East Side and we were buying esrogim for yom tov. So I bought an esrog and a lulav and I carried them in my hand and I got on the bus to go home. In those days it was an uncommon sight to see someone carrying a lulav with pride. What will the gentiles think? But I carried my lulav as a lulav should be carried. Let all the Puerto Ricans see I’m carrying a lulav.
\n\n\n\nHe also got on the bus but the esrog he wrapped up and he put it into his coat pocket and his lulav he wrapped up in paper; the lulav looked like a curtain rod! That\u2019s what he wanted people to think. He made every precaution to make sure nobody should know what he’s carrying. He didn\u2019t have the boldness that people should see him carrying a lulav in the streets.
\n\n\n\nSo I was thinking \u2013 I didn’t tell it to him but I was thinking: you\u2019re a stubborn fellow in the shul but when you come to the world you’re a weakling. He\u2019s not able to oppose the world. Why don’t you carry your lulav and your esrog like a stubborn Jew and let them stick their eyes out if they don’t like it? In the beis hamedrash that’s a place to be humble and soft but outside you have to be tough.
\n\n\n\nManaging Your Middos
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we come back to the fundamental question that everyone always asks: \u201cHow do I do it? How do I manipulate my middos, to know when yes, when no?\u201d And the answer is: it’s Torah, Torah and Torah.
\n\n\n\nWhen a person has his mind full of Torah precedents so when a situation comes suddenly upon him, immediately there flashes up before his mind\u2019s eye a picture of what he once learned and he knows what to do in this and this circumstance. By learning these precedents and visualizing them, reviewing them again and again, they provide the patterns on which he’ll base his future behavior.
\n\n\n\nThat’s one of the great benefits of learning the stories of our great men and womenwho operated with wisdom and lived successfully. Our minds become full of living pictures of proper Torah living and that\u2019s how we know how to behave; we always have some reference that\u2019s stored up in our minds which serve as patterns. And even if the story of Yehuda approaching the mishneh lamelech or of Avraham Avinu speaking softly to Sarah doesn\u2019t flash before your eyes, but subliminally it\u2019s there. Your studying of the Torah, of the lives of our great ones who came before us, already created patterns of thinking in your head, patterns of good character.
\n\n\n\nLearn To Steer
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s how we live successfully, by steering our middos with wisdom. Because life is a highway and when you\u2019re driving on the highway of life, you have to know when to turn the steering wheel this way, when that way. You can\u2019t afford to yield to moods, to emotions, when you\u2019re driving. Otherwise you\u2019re liable to make a smash-up.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what we\u2019re learning tonight, that you have to grab hold of the steering wheel. If you\u2019re alive, then you can choose how to steer and when to turn. Forget about the torah of the psychiatrists who say you\u2019re a prisoner to your instincts, to your thoughts and emotions. Sheker v\u2019chazav! It\u2019s up to you to guide those traits. Sometimes you have to be an Adino and other times you\u2019re Haetzni. And it\u2019s all done with seichel, al pi Torah.
\n\n\n\nWhen you are dealing let’s say with your rebbe, or with people who need more sympathy; sometimes even with reshaim, with sinners, it requires a gentle and yielding side. And so you turn the steering wheel of your mind; you guide your thoughts and your attitudes and your words in a different direction. But when there’s a benefit in combating the wicked or wickedness so you have to be as tough as could be. It doesn’t mean you have to be impolite. You need not be insolent. But inwardly you must be as tough as possible. Whatever it is, it has to be done with seichel, with Torah seichel. That’s how a man becomes a sholet bi\u2019yitzro.
\n\n\n\nA Ruckus In Shul
\n\n\n\nSometimes even in the shul you have to make yourself a lion. When there\u2019s talking during davening you have to remember what the Tur and Shulchan Aruch say. \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 you have to scold him. That\u2019s not the time to be soft. All around that\u2019s how it should be; if you see somebody talking, everybody should start shouting \u201cSha! Sha! Sha!\u201d All around.
\n\n\n\nEverybody is standing or sitting in shul and the shatz, the leader, is speaking for them to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and this nincompoop, this empty head, this leitz, turns to his neighbor to exchange idle conversation, it means that he is negating everything that goes on. Nothing is worth anything in comparison to his little unimportant desires. And so it\u2019s chillul Hashem; he\u2019s profaning the glory of Hashem. Gadol avono m\u2019niso! That sin can never be forgiven. Even if you want to do teshuva you cannot repent from chillul Hashem. And so people must be told! You have to throw it in their teeth again and again, until finally some people will listen.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet this man who made himself a lion in shul, when he comes home to his wife he changes the dial again. He knows how to talk mildly. In the environment of his home he reminds himself that now is different; Hashem wants something different now and he speaks gently. Even when his wife shouts at him, he\u2019s adin katola\u2019as. He answers quietly.
\n\n\n\nSoft At Home
\n\n\n\nOf course you have to know when. Because sometimes in the home you have to speak also with molars like you say in Yiddish with bak-tzeiner. You have to speak with your molars. Sometimes there are principles involved and you have to talk tough too at home. Sometimes a man’s wife is yearning for what’s not right \u2013 she wants to bring this or that magazine into the house; maybe she\u2019s not willing to throw out the television \u2014 and therefore he has to put his foot down and talk tough. But in general there\u2019s a certain softness that\u2019s expected at home.
\n\n\n\nThe schmoozers in shul, he can be tough with them, but at home, he speaks with nichusah, with soft words. And he helps out too. He is willing to help with the dishes, why not? He is willing to get up sometimes at night when the baby cries and his wife is trying to get a few minutes of sleep. He\u2019s soft at home.
\n\n\n\nBut then in the morning, he activates the middah of boldness again. He has to be tough with himself sometimes to get out of his warm bed and go out to the shul to learn. He has to go out and make parnassah too. The shlemazel, the softie without a backbone, he stays home most of the time; he\u2019s discouraged, he doesn\u2019t have the boldness to go out and to achieve a livelihood. That\u2019s a failure because industry, energy and boldness must be part of your personality.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back to Yehuda; when you look at Yehuda, why did Yehuda become the leader of the Jewish nation? And the answer is \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4. That\u2019s our model of a successful person. He knows that he\u2019s always standing before Hashem and he\u2019s expected to perfect his middos, to manipulate them to perfection.
\n\n\n\nAt all times a person must know first and foremost that he is standing lifnei Hashem and he\u2019s responsible for his behavior \u2013 and included in your behavior is your character trait of strength and boldness, and on the other side, it\u2019s your character trait of chessed, of being soft and conciliatory. And you\u2019re responsible to Hashem for everything, You cannot yield to your toughness and you can\u2019t yield to your softness. A man must at all times be under control. And the eved Hashem who reminds himself constantly about his obligation to be Adino and Haetzni \u2013 each one its proper place \u2013 that\u2019s the person who has lived successfully; that\u2019s the real Yehudi.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTapes: 607 – Cultivating The Middos | 857 – Lion of Yehuda | E-63 – Strength of Character
\n\n\n\nBalancing Our Personalities
\n\n\n\nYehuda was chosen for his boldness; for his ability to stand up for what\u2019s right and be tough when it was needed. But Yehuda was also a model of humility. All of our great men were like that \u2013 they were strong and humble \u2013 because they were emulating Hashem. The Paradigm of being Mighty while remaining Humble is Hakodosh Boruch Hu and this idea is delineated in the second bracha of Shemoneh Esrei which discusses Hashem\u2019s Gevuros as well as His Kindliness. We strive to emulate the middos of Hashem and act powerful while acting kind. This week I will bli neder stop for a minute each time I say this bracha and think about how I can implement this in my life.
\nThe post Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T03:22:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T03:22:20+00:00" }, { "id": 36212, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayigash-5783-lion-of-yehuda/", "title": "Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda", "content_html": "TA-Vayigash-5783The post Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T03:20:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T03:20:38+00:00" }, { "id": 36204, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayigash-5783-lion-of-yehuda/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda", "content_html": "TA-Vayigash-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayigash 5783 – Lion of Yehuda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T03:20:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T03:20:08+00:00" }, { "id": 36201, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayigach-5783/", "title": "Paracha Vayigach 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayigach-5783-1The post Paracha Vayigach 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T02:19:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T16:29:21+00:00" }, { "id": 36198, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/cual-milagro-importa/", "title": "Cu\u00e1l milagro importa ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Al Hanisim trata principalmente de la victoria sobre los Ievanim y no del nes del sh\u00e9men?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTienes que darte cuenta de que aunque el nes del sh\u00e9men fue m\u00e1s importante porque fue una salvaci\u00f3n espiritual, era una manifestaci\u00f3n especial de la Presencia de Hashem para Am Israel, pero las personas en el momento en que fueron salvadas, cuando expresaron \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05dc\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc \u05dc\u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d4\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 estaban agradeciendo? \u00bfEstaban agradeciendo por su salvaci\u00f3n espiritual? No; principalmente estaban agradeciendo a Hashem por su salvaci\u00f3n f\u00edsica. Esa es la naturaleza humana.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto tenemos dos niveles. La verdad es como dice la Guemar\u00e1, \u05de\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u2013 \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 es Januc\u00e1?\u201d y Rashi all\u00ed dice: \u05e2\u05dc \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e0\u05e1 \u05e7\u05d1\u05e2\u05d5\u05d4 \u2013 \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 nes hicieron Januc\u00e1?\u201d Y la Guemar\u00e1 responde que es por el milagro del aceite. El nes del sh\u00e9men es la caracter\u00edstica m\u00e1s importante de Januc\u00e1, esa es la verdad. Pero a\u00fan as\u00ed, nunca debemos perder de vista el hecho del purk\u00e1n f\u00edsico, la redenci\u00f3n de nuestros enemigos. Si pierdes de vista el j\u00e9sed m\u00e1s peque\u00f1o debido al j\u00e9sed m\u00e1s grande, est\u00e1s cometiendo un gran error. La gente siempre debe recordar que el j\u00e9sed de gashmiut tambi\u00e9n es un j\u00e9sed muy importante.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, hay otro factor a\u00fan m\u00e1s importante y ese factor es el siguiente. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es la menor\u00e1 de Hakadosh Baruj Hu? La menor\u00e1 de Hakadosh Baruj Hu es el pueblo jud\u00edo. \u05e0\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05ea \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd. Somos la luz para las naciones. Somos Su l\u00e1mpara. Somos los que nunca se extinguir\u00e1n. El nes que nunca se apaga la llama significa nosotros. El pueblo jud\u00edo es eterno. Por siempre jam\u00e1s el fuego de los ideales de la Tor\u00e1 arder\u00e1 en nuestros corazones. De eso es de lo que estamos hablando esta noche y de eso es de lo que siempre hablaremos, por los siglos de los siglos. Esa es la verdadera menor\u00e1 de Januc\u00e1. Y por lo tanto, cuando Hakadosh Baruj Hu rescat\u00f3 a nuestro pueblo por medio de todas esas batallas contra los poderosos ej\u00e9rcitos, esta menor\u00e1 real no se apag\u00f3. Sin embargo, para poder apreciar esta menor\u00e1 era necesario que el nes sucediera con la menor\u00e1 dentro del Bet Hamikdash. Pero es todo un nes. Somos la menor\u00e1 que no se apaga. Nunca desapareceremos. Y as\u00ed, aunque la menor\u00e1 en el Bet Hamikdash finalmente se apag\u00f3, ardi\u00f3 milagrosamente durante ocho d\u00edas para mostrarnos que la Shejin\u00e1 de Hakadosh Baruj Hu descansa sobre nosotros y descansar\u00e1 sobre nosotros para siempre.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, cuando hablamos en Januc\u00e1 sobre los milagros de las victorias sobre nuestro enemigo, debemos sentirnos exactamente como si estuvi\u00e9ramos hablando de las velas, las l\u00e1mparas que nunca se apagaron. Son una misma cosa. S\u00f3lo que uno explica al otro.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #485 (diciembre de 1983)
\nThe post Cu\u00e1l milagro importa appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-26T02:13:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-26T02:13:24+00:00" }, { "id": 36194, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/luchar-con-los-misioneros-en-januca/", "title": "Luchar con los misioneros en Januc\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 medidas preventivas podemos tomar con nuestros hijos para evitar que caigan en manos de los misioneros u otras tonter\u00edas cuando crecen?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl m\u00e9todo m\u00e1s influyente es hacer que los ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos amen a su pueblo. Porque los argumentos no son adecuados para ellos a una edad tan temprana. Adem\u00e1s, \u00bfqui\u00e9n quiere entrar en tales detalles con ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os, ni\u00f1os y ni\u00f1as de una edad tan temprana y ense\u00f1arles c\u00f3mo disputar con los misioneros? No; lo que tenemos que hacer es ense\u00f1ar al pueblo jud\u00edo a amar el Idishkait, esa es la mejor medida preventiva.
\n\n\n\nCuando un ni\u00f1o estudia \u00fanicamente Guemar\u00e1, por ejemplo, incluso si es un Lamd\u00e1n, pero si no hay idealismo, si es s\u00f3lo una cuesti\u00f3n de tener buenas notas o de ser elogiado por ser un Lamd\u00e1n, es para \u00e9l algo muy seco. Y de pronto, viene a alguien que le ense\u00f1a un idealismo falso y lo inspira con falsas ideas, un falso idealismo, falso D\u00e9rej \u00c9retz, como amar al compa\u00f1ero, por decir. La verdad es que todo eso es basura, no aman a nadie, excepto a ellos mismos, pero \u00e9l est\u00e1 enga\u00f1ado por eso porque no lo escuch\u00f3 en una casa jud\u00eda; as\u00ed que \u00e9l piensa que el juda\u00edsmo no es m\u00e1s que algo seco, cosas que no tienen ning\u00fan contenido espiritual, por lo que no tiene ninguna inspiraci\u00f3n de eso. Ese chico no ama a su pueblo. No significa que se convertir\u00e1 en, jas veshalom, un Meshumad, pero si no ama a su pueblo, no est\u00e1 armado contra las influencias externas.
\n\n\n\nEl ni\u00f1o jud\u00edo tiene que aprender el idealismo, es un elemento muy importante. El idealismo es un tema muy importante, y tienes que saber c\u00f3mo ense\u00f1arlo. Cada padre puede comprometerse a hacer que su hijo sea un amante de los jud\u00edos, debe convertirse en un \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4\u05d1 \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, debe amar a su pueblo. Deber\u00eda amar a la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda, ver la belleza de todo en Am Israel.
\n\n\n\nCuando llegue Januc\u00e1, no le ense\u00f1e simplemente a encender las velas, a ser un \u05de\u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05de\u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05d9\u05df, a usar shemen z\u00e1it, a hacer una beraj\u00e1 correcta, a tener su propia menor\u00e1: todo eso es maravilloso pero no es suficiente. Tienes que ense\u00f1arle el fondo de la historia de Januc\u00e1; el hero\u00edsmo de nuestros antepasados que lucharon y dieron sus vidas. \u00a1Insp\u00edralo! Esa es una preparaci\u00f3n para la batalla contra la influencia gentil. Tienes que inspirar al ni\u00f1o. Tienes que hablar con \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nDigamos que es P\u00e9saj; as\u00ed que tienes que tener mucho cuidado de que no deber\u00eda haber ning\u00fan jametz. La madre dice: “Cuidado con el jametz, que no caiga jametz en el piso antes de P\u00e9saj; come con una toalla porque pronto tenemos que revisar el jametz”. Todo se hace de acuerdo a la Halaj\u00e1; \u00a1Es muy bueno, muy bueno! \u00a1Pero no es suficiente! Tienes que hablar sobre los ideales de P\u00e9saj, sobre lo que significa jametz. Jametz significa que estamos luchando contra la influencia gentil que nos rodeaba en Mitzr\u00e1im. Quer\u00edamos que Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos llevara desde Mitzr\u00e1im para que seamos libres de la esclavitud, de la maldad, de toda la inmoralidad que prevalec\u00eda en Mitzr\u00e1im. Ese es el jametz, el jametz es la maldad de las naciones del mundo. Por supuesto, tenemos que cumplir todas las halajot pero tienes que dar la explicaci\u00f3n que se encuentra detr\u00e1s de ellas.
\n\n\n\nTodo debe estar lleno de idealismo; y al ense\u00f1ar al ni\u00f1o los ideales de la Tor\u00e1, entonces estar\u00e1 al cien por ciento armado contra todas las ideolog\u00edas extranjeras.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #940 (noviembre de 1993)
\nThe post Luchar con los misioneros en Januc\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-23T14:55:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-23T14:55:45+00:00" }, { "id": 36190, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%a0-%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%92%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%93-%d7%90%d7%a1%d7%90%d7%9a-%d7%92%d7%a2%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05e0: \u05d1\u05e2\u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3, \u05d0\u05e1\u05d0\u05da \u05d2\u05e2\u05dc\u05d8, \u05de\u05d7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05ea \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d2\u05de\u05e8\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-250The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05e0: \u05d1\u05e2\u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3, \u05d0\u05e1\u05d0\u05da \u05d2\u05e2\u05dc\u05d8, \u05de\u05d7\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05ea \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d2\u05de\u05e8\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-23T04:33:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-23T04:33:54+00:00" }, { "id": 36183, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-fighting-missionaries-with-chanukah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Fighting Missionaries With Chanukah\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What preventive measures can we take with our children to avoid them falling into the hands of missionaries or other foolish things when they grow up?
A:
The\u00a0most influential method is to cause Jewish children to love their people. Because arguments are not suitable for them at such a young age. Besides, who wants to go into such details with little children, boys and girls of such a young age, and teach them how to dispute with missionaries? No; what we have to do is teach the Jewish people to love their Yiddishkeit \u2013 that\u2019s the best preventive measure.
When a boy learns just Gemara for instance, so even if he\u2019s a lamdan, but if there\u2019s no idealism there, if it\u2019s just a matter of getting good marks\u00a0or of being praised for being a lamdan, it\u2019s to him very dry. And now along comes somebody who will teach him fake idealism and inspire him with false inspirations, false idealism, false derech eretz,\u00a0so-to-speak, to love your fellow man, so-to-speak. The truth is that it\u2019s all garbage \u2013 they don\u2019t love anybody except themselves but he is deceived by that because he didn\u2019t hear about it in a Jewish house;\u00a0so he thinks that Judaism is nothing but dry-as-dust, things that don\u2019t have any spiritual content, and so he doesn\u2019t have have any inspiration from that. That boy doesn\u2019t love his People. It doesn\u2019t mean he will become, chas v\u2019sholom, a meshumad, but if he doesn\u2019t love his People\u00a0he\u2019s not armed against outside influences.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThe Jewish child has to learn idealism \u2013 it\u2019s a very important element. Idealism is a very important subject, and you have to know how to teach it. Every parent can undertake to make his child a lover of Jews, that he should become an \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4\u05d1 \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u2013 he should love his People. He should love the Jewish nation, to see the beauty of everything in the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nWhen Chanukah comes, don\u2019t merely teach him to light the candles, to be a \u05de\u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05de\u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05d9\u05df, to use shemen zayis, to make a bracha right, to have his own menorah \u2014 all that is wonderful but it\u2019s not enough. You have to teach him the background of the Chanukah story; the heroism of our forefathers who fought and gave their lives. Inspire him! That\u2019s already a preparation for the battle against the gentile influence. You have to inspire the child. You have to talk to him.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say it\u2019s Pesach; so you have to be very careful that there shouldn\u2019t be any chometz. The mother says, \u201cWatch out for chometz \u2013 don\u2019t drop chometz on the floor before Pesach; see that you should eat on a towel because soon we\u2019ll have to be bodek chometz.\u201d Everything is done according to halacha; it\u2019s very good, very good! But it\u2019s not enough! You have to speak about the ideals of Pesach, about what chometz means. Chometz means we\u2019re battling against the gentile influence that surrounded us in Mitzrayim. We wanted Hakodosh Boruch Hu to take us out from Mitzrayim so that we should be free from the enslavement to the wickedness of all the immorality that was prevalent in Mitzrayim. That\u2019s the chometz \u2014 the chometz is the wickedness of the nations of the world. Of course, we have to watch all the halachos and guard everything, but you have to give the explanation that stands behind it.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nEverything should be full of idealism; and by teaching the child the ideals of the Torah then he will be one hundred percent armed against all foreign ideologies.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 940 (November 1993)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Fighting Missionaries With Chanukah\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-22T19:56:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-22T19:56:35+00:00" }, { "id": 36171, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/regalos-en-januca/", "title": "Regalos en Januc\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa noche del 25 de diciembre es la primera noche de Januc\u00e1. \u00bfDeber\u00edan los jud\u00edos abstenerse de dar regalos esa noche?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAmigos m\u00edos, si no dan regalos en Januc\u00e1, no est\u00e1n transgrediendo ninguna mitzv\u00e1 deorait\u00e1 ni deraban\u00e1n. No es una pr\u00e1ctica, no hay ning\u00fan Minhag, no hay una costumbre que los jud\u00edos den regalos en Januc\u00e1. Los regalos en Januc\u00e1 son una versi\u00f3n americana de costumbres gentiles. Ahora bien, no estoy diciendo que si quieres dar regalos en Januc\u00e1 no deber\u00edas darlos. Pero no sientas que est\u00e1s haciendo una cosa noble y sagrada si das regalos en Januc\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #245 (diciembre de 1978)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00eda comprar regalos para mis hijos en Januc\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo hay da\u00f1o alguno en eso, pero debes tener cuidado de no entrar en un ambiente de vacaciones. No se debe hacer debido a la atm\u00f3sfera general de la calle, porque todos hacen eso. Tienes que tener cuidado de esa actitud.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, dar dinero en efectivo es una idea mucho mejor. Januca Guelt es un Minhag conocido, as\u00ed que dales dinero si puedes. No digo que est\u00e1 mal dar regalos; no hay nada de malo en dar regalos. Pero aseg\u00farate de, al menos, en tu propia mente, estar apartado de cualquier pensamiento de la temporada. Januc\u00e1 no es la temporada para dar regalos, no, no. No es la temporada de regalos. Puedes dar regalos en cualquier momento. Tambi\u00e9n puedes dar regalos en Shavuot, Purim y Pesaj. Y si quieres dar regalos en Januc\u00e1, no voy a decirte que no. Pero si vas a hacer de eso todo un tema, y lo conviertes en un ideal, que Januc\u00e1 es el momento de dar regalos, entonces tambi\u00e9n puedes cantar villancico y poner un arbolito de Januc\u00e1, porque eso es lo que entonces realmente ser\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-170 (diciembre de 1998)
\nThe post Regalos en Januc\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-22T03:57:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-22T03:57:35+00:00" }, { "id": 7644, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-chanukah-gifts/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Chanukah Gifts", "content_html": "\nQ:
The evening of December 25th is the first night of Chanukah. Should Jews refrain from giving gifts that evening?
My friends, if you won\u2019t give gifts on Chanukah, you won\u2019t be trangressing any\u00a0mitzvah d\u2019oraisa or any\u00a0mitzvah d\u2019rabbanan.\u00a0 There\u2019s no practice, no\u00a0minhag,\u00a0no custom that Jews give gifts on Chanukah. Chanukah gifts is an American translation of gentile ways.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not saying if you want to give gifts on Chanukah that you shouldn\u2019t give. But don\u2019t feel that you\u2019re doing a noble and holy thing if you give Chanukah gifts.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 245 (December 1978)
\n\n\n\nQ:
Should someone buy gifts for his children on Chanukah?
A:
There\u2019s no harm, but you have to be careful that it shouldn\u2019t enter into the realm of the season\u2019s holidays spirit. It shouldn\u2019t be done because of the general atmosphere of the street, because they\u2019re doing something like that. You have to beware of that attitude.
So, to give cash is a much better idea. Chanukah gelt is a well-known\u00a0minhag, so give cash if you can.
I\u00a0don\u2019t say it\u2019s wrong to give gifts; nothing wrong with giving gifts. But make sure, in your own mind at least, that you\u2019re divorced from any thoughts of the season.\u00a0Chanukah is not the season to give gifts, no, no. It\u2019s not the gift season. You can give gifts anytime. You can give gifts on Shavuos too, and Purim and Pesach. And if you want to give gifts on Chanukah as well, I\u2019m not going to tell you no. But if you\u2019re going to make a big fuss about it\u00a0and make it into an ideal\u00a0that Chanukah is the\u00a0time\u00a0to give gifts, then you might as well sing carols and put up a Chanukah tree\u00a0because that\u2019s what it really is.
TAPE # E-170 (December 1998)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Chanukah Gifts appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-21T14:28:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-22T19:38:27+00:00" }, { "id": 36167, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-cohanim-cambiaron-el-rumbo-de-la-historia/", "title": "Los cohanim cambiaron el rumbo de la historia ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa gente dice que generalmente se sabe que los cohanim son caasanim, gente nerviosa e iracunda. \u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos conciliar esta actitud con lo que sabemos que son las consecuencias de la ira?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLos kohanim no son necesariamente nerviosos e iracundos. Tienen una cualidad de entusiasmo dentro de ellos (Shabat 20a). Por supuesto que voy a ser parcial porque yo mismo soy cohen pero, sin embargo, creo que todos entienden que cuando Pinj\u00e1s se levant\u00f3 con ira y golpe\u00f3 a Zimr\u00ed, estaba sirviendo a Hakadosh Baruj Hu con su ira. Si no hubiera tenido ira, entonces no habr\u00eda tenido la valent\u00eda de hacer eso.
\n\n\n\nZimr\u00ed era un pr\u00edncipe y cuando llev\u00f3 a una mujer extranjera a su tienda en presencia de los l\u00edderes del pueblo jud\u00edo, estos se sorprendieron. Estaban indignados de que Zimr\u00ed hiciera eso y por el momento no sab\u00edan qu\u00e9 hacer. Ahora eso fue min Hasham\u00e1im. Hakadosh Baruj Hu quer\u00eda dejar un lugar para que Pinj\u00e1s se hiciera grande. Y se hizo grande.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo? Porque estaba motivado por la ira. Esto lo sabemos. A veces, la ira es una oportunidad para utilizar esa mid\u00e1 para hacer grandes obras. Entonces Pinj\u00e1s, con su ira, tom\u00f3 su lanza y entr\u00f3 en la tienda donde Zimr\u00ed estaba con esta mujer y los atraves\u00f3 con su lanza. Y Hakadosh Baruj Hu dijo: \u201cLe env\u00edo Mis saludos \u2013 \u05d4\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u2013 porque salv\u00f3 Mi honor en este d\u00eda\u201d. Significa que era una oportunidad para usar la ira.
\n\n\n\nLo mismo sucedi\u00f3 cuando Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu baj\u00f3 de Har Sinai y los vio bailando alrededor del becerro de oro. Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu se enoj\u00f3 y tom\u00f3 esas preciosas tablas que esper\u00f3 tanto para obtener de Hashem y las hizo pedazos. Y la gente se escandaliz\u00f3 al ver eso. Estaban esperando que \u00e9l bajara con las tablas de lo alto y ahora estaban rotas.
\n\n\n\nY entonces Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu dijo: \u05de\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201c\u00a1Qui\u00e9n est\u00e1 a favor de Hashem que venga a m\u00ed!\u201d \u00bfY qui\u00e9n fue? \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05e1\u05e4\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05d9 \u2013 Todo Shevet Lev\u00ed. Esa es la tribu nerviosa.
\n\n\n\nTiempo atr\u00e1s, su padre Iaakov los hab\u00eda maldecido por su ira (Vaij\u00ed 49:7). Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 hicieron? Dijeron: \u201c\u00bfNuestro padre nos maldijo por abusar de nuestra ira? As\u00ed que tomaremos nuestra ira y la canalizaremos para buenos prop\u00f3sitos\u201d. Y ahora, cuando Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu dijo “Mi laHashem elai”, todos los Ben\u00e9 Lev\u00ed vinieron a \u00e9l. Y Mosh\u00e9 les dijo: “\u00a1Oc\u00fapense!” E inmediatamente hicieron tribunales, y juzgaron a todos los pecadores y ejecutaron a tres mil personas en el lugar. Y as\u00ed fue como cambiaron la marea. Con su ira cambiaron el rumbo.
\n\n\n\nLo mismo sucedi\u00f3 en los d\u00edas de Matitiahu HaCoh\u00e9n y los Jashmona\u00edm. Matitiahu vio que la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda estaba siendo oprimida. Los griegos sirios y sus malvados aliados jud\u00edos, los traidores, se hab\u00edan reunido en la ciudad de Modi\u00edn. Construyeron un altar para un \u00eddolo y quer\u00edan ofrecer un cerdo. Y el oficial griego se adelant\u00f3 e inst\u00f3 a un jud\u00edo a que viniera y trajera la ofrenda. Quer\u00eda que un jud\u00edo llevara la ofrenda al \u00eddolo. Los jud\u00edos estaban horrorizados. \u00a1\u00bfIdolatr\u00eda entre los jud\u00edos?! Ning\u00fan jud\u00edo se movi\u00f3 excepto uno, un quintacolumnista, un helenizante, y dio un paso adelante. Se ofreci\u00f3 como voluntario.
\n\n\n\nDice en el Libro de los Macabeos, dice abiertamente, que en ese momento Matitiahu perdi\u00f3 los estribos. Pero no es cierto. No perdi\u00f3 los estribos, sino se llen\u00f3 de ira. Hab\u00eda preparado un cuchillo debajo de su chaqueta. Esa es la verdad; estaba preparado. Pero fue su ira lo que le dio la energ\u00eda para hacer esto porque era un acto muy atrevido. El oficial griego ten\u00eda soldados con \u00e9l. Por supuesto que hab\u00eda muchos jud\u00edos, pero ten\u00edan miedo de abrir la boca. Sab\u00edan que si abr\u00edan la boca ser\u00edan torturados hasta la muerte porque los griegos eran muy crueles con sus oponentes. Entonces fue la ira de Matitiahu lo que lo levant\u00f3, lo energiz\u00f3, como si hubiera tomado narc\u00f3ticos, y sac\u00f3 su espada y la clav\u00f3 en el coraz\u00f3n de este colaboracionista.
\n\n\n\nY la gente se sorprendi\u00f3. Se quedaron boquiabiertos al ver esto. \u00bfRevuelta contra los griegos? Y Matitiahu dijo: \u201cVamos a las colinas\u201d, y todos huyeron. Dejaron todo para salvar sus vidas. Y seguramente que mientras corr\u00edan la gente lo rega\u00f1aba. No s\u00e9 qu\u00e9 le dijo su esposa, tal vez ella lo aprob\u00f3, pero seguro que hubo algunos que lo estaban rega\u00f1ando y diciendo: \u201c\u00a1Nos est\u00e1s matando! \u00a1Nos arruinaste con este acto!\u201d
\n\n\n\nPero Matitiahu dijo: \u201c\u00a1No! \u00a1No podemos dejar que pisoteen la Tor\u00e1!\u201d. Y entonces us\u00f3 su ira para ser en\u00e9rgico y as\u00ed fue como Matitiahu finalmente cambi\u00f3 el rumbo.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que hay que tener mucho cuidado. Es como dinamita. Si tienes que dinamitar una roca que est\u00e1 en el camino de los que est\u00e1n construyendo una carretera, s\u00ed, la usas. Pero no usar\u00edas dinamita si perdieras la llave y no pudieras abrir la puerta de tu casa a la noche.
\n\n\n\nY ese es el prop\u00f3sito de la ira en cohanim. Necesitamos cohanim en\u00e9rgicos para Hashem. Cuando un cohen est\u00e1 en un mikdash y alguien es irreverente, el cohen se enfada. Necesitamos eso.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed debe ser un rabino. Si un rabino est\u00e1 parado en la sinagoga y ve a la gente hablando, el rabino deber\u00eda enojarse. \u201c\u00a1Shaa! \u00a1No est\u00e1 permitido!\u201d Pero si el rabino es de buen coraz\u00f3n, la plaga se propaga, y despu\u00e9s de un tiempo tienes irreverencia y falta de respeto. \u00bfY qu\u00e9 pasa hoy en las sinagogas? Es una pena. Es una verg\u00fcenza para el honor de Hakadosh Baruj Hu. La gente est\u00e1 ocupada hablando en la sinagoga. Si tuvieras rabinos que estuvieran enojados, no suceder\u00eda. Necesitamos rabinos que se enojen. Busquen rabinos que se enojen.
\n\n\n\nEs por eso que los cohanim deben enojarse, por una buena causa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #312 (mayo de 1980)
\nThe post Los cohanim cambiaron el rumbo de la historia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-20T23:46:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-20T23:47:19+00:00" }, { "id": 36176, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-angry-kohanim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Angry Kohanim", "content_html": "\nQ:
People say that Kohanim are generally known to be ka’asanim, angry people. How can we reconcile this attitude with what we know are the consequences of anger?
A:
\n\n\n\nKohanim are not necessarily angry. They have a quality of enthusiasm within them (Shabbos 20a). Of course I’m going to be partial because I\u2019m a Kohen but nevertheless I think everyone understands that when Pinchas arose in his wrath and he smote Zimri, he was serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu with his wrath. If he hadn’t had wrath then he wouldn\u2019t have had the boldness to do that.
\n\n\n\nZimri was a prince and when he took a foreign female into his tent in the presence of the leaders of the Jewish people they were shocked. They were outraged that Zimri should do that and for the moment they didn’t know what to do. Now that was min hashamayim. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted to leave a place for Pinchas to become great. And he did become great.
\n\n\n\nHow? Because he was motivated by anger. This we know. Sometimes anger is an opportunity to utilize that\u00a0middah to\u00a0do great deeds. So Pinchas, in his anger, took his spear and he strode into the tent where Zimri was with this woman and he pierced them through with his spear. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cI send My greetings to him \u2013 \u05d4\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u2013 because he saved My honor on this day.\u201d It means that it was an opportunity to use anger.
\n\n\n\nSame thing when Moshe Rabeinu came down from Har Sinai and he saw them dancing around the golden calf. Moshe Rabeinu became angry and he took those precious tablets that he waited so long to get from Hashem and he smashed them to pieces. And the people were shocked when they saw that. They were waiting for him to come down with the tablets from on high and now they were shattered.
\n\n\n\nAnd then Moshe Rabeinu said, \u05de\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cWho is for Hashem should come to me?\u201dAnd who came? \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05e1\u05e4\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05d9 \u2013 the whole Shevet Levi. That’s the angry tribe.
\n\n\n\nWay back their father Yaakov had cursed them for their anger (Vayechi 49:7). So what did they do? They said, \u201cOur father cursed us for misusing our anger? So we\u2019ll take our anger and we’ll channel it for good purposes.\u201d And now when Moshe Rabeinusaid \u201cMi laHashem eilai,\u201d all the Bnei Levi came to him. And Moshe told them, \u201cGet busy!\u201d And they made courts right away, and they judged all the sinners and they executed three thousand people on the spot. And that’s how they changed the tide. With their anger they turned the tide.
\n\n\n\nThe same happened in the days of Matisyahu Hakohen and the Chashmonaim. Matisyahu saw the Jewish nation being oppressed. The Syrian Greeks and their wicked Jewish allies, the quislings, had assembled in his town of Modi’in. They built an altar for an idol and they wanted to offer a pig. And now the Greek officer stepped forward and he urged some Jew to come and bring the offering. He wanted a Jew to bring the offering to the idol. The Jews were aghast. Such a thing, idolatry among the Jews?! No Jew moved except one, a fifth columnist, a Hellenizer, and he stepped forward. He volunteered.
\n\n\n\nIt states in the Book of Maccabees, it states openly that at that moment Matisyahu lost his temper. Now it’s not true. He didn’t lose his temper but he became full of wrath. Now he had already prepared a knife under his jacket. That’s the truth; he was prepared. But it was his wrath that gave him the energy to do this because it was a very daring deed. Here is a Greek officer with his army. He has soldiers with him. Of course there were a lot of Jews, but they were afraid to open their mouths. They knew if they would open their mouths they would be tortured to death because the Greeks were very cruel against their opponents. So it was Matisyahu’s anger that raised him, that made him high \u2013 as if he had taken narcotics \u2013 and he pulled out his sword and he plunged it into the heart of this quisling.
\n\n\n\nAnd the people were shocked. They gasped when they saw this. Revolt against the Greeks?! And Matisyahu said \u201cLet’s take to the hills,\u201d and they all ran away. They left over everything in order to save their lives. And you could be sure that as they were running people were scolding him. I don’t know what his wife said to him, maybe she approved, but I\u2019m sure there were some who were scolding him and saying, \u201cYou’re murdering us! You ruined us by this act!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut Matisyahu said, \u201cNo! We can\u2019t let them trample on the Torah!\u201d And so he used his anger to be energetic and that’s how Matisyahu turned the tide finally.
\n\n\n\nOf course you have to be very careful. It\u2019s like dynamite. If you have to dynamite a rock that’s in the way of those who are building a road, yes, you use it. But you wouldn’t use dynamite if you lost your key and can’t get into the door at night.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the purpose of anger in Kohanim. We need Kohanim to be energetic for Hashem. When a Kohen is in a mikdash and somebody is irreverent, the Kohen becomes angry. We need that.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThat’s how a rabbi should be. If a rabbi is standing in the synagogue and sees people talking, the rabbi should become angry. \u201cShaa! It’s not permitted!\u201d But if the rabbi is kind hearted so the plague spreads, and after a while you have irreverence and disrespect. And what happens in the synagogues today? It’s a shame. It’s a disgrace for the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. People are busy talking in the synagogue. If you had rabbis who were angry, it wouldn’t happen. We need angry rabbis but go find angry rabbis.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why the Kohanim should get angry, for a good cause.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 312 (May 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Angry Kohanim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-20T19:11:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-22T19:17:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36157, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hilel-y-matitiahu/", "title": "Hilel y Matitiahu ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEst\u00e1 escrito que Hilel nunca se enoj\u00f3 y que ten\u00eda la intenci\u00f3n de ser un modelo a seguir para el pueblo jud\u00edo. \u00bfC\u00f3mo es posible que nunca se enojara?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTienes que saber que a veces vale la pena controlar tu ira para perfeccionarte. A veces, tienes que ir a los extremos para progresar, por lo que Hilel se propuso nunca enojarse porque estaba tratando de perfeccionar su car\u00e1cter.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, debes saber que cuando dice que Hilel nunca se enoj\u00f3, no significa kipshut\u00f3. Porque a veces Hilel ten\u00eda que actuar como si estuviera enojado. Como dice \u05db\u05e2\u05e1 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05e2\u05e1 \u05d4\u05dc\u05d1: ira que se muestra en el rostro, sin ira en el coraz\u00f3n. A veces, Hilel ten\u00eda que mostrar ira en su rostro. No se puede evitar; a veces tienes que mostrar enfado por algo.
\n\n\n\nPero a veces tambi\u00e9n hay que encender el coraz\u00f3n. En algunas situaciones, por el bien de Hakadosh Baruj Hu, la mente tambi\u00e9n debe enojarse. Y por lo tanto, lo que diremos es que Hakadosh Baruj Hu quer\u00eda ayudar a Hilel en su papel como modelo para el pueblo jud\u00edo, por eso nunca le dio a Hilel ning\u00fan nisai\u00f3n \u200b\u200breal en ese sentido. Ten\u00eda nisionot m\u00e1s peque\u00f1os, como dice all\u00ed la Guemar\u00e1, que cuando alguien ven\u00eda a fastidiarlo, a insultarlo, entonces Hilel pod\u00eda controlarse.
\n\n\n\nPero Hilel no tuvo un caso en el que tuviera que hablar con ira lijvod sham\u00e1im. Puedes estar seguro de que si Hilel hubiera vivido en la \u00e9poca de Januc\u00e1 cuando el oficial griego vino a ofrecer un cerdo en el mizb\u00e9aj en las calles de Modi\u00edn, Hilel habr\u00eda sacado su espada y no habr\u00eda hecho menos que lo que hizo Matitiahu. Se habr\u00eda enojado por el honor de Hashem, \u00a1absolutamente! S\u00f3lo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu nunca le dio tal oportunidad. Todo lo que ten\u00eda eran conflictos menores con sus compa\u00f1eros jud\u00edos y, por lo tanto, se contuvo y nunca se enoj\u00f3.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #624 (diciembre de 1986)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Hilel y Matitiahu appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-20T03:31:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-20T03:31:21+00:00" }, { "id": 36154, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/fuerza-a-traves-de-la-lucha/", "title": "Fuerza a trav\u00e9s de la lucha ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo esta noche que el sufrimiento que nos provocan los go\u00edm es un beneficio para nosotros. \u00bfC\u00f3mo podr\u00eda ser que nos benefici\u00e1ramos de los decretos de Ant\u00edoco durante los d\u00edas de Januc\u00e1 si no se nos permit\u00eda mantener nuestra religi\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebes saber que hab\u00eda un peque\u00f1o grupo de personas entre nosotros que buscaba adoptar las formas de los griegos, y si hubiera habido un mayor entusiasmo hacia Hashem entre la naci\u00f3n en su conjunto, ese grupo nunca podr\u00eda haber surgido. Es como una llaga que surge en la boca o en alg\u00fan otro lugar del cuerpo porque el cuerpo no est\u00e1 lo suficientemente vigoroso. Si el cuerpo hubiera tenido todas las vitaminas y todos los dem\u00e1s requisitos para una salud perfecta, es muy posible que esta llaga nunca hubiera ocurrido. Y as\u00ed tambi\u00e9n, si la naci\u00f3n en su conjunto hubiera sido lo suficientemente sana y vigorosa en su amor por Hashem, entonces una llaga tan dolorosa, un grupo como el de los helenizantes, nunca podr\u00eda haber surgido entre nosotros.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, a la gente se le dio ahora un ejercicio: se volvi\u00f3 muy dif\u00edcil ser jud\u00edo y comenzaron a sacrificarse por el juda\u00edsmo. \u00a1Y eso los devolvi\u00f3 a su grandeza original! Entonces, no hay duda de que los decretos, las guezerot de Ant\u00edoco, fueron un gran beneficio para el pueblo jud\u00edo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #R-28 (febrero de 1972)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Fuerza a trav\u00e9s de la lucha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-20T03:30:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-20T03:30:02+00:00" }, { "id": 6626, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hillels-anger/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hillel\u2019s Anger", "content_html": "\nQ:
It says that Hillel never became angry. How is it possible that he never became angry?
A:
You have to know that sometimes it pays to restrain your anger in order to perfect yourself. Sometimes you have to go to extremes in order to make progress and so Hillel made it a goal of his to never become angry because he was trying to perfect his character.
\n\n\n\nNow, you must know that when it says Hillel never became angry, it doesn\u2019t mean it k\u2019pshuto. Because sometimes Hillel had to put on an act as if he was angry. Like it says \u05db\u05e2\u05e1 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05e2\u05e1 \u05d4\u05dc\u05d1 \u2013 anger that shows on the face, without anger in the heart. Sometimes Hillel had to show anger on his face. It can\u2019t be helped; sometimes you have to show anger about something.
\n\n\n\nBut sometimes the heart must be kindled too. In some situations, for the sake of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, the mind also must become angry. And therefore what we\u2019ll say is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted to help Hillel out in his role as a model for the Jewish people, so He never gave Hillel any real nisayon in that sense. He had smaller nisyonos, like the gemara says there, that when someone came to vex him, to insult him, so Hillel was able to control himself.
\n\n\n\nBut Hillel didn\u2019t have such a case where he had to speak up with anger l\u2019chvod shamayim. You can be sure that if Hillel had been around in the time of Chanukah when the Greek officer came to offer a swine on the mizbei\u2019ach in the streets of Modi\u2019in, Hillel would have taken out his sword and he would have done no less than Matisyahu. He would have become angry for the honor of Hashem, absolutely! Only that Hakodosh Boruch Hu never gave him such an opportunity. All he had was minor conflicts with his fellow Jews, and he therefore restrained himself and never became angry.
TAPE # 624 (December 1986)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hillel\u2019s Anger appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-19T12:45:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-22T17:50:47+00:00" }, { "id": 36147, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a7%d7%a5-%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e7\u05e5 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "14-\u05de\u05e7\u05e5-\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e7\u05e5 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-19T05:16:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-19T05:16:01+00:00" }, { "id": 36145, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/amor-favoritismo-y-parcialidad/", "title": "Amor, favoritismo y parcialidad ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nMe gustar\u00eda saber: Dice que Iaakov amaba a Iosef m\u00e1s que a sus otros hijos porque era hijo de su vejez. \u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa con Biniam\u00edn? Biniam\u00edn era m\u00e1s joven que Iosef.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Iaakov amaba a Iosef m\u00e1s que a Biniam\u00edn?
\n\n\n\nBiniam\u00edn en ese momento era muy peque\u00f1o. Iosef ten\u00eda diecisiete a\u00f1os en ese momento. Diecisiete a\u00f1os en un chico muy bueno es un momento en el que puedes ver madurar su car\u00e1cter y su sabidur\u00eda. Si tiene hijos y nietos, notar\u00e1s que la edad de diecisiete a\u00f1os es un momento en que, los adolescentes excelentes comienzan a entrar en sus adultez. Iosef, en ese momento, estaba mostrando su calidad. \u00a1Era un chico muy bueno!
\n\n\n\n\u00a1No puedo empezar a decirles cu\u00e1n grande era su superioridad de car\u00e1cter! El padre lo mir\u00f3 y se enamor\u00f3 de \u00e9l. Iaakov vivi\u00f3 para su hijo Iosef.
\n\n\n\nEsta emoci\u00f3n, la emoci\u00f3n paterna, fue implantada en el coraz\u00f3n de los padres para que hicieran todo lo posible para que su hijo creciera y se convirtiera en la mejor persona.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, Iaakov puso toda su sabidur\u00eda en Iosef. Porque \u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05d3: dale a un hombre sabio y se volver\u00e1 m\u00e1s sabio.
\n\n\n\nSi tienes fuerza para invertir en una persona, invi\u00e9rtelo en la mejor clase de persona. \u00bfOyes eso? Pon tus esfuerzos en el mejor tipo de persona. Ah\u00ed es donde m\u00e1s valdr\u00e1 la pena.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, aunque Iaakov ense\u00f1\u00f3 a todos sus hijos, pero la mayor\u00eda de sus esfuerzos estaban en Iosef, \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05df \u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 \u00e9l era el hijo de su vejez; as\u00ed dicen nuestros sabios, \u00e9l era el hijo de su sabidur\u00eda. Le dio toda la sabidur\u00eda que pudo.
\n\n\n\nIosef, el joven perfecto, brotaba hacia la edad adulta y \u00e9l era el mejor de sus hermanos; \u05e0\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 el elegido de todos los hermanos. Era un joven hermoso, por cierto. Un joven muy hermoso y sabio. Ten\u00eda todas las cualidades de car\u00e1cter que lo prepararon para ser el l\u00edder de la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda durante casi ochenta a\u00f1os e Iaakov lo amaba por eso.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQuiere decir que no debemos amar a todos los ni\u00f1os por igual?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfAmas a todos los ni\u00f1os por igual? Absolutamente no.
\n\n\n\nAmamos a cada ni\u00f1o seg\u00fan como se lo merece. Todos los ni\u00f1os merecen amor, pero un buen ni\u00f1o, un ni\u00f1o justo, merece mucho m\u00e1s amor, no hay duda al respecto.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, sin embargo, no debes hacer cosas para despertar la envidia de los otros hermanos. Eso, dice la Guemar\u00e1, fue un error. Cuando Iaakov le otorg\u00f3 a Iosef una t\u00fanica especial, un ket\u00f3net pasim, no deber\u00eda haberlo hecho. No debemos mostrar parcialidad hacia ning\u00fan ni\u00f1o. \u00bfPero amor? No hay duda de que debemos amar m\u00e1s al mejor ni\u00f1o.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-43 (noviembre de 1995)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Amor, favoritismo y parcialidad appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-19T05:12:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-19T05:12:12+00:00" }, { "id": 36141, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-strength-through-struggle/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Strength\u00a0Through Struggle", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav said tonight that the suffering we endure from the goyim is a benefit to us. How could it be that we benefited from the decrees of Antiochus during the days of Chanukah if we weren\u2019t allowed to keep our religion?
A:
You have to know that there was a tiny group of people among us who sought to adopt the ways of the Greeks \u2013 and had there been a stronger enthusiasm among the nation as a whole, then such a group could have never arisen. It\u2019s like a sore that arises in your mouth or somewhere else on your body because the whole body tone is not sufficiently vigorous. If the body would have had all the vitamins and all the other requirements for perfect health, then it\u2019s quite possible that this sore would never have happened. And so too, if the nation as a whole had been healthy and vigorous enough in their love of Hashem, then such a painful sore, such a group like the Hellenizers, never could have arisen among us.
And therefore the people were given now an exercise in virtue \u2013 it became very hard to be a Jew and they began to sacrifice themselves for Judaism. And that brought them back to their original greatness! And so there\u2019s no question that the decrees, the gezeiros of Antiochus, were a very big benefit for the Jewish people.
TAPE # R-28 (February 1972)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Strength\u00a0Through Struggle appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T21:19:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T21:19:34+00:00" }, { "id": 36137, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-love-favoritism-and-partiality/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Love, Favoritism and Partiality\u00a0\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
I\u2019d like to know: It says that Yaakov loved Yosef more than his other children because he was of his old age. What about Binyamin? Binyamin was younger than Yosef.
A:
Why did Yaakov love Yosef more than Binyamin?
Binyamin at that time was very little. Yosef was seventeen years old at that time. Seventeen years old in a very good boy is a time when you can see his character and his wisdom ripening. If you have children and grandchildren, you\u2019ll notice that the age of seventeen is a time when in excellent children, adolescence starts blossoming into adulthood. And Yosef, at that time, was showing his quality. He was a very good boy!
\n\n\n\nI cannot begin to tell you how great his superiority of character was! And the father looked at him and fell in love with him. Yaakov lived for his son Yosef.
\n\n\n\nThis emotion, the paternal emotion, was implanted in the parents\u2019 heart in order that the parents should do all they could to make their child grow up to be the very best person.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, Yaakov put all of his wisdom into Yosef. Because \u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05d3 \u2013 give to a wise man and he\u2019ll become wiser.
\n\n\n\nIf you have efforts to invest in a person, invest it in the best kind of person. You hear that? Put your efforts in the best kind of person. That\u2019s where it\u2019ll pay off most.
\n\n\n\nSo although Yaakov taught all of his children, but most of his efforts were in Yosef, \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05df \u05d6\u05e7\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 he was the son of his old age; so our sages say, he was the son of his wisdom. He gave him all the wisdom he could.
\n\n\n\nAnd here was Yosef now, the perfect young man, budding into manhood and he was the very best of his brothers; \u05e0\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 the chosen one of all the brothers. He was a beautiful young man, by the way. A very beautiful and wise young man. He had all the qualities of character that made him ready to be the leader of the Jewish nation for almost eighty years and Yaakov loved him for that.
\n\n\n\nQ:
Do you mean that we aren\u2019t supposed to love all children equally?
A:
\n\n\n\nDo you love all children equally? Absolutely not.
\n\n\n\nWe love each child according to his deserts. Every child deserves love, but a good child, a righteous child, deserves much more love \u2013 no question about it.
\n\n\n\nNow you shouldn\u2019t, however, do things to arouse the envy of the other brothers. That, the gemara says, was an error. When Yaakov bestowed upon Yosef an especial tunic, a kesones pasim, that he shouldn\u2019t have done. We should not show partiality to any child. But love? No question that we should love the better child more.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-43 (November 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Love, Favoritism and Partiality\u00a0\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T21:07:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T21:07:58+00:00" }, { "id": 36129, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/free-chanukah-ebook/", "title": "Free Chanukah Ebook", "content_html": "\nToras Avigdor on Moadim contains over 70 pages of Rav Miller content on Chanukah. Download the attached file to begin reading free now, or click on the button below to purchase a hard copy. [The book should also be available for purchase at your local Judaica store].
\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTA-Moadim-II-ChanukaThe post Free Chanukah Ebook appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T17:22:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T17:22:16+00:00" }, { "id": 36123, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a7%d7%a5-%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%94/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e7\u05e5 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05de\u05e7\u05e5-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e7\u05e5 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:54:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:54:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36120, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-mikets-hanouka-5783/", "title": "Paracha Mikets ‘Hanouka 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Mikets-Hanouka-5783The post Paracha Mikets ‘Hanouka 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:51:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:51:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36108, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mikeitz-shabbos-chanukah-5783-the-eternal-lamp-2/", "title": "Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp", "content_html": "Proclaim Your Love
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re celebrating Chanukah already and that means it\u2019s almost three months since we were standing on our feet in shul all daybegging Hakodosh Boruch Hu for another year of life, another year of health. And if we\u2019re still here, all of us sitting here tonight, it means that we\u2019ve made it; Hashem has gifted us already with three months of life! And therefore we shouldn\u2019t miss the opportunity to say thank you to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: we love you Hashem for giving us three months of life!
\n\n\n\nRight now, everyone should say it out loud. If you wait till you get home, it won\u2019t happen. \u201cIch hub dir lib, Ribono Shel Olam!\u201d Don\u2019t be embarrassed; everyone, let’s say it together: \u201cI love You Hashem.\u201d And it\u2019s not enough \u2013 you should practice it at home too.
\n\n\n\nNow, above and beyond the joy, the gratitude, the ahavas Hashem, that a person must feel just because he is alive \u2013 you could be an Eskimo in Alaska, a Hottentot in Africa, it doesn\u2019t matter – being alive for another day is fun! It\u2019s good times! But more than that, for us sitting here, for the Am Yisroel, there\u2019s even more joy than that. Because in addition to life itself, more than that is the joy of knowing that \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 the Shechinah is by us. And that\u2019s something we have to keep in mind always, that great truth should be on our mind always, but especially on Chanukah. I\u2019ll explain that soon but first a little background.
\n\n\n\nAntagonistic Antiochus
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not going to tell you now the whole story, how it began \u2013 it requires a lecture in itself. In the days of the second Beis Hamikdash the Syrian Greeks were in charge of Eretz Yisroel and things became difficult for the Jewish people. In short, when the King of Syria, Seleuces, passed away, his brother, Antiochus, became king and as soon as he took the throne, immediately the Jews knew that trouble was waiting for them. He was known to be a wicked man who was out for money. He had no principles but money. The earlier kings also wanted money, but Antiochus wanted nothing but money.
\n\n\n\nI’m telescoping this but now began the famous period called the generation of shmad. Shmad means \u201ca destruction because of the faith.\u201dIt was a fearsome experience. Antiochus issued a decree that nobody could keep anything of the Torah and that all the Jews must worship the Greek god. And anyone who refused would suffer the penalty of death plus torture. Anybody who had a sefer Torah in his house, anyone who kept Shabbos, anyone that went to the mikveh; any of the practices of Judaism would cause that person to be tortured to death. If a woman circumcised her child, they killed the baby and hung him around her neck with a rope. It was a fearsome experience.
\n\n\n\nOf course, there were some who yielded \u2013 there are always some weaklings, low characters who attempt to emulate the powerful and the vogue. But a great many men and women now began to give away their lives for Hashem. All over the land of Yehudah were enacted scenes of the noblest heroism. This was a time when our nation demonstrated mesiras nefesh in loyalty to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNational Heroism
\n\n\n\nWhen Jews were being led forth for execution, so a Jew was being led forth by one party here, another Jew was being led forth by another party; so this Jew said to this one \u201cWhy are you being led to death?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause I circumcised my son. And why are you being led to death?
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause I kept the Shabbos.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd this was all over the country.
\n\n\n\nNow we don\u2019t know the names of the men, women and children who were tortured to death for the emunah because first of all, there were too many to write about. Secondly, in those days Jews didn’t write any books. It was a principle not to write anything except the scriptures, the Torah Nevi’im uKesuvim. Besides that nothing was written. Not even a siddur was written. You had to learn by memory how to pray. They didn’t write anything. It was a principle. No books among Jews except one. There’s a reason for that. Among the Greeks there were many books; anyone who wanted could write a book. And these books corrupted the people. This, Plato himself admits. He says that the writers are corrupting the people.
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that unless you\u2019re a very worthy person, if you issue a book you\u2019re most probably corrupting the people. And the Jews didn’t trust anybody \u2013 nobody was worthy enough.The soul of the Jewish nation was too precious to entrust to an individual. They entrusted it only to the hands of the prophets, and therefore there’s only one book, the Tanach.
\n\n\n\nHavoc by Hellenists
\n\n\n\nAnd so, because no official historical records were kept of the dor hashmad therefore we don\u2019t know the names of all the heroes. We know that many tried to hide in caves where they could keep the Torah, but the enemies came and made fires at the entrance of the caves to suffocate them \u2013 but their names we don\u2019t know. Even when we\u2019re told of the story of Chana and her seven sons, how one son after the other was tortured to death because he refused to bow down to the idols of the Greeks, we have to realize that this is just one out of very many. It\u2019s not a story for itself. It\u2019s a model of what the Jewish people were doing in those days.
\n\n\n\nAnd there was no hope; the Jews didn\u2019t see any hope of overcoming the trained armies of the king of Syria. Because in addition to the big armies of the Syrian-Greeks, the Jews were suffering from their own betrayers. They were in the hands of wicked Jews, Hellenized Jews, who ruled the country. And you couldn’t make a move without being betrayed by these Jews because they were stationed everywhere. They were tax gatherers, and they had employees and employees beneath them \u2013 a whole hierarchy of tax collectors. And they had spies. You couldn\u2019t make a move. If you did, you were finished.
\n\n\n\nAnger At The Altar
\n\n\n\nNow everybody knows the rest story but I must retell it. The Greek officials paid a visit to the little town of Modi’in and they set up an altar in the public street. They summoned all the Jews to come and read to them the order of Antiochus that they must worship at this altar to the Greek gods. And in order to make it even more burdensome to the Jews, they brought a swine to be slaughtered on the altar.
\n\n\n\nNow naturally who were those who were the godfathers of this mizbeach? The Jewish renegades. They were standing there to urge on the Jews. But nobody volunteered to come forth; the people were standing sullenly, frightened, but they wouldn’t comply. So finally one of these Jewish-Greek renegades, one of these tax gatherers stepped forward and he volunteered to do the good deed of slaughtering the swine on the altar.
\n\n\n\nNow among the Jews standing there, witnessing this disgusting act, was a certain Mattisyohu. Mattisyohu was an elderly man by this time, an elderly respected man, and he knew that something had to be done. Jews weren’t warlike in those days but Mattisyohu had understood beforehand that he must be prepared for the worst, and so he had come with a sword under his cloak. And when he saw that this renegade stepped forward to the altar \u2013 I’m going to tell you what’s written in the Book of Chashmonaim; although it’s not a book written by Torah people but for some of the events it’s reliable. It states there that an anger was kindled in him, an anger for Hashem. Mattisyohu was boiling with righteous indignation and he ran forward and he pierced this Greek Jew with his sword; he took his sword and stuck it into the heart of this renegade. And in order to finish the job properly he immediately turned and he slew the Greek official as well.
\n\n\n\nWar Breaks Out
\n\n\n\nNow that meant revolt. If you slay a Jew, even a renegade Jew, that doesn’t necessarily mean revolt. But if you slew the representative of the king it meant that you had raised the banner of revolt and now you couldn\u2019t back out.
\n\n\n\nThe people were thunderstruck! They were frozen in place and Mattisyohu turned to them. \u201cBrothers,\u201d he said, \u201cthere’s no use standing around. You\u2019ll all be wiped out anyhow. The only thing you can do is come with me. Let\u2019s flee into the wilderness and we\u2019ll hide in the thickets and the caves. There\u2019s no other way out.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut what’s going to happen to our houses?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cForget about that,\u201d Mattisyahu told them. \u201cIt\u2019s finished. There\u2019s no choice \u2013 if you remain here you’ll be destroyed down to the last man.\u201d And so they fled with him.
\n\n\n\nNow, when Mattisyohu raised a banner of revolt for the honor of the Torah it encouraged others and that’s what they began to do all over Judea now. It was an inspiration for others. And now, a bitter war, a desperate war, commenced. People couldn’t live in their homes anymore. They lived in the wilderness. You had to eat in the wilderness. You had to raise children in the wilderness. It was almost impossible to live. They were hiding in caves like wild animals. And don’t think they were let alone. The renegades constantly egged on the Greeks to send parties, expeditions to the wilderness to search them out in the caves and destroy them there.
\n\n\n\nAchieving Independence
\n\n\n\nBut these Jews fought back. They davened and fasted and went into battle. They were battling on empty stomachs. They were tzaddikim, people of authentic Jewish spirit, and Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave His little army one victory after another. It\u2019s a long story but after years of battle, the enemy finally withdrew. Hakodosh Boruch Hu made certain things happen behind the scenes. There was dissension among the kings of Syria themselves. Some upstarts laid claim to the throne and therefore there was a quarrel between them and it became easier for the Bnei Yisroel to gain their independence. And finally they reentered Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nIt was years after Mattisyohu had begun to revolt, and Yerushalayim was desolate. Many Jews had lost their lives and only the renegades had remained in the city and Jewish practice had been decimated; even the Beis Hamikdash had been unused.
\n\n\n\nAnd so they came in and they began to rehabilitate the Beis Hamikdash. They cleansed it and purified it. But so much was destroyed and they didn\u2019t have the ability to rebuild all the things at once. Even the menorah they didn\u2019t have anymore; it was gone \u2013 the golden menorah was gone. So they made a menorah out of metal pipes and put in oil. It wasn\u2019t like the glory of ancient days \u2013 not even as glorious as the early days of the Bayis Sheini \u2013 but it was something. The loyal people had won miraculous battles and returned to the holy city of Yerushalayim. The battle was won \u2013 the victory was ours.
\n\n\n\nA Queer Question
\n\n\n\nNow, if you look in the Book of Chashmonaim, you\u2019ll find recorded there many more details about the battles and the victories. You\u2019ll read there about warrior elephants and Greek soldiers armed with fearsome spears. You\u2019ll read about Jewish rebels fighting guerilla warfare, coming out of the caves for quick nighttime attacks, and then escaping back into the mountains. It\u2019s a very interesting story.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to know that this book wasn\u2019t written by talmidei chachomim. It was written by Tzedukim, Sadducees, enemies of the Sages, and therefore it doesn’t tell us the whole story. In many cases the stories are reliable, but if you want to know the story of the Jewish people, what Chanukah really means, there’s only one place you’ll find it and that\u2019s in the Talmud.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s hear what the Gemara says. In Mesichta Shabbos (21b)the Gemara asks, \u05de\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05bb\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 What’s Chanukah? And Rashi explains, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b5\u05e1 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4\u05b8 \u2013 for which miracle did they establish the yontif?
\n\n\n\nGlorious Victories
\n\n\n\nNow to us it seems to be a simple answer because we know the story; there were tremendous and unexpected victories! And we spend a good amount of time in the davening talking about it. \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd! The miracle of a multitude falling into the hands of the few! After all, the Greeks had a big and strong army and the Jews didn\u2019t have any army at all. Absolutely it was a big miracle. It was \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd, the strong into the hands of the weak and the many into the hands of the few.
\n\n\n\nNot only that but it was \u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd. Not only that the reshaim were defeated, but the added happiness that they were defeated by tzaddikim. That\u2019s why we go out of our way to say that the \u201cwicked fell into the hands of the righteous and the brazen ones fell into the hands of those who study Your Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA tremendous kiddush Hashem! Look, when a rasha is walking in the street and he falls down dead, so we say \u201cBoruch Hashem.\u201d We say, \u201cBoruch Hashem, kein yirbu!\u201d But suppose a rasha would start up with a tzaddik; he starts up with a chassidishe boy, a skinny little chassidishe boy. And this little boy takes his little fist and he gives the rasha a hit, and the rasha falls down dead. That\u2019s a kiddush Hashem, no question about it! The wicked one was felled by the righteous one! That itself is a special simcha! Because it\u2019s a great happiness to see the righteous win out in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we know what the neis is about; we think we know the answer to \u201cWhat is Chanukah all about?\u201d We repeat it again and again every day \u2013 three times a day for eight days \u2013 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b8\u05e7\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd! Hashem gave us miraculous victories against our enemies!
\n\n\n\nThe Real Reason
\n\n\n\nBut along comes the Gemara and it tells us that this isn\u2019t it, that Chanukah wasn\u2019t made because of the wars. It wasn\u2019t made because they reconquered Yerushalayim now and they were once more able to keep the Torah. They had at least for the time being driven away their enemy and overcome the traitors. No, that wouldn’t answer the question, \u201cWhat’s Chanukah about?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo what was it? For what miracle was Chanukah made? And so the Gemara tells us that well-known story about how when they came into the Beis Hamikdash they couldn’t find any oil that was pure. Until they found one cruse that had been hidden away and had been sealed with the seal of the kohanim so they knew it hadn’t been touched.
\n\n\n\nBut it was only enough for one day of fuel. It would only last one day and they wouldn\u2019t have new oil prepared for another week or so. But something happened, a miracle happened, and this oil that was sufficient for only one day, it burned for eight days. A one-day supply of oil should burn for eight days?! It can\u2019t be. Maybe an extra few hours it could be; it depends on the temperature and other factors. But eight days?! A miracle! And it was because of this, the Gemara says, that they established Chanukah; that\u2019s why the next year they began this practice of Chanukah. Forget about the military victories \u2013 it was the neis shemen, theoil that lasted eight days instead of one, that\u2019s the heart and soul of the yontif of Chanukah.
\n\n\n\nCelebrate In Style
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean that we actually forget about the milchamah; it doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re not also celebrating our victories on the battlefield. Because once we\u2019re celebrating we like to celebrate in style \u2013 we won\u2019t overlook any kindness from Hashem. The many fell into the hands of the few! A miracle! The strong fell into the hands of the weak! Another miracle! The reshaim fell into the hands of the tzaddikim! Ahh, a pleasure to see! It was a lot of fun when a handful of men under Yehuda HaMaccabi rushed forward with swords and hacked down an army that was far more superior to them, and they left a field that was full of dead bodies. It was a big simcha and therefore we don\u2019t neglect that. We speak about it in Al Hanissim; we thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for that as well.
\n\n\n\nBut because we want to be sure to emphasize the real neis, the core of the neis Chanukah which was nothing but the oil that lasted for eight days, so we don\u2019t mix the neis of the oil into Al Hanissim. We only hint at it: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 They kindled neiros too. But we don\u2019t want to speak about it at length in al hanissim because then it would lose its character as being most important. We defeated the enemy and we also had a miracle of the menorah?! No, no. That would be belittling the neis of the oil.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the real celebration of the neis of the Chanukah is played out by itself in our homes. Every night it\u2019s a ceremony that stands out on its own and nothing but the oil is commemorated at that ceremony. In shemonah esrei we can afford to mention the other things too, but the lighting of the candles that\u2019s the ikar and we don\u2019t want to mix the battles with that, because then you\u2019d be making a mistake about what Chanukah is really about. Because when we analyze what our Sages are telling us, it\u2019s that the whole celebration of Chanukah is intrinsically not connected with anything else except the story of the lights of Chanukah.
\n\n\n\nThe Joy Of His Presence
\n\n\n\nNow the question is: what is so important about the neis of the oil? It\u2019s a neis, no question about it \u2013 it\u2019s wonderful, to see such a thing, how Hashem will manipulate nature on our behalf \u2013 but why is that the heart and soul of the yontif? We didn\u2019t even need it. So we wouldn\u2019t light; it\u2019s an oiness, it\u2019s something beyond our control. So we\u2019d wait a few more days for new oil to be produced. Big deal. What\u2019s so important about the miracle of lights?
\n\n\n\nAnd so we must understand that this miracle was coming to emphasize a very important principle in Jewish history, the principle that \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc, the Presence of Hashem rests among the Am Yisroel \u2013 Hashem lives among us. That\u2019s what Chanukah is about because that\u2019s what the nation was looking for. Only that would be something to rejoice over.
\n\n\n\nNow there\u2019s no question that when the Jewish people were defeating their enemies that they rejoiced that they could return to Yerushalayim, to the Mikdash, and restore the avodas Beis Hamikdash and the practices of their nation, the practice of the Torah. But there was still a great despair. And that was, what about the Shechinah? Are we going to merit again that the Shechinah should be by us?
\n\n\n\nOnly With You
\n\n\n\nAnd so when Mattisyohu and the Am Yisroel raised the banner of revolt, it wasn\u2019t a political revolt, \u201cindependence\u201d. Oh no, it was much more than that. They wanted to bring back the Jewish nation to what it had been. That was the dearest wish of our nation \u2013 in all the generations the Jew wanted to have close to him the Presence of the Shechinah. Otherwise what use is it?
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t you remember when Hakodosh Boruch Hu said to Moshe after the making of the eigel hazahav? He said: \u201cI’m not going with you anymore. I’m going to send a messenger, a malach, in front of you and he’ll lead you to the land; he’ll conquer your enemies for you and you’ll have all good things.\u201d So what did Moshe Rabeinu say? He said, \u201cIf You’re not going, then let us stay right here. We don’t want to move out of the desert. Just to conquer our enemies and to give us a land flowing with milk and honey is not our hearts\u2019 desire. If Your Shechinah, the Presence of Hashem, is not manifested that it goes with us then \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4, don’t take us out of here (Shemos 33:15).
\n\n\n\nYour hear such a thing? Even if we\u2019ll come into Eretz Yisroel and have everything we\u2019ve been looking forward to, if it won\u2019t be together with the Shechinah, we don\u2019t want it. Because they would have been missing something that was the essence of Judaism, that the Shechinah is shoreh b\u2019Yisroel, the Shechinah dwells among us.
\n\n\n\nA Lifeless State
\n\n\n\nAnd so even when they finally returned to Yerushalayim, it was still a question. Just to conquer our enemies and win victories? Hashem, we want to be restored to Your favor! What\u2019s it all worth if we haven\u2019t been restored to the favor of Hashem. What\u2019s it all worth without the Presence of Hashem. A State? A Jewish State? Independence? It\u2019s worthless without the Shechinah. It\u2019s a shell, a lifeless body.
\n\n\n\nIt’s like somebody who saw a friend of his chalilah fall into the sea and finally after some time they fished him out. They recovered the body. Now the body is lying on the beach. Did you ever see a body recovered from the water? I once saw it. They recovered a body not long after he was drowned. He’s lying on the beach. Very good! We have the body back! But the question is, is there any life left? That’s the question. I remember they were working on him, searching for some life. Just to recover the body, that’s nothing. Is there still a spark of life?
\n\n\n\nAnd so when they returned to Yerushalayim, very good. Let’s say they had recovered their independence. It wasn’t complete independence, but now they were back in Yerushalayim and they had regained the Beis Hamikdash and they were doing the service. They were even lighting the menorah. The body they had recovered. But the old spirit of Hashem that once inhabited that place, did we lose that? That\u2019s what they were in despair about. Did the sins of the wicked extinguish it entirely and now never again would it be recovered until Moshiach came?
\n\n\n\nThey weren’t accustomed to being a nation that walked in darkness and that lived merely with an abstraction. The people were in a depression. They felt that they were walking in darkness, and they yearned for some sign that Hakodosh Boruch Hu was with them. And so when they went through the procedures of the avodas Beis Hamikdash it was with joy but there was sadness too; even despair, desperate for some sign of His Presence.
\n\n\n\nA Miraculous Testimony
\n\n\n\nNow when they lit the menorah \u2013 they did it as one of the many things, one of the many duties in the Beis Hamikdash that they had to do \u2013 so in the morning the kohanim came in to begin the morning avodah, they noticed something strange. The menorah was still burning! Still burning? That doesn\u2019t make sense. Immediately they rushed out and they announced that something had happened. \u201cThe lights haven\u2019t gone out!\u201d And all the kohanim came in to see what was doing; it was something marvelous in their eyes.
\n\n\n\nEveryone understood the significance of that miracle. Everyone knew the tradition from the days when our nation in the Wilderness first began to light the menorah in the Mishkan. The Gemara (Shabbos 22b) says that a miracle took place every night in the Mishkan. The ner maaravi, the western lamp on the menorah didn\u2019t go out with the other lights in the morning. Even though the same amount of oil was put into each lamp, this one light remained burning. A miracle every morning.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara (ibid.) says that the purpose was \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 It\u2019s a special miracle for the purpose of letting us know that the Shechinah rests with us. That miraculous light was an indication, a sign, that He\u2019s with us.
\n\n\n\nBut that miracle had already stopped years before, after the days of Shimon Hatzaddik. Shimon Hatzaddik was a kohen gadol in the early days of the Bayis Sheini and when he passed away this miracle stopped; it stopped because of circumstances. We won\u2019t talk about that now, but there were circumstances that justified it stopping. The people were now sinking down into a different level of spiritual existence and they didn\u2019t deserve to see that open sign anymore.
\n\n\n\nExciting News!
\n\n\n\nAnd now we are dealing with a period that wasn’t long after Shimon Hatzaddik and suddenly that sign is showing itself again. And it\u2019s even greater. It\u2019s not one lamp that\u2019s not extinguishing; it\u2019s all of them! It appears to be something different, something greater. Hashem is showing us something!
\n\n\n\nThe news spread among the people, and everybody was talking about it. Whoever could, tried to see it with their own eyes \u2013 they were watching, \u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen?\u201d And they saw that these little lights were still flickering. People stood there, watching over them all day and into the night. The people didn’t sleep.
\n\n\n\nAnd the next morning the announcement went forth, \u201cThey\u2019re still burning!\u201d And excitement began mounting; bechol tefutzos Yisroel the news began to spread. It was such an astonishing miracle that the entire nation was inflamed by excitement. It wasn\u2019t a secret; people were there. There were thousands who came in to view the rebuilding of the destroyed Beis Hamikdash and every day they watched that flame continue and they hovered between hope and despair; it will go out soon: no, it didn\u2019t go out – the flame did not go out!
\n\n\n\nAnd every day the excitement became greater and greater, and finally when the new oil was finally expressed and it was prepared and they rushed it to the Beis Hamikdash, they still found at the end of eight days that the lamp was still burning and the nation went wild with joy.
\n\n\n\nA Fire of Exhilaration
\n\n\n\nNow, to the people there it meant something very special. It was more than a miracle. Eidus, it\u2019s a testimony, that Hashem is resting His Presence by us. That fire was to them a symbol of Hashem. Hashem is here! Hashem on the menorah! A little bit of oil, it\u2019s burning more than it\u2019s supposed to burn, that\u2019s Hashem\u2019s Fire there. And they were so happy! \u201cHashem is here among us. Up till now He was hiding; He was among us but He was hiding. And now we see He is here. He\u2019s showing us something!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe excitement became so great, it was like a conflagration of joy. A big fire of exhilaration enveloped the whole Beis Yisroel. It\u2019s impossible to describe the tremendous enthusiasm and happiness that engulfed our nation when they heard that that fire had burned for eight days. All over Eretz Yisroel and in the tefutzos, the Jews in Syria, the Jews in Bavel, wherever Jews lived, the news was being sent to them by courier. They were hastening to all the four corners of the earth wherever Jews dwelled to let them know the news. And the Jewish nation was intoxicated. They were dancing in the streets. They kissed each other. \u201cMoshe! You heard?! The Shechinah is with us! Yosef! You heard how Hashem showed us?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd it was a yontif. Ahh! Life is wonderful now! Victories are important but now we feel that the Shechinah has evinced its favor once more. The Shechinah had returned to Yisroel. And that\u2019s \u201cMai Chanukah\u201d. That\u2019s what Chanukah is all about, that the Shechinah is with us.
\n\n\n\nThe Fake Chanukah
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that this ideal of what Chanukah really is has been ignored and forgotten by very many of us \u2014 even among the frummeh. The others I\u2019m not even talking about because if you\u2019re from the camp that\u2019s going to make a big fuss about gifts and wrapping, then there\u2019s nobody to talk to \u2014 you\u2019re very far away from the Mai Chanukah of our Sages. You might as well sing carols and put up a Chanukah tree, because that\u2019s what it really is.
\n\n\n\nHow did Chanukah go lost? It\u2019s because we are accustomed to seeing history through the eyes of the wrong people; the history that we read is usually written by atheists, and therefore it\u2019s a materialistic history. And so Chanukah became a materialistic holiday. The truth is that today Chanukah is celebrated by the very renegades who back then were on the wrong side of Jewish history. We have to know that if Mattisyohu lived in Eretz Yisroel today, he would be waging war against the leaders of the State of Israel with the same vehemence that he fought against Antiochus and the Hellenizers.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a pity that it\u2019s an upside down world. You pass by today a Reform temple and you see a menorah outside and you get the idea that Chanukah is also a Reform temple business, chas v\u2019shalom. You see a menorah in the State of Israel, on the stamps, in the Knesses. They consider themselves the Maccabees; they \u2018celebrate\u2019 Chanukah too.
\n\n\n\nOf course, we know it\u2019s nothing, that it\u2019s empty, but there\u2019s no question that it seeps in. It\u2019s a pity that so many ideals that we attach to Chanukah today have in a large part seeped in from the outside; the weak minded people are beguiled by superficial ideas and they miss out on the real lesson of Chanukah, the authentic Mai Chanuka, the Awareness that Hashem is with us.
\n\n\n\nAwareness of Greatness
\n\n\n\nAnd you shouldn\u2019t disdain that Awareness! It\u2019s only because we\u2019re accustomed to living with materialistic thoughts and ideals so it sounds unimportant to us. But our Sages understood that this was everything. Battles and victories, very good. But is the Shechinah by us? That\u2019s what matters most! It\u2019s not one of the things that Chanuka teaches \u2013 it\u2019s the thing! Mai Chanukah? Chanukah means we have to be aware of the greatness of the Am Yisroel, that the Shechinah rests over them!
\n\n\n\nThe awareness, the feeling and knowledge, that the Shechinah rests on us \u2013 and only us \u2013 is the source of all happiness. Everything else, good and not so good, is overshadowed by that fact. You\u2019re with the Am Yisroel, the nation that Hashem loves, the people upon whom He rests His Presence? Then all is good! If you\u2019re aware of that then all is wonderful! Life is good!
\n\n\n\nAnd because it\u2019s so important, that\u2019s why even though there was no longer any nevuah in Yisroel in the second Beis Hamikdash and even though we stopped having open nissim like in the days of old, but all of a sudden in the time of Chanukah, Hakodosh Boruch Hu pulled back the curtain and He said, \u201cDon\u2019t despair. I\u2019m still here with you.\u201d That\u2019s what the neis shemen told them, \u201cI\u2019m with you now and I\u2019ll be with you forever.\u201d
\n\n\n\nEcstasy in Emunah
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why they went meshugeh with happiness. And that\u2019s why they established a yontif. To remind us! So that we shouldn\u2019t forget it! That\u2019s what the Gemara is trying to tell us; that miracle of the menorah is teaching this Torah principle that whether you see it or not, the \u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc, the Shechinah dwells among us forever.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when Chanukah comes we have to try to recapture a little bit of that ecstasy that our forefathers experienced. Chanukah means, \u201cDon\u2019t despair! Hashem is here!\u201d Because even today, even though we don\u2019t see any open miracles today, you should know that the Shechinah is among the frum Jews. There\u2019s the Shechinah in Brooklyn, in Flatbush and Borough Park and in Williamsburg; wherever there are frum Jews, Crown Heights, Lakewood, in Eretz Yisroel, wherever there are Jews that observe Hashem\u2019s Torah, the Shechinah is there. And it\u2019s not merely a moshol, a form of speech or poetry. There is a holiness of Hashem\u2019s Presence that\u2019s invisible but is more real than we are real.
\n\n\n\nYou can\u2019t see it? So Chanukah comes to strengthen the emunah. Chanukah means that we have emunah sheleimah that Hakodosh Boruch Hu will be forever with us and never forsake us. That\u2019s the great benefit that we gain from the story of Chanukah, the strengthening of our Awareness that the Shechinah is among us.
\n\n\n\nEcstasy on Chanukah
\n\n\n\nBut it won\u2019t come by itself. If you don\u2019t put some effort into it so Chanukah comes and goes and it\u2019s a wasted opportunity. You have to think about that, that the Shechinah rests upon our people, that the Shechinah is with us here right now. We are expected to spend part of our lives in realizing this tremendous truth, that the Shechinah is shoreh b\u2019Yisroel. It\u2019s a matter of emunah! It won\u2019t come by itself.
\n\n\n\nOf course, to a certain extent it does \u2013 merely by joining the Am Yisroel and lighting the candles, some of it seeps in by means of osmosis. But it\u2019s not enough. We have to spend time on it, trying to convince ourselves more and more that the Shechinah is right here, among us right here, right now. The Shechinah rests over us! Baruch Hashem that He came to us!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way to celebrate Chanukah. That\u2019s what you\u2019re happy about, that\u2019s what you\u2019re singing about. That\u2019s why we sing, because we\u2019ll be here forever and He\u2019ll be here with us forever. That\u2019s why they were filled with happiness on that first Chanukah; they were singing in joy. And that\u2019s why we’re still singing today.
\n\n\n\nEcstasy Forever
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s two thousand years since the first Chanukah and we’re still singing. Still singing?! You know, if you buy a singing machine for a child, the first week it works. Maybe it works for two weeks. If it works for five years it\u2019s a pretty good machine. After five years if a music box keeps on working, if it will keep on working for fifty years, it\u2019s not a child\u2019s toy \u2013 it\u2019s a masterpiece. And if it will sing for two thousand years \u2013 it can\u2019t be; it\u2019s a miracle.
\n\n\n\nThe Jewish nation never stopped singing. We’re still singing on Chanukah, Al Hanissim, MaozTzur Yeshuasi, whatever we sing. You know why we\u2019re still singing? Because when we saw that the menorah wasn\u2019t going out we got a shock that set us off. We have no idea how wild with happiness we were. We\u2019re still singing it because we went wild then. That\u2019s the happiness of this time of the year. Not only that we\u2019re still around, but we\u2019re still around with the Shechinah.
\n\n\n\nAnd Chanukah has to reinforce us. When Chanukah passes through, we should be left over with some residue, some benefit, some result from Chanukah. \u05d7\u05b4\u05d6\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 we shall become stronger and more convinced that the Shechinah is right here. Not only in the ancient days it rested in the Yisroel, but the Shechinah is with us for ever and ever. That should be the first lesson and most important lesson of Chanukah, that the light will never go out.
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos Chanukah
\n\n\n\nYearning For Shechinah
\n\n\n\nAccording to our Sages, the revealed Presence of the Shechinah is all we\u2019re celebrating on Chanukah. We rejoice in the fact that Hashem has Chosen us and Desires to be among us forever. This Chanukah I will bli neder take a minute every night to gaze into the lights and reflect on how lucky I am to be a part of Hashem\u2019s Chosen Nation and I will pray for the return of the Shechinah to Zion where we may once again serve Him as in ancient times and days of yore.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 148 – Chanukah I | 896 – The Eternal Lamp (Chanukah 16) | E-231 – And Put Our Lot With Them
\nThe post Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:22:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:22:50+00:00" }, { "id": 36116, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mikeitz-shabbos-chanukah-5783-the-eternal-lamp/", "title": "Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp", "content_html": "TA-Mikeitz-Shabbos-Chanukah-5783The post Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:21:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:21:19+00:00" }, { "id": 36107, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-mikeitz-shabbos-chanukah-5783-the-eternal-lamp/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp", "content_html": "TA-Mikeitz-Shabbos-Chanukah-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Mikeitz-Shabbos Chanukah 5783 – The Eternal Lamp appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:20:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:20:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36105, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/mostrar-favoritismo/", "title": "Mostrar favoritismo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLos jajamim dicen que una de las lecciones que aprendemos de la historia de Yosef y sus hermanos es que no debes mostrar favoritismo a un ni\u00f1o porque eso es lo que caus\u00f3 el Galut Mitzr\u00e1im. \u00bfEso se aplica incluso si quieres dar algo a los hijos de otra persona?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl principio de tener cuidado; evitar cosas para que los ni\u00f1os no se pongan celosos es un principio importante, s\u00ed. A menos que lo est\u00e9s haciendo con el prop\u00f3sito de fomentar la virtud. Digamos que un talmid es capaz de estudiar muy bien y quieres darle un premio lifn\u00e9 rabim. Entonces, si lo est\u00e1s haciendo leshem sham\u00e1im, eso es otra cosa. A veces tenemos que hacer cosas que pueden llegar a causar midot raot en otras personas, pero es leshem sham\u00e1im, por lo que no es un problema.
\n\n\n\nVoy a dar un mashal. Supongamos que est\u00e1s alabando a un hombre por algo bueno y est\u00e1s pensando que tal vez porque lo est\u00e1s alabando podr\u00eda convertirse en un b\u00e1al gaav\u00e1. As\u00ed que tal vez no deber\u00edas elogiarlo por eso. No, no te preocupes por eso. En Slabodka dijeron que es un klal gadol que no existe tal cosa como lifn\u00e9 iver cuando se trata de midot. Si es una mitzv\u00e1 hacer que una persona se sienta feliz, entonces podemos descartar la posibilidad de que se arruine.
\n\n\n\nHakadosh Baruj Hu mismo sigue ese principio. Hashem dice \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05e2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e0\u05db\u05d9 \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05db\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd , si escuchar\u00e1s los preceptos que yo te ordeno hoy, \u05d5\u05e0\u05ea\u05ea\u05d9 \u05de\u05d8\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e8\u05e6\u05db\u05dd \u05d1\u05e2\u05ea\u05d5, har\u00e9 caer las lluvias en su momento, \u05d5\u05d0\u05e1\u05e4\u05ea \u05d3\u05d2\u05e0\u05da \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea, y recolectar\u00e1s tu cereal y comer\u00e1s y te saciar\u00e1s, y luego dice, \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u2013 \u00a1Pero ten mucho cuidado ahora! Te dar\u00e9 una recompensa por las mitzvot, \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea; pero \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea es un peligro. Una vez que la gente tiene suficiente para comer, siempre es una sakan\u00e1. \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d8 \u2013 Am Israel engordar\u00e1 y luego podr\u00eda patear. Pero Hashem nos da comida hasta saciarnos de todos modos.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que no dices: “Bueno, har\u00e9 que la gente sea pobre y hambrienta para que tenga buenos midot”. No hagas eso. No. Das de comer en abundancia a los pobres y no te preocupes por \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u2026 \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd. As\u00ed como Hashem tambi\u00e9n nos da; \u00c9l no se preocupa. Tenemos que dar y no preocuparnos por eso.
\n\n\n\nY por eso a veces, cuando se hace leshem sham\u00e1im, podemos ignorar el miedo a despertar los celos.
\n\n\n\nPero en general vale la pena evitar los celos en la familia. Absolutamente. Porque nunca se puede saber; cuando siembras celos en la mente de un ni\u00f1o, nunca puedes saber c\u00f3mo le doler\u00e1 el coraz\u00f3n y qui\u00e9n sabe qu\u00e9 suceder\u00e1 en los a\u00f1os venideros. Es una lecci\u00f3n muy importante que nos est\u00e1 ense\u00f1ando esta historia; muy importante.
\n\n\n\nPor cierto, dice que debido a esto, porque Iaakov mostr\u00f3 favoritismo a Iosef y caus\u00f3 celos y los hermanos lo vendieron a Mitzr\u00e1im, por eso bajamos a Mitzr\u00e1im y fuimos esclavizados por los egipcios. Todo por eso. Pero tienes que saber, sin embargo, que la estad\u00eda en Mitzr\u00e1im, la estancia de doscientos diez a\u00f1os en Mitzr\u00e1im fue planeada por Hakadosh Baruj Hu con un prop\u00f3sito muy importante, un prop\u00f3sito a\u00fan m\u00e1s importante. S\u00f3lo que podr\u00eda haber sucedido de otra manera. El hecho de que sucediera como resultado de los celos se hizo para ense\u00f1arnos a evitar poner celosos a las personas. Pero eso no significa que si Iaakov no hubiera puesto celoso a alguien, no habr\u00eda sucedido. No. Habr\u00eda sucedido de todos modos. Absolutamente.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-231 (abril de 2000)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Mostrar favoritismo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-18T04:10:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-18T04:10:29+00:00" }, { "id": 36100, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%98-%d7%a4%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a7%d7%98%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%a9%d7%a8-%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%a8-%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d8: \u05e4\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05e7\u05d8\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d9\u05e6\u05e8, \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-249The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d8: \u05e4\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05e7\u05d8\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d9\u05e6\u05e8, \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-16T15:48:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-16T15:48:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36097, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/daf-iomi-y-jazara/", "title": "Daf Iom\u00ed y jazar\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nUn hombre que trabaja y quiere estudiar todos los d\u00edas, \u00bfes buena idea estudiar el daf iom\u00ed para terminar el shas en siete a\u00f1os o es mejor estudiar menos pero hacer jazar\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este es un tema delicado. No quiero desanimar a los que estudian el daf iom\u00ed. Es mejor que nada.
\n\n\n\nPero es mucho mejor si eres capaz de hacer jazarot. Si estudias el daf iom\u00ed y lo repasas al menos cuatro veces al d\u00eda y sigues repas\u00e1ndolo continuamente est\u00e1 muy bien. Pero eso no es tan f\u00e1cil. Es muy importante concentrarse en la jazar\u00e1. Para su propio shtaiguen personal y ali\u00e1 en el estudio, es m\u00e1s importante repasar constantemente.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, algunas personas no tienen tiempo para estudiar. Se sientan y estudian el daf iom\u00ed y cumplen con la mitzv\u00e1 de estudiar. Es algo bueno. Una cosa buena. Y los guedol\u00e9 Israel que conocen bien el Shas, el daf iom\u00ed para ellos es una forma de repasar. Pero para la gente com\u00fan, el daf iom\u00ed es s\u00f3lo una forma de cumplir la mitzv\u00e1 de una manera f\u00e1cil y superficial.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-267 (marzo de 2001)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Daf Iom\u00ed y jazar\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-15T20:14:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T20:14:19+00:00" }, { "id": 36093, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-showing-favoritism/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Showing Favoritism", "content_html": "\nQ:
The chachomim say that one of the lessons that we learn from the story of Yosef and his brothers is that you shouldn\u2019t show favoritism to one child over because that\u2019s what caused the whole Golus Mitzrayim. Does that apply even if you want to give something to somebody\u2019s else\u2019s kids?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe principle of being careful, avoiding things so that children shouldn\u2019t become jealous is an important principle, yes. Unless you’re doing it for a purpose to encourage virtue. Let’s say if a talmid is able to learn very well and you want to give him a prize lifnei rabim. So if you’re doing it l\u2019shem shamayim, that’s something else. Sometimes we have to do things that might cause middos raos in other people \u2013 but it’s l\u2019shem shamayim, so it\u2019s not a problem.
\n\n\n\nI’ll give a mashal. Suppose you’re praising a man for a good thing, and you’re thinking that maybe because you\u2019re praising him he might become a ba’al ga’avah. So maybe you shouldn\u2019t praise him because of that. No, you don\u2019t worry about that. In Slabodka they said that it\u2019s a klal gadol that there\u2019s no such thing as lifnei iver when it comes to middos. If it\u2019s a mitzvah to make a person feel happy then we could disregard the possibility that he might become spoiled.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu Himself follows that principle. Hashem says \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05e2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e0\u05db\u05d9 \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea\u05db\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u2013\u00a0if you listen to all of the mitzvos that I command you,\u00a0\u05d5\u05e0\u05ea\u05ea\u05d9 \u05de\u05d8\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e8\u05e6\u05db\u05dd \u05d1\u05e2\u05ea\u05d5 \u2013\u00a0I’ll give you all good things,\u00a0\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1\u05e4\u05ea \u05d3\u05d2\u05e0\u05da \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u2013\u00a0you\u2019ll gather in your grain from the field and you\u2019ll eat and be satisfied.\u00a0And then it says, \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u2013\u00a0But be very careful now!\u00a0I’ll give you a reward for mitzvos, \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea; but \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea is a danger.\u00a0 Once the people have enough to eat, it’s always a sakanah. \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d8 \u2013\u00a0The Am Yisroel will get fat and then they might kick.\u00a0But Hashem gives us food to satiation anyhow.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo you don’t say, \u201cWell, I’ll cause people to be poor and hungry in order they should have good middos.\u201d Don’t do that. No. You give the poor people plenty to eat and don’t worry about \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u2026 \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd. Just like Hashem also gives us; He doesn\u2019t worry. We have to give and not worry about that.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore sometimes, when it\u2019s done l\u2019shem shamayim, we can ignore the fear of arousing jealousy.
\n\n\n\nBut in general it pays to avoid jealousy in the family. Absolutely. Because you can never tell; when you plant jealousy in the mind of a child you can never tell how it’s going to rankle in his heart and who knows what will happen in the years to come. It’s a very important lesson that this story is teaching us; very important.
\n\n\n\nBy the way, it states that because of this, because Yaakov showed favoritism to Yosef and it caused jealousy and the brothers sold him to Mitzrayim, that\u2019s why we went down to Mitzrayim and we were enslaved by the Egyptians. All because of that. But you have to know, however, the stay in Mitzrayim, the sojourn two hundred and ten years in Mitzrayim was planned by Hakodosh Boruch Hu for a very important purpose, a more important purpose. Only that it could have happened in a different manner. The fact that it happened as a result of jealousy was made to teach us to avoid making people jealous. But it doesn’t mean if Yaakov hadn’t made somebody jealous it wouldn’t have happened. No. It would have happened anyhow. Absolutely.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-231 (April 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Showing Favoritism appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-15T18:47:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T21:02:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36089, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-daf-yomi-and-chazara/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Daf Yomi and Chazara", "content_html": "\nQ:
A working person who wants to learn every day, is it a good idea to learn a daf a day like daf yomi so he finishes shas in seven years or is it better to do less but to do chazarah?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow this is a touchy subject. I don’t want to discourage daf yomi. It\u2019s better than nothing. Better than nothing.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s much better if you\u2019re able to chazer. If you learn a daf yomi and review it at least four times every day and keep on reviewing it as you go, ok, very good. But that\u2019s not so easy. It\u2019s so important to concentrate on chazarah. For your own personal shteiging and aliyah in learning it’s more important to review constantly.
\n\n\n\nNow some people have no time to learn. They sit down at daf yomi and they’re yotzei the mitzvah of learning. It’s a good thing. A good thing. And gedolei Yisroel who know Shas well, daf yomi to them is a way of reviewing. But for ordinary people daf yomi is just a way of being yotzei the mitzvah in a superficial easy way.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-267 (March 2001)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Daf Yomi and Chazara appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-14T18:13:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T18:16:59+00:00" }, { "id": 36072, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tener-un-perro/", "title": "Tener un perro", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs correcto que una persona frum tenga un perro?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nUn perro no es pecado; pero tampoco es una mitzv\u00e1 porque un perro es una gran molestia.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si la gente tuviera perros s\u00f3lo por su utilidad, no dir\u00edamos nada. Pero hay que saber que en casi todos los casos, un perro es una demostraci\u00f3n de asimilaci\u00f3n. Lo est\u00e1 haciendo s\u00f3lo porque todos los dem\u00e1s lo hacen. La mayor\u00eda de las personas tienen perros no porque los necesiten. Mientras camina por la calle con un perro a sus talones, siente que es un hombre del campo, un cazador. Tiene a su perro all\u00ed con \u00e9l. \u00c9l siente que esa es la forma correcta de ser: \u00a1un verdadero goi!
\n\n\n\nPero si una persona quiere un perro para alg\u00fan prop\u00f3sito pr\u00e1ctico, nadie puede criticarlo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #587 (febrero de 1986)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Tener un perro appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-14T04:34:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-14T04:34:33+00:00" }, { "id": 36084, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-owning-a-dog/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Owning\u00a0a Dog", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it proper for a frum person to own a dog?
A:
\n\n\n\nA dog is no sin; but it\u2019s no mitzvah either because a dog is a big nuisance.
\n\n\n\nNow, if people kept dogs only because of usefulness, we wouldn\u2019t say anything. But you have to know in almost every instance, a dog is a demonstration of assimilation. He\u2019s doing it only because everybody else does it. Most people have dogs not because they need them. As he walks down the street with a dog at his heel, he feels that he\u2019s a country gentleman, a hunter. He has his dog there with him. He feels that\u2019s the right way to be \u2013 a real goy!
\n\n\n\nBut if a person wants a dog for some practical purpose, nobody can criticize him.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 587 (February 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Owning\u00a0a Dog appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-13T18:05:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T18:08:02+00:00" }, { "id": 36061, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/trabajar-para-obtener-mas-dinero/", "title": "Trabajar para obtener m\u00e1s dinero ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSeg\u00fan la Tor\u00e1, \u00bfes correcto que una persona se esfuerce por tener m\u00e1s que lo que necesita? \u00bfEs correcto trabajar para tener m\u00e1s dinero del que necesita en este momento?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutamente es correcto. \u00bfQu\u00e9 m\u00e1s har\u00e1s? \u00bfEstar\u00e1s inactivo? La ociosidad no es buena para ti. \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4 \u2013 \u00a1el trabajo es una gran cosa!
\n\n\n\nEs importante que ahorres dinero. Tal vez quieras comprar una casa. Tal vez quieras hacer otras cosas buenas con tu dinero. Siempre hay buenas instituciones que pueden usar tu dinero. Y tus hijos tendr\u00e1n que ir a la ieshiv\u00e1. Muchas veces los ni\u00f1os necesitan tutores. Cuesta mucho dinero tener tutores especiales para tus hijos. Hay muchas cosas buenas que hacer con el dinero.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, absolutamente deber\u00edas seguir trabajando. Si una persona decide que no trabajar\u00e1 excepto para ganar lo m\u00ednimo, se convertir\u00e1 en un vagabundo. No se sentar\u00e1 en el Bet Hamidrash y estudiar\u00e1 Tor\u00e1. Se convertir\u00e1 en un vagabundo. Se sentar\u00e1 en el Bet Hamidrash en la parte de atr\u00e1s y dir\u00e1 un poco de Tehilim y dormir\u00e1 y terminar\u00e1 siendo un vagabundo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #587 (febrero de 1986)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Trabajar para obtener m\u00e1s dinero appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-13T01:42:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-13T01:42:44+00:00" }, { "id": 36080, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-working-for-extra-money/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Working For Extra Money", "content_html": "\nQ:
According to the Torah is it right for a person to strive to have more than just enough? Is it right to work to have more money than you need right now?
A:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutely it\u2019s right. What else will you do? You\u2019ll be idle? Idleness is not good for you. \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4 \u2013 work is a great thing!
\n\n\n\nSure you have to save up money. Maybe you\u2019ll want to buy a house. Maybe you want to do other good things with your money. There are always good institutions that can use your money. And your children have to be sent to the yeshiva. Many times children need tutors. It costs a lot of money to have special tutors for your children. There are a lot of good things to do with money.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, absolutely you should keep working. If a person makes up his mind that he won\u2019t work except for the barest minimum, he becomes a bum. He won\u2019t sit in the beis hamedrash and learn Torah. He becomes a bum. He\u2019ll sit in the beis hamedrash in the back and say a little Tehillim and he\u2019ll sleep and he\u2019ll be a bum.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 587 (February 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Working For Extra Money appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-12T17:59:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T18:02:13+00:00" }, { "id": 36042, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%91-%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "13-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1-\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 – \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-12T04:00:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-12T04:00:31+00:00" }, { "id": 36039, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-ovejas-al-matadero/", "title": "Como ovejas al matadero ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa expresi\u00f3n que los jud\u00edos en la Segunda Guerra Mundial fueron como ovejas al matadero, \u00bfes verdad?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 hablar de los jud\u00edos? \u00bfNo fueron los franceses en la Segunda Guerra Mundial como ovejas al matadero? Los franceses prepararon de antemano una L\u00ednea Maginot. Ahora bien, esta l\u00ednea conten\u00eda toda la tecnolog\u00eda de la guerra moderna. Hab\u00eda trincheras profundas. Hab\u00eda armas de guerra. Y fueron entrenados en la defensa de estas instalaciones. Y, sin embargo, cuando lleg\u00f3 Hitler era como si no existiera. Pas\u00f3 por ah\u00ed como si nada y los franceses cedieron como ovejas ante el lobo. As\u00ed que los franceses tambi\u00e9n fueron como ovejas al matadero. No s\u00f3lo los jud\u00edos. Todo el mundo lo hizo. Es s\u00f3lo que el mundo tiene una actitud de tratar de menospreciar a los jud\u00edos para que los jud\u00edos sean se\u00f1alados. Es una tonter\u00eda que usan los estadounidenses para menospreciar a los jud\u00edos. Ahora bien, no se lo deseo a los jud\u00edos estadounidenses, pero si estuvieran en la misma situaci\u00f3n, no habr\u00edan estado ni un poco mejor.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 pas\u00f3 con el ej\u00e9rcito polaco? Los polacos son grandes baal\u00e9 gaav\u00e1, grandes fanfarrones. Estaban orgullosos de su destreza nacional. Cuando lleg\u00f3 el momento no eran nada. El ej\u00e9rcito polaco se desvaneci\u00f3 con todos los soldados y tanques. Se derriti\u00f3. No fue nada. Se convirti\u00f3 en nada.
\n\n\n\nLos jud\u00edos no ten\u00edan tanques; no ten\u00edan soldados. \u00bfQu\u00e9 esperas de ellos? \u00bfQu\u00e9 podr\u00edan hacer? Si los jud\u00edos hubieran contraatacado, no habr\u00eda quedado ninguno. \u00bfQui\u00e9nes quedaron del gueto de Varsovia? Nadie. \u00bfQui\u00e9n dijo que era algo inteligente hacer una revuelta? S\u00f3lo los tontos, los sensacionalistas, hablan del levantamiento del gueto de Varsovia. Es una tonter\u00eda. Si no hubieran hecho el levantamiento, habr\u00edan quedado muchos jud\u00edos. Los jud\u00edos permanecieron por todas partes. Dondequiera que iba Hitler, quedaban jud\u00edos. Por supuesto que no lo suficiente, pero el hecho de que se defendieran era una sentencia de muerte.
\n\n\n\nLos Jajm\u00e9 HaTor\u00e1 no dijeron que hay que pelear porque despu\u00e9s de todo, los alemanes no fueron tan minuciosos. Muchos jud\u00edos escaparon. Pero cuando empezaron a luchar, los alemanes trajeron todos sus tanques y todos sus lanzallamas y acabaron con todos los jud\u00edos. As\u00ed que ir como ovejas no es una t\u00e1ctica tonta. Cuando no tienes alternativa, lo mejor es no pelear. Y nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200bentendieron esto. No lucharon contra las naciones. Buscaban aplacar a las naciones.
\n\n\n\nY por cierto fue uno de los mayores errores cuando antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial los jud\u00edos boicotearon a Alemania. Enfurecieron a los alemanes. Si hubieran seguido el consejo de nuestros sabios en ese momento, habr\u00edan sobornado a los lugartenientes de Hitler. Sabes que los lugartenientes de Hitler eran mercenarios. Podr\u00edas comprarlos. Podr\u00edas enviarles cosas en secreto. Habr\u00edan embolsado mucho dinero pero habr\u00edan dejado salir a muchos jud\u00edos. La historia hubiera sido diferente. Y entonces esta bravuconer\u00eda, este falso hero\u00edsmo de luchar y ser asesinado como un h\u00e9roe no es el camino elegido por los jud\u00edos. Creemos que es mejor vivir no como un h\u00e9roe que morir como un h\u00e9roe.
\n\n\n\nHay mucha propaganda falsa que existe hoy en d\u00eda, pero la verdad es como dicen los chinos: \u201c\u00bfQui\u00e9n es un h\u00e9roe? El que permanece vivo.\u201d
\n\n\n\nCINTA #361 (junio de 1981)
\nThe post Como ovejas al matadero appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-12T03:53:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-12T03:53:17+00:00" }, { "id": 36075, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-like-sheep-to-the-slaughter/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Like Sheep to the Slaughter", "content_html": "\nQ:
The expression that the Jews in World War II went like sheep to the slaughter, is that true?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is why talk about the Jews? Didn’t the French in World War II go like sheep to the slaughter? The French prepared beforehand a Maginot Line. Now this line contained all the technology of modern warfare. There were deep trenches. There were weapons of warfare. And they were trained in defending these installations. And yet, when Hitler came it was like it didn’t exist. He went through it like nobody’s business and the French just yielded like sheep before the wolf. So the French also went like sheep to the slaughter. Not only the Jews. Everybody did. It’s only because the world has an attitude of trying to belittle the Jews so the Jews are pointed out. It’s a silly thing that’s used by American people to belittle the Jews. Now, I don’t wish it on American Jews but if they were in the same situation, they wouldn’t have been a bit better.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened to the Polish army? The Polish are big ba’alei ga’avah, big show offs. They were proud of their national prowess. When the time came it was nothing. The Polish army melted away with all the soldiers and tanks. It melted away. It was nothing. It became nothing.
\n\n\n\nThe Jews didn’t have any tanks; they didn’t have any soldiers. What do you expect of them? What could they do? If the Jews would have fought back, not one would have remained. Who remained of the Warsaw Ghetto? Nobody. Who said it was such a smart thing to make a revolt? It’s only foolish people, sensationalists, who talk about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. It\u2019s as silly as could be. If they hadn’t made the uprising, a lot of Jews would have remained. Jews remained all over. Wherever Hitler went, Jews remained. Of course not enough but the fact that they fought back meant it was a death sentence.
\n\n\n\nThe chachmei haTorah didn’t say fight back because after all the Germans were not that thorough. A lot of Jews escaped. But when they started fighting back then the Germans brought all their tanks and all their flamethrowers and they wiped out all the Jews. So going like sheep is not a foolish tactic. When you have no alternative, the best thing is not to fight. And our forefathers understood this. They didn’t fight against the nations. They sought to placate the nations.
\n\n\n\nAnd by the way it was one of the biggest mistakes when before World War II the Jews made a boycott against Germany. It enraged the Germans. Had they followed the advice of our sages at that time they would have bribed Hitler’s lieutenants. You know Hitler’s lieutenants were mercenary people. You could buy them. You could send things to them secretly. They would have pocketed a lot of money but they would have let a lot of Jews out. The story would have been different. And so this bravado, this false heroism of fighting back and being killed like a hero is not the way chosen by Jews. We believe it’s better to live not like a hero than to die like a hero.
\n\n\n\nThere is a lot of false propaganda that’s extant today but the truth is like the Chinese say: \u201cWho is a hero? The one who remains alive.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 361 (June 1981)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Like Sheep to the Slaughter appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T17:50:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-15T17:53:54+00:00" }, { "id": 36035, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/clamando-a-hashem/", "title": "Clamando a Hashem", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00edamos clamarle a Hashem por la venida del Mash\u00edaj?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTodos los d\u00edas debes clamar. \u05d0\u05ea \u05e6\u05de\u05d7 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05da \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e6\u05de\u05d9\u05d7; \u00a1Di eso clamando! Tambi\u00e9n debe clamar al decir \u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d6\u05d0\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4. Cuando llegues a las palabras \u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05d8\u05dc \u05d5\u05de\u05d8\u05e8 debes clamar. \u00a1Clama por tal umatar! No seas s\u00f3lo iotz\u00e9. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 milagro es tal umatar! \u00bfCrees que simplemente sucede? \u00a1\u00bfTal umatar simplemente sucede?! Es un nes, no menos nes que el man.
\n\n\n\nSi el man hubiera sucedido solo una vez, \u00a1oh, eso habr\u00eda sido algo grandioso! Pero como sucedi\u00f3 durante cuarenta a\u00f1os, entonces se acostumbraron y dej\u00f3 de ser un nes. Ya sabes, cuando llegaron a \u00c9retz Kenaan y vieron comida saliendo de la tierra, eso fue un nes. \u00bfComida saliendo del suelo? “\u00a1Mira! \u00a1Es un nes! \u00a1La comida est\u00e1 saliendo del suelo!\u201d Pensaron que la comida viene de las nubes. Porque realmente es todo un nes; s\u00f3lo que la costumbre hace que no te des cuenta. As\u00ed que tenemos que clamar por tal umatar.
\n\n\n\nY tenemos que clamar por todo lo dem\u00e1s tambi\u00e9n. \u00a1Tienes que clamar por \u05e8\u05d5\u05e4\u05d0 \u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea! \u00bfFuiste al ba\u00f1o? \u00a1Es un nes que pudiste ir al ba\u00f1o! \u00a1Ocurren milagros cuando vas al ba\u00f1o! \u05d5\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea: todo es maravilloso lo que sucede en el ba\u00f1o, s\u00f3lo que estamos profundamente dormidos. Nuestras mentes son metumtam; estamos estupefactos por gashmiut, as\u00ed que no estamos pensando. \u00a1As\u00ed que tenemos que clamar! Significa que tenemos que luchar contra el gashmiut y ver el iad Hashem, los milagros en todo en este mundo. Ciertamente tenemos que clamar por todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #854 (diciembre de 1991)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Clamando a Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T13:06:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T13:06:04+00:00" }, { "id": 36031, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayechev-5783/", "title": "Paracha Vayechev 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayechev-5783The post Paracha Vayechev 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T02:12:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T02:12:10+00:00" }, { "id": 36026, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%91-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T02:08:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T02:08:53+00:00" }, { "id": 36014, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeishev-5783-tolerating-insult-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult", "content_html": "Spit In The Face
\n\n\n\nMany years ago I was walking up the stairs from the subway and a woman was passing in the other direction. As she came closer to me she mumbled something about Jews with beards being the worst type of thieves. And then she looked at me and spat directly into my face.
\n\n\n\nNow, I didn\u2019t let her get away with it. I said, \u201cYou have to come upstairs with me to the street or something will happen to you. And I\u2019m going to have you arrested.\u201d And I said it not so quietly like I\u2019m saying it to you. There were people standing around; they wanted to defend her but they saw the look on my face \u2013 I meant business!
\n\n\n\nShe tried to beg off. \u201cI\u2019m sorry. It was a mistake.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNothing doing,\u201d I said. I made her climb the stairs all the way up to the street level and I stood outside with her looking for a policeman, waiting for a police car to drive by or for an officer on his beat to walk by. But you know how it is in New York; you look and you look, and you wait. If you need them, they can\u2019t be found.
\n\n\n\nSo finally I told her to go home. What could I do? I had to get to the yeshivah – but I would have pressed charges. And if she hadn\u2019t come upstairs with me, she would have had something to remember! I wouldn\u2019t let her get away with it. She spat into my face!
\n\n\n\nThe Tzaddik Is Humiliated
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m telling you this little anecdote in order to draw a contrast. That was me, a plain man. But let me tell you now about a certain tzaddik, how he reacted to a situation. When Yosef Hatzaddik was in the house of Potiphar, you remember how his master\u2019s wife cast her eyes on him and tried to tempt him. And finally she was so desperate, she started tugging at his garments. So he left his garment in her hand and he ran away.
\n\n\n\nShe was so angry, so scorned by him, that she decided to ruin him. And so she went out in the street and began shouting to everyone that Yosef had attempted to violate her.
\n\n\n\nThe Medrash describes what happened next. Potiphar rushed home from work and when she told him the story – all the made up details about what this wicked Ivri had tried to do – he became full of rage. He seized Yosef and began pummeling him. And after a good beating, he grabbed Yosef by the ear and she grabbed him by the other ear, and they dragged him to the police station, to come before the judges to be sentenced.
\n\n\n\nNow as they were dragging him through the streets they were calling out to the passersby, \u201cLook at how this Jewboy pays us back for what we did to him. We took him into our house; we even gave him authority. And this is how he repays us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd as more people gathered \u2013 men, women and children \u2013 they were all shouting calumnies against Yosef, slandering him. \u201cWhat do you expect from a dirty Jew? That\u2019s what you get for bringing a Hebrew into your home,\u201d they said. And they were spitting at him and insulting him as he was being dragged through the streets.
\n\n\n\nThe Refined Tzaddik
\n\n\n\nNow the whole thing was plain wickedness, a frame-up. It was just the opposite! She was the guilty one! Yosef had no intention of doing anything wrong at all \u2013 he was trying to remain virtuous. And here he\u2019s being blamed and insulted as if he was the guilty party.
\n\n\n\nSo how did Yosef defend his good name? What was he yelling back as they insulted him with lies? Nothing. He kept his mouth shut and didn\u2019t say a word. Like they say, \u201cGrin and bear it.\u201d That was Yosef. I don\u2019t know if he grinned \u2013 the Medrash doesn\u2019t tell us one way or another \u2013 but he bore it.
\n\n\n\nWhat does the Scripture say about this incident? In Tehillim (105:19) it\u2019s described as follows: \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 The command of Hashem refined him. Which means that when a man goes through such an experience at the Hands of Hashem and he is quiet, he is thereby refined and purified. When you are insulted for nothing and you keep quiet you are making progress in perfection.
\n\n\n\nYosef didn\u2019t say, \u201cIt\u2019s her fault. She\u2019s an immoral woman.\u201d He didn\u2019t say anything. He didn\u2019t accuse her. He just kept quiet. And as each epithet was hurled at him, each time Yosef became more refined. Because he understood that it was the \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, that it was according to the command of Hashem that these words were being hurled at him, so he was quiet. And just because of that he was refined.
\n\n\n\nPath to Purification
\n\n\n\nNot only it refined him; I\u2019m inclined to say that this is one of the more important episodes that made Yosef great. We know of many things in the life of Yosef that catapulted him to greatness in the Eyes of Hashem but I imagine that this one episode \u2013 keeping quiet in the face of insults and criticism \u2013 is one of the more important ones that made him deserving of greatness.
\n\n\n\nYosef could never have become later the ruler of all of Egypt if he hadn\u2019t passed through this test of fire. \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 it purified him. It was an opportunity for perfection of character that was given to him as a gift. And because he made use of that opportunity that\u2019s why he became who he became.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not saying that you must always keep your mouth closed. If you\u2019re decent and you\u2019re being unjustly accused, of course you have a right to defend yourself. It\u2019s even a mitzvah if they\u2019re saying falsehood about you, to clear your name. But suppose it\u2019s not a matter where you can clear a name. They\u2019re ridiculing you anyhow; no matter what you\u2019ll say it\u2019s not going to change. You\u2019ll invite even more.
\n\n\n\nIt could be, maybe sometimes you have to stand up for yourself \u2013 probably not, but it could be. It needs wisdom and discernment. But whatever it is, it\u2019s a perfection, a purification of your character when you learn to tolerate insults. That\u2019s why I\u2019m still me, while Yosef became Yosef Hatzaddik. Because he knew how to purify himself.
\n\n\n\nEvery Yid A Big Tzaddik
\n\n\n\nNow with this principle in mind \u2013 that remaining silent in the face of insults can make a person great \u2013 we\u2019ll go ahead and understand the following story.
\n\n\n\nWe are told in a Medrash that Dovid Hamelech aspired to become great. It\u2019s good to be ambitious in ruchniyus by the way. Although we should be humble, but when it comes to spiritual things, to matters of personality and character and achievement, everybody should aspire to become great. Not merely to be good, but to excel.
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam says in Hilchos Teshuvah an even more surprising thing. He says everyone can become a tzaddik like Moshe Rabeinu. You can\u2019t become a navi like Moshe Rabeinu, that won\u2019t happen \u2013 in our days nobody will become even a small navi. But you can aspire to be a tzaddik like Moshe Rabeinu. That\u2019s a statement of the Rambam that we should think about always. These words should be engraved someplace in a public place and everybody should look at these words and study them. \u201cYou can become a tzaddik like Moshe Rabeinu.\u201d Not only a man; a woman too. Even a girl can aspire to be a tzaddik like Moshe Rabeinu.
\n\n\n\nAbrahamic Aspirations
\n\n\n\nNow Dovid Hamelech understood this principle and he yearned for greatness. When Dovid opened up the Torah and he read about Avraham, how this great man earned a place in history, how Hakodosh Boruch Hu said about him (Bereishis 18:19), \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5, I love this man and My mind is on him; aboutAvraham being chosen from all others. And not only was he chosen but he\u2019s mentioned in our prayers – forever and ever we say \u201cElokei Avraham\u201d in our davening.And we conclude magen Avraham, the shield of Avraham.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Dovid began to think, \u201cMaybe I could aspire to such a thing? I could also become great. Why shouldn\u2019t I? I have a neshamah too. Why can\u2019t I be like Avraham?
\n\n\n\nNow you have to know that Dovid was only seven hundred years after Avraham and so it wasn\u2019t such a remarkable thing for a man to aspire to, to become something like Avraham Avinu. He began to think. \u201cHow can I do that? In what way is it possible for me to achieve this greatness?\u201d That’s what the Gemara tells us. This happened when he was young and he was thinking, \u201cMaybe I can mold my life in such a way I could become a second Avraham Avinu?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if you want to know something about Dovid and his whole career, now you know a key to the biography of this great man. Already when he was a little shepherd boy he thought about this; and later in life when he became a melech he thought about it too. That was his desire always. How can I become like Avraham Avinu?
\n\n\n\nActually it\u2019s an obligation on all of us. \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b7\u05c2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u2013 Every Jew should say, \u201cWhen will my deeds reach the level of the deeds of our fathers?\u201d It’s easy to say that ma’amar but Dovid lived that kind of a life.
\n\n\n\nA Discouraging Response
\n\n\n\nNow, we are told in the Medrash that Hakodosh Boruch Hu responded to Dovid\u2019s yearning. He said to Dovid \u2013 he gave him information in some way and let him know that although it\u2019s a very worthy aspiration but he\u2019s not going to make it. It\u2019s not going to happen,
\n\n\n\nNow why He told it to him, that has to be explained, but Dovid was given the information he won\u2019t make it. These men, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were unequalled. That\u2019s what he was told.
\n\n\n\nAnd when this information came to Dovid, he was downcast. He was crestfallen. It was to him a very big discouragement because that was his dream; it was a big part of his life-work, his lifelong aspiration. But that was the psak he received. \u201cTo be on the level of the Avos,\u201d Hashem said, \u201cis too big of an achievement for you. It\u2019s beyond your reach. The merkavah, the chariot of Hashem, is supported by the three Avos. And even with all of your greatness and achievements and perfection, that\u2019s too much for you. Other things, you\u2019ll achieve. But that perfection of the mind and character that the Avos achieved, it\u2019s not going to be.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that was supposed to be the end of the story. Dovid\u2019s aspirations would be a fuel that would lead him to great things. He would become Dovid Hamelech and he would write the Sefer Tehillim and wage wars on behalf of his people and thousands of other accomplishments he would make. But to become so great that he would be like the Avos, no, it can\u2019t be.
\n\n\n\nAdvice of Achisofel
\n\n\n\nNow we’re going to study a little episode in Dovid’s life that came much later. There came a time when Dovid was visited by a period of vicissitude, a bitter experience, and that was a revolt that rose against him under the leadership of one of his best friends, Achisofel, and his son, Avshalom.
\n\n\n\nAchisofel was actually revered by Dovid. \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e6\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b9\u05e4\u05b6\u05dc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 When they would ask Achisofel for advice it was with exactly the same confidence as if Hashem had spoken to them (Shmuel II, 16:23). His counsel in those days was so revered as if you went and consulted the urim v\u2019tumim. That’s the statement that’s made by the nevi’im. He was a living urim v\u2019tumim.
\n\n\n\nActually, before they did anything, before they set out on any campaign against the enemy so they asked the advice of Achisofel; and then they consulted the urim v\u2019tumim and it always turned out to be the same advice. If Achisofel said no, they didn\u2019t bother asking the urim v\u2019tumim. And so Dovid revered Achisofel. He was to him, a valuable confidant and close friend.
\n\n\n\nAdmiration of Avshalom
\n\n\n\nDovid also had a son, Avshalom. Avshalom you have to know was a big tzaddik. \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b8\u05d5\u05b4\u05d3 \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Dovid’s sons were kohanim (ibid. 8:18). Kohanim doesn’t mean that they were makriv korbanos; it means that they were talmidei chachomim and they used to pasken shaylos to the people like kohanim – \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8. They were all talmidei chachomim who taught Hashem\u2019s Torah to the nation. Shlomo was a very big talmid chacham. Kilav ben Dovid too; he was a perfect tzaddik without a blemish.
\n\n\n\nThey all were talmidei chachomim but Avshalom was the star among them. Not only was he a big talmid chochom but he was a nazir. In those days people admired nezirim. A nazir was a man who dedicated himself to Hashem. No wine. Never. All his life he wouldn’t touch wine. Not only that, he kept away from dead bodies. He wouldn’t enter a house where there was a meis, or go in a cemetery. To him life was to be only taharah; purity of body and purity of mind.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only that but he had long flowing hair. He was a beautiful man to look at. He had the hair of the Nazirite and everybody who looked at him was full of yiras hakavod for Avshalom. They saw not only a nazir but a beautiful nazir. It was the Shechinah that rested on him. That’s what people said about him, and because he was the son of the melech he didn’t go alone in the street; wherever he went he had footmen running ahead of him. It was a spectacle to see this tzaddik appear in public.
\n\n\n\nHow The Mighty Have Fallen
\n\n\n\nSuddenly something extraordinary occurred. These two great men, Achisofel and Avshalom, got together in collusion and they made a revolt against Dovid. And it was a successful revolt. The people came to their side and they overthrew Dovid.
\n\n\n\nAnd now Dovid had to pick up his feet and flee to save his life. Dovid who had been the hero of the Jewish people \u2013 at one time everybody sang songs about him; it says in Tanach that the people sang songs about Dovid \u2013 now he was a fallen hero.
\n\n\n\nBecause not only did they make a revolution against him, but they put him into cherem. They declared that Dovid was a sinner. There were reasons why you could say that about Dovid and the people were convinced that they were right. The time had come to get rid of this man. You know, people, even though they\u2019re enthusiastic for a man up to a certain time, but when others arise and speak against him with authority, you can win the people over and they become enemies of this man. And so Dovid fled to save his life.
\n\n\n\nImagine now that terrible situation. Here is this king who gave his whole life for his people; he gave them everything! He conquered their enemies and won the land for them. He was once their darling and he deserved it. And now he’s fleeing to save his life.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Dovid was walking with his small band of loyal people. He left the city and he was weeping and saying viduy, confessing to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He said, \u201cI deserve all this,\u201d but his heart was heavy. Everything was crumbling before him.
\n\n\n\nSalt On His Wounds
\n\n\n\nAnd as they fled from Yerushalayim, they entered the territory of the land of Binyomin and they came to the town of Bachurim, a town in Binyomin. And a man came out of Bachurim, a dignified man. Dovid had known this man in his better days. A big talmid chochom. This man had always behaved towards Dovid like you do towards a great monarch, with the fullest respect.
\n\n\n\nNow when Dovid saw this man coming toward him with his company, Dovid was thinking, \u201cHe\u2019s coming probably to commiserate, to offer me sympathy. Maybe he\u2019ll offer me refreshments too so that I can regain my strength and my good mood.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat did this man do? This man was carrying in his hand a pile of dirt and stones and he heaved it upon the head of Dovid. And he said (ibid. 16:7): \u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 \u201cGet out of here you bloody fellow. You deserve what you’re getting! Get moving. Don’t stop in our town.\u201d
\n\n\n\nImmediatelyDovid\u2019s loyal guard drew his sword and said, \u201cThis man deserves to be executed. A man who raises his hand against the king has to be put to death.\u201d And he drew his sword to do the act. But Dovid quickly said, \u201cDon’t touch him. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 Hashem told him to curse me. Let him be. We\u2019ll ignore him and move on.\u201d And they moved on. The man threw dirt and dirty words on Dovid, and Dovid ignored him.
\n\n\n\nThe End Is The Beginning
\n\n\n\nNow, that’s the end of the story in Tanach, the end of the story down below. But actually it\u2019s the beginning of a great new story \u2013 only that the new story was not written in the Tanach; it\u2019s written in the Medrash. Our Sages tell us what happened up Above at that moment.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 At that time, when that happened, \u05d6\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b4\u05d3 \u2013 Dovid became worthy in the Eyes of Hashem, \u05dc\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b6\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 and he became the fourth one in the chariot of Hashem. After Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, Dovid was put in the next place.
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s very difficult for us to say that. Where is Moshe Rabeinu? And even Yehoshua, where is he? So many great people! But Hashem skipped over everybody and he said, \u201cYou\u2019re the fourth one in the merkavah. Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov and the fourth one is Dovid.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you can have that fortitude of mind,\u201d said Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cthat constant Awareness of Me, that even at such a time when you are so embittered at the loss of your power; when a son has made a revolt against you and your heart is bitter, and now somebody comes along and throws dirt on you and curses you, and according to the law his head should be taken off and you say, \u2018No. Hashem told him to curse me,\u2019 if that\u2019s the case, my child Dovid, I\u2019m going to elevate you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Gift of Pain
\n\n\n\nNow when exactly Dovid discovered this, I can\u2019t tell you. Maybe it was only in the Next World that he realized what had actually occurred on that desolate road outside of the town of Bachurim; I don\u2019t know. But whenever he discovered it, he looked back and knew why it all happened. That insult, the dirt that was thrown at his head, it was a glorious opportunity that Hashem gave him. It was a gift. That\u2019s why his son rebelled against him and that\u2019s why they tried to take his life; that\u2019s why he had to flee and that\u2019s why they threw dirt on him and cursed him; all for the purpose he should pass the test and become what he always wished for \u2013 to become exceptionally great in the Eyes of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow we have to question this because the way we see it Dovid had many achievements that made him great. If you would ask us, Dovid made many other achievements \u2013 bigger achievements \u2013 for which he deserved to be chosen. When Dovid made his Tehillim, every one of the mizmorim was such an achievement of purity of heart, of ahavas Hashem, of devotion to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and deep intellect. Each one is a masterpiece which for that alone Dovid deserved to be chosen. And how much more for the entire Sefer Tehillim?! That compilation, a masterpiece of ruach hakodesh that came out of his pure heart, is unequaled in the world history; it\u2019s unequaled even among our noble history. \u05e0\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d6\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Dovid was called \u201cthe sweet singer of Yisroel\u201d because his songs were composed with a pure heart that loved Hakodosh Boruch Hu with everything he had.
\n\n\n\nWasn’t that enough to make Dovid chosen? That from then on forever and ever the Jewish people would continue to sing the songs of Dovid? The \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b8\u05d5\u05b4\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 the songs of Dovid, Your servant, that\u2019s how we sing to Hashem even today. To this day, we’re repeating his words forever. Isn\u2019t that enough to ensconce Dovid in a throne of glory near Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
\n\n\n\nThe Greatest Achievement
\n\n\n\nOr, shall we look at the fact that Dovid conquered all of Eretz Yisroel? After so many years, beginning with Yehoshua, enemies were allowed to remain in the land and they did a great deal of harm. They persecuted our people and they corrupted with their bad example until Dovid came along and finally conquered Eretz Yisroel so that it should be a pure land where we could best serve Hashem. Dovid even conquered all the enemies outside of Eretz Yisroel and from now on they kept quiet. In the forty years that followed we didn’t hear a word from them. All they did was to send tribute to Yerushalayim. Is that a small achievement?
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s only the beginning. There\u2019s a long list of accomplishments that Dovid achieved. And yet, according to our Sages, for none of these things did Dovid merit to become a revi’i lemerkavah. Instead it was just one incident, a small episode. It just happened incidentally that as he was fleeing for his life, he passed through a town and somebody insulted him. Just at that moment something happened that topped all of Dovid\u2019s achievements and made him the greatest.
\n\n\n\nIt was at that time the decree went out to the beis din shel ma’aleh that although you can’t change magen Avraham, that’s his place, but there’s going to be a place for magen Dovid too. In the brachos that the Am Yisrael are going to say, there’s one place where they’re going to say magen Dovid. \u201cYou cannot be magen Avrohom, but you\u2019ll be magen Dovid.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecause Dovid at a time when he was being insulted so terribly, he was able to restrain himself, at that moment he became so elevated in the Eyes of Hashem that Hashem at that time conferred upon him the title magen Dovid \u2013 the shield of Dovid. And so these men, Yosef and Dovid, gained greatness from the quality of being able to tolerate injury and insult.
\n\n\n\nTolerating Lazy Bums
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is, what\u2019s so great about this middah of tolerating insult? It\u2019s true that it\u2019s a good practice, a good way to live, no question about it. Life is going to continue smoothly and healthfully when you follow this practice. Because if you stop and you take issue and there\u2019s a confrontation, then who knows where the end will be. When people appear in divorce courts or when people land up in hospitals, in very many cases it began by taking umbrage at a remark, an insult or a criticism. So you\u2019ll be more successful if you learn to ignore such things.
\n\n\n\nYou might save your life too. You\u2019re walking down the street and someone says to you, \u201cDirty so-and-so.\u201d As far as you\u2019re concerned, you didn\u2019t hear it. Because suppose you do hear, and suppose you turn around and you bristle, then you\u2019re in for it.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a young yeshivah man, nineteen years old. I knew him. It was chamisha asar b\u2019Shvat and he was taking some boys from a yeshivah ketanah out to a certain stadium, Madison Square Garden, for an outing. As they get out of their station wagon and they\u2019re going under his supervision to the entrance which is some blocks away, two shkotzim, two vicious goyim, are standingthere and they\u2019re insulting the group of boys. The boys are wearing yamulkas and the goyim are calling them filthy, anti-Semitic names.
\n\n\n\nNow the ordeal wouldn\u2019t have lasted long because the goyim wouldn\u2019t bother following them; they\u2019re too lazy for that. Troublemakers, loudmouths, are usually especially lazy. And so, in perhaps two minutes they would have been out of earshot and the entire episode would have been forgotten. But this bochur, because he was a leader of the boys and he thought the boys looked up to him for leadership, so he retorted. He answered back the goyim. So the goyim became even more abusive and there became an altercation and one goy went back to the car where he had his tools and took out a hammer and he struck this yeshivah boy over the head and he murdered him.
\n\n\n\nAnnoying Customers
\n\n\n\nAnd so this humility is worthwhile. Wise people, even if they\u2019re not trying to perfect their character in the service of Hashem, but they know that if you want to remain alive or you want to remain in business, so you must restrain your anger at the insults. When the customer comes into the grocery store with all types of complaints and insults, even though you would prefer to chase the annoying customer out of the store, but you know that tomorrow they\u2019ll come back with their food stamp money from the government and they\u2019ll buy all types of nosherai. So it pays to ignore \u2013 it pays in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd all that is very good. Wonderful! We want successful businessmen. We want to live in peace with our spouses and our neighbors. We want to live long lives without getting beaten up by shkotzim. That\u2019s also part of living successfully. But it\u2019s not everything; we see from the stories of Yosef and Dovid that we\u2019re talking now about something much bigger than that.
\n\n\n\nYosef was so purified that he went on to become the leader of the Am Yisroel for eighty years. Never again did we have a leader chosen by Hashem to lead the nation for such a long period of time. And Dovid became the fourth merkavah. His great ambition to be great like the Avos was realized because of this little incident. And that\u2019s a question we have to answer: what\u2019s so great about keeping quiet in the face of insults that it should accomplish such levels of greatness?
\n\n\n\nEmulating Him
\n\n\n\nNow, we won\u2019t be able to cover the subject in its entirety but we\u2019ll give one answer now that is absolutely true. One of the greatest achievements a person can make in this world is to be like Hashem, to emulate Him. That\u2019s why, if you\u2019re looking for a ticket to greatness, a path to perfection, then \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05db\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, to walk in His ways, that\u2019s it. And that\u2019s how these great men, Yosef Hatzaddik and Dovid Hamelech and others like them, achieved their greatness \u2013 they practiced emulating Hashem in their lives.
\n\n\n\nNow we\u2019re going to see what it means that they emulated Hakodosh Boruch Hu. How does tolerating insult and remaining quiet in the face of calumnies mean that you\u2019re emulating Hashem?
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a sefer called Tomer Devorah, a famous sefer written about four hundred years ago by Rav Moshe Cordovero, and he speaks there about this mitzvah of emulating the ways of Hashem. Now among other things he speaks there about this quality of tolerating insult. He quotes what the navi says about Hashem: \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Who is there a strong G-d like You?
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean, \u201ca strong G-d\u201d? The Tomer Devorah says like this. Strength means the strength to bear insult. That\u2019s a strong G-d. And he explains there that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a King who is constantly suffering the insults of mankind beyond what our imagination can contain. People are constantly sinning against Him and He continues to bear it.
\n\n\n\nEmpowering The Rebels
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s nothing that\u2019s concealed from Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s view. He sees everything and there\u2019s no moment that a man isn\u2019t fed and supported from the power of Hakodosh Boruch Hu that bestows upon him the ability to function; because man, every living thing, has hundreds of thousands of functions that are performed by miracles. When you study them, it\u2019s remarkable. And you see it\u2019s the Word of Hashem that keeps life going. If a man dies, even though he\u2019s intact, all his organs are intact, nobody can give him life again. All the scientists of the world cannot recreate life. Once he\u2019s dead, it\u2019s forever. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the one that maintains life.
\n\n\n\nNow that means that when people sin, in that moment that they\u2019re committing the sin, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is showering upon them the blessings of life! Any man who walks out in the street on Shabbos in reshus horabim carrying a newspaper, as soon as he walks out of the door he makes an akirah vehanachah, he should drop dead. That’s what he deserves. He deserves to fall down the steps. That’s sekilah. Carrying on Shabbos is chiyuv sekilah. He should fall down and drop dead. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu bears it. He waits; He gives him a chance. Ad yom moso yechakeh lo. He gives him a lot of chances.
\n\n\n\nNot only He waits but He\u2019s helping him perform the sin! Hakodosh Boruch Hu at that moment that a man is committing the sin, at that moment that he\u2019s raising his hand to his mouth to eat something forbidden let\u2019s say, or he\u2019s going to hit somebody with his hand, in that moment Hakodosh Boruch Hu is showering upon the man the blessing of strength and good health; He\u2019s even helping him doing it.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019twe see that the atheists are still able to eat; they don\u2019t get immediate obstruction of the intestines like they deserve. They\u2019re still able to see; they\u2019re not stricken blind like they deserve. They continued to enjoy the gifts of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nEmulating His Power
\n\n\n\nNot only atheists; don\u2019t we look in places we shouldn\u2019t? Why shouldn\u2019t Hakodosh Boruch Hu, chas v\u2019shalom, remove from us the ability to see that He\u2019s giving us every second? Don\u2019t we use all the gifts of life, sometimes, to sin. But no; Hakodosh Boruch Hu still performs for people all the miracles of life despite what they\u2019re doing against Him.
\n\n\n\nIt means thatHakadosh Baruch Hu is demonstrating all the time His power \u2013 His power of ignoring insults. And so we see that\u2019s a middah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to tolerate reproach, calumny, slander, and insult. Now that man is actually slapping Hashem, kavyachol, in the face by rebelling against Him. But Hashem is a Melech Ne\u2019elav. He\u2019s a King that allows Himself to tolerate insult and therefore He remains quiet and even aids the people who are rebelling against Him in the moment of their revolt. Hakodosh Boruch Hu continues to confer all benefits even upon evil men who rebel against Him openly.
\n\n\n\nAnd because our great men studied that example, they were humble. Yosef kept his mouth closed; Dovid said \u201cDon’t do anything.\u201d To bear insult with silence! That\u2019s a tremendous way of emulating Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nNow, to emulate Hashem in such a fashion requires not only that you saw this in the Tomer Devorah or that you heard someone speaking about it. That\u2019s important, to spend time thinking about Hashem\u2019s Middos so that we can emulate them, but if in the heat of the moment, while someone is pouring complaints and insults upon your head, we forget about Hashem so it\u2019s for naught.
\n\n\n\nActing On A Tip
\n\n\n\nYou know, if you prepare for such a thing, then maybe you can do it too. Certainly, if they’ll tell you, \u201cMister Chaim So and So, you have to know as you leave your home after breakfast to go to your office tomorrow morning, there’s a fellow who is going to accost you on the street and he’ll throw dirt on you and he’ll belittle you and slander you. And you should know it’s a big opportunity to get Olam Habo.\u201d So what are you going to do the night before? You’ll take out the Mesillas Yesharim and you’ll sit down and study the words. You\u2019ll find the section on Anavah and you’ll study for an hour or for two hours, three hours.
\n\n\n\nAnd then tomorrow when you set out after breakfast, you’re gritting your teeth. You’re pushing your fingernails into your flesh to restrain your anger. And here comes this mean fellow and he’s heaving dirt on your head. You flush, you turn white, you’re full of anger but two hours of Mesillas Yesharim, three hours, had some effect on you and so you pass by. Maybe you think in your heart it would be a good idea if he dropped dead. But at least you passed that one time test.
\n\n\n\nBut to live that way all the time, it\u2019s too unpredictable; it\u2019s impossible unless you remember that you\u2019re standing in front of Hashem. Such a thing requires an Awareness of Hashem all the time, an Awareness that He\u2019s giving you and giving you more and giving you more, no matter how much you insult Him by means of your sins.
\n\n\n\nNow, beside for an awareness, you should daven for it too, for help to achieve this. You have to know that every day we pray in davenen, we say \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05d3\u05b9\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 to those who curse me or belittle me, my soul should remain solid, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 and my soul should be like dust to everybody. Dust is trampled on. And you pray for it! You pray to Hashem every day you should gain that quality that people should be able to trample on you and you shouldn\u2019t react.
\n\n\n\nGet Ready
\n\n\n\nNow, when a person begins to think with such a pattern so he\u2019s preparing himself for emulating Hashem. \u201cIf Hakodosh Boruch Hu is soveil elbon like that, so I\u2019m going to be like Him too. That\u2019s how I\u2019ll achieve perfection in this world. That\u2019s how Yosef Hatzaddik achieved greatness. That\u2019s how Dovid did it. And like them, I\u2019m going to walk in the ways of Hashem and achieve greatness in my own little life.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd then you\u2019re prepared. If at breakfast let’s say tomorrow morning your wife says a word to you and it\u2019s an opportunity to blow up but you restrain yourself, you cannot know \u2013 it could be that a golden throne in Gan Eden is being prepared for you just for that. Don\u2019t say, \u201cI’ll ignore such picayune, such unimportant little opportunities. I want big opportunities. If they’ll want to take my life for kiddush Hashem, I’ll mount the scaffold and I’ll proclaim shema Yisrael. I’m ready to die for kiddush Hashem. Or I’m ready to sit in the beis hamedrash. I’ll be meimis atzmo beohel shel Torah. Big things! But little things like not to answer back, that\u2019s not important.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOh no! Yosef knew that this is what\u2019s important. Dovid knew that it wasn\u2019t little at all! They were justified in answering back. The halachah permitted them to answer back. But because of the perfection of the neshamah they didn’t. And that\u2019s one of the important lessons we have to think about when we read this week\u2019s sedrah. A man or woman who practices this avodas Hashem of \u201cgrinning and bearing it,\u201d that person is walking in the ways of Yosef Hatzaddik and Dovid Hamelech and most importantly, he or she is walking in the ways of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLearning to Tolerate
\n\n\n\nAs we make our way through life, we suffer from insults, small and big all the time. This week I will look out for these opportunities and make sure to ignore them completely, to not get upset at all. And even more, I will train myself to make believe nothing at all happened and I will continue to behave with the person who insulted me as if nothing happened, in order to practice up on this middah of \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Who is there a strong G-d like You who tolerates insult.
\n\n\n\nIn order to be prepared for whatever comes my way, every day at the end of Shemoneh Esrei I will bli neder pause for thirty seconds by the words \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05d3\u05b9\u05bc\u05dd and plan ahead: \u201cAnd towards anyone who might make me feel hurt or slighted today, I will remain silent without reacting at all.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTapes: 57 – Happy Is He Who Ignores | 361 – Greatness in Little Episodes | 553 – Tolerating Insult | 635 – Getting Along With Others
\nThe post Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T01:50:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T01:50:56+00:00" }, { "id": 36022, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeishev-5783-tolerating-insult/", "title": "Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult", "content_html": "TA-Vayeishev-5783The post Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T01:49:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T01:49:30+00:00" }, { "id": 36013, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayeishev-5783-tolerating-insult/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult", "content_html": "TA-Vayeishev-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeishev 5783 – Tolerating Insult appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-11T01:48:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-11T01:49:00+00:00" }, { "id": 36009, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%97-%d7%96%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%93-%d7%97%d7%9b%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%96-%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%98-%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%a8/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d7: \u05d6\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d0 \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05df; \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d3\u05d0\u05e8\u05e3 \u05d0 \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e9 \u05e9\u05d9\u05da?", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-248The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d7: \u05d6\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d0 \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d7\u05db\u05dd \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05df; \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d3\u05d0\u05e8\u05e3 \u05d0 \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e9 \u05e9\u05d9\u05da? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-09T04:20:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-09T04:20:26+00:00" }, { "id": 36007, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-superar-la-depresion/", "title": "C\u00f3mo superar la depresi\u00f3n ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puedo superar la depresi\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, depende de una serie de circunstancias. En primer lugar, qu\u00e9 tipo de persona hace esa pregunta: la edad, la salud y las circunstancias sociales de la persona. Pero si tuvi\u00e9ramos que dar una respuesta general, no hay duda de que estar ocupado es el mejor m\u00e9todo para combatir la depresi\u00f3n. Tambi\u00e9n hay actitudes mentales que uno podr\u00eda aprender, pero toman tiempo. Hay medicinas, pero eso necesita de un m\u00e9dico. Pero esto es algo en lo que todos est\u00e1n de acuerdo; que si la persona est\u00e1 ocupada y no tiene tiempo para pensar, entonces esa es la mejor terapia.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, hay una raz\u00f3n para esto. El ser humano est\u00e1 constituido f\u00edsica y mentalmente con formas propias de la raza humana. Y una de las peculiaridades de la Humanidad es que atzlut y atzvut van juntas; la pereza y la tristeza van juntas. Ves eso en la Guemar\u00e1. Y esa es una de las razones por las que la Guemar\u00e1 nos dice: \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4: el trabajo es una gran cosa. En un lugar, la Guemar\u00e1 dice: \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4 \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05de\u05de\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4: el trabajo es excelente porque calienta a quien est\u00e1 trabajando. Es un juego de palabras: en la mishn\u00e1 dice mejab\u00e9det, el trabajo trae honor a la persona. Entonces esta declaraci\u00f3n agrega que el trabajo es mejam\u00e9met, pero tambi\u00e9n es una gran perogrullada. Calienta a una persona. Significa que da entusiasmo a una persona.
\n\n\n\nEso es porque Hakadosh Baruj Hu hizo que el hombre sea un triunfador; \u00e9l debe desear triunfar. Ahora bien, sus verdaderos logros est\u00e1n en rujaniut. Los logros reales son los logros del esp\u00edritu, la nesham\u00e1; significa maasim tovim y sobre todo Tor\u00e1, Tor\u00e1 y mitzvot. Sin embargo, cuando una persona hace algo que parece un logro, como alba\u00f1iler\u00eda o coser ropa, cualquier cosa que sea creativa, entonces esa persona tiene la sensaci\u00f3n de haber logrado algo. Y aunque no est\u00e1 cumpliendo con el principal logro de la vida, es s\u00f3lo una sombra o un sustituto del logro, pero en cierto punto calma el anhelo del alma. Y, por lo tanto, las personas son felices cuando hacen algo, incluso cuando est\u00e1n haciendo cosas que en s\u00ed mismas casi no tienen valor. Y, por lo tanto, estar ocupado es lo m\u00e1s importante.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, esta persona se quejar\u00e1, \u201c\u00bfPero c\u00f3mo puedo hacer algo? No tengo \u00e1nimo para hacer nada\u201d. Es lo mismo que decir: \u201c\u00a1Estoy tan d\u00e9bil que no tengo ganas de salir del agua cuando me estoy ahogando!\u201d. Bueno, ser\u00e1 mejor que re\u00fanas energ\u00edas y ser\u00e1 mejor que empieces a nadar con brazadas fuertes o flotando. \u00a1Haz algo antes de caer! Y lo mismo ocurre cuando alguien es demasiado d\u00e9bil para hacer algo; lo primero es, hazlo, sea lo que sea. Y eso te va a sacar de la debilidad mental.
\n\n\n\nNo existe tal cosa como ser feliz cuando uno est\u00e1 completamente desocupado. Nadie podr\u00eda aconsejarte mejor, aunque te cobrara cien d\u00f3lares la hora.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #40 (diciembre de 1974)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post C\u00f3mo superar la depresi\u00f3n appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-09T04:15:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-09T04:15:27+00:00" }, { "id": 36004, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-no-luchar-contra-el-antisemitismo/", "title": "C\u00f3mo no luchar contra el antisemitismo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00eda uno participar en las organizaciones jud\u00edas que luchan contra el antisemitismo en Estados Unidos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame decirte algo. No mencionar\u00e9 cu\u00e1l, pero hay una organizaci\u00f3n que lucha contra el antisemitismo. Pero tambi\u00e9n lucha por los derechos de los negros y por los derechos de los homosexuales y por todos los dem\u00e1s. \u00a1\u00bfQu\u00e9 le importa a una organizaci\u00f3n jud\u00eda luchar por los gays?! \u00a1\u00bfEsa es una organizaci\u00f3n jud\u00eda?! Luchan por el derecho a abortar. Cualquiera que quiera abortar deber\u00eda tener ese derecho, dicen, sin hacer preguntas. Dicen: \u201cLuchamos por los derechos. Luchamos por los derechos de todos\u201d. Para demostrar que no son ego\u00edstas, dicen: \u201cNo s\u00f3lo luchamos por los derechos de los jud\u00edos. Tambi\u00e9n luchamos por los derechos de otras personas. Las mujeres quieren abortar, que aborten tambi\u00e9n. Los hombres quieren casarse con hombres, que se casen\u201d. \u00a1Libertad! \u00a1Libertad! Libertad para hacer lo que quieras. \u00a1\u00bfEsa es una organizaci\u00f3n jud\u00eda?! \u00a1\u00bfUna organizaci\u00f3n que lucha por cosas que son repugnantes a los ojos de Hakadosh Baruj Hu es una organizaci\u00f3n jud\u00eda?!
\n\n\n\nY esa gente est\u00e1 gastando dinero, grandes sumas de dinero para luchar por cosas que son repugnantes para Hashem. Una de estas organizaciones que lucha contra el antisemitismo don\u00f3 recientemente 186000 d\u00f3lares a una sinagoga gay. S\u00ed, en la lucha contra el antisemitismo le dieron una subvenci\u00f3n de u$s 186000 a una sinagoga gay. \u00a1A una ieshiv\u00e1 no se lo dar\u00edan!
\n\n\n\nEs una p\u00e9rdida de dinero participar en cualquiera de estas organizaciones. La mayor\u00eda de ellos est\u00e1n encabezados por personas sin mente en absoluto, tontos que no saben lo que est\u00e1n haciendo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-169 (noviembre de 1998)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post C\u00f3mo <em>no</em> luchar contra el antisemitismo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-09T04:13:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-09T04:13:20+00:00" }, { "id": 36001, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-combatir-el-antisemitismo/", "title": "C\u00f3mo combatir el antisemitismo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebe preocuparnos el reciente aumento del antisemitismo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Absolutamente! \u00bfC\u00f3mo podr\u00edamos no preocuparnos por eso? Pero tenemos que saber que hay una raz\u00f3n fundamental por la que est\u00e1 sucediendo. Es porque Hashem est\u00e1 preocupado por nosotros. \u05d5\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 – Israel tiene que alejarse de Esav. Estamos demasiado involucrados en ideas gentiles, y es necesario erigir una pared. Y ese muro es el antisemitismo. Siempre sucedi\u00f3, una y otra vez en la historia, cuando los jud\u00edos comienzan a perderse entre los gentiles, entonces es hora de que los gentiles comiencen a construir una pared para evitar eso.
\n\n\n\nY la primera reacci\u00f3n al antisemitismo debe ser no contribuir al Centro Simon Wiesenthal u otras organizaciones que combaten el antisemitismo. \u00a1No, no! En la mayor\u00eda de los casos, esas organizaciones causan antisemitismo. La forma de combatir el antisemitismo es construir m\u00e1s ieshivot donde aceptar\u00e1n a los chicos por menos Sejar Limud; la matr\u00edcula debe ser muy baja. Las ieshivot deben ser tan pr\u00f3speras que deber\u00edan poder permitirse tomar chicos casi por nada. Ese es el ideal. Y de esta manera, el ni\u00f1o jud\u00edo, sentado en la ieshiv\u00e1, ser\u00e1 el que est\u00e1 luchando contra el antisemitismo de la manera m\u00e1s eficiente.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #592 (abril de 1986)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post C\u00f3mo combatir el antisemitismo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-08T03:08:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-08T03:08:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35989, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hashem-esta-en-el-kotel/", "title": "Hashem est\u00e1 en el K\u00f3tel", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nDice que \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d6\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05ea\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9, que la Shejin\u00e1 siempre permaneci\u00f3 en el K\u00f3tel HaMaarav\u00ed (Ver Shemot Rab\u00e1 2: 2). \u00bfEs eso verdad incluso hoy en d\u00eda?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que siempre ha permanecido Hashem en el K\u00f3tel HaMaarav\u00ed. Incluso cuando los \u00e1rabes est\u00e1n ah\u00ed, \u00c9l no quiere irse. Hashem anhela el momento en que Am Israel retornar\u00e1. Y, por lo tanto, en todas las generaciones, los jud\u00edos iban al K\u00f3tel HaMaarav\u00ed y dec\u00edan sus oraciones all\u00ed porque sab\u00edan que ese es el lugar donde Hakadosh Baruj Hu escucha m\u00e1s atentamente, porque \u00c9l mismo quiere que regreses all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-142 (junio de 1998)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Hashem est\u00e1 en el K\u00f3tel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-07T04:59:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-07T04:59:55+00:00" }, { "id": 36053, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-overcoming-depression-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Overcoming Depression", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can I overcome depression?
A:
Now, it depends on a number of circumstances. First of all, what kind of person is asking that question \u2013 the age and health and social circumstances of the person. But if we had to give one general answer, there is no question that to be busy is the very best method to combat depression. There are also mental attitudes that one could learn, but they take time. There are medicines, but that needs a physician. But this is one thing that everybody agrees; that if the concerned party becomes busy and has no time to think, then that is the very best therapy.
Now there\u2019s a reason for this. The human being is built physically and mentally in ways that are peculiar to the human race. And one of the peculiarities of Mankind is that atzlus and atzvus go together; laziness and sadness go together. You see that from the Gemara. And that\u2019s one reason the Gemara tells us, \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4 \u2013 Work is a great thing. In one place the gemara says, \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4 \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05de\u05de\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u2013 Work is great because it warms up the one who is working. It\u2019s a play on words \u2013 on the mishna which says mechabedes, that work brings honor to a person. So this statement adds on that work is mechamemes, but it also is a great truism. It warms up a person. It mean that it gives enthusiasm to a person.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s because Hakodosh Boruch Hu made it that man should be an achiever; he should desire to achieve. Now, his true achievements are in ruchniyus. The real achievements are the achievements of the spirit, the neshama; it means ma\u2019asim tovim and above all Torah, Torah and mitzvos. However, when a person does something that looks like achieving, like bricklaying or sewing clothing, anything that\u2019s creative, then that person has a sensation of achieving. And even though he\u2019s not fulfilling the prime achievement of life \u2013 it\u2019s only a shadow or a substitute for achievement, but to an extent it stills the craving of the soul. And therefore, people are happy when they\u2019re doing something \u2013 even when they\u2019re doing things that are in themselves almost valueless. And therefore being busy is most important.
\n\n\n\nNow this person will complain, \u201cBut how can I do anything? I don\u2019t have the spirit to do anything.\u201d It\u2019s the same as saying, \u201cI\u2019m so weak, I don\u2019t feel like pulling myself out of the water when I\u2019m drowning!\u201d Well, you\u2019d better muster energy and you\u2019d better start swimming with strong strokes or floating. Do something before you go down! And the same is when someone is too weak to do anything; the first thing is, do it, whatever it is. And that\u2019s going to take you out of the mental weakness.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no such thing as being happy when one is entirely unoccupied. No one could give you better advice, even if he charged you a hundred dollars an hour.
TAPE # 40 (December 1974)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Overcoming Depression appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-06T22:27:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-12T22:30:30+00:00" }, { "id": 35982, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-06T04:18:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-06T04:18:50+00:00" }, { "id": 35980, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sonarse-la-nariz/", "title": "Sonarse la nariz", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nHacemos la beraj\u00e1 de asher iatzar agradeciendo a Hashem por el regalo de poder expulsar los desechos de nuestro cuerpo. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no hacemos la misma beraj\u00e1 por estornudar o sonarse la nariz?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no haces una beraj\u00e1 por respirar? Cada vez que respiras, es muy importante. Cuando inhalas ox\u00edgeno o cuando exhalas, est\u00e1s exhalando el di\u00f3xido de carbono de tus pulmones, ese es un gran regalo de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que no puedes hacer una beraj\u00e1 cada minuto. \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05dd \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5. Hakadosh Baruj Hu no es un tirano que te hace hacer berajot todo el tiempo. Y por lo tanto, los Sabios nos obligaron a decir berajot s\u00f3lo en ciertas ocasiones importantes.
\n\n\n\nPero, por supuesto, cuando una persona estornuda o se suena la nariz, si est\u00e1 agradecido con Hashem, es sin duda un buen pensamiento. Se est\u00e1 limpiando la nariz. Est\u00e1 estornudando; se est\u00e1 quitando algo que le irrita las fosas nasales. \u00bfQuieres hacerlo? \u00bfQuieres ser agradecido y agradecerle? \u00a1Muy bueno! \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e3 \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5. \u00bfQuieres ser un jasid m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de mishurat hadin? Muy bien.
\n\n\n\nPero al menos, lo m\u00ednimo es cuando est\u00e1s haciendo asher iatzar, hazlo con kavan\u00e1 al menos. Piensa: \u201c\u00a1Qu\u00e9 milagro tan maravilloso ocurri\u00f3 hace un momento!\u201d.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, si est\u00e1s buscando m\u00e1s mitzvot, \u00a1adelante, hazlo! Pero los jajamim no pueden cargar a toda la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda con berajot por cada peque\u00f1o evento de la vida.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1995)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Sonarse la nariz appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-06T04:00:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-06T04:00:48+00:00" }, { "id": 36049, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hashem-by-the-kosel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem By The Kosel", "content_html": "\nQ:
It says that \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d6\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05ea\u05dc \u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9, that the Shechinah always remained by the Kosel Maaravi (see Shemos Rabbah 2:2). Is that true even today?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that forever and ever Hashem remains at the Kosel Maaravi. Even when the Arabs are there He doesn’t want to go away. Hashem is longing and longing and longing for the time when the Am Yisroel will come back. And therefore in all generations Jews came to the Kosel Maaravi and expressed their prayers there because they knew that\u2019s the place where Hakodosh Boruch Hu listens most intently because He Himself wants you to come back.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-142 (June 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem By The Kosel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-05T22:16:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-12T22:19:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35976, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/fiesta-de-pijamas-en-shabat/", "title": "Fiesta de pijamas en Shabat ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nUn pariente no frum est\u00e1 invitando a mi hijo para Shabat. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es la mejor manera de rechazar esa invitaci\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que puedes decir que tienes un principio que en Shabat tu hijo tiene que estar contigo. Eso es todo; diles que siempre permanecen contigo tus hijos en casa en Shabat.
\n\n\n\nCreo que es una buena idea en general mantener a tus hijos en casa porque no sabes, incluso en una casa frum, no sabes lo que le va a pasar a tu hijo. Parecen buenos a la distancia, pero \u00bfrealmente sabes qui\u00e9nes son esos chicos? Puede llegar a dormir en una cama con un ni\u00f1o; no puedes saber lo que va a pasar, podr\u00eda aprender algo. O podr\u00eda jugar en Shabat en la calle y qui\u00e9n sabe qu\u00e9 ocurrir\u00e1. Si estuvieras cerca le rega\u00f1ar\u00edas y le dir\u00edas que no vaya a la calle, pero la gente tiene miedo de rega\u00f1ar al hijo de otra persona y entonces tu hijo podr\u00eda estar en a la calle. No conviene dejar que tu hijo se vaya para Shabat. Hoy es una pr\u00e1ctica entre los ortodoxos, pero ciertamente no lo apruebo. Mant\u00e9n a tus hijos en casa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #163 (marzo de 1977)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Fiesta de pijamas en Shabat appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-05T04:56:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-05T04:56:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35970, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "12-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-05T04:52:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-05T04:52:23+00:00" }, { "id": 35967, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayichlah-5783/", "title": "Paracha Vayichla’h 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayichlah-5783The post Paracha Vayichla’h 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-05T04:46:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-05T04:46:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35962, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-blowing-your-nose-bracha/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Blowing Your Nose Bracha", "content_html": "\nQ:
We make a bracha asher yatzar thanking Hashem for the gift of being able to expel waste from our body. Why don\u2019t we make the same bracha for sneezing or blowing the nose?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, why don\u2019t you make a bracha for breathing?\u00a0 Each time you breathe, it\u2019s so important.\u00a0 When you breathe in oxygen or when you exhale, you\u2019re exhaling the carbon dioxide from your lungs, that\u2019s a big gift from Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe answer is you cannot make a bracha every minute.\u00a0 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05dd \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5.\u00a0 Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not a tyrant who makes you make brachos all the time.\u00a0 And therefore, the Sages obligated us in brachos only at certain more important occasions.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut of course when a person sneezes or blows his nose, if he\u2019s grateful to Hashem, that\u2019s certainly a fine thought to have.\u00a0 He\u2019s cleansing his nose of irritants.\u00a0 He\u2019s sneezing; he\u2019s removing something that\u2019s irritating his nasal passages.\u00a0 You want to do it? You want to be grateful and thank Him? Very good!\u00a0 \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e3 \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5.\u00a0 You want to be a chossid beyond the shuras hadin?\u00a0 Very good.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut at least, the minimum is when you\u2019re making asher yatzar, make it with kavanah at least.\u00a0 Think, \u201cWhat a wonderful miracle took place just now!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if you\u2019re looking for more mitzvos, go ahead and do it!\u00a0 But the Chachomim cannot load the whole Jewish nation with brachos for every small event in life.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Blowing Your Nose Bracha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-04T13:59:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-04T13:59:44+00:00" }, { "id": 35950, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayishlach-5783-the-everlasting-battle-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle", "content_html": "A Historic Incident
\n\n\n\nI would like to speak with you tonight about an incident that took place many years ago on the bank of a certain river on the border of Eretz Canaan. It\u2019s an important incident to discuss because it\u2019s something that reverberates until today. I\u2019m talking about the wondrous encounter of Yaakov and the angel, that all-night wrestling match that we read about in this week\u2019s sedrah.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re told in the Torah that when Yaakov Avinu set out from the house of Lavan to return to Eretz Yisroel, so at a certain point he crossed the River Yabok with his family. And then, after the crossing, he remembered that he had left behind certain things and so he went back to retrieve them. And standing alone on the other side \u2013 it was already night \u2013 he saw a big man approaching him in the darkness. And then suddenly, without warning, this stranger grabbed hold of Yaakov and \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b5\u05e7 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9, he began to grapple with him. And now Yaakov was left in the darkness wrestling with this stranger.
\n\n\n\nRaw Strength
\n\n\n\nNow, Yaakov Avinu was not a mean wrestler himself by any means. He was a very strong man. You remember that story when Yaakov originally came to Padan Aram many years before? He arrived at a public well that had a big stone covering it and he saw shepherds with their flocks milling around the well.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d Yaakov said to the shepherds. \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you giving the sheep to drink?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, the stone is too heavy for us. We\u2019re waiting for some more shepherds to gather and then we\u2019ll be able to roll the stone off together.\u201d So what did Yaakov do? He walked over to the well, grabbed the heavy stone and pulled it out like a cork from a bottle! A stone that required all the shepherds together just to roll it off, Yaakov was able to pick it up with ease.
\n\n\n\nYou know why that story is told to us? So that we should know something about Yaakov\u2019s muscles. That\u2019s what Rashi says. \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u2013 To let us know how strong he was (Bereishis 29:10);so we should know that Yaakov Avinu had big biceps, that he wasn\u2019t a nebechel.
\n\n\n\nHero Crime Fighters
\n\n\n\nAnd so you can be sure that if Yaakov had to grapple with a stranger \u2013 if he was walking in the subway station in New York City and a stranger would jump him, there would be a levayah right away. With one punch Yaakov would become a hero crime fighter and he\u2019d deserve a decoration in City Hall. That\u2019s what we need today, by the way. That\u2019s why we say to Bernard Goetz who shot down those muggers with his gun, and to all those like him, we say, \u201cYeyasher kochachem \u2013 lang leben zohl ehr!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut Yaakov didn\u2019t need a gun, a weapon. His thick arms, his muscles, were more than enough. And so we would have thought that when this stranger jumped Yaakov on the bank of the Yabok, so Yaakov would be able to uphold his end of the battle. Not only uphold \u2013 it should have been over in no time.
\n\n\n\nA Night of Torture
\n\n\n\nOnly that it didn\u2019t happen that way. When this opponent wrapped his arms around him, Yaakov right away felt that this man was an equal. Not only an equal; the man was steel! He had sinews like bands of steel! Yaakov tried all the tricks \u2013 he knew how to handle an opponent. He tried to squeeze him, to wrench a muscle, but you can\u2019t wrench steel. Yaakov was amazed that this man could endure so much.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only did Yaakov\u2019s opponent endure, but Yaakov was having a terrible time; he was hurting. And it didn\u2019t last for only half an hour. One hour passed and then another hour; it went on all night long! \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 – a terribly long and torturous night of wrestling.
\n\n\n\nNow we know that a man can take punishment only up to a certain limit; once that limit is breached, he yields. It\u2019s a principle: the human body can suffer, but only up to a point. It doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t give your life for an ideal. People do give their lives for an ideal and they can even take torture. But if the torture is unlimited then it\u2019s extremely improbable that a man will persevere.
\n\n\n\nThere were even great men who said, \u201cIf they would torture me slowly for a long time, I wouldn\u2019t be able to withstand the ordeal.\u201d We know that Chananya, Mishael and Azaryah allowed themselves to be thrown into a burning fire in order not to worship an idol! But the Gemara (Kesubos 33b) tells us that they were able to do that only because it was a momentary sacrifice. To jump into the fire and have it over with, yes. But had they been whipped without letup, constant whipping \u2013 one hundred lashes, two hundred lashes, three hundred lashes \u2013 it\u2019s too much and they would have yielded. These three heroes, our classic heroes of sacrifice for Hashem, \u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4\u05b8, if they had been whipped without stop, \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d0, they would have yielded! Because there\u2019s a limit!
\n\n\n\nA Battle For The Ages
\n\n\n\nNow, what Yaakov went through that night was much worse than that. He wasn\u2019t just being whipped; he was being torn apart. And so, he could have said, \u201cI give up.\u201d It\u2019s such a torture, that it\u2019s better to give up and die. How long could you suffer this way already? At some point in the middle of the night it would have been more luxurious to just lean back and get killed. And the stranger would have strangled him and Yaakov would have had the peace of death; the torture would be over with.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that in cases of excruciating torture, death is a pleasure. Victims sometimes give money, they offer money for a speedy death. To them it\u2019s a gift if they are able to die. And so when Yaakev was wrestling with his opponent and suffering tortures, agony worse than death, he could have chosen the blessed relief of giving in. He would yield and his suffering would end.
\n\n\n\nBut then it occurred to him, \u201cMy family is on the other side waiting for me!\u201d He thought about what would happen to them if he gave in. \u201cHow can I afford to give up? What\u2019s going to happen to my family if I won\u2019t be around? What\u2019s going to happen to that great dream of my grandfather Avrohom who hoped for a nation that would spread in the world the knowledge of the Creator and teach the truth to mankind? That great dream of a nation that would serve Hashem will go lost if I don\u2019t return to guide them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so, as his strength ebbed, Yaakov was thinking, \u201cThis is not an ordinary wrestling match. This is something much bigger than that. It\u2019s my future, the future of my children, the future of the Bnei Yisroel.\u201d And he decided that no matter what, he\u2019s going to continue to struggle. No matter what, he wouldn\u2019t give in. And so, instead of yielding to the desire for respite from pain, instead of giving up, Yaakov didn\u2019t falter for a moment. All night long he battled and struggled and suffered.
\n\n\n\nThe stranger was squeezing every muscle he could in Yaakov\u2019s body. And it hurt; I cannot even describe to you how much it hurt. It was torture! But every time Yaakov felt the stranger\u2019s fingers closing around his arm, he summoned his willpower and he tightened those muscles to resist the pressure. All night long Yaakov summoned all of his strength; it was a battle for the ages.
\n\n\n\nThe Longest Wrestling Match
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a big question on this story. Because did you ever wrestle? I did. When I was a boy I used to wrestle; I competed in a lot of matches and I considered myself a good wrestler. But how long did a match last already? Not too long. Either I got on top of him and with a half-Nelson I spread-eagled him and he couldn\u2019t move, or he got on top of me with a hook and it was all over.
\n\n\n\nSometimes, if we were matched up especially well, so the match lasted a few minutes. But a half hour? Never. All night?! Impossible! A wrestling match would never last all night. So what was going on over here?
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll say it was a malach, an angel sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and when He sends a malach to wrestle so He makes sure to send an especially strong one. But if so, it\u2019s even a bigger question. A malach sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu, even though he may appear like a man, actually he is possessed of endless strength.
\n\n\n\nA man who picks a fight with an angel won\u2019t last too long. You\u2019d have a better chance walking through Bed-Stuy at three in the morning with wads of cash in your hand! What human being is able to wrestle with an angel? You could be Yaakov Avinu, you could even be Shimshon Hagibor, it won\u2019t help. It\u2019s a malach! A malach could squash you in no time. Imagine a man fell into a big machine, a crusher. In one second he\u2019s reduced to dust! Yaakov should have been crushed into applesauce in the first minute.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet we read here that they wrestled \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8, until the morning arose, which means this was a contest that lasted all night. It was a bout that see-sawed back and forth until the morning. And that\u2019s a big question. How did Yaakov manage to keep up the fight against a malach for so long?
\n\n\n\nAn Extraordinary Wrestling Match
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that this wrestling match between Yaakov and the malach was no ordinary struggle. You know why it is that when I wrestled, it never lasted too long? Because although we were always matched up to our opponents, at the end of the day it was a random event. Sometimes my friend was stronger than me, more agile. And sometimes I had the better move and was able to put him down. Whatever it was, it was random.
\n\n\n\nBut this story of Yaakov and the angel was something different altogether. This was no random opponent \u2013 it was an opponent sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Of course this malach Hashem had the power to crush him immediately, but Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave him instructions, \u201cAlways push him to his limit. Ramp up the pressure, struggle with him and push him to his breaking point. But never test him beyond his abilities.\u201d That was an order to the malach from on high: \u201cSqueeze Yaakov but don\u2019t squeeze him with more than he could endure.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThis was no ordinary wrestling match. It was a match that was being manipulated by Hakodosh Boruch Hu at every moment. Every move that Yaakov made, so Hashem commanded the malach to respond, to maintain the equilibrium. And upon the command of Hashem the malach would go on the attack, bitter attacks that Yaakov had to fend off with all of his strength. It was an especial ordeal, a test of being pushed to the limit.
\n\n\n\nAnd for Yaakov it was excruciating, because he was fighting a being that knew all of his weaknesses and all of his strengths, a being that could supernaturally push Yaakov to the extremes of his endurance without making it impossible. And this measured tit for tat, this see-saw of a wrestling match went on all night.
\n\n\n\nOur Battle
\n\n\n\nNow, this whole incident isn\u2019t merely a story; it\u2019s a prophecy. That\u2019s an important principle: \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 the events in the lives of Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov are all prophecies for the future. The Avos were nevi\u2019im of the highest order, second only to Moshe Rabbeinu, and therefore what transpired that night was actually a prophetic event.
\n\n\n\nWhat is it telling us? What\u2019s the prophecy teaching us? We have to know that this is not Yaakov; it\u2019s our history, it\u2019s us. Yaakov\u2019s all-night wrestling match with the malach was the personification of the battle that every Jew would fight against the yetzer hora all his life in the darkness of Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very long fight; it might even seem to you impossible to hold out any longer. How could man be capable of surviving the battle? Not only surviving but defeating the yetzer hora? After all, what is the yetzer hora if not a malach Hashem? It\u2019s steel, invincible; it\u2019s impossible, you\u2019ll say. No, it\u2019s not so because every detail of the battle, every move of this malach Hashem is being manipulated, arranged, by Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nA Fair Fight
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the famous principle that applies to all of us no less than it did to Yaakov: \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d8\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t come with tyranny, with unjust force against his creatures (Avodah Zarah 3a). It\u2019s an ironclad rule that Hashem doesn’t subject them to tests that are beyond their ability; He always leaves an opportunity for you to conquer.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore nobody has an excuse that this ordeal that\u2019s being presented to him is too big for him. It\u2019s not, because it was measured according to your strength \u2013 with precision.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the famous principle that the Gemara says in Mesichta Sukkah (52a): \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 The bigger a man is, the bigger is the yetzer hora that\u2019s sent against him. Why is that? The answer is that great men are tested with great ordeals. Because as great as you become, as much as you overcome the yetzer, that\u2019s when Hashem ramps up the pressure. A new test will come, a different struggle, a bigger yetzer. And so, you\u2019ll be an old sage, with a long white flowing beard, with great-grandchildren all around you, and many disciples sitting at your feet, and you\u2019re teaching the Torah to the world. And you must know that the tests will continue to come until the last minute of your life.
\n\n\n\nThe Struggle of Life
\n\n\n\nWe are constantly being tested and the tests increase in quality as we increase in quality. As we grow and make more and more progress in life, the things that once seemed to us as difficult are now no longer a test. But different tests come at you, even bigger and stronger than before.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s because of the great principle that our lives are built with the purpose of testing us, each one of us according to his abilities. Being tested is the purpose of living. Don\u2019t think that you\u2019re here to raise a family, to make a living, or even to learn Torah. Of course you have to do all those things, but those are all merely details of the test that this world is. What\u2019s your goal in life? To eat and to sleep?! No, your goal is to be tested. That\u2019s your achievement and good fortune in this world, to make battle.
\n\n\n\nThe Mesillas Yesharim says, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 we have to know that right this minute we are found to be, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 in the middle of a big battle. Even though you are sitting in your home and it is quiet; you don\u2019t hear anybody knocking on the door. And inside the house there is no dissension, nothing but peace, you have to know that you are in the midst of a big battle.
\n\n\n\nAttaining Peace
\n\n\n\nIt is important for us to realize there is no quiet in this world, there is no shalom in this world; when you pass out of the world, that\u2019s when you can hope for shalom. That is why we say to a man who leaves this world, we wish him that \u201cYou should go b\u2019shalom.\u201d \u201cB\u2019shalom\u201d means you go into the peace because there is peace after death. There\u2019s no more war there; the great battle is over. But a man who is not leaving this world, if we\u2019re only saying farewell to him because he\u2019s going on a journey \u2013 let\u2019s say your neighbor is traveling to Eretz Yisroel so you don\u2019t say lech b\u2019shalom, you say to him \u201cLech l\u2019shalom.\u201d Because in this life all you can say is lech l\u2019shalom \u2013 go towards the peace but not in peace, there is no peace because we are in a\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4, a difficult war.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the real shalom will come only after we pass out of this world. Unfortunately! It\u2019s an unfortunate day when you leave this world b\u2019shalom because the battle is our good fortune; we are happy to have such a battle. It\u2019s only the man who doesn\u2019t realize this, he\u2019s the one who fails the tests. He doesn’t make any progress. He lives like a log. One day flows into another; the years pass by and he\u2019s just standing in his store selling merchandise, putting money in the bank. He goes to shul. He comes back. He eats supper every night. He\u2019ll just live his life. All his days become one great tragedy.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the Jew who understands that he is going through tests, that\u2019s the man who is living for a purpose. And he\u2019s the happy one! As long as we are here, subjected to this constant test we\u2019re happy. And the more difficult the test is, the happier we should be. We should be happy warriors because it is going to pay for us. The bigger the battle, the greater is the reward of a victory.
\n\n\n\nTrue Success
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say you have a difficult wife who doesn\u2019t let you keep yiddishkeit and despite everything you carry the day; you live according to the derech haTorah. Or let\u2019s say you are a boy who is growing up in a western town where there aren\u2019t any shomrei Shabbos and you are able to fight the environment and you stick to yiddishkeit, you are the great victor more than somebody in Boro Park or in Meah Shearim! Your reward is much greater than that of those who live in the security of a very frum Torah environment. Because in Meah Shearim you\u2019d have a difficult time trying to do the opposite of yiddishkeit. Try in those places to rebel against yiddishkeit; there you have to be a hero \u2013 the wrong kind of hero.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, wherever you are in this world, whatever yetzer you\u2019re contending with, that\u2019s your success; that\u2019s your greatness. And it\u2019s the one who battles forward, the one who struggles and battles all night long, he\u2019s the one who has succeeded most in this world.
\n\n\n\nDessert Beans
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara in Masichta Beitzah(25b) expresses a criticism of people who became discouraged in this battle. Hashem is talking and He says like this: \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bb\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9 \u2013 My children didn\u2019t behave with Me the way they behave with the turmus bean.
\n\n\n\nThere is a certain bean, a turmus bean, which is extremely bitter and so when people want to prepare it for food they have to cook it in water to boil out some of that bitterness. But when you pour out that first batch of water the turmus bean is still bitter so you have to cook it again a second time and again you have to pour out the water. And again and then again.
\n\n\n\nNow by the fourth or fifth time you are sick and tired of it. \u201cI have to fight with this bitter bean again?! It\u2019s no use. I give up!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo; anybody who knows anything about the turmus bean knows that you don\u2019t give up, you keep cooking and recooking. And by the seventh time it becomes a delicacy; and not just any delicacy \u2013 it\u2019s such a delicacy that \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 people eat it as a sweet compote for dessert. It is so delicious that it\u2019s considered an expensive dessert.
\n\n\n\nFight Like A Bean
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara says that this bean will be used against us on the Yom Hadin. One day, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will say to you, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you change your ways? Why didn\u2019t you pick yourself by the bootstraps and fight the yetzer hora?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll tell Him, \u201cOh Ribono Shel Olam, don\u2019t punish me; I tried. I really tried.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut He\u2019ll say, \u201cOh no! You didn\u2019t try enough!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean I didn\u2019t try?! I fought the yetzer hora but it was a very bitter fight.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDid you try as much as the turmus bean tried? Did you try once, and again and again and again? The turmus bean also seems like it\u2019ll never become sweet! And then at the end, after the seventh time it becomes a delicacy.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen Hakodosh Boruch Hu created the turmus bean He made it not only for the purpose that we should enjoy it as a desert for the meal. More important than that, we are supposed to enjoy it by learning this lesson from the bean. Even though at the beginning it looked like a hopeless case, but if you put in enough effort and you persevere and don\u2019t give up, it becomes one of the most delicious things.
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you behave to Me like you behaved with the turmus bean? Why do you give up? So what if My malach, the yetzer hora, is battling you? So what if it\u2019s not easy? It wasn\u2019t easy for Yaakov either. But those difficulties are your greatest opportunity! And if you keep battling, I guarantee you, you\u2019ll become delicious.\u201d
\n\n\n\nKeep Resisting
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, if a man makes this his ideal, that he is going to follow the mashal of the turmus, he\u2019ll finally be ready for the dessert of the next world. At first you are bitter, you are not sweet, your character is not sweet. You\u2019re selfish \u2013 who isn\u2019t? You\u2019re mean \u2013 everybody to some extent is. You\u2019re rebellious \u2013 a lot of people are naturally rebellious. And of course you are lazy too. So get busy cooking out all of that bitterness.
\n\n\n\nGood middos you have to know come only by cooking; you have to cook that bean, you have to keep on cooking it and don\u2019t get discouraged. And keep pouring out the bitter waters; it means pour out your bad middos, regret your mistakes. There\u2019s no harm if you shed a couple of tears for youthful errors \u2013 even your youthful errors of your forties and fifties and sixties. As much as possible, you pour out the old bitter waters and you become a little bit sweeter.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara is telling you: keep on pouring out the water from the turmus pot. Learn from this little bean a big lesson and say, \u201cI am a turmus and I will continue to boil myself in Torah, in yiras shomayim, in mussar, in my efforts to improve. Then I will pour it out \u2013 it means, if I didn\u2019t succeed perfectly I will try all over again. Just like Yaakov battled without let up \u2013 whenever he felt those claws ripping him and beginning to close in on his muscles, so Yaakov strengthened himself. He made himself tense to resist, to withstand the pressure of the malach, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do as well.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Bump
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s an important part of this story, this wrestling match between Yaakov and the angel, that we left out. And that is the gid hanasheh. The Torah makes a point of letting us know that before Yaakov emerged victorious there was one small bump on the road to victory.
\n\n\n\nFirst the malach grabbed him by the neck, but Yaakov didn\u2019t budge. He grabbed him by the ears, and Yaakov resisted with all his strength. He grabbed him by his hair, whatever it was, but Yaakov wouldn\u2019t falter. Finally he grabbed him by the thigh; the thigh is a big limb and the malach got a good hold on it. And Yaakov weakened for a second. And in that second the malach did him dirty and gave him a twist; he took hold of Yaakov with his steel claws, gave a strong pull, and a sinew was wrenched loose. That\u2019s the story, the way it\u2019s told in the Chumash.
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a question on this. Because if we are going to learn Chumash like a story, so stories always have a lot of unimportant things; you want to tell me about a pulled muscle, so tell me. But now we\u2019re learning the Toras Hashem, the thoughts of Hashem. And so it\u2019s a question: what\u2019s so important about this detail that Yaakov\u2019s sinew was dislocated?
\n\n\n\nThe Victorious Dark Horse
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s an especially good question because actually Yaakov is the one who won the match. Suppose somebody won a championship wrestling match and came out of it with one sinew wrenched. Would that detail be reported in the newspapers? Of course not. Especially if it\u2019s some little fellow, a dark horse who wasn\u2019t known beforehand to be a good wrestler, and he came along and challenged the champion to a wrestling match. And now they\u2019re wrestling all night. Imagine such a thing \u2013 they\u2019re going at it and the champion just can\u2019t overcome this challenger; he can\u2019t do a thing. Finally all the spectators go home \u2013 after all, they have to get up for work in the morning \u2013 and the whole arena is already dark. But they keep on wrestling.
\n\n\n\nThe janitor comes in early in the morning to clean up and they\u2019re still wrestling! And when the champion sees now that morning is coming \u2013 the janitor is already putting on the lights \u2013 and he sees that he\u2019s losing out, so in frustration he gives a wrench, a last minute jerk just to cause some damage before he gives up the fight. So he gave a wrench, who cares?! The champion threw in the white towel!
\n\n\n\nThejanitor would run right away to the Associated Press, the wire services, and report to them, \u201cThe champion gave up; he lost. I saw it with my own eyes; he was crying for mercy.\u201d That would be the biggest news of the day! Who cares that he gave the victor a wrench in his thigh?! Why mention that?
\n\n\n\nCommemorating Forever
\n\n\n\nAnd not only mention it, but to make it such an important event that our forefathers began immediately to commemorate it by not eating the gid hanasheh: \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cTherefore the children of Yisroel don\u2019t eat the sinew in the leg of the animal\u201d (Vayishlach 32:33). That\u2019s what the Torah tells us. It\u2019s our ancient tradition; from then on the Jewish people wouldn\u2019t eat the gid hanasheh.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why you won\u2019t find kosher porterhouse steaks. Those round steaks, the porterhouse steaks from the hindquarters, they go to the gentile market. Today, we don\u2019t even eat from the hindquarters at all. It costs a lot of money to hire a person who will be minakeir, carve out the sinew, so we just sell the hindquarters to gentiles \u2013 we Jews have to be satisfied with just the front part; the part that\u2019s less expensive to prepare for eating.
\n\n\n\nIn Europe, in small towns where meat was very expensive and nothing was put to waste, the Jews ate the hindquarters. They had what they called a treiberer, a person who was an expert in excising the forbidden parts. But today it doesn\u2019t pay for us; there\u2019s a big gentile meat industry, a big market where we can sell it to the public, so every kosher slaughterhouse sells the hindquarters to the gentiles.
\n\n\n\nThe Inevitable Fall
\n\n\n\nThe question is, what\u2019s the big tumult already? Was it such a significant event when he wrenched his thigh loose that we have to commemorate it by not eating it? It\u2019s not important.
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that it\u2019s important for us to know that we will falter in this world. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0. In this life-long wrestling match against the yetzer hora, sometimes he might make a wrench, a dent. But Yaakov pushed ahead anyhow. He didn\u2019t give up. \u201cSo he pulled my sinew; so what? I\u2019m not going to let that stop me. I still have many battles to fight, a war to win, and so I\u2019m going to get up and keep fighting.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what happened. Immediately, Yaakov regained his equilibrium and self-control and he stiffened. He fought back and extricated himself from the tight grip of the malach, and he continued wrestling for the rest of the night, resisting every move the malach made.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s such an important lesson that the Bnei Yisroel always commemorated that, not to eat the sinew. They ate everything else from the animal, because Yaakov strengthened himself and everything else Yaakov resisted. But not the gid hanasheh; that sinew is a sign that you have to keep getting up even after you fall down.
\n\n\n\nThe Stubborn Tzaddik
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a certain Rebbe, the Breslover. So, in one of his seforim he writes as follows. He himself writes this \u2013 about himself. He says, \u201cWhen I was younger, I tried to serve Hashem. I tried and fell, and sometimes I fell down a hundred times. And each time, I got up again and I tried again.\u201d That was his stubbornness. He got up and he fell down again. He didn\u2019t succeed but he got up again. A hundred times he was nichshal. \u201cBut I got up,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd in the end, I remained standing!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNever give up! \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d5\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 A tzaddik might fall seven times. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to fall; it could be you won\u2019t fall; you\u2019ll almost fall. But whatever it is, even if you do fall chalilah you keep on getting up each time. And at the end it will be \u05e7\u05b8\u05dd. At the end you will remain standing.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the lesson. It\u2019s a nisayon, a test, and you have the bechirah to pass that nisayon. You keep on trying and the end is that you will surely succeed. There\u2019s no such thing as not succeeding. You keep on trying and \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e1\u05b7\u05e2\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9. If you are actually coming to succeed, if you really want to succeed \u2013 that\u2019s what \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8 means \u2013 then you will remain standing in the end. The first times you fall, the first ninety-nine times you fall, are just a test to see if you are a weakling. That\u2019s what they\u2019re there for! To see if you\u2019re a weakling or if you\u2019re serious about it. And if you overcome the first ninety-nine times, then you\u2019re on the way. Then you\u2019re on the road to greatness.
\n\n\n\nThe Holy Road
\n\n\n\nAnd actually it\u2019s not the road to greatness, it\u2019s the road of greatness. The road itself is the most important achievement. It\u2019s the struggles, the falling down and getting up again to persevere; it\u2019s when the gid hanasheh is pulled and you regain your equilibrium like Yaakov did, that\u2019s what makes you perfect in the Eyes of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIn Mishlei it says like this, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b9\u05d2\u05b7\u05d4\u05bc – The path of tzaddikim is like a path that is being illuminated. There is a path to greatness but right now the path is somewhat dark and it is not easy to see where you are walking. But tzaddikim stick to the path and \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e0\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd, it continues to become more and more light until the day is established.
\n\n\n\nImagine somebody sets out early in the morning, before daybreak, and it\u2019s still dark. But he must reach his destination, he must! So he thinks, \u201cI can\u2019t see my way in the street, but I will try anyhow.\u201d There are potholes and booby traps, wild animals and obstructions. But he knows that this is the only way forward and so he continues. Little by little it becomes more and more light and after a while the sun comes out.
\n\n\n\nThat is a mashal of a man\u2019s life. \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05d7\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b0 \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 – \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05dc\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4. This world is compared to the darkness of nighttime, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, and the way of those who want to be righteous is to keep going. You make up your mind that no matter what, this is going to be your path. \u201cI am going to travel toward Hashem. I am going to travel towards Torah. I am going to travel towards true Judaism. I am going to travel towards the way that Jews always lived. I am going to travel towards better character and perfection in mitzvos and davening and Torah. That\u2019s my ideal.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Sun Will Rise
\n\n\n\nIt is not always easy, but it is \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b9\u05d2\u05b7\u05d4\u05bc, the light is going to increase. The older you get, the more battles you\u2019ll win. And when the new battles come, you\u2019ll face them too and you\u2019ll keep on battling and winning. And finally the sun will rise.
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t think the sunrise is in this world; in this world there will never be sun because it will always be dark to some extent. No matter how old and how wise you are, the yetzer hora is a super salesman and he will think up new ways, new booby-traps, to trap you to mislead you even in your old age. But there are many things that he already gave up on you because he knows you learned too much to be bamboozled any more by them. But it will still be a struggle all the way till the end.
\n\n\n\nYaakov struggled all night. He was already at his end and he no longer had an ounce of energy left. But he remained determined and just at that moment when he thought he would drop dead, the daylight began to come over the horizon and the malach let go of him.
\n\n\n\nNot only he let go but at the end, this malach gave Yaakov Avinu a blessing: \u201cFrom now on your name will not be Yaakov, but Yisroel.\u201d Yisroel means, \u201cYou shall conquer over all. You shall win out.\u201d \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8, You will win out over everyone. Yaakov had passed the test, and he passed it gloriously and that\u2019s when he gained the name Yisroel, \u201cthe one who conquers.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that story, that nevuah, is being fulfilled every day in our lives. The children of Yisroel continue to reenact in their own lives the long and difficult struggle of our forefather, as we fight against the yetzer hora, each of us fighting our personal battles that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is arranging according to our strengths and weaknesses. And every battle, every struggle, is a preparation for when the sun will finally rise, the day when we will enter into the palace of the World to Come where all of our efforts and struggles will be requited forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nFighting The Yetzer Hora
\n\n\n\nLife is about the fight. We are in a great war and our single responsibility is to stay in the fight and never throw in the towel. This week I will daven to Hashem for success in the battle of life snd especially when I daven in birchos hashachar \u201cV\u2019al yishlot banu yetzer ra\u201d, I will bli neder pause to have in mind all that we learned about this war.
\nThe post Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-04T04:00:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-04T04:00:13+00:00" }, { "id": 35958, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayishlach-5783-the-everlasting-battle/", "title": "Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle", "content_html": "TA-Vayishlach-5783The post Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-04T03:58:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-04T03:58:46+00:00" }, { "id": 35949, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayishlach-5783-the-everlasting-battle/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle", "content_html": "TA-Vayishlach-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayishlach 5783 \u2013 The Everlasting Battle appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-04T03:58:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-04T03:58:10+00:00" }, { "id": 35947, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-hijo-rebelde-2/", "title": "El hijo “rebelde” ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 consejo le dar\u00eda a un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 de veinte a\u00f1os con respecto al deseo de sus padres de que estudie estudios seculares?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDepende. Pod\u00eda decirles: “Miren, supongamos que yo fuera s\u00f3lo un chico estadounidense como todos los dem\u00e1s chicos estadounidenses, y quisiera salir y fumar. \u00bfPodr\u00edan detenerme? \u00bfAcaso no todos los chicos estadounidenses hacen lo que quieren y se convierten en vagabundos y sus padres les dan dinero incluso para comprar narc\u00f3ticos? Y ustedes tienen un hijo decente, bueno, que quiere sentarse en la ieshiv\u00e1 y estudiar; \u00bfNo deber\u00eda tener mi oportunidad tambi\u00e9n? Al igual que los vagabundos en Am\u00e9rica, que son favorecidos por sus padres; las ni\u00f1as y los ni\u00f1os vagan y sus padres les dan autos para hacer todo tipo de cosas malvadas; les dan mucho dinero tambi\u00e9n. Y yo no quiero nada. Todo lo que quiero es sentarme en la ieshiv\u00e1 y estudiar durante algunos a\u00f1os”. Algunos padres enrender\u00e1n eso. “Esa es mi forma de ser un chico estropeado. Quiero sentarme y estudiar”.
\n\n\n\nEn caso de que los padres est\u00e9n firmes en lo suyo, lo que el bajur ieshiv\u00e1 debe decirles es: “Miren, tengo s\u00f3lo veinte a\u00f1os. Hay mucho tiempo en la vida, as\u00ed que d\u00e9jenme estudiar un par de a\u00f1os m\u00e1s y luego lo discutiremos de nuevo”. Dos a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, los padres le dir\u00e1n: “Nu?” As\u00ed que \u00e9l les dir\u00e1: “Miren, s\u00f3lo tengo veintid\u00f3s. Lo discutiremos en un par de a\u00f1os”. En ese momento, ya se disgustar\u00e1n y se rendir\u00e1n. Funciona. Lo vi. Los padres finalmente se dan por vencidos. Vieron que el chico se dedicaba a estudiar y entonces se rindieron, y se convirti\u00f3 en un Gadol BaTor\u00e1. Conozco historias como esa, puedo cont\u00e1rtelas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #692 (junio de 1988)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post El hijo “rebelde” appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-04T03:22:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-04T03:22:33+00:00" }, { "id": 23194, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-shabbos-sleepovers/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos Sleepovers", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
My not frum relative is inviting my child for Shabbos. What\u2019s the best way to decline that invitation?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The answer is that you can say that you have a principle that on Shabbos your children have to be with you. That\u2019s all; tell them that you keep your children home on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nI think\u00a0that it\u2019s a good idea in general to keep your children home because you don\u2019t know \u2013\u00a0even in a\u00a0frum\u00a0house you don\u2019t know\u00a0what\u2019s going to happen to your child. It looks good to you from a distance, but do you really\u00a0know who those boys are? He may sleep in one bed with a boy;\u00a0you can\u2019t tell what\u2019s going to happen, he might learn something. Or he might play Shabbos in the street and who knows what will be.\u00a0If you\u2019re around, so\u00a0you\u2019ll scold him and tell him not to go into the gutter, but people are afraid to scold somebody else\u2019s child and now your child is running\u00a0off into the street. It doesn\u2019t pay to let your child to go away for Shabbos. It\u2019s a practice today among the Orthodox, but I certainly don\u2019t approve of it. Keep your children home.
TAPE\u00a0# 163 (March 1977)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos Sleepovers appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-02T17:04:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-02T17:04:10+00:00" }, { "id": 35939, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%96-%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%97%d7%94-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%97-%d7%91%d7%97%d7%9c%d7%a7%d7%95-%d7%96%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%98%d7%90%d7%92-%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d6: \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05d7\u05d4, \u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05d5, \u05d6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05d0\u05d2 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dc", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-247The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d6: \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05d7\u05d4, \u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05d5, \u05d6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05d0\u05d2 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-02T04:47:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-02T04:47:01+00:00" }, { "id": 35937, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hablando-con-hashem/", "title": "Hablando con Hashem", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo se habla con Hashem?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsto te lo responder\u00e9 de la siguiente manera. Al principio tienes que ser un hip\u00f3crita. Tienes que hacerlo superficialmente; tienes que decir las palabras. Y eso es lo que hacemos cuando hacemos tefil\u00e1. Estamos hablando con Hashem, aunque en realidad es \u05e7\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e4\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7 \u05de\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd. Eso es lo que dijo el Navi: “Est\u00e1s cerca de sus bocas, pero est\u00e1s lejos de sus ri\u00f1ones”, eso significa de su interior. Y esa es la verdad. As\u00ed es la tefil\u00e1, superficial.
\n\n\n\n\u00danicamente cuando un hombre se embarca sinceramente en una carrera de aprender a hablar con Hashem que su tefil\u00e1 se vuelve significativa. Despu\u00e9s de un tiempo cuando dices \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4, “T\u00fa”, sientes que est\u00e1s hablando con alguien. Y cuando llegue ese gran d\u00eda, entonces sabes que lo has logrado.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, primero hazlo superficialmente. S\u00e9 un hip\u00f3crita. Por supuesto, es una buena hipocres\u00eda. Lo est\u00e1s haciendo para entrenarte. Hablas con Hashem cuando puedes y le dices: “Te agradezco que Hashem me has hecho saludable”. Cuando ves a un hombre saltando en la calle con una pierna de pantalones vac\u00eda, y tiene muletas; y t\u00fa tienes dos buenas piernas y no necesitas muletas, entonces tienes que detenerte y decir: “Baruj At\u00e1 Hashem que tengo dos buenas piernas”. Ves a un hombre caminando en la calle con una manga vac\u00eda que se encuentra en el bolsillo, entonces tienes que agradecer a Hakadosh Baruj Hu que tus mangas no est\u00e1n vac\u00edas.
\n\n\n\nY poco a poco te acostumbrar\u00e1s a decir las palabras, y despu\u00e9s de un tiempo sentir\u00e1s que hay que alguien que te escucha. Eso es lo que dice el Mesilat Iesharim, que al principio lo dices y, despu\u00e9s de un tiempo entra en tu mente. Porque tienes un instinto que todos los seres humanos tienen que Hashem est\u00e1 en realidad all\u00ed y te est\u00e1 escuchando.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #317 (julio de 1980)
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Hablando con Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-02T04:12:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-02T04:12:29+00:00" }, { "id": 35933, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-good-rebel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Good Rebel", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
What advice would you give to a twenty-year-old\u00a0yeshiva\u00a0man regarding his parents\u2019 wish that he embark on secular education?
A:
It depends. He could say, \u201cLook, suppose I was just an American boy like all American boys, and I wanted to go out and smoke pot. Would you be able to stop me? Don\u2019t all the American boys do what they want and they become bums and their parents give them money even to buy narcotics? And here you have a nice decent son who wants to sit in the yeshiva and learn; shouldn\u2019t he have his way too? Just like the bums in America are favored by the parents \u2013 girls and boys bum around and their parents give them cars to do all kinds of wicked things; they give them plenty of money too. And I don\u2019t want anything. All I want is to sit in the yeshiva and learn for some more years.\u201d So some parents will listen to that. \u201cThat\u2019s my way of being a spoiled child. I want to sit and learn.\u201d
In case the parents are adamant, so the yeshiva man should tell them, \u201cLook, I\u2019m only twenty years old. There is plenty of time in life yet so let me learn a couple of more years, and then we\u2019ll discuss it again.\u201d Two years later the parents will, say \u201cNu?\u201d so he\u2019ll say, \u201cLook, I\u2019m only twenty-two. We\u2019ll discuss it in a couple of years.\u201d By that time, they\u2019ll already get disgusted and they\u2019ll give up. It happens again and again by the way. It works again and again. I saw it. The parents finally gave up. They saw that the boy meant business in learning so they gave up, and he became a gadol baTorah. I know stories like that \u2014 I can tell you stories.
TAPE # 692 (June 1988)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Good Rebel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-12-01T22:43:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-12-01T22:43:35+00:00" }, { "id": 35926, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-talking-to-hashem-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Talking to Hashem", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one talk to Hashem?
A:
And this I\u2019ll answer as follows. At first you have to be a hypocrite. You have to do it superficially; you have to say the words. And that\u2019s what we do when we\u00a0daven. We\u2019re talking to Hashem although actually it\u2019s\u00a0\u05e7\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e4\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7 \u05de\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd. That\u2019s\u00a0what the\u00a0Navi\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cYou are close in their mouths but You are far away from their kidneys\u201d \u2013 that means from their insides. And that\u2019s the truth. That\u2019s what\u00a0davenen\u00a0is; it\u2019s superficial.\u00a0
It\u2019s only when a\u00a0man sincerely embarks on a career of learning to speak to Hashem that his\u00a0davenen\u00a0becomes meaningful. After a while when he says \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4, \u201cYou,\u201d he feels he\u2019s talking to somebody. And when that great day comes, then you know you have arrived.\u00a0
And so first do it superficially. You\u2019re a hypocrite. Of course, it\u2019s a good hypocrisy. You\u2019re doing it to train yourself. You talk to Hashem whenever you can and you say, \u201cI thank You Hashem that You have made me healthy.\u201d When you see a man hopping in the street with one empty trousers leg, and he has crutches; and you have two good legs \u2013 you don\u2019t need any crutches \u2013 so you have to stop and say, \u201cBoruch atah Hashem that I have two good legs.\u201d You see a man walking in the street with one empty sleeve pinned to his pocket, then you have to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu that your sleeves are not empty.
\n\n\n\nAnd little by little you\u2019ll get accustomed to saying the words, and after a while you\u2019re going to feel that there\u2019s Somebody actually listening. That\u2019s what the Mesillas Yesharim says, that at first you say it and after a while the realization enters your mind. Because you have an instinct that all human beings have that Hashem is actually there and He\u2019s listening.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 317 (July 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Talking to Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-30T19:06:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-30T19:06:16+00:00" }, { "id": 35921, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-one-not-worthy-of-learning/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The One Not Worthy of Learning", "content_html": "\nQ:
If everything is for somebody’s benefit, how can you explain the fact that someone wanted an opportunity for spiritual progress but was prevented because of circumstances beyond his control?\u00a0 Somebody wanted, let’s say, to become a yeshivah man or a talmid chacham but certain circumstances didn’t let him.\u00a0 If everything is min hashomayim, how do you explain that?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat’s how I explain it, that it\u2019s min hashomayim.
\n\n\n\nSometimes it’s harmful for a man to become a lamdan.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s not good for a man to become a Torah scholar; it\u2019s one of the worst things for him.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nI’ll give you an example.\u00a0 Torah is compared to water.\u00a0 Everybody knows that mashal.\u00a0 Now, water makes things grow.\u00a0 And if you take water and you walk into your backyard and you’ll water everything there, it could be you’re watering some thorns and weeds.\u00a0 Sometimes poisonous plants too.\u00a0 Water is not going to produce roses and peaches for you.\u00a0 Water will only make grow what’s already planted there.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo it depends what’s in you.\u00a0 If you have thorns, if you have a mean nature, you’re arrogant, you have bad character, so if you’ll water it with Torah and\u00a0you’ll become a lamdan who is a menace, a lamdan who is\u00a0mechallel shem shamayim.\u00a0 You\u2019ll become a Torah scholar whose behavior besmirches the name of the Torah. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu sees that he is not deserving and He makes him stop learning.\u00a0 He causes things to happen to prevent him from learning.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nCertainly it’s min hashomayim.\u00a0Like it\u00a0says, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d1 \u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d7\u05db\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df\u00a0\u2013\u00a0He gives wisdom to the wise.\u00a0 Hashem gives Torah to those who will treat it properly. And the Gemara gives an example: When a man walks in \u05de\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05e0\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd,\u00a0in unclean alleys \u2013 sometimes there used to be refuse in unclean alleys \u2013 so when he walks in those alleys he refuses to talk divrei Torah because it\u2019s not respectful to the Torah. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cThat man knows how to honor My Torah! I’m going to give him more Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut suppose, here’s a man who sits on a bus and right near him is sitting a young lady with uncovered thighs; wearing shorts in the summertime.\u00a0 I was once in such a situation. A man was sitting next to me and in front of us was sitting a young woman with naked thighs; completely naked thighs.\u00a0 And he was talking divrei Torah to me and I didn’t answer.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWhat’s the matter?\u201d he said, \u201cAren’t you listening?\u201d That\u2019s what he said to me.\u00a0 He was an elderly man;\u00a0 I didn’t want to insult him. But I didn’t speak.\u00a0 Such a person doesn’t deserve to have Torah because he’s taking the Torah and talking \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05d4.\u00a0He\u2019s disrespecting the Torah by speaking words of Torah in front of nakedness.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore don’t always bemoan the fact that a person didn’t have the opportunity to learn.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s a blessing for him. In order to be zocheh to\u00a0Torah, it’s necessary to make yourself an \u05d0\u05db\u05e1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4;\u00a0you must have a certain amount of personality that’s suitable for Torah.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nOf course, you also have to beware of complaining in vain. It could be it\u2019s only an excuse. It could be you do have opportunities. And if you would utilize the opportunities that you do have then Hakodosh Boruch Hu will give you more. But if you neglect the opportunities you have, you’ll lose even those opportunities. \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u2013 If a person takes upon himself the yoke of Torah learning then min hashamayim they take away from him other obligations and they give him an opportunity for learning. But \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05e7 \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 if he throws off the yoke of Torah, then Hashem takes away opportunities from him. It\u2019s a punishment.
\n\n\n\nIt means he has opportunities. Everyone has opportunities. He has Friday nights. He has Shabbos morning before davening, Shabbos all day long. He has Saturday night. Some people have Sunday all day long. You have legal holidays. You have vacation two weeks. If people would utilize those opportunities, you’d be surprised what would happen as a result. Hakodosh Boruch Hu will give them more time and more time.
\n\n\n\nBut if a person is complaining, \u201cAlas, that I have to go into parnasah, I can’t sit and learn all day long,\u201d when really he has all day Sunday, when really he has all evening motzei Shabbos \u2013 in the wintertime it’s four hours.\u00a0 You have Shabbos afternoon four hours in the summertime.\u00a0 He doesn’t use it.\u00a0 So what does he expect?\u00a0 So he’s going to lose that too.\u00a0 Eventually even that time he won’t have.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 263 (April 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The One Not Worthy of Learning appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-30T18:57:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-30T18:57:34+00:00" }, { "id": 35912, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/quien-es-el-indicado-para-estudiar/", "title": "Qui\u00e9n es el indicado para estudiar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi todo es para el beneficio de uno, \u00bfc\u00f3mo puede explicar el hecho de que alguien quer\u00eda tener la oportunidad de progresar espiritualmente, pero no lo consigui\u00f3 debido a circunstancias fuera de su control? Alguien quer\u00eda, digamos, ser un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 o un talmid jajam, pero ciertas circunstancias no se le fue permitiso. Si todo es Min Hasham\u00e1im, \u00bfc\u00f3mo explica eso?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed es como lo explico, que es Min Hasham\u00e1im.
\n\n\n\nA veces es perjudicial para un hombre se convierta en un lamd\u00e1n. A veces, no es bueno que un hombre se convierta en un erudito de la Tor\u00e1; es una de las peores cosas para \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nTe dar\u00e9 un ejemplo. La Tor\u00e1 se compara con el agua. Todo el mundo conoce ese Mashal. Ahora bien, el agua hace crecer las cosas. Y si tomas un balde de agua y vas a tu jard\u00edn y vas a regar todo lo que hay all\u00ed, podr\u00eda ser que est\u00e9s regando algunas espinas y malezas. A veces plantas venenosas tambi\u00e9n. El agua no va a producir rosas y melocotones para ti. El agua s\u00f3lo har\u00e1 crecer lo que ya est\u00e1 plantado all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que depende de qu\u00e9 hay en ti. Si tienes espinas, si tienes una naturaleza mala, eres arrogante, tienes un mal car\u00e1cter, entonces si te regas con Tor\u00e1 y te conviertes en un lamd\u00e1n, ser\u00e1s un Mejalel Sham\u00e1im. Te convertir\u00e1s en un erudito de la Tor\u00e1, cuyo comportamiento profana el nombre de la Tor\u00e1. As\u00ed que Hakadosh Baruj Hu ve que no mereces y hace que dejes de estudiar. \u00c9l hace que las cosas sucedan de tal manera para que abandones el estudio.
\n\n\n\nCiertamente es Min Hasham\u00e1im. Como dice, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d1 \u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d7\u05db\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df – \u00c9l le da sabidur\u00eda a los sabios. Hashem le da Tor\u00e1 a aquellos que la tratar\u00e1n adecuadamente. Y la Guemar\u00e1 da un ejemplo: cuando un hombre camina por los \u05de\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05e0\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd, callejones sucios, y se niega a hablar Divr\u00e9 Tor\u00e1. As\u00ed que Hakadosh Baruj Hu dice: “\u00a1Ese hombre sabe c\u00f3mo honrar mi Tor\u00e1! Voy a darle m\u00e1s Tor\u00e1”.
\n\n\n\nPero supongamos un hombre que se sienta en un autob\u00fas y justo cerca de \u00e9l est\u00e1 sentada una joven vestida con pantalones cortos, o sea, que se le ven las piernas. Una vez estuve en tal situaci\u00f3n. Un hombre estaba sentado a mi lado y frente a nosotros estaba sentada una mujer joven y se le ve\u00edan las piernas, completamente. Y este hombre me estaba hablando Divr\u00e9 Tor\u00e1 a m\u00ed pero yo no le respond\u00eda. Me dijo: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa? \u00bfNo est\u00e1s escuchando?” Eso es lo que me dijo. Era un hombre mayor; as\u00ed que no quer\u00eda insultarlo. No le dije nada. Tal persona no merece tener Tor\u00e1 porque est\u00e1 tomando la Tor\u00e1 y hablando \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05d4. Est\u00e1 falt\u00e1ndole el respeto a la Tor\u00e1 al hablar palabras de Tor\u00e1 frente a la desnudez.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, no siempre es malo el hecho de que una persona no tenga la oportunidad de estudiar. A veces es una bendici\u00f3n para \u00e9l. Para lizkot a la Tor\u00e1, es necesario transformarse en una \u05d0\u05db\u05e1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4; debe tener una cierta personalidad que sea adecuada para la Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, tambi\u00e9n tiene que tener cuidado de no quejarse en vano. Podr\u00eda ser que sea s\u00f3lo una excusa. Podr\u00eda ser que tenga oportunidades. Y si utilizas las oportunidades que tienes, entonces, Hakadosh Baruj Hu te dar\u00e1 m\u00e1s. Pero si descuidas las oportunidades que tienes, perder\u00e1s incluso esas oportunidades. \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 – Si una persona toma sobre s\u00ed mismo el yugo de Tor\u00e1, le quitan otras obligaciones y le dan la oportunidad de estudiar. Pero \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05e7 \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 – Si se quita el yugo de la Tor\u00e1, entonces Hashem le quita las oportunidades. Es un castigo.
\n\n\n\nSignifica que tiene oportunidades. Todos tienen oportunidades. Tiene el viernes por la noche, shabat a la ma\u00f1ana antes de la tefil\u00e1, todo el d\u00eda de Shabat. El s\u00e1bado por la noche. Algunas personas tienen domingo durante todo el d\u00eda. Tienes vacaciones legales. Tienes vacaciones dos semanas. Si las personas utilizaran esas oportunidades, se sorprender\u00edan de lo que suceder\u00eda como resultado. Hakadosh Baruj Hu les dar\u00e1 m\u00e1s tiempo.
\n\n\n\nPero si una persona se queja, “ay, tengo que ocuparme de la Parnas\u00e1, no puedo sentarme a estudiar todo el d\u00eda”, cuando realmente tiene todo el d\u00eda, cuando realmente tiene toda la noche. Motza\u00e9 shabat, en invierno, son cuatro horas. Tienes la tarde de Shabat, cuatro horas en el verano. No lo aprovecha. Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 espera \u00e9l? Si tambi\u00e9n va a perder eso, eventualmente, incluso ni eso tendr\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #263 (abril de 1979)
\nThe post Qui\u00e9n es el indicado para estudiar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-30T04:38:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-30T04:38:39+00:00" }, { "id": 35905, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "11-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-29T04:00:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-29T04:00:47+00:00" }, { "id": 35903, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/quiromancia/", "title": "Quiromancia ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede una persona usar jojmat haiad, quiromancia, para averiguar acerca de sus midot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, d\u00e9jame hacerte una declaraci\u00f3n. \u00a1Olv\u00eddate de jojmat haiad! \u00a1Olv\u00eddalo! Cualquiera que te diga que mirando tu mano, podr\u00e1 darte un consejo, no vayas de \u00e9l. Eso es todo. S\u00e9 que me ganar\u00e9 enemigos al decir eso, pero te lo digo de todos modos. Hay jajamim que te pueden analizar; hay rash\u00e9 ieshivot que si te conocen un poco, podr\u00e1n hablarte de ti. Pero ir a un extra\u00f1o y mostrarle tu mano, es lo mismo que ir a lo de la hermana Ana.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #692 (junio de 1998)
\nThe post Quiromancia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-29T03:55:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-29T03:55:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35901, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-error-de-itzjak/", "title": "El error de Itzjak ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1ndo estaba escuchando la Parash\u00e1 de esta semana en el Shul, me preguntaba c\u00f3mo podr\u00eda ser que un gran hombre como Itzjak cometi\u00f3 un error acerca de Esav?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede ser posible que Itzjak, nuestro Padre, cometi\u00f3 un error con respecto a Esav, al intentar bendecir a Esav?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que no hay una persona en el mundo que no pueda cometer un error. Excepto el papa…
\n\n\n\nTodos en el mundo pueden cometer un error. Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu cometi\u00f3 un error. Dice abiertamente la Tor\u00e1 que cuando Mosh\u00e9 estaba enojado por el hecho que quemaron una ofrenda y Aar\u00f3n le dijo: “\u00bfPod\u00eda acaso comerlo hoy? Soy un on\u00e9n; no puedo comerlo”. As\u00ed que \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05de\u05e2 \u05de\u05e9\u05d4 – Moshe escuch\u00f3 y qued\u00f3 satisfecho. Y la Guemar\u00e1 dice \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e9, admiti\u00f3 y no se avergonz\u00f3 de admitir que cometi\u00f3 un error.
\n\n\n\n\u00danicamente cuando Mosh\u00e9 hablaba en nombre de Hashem, no comet\u00eda errores. De lo contrario, todo ser humano puede cometer errores. No te pongas en la cabeza que las personas no pueden cometer un error.
\n\n\n\nCuando algunas personas te dicen que son jasidim de un cierto Rebe y dicen: “Mi Rebe no puede cometer un error”, diles: “Su Rebe es mayor que Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu”. No hay ning\u00fan Rebe en el mundo que no pueda cometer un error.
\n\n\n\nY, por supuesto, podemos entender el error que hizo Itzjak. No fue tonto en absoluto. No creo que fue enga\u00f1ado por peque\u00f1as cosas. Hubo muchas se\u00f1ales de que Esav iba a ser el l\u00edder. Dice: “Vaietz\u00e9 Harish\u00f3n Admon\u00ed”, fue el primero en salir y era pelirrojo.
\n\n\n\nItzjak pens\u00f3 al pi shenaim edim iakum davar, tengo dos testigos, dos testimonios que Esav es superior. En primer lugar, Hakadosh Baruj Hu lo hizo salir primero. Y el segundo testimonio: es Admon\u00ed, es colorado. Eso es Guevur\u00e1. Es un signo de vigor, de liderazgo.
\n\n\n\n“Y no creo en casualidades”, dijo Itzjak. “Especialmente en nuestra familia donde “Maas\u00e9 Avot Sim\u00e1n Labanim“, cada peque\u00f1a cosa que sucede es una profec\u00eda para el futuro, por lo que si un hijo nace primero, ese es el Ratz\u00f3n de Hashem. Hakadosh Baruj Hu lo eligi\u00f3 para ser el l\u00edder”.
\n\n\n\nItzjak, el hijo de Abraham, era una Maamin Ben Maamin, y entendi\u00f3 que cuando Hakadosh Baruj Hu da se\u00f1ales, son verdaderos presagios para el futuro. Y por eso, Itzjak dijo: “Esav es el l\u00edder “. Y posteriormente, cada vez que Itzjak ve\u00eda o escuchaba algo que Esav hac\u00eda lo interpretaba Lejaf zejut. Siempre puedes explicar las cosas de dos maneras.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que si Esav, digamos por ejemplo, ven\u00edan vecinos y dec\u00edan que vieron que Esav golpe\u00f3 a alguien, Itzjak dec\u00eda: “Es porque tiene el poder de Guevur\u00e1 para enfrentarse a lo que est\u00e1 mal. Es un l\u00edder que no soporta la injusticia. Eso es maja\u00e1. \u00c9l se ocupa de lo que es correcto. S\u00f3lo est\u00e1 ejerciendo sus caracter\u00edsticas innatas. \u00c9l ha elegido la Guevur\u00e1, el liderazgo”. Y todo lo que escuch\u00f3 posteriormente sobre Esav, lo interpret\u00f3 a la luz de lo que sab\u00eda que era el papel de Esav. \u00c9l va a ser el l\u00edder.
\n\n\n\nPero fue un error, eso es todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #417 (julio de 1982)
\nThe post El error de Itzjak appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-28T04:12:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-28T04:12:53+00:00" }, { "id": 35899, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ahorrando-en-las-compras/", "title": "Ahorrando en las compras ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00edan las mujeres viajar largas distancias para ir de compras a Manhattan para ahorrar un poco de dinero?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tenemos que saber que las mujeres que salen en busca del santo grial en el centro de Nueva York, que buscan comprar una ganga, muchas veces se exponen a peligros. No es tan f\u00e1cil para una mujer bailar el vals en Nueva York hoy. No es tan simple. Si puedes evitarlo, incluso vale la pena comprar localmente y perder dinero.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, esto se ha dicho aqu\u00ed una y otra vez. Y lamentablemente han sucedido cosas y la gente simplemente cierra los ojos y dice: “Hubo un accidente”. No quiero citar un ejemplo, sucedi\u00f3 hace tres a\u00f1os. Una mujer fue de compras, una mujer joven; estaba embarazada y bajaba en un ascensor en un edificio. La llevaron a un lugar mayorista donde hab\u00edan precios especiales y ocurri\u00f3 una tragedia en el ascensor. Y termin\u00f3 perdiendo la vida, lamentablemente.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, los jud\u00edos deben tener cuidado, especialmente las mujeres jud\u00edas. Si puedes mantenerte fuera de Manhattan, hazlo. Manhattan hoy est\u00e1 repleta de ladrones y pervertidos, y tienen experiencia en la realizaci\u00f3n de delitos. Y, por lo tanto, \u00a1mantente alejado de Manhattan si es posible! Si tienes que ir all\u00ed a trabajar, no se puede evitar, pero intenta comprar en tu vecindario.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #495 (febrero de 1984)
\nThe post Ahorrando en las compras appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-28T04:10:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-28T04:10:54+00:00" }, { "id": 35895, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-yitzchoks-error/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Yitzchok\u2019s Error", "content_html": "\nQ:
When I was listening to this week\u2019s parsha in shul I was wondering how it could be that such a great man like Yitzchok made a mistake about Eisav?
A:
\n\n\n\nHow can it be possible that Yitzchok, our father, made a mistake with Eisav, with trying to bless Eisav?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is there is no person in the world that cannot make a mistake. Except the Pope.
\n\n\n\nEverybody in the world can make a mistake. Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake. It says openly in the Torah. When Moshe was angry about why they burned that offering and Aharon said, \u201cCould I eat it today? I\u2019m an oinen; I can\u2019t eat it.\u201d So \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05de\u05e2 \u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u2013 Moshe heard and he was satisfied. And the Gemara says \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e9 \u2013 he admitted and he wasn\u2019t ashamed to admit that he made a mistake.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only when Moshe is speaking in the name of Hashem, then he can\u2019t make a mistake. Otherwise every human being can make a mistake. Don\u2019t get any idea into your head that people can\u2019t make a mistake.
\n\n\n\nWhen people tell you they are chassidim of a certain rebbeh and they say, \u201cMy rebbeh cannot make a mistake,\u201d then tell them \u201cYour rebbeh is greater than Moshe Rabbeinu.\u201d There\u2019s no rebbeh in the world that cannot make a mistake.
\n\n\n\nAnd of course, we can understand the mistake that Yitzchok made. It wasn\u2019t foolish at all. Don\u2019t think he was deceived by little things. There were many signs that Eisav was going to be the leader. It says vayetzei harishon admoni, he was the first one to come out and he was ruddy.
\n\n\n\nYitzchok thought\u00a0al pi shnayim eidim yakum davar,\u00a0I have two witnesses, two testimonies that Eisav is the superior one.\u00a0 First of all, Hakodosh Boruch Hu made him come out first. And the second testimony is\u00a0admoni,\u00a0he is ruddy.\u00a0 That’s gevurah.\u00a0 It’s a sign of vigor, of leadership.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd I don’t believe in accidents,\u201d said Yitzchok. \u201cEspecially in our family where\u00a0maaseh avos siman lebanim,\u00a0every little thing that happens is a prophecy for the future so if a son is born first, that’s the ratzon Hashem.\u00a0 Hakodosh Boruch Hu chose him to be the leader.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYitzchok the son of Avraham, he was a\u00a0ma’amin ben ma’amin,\u00a0and he understoodthat Hakodosh Boruch Hu when He gives portents, when He gives signs, they are true omens for the future.\u00a0 And so\u00a0Yitzchok said \u201cEisav is\u00a0the one. He\u2019s the leader.\u201d And subsequently, whenever Yitzchok saw or heard anything that Eisav had done, he interpreted it lekaf zechus.\u00a0 You can always explain things in two ways.
\n\n\n\nSo if Eisav let’s say for example was reported to have hit somebody;\u00a0if neighbors came and said that they saw that Eisav hit somebody so Yitzchok said \u201cIt\u2019s because he has the power of gevurah in him to stand up against what\u2019s wrong.\u00a0He’s a leader who\u00a0doesn’t suffer injustice. \u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0machaah. He takes up for what’s right. He’s only exercising his innate characteristics. He\u2019s chosen for gevurah, for leadership.\u201d And whatever he heard subsequently about Eisav, he interpreted it in the light of what he knew was Eisav\u2019s role.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to be the leader.
\n\n\n\nBut it was a mistake, that\u2019s all.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 417 (July 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Yitzchok\u2019s Error appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T21:41:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T21:41:43+00:00" }, { "id": 35890, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T04:52:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T04:52:53+00:00" }, { "id": 35879, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeitzei-5783-a-career-of-preparing-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayeitzei 5783 – A Career of Preparing", "content_html": "A Lifetime Career
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re going to talk now about a subject that\u2019s applicable in many aspects of our lives. I\u2019ll call it hachanah, the subject of \u2018Preparing.\u2019 Now, don\u2019t be fooled by that one word and think that it\u2019s nothing, that it\u2019s not much of a subject \u2013 it\u2019s very important! Actually we\u2019ll see that it\u2019s such an important and far-reaching principle that we should really call the subject of tonight’s talk \u2018A Career of Preparing.\u2019 Because once we understand what it means we\u2019ll see that it\u2019s actually a life-time career. But first an introduction, a little diversion.
\n\n\n\nWhen Yaakov Avinu was told by his parents to go to Charan and to take a wife from there so there’s no question that he fulfilled his parents’ command. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d1\u05b7\u05e2 \u2013 And Yaakov left from his parents\u2019 home in Be\u2019er Sheva, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 and he went straight to Charan (Vayeitzei 28:10). Only that he didn’t. It took him fourteen years to get there; when our Sages calculated the years of Yaakov\u2019s life they found fourteen years that were missing. And they tell us that those were the years between the day he left home and the day he arrived in Charan; he got lost in the middle. That possuk took fourteen years from beginning to end!
\n\n\n\nSo what was he doing? Where was he? So the Chachomim tell us that \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05e2\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05de\u05bb\u05d8\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2 \u05e2\u05b6\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 all those years he was hiding out in the Yeshivah of Eiver (Megillah 17a).
\n\n\n\nStudying A Parent\u2019s Command
\n\n\n\nAnd what was he doing there? He was studying. What else do you do in a yeshivah? In the Academy of Eiver, that\u2019s where the great teachings which had been handed down were being transmitted. And so, Yaakov instead of going straight to Padan Aram, he traveled to a makom Torah and he sat at the feet of his great teacher, Eiver, and he studied for fourteen years.
\n\n\n\nBut the question is: that\u2019s not what his parents told him to do. His parents didn\u2019t say a word about going to the yeshivah. They told him to get married. \u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4. It\u2019s as clear as a command could be: \u201cGo to Padan Aram to the house of your mother\u2019s father, Besuel, and take from there a wife\u201d (Bereishis 28:2).
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019ll understand that Yaakov Avinu studied his parents\u2019 commands the same way we study the Torah\u2019s commands. His parents\u2019 words carried weight with him and he studied them with iyun, with serious thought, and with mefarshim, commentaries. And he said, \u201cIf my parents told me to get married that means that I should make a hachanah; I should prepare.\u201d
\n\n\n\nPlaces That Destroy Marriage
\n\n\n\nThe truth is we understand such a thing on our own. If your mother tells you to go to the grocery to buy a bottle of milk, she doesn\u2019t have to tell you to put on your shoes before you go. If it\u2019s cold outside, she doesn\u2019t have to tell you to put on your coat. \u201cGo to the grocery and buy milk\u201d means: make whatever preparations are required so that you can buy the milk.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd so,\u201d Yaakov was thinking, \u201cif my father and mother want me to marry, it means I have to make myself ready for marriage.\u201d And where is the place to prepare for marriage? You don\u2019t prepare for marriage by going to public high school or college. That\u2019s the place where you prepare to destroy a marriage. That’s the place where you learn how not to be married. Even if they would advocate marriages \u2013 which unfortunately these reshaim don\u2019t always do, but even if they would advocate marriage, with their kind of marriage, you see what happens. It ends up in disaster.
\n\n\n\nSo Yaakov understood that when his parents said \u201cgo and get married\u201d, it meant \u201cgo prepare yourself in the academies of the Sages\u201d. \u201cGet married\u201d meant \u05d9\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b9\u05d3 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u2013 Learn Torah first and after that, then you get married (Kiddushin 29b).
\n\n\n\nSolving The Shidduch Crisis
\n\n\n\nNow why is that? Why should you study Torah first? Why can’t you get married and learn afterward? So the Gemara there gives us an important reason, a true reason. \u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e1\u05b9\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4. If you’ll get married first, you’ll have a millstone around your neck.You have a wife and then children come along, you have mouths to feed and rent to pay, so you’re not able to learn.
\n\n\n\nBut Yaakov Avinu understood that besides \u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9, there\u2019s another big reason, a more important reason. Because Yaakov Avinu was able to learn all the time. He had a big head, a very good head, and with him that reason didn’t apply. Learning Torah first has a higher significance than the practical problem of a millstone on the neck. And that\u2019s the significance of getting ready to be married. You need to be prepared! Marriage means you must learn how to be a husband or a wife and you must learn how to be a father or a mother. These are two great careers and it\u2019s a pity that young people are permitted to enter these two careers without any preparation.
\n\n\n\nIt’s a pity girls get married at the age of seventeen and eighteen. Girls should have to wait until they\u2019re forty. They should get semichah, girl-semichah, in order to be married. Of course, she can’t wait that long. By the time she’s ready, she\u2019s wrinkled and her teeth all fell out; she can\u2019t have children either. And so a girl who will wait till she\u2019s ready for marriage will never get married. Besides the fact that nobody will take her, she won\u2019t take anybody else because she\u2019s too smart. She\u2019ll see everybody\u2019s faults.
\n\n\n\nTraining Chaim and Chana
\n\n\n\nA boy too. A bochur, a frum bochur, he\u2019s very very frum. But he\u2019s still very raw material. He needs to prepare. Actually his parents have to begin preparing him when he\u2019s three. \u201cChaim\u2019l, you can\u2019t do that.\u201d \u201cChana\u2019le, say \u2018thank you\u2019 when someone gives you a plate of food.\u201d So little Chaim\u2019l and little Chana\u2019le are preparing to be decent spouses.
\n\n\n\nChaim\u2019l says, \u201cPa, can I buy a bike?\u201d The father says no.
\n\n\n\n\u201cPa, can I buy this nosherie?\u201d asks Chana\u2019le. \u201cNo.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhether it\u2019s because his Pa can\u2019t afford it or because his Pa thinks it\u2019s not good for him, that \u201cNo!\u201d is a gift of preparation.
\n\n\n\nOtherwise, when your son or daughter get married, they\u2019re not ready. You know what happens when you have two people who all their lives never heard no and now they’re married and one says no to the other, it’s a trauma. That\u2019s a shock that they cannot take. \u201cWhat do you mean no?!\u201d she says to her husband. \u201cBut I really want to buy that carpet.\u201d And him too; he wants to do this and this. \u201cWhat do you mean I can\u2019t go there?\u201d he says. They never heard of no before in their lives. They were not trained for marriage. They were not trained for life.
\n\n\n\nThe Third Party
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the beginning. You need a lot more training, a lot more learning Torah, than that. Learning Torah doesn\u2019t mean you learn a piece of Bava Kama and that\u2019s all. Unfortunately the way it\u2019s taught in the yeshivos is not a preparation for marriage. Torah means a lot more. It\u2019s a pity it\u2019s not being taught in all places properly.
\n\n\n\nThe number one piece of Torah is realizing that you are marrying now for the purpose of doing the will of Hashem, for avodas Hashem. You\u2019re not marrying for fun and good times, just for the adventure of it. And therefore even if you have a husband or a wife who might be disappointing in some ways \u2013 which usually is the case \u2013 nevertheless, you do your duty because you\u2019re not serving your spouse, you\u2019re serving Hashem. And that\u2019s so important that we\u2019re told that at the chuppah, when the chosson and the kallah are standing under the chuppah, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is there with them; He\u2019s the third party.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not our subject for tonight, preparing for marriage, but at least that we should realize. It takes a lot of Torah learning, a lot of Torah preparation, to make a successful marriage. Two people, a man and a woman especially \u2013 naturally both are frum and loyal to the Torah, but even within the Torah framework each one did what he or she wanted more or less. And now instead of being interested only in what you want, there\u2019s a new roommate who\u2019s constantly standing in your way. It\u2019s a big wrench! It\u2019s like taking a car that’s travelling full speed in one direction and suddenly trying to turn it around the other direction. And that’s why even in the best marriages there always is a strain; and in the weaker marriages there’s a smash up. It takes a great deal of preparation to learn how to get along with somebody else; there\u2019s Toras chesed, and the Torah of being mevater, the Torah of shtikah; so many Torahs.
\n\n\n\nAnd so it would be a boon for the marriage if Chaim and Chana could spend fourteen years in the yeshivah like Yaakov did. Only we can\u2019t do that. If you\u2019ll be fourteen years in the yeshivah, so they\u2019ll make the chasunah in the old age home. And you want to have children too.
\n\n\n\nThe Important Mission
\n\n\n\nYaakov Avinu was a special situation. Because like the Rambam says, the sole desire of the Avos was l\u2019haamid umah ovedes es Hashem, to establish a nation that would serve Hashem. And when you have to succeed at a very important mission, the preparation for that mission is very crucial for its success. Suppose you have to accomplish something like building a tall office building. You will have to spend a lot of time and effort making the plans for the building. It takes a long time to draw up plans for such a building. Yaakov Avinu knew that getting married and having children was immensely more important than building a skyscraper. His getting married and having children was an accomplishment adei ad. He had to accomplish the building of a nation and therefore he had to prepare himself with the utmost shleimus.
\n\n\n\nA young man of twenty-one gets married and he makes all kinds of mistakes. He doesn\u2019t have the experience needed because he didn\u2019t learn too much about it. But little by little, by trial and error and some troubles, he is able to settle down after a while. But Yaakov Avinu couldn\u2019t afford trial and error. He couldn\u2019t afford such a thing because he was creating a nation, and if you\u2019re going to be the progenitor of the Holy Nation, you can\u2019t just jump into it like a bull in a china shop. And so although at that time he was already a \u2018young man\u2019 in his late sixties, he understood that for something to be most successful it takes preparation. And the more preparing, the more successful.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a tremendous lesson here because it\u2019s not only marriage that requires hachanah. Everything in life becomes better with preparation. We only mentioned the story of Yaakov Avinu so that we should see how a great man understood that hachanah was included in the command even though it wasn’t told to him. Because it is included! It\u2019s a principle that applies in everything you do, all your life. Whatever you have to do, if it’s done without preparation, it will be a failure \u2013 maybe not a failure ingantzen but compared to what it could have been, we\u2019ll have to call it a failure. A successful life requires hachanah.
\n\n\n\nThe Idealist Leaves A Mess
\n\n\n\nNow, this attitude we\u2019re talking about now, preparation, is something we can practice every day. Just to hear the idea but not to practice it is a waste \u2013 it goes in one ear, out the other, and it\u2019s forgotten. You have to make it real, it has to be practical.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll give you a few examples but you shouldn\u2019t limit it to these \u2013 you have to take the principle and apply it as far as you can. It\u2019s a Career of Preparing. Everything you do in this world becomes more valuable, more perfect, according to the preparation that\u2019s put into it. And the more we practice up, the more it changes our entire attitude as we walk through this world.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019ll start with a small example. Let’s say you’re a girl and you’re a big idealist, so you rushed to get here; you wanted to hear Rabbi Miller’s lecture. And so you dressed rapidly and left some stuff lying on the floor, your stockings and your other shoes and so on.
\n\n\n\nNow the lecture is finished and you\u2019re about to come back into your house. So while you’re holding the doorknob, stop. Stop! You remember what you heard at the lecture about preparing? So before you turn the doorknob, get ready because your mother might greet you with a barrage: \u201cHow dare you leave your room a mess like that! I had to bend over picking up everything off the floor for you!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSteel Yourself
\n\n\n\nAnd right away you’ll get angry and you\u2019ll open your big mouth and it will be a scene, and you’ll go to sleep all broken up. Instead of going to sleep inspired, you’re discouraged now and broken up because of the fight you had with your mother.
\n\n\n\nSo as you’re holding the doorknob, make a hachanah! Prepare for that mitzvah of kibud av v\u2019eim. Get ready and think about the worst that could happen. Your mother will say, \u201cYou lazy thing! I\u2019m always cleaning up after you! I have to wash the dishes for you all the time. You run off for good times, to hear lectures, and I have to prepare for Shabbos and I get no help from you.\u201d Maybe she\u2019ll say worse things. Be prepared! Steel yourself for the occasion and get ready for the ordeal.
\n\n\n\nAs you’re holding the doorknob you say, \u201cCome what may, even if she’ll heap hot coals on my head, I’m going to be a tzidkanis. I’ll keep my mouth shut. And maybe I’ll be strong enough to say, \u2018You\u2019re right mother.\u2019\u201d Of course next week you should come again anyhow.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way to prepare in life. Don\u2019t worry now about big preparations. Fourteen years in the yeshivah, that\u2019s a very big hachanah for a very big person. No; we\u2019ll start small. We\u2019ll take baby steps and that way we\u2019ll get into the habit of making hachanos as we make our way through life.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s Go To Shul
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t it a pity that we walk to shul every morning and on the way we\u2019re talking with a friend or a neighbor small talk \u2013 or if we\u2019re alone we think small thoughts \u2013 and meanwhile we\u2019re frittering away a glorious opportunity. The possuk says \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05dc\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Prepare yourself to meet your Hashem, Yisroel and here you\u2019ll just barge in like a bull into the House of Hashem to speak with your G-d? No thoughts, no hachanah, no nothing?
\n\n\n\n\u05d7\u05b2\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05e7\u05b9\u05d3\u05b6\u05dd \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 The pious ones of the earlier generations would spend a full hour before davening preparing for that great event (Brachos 32b). They waited a whole hour before every tefillah three times a day. An hour before davening? What\u2019s the delay?! Let\u2019s get busy davening already! The answer is that they understood this principle well. One hour before shacharis! And an hour before minchah too and then another hour before ma’ariv!
\n\n\n\nNow the Gemara there asks a question. If they spent so many hours thinking, preparing, and that\u2019s besides the hours in prayer, so when were they learning Torah? And how did they make a living? That\u2019s the Gemara\u2019s question. And the answer given there is that because they were chassidim they succeeded in their Torah in less time. They succeeded in their business too, in their parnassah. It was a special siyata dishmaya; a gift from Hakodosh Boruch Hu to His special ones who appreciated this principle of preparation.
\n\n\n\nNow we can\u2019t go to such extremes. We won\u2019t merit that special siyata dishmaya because we\u2019re not serious about it. We\u2019ll drink a coffee and waste time and so besides for not preparing we won\u2019t succeed in our learning and make a living either. But the principle is true \u2013 something we must do. Something you must prepare.
\n\n\n\nToiling For Nothing
\n\n\n\nEvery day we say the following prayer: \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hashem should please open our hearts in His Torah, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 and He should put into our hearts love for Him and fear of Him. And then we finish up like this: \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b5\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 in order we shouldn\u2019t labor in vain and toil for nothing.
\n\n\n\nIt means like this: most of us davened today a whole davening, let\u2019s say. But at the end of the davening we have to be afraid \u2013 maybe it was larik, chas v\u2019shalom; maybe it was for nothing. If we\u2019re just rattling off words without thinking, can that be considered davening? There\u2019s no question that usually a great part of our davening is thrown out!
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t that a pity? Suppose you didn\u2019t daven; instead every day you had a kevius to learn Mishnah Berurah in that time instead of davening \u2013 you would be a lamdan in halachah already! If every day you would learn, let\u2019s say, Mishnayos or Gemara during that time, you\u2019d be a real lamdan. Isn\u2019t it a pity you waste so much time of your life on davening if it\u2019s thrown out anyways?
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, every day we pray, \u201cRibono Shel Olam put into our hearts love of You and fear of You, \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7, so that we shouldn\u2019t toil in vain, for nothing.\u201d
\n\n\n\nEarly Preparation
\n\n\n\nNow how is it going to happen that your davening will be with \u201chearts of love and fear of You\u201d? One of the keys to that is hachanah. The way that you travel towards the beis hakenesses, that is going to set the way in which you will pray. Try it tomorrow morning. As you walk to the beis hamedrash, you walk a block, or maybe you ride five blocks, prepare yourself.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is you should prepare yourself much earlier than that. As soon as you get up and wash your hands you\u2019re preparing. The Rashba says (Beis Yosef O.C. 4) that negel vasser is for the purpose of showing that we are kohanei Hashem; just like the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash whose function was to serve Hashem, our function in this world is the same thing. And by the kohanim it says, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d7\u05b2\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2026 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3 (Shemos 40:31-32). Before coming in to serve Hashem, the kohanim washed their hands as a preparation for this important opportunity.
\n\n\n\nIn the morning, we\u2019re getting up in order to serve Hashem all day long. Washing your hands when you wake up means that you\u2019re getting yourself ready to serve Hashem. You are a kohen Hashem all day long.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, as you\u2019re pouring the water on your hands you\u2019re thinking \u2013 you can say it too if nobody\u2019s around \u2013 \u201cI am doing this now because I am a kohen. I\u2019m preparing now to make today a successful day of avodas Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA person who does that, he\u2019s ready, he\u2019s prepared. Whether you\u2019ll be in the kitchen cooking, whether you\u2019ll be working in the office or shopping in the grocery store or learning or davening in the beis medrash, you\u2019ve already prepared yourself. \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05dc\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Prepare yourself to meet your Hashem, Yisroel by means of negel vasser. Don\u2019t waste that glorious opportunity that you have every morning.
\n\n\n\nPreparing For Maariv
\n\n\n\nThink beforehand! Before everything! Right now, in a few minutes we\u2019ll be davening maariv here. We\u2019ll have a minute or two after the lecture before Borchu. You\u2019ll wash your hands maybe, you\u2019ll put on your hat. While you\u2019re going through the motions of preparing, why not prepare your mind too?
\n\n\n\nYou’re going to say ma’ariv aravim now. It means you\u2019re going to be thanking Hashem for nighttime. Nighttime is not merely a lack of daytime. That’s what people think that nighttime means it’s not daytime. No.It’s a creation, nighttime. Bechachmah poseach shearim, besevunah, nighttime is a big wisdom. Only you have to study it. I\u2019d like to talk about it, but not now, that’s your job. Think about the blessings of nighttime so at least the first brachah you’ll say with a full heart: baruch atah Hashem hama’ariv aravim.
\n\n\n\nAnd what about oheiv amo Yisrael, that great brachah? Oh! In just a few minutes I\u2019m going to be making a big declaration in shul. Hashem loves me! He loves me and He loves my neighbor and my other neighbor and my wife and my boss. He loves the entire Am Yisroel! And He loves them with a love that can\u2019t be measured! Ooh wah! Boruch atah Hashem, I thank You Hashem, oheiv amo Yisroel, that You love Your nation.
\n\n\n\nAnd what about krias shema? When you\u2019re saying \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3, have in mind you\u2019re doing it because of a mitzvah \u2013 a mitzvah of the Torah. Does it take long to think about that? In one second you can rescue that mitzvah from going larik, into oblivion. Think: \u201cI\u2019m now about to do the mitzvah of declaring yichud Hashem\u201d. It takes a second, and then you say shema.
\n\n\n\nLoving Hashem
\n\n\n\nThen you come to the pesukim of V\u2019Ahavta. The Chofetz Chaim says that while you\u2019re saying V\u2019Ahavta, you might as well do the mitzvah and love Hashem. At least for one possuk you can love Him! You ever thought about that? The Chofetz Chaim says: love Hashem right now while you\u2019re saying that possuk. You don\u2019t have reason to love Him?! The fact that you can talk is enough reason to love Him. You have to prepare for a V\u2019Ahavta! Look how many people can\u2019t talk. They make noises and talk with their hands \u2013 that\u2019s how they walk around the world. And you can talk! You\u2019re a normal person! You should love Hashem. At least for one possuk love Him \u2013 fulfill the mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nThe rest of maariv too; what does the first parshah say? And the second? The third? And so on. What does emes ve’emunah say? What does hashkiveinu say? And you say baruch Hashem leolam, what does that say? What does it say? Now you can\u2019t do all of that all the time, but you have to begin somewhere.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Blunder Like a Bumpkin
\n\n\n\nNot only davening. Everything else too. If you\u2019re a yeshivah man on the way to the yeshivah to learn, or you\u2019re a working man going at night to the beis medrash to learn, prepare! What am I going to do now? What am I looking to accomplish? Will it help me accomplish if I start making conversation with everyone I see there? Will I succeed if I spend a half hour on the public phone before I go inside?
\n\n\n\nIf you don’t prepare then you suddenly blunder into this great treasury of opportunities and you waste it. It’s like taking a country bumpkin, an oaf from the forest \u2013 and you take him out of his little cottage in the forest and suddenly you transport him to Tiffany\u2019s and let him into the safe for one minute to fill up his pockets. He takes a look at the sparklers. He’s bewildered! Ooh wah! What is this? But he\u2019s so unprepared that he lets the opportunity go by. He forgot what he came for. And then when the time is up, they pull him out. The poor fool didn’t even begin to understand the treasures that were spread before his eyes.
\n\n\n\nAnd we are even worse because the treasures of Tiffany\u2019s are only stones. Colorful stones, shiny stones. But we\u2019re talking now about the true treasures, and we lose out because we’re not prepared. And that’s this great principle of getting ready.
\n\n\n\nAre You Really Ready?
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that every Jew recognizes this principle, at least with lip service. Don\u2019t we say, \u201c\u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u2013 I am now prepared and set aside to fulfill this and this mitzvah.\u201d? The problem is that\u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df usually means: \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b6\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u2013 \u201cI am not ready.\u201d I say the words, but how am I ready? What ready? Where ready?
\n\n\n\nBut we see at least that \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df is a principle. Before you do a mitzvah, it\u2019s important to make sure to prepare yourself so that the mitzvah shouldn\u2019t go lost. You have to remind yourself to be meyacheid the leiv, to assign your heart to the task at hand. And the way to accomplish that is by making sure to prepare yourself beforehand; that\u2019s the secret ingredient \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 – in order that we shouldn\u2019t toil in vain.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df; whether it\u2019s davening or learning or tefillin or tzitzis or putting on your head covering; your yarmulke or your sheitel, you must prepare yourself for that mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Day
\n\n\n\nNow, when it comes to preparing for mitzvos, there\u2019s one mitzvah that stands out as a model for us more than maybe any other mitzvah \u2013 it\u2019s the mitzvah most familiar to us when it comes to the subject of preparing, and that is Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nShabbos is The Great Day of Knowledge, the one day every week for acquiring a Torah mind. There are so many things that a person should gain on Shabbos, so many things to put into your head, and it\u2019s only possible if you prepare yourself. And that\u2019s why already from the earliest days of our nation\u2019s history our Sages instituted an especial mitzvah of preparing for Shabbos. It\u2019s in order to understand the value that Shabbos is going to bring to us, to remind us that more than anything else we have to prepare our minds.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when the lady of the house is standing all day long, on Thursday, on Friday, preparing for Shabbos, that\u2019s intended most importantly to remind her about hachanah! Yes, the kugel and the chicken and the potatoes, it\u2019s very important, but there’s one condiment that she\u2019s expected to add that will create the greatest benefit of all. If she would leave out let’s say the onions, so the cholent will lack some taste. If she forgets the salt, so the soup will be lacking. But there\u2019s one thing that if she leaves out, everything will lack taste, and that is the condiment of preparing herself to gain the Shabbos mind.
\n\n\n\nThe Shabbos Notebook
\n\n\n\nYou have to plan ahead for that great day. I have at home a notebook, and I keep written down there the different attitudes a person should gain on Shabbos. And in order that I should be prepared, I take a look in that notebook from time to time to remind myself what\u2019s going to be this coming Shabbos, what attitudes I\u2019m going to attempt to acquire. I have written there at least thirty different ideas to think about on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, while the lady of the house is cleaning, so she\u2019s thinking: \u201cThis Shabbos I want to make sure to remind myself as much as possible that it\u2019s zecher l\u2019maaseh bereishis.\u201d Hashem made the world out of nothing. The world has no existence. There are no physical elements. There are no forces of nature. Everything was imagined by Hashem into existence.
\n\n\n\nThat’s a stunning idea which we must labor all our lives in order to gain just a little bit of its impact. And so we must plan ahead. \u201cWhen my husband and children walk out the door to the shul on Friday night, I\u2019m going to sit down on the couch for two minutes and think. I\u2019ll look at the Shabbos candles and think that this fire, this candlestick, is really nothing; it\u2019s just the imagination of Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nShe can plan for the Shabbos seudah too. She\u2019s thinking, \u201cWhen I bring all the delicious foods out to the table, I\u2019ll remember to think about why we\u2019re meaneg es haShabbos, why we cause joy to ourselves on Shabbos. It\u2019s because we\u2019re practicing up on the great truth that not only did Hashem make this world, but He made it for pleasure. It\u2019s a world of oneg!
\n\n\n\nPreparing After Mommy
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how to prepare for Shabbos. You\u2019re walking home from shul and you tell your children, \u201cLet\u2019s prepare for the meal now, while we\u2019re walking.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cPrepare? But Mommy prepared everything already.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes, Mommy prepared the food but we have to prepare our minds. We have to eat with a purpose; we\u2019re eating to taste from Hashem\u2019s world. It\u2019s His challah and His chicken and His potatoes and as we eat we\u2019ll be reminding ourselves that \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4, that Hashem made this world a world of pleasure.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no question that if you\u2019re going to bumble into Shabbos without any preparation, you\u2019re going to lose out. You\u2019ll keep Shabbos of course; you\u2019ll be careful with all the melachos and you\u2019ll go to the synagogue and you\u2019ll fulfill all the mitzvos of Shabbos. But you\u2019re guaranteed to lose out on the goldmine of Shabbos if you don\u2019t prepare. If you want to suck out all the juice from Shabbos and transform your mind every week, so you\u2019ll start preparing for Shabbos beforehand.
\n\n\n\nShabbos And The Afterlife
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s one especial attitude that we acquire by means of preparing for Shabbos that we can\u2019t leave out of our \u2018Career of Preparing.\u2019 And that is the thought on Shabbos that our stay in this world is one big career of preparing for Olam Habo. And just like our Shabbos preparations, the better we prepare, the greater will be our \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea in the Afterlife.
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Avoda Zarah (3a) our Sages tell us that \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 If you prepared, you cooked and baked and shopped, before Shabbos, then you\u2019ll have something to eat on Shabbos. But if you don’t prepare, you\u2019ll have nothing.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s something you don\u2019t need the Sages to tell us. Everyone knows that. If the lady of the house will kick up her feet and lay on the couch all Friday afternoon then you can forget about Shabbos being a Shabbos. There\u2019ll be no good food to eat, no freshly laundered clothing to wear. If you don\u2019t go shopping or take a bath on erev Shabbos, you lost your chance. There\u2019s no bathing or shopping on Shabbos. Every child knows that; so what are the Chachomim telling us?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that among the lessons of Shabbos, one of the most impressive lessons is that Shabbos is a rehearsal for the Next World. Shabbos is Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nA Mashal
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t think I\u2019m just telling a machshavah out of my mind; it says openly in the Gemara (Brachos 57b) that Shabbos is a me\u2019ein, a semblance, of the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nOf course, it\u2019s only a mashal, in this world, you\u2019re tired of eating after a while. You can\u2019t eat more than a certain amount. In Olam Habo, however, you\u2019ll eat forever. It doesn\u2019t mean \u2018eat\u2019; even better than eating. It\u2019s such a pleasure that the Gemara says if we would have that pleasure in our bodies, we would explode. Our nerves would explode. We couldn\u2019t take it \u2013 so much pleasure. A tremendous happiness awaits us in the World To Come, a million times greater than Shabbos! But Shabbos is a mashal for Olam Habo, a little something.
\n\n\n\nAnd why does it tell us that mashal? So that we should utilize it. And one of the ways of utilizing it is by reminding yourself always that Olam Habo is a place where we have to enter only after we’re ready for it. If you don\u2019t prepare, forget about it. You won\u2019t be able to just waltz in and enjoy it, it requires a great hachanah.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we have to rehearse for Olam Habo. This world is a time of erev Shabbos and it’s here that we have to prepare for the World to Come. You can’t do mitzvos in the World to Come. This world is the only place where you can cook and bake and prepare mitzvos to take with you to the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nThoughts For The Meal
\n\n\n\nSo think about that! You\u2019re sitting down Shabbos at the table, everybody is well dressed, everybody is happy, on the table the most tasty and delicious viands are being served, roasted chicken, cholent, compote, delicacies, kugels, all kinds of good things are there, and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cAhh! Mei\u2019ein Olam Habo! How did we merit such a beautiful Shabbos? Such a tasty and pleasurable Shabbos? Only because we prepared. We cooked and baked, we shopped before Shabbos, that\u2019s why we have something to eat on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nAnd so that\u2019s the great lesson of Shabbos; that this world is a Career of Preparing. If you want to make something from yourself in this world and in the World to Come, that\u2019s number one: You must learn how to prepare! To be successful you must live with that attitude of \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05dc\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Prepare to greet your Elokecha, Yisroel. It means, in everything you do, prepare ahead of time so that you should be doing it with Hashem in the forefront of your mind.
\n\n\n\nWhether it\u2019s preparing for marriage or davening or kibud av v\u2019eim or Shabbos, the more you prepare ahead of time, the more you\u2019ll achieve. And when it comes to Shabbos especially, one of the great lessons of preparing on erev Shabbos is that you\u2019re reminding yourself always that this world we\u2019re living in, as much as it seems that this is it, it\u2019s not it. And it\u2019s only the one who prepared himself in this world of erev Shabbos, he\u2019ll be the fortunate one who eats on Yom Shekulo Shabbos in the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTapes: 23 – Forestalling Trouble | 48 – Career of Preparing | 501 – Furniture In the Mansion Of the Mind | 722 – Shabbos – Day of Knowledge | 908 – Gathering The Exile
\n\n\n\nSetting Out On A Career Of Preparing
\n\n\n\nEverything we do should be with Hashem in the forefront of our mind. We can accomplish this only if we prepare ourselves properly. This week I will bli neder wash negel vasser every day with the thought that I\u2019m washing like the kohanim who washed before beginning their Service of Hashem. I too am a servant of Hashem and I desire to prepare to serve Him all day. Starting my day off in this way will set the tone for the day ahead as I add intent and preparation to the many things I do in the service of Hashem.
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\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T04:31:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T04:31:35+00:00" }, { "id": 35886, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeitzei-5783-a-career-of-preparing/", "title": "Parshas Vayeitzei 5783 – A Career of Preparing", "content_html": "TA-Vayeitzei-5783The post Parshas Vayeitzei 5783 – A Career of Preparing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T04:29:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T04:29:35+00:00" }, { "id": 35878, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayeitzei-5783-a-career-of-preparing/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeitzei 5783 – A Career of Preparing", "content_html": "TA-Vayeitzei-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeitzei 5783 – A Career of Preparing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T04:29:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T04:29:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35875, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayetse/", "title": "Paracha Vay\u00e9ts\u00e9", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayetse-5783The post Paracha Vay\u00e9ts\u00e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T04:18:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T04:18:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35872, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-dia-de-accion-de-gracias-una-fiesta-de-la-iglesia/", "title": "El d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias: una fiesta de la iglesia ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre los jud\u00edos que comen pavo en el D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es mi opini\u00f3n sobre los jud\u00edos que comen pavo en el d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias? \u00bfCu\u00e1l es mi opini\u00f3n de que los jud\u00edos vayan a la iglesia en el d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias? Es lo mismo. Consult\u00e9 tres enciclopedias: no fueron escritas por guedol\u00e9 Israel pero tampoco fueron escritas por kana\u00edm. Fueron escritos por go\u00edm. Y cada una dice lo siguiente: \u201cEl D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias es una fiesta de la iglesia\u201d. Olv\u00eddate de que sea un feriado legal; olv\u00eddate de que sea una fiesta estadounidense. \u00a1Es una fiesta de la iglesia! Y est\u00e1 hecha con el prop\u00f3sito de ir a la iglesia y hacer all\u00ed los servicios.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, cuando los jud\u00edos dicen: \u201cBueno, \u00bfqu\u00e9 hay de malo en que lo hagamos? \u00a1No vamos a la iglesia! Tienes que saber que en la Tor\u00e1 dice que si dices \u05d0\u05d9\u05db\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d4\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05db\u05df \u05d2\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cC\u00f3mo estas naciones sirven a sus dioses y har\u00e9 yo lo mismo\u201d es un pecado. La Guemar\u00e1 dice que no significa que es igual que servir a \u00eddolos pero servirlo a \u00c9l de la manera en que ellos sirven a sus dioses. \u00a1Oh, no! Eso est\u00e1 prohibido.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00edamos servir a Hashem como lo hacen ellos? Celebrar los servicios de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias, eso es abizaraihu deavod\u00e1 zar\u00e1, es algo as\u00ed como hacer avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1. Y por lo tanto, cualquier s\u00edmbolo de ese d\u00eda, como comer pavo, es abizaraihu deavod\u00e1 zar\u00e1. Y una persona debe hacer todo lo que est\u00e9 a su alcance para evitar tales cosas. El hecho de que en Estados Unidos haya carnicer\u00edas o restaurantes que venden y sirven pavo en el D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias, pavo kosher en el d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias, e incluso hay rabinos a los que les importa comer pavo y celebrar el d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias; son v\u00edctimas de la ignorancia.
\n\n\n\nNo le pregunto a talmide\u00e9 jajamim qu\u00e9 es el D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias. Le pregunto a los go\u00edm qu\u00e9 es el D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias. \u00a1Y tres go\u00edm kosher escribieron en enciclopedias que el D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias es una fiesta de la iglesia! Ellos son mis poskim.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #529 (noviembre de 1984)
\nThe post El d\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias: una fiesta de la iglesia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-27T03:59:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-27T03:59:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35867, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-shopping-deals/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Shopping Deals", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should women travel long distances to go shopping in Manhattan in order to save a little bit of money?
A:
Now, we have to know that women who go out on the search for the holy grail in Midtown New York \u2013 they\u2019re seeking to buy a bargain \u2013 many times they are exposing themselves to perils. It\u2019s not so easy for a woman to be waltzing around in New York today. It\u2019s not so simple. If you can avoid it, it pays even to shop locally and lose money.
Now this has been said here again and again. And things have happened unfortunately and people just close their eyes and say, \u201cThere was an accident.\u201d I don\u2019t want to quote an example \u2013 it happened three years ago. A woman went shopping, a young woman; she was pregnant and she was going downstairs in an elevator in that building. They took her to a wholesale place where she gets special prices and a tragedy happened in the elevator. And she ended up losing her life, unfortunately.
\n\n\n\nNow, Jews have to beware \u2013 Jewish women especially. If you can keep out of Manhattan, do so. Manhattan today is teeming with crooks and with perverts, and they\u2019re experienced in performing crimes. And therefore, stay away from Manhattan if it\u2019s at all possible! If you have to go there to work, it can\u2019t be helped, but try to shop in your neighborhood.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 495 (February 1984)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Shopping Deals appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-25T17:25:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-25T17:25:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35856, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%95-%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%91-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%93%d7%a0%d7%94%d7%99%d7%99%d7%98-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9d-%d7%90/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d5: \u05e7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1, \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d3\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8, \u05d1\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d5", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-246The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d5: \u05e7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05d1, \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d3\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8, \u05d1\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-25T04:21:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-25T04:21:08+00:00" }, { "id": 35835, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/iehe-sheme-raba/", "title": "Ieh\u00e9 Shem\u00e9 Rab\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debemos pensar al decir \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, primero tenemos que prestar atenci\u00f3n a lo que dijo el shal\u00edaj tzibur antes de esto, para saber qu\u00e9 est\u00e1 respondiendo ese am\u00e9n. El shal\u00edaj tzibur dice, \u05d9\u05ea\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 \u201cQue Su gran Nombre sea exaltado y santificado\u201d. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 dice eso? \u00bfCu\u00e1l es el prop\u00f3sito?
\n\n\n\nPorque esa es la raz\u00f3n por la que estamos reunidos en el shul. Nos reunimos para dar honor a Hashem; para demostrar nuestra lealtad a \u00c9l y nuestra gratitud a \u00c9l. Para eso nos unimos.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, cuando dice \u05d9\u05ea\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 Que Su gran Nombre sea exaltado y santificado, respondemos \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u05de\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05da \u2013 \u00a1Que Su gran Nombre sea bendito por los siglos de los siglos! Significa esto: \u201c\u00a1Estamos de acuerdo contigo! Nuestro objetivo es reunirse y alabar a Hashem. Pero no estamos satisfechos simplemente con reunirnos en este momento. \u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 \u00a1Queremos que contin\u00fae por los siglos de los siglos! Lo que significa que queremos que nuestros hijos y los hijos de nuestros hijos sigan nuestros pasos y se congreguen en las sinagogas e incluso en sus hogares y siempre alaben a Hashem por los siglos de los siglos. Eso es lo que estamos diciendo. No estamos satisfechos simplemente con el ahora. \u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 Por los siglos de los siglos. Es una tefil\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPero no es s\u00f3lo una tefil\u00e1, un rezo por el futuro. Tambi\u00e9n es una declaraci\u00f3n de resoluci\u00f3n: “\u00a1Tenemos la intenci\u00f3n de ver que esto se lleve a cabo!” Entonces \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 significa que vamos a apoyar a las ieshivot. Vamos a construir escuelas Bet Iaakov para que su gran nombre sea bendito para siempre. Bet Iaakov significa que las ni\u00f1as est\u00e1n dispuestas a tener beb\u00e9s. Antes de que aparecieran los Bet Iaakov, las ni\u00f1as no quer\u00edan tener beb\u00e9s. Bet Iaakov significa chicas que tienen diez hijos.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes lo que est\u00e1n haciendo por nosotros? \u00a1Est\u00e1n salvando a la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda! A nuestro alrededor, los jud\u00edos se est\u00e1n destruyendo a s\u00ed mismos. Est\u00e1n cometiendo un suicidio nacional. Todo el mundo se pierde, pero las chicas de los Bet Iaakov iniciaron el gran movimiento iniciado por la R\u00e9betzn Kaplan en Estados Unidos que lo trajo de Europa, un ideal de ser una madre exitosa, una madre jud\u00eda idealista; fundaron estas escuelas y ahora esas ni\u00f1as est\u00e1n teniendo beb\u00e9s.
\n\n\n\nY est\u00e1n casadas \u200b\u200bcon Bnei Tor\u00e1; \u00a1Hay chicas frum por todas partes! \u00a1Familias grandes! Los ves empujando un cochecito de beb\u00e9, dos dentro del cochecito y cuatro m\u00e1s agarrados al cochecito, caminando junto a ellos. \u00a1Eso es una inspiraci\u00f3n! \u00a1Deber\u00edamos amontonar bendiciones sobre ellos a medida que pasan! Se merecen todas las cosas buenas del mundo, estas mujeres devotas. Significa mucho trabajo, pero est\u00e1n trabajando por el futuro de nuestra gente. Eso es \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 \u00a1ella est\u00e1 diciendo \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 cada minuto! \u00a1Ya sabes lo que significa tener que lavar tantos pa\u00f1ales! \u00a1Tener que lavar tantos platos! Es un trabajo constante. Ella est\u00e1 diciendo \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.
\n\n\n\nY el esposo leal que trabaja todo el d\u00eda para mantener a una familia as\u00ed; a veces toma dos trabajos. Tambi\u00e9n est\u00e1 diciendo, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0. Eso es lo que queremos decir con \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0. Queremos tener generaciones y generaciones.
\n\n\n\nY todos esos jud\u00edos que trabajan para ieshivot, personas que est\u00e1n preocupadas por cumplir con las n\u00f3minas de las ieshivot, personas que vienen a las reuniones de la Junta Directiva y dicen: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos ayudar a que la ieshiv\u00e1 contin\u00fae, tal vez incluso se expanda?” Las personas que han fundado ieshivot, los idealistas que fundaron las escuelas Bet Iaakov, tienen mucho trabajo en ello. Todas estas personas est\u00e1n diciendo \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.
\n\n\n\nAdem\u00e1s, cuando un jud\u00edo se entrena en la carrera de alabar a Hashem, cuando un jud\u00edo estudia Tor\u00e1 y comprende sus obligaciones de alabar a Hashem, todo eso es \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0. Y por lo tanto, cada forma de servicio a Hashem se expresa cuando decimos las palabras de \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, nuevamente, primero que nada, es un rezo para que esto contin\u00fae para siempre: Su Nombre debe ser bendito por los siglos de los siglos. En segundo lugar, es una declaraci\u00f3n de que esto es lo que vamos a hacer; vamos a ocuparnos de que lo llevemos a cabo en nuestra vida. Y la tercera es que es una profec\u00eda. Ahora estamos prediciendo el futuro. Esto continuar\u00e1 para siempre. Siempre habr\u00e1 una naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda para siempre. Esta naci\u00f3n y aquella naci\u00f3n est\u00e1n destinadas a hundirse eventualmente. Los pueblos m\u00e1s importantes y poderosos eventualmente se perder\u00e1n, pero una naci\u00f3n que dice \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 continuar\u00e1 dici\u00e9ndolo por siempre.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tenemos tres cosas; las repito ahora. La primera es que es un rezo. En segundo lugar, es una declaraci\u00f3n de que esto es lo que vamos a hacer y, en tercer lugar, es una profec\u00eda de que continuar\u00e1 para siempre.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #520 (septiembre de 1984)
\nThe post Ieh\u00e9 Shem\u00e9 Rab\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-24T03:43:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T03:43:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35838, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-yihei-shmei-rabah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Yihei Shmei Rabah", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s the intention of saying \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0?
A.
Now, we have to first realize what the shaliach tzibbur said before this in order to know what that amen is answering. The shaliach tzibbur is saying, \u05d9\u05ea\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 \u201cMay His great Name be exalted and sanctified.\u201d Why does he say that? What\u2019s the purpose?
Because that\u2019s the reason we are assembled together in shul. We come together to give honor to Hashem; to demonstrate our loyalty to Him and our gratitude to Him. That\u2019s what we come together for.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, when he says \u05d9\u05ea\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 May His great Name be exalted and sanctified, we answer \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u05de\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05da \u2013 Let His great Name be blessed forever and ever and ever! It means this: \u201cWe agree with you! We wholeheartedly advocate this procedure of coming together and praising Hashem. But we\u2019re not satisfied merely with this occasion. \u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 We want it to continue forever and ever! Which means we want that our children and our children\u2019s children should continue to follow in our footsteps and they should congregate in synagogues and even in their homes and always praise Hashem forever and ever. That\u2019s what we\u2019re saying. We\u2019re not satisfied merely with now. \u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05dc\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 Forever and ever. It\u2019s a tefillah.
But it\u2019s not only a tefillah, a prayer for the future. It\u2019s also a declaration of resolve: \u201cWe intend to see this carried out!\u201d So \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 means, we\u2019re going to support yeshivos. We\u2019re going to build Beth Jacob schools in order that His great name should be blessed forever. Beth Jacob means girls are willing to have babies. Before Beth Jacob came along, the girls didn\u2019t want to have any babies. Beth Jacob means girls who have ten children.
Do you know what they\u2019re doing for us? They\u2019re saving the Jewish nation! All around us Jews are destroying themselves. They\u2019re committing national suicide. Everybody\u2019s going underground and getting lost but the Beth Jacob girls started the great movement initiated by the Rebbetzin Kaplan in America who brought it over from Europe, an ideal of being a successful mother, an idealistic Jewish mother; they founded these schools and now girls are having babies.
\n\n\n\nAnd they\u2019re married to\u00a0bnei Torah;\u00a0there are\u00a0frum\u00a0girls everywhere! \u00a0Big families!\u00a0 You see them pushing a baby carriage, two inside the carriage and four more holding on to the carriage,\u00a0walking along with them.\u00a0 That\u2019s an inspiration!\u00a0 We should heap blessings on them as they pass by!\u00a0 They deserve all good things in the world, these devoted women.\u00a0 It means a lot of work but they\u2019re working for the future of our people.\u00a0 That\u2019s \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u2013 she\u2019s saying \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 every minute! You\u00a0know what it means to have to wash so many diapers!\u00a0 To have to wash so many dishes! It\u2019s constant work.\u00a0She\u2019s saying \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.\u00a0
And the loyal husband who is working all day long to support such a family;\u00a0sometimes he takes two jobs. He\u2019s also saying, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0. That\u2019s what we mean with \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.\u00a0 We want to have generations and generations.\u00a0
And all those Jews who work for\u00a0yeshivos,\u00a0people who are worried about meeting the payrolls of the\u00a0yeshivos, people who come to the Board of Directors meetings and say, \u201cHow can we help the yeshiva continue,\u00a0maybe even expand?\u201d\u00a0 People who have founded yeshivas, idealists who founded Beth Jacob schools \u2013 there\u2019s a\u00a0lot of work in it. \u00a0All these\u00a0people are all saying \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAlso when a Jew is training himself for a career of praising Hashem, when a Jew is learning Torah and he\u2019s understanding his obligations to praise Hashem, that\u2019s all \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0. And therefore every form of service of Hashem is being expressed when we say the words of \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0.
\n\n\n\nSo again, first of all it\u2019s a prayer that this should go on forever \u2013 His Name should be blessed forever and ever. Secondly, it is a declaration that this is what we are going to do; we\u2019re going to see to it that we carry it out in our lives. And the third is that it\u2019s a prophecy. We are now foretelling the future. This will continue forever. There will always be a Jewish nation forever. This nation and that nation are bound to go under eventually. The most important and powerful peoples eventually will go lost, but a nation that says \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 will continue to say it forever.
\n\n\n\nSo we have three things; I\u2019m repeating them now. The first is, it\u2019s a prayer. Secondly, it\u2019s a declaration that this is what we\u2019re going to do, and thirdly, it\u2019s a prophecy that it\u2019s going to continue forever.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 520 (September 1984)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Yihei Shmei Rabah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-23T22:20:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:24:10+00:00" }, { "id": 35832, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/trabajar-y-estudiar/", "title": "Trabajar y estudiar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo se puede saber si uno est\u00e1 invirtiendo demasiado esfuerzo en ganarse la vida, en lugar de estudiar Tor\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si pudiera responder a esa pregunta, me convertir\u00eda en millonario; abrir\u00eda una oficina porque muchas personas me han hecho esa pregunta durante a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nEs imposible saberlo. Lo \u00fanico que s\u00e9 es que lo que se debe hacer sobre ese problema depende de ti. Si sabes qu\u00e9 hacer con tu tiempo, entonces comenzar\u00e1s a arrebatar un poco de tiempo para estudiar. Lo que sea que puedas aprovechar, hazlo.
\n\n\n\nDigamos que tienes el anhelo de convertirte en un abrej colel. Un hombre me dijo que le gustar\u00eda ser abrej colel; \u00e9l estaba pensando en renunciar a su trabajo y convertirse en un abrej. As\u00ed que le dije: “No necesitas renunciar a tu trabajo; el domingo convi\u00e9rtete en abrej. No trabajas los domingos. As\u00ed que el domingo por la ma\u00f1ana ll\u00e9vate el almuerzo, desp\u00eddete de tu esposa y no regreses hasta la noche. Ser\u00e1s un abrej colel todo el d\u00eda y no da\u00f1ar\u00e1s tu parnas\u00e1 “. Eso fue hace a\u00f1os; \u00a1Todav\u00eda no lo ha hecho!
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es, \u00e9l no quer\u00eda ser un abrej; \u00a1lo que quer\u00eda era no trabajar!
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, si alguien es sincero y sigue este consejo, el domingo s\u00e9 un abrej colel. Lo que significa, enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, durante todo el a\u00f1o, cada domingo estate en el colel. No te sientes al volante de tu auto; estate en el colel todos los domingos. Y no vuelvas a tu casa hasta tarde; todos los domingos del a\u00f1o.
\n\n\n\nAhora tu esposa protestar\u00e1: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 hay de m\u00ed?”
\n\n\n\nBueno, \u00bfquiere ella tener un marido abrej o no? Tiene que decidir que eso es lo que quiere.
\n\n\n\nSi una persona quiere, que comience a convertirse en un abrej por la noche tambi\u00e9n. Sal cada noche para estudiar. Y despu\u00e9s de un tiempo, Hakadosh Baruj Hu, dir\u00e1: “Este hombre quiere pasar m\u00e1s tiempo estudiando Tor\u00e1, as\u00ed que \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 – Lo aliviar\u00e1n del yugo de trabajar tanto por su sustento.
\n\n\n\nY es sorprendente, pero esa es la verdad, hay personas que pasan hoy gran parte de su d\u00eda en el colel. Pero eso es una zeji\u00e1 que tiene que ganar al hacer uso primero de lo que est\u00e1 disponible.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #408 (junio de 1982)
\nThe post Trabajar y estudiar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-23T03:24:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-23T03:24:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35865, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-working-and-learning/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Working and Learning", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can one know whether he is spending too much effort on earning a living, instead of learning Torah?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow if I could answer that question, I would become a millionaire; I would open an office because very many people have asked me that question during the years.
\n\n\n\nIt is impossible to know. The only thing I know is that what to do about that problem depends on you. If you know what to do with your time, then you are going to begin to snatch away a little time to learn. Whatever you can get, you\u2019ll grab.
Let\u2019s say you have a yearning to become a kollel man. A man told me he would like to be a kollel man; he is thinking of giving up his job and becoming a kollel man. So I said to him, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to give up your job; on Sunday become a kollel man. You don\u2019t work on Sundays. So on Sunday morning take along lunch, say goodbye to your wife and don\u2019t come back till Sunday night. You are a kollel man all day long and it won’t harm your parnasa.\u201d That was years ago; he still hasn\u2019t done it!
The answer is, he didn\u2019t want to be a kollel-man; what he wanted was not to work!
\n\n\n\nHowever, if somebody is sincere and he follows this advice, so Sunday he is a kollel man. Which means, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, all year long \u2013 every Sunday he is in the kollel. He doesn\u2019t sit behind the wheel of his car; he is in the kollel every Sunday. And he doesn\u2019t come home till late; every Sunday, all year round.
\n\n\n\nNow his wife will protest, \u201cWhat about me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWell, does she want to have a kollel husband or not? You have to make up your mind that that\u2019s what you want.
\n\n\n\nIf a person wants, so he begins by becoming a kollel man at night too. He goes out every night to learn. And after a while Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cThis man wants to spend more time learning Torah so \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u2013 they will relieve him of the yoke of working so much for his livelihood.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s surprising, but that\u2019s the truth \u2013 you find people people today who spend part of their days every day in the kollel. But this is a zechiyeh that you have to earn by first making use of whatever is available.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 408 (June 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Working and Learning appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-22T17:17:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-25T17:17:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35828, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ceremonia-con-dos-anillos/", "title": "Ceremonia con dos anillos", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRecientemente estuve en una boda donde en la jup\u00e1 el rabino dijo que la kal\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n deber\u00eda darle un anillo al jat\u00e1n. \u00bfQu\u00e9 opina de esa idea?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSabes que sol\u00eda haber un momento en que sol\u00edan anunciar con orgullo: “\u00a1Una ceremonia de doble anillo!” como si fuera una aldaba. \u00a1Una ceremonia de doble anillo! Es una tonter\u00eda, una ridiculez; ella quiere, as\u00ed que le da un anillo al jat\u00e1n. Es una tonter\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nEntendamos. \u00bfQu\u00e9 es el matrimonio? El matrimonio es una organizaci\u00f3n. Una organizaci\u00f3n debe tener un presidente y un vicepresidente. Si tiene dos presidentes entonces no se mantendr\u00e1. \u00c9l le da un anillo; \u00e9l es el presidente. Ella acepta el anillo, es la vicepresidenta. Supon que tienes un barco con dos capitanes. \u00bfDos capitanes? No, eso no es bueno. Habr\u00e1 mot\u00edn. Es imposible.
\n\n\n\nPor eso los matrimonios modernos no duran. No se pueden tener dos cabezas de familia. Debe haber alguien que sea la autoridad de la familia. Por supuesto que tiene que respetar a su primer oficial. Hay que respetar al vicepresidente; muy importante. Esa es su prueba en este mundo. Si no respeta a su vicepresidente, es un gran problema. Debe lejabed et isht\u00f3 ioter miguf\u00f3; tiene que respetar a su esposa incluso m\u00e1s que a s\u00ed mismo. Pero si la esposa dice: \u201cSoy igual que mi esposo; har\u00e9 kidush, voy a lehotz\u00ed a todos con mi kidush\u201d, luego adi\u00f3s a la casa. No tendr\u00e1 kium y se destruir\u00e1. Debe haber s\u00f3lo un l\u00edder.
\n\n\n\nRecientemente hubo un anuncio de los bautistas del sur de que la esposa debe ser sumisa al esposo. Y fue considerado un gran jidush; todos los peri\u00f3dicos se alzaron en armas: \u201c\u00a1Vaya! \u00a1Guau! \u00a1\u00bfLa esposa debe ser sumisa al esposo?!\u201d Pero yo pensaba, \u201c\u00a1\u00bfeso es noticia?! \u00a1Esa es la naturaleza humana!\u201d El marido tiene que estar a cargo de la casa.
\n\n\n\nEso s\u00ed, cuando entres a tu casa no deber\u00edas meter la nariz en la cocina y decir \u201ccocina esto\u201d y \u201ccocina aquello\u201d. Tu esposa est\u00e1 a cargo de las cosas de la casa. Pero la cabeza de familia tiene que ser el marido y no hay duda al respecto. Si hay dos cabezas, se acab\u00f3. Una persona que nace con dos cabezas, es una teref\u00e1. Y por lo tanto una familia con dos cabezas no es una familia.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post Ceremonia con dos anillos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-22T01:22:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-22T01:22:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35862, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-double-ring-ceremonies/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Double Ring Ceremonies", "content_html": "\nQ:
Recently I was at a wedding where at the chuppah the rabbi said that the kallah should also give a ring to the chosson. What do you think about that idea?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou know there used to be a time when they used to announce with pride, \u201cA double ring ceremony!\u201d as if it’s a knocker. A double ring ceremony! It’s so silly, so ridiculous; she wants to, so she gives a ring to the chosson. It\u2019s silly as can be.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s understand. What is marriage? Marriage is an organization. An organization has to have a president and a vice-president. If it has two presidents then it won’t stand. He gives her a ring; he’s the president. She accepts the ring, she’s the vice president. Suppose you have a ship with two captains. Two captains? No, that\u2019s no good. There will be mutiny. It’s impossible.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why modern marriages don’t last. You can’t have two heads of family. There must be one who is the authority of the family. Of course he has to respect his first mate. You have to respect the vice-president; very important. That\u2019s his test in this world. If he doesn\u2019t respect his vice-president, it\u2019s big trouble. He must mechabed es ishto yoser meigufo; he has to respect his wife even more than himself. But if the wife says, \u201cI’m the same as my husband; I’ll make kiddush, I’ll be motzee everyone with kiddush,\u201d then goodbye house. It can’t have any kiyum and it breaks up. You must have one person who is a leader.
\n\n\n\nRecently there was an announcement by the Southern Baptists that the wife should be submissive to the husband. And it was considered a big chiddush; all the newspapers were up in arms: \u201cWhoa! Whoa! The wife is submissive to the husband?!\u201d But I was thinking, \u201cThat’s news?! That’s human nature!\u201d The husband has to be in charge of the house.
\n\n\n\nOf course, when he gets into the house he shouldn\u2019t stick his nose in the kitchen and say \u201cCook this\u201d and \u201cCook that.\u201d His wife is in charge of the house things. But the head of the family has to be the husband and no question about it. If there are two heads, it\u2019s finished. A person who is born with two heads, he’s a treifeh. And therefore a family with two heads is not a family.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Double Ring Ceremonies appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-21T17:12:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-25T17:13:42+00:00" }, { "id": 35823, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "10-\u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-21T12:29:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-21T12:29:45+00:00" }, { "id": 35821, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/alimentacion-saludable/", "title": "Alimentaci\u00f3n saludable ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nPara cuidar mejor nuestro cuerpo, \u00bfdeber\u00edamos comer alimentos saludables?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebemos comer alimentos naturales para preservar nuestra salud? Ahora bien, este es un tema que no soy competente para hablar. Me encantar\u00eda dar informaci\u00f3n, pero no soy el indicado. Estoy seguro de que si los alimentos est\u00e1n libres de pesticidas y libres de aditivos, son m\u00e1s saludables porque no hay duda de que Hakadosh Baruj Hu puede fabricar cosas mejores que las que pueden hacer los humanos. Pero m\u00e1s que eso no puedo decir.
\n\n\n\nSi tienes pan de trigo integral, por ejemplo, tienes todos los elementos que Hakadosh Baruj Hu cre\u00f3 para que tengas; si quitas ciertas partes, est\u00e1s perdiendo [varios nutrientes]. Todos conocen la historia del arroz; hubo un momento en que el arroz blanco se consideraba la \u00fanica forma de comer arroz; sol\u00edan moler la cubierta marr\u00f3n del grano de arroz y comer s\u00f3lo el n\u00facleo. La cubierta marr\u00f3n, la c\u00e1scara era considerada basura; la arrojaban al patio trasero para los pollos. Y ah\u00ed es cuando comenzaron a sufrir de Beriberi. Y no entend\u00edan la causa.
\n\n\n\nPero vieron que los pollos engordaban y crec\u00edan; los pollos que fueron alimentados con las c\u00e1scaras estaban mejorando notablemente y los seres humanos estaban disminuyendo. \u00a1Y luego un m\u00e9dico holand\u00e9s descubri\u00f3 que estaban dando la mejor parte a los pollos!
\n\n\n\nEntonces entendemos que Hakadosh Baruj Hu cre\u00f3 la c\u00e1scara no s\u00f3lo para proteger la semilla de adentro; la c\u00e1scara est\u00e1 ah\u00ed para ser comida porque agrega ciertas cosas.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que no hay duda de que los seres humanos han hecho grandes errores con respecto a los alimentos. Pero no puedo decirte nada porque no s\u00e9 nada sobre el tema en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #141 (septiembre de 1976)
\nThe post Alimentaci\u00f3n saludable appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-21T12:26:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-21T12:26:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35816, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa-5/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-21T02:17:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-21T02:17:31+00:00" }, { "id": 35859, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-health-foods/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Health Foods", "content_html": "\nQ:
In order to better take care of our bodies, should we eat natural health foods?
A:
\n\n\n\nShould we eat natural health foods in order to preserve our health? Now, this is a subject which I am not competent to speak about. I would be happy to give information but I\u2019m not the competent one.
\n\n\n\nI am sure that if the foods are free of pesticides and free of additives, I\u2019m sure they are more healthful because there\u2019s no question that Hakodosh Boruch Hu can concoct better things than Mankind can. But more than that I cannot say.
\n\n\n\nIf you have whole wheat bread, for instance, we understand that you have all the elements that Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended you to have; whereas if you mill out certain parts, so you\u2019re losing out. Like everybody knows the story of rice; there was a time when white rice was considered the only way of eating rice; they used to mill off the brown covering of the rice kernel and eat only the kernel. The brown covering, the husk was considered garbage; they threw it into the backyard for the chickens. And that is when they started suffering from beriberi. And they didn\u2019t understand the cause.
\n\n\n\nBut they saw the chickens were thriving; the chickens who were fed the husks were thriving, but the human beings were declining. And then a Dutch physician discovered that they were giving the best part to the chickens!
\n\n\n\nAnd so we understand Hakodosh Boruch Hu put the husks on not merely to protect the kernel inside; the husks are there to be eaten because they add certain things.
\n\n\n\nSo there is no question that human beings have made great errors in matters of foods. But I cannot tell you anything because I know nothing about the subject at all.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 141 (September 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Health Foods appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T17:02:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-25T17:04:46+00:00" }, { "id": 35803, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-toldos-5783-missed-opportunities-2/", "title": "Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities", "content_html": "Studying The Story
\n\n\n\nThe story of the episode when Eisav transferred the bechorah to Yaakov is exceptional. If you look elsewhere in the Torah you see that so many pratim, so many details, are usually not given. Large portions of the lives of great men are not related to us at all. Avrohom’s first seventy years, we know nothing about them. Of Moshe Rabeinu’s first eighty years we know nothing. And here the Torah gives details and more details. And therefore we understand that we are expected to derive important information from the story here \u2013 stories in the Torah are not told to entertain us; they\u2019re told to teach us.
\n\n\n\nNow I am not the one who is capable of discovering the lessons. I’m sure there is a great deal that can be said on this subject; I imagine that entire chiburim could be composed on the transaction between the two brothers. I\u2019m not the one to take on that big job, but right now we are going to talk about one detail of the story that is a chibur in itself.
\n\n\n\nTosfos\u2019 Stumper
\n\n\n\nFirst an introduction. The Chachomim say (Bava Basra 16b) that \u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd, on that day that Eisav sold the birthright he committed five sins. The Gemara there enumerates five serious transgressions that we blame Eisav for \u2013 that\u2019s how he received that unfortunate title of Eisav HaRasha.
\n\n\n\nAs an example, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e1\u05b8\u05d4, Eisav committed adultery with somebody who was already mekudeshes. \u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e1\u05b8\u05d4 means she has accepted kiddushin from another man, which means she is an eishes ish. The Torah law of a na’arah hameurasah is that both she and the adulterer deserve sekilah, and so that certainly is a serious accusation made against Eisav.
\n\n\n\nNow Tosfos there asks a kasha on this accusation: \u201cHow could that be?\u201d he says. \u201cThere’s no such thing as kiddushin before Matan Torah.” Before the Torah was given a man didn’t acquire a wife by a transaction, what we call a kinyan. Before Matan Toraha marriage could only happen if he took her as his wife and they were together as man and wife. That made her his wife. But na’arah meurasah means that there was nothing but an act of kiddushin – which meant nothing in those days. So what do you mean to say that Eisav committed adultery with a na’arah meurasah?It\u2019s impossible. That’s Tosfos’s kasha.
\n\n\n\nUpsetting The Stoliners
\n\n\n\nNow Tosfos is not interested in looking for zechuyos to defend Eisav, but what could he do? He\u2019s trying to understand the plain peirush of the words of our Sages and he knows that there’s no such thing as eirusin by Ben Noach. And therefore Tosfos explains that it wasn’t actually a na’arah hameurasah. It was a woman who had promised her troth to another man. She had given her word that she would go to marry another man. And then Eisav went ahead and he married her.
\n\n\n\nImagine a boy from Lakewood met a girl who had already promised to marry a fellow, let\u2019s say, from Stolin. And he sees that she\u2019s a fine girl, a good catch, and so he tells her \u201cStolin?! Marry me and you\u2019ll be in Lakewood!\u201d So she consented. She reconsidered and decided that Lakewood is where she wants to be and she marries the Lakewooder.
\n\n\n\nWould anybody say he was \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e1\u05b8\u05d4? Her commitment to the Stoliner was nothing! There was no kiddushin, nothing at all. Maybe it wasn\u2019t ethical to dissuade her from marrying the man she had committed to but that\u2019s all it is. It could be the Stoliner Rebbe would have a taynah, but it\u2019s fair competition. After all, he didn’t force her. She consented to give up the first one and take the second one. And so there’s absolutely nothing at all resembling a sin of adultery. And yet for that same thing, Eisav is blamed.
\n\n\n\nThe Righteous Murderer
\n\n\n\nAnother example of Eisav\u2019s sins. Number two on the list is \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d2 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1. Eisav murdered somebody. But whom did Eisav kill? The Chachomim tell us that Eisav slew Nimrod. Nimrod! Nimrod had attempted to destroy Avrohom Avinu, Eisav\u2019s grandfather. Nimrod was a real rasha, the one who caused the world to get up in rebellion against Hakodosh Boruch Hu. So it was a mitzvah to get rid of him. \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05e2 \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8. We\u2019re obligated to rid the world of wickedness.
\n\n\n\nIf somebody had killed Hitler and he had come let\u2019s say subsequently to America, he would receive an ovation. He would have received the Presidential Medal of Honor. That\u2019s not important today \u2013 today they\u2019ll give that award to every low fellow, to terrorists, but in the olden days you had to deserve an award like that. And he would have received a ticker-tape parade too. Thousands of people would line the streets to celebrate the death of Hitler. Not only from the masses in the street would this \u2018murderer\u2019 gain recognition. I\u2019m sure all the rabbonim and all the roshei yeshivah would honor him for killing Hitler. A mitzvah raboh!
\n\n\n\nI remember when General Pershing came back. When Pershing came back from France after World War I, they showered him with flowers. They were so happy they didn\u2019t know what to do for him. And some of you younger fellows maybe remember Eisenhower when he returned after World War II. People went wild over him!
\n\n\n\nAnd so we are blaming Eisav for bloodshed, but actually he deserves medals. In our society Eisav would have gone down Broadway in an open limousine and he would have been showered with flowers for killing Nimrod, and here, poor Eisav, his reputation is blackened: \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d2 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1, as if he did some sin.
\n\n\n\nThe Righteous Judge
\n\n\n\nBut the answer is this: Hakodosh Boruch Hu judges a man by his motives. If Eisav had killed Nimrod purely out of the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, that\u2019s one thing. But Eisav, when he was doing it, he was getting some satisfaction out of the act. He gained pleasure from bloodshed,and that\u2019s how Hakodosh Boruch Hu judged him.
\n\n\n\nNow to us, nowadays, who would stop to examine the motives? Let\u2019s say some mean fellow, even a convicted murderer would have sneaked into Germany and would have killed Hitler, we would forget all of his past. And if he did it because of a blood lust, so what? We would forgive everything!
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s because we don\u2019t examine motives. But when it comes to great people, when it comes to a son of Yitzchok and Rivkah much more is expected and Hashem does examine. For a son of other parents there would have been nothing to criticize. But for a son of such great people, nevi’im, everything is expected and therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu expected of Eisav very great perfection. And therefore, when Eisav is judged, it\u2019s only on the basis of his thoughts, not because of his acts. And the things that Eisav is criticized for, we wouldn\u2019t have found fault in him.
\n\n\n\n\u2018Level\u2019ing Criticism
\n\n\n\nLike it states elsewhere about certain kings, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 he did what was evil in the Eyes of Hashem. Not our eyes. We wouldn\u2019t have seen what to criticize but in the Eyes of Hashem there was something there. Whenever that’s written it doesn’t mean it was what we would consider bad at all. Only that a melech who was over the Am Yisroel, much more should have been achieved by him, much more shleimus, much greater perfection. And therefore what is said \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd is a rare kind of criticism. Of course it was a criticism that’s approachable by us. Even we could understand it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been written. But you must understand it’s not what we would have criticized.
\n\n\n\nAnd what you just heard is a klal gadol, a great principle in understanding Tanach. These kings were not as bad as they are made to appear. And surely when the Chachomim report about terrible deeds that they did in private, you must understand that it’s not k\u2019peshuto. Whatever is said you have to understand it in a different sense. They’re being criticized only according to what they should have been.
\n\n\n\nAnd the same thing is when they reported about Eisav being \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e1\u05b8\u05d4 and \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d2 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1, it\u2019s on an entirely different level that Eisav is being criticized; not on our level but on the level of a son of Yitzchok and Rivkah. And only according to the expectations was he criticized. And the other sins mentioned there too, we\u2019ll understand it the same way.If you look at the other accusations, whatever they are, we have to understand them all in the same sense of these criticisms.
\n\n\n\nNow that explains why these \u2018sins\u2019 are not written in the Torah at all. You might find a remez in midrashim, some hint, but in the Chumash such a thing is not mentioned at all. And that\u2019s because the Torah would be untruthful in leveling such a criticism that people couldn\u2019t understand or would misunderstand. And although in the Beis Din shel ma’alah when Eisav is being judged so our Chachomim were allowed to take a look and see what went on and they reported to us that this was considered an accusation. But down below it’s too much for people to be told and therefore it’s not in the Torah.
\n\n\n\nHe Would Have Been Praised
\n\n\n\nHowever, of the five sins of which Eisav is accused one of them is written befeirush in the Torah. It\u2019s stated as openly as could be and it’s written ba’arichus, at length, in detail. And that is \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, he scorned the birthright. That’s one of Eisav’s five sins and the Torah says it openly: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05d6 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4. Eisav scorned his birthright. It couldn’t be more open than that. And about this sin the Torah tells the story because it\u2019s the most important lesson for us.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that even this aveirah, it\u2019s not so simple to discover what was so bad. So he scorned the bechorah, what about it? Actually if people in that time would have read this parshah and they wouldn’t have seen the last sentence, they would have said, \u201cEisav, that’s a kadosh! A man who runs away from glory, he gives up kavod. Don’t we know Yehudah ben Tabai did the same thing (Yerushalmi Chagigah 2:5). When they wanted to make him the nasi so he ran away. They wanted to make him av beis din so he ran away to Mitzrayim. And it’s considered a shevach. He’s praised for that. And so Eisav would have been praised by the people.
\n\n\n\nEisav’s words would have been a model for us. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 I’m going to die one day. Those are words that tzaddikim say, \u201cThis world is only a temporary place. We\u2019re going to leave this world one day and so what does glory in this world mean anyhow?\u201d
\n\n\n\nIf people would have heard that, they would have admired Eisav no end; and I’m sure that Eisav admired himself to no end for that. I’m sure he always looked back and congratulated himself. He didn’t say those words, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05d6 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 . He said everything up to that. Only that when Hakodosh Boruch Hu dictated the Torah to Moshe Rabeinu, He told him to add these words because that’s the maskanah, the conclusion, of the whole story. He scorned the birthright \u2013 that\u2019s the punchline of the whole story.
\n\n\n\nThe Allure Of Freedom
\n\n\n\nSo the question is \u2018Mai ka mashma lon\u2019, what’s the purpose of telling us that? We don\u2019t get the punchline! What\u2019s the sin that we\u2019re supposed to see over there? So what if he scorned the bechorah? It\u2019s an important question, by the way, because the better we understand what the sin was, the better we\u2019ll grab a practical lesson for ourselves from this Torah story.
\n\n\n\nNow you have to understand that the bechorah meant opportunity; it was opportunity to serve Hashem because in those days the firstborn officiated at the mizbeach, at the bamah. Every family had its mizbeach where they served Hashem and the bechor was the one who led the way. The bechor in those days became the teacher of the family. He was like the priest, the kohen of the family.
\n\n\n\nBut Eisav was thinking, \u201cAm I going to be tied down to a mizbeach?\u201d A mizbeach requires a lot of things. You have to learn the practice of sacrifices on a mizbeach. They didn’t just kill animals; everything was done with certain time consuming procedures and Eisav didn’t want to tie himself down. \u201cI want to be a free man.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSin Of Squander
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m sure he made some good excuses for himself. \u201cI\u2019ll wander in the fields and hunt animals for my father, to bring him food to eat. Kibud av!\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll look at the trees and the birds; I\u2019ll see niflaos haBorei. Shaar HaBechina!\u201d There\u2019s never a shortage of excuses \u2013 especially when it comes to avodas Hashem. And therefore it didn’t bother his conscience. So Yaakov will be the bechor. What of it? As long as the avodah will continue I can go into the forests to hunt.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the sin! To squander opportunities! Opportunities to serve Hashem! And even though it might require you to stay home because they\u2019ll need you on the mizbeach; you won\u2019t be able to go out on all the trips that your heart desires. You\u2019ll have to stay at home and make something of yourself. Of course you always have your justifications. \u201cIt\u2019s Niagara Falls, it’s niflaos haBorei.\u201d Or, \u201cIt\u2019s Eretz Yisroel\u201d or this and that. But you\u2019re squandering opportunity, that\u2019s the real terutz.
\n\n\n\nThe Real Kosel
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a justification a man tells me why he needs to waste time traveling: \u201cBut it’s Eretz Yisroel; it\u2019s the Kosel!\u201d So you\u2019re going to give up on your Torah learning in the evenings, your chavrusahs, shiurim, to go to Eretz Yisroel and to stand at a wall that\u2019s just a zeicher of yimei kedem, a remembrance of our glorious past. It\u2019s something, I\u2019m not saying no, but that\u2019s also included in this sin of squandering opportunity. To give up learning to go to the Kosel Ma\u2019aravi?!
\n\n\n\nIf you want to go to the Kosel then you should know that the Shas Bavli is your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. Make the seforim shrank with the Shas Bavli in it your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. That\u2019s your success.
\n\n\n\nThe success of life is the transferring the contents of the Shas into your mind. So stand in front of that Shas on the shelf in your living room and make that your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. After you close your Gemara for the night and you put it back on the shelf you can stand there and put kvitlach, prayer notes, in between the Gemaras and pray to Hashem. The Shas is our everything! There\u2019s nothing in the world more kadosh, more special, to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than the daled amos shel halacha. Since the churban Beis haMikdash He has nothing in the world that is more important than the Shas and our Torah seforim. So what are you thinking? To forego learning Torah for a cheap substitute?!
\n\n\n\nMissing And Sinning
\n\n\n\nNow, when people hear such examples, so they take me for an extremist. But that\u2019s because we don\u2019t understand the gravity of that sin of giving up opportunities. If we\u2019re going to realize how serious an accusation, how serious a sin it is, we’ll have to spend a little time first on understanding what the word cheit means.
\n\n\n\nWe spend a lot of time in our tefillos saying to Hashem \u05d7\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 We sinned. Again and again, in our tefillos, \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, we say. And so it makes sense that we should investigate the meaning of that word. I know people think they know but most are mistaken. Listen now because you\u2019re going to hear a chiddush now. Cheit doesn\u2019tmean what we think, to go and do a sin. It doesn’t mean a positive misstep, a positive sin. What it means is the lack of achieving. That’s what a cheit really means. Chatanu doesn\u2019t mean \u201cwe rebelled;\u201d it means \u201cWe missed out.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Sinless Slingers
\n\n\n\nHow do we know that? In the Book of Shoftim (20:16) it\u2019s describing the slingshot shooters of the Shevet Binyamin and it states about them that \u05e7\u05b9\u05dc\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b7\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b4\u05d0 \u2013 they could aim at the hairsbreadth, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b4\u05d0 \u2013 and wouldn’t miss. That’s how expert they were. They were able to take the slingshots and sling the stones and hit the target right in the middle. \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b4\u05d0, They would never miss the target.
\n\n\n\nNow, there was no sin there, no aveirah. It was just a question of missing the target. \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b4\u05d0 means they wouldn\u2019t miss. So we see that cheit, sin, actually means \u201cto miss.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Sinless Successor
\n\n\n\nAnother example. You remember when Dovid Hamelech was on his deathbed, so his wife Bas-Sheva came to him and said, \u201cLook, you told me that you decided that Shlomo would be your successor, that he should be the next king, and here is Adoniyahu ben Chagis, one of your other sons, and he\u2019s right now proclaiming himself the future king. He made a great assembly of people and he\u2019s scheming to announce himself king. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05de\u05b9\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 And now if you don\u2019t take quick action then Shlomo and I will be the chato\u2019im.\u201d (Melochim I, 1:21).
\n\n\n\nWhat does chato\u2019im there mean? Not sinners; what does sinners have to do with it? It means \u201cthe losers.\u201d Shlomo and I will be the ones who miss out if you don\u2019t deal with it now. You promised me that my son would be king and if you don\u2019t stop Adoniyahu now, he will be king \u201cand I and my son will be the chato\u2019im, the losers.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019re discovering now the original meaning of cheit. It\u2019s something new to us but it\u2019s the truth: cheit means to lose out, to miss out. It\u2019s not the doing wrong; it\u2019s the missed opportunity to do good.
\n\n\n\nThe Sinless Trucker
\n\n\n\nI always give one mashal. I\u2019ll say it again for the tenth time, the same mashal. You hired a man with a truck to go to Los Angeles to pick up merchandise to bring it back. So he went across the country with your truck and now he finally came back. So you ask him, \u201cHow was it?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe said, \u201cThe trip was excellent.\u201d He had no accidents. \u201cI didn\u2019t get a single traffic ticket. Everything was wonderful. No flat tires, nothing. An excellent trip.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you say, \u201cWhat about the merchandise that you were supposed to pick up?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, I forgot to pick up the merchandise,\u201d he says.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh no! What is that worth for me? I sent you to Los Angeles merely to avoid traffic tickets, to avoid accidents?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hashem says, \u201cI sent you to this world merely to avoid aveiros?\u201d Certainly you have to avoid aveiros. When you’re driving a truck absolutely you must beware of smash ups. But when you come back to the boss and you forgot to deliver the goods so the whole trip was wasted. That\u2019s what Hashem says, \u201cWhere is the merchandise you were supposed to bring back? \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 to bring back the emes to the one who sends you (Mishlei 22:21)! All the mitzvos, the accomplishments! Where are they?\u201d Naturally if you’re going to get your truck into traffic accidents, you won’t be able to deliver the goods either, but we don’t come to this world merely to avoid sins.
\n\n\n\nThe Next World
\n\n\n\nAnd why is that? It\u2019s because if a person did aveiros, the worst that can happen to him is he goes to Gehenom. Now Gehenom is not a pleasure, it\u2019s not a resort, but usually if he\u2019s a ma\u2019amin, if he believes in Hakodosh Boruch Hu and he believes in Matan Torah, so when he goes to Gehenom, he is purified. It\u2019s a painful process. They use detergents there; it hurts terribly but finally he is cleansed of all of his sins.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe punishment for the wicked Jews in Gehenom is twelve months and that\u2019s all\u201d (Eduyos 2:10). After that, he comes out and now he\u2019s ready for the great happiness of Olam Habo, to enjoy his mitzvos, his achievements. And the reward for mitzvos is not for twelve months. For his mitzvos, his Torah, his perfection of character, he\u2019s rewarded forever and ever and ever. For aveiros, there\u2019s punishment, terrible punishment, but the time comes when the punishment is finished and now he starts the happy existence in the Gan Eden where he\u2019ll be rewarded forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nLost Opportunities
\n\n\n\nNow suppose that when he gets to Gan Eden he finds that he gave up opportunities. \u201cOh, I remember that day when I got a letter in the mail from a talmid chochom in Yerushalayim, a tzadik who sits and learns all day long, and he was marrying off his tenth daughter. I threw it in the wastebasket. I lost out; a chotei.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOr, \u201cI remember now when the rabbi was giving a lecture in the evening and I convinced myself that I was too busy to go.\u201d It\u2019s a terrible thing! Learning Torah is one of the great forms of utilizing life.
\n\n\n\nYou know what an opportunity it is to learn just one line of Gemara, to learn one line and know it well. You’re saying the words of the Chazal, the words of the greatest people who came after the Nevi’im, and you’re saying it and able to repeat it and sometimes you even know more or less the whole idea. If you say two lines, three lines, whoooo! You know a whole page of Gemara? You’re a millionaire.
\n\n\n\nKinyan haMasechta
\n\n\n\nIf you learn just one amud Gemara and go over it again and again until you can run through it like ashrei, even if you don’t know the pshat well, you just translate the words more or less and run through it like ashrei, it’s an achievement. People keep on learning a new blatt every day and the old Gemara was always too weakly learned so it becomes eradicated quickly from the mind. No, that’s not the way to learn, that\u2019s not how you use the opportunity of life. You should sit and chazer the same amud again four times. And then if you want it to be even better, talk over ba’al peh the whole shakla vatarya, not every word.Talk it over ba’al peh.
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you have five minutes to learn, two minutes to learn, it\u2019s a tremendous opportunity! Two minutes of Torah! You\u2019ll never make it up again! And even though you\u2019ll learn hours and hours later, you\u2019ll learn for days and weeks, but those five minutes are lost. That\u2019s chatos! You missed out!
\n\n\n\nAnd in Gan Eden, you\u2019ll break your hands with weeping, \u201cWhy did I lose those five minutes?\u201d But no teshuva will help and no Gehenom will help. Teshuva and Gehenom can\u2019t accomplish for you. It can clean you for the sin of not accomplishing but it will never accomplish for you the opportunities you scorned. You missed it and you\u2019ll never get it back.
\n\n\n\nScorned Opportunity
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what we learn from Eisav. He made the biggest cheit a person could make, the most tragic mistake of his life. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05dd \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b7\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 he picked himself up and walked away from an opportunity, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05d6 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Eisav scorned the bechorah.
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean he scorned the bechorah? In one word he scorned opportunity. That was the big sin, the big chatos. He threw away a tremendous opportunity to utilize this life for accomplishing in avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nYaakov on the other hand, lived for the purpose of achieving shleimus, and any opportunity that came his way. That was his hashkafas hachaim: \u201cYaaakov,\u201d he was always telling himself, \u201cThere’s so much more you could accomplish in life!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow to study everything that Yaakov Avinu did with his life according to this hashkafah, this attitude that life is a precious string of opportunities, that\u2019s impossible. I’m not able to explain to you the greatness of Yaakov Avinu. It’s like an ant trying to measure the height of men. I wouldn\u2019t even presume to try it. I\u2019m not capable.
\n\n\n\nBut our Sages, they were capable and they tell us right away about one of Yaakov Avinu\u2019s great accomplishments. He got busy making use of the opportunity to build a family, to create a nation. Neither Avrohom Avinu nor Yitzchok Avinu had that zechus.
\n\n\n\nOpportunity Of Family
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Sanhedrin 19b) quotes a possuk about Yaakov: \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 So said Hashem about the house of Yaakov, the one who redeemed Avrohom (Yeshayah 29:22). Fregt the Gemara, \u05d4\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05de\u05b8\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 Where did you find that Yaakov redeemed Avrohom? What does that mean?
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara answers, \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Yaakov redeemed Avrohom from the difficulties of raising children. You know that for almost a hundred years Avrohom was free from raising children. Why was that? Don\u2019t think it was an accident, a tragedy. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted Avrohom to be a man of leisure so that he\u2019d have the time to think. That was Avrohom\u2019s special opportunity \u2013 not to raise children but to raise himself.
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention. What do we need children for? Are we little girls that we need baby dolls, something to play with? It\u2019s irrational. And it\u2019s selfish. That\u2019s what children are for?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that children are given to us by Hashem as an opportunity, a responsibility \u2013 we\u2019re raising the Am Hashem. And we have no right to dodge it. Certainly you have to marry young and have as many as you can because that\u2019s Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s command. \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d1\u05d5! You must do that.
\n\n\n\nGo Crazy!
\n\n\n\nAnd as they come and you\u2019re going crazy from even two of them, so go crazy from ten. It\u2019s a big mistake; women think if they don\u2019t have more they won\u2019t go crazy. I\u2019ve seen women who claim they are crazy from one baby. So you might as well go crazy over a lot.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose Hakodosh Boruch Hu didn\u2019t give; so it\u2019s silly for a person to waste his life in sadness. No question, it\u2019s sad, but if that\u2019s what Hashem gave you, don\u2019t be overwhelmed by sadness. On the contrary, breathe a sigh of relief, and be grateful; now you can go ahead and do the great things in life. The Chovos Halevovos says that. You hear such a thing?! You should be grateful that He absolved you from the obligation of children.
\n\n\n\nA woman can become very great now just because she has no children. How many women have time to read a Kuzari or to read the Chovos Halevovos? You can read it in translation too. You know how much you can transform yourself by reading Mesillas Yesharim ten times? You know what it means to learn Chumash and Mishlei and Koheles? It\u2019s life-changing! No question, you won\u2019t be the same woman anymore.
\n\n\n\nDifferent Opportunities
\n\n\n\nNow, mothers of families \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 blessed should they be with all their chores; certainly Hakodosh Boruch Hu will reward them. But the Chovos Halevovos says that if Hashem has exonerated you from those obligations so now you can do a lot of things that people with children cannot do.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you waste your life mourning, that shows that you don\u2019t understand the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. How do you serve Him? In whatever manner He requires of you. So if he deposits children on your doorstep, so that\u2019s what\u2019s required of you. And if He doesn\u2019t, so He requires other things. There are so many requirements in life that there\u2019s never any spare time.
\n\n\n\nThe most important attitude is not to scorn whatever opportunity comes your way. Whether it\u2019s raising children or raising somebody else\u2019s children or by raising money for people to have children or by raising your mind to heights of avodas Hashem by creating a mind filled with all the attitudes and ideals of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nCreating A Mind
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Avrohom did. He was thinking through and developing all the yesodos, all of the Torah-truths; he was creating a Torah mind that was going to be the foundation of the ideology of the Torah nation. Because he was redeemed by Yaakov from raising the nation, so his mind was at leisure to discern the Hand of Hashem in nature. He saw the wonders of nature and he studied how everything has plan and purpose and how it is all for kindliness, for the benefit of mankind. By means of utilizing the opportunity, Avrohom became very, very great in hakarah of Hakodosh Baruch Hu as a source of chessed in the world.
\n\n\n\nAndYitzchak, by the way, added to that. It says in the Medrash that Yitzchak added even more than Avrohom Avinu. \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05e1 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e7, like a dwarf sitting on the shoulder of a giant. Avrohom was the giant but when the dwarf sits on the giant’s shoulders, the dwarf is higher than the giant. And so Yitzchak had even more knowledge of these great ideas than Avrohom Avinu. You have to know that Avrohom and Yitzchok became giants in avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd now Yaakov came along and he inherited all of that from them. He inherited all the philosophy, all the Torah, all the wisdom that Avrohom Avinu was mechadesh and now Hashem said to him, \u201cSince the two Avos discovered all the great secrets of life and you\u2019re standing on their shoulders already worked out all the great truths of life, now you get busy raising children. Take all of that ideology and make a nation from it!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBringing Up Children
\n\n\n\nAnd so Yaakov got busy with children. What a job it was! Don’t say, \u201cWell, he just had twelve boys and one girl. Eisav had a lot of children too.\u201d There\u2019s a big difference. Eisav had children, yes, but he didn’t bring them up. They grew up. Like bushes grow up wild, that’s how they grew up. Maybe he taught them some things, I don\u2019t know but he had already scorned the opportunity and now it was too late for him.
\n\n\n\nYaakov, on the other hand, grabbed the opportunity. Yaakov Avinu was raising a nation and therefore every detail mattered and so he put his life into the boys.
\n\n\n\nNow, I say \u2018Yaakov\u2019 but of course I mean, Beis Yaakov, the House of Yaakov, like the possuk says. The Imahos too, Rochel and Leah, just as much. When a couple has children, and they dedicate their lives to raising them al pi Torah, it’s such a tremendous achievement. And every child will someday be a grandfather of a big family. Just think what happens. If you raise up the child in the right way, he’s going to be an oved Hashem. He’s goingto teach his children the derech Hashem. They’ll continue all the traditions that we have from the kadmonim.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore for a mother to raise up children, she feeds them and she has all kinds of difficulties, illnesses and sometimes trouble and she brings them up, she\u2019s raising them not to be Italians or Puerto Ricans \u2014 she\u2019s raising them to be the Am Hashem! It’s a tremendous zechus. It’s an achievement that\u2019s unequalled. Nothing could be better!
\n\n\n\nDefunding the Police
\n\n\n\nAnd the more the better. That\u2019s one of the reasons I love Williamsburg. In Williamsburg they know what it means not to scorn the opportunity to create a nation. All the houses are bursting at the seams. That\u2019s why last year when a homeless man beat up a Jew and ran away, so the Williamsburg Jews are not fools. They couldn’t appeal to the police; the police wouldn’t do anything anyhow. So one or two chassidim began to run after him and they called to their neighbors for help. \u201cChaptzem! Catch him! Chaptzem!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAll of a sudden the windows and doors of the apartment buildings open up and there are chassidim pouring out from everywhere into the streets. Troops of Jews! Grown men, little men, fat men, skinny men, children; they\u2019re climbing down the fire escapes. They\u2019re closing their suspenders while they\u2019re climbing down.
\n\n\n\nNow, such a thing wouldn\u2019t happen in East Orange or someplace where they\u2019re busy practicing birth control. Even if they\u2019d open the windows in East Orange there\u2019s nobody to come out. One forty-five year old bachelor is living at home by himself. Where are the troops?! Nothing doing. They were never brought into the world. It was an opportunity scorned. Plain and simple, birth control means \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05d6 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4.
\n\n\n\nSilly Girls
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s so silly what some girls are doing today; to give up a career of being a mother and say, \u201cI’ll be in Manhattan. I’ll have my own apartment. I’ll be working in an office. I’ll be an important personality on my own.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a big rachmonus. What are you accomplishing? At the end of your days you’ll look back and see you were just one more cog in the industrial machine. You wasted your life. Where are all the children you could have produced? Children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Think of all the families that would have come from you, that would have been your merit. You could have raised them leshem Shomayim. You would have lived a life of productivity in avodas Hashem. You scorned the opportunity to add even greater numbers to the Am Yisroel, to strengthen us and to bring more Shechinah down.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the sin of Eisav; scorning opportunity. If you were born a girl, don\u2019t scorn that glorious birthright. Don’t allow anybody to come and persuade you there’s something that’s just as good, that in the offices in Manhattan you\u2019ll find bigger and better. Sheker v\u2019chazav! There\u2019s nothing as good as being a Jewish mother; there\u2019s nothing greater than raising a big frum family; nothing better.
\n\n\n\nA woman who is busy raising children should know that she’s living in a form of avodas Hashem even better than a rosh yeshivah. She’s making the bnei Torah. She’sproducing them and she’s raising them up and feeding them.
\n\n\n\nYour Birthright
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the great lesson of \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05d6 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 And he scorned the birthright. That was the great sin of Eisav! He killed Nimrod? Ok, it\u2019s not so bad. He convinced a girl who had already committed to someone else? Ok, it\u2019s not praiseworthy maybe but it\u2019s not the biggest sin. But to give up opportunity?! To scorn opportunities to serve Hashem? Nothing could be worse than that!
\n\n\n\nThe Torah is warning us, don\u2019t allow anybody \u2013 yourself included \u2013 to cheat you out of the birthright. You were born a Jew? \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc! Hashem says, \u201cYou, the Am Yisroel, are My firstborn.\u201d Don’t allow anybody to come and persuade you that your success you\u2019ll find elsewhere. Your success is in being a frum Jew. Your success, your greatness, is in the beis medrash and the synagogue, in the house raising children, in Shabbos and Yomim Tovim, in chesed and mitzvos, in Shas and the Chumash and the mussar seforim.
\n\n\n\nNothing is as good as being a Jew, an oved Hashem who accomplish in this world. That\u2019s your birthright! That\u2019s your bechorah! That\u2019s where all of our opportunities can be found and we should never squander any bit of that \u2013 no matter how many pots of red lentils the outside world entices us with!
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nA Life of Opportunities
\n\n\n\nYaakov Avinu was chosen over Eisav because he cherished opportunity rather than scorning it. This week I will train myself to walk in the footsteps of Yaakov Avinu to grab as many opportunities as possible to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. As a reminder, every day when I daven shemonah esrei, I will bli neder pause for a moment at the words \u201cElokei Yaakov\u201d and remember that we say those words and not \u201cElokei Eisav\u201d because Yaakov was one who delighted in opportunities. And I will accept upon myself to grab whatever opportunity in avodas Hashem may present itself, and I will reflect on whether I missed out on any opportunities between this prayer and the last one.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 434 – Do Not Be Sidetracked | 829 – The Harp and The Soul | 850 – Errors of Eisav | E-255 – Wealth Of This World
\nThe post Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T05:51:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-26T13:40:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35810, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-toldos-5783-missed-opportunities/", "title": "Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities", "content_html": "TA-Toldos-5783The post Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T05:46:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-20T05:46:57+00:00" }, { "id": 35802, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-toldos-5783-missed-opportunities/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities", "content_html": "TA-Toldos-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Toldos 5783 – Missed Opportunities appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T05:46:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-20T05:46:23+00:00" }, { "id": 35800, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-pensamientos-durante-havdala/", "title": "Los pensamientos durante Havdal\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1les deber\u00edan ser nuestros pensamientos cuando se est\u00e1 haciendo havdal\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHavdal\u00e1 es como Kidush; est\u00e1 incluida en la mitzv\u00e1 de \u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d5. Es una mitzv\u00e1 proclamar el Shabat; y proclamamos el Shabat cuando entra y lo proclamamos cuando sale.
\n\n\n\nCuando un rey entra en la ciudad, se ponen de pie con cornetas y le dan la bienvenida. Y cuando el rey se marcha vuelven a tocar las cornetas. Y as\u00ed nos despedimos de Shabat Hamalk\u00e1 haciendo havdal\u00e1. Y por supuesto, tambi\u00e9n hacemos un melave malk\u00e1 para acompa\u00f1ar a la reina en la salida.
\n\n\n\nAlgunos sostienen que la havdal\u00e1 es parte de las mitzvot as\u00e9 de zajor. Sea lo que sea, ciertamente est\u00e1 previsto en el precepto; zochor \u2013 proclamar el d\u00eda de Shabat.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, cuando digas Havdal\u00e1, piensa en el gran principio de que el mundo fue creado de la nada. \u00bfNo es una buena idea? Es lo \u00faltimo en lo que mucha gente pensar\u00eda, pero es una idea maravillosa. Havdal\u00e1 es para recordarte que el mundo fue creado de la nada y que no es m\u00e1s que la voluntad de Hashem; es s\u00f3lo Su imaginaci\u00f3n. No existe el cielo ni la tierra; es s\u00f3lo Su voluntad la que se concret\u00f3 y transform\u00f3 en estos materiales.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, cuando hagas Havdal\u00e1, debes pensar en este elemento fundamental de la emun\u00e1: beriat haolam iesh meain.
\n\n\n\nAdem\u00e1s, debes pensar que el mundo fue hecho para una naci\u00f3n que elegir\u00eda servir a Hashem. Por eso \u00c9l hizo el mundo y por eso el Shabat y la elecci\u00f3n de Am Israel van juntos. Y por eso dices \u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 T\u00fa nos separaste del resto de las naciones. Porque somos el prop\u00f3sito del mundo. \u00a1No somos humildes al respecto! No podemos darnos el lujo de negar ese gran principio. Tenemos que proclamar lo que el mismo Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos dijo, que el mundo fue creado para una naci\u00f3n que le sirviera. Y elegimos servirle.
\n\n\n\nY estos dos elementos deben enfatizarse cuando est\u00e1s haciendo havdal\u00e1. N\u00famero uno, est\u00e1s anunciando que Hashem cre\u00f3 el mundo de la nada. Y dos, est\u00e1s anunciando que \u00c9l eligi\u00f3 a Am Israel como Su pueblo amado.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #423 (octubre de 1982)
\nThe post Los pensamientos durante Havdal\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T05:38:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-20T05:38:19+00:00" }, { "id": 35797, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-toldot/", "title": "Paracha Toldot", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Toldot-5783The post Paracha Toldot appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-20T05:35:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-20T05:35:38+00:00" }, { "id": 35853, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-havdalah-thoughts/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on\u00a0Havdalah Thoughts", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should our thoughts be when havdala is being made?
A:
Havdalah is like Kiddush; it\u2019s included in the mitzvah of \u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d5. It\u2019s a mitzvah of proclaiming the Shabbos; and so we proclaim the Shabbos when it comes in and we proclaim it when it goes out.
When a king comes into the city they stand with bugles and they sound a welcome. And when the king is finally leaving they sound the salutation again with the bugles. And so we are saying goodbye to Shabbos Hamalka by making havdala. And of course, we make a melave malka to accompany the queen on the way out also.
\n\n\n\nSome hold that havdalah is part of the mitzvos asei of zochor. Whatever it is, it certainly is intended in the command; zochor \u2013 proclaim the day of Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nSo when you are saying havdalah think of the great principle that the world was created out of nothing. Isn\u2019t that a good idea? It\u2019s the last thing a lot of people would think about but it\u2019s a wonderful idea. Havdalah is to remind you that the world was created out of nothing and it is all nothing but the will of Hashem; it is only His imagination. There is no such thing as sky and no such thing as earth; it is only His will that became concretized and changed into these materials.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when you make Havdalah you should think about this fundamental of the emunah \u2013 briyas ha\u2019olom yesh me\u2019ayin.
\n\n\n\nAlso, you should think that the world was made for a nation that would choose to serve Hashem. That\u2019s why He made the world and that is why Shabbos and the election of Am Yisroel go together. And therefore you say \u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 You separated between us and the rest of the nations. Because we are the purpose of the world. We are not humble about that! We can\u2019t afford to deny that great principle. We have to proclaim what Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself told us, that the world was created for a nation that would serve Him. And we chose to serve Him.
\n\n\n\nAnd these two elements should be emphasized when you are making havdalah. Number one, you are announcing that Hashem created the world out of nothing. And two, you are announcing that He chose the Am Yisroel as His beloved people.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 423 (October 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on\u00a0Havdalah Thoughts appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-18T22:53:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:55:09+00:00" }, { "id": 35793, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/fwd-%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%94-%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a1-%d7%a0%d7%90%d7%a8-%d7%90-%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%92%d7%a2%d7%91%d7%9f-%d7%90/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d4: \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05e0\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d0 \u05de\u05d0\u05df \u05e7\u05e2\u05df \u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05df \u05d0 \u05d2\u05d8 \u05d0\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05d0 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-245The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d4: \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05e0\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d0 \u05de\u05d0\u05df \u05e7\u05e2\u05df \u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05df \u05d0 \u05d2\u05d8 \u05d0\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05d0 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-18T04:28:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-18T04:31:08+00:00" }, { "id": 35791, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/mudarse-de-brooklyn-a-monsey/", "title": "Mudarse de Brooklyn a Monsey", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nTeniendo en cuenta el clima moral y social de la ciudad de Nueva York, \u00bfdeber\u00eda la gente mudarse a Monsey?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00eda la gente mudarse a Monsey? Yo digo que no.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si deseas mudarte a Monsey, no te lo impido, pero en Brooklyn hay muchas oportunidades para acercarse a la nesham\u00e1 de Am Israel. Recuerda, es la cantidad de Am Israel que hay aqu\u00ed lo importante. Cuantos m\u00e1s jud\u00edos, m\u00e1s Shejin\u00e1. Cuantos m\u00e1s jud\u00edos vivan en lugares cerrados, m\u00e1s presencia de Hashem. Entonces, una persona que dice: “Me voy a mudar a Monsey”, pero tal vez no haya tantos jud\u00edos all\u00ed amontonados, entonces te estar\u00e1s perdiendo la Shejin\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCuando caminas por Boro Park digamos o incluso aqu\u00ed, en Flatbush, hay cuadras y cuadras de casas frum. Caminas por East 7th Street, \u00a1todas las casas frum! \u00a1Bedford Avenue, casas frum! Ves tanta gente con grandes mezuzot, mujeres con el pelo cubierto por supuesto, ni\u00f1os, muchos ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os. As\u00ed que est\u00e1s caminando donde est\u00e1 la Shejin\u00e1. No hay duda, esa es la Shejin\u00e1. Cuantas m\u00e1s personas pertenezcan al Am Israel, m\u00e1s Shejin\u00e1. Y cuanto m\u00e1s cerca est\u00e9s del ribui, mejor estar\u00e1s.
\n\n\n\nPor eso digo que no debes mudarte. No. Creo que est\u00e1s mejor donde hay una mayor poblaci\u00f3n de jud\u00edos frum.
\n\n\n\nSi me preguntas si te mudas de aqu\u00ed, digamos a Mea Shearim, podr\u00eda ser que Mea Shearim est\u00e9 m\u00e1s lleno de jud\u00edos frum, no puedo dec\u00edrtelo. Pero entre aqu\u00ed y Monsey, Monsey es un lugar excelente, es un ir kadosh; pero yo digo que Williamsburg, Boro Park, Crown Heights y partes de Flatbush tambi\u00e9n son muy kadosh. Lo voy a decir sin ninguna limitaci\u00f3n. \u00a1Muy kadosh! La Shejin\u00e1 est\u00e1 all\u00ed. Y, por lo tanto, deber\u00edas pensarlo dos veces antes de abandonar un vecindario tan bueno.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #898 (noviembre de 1992)
\nThe post Mudarse de Brooklyn a Monsey appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-18T04:26:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-18T04:26:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35851, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-moving-from-brooklyn-to-monsey/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Moving From Brooklyn to Monsey", "content_html": "\nQ:
Considering the moral and social climate in New York City, should people move to Monsey?
A:
\n\n\n\nShould people move to Monsey? I say no.
\n\n\n\nNow if you want to move to Monsey, don’t be hindered by me, but in Brooklyn there is so much opportunity to come close to the neshamah of the Am Yisroel. Remember, it’s the numerical numbers of the Am Yisroel here that make it so important. The more Jews, the more Shechinah. The more Jews living in close quarters, the more Presence of Hashem. And so a person who says, \u201cI’m going to move to Monsey,\u201d but maybe there aren\u2019t as many Jews there crowded together, so you’re missing the Shechina.
\n\n\n\nWhen you walk through Boro Park let’s say or even here, in Flatbush, there are blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of frum houses. You walk down East 7th Street, all frum houses! Bedford Avenue, frum houses! You see so many people with big mezuzos, women with their hair covered of course, children, all frum children. So you’re walking where the Shechina is. No question, that’s the Shechina. The more people there who belong to the Am Yisroel, it’s more Shechina. And the closer you are to the ribuy the better off you are.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why I say you shouldn\u2019t move. No. No. I think that you’re better off where there’s a bigger population of frum Jews.
\n\n\n\nIf you’ll ask me should you move from here, let’s say to Meah Shearim, it could be Meah Shearim is more crowded with frum Jews, I can’t tell you. But between here and Monsey \u2013 Monsey is an excellent place; it\u2019s an ir kadosh \u2013 but I say Williamsburg, Boro Park, Crown Heights and parts of Flatbush are also very much kadosh. I’m going to say it without any limitations. Very much kadosh! The Shechina is there. And therefore you should think twice before you forsake such a good neighborhood.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 898 (November 1992)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Moving From Brooklyn to Monsey appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-17T22:50:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:51:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35786, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hashem-manipula-la-historia/", "title": "Hashem manipula la historia", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos ver c\u00f3mo Hashem manipula la historia hoy?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nYa sabes, si entras en un museo con los ojos bien cerrados y preguntas: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo puedes ver algo? \u00a1Yo no veo nada aqu\u00ed!\u201d Eso no es culpa de nadie m\u00e1s que tuya. El mundo est\u00e1 lleno de cosas para ver si abres los ojos. Por todos lados, la historia est\u00e1 siendo manipulada para nosotros.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, habl\u00e9 sobre este tema varias veces, pero debido a que algunos se niegan a abrir los ojos, lo digo de nuevo. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 ni\u00f1os fueron masacrados en \u00c9retz Israel? (En abril de 1974, terroristas \u00e1rabes asesinaron a veintid\u00f3s ni\u00f1os en Maalot). \u00bfNo es porque el gobierno israel\u00ed est\u00e1 masacrando espiritualmente no a veinte, sino a cientos de miles de ni\u00f1os? Si tomas ni\u00f1os y les ense\u00f1as que no hay Di-s – eso es lo que se les ense\u00f1a en \u00c9retz Israel – \u00bfno es eso una masacre de ni\u00f1os? Si tomas ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos que vienen de Teim\u00e1n y Marruecos y de otros lugares y les cortas las peot y les ense\u00f1as a comer taref, a comer cerdo, \u00a1eso es lo que est\u00e1n haciendo all\u00ed! \u00a1\u00bfVas a negar los hechos que est\u00e1n a la vista?!
\n\n\n\nCientos de miles de ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos est\u00e1n siendo alejados sistem\u00e1ticamente [de la religi\u00f3n] en este momento. Ese es uno de los trabajos m\u00e1s grandes, es uno de los proyectos m\u00e1s grandes del gobierno israel\u00ed. El Ministerio de Absorci\u00f3n – uno de los ministerios m\u00e1s importantes – su trabajo es asegurarse de que los jud\u00edos que ingresan a Medinat Israel sean procesados \u200b\u200by convertidos en ateos. Ahora les est\u00e1 pasando a los jud\u00edos rusos.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si algunos ni\u00f1os son masacrados, \u00bfno es eso un suave indicio de que los est\u00e1s masacrando de una manera peor? \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05de\u05d4\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5 \u2013 Cuando desv\u00edas a alguien, es peor que matarlo (Bamidbar Rab\u00e1, 21:4). \u00bfNo es que Hakadosh Baruj Hu est\u00e1 manipulando la historia?
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, si quieres cerrar los ojos y no ver nada, entonces todo lo que ver\u00e1s son los malvados terroristas y la malvada ONU. Por supuesto que son malvados, \u00bfnecesitamos m\u00e1s pruebas de que los \u00e1rabes son malvados, que la ONU es malvada?! Que los terroristas \u00e1rabes son malvados, no necesitamos ninguna prueba para eso. Esa no es la lecci\u00f3n aqu\u00ed. \u00a1Hakadosh Baruj Hu no nos env\u00eda esto con ese prop\u00f3sito! \u00a1Pero necesitamos ser conscientes de lo que est\u00e1 sucediendo bajo el auspicio de los jud\u00edos en un pa\u00eds ateo!
\n\n\n\nY hay cientos de tales fen\u00f3menos. Y si los estudi\u00e1ramos con los ojos abiertos, ver\u00edamos que Hashem est\u00e1 manipulando la historia y lo est\u00e1 haciendo s\u00f3lo por nosotros, para ense\u00f1arnos. \u05d4\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d5\u05db\u05d9\u05d7 \u2013 \u00bfNo nos est\u00e1 mostrando Hashem algo? \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05de\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u2013 \u00bfNo lo est\u00e1 haciendo porque quiere ense\u00f1arnos algo? (Tehilim 94:10).
\n\n\n\nCINTA #61 (abril de 1974)
\nThe post Hashem manipula la historia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-17T04:29:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-17T04:30:00+00:00" }, { "id": 35841, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hashem-manipulates-history/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem Manipulates History\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can we see how Hashem manipulates history today?
A:
You know, if you walk into a museum with your eyes are shut tight, and you ask, \u201cHow can you see anything? I don\u2019t see a thing here!\u201d so that\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault but yours. The world is full of things to see if you\u2019ll just do yourself a favor and open up your eyes. On every side, history is being manipulated for us.
Now, I spoke about the following a number of times, but because some refuse to open up their eyes, so I say it again. Why is it that children were massacred in Eretz Yisroel? (In April 1974 Arab terrorists murdered twenty two children in Maalot). Isn\u2019t it because the Israeli government is spiritually massacring not twenty, but hundreds of thousands of children. If you take children and teach them that there is no G-d \u2013 that\u2019s what they\u2019re being taught in Eretz Yisroel \u2013 is that not a massacre of children?! If you take Jewish children that come from Teiman and Morocco and elsewhere and you cut off their payos and you teach them to eat tarfus, to eat pork \u2013 that\u2019s what they\u2019re doing there! Are you going to deny open facts?!
\n\n\n\nHundreds of thousands of Jewish children are being systematically being led away at this moment. That\u2019s one of the biggest jobs, it\u2019s one of the biggest projects of the Israeli government. The Absorption Ministry, one of the most important ministries, their job is to see to it that the Jews entering into Medinas Yisroel should be processed and made into atheists. It\u2019s happening to the Russian Jews now.
\n\n\n\nSo if some children are massacred, isn\u2019t that a gentle hint that you are massacring them in a worse way?! \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05de\u05d4\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5 \u2013 When you lead somebody astray, it\u2019s worse than killing him (Bamidbar Rabah, 21:4). Isn\u2019t that Hakodosh Boruch Hu manipulating history?
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you want to close your eyes and not see anything, so all you\u2019ll see is the wicked terrorists and the wicked U.N. Of course they\u2019re wicked \u2013 do we need more proofs that the Arabs are wicked, that the U.N. is wicked?! That the Arab terrorists are wicked, we don\u2019t need any proofs for that. That\u2019s not the lesson here. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not sending us this for that purpose! But we do need to be made aware of what is taking place under the aegis, under the auspices, of Jews in an atheistic country!
\n\n\n\nAnd there are hundreds of such phenomena. And if we would study them with open eyes we would see that Hashem is manipulating history and He\u2019s doing it only for us \u2013 to teach us. \u05d4\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d5\u05db\u05d9\u05d7 \u2013 Isn\u2019t Hashem showing us something? \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05de\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u2013 Isn\u2019t He doing it because He wants to teach us something? (Tehillim 94:10).
TAPE # 61 (April 1974)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem Manipulates History\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-16T22:30:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:31:44+00:00" }, { "id": 35774, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-haye-sarah/", "title": "Paracha ‘Hay\u00e9 Sarah", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Haye-Sarah-5783The post Paracha ‘Hay\u00e9 Sarah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-16T03:40:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-16T03:40:17+00:00" }, { "id": 35772, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/por-que-necesitamos-zapatos/", "title": "Por qu\u00e9 necesitamos zapatos ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Hashem hizo que las personas necesiten usar zapatos mientras que los animales no?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no se trata s\u00f3lo de usar zapatos. La gente necesita muchas cosas que los animales no necesitan. Un gato puede ir a la alcantarilla y beber el agua. No puedes hacer eso. Los gatos tampoco usan anteojos.
\n\n\n\nLos seres humanos necesitamos muchas cosas para un prop\u00f3sito. Y el prop\u00f3sito es que tengamos que pedirle a Hashem que nos ayude. El prop\u00f3sito es clamar a Hashem: \u201cHashem, ay\u00fadame\u201d. Si una persona fuera como un gato, podr\u00eda prescindir de muchas cosas, pero Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere estimularte a gritar. Es por eso que tenemos enfermedades que los animales no tienen, para que podamos clamar a Hashem. Y luego, cuando mejoremos, debemos clamar a \u00c9l en gratitud.
\n\n\n\nPor eso necesitamos prendas. Clamamos a Hashem: \u201cHashem, necesito un vestido\u201d. Y luego, cuando obtienes una prenda, debes agradecer a Hashem por d\u00e1rtela. Pero supongamos que te hubiera crecido el pelaje y nunca has tenido que comprar nada; no dir\u00edas malbish arumim.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tengo miedo de decirlo, pero hoy podr\u00eda ser que incluso cuando dices esa beraj\u00e1 no piensas lo que est\u00e1s diciendo. Decimos malbish arumim todos los d\u00edas: \u201c\u00c9l viste al desnudo\u201d. \u00bfTe detienes a pensar? Tienes que pensar. Mira lo maravilloso que es. Tienes ojales aqu\u00ed con una costura alrededor. Tienes botones aqu\u00ed. Tienes bolsillos que tienen un forro. Esta tela es un invento maravilloso. Es lana transformada en hilo, y el hilo se hila y se teje en telares. Es maravilloso. Y tambi\u00e9n es de color, negro o del color que sea. No importa cu\u00e1nto te esfuerces, no has cumplido con la gratitud completa por tus prendas. Cuando estudias tus prendas te vuelves m\u00e1s y m\u00e1s feliz con ellas, y todo eso est\u00e1 incluido en malbish arumim. Es por eso que Hashem nos dio las prendas y no nos dio un abrigo de piel que crezca en nuestra piel.
\n\n\n\nPor eso necesitas todo. Los seres humanos necesitamos m\u00e1s cosas que los animales y los seres humanos somos susceptibles a m\u00e1s enfermedades que los animales para poder clamar a Hashem. Ese es el prop\u00f3sito. Es un gran principio fundamental. Nuestro prop\u00f3sito en la vida es recordar a Hashem, y las cosas que necesitamos nos recuerdan a Hashem.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #898 (noviembre de 1992)
\nThe post Por qu\u00e9 necesitamos zapatos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-16T03:24:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-16T03:24:14+00:00" }, { "id": 35849, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-we-need-shoes/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Need Shoes", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why did Hashem make it so that people need to wear shoes while animals don\u2019t?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s not a question of wearing shoes alone. People need many things that animals don\u2019t. A cat can go to the gutter and drink the water. You can’t do that. Cats don’t wear glasses either.
\n\n\n\nHuman beings need many things for a purpose. And the purpose is that they should have to ask Hashem to help them. The purpose is to cry out to Hashem, \u201cHashem help me.\u201d If a person would be like a cat he would be able to dispense with needing very many things but Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants him to be stimulated to cry out. That’s why we have illnesses that animals don’t have \u2013 so that we should cry out to Hashem. And then when we get better so that we should cry out to Him in gratitude.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we need garments. We cry out to Hashem, \u201cHashem I need a garment.\u201d And then when you get a garment you have to thank Hashem for it. But suppose fur grew on you and you never had to buy anything; you wouldn’t say malbish arumim.
\n\n\n\nNow I’m afraid to say it, but today it could be that even when you say that brachah you don’t think what you’re saying. We say malbush arumim every day, \u201cHe clothes the naked.\u201d Do you stop to think? You have to think. Look how wonderful it is. You have buttonholes here with a seam around it. You have buttons here. You have pockets that have a lining. This cloth is a wonderful contrivance. It’s wool twisted into thread, and thread is spun and it\u2019s woven on looms. It’s marvelous. And it’s also colored, black or whatever color it is. No matter how much you\u2019ll put in effort, you haven’t fulfilled the full gratitude for your garments. When you study your garments you become more and more happy with them, and that’s all included in malbish arumim. That’s why Hashem gave us the garments and He didn’t give us a fur coat to grow on our skin.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why you need everything. Human beings need more things than animals and human beings are susceptible to more illnesses than animals in order they should cry out to Hashem. That’s the purpose. It’s a big fundamental principle. Our purpose in life is to be reminded of Hashem, and the things that we need remind us of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 898 (November 1992)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Need Shoes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-15T22:41:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:41:52+00:00" }, { "id": 35770, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/grandes-ideas/", "title": "Grandes ideas", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfRav, por qu\u00e9 usted nunca menciona la fuente de sus ideas, ya sea que provengan de Rav Simja Z\u00edsel o de Rav Noson Tzv\u00ed Finkel de Slabodka o de Rav Aizik Sher?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que no quiero adjudicarles a estos grandes hombres mis expresiones defectuosas o mis explicaciones defectuosas. A veces es posible que no diga las cosas correctamente, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 deber\u00eda culparlos? Pero m\u00e1s o menos las ideas se originan en estos grandes hombres y en Jovot Halevavot y otros sefarim. S\u00f3lo que es como la lluvia. La lluvia cae sobre la tierra y se pierde. Despu\u00e9s de un tiempo sale en alg\u00fan lugar como un arroyo y el arroyo se enorgullece de ser el originador del agua dulce. Te olvidas de que en realidad es lluvia, que en realidad todo vino de la lluvia que cay\u00f3 en alg\u00fan lugar. Y todo lo que escuchas en este lugar fue dicho por algunos grandes hombres, s\u00f3lo que olvid\u00e9 la fuente. Y las cosas equivocadas fueron dichas por m\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #314 (mayo de 1980)
\nThe post Grandes ideas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-15T05:35:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-15T05:35:16+00:00" }, { "id": 35847, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-great-ideas/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Great Ideas", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhy don\u2019t you ever mention the source of your ideas, whether they come from Rav Simcha Zissel or from Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel of Slabodka or from Rav Isaac Sher?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that I don’t want to burden these great men with my faulty expressions or my faulty explanations. Sometimes I might not say things correctly so why should I blame them? But more or less the ideas originate from these great men and from Chovos Halevavos and other sefarim. Only it’s like the rain. The rain comes down into the earth and it gets lost. After a while it comes out someplace as a stream and the stream prides itself that it’s the originator of fresh water. You forget that it’s really rain, that actually it all came from the rain that fell down someplace. And so whatever you hear in this place was said by some great men only I forgot the source. And the wrong things were said by me.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 314 (May 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Great Ideas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-14T22:38:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:39:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35765, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/lecciones-de-kiruv-de-abraham/", "title": "Lecciones de kiruv de Abraham ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es el mejor m\u00e9todo de ense\u00f1anza para lekarev j\u00f3venes, incluso a nuestros propios hijos, para llegar a la conciencia de Hashem y tener la fortaleza para enfrentar nisionot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl mejor m\u00e9todo es ense\u00f1arles Jumash; ense\u00f1arles Rashi; ense\u00f1arles Tanaj y Guemar\u00e1. Porque all\u00ed tienes toda la experiencia de las generaciones; est\u00e1 todo all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nTienes que saber, como explica Rashi, que Abraham era un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o y su padre era un hombre de negocios y obten\u00eda ganancias de la venta de \u00eddolos. Ahora bien, estamos tan acostumbrados de que nos olvidamos de aprender de esto; \u00bfAbraham era un ni\u00f1o cuyo padre vend\u00eda \u00eddolos? \u00bfY se convirti\u00f3 en Abraham?
\n\n\n\nImagin\u00e9monos un ni\u00f1o en Oshkosh Wisconsin y digamos que su padre trabaja en una iglesia. Este ni\u00f1o en Oshkosh tiene tanta posibilidad de convertirse en un jud\u00edo frum como una bola de nieve en una estufa. Pero Abraham sobrevivi\u00f3; no s\u00f3lo sobrevivi\u00f3, sino que gan\u00f3. Y, por lo tanto, los go\u00edm suelen estar felices de llamar a sus hijos Abraham, Abraham Lincoln e Ibrahim Pasha. En todo el mundo, Abraham gan\u00f3. Y debemos aprender la lecci\u00f3n, c\u00f3mo ser Mekarev al Idishkait, de Abraham; Abraham les ense\u00f1\u00f3 sobre Hashem.
\n\n\n\nDigamos que traes muchachos a tu casa en la tarde de Shabat, o una mujer trae chicas, y lez sirves man\u00edes, pasteles y otras cosas. Y mientras est\u00e1n sentados y comiendo cosas ricas, les preguntas: “\u00bfSaben de qui\u00e9n es eso?”
\n\n\n\n“Es tuyo”, dicen: “Gracias”.
\n\n\n\n“No”, dices: “No es m\u00edo. No pude hacer un man\u00ed; en toda mi vida no pude crear un man\u00ed. Mira lo maravilloso que es. Sabes que el man\u00ed tiene dentro dos piezas envueltas en un envoltorio para mantenerlo limpio del polvo. Y el man\u00ed tiene una columna vertebral. Mu\u00e9strales c\u00f3mo presionas la columna vertebral y se abre en dos mitades limpias; est\u00e1 hecho para la apertura. Es como estos paquetes de caramelo o paquetes de cigarrillos; tiras una peque\u00f1a cinta y se abre.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que le demuestras eso y dices: “No pude hacer tal cosa. No es mio este man\u00ed, pertenece a quien lo hizo “.
\n\n\n\nLo est\u00e1s haciendo como lo hizo Abraham.
\n\n\n\nY dices, “Baruj” y todos los chicos dicen contigo, “Baruj”. Y juntos dicen “Baruj At\u00e1 Hashem, le agradecemos a Hashem, que cre\u00f3 todo esto”.
\n\n\n\nEso es lo que hizo Abraham con sus invitados. \u00a1No sali\u00f3 con un jumash diciendo: “\u00a1Crean en el Bor\u00e9!” Oh no; los llevaba al jard\u00edn y los alimentaba con deliciosas frutas y cuando quer\u00edan agradecerle, dec\u00eda: “No es m\u00edo”. “\u00bfDe qui\u00e9n es?” preguntaban. Y \u00e9l se\u00f1alaba. “\u00bfQu\u00e9 hay? No vemos nada” dec\u00edan.
\n\n\n\nY comenzaba a hablar con ellos. Ddc\u00eda: “Si encuentras un reloj, \u00bfdir\u00e1s que el reloj se hizo solo? \u00bfPuede un reloj hacerse a s\u00ed mismo? \u00bfPuede una naranja hacerse? Una naranja es una obra maestra m\u00e1s que un reloj. Un reloj en comparaci\u00f3n con una naranja es como una piedra; no es nada en absoluto “.
\n\n\n\nUna naranja est\u00e1 llena de sabidur\u00eda. El embalaje de la naranja: el color en el exterior, con el blanco en la parte posterior de la c\u00e1scara. Y las semillas est\u00e1n en el interior; es como esos paquetes de cereal, que cuando los terminas hay un papel adentro que dice que tienes otro paquete gratis. Cuando comes la naranja, las semillas est\u00e1n ah\u00ed; las escupes en el suelo y otro \u00e1rbol crecer\u00e1. As\u00ed es como Abraham hablaba a sus invitados.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed es como se debe ser Makarev. Beajil\u00e1 ushti\u00e1, con comida y bebida; no con teor\u00edas. Necesitas buenos momentos para mostrarle a la gente el Idishkait.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo puedes ense\u00f1ar a un ni\u00f1o a lidiar con nisionot? Necesitas las lecciones del jumash. Pero necesitas un maestro que tenga coraz\u00f3n; no un maestro s\u00f3lo trabajando por su salario. Necesitas un maestro que viva estos ideales. Este maestro har\u00e1 que las cosas cobren vida en las neshamot del ni\u00f1o y esos ni\u00f1os se convertir\u00e1n en Abrahams y Saras.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #423 (octubre de 1982)
\nThe post Lecciones de kiruv de Abraham appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-14T03:58:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-14T03:58:45+00:00" }, { "id": 35759, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99-%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "09-\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9-\u05e9\u05e8\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-14T03:54:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-14T03:54:37+00:00" }, { "id": 35844, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-kiruv-lessons-from-avraham/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Kiruv Lessons From Avraham", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the best method of teaching of being mikareiv young people, even our own children,\u00a0to come to awareness of Hashem and to have the fortitude to contend with nisyanos?
A:
The best method is to teach them Chumash; to teach them Rashi; to teach them Tanach and Gemara. Because there you have all the experience of the generations; it\u2019s\u00a0all there.\u00a0
You have to know, like Rashi explains, that Avraham was a little boy and his father was a businessman who made profits from selling idols. Now we are so accustomed that we forget to learn from this; Avraham was a boy whose father sold idols? And he became Avraham?!
So here is a boy in Oshkosh Wisconsin and let\u2019s say his father works on a church; so this boy in OshKosh has as much chance as becoming a frum Jew as a snowball in a stove. And still Avraham survived; not only he survived but he won out. And therefore the goyim used to be happy to call their sons Abraham, Abraham Lincoln and Ibrahim Pasha. All over the world Avraham won out. And so we should learn that lesson, how to be mekareiv people to yiddishkeit, from Avraham; Avraham taught them about Hashem.
Let\u2019s say you bring boys into your home on Shabbos afternoon \u2013 or if you are a woman, you bring in girls \u2013 and you start by feeding them peanuts and cake and other things. And while they are sitting and munching on the good things, you ask them \u201cYou know whose that is?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s yours,\u201d they say, \u201cThank you.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d you say, \u201cit is not mine. I couldn\u2019t make a peanut; for the life of me I couldn\u2019t create a peanut. Look how wonderful it is. You know the peanut has inside two pieces wrapped in a wrapper to keep it clean from dust. And the peanut has a spine. Show them how you press the spine and it opens in two neat halves; it\u2019s made for opening. It is just like these candy packages or cigarette packages; you pull a little string and it opens up.
\n\n\n\nSo you show that to them and you say, \u201cI couldn\u2019t make such a thing. It\u2019s not mine. This peanut belongs to the One who made it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re doing just like Avraham did.
\n\n\n\nAnd say, \u201cBoruch\u201d and all the children chime in with you, \u201cBoruch.\u201d And together you say \u201cBoruch atah Hashem, we thank You Hashem, the One Who created all this.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Avraham did with his guests. He didn\u2019t come out with a chumash and say, \u201cBelieve in the Borei!\u201d Oh no; he took them in the garden and he stood over them and fed them delicious fruits and when they wanted to thank him he said, \u201cIt\u2019s not mine.\u201d They said \u201cIt\u2019s not yours? Whose is it?\u201d And he pointed up. So they said \u201cWhat\u2019s there? We don\u2019t see anything.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd he started talking to them. He said, \u201cIf you find a watch, you\u2019ll say the watch made itself? Can a watch make itself? Can an orange make itself? An orange is a masterpiece more than a watch. A watch compared to an orange is like a stone; it\u2019s nothing at all.\u201d
An orange is full of cunning. The packaging of the orange \u2013 the color on the outside, with the white on the backside of the peel. And the seeds are on the inside; it\u2019s like those packets of cereal \u2013 when you get finished with it there is a little ticket inside entitling you to another package free. When you eat the orange the seeds are there; you spit it on the ground and another tree will grow. That\u2019s how Avraham spoke to his guests.
That\u2019s how to be makareiv people. Ba\u2019achilah u\u2019shesiyah, with eating and drinking; not with just theorizing. You need good times to bring people into yiddishkeit.
\n\n\n\nSo how can you teach a child to contend with nisyonos? You need the lessons of the Chumash. But you need a rebbe who has a heart; not a rebbe just working for his salary. You need a rebbe who lives these ideals. This rebbe will make the things come alive in the neshomos of the child and those children will become Avrahams and Sarahs.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 423 (October 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Kiruv Lessons From Avraham appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T22:34:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-24T22:35:15+00:00" }, { "id": 35751, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-entertaining-guests-instead-of-davening/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Entertaining Guests Instead of Davening", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Gemara says that from the story of Avraham Avinu in this week\u2019s parsha we learn that \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05db\u05e0\u05e1\u05ea \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u2013 it\u2019s greater to entertain wayfarers more than to receive the presence of the Shechinah. How does that apply in real life?
A:
It applies to us exactly as it applied to Avraham Avinu. Which means that suppose it’s time to go to the synagogue for the minchah minyan but it just so happens that a meshulach came in to your home to ask for a donation. Now, this meshulach, he hasn’t been home all day so you offer him something to eat; but that means you’ll have to remain home to serve him. It means you’ll miss minchah. Now it doesn’t mean you’ll miss minchah entirely. You’ll miss the minyan. So you should follow that dictum, that serving a wayfarer food is more important than a minyan. Of course, if you could serve him and then take him together with you to the synagogue, that’s the best thing.
TAPE # 53 (October 1974)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Entertaining Guests Instead of Davening appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T20:56:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-13T20:56:22+00:00" }, { "id": 35740, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-chayei-sarah-5783-the-splendid-home-2/", "title": "Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home", "content_html": "The First Sanctuary
\n\n\n\nWhen we think about the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash it\u2019s important to recognize that there was a churban that took place even before that. Before the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim, we had the Mishkan. The Mishkan that Moshe Rabeinu built in the Midbar with his own hands, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df. Moshe was a big, strong man; he picked up the huge logs, the kerashim, and set it all up himself. Ahhh! The Beis Hamikdash that was built by Moshe our Teacher!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s true, it was much smaller than the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim; it was collapsible so that the Bnei Yisroel should be able to transport it from place to place for forty years. But this House of Hashem came before Dovid and Shlomo built the Beis Hamikdash, and the Shechinah dwelt in the Mishkan in a way that was never equaled again. What Shlomo HaMelech built later was not the same. It was tremendous, it was big and beautiful and filled with kedushah, but still they looked back with longing for those great days when we had a Beis Hamikdash in the wilderness.
\n\n\n\nAnd it lasted many years \u2013 don\u2019t think it was just forty years. After the Bnei Yisroel crossed over the Yarden, that Mishkan that was built in the midbar stood in Shilo for another three hundred and sixty nine years. Forty years in the midbar and then another three hundred and sixty nine years in Shilo. That\u2019s more than four hundred years that our nation benefited from the Mishkan built by Moshe Rabeinu. And therefore, when the Plishtim destroyed Mishkan Shiloit was a very great tragedy in our history.
\n\n\n\nThe Ante-First Sanctuary
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that there was an even bigger churban that took place before the destruction of Mishkan Shilo. When we think about that day of \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05ea \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, when Sarah Imeinu passed away, you must understand that it wasn\u2019t merely the death of the first of our Imahos. That itself would have been enough to cry about, absolutely, but it was much more than that. We have to know that it was a churban Beis Hamikdash; it was the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the truth \u2013 the first and greatest churban haBayis was when Sarah passed away. The Ramban says that. In his introduction to Sefer Shemos he says that the Shechinah, the Divine Presence, dwelt in the tent of Avrohom and Sarah. And when they passed away, the Shechinah no longer had any place to be.
\n\n\n\nOf course, to a certain extent the Shechinah remained; because the other Avos and Imahos tried as much as possible to keep up the traditions. When Yitzchok wed Rivkah, it says b\u2019feirush that \u201che brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother\u201d and then, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05e7 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Yitzchok was consoled after his mother. What does that mean? His mother used to make kneidelach and therefore Rivkah now again started making kneidelach? Avrohom didn’t have servants who could make kneidelach for him? What was it that his mother gave Yitzchok that only Rivkah could console? Why couldn’t his father console him?
\n\n\n\nMore Than Kneidelach
\n\n\n\nThe answer is it was Rivkah who supplied what Sarah had formerly done. Sarah was the mother inside the tent. She made that place a Beis Hamikdash. Rivkah did her best to step into the shoes of Sarah Imeinu. It wasn\u2019t the same, however. It wasn\u2019t the same.
\n\n\n\nAnd later again, Yaakov and Rochel and Leah and then the shevatim, they lived extraordinary lives of dedication to Hashem, no question about it, and to a certain extent, the spirit still continued. But it didn\u2019t compare with the tent that Avrohom and Sarah built. You have no idea of the perfection of Avrohom and Sarah, the perfection of the home they built together. There was nothing like it.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when Sarah passed away, that was the first churban; the presence of Hakodosh Boruch Hu went into exile at that time. And it remained in exile until the children of Yisrael passed through the great experiences, yetzias Mitzrayim and kriyas yam suf and matan Torah, and they were now elevated to such a very great degree of perfection that these great people were now able to come together to build a sanctuary, a Mishkan in the midbar, where the Shechinah that had resided at the tent of Avrohom and Sarah, could now finally come to rest again.
\n\n\n\nThe Sanctuary Prototype
\n\n\n\nNow, to our ears that seems exaggerated. But you have to know that the menorah and shulchan in the Mishkan and theBeis Hamikdashwere only replicas of the menorah and shulchan in Sarah\u2019s tent. When the kohanim brought korbanos and lit the menorah, when they put the lechem hapanim on the shulchan, it was an imitation. The shulchan was an imitation of the shulchan on which Avrohom and Sarah ate, and the menorah was an imitation of Sarah\u2019s candles.
\n\n\n\nThe Chachomim say that. The Medrash (Vayikra Rabbah 21:11) says that when Avrohom brought a par for each visitor, it was the prototype for the par of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. You hear such a thing?! The par of Yom Kippur was just an echo of the par that Avrohom slaughtered for every visitor. And you can be sure that the challos that Sarah made were a prototype for all the challos that were served in the Beis Hamikdash, the lachmei todah and the lechem hapanim and the shtei halechem. When Sarah was baking, she wasn\u2019t baking. She was making a korban mincha. She was serving Hashem!
\n\n\n\nEverything that was done later in the Beis Hamikdash, everything done to cause the Shechinah to dwell among us, was following the prototype of what was done in that tent because that was the first Beis Hamikdash and whatever is written about that home is a model for the rest of our history.
\n\n\n\nLook To The Rock
\n\n\n\nYou know, Yeshaya Hanavi tells us that if we want to achieve greatness in this world we have to look to Avrohom and Sarah and emulate them. In Yeshaya 51, at the beginning, the Navi says: \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b9\u05d3\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7 \u05de\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Listen to me you who pursue righteousness, those who seek Hashem. So what is he going to tell us now? He\u2019s going to tell us how to achieve our goal. Those who wish to become righteous and pursue closeness to Hashem, what\u2019s the way? What should you do?
\n\n\n\n\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d7\u05bb\u05e6\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 Look to the rock from which you were hewn out, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e7\u05b6\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05bb\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 and to the cistern, that\u2019s a pit, from which you came forth (ibid.) Now what is the rock from which we were hewn out? What is the cistern, the well, from which we came forth?
\n\n\n\nSo Yeshaya continues: \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Look to Avrohom your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you. That\u2019s the way! The greatness of our first father and mother, the perfection they achieved in the home, is the source for the greatness of our nation.
\n\n\n\nBe Mimetic
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you want to succeed in attaining tzedek and closeness to Hashem, look at them. Habitu means keep on looking. Study them, over and over again. Put your mind into it and be mimetic in whatever the Torah tells you about Avrohom and Sarah or whatever the Chachomim add peirushim about them. Every detail, every anecdote about them is a gem, and the more serious we are about it the more we can learn about them and gain greatness. You want to know about how to build a Beis Hamikdash of your own? Look at Avrohom and Sarah who together built a Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nNow there\u2019s a lot to talk about. If we would sit here all day and all night speaking, and we would do it for years and years, it still wouldn\u2019t be enough. But we have to try, at least a little bit, because we want to build a Mikdash like they did \u2013 at least a little bit. Every Jewish home is a Beis Hamikdash and we want to suffuse it with the atmosphere of Avrohom and Sarah.
\n\n\n\nNow, don\u2019t think it\u2019s just a mashal. That\u2019s the truth; every home is a Mikdash. When a choson and kallah marry it\u2019s exactly like building a Mikdash. That\u2019s why if you come to a wedding, you\u2019re already doing something extraordinary. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c2\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05bb\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 If you participate and make them happy at their wedding, it\u2019s like you helped rebuild Yerushalayim (Brachos 6b). A marriage is a rebuilding of Yerushalayim; that\u2019s what the Gemara says.
\n\n\n\nHoly Homes
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why if they break up their marriage, chalilah, \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 the mizbeach weeps (Gittin 90b). Why does it weep? Why should the mizbeach weep if someone in Boro Park gives a get? Because a Beis Hamikdash has been destroyed. The Shechinah dwells in the Jewish home and just like the Shechinah departed when the Beis Hamikdashwas laid waste, the Shechinah departs when a Jewish home stops functioning.
\n\n\n\nWe think it\u2019s just words, meshalim. No, no. I\u2019m not talking drush. We have no idea the kedushah in a Jewish home. In ancient times people understood that. A man once told me, he told this to me about sixty years ago. He had an old mother from Europe who lived with him. He remembered from when he was a boy his mother used to say, \u201cDon’t sit on the table. A Jewish table is kodesh.\u201dA little boy would sit on the table and the mother would shoo him off, \u201cThe table is kodesh.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWe have no idea of the holiness. It’s so remarkable I can’t describe it to you. I myself have no idea of such kedushah. But people lived for Hashem and they lived according to Hashem’s principles, with His ideals, and they understood the home was much more than a home, a place to live.
\n\n\n\nWhen The Angels Visit
\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time people believed in ma’amarei Chazal k\u2019peshuto. Everybody understood that when a man came home from shul with the boys Friday night he didn’t come alone. Two malochim came along with him. K\u2019peshuto. They believed that k\u2019peshuto. Two malochim came along with him. As they walked in the house, the mother and the daughters were standing all dressed up and greeting them and the malochim as they walked in the doorway. They said, \u201cGood Shabbos.\u201d It was an experience of feeling the kedushah.
\n\n\n\nAnd the malochim came into the house and the malochim saw the table was set. It was a poor little house. The candlesticks were nothing expensive. But they did their best. They took some chicken bones and made soup. Whatever it was, from their limited resources they made Shabbos. And the malochim gave them a blessing and they understood it was a blessing. They felt that blessing. Everyone felt the presence of the kedushah that the malochim brought into the house. And it lasted all week; all week the house was kadosh.
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s true that some of that greatness has been lost but it\u2019s not lost entirely. Boruch Hashem, there are beautiful Jewish homes today. No question, there’s kedushah in every Jewish home today. Those who keep the Torah, no question. The malochim still come. Whether you think about them or not, they come anyhow. There’s no question that the house where Jews live and practice the Torah is a makom kadosh.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when a chosson and kallah marry and move into a home, they have to know that it\u2019s an opportunity to accomplish to create a makom kadosh and bring the presence of Hashem to the Am Yisrael. And don’t think that it’s agav orcha. You might think the main purpose of being a Jew is to go to the beis hakenesses. Oh no! It\u2019s very important, no question, but the most important function of the Am Yisrael is building your home as a replica of the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nChanging Of The Guard
\n\n\n\nI want to talk to you now about a certain procedure that took place in the Beis Hamikdash. It seems like a small detail but you\u2019ll see soon how important it is, especially for our subject. The Gemara says that every week, on Shabbos, the shift of the kohanim who were working in the Beis Hamikdash changed. The family of kohanim that had served all week, they went out and a new mishmar, a different family of kohanim, came in for the ensuing week.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara there (Brachos 12a) tells us about an interesting thing that took place when this exchange of shifts was made. \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05db\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e1 \u2013 The family of kohanim who are coming in now to start their week of work in the Beis Hamikdashare standing together in a group and the family of kohanim that are leaving are facing them; and the ones leaving give a brocha to the ones who are coming in.
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention to the blessing they pronounce: \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 The One Who caused His name to dwell in this House, \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 He should cause among you, the incoming ones, the new mishmor, \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 love and brotherhood, peace and friendship.
\n\n\n\nA Beautiful Brocha
\n\n\n\nNow that blessing seems to us a puzzle. Because when the new mishmar comes in, they\u2019re being entrusted now by the nation with the whole avodas Beis Hamikdash. And that\u2019s something that is extremely complicated; it\u2019s lomdus and you must know many details. And an error, even the slightest imperfect thought, can chalilah make a korban pigul or possul.
\n\n\n\nSo why didn\u2019t they give them a blessing that they should do the avodah correctly, without any mistakes? If I was there I would have said, \u201cThe One who rests His name in this House should help you do all the details of the avodas Hashem properly.\u201d That\u2019s most important. \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u2013 if you bring the wrong kind of a korban it\u2019s a sin, a chilul Hashem (Vayikra 22:32).
\n\n\n\nAnd I would add, \u201cAnd you should merit the siyatta dishmaya to do it lishmah too.\u201d Not only perfectly in maaseh butthe mind too. Sometimes you can do the avodah just because of mitzvas anoshim melumadah. It\u2019s a pity to serve Hashem without thinking and so I would add that into the blessing.
\n\n\n\nThat would be a beautiful brocha for the family of kohanim entering the Beis Hamikdash: \u201cThe One who rests His name in this Home should help you fulfill all the details without any errors and you should merit to do it all l\u2019sheim Shomayim.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Most Important Requirement
\n\n\n\nBut no, the blessing is nothing like that; nothing is mentioned in this brocha except for peace and brotherhood. \u201cYou should live together b\u2019shalom. Youshould get along with each other and live in harmony and achdus and friendship.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt’s a remarkable thing! Is that what you came here for?! You\u2019re coming to the Beis Hamikdash for friendship, for shalom?! It\u2019s a family gathering?! You’re coming here to serve Hashem, to bring the korbanos! You\u2019re coming to bring the menachos and ketores and to light the menorah.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019re learning something new now. Absolutely you\u2019re coming into the Beis Hamikdash to serve Hashem. But in what way? What\u2019s the most important way, the first way to succeed in avodas Hashem? The answer is by not quarreling with each other; by being kind to each other and helping each other. By loving each other and living in peace.
\n\n\n\nOf course you must take care of all the details of the avodah. Absolutely you shouldn\u2019t make anything possul, and absolutely you should do it l\u2019sheim Shomayim, no question about it. But the very first and most important requirement is it should be with ahavah between the kohanim. If you wish the Shechinah should dwell in the Beis Hamikdash, number one on the list is that the kohanim who are serving there, should be serving together with \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea between themselves.
\n\n\n\nPraying For Harmony
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s no coincidence that we find those same exact words in the sheva brochos, when we bless the chosson and kallah. Because they\u2019re going now into their own little Beis Hamikdash. Now, it\u2019s not in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. And it\u2019s not a big beautiful edifice. Could be it\u2019s a small rundown apartment somewhere in Crown Heights or Flatbush. The pipe under the sink is always springing a leak and there are mice that run around at night. No matter! That little home is a Beis Hamikdash. And when you walk into that home, number one on the list is \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 love and brotherhood, peace and friendship.
\n\n\n\nAnd so as the chosson and kallah are standing under the chuppah, a frum chosson is saying a tefillah. He\u2019s shaking back and forth. The kallah is holding a little sefer, saying tefillos. Wonderful! What are her tefillos about? Everything! Everything is important! But number one her tefillos should be that no matter how mean and stubborn the chosson is, that she should be polite to him always. And him too; the number one tefillah for him should be that no matter how wild and narish his wife will be, he\u2019ll always be polite to her. They\u2019re both davening that they should always treat each other with only respect.
\n\n\n\nThe Mule and The Fool
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think it\u2019s not an important tefillah. Because every husband is stubborn. And every wife is narish. Everybody is foolish. You’ll find out when you get married. All husbands are stubborn like mules, this you have to know. There isn\u2019t a husband who is not stubborn like a mule. And there isn\u2019t a woman who is not frantic about it like a wild cat. They\u2019re not what you thought they were. It\u2019s always different than you imagined.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you think that what I\u2019m saying is superfluous, let me tell you, that\u2019s the first thing you have to learn! You know, if it was up to me, I would institute in all the girl\u2019s schools \u2013 in all the seminaries \u2013 courses for success in marriage. I used to speak to the Bais Yaakov girls frequently and when I brought up this topic of studying for success in marriage they thought of it as a waste of time. They wanted to hear \u2013 the good girls wanted to hear \u2013 about the mefarshim, what the Malbim says, what the Kli Yakar says, what this peirush says. Now that\u2019s wonderful. But the most important peirush is: what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu say on the subject of living with another person in the same house?
\n\n\n\nA Spirit of Love
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we\u2019re building a Mikdash of marriage, there are many things you have to think about. What things are you going to bring into your home? Certain things can\u2019t be brought in. You can\u2019t have a television or gentile newspapers in a Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nYou have to think about how you\u2019re going to raise children. You\u2019re not raising children in a home like the rest of the world does. You\u2019re bringing them up in a Mikdash. What\u2019s going to be the spirit of learning Torah in that Mikdash? What\u2019s going to be the attitude towards tzadikim? Towards mitzvos? What\u2019s going to be the table talk in the house? There are many things to think about.
\n\n\n\nBut the very first thing you have to think about is \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea, love and brotherhood and peace and friendship. Between the husband and wife, between the siblings, between the children and parents. Everything is important but the first idea is you’re coming into a house to build a place where the Shechinah wants to dwell. \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4, The One who rests His name in this Jewish home, \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea, He should make peace between you. That\u2019s the very first, the foundation of all the requirements, if you want the Shechinah to dwell in your house.
\n\n\n\nShalom Brings Holiness
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the attitude that maintains the kedushah of the home. That\u2019s what maintains the holiness of the home where the malochim come in, the holiness of the table, the holiness in the kitchen and living room and bedrooms. It mostly depends on this one thing: Shalom!
\n\n\n\nLike the Gemara says, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd (Sotah 17). When there is shalom between a husband and wife, the Shechinah resides between them. What\u2019s the difference between \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 and \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4? He has a yud and she has a hei. A yud-kei, Hashem\u2019s name. That\u2019s how it\u2019s explained by the Maharsha; there\u2019s a \u05d9-\u05d4 between them. But it\u2019s not a mashal \u2013 it\u2019s actually so! The Shechinah is in your midst. At the wedding, they start out with that attitude of shalom. When he says, “\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05bb\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9”, it\u2019s a language of kedushah, which means at the outset, there are three partners in a wedding. The Shechinah is there at the wedding at the beginning.
\n\n\n\nOnly, they mustn\u2019t chase it away. Every chosson and kallah, it doesn\u2019t matter if they married yesterday or fifty years ago, they have the function of maintaining the Shechinah in the home. That\u2019s an integral part of their lives \u2013 as human beings, and especially as shomrei Torah. The oved Hashem must understand that his and her function in life is to maintain the presence of the Shechinah in his marriage no less than it was at the beginning when there was only shalom.
\n\n\n\nHappily Ever After
\n\n\n\nNow, don\u2019t get mixed up when you hear these words and think like a gentile. It doesn\u2019t mean that romance will be there no less than in the beginning. Forget about that. The young princess you married when she was eighteen; she was slim and beautiful, now she\u2019s fat and she\u2019s wrinkled maybe. It can\u2019t be helped. And what are you anyway? You\u2019re not the same Prince Charming. Far from it! It\u2019s ridiculous! It\u2019s unreal to expect those feelings to exist forever! You have to be realistic. You\u2019re using the same bathroom. You sit and eat together. Sometimes you don\u2019t like the way she chews her food; she makes too much noise when she eats. Or she talks too much. Sometimes she doesn\u2019t like his ways either.
\n\n\n\nYou know, in the old time romance novels a husband and wife always lived happily ever after. That was always the end of the story. Now, to a certain extent it\u2019s a good attitude but actually it\u2019s impossible! It\u2019s unreal and people are in for a very big disappointment. It\u2019s a pusteh chalom, an empty dream. The imaginary ideas that have been foisted upon us by Western culture over the last 300, 400 years are 95% false and it makes life impossible to live because we expect these attitudes to remain forever without any work.
\n\n\n\nRomance is only before marriage. You know that? It\u2019s an instinct, that\u2019s all. It\u2019s nothing more than two dogs meeting in the street. It\u2019s the same instinct that you see when the male dog is barking on the street. In order to bring romance to an end you get married and now it\u2019s something else.
\n\n\n\nTrue Love
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05b6\u05d4\u05b8 \u2013 And Rivkah became Yitzchok\u2019s wife and he loved her (Chayei Sarah 24:67). After Yitzchok and Rivkah were married, that\u2019s when they loved each other. And the love that develops after marriage as in the case of Yitzchok, that\u2019s the love of a very close and near relative. Your wife is your closest relative, a special kind of relative, and that feeling of affection and love certainly develops and ripens with the years.
\n\n\n\nSo of course there\u2019s a happily ever after. You\u2019ll walk down together to the chuppah at your grandchildren\u2019s weddings! You\u2019ll be buried together in the cemetery and you\u2019ll be together in Olam Haba too. Sure, why not? But there\u2019s an essential ingredient needed to create that eternal bond of marriage. And we\u2019re learning now that number one is shalom veshalvah; number one is \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea. It means a lifetime devoted to the principle of respect and affection and loyalty and helping one another. Even when you\u2019re married fifty, sixty, seventy years that ideal continues to be the number one principle \u2013 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea.
\n\n\n\nOpportunity For Love
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a special mitzvah in the Torah that everybody knows, but it\u2019s not spoken about enough. And that\u2019s \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8. If you\u2019re a frum Jew, this has to be one of the major roles in your attempt to serve Hashem. Anybody who wants to serve Hashem, even in a moderate way, must make up his mind that this is going to be a major target of his life\u2019s aspiration.
\n\n\n\nBut what is overlooked by many people is that one of the most important opportunities to fulfill this mitzvah, or chas v\u2019shalom the opposite, is in the home with a spouse. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 means that a husband is mechuyav to love his wife like himself; and vice versa. Now, whatever that means exactly we\u2019ll explain soon but it\u2019s an obligation that stands behind the whole marriage.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll explain that. The Gemara says (Kiddushin 41a), that when a man is about to marry somebody, he shouldn\u2019t do it through an intermediary. He should first go and take a look at his intended because later, if he didn\u2019t see who he was marrying, he might be disappointed and he won\u2019t fulfill properly the commandment of \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8. So you see that this mitzvah that you should love your fellow Jew applies to your wife just as well as anybody else.
\n\n\n\nObligation To Love
\n\n\n\nThe truth is it applies much more to your wife. I\u2019ll explain that briefly. Pirkei Avos tells us an important principle for Torah living: \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 Everything depends on how numerous the number of acts are (Avos 3:15). If a mitzvah is done once, there\u2019s a reward for it, if a mitzvah is done many times there\u2019s a much bigger reward.
\n\n\n\nAnd Rabeinu Yonah explains that it\u2019s not just because you did it more times. It becomes exponentially greater; even the smallest mitzvah repeated a number of times, he says, is like taking thin cords and twisting them together, and then twisting more of them together, and finally it becomes a big, heavy rope. That\u2019s how great it is to repeat a mitzvah over again.
\n\n\n\nNow, what situation is presented to a man or a woman that gives them the opportunity to repeat again and again the mitzvah of loving your fellow Jew? There\u2019s nothing like marriage. Because your uncle, your neighbor, your friend, you\u2019ll come into contact with him here and there. It\u2019s good but it\u2019s nothing compared to your wife. You\u2019re in contact with your wife all the time. You\u2019ll have tens, maybe hundreds of opportunities every day, thousands every week. It\u2019s like a thousand different people!
\n\n\n\nAnd so when a person is married, he must make up his mind that no matter what, he\u2019s going to love his mate. You can\u2019t escape it. And she too should have that in mind. There\u2019s no way around it; you\u2019re mechuyav to love your spouse.
\n\n\n\nLove Your Husband
\n\n\n\nDid you ever try that? You see your husband, a fat, old fellow, waddling in the street; short and fat. You have to say, \u201cI love that man.\u201d It\u2019s a mitzvah min haTorah! Why not? Hashem loves fat, short people. If they are Jews, shomrei Torah, He loves them intensely, more than anything in the world. And He loves them, so we love them too.
\n\n\n\nNow the fact that he\u2019s your husband doesn\u2019t mean that he\u2019s deprived of that right. Actually, the fact that he\u2019s your husband obligates you to concentrate on him more than anybody else. Halevai you should love him a fraction of what Hashem loves him!
\n\n\n\nYou have to work on it. And if you do it, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will give you reward. What reward? Little by little, you\u2019ll actually feel it. \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea. Little by little it\u2019ll percolate down from your head into your heart.
\n\n\n\nLove Your Wife
\n\n\n\nYou see your wife walking in the street; she gave you a good tongue lashing when she walked out of the house this morning and you\u2019re still angry at her. You see her now walking in the street, she\u2019s coming back from the store carrying shopping bags. So you say, \u201cI love that woman! She\u2019s bringing home food for us and she\u2019s going to slave away in the hot kitchen so that we can enjoy our meals. I love her!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you say these words and then when she comes into the home you\u2019re a tyrant, so it\u2019s not worth much. If you\u2019re complaining about how much money she spent, so you\u2019re upending the principle of \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea. The wife too; if she says she loves her husband but as soon as he walks in the door she begins to chew his ear off, to nag him constantly, then it\u2019s not worth as much.
\n\n\n\nBe Polite
\n\n\n\nBecause when we say shalom and love and friendship, we expect real results to come forth from that mitzvah. It requires constant care with words. Politeness should always reign supreme in the house. Just like you feel differently when you\u2019re asked to do something politely, so you always ask your wife, \u201cPlease.\u201d You say, \u201cSarah, will you please hand me this-and-this.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOf course, the best thing is to get up and hand it to yourself. I don\u2019t like it when husbands sit at the table and call to the kitchen, \u201cSarah, a little more sugar, please\u201d,
\u201ca little more of this.\u201d What are you, a cripple? Boruch Hashem, you have two good feet! Get up you lazy fellow, and do it yourself! But if you have to ask, say \u201cPlease\u201d each time; at least that much.
When the wife needs money for the children she comes and says, \u201cChaim, I need money to buy shoes for the children, please.\u201d And he says, \u201cOf course, Chana, here it is.\u201d And she says, \u201cThank you.\u201d Now, it\u2019s all superfluous because that\u2019s his job; he has to supply that money. But by saying please and thank you, she has lubricated the relations of life.
\n\n\n\nBe Respectful
\n\n\n\nNot only politeness. Respect. Shalom means to respect each other. Of course, they don\u2019t insult each other but even more than that, a certain amount of kavod you have to show. You have derech eretz when you talk to each other. You know once you\u2019re married, she\u2019s not always putting on earrings and she\u2019s not always painting her face. You see her as the plain person that she actually is. And she sees you sometimes with your suspenders, without your kapote. And so you might look down on each other. No; you have to be careful with the kavod of each other always. Always do things in a way that demonstrates a certain regard for your mate.
\n\n\n\nAnd Hashem is between them when they\u2019re respecting each other. Shechinah beineihem! Hashem says, \u201cThey are respecting Me. I\u2019m there now because they\u2019re living with an awareness of the kedushah that reigns supreme in the Jewish home.\u201d And that\u2019s how they become successful. Not just successful in having a happy home. That\u2019s very important but it\u2019s not everything. It\u2019s success in avodas Hashem. It\u2019s how you build the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that it\u2019s easy for me to say these words and it\u2019s easy for you to listen, but living that way, it\u2019s not as easy. And so you always find ways to think thoughts that will encourage that attitude of the mind.
\n\n\n\nYears Of Gratitude
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a woman, she\u2019s working in the kitchen; why shouldn\u2019t she donate one minute to think thoughts of respect, of gratitude, of appreciation. \u201cMy husband is sitting all day long in Manhattan. He hates it there. He\u2019d like to be back in the yeshivah, but he wants to support the family. He\u2019s laboring. Money doesn’t grow on trees. It’s very hard to make a living with competitors and difficult customers, and still every day he went loyally. He did his job and brought the money home. He’s paying the rent. He buys us garments. He paid for the grocery bills. He paid the butcher. He pays the tuition for the children. How grateful we are to Chaim!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAndthe chosson all his life should appreciate the kallah. When she’s an old kallah of 90 years old and he’s an old chosson also of 90 odd years, he should still appreciate his kallah. The fact is, even more. A loyal husband is thinking all the time, \u201cLook at all that she did for me all those years. \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1, she did to me kindliness, \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05d4, all the days of her life.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHow many times did she cook good meals for him? She said, \u201cChaim, can I give you a glass of orange juice?\u201d \u201cChaim, do you want a piece of cake?\u201d How many times did she offer him tidbits? All her life. All her life.
\n\n\n\nSo it\u2019s not only at the beginning, under the chuppah, the chosson looks at the kallah and she looks at her chosson, they’re nice-looking young people. They’re well\u2013dressed now for the chasunah too. That’s not the only time they should appreciate each other. The older they get the more they should study this sugya. By means of constantly reviewing these ideas in their thoughts they learn to appreciate each other more and more as the years go by.
\n\n\n\nBe Expressive
\n\n\n\nAndbetter yet, they can express the thoughts to each other. You\u2019re bashful? It\u2019s already thirty years and you never did it before? Do it anyhow. Did you ever hear a woman say that? \u201cMy husband, we are very grateful for all that you do for us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd he should always say to her, \u201cMy wife, your cooking is delicious. You\u2019re raising up the children; an excellent job you\u2019re doing. The house is nice and clean. You\u2019re doing your best. I certainly appreciate what you\u2019re doing.\u201d Each one has to express gratitude to the other one.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s by means of living this way, that\u2019s how you live successfully. That\u2019s what Hashem is looking for; and He\u2019s living between both of you just because of that, just because you understand what the first and most important function of building a Beis Hamikdash and a home is.
\n\n\n\nUps, Downs and Idealism
\n\n\n\nWhat is the first function of the kohanim in the Mikdash? It\u2019s a function of \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 The One Who caused His name to dwell in this House, \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 He should cause among you, the incoming ones, the new mishmor, \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. That\u2019s also the obligation you assume when you marry, and no matter how you are tried and tested, you should never yield. You have to fight the yetzer hora of arrogance, of selfishness, of trying to vent your feelings on your partner. It should always be your principle to maintain \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea in the house, no matter what.
\n\n\n\nNow, nobody is a malach, nobody is completely successful; there are ups and downs, there are failures, sometimes there are minor tragedies. But always a husband and wife should keep before their eyes, a mutual ideal, \u201cWe want this place to be the Beis Hamikdash. It\u2019s the only home we\u2019ll ever have on this little earth. And therefore in our short, little lives, why shouldn\u2019t we try to make the best of it? And if we live successfully, even partially successfully, by being kindly to each other, and by serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu by the means of successful living together, then we\u2019ve lived on this earth for a purpose.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nBuilding A Splendid Sanctuary
\n\n\n\nWe have the opportunity to invite the Shechinah into our homes, just as Sarah transformed her humble tent into a sanctuary. The first requirement of those who enter the Mikdash is to pray for peace, because that is what makes the Mikdash an appropriate place for the Shechinah to rest. This week I will bli neder spend one minute each day thinking of ways to increase harmony and thus kedushah in my home.
\n\n\n\nTapes: 516 – Eternal Sanctuary of Marriage | 574 – Splendid Home | 620 – Ten Commandments of Marriage | E-50 – Ten Commandments of Marriage II | E-142 – Seven Brachos Of Marriage
\nThe post Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T02:04:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-13T02:04:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35747, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-chayei-sarah-5783-the-splendid-home/", "title": "Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home", "content_html": "TA-Chayei-Sarah-5783The post Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T02:02:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-13T02:02:40+00:00" }, { "id": 35739, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-chayei-sarah-5783-the-splendid-home/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home", "content_html": "TA-Chayei-Sarah-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Chayei Sarah 5783 – The Splendid Home appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T02:01:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-13T02:01:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35736, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/atender-a-invitados-en-lugar-de-rezar/", "title": "Atender a invitados en lugar de rezar", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa Guemar\u00e1 dice que de la historia de Avraham Avinu en la parash\u00e1 de esta semana aprendemos que \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05db\u05e0\u05e1\u05ea \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4: es mejor entretener a los viajeros que recibir la presencia de la Shejin\u00e1. \u00bfC\u00f3mo se aplica eso en la vida real?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSe aplica a nosotros exactamente como se aplic\u00f3 a Abraham Abinu. Lo que significa que supongamos que es hora de ir a la sinagoga para el mini\u00e1n de minj\u00e1, y un meshulaj entra en tu casa para pedir una donaci\u00f3n. Ahora bien, este meshulaj, no ha estado en una casa en todo el d\u00eda, as\u00ed que le ofreces algo de comer; pero eso significa que tendr\u00e1s que quedarte en casa para servirle. Significa que te perder\u00e1s minj\u00e1. Ahora bien, eso no significa que te perder\u00e1s minj\u00e1 por completo. Te perder\u00e1s el mini\u00e1n. As\u00ed que debes seguir esa m\u00e1xima, que servir comida a un viajero es m\u00e1s importante que un mini\u00e1n. Por supuesto, si pudieras servirle y luego llevarlo contigo a la sinagoga, eso es lo mejor.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #53 (octubre de 1974)
\nThe post Atender a invitados en lugar de rezar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-13T01:45:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-13T01:45:50+00:00" }, { "id": 35732, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%93-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%a7%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%9f-%d7%92%d7%95%d7%99%d7%90%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a2-%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%99%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d3: \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05df, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05df, \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9’\u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05df", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-244The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d3: \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05df, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05df, \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9’\u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-11T03:46:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-11T03:46:36+00:00" }, { "id": 35730, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rock-and-roll/", "title": "Rock and Roll", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEst\u00e1 prohibido escuchar m\u00fasica rock and roll? \ufeff
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es no, no est\u00e1 prohibido. \u00bfNo es sorprendente que yo diga eso? Tampoco est\u00e1 prohibido caminar por Ocean Parkway, quitarse los zapatos y bailar una giga. No est\u00e1 prohibido. S\u00f3lo que eres un mesh\u00faguene si lo haces. Y muy probable que se te clave una tachuela en tu pie.
\n\n\n\nSi escuchas rock and roll, tendr\u00e1s algunas tachuelas en tu cerebro. No hay duda de que no te har\u00e1 m\u00e1s inteligente. Pero si est\u00e1s preguntando si est\u00e1 prohibido, no puedo decirte que est\u00e1 prohibido.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #98 (diciembre de 1975)
\nThe post Rock and Roll appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-11T03:41:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-11T03:41:03+00:00" }, { "id": 35726, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-rock-and-roll-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Rock and Roll", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it forbidden to listen to rock and roll music? \ufeff
A:
The answer is no, it\u2019s not forbidden. Isn\u2019t that surprising, for me to say that? It\u2019s also not forbidden to walk out onto Ocean Parkway, take off your shoes and dance a jig. It\u2019s not forbidden. Only that you\u2019re a meshugeneh if you do it. And you very well might get a tack in your foot.
And if you listen to rock and roll, you\u2019ll get some tacks in your brain. There\u2019s no question it\u2019s not going to make you any smarter. But if you\u2019re asking if it\u2019s forbidden, I can\u2019t tell you it\u2019s forbidden.
TAPE # 98 (December 1975)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Rock and Roll appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-10T22:56:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-10T22:56:23+00:00" }, { "id": 35716, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/un-poquito-de-shalom-bait-tambien-sirve/", "title": "Un poquito de Shalom Bait tambi\u00e9n sirve ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puedo ayudar a una nueva pareja de mi familia que se est\u00e1n peleando y est\u00e1n pensando en separarse?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi puedes hacer que los visiten un talmid jajam competente – no me los env\u00edes a m\u00ed – para que converse con ellos, esa es la forma como puedes ayudar.
\n\n\n\nTe explicar\u00e9 algo. Si el talmid jajam puede reducir el nivel de lucha en un 5%, ya es un gran \u00e9xito. Cualquier m\u00e9dico que pueda curarte un 5% es un \u00e9xito. Porque la verdad es que hay peleas en much\u00edsimos hogares. Y por lo tanto, aunque es mejor no pelear, pelear no es una tragedia. Es una pena, pero no es una tragedia. Y por lo tanto, si las peleas y disputas pueden reducirse con un poco de etz\u00e1 vetajbulot, algunos buenos consejos y estratagemas, eso ya es un \u00e9xito.
\n\n\n\nUna vez vino una pareja a aconsejarse conmigo y le dije al hombre que deber\u00eda quedarse callado; que no deber\u00eda responder en absoluto. Ahora bien, ella no me hubiera escuchado. Ella sigui\u00f3 peleando todo el tiempo. Pero no puedes pelear si s\u00f3lo tienes un lado. Tienes que tener dos para hacer una pelea. Y por lo tanto, en gran medida su matrimonio se salv\u00f3.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, siempre podr\u00edas ayudar si los diriges a alguien que sea capaz de hablar con ellos. Por cierto, es una gran mitzv\u00e1 traer shalom ben ish leisht\u00f3. Una mitzv\u00e1 muy grande.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #896 (diciembre de 1992)
\nThe post Un poquito de Shalom Bait tambi\u00e9n sirve appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-10T05:19:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-10T05:19:53+00:00" }, { "id": 35712, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-five-percent-shalom-bayis/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Five Percent\u00a0Shalom Bayis", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can I help a new couple in my family who are fighting and they\u2019re thinking of separating?
A:
\n\n\n\nIf you can get them to visit a competent talmid chacham \u2013 now don\u2019t send them to me \u2013 to discuss things, that’s how you can help.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll explain something here. If the talmid chacham can reduce the level of fighting by 5% it\u2019s already a big success. Any doctor that can cure you 5% is a success. Because the truth is that fighting goes on in very many homes. And therefore, although it\u2019s better not to fight, but fighting is not a tragedy. It\u2019s a pity, but it\u2019s not a tragedy. And therefore if the fighting and bickering should be reduced with little bit of eitzah v\u2019tachbulos, some good advice and stratagems, that\u2019s already a success.
\n\n\n\nI once had a pair come to me and I told him he should just keep quiet; he shouldn\u2019t answer at all. Now she wouldn\u2019t listen to me, so she kept on fighting all the time. But you can\u2019t fight if you have only one side. You have to have two to make a fight. And therefore, to a big extent their marriage was saved.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, you could always help out if you\u2019ll steer them to somebody who is capable of talking to them. It\u2019s a big mitzvah by the way to bring shalom bein ish l\u2019ishto. A very big mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 896 (December 1992)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Five Percent\u00a0Shalom Bayis appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-09T18:57:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-09T18:57:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35710, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/votaciones/", "title": "Votaciones", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 opina sobre no ir a votar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi puedes votar, creo que deber\u00edas hacerlo porque es algo bueno. Cualquier cosa que mejore el medio ambiente es bueno para nosotros.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #1 (noviembre de 1973)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 lecci\u00f3n se debe aprender del asesinato de un oficial de la polic\u00eda la semana pasada?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta :
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tenemos que repetir una vieja lecci\u00f3n. Tienes que saber que sopla un viento de progresismo y es todo mentira [lo que escuchas]. Te dicen estad\u00edsticas que son mentiras. Sus declaraciones son todas mentiras. \u00a1Las personas nunca se abstendr\u00e1n de cometer delitos a menos que tengan miedo del castigo! Y el asesinato tiene que tener la pena de muerte. \u00a1De lo contrario, nunca lo detendr\u00e1s!
\n\n\n\nY estos mentirosos dicen: “No hay pruebas de que la pena de muerte sea disuasoria”.
\n\n\n\nYa sabes, \u00a1el trabajador italiano de la construcci\u00f3n tiene m\u00e1s inteligencia que los editores del New York Times! \u00a1No hay duda de eso! Porque son personas superficiales; no piensan con claridad.
\n\n\n\nLo mejor que podr\u00eda ocurrir es que el editor del New York Times una vez de un paseo por el Central Park y lo golpeen unos vagabundos apu\u00f1al\u00e1ndolo con un cuchillo. Entonces dejar\u00eda de ser progresista.
\n\n\n\nPorque en las Ivory Towers todo lo que hacen es para lucirse. “Estoy en contra de quitar vidas humanas”, dicen, “\u00a1Oh! \u00a1Terrible! \u00a1Estamos horrorizados!” Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 hacen? Est\u00e1n a favor del aborto y est\u00e1n matando a millones de beb\u00e9s cada a\u00f1o. Eso s\u00ed est\u00e1 bien…
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPero quitarle la vida a un ser humano? \u00bfCu\u00e1l vida humana? La de un asesino… “\u00a1Oh no! No pagamos asesinato con asesinato. La sociedad misma se convierte en asesina. Ese es el peor ejemplo. Asesinar a un hombre que mat\u00f3 a un polic\u00eda. \u00a1\u00c9se es un asesino!” dicen. Significa que nosotros somos los asesinos. Son todos una basura.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que mientras escuchemos a estos tontos – estos son verdaderos tontos. No tienen inteligencia en absoluto, pero lo hacen con un prop\u00f3sito, para lucirse, para dejar una impresi\u00f3n en el mundo de que son personas superiores. La verdad es que son lo m\u00e1s bajo de lo bajo porque son los que defienden toda forma de perversi\u00f3n, toda forma de maldad que existe.
\n\n\n\nY entonces, \u00bfcu\u00e1nto tiempo, compa\u00f1eros jud\u00edos, estar\u00e1n ciegos y votar\u00e1n por personas como el gobernador Carey? Ni siquiera lo piensan dos veces. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 rash\u00e1 merush\u00e1! \u00a1Carey es aquel cuyas manos derramaron la sangre de todas esas v\u00edctimas inocentes al vetar el proyecto de ley de la pena de muerte! \u00a1Carey es un archi asesino!
\n\n\n\nY todas esas personas – no dir\u00e9 nombres de ortodoxos – que hacen tratos con Carey, si Carey ve que obtienen fondos del estado, entonces, \u00e9l obtendr\u00e1 los votos jud\u00edos; todos est\u00e1n derramando sangre, sangre inocente y sangre jud\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nS\u00f3lo hay una forma de lidiar con el crimen: debe haber castigos estrictos y severos. \u00a1Por robar, tiene que haber un severo castigo! \u00a1Por todo tipo de delitos!
\n\n\n\nY el mundo nunca estar\u00e1 seguro mientras los progresistas est\u00e9n a cargo de la postura del p\u00fablico. Tenemos que liberarnos de esas actitudes.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Y \u00e9so es lo que tenemos que aprender! \u00bfQu\u00e9 aprendemos del asesinato de un polic\u00eda? Aprendemos que debemos volver a lo que era hace a\u00f1os cuando no asesinaban a los polic\u00edas. Ten\u00edan miedo de asesinar a un polic\u00eda porque sab\u00edan que significaba una muerte segura. Si asesina a algun otro, tambi\u00e9n hay muchas posibilidades de que aterrice en una silla el\u00e9ctrica. \u00a1Pero con un polic\u00eda, sab\u00eda con certeza que \u00e9se era su destino!
\n\n\n\nPero hoy ves los resultados. \u00c9so es lo que provoca. Y nosotros somos los culpables. Y nuestras propias vidas, jas veshalom, est\u00e1n en peligro porque somos lo suficientemente est\u00fapidos como para dejarnos llevar por estos vientos que sacuden a los resha\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #301
\n\n\n\n![](\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ALm5wu37sVmLHiV7jli3rk_Pz59yiJIJMFDkPhts-C23=s40-p-mo\") | ReplyForward |
The post Votaciones appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-09T04:07:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-09T04:07:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35756, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vayera-5783/", "title": "Paracha Vay\u00e9ra 5783", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vayera-5783The post Paracha Vay\u00e9ra 5783 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-09T03:51:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-14T03:52:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35706, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-voting/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What do you say about not voting altogether?
A:
If you’re able to vote, I think you should because it’s a good thing. Anything that improves the environment is good for us.
TAPE #1 (November 1973)
\n\n\n\nQ:
What lesson should be learned from the killing of a police officer this past week?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to repeat an old lesson. You have to know there\u2019s a wind of liberalism blowing and it\u2019s all lies. They tell you statistics that are lies. Their statements are all lies. People will never refrain from crime unless they\u2019re afraid of punishment! And murder has to have the death penalty. Otherwise you\u2019ll never stop it! But these liars say, \u201cThere\u2019s no proof that the death penalty is deterrent.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know, the Italian construction man has more intelligence than the editors of New York Times! No question about it! Because these are artificial people; they don\u2019t think straight. It would be the very best thing if the editor of New York Times once took a walk in Central Park and he\u2019d get a drubbing from some bums who would flash a knife on him. Then he\u2019d stop being a liberal.
\n\n\n\nBecause in the ivory towers, it\u2019s all affectation, showing off \u2013 it\u2019s all showing off. \u201cI\u2019m against taking human life,\u201d they say, \u201cOh, it\u2019s terrible. We\u2019re horrified!\u201d So what do they do? They\u2019re killing millions of babies every year. They\u2019re for abortion, that\u2019s alright. But taking human life? Oh no! Whose human life? A murderer. \u201cOh, no! We don\u2019t repay murder with murder. Society themselves become the murderer. That\u2019s the very worst example, to murder a man who killed a policeman. It means we are the murderers.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s all garbage. They are fools. They have no intelligence at all, but they\u2019re doing it for a purpose, an affectation of showing off to make an impression on the world that they are higher people. The truth is they\u2019re the lowest of the low because they\u2019re the ones who advocate every form of perversion, every form of wickedness there is.
\n\n\n\nAnd as long as we listen to these fools, we are the fools. And so, how long, how long, fellow Jews will you be blind and you\u2019ll vote for such people like Governor Carey? You don\u2019t even think twice. Such a rasha m\u2019rusheh. Carey is the one whose hands shed the blood of all these innocent victims when he vetoed the bill for the death penalty! Carey is the arch murderer!
\n\n\n\nAnd all those people \u2013 I won\u2019t say the names of these Orthodox Jews \u2013 who make deals with Carey; if Carey will see to it that they get certain funds from the state, so these Orthodox askanim will get the Jewish votes for him; they\u2019re all shedding blood \u2013 innocent blood and Jewish blood.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s only one way to deal with crime and that there should be strict, stern punishments. For stealing, there has to be stern punishment! For every kind of crime!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the world will never be safe when the liberals are in charge of the attitudes of the public. We have to free ourselves from these attitudes.
\n\n\n\nAnd so what do we learn from a murder of a policeman? We learn that you must go back to what was years ago when they didn\u2019t murder policemen. They were afraid to murder a policeman because they knew it meant sure death. If he would murder somebody else, also there was a pretty good chance that he\u2019d end up in an electric chair. But with a policeman, he knew for certain that that was his sure destination!
\n\n\n\nBut today, you see the results. That\u2019s what it caused. And we are the ones who are to blame. And our own lives chas v\u2019shalom are in danger because we\u2019re stupid enough to be swayed by these winds that sway the reshaim.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 301 (February 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-08T17:17:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-08T17:17:26+00:00" }, { "id": 35702, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-too-much-conservativism/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Much Conservativism?", "content_html": "\nQ:
Who should we vote for for President?
A:
\n\n\n\nWe should vote for the one who appears to us to be the most conservative. Now, I can\u2019t tell you who that is. But there\u2019s no question that the conservatives of today are extremely more liberal than the liberals of thirty years ago. We have already advanced so far beyond the borders of liberalism, that today we can afford to retreat many miles behind these boundries and still remain in the forefront of liberalism. And therefore, today there\u2019s no such thing as too much conservatism. You have to vote for conservative candidates on every level \u2013 on national, state and city levels.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s my opinion. By the way, nobody here has to agree with me \u2013 on anything. Only, I don\u2019t have to agree with you either.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 133 (July 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Much Conservativism? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-08T17:07:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-08T17:07:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35699, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/votando-a-los-conservadores/", "title": "Votando a los conservadores", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfA qui\u00e9n debemos votar en las pr\u00f3ximas elecciones?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebemos votar por el que nos parece ser el m\u00e1s conservador. Ahora bien, no puedo decirles qui\u00e9n es el m\u00e1s conservador, pero no hay duda de que los conservadores de hoy en d\u00eda son extremadamente m\u00e1s progresistas que los progresistas de hace treinta a\u00f1os atr\u00e1s. Las ideas del progresismo han ganado tanto terreno, que a\u00fan si logr\u00e1ramos hacerlas retroceder muchos kil\u00f3metros, a\u00fan seguir\u00edan siendo ideas progresistas de vanguardia.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, hoy en d\u00eda no existen ideas demasiado conservadoras. Tienes que votar por candidatos conservadores en todos los niveles, a nivel nacional, estatal y de la ciudad.
\n\n\n\nEsa es mi opini\u00f3n. Por cierto, nadie aqu\u00ed tiene que estar de acuerdo conmigo, en nada. S\u00f3lo que tampoco yo tengo que estar de acuerdo con ustedes.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #133 (julio de 1976)
\nThe post Votando a los conservadores appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-08T00:46:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-08T00:46:11+00:00" }, { "id": 35693, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "08-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-07T01:23:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-07T01:23:30+00:00" }, { "id": 35691, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/a-quien-votar/", "title": "A qui\u00e9n votar", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo debemos decidir por qui\u00e9n votar? Especialmente si nos desvinculamos de los peri\u00f3dicos.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa verdad es que los diarios no te van a decir por qui\u00e9n votar. Si te lo dicen, ser\u00e1n los candidatos equivocados. Hay que preguntarle a la gente que sabe. Hay gente que sabe.
\n\n\n\nAlguien me hizo una pregunta esta semana. \u201c\u00bfDeber\u00eda votar por Marc Mishan porque es jud\u00edo?\u201d La verdad es que ni siquiera sab\u00eda que era jud\u00edo. Pens\u00e9 que era un irland\u00e9s. Pero esta persona me dijo que es jud\u00edo y que es shomer shabat. \u00bfUn jud\u00edo que es shomer Shabat? Seguro que deber\u00edamos votar por \u00e9l. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es la pregunta? Todos voten por Marc Mishan. Por cierto, no me pag\u00f3 por eso. Pero no porque sea un shomer shabat. Es porque va a apoyar nuestros valores.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, menciono a Mark Mishan por una raz\u00f3n. Tengo una raz\u00f3n para mencionarlo. Aunque es un shomer shabat pero es m\u00e1s que eso. Esa no es la parte importante: tambi\u00e9n votamos por buenos go\u00edm, no hay duda al respecto. Pero digo Marc Mishan porque es el tipo de persona que no va a otorgar derechos civiles a lo que ellos llaman gays. Los gays es otro nombre para los reptiles. La inmunda abominaci\u00f3n, los mishkav zacharniks, los homosexuales; merecen ser ejecutados. Seg\u00fan la ley de la Tor\u00e1, es uno de los peores cr\u00edmenes capitales. Y hay algunas personas que est\u00e1n postul\u00e1ndose – no quiero decir sus nombres – y quieren darles a ellos reconocimiento. Marc Mishan no es de ese tipo. \u00bfEntiendes?
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que si no sabes, pregunta. Hay gente que s\u00ed sabe. Hay mucha gente que sabe de estas cosas.
\n\n\n\nY, por cierto, quiero traer a colaci\u00f3n a un h\u00e9roe brillante. Nunca lo vi antes y nunca escuch\u00e9 de \u00e9l antes, pero digo que hay que votar por \u00e9l. Ni siquiera s\u00e9 si es un shomer shabat, pero merece nuestro voto. \u00a1Seymour Kravitz! Public\u00f3 su nombre, su foto, con el lema \u201cC\u00e1rcel, no fianza\u201d. \u00a1C\u00e1rcel, no fianza! Ese es el hombre para nosotros. Tal vez ni siquiera lo diga en serio, pero aun as\u00ed, si es lo suficientemente audaz como para poner ese slogan, todos debemos estar a favor de \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, si no sabes, pregunta. La gente que sabe te lo puede decir.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #185 (octubre de 1977)
\nThe post A qui\u00e9n votar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-07T01:11:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-07T01:11:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35687, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-who-to-vote-for-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Who To Vote For", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should we decide for whom to vote, especially if we cut ourselves off from the newspapers?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe truth is the newspapers are not going to tell you who to vote for. If they do tell you, they’re the wrong ones. You have to ask people who know. There are people who know.
\n\n\n\nSomeone asked me a question this week. \u201cShould I vote for Marc Mishan because he\u2019s Jewish?\u201d The truth is I didn\u2019t even know he was a Jew. I thought he was an Irishman. But this person told me he\u2019s a Jew and he\u2019s shomer shabbos. A Jew who is shomer Shabbos? Sure we should vote for him. What’s the question? Everybody vote for Marc Mishan. He didn’t pay me for that by the way. But not because he\u2019s a shomer shabbos. It\u2019s because he\u2019s going to support our values.
\n\n\n\nNow I mention Mark Mishan for a reason. I have a reason for mentioning him. Although he’s a shomer Shabbos but it\u2019s more than that. That\u2019s not the important part \u2013 we vote for good goyim too, no question about it. But I say Marc Mishan because he is the kind of fellow who wouldn\u2019t vote to give civil rights to what they call the gays. The gays is another name for reptiles. The filthy abomination, the mishkav zacharniks, the homosexualists, they’re the ones who deserve to be put to death. By the law of the Torah it’s one of the worst capital crimes. And there are some people who are running \u2013 I don’t want to say their names; it’s not my policy now \u2013 who are running for office who voted to give them recognition. Marc Mishan is not that kind. You understand?
\n\n\n\nSo if you don’t know, ask. There are people who do know. There are a lot of people who are knowledgeable in these things.
\n\n\n\nAnd by the way I want to bring up a shining hero. I never saw him before and never heard of him before but I say vote for him. I don’t even know if he’s a shomer Shabbos at all but he deserves our vote. Seymour Kravitz! He publicized his name, his picture, with the slogan, \u201cJail, Not Bail.\u201d Jail not bail! That’s the man for us. Maybe he doesn’t even mean it but still if he’s bold enough to put up that slogan we’re all for him.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if you don’t know, ask. People who know can tell you.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 185 (October 1977)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Who To Vote For appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T20:55:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T20:55:06+00:00" }, { "id": 11856, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-religion-in-politics/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Religion in Politics", "content_html": "\nQ:
What do you say about this subject of mixing religion into politics? It\u2019s an accusation lately brought up against Reagan that he\u2019s mixing religion and politics too much?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd our answer is that we want mixing of religion and politics because everybody is doing it. If Governor Cuomo went and attended a gay banquet to raise money for the Gays for Political Action, isn\u2019t that mixing religion and politics?! Of course it is. That\u2019s his religion. What else is it if not politics? Is it public welfare? Is it a benefit for the youth? Is it to make more money for the government? No; it\u2019s a religion.
\n\n\n\nSo just as the liberals have their religion of atheism, a religion of hedonism, a religion of corruption and pornography and breaking down all the values of civilization, so why shouldn\u2019t the President also have religion?
\n\n\n\nOn the contrary, if we see the President speaking about religion, so we might suspect him that he\u2019s trying to get the votes of religious people. And if that\u2019s the case, then he\u2019s getting our votes. Everybody should vote for President Reagan, there\u2019s no question about it. If you didn\u2019t register yet, then this coming Tuesday, the ninth of October is registration day. So go and register, from nine in the morning to nine at night. Find out where in your neighborhood. In this neighborhood it\u2019s on East 8th Street, at the public school. Go register and make it your business to vote.
\n\n\n\nWe need your vote; it\u2019s a mitzvah rabba to vote. That\u2019s also one of the things that I say will rise up against a man on the day of judgment. You mean to say you\u2019re going to be lax in this great battle against the forces of evil that are trying to overthrow our civilization? Everybody should vote. I registered already. Everybody should register. It\u2019s your business to register.
\n\n\n\nWe want religion in politics. We want Presidents who believe in a Creator. We want Presidents who believe in values of morality and decency. That\u2019s the only foundation of our society. And therefore, our answer is, if a President speaks religion and makes public pronouncements about it, then he is the man we\u2019re going to vote for.
\n\n\n\nTAPE\u00a0# 524 (October 1984)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Religion in Politics appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T20:41:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T20:41:44+00:00" }, { "id": 35679, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-death-penalty-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Death Penalty", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is your opinion of the death sentence that was carried out in Florida with the consent of the Governor there?
A:
\n\n\n\nI say everybody here ought to write a letter congratulating the Governor of Florida for carrying out the death sentence. Everybody!
\n\n\n\nI know there are a lot of fools right here today.\u00a0 I\u2019m telling you to your face.\u00a0 There are a lot of damn fools who read the New York Times and sympathize with the murderer who was executed.\u00a0 So you\u2019re sympathizing with potential murderers of yourselves, chas v\u2019shalom. \u00a0You\u2019re fools!\u00a0 You\u2019re being led astray because you\u2019re sleeping.\u00a0 If you\u2019d wake up, you\u2019d write letters to the Governor in Florida saying, \u201cWe\u2019re with you.\u00a0 We wish you were President.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what you should do. That people should be so crazy in this country to do such things as to let murderers out for nothing! It shows they\u2019re lunatics. What do lunatics do?\u00a0 They continue to vote for the liberals.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo you dumb Jews, you shotim, your own votes are killing you \u2013 actually killing you!\u00a0 It\u2019s not a mashal!\u00a0 It\u2019s shooting you down.\u00a0 Your votes! Your votes are raising wicked judges who let off the criminals. It\u2019s time for Jews to wake up and say, \u201cWe see what\u2019s happening.\u00a0 Our lives are in danger.\u00a0The liberals are ruining the country.\u201d
And so it\u2019s time to throw our weight behind ousting the liberals. Whatever we can do to undermine them, by all means.
TAPE # 269 (June 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Death Penalty appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T19:56:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T19:56:31+00:00" }, { "id": 35673, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T03:43:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T03:43:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35661, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayera-5783-middos-of-avrohom-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom", "content_html": "I Know This Guy
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam tells us a big chiddush which we wouldn\u2019t know ourselves; and the truth is that it\u2019s such a big chiddush, that even after he says it it\u2019s difficult for us to accept. And therefore it pays to listen well because if we\u2019ll understand what the Rambam is saying it will give us a big hint, a key, for how we can live successfully.
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam quotes a possuk from this week\u2019s sedrah, a possuk that\u2019s describing what it was that caused Hashem to put His seal of approval on Avrohom Avinu and choose him to be the father of the Am Yisroel. The possuk says: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 I know this man, \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 that he is going to command his children and his household after him, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 and they will keep the way of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention. I said that \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 means \u201cI know this man,\u201d but the truth is that Hashem knows everybody. He knows everything; every person, every animal, every insect in the world, every blade of grass, and every molecule He knows. So what does it mean \u201cI know Avrohom\u201d? It doesn\u2019t mean knowledge; it means \u201cMy daas, My Mind, is especially on him.\u201d We can call it hashgachah pratis; the particular attention of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 means that from now on, forever and ever, Hashem is thinking of Avrohom.
\n\n\n\nMan Of Loyalty
\n\n\n\nNow, we\u2019re happy to hear such a thing. Our hearts should swell with pride when the baal korei reads those words because if Hashem is thinking of Avrohom it means that in his merit Hashem is thinking of us, the zera Avrohom. And it\u2019s not a drush or a twisting of verses to say that. It’s as clear as could be, that\u2019s what the Torah tells us everywhere: “Hashem\u2019s Mind is on Avrohom and his descendants after him forever.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, the big question is why? What is it that achieved this merit for Avrohom? Hakodosh Boruch Hu explains His reason: \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Because Avrohom is going to command his children and his household after him, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 and they are going to keep the way of Hashem, \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e6\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8 \u2013 to do justice and righteousness.
\n\n\n\nSo here we have our answer. Why did Hashem choose Avrohom? Because He knew that Avrohom was a man who meant business with his ideals; that he\u2019s going to hand them over to his posterity. Hashem saw in Avrohom that he was a man of character and that whatever He would do to him would not be wasted; whatever investment He would make in him would be for a purpose. \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u2013 I know he is going to transmit it to his children. He is the man who will stand by his principle of loyalty through thick and thin and hand over the Torah to his posterity.
\n\n\n\nThe Devoted Mother
\n\n\n\nBut not only loyalty \u2013 loyalty is a great characteristic, but included in \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df is that Hashem saw that Avrohom will be industrious and efficient in handing it over. He\u2019ll do everything in his power, whatever it takes he\u2019ll make sure to do. Because it\u2019s not enough to just want to transmit to your children your ideals; you must devote your life to it.
\n\n\n\nLike the mother who sees that her little boy is slow in learning siddur, so the mother goes all out in her efforts to teach him. There are devoted mothers who spend hours and hours \u2013 besides being busy raising a big family they spend hours and hours with slow little boys and little girls helping them. Fathers who after a long day in the office \u2013 and they still have to go out to the beis medrash to learn and daven maariv \u2013 they sit with the little boy who\u2019s breaking his teeth over a piece of Gemara. That\u2019s the \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 that Hashem is talking about.
\n\n\n\nNow, although the Torah doesn\u2019t tell us explicitly that Avrohom sat with Yitzchok and taught him, but from these words of Hashem you understand that this is what he did. Avrohom spent a great deal of his life instructing his son. Not only hours; days and weeks and months and years. And you can be sure that Avrohom\u2019s instructions were not wasted because his son was so imbued with this idealism that he transmitted it to his son, Yaakov Avinu. And from Yaakov, it was passed on to his twelve sons and to his grandchildren too. And today too, we are still moving because of that push that Avrohom gave.
\n\n\n\nKeeping The Torah
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is, what exactly was Avrohom handing over? What is meant by \u201cI know him that he\u2019ll make sure to teach his descendants \u05d5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 to keep the way of Hashem?\u201d What \u201cways of Hashem\u201d was Hashem confident that Avrohom would pass down?
\n\n\n\nNow, to us it\u2019s not even a question; we understand that Avrohom taught his descendants to keep whatever Hashem commands them to keep. Whether it was the sheva mitzvos bnei Noach or the mitzvos of the seichel \u2013 Avrohom kept and taught all those mitzvos that his seichel was mechayev \u2013 all that is included in the derech Hashem. And we understand also, that because of Avrohom\u2019s influence Hashem was confident that when the time would come to receive the Torah, Avrohom\u2019s descendants would accept it and fulfill it with loyalty.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s exactly what happened. To this day, the Am Hashem are still keeping the Torah. We\u2019re not talking about the lost ones, the ignorant ones, the assimilationists. A lot of them have peeled away and some are still trying to peel off but there has been and there always will be a loyal Jewish nation that keeps the Torah without any alteration. We are keeping exactly the same Torah that was given at Sinai – it’s a remarkable thing! No changes have ever been made or ever will be made. There is no other nation in the world that is doing that.
\n\n\n\nUnder The Influence
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s not an accident. Hakodosh Boruch Hu knew that He was investing in somebody who would put so much energy into the task of transmitting this tradition that it would keep going forever and ever. We\u2019re still moving with the strength of that great impetus that Avrohom gave our nation.
\n\n\n\nIt is hard for us to think so \u2013 we think we are moving on our volition, or maybe because of the influence of our parents and our rebbes \u2013 but you must know that our parents and our rebbes are moving only because of that great shove that Avrohom gave his son. He put such a fire into his son that this fire continues to supply an enthusiasm that burns in our hearts and it will burn forever.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a difficult thing to understand how one man could achieve that, but that is what he did. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu saw that. \u201cI know this man Avrohom that he will command his children and his household after him and they will keep the way of Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we understand, it\u2019s simple to us, the \u201cderech Hashem\u201d that Avrohom passed down to us means the derech of fulfilling the Torah. We see it with our own eyes. Whether you live in Boro Park or Gateshead or Yerushalayim, you see it with your own eyes wherever you go.
\n\n\n\nJust Good Character?
\n\n\n\nBut along comes the Rambam and he explains something about this verse, a chiddush. This is what I said before, that it\u2019s almost hard to accept. He says, \u201cWhat is the derech Hashem that Hashem wanted the Am Yisroel to keep?\u201d Listen well because it\u2019s something we would never expect. The Rambam says that Avrohom was chosen because Hashem was confident that he would hand over the derech Hashem of good character. You hear that?! The \u201cderech Hashem of doing tzedakah u\u2019mishpat\u201d means to walk the path of good middos.
\n\n\n\nOf course, fulfilling the entire Torah is sine qua non, no question about that, but the Rambam is teaching us that the children of Avrohom are especially singled out and beloved because Avrohom will see to it that they\u2019re going to keep the way of good character! In Lakewood and Boro Park and Gateshead, besides for keeping all of the Torah, the derech Hashem includes walking on the path towards middos tovos.
\n\n\n\nNow that’s a very important statement, especially in view of the fact that for a few reasons nobody thinks that the subject is worth discussing at length. First of all everybody thinks that he has good character anyhow. Every person is convinced that he is pretty good. Yes, he makes mistakes sometimes, maybe he might even have some slight flaw \u2013 flaw, not flaws \u2013 but overall he\u2019s really good so there\u2019s not much that needs fixing. So that\u2019s number one \u2013 it\u2019s not an important subject because he already has good character.
\n\n\n\nEveryone Has Good Character
\n\n\n\nSecondly, Jews in the lands of assimilation \u2013 that\u2019s America, England, France, Australia, Canada and so on \u2013 have become convinced that the goyim also have good character. We imagine that the gentiles are pretty good. After all the gentile in Manhattan wears perfume and he dresses so nicely. He says please and thank you. Ahh! Such refinement! So what\u2019s so peculiar about the zera Avrohom that they keep the way of Hashem of good character?
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why this subject is so important. It\u2019s so vital that we should understand and accept what the Rambam says here. He\u2019s teaching us one of the most important pieces of information in the entire Torah, that the derech Hashem because of which Hakodosh Boruch Hu has decided to concentrate His intention on Avrohom and his descendants forever, is the derech of correct character, good middos.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s So Important
\n\n\n\nNow let\u2019s not jump to conclusions right away and think that you know immediately what is meant by good character. That is a different subject. But first, let\u2019s just get that chiddush into our heads: a man\u2019s success in this world for which he is zocheh to be designated as Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s chosen one, and for which he will be worthy of great happiness and reward, is the fact that he has correct character, good middos.
\n\n\n\nNot that good character is one of the important requirements in the Torah, but it is the most important requirement. That\u2019s what the Gra says in the sefer Even Sheleimah. One of the very first statements in that sefer is that everything that we do in our lives depends on character traits. \u201cIf he won\u2019t work on his character, what is the purpose of life?\u201d is what he says.
\n\n\n\nSo you might say, \u201cIs that so important? Isn\u2019t the most important thing to obey the Torah, to know the Torah?\u201d. Look, the Gra certainly holds that it is necessary to obey everything and to learn. He learned all the time; he was famous for his diligence in studying Torah. And still this great navigator in the yam haTalmud, who spent his life traveling the seas of the Shas, he tells us that the fulfillment of the entire Torah depends on middos.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s one of the important things that Hashem is looking for in us. It\u2019s the derech Hashem we are expected to walk on and that means that we have to get busy; we have to start walking that path by healing our character traits. Most of us are sick, some of us very sick, and we have to learn how to heal ourselves.
\n\n\n\nSick Characters
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam, in Hilchos Deios, perek sheini, states as follows. I will say it in translation. \u201cThose who are physically ill sometimes feel that sweet things are bitter, and bitter things sometimes they feel are sweet. Some sick persons desire such foods that are not fit for eating \u2013 sometimes they eat even dirt or charcoal \u2013 and they reject good food like bread and meat; depending on the nature of the illness.
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam continues: \u201cThat\u2019s how it is when a person is physically sick. But similarly, there are persons whose characters are sick, and they love wrong attitudes and they despise the right way. And they are loathe, they\u2019re lazy to walk in the paths of righteousness, depending on the nature of their illness. And Yeshaya the Navi said about these people, \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e2 \u2013 Woe to those people who say about good that it\u2019s evil and about evil that it\u2019s good.
\n\n\n\nNow, we\u2019re not talking about people who don\u2019t believe in the Torah. We\u2019re not talking about liberals, people who have been ruined by the public school system. That\u2019s not the Rambam\u2019s audience; he\u2019s not talking to college professors. He\u2019s talking to Orthodox Jews who were then the body of the Jewish people, people who believe in the Torah and who obey its laws. And yet, even shomrei torah u\u2019mitzvos, certainly it is possible for their characters to be corrupt. They can be ill in their attitudes and in their emotions; it\u2019s not middos, it\u2019s much more than that \u2013 it\u2019s attitudes.
\n\n\n\nIdeas And Character Traits
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll explain that because it\u2019s something that most people don\u2019t understand. The Rambam, we know, was very careful in choosing his words when he wrote his Yad Chazakah. Even when it came to the titles of the chapter headings he was especially precise. Now, we note that the section where the Rambam discusses the importance of good character is called Hilchos Deios, the Laws of Attitudes. That\u2019s the name he gave that section. Not Hilchos Middos, the Laws of Character, but Hilchos Deios, the Laws of Attitudes.
\n\n\n\nNow, we ourselves don\u2019t say deios when we speak of character. For instance, if somebody is a candidate to be a chosson for your daughter, the first thing you want to know is how is he in deios. It means how is he in his attitudes: Is he a loyal Jew? Is he a shomer mitzvos? Does he appreciate Torah learning? Is davening important to him? Does he have the right attitudes towards being a good husband and building a Torah home? And so on.
\n\n\n\nAnd then, there\u2019s a different set of questions you ask: How is he in middos? Does he get easily angered? Is he arrogant? Stingy? So you see, in addition to his deios, his attitudes, we also ask about his character. Because today we differentiate between the two subjects; we understand that deios means concepts and ideas, and we view that as an entirely different subject than middos. Somebody can have good ideas and wrong character traits or good character traits and wrong ideas; so it seems to us. And yet the Rambam calls middos by the name of deios; character traits he names ideas.
\n\n\n\nArrogant Attitudes
\n\n\n\nAnd so if we listen to the Rambam we hear between the lines that his attitude towards character, towards personal reactions to things, towards how a man feels and lives his inner life; according to the Rambam they are all included under the heading of deios because he understands that character traits, middos, are actually ingrained ideas.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only because we have become accustomed to viewing a certain form of emotional reaction as the proper one, that is why we react that way \u2013 because we are accustomed to think it is the right way to be. And therefore if we could really understand that this is not the right reaction then it would be easy for us to uproot these character traits in ourselves.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll give a few examples so we can understand it better. Here\u2019s a man who is accustomed to considering himself important \u2013 and it\u2019s not because he made any calculations about what other people possess, their virtues compared to his virtues. No, he didn\u2019t make any such reckoning; he instinctively knows that he is better. \u201cI know that my judgment is best. Sometimes I can make an error, but in general my mind is more straight than most people and therefore I can rely on my judgment.\u201d And he actually thinks that this is the right way to be. It\u2019s an attitude of the mind.
\n\n\n\nImmoral Attitudes
\n\n\n\nThere are other people who are accustomed to licentiousness, to do whatever their eyes persuade them to do. Don\u2019t think that they regret their attitude; actually they consider their way the proper way of life and others, those who abstain from all kinds of extraneous pleasures, are despised by them. They look down on them. They call them squares, prudes, unnatural people.
\n\n\n\n\u2018Natural\u2019 means to do what you wish, according to these ill-natured people who are sick in their souls. So what do we see from this? That it is possible for people to be so ill in their characters that they see things upside down. Of course, they say we see things upside down.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like that with everything. When someone quarrels all the time, there\u2019s an attitude that lurks there behind the quarreling; arrogance and other things too. Unhappiness also, is a deiah, an attitude. People who are unhappy, it\u2019s because to them that is the correct attitude towards life. Anyone who is an optimist, anyone who is cheerful and satisfied always, he\u2019s silly, he\u2019s not \u2018realistic\u2019.
\n\n\n\nAngry Attitudes
\n\n\n\nPeople who are angry by nature, actually admire the quality of anger and they look down on those who are patient and tolerant. To them, it is heroic to react with violence. That is the proper way to do. And even if he thinks sometimes, he has doubts whether these attitudes are actually proper, but how far they\u2019re improper, that he doesn\u2019t realize.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, the Rambam is teaching us that all of our character traits, our middos, are really a habit of thought, of attitudes, and anyone who is sick in his middos \u2013 and who isn\u2019t? \u2013 must first be healed in his deios because bad character is a habit of behavior that is rooted in bad attitudes.
\n\n\n\nNow, we must understand that these people are actually mentally ill. Not in the sense that they are unbalanced and cannot function. They appear to be normal; superficially they are healthy but they are ill in their characters, they are sick in their attitudes. And that is a very serious form of illness.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore to be healed, to heal oneself from the wrong attitudes that we all suffer from, it\u2019s not enough to practice, with tricks and contrivances how to have good middos. You must know how very wrong it is, how these attitudes of the mind are a sickness that require healing.
\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s The Solution?
\n\n\n\nAnd so, what is the remedy for these people? That\u2019s the question the Rambam wants to answer for us: \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 What is the remedy of those who are sick in their characters? What should they do to be healed?
\n\n\n\nSo today the answer is you go to a professional and pay big money in order to be corrupted further! Actually, the psychologist who is trying to heal your soul, he himself locks his office at two o\u2019clock in the afternoon because he has to run to his appointment with his psychiatrist to get help for himself.
\n\n\n\nOf course, we must make an exception for frum Jews that are psychologists, some of them are actually trying to help people according to the darchei haTorah. They may, in order to make you feel that your money is not wasted, throw in a word, a professional word here and there to make you happy, but after that they give you advice from Pirkei Avos, from some mussar seforim or something he heard from his rosh yeshivah. There are some, not many, and therefore we cannot negate all those who are practicing psychology. A lot of frum Jews, even bnei Torah who are in that field are capable of helping you. Don\u2019t ask me who they are, however. You have to go to a talmid chochom who knows these things and if he tells you to go and to whom to go, then you\u2019ll listen to him.
\n\n\n\nUnpracticed Preachers
\n\n\n\nBut just to run to a psychologist to be healed in your middos, it\u2019s a waste. There used to be a writer, Emily Post. She wrote columns in the newspaper about good manners and getting along with people. A lot of people were hoodwinked by that. They thought, \u201cOoh ahh! Emily Post! What does Emily Post say?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWho was this Emily Post? Well, she was divorced. She was such a mean old cat that her husband finally dropped her and she never remarried; she could never remarry again. A failure of a woman and she was sitting and writing columns for years and years on how to get along with people. We don’t believe in such stuff.
\n\n\n\nGeneration of Specialists
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we have to listen to the words of the Rambam: \u201cWho should you go to remedy the illnesses in your character? \u05d9\u05b5\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05e6\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 You should go to the wise men; chachomim means the chachmei haTorah, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea – because a Torah scholar, that\u2019s the healer of the souls.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean any chochom because not many people among the chachomim today are proficient in that. And that\u2019s because just as we see in every field, specialists have peeled off, each one in his own direction \u2013 for every little branch of medicine there is a specialist \u2013 so also l’havdil in Torah there are specialists today. There are chachomim who know halachah, they can pasken a shailah. Other chachomim can say shiurim in nashim and in nezikin; they\u2019re famous for their lomdus, but when it comes to halachah they know very little. And even those who are capable in all of the halachos and also all of the lomdus in Shas, most of them never specialize in studying the words of the chachomim and the words of the Tanach which deal with middos.
\n\n\n\nHow can a man claim to know something about character if he didn\u2019t study Mishlei carefully? Mishlei is that sourcebook of counsel, of successful living; one of the most valuable sources of happiness in this world is Mishlei. And there are chachomim and roshei yeshivah who never learnt Mishlei! And not only Mishlei; the whole Tanach is full of good counsel; only you have to learn it in a proper way.
\n\n\n\nThat is why the Rambam specifies, go to chachomim who are \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, those who are able to heal the characters. And these chachomim will be the ones who will teach you and guide you, \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 until you are brought back to the right path.
\n\n\n\nWhere Are You Headed?
\n\n\n\nNow, remember what we\u2019ve been saying here all the time. Being brought back to the right path doesn\u2019t mean yet that you have acquired good middos; it means you are convinced what is the right way to behave \u2013 that is number one. Because before you can do anything, before you can succeed in walking on the derech Hashem of good character you must decide what it is that you are looking for. If you are traveling, let’s say, to a certain place, the first thing is you have to know the place you want to get to.
\n\n\n\nLet’s say, you stop someone on the street and ask him, \u201cHow can I get there?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean \u2018there\u2019? Where do you want to go?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou don\u2019t know?! The first thing you need to know, what your destination is. And once you are clear in your mind what you want to become, then the next step comes up. But the first step is to know what is called proper behavior.
\n\n\n\nGetting To Work
\n\n\n\nNow I don\u2019t want to discourage anybody because every little bit that you do is a very big accomplishment, but you shouldn\u2019t expect it to be easy. You can\u2019t expect to improve your middos unless you transform your deios, your attitudes; and to change a mind takes work. Greatness doesn\u2019t come easy. We\u2019re talking now about the path because of which Hashem chose Avrohom and his descendants forever, and something as great as that is not something you can sit back and listen to in one lecture \u2013 even a hundred lectures is not enough. It\u2019s a lifetime of work.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s take the angry man as an example. There are a lot of people who get angry easily. It doesn\u2019t mean you blow up every day but there\u2019s no question that many people get angry when they shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s something that many suffer from.
\n\n\n\nAnd so that person, the first thing he must do is learn a new attitude, a new deiah. When he goes to the chachomim \u2013 it could be he goes to the Mesillas Yesharim or the Shaarei Teshuva too \u2013 he begins to learn a new attitude. He\u2019s learning now that anger is nothing to be proud of; it\u2019s a filthy and disgusting thing.
\n\n\n\nWhat Is Anger Really?
\n\n\n\nWhen he learns in the seforim that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05e1 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, that a man who is angry is considered in a certain sense as an idolater, so he begins to put that attitude into his head. \u201cWhen I get angry, I\u2019m not the tough fellow I imagined I was; I\u2019m not a man of principles who is putting his foot down. What I am is an oveid avodah zarah.\u201d An idolater has thrown off his loyalty to Hashem, and an angry man has also thrown off his loyalty because he is no longer under control of Hashem; he is a slave of his anger \u2013 at that moment at least.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m just saying words now but when a person begins to actually learn these things, he repeats them and studies them, so little by little his mind begins to be transformed. To him anger is like bowing to a cross chas v\u2019shalom. It\u2019s disgusting! It\u2019s disloyal! It\u2019s terrible.
\n\n\n\nAnd once a person uproots his old attitude towards anger and replaces it with a new one, a Torah one, now he\u2019s ready to begin acquiring good character; now he can start working on overcoming his middah of anger. As soon as he feels it bubbling up inside him, he\u2019s afraid of it, he\u2019s disgusted by it, and he finds it easier to quash it.
\n\n\n\nArrogance Is Disgusting
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how it is with all the character traits. You know why it is that a person can be arrogant? A person is a baal gaavah only because he doesn\u2019t know that arrogance is an ugly thing. It may be wrong but it\u2019s not ugly. Suppose a person knows that it\u2019s disgusting to walk in the street with pants that he dirtied \u2013 he didn\u2019t make it on time to the bathroom and now he\u2019s dirty. He wouldn\u2019t go out! He couldn\u2019t do it. It\u2019s too embarrassing.
\n\n\n\nIf you learn the right seforim, you\u2019ll realize that feeling arrogant is like you had an accident in your pants. \u201cOh,\u201d you\u2019ll say, \u201cwell, that\u2019s something else. It\u2019s shameful. It\u2019s disgusting.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou have to understand how ugly gaavah is. Gaavah is ridiculous. It\u2019s stupid. It\u2019s filthy. And it\u2019s only by means of a lot of thinking and introspection that a person can change his deiah, his attitude, and actually feel how wrong it is, how filthy and disgusting it is to be arrogant and to look down on others.
\n\n\n\nAcquiring Humility
\n\n\n\nOnce you get that into your head by means of listening to the \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, now you\u2019re ready to conquer that middah. Let\u2019s say you spent time studying that. You\u2019ve been learning what it means to be sick with arrogance and little by little your deiah begins to be transformed. Now you\u2019re ready to begin practicing on the middah; you\u2019re not interested in having a filthy mind that makes snap judgements about people. You\u2019re not interested in looking down at others and criticizing them, and so you\u2019re ready now to work on the middah of anavah.
\n\n\n\nAnd so you\u2019ll make it a practice of recognizing virtues in other people. Even people who have faults, they possess other qualities of character that may be admirable. A person is not merely one thing; a person is a bundle of character traits and now that you\u2019re disgusted by your own arrogance so you train yourself to spend time every day studying the good qualities of other people.
\n\n\n\nAt first, it\u2019s not so easy because you\u2019re blind to the other man\u2019s good qualities. Of course you are; because it\u2019s only you that has good qualities! You\u2019re only aware of your own maalos, your own good qualities. However, if you\u2019re willing to think a little bit, after a while you begin to see that you\u2019re not the only tzadik in the world \u2013 other people are full of good things too. And little by little, you begin to level out with other people. Maybe you\u2019ll even end up feeling inferior to many people. When you start studying people, you\u2019ll be amazed at the good qualities of people and little by little, the gaavah, the filthy arrogance, will start leaching out of you.
\n\n\n\nGrouches Are Unpopular
\n\n\n\nIf someone is unhappy or a complainer, he has to learn the seforim that teach him that unhappiness is a sickness of the mind. It\u2019s a sickness so insidious that even Hashem is not interested in you. That\u2019s what our chachomim tell us. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05de\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3 \u2013 The complainer separates himself from his friends (Mishlei 16:28). People don\u2019t like complainers. A husband who complains, his wife won\u2019t like him. His children won\u2019t like him. A wife who complains, a mother who complains, she\u2019s not liked. Employers don\u2019t like employees who complain. Anybody who\u2019s a complainer should know he\u2019s not popular. People don\u2019t like to hear complainers. Nobody likes a grouch.
\n\n\n\nBut the Sages say (Tikunei Zohar) it means even more than that. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 Aluf means Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You\u2019ll lose that Friend too. A complainer separated himself from his most important Friend too. Hakodosh Boruch Hu becomes tired of him; He can\u2019t take him anymore. If you complain against anything, you are complaining against Hashem too!
\n\n\n\nOh, that\u2019s a different deiah already. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that. I thought I was just complaining about the weather. I was complaining about the neighborhood, that\u2019s all.\u201d No, no; you have to learn a new attitude in this world \u2013 unhappiness, complaining, means that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is tired of you. And once you learn that, you\u2019re ready to begin working on your middah of unhappiness and complaining.
\n\n\n\nGet With The Program
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s a program for all the traits of character. It\u2019s a lifetime of work, this derech Hashem, because the deios and middos of a man are endless. If a man is stingy, he has to study what it is that has created that attitude in his mind. If he has a big mouth, he has to study that too. If he\u2019s lazy, he has to transform his mind; he has to study what it means to be an atzlan and on the other hand what it means to be a zariz.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Rambam says that a person has to go to the Sages who will teach him the right attitudes and turn him back to the righteous ways; you\u2019re not going to learn character in the public schools. Even in the yeshivas, lehavdil, I\u2019m not convinced you\u2019re going to learn good character there \u2014 unless there is somebody there who makes it his business to explain these subjects to the talmidim. And so, if your only contact is coming to shul and performing mitzvos, living like an Orthodox Jew \u2013 it\u2019s very good; ashreichem! \u2013 nevertheless, you should know that your chances of changing your character are almost nothing.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why you must be in contact with the chachomim and their seforim. That\u2019s the only answer \u2013 to learn the textbooks, lehavdil, the mussar textbooks that teach about these things. Study the maamarei Chazal again and again. Repeat them to yourselves always. Learn Mesillas Yesharim again and again. Learn the Shaarei Teshuva and Chovos Halevavos.
\n\n\n\nBut not only to read seforim. Even if you\u2019re in contact with seforim and you\u2019re learning those sources that speak about these subjects, if it\u2019s not your intention to seek this information with the intention of recognizing yourself in the seforim so you\u2019re going to look at it with unseeing eyes and you\u2019ll pass over it without having an effect on you. And therefore, the number one step we can say is, a person has to be aware that it\u2019s necessary for him to change and that he\u2019s searching for new ways of thinking.
\n\n\n\nSuccessful Transformations
\n\n\n\nAnd when you\u2019re looking for them, you\u2019ll discover that they\u2019re there. If you won\u2019t look for them, you can learn all the seforim and not be aware of what they\u2019re saying, but if you\u2019re looking, these seforim will constantly continue to enlighten you and to give you more and more direction in your quest for a change of character. If you learn the right seforim you will get the right ideas into your head. You\u2019ll get into your head the true ideals, the true attitudes, and then you\u2019ll be able to overcome all those things that have found a place in your mind only because you don\u2019t realize how wrong they are.
\n\n\n\nAnd so it has to be a goal for every single one of us to build our character, to form our middos in the mold that Hakodosh Boruch Hu expects from the zera Avrohom. It\u2019s a career, a career that is absolutely essential for everybody. Nobody can dodge this obligation. The job of tikkun hamiddos of changing oneself is incumbent on everybody and the Gra says if you\u2019re not going to embark on the career of changing yourself, \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 why should you be alive? That\u2019s what life is for, to change your middos.
\n\n\n\nEverybody is able to turn around his nature. It is remarkable how different people can become. In the course of years, you won\u2019t be recognized anymore; you become somebody entirely different. And that is what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted of Avrohom Avinu and his progeny! A nation of shomrei Torah u\u2019mitzvos whose lives are conducted according to the principles of proper deios and good character.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTapes: 447 – Anger, Middos and the Afterlife | 607 – Cultivating the Middos | 658 – Working on The Middos | 801 – Middos and Opinions
\n\n\n\nChanging Your Middos
\n\n\n\nHashem chose Avrohom because He knew Avrohom would inculcate his generations with good character. Good character is actually acquired through the right attitudes of the mind. This week I will bli neder spend five minutes a day learning mussar in the hope I can change my inner attitudes and my character traits.
\nThe post Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T03:26:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-18T11:41:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35668, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayera-5783-middos-of-avrohom/", "title": "Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom", "content_html": "TA-Vayera-5783The post Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T03:24:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T03:24:38+00:00" }, { "id": 35660, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayera-5783-middos-of-avrohom/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom", "content_html": "TA-Vayera-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayera 5783 – Middos of Avrohom appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T03:24:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T03:24:08+00:00" }, { "id": 35656, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/religion-y-estado/", "title": "Religi\u00f3n y Estado", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 dice sobre este tema de mezclar la religi\u00f3n con la pol\u00edtica? Es una acusaci\u00f3n presentada recientemente contra Reagan de que est\u00e1 mezclando demasiado la religi\u00f3n y la pol\u00edtica.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY nuestra respuesta es que queremos mezclar religi\u00f3n y pol\u00edtica porque todo el mundo lo est\u00e1 haciendo. Si el gobernador Cuomo fue y asisti\u00f3 a un banquete gay para recaudar dinero para Gays for Political Action, \u00bfno es eso mezclar religi\u00f3n y pol\u00edtica? Por supuesto que es. Esa es su religi\u00f3n. \u00bfQu\u00e9 m\u00e1s es sino pol\u00edtica? \u00bfEs bienestar p\u00fablico? \u00bfEs un beneficio para los j\u00f3venes? \u00bfEs para hacer m\u00e1s dinero para el gobierno? No; es una religi\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, as\u00ed como los progresistas tienen su religi\u00f3n del ate\u00edsmo, una religi\u00f3n del hedonismo, una religi\u00f3n de la corrupci\u00f3n y la pornograf\u00eda y la destrucci\u00f3n de todos los valores de la civilizaci\u00f3n, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 el presidente no deber\u00eda tener tambi\u00e9n una religi\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nPor el contrario, si vemos al presidente hablando de religi\u00f3n, entonces podr\u00edamos sospechar que est\u00e1 tratando de obtener los votos de las personas religiosas. Y si ese es el caso, entonces obtendr\u00e1 nuestros votos. Todo el mundo deber\u00eda votar por el presidente Reagan, no hay duda al respecto. Si a\u00fan no te registraste, entonces el pr\u00f3ximo martes, el nueve de octubre es el d\u00eda de registro. As\u00ed que ve y reg\u00edstrate, desde las nueve de la ma\u00f1ana hasta las nueve de la noche. Averigua d\u00f3nde es en tu vecindario. En este barrio est\u00e1 en East 8th Street, en la escuela p\u00fablica. Reg\u00edstrate y oc\u00fapate de votar.
\n\n\n\nNecesitamos tu voto; es una gran mitzv\u00e1 votar. Esa es tambi\u00e9n una de las cosas que digo que le preguntar\u00e1n a un hombre en el d\u00eda del juicio. \u00bfSer\u00e1s negligente en esta gran batalla contra las fuerzas del mal que est\u00e1n tratando de derrocar a nuestra civilizaci\u00f3n? Todo el mundo deber\u00eda votar. Yo ya me registr\u00e9. Todo el mundo deber\u00eda registrarse. Oc\u00fapate de registrarte.
\n\n\n\nQueremos religi\u00f3n en la pol\u00edtica. Queremos presidentes que crean en un Creador. Queremos presidentes que crean en valores de moralidad y decencia. Ese es el \u00fanico fundamento de nuestra sociedad. Y por lo tanto, nuestra respuesta es, si un presidente habla de religi\u00f3n y se pronuncia p\u00fablicamente al respecto, entonces \u00e9l es el hombre por el que vamos a votar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #524 (octubre de 1984)
\nThe post Religi\u00f3n y Estado appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-06T02:43:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T02:46:43+00:00" }, { "id": 35643, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%92-%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%92-%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%a6%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%97%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d2: \u05e2\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e9\u05d1\u05ea, \u05e6\u05dc\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-243The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d2: \u05e2\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e9\u05d1\u05ea, \u05e6\u05dc\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-04T03:23:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-04T03:23:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35640, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tontos-despiertense/", "title": "\u00a1Tontos! \u00a1Despi\u00e9rtense!", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre la pena de muerte que se llev\u00f3 a cabo en Florida con el consentimiento del gobernador de all\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nOpino que todos aqu\u00ed deber\u00edan escribir una carta felicitando al gobernador de Florida por llevar a cabo la sentencia de muerte. \u00a1Todo el mundo!
\n\n\n\nS\u00e9 que hay muchos tontos aqu\u00ed hoy. Se los digo en la cara. Hay muchos tontos que leen el New York Times y simpatizan con el asesino que fue ejecutado. As\u00ed que est\u00e1n simpatizando con los posibles asesinos de ustedes mismos, Jas veshalom. \u00a1Son tontos! Est\u00e1s siendo llevado por mal camino porque est\u00e1s durmiendo. Si te despertaras, escribir\u00edas cartas al gobernador de Florida diciendo: “Estamos contigo. Deseamos que usted fuera presidente”. Eso es lo que debes hacer. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 loca que debe estar la gente en este pa\u00eds para hacer cosas que dejen que los asesinos queden libres! Muestra que son lun\u00e1ticos. \u00bfQu\u00e9 hacen los lun\u00e1ticos? Contin\u00faan votando por los progresistas.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1As\u00ed que ustedes jud\u00edos tontos, shotim, sus propios votos los est\u00e1n matando, en realidad los matan! \u00a1No es un mashal! Les est\u00e1n disparando. \u00a1Por sus votos! Sus votos provocan que aparezcan jueces malvados que absuelven a los delincuentes. Es hora de que los jud\u00edos se despierten y digan: “Vemos lo que est\u00e1 sucediendo. Nuestras vidas est\u00e1n en peligro. Los progresistas est\u00e1n arruinando el pa\u00eds”.
\n\n\n\nPor es el momento de no apoyar a los progresistas. Y hagamos todo lo que podamos hacer para socavarlos, por todos los medios.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #269 (junio de 1979)
\nThe post \u00a1Tontos! \u00a1Despi\u00e9rtense! appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-03T15:59:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-03T15:59:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35637, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-lekh-lekha/", "title": "Paracha Lekh L\u00e9kha", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Lekh-Lekha-5783The post Paracha Lekh L\u00e9kha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-03T01:52:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-03T01:52:01+00:00" }, { "id": 35635, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-mundial/", "title": "El mundial ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 podemos aprender del reciente juego del Mundial?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPodemos aprender que hay muchos bobos en este mundo.
\n\n\n\nY si tanta gente paga [tanto] dinero para la entrada y muchas personas est\u00e1n interesadas en escuchar esto en la radio o verlo por la televisi\u00f3n, muestra que tenemos que sentirnos orgullosos de nosotros mismos. Si en esta generaci\u00f3n todav\u00eda permanecemos sanos, entonces somos alguien [importante] hoy en d\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #286 (octubre de 1979)
\nThe post El mundial appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-03T00:45:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-03T00:45:18+00:00" }, { "id": 35631, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-world-series-suckers/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on World Series Suckers", "content_html": "\nQ:
What can we learn from the recent World Series game?
A:
We can learn that there are a lot of suckers in this world.
And if so many people pay money for admission and so many people are interested in listening to this on radio and television, it shows that we have to feel proud of ourselves. If in this generation we still remain sane then we are somebody today.
TAPE # 286 (October 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on World Series Suckers appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-02T21:32:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-02T21:32:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35621, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%9a-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05dc\u05da \u05dc\u05da \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "07-\u05dc\u05da-\u05dc\u05daThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05dc\u05da \u05dc\u05da \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-02T03:21:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-02T03:21:28+00:00" }, { "id": 35619, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-likud-versus-el-partido-laborista/", "title": "El Likud versus el partido Laborista", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre el partido Likud contra el partido Laborista en Israel?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebo contarte mi sincera opini\u00f3n: no estoy interesado en ninguno de ellos. S\u00f3lo hay un partido para nosotros y ese es el partido de los que son Shelom\u00e9 Emun\u00e9 Israel. Ese es nuestro partido. Los jud\u00edos frum, ese es nuestro partido.
\n\n\n\nLa verdad es que alg\u00fan d\u00eda habr\u00e1 una historia escrita; Habr\u00e1 un Tanaj escrito. La Guemar\u00e1 dice que: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05db\u05d5\u05ea\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e7\u05d1”\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd – Eliahu HaNav\u00ed va a escribir y Hakadosh Baruj Hu firmar\u00e1 (Kidush\u00edn 70a). Va a haber un gran Tanaj escrito y en ese Tanaj mirar\u00e1s en la parte de atr\u00e1s o en el frente para referencias; querr\u00e1s ver qui\u00e9n se menciona en ese libro. \u00bfEl Likud? No; \u00a1No habr\u00e1 ninguna menci\u00f3n del Likud! \u00a1Nada! No encontrar\u00e1s a Teddy Kollek all\u00ed. Tampoco a Ben Guri\u00f3n. No, nada se mencionar\u00e1 de ellos. Nada en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nLa historia de Am Israel est\u00e1 siendo escrita por los jud\u00edos frum. Son los que hacen historia, los hombres y mujeres frum. Los que est\u00e1n criando a las familias, est\u00e1n escribiendo historia. Una madre trae una familia de hijos e hijas, Shelom\u00e9 Emun\u00e9 Israel, ha hecho historia y ella estar\u00e1 en ese libro de historia. S\u00ed, las mujeres estar\u00e1n en ese libro de historia. Tzadikim y Tzadkaniot, hombres y mujeres frum, no s\u00f3lo Guedol\u00e9 Israel. \u05d5\u05d9\u05d3 \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05d5 – La mano de cada uno escribir\u00e1 algo en ese libro de historia. Cada persona alg\u00fan d\u00eda estar\u00e1 en el libro de la historia y ser\u00e1 una historia muy bien escrita. Eliahu HaNav\u00ed sabe c\u00f3mo escribir. \u00a1Y todos los Tzadikim estar\u00e1n all\u00ed, pero nadie m\u00e1s! El Likud, el partido Laborista, todos ellos quedar\u00e1n afuera.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, algunas personas piensan que no es una verdadera historia jud\u00eda a menos que se mencionen tambi\u00e9n los nombres de este reformista, de aquel sionista, de este otro compa\u00f1ero. \u00a1No! Estos son s\u00f3lo accidentes de la historia, tragedias, y se quedar\u00e1n fuera. Ahora bien, Hakadosh Baruj Hu se va a encargarde ellos, \u00a1no te preocupes por eso! \u00c9l no los dejar\u00e1 escaparse sin que obtengan lo que merecen. \u00a1Oh, s\u00ed, \u00c9l se ocupar\u00e1 de ellos! \u00a1\u00c9l tiene algo preparado para ellos! Pero no estar\u00e1n en el Libro de historia del Am Israel. En ese gran Tanaj, s\u00f3lo se inscribir\u00e1n a los Shelom\u00e9 Emun\u00e9 Israel.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-55 (abril de 1996)
\nThe post El Likud versus el partido Laborista appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-02T03:13:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-02T03:13:51+00:00" }, { "id": 6926, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-israels-election-results/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Likud Versus Labor", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s the Rav\u2019s opinion of the Likud party versus the Labor party in Israel?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
I must tell you my sincere opinion \u2013 I\u2019m not interested in either of them. There\u2019s only one party for us and that\u2019s the party of those that are sh\u2019lomei emunei Yisroel. That\u2019s our party. The frum Jews, that\u2019s our party.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that someday there will be a history written; there will be a Tanach written. The gemara says that: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05db\u05d5\u05ea\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e7\u05d1\u05f4\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u2013 Eliyahu HaNavi is going to write it and Hakodosh Boruch Hu will sign (Kiddushin 70a). There\u2019s going to be a great Tanach written and in that Tanach you\u2019ll look in the back or in the front for references; you\u2019ll want to see who is mentioned in this book. Likud? No; no mention of Likud! Nothing! You won\u2019t find Teddy Kollek there either. You won\u2019t find Ben Gurion. No, nothing will be mentioned of them. Nothing at all.
\n\n\n\nThe history of Am Yisroel is being written by the frum Jews. They are the ones who make history \u2013 the frum men and frum women. The ones who are raising families, they\u2019re writing history. A mother brings up a family of sons and daughters, sh\u2019lomei emunei Yisroel, she has made history and she\u2019ll be in that history book. Yes, women will be in that history book. Tzadikim and tzidkaniyos, frum men and women \u2013 not only gedolei Yisroel. \u05d5\u05d9\u05d3 \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 Everybody\u2019s hand will write in that history book something. Every person will someday be in the history book and it will be a very well written history. Eliyahu HaNavi knows how to write. And all the tzadikim will be there, but nobody else! Likud, Labor, all of them will be left out.
\n\n\n\nNow, some people think it\u2019s not a real Jewish history unless it mentions also the names of this Reformer, of that Zionist, of this other fellow. No! These are just accidents of history, tragedies, and they\u2019ll be left out. Now, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will \u2018take care\u2019 of them, don\u2019t worry about that! He won\u2019t leave them out from getting what they deserve. Oh yes, he\u2019ll \u2019take care\u2019 of them! He has something in store for them! But they won\u2019t be in the history book of the Am Yisroel. In that great Tanach, only the sh\u2019lomei emunei Yisrael will be inscribed.
TAPE # E-55 (April 1996)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Likud Versus Labor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-01T21:45:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-01T21:45:25+00:00" }, { "id": 35610, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/votaciones-en-eretz-israel/", "title": "Votaciones en \u00c9retz Israel ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nParticipar en las votaciones de Memsh\u00e9let Israel lifn\u00e9 biat HaMash\u00edaj, un gobierno jud\u00edo en \u00c9retz Israel antes de que llegue el Mash\u00edaj, \u00bfes en contra de la Tor\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nMi amigo, no soy quien como para dar un pesak sobre tales sheelot. Algunos Guedolim sostienen que aunque est\u00e1 prohibido tener un estado jud\u00edo, un gobierno jud\u00edo, antes de que venga el Mash\u00edaj, sin embargo, una vez que hay una kehil\u00e1, incluso una kehil\u00e1 de resha\u00edm, tenemos que tratar de llevarnos bien con ellos y tratar de utilizarlos para que construyamos la Tor\u00e1. As\u00ed es como dicen algunos Guedolim. No puedes simplemente decir que no es nada y que los ignoramos y besaremos a Arafat y seremos su buen amigo. No. Queremos construir Tor\u00e1 en \u00c9retz Israel tanto como podamos. Hay muchos tzadikim en \u00c9retz Israel, hermosas kehilot, as\u00ed que haz lo mejor que puedas; trata de llevarte bien con esos resha\u00edm para beneficio de los frum. Eso es lo que algunos dicen. No digo que haya que amarlos o respetarlos demasiado, pero cuando se trata de votar, algunos dicen que debes votar para obtener los mejores beneficios.
\n\n\n\nOtros dicen que no; dicen que no votes. No votar en absoluto, para demostrar que no apoyas al gobierno.
\n\n\n\nNo me meto en esa pregunta. Lo dejar\u00e9 para los manhigu\u00e9 Israel. Pero no es una pregunta sencilla. Es una pregunta complicada y no estoy tratando de persuadir a nadie para que haga algo de una forma u otra.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post Votaciones en \u00c9retz Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-11-01T04:16:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-01T04:16:57+00:00" }, { "id": 35612, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-voting-in-eretz-yisroel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting in Eretz Yisroel", "content_html": "\nQ:
To participate in voting for a memsheles Yisrael lifnei bi\u2019as haMoshiach, a Jewish government in Eretz Yisroel before Moshiach comes, is that against the Torah?
A:
My friend, I am not somebody to pasken such shaylos. Some gedolim hold that even though it\u2019s forbidden to have a Jewish Commonwealth, a Jewish government, before Moshiach comes, nevertheless once there is a kehillah, even a kehillah of reshaim, we have to try to get along with them and try to utilize them in order that we should build up Torah. That’s how some gedolim say. You can’t just say that it’s nothing and we ignore them and we’ll kiss Arafat and be his good friend. No. We want to build up Torah in Eretz Yisroel as much as we can. There are a lot of tzaddikim in Eretz Yisroel, beautiful kehillos, so you do the best you can; you try to get along with these reshaim for the sake of the frummeh. That’s what some say. I’m not saying that you have to love them or give them too much respect but when it comes to voting some say you should vote in order to get the best benefits.\u00a0
Others say no; they say you don’t vote. You don\u2019t vote at all in order to show that you don\u2019t support the government.
\n\n\n\nI’m not mixing in such a question. I’ll leave it for the manhigei Yisroel. But it’s not a simple question. It’s a complicated question and I’m not trying to persuade anybody to do anything one way or another.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting in Eretz Yisroel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-31T21:36:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-01T21:39:07+00:00" }, { "id": 35599, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-planeta-marte-los-dinosaurios-y-el-mabul/", "title": "El planeta Marte, los dinosaurios y el Mabul", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 decimos sobre las grietas en el suelo del planeta Marte?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsta pregunta me recuerda una pregunta que me hizo un ni\u00f1o t\u00edmido aqu\u00ed; pens\u00f3 que iba a poner el mundo patas para arriba. Me dijo: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 respondemos a la pregunta de los dinosaurios?”
\n\n\n\nEntonces le dije: \u201cNo respondemos nada. \u00bfQu\u00e9 respondes a las jirafas?
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es la diferencia entre un dinosaurio y una cebra? Hay muchos animales que se extinguieron. As\u00ed que los dinosaurios tambi\u00e9n se extinguieron.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, pero los f\u00f3siles; \u00a1Son tan viejos!
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQui\u00e9n dijo que los f\u00f3siles son viejos? \u00bfNo sabes que hemos encontrado f\u00f3siles de hombres modernos, f\u00f3siles tan recientes como de 300 a\u00f1os? Ya expliqu\u00e9 aqu\u00ed una vez que en el Museo de Historia Natural de Londres tienes un f\u00f3sil de un indio Guadalupe que no tiene m\u00e1s de 300 a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nLos f\u00f3siles no son viejos; es s\u00f3lo porque los evolucionistas necesitan grandes per\u00edodos de tiempo \u2013 de lo contrario, \u00bfc\u00f3mo podr\u00eda realizarse tal fantas\u00eda de que de un animal deber\u00eda desarrollarse un hombre; a menos que haya incontables eones de veces para que suceda. Entonces, como necesitaban tanto tiempo, fabricaron una teor\u00eda del tiempo. Pero no hay el m\u00e1s m\u00ednimo indicio en ninguna parte de que hubo tanta cantidad de a\u00f1os.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, en la \u00e9poca de N\u00f3aj, antes del Mabul, ciertamente hubo dinosaurios y probablemente ninguno de ellos sobrevivi\u00f3 al Mabul. Por eso, un dinosaurio es tan importante para nosotros como la paloma mensajera, que tambi\u00e9n se extingui\u00f3.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfqu\u00e9 decimos sobre las grietas de Marte? \u00bfQu\u00e9 dices de las grietas en el desierto del Sahara? Lo que digas all\u00ed, lo dir\u00e1s all\u00ed. Podr\u00eda ser que las grietas en el desierto del Sahara se crearan al comienzo del mundo: Hakadosh Baruj Hu no hizo que el mundo fuera tan suave y liso como una bola de billar; ciertamente hizo el mundo con alturas y depresiones, con huecos y monta\u00f1as, etc. Es necesario para el control del clima y por varias otras razones. Entonces lo mismo en Marte; Hakadosh Baruj Hu hizo grietas en Marte.
\n\n\n\nY si dices que la grieta en el desierto del Sahara vino despu\u00e9s de la Creaci\u00f3n por medio de alg\u00fan trastorno; por cierto, hay una gran grieta, una gran cadena monta\u00f1osa desde el desierto del Sahara que sube a Europa y algunos dicen que fue el resultado de alguna convulsi\u00f3n. As\u00ed que tambi\u00e9n hubo alguna convulsi\u00f3n en Marte.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEntonces, cu\u00e1l es el problema? S\u00f3lo porque alguien abuchea diciendo “\u00a1bu!” sin ninguna explicaci\u00f3n en absoluto, e inmediatamente la persona que no tiene emun\u00e1 se asusta de su juicio. Dile “\u00a1bu!” tambi\u00e9n t\u00fa a \u00e9l!
\n\n\n\nCINTA #60 (abril de 1974)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los dinosaurios y los mastodontes no eran dignos de ser salvados del Mabul?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es porque no hab\u00eda lugar para ellos. La tev\u00e1 era muy grande; suficientemente grande para albergar a todas las especies. Pero para esa enorme especie no hab\u00eda lugar. Esa es la explicaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s simple. \u00bfQuer\u00edas una explicaci\u00f3n sencilla? No entraban.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #490 (enero de 1984)
\nThe post El planeta Marte, los dinosaurios y el Mabul appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-31T04:41:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-31T04:41:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35605, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-mars-dinosaurs-and-the-mabul/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Mars,\u00a0Dinosaurs and the Mabul", "content_html": "\nQ:
What do we say about the rifts on Mars?
A:
\n\n\n\nThis question reminds me of a question once asked by a timid little boy here; he thought he was going to turn the world upside down. And he said, \u201cWhat do we answer to the question of the dinosaurs?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo I told him, \u201cWe don\u2019t answer anything. What do you answer to the giraffes?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat is the difference between a dinosaur and a zebra? There are plenty of animals that went extinct. So the dinosaurs also went extinct.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, but the fossils; they’re so old!\u201d
Who said fossils are old? Don’t you know that we have found fossils of modern men, fossils as recent as 300 years old. I explained here already once that in the Museum of Natural History in London, you have a fossil of a Guadalupe Indian that\u2019s no more than 300 years old.
Fossils are not old; it’s only because evolutionists need great time periods \u2013 otherwise how could such a fantasy be realized that from an animal a man should develop; unless you have untold eons of times for it to happen. So since they needed so much time, so they manufactured a theory of time. But there isn’t the slightest indication anywhere that there was such time.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore in Noach’s time, before the Mabul, there certainly were dinosaurs and probably none of them survived the Mabul. And so a dinosaur is just as significant to us as the passenger pigeon which also went into extinction.
\n\n\n\nNow, what do we say to the rifts on Mars? What do you say to the rifts in the Sahara Desert? Whatever you’ll say there, you’ll say there. It could be that the rifts in the Sahara Desert were created in the beginning of the world \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu didn’t make the world as smooth as a billiard ball; He certainly made the world with ups and downs, with hollows and with mountains and so on. It\u2019s necessary for the control of climate and for various other reasons. So the same thing on Mars; Hakodosh Boruch Hu made rifts on Mars.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you’ll say the rift in the Sahara Desert came after Creation by means of some upheaval \u2013 by the way there\u2019s a big rift, a big mountain range from the Sahara Desert going up into Europe and some say it was the result of some upheaval. So there was an upheaval on Mars too.
\n\n\n\nSo what’s the problem? Just because someone says \u201cBoo!\u201d without any explanation at all, immediately the person who has no emunah is frightened out of his wits. Say \u201cBoo!\u201d back to him!
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 60 (April 1974)
Q:
Why were the dinosaurs and the mastodons not worthy to be saved from the Mabul?
A:
And the answer is because there was\u00a0no place for them. The teivah was very big;\u00a0big enough to accommodate all the species. But the huge species wouldn’t fit in. That’s the most simple explanation. You want a simple explanation? They couldn’t fit in.
TAPE # 490 (January 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Mars,\u00a0Dinosaurs and the Mabul appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T20:17:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-31T20:49:53+00:00" }, { "id": 35594, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%9a-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05dc\u05da \u05dc\u05da", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05dc\u05da-\u05dc\u05da-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05dc\u05da \u05dc\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T03:17:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-30T03:17:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35583, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-lech-lecha-5783-true-science-2/", "title": "Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science", "content_html": "Who, What, When?
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 And Hashem spoke to Avram, and He said, \u201c\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 I\u2019ve chosen you for greatness and I want you now to leave your place and go to the place where I will show you.
\n\n\n\nNow there is a question some of the mefarshim here are busy with and that is: exactly when was this command given? Was it when Avraham was still a young man in Ur Kasdim or much later after he had already left Ur Kasdim with his father, Terach, and settled in Charan?
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be that both are true. We could say that already in Ur Kasdim the spirit of Hashem began beating in him, telling him, \u201cGo, Go. Leave Ur Kasdim,\u201d and so he and his father decided to heed the call of Hashem. And they went first to Charan on their way to Canaan.
\n\n\n\nBut we note that the actual command, the prophecy, said \u201cYou should go \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05da\u05b8\u05bc, to the land that I will show you,\u201d and from Ur Kasdim Avraham did not go to Eretz Canaan; he went to Charan which is north of Canaan in a different land. And so it seems that the explicit command was only given after Avraham had been in Charan some time. Otherwise why would he get up from Charan and forsake his family and go to Eretz Canaan?
\n\n\n\nHashem Doesn\u2019t Speak To Everyone
\n\n\n\nAnd that means that Avraham Avinu was already an old man when Hashem first spoke to him in parshas Lech Lecha; he was someone with a long history behind him when the spirit of Hashem first appeared to him. That\u2019s important to note. Avraham is already in his seventies when we are introduced to him.
\n\n\n\nNow from the time a person is born until he becomes seventy years old there are many things he can be occupied with. And we have reason to suspect that the things Avraham was busy with were of such a nature that they earned for him this distinction that finally Hashem should speak to him. After all, Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t suddenly speak to a person for nothing. Even very great men didn\u2019t merit such a thing. Hakodosh Boruch Hu never spoke to Yosef HaTzaddik, not once. He never spoke to Reuven or Shimon or Levi or Yehuda. The Torah doesn\u2019t tell us anything about that. I\u2019m not talking about other sources but it\u2019s not in the Torah.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to say that there must have been a big preface. Something must have taken place during those years, great deeds that are not described in the Torah, and it is because of them, that\u2019s why Hashem finally decided to speak to him.
\n\n\n\nThe Stories We Were Told
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m sure that Avraham did very many good things and when we were still children we were told what our teachers thought were the most interesting ones. He broke his father\u2019s idols and was thrown into a fire; other things too. And while those are true, it\u2019s important to know that the one that stands out most, the one thing that more than anything else that earned him this distinction above all other men was that he became aware of the Borei. That was the background for all of these stories we know; the greatness of Avraham was that he believed in Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s something that to us doesn\u2019t seem to be very significant. After all, we believe too. Already from kindergarten we believe in Hashem \u2013 our cheder rebbe told us all about it \u2013 and so we\u2019re not too excited when we hear about Avraham Avinu\u2019s accomplishment.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that we don\u2019t believe as much as we think we do but even if we did, you have to know that Avraham was especially great because he didn\u2019t have that kindergarten teacher who spoke to him about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore, how a little boy, all on his own, achieved something like that is almost miraculous. Avraham had no beginning at all; he started out nowhere.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what our Sages tell us; that he had no instructions at all. He didn\u2019t have any teacher, no rebbe. And therefore it\u2019s a good question: What happened? How did the little boy Avram become Avraham Avinu?
\n\n\n\nAvraham\u2019s Work
\n\n\n\nThe answer is Avraham worked; even as a little boy Avraham looked around him and he saw on all sides testimonies, evidence, that proves clearly that everything was done by a Master Designer. \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d2’ \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 He was only three years old and he was already seeing the Presence of Hashem in the world around him.
\n\n\n\nHow did he recognize the Creator if nobody told him anything? The answer is he looked around. You know what he saw? He saw seeds blowing in the wind. Some seeds have wings on them. You ever see seeds with wings? Oh yes. Many seeds have wings. And the wind blows them and they fly up in the air and they travel miles. They can travel across the ocean. It’s wonderful. So when you look at the seeds and see the wings, the wings show you it’s made for a purpose. And therefore who made that purpose? Kevod malchuscha yomeiru, the seed declares the greatness of the Designer of infinite intelligence who made that. And inside of that little seed are packed in hundreds of thousands of bits of information, all necessary and functional.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when Avraham Avinu studied the world around him, he knew about a Borei. Whatever he saw in this world reinforced for him that he was looking directly at the handiwork of the Creator. On all sides he saw how Hakadosh Baruch Hu has made the world with wisdom and kindliness. A whole world.
\n\n\n\nThe Remarkable Fly-Swatter
\n\n\n\nAnd Avraham never stopped looking. He did that not only once; he did it thousands of times. As a little boy he walked through the field and he said, \u201cLook at the cow standing in the fields fertilizing the field. It eats grass and produces fertilizer; right under its tail it drops fertilizer. But from the fertilizer flies develop; all the fields are full of flies and the flies bite the cows. So the cow has a long tail and at the end of the tail there\u2019s a little mop, a flyswatter, and it swishes from side to side all day long driving the flies off.\u201d
\n\n\n\nDid you ever see a cow? I once sat and watched a cow for a long time. It was something special to see. All day long it was swishing, hitting its sides with its tail. Otherwise the flies would draw blood from the cow. And so the cow keeps protecting itself with a flyswatter provided by Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It was remarkable to see.
\n\n\n\nAvraham Avinu as a little boy began to see these things and he recognized the Creator from His creations. Avraham Avinu, wherever he looked, he saw purposefulness. He saw design. Tremendous design! Cunning design! Profound design!
\n\n\n\nFools of National Geographic
\n\n\n\nAvraham wasn\u2019t like someone who wrote a long article in the National Geographic and he was praising the infinite design that he sees in nature \u2013 infinite design, he said. Accidental infinite design! So I was thinking, \u201cYou shoteh! Don\u2019t you see that infinite design means that there\u2019s an Infinite Designer?\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut Avraham understood that it wasn\u2019t an accident! Hakodosh Boruch Hu planned it so. \u201cEverything is designed for the purpose of revealing the Designer,\u201d Avraham concluded, \u201cand therefore, I\u2019m going to dedicate my life to seeing the Designer in all the phenomena of this world.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNot only in the phenomena around him \u2013 in himself too! Avraham said, \u201cWhy is it when I need food, I\u2019m hungry? Isn\u2019t that a miracle? There\u2019s some intelligent planning evident here, a very complicated form of intelligence, superior to any intelligence that we know today. Nobody is able to duplicate such a system! Why is it that when I need water, I\u2019m thirsty?\u201d Avraham began thinking about that.
\n\n\n\nWhenever he felt hungry \u2013 I won\u2019t say this happened when he was three; maybe he was seven years old, maybe ten but there came a time when he said, \u201cLook at this miracle of being hungry. Suppose I wasn\u2019t hungry. Suppose I had to take a card out of my pocket and consult the card to see what I have to consume today to replace the materials that are used up in my body. I need so much starch, I need so much water, I need so much salt and so on.\u201d What would a person do? He\u2019d put it in his pocket and run out to play. Forget about the nutrition card; he has better things to do than eat. And the end would be, he\u2019d drop dead in the street.
\n\n\n\nIf people would live by cards that would inform them what they needed, they wouldn\u2019t survive! But the world survives. And it\u2019s because there\u2019s a great intelligence that has foreseen all the needs of men, a tremendous intelligence that created hunger and tastes and satisfaction and satiation and all of a man\u2019s needs.
\n\n\n\nWonders Upon Wonders
\n\n\n\nWhy is it that when a person has to evacuate himself, he has an urge to evacuate? Why should he have an urge to go to the bathroom? He shouldn\u2019t have any urge at all! And if he has an urge to evacuate why shouldn\u2019t it happen in his pants right away in the street?
\n\n\n\nNo; he\u2019s capable of containing himself. He has an urge and still he can contain himself. Isn\u2019t that a remarkable thing? He has control! His mind says, \u201cHold!\u201d \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05e7 \u2013 he controls himself until he reaches a proper place!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a marvelous thing! How did that happen? He knows he has to evacuate, he has an urge. The urge itself is a miracle! And then how does it happen that he can shut down on it, until he reaches the proper place? That\u2019s a miracle upon a miracle! It\u2019s not simple at all \u2013 it\u2019s very complicated!
\n\n\n\nChosen By The Owner
\n\n\n\nAvraham thought about these things all the time; when he was three years old and when he was seven years old and fifteen and twenty and thirty \u2013 he never stopped. And finally, one day when he was in his seventies, Hashem spoke to him. He had reached such a stage of clarity and he was saying, \u201cI see Hashem! It\u2019s exactly as if I was looking at him!\u201d So Hashem said, \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, then here I am.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Medrash (Rabbah 39:1) gives a mashal like this. A man passed a building and the building was illuminated and he saw everything was in order. He sees the building is in repair; the doors move on the hinges, there are windows that move up and down; he sees everything is working \u2013 somebody is in charge here.
\n\n\n\nSo he\u2019s thinking, \u201c\u05d0\u05b6\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2 \u2013 Can there be such a building without somebody who is in charge?\u201d And the more he looks at the details the more he\u2019s saying these words over and over again, \u201cWho\u2019s in charge? Somebody must be in charge!\u201d And finally \u05d4\u05b5\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e5 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 The owner of the house put his head through the window and said, \u201cYes. Here I am. You guessed right.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Hashem, when Avraham was in his seventies, finally spoke to him: \u201cNow you\u2019re Mine. If you can discover Me in nature \u2013 and not only discover Me but to keep looking always and become more and more aware of My presence, then you\u2019re the one I want. Because you\u2019re for Me \u2013 seeing Me in the world around you means that you\u2019re for Me \u2013 that\u2019s why I want you to \u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8, to get going; because I\u2019ve chosen you to be the father of My people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIdolatrous Cities
\n\n\n\nNow, you shouldn\u2019t imagine that such an achievement was simple at all. Because not only did Avraham not have teachers to help him but he was standing against the world. Avraham was born in Ur Kasdim which we know from excavations, that it was a city of idolatry, a city dedicated to moon worship. It was like an ir hakodesh of the tumah of idolatry. Everywhere, all over Ur Kasdim, there were temples to the moon. That we know today.
\n\n\n\nNow when you go to a place like that \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t go of course \u2013 but let\u2019s say you went to Lourdes in France where tens of thousands of people visit every year because they want to consult certain saints; they want dead saints to bless them and heal them.
\n\n\n\nA whole bubamaisah they invented out of nothing, and today people come to Lourdes from all over the world to get healed of their diseases. There were shakranim who said, \u201cWe came in with crutches into the shrine of the avodah zarah and there we received a blessing and we threw away the crutches and walked out well and healthy.\u201d When you hear such things, it\u2019s not easy to avoid falling under its sway.
\n\n\n\nOf course, it\u2019s all sheker v\u2019chazav. They don\u2019t tell you about the vast majority that go there and come back just as crippled as they were before. And those people who throw away their crutches \u2013 if it ever happened \u2013 you have to know later they pick up the crutches again. No question about it. No question at all that any scientific investigation will show that the whole thing is a hoax. That\u2019s all it is.
\n\n\n\nThe Gullible Economy
\n\n\n\nBut because of that propaganda, Lourdes became a holy city. And the locals make good use of that. They have all kinds of stores that sell religious articles; little booklets, prayer booklets, and necklaces, prayer necklaces, all kinds of trinkets. The locals there are making a decent living from the gullible masses.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what was doing in Ur Kasdim too. Avodah zarah businesses were thriving and Avraham Avinu\u2019s father also had a shop like that; he sold avodah zarah idols, big ones and little ones, for all kinds of purposes. If you want to have children, there\u2019s an idol of fertility. If you want to get rich, there\u2019s an idol of wealth. All kinds of idols and each one had his specialty \u2013 with a special price tag of course.
\n\n\n\nNow sometimes Terach couldn\u2019t be there all day long. He had to go sometimes to the place where they manufacture them, to order them, so Avraham was left in his shop, a little boy selling idols for his father.
\n\n\n\nA Terrible Salesman
\n\n\n\nBut we know from our tradition that Avraham was a very poor salesman. Once a man came to buy an idol so he wanted an idol that\u2019ll make him powerful and important. So Avraham said, \u201cWell, here\u2019s the biggest one I have. The tallest idol. Of course the price is the tallest price too. You can have it if you want.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so the man was considering.
\n\n\n\nAvraham said, \u201cHow old are you?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI am fifty years old.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThis idol was made yesterday. It\u2019s only two days old. You think it\u2019s really going to help you?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the man left the idol on the counter and took his money and walked out on his heels.
\n\n\n\nAvraham didn\u2019t earn any money and when his father came back and heard what had happened, I imagine he got a good slap, \u201cYou\u2019re ruining my parnassah, you little upstart!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOnce an idol fell off the shelf and the nose came off. When his father came in, he said, \u201cWhat\u2019s this? What\u2019s going on here?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Avraham said, \u201cLook, if it cannot protect its nose from falling off then what kind of an idol is this? The wholesalers are not selling you good merchandise. The idols are no good.\u201d
\n\n\n\nVoice of Nature
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s a pity that so many people remain all their lives with the simple stories of Avraham in his father\u2019s store and they don\u2019t understand what it means. You have to know that such stories only happened because of Avraham\u2019s dedication to seeing Hashem in the world around him. That\u2019s all he had! Until he heard these words \u201cLech Lecha\u201d, that\u2019s all he had \u2013 it was through nature that Hashem spoke to him.
\n\n\n\nBut it was so clear to him, the Voice was so clear and loud, that nothing would stop him. And Avraham suffered terribly; not only from his father. Avraham became known to the authorities. A heretic; a little apikores boy. We have to realize how dangerous it was to be an apikores in those pious days where everybody believed in and worshiped avodah zarah. Wherever he went, he met the angry face of idolaters. Not only priests; the people, the masses despised him too. He was considered a fool, a wicked man, a heretic. They looked down on him. They spat on him in the street.
\n\n\n\nHe was imprisoned. The Rambam in Hilchos Avodah Zarah brings from the Medrash that Avraham was imprisoned for years and years. He was almost put to death and then he had to conceal himself in the woods and the deserts for a long time until he escaped and went to a foreign country to save his life. Finally when the king had died, he came back again, but then the persecution continued.
\n\n\n\nOpposing The Regents
\n\n\n\nYou know, it\u2019s very difficult to withstand public disapproval. Sometimes it\u2019s easier to jump into fire and lose one\u2019s life in one moment rather than spend a long time walking in the street among your enemies; people spit on you, they look with hatred at you. That\u2019s a very difficult nisayon.
\n\n\n\nLike today, let\u2019s say, if a Jewish boy happens to be in college and he speaks up about Hashem creating the world, his teachers will fail him in all his courses. The Regents will say he\u2019s not passing the evolution courses. He can\u2019t graduate. And of course the ACLU will leap into action. They\u2019ll bring court action against him for trying to bring religion into the schools. Apikorsus they could bring into the schools all they want, but they\u2019ll fight tooth and nail that you shouldn\u2019t even mention a Creator.
\n\n\n\nBut Avraham resisted! Because once he saw Hashem with his own two eyes, nothing would stop him. And so the more he saw Hashem in the world around him, in the seeds and the cows and everything else, the more he resisted. Once he realized that there\u2019s a Birah, and a Baal Habirah, that became his goal, to know more and more about the Palace Owner. And so he fought against a world that opposed him. \u201cYou can continue talking all you want about idols and shmidols but I\u2019m going to continue looking at the world and seeing the handiwork of the Creator.\u201d
\n\n\n\nScience and Aliens
\n\n\n\nAnd he became a genius, a scientist lehavdil: I have to say that because he became a real scientist. A scientist means somebody who knows, but the scientists today don\u2019t know. All their science is for the purpose of covering up the truth.
\n\n\n\nToday they\u2019re all organized to deceive mankind into atheism. And they\u2019re spending tremendous sums of money to this end. With our tax money, by the way; NASA is taking our hard earned money with a proposition to look for life on other planets. It\u2019s a pipe dream, a fantasy, but evolution means it happened by accident and if the accident could happen here it could happen on other worlds too; so let\u2019s get in contact with all those worlds over there. It will cost us billions of dollars, of course, but why not? In order to prove atheism, anything is worthwhile. So while they\u2019re spending our tax money to advance the cause of atheism, the world gets the idea, ein hachi nami, there may be worlds over there. There surely are if they\u2019re spending so much money!
\n\n\n\nBut Avraham laughed at that. Avraham saw the wisdom of Hashem, and he said, \u201cWho cares what you ovdei avodah zarah say?!\u201d and he proved it to the world with his logic. This boy, all by himself braved the disapproval of his community and that\u2019s why, \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Hashem found that his heart was loyal. He didn\u2019t budge from his principle that he discovered. Once he saw the truth that everything in the world testifies that there\u2019s a Borei, nothing could cause him to weaken in his conviction that he was obligated to see that Borei in His creations.
\n\n\n\nEmunah Peshutah is Not Enough
\n\n\n\nNow this subject of how Avraham Avinu studied all his life to recognize Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the world is something that is necessary to emphasize because frum people today have the idea that it\u2019s all superfluous. Today many believe, as some mistakenly tell them, that \u201call you need is emunah peshutah;\u201d which means \u201cjust say \u2018I believe\u2019, and that\u2019s enough\u201d. More than that is not necessary; to be convinced any more than that is superfluous.
\n\n\n\nI had a certain talmid chochom by my table many years ago and I was talking to him about my favorite subject, the apple. I was telling him about how the peel of the apple reminds us of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. How could it be, a wrapper that protects the fruit and then when you want to eat the apple you can eat the wrapper along with the fruit. A neis! \u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable thing,\u201d I told him. He looked at me with an empty expression. A blank face! It means that even some talmidei chachomim don\u2019t understand the importance of seeing Hashem in the world around us.
\n\n\n\nA Dedicated Life
\n\n\n\nBut no matter, Avraham is our model; we want to accomplish more and more emunah, more and more perfection of the mind by seeing the Hand of Hashem around us. Of course today, after Matan Torah, seeing Hashem in the world around us is not the only way. There are other obligations too that are supposed to remind us about Hashem. We put on tefillin and think about Him. We have a mezuzos on our doors, and the mezuzah says, \u201cHashem is here.\u201d We have kosher kitchens, milchig and fleishigs. Why do we do that? It costs a lot of money and trouble. It\u2019s because there\u2019s Hashem who commands us. When you learn Bava Kamma it\u2019s because Hashemtold you that there are arba avos nezikin and you have to beware of injuring your fellowman\u2019s property. Why do we love our fellow Jews? Because Hashem loves them. And why don\u2019t we wear shaatnez? Because Hashem is looking.
\n\n\n\nThe whole Torah, the whole life of a frum Jew, is a demonstration of Hashem\u2019s presence. And so, we are not like the kadmonim before Matan Torah; we have specific functions, obligations, by which we increase our emunah.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not enough because everybody knows a certain statement, \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 derech eretz came before Torah. So people think it means good manners, maybe good middos too, come before Torah. It\u2019s true, but it\u2019s not enough. \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 means anything that the human reason is capable of acquiring without matan Torah should be kodmah, before Torah. And so emunah, awareness of Hashem by means of His creations, is derech eretz. And therefore we should always remember: despite all the things that we do, the core and the heart of all our lives is to increase our awareness of Hashem by means of walking on the path that Avraham blazed of seeing Hashem in the world around us.
\n\n\n\nEmulating Avraham
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Mesillas Yesharim tells us in his sefer, in the Derech Eitz HaChayim; he says that from time to time a person should get together with himself \u2013 it means to spend some time alone with just your thoughts \u2013 and he should ask himself, \u201c\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 What did Avraham do that Hashem loved him so much?\u201d That\u2019s a good question. \u201cWhat did Avraham do that made Hashem love him so much? \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 and let me do the same.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo now we know what we have to do. Avraham was the most original thinker the world ever saw; he was more aware of Hashem than anybody else. And the Rambam tells us that he made his great journey towards Hashem by studying all the phenomena around him. He studied the world around him and in every flower, every leaf, every plant, every fruit, every animal, every cloud, he saw plan and purpose. He saw that Hakodosh Boruch Hu had filled the world with wisdom in order to teach man to be Aware of Him.
\n\n\n\nAnd even though \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9, even though already at the age of three he already recognized the presence of the Creator, as he grew older he became more and more keenly aware of Hashem\u2019s presence until \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9, at the age of forty he recognized the Creator again. It means that he didn\u2019t desist from thinking; he continued making progress all his life. Not like people coming to a shmues, a lecture, and they are convinced, but they go home and forget all about it. Avraham took every advance that he made, and he intensified his awareness by doing more and more.
\n\n\n\nSeeing Hashem Everywhere
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the Chovos Halevovos says that bechinah is one of the most important functions of our lives. Bechinah means looking at the world around you and seeing Hashem everywhere, the study of nature that we undertake in order to recognize the wisdom of Hashem and the kindliness of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, you don\u2019t need any books for that. The world is full of wisdom; all you have to do is open your eyes and you\u2019ll be able to discover Hakodosh Boruch Hu like Avraham Avinu did. He didn\u2019t go to the library. He looked at the world and he recognized Hakodosh Boruch Hu by means of his eyes and common sense without any textbooks or professors.
\n\n\n\nAnd everybody can do the same because the best source of bechinah is your own two eyes, your own common sense. The world is full of good things that testify to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e6\u05b7\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 The Good One created all this glory for His name. \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Everything praises you, \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 everything increases the honor of Hashem. Only that you have to open your eyes. If you do, wherever you turn you\u2019ll find food for thought for this subject of bechinah.
\n\n\n\nThe Twig Scientist
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re walking in the autumn now and as your feet are wading through the leaves, you\u2019re kicking the leaves on the sidewalk. Isn\u2019t that fun? You\u2019re breathing the brisk fresh air of autumn and you\u2019re seeing the beautiful colors of the leaves and you\u2019re thinking, why do the leaves fall down?
\n\n\n\nSo you say, \u201cWell, it drops its leaves, that\u2019s all.\u201d Just like you drop something you\u2019re carrying from the store. Naaah! You drop it because you\u2019re a bumpkin, an oaf. But a tree drops leaves because it\u2019s a scientist! A tree has to drop leaves with the utmost planning and precision!
\n\n\n\nYou should know, inside that little twig, there\u2019s a photo-timer, a clock. It\u2019s a marvelous thing. There\u2019s a clock inside of each twig and that clock measures the length of the day and as the sunlight becomes less and less, then the leaf goes into action and abscission cells are formed, certain cells that act like scissors, and they get busy cutting off the leaf.
\n\n\n\nBut did the twig have any sense? Who made that photo-timer? And therefore, we see the yad Hashem in the leaves on the ground.
\n\n\n\nA Big Job
\n\n\n\nBut this business of coming loose is only one of the great marvels \u2013 it\u2019s one of ten million \u2013 of ten billion marvels and we have to study each one. Like it says \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 speak about all of His wonders. There\u2019s a big job in life.
\n\n\n\nYou can look at a tree and say, \u201cWhy is it that on this tree, I look up and I see that the branches never grow one underneath another?\u201d You never stopped to look at that, to think about it? You should use your eyes and see. Never does it happen in a tree that one branch grows directly underneath another branch! One branch is like this, underneath the branch goes in a different direction. Why is that? Because the tree is choosing an opportunity to get more sunlight for each branch, so the next branch shouldn\u2019t be in the shade of the upper branch. Also to give more shade for the people below.
\n\n\n\nGet accustomed to that idea; train yourself to look at trees with that intention in mind \u2013 \u201cI want to see this miracle.\u201d All the trees you\u2019ll ever see, will you ever find one branch directly under the other? No. Never! So you see the handiwork of Hashem. Hashem put into nature, into the tree, a wonderful system.
\n\n\n\nPerfect Fingers
\n\n\n\nNow, once you start looking, there\u2019s no end to what you\u2019ll find. Even when you look at your own hands you\u2019ll marvel at the arrangement of the joints on your fingers. When you bend your fingers inwards, do you feel any creaking of the bones as they rub against each other? No sound at all. A perfect design. It\u2019s lubricated in such a way that the bones are not wearing each other out by friction.
\n\n\n\nAnd why is it that your fingers can only turn in and not out? That\u2019s something to think about. Fingers can\u2019t bend outwards, only this way, inwards. Isn\u2019t that a remarkable thing? Because when you put a load on your fingers, if your fingers could bend the other way, it would drop down. But now you can hold your fingers stiff; it locks in place and it can\u2019t turn in any direction except up. You study that and you begin to see wonders and wonders.
\n\n\n\nBeautiful Hair
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a good thing to practice up every day; once a day choose something in nature to think about. One day was the trees, yesterday was your fingers, today you can think about your hair. Why is it that hair grows out of your head? What does the hair come from? Do you eat hair? It has to come from someplace. You eat bread and the bread is changed into hair. How does it happen? Look at your nice long beard or see women, girls with long hair. That\u2019s hay. Where does hay come from? Hay grows out of the ground. The long hairs come out of the skin of the scalp. A long beard comes out of the skin of your face. How can the food that you eat turn into hair? It\u2019s a miracle!
\n\n\n\nDid you ever think about that? This is food (the Rav touched his beard). It\u2019s bread. It\u2019s cheese. It\u2019s chicken. Whatever you ate turned into hair. It sounds like a fable, a fairytale, but it\u2019s chemistry. You can\u2019t deny it. And so we see that Hakodosh Boruch Hu, the great Designer, was able to put food into your mouth and change it into all the necessary elements that the body requires.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when we look anywhere we see the yad Hashem there is \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05bb\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e7\u05b5\u05e5. It\u2019s a wisdom that has no end and therefore it\u2019s open for the whole world to see the yad Hashem.
\n\n\n\nA Cascade of Miracles
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you one more thing. Yesterday I cut my finger; a little blood came out and then it stopped. Why does it stop? It seems simple; it stops, that\u2019s all. It doesn\u2019t have to stop. Suppose you have a bag full of water and you make a hole in the bag, will it stop? It\u2019ll keep on going. The hole might even get bigger and bigger. So why is your finger cut different?
\n\n\n\nThe procedure is called a cascade. A cascade means a number of procedures one following the other; and all so complicated and each one is essential! Every little detail is necessary and finally the blood stops coming. And it becomes caked and then the skin begins to regrow. And the regrowing of the skin over the wound is miracle of miracles! Cells and nerves have to reunite. It\u2019s an operation that\u2019s more complicated than putting up a skyscraper building!
\n\n\n\nNow if this seems to you an exaggeration. I\u2019ll refer you to just one book by Behe, an expert on molecular biology, and he is amazed! He\u2019s flabbergasted at the procedure of blood clotting! When he gets to it he says, \u201cI don\u2019t know who made it, but it didn\u2019t make itself.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd the world is full of more complicated things than that! And so, unless a person is a stubborn lunatic \u2013 it means, unless you\u2019re an evolutionist \u2013 your eyes will open up and you\u2019ll see Hashem in this world. Anyone can see Hashem the same way Avraham Avinu saw Hashem.
\n\n\n\nGrow Your Emunah
\n\n\n\nAnd the more you put into this great avodah of bechinah the more emunah you squeeze out of this world. It\u2019s \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 the world is full of his glory. Wherever you look, you see His nissim and nifla\u2019os everywhere; little by little it begins to enter our minds that \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Hashem all of your deeds praise you! All of your works praise you! \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 they are speaking of the glory of your kingdom! And what\u2019s the purpose of it? \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 To make known to the children of man His mightiness. The purpose of everything is to let us come close to Hashem!
\n\n\n\nAnd we have to talk about it all the time to ourselves and to others! To marvel at it! Always to be excited! Never to be deadened by insensitivity because of habit! Never to listen to the foolishness of the world! Not to be stampeded by the herd of silly unthinking animals all around us! We must be stubborn in our clarity of logic and always remind ourselves of the nissim and nifla\u2019os around us!
\n\n\n\nAnd those people who embark on this career in life are going to be rewarded in many ways. They\u2019re going to gain a firmness of conviction that nothing in the world can shake. They become real maaminim and on that foundation of tangible emunah they can build their entire future career of happiness. It\u2019s a happy world when you see Hashem all around you.
\n\n\n\nAnd in addition to that, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will say to you, \u201cBecause you strove to come close to Me in this world, to see Me as much as you could, I\u2019m going to reward you when the time comes. Just like I chose Avraham to be Mine, I\u2019ll choose you too, \u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 you will gaze at the sweetness of the Shechinah and enjoy the splendor of seeing Me in Olam Habo.”
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTapes: 384 – Career of Aspirations | 639 – Justify or Condemn | 640 – Abraham and Sarah | 935 – The Good Boy | E-254 – The Man That Changed The World
\n\n\n\nSeeing Hashem In This World
\n\n\n\nFor decades, Avraham Avinu had no guide in serving Hashem but he learned about Hashem by applying his intellect to the wonders evident in the world around him. As the Mesillas Yesharim teaches, we must emulate the Avos and attempt to gain Hashem\u2019s favor as they did. This week I will bli neder apply myself to the study of bechinah. For two minutes each day I will study something in the physical world and attempt to understand its source: where does wood come from? A tree? A seed? Where do shoes come from? Where does leather come from? the grass an animal eats? Every day for two minutes each day.
\nThe post Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T02:58:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-30T21:21:45+00:00" }, { "id": 35590, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-lech-lecha-5783-true-science/", "title": "Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science", "content_html": "06-Lech-Lecha-5783-1The post Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T02:54:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-02T16:10:18+00:00" }, { "id": 35582, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-lech-lecha-5783-true-science/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science", "content_html": "TA-Lech-Lecha-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Lech Lecha 5783 – True Science appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T02:54:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-30T02:54:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35580, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-dinosaurios-y-el-hombre-de-las-cavernas/", "title": "Los dinosaurios y el hombre de las cavernas ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo encaja la era de los hombres de las cavernas y los dinosaurios con la Tor\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, \u00bfc\u00f3mo encaja la era de las computadoras con la Tor\u00e1? \u00bfHay alguna contradicci\u00f3n? No. As\u00ed como las computadoras son contempor\u00e1neas con nosotros, tambi\u00e9n lo fueron los hombres de las cavernas con los dinosaurios. S\u00f3lo que hoy somos contempor\u00e1neos de las computadoras, y ayer la gente era contempor\u00e1nea de los dinosaurios. Los dinosaurios son bastante recientes. Si quieres gastar dinero puedes comprar una pel\u00edcula, tambi\u00e9n puedes alquilarla si quieres -te doy la direcci\u00f3n donde se puede conseguir- y ah\u00ed ver\u00e1s fotografiadas unas huellas fosilizadas, de un dinosaurio andando. Sus pisadas est\u00e1n impresas para siempre en una roca, y junto con sus pisadas hay pisadas de un hombre. \u00a1Pasos humanos! Lo que significa que el dinosaurio fue contempor\u00e1neo del hombre. Ahora bien, eso no encaja de acuerdo con los tiempos que calculan los evolucionistas, pero est\u00e1 probado, entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 puedes hacer?
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, los hombres de las cavernas, no hay ning\u00fan problema con eso. Los hombres de las cavernas es una tonter\u00eda. Porque hay hombres de las cavernas incluso hoy en d\u00eda. En el norte de \u00c1frica, incluso hace cincuenta a\u00f1os, cuando Najum Slouschz viajaba por el norte de \u00c1frica, encontr\u00f3 jud\u00edos viviendo en cuevas en partes del norte de \u00c1frica. Hab\u00eda un lugar en las monta\u00f1as donde las cuevas estaban disponibles y no costaban alquiler. As\u00ed que cientos y cientos de jud\u00edos viv\u00edan en cuevas. \u00bfQu\u00e9 significa eso, qu\u00e9 prueba eso? Se pon\u00edan tefil\u00edn en las cuevas y com\u00edan matz\u00e1 en P\u00e9saj en las cuevas y tambi\u00e9n dec\u00edan Bereshit bar\u00e1 Elokim en las cuevas. As\u00ed que un hombre de las cavernas no significa nada.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, los dinosaurios, es algo que emociona a los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os a quienes se les ense\u00f1a la teor\u00eda de la evoluci\u00f3n. Y tienes que saber que los dinosaurios son lo mismo que el hombre de las cavernas. Porque los dinosaurios son un fen\u00f3meno reciente. Desaparecieron tan pronto como tuvo lugar el Mabul. Los enormes lagartos de la antig\u00fcedad que no pudieron sobrevivir al diluvio, fueron destruidos en cat\u00e1strofes masivas. Y eso lo demuestra el hecho de que encuentras cementerios de dinosaurios. Enormes masas de huesos de dinosaurios se amontonan en ciertos lugares como si estuvieran enterrados juntos. Y eso s\u00f3lo pod\u00eda deberse a una cat\u00e1strofe. No vinieron y decidieron enterrarse juntos. No es como un cementerio de Montefiore donde cada persona solicita una tumba. \u00a1No! Fue una cat\u00e1strofe que los barri\u00f3 de repente. Cuando lleg\u00f3 el Mabul hubo de repente grandes cambios en el clima. Se produjeron cambios tremendos. Cuando se sustrae tanta agua de la superficie del mar, se produce un cambio tremendo en el clima. Y en ciertos lugares los dinosaurios se vieron abrumados de inmediato. Estaban congelados. Hay miles de esqueletos de ellos en Siberia. En grandes cementerios, todos enterrados juntos. Porque hubo una gran cat\u00e1strofe que los atac\u00f3 de repente. Y por lo tanto, los dinosaurios y los hombres de las cavernas y cualquier otra cosa que tengas no contradice nada de lo que ense\u00f1amos en la Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #490 (enero de 1984)
\nThe post Los dinosaurios y el hombre de las cavernas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-30T02:43:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-30T02:43:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35601, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-cavemen-and-climate-change/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Cavemen and Climate Change", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does the age of the cavemen and the dinosaurs fit in with Torah?
A:
And the answer is, how does the age of the computers fit in with the Torah? Any contradiction? No. Same is just like computers are contemporary with us, so were cavemen contemporary with dinosaurs. Only that today we are contemporary with computers, and yesterday people were contemporary with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are quite recent. And the fact is, if you want to spend money you can buy a film strip, you can rent it too if you want \u2013 I\u2019ll give you the address where it can be procured \u2013 and you\u2019ll see there photographed footsteps, it\u2019s fossilized footsteps, where you see a dinosaur waddling. Its footsteps are imprinted forever on a rock, and together with his footsteps are footsteps of a man. Human footsteps! Which means that the dinosaur was contemporary with man. Now that doesn\u2019t fit according to the timetables of the evolutionists, but it\u2019s proven, so what can you do?!
Now, the cavemen? There\u2019s no problem there at all. Cavemen, that\u2019s a silly thing. Because there are cavemen even today. In North Africa, even fifty years ago, when Nachum Slouschz was traveling in North Africa, he found Jews living in caves in parts of North Africa. There was a place in the mountains where caves were available and didn\u2019t cost any rent. So hundreds and hundreds of Jews lived in caves. What does that mean, what does that prove? They\u2019re putting on\u00a0tefillin\u00a0in the caves and eating\u00a0matzah\u00a0on Pesach in the caves and saying\u00a0Bereishis bara Elokim\u00a0in the caves as well. So a caveman means nothing.
\n\n\n\nNow dinosaurs, that\u2019s what puts a thrill in little boys who are taught evolution. And therefore you have to know, dinosaurs are just the same as caveman. Because dinosaurs are a recent phenomenon. They went out of existence as soon as the Mabul took place. A great many of the huge lizards of antiquity that were not able to survive the flood, they were all destroyed in massive catastrophes. And that\u2019s proven by the fact that you find dinosaur graveyards. Huge masses of dinosaur bones are jammed together in certain places as if they were buried together. And that could only be due to catastrophe. They didn\u2019t come and decide to bury themselves together. It\u2019s not like a Montefiore Cemetery where every person applies for a grave. No! It was a catastrophe that swept them up suddenly. When the Mabul came there were great changes in the weather suddenly. Tremendous changes took place. When so much water is subtracted from the sea\u2019s surface, there\u2019s a tremendous change in the climate. And in certain places the dinosaurs were immediately overwhelmed. They were frozen. You find thousands of mastodon skeletons in Siberia. In great cemeteries, great graveyards all buried together. Because there was a big catastrophe that engulfed them suddenly. And therefore the dinosaurs and the cavemen and whatever else you have are no contradiction to anything that we teach in the Torah.
TAPE # 490 (January 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Cavemen and Climate Change appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-28T20:12:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-31T20:14:23+00:00" }, { "id": 35557, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-noah/", "title": "Paracha Noa’h", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Noah-5783The post Paracha Noa’h appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-28T05:20:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-28T05:20:29+00:00" }, { "id": 35555, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/practicar-el-silencio/", "title": "Practicar el silencio ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo se logra, de manera pr\u00e1ctica, ese ideal de pensar lo que se dice antes de decirlo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTe dir\u00e9 una etz\u00e1. \u00a1Practica! Cuando salgas de aqu\u00ed, piensa: “Voy a ver a alguien pronto y antes de decirle algo, voy a pensar si dec\u00edrselo o no”. Ahora bien, la primera decisi\u00f3n que debes tomar es que no debes decir nada. Esa es la mejor decisi\u00f3n. El Rambam dice eso; dice que lo primero es decidirse a no decir nada.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, digamos que tienes que decir algo. Entonces, el Rambam dice que debes decirlo lo m\u00e1s breve que puedas. \u00a1Cuenta tus palabras! Eso ya son dos cosas, dos etzot.
\n\n\n\nDigamos que un hombre viene hacia ti; y t\u00fa piensas: \u201c\u00a1Oh, es una buena oportunidad ahora! Viene hacia m\u00ed. Quiere hablar conmigo, as\u00ed que voy a decidirme ahora que no responder\u00e9 ni una palabra. Ni siquiera dir\u00e9 una palabra. Si tengo que responderle, asentir\u00e9. Dir\u00e9 solo una palabra como m\u00e1ximo”.
\n\n\n\nO vas a una jatun\u00e1; algunas personas dan vueltas en la jatun\u00e1 hablando con todos. Dec\u00eddete que no andar\u00e1s hablando. Dices “Mazal tov”, eso es todo. \u201cMazal tov\u201d, \u201cMazal tov\u201d, \u201cMazal tov\u201d. No te detengas a hablar con nadie. Si se detienen a hablar contigo, escucha educadamente, \u00a1pero no digas ni una palabra! As\u00ed es como se practica.
\n\n\n\nCuando tu esposa te diga algo, dile: \u201cTienes raz\u00f3n. S\u00ed, s\u00ed.” Eso es todo. Dile a tu esposa que tiene raz\u00f3n; \u201cS\u00ed, s\u00ed\u201d y eso es todo. Y ser\u00e1 un gran beneficio para ambos.
\n\n\n\nClaramente puedes practicar. Es un sistema muy importante. No abras la boca en absoluto, y si tienes que abrir la boca, hazlo lo m\u00e1s breve posible.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-123 (septiembre de 1997)
\nThe post Practicar el silencio appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-28T03:03:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-28T03:03:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35552, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%91-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%90%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%98%d7%a9%d7%9f-%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%98/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d1: \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4, \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e9\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05e0\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-242The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d1: \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4, \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e9\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05e0\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-28T02:57:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-28T02:57:30+00:00" }, { "id": 35549, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/union-en-el-pueblo-de-israel/", "title": "Uni\u00f3n en el Pueblo de Israel ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 podemos hacer para lograr la uni\u00f3n en Klal Israel?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa caridad comienza en casa. En primer lugar, t\u00fa mismo debes convertirse en amigo del Klal Israel. \u00a1Eso no es tan f\u00e1cil! En este momento est\u00e1s sentado en tu peque\u00f1o rinc\u00f3n, y entonces te es f\u00e1cil hablar de uni\u00f3n, siempre que otros hagan el trabajo. Pero una vez que comiences a entrar en contacto con otros, descubrir\u00e1s que no es tan f\u00e1cil.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que primero, pract\u00edcalo t\u00fa mismo. Comienza a trabajar en amar a todos los jud\u00edos que son shomr\u00e9 Tor\u00e1. Si haces eso, entonces ya has logrado un gran paso para este objetivo de ajdut en Klal Israel. \u00a1Primero hazlo t\u00fa mismo!
\n\n\n\nCINTA #635 (marzo de 1987)
\nThe post Uni\u00f3n en el Pueblo de Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-27T04:26:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-27T04:26:19+00:00" }, { "id": 35545, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/igualdad-afroamericana/", "title": "Igualdad afroamericana ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay algo de malo en que la comunidad afroamericana luche por la igualdad? \u00bfNo tratamos tambi\u00e9n los jud\u00edos de hacer lo mismo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo, no hay nada de malo en eso. Los afroamericanos tienen derecho a luchar por la igualdad. No hay duda de que todos tienen derecho a mejorarse a s\u00ed mismos y a su lugar en la sociedad. Nuestro reclamo es s\u00f3lo que se debe hacer este intento por la igualdad por medios legales, no por el poder ni por la fuerza. Nosotros, los jud\u00edos, lo que ganamos no lo ganamos por la fuerza. No se gan\u00f3 quemando ciudades.
\n\n\n\nY tampoco solicitamos ning\u00fan privilegio. Lo que m\u00e1s quer\u00edamos era igualdad. Pero nunca se nos pas\u00f3 por la cabeza que se nos ofrecieran privilegios por encima del resto de la poblaci\u00f3n. \u00a1\u00bfAcci\u00f3n Positiva?! Acci\u00f3n Positiva: ese es uno de los nombres eufem\u00edsticos de una pol\u00edtica que se usa para camuflar un movimiento que pretende darles privilegios a ellos m\u00e1s que a otros. La Acci\u00f3n Positiva significa dar trabajos y otros privilegios s\u00f3lo a ellos, incluso cuando signifique discriminar a las personas m\u00e1s calificadas. Y la admisi\u00f3n abierta a las escuelas significa permitir que cualquier persona entre, aunque esa persona no est\u00e9 calificada. Y el compa\u00f1ero calificado pierde. Tales cosas son absolutamente injustas. Y eso es lo que est\u00e1 mal en la lucha actual por el control de los cargos p\u00fablicos. Los pol\u00edticos que apoyan estas pol\u00edticas injustas e incorrectas para aplacar a los v\u00e1ndalos que est\u00e1n incendiando ciudades son un peligro para todos nosotros.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #62 (abril de 1975)
\nThe post Igualdad afroamericana appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-26T03:24:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-26T03:24:22+00:00" }, { "id": 35542, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/accion-positiva/", "title": "Acci\u00f3n Positiva ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de malo la Acci\u00f3n Positiva? \u00bfY qu\u00e9 podemos hacer al respecto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de malo la Acci\u00f3n Positiva? Todo. Ya sabes, nos est\u00e1n quitando puestos de trabajo por la acci\u00f3n positiva. E incluso los asamble\u00edstas jud\u00edos -no dir\u00e9 sus nombres aqu\u00ed, pero aver\u00edg\u00fcenlos ustedes mismos- los asamble\u00edstas jud\u00edos votaron recientemente a favor de los cupos en los empleos; cupos para etnias. Lo que significa quitarle el trabajo a los jud\u00edos, quitarle el trabajo a los esposos, a los padres, a los que ganan el pan y d\u00e1rselo a alguna mujer, s\u00f3lo porque es una mujer, una lesbiana. Ella no tiene familia. Vive sola en Greenwich Village, no tiene experiencia, ni calificaciones, pero la Acci\u00f3n Positiva le da el trabajo que deber\u00eda corresponder leg\u00edtimamente al sost\u00e9n de alguna familia jud\u00edo.
\n\n\n\nLa Acci\u00f3n Positiva est\u00e1 robando a los jud\u00edos trabajos. Est\u00e1n siendo expulsados \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bde los trabajos de la oficina de correos y est\u00e1n trayendo personas menos calificadas.
\n\n\n\nFui a la oficina de correos para enviar un paquete. Un hombre de color estaba parado detr\u00e1s del mostrador. Y empez\u00f3 a pesarlo. Deb\u00eda ser enviado a \u00c9retz Israel; un paquete de libros. Lo estaba pesando. Estaba girando su l\u00e1piz, tratando de calcular el costo; girando y girando y girando y vi que no hab\u00eda fin. No pudo llegar a ninguna conclusi\u00f3n. As\u00ed que finalmente le dije: \u201cSon $1,40\u201d.
\n\n\n\n“Oh, s\u00ed, tienes raz\u00f3n”, dijo. “Gracias.”
\n\n\n\nEst\u00e1n contratando personas que no pueden hacer cuentas b\u00e1sicas de matem\u00e1tica.
\n\n\n\nEstaba esperando mi turno para conseguir cambio en la estaci\u00f3n de metro de Utica Avenue y Eastern Parkway. Estaba esperando; hab\u00eda un hombre de color detr\u00e1s del mostrador de la taquilla. Otro hombre de color vino y meti\u00f3 un billete de cinco d\u00f3lares y dijo: \u201cDame cuatro fichas\u201d.
\n\n\n\nEl hombre detr\u00e1s del mostrador dijo: “\u00bfCu\u00e1nto es eso?” Le pregunt\u00f3 al cliente: “\u00bfCu\u00e1nto deber\u00eda ser el cambio?”
\n\n\n\nEl cliente dijo: \u201cNo lo s\u00e9\u201d.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, el hombre detr\u00e1s del mostrador solo tom\u00f3 un pu\u00f1ado de cambio y algunos d\u00f3lares y le entreg\u00f3 las cuatro fichas.
\n\n\n\nFui a otra oficina de correos. Tambi\u00e9n all\u00ed hab\u00eda un hombre de color detr\u00e1s del mostrador. No sab\u00eda nada. Pero el jud\u00edo a su lado -ese tipo que pronto ser\u00eda expulsado para que est\u00e9 el hombre de color en su lugar- le estaba diciendo qu\u00e9 hacer.
\n\n\n\nLos legisladores jud\u00edos que elegimos con nuestros malvados votos son los que nos est\u00e1n arruinando. Y nos est\u00e1n destruyendo no s\u00f3lo al robarnos el trabajo. \u00a1A lo largo del per\u00edodo que se encuentran en el poder votan por la maldad! Est\u00e1n votando por los homosexuales. Est\u00e1n votando para que no se reconozca el hecho de que los jud\u00edos gastan mucho dinero en ense\u00f1ar Tor\u00e1 a sus hijos en escuelas privadas. Ellos son los que est\u00e1n luchando contra nosotros. No recibimos ning\u00fan reembolso de impuestos, porque estas personas se nos oponen.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfqu\u00e9 podr\u00edamos hacer al respecto? Si escribes a los pol\u00edticos jud\u00edos que se supone que nos representan en Washington, en Albany, en City Hall y dices: \u201c\u00a1Mira lo que est\u00e1 pasando! \u00a1Nos est\u00e1s arruinando!\u201d, al menos eso podr\u00edas hacer. Escribo cartas todo el tiempo. Hay que hacer eso.
\n\n\n\nY por supuesto, podemos votar. Tenemos que sacar a los progresistas de sus cargos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #269 (junio de 1979)
\nThe post Acci\u00f3n Positiva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-24T20:58:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-24T20:58:01+00:00" }, { "id": 35536, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%97-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e0\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-24T20:37:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-24T20:37:34+00:00" }, { "id": 35521, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-israeli-politicians/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Israeli Politicians", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should be our reaction to Rabin handing over parts of Eretz Yisrael to the PLO?
A:
You have to know that when reshaim have power, they’re not going to do any good for us.\u00a0Anybody who is not a shomer Torah is not going to help us. You have to know that beforehand.\u00a0
So what do you expect of Rabin or all the other people?\u00a0They’re people, mufkarim. They have no connection with Torah, with emunah, so all they can do is\u00a0kilkul.\u00a0They can’t help us at all. That you have to know.\u00a0And they’re doing it very successfully today. No question that they’re ruining the country.\u00a0\u05de\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 \u2013\u00a0From wicked people will come wickedness\u00a0(Shmuel Alef, 24:13).\u00a0That you have to know. From wicked people, only wickedness can come out. Don’t expect any\u00a0tovos\u00a0from wicked people.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that the\u00a0zechus\u00a0of all the frum Jews in Eretz Yisroel should protect them, the\u00a0zechus\u00a0of all the yeshivos should protect them, the\u00a0mosdos haTorah. And\u00a0maybe the\u00a0zechus\u00a0of all the Jews who live in Eretz Yisroel and are doing so much good for the world,\u00a0maybe\u00a0bzechus\u00a0this Hakodosh Boruch Hu will frustrate all the intentions of the reshaim who are in power who are trying to ruin Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-15 (May 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Israeli Politicians appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-24T13:45:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-24T13:45:34+00:00" }, { "id": 35532, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/politicos-israelies/", "title": "Pol\u00edticos israel\u00edes", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l debe ser nuestra reacci\u00f3n ante la pol\u00edtica de Rabin de entregar partes de \u00c9retz Israel a la OLP?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTienes que saber que cuando los resha\u00edm tienen poder, no nos har\u00e1n ning\u00fan bien. Cualquiera que no sea un shomer Tor\u00e1 no nos va a ayudar. Tienes que saber eso de antemano.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 esperas de Rabin o de todas las dem\u00e1s personas? Son personas mufkarim. No tienen conexi\u00f3n con la Tor\u00e1, con la emun\u00e1, por eso todo lo que pueden hacer es kilkul. No pueden ayudarnos en absoluto. Eso es lo que tienes que saber. Y lo est\u00e1n haciendo con mucho \u00e9xito hoy. No hay duda de que est\u00e1n arruinando el pa\u00eds. \u05de\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 \u2013 De los malvados saldr\u00e1 maldad (Shemuel Alef, 24:13). Eso es lo que tienes que saber. De los malvados s\u00f3lo puede salir maldad. No esperes tovot de la gente malvada.
\n\n\n\nY entonces tenemos que rezar a Hakadosh Baruj Hu que el zejut de todos los jud\u00edos frum de \u00c9retz Israel los proteja, el zejut de todas las ieshivot los proteja, los mosdot HaTor\u00e1. Y tal vez el zejut de todos los jud\u00edos que viven en \u00c9retz Israel y est\u00e1n haciendo tanto bien por el mundo, tal vez por este zejut Hakadosh Baruj Hu frustre todas las intenciones de los resha\u00edm que est\u00e1n en el poder que est\u00e1n tratando de arruinar \u00c9retz Israel.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-15 (mayo de 1995)
\nThe post Pol\u00edticos israel\u00edes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-24T05:08:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-24T05:08:14+00:00" }, { "id": 35523, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "06-\u05e0\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T19:52:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-30T01:55:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35517, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-different-folks-different-strokes/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Different Folks, Different Strokes", "content_html": "\nQ:
When there are differences between different groups among the Jewish People, how are we to know who is right?
A:
Everyone is right. And everyone is wrong. Nobody is perfect in this world. We have to live with the principle of knowing that we ourselves are not altogether right. And we have to do our best to improve. Although we don\u2019t have to adopt what everybody else does, and everyone should follow the customs and manners of his kehilla in the very best manner, nevertheless, he should know that there are things to be learned everywhere.
Even though you\u2019re a chossid, when you walk into Telshe Yeshiva, you can learn good things there too. And if a Telshe bochur goes to Williamsburg, he can learn good things there, no question about it. Therefore, everyone should try to steal from others all the good things they can. Instead of going around and saying \u201cWell, I saw in this shteibel that they talk during davening so it\u2019s not so bad.\u201d Or, \u201cIn the other place they daven fast, so I can also daven fast.\u201d So this person goes around collecting all the wrong things from all the places. No! Go around collecting all the good things from everybody \u2013 that\u2019s what they\u2019re there for.
And that\u2019s the person who will succeed. That\u2019s what jealousy is for. Kinah means to be koneh, to acquire, to be jealous of all the good things that you find. \u201cWhy is he saying a long shemonah esrei and not me?\u201d \u201cWhy does he treat his wife so nicely and I\u2019m so gruff?\u201d \u201cWhy does he go out to learn at night and I\u2019m still wasting away?\u201d And everybody should try to steal from everyone else all the good things that they find.
And thus the first mother, Chava, gave the first child ever born in this world the name Kayin which means to be koneh, to acquire. She wanted him to think about that all the time because that\u2019s our purpose \u2013 to acquire all the qualities that find favor in the eyes of Hashem. Because what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants of us is shleimus, perfection. Shleimus in knowledge of the Torah, perfection in knowing His ways, perfection in recognizing Him in history and in nature. Perfection in character and self-control and perfection in kindliness to our fellow man. Every form of perfection that\u2019s possible for a person to emulate, to imitate, to steal from all sides, he should do that. Whenever he comes into contact with people, whenever he sees anything good in the world, he should emulate it and decide that he wants to take it for himself.
TAPE # 781 (April 1990)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Different Folks, Different Strokes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
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\n\n\n\nI\u2019d like to begin with a possuk that we say every morning in the davenen, \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 Remember the wonders that He made (Tehillim 105:5). Everybody who prays, if they come to shul on time, says that. After all, it\u2019s in the siddur so you can\u2019t skip it. But even if you say it, the question is do you know what you\u2019re saying? We are in the habit of rattling off pesukim and we don\u2019t think about what they\u2019re telling us.
\n\n\n\nToo many Jewish congregations today are made up of frum robots. Early in the morning fifty flesh and blood robots walk into the synagogue, and at 6:30, on cue, they all begin shaking and rattling off words. A half hour later \u2013 in the better places it\u2019s forty five minutes \u2013 they\u2019re finished. They fulfilled their Shacharis obligation for the day. What they said, nobody knows. What daas they acquired from the davenen today, nobody knows.
\n\n\n\nBut since we\u2019re not saying it merely for the words, just to be yotzei, it makes sense that we should take the time to study the words we say.It\u2019s important because we\u2019re being told now about a new mitzvah, a command that most of us were unaware of: \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, Remember His wonders, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4, that He did.
\n\n\n\nPurposeful Wonders
\n\n\n\nNow right away, as soon as you think about this possuk just a little bit, you ask yourself a question: Why does it say \u201cRemember the wonders \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4, that He did?\u201d If it\u2019s His wonders, certainly He did it. Why are the words \u201cthat He did\u201d added? It seems superfluous.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that it\u2019s telling us why He made the wonders. He did it for the purpose that we should remember them. \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, remember His wonders, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4, that He made for that purpose, so that we should remember it. That\u2019s why He made them \u2013 the remembering is a perfection on its own. The more a person fulfills \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, the more his mind is transformed and the more perfect he becomes.
\n\n\n\nNow, included in this command to remember His wonders are many things. The truth is if we would be serious about fulfilling this possuk, we\u2019d be busy the rest of our lives with just this one mitzvah \u2013 there are enough niflaos to keep us thinking non-stop. That\u2019s why it\u2019s a good idea to get into the habit of fulfilling this possuk; to spend some time thinking about His wonders and the lessons that each one is trying to teach us.
\n\n\n\nA World of Word
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re going to try it out, why not start with the first and greatest of all His miracles, the creation of this world mei\u2019ayin, from nothing. \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 In the beginning Hashem created means that there was nothing – no space, no air, no molecules – ayin means that there was absolutely nothing and it was only the command of Hashem, the will of Hashem, that brought everything into existence. It means that all of creation is hanging on His word and nothing else. His word alone is what causes the world to exist.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s such a stupendous idea that it\u2019s capable of changing your entire way of looking at this world. It means that whatever you see in this world is the will of Hashem and nothing else. You don\u2019t see matter. You see something that is merely a form, a form of the words of Hashem when He said, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cLet there be.\u201d Mr. Shamoula and Mr. Shelby and you and you and I, all of us that are now facing each other, what do we see? We don\u2019t see people. We see only the dvar Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNot only us sitting here; all matter, all the phenomena of nature, are nothing but demonstrations of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And so as you\u2019re walking in the street you\u2019re remembering this command, \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, and you begin to think that every stone, every tree, every sidewalk, is nothing but a sign, a demonstration of a Creator. It’s only His will that you\u2019re seeing. There\u2019s no matter; matter is imagination. The only concrete and true thing that exists is Hakodosh Boruch Hu alone, everything else is nothing but vapories, so to speak, from His mind.
\n\n\n\nThe One Mann Man
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the first of His wonders. There\u2019s so much more and \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 means that you should remember all of them. Did you ever take a few minutes \u2013 a few minutes on the clock \u2013 to think about the mann? Suppose you\u2019re walking in the street toward the subway or to the bais haknesses; wherever you’re walking. So you say, “From here to the end of the block I\u2019m going to think of the mann that came down in the midbar.\u201d You hear such a crazy thing? A man is walking in Brooklyn, from East 7th Street to East 8th Street and the whole block, every step, he’s thinking of the mann. Nobody else is thinking about the mann. One Jew in Brooklyn, that’s you, is fulfilling this great commandment, \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5.
\n\n\n\nNow, the mann is too long a subject to finish it up from now to the end of the block \u2013 there\u2019s too much to think about, so many lessons. The mann teaches that \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d7\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 you don’t live on bread; you live on \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0 \u05e4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. If Hashem says mann can feed you, mann will feed you.
\n\n\n\nBread doesn’t give you sustenance. Why should bread keep you alive? It\u2019s a neis, that\u2019s all. Hashem commanded that the bread should turn into all the materials the body needs to sustain itself, thousands of different materials! Food is a neis! And therefore when a person trains himself to remember the mann, he\u2019s thinking not only about the miracle in the midbar but the miracles that are taking place in his body right now.
\n\n\n\nThe Repeated Marah Miracle
\n\n\n\nNow, you want to think the same thing again tomorrow? Nothing wrong with that. But you can change it up too. Tomorrow as you’re walking, you say to yourself, \u201cUntil the end of the block I\u2019m going to think about when Moshe Rabbeinu took the branch and threw it in the bitter water and \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, the water became sweet (Shemos 15:25).
\n\n\n\nWhen you think about the neis, how the bitter water became sweet, so little by little you\u2019re reminded that our water is no different. Where does our water come from? It comes from the ocean and the ocean water is too bitter to drink. Our water should taste bitter; ocean water is not drinkable after all. But no; \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes it sweet.
\n\n\n\nHe causes the sun to evaporate the water and as it takes the water vapor out of the ocean, it leaves over all the salt in the ocean. And sweet water rises to the sky in the form of clouds and that’s how the rain comes down to us. It\u2019s the same neis; vayimtiku hamayim. And if you do it more than once, if you try thinking these thoughts ten times, a hundred times, maybe you’ll get into the habit that whenever you drink a glass of water you’ll be able to say aloud after you drink the water, \u201cAhh! \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, how sweet is New York tap water.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMitzrayim Memories
\n\n\n\nNow, once you get the hang of fulfilling this possuk you can accomplish every minute of your life. We don\u2019t have to waste any time. Even when you\u2019re hanging on the strap in the subway, close your eyes and think about Yetzias Mitzrayim. Keep your hand tightly on your wallet \u2013 don\u2019t forget about that because the man standing next to you he\u2019s not thinking about Yetzias Mitzrayim; he\u2019s thinking about your wallet \u2013 so you have one hand hanging onto the strap and one hand on the your wallet and you\u2019re thinking, \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e6\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8.
\n\n\n\nYou never thought about that in the middle of the day? Hashem said about us \u201cYou are My firstborn son,\u201d and He demonstrated it by means of miracles. You know what thoughts like that do to your mind? You\u2019re transformed into a new person. A new mind means you\u2019re a new person.
\n\n\n\nAnd so by practicing every day \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, what are you doing? First of all you’re fulfilling that commandment that nobody else does and you’re becoming distinguished in Hashem’s eyes. You’re exceptional. And in addition to that, you’re gaining an understanding of the lessons; the more you think about them the more you\u2019re perfecting your mind, creating a Torah mind.
\n\n\n\nMabul Memories
\n\n\n\nNow, everything you heard so far is just an introduction to tonight\u2019s subject. Because one of the greatest of the \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4, the wonders that He made in order for us to remember, is told to us in this week\u2019s parsha. And that\u2019s the Mabul, the great Flood that wiped out Mankind. There\u2019s no question that among all of the wonders, the Flood was one of the most grand and most terrible episodes in history.
\n\n\n\nBut if nobody\u2019s thinking about it, then all of that was lost on Mankind.Such an event should go lost?! A once in history event, never repeated again, should go to waste?! The surface of the entire earth was covered by water. A remarkable thing! The oceans became shallow by means of great upheavals in the earth\u2019s surface topography and the waters poured out over the continents.
\n\n\n\nOne time in history this happened. The waters were raging;\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd. Suddenly, raging waters burst out from the bowels of the earth; lava too. There were thousands of volcanoes spewing forth rivers of hot lava. They find today extinct volcanoes in the thousands; it was a phenomenon we don’t see today that thousands of volcanoes should be spouting out their contents at once.
\n\n\n\nVelikovsky\u2019s Theories
\n\n\n\nBy the way, I want to tell you, the Flood involved not only this earth. Velikovsky, in his book Worlds in Collision, gives a good idea and we don\u2019t have to reject it. He theorizes that some of the planets came close to this earth \u2013 it was on purpose; Hashem planned it so \u2013 and they pulled the earth out of its regular system of orbiting around the sun and the disturbance caused the upheavals.
\n\n\n\nNow you don\u2019t have to accept what Velikovsky said, but it\u2019s quite probable there was some great disturbance that Hakodosh Boruch Hu utilized to upset the function of this world because ordinarily such things cannot happen. Whatever it was, the world groaned in its upheavals on a scale never before or after seen. Valleys became mountains and mountains became valleys. The oceans became shallow because the land was covered with water. It was a tremendous upheaval.
\n\n\n\nLayers of strata were laid down at that time, one after the other in quick succession. Men and animals were buried there in great numbers. Great shoals of fish were suddenly trapped and fossilized. How is it that they find today hundreds of thousands of fish in a fossil bed? Fish don’t fossilize when they die normally because they are consumed by scavengers and they decay. But at that time they were captured suddenly. There rained down a hail of minerals; it fell upon them and they dissolved quickly and they were buried and stratified in a matter of minutes.
\n\n\n\nThe Ice Age
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why you have the entrapment of thousands of mammoths in Siberia. A mammoth is a big huge elephant, bigger than elephants of today. It needs a lot of grass to keep going every day. And when they excavated the mammoths from the permafrost they found buttercups in their stomachs; daisies, dandelions and fresh grasses. And their meat was fresh; the pack dogs that joined the mammoth expedition fell upon the meat and devoured it. Even the eyeballs in some cases were intact.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s because there was a sudden change of climate at that time and a great frost descended. Those days, before the Mabul, all over the world there was one climate. There was a gentle mild climate everywhere and grasses grew in abundance in the northernmost parts of the world. And that’s why these animals are entrapped in the ice in the thousands; because they didn’t die gradually. A sudden frost descended upon them and they were therefore quick-frozen and remained for thousands of years as evidence of what happened at that time.
\n\n\n\nAncient Memories
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s been a long time since then and today the Mabul has been all but forgotten by the people of the world. Even the Jewish people have primarily relegated it to reading about it once a year in krias haTorah. And it\u2019s a pity because that\u2019s not enough. Krias haTorah was made to reinforce those memories, to inspire them and to sharpen them; but just to listen? And even then, when the baal korei is reading the pesukim, we’re thinking about who will get the best aliyah or maybe what’s for kiddush today. And meanwhile the lesson is entirely lost.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to know that in the earlier times, in the generations that followed the Flood, it was spoken about all the time by Mankind. Such an upheaval, such a catastrophe, made a tremendous impression on all the nations. Fathers and mothers spoke about it to their children; grandfathers surely spoke about it to their grandchildren. It was a household subject that was constantly reiterated.
\n\n\n\nAll over the world we find memories of the Flood inscribed in the ancient writings, on temple walls and monuments. On both sides of the Atlantic, even in the far north among the Norsemen, and way down in the south too among people who live on islands, there are inscriptions with various Flood stories. There\u2019s a book that has a collection of these inscriptions from all over the world. If you\u2019re interested, I\u2019ll someday quote them to you. From all over the world! And that\u2019s only because it made a strong and lasting impression on Mankind.
\n\n\n\nChanged Generations
\n\n\n\nAnd that was the purpose. \u201cRemember His wonders that He made,\u201d means that the purpose of the Mabul was so that it should be remembered. The purpose was to create impressions on our minds, to create attitudes. And it did! People spent time thinking about the Mabul story and it changed them. For many generations people became better as a result.
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t that an original idea? When it says \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5,remember His wonders, it means to also think about the Mabul. So someday when you’re sitting on the bus and you have nothing to do, let\u2019s say you forgot to take along your sefer, so think for a moment or two about the Mabul.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll need many many bus rides for that. There are endless lessons to learn \u2013 when Hashem brings a catastrophe like that you can be sure He has many intentions \u2013 but on its most simple level, I\u2019d like to discuss tonight two of the many lessons that we\u2019re expected to learn.
\n\n\n\nNoach\u2019s Nieces and Nephews
\n\n\n\nWhen Noach\u2019s family was huddled in their little ark for one full year they were busy thinking. They were busy with other things too; they were very busy taking care of their cargo, but at the same time they were thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on out there? What\u2019s happening to our cousins? What\u2019s happening to our uncles and aunts? What\u2019s going to be with all our nieces and nephews?\u201d That’s Noach’s nieces and nephews! \u201cWhat happened to our friends, our neighbors?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd they knew unfortunately what did happen to them; and they were talking about it. They knew about the aveiros that people were involved with, and they were witnessing the results now. The water came pouring down, flooding everywhere, and there was no recourse. There was no place to go. Even the highest mountains eventually were covered.
\n\n\n\nIt was a terrible sight. If you could look through the window of the teivah, you would find people holding on to pieces of wood for their dear life but the waters were too strong. And they were boiling hot too. Mankind was being wiped off the face of the earth because of their sins! Such a catastrophe!
\n\n\n\nPurpose of Punishment
\n\n\n\nAnd they studied that in the teivah. For a full year, as death raged around them, Noach and his family studied the terrible event of how all Mankind was destroyed. They sat and pondered the lesson that there is such a thing as responsibility for sin, punishment for aveiros.
\n\n\n\nNowadays the world has forgotten that. Today the ideal of punishment has gone lost. When a man commits a crime, it\u2019s only a question of the utilitarian achievement of punishment. In the universities they\u2019ll make committees and discuss it. Is it a deterrent? Or is it a rehabilitation? Maybe it\u2019s restitution? Whatever it is, it’s a debate, and in the debate, punishment goes lost and Mankind loses sight of the great principle that there is such a thing as intrinsic responsibility for sin.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a duty of the conscience; the conscience must feel that the sinner deserves a punishment. Of course, we want the criminal locked up because we want to be safe, but that\u2019s not the primary purpose of punishment.When Mankind steps in and inflicts punishment, we do it more than anything else because wickedness is wrong. We are actually only vicars, emissaries, of Hakodosh Boruch Hu whose abhorrence at a sin, at a crime, is tremendous. Sin is wicked! Wrong behavior is wicked! That\u2019s what punishment comes to tell you.
\n\n\n\nToday that attitude that the Mabul came to teach has gone lost, and we\u2019re worse off for it. There\u2019s no such thing as wickedness anymore, no punishment. What Mabul? Who cares? Who thinks about that? Wickedness has lost its edge in modern society and that\u2019s caused a breakdown in society and on all sides. Mankind is suffering because of that.
\n\n\n\nThe Holocaust and The Horses
\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m not talking only about the gentiles. Even the frum Jews have forgotten this lesson of the Mabul, that Hashem doesn\u2019t put up with wickedness. How could it be that just recently, only fifty years ago Hashem brought a Mabul on our people in Europe and we react to it like a horse would react. Punishment? Oh no! That can\u2019t be.
\n\n\n\nEven the Orthodox, I\u2019m afraid to say, don\u2019t want to open their mouths and say anything. Nobody wants to say the plain truth that the Holocaust was a Mabul brought by Hashem because of our sins. The Jews in Europe had learned to hate Judaism. Not all of them, but there were so many of them that it became a wave of revolt against the Torah.
\n\n\n\nI saw a photograph in the Chubashav pinkas; it\u2019s a book describing the town of Chubashav in Europe. It\u2019s a picture of a parade through the streets of the town in the 1930s. And the people, the paraders, are carrying a big banner, all the way across the street from one side to the other, and on the banner inscribed in Yiddish it says, \u201cNider mit der klerikalism.\u201dIt means \u201cDown with the clericalism.\u201d Clericalism means the rabbis. A big sign openly displayed in the streets of a Jewish town. Down with the rabbinate! Down with the frumme! It means down with the Torah, down with Hashem. And it was like that everywhere.
\n\n\n\nHashem\u2019s War
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Jews in Europe declared war on Hashem.\u201d That\u2019s what Reb Elchonon Wasserman zichrono livracha said. \u201cAnd now He has declared war on them. That\u2019s why He\u2019s sending His armies against them.\u201d Reb Elchonon said that about Hitler.
\n\n\n\nNow, Reb Elchonon knew about the yeshivas. He knew about the talmidei chachomim more than you. But he knew that the yeshiva people with their rebbes were only a drop in the ocean of European Jewry and they didn\u2019t have anybody who listened to them.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean all the Jews were mechallel Shabbos, no. But even the Jews who kept Shabbos and kashrus and everything else, they were no longer on the side of the roshei yeshivah.
\n\n\n\nThe Child Leaders
\n\n\n\nAnd their children were leading the way. I remember we sat on Shabbos singing zemiros in the small town where I used to stay but we were drowned out. Because outside the town there was a big hachshara of Jewish boys and girls who were preparing to go to Eretz Yisroel. And they made fires on Shabbos and they ate tarfus and they threw away all of Judaism. That was the new generation and they were going to settle in Eretz Yisroel. Aretz! Aliyah! That\u2019s what mattered. Shabbos, not important. Tefillin, not important. Mikveh, not important.
\n\n\n\nAnd here in the town, the old people were left without a generation to follow them. So even though they sang zemiros, their hearts were with their children. That\u2019s how parents are \u2013 when their children forsake the Torah, the parents lose hope and they are no longer enthusiastic for the Torah.
\n\n\n\nThe Am Yisroel stopped keeping Shabbos in Europe. They stopped putting on tefillin. They stopped keeping everything. There was a large-scale rebellion against Hakodosh Boruch Hu in Europe. They were getting worse and worse until Hashem finally said, \u201cIt\u2019s enough! I\u2019ll bring it to an end!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut this they don’t want to talk about in the synagogues; it’s not popular talk and therefore the people don’t get the lesson. And all those who perished in the Holocaust perished in vain because nothing is being learned from it; nobody\u2019s getting better. Even many Holocaust victims didn’t learn anything; many of those who escaped the concentration camps didn’t learn anything.
\n\n\n\nOne of The Reasons
\n\n\n\nNow, nobody is going to be bold enough to say they understand all the reasons \u2013 certainly not me; chas v\u2019shalom, I should say such a thing, but I certainly understand that this is one of the elements in what happened. No question that the Holocaust included a reaction to those that rebelled against Hashem violently and virulently; and it would have led to the the worst kind of results had they been allowed to continue to exist. Yes, that\u2019s one of the reasons, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nOnly that the lessons of the Torah, the attitudes of the Torah are so far from our minds, that nobody wants to tell people the secret that Hakodosh Boruch Hu punishes for sins. Such a secret that it\u2019s everywhere in the Tanach. Not only the Mabul. Wherever you look in Tanach it\u2019s reiterated so many times that it\u2019s perhaps one of the most salient features of Tanach: If Jews will forsake the Torah \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 if you\u2019ll refuse and you\u2019ll rebel \u05d7\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05bb\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 you will be consumed by the sword (Yeshaya 1:20).
\n\n\n\nJust Retribution
\n\n\n\nBut in Noach\u2019s time, the family did learn. They learned that when \u05de\u05b8\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05e1 there will be retribution. They looked back and they saw there was injustice in the world, there was violence in the world, there was immorality, and they understood the wherefore of the Flood. They didn’t say it was an accident, that nature at times runs wild, goes on a rampage, and that’s why the world was flooded and Mankind was the victim of natural causes. That kind of talk wasn’t used in ancient times because everybody felt the presence of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and they understood everything is done for a reason.
\n\n\n\nThat was one great achievement of the Flood. It came to show the remaining family from whom the world would be built up again that sin is not just bad, it\u2019s catastrophic. The family that walked out of the teivah after a year, they knew in their blood, in their bones, that sin is a terrible misfortune. You can\u2019t sin and say, \u201cOops, I’m sorry I sinned.\u201d Oh no! If a man would smash his head, he wouldn’t say, \u201cOops!\u201d If he broke his spine, he wouldn’t say, \u201cOops.\u201d Oh no! Sin is catastrophic.
\n\n\n\nThat was one of Hashem\u2019s intentions in bringing the Mabul and it accomplished that purpose. There’s no question that the atmosphere was cleared by the Mabul. And the more we think about it, the more we fulfill \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 and remember the destruction that sin brought on the world, the more we learn that lesson and the more the purpose is fulfilled.
\n\n\n\nA Second Lesson
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m somewhat wary of talking tonight about the second lesson of the Mabul that I was thinking about. Because I\u2019m afraid that this first lesson, of the catastrophe of sinning against Hashem and of the Mabul it brings, will be obscured and overshadowed. But because this is a place where we like to talk about happy things\u2014I don\u2019t want anyone to leave this place tonight depressed\u2014I\u2019m going to talk now about the second lesson, a happier one, and I hope you won\u2019t let it overshadow the first one.
\n\n\n\nThe second very important lesson that Noach and his family learned is as follows: \u201cHow lucky it is for us that we are inside the ark! How good it is to be alive!\u201d Outsidethe teivah, lives are being lost. All the people who yesterday were going along their merry way, walking on dry land, living life, and now their lives were being snuffed out. \u201cThat could have been us! But we\u2019re still alive.\u201d That\u2019s what they were thinking about for twelve months: \u201cHow sweet life is!\u201d
\n\n\n\nFor the first time these people discovered that you don’t need any ice cream to be happy. You don’t need any theaters. You don’t need any traveling. You don’t need any good times because the best good time is when you realize that you\u2019re alive. The biggest fun, the greatest fun and enjoyment, is to be alive.
\n\n\n\nIt’s a great pity that Mankind forgets about that and everyone is busy trying to look for icing on top of his cake and he doesn’t realize that this is it \u2013 life itself is the icing and the cake together.
\n\n\n\nThe Greedy Specialist
\n\n\n\nYou know when you realize it most? When there\u2019s a close call, a little mabul in your own life, and you just made it by the skin of your teeth. Here\u2019s a man, he makes an appointment with a specialist; his doctor sent him there and he goes with his heart in his mouth. And as he sits in the waiting room the specialist walks through cheerily \u2013 he sees a full waiting room and each patient means to him a lot of money, so he\u2019s in a good mood \u2013 and he says to you, \u201cWhy so glum, my friend? How are things?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you say to him, \u201cIt depends on the outcome.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe waves cheerily and walks in his office. Whatever the outcome is, he’s going to get from you whatever it is. The bill is going to be paid in either case.
\n\n\n\nSo the tests begin, and you don’t get any answer right away. You can\u2019t sleep at night; you can\u2019t eat. You\u2019re on edge. Finally, after ten days, he calls you up and he says, \u201cI\u2019m sorry to tell you that there’s nothing wrong with you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe World Is Yours
\n\n\n\nOoh wah! You don’t need any vacation now. A few weeks ago you were thinking of going on vacation, maybe to Florida or California. No, you don’t need a vacation anymore. You\u2019re living it right now. You walk out in the street and the world is now yours. You\u2019re walking on the clouds. Your heart sings within you. You realize now how beautiful the sky is, how beautiful the street is, how beautiful the pavement is. Everything is now bathed in a splendor and that splendor is life, the happiness of being alive. What fun to be alive! Now he begins to understand what he possesses; at least for ten minutes. For ten minutes he’s happy.
\n\n\n\nA close call is therefore a very great benefit. It opens up the eyes of the blind and you begin to see what you didn’t see before and what is most imperative for you to see. Because to live one\u2019s life without appreciating the happiness of life is a great waste of an opportunity. And so the false alarm is a glorious opportunity to remind him to enjoy it while he is still able to continue enjoying it.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Noach and his family felt when they came out of the teivah. \u201cWe\u2019re alive! Mazel tov!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRegret At The End
\n\n\n\nIt’s a pity that Mankind is missing that. You know people, many people, at the end of their days so they may think like this: \u201cWhy didn’t I study more Torah?\u201d There was one tzaddik who was weeping on his deathbed about the minutes he wasted from learning. Another tzaddik was weeping like this: \u201cWhy wasn\u2019t I more kindly to my relatives? Why didn’t I call them up long distance once in a while? I forgot about my relatives. I was so busy with my own thing.\u201d All kinds of regrets people have at the end.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to know there’s a fundamental regret all Mankind will have, and that is, \u201cWhy didn’t I enjoy life?\u201d When a man is approaching his last moments, he looks back and thinks, \u201cWhy was I so stupid? My mind was obsessed with so many superficialities, worries and silly ideas.\u201d He suddenly realizes that there\u2019s a lot of fun around but he didn\u2019t even begin to enjoy it. All the happiness of normal living suddenly flashes upon his mind like on a screen and he sees all the good times he had. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I enjoy those days of happiness?\u201d
\n\n\n\nPleasures Of Life
\n\n\n\nThere were many days that you ate three meals a day and you could have enjoyed all that. There were many days that your bowels moved. It’s a miracle the bowels move. And many days you urinated painlessly. Many nights you slept a delicious slumber. There were many days when you were still in the health of youth and you were able to breathe deeply without racking your sick lungs, so many days with no pain.
\n\n\n\nThere were so many days you could walk around. Walking! A pleasure! It\u2019s a happiness to walk. Locomotion is one of the great forms of happiness. You drank water sometimes? To drink water, that’s \u201cAh!\u201d It\u2019s one of the great pleasures of life! To see! Looking is fun! Merely to sit and look through your two perfect cameras, color cameras. They focus for distant vision and immediately they can change to close vision. And you’re constantly taking pictures. It’s fun to see things!
\n\n\n\nLife is full of so much fun only that we don’t realize until we’re on the verge of losing it, until the Mabul comes, the malach hamavess that is going to take a person out of this world. But when a person waits until then, it’s a little too late to enjoy those pleasures.
\n\n\n\nThe Most Intense Pleasure
\n\n\n\nBut those are just details \u2013 seeing, walking, breathing, urinating, they\u2019re very big details but it\u2019s not everything. Of all the pleasures that we find in life, there is one all embracing pleasure and it\u2019s the most intense pleasure of all. The greatest fun you could find in this world is the fun of being alive!
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s nothing like it. That\u2019s why when a man is given the opportunity to choose great pleasures, intense pleasures, but at the cost of his life soon thereafter, nobody would be so silly as to sacrifice his life. Because when it comes to the final analysis, everybody understands that the true happiness is being alive.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s deeply rooted in the human psyche. It\u2019s so deeply rooted that it is the most urgent of all of our longings. It is pathetic to read in the literature of man this yearning to continue to live; legends of antiquity about men who sought fountains that would give them eternal life, legends about men who begged the gods of mythology to grant them that they should live forever. Again and again we see that man, most of all, desires to continue to exist on this earth.
\n\n\n\nAnd there\u2019s a reason for that. It has been so planned by Hakodosh Boruch Hu that life should be sweet \u2013 sweet beyond any sweetness that we could think of. There\u2019s no such thing as an unpleasant day. To open up your eyes and to be alive, it\u2019s the greatest of all forms of happiness! There\u2019s no fun like being alive! The mere fact that I could walk down the avenue and see the light of day, any kind of a day, cloudy, sunny, it\u2019s a joy.
\n\n\n\nOn Solid Footing
\n\n\n\nBut because we ignore it and we\u2019re too lazy to think about it, Hakodosh Boruch Hu made sure to remind us once with a very big reminder. Of course, there were many reasons for the Mabul but absolutely included in the lessons is that the Flood came to teach Mankind the importance of roka ha’aretz al hamayim, the happiness of being able to walk down the street living life, breathing.
\n\n\n\nEverybody says that blessing in the morning; \u201cWe thank You Hashem we’re walking on solid land.\u201d Isn’t that a queer blessing? Every morning we\u2019re reminding ourselves of the pleasure of walking on solid land. It\u2019s because we need reminding. It\u2019s a tremendous pleasure and it\u2019s a pity that so much happiness, so much vigor and joy goes lost from our lives because we don\u2019t learn this lesson that Noach and his family learned.
\n\n\n\nWhen Noach entered the teivah, that became his home for the duration of the Mabul. For a full year he and his family were sealed up in a ship on the high waters waiting for the great Flood to come to an end, waiting for the great pleasure of normal life. Just to be able to be alive on the earth, to walk on dry land.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Wait
\n\n\n\nAnd they waited for that. Over and over again the Torah reiterates: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b6\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3, and Noach waited some more (Noach 8:10). \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b6\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3, and he waited, with anticipation, even more (ibid. 8:12). Because as the days and weeks wore on, Noach began to long more and more eagerly for the great joy of walking on the dry land.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally it happened. They walked out with the biggest simchas hachaim. That was the biggest lesson, the exhilaration they felt then. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be walking on dry land again. We survived. Mazel tov. We\u2019re alive!\u201d
\n\n\n\nI once told you this story. In Lomza yeshiva, the mashgiach once saw a boy was down, so he took him aside and seized his two lapels and said, \u201cMazel tov, You\u2019re a lucky fellow. Everybody should envy you.\u201d And he went on for a half hour. The boy was looking at him, waiting to hear what the good news is. \u201cMazal tov! Mazel tov!\u201d The mashgiach said it five or six times. What\u2019s this all about? And finally the mashgiach said, \u201cCongratulations! You\u2019re alive!\u201d That\u2019s the mazel tov.
\n\n\n\nCongratulate Yourself
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Mabul was a great reminder that we should always be saying that mazel tov to ourselves. \u201cYou are lucky to be alive! There\u2019ll come a time when you won\u2019t be, so you might as well enjoy every second of it now.\u201d Enjoy it k\u2019pshuto \u2013 be happy with it right now. Don\u2019t let a minute go by! Every moment that you\u2019re breathing and your heart is beating, that you have awareness, that your brain is functioning, you are existing. It\u2019s fun to be alive! Just to walk on the earth!
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back to the mitzvah of \u05d6\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 Remember the wonders that He did; that He did because He wants you to think about them. And among all of His great wonders included in that mitzvah, we should never forget about the tremendous catastrophe of the Mabul. And as you\u2019re walking down the sidewalk, you\u2019re thinking, \u201cAhh! The pleasure of being alive and being able to walk on dry land. Ahh! What could be better!\u201d Of course, it never leaves your head the great lesson of the catastrophe of sin, that the Mabul came to show. You\u2019ll be more careful now. You won\u2019t open up your big mouth to your brother. You won\u2019t look where you shouldn\u2019t. You\u2019re more afraid of sin now. But at the same time you don\u2019t forget the second lesson, and so you\u2019re thinking, \u201cI\u2019m alive! I\u2019m breathing, my heart is beating, and I\u2019m still walking on this earth!\u201d There\u2019s no fun in the world to compare it to!
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nRemembering The Flood
\n\n\n\nThis week I will try to accomplish the mitzvah of “remembering His wonders” and thinking of the Mabul. Every morning when I say the bracha of Roka ha’aretz al hamayim I will bli neder take a minute to remember the lessons of the Mabul. First that sin has consequences, sin is catastrophic. And secondly, the great happiness of life. Regular life and walking on dry land is the greatest pleasure we can wish for.
\nThe post Parshas Noach 5783 – Lessons of the Flood appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T02:17:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-30T07:55:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35512, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-noach-5783-lessons-of-the-flood/", "title": "Parshas Noach 5783 – Lessons of the Flood", "content_html": "TA-Noach-5783The post Parshas Noach 5783 – Lessons of the Flood appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T02:15:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-23T02:15:47+00:00" }, { "id": 35503, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-noach-5783-lessons-of-the-flood/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Noach 5783 – Lessons of the Flood", "content_html": "TA-Noach-5783-EasyPrint-1The post [EasyPrint] Parshas Noach 5783 – Lessons of the Flood appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T02:15:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-23T20:09:18+00:00" }, { "id": 35501, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/aprender-de-todos/", "title": "Aprender de todos ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nCuando hay diferencias entre los diferentes grupos del pueblo jud\u00edo, \u00bfc\u00f3mo podemos saber qui\u00e9n tiene la raz\u00f3n?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTodos tienen raz\u00f3n. Y todos est\u00e1n equivocados. Nadie es perfecto en este mundo. Tenemos que vivir con este principio: saber que nosotros mismos no tenemos toda la raz\u00f3n. Y tenemos que hacer todo lo posible para mejorar. Aunque no tenemos que adoptar lo que hacen los dem\u00e1s, y cada uno debe seguir los usos y costumbres de su kehil\u00e1 de la mejor manera, sin embargo, debe saber que hay cosas que aprender en todas partes.
\n\n\n\nAunque seas un jasid, cuando entras en la Ieshiv\u00e1 de Telz, tambi\u00e9n puedes aprender cosas buenas all\u00ed. Y si un bajur de Telz va a Williamsburg, puede aprender cosas buenas all\u00ed, sin duda. Por lo tanto, todos deber\u00edan tratar de “robarles” a los dem\u00e1s todas las cosas buenas que puedan. En lugar de dar vueltas y decir “bueno, vi en este sht\u00edbel que hablan durante el rezo, as\u00ed que no es tan malo”. O: \u201cEn tal lugar rezan r\u00e1pido, as\u00ed que yo tambi\u00e9n puedo rezar r\u00e1pido\u201d. Esa persona anda recolectando todas las cosas equivocadas de todos los lugares. \u00a1No! Se debe recoger todas las cosas buenas de todos; para eso est\u00e1n ah\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nY esa es la persona que tendr\u00e1 \u00e9xito. Para eso est\u00e1n los celos. Kin\u00e1 significa ser kon\u00e9, adquirir, estar celoso de todas las cosas buenas que encuentras. \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 \u00e9l dice un largo Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 y yo no?\u201d “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 trata a su esposa tan bien y yo soy tan brusco?” \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 \u00e9l va a estudiar por las noches y yo no?\u201d Todos deber\u00edan tratar de “robarle” a los dem\u00e1s todas las cosas buenas que encuentren.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, la primera mujer, Jav\u00e1, le dio al primer ni\u00f1o nacido en este mundo el nombre Kain, que significa ser kon\u00e9, adquirir. Ella quer\u00eda que \u00e9l pensara en eso todo el tiempo porque ese es nuestro prop\u00f3sito: adquirir todas las cualidades que encuentran gracia ante los ojos de Hashem. Porque lo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere de nosotros es shelemut, perfecci\u00f3n. Shelemut en el conocimiento de la Tor\u00e1, perfecci\u00f3n en conocer Sus caminos, perfecci\u00f3n en reconocerlo en la historia y en la naturaleza. Perfecci\u00f3n en el car\u00e1cter y dominio propio, y perfecci\u00f3n en la bondad hacia nuestro pr\u00f3jimo. Toda forma de perfecci\u00f3n que una persona pueda emular, imitar, “robar” por todos lados, debe hacer eso. Cada vez que entra en contacto con la gente, cada vez que ve algo bueno en el mundo, debe emularlo y decidir que quiere tomarlo para s\u00ed mismo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #781 (abril de 1990)
\nThe post Aprender de todos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-23T02:06:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-23T02:06:54+00:00" }, { "id": 35498, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-primera-beraja/", "title": "La primera beraj\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa halaj\u00e1 es que si uno puso cavan\u00e1 en la primera beraj\u00e1 de la shemon\u00e1 esr\u00e9 pero est\u00e1 desconcentrado durante el resto del rezo, iotz\u00e9. Pero si puso cavan\u00e1 en todas las berajot pero se desconcentr\u00f3 durante la beraj\u00e1 de Avot, entonces no iotz\u00e9. \u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de especial esta primera beraj\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tan importante es la primera beraj\u00e1 que el \u00e9xito de Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 depende principalmente de la primera beraj\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nLa primera braj\u00e1 es un reconocimiento a nuestros grandes modelos, Abraham, Itzjak e Iaakov. Tenemos que reconocer que nuestras vidas se basan \u2013deber\u00edan basarse\u2013 en lo que estas grandes personas nos dieron como modelos a seguir. El Rambam dice en su Mor\u00e9 Nevujim (Hakdam\u00e1): Cualquier cosa buena que nos haya pasado, o que nos vaya a pasar, es solo por el zejut, el m\u00e9rito, de nuestros antepasados.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tenemos que apreciar a nuestros antepasados. Tenemos que analizarlos. Tenemos que estudiar sus vidas y tratar de emularlos. Y tenemos que estar agradecidos con ellos por lo que hicieron por nosotros. Por ser modelos de poderosa dedicaci\u00f3n a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Y por lo tanto, la primera beraj\u00e1 es, Elokenu veElok\u00e9 avotenu. T\u00fa, Hashem, eres el que am\u00f3 tanto a nuestros antepasados. Hashem dijo: \u201cAmo a tus antepasados \u200b\u200bm\u00e1s que a nada en el universo\u201d. \u05d4\u05df \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05da \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e9\u05de\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d5\u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d4 \u2013 He aqu\u00ed, soy due\u00f1o de los cielos y del espacio sobre los cielos. Soy due\u00f1o de todo. Pero \u05e8\u05e7 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d7\u05e9\u05e7 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd – s\u00f3lo en tus antepasados \u200b\u200bHashem se deleit\u00f3 en amarlos. Esa es una declaraci\u00f3n tremenda. \u00a1Es tremendo! Hashem ama a nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200bmuy intensamente. \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d6\u05e8\u05e2\u05dd \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d1\u05db\u05dd \u05de\u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e2\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4 \u2013 Y Hashem nos eligi\u00f3 para siempre a causa de ellos (Devarim 10:14-15). \u00c9l nos eligi\u00f3, hasta el d\u00eda de hoy, por la grandeza de Abraham, Itzjak e Iaakov. Y, por lo tanto, apelamos a Hashem, por el m\u00e9rito de nuestros grandes antepasados, a quienes pretendemos seguir y a quienes pretendemos emular: “Por favor, Hashem, porque por su m\u00e9rito nos amas, por favor escucha las oraciones que vamos a decir en las siguientes berajot de la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9”.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-255 (noviembre de 2000)
\nThe post La primera beraj\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-20T20:54:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-20T20:54:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35496, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/decir-que-todo-esta-bien/", "title": "Decir que todo est\u00e1 bien ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebemos decir que todo anda bien aunque no lo sentimos as\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es \u00a1s\u00ed! Pues est\u00e1 escrito vehalajt\u00e1 bidrajav, tienes que caminar en los caminos de Hashem, y dice en la Tor\u00e1: \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 – Hashem vio todo lo que hab\u00eda hecho, \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05d0\u05d3 y dijo que \u00a1este es un mundo muy bueno! Y entonces, en lugar de caminar y gru\u00f1ir, “hace demasiado calor. Est\u00e1 tan h\u00famedo”, o “hace demasiado fr\u00edo, es desagradable; est\u00e1 lloviendo”; en lugar de eso, siempre debemos hablar bien del mundo de Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHace calor? \u00a1Maravilloso! Las manzanas se est\u00e1n poniendo en rojo en los \u00e1rboles. Las peras se est\u00e1n volviendo dulces en los \u00e1rboles. Si no hiciera calor, no se convertir\u00edan en dulce. \u00bfHace fr\u00edo? \u00a1Eso tambi\u00e9n es maravilloso! La Tierra ahora est\u00e1 tomando un descanso de la producci\u00f3n y, mientras que est\u00e1 tomando un descanso, est\u00e1 recuperando todos los minerales que perdi\u00f3, todos los materiales que se perdieron durante el verano. Sin el invierno, no puede haber un verano. Si fuera verano todo el a\u00f1o, la Tierra seguir\u00eda produciendo y se volver\u00eda \u00e1rida e inf\u00e9rtil. Es por eso que la Tierra toma vacaciones en el invierno. El fr\u00edo es maravilloso. El fr\u00edo obliga a la Tierra a dejar de producir.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1La lluvia es maravillosa! Sin lluvia, no somos nada. Cuando llueve, es como que bajamos nosotros mismos del cielo. \u00a1Has bajado con la lluvia una vez! Somos casi el 80% lluvia. Bajamos del cielo una vez. Y la gente est\u00e1 gru\u00f1endo y quej\u00e1ndose de la lluvia. Nosotros bajamos de las nubes y se quejan. \u00a1Esa es nuestra oportunidad de venir al mundo! \u00a1Eso es la lluvia! Y, por lo tanto, cuando la lluvia baja, todos los ni\u00f1os de los ieshivot est\u00e1n bajando y sus futuras novias, las Kalot de Bet Iaakov, est\u00e1n bajando. Todos est\u00e1n bajando juntos desde el cielo. As\u00ed que la lluvia es maravillosa.
\n\n\n\nPor eso Hashem dice que es un mundo muy bueno, y \u00c9l quiere que digamos todo el tiempo. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05db\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 – Dale alabanzas a Hashem que te dio un mundo muy bueno; y si sigues dici\u00e9ndolo, despu\u00e9s de un tiempo, comenzar\u00e1s a sentirlo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #799 (septiembre de 1990)
\nThe post Decir que todo est\u00e1 bien appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-20T03:45:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-20T03:45:21+00:00" }, { "id": 24934, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-saying-its-all-good/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Saying It\u2019s All Good", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should we say that all is good even though we don\u2019t feel it?
A:
And the answer is yes! Because vehalachta bedrachav \u2013 you have to walk in the ways of Hashem, and it says in the Torah: \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u2013 Hashem saw all that he had made, \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05d0\u05d3 \u2013 and behold the whole thing is very good (Bereishis 1:31). Hashem said this is a very good world! And so, instead of walking around and grouching, \u201cIt\u2019s too hot. It\u2019s so humid,\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s too cold \u2013 it\u2019s nasty; it\u2019s raining;\u201d instead of that, we should always speak well of Hashem\u2019s world.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s hot?\u00a0Wonderful! The apples are getting red on the trees.\u00a0 The pears are becoming sweet on the trees.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t hot, they wouldn\u2019t become sweet. \u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0cold? That\u2019s also wonderful!\u00a0The earth now is taking a rest from producing and while it\u2019s taking a rest\u00a0it\u2019s recuperating all the minerals it lost, all the materials it lost during the summertime.\u00a0 Without the winter, there can\u2019t be a summer.\u00a0 If it was summer all year, the earth would keep on producing and it would become arid and infertile.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the earth takes vacation in the wintertime.\u00a0 Cold is wonderful.\u00a0 Cold\u00a0forces the earth to stop producing.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nRain is wonderful!\u00a0Without rain, we\u2019re nothing.\u00a0 When it rains, we\u2019re coming down from the sky.\u00a0You came down in the rain once upon a time! We\u2019re almost 80% rain.\u00a0We came down from the sky once.\u00a0 And people are grouching and complaining about the rain.\u00a0 Here we were coming down from the clouds and they were complaining against us.\u00a0 That\u2019s our chance to come to this world!\u00a0That\u2019s rain! And therefore when rain comes down, all the boys of the\u00a0yeshivos\u00a0are coming down and their future brides, the\u00a0kallos\u00a0from Bais Yaakov, are coming down.\u00a0 They\u2019re all coming down together from the sky.\u00a0 So rain is wonderful.
\n\n\n\nSo Hashem says it\u2019s a very good world, and He wants us to keep on saying that all the time. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05db\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u2013 Give praises to Hashem that He gave a very good world; and if you keep on saying it, after a while, after some time, you\u2019ll begin to feel it.
TAPE # 799 (September 1990)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Saying It\u2019s All Good appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T21:10:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T21:10:17+00:00" }, { "id": 35560, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-berechit/", "title": "Paracha B\u00e9r\u00e9chit", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Berechit-5783The post Paracha B\u00e9r\u00e9chit appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T05:20:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-28T05:21:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35475, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%aa-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T03:18:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T03:18:40+00:00" }, { "id": 35473, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hoshana-raba-preludio-del-gran-dia/", "title": "Hoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1: preludio del gran d\u00eda ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es la avod\u00e1 de Hoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1? Parece ser el final de los “D\u00edas de Din”, pero \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 se menciona tan poco al respecto en la Guemar\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1 es realmente un preludio de Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret y la importancia de Shemini Atzeres se menciona en la Tor\u00e1 con una insinuaci\u00f3n; dice \u05d1\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05e6\u05e8\u05ea \u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u2013 En el octavo d\u00eda debe ser para ti una restricci\u00f3n, un freno (Pinej\u00e1s 29:35). Es un mensaje de que, aunque todos los d\u00edas de Sucot fueron d\u00edas de regocijo, el octavo d\u00eda Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos retiene un d\u00eda m\u00e1s y ese es el cl\u00edmax, la cima de la felicidad.
\n\n\n\nY el motivo es que ahora, despu\u00e9s de tantos d\u00edas de cercan\u00eda, nos despedimos por fin. Porque llegamos a estos d\u00edas en Rosh Hashan\u00e1 y luego en Iom Kipur tambi\u00e9n; nos concentramos en nuestros tefilot y muchas personas est\u00e1n rozando mejor ahora que antes porque hicieron selijot y otras tefilot. Y son m\u00e1s conscientes de Hakadosh Baruj Hu, est\u00e1n m\u00e1s cerca de \u00c9l debido a Rosh Hashan\u00e1 e Iom Kipur y As\u00e9ret iem\u00e9 Teshuv\u00e1. Especialmente en los d\u00edas de anta\u00f1o, cuando iban a Ierushal\u00e1im, hab\u00eda una cercan\u00eda especial durante el iomtov de Sucot. Y ahora finalmente llega Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, es cierto que Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret tiene un cierto elemento de tristeza porque est\u00e1s a punto de despedirte. Tenemos que volver a nuestra vida normal. Pero sabes, cuando est\u00e1s a punto de despedirte de tu amado, entonces el amor se hincha en tu pecho m\u00e1s que antes porque ahora te est\u00e1s despidiendo. Digamos que est\u00e1s dejando a tu mejor amigo y no lo ver\u00e1s por un tiempo; por supuesto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu siempre est\u00e1 cerca, pero ahora nos despedimos de esa medida especial de presencia de la Shejin\u00e1. Y es por eso que Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret es un per\u00edodo de tiempo extraordinario entre nosotros y Hakadosh Baruj Hu.
\n\n\n\nY entonces, Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret es \u05dc\u05db\u05dd, es para ti; \u05dc\u05db\u05dd significa que es especialmente para ti. La Guemar\u00e1 dice que es el momento del mayor amor entre Hashem y Su pueblo. Es por eso que, aunque en todos los d\u00edas de Sucot ofrecemos setenta ofrendas, setenta bueyes que ofrecemos para el bienestar de las naciones del mundo, pero en Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret Hashem dice: \u201cHoy es diferente. Hoy trae s\u00f3lo un korb\u00e1n, algo especial entre Yo y t\u00fa\u201d.
\n\n\n\nY nuestros Sabios lo comparan con un rey que hizo un gran banquete e invit\u00f3 a todos los nobles y despu\u00e9s de que termin\u00f3 el banquete y todos los duques y lores se fueron a casa y las mesas estaban llenas de los restos del banquete el rey espi\u00f3 a su mejor amigo que todav\u00eda andaba por ah\u00ed; su amigo no quer\u00eda irse. Todos los dem\u00e1s se fueron, pero el amigo a\u00fan estaba. Entonces el rey dijo: \u201cVen aqu\u00ed; sent\u00e9monos y hagamos una comida solo entre t\u00fa y yo. Ser\u00e1 un banquete de amor entre nosotros dos. Y eso es lo que significa Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret, un banquete de amor especial entre nosotros y Hashem.
\n\n\n\nY debido a que esa es una gran ocasi\u00f3n, Hoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1 es una preparaci\u00f3n para eso; Hoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1 es un gran d\u00eda, es la v\u00edspera del d\u00eda que nos despedimos. En jutz la\u00e1retz ya que estamos en el exilio y vivimos entre gentiles, entonces Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos consuela con un d\u00eda m\u00e1s; bailamos en Simjat Tor\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n. En \u00c9retz Israel sin embargo terminaron. Entonces, Shemin\u00ed Atz\u00e9ret, es realmente el \u00faltimo d\u00eda, y es por eso que antes de ese d\u00eda es una ocasi\u00f3n tan importante.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #141 (octubre de 1976)
\nThe post Hoshan\u00e1 Rab\u00e1: preludio del gran d\u00eda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T03:06:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T03:06:16+00:00" }, { "id": 35461, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bereishis-5783-seeking-hashems-favor-2/", "title": "Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor", "content_html": "Kayin The Pioneer
\n\n\n\nEverything that is written in the Torah is a teaching; that\u2019s the definition of the word \u2018torah\u2019 \u2013 it means \u2018teaching.\u2019 And it\u2019s important to understand that whatever is closer to the beginning of the Torah is a more general teaching. As the Torah progresses, its teachings become more detailed, but in the beginning of the Torah we find the general rules of Torah living. Later the Torah tells us subdivisions of the big headings which were already explained beforehand.
\n\n\n\nNow, the incident of Kayin and Hevel is at the very beginning of the Torah and therefore we can understand that it\u2019s intended to be studied as a klal gadol, as a great rule in human behavior. After all, that\u2019s why it\u2019s written \u2013 many other incidents happened in the long lives of Kayin and Hevel but the Torah chose to tell us about this one because it\u2019s intended as an important general teaching which should be studied as a lesson in human behavior. It\u2019s a lesson in the way the Torah expects us to live.
\n\n\n\nWe read ‘\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4 \u2013 Kayin brought from the fruit of the earth an offering to Hashem. At that time, Kayin pioneered a new undertaking; he invented a form of service to Hashem which had never been done before. We know from Mesichta Chulin (60a) that his father, Adam, had already offered up an ox as a korban but Kayin invented the form of service of bringing the produce of the earth.
\n\n\n\nUnsullied Antediluvian Minds
\n\n\n\nNow to us it may seem a small step forward from bringing an ox to bringing the pri ho\u2019adomah but that\u2019s only because we\u2019re looking now in retrospect and therefore these ideas are commonplace to us because we already know Chumash. But in those early days every step in avodas Hashem, even the smallest one, was very important because they had no precedents to follow; everything depended on their own minds. And because there was no television yet, no New York Times or literature, so they were able to rely on their unsullied minds to blaze new paths in the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when Kayin invented this original idea, that he could serve Hashem by offering up to Him the fruits of the earth, it was a big chiddush, a big innovation in avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, Kayin didn\u2019t come to such an innovation by accident. You have to understand that it\u2019s not like we were taught as little children that Kayin was some kind of low character; that\u2019s plain foolish. The oldest son of Adam Harishon was a great personality, a tzadik who walked in the footsteps of his father, and he therefore went about for some time contemplating what he should do to serve Hashem, considering ways and means of showing his loyalty to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nTo bring pri ho\u2019adomah as an offering wasn\u2019t a spur of the moment decision like someone might make today, he gets excited, inspired, and he decides he\u2019s going to say the whole Tehillim or put on a long black coat, something similar. No, no; Kayin was a deep thinker and he spent days and weeks thinking of ways of serving Hashem.
\n\n\n\nKayin Finds a Solution
\n\n\n\nAnd if we find that he invented one thing, we are warranted to think that he invented other things too. The Torah doesn\u2019t tell us this story just for itself. \u05d9\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e1\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 From the little revealed to us, we can deduce what was doing in general. And so we understand that this is the person Kayin always was; he went about thinking, \u201cWhat could I do to demonstrate my love to the One who created me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that question may not bother us but it\u2019s not a compliment to us that it doesn\u2019t. To go around thinking up ways and means of serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu, of demonstrating our love and our loyalty to him? That\u2019s the least of our worries. We congratulate ourselves if in the morning we come to the synagogue and rattle off a stereotype of davenen; we feel quite happy as we walk home from the shul carrying a tallis and tefilin. We barely discharged the minimum obligations of the Shulchan Aruch \u2013 and we\u2019re satisfied.
\n\n\n\nBut Kayin didn\u2019t have any Shulchan Aruch. He had no code that obligated him, something that would allow him to merely check off things he did; tallis, tefillin, brachos, davenen. Kayin\u2019s code was his conscience, and therefore he went around thinking of what he could do to express his desire to be close to his Creator, what acts would be acceptable. And finally he hit upon an idea: pri ho\u2019adomah.
\n\n\n\nA Life-Giving Gift
\n\n\n\nNow we wouldn\u2019t have come up with that but that doesn\u2019t mean we are wiser than Kayin. Kayin, remember, was a farmer. But not just a farmer. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b9\u05d1\u05b5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 he served the earth. The Medrash tells us he literally served the earth. Oived, the Medrash Tanchuma says, means that he put into the earth all of his talents, all of his heart.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t forget, he was from the first ones to walk the earth and therefore it wasn\u2019t something commonplace to him, to work the land and to bring forth fruit from soil. It was a novelty, a novelty of novelties, and he fell in love with the earth. He loved working with this gift of Hashem, the life-giving gift that Hashem had covered the globe with.
\n\n\n\nThe earth, the soil, is the most precious material that we have, the most precious of all compounds. If you study the soil, you come to the conclusion that it\u2019s the most remarkable concoction of chemicals that you can find anywhere. It\u2019s not just the chemical compounds; it\u2019s a community of organisms that work together. The soil is alive! In one tablespoon full of soil, you have more living organisms than you have people in all of metropolitan New York; that\u2019s besides the chemical properties in the soil.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when a person with an unsullied mind works the earth, he sees the greatness of Hashem, the chochmas Hashem, the chesed Hashem, under his feet. After all, who made everything? Where did seeds come from? The seed is such a complex organization of cunning planning that in the early days of Mankind, when someone saw a seed for the first time\u2014for the first ten thousand times\u2014it staggered the imagination.
\n\n\n\nThe Wonderful Peach Pit
\n\n\n\nWe unfortunately are accustomed to seeds, but Kayin was a newcomer in the world and he was enamored of the soil and the seeds and plants because he saw in them the hand of the Creator \u2013 if you see a seed, then there are no arguments anymore; all the scientists and all the academicians fall mute in the presence of a seed. All of their arguments, the whole structure that they have erected falls apart when you confront them with a seed.
\n\n\n\nHow could it be, a seed? How did it happen? Here’s a peach pit; it\u2019s hard, it can\u2019t open. But when it falls into the earth, wonder of wonders, in the earth it yields to the soil bacteria and opens up. So although the animals and birds will try in vain to eat it, the soil bacteria have the ability of opening it up. And it has within it the blueprints for a tree. Now blueprints for a peach tree, that\u2019s a very complicated business. That\u2019s something that you won\u2019t have even in the Dupont Chemical Company because you\u2019d need blocks and blocks just to store the blueprints alone. Not to mention the machinery to carry out the instructions to the blueprint. And this seed has all the blueprints for the next tree protected in a case that cannot be opened until it falls into the soil.
\n\n\n\nHow could the soil and the seed work together to make pri ho\u2019adomah? Is this the result of accident? It\u2019s the yad Hashem, absolutely. Your hand as it tills the earth, is working together with the Hand of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when a man learns to utilize the soil, it becomes the most entrancing of all occupations, to force out of the soil all the precious results that Hashem created it for. And therefore Kayin decided to show his love for Hakodosh Boruch Hu by bringing m\u2019pri ho\u2019adomah, from what grew out of the ground, minchah laHashem, as his offering to Hashem. He wanted to bring what was most precious to him, the produce he had forced out of the earth. He was so happy, so aware of the wisdom of Hashem, the nissim he saw every day, that he decided to demonstrate gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu who created this.
\n\n\n\nThe Grand Ceremony
\n\n\n\nNow something like that, a new way of avodas Hashem that came as a result of much thought and great devotion wasn\u2019t relegated to a sideshow. Kayin was so happy with his innovation that he gathered his whole family together; b\u2019rov am hadras Melech \u2013 the more people who come, the more honor for Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd besides, let them be inspired too. And so Kayin did it in the presence of the entire family. His father and mother were present there, Hevel too, and Kayin made a mizbeach and said, \u201cToday I\u2019m going to make a demonstration of my gratitude to my Creator. Let\u2019s all come and celebrate a Yom Tov.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd then he brought his offering to Hashem; he put m\u2019pri ha\u2019adomah on the mizbeach and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to burn this to Hashem as an offering.\u201d Oh, was it beautiful!
\n\n\n\nAnd his parents congratulated him. They had so much nachas from him! A son who was oived Hashem without being commanded on his own! It was a very great occasion!
\n\n\n\nThe Little Brother
\n\n\n\nNow everybody knows what happened after that. Kayin had a younger brother, Hevel, who looked up to him. And when he saw what Kayin had accomplished, so he took him as his teacher, as his model. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b5\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 And Hevel, he too, brought an offering. Gam hu means he also followed suit.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a great thing if someone is able to emulate good things. Like it says (Mishlei 1:5) \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u2013A chochom listens; he absorbs what you tell him. But not only that; \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b6\u05e3 \u05dc\u05b6\u05e7\u05b7\u05d7 \u2013 He also adds to what he learned. So Hevel learned from his brother and he brought even better than his brother.
\n\n\n\nThe fact is he was only following in his brother\u2019s footsteps. Just like Kayin followed in father\u2019s footsteps, so too \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b5\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0, Hevel emulated his brother and he brought \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e6\u05b9\u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05df, from the fattest of his flocks.
\n\n\n\nAchieving Recognition
\n\n\n\nAnd here we see that Hevel made a step forward beyond what Kayin had accomplished. After Kayin brought his offering, his brother Hevel emulated him only that Hevel added the element of greater devotion in his offering. He brought even a better offering, the element of muvchar, to bring the choicest. And with that he expressed a great devotion to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAt that time, when Hevel stepped forward and brought an even more handsome offering to Hashem than his brother, something special happened. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014Hakodosh Boruch Hu showed recognition (Bereishis 4:4). Hashem made a demonstration; He turned, He paid attention to Hevel. Exactly what happened, I cannot tell you. Something took place; I imagine that a fire came down min haShomayim and consumed Hevel\u2019s offering.
\n\n\n\nWhatever it was, something happened as a tremendous demonstration. Hakodosh Boruch Hu showed His favor to Hevel and to his offering and by this means Hevel gained what\u2019s called ratzon Hashem, the favor, the good-will, of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAn Old-Fashioned Concept
\n\n\n\nNow, this concept of ratzon Hashem, of desiring to gain the favor of Hashem, is something which most people don\u2019t know about. Most people in our modern time think that it\u2019s up to us to have love of Hakodosh Boruch Hu; and so if we\u2019re good people, the best, so we do things to demonstrate our love of Him. But to do thingsin order to gain His love of us? That\u2019s a concept that\u2019s not in style.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a fact, a sad fact, that we don\u2019t think about gaining the favor of Hashem. But in the Torah and throughout the whole Tanach we find this idea that the great men endeavored to gain a ratzon Hashem, that He should look favorably upon them, that He should love them.
\n\n\n\nNow why is it that this concept which was in style in those days is not in fashion today? It\u2019s because of the big difference between our attitude and theirs. Our attitude today, we must confess, is that we are pretty good people if we do what\u2019s required of us. Let\u2019s be honest; we look around and we see so many disloyal people so when we are mekayem the Shulchan Aruch, we feel that we\u2019re doing pretty well by Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nThe Satisfied Latecomer
\n\n\n\nThe fact is if you sit in a synagogue Shabbos morning and you see a gentleman, he comes in let\u2019s say at 9:30 or 9:45, and he walks in without embarrassment. He\u2019s complacent because he feels he\u2019s doing pretty well. Look how many people don\u2019t come at all. And so he\u2019s not ashamed to come in at 9:45. He puts on his silken tallis and he feels that he\u2019s quite a man. He feels he\u2019s conferring who knows how many favors on Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd so for him it\u2019s not a question of trying to gain the goodwill of Hashem. He never even thought about such things. It\u2019s his own goodwill that he is demonstrating. He wants to demonstrate that his heart is in the right place towards the Creator, that he is friendly towards Him.
\n\n\n\nNow all this is a caricature but it holds good for the best of us. If you don\u2019t analyze yourself, you may not realize that that is the attitude, but it is. And it\u2019s engendered by comparing ourselves with the faithless masses. And we are still faithful so we feel we\u2019re doing pretty good.
\n\n\n\nBut the kadmonim, when they served Hakodosh Boruch Hu, there was an entirely different attitude that was underpinning their service; in one word it\u2019s \u2018gratitude.\u2019 The earlier generations understood that all of their devotion and all of their service could not requite the endless benefactions which the Creator was showering upon them. That\u2019s how the great men were. They felt loaded down by a debt of gratitude.
\n\n\n\nDovid Hamelech and Chaim the Tyrant
\n\n\n\nLike Dovid Hamelech said, \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4’ \u2013 What can I pay back to Hashem, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 for all that He bestowed upon me? Now, that\u2019s not a worry that bothers us. Nobody in the middle of the night wakes up oppressed by this thought. Who walks around today concerned, \u201cHow can I pay Hashem back?\u201d
\n\n\n\nI once spoke to a yeshiva boy about this problem; so he says to me, \u201cPay back for what?\u201d Well, of course he says that. If he doesn\u2019t study, if he doesn\u2019t think, he\u2019ll never know. Because all his life he was trained by his mother into the attitude that if he accepted the food that she put on the table, he was doing her the biggest favor.
\n\n\n\nShe started out when he was a little baby. She got on her knees and said, \u201cPlease, Chaim, drink the milk!\u201d And Chaim, the little tyrant who is sitting in the highchair, on the throne, was banging with his shoes on the chair, \u201cNo, I won\u2019t do it!\u201d He was looking longingly at the milk, but he wouldn\u2019t do it; he wouldn\u2019t give her the satisfaction.
\n\n\n\nAnd she was shedding tears. She was becoming frantic and she offered him nickels and dimes and quarters. Finally when the price is big enough and his mother was frantic enough, he deigned to accept the milk. And his mother was so happy, she was beaming. She hugged him and kissed him.
\n\n\n\nRaising Devils
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s training him to be a demon. And that\u2019s why they grow up to be demons, devils. He grows up thinking that whatever he takes of the house, if he\u2019s good enough to take his father\u2019s money and spend it, his father has to be grateful to him. American boys think that if they take their father\u2019s money and spend it, they\u2019re doing the father a favor.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a big girl. She lives at home but she has a good job. She earns more than her father does and so he wouldn\u2019t mind if she gave a few dollars a week towards the household. He doesn\u2019t want the whole money. That he wouldn\u2019t dream of. He doesn\u2019t have the audacity; he has too much politeness, too much derech eretz for her.
\n\n\n\nBut if her father timidly drops a hint that it might be proper to give something towards the household expenses from her big earnings, she\u2019s so outraged that she wants to go to the Legal Aid Society and complain at his cruelty! The cruelty of my parents!
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think she wouldn\u2019t find Jewish lawyers there to defend her. She\u2019ll find plenty of Jewish lawyers! And this poor slave, her father, goes to the factory a whole day long \u2013 he doesn\u2019t see daylight in wintertime \u2013 in order to keep her dressed with expensive clothing; the clothing is from the father\u2019s money. The food she eats is the father\u2019s money. \u201cBut I buy my own lunches,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat do you want from me?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nWash Your Own Dishes
\n\n\n\nShe doesn\u2019t have in her head the slightest thought that she owes a debt of gratitude to her parents. And so as she sits at the table like a queen and the mother is handing her dishes loaded with food, it doesn\u2019t occur to her that there is such a thing as saying to the mother \u201cThank you.\u201d Or maybe even better, maybe she should get up and serve herself. Maybe the mother should sit down and she should hand the food to her mother. Such a crazy idea! If she\u2019s sitting now behind the curtain listening (the curtain that separated the women\u2019s section from the men\u2019s section in the shul during the lecture) she\u2019s thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s a lunatic, that man over there!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOr the boy on this side of the curtain; he\u2019ll say the same thing! That boy will say, \u201cYou mean to say that after the meal I should get up and wash the dish that I dirtied.\u201d Wash the dish?! Now he knows there\u2019s nothing to hear in this place.
\n\n\n\nAnd so their character becomes ruined and they grow up with the attitude that this is a world where they have to get. Give me, give me! And so what kind of gratitude can we expect? Even when they become frum, they\u2019re Orthodox, they\u2019re pious, will they go around thinking, \u201cHow can I repay Hakodosh Boruch Hu?\u201d That\u2019s the last thought. Just the opposite \u2013 they know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is mortgaged up to His ears, kavyochol, for the good things they\u2019re doing.
\n\n\n\nAfter all, she\u2019s a good girl. She wears skirts \u2013 sometimes even below the knee. Yes. That\u2019s wonderful. She deserves credit. And he davens every day \u2013 sometimes he even walks in before Borchu. And so the only question is, \u201cIs Hashem doing enough for me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Novel Idea
\n\n\n\nBut in the ancient times when people were trained by their parents for the business of life, they grew up quickly. The Gemara (Kesubos 49b) tells us about a takanah that was made in ancient times; it was very late in our history, long after the churban Beis Hamikdosh, in the second churban. When the Sanhedrin was established in the town of Usha they made a takanah, a novel idea, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d6\u05b8\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05e7\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 that a man should have to support his children when they\u2019re little. It\u2019s a takanas chachomim, a new idea.
\n\n\n\nSo the question is: What does it mean little children? Who does a father have to begin supporting now? My eighteen year old child? Sixteen? No, no. \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05e9\u05c1. Six years old. When they\u2019re six years old, you have to support them. That\u2019s a takanas chachomim.
\n\n\n\nAfter that, if he\u2019s a big boy of seven already, he can come out into the field with me. What am I doing all day in the field by myself? Let him help out.
\n\n\n\nThere were no laws in those days that the father had to be a slave and the child was the master. In those days, they didn\u2019t know about child labor laws. Let the child labor just like the father labors. The father would also like to go to school with his pocket full of money and eat and nosh all day long in the schools. But that\u2019s what ruins a person. Better to work in the field. The child followed the father on the field and he helped him in the work and he grew up understanding that this is not a world where you get something for nothing. You have to be grateful if you get anything at all.
\n\n\n\nPious Clich\u00e9s
\n\n\n\nToday? I don\u2019t think you find that too much. Sometimes you\u2019ll find Orthodox millionaires sitting in his office and when you come in and speak to him he says, \u201cWhat did I do to deserve this wealth?\u201d But it\u2019s only a clich\u00e9. He\u2019s only saying words. He doesn\u2019t feel any worry. He doesn\u2019t feel a debt of gratitude. He doesn\u2019t walk out of his office bowed down with a heavy burden on his shoulders, \u201cWhat can I do to pay off?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNobody is worried about that today. The Orthodox millionaire is walking out of his office thinking, \u201cLook what a great guy I am. Look at all the other millionaires, dappers galavanting around town, playboys, and I\u2019m going to the shul tonight! What a great fellow I am! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is getting a lot of nachas from me!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut in the olden days, any one of the better people when he became more successful he became more and more worried. And the greater his success, the more was his concern, \u201cHow can I repay because the debt is becoming heavier and heavier?\u201d
\n\n\n\nDesiring His Favor
\n\n\n\nNow, if you don\u2019t think about these things, so it might be difficult for you to understand what it means to seek the ratzon Hashem, to desire the favor of Hashem. But the great men sought to demonstrate to Hakodosh Boruch Hu their appreciation, and they desired more than anything, to gain the ratzon Hashem. If Hashem will show me His goodwill, if He\u2019ll shine His Face on me, that means I\u2019m fulfilling my purpose. Like the Chumash tells us about a korban: \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d6\u05b6\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 When you offer a sacrifice, do it for your will; it means you should want to achieve goodwill from Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTo get the goodwill, to get the love of Hashem towards you, that\u2019s the great desire of an oveid Hashem. It\u2019s a new idea but it\u2019s important. Don\u2019t disdain it just because you never heard it before. Living successfully means you do things to cause Hakodosh Boruch Hu to regard you with favor. And that\u2019s what Hevel merited on that day. He outdid Kayin and merited the ratzon Hashem that his older brother had so desired.
\n\n\n\nPain of Rejection
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean that Kayin\u2019s hard work was rejected. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 And to Kayin\u2019s korban, Hashem did not turn doesn\u2019t mean that He didn\u2019t accept the korban. When we say \u2018Hakodosh Boruch Hu did not turn\u2019, it\u2019s relative. It means there was no especial demonstration of turning, of showing favor. It was accepted like when a man ordinarily brings an offering.
\n\n\n\nWhat happens in the Beis Hamikdash when a frum Jew offers a sacrifice? Nothing happens. It\u2019s an offering, that\u2019s all. There\u2019s no phenomenon, no apparition, no fire coming down from the heavens. But it\u2019s a good korban; it\u2019s accepted. And that\u2019s what happened here. It\u2019s not that Hashem declared Kayin\u2019s offering as unworthy \u2013 only that He was especially satisfied with Hevel\u2019s acts and it was he, not Kayin, who received the especial favor of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet for Kayin that was a tragedy of tremendous proportions. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 And Kayin was exceedingly distressed. Not \u201che was distressed\u201d \u2013 me\u2019od means \u201che was exceedingly distressed.\u201d He fell into a tremendous sadness as a result of this and \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, his face fell; all the way down.
\n\n\n\nNow, we shouldn\u2019t blame the poor man. Of course, he was upset! Because \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2 is what he wanted! To gain the favor of Hashem! That\u2019s why he had thought days and nights until he had contrived a form of serving Hashem by bringing his beloved produce; what his hands had taken out of the earth. He was going to do something now that would express at least just a little bit how much gratitude he felt in his heart for everything Hashem did for him. And here his younger brother who was only his disciple, a follower in his footsteps, had outdone him.
\n\n\n\nThe Strange Neighbor
\n\n\n\nIt certainly hurts. Suppose today you would bring a korban, a koshere korban. You make a mizbeach in your backyard \u2014 you can build a mizbeach if you\u2019re not makriv real korbanos \u2014 and you bring onto the mizbeach, let\u2019s say ten pounds of grapes. You\u2019re not going to be makdish it for a korban, but you\u2019re showing gratitude to Hashem: \u201cI\u2019m thanking You that You gave me peiros. A whole summer You gave me apples and peaches and grapes and cherries. I\u2019m so grateful for the delicious miracle of peiros and I\u2019m thanking You, Hashem, by means of this demonstration.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so you invite your family and your neighbors to come and participate. Now it could be that some of your neighbors might think it\u2019s a strange thing; maybe they\u2019re right, but no question you\u2019d deserve a lot of credit for such an original way of expressing gratitude, such an innovation. I don\u2019t think anyone in Flatbush has done that yet. And you\u2019re doing it leshem shomayim too! You deserve great credit!
\n\n\n\nNow, imagine that you did all of this and so you have now a crowd of people in the backyard with you; you place the ten pounds of grapes on the mizbeach and then suddenly the sky opens up and a fire comes down from Hashem; and it\u2019s heading towards your mizbeach to eat up your gift to Him. Ooh wah! That\u2019s ratzon Hashem! Hashem is shining His face on you, on your chiddush!
\n\n\n\nFlaming Jealousy
\n\n\n\nAnd then, a tragedy. You see that the fire comes down in your neighbor\u2019s backyard. You have a neighbor who imitated you. He saw what you were doing and he copied you. Only that he went a step further; he did something better, something more than you. And Hashem didn\u2019t turn to you \u2013 instead He turned your neighbor and He\u2019s shining His face on your neighbor. Ooh wah, that\u2019s a bitter pill to swallow.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, don\u2019t think it was a small peeve, a picayunish and unimportant matter that aroused Kayin\u2019s jealousy. It was the ratzon Hashem; it was Hashem\u2019s favor that just went lost from him!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s something new to people; not like we learned when we were little children in cheder that Kayin was a wicked person.Kayin\u2019s frustration was occasioned by jealousy over ratzon Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s the Problem?
\n\n\n\nNow since the desire to achieve ratzon Hashem is a most commendable attitude, so why did Hashem reprove Kayin? When Hakodosh Boruch Hu saw that Kayin was crestfallen because the offering of Hevel was accepted over his, at that time He spoke to Kayin by means of a prophecy and He said, \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 \u201cWhy has this vexed you?\u201d What\u2019s the question? Of course it vexed him! Shouldn\u2019t it vex him that he lost out on ratzon Hashem?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that Hashem was saying, \u201cYou\u2019re making a mistake, Kayin. Why are you eating yourself up? It\u2019s excellent that you want My favor \u2014 that\u2019s the perfection of a person in this world \u2014 but you have to know how to channel that desire.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll give you a mashal, a frequent occurrence in the yeshivas. Here\u2019s a boy sitting over his Gemara. But he\u2019s looking at the other table \u2013 there\u2019s somebody over there who is talking in learning and creating fireworks in the beis hamedrash; and he\u2019s becoming popular, getting a name of a big talmid chacham. And this boy over here is being devoured by envy.
\n\n\n\nResults of Jealousy
\n\n\n\nSo the question is: What\u2019s the true reason for his envy? If it\u2019s because he would like the perfection of finding favor in the eyes of Hashem by means of knowing His Torah, so the envy would result in spurring him on to additional effort. He\u2019d put in more hours as a result of that envy. He\u2019d concentrate more. He\u2019d try to review and know better and discuss things with others to clarify points. If it\u2019s genuine envy of the other man\u2019s achieving ratzon Hashem, so there\u2019s nothing to be down about. It should result in his being spurred on to more efforts.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose this result does not happen but instead he goes around vexed and sour faced. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201c\u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 what is the true reason that you\u2019re angry? Is it because you desire also to attain the ratzon Hashem? If that would be the reason, if you\u2019re really interested in the greatness that he achieved, then why waste time eating yourself up with anguish? Get busy! Make yourself better! Go ahead and do the same. \u201c\u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u2013 if you\u2019ll improve, \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u2013 I will uplift you by means of My favor.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou yeshiva man, why are you sitting devouring yourself with envy because of what the other man is doing? Get busy! Do it yourself. You don\u2019t have extra time? Instead of wasting Shabbos morning before davening, you can get an hour and a half of learning in. An hour and a half! You daven, let\u2019s say, 8:30; at 7:00 you can be in the synagogue and you can accomplish every Shabbos morning!
\n\n\n\nSo Much Opportunity
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a big Shabbos afternoon. The sun doesn\u2019t set until about a quarter to 6. You have plenty of time! Big Friday nights! And Sunday evenings! You have time and time and time! So get busy! Instead he\u2019s lying in bed Shabbos morning and the fires of jealousy are burning in him; that shows he\u2019s not really interested in achieving the favor of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEvery baalabos, there\u2019s always opportunity to improve yourself. You\u2019d be surprised, even if you start late in life, you can become a very big talmid chochom in your spare time. And if people want to know how to do it, we’re happy to advise them privately and give them a program that’s easy, that’s available, and it\u2019s a program that everybody can succeed in. If you’re interested, join our telephone Torah program.
\n\n\n\nIt’s amazing what you can accomplish if you join us.Now it doesn’t mean that if you’ll study with us, you’re going to become a chaver of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. It doesn\u2019t mean you’ll sit next to the Steipler and talk in learning. But you certainly can achieve and you\u2019ll find especial favor in the eyes of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a very important yesod that Hashem was teaching Kayin \u2014 he was teaching it to us in the Torah too \u2014 that when we see good people accomplishing, that\u2019s intended not as a reason to be down but instead to be a model for us, a spur.
\n\n\n\nMany Fields of Excellence
\n\n\n\nNot only in Torah learning; there are all kinds of models whom you can follow in life to achieve ratzon Hashem. Some people can find a model, a chossid. I don\u2019t mean \u201cchossid\u201d in the sense of opposed to a non-chossid. \u201cChossid\u201d means a servant of Hashem. He learns how to put his heart into thinking about Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the style of the Chovos Halevavos.
\n\n\n\nYes, certainly people can grow great in emunah. That’s a big field! People can grow great in tefillah; a very big field. People can grow great in tzedakah; a big field. People can grow great in changing their middos of character. A very big field! There are other fields and branches, subdivisions of these fields. There is a great deal of work to do in this world. Like it says hayom katzeir, life is short, vehamelachah merubah, and there’s a great deal of work. And nobody is left out of opportunities; there are so many avenues to achievement.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say a woman. She sees other women who have worked in avodas Hashem and accomplished, she should use that as a model to emulate. There\u2019s a woman over here, not too far from here, who is busy helping the poor. I know her, and she\u2019s always sending parcels to the needy. She\u2019s gathering clothing and helping families. She\u2019s helping poor girls get married. There are a lot of good things that she is doing. Somebody might want to use her as a model.
\n\n\n\nNow some women would like to use the model of someone else, someone who looks into seforim, who meditates on Hashem\u2019s kindliness, who reads Torah works. Very good.
\n\n\n\nFind A Model
\n\n\n\nMany women have grown great in the field of tznius. Someone might want to follow the model of a woman like that. Or another woman who writes. There are women who write, and they enrich our literature with Torah stories for children, inspiring stories of ba\u2019alei teshuva, books that show the glory of living Torah lives. And these women are doing a big job. And there are not enough of them.
\n\n\n\nSo it depends on which model is suited to your nature and what you want to accomplish. It needs not one lecture, but many lectures. But there are all types of models and you should look for a model of somebody who is succeeding in virtue, a kind of model that you feel is suitable for you to follow.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore all of the Hevels in the world, the ones who perfect themselves in avodas Hashem, are models for us. Instead of vayipol panav, we seek models; we look for models who can stir up the fire of good jealousy in our hearts.
\n\n\n\nIf you see something, someone striding ahead, and you\u2019re worried about the loss of perfection, about how he or she is finding favor in Hashem\u2019s eyes while you are lagging behind, what should your reaction be then? Your reaction should be, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 I also want to do the same. Next time I\u2019ll bring a better korban.\u201d You\u2019ll exert yourself to improve your ways to better yourself. And then, you too will succeed in gaining that which you desire.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the great Torah lesson that Hashem teaches us in beginning of the Torah; \u201cIf you want to grow great; if you want to achieve the greatness of ratzon Hashem which is the pinnacle of perfection in this world, then \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1, make yourself better! Go ahead and do the same. \u201c\u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u2013 And if you\u2019ll do that, \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u2013 I will uplift you by means of My favor; My favor in this world and the next.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLearning From Others
\n\n\n\nSometimes someone we know is particularly successful in serving Hashem and in acquiring His Favor. If our objective is to gain the Love and Favor of Hashem, we cannot afford to be discouraged at our failures, rather we must attempt to imitate those who are successful in His service. This week I will bli neder spend a minute each day considering how I can find Hashem\u2019s favor by emulating someone who has been successful at serving Him.
\nThe post Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T01:47:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-14T12:38:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35468, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bereishis-5783-seeking-hashems-favor/", "title": "Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor", "content_html": "TA-Bereishis-5783The post Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T01:45:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T01:45:06+00:00" }, { "id": 35460, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-bereishis-5783-seeking-hashems-favor/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor", "content_html": "TA-Bereishis-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Bereishis 5783 – Seeking Hashem\u2019s Favor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T01:44:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T01:44:31+00:00" }, { "id": 35454, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "05-\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-19T01:25:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-19T01:25:12+00:00" }, { "id": 35438, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hoshanot-dar-vueltas-alrededor-de-la-bima/", "title": "Hoshanot: dar vueltas alrededor de la bim\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es el prop\u00f3sito de dar vueltas alrededor de la bim\u00e1 cuando hacemos las hoshanot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl prop\u00f3sito es que estamos representando una forma antigua de servir a Hashem: \u05d5\u05d0\u05e1\u05d5\u05d1\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7\u05da \u200b\u200b\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u2013 Doy la vuelta a Tu altar, Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEl prop\u00f3sito de dar la vuelta a algo significa: \u201cEse es el centro de nuestras vidas. Ese es nuestro inter\u00e9s\u201d. Al igual que la kal\u00e1 gira alrededor del jat\u00e1n debajo de la jup\u00e1 para mostrar que va a dedicar su vida a ayudar al jat\u00e1n a establecer un hogar de Tor\u00e1 y servir juntos a Hakadosh Baruj Hu; ella se dedicar\u00e1 a criar una familia que estar\u00e1 bajo su gu\u00eda, y juntos tendr\u00e1n \u00e9xito en sus vidas de servicio a Hashem, as\u00ed que tambi\u00e9n rodeamos el shulj\u00e1n para mostrar que la tor\u00e1 es el centro de nuestras vidas, que el servicio a Hakadosh Baruj Hu es el m\u00e1s importante de todos los temas en nuestras vidas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #427 (septiembre de 1982)
\nThe post Hoshanot: dar vueltas alrededor de la bim\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-16T02:13:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-16T02:13:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35436, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/simjat-bet-hashoeva/", "title": "Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l era la causa de la alegr\u00eda en Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l era el prop\u00f3sito o la raz\u00f3n de Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nPrimero tenemos que darnos cuenta de que ten\u00eda lugar durante Sucot. Sucot es un tiempo de Simj\u00e1 y tenemos que analizar primero eso. \u00bfQu\u00e9 es Zem\u00e1n Simjatenu?
\n\n\n\nTenemos que saber que cada Iom Tov tiene un nombre. P\u00e9saj es Zem\u00e1n Jerutenu. Shavuot es Zem\u00e1n Mat\u00e1n Toratenu. \u00bfQu\u00e9 es Sucot? Sucot es s\u00f3lo Zem\u00e1n Simjatenu. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es la Simj\u00e1 de Sucot?
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si tu dijeras que la Simj\u00e1 es que salieron de Mitzr\u00e1im, que Hashem nos protegi\u00f3 en el Midbar, entonces deber\u00edamos decir eso. No decimos eso; decimos “Zem\u00e1n Simjatenu”. Y, por lo tanto, tenemos que darnos cuenta de que Sucot es la celebraci\u00f3n de la gran alegr\u00eda que Hakadosh Baruj Hu es un padre que nos proporciona la felicidad de la vida. De eso se trata Sucot.
\n\n\n\nJag HaAsif es el festival de recolectar los cultivos. Y cuando los productos eran recogidos de los campos y el israelita miraba la bendici\u00f3n que Hakadosh Baruj Hu le otorg\u00f3, sent\u00eda que ten\u00eda que expresarlo. Y Hakadosh Baruj Hu les dio un festival para ese prop\u00f3sito.
\n\n\n\nY para el reconocimiento general de Hashem como proveedor y protector de su pueblo. Eso es lo que dice, \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd, que recordamos que habitamos en Sucot, significa que no ten\u00edan ciudades fortificadas para protegerlos; estaban muy desprotegidos cuando estaban en el desierto, y sin embargo, durante cuarenta a\u00f1os, fue m\u00e1s seguro que cualquier per\u00edodo posterior de nuestra historia. Porque Hashem, es nuestra suc\u00e1, nuestro protector.
\n\n\n\nPero a partir de esta idea seguimos y decimos que no fue s\u00f3lo entonces; Incluso hoy es el que nos protege; \u00c9l es el \u05d6\u05df \u05d5\u05de\u05e4\u05e8\u05e0\u05e1 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc. \u00c9l es el que nos da la cosecha y nos da el sustento y todas las necesidades de la vida. Y as\u00ed, Sucot es la temporada cuando le agradecemos a Hashem. Para eso est\u00e1 Sucot. Esa es la Simj\u00e1 de Sucot, gratitud. \u00a1Gratitud por todo!
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, durante este tiempo, iban al Bet Hamikdash para reunirse y expresar sus sentimientos, el n\u00facleo de esa Simj\u00e1. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es el centro de toda la Simj\u00e1? El centro es que amamos a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Ahavat Hashem es estimulado por la gratitud. El comienzo del amor a Hashem es porque Hashem nos ha dado la vida y todas las necesidades de la vida.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed se un\u00edan, todos los Jajm\u00e9 HaTor\u00e1 y el pueblo jud\u00edo, para expresar su amor a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Eso es lo que era Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1: Ahavat Hashem. \u05d0\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05db\u05d0\u05df – Si hashem est\u00e1 aqu\u00ed, \u05d4\u05db\u05dc \u05db\u05d0\u05df – Entonces todo est\u00e1 aqu\u00ed. Y cantaban canciones de amor a Hakadosh Baruj Hu.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, la madreg\u00e1 m\u00e1s alta, el pin\u00e1culo m\u00e1s alto de logro para un jud\u00edo es cuando llega al amor a Hashem. Es por eso que es el \u00faltimo Sh\u00e1ar, la \u00faltima secci\u00f3n, del Jovot Halevavot. Y el Rambam pone el tema de Ahavat Hashem al final de Hiljot Teshuv\u00e1 porque dice que es el m\u00e1s alto de todos los niveles; el Rambam lo dice beferush. Por lo tanto, el cl\u00edmax de Sucot era Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1, el amor a Hakadosh Baruj Hu que expresaban.
\n\n\n\nY debido a eso, pod\u00edan extraer R\u00faaj HaK\u00f3desh, al igual que las personas extraen agua con baldes. \u05d5\u05e9\u05d0\u05d1\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e9\u05e9\u05d5\u05df – Extraen aguas con alegr\u00eda. \u00bfQu\u00e9 agua? Las aguas del esp\u00edritu que Hakadosh Baruj Hu derram\u00f3 sobre ellos por su amor a \u00c9l.
\n\n\n\nEs por eso que los hombres m\u00e1s grandes, los jasidim y Ansh\u00e9 Maas\u00e9, estaban juntos. Fueron los que m\u00e1s amaban a Hashem y sirvieron como modelo para las personas. Y \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05d8\u05d5 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05e0\u05d4\u05e8\u05d5 – la gente miraba a estos grandes hombres y se inspiraban; estaban emocionados cuando ve\u00edan c\u00f3mo estos grandes hombres expresaban su Ahavat Hashem. Y provocaba una impresi\u00f3n en todos los espectadores; los espectadores se iban sintiendo que hab\u00edan extra\u00eddo baldes llenos de R\u00faaj HaK\u00f3desh que les duraban por el resto de sus vidas.
\n\n\n\nEse fue el coraz\u00f3n, el n\u00facleo, el prop\u00f3sito, de Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #382
\nThe post Simjat Bet HaShoev\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-14T03:35:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-14T03:35:52+00:00" }, { "id": 35434, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-ushpizin-y-sucat-david/", "title": "Los Ushpiz\u00edn y Sucat David ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn Bircat Hamaz\u00f3n en Sucot rezamos, \u05d4\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05ea \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d5\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea \u2013 El Misericordioso reconstruir\u00e1 la Suc\u00e1 ca\u00edda de David, es decir, el Bet HaMikdash. \u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene que ver Sucat David con Sucot per se? Y mi segunda pregunta es, los ushpiz\u00edn que decimos en Sucot; \u00bfNo est\u00e1n invitados a nuestra casa todos los d\u00edas del a\u00f1o? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 de repente en Sucot los invitamos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY ambas preguntas tienen una sola respuesta. Primero repetir\u00e9 las preguntas. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 en Sucot a\u00f1adimos “El Todopoderoso erigir\u00e1 la suc\u00e1 ca\u00edda del rey David”? \u00bfY por qu\u00e9 en Sucot invitamos como invitados a los grandes hombres de la antig\u00fcedad Abraham, Itzjak, Iaakov, etc.? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no en P\u00e9saj para el seder u otros momentos?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que la suc\u00e1 tiene un significado especial porque la suc\u00e1 es el s\u00edmbolo de la existencia de la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda en el exilio. Am Israel existe a\u00fan en las circunstancias de m\u00e1xima desprotecci\u00f3n; somos m\u00e1s vulnerables porque somos un pueblo peque\u00f1o en comparaci\u00f3n con las dem\u00e1s naciones del mundo. Y en el exilio somos vulnerables; no tenemos ning\u00fan ej\u00e9rcito que nos proteja y estamos al capricho, al gusto, de todas las naciones.
\n\n\n\nY l[os go\u00edm] est\u00e1n haciendo todo lo posible [para exterminarnos]; siempre han hecho todo lo posible. \u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u2013 En cada generaci\u00f3n han intentado una y otra vez deshacerse de nosotros. Han hecho esfuerzos muy grandes; es s\u00f3lo porque la gente no sabe historia que se olvidan de estas cosas; no son conscientes. Pero en muchas generaciones han hecho todo lo posible. El emperador Adriano hizo todo lo posible y era un hombre muy poderoso; ten\u00eda el Imperio Romano a su disposici\u00f3n e hizo todo lo posible para acabar con el pueblo jud\u00edo. Sin mencionar a Ham\u00e1n e Hitler y todos los dem\u00e1s.
\n\n\n\nY de este modo, vivimos en una suc\u00e1 en el Olam Haz\u00e9 y es una suc\u00e1 que parece tener una existencia endeble. Pero en realidad es el tipo de vivienda m\u00e1s fuerte porque la suc\u00e1 es la promesa que hizo el Todopoderoso de que estaremos para siempre. \u00c9l prometi\u00f3 eso. Las naciones vendr\u00e1n y se ir\u00e1n, pero el Am Hashem permanecer\u00e1 para siempre. Y eso es lo que representa la suc\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPor eso est\u00e1 prohibido hacer una suc\u00e1 con techo de hierro, techo de hormig\u00f3n, porque esa es la lecci\u00f3n. Nuestra suc\u00e1, el sejaj, la peque\u00f1a y endeble cobija, es suficiente, porque los anan\u00e9 kavod, las nubes de gloria de la Shejin\u00e1, son m\u00e1s fuerte que cualquier material. \u00a1El jud\u00edo estar\u00e1 aqu\u00ed para siempre! No significa todos los jud\u00edos; las personas pueden perderse jalila, pero estamos aqu\u00ed para siempre.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, debido a que la suc\u00e1 es un s\u00edmbolo de nuestra existencia nacional que est\u00e1 asegurada para siempre, es por eso que tenemos que recordarnos que falta parte de la imagen. No est\u00e1 completa hasta que se restablece la suc\u00e1 de David. Porque David es el hombre que tiene una de las mayores participaciones en nuestra existencia nacional. Tomar\u00eda mucho tiempo explicarlo, pero la contribuci\u00f3n de David HaM\u00e9lej es tan notable, tan destacada, que merece no una charla, sino muchas conferencias. Y por lo tanto, es imposible para nosotros imaginar la existencia de nuestra naci\u00f3n sin la participaci\u00f3n de David HaM\u00e9lej y, por lo tanto, incluimos eso.
\n\n\n\nY se introducen los Avot, los fundadores de nuestro pueblo, porque ellos son los responsables del amor que nos tiene Hakadosh Baruj Hu y del pacto que hizo con nosotros. Y, por lo tanto, los invitamos a pasar. Es como alguien que se muda a una nueva casa, tiene que recordarse a s\u00ed mismo que hubo un amigo que pag\u00f3 un pr\u00e9stamo de diez mil d\u00f3lares, otro que pag\u00f3 otros diez mil; digamos que son los padres de su esposa o tal vez un t\u00edo. Entonces, cuando se trata de hacer janukat hab\u00e1it, \u00e9l los llama.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, cuando hacemos nuestros sucot que representan la existencia eterna de nuestra naci\u00f3n, llamamos a estos grandes hombres que fundaron nuestra suc\u00e1 y Hakadosh Baruj Hu hizo Su pacto con ellos; hizo un pacto con Abraham, Itzjak e Iaakov. Y por David y Mosh\u00e9, Aar\u00f3n y Shelom\u00f3, todos esos grandes hombres que ayudaron a establecer nuestra naci\u00f3n. Y por lo tanto los invitamos a la suc\u00e1 porque ah\u00ed es donde pertenecen.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #141 (octubre de 1976)
\nThe post Los Ushpiz\u00edn y Sucat David appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-13T05:11:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-13T05:11:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35431, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9e%d7%90-%d7%97%d7%92-%d7%94%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d0: \u05d7\u05d2 \u05d4\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-241The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05de”\u05d0: \u05d7\u05d2 \u05d4\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-13T05:09:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-13T05:09:57+00:00" }, { "id": 35422, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/lecciones-de-la-suca-separados-y-confiados/", "title": "Lecciones de la suc\u00e1: separados y confiados", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1les son los puntos m\u00e1s importantes a tener en cuenta ma\u00f1ana por la noche en la suc\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nYa te cont\u00e9 algunas cosas esta noche. \u00bfQuieres algunos puntos m\u00e1s? Mientras est\u00e1s sentado en la suc\u00e1, piensa lo feliz que eres que Hakadosh Baruj Hu te eligi\u00f3 como su pueblo; porque la suc\u00e1 es un s\u00edmbolo que fuimos elegidos. Hashem mantuvo al Ben\u00e9 Israel en las sucot durante cuarenta a\u00f1os en el midbar para que no tengan conexi\u00f3n con los Go\u00edm. En el midbar no ten\u00edan conexi\u00f3n con gentiles en absoluto. Nada en absoluto. Esa es una gran beraj\u00e1.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfAs\u00ed que quieres saber un punto importante para aprender sobre la suc\u00e1? Aqu\u00ed hay uno: si posees un televisor, t\u00edralo por la ventana de inmediato. \u00a1Apl\u00e1stalo! Algunos tontos incluso gastan dinero en un cable satelital; quieren incluso m\u00e1s tum\u00e1 en sus casas. Eso es lo opuesto a la suc\u00e1. Mientras est\u00e1s sentado en la suc\u00e1, probablemente no te lleves el televisor contigo a la suc\u00e1, \u00bfverdad? Y por eso, la suc\u00e1 es una oportunidad maravillosa para comenzar una nueva carrera.
\n\n\n\nCon los peri\u00f3dicos lo mismo. Todos los peri\u00f3dicos de Go\u00edm, si los ves en la calle, puedes echar un vistazo a los titulares, pero eso es todo. No los traigas en la casa. \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e2\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da – No traigas la abominaci\u00f3n a tu casa. Porque la suc\u00e1 significa aislamiento; qu\u00e9 importante es estar aislado de los Go\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nY por eso, la suc\u00e1, entre otras lecciones, nos ense\u00f1a a Hibadel\u00fa; \u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea\u05db\u05dd \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e2\u05de\u05d9\u05dd – Te separ\u00e9 de las naciones. Los llev\u00e9 al midbar para ense\u00f1arles que son mi gente amada y no tienen conexi\u00f3n con las naciones del mundo.
\n\n\n\nComo dijo Bilam cuando nos vio en el Midbar, \u05d4\u05df \u05e2\u05dd \u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d3 \u05d9\u05e9\u05db\u05d5\u05df – He aqu\u00ed un pueblo que habita solo, \u05d5\u05d1\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05ea\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1 – una naci\u00f3n que no se cuenta entre las naciones. Bilam estaba emocionado por eso. Y nosotros deber\u00edamos estar m\u00e1s emocionados que Bilam.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfc\u00f3mo trabajas eso? Cuando entras en la suc\u00e1, intenta inmediatamente recordar estas cosas; y mientras que otras personas est\u00e1n hablando dibr\u00e9 jol, piensa en estas ideas en la suc\u00e1. Incluso si lo haces un poco, es un \u00e9xito porque eres superior a cualquier otra persona.
\n\n\n\nLa suc\u00e1, por cierto, es una lecci\u00f3n de Bitaj\u00f3n tambi\u00e9n. Si piensas en la suc\u00e1, que est\u00e1s sentado bajo la protecci\u00f3n de Hashem, esa es una lecci\u00f3n importante que practicamos cuando salimos de la casa a la suc\u00e1. \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 – Eres una vivienda para nosotros. Vivimos en ti; estamos siendo protegidos por ti todo el tiempo. Pensamos que son nuestros esfuerzos que nos protegen, pero est\u00e1 mal. Ciertamente, tenemos que intentar cuidarnos de accidentes, ladrones, etc., pero tenemos que reconocer que Hakadosh Baruj Hu es el que nos cuida.
\n\n\n\nUna vez me fui a casa por la noche y encerr\u00e9 la puerta, me asegur\u00e9 de que la puerta estuviera cerrada, y luego me fui a dormir. Dorm\u00ed sano y salvo toda la noche. Me levant\u00e9 por la ma\u00f1ana y no pude encontrar mis llaves. Sal\u00ed afuera, y la llave estaba puesta en la cerradura del lado de afuera, toda la noche. Cualquiera que quer\u00eda pod\u00eda haber quitado las llaves y abrir la puerta. Fue una lecci\u00f3n Min Hasham\u00e1im. Estaba pensando: “Est\u00e1s a salvo toda la noche. \u00bfEs porque has encerrado la puerta? No, no cerraste la puerta. Hashem la cerr\u00f3. Hashem es el que te mantuvo seguro”.
\n\n\n\nDe este modo, la suc\u00e1 es una lecci\u00f3n \u05d1\u05d8\u05d7\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e2\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d3 – Conf\u00eden en Hashem para siempre, \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05da \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd – Porque Hashem, es el eterno. Es muy importante aprender a confiar en Hashem. No significa que debas ser descuidado con tu seguridad, pero no importa lo que hagas, sin importar las precauciones que tomes, siempre recuerda que Hashem es el que te est\u00e1 protegiendo. Y hay una gran recompensa por eso. \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05ea\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d8\u05d7\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 – Cualquiera que ponga su confianza en Hashem, \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05d7\u05e1\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0. La recompensa por el Bitaj\u00f3n en el pr\u00f3ximo mundo es a\u00fan mayor que en este mundo. Es una mitzv\u00e1 muy grande confiar en Hashem.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, al final de la semana, llevas a casa tu sueldo que trabajaste toda la semana y dices: “Te agradezco Hashem que me diste la paga”. Hashem te dio la paga, no el jefe. Al igual que el agricultor. El agricultor ara la tierra y todo el verano est\u00e1 ocupado cuidando el cultivo. Luego obtiene la cosecha, y tiene que trillar el grano. Tiene que aventar y moler. Luego toma la harina y hace el pan. Ahora el pan est\u00e1 sobre la mesa. Hizo todo el trabajo, y luego \u00e9l dice \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd … \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d7\u05dd \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 – “Te agradezco Hashem por darme este pan. Me est\u00e1s dando el pan. No hice nada, s\u00f3lo movimientos. T\u00fa eres el \u00fanico, \u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d7\u05dd \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05e8. Me diste el pan”.
\n\n\n\nSi vivimos con Bitaj\u00f3n, es un logro muy grande, y entre los otros s\u00edmbolos, la suc\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n es un s\u00edmbolo de Bitachon.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #756 (octubre de 1989)
\nThe post Lecciones de la suc\u00e1: separados y confiados appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-12T04:15:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-12T04:15:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35418, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-papa-en-shabat-y-el-avodat-hashem/", "title": "La papa en shabat y el avodat Hashem ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nDice \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea, \u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5 \u05e0\u05d7\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, todo aquel que haga del Shabat un d\u00eda de placer ser\u00e1 recompensado con una recompensa ilimitada. \u00bfEso se aplica tambi\u00e9n a una persona que hace las mitzvot anashim melumad\u00e1, [rob\u00f3ticamente] y sin pensar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi una persona hace del Shabat un d\u00eda placentero – digamos que come ch\u00f3lent y sabe bien; disfruta las papas asadas y saben bien. Supongamos que no est\u00e1 pensando en nada excepto en las papas; debes saber que hay una recompensa por eso. No hay duda. Porque una vez que un hombre tiene en mente la idea de que Shabat es un momento de placer, eso en s\u00ed mismo es un logro. \u00a1Shabat es placentero! Eso es un logro.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, si deseas lograr mucho m\u00e1s, cuando est\u00e9s comiendo las papas, piensa: “\u00a1Baruj Hashem que \u00c9l cre\u00f3 las papas!” En una \u00e9poca, no ten\u00edamos papas en Europa. Cuando el Capit\u00e1n John Smith vino de Am\u00e9rica, trajo papas a Europa. La gente estaba asombrada. Es como si todo un b\u00e9iguel hayasalidodel suelo. Una papa es carbohidratos. Es como jal\u00e1. Para la jal\u00e1 hay que moler el trigo y hacerlo harina, hacerlo masa y luego hornearlo; pero aqu\u00ed sale todo un b\u00e9iguel del suelo. Y as\u00ed comenz\u00f3 a extenderse. Y algunas naciones viv\u00edan s\u00f3lo de papas. Los irlandeses viv\u00edan s\u00f3lo a base de papas.
\n\n\n\nY entonces tenemos que agradecer a Hashem por el j\u00e9sed de las papas. Y tenemos que agradecerle por el jesed de un horno a gas que har\u00e1 que las papas se pongan marrones. Y por el j\u00e9sed que nos dio tantas otras cosas buenas para comer con las papas. \u00a1Mucho j\u00e9sed! Y Shabat es un momento especial para pensar en beriat olam shel j\u00e9sed.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si una persona disfruta de las papas y no piensa en nada, a\u00fan vale la pena. Y si disfruta las papas, el cholent, y est\u00e1 pensando en el j\u00e9sed de Hashem al darle papas, eso tambi\u00e9n vale la pena. Pero si piensa en el Shabat como una conmemoraci\u00f3n de beriat haolam shel jesed, ahora est\u00e1 llegando a la cima de la escalera.
\n\n\n\nNo es dificil. Es f\u00e1cil tener estos pensamientos. Y por lo tanto el taanug de los maajal\u00e9 Shabat nos puede llevar a grandes madregot de hakar\u00e1, de reconocer los caminos de Hashem. Como dice, \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d0\u05de\u05ea \u2013 Los caminos de Hashem son todos bondad. Y por lo tanto, cu\u00e1n grande es la apreciaci\u00f3n de las comidas de Shabat.
\n\n\n\nDecimos en la tefil\u00e1 que \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd \u05d9\u05d2\u05dc \u2013 Abraham est\u00e1 feliz cuando ve a sus hijos, sus descendientes, disfrutando del Shabat. Cuando disfrutas el Shabat, honras el Shabat, aprecias el Shabat, es un tremendo zejut para nuestros Avot. Abraham tiene n\u00e1jat de nosotros. Por supuesto que le dar\u00eda m\u00e1s n\u00e1jat si agregaras las madregot superiores de reconocer el gedulat Hashem y reconocer que beriat haolam es kul\u00f3 j\u00e9sed; entonces seguramente \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd \u05d9\u05d2\u05dc. Y es un n\u00e1jat tambi\u00e9n para Itzjak y para Iaakov cuando ven que sus nietos est\u00e1n utilizando el Shabat de esa manera.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, Shabat debe utilizarse para apreciar los beneficios, el gashmiut del Shabat, porque el gashmiut del Shabat, es nuestro rujaniut. Y esa es nuestra manera de mostrar nuestra comprensi\u00f3n del dark\u00e9 Hashem, que Hakadosh Baruj Hu es jasid bejol maasav – \u00c9l hace j\u00e9sed en todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-109 (mayo de 1997)
\nThe post La papa en shabat y el avodat Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-09T04:15:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-09T04:15:50+00:00" }, { "id": 35414, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sucot-el-final-de-los-iamim-noraim/", "title": "Sucot: el final de los Iamim Nora\u00edm ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay una conexi\u00f3n entre Iom Kipur y Sucot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que hay una conexi\u00f3n obvia. Rosh Hashan\u00e1 e Iom Kipur son ocasiones para proclamar el Maljut Hashem. Decimos \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 y \u05d5\u05ea\u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 todo el d\u00eda. Todas las Tefilot de Rosh Hashan\u00e1 e Iom Kipur est\u00e1n impregnadas con el concepto de M\u00e9lej.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, una vez que establezcamos en nuestra mente la conciencia de que \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05dc\u05da, luego sigue que Hakadosh Baruj Hu est\u00e1 a cargo de todo; \u00c9l supervisa. Hashgaj\u00e1, providencia; todo est\u00e1 bajo el control de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nY eso es exactamente lo que Sucot nos est\u00e1 diciendo. \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd – Hice que habitaran en Sucot cuando los saqu\u00e9 de Egipto. No ten\u00edan ciudades amuralladas con edificios fuertes permanentes. Habitaban en tiendas de campa\u00f1a, en tabern\u00e1culos, en edificios endebles que no eran protecci\u00f3n contra los invasores. En ese momento estaban m\u00e1s desprotegidos que en toda su historia. Y, sin embargo, nunca en la historia posteriormente estuvieron tan seguros como estaban en el Midbar. Nunca m\u00e1s tuvieron una garant\u00eda tal para su seguridad como tuvieron en esas peque\u00f1as sucot. \u00bfC\u00f3mo podr\u00eda ser as\u00ed si no ten\u00edan paredes, si no eran casas de ladrillo?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es el sejaj. El sejaj simboliza que no hay nada encima tuyo para protegerte, s\u00f3lo la gloria de Hashem. Fue la Providencia especial de Hashem la que hizo que estuvieran m\u00e1s seguros en el desierto que incluso m\u00e1s tarde, cuando ten\u00edan ciudades amuralladas.
\n\n\n\nY esa es la lecci\u00f3n de Sucot, que vivimos siempre en la Sucat shelomeja; vivimos bajo la protecci\u00f3n de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIncluso ahora, aunque no estamos tan seguros como lo estaban nuestros antepasados, no tenemos la misma cantidad de hashgaj\u00e1 para protegernos, pero Hakadosh Baruj Hu todav\u00eda est\u00e1 con nosotros hoy como siempre. S\u00f3lo que en aquellos d\u00edas, era m\u00e1s evidente. La Shejin\u00e1 estaba en lo alto, los Anan\u00e9 HaKavod, y el prop\u00f3sito era ense\u00f1ar a la gente una lecci\u00f3n para todas las generaciones, que incluso cuando no hayan Anan\u00e9 HaKavod, tenemos que recordar que Hakadosh Baruj Hu todav\u00eda se encuentra sobre su pueblo.
\n\n\n\nTodas las dem\u00e1s naciones con el transcurso del tiempo caen y son tragadas por la tierra, pero Am Israel continuar\u00e1 para siempre. No importa cu\u00e1n d\u00e9bil parece que estemos, siempre debemos recordar que somos la naci\u00f3n m\u00e1s fuerte porque Hakadosh Baruj Hu est\u00e1 con nosotros.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, la Suc\u00e1 es un corolario del Maljut Hashem. Sucot es Bitaj\u00f3n, Emun\u00e1, la confianza que proviene de la conciencia de que Hashem es nuestro Rey. Y esa conciencia, por supuesto, es lo que aprendemos para la Avod\u00e1 de Rosh Hashan\u00e1 e Iom Kipur.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #476 (octubre de 1983)
\nThe post Sucot: el final de los Iamim Nora\u00edm appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-07T04:43:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-07T04:43:30+00:00" }, { "id": 35410, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-sukkos-the-finale-of-the-yomim-noraim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Sukkos: The Finale of The Yomim Noraim", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there a connection between Yom Kippur and Sukkos?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that there is an obvious connection.\u00a0 Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are occasions of proclaiming the malchus Hashem. It\u2019s \u05d4\u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 and\u00a0 \u05d5\u05ea\u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 all day long. The entire tefillos of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are permeated with the concept of Melech.
\n\n\n\nNow, once we establish in our minds the awareness that \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05dc\u05da, then it follows that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is in charge; He supervises. Hashgacha, providence; everything is under the control of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd that is exactly what Sukkos is telling us.\u00a0 \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u2013\u00a0I\u00a0caused them to dwell in Sukkos when I took them out of Egypt.\u00a0 They did not have walled cities with permanent strong buildings.\u00a0They dwelled in tents, in tabernacles, in flimsy edifices that were no protection against invaders. They were at that time the most unprotected in all of their history.\u00a0 And yet, never in history subsequently were they as secure as they were in the Midbar.\u00a0 Never again did they have such guarantee for their safety as they had in these little flimsy sukkos. How could that be if they had no walls, no brick homes?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is the schach. The schach symbolizes that there\u2019s nothing on top of you to protect you, only the glory of Hashem.\u00a0 It was Hashem\u2019s especial providence that caused them to be more secure in the wilderness than even later when they had walled cities.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the lesson of Sukkos, that we live always in the sukkas shloimecha; we live in the protection of Hashem.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nEven now, although we are not as secure as our forefathers were \u2013 we don\u2019t have the same amount of hashgacha to protect us \u2013 but Hakodosh Boruch Hu is still with us today as always.\u00a0 Only that in those days, it was most evident.\u00a0 The Shechina was overhead, the ananei hakavod, and the purpose was to teach the people a lesson for all generations, that even when there won\u2019t be ananei hakavod, we have to remember that Hakodosh Boruch Hu still hovers over His people.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAll other nations in the course of time fall and are swallowed up by the earth, but the Am Yisroel will continue forever. No matter how weak we seem to be, we should always be reminded that we are the strongest of nations because Hakodosh Boruch Hu is with us.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the sukkah is a corollary of malchus Hashem. Sukkos is the bitachon, the emunah, the confidence which comes from the awareness of Hashem our King. And that awareness, of course, is what we learn by the avodah of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 476 (October 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Sukkos: The Finale of The Yomim Noraim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T18:53:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T18:53:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35406, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-kol-nidrei/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Kol Nidrei", "content_html": "\nQ:
What does Kol Nidrei have to do with Yom Kippur?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe connection of Kol Nidrei to Yom Kippur? The answer is, it\u2019s been blown up to more than there really is.
\n\n\n\nThe idea of Kol Nidrei is based on a gemara in Nedarim. If a person wants to make a\u00a0tnai,\u00a0a stipulation,\u00a0in the beginning of the year that all the nedarim that he\u2019ll make during the upcoming year should be batel, so he should stand up in the beginning of the year and make that\u00a0tnai.\u00a0 So Kol Nidrei is like a condition \u2013 in case we make nedarim, we are now matir those nedarim on condition that subsequently when we remember that, it\u2019ll become batel.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThere are halachos that are connected with it and\u00a0we don\u2019t rely on that l\u2019maaseh but\u00a0it became after a while an important\u00a0haschalah,\u00a0a ceremonial beginning\u00a0for Yom Kippur.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThere are others who say that although it no longer has a real meaning of hatoras nedarim, but it means something else, something that is also very important at the beginning of such an important day. It means like this: A\u00a0person in his lifetime has certain aspirations, certain desires to do things, and so now as Yom Kippur begins he is mevatel all the unnecessary things of his life. We start Yom Kippur by refocusing our attention to the ikar haikrim, which is\u00a0avodas Hashem and making something out of ourselves.\u00a0 All the other things in life, we wanted to do this or that, so we say now, \u201cNedrono loh nidrei\u2026u\u2019shvuosono lo shivu\u2019os;\u00a0it\u2019s all nothing.\u201d\u00a0 The only thing we have to do now is to listen to the Torah and fulfill what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants from us. All of our other dreams and aspirations\u00a0we want to be mivateil, we want to make it nothing.\u00a0That\u2019s a remez that they say is included in Kol Nidrei.
\n\n\n\nHowever, the fact that it\u2019s a niggun at the beginning of Yom Kippur makes it very impressive;\u00a0but it certainly has been blown up more than it deserves to have been.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-77 (October 1996)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Kol Nidrei appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T18:32:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T18:32:19+00:00" }, { "id": 35401, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hurry-up-teshuva/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hurry Up Teshuva", "content_html": "\nQ:
On Yom Kippur are we trying to do \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 or \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4? Are we repenting because of love of Hashem or because of fear of Hashem?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow my friends, let’s be honest and frank and candid and tell the truth. If a man is running out of a\u00a0house that’s on fire, are we going to ask questions why he\u2019s running? Get out! We don’t care how you do teshuva; do it any which way! We are not bodek your tzitzis if you’re running out of the house to save your life.
\n\n\n\nTeshuva mei’ahava is something that requires a very great preparation. To love Hashem is to most of us a very artificial and unreal concept. To be afraid of Hashem, to a certain extent that\u2019s also unreal but since it’s more attainable, it’s more within our reach, so the first thing we think on Yom Kippur is that we want to live after Yom Kippur.\u00a0\u201cRibono shel Olam, have pity on me! I\u2019m so sorry for what I\u2019ve done!\u00a0I\u2019ll be better!\u201d\u00a0
We see what happened to other people. All around us we have examples, chas ve’sholom, of great misfortune to individuals. That’s number one, \u201cSpare us! \u05e9\u05de\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5\u2026\u05d7\u05d5\u05e1 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05ea \u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5.\u201d Cry out from whatever motivation you can. If you can think of as many examples of tragedies, chas ve’sholom, that you saw all around you and that\u2019s your motivation, utilize it! Don’t despise that. Anything that will make your feet run faster out of the fire should be mustered. Any kind of energy that will make you cry out to Hashem and ask for forgiveness, utilize it.\u00a0
After Yom Kippur you can sit down now and start thinking of ways and means of loving Hashem. That’s a big career and we speak a great deal about that here.
\n\n\n\nNow a lot of people, especially bnei Torah, don\u2019t think in these terms. And they look down on people who are talking about loving Hashem because of what He is doing for them. Their minds are not accustomed to these thoughts. But they are missing out on one of the greatest forms of success in this life.
\n\n\n\nLearn to love Hashem that you don’t have a colostomy, a hole in your side. Love Hashem that you have a beautiful aperture where it\u2019s supposed to be; it’s greased and it functions perfectly. Love Hashem for a normal rectum!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d you say, \u201cisn’t that silly?\u201d You’ll go back to yeshiva and they\u2019ll say \u201cWhat were you talking about there? To love Hashem because of your rectum?!\u201d They\u2019ll laugh at that. All right, be a chochom;\u00a0be a chochom if you want. But a man who has a colostomy, he thinks otherwise. \u201cOh Hashem,\u201d he says, \u201cI wish You would restore me to what I was before. How happy I would be! How I envy those people who live a normal life!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd here is a man, you pass by him in the street; he is sentenced to riding around on wheels. He can never walk anymore. Love Hashem that you can walk! Learn to say every morning with great happiness \u201c\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05de\u05db\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05e6\u05e2\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d2\u05d1\u05e8 \u2013 You established the footsteps of a man.\u201d It\u2019s a trick to be able to walk upright, to balance yourself on your two legs. Isn\u2019t that a wonderful achievement as your thighs swing effortlessly back and forth? You feel no pain in your thighs, and your knees flex and relax as your ankles bend and straighten out, as all the bones in your feet are working with lubrication between the joints.
\n\n\n\nOf course, even if you have, chas ve’sholom, arthritis, you should be happy too that you can walk. But if you don’t have any pains as you walk, it’s a joy to walk! A complicated mechanism with all kinds of pulleys and levers; muscles working one with another. Miracle upon miracle that they are all functioning perfectly. You can walk? That\u2019s a great happiness!
\n\n\n\nSo if somebody will say, \u201cThank Hashem because I can walk? Ha ha!\u201d, he\u2019s\u00a0a letz! He\u2019s\u00a0ridiculing\u00a0the great gifts of Hashem.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nYou have to learn that. That’s how to do teshuva mei’ahava. You can\u2019t do teshuva mei’ahava just by saying, \u201cI’ll decide to do teshuva mei’ahava.\u201d You have to spend a lifetime of studying how fortunate you are. All\u00a0the blessings that we receive along with the rest of Mankind are also blessings. And so when a person learns to be grateful to Hakodosh Boruch Hu when rain comes, that\u2019s how he\u2019ll be able teshuva mei\u2019ahava. And\u00a0he’s also grateful for\u00a0the fact that the sun rises every morning! \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea. How many frum Jews go through that brocha and not once think what it’s talking about? And they\u2019ll ridicule when they see somebody talking about thanking because of the sun, doing teshuva because he loves Hashem for the sunlight. They\u2019ll laugh, \u201cHa ha.\u201d But every morning you\u2019re saying it! It\u2019s the longest brocha in the siddur! So it means that you are living like a robot; you don’t even know what you’re saying. That brocha means gratitude. That’s teshuva mei’ahava.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to Yom Kippur, the time is too short. Let’s say a man is drowning, and he’s a sick man. Let’s say he has heart disease, and he has cancer; he has lots of sicknesses and he\u2019s drowning. And you are standing on the shore and you have a medical chart of all his illnesses. So you say, \u201cWell, for his heart disease we have to give him a different diet. For his liver disease, I have this medication.\u201d He’s drowning by the way! And you\u2019re looking at the checklist! \u201cAnd for his cancer we have to give him chemotherapy and so on.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo, no! Forget about that! Hurl a rope out, throw a plank to him. Save him first of all. Number one is he needs to be rescued from the waters.
\n\n\n\nSo on Yom Kippur the first objective is to be saved from the judgment of the Yom Hadin; any which way that will work! If the fear of the grave is effective, use it. Don’t care about it being only teshuva mei\u2019yirah. Use it anyhow!
\n\n\n\nAfter Yom Kippur, settle down and work on getting even more yirah. Yirah is always important! More fear of the grave! Everybody wants to be alive. But in addition, study the happiness that Hashem gives you every day and all day, and little by little you’ll learn to love Hashem and then maybe next Yom Kippur or maybe twenty Yom Kippurs from now\u00a0you’ll be doing also teshvua mei’ahava.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 568 (September 1985)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hurry Up Teshuva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T18:28:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T18:28:04+00:00" }, { "id": 35383, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "03-\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05eaThe post \u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:36:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:36:42+00:00" }, { "id": 35377, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sukkos-5783-a-temporary-world-2/", "title": "Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World", "content_html": "It\u2019s a Hotel World
\n\n\n\nIn his Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh, the Chovos Halevavos speaks about the necessity for every person to consider what he calls tzuras omdo b\u2019olam, the essential character of his existence in the world. It means that among all of the attitudes of the mind that every person must develop, he must also take time to think about this burning question: What does my state of existence in this world look like?
\n\n\n\nNow when a child is born he knows right away the state of his existence. He\u2019s here to stay. If you tell him stories about people who die, he doesn’t really believe it, or at least it doesn’t apply to him. He thinks he knows tzuras omdo b\u2019olam; he’sa permanent resident.
\n\n\n\nActually, almost everybody retains this juvenile attitude all his life. Of course, he knows all about misah, but it\u2019s very far from his mind. He has ten thousand years left, at least. That\u2019s his recognition of tzuras omdo b\u2019olam; he\u2019s here and he\u2019s here to stay.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Chovos Halevavos reminds us that it\u2019s of the utmost importance to \u201crecognize the actual form of our existence here,\u201d that we’re only visitors. This is a hotel and we are orchim; we spend a little time here and then we move on.
\n\n\n\nA Temporary Dwelling
\n\n\n\nNow, one of the experiences that Hakodosh Boruch Hu presents to us for the purpose of acquiring this attitude is the sukkah. \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05bb\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 For seven days go out from your home and live in the sukkah. It\u2019s a mitzvah that if used the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended, will have the most far-reaching results in our lives; not only on Sukkos but in Cheshvan and Kislev and all the rest of the year. Sitting in the sukkah, if you learn how to do it, affects our entire attitude and our entire success in this world.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s study that. First we note that one of the most important features of the sukkah is that it\u2019s a diras arai. By its very nature, in its halacha requirements, it\u2019s supposed to be a temporary dwelling. Why can\u2019t you make a sukkah that\u2019s higher than a certain height? Because \u05e1\u05bb\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05df; it has to be a temporary dwelling and too high a wall around the sukkah gives the impression that it\u2019s permanent; if it\u2019s too high you\u2019ll be forced to build very strong walls,
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see that a fundamental requirement of a kosher sukkah is that it should be a temporary dwelling.
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s not merely for convenience, so that we shouldn\u2019t have to spend too much money in building permanent sukkos. No, it\u2019s much more than that. The purpose is to tell us \u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05e7\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9; for this certain amount of time, for these seven days, Hashem wants you to move out of your permanent residence, and go into a temporary dwelling. And in that little hut, in that flimsy home, you will be encouraged to reflect on the temporary nature of your existence in this world, on your actual tzuras omdo b\u2019olam.
\n\n\n\nRemember Those Days
\n\n\n\nOf course, we shouldn\u2019t forget to keep in mind what Hakodosh Boruch Hu told us befeirush, that we are sitting in the sukkah \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05d9\u05b5\u05d3\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b9\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05e1\u05bb\u05bc\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 in order to remember how we sat in huts for forty years when Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim (Vayikra 23:43).
\n\n\n\nThat’s another reason why the schach can\u2019t be too high. When the schach is too high, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b0\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0, the eye ordinarily doesn\u2019t look up that high and you\u2019ll miss the point. We want the schach to be within your normal eyesight so that even without craning your neck you\u2019ll see what\u2019s overhead and you\u2019ll be reminded about that miraculous period in our history. It was miraculous when the entire nation dwelt only in sukkos, in little flimsy dwellings. and still we were more secure in the midbar than at any other time in our history. And it\u2019s only because Hakodosh Boruch Hu was our sukkah. He was protecting us.
\n\n\n\nSo when you go into the sukkah and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cIs it kosher schach? Are the dimensions good? Is it big enough? Is it under a tree?\u201d The ones who know more are thinking about lavud and dofen akumah, other dinim. Very good! It\u2019s wonderful if they have all these things in mind, but you have to add on something more. You have to spend some time thinking about the forty years that we lived in the Midbar under the protection of Hashem. How can you neglect such a thing when Hakodosh Boruch Hu says openly, \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u2013 it\u2019s for this purpose that I commanded you to live in sukkos.
\n\n\n\nAlways Traveling
\n\n\n\nAnd yet included in that thought, the sukkah reminds us of how temporary was our existence in the midbar. Every day they had to be on the alert, maybe they\u2019ll hear the blast of the chatzotzros summoning them to pull up the stakes of their tents and start moving. And so they never felt settled; they were like visitors, like people who are just passing through.
\n\n\n\nAnd it was intended by Hashem to be that way. The forty year journey through the Midbar was meant to teach them that lesson. vayisu Bnei Yisrael, we’re traveling all the time, never resting for too long in one place \u2013 that\u2019s a symbol of our existence in this world, we\u2019re just passing through.
\n\n\n\nWe see it today too. When the immigrants came to this country, when they arrived in New York, first they lived on the East Side and then Brownsville and then Crown Heights, then they moved some place else. That\u2019s Hashem\u2019s plan. Vayisu Bnei Yisrael, we\u2019re always on the move, traveling throughout our history. We went to Bavel. From Bavel we went to Spain and North Africa. Then we went to Europe. Then from Italy and France we went to Germany, from Germany to Russia; and then to America and Australia. And so we’re always traveling; vayisu.
\n\n\n\nAnd what\u2019s one of the purposes? It\u2019s not the only reason but one of the purposes is so we should always feel we’re not permanent residents anyplace because the whole olam hazeh is temporary.
\n\n\n\nTraveling in Greatness
\n\n\n\nNow it doesn’t mean they didn’t succeed in Spain. Traveling doesn\u2019t mean failure. So many of our rishonim were there. Without Spain we wouldn’t have the Rambam and the Rashba and the Ritva and the Ran and all the other gedolei Yisroel. The Kuzari and Chovos Halevavos were all from Spain.
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t a failure; just the opposite \u2013 they succeeded more because they had in mind that they came from someplace and they\u2019re going someplace else; they won’t be here forever.
\n\n\n\nThey weren’t deceived like American Jews who think \u05d6\u05b9\u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u2013 we\u2019ll be here forever and ever. Like Alabama means in the Indian language, \u201cHere we rest forever.\u201d Oh no, it\u2019s no Alabama for us. Don’t make any mistake about it; we won’t rest here forever. The German Jews thought so too. Don’t make that same mistake.
\n\n\n\nTraveling Happily
\n\n\n\nNow, this understanding of our tzuras omdo b\u2019olam will have the most far-reaching results. It affects our entire attitude and our entire success in this world. Even in gashmiyus, even in the way we enjoy this world, it will make a tremendous difference. I\u2019ll prove it to you. Because don\u2019t you enjoy yourself in the temporary sukkah? You sing zemiros in the sukkah, and you can eat good seudos in the sukkah with your family. You enjoy yourself very much!
\n\n\n\nIn fact, you enjoy it more. It’s like an outing. You know, melamdim many times go to the country for the summer. Now when you come to the bungalow for two months, you know you have plenty of time and so you\u2019re not in a hurry to enjoy it and it becomes boring too after a while. But while you’re in the country you notice there are people who are coming for a two week vacation, some for a one-week vacation.
\n\n\n\nNow, these one-weekers, they come along with fishing rods. They come along with hiking boots. They come with plans how they\u2019re going to do everything during that week; they\u2019ll go here and they\u2019ll go there. Because they know they\u2019re only here for one week, they come with the intention of getting the most they can out of it. And so they go swimming all the time and fishing and hiking and looking and jumping. They\u2019re busy all the time because they know time is short and they want to get the most out of this one week.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s A Fun World
\n\n\n\nSo when you know Olam Hazeh is only for a short time, you will enjoy it more. It’s not a silly idea I\u2019m telling you. When a man knows – like all of us know – that he’s in this world for the next 65 million years, it\u2019s boring. The whole world is boring, not interesting when you still have 65 million years ahead of you! But when you know it\u2019s a little less than 65 million years then you think, \u201cMaybe I should enjoy it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhy not? Why shouldn’t you enjoy the world? It’s a mitzvah to look at the world and say \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. We have to thank Hashem for everything. And how can you thank Him if you don’t enjoy? If you don’t like it, you can’t thank Him. So you have to enjoy the sun. You have to enjoy the blue skies. You have to enjoy the fresh air. You have to enjoy the glass of water. There are wonderful things to enjoy, and you’ll enjoy it much more because you know you’re only here a short time.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re The Winner
\n\n\n\nNot only enjoyment. You\u2019ll accomplish more too when you know that you\u2019re not here forever.I once gave a mashal like this. There was once a contest, and the winner of the contest was given the privilege of going into Tiffany\u2019s jewelry safe for five seconds and grabbing whatever he could.
\n\n\n\nSo one man wins and the big day comes. He\u2019s escorted up to the safe, a big safe that opens with a clock. Everyone is waiting until the bell rings and the door to the safe swings open. So let\u2019s say you\u2019re the winner and the chairman of the company says to you, \u201cHurry up, my friend,\u201d and he pushes you into the safe.
\n\n\n\nYou’re so astonished by what you see inside. On all sides are glittering stones. You don’t know where to start. But before you know it, the five seconds are over already and he’s pulling you out with your feet. You say, \u201cWait a second! I didn’t take anything yet! Wait!\u201d But he\u2019s already pulling you out.
\n\n\n\nGrab The Diamonds
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s this world. The Malach Hamaves is going to be pulling you out by the feet and you\u2019ll be crying, \u201cAlready?!\u201d You didn’t use your five seconds in this world. But when you know it’s only five seconds, you\u2019re prepared and so you’ll grab all you can as soon as you can.
\n\n\n\nThis world is full of diamonds. On every side there are diamonds, so many things you can enjoy and accomplish in this world, and therefore when a man knows that it\u2019s only a very short time that he\u2019s here, he\u2019s going to enjoy it more than anybody else and he\u2019ll also achieve more than anybody who didn\u2019t learn this lesson of the sukkah. The one who never recognized tzuras omdo b\u2019olam and thinks that the world is a permanent residence for him loses out in the end.
\n\n\n\nThe Year-Round Sukkah
\n\n\n\nNow, once a person gets used to this idea \u2013 once he understands that he\u2019s only a guest here, that he\u2019s just passing through \u2013 so his entire attitude changes. A man who knows he\u2019s living in an olam she\u2019eina shelo (Sanhedrin 100b) lives an entirely different life.
\n\n\n\nBut the mitzvah of sukkah is not enough. It\u2019s very important and a person who is ambitious can gather a great wealth of the mind during the seven days of Yom Tov but this attitude is too important to be relegated to one week of the year. Hakodosh Boruch Hu expects us to take the lessons of the sukkah back into the house at the end of the Yom Tov and live with this reminder all year long.
\n\n\n\nNapkin Etiquette
\n\n\n\nNow I’m going to enumerate some of the means of reminding ourselves that we are only visitors here. There are more; I\u2019m just going to choose a few at random. They\u2019re good for practicing up in the sukkah and for all year long.
\n\n\n\nOne is not to waste materials. Let’s say you’re a visitor in somebody’s home. You sit down at his table for Shabbos and there are napkins. You want to take one napkin? All right. Another napkin? You should think about it before you take a second napkin.
\n\n\n\nSuppose you’re taking two napkins, three napkins, four napkins. The ba’al habayis begins to look at you. \u201cWhat kind of business is that? You’re only a visitor here. Napkins don\u2019t grow on trees.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re learning now that even your own napkins you shouldn’t waste. Even when you’re in your own home you have to know: it’s not your own napkins. You’re a visitor here, and you shouldn’t waste materials. That\u2019s something! Even your own napkins aren\u2019t yours. You\u2019re a guest in this world and you have to behave like a guest.
\n\n\n\nThe Giving Tree
\n\n\n\nThere was once a very great man, in the times of the Gemara. He had a son named Shivchas who died young. So the father said, \u201cI know why my son died young. \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05e5 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d6\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d4\u05bc, he chopped down a fig treebefore its time.\u201d (Bava Kamma 91b).
\n\n\n\nWhen a fig tree gets so old that it produces almost no figs anymore then you can use it for wood. Otherwise you have no business chopping down a fig tree. It’s not yours.
\n\n\n\nBut Shivchas needed wood for some purpose and he forgot this lesson; he chopped down the fig tree while it was still producing figs. So Hashem said, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here? You\u2019re chopping down My good fig tree?!\u201d It was Shivchas\u2019s fig tree but it wasn\u2019t his. \u201cYou\u2019re a visitor in My house,\u201d Hashem said, \u201cand you\u2019re chopping down My good fig tree? And since you chopped it before the time, therefore I’m going to take you out of the world before your time.\u201d And so Shivchas passed away, a young man.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t recognize your tzuras omdo ba\u2019olam, your state of existence in this world,\u201d Hashem says, \u201cthen you\u2019re missing the fundamental understanding of your purpose here and you don\u2019t belong.\u201d When you have a visitor who doesn\u2019t recognize his place in the home so sometimes he\u2019s booted out.
\n\n\n\nA good guest is stingy with Hashem’s property. Not because you\u2019re stingy. We\u2019re talking about something else altogether. You\u2019re always reminding yourself that it\u2019s not yours anyhow \u2013 you\u2019re only a guest in Olam Hazeh and a good guest doesn\u2019t waste in the home of his host.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Waste Time
\n\n\n\nThere are other things too, other things that a guest in this world is careful with. If you\u2019re here only temporarily so you don\u2019t waste time. Time doesn’t belong to you \u2013 it\u2019s borrowed time and you can’t afford to waste any of it.
\n\n\n\nSometimes on motzaei shabbos people might go over to their mechutanim or the cousins just to shoot the breeze, to sit for hours talking. A waste! But not only a waste of your life but you\u2019re showing that you don\u2019t recognize your place in this world. Someone who knows he\u2019s a guest in this world doesn\u2019t shoot the breeze for no reason.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see now how important it is for us to remember that we are only guests here. When people go back and forth to Eretz Yisroel for nothing, back and forth, back and forth, it\u2019s a waste. They want to visit their child. It’s a terutz. It’s the same as a Caribbean cruise only that the hechsher is \u2018it’s Eretz Yisroel\u2019. That covers it up. You’re wasting time and wasting money.
\n\n\n\nThere are plenty of things to do with your money and plenty of things to do with your time and the more careful you are, the more you remind yourself that this is an olam she’eino shelcha.
\n\n\n\nWatch Your Words
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam tells us another chiddush about our status as visitors in this world. In Avos the Rambam says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives us only so many words to speak in our lives. You hear this? It\u2019s a big chiddush. You were invited into this world as a guest and you were given only a certain amount of words to speak. And therefore you\u2019re always careful; always on guard that you shouldn’t use your words up too quickly.
\n\n\n\n\u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd? You want to stay longer in this world? Talk less. If you use up the amount of words in a short time then you have no right to keep on living.
\n\n\n\nYou hear that pshat? You have to spare your words because it’s not given to you to waste. Words are money. Milah b\u2019sela, each word is worth a dollar; more than a dollar (megillah 18a). Even if you’re rich, you can’t just take dollars and throw them out of the window. Same thing, you can’t take words and use throw them out of your mouth.
\n\n\n\nEven in divrei Torah the Rambam says. If you can say a halachah in five words, don’t say it in ten words because five words are wasted. \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e7\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, a man should teach Torah in the briefest, most short possible manner Pesachim 3b), the Rambam says it\u2019s for the purpose of saving words. Of course it helps also to make it clearer to understand. When you talk a lot, he gets confused. But besides that. The Rambam says because it’s a waste of words. We can’t afford to waste words. Words are our life.
\n\n\n\nA guest understands that. A good guest tiptoes around the house. He doesn\u2019t open up his big mouth and let loose. He understands that in front of the host he\u2019s as quiet as possible.
\n\n\n\nWatch Your Tears
\n\n\n\nNow, the next thing is a big chiddush to most people and therefore I want you to understand it. Among the things we have to keep in mind is that we can’t waste emotions. Even emotions are given only for a purpose and someone who knows he\u2019s passing through understands that emotions are like napkins \u2013 they\u2019re meant to be used only as needed, only as the Host expects.
\n\n\n\nWhen people weep, they have a responsibility. What are you weeping for? If it’s \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d7\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd, if you’re weeping for nothing, so Hashem says \u201cYou’re wasting tears. You’re wasting sadness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe weeps because he didn’t get a good aliyah in the beis haknesses. He weeps because he put money on the wrong horse. He invested in stocks and the stocks lost. He weeps.His whole life he was weeping but so much of it was wasted tears. Hashem says, \u201cWeep only when I tell you to weep.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere are things you can weep for. Weep for the churban Beis Hamikdash. Kumi roni balaylah, wake up and cry out at night. Yes, why not? There’s no harm. Even young people once in a while, tikun chatzos. Everybody’s asleep. You get up, sit down on the floor. Nobody has to know. You’re in your own room. And weep for the churban Beis Hamikdash. That\u2019s something to weep for. But don\u2019t waste emotion.
\n\n\n\nHappiness With Reason
\n\n\n\nAlso happiness, excitement, is not yours to waste. Some people sit at a caf\u00e9 on New Year’s night and they make revelry. Wooh ahh! Simchah shel chinam. Being happy over nothing is a cheit. You’re utilizing emotions for nothing. You say, \u201cWhat’s wrong?\u201d What’s wrong?! It\u2019s wrong that you\u2019re wasting emotions.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat are you happy about?\u201d Hashem says, \u201cI invited you into My house as a guest and you’re going meshuga, rejoicing in nothing.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYes, happiness is important. Be happy on Yom Tov. Sukkos, zman simchaseinu. It’s a mitzvah then. Be happy Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave you good health. Say \u201cBoruch atah Hashem that I moved my bowels today.\u201d Ahh! That\u2019s a simchah. You’re happy because you have two good kidneys. Ay yah yay! Be happy that you have a pi hatabaas instead of having a hole in the side, a colostomy. You can dance and sing for that. \u201cAh, boruch Hashem. I\u2019m so full of joy.\u201d Nobody\u2019s doing it but that\u2019s what happiness is for.
\n\n\n\nIf you’re grateful to Hashem, you’re utilizing your happiness properly. Otherwise Hashem says, \u201cWhat are you’re wasting what I gave you? I gave you emotions for certain things. You can’t waste them. If you want to be a good guest in this world, you have to save your emotions.”
\n\n\n\nExcitement In The World
\n\n\n\nExcitement too. You want to be excited? Be excited about Me only. Like Dovid Hamelech said, Halleli nafshi es Hashem. Halleli means to be excited. It means, \u201cMy soul, you want to be excited? Es Hashem! Only about Hashem.\u201d Don’t be excited about anything else.
\n\n\n\nSome people get excited about music. They go into music stores and you see inside they\u2019re jumping up and down to the tune of the music. What are you so excited about?!
\n\n\n\nMusic is a meshugas unless you use the music in avodas Hashem. Then yes. And people learn mussar from music. Oy yoy yoy yoy yoy! Music from mussar. Wonderful. I heard in Slabodka learning mussar there were some specialists who used to have special nigunim for mussar. It was a pleasure to hear it. Music of the Levi’im in the Beis Hamikdash. Oh yes! It could induce ruach hakodesh. It brought ruach hakodesh to the listeners when they heard that music. But stam you\u2019re excited about music? It’s so silly. It’s a waste of emotions.
\n\n\n\nThe Natural World
\n\n\n\nEven to be excited about nature. What is nature that you have to be excited? If you look at nature to see the yad Hashem, if you get excited about seeds, that\u2019s something. Every seed, it’s known today, has millions of bits of wisdom. Get excited about a seed. Ever eat an apple and as you’re eating the seeds fall into your beard, what’s the purpose? You’ll take a walk later, and you’ll be thinking some divrei Torah and you’ll stroke your beard, the seeds will fall out and remind you to get excited about the seeds.
\n\n\n\nYes. But stam to be excited about nature like the meshugaim and atheists are excited? It’s a waste of energy. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn’t give you excitement to be wasted on nothing at all. And it\u2019s serious business; you have to know that asid liten es hadin becauseit means you think you\u2019re the boss here. You\u2019re the host and you\u2019ll decide what yes, what no.
\n\n\n\nAnd so there\u2019s so much to practice up with as we pass through this world as guests. And the more a person uses these opportunities to remind himself of his tzuras omdo b\u2019olam, that he\u2019s here as a visitor. He\u2019s always careful with his time and money and words and emotions; and he\u2019s enjoying the world the Host expects him to enjoy, and accomplishing in this world the way the Host expects him to accomplish.
\n\n\n\nThe New King
\n\n\n\nAnd now we\u2019re coming to the most important phase of tonight’s words. Everything we said is a hakdamah to what we\u2019re going to learn now. The Chovos Halevavos gives a very important mashal. He tells us about a man who was traveling on a ship, and the ship was shipwrecked. He fell into the water and the waves carried him up on the shore of a foreign country. He was lying on the shore naked now, he had lost everything in the water.
\n\n\n\nAs he lay there on the shore of that new country he saw people approaching him, a whole committee of people. And when they reached him they said, \u201cWelcome our king!\u201d and they dressed him in royal garments and placed a golden crown on his head. And then they took him to the palace and sat him on a throne. He was a king.
\n\n\n\nNow this man didn’t ask too many questions, but he was enjoying himself. All the trappings of royalty, the good times. But something was gnawing at him. He wanted to find out what’s this all about. And so he was biding his time, looking around among the courtiers in the palace, until finally, he saw one man who looked like someone whom he could trust.
\n\n\n\nSo he made himself close to him; he became friendly with him and one day he called him in and said, \u201cTell me, what’s this all about? What’s the whole story here?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Old Kings
\n\n\n\nSo the man said, \u201cI’ll tell you. Every year it happens that there are shipwrecks around here because there are sharp rocks underneath the water near our island. And every year we take the first man who washes up on our shore and we make him king. We don\u2019t tell him, but it\u2019s only for one year. And during the year we treat him like a king; we feed him like a king and everything else.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAt the end of the year, we take all his clothes off of him \u2013 just like he came to us \u2013 and we put him into a wooden box, a boat, and we shove him out to sea. Goodbye! He flows out to the ocean.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, this man, this king, said to himself, \u201cAll the fools who washed up and thought they were going to be kings forever, that this is their Alabama, they were all in error. They didn’t ask any questions, \u2018What\u2019s doing here on this island? Am I really a king here? Nobody asked.
\n\n\n\nSowhat did they do? If they had any property outside of the island in other countries, they sent messengers to bring their property to the island. Whatever property they could import, they imported. All their jewelry and cash they brought to the island. And whatever land or homes they had back home, they sold it all and converted it into money to bring to the island. And they brought their wives and their children to the island too.
\n\n\n\nAnd at the end of the year when they were shoved out in a boat all by themselves, they had to leave everything over. Their wives they left over and their children and their money; everything was left on the island and they went out all alone in a little boat into the ocean.
\n\n\n\nThe King of Export
\n\n\n\nSo this man said, \u201cI can’t do that. I won\u2019t be so foolish.\u201d And so he started exporting.
\n\n\n\nNow listen to this word. Exporting. He started exporting from the island. As much as he could he was sneaking merchandise out of the island. He sold as much as he could of the jewelry they gave him. He made it into cash, and he sent it out stealthily to other places, other countries. The whole year that\u2019s all he focused on.
\n\n\n\nFinally the end of the year came. The island nobles came to him and in one fell swoop they took off his royal clothing, put him into a box and pushed him out in the boat.
\n\n\n\nBut he went with confidence. He’ll paddle. He’ll paddle his way someplace, and he’ll hail a passing ship, and he’ll tell them, \u201cTake me to this and this place. I’ll give you a big reward.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what happened. The man who understood that he was\u2019t really a king, that it was only a diras arai that island, he went to his big reward that he had piled up in the place that really mattered.
\n\n\n\nMunbaz Is Attacked
\n\n\n\nSo now we understand the mashal of the Chovos Halevavos about this world. That’s this world. A child is born and he thinks he\u2019s a king. It’s his world and there\u2019s nothing to talk about. But it\u2019s not so. We\u2019re only visiting; one year or seventy years, whatever it is, it\u2019s only a visit.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s so necessary to obey the Chovos Halevavos and to get busy exporting things out of this world like the visitor to the island. Instead of being the fool who\u2019s importing fancy carpets and expensive toys and new cars and big bank accounts into this world, we have to get busy exporting from this world all we can.
\n\n\n\nWe have to do what Munbaz did. You know there was once a ger named Munbaz. Munbaz was a king of Chadayav, a gentile country, and he became a ger. And so he began to spend money on tzedakah; he gave tzedakah to the Jewish people, poor Jews.
\n\n\n\n\u05d7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 all his brothers and his father\u2019s family came together to protest. What are you doing? Your fathers were busy saving money in the royal treasury and now you’re depleting the royal treasury. You’re spending it all. That’s the claim they had against him. You’re giving away the money to tzedakah.
\n\n\n\nThe Heavenly Account
\n\n\n\nSo he said \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d6\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4, my forefathers saved money down below, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05d6\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4, I’m exporting money to a different place. I\u2019m sending money to the bank above (Bava Basra 11a). This world is a place where we have to export as much as possible and deposit in the bank above.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like being inside a yeshivah. You\u2019re not in the yeshivah forever and therefore the purpose of being inside of the yeshivah is not merely to be inside. It’s to take something out of the yeshivah with you so that when you leave you\u2019ll be a different person.
\n\n\n\nOf course you have to export the Torah that’s in the seforim, not the seforim themselves. I once had in my old mesivta forty years ago a half retarded young man. So he probably heard somebody say you should take out from the yeshivah all you can. One day somebody called me from the East Side and he tells me that this fellow is selling our seforim. He’s on the street with a little table and he\u2019s selling the yeshivah\u2019s seforim.
\n\n\n\nHe got the wrong idea. He didn’t take anything out of the seforim \u2013 he exported the seforim themselves. But we have to get busy exporting the real merchandise. We have to get into our heads that the sukkah is telling us, \u201cBecome an exporter in this temporary world!\u201d
\n\n\n\nGoods To Export
\n\n\n\nYou should export tefillah from this world. Tefillah is a very big accomplishment. The more tefillos we send to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and the better your tefillos are, the more you accomplish in your exporting business. That\u2019s a very big achievement when people spend their lives accomplishing in tefillah.
\n\n\n\nNow, I can\u2019t resist reminding you about one of the most important of goods you have to export \u2013 it\u2019s the necessity to export thank-yous. As many thank-yous as we can, we have to export out of this world and send it to Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8, What does a good guest say? A good guest says \u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05bc\u05c1\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 everything that the host prepared, he prepared for me (Brachos 58a). So we see a function of the good guest is to generate gratitude to his host. And so make up your mind, you\u2019re going to be a good guest.
\n\n\n\nThank Your In-Laws
\n\n\n\nLet’s say, you\u2019re going to be in your father-in-law’s sukkah now; so you go with the idea of being grateful. You’re going to be grateful to him because he gave you a wife. And now he’s giving you a place to eat on Yom Tov and your mother-in-law is bringing into the sukkah all types of good food. So make sure to have that in mind \u2013 it doesn\u2019t hurt to say it too. You should have that in mind. While you\u2019re in the sukkah you\u2019re constantly saying thank you to your host.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s a symbol of the gratitude we have to feel to the real Host. We’re grateful to the great Host who took us into this world and we have to send Him our thanks constantly for everything. That’s one of the achievements in Olam Hazeh, to export from this world our gratitude.
\n\n\n\nEvery day you should say brachos and you should be grateful to Hashem because that’s your achievement in this world, to export brachos. The more gratitude you feel, the more times you say thank you to Hashem while you\u2019re still in this world, that’s going to be your deposit in that bank that belongs to you forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nYou know what you\u2019re sending to the bank of the next world? Ahavas Hashem. Saying thank You is the best way to export ahavas Hashem from this world. Whatever you get in this world should be translated in terms of love.
\n\n\n\nIf Hashem gives you food, love Hashem for your food. Love Him for breakfast. You ever thought about that, to love Hashem because of breakfast? I\u2019m very serious. It\u2019s the best merchandise. Whatever He gives you in this world, you should export ahavas Hashem, as much ahavas Hashem as you can generate.
\n\n\n\nIn Summation
\n\n\n\nNow don’t underestimate it. Don’t think it’s a small thing. It’s our major achievement in this world. And now to sum up what we spoke about tonight. This world is a sukkah. It’s a temporary dwelling, and we’re passing through for a purpose – to be exporters. We’re expected to be busy exporting out of the sukkah of this world all the good things that we can accomplish.
\n\n\n\nBut because Olam Hazeh gives us the appearance of being permanent \u2013 it\u2019s always fooling us \u2013 so we need to find ways of reminding ourselves that we’re only here for a short time; constantly we have to remember that we\u2019re only visitors here. That\u2019s why as much as possible we practice up acting like guests by not wasting our money and our time and our words and emotions.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, even though this attitude of Olam Hazeh being a diras arai is something we can practice up year-round, Sukkos is the best time to learn this lesson. That\u2019s what it\u2019s made for. When you sit in the temporary dwelling for seven days, it’s a very good opportunity to utilize this great lesson and think, \u201dThis whole world is one big diras arai. And therefore when I get back into my house, I’m going to remember that even my brick home is a diras arai and I\u2019ll get busy exporting to Olam Habo as much Torah, mitzvos, yiras shamayim, chesed and tzedakah as possible.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd not only from my house. Once I learn the lesson of the sukkah, then wherever I go in this temporary world I\u2019m going to be busy exporting avodas Hashem. And when it finally comes time to leave this Sukkah World after 120 years, I\u2019ll be going to the real world where everything I exported will be waiting for me.”
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nUtilizing the Sukkah
\n\n\n\nThis Yom Tov, whenever I enter the Sukkah I will remember that it commemorates the temporary huts our forefathers lived in, and that this is Hashem\u2019s Plan for us, to remind us that we\u2019re visitors here. As a temporary guest, I will be careful not to waste the resources of this world. This will remind me to get busy exporting Torah and Mitzvos from this world.
\nThe post Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:11:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-05T09:34:45+00:00" }, { "id": 35379, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sukkos-5783-a-temporary-world/", "title": "Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World", "content_html": "TA-Sukkos-5783The post Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:07:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:07:25+00:00" }, { "id": 35373, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-sukkos-5783-a-temporary-world/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World", "content_html": "TA-Sukkos-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Sukkos 5783 – A Temporary World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:06:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:06:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35359, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shemini-atzeres-5783-the-great-rainy-day-2/", "title": "Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day", "content_html": "Passionate Prayers
\n\n\n\nOn Shemini Atzeres when the chazan stands up at the front of the shul to say the special prayer for rain, in some places he sheds tears. Yes, I\u2019ve seen that. In better places, he\u2019s crying as he\u2019s begging for rain.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be that all of those tears are genuine \u2013 I imagine they are. And yet I\u2019m suspicious that he\u2019s thinking not only about rain. Maybe he\u2019s thinking about parnassah, good health, yes. Other things that we sometimes include in the tefillas hageshem, yes. But rain itself? He\u2019s davening for a rainy day? I\u2019m not convinced. But the truth is that it\u2019s all prayers for rain. And we go all out for it!On Hoshana Rabbah we see, the chazan stands up \u2013 he even wears his kittel \u2013 and he\u2019s praying plaintively, \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0, \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0! He\u2019s crying out, \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b8\u05d0! Please save us, Hashem! He\u2019s talking about rain; that\u2019s the theme of the day.
\n\n\n\nEven the mysterious custom that the nevi’im instituted of striking the ground with the aravos, that\u2019s also for rain. It\u2019s a form of praying for rain! People have no idea what\u2019s taking place! They\u2019re thinking about everything else except for the most important thing. So much time we\u2019re walking around the bimah and saying words, only that we don\u2019t begin to know what we\u2019re talking about. That\u2019s why it happens that the same person who davened all morning, as soon as he finishes davening he walks out of the shul and he sees that it\u2019s raining and he says, \u201cWhat a nasty day!\u201d
\n\n\n\nInviting The Nuisance
\n\n\n\nImagine this: Suppose you would call up your friend, once and twice, again and again, and you said to him, \u201cPlease answer me. \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0! Please come to me! Please come to visit me. Please. Please. Please answer me. Aneini! I need you. Please come over. Come! Come! Come! \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so, finally he gives in. You\u2019re begging incessantly, so finally he comes over to your house and rings the bell. You stick your head out of the window and you see your friend is here. \u201cUgh! What a nuisance!\u201d you think, \u201cjust as I was getting comfortable, he has to bother me!\u201d So you go to the door and you tell him, \u201cStop bothering me already!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou asked him to come! You asked him ten times, a hundred times! He didn\u2019t want to come; you bothered him so much until he finally acquiesced, and this is how you welcome him?
\n\n\n\nSame thing by us. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is being bothered by us so much for this great gift of rain and then when it finally comes, there\u2019s complaints. You\u2019re shouting and praying about rain, rain, rain, and then when the rain comes, you stick your head out of the window and give a psak, \u201cNasty day. What a nuisance.\u201d How could that be? You just got through asking for it!
\n\n\n\nPublic School Songs
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re saying. It could be we\u2019re saying the words carefully; could be we know what the words mean, the teitch, but actually we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re saying because we don\u2019t appreciate the rain.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be we\u2019re not to blame. We\u2019ve been trained from childhood to do the wrong thing. In America the children are taught a song, \u201cRain, rain, go away\u2026\u201d I don\u2019t know about today, but I remember that\u2019s how they used to teach in the schools. It was a song; when we saw rain coming down so that\u2019s what we sang. It was in the public school but I\u2019m afraid that it\u2019s sung in the yeshivas and beis yaakovs too. Even in the good Jewish home a mother might look out the window at the rain and say, \u201cKinderlach; it looks nasty out there. It\u2019s going to be bad weather today.\u201d And so our minds become polluted; we acquire American minds.
\n\n\n\nLearning From the Muslims
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we have to learn from the Mohammedans. Mohammedans have a prejudice; they never criticize the weather. There\u2019s not much to learn from them but this, yes. We have to learn from them that you don\u2019t criticize the weather. There\u2019s not good weather and bad weather. Weather is good! As long as there\u2019s weather, it\u2019s good.
\n\n\n\nBut as good as all weather is, Hoshana Rabbah and Shemini Atzeres remind us that more than anything, the best weather is the rainy weather we have right now. Rain is good! It\u2019s very good!
\n\n\n\nAnd if we\u2019re committing ourselves these days to pray for rain \u2013 and all winter long too \u2013 so we should at least feel some sort of responsibility to appreciate the rain! Tomorrow morning (Hoshana Rabah) I\u2019m sure all of you will spend a long time praying for rain \u2013 it takes hours in some places, and so the first step is to realize that rain is a great gift, a tremendous happiness.
\n\n\n\nSo that\u2019s our job tonight. Tonight we\u2019re going to spend some time studying \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd. It\u2019s an important subject and therefore let\u2019s do it at least once in our lives. At least once in history Hakodosh Boruch Hu should see that we appreciate His gift of rain at least a little bit.
\n\n\n\nBe Bored!
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that you think I\u2019m exaggerating. \u201cHe\u2019s going to talk now about rain?\u201d you\u2019re thinking, \u201cIt\u2019s boring.\u201d Well, sometimes in order to learn important things you have to be bored. You don\u2019t come in here to be entertained; you come to acquire a mind. And sometimes you have to hear things you\u2019re not accustomed to, things that don’t fit with your own ideas. And so it\u2019s worth it to be bored. Only don\u2019t fall asleep because then you won\u2019t hear anything.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we begin: if we would look at rain through the eyes of our Sages we would be very much excited about it. \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd – How great is the day when it rains, \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 bigger than the day of Matan Torah (Taanis 7a). It rained all day today. It means that it was Matan Torah today; no, it was bigger than Matan Torah! First the Gemara said, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 it\u2019s as big as the day when the Torah was given. But then it was discussed by the Sages and Rava said it\u2019s a mistake, an understatement. It\u2019s \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd! It\u2019s bigger! The day when it rains is bigger than the day we stood at Har Sinai.
\n\n\n\nToday was even greater than the day that Hashem will revive the dead! \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 The day of rain is greater than techiyas hameisim (ibid.). How is that?! Techiyas hameisim?! All the dead will be reconstituted! It will be the most exciting day. No. When it rains that\u2019s even more exciting.
\n\n\n\nDaily Miracles
\n\n\n\nWhen you look out of the window and you see the water coming down, by logic you have to be meshuga with excitement; it deserves more excitement than Matan Torah. Only that naturally, you can\u2019t expect that of us. How much can a man be excited already? After all, we\u2019re human beings and our nerves would wear out. We don\u2019t have the nerves to get excited all the time. And yet as much as possible we have to excite our minds, our thoughts, our daas, and try to raise ourselves up to the truth of what a rainy day means.
\n\n\n\nThe fact that it happens frequently doesn\u2019t mitigate its greatness. Suppose it would have rained only once in history. Imagine such a thing! One time in history drops are falling from the sky giving us drinking water and bathing water and fruits and vegetables and grains and flowers. Then we would really be excited. It never rained before! Why should it rain? Do you find packages of biscuits coming down from the sky? When it rains, it is no less than if biscuits were falling down to feed us. That\u2019s what it is.
\n\n\n\nYou know when the mann fell from Heaven it was a neis of the first magnitude. Food falling from heaven! But imagine a child was born in the midbar and from the very beginning that\u2019s what he saw. Let\u2019s say you were born a few years after the mann started; so you\u2019re in the Midbar now, you\u2019re thirty years old and you have had mann every day in your life. You\u2019re not excited about it. You think it\u2019s nothing. If it would rain water! Ooh wah, that would be something!
\n\n\n\nSo you see that the biggest miracle is no longer a miracle to you. If it happens every day for years and years, forty years, so you think that\u2019s how it has to be. Our habit overcomes our reason.But if we would gain some sense, some daas, we would look at the street from the doorway and leap with excitement. “Look what\u2019s taking place outside!\u201d That\u2019s how a frum Jew is supposed to react to a rainy day. And therefore we should study it. It’s a great pity that we should live all our lives and not understand what it means gadol yom hageshamim.
\n\n\n\nIce Cream In Your Ears
\n\n\n\nBut before we begin, we have to remind ourselves of the purpose. Some people get excited about \u2018nature\u2019 but they\u2019re missing the entire purpose. You see sometimes a person will say, \u201cAhh! Isn\u2019t the wildflower a beautiful thing. Ah yah yay!\u201d Or some will go and make an Audubon society and become enraptured over birds, the various beaks and wings and colors. But if you\u2019re not becoming excited over Hashem \u2013 if your excitement stops with the birds or the rain or the wildflower then it\u2019s nothing; it\u2019s a big zero.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore whatever we say tonight we can never forget the underlying premise and that is daas; we are excited about rain because the purpose of rain is to give us daas Hashem. When we look at the rainfall we\u2019re expected to become more and more aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We\u2019ll talk soon about how to accomplish that, but the first thing is to know that this is the ultimate purpose of rain, daas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIt doesn\u2019t mean you have to go out into the rain and get wet. I always say, rain is like ice cream; ice cream is also good, but ice cream in your ears is not comfortable.
\n\n\n\nAnd so whether you\u2019re under the umbrella or you\u2019re standing inside your house by the window looking out at the rain, make sure to enjoy the rain and give a compliment to Hashem. That\u2019s the purpose of the raindrops. A person who has seichel doesn’t say, \u201cIt’s a pity that it’s raining.\u201d He’s so happy that it’s raining. Every drop on the window pane is a simchah. He looks at the diamonds on the window pane. \u201cIsn’t it beautiful,\u201d he says.
\n\n\n\nThe Silly Sad Poet
\n\n\n\nI once told you about a Hebrew poet in Europe, who wanted to make a poem. It was raining outside and as the rain was hitting the window, he was imagining that it was like tears of sadness falling on the window pane. So this \u2018chochom\u2019 wrote a poem like this: \u05de\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d0 \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05dc\u05b8\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 What does the rain teach us? \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e1\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u2013 What is it coming to say? \u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e4\u05bc \u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e4\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Drip, drip on our window panes, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 like a man weeping bitterly.\u201d That\u2019s what this shoteh saw in the rain. He was a good poet but he was a shoteh; he saw raindrops pattering on the window pain, so he said, \u201cIt\u2019s rain of tears. It\u2019s a weeping of sadness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow if he would have come here, he would have learned to be a happy man instead of a depressed fool. He would have learned that rain teaches us that Hashem is a tov u\u2019maitiv! He would have learned daas Hashem from the rain. Every drop is a pearl, a diamond.
\n\n\n\nSay that to your little children, by the way. Train them when they’re little children to look that way. \u201cChana! Come to the window. You see those diamonds on the window?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat diamonds?\u201d little Chanale says. \u201cWhere? I don’t see any diamonds. Those are just water drops.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe drops are diamonds! They\u2019re so precious!\u201d
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Skip the Words
\n\n\n\nNow, isn\u2019t it a shame that we see drops of daas all winter long and yet we\u2019re not learning the lessons they\u2019re trying to teach us? And that\u2019s why when the great opportunity that comes along every year at the end of Sukkos, when we start saying again the words \u201c\u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd\u201d in our shemoneh esrei, we should make sure to think about what we\u2019re saying.
\n\n\n\nNow, the frum Jew, he becomes a bit apprehensive because he\u2019s afraid he might skip it; he might skip those four words and then he’s going to have to repeat the shemoneh esrei. There are even some Jews who the first thirty days they put a pencil in their siddur, or a key or something else to mark the place, as a reminder they shouldn’t skip. They’re worried about it, and rightly so.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s a pity to say the words and skip the meaning; even if it’s not raining outside \u2014 there will be a lot of beautiful sunny days in the winter \u2014 when we say those words it\u2019s an opportunity to acquire some of that daas we were speaking about before; it means you have to think about these words, \u201cYou cause the wind to blow and the rain to come down.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Grand Architect
\n\n\n\nIn English we say, \u201cIt\u2019s raining.\u201d What does that mean \u201cIt\u2019s raining\u201d? It doesn\u2019t rain by itself! Even in Yiddish, you hear a good Jew say, \u201cEss regent.\u201d Es regent gornisht! The wind too. Here a frum man is walking down the street and a wind blows in his face and he says \u201cA vint blozt.\u201d \u201cA wind blows\u201d?! Winds don\u2019t blow on their own.
\n\n\n\n\u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd means He blows the wind and He brings down the rain. Hashem is the one doing it. In lashon hakodesh it doesn\u2019t rain and it\u2019s not windy. That\u2019s in goyish. In the Torah language, He blows the wind and He makes it rain.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t only mean He sends rain down. It\u2019s much more complicated than that. Rain is a phenomenon that requires the participation of many forces of \u2018nature.\u2019 Before those precious drops finally come down, there is a great deal of wire-pulling on the part of the great Designer and Architect who stands behind the scenes.
\n\n\n\nThe Giant Conveyor Belt
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, before the rain can fall down, it has to come up. It had to get up there some way. How did that happen?
\n\n\n\nSo we understand that the sun was busy pumping by means of evaporation. The sun is pouring millions of tons of energy every day \u2014 I should say every minute \u2014 onto the surface of the earth and to a very big extent that energy is used up in the work of evaporating water from the surface of the oceans. Tremendous masses of water, millions of tons of water daily, rise up from the surface of the earth in the form of vapor and become clouds.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s nothing yet because what good are the clouds when they\u2019re suspended over the ocean? Most clouds form over the ocean from where they originated but what good is it if it will rain down in the ocean again? Nobody is going to plant in the ocean. It\u2019s the continents that need the rain.
\n\n\n\nAnd so before morid ha\u2019geshem, first Hashem is mashiv ruchos. The winds are called in by the Borei Olam. \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 Hashem makes the winds into His messengers (Tehillim 104:4), and the wind begins to blow these masses of water vapor and the clouds are blown inland over the continents.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a remarkable miracle! There are special breezes, special winds, that are always blowing inland from the ocean. And like a huge conveyor belt they take these tremendous masses of vapor that hover over the ocean and they blow them inland over the continents. And instead of uselessly falling into the oceans, the rain falls instead onto fields where it turns into apples and pears and pineapples and bananas and oranges and all good things.
\n\n\n\nMystery of Gravity
\n\n\n\nBecause what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu do after \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7, after the clouds are blown over Nebraska and South Dakota? Then He\u2019s \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd. The water becomes heavier again; it condenses and it begins coming down.
\n\n\n\nBut why should it come down? Why can\u2019t the water fall towards the moon or it should fall towards the sun? Why does it fall towards the earth? So this every child knows; it\u2019s the force of gravity. It\u2019s a certain force that everybody speaks about, but nobody understands \u2013 even the greatest savants don\u2019t know what that is. They can tell you mathematically how the force of gravity is expected to work according to the mass and according to the distance and so on, but what is the force of gravity and why it works that way, nobody knows.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a mystery; a mysterious miracle. Hakodosh Boruch Hu made the water become heavy and by the force of gravity it comes down. And what you see now is the miracle of gravity pulling the water down to the earth for our benefit.
\n\n\n\nThirsty Sailors
\n\n\n\nBut actually we\u2019re just beginning the subject because how can that salty ocean water be a benefit to us? You know when the water was in the oceans, it wasn\u2019t clean. Sailors have died from thirst while surrounded by seawater. Sea water is not potable. You can\u2019t drink ocean water.
\n\n\n\nBut when it rains, all of this seawater comes down pure in the form of clean rain. How did that happen? When it evaporates, doesn\u2019t a salty taste go along with it?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, it went through a distillery. When the sun evaporates the ocean water it distills it and the water vapor doesn\u2019t take along any impurities; all the impurities were left down here and only pure water vapor goes up into the clouds.
\n\n\n\nAnd that pure water vapor, as clean as it was b\u2019sheishes yemei bereishis, or almost, comes down again for a new cycle of pure water, to give life to the earth.
\n\n\n\nEnvironmental Recycling
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important to consider that when you look at the rain. This rain coming down now is the same rain that came down at the beginning of maaseh bereishis. When the world began, this rain, the same rain came down.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s been coming down again and again, only it’s been recycled. It\u2019s the same clean water that our forefathers drank, that\u2019s the plain truth \u2013 you\u2019re drinking second-hand rain. A lot of the water was already in the bodies of animals and humans and was urinated out again. All the runoff water, dirty water, makes its way down the mountains and rivers and streams and it goes back into the sea. Water that was in the carcasses of animals that died, water was in decaying plants, and eventually it all made its way to the ocean. Billions of gallons of sewage are emptied into the oceans every day.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t worry about it though; it tastes just as good. Mr. Shelby reminded me of that. As he was driving me here tonight he remarked, \u201cJust as good as it was in Avraham Avinu\u2019s time.\u201d He\u2019s right \u2013 it\u2019s the same taste. But more than that, it\u2019s the same water! We\u2019re drinking second-hand rain. That\u2019s the truth. Only it\u2019s purified. It\u2019s one of the great nissim of Olam Hazeh. The world is a wonderful machine of cycling, recycling.
\n\n\n\nA Puzzling Gemara
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we come to the prayers for rain on Hoshana Rabah and Shemini Atzeres and all winter long when we say \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd and \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b5\u05df \u05d8\u05b7\u05dc \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 whenever it rains too \u2013 let’s keep in mind we are marveling at the first and the greatest recycling process, the rain cycle that keeps the world sustained. It’s foolproof. It’s going to continue until Hakodosh Boruch Hu says stop. And that’s one of the great features of \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nI want to talk now about another feature of geshem, something that\u2019s included in the gift of rain but a little more hidden from the eyes.
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Kesubos (10b), the Gemara enumerates the benefits of rain and one of the benefits is stated as follows: \u05de\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05b7\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 Rain fertilizes.
\n\n\n\nNow when I was a boy and I learned Mesichta Kesubos, I didn\u2019t understand that. A lot of things even today I don\u2019t understand but I remember at that time being puzzled. If you want to fertilize your garden, will you pour water on it? You have to take manure or potash; the soil needs chemicals to help the water grow the food. Water on its own is not enough. I couldn\u2019t see how matar mizabeil, how water fertilizes.
\n\n\n\nChemistry and Relationships
\n\n\n\nMany years later I discovered how true it is. Listen to this. It\u2019s another thing to think about when you\u2019re praying for rain or when you\u2019re stuck in a downpour.
\n\n\n\nAbove every acre of ground, there is a tremendous amount of air. And air, as you know, is about 70% nitrogen and a bit less than 25% oxygen and then some other smaller ingredients. That\u2019s what air is.
\n\n\n\nNow this nitrogen and oxygen in the air is the ideal fertilizer. If we could get the nitrogen and oxygen in the air down in the ground, we would solve all problems of fertilizer. The problem is that the oxygen by itself is not a fertilizer and the nitrogen is also not a fertilizer. In order to be a fertilizer, it has to combine. But they won\u2019t. If you know basic chemistry then you know that nitrogen is an inert gas; it hates to combine. Oxygen is a very congenial element, very friendly, and it\u2019s willing to combine with anything. But nitrogen is not interested \u2013 it\u2019s a loner.
\n\n\n\nThe Lightning Shidduch
\n\n\n\nAnd because no shidduch is made that\u2019s why you don\u2019t have any fertilizer. Instead you have to bring in your own fertilizer; you have to buy bags of ill-smelling stuff and pour it out in your garden. Or in the olden days, you had a goat. You tied the goat to a fence in the garden and he got busy fertilizing your vegetable patch. And all the time, you\u2019re looking up at this column of unused fertilizer and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cIf only they would combine! Isn\u2019t it a pity?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu, however, has pity on us and He sends lightning. When the lightning streaks through the air, it creates a path that is so hot that even the lazy nitrogen can\u2019t resist. The nitrogen refuses to enter this shidduch with the oxygen but lightning is such an effective shadchan that it forces the nitrogen and the oxygen to unite and it becomes nitrates. Nitrates! That\u2019s fertilizer! Now you know why Hashem created lightning. Every time there is lightning, He\u2019s creating great amounts of fertilizer for you.
\n\n\n\nThe problem is that it\u2019s in the form of a gas. Bags of fertilizers don\u2019t fall down after lightning. It\u2019s a gas. It\u2019s waiting in the air doing nothing. How does it come down?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is morid hageshem! As the rain comes down it dissolves the gas and brings these nitrates down to the earth. Every raindrop becomes fertilizer too. And now we understand what our Sages said. \u05de\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05b7\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 rain is actually a fertilizer. Not water. If you take water out of your well, it won\u2019t fertilize your field, but rain as it comes down and it dissolves the nitrates and it brings it down, it fertilizes the field. And because of this wonder plan, that\u2019s why the earth is constantly being fattened and replenished.
\n\n\n\nA Deluge of Kindliness
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd and right away we say \u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u2013 He supplies life with everything in kindliness. Because that\u2019s what we think about whenever we think of the rain cycle; that Hashem is feeding us with nissei nissim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we say \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd wouldn’t it be worthwhile, at least once in our lives, to stop a little bit in our gallop towards \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 and contemplate what we\u2019re saying: \u201c\u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7! Ay yah yay! \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd! Ay yah yay!\u201d B\u2019shaas hadchak you can even say it twice if you want. Rebbehs have done that; they’ve said it twice or three times. It\u2019s a good idea to stop and think what you’re saying; for once in your life, wake up and acquire some deiah, thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for this great blessing of the wind and the rain.
\n\n\n\nYour Watery Friend
\n\n\n\nNow, included in the attitudes that we have to acquire when it comes to appreciating the mystery of rain is one very important attitude and that is that we too are rain \u2013 people are made up of raindrops.
\n\n\n\nIt could be that when you hear these words for the first time it seems foolish and therefore in order to understand the greatness of rain, we must go back to the study of chemistry. Chemistry, you have to know, is a factual subject. It deals with mathematics, with things you can measure. That\u2019s what chemistry is. Today, unfortunately, even within chemistry they introduced theories. Wherever they can put some poison, they put it in, even chemistry. But in reality, it doesn\u2019t belong there. Chemistry is not a theoretical science. It is a mathematical science \u2013 it\u2019s exact.
\n\n\n\nNow, chemistry tells us that the human body is composed of almost three-quarters water. Look at your neighbor; if you look at yourself you won\u2019t believe it, but take a look at your neighbor. He\u2019s a bag of water; he\u2019s around 70% water. And no matter what you\u2019ll say, you can\u2019t get away from that fact; it\u2019s a mathematical truism. I am water and you are water. And that water came from someplace. It came down from the clouds on a rainy day.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s Raining Lubavitchers
\n\n\n\nI know it sounds ridiculous. It takes a long time to get these things into our numb skulls because we\u2019re not accustomed to thinking. But no matter if you\u2019ll smile or grin or laugh or chuckle, it won\u2019t help. You cannot wave off the fact that you came down from the clouds in the form of rain. You\u2019ll say, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t I. It was only rain.\u201d But you are rain! If 70% of you isn\u2019t you, then what are you? You\u2019re only the other 30%? The truth is that even that 30% is a result of rain. It\u2019s all the result of rain, but 70% is nothing but pure H20, nothing but water. And it had to come from someplace; and we know it comes from only one place.
\n\n\n\nThink that over. It means that one day in the past you drifted down from the clouds and you settled on Ocean Parkway. Probably you settled on a field in North Dakota and people were walking by, cowboys with their big boots, and they were trampling on you. But you turned into wheat eventually and the wheat was milled and shipped here and it became bread and matzos. And your parents ate them and that’s where you come from. Chemically it’s true. If someone would undertake to make a chemical analysis of you, you couldn’t refute that. Because you’re almost 70% snow and water and ice.
\n\n\n\nI was speaking to my friend, Mr. Shelby, just now coming in the car. I hadn\u2019t intended to talk about this subject but as we were driving it was raining and as we were admiring the raindrops I decided it\u2019s a timely subject. And as we drove past the Mirrer Yeshiva I was thinking, \u201cThe average age of Mirrer Yeshiva in the Beis HaMedrash, is let\u2019s say about 22, 23. So it means that about twenty years ago they all came down in the rains. It was raining in Ocean Parkway, raining in Brownsville, wherever they lived, and that\u2019s actually when the whole Yeshiva came down. And it\u2019s not an exaggeration; it\u2019s chemically true. The whole Sha\u2019arei Tzion came down in the rain. The whole Lakewood, the whole Lubavitch, the whole Satmar, they all came down from the clouds.
\n\n\n\nPuddles And Bochurim
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you\u2019re driving home tonight, as your car plows through the puddles on Ocean Parkway and big splashes of water are spurting up, have derech eretz. That\u2019s the future of our people. And it\u2019s not a fantasy. There is nothing as true as this statement.
\n\n\n\nBut just to make it a little more enjoyable let\u2019s go away from the bochurim. We love the Mirrer bochurim and the Lakewood bochurim and Shaarei Tziyon bochurim but even more, we can appreciate things that are a little closer to us. Like what? I\u2019m talking about apples and pears and bananas and peaches. We like them too. And they\u2019re also coming down with the rain. Because it\u2019s nothing but rain that creates them.
\n\n\n\nWhat a miracle a tree is! What we call an apple tree or a pear tree, it\u2019s more correct to call it a water tree. We don\u2019t because we look at the final product but really they\u2019re water trees. I explained this recently. They once planted a tree, an apple tree, in a big tub full of earth and left it outside. They weighed the tree and they weighed the earth. And every year, the tree produced apples, year after year. And they weighed the apples every year and added it up. Bushels and bushels of apples. After ten years they had gathered more than a thousand pounds of apples.
\n\n\n\nRainy Apples
\n\n\n\nAt the end of these ten years, they again weighed the tree and the earth and they discovered that the earth had diminished only a couple of ounces. The earth was only a couple of ounces in weight lighter than it had been years ago.
\n\n\n\nSo the question is: Where did the apples come from? For ten years, many pounds of apples had come off this tree and the tree had drawn its nourishment from the earth. But the earth is still there! And the answer is that the apples actually take out very little of the earth. It\u2019s important, this little bit it takes, but by weight it\u2019s only a tiny fraction of the fruit. The fruit is almost entirely water. It\u2019s the rain that becomes apples.
\n\n\n\nHow does rain become apples? By means of miracles. Rain is hydrogen and oxygen. And in the air, there is carbon dioxide. The tree, every plant, has the ability to take these simple materials, carbon dioxide and water, and break them down and then reassemble them. And it\u2019s a marvel how many different combinations can be made from these elements. You know there are many hundreds of carbohydrates and each one looks different and tastes different and has different properties.
\n\n\n\nAnd all of these materials, the tree is able to make from nothing but water and air. Sunlight helps out and a tiny trace of materials from the soil but if you\u2019ll analyze by weight, most of the fruits are nothing but water. And therefore when it rains, not only the next generation is coming down, but all the fruits and wheat and rice, all food, is coming down.
\n\n\n\nGifts Are Descending
\n\n\n\nSo imagine we\u2019re looking through the window now. The rain has no color but in our minds\u2019 eye it\u2019s especially colorful. We know red cherries are coming down right now, red cherries. Apples too. Delish apples and Cortland apples and McIntosh Apples, Winesap. Every kind of luscious fruit. Pears, green pears, seckel pears, pears with a red blush on their cheeks. Golden oranges and apricots. Blueberries and bananas. They\u2019re all coming down. Watermelons are coming down. What are watermelons? At least there you hear the words water so it gives it away. But really everything is water. Fruit are actually physically coming down. It\u2019s not a mashal. And of course cabbages and lettuce; they\u2019re all water. And potatoes. Every imaginable fruit is coming down right now.
\n\n\n\nBesides the fact that water is also coming down. Water to drink, water that becomes soda, water that gets into grapes and becomes wine, and this water turns into the tears that wash our eyes. It turns into our blood. It turns into the liquids that lubricate our joints. It turns into every part of our body. This water that comes down now will turn into us.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019ll tell me that you listened well tonight but you\u2019re still not so sure you\u2019ll be able to overcome the habit of not thinking, I\u2019ll say that you\u2019re right. It\u2019s not so simple to rid ourselves of the habit of not seeing the greatness of rain. Coming here and talking about these things is only the beginning.
\n\n\n\nGet To Work On This
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t disdain it however \u2013 it\u2019s an excellent beginning. It\u2019s tremendous! There\u2019s one little place in Brooklyn, where people are sitting like philosophers and they are studying the chasdei Hashem of rain in its little details. It could be that we\u2019re the only ones tonight speaking about this great subject. This place might be the only one in all of Brooklyn, maybe in all of America, maybe in the whole world, one little place where people are preparing to say \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore don\u2019t be sorry you came tonight. It\u2019s a very good thing you came despite the rain outside because we learned a lot about this important subject. But still it\u2019s only the beginning of the rest of our lives. We have to think about these ideas while we\u2019re walking on the street. We think about them when we\u2019re sitting down to eat. When it rains, you surely should make sure to think these thoughts.
\n\n\n\nYou have to keep on working until it becomes part of your thought routine because complaining comes easy. By ease, all you do is follow the habits of the multitude. If you \u2018lean back and relax\u2019 like it says in the taxi, you\u2019ll fall asleep and you won\u2019t see the scenery; you\u2019ll miss all the great lessons of life. You have to work hard to become great. It means that you have to get busy talking about the rain. Talk to others about it. Let them know what you heard tonight.
\n\n\n\nTalk To Yourself
\n\n\n\nHowever, I must tell you that it won\u2019t be so easy to tell others. When you got married you thought you married an idealist, so you might start telling your wife about the rain. So for the first couple of days she\u2019ll have to be polite and listen to you but after a while she says, \u201cStop, please. Stop! I heard this stuff already. You already told me last week about how we are all 70% water!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSomaybe you\u2019ll try it on your friends. But they\u2019re not interested either. They\u2019ll take you for a fool. They\u2019re going to think you\u2019re eccentric and after a while they\u2019ll stop listening to you. They\u2019ll smile at you, blank smiles, but that\u2019s the best you\u2019ll get.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, you\u2019ll have to talk to yourself. There\u2019s nobody else to talk to after all and so we might see you walking down Ocean Parkway, muttering to yourself about the rain. Don\u2019t be disheartened! You\u2019ve got to realize you\u2019re becoming a great and successful person, only don\u2019t expect company in your success. As you go higher on the mountain, there are less and less people, less and less company. When you get to the top, there\u2019s no company at all.
\n\n\n\nThe Most Sane Person
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s hard to be an idealist; it means you have to be different, you have to be a little bit of a meshuggener in the eyes of others. But \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, it\u2019s better to be a lunatic all your life in the eyes of Mankind, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd, in order that Hakodosh Boruch Hu should approve of you. And you can be sure that the more you study this subject the more sane you\u2019ll become. There\u2019s nothing like the sanity of daas Hashem and there\u2019s nothing like rain to encourage that acquisition.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is it\u2019s one of my favorite topics and I wish we could speak longer. Only that we\u2019re running out of time for tonight. We have to get some sleep tonight and that way tomorrow morning we\u2019ll be able to get up early for davening. And this time we\u2019ll have a successful Hoshana Rabah because we know what we\u2019re davening for. We\u2019ll have a successful Shemini Atzeres too and a successful winter and a successful rest of our lives because we\u2019re acquiring daas. Daas Hashem! That\u2019s called living successfully! Our time is up, so I wish you all a pleasant Yom Tov. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05d2\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Yom Tov
\n\n\n\nGetting Excited Over Rain
\n\n\n\nAs we begin praying for rain we must keep in mind not to disdain it when it actually comes. This week I will bli neder stop for 5 seconds before I pray for rain, and think about what I read in this booklet. Additionally, next time it rains, I will speak to someone, perhaps even myself, about the great kindliness Hashem is showering us with.
\nThe post Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:05:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-04T11:52:05+00:00" }, { "id": 35371, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shemini-atzeres-5783-the-great-rainy-day/", "title": "Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day", "content_html": "TA-Shemini-Atzeres-5783The post Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:02:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:02:15+00:00" }, { "id": 35358, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-shemini-atzeres-5783-the-great-rainy-day/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day", "content_html": "TA-Shemini-Atzeres-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Shemini Atzeres 5783 – The Great Rainy Day appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T02:01:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:01:29+00:00" }, { "id": 35356, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/kol-nidrei/", "title": "Kol Nidrei", "content_html": "\nPregunta :
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene que ver Kol Nidrei con Iom Kipur?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfLa conexi\u00f3n de Kol Nidrei con Iom Kipur? La respuesta es, que se lo ha relacionado m\u00e1s de lo que realmente tiene que ver.
\n\n\n\nLa idea de Kol Nidrei se basa en una Guemar\u00e1 en el tratado de Nedarim. Si una persona quiere hacer un Tenai, una estipulaci\u00f3n, a principios de a\u00f1o, que todos los Nedarim que har\u00e1 durante el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o sean betelim, debe hacer un Tenai a principios del a\u00f1o. As\u00ed que Kol Nidrei es como una condici\u00f3n, en caso de que hagamos a Nedarim, ahora permitimos, Matirim, aquellos Nedarim con la condici\u00f3n de que posteriormente cuando recordemos eso, se convertir\u00e1n en Betelim, nulos.
\n\n\n\nHay halajot que est\u00e1n conectados con esto y no nos basamos en esto LeMaas\u00e9, pero se convirti\u00f3 con el tiempo en una importante hatjal\u00e1, un comienzo ceremonial para Iom Kipur.
\n\n\n\nHay otros que dicen que, aunque ya no tiene un verdadero sentido de Hatarat Nedarim, pero significa algo m\u00e1s, algo que tambi\u00e9n es muy importante al comienzo de un d\u00eda tan importante. Significa esto: una persona en su vida tiene ciertas aspiraciones, ciertos deseos de hacer cosas, y ahora, ya que Iom Kipur comienza, \u00e9l Mevatel todas las cosas innecesarias de su vida. Comenzamos Iom Kipur prestando atenci\u00f3n al Ikar Haikarim, que es Avodat Hashem y haciendo algo de nosotros mismos. Con respecto a todas las otras cosas en la vida – quer\u00edamos hacer esto o aquello – decimos ahora: “Nidrana La Nidre … Ushvuatana la Shevuot; no son nada”. Lo \u00fanico que queremos hacer ahora es hacer caso a la Tor\u00e1 y cumplir lo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere de nosotros. Todos nuestros otros sue\u00f1os y aspiraciones queremos levatel, queremos que no sean nada. Eso es un R\u00e9mez que dicen que se incluye en Kol Nidrei.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, el hecho de que sea un nig\u00fan al principio de Iom Kipur lo hace muy impresionante; pero ciertamente ha sido inflado m\u00e1s de lo que merec\u00eda haber sido.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-77 (octubre de 1996)
\nThe post Kol Nidrei appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-06T01:22:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T01:22:02+00:00" }, { "id": 35350, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%98-%d7%a8%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d8 – \u05e8”\u05dd: \u05e9\u05d5”\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-239The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d8 – \u05e8”\u05dd: \u05e9\u05d5”\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-04T03:30:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-04T03:30:37+00:00" }, { "id": 35347, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/apresurate-en-hacer-teshuva/", "title": "Apres\u00farate en hacer Teshuv\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn Iom Kipur, \u00bfestamos tratando de hacer \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 o \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4? \u00bfNos arrepentimos por amor a Hashem o por temor a Hashem?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien mis amigos, seamos honestos, francos y sinceros. Digamos la verdad. Si un hombre sale corriendo de una casa que est\u00e1 en llamas, \u00bfvamos a preguntar por qu\u00e9 est\u00e1 corriendo? \u00a1Vete! No nos importa c\u00f3mo haces teshuv\u00e1; \u00a1hazlo de cualquier manera! No revisaremos tu tzitzit si te est\u00e1s escap\u00e1ndote de tu casa para salvar tu vida.
\n\n\n\nTeshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1 es algo que requiere una preparaci\u00f3n muy grande. Amar a Hashem es para la mayor\u00eda de nosotros un concepto muy artificial e irreal. Tener miedo de Hashem, hasta cierto punto eso tambi\u00e9n es irreal pero como es m\u00e1s alcanzable, est\u00e1 m\u00e1s a nuestro alcance, entonces lo primero que pensamos en Iom Kipur es que queremos vivir despu\u00e9s de Iom Kipur. \u201c\u00a1Ribon\u00f3 shel Olam, ten piedad de m\u00ed! \u00a1Lo siento mucho por lo que he hecho! \u00a1Ser\u00e9 mejor!\u201d
\n\n\n\nVemos lo que le pas\u00f3 a otras personas. A nuestro alrededor tenemos ejemplos, jas veshalom, de grandes desgracia que les ocurrieron a las personas. Eso es lo primero, \u201c\u00a1Perd\u00f3nanos! \u05e9\u05de\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5\u2026\u05d7\u05d5\u05e1 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05ea \u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5.\u201d Grita con cualquier motivaci\u00f3n que tengas. Si puedes pensar en tantos ejemplos de tragedias, jas veshalom, que has visto a tu alrededor y esa es tu motivaci\u00f3n, \u00a1util\u00edzalo! No desprecies eso. Debes conseguir cualquier cosa que haga que tus pies corran m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido fuera del fuego. Cualquier tipo de energ\u00eda que te haga clamar a Hashem y pedir perd\u00f3n, util\u00edzala.
\n\n\n\nDespu\u00e9s de Iom Kipur, puedes sentarse y comenzar a pensar en formas y medios para amar a Hashem. Esa es una gran carrera y hablamos mucho sobre eso aqu\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, mucha gente, especialmente Ben\u00e9 Tor\u00e1, no piensa en estos t\u00e9rminos. Y menosprecian a las personas que hablan de amar a Hashem por lo que \u00c9l hace por ellos. Sus mentes no est\u00e1n acostumbradas a estos pensamientos. Pero se est\u00e1n perdiendo una de las mayores formas de \u00e9xito en esta vida.
\n\n\n\nAprende a amar a Hashem que no tienes una colostom\u00eda, un agujero en tu costado. Ama a Hashem porque tienes una hermosa abertura donde se supone que debe estar; esta engrasado y funciona perfectamente. \u00a1Ama a Hashem por tener un recto normal!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh\u201d, dices, \u201c\u00bfno es una tonter\u00eda?\u201d Volver\u00e1s a la ieshiv\u00e1 y te dir\u00e1n: \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 dices? \u00a1\u00bfAmar a Hashem por tu recto?!\u201d Se reir\u00e1n de eso. Est\u00e1 bien, cr\u00e9ete jajam si quieres. Pero un hombre que tiene una colostom\u00eda, piensa de otra manera. \u201cOh Hashem\u201d, dice, \u201cdeseo que me devuelvas como era antes. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 feliz ser\u00eda! \u00a1C\u00f3mo envidio a esa gente que lleva una vida normal!\u201d.
\n\n\n\nImag\u00ednate un hombre, pasas junto a \u00e9l en la calle; est\u00e1 condenado a andar en silla de ruedas. Ya nunca podr\u00e1 caminar. \u00a1Ama a Hashem por poder caminar! Aprende a decir todas las ma\u00f1anas con gran alegr\u00eda \u201c\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05de\u05db\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05e6\u05e2\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d2\u05d1\u05e8 \u2013 T\u00fa estableces los pasos del hombre\u201d. Es un truco poder caminar erguido, mantener el equilibrio sobre las dos piernas. \u00bfNo es un logro maravilloso que tus muslos se balanceen sin esfuerzo de un lado a otro? No sientes dolor en los muslos, y las rodillas se flexionan y relajan a medida que los tobillos se doblan y estiran; y todos los huesos de los pies funcionan con lubricaci\u00f3n entre las articulaciones.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, incluso si tienes, jas veshalom, artritis, tambi\u00e9n deber\u00edas estar feliz de poder caminar. Pero si no tienes ning\u00fan dolor al caminar, \u00a1es un placer caminar! Un mecanismo complicado con todo tipo de poleas y palancas; m\u00fasculos trabajando unos con otros. Milagro tras milagro que todos funcionan perfectamente. \u00bfPuedes caminar? \u00a1Es una gran felicidad!
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si alguien dice: \u201c\u00bfGracias a Hashem porque puedo caminar? \u00a1Ja, ja!\u201d, \u00a1es un letz! Est\u00e1 ridiculizando los grandes regalos de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTienes que aprender eso. As\u00ed es como se hace teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1. No puedes hacer teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1 simplemente diciendo: “Decidir\u00e9 hacer teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1”. Tienes que pasar toda una vida estudiando lo afortunado que eres. Todas las bendiciones que recibimos junto con el resto de la Humanidad tambi\u00e9n son bendiciones. Y as\u00ed, cuando una persona aprende a estar agradecida con Hakadosh Baruj Hu cuando llega la lluvia, as\u00ed es como podr\u00e1 hacer teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1. \u00a1Y tambi\u00e9n est\u00e1 agradecido por el hecho de que el sol sale todas las ma\u00f1anas! \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea. \u00bfCu\u00e1ntos jud\u00edos frum pasan por esa beraj\u00e1 y no piensan ni una vez en lo que est\u00e1n diciendo? Y se burlar\u00e1n cuando vean a alguien hablando de agradecer por el sol, haciendo teshuv\u00e1 porque ama a Hashem por la luz del sol. Se reir\u00e1n, “Ja, ja”. \u00a1Pero cada ma\u00f1ana lo dicen! \u00a1Es la beraj\u00e1 m\u00e1s larga del sidur! Entonces significa que est\u00e1s viviendo como un robot; ni siquiera sabes lo que est\u00e1s diciendo. Esa beraj\u00e1 significa gratitud. Eso es teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPero cuando se trata de Iom Kipur, el tiempo es demasiado corto. Digamos que un hombre se est\u00e1 ahogando y est\u00e1 enfermo. Digamos que tiene una enfermedad card\u00edaca y tiene c\u00e1ncer; tiene muchas enfermedades y se est\u00e1 ahogando. Y est\u00e1s parado en la orilla y tienes un cuadro m\u00e9dico de todas sus enfermedades. Entonces dices, \u201cBueno, para su enfermedad del coraz\u00f3n tenemos que darle una dieta diferente. Para su enfermedad hep\u00e1tica, tengo este medicamento\u201d. \u00a1Se est\u00e1 ahogando! \u00a1Y est\u00e1s mirando la lista de control! \u201cY para su c\u00e1ncer tenemos que darle quimioterapia y dem\u00e1s\u201d.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1No no! \u00a1Olvida eso! Lanza una cuerda, t\u00edrale una tabla. Primero s\u00e1lvalo. Lo primero que necesita es ser rescatado de las aguas.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, en Iom Kipur, el primer objetivo es salvarse del juicio de Iom HaD\u00edn; \u00a1de cualquier manera eso funcionar\u00e1! Si el miedo a la tumba es efectivo, util\u00edzalo. No te preocupes de que sea s\u00f3lo teshuv\u00e1 meIr\u00e1. \u00a1\u00dasala de todos modos!
\n\n\n\nDespu\u00e9s de Iom Kipur, si\u00e9ntate y trabaja para obtener a\u00fan m\u00e1s Ir\u00e1. \u00a1Ir\u00e1 siempre es importante! \u00a1Miedo a la tumba! Todo el mundo quiere estar vivo. Pero adem\u00e1s, reflexiona sobre la felicidad que Hashem te da todos los d\u00edas y todo el d\u00eda, y poco a poco aprender\u00e1s a amar a Hashem y luego quiz\u00e1s el pr\u00f3ximo Iom Kipur o quiz\u00e1s dentro de veinte Iom Kipurs tambi\u00e9n estar\u00e1s haciendo teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #568 (septiembre de 1985)
\nThe post Apres\u00farate en hacer Teshuv\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-04T02:43:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-04T02:43:00+00:00" }, { "id": 35345, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-sair-laazazel/", "title": "El Sair LaAzazel", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEl Rambam dice que el sair hamishtal\u00e9aj, la cabra que es empujada por un acantilado en Iom Kipur, es mejaper incluso sin teshuv\u00e1. \u00bfC\u00f3mo funciona eso?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nRav Pikus est\u00e1 preguntando, \u00bfc\u00f3mo es que el procedimiento del sair hamishtal\u00e9aj que es arrojado por una monta\u00f1a y asesinado, puede efectuar una kapar\u00e1 sin que la gente se arrepienta?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que tenemos que entender que el sair hamishtal\u00e9aj en realidad nos ense\u00f1a una lecci\u00f3n y la gente entend\u00eda la lecci\u00f3n. Una lecci\u00f3n, incluso si no cambia tus acciones cambia tu mente, y cambiar la mente ya es una teshuv\u00e1.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 es lo que ense\u00f1a el sair hamishtal\u00e9aj? Todo el mundo sabe que el sair es Esav. Esav est\u00e1 simbolizado por el sair; \u00e9l era sair, un hombre peludo, y el macho cabr\u00edo es peludo, ese es el s\u00edmbolo de Esav. Y en Iom Kipur toman el macho cabr\u00edo y lo tiran de una monta\u00f1a y se hace a\u00f1icos.
\n\n\n\nEl pasuk dice \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4: el macho cabr\u00edo se llevar\u00e1 sus pecados a una tierra desierta. Entonces, Jazal, dicen as\u00ed, un simbolismo, una lecci\u00f3n: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 – “Y el sair se llevar\u00e1” significa que “esav se llevar\u00e1”, \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b9\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05dd – todos los avonotam, todos sus pecados . Pero en lugar de avonotam, sus pecados, leemos avonot tam, los pecados de ish tam, ese es Iaakov. Si Esav es arrojado de una monta\u00f1a y es destrozado, entonces los pecados de Iaakov son perdonados y se convierte en un \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05ea\u05dd, se vuelve \u00edntegro nuevamente.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 significa eso? Significa que tenemos que aprender de este procedimiento, y ellos aprend\u00edan en esos d\u00edas; ellos lo entend\u00edan \u2013 que nuestro mayor problema en este mundo es la influencia de Esav. Si podemos deshacernos de la influencia de las naciones del mundo, \u00a1eso es lo primero! Ese es uno de los m\u00e9todos m\u00e1s importantes para hacer teshuv\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, todav\u00eda hay \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e1\u05d4. Adem\u00e1s de la subyugaci\u00f3n a las naciones gentiles, la influencia de Esav, tambi\u00e9n existe la ‘levadura de la masa’, que significa el i\u00e9tzer har\u00e1 intr\u00ednseco en cada uno de nosotros. Pero adem\u00e1s de ese i\u00e9tzer har\u00e1 intr\u00ednseco, hay otro i\u00e9tzer har\u00e1 que abarca m\u00e1s, un i\u00e9tzer har\u00e1 general de seguir los caminos de los gentiles.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Los caminos de Esav! Ese es nuestro mayor problema. Todos los jud\u00edos transgresores de Am\u00e9rica son s\u00f3lo talmidim de Esav. Si analizaras lo que hacen ver\u00edas que todo proviene de los ejemplos dados por la comunidad gentil en general. La inmoralidad, el ate\u00edsmo y los conceptos de la evoluci\u00f3n, todo el rishut no es un producto jud\u00edo. Incluso la avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1 que adoraban algunos jud\u00edos en la antig\u00fcedad eran todas imitaciones de los \u00eddolos de los gentiles. Y por lo tanto, nuestro primer problema es desgentilizarnos, deshacernos de la influencia del mundo exterior.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, los jud\u00edos que siguen a Esav est\u00e1n todos incluidos en ‘el mundo exterior’. Los jud\u00edos no religiosos tambi\u00e9n son Esav. El \u201cmundo exterior\u201d tambi\u00e9n incluye a los ateos sionistas, porque los ateos sionistas ciertamente no son mejores que la gente del New York Times o la ACLU. Son todos iguales.
\n\n\n\nY por eso es importante que entendamos la gran lecci\u00f3n del \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc para deshacernos de la influencia externa. Ese entendimiento ya es una forma de teshuv\u00e1. Y por lo tanto, todos los jud\u00edos que fueron testigos de eso, ya sea que hicieran teshuv\u00e1 o no, lo entendieron y aprendieron esa gran lecci\u00f3n. Esa lecci\u00f3n, la comprensi\u00f3n misma de lo que significa tirar el sair laAzazel por la monta\u00f1a, es el m\u00e9todo fundamental de arrepentimiento para todo y por eso ayuda a todos, con teshuv\u00e1 o sin teshuv\u00e1. Porque la lecci\u00f3n en s\u00ed es una forma de teshuv\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, es mejor si act\u00faas de acuerdo con ese entendimiento. Porque si tienes un televisor en tu casa, est\u00e1s mirando el rostro de Esav y est\u00e1s escuchando la Tor\u00e1 de Esav, entonces, \u00bfcu\u00e1l es el valor de la lecci\u00f3n? En motz\u00e9 Iom Kipur, cuando llegas a casa y enciendes la televisi\u00f3n, est\u00e1s devolviendo la vida al \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc. Entonces, en lugar de eso, toma la televisi\u00f3n y arr\u00f3jala al piso; eso es un \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc. Eso es lo que significa tirar el macho cabr\u00edo de Esav por el precipicio.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #391 (diciembre de 1981)
\nThe post El Sair LaAzazel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-03T03:45:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-03T03:45:16+00:00" }, { "id": 35341, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-sair-laazazel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel", "content_html": "\nQ:
The\u00a0Rambam says that the sa\u2019ir hamishtaleiach, the goat that is pushed off a cliff on Yom Kippur, is mechaper even without teshuva. How does that work?
A:
\n\n\n\nRabbi Pikus is asking, how is it that the procedure of the sa\u2019ir hamishtaleiach being thrown down a mountain and killed, should be able to effect a kaparah without people repenting?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that we have to understand that the sa\u2019ir hamishtaleiach is actually teaching a lesson and the people understood the lesson. A lesson, even if it doesn\u2019t change your actions but it changes your mind, and changing the mind already is a teshuvah.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nWhat is it that the sa\u2019ir hamishtaleiach teaches? Everybody knows that the sa\u2019ir is Eisav. Eisav is symbolized by the sa\u2019ir; he was sa\u2019ir, a hairy man, and the hairy he-goat, that is the symbol of Esav. And on Yom Kippur they take the he-goat and throw it off a mountain and it is shattered.
\n\n\n\nThe possuk says \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u00a0\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd\u00a0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5\u00a0\u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013\u00a0the he-goat will carry away their sins to a desert land.\u00a0So Chazal say like this, a symbolism, a lesson: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u2013 \u201cAnd the sa\u2019ir will carry away\u201d means that \u201cEisav will carry away,\u201d \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u00a0\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b9\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05dd \u2013 all the\u00a0avonosam, all of their sins. But instead of\u00a0avonosam, their sins, we read\u00a0avonos\u00a0tam, the sins of the\u00a0ish tam,\u00a0that\u2019s Yaakov. If Eisav is cast off a mountain and he is shattered, then Yaakov\u2019s sins are forgiven and he becomes an \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05ea\u05dd, he becomes perfect again.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nWhat does that mean? It means that we have to learn from this procedure \u2013 and they learned in those days; they understood it \u2013 that our greatest problem in this world is the influence of Eisav. If we can divest ourselves, if we can rid ourselves of the influence of the nations of the world, that\u2019s number one! That\u2019s one of the most important methods of doing teshuvah.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nOf course there is still \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e1\u05d4. Besides for the subjugation to the gentile nations, the influence of Eisav, there\u2019s also the \u2018yeast in the dough\u2019 which means the intrinsic yetzer hora in each one of us. But besides for that intrinsic yetzer hora there is another yetzer hora that is more encompassing, an overall yetzer hora of following the ways of the gentiles.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThe ways of Eisav! That\u2019s our biggest problem. All the wicked Jews in America are only talmidim of Eisav. If you would study what they would do, you would see that they all come from the examples given by the general gentile community. The wickedness of immorality, the wickedness of atheism and evolution, all the rishus is not a Jewish product. Even the avodah zarahs that were worshiped by some Jews in ancient days were all imitations of the idols of the gentiles. And therefore, our first problem is to degentilize ourselves, to get rid of the influence of the outside world.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nOf course the Jews who follow Esav are all included in \u2018the outside world.\u2019 Irreligious Jews are also Eisav. The \u2018outside world\u2019 includes Zionists too because Zionist atheists are certainly no better than the people in New York Times or the ACLU. They are all the same.
\n\n\n\nAnd so it\u2019s important for us to understand the great lesson of the \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc to get rid of outside influence. That understanding is already a form of teshuvah. And therefore all the Jews who witnessed that, whether they did teshuvah or not, but they understood it and they learned that great lesson. That lesson, the understanding itself of what it means to throw the sa\u2019ir la\u2019azazel down the mountain, is the fundamental method of repentance for everything and that is why it helps for everybody, teshuvah or no teshuvah. Because the lesson itself was a form of teshuvah.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nOf course, it\u2019s better if you act on that understanding. Because if you have a television in your house, you are staring in the face of Eisav and you are listening to Eisav\u2019s Torah,\u00a0 and so what\u2019s the lesson worth? On motzei Yom Kippur when you come home and put on the television, you are bringing the \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc back to life again. So instead, you take the television up on the roof and throw it down; that is a \u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05d6\u05dc. That\u2019s what it means to throw the he-goat of Eisav off the cliff.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 391 (December 1981)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-02T20:06:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-02T20:07:00+00:00" }, { "id": 35337, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-teshuva-and-aveiros-forever/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Teshuva and Aveiros Forever", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said before that every act lasts forever and that this includes aveiros. So what happens to the\u00a0aveirah after a person does teshuvah?
A:
Even an aveirah lasts forever.\u00a0 It\u2019s forever and ever because you cannot erase the memory of Hashem.\u00a0 Teshuvah helps however.\u00a0 In the books he is credited with teshuvah. The debit he has on this side is balanced out by his teshuvah.
But Hashem will never forget. Because you see in the Torah, Nevi’im and Kesuvim that the sins are recorded; and although some did teshuvah for those sins, they’re recorded forever and ever.\u00a0 You’ll never erase it from Hashem’s memory.\u00a0 And in Olam Haboh you\u2019ll see all the sins that were done, even the sins of those who did teshuvah for their aveiros.\u00a0 No question about it. Only that you\u2019ll see the teshuvah too.\u00a0 Every sin will have a star alongside it, a star that tells you to look at the footnote.\u00a0 And the footnote says \u201cSubsequently he did teshuvah.\u201d But it\u2019s there.\u00a0 You cannot hide the sin. It will be there for everybody to see.
\n\n\n\nDovid Hamelech said, \u201cPlease Hashem, erase from the Tanach the story of Bas-sheva. Erase it please.\u201d But Hashem didn’t do it. Dovid begged that Hashem should erase it but Hashem didn’t do it. Because once a thing becomes history, it\u2019s part of Hashem\u2019s memory and it\u2019s forever.
\n\n\n\nQ:
But doesn\u2019t it say that teshuvah mei\u2019ahavah makes an aveirah into a mitzvah?
A:
\n\n\n\nAs I said, when a person does teshuvah, when he repents, the sin is not erased. Only he’s credited now with something that outweighs the sin.\u00a0 In some cases it was so difficult to do teshuvah because he had to fight against his old habits and he became a big tzaddik, so because of that fight he gets more merit and it very much outweighs the aveirah. When man in the World To Come will see a picture of his former sins but the picture has also a legend underneath it that says, \u201cThis man overcame his propensities and he did full teshuva,\u201d then that picture becomes a commendation for him; it becomes a praise for him. That\u2019s \u05d6\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5 \u05db\u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 his sins become like merits because the fact that he was\u00a0misgaber al yitzro,\u00a0he overcame his inclination and he changed himself, that becomes a credit for him.
\n\n\n\nBut that fact of history, that aveirah you did, remains. As I told you, Dovid asked that the story of Bas-sheva should be erased from the Tanach but it was never erased.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #721 (January 1989)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Teshuva and Aveiros Forever appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-02T19:53:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-02T19:53:48+00:00" }, { "id": 35333, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pre-yom-kippur-plans/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Pre\u00a0Yom Kippur Plans", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should be the first thing one should correct before Yom Kippur?
A:
\n\n\n\nTo be facetious, I’ll say the first thing is to correct yourself. But of course you’ll ask, \u201cBut in myself, what’s the first thing?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe very first thing you must do is to make sure that all the wrongs that you committed against your fellow man are righted. Other things could perhaps be rectified during Yom Kippur \u2013 for many things you can do teshuva on Yom Kippur \u2013 but if somebody has an outstanding complaint against you, then you have to realize nothing is going to help until you get forgiveness from that person. \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8 \u05de\u05db\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d7\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to learn to say, \u201cForgive me.\u201d And don’t wait for Yom Kippur.
\n\n\n\nThe am ha’aretz doesn’t do that. The am ha’aretz insults people and never thinks to beg forgiveness. The talmid chochom on the other hand is always careful with people, but if he\u00a0does\u00a0step on somebody’s feet, he is quick to admit the error and ask forgiveness. So it should be a habit constantly to be asking people to forgive you.
\n\n\n\nNow, really it\u2019s a small matter to get forgiveness because most people are willing to yield once they see you are contrite, but you have to ask for it. Even calling up on the telephone is worthwhile; and it should be done to as many people as possible with whom you had dealings with if there\u2019s the slightest suspicion that you wronged them in any way. That’s the number one requirement before Yom Kippur.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 568 (September 1985)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Pre\u00a0Yom Kippur Plans appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-10-02T18:58:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-02T18:58:39+00:00" }, { "id": 35326, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-teshuva-y-las-averot/", "title": "La Teshuv\u00e1 y las averot", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo antes que cada acto dura para siempre y que esto incluye a las averot. Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 pasa con la Aver\u00e1 despu\u00e9s de que una persona hace Teshuv\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nIncluso una Aver\u00e1 dura para siempre. Es por siempre jam\u00e1s porque no puedes borrar la memoria de Hashem. Sin embargo, la Teshuv\u00e1 ayuda. En los libros se inscribir\u00e1 que hizo Teshuv\u00e1. El d\u00e9bito que tiene en este lado est\u00e1 equilibrado por su teshuv\u00e1. Pero Hashem nunca se olvidar\u00e1. Porque ves en la Tor\u00e1, Neviim y Ketuvim que se registran los pecados; y aunque algunos hicieron teshuv\u00e1 por esos pecados, est\u00e1n registrados por siempre jam\u00e1s. Nunca los borrar\u00e1s de la memoria de Hashem. Y en el Olam Hab\u00e1, ver\u00e1s todos los pecados que se hicieron, incluso los pecados de los que hicieron Teshuv\u00e1. No hay duda al respecto. S\u00f3lo que ver\u00e1s la teshuv\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n. Cada pecado tendr\u00e1 una estrella junto a ella, una estrella que le dice que mires la nota al pie. Y la nota al pie dice “Posteriormente, hizo Teshuv\u00e1”. Pero est\u00e1 ah\u00ed. No puedes ocultar el pecado. Estar\u00e1 all\u00ed para que todos lo vean. David HaM\u00e9lej dijo: “Por favor, Hashem, borra del Tanaj la historia de Bat-Sheva. B\u00f3rrala por favor”. Pero Hashem no lo hizo. David le rog\u00f3 que Hashem la borre, pero Hashem no lo hizo. Porque una vez que una cosa se convierte en historia, es parte de la memoria de Hashem y es para siempre.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPero no est\u00e1 escrito que la Teshuv\u00e1 MeAhav\u00e1 convierte a una aver\u00e1 en una mitzv\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nComo dije, cuando una persona hace Teshuv\u00e1, cuando se arrepiente, el pecado no se borra. S\u00f3lo se le acredita ahora con algo que supera el pecado. En algunos casos, le fue muy dif\u00edcil hacer teshuv\u00e1 porque tuvo que luchar contra sus viejos h\u00e1bitos y se convirti\u00f3 en un gran tzadik, por lo que debido a esa lucha tiene m\u00e1s m\u00e9rito y, en gran medida, supera a la aver\u00e1. Cuando en el mundo venidero, ver\u00e1 una foto de sus antiguos pecados la imagen tambi\u00e9n tendr\u00e1 una leyenda debajo de ella que dice: “Este hombre super\u00f3 sus propensiones e hizo plenamente Teshuv\u00e1”, entonces esa imagen se convierte en un elogio para \u00e9l. Eso es \u05d6\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5 \u05db\u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea: sus pecados se convierten en m\u00e9ritos, porque el hecho de que \u00e9l fue mitgaber al itzr\u00f3, super\u00f3 su inclinaci\u00f3n y se corrigi\u00f3 a s\u00ed mismo, eso mismo se convierte en un cr\u00e9dito para \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nPero ese hecho de la historia, la aver\u00e1 que hiciste, permanece. Como te dije, David pidi\u00f3 que la historia de Bat-Sheva se borre del Tanaj, pero nunca se borr\u00f3.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #721 (enero de 1989)
\nThe post La Teshuv\u00e1 y las averot appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-30T17:32:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-30T17:32:33+00:00" }, { "id": 35323, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/yom-kippour/", "title": "Yom Kippour", "content_html": "TA-Yom-Kippour-5783The post Yom Kippour appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-30T06:02:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-30T06:02:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35321, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-planes-previos-a-iom-kipur/", "title": "Los planes previos a Iom Kipur ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 deber\u00eda ser lo primero que uno deber\u00eda corregir antes de Iom Kipur?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPara ser jocoso, dir\u00e9 que lo primero es corregirse a uno mismo. Pero, por supuesto, preguntar\u00e1s: “Pero en m\u00ed mismo, \u00bfqu\u00e9 es lo primero?”
\n\n\n\nLo primero que debes hacer es asegurarte de que todos los errores que cometiste contra tu pr\u00f3jimo sean corregidos. Quiz\u00e1s otras cosas podr\u00edan rectificarse durante Iom Kipur, sobre muchas cosas puedes hacer teshuv\u00e1 en Iom Kipur, pero si alguien tiene una queja pendiente contra ti, entonces debes darte cuenta de que nada va a servir hasta que obtengas el perd\u00f3n de esa persona. \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8 \u05de\u05db\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d7\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5. Por eso es tan importante aprender a decir: \u201cPerd\u00f3name\u201d. Y no esperes a Iom Kipur.
\n\n\n\nEl am ha\u00e1retz no hace eso. El am ha\u00e1retz insulta a la gente y nunca piensa en pedir perd\u00f3n. El talmid jajam, por otro lado, siempre es cuidadoso con la gente, pero si pisa los pies de alguien, r\u00e1pidamente admite el error y pide perd\u00f3n. As\u00ed que deber\u00eda ser un h\u00e1bito pedirle a la gente que te perdone constantemente.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, realmente es un asunto peque\u00f1o obtener perd\u00f3n porque la mayor\u00eda de las personas est\u00e1n dispuestas a ceder una vez que ven que est\u00e1s arrepentido, pero tienes que pedirlo. Incluso llamar por tel\u00e9fono vale la pena; y debe hacerse a la mayor cantidad posible de personas con las que tuviste trato si existe la m\u00e1s m\u00ednima sospecha de que les hiciste da\u00f1o de alguna manera. Ese es el requisito n\u00famero uno antes de Iom Kipur.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #568 (septiembre de 1985)
\nThe post Los planes previos a Iom Kipur appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-30T05:53:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-30T05:53:58+00:00" }, { "id": 35312, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd-\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d5\u05df-\u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d2The post \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e1\u05d5\u05db\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-29T01:15:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-10-06T02:39:11+00:00" }, { "id": 35310, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/una-leccion-sobre-tzom-guedalia/", "title": "Una lecci\u00f3n sobre Tzom Guedali\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede decirnos algo, tal vez una lecci\u00f3n, sobre Tzom Guedali\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl Mesilat Iesharim habla sobre la cualidad del jasidut. Jasidut significa hacer algo muy bien; a veces va mucho m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la obligaci\u00f3n que exige la Tor\u00e1. Tal hombre es un jasid; mitjased im Kon\u00f3, hace m\u00e1s de lo que Hashem pide.
\n\n\n\nPero hay un gran peligro en eso, dice el Mesilat Iesharim. Porque no es suficiente mirar la obra que est\u00e1s haciendo y ver cu\u00e1n buena es, cu\u00e1n virtuosa es. Debes juzgarla por sus resultados. Si los resultados no son buenos, no importa cu\u00e1n buena sea la acci\u00f3n, no es jasidut.
\n\n\n\nGuedali\u00e1 ben Ajikam fue el gobernador justo de Ierushal\u00e1im despu\u00e9s de que Nevujadnetzar hubo exiliado a todo el pueblo. Dej\u00f3 s\u00f3lo a los pobres de la naci\u00f3n, los dalat haam, y nombr\u00f3 a Guedali\u00e1 ben Ajikam, que era un gobernador justo.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, alguien vino a este gobernador justo y le inform\u00f3 que un hombre, Ishmael, estaba conspirando para matarlo, para asesinarlo.
\n\n\n\nPero el justo Guedali\u00e1 dijo: \u201cNo acepto ninguna calumnia sobre un compa\u00f1ero jud\u00edo. Es lash\u00f3n har\u00e1. No lo creo.
\n\n\n\nY al final fue asesinado por ese hombre.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfqu\u00e9 pas\u00f3 cuando Guedali\u00e1 fue asesinado? Los jud\u00edos que quedaron ten\u00edan miedo de la ira del rey de Babilonia porque un jud\u00edo hab\u00eda matado a su gobernador designado. Guedali\u00e1 fue el gobernador designado por el rey de Babel, por lo que asesinarlo fue una rebeli\u00f3n; era como rebelarse contra el gobierno de Babel. As\u00ed que todos los jud\u00edos que hab\u00edan quedado en \u00c9retz Iehud\u00e1 finalmente huyeron y entonces Iehud\u00e1 qued\u00f3 desolada por muchos a\u00f1os. No qued\u00f3 ning\u00fan jud\u00edo all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si Guedali\u00e1 hubiera prestado atenci\u00f3n a la advertencia, habr\u00eda salvado su vida y podr\u00eda haber salvado a ese remanente que qued\u00f3 en la tierra; pero debido a que Guedali\u00e1 era un tzadik muy grande, un jasid, se neg\u00f3 a escuchar lash\u00f3n har\u00e1 y por eso lo mataron. No s\u00f3lo lo mataron a \u00e9l, sino que mataron a todas las personas que estaban con \u00e9l; en su corte todos los oficiales fueron asesinados y el resto de la gente tuvo que salir de Iehud\u00e1 porque ten\u00edan miedo del Rey de Babel.
\n\n\n\nDice el Tanaj, \u05d4\u05d0\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05db\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d2\u05d3\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u2013 La gente que fue asesinada por la mano de Guedali\u00e1 (Irmeiahu 41:9) Ahora bien, Guedali\u00e1 no mat\u00f3 a nadie. \u00a1\u00c9l mismo fue asesinado! Pero la Guemar\u00e1 dice que se culpa a Guedali\u00e1 de matar a todas esas personas. Debido a que era un gran tzadik, se neg\u00f3 a escuchar la advertencia y por eso lo culpan. As\u00ed que vemos que si eres un gran tzadik pero traes problemas a otras personas debido a tu tzidkut, no eres un tzadik. Se lo culpa a Guedali\u00e1. Entonces, una lecci\u00f3n es que no es suficiente ser justo, sino que tu justicia tiene que tener un buen resultado.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #485 (noviembre de 1983)
\nThe post Una lecci\u00f3n sobre Tzom Guedali\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-29T00:15:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-29T00:15:52+00:00" }, { "id": 35304, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-tzom-gedalya-lesson/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Tzom Gedalya Lesson", "content_html": "\nQ:
Can you tell us something, a lesson maybe, about Tzom Gedalya?
A:
The Mesillas Yesharim talks about the quality of chassidus. Chassidus means to do something that’s very righteous; sometimes it\u2019s far beyond the obligation that the Torah requires. Such a man is a chossid; he’s mischassed im Kono, he does more than is required for Hashem.
But there\u2019s a great danger there, the Mesillas Yesharim says. Because it’s not enough to look at the deed that you’re doing and see how good it is, how virtuous it is. You must judge it by its results. If the results are not good then no matter how good the deed is, it’s not chassidus.
Gedalyah ben Achikam was the righteous governor of Yerushalayim who was left over after Nevuchadnetzar had exiled the entire people. He left over only the poor of the nation, the dalas ha’am, and he appointed Gedalyah ben Achikam, who was a righteous governor.
\n\n\n\nNow somebody came to this righteous governor and informed him that this and this man, Yishmael, was plotting to kill him, an assasination.
\n\n\n\nSo the righteous Gedalyah said, \u201dI don’t accept any slander on a fellow Jew. It’s lashon hara. I don’t believe it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd the end was he was murdered by this man.
\n\n\n\nNow what happened when Gedalyah was murdered? The Jews that remained were afraid of the wrath of the king of Bavel because a Jew had killed his appointed governor. Gedalyah was the governor appointed by the King of Bavel so to murder him was a rebellion; it was like rebelling against the rule of Bavel. So all the Jews that had remained in Eretz Yehuda finally fled and now Yehudah was desolate for many years. No Jews were there at all.
\n\n\n\nNow, if Gedalyah would have paid attention to the warning, he would have saved his life and he could have saved that remnant that remained in the land; but because Gedalyah was a very big tzaddik, a chossid, he refused to listen to lashon hara and therefore he was killed. Not only he was killed but all the people with him were killed; in his court all the officials were killed and the rest of the people had to leave Yehudah because they were afraid of the King of Bavel.
\n\n\n\nNow it states there in the Tanach, \u05d4\u05d0\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05db\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d2\u05d3\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u2013 The people that were slain by the hand of Gedalyah (Yirmiyahu 41:9) Now Gedalyah didn’t kill anybody. He was killed himself! But the Gemara says that Gedalyah is blamed for killing all those people. Because he was such a big tzaddik, he refused to listen to the warning and now he\u2019s blamed. So we see if you’re a big tzaddik but you bring trouble on other people because of your tzidkus, you’re not a tzaddik. Gedalyah is blamed. And so one lesson is that it’s not enough to be righteous but your righteousness has to have a good result.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 485 (November 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Tzom Gedalya Lesson appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T18:35:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T18:35:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35269, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeilech-shabbos-shuva-5783-the-gift-of-teshuva-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva", "content_html": "Understanding Teshuva
\n\n\n\nOur subject for tonight is, of course, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05da\u05b8. Yom Kippur is only a few days away and therefore \u201cShuvah\u201d is the subject that\u2019s most important right now.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very big subject \u2013 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd means all the way back to Hashem and so it must be big \u2013 but tonight we\u2019re going to study the introduction to teshuvah. And the preface is very important because whatever teshuvah we\u2019re going to accomplish before Yom Kippur \u2013 after Yom Kippur too \u2013 depends on the important foundation of understanding what teshuvah means.
\n\n\n\nIn the first chapter of his Shaarei Teshuva, Rabbeinu Yonahbrings many pesukim where nevi\u2019im are speaking to the Am Yisroel and encouraging them to do teshuvah. It\u2019s Hakodosh Boruch Hu talking through His prophets and He is pleading with us, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b6\u05e2\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Return to Me against whom you have rebelled (Yeshaya 31:6). And \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Come back you backsliding children (Yirmiyahu 3:22). Constantly the nevi’im are urging us. That\u2019s one of the primary reasons why Hashem sent nevi’im in the days of old, to encourage us to do teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nAssisted in Teshuva
\n\n\n\nBut not only in the times of old. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is constantly reminding us to do teshuvah and giving instructions on how to return to Him. That’s why he sent mechabrim subsequently. He sent Rabbeinu Yonah to write this sefer to remind us. The Chovos Halevavos has a section on teshuvah to remind us. The Rambam has Hilchos Teshuvah to remind us. Wherever you look, all these shelves full of seforim are reminding us. All of these great mechabrim, people who lived in times before, have left a legacy of reminders.
\n\n\n\nRight now you are being reminded. You are sitting here for an hour and a half being reminded. Now, I\u2019m not worthy of reminding you but there were many mochichim from generation to generation and I\u2019m just telling you things that people bigger than me have said. And all of that is the Yad Hashem, the hashgacha of Hashem, so that we should be constantly urged to do teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why it says about Hashem, \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd – He is good and just, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 – and therefore He teaches the sinners the right way (Tehilim 25:8). It doesn\u2019t mean He teaches them Torah; that\u2019s a different subject. Torah is a very great subject but we are not talking about that now. \u201cHe teaches sinners the way\u201d means that He is teaching people who have caused themselves trouble, the way to climb out of the pit. He teaches them to rescue themselves before retribution starts coming upon them, before it\u2019s too late.
\n\n\n\nThe Benevolent Police Association
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s only because Hashem is \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8, because He is good and just; He wants to help us. Suppose there\u2019s a law that you cannot park in a certain place and you know the consequences \u2013 it\u2019ll cost you $25 \u2013 but suppose the policeman is kind enough to walk back and forth in that place, \u201cNo, no. Don\u2019t park here. It will cost you money.\u201d So you\u2019d say that\u2019s a very benevolent administration. Not only did they make laws, but they are trying to save you from being penalized.
\n\n\n\nBut Hakodosh Boruch Hu does much more than that. Because even after a man already gets himself into trouble and he\u2019s already sick with aveiros, Hashem is teaching him, showing him the way to be cured. Imagine you go to a doctor for an ailment chas v’shalom and the doctor tells you this and this prescription you must take. So you\u2019re very happy now \u2013 you have something now, some medicine, to relieve you from this sickness. But suppose that after giving you the prescription the doctor would call you up twice a day to make sure. \u201cAre you taking your medicine? Every day, twice a day? I want to hear that you\u2019re feeling better.\u201d And he reminds you how to take it, the right dose at the right time. That\u2019s a good doctor. I don\u2019t know if there exists such a doctor.
\n\n\n\nAn Ancient Mentality
\n\n\n\nNow, all that is good and well, no question about it. But we note something else in these pesukim, a puzzle. Because not only is the Navi reminding us and encouraging us, but He\u2019s trying to convince us that it works! He\u2019s trying to persuade us that teshuvah will actually wipe away our sins.
\n\n\n\nAgain and again we are urged to come back to Hashem because He will accept you; \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Return My backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding (ibid.). Hashem promises, \u201cI will accept your teshuvah and forgive you.\u201d The nevi’im are constantly telling the people it is not too late to do teshuvah, always reminding them that they can still repair their misdeeds. \u201cTeshuvah works,\u201d the Navi proclaims.
\n\n\n\nNow to us sitting here tonight it seems that their words are unnecessary. What\u2019s the chiddush? Of course, we can do teshuvah and be forgiven; who thought not? Every cheder boy knows that. But we see from the nevi’im that the people argued. \u201cDo you mean to say after all this Hashem is going to accept our teshuvah?! It can\u2019t be!\u201d And Hakodosh Boruch Hu sends a message through the Navi, \u201cYes. Never despair. You can always do teshuvah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd it went back and forth, back and forth, many times; the sinners doubted there was a way back, and Hashem was constantly reiterating, \u201cShuvah Yisroel!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo we see it is a conspicuous aspect of the ancient mentality that people thought that it is not easy to do teshuvah, even impossible, once you pass a certain point.
\n\n\n\nThe Modern Mentality
\n\n\n\nToday it\u2019s different; today it seems so simple to everybody. Some people who learn the Shaarei Teshuva want to skip over these pesukim \u2013 they\u2019re so repetitive, they feel. We don\u2019t have to be convinced; of course we can do teshuvah whenever we want and we\u2019ll be forgiven. The truth is that we are not even in a hurry because we know that it\u2019s merchandise that we can always get; it is always around and available. We will be twenty years old, forty years old, eighty years old, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 – even one day before we leave this world, we\u2019ll still be able to be forgiven. Any time you want, you can open up the door, walk into the synagogue and you have arrived. You\u2019re a baal teshuvah now; it\u2019s all over. Of course, you will have to conform to everything in the Torah from now on, but your past you can erase.
\n\n\n\nAnd even a man who killed somebody \u2013 an actual case; I know the man. He grew a nice big bushy black beard and put on a black hat; he accepts the Torah now. He lives like an Orthodox Jew and it\u2019s all settled. He has no worries about the past. And surely we are safe; we never killed anyone. We did smaller sins, that\u2019s all, and so we are good and ready for teshuvah \u2013 we don\u2019t need to be convinced of its effectiveness.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a strange thing, this confident attitude that we have more than the ancients. It should bother us. Why is it that today we are so confident that Hakodosh Boruch Hu accepts us b’teshuvah, we know all these things without needing to hear the Navi, whereas our ancestors were not so certain about that and they had to be constantly reassured that they could do teshuvah?
\n\n\n\nReligious Wars
\n\n\n\nThe answer is: not because they were less intelligent than we are. It\u2019s because they were more intelligent \u2013 they knew what it means to do a sin. That\u2019s what made them intelligent, they understood that a transgression against the King is serious business.
\n\n\n\nYou know when a man lives in a place where there is an absolute monarch so he understands what a sin is. In the olden days there was a king and when the king made a law, there was no playing around with it. Anybody who transgressed that law knew that his head was risky on his shoulders. If the king would discover his transgression, he\u2019d be finished. That is how it was.
\n\n\n\nOne time when the Mohammedans took over a certain country in Europe, they built a bridge across a big river. Now, there was a Christian who wanted to show his disrespect for the Mohammedan conquerors so he came in the middle of the night and he set fire to the bridge. Well, they discovered who did it \u2013 when you want, you can discover \u2013 and so they took a big pole and they sharpened the end and they greased it and they stuck it into his rectum, all the way up to his throat. And he was screaming! You could hear his screams all across the valley of the river. And then they hung him up near the bridge and he was screaming there for three days.
\n\n\n\nWhen they rebuilt the bridge, nobody touched that bridge anymore! That is how law and order was enforced in the good old days. That\u2019s why there was law and order in the good old days.
\n\n\n\nNot Just Recommendations
\n\n\n\nNow, when people lived with a government like that, they learned what it means to sin against the king. And they understood that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a Melech gadol v’nora – a King to be feared, a King who intends that His laws should be obeyed. The mitzvos, the aveiros, it\u2019s not just eitzah tova kamashma lan, they\u2019re not just recommendations; they\u2019re commands. And it\u2019s a very big King who\u2019s Commanding you.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore in the good old days people didn\u2019t deceive themselves like we do today. We think that Hashem is an easygoing father and we are reassured beforehand that it\u2019s nothing too serious. We think He\u2019s only Avinu and we like to forget about the Malkeinu. And therefore we say, \u201cEchta v’ashuv \u2013 we sin but we know we can do teshuvah anyhow.\u201d We\u2019re confident because we know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a good father.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is we don\u2019t believe in Hakodosh Boruch Hu; that\u2019s the real reason. To us \u201cHashem\u201d is just a word in the siddur, and with a word you can get along easily. A word will be bribed just by growing a black beard and putting on a black hat. It\u2019s all over; the past is forgotten.
\n\n\n\nOh no! There is no forgetting by Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And in the olden days they understood that clearly. Their emunah was so clear; it was emunah chushis \u2013 a physical belief in Hashem which is the real belief \u2013 and therefore they understood that they had rebelled against the King. They understood that they had done worse than burn down a little wooden bridge.
\n\n\n\nReassured by Prophets
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore all those people who committed sins were skeptical that anything could help. They wanted to do teshuvah but what is the use? He has caught us red-handed with the goods and we\u2019re finished! They believed and they knew there was going to be punishment in this world and puroniyos in the next world. People believed in Gehenom; in those days you didn\u2019t have to convince anybody. They didn\u2019t have to come and hear drashos on Shabbos Shuvah. It was a tradition from the earliest days of mankind.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore they were broken; they were dejected and so when the Navi urged them to do teshuvah, they didn\u2019t believe it would help. \u201cWe are guilty as charged and we\u2019re not going to fool ourselves! Of course, we\u2019ll do mitzvos, we\u2019ll improve, we won\u2019t sin again but what\u2019s done is done. It can\u2019t be wiped away.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Navi had to say it again and again and to assure them that the dalsei teshuvah are not going to be closed on you if you really repent. \u201cAnd even if you committed many misdeeds,\u201d says Rabeinu Yonah, \u201cand you rebelled against Hashem and were disloyal to Him, He does not lock upon you the doors of teshuvah.\u201d Somebody was very disloyal to Hashem and therefore he ought to deserve that Hashem should ignore him and no longer give him the opportunity to repair the damage he did to himself. No, even to the worst persons Hakodosh Boruch Hu still offers the opportunity to repent.
\n\n\n\nThe Unseen Soul
\n\n\n\nHowever, it\u2019s not only this understanding that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a King to be feared. There\u2019s something else that the ancients had that we\u2019re missing, something else that they understood that made them worried about the efficacy of teshuvah. You know what we\u2019re lacking today? You might be insulted when I tell you; you\u2019ll say I\u2019m hurling false claims against you but what can I do? I have to say it like it is: unlike us, our forefathers believed in the reality of the neshamah, the soul. We, on the other hand, not so much.
\n\n\n\nNow the neshamah is a difficult subject for us to grasp because it\u2019s invisible. For our modern minds, even frum minds, it\u2019s not so real; because we believe in things we see. And even though we may be frum Jews, very frum, and we are interested in doing good things, certainly, but the spiritual entities do not have any great reality to us. Parnassah, yes; a wife and children, yes. A home, yes. Even the bais hamedrash and the bais haknesses, yes. A shofar and a lulav and esrog and a sukkah, absolutely. All the things that we are capable of seeing and feeling, it\u2019s easy for us to think about and take seriously.
\n\n\n\nThe neshamah on the other hand, its existence is almost ignored. Of course we admit it, but that\u2019s not enough; understanding the neshamah means that it\u2019s more real to you than your body. That\u2019s the plain truth. Even though we can\u2019t see it or touch it, the neshamah is an entity which is even more real than the body.
\n\n\n\nThe Body Dissipates
\n\n\n\nWe think the body is something but actually it\u2019s only a collection of gasses, mostly gasses, and when the time comes it all dissipates into the air. You think the body remains in the earth? Nothing ever remains in the earth. After a while the body disintegrates into gasses and it is wafted away into the atmosphere. That\u2019s the body. It\u2019s all imagination. \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3, it\u2019s like a dream that passes away.
\n\n\n\nThe neshamah however is real, infinitely more real than the body. It\u2019s actually a chelek Eloka mema\u2019al, an emanation from Hashem, and so it\u2019s more permanent than anything else.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it is important for us to always speak to ourselves about the great subject of our inner existence, what we really are. You are an entity that transcends all physical existence. The body is not you. The time will come when you\u2019ll take off your suit of flesh and bones and leave it in the ground, in Beth David Cemetery or wherever you bought yourself a plot, and it will begin to disintegrate. But you will still be around because you are your neshamah, not your body.
\n\n\n\nSeeking Medical Advice
\n\n\n\nNow, everyone takes measures to care for the health of their body. Who doesn\u2019t? Everyone wants their body to be happy and comfortable. And if there\u2019s a sickness, chas v\u2019shalom, let\u2019s say the dreaded machlah that starts with the letter C, what doesn\u2019t a person do to heal himself? He\u2019ll speak to people who know, experts. He\u2019ll go to the best specialists, the top hospitals, and he\u2019ll spend all his money. Anything to save his body from destruction.
\n\n\n\nNow, if a person is so careful about this body that will one day evaporate into nothing \u2013 and he should be! \u2013 then how much more should he be interested in the welfare of his neshamah! The soul is the most vulnerable and sensitive part of his existence and the truth is that nothing in the world should interest him more than that.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it pays for us to listen to whatRabbeinu Yonah says about sins and the neshamah. He explains that like the body, the soul is subject to certain maladies, diseases of its own kind, and when a man commits a sin he has actually put a sickness into his neshamah.
\n\n\n\nNow, because our belief in the neshamah is so superficial so we don\u2019t react to a statement like that. After all, would a man take his body and expose it to AIDS? Suppose a person with AIDS is sitting next to you in the bus and he is coughing; when he coughs, droplets of moisture come out of his mouth. You\u2019d run away from him. If need be, you\u2019d jump out the window. It is a sakanah gedolah, a fatal disease, and you\u2019re not interested.
\n\n\n\nAIDS For The Neshamah
\n\n\n\nBut suppose the man next to you is not coughing; he\u2019s not sharing AIDS droplets with you. But he opens his mouth and words come out of his mouth; he is talking divrei minus, or leitzanus or lashon hora. So would you jump off the bus? Of course not. At best you\u2019ll disregard him. It\u2019s like disregarding the man with AIDS; disregarding won’t help you a lot.
\n\n\n\nSo why aren’t you careful? Because your body, that\u2019s something \u201creal\u201d, so you\u2019re cautious. The neshamah? It\u2019s an idea; you think about it sometimes, but it\u2019s only an idea after all. And so you\u2019re not afraid of sin. You might be lax with a mitzvas asei or with with a lo sa\u2019asei. You might open up a treif book and read it. Maybe you\u2019ll listen to a radio program of leitzanus; if you\u2019re entirely meshuga you\u2019ll watch TV programs. You\u2019ll say things you shouldn\u2019t and you won\u2019t say things you should. You\u2019ll dabble with this sin and that sin.
\n\n\n\nAll your days you\u2019re demonstrating that you don\u2019t believe in the existence of the neshamah; you don’t really believe that the neshamah can be affected by external conditions. And that\u2019s serious business because the disease of the neshamah is the most perilous of all illnesses, more serious, more fatal, than any illness of the body. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b9\u05d8\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 The sinful soul is going to die (Yechezkel 18:4). Very many die in this world and those who don\u2019t will find that in the next world there is waiting for them even a worse kind of death. Absolutely, sin is a cancer on the neshamah.
\n\n\n\nThe Princess and The Pea
\n\n\n\nNot only big sins; the neshamah is sensitive to the smallest of sins. Even the smallest sin, if left untreated, is a cancer that will continue to devour the neshamah. If you said something mean to your wife, you\u2019re in great peril. You missed zeman kriyas shema, it\u2019s a cancer. You forgot kiddush levanah? Everything is big without teshuvah. Like the Chovos Halevavos says, there\u2019s no such thing as a small sin if you don’t repent of it. Without teshuvah, that little sin becomes a most uncomfortable spot on your soul.
\n\n\n\nI always tell you this mashal. Suppose you are invited to a home to stay over at night and they give you a bed. But underneath the bed sheet, on the mattress, there is a bean. It\u2019s only one little bean but as you are lying there you are aware of it; that bean is pushing into you. It\u2019s very uncomfortable; you can’t ignore a bean that is lying underneath you on the bed.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what a small sin is. It\u2019s not something you can just forget about. It\u2019s there; it\u2019s very uncomfortable. Only that it\u2019s not a bean; it\u2019s a pinpoint cancer that is consuming the neshamah. There\u2019s a cancerous splotch on his neshamah and if it\u2019s untreated then it spreads.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t console yourself with the idea that it\u2019s only words. It\u2019s not just words. If you could see your neshamah you would see that by putting something into your mouth without a bracha, the neshamah immediately becomes splotched with telltale dots of cancer. Who would be crazy enough to take a bowl of sulphuric acid and eat it?
\n\n\n\nRegret Doesn\u2019t Help
\n\n\n\nNow, once a person knows that sin means that there are tumors growing all over the neshamah, chas v\u2019shalom \u2013 tumors worse than cancer, more malignant, more dangerous, more fatal \u2013 so you begin to understand the puzzle that our kadmonim had. How is teshuvah going to erase that? Just by fulfilling the steps of teshuvah, the neshamah will be healed? If you know what a sin is and what a neshamah is, it sounds preposterous.
\n\n\n\nImagine someone has cancer chas v\u2019shalom in his liver, or in his lungs chas v\u2019shalom. Or a tumor on the brain. Ay yah yay! A tumor on the brain! You can\u2019t just wipe it away. So how can you undo a sin? If a man corrupted his neshamah and introduced the fatal germs of sin and death into his soul, then how can you undo that?
\n\n\n\nCan you say he never did it? He is sorry, ten times sorry, but it\u2019s no use. A man is dying of AIDS in the hospital; he is very sorry for the things he did that brought him to this \u2013 what will it help him? Or he\u2019s dying of cancer. He\u2019s so sorry that he smoked for all those years? The surgeon general warned him on every box, \u201cYou\u2019ll get cancer and emphysema and this and that\u201d but he didn\u2019t listen. Now he\u2019s sorry?! He wants to fulfill all the steps of teshuvah now. He regrets it. It pains him that he smoked. He promises he won\u2019t do it again. No, it won\u2019t help. He\u2019ll lay there in the hospital dying anyhow.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, for this cancer of the neshamah, for this fatal disease, something has been discovered. Along comes Hashem, the great Rofei Cholim who heals all, and He has invented a chessed called teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nRegret Helps
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Rabbeinu Yonah tells us in his Shaarei Teshuva, in the first chelek, the first paragraph. \u201cAmong the benefits that Hashem Yisborach has bestowed upon his creatures, one of the most precious is that we can heal our souls.\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given us all kinds of benefits \u2013 many of them we recognize, some we don\u2019t \u2013 but among the greatest of benefits is that He prepared for us a way by which we can ascend from the pit into which we fell because of our misdeeds. He gives us a path to flee from the trap of our actions.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a tremendous kindness, a tremendous gift that Hakodosh Boruch Hu invented, that it\u2019s possible for us to undo our misdeeds. You can erase past history?! It\u2019s something we don\u2019t understand. We say it but there is no logic to back it up; it should be impossible to undo your misdeeds.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a neis gadol! People are constantly getting themselves into all kinds of trouble and their neshomos are diseased by their actions, and yet Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given man ways of combating the sickness of his soul which he is causing by his own deeds. He has provided us with means of protecting ourselves from the final sentence of going down early to the grave and then being judged in the World to Come, which is the worst of all misfortunes.
\n\n\n\nThe Miracle Cure
\n\n\n\nSo teshuvah is a miracle. A person can save himself by being sorry! A man sins and because he regrets his misdeeds Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes a special dispensation. He changes the course of the nature of the neshamah and He allows this man to remove from his soul that blemish, that spot of cancer that was to him a peril.
\n\n\n\nOf course, there are certain conditions to teshuvah \u2013 it\u2019s not as simple as superficially saying sorry \u2013 but the first thing is to realize what a great miracle that is, to be capable of undoing the past, of wiping out what happened before. Don\u2019t say it\u2019s simple. It\u2019s only simple if you don\u2019t know what a sin is, what a neshamah is.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s important to always remember what an opportunity it is that we have. Hashem is willing to cure you and remove all the stains from your souls. He\u2019ll give you a clean neshamah, \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9, like when you were born.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Ignore the Doctors
\n\n\n\nNow, I don\u2019t want to make light of the avodah of teshuvah. It\u2019s not easy. Sometimes it\u2019s very difficult to do teshuvah. To achieve a cure for your neshamah depends on certain conditions that have to be fulfilled.
\n\n\n\nBut once a person becomes aware of what it means a neshamah and what it means a cheit, he\u2019s willing to put in the work. Of course he is, because he\u2019s meshuga with worry. His neshamah is dotted with these little dots that show that the cancer is spreading and something has to be done.
\n\n\n\nHe can\u2019t ignore it! Can you imagine such a fool who after the doctor tells him that the tests came back and they show cancer on the liver, that he\u2019ll just ignore it? He hopes that if he doesn\u2019t think about it so it won\u2019t affect him. A meshuganeh!
\n\n\n\nAny sane person won\u2019t ignore the doctor\u2019s orders. He won\u2019t skip any medicine, any treatment, because he knows that the better the conditions are satisfied and the more careful he is, the better the cure will be.
\n\n\n\nAmerican Express Teshuva
\n\n\n\nAnd so, you can\u2019t just hand in your application for teshuvah during the Aseres Yemei Teshuva and be satisfied. Sometimes you have a person who hands in his application for forgiveness and right away he thinks that he\u2019s a pretty good fellow. He paid for a ticket in the synagogue for Yom Kippur and he\u2019s reading the words from the machzor \u2013 it means he went through the trouble of making an application and he thinks it\u2019s like going to the bank for a card. He puts in the application and so naturally he expects to get what he asked for.
\n\n\n\nNo, no. Teshuva has certain conditions. There are seforim you have to learn. The Shaarei Teshuva, the Rambam Hilchos Teshuva, the Chovos Halevavos Shaar Hateshuvah; other seforim too. Not only to read them; you have to take the words from the seforim and put them into your head.
\n\n\n\nThe details of how you do teshuvah matter very much. How you take the medicine, which medicines, it matters. And everyone has their own sins, their own faults and character flaws, and so there\u2019s a lot to learn. And so you have to put in the time. People are busy reading other things \u2013 some people spend hours reading novels and magazines, other things \u2013 but they don\u2019t have time to read the mechabrim who want to teach them the path to teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not our subject tonight. How to make proper teshuvah deserves many lectures of its own; we don\u2019t have the time now. Tonight we\u2019re studying the first step, the preface, the greatest incentive to do teshuvah. And that\u2019s understanding how miraculous it is, what a gift it is. That\u2019s number one. To know what a gift we\u2019re being offered when Hakodosh Boruch Hu extends His hand out to us.
\n\n\n\nGrateful for The Gift
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s so valuable when we remind ourselves about this gift; every day we say \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, we thank You, Hashem, \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4, that You want teshuvah. We thank You for that.
\n\n\n\nWhat does that mean? The problem is that we think we’re doing a favor if we do teshuvah. It\u2019s a gift from us to Hashem. We pat ourselves on the back. \u201cOh, how nice we are.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why we have to remind ourselves three times a day that Hashem is the one doing the favor. There\u2019s a possibility of my neshamah being healed? You\u2019re willing to accept repentance? You\u2019re willing to cleanse my soul and restore it to its original purity with which I was born?
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d Hashem says. Like it says about those who do teshuvah, \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d6\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Hashem will once more circumcise your hearts. That means He\u2019ll cure you and bring your hearts back perfectly to Him once you start doing teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nEndless Gratitude
\n\n\n\nOoh wah! Such an opportunity deserves the greatest gratitude! So we say \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, we thank You Hashem, \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4, You accept teshuvah. \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd means \u201cWe bend our knee to You.\u201d We don\u2019t actually bend our knees in this place, but in our minds we are humbled, we are bent over. We thank You. We didn’t expect it. We don’t deserve it. You’re willing to accept us back again! It is a remarkable miracle and it cannot be overemphasized how much we have to express gratitude for that: \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd that You\u2019re \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4; You\u2019re willing to accept our teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nBut not only that. Not only is He willing, but He even favors us when we come back to Him. He smiles upon us if we do teshuvah. Harotzeh means it’s a ratzon. He likes us. Oh, that’s even more! We didn’t think of such a thing. We were happy that He let us come back at all. But He takes us back with open arms? He welcomes us back? Oh, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4, You even desire teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nDesire and Attain
\n\n\n\nNow, one more thing before we conclude. We say that Hashem is rotzeh b\u2019teshuvah, He wants teshuvah; but we have to want it too. Just to talk about it, to thank Him because He wants it, that\u2019s not enough. You have to want it too \u2013 you have to desire teshuvah. And if you desire it with all your heart then Hakodosh Boruch Hu will desire it too. If you desire teshuvah, Hashem will desire it from you and He’ll help you achieve it.
\n\n\n\nThat’s a fundamental principle in the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu conducts Himself with people: \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 in the way that a man wants to go, he will be led. It applies to everything. Usually if a man sets out to become a barber, Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives him success and he becomes a barber.
\n\n\n\nBut he has to set out. He\u2019ll start practicing on his little brother\u2019s hair. He\u2019ll tell his mother that she can save good money if she lets him give his little brother a haircut. If he\u2019s in a yeshivah so he\u2019ll find time to ply his trade by giving haircuts to other bochurim. Sooner or later he\u2019ll succeed. It doesn’t mean he becomes a perfect barber \u2013 he might make mistakes here and there \u2013 but once you make up your mind to be a barber, probably you\u2019ll end up a barber.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the klal gadol, the way a man wants to go Hashem leads him. And once we know that\u2019s so, we understand that only if you desire teshuvah, then Hashem will desire it from you and He’ll help you achieve it. And the more you desire it with all your heart the more Hakadosh Baruch Hu will desire to bring you back to Him.
\n\n\n\nFormalities Are Not Enough
\n\n\n\nBut when a person doesn’t have much interest in achieving forgiveness \u2013 it\u2019s Yom Kippur, it\u2019s that time of the year and it doesn’t cost any money to ask for forgiveness so he says ashamnu, bogadnu; but his heart isn\u2019t into it \u2013 then he\u2019s not ready yet to receive the gift of teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, he\u2019s not convinced that sins are so bad. They\u2019re bad of course but he doesn\u2019t feel like he rebelled against a King. Secondly, he doesn\u2019t ever think about his neshamah and the splotches of cancer on his neshamah that are fatal.
\n\n\n\nAnd anyhow, even if his neshamah is very sick, who says Hashem actually forgives sins and will cure that disease? In his heart of hearts he still has the New York Times editorials in his mind, and therefore it’s difficult for him to comprehend that there is a Hashem and neshamos and forgiveness. Only that he\u2019s a loyal Jew who as a boy adopted the ways of the Torah or he was taught that way, and so he goes along with the formalities. It\u2019s a formality, that\u2019s all.
\n\n\n\nFormalities Are Something
\n\n\n\nNow, even that is a good thing; even a formality is something because there’s no such thing as a man doing something and being divorced entirely from his words and his actions. So if you act in this way as if you’re asking for forgiveness, to a certain extent it’s so.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why the frum Jew shouts when he asks \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, \u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. Sometimes he shouts more than he actually feels, but it’s advisable anyhow because \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea the exteriority awakens the interiority and by shouting, he begins to hear how important the subject is. And even if you don\u2019t \u2013 let\u2019s say you\u2019re still quite cold hearted \u2013 but if you’re fortunate enough to daven among such Jews, so a little bit rubs off on you. Nevertheless, the more of a formality it is, the less it\u2019s a teshuvah that heals.
\n\n\n\nGet Real!
\n\n\n\nBut when a man is asking because he has learned to feel that he is his neshamah, that\u2019s his true self, and he understands what a sin does to the neshamah, that\u2019s a different type of teshuvah. When he understands that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Healer who forgives sins and heals the neshamah, so he realizes that all of his future depends on achieving forgiveness. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d5\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 With You is the power of forgiveness in order that man should fear You (Tehillim 130:4). When you know that without Hashem\u2019s favor and forgiveness, there’s no hope in this world or the Next World, and you ask for forgiveness with all your heart, that’s when you really deserves it.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we\u2019re learning now the necessity of earnestly yearning to be reconciled with the Father, to be forgiven by the King. To a very big extent it depends on the degree of your desire. Therefore the utmost importance is to be a \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4, you have to desire it, you have to want to be forgiven, that’s how important it is.
\n\n\n\nAh, to desire teshuvah! To desire selichah u\u2019mechilah! That\u2019s the first achievement – even before you make teshuvah, the first step is to be filled with gratitude that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave you the opportunity. \u201cA neis gadol! Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants me back. He\u2019s waiting for me to do teshuvah, and by means of that my neshamah will be cured again. It\u2019s like techiyas hameisim! The cancer on my neshamah will be healed. I\u2019m so grateful to You for that and I want to achieve that. I want to make use of that gift. It\u2019s the biggest happiness I could imagine.
\n\n\n\nCelebrating Teshuvah
\n\n\n\nEveryone knows that on motzei Yom Kippur it’s a custom of Jews that they make it a sort of Yom Tov. It\u2019s a beautiful minhag. They go home, they set a table, and everybody is in a festive mood. Everyone is eating and drinking and celebrating the achievements of Yom Kippur.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s a mistake what people are thinking. You imagine that it\u2019s because you did such a great job on Yom Kippur and now you are enjoying the fruits of your labor. Some people after neilah they\u2019re so proud of themselves. When they bow at maariv, so they\u2019re bowing to themselves. \u201cCongratulations Chaim! You did such a good job!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOh no! Don’t congratulate yourself that you deserve a full pardon for whatever happened. No, that\u2019s not the right attitude. You\u2019re celebrating because you\u2019re full of gratitude that He performed for you such a great miracle, something impossible to understand, that you\u2019ve been restored to Hashem\u2019s favor by means of His forgiveness. And therefore you’re so happy with regaining that favor, regaining that status as a loyal subject, that you’re celebrating it.
\n\n\n\nAnd once you\u2019ve been accepted once more as a loyal subject to the king so you\u2019ll make up your mind that all year round you want to maintain that. This gain that you achieved, that Hashem favors you and that the King has taken you back as a loyal subject, you\u2019d like to continue that from now on all year, and all your life.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAcquiring A Teshuvah Attitude
\n\n\n\nThis week as we work on teshuvah, I will bli neder set aside one minute each day to reflect on what we\u2019ve learned about teshuvah. A sin is a terrible cancer on the soul, more real than physical illness. Only Hashem\u2019s great kindness has decreed that teshuvah has the power to erase that and we must be filled with gratitude to Him for He desires our teshuvah.
\nThe post Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T01:42:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-27T12:08:02+00:00" }, { "id": 35275, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayeilech-shabbos-shuva-5783-the-gift-of-teshuva/", "title": "Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva", "content_html": "TA-Vayeilech-Shuva-5783The post Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T01:41:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T01:41:03+00:00" }, { "id": 35268, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayeilech-shabbos-shuva-5783-the-gift-of-teshuva/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva", "content_html": "TA-Vayeilech-Shuva-5783-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayeilech-Shabbos Shuva 5783 – The Gift of Teshuva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T01:40:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T01:40:31+00:00" }, { "id": 35263, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%94%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "02-\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T01:23:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T01:23:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35261, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/alegria-en-rosh-hashana/", "title": "Alegr\u00eda en Rosh Hashan\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos comer una gran seud\u00e1 con simj\u00e1 en Rosh Hashan\u00e1 cuando estamos siendo juzgados y nuestro destino est\u00e1 en juego?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que una parte muy importante del juicio de Rosh Hashan\u00e1 es nuestra creencia en la benevolencia de Hashem. Cuando las personas no est\u00e1n convencidas de \u05db\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e4\u05e5 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, que Hashem ama la benevolencia, cometen un error tan fundamental que es un gran pecado en s\u00ed mismo.
\n\n\n\nT\u00fa haz tu parte y Hakadosh Baruj Hu har\u00e1 la Suya. As\u00ed que Rosh Hashan\u00e1 ve al Shul y, mientras que el jaz\u00e1n est\u00e9 cantando Tra-la-la con su coro, t\u00fa piensa en Teshuv\u00e1; que est\u00e1s arrepentido y que decides que vas a cambiar tu camino en la vida. \u00a1Haces lo mejor que puedas! Y ahora, cuando llegas a casa, puedes sentarte y comer una rica comida, sabiendo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu tambi\u00e9n har\u00e1 lo mejor contigo.
\n\n\n\nEs muy importante confiar en Hashem incluso en Rosh Hashan\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #801 (septiembre de 1990)
\nThe post Alegr\u00eda en Rosh Hashan\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-28T01:18:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T01:18:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35300, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-rosh-hashana-happiness/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Rosh Hashana Happiness", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can we eat a big seudah with simcha on Rosh Hashana when we\u2019re being judged and our fate is in the balance?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that a very important part of the judgment of Rosh Hashana is our belief in the kindliness of Hashem. When people are not convinced \u05db\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e4\u05e5 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, that Hashem wants kindliness, they\u2019re making such a fundamental error that it\u2019s a big sin itself.
\n\n\n\nYou do your share and Hakodosh Boruch Hu will do His. So Rosh Hashana you go to shul and while the chazzan is singing tra-la-la with his choir, you\u2019re thinking of teshuva. You\u2019re repenting and you\u2019re deciding you\u2019re going to change your way in life. You do your best! And now when you come home, you can sit down and eat a sumptuous repast knowing Hakodosh Boruch Hu will do the best with you too.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s very important to trust in Hashem even on Rosh Hashana.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 801 (September 1990)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Rosh Hashana Happiness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-25T18:16:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T18:19:30+00:00" }, { "id": 35258, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%97-%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%9c-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%a1%d7%9c%d7%90%d7%91%d7%90%d7%93%d7%a7%d7%a2-%d7%99%d7%95%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d7: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05dc \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d1\u05d0\u05d3\u05e7\u05e2, \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4, \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-238The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d7: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05dc \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d1\u05d0\u05d3\u05e7\u05e2, \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4, \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-25T04:11:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-25T04:11:52+00:00" }, { "id": 35256, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-temor-al-dia-del-juicio/", "title": "El temor al D\u00eda del Juicio ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nAhora que se acerca el juicio, \u00bfqu\u00e9 podemos hacer para encontrar felicidad a medida que nos acercamos al D\u00eda del Juicio?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 podemos hacer para encontrar felicidad al enfrentar el D\u00eda del Juicio?
\n\n\n\nLa verdad es que no me interesa hacer feliz a la gente previo al D\u00eda del Juicio. Me gustar\u00eda darles miedo. La felicidad es algo que obtendr\u00e1s si vas a un m\u00e9dico que quiere darte unas pastillas para distraerte. Pero queremos que lo enfrentes. Queremos que tengas mucho miedo y eso es lo mejor que puedo darte en este momento: Emat HaD\u00edn.
\n\n\n\nEs por eso que comenc\u00e9 la conferencia de esta noche con estos pesukim, \u05e1\u05de\u05e8 \u05de\u05e4\u05d7\u05d3\u05da \u05d1\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d5\u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05da \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9 \u2013 Me estremezco ante el temor de Tu juicio. Eso es lo m\u00e1s saludable que puedes hacer. Y eso te dar\u00e1 un buen comienzo en el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o.
\n\n\n\nS\u00f3lo que en el resto de las palabras que dije, hab\u00eda algunos consejos sobre c\u00f3mo planificar el a\u00f1o venidero y los a\u00f1os venideros con felicidad para eventualmente ser zoj\u00e9 en el din y en todos los dinim. Pero no busques ninguna forma de ser feliz ma\u00f1ana (el Rav estaba hablando la noche de Erev Rosh Hashan\u00e1).
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que puedes comer ma\u00f1ana si quieres. Algunas personas no comen. Puedes comer comidas si lo deseas. Puedes dormir profundamente esta noche. No creo que mis palabras te hagan perder el sue\u00f1o. Estoy seguro de que no temblar\u00e1s tanto. Pero si de vez en cuando puedes darte un peque\u00f1o escalofr\u00edo artificial, vale la pena intentarlo; vale la pena estremecerse un poco cuando piensas en el Iom HaD\u00edn.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05d3\u05db\u05e4\u05d9\u05e3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d8\u05e4\u05d9 \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 \u2013 En Rosh Hashan\u00e1, cuanto m\u00e1s el hombre se incline y sea sumiso, mejor estar\u00e1. Porque Hakadosh Baruj Hu dice: \u201cOh, este hombre se somete ante M\u00ed; hay alguna posibilidad de que haga un cambio en su estilo de vida\u201d. Pero si un hombre atraviesa Rosh Hashan\u00e1 con una mente feliz, me temo que no tiene intenci\u00f3n de cambiar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #425 (septiembre de 1982)
\nThe post El temor al D\u00eda del Juicio appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-25T04:07:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-25T04:07:11+00:00" }, { "id": 35296, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-fearing-the-day-of-judgement/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Fearing the Day of Judgement\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Now that the judgment is coming, what can we do in order to find happiness as we approach the Day of Judgment?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhat can we do to find happiness as we face the Day of Judgment?
\n\n\n\nThe truth is I\u2019m not interested in making people happy in facing the Day of Judgment. I\u2019d like to make them afraid. Happiness is something that you\u2019ll get if you\u2019ll go to a doctor who wants to give you some pills in order to distract you. But we want you to face it. We want you to be very much afraid and that\u2019s the best thing that I can give you right now \u2013 eimas hadin.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why I started out the lecture tonight with these pesukim, \u05e1\u05de\u05e8 \u05de\u05e4\u05d7\u05d3\u05da \u05d1\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d5\u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05da \u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9 \u2013 I shudder at the fear of Your judgment. That\u2019s the healthiest thing you can do. And that\u2019s going to give you a good start in the year ahead.
\n\n\n\nOnly that in the rest of the words that I said, there was some advice for how to plan the year ahead and the years ahead with happiness in order eventually to be zocheh in din and in all the dinim. But don\u2019t look for any ways of being happy tomorrow (the Rav was speaking the night of Erev Rosh Hashana).
\n\n\n\nOf course you can eat meals tomorrow if you want. Some people don\u2019t. You can eat meals if you wish. You can sleep soundly tonight. I don\u2019t think my words will make you lose any sleep. I\u2019m sure you won\u2019t tremble that much. But if once in a while you can give yourself a little artificial shudder, it pays to try it; it pays to shudder a little bit when you think of the Yom Hadin.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05d3\u05db\u05e4\u05d9\u05e3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d8\u05e4\u05d9 \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 \u2013 On Rosh Hashana, the more your mind is bent over and humbled, the better off you are. Because Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cOh, this man is humbled before Me; there\u2019s some chance that he might make a change in his lifestyle.\u201d But if a man breezes through Rosh Hashana with a happy mind, then I\u2019m afraid he has no intention of changing.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 425 (September 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Fearing the Day of Judgement\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-23T18:02:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T18:06:13+00:00" }, { "id": 35253, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-nacion-que-conoce-el-shofar/", "title": "La naci\u00f3n que conoce el shofar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nDice en el Tehilim, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 Alabada es la naci\u00f3n que conoce el sonido del shofar (Tehilim 89:16). \u00bfCu\u00e1l es el significado y la importancia de esta cita?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 Feliz es el pueblo que reconoce el sonido del shofar. Eso es lo que significa. Y el significado simple es que el shofar tiene una serie de significados y qu\u00e9 afortunada es la persona que se toma el tiempo para pensar en esos significados y entenderlos.
\n\n\n\nUn significado es, \u05d5\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 es como la trompeta que suena cuando un rey toma el poder. \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05dc\u05da! \u00a1Hashem es el Rey! En Rosh Hashan\u00e1, reconocemos que Hashem es el Rey. Eso es lo que nos dice el shofar. Est\u00e1 diciendo: “Hashem es Rey”. \u00a1M\u00e9lej HaOlam! Hashem es due\u00f1o del mundo. Es el due\u00f1o de las estrellas. Es el due\u00f1o de las calles. \u00c9l es el due\u00f1o de tu casa. \u00c9l es el due\u00f1o de todo lo que tienes. El shofar anuncia que \u00c9l es el Rey. Eso es lo primero.
\n\n\n\nEl shofar tambi\u00e9n nos recuerda la entrega de la Tor\u00e1. \u05d5\u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d6\u05e7 \u05de\u05d0\u05d3. Hubo un sonido del shofar en la entrega de la Tor\u00e1. Entonces, cuando escuchas el shofar, recuerdas ese gran evento cuando se entreg\u00f3 la Tor\u00e1. Nos recuerda nuestras obligaciones de la Tor\u00e1; ese es nuestro servicio al Rey.
\n\n\n\nEl shofar tambi\u00e9n nos recuerda el futuro shofar. \u05ea\u05e7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc. Vendr\u00e1 el Mash\u00edaj y luego sonar\u00e1 un shofar en todo el mundo y todas las naciones temblar\u00e1n porque ha llegado la hora de la recompensa y Hakadosh Baruj Hu redimir\u00e1 a Su pueblo. \u00a1Y ese es el shofar del Mash\u00edaj, cuando todo el mundo reconocer\u00e1 que Hashem M\u00e9lej!
\n\n\n\nY entonces, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 felices son las personas que reconocen la teru\u00e1 y saben lo que significa. As\u00ed que si escuchas el shofar, primero ten en mente, \u05d4\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05db\u05df \u05d5\u05de\u05d6\u05d5\u05de\u05df \u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc \u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 o shemiat shofar; tengo en mente cumplir con la mitzv\u00e1 de escuchar el shofar. Pero luego piensa, este es un sonido que significa que Hashem es el Rey. \u00a1Muy importante! Y tambi\u00e9n significa la entrega de la Tor\u00e1 y la venida del Mash\u00edaj.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #136 (agosto de 1976)
\nThe post La naci\u00f3n que conoce el shofar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-23T05:24:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-23T05:24:37+00:00" }, { "id": 35250, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-nitsavim/", "title": "Paracha Nitsavim", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Nitsavim-5782The post Paracha Nitsavim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-23T03:19:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-23T03:19:20+00:00" }, { "id": 35247, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%96-%d7%aa%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%98%d7%9f-%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d6: \u05ea\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4, \u05d0\u05e8\u05d1\u05e2\u05d8\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05df \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e8\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-237The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d6: \u05ea\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4, \u05d0\u05e8\u05d1\u05e2\u05d8\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05df \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e8\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-23T03:14:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-23T03:14:25+00:00" }, { "id": 35292, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-nation-that-knows-the-shofar/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Nation That Knows the Shofar", "content_html": "\nQ:
It states in Tehillim, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 Praised is the nation that knows the shofar blowing (Tehillim 89:16). What is the meaning and significance of this quotation?
A:
\n\n\n\n\u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 Happy is the people that recognizes the sound of the shofar. That\u2019s what it means. And the plain meaning is that this shofar has a number of significances and how fortunate is the person who takes the time to think about them and know them.
\n\n\n\nOne significance is, \u05d5\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 it\u2019s like the trumpet that is sounded when a king takes over. \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05dc\u05da! Hashem is the King! On Rosh Hashana, we recognize Hashem is the King. That\u2019s what the shofar says. It\u2019s saying, \u201cHashem is King.\u201d Melech Haolam! Hashem owns the world. He owns the stars. He owns the streets. He owns your house. He owns everything that you have. The shofar announces that He\u2019s the King. That\u2019s number one.
\n\n\n\nThe shofar also reminds us of the giving of the Torah. \u05d5\u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d6\u05e7 \u05de\u05d0\u05d3. There was a sound of the shofar at the giving of the Torah. So when you hear the shofar, it reminds us of that great event when the Torah was given. It reminds us of our Torah obligations; that\u2019s our service to the King.
\n\n\n\nThe shofar reminds us also of the future shofar. \u05ea\u05e7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc. Moshiach will come and then a shofar will sound all around the world and all the nations will tremble because their time has come for retribution and Hakodosh Boruch Hu will redeem His people. And that\u2019s the shofar of Moshiach, when the whole world will recognize that Hashem Melech!
\n\n\n\nAnd so, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013 happy is the people who recognize the teruah and they know what it signifies. So if you listen to the shofar, first you have in mind, \u05d4\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05db\u05df \u05d5\u05de\u05d6\u05d5\u05de\u05df \u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc \u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 or shmias shofar; I\u2019m having in mind to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar. But then think, this is a sound that signifies Hashem is King. Very important! And also it signifies the giving of the Torah and the coming of Moshiach.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 136 (August 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Nation That Knows the Shofar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-22T17:46:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T17:50:14+00:00" }, { "id": 35235, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-primera-teshuva/", "title": "La primera Teshuv\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Iom Kipur viene despu\u00e9s de Rosh Hashan\u00e1? \u00bfNo ser\u00eda mejor hacer teshuv\u00e1 antes de Iom HaD\u00edn?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que Iom Kipur es s\u00f3lo el final de la teshuv\u00e1: Rosh Hashan\u00e1 es la principal teshuv\u00e1. Como se explic\u00f3 aqu\u00ed anteriormente, Rosh Hashan\u00e1 es teshuv\u00e1 por olvidarse de Hashem, por olvidarse de Hashem M\u00e9lej. \u00a1Eso es primordial! Esa es la teshuv\u00e1 m\u00e1s importante que tenemos que hacer. Tienes que pasar Rosh Hashan\u00e1 pensando en la idea de que Hakadosh Baruj Hu cre\u00f3 el mundo. Que \u00c9l es el Amo del universo, que \u00c9l es el Rey de todo.
\n\n\n\nNos lleva mucho tiempo meternos eso en la cabeza y cada a\u00f1o tenemos que renovar esa idea. Esa es la teshuv\u00e1 principal. Y todo lo dem\u00e1s son s\u00f3lo detalles. Entonces, despu\u00e9s de que terminemos la gran teshuv\u00e1 de emun\u00e1 en un Bor\u00e9, en un M\u00e9lej que controla el universo y todo est\u00e1 bajo Su sabidur\u00eda suprema, entonces estamos listos para hacer teshuv\u00e1 sobre los detalles, sobre este y aquel jet. Ese es el tema de As\u00e9ret iem\u00e9 Teshuv\u00e1 y de Iom Kipur. Pero primero viene el d\u00eda de la teshuv\u00e1 m\u00e1s grande, de volver a este concepto m\u00e1s importante de Hashem M\u00e9lej.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #524 (agosto de 1984)
\nThe post La primera Teshuv\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-22T03:39:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-22T03:39:16+00:00" }, { "id": 35288, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-first-teshuva/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The First Teshuva", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why does Yom Kippur come after Rosh Hashana? Wouldn\u2019t it be better to do teshuva before Yom Hadin?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, Yom Kippur is only the end of teshuva \u2013 Rosh Hashana is the chief teshuva. As was explained here previously, Rosh Hashana is teshuva for forgetting about Hashem, for forgetting that Hashem Melech. That\u2019s paramount! That\u2019s the most important teshuva we have to do. You have to spend Rosh Hashana thinking about the idea that Hakodosh Boruch Hu created the world. That He is the Master of the universe, that He is the King of everything.
It takes a long time to get that into our heads and every year we have to renew that idea. That\u2019s the main teshuva. And all the rest are only details. So after we finish the great teshuva of emunah in a Borei, in a Melech who controls the universe and everything is under His supreme wisdom, then we\u2019re ready to do teshuva on the details, on this cheit and that cheit. That\u2019s the business of Aseres Yimei Teshuva and Yom Kippur. But first comes the day of the biggest teshuva, of coming back to this most important concept of Hashem Melech.
TAPE # 524 (August 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The First Teshuva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-21T17:39:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-28T17:43:13+00:00" }, { "id": 35222, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%a6%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9d-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e0\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-21T03:42:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-21T03:42:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35220, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/diez-minutos-de-preparacion-para-rosh-hashana/", "title": "Diez minutos de preparaci\u00f3n para Rosh Hashan\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo esta noche que debemos ocuparnos antes de Rosh Hashan\u00e1 recordando todo lo bueno que Hashem nos ha dado desde el \u00faltimo Rosh Hashan\u00e1. Pero, \u00bfno tenemos que pasar el poco tiempo que nos queda pensando en nuestros pecados y nuestro comportamiento durante el a\u00f1o pasado y haciendo resoluciones para mejorar el a\u00f1o que viene?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nRecordar\u00e1s que dije las palabras \u201ccomo parte de nuestro trabajo\u201d. Realmente, hay tanto trabajo por hacer que no tenemos tiempo en las horas que nos queda, hasta ma\u00f1ana al atardecer, para hacer lo que hay que hacer. Pero recordar todo lo bueno que Hakadosh Baruj Hu nos ha brindado el a\u00f1o pasado y agradecerle por ello es sin duda una parte muy importante de nuestra preparaci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, en lugar de preocuparte por lograr hacer todo, te dir\u00e9 qu\u00e9 debes hacer. Aseg\u00farate de pensar durante cinco minutos sobre el a\u00f1o pasado, acerca todo lo bueno que Hashem te ha dado desde hace exactamente un a\u00f1o. Haz eso y ser\u00e1s un gran hombre. Y luego otros cinco minutos sobre resoluciones para el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o. Y entonces ser\u00e1s una persona a\u00fan mejor. Esos diez minutos ser\u00e1n un gran logro. Si despu\u00e9s de estar sentado aqu\u00ed durante una hora y media vas a salir y pensar durante cinco minutos, debes saber que eres una persona excepcional. Eres un dagul mervav\u00e1, eres uno entre diez mil. No hay nadie como t\u00fa.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1\u00bfQui\u00e9n piensa durante cinco minutos completos en la gratitud a Hashem por el a\u00f1o pasado?! \u00a1\u00bfY qui\u00e9n piensa durante cinco minutos en hacer resoluciones para mejorar en el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o?! La gente habla de eso. Pero eso es todo. Es por eso que dije al comienzo de nuestra charla, que si haces esto, te elevar\u00e1s y estar\u00e1s muy por encima de todos los dem\u00e1s.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #138 (septiembre de 1976)
\nThe post Diez minutos de preparaci\u00f3n para Rosh Hashan\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-21T03:11:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-21T03:11:49+00:00" }, { "id": 25425, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-ten-minute-rosh-hashana-prep/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Ten Minute Rosh Hashana Prep", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
The Rav said tonight that we should get busy before Rosh Hashanah remembering all the good that Hashem has given us since last Rosh Hashanah. But don\u2019t we have to spend the little time time we have left\u00a0thinking about our sins and our behavior over the past year and making resolutions for improving this coming year?
A:
You\u2019ll recall that I said the words, \u201cas part of our work.\u201d Really, there\u2019s so much work to be done that we don\u2019t have time in the ensuing period, until tomorrow at sunset, to do what has to be done. But remembering all the good that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given us this past year and thanking Him for it is most surely a very important part of our preparation.
So instead of worrying about fitting it all in, I\u2019ll tell you what to do. You make sure to think for five minutes about the past year \u2013 about all the good that Hashem has given you since exactly one year ago. Do that and you\u2019ll be a great man. And then another five minutes about resolutions for the coming year. And then you\u2019ll be an even greater person. Those ten minutes will be a great accomplishment. If after sitting here for an hour and a half you\u2019ll go out and think for five minutes, you should know that you\u2019re an exception. You\u2019re a dagul meirivavah, you\u2019re one out of ten thousand. There\u2019s nobody like you.
Who thinks for five whole minutes about gratitude for Hashem for the past year?! And who thinks for five minutes about making resolutions for improving himself in the coming year?! People talk about it. But that\u2019s all. That\u2019s why I said in the beginning of our talk, that if you do this on a small scale, then you shoot up and your head is way above everybody else.
TAPE # 138 (September 1976)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Ten Minute Rosh Hashana Prep appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-20T21:38:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-20T21:38:45+00:00" }, { "id": 35214, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-hacer-alia/", "title": "C\u00f3mo hacer ali\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n con respecto a que nos establezcamos en \u00c9retz Israel?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, depende. Si est\u00e1s influenciado por los sionistas, entonces debe saber que eres v\u00edctima de la propaganda. Si lo est\u00e1s haciendo por D\u00e1at Tor\u00e1, es una historia diferente. Pero quiero decirte que muy pocas personas se establecen en \u00c9retz Israel por D\u00e1at Tor\u00e1. En realidad es una forma de patriotismo engendrada por grupos no religiosos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, te lo explicar\u00e9. Si quieres mejorar tu rujaniut, quieres estudiar m\u00e1s Tor\u00e1, quieres que tus hijos sean mejores jud\u00edos, y es por eso que vas, entonces estoy totalmente de acuerdo. Pero primero la pregunta es, \u00bfes as\u00ed? \u00bfEs el mejor lugar para que los ni\u00f1os crezcan en el camino de la Tor\u00e1? Si despu\u00e9s de investigarlo a fondo descubres que ese es el caso, entonces ciertamente, no hay duda [de que est\u00e1s haciendo lo correcto].
\n\n\n\nPara algunas personas, sin embargo, definitivamente no es as\u00ed. Algunas personas encontrar\u00e1n su \u00e9xito no en \u00c9retz Israel; estudiar\u00e1n y progresar\u00e1n en la Tor\u00e1 y las mitzvot, y sus hijos tambi\u00e9n, en otros lugares.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, depende de cu\u00e1l sea tu prop\u00f3sito. Un Rosh Ieshiv\u00e1 me dijo una vez: \u201cSimplemente ir a \u00c9retz Israel sin tener en mente un lugar espec\u00edfico donde te quieres establecer es como ir a Chicago\u201d. Porque tambi\u00e9n hay un Chicago en \u00c9retz Israel. \u00a1\u00bfQuieres instalarte en Tel-Aviv?! Y por lo tanto depende de a d\u00f3nde vayas.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, te dir\u00e1n maamar\u00e9 jazal: si caminas cuatro amot en \u00c9retz Israel es mejor que cualquier otra cosa en jutz la\u00e1retz. No malinterpretes esas cosas; nuestros mismos sabios permanecieron en jutz la\u00e1retz porque ten\u00edan buenas razones para estar all\u00ed. Ezr\u00e1 se neg\u00f3 a ir a \u00c9retz Israel \u05db\u05dc \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05e9\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d1\u05df \u05e0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd. Mientras su rabino estuviera vivo, no se mover\u00eda de all\u00ed. Ahora bien, eso es una consideraci\u00f3n. En \u00c9retz Israel estaban construyendo el segundo Bet Hamikdash y Ezr\u00e1 no fue porque su rabino todav\u00eda estaba en Babel y necesitaba a su rabino; mientras su rabino estuviera vivo, no se mover\u00eda. Como ves, hay otras consideraciones que tienen prioridad.
\n\n\n\nY tienes que saber \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 quieres ir? \u00bfEs s\u00f3lo por un sue\u00f1o sionista? Entonces es un sue\u00f1o falso, y qui\u00e9n sabe qu\u00e9 va a pasar. \u00bfCrees que durar\u00e1 para siempre el estado jud\u00edo? No sabes lo que va a pasar. El peque\u00f1o estado all\u00ed tambalea. \u00bfQui\u00e9n dijo que all\u00ed hay seguridad? \u00bfQui\u00e9n dijo que est\u00e1s a salvo all\u00ed? Por lo tanto, si vas porque quieres rujaniut, entonces ignora otras consideraciones; pero de lo contrario s\u00f3lo eres v\u00edctima de la propaganda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #408 (junio de 1982)
\nThe post C\u00f3mo hacer ali\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-20T04:30:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-20T04:30:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35208, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-make-aliyah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Make Aliyah", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is your attitude to us settling in Eretz Yisroel?
A:
And the answer is, it depends. If you are influenced by the Zionists, then you have to know you are a victim of propaganda. If you are doing it because of daas Torah\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a different story but I want to tell you,\u00a0very few people settle in Eretz Yisroel because of daas Torah. Actually it is a form of patriotism engendered by the non-religious groups.\u00a0
Now, I will explain it to you. If you want to better your ruchniyus, you want to learn more Torah, you want your children to be better Jews, and that is why you are going, then I\u2019m all for it. But first the question is, is it so? Is it the very best place for children to grow up in the Torah way? If after investigating it thoroughly you discover that is the case, then certainly, there\u2019s no question.
\n\n\n\nFor some people, however, it is definitely not so. Some people will find their success\u00a0not\u00a0in Eretz Yisroel; they will learn and they will make progress in Torah and mitzvos \u2013 and their children too \u2013 elsewhere.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it depends what\u2019s your purpose. A Rosh Yeshiva once told me, \u201cJust to go to Eretz Yisroel without having a specific place in mind where you want to settle is like to going to Chicago.\u201d Because there is a Chicago in Eretz Yisroel too. You want to settle in Tel-Aviv?! And therefore it depends where you are going.
\n\n\n\nNow, they\u2019ll tell you maamarei chazal \u2013 if you walk four amos in Eretz Yisroel then it is better than anything else in chutz laaretz. Don\u2019t misunderstand these things; our sages themselves remained in chutz laaretz because they had good reasons to be there. Ezra refused to go to Eretz Yisrael \u05db\u05dc \u05d6\u05de\u05df \u05e9\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d1\u05df \u05e0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd. As long as his rebbe was alive he wouldn\u2019t budge. Now, that\u2019s a consideration. In Eretz Yisroel they were building the second Bais Hamikdash and Ezra didn\u2019t come because his rebbe was still in Bavel and he needed his rebbe; as long as his rebbe was alive he wouldn\u2019t budge. So you see there are other considerations that take precedence.
\n\n\n\nAnd you have to know why do you want to go? Is it just because of a Zionist dream? Then it\u2019s\u00a0a false dream, and who knows what is going to happen. You think it\u2019s\u00a0going to be forever the Jewish state? You don\u2019t know what is going to happen. The little state there is wobbling. Who said there is security there? Who said you are safe there? And therefore, if you go because you want ruchniyus\u00a0so you disregard other considerations; but otherwise you\u2019re just a victim of propaganda.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 408 (June 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Make Aliyah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-19T20:49:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-19T20:49:22+00:00" }, { "id": 35202, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/selijot/", "title": "Selijot", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDe qu\u00e9 se trata Selijot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSelijot significa que un hombre debe hacer un tiempo para Hitbonenut, para pensar. \u05e9\u05d9\u05de\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d1\u05db\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05db\u05dd – Pongan sus mentes en sus caminos. \u00bfEst\u00e1s yendo por el camino correcto? Cuando decimos Selijot en el mes de Elul, decimos, \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05e7\u05e8\u05d4 – Revisemos nuestros caminos e investiguemos. Todos los jud\u00edos frum lo dicen. Pero, \u00bflo haces? \u00bfCu\u00e1ntos jud\u00edos frum se han tomado cinco minutos para pensar en el \u00faltimo a\u00f1o? Cr\u00e9eme, muy pocos. Un inventario de cinco minutos, cinco minutos de contabilidad es muy poco para un a\u00f1o completo de negocios. Ser\u00eda una gran cosa si alguien pudiera presumir, “\u00a1Soy un hombre! Cumpl\u00ed \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4. Pas\u00e9 cinco minutos pensando sobre el \u00faltimo a\u00f1o”. Es poquito como para jactarse, pero halevai vehalevai.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Al menos dos minutos deber\u00edas dedicar! \u00bfDedicaste dos minutos? Incluso en Iom Kipur, \u00bfpasas dos minutos pensando en tu a\u00f1o pasado? La gente habla, pero ni siquiera saben lo que dicen. Dicen, \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 – Revisemos nuestros caminos y hagamos un inventario, pero luego se olvidan de hacerlo. Ser\u00eda un buen inventario si pasas dos minutos analizando tus actos. Pero ni siquiera gastan dos minutos.
\n\n\n\nY es tan esencial. Es imperativo. Debes tener algo de tiempo para pensar. A menos que desees continuar en tu ceguera hasta que te caigas por el precipicio cuando todo se termine; y luego ser\u00e1 demasiado tarde. Al final, te dar\u00e1s cuenta de que tu vida ha sido desperdiciada por la falta de mente. La oportunidad de oro de la vida viene una vez en la historia, no volver\u00e1 de nuevo. Y para eso est\u00e1n los Selijot; para despertarte.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #155 (febrero de 1977)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn Selijot decimos \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da – “No tenemos a nadie entre nosotros que llame a tu nombre”. Pero el Jovot Halevavot dice que tenemos personas que son \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da en cada generaci\u00f3n. Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 decimos en los Selijot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEn Selijot cuando se dice que hoy no tenemos un \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da significa otra cosa. Significa esto: en los buenos viejos tiempos, hab\u00eda personas que ten\u00edan influencia con Hakadosh Baruj Hu y cuando le ped\u00edan Rajamim, misericordia, los escuchaba. Y hoy, ya no es tan f\u00e1cil encontrar eso. Eso es lo que estamos diciendo en Selijot.
\n\n\n\nPero la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda es \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da siempre, no hay duda sobre eso. Llamamos a Hashem para todo. S\u00f3lo que aqu\u00ed significa que Hakadosh Baruj Hu escuchar\u00e1 tu reclamo y responder\u00e1 de inmediato. Rab\u00ed Janin\u00e1 Ben Dos\u00e1, cuando le pidi\u00f3 a Hashem que hiciera algo, Hashem lo escuch\u00f3, s\u00ed. Hoy, no s\u00e9, no hay nadie que pueda hacer eso; eso es lo que significa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-247 (septiembre de 2000)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nEn Selijot cuando decimos \u05de\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05e1\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd y \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, suena como si estuvi\u00e9ramos rezando a los \u00e1ngeles. \u00bfLes estamos pidiendo ayuda?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que en este Shul lo salteamos. No decimos eso. Algunos Poskim dicen que no se debe decir y, por lo tanto, lo salteamos. Ahora bien, algunos lo justifican diciendo que realmente queremos que Hashem lo haga. S\u00f3lo que decimos con este lash\u00f3n de \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-249 (septiembre de 2000)
\nThe post Selijot appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-19T02:50:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-19T02:50:55+00:00" }, { "id": 35196, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%a9-%d7%94%d7%a9%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%92/", "title": "\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2", "content_html": "01-\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9-\u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4The post \u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-19T02:32:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-19T02:32:37+00:00" }, { "id": 25378, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-selichos-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Selichos", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is Selichos all about?
A:
Selichos means that a man must make some time for hisbonenus, for thinking. \u05e9\u05d9\u05de\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d1\u05db\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05db\u05dd \u2013 Put your minds on your path in life. Are you walking in the right way? When we say Selichos in the month of Elul, so every day we\u2019re saying, \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05e7\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 let us search out our ways and investigate. All the frum Jews are saying that. But do you do it? How many frum Jews have stopped and given five minutes to think over the past year? Believe me, very few. Five minutes inventory, five minutes bookkeeping is very little for a whole year of business. It would be a great thing if somebody could boast, \u201cI\u2019m a man! I fulfilled \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4. I spent five minutes thinking of the past full year.\u201d It\u2019s a very poor little boast, but halevei v\u2019halevei.
At least two minutes you should spend! Did you spend two minutes? Even on Yom Kippur, do you spend two minutes thinking about your past year? People are talking, but they don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re saying. They say, \u05e0\u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u2013 let\u2019s search out our ways and make an inventory, and then they forget about actually doing it. It would be a nice inventory if you spend two minutes on your business. But not even two minutes are spent.
And it\u2019s so essential. It\u2019s imperative. You must have some time to think. Unless you want to continue in your blindness until you fall over the precipice when it\u2019s all over and then it\u2019s too late. At the end you\u2019ll realize that your life has been wasted for a lack of using your mind. The golden opportunity of life comes once in history \u2013 you won\u2019t come back again. And that\u2019s what Selichos is for; it\u2019s meant to wake you up.
TAPE # 155 (February 1977)
Q:
In Selichos we say that \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da \u2013 \u201cWe have no one among us who calls out in Your name.\u201d But the Chovos Halevavos says that we have people who are \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da in every generation. So what does it mean in the Selichos?
A:
In Selichos when it says that today we don\u2019t have a \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da it means something else. It means this: In the good old days, there were people who had influence with Hakodosh Boruch Hu and when they asked Him for rachamim, for mercy, He listened to them. And today, it\u2019s not so easy to find that anymore. That\u2019s what we\u2019re saying in Selichos.
But the Jewish nation is \u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05da always, no question about that. We call out to Hashem for everything. Only that here it means that Hakodosh Boruch Hu will listen to their outcry and respond immediately. Rebbi Chanina ben Dosah, when he asked Hashem to do something, Hashem listened to him, yes. Today, I don\u2019t know of there is anybody who could do that anymore; that\u2019s all that it means.
TAPE # E-247 (September 2000)
Q:
In Selichos when we say \u05de\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05e1\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd and \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, it sounds like we\u2019re praying to the angels. Are we asking them for help?
A:
And the answer is that in this shul we skip it. We don\u2019t say that. Some poskim say you shouldn\u2019t do it and therefore we skip it. Now, some justify it by saying that really we want Hashem to do it. Only that we say aza lashon of \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd.
TAPE # E-249 (September 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Selichos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-18T16:31:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-19T20:31:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35184, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-netzavim-rosh-hashanah-5-the-thirsty-nation-2/", "title": "Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation", "content_html": "Confusing The Satan
\n\n\n\nOn Rosh Hashana we blow the shofar again and again. And although we\u2019re hungry; we want to go home and eat already but we stand in shul listening to the baal tokei\u2019a blowing the shofar much more than is required by the Torah. We have tekios before mussaf, a lot of them. And then more tekios during mussaf; and then again another set of tekios after mussaf.
\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s that all about? Aren\u2019t we overdoing it? That\u2019s the Gemara\u2019s question(Rosh Hashana 16b): \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Why do they make tekios so many times? It seems so unnecessary! We fulfilled the mitzvah before mussaf already \u2013 you can\u2019tdo a mitzvah twice!
\n\n\n\nNow listen to what the Gemara answers: \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d8\u05b8\u05df \u2013 We do it in order to confuse the Satan. It\u2019s the Day of Judgment and there\u2019s a malach Hashem standing there ready to prosecute us. That\u2019s his job today and he has many claims against us \u2013 we\u2019re human beings after all, and human beings do things; and we\u2019re being judged now for those things. And the prosecutor comes to the courtroom with a lot of files, a lot of evidence. There\u2019s a lot he has written down about our past year. And that\u2019s not good; it\u2019s quite scary.
\n\n\n\nSo what saves us? How do we come away from the Yom Hadin safely? So the chachomim tell us it\u2019s by blowing extra tekios! We confuse the Satan by blowing more than we have to.
\n\n\n\nPoisonous Fruits
\n\n\n\nNow that needs to be explained because the Satan is not a foolish man. He\u2019s a malach, a very wise malach who\u2019s not easily confused. You\u2019re not going to trick him by repeating some tekios, you can be sure about that. And so it\u2019s a puzzle; what does it mean that we confuse the Satan with extra shofar blows?
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019ll preface the answer with a possuk in our parsha. Moshe Rabeinu, al pi Hashem,\u00a0 is warning the Am Yisroel to stay far away from sin and he says like this: \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05bd\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1\u05b6\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e4\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Perhaps there is someone among you, a man, a woman, or a family or tribe, whose thoughts stray from Hashem our G-d (Netzavim 29:17).
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s talking about someone who has an inclination to follow after his own thoughts and because of that he\u2019s veering away from the ideals of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He\u2019s a ma\u2019amin; he believes in Hashem and he\u2019s a shomer torah u\u2019mitzvos but there are certain attitudes that are simmering in his mind. \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m going to go the way my mind sees,\u201d he says.
\n\n\n\nAnd in case you would think that it\u2019s not too serious, the Torah says, \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05e8\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 it\u2019s a root producing gall and bitter fruit (ibid.) \u201c\u05de\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b6\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 He planted bitter seeds in his mind and now there are poisonous plants growing there\u201d (Rashi, ibid.).
\n\n\n\nThe Satiated and The Thirsty
\n\n\n\nNow, what is the example that the Torah brings of a man who is planting poisonous ideas in his head? It\u2019s important information to know so that we can stay clear of the danger. So the possuk says like this: His sin is that he\u2019s \u05e1\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4, he\u2019s joining together those who are satiated with those who are still thirsty.
\n\n\n\nNow these are very mysterious words; \u201cHe\u2019s joining the satiated with the thirsty.\u201d We can say them but we don\u2019t understand them. And yet we must understand them because whatever they mean, whatever that man is thinking, it\u2019s quite terrible because the Torah says:\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05d1\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hashem will be unwilling to forgive him, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6 \u05d9\u05b6\u05e2\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05e3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 the wrath of Hashem will fume and His vengeance will inflame that man, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 and there will come upon him all the curses written in the Torah and Hashem will wipe away his name from beneath the sky (ibid. 19).
\n\n\n\nAll the curses written in the Torah?! Fuming wrath and vengeance?! What did this person do already? We\u2019re expecting to hear something very big now, something terrible.
\n\n\n\nThe Wicked Good Citizen
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Gemara (Sanhedrin 76b) says like this: What did he do? He was walking, let\u2019s say, past a Chinese fruit store and he saw a fruit lying on the sidewalk. An apple fell off the bin and in another minute someone will pass by and kick it into the gutter. So this Jew bends over, picks up the apple and puts it back on the bin.
\n\n\n\nOhh wha, that\u2019s a good citizen! Maybe he should get a special commendation from the mayor, a key to the city? Could be. But about him the Torah says: \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05d1\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hashem will not want to forgive him for what he did. Not only that He won’t forgive him; He won’t desire to forgive him.
\n\n\n\nHashem won’t even desire to forgive him?! What did this man do wrong already? He did a good deed! He picked up the apple and put it back on the bin \u2013 that\u2019s all he did.
\n\n\n\nThe answer to that puzzle is \u201che added those who are already satiated onto those who are still thirsty.\u201d It means like this: The Jewish nation is a nation that is thirsty for mitzvos; the other nations on the other hand are satiated. And by putting that apple back into the bin, by fulfilling the mitzvah of hashovas aveidah to a gentile, you\u2019re equating the \u201csatiated nations\u201d with the \u201cthirsty\u201d one.
\n\n\n\nThirsty for Mitzvos
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think hashovas aveidah is just something we do for the sake of the upkeep of society. Our sages are teaching us a secret here, a secret that applies to all of the mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro. When we go out of our way to do a mitzvah \u2013 whether it\u2019s returning a lost object or giving tzedakah, whatever it is \u2013 we do it because there\u2019s a special mitzvah to honor the Jewish people; the nation whose desire for avodas Hashem is never quenched.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s not the whole story of the Am Yisroel, but it\u2019s one of the important differences between us and the nations of the world. Am Yisroel are tzmei\u2019im l\u2019avodas yotzram, they\u2019re thirsty for mitzvos, while the gentiles are satiated; they\u2019re not interested.
\n\n\n\nThe Jew is busy all day long with mitzvos. Poshute Jews are keeping the Torah everywhere. A frum Jew gets up early in the morning to go to shul and then a few hours later he\u2019s back in shul again. Old people, bochurim and little children are going to shul. Back and forth, back and forth. Shachris, mincha, ma\u2019ariv \u2013 he davens and he learns a little bit too. He puts a nickel in the pushka whenever he gets a chance.
\n\n\n\nAll week long the Am Yisroel is busy with mitzvos \u2013 nobody is looking to dodge any mitzvos \u2013 and then Shabbos comes. Everyone is preparing for Shabbos; women and young girls are standing over the stove for hours l\u2019kavod Shabbos \u2013 a very great mitzvah! The Jewish stores are crowded; long lines filled with people paying big sums of money \u2013 and for what? For the mitzvah of Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nThirsty for Alcohol
\n\n\n\nAre goyim busy with mitzvos all day long?! They don\u2019t even fathom the idea of such a thirst. The goy sees the Jew walking back and forth to shul a few times a day and he doesn\u2019t understand what\u2019s happening. \u201cWhere is this crazy Jew going back and forth, back and forth, all day long?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe doesn\u2019t understand! He goes to church once a month and the priest says, \u201cAll your sins are forgiven,\u201d and finished. Don\u2019t think that the Catholics or the Protestants, even the religious ones, are the same as you, only that the religion is different. Don\u2019t make any mistake about that! There is a very wide chasm between you and them. Even if they do some things, they\u2019re zaht \u2013 they\u2019re overfed; they\u2019re not thirsty for mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you what they\u2019re thirsty for. You walk in the streets early in the morning in a gentile neighborhood, a respectable upper class Catholic neighborhood, and lying stretched out on the ground is a good Catholic. He\u2019s drunk and he\u2019s been sleeping on the street all night. I walked in the Catholic neighborhoods forty years ago and I saw that many times. Drunk all night, fast asleep in the gutter; and then he gets up in the morning, staggers home, and tells everybody, \u201cOoh wah! What a time I had last night!\u201d He\u2019s proud of himself.
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t even considered a chisaron. Many people admired him; they were jealous of him. It was an exploit! He would tell his friends about it: \u201cDid I ever tell you about the time that I slept drunk in the gutter the whole night?!\u201d A goy is satiated with drink; other things too. He wants mitzvos like he wants a hole in his shoe.
\n\n\n\nWorking for Tuition
\n\n\n\nDid you ever see a Jew lying drunk in the street at night?! Maybe today you could, but forty years ago you couldn\u2019t. Does a Jew go to the pub and drink after his day at the office?! He\u2019s busy with better things; he\u2019s learning with his children. He\u2019s wiped out from a long day in the office but he sits down to chazer over the Gemara with his boys.
\n\n\n\nAnd what\u2019s he doing in the office anyhow? He\u2019s there for mitzvos! It costs big money to raise a Jewish family today! People are spending tremendous sums to bring up their children b\u2019derech haTorah! We\u2019re trying very hard to get vouchers; at least the I.R.S. should recognize what we\u2019re paying for tuition and give us a rebate on our income tax.
\n\n\n\nThe Reform Jews are fighting against us \u2013 they don\u2019t want us to get deductions because once we have an opportunity to get rebates on our school expenses, then maybe more and more Jews will send their children to yeshivos. The Reform is afraid of that. But no matter what, rebate or no rebate, the Am Yisroel is paying the money anyhow; we\u2019re spending tremendous sums on schar limud. Only a thirsty nation would do such a thing!
\n\n\n\nNo Comparison
\n\n\n\nEven our little children are \u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, they\u2019re thirsting for mitzvos. Go out in the streets in the morning. You see boys and girls everywhere waiting for the buses. The little boys with the tzitzis and yarmulkes and payos \u2013 all mitzvos \u2013 and the girls in skirts, tznius girls. They\u2019re going to the Beis Yaakovs, the yeshivos. And the little boys are in the cheder all day long sitting and learning Eilu Metzios, all kinds of dinim; when you have to return a lost article, how to return it. Little boys, not even bar mitzvah are learning the details of the mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nDoes the Italian send his children to places where they learn the mitzvah of hashavas aveidah? No; he\u2019s sending his children to public school or to the gentile private schools where they\u2019re learning kol davar ossur. What they study and practice in those schools, I don\u2019t want to even say the words in a shul. That\u2019s the thirst of a goy.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no comparison between the gentile and the Jew \u2013 no comparison at all! And if you compare them by how you act and how you think when you\u2019re passing the Chinese fruit store, then you\u2019re committing a very terrible sin. For a Yisroel, achicha, yes, you bend over and pick it up. \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05d3\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 the lost object of your brother in mitzvos you\u2019re michuyav to return. A nation that does mitzvos, so we do mitzvos for them \u2013 it\u2019s an honor they deserve! We\u2019re thirsty for mitzvos and we deserve tremendous honor because of that. But the gentiles? They don\u2019t want to do any mitzvos, so we don\u2019t go out of our way to honor them with our mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nFollow The Government
\n\n\n\nNow I don\u2019t want you people to go away and make a calumny against me that I said you shouldn\u2019t return lost articles to gentiles. I never said such a thing. Suppose you find a lost article, a wallet. You open it up and you see the name James Walsh inside. James Walsh, not a Jew. And so you\u2019re considering, \u201cDo I have to return it?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWell, if the police ordinances require that any lost article must be returned, so a Jew is as loyal a citizen as anyone else \u2013 a good Jew is even more loyal to his country than a gentile citizen; so you obey the city ordinances and you take Mr. Walsh\u2019s wallet to the police station. That\u2019s well and good. If the government says you must, so you follow the government; \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 it\u2019s a law.
\n\n\n\nAnd even if it\u2019s not a law, if you tell me that you pick it up because you want to show that Jews are good people, darkei shalom, all right, maybe. Let\u2019s say there are goyim standing around, all right, pick up the apple and put it back in the bin. Be a nice fellow so that the goyim will say, \u201cYou see that; the Jews aren\u2019t so bad after all.\u201d Absolutely it\u2019s a mitzvah to raise the honor of the Jewish people in the eyes of the goyim.
\n\n\n\nBut if you put it into the bin and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cI\u2019m doing the mitzvah of hashovas aveidah, this is what the Torah means.\u201d so you\u2019re doing something terrible.
\n\n\n\nPassing By
\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s so terrible? It\u2019s a wickedness to give to a non-Jew the recognition, the honor, that the Torah reserved only for the people of Israel. And \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05d1\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hashem will refuse to forgive him because he has committed a crime, a very great crime against the greatness of the Am Yisroel. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 He made equal the satiated, the ibergezetigt, with those who are thirsty always for mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, sometimes you just have to pass by. After all, there\u2019s no law that you have to bend over to pick up the apple. There\u2019s no such thing that when you pass by a fruit stand, you must pick up the apple and put it back, no. And therefore when no one is watching you\u2019ll just have to pass it by. Because as good as it is to raise the honor of the Jewish people in the eyes of the gentiles, it\u2019s even a bigger mitzvah to raise the honor of the Jewish people in your own eyes!
\n\n\n\nI myself make it a point to pass by! I wouldn\u2019t pick it up. I make it a point to keep on walking and I remind myself, \u201cOnly for a Yisroel, for a tzamei lamitzvos, there\u2019s a mitzvah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, we\u2019re not disparaging anyone else. We\u2019re polite and kind to everyone. We follow all the laws of the land and we have nothing against anyone. Only that we\u2019re talking here about a matter of especial esteem for those who deserve to be honored. We\u2019re talking now about how we have to go above and beyond for a poshute Jew \u2013 because he\u2019s not poshut at all!
\n\n\n\nKnocked Out by Love
\n\n\n\nAnd the mitzvah of hashovas aveidah is just one example of how we do that. It\u2019s one opportunity to demonstrate how greatly you value the importance of a Yisroel: for him you\u2019re moichel on your time, on your kavod, on the tircha and you bend over and pick up the apple. And you think, \u201cI\u2019m doing a mitzvah d\u2019oraysa of returning a lost object to a brother\u2014a brother b\u2019mitzvos, a person from the nation that goes overboard for mitzvos.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back now to the puzzle that we began our talk with tonight. What does it mean that the Satan is confused when he sees that we\u2019re standing up again by mussaf and blowing shofar? How do the extra tekios protect the Am Yisroel on the Day of Judgement?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is like this: It\u2019s not the mitzvah that saves us;it\u2019s the chibah of the mitzvah; it\u2019s the love of the mitzvah that \u201cconfuses\u201d the Satan. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 Because he sees that they love mitzvos; they love mitzvos very much.
\n\n\n\nGaining His Respect
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the one thing that knocks the Satan out entirely. When he sees that we\u2019re standing up now to blow shofar again \u2013 \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?! They blew already!\u201d \u2013 then all of his claims become muted; they\u2019re made quiet. When he sees that the Am Yisroel just can\u2019t get enough of mitzvos \u2013 they did the mitzvah already but they\u2019re thirsty for more \u2013 that knocks him over. He still has claims against us, but he does it with a different niggun. He says it with respect now; the Satan has a newfound respect for us.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, even though the Satan will not yield his duty \u2013 he has to carry out his mission to be melamed chov on Am Yisroel \u2013 but when he sees that we\u2019re \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df, that we\u2019re blowing shofar again, that causes him to be quiet. He gets confused. He knows exactly what he wanted to say, but all of a sudden his arguments fall apart. The foundation of his whole argument against us becomes confused because he sees he\u2019s dealing now with the nation that is hungry for mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nEmulating the Satan
\n\n\n\nNow, I told you once before that one of the purposes of malachim is that they should be a model for us. That\u2019s why we say every day in davening about the angels praising Hashem. We talk about it at length; in the bracha of Yotzer Hame\u2019oros and then in Kedusha. It\u2019s because we\u2019re supposed to study that and learn from them how to praise Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd since the Satan is a malach Hashem too \u2013 we have to know that he\u2019s a model for us too. Not only do we see that the malach is knocked out by this attitude of the Am Yisroel, but we see that it\u2019s an attitude that matters. If it\u2019s so big that this malach is confounded and all of his arguments against the Am Yisroel fall apart, then it\u2019s something we have to learn to appreciate.
\n\n\n\nGreatness Amid Suffering
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a tale, a story in the Gemara (Shabbos 33b) about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon was once sentenced to death by the Romans because he had criticized the Roman government. Now, when the Romans pronounced a death sentence on a person it wasn\u2019t like in New York; it was serious business. So when Rabbi Shimon heard about this he did the smartest thing; he ran away with his son and hid in a cave. For twelve years they sat in the cave hiding from the Romans.
\n\n\n\nNow, you have to know that it was during those twelve years that Rabbi Shimon and his son became exceedingly great. What went on in that cave was tremendous. They didn\u2019t want to wear out their clothing, so they dug a hole in the ground and they sat in the sand up to their necks all day long and they learned Torah. When they had to daven, so they climbed out of the hole and put on their clothing and davened. Then they took off their clothing and went back in the hole again. That\u2019s how they spent twelve years.
\n\n\n\nIt wasn\u2019t an easy life \u2013 their bodies were full of sores from the sand. They had a lot of other tzaros too. But they became very great in shleimus! Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar b\u2019Reb Shimon became very great men as a result. These twelve years elevated them immensely.
\n\n\n\nDestroying Civilization
\n\n\n\nFinally at the end of twelve years a message was sent to them m\u2019shomayim: \u201cThe danger is over; you can go out now.\u201d So they went back out to civilization and what did they see? They saw people, poshute Jews. They saw people who were farmers, people raising cattle, and they said, \u201cWhat\u2019s this? Milking cows?! You\u2019re wasting your life with milking cows and planting fields?!\u201d They didn\u2019t understand! That people should give their time for anything but perfection, shleimus of avodas Hashem?!
\n\n\n\nSo wherever they looked they were dissatisfied with what they saw. And because of their kedusha, wherever they looked with their holy eyes, it was destroyed. They took a look, they disapproved of what they saw and \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b7\u05e3, it was destroyed. They destroyed this field, they destroyed that field. They couldn\u2019t tolerate what they were seeing.
\n\n\n\nSo Hashem said, \u201cYou think I let you come out of your cave to destroy My world?! Is that how you look at My people?! Go back to the cave again! Go back and stay there!\u201d And so, Rabbi Shimon and his son returned to living in the cave.
\n\n\n\nAppreciating Civilization
\n\n\n\nAfter one more year in the cave they finally came out again. It was erev Shabbos andthey saw an old man running. Now, old men don\u2019t run. For an old man it\u2019s hard sometimes just to bend over and tie his shoes, but here was an old man who was running. And in his hands he was carrying two branches of hadasim. So they said to him, \u201cWhat are you running for?\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019m going home to bring flowers for Shabbos \u2013 l\u2019kovod Shabbos.\u201d So Rabbi Shimon said, \u201cSo why do you need two?\u201d He said, \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d6\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8. \u201cL\u2019kovod Shabbos, one sprig for the word zachor and one for the word shamor.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen Rabbi Shimon saw that, iz ehr arois fun di keilim, he became so excited! \u201cOooh,\u201d said Rabbi Shimon. \u201cI change my mind now about the poshute Jews.\u201d \u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 \u201cLook how cherished the mitzvos are to the Jewish people. The poshute Jews are kodesh kadoshim,\u201d said Rabbi Shimon, \u201cbecause they\u2019re thirsty for mitzvos. An old man running l\u2019kovod Shabbos!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so nisyashev da\u2019ato, the mind of Rabbi Shimon was appeased. Now he was satisfied with the Am Yisroel \u2013 not only satisfied; he appreciated them, he respected them. And now he didn\u2019t cause any more trouble when he looked. Because wherever he looked, he saw greatness; wherever he looked he saw a nation that thirsted for mitzvos. They\u2019re milking cows, they\u2019re planting crops, they\u2019re in their homes; whatever they\u2019re doing, they\u2019re living lives of mitzvos!
\n\n\n\nOne More Level
\n\n\n\nWhat we see from this story is that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, despite all of the shleimus that he achieved in that cave during those twelve years, nevertheless, he needed one more madreigah of perfection. And that was to recognize the gadlus of the frum Jew, even the poshute frum Jew.
\n\n\n\nRabbi Shimon was already very great from his years in the cave but it wasn\u2019t enough \u2013 he had to achieve one more thing, one more attitude of the mind. The apex, the crown of his shleimus \u2013 was to be impressed with the stature of the most simple Jew; to respect and admire the nation that is thirsty for mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nSo we begin to see that even though you\u2019re a sholeim; even though you\u2019re moiser nefesh for avodas Hashem like Rabbi Shimon and his son. You\u2019re succeeding in learning Torah \u2014 you\u2019re even learning the deepest secrets of the Torah \u2013 nevertheless, there\u2019s one more secret that you still have to learn. You must add to the list of your achievements, the very great perfection of recognizing the gedulas Am Yisroel \u2013 the nation that loves mitzvos. No matter how great you are in avodas Hashem, and how great you are in Torah knowledge, you must add this attitude of mind to your store of knowledge, the respect and honor for our fellow Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThirsting For Honor
\n\n\n\nOn the Yomim Nora\u2019im, in our tefillos, we say the following words: \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b5\u05df \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 \u201cHashem, give honor to Your people; praise for those who fear You.\u201d Again and again we repeat those words.
\n\n\n\nIt means that we\u2019re praying to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that the time should come when He should reveal to the nations of the world that we are the ones deserving of honor. Right now they\u2019re busy doing the opposite. It\u2019s an old story \u2013 from the beginning of our history no people have been vilified and insulted and blackened as the Jew \u2013 and therefore we look forward to the time when the gentiles should give honor to Jews.
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s not merely a selfish desire. We don\u2019t need their honor. We\u2019re not looking for that. But it\u2019s the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Those who honor Him deserve to be recognized. And who in the world honors Hakodosh Boruch Hu like we do? We are the osei mitzvos, the ones who are constantly fulfilling His commands, and therefore we\u2019re looking forward to the day when the world will finally recognize that because we are the ones that have remained thirsty for mitzvos and loyal to Him always, we are the ones deserving of honor. That’s our fervent wish and we repeat it again and again in our tefillos. \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b5\u05df \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8.
\n\n\n\nPursuing The Honor
\n\n\n\nNow the first thing Hakodosh Boruch Hu says when He hears that is, \u201cWhat about you?! Are you honoring your fellow Jews?\u201d Did you ever say to yourself, when you see a stranger, a Jew, in the street: \u201cThat man over there is an aristocrat who deserves all the honor in the world. Even if the king of England would be walking past me, that would be nothing compared to this Jew, the one who is tzamei la\u2019mitzvos.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re not thinking that way, then you\u2019re not thinking. And it\u2019s a requirement \u2014 otherwise you\u2019re not speaking to Hashem in truth. \u201cHashem should honor the Am Yisroel\u201d?! You\u2019re just saying words; it\u2019s in the machzor so you have no choice; you can\u2019t skip it after all. But do you really care about their honor? Are you doing something about it?!
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m talking halacha l\u2019maaseh now, practical things; not just d\u2019varim b\u2019alma. Suppose you’re sitting on a bus \u2014 it\u2019s a bus that runs through a certain neighborhood and it\u2019s packed with anti-Semites. A lot of irreligious Jews too \u2014 many of them are also anti-Semites. And suddenly there comes up on the bus a Jew with a beard, a big conspicuous beard. He\u2019s standing there, one elderly Jew, standing all alone on a bus full of goyim. Everybody has seats; he happens to be the only one without a seat. And he’s swaying with every lurch of the bus and nobody even bothers to offer him a seat; what do they care for an elderly Jew \u2013 let him stand, let him collapse, they don\u2019t care.
\n\n\n\nA Demonstration on The Bus
\n\n\n\nBut you remember now what you said on Rosh Hashana, \u201cHashem, give honor to your people.\u201d And even though you\u2019re wiped out after a long day of work \u2013 could be you\u2019re older than him and maybe your beard is whiter, but no matter, you get up and you offer him your seat.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re making a scene, a public demonstration of \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8. You shake hands with him \u2013 with respect, with kavod \u2013 a big shalom aleichem you give him and you show that he\u2019s an honored man.
\n\n\n\nNow it could be he sells herring in the grocery store. He\u2019s not a great rabbi; maybe he\u2019s not even a little rabbi; but it makes no difference. He\u2019s a Jew; he\u2019s from the \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8, those who fear Hashem. He\u2019s from the \u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, the nation that thirsts for mitzvos. And that\u2019s why you go out of your way to honor him \u2013 that\u2019s enough of a reason. It doesn\u2019t matter to you, a herring salesman or a rosh yeshiva; he\u2019s a thirsty Jew and he deserves all the honor in the world!
\n\n\n\nYou have to work on that until it gets into your bones! Some people live their entire lives and never gain this attitude and it\u2019s a tremendous loss because it\u2019s one of the yesodos of being a Jew. It\u2019s one of our functions in this world \u2013 it\u2019s a principle of the Torah to realize the greatness of the nation that appreciates avodas Hashem, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nStart Practicing
\n\n\n\nNot only on the nation as a whole but b\u2019prat on each Jew. It makes no difference if it\u2019s an old man, or a little girl or little boy; all the frum men and women, all the frum boys and girls, we should be giving them great honor.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s something you have to practice; you won\u2019t believe it unless you think about it often. It takes training.
\n\n\n\nImagine your wife\u2019s cousin is coming over to visit. Now, I\u2019m not saying you have to waste time with him; sometimes you might waste time and it\u2019s devarim beteilim, it\u2019s a waste of a life. But here is an opportunity for you to become great, by learning to respect a tzamei lamitzvos. While he\u2019s talking, maybe he\u2019s not saying anything important, so you\u2019re nodding your head and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cThis man is so holy. I admire him and respect him. There\u2019s nothing in the world more dignified, more honorable, than my wife\u2019s cousin.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know, it\u2019s not easy to love every Yisroel; but to train yourself little by little to have a respect for him because he\u2019s serving Hashem that\u2019s much easier. He\u2019s a tzamei la\u2019mitzvos and you have to deal with him like he\u2019s kodesh kadashim. It is completely impossible to think of being mivazeh him. Even though you are angry at him, you can\u2019t scorn, you can\u2019t speak impolitely to a Yisroel. It’s of the utmost importance to be mechabed every Yisroel. Every Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nHoly Homes
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll give you another eitzah, something to practice. Let\u2019s say you pass by a home, a Jewish home. And one house over, there\u2019s another Jewish home. But in between there\u2019s a gentile home with an Italian flag outside \u2013 it\u2019s a neat home, with a neat garden. Very nice, very nice. But you should understand there\u2019s a hefsek in between the two Jewish homes. Here\u2019s kedusha, then there\u2019s nothing, then there\u2019s kedusha again. A Jewish home is without measure superior to the non-Jewish home.
\n\n\n\nYou have to have the greatest derech eretz for a frum Jewish home. Because who\u2019s living in those homes? It\u2019s not the overfed Italians living there \u2013 it\u2019s thirsty Jews! Jewish children! Jewish grandmothers! Jewish mothers and fathers! It\u2019s a nation that is beloved by Hashem because they love mitzvos! All day long you hear brachos in that house. There\u2019s a tehillim on the table. The girls are davening shemonah esrei in the corner. It\u2019s a house of mitzvos!
\n\n\n\nAnd if you don\u2019t appreciate that, then it\u2019s a danger because, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05d1\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9, Hashem won\u2019t want to forgive you if you equate the Jewish homes with those of the gentiles.
\n\n\n\nA New Year\u2019s Resolution
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore there\u2019s no better time than now, as we\u2019re going into a new year, to make a commitment to yourself: \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu, this year is going to be a year of raising the banner of the greatness of Your people. This year I\u2019m going to respect and honor the Am Yisroel \u2013 all of them! I\u2019m going to take the tremendous lesson of Parshas Netzavim and the tefillos of the Yomim No\u2019ra\u2019im and make it a principle all year round, to give honor to Your people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd then you get busy doing it. Honor every Jew; at least in your mind you should look at a fellow Jew with great respect. It\u2019s not only a matter of picking up lost apples from the sidewalk; it\u2019s an attitude of the mind – it\u2019s a tremendous perfection of the mind to think this way.
\n\n\n\nEvery frum mother deserves honor; the bigger the family, the bigger the honor. How greatly you respect a mother who raises a family of little tzaddikim, boys and girls who will someday be big tzaddikim! What a tremendous achievement! We honor such a mother.
\n\n\n\nWe honor Jews who sit by the gemara in the beis medrash. We honor the young boys and girls who give away their days in the yeshivos and Beis Yaakovs. We honor the poshute Jew on the street \u2013 because he\u2019s not poshut at all! We make sure to honor all people who are proud to show they\u2019re frum Jews; they look like Jews and talk like Jews and are thirsty for mitzvos like Jews. We honor the thirsty nation to no end.
\n\n\n\nThe End Of Days
\n\n\n\nAnd by means of always honoring the shomrei Torah u\u2019mitzvos, we fulfill our function in this world of not \u201cjoining the satiated to the thirsty,\u201d of not equating the Jews with the nations of the world; and then the time will come when what we worked on all these years, this attitude that we gained, will be revealed to the world.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara says (Avodah Zarah 3a) that in the days of Moshiach, those goyim that survived will bring up a claim against Hakodosh Boruch Hu. They\u2019ll say that they are just as thirsty for mitzvos as the Jewish nation is. \u201cIf we had received the Torah,\u201d they\u2019ll say, \u201cwe would also have fulfilled it the same way the Am Yisroel did.\u201d That\u2019s what the goyim will say. \u201cWhy are we considered so low? Why are Am Yisroel superior to us? You gave them a Torah! If you had given us a Torah, we also would have done the Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hashem says, \u201cYou\u2019re claiming that you have an argument against Me so I\u2019ll give you one last chance. One last chance \u2013 I want you fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah.\u201d It states \u05d6\u05b9\u05d0\u05ea \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 … \u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd (Zecharya 14:19). It\u2019s the last chance to show that they really would mean business if they had the Torah.
\n\n\n\n87 \u201cOh,\u201d the goyim hear that. \u201cOur last chance \u2013 we\u2019ll show Hashem.\u201d And they all make sukkos. They\u2019re sitting in the sukkah. Why not? It\u2019s nice weather. It\u2019s not too hot outside. It\u2019s comfortable in the sukkah in that weather. They\u2019re sitting comfortably and they\u2019re eating, having a good time and they\u2019re patting themselves on the shoulder. \u201cWe could also make a mitzvah of sukkah. We\u2019re also a thirsty nation; if only He would have chosen us!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Glory Revealed
\n\n\n\nWhat does Hashem do? \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d7\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 He makes the sun become very hot. The sun becomes very hot and in the sukkah it becomes very hot. What happens? The goyim get up and leave the sukkah. They say, \u201cIt\u2019s so uncomfortable here now. I had enough.\u201d And some of them even give a kick as they walk out.\u201d They\u2019re \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05d8; they give a kick to the sukkah as they walk out.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cThese people are not thirsty for My mitzvos. That\u2019s what I meant to show you. The Am Yisroel is the nation that is thirsty for mitzvos; that\u2019s how they lived for thousands of years and a hot sun means nothing to them. They\u2019re My chosen nation, the people that deserve the true kavod because they are thirsty for mitzvos. And just like they never equated the thirsty and the satiated, I\u2019ll never do it either.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd then we\u2019ll witness with our own eyes the fulfillment of \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b5\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu, give honor to your nation; and the people that truly thirsted for Hashem and His mitzvos will forever bask in their well deserved glory.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTapes: R-37 \u2013 The Honor Of Hashem|#204 – Loving His People | #E-8 – The Battle for the Mind | #E-207 – My Children, My Holy People | #E-270 – That Love Me And Keep My Mitzvos
\n\n\n\nAppreciating Those Appreciated by Hashem
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder work on differentiating between \u201cthe satiated\u201d and \u201cthe thirsty\u201d and on \u201cgiving honor to those who fear Him\u201d. Three times a day I will look at a fellow Jew and think \u201cHe/she is a beloved son/daughter of Hashem, and I appreciate him/her\u201d.
\nThe post Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-18T04:26:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-13T09:43:47+00:00" }, { "id": 35191, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-netzavim-rosh-hashanah-5-the-thirsty-nation/", "title": "Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation", "content_html": "TA-Netzavim-5782The post Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-18T04:23:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-18T04:23:40+00:00" }, { "id": 35183, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-netzavim-rosh-hashanah-5-the-thirsty-nation/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation", "content_html": "TA-Netzavim-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Netzavim-Rosh Hashanah 5 – The Thirsty Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-18T04:23:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-18T04:23:07+00:00" }, { "id": 35181, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/poner-la-otra-mejilla/", "title": "Poner la otra mejilla", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebe un jud\u00edo poner la otra mejilla?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, poner la otra mejilla no es un concepto jud\u00edo. Es de cierto libro; no mencionar\u00e9 su nombre. No invitas a otra bofetada. Si alguien recibe una bofetada en la cara, no dice: “Dame otra bofetada”. El pasuk que el Nav\u00ed dijo, \u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05de\u05db\u05d4\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d7\u05d9 \u2013 Entrega tu mejilla al que te golpea (Ej\u00e1 3:30) significa la primera bofetada. Ofreces tu mejilla para la primera bofetada, no ofreces tu mejilla para la segunda bofetada.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfqu\u00e9 significa ofrecer la mejilla para la primera bofetada? Est\u00e1 hablando de alguien que tiene una misi\u00f3n que cumplir; el Nav\u00ed, digamos. Un Nav\u00ed sabe que va a hablar con alguien que no quiere escuchar. Entonces el Nav\u00ed viene con la mejilla lista para una bofetada. Pero no est\u00e1 pidiendo dos bofetadas. A veces tambi\u00e9n recibe dos, pero no porque sea una mitzv\u00e1 recibir una bofetada. Es una mitzv\u00e1 entregar el mensaje. Ahora bien, si puede entregar el mensaje y luego desaparecer antes de que llegue la bofetada, eso es lo que debe hacer. Porque s\u00f3lo poner la otra mejilla como una mitzv\u00e1, no; esa no es una ense\u00f1anza jud\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #620 (octubre de 1986)
\nThe post Poner la otra mejilla appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-18T02:33:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-18T02:33:34+00:00" }, { "id": 35177, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-turning-the-other-cheek/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Turning the Other Cheek", "content_html": "\nQ:
Must a Jew turn the other cheek?
A:
Now, turning the other cheek is non-Jewish talk. It\u2019s from a certain book; I won\u2019t mention it\u2019s name. You don\u2019t invite another slap. If you get a slap on one side, nobody ever says, \u201cGive me another slap.\u201d The possuk that the Navi said, \u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05de\u05db\u05d4\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d7\u05d9 \u2013 Give your cheek to the one who smites you (Eicha 3:30) means the first slap. You offer your cheek for the first slap \u2013 you don\u2019t offer your cheek for the second slap.
Now, what does it mean you offer the cheek for the first slap? It\u2019s talking about somebody who has a mission to accomplish; the Navi, let\u2019s say. A Navi knows he\u2019s going to talk to somebody who doesn\u2019t want to hear. So the Navi comes with his cheek ready for a slap. But he\u2019s not asking for two slaps. Sometimes he gets two also but not because it\u2019s a mitzvah to get slapped. It\u2019s a mitzvah to deliver the message. Now, if you can deliver the message and then disappear before the slap comes, that\u2019s what you should do. Because just to turn the other cheek as a mitzvah, no, that\u2019s not a Jewish teaching.
TAPE # 620 (October 1986)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Turning the Other Cheek appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-16T11:06:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-18T17:53:28+00:00" }, { "id": 35171, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%95-%d7%99%d7%a2%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%a8-%d7%a7%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%96%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%90-%d7%a6%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a7-%d7%94%d7%a6%d7%a0%d7%a2-%d7%9c%d7%9b/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d5: \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e7\u05e2\u05df \u05d6\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d0 \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7; \u05d4\u05e6\u05e0\u05e2 \u05dc\u05db\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-236The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d5: \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e7\u05e2\u05df \u05d6\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d0 \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7; \u05d4\u05e6\u05e0\u05e2 \u05dc\u05db\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-16T02:50:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-16T02:50:54+00:00" }, { "id": 35169, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/escandalos-sobre-ieshivot/", "title": "Esc\u00e1ndalos sobre ieshivot ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo debemos reaccionar ante el reciente esc\u00e1ndalo de ciertas ieshivot que toman dinero del gobierno y malversan parte de los fondos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebemos reaccionar manteniendo la boca cerrada. Esa es la forma en que debes reaccionar porque de lo contrario significa que est\u00e1s feliz de ayudar a promulgar esc\u00e1ndalos contra la gente que estudia Tor\u00e1. Hay mucho que decir sobre este tema, no es nada simple. Ahora bien, puedo hablar porque no estoy vinculado con ninguna instituci\u00f3n y les dir\u00e9 honestamente que no creo que est\u00e9n haciendo nada malo al usar los fondos del gobierno de la manera en que lo hacen.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tienes derecho a estar en desacuerdo conmigo; no estoy diciendo kablu daat\u00ed, pero si ustedes pudieran ver lo que realmente est\u00e1 pasando, [entender\u00edan]. Paso por el barrio de Bedford-Stuyvesant y veo cien establecimientos, cien negocios: Dynamic Youth Corps, Youth Improvement Center, The Civic Improvement Center. Y adentro hay holgazanes sentados con los pies sobre la mesa; todos holgazanes. No est\u00e1n haciendo nada y le est\u00e1n sacando dinero al gobierno como si no fuera asunto de nadie. \u00a1Es mi dinero! Yo no me siento todo el d\u00eda con los pies sobre la mesa; y yo tambi\u00e9n tengo que trabajar. Todos nosotros trabajamos para nuestro sustento. Pero el gobierno est\u00e1 desviando nuestro dinero a holgazanes de todos los colores en todo el pa\u00eds.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si se tratara de una situaci\u00f3n en la que nadie obtuviera fondos gratis y alguien agarr\u00f3, entonces dir\u00edamos: \u201c\u00a1Hey! No est\u00e1 bien.” \u00a1Pero todos est\u00e1n agarrando! Entonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no deber\u00edamos tambi\u00e9n nosotros tomar algo para una buena causa? \u00a1Es nuestro dinero! Nosotros somos los que estamos ganando el dinero, as\u00ed que \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 el dinero no deber\u00eda ir para nosotros tambi\u00e9n? \u00bfDeber\u00edamos preferir que el dinero vaya a criminales y holgazanes? Ah\u00ed es donde se va el dinero.
\n\n\n\nNo s\u00f3lo a holgazanes. Est\u00e1 siendo enviado al extranjero a madrigueras de ratas. El dinero se est\u00e1 desperdiciando. Se est\u00e1 desperdiciando una enorme cantidad de dinero. No tienes idea de cu\u00e1nto dinero se est\u00e1 dando a causa de los pol\u00edticos que son ladrones. Todo el pa\u00eds est\u00e1 en un frenes\u00ed de despilfarro de dinero. Entonces, \u00bfdebido a que un peque\u00f1o goteo llega mediante estratagemas a los bolsillos de las personas necesitadas, ben\u00e9 Tor\u00e1, un rash\u00e1, un moser, est\u00e1 feliz de armar un esc\u00e1ndalo al respecto? \u00a1Es un malvado!
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no digo lo que se debe hacer o lo que no se debe hacer, pero definitivamente digo que te mantengas al margen. \u00a1Callar! No conoces la historia. Si tuvieras que mantener una peque\u00f1a ieshiv\u00e1 y nadie pudiera pagar un centavo de la matr\u00edcula. Los muchachos vienen de afuera de la ciudad, vienen baal\u00e9 teshuv\u00e1, y sus padres est\u00e1n completamente en contra de que estudien Tor\u00e1. A estos muchachos, sus padres les dar\u00edan un mont\u00f3n de dinero si fueran a la universidad, pero en vez de ir a la universidad van a la ieshiv\u00e1. O los muchachos se escapan de las casas donde hay nueras gentiles, yernos gentiles y vienen a estudiar Tor\u00e1. Y el rosh yeshiv\u00e1, un hombre pobre, los recibe y les da de comer y les da un dormitorio. Entonces, si gana dinero del gobierno para un programa de capacitaci\u00f3n, \u00bfy qu\u00e9? Es un programa de entrenamiento. Los est\u00e1 entrenando para que sean jud\u00edos. As\u00ed que el gobierno dice: \u201cNosotros no nos refer\u00edamos a eso; no queremos de esa manera\u201d. Entonces decimos: \u201cMira, \u00bften\u00edas la intenci\u00f3n de entrenar criminales? Est\u00e1s entrenando asaltantes. Est\u00e1s entrenando violadores. Y ese dinero se est\u00e1 dando como si no fuera cosa de nadie; as\u00ed que entrenar a algunas personas honestas no es tan terrible\u201d. No lo critico para nada. Critico a los que critican.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, puedo hablar porque no tengo nada que ver. Si se hace, si no se hace, no es mi peque\u00f1a cabeza la que tiene que decidir, pero lo que no se debe hacer es hablar. Olv\u00eddalo. Y cualquiera que abra la boca, podr\u00eda quemarse. Hizahar\u00fa begejalat\u00e1n!
\n\n\n\nEstas peque\u00f1as instituciones est\u00e1n haciendo un buen trabajo, todas est\u00e1n haciendo un buen trabajo y nadie les est\u00e1 dando dinero. Si dieran grandes sumas de dinero para apoyar los lugares locales, alguna peque\u00f1a ieshiv\u00e1 donde los ni\u00f1os vienen a estudiar, ni\u00f1os cuyos padres est\u00e1n en contra, y abrieran su billetera y los ayudar\u00edan, entonces podr\u00edas decir: “Bueno, estoy d\u00e1ndote tanto dinero para que no necesites eso\u201d. Pero lo \u00fanico que haces es criticar, as\u00ed que c\u00e1llate.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #113 (febrero de 1976)
\nThe post Esc\u00e1ndalos sobre ieshivot appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-16T02:46:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-16T02:46:35+00:00" }, { "id": 35166, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-beneficios-de-la-comida-casera/", "title": "Los beneficios de la comida casera", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay algo de malo en que un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 vaya a un restaurante a almorzar o cenar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebo decirte esto. Si eres un bajur ieshiv\u00e1, ll\u00e9vate un s\u00e1ndwich de tu casa y no malgastes el dinero de tus padres comiendo en un restaurante. No hay ninguna raz\u00f3n por la que no puedas hacerte un s\u00e1ndwich y comerlo en la ieshiv\u00e1. Si puedes permit\u00edrtelo, tal vez puedas pagar para comer algo en el comedor de la ieshiv\u00e1. Pero no vayas a restaurantes.
\n\n\n\nAdem\u00e1s de eso, un restaurante es un lugar donde se re\u00fanen otras personas. Te mezclar\u00e1s con personas que no son de tu tipo y, a veces, es un moshav letzim. A veces obtendr\u00e1s influencias da\u00f1inas. En la ieshiv\u00e1 est\u00e1s entre los de tu mismo estilo y ah\u00ed es donde deber\u00edas estar.
\n\n\n\nY si eres un trabajador, lo mismo. Trata de llevar un s\u00e1ndwich para el almuerzo y busca un lugar donde puedas comer solo sin nadie m\u00e1s a tu alrededor. No necesitas compa\u00f1\u00eda. Necesitar compa\u00f1\u00eda es un mal h\u00e1bito. Puedes sentarte y comer tu s\u00e1ndwich mientras piensas en Hashem. Pensamientos de musar. O repasando una parte de la Guemar\u00e1. Pero pasar la hora del almuerzo perdiendo el tiempo, no. Eso es un desperdicio terrible.
\n\n\n\nY tambi\u00e9n ahorrar\u00e1s dinero. Un restaurante es algo caro. Y adem\u00e1s de eso, quiero decirte algo. En un restaurante no puedes ver lo que se hace detr\u00e1s de las puertas de la cocina. Toman el pescado con las manos – pescado ya cocinado – y lo ponen en el plato. Luego se limpian la nariz con las manos y toman otro trozo de pescado y lo ponen en tu plato. Y por lo tanto, puedo decirte que no tendr\u00e1s garant\u00eda de higiene personal cuando comas en un restaurante.
\n\n\n\nEn casa, ya sabes, te puedes lavar las manos con agua y jab\u00f3n y puedes cortar un trozo de pan, un trozo de huevo y unas lechugas y lo que sea. Y te haces un s\u00e1ndwich. Y tienes un s\u00e1ndwich hecho, que no solo es glatt k\u00f3sher, sino que tambi\u00e9n es glatt higi\u00e9nico. Y cuesta menos dinero tambi\u00e9n.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-179 (febrero de 1999)
\nThe post Los beneficios de la comida casera appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-15T03:18:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-15T03:18:57+00:00" }, { "id": 35163, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-ki-tavo/", "title": "Paracha Ki Tavo", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Ki-Tavo-5782The post Paracha Ki Tavo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-15T03:16:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-15T03:16:55+00:00" }, { "id": 35152, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-new-york-times-y-la-desinformacion/", "title": "El New York Times y la desinformaci\u00f3n ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de malo el New York Times?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nBien; es una muy buena oportunidad para mi. Necesito tres horas para eso, pero algo te dir\u00e9. El New York Times es propietario de la editorial Arno. Es una subsidiaria del New York Times. The Arno Publishing Company te enviar\u00e1 una lista de sus publicaciones si la solicitas. Casi todas sus publicaciones est\u00e1n dedicados al tema de la perversi\u00f3n sexual. El New York Times est\u00e1 muy interesado en promover el homosexualismo. Y lo est\u00e1n haciendo a trav\u00e9s de esa filial. Es de ellos; no es s\u00f3lo una empresa que se anuncia all\u00ed. Le dan grandes anuncios, anuncios de media p\u00e1gina tienen esos libros.
\n\n\n\nEl New York Times ha estado promoviendo la desviaci\u00f3n sexual de varias maneras durante mucho tiempo. Esa es s\u00f3lo una faceta de la influencia del New York Times, pero debes saber que cuando traes un New York Times a tu casa, est\u00e1s trayendo una toeav\u00e1 a tu casa. No hay duda al respecto.
\n\n\n\nHay otras cosas. El New York Times es una influencia anti-estadounidense. Ahora bien, eso suena como una queja muy anticuada porque hoy todo el mundo es anti-Estados Unidos. Bueno, yo no lo soy. Debemos estar para el pa\u00eds, construir el pa\u00eds. Creemos en defensas m\u00e1s fuertes, en m\u00e1s dinero para construir nuestro ej\u00e9rcito, nuestra armada, nuestra fuerza a\u00e9rea.
\n\n\n\nCreemos en no desviar dinero a nuestros enemigos. Tremendas sumas van a parar a nuestros enemigos. Se est\u00e1n despilfarrando sumas tremendas en este pa\u00eds. No podemos comenzar a enumerar cu\u00e1ntos miles de millones se est\u00e1n yendo por el desag\u00fce en este pa\u00eds a todo tipo de estafadores que est\u00e1n chupando la sangre de los contribuyentes estadounidenses. \u00a1Miles de millones! \u00a1Sin ning\u00fan beneficio para el pa\u00eds en absoluto!
\n\n\n\nEl Departamento de Salud, Educaci\u00f3n y Bienestar, esa parte del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos, est\u00e1 corrompiendo al pueblo con toda clase de maldades, entre las cuales solo se\u00f1alar\u00e9 una: discriminaci\u00f3n a favor de los negros y los puertorrique\u00f1os. Est\u00e1n obligando al correo, est\u00e1n obligando a las escuelas, est\u00e1n obligando a las instituciones p\u00fablicas a aceptar un porcentaje mayor de las que llaman minor\u00edas \u00e9tnicas que otras minor\u00edas; lo que significa que los jud\u00edos est\u00e1n perdiendo sus trabajos. Y no a favor de personas que est\u00e1n mejor capacitadas. El sistema de m\u00e9ritos se ha desechado hace mucho tiempo.
\n\n\n\nTodos los que est\u00e1n ense\u00f1ando hoy en d\u00eda lo saben. Hubo una encuesta que hizo la Junta de Educaci\u00f3n \u2013 hoy se puede sacar la palabra educaci\u00f3n; es la Junta de Desinformaci\u00f3n – e hicieron un censo de cu\u00e1ntos jud\u00edos est\u00e1n ense\u00f1ando. Quieren saber, \u00bferes blanco o negro? Ahora eso es contra la constituci\u00f3n. \u00a1Lo hicieron de todos modos! Y ese es el ministerio de Salud y Educaci\u00f3n y Bienestar. Es una oficina del gobierno federal.
\n\n\n\nY luego esa ‘joya’ llamada educaci\u00f3n sexual. \u00bfSabes lo que es la educaci\u00f3n sexual? Es para ense\u00f1ar a los ni\u00f1os que el sexo no es algo sucio. Eso es lo que es esa rama de la educaci\u00f3n. El objetivo principal es ense\u00f1ar a los ni\u00f1os que el sexo no es sucio. Ahora bien, alguien me dijo, bueno, el sexo en el matrimonio \u200bno es sucio. Pero ellos no est\u00e1n hablando de sexo en el matrimonio.
\n\n\n\nY las personas que tienen obsesi\u00f3n de hablar de sexo, esas personas ser\u00e1n los maestros de los j\u00f3venes en las escuelas p\u00fablicas. \u00a1Y les hablan a los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os, que deber\u00edan escuchar acerca de los osos de peluche, a los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os que deber\u00edan escuchar acerca de Caperucita Roja, y se les est\u00e1 ense\u00f1ando sobre sexo! Desde la cuna se les est\u00e1 envenenando que ese es el tema m\u00e1s importante de la vida; y los ni\u00f1os ven con qu\u00e9 gusto sus depravados maestros hablan de ello. Y los profesores lo dicen con picard\u00eda. Act\u00faan como si estuvieran discutiendo cient\u00edficamente el tema. Esos tipos asquerosos est\u00e1n disfrutando de la oportunidad de hablar de eso. Y todo esto es obra de los progresistas del New York Times. Y est\u00e1 siendo pagado por nosotros.
\n\n\n\nY no mencion\u00e9 el tema de la evoluci\u00f3n. Nosotros pagamos la evoluci\u00f3n. Libros de texto caros que cuestan cincuenta d\u00f3lares el libro con todo tipo de ilustraciones, muy caras, sobre la evoluci\u00f3n, est\u00e1n siendo pagados con nuestro dinero. Y si escribes una carta a la Junta de Educaci\u00f3n del Estado de Nueva York en Albany, te responder\u00e1n con una carta altanera. \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 est\u00e1s diciendo? Este es el consenso de la opini\u00f3n educada\u201d. Entonces, por lo tanto, fuerzan la evoluci\u00f3n incluso en los ni\u00f1os de ieshiv\u00e1, las ni\u00f1as de ieshiv\u00e1. Tienen que estudiarlo. Est\u00e1 en el programa. Es una situaci\u00f3n terrible. Y nuestro dinero se est\u00e1 desperdiciando. Ahora bien, ni siquiera comenc\u00e9 a hablar sobre el desperdicio de dinero. Todo tipo de planes torcidos en todo el pa\u00eds, en miles de millones de d\u00f3lares, para robar nuestro dinero ganado con tanto esfuerzo.
\n\n\n\nY el New York Times est\u00e1 detr\u00e1s de esas cosas. Ellos lo apoyan. El New York Times no sale con ninguna protesta contra el bienestar. \u00bfSabes que el bienestar est\u00e1 drenando la sangre del pa\u00eds? \u00a1Seguro estatal de desempleo! Hay tantos holgazanes hoy en d\u00eda que dejan sus trabajos porque pueden vivir un a\u00f1o entero con el seguro estatal de desempleo. Todo el pa\u00eds est\u00e1 podrido hoy con morosos, con viajeros libres, con holgazanes, y est\u00e1n recibiendo dinero del gobierno.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfel New York Times alz\u00f3 la voz en contra de eso? Siempre est\u00e1 del lado de los progresistas; m\u00e1s limosnas y m\u00e1s d\u00e1divas a los delincuentes y m\u00e1s concesiones. Cuando hubo una encuesta – New York News hizo una encuesta recientemente – y el 68% estaba a favor de la pena capital. El New York Times, sin embargo, ridiculiz\u00f3 todo el asunto. “\u00bfPena capital? \u00a1Nunca m\u00e1s volveremos a esa barbarie!\u201d. Y en cambio, lo que son castigados son los ciudadanos decentes. En lugar de asesinar a los criminales, asesinan a los ciudadanos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si deseas obtener m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n, estar\u00e9 encantado de hablar contigo en privado.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #133 (octubre de 1976)
\nThe post El New York Times y la desinformaci\u00f3n appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-14T03:06:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-14T03:06:27+00:00" }, { "id": 35145, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/comer-afuera/", "title": "Comer afuera", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l debe ser la actitud de un jud\u00edo ortodoxo con respecto a los restaurantes chinos glatt k\u00f3sher?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nCreo que es superfluo incluso hablar de eso. Definitivamente estamos felices de que sean glatt kosher. Y si cerraran por completo ser\u00eda a\u00fan mejor.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #38 (noviembre de 1974)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfA Hakadosh Baruj Hu realmente le importa si de vez en cuando la pasamos bien comiendo en un restaurante?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar, no s\u00f3lo que a Hashem no le importa si disfrutas de vez en cuando, sino que no le importa si disfrutas todo el tiempo. Y no s\u00f3lo no le importa, sino que quiere que disfrutes todo el tiempo. Y debes meterte eso en la cabeza. Si frecuentas estas conferencias con regularidad, sabr\u00e1s que Hakadosh Baruj Hu quiere que seamos felices todo el tiempo, y hagamos lo que hagamos, debemos hacerlo con alegr\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nPero la pregunta realmente es: \u00bfqu\u00e9 es la felicidad? Ahora bien, si comes fuera, entonces al momento puede parecerte entretenido pero cuando llegas a casa por la noche y a las 3 de la ma\u00f1ana te sientes mal porque no sabes lo que te sirvieron en el restaurante, ya no es divertido. Mira, ciertamente no es tan saludable como lo que podr\u00edas comer en tu casa. Te cont\u00e9, un hombre me dijo una vez que estaba en un restaurante y se asom\u00f3 a trav\u00e9s de las ventanas de la cocina. Vio a un camarero escupir en un plato y limpiarlo con su delantal: \u00a1una historia real!
\n\n\n\nHay mejores formas de disfrutar la vida que salir a comer. \u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de bueno comer fuera? Cuesta menos comer en casa. Lo que realmente es, es s\u00f3lo imaginaci\u00f3n. Porque la gente le ha dado mucha importancia a comer fuera, as\u00ed que piensan que es divertido. Sin embargo, no vamos a entrar en detalles ahora sobre esa tonter\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nPero no hay duda de que Hashem est\u00e1 feliz cuando Sus hijos est\u00e1n felices, por supuesto, si todo se hace de una buena manera, de una manera virtuosa y k\u00f3sher.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #272 (julio de 1979)
\nThe post Comer afuera appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-13T03:24:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-13T03:24:56+00:00" }, { "id": 35140, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-eating-out-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Eating Out", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should be the attitude of an Orthodox Jew regarding glatt kosher Chinese restaurants?
A:
I think it\u2019s superfluous to even speak about this. We\u2019re definitely happy that they are glatt kosher. And if they would close down entirely it would be even better.
TAPE # 38 (November 1974)
Q:
Does Hakodosh Boruch Hu really mind if we enjoy ourselves once in a while by eating out in a restaurant?
A:
First of all, not only does Hashem not mind if you enjoy yourself once in a while, but He doesn\u2019t mind if you enjoy yourself all the time. And not only does He not mind, but He wants you to enjoy yourself all the time. And you must get that into your head. If you would frequent these lectures regularly you would know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants us to be happy all the time, and whatever we do we should do with happiness.
But the question really becomes \u2013 what is happiness? Now, if you eat out, so for the moment it might seem like fun but when you come home at night and at 3 o\u2019clock in the morning you have to start running because you don\u2019t know what they served you in the restaurant, it\u2019s not fun anymore. Look, it\u2019s certainly not as wholesome as what you could eat at home. I told you once, a man once told me that he was in a restaurant and he peeked through the swinging doors into the kitchen. He saw a waiter spit onto a plate and wipe it clean with his apron \u2013 a true story!
\n\n\n\nThere are better ways of enjoying life than eating out. What\u2019s so great about eating out?! It costs less to eat at home. What it is really, is only imagination. Because people have put a premium on eating out so they think it\u2019s fun. However, we\u2019re not going to go into details now about this foolishness.
\n\n\n\nBut there is no question that Hashem is happy when His children are happy \u2013 of course, if it\u2019s all done in a good way, in a virtuous and kosher way.
TAPE # 272 (July 1979)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Eating Out appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-13T01:47:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-13T01:47:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35136, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-proposito-de-la-vida/", "title": "El prop\u00f3sito de la vida ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es el prop\u00f3sito de este mundo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este mundo, tenemos que darnos cuenta, fue hecho con el prop\u00f3sito de tener placer. Uno de mis grandes rebes zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1 – lo recuerdo como si fuera ayer en Slabodka – dec\u00eda lo siguiente; las primeras palabras del Mesilat Iesharim. Presta atenci\u00f3n. \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u2013 El mundo fue hecho s\u00f3lo con el prop\u00f3sito de disfrutar el placer de Hashem. Ahora bien, \u00bfd\u00f3nde es eso? En el pr\u00f3ximo mundo. As\u00ed es como todo el mundo estudia el peshat [del Mesilat Iesharim]. El mundo fue hecho \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd, para tener placer de Hashem en el otro mundo. Nos preparamos aqu\u00ed, laasot, para el placer en el otro mundo. Ese es el significado simple.
\n\n\n\nPero hay otro significado, tambi\u00e9n cierto. \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u2013 El mundo fue hecho s\u00f3lo para el placer. Detente [y piensa]. Esto es absolutamente cierto. A los tzadikim no les gusta eso. \u00bfPlacer? Placer en el otro mundo, s\u00ed. Sin embargo, no son [verdaderos] tzadikim. Un tzadik tiene que entender que Hakadosh Baruj Hu hizo este mundo para el placer.
\n\n\n\nEste es un mundo tan bueno que el Mesilat Iesharim se esfuerza mucho para convencernos de que este no es el lugar final. \u00bfOyes eso? Creemos que es una p\u00e9rdida de tiempo. Utiliza mucho tiempo convenci\u00e9ndonos de que este mundo no es el lugar final. Lo demuestra porque no est\u00e1s aqu\u00ed para siempre. Llega a su fin. A veces hay infelicidad. \u00a1Estamos sorprendidos de \u00e9l! \u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea, \u00bfqui\u00e9n pensar\u00eda que este es un lugar final?
\n\n\n\nPero \u00e9l sab\u00eda que este mundo es un lugar feliz; la vida es muy dulce! \u00a1Es tan bueno estar vivo! Es un gran placer estar vivo. \u00a1El taanug de Olam Haz\u00e9! Y por lo tanto, existe la posibilidad de cometer el error de pensar que esto es todo. \u00c9l dijo no. Hay un placer m\u00e1s grande que el de aqu\u00ed\u201d.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, las personas que no est\u00e1n acostumbradas a pensar en esto no lo apreciar\u00e1n. Hay que dedicar parte de la vida a estudiar el tema, lo bueno que es este mundo. Tienes que estudiar eso.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-262 (enero de 2001)
\nThe post El prop\u00f3sito de la vida appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-12T02:03:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-12T02:05:18+00:00" }, { "id": 35130, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05db\u05d9-\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-12T00:18:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-12T00:18:42+00:00" }, { "id": 35126, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-purpose-of-life/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Purpose of Life", "content_html": "\nQ:
What would you say is the purpose of this world?
A:
Now this world, we have to realize, was made for the purpose of having pleasure. One of my great rebbes zichrono livracha \u2013 I remember it like yesterday in Slabodka \u2013 he was saying as follows; the first words of the Mesilas Yesharim. Pay attention. \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u2013 The world was made only for the purpose of enjoying the pleasure of Hashem. Now where is that? In the next world. That\u2019s how everybody learns pshat. The world was made \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd, to have pleasure from Hashem in the next world. We prepare here, la’asos, for the pleasure in the next world. That\u2019s the plain meaning.
But there\u2019s another meaning, also true. \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e2\u05e0\u05d2 \u2013 The world was made only for pleasure. Stop. It\u2019s absolutely true. Tzaddikim don\u2019t like that. Pleasure? Pleasure in the next world, yes. They\u2019re not tzaddikim, though. A tzaddik has to understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu made this world for pleasure.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s such a good world that the Mesilas Yesharim in one place works hard to convince us that this is not the final place. You hear that? We think it\u2019s a waste of time. He spends time convincing us this world is not the final place. He proves it because you\u2019re not here forever. It comes to an end. Sometimes there\u2019s unhappiness. We\u2019re surprised at him! \u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea, who would think this is a final place?
\n\n\n\nBut he knew the world is such a happy place; life is very sweet! It\u2019s so good to be alive! It\u2019s such a great pleasure to be alive. The ta\u2019anug of Olam Hazeh! And therefore there\u2019s a possibility of making the error of thinking, that this is it. He says, \u201cNo. There\u2019s a bigger pleasure than here.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow people not accustomed to thinking about this won\u2019t appreciate that. You have to spend part of your lives studying the subject, how good this world is. You have to study that.
TAPE # E-262 (January 2001)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Purpose of Life appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T20:38:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-11T20:38:25+00:00" }, { "id": 35123, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-hijo-rebelde/", "title": "El hijo rebelde ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nLa Guemar\u00e1 dice que el ben sorer umor\u00e9, el hijo rebelde mencionado en la parash\u00e1 de esta semana, es asesinado para que no contin\u00fae pecando y y\u00e9ndose al Guehinam. Pero, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 es tratado de manera diferente a otros resha\u00edm a quienes Hashem les da Olam Haz\u00e9, les permite vivir en este mundo para castigarlos en el Mundo Venidero?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que un ben sorer umor\u00e9 no es un rash\u00e1. \u00a1No te equivoques al respecto! Un ben sorer umor\u00e9 es un buen chico. Todav\u00eda no cometi\u00f3 grandes pecados. Rob\u00f3, s\u00ed, pero hay cosas peores que eso. \u00bfPor eso merece ser asesinado?
\n\n\n\nEntonces, la Guemar\u00e1 dice que la regla es \u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d6\u05db\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc \u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05d1: lo matar\u00e1n ahora mismo mientras a\u00fan es inocente y de esa manera ir\u00e1 al Olam Hab\u00e1. Es un buen chico, s\u00f3lo que comenz\u00f3 en la direcci\u00f3n equivocada y, por lo tanto, antes de que avance, detenemos su carrera y le permitimos ir al otro mundo como tzadik.
\n\n\n\nPero hay algo m\u00e1s aqu\u00ed. Porque cuando estudias la Guemar\u00e1, ves que hay tantas condiciones para que maten a un ben sorer umor\u00e9, que uno de los Sabios incluso declar\u00f3 que \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0: nunca sucedi\u00f3. No puede pasar, dijo. Hay tantas condiciones que se tienen que cumplir que es casi imposible que suceda alguna vez. Entonces, la pregunta es, seg\u00fan este Sabio, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 est\u00e1 en la Tor\u00e1 si no va a suceder?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es, \u00a1est\u00e1 escrito para que no suceda! Los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os en el j\u00e9der cuando leen esa parash\u00e1 adquieren irat sham\u00e1im. Los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os tienen miedo. Est\u00e1n muertos de miedo. No conocen las complejidades, todas las condiciones y jumrot que lo hacen imposible. Todos los ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os de la escuela hebrea no saben nada de eso y, por lo tanto, est\u00e1n pensando que mi padre y mi madre alg\u00fan d\u00eda podr\u00edan llevarme al rabino. \u00a1Eso es importante! Todos deber\u00edan leerlo y tener miedo y saber que el mal car\u00e1cter, como robar y luego usar el dinero para gastar en tonter\u00edas, terminar\u00e1 en un desastre. Y esa parash\u00e1 ha ayudado a tantos ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos a ser buenos que se ha ganado su lugar en la Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nUn modelo en s\u00ed mismo es de extrema importancia. Por eso es tan importante estudiar. Los ni\u00f1os jud\u00edos que estudian jumash en el j\u00e9der son completamente diferentes a los dem\u00e1s. Adem\u00e1s de la instrucci\u00f3n que reciben en la casa, que es importante – los padres siempre deben ense\u00f1ar cosas buenas a los ni\u00f1os – pero la Tor\u00e1 es un modelo de buen comportamiento. La historia del ben sorer umor\u00e9 que est\u00e1 escrita en el jumash ha sido una fuente de buenas midot a lo largo de todas las generaciones. Y por tanto, no s\u00f3lo no murieron como zakai, sino que vivieron como zakai. Continuaron viviendo como tzadikim como resultado de esta parash\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #714 (diciembre de 1989)
\nThe post El hijo rebelde appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T12:54:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-11T12:54:24+00:00" }, { "id": 35117, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05d1\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T03:06:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-11T03:06:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35107, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-savo-5-greatness-within-2/", "title": "Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within", "content_html": "Covenant of Secrets
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah we learn about an especial procedure of brachos and klalos that would take place as soon as the Jewish nation would cross the Yarden into Eretz Canaan (Ki Savo 27:11-26). The whole Klal Yisroel would assemble together near two mountains, Har Grizim and Har Eival, and while facing these two mountains, certain blessings and certain curses would be proclaimed to the people.
\n\n\n\nNow, when we examine what was said on that occasion we note that only certain details of Torah observance were mentioned. It wasn\u2019t a general covenant by which they accepted the entire Torah like they had done at Har Sinai; it was an enumeration of only select iniquities, certain things, and it was specifically for these that the brachos and klalos were said.
\n\n\n\nNow, when we study this list we see that the tzad hasheveh shebahem, the common denominator between them, is that they are all things that are done in secret. Like it states, \u201cIf someone will make an idol, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 and he\u2019ll hide it somewhere in his possession. Or \u05de\u05b7\u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 accursed is the one who smites his fellowman in secret; he does harm to a fellow Jew behind closed doors. Also mentioned there among the brachos and klalos are matters of incest that are committed in the secrecy of the home, and other sins of that nature.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what this list entails, various sins that a person would normally refrain from in public, but when concealed in the privacy of his home, or maybe in a dark alley somewhere, he might feel emboldened enough to do something wrong.
\n\n\n\nSin and Shame
\n\n\n\nNow we know that there\u2019s a bracha and a klalah for everything in the Torah \u2013 anybody who upholds the Torah is baruch and he who transgresses is arur \u2013 and so as an introduction to our subject for tonight we must understand what is the necessity of a special krisas bris for devarim sheb\u2019seiser, secret things.
\n\n\n\nActually, the reason is immediately apparent to us; because we know that when things are done openly, so the public reacts to prevent them or to inflict punishment and shame on the wrongdoer. A loyal nation stands in the breach to prevent wrongdoing against Hashem and therefore in public it\u2019s not so easy to sin.
\n\n\n\nYou know, today we\u2019re accustomed to seeing Jews sin in public. Irreligious Jews, they have no shame. But it was only seventy years ago [1905] that in all the small towns\u2014even the big ones\u2014nobody would dare sin in public. Let\u2019s say you lived in old Cracow and the Satan came over to you and tried to tempt you, \u201cTake off your head covering.\u201d You can be sure that you\u2019d put up a very big fight because to walk bareheaded in Cracow meant that you were liable to get a broken head! To be a Jew meant you had to act like a Jew \u2014 at least in public. There were no two ways about it.
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to things done in secret, it\u2019s not as simple. When you have the people in the shtiebel or the beis medrash looking over your shoulder, so that wonderful middah of busha makes you behave properly; it protects you. But in the privacy of your home you need something more than that. The only way to prevent trouble is by putting people in a frame of mind of fearing Hakodosh Boruch Hu; fearing His curse or desiring His blessing.
\n\n\n\nThe Secret Audience
\n\n\n\nHow else could you prevent incest that\u2019s done in a house? How else could you prevent secret injury that people commit by writing poison letters? So many terrible things are done within the four walls of a person\u2019s home. A lot of sins can be done without anyone knowing about them. A man can close his window and curtains and say the most wicked things to his spouse in secret. I know about it because people are calling me up on the telephone all the time and telling me stories. But they\u2019re done because a person imagines, he hopes, that within the privacy of his four walls it\u2019s a secret.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, those things that are not revealed to the public eye require a bigger incentive; they require more instruction and more yiras Shamayim than anything else. Even stealing is something that could more readily be apprehended. Injuring somebody\u2019s property, striking a fellowman \u2013 many sins are overt acts which can have witnesses and accusers, so there\u2019s a natural impediment. But all those things that can be done secretly must be controlled by a man\u2019s conscience.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the great subject that the Chovos Halevavos tells us about in his Shaar Yichud HaMaaseh. He makes the following statement there: \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05e1\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 What a man does in secret should be the same as if he was doing it in public. I\u2019ll repeat that because it\u2019s a statement that we should memorize and repeat to ourselves as often as possible: \u201cWhat a man does in secret should be done as if it was being done in the presence of a grandstand full of people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nUse Your Audience
\n\n\n\nYou know, when you\u2019re in the beis haknesses and you\u2019re standing shmoneh esrei and you have people looking at you \u2013 or you suspect they are \u2013 and you have your tallis over your head and maybe you\u2019re wearing your gartel too, so even without too much thinking, without too much incentive, you\u2019re interested in putting up a good show. But suppose you\u2019re home and there\u2019s no audience; you\u2019re sitting at your breakfast table and you\u2019re saying birchas hamozon after the meal. So who will know if you rush through it a little quicker than usual? Who will know if you are daydreaming; glancing at something or flipping through pages of the magazine while you say the words?
\n\n\n\nAnd so the test of a loyal Jew is how he behaves when nobody is around. Are there things you do in the privacy of your home that you wouldn\u2019t do in front of an audience? When nobody is looking, how do you make asher yatzar? What kind of shehakol do you make when nobody is watching you? Of course when you have company, you make a shehakol like a patriarch. There\u2019s an audience!
\n\n\n\nBy the way, you shouldn\u2019t disdain the opportunity of an audience. You should utilize it. You know, when I have guests at my table I thank them; I let them know that because of them I said the birchas hamazon so much slower. Why not? At least when you have an audience, you should make some accomplishment within yourself. But the person who is able to live in secret as if there\u2019s an audience \u2013 and there is an audience; Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a great audience \u2013 that man is fulfilling the true service that a Jew is expected to produce in his lifetime.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Chovos Halevavos tells us, \u201cHave in mind that you\u2019re surrounded with a congregation of Jews and they\u2019re witnessing the way you\u2019re thanking Hashem for your bread or the way you\u2019re speaking to your spouse.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Nation Succeeds
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s not easy because after all it\u2019s in the privacy of your home \u2013 it takes training for a person to achieve that. And especially when we want an entire nation to raise themselves up to that level. After all, the Am Yisroel is not made up of only tzadikim and chassidim; it\u2019s a nation of regular people too, all types of people, and we want everyone to fulfill the Torah \u2013 all of it.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we understand the necessity for this great gathering where the whole Am Yisroel assembled and there were curses given against all those who do hidden sins and blessings for those who refrain. It was most necessary and urgent to put brachos and klalos for these things because you cannot have a pious nation unless it\u2019s a nation that fears Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you read the Chumash superficially and you don\u2019t think about the words \u2013 if you don\u2019t take the time to make that picture in your mind of the entire nation listening prayerfully and fearfully to the brachos v\u2019klalos, so it won\u2019t help you much; but that\u2019s the purpose.
\n\n\n\nYou have to know, in the olden days when the Torah was read in the beis haknesses, everybody was duly impressed. It wasn\u2019t merely a formality, something that was said by rote by the baal korei. People listened and it entered their hearts and even the simplest kind of Jew, the most illiterate Jew, was impressed that the sins that are committed in secret have a terrible curse attached to them! A curse was pronounced on two mountains where the whole Klal Yisroel was assembled! He couldn\u2019t forget that.
\n\n\n\nAnd it succeeded! We became a nation that serves Hashem in private just like in public. I always tell you the same story, but it\u2019s a good story to tell. There\u2019s a little boy who ate a fleishige meal and he wants some ice cream. There\u2019s ice cream in the refrigerator. Nobody\u2019s home \u2013 he\u2019s all by himself. He looks at the clock. Not yet; he can\u2019t eat the ice cream yet. A little boy, he\u2019s waiting for the clock to turn until six hours and then he\u2019ll eat the ice cream. A little boy! That\u2019s how Am Yisroel is brought up \u2013 in the secrecy of the home we are just as loyal as out on the street.
\n\n\n\nA Pure Nation
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like the gentile once said to a Jew; it\u2019s reported in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 37a). He said he doesn\u2019t believe that the Jews are sincere when they say they observe taharas hamishpacha. \u201cWho is there to supervise that?\u201d That\u2019s what the goy said \u2013 he didn\u2019t believe it\u2019s possible. How could you enforce that?
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Jew told him a possuk from Shir HaShirim, a phrase. \u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 We are fenced in by flowers. The goyim, they have to be fenced in with barb wire maybe; but we\u2019re not fenced in by wire or by walls with guards; \u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d2\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 We are fenced in, \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 by a hedge of roses. What are the roses? The roses are the words of the Torah that the Jewish nation loves; our devotion to the Torah, that\u2019s what fences us in.
\n\n\n\nActually the Torah says \u05d5\u05b0\u05e1\u05b8\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 she counts. The woman counts the days before she becomes pure and permissible to her husband. And the Chachomim (Kesubos 72a) say what does it mean \u05d5\u05b0\u05e1\u05b8\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc, that she counts for her? The word \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc is superfluous. It should say, \u201cShe counts,\u201d and that\u2019s all. \u201cShe counts for her\u201d means \u05d5\u05b0\u05e1\u05b8\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 she counts alone. Her husband doesn\u2019t have to count. He relies entirely on her integrity. So every Jewish woman was the guardian of the kashrus of the home in every respect.
\n\n\n\nForged on Grizim and Eival
\n\n\n\nAnd this we know that the Klal Yisroel observed. It\u2019s not a question, did they observe? We know for certain that they observed. The whole Klal Yisroel! Not only the good ones. Everyone! The Gemara (Niddah 33b) tells that the Tzedukim, the Sadducees \u2013 they were wicked men by and large. They were enemies of the Chachomim and they committed big crimes against their fellowmen; they trampled on the people in their quest for power. But we know that the wives of the Tzedukim came to the Chachomim and asked them shailos; they asked for decisions in Hilchos Tahara. Which means that even the worst of our people observed these private laws.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s hard for a gentile to understand because the only thing that\u2019ll prevent him from carrying out his desires is the police, a big Italian policeman with a baton. Because his conscience alone won\u2019t be much of a help in fending off temptation. It could be in individual cases, with some select people of noble character it could happen. But to make a rule for a nation, for a klal, and to expect rank and file, that everybody should obey things that can\u2019t be enforced, that would be improbable or impossible.
\n\n\n\nBut for the Am Yisroel, that\u2019s the way it had to be. And that was the reason for this special covenant on devarim sheb\u2019seiser, secret things, that was made on Har Grizim and Har Eival. It was necessary because secret things need more emphasis; they require more of a bris than overt things. And by means of fear of Hashem and knowing that we are under His watchful eyes wherever we are, that\u2019s how we became a nation.
\n\n\n\nThe Ignorant Historian
\n\n\n\nNow, if we\u2019ll seek an illustration of how our people practiced this principle of fearing Hashem baseiser, we don\u2019t have to go far. We find an especial book of the Tanach devoted to that subject, an entire sefer called the Sefer Shoftim. It\u2019s a sefer that has been greatly misunderstood, but if we study it properly we\u2019ll see that this book is a history of the innate loyalty of the Am Yisroel. About how the Am Yisroel served Hakodosh Boruch Hu out of their own conviction with true and genuine piety, even when not in the public eye.
\n\n\n\nWhen we study this sefer of Shoftim, we note a recurrent phrase and it\u2019s exactly this phrase that has misled people and has caused them to misunderstand the entire sefer. The phrase goes as follows: \u05d1\u05bc\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05c2\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 In those days there was no king in Yisroel, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 every man did what was right in his own eyes (17:6).
\n\n\n\nAnd so here is one historian \u2013 I won\u2019t say his name \u2013 he wrote a thirteen volume Jewish history and he said like this: \u201cThe generation of the Shoftim was one of the lowest eras of our people; like it states openly, \u2018Every man did what was right in his eyes.\u2019\u201d
\n\n\n\nThis writer learned pshat like this: he said that in those days there was no king in Yisroel, no one to enforce the Torah laws, and therefore each man did whatever he wanted. \u201cEvery man did what was right in his own eyes!\u201d So here you have it black and white, he says; they were a lawless people and the entire era is therefore stamped as a most disorderly era.
\n\n\n\nA Book of Righteousness
\n\n\n\nHowever, daas Torah is not so. Now when we say daas Torah, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the daas of the lamdanim because there aren\u2019t many Torah scholars today who are informed on the subject. Actually many are severely misinformed because they followed the simple meaning of a number of statements which they learned in their childhood and they came to the same conclusion as this no good historian who said that it was a very low generation.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore instead of making our own opinions which could mislead us, we ought to listen to the words of the Chachomim about this statement \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05b6\u05d4. After all, the Sages of the Talmud were much closer than the modern historians to these events. And besides, the Chachomim are the only ones who are truly capable of assessing, gauging and explaining these events. So let\u2019s see that era through their eyes.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a possuk in Shmuel Beis (1:18) that states, \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e1\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u2013 It is written in Sefer HaYashar, The Book of Righteousness. Now we\u2019re not going to discuss what he\u2019s saying there, but what interests us is what exactly is this Book of Righteousness that Shmuel Hanavi is talking about? And the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 25a) says \u05e1\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b0\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 The Righteous Book is the book of Shoftim. And why is it called The Righteous Book? Because it says there \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 every man did what was righteous in his eyes.
\n\n\n\nSo it\u2019s an upside down world! Here is a verse that people cite as a proof of the lawlessness of that generation \u2013 \u201cEach one did what is right in his own eyes\u201d \u2013 and the Gemara tells us, \u201cNo! That exact verse is the one that tells us that it was the most righteous era because every man did what was right in his eyes!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat changes everything. It\u2019s an eye opener because now we have to read the possuk all over again. This time we read it the way the Sages read it: \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 In those days the Jewish people did not need a king. They wouldn\u2019t stand for a king who would force them to do certain things because they didn\u2019t require it! \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 Every man was loyal to the real King, Hashem, and everyone did what he considered right!
\n\n\n\nYour Stomach\u2019s Eyes
\n\n\n\nThe historian, when he read that verse he put in his own meaning. He thought it means like people say today, \u201cI\u2019ll do what\u2019s right in my eyes;\u201d even though he knows it\u2019s wrong but he wants to do it anyhow. But that\u2019s all wrong. The verse is saying \u201ceach man did what is right in his eyes\u201d because he used his conscience. He didn\u2019t follow his passions, his desires, his inclination. No! That\u2019s not what\u2019s right in his eyes! That\u2019s right in his stomach. \u201cRight in his eyes\u201d means that each man did what his conscience told him is right. Each man did what in his eyes was right in the Eyes of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat was the greatness of that era. It was 369 years, more or less the era of the Shoftim, and throughout that time \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc, they didn\u2019t have a king because they didn\u2019t need one. Not because they weren\u2019t developed enough to have a king. That\u2019s how some people, strangers to the Torah, try to explain the subject. \u201cThey were still a nomad people or an agricultural people in the first stage of development and therefore they hadn\u2019t yet arrived at the stage of monarchy.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut if you look at what the Torah tells us and what\u2019s written elsewhere in Tanach, we see that all around them everybody had kings. Individual cities had kings. There were tens of kings in Canaan, every little town had a king. Monarchy was a firmly established institution and our people lived among them for four hundred years. So if the Am Yisroel was without a king it wasn\u2019t because they weren\u2019t developed enough. It was because they were so super-developed that they didn\u2019t want and didn\u2019t require a king.
\n\n\n\nNation of Kings
\n\n\n\nWhy did Sedom need a king? Why did Yericho need a king? Because \u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 if not for the fear of a government, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 a man would devour his fellow man alive (Avos 3:2). If there\u2019s no king, no strong authority, people go wild.
\n\n\n\nYou know, in some countries in the olden days, when the king died they had to choose a new king \u2013 they didn\u2019t have a law that the children inherited \u2013 and sometimes it took months before a new king was chosen. That\u2019s how it used to be in Poland once upon a time. What happened? In the times of interregnum, it means the period between the kings, there was all kinds of disorder, all kinds of crime and tzaros. When the king was finally elected, boruch Hashem! It began shalom u\u2019brachos.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a blessing to have law and order. You see what happens today when the government is weak and the streets are frequented by criminals. That\u2019s why we like policemen who carry billy clubs. We like that they should build big jails. We like the electric chair. We want the electric chairs should be working day and night; there are so many customers that deserve it. That\u2019s the function of a king, of a government.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, since the function of a king was to maintain and to enforce the Torah, in the times of the Shoftim the Bnei Yisroel didn\u2019t need it because everybody strove to do what he thought was right in the Eyes of Hashem. They were a great nation, capable of governing themselves. It would have been an insult to them to have a king. \u201cI\u2019m on the job!\u201d That\u2019s what every individual was thinking \u2013 he was king of his own behavior. He was a government who enforced Torah righteousness on himself.
\n\n\n\nStudying Law
\n\n\n\nThe Torah was their Constitution; I say \u201cConstitution\u201d lehavdil elef havdalos. The American Constitution is not a document that people study and obey. Did you ever see people getting together in America, chaburos, shiurim studying the Constitution l\u2019shem mitzvah? Sometimes you must study it to pass a high school test perhaps, but to get together to study the Constitution in order to fulfill the Constitution, such a thing is unheard of.
\n\n\n\nThe Constitution is studied so that lawyers can find ways and means of getting around it. Wicked judges use the Constitution in order to take their own filthy ideas and find ways of twisting and stretching and finagling until they find things in there that nobody intended.
\n\n\n\nBut our Constitution, lehavdil, the Torah, Jews get together and study it because that\u2019s our life; ki heim chayeinu. The Torah, that\u2019s our way of living \u2013 both outside and in our homes too.
\n\n\n\nNow, that era of the Shoftim was the time when the character of our nation was hammered out \u2013 a nation that would serve Hashem even when out of the public eye. Because eventually they would go out into exile and they\u2019d have to live among gentiles where they\u2019d be subject to every kind of temptation and blandishment and coercion. And in the privacy of your own home, hiding within your four walls, who\u2019s going to know what you\u2019re doing there?
\n\n\n\nThe Emperor Has No Clout
\n\n\n\nWe should never forget that illustration in the Gemara when a certain sage, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, was speaking to the Emperor and he was praising the loyalty of the Jewish people to their G-d.
\n\n\n\n\u201cToday is Shabbos,\u201d he said. \u201cCome up on the roof of the palace and we\u2019ll view the Jewish quarter. You\u2019ll see that no Jew is cooking in his home.\u201d And from the palace roof they looked at the Jewish section of the city and they looked at all the roofs and all the chimneys and there wasn\u2019t a single place where fire or smoke was issuing from a chimney in the Jewish quarter.
\n\n\n\nRabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya told the king, \u201cMake a decree that tomorrow nobody should light a fire in the city of Rome.\u201d The emperor issued a decree and it was promulgated all throughout Rome by public criers that tomorrow there shouldn’t be a fire in any stove, in any furnace in all of Rome.
\n\n\n\nThe next day when the decree was already in force the Emperor went up on the roof again with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya and they surveyed the rooftops, the chimneys, and they saw there were a few places in Rome where smoke was coming out of the chimney. They saw here and there, there were some chimneys smoking.
\n\n\n\nNow it became clear that the Jewish nation lives differently. In their homes they\u2019re living according to the Torah. In the Jewish quarter in Rome on Shabbos there was no smoke because the Jewish people don’t need a government. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is their government.
\n\n\n\nLiving By His Word
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how it used to be. The Am Yisroel meticulously kept the Torah. Everybody did. We have to get it into our head. It wasn\u2019t so long ago. Up until a hundred and fifty years ago, all over Europe wherever Jews dwelt, the Torah was observed punctiliously. I\u2019m not talking about shmiras haloshon or inyanim of bein adam l\u2019chaveiro, things of middos, character. Humans are humans \u2013 better people are more observant of these things. But we\u2019re talking now about Torah technicalities, dinim. And when it came to that, the whole Klal Yisroel observed everything. Even those things that nobody would ever discover were observed, things that were done only in secrecy, the Am Yisroel observed to a \u201ct\u201d.
\n\n\n\nAnd that was because we lived according to that bris that our forefathers made on Har Grizim and Har Eival. We lived with that commitment that even the things that are done only in privacy and that no one else would ever discover, even these things will be kept and cherished by the Jewish people. That\u2019s the secret of our nation, that even in the privacy of our homes, we do \u201cwhat we know is right in our eyes.\u201d And that\u2019s how our nation became a nation.
\n\n\n\nDenying Hashem
\n\n\n\nNow all of this explains why there\u2019s a special blessing for people who fear Hakodosh Boruch Hu baseiser. \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 A man should always fear Hashem in secret. Because that\u2019s the greatness of a man and the greatness of our nation.There\u2019s a special blessing for that!
\n\n\n\nBut we know that it wasn\u2019t only a blessing that the Am Yisroel heard at that time on Har Grizim and Har Eival. There was a curse too. And that\u2019s a question. Why was a special curse delineated? A blessing we understand; you\u2019ve chosen greatness; you\u2019ve chosen to be a link in the glorious creation of an eternally loyal people. But why a special curse? A blessing should be enough to encourage the nation. A curse makes it seem like there\u2019s something especially wrong with a sin done in secret.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we understand that there\u2019s something more here. When a man commits a sin in secret it\u2019s not only that he\u2019s breaking this covenant of a people who \u201cdo what is right in their eyes,\u201d but he\u2019s demonstrating an attitude of very serious consequence. And that\u2019s the attitude that nobody is looking. And not only is he demonstrating that attitude but he is creating it and encouraging it in his mind. Every time you do something wrong in secret you\u2019re ruining your mind more and more because you\u2019re practicing up on that attitude that He\u2019s not here, that He\u2019s not watching chas veshalom.
\n\n\n\nRashi (Kiddushin 31a) explains that when a man does something wrong in secret, it\u2019s \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 it\u2019s as if he said, \u201c\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05df \u2013 there\u2019s no Shechina here.\u201d That\u2019s what he\u2019s thinking in his mind; that’s why he does it baseiser. He wouldn\u2019t have done that sin if Hashem was looking. Impossible! The fact that he did it now is an expression of his feelings that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not around.
\n\n\n\nPushing Hashem Away
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s something else, something much worse. It\u2019s not merely that you\u2019re saying the Shechina is not here. You\u2019re actually chasing away the Shechina. Because (Kiddushin ibid.): \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d7\u05b5\u05e7 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Anyone who transgresses in secret it\u2019s as if he\u2019s shoving away the feet of the Shechina. We imagine the Shechina is seated on the throne; \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05e1\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 The heavens are My throne, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d4\u05b2\u05d3\u05b9\u05dd \u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 and the earth is My footstool. And when this man does something wrong in secret he is kavyachol pushing the feet of the Shechina off the footstool. It means he\u2019s shoving the Shechina away from this earth. So what’s the result of him thinking \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05df \u2013 \u201cThere\u2019s no Shechinah here\u201d? The result is that He\u2019s not there, He\u2019s pushed away!
\n\n\n\nOf course, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is always there. He’s \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9 and He is everywhere. But the kedushah of the Shechinah is no longer close to him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu causes His presence to rest on those people that want His presence to be close to them. \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem is close to all those who call to Him and want Him to be close. But when there are sinners who disregard the Presence of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, then the Shechinah goes further and further away from the Klal Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why it\u2019s more than just a blessing. It\u2019s a terrible curse when people\u2019s hearts are devoid of this devotion to Hakodosh Boruch Hu within the privacy of the home because you\u2019re pushing Hashem away from your daled amos. You\u2019re pushing Him away from the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nAngels of Wood and Stone
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s especially important to always be aware of Hashem, even in the privacy of your home. Now how to do it, how to work on it, that\u2019s the question. It\u2019s a big question especially when we come close to Rosh Hashana. You know the Gemara says that when the Day of Judgment comes, all the malachim assemble to testify about Man. Every person gets his day in court and all the malachim say what they have to say.
\n\n\n\nNow there are all kinds of malachim. Some of the malachim are his mitzvos. \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u2013 if you do one mitzvah, you\u2019re going to get one advocate (Avos 4:11). Those are very important but I want to talk now about a different group of witnesses who are preparing now to speak about you. You\u2019ll be surprised who they are. You weren\u2019t thinking about these malachim. I\u2019m talking about the walls of your house.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a verse in Chabakuk (2:11) \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e7 – A stone from the wall will cry out from the wall, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05e1 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b6\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 and a board of wood will reply. So the Gemara (Chagiga 16a) says like this: When a man is concealed from public view behind the four walls of his house, he may think, he may feel that he\u2019s free to misbehave. Of course, when neighbors come in to visit he\u2019s on his best behavior, but suppose all the windows are closed. That\u2019s a good thing by the way \u2013 in case you\u2019re in a bad temper and want to open your mouth on your wife or your wife wants to open her mouth on you, make sure to close tight the windows. Why should the neighbors get a bad impression? Pull down the shades too \u2013 they shouldn\u2019t see.
\n\n\n\nBut the Sages tell us that it might help with the neighbors but it won\u2019t help on the Day of Judgement. On Rosh Hashana it won\u2019t help because the stones and the boards of your house will come in and testify against you. Mi mei’id, who testifies against a man on the Day of Judgment? So the Gemara says \u201cKoros beiso v\u2019avnei beiso, the beams of his house and the stones will testify.\u201d That\u2019s what the possuk means, \u201cA stone from the wall will call out out from the wall and a board of wood, a beam, will open its mouth.\u201d They\u2019re witnesses.
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s not merely a form of speech. The walls, the beams and the ceiling, the ceilings are going to speak up. The floor, the carpet; everything in your house, even the furniture. There are a lot of witnesses and they\u2019re all coming to testify against a man or for a man. Nothing will keep quiet.
\n\n\n\nUse Your Walls
\n\n\n\nNow, actually it\u2019s a puzzle. Because who needs walls when Hashem sees everything anyhow? I need my walls to testify on the Day of Judgment for or against me? I need my furniture to testify? Doesn’t Hakodosh Boruch Hu see and know everything Himself? Isn’t He a good enough Witness? It’s a good kasha.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that it\u2019s not for Hakodosh Boruch Hu these witnesses. He doesn\u2019t need them. But we need them; because it’s difficult for us to live with things that we don’t see. We can talk about malachim and the Eyes of Hashem and we can believe it too but it\u2019s more effective when you know that the walls are watching. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the real Witness, but if you know that the walls are going to testify, so for the sake of your walls you\u2019ll behave.
\n\n\n\nAnd we shouldn’t belittle that! Don\u2019t think you\u2019re too smart for such things! Because it’s not so easy to feel that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking. And therefore the more you make use of those walls, the more effective it is. The more you put into it, the more you\u2019ll get out of it.
\n\n\n\nKimchis\u2019 Secret
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Yuma 47a) brings that there was a woman, her name was Kimchis, who had an especial privilege. She had seven sons, and all of her seven sons became kohanim gedolim. Now to have a son a high priest would make any woman proud. Even if you have a cousin who is a kohen gadol, a fifth cousin, you\u2019ll tell people about it. And she had seven sons and all of them served as kohanim gedolim. That was a record! It was a remarkable thing in our history. Kimchis was the wonder of the nation.
\n\n\n\nAnd everybody understood there was something here. It wasn’t pull, protektzia that got her children so far. There had to be something there, some reason.
\n\n\n\nAnd because it was so unusual, the Chachomim interviewed her. It was an important question for them. They sawthat this was not an accident and so they asked her, \u201cWhat happened that you had this merit of having seven sons who were high priests?\u201d They wanted to know the story, the backstory.
\n\n\n\nWell, this is the story. Kimchis said as follows: \u201c\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 All my life my ceiling never saw my uncovered hair.\u201d Now in a woman\u2019s own room if she allows her hair to be exposed there’s no reason to criticize her, but Kimchis made it her business that even if she had to comb her hair it was always underneath a head cloth. An extreme thing! The ceiling boards never saw her hair. \u201cAnd because of that I merited such nachas.\u201d That\u2019s what Kimchis was saying.
\n\n\n\nMore Than The Act
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not the end of the story. Listen to what the Chachomim said about that: \u201cBut there were many others who did that and it didn’t help them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWe have to understand this exchange. The Chachomim didn’t accept this? After all, it’s a virtue. A woman who is alone in her home, nobody is present, what\u2019s wrong if she uncovers her hair? Isn’t it an exceptional behavior of Kimchis, a high level of tznius that she never allowed her hair to be seen by her ceiling?
\n\n\n\nBut the Chachomim weren\u2019t impressed. They testified there were many Jewish women who lived that way and they didn’t merit such a reward. In the ancient times \u2013 not only ancient times; even a hundred years ago, even fifty years ago \u2013 there were a lot of women who were very pious, very observant, far beyond the line of duty. \u201cSo it can\u2019t be that,\u201d they said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cKimchis,\u201d the Sages said, \u201cYou were doing more than the mere act of keeping your hair covered. You were thinking too! You were imagining that the ceiling is looking at you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat the Chachomim were saying is that it’s not the mere act that accomplishes such greatness. Of course, the act on its own is important but you become especially holy, especially great, when you invest thoughts in your acts. True greatness depends how much you invest of your mind.
\n\n\n\nWalls\u2019 Eyes Matter
\n\n\n\nAs much as possible Kimchis was always thinking, \u201cThese beams, these boards in the ceiling will someday go testify before the tribunal and they’ll be talking about me, all my secrets.\u201d And all her life she behaved as if the boards were eyes that were looking at her. She trained herself, day after day, to have emunah chushis, a physical actual belief that the ceiling was looking at her.That\u2019s how she accustomed herself to the truth that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is in the home.
\n\n\n\nFor years and years, Kimchis was not only practicing covering her hair always, but she was creating a mind of \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 A man should always fear Hashem in secret.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the chachomim meant. \u201cMany people did what you do but it didn’t help. But because you lived that way, that\u2019s what did it. You were creating for yourself a Torah mind and because of that great quality you deserved this great reward.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about tonight. The more you use the walls of your home the greater you\u2019ll become. The more you remember that your ceiling will be a witness for or against you, the more you\u2019ll achieve. It takes hard work but those walls can become your biggest defenders.
\n\n\n\nAnd the walls are everything because it\u2019s within the walls of your house that men are made! It\u2019s within the walls of the house that women are made! It\u2019s within the walls of the house that boys and girls are made! Of course, outside in the shul, in the kollel, on the street, in the office and the yeshiva and Beis Yaakov, that\u2019s all very important. But it\u2019s in the secrecy of your home, baseiser, that man is tested, and therefore, that is the area that a man must consider the most vital thing: \u201cWhat will be the opinion, the testimony of the walls of my house on the Yom Hadin?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTalk to The Walls
\n\n\n\nThis week I will endeavor to remember this great teaching that man becomes great within the secrecy of his four walls. Each morning I will bli neder spend one minute looking at the walls of my home and reminding myself that they are witnesses. And if nobody is looking, in order to make it even more real in my mind, I\u2019ll approach the wall and speak to it as if it were an angel preparing to testify about me. \u201cDear wall, I know that you see everything and that you will carry a report before the heavenly tribunal. I will try to live with that knowledge today and ensure that you have only good reports to bring about me\u201d.
\nThe post Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T02:46:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-11T10:20:15+00:00" }, { "id": 35113, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-savo-5-greatness-within/", "title": "Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Savo-5782The post Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T02:45:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-11T02:45:17+00:00" }, { "id": 35106, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-ki-savo-5-greatness-within/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Savo-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Savo 5 – Greatness Within appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-11T02:44:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-11T02:44:49+00:00" }, { "id": 35096, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-escuela-secundaria/", "title": "La escuela secundaria ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebe uno enviar a su hijo a las clases en la escuela secundaria? \u00bfNo ense\u00f1an apikorosut all\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que s\u00ed lo hacen. Y por eso, es una pregunta muy importante la que est\u00e1s haciendo.
\n\n\n\nPrimero, hay una pregunta aparte: \u00bfDeben tus hijos estudiar el idioma del pa\u00eds? Y la respuesta a esa pregunta es s\u00ed. Es importante, porque una persona debe ense\u00f1ar a su hijo un umanut, un oficio. Lo trae la Guemar\u00e1, que un hombre debe ense\u00f1ar a su hijo a ganarse la vida. Y aunque no sabemos lo que va a ocurrir, pero tendr\u00e1 que saber leer y escribir, y calcular; as\u00ed que va a necesitar un poco de educaci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no estoy diciendo que si una persona quiere enviar a su hijo a un lugar donde no hay limud\u00e9 jol, que est\u00e9 haciendo algo mal. Pero las personas que s\u00ed env\u00edan a sus hijos a estudiar limud\u00e9 jol – si lo est\u00e1n haciendo leshem sham\u00e1im – deben saber que tambi\u00e9n es algo bueno; no hay duda al respecto. Tienes que ganarte la vida en este mundo. Tienes que mantener a una esposa e hijos. Y por lo tanto, cuando un joven tiene alg\u00fan tipo de preparaci\u00f3n, es como ense\u00f1arle un umanut.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, el problema que mencionaste, que ense\u00f1an apikorosut, es un problema muy grave y hay que tener mucho cuidado. En algunas ieshivot tienen una hashgaj\u00e1 sobre lo que dicen los maestros, y si son cuidadosos al respecto, puedes confiar en ellos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #904 (febrero de 1993)
\nThe post La escuela secundaria appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-09T05:20:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-09T05:20:03+00:00" }, { "id": 35093, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%94-%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%99%d7%98%d7%a9-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%99%d7%9b%d7%98%d7%99%d7%92%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%99%d7%98/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d4: \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05db\u05d8\u05d9\u05d2\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8 \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d2\u05d9\u05d4\u05e0\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-235The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d4: \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05db\u05d8\u05d9\u05d2\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05d8 \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d2\u05d9\u05d4\u05e0\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-09T05:17:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-09T05:17:39+00:00" }, { "id": 35084, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-ki-tetse/", "title": "Paracha Ki T\u00e9ts\u00e9", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Ki-Tetse-5782The post Paracha Ki T\u00e9ts\u00e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-07T23:56:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-07T23:56:08+00:00" }, { "id": 35082, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/trabajar-con-gentiles/", "title": "Trabajar con gentiles ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer una persona si trabaja en una gran empresa donde tiene que tratar con go\u00edm todo el tiempo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer una persona si su parnas\u00e1 requiere que est\u00e9 entre gentiles? Te pregunto: “\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer una persona si su parnas\u00e1 es ser un ro\u00e9 bakar, si est\u00e1 entre vacas todo el d\u00eda?” La respuesta es que son vacas, eso es todo. As\u00ed que s\u00e9 cort\u00e9s con las vacas. No patees a las vacas. No, no patees a una vaca. Orde\u00f1a las vacas, eso es todo.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nPero, \u00bfy si las vacas lo patean?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi las vacas te patean, no vale la pena devolverles. No. Necesitas a las vacas para ganarte la vida. Los necesitas para ganarte la vida, as\u00ed que deber\u00edas pensar que son vacas y que t\u00fa los necesitas y eso es todo. A veces una vaca da una patada y tienes que sonre\u00edr y aguantar. Eso es todo, no vas a devolverle.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nPero usted estuvo hablando esta noche sobre la importancia de mantenerse alejado de las influencias de los gentiles. \u00bfC\u00f3mo hago eso si estoy con ellos todo el d\u00eda?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, esa es una pregunta muy seria. No creas que es una pregunta tonta. No hay duda de que algo se te pegar\u00e1, absolutamente. En general tenemos que saber que a pesar de tu actitud hacia ellos, el hecho es que son go\u00edm y por lo tanto tenemos que tener mucho cuidado, porque se te contagia. Y no puedes ayudarte a ti mismo. \u00bfQu\u00e9 puedes hacer?
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, si est\u00e1s trabajando en ese tipo de entorno, deber\u00edas estudiar un poco m\u00e1s de irat sham\u00e1im en tu tiempo libre. Absolutamente. Necesitas estudiar m\u00e1s musar que un abrej colel. As\u00ed que cuando vuelvas a casa, mientras cenas, tal vez deber\u00edas leer el Mesilat Iesharim. Algunas personas hacen eso. Leen el Mesilat Iesharim mientras cenan. Y es una forma de purificar un poco m\u00e1s su mente de lo que pas\u00f3 durante el d\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nSea lo que sea, tienes que hacer algo al respecto. No es una pregunta tan simple. No es tan simple. Tienes un heter para hacerlo, para ir a trabajar. No puedes evitarlo, pero no es una pregunta simple en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-256 (octubre de 2000)
\nThe post Trabajar con gentiles appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-07T23:49:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-07T23:49:12+00:00" }, { "id": 35080, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/labor-infantil/", "title": "Labor infantil ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted habl\u00f3 antes sobre el trabajo infantil y dijo que fue un gran error cuando fue abolido porque los j\u00f3venes de hoy se han vuelto salvajes y peligrosos. S\u00f3lo quiero se\u00f1alar que en el 1700, cuando los ni\u00f1os trabajaban en f\u00e1bricas, no hab\u00eda seguridad. Los ni\u00f1os a veces se quemaban y se mor\u00edan a la edad de tres a\u00f1os tratando de trabajar en chimeneas.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es tu pregunta? \u00bfEst\u00e1s preguntando sobre garantizar la seguridad de los ni\u00f1os trabajadores? No olvides que los adultos tambi\u00e9n trabajaban en las f\u00e1bricas en condiciones dif\u00edciles, y tambi\u00e9n sufr\u00edan quemaduras que les costaba la vida. Y no s\u00f3lo en las f\u00e1bricas; en sus hogares tambi\u00e9n. Las personas se quemaban en sus hogares, \u00a1\u00bfas\u00ed que quieres decirme que las personas tampoco deber\u00edan vivir en los hogares?!
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que, despu\u00e9s de un tiempo, las personas descubrieron formas y medios para salvaguardar los hogares y las f\u00e1bricas. Inventaron escapes para los incendios y extintores de incendios y otros medios, otras caracter\u00edsticas de seguridad, y por lo tanto los ni\u00f1os pueden trabajar en f\u00e1bricas hoy en d\u00eda ya que son sanitarias y seguras. Pueden tener excelentes condiciones de trabajo y saldr\u00edan al final del d\u00eda con mentes limpias; estar\u00e1n listos para un buen descanso nocturno y no se pondr\u00e1n en peligro. Los ni\u00f1os en el trabajo nunca tomar\u00e1n drogas porque no tienen tiempo para eso, tienen que irse a casa y descansar para el d\u00eda siguiente. Y los ni\u00f1os que trabajan no son malos y no son viciosos. No son vandalistas.
\n\n\n\nEs cuando tienes tiempo para desperdiciar que andas por las calles y aprendes cosas malas. Trabajar es una de las mejores cosas que se podr\u00edan hacer por los ni\u00f1os hoy. Los ni\u00f1os hoy en d\u00eda ya no entrar\u00edan en las f\u00e1bricas del siglo XVII. Entrar\u00edan a f\u00e1bricas modernas y estar\u00edan a salvo.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, entiendo que las personas est\u00e1n en contra de esta idea porque est\u00e1n impregnados con la literatura moderna; \u00a1pero conf\u00eda en m\u00ed, el trabajo para los ni\u00f1os de hoy ser\u00eda una gran bendici\u00f3n para el mundo! Todos esos chicos gentiles, ni\u00f1os blancos, ni\u00f1os negros, ni\u00f1os de todos los colores y todas las razas, si los llevas a las f\u00e1bricas de hoy y los hacen trabajar, ser\u00edan mucho m\u00e1s felices. \u00bfNo sabes que son infelices por su ociosidad, que provoca que se metan en problemas?
\n\n\n\nY todos los dem\u00e1s ser\u00e1n m\u00e1s felices tambi\u00e9n. El mundo entero ser\u00eda un mundo mejor. Es la \u00e9tica de trabajo que debe ser restaurada. Fue destruido por los progresistas de los Estados Unidos y sus ideas. “No hay trabajo”, dicen. As\u00ed que empujaron a los j\u00f3venes a las escuelas y colegios; Y ahora hay tantos incompetentes que no tienen cabeza para estudiar; personas que son fracasadas en el aprendizaje. Por supuesto, hay mejores que pueden pasar los ex\u00e1menes de ingreso, pero muchos de los j\u00f3venes de hoy estar\u00edan mucho mejor si estuvieran trabajando largas horas en las f\u00e1bricas en lugar de ir a la escuela.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #291 (enero de 1980)
\n\n\n\n![](\"https://i0.wp.com/ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/no_photo.png?w=640&ssl=1\"){kind=icon} | ReplyForward |
The post Labor infantil appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-07T00:46:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-07T00:46:48+00:00" }, { "id": 35070, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/votar-con-sabiduria/", "title": "Votar con sabidur\u00eda ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebe un bajur ieshiv\u00e1 empadronarse para votar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebe un muchacho de ieshiv\u00e1 empadronarse para votar?
\n\n\n\nDepende. Si sabe votar, que lo haga. Si no, no deber\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, a veces hay que decidir entre este ladr\u00f3n y ese ladr\u00f3n. Eso es una p\u00e9rdida de tiempo. Pero si tiene una intenci\u00f3n especial al votar, entonces s\u00ed, porque debemos poner nuestro peso en la direcci\u00f3n correcta.
\n\n\n\nHoy en d\u00eda, es importante, si es posible, hacer fuerza contra los progresistas. Todo lo que puedas hacer contra los progresistas hazlo. Es una gran tragedia que los jud\u00edos no est\u00e9n informados del peligro. Los progresistas est\u00e1n poniendo en peligro nuestra seguridad. Los progresistas jud\u00edos est\u00e1n socavando el pa\u00eds.
\n\n\n\nY todo lo que puedas hacer para votar en contra de un hombre que est\u00e1 en contra de la pena capital, hazlo. Si un hombre est\u00e1 en contra de la pena capital, \u00a1vota en su contra! Si un hombre est\u00e1 a favor de los homosexuales, \u00a1vota en su contra! Si un hombre est\u00e1 a favor de E.R.A., \u00a1vota en su contra! Vota s\u00f3lo por aquellos que quieren mantener los est\u00e1ndares con los que el pa\u00eds vivi\u00f3 hasta ahora. Vota por aquellos que quieren fortalecer a Estados Unidos. \u00a1Armamento! No desarme.
\n\n\n\nVota en contra de los que quieren gastar m\u00e1s dinero en asistencia social. Es algo muy perverso lo que hizo el presidente Carter; hizo un gabinete nacional de educaci\u00f3n y puso a una mujer al frente. Hasta ahora, cualquiera que quisiera contaminar el sistema educativo lo hac\u00eda a trav\u00e9s de los canales estatales y municipales. Ahora se va a hacer a escala nacional. Carter es progresista y comenz\u00f3 algo nuevo. Costar\u00e1 un mont\u00f3n de dinero; millones; costar\u00e1 miles de millones y todos esos miles de millones se destinar\u00e1n a corromper a Estados Unidos.
\n\n\n\nCualquier cosa que podamos hacer para derrocar a los progresistas, por todos los medios, debemos hacerlo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #289 (octubre de 1979)
\nThe post Votar con sabidur\u00eda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-06T02:44:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-06T02:44:25+00:00" }, { "id": 35066, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-voting-with-wisdom/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting With Wisdom", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a yeshiva bachur register to vote?
A:
\n\n\n\nShould a yeshiva man register to vote?
\n\n\n\nIt depends. If he knows how to vote, he should. If he doesn\u2019t, he shouldn\u2019t.
\n\n\n\nNow sometimes it\u2019s a question between this crook and that crook and so it\u2019s a waste of time. But if you have a special intention by voting then by all means, because we should put our weight in the right direction.
\n\n\n\nToday, it\u2019s important if possible to throw our weight against the liberals. Whatever you can do against liberals. It\u2019s a great tragedy that the Jews are not apprised of the danger. The liberals are endangering our safety. Jewish liberals are undermining the country.
\n\n\n\nAnd whatever you can do to vote against a man who is against capital punishment, do it. If a man is against capital punishment, vote against him! If a man is for homosexuals, vote against him! If a man is for E.R.A., vote against him! Vote only for those who want to uphold the standards that the country lived by until now. Vote for those who want to make America strong. Armaments! Not disarmaments.
\n\n\n\nVote against those who want to spend more money for welfare. It\u2019s a very wicked thing President Carter did; he made a national cabinet for education and he put a woman at the head of it. Up until now, anybody who wanted to contaminate the education system did so through state and city channels. Now it\u2019s going to be done on a national scale. Carter is a liberal and he started something new. It\u2019ll cost a pile of money; millions; billions it will cost and all those billions will go towards corrupting America.
\n\n\n\nWhatever we can do to unseat the liberals, by all means.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 289 (October 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Voting With Wisdom appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-05T21:59:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-05T21:59:34+00:00" }, { "id": 35057, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a6%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05db\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e6\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-05T03:14:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-05T03:14:01+00:00" }, { "id": 35060, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/estudiar-musar/", "title": "Estudiar Musar", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 debo estudiar Musar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEl Mesilat Iesharim explica uno de los grandes beneficios de mejorarse a uno mismo. En verdad, t\u00fa entiendes lo valiosa que es la carrera de mejorar, pero \u00e9l explica un beneficio adicional: est\u00e1s mejorando el mundo. Presta atenci\u00f3n ahora. No creas que es un mashal, una forma po\u00e9tica de hablar; Ki hin\u00e9 ilui gadol hu labriot kulam, es una gran elevaci\u00f3n para todas las criaturas del mundo, bihiotam meshamsh\u00e9 haadam haeli\u00f3n, ser sirvientes que sirven a una persona de un nivel elevado. El sol est\u00e1 hecho para servirte. Los malajim est\u00e1n hechos para servirte. Los vientos soplan para ti. La tierra gira gracias a ti. Todo es gracias a ti, Am Israel. Pero cuando eres una persona m\u00e1s excelente, debes saber que est\u00e1s haciendo que todos realicen tareas m\u00e1s valiosas. Su funci\u00f3n se vuelve m\u00e1s importante. Cuando el sol brilla sobre el tzadik, el sol est\u00e1 extremadamente feliz. No creas que es un mashal. Es una gran elevaci\u00f3n para el sol que haya un tzadik para brillar. Cuando la luna sale para que la mire un tzadik, es un gran ilui para la luna. Las aceras por las que caminas mejoran porque eres una mejor persona.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, ese es un jeshb\u00f3n importante en el que pensar. El Mesilat Iesharim no es una persona que habla guzmaot (exageraciones) . Es un orador muy cuidadoso y minucioso y afirma: “Ki ilui gadol hu labriot kulam, todo en el mundo se eleva si son meshamsh\u00e9 haadam haeli\u00f3n, si sirven a un tipo superior de persona.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-231 (abril de 2000)
\nThe post Estudiar Musar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-05T03:09:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-05T03:09:51+00:00" }, { "id": 35051, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a6%d7%90-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05e6\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T05:24:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-04T05:24:28+00:00" }, { "id": 35040, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-seitzei-5-perfection-of-humility-2/", "title": "Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility", "content_html": "A Sad Day
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah we read about the din of malkos; a Jew sinned and was found guilty in beis din and now he\u2019s getting his punishment; \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b9\u05bc\u05c1\u05e4\u05b5\u05d8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 … \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b7\u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 And the judge should cast him down and strike him \u2026 forty lashes he should strike him (Ki Seitzei 25:2-3). For certain misdeeds the Torah prescribes thirty nine lashes and that\u2019s what this man is getting now.
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s an interesting subject that our Sages discuss and that is the thoughts that we expect of those participating in this story. At the time that the shliach beis din is delivering the blows on behalf of the beis din what should he be thinking? And what should the recipientthink?
\n\n\n\nNow we know that nobody is happy about this. When it’s necessary to hit a Jew, nobody is joyous. As the shliach beis din raises his brawny hand with that strap and he delivers a welt on the body of a kosher ben Yisroel \u2014 he’s a kosher Jew, only he transgressed one thing \u2014 so you could be certain that it hurts everyone\u2019s heart; the beis din that found this man deserving of the malkos as well as the one carrying it out commiserate with the one being hit. And he surely, as the blows are raining down on him, he\u2019s the last one to be happy. So it\u2019s a sad day; nobody is happy in that courtroom. And yet, we\u2019re going to study now a Gemara in Mesichta Makkos (22b) and see that we\u2019re misunderstanding the episode entirely.
\n\n\n\nBeaten By Friends
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara there is telling a story, a mashal. We\u2019re walking down the street and we see a man coming our way who is all beaten up; we see his chest is open and it’s red or black and blue and on his back also there are black and blue marks and open welts. So we ask him, \u201c\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 What’s the reason for these blows that you received between your arms?\u201d It means here in the front on your chest and on your back.
\n\n\n\nSo he says, \u201cThese are the makkos, the blows, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05bb\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d9, that I was beaten in the house of my friends. My friends beat me up.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow if he wasn\u2019t a frum Jew we could understand that. He went to his best friend\u2019s wedding and he had to leave in an ambulance. Somebody today gave me a news clipping about a Puerto Rican wedding that took place here in Brooklyn, in Bedford Stuyvesant. So ambulances were racing back and forth taking people to the hospitals from the wedding. What happened? All the cousins were finally meeting each other again after so long, and they were drinking \u2013 and they all carry knives of course \u2013 and so the old family feuds came to the surface. And there were a lot of stabbings.
\n\n\n\nNow at a Jewish wedding maybe sometimes there\u2019s a question, a quarrel even, about who gets a bracha; but at a gentile wedding it happens sometimes that you need ambulances. It happens. Much more than you think.
\n\n\n\nJudgmental Friends
\n\n\n\nSo if this fellow we met in the street was coming from that wedding we\u2019d understand when he tells us that it happenedat the home of his friends. But here the Gemara is talking about a frum Jew; he wasn’t at that wedding. And still when we ask him what happened he says \u201cI was in the house of my friends and they beat me up good.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWho are these friends that the Gemara refers to? The friends are the beis din that sentenced him to get malkos. What happened?This man was caught shaving with a razor blade or doing something else that is chayav malkos and so they gave him lashes. And they beat him generously. The shliach beis din is makeh bechol kocho, he strikes with all his power.
\n\n\n\nAnd now the man came out beaten up and as he’s walking down the street and people say, \u201c\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 What’s this that you\u2019re all black and blue?!\u201d And he says \u201cIt happened\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d9; my good friends did that to me.\u201d And he’s saying it earnestly. \u201cThese blows were inflicted upon me in the house of those who love me. The shliach of beis din and the beis din who sentenced me they\u2019re all my good friends. The witnesses who testified against me too. Beis meahavai! A house of people who love me!
\n\n\n\nHappy Medicine
\n\n\n\nNow we have to study that because I imagine that it wouldn\u2019t be easy today to find a man who would be happy if beis din whips him; even if he was a big tzadik and had full confidence in beis din he\u2019d say, \u201cI earned it. It\u2019s my fault.\u201d But to say that \u2018my good friends beat me up\u2019, that wouldn’t be heard from anybody.
\n\n\n\nBut our Sages are teaching us that they are his good friends! They did him a great favor. Of course there\u2019s sadness all around, regret that it came to such a thing that we have to do this. But there is happiness too, because a benefit is being bestowed on a fellow Jew.
\n\n\n\n\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4’ \u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 All the ways of Hashem are kindliness. \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d4’ \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem seeks to do kindliness in all of His deeds; and even in the punishments which the Torah specifies for miscreants, for culprits who transgress, the rule still holds good. It’s an administration of a medicine that’s going to benefit him.
\n\n\n\nHowever, we won’t be in a hurry to accept this. Let’s understand it a little more carefully.
\n\n\n\nIntroducing the Star
\n\n\n\nWhen Hakodosh Boruch Hu created Man, He made a hakdamah, a preface that He didn’t make when He created anything else: \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. It was an announcement: \u201cWe’re going to make Man now.\u201d It means that now the most important act of creation is going to take place.
\n\n\n\nNothing else that Hashem created had such an introduction. Even \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5; that was a very big accomplishment, it was brias haolam yesh meiayin! The first act of creation was the most stupendous and astonishing act, something unequaled later in history. To create something out of nothing! It\u2019s the most surprising of all events in history; and yet it was not introduced by any statement.
\n\n\n\nAnd all the other creations that followed weren\u2019t introduced either. The sun and the moon and the trillions of star worlds. All the planets and oceans and animals and fish and birds and trees; nothing, no announcement. And then suddenly, before Hakodosh Boruch Hu made Adam He made a declaration. \u201cWe\u2019re going to make Man.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, how He made that declaration, I can’t tell you. To whom He made it I’m not going to be able to tell you either. But it’s written in the Torah, \u201cWe’re going to make Man!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because the introduction is made for the main event, for the star of the show. And that\u2019s Man!
\n\n\n\nMore Than A Trillion Stars
\n\n\n\nOne of the most important principles in the Torah is the vast and infinite greatness of Mankind. But not only that Man is the most important object in creation. That\u2019s understating it. Man is vastly greater, not than any object in creation; he\u2019s vastly greater than the entire creation. One human being is more important than this whole earth; more than a million earths, more than a million huge stars. Not a million; there are trillions of stars, billions of starworlds. And still one person outweighs all of them.
\n\n\n\nLet that sink in \u2013 otherwise you don’t begin to understand the Torah. The truth is that this concept is a sine qua non, a condition without which it’s impossible to appreciate Torah.
\n\n\n\nI’ll just give one little example to illustrate why. In the Torah we are told of certain requirements that we are expected to fulfill. We’re expected, for instance, to have a mezuzah on every door. Now suppose someone wrote a mezuzah, a perfect beautiful mezuzah and every letter was inscribed correctly except one letter; he forgot to put the foot in the hei. It looks like a daled.
\n\n\n\nTiny Things
\n\n\n\nSo what’s so terrible? After all, most of the letters are there. All of them are there and even this one is mostly there; rubo kekulo. It’s such a minor thing. Alright it’s not a perfect mezuzah, but still it should be fine. But no, it’s not a mezuzah at all! Such a minor imperfection can make it entirely pasul and it’s considered like you have no mezuzah on the door.
\n\n\n\nWhy is it that the Torah insists on such things which seem like trivialities? If a man has chametz in his house on Pesach, he transgresses big aveiros. But if he took the trouble before Pesach just to say kol chamira vechamia \u2013\u201cI am mevatel, nullifyingall the chametz,\u201d so he doesn\u2019t have any aveirah d\u2019Oraisa anymore. Just by saying these words he is saved from the aveirah?
\n\n\n\nOr another case: If a man tells a woman, \u201cHarei at mekudeshes li\u201d and he gives her something, she’s his wife and if she consorts now with a stranger, they’re both put to death. It’s called adultery just because he said these words \u2013 he didn’t even live with her yet. It’s a matter of life and death if he said the words harei at mekudeshes li or didn’t say the words.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see it again and again all throughout the Torah, the principle that every little act is of the utmost significance. Every little act of a man is of supreme importance. As you read the Torah you begin to see how vastly responsible a man is for the smallest misstep; there’s a tremendous retribution for little details, little transgressions.
\n\n\n\nNothing Tiny Here
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because there\u2019s nothing little about him. Like a king, a monarch of a huge empire, when he signs a document, a decree, it affects millions of his subjects. It affects their entire lives. So you might say \u201cWell, he only signed a paper. What\u2019s the big deal?\u201d No! It\u2019s the biggest deal! If you\u2019re a very big person then even the smallest act is a matter either of life or death or some other great misfortune.
\n\n\n\nAnd so this responsibility that the Torah gives us is in proportion to our greatness. Because every human being is of infinite greatness, everything he does is also infinitely great, and that’s why the Torah puts such stress on the smallest acts of man. We\u2019ll never understand that unless we understand the greatness of man, the vastness of the personality of man.
\n\n\n\nNow this subject has to be spoken about at length and we won’t have time to deal with it properly, but that’s one of the fundamental foundations of Torah \u2013 gadlus ha\u2019adam, the greatness of man.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s not for nothing that man is declared so great. It\u2019s because he actually is great. He has endless greatness inside of him. His soul is endlessly great. His potentialities are endlessly great. He could make out of himself almost anything because he has the materials and it’s been prepared by the Creator inside of him. He towers above everything!
\n\n\n\nWe Are Dangerous
\n\n\n\nNow just because of that greatness there comes another Torah corollary that\u2019s also of the greatest importance and that is as follows: Because Man is so tremendous, so full of potential to accomplish great things, just because of that, Man is also the most arrogant of all creatures in the world. He’s the biggest ba’al ga’avah.
\n\n\n\nBecause Man is so great therefore it\u2019s easy for him to fall into the error of being tempted to view himself in that light. Every person, no matter what status he may seem to be, is subject to the temptation to be conceited in such a way that makes him a peril to the world and surely to himself.
\n\n\n\nArrogance is an extremely great pitfall.Of all a human beings\u2019 tendencies and traits, the most dangerous is the tendency to feel his greatness. The seforim say: \u201cHaga’avah rosh kol chatas\u201d, arrogance is the head, the top, of all sins. What does that mean, \u201cthe head\u201d? Don\u2019t we know there are bigger sins than arrogance? The answer is that gaavah is the source of all sins; that\u2019s what it means \u201crosh kol chatas.\u201d If you’ll analyze every form of wickedness, it’s due to a man’s conceit. He thinks he deserves everything! He\u2019s always right! He can do! He\u2019s not wrong! He\u2019s important! He\u2019s capable! He thinks the world of himself!
\n\n\n\nAnd actually it\u2019s true; \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc! He actually has within him an endless greatness, almost infinite potential. It\u2019s so great, so powerful and tremendous, that it\u2019s capable of misleading him and ruining him.
\n\n\n\nCreating a Hitler
\n\n\n\nI’ll give just one example. Everybody knows there was a madman in Europe who took into his head to destroy many millions of people. Now to us it seems entirely insane. How could such a thing enter a person’s mind? Why should he kill millions of people? Even if he has a peeve, a grudge against somebody, he won’t be satisfied until millions and millions and millions are destroyed?! It\u2019s meshugeh!
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that it\u2019s a sign of the greatness of mankind; because he’s so great, his ideals and capabilities and she\u2019ifos are correspondingly just as great. Because Man is great, he imagines great things, tremendous plans. And just because of that, his wickedness can be endlessly great. Man\u2019s greatness and arrogance are capable of creating a Hitler.
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re not interested in Hitler now; we\u2019re concerned about our own gaavah because we are faced with that same pitfall. You know, there are people who are tyrants in their home; even in the yeshiva and kollel you find such things. Some people are tyrants in the workplace.
\n\n\n\nThe Arrogant Storekeeper
\n\n\n\nI once went into a store many years ago to buy some little toys for my children. And there was a Syrian young man, a big fat man sitting behind the counter. I remember he was eating a candy bar. It was a very big store, a whole department store, and he was sitting on his throne right next to the cash register. And all day long the music of the register was ringing in his ears; he was on top of the world!
\n\n\n\nNow, I had rundown heels in those days. I was a very poor man in those days. And so when I walked in he turned to his girl secretary, the cashier, and he said \u201cLook at those heels.\u201d And he chuckled. He laughed at me.
\n\n\n\nNow, where does an attitude like that come from? From many things. But the foundation of it all is his greatness. He really is great and that becomes a pitfall. And it\u2019s an attitude that we all have \u2013 to a certain extent that\u2019s all of us.
\n\n\n\nAntidote to Arrogance
\n\n\n\nNow if that\u2019s the case this is going to give us the key to understanding many things that take place in history and in our lives; but we’ll start with what we began this evening. Here is a Jew who is getting malkos for some sin and he’s bending over a block; he’s holding onto it and he’s being whipped. What’s the purpose?
\n\n\n\nThe purpose is to counteract his arrogance! It\u2019s intended to humble him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not venting His anger on him; He is helping him. It\u2019s a medicine that’s being administered as an antidote to his conceit, to shame him into submission to Hashem, to shame him into submission to his purpose in the world.
\n\n\n\nThe Torah says \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 your brother will be put to shame before your eyes. Only shame? Doesn’t it hurt too? Thirty nine lashes by a hefty shaliach of beis din who is brandishing that whip with all his koach is only a matter of shame? No; absolutely it hurts but the embarrassment is the most important achievement. That whip is putting him down to size, making him think less of his arrogance. It makes him small.
\n\n\n\nThe Strongest Medicine
\n\n\n\nNow if you study a little grammar with me for a minute, we’ll understand it. The word makkah is hifil, to hit, from nun chaf hei, nachah; and nachah means to deduct. If you know Hebrew, nun chaf hei means to deduct, like nikui. And so makah, to hit means to deduct. It\u2019s deducting something from you; just like the doctor who takes a patient who has a tumor and the doctor is deducting the tumor from his patient. It hurts, but he’s saving that man’s life. And so when the beis din is giving him makos, they’re deducting from him his arrogance. They’re hitting him in order to make him humble. He’s becoming an anav.
\n\n\n\nNow you might say why is it necessary to hit him so many times? Why hit him at all? They should talk to him; tough words. \u201cWho do you think you are that you can transgress a law of the Torah?! You think you\u2019re so important you can do what you want?!\u201d Talk mean and loud words to him! That should be enough.
\n\n\n\nNo, that won\u2019t do the job. Because you have to know who you’re talking to. You’re talking to a very great personality! You\u2019re talking to Man! And because of his greatness, you won’t make him small merely by your words; you have to administer a strong medicine. Of course words are also important, but the medicine must be given to him in such an extreme way that the words will make an effect.
\n\n\n\nCanceling Magic
\n\n\n\nNow, this explains a common phenomenon in this world, and that\u2019s the subject of sickness.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Psachim 56a) tells that there was a book of remedies and Chizkiyah Hamelech was ganaz sefer refuos; he took this book out of circulation. He concealed it. And the Chachomim praised him for that.
\n\n\n\nNow, we don’t understand that at all. Remedies for various illnesses? What\u2019s wrong with that?
\n\n\n\nThere are two peirushim on this. One peirush is the Rambam’s peirush. The Rambam says it was a sefer talismaos, it was a sefer of certain magic remedies. And because Chizkiyah didn’t want the people to resort to magic remedies therefore he took that book and he concealed it. \u201cForget about magic,\u201d Chizkiyahu said.
\n\n\n\nCanceling Conceit
\n\n\n\nBut others like Rashi say no, it wasn\u2019t magic remedies. It was a book of real effective remedies, real medicine. And yet, Chizkiyah concealed it for a reason. What could be a good reason for that?
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention to Rashi’s words. Rashi says illness is sent upon people in order to humble them. Not only Rashi. All of our great men say that. Rav Saadya Gaon in his Emunos V\u2019deios says the same thing. The purpose of suffering is lehachnia es halev, to confer the great gift of humility. Suffering lowers pride. Suffering is an antibiotic for conceit and arrogance.
\n\n\n\nBecause of the greatness of man, that explains the necessity for such things. A man is liable to great temptations in this world, to forget about other people, even to forget about Hashem, because he is so great. And therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu constantly has to remind him from time to time; He has to give him a little slap here and a little slap there to remind him, \u201cQuiet down. I’m bigger than you are.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Purpose of Illness
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why sickness comes, to humble you. A man is sick, he is on the operating table, and he sees a doctor taking out a whole boxful of various scissors and knives and soon they’ll put him to sleep and start cutting him up and so he’ll be thinking, \u201cWhen I get out of this alive, I’m going to be a better fellow. I’ll be better to my wife. I’ll be a better neighbor. I’ll be more pliable. I’ll start listening to the rabbi in the synagogue when I get out of here.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut not merely to make you humble toward your fellow man. That’s also a big achievement but the most important humility is to be humble to your Creator: \u201cI’m going to listen to Hashem when I get out. If He lets me out of this place alive, I’m going to be humble before Hashem.\u201d That’s the real purpose of the operation.
\n\n\n\nThat’s the purpose of all illness. That’s the purpose of a cold. If a person chalilah gets a coldit\u2019s for the intention to make him more humble. You know when you have sniffles and you’re coughing and sneezing; you have a sore throat, sinus trouble \u2013 you shouldn’t have it \u2013 but the purpose is to make you feel low. You’re too high. It\u2019s to push you down a little bit. It’s an effective medicine. Any illness, any pain, is for the purpose of making a person lose his arrogance. Our Sages tell us that again and again. Hakodosh Boruch Hu bestows a great benefit on mankind from time to time by humbling them.
\n\n\n\nFainting and First-Aid
\n\n\n\nThat’s why a sick man in the language of Tanach is called a dal. \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 Happy is the one who has interest in a sick man. The sick man is called a dal. Dal means he\u2019s low. Why is he dal? He’s low because the illness makes him low. Sometimes he’s so low that he can’t get up. He has to lie down.
\n\n\n\nWhy is he lying down? There are two reasons why a person lies down when he\u2019s ill. One is because Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants a man to get well and when he lies down it puts less stress on his heart. The blood, instead of being pumped up and down, it’s pumped horizontally with less stress on the heart. When you lie down, there’s less stress on your organs and you can recover more quickly.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why people faint. Fainting is a yeshuah. It’s a salvation. It’s first-aid when you faint. You shouldn’t faint but it’s first-aid because then everything stops; everything quiets down and your body has a chance now to recuperate a little bit.
\n\n\n\nBut there’s another reason why people lie down when they’re sick or when they faint. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to show you that you’re not such a big shot. When you\u2019re lying in bed and your head hurts and your stomach hurts and you\u2019re sniffling and coughing, you can\u2019t be a big shot \u2013 it\u2019s impossible.
\n\n\n\nThe Real Great One
\n\n\n\nI once fainted on the street. I never dreamed I would faint. I used to see people faint on the street and ambulances came. But to me it would never happen. I’m a big shot. And then it happened. An ambulance came and they put me on the stretcher.
\n\n\n\nI said, \u201cTake me home. I want to get out of here. I don’t belong here.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNothing doing,\u201d they said. \u201cYou have to go to the hospital.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI wanted to get up and go home. \u201cNo, you can\u2019t get up!\u201d I learned the lesson that I\u2019m not a big shot. What do you think, Miller? Fainting is only for other people? That\u2019s a valuable lesson. I learned a valuable lesson that day. A man becomes humbled by means of sickness and that\u2019s what really makes him great because now Hashem is in his mind more; he\u2019s lower down and he recognizes the real Big Shot.
\n\n\n\nA Special Assistance
\n\n\n\nNow we can better understand what the Gemara (Shabbos 12b) says, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4, that the Shechina hovers over the head of a sick man. Our Sages tell us that when a man is lying ill, the presence of Hashem is there. Of course it\u2019s not the Shechina that was in the Bais Hamikdash or the Shechina that they saw in the midbar, but there is some form of His Presence when a man is sick.
\n\n\n\nNow, I suppose he has to be at least a maamin in the ikrei ha\u2019emunah; I don\u2019t believe if a rasha, a kofer, is sick that any Shechina will come to him. But a kosher Jew, even though he\u2019s not a baal madreigah, at the time of his illness the Shechina hovers over his head.
\n\n\n\n\u05d4’ \u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 Hashem is supporting him on his sickbed (Tehillim 41:4). Not merely Hashem\u2019s messengers, the forces of nature. Of course there are forces of nature that heal people. Fever is one of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s messengers. Fever heals; fever is a great healer, it burns and destroys; it\u2019s a sign that the infection is being combated. There are other processes of healing that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has set up in the body. But there is a separate, a special assistance that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives; \u05d4’ \u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc – Hashem supports him, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e9\u05c2 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b8\u05d9 – on his bed of pain. The Shechina is there.
\n\n\n\nAuto Improvement
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why there\u2019s a certain din when you\u2019re visiting a sick person. It is a mitzvah to visit someone who is sick, to see what you can do for him. You can cheer him up with consolation, whatever it is. Maybe you can help him with things that he needs. If he is in a hospital, you can bring him kosher food.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose he\u2019s lying on a pallet on the floor. It happens sometimes that he\u2019s lying on the floor on a pallet, on a stretcher. So the Gemara says that it\u2019s ossur to sit down on the chair because then you\u2019ll be sitting higher than he is. If you wish to sit, you must sit on the floor alongside him. Why is that? The Gemara says it\u2019s because the Shechina is right there over his head. So how could you sit higher than the Shechina?
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a remarkable statement. What did this man do that suddenly he should merit that the Shechina visits him when he becomes ill? What changed now?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, this man is being improved; the yissurim are making him better. Even if he is not going to study middah k\u2019neggded middah and he won\u2019t ask \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d6\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 \u201cWhat is this Hashem did to me? For what sin am I being punished? \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e7\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 let me search out my ways and investigate.\u201d He should say that but even if he doesn\u2019t, still the man is improving.
\n\n\n\nThe Small Millionaire
\n\n\n\nAnd the biggest improvement is that he is now humbled; he is humiliated. You cannot be a baal gavaah when you are sick. A sick man is a humble man. A millionaire, when he\u2019s in pain he\u2019s a humble fellow. And that is a tremendous achievement. To be an anav, already means you are coming closer to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow this is not an anav who chose the career of humility; it\u2019s not somebody whose seichel dictated to him the greatness of being humble. It\u2019s not a case where a man thinks, \u201cI am standing lifnei Hashem, in the presence of Hashem, so certainly I must be humble.\u201d No, nothing like that. He is being clubbed over the head! He is humble because he is forced into it. But humility is such a sheleimus, it\u2019s such a perfection that even a man who is forced into it becomes more beloved by Hashem; so beloved that the Shechina is willing now to come down to him and rests above his head.
\n\n\n\nNow, don\u2019t think you have to wait for it to happen to you chas veshalom. You can learn the lesson anyhow. That\u2019s the best way. Next time you see an ambulance running in the street don’t think there’s no connection with you. Someone in that car is lying down; he\u2019s being humbled right now. Why should you be any different? Are you any better than him? Probably not. And so if you\u2019ll stop for thirty seconds and think about humbling yourself, you\u2019ve accomplished a great thing today. A little bit you\u2019ve been humbled. You\u2019ve lived successfully!
\n\n\n\nTaking Small Doses
\n\n\n\nNow, once we understand that achievement, the perfection that even a little humility brings to a person, so we have to be mindful always of using even the little things, the small doses of tzaros, the small makkos, to humble ourselves. Because is there such a thing as a person who everything goes his way? Never! Impossible!
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man who made plans for something \u2013 whatever it is, a trip, a business deal, a shidduch \u2013 and it turns out not the way he planned, not the way he wanted. He was careful and he arranged this and that and he tied all the loose ends and then nothing \u2013 it all fell apart. What\u2019s that about?
\n\n\n\nWho\u2019s The Macher?
\n\n\n\nThe Chovos Halevavos in Shaar Habitachon says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu sometimes does that to you to teach you a lesson. You thought that you are the author of your fate, that you\u2019re in charge here. So although you made a certain arrangement, and you planned, and you hoped that it would turn out a certain way, Hakodosh Boruch Hu says \u201cI\u2019m going to do you a favor and teach you a very valuable lesson; the lesson that I am in charge, not you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo instead of being disappointed, you should say, \u201cI thank You, Hashem, for that. It\u2019s worth money, that lesson. I really should have to pay for that lesson. Because otherwise, I was thinking that I\u2019m the boss. I thought I was the whole macher here and now you reminded me that I\u2019m not the macher at all. You\u2019re the Macher, with a capital M.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re getting a valuable lesson \u2013 it\u2019s worth a lot of money \u2013 and Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not charging you for it, so be happy.
\n\n\n\nTake Advantage of Your Wife
\n\n\n\nAnother opportunity to learn to be humble: You know, husbands call me up on the phone sometimes and they tell me that their wives are always criticizing them, always putting them down. Now, I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s true \u2013 I imagine that if I would speak to her I would hear a different story altogether \u2013 but let\u2019s imagine it\u2019s true.
\n\n\n\nNow, the first thing to understand is that no matter what, a man has to learn to appreciate his wife. This is not the subject but a wise man understands that no matter what, his wife is a gift. She cooks for him. More or less she keeps the house clean. She gives him children. She raises the children and fulfills her duties in the house as a mother and wife. Together they\u2019re bringing up a family and therefore the wise man always appreciates the great benefits of having a wife despite the criticism.
\n\n\n\nBut even when a wife criticizes a husband, you should know that she is doing him a big favor. Outside the house, nobody tells him anything \u2013 it\u2019s uncomfortable. And after a while he begins to think, \u201cMaybe I really am great.\u201d So he comes home and right away his wife deflates him. She puts a pin in his balloon and it bursts. That\u2019s a tremendous achievement, a perfection that he won\u2019t acquire outside the home. It\u2019s a shleimus to be put down to size once in a while.
\n\n\n\nElkanah\u2019s Purpose
\n\n\n\nBut let\u2019s imagine now that somebody has no trouble. His wife is an angel, a malach min hashomayim who never says a mean word to him. Also he never gets sick and everything he plans, it works out. Nothing ever happens to humble him. Of course it\u2019s impossible, but let\u2019s imagine so for a minute. So what\u2019s he going to do? How does he humble himself in front of Hakodosh Boruch Hu? Listen to this eitzah because everyone should use it.
\n\n\n\nEveryone knows there was a man named Elkanah, the father of Shmuel Hanavi. Elkanah used to go three times a year to Shilo where the Mishkan was. And it explains there what his purpose was. Why did he go to Shilo? He went to bring offerings? Yes, he did that; absolutely you have to bring offerings when you go to the Sanctuary. He also had to speak to the sons of Eli. It’s important to consult with the Sages and therefore three times a year he went up to the central place of the Sages and he spoke to them and he got advice from them.
\n\n\n\nBut one of the most important purposes, the Navi says, was lehishtachavos laHashem, to bow down to Hashem. You hear that? That’s how important it is. He traveled to Shilo to bow down to Hashem, lehishtachavos.
\n\n\n\nNow listen to the word hishtachavos. In Hebrew you’ll understand it better from the word shach. Shach means low, and hishtachaveh is called reflexive hispael; it’s a form of grammar, \u201cto make yourself low.\u201d In lashon kodesh you don’t say bow \u2013 you say \u201cto make yourself low to Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nFor that alone it was worth going to the Sanctuary; it was worth making a big journey just to fall down on the ground on his face; to feel that he is low before Hashem.
\n\n\n\nTake Advantage of Prayer
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d you say, \u201cit’s superfluous. I don’t have to bow down. I know already that Hashem is bigger than I am.\u201d But that’s the human hypocrisy of self-deception; all people are subject to the great temptation of ani v\u2019afsi od, that there’s nobody in the universe but me, and unless you take the trouble to work on yourself and to recognize there’s Somebody bigger than you are, you\u2019re going to remain very arrogant.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s one of the most important functions in our prayers that most people ignore and overlook. You’re standing the amidah, you’re beginning saying shemoneh esrei, so you give a peremptory bow. The bow, you think, that\u2019s not important. It\u2019s just an introduction; the words you\u2019re about to say, \u201cBoruch atah Hashem\u201d that\u2019s what\u2019s important.
\n\n\n\nNo, you’re missing the whole point. The most important thing is the bowing down! The bowing down and acknowledging that there’s somebody higher than you, that\u2019s the most important part. So don’t be in a hurry. While you’re bowing, take your time and get the full benefit of that. It’s a law in the Gemara. You must bow down at the beginning of shemoneh esrei because that\u2019s the first lesson. Gaavah is the beginning of all sin, and therefore the first thing is to uproot that arrogance.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore bowing in Shemoneh Esrei, a few times in the beginning, and then by Modim too, is so valuable. It\u2019s so important to prepare beforehand and to make use of that. Because even though with your lips you may say words of pious hypocrisy, \u201cI bow down to You Hashem,\u201d but in your heart you\u2019re bowing down only to yourself. Man is so great that he doesn’t even back down even before Hashem. That’s human nature.
\n\n\n\nWorld of Understanding
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara says when a man is arrogant what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu say? He says ein ani vehu yecholim ladur beolam echad, this man and I cannot live together in one world. The universe is too small for both of us. He wants to crowd Me out of the world. If he could, he would swell himself up like a big balloon and fill up the whole space, the whole universe. That’s human nature because he’s so great, he’s endlessly great. And that’s why a man must work on himself to be humble to Hashem. It takes work, effort, to learn for a man to be humble towards Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when people will come to the Next World and they’ll realize what a benefit it was for them the sufferings they had in this world they\u2019ll be sorry they didn’t have more sufferings. They\u2019ll complain, \u201cWhy did other people get more opportunities than we did? Why did he have that cold that kept him laid up in bed for almost all winter and me, I was fine? Why did he have those bumps in life that humbled him into perfection, while for me everything was smooth sailing?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the wise person learns to make use of all the opportunities that Hashem plans for him. All of the difficulties, he understands that he\u2019s being \u201chit in the house of his friend \u2013 his Best Friend.\u201d And even when the sailing is smooth he never forgets his obligation to lower himself in front of Hashem. He always bows before Hashem and he\u2019s always thinking, \u201cAs great as I am, as tremendous my capabilities and potential are \u2013 actually just because of Gadlus Ha\u2019Adam \u2013 that\u2019s why I\u2019m always lowering myself in front of You.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nGaining Humility
\n\n\n\nNobody is looking for bumps on the highway of life; nobody is looking for sickness and troubles. But when Hashem does send difficulties \u2013 even minor inconveniences \u2013 I\u2019m going to take advantage of them. This week every time something goes wrong chas veshalom, I will bli neder stop for thirty seconds and remind myself about its purpose, to humble me.
\n\n\n\nAnd because we all hope that this week will be a perfect one with no bumps, I\u2019m going to make sure to take advantage of the first bow in shemonah esrei as a way of humbling myself before Hashem so that inconveniences and troubles are not necessary.
\nThe post Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T05:03:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-08T18:43:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35047, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-seitzei-5-perfection-of-humility/", "title": "Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Seitzei-5782The post Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T05:01:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-04T05:01:59+00:00" }, { "id": 35039, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-ki-seitzei-5-perfection-of-humility/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Seitzei-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Seitzei 5 – Perfection of Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T05:01:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-04T05:01:28+00:00" }, { "id": 35036, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%93-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%a8-%d7%97%d7%a8%d7%98%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d3: \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05e8, \u05d7\u05e8\u05d8\u05d4, \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-234The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d3: \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05e8, \u05d7\u05e8\u05d8\u05d4, \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T04:36:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-04T04:36:32+00:00" }, { "id": 35034, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/estudios-seculares/", "title": "Estudios seculares", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 usted se opone al estudio de temas seculares? \u00bfNo estudiaba el Ga\u00f3n de Vilna materias seculares, como matem\u00e1tica?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no habl\u00e9 sobre temas seculares en toda esta noche. No lo mencion\u00e9 en absoluto, as\u00ed que soy inocente.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, sobre la cuesti\u00f3n de los temas seculares, no hay duda de que el conocimiento de los temas seculares es \u00fatil. No hay duda de que es muy \u00fatil.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, el problema es de d\u00f3nde obtenerlo; eso es otra cosa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #60 (abril de 1974)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEstudiar matem\u00e1tica se considera bitul Tor\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEstudiar matem\u00e1ticas es bitul Tor\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nSi y no.
\n\n\n\nDepende. Si est\u00e1s estudiando matem\u00e1tica leshem sham\u00e1im para ser profesor de matem\u00e1tica, para poder mantener a tu familia, ya que tienes que pagar el sejar limud de tus hijos, adem\u00e1s de otros gastos, sin duda deber\u00edas estudiar matem\u00e1tica. En ese caso, seguro que no es bitul Tor\u00e1. Si est\u00e1s estudiando matem\u00e1tica para hacer los jeshbonot en mas\u00e9jet Eruv\u00edn, entonces no es bitul Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPero si est\u00e1s estudiando matem\u00e1tica s\u00f3lo por diversi\u00f3n, bueno, en ese caso la matem\u00e1tica no es educaci\u00f3n; es una p\u00e9rdida de tiempo.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, cuando la gente hace cosas, depende de cu\u00e1l es su motivaci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1995)
\nThe post Estudios seculares appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-04T04:29:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-04T04:29:01+00:00" }, { "id": 35023, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shiduj/", "title": "Shiduj ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer un muchacho que est\u00e1 saliendo con una chica que tiene dinero, linda apariencia y personalidad, pero la qu\u00edmica no anda, no le hace clic?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDeber\u00eda casarse con ella. Porque hay algo mal con el clic de \u00e9l. Cada hombre normal es capaz de enamorarse de una chica buena. Si un hombre normal no puede enamorarse de una chica buena, especialmente si tambi\u00e9n tiene dinero, entonces hay algo muy malo con \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nUna vez tuve un vecino de barrio, un rabino, donde yo viv\u00eda en un lugar determinado. Era un joven que viv\u00eda all\u00ed hasta que dej\u00f3 de ser joven. Y todav\u00eda no se hab\u00eda casado. Se mud\u00f3 a Brooklyn y ya estaba en en el final de sus cincuenta a\u00f1os. Me lo encontr\u00e9 una vez y le dije: “\u00bfNu?” y \u00e9l me contest\u00f3: “Es clicsts aj nisht” (no se me produce el clic de enamoramiento). Falleci\u00f3 soltero. Una tragedia. Hay algo mal con esos hombres. No con las chicas. La verdad es que puedes enamorarte de la mayor\u00eda de las chicas. Pon en tu mente que esa es la chica para ti, eso es todo. Hashem hizo que los hombres amen a las mujeres. A menos que algo no ande bien. Pero si es agradable y simp\u00e1tica, entonces algo est\u00e1 mal con \u00e9l; no hay duda al respecto. Y, por lo tanto, deber\u00eda cerrar los ojos y avanzar.
\n\n\n\nUna vez un Rosh Ieshiv\u00e1 me dijo esto: un shiduj es como una c\u00e1psula, el interior, el polvo, es amargo. Es por eso que le ponen una c\u00e1psula, para que no pruebes el polvo. Entonces, si tragas la c\u00e1psula, est\u00e1 bien. Pero si empiezas a masticar la c\u00e1psula, terminar\u00e1s escupi\u00e9ndola. As\u00ed tambi\u00e9n con el shiduj, si es bueno, tomas ese shiduj y no empiezas a probarlo demasiado. Si sales demasiadas veces para probar si es para ti, no es bueno.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #495 (marzo de 1984)
\nThe post Shiduj appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-02T02:36:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-02T02:36:07+00:00" }, { "id": 35018, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-importance-of-gehenim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Importance of Gehenim", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the definition of Gehenim? And how important is it in Judaism?
A:
First, Gehenim is two words: \u05d2\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05dd \u2013 it\u2019s the Valley of Hinam. Behind the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim there was a valley and in that valley they used to burn unwanted things. And so there was always a fire burning there. And so that place was taken as a mashal, as a name, for a different locale that you cannot see that\u2019s in the other world; in the World-to-Come is the real Gehenim.
Now this is a very important subject and it\u2019s a pity that it should be mentioned only in passing but we will just give it a minute or two.
Gehenim is one of the fundamentals, not only of Judaism but of humanity. Mankind once believed in Gehenim \u2013 even non-Jews \u2013 and that was one of the pillars of virtue. Very many people were afraid to do wicked things because of what would happen in the Hereafter. The Hereafter is one of the most necessary principles for society and it was the greatest tragedy when it was junked by the schools and by the public periodicals.
\n\n\n\nThere was a time, when I was a boy, that even newspapers still spoke of the Hereafter. It was once considered an axiom that there is a Hereafter; and I am afraid that today there are so-called Orthodox Jews who don\u2019t have any idea about the World-to-Come. And therefore it is important to establish that in our vocabulary, in our minds \u2013 there is a Gehenim! And Gehenim is one of the most important forces for righteousness.
\n\n\n\nNow, Gehenim is a prerequisite for Gan Eden. In order to enjoy the happiness of the World-to-Come, the soul must first be cleansed and the stains must be removed. Now, these stains sometimes could have been removed by repentance in this life; it\u2019s easier while you are still alive to remove these stains by repenting, by changing our ways and our attitudes and the ideals that we have. People have wrong ideas, wrong ideals, that could be changed in this world. However, if they don\u2019t change them and they pass on to the next world with the blemishes on their soul, then they must undergo Gehenim.
\n\n\n\nNow, there are two kinds of Gehenim. One is Gehenim that prepares for Gan Eden and \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d4\u05e0\u05dd \u05d9”\u05d1 \u05d7\u05d5\u05d3\u05e9. After twelve months, for some it\u2019s less, they are ready to go to the Next World. But you have to know they have undergone H-E-L-L. There is nothing as terrible in this world as Gehenim. I\u2019m talking about a temporary Gehenim; but still, it\u2019s more suffering, more travail, more pain than all the yesurim we can imagine in this world. But it\u2019s only a temporary state and it provides a benefit; afterwards the soul is already cleansed and is ready to go to the Next World to enjoy the happiness that was earned by whatever mitzvos it achieved.
\n\n\n\nHowever, there is another Gehenim. And this is what the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva calls \u05d4\u05e0\u05e7\u05de\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 – the great revenge. And that\u2019s the Gehenim for the real reshaim. There you will find the founders of the great religions \u2013 I don\u2019t want mention their names. You will find that Hitler is there next to Mohammad; of course I don\u2019t want to insult Mohammad by saying he is in the same department as Hitler, but each one of them is boiling merrily, there\u2019s no question about it. And it\u2019s forever and ever. Because Mohammad vented his hatred on the Jews in the Koran and for centuries Jews have suffered every kind of tribulation because of the Koran. The New Testament also; Jews have been murdered because of the New Testament. But Hitler, of course, he is the epitome and he is being given extra treatment in Gehenim.
\n\n\n\nAnd there, in Gehenim, we have to understand that there is a direct line by which tzadikim sit in Gan Eden and they view the punishment inflicted on the reshaim. And that is part of their happiness in the World-to-Come; in the World-to-Come tzadikim sit and they have the hanaah of the great pleasures of seeing the Shechina but that happiness is augmented by the fact that they view also the yesurei Gehenim that the reshaim are undergoing right now.
\n\n\n\nSo Gehenim is one of the fundamental principles and without Gehenim it is impossible to have society; civilization cannot exist. Because any criminal can do what he wants and then when justice catches up to him \u2013 let\u2019s say in the good old days when they used to give the electric chair, so before the electric chair, one of his confederates might slip him a perfumed poison pill and it will wafts him off to the Other World and he escaped punishment \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have to be afraid of anything. That\u2019s what the criminal might think.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it states in Pirkei Avos, \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05e1 \u05dc\u05da \u2013 Don\u2019t say that the grave is an asylum for you. The fun begins after you die! And that great terror is what kept many reshaim in line; it limited their wickedness.
\n\n\n\nAnd that is why it is impossible to have humanity, it is impossible to have civilization, without Gehenim. Because why shouldn\u2019t a scientist who is stranded on a desert island with an old man who has a chest of diamonds, why shouldn\u2019t the scientist kill the old man and take away the diamonds? Why shouldn\u2019t he? Is there anything in science that says no? Nothing says in science you shouldn\u2019t kill. Especially when you think the old man was once a frog, and by accident he turned into a man. So what is to prevent you from killing him? Would you desist from killing a frog who is sitting on a box of diamonds? You wouldn\u2019t think a moment about it. And so the scientist, why shouldn\u2019t he kill?
\n\n\n\nAnd they are killing. You see today they are killing babies, millions of babies every year. For money. They are scientists and for money they are making abortions. So you see, for money they are killing.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, but unborn babies are different,\u201d they\u2019ll say. All these things you have to know are just alibies \u2013 it is murder, plain and simple, for the sake of money.
\n\n\n\nAnd so therefore we need Gehenim because the time will come when scientists will kill old people; don\u2019t worry about that, it\u2019ll come. They did it in Germany. Don\u2019t think they weren\u2019t scientists. They were just as good scientists as the American scientists; maybe better.
\n\n\n\nThe German scientists under Hitler killed people, and they did it for the opportunity to experiment. In a certain book an author describes that a scientist needed a certain amount of fresh corpses; where could he get them? So he sent a message to the nearby concentration camp; he wants eighty fresh corpses. And then, right away they were shipped. They were turned into corpses and they were shipped for the scientists to write papers about. He experimented and wrote papers about that.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it is impossible to have civilization without belief in a Gehenim. And it is important for us to teach goyim about Gehenim. Goyim have to have a religion. And we don\u2019t care, even though their religion is full of errors but at least they have the principle that there is a Gehenim. And all the religions, all the real religions\u2014I am talking about the orthodox religions\u2014they all have an idea of Gehenim because it is fundamental. It\u2019s fundamental because everyone must know that it is impossible for people to be able to get away with any crime in this his life and then to laugh it off and then die painlessly.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Gehenim among Jews is certainly an important part of Torah. And as I said before, that phase of Gehenim that is a preparation for Olam Haboh is not inevitable. If a Jew prepares himself in this world, if he learns mussar, if learns yiras Shomayim, if he studies sefarim like we are studying tonight, this person can avoid to a big extent having to go through an intermediate stage and he can be a candidate for Gan Eden without any delay.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 408 (May 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Importance of Gehenim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-01T20:51:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-01T20:53:28+00:00" }, { "id": 35013, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-going-out-of-town-to-learn/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Going Out-of-Town To Learn", "content_html": "\nQ:
When should a boy be encouraged to go to an out-of-town yeshiva?
A:
\n\n\n\n\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d4\u05d0\u05d9 \u05de\u05ea\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d6\u05d9\u05dc \u05dc\u05de\u05ea\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05e0\u05d0 – If it\u2019s not good in this place, then you go someplace else.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose he\u2019s succeeding in a yeshiva right next to his house; if he\u2019s learning well, why should he look for someplace else?
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only if he needs for some reason to look for a different rebbe. Sometimes there\u2019s a very good rebbe in a certain yeshiva that can help him succeed. I want to tell you this \u2013 very good rebbes are infrequent. If you can find a very good baal masbir, he\u2019s a diamond! And it pays to go even to other continents to learn in his yeshiva.
\n\n\n\nBut the question is, is it so? You have to know that it\u2019s true. A good rebbe is a diamond. It\u2019s very hard to find excellent rebbes of the top caliber.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Going Out-of-Town To Learn appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-01T20:30:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-01T20:42:21+00:00" }, { "id": 35003, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/elul-en-america/", "title": "Elul en Am\u00e9rica ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 en Europa, en las ieshivot e incluso entre los balebatim, hab\u00eda una sensaci\u00f3n real de emat hadin, el miedo durante Elul por el juicio que se aproxima, mientras que aqu\u00ed en Am\u00e9rica no tenemos ese tipo de sentimiento? \u00bfNo somos frum como ellos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame explicarte algo. En los tiempos antiguos, y por antiguo, me refiero a hace cien a\u00f1os atr\u00e1s, cuando bendec\u00edan Rosh J\u00f3desh Elul, hab\u00eda un temblor, un tziternish. S\u00ed; tan pronto como mencionaban Elul hab\u00eda un tziternish. Y eso es porque en aquellos d\u00edas la gente viv\u00eda con emun\u00e1. Hoy en d\u00eda, aunque tengamos gente muy frum, hay que saber que estamos influenciados del apikorosut del mundo exterior. Mucha gente, jud\u00edos ortodoxos, jud\u00edos frum, son realmente apikorosim en su interior.
\n\n\n\nNuestras mentes est\u00e1n llenas del ambiente que entra de la calle y por eso cuesta mucho trabajo combatir esa influencia; realmente tienes que trabajar sobre eso. Hace cien a\u00f1os, no era as\u00ed. \u00bfTen\u00edan alg\u00fan contacto significativo con los go\u00edm? No, nada en absoluto. Hac\u00edan negocios con los go\u00edm. Compraban y vend\u00edan. Pero, \u00bfle\u00edan cosas goishes? Nunca.
\n\n\n\nPero aqu\u00ed estamos ante una guezer\u00e1. Nuestros ni\u00f1os en la escuela deben leer libros en ingl\u00e9s. Los libros en ingl\u00e9s, aunque no est\u00e9n llenos de apikorosut, siguen siendo libros goishes. Y los mejores libros goishes son una influencia da\u00f1ina. S\u00e9 de lo que estoy hablando. Los mejores libros goishes son una influencia da\u00f1ina. Se meten en la cabeza de nuestros hijos. Y en nuestras cabezas.
\n\n\n\nPor eso decimos: \u201cRibon\u00f3 Shel Olam, kabetzenu vehatzilenu min hago\u00edm \u2013 Hashem, por favor re\u00fanenos y lib\u00e9ranos de los go\u00edm\u201d. Queremos poder unirnos una vez m\u00e1s y vivir como se supone que deben vivir los jud\u00edos, sin ninguna influencia externa.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, \u00bfcu\u00e1l es la pregunta? Estamos muy lejos de c\u00f3mo sol\u00edan acercarse a Elul porque estamos muy lejos de la emun\u00e1. Como el Mashgu\u00edaj, Rav Ierujam, dijo una vez. Dijo esto hace unos ochenta a\u00f1os: \u201cNi siquiera podemos entender la grandeza de nuestras bisabuelas\u201d. No nuestros bisabuelos, \u00a1nuestras bisabuelas! Ten\u00edan tal irat sham\u00e1im que incluso el mismo Rav Ierujam no pod\u00eda comprenderlo. El mundo exterior hab\u00eda comenzado a filtrarse. Fue gradual, pero comenz\u00f3 a abrirse paso. Y as\u00ed fue como el mundo jud\u00edo comenz\u00f3 a deteriorarse.
\n\n\n\nY aunque hoy, Baruj Hashem, hay un gran movimiento de teshuv\u00e1, tambi\u00e9n tenemos que hacer un movimiento muy grande de teshuv\u00e1 penimit. Crear una mente pura de Tor\u00e1 requiere trabajo. \u00a1Se necesita un movimiento muy grande! Tenemos que trabajar muy duro para recuperar s\u00f3lo una parte de la actitud que alguna vez tuvieron nuestras bisabuelas y bisabuelos. La calle jud\u00eda estaba saturada de irat Hashem. No tienes idea, en absoluto, de c\u00f3mo era caminar por la calle jud\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-248 (septiembre de 2000)
\nThe post Elul en Am\u00e9rica appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-09-01T05:01:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-01T05:01:00+00:00" }, { "id": 35090, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-choftim/", "title": "Paracha Choftim", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Choftim-5782The post Paracha Choftim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-31T23:56:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-09-07T23:56:47+00:00" }, { "id": 34990, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-elul-in-slabodka/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Elul in Slabodka", "content_html": "\nQ:
Can the Rav give us an idea of what it was like in Slabodka during Elul?
A:
\n\n\n\nI\u2019d like to speak about it at length. But briefly, in Slabodka on Rosh Chodesh Elul they began saying a shmuz every day; instead of three times a week now it was every day. And we spoke constantly about the Yom Hadin.\u00a0 As Rosh Hashanah was approaching the air was saturated with gravity, a seriousness.\u00a0 They were serious. All of our thoughts were, \u201cWe’re approaching the Day of Judgment.\u201d\u00a0 The entire month was spent in preparation for Rosh Hashanah.\u00a0 All Elul.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nDo you understand what that means? When Rosh Hashanah finally came, it was a sight to see. I can’t forget the sight. We’re sitting there at nighttime. And the chazan said \u201cBorchu\u201d and a roar rose from the yeshivah people, raising the roof. \u201cBoruch Hashem hamevorach li\u2019olam va\u2019ed!\u201d Then they sat down quietly.
\n\n\n\nWhen they sat down it was quiet.\u00a0 And then all together they started the first bracha before kriyas shema, the word boruch. \u201cBoruch, oy yoy yoy oy yoy oy yoy.\u201d And they were weeping and shouting.\u00a0 Boruch means blessed, but you have to put all that you can into these words now.\u00a0 Boruch means, \u201cWe’re thanking You.\u00a0 We bless You.\u00a0 We love You Hashem.\u201d\u00a0 And then \u201cAtah \u2013 You! You! You!\u201d\u00a0 And so every word they said took a long time. And finally it quieted down.\u00a0 It quieted down, and the shatz said like this, \u201cBoruch atah Hashem hama’ariv aravim,\u201d and then there was an amen, a roar of an amen!\u00a0 It was an experience.\u00a0 You davened ma’ariv in the yeshivah on Rosh Hashanah, and you were a new person when you came out.\u00a0 No question about it.
\n\n\n\nAnd then aseres yemei teshuvah and then Yom Kippur, oh wah!\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nI remember motzaei Yom Kippur in the morning, the rosh yeshivah gave a little shmooze.\u00a0 Some boys were going home for Sukkos, and he said \u201cYou have built up a tower, an edifice of yiras shamayim, of daas, but be careful.\u00a0 You go home and sometimes, you can ruin it. Simchas Torah, other times, there’s leitzanus.\u00a0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e6\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05ea \u05d3\u05d5\u05d7\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 one leitzanus can overthrow a hundred edifices of daas. Even the great tower that you built up in yiras shamayim, one day of kalus rosh, lightheaded gaiety \u2013 like in some small synagogues they become a little wild on Simchas Torah \u2013 it throws everything down and you ruin that building.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you build up an edifice of yiras shamayim, see to it that it remains standing.\u00a0 Always keep your mind on it.\u00a0 You can always be cheerful.\u00a0 You don’t have to be sad; no, sadness is also the same as leitzanus.\u00a0 Sadness is leitzanus too. Atzvus is leitzanus too.\u00a0 But don’t be gay and don’t be wild.\u00a0 Don’t kibitz; don’t joke around.\u00a0 That building was erected with great effort.\u00a0 It took a whole month of shmuzen, mussar learning, yiras shamayim to raise that edifice. Just by listening to the davening we were changed; they all davened together.\u00a0 It was a tremendous sight to see them davening together. So whatever you built up, make sure that building remains until next year.\u00a0 Then you’ll add some more stories to that building again.
\n\n\n\nI wish I could speak to you at length about what it was like in the yeshiva during Elul.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-29
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Elul in Slabodka appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-31T17:52:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-31T17:52:55+00:00" }, { "id": 34984, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-right-one/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Right One", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one determine who the right one is when looking to marry?
A:
There\u2019s a certain saying. When you\u2019re getting married and you\u2019re looking for the right person it\u2019s more important that you should be the right person. Because there\u2019s no such thing as the right person.
Of course you should always inquire of her Bais Yaakov teachers. If they praise her enthusiastically, then deduct 80%. But still there\u2019s something there. If they praise her lukewarmly, then forget about her.
If she calls up the mashgiach of his yeshiva and he says, \u201cOh, that boy. He\u2019s a nice boy,\u201d so forget about it. If he\u2019s in raptures then maybe he\u2019s passable; you can think about marrying him.
\n\n\n\nCertainly you have to use common sense and look before you leap, but no matter how much you inquire, marriage is not going to be only a bed of roses. And therefore it\u2019ll only be the right one when you make yourself the right one. That\u2019s the truth.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 620 (December 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Right One appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-31T17:30:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-31T17:30:18+00:00" }, { "id": 34975, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-importancia-del-guehinam/", "title": "La importancia del Guehinam ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es la definici\u00f3n de Guehinam? \u00bfY qu\u00e9 importancia tiene en el juda\u00edsmo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPrimero, Guehinam son dos palabras: \u05d2\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05dd \u2013 es el Valle de Hinam. Detr\u00e1s del Bet Hamikdash en Ierushal\u00e1im hab\u00eda un valle y en ese valle sol\u00edan quemar las cosas que no les serv\u00edan. Y por eso siempre hab\u00eda un fuego ardiendo all\u00ed. Y entonces, ese lugar se tom\u00f3 como un mashal para un lugar diferente que no puedes ver que est\u00e1 en el otro mundo; en el Mundo Venidero est\u00e1 el verdadero Guehinam.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este es un tema muy importante y es una pena que s\u00f3lo se mencione de pasada, pero le daremos un minuto o dos.
\n\n\n\nGuehinam es uno de los fundamentos, no s\u00f3lo del juda\u00edsmo sino de la humanidad. La humanidad una vez cre\u00eda en Guehinam, incluso los no jud\u00edos, y ese era uno de los pilares de la virtud. Muchas personas ten\u00edan miedo de hacer cosas malas por lo que suceder\u00eda en el M\u00e1s All\u00e1. El M\u00e1s All\u00e1 es uno de los principios m\u00e1s necesarios para la sociedad y fue la mayor tragedia cuando fue desechado por las escuelas y los peri\u00f3dicos p\u00fablicos.
\n\n\n\nHubo un tiempo, cuando yo era un ni\u00f1o, que incluso los peri\u00f3dicos todav\u00eda hablaban del M\u00e1s All\u00e1. Una vez se consideraba un axioma que existe un M\u00e1s All\u00e1; y me temo que hoy en d\u00eda existen jud\u00edos que son llamados ortodoxos que no tienen ninguna idea sobre el Mundo Venidero. Y por lo tanto, es importante establecer que en nuestro vocabulario, en nuestras mentes, \u00a1hay un Guehinam! Y Guehinam es una de las fuerzas m\u00e1s importantes para la justicia.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, Guehinam es un requisito previo para el Gan Eden. Para disfrutar de la felicidad del Mundo Venidero, primero se debe limpiar el alma y quitar las manchas. Ahora bien, esas manchas, a veces podr\u00edan haber sido eliminadas por el arrepentimiento en esta vida; es m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil mientras est\u00e1s vivo quitar esas manchas arrepinti\u00e9ndote, cambiando nuestras formas y nuestras actitudes y los ideales que tenemos. La gente tiene ideas equivocadas, ideales equivocados, que podr\u00edan cambiarse en este mundo. Sin embargo, si no los cambian y pasan al otro mundo con las imperfecciones en su alma, entonces deben pasar por el Guehinam.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, hay dos clases de Guehinam. Uno es el Guehinam que te prepara para el Gan Eden y \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d4\u05e0\u05dd \u05d9”\u05d1 \u05d7\u05d5\u05d3\u05e9. Despu\u00e9s de doce meses, para algunos es menos, est\u00e1n listos para ir al Pr\u00f3ximo Mundo. Pero debes saber que han pasado por el infierno. No hay nada m\u00e1s terrible en el mundo como el Guehinam. Estoy hablando de un Guehinam temporal; pero a\u00fan as\u00ed, es m\u00e1s sufrimiento, m\u00e1s trabajo, m\u00e1s dolor que todos los isurim que podemos imaginar en este mundo. Pero es s\u00f3lo un estado temporal y proporciona un beneficio; luego el alma ya est\u00e1 limpia y lista para ir al Pr\u00f3ximo Mundo a disfrutar de la felicidad que se gan\u00f3 por las mitzvot que logr\u00f3.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, hay otro Guehinam. Y es lo que escribi\u00f3 el Rambam en Hiljot Teshuv\u00e1, la llamada \u05d4\u05e0\u05e7\u05de\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 – la gran venganza. Y es el Guehinam para los verdaderos resha\u00edm. All\u00ed encontrar\u00e1s a los fundadores de las grandes religiones; no quiero mencionar sus nombres. Encontrar\u00e1s que Hitler est\u00e1 all\u00ed junto a Mahoma; por supuesto que no quiero insultar a Mahoma diciendo que est\u00e1 en el mismo departamento que Hitler, pero cada uno de ellos est\u00e1 siendo hervido, no hay duda al respecto. Y es por los siglos de los siglos. Porque Mahoma descarg\u00f3 su odio contra los jud\u00edos en el Cor\u00e1n y durante siglos los jud\u00edos han sufrido todo tipo de tribulaciones a causa del Cor\u00e1n. El Nuevo Testamento tambi\u00e9n; los jud\u00edos han sido asesinados a causa del Nuevo Testamento. Pero Hitler, por supuesto, es el ep\u00edtome y se le est\u00e1 dando un trato extra en el Guehinam.
\n\n\n\nY ah\u00ed, en el Guehinam, tenemos que entender, que hay una l\u00ednea directa por la cual los tzadikim se sientan en el Gan Eden y ven el castigo infligido a los resha\u00edm. Y eso es parte de su felicidad en el Mundo Venidero; en el Mundo Venidero, los tzadikim se sientan y tienen la hana\u00e1, el gran placer de ver la Shejin\u00e1, pero esa felicidad se ve aumentada por el hecho de que tambi\u00e9n ven los isur\u00e9 Guehinam que los resha\u00edm est\u00e1n experimentando en este momento.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, el Guehinam es uno de los principios fundamentales y sin Guehinam es imposible tener sociedad; la civilizaci\u00f3n no puede existir. Porque cualquier criminal puede hacer lo que quiera y luego, cuando la justicia lo alcance – digamos en los viejos tiempos cuando sol\u00edan dar la silla el\u00e9ctrica – uno de sus c\u00f3mplices podr\u00eda darle una p\u00edldora de veneno que lo llevar\u00e1 al Otro Mundo y entonces se escap\u00f3 del castigo, no tiene que tener miedo de nada. Eso es lo que el criminal podr\u00eda pensar.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto dice en Pirk\u00e9 Avot, \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d4\u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05e1 \u05dc\u05da \u2013 No digas que la tumba es un asilo para ti. \u00a1Lo realmente duro comienza despu\u00e9s de tu muerte! Y ese gran terror es lo que mantuvo a raya a muchos resha\u00edm; limit\u00f3 su maldad.
\n\n\n\nY por eso es imposible tener humanidad, es imposible tener civilizaci\u00f3n, sin Guehinam. Porque \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no deber\u00eda un cient\u00edfico que est\u00e1 varado en una isla desierta con un anciano que tiene un cofre de diamantes, por qu\u00e9 el cient\u00edfico no deber\u00eda matar al anciano y llevarse los diamantes? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no lo har\u00eda? \u00bfHay algo en la ciencia que diga que no? Nada dice en la ciencia que no debes matar. Especialmente cuando piensas que el anciano fue una vez una rana, y por accidente se convirti\u00f3 en un hombre. Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 te impide matarlo? \u00bfDesistir\u00edas de matar a una rana que est\u00e1 sentada sobre una caja de diamantes? No lo pensar\u00edas ni un momento. Y entonces el cient\u00edfico, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no deber\u00eda matar?
\n\n\n\nY est\u00e1n matando. Ves hoy que est\u00e1n matando beb\u00e9s, millones de beb\u00e9s cada a\u00f1o. Por dinero. Son cient\u00edficos y por dinero est\u00e1n haciendo abortos. As\u00ed que ya ves, por dinero est\u00e1n matando.
\n\n\n\n“Oh, pero los beb\u00e9s por nacer son diferentes”, dir\u00e1n. Todos esos argumentos tienes que saber son s\u00f3lo coartadas: es un asesinato, simple y llanamente, por dinero.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, necesitamos el Guehinam porque llegar\u00e1 el momento en que los cient\u00edficos matar\u00e1n a los ancianos; no dudes de eso, ya llegar\u00e1. Lo hicieron en Alemania. No creas que no eran cient\u00edficos. Eran tan buenos cient\u00edficos como los cient\u00edficos estadounidenses; quiz\u00e1s mejor.
\n\n\n\nLos cient\u00edficos alemanes bajo Hitler mataron gente, y lo hicieron para experimentar. En un cierto libro un autor describe que un cient\u00edfico necesitaba cierta cantidad de cad\u00e1veres frescos; \u00bfd\u00f3nde podr\u00eda conseguirlos? As\u00ed que envi\u00f3 un mensaje al campo de concentraci\u00f3n cercano: quiero ochenta cad\u00e1veres frescos. Y de inmediato fueron enviados. Se convirtieron en cad\u00e1veres y se enviaron para que los cient\u00edficos escribieran art\u00edculos sobre ellos. Experiment\u00f3 y escribi\u00f3 art\u00edculos sobre eso.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, es imposible tener civilizaci\u00f3n sin creer en un Guehinam. Y es importante que ense\u00f1emos a los go\u00edm acerca del Guehinam. Los go\u00edm tienen que tener una religi\u00f3n. Y no importa, aunque su religi\u00f3n est\u00e9 llena de errores, pero al menos tienen el principio de que hay un Guehinam. Y todas las religiones, todas las religiones reales, estoy hablando de las religiones ortodoxas, todas tienen una idea de Guehinam porque es fundamental. Es fundamental porque todos deben saber que es imposible que las personas puedan salirse con la suya con cualquier crimen en esta vida y luego re\u00edrse y luego morir sin dolor.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, el Guehinam entre los jud\u00edos es ciertamente una parte importante de la Tor\u00e1. Y como dije antes, esa fase del Guehinam como preparaci\u00f3n para el Olam Hab\u00e1 no es inevitable. Si un jud\u00edo se prepara en este mundo, si estudia musar, si aprende irat sham\u00e1im, si estudia sefarim como estamos estudiando esta noche, esa persona puede evitar en gran medida tener que pasar por una etapa intermedia y puede ser candidato directo al Gan Eden.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #408 (mayo de 1982)
\nThe post La importancia del Guehinam appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-30T17:51:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-30T17:51:54+00:00" }, { "id": 34963, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-29T16:34:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-29T16:34:41+00:00" }, { "id": 34961, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ir-a-otra-ciudad-para-estudiar/", "title": "Ir a otra ciudad para estudiar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1ndo se debe incentivar a un muchacho a ir a una ieshiv\u00e1 fuera de la ciudad?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d4\u05d0\u05d9 \u05de\u05ea\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d6\u05d9\u05dc \u05dc\u05de\u05ea\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05e0\u05d0 – Si no te va bien en este lugar, entonces ve a otro lugar.
\n\n\n\nPero supongamos que est\u00e1 teniendo \u00e9xito en la ieshiv\u00e1 que est\u00e1 justo al lado de su casa; si est\u00e1 estudiando bien, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 deber\u00eda buscar otro lugar?
\n\n\n\nEs s\u00f3lo si necesita por alguna raz\u00f3n buscar un Rav diferente. A veces hay un Rav muy bueno en cierta ieshiv\u00e1 que puede ayudarlo a tener \u00e9xito. Quiero decirte esto: los maguid\u00e9 shiur muy buenos son poco frecuentes. Si puedes encontrar un muy buen baal masbir, \u00a1es un diamante! Y vale la pena ir incluso a otros continentes para estudiar en su ieshiv\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nPero la pregunta es, \u00bfes as\u00ed? Tienes que saber que es verdad. Un buen maestro es un diamante. Es muy dif\u00edcil encontrar excelentes maestros de alto calibre.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1999)
\nThe post Ir a otra ciudad para estudiar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-29T14:48:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-29T14:48:37+00:00" }, { "id": 34959, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/elul-en-slabodka/", "title": "Elul en Slabodka", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfRav, puede darnos una idea de c\u00f3mo era Slabodka durante Elul?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nMe gustar\u00eda hablar de eso extensamente pero ser\u00e9 breve. En Slabodka en Rosh J\u00f3desh Elul comenzaban a decir un shmus todos los d\u00edas; en lugar de tres veces a la semana ahora era todos los d\u00edas. Y habl\u00e1bamos constantemente sobre el Iom HaD\u00edn. A medida que Rosh Hashan\u00e1 se acercaba, el aire se llenaba de gravedad, de seriedad. Estaban serios. Todos nuestros pensamientos eran: \u201cNos acercamos al D\u00eda del Juicio\u201d. Todo el mes se dedicaba a la preparaci\u00f3n para Rosh Hashan\u00e1. Todo Elul.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEntiendes lo que eso significa? Cuando finalmente llegaba Rosh Hashan\u00e1, era un espect\u00e1culo digno de ver. No puedo olvidar esa vivencia. Est\u00e1bamos sentados all\u00ed en la noche. Y el jaz\u00e1n dec\u00eda “Borju” y un rugido se elevaba de la gente de la ieshiv\u00e1, y parec\u00eda como si se levantaba el techo. \u201cBoruj Hashem hamevoraj leolam vaed!\u201d Luego se sentaban en silencio.
\n\n\n\nCuando se sentaban todo estaba en silencio. Y luego todos juntos comenzaban la primera beraj\u00e1 antes de keriat shem\u00e1, la palabra boruj. “Boruj, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy”. Y lloraban y gritaban. Boruj significa bendito, pero tienes que poner todo lo que puedas en estas palabras. Boruj significa, \u201cTe estamos agradeciendo. Te bendecimos. Te amamos Hashem\u201d. Y luego \u201cAt\u00e1 \u2013 \u00a1T\u00fa! \u00a1T\u00fa! \u00a1T\u00fa!” Y as\u00ed, cada palabra que dec\u00edan tomaba mucho tiempo. Y finalmente se calmaban. Se calmaban, y el jaz\u00e1n dec\u00eda as\u00ed: \u201cBoruj at\u00e1 Hashem hamaariv aravim\u201d, y luego hubo un am\u00e9n, \u00a1un rugido de am\u00e9n! Era una experiencia. Rezabas maariv en la ieshiv\u00e1 en Rosh Hashan\u00e1, y eras una persona nueva cuando sal\u00edas. No hay duda al respecto.
\n\n\n\nY luego As\u00e9ret iem\u00e9 teshuv\u00e1 y luego Iom Kipur, \u00a1oh!
\n\n\n\nRecuerdo motza\u00e9 Iom Kipur en la ma\u00f1ana, el rosh ieshiv\u00e1 daba un peque\u00f1o shmus. Unos muchachos se dirig\u00edan a casa para Sucot, y \u00e9l dijo: \u201cHab\u00e9is construido una torre, un edificio de irat sham\u00e1im, de d\u00e1at, pero tened cuidado. Van a casa y, a veces, pueden arruinarlo. En Simjat Tor\u00e1 u otros momentos, hay letzanut. \u05dc\u05d9\u05e6\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05ea \u05d3\u05d5\u05d7\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 un letzanut puede derribar cien edificios de d\u00e1at. Incluso la gran torre que construyeron de irat sham\u00e1im, un d\u00eda de kalut rosh, de chistes y payasadas – como en algunas sinagogas peque\u00f1as que se vuelven un poco salvajes en Simjat Tor\u00e1 – derriba todo y arruina ese edificio\u201d.
\n\n\n\nY entonces, cuando construyas un edificio de irat sham\u00e1im, aseg\u00farate de que permanezca en pie. Siempre mant\u00e9n tu mente en ello. Siempre puedes estar alegre. No tienes que estar triste; no, la tristeza es lo mismo que letzanut. La tristeza tambi\u00e9n es letzanut. Atzvut es tambi\u00e9n letzanut. Pero no seas salvaje y no bromees. Ese edificio fue erigido con gran esfuerzo. Tom\u00f3 un mes completo de shmus, estudio de musar, irat sham\u00e1im para levantar ese edificio. Con s\u00f3lo escuchar el rezo cambiamos; todos rezaban juntos. Fue un espect\u00e1culo tremendo verlos rezar juntos.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, sea lo que sea que construyas, aseg\u00farate de que ese edificio permanezca hasta el pr\u00f3ximo a\u00f1o. Luego agregar\u00e1s algunas historias m\u00e1s a ese edificio.
\n\n\n\nDesear\u00eda poder hablarles m\u00e1s extensamente sobre c\u00f3mo era la ieshiv\u00e1 durante Elul.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-29
\nThe post Elul en Slabodka appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-29T02:22:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-29T02:22:35+00:00" }, { "id": 34953, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T05:10:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-30T03:11:17+00:00" }, { "id": 34939, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shoftim-5-joining-in-2/", "title": "Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In", "content_html": "Two Or Three?
\n\n\n\nIn Parshas Shoftim we learn one of the cardinal principles of procedure in a Jewish courtroom; that if you want to accuse someone of a crime you need two witnesses.
\n\n\n\n\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u2026 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2026 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 A single witness shall not stand up to testify against a man for any iniquity or for any error … by the testimony of two witnesses the matter should be confirmed (Shoftim 19:15).
\n\n\n\nNow the mishnah (Makkos 5b)asks a kasha on this possuk. Because I left out some words when I quoted it to you; what the possuk actually says is, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 \u201cby the testimony of two witnesses or by the testimony of three witnesses the matter should be confirmed\u201d. And those extra words sound superfluous to our ears \u2014 not only superfluous, but they seem to be misleading.
\n\n\n\nIf you learned even a little bit of Gemara so you know that \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4, \u2014 two is like a hundred. If two witnesses testify to something, then that something has been established. There\u2019s no need for a third \u2014 even if another ninety eight would have testified, it would make no difference. It\u2019s two that seals the deal.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the mishnah asks: What\u2019s the purpose of these extra words \u201cor by the testimony of three witnesses\u201d? Space in the Torah is precious real estate \u2013 there must be something important there.
\n\n\n\nA Serious Decision
\n\n\n\nAnd so Chazal tell us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is teaching us a valuable lesson here \u2013 that the third witness is actually just as important as the first two witnesses. It\u2019s true, you didn\u2019t need him to \u201cestablish the matter\u201d; the first two were already on the way to the beis din, and they were just fine without him. But he tagged along anyhow; he joined them at the last second, and once you join in with the first two fellows, you\u2019re already one of them.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s no monkey business, that decision to join in. Because suppose all three witnesses were found to be zomemim. Zomemim means that two other witnesses came and said, \u201cHow can you say you saw this crime being done? You three witnesses were with us in a different place at that time! You\u2019re testifying that you saw Reuven commit murder in Brooklyn on Tuesday, but at that same time you were with us in Eretz Yisroel!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Torah says, \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d6\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05dd \u2013 you have to do to the three witnesses what they wanted to do to the person they falsely accused. They were trying to kill Reuven, who is an innocent man, so the beis din puts them to death in retribution.
\n\n\n\nNow the third man could speak up, he could say, \u201cWhat are you punishing me for? The testimony of the first two would have put Reuven to death. I\u2019m going to be put to death just for tagging along?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the mishnah says, yes, it\u2019s true he didn\u2019t do much; he was superfluous. But the Torah wants us to know that in the Eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu he did it all. That\u2019s why the Torah says \u201cby the word of two witnesses or by the word of three\u201d; because the third one is blamed also.
\n\n\n\nJoining the Yankees
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a lesson of tremendous proportions! \u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 if somebody chimes in for something wrong \u2014 even though the wrong thing would have been done without him \u2014 just for the chiming in, for identifying with those who are doing an aveirah, he is held guilty.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s take one example, something a little closer to home than the beis din. Here\u2019s a yeshivah bochur \u2013 not only a yeshivah bochur; any frum Jew \u2013 and he goes out to the baseball stadium, to Yankee Stadium. Now, it\u2019s certainly wrong to go there. For many reasons; first of all it\u2019s plain stupid. Even if there\u2019s nothing wrong in a game, but it\u2019s stupid, it\u2019s meaningless. Who cares who wins?
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t it foolish to be enthusiastic as people are playing baseball or basketball or soccer, whatever it is? If you could get on the field yourself and kick the ball around, at least you get exercise. But all you\u2019re doing is sitting on a hard chair and getting hemorrhoids \u2013 if not hemorrhoids you\u2019re getting fat. And they\u2019re getting money from you too! You\u2019re paying good money for that! It means you\u2019ve been victimized; a hold-up.
\n\n\n\nThe Wicked Sports Fans
\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m not even talking about that now. Because some people will make excuses. They\u2019ll say they enjoy it; what\u2019s so bad? So let\u2019s leave the foolishness on the side for now and talk about nitpal l\u2019ovrei aveirah. Who\u2019s going to the game after all? Are the roshei yeshivah there? Is Rav Ahron Kotler there? Does the Rav of your shul go there? If he does, it\u2019s time for a new Rav.
\n\n\n\nWho\u2019s there? You have a lot of Italians there. Irish too. Other nationalities. Tens of thousands of gentiles! And what are they doing there? They\u2019re going meshugeh about someone hitting a ball with a wooden stick. They\u2019re drinking beer. They\u2019re using foul language. They\u2019re fighting. There are always fistfights in the stadium. Sometimes they pull knives too. And here is Chaim, a good frum boy, and he\u2019s joining along with them!
\n\n\n\nNow, I wouldn\u2019t suspect Chaim of doing anything like the gentiles are doing there; chas v\u2019shalom. But he joined them! He was nitpal l\u2019ovrei aveirah. He\u2019s joining the herd that\u2019s being led to the slaughter.
\n\n\n\nJoining For Reward
\n\n\n\nNow, I bring that only as a mashal for our subject. There are many other examples I\u2019m thinking about, but tonight we won\u2019t speak about aveiros. I don\u2019t want to make any enemies with Rosh Hashanahright around the corner. So we\u2019ll talk about a happier topic, the subject of doing mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nBecause along comes Rabbi Akiva in that mishnah and he says like this: \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 If this is how the Torah punishes someone who is merely an accomplice; all he didwas join the sinners and now he is subject to the full penalty imposed on the first two witnesses, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 so all the more so if you join people doing a mitzvah. Even though they don\u2019t need you, even though you\u2019re not important, you\u2019ll be rewarded just like the ones who initiated the mitzvah, the ones actually carrying it out. \u201cIf you join in,\u201d says Rabbi Akiva, \u201chow great will be your reward.\u201d
\n\n\n\nShlep That Couch!
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, you\u2019re walking down the street and you see a few Jews doing a mitzvah \u2014 they\u2019re carrying a couch, let\u2019s say, to an almanah with a house full of little children. Somebody donated a couch for this poor woman and they\u2019re bringing it up to her apartment.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be that they don\u2019t need your help at all \u2014 they\u2019re not struggling; they\u2019re not sweating. But you see an empty corner and so you join in, you put your shoulder underneath the couch. It\u2019s not necessary; they\u2019re carrying it anyhow. But you show that you want to join them, that you sympathize with them.
\n\n\n\nJust that \u2014 your wanting to help out and going out of your way to assist them \u2014 that\u2019s called \u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4; you\u2019re joining them and you get reward together with them. Not just together with them, you\u2019re rewarded as if you did the whole thing! It\u2019s considered as if you went to the store to pay for the couch and carried it up to this almanah\u2019s living room.
\n\n\n\nYou ARE Interested
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s remarkable! It\u2019s a tremendous idea you\u2019re hearing now \u2014 merely joining in makes you a full partner! If you\u2019ll join in, if you\u2019ll just take hold of the end and participate in order to demonstrate that you\u2019re with these good people, that\u2019s already a very great achievement for you.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say the Ponovezher yeshivah is making a banquet to raise money. They need money to support all those boys learning there. Now, it could be that you\u2019re not able to support a big yeshivah. It costs a tremendous amount and money doesn\u2019t grow on trees. And besides, you\u2019re raising your own yeshivah and beis yaakov in your own house.
\n\n\n\nBut imagine that they\u2019re coming to you now \u2013 \u201cMister so and so, maybe you\u2019ll buy the Beis Hamedrashin your name or your father\u2019s name. It only costs 100,000 dollars. If that\u2019s too much maybe you\u2019ll buy a room in the yeshivah for 70,000 dollars.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you look at them like they\u2019re nuts. \u201cMe?! I’m not so rich! I\u2019m not even interested to think about the whole thing!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOooooh! Not interested?! That\u2019s a tragedy! Of course you\u2019re interested! Now, it could be you\u2019re not interested in the way the Ponovhezer yeshivah wants but you\u2019re interested anyhow because there will be tremendous reward for the one who joins in; k\u2019osei mitzvah \u2014 like the one who did the mitzvah. The one who gives five dollars to the yeshivah has joined in with the one who gave the hundred thousand dollars!
\n\n\n\nThe Tzadik\u2019s Loan
\n\n\n\nBy wanting to join in, and by acting on your intentions, even if it\u2019s only a tiny fraction of the mitzvah, you demonstrate where your heart is. That\u2019s one of our most important functions in this world: to develop an appreciation \u2014 I say \u2018appreciation\u2019, I should say \u2018desire\u2019 \u2014 for the important things of this world. It\u2019s not only what you did; it\u2019s your wanting to join.
\n\n\n\nI always tell the same story. Reb Simcha Zissel, the Alter of Kelm, was a man with very little money. But he had a brother, Reb Leib, who was a businessman. So he once wrote a letter to Reb Leib and asked him to lend him some money. That was a chiddush \u2014 Reb Simcha Zissel should borrow money?! What for?
\n\n\n\nSo he said, \u201cI want to give tzedakah but I don\u2019t have any money; and I\u2019m getting accustomed to the idea that I don\u2019t have to take part in this great avodas Hashem of the Am Yisroel.\u201d And so he borrowed a little bit of money so that he could be \u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4.
\n\n\n\nJoin the Great Endeavors
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why when you get letters in the mail; all types of tzedakah requests \u2014 yeshivos, kollelim, cholim \u2014 so many organizations \u2014 so you shouldn\u2019t just throw them into the trash. You should want to join in! Now, will your dollar, your five dollars, make a difference? Maybe yes, maybe no, but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about now. Whether they need your five dollars is not the question \u2014 even if they don\u2019t need you, you need them.
\n\n\n\nWhen you send in five dollars to Ponovezh yeshivah so you\u2019re already nitpal to Rav Shach. You\u2019re a part of the Ponovezh yeshivah in Eretz Yisroel. You send money to Lakewood and you\u2019re joining in with Rav Ahron Kotler zichrono l\u2019vracha. Now, Rav Ahron Kotler lived very poorly. I once walked into the house of Rav Ahron and I saw it was a poor house, a very poor house. And because of that Rav Ahron rose up in my eyes very much \u2014 I saw that he didn\u2019t take money from the yeshivah and spend it on expensive things. The money was all for feeding the Torah learners and for building a Torah community. And your few dollars means that you\u2019re building the same yeshivah that Rav Ahron built \u2014 you\u2019re nitpal to that great tzadik.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the great principle of \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4. If you join people doing a mitzvah \u2013 even though they don\u2019t need you, even though you\u2019re not important \u2013 you\u2019ll be rewarded just like the ones actually carrying it out.
\n\n\n\nFueled by Alcohol
\n\n\n\nNow this is such an important principle, such a valuable lesson, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu didn\u2019t wait until Parshas Shoftim to teach it to us; it was taught to us way back in the beginning of the history of the world. An episode took place in the span of only a minute or two and yet it caused a tremendous change in the course of the history of nations. So let\u2019s study that story for a few minutes in order to make this idea more convincing.
\n\n\n\nEveryone remembers what happened with Noach and his children when they finally exited the teivah. After being saved from the mabul, Noach understood that it was appropriate to give thanksgiving to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And so he did it over a little mashkeh. That\u2019s the way to do it. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 When you say praise to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, you do it by means of drinking wine (Brachos 35a). We drink a little bit to give some fuel to the gratitude, so that you\u2019ll open your heart and open your mouth a little wider and sing to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we make kiddush over a cup of wine. At a wedding, under the chuppah, we drink wine. At all important occasions, at a bris too, you make a borei pri hagofen; in order to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu, we utilize wine. And so Noach drank wine as a means of igniting his gratitude to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nA Family Gathering
\n\n\n\nNow it could very well be that he didn\u2019t sit down by himself; maybe he had his family with him. But there\u2019s no question that Noach was the most enthusiastic of all and therefore he imbibed a bigger measure; more than was necessary to be yotzei the mitzvah. And so, because of his wine he fell asleep.
\n\n\n\nNow, the exact circumstances of what happened next are not told to us, but here\u2019s what\u2019s related. Noach lied down under his blanket to sleep but because he had been inebriated, so maybe he thrashed around a little bit and he became uncovered. Whatever happened exactly it was all orchestrated by Hashem to test the future of mankind \u2014 to guide the course of the world that was being created again after the mabul.
\n\n\n\nCham\u2019s Impulse
\n\n\n\nNow, Noach had three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yefes. Cham was the kind of man who was curious to see things. He was always looking where he wasn\u2019t supposed to look. And so he opened up the bedroom door and saw his father uncovered. Now that was a big mistake. He shouldn\u2019t have done it; it was none of his business.
\n\n\n\nBut then Cham made his second mistake. He acted on impulse. The name Cham means a man of a fiery disposition, a man of passions, of impulses. And the first impulse he had was to tell his brothers what he saw. Why tell them? You\u2019re spreading news of your father\u2019s embarrassment. But that was Cham, and what he did changed the course of his descendants forever.
\n\n\n\nThere are a lot of lessons to be learned from Cham but we\u2019ll leave Cham on the side for now and we\u2019ll study his two brothers.
\n\n\n\nSheim\u2019s Initiative
\n\n\n\nWhat does the Torah tell us about what Sheim and Yefes did when Cham came to them and opened his big mouth? \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b8\u05d9\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Sheim and Yefes took hold of a blanket and they went in to cover up their father (Bereishis 9:23). But we have to pay close attention to the first word in that possuk: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 is written in the singular and that\u2019s the wrong word \u2013 it should say \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc, plural, they took. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 means he took it.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd, Sheim picked up the blanket \u2014 that\u2019s the way to read the possuk. Who took it? Sheim. That\u2019s it. Sheim picked it up by himself and was walking with a blanket to cover up his father. And he didn\u2019t need his brother. How much does a blanket weigh already? It\u2019s not a couch after all!
\n\n\n\nWhat happened next? \u05d5\u05b8\u05d9\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 and Yefes! Yefes saw Sheim doing the mitzvah and he said, \u201cMe too!\u201d And he grabbed on to the end of the blanket. That\u2019s why it says \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7, singular; because Sheim is the one who took it. Only that Yefes saw what was going on and he grabbed the corner \u2014 he joined in to do a good thing.
\n\n\n\nSheim\u2019s Reward
\n\n\n\nNow, what happened at that moment was an earth-shattering event; at that moment Sheim and Yefes changed the fate of their descendants forever. Because later when Noach discovered what had happened, he said the following prophecy. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05df \u2013 Where will Hashem dwell? \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b3\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 only in the tents of Sheim. The generosity of the soul of Sheim came forth at that moment and that\u2019s why he was zocheh forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nThe Am Yisroel wouldcome forth from Sheim and when they made the Mishkan, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc. Hashem put His residence only in Sheim \u2014 nowhere else. The die was cast; nothing will help. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b3\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Forever and ever Hashem dwells among the seed of Sheim, on the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nA Reward for the Tag-along
\n\n\n\nAnd what about Yefes? What did he get for tagging along? About Yefes, Noach foretold the following: \u05d9\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 \u201cHashem will give wide dominion to Yefes.\u201d Yaft is from the word paso, \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b9\u05d4, which means to open up wide, like a pesach, a doorway.
\n\n\n\nBecause Yefes joined in to take part in a good thing, Noach said, \u201cYou\u2019ll be blessed with great power that will spread to the ends of the earth.\u201d From Yefes came Persia who ruled the whole world at one time; Greece too ruled the world at one time. Yefes was Rome and all the nations of Europe that conquered all the continents. If you want to know why the white race has covered the face of the earth; if you want to know why civilization \u2014 literature, culture, dominion \u2014 has been only in the hands of the Caucasian races, then you don\u2019t have to look any further than this word, Va\u2019Yefes \u2013 And Yefes also grabbed onto the blanket.
\n\n\n\nNow he didn\u2019t do anything; Sheim didn\u2019t need him. But that didn\u2019t matter to Yefes; when he saw something worthwhile being done, he said, \u201cMe too.\u201d And because of that, history was changed. Because of that little bit \u2013 at least that\u2019s what it seems like to us \u2013 Yefes blessed himself and his children for many generations.
\n\n\n\nMake America Small Again
\n\n\n\nYou know, we are accustomed to measure everything by weight and by size. That\u2019s why in America there are the three sizes that anything comes in \u2014 colossal, jumbo or giant; they don\u2019t make anything else. When you actually buy it, it fits on a thimble, but that\u2019s a different story. The most important thing is that it\u2019s the bigness that is advertised. That\u2019s what matters. And so, unfortunately most people think that good deeds have to come in big sizes; and therefore when we hear about small opportunities for greatness, we tend to disregard them. Tagging along? That\u2019s nothing, we think. Actually it\u2019s everything.
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that people think this is exaggerated talk but I have to tell you that such an attitude is just leitzanus. That\u2019s what a leitz is \u2014 somebody who doesn\u2019t appreciate the importance, the value, of a good thing. A leitz, as soon as he hears these things, he hears the idealism of hanitpal l\u2019osei mitzvah k\u2019osei mitzvah, he laughs at it. Ha ha! And that kills it \u2013 it\u2019s gone; the opportunity is lost forever.
\n\n\n\nYour Ticket to Olam Haba
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a frum Jew, he comes into shul and he passes by people who come before davening to learn for a few minutes; but he always comes after the learning. Or maybe after davening people sit and learn, but he goes out right away. It\u2019s not his style, he thinks. He never went to yeshivah and he won\u2019t understand too much anyhow. What should he do? Just tag along?
\n\n\n\nAbsolutely! That\u2019s the best thing you can do for yourself! The man who is not a leitz wants to participate \u2014 even if it\u2019s only a bit. At least you should show that you\u2019re interested and sit down with them. You can\u2019t learn so well? You come in anyhow and sit alongside them as they learn.
\n\n\n\nOh! That\u2019s a greatness of character! You know, a person is not able to learn but he comes and sits down with those who are learning, even if he doesn\u2019t understand anything, the Gemara says that such a person is \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 He\u2019ll be admitted to the yeshivah shel ma\u2019alah eventually.
\n\n\n\nWhy is that? He didn\u2019t do anything! And the answer is that he did everything! Because he demonstrated, \u201cMe too! I also want to sit and learn.\u201d It\u2019s an important lesson \u2014 merely by coming in and sitting down alongside them, you already are a partner in their idealism and you already have a right to be admitted to the yeshivah shel ma\u2019alah when the time comes.
\n\n\n\nBe A Sefashkenazi
\n\n\n\nWe have to remember at all times the statement in Pirkei Avos, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2 \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 don\u2019t push away anything. Don\u2019t underestimate even the little things because they\u2019re much more important than people think. Join in with the osei mitzvah as much as possible!
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say you see a group of Sephardic Jews bringing a sefer Torah into their synagogue. They\u2019re making a hachnasas sefer Torah and they\u2019re dancing on the street and singing their Sephardic songs. Now, you\u2019re an Ashkenazi so you\u2019re thinking, \u201cIt\u2019s not my sefer Torah, it\u2019s none of my business.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut then you remember that one time you were sitting by a lecture from Rabbi Miller and he said that joining in is something too. So you say, \u201cMe too! I want to honor the sefer Torah. I also want to bring a new sefer Torah into this shul. And I\u2019m going to join in \u2014 at least a little bit \u2014 in their happiness!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou didn\u2019t give any money; you didn\u2019t even know there was such a shul around the corner. But it\u2019s not only the money, it\u2019s the desire to join in that matters. So you follow in with them. You clap a little also with your hands just like they\u2019re clapping their hands. You try to sing along with their niggunim. Whatever little bit you can do, you show that you are identifying with them and the mitzvah they\u2019re doing.
\n\n\n\nJoin In The Demostration
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a shul or yeshivah that is making a dinner. You don\u2019t have much money to give right now. But you come anyhow and you stand there; you make the crowd bigger. Your presence will be a very big mitzvah. Any place that you go to encourage them even though you\u2019re not doing anything concrete, you are nitpal l\u2019osei mitzvah, you join people to do a mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nThere are people who write letters of encouragement to rabbonim. That\u2019s how they\u2019re nitpal l\u2019osei mitzvah. People send me letters of encouragement! It\u2019s remarkable! I\u2019m receiving letters from all over the world! Here\u2019s a letter \u2013 he thanks me for writing this-and-this book. He said he grew up with that book. His name is not signed; He doesn\u2019t want to write his name. It must be an important personality, maybe a rosh yeshivah someplace and he doesn\u2019t want to admit he grew up with this book in English. Whatever it is, a little letter of encouragement sent to the osei mitzvah is not little at all \u2013 that\u2019s the principle we\u2019re studying tonight, that joining in with the good ones, even in the smallest way, that\u2019s a greatness.
\n\n\n\nWhen you take hold of the corner of the blanket and say, \u201cMe too!\u201d it\u2019s a demonstration of where you want to be; where your heart is. And because of that demonstration the Torah teaches us that \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 that as far as Hashem is concerned you\u2019ve done everything! And that\u2019s why we should always be looking to say, \u201cMe too!\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn as many ways as possible, in all the good things that the Am Yisroelis doing we try to join in, to tag along. And even though it could be that you\u2019re not going to change the world by your little act, but you\u2019re going to change your world!
\n\n\n\nIdentify as a Frum Jew
\n\n\n\nNow, when we talk about joining in with the osei mitzvah, even though it takes some work to develop the proper attitude of the mind that appreciates how great a small act might be, it’s still something tangible that you can grab on to.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s one part of this avodah of nitpal l\u2019osei mitzvah that is less tangible and therefore, as great as it is, it is too often neglected. And that is the avodah of identifying with the Am Yisroel. After all, what is the Am Yisroel if not a nation of osei mitzvah?! The Torah calls us that \u2014 the nation that is thirsty for mitzvos (Sanhedrin 76b, Rashi).
\n\n\n\nA Remarkable People
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re so accustomed to it that we don\u2019t realize how extraordinary it is; the frum Jew is always busy with mitzvos asei and keeping away from mitzvos lo sa\u2019asei, all day long. Davening and brachos and tznius and tzitzis and Torah. Shmiras haloshon is a mitzvah of the Torah; a Jew keeps his mouth closed. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b2\u05da\u05b8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 to love your fellow Jew is a mitzvah. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 is also not a small mitzvah. \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05ea\u05bb\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 he walks in the street, he doesn\u2019t look at women and women don\u2019t look at men. Mitzvos all day long; all kinds of mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nA Jew sends his children to a yeshivah ketanah and all day long they sit and learn Eilu Metzios \u2013 when you have to return a lost article, when you don\u2019t have to return it, all kinds of dinim. Little boys, not even bar mitzvah yet, they\u2019re teachings them to love mitzvos. It\u2019s a nation that loves mitzvos. And so we want to join with them; we want to be nitpal to the osei mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nNow I say this is a separate part of the subject because we\u2019re not talking now about joining in by means of doing, by means of sending five dollars to the Lakewood yeshivah or donating your shoulder to bring the couch up to the almanah\u2019s apartment \u2013 I\u2019m talking about an avodah of the mind; about being nitpal l\u2019osei mitzvah with your thoughts.
\n\n\n\nA Panorama of Greatness
\n\n\n\nSo when you hear about good things being done \u2014 let\u2019s say you hear the Bobover are making a big yeshivah in Eretz Yisroel, or that the Satmarer are building a big beis hamedrash someplace \u2014 even though you have no connection with them; you\u2019re not a Bobover or Satmarer, and besides you live far away; you\u2019ll never see the beis hamedrash \u2014 no matter! You want to be a part of that mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019re thinking, \u201cAh! It\u2019s a very good thing.\u201d You have to express happiness about it; \u201cMe too! The Bobovers in Eretz Yisroel are happy? I’m happy too! Yes, I\u2019m full of simcha that they did it.\u201d Of course, if you can send five dollars, a contribution, even better. Join in whichever way you can; but at least think in your heart, \u201cI am part of it.\u201d And Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives you credit for taking hold of the blanket, for joining in with them.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a very important lesson that opens for us a panorama of greatness. As much as possible identify with all the good Jews everywhere they are. You see people with black hats \u2014 now, it could be you don\u2019t wear a black hat, you wear a yamulkah, let\u2019s say. Don\u2019t say, \u201cThose black hats.\u201d That means you\u2019re somebody else; you\u2019re not from them. \u201cNo! I\u2019m a black hat man, even though I don\u2019t wear one. I myself don\u2019t do it but I admire them. I belong to them. They\u2019re my people!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Hat and The Tefillin
\n\n\n\nNow, of course if you can do something and you don\u2019t, then identifying with the good ones might be worth something, but it\u2019s not much. So if you can buy a black hat that\u2019s even better; it means you grabbed onto the blanket a little bit more. But even if you can\u2019t \u2014 for whatever reason you can\u2019t \u2014 you still can join the good ones by identifying with them. And the more you join them and identify with them, the more reward you get together with them.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not saying right now that there\u2019s something special about a black hat. Color is not important. If all the bnei Torah would wear yellow hats, then we should all wear yellow hats. The main thing is to identify with the bnei Torah, with the frummeh.
\n\n\n\nYou know that a boy approaching bar mitzvah gets a pair of tefillin that costs five, six, seven hundred dollars \u2013 even more than that \u2013 and he also gets a black hat. To me, the black hat is no less than the tefillin. No less! When a boy in our shul puts on a black hat, I give him a mazel tov as if he\u2019s putting on tefillin. Because the hat shows that, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd\u201d \u2013 \u201cI want my lot in life to be together with the frummeh.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJoin Your Generation
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t disdain that attitude of the mind, of \u201cMe too!\u201d It\u2019s so important to always be thinking, \u201cI want to be together with them!\u201d And therefore, you shouldn\u2019t waste that opportunity. Every time you put something on your head \u2013 it\u2019s not important what material it is; a sheitel too \u2013 you should say those words, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd! Thank you Hashem for placing my lot with the frummeh. Boruch Hashem, my lot is with the frummeh, the tzadikim of Klal Yisroel\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re joining in with frum Jews, with all people who learn in yeshivos, all the kollel people, all the baalei batim who learn Torah in their free time and you\u2019re identifying with the whole nation of ovdei Hashem. Who is the frum community? All the shomrei mitzvos. There are all kinds of shomrei mitzvos. There are Sefardim; and Sefardim include the Lebanese and the Syrian and the Egyptians – others too. And there are Ashkenazim; chassidim and misnagdim and German Jews and others.
\n\n\n\nAs much as possible we try to be \u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4, to those who are doing good things; we seek to sympathize with their ideals and their attitudes. And even though we perhaps may not be so busy with mitzvos, we ourselves sometimes might be far away from their perfection, nevertheless, we approve of them, our heart is with them and by means of our minds we become one with the ovdei Hashem in our generation.
\n\n\n\nJoin the Past Generations
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not only my generation; if I\u2019m joining the klal Yisroel I\u2019m identifying with all the tzadikim that ever lived before. By identifying with the Am Yisroel, you become a member of the historic Am Yisroel from the beginning.
\n\n\n\nIf you are part of the osei mitzvos you\u2019re thinking of Avraham Avinu. You have to think of Avraham Avinu. \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 Hashem remembers the greatness of our forefathers. The question is do you remember? You\u2019re asking Him to remember? How about you remembering it? And so we admire our forefathers. You read about Avraham Avinu in the Chumash? Start admiring him. Identify with him. He\u2019s my grandfather! I\u2019m so proud of him! Hashem is proud of him \u2013 we surely should be proud.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re identifying with Moshe Rabeinu and all the nevi\u2019im. Later generations too, and so the Chofetz Chaim\u2019s zechus is on my side now – because he is the Am Yisroel. The Chofetz Chaim is Am Yisroel, absolutely. Whatever he put into our nation became Am Yisroel. And what Rav Akiva Eiger put in and what all the great tzadikim put in, the Vilna Gaon, the Ba\u2019al Shem Tov. All the gedolei Yisroel of all the generations back till Avraham Avinu, they\u2019re all part of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nYou have to remember all the generations, all of our generations. We\u2019re so proud of our fathers. Those who were in Europe a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, three hundred years \u2013 better and better. We have to be proud of our great grandmothers who had more da\u2019as, more emunah, than many gedolim of today. Who said that? Rabbi Yeruchum Levovitz, the Mirrer mashgiach. He said, \u201cWe don\u2019t understand our great grandmothers\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s how great they were. And the further back, greater and greater.
\n\n\n\nAmazing the Nations
\n\n\n\nI want to tell you a little scene from our history. Josephus describes at the churban Beis Hamikdash when the masses of Jews, plain Jews were captured by the Romans and were taken for torture in public hippodromes. And Titus HaRasha was traveling home, he took along tens of thousands of captives. And he marched from town to town. Now in each town, he made a demonstration in hippodromes, big theaters, stadiums where people came and watched and the Jews were put there to torture and they were supposed to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t believe in our Torah anymore.\u201d Otherwise, they would be tortured. And the Jews refused to say that, plain Jews. They refused to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t believe in our Torah.\u201d And they were tortured to death with every kind of cruel death and they all refused!
\n\n\n\nJosephus writes that. He said, \u201cThe nations were amazed at what they saw.\u201d That\u2019s how great the hamon was, ordinary people. Not to become apikorsim and bow down to idols. No! Just to say something against the Torah. Even one word against their Torah they wouldn\u2019t say. And for that they were willing to suffer terrible tortures. That\u2019s how great our nation was in the days of old.
\n\n\n\nNow, we boruch Hashem didn\u2019t have that test \u2013 boruch Hashem we didn\u2019t have the opportunity to fulfill that mitzvah. But we\u2019re part of them! We think about them! We identify with them! We\u2019re nitpal to them and that\u2019s a greatness, a perfection of character.
\n\n\n\nThe Beis Yisroel Anthem
\n\n\n\nAnd so if we had to sum up our lecture in one sentence we\u2019d say that we must begin to join in with good people. As much as possible we try to be \u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4, to those who are doing good things.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we all say together: \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 \u201cI am also a servant of Hakodosh Boruch Hu!\u201d Did you ever sing that song? You say \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0, \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0, \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 \u201cI too! Ana, me too, ana, me too! Let\u2019s say it together right now. Right now, all of us together. Ana ana ana avidah di\u2019Kudisha brich hu!“
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re already ovdei Hashem. But we\u2019re saying, \u201cMe too.\u201d It\u2019s small but it\u2019s something. And if you say that, if you want to be an eved Hashem and join in with all of the great things the Am Yisroeldoes, so you\u2019ll be zocheh to be part of the Am Yisroel.And once you\u2019re nitpal to the Am Yisroel, that membership entitles you to the most eternal of all rewards. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0. It doesn\u2019t say there kol hatzadikim; itsays kol Yisroel! If you\u2019re part of us, then you\u2019re forever.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we should always keep in mind that whenever possible we join in with all the good deeds of our nation; we do whatever we can to take hold of the garment and say, \u201cMe too!\u201d And even when we can\u2019t do, merely by thinking and saying, \u201cI belong!\u201d we are nitpal to that great nation. We join in the avodas Hashem of kol Yisroel and are thereby zoicheh to\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u2014 we\u2019re gaining a ticket to Olam Haba.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nJoining In With The Best
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder spend two minutes a day joining in with the osei mitzvah and thereby gain immeasurable reward. When I daven Shemoneh Esrei I will stop for one minute as I say \u201cv\u2019zocher chasdei avos\u201d and remember my pride in our great forefathers. I will also stop for a minute during the day to express my connection to the great endeavors of the frum world.
\nThe post Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T04:18:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-07-23T10:11:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34948, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shoftim-5-joining-in/", "title": "Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In", "content_html": "TA-Shoftim-5782The post Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T04:16:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-28T04:16:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34941, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-shoftim-5-joining-in/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In", "content_html": "TA-Shoftim-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Shoftim 5 – Joining In appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T04:16:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-28T04:16:33+00:00" }, { "id": 34936, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-persona-correcta/", "title": "La persona correcta ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede uno decidir qui\u00e9n es la persona correcta con la cual casarse?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHay un cierto dicho: cuando te vas a casar y est\u00e1s buscando a la persona adecuada, es m\u00e1s importante que t\u00fa seas la persona adecuada. Porque no hay tal cosa como la persona adecuada.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que debes preguntar por los maestros de ella del Bet Iaakov. Si la elogian con entusiasmo, entonces deduce el 80%. Pero todav\u00eda algo hay [de verdad]. Si la elogian no tan animadamente, entonces olv\u00eddate de ella.
\n\n\n\nSi ella llama al mashgu\u00edaj de la Ieshiv\u00e1 de \u00e9l y \u00e9ste dice: “Oh, ese chico. Es un buen chico”, entonces olv\u00eddate de \u00e9l. Si lo elogia efusivamente, entonces puede servir; puedes pensar en casarte con \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nCiertamente, tienes que usar el sentido com\u00fan y mirar antes de tomar una decisi\u00f3n, pero no importa cu\u00e1nto preguntes, el matrimonio no va a ser \u00fanicamente un lecho de rosas. Y por lo tanto, s\u00f3lo ser\u00e1 la persona correcta cuando t\u00fa seas hagas la persona correcta. Esa es la verdad.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #620 (diciembre de 1986)
\nThe post La persona correcta appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T03:53:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-28T03:53:11+00:00" }, { "id": 34932, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%92-%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%95-%d7%aa%d7%93%d7%91%d7%a7-%d7%98%d7%a2%d7%a7%d7%a1/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d2: \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea, \u05d5\u05d1\u05d5 \u05ea\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7, \u05d8\u05e2\u05e7\u05e1", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-233The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d2: \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea, \u05d5\u05d1\u05d5 \u05ea\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7, \u05d8\u05e2\u05e7\u05e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-26T02:03:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-26T02:03:19+00:00" }, { "id": 34930, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-pecado-de-exceso-de-velocidad/", "title": "El pecado de exceso de velocidad ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfConducir por encima del l\u00edmite de velocidad permitida es un isur deoraita?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nS\u00ed. Te dir\u00e9 lo que dice la Guemar\u00e1 en algunos lugares: \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05e1\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0: no necesitamos que un pasuk nos diga algo si podemos resolverlo con nuestra propia l\u00f3gica; la Guemar\u00e1 dice que si es un sevar\u00e1 es mideoraita. \u00bfAcaso no sabemos que \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05d7\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05d9\u05d4 es solo un sevar\u00e1, no hay un pasuk para eso, y a\u00fan as\u00ed es uno de los iesodot de la halaj\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, conducir m\u00e1s all\u00e1 del l\u00edmite de velocidad significa, en primer lugar, que te costar\u00e1 dinero si recibes una multa. Es de sentido com\u00fan que no debes hacer algo que te haga pagar una multa. Las multas por exceso de velocidad son caras.
\n\n\n\nY en segundo lugar, qui\u00e9n sabe qu\u00e9 puede pasar, jalila. Una vez que est\u00e1s yendo r\u00e1pido cualquier cosa puede pasar. Entonces, cualquiera que sea imprudente al conducir, es un jot\u00e9, un jot\u00e9 gamur. Y es responsable incluso si no pas\u00f3 nada. Porque arriesg\u00f3 su vida y la de otras personas; por eso responsable incluso si no pas\u00f3 nada.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post El pecado de exceso de velocidad appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-26T01:59:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-26T01:59:17+00:00" }, { "id": 34927, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-sin-of-speeding/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sin of Speeding", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is driving over the speed limit an issur deoreisa?
A:
Yes. I\u2019ll tell you what the Gemara says in some places: \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05e1\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 we don\u2019t need a possuk to tell us something if we can figure it out with our own logic; the gemara says if it\u2019s a sevara it\u2019s mideoreisa. Don\u2019t we know that \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05d7\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05d9\u05d4 is only a sevara \u2013 there\u2019s no possuk for that \u2013 and still it’s one of the yesodos of halachah.
Now, driving more than the speed limit means first of all it will cost you money if you get a fine. It’s common sense that you shouldn\u2019t do something that will cause you to pay a fine. The fine for speeding is expensive.
And secondly, who knows what can happen, chalilah. Once you\u2019re speeding anything can happen. And so, anybody who is reckless in driving, he’s a choteh, a choteh gamur. And he\u2019s held responsible even if nothing happened. Because he risked his life and other people\u2019s lives so he\u2019s held responsible even if nothing happened.
TAPE #E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sin of Speeding appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-25T21:37:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-25T21:37:09+00:00" }, { "id": 34924, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-ree/", "title": "Paracha R\u00e9\u00e9", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Ree-5782The post Paracha R\u00e9\u00e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-24T21:42:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-24T21:42:15+00:00" }, { "id": 34918, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/talmud-tora-kenegued-kulam/", "title": "Talmud Tor\u00e1 ken\u00e9gued kulam", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 es tan importante estudiar Tor\u00e1 que decimos \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, que se la equipara a todas las mitzvot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa Tor\u00e1 es considerada una de las mitzvot m\u00e1s importantes porque te forma. Te cambia.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, una mitzv\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n te forma a ti. \u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05ea\u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Haces mitzvot y te vuelves sagrado. Cada mitzv\u00e1 te convierte en kadosh. Pero la mitzv\u00e1 de Talmud Tor\u00e1 logra cambiar tu mente. Y cuando tu mente cambia, esa es la mayor kedush\u00e1 de todas. Y por lo tanto, \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nCuando piensas como piensa Hakadosh Baruj Hu, esa es la mayor perfecci\u00f3n de una persona; es el cambio m\u00e1s tremendo que puedes hacer en ti mismo. Y cuando est\u00e1s estudiando Tor\u00e1, est\u00e1s estudiando los pensamientos de Hashem. As\u00ed es como piensa Hashem y \u00c9l quiere que t\u00fa pienses de esa manera.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, estudiar Tor\u00e1 significa que pones en tu mente las majashavot de Bor\u00e9 Olam y ese es el mayor de todos los logros. Incluso cuando est\u00e1s estudiando Bav\u00e1 Kam\u00e1, arb\u00e1 avot nezik\u00edn, Hakadosh Baruj Hu est\u00e1 pensando cu\u00e1n importante es que cada jud\u00edo evite da\u00f1ar la propiedad de otra persona y est\u00e1s pensando en esos detalles de los pensamientos de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEst\u00e1s pensando en c\u00f3mo debes tener cuidado cuando entras en una sinagoga; \u00bfQuieres abrir la ventana? No empuje el cristal de la ventana. Podr\u00eda hacer presi\u00f3n y romper el cristal. Ser\u00edas un mazik. Tendr\u00edas que pagar por eso. Hakadosh Baruj Hu no quiere que seas un mazik. \u00a1Y aprendes esa idea de no ser un mazik de la propiedad de tu pr\u00f3jimo! \u00a1Qu\u00e9 grande es ese ideal! Est\u00e1s pensando como piensa Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Y es por eso que \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd; porque est\u00e1s cambiando tu mente a una mente que piensa como Hakadosh Baruj Hu.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1995)
\nThe post Talmud Tor\u00e1 ken\u00e9gued kulam appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-24T20:23:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-24T20:23:27+00:00" }, { "id": 34914, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-talmud-torah-kineged-kulam/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Talmud Torah Kineged Kulam", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is learning Torah so important that we say \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, that it\u2019s equal to all other mitzvos?
A:
Torah is considered one of the most important of mitzvos because it makes you. It changes you.
Now, a mitzvah also makes you.\u00a0 \u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05ea\u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 You do mitzvos and you become holy. Every mitzvah makes you kodosh.\u00a0 But the mitzvah of talmud Torah changes your mind.\u00a0 And when your mind is changed, that\u2019s the greatest kedusha of all.\u00a0 And therefore, \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nWhen you think like Hakodosh Boruch Hu thinks, that\u2019s the greatest perfection of a person; it\u2019s the most tremendous change you can make in yourself. And when you\u2019re learning Torah, you\u2019re learning the thoughts of Hashem. That\u2019s how Hashem thinks and He wants you to think that way.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, learning Torah means you put into your mind the machshavos of the Borei Olam and that\u2019s the greatest of all achievements.\u00a0 Even when you\u2019re learning Bava Kamma, arba avos nezikin, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is thinking how important it is that every Jew should avoid damaging somebody else\u2019s property and you\u2019re thinking in those details of Hashem\u2019s thoughts.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re thinking about how you have to be careful when you go into a synagogue; you want to open the window? Don\u2019t push against the windowpane.\u00a0 You might push it out and break the pane.\u00a0 You\u2019re a mazik.\u00a0 You have to pay for it.\u00a0 Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t want you to be a mazik.\u00a0 And you learn that idea not to be a mazik to your fellowman\u2019s property!\u00a0 How big an ideal that is! You\u2019re thinking like Hakodosh Boruch Hu thinks.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why \u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd; because you\u2019re changing your mind into a mind that thinks like Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Talmud Torah Kineged Kulam appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-24T17:14:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-24T17:14:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34904, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/postergar-un-noviazgo/", "title": "Postergar un noviazgo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nA una chica le propusieron ponerse de novia conmigo y acept\u00f3, pero mis padres me est\u00e1n diciendo que tenemos que esperar, que no debemos comprometernos hasta que la conozcan. Pero no pueden venir aqu\u00ed hasta despu\u00e9s de Pesaj. \u00bfDebo esperar o no?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que debes esperar. Tienes que esperar hasta que tus padres vean a la chica. De lo contrario, pensar\u00e1n que has hecho algo contra su voluntad y le encontrar\u00e1n un jisar\u00f3n. La verdad es que de todos modos le encontrar\u00e1n jesronot, incluso si la conocen primero. Pero ahora, al menos la vieron y la aceptaron. As\u00ed que ahora son socios contigo en tu decisi\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que trata de esperar hasta P\u00e9saj. No falta mucho para P\u00e9saj.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1995)
\nThe post Postergar un noviazgo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-24T01:56:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-24T01:56:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34891, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-delaying-your-engagement/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Delaying Your Engagement", "content_html": "\nQ:
I proposed to a girl who accepted but my parents are saying that we have to wait \u2013 we shouldn\u2019t get engaged until they meet her. But they\u2019re not able to come here until after Pesach. Should I wait or not?
A:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutely. You have to wait until your parents see the girl. Otherwise, they\u2019ll think that you\u2019ve done something against their will and they\u2019ll be sure to find some chisoron. The truth is they\u2019ll find chisronos anyhow even if they do meet her first. But now at least they saw and they approved. So now they\u2019re partners with you in your decision.
\n\n\n\nSo try to wait until Pesach. Pesach is just around the corner.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Delaying Your Engagement appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-23T17:18:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-23T17:18:48+00:00" }, { "id": 34883, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-big-small-achievements/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Big\u00a0Small Achievements", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should a person do if he wants to become great but he realizes that he lacks the motivation to accomplish it to the fullest extent that he desires?
A:
\n\n\n\nLook.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a man who would like to become a millionaire.\u00a0 He\u2019s walking in the street and he sees a measly twenty dollar bill lying in the gutter. Now, twenty dollars won\u2019t make him a millionaire but will\u00a0he\u00a0pass by?\u00a0 No. Even a millionaire will\u00a0stoop down and pick it up.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, every little bit is valuable.\u00a0 If you\u2019re able to control your character at least one little bit, a little tikkun, that\u2019s already valuable. If you keep quiet a little bit \u2013 if instead of talking a thousand words a day, you\u2019ll talk 999 words, it\u2019s already a big achievement.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it\u2019s only because people don\u2019t realize how great is the achievement in ruchniyus, they don\u2019t realize that when it comes to the spiritual achievements of improving your character even the smallest amount is worth doing, that\u2019s why people don\u2019t grab the opportunities.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore nobody should disdain that; just because he cannot become a tzaddik like Moshe Rabbeinu doesn\u2019t mean he shouldn\u2019t bend over and pick up the twenty dollar bill anyhow.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1999)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Big\u00a0Small Achievements appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-23T02:00:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-23T02:00:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34881, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/pequenos-grandes-logros/", "title": "Peque\u00f1os grandes logros", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe hacer una persona si quiere lograr la grandeza, pero se da cuenta de que carece de la motivaci\u00f3n para lograrla?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nMira. Imagina un hombre que le gustar\u00eda convertirse en millonario. Est\u00e1 caminando por la calle y ve un billete de veinte d\u00f3lares tirado en la alcantarilla. Ahora bien, \u00a1veinte d\u00f3lares no lo har\u00e1n millonario!, pero \u00bflos dejar\u00e1 all\u00ed? No. Incluso un millonario se inclinar\u00e1 y los recoger\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que cada cosa peque\u00f1a es valiosa. Si eres capaz de controlar tu car\u00e1cter al menos un poco, un poco de tik\u00fan, eso ya es valioso. Si te mantienes un poco tranquilo, si en lugar de hablar, mil palabras al d\u00eda, hablas 999 palabras, ya es un gran logro.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, es s\u00f3lo porque la gente no se da cuenta de lo grande que son los logros en rujaniut; no se dan cuenta de que cuando se trata de logros espirituales de mejorar el car\u00e1cter, vale la pena hacer incluso algo chiquito. Por eso es que la gente no aprovecha las oportunidades que se les presenta.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto nadie debe desde\u00f1ar eso; s\u00f3lo porque no puede convertirse en un tzadik como Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu no significa que no deba inclinarse y recoger el billete de veinte d\u00f3lares.
\n\n\n\nCinta #E-1 (febrero de 1999)
\nThe post Peque\u00f1os grandes logros appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-22T16:40:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-22T16:40:21+00:00" }, { "id": 34877, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/que-estudiar/", "title": "Qu\u00e9 estudiar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi alguien no tiene tiempo, \u00bfes m\u00e1s importante estudiar Halaj\u00e1 que estudiar Guemar\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que si no tienes tiempo, entonces estudia ma shelib\u00f3 jafetz, lo que deseas estudiar. Esa es la verdad. Ma shelib\u00f3 jafetz. Si necesitas saber ciertas halajot, est\u00fadialas, pero en general, debes saber que tambi\u00e9n en el estudio de halajot mucho es te\u00f3rico. Si comienzas a estudiar Shulj\u00e1n Aruj, ver\u00e1s que est\u00e1s estudiando sobre muchas cosas que nunca suceder\u00e1n. Y por lo tanto tambi\u00e9n es como la Guemar\u00e1. Entonces, una persona debe estudiar ma shelib\u00f3 jafetz.
\n\n\n\nPero esto te puedo decir. Una vez que empieces a estudiar y vehaarev na, se vuelve dulce (haarev significa hacer dulce), te empezar\u00e1 a gustar y luego Hakadosh Baruj Hu te har\u00e1 encontrar m\u00e1s tiempo para estudiar. Esa es una regla, un klal gadol. Una vez que te guste estudiar, encontrar\u00e1s m\u00e1s tiempo para estudiar. As\u00ed que comienza ahora y haz lo que quieras y ten \u00e9xito y tal vez con el transcurso del tiempo tendr\u00e1s m\u00e1s tiempo para estudiar todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post Qu\u00e9 estudiar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T19:47:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T19:47:41+00:00" }, { "id": 34872, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-what-to-learn/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on What To Learn", "content_html": "\nQ:
If someone doesn’t have time, is learning halachah more important than learning gemara?
A:
And the answer is if you don’t have time then learn\u00a0mah shelibo chafetz,\u00a0what you desire to learn. That’s the truth.\u00a0Mah shelibo chafetz.\u00a0If you need to know certain halachos, learn them, but in general to engage in learning halachos you should know that a lot of it is\u00a0also theoretical. If you start learning Shulchan Aruch you\u2019ll see that you\u2019re learning about many things that will never happen. And therefore it’s like gemara too. So a person should learn\u00a0mah shelibo chafetz.
But this I can tell you. Once you start learning and veha’arev na, it becomes sweet \u2013 ha’arev means make sweet \u2013 you\u2019ll start liking it and then Hakodosh Boruch Hu will make you find more time to learn. That’s a rule, a klal gadol. Once you like to learn, you’ll find more time to learn. So start out now and do whatever you want and succeed in it and maybe in the course of time you’ll have more time to learn everything.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on What To Learn appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T15:03:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T15:03:28+00:00" }, { "id": 34868, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-original-mussar-sefer/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Original Mussar Sefer", "content_html": "\nQ:
How did people learn Mussar before we had the Mesillas Yesharim and the Chovos Halevavos?
A:
\n\n\n\nBefore we had these seforim people learned Mussar from the Gemara and from Mishlei and from Sefer Devarim. The Shlah says that in Sefer Devarim you have all the mussar in all the mussar seforim. The difference is this: When we learn chumash so if it\u2019s simple, if it\u2019s not difficult, we run through it. When they learned Chumash, even the most simple statements they used to think into them. They went more and more deeply into them and they learned the mussar from Sefer Devarim. Sefer Devarim is the treasure house of Musser. That\u2019s a very important lesson.
\n\n\n\nAnd then of course Mishlei. Mishlei has tremendous lessons! All the divrei neviim are full of mussar. Our forefathers studied the neviim in a way that was superior to anything that the Chovos Halevavos or Mesillas Yesharim or Shaarei Teshuva can teach you. It\u2019s only because people lost the ability to understand properly, to utilize properly the words of the kadmonim, that it became necessary to have mussar seforim.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like in the olden days when they wanted to train a baby to eat food. The child didn\u2019t have teeth yet so how did the mothers prepare them for eating food when they wanted to wean them from the mothers milk. So the mother used to chew the food and put it in a child\u2019s mouth. That\u2019s how they used to do it; the mother used to chew the food in her own mouth and then put it in the child\u2019s mouth. That\u2019s how the child learned to eat. It was pre chewed by the mother. That\u2019s how it was in the olden days.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we lost the ability to chew over and taste the real meaning of the pessukim in Mishlei and Chumash and so on, so we had to have the Chovos Halevavos who pre chewed it and predigested it for us. But actually the kadmonim understood mussar much better than we do, even without the benefit of these later seforim.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 966 (August 1994)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Original Mussar Sefer appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T14:58:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T14:58:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34864, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-jewish-tax-cheats/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Jewish Tax Cheats", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should we respond to the fact that many frum people are cheating on taxes?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention. What do you think the non frum people are doing? It\u2019s such a stupid idea, this question, \u201cWhy frum Jews?\u201d It has nothing to do with the frummeh. All the accountants are busy for all their customers to save them money on taxes. They’re imagining all kinds of expenses. All over the world people are deceiving the government. I\u2019m not saying you should do it. No, I\u2019m not saying you should do it, no, but they’re doing it though. Don’t blame anybody for what everybody else is doing. I\u2019m not saying that frum people actually are doing that, but if they’re cheating on taxes\u00a0they’re not the only ones.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nDon’t say \u201cfrum people are cheating.\u201d You can ask me, \u201cWhy are people in this world cheating on taxes?\u201d OK, that\u2019s a question. The answer is they don’t want to pay taxes, that’s all.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nYou think the gentiles are not cheating on taxes? Reform Jews are not cheating on taxes? Wake up! It\u2019s such a silly idea. Unfortunately, everybody is cheating on taxes.
\n\n\n\nOf course, they only ask about the frummeh. It\u2019s like once a man said to me, \u201cWhy should yeshiva boys sit and learn Gemara? You should get up and go out in the streets and make people become ba’alei teshuvos instead of learning Gemara!\u201d That\u2019s what he said to me. So I said, \u201cSuppose you saw people playing cards. Do you say to them, \u201cWhy are you playing cards? You should get up and walk in the street and help people do teshuvah.\u201d No, when they’re playing cards, you have no ta’anah against them. When they learn Torah, you criticize them for learning Torah.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE #E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Jewish Tax Cheats appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T14:50:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T14:50:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34857, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T05:36:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T05:36:06+00:00" }, { "id": 34852, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%94-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e8\u05d0\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T05:33:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T05:33:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34839, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-reeh-5-elul-made-easy-2/", "title": "Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy", "content_html": "A New Teshuvah
\n\n\n\nWhen Chodesh Elul approaches, everyone is talking about teshuvah, about repentance, and so just by walking in the Jewish street \u2014 I\u2019m talking about the good Jewish street, where there are yeshivah men \u2014 so we already understand that this is the time to get busy. Just because of the atmosphere, by means of osmosis, we feel that it can\u2019t be pushed off any longer! And therefore, now is the best time to study that subject of returning to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe first thing we must make clear when we talk about repenting is that we shouldn\u2019t make the common error that teshuvah is talking merely about righting some wrongs that you did. No, no; teshuvah in that sense is too limited, too hollow. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s nothing; it\u2019s very important, but when we talk about real teshuvah, we\u2019re talking about shuvu el Hashem, about returning to Hashem; \u201cel Hashem\u201d means that we\u2019re trying to begin walking on the road toward Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIt means that we\u2019re not merely repenting for things that were done incorrectly; what it really means is to come to Hashem by gaining certain qualities, certain attitudes and practices that were never done before in your life. It means to get better! That\u2019s what teshuvah actually means \u2014 to get better. You\u2019re not just traveling through life, doing mitzvos, learning Torah \u2014 teshuvah means you\u2019re actively traveling toward Hashem. It\u2019s an entirely different type of life.
\n\n\n\nA Big Job
\n\n\n\nNow, when you hear something like that, it could be that it already puts a damper on things. Here you thought you were just going to have to say you\u2019re sorry and make some amends, or a few changes, and now you\u2019re hearing about changing the direction you\u2019re going in life. Instead of just being a better Orthodox Jew, we\u2019re talking about shuvu el Hashem \u2014 about getting on the road and starting to travel toward Hashem. That\u2019s already a big job; it\u2019s a sobering thought.
\n\n\n\nBut along comes the Torah and says it\u2019s not so. When the Torah talks about the subject of teshuvah, it says: \u201c\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u2014 This commandment of teshuvah that I\u2019m commanding you today is not something that\u2019s difficult. \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u2014 It\u2019s not in the sky that you should say, \u2018How can we go up and get it?\u2019 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u2014 And it\u2019s not across the sea that you have to travel a long distance. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c2\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 This thing is very near to you. It\u2019s in your mouth and in your heart, which means in your mind, to do it\u201d (Devarim 30:12).
\n\n\n\nSo what are we hearing? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling us that the mitzvah of teshuvah is extremely easy. True, there\u2019s a certain new orientation you\u2019ll need to take, a new path in life, but don\u2019t worry, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3, it\u2019s very close to you. It\u2019s only a matter of \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c2\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 it\u2019s in your mouth, something you should say, and something you should think, and that is sufficient for the mitzvah of teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nEscaping Danger
\n\n\n\nNow, we must understand that actually it\u2019s not always so. When you\u2019re dealing, let\u2019s say, with the public like today, you will have many things that people have to be told that do require a drastic change in their lifestyle. Sometimes a man must sacrifice his ambitions, his career, for teshuvah. He might have to give up his parnassah, his profession, and become a pauper. Sometimes you have to move to a different country to save your soul. And why not? Don\u2019t people move to save their health? If a man is told that for his health he has to leave a certain climate and settle elsewhere, even though it means giving up all his friends and family, and giving up his professional practice \u2014 what doesn\u2019t a man do to save his life? He moves, even if it\u2019s across the world, and he understands that it\u2019s worth it.
\n\n\n\nI knew of a case where there was a couple that had a sickly child. And a physician for some reason told them that the child needed the climate of Southern Italy. That was very many years ago, about sixty years ago. I remember that. He needed the climate of Southern Italy. So what did they do? They moved to Southern Italy, that\u2019s all. They only had one child. They couldn\u2019t let his life be lost, so they moved to Southern Italy. That\u2019s some change! They had to find a home. They had to find a new livelihood. But they moved to save their child\u2019s life!
\n\n\n\nNow, a sin is a thousand times worse than sickness. \u05d4\u05b1\u05d5\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1. Just like you flee from fire, so you flee from something that smacks of sin. A sin is extremely perilous, and when it comes to peril, you run away. And so, let\u2019s say you live way out near Bangor, in some country place in Maine, and you see your child is losing his religion. There\u2019s only one thing to do. Drop everything and come back to Brooklyn. You have no option! You can\u2019t put your child in sakanah of losing his life! People have only one life to live! And you see people are being lost constantly! Constantly people are going lost because they don\u2019t run away from sin.
\n\n\n\nSaving Your Life
\n\n\n\nA man called me up long distance, a frum man, married, who is working in a certain place. He says there\u2019s a young lady there that took a fancy to him. And he\u2019s somewhat perturbed. What should he do?
\n\n\n\nSo I said, \u201cDrop that job immediately! Don\u2019t report for duty anymore!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s hemming and hawing. \u201cIt took me three years to find this job, and it\u2019s a good salary.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt makes no difference,\u201d I told him. \u201cYou\u2019re in great peril! You can\u2019t afford to flirt with something worse than death!\u201d
\n\n\n\nI had a case once where a woman told me in confidence that the Italian bachelor next door speaks to her every day, and she\u2019s friendly with him. So I said, \u201cDrop everything and take the first plane to Florida, and don\u2019t come back anymore. Let your husband stay here to arrange all your affairs, and when he\u2019s finished let him follow you to Florida. You\u2019re in great danger if you don\u2019t do that!\u201d
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say a mafia man called you up and said, \u201cI\u2019m coming to your house tonight because you didn\u2019t pay up, and I\u2019m going to take care of you. I\u2019ll bring along the cement. I\u2019ll see that you have a kimono made of cement.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAre you going to wait for him to knock on your door? You\u2019ll take the first plane to Mexico, even if you\u2019ll never be able to come back again. And an aveirah, you have to know, is much worse than a mafia man!
\n\n\n\nSave Your Soul
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see that sometimes the most drastic changes are required. And if it\u2019s required, we do it! Loyal Jews will take the most extreme steps to save themselves, even if it means becoming a refugee. A refugee drops everything. He leaves all his clothing in the house. He runs out of the house in the middle of the night, and he runs down the street as far as he can to get away from his home where peril threatens. And he makes up his mind, \u201cI\u2019ll never come back again to that dangerous place. I don\u2019t want to encounter the mafia man in my house! If I come back there, my life is over!
\n\n\n\nYou must do everything in your power to save yourself! And so, too, sometimes for certain aveiros it\u2019s necessary to make drastic changes in one\u2019s life. And certainly, he should do it. He shouldn\u2019t hesitate because if a man can save his life, if he can still salvage and achieve something in this world, he must do it. Everything is worth the sacrifice to rescue the rest of your days, the remaining years that you have. Even elderly people move to other countries in order to gain a few more years; surely they should do so to save their souls.
\n\n\n\nTeshuvah for the Righteous
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re not going to talk now about such drastic changes, about people who are drowning in big sins and need to make that type of teshuvah. After all, when Moshe Rabbeinu was telling the Am Yisrael about the mitzvah of teshuvah, cajoling them and warning them about returning to Hashem, you have to picture the circumstances. It was in the Midbar, and the people were all shomrei Shabbos. Everybody ate kosher, and everybody kept taharas hamishpachah. There was no question about anyone doing a sin in the Midbar that others could notice. That was out of the question.
\n\n\n\nEven a hundred years ago, in a small Jewish town or a big Jewish city \u2014 in Vilna, let\u2019s say \u2014 it was impossible for a Jew to walk through the street without a hat. He wouldn\u2019t survive. Every Jew went to the beis haknesses; there wasn\u2019t a Jew who didn\u2019t put on tefillin. It was the national practice for the Jewish people to keep kol haTorah kulah. And in the Midbar, certainly everybody kept everything! And so the question arises, what talk of teshuvah is there when everybody is perfect?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that absolutely there is talk of teshuvah. There\u2019s a lot of talk! Because teshuvah means something entirely different than you imagined. Doing mitzvos is the minimum that\u2019s required of a Jew. It doesn\u2019t make you special; it\u2019s not your great achievement in life.
\n\n\n\nMore Than the Minimum
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like a man who walks in the street naked, and another person is clothed in shorts, or in nothing but undergarments. Now, the man who is wearing shorts looks over at the naked fellow and he might feel extremely dignified. \u201cLook how important I am! I\u2019m dressed in bigdei yom tov, bigdei malchus.\u201d This fellow is only wearing shorts, but he looks at his naked friend and he imagines himself to be dignified.
\n\n\n\nWhen comparing yourself to Jews who do nothing, certainly you might deceive yourself into thinking that you\u2019re good, that everything is fine. But in those days, everybody was clothed in mitzvos. That was the bare minimum. Everybody did everything. And still, Moshe Rabbeinu was telling them that there was so much teshuvah to be done. Because just doing mitzvos is not everything. Actually, it\u2019s just the beginning. You still need a big teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, right now we are addressing an audience of Orthodox Jews, and everybody keeps everything. All of you are tzaddikim who should be \u05e0\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd. You\u2019re all good Orthodox Jews and so we\u2019re not going to talk about sins that you hear about in the camp outside of the Orthodox. We won\u2019t talk about anything that\u2019s severe in the eyes of the hamon am, that even the multitude will agree is a sin, things that require the most drastic changes. No, we\u2019ll talk about things that even the most Orthodox can do to come closer to Hashem, opportunities to fulfill v\u2019shuvu el Hashem,to start walking on that path of greatness, of coming closer to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nA Great Punishment
\n\n\n\nNow, in the Torah it states that this type of teshuvah is not difficult.\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u2014 It\u2019s not far away from you.\u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u2014 You won\u2019t have to travel to Italy. You won\u2019t have to give up your career. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2014 This thing is very close to you. The teshuvah we\u2019re going to talk about is the easy road to teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nBut before we talk about some details, it pays to make the following point about easy opportunities. When you consider how simple it is to take advantage of easy opportunities, you\u2019ll begin to understand how guilty you really are. And I must take the time now to explain about this subject so you\u2019ll understand how severe it really is to ignore the opportunities we\u2019re going to discuss here \u2014 how guilty we are just because it is karov eilecha.
\n\n\n\nYou know, tzitzis have two kinds of threads. There are threads of blue wool, which are expensive. In the days of old, when they wore tzitzis they had blue techeiles on their tzitzis. But it was very expensive. They also had threads of white wool, which were not as expensive.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara in masichta Menachos (43b)says like this: Suppose a man neglected to put blue threads in his tzitzis. So naturally, he\u2019s guilty; in the days when techeiles was available, it was a sin to neglect it. But let\u2019s say he neglected to put in white threads; that, the Gemara says, is a much bigger sin, much more severe. \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05dc\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea \u2014The punishment for neglecting the white threads is bigger than the punishment for neglecting the blue threads.
\n\n\n\nIgnorance Is Not Bliss
\n\n\n\nWhy is it much worse? Because white threads are easier to find and cheaper to purchase. And the punishment for neglecting something that\u2019s easy to do is bigger than the punishment for neglecting something more difficult. Whatever is easier is a bigger obligation. So now we begin to understand how serious are the easy opportunities to become better. Those things that are easier to begin working on entail a much greater responsibility.
\n\n\n\nAnd that means that what we\u2019re going to learn tonight will create big responsibilities. And it won\u2019t help to walk out now, to decide not to listen. Oh, no! You\u2019ll be held responsible for not learning what you must do! You\u2019ll be considered very guilty! I\u2019ll prove it to you.
\n\n\n\nYou remember when Avraham Avinu came to Gerar? So the Torah relates that Avimelech asked him, \u201cWho is this woman with you?\u201d He saw a beautiful woman with Avraham and that was his first question. So Avraham said (Bereishis 20:2), \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0, She\u2019s my sister. And Avimelech didn\u2019t hesitate; he took her and brought her to his palace. And that night he had a dream that he was going to be put to death for taking away a married woman.
\n\n\n\nIn the morning he summoned Avraham and said, \u201cWhy did you deceive me?\u201d And Avraham said, \u201cBecause when a stranger comes to town, people are supposed to be asking about one thing: \u201cDo you have a place to eat? A place to sleep?\u201d But you didn\u2019t ask me any of these questions. You asked me, \u2018Who is this woman with you? Is she your sister or your wife?\u2019 Oh, if that\u2019s your question, then I know I have what to be careful from. And so immediately I said, \u201cThere\u2019s no yiras Elokim bamakom hazeh, no fear of G-d in this place, and I have to protect myself.\u201d It was necessary for Avraham to deceive Avimelech for his own self-defense. Avraham couldn\u2019t have answered, \u201cShe\u2019s my wife,\u201d because he was afraid that Avimelech would kill him in order to take Sarah.
\n\n\n\nResponsibility to Learn
\n\n\n\nNow, the question arises, why should Avimelech have been sentenced to death? After all, he was deceived by Avraham. It\u2019s true that he didn\u2019t ask the proper questions, but at the end of the day he was innocent. He thought he was taking an unmarried woman.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara (Bava Kama 92a) answers that Avimelech is considered the guilty one because he never learned how to behave. Because he never took the time and energy to train himself in good manners, he forced Avraham to deceive him. And so, he was going to be killed shehayah lo lilmod v\u2019lo lamad \u2014because he should have learned correct behavior and he didn\u2019t.
\n\n\n\nFrom here we learn, the Gemara says, that a ben Noach is put to death, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05d3, because he should have learned and he didn\u2019t. Had he gone to listen to Avraham \u2014 Avraham was speaking all the time, and he had thousands of talmidim \u2014 he would have learned how to behave when wayfarers pass through, how to put the right questions to them. And since Avimelech didn\u2019t bother to learn and asked the wrong questions, he was guilty. He was sentenced to death because he should have learned.
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019re learning here a big principle about all these easy things that a person could have fulfilled without any effort. He cannot say \u201cI claim exemption because of ignorance.\u201d Because it\u2019s easy to learn! We\u2019re not requiring him to study sugyos chamuros with Gemara and Tosfos. No, we\u2019re talking about fundamentals of proper living, proper behavior, that are easy to learn. And because there are so many opportunities to learn the fundamentals, those who neglect these opportunities are held entirely guilty. If there are lectures such as these where you could learn, and if there are sefarim you could study, then you will be held responsible. And so, let\u2019s not waste the opportunity \u2014 we\u2019re sitting here together and it\u2019s almost Rosh Chodesh Elul, so let\u2019s get busy learning and studying a few of the easy opportunities that will help us start traveling on the road of returning to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSilence is Praise
\n\n\n\nNow, the first easy opportunity for teshuvah we\u2019ll talk about is to keep your mouth closed. Shesikah! Silence! Not only is being quiet easy \u2014 we\u2019re not being asked to do anything, after all \u2014 but it\u2019s a great accomplishment, too, because you\u2019re producing something important. That\u2019s what the Rambam (Hilchos Dei\u2019os) says: \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 A person should always be producing a great deal of silence.You hear that? It\u2019s not just that you\u2019re not talking \u2014 you\u2019re manufacturing something important.
\n\n\n\nImagine you have a factory where you make toothbrushes; or maybe you\u2019re a tailor and you sew suits. Whatever it is, every day you\u2019re producing. So you have to keep cheshbon, \u201cHow many goods did I produce today?\u201d \u201cDid I do better today than yesterday?\u201d \u201cWhat could I do different tomorrow in the factory to produce more toothbrushes?\u201d And it\u2019s the same with silence; you have to think about that. \u201cHow much silence did I produce today?\u201d \u201cWhat can I change, what can I adjust in my day tomorrow, in order to make it even more successful?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s a big step forward on the path of shuvu el Hashem because silence is considered a service of Hashem. That\u2019s what Dovid Hamelech teaches us: \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2014 To You, Hashem, silence is praise\u201d(Tehillim 65:2). It means the quieter I am, the more I\u2019m praising You. Now, that\u2019s an interesting idea because we always thought that the Hallelukahs and the brachos are praise. Ashrei, Hodu, and Modim \u2014 that\u2019s how we praise Hashem. And now we\u2019re being told that keeping quiet is the way; that the real career of praising Hashem is manufacturing silence. And something like that needs a good explanation.
\n\n\n\nElokim Is Here
\n\n\n\nNow, who better to turn to for explanations than the chacham mikol adam?Shlomo Hamelech tells us in Koheles (5:1): \u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Don\u2019t be in a hurry to express yourself, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05f3 \u2014 and your heart, your mind, shouldn\u2019t be in a hurry to say something in the Presence of Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, those last words, lifnei Hashem, are very important; it\u2019s the explanation we\u2019re looking for: \u201cWhy should you not be hasty to open your mouth? Because you\u2019re standing lifnei Hashem, in front of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhere does that mean? In the Beis Hamikdash? In the beis haknesses? In the beis haknesses, you surely shouldn\u2019t speak, but here \u201clifnei Hashem\u201d doesn\u2019t mean the beis haknesses. It means anyplace. What does that mean, that you\u2019re standing in front of Hashem? It means that wherever you are, \u201c\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Elokim is in the heaven, and you\u2019re down below on this earth\u201d(Koheles 5:1). And He\u2019s watching; He\u2019s looking at you.
\n\n\n\nOh, now something else comes into the picture \u2014 Elokim is in the picture! Elokim is in Shamayim, above you, looking at you. And you\u2019re down on this earth. \u201c\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Therefore, your words should be few.\u201dThat\u2019s why you shouldn\u2019t talk so much.
\n\n\n\nIn Someone\u2019s Presence
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s understand that. When you\u2019re sitting at the table with your family, or if you\u2019re talking to your friends in the street, Hashem is present. You hear that? Whenever you open your mouth, you have to be aware that you\u2019re speaking in the presence of Hashem. And the rule is: \u201c\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d2\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u2014 A chacham doesn\u2019t talk in the presence of somebody bigger\u201d (Avos 5:7). Some people don\u2019t know that rule. If you\u2019re in the presence of an important person, keep quiet! There\u2019s somebody else here, somebody very important, so keep quiet! If a man opens his mouth and words flow out without restraint, it means he doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s in anybody\u2019s presence!
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you were standing in the presence of the President of the United States. He\u2019s not such an important person today, but still you wouldn\u2019t talk much in his presence. You certainly wouldn\u2019t be shooting off your mouth. Now, l\u2019havdil elef havdalos, if you are talking with the gadol hador, with, let\u2019s say, Rav Shach, or Rav Moshe Feinstein, would you talk a lot? If you have any sense, you won\u2019t say a word!
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you meet the Sigheter Rav, or you\u2019re standing in front of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; when you\u2019re standing there you don\u2019t open your mouth. Don\u2019t ask somebody else, \u201cWhat\u2019s the time?\u201d And even if somebody comes over to you and asks you a question, you keep quiet. Don\u2019t answer the question. Keep quiet! Not only because you might miss some precious words the gadol might say; even if he\u2019s not saying anything, you don\u2019t talk in the presence of somebody bigger than you.
\n\n\n\nGaining Awareness
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Shlomo Hamelech is telling us. Every person, no matter how frum he is, has to have a hargashah, a sensory perception, that he\u2019s standing in front of Hashem \u2014 a perception that\u2019s so real that it motivates him not to talk.
\n\n\n\nOf course, it\u2019s not something that comes overnight \u2014 it takes practice \u2014 but it\u2019s not difficult. Suppose you\u2019re an ordinary Jew who never worked on these concepts; you don\u2019t really feel the Presence of Hashem. But you\u2019d like to do it; you aspire to become a ma\u2019amin. Of course, you won\u2019t admit that you\u2019re not a ma\u2019amin, but at least you\u2019ll admit that you don\u2019t feel the Presence of Hashem all the time. And so, each time you wish to open your mouth, you remind yourself: \u201c\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Hashem is listening, and therefore my words should be few.\u201d Little by little, you instill in your neshamah an awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s karov eilecha! Does it cost any money for a person to just keep his mouth shut? \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2014 How near, how close, how easy that thing is.Now, if you had to go outside in the cold weather, in the storm, in order to buy something to fulfill a mitzvah \u2014 well, if you didn\u2019t, so it\u2019s wrong; but still you have some excuse for yourself. It might not be the best excuse, but it\u2019s something at least. But here we\u2019re talking about where no effort is entailed so there\u2019s no excuse; it involves no cost to keep the mouth closed.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Be a Faucet
\n\n\n\nAnd so, let\u2019s start practicing it. Elul is here \u2014 four weeks to make use of the easy opportunities to do real teshuvah, to return all the way to Hashem. So let\u2019s take the first week and use it for this: \u201cThe first week of Elul, I\u2019m going to practice not speaking because I\u2019m lifnei Elokim.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen someone approaches you and makes a remark, don\u2019t rush to respond. You\u2019d like to talk; you have a wisecrack or a rejoinder; you want to say something. Instead, you should say to yourself, \u201cNo, I won\u2019t say it because I\u2019m standing before Hashem.\u201d You don\u2019t always need to answer. If someone says something to you, you have to say something back? Let\u2019s say a cow says moo \u2014 do you have to moo back? A dog barks as you pass by \u2014 you have to bark back? So if someone speaks to you, unless it\u2019s necessary, don\u2019t say anything. Just listen. Who says you always have to answer?
\n\n\n\nAnd suppose you must answer; sometimes you must say something. So then make sure to count your words. You know, some people are like a faucet; they start pouring out everything they have inside. Everything comes gushing out. You know what that means? It means they\u2019re being meisiach da\u2019as from Hashem.
\n\n\n\nA person must always keep in mind that Hashem is listening. Keeping your mouth closed and keeping your words few when you do have to speak shows that you have emunah that Hashem is always listening. If you open your mouth and talk without restraint, it means you think you\u2019re a free bird. It means that you have no emunah because belief in Hashem requires that we keep quiet. He\u2019s standing right here, after all, and He\u2019s listening.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Light
\n\n\n\nNow you can understand what the Gra said. The Gra said as follows \u2014 and this should be a motto to all of us. \u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e8\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05dd \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u2014 For every moment that you muzzle your mouth \u2026 \u2014You hear that? Every moment! One moment, or two moments, or three moments; whatever it is, for every moment that you muzzle your mouth \u2014 \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6 \u2014 you\u2019ll be rewarded by the concealed light, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b5\u05e8 \u2014 whose greatness no malach and no creature can possibly measure.That\u2019s how great the light is!
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019re sitting here tonight and you kept quiet for a while. I was doing the talking so you had to keep quiet. Do you realize what a big benefit it was for you? For every second that you keep your mouth closed, you\u2019re being rewarded with an eternal light of happiness in the World to Come! Besides in this world! That\u2019s how great your reward of silence is.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHow could that be?\u201d you\u2019ll say. \u201cAll I did was keep my mouth closed?\u201d The answer is what you\u2019re thinking, why you\u2019re silent. You\u2019re doing it because you\u2019re standing in the Presence of Hashem! It\u2019s a demonstration that you\u2019re aware of Hashem! Hashem is not just a word in the siddur; He\u2019s right here in front of me, so I won\u2019t prattle; I won\u2019t shoot my mouth off in His presence.
\n\n\n\nOh, that\u2019s already a greatness! You\u2019re much greater than the angels! And you\u2019re fulfilling our great motto of tonight\u2019s lecture; you\u2019re fulfilling v\u2019shuvu el Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnother Easy Path
\n\n\n\nNow, once you practiced this up for a full week \u2014 let\u2019s say from Shabbos to Shabbos you\u2019ve been keeping your mouth closed at every opportunity that comes your way. Every time you felt the urge to say something, you thought beforehand: \u201cIs it really needed? I\u2019m standing in front of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, after all; should I really open my mouth?\u201d So now you\u2019re ready for week number two \u2014 week number two of shuvu el Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re looking for another easy opportunity, something that is karov eilecha me\u2019od. Now, once you\u2019ve established yourself as a quiet fellow, you\u2019ll see that there\u2019s still so much good you can accomplish even with your mouth closed. And so we\u2019ll take another path to teshuvah that doesn\u2019t require any talking at all. You\u2019ll be able to continue with your first week\u2019s avodah,and at the same time you\u2019ll add something else.
\n\n\n\nSmiling and Milking
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Kesubos 111b) tells us in one place how great is the mitzvah of smiling to a fellow Jew. There\u2019s a passuk in the Chumash, \u201c\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05df \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d1 \u2014 The whiteness of your teeth is better than milk\u201d (Bereishis 49:12). What does that mean? So, our Sages make a play on words and tell us a yesod for life: \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e7\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d7\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d1 \u2014 It\u2019s better to show your fellow man a smile with your white teeth than give him a drink of milk. A smile is better for his health than a cup of milk.
\n\n\n\nIn Slabodka, the Alter used to explain it like this: \u201cSuppose a man is sitting on the sidewalk with a big can of milk, and for every passerby he ladles out a cup.\u201d Imagine such a thing; a man is standing outside of the beis hamedrash in the morning with a can of milk and Dixie cups. And everyone who passes by, he ladles out a Dixie cup of milk. \u201cHere, take a free drink of milk.\u201d So everybody would agree that he\u2019s a public benefactor. A drink of milk to every passerby?! Milk gives a person energy. It gives him nourishment. Milk has calcium in it. It has vitamins. It makes you healthy. Milk goes into you \u2014 it changes you.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut here,\u201d says the Alter, \u201cis a man who does better than that. To every passerby, he offers a friendly smile. That helps a person physically even more than the drink of milk. Tov hamalbin shinayim l\u2019chaveiro yoser mimashkeihu chalav, it\u2019s better than giving him a glass of milk to drink. It\u2019s healthier for that person to see you smile than to get a drink of milk. It builds him up physically more than vitamins because it makes him happy, too.
\n\n\n\nSmiling Instructions
\n\n\n\nNow, is it so hard to smile at others? Not really. It could be that your face is already frozen into a scowl from so many years of not practicing this Gemara. But even so, it\u2019s not that difficult to change.
\n\n\n\nAnd to make it even easier, our Sages guided us. I told you before that even the easy things require some study; just to talk in general terms, it\u2019s not enough. And so we\u2019re fortunate that our Sages spoke about this subject.
\n\n\n\nShammai says, \u201c\u05d4\u05b1\u05d5\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea – You should receive all people with a pleasant cast of countenance\u201d (Avos 1:15). Shammai said only a few words, less than ten words, but it\u2019s full of information. Now, I\u2019m not capable of understanding the depths of a mishnah, but my regular customers know that this maxim has at least four parts to it.
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, it says, \u201ckol ha\u2019adam \u2014 all people.\u201d It means not only the person you like, who smiles at you. Kol ha\u2019adam means even a nudnick, even someone you don\u2019t like. Some people are not so pleasant.Sometimes a fellow likes to talk a lot, and you\u2019re in a hurry to get rid of him. But still, a smile you can afford to give him. That\u2019s the command of the Torah \u2014 you should greet every man with a pleasant cast of countenance. And so, that\u2019s number one to think about this week: Kol ha\u2019adam. Every person deserves from you a seiver panim yafos.
\n\n\n\nShow Your Face
\n\n\n\nNow, seiver panim yafos is three things. It says seiver and panim and yafos. It means three different things. I\u2019ll explain that.
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, it includes panim. You must show your face to a person, not your ear. Panim means you show him the front of your face, not your profile.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you walk into the house tonight and your mother says, \u201cHello, Chaim. Were there many people at the lecture tonight?\u201d You\u2019re passing by, going to your room, so without turning your head you say, \u201cYes, Ma. It was crowded.\u201d That\u2019s wrong. It says panim. It means, turn your face around.
\n\n\n\nWhen you come home from the Bais Yankev, and your mother is standing in the kitchen, are you going to walk by the kitchen and just show your mother your ear? Show your face to your mother, not the back of your head. You have neck muscles. That\u2019s what they\u2019re for, so you should show your mother your face.
\n\n\n\nNot only in the house. When you\u2019re passing by a frum Jew on the street or someone in the hall of the yeshivah, in the hall of the Bais Yankev and the person greets you, don\u2019t greet that person with your profile. Turn your face. That\u2019s number one \u2014 panim. Greet people with your face.
\n\n\n\nFriendly and Pleasant
\n\n\n\nThe second thing is, it says seiver. Seiver is from the word sevara. Sevara means thought, intention. Showing your face sometimes can be as full of expression as turning the bottom of a pan toward them. You might turn your face to your mother, your sibling, your fellow Jew, but your face is deadpan. Oh, no; the face is only part of the story. There must be some expression, some interest in your face. Show you\u2019re interested.
\n\n\n\nThere must be some seiver, some thought in the face. Show that you\u2019re thinking of that person when you look at him, that you\u2019re interested in him. Not merely a look, a stare, a meaningless expression \u2014 put some sevara into it. Think about what you\u2019re about to do when you smile at him. You want to make his day, his life, more pleasant by looking at him in a friendly way.
\n\n\n\nAnd the third part of your smile is yafos \u2014 a pleasant face! You show your face, and it\u2019s a thoughtful face, but there\u2019s a scowl? No. No! \u05d9\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5! Shine your smile on him. Show him a thoughtful smile.
\n\n\n\nSelichos Smiles
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara says you should show white teeth. Of course, if you brush your teeth every day and you\u2019re able to flash a white smile, that\u2019s the best thing; but any kind of teeth are good. Even a yellow smile, a brown smile. It\u2019s still a very great thing because any type of smile gives another person life. The warmth of friendship gives your fellow man such energy, such happiness. It makes him feel that he\u2019s somebody. You give him a friendly smile, and the whole world becomes illuminated with sunlight. You have no idea what you have done.
\n\n\n\nAnd there are no excuses. It doesn\u2019t matter if you have your own thoughts on your head, your own worries. Your face is a reshus harabbim; it\u2019s affecting other people, so it\u2019s your responsibility. Rav Yisrael Salanter related when he was a boy in the town of Salant, he once met a man on Selichos morning. Selichos in the olden days was serious business. So this man was coming from Selichos, and his face was still wet with tears. And so, when Rav Yisrael greeted him, the man barely noticed him; he was intent on his own teshuvah thoughts. He had just finished weeping through his tefillos and he barely noticed Rav Yisrael.
\n\n\n\nMany years later, Rav Yisrael wrote in his writings like this: Is it my fault that you\u2019re a y\u2019rei Shamayim? That means,do I have to suffer because you\u2019re a y\u2019rei Shamayim?You hear that? It means that whatever you have in your heart should remain there. Could be that it\u2019s evlo b\u2019libo, that there are worries on your mind, but as far as your fellow Jew, it should be tzahalaso b\u2019fanav \u2014 on your face you must show interest, and happiness.
\n\n\n\nMore Than a Minhag
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve seen this. I\u2019ve been in the company of very great men who practice this. I remember one of my rebbeim; he was an old man and in his heart he was mourning because he felt that his time was coming to an end and he hadn\u2019t accomplished enough. He looked back, and he saw his misdeeds. He was considering that soon would be the day of judgement, and he was thinking about how to make amends. It was evlo b\u2019libo, in his mind there was mourning. But even if you barged in on him while he was busy with his own thoughts, his own cheshbon hanefesh, he didn\u2019t show it! He was an oved Hashem,and therefore, to those around him he always displayed a happy face.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, make it a principle of yours this week that ya\u2019ir panav, your face should shine on people. It\u2019s an obligation! It\u2019s not merely some minhag that you\u2019ll find in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch or a bit of mussar that somebody wrote in the last generation. It\u2019s a mishnah said by the roshei Tanna\u2019im: Greet people with a pleasant cast of countenance.
\n\n\n\nWhen you meet people on the street, don\u2019t pass them by with your head down, with a hangdog look, with just the corner of your eye. You must make it your business to raise up your face and shine your countenance upon them. Practice it tonight when you get home. Practice it on your wife, or on somebody you\u2019ll meet here in the hall outside. Practice it all week long.
\n\n\n\nThe Silent Fence
\n\n\n\nNow we come to week number three of our Elul program. We practiced being quiet, and then we added to that the seiver panim yafos. And now that you\u2019re quiet and happy, your mind is available to accomplish even more. That\u2019s how the Rambam understands the words of our Sages, \u201c\u05e1\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d2 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 Silence is a fence for wisdom\u201d(Avos 3:13). When a person is prattling, words and words and more words, so his mind can\u2019t function well. But now we can begin applying our minds even more to teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nBut remember, we\u2019re looking for the teshuvah that is karov eilecha, something that\u2019s close to us, easy to do. And so, we\u2019ll talk now about transforming our ordinary deeds; not about adding more deeds, but about taking our regular deeds and using them to fulfill this passuk of shuvu el Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhat Set Them Apart
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re going to quote the Mesillas Yesharim at the end of chapter sixteen. He talks there about the great men of our past who were chosen by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. \u201cNow, it really is worthwhile to study the following subject,\u201d he says, \u201cthe subject of why Hakadosh Baruch Hu favored these great personalities.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a subject we should investigate. What was the reason Hakadosh Baruch Hu loved Avraham so greatly? Why did He love Moshe Rabbeinu so greatly? We think we know. We know that Avraham had ten trials, asarah nisyonos, and he passed them all successfully, and so on. Moshe Rabbeinu was devoted to his people, and he was a servant of Hashem with all his heart; an eved ne\u2019eman. So we think we know what made them great. But we\u2019re making a big error. We don\u2019t understand at all the greatness of our great men.
\n\n\n\nNow listen to what the Mesillas Yesharim says. I\u2019ll read it in English: He says, \u201cThis, in truth, is the test that the servants of Hashem were tested with, and this is what set apart each one according to his degree of greatness. What was the test? It was a test of who was capable of purifying his heart more \u2014 he was the one who was closer to Hashem and more beloved to Him.\u201d What does that mean? So, he explains: \u201cWhen they did their ordinary deeds \u2014 not the great deeds that are written about in the Torah, the heroic deeds of self-sacrifice that we always speak about \u2014 but even their daily deeds, they were done with the intention of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu.\u201d
\n\n\n\nElevated Thoughts
\n\n\n\nWhen Avraham Avinu was busy managing his sheep and his cattle \u2014 that was his business: raising livestock \u2014 he was thinking always about serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When Avraham was in his tent with Sarah, or Sarah was in the tent with Avraham, each one was thinking about how to talk in a way that would serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When they sat down to eat, they ate with the thought, \u201cHow can I please Hakadosh Baruch Hu with my eating?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, anybody who would have been present wouldn\u2019t have heard anything. You might have heard great things, too; no question that whatever words were exchanged were noble words, but what was doing in their minds no reporter could have noted. No tape recorder would have recorded what was doing. They were just thoughts in their minds. And the Mesillas Yesharim says that it was these thoughts that made them great. \u201cThe true nobility of these great people,\u201d he says, \u201cwas the way they lived in their inner lives, the way they thought.\u201d They lived l\u2019sheim Shamayim.
\n\n\n\nConstant Service
\n\n\n\nAnd our Sages say that this attitude, this way of life, applies to every single one of us. The mishnah is talking to all of us when it says, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2014 All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven\u201d(Avos 2:12).
\n\n\n\nNow, when the Rambam quotes that mishnah, he says it\u2019s a remarkable statement. When we learn it, we don\u2019t see anything remarkable. Certainly, everything should be done l\u2019sheim Shamayim; why not? But the Rambam is nispa\u2019el from this statement! He\u2019s excited over this statement because those words are the heart of our lives. It means that we can live our lives \u2014 our ordinary lives \u2014 as ovdei Hashem. We can try as much as we can that with every physical, material act that we do, as much as possible we can do them for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s a greatness that\u2019s so easily available to all of us. Because people spend a lot of time and effort doing things; you spend effort on your home, on preparing meals, on cleaning the house; you spend effort on taking care of your clothing, on slaving away in the office or the factory. Who doesn\u2019t spend hours during the week for material things in his home and his business?!
\n\n\n\nEmulating Hashem
\n\n\n\nAnd all those hours, all those materialistic parts of our lives, can be easily transformed by means of our thoughts. It costs no money; no physical effort is involved. Ki karov eilecha hadavar me\u2019od, how close this thing is to you, b\u2019ficha, just with your mouth, uvilvavcha, and with your heart, with your mind, la\u2019asoso, to do it.
\n\n\n\nWhen a mother feeds her child, if she does it like the lady next door does it \u2014 Mrs. Dominick also feeds her child; Mrs. Jones also feeds her child with compassion \u2014 so if Mrs. Levine and Mrs. Cohen merely do the same, what a missed opportunity that is! Because if a Jewish woman will feed her child and think that she\u2019s an emissary of the One Who is \u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df, He opens His hand and satiates all the living \u2014this Jewish mother is thinking, \u201cI\u2019m opening up my hand, but I feel like my hand is the hand of Hashem, kaveyachol\u201d \u2014 you know what that means?! She has taken a simple act that everybody does, and she has elevated it into one of the greatest forms of service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu!
\n\n\n\nImagine a butcher standing behind the counter, serving meat to his customers. He\u2019s wasting such an easy opportunity to acquire greatness. Instead, all he\u2019s acquiring is money. If only he would think while he\u2019s standing behind the counter, \u201cAh, let these Jews enjoy life. Let this big Jewish family enjoy a good piece of meat.\u201d Just by means of those easy thoughts he would transform himself.
\n\n\n\nCreating Children
\n\n\n\nOrdinary married life becomes transformed by thinking l\u2019sheim Shamayim thoughts. When a man and woman get married, instead of merely marrying because he wants a wife and she wants a husband, if they would add the thoughts of building the Am Yisrael, you know what a big reward they would have?! Imagine! A chassan is standing under the chuppah must think, \u201cI\u2019m marrying my kallah because I want to raise up a generation of avdei Hashem.\u201d Of course, he couldn\u2019t tell that to this young girl because she\u2019ll feel that she\u2019s being robbed of romance, but the truth is, that\u2019s what they both should be thinking. And it\u2019s what they can and should always be thinking, all the time, even many years after the chasunah. It\u2019s going to transform all the humdrum days of marriage into avodas Hashem of the highest level.
\n\n\n\nWhy shouldn\u2019t each child be the result of a noble intent? The children will come naturally \u2014 they\u2019re Orthodox people; they\u2019ll have a lot of children. But why should they come as accidents? Isn\u2019t that a tragedy? We\u2019re not talking now about the number of children \u2014 let\u2019s say you\u2019ll have a lot of children anyhow, but why should they be conceived and born and raised in the same way as gentile babies?
\n\n\n\nAfter all, the gentiles are working, too; all over the world people are working and living and supporting children and marrying off children. Italians also want nachas from their children. Puerto Ricans also want nachas. But when Jews want nachas from children not because of selfish motives, that\u2019s an entirely new way of living. Now, you can\u2019t help being selfish, but if in addition to the selfish motive, you\u2019re able to add one more thought of \u201cI\u2019m doing it for Hashem,\u201d that\u2019s the biggest teshuvah you can do.
\n\n\n\nEating Right
\n\n\n\nNow, this is a subject that\u2019s so important that we should go on for hours quoting examples how this should be applied.Because everything in life becomes different; everything becomes noble. Even eating becomes teshuvah. You know, if you ate something before you came here with the intent of coming here to the lecture, so that means you ate in order to come a little closer to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nYou didn\u2019t do it? It\u2019s okay, because you\u2019ll be eating again, I\u2019m sure. Tonight, when you get home, if you didn\u2019t eat yet and you\u2019re going to have supper, as you sit down at the table, it wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea not to rely just on your thoughts, but say with your mouth, \u201cI\u2019m going to eat now in order to make my body healthy so I should be able to serve Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYour wife shouldn\u2019t hear you because she\u2019ll say you\u2019re a big hypocrite. She\u2019ll say, \u201cChaim! Who are you kidding? You\u2019re eating because you have a big appetite.\u201d And she\u2019s right \u2014 you are a hypocrite. But you\u2019re training yourself, and after a while the idea will grow on you. So don\u2019t tell anybody the secret. Between you and Hashem, say, \u201cHashem, I\u2019m doing it for You.\u201d \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05dc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m eating it to serve Hashem, in order to have power, to have strength to serve Hashem.\u201d If you\u2019ll do that, you\u2019re already a head taller than everyone else.
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t it a tragedy if you go into the Yom Hadin and you never thought once that you\u2019re eating l\u2019sheim Shamayim?! You never went to sleep l\u2019sheim Shamayim? You never went into your office to work l\u2019sheim Shamayim?
\n\n\n\nAnd the greater tragedy is that it costs no money; no physical effort is involved. Ki karov eilecha hadavar me\u2019od, how close this thing is to you, b\u2019ficha, just with your mouth, uvilvavcha, and with your heart, with your mind, la\u2019asoso, to do it. And it\u2019s because this road to teshuvah is so immensely easy that the responsibility for it is so immensely vast.
\n\n\n\nFear is Obligatory
\n\n\n\nAnd now we come to week number four, the last week before Rosh Hashanah. It means that the Day of Judgement is coming, and that means that it\u2019s time to become afraid, to learn some yiras Shamayim. Now, I understand that today the rabbanim don\u2019t want to talk too much about fear of Hashem \u2014 it\u2019s all love and happiness; nothing to fear at all \u2014 but here we like to talk truth, and the truth is that it\u2019s a mitzvah of the Torah to learn to be afraid of Hashem constantly.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just any mitzvah \u2014 it\u2019s the pinnacle of success! You remember when Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to praise Avraham Avinu after the tenth test that He gave him, the Akeidah, and Avraham passed the test successfully \u2014 what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu say about him? What words, what title did He give him? He said, \u201c\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2014 Now I know that you are a man who fears Elokim\u201d (Bereishis 22:12). To fear Hashem, that\u2019s the paramount achievement.
\n\n\n\nSo how can a person live his life without being afraid of Hashem? He loves Judaism, very good. He loves mitzvos; he\u2019s enthusiastic about them \u2014 excellent. He may even learn a lot of Torah. All very good. But where is the fear? What about being afraid of Hashem?
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a mitzvah in the Torah, a very great obligation, to learn to be afraid of Hashem constantly. Not just awe, or respect \u2014 real fear,to actually be afraid of Hashem. Afraid of everything that could happen, chas v\u2019shalom; afraid of what Hashem could do, what He could inscribe for the coming year, or the coming years.
\n\n\n\nThe More, the Better
\n\n\n\nAnd so, at least this one week before Rosh Hashanah there\u2019s no question that we can try a little bit to become yarei Shamayim. To learn, to train ourselves constantly to have that in our hearts, is an important form of teshuvah. Everyone after all must have at least some fear of Hashem as he comes before Him at the Great Tribunal, and therefore, even if everything is going smoothly, even when you\u2019re doing things that are proper, you\u2019re fulfilling everything, still you must bring into your heart a fear of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, just to say, \u201cBe afraid of Hashem\u201d \u2014 that won\u2019t mean much. We\u2019re looking for a way that\u2019s karov eilecha; something we can grab onto and make part of our lives; something we can do without adding any new obligations and yet it should still be a big teshuvah.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s take a few examples. And it would be a good idea to make use of them as much as you can during this last week before Rosh Hashanah. Of course, once you get used to them, so you\u2019ll continue with them next year, too; why not? After all, the more yiras Hashem the better. So let\u2019s begin.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Let It Go to Waste
\n\n\n\nYou read the newspapers; of course it\u2019s a waste of time, but sometimes you pass by a garbage can and pick up a newspaper and you see that in Rwanda, some place in Africa, thousands of children are dying of starvation and disease. Thousands upon thousands! And they\u2019re busy all the time fighting against each other. Many of them have been killed by other native tribes who wanted to have dominion over them.
\n\n\n\nNow, who thinks about such things? Somewhere in Africa the natives are killing each other \u2014 that\u2019s my business? Yes, it\u2019s most definitely your business. You know how I know that? It\u2019s a Gemara in Yevamos (63a): \u201c\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bb\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2014 Troubles come on the world only because of the Am Yisrael.\u201dAnd Rashi says, \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05dd \u2014 to make Jews afraid, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b0\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 so that they should do teshuvah.\u201dThat\u2019s one of the big reasons that things happen in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, if you think it\u2019s none of your business, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \u201cWhat do you mean?! I\u2019m telling you it\u2019s your business, and you\u2019re saying no?! I\u2019m wasting My resources because of you! I\u2019m killing those people so that you should learn from them, and you say it\u2019s not your business?!\u201d And therefore, Hashem has a big claim against us, \u201cLook what I am doing! \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u2014 I\u2019m killing people, human beings with families, and you are wasting the opportunity that I\u2019m giving you?! You\u2019re not using it to become more and more afraid of Me?! What a waste!\u201d
\n\n\n\nReasons for Death
\n\n\n\nIt means that when you read that there is a famine in India and people are dying of starvation, you\u2019re supposed to become much more frum because of that! \u201cOoh, if I were there, how terrible it would be! And if Hashem wants to, chalilah, He can make the same thing happen right here in New York.\u201d Don\u2019t think it\u2019s not so! That\u2019s why they\u2019re dying, to make us afraid of Hashem\u2019s power.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a passuk that everybody knows: \u201c\u05d4\u05b2\u05d9\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05d7\u05b7 – If He sends suffering on the nations, isn\u2019t He showing something? \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2014 He is teaching people da\u2019as; He\u2019s teaching us to be afraid\u201d (Tehillim 94:10).
\n\n\n\nHashem has His plans and His intentions, and whatever He does to the nations is certainly just, but Hashem\u2019s main intention is to teach us to fear Him. And so, whenever you hear something happen in the world, don\u2019t say, \u201cIt has nothing to do with me. It\u2019s interesting, but what\u2019s it my business?\u201d It\u2019s your business especially.
\n\n\n\nCrashes Happen
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a Pan Am airplane with 300 people on it, and it crashed into the Pacific Ocean. So what does the fool say? \u201cWell, in most of the cases airplanes don\u2019t crash, so I don\u2019t have to think about that.\u201d Or, \u201cI don\u2019t do those things anyhow; I don\u2019t travel on airplanes. I travel on buses and trains, not airplanes.\u201d And if you hear it happened on a bus; \u201cOh, that bus is someplace else, far away. I don\u2019t go in that neighborhood at all.\u201d There\u2019s no end to the teirutzim you can use to dodge the opportunity to learn.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a terrible mistake. You\u2019re misusing the airplane crash. That tragedy was for you, to remind you to learn yiras Hashem. Nobody knows when he\u2019s going to be sentenced, chas v\u2019shalom. A person may be packing his valise, full of joy for a happy trip. He doesn\u2019t know that he is going now to his final execution. And therefore, a man must always be prepared with yiras Hashem. At all times a person should think, \u201cWho knows what could happen to me because of my aveiros?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHakadosh Baruch Hu has ways and means of carrying out His retribution. Chas v\u2019shalom, crossing a street \u2014 cars are coming from all directions. Suddenly a car turns, and it\u2019s going too fast to stop. Sometimes it jumps the curb, and there\u2019s nothing you can do about it. It\u2019s too late. You have to be afraid!
\n\n\n\nSo this week, as you\u2019re walking down the sidewalk, say, \u201cRibono Shel Olam! Please let me get home safely! I\u2019m afraid. I promise You that when I get home I won\u2019t talk to my wife the way I spoke to her this morning. I won\u2019t speak back to my mother like I did last night. I\u2019ll be a good boy from now on.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIllness for a Purpose
\n\n\n\nBecausethese things happen suddenly, and constantly. Every day there are accidents in the home. And therefore, people should learn to be afraid of Hashem \u2014 not to live in fear of things that might happen, but to live in fear of Hashem, Who can make anything happen.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t we constantly hear about people who contracted serious illnesses? Rashi explains the purpose of illness in this world. The statement Rashi makes is as follows: Illness is for the purpose of making us afraid, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1, so that we should do teshuvah. Suddenly a cell in a man\u2019s body goes wild; it begins to misbehave. Nobody can be certain that, chas v\u2019shalom, something like that won\u2019t suddenly happen to him. Illness should make you afraid of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNot only, chalilah, our own illness; somebody else\u2019s illness, too. You see, on all sides, things happening to people who never expected it. There could be a boy fourteen years old who\u2019s perfectly well, getting ready to enjoy a long happy life. And suddenly he gets a certain pain in his neck, and he\u2019s taken to the hospital and they discover he has leukemia. Leukemia! \u201cAy yah yay!\u201d he says. \u201cWhy did it happen to me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen you hear a story like that, be afraid! Why didn\u2019t it, chalilah, happen to you? It\u2019s a scary thought, the thought of death, and it should make you afraid of Hashem. \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 Before Hashem should kneel all those who go down in the dirt\u201d (Tehillim 22:30).Everybody knows that someday he will die and be buried, and that\u2019s why he should be afraid of Hashem. The eimas hamavess, the prospect of eventual death, must make everybody afraid.
\n\n\n\nFun to Be Outside
\n\n\n\nAs you pass by a cemetery, don\u2019t merely say, \u201cBaruch Hashem, I\u2019m on this side of the fence.\u201d That\u2019s a good idea, by the way. Or when you pass a funeral parlor, say, \u201cBaruch Hashem, it\u2019s fun to be on the outside.\u201d But at the same time utilize it to think, \u201cI have to be afraid of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhen you pass a medical center, you see signs outside. Here is a specialist in sicknesses of the jaw muscles. Did you know you need a specialist for that? Yes, when the muscles in the jaw go wrong, it is a painful existence for that person. He needs a specialist.
\n\n\n\nThere are specialists for stomach ailments, and specialists for heart disease. There\u2019s a whole list there. You should read that whole list and gain yiras Shamayim from it.
\n\n\n\nRemain Outside
\n\n\n\nThink about all the things people are suffering from; there are plenty of customers there, oh yes! When you pass a hospital, in addition to saying a tefillah for all the cholei Yisrael in the hospital, don\u2019t forget to gain more yiras Shamayim. That sick person in the hospital also once walked outside of the hospital and never thought he would be inside. So be afraid!
\n\n\n\nAnd if you make it your business to utilize the hospital to learn yiras Shamayim, and you keep on doing that, then you won\u2019t have to be inside. You\u2019ll be able to remain outside because you\u2019re learning the lessons before they come closer to home.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the best way to conclude your Elul, with yiras Shamayim. \u201c\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2014 The first thing you have to learn is to be afraid of Hashem!\u201d(Tehillim 111:10) That\u2019s the first thing, the best thing, to take with you into the new year. You want to live? You want to be well? You want to have a happy new year filled with happiness and success and good health? Be afraid of Hashem!
\n\n\n\nYou Need a Plan
\n\n\n\nAnd so, we come back now to that statement in the Torah. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea, this commandment that I am commanding you today to do teshuvah, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0, is not in the sky. Will you have to go up into the sky to bring it down? No, it\u2019s not that difficult. \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b5\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0, it\u2019s not overseas. You don\u2019t have to travel to Eretz Yisrael, to the Kosel, to do teshuvah. You don\u2019t have to go anywhere. It\u2019s right here. Where is it? It\u2019s right inside of you. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3, it\u2019s in your heart, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c2\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9.
\n\n\n\nAll you have to do is make up your mind that you\u2019re willing to serve Hashem in these ways. Nothing of great effort is required of you; no big expense, no mesiras nefesh.
\n\n\n\nBut you must have at least a few specific things that you\u2019re going to work on changing. It has to be a \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1, a clear-cut plan; something you can sink your teeth into.
\n\n\n\nGrab Hold of Something
\n\n\n\nTo say in general, \u201cI\u2019m going to be good this year,\u201d is better than nothing, but not much better. To talk in general means almost nothing at all because \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05bb\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u2014 If you try to grab too much at one time, you\u2019re going to grab nothing at all. It\u2019s all going to fall out of your hand. But when you specify something clear-cut, then you\u2019ll be able to carry it out. \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d8 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u2014 If you grab a little bit at a time, you\u2019ll be able to hold on to it.
\n\n\n\nBut \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc means that you\u2019re grabbing onto it. You\u2019re holding on to that little bit very tightly. And that\u2019s what we talked about here tonight \u2014 four easy paths of shuvu el Hashem that we can hold onto without letting go. And if you take these ideas that you heard here tonight, and you get busy doing them, that\u2019s the teshuvah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants most. It\u2019s v\u2019shuvu el Hashem \u2014you\u2019re coming back to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd even though there may be many more things that you should be doing that you\u2019re not, but at least there are a few things you are doing. Hashem will see that you\u2019re headed in the right direction. And if you\u2019re headed in the right direction, then \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d8\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e1\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 If you\u2019re trying to get better, He\u2019ll help you go further and further (Menachos 29b). You\u2019ll get siyata d\u2019Shmaya to do more and more, and you\u2019ll live many more years of happiness and accomplishment in avodas Hashem.
\nThe post Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T04:57:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T04:57:18+00:00" }, { "id": 34847, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-reeh-5-elul-made-easy/", "title": "Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy", "content_html": "TA-Reeh-5782The post Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T04:54:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T04:54:44+00:00" }, { "id": 34838, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-reeh-5-elul-made-easy/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy", "content_html": "TA-Reeh-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Re\u2019eh 5 – Elul Made Easy appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T04:54:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T04:54:10+00:00" }, { "id": 34836, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-original-sefer-de-musar/", "title": "El original S\u00e9fer de Musar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo estudiaba la gente Musar antes de que tuvi\u00e9ramos el Mesilat Iesharim y el Jovot Halevavot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAntes de que tuvi\u00e9ramos esos sefarim, la gente estudiaba Musar de la Guemar\u00e1, del s\u00e9fer Mishl\u00e9 y del S\u00e9fer Devarim. El Shel\u00e1 dice que en el Sefer Devarim tienes todo el musar de todos los sefarim de musar. La diferencia es esta: cuando estudias jumash, si es simple, si no es dif\u00edcil, lo leemos r\u00e1pido. Cuando ellos estudiaban Jumash, incluso las declaraciones m\u00e1s simples sol\u00edan meditar sobre ellas. Profundizaban y estudiaban el musar del S\u00e9fer Devarim. El S\u00e9fer Devarim es la sala del tesoro del Musar. Esa es una lecci\u00f3n muy importante.
\n\n\n\nY luego, por supuesto, Mishl\u00e9. \u00a1Mishl\u00e9 tiene tremendas lecciones! Todos los divr\u00e9 neviim est\u00e1n llenos de musar. Nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200bestudiaban los neviim de una manera que era superior a lo que el Jovot Halevavot o el Mesilat Iesharim o el Shaar\u00e9 Teshuv\u00e1 pueden ense\u00f1arte. Es s\u00f3lo porque la gente perdi\u00f3 la capacidad de comprender correctamente, de utilizar adecuadamente las palabras de los kadmonim, que se hizo necesario tener sefarim de musar.
\n\n\n\nEs como en los viejos tiempos cuando quer\u00edan entrenar a un beb\u00e9 para que comiera. El ni\u00f1o a\u00fan no ten\u00eda dientes, entonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo los preparaban las madres para comer alimentos cuando quer\u00edan destetarlos de la leche materna? La madre sol\u00eda masticar la comida y ponerla en la boca del ni\u00f1o. As\u00ed es como sol\u00edan hacerlo; la madre masticaba la comida en su propia boca y luego la pon\u00eda en la boca del ni\u00f1o. As\u00ed era como el ni\u00f1o aprend\u00eda a comer. Era masticado previamente por la madre. As\u00ed era en los viejos tiempos.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, cuando perdimos la capacidad de masticar y saborear el verdadero significado de los pesukim de Mishl\u00e9 y del Jumash, etc., tuvimos que tener el Jovot Halevavot que lo masticaron y lo digirieron previamente para nosotros. Pero en realidad los kadmonim entend\u00edan musar mucho mejor que nosotros, incluso sin el beneficio de esos sefarim posteriores.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #966 (agosto de 1994)
\nThe post El original S\u00e9fer de Musar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-21T04:36:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-21T04:36:01+00:00" }, { "id": 34833, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/evadir-impuestos/", "title": "Evadir impuestos ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo debemos responder al hecho de que mucha gente frum hace trampa con los impuestos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, presta atenci\u00f3n. \u00bfQu\u00e9 crees que hace la gente no frum? Es una pregunta tonta esto de, “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los jud\u00edos frum?” No tiene nada que ver con los frum. Todos los contadores se ocupan de hacer ahorrar dinero a sus clientes con respecto a sus impuestos. Inventan todo tipo de gastos. En todo el mundo la gente enga\u00f1a al gobierno. No digo que debas hacerlo. No, no digo que debas hacerlo, no, pero la gente lo hace. No culpes a nadie por lo que hacen los dem\u00e1s. No digo que la gente frum haga eso, pero si hacen trampa con los impuestos, no son los \u00fanicos.
\n\n\n\nNo digas “la gente frum hace trampa”. Puedes preguntarme: “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 la gente en este mundo hace trampa con los impuestos?” Bien, esa es una pregunta. La respuesta es que no quieren pagar impuestos, eso es todo.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCrees que los gentiles no enga\u00f1an con los impuestos? \u00bfLos jud\u00edos reformistas no enga\u00f1an con los impuestos? \u00a1Despi\u00e9rtate! Es una idea tan tonta. Desafortunadamente todo el mundo hace trampa con los impuestos.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, solo preguntan por los frum. Es como me dijo una vez un hombre: \u201c\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los muchachos de la ieshiv\u00e1 est\u00e1n sentados estudiando Guemar\u00e1? \u00a1Deber\u00edan levantarse y salir a la calle y hacer que la gente se convierta en baal\u00e9 teshuvot en lugar de estudiar Guemar\u00e1!\u201d. Eso es lo que me dijo. As\u00ed que le dije: \u201cSupongamos que ves gente jugando a las cartas. \u00bfLes dices: \u201cPor qu\u00e9 est\u00e1n jugando a las cartas? Deber\u00edan levantarse y caminar por la calle y ayudar a la gente a hacer teshuv\u00e1\u201d. No, cuando est\u00e1n jugando a las cartas, no tienes ninguna taan\u00e1 contra ellos. Cuando estudian Tor\u00e1, los criticas por estudiar Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post Evadir impuestos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-18T21:21:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-18T21:21:56+00:00" }, { "id": 34830, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%91-%d7%90-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a2-%d7%a9%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91-%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%91%d7%95%d7%93-%d7%90%d7%91-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d1: \u05d0 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05e9\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1, \u05db\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea, \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d3\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05e8?", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-232The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d1: \u05d0 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05e9\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1, \u05db\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea, \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d3\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05e8? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-18T16:19:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-18T16:19:31+00:00" }, { "id": 34823, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hiding-your-judaism-at-work/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hiding Your Judaism At Work", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should I put up my payos and hide my tzitzis when I go to work?
A:
\n\n\n\nIt depends. Sometimes I would say yes. It depends. After all, parnassa is very important.
\n\n\n\nBut many times people are unnecessarily embarrassed. Look; here\u2019s a Hindu, lehavdil. A Hindu is coming in with big pants, a mile too big for him, and a big shirt, also a mile too big for him. And he\u2019s wearing a turban too. He\u2019s not embarrassed!
\n\n\n\nAnd how many Hindus are there around here? But lehavdil, the Jews, there are plenty of them, so we have less reason to be embarrassed.
\n\n\n\nAnd so in most cases it won\u2019t harm you. However I would say that in your individual case you should consult your local rav or rebbe. I wouldn\u2019t tell you a general rule because parnasa is very important. Consult your local rav and rebbe if you want to know how far you should go.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-59 (May 1996)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hiding Your Judaism At Work appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-18T02:55:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-18T02:55:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34921, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-ekev/", "title": "Paracha \u00c9k\u00e8v", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Ekev-5782The post Paracha \u00c9k\u00e8v appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-17T21:40:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-24T21:41:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34821, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/ocultar-el-judaismo-en-el-trabajo/", "title": "Ocultar el Juda\u00edsmo en el trabajo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebo esconder mis peot y los tzitziot cuando voy a trabajar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEso depende. A veces dir\u00eda que s\u00ed. Pero depende. Despu\u00e9s de todo, la parnas\u00e1 es muy importante.
\n\n\n\nPero muchas veces la gente se averg\u00fcenza innecesariamente. Por ejemplo, un hind\u00fa, lehavdil. Un hind\u00fa entra con pantalones grandes, un talle demasiado grande para \u00e9l, y una camisa grande, tambi\u00e9n un talle demasiado grande para \u00e9l. Y tambi\u00e9n lleva un turbante. \u00a1Y no se averg\u00fcenza!
\n\n\n\n\u00bfY cu\u00e1ntos hind\u00faes hay por aqu\u00ed? Y lehavdil, los jud\u00edos, somos muchos, as\u00ed que tenemos menos razones para estar avergonzados.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, en la mayor\u00eda de los casos, no te har\u00e1 da\u00f1o. Sin embargo, dir\u00eda que en tu caso individual debes consultar con tu rav. No te dir\u00eda una regla general porque la parnas\u00e1 es muy importante. Consulta con tu rav si deseas saber hasta d\u00f3nde debes llegar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-59 (mayo de 1996)
\nThe post Ocultar el Juda\u00edsmo en el trabajo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-17T16:09:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-17T16:09:55+00:00" }, { "id": 34812, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/quien-entrega-el-guet/", "title": "Qui\u00e9n entrega el Guet", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 un hombre puede darle a su esposa el guet, mientras que la esposa no puede exigir el guet ni dar el guet?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEste hombre est\u00e1 diciendo que es injusto que una esposa no pueda exigir el guet mientras que un esposo puede dar el guet a su voluntad.
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar, es cierto que, seg\u00fan la Tor\u00e1, un esposo puede dar el guet a voluntad, pero no hoy en d\u00eda. Hoy en d\u00eda, el hombre no puede dar el guet a menos que su esposa acepte recibir el guet. Y esa es una takan\u00e1 establecida desde hace mucho tiempo por Rabenu Guershom. Ning\u00fan hombre puede dar un guet a menos que su esposa est\u00e9 de acuerdo. Si ella no da su consentimiento, \u00e9l no puede dar el guet. Y \u00e9l nunca podr\u00e1 casarse con nadie m\u00e1s a menos que ella acepte recibir el guet. Pero originalmente el din Tor\u00e1 mideOrait\u00e1 era que un hombre puede dar el guet sin el consentimiento de su esposa.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si te preguntas por qu\u00e9 el din original era as\u00ed, la explicaci\u00f3n es bastante simple. Porque tenemos que entender que seg\u00fan la Tor\u00e1 (no s\u00f3lo seg\u00fan la Tor\u00e1; no quiero limitar esto a la Tor\u00e1, lehavdil, as\u00ed eran los est\u00e1ndares de toda la humanidad antes de que se corrompieran por las ideas modernas) cuando una mujer se casa, queda bajo la jurisdicci\u00f3n de su marido. Ella y su esposo no son simplemente dos socios. Ese es un error que s\u00f3lo recientemente se promulg\u00f3. En todas las naciones del mundo se entend\u00eda que el marido es el capit\u00e1n del barco. \u00a1Y s\u00f3lo hay un capit\u00e1n! \u00a1No dos! Ahora bien, puedo decir esto porque no me importa lo que piense la gente; por eso puedo decirte la verdad.
\n\n\n\nY expliqu\u00e9 hace poco que el capit\u00e1n lleva un uniforme especial: la barba. Es una se\u00f1al de que \u00e9l es el jefe. Por supuesto, si te la quitas, entonces es tu culpa. Si eres el capit\u00e1n y te quitas la insignia de capit\u00e1n, todos los marineros pensar\u00e1n que son tan bueno como t\u00fa. Y, por lo tanto, las feministas miran a todos los progresistas de cara afeitada y no ven ninguna raz\u00f3n por la que deber\u00edan ser diferentes. Mientras que si todos los hombres usaran su uniforme, entonces las feministas ni siquiera pensar\u00edan en hacer una revoluci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nSuzy B. Anthony, de mala memoria, comenz\u00f3 sus actividades s\u00f3lo despu\u00e9s de que la gente comenz\u00f3 a afeitarse. Antes de que comenzaran a afeitarse, no pod\u00eda abrir la boca. \u00a1Hubiera sido rid\u00edculo! \u00bfUna persona sin barba se hubiera atrevido a hablar? Todos los presidentes ten\u00edan barba. Todos los generales ten\u00edan barba. Todos los soldados ten\u00edan barba. A nadie se le ocurrir\u00eda una cosa tan rid\u00edcula como poner a una mujer primera ministra o incluso que una mujer deber\u00eda estar en el Congreso. Todo el mundo en el Congreso ten\u00eda barba. Algunos ten\u00edan barbas as\u00ed, otros ten\u00edan barbas as\u00e1; todos los estilos de barbas, pero todos portaban la identificaci\u00f3n de var\u00f3n. Eso es sentido com\u00fan seg\u00fan la naturaleza y as\u00ed lo plane\u00f3 Bor\u00e9 Olam. S\u00f3lo despu\u00e9s de que comenzaron a romper los est\u00e1ndares de la humanidad, las cosas comenzaron a cambiar.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, es cierto que los romanos no ten\u00edan barba, pero los romanos ten\u00edan muchas cosas que nadie, incluso hoy en d\u00eda, quisiera emular. Los romanos ten\u00edan, por ejemplo, la idea de pasar un buen rato un domingo por la tarde, llevar a la esposa e hijos al circo donde ver\u00edas a los hombres siendo devorados vivos por los leones. Y aunque hicimos muchos avances en los \u00faltimos diez a\u00f1os, todav\u00eda no llegamos a ese nivel. A eso no llegamos todav\u00eda. Por lo tanto, no podemos medirnos a nosotros mismos por la llamada “civilizaci\u00f3n” romana.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, cuando una mujer se casa, primero tiene que decidir que eso es todo. \u00a1O no te casas con \u00e9l o si lo haces, eso es todo! Y estar\u00e1s en ese matrimonio para siempre. Y si no te vas a comportar adecuadamente, te va a echar.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, s\u00e9 que las damas se rebelar\u00e1n ante esto. Incluso mujeres buenas. Las chicas ortodoxas de hoy se rebelar\u00e1n ante esto porque las ideas de la calle han permeado todos los niveles de la sociedad. Pero en los tiempos antiguos, incluso entre los no jud\u00edos era de sentido com\u00fan que ten\u00eda que haber un capit\u00e1n y ten\u00eda que haber obediencia.
\n\n\n\nPor eso, si el ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o no quer\u00eda levantarse por la ma\u00f1ana para ir a trabajar o ir a la escuela en las generaciones anteriores, no hab\u00eda tal cosa como dejar que se saliera con la suya. \u00a1Hoy tienes ni\u00f1os que no van a la escuela en absoluto! \u00a1Los ni\u00f1os de trece a\u00f1os no van a la escuela! \u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9? Porque no hay un padre. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no hay un padre? Porque hay divorcios. Ella va a los tribunales. Qquiere ser independiente. Y \u00e9l tiene que mantenerla. El esposo la mantiene y ella vive con su hijo. Entonces el hijo si no quiere ir a la escuela, no va a la escuela. \u00a1Tienes muchos chicos hoy en d\u00eda que no van a la escuela en absoluto! \u00bfQu\u00e9 hacen? No quiero contarles las cosas malas que hacen. Traen chicas a casa con ellos. Y como est\u00e1n con su madre, todo vale. Pero en los viejos tiempos…
\n\n\n\nUna vez vi un art\u00edculo, esto fue hace mucho tiempo, y describ\u00eda qu\u00e9 pa\u00eds de Europa tiene menos delincuencia juvenil. Y se explic\u00f3 que Italia era el lugar. Y la raz\u00f3n era porque en Italia el padre era el jefe. El marido era el jefe. Su palabra era ley. As\u00ed era hace mucho tiempo atr\u00e1s. Y por lo tanto, hab\u00eda la menor delincuencia juvenil. Necesitas una mano fuerte para dirigir a la familia. Por supuesto, a veces el padre es el d\u00e9bil. A veces la madre es m\u00e1s fuerte, pero en general ese es el principio.
\n\n\n\nY por eso es primordial, es importante que el esposo tuviera la \u00faltima palabra. “Si quieres seguir siendo mi esposa, entonces tendr\u00e1s que cooperar”.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, por supuesto, tambi\u00e9n hab\u00eda injusticias. En cada sistema hay algo injusto para algunas personas, pero la mayor\u00eda de las mujeres se beneficiaban m\u00e1s de lo que se beneficiaron despu\u00e9s de obtener el derecho a oponerse al guet de su marido. Por qu\u00e9 hicieron esa takan\u00e1, tienes que preguntarle a Rabenu Gershom. No entrar\u00e9 en eso ahora, pero realmente es cierto que en general no fue un beneficio porque mucha infelicidad result\u00f3 de eso.
\n\n\n\nCuando una mujer sabe que as\u00ed son las cosas, entonces se decide a aceptarlo y vivir de esta manera y disfrutar; y puede vivir hasta 120 a\u00f1os bajo la hegemon\u00eda de su marido. Pero cuando tiene ideas que tal vez hay esperanza de estallar, tal vez pueda rebelarse, tal vez pueda hacer una revoluci\u00f3n, entonces eso le causa mucho malestar, inquietud e infelicidad. La gente es feliz cuando deciden por ellos. Es un hecho que en los hogares estables, donde hay una autoridad, hay mucha m\u00e1s felicidad que en los hogares liberales donde la gente puede hacer lo que quiere y las mujeres pueden separarse m\u00e1s f\u00e1cilmente de sus maridos. En primer lugar, compiten con ellos en autoridad y, a veces, buscan obtener la ventaja en autoridad y el final es la separaci\u00f3n y el divorcio. Y todo el dolor y las tragedias que siguen y los hogares rotos.
\n\n\n\nY hoy en d\u00eda, de cada cuatro parejas que se casan, tres acaban divorci\u00e1ndose. Y entonces, es una epidemia, lo que significa una epidemia de infelicidad.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, el sistema moderno no tiene nada que decir a su favor. \u00a1Nada en absoluto a su favor! No es m\u00e1s que infelicidad. Y el viejo sistema era un sistema que aseguraba la m\u00e1xima felicidad.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no hay ning\u00fan sistema que sea infalible. Ning\u00fan sistema garantizar\u00e1 la felicidad. No hay verdadera felicidad en este mundo de todos modos. No se puede tener felicidad perfecta. Siempre habr\u00e1 alguna queja contra cualquier sistema, pero el sistema de la Tor\u00e1 garantizar\u00e1 la menor cantidad de infelicidad.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #287 (noviembre de 1979)
\nThe post Qui\u00e9n entrega el Guet appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-17T04:00:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-17T04:00:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34806, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-who-gives-the-gett/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Who Gives The\u00a0Gett", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is it that a man can give his wife a gett, whereas the wife cannot demand a gett or give a gett?
A:
\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s saying that it\u2019s unfair that a wife cannot demand a gett whereas a husband can give a gett at his will.
\n\n\n\nFirst of all it\u2019s true that according to the Torah a husband could give a\u00a0gett\u00a0at will, but not today.\u00a0 Today, he cannot give a\u00a0gett\u00a0unless his wife consents to take the\u00a0gett.\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s a long established takanah from Rabeinu Gershom.\u00a0 No man can give a\u00a0gett\u00a0unless his wife consents.\u00a0 If she doesn\u2019t consent, he just cannot give a\u00a0gett.\u00a0 And he can never marry anybody else unless she consents to a\u00a0gett.\u00a0\u00a0But originally the din Torah m\u2019doraysa was that a man can give a\u00a0gett\u00a0without his wife\u2019s consent.
\n\n\n\nNow if you\u2019re asking why the original din is so, the explanation is quite simple. Because we have to understand that according to the Torah \u2013 not only the Torah; I don\u2019t want to limit this to Torah \u2013 it was lehavdil the standards of all of Mankind before they become corrupted by modern ideas. It was the standard of Mankind that when a woman marries she becomes under the jurisdiction of her husband. She and her husband are not just two partners. That\u2019s an error that only recently became promulgated. In all the nations of the world it was understood that the husband is the captain of the ship. And there\u2019s only one captain! Not two! Now I\u2019m able to say this because I don\u2019t care what people think; so I can tell you the truth.
\n\n\n\nAnd I explained recently that the captain wears a special uniform: A beard. It\u2019s a sign he\u2019s the boss. Of course if you remove it, so it\u2019s your fault. If you\u2019re the captain and you take off your captain\u2019s insignia, so every sailor thinks he\u2019s just as good as you are. And therefore, the feminists, they look at all the smooth-faced liberals and they don\u2019t see any reason why they should be different. Whereas if all men wore their uniform, then the feminists wouldn\u2019t even think of making a revolution.
\n\n\n\nSuzy B. Anthony of unblessed memory, she began her activities only after people started shaving. Before they started shaving, she couldn\u2019t open her mouth. It was ridiculous! A beardless person should speak up? The presidents all had beards. Generals all had beards. Soldiers all had beards. Nobody would think of such a ridiculous thing of making a woman the prime minister or even that a woman should be in Congress. Everybody in Congress had beards. Some had beards like this, some had beards like this; all styles of beards, but everybody carried identification of a male. That\u2019s common sense according to nature and that\u2019s the way the Borei planned it. It\u2019s only after they started breaking down the standards of Mankind that things began to change.
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s true that the Romans didn\u2019t have beards, but the Romans had many things that nobody even today would like to emulate. The Romans had, for instance, an idea of a good time on a Sunday afternoon, that you take your wife and children out to the circus where you\u2019d see men being eaten up alive by lions. And even though we made a lot of advances in the last ten years, but we didn\u2019t reach this stage yet. This, we didn\u2019t arrive at yet. So therefore we cannot measure ourselves by Roman so called \u201ccivilization.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow when a woman marries, she has to first of all make up her mind that this is it. Either don\u2019t marry him or if you do, that\u2019s it! And you\u2019re there forever. Or if you\u2019re not going to behave, so he is going to send you away.
\n\n\n\nNow I know that the ladies will rebel at this. Even the good ones today. The Orthodox girls of today will rebel at this because the ideas of the marketplace have permeated all levels of society. But in the olden days, even among non-Jews it was common sense there had to be one captain and there had to be obedience.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore if the little boy didn\u2019t want to get up in the morning to go to work or to go to school in the later generations, there was no such thing as letting him have his way. Today you have boys who don\u2019t go to school at all! Thirteen-year-old boys don\u2019t go to school at all! Do you know why? Because there\u2019s no father. Why is there no father? Because there\u2019s divorce. She goes to the courts. She wants to be independent. And he has to support her. The husband supports her and she lives with her son separately. And so the son if doesn\u2019t want to go to school, he doesn\u2019t go to school. You have a lot of boys today who don\u2019t go to school at all! What do they do? I don\u2019t want to tell you the wicked things that they do. They bring girls home with them. And because she\u2019s a mother, so everything goes. But in the olden days\u2026
\n\n\n\nI once saw an article \u2013 this was a long time ago \u2013 and it was describing which country in Europe is there the least juvenile delinquency. And it was explained that Italy was the place. And the reason was because in Italy of all the countries in Europe, the father was the boss. The husband was the boss. His word was law. That\u2019s a long time ago already. And therefore, there was the least juvenile delinquency. You need a strong hand to lead the family. Of course sometimes the father is the weak one. Sometimes the mother is stronger, but by and large that\u2019s the principle.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s paramount, it was important that the husband should have the final word. \u201cYou want to remain my wife, then you\u2019ll have to cooperate.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow of course there was a certain amount of injustice too.\u00a0 Every system has some unfairness to some people, but most of the women benefited by that more than they benefited after they gained the right to oppose their husband\u2019s\u00a0gett.\u00a0 Why they made that takanah, you have to ask Rabbeinu Gershom.\u00a0 I won\u2019t go into that now, but it\u2019s certainly true that in general it was not a benefit because there\u2019s so much unhappiness that resulted from that uncertainty.
\n\n\n\nWhen a woman knows that this is it, so she makes up her mind to take it and to live this way and to enjoy it; and she can live to 120 years under husband\u2019s hegemony. But when she has ideas that maybe there\u2019s hope of breaking out, maybe she can rebel, maybe she can make a revolution, so that causes her a lot of unrest, uneasiness and unhappiness. People are happy when their minds are made up for them. It\u2019s a fact that in the stable homes where there\u2019s an authority, there\u2019s much more happiness than in the liberal homes when people can do as they wish and women can break away from their husbands more easily. First of all, they compete with them in authority and sometimes they seek to gain the upper hand in authority and the end is separation and divorce and all the heartache and tragedies that follow and broken homes.
\n\n\n\nAnd today from every four couples that marry, three end up in divorce. And so, it\u2019s an epidemic today, which means an epidemic of unhappiness.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the modern system has nothing to say in its favor at all. Nothing at all in its favor! It\u2019s nothing but unhappiness. And the old system was a system that ensured the maximum happiness.
\n\n\n\nNow there\u2019s no system that\u2019s foolproof. No system will guarantee happiness. There\u2019s no real happiness in this world anyhow. You cannot have perfect happiness. There will always be some complaints against any system but the Torah system will guarantee the least amount of unhappiness.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 287 (November 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Who Gives The\u00a0Gett appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-16T17:11:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-16T17:11:07+00:00" }, { "id": 34801, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-false-truth/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The False Truth", "content_html": "\nQ:
How far can you be meshaneh the emes for shalom?\u00a0
A:
\n\n\n\nHow far can you change the truth to say a falsehood for shalom? As much as necessary. Of course, you have to do it in a way that you won\u2019t be caught; no question about that.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc\u05d4 \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 Beis Shammai says that you should praise the kallah just like she is. What you see, that\u2019s what you can praise and that\u2019s all. Beis Hillel says no, that\u2019s wrong.\u00a0\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u2013 Beis Hillel says you praise her by saying she\u2019s\u00a0na’eh vechasudah,\u00a0a beautiful kallah. Now it’s talking there about a blind kallah who is limping to the chuppah; she’s going with a cane, a blind limping kallah.\u00a0And you’re saying\u00a0kallah na’eh vechasudah?\u00a0Oy yoy yoy!\u00a0So Beis Shammai say, \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u00a0Midvar sheker tirchak!\u00a0The Torah says you have to keep far away from lies\u201d\u00a0(Kesuvos 16b-17a).
\n\n\n\nBut Beis Hillel said that’s the emes. Chessed is emes. And the emes would be a tremendous sheker. What are you going to say, \u201cLook, a blind kallah\u201d? Smack! You deserve a smack in the face for saying that. Saying words of chesed, that\u2019s the emes.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore always tell your wife she’s beautiful. Always tell people that they’re nice people. I\u2019m not saying to do that if\u00a0you want to be\u00a0chanfeh\u00a0them in order to get something out of them, no;\u00a0but for their benefit always say kind words. Always encourage people. Make them feel good. Always make shalom in any way you can. How far you should go? As much as you have to go.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The False Truth appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-15T23:30:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-15T23:30:47+00:00" }, { "id": 34799, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-falsa-verdad/", "title": "La falsa verdad ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHasta d\u00f3nde puedes ser meshan\u00e9 del emet para que haya shalom?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHasta d\u00f3nde puedes cambiar la verdad diciendo algo falso para que haya shalom? Tanto como sea necesario. Por supuesto, tienes que hacerlo de tal manera que no se note; no hay duda de eso.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc\u05d4 \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u2013 Bet Shamai dicen que debes alabar a la kal\u00e1 tal como es. Lo que ves, eso es lo que puedes elogiar y eso es todo. Bet Hilel dicen que no, eso est\u00e1 mal. \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u2013 Bet Hilel dicen que la debes alabar diciendo que es na\u00e1 vajasud\u00e1, una hermosa kal\u00e1. Ahora bien, est\u00e1 hablando ah\u00ed de una kal\u00e1 ciega que renguea hacia la jup\u00e1; va con un bast\u00f3n, una kal\u00e1 ciega rengueando. \u00bfY est\u00e1s diciendo kal\u00e1 na\u00e1 vajasud\u00e1? \u00a1Ay, ay, ay! Entonces Bet Shamai dicen: \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 est\u00e1s diciendo? \u00a1Midevar sh\u00e9ker tirjak! La Tor\u00e1 dice que debes mantenerte alejado de la mentira \u201d (Ketuvot 16b-17a).
\n\n\n\nPero Bet Hilel dicen que ese es el emet. J\u00e9sed es emet. Y decir el emet ser\u00eda un tremendo sh\u00e9ker. \u00bfQu\u00e9 vas a decir, \u201cmira, una kal\u00e1 ciega\u201d? Te mereces una bofetada en la cara por decir eso. Decir palabras de j\u00e9sed, ese es el emet.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto siempre dile a tu esposa que es hermosa. Siempre dile a las personas que son buenas. No digo que hagas eso si quieres ser mejanef (adulador) con ellos para sacarles algo, no; pero para su beneficio siempre di palabras amables. Siempre anima a la gente. Haz que se sientan bien. Siempre haz shalom de cualquier manera que puedas. \u00bfQu\u00e9 tan lejos debes ir? Todo lo que tengas que ir.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post La falsa verdad appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-15T17:17:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-15T17:17:48+00:00" }, { "id": 34796, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/hacer-las-paces/", "title": "Hacer las paces ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHasta d\u00f3nde hay que ir para hacer shalom?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTienes que ir hasta el fin del mundo para lograr shalom. Debes hacer todo por el shalom, porque [al buscar] shalom significa que est\u00e1s perfeccionando tu car\u00e1cter.
\n\n\n\n\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u2013 todas las cosas de este mundo fueron hechas para probar al hombre. Una esposa prueba a su esposo y un esposo prueba a su esposa. Est\u00e1n hechos para probarse unos a los otros. Por supuesto que no debes buscar a una esposa que te ponga demasiado a prueba. No deber\u00edas buscar un marido que te ponga demasiado a prueba. Sin embargo, una vez que est\u00e1s casado, esa es tu mitzv\u00e1, esa es tu prueba. Ese es tu Olam Haz\u00e9 y tu Olam Hab\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nY no perder\u00e1s. Una persona que no se pone nerviosa vivir\u00e1 m\u00e1s tiempo. Dec\u00eddete que pase lo que pase, est\u00e1s casado con este mesh\u00faguene (loco) y eso es todo. Ahora bien, no le digas a \u00e9l eso, no le digas a ella eso, pero eso es todo. Toda tu vida haz tu mejor esfuerzo para llevarte bien con esa persona. Ambos son mesh\u00faguene. Esa es la verdad; ambos son mesh\u00faguene. \u00c9l piensa que ella le minti\u00f3. Pero ella tambi\u00e9n le minti\u00f3. Se mintieron mutuamente cuando se casaron.
\n\n\n\nConozco el caso de un hombre que tuvo una crisis nerviosa. Sali\u00f3 del hospital y estaba buscando un shiduj. \u00bfQui\u00e9n se casar\u00e1 con un hombre que tuvo un ataque de nervios? Finalmente encontr\u00f3 a una chica. Pero no le dijo nada a ella [sobre el ataque de nervios]. Se casaron. \u00c9l estaba tan feliz. Despu\u00e9s de casarse, descubri\u00f3 que ella era epil\u00e9ptica. Se enga\u00f1aron mutuamente.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, toda tu vida trata de hacerle creer a tu esposa que eres un buen tipo. Haz que tu esposo piense que eres una buena persona. Hagan todo lo posible para hacerse creer mutuamente que son buenos. Hagan eso toda la vida.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post Hacer las paces appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-15T00:54:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-15T00:54:31+00:00" }, { "id": 34792, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-making-peace/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Peace", "content_html": "\nQ:
How far do you have to go for shalom?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou have to go to the end of the world for shalom. You must do everything for shalom because shalom means you’re making your character perfect.
\n\n\n\n\u00a0\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u2013 all the things in this world were made as tests for man. A wife tests a husband and a husband tests a wife. They’re made to test each other. Of course you shouldn’t look for a woman that will test you too much. You shouldn’t look for a husband that will give you too much of a test. Once you’re married, however, make up your mind that’s your mitzvah, that’s your test. That’s your Olam Hazeh and Olam Haboh.
\n\n\n\nAnd you will not lose out. A person who doesn’t get excited will live longer. Make up your mind no matter what, you’re married to this meshugene now and that\u2019s it. Now, don’t tell him that, don\u2019t tell her that, but that\u2019s it. All your life, do your best to get along with that person. You’re both meshugeh. That\u2019s the truth; both are meshugeh. He thinks he deceived her. But she also deceived him. They deceived each other when they married.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nI know a case of a man who had a nervous breakdown. He came out of the hospital and he was looking for a shidduch. Who will marry a man who had a nervous breakdown? Finally he found a girl. He deceived her. He didn’t tell her. He married her. He was so happy. After they married, he discovered she was an epileptic. They deceived each other.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore all your life try to deceive your wife. Make her think you’re a nice fellow. Make your husband think you’re a nice person. Try your best to deceive each other all your life.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-147 (July 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Peace appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T17:59:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T17:59:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34787, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%a7%d7%91-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e2\u05e7\u05d1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e2\u05e7\u05d1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T05:12:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T05:12:23+00:00" }, { "id": 34782, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%a7%d7%91-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e2\u05e7\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e2\u05e7\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T05:10:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T05:10:48+00:00" }, { "id": 34770, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-eikev-5-one-hundred-blessings-2/", "title": "Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings", "content_html": "What Does He Want?
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat does Hashem want from me?\u201d That\u2019s a question that everyone should ask themselves one time or another \u2013 and probably very frequently \u2013 because the answer to that question is everything. If we want to accomplish things in this world, it\u2019s a question that should concern us all the time.
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s parsha Moshe Rabeinu is speaking to the Am Yisroel and he says to them as follows: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 \u201cAnd now Yisroel; what is Hashem asking from you?\u201d
\n\n\n\nOohh wah! Jackpot! That\u2019s our question! And we can hear an answer now from Moshe our Teacher who is speaking the Word of Hashem: \u201cYou know what He wants from you? \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 only, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 to fear Hashem your G-d, \u05dc\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 and to walk in all of His ways, \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 and to love Him, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and to serve Hashem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul, \u05dc\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d7\u05bb\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 and to keep all the mitzvos of Hashem and to keep all of His laws (Eikev 10:12-13).
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a lot in that possuk \u2013 He\u2019s asking a whole lot of things from you – it seems like He\u2019s asking for everything! It\u2019s a load of work; a program for a lifetime.
\n\n\n\nDifficult Path of Heroism
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if you want to get started, it seems you have to gird up your loins and start learning Shas. Learning the whole Talmud will certainly bring you closer to all of the ideals enumerated in that possuk \u2013 only that it\u2019ll take some heavy lifting to achieve that.
\n\n\n\nAnd Shas is not enough. You\u2019ll have to learn Mesillas Yesharim and Sha\u2019arei Teshuva and the Chovos Halevavos \u2013 other seforim as well \u2013 and you\u2019ll have to learn them cover to cover and do it many times! It\u2019ll take some heavy lifting to achieve such a comprehensive program; nobody said greatness come easy! It entails many difficulties and a great deal of self denial.
\n\n\n\nNow I\u2019m not saying that learning Shas and mussar is the only way \u2013 it could be there are other ways as well, but whatever it is there\u2019s no question that any path you take will require heroism and heavy labor. To achieve all those qualities of perfection is not going to be easy. You have to prepare yourself for a long career of hard work.
\n\n\n\nSeeking the Easy Path
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we study that possuk \u2013 even superficially \u2013 we should be quite surprised by how Moshe Rabeinu introduces us to all of these great ideals: \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2026 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 \u201cWhat is it that He\u2019s asking of you already? Only this\u2026\u201d. Ki im means \u2018only this and that\u2019s all\u2019.Only this?! That\u2019s hard to understand because we see that what Hashem wants of you is everything.
\n\n\n\nBut if that\u2019s what Hashem is saying \u2013 that\u2019s the pshuto shel mikra after all \u2013 so we\u2019ll have to admit that there must be some simpler way of accomplishing these great ideals.
\n\n\n\nThere must be an easier path for us to climb this mountain of greatness because if it was difficult, if from every angle there was no easy access to the top, it wouldn\u2019t make sense for the Torah to use such words \u2013 \u201cWhat is He asking from you already?\u201d
\n\n\n\nBlessings Are the Key
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Menachos (43b), Rabbi Meir quotes our possuk, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 What does Hashem Elokecha require of you? and he says as follows: Don\u2019t read the word \u201c\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 What does He wants of you,\u201d but \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cHe wants meiah; He wants a hundred.\u201d Instead of mem hei, we stick an alef in between and now it reads meiah, a hundred.
\n\n\n\nA hundred what? So Rabbi Meir goes on and says, \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 Everyone is obligated to make one hundred brachos every day. Rabbi Meir used the sharp and witty style of the Sages and he put a play on words, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 You want to you know the way, that easy way to come close to Hashem? Instead of saying \u05de\u05b8\u05d4, which means easy, say \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 one hundred brachos.
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s important to realize that all the drashos of Chazal are inherent in the plain meaning. It\u2019s not merely a memory aid; it\u2019s actually included in the pshat of the possuk. And so we must understand that this verse \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0, includes the duty of saying one hundred brachos. But not only the duty; it\u2019s the key!
\n\n\n\nYou want to fulfill what Hashem wants from you? You want to come to yiras Hashem? You want to love Hashem and walk in His ways, and all of those great subjects in the possuk? So our Sages are telling us that the easy way, the way of mah, is by means of meiah. \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 A hundred times a day you have to thank Hashem, that\u2019s the easy way to come to all of those great perfections enumerated in the possuk.
\n\n\n\nDiscard the Catalog
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll say I\u2019m exaggerating \u2013 meiah brachos is the key to perfection?! Making brachos? That\u2019s A,B,C\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s kindergarten talk! We\u2019re talking now about big subjects, great pinnacles of perfection, and you\u2019re saying brachos?!
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s what Rabbi Meir is telling us here; the hakdamah, the preface to yirah and ahavah and all the good things in that possuk, is to make a hundred brachos every day.
\n\n\n\nNow don’t go and tell me a catalog of the brachos. Some think it\u2019s a matter of counting; here’s how they work it. There’s 19 brachos in the shemoneh esrei you say three times a day so that\u2019s 57 brachos and you hear chazaras hashatz twice a day, it’s 38 more. And before you even said the shemoneh esrei of Shacharis there\u2019s 30 brachos already (Mishnah Berurah 46:14). And now you exceeded the limit and all that time you didn’t even thank Hashem once.
\n\n\n\nNo. Forget about technicalities. Of course if a man makes a hundred brachos a day, no matter how he makes them, we accept him. There are people who don’t make any brachos and so we\u2019re happy with this man who is fulfilling the technicalities. But is that man fulfilling his destiny in life which is to fear and love Hashem? Meiah brachos means a hundred heartfelt expressions of thanks.
\n\n\n\nRediscovering Brachos
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019re going to hark back to your concept of what a bracha is, then the whole talk will be in vain. A brachah is not just Baruch Atah Hashem, you mumble some words and finished. Even if you\u2019re not mumbling \u2013 let\u2019s say you\u2019re saying the words slowly with peirush hamilos, even that is not the brachah we\u2019re talking about here.
\n\n\n\nIn order to get the benefit of this idea, you must act like you never heard of the term brachos before. You just became geirim now, and for the first time in your lives you\u2019re hearing there\u2019s such a thing as a brachah.
\n\n\n\nWhy do we say brachos? I\u2019ll tell you a secret now, something I heard from my rebbe in Slabodka. He was telling us what the Kuzari (3:13-17) says, a remarkable statement explaining one of the reasons for our brachos: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e3 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u2013 It adds pleasure on pleasure when one says blessings. You hear that? Eating an apple is a pleasure, certainly. But what type of pleasure is it if you don\u2019t concentrate on enjoying it? Sometimes you\u2019ll just gobble it down and you only remember you were eating an apple when you get to the core and you need to find a trash can. So the Kuzari says that one of the reasons for our brachos is to enhance our pleasure. Before you eat the apple, you stop and you feel gratitude for it. Ah! Now you can dig in and enjoy it!
\n\n\n\nBut my rebbe zichrono livracha, when he taught us that, he argued on the Kuzari. He said it\u2019s not \u201cone of the reasons\u201d for making brachos \u2013 he said it\u2019s the reason. It\u2019s the most important one. Because that\u2019s how you\u2019ll become a person who lives a life of gratitude to Hashem \u2013 you\u2019ll walk around in your home, on the street, everywhere, feeling grateful to Hashem for everything He\u2019s giving you.
\n\n\n\nUngrateful Boys and Girls
\n\n\n\nGrateful?! That\u2019s a secret to many people. Last week I was walking on Kings Highway with a young man, a yeshiva man, and he asked me: \u201cWhy should I be grateful to Hashem?\u201d I took a look at him. He wasn\u2019t wearing crutches. He didn\u2019t have braces on his feet. He didn\u2019t have a brace to hold his neck up. He seemed to have a full set of teeth \u2013 at least they didn\u2019t look like false teeth. He looked to be quite well-nourished as well, and he didn\u2019t seem to have slept the night on a park bench either. And he was clothed \u2013 it wasn\u2019t too shabby. And this yeshiva man asked me, \u201cFor what should I be grateful to Hakodosh Boruch Hu?\u201d He was serious \u2013 he was asking with sincerity.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the same as a little girl, a girl of sixteen who refuses to wash the dishes. \u201cWhat am I getting out of you?\u201d she says to her parents. The nice ones don\u2019t say it, but they think it. She refuses to even pick up herown stockings in the morning when she runs off. She never brings the garbage out; she doesn\u2019t do a thing in the house. She only has one complaint against her parents \u2013 \u201cWhat are you doing for me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat means, besides giving me free lodging \u2013 no rent is charged for the bed she sleeps in \u2013 and besides giving me three meals a day and clothing, what else are you doing for me? Besides for paying her doctor bills, besides paying for dental care, besides for paying her Beis Yaakov tuition. When she washes her face, when she puts on the light in her room, she\u2019s using her father\u2019s hard earned money. And besides all that, later when she decides to do a very big mitzvah and choose a kollel man, so she\u2019ll confer upon her poor father the privilege of supporting him and her for the next five years. And she thinks she\u2019s doing a big mitzvah \u2013 \u201cI took a kollel man!\u201d On whose shoulders? On her old father\u2019s shoulders. It\u2019s a great ideal and a tremendous mitzvah! But it\u2019s her father\u2019s doing. And still, she\u2019s thinking, \u201cWhat am I getting from you?\u201d
\n\n\n\nGaining Gratitude
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll shake your head, tsk, tsk, when you hear about this inconsiderate girl, but actually she\u2019s just a mashal for all of us. Most people in this world \u2013 I\u2019m talking even about the good ones \u2013 they think Hakodosh Boruch Hu is not giving them anything. \u201cWhat am I getting from You?\u201d they\u2019re thinking. Now, they won\u2019t tell you that; some self-esteem they have, but you can be sure that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019re thinking: \u201cWhat is Hashem doing for me?\u201d And I\u2019m afraid that most of us here tonight, even though we\u2019re polite enough not to say that, but in our heart, that\u2019s what we\u2019re thinking.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what a hundred brachos a day are for. A hundred brachos means that one hundred times every day you have to make yourself aware of the gifts you\u2019re enjoying all the time. Because what is a bracha? It\u2019s an expression of gratitude. Otherwise it\u2019s not a bracha, it\u2019s just words. Of course, you fulfill your obligation al pi halacha; you won\u2019t make a second one. But that\u2019s not what the Torah meant.
\n\n\n\nAnd if that\u2019s the case then we have a lot to talk about because our job now is to discover all of these gifts that Hashem is giving us. Don\u2019t think you can just get up now and go home; don\u2019t think you know all about it. It\u2019s only the beginning of the talk and it needs an explanation. So hang around yet because there\u2019s a great treasure we have to uncover.
\n\n\n\nJoin The Club
\n\n\n\nNow, I have to warn you \u2013 it\u2019ll be fun practicing up seeing the kindliness of Hashem in our lives but it\u2019s going to take work; good things don\u2019t come that easy. But we\u2019ll do it together. We\u2019ll have a club; a walking club and we\u2019ll walk through life together.
\n\n\n\nImagine we have an appointment, all of us here, to meet tomorrow morning on the corner of Avenue R and Ocean Parkway. Six o\u2019clock in the morning \u2013 that\u2019s the best time of the day \u2013 we\u2019ll begin our walk. And we\u2019ll walk together on the avenue and we\u2019ll study the happiness of life.
\n\n\n\nNow, before we meet up you\u2019re going to have to wake up and get out of bed because it won\u2019t be much of a walk if you don\u2019t wake up. You know that some people didn\u2019t wake up this morning; not everybody is so lucky. And so as soon as you open your eyes, you should remember that and give thanks to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that He allowed you to get up in the morning. \u201cModeh ani lifanecha, I thank You Hashem for waking me up this morning.\u201d It\u2019s actually fun to get up in the morning \u2013 only that nobody thinks about it! It\u2019s something you should practice enjoying.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Life
\n\n\n\nDo you ever go to a shiva house and you have nothing to talk about? You come in \u2013 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd and you walk out. It\u2019s something, it\u2019s still a mitzvah, but there\u2019s something more you can accomplish even on the way out. What\u2019s the first thing to think when you walk out? \u201cBaruch Hashem, I\u2019m alive!\u201d You hear the chiddush? When you\u2019re menachem avel, the first thing to think about when you walk out, as you\u2019re going down the steps to the street \u2013 \u201cBaruch Hashem I\u2019m alive.\u201d Even better, say it.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019re working on this meiah brachos program for greatness so you don\u2019t wait for the shiva house rachmana litzlan. That\u2019s how you wake up every morning! \u201cBaruch Hashem, I\u2019m alive!\u201d You just discovered the happy news that you woke up again! You have to be grateful for that.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Functions
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019re alive now and you go to the bathroom. Ah, the pleasure of urinating. Don\u2019t say \u201cit\u2019s just nature\u201d. A lot of people don\u2019t have such natures; they have very much difficulty. But for you it goes smoothly and you should enjoy the moment. You can take my word for it, if you put your mind to it it\u2019s a tremendous happiness. The Gemara (Berachos 57b) says that going to the bathroom is a taste of Olam Haba; it\u2019s such a pleasure! Don\u2019t be afraid to enjoy; don\u2019t be ashamed to enjoy what Hashem is giving you \u2013 that\u2019s the purpose of all of these functions.
\n\n\n\nI know a very wealthy man who cannot urinate. He has no kidneys anymore. If he could walk into a bathroom and perform like any ordinary person he\u2019d be delirious with happiness. He told me he remembers the good old days when he could urinate normally. Oh, what a happiness it was when he walked into the bathroom! If he would come up here and teach us how to say Asher Yatzar that would be a lesson. You come out and \u201cmuh, muh, muh, muh.\u201d That\u2019s how you say thank you?! If you\u2019re happy, you don\u2019t just say Asher Yatzar \u2013 you sing it.
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you didn\u2019t study it, if you don\u2019t think about it there\u2019s nothing to sing about and mumbling a bracha is better than nothing. You\u2019re at least a frum Jew if you mumble the bracha, but it\u2019s a pity. You\u2019re losing the great opportunity of achieving all the perfection that meiah brachos can bring to a person.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Mobility
\n\n\n\nNow, I skipped a lot of steps here. Because you didn\u2019t urinate in your bed; most of you didn\u2019t wet the bed in the morning. You walked to the toilet. Ahh! Walking is a ta\u2019anug. If you\u2019ll think for a moment that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving you the blessing that you\u2019re able to move your feet; you can move your thighs \u2013 they swing effortlessly in the socket. You can move your knees. They move so perfectly in their sockets. You can move your ankles in their socket. And your toes too you can move \u2013 each one in its own socket. And all these sockets are functioning at one time perfectly! Not to mention the coordination of the muscles. Every muscle that\u2019s extended has another muscle that\u2019s pulling in the opposite direction. You should know, you\u2019re a trapeze artist when you walk. You balance yourself and move with perfect ease and facility.
\n\n\n\nSo as you walk, you should be enjoying those gifts. \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e2\u05b2\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05e8. Thank You Hashem for this pleasure of being able to walk normally. There are a lot of people who can\u2019t. There are some people who cannot function because of their toes. Everything else is perfect \u2013 but if their toes are fused and they won\u2019t move in the socket properly, then they have misery and very great suffering. If the ankle is fused, it won\u2019t move. Even if the knee is a tiny little bit inactivated it can be excruciating pain to move it.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Vistas
\n\n\n\nSo suppose you were successfully and gracefully able to walk out of your home and now we meet up on Ocean Parkway for our walking club. We are already delirious with happiness but now we are going to discover some new pleasures. The sun is coming up now and we see a beautiful blue sky. Don\u2019t miss that opportunity!
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhy is the sky blue?\u201d Isn\u2019t that a klutz kasha? Why is the sky such a beautiful sapphire blue? So you have chachomim who come along and they say \u2013 they read this in a science book once \u2013 that as the sunlight reaches the earth\u2019s atmosphere it\u2019s scattered in different directions because of the gasses and particles in the air; and for a certain reason the blue light scatters more than the other colors.
\n\n\n\nVery good, but that\u2019s not the reason why it\u2019s blue. It\u2019s describing how Hashem makes it blue but it\u2019s not the reason. I\u2019ll tell you a secret \u2013 it\u2019s good you came here tonight. Hashem made the sky blue so that you\u2019d enjoy it. The color blue is soft and sweet on the eyes (Chovos Halevavos, Bechina 5), and you\u2019re expected to enjoy that. Isn\u2019t that a good thing to practice?
\n\n\n\nSee if you can do it tomorrow morning. Go out onto the street tomorrow, look up at the blue sky and say, \u201cThe sky is a beautiful blue and Hakodosh Boruch Hu made it that way because He wants me to enjoy it. Me! That\u2019s the purpose and I\u2019m not going to let it go to waste.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAppreciate It
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t be a spoilsport and say, \u201cWell, there are a lot of other people in this world besides me. Am I going to say He made the sky blue because of me?!\u201d The answer is, yes. That\u2019s what the Gemara says (Berachos 58a): \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 what does a good guest say? A good guest, when he walks into a house and sees a table that\u2019s spread with all good things, what does a good guest say? He says like this: \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 whatever the host labored to do, he did only for me.
\n\n\n\nSo as the good guest walks in and he sees cucumbers, he sees egg salad, he sees chopped liver, he sees whiskey, he sees cake; about every item he sees, he says, \u201cThe host put it there for me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean he should eat it all up. That\u2019s not the intent of that ma\u2019amar. What it\u2019s telling you is that as you look at it, you\u2019re expected to squeeze all of the enjoyment you can from what you see \u2013 and feel gratitude. You have to think, \u201cThe host put it there for me to enjoy.\u201d That\u2019s how you walk through this world. That\u2019s the right attitude. \u201cHakodosh Baruch Hu is painting a blue sky for me to enjoy.\u201d Once you get that attitude, then you\u2019re looking at the universe with the true perspective.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Rain
\n\n\n\nNow suppose, let\u2019s say our club walks out and this time the sky is not blue \u2013 instead it\u2019s overcast with gray clouds. Oooh! That\u2019s a glorious opportunity! \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 He who covers the skies with clouds. That\u2019s a different opportunity than the blue sky from yesterday. \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 He\u2019s preparing rain for the earth (Tehillim 147:8). What does that mean? Who cares what He prepares? The fact that He prepares rain is important?!
\n\n\n\nYes! \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 When He covers the skies with clouds, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 He\u2019s preparing rain for the world; for us. Gray skies are not only gray; cloudy skies means yellow oranges, pink peaches with rosy cheeks, red apples, purple grapes \u2013 they all come from rain. All good things come from rain. Dovid Hamelech looked up at the clouds and felt gratitude and he said, \u201cDon\u2019t make any mistake about it. \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 He\u2019s covering the skies with clouds, and I thank Him for that!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, whether the sky is blue or gray, it\u2019s an opportunity for happiness.Now, there\u2019s no bracha that you make on the sky, but gratitude you have to feel! You say, \u201cThank You Hashem for making me happy by means of Your beautiful sky.\u201d We have to study the sky and say those words until it finally creates an impression that causes us joy. And if you\u2019ll work on this again and again, and finally a sapphire blue sky actually makes you happy, then you know that you\u2019re getting there.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Flowers
\n\n\n\nOnce you practice up on this attitude, you begin to enjoy everything. You open your eyes and all around you see glorious things, beautiful things. There are beautiful gardens on Ocean Parkway. Some of our neighbors hire gardeners and it costs them thousands of dollars a year merely to tend their gardens.
\n\n\n\nSo as you pass by, you might think, \u201cWell, he does it for himself, not for me.\u201d No, that\u2019s what a bad guest says: \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 A bad guest says, \u201cWhatever he did, he did for himself. He didn\u2019t do it for me.\u201d That\u2019s a twisted way of thinking,
\n\n\n\nYou know, I enjoy the gardens more than the householder who pays a thousand dollars to the gardener. I look at the flowers and I enjoy the beautiful colors to no end. In the springtime I see them just coming out and I watch them growing every day. Beautiful red and yellow and purple and orange flowers are blooming all over. I stop for a minute to study them. It\u2019s a happiness!
\n\n\n\nYou can keep your thousand dollars in your pocket and enjoy other people\u2019s gardens. The whole Ocean Parkway, all the way down to Boro Park is all gardens, all happiness. Look at them, study them; it won\u2019t cost you a penny. He\u2019s breaking his back pulling up weeds and we pass by and we enjoy it to no end. The grass is beautiful; the colorful flowers are a pleasure to look at. Ah, ah, ah; how nice it is! Put all these things in your head and in your heart and become happy by looking at them.
\n\n\n\nThe Fun Road to Perfection
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when we walk out into the world and we begin to see the things of the world, we must understand they are for us. They\u2019re all for us. The fact that it\u2019s for someone else too, that doesn\u2019t detract. It\u2019s for you. And by means of these noble thoughts you\u2019re training yourself to enjoy yourself in this world the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the royal road to greatness! Isn\u2019t that a fun road to perfection? Because while you\u2019re working on developing gratitude and attaining perfection, you\u2019re becoming happier and happier. You\u2019re becoming an ashir, a rich man, without spending a penny. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8? Who is rich? It\u2019s up here (the Rav zatzal pointed at his head) that you find happiness. Your wealth is in your mind. And your money remains in your pocket.
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Seeing
\n\n\n\nNow, once you get the hang of it, you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s not so hard to do.From your own mind you\u2019ll be able to add onto the happiness of meiah brachos. Because you\u2019ll think, \u201cHow do I see the sky and the gardens anyhow?\u201d You can\u2019t accomplish that feat without eyes. \u201cRibono Shel Olam, what would I do without my eyes?!\u201d Ah, eyes! Ay yah yay, eyes! Eyes are a happiness that most of the world is not enjoying. They\u2019re using it, yes, but enjoying it? Ah nechtigeh tug.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, we have to practice up enjoying our eyes. Can we even describe the happiness of seeing? It\u2019s impossible to describe that pleasure. You see life, you see movement, you see color, you see your family, you see the world \u2013 what a happiness it is!
\n\n\n\nSo as we\u2019re walking in our walking club tomorrow morning down Ocean Parkway, let\u2019s not forget \u2013 at least one full block, from corner to corner \u2013 you\u2019re looking and thinking, \u201cAhh! I\u2019m using these two cameras in my head and I\u2019m enjoying it to no end.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHealing the Blind
\n\n\n\nIt takes a long time for these things to penetrate our thick skulls but if you want to know that it\u2019s so, all you have to do is wait until you encounter a man with a white stick tapping his way. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Take a good look at him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu saw that you\u2019re slow in understanding so He sent someone to teach you a lesson. This poor fellow is waiting at the street corner and someone has to take him by his arm and bring him across. Ay yah yay, what a pity. What a tragedy!
\n\n\n\nThink \u2013 what would he say if he suddenly could get a pair of eyes like yours? How would he make a bracha? You think he\u2019d mumble \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd\u2026 \u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e2\u05b4\u05d5\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd?! That\u2019s how they say it in shul in the morning \u2013 yeshiva boys also; the best of them. The best of them rattle it off and they count it towards the hundred brachos! Technically, maybe it counts; maybe it\u2019s a bracha and you can count it, but that\u2019s not how to enjoy a gift.
\n\n\n\nA man who appreciates his eyes, he says thank you like a man drinking the most precious champagne, sipping every word. Boruch \u2013 ah, ah, ah! Atah! Hashem! Every word is a diamond! The man tapping his way on the street would shell out a hundred thousand dollars to the surgeon to regain his eyesight. He\u2019d be eternally grateful to him. He\u2019d call him up every year on the yartzeit of his operation.
\n\n\n\nAnd Hakodosh Boruch Hu did it for you for nothing. He\u2019s not sending you bills; He doesn\u2019t ask anything from you except that you should enjoy your eyes. Not just to make a bracha \u2013 that\u2019s not what He\u2019s asking. He wants that you should enjoy them \u2013 you should be so happy with your eyes that you feel like making a bracha! That\u2019s a big job already!
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Teeth
\n\n\n\nNow, our walking club is still walking down the street; don\u2019t forget that. We still have a lot of brachos to make, a lot of happiness to enjoy. So let\u2019s say you\u2019d have coins in your pocket, so you could cause the pocket to shake as you walk, and when you hear the change in your pocket, it\u2019s reassuring; it\u2019s a happiness. Let\u2019s say you have a pocket full of quarters and you shake your pocket and the change is jingling in your pocket \u2013 it feels good. It sounds good.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose you have nothing in your pocket; you have no money to jingle. So click your teeth instead. Click click. Teeth are better than money! In the olden days \u2014 not so long ago \u2014 when somebody grew old and he lost his teeth, he was finished with life. If he had a nice granddaughter, she used to take an apple with a knife and scrape off some mush and give it to the old zeideh. He couldn\u2019t eat, he couldn\u2019t chew, but a little mush he could slurp. But you young fellows, you\u2019re rich! Most of you have a mouth full of teeth! Ay yah yay, teeth! What a happiness!
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re eating with your own teeth then you\u2019re a lucky fellow \u2013 you already have everything. Even false teeth cost money. You have false teeth? Thank Him! So whether you have false teeth or your own teeth, you have to study your teeth. You have to be rich in the knowledge of what you have growing from your gums. A mouth full of teeth is a happiness!
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Lights
\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s imagine the day is almost over and the sun is going down. All good things have to come to an end and our walking club has to break up for the night. We have to go home; our wives and children are waiting for us and so our laboratory work of enjoying the gifts of Hashem must end now. Tomorrow morning we can meet again.
\n\n\n\nOh no! It\u2019s not over yet. When you walk into the hallway in your home and put on the switch, you\u2019re suddenly bathed in light. Do you thank Him for electric lights? Electric light is a very good thing. I remember when I was a little boy, we didn\u2019t have electric lights \u2013 only gas lights, no electric lights! I remember that! The house didn\u2019t have electricity. And then electricity came \u2013 it\u2019s mamish like sunshine in the middle of the night.
\n\n\n\nDo you ever thank Hashem for the electric lights? How can you live without thanking Him? The answer is, every week you thank Him. Every Motzoei Shabbos you say, \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 you thank Hashem for artificial light. People don\u2019t know what that bracha is all about. They think it\u2019s just a ceremony. No, \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 means you\u2019re thanking Hashem for artificial light. If you spend a little time thinking about how much you benefit from artificial light, you\u2019ll love Hashem for that. \u201cI\u2019m thanking you Hashem for all forms of artificial light; fire, incandescent, fluorescent, everything.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Your Home
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the light switch. You know how much happiness a home is?! A wife, children, four walls, a roof, plumbing, radiators, stairs and banisters and hot water and light bulbs and closets and windows \u2013 the pleasures are endless! Hashem gives us all good things in the home.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s getting late and now it\u2019s time to put on pajamas and climb into bed. Pajamas! We could talk about the happiness of clothing and pajamas all night. The buttons and the stitching around the buttons; it\u2019s an endless happiness.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s too late for that now. And so the last detail of our happiness voyage for today will have to be sleep. You have to be grateful and thank Hashem for sleep. Every night you say it: \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u05d7\u05b6\u05d1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 You give me the ability to fall asleep!
\n\n\n\nAppreciate Sleep
\n\n\n\nWhen you fall asleep, it\u2019s a miracle. And that miracle is a gift. You know some people can\u2019t sleep anymore chalilah. An old man told me, \u201cIch hub farloren dem shluff \u2013 I lost my sleep.\u201d He meant he lost his ability to sleep. It\u2019s a pity on him. To lose such a precious gift like the sweetness of falling asleep, that\u2019s a tragedy. Sleep is more important than food.
\n\n\n\nBut you still have it! So you put your head down on the pillow \u2013 most of you have pillows; you\u2019re not sleeping on the ground \u2013 you have a bed, don\u2019t you? So as you fall away into dreamland you\u2019re still thanking Hashem. That\u2019s the last thought you have as you drift off into your sweet sleep. \u201cThank You, Hashem for giving me a pillow and a mattress and for giving me the gift of sleep. I love You Hashem.\u201d And in a few hours we\u2019ll be getting up again to say modeh ani again and to start loving Hashem all over again.
\n\n\n\nBe Sincere
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that what we\u2019re saying here tonight, if it was said to an ordinary congregation of bnei Torah \u2013 so they would think it\u2019s a waste of time. \u201cI didn\u2019t come here to hear such things \u2013 it\u2019s too simple.\u201d To many people, they think it\u2019s just talk. Well, if that\u2019s what they want, that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to remain.
\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m talking now to people who deserve credit because they came here for a purpose; people who are mevakshei Hashem; they are seeking Hashem. And to such idealists we can propose this plan of using the world to enjoy the chessed Hashem and to be constantly thanking Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way for a Jew to live! Of course, at first it\u2019s only artificial but little by little it grows on you. You can\u2019t do it all the time? So at least a hundred times a day you should do it. The more you do it the more successful you are, but a hundred times that\u2019s the bare minimum. And that means a hundred times a day you have to stop and enjoy the world \u2013 and you enjoy it so much that you feel a sincere gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only will you be enjoying the world, but the most important thing is you\u2019ll be enjoying Hashem\u2019s world. That\u2019s very important! It\u2019s always Boruch Atah Hashem – You Hashem are giving me this and this and that and that. My underwear is a gift from You. My fingers are from You. And my heart and my ears and the sidewalk and my shirt.
\n\n\n\nGrowth by Gratitude
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s going to be the solution to the great problem of how can we gain all these things that Hashem is demanding of us: to fear Hashem, and to walk in all of His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul and so on. Because it\u2019s a problem, a real problem: How do we come to all those forms of perfection? We\u2019re ordinary people living in an ordinary world. How can we achieve all of these great levels of avodas Hashem?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that avodas Hashem startswhen a man understands what Hakodosh Boruch Hu did for him, when he studies all the benefits that are being showered on him. Not only today! A man can say \u2013 even a seventy year old man \u2013 \u201cHow fortunate I am that I was born! How many miscarriages take place in the world and I made it! I\u2019m not a cripple! I\u2019m not blind! I have so many limbs and so many organs, and every one is functioning and each one is a miracle of plan and purpose.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd after a while he begins to ask a big question, a very big question. \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cWhat can I do to pay back to Hashem for all that He’s doing to me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Rabbi Meir comes to teach us \u2013 that the key is hidden in the possuk itself. \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4\u2013 What does Hashem want of you? A hundred brachos. And from those hundred brachos, you\u2019ll attain \u201call of the components of the complete service that is pleasing to Hashem\u201d (Mesillas Yesharim, Hakdamah). Rabbi Meir tells us that by means of this easy way \u2013 or relatively easy way \u2013 of appreciating all of the good things that we are enjoying, that\u2019s the key to success.
\n\n\n\nAnd you\u2019re going to see that this is not only the road to come close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, but this road will also be the royal road to fulfillment and happiness in life. After a while you become happy with so many things that you actually are a happy man. You\u2019ll actually appreciate the gifts. And the happiness will last all your life \u2013 and not only all your life, but it will last you into Olam Haba. If we\u2019ll enjoy this world one hundred times a day, and if we express our gratitude to Hashem each time, that\u2019s the road not only to happiness in this world, but to the perfection in avodas Hashem that brings you eternal happiness in the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nGrowing in Gratitude
\n\n\n\nEven the \u201cbare minimum\u201d of a saying hundred genuine brachos every day seems almost out of reach when we\u2019re starting out. This week, ten times every day, I will bli neder say thank You to Hashem for something that He is giving me \u2013 every day, ten separate gifts, ten separate expressions of gratitude.
\n\n\n\nOnce I get the hang of it, I\u2019ll add on to the total. Next week I\u2019ll do it fifteen times a day. The following week, twenty. I\u2019ll keep adding until I\u2019m in the habit of thanking Hashem all the time!
\nThe post Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T04:20:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-23T20:46:56+00:00" }, { "id": 34776, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-eikev-5-one-hundred-blessings/", "title": "Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings", "content_html": "TA-Eikev-5782The post Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T04:18:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T04:18:27+00:00" }, { "id": 34769, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-eikev-5-one-hundred-blessings/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings", "content_html": "TA-Eikev-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Eikev 5 – One Hundred Blessings appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T04:17:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T04:17:55+00:00" }, { "id": 34762, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tu-beav/", "title": "Tu BeAv", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo se celebra jamish\u00e1 asar beAv?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta :
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar lo celebramos diciendo \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Gracias Hashem por la noche. \u00a1Qu\u00e9 maravilloso es tener la noche! La noche es una bendici\u00f3n muy grande; tienes que estudiar durante la noche. No es simplemente la ausencia del d\u00eda. \u00a1No! \u05d1\u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d5\u05ea\u05d7 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 La noche fue hecha con sabidur\u00eda. As\u00ed que empieza a estudiar las maravillas de la noche.
\n\n\n\nY ma\u00f1ana por la ma\u00f1ana di: \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea. Gracias a Hashem por el sol. Y en el desayuno, di \u05d1\u05d7\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd – \u00c9l nos da comida con sabores, con colores y aromas. \u00a1La comida es deliciosa! As\u00ed que agrad\u00e9cele por la comida que comiste. Y as\u00ed sucesivamente durante el resto del d\u00eda. \u00a1Y esa es una buena manera de celebrar \u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 y \u05e9\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 y \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1! Todos los d\u00edas en Av y todos los d\u00edas en Elul tambi\u00e9n.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #835 (agosto de 1991)
\nThe post Tu BeAv appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-14T02:52:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-14T02:52:41+00:00" }, { "id": 34758, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tu-bav/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Tu B\u2019Av", "content_html": "\nQ:
How do we celebrate\u00a0chamisha asar b\u2019Av?
A:
We celebrate it, first of all, by saying \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Thank You Hashem for the night. How wonderful it is to have nighttime! Nighttime is a very great blessing; you have to study the nighttime. It\u2019s not just lack of the day. No! \u05d1\u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d5\u05ea\u05d7 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Nighttime is made with wisdom. So start studying the wonders of nighttime.
And tomorrow morning say, \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea. Thank Hashem for the sun. And at breakfast, say \u05d1\u05d7\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 He gives us food with flavors and with colors and aromas. Food is delectable! So thank Him for the food you ate. And so on and so on during the rest of the day. And that\u2019s a good way to celebrate \u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 and \u05e9\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 and \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1! Every day in Av and every day in Elul too.
TAPE # 835 (August 1991)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Tu B\u2019Av appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-12T17:19:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-12T17:19:34+00:00" }, { "id": 34755, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-goma-de-mascar/", "title": "La goma de mascar ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre la goma de mascar?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa primera impresi\u00f3n que tienes cuando ves a alguien mascando chicle es que esa persona est\u00e1 haciendo lo que hacen los gentiles. No hay nada de malo en mascar chicle, pero es una forma gentil de hacer las cosas. Digamos que est\u00e1s caminando por la calle silbando. \u00bfQu\u00e9 tiene de malo silbar? No hay nada de malo en silbar, pero los jud\u00edos no silban en la calle. No hay nada de malo, no es un pecado, pero son los modales de los go\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nHacemos todo lo posible por seguir los caminos de nuestros antepasados; no imitar a la gente baja, los umot haolam. Despu\u00e9s de todo, no tienen principios. Tal vez no conozcas a los go\u00edm. Conozco bien a los go\u00edm. Son personas bajas y no nos podemos permitir hundirnos al nivel de nuestro entorno. Somos arist\u00f3cratas. Somos gente importante. Banim atem laHashem Elokejem: somos hijos de Hashem y no podemos comportarnos como go\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, si una ni\u00f1a est\u00e1 mascando chicle en la calle, debe saber que parece una shifj\u00e1. No, no deber\u00edas hacer eso. Si tienes que masticar chicle por alguna raz\u00f3n, hazlo en casa cuando nadie te est\u00e9 mirando. Tal vez haya alg\u00fan beneficio, no puedo dec\u00edrtelo. Pero en general, me temo que masticar chicle ayuda a estropear los dientes. Tal vez hay az\u00facar en la enc\u00eda y el az\u00facar estropea los dientes. Sea lo que sea, no debe hacerse de una manera que anuncie que eres un miembro com\u00fan de la poblaci\u00f3n local.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-147 (julio de 1998)
\nThe post La goma de mascar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-12T03:32:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-12T03:32:32+00:00" }, { "id": 34753, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/no-son-todos-nazis/", "title": "No son todos Nazis", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted habl\u00f3 con bastante dureza sobre los progresistas diciendo que son un peligro para Am\u00e9rica. \u00bfQui\u00e9nes son peores, los antiguos cristianos que mataron a millones, o los modernos progresistas que enfatizan los derechos civiles?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsta es una pregunta extra\u00f1a. En primer lugar, los antiguos cristianos no mataron a millones. Millones s\u00f3lo fueron asesinados por los cristianos modernos, que no son realmente cristianos. Los antiguos cristianos s\u00f3lo mataron a miles. Aclaro esto porque el din es que debes calificar a las personas seg\u00fan lo que realmente han hecho. Dice, \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05e1\u05d5\u05e1 \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05df – No seas como un caballo o una mula que no entiende, y Jazal dicen que si no sabes la diferencia entre un mitzr\u00ed y un amalek\u00ed, entonces eres como un caballo. No puedes llamar a todos los Go\u00edm por los mismos malos nombres. Hay una gran diferencia.
\n\n\n\nEs como el rabino reformista, Maurice Eisendrath; quien antes de fallecer, sus \u00faltimas palabras fueron un gran ataque contra el presidente Nixon. Dijo as\u00ed: “El presidente Nixon me recuerda a los nazis. Es un eco de los nazis”. Bueno, eso es una tonter\u00eda. En primer lugar, el presidente Nixon est\u00e1 muy lejos de ser un nazi. Si el presidente Nixon est\u00e1 un poco encolerizado con los “muchachos jud\u00edos” que le traen mucho problemas, no lo culpo en absoluto. (En 1974, los art\u00edculos de la prensa estadounidense afirmaron que el presidente Nixon hab\u00eda usado el ep\u00edteto “los muchachos jud\u00edos” al referirse a algunos de sus enemigos pol\u00edticos). Si estuviera en sus zapatos, no estar\u00eda satisfecho con decir una expresi\u00f3n tan leve. Los llamar\u00eda de otra manera; estos chicos jud\u00edos con un espacio en blanco despu\u00e9s de eso. Despu\u00e9s de todo, son jud\u00edos los que estaban caus\u00e1ndole problemas.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo es que Eisendrath lo llam\u00f3 Nazi? \u00bfQu\u00e9 sufrimos los jud\u00edos por Nixon? Lo mismo ocurre con los rusos; no podemos llamar a los rusos “nazis”. Tenemos que tener cuidado en nuestra elecci\u00f3n de palabras. Aunque los rusos mataron a millones, y ellos tambi\u00e9n mataron a muchos jud\u00edos, est\u00e1n muy lejos de obtener el nombre de nazis. La gente banaliza la palabra nazi; si el Gabai del Shul no te dio la ali\u00e1 que quer\u00edas, “\u00a1es un nazi!” Es una tonter\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que dejemos en claro que los antiguos cristianos no han matado a millones. Y en cuanto a los progresistas que destacan los derechos civiles, bueno, tengo mucho que decir sobre ese tema, pero lo omitiremos por hoy, porque creo que ya he hablado mucho de ese tema.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #61 (mayo de 1974)
\nThe post No son todos Nazis appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-11T02:37:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-11T02:37:24+00:00" }, { "id": 34748, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-not-everyone-is-a-nazi/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Not Everyone Is A Nazi", "content_html": "\nQ:
You\u2019ve spoken quite harshly about the liberals, saying that they\u2019re a danger to America. Which is worse, the old-fashioned Christians who killed millions, or the modern day liberals who stress civil rights?
A:
This is a queer question. \u00a0First of all, old-fashioned Christians didn\u2019t kill millions. Millions were only killed by modern Christians, the ones who are not really Christians anyhow. The old-fashioned Christians only killed\u00a0thousands. I say that because the\u00a0din\u00a0is that you have to give credit where credit is due. It\u00a0says, \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05e1\u05d5\u05e1 \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u2013\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0be like a horse or mule\u00a0who doesn\u2019t understand,\u00a0and Chazal say that if you don\u2019t know the difference\u00a0between a\u00a0Mitzri\u00a0and an\u00a0Amaleiki, then you\u2019re like a horse. You can\u2019t call all\u00a0goyim\u00a0by the same bad names. There\u2019s\u00a0a big difference.
It\u2019s like that reform rabbi, Maurice Eisendrath,\u00a0alav ha\u2019shnubbel;\u00a0before he departed for warmer climates, so his last words were a great blast against President Nixon. He said, \u201cPresident Nixon makes me think of the Nazis.\u00a0It\u2019s an echo of the Nazis.\u201d\u00a0Well, that\u2019s as silly as can be! First of all, President Nixon is very far from being a Nazi. If President Nixon is a little bit incensed at\u00a0the \u201cJew boys\u201d\u00a0who make so much trouble for him, I don\u2019t blame him at all. (In 1974\u00a0articles in the American press claimed that President Nixon had used the epithet \u201cJew boys\u201d when referring to some of his political enemies.)\u00a0\u00a0If I were in his shoes I wouldn\u2019t be satisfied with saying such a mild expression. I\u2019d call them something else; these\u00a0Jew boys\u00a0with a blank after it. After all, it\u00a0was\u00a0the Jew boys who were making all the trouble.\u00a0
So where does Eisendrath come\u00a0chas v\u2019shalom\u00a0to call him a Nazi?! What do we Jews suffer from Nixon? And even the Russians; we can\u2019t call the Russians \u201cNazis.\u201d\u00a0We have to be careful in our choice of words. Although the Russians did kill millions, and they killed many Jews too, but they are\u00a0very far from earning the name of Nazis.\u00a0People bandy about the word Nazi; if the\u00a0gabbai\u00a0in shul didn\u2019t give you the\u00a0aliyah\u00a0you wanted, so \u201cHe\u2019s a Nazi!\u201d It\u2019s foolish talk.\u00a0
And so let\u2019s speak up for the old fashioned Christians who did\u00a0not\u00a0kill millions. And as far as the new liberal who stresses civil rights, well, I have a lot to say on that subject but we\u2019ll skip it for today, because I think I\u2019ve spoken about that plenty.
TAPE # 61 (May 1974)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Not Everyone Is A Nazi appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-10T18:04:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-10T18:04:15+00:00" }, { "id": 34744, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-vaetchanan/", "title": "Paracha Vaetchanan", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Vaetchanan-5782The post Paracha Vaetchanan appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-10T00:51:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-10T00:51:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34741, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/honrando-a-la-esposa-y-a-la-madre/", "title": "Honrando a la esposa y a la madre", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nCuando se trata de la mitzv\u00e1 de kibud av vaem, \u00bfc\u00f3mo encaja eso con honrar a la esposa? A veces, ambas cosas no pueden darse juntas.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi usas tu s\u00e9jel, entonces honrar a tus padres no tiene que entrar en conflicto con honrar a tu esposa. Pero como se mencion\u00f3 antes, un hombre est\u00e1 obligado a honrar a su esposa y procurar que su hogar sea un lugar de tranquilidad; y tiene que honrar a su padre y a su madre fuera del hogar; si van a interferir [en el matrimonio], entonces no deben ser invitados nunca a su casa. Si quieres, puedes estar todo el d\u00eda acostado en casa de tus padres, pero no deber\u00e1s traer a casa ninguna sugerencia de tu madre. Y si tu madre interfiere, como se ha dicho antes, tienes que ser valiente y hacerle saber que as\u00ed no va la cosa.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa si mi madre quiere enviarle sugerencias a mi esposa a trav\u00e9s de m\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEs importante que tu esposa no reciba la m\u00e1s m\u00ednima sugerencia que llega de tu madre. Y las esposas por lo general son capaces de olfatear eso. Por lo tanto, las mujeres que quieren alimentar con sugerencias a sus hijos lo mejor ser\u00eda que se olviden de eso. Deja que la casa de tu nuera sea un caos; un desorden. No te entrometas. As\u00ed est\u00e1 mejor que como estar\u00e1 con tu contribuci\u00f3n. Todo lo que contribuyas provocar\u00e1 hostilidad. Porque toda suegra piensa que es as\u00ed; cada suegra tiene sugerencias. Y por lo tanto, la mejor sugerencia es no decir nada en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #154 (febrero de 1977)
\nThe post Honrando a la esposa y a la madre appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T22:44:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T22:44:11+00:00" }, { "id": 34732, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-honoring-wives-and-mothers/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Honoring Wives and Mothers", "content_html": "\nQ:
When it comes to the mitzvah of kibud av ve’eim how does that fit in with honoring your wife? Sometimes both can\u2019t be true.
A:
\n\n\n\nIf you use your seichel, then honoring your parents doesn’t have to come into conflict with honoring your wife. But as was mentioned before, it states that a man is obligated to honor his wife and to see that his home is a place of tranquility; and \u00a0he has to honor his father and his mother outside the home \u2013\u00a0if\u00a0they are going to interfere, they should never be invited to his house.\u00a0If he wants, he can lie all day long in his parents’ home but he shouldn’t bring home any suggestions from his mother. And if his mother interferes, as was\u00a0said before, he has to put his foot down and let her know that this cannot be.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nQ:
What if my mother wants to relay suggestions to my wife through me?
A:
It’s important that it shouldn’t have the slightest suggestion that it came from her. And wives usually are able to sniff that out. And therefore women who want to feed suggestions to their sons \u2013 that’s one of the ways they do it \u2013 the best thing would be to forget about it. Let the daughter-in-law’s house be bedlam; let it be confusion. Don’t mix in. It’s much better than what you could contribute. All you contribute is hostility. Because every mother-in-law thinks that it’s so; every mother-in-law has suggestions. And therefore the best suggestion is to say nothing at all.
TAPE # 154 (February 1977)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Honoring Wives and Mothers appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T19:38:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T19:38:16+00:00" }, { "id": 34721, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%9f-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05df", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05df-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T04:06:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T22:07:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34695, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%9f-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05df \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05dfThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05df \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T03:32:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:32:44+00:00" }, { "id": 34765, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vaeschanan-nachamu-5-consoling-his-people-2/", "title": "Parshas Va\u2019eschanan-Nachamu 5 \u2013 Consoling His People", "content_html": "A Commandment
\n\n\n\nWhen Yeshayah Hanavi made that famous statement\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 You should doubly console My people, he was not saying it of his own mind; it says at the end of that possuk: \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Your Elokim is saying this. It means that Hashem is the One commanding us to perform this service of consoling.
\n\n\n\nAnd who are we commanded to console?Ami \u2013 My nation. The Am Yisroel are the ones who deserve an especial measure of encouragement. He adds a reason there: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e7\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05d4\u05b8. It means that the Jewish nation has suffered much. Not only the churban. Even today we know that the gentiles do not love Jews; and if you look like a Jew, they surely don\u2019t love you. The Jew is surrounded by gentiles who often cause trouble and the Jew is constantly struggling against that.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s Not Easy
\n\n\n\nBesides, in order to be an observant Jew a certain amount of sacrifice is always required. To raise a frum family certainly takes work. A Jewish mother is especially busy. The children are climbing the walls and she\u2019s haggard and tired. And her husband is out in the factory working long hours so that he could pay schar limud and rent for his big family.
\n\n\n\nAnd of course everybody has some pekel; everybody has some troubles in life. There is no such thing as a human being who doesn\u2019t need consolation; even a millionaire, a billionaire, he has some difficulties in life. Some have more than you think.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu is commanding us through the mouth of the Navi that we should always consider it our function in life to console the Jewish people. Every frum Jew deserves the greatest amount of help and compassion and encouragement. And the Navi is talking to us; it says \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 plural \u2013 everybody has to console My people.
\n\n\n\nA New Attitude
\n\n\n\nNow again, let’s not live merely by superficiality, by words without thinking what we’re saying. This statement of Yeshayah Hanavi actually means what\u2019s being said here. And so when it comes to how one frum Jew deals with another frum Jew, what should be the attitude? \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Console!
\n\n\n\nAnd not only once. \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc! Console and console some more! The fact that the word is repeated comes to emphasize that this should be done constantly. \u201cConsole and console again\u201d means that always, tamid, you should continue to cause consolation to My people. Not once a year on Shabbos Nachamu because of the Churban Bais Hamikdash. All year round, all our lives, we should listen to the Will of Hashem to comfort the Jewish nation.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only people in general, but every yachid. Every individual we encounter, it\u2019s a chiyuv upon us to try to make him happy. Of course you have your own worries too; you don\u2019t have time to spend at length with everyone but as much as possible you have to do that. It\u2019s a chiyuv, a big responsibility, and it\u2019s something to think about because you\u2019re hearing now about a new career for the frum Jew; to make it an ideal to encourage our fellow Jews and to make them happy.
\n\n\n\nOf course the preface to that career is sur meira, to turn away from bad. It means that as much as possible we should make it our business never to cause any sadness to a fellow Jew. No quarreling. Quarrels make people unhappy and that\u2019s the direct opposite of what’s expected of you. To be cold chas veshalom; to say the wrong words to a fellow Jew that\u2019s not called nachamu nachamu ami. It\u2019s the opposite of tanchumim. We have to console. That’s what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants.
\n\n\n\nThe Lollipop Cure
\n\n\n\nNow, exactly how to do that requires study. You have to be trained for that, but in many cases it\u2019s not difficult at all. You\u2019ll be surprised but you want to know what kind of consolation is needed most? In most cases it\u2019s a lollipop. A lollipop! I\u2019ll explain that.
\n\n\n\nHere is a man walking with his little boy in the street, and the boy is weeping and howling as if the worst thing just happened to him. What is it? He lost his little toy, a plastic whistle let\u2019s say from the Five and Dime discount store.
\n\n\n\nNow, what does the father do? The father could tell him, \u201cMy son what are you crying for? Aren\u2019t you happy that you are alive? Aren\u2019t you happy that you are wearing tzitzis, that you\u2019re a Jew? Aren\u2019t you happy that Hashem gave us the Torah and that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0?”
\n\n\n\nThat is what the father could say \u2013 that would be tanchumim of seichel after all \u2013 but he doesn\u2019t say that because it wouldn\u2019t help. It wouldn\u2019t help at all. What helps? A lollipop, that does the trick. If it has different colors, even better! And so the father gives him a lollipop to suck on and the little boy is consoled now. Aha! Nachamu nachamu ami. You were menachem a fellow Jew!
\n\n\n\nTwisted Minds
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the possuk says \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 with somebody whose mind is crooked we have to deal crookedly (Tehillim 18:27). Now some people misunderstand that; they think it means you can cheat a crooked man. No, it doesn\u2019t mean that. \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 – With a man whose mind is crooked, you can\u2019t talk straight things to him but you want to put into his mind a straight idea. How do you put a straight idea into a twisted box? So \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 you take your idea and twist it so it should fit into his crooked mind. After a while the idea straightens itself out and his mind will straighten out too. But you have to get it into his mind, even in a twisted form.
\n\n\n\nWhen you talk to the child, you can\u2019t talk straight; he is an \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 a child\u2019s mind is \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1; and by giving him a lollipop you are twisting your mind for him. What is a lollipop after all? Is that any consolation for weeping in this world? No; it\u2019s twisted. Never mind! \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc, twist yourself to fit in. And after a while, when his mind is calm, you might go over to him and say, \u201cMy little boy, isn\u2019t it a nice sunny day?\u201d So now you introduced a higher madreigeh to him; to appreciate a nice day is a big madreigeh. A little later you can talk to him about higher things, about the greatness of being from the Am Yisroel, the greatness of Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nThe Smile Lolly
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when you are dealing with people, you can\u2019t always talk to them inyanim of emes, of ruchniyus and seichel. You can\u2019t tell them about the ideals of great achievements in this world, how glorious it is to live in this world where you can do mitzvos and maasim tovim; how it\u2019s all a hallway to the Next World. \u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05df \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d6\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05e1 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05df. You can\u2019t tell that to people who are sad; sometimes you have to give them something, a lollipop, to suck on.
\n\n\n\nNow, there are various ways of giving candy to a person. You can\u2019t give a grown person a lollipop, but there are various other substitutes that take its place. Here\u2019s one that works for adults \u2013 a smile! Showing a friendly face is one form of consolation that\u2019s always available.And even though you don’t know the man,but he\u2019s a fellow Jew; so remind yourself about what Yeshayah Hanavi said and console him by showing him a friendly face, a smile.
\n\n\n\nEncourage your fellow Jew. Let\u2019s say you’re sitting on the bus or on the subway; all the seats are occupied and a frum Jew comes in \u2013 nobody looks at him with a friendly face. What do you do? You get up and say shalom aleichem and shake hands with him demonstratively. After that you could sit down on your seat again, but at least you have shown that you\u2019re honoring this man. That’s what we have to do. Not just sit and ignore him. How could you ignore a frum Jew who walked into the bus or into the subway? Our job is to get up, say shalom aleichem and greet him. Let the world see that he is important.
\n\n\n\nLet him know he\u2019s important! He\u2019ll be happier. It makes him more healthy. It changes his entire day and he will never forget it.
\n\n\n\nBe An Actor
\n\n\n\nIt takes a little training, a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you\u2019re on your way. Otherwise, you\u2019re a golem, an untrained fellow. Some people pass you on the street. They know you but they barely acknowledge you. A smile, surely not. That shows he\u2019s not mechunach. He\u2019s not trained. You have to greet a fellow Jew besimchah. A frum Jew especially. A black hat Jew, you should greet him with simchah. Even no black hat. Any Jew with a yarmulke, you should greet him with a smile.
\n\n\n\nDoes it cost money to smile? And it\u2019s an obligation. It’s not midas chassidus; it\u2019snot doing beyond the line of duty. So he says, \u201cBut where does it say that?\u201d Nachamu nachamu ami means that! And therefore we must learn that attitude, at home, in business, on the street, in the beis haknesses, in the yeshivah; wherever we are we must learn to make other Jews happy. And even though you don’t love him, act like you love him. Make him feel good! It\u2019s an obligation.
\n\n\n\nTake a Nosh
\n\n\n\nNow before I go on with the subject \u2013 I haven\u2019t started yet \u2013 I want to add a very important point. And that is the following: included in nachamu nachamu ami is yourself. Why only others? Hakodosh Boruch Hu says to you, \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 – console others and console yourself. After all, when we say \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9, you are also included; you are also Hashem\u2019s people and so you have to console yourself. You have to learn how to cheer yourself up.
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you are sad and you don\u2019t know why you are sad, then you had better get busy with fulfilling that obligation. Maybe you are that little boy who is crying over nothing. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cTake a lollipop.\u201d Just like you have to give lollipops to others, sometimes you have to give to yourself as well.
\n\n\n\nSometimes a candy or a piece of cake is important to give you a lift. Many times people are down and they need a lift and then it\u2019s recommended that they take a nosh and enjoy life a little bit more than the regular routine. It doesn’t mean you have to run after nosherei, snacks, good times, no. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to drink shnapps. But sometimes that\u2019s also a way of being menachem yourself. Anything that won\u2019t harm you, that won\u2019t enslave you into wrong habits, you are mechuyev to do.
\n\n\n\nGet Rosy Glasses
\n\n\n\nHowever the best way for a person is to learn the art of optimism; to put on rosy glasses and look at the world and see everything in a rosy light. That\u2019s the real happiness, the real consolation, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to do. A Jew should try to be happy in this world, in Hashem\u2019s world, because it’s a mitzvah to make himself, a Jew, happy. Be happy with your feet. Be happy with your lungs. Your kidneys are working? Your heart is pumping? Oh wah, is that a nechama!
\n\n\n\nOther things too. Go to sleep on time by all means. Make sure this Jew over here (the Rav pointed to himself) goes to sleep on time. It’s very important. It will make you happy. \u2018Early to bed\u2019 is very important. Tell this Jew to eat his meals on time: \u201cEat breakfast every day.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut most important is to teach others and yourself to live a life of appreciation. All the things that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is doing for you are included in the mitzvah of nachamu nachamu ami \u2013 Hashem made those things cheer us up and the more you focus on them, the more you talk about them to yourself and others, the more you are fulfilling the mitzvah of \u201cConsole My people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSome Lomdus
\n\n\n\nBut when we look at this haftorah, when Yeshayah starts explaining, we notice that he doesn’t give any such examples that you just heard now; he speaks of entirely different things, a higher form of consolation.
\n\n\n\nNow we shouldn’t make any error. Although Yeshayah Hanavi doesn’t talk about enjoying the pleasures of life, of being happy and optimistic by means of gashmiyus, nevertheless he certainly intended that. Only that he goes on and he\u2019s talking to us on a higher level.
\n\n\n\nIf you study the haftorah, you’ll see that the entire haftorah is talking about the greatness of Hashem. Take a look at the pesukim inside and you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s so. Now what does that have to do with the consolation of nachamu nachamu ami? It\u2019s a lomdishe question I\u2019m asking now.
\n\n\n\nYou know, if Yeshayah would have said, \u201cMy people! Be consoled because I’m going to rebuild Yerushalayim once again. You will come back to Eretz Yisroel and live in the shadow of the Beis Hamikdash,\u201d so we would understand that. But Yeshayah Hanavi is instead consoling us with the great thought that Hashem is the Power that rules the universe. We have to understand that.
\n\n\n\nThe Terrible Tragedy
\n\n\n\nIn the haftorah of the week after Shabbos Nachamu, Yeshayah Hanavi begins with the words \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05e2\u05b2\u05d6\u05b8\u05d1\u05b7\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05d7\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 Tzion says \u2018Hashem forsook me and Hashem forgot me\u2019.
\n\n\n\nWhat was the occasion for these words? One of the most tragic events in our history transpired at that time. It was the beginning of the Churban. The ten tribes that had separated from Yehudah and Binyomin and formed a kingdom to themselves, were now carried off into captivity.
\n\n\n\nThe division, the separation, was a tragedy of such terrible dimensions that no one could even think of it. But now came the finale of that tragedy \u2013 the nation of Assyria, Ashur, made an invasion and carried off the ten tribes. Our brothers went lost.
\n\n\n\nWe can\u2019t even begin to understand what a blow this was. We had been in the land since we came out of Mitzrayim, and we were together, all the shivtei Kah, one nation together, and it never occurred to anyone that we would ever be separated from our land. Today we\u2019re accustomed to \u201cthe wandering Jew\u201d, but at that time it was fixed in the Jewish concept that we\u2019re here forever. It would never occur to us that a tribe could go lost.
\n\n\n\nShaking The Foundations
\n\n\n\nThis tragic episode rocked the nation to the foundations. Of course, they believed implicitly in Hashem. There was no question that Hakodosh Boruch Hu had been guiding them since the days of the beginning of the nation. They couldn\u2019t forget the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim, all the wonders that Hashem had done for them.Their great-grandfathers were witnesses.
\n\n\n\nBut now all of a sudden it seemed like Hakodosh Boruch Hu was tired of them and He had forgotten about them. That was the conclusion to which many came. Otherwise it couldn\u2019t be that such a tragedy could take place. Some people become very angry at Hashem because of that. And some who were more charitable said, \u201cHashem forgot about us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Navi tells us, \u201cImpossible! \u05d4\u05b2\u05ea\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 Can a woman forget her baby? It’s impossible. Hashem is always thinking about you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nImmense Numbers
\n\n\n\nNow the Gemara (Brachos 32b) goes on and explains what it means that Hashem doesn\u2019t forget about His people, what it means that He thinks about them always.
\n\n\n\n\u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 Listen to what Hashem says. Now the following is just a picturesque language. But it\u2019s not an exaggeration; it\u2019s an understatement. Remember. It may seem like an exaggeration but it\u2019s an understatement.
\n\n\n\n\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cMy daughter,\u201dHashem says to the Jewish people, \u05d9”\u05d1 \u05de\u05b7\u05d6\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u2013 \u201cI created twelve constellations in the sky.\u201d The sky is divided up by the astronomers of ancient times into twelve areas called twelve constellations. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05d6\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05d6\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dc \u2013 \u201cAnd I created thirty armies of stars on each constellation, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 and each one of these armies has thirty legions of stars. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 and every legion has thirty regiments of stars, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e8\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 and in every regiment there are thirty squads of stars, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d2\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 and every squad has thirty detachments of stars. Now pay attention to this: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d2\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0 \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 And for each detachment I have put in 365,000 times 10,000 of stars.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou, Yes, You!
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s already many millions and billions of stars! And Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05bb\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u201cAll of these millions of stars I created only because of you.\u201d We have to get that in our minds. The millions of stars in space \u2013 by the way there are more than millions and billions. There are trillions of stars. And some of them are very big, much bigger than the sun. \u201cAnd all of them have been created only because of you,\u201d Hashem says. \u201cSo how can you say I have forsaken you and forgotten you?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe truth is it\u2019s a possuk in Chumash. In the Chumash it says as follows \u2013 they are words we have to study and remember. When you go home tonight, take out a Chumash and memorize this possuk. If you can\u2019t say it in the original, memorize the English: \u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 Behold to Hashem belongs the heavens and the heavens above the heavens. It means \u201cAll of space is Mine, and everything in all of space is Mine.\u201d But \u05e8\u05b7\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd, only in your forefathers did Hashem delight to love them.
\n\n\n\nHashem turned His back on the trillions of huge heavenly bodies and loved our forefathers. He loved Avraham. \u2018\u201cAvraham, you’re everything to Me.\u201d He loved Yitzchak. \u201cYitzchok, you’re everything to Me.\u201d He loved Yaakov. \u201cYaakov, you’re everything to Me.
\n\n\n\nSo you might think it\u2019s only our forefathers. Hashem says no, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 all of you! And your children too, \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4, as of this day. Whatever day you might be listening to these words it won\u2019t ever change. Hashem loves every Jew with such an intensity that it\u2019s remarkable. And He\u2019s thinking about all of us more than trillions of stars, more than anything else in the universe.
\n\n\n\nThe Adopted Princess
\n\n\n\nAnd now we can understand what He’s telling us in the haftorah. The whole haftorah goes on to speak about the greatness of Hashem because that’s our greatness, that\u2019s our true nechamah. Because the more we understand the vastness, the infinity of Hashem, His wisdom and His kindliness that have no end, the more consoled we are. The greater Hashem becomes in our mind then the greater becomes our understanding of what it means that Hashem loves us. The greater You are, Hashem, the more honored we are.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a mashal. Suppose you got a letter from the king of England informing you of the good news that he has adopted you as his son. You\u2019re a prince now! Such a letter, you might have a yetzer hora to visit him; you\u2019ll be able to tell people about your new patron. It sounds like a very a big kavod after all.
\n\n\n\nTrust me, however, the king of England is a very small kavod, a very small honor. It’s almost nothing. The fact that so many people would like that kavod is meaningless. Who is he? He’s a shiker. He’s a goy. Sometimes he’s an adulterer too. I say \u201csometimes\u201d because I\u2019m considerate. Whatever he is, he’s a nobody. He’s not a chochom or a scientist. At least if he was a scientist, maybe. But he’s a nobody.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it’s important to know who is adopting you as his son. When the Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakodosh Boruch Hu says banim atem laHashem Elokeichem, you’re My children, it means that the King of All Kings is saying, \u201cI\u2019m adopting you as My son.\u201d Oh, that’s the greatest honor that you could ever think of.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou have to know who I am,\u201d Hashem says. \u201cI am everything. If I love you then there’s nothing bigger in the world than that.\u201d And so when He says, \u201cI\u2019m more interested in you than anything else in the universe,\u201d that\u2019s the only thing that counts \u2013 that\u2019s the great consolation of Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nEthnocentricity in The Bible
\n\n\n\nWe have to study that. You know today you come into a place full of frum Jews, boruch Hashem. Boruch Hashem! But because there are so many of them, they become unimportant to you. \u201cIt\u2019s just frum Jews,\u201d you think. Oh no! When you look at even one Jew, when you see one Jew walking in the street, he\u2019s more important than anything else in the world. Not the Jewish nation; a single Jew walking in the street! A little yeshivah boy. A Beis Yaakov girl. You have to know that one Jew is more important than billions of stars. Every individual Jew! Man or woman, boy or girl, is more important to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than all the stars in space.
\n\n\n\nI remember when that Arab killed Kahane so a certain gentile writer was making fun of Kahane. He was ridiculing him and he accused him of ethnocentricity. Ethnocentricity means he was interested so much in the Jewish people; ethno, his own nation, centricity, is the center of everything.
\n\n\n\nNow I was thinking how silly that is. Why blame Kahane? Hashem said that already. And so every Jew has to be ethnocentric; otherwise he\u2019s not a Torah Jew \u2013 he\u2019s rebelling against the Torah. Every Jew has to think that. But not only that the center of our thoughts is the Jewish people. No, that\u2019s not it. Hashem says \u201cIt’s the center of My thoughts! Can I forget you? Could be I’ll forget the stars. I don’t forget anything but if I would forget, I would forget the stars and the planets and everything else. But I wouldn’t forget you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMore Than Trillions
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the higher level of nachamu nachamu ami. My people should be consoled just because of that, just because of that word: Ami \u2013 \u201cThey are My nation. That’s the consolation, that you’re My people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we begin to see a new way to console ourselves. We have to practice up this idea that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is trying to hammer into our minds that He loves every one of us more than any amount, more than trillions and trillions of huge worlds in space.
\n\n\n\nIt’s not a guzma like people who never study this will think. They go through life never thinking about this subject so they think I\u2019m just talking; that I\u2019m just saying words so that we could have a lecture. No, no; I\u2019m saying it because we have to practice it. As you walk in the street and you see a frum Jew walking over there \u2013 you don’t know him but one thing you do know; to Hashem he is more important than the entire universe.
\n\n\n\nStart Preaching
\n\n\n\nThat’s part of the function of nachamu nachamu ami. We have to preach to the Jewish nation how important they are. You can\u2019t put it in the newspapers but Jews should preach it to themselves. You must talk again and again and again about this great point. There’s nothing in the world except the Jewish people! Every observant Jew is of vast importance and we have to talk to our children about it. Talk to your neighbors. They\u2019ll laugh at you? Say it anyhow. Find different ways to say it; one day you present it like this, one day like this. It goes in. It goes in and it\u2019s a consolation.
\n\n\n\nAnd like we said earlier, it\u2019s not enough to tell others. Nachamu nachamu means ourselves. We have to console ourselves and teach this to ourselves. So continually you should say, \u201cHashem loves me more than He loves the entire universe. Of course He loves me more than all the trees; He loves me more than all the mountains and the oceans, more than all the animals. He loves me more than all the Italians. He loves me more than all the Irishmen; more than anybody else in the world, He loves me. He loves me more than even the whole world. If the whole universe was populated with nations and I was the only Jew, He loves only me more than all of them.\u201d That’s how we fulfill nachamu nachamu ami.
\n\n\n\nServants in This World
\n\n\n\nAnd now we come to the final word in this subject of nachamu nachamu ami. Actually it\u2019s the most important, the most genuine, consolation we can give the Am Yisroel. I\u2019m talking about the nechamah of Olam Habo, the consolation of the World to Come. Olam Habo, that\u2019s everything! And any consolation in this world pales in comparison to the nechamah of Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that even in this world we do see a great deal of consolation for the Jewish people. Don\u2019t we see that in many places there are gentile servants in the Jewish homes? In this neighborhood many people have gentile servants. But nowhere will you find a Jew working as a servant in a gentile home. You don’t see that. Never is there a Jew who works for a gentile as a domestic in the house.
\n\n\n\nEven in golus we’re superior in our physical lives, above all the other nations. Even in Lithuania and Poland where the Jews were pretty poor, they had peasant women, servant girls working in their houses. I remember when I was in Lithuania in yeshivah a goy once said to me, \u201cI wish you Jews would have your own country and we\u2019d go there to live and you\u2019d work in our houses!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Kuzari when he\u2019s talking about how Hashem takes care of us in golus he says like this: Ki avadim anachnu, it\u2019s true we are servants. To a certain extent, we are subject to the nations, and yet even in our servitude, Hashem didn’t forsake us. And he explains that our economic status among the nations has always been better than that of the majority of the people. We’re always a little lower than the nobility than the aristocracy, but we’re superior to the majority of the people. It’s something that’s true everywhere. Wherever you go the Jew lives a better physical life than most of the people.
\n\n\n\nSatisfaction in This World
\n\n\n\nSo even in this golus, we see that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is consoling us. The Jew who is a frum person lives a happier life than others. Even the olden day gentiles who lived more decently than today, yet they never lived as happily as the Am Yisroel. I remember the old gentiles, the decent ones.
\n\n\n\nThey were shikurim. Saturday night, there was wife beating all over the whole city. The goyim got their week\u2019s pay and they went to the bars and got drunk and they used to come home and hit their wives and beat them. From all over the city you could hear the wailing of beaten women. Some of them \u2013 their wives were lucky \u2013 didn\u2019t even make it home. You walked in the streets early Sunday morning you could see goyim, well-dressed goyim, lying dead drunk on the street. I remember that. Goyim lying dead drunk on the street. But not among Jews. Not among Jews.
\n\n\n\nOf course by the goyim there always was infidelity; always there were shootings. The better ones only stabbed but there was always violence. Not among Jews however.
\n\n\n\nAnd of course today it\u2019s a hundred times worse among the gentiles. They don\u2019t have children. Their children are bums. It’s a tragedy what happens to their children; drugs, accidents, violence. The children die early. Meanwhile in the Jewish home there’s nachas from children. And then from the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And therefore even in this world, the satisfaction of being a frum Jew is evident. It’s Hashem\u2019s nechamah, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nHappiness in The Next World
\n\n\n\nAnd on a national level too. Don\u2019t you see that we have rebuilt a great deal of what we lost in Europe; six hundred yeshivos ketanos and mesivtas, boys and girls schools, in America alone! And in Eretz Yisroel too; the New York Times had a big article recently with a headline all across the page. They were unhappy about the growing power of the ultra-orthodox in Eretz Yisroel; they were gnashing their teeth. Let them gnash till they fall out. Boruch Hashem! Frum Jews are increasing everywhere, boruch Hashem. We have nechamos, no question about it.
\n\n\n\nBut all this is nothing compared to the real nechamah. You might be surprised to hear this but the real nechamah is that everything in this world comes to an end! Even the greatest success in this life won’t be forever. Sooner or later there comes an end to this life and that\u2019s when the real nechamah begins.
\n\n\n\nThe great success, the great happiness, is Olam Habo, the afterlife. That’s the nechamah for the Am Yisroel! Hakodosh Boruch Hu has declared \u201cKol Yisrael yesh lahem chelek leolam habo\u201d and He\u2019ll keep His word. We’ll come together with Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the Next World. And that’s the great tanchumin; to be together with Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Ultimate Consolation
\n\n\n\nAnd so included in nachamu nachamu ami, is that we should think about Olam Habo constantly. Speak about it. If they don’t want to listen then think about it yourself, console yourself with the biggest of all tanchumin. After all, what benefit is there if you’re a millionaire and you have fame and you live long but finally you end up in the grave? Is that the happiness that we\u2019re looking forward to?
\n\n\n\nThere’s no such thing as real nechamah unless a person reinforces all of his thoughts with the very great tanchumin that Dovid spoke about to himself when he saw difficulties coming on him: \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c2\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 In the multitude of my thoughts; whatever thoughts I have in my mind, whatever is bothering me, \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u2013 Your consolations were the delight of my soul. Your consolations, that\u2019s what brings me the real joy.
\n\n\n\nWhich consolations? What was Dovid talking about? He was thinking about Olam Habo! That\u2019s the ultimate consolation. And it\u2019s only the man with an Olam Habo\u2019dikeh mind who can weather the storms of this world.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Banquet
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you say nachamu ami, you\u2019re thinking \u201cBe consoled my people. But we should be doubly consoled, nachamu nachamu, because not only in this world are we the fortunate ones but in the Next World too we are the ones singled out for Olam Habo.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYeshayah tells us what’s going to happen in Olam Habo. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05db\u05b5\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Behold My servants will be eating, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 but you, the enemies of My people, will be hungry. There\u2019ll be a big ballroom and we will be enjoying the meal to no end. Don\u2019t ask me to describe it to you because I can\u2019t. But that\u2019s what\u2019s going to be \u2013 only much better than you can imagine. We\u2019ll be eating and enjoying, and our enemies will be standing and their mouths will be watering. They’ll be hungry, but nothing can be given to them. They\u2019re standing and looking around at the Am Yisrael who are enjoying the great pleasures, and their mouths will be watering with starvation. Their eyes will almost fall out of their sockets in jealousy. And it will last forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s part of our nechamah; the word \u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd, nun ches mem, is related to the word \u05e0\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05dd, nun kuf mem; nachem and nakam, to console and take revenge. Al pi dikduk it’s the same word, to console and to take revenge. And therefore nachamu means there\u2019s going to be a very great vengeance in the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nNo Seats for Nazis
\n\n\n\nAll the nations, those that disparaged us and those that insulted us and those that persecuted us, all of our enemies \u2013 they won\u2019t be invited to sit down. Seats are only for the Am Yisrael.
\n\n\n\nAll those who were anti-Semites will be standing there and they’ll be crying out with their broken hearts. And that means a vast majority of nations. Maybe some Chinese won\u2019t. Maybe some Koreans won\u2019t. I don’t know. But the ones who came to America and became anti-Semites, absolutely. Many blacks in Africa are probably innocent, but the ones that came to America and made trouble for the Jews, no question they’re going to supply a very big part of the population there; no question about that. And the Hispanics in South America had they remained there, it could be they wouldn’t have to suffer as much. They wouldn’t be in Gan Eden, but they wouldn’t have to suffer. But now that they came to America and they persecuted the Jews then they’re going to get. They’ll be there too. Oh yes, they’ll be there too. No question about it.
\n\n\n\nThe Nazis? Of course! Butnot only the soldiers; Hakodosh Boruch Hu is punishing all the Germans who voted Hitler to power. Every German is standing on his feet and he’s looking on how the frum Jews are seated at the table and singing in great happiness; and the Germans are being tortured by the pangs of starvation and crying out from the bottom of their heart. But nothing will help them; they’re going to continue like that forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nImagine That!
\n\n\n\n\u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d1 \u2013 My servants will sing from happiness. The Am Yisroel, we’ll all sing together. It will be a tremendous choir of happiness and gratitude to Hashem. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d1 \u2013 And you, our enemies, will cry out from the pain of the heart.
\n\n\n\nNow don’t think it’s a mashal because whatever it is it\u2019s much less than the truth. The truth is so immense that it cannot be described with words. And therefore the pinnacle of nachamu nachamu ami is this attitude of the mind, an Olam Habo mind, that we have to give to ourselves and to everyone else. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cI’m going to offer to you Myself as the ultimate consolation. Because I am so great, if you’ll be with Me it will be the greatest happiness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Yeshayah Hanavi is telling us that it\u2019s a good idea from time to time to take a look and see this picture in your mind of how we’re all sitting around the tables eating and enjoying the happiness of the afterlife. We have to labor in our minds to get a concept that the Klal Yisrael is now in Olam Habo – right now they\u2019re enjoying a very great happiness that is beyond the ability of words to describe. We have to train ourselves to think that way because that\u2019s also included in the commandment of nachamu.
\n\n\n\nAnd Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives us a reward just for that. It’s a mitzvah to think that way. Even if it doesn’t cause you to become a more frum person, even if it doesn’t cause you to do more mitzvos and it doesn’t cause you to learn more Torah, this itself is an achievement. You’re fulfilling the Word of Hashem by consoling the Am Yisroel. Yomar Hashem \u2013 It\u2019s the Word of Hashem: \u201cI am commanding you to learn this great function of nachamu nachamu ami; the consolation of the happiness in this world, the consolation of the happiness of being the Am Hashem, and the consolation of the happiness of being together with Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the Next World forever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLearning to Console
\n\n\n\nWe have a Mitzvah to console Hashem\u2019s people. This week I will bl\u201dn practice all three aspects of nechamah each day. 1. Once a day I will smile at someone and make them feel comfortable. 2. Once a day, when I see a fellow Jew, I will reflect on the fact that he or she is more important to Hashem than the entire universe. 3. I will spend thirty seconds each day remembering that this is not our final station and that this world is merely an entryway to the world of Truth and Goodness.
\nThe post Parshas Va\u2019eschanan-Nachamu 5 \u2013 Consoling His People appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T03:12:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-07-13T14:46:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34687, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vaeschanan-nachamu-5-consoling-his-people/", "title": "Parshas Va’eschanan-Nachamu 5 – Consoling His People", "content_html": "TA-Vaeschanan-5782The post Parshas Va’eschanan-Nachamu 5 – Consoling His People appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T02:58:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T02:58:46+00:00" }, { "id": 34686, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vaeschanan-nachamu-5-consoling-his-people/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Va’eschanan-Nachamu 5 – Consoling His People", "content_html": "TA-Vaeschanan-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Va’eschanan-Nachamu 5 – Consoling His People appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T02:58:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T02:58:07+00:00" }, { "id": 34684, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/galut-en-israel/", "title": "Galut en Israel ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nUsted hizo antes una declaraci\u00f3n de que los jud\u00edos en Israel hoy en d\u00eda est\u00e1n en Galut? \u00bfPodr\u00eda explicar eso?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar, los jud\u00edos en Israel viven entre \u00e1rabes y los \u00e1rabes, debes saberlo, est\u00e1n aumentando el doble de r\u00e1pido que los jud\u00edos. Si las cosas contin\u00faan como est\u00e1n, es s\u00f3lo cuesti\u00f3n de a\u00f1os antes de que los \u00e1rabes sean mayor\u00eda. Incluso en este momento, simplemente no pueden tomar el control porque los israel\u00edes tienen fuerza; pero si los israel\u00edes no usaran la fuerza, los \u00e1rabes se abrir\u00edan camino hacia las ciudades y tomar\u00edan el control. Son m\u00e1s violentos que los jud\u00edos. Y luego las naciones \u00e1rabes circundantes enviar\u00edan a todos los refugiados palestinos a regresar.
\n\n\n\nY ahora mismo estamos rodeados de enemigos por todos lados y hay guerras constantes. Ahora bien, eso no se llama vivir en tu propia tierra en paz, cuando tienes que pelear una guerra tras otra; y tantos j\u00f3venes han perdido la vida tratando de aferrarse a ese poco de independencia. Es un peque\u00f1o estado tambaleante all\u00ed; \u00bfQui\u00e9n dijo que tienes seguridad all\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, adem\u00e1s de eso, cuando volvamos a \u00c9retz Israel, tiene que ser una tierra de Israel; una tierra de Karl Marx no es \u00c9retz Israel. Una tierra de ate\u00edsmo y apikorosim y aduladores del New York Times no es \u00c9retz Israel.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQui\u00e9nes son los encargados del gobierno? \u00a1Ateos! Casi todos los l\u00edderes gubernamentales son apikorosim guemurim. En la Kn\u00e9set se escuchan constantes vituperios contra los jud\u00edos frum. As\u00ed que absolutamente estamos en Galut all\u00ed. Los jud\u00edos frum son una minor\u00eda y, especialmente hoy en d\u00eda, hay una campa\u00f1a de odio feroz contra los jud\u00edos frum en la prensa (peri\u00f3dicos, radio y televisi\u00f3n) y tambi\u00e9n en la Kn\u00e9set. Y ya han atacado un bet hakn\u00e9set y avergonzado los sifr\u00e9 Tor\u00e1 y destrozaron sefarim y los pisotearon. As\u00ed que lo vemos como el comienzo de algo peor por venir. Y por lo tanto, no hay duda de que estamos en Galut en \u00c9retz Israel hoy en d\u00eda; no hay duda.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu es capaz de rectificar todo y cuando rezamos \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05bc tambi\u00e9n estamos rezando para que en \u00c9retz Israel la Tor\u00e1 reine supremamente; no deber\u00eda haber crianza de cerdos en \u00c9retz Israel y no deber\u00eda haber ninguna inmoralidad en \u00c9retz Israel.
\n\n\n\nSi miras en la gu\u00eda gay, la gu\u00eda gay que tengo les dice a los gays d\u00f3nde encontrar diversi\u00f3n y agradable compa\u00f1\u00eda en \u00c9retz Israel; les da direcciones y lugares a donde pueden ir. Entonces todav\u00eda no estamos viviendo la restauraci\u00f3n de \u00c9retz Israel. Tenemos mucho que esperar todav\u00eda; las playas de Eilat y las otras playas no son lugares a los que pueda ir un jud\u00edo.
\n\n\n\nY no s\u00f3lo Eilat; cuando caminas hoy, incluso en Ierushal\u00e1im, en las paradas de autob\u00fas est\u00e1n poniendo pornograf\u00eda por primera vez en la historia en la ciudad santa. Son trajes de ba\u00f1o publicitarios; esa es la excusa, trajes de ba\u00f1o. Fotos en las paradas de autob\u00fas en Ierushal\u00e1im, cosas que nunca antes hab\u00edan habido. Si estuviera en manos de los \u00e1rabes, podr\u00edas estar seguro de que eso no suceder\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, estamos dos veces en Galut en \u00c9retz Israel. Estar en Galut por resha\u00edm jud\u00edos es peor que estar en Galut entre gentiles.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #604 (julio de 1986)
\n\n\n\n | ReplyForward |
The post Galut en Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-09T02:50:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T02:50:38+00:00" }, { "id": 34679, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-golus-in-israel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Golus in Israel", "content_html": "\nQ:
You\u00a0made a statement earlier that the Jews in Israel today are in Galus. Can you explain that?
A:
First of all, the Jews in Israel live among Arabs\u00a0and the Arabs, you have to know, are increasing twice as rapidly as the Jews. If things continue as is, it is only a matter of a number of years before\u00a0the Arabs will be a majority. Even right now they are only being prevented from taking over because the Israelis have force; but if the Israelis wouldn\u2019t use force, the Arabs would push their way into the cities and take over today. They are more violent than the Jews are. And then the surrounding Arab nations would send all the Palestine refugees to come back again.\u00a0
And so right now we are surrounded by enemies on all sides and there are constant wars. Now, that is not called living in your own land peacefully when you have to fight one war after another; and so many young men have lost their lives trying to hold on to that little bit of independence. It\u2019s a wobbly little state there; who said you have security there?
\n\n\n\nNow, besides that, when we come back to Eretz Yisroel, it has to be a land of Yisroel; a land of Karl Marx is not Eretz Yisroel. A land of atheism and apikorsim and New York Times sycophants is not Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nWho are the ones in charge of the government? Atheists! Almost all the government leaders are apikorsim gemurim. In the Knesses you hear constant vituperations against frum Jews. So absolutely we are in Golus there. The frum Jews are a minority and today especially there is a campaign of vicious hatred against the frum Jews in the press \u2013 newspapers, radio and television \u2013 and in the Knesses too. And already they have attacked one bais haknesses and shamed the sifrei torah and they tore up seforim and trampled on them. So we see it as the beginning of something worse to come yet. And therefore, there is no question that we are in Galus in Eretz Yisroel today; no question.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nOf course, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is able to rectify everything and when we pray \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05bc we are also praying that in Eretz Yisroel the Torah should reign supreme; there shouldn\u2019t be any hog raising in Eretz Yisroel and there shouldn\u2019t be any immorality in Eretz Yisrael.
\n\n\n\nIf you look in the gay guide, the gay guide book I have, it tells the gays where to find amusement and congenial company in Eretz Yisroel; it tells them addresses and places where they can go. So that is not a restoration to Eretz Yisroel yet. We have a lot to wait for yet; the beaches in Eilat and the other beaches are not places where a Jew can go.
\n\n\n\nNot only Eilat; when you walk today, even in Yerushalayim, at the bus stops they are pushing pornography for the first time in history in the holy city. They are advertising swimsuits; that is the excuse, bathing suits. Pictures on the bus stops in Yerushalayim, things that they never had before. If it was in the hands of the Arabs, you could be sure this wouldn\u2019t happen.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, we are twice in Golus in Eretz Yisroel. To be in Golus by Jewish reshaim is worse than being in Golus among gentiles.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 604 (July 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Golus in Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-08T17:33:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-08T17:33:45+00:00" }, { "id": 29101, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-kamtza-bar-kamtza-the-real-story/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Kamtza bar Kamtza: The Real Story", "content_html": "\nQ:
Was the Beis Hamikdash\u00a0destroyed because of\u00a0sinas chinam,\u00a0baseless\u00a0hatred,\u00a0among\u00a0frum\u00a0Jews?
A:
No,\u00a0there\u2019s no\u00a0sinas chinam\u00a0among the Jews. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you that. The\u00a0sinas\u00a0chinam\u00a0the Gemara talks about means the causeless hatred of the type that comes\u00a0from Avneri,\u00a0the representative of the homosexuals in the Knesses today. He hates decent Jews. The\u00a0communists there too, or the\u00a0Mapai, they hate the Jews. That\u2019s the\u00a0sinas\u00a0chinam\u00a0\u2013 but decent Jews don\u2019t have\u00a0sinas chinam.
In the times of the Beis Hamikdash it wasn\u2019t Shamai and Hillel and their\u00a0talmidim\u00a0who had\u00a0sinas chinam. It wasn\u2019t the Pharisees and the multitudes of the\u00a0frum\u00a0Jews who were their followers, who were the problem. The\u00a0sinas chinam\u00a0was from the\u00a0Tzedukim\u00a0and the\u00a0Notzrim. They hated the sages and the\u00a0frum\u00a0Jews who sided with the sages. And\u00a0because they were Jews, it was their\u00a0sinas chinam\u00a0for which the Jewish nation suffered. I understand that even some well-meaning writers and speakers have attempted to to apply the accusation of baseless hatred to the\u00a0frum\u00a0Jews at the time of the\u00a0churban, but it\u2019s a serious error.
TAPE # R-55
Q:
\n\n\n\nHow can you claim the Jews at the time of the churban were so righteous? We know the story of Kamtza bar Kamtza and that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of sinas chinam?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a big misconception that the public has about a certain Gemara in Mesichta Yuma. In Mesichta Yuma (9b) the Gemara asks: Why was the Beis Hamikdash charuv? Why was it destroyed? When we say Beis Hamikdash we mean not only the Beis Hamikdash \u2013 it means the whole setup of Jewish independence and commonwealth.
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara says that the first Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of certain reasons and then the Gemara asks about the second Beis Hamikdash? Why was the Bayis Sheini destroyed? And the Gemara says it was because of sinas chinam, because of causeless hatred.
\n\n\n\nNow, on this there is a great deal of misconception. I was once in a Orthodox school, a very Orthodox school, and I saw on the wall there were two pictures. One was a picture of a concentration camp. Jews in the concentration camp and they\u2019re being thrown into fire, the crematorium. And next to it was another picture of Kamtza bar Kamtza in ancient Yerushalayim just before the churban; and the host was ejecting him from a banquet \u2013 Kamtza bar Kamtza was being ejected from a banquet. Kamtza bar Kamtza was dressed in a black hat and a kapote; he had a nice beard too. He was represented as a decent person, maybe even a talmid chochom, and he was being ejected from the banquet.
\n\n\n\nThose were the two pictures and there was a chain with links connecting them; the picture of Jews being killed in the camps linked to the picture of Kamtza bar Kamtza in ancient Yerushalayim. And the people who made these pictures understood it as follows: The Gemara in Gittin (55b) says, why was Yerushalayim destroyed? Because of Kamtza bar Kamtza. Because a man once wanted to make a banquet and he invited all the talmidei chachomim to the banquet; and he sent his servant to invite a certain sage named Kamtza. But the servant made an error and he invited Kamtza bar Kamtza, a different person.
\n\n\n\nNow, when Kamtza bar Kamtza came, the host said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry but I didn\u2019t invite you. This is a private gathering and you therefore must leave.\u201d So Kamtza bar Kamtza said, \u201dYou\u2019re embarrassing me. Let me stay and I\u2019ll give you the cost of my meal.\u201d But the host wouldn\u2019t allow him to stay at the private banquet and after some haggling Kamtza bar Kamtza offered to pay for the whole banquet if he would be allowed to remain. But the host said no and he took him by his garment and he led him out; he ejected him. And for that, the Second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.
\n\n\n\nSo, underneath the pictures was a statement printed in big letters, that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of sinas chinam; in other words, these two stories were equated. They were trying to say that because Kamtza bar Kamtza was ejected, that was sinas chinam and that was the example of the causeless hatred prevalent in Yerushalayim. And therefore that caused a chain that led up to the crematorium, to Jews being burned in Hitlerland.
\n\n\n\nNow, that really is what most people think. That\u2019s the picture they have. They put together these two statements, the story of Kamtza bar Kamtza and the statement of sinas chinam that destroyed the Beis Hamikdash and they understand that this is what caused all our troubles from then on.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a terrible misconception! It\u2019s a slander on the Jewish people! A terrible error!
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, who was Kamtza bar Kamtza? Who was this character? Josephus, in his Vita \u2013 that\u2019s his own life story \u2013 he relates that Compsus the son of Compsus was a Herodian. Which means he was a rasha; he was a member of the clique of the house of Hurdos. And the house of Hurdos, the Herodians, were our enemies. They were our bitter enemies; we suffered tzaros from them without number.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara tells us that this host had sages at his banquet table. He made a private seudah for the chachomim to gather. And we know that \u05e0\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dd \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dd \u05de\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd\u200f \u2013 The pure minded sages of Yerushalayim never sat down at a meal or a meeting unless they knew who was present. It was a principle of theirs. They didn\u2019t believe in sitting down in a moshav leitzim. And sometimes there could be one person, a leitz, who can spoil everything. One careless person who shoots his mouth off, he spoils the whole atmosphere. So the \u05e0\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd, the people whose minds were pure, would only associate with other pure minded people. They wouldn\u2019t be impolite to others; they didn\u2019t demonstrate that they were standoffish but they made it their business not to be around when the wrong people were around.
\n\n\n\nNow, this host invited the pure minded people, the chachomim. It says in the Gemara that all the chachomim were there. And who marches in? None other than Compsus bar Compsus who is famous as a member of the Herodian clique, an enemy of the sages. He was a moser, an informer, and he was delighted that he was invited there. Because now he could sit and listen to the deliberation of the sages. That\u2019s what he wanted \u2013 to sit and listen in so he could know their plans. This would be his chance; otherwise he could never get in because the sages would never discuss things publicly. But here some mistake was made and Kamtza bar Kamtza hastened to utilize it. So he hurried and dressed up and he came to the banquet. Here he is! And he wants to sit down with the chachomim and listen in to what\u2019s going on. And naturally he\u2019s going to bring all the information he has to the Herodian clique who are waiting in order to undo any good things that the chachomim wanted for do for the people.
\n\n\n\nSo the host was now in a dilemma. What could he do? Either he could send away all of his guests, or he could send away this informant, this rasha.
\n\n\n\nNow, you have to understand that the Torah is very just. The Gemara is extremely fair. In fact, the Gemara leans all the way over for fairness. And so when this low character \u2013 and he was a low character! That we know because what did he do subsequently out of revenge when he was ejected from the banquet? He went to the Romans and he told them that the Jews are in revolt against you. That\u2019s the worst thing you can say. It\u2019s like throwing a spark in dynamite. Because the Romans were afraid of revolt and they punished most cruelly any small sign of revolt. So this man Kamtza bar Kamtza was an enemy of the Jews; you could see that. Because he started all the trouble.
\n\n\n\nAnd still when this host got up and he remonstrated with Kamtza bar Kamtza and finally he had to take him by his lapels and lead him out, our sages said it was wrong. It was a sin.
\n\n\n\nNow how was it a sin? That\u2019s too much for us to understand. What would we have done?! Otherwise Kamtza bar Kamtza would be sitting there and the sages wouldn\u2019t say a word. The whole evening would be wasted. You couldn\u2019t open your mouth when this informant was sitting there.
\n\n\n\nAnd still, such is the judgment of the Gemara. It\u2019s fair and severe, and therefore it says there that this is what caused the destruction of Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nIt doesn\u2019t mean that this is really a sin, that this was the cause. Yerushalayim would have been destroyed anyhow. But when Hakodosh Boruch Hu sought a match that would set the fire, He chose this to be the match. It was a poetic justice. Don\u2019t misunderstand this! It wasn\u2019t this that caused the Churban. This was just a spark that set off the fire.
\n\n\n\nYerushalayim wasn\u2019t destroyed because of this. But when Hakodosh Boruch Hu had already decided forty years earlier to destroy Yerushalayim \u2013 that\u2019s what the Gemara says; forty years before He had already decided to destroy Yerushalayim \u2013 so He waited for an opportunity and He utilized this opportunity to teach a lesson.
\n\n\n\nSo when Kamtza bar Kamtza was heard to have gone to the Romans and he started the trouble, it was a parable; it was meant to be used as a lesson \u2013 that we shouldn\u2019t have embarrassed him.
\n\n\n\nNow we don\u2019t really understand that lesson \u2013 it\u2019s too fair for us to understand. But that\u2019s what the Gemara does \u2013 the Gemara uses a magnifying glass and the smallest thing is magnified as if it\u2019s a sin. You shouldn\u2019t have ejected him; you should\u2019ve let the evening be ruined. And all the sages should have just sat there in silence and that\u2019s all. You couldn\u2019t cancel the banquet. All the food would have gone lost. There were no refrigerators in those days. All the food would go lost! It can\u2019t be helped. It was an expensive banquet but it can\u2019t be helped. Don\u2019t put a man to shame. And that\u2019s why this poetic lesson was utilized \u2013 to teach the people a lesson. You shouldn\u2019t have embarrassed him.
\n\n\n\nSo what really is this business that sinas chinam, that causeless hatred caused the churban? It says in the Gemara that causeless hatred caused the destruction. So, many Jews think it means that the Jews hated each other, that frum Jews hated each other. That\u2019s what they think. They think that the whole nation at that time were all frum Jews, all talmidei chachomim, and they were all busy hating each other. And that\u2019s why the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed!
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s as silly as could be. It\u2019s not realistic at all! They didn\u2019t hate; the frum Jews loved each other! In those days, the whole nation, the Am Hatorah, was divided into followers of Beis Shammai and followers of Beis Hillel. The entire Jewish nation was divided into those who followed Beis Shammai and those who followed Beis Hillel. These were the two great assemblies of Torah sages. There wasn\u2019t anybody else that was of the shelomei emunei Yisroel, of frum Jews. We\u2019re not talking about the reshaim. True Jews all were talmidim of Beis Shammai or of Beis Hillel.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara (Yevamos 14b) says openly that the talmidim of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel loved each other. These two schools, although they had different opinions on some things, even on very important things, but they loved each other. \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d6\u05d4 \u2013 They loved one another, \u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u2013 in order to fulfill the possuk of, \u05d4\u05d0\u05de\u05ea \u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 Love the truth but love peace too. They loved the truth; that\u2019s why each one stuck to his opinions but they loved peace too. And the Gemara talks about that. The Gemara dilates on how they loved each other.
\n\n\n\nNow if Beis Shammai loved Beis Hillel and vice versa so Beis Shammai certainly loved Beis Shammai. And Beis Hillel loved Beis Hillel. It doesn\u2019t make sense that Beis Hillel loved Beis Shammai but they didn\u2019t love their own people. It\u2019s ridiculous. The Jewish people loved each other \u2013 there was no sinas chinam.
\n\n\n\nI once saw that an adam gadol wrote \u2013 I won\u2019t mention his name \u2013 he was misled, and on the strength of this ma\u2019amar that the Beis Hamikdash was laid waste because of sinas chinam, he wrote that unfortunately the frum Jews were too critical of each other and they sometimes suspected each other of not being frum enough. Now, that\u2019s just taken out of thin air! There is no authority for that at all anywhere!
\n\n\n\nSo what does it mean that there was sinas chinam? Who were the ones who hated for nothing? These were the Tzedukim. There were irreligious Jews there too who were not of Beis Shammai or Beis Hillel. The Tzedukim hated the sages! That\u2019s the sinas chinam!
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll ask a question: So because the Tzedukim, the wicked people, hated the sages, therefore the Jewish nation is responsible? The answer is yes, because they were also Jews. When Jews are wicked the entire Jewish nation is responsible. That\u2019s a great principle in the Torah. We are treated as one individual. Kol Yisroel areivim zeh la\u2019zeh \u2013 all of Yisroel are guarantors for one another means that we\u2019re one body, we\u2019re one person. And therefore we were held responsible for the misdeeds of Kamtza bar Kamtza and the Tzedukim and all those who hated the chachomim.
\n\n\n\nDo you want an example of that hatred? The New Testament is an example of the hatred towards the sages. If you want a textbook which is full of venom against the sages, that\u2019s the New Testament. Because the New Testament is full of great anger, endless anger against the Pharisees. Constantly it\u2019s reiterated. The Pharisees are promised that there\u2019s only one place where they\u2019re going to go when they\u2019re dead. When they die they\u2019re going to a certain place and it\u2019s reiterated over and over again in the New Testament. The chachomim are called vipers and snakes. They are the worst kind of hypocrites and criminals.
\n\n\n\nNow, who are the Pharisees? The Pharisees are Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinus, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkinos, Rabban Gamliel Hazaken and his son Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai. All these famous names; they are our luminaries, our teachers. Their lives we study. It\u2019s their words that inspire us. M\u2019pihen anu chayim! They’re the best of our nation! They\u2019re the cream of our nation. And they are the ones who the New Testament condemns as the worst.
\n\n\n\nNow you people may not believe it; it may seem exaggerated to you. But the fact is that the New Testament mentions other nations too. It mentions a lot of people. It mentions the Romans but it has nothing bad to say against the Romans. It mentions the Greeks but there\u2019s no criticism against the Greeks. It mentions the Samaritans, the Kusim, but no criticism of the Samaritans. It mentions the Sadducees too; no criticism of the Sadducees. But when it speaks about the Pharisees, then they let loose; they turn around and let loose like a skunk that gives the best that it has to offer. The New Testament pours a torrent on the chachomim. Not only once! All the time; all the pages of the New Testament are splattered with that poison against the chachomim.
\n\n\n\nBut they were all Jews however. In those days they were all Jews; they were still Jews. And so if you want to know why the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, so the Gemara says that there was hatred, sinas chinam. Whose hatred? Not the sages! And not the people who followed the sages! They wouldn\u2019t hate anybody \u2013 they were the ones who were being hated!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the point that\u2019s missed by all the writers. All the writers who speak on this subject misunderstand it. They blame our poor people for sinas chinam. There\u2019s no remez anywhere that there was causeless hatred among the sages and their disciples.
\n\n\n\nBut there was a very great hatred against them! The Saducees hated the sages! And the gemara says certain types of amei ha\u2019aretz were also sonim; they hated the sages. It\u2019s a gemara in Pesachim. You remember what Rabbi Akiva said? He said, \u201cWhen I was an am ha\u2019aretz, if I would get a hold of a sage I would tear him to pieces.\u201d He testified later that that\u2019s what he thought when he was an am ha\u2019aretz.
\n\n\n\nIt was these people \u2013 they\u2019re the ones because of whom the Beis Hamikdash was ruined. Because our nation has to be perfect! And when we have in our body-politic, in the commonwealth of the Jewish nation, a certain poisoned minority, so that means that the body is not healthy and therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu had to make a change of climate. And that\u2019s why the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 107 (December 1975)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Kamtza bar Kamtza: The Real Story appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-08T17:12:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-08T17:12:29+00:00" }, { "id": 34671, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sinat-jinam/", "title": "Sinat Jinam ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEl Bet Hamikdash fue destruido debido al Sinat Jinam, odio sin fundamento, entre los jud\u00edos frum?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo, no hay Sinat Jinam entre los jud\u00edos. No dejes que nadie te diga eso. El Sinat Jinam que la Guemar\u00e1 se refiere es el odio gratuito como el que proviene de Avneri, el representante de los homosexuales de la Kn\u00e9set hoy. \u00c9l odia a los jud\u00edos decentes. Los comunistas tambi\u00e9n, y el Mapai, odian a los jud\u00edos. Eso es Sinat Jinam, pero entre los jud\u00edos decentes no hay Sinat Jinam. En los tiempos del Bet Hamikdash, no eran Shamai e Hilel o sus talmidim, quienes ten\u00edan Sinat Jinam. No eran los fariseos ni sus seguidores, los que ten\u00edan el problema. El Sinat Jinam era de los Tzedokim y de los Notzrim. Odiaban a los sabios y a los jud\u00edos frum que se pusieron del lado de los sabios. Y como eran jud\u00edos, fue su Sinat Jinam el que provoc\u00f3 que sufra la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda. Entiendo que incluso algunos escritores y oradores bien intencionados han intentado aplicar la acusaci\u00f3n de odio gratuito a los jud\u00edos frum de esa \u00e9poca, pero es un grave error.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #R-55\u00a0
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pregunta:
\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede usted decir que los jud\u00edos de la \u00e9poca del Jurb\u00e1n eran tan justos? \u00a1Sabemos la historia de Kamtza y Bar Kamtza, y que el Bet Hamikdash fue destruido debido al Sinat Jinam?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, hay una gran idea err\u00f3nea que el p\u00fablico tiene sobre una cierta Guemar\u00e1 en Mas\u00e9jet Iom\u00e1. En Mas\u00e9jet Iom\u00e1 (9b), la Guemar\u00e1 pregunta: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se destruy\u00f3 el Bet Hamikdash? Cuando decimos Bet Hamikdash, no nos referimos \u00fanicamente al Bet Hamikdash, sino a la independencia jud\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, la Guemar\u00e1 dice que el primer Bet Hamikdash fue destruido debido a ciertas razones y luego la Guemar\u00e1 pregunta sobre el segundo Bet Hamikdash? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se destruy\u00f3 el Bait Shen\u00ed? Y la Guemar\u00e1 dice que fue debido a Sinat Jinam, odio sin causa.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, sobre esto hay una gran cantidad de conceptos err\u00f3neos. Una vez estuve en una escuela ortodoxa, muy ortodoxa, y vi que en una pared hab\u00edan dos cuadros. Uno era una foto de un campo de concentraci\u00f3n. Jud\u00edos en el campo de concentraci\u00f3n y est\u00e1n siendo lanzados al fuego, al crematorio. Y junto a ese cuadro, otro con el dibujo de Bar Kamtza en la antigua Ierushal\u00e1im, justo antes del Jurb\u00e1n; y el anfitri\u00f3n lo expuls\u00f3 del banquete, Bar Kamtza fue expulsado del banquete. Bar Kamtza estaba vestido con un sombrero negro y un kapote; ten\u00eda una bonita barba tambi\u00e9n. Fue representado como una persona decente, tal vez incluso un Talmid jajam, y estaba siendo expulsado del banquete.
\n\n\n\nEsas eran las dos im\u00e1genes y hab\u00eda una cadena que los conectaban; la imagen de los jud\u00edos que mueren en los campos vinculados a la imagen de Bar Kamtza en la antigua Ierushal\u00e1im. Y las personas que hicieron esos cuadros cre\u00edan lo siguiente: la Guemar\u00e1 en Guit\u00edn (55b) dice: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se destruy\u00f3 Ierushal\u00e1im? Debido a Kamtza y Bar Kamtza. Porque un hombre una vez quiso hacer un banquete y invit\u00f3 a todos los talmid\u00e9 jajamim al banquete; y envi\u00f3 a su sirviente para invitar a un cierto sabio llamado Kamtza. Pero el sirviente cometi\u00f3 un error e invit\u00f3 a Bar Kamtza, una persona diferente.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, cuando lleg\u00f3 Bar Kamtza, el anfitri\u00f3n le dijo: “Lo siento, pero no te invit\u00e9. Esta es una reuni\u00f3n privada y, por lo tanto, debes irte “. As\u00ed que Bar Kamtza dijo: “Me est\u00e1s avergonzando. D\u00e9jame quedarme y te dar\u00e9 el costo de mi comida “. Pero el anfitri\u00f3n no le permiti\u00f3 quedarse en el banquete privado e incluso cuando Bar Kamtza le ofreci\u00f3 pagarle todo el banquete, el anfitri\u00f3n dijo que no y lo tom\u00f3 por su prenda y lo expuls\u00f3. Y por eso, el segundo Bet Hamikdash fue destruido.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, debajo de las im\u00e1genes estaba escrito con letras grandes, que el Bet Hamikdash fue destruido debido a Sinat Jinam; en otras palabras, estas dos historias fueron equiparadas. Estaban tratando de decir que lo que Bar Kamtza fue expulsado, era el ejemplo del odio gratuito que prevalec\u00eda en Ierushal\u00e1im. Y por lo tanto, eso caus\u00f3 una cadena que llev\u00f3 al crematorio, a los jud\u00edos que fueron cremados en la Alemania de Hitler.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, eso es realmente lo que la mayor\u00eda de la gente piensa. Esa es la imagen que tienen. Juntan esas dos afirmaciones, la historia de Bar Kamtza y la declaraci\u00f3n de Sinat Jinam que provoc\u00f3 ka destrucci\u00f3n del Bet Hamikdash y entienden que eso es lo que caus\u00f3 todos nuestros problemas. \u00a1Es un terrible error! \u00a1Es una calumnia del pueblo jud\u00edo! \u00a1Un error terrible!
\n\n\n\nEn primer lugar, \u00bfqui\u00e9n era Bar Kamtza? \u00bfQui\u00e9n era este personaje? Josefo, en su Vita – esa es la historia de su propia vida, relata que Compsus, hijo de Compsus, era un herodiano. Lo que significa que era un rash\u00e1; era miembro de la Casa de Hordus. Y la casa de Hordus, los herodianos, eran nuestros enemigos. Sufrimos muchas tzarot por ellos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, la Guemar\u00e1 nos dice que este anfitri\u00f3n ten\u00eda sabios en su banquete. Hizo un seud\u00e1 privada para que los jajamim se reunieran. Y sabemos que \u05e0\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05dd \u05db\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dd \u05de\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd . Era un principio de ellos. No quer\u00edan sentarse en un Moshav Letzim. Y a veces podr\u00eda haber una persona, un letz, que puede estropear todo. Una persona descuidada que abre su boca, arruina todo el ambiente. As\u00ed que \u05e0\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd, las personas cuyas mentes eran puras, s\u00f3lo se asociar\u00edan con otras personas de mentalidad pura. No ser\u00edan descorteses con los dem\u00e1s; no demostrar\u00edan que eran superiores, pero no ten\u00edan lo qu\u00e9 hacer cuando las personas equivocadas estaban alrededor.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este anfitri\u00f3n invit\u00f3 a las personas de mentalidad pura, los jajamim. Dice en la Guemar\u00e1 que todos los jajamim estaban all\u00ed. \u00bfY qui\u00e9n tambi\u00e9n estaba all\u00ed? Nada m\u00e1s y nada menos que Bar Compsus, que era famoso como miembro de la casa de Herodes, un enemigo de los sabios. Era un Moser, un informador, y estaba encantado de que fuera invitado all\u00ed. Porque ahora pod\u00eda sentarse y escuchar la deliberaci\u00f3n de los sabios. Eso es lo que \u00e9l quer\u00eda, sentarse y escuchar para poder conocer sus planes. Esta ser\u00eda su oportunidad; de lo contrario, nunca podr\u00eda entrar porque los sabios nunca discutir\u00edan las cosas p\u00fablicamente. Pero aqu\u00ed hubo un error y Bar Kamtza se apresur\u00f3 a aprovecharlo. As\u00ed que se apresur\u00f3 y se visti\u00f3 y vino al banquete. Quer\u00eda sentarse con los jajamim y escuchar lo que est\u00e1 pasando. Y, naturalmente, llevar\u00eda toda esa informaci\u00f3n a la casa de Herodes para poder desbaratar todos los planes de los jajamim.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que el anfitri\u00f3n estaba ahora en un dilema. \u00bfQu\u00e9 podr\u00eda hacer? O echar a todos sus invitados, o echar a este informante, a este Rash\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, tienes que entender que la Tor\u00e1 es muy justa. La Guemar\u00e1 es extremadamente justa. \u00a1Y as\u00ed, cuando est\u00e1 persona baja y sabemos que era alguien bajo por lo que hizo posteriormente, de venganza cuando fue expulsado del banquete fue a los romanos y les dijo que los jud\u00edos est\u00e1n tramando en una revuelta contra ellos. Eso es lo peor que puedes decir. Es como lanzar una chispa en una dinamita. Debido a que los romanos ten\u00edan miedo de las revueltas y castigaban cruelmente cualquier peque\u00f1o signo de revuelta. As\u00ed que este hombre Bar Kamtza era un enemigo de los jud\u00edos. \u00c9l comenz\u00f3 todos los problemas.
\n\n\n\nY a\u00fan as\u00ed, cuando se levant\u00f3 este anfitri\u00f3n y lo ech\u00f3 a Bar Kamtza, nuestros sabios dijeron que estaba equivocado. Fue un pecado.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfc\u00f3mo que fue un pecado? Eso es demasiado dif\u00edcil de entender. \u00bfQu\u00e9 hemos hecho ?! De lo contrario, Bar Kamtza estar\u00eda sentado all\u00ed y los sabios no dir\u00edan una palabra. Toda la noche se desperdiciar\u00eda. No podr\u00edas abrir la boca mientras este informante est\u00e9 sentado all\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nY a\u00fan as\u00ed, tal es el juicio de la Guemar\u00e1. Es justo y severo, y por lo tanto dice que esto es lo que caus\u00f3 la destrucci\u00f3n de Ierushal\u00e1im.
\n\n\n\nNo significa que esto sea realmente un pecado, que esta fue la causa. Ierushal\u00e1im habr\u00eda sido destruida de todos modos. Pero cuando Hakadosh Baruj Hu busc\u00f3 una chispa que prendiera el fuego, encontr\u00f3 que esa es la chispa. Fue una justicia po\u00e9tica. \u00a1No malinterpretes esto! No fue esto lo que caus\u00f3 el Jurb\u00e1n. Esto fue solo una chispa que encendi\u00f3 del fuego. Ierushal\u00e1im no fue destruida por esto. Pero cuando Hakadosh Baruj Hu ya hab\u00eda decidido cuarenta a\u00f1os antes destruir a Ierushal\u00e1im, eso es lo que dice Guemar\u00e1; cuarenta a\u00f1os antes de que ya hubiera decidido destruir a Ierushal\u00e1im, esper\u00f3 una oportunidad y utiliz\u00f3 esta oportunidad para ense\u00f1arnos una lecci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, cuando se dice que Bar Kamtza fue de los romanos y comenz\u00f3 el problema, es una par\u00e1bola; estaba destinado a ser utilizado como una lecci\u00f3n, que no deber\u00edamos haberlo avergonzado.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, realmente no entendemos esa lecci\u00f3n, es mucho para nosotros. Pero eso es lo que hace la Guemar\u00e1, la Guemar\u00e1 usa una lupa y la cosa m\u00e1s peque\u00f1a se magnifica como si fuera un pecado. No deber\u00edas haberlo expulsado; Deber\u00edas haber dejado arruinarte la noche. Y todos los sabios deber\u00edan haberse sentado all\u00ed en silencio y eso es todo. No pudiste cancelar el banquete. Toda la comida se habr\u00eda perdido. No hab\u00eda refrigeradores en esos d\u00edas. \u00a1Toda la comida se perder\u00eda! No puede ser ayudado Era un banquete costoso, pero no se puede evitar. No pongas a un hombre para verg\u00fcenza. Y es por eso que se utiliz\u00f3 esta lecci\u00f3n po\u00e9tica: ense\u00f1arle una lecci\u00f3n a la gente. No deber\u00edas haberlo avergonzado.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 es eso de que el Sinat Jinam, ese odio sin causa caus\u00f3 el Jurb\u00e1n? Dice en la Guemar\u00e1 que el odio sin causa caus\u00f3 la destrucci\u00f3n. Entonces, muchos jud\u00edos piensan que significa que los jud\u00edos se odiaban unos a los otros, que los jud\u00edos frum se odiaban. Eso es lo que piensan. Piensan que toda la naci\u00f3n en ese momento eran todos frum, todos talmid\u00e9 jajamim, y todos estaban ocupados odi\u00e1ndose. \u00a1Y que por eso es que el Bet Hamikdash fue destruido!
\n\n\n\nPero eso es una tonter\u00eda. \u00a1No es real en absoluto! Ellos no se odiaban \u00a1Los jud\u00edos frum se amaban! En aquellos d\u00edas, toda la naci\u00f3n, el Am Hator\u00e1, se dividi\u00f3 en seguidores de Bet Shamai y seguidores de Bet Hilel. Toda la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda se dividi\u00f3 en aquellos que segu\u00edan a Bet Shamai y los que segu\u00edan a Bet Hilel. Estas fueron las dos grandes asambleas de los sabios de Tor\u00e1. No hab\u00eda nadie m\u00e1s fuera del Shelom\u00e9 Emun\u00e9 Israel, de los jud\u00edos frum. No estamos hablando de los resha\u00edm. Los verdaderos jud\u00edos eran talmidim de Bet Shamai o de Bet Hilel.
\n\n\n\nY la Guemar\u00e1 (Iebamot 14b) dice abiertamente que los talmidim de Bet Shamai y de Bet Hilel se amaban. Estas dos escuelas, aunque ten\u00edan diferentes opiniones sobre algunas cosas, incluso en cosas muy importantes, pero se amaban. \u05e9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d6\u05d4 – se amaban, \u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 – Para cumplir con lo que est\u00e1 escrito, \u05d4\u05d0\u05de\u05ea \u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d5 Amaban la verdad pero amaban la paz tambi\u00e9n; es por eso que cada uno manten\u00eda fuerte sus opiniones, pero tambi\u00e9n amaban la paz. Y la Guemar\u00e1 habla de eso. La Guemar\u00e1 se explaya mucho sobre c\u00f3mo se amaban.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si Bet Shamai amaba a Bet Hilel y viceversa, entonces Bet Shamai ciertamente amaba a Bet Shamai. Y Bet Hilel amaba a Bet Hilel. No tiene sentido que Bet Hilel amara a Bet Shamai, pero no amara a su propia gente. Es rid\u00edculo. El pueblo jud\u00edo se amaba, no hab\u00eda Sinat Jinam.
\n\n\n\nUna vez vi que un Adam Gadol escribi\u00f3 – no mencionar\u00e9 su nombre ya que se equivoc\u00f3, y a causa de este Maamar de que el Bet Hamikdash se destruy\u00f3 por Sinat Jinam se equivoc\u00f3 – que, lamentablemente, los jud\u00edos frum eran demasiado cr\u00edticos con los dem\u00e1s. Ahora bien, \u00a1no hay autoridad en absoluto para decir eso!
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 significa que hab\u00eda Sinat Jinam? \u00bfQui\u00e9nes eran los que odiaban gratuitamente? Eran los Tzedokim. Tambi\u00e9n hab\u00edan jud\u00edos no religiosos all\u00ed que no eran ni de Bet Shamai ni de Bet Hilel. \u00a1Los Tzedokim odiaban a los sabios! \u00a1Ese era el Sinat Jinam!
\n\n\n\nHar\u00e1s una pregunta: \u00bfporque los Tzedokim, los malvados, odiaban a los sabios, por lo tanto, la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda es responsable? La respuesta es s\u00ed, porque tambi\u00e9n eran jud\u00edos. Cuando los jud\u00edos son malvados, toda la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda es responsable. Ese es un gran principio en la Tor\u00e1. Somos tratados como un individuo. Kol Israel arevim ze laz\u00e9 – Todos los iehudim somos garantes uno del otro. Somos un cuerpo, somos una persona. Y, por lo tanto, nos responsabilizamos de las fechor\u00edas de Bar Kamtza y de los Tzedokim y de todos los que odian a los jajamim.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQuieres un ejemplo de ese odio? El Nuevo Testamento es un ejemplo del odio hacia los sabios. Si deseas un libro que est\u00e9 lleno de veneno contra los sabios, ese es el Nuevo Testamento. Porque el Nuevo Testamento est\u00e1 lleno de gran ira, enojo sin fin contra los fariseos. Constantemente se repite. Para los fariseos hay un solo lugar donde van a ir cuando mueran. Cuando mueran, ir\u00e1n a un cierto lugar y se repite una y otra vez en el Nuevo Testamento. Los jajamim son llamados serpientes. Son el peor tipo de hip\u00f3critas y criminales.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, \u00bfqui\u00e9nes son los fariseos? Los fariseos Rab\u00ed rab\u00ed Dos\u00e1 ben Hurkin\u00e1s, Rab\u00ed Eliezer ben Hurkin\u00e1s, Rab\u00e1n Gamliel Hazak\u00e9n y su hijo Rab\u00e1n Shim\u00f3n ben Gamliel, Rab\u00ed Iojan\u00e1n ben Zakai. Todos estos nombres famosos; son nuestras luminarias, nuestros maestros. Estudiamos sus vidas. Son sus palabras que nos inspiran. Mipihen Anu Ja\u00edm! \u00a1Son lo mejor de nuestra naci\u00f3n! Son la crema de nuestra naci\u00f3n. Y ellos son los que el Nuevo Testamento condena como lo peor.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, puedes no creerlo; puede parecerte exagerado. Pero el hecho es que el Nuevo Testamento tambi\u00e9n menciona a otras naciones. Menciona a mucha gente. Menciona a los romanos, pero no dice nada malo contra los romanos. Menciona a los griegos, pero no hay cr\u00edticas contra los griegos. Menciona a los samaritanos, los kutim, pero no los critica. Menciona los saduceos tambi\u00e9n; no hay cr\u00edticas contra los saduceos. Pero cuando habla de los fariseos, ah\u00ed todo cambia. El Nuevo Testamento habla muy mal de los jajamim. \u00a1No solo una vez! Todo el tiempo; todas las p\u00e1ginas del Nuevo Testamento est\u00e1n salpicadas con veneno contra los jajamim.
\n\n\n\nPero sin embargo eran todos jud\u00edos. En aquellos d\u00edas eran todos jud\u00edos; todav\u00eda eran jud\u00edos. Entonces, si quieres saber por qu\u00e9 se destruy\u00f3 el Bet Hamikdash, la Guemar\u00e1 dice que fue porque hab\u00eda odio, Sinat Jinam. \u00bfQu\u00e9 odio hab\u00eda? \u00a1No entre los sabios! \u00a1Y no entre las personas que segu\u00edan a los sabios! \u00a1Ellos no odiaban a nadie! \u00a1Ellos fueron los que estaban siendo odiados!
\n\n\n\nEse es el punto que se han equivocado todos los escritores. Todos los escritores que hablan sobre este tema lo han malinterpretado. Ellos culpan a nuestra pobre gente de Sinat Jinam. Pero no hay ning\u00fan R\u00e9mez en ning\u00fan lugar que haya habido odio sin causa entre los sabios y sus disc\u00edpulos.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Pero hab\u00eda un gran odio contra los Sabios! \u00a1Las saduceos odiaban a los Sabios! Y la Guemar\u00e1 dice que tambi\u00e9n algunos Am\u00e9 Ha\u00e1retz odiaban a los Sabios. Es un Guemar\u00e1 en Pesajim. \u00bfRecuerdas lo que dijo Rab\u00ed Akiva? Dijo: “Cuando era un Am ha\u00e1retz, si agarrar\u00eda a un sabio, lo har\u00eda pedazos”. Testific\u00f3 m\u00e1s tarde que eso es lo que pensaba cuando era un Am ha\u00e1retz.
\n\n\n\nFueron estas personas, las que a causa de ellas se destruy\u00f3 el Bet Hamikdash. \u00a1Porque nuestra naci\u00f3n tiene que ser perfecta! Y cuando tenemos en nuestro cuerpo-pol\u00edtico, en la Comunidad de la Naci\u00f3n Jud\u00eda, una cierta minor\u00eda envenenada, eso significa que el cuerpo no est\u00e1 sano y, por lo tanto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu tuvo que hacer un cambio. Y es por eso que el Bet Hamikdash fue destruido.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #107 (diciembre de 1975)
\nThe post Sinat Jinam appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-08T04:43:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-08T04:46:41+00:00" }, { "id": 34666, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-golus/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Golus?", "content_html": "\nQ:
If we went into Exile because of our sins, doesn\u2019t that make things only worse by sending us out to live among the gentile nations?
A:
\n\n\n\nI’ll explain it to you.\u00a0 There are two kinds of treatments for a person.\u00a0 One is a treatment where they give him every kind of luxury.\u00a0 They tell him you can have freedom to eat whatever you wish, you can go wherever you wish, all types of good times \u2013 that’s the freedom they had in Bayis Rishon.\u00a0 In the days of the Bayis Rishon they were completely independent.\u00a0 They drank the best wine.\u00a0 They ate\u00a0cheilev kelayos, kilyos chitah.\u00a0\u00a0They ate the best crops.\u00a0 They enjoyed a beautiful country.\u00a0 It was a great garden, a gan Hashem.\u00a0 They had everything.\u00a0 Before the Churban Bayis Rishon the peiros and the produce, everything was at its optimal best.
\n\n\n\nNow this is the situation where people can make the most progress. If you\u2019re willing to utilize it properly, there’s no limit to how great you can become mitoch harchavah. In the midst of great happiness you sing to Hashem and you can make progress like nobody else will ever be able to repeat. It\u2019s an excellent opportunity. But when that luxury is misused, if people utilize the happiness of ve\u2019achalta ve\u2019savata and instead of u\u2019veirachta, instead of blessing Hashem more and more without stop, if instead of that it\u2019s pen yifteh levavchem, that’s already different result of ve\u2019achalta ve\u2019savata. Their hearts turn aside and become foolish and they start looking for forbidden pleasures and straying after strange gods and they try to imitate the goyim and they fall in love with gentile ways. So now because they misused the first treatment, a different treatment is given to them. Finally, it\u2019s time for a different treatment and so they’re taken out of the place of opportunity and no longer do they have that freedom to do anything wrong. Now they live in Golus among goyim; they’re hemmed in and for 2000 years the goy kept the Jew walking the derech hayashar.
\n\n\n\nYou hear that? Up until the days of Mendelssohn the goyim kept the Jewish nation walking in the right path. If anything ever wrong was done, it was a sakanah for a Jew. You know a Jew couldn’t get drunk in the Middle Ages? Imagine a Jew got drunk in the Middle Ages and he would stagger out of the ghetto. His life wasn’t worth a nickel. If a Jew would commit adultery in the Middle Ages, the goyim would be happy to murder him. The goyim had no pity on Jews for the smallest crime. If a Jew would start up with a gentile woman, he would lose his head. And therefore they walked a straight path, thanks to persecution. If a Jew tried to move out of the ghetto and live in a gentile street, he was murdered right away. The shkutzim all came together with their dogs and they destroyed him.
\n\n\n\nJews, for their own self-preservation, had to live in the ghetto. And so Jews lived among Jews and they had to wear a Jewish garment or some other sign that they’re Jews. They couldn’t mingle with goyim and so the Jewish nation was preserved. It was the Golus that made us so great. Because of the Golus we were able to produce all these heroes, anshei haruach who suffered the persecutions and they learned from that the greatness of keeping away from the umos haolam. They looked down on the goyim. They saw them at close range so now they didn’t envy them. They didn’t emulate their ways at all now because they saw them up close.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Golus was certainly a managed treatment.\u00a0 Of course we would have preferred the first kind of treatment, but when a person becomes sick you can’t say \u201cEat whatever you want.\u201d Now he has to be limited in his diet in order to save his life.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened, however? Hakodosh Boruch Hu, after 2000 years of persecution, He said, \u201cMaybe now I’ll let up a little bit? I’ll give you a test; a little tolerance, a little emancipation, a little freedom. Let’s see how you’ll take it now. Maybe you’re ready to go back to Eretz Yisroel. I’ll give you a little sample.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo in the days of Mendelssohn a little tolerance began creeping in among the nations of the world. And when the Jews smelled the intoxicating atmosphere of tolerance \u2013 although it was only a little bit; it wasn’t much tolerance\u00a0but they became drunk.\u00a0 They became so inebriated that they began to rush out of the ghetto into the arms of the church.\u00a0 They began to shmad themselves and in a short time Mendelssohn’s own children and his grandchildren became meshumadim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s happening?! Oh, I have to bring back the course of history once more.\u201d And finally the glorious period of emancipation was brought to an end by the very opposite, by Hitler.
\n\n\n\nNow, in America Jews haven’t learned that lesson yet. They’re going further and further away and getting lost and Hakodosh Boruch Hu won’t keep quiet forever unless Jews in America come to their senses. It’s a very far chance that they ever will however and it’s a very big problem what to do.
\n\n\n\nBut that’s the purpose of Hashem’s management of history. He gives us one test, a test of unlimited happiness in Eretz Yisroel and another test of being hemmed in by the umos haolam and He sees how we’re going to respond.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 434 (October 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Golus? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T19:29:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-05T19:29:15+00:00" }, { "id": 34664, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/para-que-estamos-en-galut/", "title": "\u00bfPara qu\u00e9 estamos en Galut? ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi fuimos enviados al exilio debido a nuestros pecados, \u00bfno empeora las cosas enviarnos a vivir entre las naciones?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTe lo explicar\u00e9. Hay dos tipos de tratamientos para una persona. Uno es un tratamiento donde le dan todo tipo de lujos. Le dicen que puede tener la libertad de comer lo que quiera, puede ir a donde quiera, todo tipo de buenos momentos: esa es la libertad que ten\u00edan en el Bait Rish\u00f3n. En los d\u00edas del Bait Rish\u00f3n eran completamente independientes. Beb\u00edan el mejor vino. Com\u00edan j\u00e9lev kelaiot, kiliot jit\u00e1. Com\u00edan las mejores cosechas. Disfrutaban de un hermoso pa\u00eds. Era un gran jard\u00edn, un gan Hashem. Ten\u00edan todo. Antes del Jurb\u00e1n Bait Rish\u00f3n, los perot y los productos, todo estaba en su mejor momento.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, en esa situaci\u00f3n la gente puede hacer el mayor progreso. Si est\u00e1s dispuesto a utilizarla correctamente, no hay l\u00edmite en lo grandioso que puede llegar a ser mitoj harjav\u00e1. En medio de una gran alegr\u00eda le cantas a Hashem y puedes progresar como nadie jam\u00e1s podr\u00e1 hacerlo. Es una excelente oportunidad. Pero cuando se abusa de ese lujo, si la gente utiliza la felicidad de veajalt\u00e1 vesavata y en lugar de uverajt\u00e1, en lugar de bendecir a Hashem m\u00e1s y m\u00e1s sin parar, si en lugar de eso es pen ift\u00e9 levavjem, eso ya es un resultado diferente de veajalt\u00e1 vesavata. Sus corazones se desv\u00edan y se vuelven necios y comienzan a buscar placeres prohibidos y se desv\u00edan tras dioses extra\u00f1os y tratan de imitar a los go\u00edm y se enamoran de las costumbres gentiles. Entonces, debido a que abusaron del primer tratamiento, se les da un tratamiento diferente. Finalmente, es hora de un trato diferente y se les saca del lugar de la oportunidad y ya no tienen esa libertad de hacer el mal. Ahora viven en Galut entre go\u00edm; est\u00e1n cercados y durante 2000 a\u00f1os los go\u00edm mantuvieron al jud\u00edo por el D\u00e9rej Haiashar.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfOyes eso? Hasta los d\u00edas de Mendelssohn, los go\u00edm mantuvieron a la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda por el camino correcto. Si alguna vez hac\u00edan algo mal, era una sakan\u00e1 para el jud\u00edo. \u00bfSab\u00edas que un jud\u00edo no pod\u00eda emborracharse en la Edad Media? Imagina que un jud\u00edo se emborracha en la Edad Media y sale tambale\u00e1ndose del gueto. Su vida no valdr\u00eda un centavo. Si un jud\u00edo cometiera adulterio en la Edad Media, los go\u00edm estar\u00edan felices de asesinarlo. Los go\u00edm no ten\u00edan piedad de los jud\u00edos por el crimen m\u00e1s peque\u00f1o. Si un jud\u00edo comenzara con una mujer gentil, perder\u00eda la cabeza. Y por lo tanto se manten\u00edan en el camino recto, gracias a la persecuci\u00f3n. Si un jud\u00edo intentaba salir del gueto y vivir en una calle gentil, lo asesinaban de inmediato. Todos los shikutzim se juntaban con sus perros y lo asesinaban.
\n\n\n\nLos jud\u00edos, para su propia conservaci\u00f3n, ten\u00edan que vivir en el gueto. Y as\u00ed, los jud\u00edos viv\u00edan entre jud\u00edos y ten\u00edan que usar ropa jud\u00eda o alguna otra se\u00f1al que eran jud\u00edos. No pod\u00edan mezclarse con los go\u00edm. Y as\u00ed se preserv\u00f3 la naci\u00f3n jud\u00eda. Fue el Galut lo que nos hizo tan grandes. Gracias al Galut pudimos producir todos estos h\u00e9roes, ansh\u00e9 har\u00faaj que sufrieron las persecuciones y aprendieron de eso la grandeza de mantenerse alejados de los umot haolam. Despreciaban a los go\u00edm, no los envidiaban. Ya no emularon sus formas en absoluto, porque los vieron de cerca.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, el Galut fue ciertamente un tratamiento administrado. Por supuesto que hubi\u00e9ramos preferido el primer tipo de tratamiento, pero cuando una persona se enferma no puedes decirle \u201ccome lo que quieras\u201d. Ahora tiene que limitar su dieta para salvar su vida.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 pas\u00f3, sin embargo? Hakadosh Baruj Hu, despu\u00e9s de 2000 a\u00f1os de persecuci\u00f3n, dijo: \u201c\u00bfTal vez ahora me relajar\u00e9 un poco? Les har\u00e9 una prueba; un poco de tolerancia, un poco de emancipaci\u00f3n, un poco de libertad. A ver c\u00f3mo se lo toman ahora. Tal vez est\u00e9n listo para volver a \u00c9retz Israel. Les dar\u00e9 una peque\u00f1a muestra.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, en los d\u00edas de Mendelssohn, un poco de tolerancia comenz\u00f3 a introducirse entre las naciones del mundo. Y cuando los jud\u00edos olieron la atm\u00f3sfera embriagadora de la tolerancia, aunque fue s\u00f3lo un poco; no fue mucha tolerancia pero se emborracharon. Se emborracharon tanto que comenzaron a salir corriendo del gueto a los brazos de la iglesia. Comenzaron a asimilarse y en poco tiempo los propios hijos y nietos de Mendelssohn se convirtieron en meshumadim.
\n\n\n\nY entonces Hakadosh Baruj Hu dijo: \u201c\u00a1\u00bfEso es lo que est\u00e1 pasando?! Oh, tengo que volver atr\u00e1s el curso de la historia una vez m\u00e1s.\u201d Y, finalmente, el glorioso per\u00edodo de la emancipaci\u00f3n lleg\u00f3 a su fin por medio de Hitler.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, en Estados Unidos los jud\u00edos a\u00fan no han aprendido esa lecci\u00f3n. Se est\u00e1n alejando m\u00e1s y m\u00e1s y se est\u00e1n perdiendo y Hakadosh Baruj Hu no se quedar\u00e1 callado para siempre a menos que los jud\u00edos en Estados Unidos recuperen el sentido. Sin embargo, es muy dif\u00edcil que alguna vez lo hagan y eso es un gran problema.
\n\n\n\nPero ese es el prop\u00f3sito de la gesti\u00f3n de la historia de Hashem. \u00c9l nos da una prueba, una prueba de felicidad ilimitada en \u00c9retz Israel y otra prueba de ser acorralados por los umot haolam y \u00c9l ve c\u00f3mo vamos a reaccionar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #434 (octubre de 1982)
\nThe post \u00bfPara qu\u00e9 estamos en Galut? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T17:34:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-05T17:34:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34661, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%98%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a4%d7%9f-%d7%a2%d7%91%d7%a8-%d7%90-%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d0: \u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05e4’\u05df \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8; \u05d0 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05da \u05e4\u05d0\u05dc\u05e7", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-231The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05dc”\u05d0: \u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05e4’\u05df \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8; \u05d0 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05da \u05e4\u05d0\u05dc\u05e7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T17:33:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-05T17:33:30+00:00" }, { "id": 34656, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-proteccion-del-estudio-de-la-tora-de-noche/", "title": "La protecci\u00f3n del estudio de la Tor\u00e1 de noche", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 significa cuando dice (Eruv\u00edn 18b) que una casa donde se escucha el sonido de la Tor\u00e1 por la noche, esa casa no ser\u00e1 destruida?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, eso es como todas las declaraciones de las Escrituras y de la Guemar\u00e1. Prevenir la destrucci\u00f3n de una casa depende de varios factores y ese es uno de los factores. Muchas veces vemos de repente, jas veshalom – no deber\u00eda suceder – pero a veces vemos que un hogar se destruye. A veces, una enfermedad ataca repentinamente, jas veshalom, u otra tragedia y los padres ya no est\u00e1n; ambos padres no est\u00e1n m\u00e1s. Sucede. A veces, hay una ruptura. Una tragedia. Uno de los padres se escapa. Sucede, jas veshalom. Hay todo tipo de formas en que una casa puede ser atacada.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, una casa es un bloque de construcci\u00f3n muy preciado de nuestra naci\u00f3n. Todo hogar jud\u00edo tiene un valor inestimable para nosotros, adem\u00e1s de ser el mayor valor para los miembros de esa casa. Y por lo tanto tenemos que utilizar todos los factores disponibles que estabilizar\u00e1n tal casa. Y uno de los grandes factores es si el sonido de la Tor\u00e1 se escucha all\u00ed por la noche. Hakadosh Baruj Hu va a intentar preservar una casa como esa; \u00c9l tiene un inter\u00e9s personal en esa casa, por as\u00ed decirlo. \u00c9l est\u00e1 interesado en que esa casa contin\u00fae. Y por lo tanto ese hogar va a estar protegido contra muchas vicisitudes que de otra manera entrar\u00edan y lo destrozar\u00edan.
\n\n\n\nJas veshalom, cuando un hogar se arruina, un hogar jud\u00edo, es un Jurb\u00e1n de un peque\u00f1o Bet Hamikdash. Y una de las formas de asegurar la supervivencia de esa casa es sacar una Guemar\u00e1 por la noche y estudiarla; si no sabes estudiar Guemar\u00e1, saca un jumash y estudia la Tor\u00e1 en voz alta por la noche, aunque sea un poco, en tu mesa. No te das una idea; toda la atm\u00f3sfera cambia en esa casa. Y Hakadosh Baruj Hu ya tiene un gran inter\u00e9s en preservar esa casa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #133 (julio de 1976)
\nThe post La protecci\u00f3n del estudio de la Tor\u00e1 de noche appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T05:43:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-05T05:43:33+00:00" }, { "id": 34653, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9c-%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%94%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%9c%d7%a4%d7%9f-%d7%90-%d7%97%d7%91%d7%a8-%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%94-%d7%91%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%91/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05dc: \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0, \u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05e4\u05df \u05d0 \u05d7\u05d1\u05e8, \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e6\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d6\u05e2\u05dc\u05d1\u05e1\u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05d3", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-230The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05dc: \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0, \u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05e4\u05df \u05d0 \u05d7\u05d1\u05e8, \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e6\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d6\u05e2\u05dc\u05d1\u05e1\u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-05T05:40:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-05T05:40:28+00:00" }, { "id": 34648, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-night-torah-protects/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Night Torah Protects", "content_html": "\nQ:
What does it mean when it says (Eiruvin 18b) that a house where the sound of the Torah is heard at night, that house will\u00a0not be destroyed?
A:
Now, that\u2019s like all the statements in the Scriptures and in the Gemara \u2013 preventing the destruction of a house depends on various factors and this is one of the factors. Many times we suddenly see, chas v\u2019shalom it shouldn\u2019t happen, but we see sometimes that a house is broken up. Sometimes an illness suddenly strikes, chas v\u2019shalom, or another tragedy and the parents are gone; both parents are gone. It happens. Sometimes, there\u2019s a breakup. A tragedy. One parent, the father runs away. It happens, chas v\u2019shalom. There are all kinds of ways that a house can be attacked.
Now a house is a very precious building block of our nation. Every Jewish home is of inestimable value to us, besides for being the greatest value to the members of that house. And therefore we have to utilize all factors available that will stabilize such a house. And one of the big factors is if the sound of the Torah is heard there at night. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to try preserve a house like that; it means He has a personal interest in that house, so to speak. He is interested that this house should continue. And therefore it\u2019s going to be protected against many vicissitudes which otherwise would come in and break up a house.
\n\n\n\nChas v\u2019shalom, when a house breaks up, a Jewish house, it\u2019s a churban of a little Beis Hamikdash. And one of the ways of ensuring the survival of that house is to take out a gemara at night; if you don\u2019t know gemara take out a chumash and say Torah aloud at night \u2013 even a little bit \u2013 at your table. You don\u2019t realize \u2013 the entire atmosphere changes in that house. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu already has a very big interest in preserving that house.
TAPE # 133 (July 1976)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Night Torah Protects appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-04T23:17:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-11-06T20:17:14+00:00" }, { "id": 34644, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/duelo-en-el-pasado-y-en-el-presente/", "title": "Duelo en el pasado y en el presente ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo podemos llorar en Tish\u00e1 BeAv por las desgracias que le ocurri\u00f3 a nuestro pueblo hace tanto tiempo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que no hay tal cosa como “mucho tiempo atr\u00e1s” en nuestra naci\u00f3n. Es un gran error pensar que el tiempo hace alguna diferencia para nosotros.
\n\n\n\nNuestra historia es una historia monol\u00edtica; desde el comienzo de nuestra historia hasta el final de los tiempos, es una sola existencia. Todos los jud\u00edos son una naci\u00f3n; los jud\u00edos que una vez vivieron y los jud\u00edos que alg\u00fan d\u00eda vivir\u00e1n, todos somos un solo pueblo.
\n\n\n\nCuando decimos \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 en Rosh J\u00f3desh, decimos \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05d5 – recu\u00e9rdanos para bien; \u00bfLe estamos pidiendo que recuerde a qui\u00e9n? Decimos \u05d5\u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5\u05df \u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, al Bet Israel. \u00bfQui\u00e9nes es el Bet Israel que queremos que \u00c9l recuerde? \u00bfSolo los que est\u00e1n vivos? \u00a1No! Todo el Bet Israel que una vez vivi\u00f3; \u00a1somos un solo pueblo!
\n\n\n\nEs un error pensar que una vez que mueren todo se acaba y nos olvidamos de ellos; los enterramos y listo. \u00a1No! Est\u00e1n tan vivos como nosotros. Todas esas neshamot que fueron sacrificadas est\u00e1n tan vivas como nosotros. Y su sangre todav\u00eda clama desde la tierra. \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e6\u05b9\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4. La sangre de todos los m\u00e1rtires clama desde la tierra. No dejan de llorar cuando pasan dos d\u00edas, o dos a\u00f1os, o dos mil a\u00f1os; todav\u00eda est\u00e1n llorando.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto somos una sola naci\u00f3n. Goi ejad significa que somos una sola naci\u00f3n desde el principio hasta el final y es un grave error pensar de otra manera.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto Abraham Avinu no es alguien que vivi\u00f3 una vez. Abraham Avinu es nuestro padre hoy; sigue vivo. Entonces, si hoy le pedimos a Hashem que nos d\u00e9 bondad por el m\u00e9rito de Abraham Avinu, \u05d6\u05d5\u05db\u05e8 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, estamos diciendo que Abraham Avinu todav\u00eda est\u00e1 vivo en lo que a nosotros respecta.
\n\n\n\nHashem significa, \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 – todos los tiempos est\u00e1n juntos. Ahora m\u00e9tete esta lecci\u00f3n en tu cabeza. Para Hashem todos los tiempos est\u00e1n presentes a la vez, \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4. No hay tiempo pasado para Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, un hombre que cometi\u00f3 un pecado hace cincuenta a\u00f1os; digamos que tuvo bar mitzv\u00e1 y luego cometi\u00f3 un pecado. \u201cOh\u201d, piensa, \u201cyo era s\u00f3lo un muchachito de trece a\u00f1os y medio; Me olvidar\u00e9 de eso. No; se recuerda para siempre. Nada se olvida; se recuerda para siempre. E incluso los pecados de nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200bson recordados para siempre. Y las mitzvot de nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200btambi\u00e9n; \u00c9l recuerda los actos devotos de los antepasados.
\n\n\n\nToda nuestra historia vive. Y es por eso que estudiamos jumash una y otra vez. No hay pasado en absoluto, no hay futuro; a los ojos de Hashem es todo una sola cosa. No hay tal cosa como “hace mucho tiempo” en el pueblo jud\u00edo. Es ayer, es ahora y es el futuro.
\n\n\n\nEl Bet Hamikdash ahora est\u00e1 ardiendo. De hecho, ahora mismo est\u00e1 ardiendo. Hoy est\u00e1 ocurriendo el Jurb\u00e1n Bet Hamikdash. Y esa es una actitud fundamental nuestra, que no hay pasado para el pueblo jud\u00edo. Vivimos con el pasado.
\n\n\n\nY tambi\u00e9n vivimos con el futuro. Cuando Ieshaiahu HaNav\u00ed nos dice lo que suceder\u00e1 alg\u00fan d\u00eda, leatid lav\u00f3, es cierto hoy. Como cuando Abraham Avinu escuch\u00f3 que iba a tener un hijo, dice, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05e7 \u2013 cay\u00f3 sobre su rostro y se ri\u00f3. Pero, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no fue criticado por re\u00edrse como criticaron a Sar\u00e1? La respuesta es que Abraham cay\u00f3 sobre su rostro y se ri\u00f3 porque estaba tan feliz como si ya tuviera un hijo. Esa era su risa. Como \u05d0\u05d6 \u05d9\u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7 \u05e4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5; nuestras bocas estar\u00e1n llenas de risa, una risa de felicidad. Cuando Abraham escuch\u00f3 que tendr\u00eda a Itzjak, fue como si ya estuviera sosteniendo a Itzjak en sus brazos. Esa es la grandeza de ese gran hombre; no hay futuro, el futuro es ahora mismo. Creemos en el Mash\u00edaj con plena confianza como si ya estuviera aqu\u00ed; es s\u00f3lo cuesti\u00f3n de tiempo, porque ya est\u00e1 aqu\u00ed.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed como nuestro futuro es tan real para nosotros, nuestro pasado es lo mismo. Vivimos juntos con todo el Am Israel que alguna vez vivi\u00f3 y que alguna vez vivir\u00e1. No hay pasado ni futuro; todo es un presente permanente para el Bet Israel.
\n\n\n\nY es por eso que en Tish\u00e1 BeAv podemos llorar con l\u00e1grimas genuinas; porque el Bet Hamikdash est\u00e1 ardiendo ahora mismo. Es parte de nuestro presente el hecho que perdimos el Bet Hamikdash. Y eso est\u00e1 incluido en la idea de \u05db\u05dc \u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d1\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #605 (julio de 1986)
\nThe post Duelo en el pasado y en el presente appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-04T04:05:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-04T04:05:11+00:00" }, { "id": 34637, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-mourning-in-the-past-and-present/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Mourning In The Past and Present", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can we mourn on Tisha B’Av for the losses to our people that took place so long ago?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, there is no such thing as long ago in our nation. It is a big mistake to think that time makes any difference to us.
\n\n\n\nOur history is one monolithic history; from the beginning of our history to the end of time, it is one existence. All the Jews are one nation; the Jews who once lived and the Jews who someday will live, we are all one people.
\n\n\n\nWhen we just said \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 on Rosh Chodesh, so we said \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e4\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05d5 \u2013 we\u2019re asking Hashem to remember us for good; who are we asking Him to remember? We say \u05d5\u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5\u05df \u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, the Bais Yisroel. Who are the Bais Yisroel that we want Him to remember? Only the ones who are alive? No! The whole Bais Yisroel who ever lived; we are one people!
\n\n\n\nIt is an error to think that once they die it is all over and we forget about them; we put them in the ground and it\u2019s finished. No! They are just as alive as we are. All those neshamos that were slaughtered are just as alive as we are. And their blood still cries out from the earth. \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e6\u05b9\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4. The blood of all the martyrs are crying out from the earth. It doesn\u2019t stop crying when two days pass by, or two years, or two thousand years pass by; they are still crying out.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we are one nation. Goy echad means we are one nation from the beginning to the end and it is a serious error to think otherwise.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Avraham Avinu is not someone that once lived. Avraham Avinu is our father today; he is still alive. So if we ask today Hashem should give us kindness in the merit of Avrohom Avinu, \u05d6\u05d5\u05db\u05e8 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea, we are saying Avrohom Avinu is still alive as far as we are concerned.
Hashem means, \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 – all tenses are together. Now get that lesson into your head. Hashem is all tenses forever, \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4. There is no past tense to Hashem.
So a man who made a sin fifty years ago; let\u2019s say he was bar mitzvah and he made a sin. \u201cOh,\u201d he thinks, \u201cI was only a little boy of only thirteen and a half years; I\u2019ll forget about it.\u201d No, it is remembered forever. Nothing is forgotten; it is remembered forever. And even sins of our forefathers are remembered forever. And the mitzvos of our forefathers too; He remembers the devoted acts of the forefathers.
Our entire history lives. And that\u2019s why we learn chumash again and again. There is nothing past, there is nothing future; in the eyes of Hashem it is altogether one. There is no such thing as long ago in the Jewish people. It yesterday, it is now and it is our future.
The Bais Hamikdosh is now burning. It is actually burning right now. The Churban Bais Hamikdosh is taking place today. And that\u2019s a fundamental attitude of ours, that there is no past to Jewish people. We live with the past.
\n\n\n\nAnd we live with the future too. When Yeshaya Hanavi tells us what will take place some day, l\u2019asid lavo, it is true today. Like when Avrohom Avinu heard that he is going to have a son, it says, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e6\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05e7 \u2013 he fell on his face and he laughed. So why wasn\u2019t he criticized for laughing like Sarah was criticized? The answer is, Avraham fell on his face and laughed because he was so happy as if he had a son already. That was his laughing. Like \u05d0\u05d6 \u05d9\u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7 \u05e4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5; our mouths will be full of laughter, a laughter of happiness. When Avraham heard he would have a Yitzchak, it was like he was holding Yitzchak in his arms already. That is the greatness of the great man; there is no future, the future is right now. We believe in Moshiach with a full confidence as if he is already here; it\u2019s only a matter of time, because he is already here.
\n\n\n\nAnd just like our future is so real to us, our past is the same thing. We live together with all of the Am Yisroel that ever lived and that ever will live. There is no past and no future; it is all a permanent present for the Bais Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why on Tisha B\u2019Av we can actually weep with genuine tears; because the Bais Hamikdosh is burning right now. It\u2019s part of our present that we lost the Bais Hamikdash. And that\u2019s included in the idea of \u05db\u05dc \u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05d1\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d1\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 605 (July 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Mourning In The Past and Present appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-03T18:18:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-03T18:18:50+00:00" }, { "id": 34623, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%93%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-03T07:02:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-03T07:02:35+00:00" }, { "id": 34719, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-devarim/", "title": "Paracha Devarim", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Devarim-5782The post Paracha Devarim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-03T03:48:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:48:48+00:00" }, { "id": 34620, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/demasiado-duelo/", "title": "Demasiado duelo", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted mencion\u00f3 antes la tragedia nacional de las 10 tribus perdidas que se fueron al Exilio. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Jazal no establecieron una conmemoraci\u00f3n de luto por el galut de los As\u00e9ret Hashevatim, por la p\u00e9rdida de estas 10 tribus?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsa es una pregunta muy importante. Brevemente, la respuesta es esta: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no hay una conmemoraci\u00f3n separada del Galut Babel y tambi\u00e9n del galut que tuvo lugar despu\u00e9s del Jurb\u00e1n Bait Shen\u00ed? Adem\u00e1s de la quema del Bet Hamikdash, eventualmente, durante un per\u00edodo de tiempo, los jud\u00edos fueron expulsados \u200b\u200bde toda \u00c9retz Israel. Entonces, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no tenemos una conmemoraci\u00f3n especial para esos eventos tambi\u00e9n? \u00bfGalut As\u00e9ret Hashevatim y los dos exilios separados de \u00c9retz Israel?
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que un duelo es suficiente. Ya es bastante dif\u00edcil para nosotros hacer justicia en general por el Jurb\u00e1n. Es una carga muy pesada tener que llorar. El duelo es pesado para el alma jud\u00eda y no es el D\u00e9rej HaTor\u00e1. El D\u00e9rej HaTor\u00e1 es \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u2013 debemos tener felicidad; es una torat jaim, debemos vivir con alegr\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, establecieron un per\u00edodo de luto y eso cubre todo. En Tish\u00e1 BeAv cuando te sientas en el suelo, no s\u00f3lo lloras por los jurbanot de los dos Bet Hamikdash; tambi\u00e9n lloras por lo que pas\u00f3 en Europa. Mencionamos Kehal Maguentza y Kehal Shpira, todas las hermosas kehilot que alguna vez existieron en Europa. Y ahora lloramos tambi\u00e9n \u05e2\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e9\u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1, por todo lo que se perdi\u00f3 como resultado del \u00faltimo Holocausto en Europa.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que todo est\u00e1 incluido en uno; porque si vamos a hacer conmemoraciones de todas nuestras desgracias, entonces todo el calendario jud\u00edo ser\u00eda un tiempo de luto. Habr\u00eda tres semanas aqu\u00ed y tres semanas aqu\u00ed y tres semanas all\u00e1. Es suficiente lo que tenemos. Ya es una l\u00e1stima ver a la gente caminando triste durante las tres semanas; no puedes ir a ba\u00f1arte, no puedes tener semajot, y no puedes cortarte el pelo. Es suficiente. Am Israel no es un pueblo de duelo; son personas de felicidad. Un jud\u00edo frum es un jud\u00edo alegre.
\n\n\n\nUna vez te dije; estaba caminando por Williamsburg y fue extraordinario. La gente estaba parada en las esquinas ri\u00e9ndose y bromeando. Hombres con grandes barbas, mujeres con pa\u00f1uelos en la cabeza; \u00a1todos estaban contentos! \u00a1Una naci\u00f3n feliz! No son gente rica pero tienen buen car\u00e1cter; est\u00e1n contentos. \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Los Tzadikim est\u00e1n felices con Hashem; es una cosa notable.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Es una cosa notable! Encontrar\u00e1s mucho buen humor all\u00ed. \u00a1G\u00fametlijkeit! \u05e8\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd! Constantemente encontrar\u00e1s eso. Y por lo tanto, Hakadosh Baruj Hu midi\u00f3 una cierta cantidad y eso es suficiente para cumplir por todas las cosas por las que pasamos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #604 (julio de 1986)
\nThe post Demasiado duelo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-03T02:58:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-03T02:58:36+00:00" }, { "id": 34614, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-too-much-mourning/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Much Mourning", "content_html": "\nQ:
You mentioned before the national tragedy of the 10 tribes going into Exile. Why didn\u2019t Chazal establish a mourning commemoration for the galus of the Aseres Hashvotim, for the loss of these 10 tribes?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a very important question. Briefly the answer is this: Why isn\u2019t there a separate commemoration of the Galus Bavel and also the galus that took place after Churban Bayis Sheini; besides for the burning of the Mikdash, eventually, over a period of time the Jews were driven out of all of Eretz Yisroel. So why don\u2019t we have a special commemoration for those\u00a0events too? Golus Aseres Hashvotim and two separate exiles from Eretz Yisroel?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, one is enough. It\u2019s difficult enough for us to do justice in general to the Churban. It is a very heavy burden to have to mourn. Mourning is heavy on the Jewish soul and it is not the derech hatorah. The derech hatorah is \u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u2013 we must have a happiness; it is a Toras Chaim, we must live in joy.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, they made one period of mourning and it covers everything. On Tisha B\u2019Av when you sit on the ground, you are not only weeping for the churbanos of the two Beis Hamikdosh; you are weeping also for what took place in Europe. We mention Kehal Magentza and Kehal Ashpira (Mainz and Speyer), all the beautiful kehillos that once existed in Europe. And now we weep also \u05e2\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e9\u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1, for\u00a0everything\u00a0that went\u00a0lost as the result of the very last holocaust in Europe.
\n\n\n\nSo everything is included in one; because if we are going to make commemorations of all our disasters, then the whole Jewish calendar would be a time of mourning. There would be three weeks here and three weeks here and three weeks there. It\u2019s enough what we have. It\u2019s a pity enough to see people walking around sad during the three weeks; you can’t go bathing, you can’t have simchas, and you can’t take a haircut. It\u2019s enough; it\u2019s enough. The Am Yisroel is not a people of mourning; they are people of happiness. A frum Jew is a cheerful Jew.
\n\n\n\nI once told you; I was walking through Williamsburg and it was remarkable. People were standing on the corners laughing and joking. Men with big beards, women with fatchailahs on their heads; everybody is happy! A happy nation! They aren\u2019t rich people but they are good natured; they\u2019re happy. \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Tzaddikim are happy in Hashem; it is a remarkable thing.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a remarkable thing! You\u2019ll find a lot of good humor there.\u00a0Gem\u00fctlichkeit!\u00a0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd! Constantly you will find that. And therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu measured out a certain amount and that is enough to be yotzei for all of the things we went through.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 604 (July 1986)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Too Much Mourning appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-02T19:48:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-02T19:48:15+00:00" }, { "id": 34612, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/bajurim-quisquillosos/", "title": "Bajurim quisquillosos ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEst\u00e1 mal ser demasiado quisquilloso al buscar una esposa? \u00bfNo deber\u00eda uno poder elegir lo que es correcto para s\u00ed mismo para que la pareja pueda ser feliz?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nRecuerdo a un joven que conoc\u00ed que era muy quisquilloso. As\u00ed que le pregunt\u00e9: “\u00bfCon cu\u00e1ntas chicas ya saliste?” \u201cCien chicas\u201d, me dijo. \u00a1Cien chicas! As\u00ed que le dije: \u201cAlgo est\u00e1 mal contigo. Si de esas cien chicas, no pudiste encontrar al menos diez chicas para enamorarte, entonces algo anda mal\u201d.
\n\n\n\nHakadosh Baruj Hu hizo chicas para que los hombres se enamoren de ellas y, de esta manera, no se tarda tanto en encontrar la adecuada. Sin duda, debes elegir la que m\u00e1s te guste. \u00a1Por supuesto! \u00bfPor que no? Pero no se puede seguir buscando eternamente. Cuando llegas a la edad de veinticinco a\u00f1os, entonces ya es hora de haber tomado una decisi\u00f3n. Incluso antes, pero hoy, veinticinco a\u00f1os es el tiempo l\u00edmite. En ese momento, debes dejar de elegir. S\u00f3lo cierra los ojos y escucha los consejos que te est\u00e1n dando otras personas. Y si las personas que son capaces te dicen: \u201cEsta es una buena chica. Es sana. Viene de una buena familia. Es idealista\u201d, entonces sigue adelante y contin\u00faa sin mirar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #630 (febrero de 1987)
\nThe post Bajurim quisquillosos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-02T05:09:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-02T05:09:27+00:00" }, { "id": 396, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-leaping-without-looking/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Leaping Without Looking", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there such a thing as being too picky when looking for a wife? Shouldn\u2019t someone be able to choose what is right for him so that they can be happy?
A:
I remember a young man I knew who was very picky. So I asked him, \u201cHow many girls did you go out with already?\u201d \u201cOne hundred girls,\u201d he tells me. A hundred girls! So I told him, \u201cSomething is wrong with you. If out of those one hundred girls, you couldn\u2019t find at least ten girls to fall in love with, then something is wrong.\u201d
Hakodosh Boruch Hu made girls so that men should fall in love with them and therefore it doesn\u2019t take that long to find the right one. Certainly you should choose the one you like. Of course! Why not? But you cannot continue looking forever. When you reach the age of twenty-five, then it\u2019s already time to have made a decision. Even earlier \u2013 but today, twenty-five is the cut-off time. At that point, you should stop choosing. Just close your eyes and listen to the advice that other people are telling you. And if people who are capable are telling you, \u201cThis is a fine girl. She\u2019s healthy. She comes from a good family. She\u2019s idealistic,\u201d then just go ahead and leap without looking.
TAPE # 630 (February 1987)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Leaping Without Looking appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-01T15:19:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-01T15:19:00+00:00" }, { "id": 400, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-making-friends-with-reshaim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Friends With Resha’im", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should I deal with people who are nasty or unpleasant? Should I be nice to them?
A:
And the answer to that is a resounding yes. Look, if it\u2019s\u00a0a person with whom there is no use talking\u00a0because the more you talk the more insolent he becomes, then make it as short as you possibly can. But still it pays to be friendly with everybody,\u00a0even reshaim,\u00a0because it takes the edge off their wickedness.
Of course, if it\u2019s a real rasha, a danger, then if it\u2019s possible to get rid of him \u2013 I mean legally of course \u2013 then do it. But if it\u2019s not possible then you have to deal with him in a friendly way because that will take the sharp points off his claws. Because if you start up with him, then you\u2019re sharpening his claws and the next Jew will get it even more. And if it\u2019s an unfriendly Jew, then that\u2019s the way to disarm him as well. In general, that\u2019s the way to disarm people. Be polite and diplomatic and by doing so you will win out in every respect. You will never lose out by using your seichel \u2013 and seichel means being friendly.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 162 (April 1977)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Friends With Resha’im appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-01T15:10:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-01T15:10:40+00:00" }, { "id": 34602, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/desafilando-las-garras-de-los-malvados/", "title": "Desafilando las garras de los malvados", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo debo lidiar con personas que son desagradables o desapacibles? \u00bfDeber\u00eda ser amable con ellos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta a eso es un rotundo s\u00ed. Mira, si es una persona con quien no hay ninguna utilidad al hablarle, ya que cuanto m\u00e1s le hables m\u00e1s insolente se pondr\u00e1, entonces s\u00e9 breve con \u00e9l. Pero aun as\u00ed, vale la pena ser amigable con todos, incluso con los resha\u00edm, porque de esta manera le quitas el filo a su maldad.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, si es un verdadero rash\u00e1, un peligro, entonces, si es posible deshacerse de \u00e9l – me refiero legalmente, por supuesto – entonces hazlo. Pero si no es posible, entonces tienes que lidiar con \u00e9l de una manera amistosa ya que conseguir\u00e1s as\u00ed desafilar sus garras. Porque si empiezas con \u00e9l, entonces est\u00e1s afilando sus garras y con el siguiente jud\u00edo con quien se tope ser\u00e1 m\u00e1s bravo. Y si es un jud\u00edo antip\u00e1tico, entonces esa es la forma de desarmarlo tambi\u00e9n. En general, ese es el camino para desarmar a las personas. S\u00e9 cort\u00e9s y diplom\u00e1tico y al hacerlo, ganar\u00e1s en todos los aspectos. Nunca perder\u00e1s usando tu s\u00e9jel, y s\u00e9jel significa ser amigable.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #162 (abril de 1977)
\n\n\n\n | ReplyForward |
The post Desafilando las garras de los malvados appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T21:02:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T21:02:14+00:00" }, { "id": 34589, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-devarim-tisha-bav-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av", "content_html": "\n\u201cBefore we finish,\u201d Rav Volender was saying, \u201cI would like to discuss something that has been on my mind. I know it\u2019s not pleasant to be in prison. I\u2019ve seen many of you sad about your current predicament, wishing you would be free. And I want to share something with you that I heard from Rav Avigdor Miller Zt\u201dl.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen discussing Tisha B\u2019Av and the churban Beis Hamikdosh, Rav Miller said that it\u2019s not enough for us to just be sad about the churban. We need to actually do something about it! We need to actively try to bring Moshiach – if we aren’t doing that, do we really want him to come?
\n\n\n\n\u201cNow, it has come to my attention that some of you are not behaving the way the prison expects you to behave. You are not doing your assigned chores, and some of you have even gotten into trouble breaking prison rules. I don\u2019t understand how this can be if you are really so unhappy being in prison. All of you know that by following the rules and doing what you are supposed to be doing, you would be released early. So how could you not be on your best behavior? Do you really not want to leave prison?\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender was just then interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice shouting. He looked up, not too surprised to see his old acquaintance, Tzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d being led in handcuffs into the room where the shiur was being held.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLet me go!!!\u201d Tzadok was yelling at the officer who was escorting him. \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything wrong! You can\u2019t arrest me! I\u2019m Moshiach!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender took a deep breath.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d he said calmly. \u201cWhat a surprise to see you here!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh, Rav Volender!\u201d Tzadok exclaimed, looking up and seeing his rebbi. \u201cJust the person I want to see! Can you please tell this policeman that I\u2019m Moshiach and that he must release me so that I can continue building the Beis Hamikdash?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm\u2026\u201d Rav Volender said. \u201cWhy were you arrested again?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cFor building the Beis Hamikdash!\u201d Tzadok exclaimed, exasperated.
\n\n\n\nThe police officer spoke up. \u201cWe arrested him for trying to illegally construct a stone building in the middle of Rechov Shmuel Hanavi.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d asked Rav Volender. \u201cWhy were you trying to build the Beis Hamikdash in the middle of the street?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI told you, I\u2019m Moshiach!\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cAt least I will be, once I finish building the Beis Hamikdash,\u201d he muttered.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender again. \u201cFirst of all, building the Beis Hamikdash doesn\u2019t automatically make you Moshiach. The Rambam says that Moshiach has to be a big talmid chochom and tzadik like Dovid Hamelech, make all of Klal Yisroel follow the Torah, and begin fighting wars for Hashem before he can be considered \u201cb\u2019chezkas Moshiach\u201d. And only once he wins the wars against the nations surrounding us, builds the Beis Hamikdash in its proper place and returns Klal Yisroel to Eretz Yisroel is he actually considered Moshiach.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOkay, so I\u2019m doing the steps out of order,\u201d Tzadok responded. \u201cBut at least I\u2019m doing it!\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-4.png?resize=640%2C396&ssl=1\")
\u201cThe \u2018proper place\u2019 for the Beis Hamikdash is not Rechov Shmuel Hanavi,\u201d Rav Volender said quietly.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cBut we can move it to the right place after it\u2019s finished.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d Rav Volender said firmly. \u201cI will speak to you further after you have been booked and assigned a cell. But now I have to finish my shiur.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs Tzadok was escorted through the room and towards the booking station, one of the other prisoners raised his hand.
\n\n\n\n\u201cKevod harav,\u201d he began. \u201cWasn\u2019t Tzadok doing exactly what you said? Trying to actually bring the Geulah instead of just being sad and doing nothing?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, Kobi,\u201d Rav Volender replied. \u201cImagine that today you decided to mop the ceiling in this room or paint the bars of your cell green. That is not going to help you get an early release from prison when your job is to wash the dishes in the kitchen.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSimilarly, we need to think about what we are actually able to do to bring Moshiach. And the answer is that in addition to being sad about the churban, we must do teshuvah, work on becoming closer to Hashem, learn Torah, and do Mitzvos. And the more we do that, the closer we come to being zoche to see Moshiach\u2019s arrival bimheira byameinu!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd with that, Rav Volender ended the shiur and went to go have a nice long talk with Tzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: If we are truly sad on Tisha B’Av, it should cause us to want to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash. Now is the time that we should dedicate ourselves more than ever to Torah and Mitzvos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T05:00:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T05:00:54+00:00" }, { "id": 34578, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-devarim-tisha-bav-rebuilding-the-ruins-2/", "title": "Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins", "content_html": "Mourning Thoughtfully
\n\n\n\nThe Churban Beis Hamikdash, although it took place thousands of years ago, is of such significance that the entire Am Yisroel together observes it every year in a national day of mourning. And the truth is it\u2019s not only Tisha B\u2019Av; on numerous occasions throughout the year we remind ourselves of our mourning. It’s on the mind of every loyal Jew every day. It’s in our daily tefillos too.
\n\n\n\nNow, if this subject is so important then it\u2019s not enough to merely go along with the impression that we gained as little children and to continue living with those same childish impressions. When we approach the mitzvah to mourn, it\u2019s important to prepare at least somewhat beforehand; and then when Tisha B\u2019Av comes we won\u2019t walk empty handed into that important day on the Jewish calendar. And we won\u2019t walk out empty handed either.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that even if you\u2019re just sitting on the floor and saying the kinnos along with everyone else it\u2019s valuable. Even if you don\u2019t understand the meaning of the words, just the fact that you\u2019re joining in the national mourning, that already is something. Of course, it\u2019s good to take a peek at the translation once in a while if you have it. You can get a translation of the kinnos and of Eicha and study it beforehand. But even if you didn\u2019t, you\u2019re sitting on the ground and you\u2019re saying words of mourning that our people have said for thousands of years \u2013 that\u2019s already something.
\n\n\n\nMourn and Gain
\n\n\n\nBut the best thing is to think; to take advantage of Tisha B\u2019Av.We have to listen to the advice of a great man, Shlomo HaMelech, in Koheles (ch. 3): \u05dc\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d6\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u2013 There\u2019s a time for everything. It means that for every kind of perfection of character, there\u2019s a zman, a time. There are so many different times during the year and each one is an opportunity to accomplish a different kind of perfection. It\u2019s up to you, however, to know that when the time comes you have to make use of it.
\n\n\n\nTisha B\u2019Av, you have to know, is a time to sit down on the ground and weep. Not to look at the clock and see how many hours it is until supper time \u2013 no. You have to weep on Tisha B\u2019Av; mourning on Tisha B\u2019Av is a shleimus. And the more mourning, the more perfection. Like it says in Yeshaya (61:3): \u05dc\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b5\u05ea \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 The more eifer, the more you put ashes on you, the more pe\u2019er you\u2019re going to get, the more perfection of character.
\n\n\n\nLoss of Shechinah
\n\n\n\nAnd so we should analyze, at least superficially, the elements that we can discern in the matter of the Churban Beis Hamikdash. When Shlomo built the Beis Hamikdash the Shechinah came in and filled the entire heichal. \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6 \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05de\u05b9\u05d4, When Shlomo saw that he said, \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b6\u05dc Hashem said He’s going to dwell in a thick cloud, and everybody saw the Shechinah (Melochim I, 8:12). That\u2019s what Hashem promised us: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 They shall make for me a Mikdash, which means a holy place, an especial place for Me,\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 and I shall dwell in their midst. In a nutshell that\u2019s what the Beis Hamikdash meant: We felt that Hashem lives with us. That feeling, that awareness, was something that transformed the lives of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nJust a visit to Yerushalayim transformed a person; the Torah says that\u2019s the reason for bringing maaser sheini to Yerushalayim. You know, maaser sheini means that every year – almost every year – you separate one tenth of your produce and you bring it to Yerushalayim to eat. And it takes some time before you consume all that food; a tenth of your produce! Sometimes you have to spend weeks in Yerushalayim before you can eat it up. And what\u2019s it for? The Torah says (Devarim 14:23) it\u2019s for the purpose of \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 so that you became more and more aware of Hashem\u2019s Presence every minute you are there.
\n\n\n\nAll day long you were in the shadow of Hashem\u2019s Home. That was the greatness of having a Beis Hamikdash. The knowledge that the Shechina lives with us!
\n\n\n\nLoss of Strength
\n\n\n\nNow the Binyan Shlomo was the pride of our nation. It was perfect in everything. The kohanim gedolim were anointed with the shemen hamishchah. They had the two luchos habris. The stone tablets were there inside. Everything graced the first Beis Hamikdash and nobody ever dreamed that the hand of a gentile could ever touch it. \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b9\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05d1\u05b5\u05dc \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e6\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b5\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b8\u05b4\u05dd, nobody ever dreamed this could happen (Eicha 4:12). \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05da\u05b8, You Elokim are fearsome when You come out of Your sanctuary (Tehillim 68:36). Constantly you find such expressions in Tanach. From the mikdash the power of Hashem came forth to defend His people. It was unthinkable that it could be destroyed.
\n\n\n\nButfinally that dreaded day came when the nation saw the Beis Hamikdash set to the torch. The House of Hashem; the house where our Hashem lived with us is burning! It was a great day of mourning never to be forgotten. And that\u2019s why to this day when we mourn, it’s mostly for the Churban haBayis.
\n\n\n\nLoss of Enlightenment
\n\n\n\nHowever, it wasn\u2019t only the Beis Hamikdash that fell. The loss of the Sanhedrin in the lishkas hagazis is a tremendous irreparable loss. It was the Torah center from which the Toras Hashem flowed out to all the corners of Eretz Yisroel. The lishkas hagazis in the Beis Hamikdash was the center of the Torah nation \u2013 and that went lost along with the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nWe have to mourn for the loss of nevuah. Ahh, the prophets, the nevi\u2019im! What a great gift that was; when the Shechina was shoreh b\u2019Yisroel and the nevi\u2019im spoke words of truth. The Word of Hashem enlightened the eyes of the people. When the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, nevuah ceased and we lost that great opportunity. We don\u2019t have the great teachers, the pathfinders, the guides, that we had in the days of old. That\u2019s something to weep over.
\n\n\n\nLoss of Happiness
\n\n\n\nWhat about the loss of our national happiness? We have to picture how our forefathers went up to Yerushalayim three times a year in masses. Every town had a little army of men and their families who set out to Yerushalayim three times a year. They would march on the roads with the cattle and sheep that they intended to bring as offerings.
\n\n\n\nThey put on their Yom Tov garments, and they took along musical instruments and they sang and played music on the road. And soon they heard from another road the same sounds of festivity and they were joined by a band from the next town as the roads merged. As they continued, the army swelled and became a huge multitude and soon the roads were clogged. You could barely move. But they were all singing and dancing on the road.
\n\n\n\nThey were oblivious to the time. They didn’t realize that the minutes were passing by. To them it seemed that time was standing still. They weren\u2019t in Yerushalayim yet but they were already enjoying the Presence of the Shechinah. Like Dovid describes in Shir Hama’alos (122:2): \u05e2\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b8\u05b4\u05dd, suddenly we discovered that our feet were standing within your gates, Yerushalayim. And the memunah in charge of the group said, \u201cHalt. We\u2019re already here.\u201d They were standing in the streets and Yerushalayim was mobbed. There were millions in the city. We know this from the secular historians. The city was jammed with Jews, and it was all in a festive mood.
\n\n\n\nLoss of Joy
\n\n\n\nNow that happiness of ancient Yerushalayim is a subject worth studying. Oh, there were so many happy occasions when the nation gathered there. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 You will eat there and rejoice before Hashem (Devarim 27:7). They ate meat of korbanos which they roasted and they drank wine and they danced with simchah until the spirit of Hashem came upon them and many became prophets.
\n\n\n\nThe nation was happy! What was the mark of the days of old? They were times of joy. \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 (Sukkah 50a). No matter what joy the world attempts to accomplish in its festivities, it doesn’t approach the simchah that our forefathers enjoyed when they gathered together with Hashem in Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we look back on the happy times of the days of old we mourn for that joy that we do not experience today. You should think about that while you\u2019re sitting on the floor on Tisha B\u2019Av. We look back with regret and we mourn the simchah that departed from our people. We mourn for that song of joy which now became silent.
\n\n\n\nLoss of Pride
\n\n\n\nNow included in that happiness we possessed, was our pride in Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We knew who we were \u2013 the nation chosen by the King of the Universe. And therefore another element of our weeping is the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, al kevod shimcha hamechullal, His great Name that was profaned when the gentiles marched into the sanctuary and destroyed it.
\n\n\n\nThey ridiculed us. \u201cWhere is your G-d?\u201d they laughed. They put a torch to the Mikdash and slew the sages, and the Name of Hashem was profaned in the world. The pride of the Am Yisroel, our pride in Hashem, went lost to a very big extent.
\n\n\n\nAfter the Mikdash was destroyed, the false religions, the imitating religions, arose \u2013 Islam and Christianity \u2013 and they belittled our people; they mocked us and they said that we are living in darkness and error and that they have the truth; and they blamed us for persisting in our refusal to accept their new truths. And because we were in golus now, so we had to be silent. For generations, all over Europe, instead of living in the shadow of the Mikdash we lived in the shadow of the cathedral, and we were considered subhumans, outcasts of society.
\n\n\n\nSo Many Losses
\n\n\n\nThe gentiles made it their business that we should live in the very worst of social conditions. Pope after Pope issued decrees that the Jews should not be allowed to lift their heads. \u201cDon’t kill them,\u201d the Pope said, \u201cbut don’t let them lift up their heads.\u201d It was considered a kindliness when they didn’t extinguish our lives. And by the way; they didn\u2019t always follow the Pope\u2019s advice to leave the Jews alive.
\n\n\n\nAnd in the Muslim world as well, they spat upon the Jew. In Yerushalayim just a generation ago there was an old rav who walked in the street. He was from a distinguished rabbinical family, the Bardaki family, and an Arab was passing with a little donkey carrying some merchandise. The Arab stopped the old rav and he put everything on the back of the old rav, even the little donkey. The Arab was riding on Rabbi Bardaki with all the packs from the donkey on him and he sat on the rabbi’s shoulders. The rabbi had to keep quiet. He couldn’t do anything against the Arab. And he took the Arab to his house and he humbly deposited him at his doorstep and he went home. He thanked Hashem that he remained alive. In Yerushalayin Ir Hakodesh!
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we weep on Tisha B\u2019Av we think about these things \u2013 there is so much to think about \u2013 and we look back on our glorious history and see what we once possessed and what went lost afterwards. And we hope for the time when once again we\u2019ll be zocheh to what went lost from us.
\n\n\n\nBuilding with Billions
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to understand the purpose in looking back at the Churban Beis Hamikdash. When a man looks back and he mourns, we have to ask him, do you know why you’re weeping? Is it merely to express aveilus for all those great eras and great possessions which we once had?
\n\n\n\nYes, certainly! But it\u2019s more than that. It\u2019s also a way of looking forward. I\u2019ll explain that.
\n\n\n\nSuppose it’s possible for you to go tomorrow to Eretz Yisroel and rebuild the Beis Hamikdash. Let’s say you have billions and billions of dollars and you could buy off the Arabs; they would obligingly remove themselves and give you the opportunity to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash. Imagine that because of you the Israeli government would resign and the Gedolei Yisroel would take over. Rav Moshe Feinstein and the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Satmar Rav also; all the Roshei Yeshivah. You\u2019d bring them in and they\u2019d all sit together to make decisions about building the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nNow some things they couldn’t do because you need Eliyahu Hanavi to answer some questions, but very many practices could be restored immediately. \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05e3 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1. The Mishnah (Eduyos 8:6) says you can bring korbanos even today. I’m not giving any piskei halachos, but superficially we can say that many things could be done before Moshiach comes.
\n\n\n\nSincere Weeping
\n\n\n\nNow imagine a man who has the power to organize all of that. But instead of doing anything, as soon as Tisha B\u2019Av is over, he goes back to his ordinary life. On Tisha B\u2019Av he sits on the ground all day long weeping for the lost Beis Hamikdash; the tears are flowing. And then on Motzei Tisha B\u2019Av he gets up from the floor and wipes the dust off his pants and he goes home. He goes back to his job and back to normal living.
\n\n\n\nCan we say that this man was weeping sincerely? Did he even know what he was weeping about? It can\u2019t be! A person cannot be considered a sincere aveil on the Churban Beis Hamikdash unless he makes use of the opportunities he has; unless the mourning spurs him to look forward and to rebuild.
\n\n\n\nActually, that\u2019s what happened at the time of the churban. Our forefathers weren’t yotzei with just mourning. They didn’t throw up their hands and say, \u201cWe give up.\u201d You know what they were doing? As soon as the churban took place, they began building immediately; that was their reaction to the destruction.
\n\n\n\nRebuilding in Yavneh
\n\n\n\nWhile they were burning the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai was sitting in Yavneh and making takanos for the future of the Jewish nation. The Sages were establishing Yavneh at the time as if it was a substitute for the Beis Hamikdash. They blew shofar in Yavneh on Shabbos like they did in the Beis Hamikdash, and the people were summoned to be oleh regel to Yavnehthree times a year instead of to the Mikdash. It was an innovation, something new.
\n\n\n\nNow, you might think, how could Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai do that? He should sit and mourn! He should have been heartbroken!
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that certainly he mourned, absolutely. But in the midst of his mourning he was a very active builder. He was very old, by the way, and old people usually are the ones to give up in desperation. But not Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai. He understood what mourning means; you appreciate what went lost so intensely, that you\u2019re doing whatever you can to replace it.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, with his eyes to the future, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai was as busy as could be preparing for the future. He brought in a young nasi, Rabban Gamliel, and he appointed him to take over the job. And he told the older chachomim, \u201cYou obey him. He’s the boss.\u201d He was building and he encouraged all the chachomim who were his disciples to build along with him.
\n\n\n\nThe Mishnah Mikdash
\n\n\n\nWhile the Beis Hamikdash, the center of Torah life, was burning, they sat down to rebuild the spiritual Beis Hamikdash. They began now to review all the mishnayos and to argue about every letter, every detail. And many halachos were clarified in Yavneh. They built up the Torah sheba’al peh at that time soit should be a solid building for generations.
\n\n\n\nAnd then when Rabeinu Hakadosh came along after the churban of Beitar \u2013 the Rambam says Beitar was even a bigger churban than the Mikdash. So Rebbi didn’t say, \u201cWhat can we do? We\u2019re so sad\u201d and that\u2019s all. Of course he asked Hakodosh Boruch Hu that He should restore the glory of old. But he wasn’t yotzei with that. Rebbi called together all the chachomim and for years and years they sat and counted every ois until finally the Mishnah was sealed by Rebbi.
\n\n\n\nThe churban that took place didn’t stop them from building a new Beis Hamikdash, and the new Beis Hamikdash was the Torah sheba’al peh, the Mishnah. And the Jewish nation now lives in that Beis Hamikdash. We are housed in the Mishnah.
\n\n\n\nBeis HaTalmud
\n\n\n\nAnd then along came the chachmei hadoros, Rabbi Yochanan and all the other chachmei Eretz Yisrael, the amora’im. And then in Bavel came Rav and Shmuel and then Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah and then Rabbah and Rav Yosef. There were many others.
\n\n\n\nAnd then came Abaye and Rava, and these were the builders of the Talmud Bavli. They were building up the Beis Hamikdasheven more. They put stone on stone. They made doorways. They made roofs. They made chambers. Each mesichta is a huge lishkah in the Beis Hamikdash. And finally came Rav Ashi and his great assemblage of chachamim, and they made a Chanukas Habayis and they concluded the Talmud Bavli.
\n\n\n\nThe Talmud Bavli, you have to know, is our sanctuary. The Jewish nation lives in that Beis Hamikdash even more securely than the generations of old lived in the physical Beis Hamikdash. To this day the Jewish nation lives in the Talmud; we rejoice in the Talmud. We pass in and out of those doorways. We breathe the air of the Talmud. We live with the aspirations and the ideals of the Talmud. We look at the world through the eyes of the Talmud. And therefore Rav Ashi and all those that came before him were building in the midst of their mourning.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see now what the subject of Tisha B\u2019Av really is. What is the function of mourning? Building! If we really mourn for the past, if we regret what we lost, then it means that we are full of interest, full of desire and ambition to build everything that went lost. We want to rebuild the Torah nation.
\n\n\n\nGeulah for Torah
\n\n\n\nNow, some people when they hear this, they are confused. Is that really what we\u2019re talking about when we mourn for the Beis Hamikdash and look forward to Yemos Hamoshiach?
\n\n\n\nSo we open up a Rambam. The Rambam (Hil. Melochim 12:4) asks, what is it that the tzaddikim and the chassidim look forward to when they await the days of Moshiach? Is it that they want to come back to Eretz Yisroel and eat the beautiful fruits of the land and enjoy that happiness? No, says the Rambam. That’s not the happiness we’re yearning for. It’s not the physical joy which we once experienced that we want to re-experience.
\n\n\n\nListen to what the Rambam says: We are looking forward to be free from the shibud malchuyos so we can achieve perfection of the mind and of character. We want to be free to study Torah and its wisdom in order to acquire Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nDifficulties of Exile
\n\n\n\nToday we\u2019re subject to the nations. They make us work for them. If you pay taxes it means that one day out of five you\u2019re working for the government. Our lives are given away for programs that help loafers and criminals. College professors get grants of money from the government to go and study the most intimate details of how Aleutian Indians live. Tremendous grants of money from the government they get and we\u2019re paying for it. So we’re giving away our lives for shibud malchuyos.
\n\n\n\nBesides, the shibud malchuyos is a very bad influence. We\u2019re so busy struggling against the immorality we see all around us, the sheker of evolution in the colleges and the wildness of the youth. Every form of degradation we see in golus. That’s also shibud malchuyos.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we mourn for what we once had \u2013 the purity of Eretz Yisroel in the days of old \u2013 and we look forward to the time when Moshiach will redeem us from all this and we will finally be at leisure.
\n\n\n\nLimitations of Geulah
\n\n\n\nNow, what will we do with our spare time? You think you\u2019ll sit in the mountains at a kosher hotel and eat three kosher meals a day? No, we’re not asking for that. The Rambam says we\u2019re mourning because we\u2019re looking forward to leisure time when we\u2019ll be able to sit in the shtiebel or in the yeshivah all day long.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all?!\u201d you\u2019re thinking. \u201cTo sit in the yeshivah?\u201d You\u2019re disappointed. Maybe you\u2019re too ashamed to admit it but that\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking. Oh, it\u2019s a disappointment? It means we\u2019re not mourning for the Beis Hamikdash. We don’t really mean it. Because once the Beis Hamikdash comes we’ll have to sit in the beis hamedrash all day long. There’s nothing else to do. You don’t have to work. You go out and work a little bit but the fields will give a great deal; \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 the land will yield its fruits. You’ll have easy parnassah and you’ll have a lot of time with nothing to do.
\n\n\n\nWhat will you do? You’ll travel to Switzerland? No; you can’t leave the land when Moshiach comes. Eretz ha’amim is metamei. It’s like tumas meis. You have to remain in Eretz Yisrael.
\n\n\n\nAbolishing Cars
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll watch television? There won\u2019t be television. Movies? No movies. In Eretz Yisroel not a single movie; nothing. No pizza parlors. Nothing to do. Even to drive around in your car, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ll have that. There will be very strict laws because cars are dangerous. You know, according to the Torah, when you find a man dead in Eretz Yisrael, you make the biggest fuss with an eglah arufah. And you have to send from the Sanhedrin a committee to investigate. It’s a whole fuss if one man is found dead! So of course they wouldn\u2019t allow cars to speed back and forth.
\n\n\n\nSo in Eretz Yisroel everybody will be busy sitting in the beis hamedrash learning Torah. Everybody will troop out from the houses to the yeshivos every day. Come back at night and eat supper and go back to the batei medrashim. That’s what will be in Moshiach’s time. Every day, packed batei medrashim.
\n\n\n\nGovernesses and Tutors
\n\n\n\nWomen will be cooking meals for their husbands who are learning Torah and for their children. And they\u2019ll be learning mussar and yiras shomayim all the time because women too will have a lot of free time. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 the gentile kings will be your servants to bring up your sons, and the queens will be governesses and tutors for your little children (Yeshaya 49:23). Not to teach them Torah but to teach them how to go to the toilet. The queens will take the little girls to the toilet, and the kings will take your little boys and teach them how to put on their shoes and stockings and they’ll tie the knot in their shoes. And we, the Am Yisroel \u2013 men and women, boys and girls \u2013 will be free to serve Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat’s what we really are weeping for, for the Torah nation that went lost. We\u2019re looking forward to that great opportunity when we\u2019ll be able to sing again. \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6 \u05d9\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7 \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4!Then the Jewish nation will sing. When the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt we\u2019ll sing songs of Torah, shleimus and perfection of character, with a crescendo that we could never reach in golus. It will be the highest and most beautiful song ever heard in history. We\u2019re rebuilding now but at the same time that’s what we’re looking forward to.
\n\n\n\nMourning and Marriage
\n\n\n\nNow, as important as it is to continue rebuilding the Torah nation, we should never lose sight of how we can participate in that rebuilding in our own private lives. When we sit down and mourn we should think about the opportunity we have to build a Beis Hamikdash in our own homes.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that when you hear that you think it\u2019s just an exaggeration, something I\u2019m saying just to interest you in the subject but if you listen well you\u2019ll see it\u2019s not an exaggeration at all.
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that at the time of the Churban there were some who began to say that there\u2019s no use getting married anymore. They wanted to make a prohibition on having children (Bava Basra 60b). \u201cLook how many people we lost to the Romans already \u2013 it\u2019s no use having children any more. Let’s just die out gradually.\u201d That\u2019s how the weaker people mourned, by giving up. They sat on the floor and cried and they stopped looking forward.
\n\n\n\nOh no! That\u2019s a big mistake; that\u2019s not how we mourn. Of course we look back and we\u2019re sad but we should never stop looking ahead. And included in that is the Beis Hamikdash that we can still build today \u2013 that\u2019s the Torah family, the Torah home.
\n\n\n\nPure Boys
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara in Mesichta Pesachim (87a) is discussing a possuk in Tehillim (144:12): \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b4\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Our sons are like plants, \u05de\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 they are raised up from their youth. That means our children are brought up in the Jewish home like plants. They’re watered carefully; they’re tended to and they grow into beautiful trees.And our daughters, the same. \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b0\u05d6\u05b8\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 Our daughters are like corner pillars; they are the cornerstones, the supports, of our homes.
\n\n\n\nNow he goes on and explains further. \u201cOur sons are like plants \u2013 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b8\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05d8\u05b0\u05d0, these arethe Jewish youth that never tasted sin. You know in the olden days every Jewish boy was bashful; he couldn’t even talk to a girl. The truth is that to a great extent that\u2019s how it used to be even fifty years ago. Our youth were brought up like pure saplings and they were watered with bayshanus, with yiras cheit. They wereinnocent boys and they married young. They never knew what cheit was. And it wasn’t just a few. That was the Jewish nation in the days of old.
\n\n\n\nNow we have to understand that he’s talking about yeshivos of today as well. Of course they’re not like they used to be, but today our yeshivah men are our pride. Yeshivah people, we are proud of them. They are bashful boys. They are modest. They are far from aveiros. Some learn more, some learn less, but still they have been trained in the way of Yisroel Saba and they go with tznius and yiras Hashem.
\n\n\n\nPure Girls
\n\n\n\nAnd our girls? \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b0\u05d6\u05b8\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc. These are the Jewish girls who maintain their tznius; they\u2019re perfectly modest. Our daughters, baruch Hashem, are Bais Yaakov girls, Bais Rochel girls, Bais Rivka girls, beautiful girls. They’re covered up. They’re well dressed. They know that their job is to get married and be loyal wives and loyal mothers and they’ll be busy in their homes. That’s our pride.
\n\n\n\nNow, that possuk in Tehillim concludes with the following three words: \u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05bb\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u2013 they’re being shaped with the shape of a palace. And listen to what the Gemara says about that. \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc, on these sons and daughters, \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05df, it’s considered as if the heichal, the Beis Hamikdash, was rebuilt in their days. By having sons and daughters and raising them properly it is actually a form of rebuilding the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nAn Actual Sanctuary
\n\n\n\nNow let’s not get lost in meshalim, in a form of speech and metaphors. That is actually the binyan Beis Hamikdash. When people get married with the intention of raising big families, big frum families, they are the ones who are entitled to weep for the Churban Beis Hamikdash because they mean business.
\n\n\n\nHere’s a woman with ten children, all frum. She gave her life to raise those children. She was cooking all her life. She nursed them. She washed diapers for them. She cleaned the house for them. She saw to it that her husband went to learn and didn’t sit in the house in the evening wasting his time. She encouraged her sons to go to learn. The little boys had to know the Chumash. When they came home, she said, \u201cTake out the Gemara and learn.\u201d Her daughters dressed with tznius. She made sure they helped in the house. The father too. He\u2019s out in the office working long hours so he could pay the schar limud but he\u2019s watching over the children too. They keep every kutzo shel yud of the halachos. No muktzeh, no lashon hara. Everything is done with kashrus, with tznius.
\n\n\n\nAnd so our Sages want us to know that people who are raising such sons and daughters are not building the Mikdash al pi mashal. They\u2019re actually, factually, building the heichal.It’s considered as if the Beis Hamikdash, the heichal was rebuilt in their days.
\n\n\n\nHoly Jewish Homes
\n\n\n\nThat’s why the Gemara (Brachos 6b) says, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c2\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05bb\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd. If you come to a wedding, a kosher Jewish wedding \u2013 men here, women there \u2013 and you add joy to the groom and bride so it\u2019s as if you are rebuilding one of the ruined houses of Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nBecause that\u2019s something else we\u2019re mourning for; besides the Churban Beis Hamikdash, there was also a churban of the Jewish dwellings, the Jewish homes. What the Jewish home was in the ancient times, we have no idea how holy they were. I’m always repeating what was said about seventy years ago or more by Rav Yerucham z\u201dl, the mashgiach of Mir Yeshivah in Poland. \u201cMir kennen nisht farshtein,\u201d he said, we’re not able to understand the greatness of our great-grandmothers and great grandfathers.
\n\n\n\nNow Rav Yeruchem lived in a time where there were many frum Jews yet. Not everybody, but there were many frum Jews and there\u2019s no question there were still many beautiful holy homes of tzaddikim. But the homes of their great-grandmothers were something different. Not only we don’t equal the greatness of their grandmothers; he said, \u201cWe don’t understand them.\u201d Mir kennen nisht farshtein, you can’t understand their greatness. They lived on such a different degree. Once upon a time the Jewish home was kodesh kodashim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, we mourn the loss of the churvos Yerushalayim. Not just one Churban Beis Hamikdash, we mourn the loss of all those holy dwellings of our ancestors.
\n\n\n\nRebuilding with Pomp
\n\n\n\nAnd one of the purposes of our mourning is so that we can understand what we lost and try to rebuild as much as possible. We mourn but then we get up on Motzei Tisha B\u2019av and we keep building.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, let\u2019s say you\u2019re going to a chasuna next week, right after Tisha B\u2019Av. You have to know what you\u2019re doing there. When you come to a chasunah, what’s the function of being mesameach chosson v’kallah? What’s the purpose? The function is to let them know how important this occasion is.
\n\n\n\nSuppose they were getting married and nobody came to the wedding. The mesader kiddushin came and he brought with him two eidim. A few more Jews were there to make a minyan. It’s a good chasunah. It’s kosher veyashar. But it’sa lost opportunity. The chosson and kallah have to see it’s a major event. We have to see that it\u2019s a major event. The truth is if we had the ability we should do it in a stadium and all the seats should be full. Hundreds of thousands of people should be present. Only that we can\u2019t do that. People are busy. And the children can\u2019t be left in the house alone and the father has to go out to the beis medrash. But we pack in as many as you can to impress on ourselves that there’s a very important occasion taking place now.
\n\n\n\nBecause when you\u2019re mesameach chosson v’kallah you\u2019re telling them. \u201cListen you young people. You know what you’re doing now? You’re going to do something of the utmost importance in the Eyes of Hashem. You’re building a little Beis Hamikdash where the Shechinah is going to dwell.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRebuilding with Happiness
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when you come and you make a big noise \u2013 the band of course is important; the orchestra is playing and you’re dancing and everyone is coming over to the chosson, \u201cMazel tov! Mazel tov!\u201d And the chosson is thinking, \u201cOh look, my old friend from mesivta came by. And my second cousin from Detroit is also here dancing. It must be an important occasion if he comes such a big distance for my wedding.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYes, my friend, this is a very important occasion and that\u2019s why we\u2019re here being mesameach chosson v\u2019kallah; that\u2019s why we\u2019re dancing so much. If you write out a nice check and give it to them, it’s also a simchah. It\u2019s a big happiness to get a check. The bigger the check the bigger the happiness. But if you have no money to give them, you have to act wild, excited; you dance up a storm and show how important that occasion is. We\u2019re building now one of the ancient Jewish homes of Yerushalayim. You\u2019re rebuilding now! You\u2019re participating, encouraging, supporting the rebuilding of Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nYour Mikdash at Home
\n\n\n\nHow tremendous is the accomplishment of a home where a chosson and a kallah live together and begin to build a family. Whatever you can do is worth doing. Nobody is an angel, nobody is perfect, but every attempt to build a house with frum boys and girls where you’ll serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu together will be rewarded as if you rebuilt the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nSo if a man lives loyally with his wife and he has a frum Jewish home with idealism, avodas Hashem, gemilus chassadim, good manners, shemiras halashon, middos tovos, tzedakah, every form of avodas Hashem, and together they\u2019re raising up fine children, sons and daughters and many of them, that’s building a Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\nIt’s not merely a form of speech. Don\u2019t say, \u201cBut it\u2019s not the real thing,\u201d because what good is a Beis Hamikdash with korbanos and kohanim and everything else if the Jew is sitting in his house and he’s mechallel the Torah in his house? The purpose of the Mikdash is so that the holiness, the inspiration, the Torah attitudes, should flow from the Beis Hamikdash to the homes. And so whether or not there\u2019s a Mikdash in Yerushalayim, your home is where it matters most.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s All Coming Back
\n\n\n\nAnd even though you’re married a long time already, an old chosson and kallah who got married fifty years ago, try from now to start climbing the ladder upwards; try to build your house with the glory that once dwelled in the Jewish homes. It’s never too late. Even old people, if they decide from now on they’re going to try to live with the utmost derech eretz, utmost politeness \u2013 of course you have to add the l\u2019sheim shomayim; you want to build a house of kedushah where the Shechinah will dwell among you \u2013 they can start rebuilding their homes in the spirit of the churvos Yerushalayim, the kedushah of the Jewish family.
\n\n\n\nAnd the time will come that asid Hakadosh Baruch Hu lehachziro lanu; Hakodosh Boruch Hu will bring back His Shechinah to Tzion and we\u2019ll see again all of the original glory that went lost. And we look forward to the day when it\u2019ll be rebuilt in the most literal sense. And on that great day everything that went lost at the churban \u2013 the Beis Hamikdash and all of the holy institutions that came along with it, the awareness of Hashem\u2019s Presence among us, the pride we had, and the holy Jewish homes \u2013 all of that will be returned to us forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nMourning and Building
\n\n\n\nIn various lectures, Rav Miller recommended sitting on the floor briefly every night in mourning over the churban. This week I will bli neder sit on the floor every night and review the ideas I learned in this booklet. 1. The great losses we suffer in Golus. 2. True mourning is marked by a desire to restore what was lost. Thus we must seek to erect a palace of Torah. 3. Jewish Homes are also sanctuaries and places of Hashem\u2019s Presence.
\nThe post Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T04:55:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-07-06T14:17:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34585, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-devarim-tisha-bav-rebuilding-the-ruins/", "title": "Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins", "content_html": "TA-Devarim-Tisha-BAv-5782The post Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T04:53:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T05:24:50+00:00" }, { "id": 34577, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-devarim-tisha-bav-rebuilding-the-ruins/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins", "content_html": "TA-Devarim-Tisha-BAv-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5 – Rebuilding the Ruins appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T04:52:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T05:25:16+00:00" }, { "id": 34572, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%93%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T04:43:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T04:43:07+00:00" }, { "id": 34570, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-eruv-de-flatbush/", "title": "El Eruv de Flatbush ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre el Eruv de Flatbush y por qu\u00e9 hay tanta controversia sobre ese tema?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nOpinar sobre el Eruv de Flatbush es un asunto que les compete a los jajamim, y debido a que no soy un jajam, por lo tanto, bimkom guedolim al taamod; no metas la cabeza entre guedolim.
\n\n\n\nAqu\u00ed en nuestra kehil\u00e1 seguimos a Agudat Harabanim encabezadas por Rav Mosh\u00e9 Feinstein quien dijo que el Eruv no es v\u00e1lido. Sin embargo, no hacemos un majl\u00f3ket al respecto, pero esa es nuestra pr\u00e1ctica en este lugar.
\n\n\n\nM\u00e1s que eso, no dir\u00eda. He sido miembro de Agudat Harabanim durante cuarenta y tres a\u00f1os, por lo que sigo sus principios y eso es todo lo que puedo decirles sobre el tema. Hay sefarim escritos al respecto y podr\u00edamos hablar de eso quiz\u00e1s afuera, pero en p\u00fablico eso es todo lo que puedo decir.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #412 (julio de 1982)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nHace un mes, usted firm\u00f3 un kol kor\u00e9, una carta p\u00fablica, contra el Eruv en Flatbush. \u00bfEso incluye tambi\u00e9n el Eruv de Williamsburg?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo dije nada sobre el Eruv. No tengo ninguna opini\u00f3n al respecto, ni a favor ni en contra. No estoy interesado en el Eruv en absoluto. solo me interesa…
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nPero Rav, \u00a1su firma est\u00e1 en el papel!
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo. Esa firma es falsa. No la firm\u00e9. Eso te lo puedo decir, nunca la firm\u00e9. Nunca dije una declaraci\u00f3n a favor o en contra. No es la primera vez que la gente usa mi firma para varios prop\u00f3sitos. No, nunca firm\u00e9 nada.
\n\n\n\nNunca hice una declaraci\u00f3n a favor o en contra. Te dir\u00e9 a lo que s\u00ed me opongo. Estoy en contra de las personas que est\u00e1n desperdiciando sus vidas. \u00bfY sabes a favor de qu\u00e9 estoy? Estoy a favor de las personas que vienen aqu\u00ed y hacen uso de sus vidas. A favor de eso estoy
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-232 (mayo de 2000)
\nThe post El Eruv de Flatbush appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-31T04:17:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T04:17:14+00:00" }, { "id": 34564, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-flatbush-eiruv/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Flatbush Eiruv", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is your opinion of the Flatbush eiruv and why is there so much controversy about the question?
A:
The opinion about the Flatbush eiruv is an opinion of chachomim, and because I’m not a chachom therefore bemekom gedolim al ta’amod; don’t stick your head in between gedolim.
Here in our kehillah we follow the Agudas Harabonim headed by Rav Moshe Feinstein who said the eiruv is not valid. We don’t make a machlokes about it however, but that’s our practice in this place.
\n\n\n\nMore than that, I wouldn’t say. I\u2019ve been a member of the Agudas Harabonim for forty three years and so I follow their principles and that\u2019s all I can tell you on the subject. There are seforim written about it and we could talk about it perhaps outside, but in public that’s all I’m able to say.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 412 (July 1982)
\n\n\n\nQ:
A month ago the Rav signed on a kol korei, a public letter, against the Eiruv in Flatbush. Does that mean to include the Eiruv in Williamsburg as well?
A:
I said nothing about the Eiruv. I have no opinion at all about it \u2013 for or against. I\u2019m not interested in the Eiruv at all. I\u2019m only interested in \u2013
Q:
But the Rav\u2019s signature is on the paper?
A:
\n\n\n\nNo. That signature is false. I didn\u2019t sign it. This I can tell you \u2013 I never signed it. I never said a statement for or against it. It\u2019s not the first time people have used my signature for various purposes. No, I never signed anything.
I never made a statement for or against. I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019m against. I\u2019m against people who are wasting their lives. And you know what I\u2019m for? I\u2019m for people coming here and making use of their lives. That\u2019s what I\u2019m for.
TAPE # E-232 (May 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Flatbush Eiruv appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-29T15:20:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-29T15:20:38+00:00" }, { "id": 34562, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-ayudar-a-un-companero-judio/", "title": "C\u00f3mo ayudar a un compa\u00f1ero jud\u00edo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 es m\u00e1s importante, rezar por un amigo o hacer algo tangible por \u00e9l?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 es m\u00e1s importante, rezar por un amigo o ayudarlo en algo?
\n\n\n\nAmbas cosas son importantes. Ciertamente, si puedes hacer ambas cosas, debes hacer ambas. Si se trata de una persona que por cualquier raz\u00f3n no puede ser ayudada por ti, reza por ella. Pero si puedes hacer algo por \u00e9l, haz algo por \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nDice as\u00ed: \u05d4\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 \u2013 Cuando le das un centavo a un pobre, \u05de\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d1\u05e9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 obtienes seis berajot; \u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5 \u2013 pero si consuelas y honras al pobre hombre, obtienes once berajot. Ahora bien, si haces ambas cosas; si le das, digamos una donaci\u00f3n y dices: \u201cVeo que eres una personalidad importante. Me gustar\u00eda darte mil d\u00f3lares, simplemente no los tengo\u201d, entonces lo haces sentir bien. \u201cOjal\u00e1 pudiera darte mil d\u00f3lares; te lo mereces.” Lo est\u00e1s haciendo sentir bien; y en tal caso tienes diecisiete berajot. Once m\u00e1s seis son diecisiete.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, sup\u00f3n que tienes dinero en el bolsillo pero quieres simplemente consolarlo con palabras, s\u00f3lo para hacerlo sentir bien; no es algo malo, pero a\u00fan as\u00ed habr\u00e1 un reclamo contra ti: \u00bfAcaso no tienes dinero en tu bolsillo?
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que lo mejor es darle el dinero y darle tambi\u00e9n el consuelo, las palabras amables.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-1 (febrero de 1999)
\nThe post C\u00f3mo ayudar a un compa\u00f1ero jud\u00edo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-29T05:25:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-29T05:25:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34559, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%98-%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%94%d7%95-%d7%94%d7%a0%d7%91%d7%99%d7%90-%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%9b%d7%aa-3-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%9b%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d8: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0, \u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05de\u05e1\u05db\u05ea, 3 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05df, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05ea \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-229The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d8: \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0, \u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05de\u05e1\u05db\u05ea, 3 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05df, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05ea \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-28T23:27:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-28T23:27:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34554, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-help-a-fellow-jew/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Help A Fellow Jew", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is more important, praying for your friend or doing something tangible for him?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhat is more important, praying for your friend or helping him in something?
\n\n\n\nBoth are important. Certainly if you can do both things, you should do both. If it\u2019s a person who for whatever reason is not able to be helped by you, so pray for him. But if you\u2019re able to do something for him, do something for him.
\n\n\n\nIt says like this: \u05d4\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 \u2013 When you give a penny to a poor man, \u05de\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d1\u05e9\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 you get six brachos; \u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5 \u2013 but if you console and honor the poor man, you get eleven brachos. Now, if you do both things; if you give him let\u2019s say a donation and you say, \u201cI see you\u2019re an important personality. I\u2019d like to give you a thousand dollars, I just don\u2019t have it,\u201d so you make him feel good. \u201cI wish I could give you a thousand dollars; you deserve it.\u201d You\u2019re making him feel good so now you have seventeen brachos. Eleven plus six is seventeen.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose you have money in your pocket and you want to be yotzei with brachos alone, just to make him feel good; it\u2019s not a bad thing but still, it will be held against you.\u00a0 What about that money in your pocket?\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo the best thing is to give him the money and to give him also the consolation, the kind words.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-1 (February 1999)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Help A Fellow Jew appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-28T18:25:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-28T18:25:42+00:00" }, { "id": 34551, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/regocijarse-con-el-sufrimiento-de-tu-amigo/", "title": "Regocijarse con el sufrimiento de tu amigo ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo puede una persona no estar deprimida cuando oye hablar de tantas personas que mueren j\u00f3venes?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame decirte. Es una excusa; es una coartada. La gente busca un terutz para ser infeliz, eso es todo. La verdad es que no les importa mucho eso; est\u00e1n buscando una excusa para ser infelices. Por el contrario, debes decir: “Baruj Hashem que me protegiste”. Todo el d\u00eda piensa en eso: \u201cHashem me protegi\u00f3\u201d.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que lo que puedas hacer, debes hacerlo. Reza por \u00e9l. \u00bfEst\u00e1s rezando por esa persona? No. S\u00f3lo est\u00e1s mostrando que est\u00e1s insatisfecho, haciendo kushiot. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no rezas por \u00e9l? En la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9, en Refaenu, di \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05ea\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05e8\u05e4\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05ea \u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05da \u05e9\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc , o al final de la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9. \u00bfEst\u00e1s rezando por \u00e9l?
\n\n\n\nY adem\u00e1s de eso, debes agradecer a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. \u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da – Te agradezco, Hashem, que me salvaste a m\u00ed, a mi esposa, a mis hijos, a mis hijas, y a mis nietos; \u00a1No tenemos tales cosas entre nosotros! \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d2\u05d5\u05de\u05dc \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. \u00bfEst\u00e1s pensando eso? Ese es uno de los prop\u00f3sitos de las tzarot. Cuando escuchas tzarot, tienes que regocijarte de que no obtuviste t\u00fa las tzarot. “\u00a1\u00bfAlegrarse?!” dices: “\u00bfDeber\u00eda regocijarme?” \u00a1Ciertamente hay que alegrarse!
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que deber\u00edas rezar por ellos. Si necesitan dinero, ay\u00fadalos a conseguir dinero. Pero no debes perder de vista el hecho de que Hakadosh Baruj Hu te ha protegido. Y tienes que utilizar eso para tener m\u00e1s simj\u00e1 en tu vida. Cada vez que escuches una desgracia, “\u00a1Baruj Hashem, no me pas\u00f3 a m\u00ed!”
\n\n\n\nCuando te pones de pie en la Shemon\u00e1 Esr\u00e9 y te inclinas \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd, est\u00e1s diciendo: \u201cTe agradezco Hashem\u201d. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 est\u00e1s agradeciendo? \u00a1Nada en absoluto! Te inclinas como un robot. Incl\u00ednate y piensa: \u201cMe salvaste de lo que tiene esa persona\u201d.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no sabemos por qu\u00e9 Hashem le hizo eso a esa persona, Hashem tiene sus razones, pero Baruj Hashem no me lo hizo a m\u00ed. Esa deber\u00eda ser tu reacci\u00f3n. Y s\u00e9 feliz y disfr\u00fatalo.
\n\n\n\nDir\u00e1s: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo puedes disfrutar de las tzarot de otra persona?” No, no estoy disfrutando [que otro sufre]. Estoy rezando por \u00e9l; lo que puedo hacer lo hago. Puedes contribuir a su ayuda dando algo de dinero, tal vez bikur jolim tambi\u00e9n. Sea lo que sea, debes hacerlo. Pero al mismo tiempo, comprende que Hakadosh Baruj Hu te rescat\u00f3 de ese problema y eso es lo que debes disfrutar. Util\u00edzalo para disfrutar de tu propia felicidad.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-152 (septiembre de 1998)
\nThe post Regocijarse con el sufrimiento de tu amigo appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-28T04:20:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-28T04:20:29+00:00" }, { "id": 34545, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-rejoicing-with-your-friends-suffering/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Rejoicing With Your Friend\u2019s Suffering", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can a person not be depressed when he hears about so many people who are dying young?
A:
\n\n\n\nLet me tell you. It is an excuse; it\u2019s an alibi. People are looking for a teretz to be unhappy, that is all it is. The truth is they don\u2019t care much about that; they are looking for an excuse to be unhappy. On the contrary you should say, \u201cBoruch Hashem that You protected me.\u201d All day long think about that: \u201cHashem protected me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOf course whatever you can do, you do. Pray for him. Are you praying for that person? No. You\u2019re just showing you are dissatisfied, asking kashes. Why don\u2019t you pray for him? In shemoneh esrei, in refaeinu, say \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05ea\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05e8\u05e4\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05ea \u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05da \u05e9\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. Or at the end of shemoneh esreh. Are you praying for him?
\n\n\n\nAnd in addition to that, you should thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu. \u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da – I thank You Hashem you saved me and my wife and my sons and my daughters and my children and my grandchildren; we don\u2019t have such things among us! \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d2\u05d5\u05de\u05dc \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. Are you thinking that? That\u2019s one of the purposes of tzaros. When you hear tzaros, you have to rejoice that you didn\u2019t get the tzaros. \u201cRejoice?!\u201d you say, \u201cI should rejoice?\u201d Certainly you have to rejoice!
\n\n\n\nOf course you should be mispallel for them. If they need money, help them get money. But you should not lose sight of the fact that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has protected you. And you have to utilize that to have more simcha in your life. Whenever you hear a misfortune, \u201cBoruch Hashem it didn\u2019t happen to me!\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen you stand shemoneh esrei and you bow down \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd, you\u2018re saying, \u201cI thank you Hashem.\u201d For what are you thanking? Nothing at all! You bow down like a robot. Bow down and think, \u201cYou saved me from what that person had.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow we don\u2019t know why Hashem did it to that person \u2013 Hashem has His reasons \u2013 but boruch Hashem He didn\u2019t do it for me. That should be your reaction. And be happy and enjoy it.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll say, \u201cHow can you enjoy somebody else\u2019s tzaros?\u201d No, I\u2019m not enjoying it. I am praying for him; whatever I can do. You can contribute to his help by giving some money, maybe bikur cholim. Whatever it is, you should do it. But at the same time, utilize it and understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu rescued you from that trouble and that\u2019s what you should enjoy. Utilize it to enjoy your own happiness.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-152 (September 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Rejoicing With Your Friend\u2019s Suffering appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-27T17:35:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-27T17:35:38+00:00" }, { "id": 34541, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/chistes-sobre-minorias/", "title": "Chistes sobre minor\u00edas ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEst\u00e1 mal hacer bromas sobre las minor\u00edas? \u00bfNo son ellos tambi\u00e9n Tz\u00e9lem Elokim?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDepende de cu\u00e1l sea el prop\u00f3sito de la broma. Si es stam letzanut entonces no. Pero si es letzanut de avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1, entonces s\u00ed. Letzanut de idolatr\u00eda, de falsas religiones, se puede.
\n\n\n\nComo dice el Nav\u00ed sobre los \u00eddolos. \u05db\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05dc \u05e7\u05e8\u05e1 \u05e0\u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 Bel se pone en cuclillas y Nev\u00f3 salpica, \u05e7\u05e8\u05e1\u05d5 \u05db\u05e8\u05e2\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05d8 \u05de\u05e9\u05d0 \u2013 Salpican y se ponen en cuclillas juntos, pero no pueden entregar la carga (Ieshaiahu 46:1-2). Est\u00e1 hablando all\u00ed de un \u00eddolo y est\u00e1 haciendo letzanut de eso. Era un \u00eddolo con una gran barriga y el Nav\u00ed dice que este \u00eddolo aparentemente tiene estre\u00f1imiento. Est\u00e1 haciendo todo lo posible para hacer sus necesidades, pero no lo lograba. Eso fue dicho por el Nav\u00ed para impresionar a la gente [y demostrar] cu\u00e1n vac\u00eda es la adoraci\u00f3n de \u00eddolos. Ese letzanut est\u00e1 permitido.
\n\n\n\nPero hay que saber hacer letzanut. No debes ser un letz. Puedes hacer letzanut, pero no debes ser un letz. As\u00ed que letzanut por s\u00ed solo es absolutamente incorrecto. Y hacer letzanut de las personas porque son negras o morenas no tiene ning\u00fan sentido. Ser negro o moreno no es un pecado. No puedes hacer letzanut sobre eso.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, letzanut sobre letzim, puede ser. Pero la Guemar\u00e1 dice: “Kol letzanuta asira, bar miletzanuta deavod\u00e1 zar\u00e1: todo letzanut est\u00e1 prohibido excepto el letzanut sobre avod\u00e1 zar\u00e1 (Meguil\u00e1 25b). Ese letzanut est\u00e1 permitido porque ese letzanut es d\u00e1at, es tener la mente clara. Para dejar en claro lo equivocados que est\u00e1n, vale la pena hacer letzanut y mostrar cu\u00e1n tontas son sus creencias.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-260 (enero de 2001)
\nThe post Chistes sobre minor\u00edas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-27T03:59:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-27T03:59:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34536, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-minority-jokes/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Minority Jokes", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it right to make jokes about minorities? Aren\u2019t they also tzelem Elokim?
A:
\n\n\n\nIt depends on what the purpose of the joke is. If it\u2019s stam leitzanus then no. But if it\u2019s leitzanus of avodah zarah, then yes. Leitzanus of idolatry, of false religions, yes.
\n\n\n\nLike the Navi says about the idol. \u05db\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05dc \u05e7\u05e8\u05e1 \u05e0\u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 Beil squats and Nevo splashes, \u05e7\u05e8\u05e1\u05d5 \u05db\u05e8\u05e2\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05d8 \u05de\u05e9\u05d0 \u2013 They splash and squat together but they can\u2019t deliver the burden (Yeshayah 46:1-2). He\u2019s talking there about an idol and he\u2019s making leitzanus from it. It was an idol with a big belly and the Navi said that this idol apparently has constipation. He’s trying his best to relieve himself but nothing helps. That was said by the Navi in order to impress on people how empty the worship of idols is. That leitzanus is permitted.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to know how to make leitzanus. Not just to be a leitz. You can make leitzanus, but you can\u2019t be a leitz. So leitzanus on its own is absolutely wrong. And to make leitzanus of people because they\u2019re black or brown doesn’t make sense at all. Being black or brown is no sin. You can\u2019t make leitzanus about that.
\n\n\n\nNow, leitzanus of leitzim, maybe. But the Gemara says “Kol leitzanusa asira, bar me’leitzanusa d’avoda zarah \u2013 all leitzanus is forbidden except for the leitzanus you make of avoda zara (Megillah 25b). That leitzanus is permitted because that leitzanus is daas, it\u2019s a clarity of mind. In order to make clear how wrong they are, it\u2019s worth it to make leitzanus and show how silly their beliefs are.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-260 (January 2001)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Minority Jokes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-26T21:18:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-31T15:11:01+00:00" }, { "id": 4365, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-do-i-practice-what-i-preach/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Do I Practice What I Preach", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there a difference between the advice that you give us and what you tell yourself? I guess what I mean is, do you practice what you preach?
A:
\n\n\n\nLet me explain something to you, an important principle. When I speak to you, I wouldn’t waste my time just for you alone. It\u2019s in the hope that I\u2019m hearing it as well. Yes, that\u2019s the purpose. Agav urcha, I\u2019m letting you listen in as well. But I\u2019m listening too and there\u2019s no question that a speaker becomes influenced by his words.
\n\n\n\nRav Yisroel Salanter once asked, \u201cHow can one judge the benefit of a mussar schmooze?\u201d And he said, \u201cEven if as a result of his talk only one person davened a better mincha, it was worthwhile. And,\u201d Rav Yisroel continued, \u201ceven if that one person who davened a better mincha is the speaker himself, it\u2019s still worthwhile.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA better mincha\u2014any ruchniyus\u2014is a very big achievement. So therefore whatever you can do for yourself, whether you’re learning alone or teaching others, make sure that you’re listening along as well. You’re listening too and you’re having a benefit. Something rubs off on you. Lo yimaleit! It\u2019s impossible otherwise. Unless you’re epes a ramai gadol. Unless you’re a complete fraud. But an ordinary person, when he talks, he\u2019s listening too.
\n\n\n\nTAPE E-260 (February 2001)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Do I Practice What I Preach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-26T21:02:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-26T21:02:37+00:00" }, { "id": 34523, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/poner-en-practica-lo-que-escuchas/", "title": "Poner en pr\u00e1ctica lo que escuchas", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay alguna diferencia entre los consejos que usted nos da y los que se dice a usted mismo? Lo que quiero decir es, \u00bfpractica usted lo que predica?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame explicarte algo, un principio importante. Cuando hablo contigo, no perder\u00eda mi tiempo s\u00f3lo por ti. Es con la esperanza de que yo tambi\u00e9n lo est\u00e9 escuchando. S\u00ed, ese es el prop\u00f3sito. Agav urj\u00e1, te dejo escuchar tambi\u00e9n. Pero tambi\u00e9n yo estoy escuchando y no hay duda de que un predicador se ve influenciado por sus palabras.
\n\n\n\nRav Israel Salanter pregunt\u00f3 una vez: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo se puede juzgar el beneficio de una sij\u00e1 de musar?” Dijo as\u00ed: “Incluso si como resultado de su charla s\u00f3lo una persona rez\u00f3 minj\u00e1 mejor, vali\u00f3 la pena. “Y\u201d, continu\u00f3 Rav Israel, \u201cincluso si esa persona que rez\u00f3 una tefil\u00e1 de minj\u00e1 mejor es el orador mismo, a\u00fan as\u00ed vale la pena\u201d.
\n\n\n\nUna tefil\u00e1 de minj\u00e1 mejor – cualquier asunto de rujaniut – es un gran logro. Por lo tanto, cualquier cosa que puedas hacer por t\u00ed mismo, ya sea que est\u00e9s estudiando solo o ense\u00f1ando a otros, aseg\u00farate de estar escuchando tambi\u00e9n. Est\u00e1s escuchando tambi\u00e9n y est\u00e1s teniendo un beneficio. Algo se te pegar\u00e1. Lo imalet! Es imposible de otra manera. A menos que seas un ramai gadol. A menos que seas un completo farsante. Pero una persona com\u00fan, cuando habla, tambi\u00e9n est\u00e1 escuchando.
\n\n\n\nCINTA E-260 (febrero de 2001)
\nThe post Poner en pr\u00e1ctica lo que escuchas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-26T03:07:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-26T03:07:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34516, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%98%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%a2%d7%99-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05ea-\u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05ea-\u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05ea-\u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-25T03:32:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-25T03:32:16+00:00" }, { "id": 7836, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-trips-for-relaxation/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Trips for Relaxation", "content_html": "\nQ:
What do you say about a person going on a trip for relaxation?
A:
It depends what you mean by a trip. If you want to take a trip down Ocean Parkway, I\u2019m all for it. It\u2019s fresh air, it\u2019s exercise, and you\u2019re not wasting money. But a trip someplace by a vehicle, airplane or whatever it is, is not refreshing.
Now, sometimes a person is so confused in his mind that he has to do anything to get his mind off his troubles. So I\u2019m not saying anything about that. But ordinarily, for relaxation you don\u2019t go on trips. Trips make you tired and you don\u2019t get the required exercise and fresh air that help a person come back to normal. And therefore it\u2019s all a hundred percent waste of money.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019re serious about relaxation you would take up a system of touring the city streets \u2013 by daytime, not by night \u2013 walking for miles and miles and then coming home and eating a nice meal and going to sleep. And if necessary going out again for a walk if you\u2019re so serious.
\n\n\n\nBut traveling is no answer for the problem of relaxation. People travel back and forth; they go to Eretz Yisroel and to Florida, and some go to Switzerland too. And all they do is spend money and get more and more tired so when they come back they need a vacation.
TAPE # 592 (April 1986)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Trips for Relaxation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-25T02:03:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-25T02:03:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34511, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/viaje-de-relajacion/", "title": "Viaje de relajaci\u00f3n ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 dice de una persona que se va de viaje para relajarse?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDepende de lo que entiendas por viaje. Si quieres hacer un viaje por Ocean Parkway, estoy de acuerdo. Es aire fresco, es ejercicio y no est\u00e1s derrochando dinero. Pero un viaje a alg\u00fan lugar en auto, avi\u00f3n o lo que sea, no es reparador.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, a veces una persona est\u00e1 tan confundida en su mente que tiene que hacer cualquier cosa para dejar de pensar en sus problemas. As\u00ed que no estoy diciendo nada sobre eso. Pero por lo general, para relajarse, no se va de viaje. Los viajes te cansan y no obtienes el ejercicio necesario y el aire fresco que ayudan a una persona a volver a la normalidad. Y por lo tanto, es un desperdicio total de dinero.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si realmente quieres relajarte, deber\u00edas adoptar un sistema de recorrer las calles de la ciudad – de d\u00eda, no de noche – caminar kil\u00f3metros y kil\u00f3metros y luego volver a tu casa, comer una buena comida e irte a dormir. Y si es necesario volver a salir a pasear.
\n\n\n\nPero viajar no es la soluci\u00f3n al problema de la relajaci\u00f3n. La gente viaja de un lado a otro; van a \u00c9retz Israel y a Florida, y algunos van a Suiza tambi\u00e9n. Y todo lo que hacen es gastar dinero y cansarse m\u00e1s, entonces cuando regresan necesitan unas vacaciones.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #592 (abril de 1986)
\nThe post Viaje de relajaci\u00f3n appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T16:49:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-24T16:49:12+00:00" }, { "id": 34505, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%a2%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T05:31:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-24T05:31:09+00:00" }, { "id": 34500, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-matos-masei-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Matos-Masei", "content_html": "\n\u201cHi Chezky,\u201d said Avrohom Yitzchok Stern, as he approached his friend. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong? You look upset.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019m just really hungry,\u201d said Chezky. \u201cI didn\u2019t have time to eat breakfast this morning and I lost the snack I was going to eat now.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHungry?\u201d said Avrohom Yitzchok with a huge grin. \u201cYou\u2019ve come to just the right person! I\u2019ll be right back!\u201d
\n\n\n\nChezky looked momentarily confused as Avrohom Yitzchok dashed back into the cheder and quickly returned with his bulging knapsack.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHere!\u201d exclaimed Avrohom Yitzchok, opening his bag wide. \u201cThese are from my father\u2019s bakery – take as many as you like!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow!\u201d said Chezky, amazed at the selection of yummy chocolate chip cookies, custard cream puffs, and cinnamon twists. \u201cIs this left over from another Horki Dinner?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d laughed Avrohom Yitzchok. \u201cBut it\u2019s still delicious. Please, take. Eat something. You\u2019re starving!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHungrily, Chezky picked out a frosted donut, and a few cookies before making a brocha and starting to eat.
\n\n\n\nMeanwhile a few other boys had walked over, curiously eying the hoard of treats and Avraham Yitzchok graciously offered some to them as well.
\n\n\n\nAs the boys chatted and enjoyed their snacks, they did not notice Rebbi Caplan approaching them from behind.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHaving fun, boys?\u201d Rebbi Caplan asked gruffly.
\n\n\n\nThe boys jumped at the stern tone coming from their normally-friendly Rebbi.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Rebbi? Did we do something wrong?\u201d asked Chezky.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d Rebbi Caplan replied, still sounding upset. \u201cI\u2019m having trouble understanding. How could you boys sit here, eating and talking and not realize that you are dropping your wrappers all over the ground?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys looked down uncomfortably at the large pile of wrappers that had accumulated at their feet as they ate.
\n\n\n\n\u201cDo you think that the schoolyard is just magically cleaned up every day? What do you think Julio the janitor is going to say to himself when he comes out later to clean up? It\u2019s a big chillul Hashem! A ben Torah should never throw trash on the floor!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re sorry Rebbi,\u201d the boys said sheepishly, as they quickly bent down to pick up the wrappers and stuff them into their pockets.
\n\n\n\nAs the final bell rang, Chezky headed out of the cheder building with a smile. Boruch Hashem, thanks to Avrohom Yitzchok\u2019s generosity, he was able to learn well the rest of the day without his stomach rumbling.
\n\n\n\nAs he walked out of the schoolyard, he saw two of the boys who had shared the Stern\u2019s Bakery snacks with him earlier heading home while munching on some candies. Chezky ran a few feet to catch up with them so they could walk home together.
\n\n\n\nAs Chezky came closer, though, he noticed that the boys\u2019 candy wrappers were dropping on the ground as they walked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with you??!!\u201d Chezky exclaimed angrily, surprising the two boys. \u201cCan\u2019t you see that you\u2019re making a chillul Hashem? Is it so hard to put the wrapper in a garbage can?! Didn\u2019t you hear a word that Rebbi said earlier?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs Chezky continued to yell at his classmates, his face turned red and he was almost shaking with anger. How could someone ignore what Rebbi had said just a few hours earlier? What was wrong with them?
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-3.png?resize=640%2C399&ssl=1\")
Just then, Rebbi Caplan approached. \u201cIs everything okay, Yechezkel?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d shouted Chezky, unable to control himself. \u201cLook at those boys how they are leaving a mess, just after Rebbi told us not to drop wrappers on the floor!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYechezkel Shraga,\u201d said Rebbi Caplan softly. \u201cYou need to calm down. A Yid should never get angry like this.\u201d
\n\n\n\nChezky paused, looking up at his Rebbi with surprise. Wasn\u2019t Rebbi on his side? \u201cBut didn\u2019t Rebbi get angry at us today? And when we were learning the parsha you said that Moshe Rabbeinu got angry at the Bnei Yisroel for letting some of the people from Midyan live after the war. So I\u2019m just being like Rebbi and Moshe Rabeinu. You should be proud of me!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a great question, Yechezkel Shraga,\u201d Rebbi Caplan said with a smile. \u201cHere, let\u2019s go get you a drink of water and I\u2019ll explain it to you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAfter sipping some water, Chezky felt calmer.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYechezkel Shraga,\u201d said Rebbi Caplan. \u201cSometimes parents and rebbeim need to show disappointment to their children and talmidim. But that\u2019s not real anger. When Moshe Rabbeinu \u201cgot angry\u201d it means he put on a display of anger so that the Bnei Yisroel would understand that they had done something wrong. But he didn\u2019t become angry \u2013 he showed anger!
\n\n\n\n\u201cReal anger is very dangerous because it makes you lose control. An angry person always forgets about Hashem \u2013 that\u2019s why the Gemara says that an angry person is like someone who does Avodah Zarah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd also,\u201d continued Rabbi Caplan with a smile, \u201cmost of the time, especially when you are dealing with your friends, a friendly word and a kind reminder will do a lot more. If you want to help your friends, do it with self control.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: Anger is one of the worst Middos. Hashem created anger to be displayed by our parents or teachers when it is important. But we must stay away from it as much as possible.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Matos-Masei appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T03:49:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-24T03:49:30+00:00" }, { "id": 34488, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-matos-masei-5-learning-tolerance-2/", "title": "Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance", "content_html": "Tremendous Praise
\n\n\n\nAt the end of Sefer Bamidbar we see a remarkable thing. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is talking now to the Am Yisroel about coming into Eretz Canaan. And He says like this: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 For I Hashem dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel (Masei 35:34).
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the conclusion now of that great experience, the forty years in the Wilderness, and finally they\u2019re getting the haskamah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu: \u201cYou\u2019ve succeeded! I\u2019m proud of you, you\u2019re worthy now that I can dwell in your midst.\u201d Now, the question is what made them so great, so great that they deserved this praise from Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
\n\n\n\nYou know, the Jewish history is like a book, and it\u2019s a book being written by the Am Yisroel even today. Whatever we are doing today; when we live virtuous lives or learn Torah or build more yeshivas; when we establish frum families and when we achieve perfection of character; whatever it is we\u2019re doing, we are writing sentences and chapters in that book which will someday be a great history.
\n\n\n\nLearning to Write
\n\n\n\nBut nobody can write a successful book willy-nilly, without guidance. And so, before we were permitted to set out to write our history we were given a preface with models to follow. I don\u2019t know if you ever saw the old school books that were used to teach children how to write \u2013 it could be it\u2019s the same even today. In the beginning of the book they had written in a nice handwriting all the letters and even some paragraphs and the rest of the book was blank pages. So you turned to the beginning and studied those printed letters and in the blank pages that followed you wrote your own letters, copying that handwriting. And after a while, you learned how to write in a beautiful handwriting.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us the Dor Hamidbar so that we can look at them and utilize them as a model when we\u2019re writing the book of our own history throughout all our generations.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it’s important to understand in what way the Am Yisroel in the Wilderness became especially worthy of Hashem\u2019s acclaim at the end of forty years. Because what they achieved, and the way they achieved it, we\u2019re expected to model our own lives after that.
\n\n\n\nSavlonus School
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m going to give the answer first with just one word, one word that will introduce our subject tonight. I\u2019ll say the word, but remember, that\u2019s not the whole story; there\u2019s a lot to say still.
\n\n\n\nWhat made them great? The answer is they learned savlonus, to tolerate. When we look back at the Dor Hamidbar we see that the nation was given a special training for forty years \u2013 they underwent a schooling of savlonus.
\n\n\n\nNow, if we\u2019re going to understand that wehave to study a little bit what it means to live in the Wilderness.
\n\n\n\nFirst, let\u2019s imagine what happened when they heard that they were going to stay in the Wilderness for forty years. Oooh, were they disappointed! Instead of going \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05bd\u05d7\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d1, immediately to Eretz Canaan, they had to travel around in the midbar. \u201cWhoooah! What\u2019s going on?! We thought we were traveling to Eretz Canaan!\u201d They were thinking already of the nice juicy figs and dates and big houses with gardens, and all of a sudden they were told, \u201cForty years in the midbar.\u201d What a disappointment that was! You need savlonus to take that. It\u2019s a tremendous test, a terrible test!
\n\n\n\nTolerating Family and Neighbors
\n\n\n\nYou know what it means to live in the Wilderness? They didn\u2019t live in houses like they did in Mitzrayim. Back in Mitzrayim they had houses. The Chumash says that. And now they\u2019re in tents!
\n\n\n\nYou need savlonus if you\u2019re going to live forty years in a tent. It\u2019s very inconvenient. And they had a lot of children in those days and so it was difficult. Constantly, children were doing things. They were children, not angels. Children complain. They cry. They fight. And a mother has to listen to complaints. She has to listen to them and she has to be able to tolerate it. It\u2019s not easy.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s not only your own family. One of the features of the midbar was the crowding together of all the people. Your neighbors were right there next to you. Your tent is here and the next man’s tent is right here. They didn’t have any big space between them. And it wasn\u2019t houses with walls; it was cloth tents.
\n\n\n\nWhen you have a couple of million people camping together in one small place, one tent near another, you have to learn savlonus. People could get on each other\u2019s nerves all the time. Maybe you want to take a nap and the baby in the next tent is crying loud; he doesn\u2019t let you sleep. You have to have savlonus for neighbors like that. It’s almost impossible for people to live together in such crowded conditions unless you are practicing savlonus day and night.
\n\n\n\nMidbar Mashgichim
\n\n\n\nNot only your neighbors were crowding in on you. Every Jew had a mashgiach appointed over him. You know, in the yeshiva, let\u2019s say you have a yeshiva of a hundred boys; so there\u2019s a mashgiach who\u2019s watching the boys. And they feel it\u2019s too much. He\u2019s always looking at us!
\n\n\n\nBut in the midbar, for every nine people, there was one mashgiach! Sarei asarah means that of every ten people, one was appointed as a mashgiach to watch. And he had full authority over them. You realize what a straightjacket that was? It\u2019s a most uncomfortable form of existence. You had to be a big savlon because you were constantly being watched; somebody was always looking over your shoulders.
\n\n\n\nAnd for every hundred, there was another supervisor, and for every thousand another supervisor. And so the nation in the midbar was swarming with supervisors.
\n\n\n\nEverybody was under the strictest control for forty years. You know what that means to be under constant scrutiny every minute. It was almost impossible to tolerate such supervision! You needed very much savlonus to live that way.
\n\n\n\nTrumpet Trepidation
\n\n\n\nThey had to learn to be soveil Hashem too. After all He didn\u2019t allow them any menucha. He never told them, \u201cSettle in. In this place we\u2019ll be staying for at least a month.\u201d Oh no; every day they had to be on the alert, maybe they\u2019ll hear the sound of the trumpets that will summon them to pull up the stakes of their tents and start moving. They never had any kind of security that they would remain in one place for longer than a day. It’s true, in one place they remained for eighteen years. But the entire eighteen years, every day, they were in trepidation. Every minute the trumpet might sound and say: get moving!
\n\n\n\nAnd then there was the diet. Here Hakodosh Boruch Hu took us out of Mitzrayim and right away there\u2019s no water. Three days with no water \u2013 you know what that means, no water. You\u2019re thirsty. The children are climbing the walls from thirst. You\u2019re irritated. You need savlonus for such a test.
\n\n\n\nIntolerable Food
\n\n\n\nAnd food? What food? \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7. The mann was colorless; a light color, practically colorless. It means the most dull kind of menu. It was a difficult test. If your wife would serve you every day for one week the same thing exactly, you might feel a little irritated. Suppose she served you a month the same thing, day and night the same thing, I\u2019m afraid what would be. And here for forty years, that\u2019s all they had.
\n\n\n\nNow all of you tzaddikim, you know that when they wanted to have a machshavah of eating meat, it tasted like meat. But that wasn\u2019t so easy. It wasn\u2019t just like this, \u201cMeat!\u201d and it becomes meat. No, it wasn\u2019t that easy. They had to sit down and say, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is a tov umaitiv and He\u2019s able to give me meat and the mann has all the good things in it that meat can give me and I would like to have the feeling I\u2019m eating meat.\u201d And little by little if you worked on it, you could get a certain amount of hana\u2019ah as if you ate meat.
\n\n\n\nBut it was only a matter of the seichel. It didn\u2019t turn into meat. It was still mann. And any moment that he stopped using his seichel, it tasted like the same old mann again. So he had to keep his mind on it constantly.
\n\n\n\nAnd so even if you were from the good ones who could do that, it\u2019s a little bit tiresome! They would like to sit down to real meat! A red steak and some wheat bread! Ahh! To be able to chew a solid piece of bread. Real food! But the mann? Always, day after day, to eat something that just your mind is telling you tastes good?
\n\n\n\nPunished by Design
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu was creating a patient people. Day after day for forty years He was testing our tolerance and making a perfect nation from us. Whether you liked it or not, you learned to be a soveil, a patient fellow. You learned to accept your circumstances. It was the most remarkable period in our history, the most unusual period.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you\u2019ll understand this, you\u2019ll understand a big yesod. You know some people think that because of the meraglim, that\u2019s why they were sentenced to be forty years in the midbar. After all, it says openly in the Chumash that reason.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s a klal gadol in history that we have to learn; a very important rule as follows: Whatever happens was planned by Hashem beforehand. \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05b6\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05dd Hashem wanted them to be forty years in the midbar. And so whatever your cheder rebbi might have taught you, it\u2019s time to get this into your head right now. It was planned; in order to make this great generation even greater, even more perfect, so that they should be worthy of the encomium of Hashem, Hakodosh Boruch Hu had in mind from the beginning they should not enter Eretz Yisrael.
\n\n\n\nGaining Perfection
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because for that great generation it was an opportunity, an opportunity for perfection of character. The Gemara says in Sanhedrin (7a) that when we were good friends, ki rechimton aziza, \u201cwhen our love was very great,\u201d Hashem said, \u201cwe could sleep together on a very narrow place. But now, even a bed of sixty cubits is too narrow for us.\u201d It means this. When people are interested in perfecting their character, they can get along even in crowded and uncomfortable circumstances.
\n\n\n\nSubsequently when they were not so perfect, they weren’t able to continue that way so Hashem allowed them to scatter in the land of Canaan and each one lived on his own farm far away from each other. And there they had stone houses and real food and all the ordinary conveniences of life.
\n\n\n\nBut in the midbar everything was set up to test them. They had to watch out what they said. What will the neighbors say? What will the sarei asarah say? It\u2019s the same food again? It\u2019s already thirty years, every day breakfast and supper, the same thing! We\u2019re traveling? We\u2019re not traveling?
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore they learned to accept the circumstances and they became perfect in the midbar. They lacked many conveniences and they learned to grin and bear it. They learned to tolerate that strict limited diet; they learned to tolerate the scarcity of water and the inconvenience of living in tents. They learned to tolerate the necessity to travel sometimes long journeys on foot. After a while, they became accustomed to it and little by little they gained the perfection of savlonus.
\n\n\n\nThe Ladder of Patience
\n\n\n\nNow, when a person is able to walk in the ways of this model generation with the thought of \u201c\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 I\u2019m doing it because You, Hashem, desire I should do that,\u201d there\u2019s nothing better than that. That\u2019s an excellent way to live.
\n\n\n\nHowever we should know that we\u2019re not angels and therefore we have to climb a ladder, the \u05e1\u05d5\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05de\u05bb\u05e6\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b7\u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4. First you put your feet on the lower rung and then you start climbing; that\u2019s how we\u2019ll get to the top finally. And so we\u2019ll start climbing by recognizing that the middah of savlonus will be beneficial for us in Olam Hazeh living.
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, your health. Learning to tolerate and have patience is very important for a person\u2019s welfare because when a person doesn\u2019t have savlonus, when he\u2019s impatient, so he creates stress in himself; and what does stress do? The secretions of the glands caused by impatience and stress are always harmful.
\n\n\n\nEmotional Health
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that this world is not a world of accidents. Forget about all the liars and the resha\u2019im, the evolutionists and the scientists. Disregard what they tell you. Nothing is accidental in this world. A human body, any body, is so made that all the parts cooperate with each other. And that\u2019s true about everything, even the emotions. The emotions and the body are built to cooperate. Good emotions are healthy for the body. When you\u2019re calm and happy, it\u2019s beneficial for your body. But when you\u2019re agitated and impatient it\u2019s poison.
\n\n\n\nI knew a man who never learned to be a savlan and his patience was always running thin; everything got on his nerves. The neighbors are on his nerves, his boss is on his nerves, his wife and children surely are on his nerves; his nerves were always on edge. Finally one time it went from his nerves to his heart; it was too much for his poor heart and his heart stopped beating. They rushed him to the hospital, cut open his breast, and the doctor took the heart in his hand and tried to flex it. Nothing; it didn\u2019t move anymore. He was a young man but he died because he never learned the importance of being a savlan in Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nNot only in matters of the heart; also in your kidneys. Many people, lo aleichem, had kidney shutdown because of stress. Certain stress caused the kidney to stop working. And even if it didn\u2019t stop working, they\u2019re so spoiled that they have to take insulin; they have diabetes now as a result of stress.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man I knew who was always fighting with his wife and he became blind eventually and died all alone. Now I don\u2019t want to blame him, but there\u2019s no question he could have avoided everything. He wouldn\u2019t have been blind because we know that \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e1 \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9. We say it every day in Tachnun. \u201cMy eye became worn out from ka\u2019as.\u201d You hear that? If you\u2019re excited and irritated all the time it affects your eyes. I\u2019m not blaming him; I don\u2019t know who was at fault, but had he learned the art of savlonus, he could have lived with his wife and he would have been alive today.
\n\n\n\nAnd so that\u2019s definitely a rung you can use to begin climbing the ladder of savlonus \u2013 if you enjoy your kidneys and your heart and your eyes so get busy training yourself to be patient.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMake It\u201d In Business
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not only your health. The middah of savlonus will make you successful in business too. People who conduct businesses are constantly working on the quality of savlonus becauseyou can\u2019t make it in business if you\u2019re not patient. You have to suffer from your customers.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how it is; you can\u2019t have a grocery store unless you\u2019re a very patient man. Even if you\u2019re not, you have to practice ostensibly the middah of savlonus to your customers; otherwise you won\u2019t have any.
\n\n\n\nEven a melamed has to suffer from his students. Ifa melamed is impatient with the children, he loses his job. And so it pays for you. It pays in this world for people to practice up on this middah of savlonus. Your health will improve. Your parnassah will improve. Your life will improve! So many troubles will be avoided.
\n\n\n\nWhen we look around us and see what happens in the lives of people, we\u2019ll see tragedies upon tragedies; widespread tzaros, ruined lives. It\u2019s a mageifa, especially today. Many times, lives are shortened and families are broken because they didn\u2019t have patience. A little savlonus, a few minutes of patience would have saved them.
\n\n\n\nThe Mop in The Madhouse
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a woman, a kollel wife. The landlord had been bothering her for the last couple of months; they didn\u2019t pay any rent yet. They have a family of children. It\u2019s erev Shabbos on a short Friday. The children are making noise and fighting in the house and she\u2019s nervous the landlord might come any minute and ask her again. And then the bathroom, the toilet became stuffed and the water overflowed from the bathroom into the kitchen. And she\u2019s standing there with a mop mopping up and the children are shouting and she is at the top of the ladder of stress.
\n\n\n\nSuddenly the husband comes in from the kollel and he says, \u201cWhat\u2019s this? A madhouse?\u201d She became so disappointed, so angry. He came in from the outside and she had been all day long with the children; and here she\u2019s struggling to clean up the floor with the water. So what happened? She picked up the mop and she hit him in the face with the wet mop.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened afterwards I don\u2019t want to describe. Tragedy of tragedies. There was a nervous breakdown and a long period of hospitalization afterwards. Of course there was a divorce nebach. A tragedy.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose this woman \u2013 I\u2019m not blaming her at all \u2013 but suppose she would have listened to the lesson of the Dor Hamidbar who trained themselves to be accepting of all of the difficulties that came their way. Suppose she would have made up her mind ahead of time, \u201cWhen my husband comes in, no matter what he\u2019ll say I won\u2019t let it bother me. I\u2019ll let it pass.\u201d In two minutes, the nisayon would have been over. Two minutes of keeping quiet, of savlonus, and she could have saved herself a ruined life.
\n\n\n\nThe Fugitive Son-in-Law
\n\n\n\nI can tell you stories and stories like that. Here\u2019s a man who lived in the same house as his father-in-law. His father-in-law was a talmid chacham and the wife would constantly say, \u201cMy father says it\u2019s not right. Don\u2019t do it that way.\u201d It was a burden on him. Constantly he\u2019s hearing about his father-in-law. It\u2019s coming out of his nose already.
\n\n\n\nYou shouldn\u2019t give your son-in-law any advice, by the way. Never give him any advice. Money you can give him and kovod too but don\u2019t give him any advice. But this father-in-law was generous with advice. And he lived upstairs too.
\n\n\n\nWell one day this man came home and he had trouble in the office where he worked \u2013 nobody has it so easy in this world. Money doesn\u2019t grow on trees. He came home tired and the wife said something to him; her father had criticized him for something. He flew off the handle and on that same day he took an airplane and traveled somewhere; he left the country. A meshugeneh! He lost his head!
\n\n\n\nHe was sorry immediately. As soon as he landed in the foreign country, he called up long distance and told his wife where he is. She said, \u201cStay there.\u201d And there was a divorce. Oy! He had to leave home; he left his children. He died young as a result. A beautiful young man. A tragedy. If only he would have come to this lecture and learned about savlonus.
\n\n\n\nHealthy, Wealthy and Popular
\n\n\n\nA husband and wife must have patience with each other. And even though sometimes one of them is very unreasonable, nevertheless don\u2019t yield to that impulse to lose patience. No matter what he\u2019ll say, or what she\u2019ll say, even if it\u2019s unfair criticism, be patient. Sometimes in two minutes it\u2019s all over. Sometimes not; sometimes it\u2019s forty years. But whatever it is, that\u2019s your opportunity for success in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you\u2019re going ask me how you can you work on savlanus, I could tell you to learn the seforim; to work on understanding what it means bitachon and what it means to learn from the models that Hashem put into the Torah. That would be a good piece of advice \u2013 to study the Chumash with that intention and to say, \u201cI\u2019m going to try as much as possible to be like my forefathers.\u201d Very good! Excellent! But still, I say that the first thing is to use the idea that it pays for you in this world. \u201cThe more I am patient, the better off I am. I\u2019ll be healthier and wealthier and happier.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll be more popular too. That\u2019s the plain truth; a man who is able to control himself gets more popularity. A patient person will be well-liked. Your neighbors will like you. Your employer will like you. Your family will like you better too. You know if a wife is angry at her husband, she loses out. She’ll gain more with her husband if she’s patient. A husband loses out with his wife. If he shows anger to her, he loses out. By being patient they gain popularity with each other.
\n\n\n\nSelfish Incentives
\n\n\n\nNow when you hear that, you say, \u201cAre we doing it for that purpose? Is that avodas Hashem if you\u2019re doing it for health, for popularity? For business?”
\n\n\n\nYes, that\u2019s why we\u2019re doing it! It\u2019s selfish? It’s very good to be selfish. It’s common sense; that\u2019s how to climb the ladder to Hashem. You have to think, \u201cI\u2019m going to work on achieving patience for my own benefit.\u201d It’s not mussar. It’s not yiras shomayim. It’s the pashut idea that it\u2019s good for me in this world.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu Himself tells us the physical advantages of good middos. Constantly he warns against wrong middos and the physical results. For instance, \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05e7\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 envy kills the fool (Iyov 5:2). Why should He say anything about envy not being good for your health? Who cares about health right now? We\u2019re tzaddikim here; we\u2019re talking Torah and middos! An oived Hashem should do it only l’shem Shamayim!
\n\n\n\nNo. He tells us the physical benefit of avoiding envy. Jealousy could kill you! So we begin to see something of a chiddush. When a person undertakes to practice good qualities of character and he\u2019s motivated at first by the desire to benefit himself, Hashem smiles upon him and favors him. Yes, Hashem wants you to use that incentive.
\n\n\n\nInsurance with Benefits
\n\n\n\nAnd so before we proceed to the next rung on the ladder of savlonus we\u2019re going to sum up what we said till now: Patience is for our benefit in Olam Hazeh; for our health, for our success in business, for everything. You must have patience for success in Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nThe model of the Wilderness generation was taught to us for our benefit because when you look around you\u2019ll see that so many of the tragedies of life could have been averted if people would have learned the daas Torah of patience! Savlonus is one of the great forms of insurance for happiness in Olam Hazeh. You’re paid off in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd Hakodosh Boruch Hu expects from us that we should look for that benefit! It\u2019s not considered a decrease in avodas Hashem when one uses this world to learn the greatness of the middah of patience. And therefore, the first step to become a savlon, a patient person, is to understand that the middah of patience is excellent for Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nKeep Climbing
\n\n\n\nNow, everything we spoke about up till now is very good, it\u2019s excellent. The middah of savlonus is excellent for Olam Hazeh and if we stopped the lecture right now your trip here tonight would have been worth it. You\u2019d thank me for the good advice and we could all go home now.
\n\n\n\nBut if that\u2019s all it was, it wouldn’t be worthy of those words of encomium, of great praise, from the Mouth of Hashem at the end of the forty years: \u201cYou are worthy of having Me dwell in your midst.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to climb the ladder a little higher and understand what it really means to be a soveil; how important it really is to become a person who has acquired this middah of savlonus.
\n\n\n\nBecoming An Angel
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll quote from the Chovos Halevovos Sha’ar Avodas Elokim perek tes. I’ll say it in English. \u201cThe Creator created you from nothing and He wishes to elevate your status in this world to the status of His very best; to be like His angels.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention to this important principle. Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought you into this world to become better and better and to become the best that we can become. That\u2019s it. And so if someone will ever ask you why you’re in this world, now you know what to say; \u201cI\u2019m here to become as good as I can be.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd included in that, says the Chovos Halevavos, is \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 toelevate man until he reaches the degree, as much as possible, of the angels who can tolerate everything.
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll ask me, \u201cWhat\u2019s the big deal? Angels have no free will anyhow.\u201d Now whether angels have free will or not is a question I won’t discuss right now but angels certainly are suffering for the sake of Hashem. Because angels, you have to know, are intelligent and intelligence reacts to certain situations. And yet, he fulfills his purpose no matter what difficulties he must undergo. He fulfills his purpose without any reaction to difficulties at all.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Hashem wants to raise us up to in this world; that we should train ourselves to be sovlim, people who can bear and tolerate things just like the malachim. And so, it\u2019s an ideal of ours; a tremendous avodah! An important part of our perfection in this world is to become great like the malachim hasovlim in their extraordinary patience. You have to learn to take it; like they say, \u201cGrin and bear it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nGetting Greased
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s easier said than done because in a very big way savlonus means one thing. Savlonus means emunah that it all comes from Hashem. When he’s impatient, when he complains, he thinks it happened from some other reason, not from Hashem. But when a person understands that it all comes from Hashem, that’s the smooth lining that makes patience possible.
\n\n\n\nYou know you have a slippery lining inside of your jacket sleeves so that when you put your hand in, it shouldn\u2019t get snagged on the rough wool. You put your hand in and your hand slips down into the sleeve like grease. Well, the lining of savlonus is emunah and bitachon. If you forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu so you\u2019ll get snagged on this or that. But if you\u2019re aware of your purpose here, \u201cto raise yourself up to the level of the malachim hasovlim,\u201d so you\u2019re ready to face the world. It\u2019ll be much smoother as Hashem puts you through the wringer of life making you into an angel.
\n\n\n\nAnd now you know why those tough customers came along in your life. That\u2019s why the tough situations come along \u2013 in order to give you the opportunity to become a savlon.
\n\n\n\nGetting Smoothed
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to be married. A bachelor even though he might be a fine young man, but he is a rough diamond. A rough diamond has to be rubbed until it is polished. When he gets married, he has to rub against his wife and children in the house. He has to rub against his neighbors. He has to make a living and deal with a boss. He\u2019s getting polished every day.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like stones in a stream of water; when the water flows over the stones it rubs against them and they all become smooth. That\u2019s why all the stones in the bed of the stream are round and smooth; there are no sharp points left because the constant friction makes them nice and round. By being together with people and getting along with them successfully you become nice and round, no more sharpness left on you.
\n\n\n\nEvery person has within him greatness. Hakodosh Boruch Hu breathed into man at the beginning of creation. Vayipach b\u2019apo nishmas chaim \u2013 He breathed greatness into every person. But that greatness is concealed in its potential.
\n\n\n\nThe question is how do you bring it forth? How do you bring forth that potentiality? How do you turn it into actuality? A person takes the treasures of his neshamah and makes it come to the surface by means of living, by struggling and practicing.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re Testing My Patience!
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why to a very big extent our patience is always being tested. You won\u2019t escape it because it\u2019s Hashem\u2019s plan \u2013 one way or another He\u2019ll test your patience. And if you\u2019re able to tolerate things, if you\u2019re soveil, you should know that there\u2019s a change taking place gradually in you. You\u2019re becoming greater and greater. You\u2019re raising yourself to the level of the malachim hasovlim.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how to make use of your life. Sometimes we\u2019re persecuted by goyim. People call me on the phone and they tell me that they\u2019re suffering from their neighbors. He blocks my driveway. His children walk on my lawn. For some people the hot weather tests their patience. For others it\u2019s the cold of winter; the rain, the snow. Then there comes certain illnesses in life and old age. Often, a person has to tolerate things that are not changeable. Chalilah, if a person let\u2019s say is disabled it\u2019s not easy to tolerate that.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s always something. And it\u2019s always a test. Will you tolerate it? Will you be soveil and live with it even with all the difficulties that are involved? You\u2019re already a success!
\n\n\n\nThe Reject-Rabbi
\n\n\n\nSuppose you’re a rebbi, a mechanech. You have a class of boys. It requires a lot of patience, a lot of savlonus.
\n\n\n\nNow some rebbis are failing that test; they don’t act with patience. They might even call a boy a dummy. As a boy I remember I was smacked by my rebbi. I was smacked by my rebbi and I left the cheder. He thought I was the worst one. I went to another cheder. I was smacked up there too. I left. And somebody said, \u201cHe\u2019s rejecting all the chadarim. Wherever he goes, he’s rejected.\u201d They didn\u2019t have patience for me.
\n\n\n\nSo it’s your job as a rebbi to practice patience. But not only for the talmidim; that also is important by the way because very often a patient rebbi will bring out the best in his talmidim. But for the rebbi too; he brings about the best in himself when he trains himself in patience.
\n\n\n\nWhen a person lives according to a program of being soveil all the time, he becomes a patient person. And the more he does it, the higher and higher he is raised. Anybody who profits from his experiences and he learns to take it, he persists in a calm and accepting attitude to the bumps on the road of life, that person is acquiring the middah of savlonus and is accomplishing his purpose here.
\n\n\n\nGrateful for Difficulty
\n\n\n\nAnd so now he thanks Hakodosh Boruch Hu that He gave him such a small apartment. He says, \u201cThank You Hashem for a wife who gives me the same supper every night.\u201d \u201cThank You Hashem for this difficulty and that difficulty.\u201d Because he knows that living with patience is giving him the success he came into the world to achieve.
\n\n\n\nOtherwise, when he’ll come to the Next World, he’ll look back and regret. \u201cAh! What a glorious opportunity it was and I didn’t utilize it properly. This mean neighbor who was making trouble for me. His children used to come out and make trouble for me. He was a frum Jew but he was a very unpleasant neighbor. I didn’t understand what a great gift it was. Oh, I’m so sorry. If I could come back again to this world for a little while just for one day I’d know how to handle him. I’d become wealthy. I’d become great because of him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nStory of Gam-Zu
\n\n\n\nAnd if you\u2019re lucky Hashem will keep polishing you until the end. You know there was man named Nachum Ish Gamzu. It means Nachum of Gamzu. He came from a town called Gimsu. But he was a man who didn\u2019t live just by accident. He said, \u201cI am going to call it Gamzu because whatever happens to me I am going to say gam zu l’tovah; whatever happens is good because it\u2019s testing my patience and I\u2019m polishing myself.\u201d He was born in Gimsubut he said \u2018Gimsu\u2019means \u2018gam zu\u2019 and gam zu l’tovoh
\n\n\n\nNow, the Gemara describes the end of Nachum Ish Gamzu\u2019slife. He was very ill in his old age. His last days he was suffering and still with everything he continued to say about everything \u201cGam zu l’tovoh.\u201d Down to his last day.
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is, he was such a good man, he had such emunah, he had learned to recognize Hakadosh Boruch Hu in everything, so wasn\u2019t it enough? He has to be polished down to the last minute of his life? The answer is yes. Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu saw that he was benefitting by it and if that is the case let’s bring forth from this man all that he possesses.
\n\n\n\nSo even when he was lying ill on his deathbed, in his pain, in his last agonies, he was still saying, \u201cAyy! Gam zu l’tovoh.\u201d Because he\u2019s accepting it and that tolerance and patience means even more polishing, more perfection. Gam zu l’tovoh \u2013 it\u2019s good for me; it\u2019s a very good thing.
\n\n\n\nThe Happy Ending
\n\n\n\nHere is a man lying on his bed he knows he doesn\u2019t have much time left. He\u2019s 119 years old let\u2019s say and he knows that soon he will die. But he is very uncomfortable; he is in great pain and he is rolling on his bed. In fact, they put him in a special bed with walls on both sides so he shouldn\u2019t fall off and he is rolling around back and forth in his agony.
\n\n\n\nBut this man once learned when he was young that being a soveil means you\u2019re polishing your neshama. And so he says, \u201cI am going to utilize my last minutes. In the midst of my tzoros, I am not going to concentrate on my pain, I am going to say, Hashem I know it is for my benefit. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is bringing forth from me now in my last minutes, whatever I can bring forth. No matter what, I accept it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat is the greatness of a man who knows how to utilize his life properly. It\u2019s the success of a person who knows that the Generation of the Wilderness found favor in the Eyes of Hashem because they lived lives of patience; of accepting whatever Hashem put to them. And he understands that it\u2019s a model for his life too. When we emulate the Dor Hamidbar we are acquiring a a great otzar of shleimus, a treasury of perfection that we\u2019ll take with us forever and ever in Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAccepting Challenges and Learning Patience
\n\n\n\nThe forty years of tribulation in the Wilderness were very difficult indeed, but they brought out the best in us. The Chovos Halevovos teaches that our purpose in life is to become elevated to the degree of the angels who tolerate whatever they are tasked with by Hashem. This week I will work on internalizing the lesson that everything is from Hashem and it\u2019s all for the best. I will bli neder say \u201cThis too is for the good\u201d or \u201cAll that Hashem does is for the good\u201d three times every day this week in my effort to grow and become a better servant of Hashem.
\nThe post Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T03:46:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-06-19T14:42:07+00:00" }, { "id": 34495, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-matos-masei-5-learning-tolerance/", "title": "Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance", "content_html": "TA-Matos-Masei-5782The post Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T03:44:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-24T03:44:23+00:00" }, { "id": 34487, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-matos-masei-5-learning-tolerance/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance", "content_html": "TA-Matos-Masei-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Matos-Masei 5 – Learning Tolerance appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-24T03:43:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-24T03:43:52+00:00" }, { "id": 7828, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-shabbos-sleep/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos Sleep", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should one sleep on Shabbos afternoon?
Absolutely. Absolutely! However, that doesn\u2019t mean that you should climb into your pajamas and remain there all Shabbos. Because Shabbos is a wonderful opportunity for much better things than sleep. There\u2019s so much thinking you have to do; about briyas ha\u2019olam yeish mei\u2019ayin, about olam chesed yibaneh, about beini u\u2019vein bnei Yisroel. There\u2019s so much to accomplish on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nBut you must understand that sleep is extremely important for our health. It\u2019s extremely important for our mental health and it\u2019s being neglected by very many people. So Shabbos is a good opportunity to catch up on your sleep. Because of Shabbos, many people are able to survive the week \u2013 otherwise, they would collapse for lack of sleep. So certainly you should utilize Shabbos for sleep. But of course, don\u2019t overdo it.
\n\n\n\nAnd by the way, since you mentioned the subject, I will tell you that you must be careful to go to sleep every night on time. And make sure that you get enough sleep because due to lack of sleep many, many people have ruined their lives.
TAPE # E-190 (June 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos Sleep appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-22T19:05:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-22T19:05:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34482, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-siesta-de-shabat/", "title": "La siesta de Shabat ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSe debe dormir en la tarde de Shabat?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Claro que si! Sin embargo, eso no significa que debas ponerte el pijama y dormir todo el Shabat. Porque Shabat es una maravillosa oportunidad para cosas mucho mejores que dormir. Hay mucho sobre lo qu\u00e9 pensar; sobre beriat haolam iesh meain, sobre olam j\u00e9sed iban\u00e9, sobre ben\u00ed ub\u00e9n Ben\u00e9 Israel. Hay tantas cosas para meditar y adquirir en Shabat.
\n\n\n\nPero debes entender que el sue\u00f1o es sumamente importante para nuestra salud. Es extremadamente importante para nuestra salud mental y muchas personas lo est\u00e1n descuidando. As\u00ed que Shabat es una buena oportunidad para recuperar el sue\u00f1o. Gracias al Shabat, muchas personas pueden sobrevivir durante la semana; de lo contrario, colapsar\u00edan por falta de sue\u00f1o. As\u00ed que ciertamente deber\u00edas utilizar Shabat para dormir. Pero por supuesto, no te excedas.
\n\n\n\nY por cierto, ya que mencionaste el tema, te dir\u00e9 que debes tener cuidado de irte a dormir todas las noches a tiempo. Y aseg\u00farate de dormir lo suficiente, porque debido a la falta de sue\u00f1o muchas personas han arruinado sus vidas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-190 (junio de 1999)
\nThe post La siesta de Shabat appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-22T14:17:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-22T14:17:29+00:00" }, { "id": 34476, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%98%d7%a2-%d7%a1%d7%97%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%94-%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a9/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d7: \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e2\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e1\u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4, \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05dc”\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-228The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d7: \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e2\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e1\u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4, \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4, \u05e0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05dc”\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-22T00:59:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-22T00:59:18+00:00" }, { "id": 34467, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-carrera-de-orante/", "title": "La carrera de orante", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo que en nuestro tiempo, especialmente en Estados Unidos, estamos tan ocupados trabajando y haciendo otras cosas que no dedicamos suficiente tiempo al rezo de la ma\u00f1ana. \u00bfEs mejor as\u00ed, me refiero a rezar sin mucha concentraci\u00f3n, o es mejor no rezar en absoluto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo; todos deber\u00edan continuar rezando de esa manera. S\u00f3lo que les recomiendo que por lo menos para la primera beraj\u00e1 pongan toda la concentraci\u00f3n que puedan. En la primera beraj\u00e1, la bendici\u00f3n que concluye con las palabras \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd, \u00a1debes ser moser n\u00e9fesh! \u00a1Pon todos tus kojot en eso! Porque esa beraj\u00e1 meakev seg\u00fan el d\u00edn y, por lo tanto, es muy importante al menos concentrarse en la primera beraj\u00e1 de la shemon\u00e1 esr\u00e9. Con respecto al resto, si una persona es ambiciosa puede emprender un programa; todos los d\u00edas deber\u00eda tratar de hacer un poco m\u00e1s y para cuando tenga sesenta o setenta a\u00f1os tal vez est\u00e9 entrenado para mantener su mente concentrada en el rezo.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Es una gran pena! Porque cuando rezamos sin pensar, una gran parte de nuestra vida se desperdicia. Tendr\u00edamos que aprender antes que nada lo que significa [la Tefil\u00e1]. Tienes que aprender lo que significan las palabras. Hay cosas profundas ah\u00ed y merecen ser estudiadas. Por cierto, me gustar\u00eda hablar de eso todo el tiempo, pero s\u00e9 que ser\u00eda aburrido para ti. Sobre tefil\u00e1, me gustar\u00eda hablar durante todo un a\u00f1o. \u00a1Un a\u00f1o entero s\u00f3lo sobre el tema de la Tefil\u00e1! Podr\u00edamos tomar cada palabra y analizarla; podr\u00edamos estudiarlo profundamente y valdr\u00eda la pena cada minuto. Lo tengo anotado en casa; es una de mis especialidades.
\n\n\n\nPero sea lo que sea, es una carrera que est\u00e1 disponible para todos los jud\u00edos y es una tragedia que se desperdicien vidas. Lo he dicho antes, que es un c\u00e1ncer, una enfermedad lo que estamos haciendo con nuestro d\u00e1venen (Tefil\u00e1) hoy en d\u00eda. La verdad es que es una de las fallas m\u00e1s grandes en la vida jud\u00eda de hoy. Y por lo tanto, lograr que la Tefil\u00e1 vuelva a su lugar apropiado debe ser una de nuestras m\u00e1s altas aspiraciones.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #R-28 (febrero de 1973)
\nThe post La carrera de orante appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-21T15:44:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-21T15:44:35+00:00" }, { "id": 21474, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-restoring-tefillah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Restoring Tefillah", "content_html": "\nQ:
The rabbi said that in our time, especially in America, we\u2019re so busy with work and other things that we don\u2019t spend enough time in the morning on prayers. Is it better this way \u2013 I mean praying without much concentration \u2013 or are we better off just not praying at all?
A:
No; everybody should continue to pray that way. Only that I recommend that at least for the first bracha they should put in all that they have. In the first bracha, the blessing which concludes with the words \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4\u05dd, you should be moser nefesh! Put all your kochos into it! Because that bracha is m\u2019akeiv according to the dinand therefore it\u2019s very important to at least concentrate by the first bracha in shemonah esrei. The rest, if a person is ambitious he can undertake a program; every day he should try to do a little more and by the time he\u2019s in his sixties or seventies maybe he\u2019ll be trained to keep his mind concentrated on the davening.
It\u2019s a great pity! Because when we pray without any thought a big part of our lives is wasted. If we would learn first of all what it means \u2013 you have to learn what the words mean. There are deep things there and they deserve to be studied. By the way, I would like to talk about this all the time but I know it would be boring for you. On tefillah, I would like to talk for a whole year. An entire year only on the subject of prayer! We could take every word and analyze it; we could study it deeply and it would be worth every minute. I have it written down at home; it\u2019s one of my specialties.
But whatever it is, it\u2019s a career that is available for every Jew and it\u2019s a tragedy that lives are being wasted. I\u2019ve said it before that it\u2019s a cancer, this sickness of what we are doing with our davening today. The truth is that it\u2019s one of the greatest failings in Jewish life today. And therefore, to restore tefillah to its proper place should be one of our highest aspirations.
TAPE # R-28 (February 1973)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Restoring Tefillah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-21T04:45:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-21T19:42:17+00:00" }, { "id": 34457, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-fighting-those-who-society-wont-fight/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Fighting Those Who Society Won\u2019t Fight", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why do you criticize the homosexuals for trying to attract little yeshivah boys any more than you would criticize heterosexuals for attracting little yeshivah girls? Aren’t there perverts in both camps?
A:
\n\n\n\nQuestion; why don’t we criticize heterosexual rapists and so on? And the answer is that society itself is criticizing them. They’re being harassed by the laws and they cannot preach. They don’t preach that they want to seduce little girls without their parent\u2019s consent. Nobody is even thinking of passing such laws. But you know every year there’s a gay parade. A gay parade. And Reb Koch alav hashnubbel is always there leading that parade. Now in that parade there is a section called NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association; it\u2019s a big section of the parade. A man with a little boy on his arm. A man with a little boy on his arm! A whole crowd! So they’re saying openly, \u201cThat’s our goal.\u201d And they say, \u201cWe want to pass a law that any child over five does not need his parent’s consent in order to fall in love with us.\u201d That’s an open statement of that group.
\n\n\n\nNow Mr. Koch, such a nice gentleman like you who\u2019s you’re fighting for gay rights but at least speak up against NAMBLA; at least speak up against the man-boys! But not one word was ever said by Koch against them. Every year they’re accepted as part of the parade. Which means, that\u2019s part of the program!
\n\n\n\nSo therefore these people are a threat.\u00a0 They’re doing it already.\u00a0 They’re doing it already! The 150,000 children that were abducted this year, where do you think a lot of them went?\u00a0 They didn’t go to convents and monasteries.\u00a0 It\u2019s well known that a lot of them were abducted by the gays. And therefore they are a real and present danger.\u00a0 Whereas rapists, certainly they’re prosecuted.\u00a0 Certainly the general public is against them.\u00a0 Nobody is passing any rapist-rights laws.\u00a0 But NAMBLA wants to seduce boys without their parents\u2019\u00a0consent and therefore they are a very big danger to us and we have to fight tooth and nail against them.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 445 (February 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Fighting Those Who Society Won\u2019t Fight appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-20T17:23:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-20T17:23:07+00:00" }, { "id": 34448, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/luchando-contra-aquellos-que-la-sociedad-no-lucha/", "title": "Luchando contra aquellos que la sociedad no lucha ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 usted critica a los homosexuales por tratar de atraer a los chicos peque\u00f1os de la ieshiv\u00e1 m\u00e1s de lo que critica a los heterosexuales por atraer a las chicas peque\u00f1as de la ieshiv\u00e1? \u00bfNo hay pervertidos en ambos grupos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPregunta: \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no criticamos a los violadores heterosexuales y dem\u00e1s? Y la respuesta es que la propia sociedad los critica. Est\u00e1n siendo acosados \u200b\u200bpor las leyes y no pueden predicar. No pueden predicar que quieren seducir a ni\u00f1as peque\u00f1as sin el consentimiento de sus padres. Nadie est\u00e1 siquiera pensando en aprobar tales leyes. Pero sabes que todos los a\u00f1os hay un desfile gay. Y el Sr. Koch siempre est\u00e1 all\u00ed liderando ese desfile. Ahora bien, en ese desfile hay una secci\u00f3n llamada NAMBLA, la Asociaci\u00f3n Norteamericana de Amor entre Hombres y Ni\u00f1os; es una gran parte del desfile. Un hombre con un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o en su brazo. \u00a1Y toda una multitud [de gente hay en ese desfile]! Y dicen abiertamente: “Este es nuestro objetivo”. Y dicen: \u201cQueremos aprobar una ley para que cualquier ni\u00f1o mayor de cinco a\u00f1os no necesite el consentimiento de sus padres para enamorarse de nosotros\u201d. Esa es la declaraci\u00f3n abierta de ese grupo.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, Sr. Koch, un caballero tan amable como usted que est\u00e1 luchando por los derechos de los homosexuales, al menos hable en contra de NAMBLA; \u00a1Al menos hable en contra de la “Asociaci\u00f3n de Hombres y Ni\u00f1os”! Pero Koch nunca dice una s\u00f3la palabra contra ellos. Todos los a\u00f1os son aceptados como parte del desfile. Lo que significa que eso es parte del programa.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, estas personas son una amenaza. Ya lo est\u00e1n haciendo. Los 150.000 ni\u00f1os que fueron secuestrados este a\u00f1o, \u00bfad\u00f3nde crees que fueron a parar muchos de ellos? No se fueron a conventos y monasterios. Es bien sabido que muchos de ellos fueron secuestrados por los gays. Y por lo tanto son un peligro real y presente. Mientras que los violadores, ciertamente son perseguidos. Ciertamente, el p\u00fablico en general est\u00e1 en contra de ellos. Nadie est\u00e1 aprobando ninguna ley de derechos del violador. Pero NAMBLA quiere seducir a los ni\u00f1os sin el consentimiento de sus padres y, por lo tanto, son un peligro muy grande para nosotros y tenemos que luchar con u\u00f1as y dientes contra ellos.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #445 (febrero de 1983)
\nThe post Luchando contra aquellos que la sociedad no lucha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-20T14:46:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-20T14:46:34+00:00" }, { "id": 34446, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-poder-de-rusia/", "title": "El poder de Rusia", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi es cierto lo que usted dijo que los malvados son castigados en este mundo, entonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo es que Rusia est\u00e1 ganando poder?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es – por m\u00e1s sorprendente que parezca – que Rusia se ha convertido en uno de los mejores lugares del mundo para vivir. Es sorprendente para nosotros, pero muchas personas en otros pa\u00edses est\u00e1n pensando en mudarse a Rusia. Porque en Rusia en todas las ciudades puedes salir a la calle a medianoche.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, el hecho de que all\u00e1 haya represi\u00f3n y no permitan huelgas y muchas otras cosas que a uno no le gustan, no quiere decir necesariamente que sean malos. No olvides que castigar a los criminales es una de las funciones m\u00e1s importantes de una sociedad decente y cuando eso se descuida, la sociedad ha incurrido en una gran transgresi\u00f3n. En Rusia todav\u00eda castigan a los criminales. En Estados Unidos, por otro lado, no quiero decirlo, pero jas veshalom, tenemos una gran culpa por la maldad que se permite.
\n\n\n\nCuando una sociedad permite que los degenerados desfilen en p\u00fablico, pierde sus derechos. Y en Rusia no hay muestras de inmoralidad como las que hay en Estados Unidos. Y por lo tanto hay muchas virtudes en una sociedad que mantiene actitudes anticuadas.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, dir\u00e1s que al menos Estados Unidos no es ateo como lo es Rusia. Pero no olvides que hay muchos ateos en este pa\u00eds y ellos son los que hoy en d\u00eda dirigen el sistema de escuelas p\u00fablicas. Todo el sistema educativo est\u00e1 en manos de ateos aqu\u00ed. Entonces, \u00bfen qu\u00e9 son mejores que Rusia? S\u00f3lo que los ateos estadounidenses est\u00e1n ense\u00f1ando a los ni\u00f1os a ignorar a sus padres, a hacer lo que quieran, a ser homosexuales y revolucionarios, y a no trabajar. Mientras que en Rusia se les ense\u00f1a a trabajar. En Rusia el trabajo es una gran virtud. Cuando los muchachos rusos vienen aqu\u00ed, pueden ignorar sobre el \u00eddishkait, pero no son salvajes; no son corruptos. Son ciudadanos decentes. Todo lo que necesitan es \u00eddishkait, pero como personas son deseables. Las personas deseables vienen de Rusia. Tienes que saber que una persona com\u00fan rusa, incluso un gentil o un jud\u00edo, lehavdil, son buenas personas porque no se les permite comportarse salvajemente.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto que preferimos la libertad, pero \u00bfqui\u00e9n dice que la libertad ha producido los mejores resultados? Ha producido un San Francisco que es un refugio para roedores, para reptiles. Entonces, \u00bfqu\u00e9 tiene de bueno Estados Unidos? Toda la libertad en Estados Unidos est\u00e1 siendo mal utilizada.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, no es un gran kushi\u00e1 por qu\u00e9 Rusia est\u00e1 ganando hoy.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #314 (junio de 1980)
\nThe post El poder de Rusia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-20T04:08:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-20T04:08:16+00:00" }, { "id": 34717, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-matot-masse/", "title": "Paracha Matot Mass\u00e9", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Matot-Masse-5782The post Paracha Matot Mass\u00e9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-20T03:47:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:48:05+00:00" }, { "id": 34442, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-russia-trumps-america/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Russia Trumps\u00a0America", "content_html": "\nQ:
If it\u2019s true what you said that the wicked are naturally punished in this world, so how is it that Russia is gaining power?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that, surprising as it may seem, Russia has become one of the best places in the world to live. It\u2019s surprising to us but a lot of people in other countries are thinking of moving to Russia. Because in Russia in all the cities you can walk out on the street at midnight.
\n\n\n\nNow the fact that they have repressions there and they don’t permit strikes and many other things that you don\u2019t like, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re bad. Don’t forget that the punishment of criminals is one of the biggest functions of a decent society and when this is neglected then that society has incurred a great penalty for itself. In Russia they still punish criminals. America on the other hand is under great, I don’t want to say it but chas veshalom we are under great blame for the wickedness that it permits.
\n\n\n\nWhen a society permits degenerates to parade in public it loses its rights. And in Russia you don’t have such displays of immorality like you have in America. And therefore there are many positive virtues in a society that maintains old-fashioned attitudes.
\n\n\n\nNow you\u2019ll say that at least America is not atheistic like Russia is. But don’t forget there are plenty of atheists in this country and they’re the ones who are today running the public school system. The whole educational system is in the hands of atheists here. So what are they better than Russia? Only that these American atheists are teaching the children to disregard their parents, to do whatever they want, to be homosexuals and revolutionaries, and not to work. Whereas in Russia they’re taught to work. In Russia work is a big virtue. When Russian boys come here, they may be ignorant of Yiddishkeit, but they’re not wild; they’re not corrupt. They’re decent citizens. All they need is Yiddishkeit but as people they’re to be desired. Desirable people come from Russia. You have to know that a Russian ordinary person, even a gentile and lehavdil surely the Jew, are fine people because they’re not allowed to run wild.
Of course we prefer liberty but who says that liberty has produced the best results? It has produced a San Francisco which is a haven for rodents, for reptiles. So what’s so good about America? All the liberty in America is being misused.
So therefore it’s not a big kasha why Russia is gaining the upper hand today.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 314 (June 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Russia Trumps\u00a0America appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-19T17:09:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-19T17:09:44+00:00" }, { "id": 34436, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-postponing-marriage/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Postponing Marriage", "content_html": "\nQ:
If marriage is such an important commandment, how is it that in these three weeks the rabbanim prevent people from getting married?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is im eshkachech Yerushalayim tishkach yemini, if I shall forget Yerushalayim let my right hand forget its cunning, im lo a’aleh es Yerushalayim al rosh simchasi, my greatest happiness is nothing compared to my hope for Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore for three weeks we stop thinking about marriage and we think about Yerushalayim. It’s so important for us to spend time thinking about Yerushalayim. Not today\u2019s Yerushalayim \u2013 about the ancient Yerushalayim we once had. Im lo a’aleh es Yerushalayim al rosh simchasi! To put those thoughts above our personal happiness! It’s one of the perfections we have to gain, to think of the days of old. Zechor yemos olam, remember the days of old, the greatness we once possessed.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s very important for Jews to know their history. We have a very, very wealthy history. We have to look back and enjoy the happiness of those generations and the memories that we have with us still today; it\u2019s extremely important to study our past. And therefore, because our past is so important, it’s worth postponing a wedding for three weeks to achieve that perfection of remembering the days of old and what our nation once possessed.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 792 (July 1990)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Postponing Marriage appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-18T17:53:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-18T17:53:32+00:00" }, { "id": 34431, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/posponer-casamientos/", "title": "Posponer casamientos ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi casarse es un mandamiento tan importante, \u00bfc\u00f3mo es que en estas tres semanas los rabanim impiden que las personas se casen?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es im eshkajej Ierushal\u00e1im tishkaj iemin\u00ed, si me olvidare de Ierushal\u00e1im que mi mano derecha pierda su habilidad, im lo aal\u00e9 et Ierushal\u00e1im al rosh simjat\u00ed. Mi mayor felicidad no es nada comparada con mi esperanza en Ierushal\u00e1im.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, durante tres semanas dejamos de pensar en casamientos y pensamos en Ierushal\u00e1im. Es muy importante dedicar tiempo a pensar en Ierushal\u00e1im. No la Ierushal\u00e1im de hoy, sino la antigua Ierushal\u00e1im que alguna vez tuvimos. Im lo aal\u00e9 et Ierushal\u00e1im al rosh simjat\u00ed! \u00a1Debemos poner estos pensamientos por encima de nuestra felicidad personal! Es una de las perfecciones que tenemos que ganar, pensar en los d\u00edas de anta\u00f1o. Zejor iemot olam, recuerda los d\u00edas de anta\u00f1o, la grandeza que una vez tuvimos.
\n\n\n\nEs muy importante que los jud\u00edos conozcan su historia. Tenemos una historia muy rica. Tenemos que mirar hacia atr\u00e1s y disfrutar de la alegr\u00eda de aquellas generaciones y de los recuerdos que a\u00fan hoy nos acompa\u00f1an; es extremadamente importante estudiar nuestro pasado. Y por lo tanto, debido a que nuestro pasado es tan importante, vale la pena posponer una boda por tres semanas para lograr esa perfecci\u00f3n de recordar los d\u00edas de anta\u00f1o y lo que una vez posey\u00f3 nuestra naci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #792 (julio de 1990)
\nThe post Posponer casamientos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-18T12:59:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-18T12:59:26+00:00" }, { "id": 34420, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tikun-jatzot-version-resumida/", "title": "Tik\u00fan Jatzot – Versi\u00f3n resumida", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDebo decir Tik\u00fan Jatzot durante esta \u00e9poca del a\u00f1o?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nTik\u00fan Jatzot es algo bueno, pero no lo digas as\u00ed nom\u00e1s. Yo dir\u00eda que es una buena idea simplemente sentarse en el suelo antes de irse a dormir, incluso por un minuto. Hazlo despu\u00e9s de que tu esposa se haya dormido para que no piense que te has vuelto loco. Si\u00e9ntate en el suelo en Abelut para el Jurb\u00e1n Bet Hamikdash, como luto por la destrucci\u00f3n del Templo de Jerusalem por un minuto completo y luego ve a dormir.
\n\n\n\nUn minuto tambi\u00e9n es suficiente. No pienses que es una cosa peque\u00f1a. Cuando era ni\u00f1o, sol\u00eda decir Tik\u00fan Jatzot. Pero ahora, a\u00fan mejor, si\u00e9ntate en el suelo por un momento y piensa en lo que nos estamos perdiendo. Un minuto por el Jurb\u00e1n Bet Hamikdash y luego ve a dormir. Esta es una muy buena etz\u00e1 (consejo) que est\u00e1s escuchando ahora; es un consejo muy importante.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-239 (julio de 1999)
\nThe post Tik\u00fan Jatzot – Versi\u00f3n resumida appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T23:15:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T23:15:47+00:00" }, { "id": 34415, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%98%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T23:15:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T23:15:04+00:00" }, { "id": 6461, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-one-minute-mourning/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The One Minute Mourning", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should I be saying tikun chatzos during this time of the year – the Three Weeks?
A:
Tikun Chatzos is a good thing, but don’t just daven it up. I would say that it’s a good idea to just sit down on the floor before you go to sleep – even for a minute. Do it after your wife falls asleep – or after your husband falls asleep – so that they won’t think you’ve gone crazy. But sit on the floor in aveilus for the Churban Beis Ha’mikdash, mourning for the destruction, for a full minute and then go to sleep.
A minute is also good enough. Don’t think it’s a small thing. When I was a boy I used to say tikun chatzos. But now – even better – sit on the floor for a moment and think about what we’re missing. A minute for the Churban Beis Ha’mikdash and then go to sleep. This is a very good eitzah you’re hearing now – a very important piece of advice.
TAPE # E-239 (July 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The One Minute Mourning appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T06:29:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T17:25:32+00:00" }, { "id": 34395, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a4%d7%a0%d7%97%d7%a1-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e4\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:42:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T03:42:40+00:00" }, { "id": 34391, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-pinchas-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Pinchas", "content_html": "\n\u201cHurry, Tzvi!\u201d Avraham called to his brother. \u201cWe\u2019re going to miss the bus!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAvraham and Tzvi both started running towards the bus stop, along with other boys on their way to cheider. As they ran, Tzvi couldn\u2019t help notice the signs everywhere with pictures of Dudu Manor, who was running for Prime Minister in the upcoming Israeli elections.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow,\u201d Tzvi said as they made it onto the bus just in time. \u201cDudu Manor is advertising everywhere. He must really want to be Prime Minister.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d said Avraham. \u201cThey even tried to put a sign on the shul bulletin board yesterday, but the Rov told them there was no way he would allow it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzvi laughed. \u201cThey\u2019re really silly,\u201d he said. \u201cMy friend Yanky told me that he promised the chareidim that he\u2019ll make Pesach longer if we vote for him.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIs that really true?\u201d Avraham asked doubtfully.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Tzvi said. \u201cYanky said his younger brother heard it from his friend. But why does it say \u2018\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u2019 on all of his signs? It\u2019s everywhere. \u2018Chatzeir, chatzeir, chatzeir\u2026\u2019 What does it mean?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt stands for \u2018\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea – life, needs, and wants\u2019,\u201d Avraham answered. \u201cDudu is promising that if he becomes Prime Minister he will give everyone better lives, everything that they need, and anything that they want.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cLike anytime we want free ice cream we\u2019ll just get it?\u201d Tzvi asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSure, why not,\u201d answered Avraham. \u201cPoliticians will say anything just to get elected.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Raanan\u2019s class sat enjoying the ice cold slushy drinks their Rebbi had just given them as a prize for learning so well that week. When they all finished, Rav Raanan said \u201cI would like us to all make a Borei Nefashos together. But first, let\u2019s talk about the Bracha so we can understand it better. Does anyone know where Borei Nefashos is hinted to in the Torah?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys thought hard. After a minute, Elazar raised his hand. \u201cMaybe from the korbanos?\u201d he asked hesitantly. \u201cBecause nowadays tefillos take the place of korbanos?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cVery good!\u201d smiled Rav Raanan. \u201cBut there is one korbon in particular that is similar to the brocha of Borei Nefashos, and that is the Korbon Tomid, that was brought twice a day in the Beis Hamikdosh.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then a strong gust of wind outside interrupted Rav Raanan as a large piece of paper was blown into the window and onto his desk. Sure enough, it was none other than a \u201c\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u201d poster with Dudu Manor\u2019s picture on it.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOy vey,\u201d said Rav Raanan, shaking his head as he bent down to pick up the poster.
\n\n\n\n\u201cRebbi,\u201d said Tzvi. \u201cHow can someone really think that everyone believes that he will give us life, needs, and wants? Isn\u2019t \u2018\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u2019 the silliest thing ever?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d Rav Raanan answered. \u201cI can\u2019t speak for the way a politician\u2019s mind works. But I don\u2019t think \u2018\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u2019 is a silly idea.\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-2.png?resize=640%2C464&ssl=1\")
\u201cYou mean he is really going to do everything that he promises?\u201d asked Tzvi.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh no, no,\u201d laughed Rav Raanan. \u201cI can guarantee that he won\u2019t. But the concept of \u2018\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u2019 is actually exactly what I was starting to talk about.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou see, the Korbon Tomid was composed of three parts: an Olah, a Mincha, and Nesachim – wine that was poured on the Mizbeiach. And these three things represent what we thank Hashem for when we make a Borei Nefashos. 1) The Olah is life, because a sheep\u2019s life is sacrificed for the korbon; 2) the Mincha is flour and oil, which represents bread, which we need to live; and 3) the wine represents all of the extra wonderful, yummy, and delicious things that we want and Hashem gives us, even though we don\u2019t need them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzvi raised his hand. \u201cCan I try to answer what this has to do with Borei Nefashos?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAbsolutely!\u201d replied Rav Raanan with a smile.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe say \u2018\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u2019, which means that Hashem gives life. ‘\u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05df’ means the things that we are missing in order to live, the things that we need, like bread and water. And \u2018\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05e0\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u2019 means all of the extra things that we want, but Hashem gives to us just as a chessed.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow!\u201d Rav Raanan said. \u201cDid you figure that out on your own?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell no,\u201d Tzvi replied, grinning. \u201cWhat you said about the Korbon Tomid reminded me of this explanation of Borei Nefashos that my father told me last week.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell it\u2019s still a great answer!\u201d said Rav Raanan warmly. \u201cAnd now that we understand the true meaning of \u2018\u05d7\u05e6\u05e8\u2019 and who really provides our life, what we need, and what we want, let\u2019s all make a Borei Nefashos together with kavanah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: Our Lives, Needs and Wants are all provided for by Hashem. The Korbon Tomid and the Bracha of Borei Nefashos are a reminder to us to always remember to thank Hashem who provides everything for us; our lives, needs and wants!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Pinchas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:41:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T03:41:30+00:00" }, { "id": 34378, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-pinchas-5-greatness-of-jewish-women-2/", "title": "Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women", "content_html": "Hidden Tzadikim
\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to the Dor Hamidbar, the Generation of the Wilderness, we imagine that we are familiar with the names of all of the great people of our nation who lived then. Moshe Rabeinu, Aharon Hakohen, Miriam, Yehoshua and Kaleiv, the Nesi\u2019im and so on. The more someone studies the Chumash, the more he or she becomes acquainted with \u2013 and connected to \u2013 the great people of our past.
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that as much as we know, we understand that it’s not a complete list; we know that there are many names, names of great people, that were never recorded. After all, don\u2019t we know that there were shivim zkeinim, seventy elders, who led the nation? And we don\u2019t know their names. We knowEldad and Meidad, that\u2019s all. They\u2019re mentioned because they happen to be part of a story being told. But the others we don\u2019t know; the rest of the shivim zkeinim were great men; at that time they all became nevi\u2019im \u2013 temporarily at least \u2013 and still we don\u2019t know their names.
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is that besides for them we know that there were many tzaddikim, many very great talmidei chachamim. We\u2019re talking now about the greatest generation in our nation\u2019s history. They came out of Mitzrayim! They witnessed all of the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The Yam Suf split for them! They stood at Har Sinai and heard the voice of Hashem!
\n\n\n\nA Glorious Kollel Life
\n\n\n\nAnd what did they do for forty years in the Midbar? They sat all day long in the kollel and learned the Torah that Moshe taught them. They had the best Rosh Kollel! A Rosh Kollel who came down from Har Sinai to teach them; you couldn\u2019t ask for better than that. And so they sat in the kollel for forty years and they learned; and they were transformed because of that.
\n\n\n\nNot only the men – the families were transformed. Even today, a kollel home is a different home. When a girl marries a young man who sits in the kollel and learns, you have to know that home is not an ordinary home anymore. It\u2019s a kollel home; it\u2019s influenced by the spirit of Torah. And eventually, when he\u2019ll take over the earning of the livelihood, the family will be established on a kollel basis. The children will already be established as kollel children. The children have the attitude of kollel life and that\u2019ll remain all their lives. It\u2019s a beautiful beginning.
\n\n\n\nBut in the Midbar it was more than a beginning. It was forty years! And it wasn\u2019t one family or two or even a thousand. It was a kollel nation! And so once upon a time, it was \u201ckol haeidah kulam kedoshim.\u201d You can believe Korach; he wasn\u2019t saying a falsehood when he said that. Don\u2019t mind what your rebbe told you in cheder about the dor hamidbar. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. They were all tzadikim and talmidei chachomim.
\n\n\n\nHonorable Mention
\n\n\n\nAnd so you can be sure that in the Dor Hamidbar there were thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people worthy of being mentioned in the Torah. Only that it would be impossible to name everyone \u2013 hagbah would be very difficult on such a heavy scroll! And so, only the most conspicuous names are mentioned. But all the rest of the great men? No, their names are not mentioned at all.
\n\n\n\nAnd then suddenly we\u2019re hit between the eyes with a very big surprise. Five little girls, the daughters of Tzelafchad, are named openly in the Torah (Pinchas 27:1). \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d4, These are the names of Tzelafchad\u2019s daughters: Machlah, Noah, and Choglah, and Milkah, and Sirtzah.
\n\n\n\nA remarkable thing! Machlah, Noah, Choglah, Milkah, and Sirtzah. They had a certain question about the Torah laws of inheritance and so they came to Moshe and their names are recorded in black on white!
\n\n\n\nAnd it wasn\u2019t even necessary to mention their names. It could have said, \u201cThe daughters of Tzelafchad came and they put their case before Moshe.\u201d That would have been enough. But the Torah is not stingy here; it mentions their names! And later the Torah repeats their names again; Machlah, Sirtzah, Choglah, Milkah and Noah (Masei 36:11).
\n\n\n\nThe Funded Amendment
\n\n\n\nYou know what it means to have your name recorded forever in the Sefer Torah? Suppose you have a frum Jewish millionaire, he\u2019s a tzaddik too, and somebody would come to him today and say, \u201cI\u2019m coming to you as a messenger of all the roshei yeshiva and all of the gedolei Yisroel. They made me a shaliach to come to you and we\u2019re making an offer to you. If you\u2019ll give fifty million dollars for the cause of building yeshivas, we\u2019ll add your name to the Chumash; we\u2019re going to make an exception and we\u2019re going to add your name into the Sefer Torah that\u2019s read by Jews all over the world \u2013 a permanent addition.\u201d
\n\n\n\nImmediately from all sides other people will offer more! \u201cFifty million dollars?! I\u2019ll give a hundred million dollars!\u201d Absolutely. Some people would give their lives; they\u2019d mamesh kill themselves to have their name in the Torah. It\u2019s worth it! To have your name in the Chumash?! Hashem\u2019s sefer?! It\u2019s a kovod that has no equal!
\n\n\n\nAnd these five girls were zocheh to it; they merited to have their names mentioned openly in the Torah. It\u2019s a remarkable thing that five young girls should deserve such an honor.
\n\n\n\nNow, exactly what these girls did to deserve such an honor I cannot tell you. The truth is I\u2019m not so interested right now in what exactly it was but there’s no question they were tzidkaniyos. They were quite young, that\u2019s true, but they were brought up properly and they were righteous; they had yiras shomayim and good middos, no question about it. And so they deserved the honor, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nThe Unexpected Great Ones
\n\n\n\nBut we have to know that the Torah is demonstrating something here. Because so many great ones, their names aren\u2019t recorded. So many tzadikim, we hear nothing about them. And yet these five girls, their names are enumerated. We have to know that there\u2019s a reason for that.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu wants us to know that it\u2019s not like we think down here below that if we have a long beard, a black hat and a long kapote, that\u2019s the only one who\u2019s important. \u201cOh no!\u201d Hashem says. \u201cBlack hats and long coats are very good. Very good. But don\u2019t forget that even a little boy or a little girl is also important in My eyes. As much as the public tzadikim are in My thoughts always, I\u2019ve chosen to record the name of these five girls so that you should know who else is important in My history. If a little girl, a young woman, has good character and is devoted to Me she can be just as important as Moshe and Aharon; just as important as Yehoshua and Kaleiv.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOut of The Headlines
\n\n\n\nNow, we can say those words but actually it\u2019s a surprise to us. A frum little girl is so important? We appreciate her, but really\u2026 \u201cNo!\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu says. \u201cI\u2019m showing you now that these girls are important to Me. Even though down below, when you talk about important people, you never think of young girls as being in the headlines, but I chose to yes put them in the headlines in order that you should know that with Me, I don\u2019t care what people think. I have My own yardstick of measuring character and greatness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd very often it\u2019s the anonymous ones, the ones who stand in the background serving Hashem as best as they could, they\u2019re the ones who are written in the headlines of Hashem\u2019s eternal history book.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s an important rule in understanding the history of the Am Yisroel. Don\u2019t be fooled by the headlines! And I\u2019m not talking about the New York Times. That you know on your own. If your name is in the headlines of the New York Times, so we know right away that you\u2019re probably a nothing, a lowlife. But I\u2019m talking about the Jewish newspapers, the good headlines, the Torah headlines. Even there, many times great people remain in the background.
\n\n\n\nThe King and The Maid
\n\n\n\nYou remember when Dovid Hamelech spoke in tefilah to Hakodosh Boruch Hu he said the following. He said \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 \u201cPlease Hashem answer me, because I am your servant; I am your servant the son of your maidservant.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, we say that so frequently that it pays to know what Dovid was saying there. It seems like he\u2019s giving two reasons why his prayers should be accepted. First he says, \u201cBecause I am Your servant.\u201d It means \u201cI belong to You; everything that I have is for You and therefore hearken to my entreaty.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd then it looks like he\u2019s adding a second consideration: \u201cI am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant.\u201d It means \u201cI had a mother who served You too.\u201d So it seems like he\u2019s saying \u201cFor the sake of me and also for the sake of my great mother, You should hearken to my prayers.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not pshat. Dovid is not invoking his mother’s zechus \u2013 you see that he\u2019s invoking his own merit because in both cases he emphasizes ani avdecha, I am Your servant. That\u2019s the only consideration: \u201cI am Your servant.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the question is why mention \u201cMy mother, Your maidservant\u201d? Mentioning his mother is not necessary here at all.
\n\n\n\nMaking Of a Gadol
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that Dovid was saying like this: \u201cDo you know why I am Your servant? Because of Your maidservant who served You \u2013 that’s my mother. She did a good job on me. She\u2019s the one who made me into Your servant.\u201d And therefore when Dovid was entreating Hakodosh Boruch Hu, he said, \u201cPlease answer me because I am Your servant. And I\u2019m not just any servant of Hashem. I am an eved Hashem that was made with very much care by my mother.\u201d
\n\n\n\nLike when you\u2019re describing a tool, an exceptional tool. So you say \u201cLook at this remarkable tool!\u201d And then you repeat, \u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable tool that\u2019s been produced by this and this factory that puts out only the best.\u201d Ani avdecha \u2013 I\u2019m your servant, ben amasecha \u2013 my mother was an expert and she trained me; and that’s how I became Your servant.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean that we can overlook his father. Dovid had a great father too. Yishai, the father of Dovid, was one of the very great Torah teachers. The Gemara tells us that Yishai, when he came to preach Torah he was followed by six hundred thousand disciples. And after his lecture they wanted to follow him home too. So Yishai was a very great man. And yet here we see that Dovid is mentioning his mother; ani avdecha ben amasecha.
\n\n\n\nInvisible Superheroes
\n\n\n\nNow, Dovid\u2019s mother, most of us don\u2019t even know her name; she\u2019s hidden away in the background of our history. If not for Dovid mentioning her we would have forgotten about how important her role was in creating the Am Yisroel. We would have not realized the greatness of this woman whose service of Hashem included creating a Dovid. She trained him to serve Hashem. She trained him in character, in outlook on life. She trained him to be great.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very important lesson we\u2019re learning here. By \u2018chance\u2019 \u2013 because of a few words that Dovid said \u2013 we get a glimpse behind the curtain and we hear a hint about someone who would have remained more or less anonymous, someone whose name wasn\u2019t recorded. And that\u2019s intended as a model for us; just like the Bnos Tzelafchad were picked out of anonymity because they were important in the Eyes of Hashem, many others were never recorded. And it means that recorded or not, to Hakodosh Boruch Hu there are millions of heroes who are prominent in His eyes.
\n\n\n\nMother Yourself
\n\n\n\nAnd this will bring us now to our subject. For a long time already I wanted to speak here about how to be a successful Jewish mother. And who better to learn from than the mother of Dovid, the one whom Dovid credits for his success?
\n\n\n\nNow, before we begin it\u2019s important to make one thing clear: you should not feel that this is a lecture only for women. What you’re going to hear tonight is important for fathers and children too because to a very big extent we have to be our own mothers. Even if our mothers did a good job on us, we have to continue the work. And therefore whatever will be said tonight about the mother, we\u2019re talking to everyone.
\n\n\n\nBut the best thing of all is when you still have a mother, when you\u2019re still young and plastic. That\u2019s the best time to be shaped with the right attitudes. And so we understand that whatever a child is going to become, the best results come when his mother walks in the footsteps of the mother of one of the greatest men in our history, Dovid Hamelech.
\n\n\n\nChanneling Prophecy
\n\n\n\nYou know, we think that when the spirit of Hashem came upon Dovid he took out his harp and he started strumming the strings and the words came out by themselves; all those words of ahavas Hashem and of seeing the Glory of Hashem in nature that we find in Tehillim, we think they came pouring out on their own. No, no, it doesn\u2019t work that way. You must realize that a navi is first a man, a young man, with noble ideas; and as his thoughts begin to develop, subsequently the prophecy flows in according to the channels that he created. The inspiration flows from above along these emotional and intellectual channels that he created.
\n\n\n\nNow, who created those channels? So you\u2019ll say it was Dovid himself. Yes, to a great extent that\u2019s true. What about Yishai, his father? Absolutely; him too. But we have to remember Dovid\u2019s testimony. \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 I was made into your servant because of my mother. How did Dovid become Dovid? Because he was raised by his mother.
\n\n\n\nNow, Dovid\u2019s mother didn\u2019t have a yeshiva. She didn\u2019t have a shul. But she had a kitchen! And when little Dovid used to totter into the kitchen, she spoke to him and she inspired him. The kitchen! That was her yeshiva.
\n\n\n\nEverything Brings Happiness
\n\n\n\nWhat did Dovid\u2019s mother teach him? Well, we see the results in the Tehillim. She taught him to see the beauty and wisdom in Hashem\u2019s creations. Whenever she had a chance she was teaching what Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself said (Bereishis 1:31): \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 Hashem saw everything that He made, that it is very good. And that must be taught. Otherwise, because of habit people will overlook the tremendous benefits they are used to.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Dovid\u2019s mother listened to that possuk and she taught it to Dovid. She taught him to see the happiness and kindness in the world. When he woke up in the morning she taught him to admire the sun. \u201cWe have light, Dovid! And it\u2019ll keep us warm all day today!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd all day long too. \u201cDovid\u2019l, isn’t this world good? Don\u2019t these grapes taste good? Hashem did that for you! Look at the street. Aren’t these beautiful trees? Isn’t it a beautiful white cloud that you see up there. That\u2019s going to bring us the water we need.\u201d She taught him to admire the trees and the grass and the wind and the bees. And when she was putting little Dovid to bed she pointed at the moon. \u201cIsn’t that a beautiful moon, Dovid?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd what was the result? When he saw a moon for the next seventy years, he saw a beautiful moon. Dovid\u2019s heart sang within him when the wind was blowing through the trees. His heart sang with happiness when he saw the sunrise. When he was in the fields shepherding his father\u2019s sheep he sang about the grass and the sheep\u2019s wool.
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t Rain Fun?
\n\n\n\nDovid\u2019s mother trained him how to look at the world and see the beauty in it; she taught him to admire the world that Hashem created, and she thereby created the channels of optimism and happiness. She was digging the channels of emunah and bitachon and dveikus that filled Dovid\u2019s life and were later expressed in the Tehillim. That\u2019s why you have that beautiful song, borchi nafshi es Hashem. Of course it’s min hashomayim, it’s ruach hakodesh, but the channels were first dug when he was a little boy.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, a wise parent who wants to build a home digs channels in a child\u2019s mind and pours the foundation of the mind with happiness. A mother could instill happiness in the child when it rains; she says, \u201dLook Chana\u2019le! Look at the beautiful rain that\u2019s coming down. We\u2019ll have water to drink! And all of our food will be growing now. The peaches and grapes we\u2019ll eat in the summer are because of this rain. And you\u2019ll be able to take a bath on erev Shabbos because of the rain. Isn’t rain fun?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, Chana has no sense but she says, \u201cYes, it’s fun.\u201d After all, her mother said so. And if her mother will be persistent then all of Chana\u2019s life rain is going to be happy times.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Ruin Rain
\n\n\n\nAnd why not? What a blessing rain is! These raindrops eventually turn into food for us. Apples are mostly water. All of our food is from water. Even the meat we eat is from water. The rain becomes grass for animals to eat. And the animals take the grass and make it into meat and we\u2019ll eat the meat. So rain means that meat is coming down from the sky. Happy times!
\n\n\n\nBut if the mother looks out of the window and says, \u201cOh Chana\u2019le, I wanted to go out but it’s raining. Rain spoiled all our fun today,\u201d so Chana\u2019le whenever she’ll see a rain come down so without even thinking, even if she forgot what her mother said, her instincts will hark back to that pattern that was first molded on her young plastic neshamah and she knows that rain is a disappointment.
\n\n\n\nWhen a mother constantly repeats complaints against the weather in the morning \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s going to be nasty today\u201d \u2013 and then three times in the afternoon and three more times in the evening, so all day long the child hears preachings against Hashem and therefore all his life, this is the foundation for his thoughts. That becomes his hashkafah, his outlook on the world. And therefore whenever there will be a rainy day in his life, even if he’ll be seventy years old, it’s going to be an unhappy day because we think with the thoughts that are at the bottom foundation of our careers. And there will be so many rainy days in life. Isn’t it a pity for a child to be molded in the wrong way?
\n\n\n\nThe Soda Lesson
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, teach your children the truth. You have to teach yourself the truth too! But don\u2019t forget to repeat it in the house always. And first they\u2019ll hear it and they\u2019ll just listen mechanically, but don\u2019t think they\u2019re not hearing it. They\u2019re human beings and their minds are registering it. And someday, instead of being disappointed, they\u2019re going to be happy with rainy days and sunny days and windy days and cloudy days. Every day is tov me\u2019od.
\n\n\n\nImagine what you\u2019re doing to them! All their lives, they\u2019ll have a certain feeling of optimism when they see raindrops. You planted a seed in their mind and that seed will take root and produce a beautiful tree with fruits of happiness.
\n\n\n\nAnd the more you plant the better. Wise parents should exert effort on training a child to love a glass of plain water from the tap. Sometimes a child demonstrates an interest only in drinking soft drinks, things that are colored and filled with sugar, and so it takes training.
\n\n\n\nI had an older brother alav hashalom. I always remember him; he taught me a great lesson. When I was a little boy I went to the refrigerator to take some soda water. He said, \u201cWait! First drink a glass of water. Water is the best drink. Then you can get the soda.\u201d So I drank a glass of water \u2013 I didn\u2019t want the soda afterwards. I always remember that lesson. I learned that a glass of water is the best thing.
\n\n\n\nThe Joys of Drinking
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not even talking now about quenching your thirst. That\u2019s only the beginning. Water is going to put a sparkle in your eyes! And water causes your blood to be liquid and have a consistency that it could flow freely to bring nourishment to all parts of the body. It\u2019s water that is the most important element in the blood.
\n\n\n\nWater is everything for us! Boruch Hashem, for a glass of water. When your child is in the room hold the cup of New York City tap water in your hand and say, \u201cLechaim!\u201d This is the real lechaim, it brings life!And then make a loud bracha, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05e0\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9. It’s the same bracha you make on whiskey. But water is better than whiskey.
\n\n\n\nAnd when you teach a child the happiness of a glass of water, you\u2019re giving him a gift better than money! All his life, he\u2019s going to enjoy that experience. Whenever he\u2019s an old man and he\u2019ll take a cup full of water in his hand, he\u2019s going to think, \u201cMy mother taught me the happiness of enjoying life!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Joys of Siblings
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it’s so important to start him out in life that he should look through rosy glasses at everything, to see everything in a happy light. \u201c\u2018Chaim\u2019l, isn\u2019t it a good thing that you have a little sister?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow he didn’t think so until now, but since his mother suggested that to him, he’ll remember that. It’s good to have a sister. It’s good to have a brother. And the more you have, the more good it is.
\n\n\n\nBut if you don’t speak on the subject so he’ll follow his nature and everybody in the house is a competitor with him and you know what happens to competitors. Nobody likes them. So he grows up thinking that every brother and sister is an added disability. But if you talk to him, you suggest to him and say, \u201cLook, you have five brothers. Aren’t you lucky? You have another five sisters! Aren’t you lucky?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHome Sweet Home
\n\n\n\nYou teach them to enjoy their home. There are so many things in the house. Let them appreciate a sink. First we ourselves have to appreciate it. You walk over to a wall and you turn a handle and pure water comes flowing out as much as your heart desires. Where did you have such a thing in the olden days? If a mother won’t tell that to a child he’ll never appreciate it. You’ll have to wait until he comes to these lectures. But all that time in the interim was lost.
\n\n\n\nTeach the children to be happy with a piece of bread. Eat the bread and enjoy it. Chew the bread and thank Hashem. Ah, ah! We thank you, Hashem \u2013 you made such a good world! It\u2019s so important to bring that happiness into the heart of Jewish children.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s only the beginning of the list of building the home. You know, if you ever watched a house being built, you see how they put in the supporting girders and the beams and then there are pipes and wires and walls; gradually it takes the shape of the house. You see that there are thousands of details that were needed in order to make the finished house. Same thing, there are thousands of details of happiness when it comes to building a home. And that\u2019s one of the great functions of a wise mother; to make a happy home, a home where the simple gifts of Hashem are extolled and accentuated always.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Worry!
\n\n\n\nNow a home like that, where Hashem is appreciated, needs a foundation of optimism to support it; you can\u2019t build a happy home on the foundation of worry and anxiety. And therefore included in the obligation of a mother and father is to make the home a place of confidence and optimism.
\n\n\n\nOf course if you can tie the confidence up to the attitude of emunah and bitachon, that\u2019s the best thing. If you can teach a child that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is in charge and everything will turn out right in the end because there’s a Father in heaven; if you can always repeat and emphasize that whatever Hashem does is for the good and thereby bring an optimistic attitude into the house, that\u2019s the best approach \u2013 but whatever the approach is, it\u2019s certainly important that worry should never appear in the home because it’s implanting germs that are going to multiply as life goes on.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a home where the father and mother are worried; they\u2019re sitting together at the table, sitting and worrying. \u201cWe can’t pay so much for the tuition.\u201d \u201cWe can’t afford the rent here.\u201d And while they\u2019re talking the little child is sitting under the table. He’s so little they think he understands nothing. But actually he’s listening and he\u2019s worried along with them. \u201cWhat’s going to happen?\u201d It’s the truth. The child is under the table or in the next room sitting there helplessly and the cold hand of anxiety grips his little heart.
\n\n\n\nAnd don’t think that it passes by. It becomes a sickness which he will be unable to rid himself of all his life. Anxiety is not something caused by facts; it’s an emotional state, an attitude. And if it’s an anxious home, a worried home, then the worry will remain with that little boy even when he\u2019s a big boy of sixty years old. Even when he’ll be prosperous one day, he\u2019ll be sitting in his office and without even thinking the anxiety will grip him and he’ll suffer from it.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re A-OK
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore such talk \u2013 if it\u2019s needed \u2013 is only in privacy, b\u2019chadrei chadorim. The father and the mother must appear before their children like actors on a stage. You can never be natural. No matter how you feel you have to be to your children a hero. No matter what you come onto the stage with a smile.
\n\n\n\nYou know, if you ever saw a politician you know that he never appears in public acting like he really feels. He’s knocked out. He’s been traveling all night to get here. He spoke just before someplace else. Now he’s here and he has no energy. But he gets up on the stage and he’s wreathed in smiles. He needs votes; what can he do?
\n\n\n\nA parent needs the votes of his children and therefore he should always appear confident. Always happy. Always as if he knows what to do. He’s never desperate, never worried. Everything is under control. We are A-OK.
\n\n\n\nThe Eternal Optimism
\n\n\n\nNow, one of the most important ways of instilling optimism in the Jewish home is when you introduce into your childrens\u2019 minds the confidence that we are to be here forever. No other nation is guaranteed eternal existence. The navi says, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b6\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 the mountains will move away, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d8\u05b6\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 and all the hills will disappear, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 but My loving kindness with you will never change (Yeshaya 54:10). Which means, Am Yisroel is going to continue as long as there\u2019ll be a world. We are the Am Olam \u2013 we\u2019ll be here forever.
\n\n\n\nTremendous nations have already disappeared – it\u2019s a fact of history. People never dreamed that Rome would someday be driven off the map. All over the habitable world, the legions of Rome marched everywhere; even up to Scotland. All of Europe was under Roman rule. They built bridges, buildings and cities everywhere. Roman law was introduced everywhere; the language too. And then Rome went underground and it disappeared entirely. Rome is wiped off the map already. Of course, it\u2019s history, archeology, but it\u2019s no longer a nation that continues to exist.
\n\n\n\nAnd all the nations are the same. Once upon a time, who dreamed that Bavel would someday disappear. They would laugh at you in the days of Yirmiyah Hanavi if someone had told you that. Bavel?! Disappear?! It was a powerful nation! Great cities! Huge buildings! And today Bavel is nothing at all! If you want to know Bavel, you have to go underground with bulldozers and take it out from underneath.
\n\n\n\nTell that to your children. Talk to them about these big empires that went lost. \u201cBut kinderlach,\u201d you say to little Moishe\u2019le and Chana\u2019le, \u201cwe are promised to exist on this earth forever. As long as there will be earth, the Am Yisroel is going to exist. We will walk on the soil forever.\u201d
\n\n\n\nEternal Life
\n\n\n\nNot only that, but we\u2019ll continue when there\u2019s no more world too. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0. All of us, the loyal Am Yisroel, will live on in the next world! The tzaddikim are there right now; even those who passed away this year, they\u2019re all alive right now in the place of great happiness. And they\u2019ll be there forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, no matter what happened, even when they were being put into gas chambers in Europe and being burned, the confidence doesn\u2019t waver. Because we\u2019re forever and ever; we\u2019ll continue to exist. Our children, our grandchildren, our relatives; the Am Yisrael will never disappear no matter what.
\n\n\n\nNow this confidence must be implanted in all the Jewish children. You have to speak about it always and let them know that we are the ones that are going to endure forever. It should be a topic of conversation in the home; table talk. We have to remind ourselves and our children about this promise of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And He\u2019s demonstrating it. It\u2019s already thousands of years without a country, without a land and we are still here. And we\u2019re increasing and multiplying. We\u2019re spreading everywhere. Torah communities are spreading out everywhere! All over America, Australia, England, Russia. The world will always have Torah communities and in the end, they will be the ones who will survive.
\n\n\n\nGates of Happiness
\n\n\n\nOnce a child feels that his people is forever, it gives him a confidence, an optimism that can\u2019t be shaken. You can\u2019t feel down or depressed when you know that your cause, your ideals, and your family will exist forever and ever; nobody can ever be discouraged. Whatever happens, we\u2019re living for a great purpose; we\u2019re living for a purpose that will be forever.
\n\n\n\nNow once a child is instilled with that confidence in the nation he belongs to, the Hashem he belongs to, so all of the things connected to Hashem and His loyal people become more important. On that foundation you can teach a child to love mitzvos. When he passes a mezuzah you can teach him not merely to look at the mezuzah and to kiss it but to love it. A mezuzah reminds you that you belong to the forever nation, the nation that Hashem is watching over.
\n\n\n\nEven when you go to the beis haknesses it becomes a place of pride and happiness. Go with a child hand in hand to the shul and tell him, \u201cAren’t we happy that we\u2019re going now to the house of Hashem?\u201d There’s a shul that has a big sign outside \u05d1\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b2\u05e6\u05b5\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4, \u201cCome into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courtyards with praise.\u201d That’s how it should be. Tell him, \u201cAren’t we lucky we can go into a shul, this beautiful place, a place where Hashem is? Aren’t we happy that we are the one nation of Hashem?\u201d The child says yes and you’ve laid down a foundation for the future.
\n\n\n\nGood Yom Tov!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s also how parents should train their children in simchas Yom Tov. \u201cYou know what Yom Tov means? It means we were chosen!\u201d \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd! That\u2019s the way to make simchas Yom Tov. Now, I know that some parents think simchas Yom Tov means taking out the children chol hamoed for a ride to go to the park. There’s nothing wrong. But that’s simchah, not simchas Yom Tov.
\n\n\n\nMake a little mesibah for them.It’s more important than two hours in the Bronx zoo or who knows where. Sit down and make a little mesibah; even a five minute mesibah lekovod Yom Tov, a little gathering. Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday afternoon. Sit down and talk for a couple of minutes about Yom Tov and tell the children, \u201cLet’s sing a song about how Hashem chose us to be His people.\u201d And you\u2019ll sing Atah bechartanu or something else. And then tell them, suggest it, \u201cKinderlach, aren’t we having a great time? They all chime in, \u201cYes. But can we go to the park now?\u201d That’s excellent. These few minutes have laid a foundation.
\n\n\n\nGood Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTeach them the simchah of Shabbos. One of the reasons Shabbos is fun is because it\u2019s the day we\u2019re celebrating that tremendous declaration of Hashem, \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Between Me and the Bnei Yisroel, \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 it is a covenant forever. Shabbos is a sign, a covenant, that we will be with Him forever. Hashem said, \u2018We are together forever. Like I am forever, you are going to be forever too.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore no other nation has received this gift. The gentiles are told, \u201cKeep working even on Saturday. Because Shabbos is a special day between Me and My nation.\u201d Of course, it\u2019s good for their health too to be busy always. But the reason why they\u2019re forbidden from keeping Shabbos is because it\u2019s a special bris between us and Hashem. That\u2019s what you have to tell the children every Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nOf course, you can enhance the fun of Shabbos by buying migdanos and ma’adanim. You have candies and cakes and nosherei and ice cream in honor of the Shabbos. But it’s very important to emphasize to the children, to suggest to them that Shabbos is intrinsically fun because it means that we \u2013 \u2018we\u2019 means the little children too \u2013 will be forever. That\u2019s the great happiness, the great optimism, that is the foundation of our homes.
\n\n\n\nThe Other Chumash
\n\n\n\nNow, when a mother and father build a home like that \u2013 nobody can build a perfect home, but when parents make this avodah a focus in their lives, so they have to know that as anonymous as they are, they’re being written down in the Torah. Just like the Bnos Tzelafchad are written forever, so too will that mother and father be recorded forever.
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll say, \u201cBnos Tzelafchad?! What does this have to do with us? We are born too late to be included in the Chumash. No matter what we accomplish it can\u2019t be jotted down.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut we have to know that there is another Chumash, another Torah, that is being written as we speak. And at the End of Days another Torah will be read, a Torah that tells a tale of our entire history. And that\u2019s the Torah that matters most.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s still time and there\u2019s still opportunity for all of us to be written up in this great Chumash. When this great sefer will be read so all of a sudden Rebbetzin So and So\u2019s name will pop up. Or maybe even a little girl will be mentioned. The opportunity to achieve this greatness is within our reach. And when that great Torah is read and our names are mentioned \u2013 with all the details of what we did in this world to build up the Jewish home; and to build ourselves too \u2013 that will be the greatest happiness we could ever imagine, the happiness of being written in Hashem\u2019s book forever and being with Him forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nCreating Foundations For Life
\n\n\n\nBeing a parent means you have the opportunity to be written in the eternal Torah by pouring a foundation and building a skyscraper from every child you have. This week I will bli neder focus for one minute a day on what I can do in my home to walk in the footsteps of the mother of Dovid Hamelech and dig channels of happiness, confidence and optimism in the minds of my children. And if I don\u2019t yet have a family I will spend a minute a day thinking about building up my own mind with these Torah attitudes.
\nThe post Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:37:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-06-13T08:04:01+00:00" }, { "id": 34386, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-pinchas-5-greatness-of-jewish-women/", "title": "Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women", "content_html": "TA-Pinchas-5782The post Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:35:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T03:35:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34377, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-pinchas-5-greatness-of-jewish-women/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women", "content_html": "TA-Pinchas-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Pinchas 5 – Greatness of Jewish Women appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:35:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T03:35:22+00:00" }, { "id": 34374, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%96-%d7%94%d7%a1%d7%aa%d7%a8-%d7%a4%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%9f-%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%98-%d7%92%d7%95%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%97%d7%a1%d7%93/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d6: \u05d4\u05e1\u05ea\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e2\u05e1\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1\u05e2\u05e8", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-227The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d6: \u05d4\u05e1\u05ea\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e2\u05e1\u05df \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1\u05e2\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-17T03:17:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T03:17:13+00:00" }, { "id": 34369, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/sium-masejet/", "title": "Sium Mas\u00e9jet ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 debe pensar una persona cuando termina una mas\u00e9jet de la Guemar\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nCuando una persona termina una mas\u00e9jet de la Guemar\u00e1, debe sentir una alegr\u00eda intensa. \u00a1No s\u00f3lo alegr\u00eda; alegr\u00eda intensa! Y despu\u00e9s de eso, intensa responsabilidad. Estudiaste una mas\u00e9jet, as\u00ed que ahora aseg\u00farate de comenzar a repasarla. De lo contrario, se te perder\u00e1. Y la pr\u00f3xima vez que la veas, ser\u00e1 como una Guemar\u00e1 nueva. Estudiaste una mas\u00e9jet; rep\u00e1sala una y otra y otra vez. Gu\u00e1rdala. Es como si una persona te diera dinero. Si yo te diera dinero, \u00bflo dejar\u00edas en los escalones de tu entrada? \u00bfQuieres dejar que se pierda?
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, cuando terminas de estudiar algo, cuando completas un limud, debes sentir dos cosas: una alegr\u00eda intensa y una responsabilidad intensa. Aseg\u00farate de lajzor, lajzor y lajzor (repasar). Siempre repasa lo que estudiaste y gu\u00e1rdalo. Es una tragedia olvidarse [lo estudiado].
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tienes que tener dos actitudes. N\u00famero uno es: “Baruj Hashem, \u00a1estudi\u00e9 una mas\u00e9jet!” Eso es una felicidad tremenda. Y tambi\u00e9n es una tremenda responsabilidad. Eso es n\u00famero dos; una tremenda responsabilidad. Cuando te nace un ni\u00f1o, es una gran simj\u00e1, \u00bfs\u00ed? \u00bfDejar\u00edas a ese ni\u00f1o [abandonado] en la puerta?
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-217 (diciembre de 1999)
\nThe post Sium Mas\u00e9jet appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-15T14:40:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-15T14:40:29+00:00" }, { "id": 2706, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-discovering-a-babys-gender-before-birth-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Discovering a Baby’s Gender Before Birth\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it wrong for a person to discover the gender of his child before the birth?
A:
If it\u2019s not harmful to the \u05e2\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8, the fetus \u2013 not harmful in any way \u2013 then there\u2019s nothing wrong. It makes no difference anyway. A boy or a girl? What difference does it make anyway? Either way it\u2019s a wealth; a fortune. Every Jewish child is a wealth; it is a very great bracha to have a child. Every child is a great happiness for the parents.
And the child grows up and you\u2019ll have nachas from the child\u2019s children too. A child is a very great happiness and is more valuable than a block of tall apartment buildings \u2013 more valuable than blocks of real estate.
And so, boy or girl, it doesn\u2019t matter. Often, from the girls you\u2019ll have more nachas than from the boys. You\u2019ll have a beautiful son-in-law and your daughter becomes a fine Rebbetzin. And you have so much nachas from your daughter. More than even from your son.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it doesn\u2019t make any difference. It\u2019s just simple curiosity. So if it costs money, then it\u2019s a waste of money.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-191 (June 1999)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Discovering a Baby’s Gender Before Birth\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-14T18:26:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-19T17:07:00+00:00" }, { "id": 34354, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/averiguar-si-el-bebe-es-varon-o-nena/", "title": "Averiguar si el beb\u00e9 es var\u00f3n o nena ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEst\u00e1 mal que una persona averig\u00fce cu\u00e1l es el sexo del beb\u00e9 antes del nacimiento?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi no le causa da\u00f1o al \u05e2\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8, al feto – ning\u00fan da\u00f1o – entonces no hay nada malo. Pero de todos modos no cambia nada. \u00bfUn ni\u00f1o o una ni\u00f1a? \u00bfQu\u00e9 diferencia hay? De cualquier manera es una riqueza; Una fortuna. Todo ni\u00f1o jud\u00edo es una riqueza; es una beraj\u00e1 muy grande tener un hijo. Cada ni\u00f1o es una gran felicidad para los padres.
\n\n\n\nY el ni\u00f1o crece y tendr\u00e1s n\u00e1jat de los hijos de ese ni\u00f1o tambi\u00e9n. Un ni\u00f1o es una felicidad muy grande y es m\u00e1s valioso que un bloque de edificios de departamentos altos, m\u00e1s valioso que bienes ra\u00edces.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed, ni\u00f1o o ni\u00f1a, no importa. A menudo, de las ni\u00f1as tendr\u00e1s m\u00e1s n\u00e1jat que de los ni\u00f1os. Tendr\u00e1s un hermoso yerno y tu hija se convertir\u00e1 en una excelente Rebetzin. Y tendr\u00e1s mucho n\u00e1jat de tu hija, m\u00e1s que incluso que de tu hijo.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto no hay ninguna diferencia. Es simplemente curiosidad. Por eso, si cuesta dinero, entonces es una p\u00e9rdida de dinero.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-191 (junio de 1999)
\nThe post Averiguar si el beb\u00e9 es var\u00f3n o nena appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-14T15:28:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T15:29:00+00:00" }, { "id": 34340, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/un-abrej-en-la-quinta/", "title": "Un abrej en la quinta", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDeber\u00eda donar dinero a un colel cuyos abrejim se van a una quinta a pasar el verano?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es s\u00ed. Tienes que saber que un abrej colel, durante el verano logra grandes cosas. El mero hecho de que est\u00e1 criando una familia numerosa en la quinta – [pi\u00e9nsalo], tiene un colel propio en su quinta. Se lo merece; \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 no? Y no est\u00e1 perdiendo el tiempo. Est\u00e1 estudiando; est\u00e1 repasando, est\u00e1 aprendiendo nuevas masejtot.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si no es [realmente] un abrej colel, si s\u00f3lo se llama a s\u00ed mismo abrej colel pero pierde sus d\u00edas (esto tambi\u00e9n sucede), entonces, esa es la responsabilidad del Rosh colel, no estamos hablando de eso ahora. Pero un verdadero abrej colel, incluso en el verano, est\u00e1 cumpliendo su prop\u00f3sito.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #224 (julio de 1978)
\nThe post Un abrej en la quinta appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-13T18:43:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-13T18:43:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34405, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-kollel-man-in-the-country/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Kollel Man in the Country", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should I donate money to a kollel whose yungerleit go away to the country for the summer?
A:
And the answer is yes. You have to know that a kollel man in the summertime is accomplishing great things. The mere fact he\u2019s raising a sizable family in the country \u2013 he has a kollel of his own in the country. He deserves it; why not? And he\u2019s not wasting time. He\u2019s studying; he’s reviewing, he’s learning new mesichtas.
Now if he\u2019s not a kollel man, if he just calls himself a kollel man but he wastes his days, this happens too. So, that\u2019s the responsibility of the heads of the kollel – we’re not talking about that now. But a true kollel man, even in the summer, he is carrying out his purpose.
TAPE # 224 (July 1978)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Kollel Man in the Country appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-13T16:47:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T16:55:31+00:00" }, { "id": 34330, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/cuando-no-hacer-kiruv/", "title": "Cu\u00e1ndo no hacer kiruv", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nHay una pareja jud\u00eda que vive al lado m\u00edo, no est\u00e1n casados \u200b\u200bpero viven juntos. \u00bfC\u00f3mo me aconsejar\u00eda para ser mekarev de ellos (para acercarlos a la Tor\u00e1)?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nDebes ignorarlos por completo. Las personas solteras que viven juntas son degeneradas. No hay tal cosa como hacer las paces con personas solteras que viven juntas. \u00c9l es un degenerado y ella una prostituta. Esa es la \u00fanica manera de verlos. Las parejas no casadas deber\u00edan ser intocables; son leprosos. No tengas nada que ver con ellos. Ni siquiera intentes lekarev (acercarlos)a ellos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si se casaran, aunque sea por civil, por un juez de la ciudad, entonces puedes comenzar a hablar con ellos. Entonces, si lo deseas, puedes persuadirlos para que vayan al registro civil y se casen. Y luego, una vez que reconozcan que existe un v\u00ednculo matrimonial, una vez que est\u00e9n dispuestos a ser civilizados, entonces puedes hablar con ellos. Pero antes de que hagan eso, no haylo qu\u00e9 hacer. No tengas nada que ver con ellos en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #436 (noviembre de 1982)
\nThe post Cu\u00e1ndo no hacer <em>kiruv</em> appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-13T05:02:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-13T05:02:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34715, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-pinhas/", "title": "Paracha Pin’has", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Pinhas-5782The post Paracha Pin’has appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-13T03:46:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:47:23+00:00" }, { "id": 34401, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-to-not-do-kiruv/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When to Not Do Kiruv", "content_html": "\nQ:
There is a Jewish couple living next door to me – they’re not married but they’re living together. How would you advise going about being\u00a0mikareiv\u00a0them?
A:
You should ignore them entirely. Unmarried people who are living together are\u00a0degenerates. There is no such thing as making peace with unmarried people who live together. He is a\u00a0degenerate\u00a0and she is a harlot. That’s the only way to view them. Unmarried couples should be untouchables; they are lepers. Have nothing to do with them. Don’t even try to\u00a0mikareiv\u00a0them.\u00a0
Now, if they would marry, even if only in court, by the city clerk, then you can start talking. So if you want, you can persuade them to go down to the city clerk and get married. And then, once they recognize that there is such thing as a bond of marriage – once they’re willing to be civilized – then you can talk to them. But before they do that, nothing doing. Have nothing to do with them at all.\u00a0
TAPE # 436 (November 1982)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on When to Not Do Kiruv appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-12T16:33:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-17T16:47:28+00:00" }, { "id": 34324, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tener-piel-gruesa/", "title": "Tener piel gruesa", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi una persona es sensible a los comentarios, \u00bfsignifica que es un engre\u00eddo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo necesariamente. Es un signo de debilidad. Cuando las personas son sensibles, es una se\u00f1al de que no est\u00e1n endurecidas para vivir en este mundo. Si quieres vivir en este mundo, debes tener la piel gruesa. Es por eso que Hakadosh Baruj Hu visti\u00f3 a cada ser humano con una piel. Podr\u00eda habernos dejado venir a este mundo sin piel. Pero la piel es impermeable a ciertas cosas. Por ejemplo, cuando te ba\u00f1as, a algunas personas les gusta sumergirse en agua durante mucho tiempo; pero el agua no penetra. Lo m\u00e1s que penetra el agua es a la epidermis, la piel exterior. Nunca entra en la piel interior. De lo contrario, tu suerte no ser\u00eda buena. Habr\u00eda que conseguir una gr\u00faa para sacarte de la ba\u00f1era. Estar\u00edas anegado.
\n\n\n\nPor eso Hakadosh Baruj Hu te da una piel que est\u00e1 h\u00fameda por dentro; por dentro est\u00e1 h\u00fameda porque es la superficie de los fluidos corporales. Pero por fuera resiste a los fluidos. Es un \u00f3rgano maravilloso – la piel es un \u00f3rgano sea dicho de paso. La piel no es s\u00f3lo una funda. Es uno de los \u00f3rganos del cuerpo. Si a una persona le quitaran la piel no podr\u00eda sobrevivir, al igual que no puede vivir sin ri\u00f1ones.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto tienes que tener una piel sobre ti; y la piel tiene que ser lo suficientemente fuerte para resistir las p\u00faas que encuentras en tu trato con la gente. Siempre vas a tener alguna reacci\u00f3n; te pinchar\u00e1n m\u00e1s o menos. Por supuesto, no significa que debas t\u00fa tambi\u00e9n pinchar a la gente, pero es imposible evitar decir algo que provoque que alguien sensible se sienta herido. Y, por lo tanto, estar\u00e1s como receptor de p\u00faas en este mundo, sin duda. Por eso, si quieres vivir en este mundo, tienes que aprender a ignorar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #263 (mayo de 1979)
\nThe post Tener piel gruesa appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-12T03:11:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-12T03:11:28+00:00" }, { "id": 34361, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-being-thick-skinned/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Being Thick Skinned", "content_html": "\nQ:
If a person is sensitive to remarks is that a sign of conceit?
A:
\n\n\n\nNot necessarily. It’s a sign of weakness. When people are sensitive it’s a sign that they are not hardened to existence in this world. If you want to live in this world, you must be thick skinned. That’s why Hakodosh Boruch Hu clothed every human with a skin. He could have let us come into this world without a skin. But the skin is impervious to certain things. For instance, when you take a bath, some people like to soak for a long time in water; but the water never soaks through. The most the water soaks through is through the epidermis, the outer skin. It never enters the inner skin. Otherwise, you would be out of luck. You\u2019d have to get a derrick to pull you out of the bathtub. You’d be waterlogged.
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives you a skin that is wet on the inside; on the inside it’s wet because it’s the surface of the body fluids. But on the outside it resists the fluids. It’s a wonderful organ. The skin is an organ by the way. The skin is not just a cover. It’s one of the organs of the body. When a person is skinned he cannot survive just like he can’t live without kidneys.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore you have to have a skin on you; and the skin has to be strong enough to withstand the barbs that you encounter in your dealings with people. You’re always going to have certain stimuli; you’ll be needled more or less. Of course it doesn’t mean that you should needle people but it’s impossible to avoid saying something that a sensitive person will feel harmed by. And therefore you\u2019ll be on the receiving end of barbs in this world, no question. And so, if you want to live in this world then you have to learn how to ignore.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 263 (May 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Being Thick Skinned appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-11T17:52:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T17:55:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34319, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-mejor-mercancia/", "title": "La mejor mercanc\u00eda ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted habl\u00f3 esta noche sobre la grandeza de estudiar Tor\u00e1 y cu\u00e1n importante es para la perfecci\u00f3n de una persona. Pero, \u00bfno cree que algunas personas estar\u00e1n mejor desarroll\u00e1ndose en otras \u00e1reas? \u00bfQuiz\u00e1s no tuvieron la oportunidad cuando eran m\u00e1s j\u00f3venes de aprender a estudiar y ahora es demasiado tarde?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSe mantiene tu reputaci\u00f3n de hacer buenas preguntas; muy bien, muy bien. Y la respuesta es que nadie est\u00e1 exento de estudiar Tor\u00e1 porque no hay tal cosa como no tener la oportunidad. Ahora bien, eso no significa que si estudias Tor\u00e1, te convertir\u00e1s en un javer de Rav Iaakov Kamenetsky. No significa que te sentar\u00e1s junto al Steipler y hablar\u00e1s de estudio con \u00e9l. Pero ciertamente puedes avanzar en el estudio de la Tor\u00e1. Si est\u00e1s interesado, \u00fanete a nuestro programa telef\u00f3nico de Tor\u00e1. Es incre\u00edble lo que puedes lograr. Aprender\u00e1s medio pasuk de jumash al d\u00eda por tu cuenta con una traducci\u00f3n lineal. Despu\u00e9s de un tiempo, te sorprender\u00e1s: sabr\u00e1s dos parashiot del jumash. No hay excusa para no hacerlo. Entonces empezar\u00e1s con Pirk\u00e9 Avot y eventualmente sabr\u00e1s seis perakim de Pirk\u00e9 Avot. Entonces lo estudiar\u00e1s sin las nekudot. Podr\u00e1s leer los seis perakim de mishnaiot sin nekudot. Entonces te pondremos en el programa de Guemar\u00e1 y estar\u00e1s en el camino directo a la grandeza. \u00a1Todo el mundo puede hacerlo!
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, supongamos que alguien no lo est\u00e1 haciendo y no lo har\u00e1; \u00bfNo hay otras \u00e1reas donde desarrollarse? S\u00ed, tambi\u00e9n hay otras \u00e1reas donde desarrollarse. S\u00ed, ciertamente no lo negamos. Ciertamente hay otras oportunidades para la grandeza, pero el principal logro es el estudio de la Tor\u00e1. Y si la gente quiere saber c\u00f3mo hacerlo, nos complace asesorarlos en privado y brindarles un programa que es f\u00e1cil, que est\u00e1 disponible y es un programa en el que todos pueden tener \u00e9xito.
\n\n\n\nHay otras cosas que hacer tambi\u00e9n, sin embargo, adem\u00e1s de eso. Las personas pueden crecer mucho en emun\u00e1. \u00a1Ese es un campo grande! Las personas pueden crecer mucho en tefil\u00e1; un campo muy grande. Las personas pueden crecer mucho en tzedak\u00e1; un campo grande Las personas pueden crecer mucho al cambiar sus midot, sus cualidades. \u00a1Un campo muy grande! Hay otros campos y ramas, subdivisiones de estos campos. Hay mucho trabajo por hacer en este mundo. Como dice haiom katzar, la vida es corta, vehamelaj\u00e1 merub\u00e1, y hay mucho trabajo. Y nadie se queda fuera de las oportunidades.
\n\n\n\nSi ingresas a una tienda donde hay un comerciante bondadoso – por supuesto, cada comerciante es bondadoso consigo mismo, pero imagina que te encuentras con un comerciante bondadoso que realmente quiere ayudarte – y entras a comprar y tienes digamos una cierta cantidad de dinero. Entonces te va a decir: \u201cMira, la mejor mercanc\u00eda es esta de aqu\u00ed. Puede que no sea lo m\u00e1s atractivo para ti. Puede que no te interese mucho, pero te digo que es lo mejor que puedes obtener con tu dinero. Sin embargo, si quieres rechazar esta oferta, tengo algo m\u00e1s que es casi igual de bueno o quiz\u00e1s mucho menos valioso, pero tambi\u00e9n es bueno\u201d.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto Hakadosh Baruj Hu dice: \u201cMira. \u00bfNo quieres estudiar? Hay otras cosas para hacer; hay muchas cosas buenas que hacer. Pero, amados hijos m\u00edos, les estoy ofreciendo una oferta. Espero que lo acepten. Ki l\u00e9kaj tov natati lajem, les doy lo mejor para comprar, torati al taazovu, no abandonen el estudio de mi Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #263 (mayo de 1979)
\nThe post La mejor mercanc\u00eda appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-11T02:52:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-11T02:52:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34357, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-best-merchandise/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Best Merchandise", "content_html": "\nQ:
You\u2019re speaking tonight about the greatness of learning Torah and how important it is for a person\u2019s perfection. But don\u2019t you think that some people are better off making achievements in other areas? Maybe they didn\u2019t have the opportunity when they were younger to learn how to learn and now it\u2019s too late?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re living up to your reputation of asking good questions; very good, very good. And the answer is nobody is excluded from learning Torah because there’s no such thing as not having the opportunity. Now it doesn’t mean that if you’ll study Torah, you’re going to become a chaver of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. It doesn\u2019t mean you’ll sit next to the Steipler and talk in learning. But you certainly can achieve in learning Torah. If you’re interested, join our telephone Torah program. It’s amazing what you can accomplish. You’ll learn a half possuk of chumash a day on your own with a linear translation. After a while, you’ll be amazed \u2013 you’ll know two parshiyos of chumash. There’s no excuse for not doing that. Then you’ll start Pirkei Avos and eventually you’ll know six perakim of Pirkei Avos. Then you’ll learn it without the nekudos. You’ll say six perakim of mishnayos without nekudos. Then we’ll put you on the gemara program, and you’re on the straight way to greatness. Everybody can do it!
\n\n\n\nNow, this you could say. Suppose somebody is not doing it and won’t do it; are there no other avenues to achievement? Yes, there are also other avenues to achievement. Yes, certainly we do not deny that. There certainly are other opportunities for greatness but the prime achievement is the study of Torah. And if people want to know how to do it, we’re happy to advise them privately and give them a program that’s easy, that’s available, and it\u2019s a program that everybody can succeed in.
\n\n\n\nThere are other things to do too, however, in addition to that. People can grow great in emunah. That’s a big field! People can grow great in tefilah; a very big field. People can grow great in tzedakah; a big field. People can grow great in changing their middos of character. A very big field! There are other fields and branches, subdivisions of these fields. There is a great deal of work to do in this world. Like it says hayom katzar, life is short, vehamelachah merubah, and there’s a great deal of work. And nobody is left out of opportunities.
\n\n\n\nOnly if you go into a store where you have a benevolent merchant \u2013 of course every merchant is benevolent to himself but imagine you have a benevolent merchant who really wants to help you \u2013 and you come in to shop and you have let’s say a certain amount of money. So he’s going to tell you, \u201cLook, the best merchandise is this right here. It might not be the most appealing to you. It may not interest you most but I\u2019m telling you that it will be the best you can get for your money. However, if you want to turn down this offer, I have something else that’s almost just as good or maybe much less valuable but it’s good too.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, \u201cLook. You don’t want to learn? Then there are other things to do; there are a lot of good things to do. But My beloved children I am holding out to you an offer. I hope you’ll accept it. Ki lekach tov nasati lachem, I’m giving you the best thing to buy, torasi al ta’azovu, don’t forsake the study of My Torah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 263 (May 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Best Merchandise appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T17:28:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T17:39:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34313, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a4%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%97%d7%a1-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d7\u05e1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T13:23:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-10T13:23:26+00:00" }, { "id": 34308, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-balak-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Balak", "content_html": "\nContinued from last week\u2026
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat gorgeous weather Hashem gave us today,\u201d thought Rav Volender as he finished giving the shiur to the prisoners in the Jerusalem Prison. \u201cI think I\u2019ll go for another walk in the park. Hopefully today I won\u2019t see any animals other than the usual birds and stray cats.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA buzzing sound in a rose bush drew Rav Volender\u2019s attention. He bent down to watch hundreds of honey bees as they busily went from flower to flower.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh! How lucky I am to witness the beauty of Hashem\u2019s creation,\u201d Rav Volender said. \u201cI never get tired of watching how these amazing insects collect nectar to make us honey, while at the same time pollinate the flowers so that they can produce seeds which will bring us even more sweet-smelling flowers!\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then Rav Volender heard a loud braying sound. Rav Volender looked up from the roses and saw that there was a donkey in the park! And sitting on the grass talking to the donkey and holding a sefer was none other than Tzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d!
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok!\u201d said Rav Volender, walking over. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on? I thought we said we were finished with these silly ideas of yours and you were going to start working on becoming an eved Hashem. And yet here you are again with yet another animal.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is not a silly idea!\u201d Tzadok replied indignantly. \u201cI am teaching my donkey to talk! And what better way to do it than by learning from the sefer which you said will earn me Olam Haba! Why do you always have to criticize everything I do?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm\u2026\u201d Rav Volender stammered. \u201cMay I ask why you want to teach a donkey to speak?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause I want to be like Bilaam,\u201d Tzadok replied. \u201cHe had a talking donkey and if I have one then I will be just like him. And besides, his hairs will probably sell for a fortune!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou want to be like Bilaam?!?!?\u201d exclaimed Rav Volender, shocked. \u201cWhy on earth would you want that?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause I want to be a navi,\u201d Tzadok said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell first of all, we don\u2019t have neviim anymore,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cAnd second of all, out of all of the holy neviim in history, why would you pick Bilaam?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, I read about all of the neviim in Tanach and they didn\u2019t seem to like us,\u201d Tzadok explained. \u201cThey all were always just pointing out the things that Klal Yisroel were doing wrong, just like you do whenever you see me doing something you disapprove of. But Bilaam\u2019s nevuos were all about how good we are. And I think that\u2019s much nicer.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender gently. \u201cHashem didn\u2019t send us neviim to tell us how good we are.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut why not?\u201d asked Tzadok. \u201cIt\u2019s much nicer to hear good things.\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-1.png?resize=640%2C494&ssl=1\")
\u201cBecause Hashem wants us to continually work on improving ourselves so that we can earn more Olam Haba,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cAnd if the neviim would just give us compliments then we would never realize how we need to become better people.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut then why did Bilaam say nice things?\u201d asked Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh, you see Bilaam wasn\u2019t a Yid,\u201d answered Rav Volender. \u201cAnd Bilaam didn\u2019t want to say nice things about us. He wanted to curse us and make us do aveiros. But Hashem said \u2018Oh no! Only those who love my holy children are allowed to criticize them. But you are a goy and a rasha who hates them – you don\u2019t get to do that. If you\u2019re going to say anything about the Am Hakadosh, it will only be nice things!\u2019\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender gently put his hand on Tzadok\u2019s shoulder before continuing.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, I want you to understand that when I tell you that you\u2019re doing something wrong, it\u2019s because I love you and I want you to be happy.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou do?\u201d asked Tzadok. \u201cBecause I didn\u2019t feel happy when you told me to stop selling segulot or to not paint my cow red.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course I want you to be happy!\u201d Rav Volender smiled. \u201cI want you to have the best type of happiness in the world! By showing you the right way to do things, you have the opportunity to serve Hashem properly. And not only will that make you a happier person, but it will also earn you Olam Haba, where you will be happy forever!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cForever?\u201d asked Tzadok in wonder. \u201cReally?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d smiled Rav Volender. \u201cNow I happened to have heard the Arab janitor in the prison say he\u2019s looking to buy a new donkey. Why don\u2019t we go sell it to him and then we can learn Mesillas Yesharim together.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: It\u2019s very nice to be complimented and we should always try to compliment our friends and siblings as much as possible. But when we are criticized by a parent or teacher, we should listen carefully, because that\u2019s how we get better.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Balak appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T13:10:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-10T13:10:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34297, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-balak-5-he-is-looking-2/", "title": "Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking", "content_html": "Bilaam\u2019s Confession
\n\n\n\nEveryone remembers the story of Bilaam saddling his donkey and eagerly setting out on a journey to Balak the King of Moav. He wanted to join forces with Balak and try to curse the Am Yisroel who were encamped at the Moavite border.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Torah tells us that as he was riding on his donkey down a narrow path, a malach stood in the middle of the road, right in front of the donkey, blocking the way. And so the donkey could not proceed.
\n\n\n\nNow Bilaam didn’t see the malach and he didn\u2019t have time for games; he was on a mission for a king and he couldn’t be delayed. And so he began to beat his animal.
\n\n\n\nRight away a malach appeared to Bilaam and said to him, \u201cWhy have you beaten your donkey?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9, Bilaam said, \u201cI’ve sinned.\u201d He confessed his sin to the angel.
\n\n\n\nSo people who learn it superficially think his sin was that he beat his donkey. What did the poor donkey do that you\u2019re beating it? But that\u2019s not it. If a donkey is obstinate, if it refuses to proceed, then it’s natural that you have to do that; you can\u2019t reason with donkeys after all; you can’t explain to him that his job is to be a beast of burden and to follow orders. So you have to beat him. There\u2019s no sin there.
\n\n\n\nThe Prophet\u2019s Sin
\n\n\n\nSo you have to listen carefully to the viduy of Bilaam. What was his confession? \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cI sinned because I didn’t know that you were standing in front of me.\u201dThat’s Bilaam\u2019s viduy. \u201cI should have known that the reason my donkey stopped in its tracks is not because the animal suddenly became obstinate. I wasn’t thinking; I should have remembered about Hakodosh Boruch Hu.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the malach was criticizing. \u201cWhy did you beat your donkey? Why didn’t it occur to you that maybe it\u2019s Hashem stopping you; that a malach Hashem is standing in the way?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow to us this seems far-fetched. \u201cSo the donkey stopped. He\u2019s obstinate today; so what? I should suspect it\u2019s a malach blocking the path?\u201d We think it\u2019s happenstance and that\u2019s all. \u201cIt\u2019s unreasonable to think otherwise,\u201d we say.
\n\n\n\nBut it wasn’t unreasonable to Bilaam. Bilaam wasn\u2019t a nobody; he wasn\u2019t a materialist like we imagine him to be. He was a Navi Hashem, a man of understanding. And so he said viduy: \u05d7\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9. \u201cI should have had da’as. I should have known.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecause that\u2019s how Bilaam lived. He knew that he was expected to always be aware that wherever he is, he\u2019s walking with Hashem. And if he forgets Who is in charge of all the affairs of this world, so Bilaam knew that\u2019s a cheit you have to say vidui for.
\n\n\n\nRabbinic Confessions
\n\n\n\nNow it wasn\u2019t just Bilaam. Our great men certainly lived like that; the great men of the Talmud lived that way. They constantly had Hakodosh Boruch Hu in mind. The Gemara (Bava Metzia 20b) tells a story about how once the Sages were sitting in the beis hamedrash and they were talking, discussing divrei Torah, when all of a sudden paka arza d\u2019bei rav – one of the cedar beams burst. A beam running across the ceiling cracked!
\n\n\n\nAnd so, these sages didn’t let the opportunity go lost; immediately each one said his reason why it happened. Of course, they understood that the material was weak. It’s been standing too long anyhow; it\u2019s time for a new one. The other beams should be checked as well. \u201cSafety first!\u201d They understood that as well as we do, but they understood much more than us. And so as soon as they could, as soon as it was safe, each one said a reason; for what purpose did Hakodosh Boruch Hu make this happen just now?
\n\n\n\nAnd it was a subject for discussion. This one said, \u201cIt was because of what I did; this and this.\u201d And another one said because of what I did, a different cheit. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is bringing something to my attention. Or maybe something happened here in the beis medrash that was improper.
\n\n\n\nThat’s the way they lived because that’s the truth. This world is not a world of accidents. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is in charge of every detail and the great men who thought constantly of Hashem immediately reacted to things that happened in their lives. The lesson did not go lost.
\n\n\n\nThe Sage\u2019s Sin
\n\n\n\nAnother story (Bava Basra 10a). One of the sages was once climbing up a ladder and ishtamit karei, his foot slipped and he almost fell. He caught himself at the last second.
\n\n\n\nDoesn\u2019t this happen to people? Is there a man who never slipped on steps and caught himself by the banister or regained his balance just in the nick of time to save himself from plunging down?
\n\n\n\nSo maybe the pious ones among us express their gratitude. The best ones will say, \u201cAh! Boruch Hashem that He saved me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut that’s not enough! Listen to what this sage said. \u201cLook,\u201d he said, \u201cIf I had slipped a second earlier I would have fallen down. You know what that would have been?That’s sekilah!\u201d If you learned Mesichta Sanhedrin you know that first step in sekilah is throwing a man down from a high place to execute him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo why did this occur to me?\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ve been sentenced to sekilah and a semblance of that sentence was carried out; only that I was rescued at the last moment.\u201d Hashta d\u2019ichayav k\u2019mechallel Shabbasos, I was sentenced like a man who is mechalel Shabbos. A mechalel Shabbos is put to deathby sekilah. Uk\u2019ovdei avodah zarah, or maybe for being oveid avodah zarah. An idol worshiperis also chayav sekilah. What did I do to deserve this? Was I mechalel Shabbos? Did I worship an idol?
\n\n\n\nA Required Attitude
\n\n\n\nSo they told him it was because he had neglected to give charity. They had noticed that he hadn\u2019t been giving enough tzedakah and the Sages say that not giving charity is like oveid avodah zarah. Being stingy when it comes to helping the needy is compared to idol worship. And if a person is negligent in giving money to a good place, sometimes Hashem might take action. At least He might warn you; next time you\u2019re climbing the steps you\u2019ll slip. That\u2019s how the Sages lived their lives; they understood that Hashem was reacting to their behavior.
\n\n\n\nNow, for a person to live that way takes a lot of work. It\u2019s an entirely new attitude that comes from being aware of Hashem, of remembering Hashem always. It\u2019s not just a frumkeit. It\u2019s an entirely new way of living.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is it’s Torah living; it’s a requirement of the Torah, a clear-cut possuk. It says (Devarim 8:11) \u201c\u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8, be on guard, \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8, lest you forget Hashem Elokecha.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow can anyone say that a possuk is merely a middas chassidus, that it’s a luxury for super pious people? It’s as clear as could be that it’s a duty for all Jews. It’s a command upon us, upon every man and woman at all times, not to forget; \u201cBeware lest you forget!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHashem Is Truly Everywhere
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re not talking now about believing in Hashem. Of course we all say \u201cwe believe in Hashem\u201d and it’s true. Boruch Hashem, the kehal hama’aminim today is growing. Anybody who has a black hat, anybody who covers his head with something, believes in Hashem. That’s what the hat means.
\n\n\n\nA head covering is the glory of our people. Oter Yisroel, He crowns Yisrael, besifarah, with glory. What’s that glory that’s on your head? Whether it’s black velvet or whether it’s any other color or material, you\u2019re glorifying yourself with that attitude: \u201cI am believer in Hashem Elokei Yisroel.\u201d It\u2019s a tremendous achievement when you go into a store and buy a yarmulke or a black hat and you put it on.
\n\n\n\nBut that’s not the entire task. You have to put something underneath the yarmulke.
\n\n\n\nWhere is this Hashem that you believe in?
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, He’s in the siddur. He’s in the chumash.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut is He in the streets with you? Is He in your home, in your bedroom?
\n\n\n\nSo in order to be polite you\u2019ll say yes, but do you actually feel that way? Probably not. If you think about Him while you\u2019re davening, you\u2019re already something special. Itold you this story once, but I\u2019ll say it again. One morning, in the shtiebel of the Rebbe from Berditchiv, the Rebbe sent his gabbai up to the bimah during davening to make an important announcement. In the middle of davening the gabbai gives a klop on the bimah: \u201cThe Rebbe wants everyone to know that there is a Ribono Shel Olam!\u201d In the middle of p\u2019sukei d\u2019zimrah! A special announcement: \u201cRemember Hashem!\u201d And so if you think about Hashem during davening, that\u2019s already something.
\n\n\n\nWhat Are You Thinking?
\n\n\n\nBut actually it\u2019s minuscule when it comes to our obligation to be aware of Hashem. Because to believe that Hashem is watching you outside the shul too, in the street and in the kitchen, that\u2019s the number one hashkafa for a believing Jew. Like it states in Tehillim (14:2), \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e3 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 Hashem looks down from heaven, \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2014 to see, \u05d4\u05b2\u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u2014 is there a wise man below? \u05d3\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Is there anyone seeking Me? Hashem is looking, \u201cWho\u2019s thinking about Me?\u2019 He sees thousands and millions of people; almost nobody is thinking about Him. Even when they pray they\u2019re doing a duty, they\u2019re praying to Him. But what are they thinking? I\u2019m afraid to know.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s a question we all have to consider. Do you think about Hashem? Is He a reality in your life? That\u2019s Hashem\u2019s question: \u201cAre you thinking about Me?\u201d How many times in the past week has a thought of Hashem entered your mind? Do you dream about Hashem? Why don\u2019t you dream about Him? The answer is because you don\u2019t think about Him. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9, a man is shown in dreams the things he thinks about by day (Brachos 55b). You don\u2019t dream about Hashem at night because you don\u2019t think about Him by day.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s something that\u2019s expected of us. If it was expected of Bilaam, surely it’s expected of us. Let\u2019s get that into our heads: We\u2019re obligated to think about Hashem as much as possible.
\n\n\n\nIsn’t that a pity that it’s so rarely spoken about when it’s so important? It’s a lav, hishamer lecha, and it’s one of the things on which a man’s whole yiddishkeit, his whole Judaism, stands. You have to gain that awareness that Hashem is standing right in front of you. It\u2019s a picture you have to gain in your mind.
\n\n\n\nA Fundamental Requirement
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why in the Chovos Halevavos\u2019s list of thirty things that a Jew must keep in his mind always (Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh), the tenth on that list is that a man should consider how the Creator is looking at him always. He\u2019s looking at your externality; He sees you on the outside. And He\u2019s looking at your interiority; He sees you on the inside too.
\n\n\n\nNow, he lists it as the tenth but in order of importance it is perhaps the very first. Why it is not put at the beginning has a reason but right now we have to consider that this is probably the most important of all.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we must keep in mind that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is immanent, He is present; He is aware and He is looking. Of course you must have Torah too because if somebody is looking at you but you don\u2019t know what that person approves of or disapproves of, so it\u2019s not much. You must learn; you must know what is right and what is wrong, but nothing is going to help if we lack the fundamental attitude that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Chovos Halevavos is urging us to keep in mind at all times this principle. And he\u2019s urging, he\u2019s pressing the subject because it\u2019s not an attitude that\u2019s simple to acquire. Even once you understand the importance of what we\u2019re saying now, that\u2019s only the beginning because it takes work. The Mesillas Yesharim (ch. 19) says that it’s not easy; \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most difficult things,\u201d he says. And if he says so, you can believe him. You have to train yourself until you gain the attitude that Hashem is there; you have to work to acquire that frame of mind.
\n\n\n\nRecognize the Commander
\n\n\n\nNow, when we talk here I know that in general I\u2019m speaking with shomrei Torah u\u2019mitzvos. Most of us here, we keep the Torah; we try to keep everything. And so all of us know that one of the basic features of the life of a Jew is the practical mitzvos. That\u2019s how we live our lives, with mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet sadly one of the outstanding purposes of doing mitzvos is being neglected and going lost. I want you to listen now to what a mitzvah is for. It\u2019s a chiddush nifla and it\u2019s important to listen well: Every mitzvah has among its functions, one of its chief functions, to remind us of the Borei. If there\u2019s a mitzvah it means there\u2019s a mitzaveh; if there\u2019s a commandment it means there\u2019s Someone giving the command.
\n\n\n\nWhen you take the lulav and the esrog in your hand, the purpose is to demonstrate that there is a Borei. I’m not talking about the bracha on the lulav; the lulav itself! The lulav itself says there is a Borei. That\u2019s what the esrog says too. Otherwise why should there be an esrog? Why can’t you go to the fruit store and buy a lemon? Why go to such an expense to buy a real one, a bilti murkav expensive one? It\u2019s all because there is a Borei who is looking to see if it\u2019s kosher. He\u2019s looking to see how you\u2019re fulfilling His command.
\n\n\n\nDavening Rehearsals
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you a little anecdote. Once, Rav Yosef Zundel, the rebbe of Reb Yisroel Salanter, was seen in the beis hamedrash before davenen making naanunim with his lulav and esrog. Not because he was fulfilling the mitzvah now. He was just making naanuim.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhy are you doing the naanuim now?\u201d someone asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI want to prepare,\u201d Rav Yosef Zundel said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do it later and I want to prepare and make sure I do it correctly.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow he was not a young man anymore; he had done it many times already. But he knew that a mitzvah means Hashem is watching you do it.And so Rav Yosef Zundel was rehearsing before the davenen to make sure that every tenuah, every motion, should be made correctly and with dignity in front of the King; Hashem should see him and be pleased. That\u2019s what a mitzvah means.
\n\n\n\nShopping and Consuming
\n\n\n\nWhy are people so busy running around buying expensive matzah? Because Hashem is looking. As you enter into a store and you see on the shelves kosher l’pesach this, kosher l’pesach that, kosher l’pesach everything \u2013 everything is a demonstration that the Borei is looking to see, \u201cWhat are they going to eat?\u201d He\u2019s looking to see. \u201cWhat are the people selling? Are they selling only kosher l’pesach things?\u201d So the storekeeper and the customers are always being reminded there is a Borei.
\n\n\n\nAll year long wherever you go into the grocery store you\u2019re concerned about the kashrus. When a woman goes shopping of course she wants to buy only what is perfectly kosher. Very good! But there is an opportunity to go to the highest limits of that mitzvah and remind oneself that the purpose is to be aware of a Borei. You\u2019re looking at the shopping list, what to get, but you\u2019re thinking also, \u201cOnly here in the kosher store or the kosher aisle is where I can buy because the Borei is watching.\u201d Kashrus is for the purpose of demonstrating there is a Creator; that\u2019s the reason we eat only certain foods.
\n\n\n\nAnd when you\u2019re going to sit down and eat the food, so you can think about it then too. We\u2019re reminded by means of what we eat, by means of this mitzvah of kashrus, that there is a Creator whose command we are about to fulfill.
\n\n\n\nWatched at The Chuppah
\n\n\n\nAll around us the Jew is constantly being reminded; he is surrounded with witnesses whose purpose is to tell him that Hashem is looking. Why do you make a bracha when you get married? A chosson and kallah arestanding under the chuppah and the room is full of guests and suddenly there are brachos to say. Why is that? Because you\u2019re busy and you\u2019re forgetting about Him. Every bracha is a reminder. Borei pri hagafen – that means there\u2019s a Borei. Asher bara – there is a Creator around. The brachos all remind you that there is a Creator. The chosson and kallah are not getting married in a materialistic way; they\u2019re marrying in front of Hashem. He\u2019s looking down at everyone; at the guests too. Isn\u2019t that a good thing to think about while you\u2019re sitting at the chuppah?
\n\n\n\nThe mesader kiddushin too; or somebody else who is honored with a bracha. \u201cRabbi so and so is mechubad with a bracha.\u201d So he comes up and let’s say he\u2019s thinking if his niggun will be a good niggun; if it will be impressive to the people. Or maybe he\u2019s thinking if he\u2019s getting a good enough bracha. Ok; but suppose he would also think, \u201cI\u2019m saying this bracha for the purpose of making an effect on me. I\u2019m reminding myself that there is a Borei.\u201d And the listeners too are thinking the same thing.
\n\n\n\nWatched at Home
\n\n\n\nWouldn\u2019t it be a good idea for the chosson and kallah when they are standing under the chuppah to think of their Creator, a Creator who is looking? So when they hear the brachos under the chuppah they are reminded not only that there is a Borei who created them and made such a wonderful arrangement that there is man and woman \u2013 miracle of miracles! \u2013 but they are reminded that they are under supervision. And the Supervisor is entering their new home together with them.
\n\n\n\nAnd after the chuppah they go into the yichud room and they are together for a while but they have to know they didn\u2019t come in alone; it is not a perfect yichud. There is Someone with them. The Gemara (Sotah 17a) says, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05df – there is a Third Party present.
\n\n\n\nSo suppose the chosson and kallah, as soon as they come into that room and they close the door, suppose both of them are thinking at that moment: there is a third party present. He is watching. And from now on He is going to be present constantly like He was up till now. That\u2019s what the brachos under the chuppah are intended to convey.
\n\n\n\nTzitzis and Tefillin
\n\n\n\nNow this should be done with all the mitzvos. Every mitzvah is reminding you of the Borei who is looking.
\n\n\n\nWhy shouldn\u2019t tefillin be meaningful? Of course when you put them on; but even if you just see a pair of tefillin, a tefillin bag, you will always be reminded of what the tefillin is supposed to tell you. You\u2019re on the avenue on the way to the office and you see a boy running into the shul with his tefillin. You already davened; you put on your tefillin two hours ago. No matter! You see his tefillin bag and you remind yourself, \u201cThere\u2019s a Borei who commanded us to put on tefillin.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat does Hashem want from tzitzis? Let\u2019s say you\u2019re in a beis hamedrash where everyone is wearing tzitzis \u2013 and they\u2019re hanging out too \u2013 what is the purpose of that?
\n\n\n\nSo you say, \u201cWell, it\u2019s a mitzvah \u2013 the Torah commands it.\u201d But the Torah tells us a purpose! It\u2019s as clear as could be that the purpose of tzitzis is to remind you that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking. When it says \u201cIn order that you should remember the mitzvos of Hashem,\u201d it doesn\u2019t mean that the purpose of tzitzis is merely to remember the mitzvos; it is to remember that Hashem is looking to see if you do those mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nLike I once told an Italian. The city was digging in the street one time and the Italian foreman saw me walking down the street; he said, \u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d He was pointing to my tzitzis. So I said, \u201cIt\u2019s to remind us of Him.\u201d I pointed upward. \u201cOoh,\u201d he said. He understands. The Italian understood that, yes. Halevai weshould understand it.
\n\n\n\nWatch Your Step
\n\n\n\nSo now we have homework. When you see somebody’s tzitzis \u2013 not only your own; if a wife sees her husband\u2019s or her son\u2019s tzitzis, same thing.The Gemara (Menachos 43a) says, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05e6\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b5\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, that you can use other people\u2019s tzitzis too. So when you see a pair of tzitzis hanging down whether it is from your tallis or from somebody else\u2019s shirt, you have to think that the tzitzis are for a purpose. And purpose number one is to make you think of Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u2013 He is looking. That\u2019s what tzitzis are saying, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is looking outside and inside. Watch your step and watch your mind.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow isn\u2019t it worth coming here just to learn that? You can live your whole life without hearing it once!
\n\n\n\nWatch Your Doorway
\n\n\n\nHowever, the Torah didn\u2019t stop there. You have mezuzos too. Isn\u2019t it a remarkable thing that people can live their lives without realizing what the mezuzah is saying? The mezuzah is supposed to be on every doorway; and as you pass in and out the purpose is to remind you that Somebody is looking. Isn\u2019t it a waste of our lives when we go in and out of the door and forget about that?
\n\n\n\nYou know what kind of effect that would have on us if we would do that?! Our lives would be revolutionized by the tzitzis and the mezuzah. If we would practice up and train ourselves with this program gradually it would enter our awareness that there is a Borei here. Eventually we\u2019d become aware not only of the mezuzah but it would begin to penetrate, that there is a Borei. That\u2019s the way to use tzitzis and mezuzah; they bring us to emunah.
\n\n\n\nPractice Assiduously
\n\n\n\nAnd so isn’t it a pity that life goes by with mechanical motions? Things that were intended to have a great effect on the person are done robotically and are not utilized for their intended purpose.
\n\n\n\nAnd surely if you are in a frum community so wherever you look, in the street and in the home, you have these reminders. And so, you must utilize them all the time. You should think, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is observing and surveying. He is watching our exteriority and is also perusing with his view into our interiority; He is watching our thoughts.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, this is not so revolutionary what I\u2019m telling you now but still it is so unknown or so unnoticed that it amounts to a chiddush gadol. And we are not yotzei just by speaking a few words about it; you cannot talk enough about it. It\u2019s a very big subject and we should take the time to consider how great a function in our lives mitzvos can have on our future and apply ourselves bli neder to a career, little by little of getting a tangible feeling that Hashem is looking. We have to acquire it by practice; there\u2019s no other way.
\n\n\n\nOf course don\u2019t try and do everything at once when you leave here tonight. First take one of these mitzvos and practice it assiduously until finally it hits home that this is what the mitzvah is saying to you. And then another and another. Every day you\u2019re training yourself by means of the mitzvos that Hashem is right here and He\u2019s looking and little by little you are transformed into a person who is standing in front of his Creator.
\n\n\n\nSomeone In The Old House
\n\n\n\nNow we are going on to another phase, another aspect of this avodah; we\u2019ll call it the practical aspect. And that is to train ourselves with our own contrivances to remind us of a Borei. Mitzvos are very good, they\u2019re a wonderful opportunity, but we\u2019re going to see now that there are many more opportunities for us to make use of even outside of the framework of mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nWhen I was in Slabodka I heard from the older Yeshiva men that there was a mussar shtiebel in Kovno, a special mussar house that survived from the days of Reb Yisroel Salanter. So I went there once to see it. I left the seder once and walked across the river and went to the mussar house.
\n\n\n\nNow they told me it was always locked but that there is loose brick where they keep the key hidden. They described to me where the brick is and they said that I should pull it out and that I would find a key there. So sure enough, I saw the loose brick, pulled it out and I found the key. I unlocked the door and walked in.
\n\n\n\nI was all by myself in the old mussar house and now I was sitting there. \u201cWhat should I do?\u201d I was thinking, \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to work on this idea that Hashem is looking at me.\u201d So I sat there for an hour. For a full hour I sat there by myself, thinking that Hashem is looking at me. It was in the old mussar shtiebel in Kovno. I\u2019ll never forget that experience.
\n\n\n\nUse the Eyes
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s something all of us can do occasionally. The truth is it needs constant attention. It\u2019s so important that we must find time to work on achieving this awareness that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking.
\n\n\n\nIf you can’t do it all the time, at least from time to time you must imagine that the Eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu are gazing at you. \u201cYou are looking at me with Your eyes.\u201d The Torah gives us the permission to think like that. Like it says (Zechariah 4:10) \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b5\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b0\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 the Eyes of Hashem look over all the world.
\n\n\n\nThe \u201cEyes of Hashem\u201d are said here for a certain purpose. Why mention the Eyes? In order that we should utilize that. We know He doesn\u2019t have eyes; He has better than eyes; but it\u2019s to help us picture that He\u2019s looking at us and He\u2019s supervising, that He\u2019s looking at us. If we are thinking of a great figure in the sky that looks down upon the world and sees everything that transpires, that’s a big help. Even though we know that it\u2019s actually not so because Hashem does not have any figure, it\u2019s a contrivance we are expected to use.
\n\n\n\nLike it states in Pirkei Avos (2:1)\u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Know what’s above you, \u05e2\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 an eye that sees. We have to work on that all our lives. When you’re walking in the street, in the subway, in the place of business in the home, Hashem is looking at you.
\n\n\n\nPractice on The Bus
\n\n\n\nThe Chovos Halevavos gives that mashal. He says a person should always think of the following mashal. Suppose somebody was watching you; he\u2019s observing your movements. Would you do something which would be distasteful or unpleasant in the eyes of that observer? Even if a little boy is looking at him, he tries to act up to make a good impression on that little boy. That\u2019s human nature.
\n\n\n\nI was once sitting on the subway \u2014 I\u2019m telling you these stories because I used to work on this; if I had kept it up I could have become something \u2014 I was sitting on the subway and a little black girl was looking at me. When I saw she was looking, so I sat up straight. Now, it wasn\u2019t a very important audience but that\u2019s human nature, when someone – anyone – looks at you, you want to make an impression. And I grabbed the opportunity to add a thought, \u201cHashem is looking more than this little girl is looking.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s very important to practice that. It\u2019s a good idea to try that while you\u2019re looking out of the window sometime; you\u2019re sitting in your kitchen or on a bus and you\u2019re looking out the window and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is standing on the sidewalk looking at me.\u201d As you\u2019re walking down the street, think, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is looking out of the window of one of the apartment houses at me.\u201d He surely is \u2013 not from one window, He\u2019s looking from all the windows at you. You have to train yourself to think that way.
\n\n\n\nYou Can Be Great
\n\n\n\nNow, if a person knew that his Creator is looking at him, how much would he be embarrassed and be ashamed in His presence; how careful would he be not to do something that\u2019s in contradiction to His wishes! How much would he hurry to serve Him and to try to gain His favor and His love!
\n\n\n\nAnd so if you can practice this frequently, you’d be more successful. You imagine that Hashem is looking and accordingly you straighten up. You sit up a little straighter. After a minute you can relax again but at least that one minute you achieved something great. You\u2019ll be able to boast when you\u2019re an old man, \u201cI remember many years ago, I heard this idea and I tried it once. For one full minute I was aware that Hashem was looking at me.\u201d If you\u2019ll try it again, it\u2019ll become even more valuable. Try it! Practice it from time to time. The more you do it, the greater you become. If a man lives that way then he’s sure to be a success. You\u2019ll begin to behave as if He\u2019s looking at you. He is!
\n\n\n\nAwareness of Somebody
\n\n\n\nI recall great men I saw when I was younger who always behaved as if Hashem was looking at them. I watched every motion. My rebbes never scratched; they never yawned. I studied them for years and years. They were dignified. The never grinned. They were always cheerful but they never made a silly grin. They lived with control of their tenuos; no grimaces, no unnecessary motions. I watched them carefully and I saw people who lived differently because they knew Hakodosh Boruch Hu staring at them.
\n\n\n\nNow, I saw it by great men but that\u2019s a feeling that every Jew is expected to acquire. That\u2019s why we practice it up every morning, first thing in the morning. Anyone who learned a little knows that among Jews the proper way when dressing or undressing is to remain covered. Even if one is in a private room; the door is locked and the light is out; no one could see anything; nevertheless the scrupulous Jew dresses and undresses in such a manner that his body is never revealed (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 2).
\n\n\n\nNow that is surprising. The room is closed. The shades are down. It’s dark. Nobody sees me. The answer is Somebody is looking; and because that Somebody is looking we attempt to cover ourselves up.
\n\n\n\nEmpty Your Cheeks
\n\n\n\nNow the question is what does covering help? If Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking, He can see through fabric. He can see through walls. So what will you accomplish by covering up?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is it\u2019s an exercise. We behave as if He was a person, a spectator. And by covering ourselves up, we accomplish the feeling of awareness of His presence. Hachitzoniyus meoreres es hapenimiyus \u2013 when you do outward acts of recognition of His presence, it brings one to recognize His presence. That’s how valuable an exercise this is. Little by little it enters our consciousness that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking.
\n\n\n\nNow before we conclude let\u2019s take a few more opportunities among thousands of others. Another valuable exercise is while you\u2019re eating. Suppose you’d be sitting, let’s say, at a banquet and they’re serving delicious food and you’re hungry too. And so you fill your cheeks and you’re chewing and suddenly the photographer begins approaching you to take pictures of the table. You say, \u201cWait. My cheeks are puffed up. Wait until I swallow.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow suppose there\u2019s no photographer; instead a very important personality happens to come in at that moment and he\u2019s walking towards you to speak with you. You\u2019ll try quickly to empty out your cheeks. He shouldn’t see you in such a silly position, with your cheeks puffed up.
\n\n\n\nNow Hakodosh Boruch Hu is looking at us all the time and so while you\u2019re eating isn\u2019t that a good time to practice? You\u2019re filling your stomach; you\u2019re in a good mood anyhow so it\u2019s a good time to exercise this idea. Now you don\u2019t have to worry about filling your cheeks; He’s not going to criticize you for that; that’s why He gave us cheeks, so they should be able to swell with the food. Cheeks are able to distend. They’re made for that purpose. They’re flexible, elastic. But while you\u2019re chewing, while your cheeks are puffed, practice this exercise \u2013 \u201cHe is looking!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRecord Your Conversations
\n\n\n\nNow, I want to add one more exercise. It\u2019s not as easy one but if you\u2019ve already practiced the previous ones then you can try this one too. You know, when you talk to people, it\u2019s very difficult to remember Hashem. That\u2019s how it is. A person is so interesting \u2013 his face; his conversation \u2013 that even though he\u2019s not important, once you\u2019re speaking to him you forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu right away.
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s say once in a while you\u2019d practice this idea even while you\u2019re speaking with someone. You think like this, \u201cI\u2019m going to practice remembering Hashem despite the person I\u2019m going to talk to. I\u2019m going to go over to this-and-this person and engage him in a short conversation. Too long, I can\u2019t do it. It\u2019s too much. I\u2019ll engage him in a short conversation and I\u2019ll make up my mind that while I\u2019m talking, Hashem is looking at me and listening and the words are being recorded.\u201d Make it short, of course.
\n\n\n\nSo pick out somebody and go over to him. He\u2019ll start talking and you\u2019ll answer. But keep this in mind; don\u2019t forget. You have to remind yourself every second. It\u2019s very difficult because the magic of a person\u2019s face, his personality enchants you and you lose yourself right away. Don\u2019t lose yourself! No! Hashem is looking at me! And do it for a minute or two.
\n\n\n\nYou have accomplished a very big achievement! That\u2019s something to be proud of. You have lived for a purpose in life. And if you never practice this you have to know that you are missing out on one of the big purposes of why you were created.
\n\n\n\nEverything Becomes Important
\n\n\n\nNow when a person practices this more and more he begins to become conscious of Hashem all the time; he becomes aware that Elokim is looking at him. And that is of the utmost consequence. It\u2019s one of the major achievements of life \u2013 to be aware of an ayin ro\u2019eh, an Eye that Looks. Because when a man lives under the surveillance of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s Eyes, then he\u2019s going to live a more perfect life, a more successful life.
\n\n\n\nWhen you\u2019re always standing before Hashem so everything becomes important; every moment of your life \u2013 the mundane and the less mundane \u2013 it\u2019s all important because you\u2019re standing with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And so any man who trains himself, any woman who trains herself, anyone who adopts this as a career in life is bound to succeed because that’s the true greatness of living in this world \u2013 the Awareness that you\u2019re standing in front of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nRemember Hashem Always
\n\n\n\nBilaam was criticized for forgetting that Hashem is the Cause of everything; he should have known that a delay is not caused by an obstinate donkey but by the Master of the World. This week I will bli neder focus on internalizing this lesson. Once each day when I pass by a Mezuzah I will remember its lesson; that Hashem is watching me. I will also spend an entire minute each day concentrating on the fact that Hashem is watching me and His Eyes are staring at me.
\nThe post Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T13:07:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-06-11T07:59:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34304, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-balak-5-he-is-looking/", "title": "Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking", "content_html": "TA-Balak-5782The post Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T13:04:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-10T13:04:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34296, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-balak-5-he-is-looking/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking", "content_html": "TA-Balak-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Balak 5 – He Is Looking appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T13:04:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-10T13:04:16+00:00" }, { "id": 34293, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/para-aduma/", "title": "Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 sentido tiene estudiar sobre la Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1 aqu\u00ed en el exilio? (abril de 1978)
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa misma pregunta es \u00bfqu\u00e9 sentido tiene estudiar las leyes de Kodashim, de mas\u00e9jet Zevajim en el exilio? Hay un gran prop\u00f3sito. No uno, hay una serie de importantes prop\u00f3sitos.
\n\n\n\nUn prop\u00f3sito se llama Derosh Vekabel Sajar: investiga y obt\u00e9n recompensa. Es como decir \u00bfqu\u00e9 prop\u00f3sito hay en ganar dinero? Supongamos que alguien te pregunt\u00f3 esa tonta pregunta. \u00bfQu\u00e9 prop\u00f3sito hay en ganar dinero? Tienes tanto dinero que nunca podr\u00e1s gastarlo. Est\u00e1 acumulado en el banco. Solamente del inter\u00e9s puedes vivir. As\u00ed que respondes: “\u00a1Esa es la diversi\u00f3n!” Eso es lo que dir\u00edan los empresarios. Los hombres de negocios dir\u00edan: “Esa es la diversi\u00f3n”. Es divertido ganar dinero. Eso en s\u00ed mismo es la recompensa.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que d\u00e9jame decirte algo sobre estudiar Tor\u00e1. En Tish\u00e1 BeAv, est\u00e1 prohibido estudiar Tor\u00e1 porque en Tish\u00e1 BeAv no debes tener buenos momentos. Ahora bien, esto es una sorpresa para muchas personas. Si los obligas en Tish\u00e1 BeAv a estudiar Guemar\u00e1, sentir\u00edan que es un verdadero \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9, una verdadera aflicci\u00f3n. Es porque no entienden. Estudiar Tor\u00e1 es una felicidad. Pero como muchas cosas, tienes que aprender a disfrutar el gusto de eso. Una vez que adquieres el gusto de la Tor\u00e1, descubrir\u00e1s que es muy divertido.
\n\n\n\nAdem\u00e1s del hecho de que debes saber que ashr\u00e9 mi sheb\u00e1 lek\u00e1n vetalmud\u00f3 beiad\u00f3. Est\u00e1s preparando mucha mercanc\u00eda para llevarte contigo. Eso es lo \u00fanico que te llevar\u00e1s hacia el mundo venidero.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, cuando estudias el tema de la Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1, es uno de los logros m\u00e1s preciosos. Si estudias otras cosas, es porque necesitas saber informaci\u00f3n. Debes tener informaci\u00f3n para saber c\u00f3mo cumplir. As\u00ed que estudias Hiljot Suc\u00e1; es un gran tema. Pero lo est\u00e1s haciendo porque quieres saber. De lo contrario, pasar\u00e1s verg\u00fcenza. Construir\u00e1s el tipo incorrecto de Suc\u00e1 y luego, un talmid jajam podr\u00eda visitarte y te ridiculizar\u00e1 porque hiciste un error tan terrible. No es un Suc\u00e1 kesher\u00e1 y har\u00e1s berajot levatal\u00e1. Por ejemplo, si la construiste bajo un \u00e1rbol. Una Suc\u00e1 bajo un \u00e1rbol no es un Suc\u00e1. Y as\u00ed, otras halajot. Pero cuando estudias sobre Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1, no es m\u00e1s que la devoci\u00f3n pura a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. No obtienes nada excepto el amor a la Tor\u00e1 de Hashem.
\n\n\n\nPero d\u00e9jame decirte que Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1 est\u00e1 llena de lecciones. Y solo una lecci\u00f3n como muestra: Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1 nos ense\u00f1a que hay ciertas cosas que al mismo tiempo pueden hacer que una persona impura se purifuque, tambi\u00e9n puede hacer que otra persona pura se impurifique. Ese es el din de la Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1, puede purificar a algunas personas, pero otras se hacen tam\u00e9 cuando est\u00e1n involucradas en su preparaci\u00f3n.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que tomemos un ejemplo de Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1. Young Israel es como la Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1. Imagina un muchacho que no sabe nada. Va a Young Israel y ah\u00ed escucha que dicen: Shabat, Shabat, Shabat, Shabat. Hablan de ser Shomer Shabat. Y \u00e9l escucha. Al menos aprende la lecci\u00f3n de Shabat. \u00a1Muy bien! \u00c9l podr\u00eda convertirse en un Shomer shabat yendo a Young Israel. \u00a1Muy bien!
\n\n\n\nPero digamos que un Shomer Shabat entra en Young Israel. Ah\u00ed podr\u00eda aprender que est\u00e1 bien darle el premio del “Hombre del a\u00f1o” a un hombre que tiene una esposa gentil. Eso es lo que \u00e9l ve all\u00ed; y ahora aprende, \u00bfqui\u00e9n es el “Hombre del a\u00f1o” para el Consejo Nacional de Young Israel? Un hombre con una esposa gentil.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que para los teme\u00edm, si el hombre ya tiene una esposa gentil y entra en Young Israel, para que le ense\u00f1en a legaier (convertir) a ella , o tal vez a deshacerse de ella. Muy bien. Pero de lo contrario, es un jashash (temor) muy grande que sea metam\u00e9 a los tehorim, que haga impuro a los puros.
\n\n\n\nAprendemos la lecci\u00f3n de que no todos los lugares son buenos para todos; Y, por lo tanto, mejores personas tienen que ir a mejores lugares. Esa es una lecci\u00f3n importante. Porque podr\u00eda ser un buen lugar para un reformista. Todos los reformistas deber\u00edan ir a Young Israel. Pero cualquiera que sea algo mejor que eso deber\u00eda buscar mejores lugares.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #213 (abril de 1978)
\nThe post Par\u00e1 Adum\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-10T12:58:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T17:40:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34288, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%95-%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%9f-%d7%99%d7%94%d7%90-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%94-%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%94%d7%99%d7%92%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%92%d7%a2%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d5: \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0, \u05de\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d2\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05e2\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-226The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d5: \u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0, \u05de\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d2\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05e2\u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-08T18:18:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-08T18:18:37+00:00" }, { "id": 34349, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-parah-adumah-learning-and-a-lesson/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Parah Adumah: Learning and A Lesson", "content_html": "\nQ:
What purpose is there in learning about parah adumah here in exile?
A:
The same question is what purpose is in learning about any of the laws of the kodshim, of Mesichta Zevachim in exile? There\u2019s a great purpose. But not one. There are a number of great purposes.
One purpose is called derosh vekabel sachar \u2013 investigate and get reward. It’s like saying what purpose is there in making money? Suppose somebody asked you such a dumb question. What purpose is there in making money? You have so much money you can never spend it anymore. It’s lying in the bank. From the interest alone you can live. So you answer, \u201cIt’s the game!\u201d That’s what business people would say. Businessmen would say, \u201cIt’s the game.\u201d It’s the fun of making money. That in itself is a reward.
\n\n\n\nSo let me tell you something about learning Torah.\u00a0 On Tisha B\u2019Av it’s forbidden to study Torah because on Tisha B’av you’re not supposed to have good times.\u00a0 Now that’s a surprise to a lot of people.\u00a0 If you would sentence them on Tisha B’av to study gemara, they would feel\u00a0that’s\u00a0the\u00a0real \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9;\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0real affliction. It\u2019s\u00a0because they don’t understand.\u00a0 Studying Torah is a happiness.\u00a0 But like a lot of things, you have to get the taste of it.\u00a0 Once you acquire a taste for Torah, you’ll discover that it’s a lot of fun.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBesides the fact that you must know that ashrei mi shebah lekan vetalmudo beyado; you’re preparing a lot of merchandise to take along with you. That’s the only thing you’ll take along with you in the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when you study parah adumah, it’s one of the most precious achievements. If you study other things, it’s because you need to know information. You must have information to know how to practice it. So you study hilchos sukkah; it\u2019s a grand subject. But you’re doing it because you want to know. Otherwise you’ll be embarrassed. You’ll build the wrong kind of sukkah and then some talmid chacham might visit you and ridicule you because you made such a terrible error. It’s not a kosher sukkah and now you’re making a brachah levatalah; you built it under a tree or some other circumstance. A sukkah under a tree is not a sukkah. And so on, other halachos. But when you learn something like parah adumah, it’s nothing but pure devotion to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You get nothing at all out of it except love of Toras Hashem.
\n\n\n\nBut let me tell you,\u00a0parah adumah is full of lessons; full of lessons. And just one lesson as a sample.\u00a0 Parah adumah teaches us there are certain things that at the same time that they can make a pure person unclean,\u00a0it can also make someone else, an unclean person, pure. That\u2019s the din by parah adumah \u2013 it can purify some people but others become tamei when they are involved with its preparation.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo let’s take an example of parah adumah.\u00a0 Young Israel is a parah adumah.\u00a0 Here’s a fellow who doesn’t know anything.\u00a0 He wanders into Young Israel and the people say Shabbos, Shabbos, Shabbos, Shabbos.\u00a0 They talk about being shomer Shabbos. And he listens.\u00a0 At least the lesson of Shabbos he learns.\u00a0 Very good! He might become a shomer Shabbos in Young Israel.\u00a0 Very good!
\n\n\n\nBut let’s say somebody who is a shomer Shabbos already and he comes into Young Israel. So he might learn that it\u2019s ok to give the Man of the Year award to a man with a gentile wife. That\u2019s what he sees there; and now he learns, who is the Man of the Year at the National Council of Young Israel? A man with a gentile wife.
\n\n\n\nSo for tamei’im, if the man already has a gentile wife and he comes into Young Israel, so they might teach him to be\u00a0megayer\u00a0her perhaps or to get rid of her. Very good. But otherwise it’s a very big chashash it will be metamei\u00a0the tehorim, it will make the pure impure.
\n\n\n\nWe learn the lesson that not all places are good for everybody; and therefore better people have to go to better places. That’s an important lesson. Because it might be a good place for a reformer. All reformers should go to Young Israel; they should all join up with Young Israel. But anybody who is anything better than that should look at better places.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 213 (April 1978)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Parah Adumah: Learning and A Lesson appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-08T01:23:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T03:10:50+00:00" }, { "id": 34286, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/por-que-hashem-se-esconde/", "title": "Por qu\u00e9 Hashem se esconde", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Hashem se esconde?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Hashem se esconde de nosotros?
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que, de lo contrario, no valdr\u00eda la pena vivir. Si Hakadosh Baruj Hu saliera a la luz y mostrara Su presencia, entonces todos los italianos se convertir\u00edan en fieles servidores de Hashem. Y todos los puertorrique\u00f1os tambi\u00e9n. Todos se volver\u00edan buenos y frum (religiosos) porque si puedes ver a Hashem, \u00bfqui\u00e9n va a ser tan lun\u00e1tico y desobedecer?
\n\n\n\nSup\u00f3n que tienes un polic\u00eda apunt\u00e1ndote con un arma y el polic\u00eda dice: “Manos arriba o disparo”. \u00bfD\u00f3nde estar\u00edan tus manos? \u00bfEn tu bolsillo?
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, si Hakadosh Baruj Hu se mostrara, \u00bfmerecer\u00edas alg\u00fan cr\u00e9dito? Y no servir\u00eda de nada estar en este mundo; si no ganar\u00e1s nada con tu bejir\u00e1, con tu libre albedr\u00edo, \u00bfde qu\u00e9 te sirve vivir?
\n\n\n\nEn el pr\u00f3ximo mundo, cuando todo termine y no haya m\u00e1s libre albedr\u00edo, Hakadosh Baruj Hu se mostrar\u00e1 con toda Su gloria y \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05e0\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d6\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4. Los tzadikim miran el esplendor de la Shejin\u00e1 y esa es su felicidad.
\n\n\n\nPero en este mundo, ser\u00eda lo peor para nosotros si Hakadosh Baruj Hu pudiera ser visto abiertamente. Nuestro trabajo es descubrirlo en los lugares donde se esconde.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #417
\nThe post Por qu\u00e9 Hashem se esconde appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-08T00:15:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-08T00:15:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34345, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-hashem-hides/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Hashem Hides", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is Hashem in hiding?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhy is Hashem hiding from us?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that otherwise it wouldn\u2019t pay to live. If Hakodosh Boruch Hu would come out in the open and show His presence, then all the Italians would become loyal servants of Hashem. And all the Puerto Ricans too. Everybody would become good and frum because if you can see Hashem, who is going to be such a lunatic and disobey?!
\n\n\n\nSuppose you have a policeman pointing a gun at you and the policeman says, \u201cHands up or I\u2019ll shoot.\u201d Where would your hands be? In your pocket?
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if Hakodosh Boruch Hu would show Himself, will you deserve any credit? And it wouldn\u2019t pay in this world; if you won\u2019t earn anything with your bechirah, with your free will, what\u2019s the use of living?
\n\n\n\nIn the next world when it\u2019s all over and there\u2019s no more free will, then Hakodosh Boruch Hu shows Himself in all His glory and \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d5\u05e0\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d6\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4. The tzaddikim gaze at the splendor of the Shechina and that\u2019s their happiness.
\n\n\n\nBut in this world, it would be the worst thing for us if Hakodosh Boruch Hu was seen openly. Our job is to discover Him from the places where He\u2019s hiding.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 417
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Hashem Hides appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-07T01:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-14T01:22:55+00:00" }, { "id": 34276, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/apartado-pero-amable/", "title": "Apartado pero amable", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted mencion\u00f3 anteriormente que la Tor\u00e1 no quiere que comamos con gentiles, que nos sociabilicemos con ellos, etc. Una de las peores cosas que podr\u00eda hacerle a una persona es no comer con \u00e9l, no beber con \u00e9l, no sociabilizar con \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfcu\u00e1l es la pregunta? S\u00e9 breve por favor.
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nBueno, cuando les hacemos eso a los go\u00edm, \u00bfno es comprensible cu\u00e1l es su reacci\u00f3n a veces?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00c9l pregunta, \u00bfno estamos lastimando los sentimientos de los no jud\u00edos al negarnos a comer con ellos?
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es esta. Sup\u00f3n que eres un rey en tu palacio y afuera hay un vagabundo con un palo en su hombro y colgando de su palo tiene una olla. En la olla est\u00e1 cocinando algo, un poco de papilla, y grita hacia el palacio del rey: \u201c[Se\u00f1or rey], baje y disfrutemos juntos de esta comida\u201d.
\n\n\n\nEn tal caso el rey tiene que herir los sentimientos del vagabundo. \u00a1No puede evitarlo! Porque esa es su funci\u00f3n en el mundo, ejercer las prerrogativas de la realeza y mantener la dignidad de un rey.
\n\n\n\nDel mismo modo Hakadosh Baruj Hu dice que eso es algo que no puedes evitar. Tienes que permanecer separado. Hakadosh Baruj Hu dijo: \u201c\u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05dd. Ustedes son pr\u00edncipes. Y por lo tanto te estoy dando una dieta especial, una dieta principesca, y no puedes abandonar tus prerrogativas ni siquiera con el prop\u00f3sito de ser bondadoso\u201d. Entonces tendr\u00e1s que ser amable con los no jud\u00edos de otras maneras.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQuieres ser bondadoso? Tendr\u00e1s que ser bondadoso de otras maneras. Poreso, cuando bajes del autob\u00fas y el hombre de color frente a ti abra la puerta del autob\u00fas y la mantenga abierta para ti, muestra tu amabilidad diciendo gracias. En lugar de invitarlo a la confiter\u00eda la esquina para almorzar con \u00e9l, br\u00edndale una linda sonrisa y agrad\u00e9cele.
\n\n\n\nS\u00e9 amable con todos y no te preocupes. Si eres amable y educado con todos, te entender\u00e1n y te respetar\u00e1n por ser leal a tu religi\u00f3n. Y ver\u00e1s que obtendr\u00e1s m\u00e1s kavod (honor) de lo que obtendr\u00edas vendiendo tu religi\u00f3n s\u00f3lo para halagarlos.
\n\n\n\nEl hecho es que los jud\u00edos que mantienen la Tor\u00e1 siempre obtienen el reconocimiento de los go\u00edm. As\u00ed lo plane\u00f3 Hakadosh Baruj Hu. La gente respeta a una persona con principios.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes cuando no les gustas? Cuando eres malo y cuando eres desagradable. Cuando te aprovechas de ellos y los ignoras o haces otras cosas. Pero cuando eres cort\u00e9s y mantienes tus principios, siempre ganar\u00e1s y obtendr\u00e1s respeto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #417
\nThe post Apartado pero amable appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-06T14:07:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-06T14:07:54+00:00" }, { "id": 34274, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-dia-de-la-independencia-israeli/", "title": "El d\u00eda de la Independencia israel\u00ed ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede alguien celebrar el cinco de Iar (el d\u00eda de la Independencia de Israel), de la misma manera que celebra el cuatro de julio (el d\u00eda de la Independencia de los Estados Unidos)?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que el 4 de julio no tiene connotaciones jud\u00edas; es algo neutral. Y dado que es una demostraci\u00f3n de lealtad al pa\u00eds donde vives, ciertamente es virtuoso colgar una bandera el 4 de julio. Creo que todos los jud\u00edos deber\u00edan estar interesados \u200b\u200ben demostrar solidaridad con el pueblo estadounidense. Y especialmente para agradecer a Hakadosh Baruj Hu que existe un pa\u00eds que fomenta tales ideales de libertad de los que disfrutan hoy en d\u00eda los jud\u00edos.
\n\n\n\nEl 5 de Iar es una historia completamente diferente. Medinat Israel fue fundada por ateos. Por supuesto, tambi\u00e9n hab\u00eda un peque\u00f1o pu\u00f1ado de maaminim (creyentes), pero la gran mayor\u00eda eran ateos. Y no son simplemente ateos como el hombre de la calle que es un ateo al que no le importan [las cosas]. Est\u00e1n interesados \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200ben eliminar el juda\u00edsmo de Tor\u00e1 del mundo y hoy en d\u00eda tienen m\u00e1s poder que cualquier ateo haya tenido antes. Es el poder de una naci\u00f3n y est\u00e1n activamente interesados \u200b\u200ben acabar con todo vestigio de la Tor\u00e1. Ellos no quieren ning\u00fan juda\u00edsmo. Quieren un nuevo tipo de ideolog\u00eda llamada Israel.
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo podemos demostrar alg\u00fan tipo de simpat\u00eda con un Estado que es diametralmente opuesto a la Tor\u00e1? El mero hecho de que reclutan chicas para el ej\u00e9rcito es una contradicci\u00f3n tan horrenda con la tradici\u00f3n jud\u00eda, con las actitudes jud\u00edas, que s\u00f3lo por eso, todo jud\u00edo consciente deber\u00eda sentir una tremenda hostilidad hacia el Estado de Israel.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1No es exagerado decir que deber\u00edamos organizar brigadas e invadir el Estado de Israel! Ahora bien, por m\u00e1s extra\u00f1o que te suene, esa es la verdad. Ahora bien, por supuesto que no podemos hacerlo porque hay tantos jud\u00edos frum que deben ser protegidos hoy – \u00a1y esa es nuestra gran preocupaci\u00f3n! – pero el jilul Hashem de reclutar chicas para el ej\u00e9rcito es inigualable, incluso entre las naciones del mundo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #312 (mayo de 1980)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs un jilul Hashem lo que ciertas personas hicieron la semana pasada cuando quemaron la bandera israel\u00ed?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Pues ellos te dir\u00e1n que fue un kidush Hashem! Porque, \u00bfqui\u00e9n dijo que la bandera de Israel tiene algo de santidad? \u00bfD\u00f3nde dice que la bandera israel\u00ed es un objeto sagrado?
\n\n\n\nY te dir\u00e9 por qu\u00e9 no es un jilul Hashem. Ahora bien, nadie tiene que aceptar lo que digo, pero tampoco tengo que aceptar lo que digan los dem\u00e1s.
\n\n\n\nLa bandera israel\u00ed es un s\u00edmbolo del sionismo y el sionismo es un principio que significa algo. El sionismo no es s\u00f3lo un movimiento pol\u00edtico; representa el principio de que para ser jud\u00edo todo lo que necesitas es suscribirte a la idea de un estado jud\u00edo. No necesitas Tor\u00e1. \u00a1T\u00fa sabes, puedes ser ateo y a\u00fan puedes ser un muy buen sionista! Y ah\u00ed es donde aparecemos nosotros y decimos, \u00a1eso es un jilul Hashem!
\n\n\n\nCuando se iza la bandera azul y blanca, eso es lo que se est\u00e1 diciendo. Esa bandera dice que ese es el prop\u00f3sito, ese es el ideal, esa es la justificaci\u00f3n y todas las dem\u00e1s cosas no tienen importancia. \u00a1Y nosotros decimos que no es as\u00ed! \u00a1Es la bandera del jilul Hashem! Porque tenemos una s\u00f3la bandera y esa es la Tor\u00e1. Somos una naci\u00f3n gracias a la Tor\u00e1. Sin la Tor\u00e1 no somos m\u00e1s que gitanos; somos pol\u00edglotas, somos mestizos; tenemos todo tipo de personas mezcladas en nuestra naci\u00f3n. Pero s\u00f3lo hay una cosa que hace jud\u00edos a los jud\u00edos. Y es ser leales a Hashem y a su Tor\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, una bandera que proclame que la Tor\u00e1 no es necesaria para ser jud\u00edo – que puedes ser un ojel trefot (alguien que come productos no k\u00f3sher) al igual que los l\u00edderes del Estado de Israel; a excepci\u00f3n de Beguin; Beguin come k\u00f3sher, creo – entonces puedes comer trefot, dicen, puedes ser un mejalel Shabat (profanador del Shabat), y trabajar en Iom Kipur, y ser un \u00e9shet-ishnik (ad\u00faltero); puedes cometer adulterio, no es nada para ellos. Tambi\u00e9n hay homosexuales declarados, que son sionistas ac\u00e9rrimos.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, eso es una parodia del nombre “jud\u00edo”, por lo que creo que no es un jilul Hashem en absoluto quemar la bandera sionista; y no deber\u00edamos avergonzarnos de que se haya hecho. \u00a1Nada de que avergonzarse! La raz\u00f3n por la que no se hace en otros lugares es porque tienen miedo. Pero aquellos que son lo suficientemente valientes como para hacerlo, no veo por qu\u00e9 deber\u00edan avergonzarse.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #252 (enero de 1979)
\nThe post El d\u00eda de la Independencia israel\u00ed appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-06T06:13:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-06T06:13:10+00:00" }, { "id": 34713, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-balak/", "title": "Paracha Balak", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Balak-5782The post Paracha Balak appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-06T03:45:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:46:38+00:00" }, { "id": 34264, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/celebrar-el-4-de-julio/", "title": "Celebrar el 4 de julio", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs bueno exhibir la bandera estadounidense el 4 de julio? \u00bfO se considera una idea gentil?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nD\u00e9jame decirte algo. Hace cincuenta a\u00f1os no habr\u00eda hablado de esto. Llevo m\u00e1s de cincuenta a\u00f1os hablando en p\u00fablico, pero no habl\u00e9 nunca de la bandera estadounidense. No lo necesitas. \u00bfQui\u00e9n necesita banderas americanas? No era necesario.
\n\n\n\nHoy, sin embargo, si quieres hacerlo, digo i\u00e1sher k\u00f3aj. \u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9? Porque todos los resha\u00edm (malvados) est\u00e1n pisoteando la bandera y est\u00e1n tratando de profanar a Am\u00e9rica. \u00bfSabes por qu\u00e9? No porque sean buenos go\u00edm. Es porque son resha\u00edm guemurim. Los progresistas est\u00e1n tratando de arruinarlo todo. Y cuando la perversa Corte Suprema permiti\u00f3 quemar una bandera estadounidense y dijo que no se puede promulgar una ley contra eso, fue una profanaci\u00f3n de los Estados Unidos.
\n\n\n\nDespu\u00e9s de todo, Estados Unidos es un buen pa\u00eds. Venimos de pa\u00edses donde fuimos perseguidos y este pa\u00eds nos dio todos los derechos. Opino que deber\u00edamos besar el suelo de Am\u00e9rica. Estuve en Europa durante alg\u00fan tiempo. Fui a estudiar a una ieshiv\u00e1 all\u00ed. Y cuando regres\u00e9 vi que Estados Unidos era un pa\u00eds bendito. Es un regalo de Hashem para nosotros. \u00bfNo deber\u00edamos apreciarlo?
\n\n\n\nY por eso digo que un jud\u00edo debe colgar la bandera. S\u00ed; hoy s\u00ed. No dir\u00e9 que eres un pecador si no lo haces, pero creo que es bueno colgar la bandera hoy. No es una contradicci\u00f3n por ser un jud\u00edo frum. No es una contradicci\u00f3n de ninguna manera. Colgamos la bandera en este shul el 4 de julio.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #750 (julio de 1989)
\nThe post Celebrar el 4 de julio appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-05T03:58:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-05T03:58:17+00:00" }, { "id": 3111, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-fourth-of-july/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Fourth of July\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is displaying the American flag on July 4th a good thing?\u00a0Or is it considered a gentile idea?
A:
Let me tell you something. Fifty years ago I wouldn’t have spoken about this. I’ve been speaking more than fifty years in public but I didn’t speak about any American flags. You don’t need it. Who needs American flags? It wasn’t necessary.
Today however if you want to do it, I say yasher koach. Do you know why? Because all the reshaim are trampling on the flag and they’re trying to desecrate America. You know why? Not because they’re good goyim. It\u2019s because they’re reshaim gemurim. The liberals are trying to ruin everything. And when that wicked Supreme Court permitted burning an American flag and said you cannot make a law against it, it was a desecration of America.
\n\n\n\nAfter all, America is a good country. We came from countries where we were persecuted and this country gave us all the rights. I say we should kiss the ground of America. I was in Europe for some time. I went to study in the yeshivah there. And when I came back I saw that America was a blessed country. It’s a gift of Hashem to us. Shouldn’t we appreciate it?
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore I say a Jew should hang out the flag. Yes; today yes. I won’t say you’re a sinner if you don’t but I think it’s a good thing to hang out the flag today. It’s not a contradiction to being a frum Jew. It\u2019s not a contradiction by any means. We hang out the flag from this shul on the Fourth of July.
\n\n\n\nTAPE #750 (July 1989)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Fourth of July\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-04T13:18:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-12T23:24:24+00:00" }, { "id": 34238, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/veraneando-separados/", "title": "Veraneando separados ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEst\u00e1 bien que un marido y su esposa vayan cada uno solo de veraneo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEn general, un esposo y una esposa nunca deben separarse. \u00c9se es el prop\u00f3sito de tener una esposa y tener un esposo. \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u2013 Y ser\u00e1n una sola carne (Bereshit 2:24). No te separas de tus manos ni de tus pies. Tienes que darte cuenta de que son una sola persona. No es s\u00f3lo un equipo; son una sola persona y siempre deben estar juntos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, eso no significa que cuando \u00e9l va a la sinagoga, ella tenga que ir tambi\u00e9n. O que cuando ella va, digamos, al centro de costura, que \u00e9l tambi\u00e9n vaya y mire; no. Cada uno tiene sus intereses separados; pero en general est\u00e1n juntos.
\n\n\n\nA veces, el marido tiene que irse de viaje por trabajo y no puede llevar a su esposa con \u00e9l, es algo inevitable. Una mujer, no es para nada recomendable que haga un viaje de placer a alg\u00fan lugar sin su esposo. Pero si ella tiene que viajar por ciertos negocios y el marido tiene que quedarse para atender su negocio, eso es otra cosa. Pero separarse s\u00f3lo por un viaje de placer, eso va en contra de los principios en los que se basa el matrimonio.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #508 (junio de 1984)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSon apropiadas esas vacaciones en bungal\u00f3s donde la esposa ve a su esposo s\u00f3lo en Shabat?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que si es un beneficio para los ni\u00f1os, entonces es correcto. Porque \u05e2\u05de\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Todo nuestro trabajo son nuestros hijos (Hagad\u00e1 Shel P\u00e9saj). Si los ni\u00f1os en el bungal\u00f3 pueden tener un mejor ambiente que en la ciudad, si pueden tener un muy buen mor\u00e9 y muy buenos javerim o javerot (amigos o amigas), entonces vale la pena. El \u00fanico criterio es cu\u00e1nto rujaniut (espiritualidad) ganar\u00e1n los ni\u00f1os. Y sobre esa base se justifica ese tipo de arreglo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #517 (agosto de 1984)
\nThe post Veraneando separados appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-04T04:31:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T04:31:36+00:00" }, { "id": 28702, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-bungalow-marriages/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Bungalow Marriages", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a husband and wife separate in order to go to the country in the summer?
A:
In general, a husband and wife should never separate. That\u2019s the purpose of having a wife and having a husband. \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u2013 And they will become one flesh (Bereishis 2:24). You don\u2019t separate from your hands or from your feet. You have to realize that it\u2019s one personality. It\u2019s not just a team, it\u2019s a personality. They must always be together.
Now, it doesn\u2019t mean that when he goes to the synagogue that she has to be in the background. Or that when she\u2019s going, let\u2019s say, to the sewing club, that he should hang around and look on, no. Each has his or her separate interests, but in general, they\u2019re together.
\n\n\n\nSometimes, he has to go away on a trip for work; he can\u2019t take her along, it can\u2019t be helped. A woman, however, just to go off on a pleasure trip someplace without her husband, that\u2019s not to be recommended at all. Unless she has to go for certain business that the husband cannot go along. Let\u2019s say, she has to go for some purpose, she can\u2019t remain behind. And he has to remain here because of his business, that\u2019s something else. But just for the sake of pleasure to separate, that\u2019s against the principles on which marriage is founded.
TAPE # 508 (June 1984)
Q:
Is it proper this bungalow style vacation where the wife sees her husband only on Shabbos?
A:
And the answer is, if it\u2019s a benefit for the children then it\u2019s proper. Because \u05e2\u05de\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 All of our work is our children. If the children in the bungalow can have a better environment than in the city, if they can have a very good rebbe, and very good chaveirim or chaveiros, then it\u2019s worth it.
The only criterion is how much ruchniyus will the children gain. And on that basis this kind of arrangement is justified.
TAPE # 517 (August 1984)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Bungalow Marriages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T19:36:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-08T19:50:44+00:00" }, { "id": 34232, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%9c%d7%a7-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05dc\u05e7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05dc\u05e7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05dc\u05e7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T12:49:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T12:49:09+00:00" }, { "id": 34227, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%97%d7%a7%d7%aa-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05e7\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05e7\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:58:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T03:58:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34222, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-chukas-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Chukas", "content_html": "\nRav Volender, the Rov of the Jerusalem Prison, had just finished giving his morning shiur to the prisoners. It was a beautiful day outside, so Rav Volender walked through the park. He loved listening to the birds singing different songs and it always put him in a happy mood. Suddenly, the mooing of a cow startled him. \u201cA cow in the park? That can\u2019t be,\u201d thought Rav Volender to himself. The only way that could be possible was if\u2026 no, it couldn\u2019t be\u2026
\n\n\n\nBut sure enough, as Rav Volender turned the corner, there he was\u2026 none other than Tzadok \u201cHaTzadik\u201d, with his old sign advertising his \u201csegulot.\u201d And to Rav Volender\u2019s surprise \u2013 well, maybe he shouldn\u2019t have been surprised; it was Tzadok after all \u2013 there was Tzadok right next to a cow and he was painting it red!
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, Tzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender as he approached. \u201cI thought we had agreed that you were done with this silly stuff.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cRav Volender!\u201d cried Tzadok, jumping up to greet his Rov, as the cow gave a loud annoyed moo. \u201cHow great it is to see you! And you\u2019ve come just in time! Look! I have a Parah Adumah!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm, Tzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender looking at the half painted cow. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a Parah Adumah. It\u2019s just a cow that you\u2019re painting red.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut I looked everywhere in the Torah, and in the Zohar too!\u201d protested Tzadok. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t find anywhere where it says a Parah Adumah can\u2019t be painted red.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, it can\u2019t,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cI\u2019d be happy to learn the Halachos of Parah Adumah with you. But why on earth do you need a Parah Adumah?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok looked shocked. \u201cWhy do I need a Parah Adumah?\u201d he asked incredulously. \u201cA Parah Adumah is the most choshuv thing that a person can own! And besides I\u2019m going to sell the milk, which is bound to be a segulah for something, and I am also going to sell rides for kids. You know, riding on something so holy will make you kadosh just like a Parah Adumah!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUh, Tzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cDon\u2019t you know that if someone rides on a Parah Adumah, the cow becomes possul? A Parah Adumah has to be watched very carefully every day to make sure nothing goes wrong. Even if you put down your paintbrush on its back for one second, it would make it possul; it would be ruined!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Parah Adumah is only special when it is carefully watched that nothing should passul it, and it has to be watched until it is finally shechted and burned in the right way.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cShechted and burned?!?!?\u201d exclaimed Tzadok, horrified, as he gave the cow a tight hug, getting wet paint all over his clothes. \u201cHow could you say such a thing? What will this beautiful cow be worth if it\u2019s burned to ashes?!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender gently. \u201cLet me tell you a very important lesson that the Parah Adumah is teaching us. You know, of course, that a Yid\u2019s true purpose is Olam Haba, right?
\n\n\n\n\u201cHow do we get to Olam Haba? The only way to get there is by spending our lives properly, watching ourselves that we shouldn\u2019t do aveiros and filling our days as much as possible with mitzvos and learning Torah.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image.png?resize=640%2C453&ssl=1\")
\u201cJust like the Parah Adumah is only valuable if it’s guarded carefully according to the instructions in the Torah, so too a Yid cannot get to Olam Haba unless he spends his life exactly according to the instructions provided by the Torah. And just like the Parah Adumah becomes most valuable only after it dies; it\u2019s only after a person has lived properly, when it seems to us that it\u2019s all over, that\u2019s when the fun of Olam Haba begins!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat sounds so hard,\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cTo be careful my whole life? Is there a segulah that can help me with that?\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender paused. \u201cIn fact there is,\u201d he said after a moment, reaching into the bag he was holding.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d he said, handing a sefer to Tzadok. \u201cThis is a Mesillas Yesharim. If you learn a few minutes every day from this sefer \u2013 that will definitely be a segulah for you to be a Ben Olam Haba. Because a sefer like this teaches you how to keep far away from making mistakes that could ruin a person. And it teaches you how to become better and better every day.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow!\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cI\u2019m going to learn this sefer every day and try to do everything it says! And then my Parah Adumah and I can go to Olam Haba together!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cOlam Haba is for people, not cows.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo cows?\u201d asked Tzadok, hugging the cow again. \u201cBut won\u2019t I be bored in Olam Haba without my friend?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBored? In Olam Haba?\u201d Rav Volender laughed. \u201cTzadok, Olam Haba is the most wonderful place to be – you\u2019ll be too happy there to be bored.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh wow, then I had better get working on getting ready for Olam Haba!\u201d said Tzadok, as sat down next to the cow with his Mesillas Yesharim and began to learn.
\n\n\n\nTo be continued next week\u2026
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway:
\n\n\n\nThe mitzvah of Parah Adumah which seems to be so mysterious is teaching us something we must always keep in mind. We are here in this world to prepare for the happiness of the next world. After it seems like it\u2019s all over, that\u2019s the most valuable thing.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Chukas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:57:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T03:57:32+00:00" }, { "id": 34210, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-chukas-5-our-father-and-mother-2/", "title": "Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother", "content_html": "Two Great Mournings
\n\n\n\nWe begin with a possuk in this week\u2019s sedrah: \u201c\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05d5\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u2013 And the whole nation saw that Aharon had expired, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 and the entire house of Yisroel wept for Aharon for thirty days\u201d (Chukas 20:29). Not that \u201cthey mourned\u201d or \u201cwere sad\u201d \u2013 they wept copiously for thirty days. And who wept? Kol Beis Yisroel \u2013 theentire nation! Kol means that all of the men and boys, and all the women and girls, they raised their voices and expressed their grief aloud until everyone\u2019s eyes flowed with tears \u2013 everyone!
\n\n\n\nNow, about a half year later the Am Yisroel suffered another tragic loss. Moshe our Teacher, the leader who guided the nation for forty years, passed away. It was a terrible day; one of the saddest days in Jewish history. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b9\u05ea \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b8\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 And the Bnei Yisroel wept for Moshe \u2026 for thirty days (Devarim 34:8). They wept! They cried! They pounded their chests! No question it was a dark day for the nation.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet our Sages (Avos Di\u2019Rabi Nosson 12:3, Pirkei Di\u2019Rabi Eliezer 17) point out something in those pesukim that we may not have noticed. When Aharon passed away it says that \u201ckol Beis Yisroel, all of the nation, cried.\u201d But by Moshe it doesn\u2019t say kol. The nation wept in general, but it wasn\u2019t kol; it wasn\u2019t everyone.
\n\n\n\nIt’s a remarkable thing to notice in the pesukim and there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s not an accident \u2013 the Torah is telling us something important here; a very big principle lies in this story that deserves our attention. But first, as an introduction, we’ll quote a Gemara from Mesichta Sanhedrin, daf vav amud beis.
\n\n\n\nBending the Law
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara there is discussing the process of litigation in a beis din, when people come before the judges for a psak din. Two people are arguing over something, a business deal let\u2019s say, and they come now to the beis din for a Torah decision. And the judges are considering the various arguments. They\u2019re going to issue a final decision.
\n\n\n\nNow, one of the questions raised there is as follows: Does the beis din have to follow the letter of the law? Must we pasken exactly like the din says no matter how much hardship it will cause the loser? Or is it permissible to make a pesharah? We won’t give a full victory to the winner. Instead of following the letter of the law we’ll make some sort of arbitration; we\u2019ll find a way to make it that both of them come out satisfied.
\n\n\n\nSo Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yosi Hagelili says, \u201cNothing doing.\u201d \u05d0\u05b8\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u2013 \u201cIt’s forbidden to compromise\u201d he says. A dayan has to follow what the din says no matter how much the other party is going to suffer as a result; no matter how much he’ll be disappointed or the effect it might have on him, we don’t care. You have to pasken the Law of Hashem without any kind of consideration.
\n\n\n\nFacts Don\u2019t Care About Feelings
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara says that we learn that ideal from Moshe Rabeinu. \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b5\u05df \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8; he quotes what Moshe Rabeinu used to say: \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 The law has to make a hole through the mountain. Let’s say the law of the Torah, the psak, is now confronted by a mountain; a mountain of human emotions, of human circumstances. Moshe Rabeinu says, \u201cWe don’t care! The law must go straight on. \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8 \u2013 It even has to tunnel through the mountain. The halacha must drill right through all of those feelings and emotions.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s how Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yosi Hagelili paskened; like Moshe Rabeinu’s shitah that no matter what, we make no compromises when we deliver the psak din. You cannot falsify the Torah. You must say exactly what the Torah says.
\n\n\n\nOn The Other Hand\u2026
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention. The same speaker goes on. The same speaker is talking and he continues like this: \u201cThat was Moshe. \u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05dc \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b9\u05df – But Aharon was different. Aharon was an \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b5\u05e3 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd. He loved peace and he tried to run after it; \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 he made peace between people; he made compromises.
\n\n\n\nAharon is being praised because he was gentle with people. He was yielding. Instead of driving them away with a fist of the halachah, Aharon used to caress them and make compromises with them.
\n\n\n\nEverybody remembers that at the making of the eigel Aharon participated because he didn’t want to alienate the people. He thought, \u201cI’ll try a softer approach and I’ll win them over that way.\u201d That\u2019s how Aharon was \u2013 he was a compromiser.
\n\n\n\nCan You Have It Both Ways?
\n\n\n\nNow we have to understand what\u2019s doing here. Because the Gemara started out by praising the firmness of Moshe and saying that this is the proper Torah way; this tanna is upholding the derech of Moshe Rabeinu. But then it seems like this same speaker turns around and now he\u2019s praising Aharon’s system of making compromises.
\n\n\n\nBut that can\u2019t be. Both can\u2019t be right. After all what does it mean, the derech of Moshe Rabeinu? It means being strict; it means saying the law as it is; drilling through mountains to accomplish what\u2019s right.When Moshe came down from Har Sinai and found the eigel, he gave it over the head to Aharon. \u201cWhat did you do here?! You can\u2019t yield just because the people want to make an eigel!\u201dMoshe was indignant. \u201cNothing doing!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd Aharon said, \u201cI saw the people were this and this so I thought I’d make an excuse for them temporarily. I compromised so that \u2013
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d said Moshe Rabeinu. \u201cNo excuses! Look what you’ve done! You made them\u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd.\u201d Moshe was upset! He spoke firm words!
\n\n\n\nMoshe Our Firm Teacher
\n\n\n\nNobody ever was as firm in the compliance with the Torah as Moshe Rabeinu was. After Moshe Rabeinu we had great men, but nobody like him; he was the representative of Hashem’s Torah in this world and he did not countenance any yielding, any swerving aside, in even the smallest amount.
\n\n\n\nAnd it wasn\u2019t just once. Over and over again we see that he criticized the Am Yisroel bitterly for even the smallest deflection from the straight path of the Torah. You remember when\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e3 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dc \u2013 Moshe became angry at the officers for an infraction of the Torah (Bamidbar 31:14). He became angry at Aharon and his sons. \u05de\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u2013 Why didn\u2019t you eat from the chatas? Again and again Moshe Rabeinu becomes angry.
\n\n\n\nAll the time Moshe was there with his eagle eyes, looking over our shoulders. \u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b1\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 You have been rebellious with Hashem! (Devarim 9:24). All the time he was telling them that they have to keep the letter of the law; that they have to become better.
\n\n\n\nNow, Moshe Rabeinu never lost his temper. Moshe was in full control of his mind. But Moshe said, \u201cWe cannot yield when it comes to Torah!\u201d The Word of Hashem has to go on no matter what, and his anger was a public demonstration for the honor of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, everybody was afraid of him. Don\u2019t think it was easy for people to live with Moshe. They knew that he wouldn’t keep quiet for even the smallest infraction and therefore they toed the line of duty. They kept every smallest thing because they were always thinking, \u201cWhat will Moshe Rabeinu say?\u201d
\n\n\n\nFor All Generations
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat will Moshe say?\u201d It went into their bones. You know how much it went in? So much that even 2,000 years later, they were still thinking about it. You know, Flavius Josephus, lived at the end of Bayis Sheini, a few thousand years after Moshe Rabeinu lived. Now listento what he wrote in the book Jewish Antiquities (Book III, 15:3); it\u2019s a remarkable statement: \u201cThere is still no one of us who does not act – even now – as if Moshe was present and ready to punish him if he should do anything that is indecent.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know, Josephus was an ordinary Jew. He was a politician; he wasn\u2019t the most frum Jew you could find \u2013 far from it. And so he\u2019s telling us about the thoughts of the ordinary Jew on the street, the lower element. And he says that Moshe Rabeinu lived on in the minds of the Jewish people. When someone was thinking of something wrong, he thought, \u201cWhat would Moshe Rabeinu think of me?\u201d and that was a deterrent.
\n\n\n\nNow, such a thing doesn\u2019t happen by itself. It was a result of something. It was a result of a firmness. Because when you crossed the line of din Moshe didn\u2019t stand for it. \u201cThe Will of Hashem must stand! If we\u2019re going to be the Torah nation then the Torah must be allowed to drill through mountains if needed. That\u2019s the way of the Torah nation!\u201d And such an attitude changed us forever. That’s how powerful was the influence of the one who said \u201c\u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u201d
\n\n\n\nTough Love
\n\n\n\nOf course we know that no one loved the Am Yisroel more than Moshe did. Moshe prayed for them more than anyone else. Right after he publicly castigated them for being mamrim, for being rebellious, he said, \u201cI prayed for you for forty days and forty nights\u201d (Devarim 9:25). You know what it means to pray for forty days for someone! You have to love them with all your heart! You\u2019d consider yourself a tzadik if you prayed for someone else for ten minutes straight. And Moshe prayed for forty days and nights! That\u2019s called ahavas yisroel!
\n\n\n\nAnd yet the greatest love for his people was demonstrated by Moshe\u2019s strict and constant surveillance and his stern rebuke. Because that is what caused the nation to achieve the superlative excellence of a Torah nation.
\n\n\n\nYou know what it means to make a Torah nation, a nation that will be loyal forever? They have to be forged in fire! You can\u2019t have a nation of millions \u2013 it means men and women; boys and girls; wise people and not so wise people; soft people and not so soft people \u2013 you can\u2019t have an entire nation that is going to fulfill their destiny of being the Am Hashem unless they learn how to toe the Torah line.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why at that time Hakodosh Boruch Hu needed the most emphatic man that the world ever had; a teacher, a rebbi, a ruler who was the strictest in every detail of the Torah. It could be it wasn\u2019t always sugar and spice and everything nice but we needed a Moshe Rabeinu to teach us what Torah means. It was just what the doctor ordered because the Am Yisroel knew that Moshe wouldn’t keep quiet for the smallest infraction and therefore they toed the line of duty. And that attitude towards the Torah that was planted then was expected to last forever. That was a model for every generation.
\n\n\n\nThe Strict Teacher
\n\n\n\nBut now we come back to our question. If Moshe Rabeinu is the way forward, if \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8 is the way to make a Torah nation, then why is Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yosi Hagelili in the same breath extolling the way of Aharon? He applies there wonderful words to Aharon\u2019s way. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 In his mouth was the Torah of truth, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e4\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 no injustice was found on his lips, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9, he walked with Me with peace and uprightness, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b5\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df, and he brought back many people from doing sins. It\u2019s praising Aharon\u2019s way! And not just praise; it\u2019s praising him up to the sky.
\n\n\n\nSo who is right? Is it our strict Teacher Moshe, or is it the rodef shalom, Aharon Hakohen?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is you need both; just because the Torah nation needed Moshe Rabeinu’s firmness and his unyielding character, that’s why we need an Aharon too. You know when you have to talk with bak-tzeiner (explicitly), so sensitive people are hurt. When you speak with a lashon of strong rebuke, you know what’s going to happen? It will arouse certain resentment. And so when Moshe said what had to be said \u2013 and he said it with teeth \u2013 so some people were frightened by it; many people naturally had a feeling within them of revolt.
\n\n\n\nThe Easygoing Substitute Teacher
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t you see in this place when I say things that people don\u2019t like, some people never come back. I never see them again. Last year, or maybe it was two years ago, I had a group of young men who visited me for a certain reason. Someone brought them to see me. Now I knew that they were very lax in morality. So I told them, I said, \u201cThe time will come when, for what you\u2019re doing, blood will come out of places in your body that you didn\u2019t imagine blood could come out of.\u201d Their eyes popped out of their heads. Some of them never came again.
\n\n\n\nWhen you have to follow that Torah principle of \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8, there are going to be wounded people. If the halacha keeps on going even through a mountain of people, it makes a hole in them and sometimes feelings will be hurt. Some will be alienated.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Aharon came along on the footsteps of Moshe Rabeinu and he utilized his abilities to console people; to caress them and to be mekarev them. And he was \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b5\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 he saved many people from falling away into sin. And that was the plan of Hashem from the beginning. In order for the nation to gain from Moshe Rabeinu the most that they could gain, an Aharon was needed too. Aharon was the complimentary personality who helped to complete the personality of Moshe Rabeinu and together they led the dor hamidbar in becoming a generation that achieved shleimus.
\n\n\n\nThe Soap Factory
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why in the same breath of paskening that the right way is to be unyielding, the same speaker goes on and he praises the kindliness of Aharon. Because we need kindly people. The Am Yisroel needs a Moshe Rabeinu, absolutely, but just the same it was necessary to have another one who stood by the side and consoled the people; he comforted them and cajoled them. Not to wipe away the firm words chas v\u2019shalom but to help the firmness settle in.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like when they used to make soap. You know how soap was made? Soap was made of two things. One is lye. The lye is what does the cleaning. But if you tried to clean yourself with lye, your skin would come off too. So you need some schmaltz. Lye and schmaltz together; the lye cleans it but the fat soothes it so it shouldn\u2019t be too strong.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Moshe Rabeinu was the lye. He burned out all the wickedness from us, all the mistakes, by teaching us the straight and firm line of Torah. And Aharon Hakohen was the gentle tzadik. He was the salve. He was the vaseline that came afterwards and smoothed us and caressed us so that the lye could do its good work.
\n\n\n\nLosing Our Gedolim
\n\n\n\nI remember when Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik zichrono levrachah passed away, there was a hesped here and one of the older rabbanim got up and said that it was a tremendous loss for our people. \u201cDo you know why?\u201d he said. \u201cBecause up until now everybody was afraid! We were afraid of him! But now ovad gavra dimistafeena minei; we lost the one who we were afraid of and now some people are going to do things that they would never have thought of doing before. They’ll make statements they never would have said before.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecause when there’s a gadol hador who has a strong character, a Moshe Rabeinu who speaks up, then many people who have azus and would do wrong things and say wrong things, they keep quiet. But if the generation is made up of leaders who are silent, who don’t open their mouths, then the baalei azus start speaking and doing things.
\n\n\n\nNow it could be some weaker people don\u2019t appreciate that firm hand; it could be the more sensitive people, the weaker people, didn\u2019t cry over Rav Yitzchak Zev. Because there are always weaker people who like softies; they want to be caressed and babied. Ok, that\u2019s important too. And that\u2019s why we need Aharons to lead us too; because we want the lye that cleans to have its effect. And therefore we appreciate the Aharon Hakohens, those loving leaders of ours who caress us always.
\n\n\n\nBut number one is we have to tell all Jews, \u201cYou must toe the line! There are no concessions! Everybody must keep the Torah! You have to adhere to our laws!\u201d We\u2019ll always need a Moshe Rabeinu to be a strict and truthful teacher of the Torah who won\u2019t allow any yielding.
\n\n\n\nRemoving The Reformers
\n\n\n\nOne of the great troubles of the Jewish people is they\u2019re too weak in dealing with resha\u2019im. Today you have wicked people, ignorant people, who take over the synagogues and the institutions and there are concessions and more concessions and that\u2019s how they finally arrive at nothing.
\n\n\n\nWho knows what kind of terrible things would have been averted had we had Gedolei Yisroel like in the days of old who spoke up. I remember the days of the Agudas Harabbanim. They were very strong! They came out openly!
\n\n\n\nI don’t want to mention the terrible things that the Reformers are doing today, the Reform rabbis and the mishkav zacharniks, but when they came together and said \u201cWe should permit gay marriages\u201d there should have been an upheaval, a revolution!
\n\n\n\nWe need leaders who condemn it in the strongest words possible. And the Reformers would have known beforehand the kabalas panim they\u2019d get. They would have thought it over before they stepped in. You toe the line or else! If you don\u2019t toe the Torah line then goodbye \u2013 you\u2019re not part of our nation. And that would save us. The scabs would fall off and we\u2019d remain the Torah nation!
\n\n\n\nThe Leaders Need Followers
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why when we look back on that great generation in the Wilderness and think about all of the great things they experienced we have to remember that one of the greatest of all experiences was Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe, our Teacher! Everybody was afraid of him! And the nation was expected to appreciate his firm hand because we need that.
\n\n\n\nWhen the Torah contrasts the crying of kol Beis Yisroel over Aharon\u2019s death and the crying of Bnei Yisroel over Moshe, one of the lessons, the criticisms, is that we\u2019re expected not only to be afraid of Moshe Rabeinu \u2013 we\u2019re expected to appreciate him! As much as possible it should be kol Beis Yisroel who appreciates Moshe Rabeinu. If you understand the plan of Hashem you would appreciate equally the Moshes who are always saying, \u201c\u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8.\u201d The Torah nation has to learn to open their ears to the firmness of the leaders who walk in the footsteps of Moshe Rabeinu! Not only do we need strong leaders, but just as much we need a nation who want strong leaders.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why when the Hisachdus HaRabbonim [Williamsburg] made their stand against television, they were successful. Because they had the people behind them. The Williamsburg Jews always meant business and they still mean business! They\u2019re very staunch Jews and they don\u2019t want their children to deviate in the slightest from the ways of their fathers.And it\u2019s easier to be a leader when you have somebody to lead.
\n\n\n\nBut if you would have taken the Rabbonim of the Hisachdus and put them in our Ashkenazi kehillos or our Sephardi kehillot, they\u2019d have to keep quiet. They wouldn\u2019t be able to open their mouths because if the people are milquetoasts so there\u2019s nobody to talk to.
\n\n\n\nThrow It Out Of Your Home!
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re lucky that I\u2019m soft. I say the truth but I\u2019m not saying it in the way I should be saying it. There\u2019s nobody to talk to here; there are a lot of weaklings. I know that people have it in their homes. Ok, so over here there\u2019s one tzadik who means business and he obeys \u2013 he threw it out. Another tzadik over there who also threw it out. But otherwise there are a lot of weaklings. People are putting up a good front, that\u2019s all that they\u2019re doing. Some of them even grow beards. They put on black hats and they act like tzadikim. But I know what\u2019s doing in the homes. There\u2019s a ruach hatumah in the homes. And so there\u2019s nobody to talk to.
\n\n\n\nBut if you have people who know what their role is in this world, people who want to be the Am Hashem, so they want leaders like Moshe Rabeinu! Because that\u2019s the great opportunity for perfection, for the great perfection of achieving a Torah mind. Yes, we need the Aharon Hakohens too, absolutely. We need the schmaltz along with the lye. But we have to know that it\u2019s the lye that\u2019s doing the cleaning.
\n\n\n\nLife is successful when you have both the Moshe treatment and the Aharon treatment. We need both. It\u2019s a principle that we need strictness and we also need consolation. And therefore every generation, every situation, must have Moshe Rabeinus and Aharon Hakohens.
\n\n\n\nMashgiach vs. Menahel
\n\n\n\nYou know, there was once a yeshivah and the mashgiach was a strict mashgiach. When he saw a bachur who didn’t keep sedarim, he said, \u201cI’ll give you one more chance. Next time I’ll send you home.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut the boy kept on missing sedarim. Finally one day he came into the yeshivah very late and the mashgiach told him, \u201cYou have to leave. No more.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boy was hurt; he walked out of the beis medrash door with a broken heart. But on the other side of the door, down the hall, the menahel was sitting there and he told the boy to sit there in the office and learn. \u201cDon\u2019t leave,\u201d he said.
\n\n\n\nYou know what it means to leave the yeshiva? Sometimes it\u2019s a death sentence. The beis medrash is like a teivah. In the teivah of Noach if you sent somebody out, what’s going to happen to him? He\u2019ll drown chas veshalom. Even if he thinks he can swim he\u2019s in trouble. The truth is that if he thinks he can swim, he\u2019s in even more trouble. It’s a terrible world today. Even if a boy sits in a yeshivah and doesn’t learn anything, he’s better off than going outside the yeshivah. And so as soon as he\u2019s sent out you have to catch up to him and be an Aharon Hakohen and help him find a place, someplace good for him. Whatever it is, it\u2019s always Moshe and Aharon; it\u2019s semol docheh veyamin mekarev.
\n\n\n\nAnd that was one of the great lessons of the dor hamidbar. When you are fortunate enough to appreciate both treatments, that’s when you\u2019ll make the most progress in life. Why did the Generation of the Wilderness become the best generation in our history? Why is that our model nation? Just because of that. Because they had the benefit of a Moshe and Aharon.
\n\n\n\nA Father\u2019s Mercy
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a very important lesson you\u2019re hearing now. In the Wilderness we needed a father and mother to be formed into a Torah nation. We had the benefit of both a father, that was Moshe Rabeinu, and a mother, that was Aharon Hakohen. And I use those words purposefully because that generation was a model not only for the nation; it\u2019s a model for the Torah home too.
\n\n\n\nIn the davening we say \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. We\u2019re asking Hashem to have mercy on us like a father has mercy on his children. But there\u2019s a question here. Why doesn’t it say \u201clike the pity of a mother on her son\u201d? That would make more sense \u2013 after all isn\u2019t it the mother who has more pity?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is like this.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, one morning the father had to leave for work early and so he\u2019s not home. And now the mother goes into Chaim\u2019s room to wake him up for cheder. \u201cChaim,\u201d she says, \u201cIt\u2019s late. Get up quickly. You have to go to the yeshivah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nPlaying Hooky
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou know, Ma, I\u2019m really sick. I don\u2019t feel well. I can\u2019t go today.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the mother, she has a soft heart, so she says, \u201cAlright; alright. Get some rest.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe father comes in and says, \u201cWhat do you mean you don’t feel well? What’s the matter? You have temperature? We’ll take your temperature.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u2018No, I don’t have a temperature.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou have a sore throat?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo sore throat.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the father is thinking, \u2018If I let him stay home now, at 9 o’clock, at 10 o’clock he’ll become well and he’ll go out in the street\u2019. No, I can\u2019t allow that. He says to the son, \u201cSmack! Go straight to the yeshivah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nDo Not Yield
\n\n\n\nNow, had there been only a mother there, who knows what would have happened to this boy. Every second day Chaim would have a sore throat at 8 o\u2019clock and he\u2019d stay home from cheder. And by early afternoon he\u2019d be outside on the street. Who does he meet on the street? Bums. How do you think a boy bumps into drugs? He found them outside in the candy store when he was bumming around that day when he was off from the yeshivah.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we say kerachem av al banim because those are the mercies we need; a father’s mercies are generally better than the mother’s mercies because you need a mercy that\u2019s firm; it\u2019s rachmanus on the neshama.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the father in the home is a Moshe Rabeinu; he has an iron fist because he wants the children to toe the line. You need a father in the house, somebody to carry out the strictness. If there\u2019s a son that doesn\u2019t want to go to yeshivah, the father has to yank him out of bed. No such thing as pity on him. The mother can come along and give him a kiss, very good. But the father has to be a father. A son that doesn\u2019t want to learn, you have to force him to learn. Of course it doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t give him inducements. You should give him bribes too, certainly. But don\u2019t yield.
\n\n\n\nSaving a Child\u2019s Life
\n\n\n\nYou know sometimes a father comes to me and he\u2019s describing a problem with a child. And as he\u2019s talking to me I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWhat kind of milquetoast are you? That\u2019s a father?!\u201d He should have laid down the law: \u201cYou\u2019re back in the house before dark or else! You think you\u2019re going to hang out on the street? No way!\u201d But he just can\u2019t bring himself to that. He\u2019s a weakling. That\u2019s not a father. A father must be firm; he must demand that the family walk in the ways of the Torah, in the ways of righteousness.
\n\n\n\nI know it\u2019s not the style today but sometimes the father even has to hit the child; that\u2019s also mercy. \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 If you hold back the stick you’re an enemy of your son (Mishlei 13:24). That\u2019s not mercy; it means you\u2019re his enemy.
\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time even goyim lehavdil understood that. How many goyim were saved from ruining their lives? The father, an old Italian goy, took his boy in the backyard, into the woodshed, with a stick and gave him a drumming. And you know what? They didn’t become criminals. Their lives were saved.
\n\n\n\nItalians and Snoopers
\n\n\n\nI once saw a write-up. It said like this: In which country in Europe \u2013 this was a long time ago \u2013 which place in Europe is there the least juvenile delinquency? And it said there that Italy was the place. And the reason was because in Italy, of all the countries in Europe, the father was the boss. His word was law. And therefore, there was the least juvenile delinquency; because there was a fear of the father\u2019s potch.
\n\n\n\nOnly that today there are child abuse phone lines and snoopers. They see you hitting your child and they call up the child abuse committee and a woman comes down with a notebook, \u201cWhat’s it all about?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo we live in a meshugeneh world where they don\u2019t want us raising our children; there should be no fathers in the home, that\u2019s what they want. But we say no! We don\u2019t want to become meshugeh like you. And so certainly you must hit. Sometimes you must!Only you must employ wisdom. I can\u2019t give you easy solutions but you must be a father!
\n\n\n\nIf you do it right, words will help much more than hitting. Moshe Rabeinu didn’t hit the kohanim when he saw that the chatas was burned up. Vayiktzof! He showed anger. But Moshe’s anger was worse than hitting. They were frightened to death. And so if a father knows that the son is hurt by his father’s displeasure, showing displeasure is sufficient. Whatever it is, the father\u2019s role is to make sure everyone is toeing the line.
\n\n\n\nNature\u2019s Plan
\n\n\n\nOf course you need the mother too. You need an Aharon Hakohen in the house. Let’s say the boy got a potch and now the father walks out. The mother caresses him and says, \u201cMy sweet boy. I\u2019m so sorry. Go to the yeshivah. Listen to your father.\u201d And she sends him off with a piece of cake or a cookie and he yields. He yields to the potch and the caress.
\n\n\n\nAnd so you need both of them, certainly! Your mother always came to console you, to make you feel happy even though the father was strict. So you need both together.
\n\n\n\nThat’s what a father and a mother are for. Hakodosh Baruch Hu planned the family that way; the father is firm and the mother caresses. It’s a ruination of the family if they break the natural arrangement that Hakodosh Baruch Hu made. There must be a father and his mercies are \u201cNo concessions!\u201d And the mother cooperates. Only she does it differently; she cajoles and persuades the child. \u201cObey Abba. He knows best.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat’s how Hakodosh Boruch Hu made it. It\u2019s a natural thing. Hakodosh Boruch Hu made such an arrangement for the purpose so that the Torah family should always be successful because both father and mother play their role. Of course sometimes the father is the weak one. Sometimes the mother is stronger, but by and large that\u2019s the principle.
\n\n\n\nFathers Are Mothers Too
\n\n\n\nNow, everything should be done with seichel. The mother cannot be too yielding. The mother also has to worry about the child’s future. She’ll let the children do what they want? She should always yield to them and make them feel good? No, of course not. The mother has to be a Moshe Rabeinu sometimes too.
\n\n\n\nAnd the father also cannot be cruel and ignore the child’s feelings. But is the father going to bring home toys all the time to his children? Should he always let them do what they want? If he does that, he\u2019s not a father. He’d be failing in the performance that’s required of him. And therefore although a father has to use judgment too \u2013 he can caress, and he can give toys too, but a father must still be a father. From the beginning the father should say, \u201cDo this!\u201d and he should also caress. The mother should also say, \u201cDo this!\u201d and caress. Both things, with rogez and with rachamim; \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05d2\u05b6\u05d6 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8. Both things together.
\n\n\n\nEncouragement Works
\n\n\n\nA man called me this week on the telephone and he says that he has a son that doesn\u2019t listen to him. A young boy who doesn\u2019t listen to him. So I said, \u201cCall him in and caress his cheek and talk to him.\u201d You should know that the words go into his head. Even though he may seem to not be listening, the words go into his head anyways. Give him a glett, a caress on the cheek, and talk to him.
\n\n\n\nYou know children also have burdens; they might not be your burdens but in their own eyes they have very big burdens. And you can put your shoulder under their heavy packages and lighten their load by encouraging them with kind words. And children who are encouraged in the home learn better. They are more neat in their habits. They are cooperative if they are encouraged. Parents who speak to their children should know that their words are heard. And not only if he\u2019s a good child; any child.
\n\n\n\nSo the mercy of a father also means to pat him on the cheek and say, \u201cChaim\u2019l, you really have a good neshama and I think you can make something great out of yourself. So let\u2019s do this one line in the Gemara. I\u2019m going to learn with you now, just one line. And say it over to me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Chaim says one line over. He knows one line in the Gemara and he feels good that he knows it. You praise him up to the sky! You know what that means?! You\u2019re putting him on his feet! And sometimes you give him something too. Give him half a dollar each time. \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea. Money helps. A kind glett and words of encouragement \u2013 some money too \u2013 can do wonders. You can build up a boy that way!
\n\n\n\nPlanned Parenthood
\n\n\n\nBut even that requires firmness. A line a day is still a line. He can\u2019t go outside to play until it\u2019s done. And he should know it! The end will be he might become a chacham too. A lot of boys who bummed around, but they had strict fathers and something came of them!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the father must be the Moshe Rabeinu, the one who stands on principle. Of course he has to be a man of consideration too, but he has to be a man of principle because he knows what will happen in the long run if he allows the child to do as he wishes. And so he has to sacrifice some of that mercy that is in his heart.
\n\n\n\nSo you understand now why kol Beis Yisroel cried for Aharon when he passed away, while for Moshe not so much. Beis Yisroel means the more emotional element. Who doesn\u2019t appreciate a softie, someone that makes everything smooth? And therefore the weeping for Moshe was less than the weeping for Aharon.
\n\n\n\nBut we see that Hashem\u2019s plan was to supply Israel with a stern father and gentle mother. These are the journeys of the Sons of Israel when they went forth from the land of Egypt according to their hosts, by the hand of Moshe and Aharon (33:1). It was Hashem\u2019s arrangement whereby two leaders of such different natures headed the nation and He wants us to appreciate that. And as long as you appreciate them properly and know that the father is a father and the mother is a mother and that together they accomplish the purpose of giving you the perfection from which you were created, that\u2019s how you\u2019ll become successful in this world.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nBeing Firm
\n\n\n\nWhile everyone mourned the death of Aharon, only the wise people mourned the death of Moshe who was a stern father to his people. It takes wisdom to recognize \u201ca father\u2019s mercy\u201d, to feel the love even when it is administered with sternness.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder work on developing the attitude of being a demanding father. Rav Miller always explained that the most important child one can parent is him/herself. This week I will set aside a minute each day to berate myself sternly and exercise strict self control so that I can improve in serving Hashem.
\nThe post Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:55:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-06-08T06:28:08+00:00" }, { "id": 34216, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-chukas-5-our-father-and-mother/", "title": "Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother", "content_html": "TA-Chukas-5782The post Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:50:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T03:50:56+00:00" }, { "id": 34209, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-chukas-5-our-father-and-mother/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother", "content_html": "TA-Chukas-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Chukas 5 – Our Father and Mother appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:50:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T03:50:23+00:00" }, { "id": 34207, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-poder-de-la-imaginacion/", "title": "El poder de la imaginaci\u00f3n ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted habl\u00f3 esta noche sobre la importancia de tener una mente llena de im\u00e1genes de la Tor\u00e1. \u00bfC\u00f3mo se trabaja ese k\u00f3aj hatziur (poder de la imaginaci\u00f3n)? \u00bfC\u00f3mo se pueden obtener im\u00e1genes en la mente?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nY la respuesta es que se aprende por experiencia, por medio de la pr\u00e1ctica. Digamos que quieres crear una imagen en tu mente de lo que le sucedi\u00f3 a K\u00f3raj; as\u00ed que la pr\u00f3xima vez que camines por la calle y veas una zanja profunda – digamos que los trabajadores del gas est\u00e1n cavando un pozo profundo para poder colocar una tuber\u00eda nueva – as\u00ed que cuando pases debes pensar: “\u00bfC\u00f3mo se sentir\u00eda un hombre si fuera puesto en esa zanja y la excavadora empujara toda la tierra encima de \u00e9l y lo cubriera vivo? No ser\u00eda divertido; \u00a1no ser\u00eda para nada divertido!
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, supongamos que la zanja es muy profunda – es profunda y profunda y profunda – y sabes que es un viaje de ida; \u00a1entonces no es nada divertido! Y ahora K\u00f3raj se est\u00e1 sumergiendo en esa zanja. Imagina a K\u00f3raj cayendo en esa zanja. Ay, n\u00e9baj, pobre K\u00f3raj. Ay, si tan s\u00f3lo hubiera hecho teshuv\u00e1 solo un segundo antes; si tan solo hubiera gritado: \u201cMosh\u00e9 emet vetorat\u00f3 emet: Mosh\u00e9 es verdadero y toda su Tor\u00e1 es verdadera y yo soy el shakr\u00e1n, el mentiroso.” Si s\u00f3lo K\u00f3raj hubiera gritado eso, se habr\u00eda salvado.
\n\n\n\n\u00a1Pero no! \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0\u05d5 \u05e0\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Salieron con descaro hasta el \u00faltimo minuto.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfSabes lo que est\u00e1 haciendo en el Guehinom ahora? En el Guehinom, est\u00e1 tratando de recuperar ese \u00faltimo minuto y grita: \u201c\u00a1Ay! \u00a1Mosh\u00e9 emet vetorat\u00f3 emet!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRab\u00e1 bar bar Jan\u00e1 una vez tuvo una visi\u00f3n. Una visi\u00f3n del Guehinom; como el Guehinom estaba hirviendo como una olla. Y en la olla algunas veces la comida est\u00e1 abajo y otras veces la comida est\u00e1 arriba, seg\u00fan el movimiento de las aguas. As\u00ed que a veces K\u00f3raj est\u00e1 en la parte inferior del Guehinom, y a veces est\u00e1 en la parte superior. Y las aguas hirvientes lo llevaron a la cima del Guehinom y Rab\u00e1 bar bar Jan\u00e1 escuch\u00f3 a K\u00f3raj gritar de desesperaci\u00f3n. K\u00f3raj est\u00e1 llorando por los siglos de los siglos. Han pasado miles de a\u00f1os desde entonces y todav\u00eda grita: \u201c\u00a1Mosh\u00e9 emet vetorat\u00f3 emet!\u201d porque quiere recuperar ese \u00faltimo minuto. Pero ya es muy tarde. Si lo hubiera hecho antes, se habr\u00eda salvado.
\n\n\n\nY as\u00ed es como construyes un tziur. Tienes que pensar en ello y describirlo en tu mente con detalles y repetirlo una y otra vez, y poco a poco obtienes en tu mente una imagen: \u00bfNo es mejor para todos decir en este mundo, “Mosh\u00e9 emet vetorat\u00f3 emet;\u201d en lugar de ser un liberal, un rash\u00e1, y toda su vida ser un kofer (hereje) y luego, cuando muere, es demasiado tarde. Y luego va a gritar de angustia por los siglos de los siglos. “\u00a1Ah ah ah! \u00a1Ahora s\u00e9 que Mosh\u00e9 emet vetorat\u00f3 emet! Si tan s\u00f3lo pudiera decir esas palabras con bejir\u00e1 (libre albedr\u00edo).\u201d Pero es demasiado tarde: bejir\u00e1 hay s\u00f3lo en este mundo.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, si trabajas en tziurim por medio de la repetici\u00f3n y d\u00e1ndoles detalles en vivo, y lo haces una y otra vez, entonces \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d8\u05d4\u05e8 \u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem ayudar\u00e1 a aquellos que se ayudan a s\u00ed mismos, y podr\u00e1s crear verdaderos tziurim en tu mente.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #501
\nThe post El poder de la imaginaci\u00f3n appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-03T03:38:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-03T03:38:41+00:00" }, { "id": 34270, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pictures-in-the-mind-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Pictures in the Mind", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav spoke tonight about the importance of having a mind that is filled with Torah pictures. How does one work on this ko\u2019ach hatziyur? How can one gain pictures in the mind?
A:
And the answer is that you learn by experience, by means of practice. Let\u2019s say you want to create a picture in your mind of what happened to Korach; so the next time you walk in the street and you see a deep ditch \u2013 let\u2019s say, the gas workers are digging a deep hole so that they can lay a new pipe \u2013 so as you pass by you should think, \u201cHow would it feel if a man was put in that ditch and the bulldozer pushed all the dirt on top of him and covered him alive?\u201d It\u2019s no fun; it\u2019s no fun!
Now, suppose the ditch is very deep \u2013 it\u2019s deep and deep and deep \u2013 and you know it\u2019s a one way trip; then it\u2019s no fun at all! And now Korach is diving down into that ditch. Imagine Korach diving down into that ditch. Oy, nebach, poor Korach. Oy \u2013 if only he would have done teshuva just a second before; if only he would have shouted, \u201cMoshe emes v\u2019soraso emes \u2013 Moshe is true and all of his Torah is true and I am the shakran; I am wrong.\u201d If only Korach would have shouted that, he would have been saved.
\n\n\n\nBut no! \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0\u05d5 \u05e0\u05e6\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 They went out with chutzpah until the last minute.
\n\n\n\nYou know what he\u2019s doing in Gehenom now? In Gehenom, he\u2019s trying to get back that last minute and he\u2019s shouting, \u201cOy! Moshe emes v\u2019soraso emes!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRabbah bar bar Chana once had a vision. He once saw a vision of Gehenom; how Gehenom was boiling like a pot. And in the pot sometimes the food is on the bottom and sometimes the food is on the top, according to the movement of the waters. So sometimes Korach is on the bottom of Gehenom, sometimes he\u2019s on the top. And the boiling waters brought him to the top of Gehenom and Rabbah bar bar Chana heard Korach crying out in despair. He\u2019s crying out forever and ever. It\u2019s thousands of years since then and he\u2019s still crying out, \u201cMoshe emes v\u2019soraso emes!\u201d because he wants to get that last minute back. But it\u2019s too late. Had he done it before, he would have been saved.
\n\n\n\nAnd so that\u2019s how you build up a tziyur. You have to think about it and describe it in your mind with details and repeat it again and again and little by little you get in your mind a picture: Isn\u2019t it better for everybody to say in this world, \u201cMoshe emes v\u2019soraso emes;\u201d rather than being a liberal, a rasha, and all his life he is a koifer and then when he\u2019s dead it\u2019s too late. And then he\u2019s going to cry out in anguish forever and ever. \u201cAh, ah, ah! Now I know that Moshe emes v\u2019soraso emes! If only I could say those words with bechira.\u201d But it\u2019s too late \u2013 bechira is only in this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, if you work on tziyurim by means repetition and giving live details to them, and you do it over and over again, so \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d8\u05d4\u05e8 \u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem will help those who help themselves, and you\u2019ll be able to create real tziyurim in your mind.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 501
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Pictures in the Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-07-01T16:59:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-05T17:04:55+00:00" }, { "id": 34200, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/obligaciones-con-un-rasha/", "title": "Obligaciones con un rash\u00e1 ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted dijo antes que ciertamente hay jud\u00edos que caen en la categor\u00eda de resha\u00edm. \u00bfCu\u00e1les son nuestras obligaciones hacia un jud\u00edo rash\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nLa primera obligaci\u00f3n es intentar que cambie su conducta. Y quiero decirles que hay tantas buenas maneras de c\u00f3mo hacer eso que realmente es notable que no se las est\u00e9 haciendo.
\n\n\n\nImagina que hay una familia que no es observante. Te gustar\u00eda entrar all\u00ed y hablar con ellos, pero por supuesto que no har\u00edas eso. \u00bfEscribirles cartas? Las tirar\u00edan a la basura.
\n\n\n\nSupon que pagas tres d\u00f3lares a los de Lubavitch por una suscripci\u00f3n a \u201cTalks and Tales\u201d. Cuesta tres d\u00f3lares al a\u00f1o. Todos los meses env\u00edan una peque\u00f1a revista en ingl\u00e9s con historias y algunos consejos. Es una buena influencia. Habla de las maravillas de Hashem en la naturaleza y otras cosas. Todos los meses llega.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, puede ser que lo tiren a la basura la primera vez, pero si es algo impreso, tarde o temprano lo recoger\u00e1n en un momento de inactividad y lo leer\u00e1n. Puede tener un efecto. Si contin\u00faa a\u00f1o tras a\u00f1o -son s\u00f3lo tres d\u00f3lares – \u00a1imagina cu\u00e1nto puedes lograr! Una suscripci\u00f3n de tres d\u00f3lares a \u201cTalks and Tales\u201d. Viene todos los meses por correo y con el tiempo se va acumulando. Los ni\u00f1os pueden leerlo. Los padres pueden leerlo. \u00bfQui\u00e9n sabe lo que podr\u00eda hacer? \u00a1Podr\u00eda hacer una revoluci\u00f3n!
\n\n\n\nHay muchas otras formas. Suscripciones a peri\u00f3dicos ortodoxos en ingl\u00e9s. A veces es tan f\u00e1cil poner el pie en la puerta y es una pena que la gente ni siquiera piense en estos m\u00e9todos.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, otro m\u00e9todo puede parecerte extremo. Es posible rezar por los jud\u00edos resha\u00edm. Puedes rezar por la gente. Por supuesto, tus rezos tienen que ser sinceros. Si te es posible hacer alguna acci\u00f3n y solamente rezas muestra falta de sinceridad. Sin embargo, el rezo es importante. Rezamos por nuestros compa\u00f1eros jud\u00edos, las ovejas perdidas que se est\u00e1n descarriando y se pierden por todas partes. Algunos de ellos est\u00e1n hoy en las monta\u00f1as del Himalaya. Algunos est\u00e1n en la India fumando hash\u00edsh.
\n\n\n\nEn todo el mundo, los muchachos y muchachas jud\u00edos se est\u00e1n perdiendo. Se descarriaron, buscando algo que nunca encontrar\u00e1n. Y qu\u00e9 importante hubiera sido si alguien hubiera intervenido en el momento adecuado y les hubiera enviado algo para que lean. Lo entrega el cartero – no puedes decirle al cartero: “no lo traigas”, y podr\u00eda influenciar. \u00bfQui\u00e9n sabe? Podr\u00eda haber cambiado sus vidas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #625
\nThe post Obligaciones con un rash\u00e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-30T22:18:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-30T22:19:00+00:00" }, { "id": 34197, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%a0%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%90%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%91%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%90-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d4: \u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05df, \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05d7\u05e7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e0\u05d0\u05d8\u05d5\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9\u05db\u05e2 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d6", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-225The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d4: \u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05df, \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05d7\u05e7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd, \u05e0\u05d0\u05d8\u05d5\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9\u05db\u05e2 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d6 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-30T22:16:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-30T22:16:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34266, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-obligations-to-a-rasha/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Obligations to A Rasha", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said before that there are certainly Jews who fall into the category of reshaim. What are our obligations towards a Jewish rasha?
A:
The first obligation is to attempt to get him to change his ways. And I want to tell you people that there are so many good ways you can do things like that; it\u2019s remarkable that it\u2019s not being done.
Imagine there\u2019s a family that doesn\u2019t observe. You\u2019d like to walk in there and speak to them but of course you wouldn\u2019t do that. To write letters? They\u2019ll throw it in the wastebasket.
\n\n\n\nSuppose you pay three dollars to the Lubavitcher for a subscription to \u201cTalks and Tales.\u201d It costs three dollars a year. Every month they send a little magazine in English with stories with some admonitions. It\u2019s a good influence. It talks about the wonders of Hashem in nature; other things. Every month it comes.
\n\n\n\nNow it could be they\u2019ll throw it in the wastebasket the first time, but if it\u2019s a printed thing, sooner or later they\u2019ll pick it up in an idle moment and read it. It may have an effect. If you\u2019ll keep it up year after year \u2013 it\u2019s only three dollars \u2013 imagine how much you can accomplish! A three dollar subscription to \u201cTalks and Tales.\u201d It comes every month by the mailman and in the course of time, it piles up. Children might read it. Parents might read it. Who knows what it could do? It might make a revolution!
\n\n\n\nThere are many other ways. Subscriptions to Orthodox newspapers in English. Sometimes it\u2019s so easy to put your foot in the doorway and it\u2019s a pity that people don\u2019t even think of these methods.
\n\n\n\nNow another method may seem to you extreme. It\u2019s possible to pray for Jewish resha\u2019im. You can pray for people. Of course your prayers have to be sincere. If it\u2019s possible for you to do something in action and you relegate it to the realm of prayer, it shows a lack of sincerity. However, prayer is important. We pray for our fellow Jews, the lost sheep that are straying away and going lost everywhere. Some of them are today in the Himalayan mountains. Some are in the dens in India smoking hashish.
\n\n\n\nAll over the world, Jewish boys and girls are going lost. They strayed away, looking for something that they\u2019ll never find. And how important it would have been if somebody would have stepped in the right moment and send in some literature to them. It would be delivered by the mailman \u2013 you can\u2019t tell the mailman, \u201cDon\u2019t bring it,\u201d and it could have affected them. Who knows? It could have changed their lives.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 625
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Obligations to A Rasha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-30T16:54:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-05T16:56:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34194, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/reshaim/", "title": "Resha\u00edm ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede un jud\u00edo ser considerado rash\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nBueno, tenemos que buscar en el jumash y preguntarle a Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu. Y Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu dijo sobre K\u00f3raj: “\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05b3\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05bd\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Ap\u00e1rtense de las tiendas de estos resha\u00edm\u201d. As\u00ed que los llam\u00f3 resha\u00edm. Entonces vemos que a veces un jud\u00edo puede ser un rash\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nNo existe decir que no hay resha\u00edm. Esa actitud progresista de que todo es excusable no puede ser aceptada por nosotros. Tenemos nuestros principios y a veces hay que llamar a una cosa por su nombre. Y una persona que es desleal a la Tor\u00e1 ciertamente merece cierta reprimenda. Y si merece el nombre de rash\u00e1, no significa que tengas que decirlo, pero ciertamente podr\u00edas clasificarlo en la categor\u00eda de rash\u00e1.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #625
\nThe post Resha\u00edm appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-30T02:43:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-30T02:43:13+00:00" }, { "id": 34260, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-jewish-reshaim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Jewish Resha\u2019im", "content_html": "\nQ:
Can a Jew ever be a rasha?
A:
\n\n\n\nWell, we have to look in the chumash and ask Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu said about Korach, \u201c\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05b3\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05bd\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Move yourselves away from the tents of these resha\u2019im\u201d (Bamidbar 16:26). So he called them resha\u2019im. So we see that sometimes a Jew could be a rasha.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no such thing as saying “There\u2019s no resha\u2019im”.\u00a0 This liberal attitude that everything is excusable cannot be accepted by us.\u00a0 We have our principles and sometimes you have to call a thing by its name.\u00a0 And a person who is disloyal to the Torah certainly deserves a certain rebuke.\u00a0 And if he deserves the name of rasha \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean you have to say it \u2013 but you could certainly categorize him in the category of rasha.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 625
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Jewish Resha\u2019im appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-29T17:49:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T17:56:26+00:00" }, { "id": 34711, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-houkat/", "title": "Paracha ‘Houkat", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Houkat-5782The post Paracha ‘Houkat appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-29T03:45:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:45:50+00:00" }, { "id": 34177, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/no-abras-la-boca/", "title": "No abras la boca", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfHay un l\u00edder principal del Kelal Israel hoy en d\u00eda?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEso no me corresponde a m\u00ed decirlo. Pero lo que puedo decir es que s\u00ed tenemos l\u00edderes hoy. Baruj Hashem, tenemos l\u00edderes.
\n\n\n\nPero debo decirte que no estoy de acuerdo con la actitud de ser mevatel, de menospreciar al Gadol (gran l\u00edder) de otra persona. No; no estoy de acuerdo con esa actitud. Guedolim pueden haber aqu\u00ed y Guedolim pueden haber all\u00ed, y tenemos que apreciarlos a todos. Tu Gadol no tiene que ser el \u00fanico Gadol.
\n\n\n\nY aunque pudiera haber un majl\u00f3ket, un desacuerdo, entre ellos; s\u00ed, puede haber un majl\u00f3ket entre ellos, pero debemos mantenernos al margen del majl\u00f3ket. \u00a1Es fuego! \u00a1Peor que el fuego! No deber\u00edamos decir ni una palabra. \u00a1Ni una palabra! Rav Shaj, digamos, y el Lubavitcher Rebe pueden tener sijsujim, algunos conflictos y diferencias de opiniones entre ellos; no s\u00e9 si los tienen, pero si tienen algunos sijsujim, no es asunto nuestro. Es el fuego del Guehinom abrir tu boca. Mant\u00e9n la boca cerrada. Es un tr\u00e1gico error entrometerse.
\n\n\n\nY la forma m\u00e1s sabia es no decir nada y tener el mayor d\u00e9rej \u00e9retz, el mayor respeto, por todas aquellas personas que son reconocidas. Despu\u00e9s de todo, el Lubavitcher Rebe es reconocido por muchas personas. Y Rav Shaj es reconocido por muchas personas. As\u00ed que debemos mantener la boca cerrada y reconocerlos a ambos. Ese es el camino que debemos seguir.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 abri\u00f3 la tierra su gran boca para tragarse a K\u00f3raj? Porque K\u00f3raj abri\u00f3 su gran boca para hablar en contra de Mosh\u00e9. \u00a1As\u00ed que no abras la boca! Porque a\u00fan hoy la tierra abre su boca para enterrar a los hombres. Muchos son tragados tempranamente en la tumba porque abrieron la boca. Y lo que es a\u00fan peor: muchos son tragados en el Guehinom al igual que K\u00f3raj. As\u00ed que no abras la boca. S\u00f3lo va a traerte problemas a ti mismo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #901 (enero de 1993)
\nThe post No abras la boca appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-29T02:57:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-29T02:58:00+00:00" }, { "id": 3010, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-rav-shach-and-the-lubavitcher-rebbe-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Rav Shach and the Lubavitcher Rebbe", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there one main leader of Klal Yisroel today?
A:
That\u2019s not for me to say. But what I can say is that we do have leaders today. Boruch Hashem, we have leaders.
But I must tell you that I disagree with the attitude of being mivatel, of putting down, someone else\u2019s gadol. No; I disagree with that attitude. Gedolim can be here and Gedolim can be there, and we have to appreciate all of them. Your Gadol doesn\u2019t have to be the only Gadol.
\n\n\n\nAnd even though there might be a machlokes, a disagreement, between them; yes, there may be a machlokes between them, but we should stay out of it. It\u2019s fire! Worse than fire! We shouldn\u2019t say a word. Not a word! So if Rav Shach, let\u2019s say, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe may have sichsuchim, some arguments; I don\u2019t know if they have, but if they have some sichsuchim it\u2019s none of our business. It\u2019s the fire of Gehenim to open up your mouth. Keep your mouth closed. It\u2019s a tragic mistake to mix in.
\n\n\n\nAnd the wisest way is to say nothing at all and to have the greatest derech eretz, the greatest respect, for all those people who are recognized. After all, the Lubavitcher Rebbi is recognized by many people. And Rav Shach is recognized by many people. So we should keep our mouths closed and recognize both of them. That\u2019s the way we should follow.
\n\n\n\nWhy did the earth open its big mouth to swallow Korach? Because Korach opened his big mouth to speak against Moshe. So don\u2019t open your mouth! Because even today the earth opens its mouth to bury men. Many are swallowed in an early grave because they opened their mouths. And what\u2019s even worse many are swallowed into Gehenim just like Korach was. So don\u2019t open your mouth. You\u2019re only going to bring trouble upon yourself.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 901 (January 1993)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Rav Shach and the Lubavitcher Rebbe appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-28T18:12:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T17:33:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34168, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-aborto-y-los-progresistas/", "title": "El aborto y los progresistas ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, antes usted dijo que, de acuerdo con la ley de la Tor\u00e1, la vida en su sentido m\u00e1s completo en realidad comienza s\u00f3lo cuando nace el ni\u00f1o. Pero cuando una mujer embarazada, digamos que est\u00e1 en su quinto mes, va de un obstetra religioso y \u00e9l la examina y dice: “Realmente siento vida”. \u00bfQu\u00e9 significa eso que dice que siente vida?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nCuando el m\u00e9dico dice que siente vida en un beb\u00e9 quiere decir que siente vida animal, vitalidad; pero \u00e9l no puede afirmar que los cambios que ocurren cuando el beb\u00e9 sale del \u00fatero no completan el proceso de considerar al beb\u00e9 completamente vivo.
\n\n\n\nPero antes de dejar el tema, para que no haya malentendidos, diremos en los t\u00e9rminos m\u00e1s en\u00e9rgicos posibles que Hakadosh Baruj Hu est\u00e1 interesado s\u00f3lo en dar vida, y no en quitar vidas inocentes.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, cuando se trata de la vida de criminales, de asesinos, Hakadosh Baruj Hu s\u00ed quiere quitarles la vida. Se repite una y otra vez [en la Tor\u00e1]; como dice \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05da \u05d3\u05dd \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d3\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e4\u05da \u2013 Cualquiera que derrame la sangre de un hombre, por un hombre su sangre ser\u00e1 derramada. \u201cNo me esperen\u201d, dice Hashem, \u201ctienen que vengarse de la v\u00edctima\u201d. Eso se dice abiertamente.
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, los criminales progresistas son los hip\u00f3critas m\u00e1s malvados del mundo. Ellos dicen, \u201cOh no; \u00a1No puedes matar a un ser humano!\u201d Un asesino mat\u00f3 a cinco o seis personas y tiene la intenci\u00f3n de continuar y los progresistas dicen que no puedes matarlo, que hay que internarlo en una instituci\u00f3n y rehabilitarlo, con televisi\u00f3n a color, con un men\u00fa nuevo todos los d\u00edas; un men\u00fa equilibrado. \u00bfY trabajo? No puedes obligarlo a trabajar; es contra su conciencia.
\n\n\n\nPero cuando se trata del aborto; “\u00a1Oh, por supuesto! \u00bfEl derecho a abortar? Todo el mundo deber\u00eda tener derecho a abortar\u201d, gritan.
\n\n\n\nEsas personas malvadas son t\u00edpicas de tener actitudes antag\u00f3nicas. Y la naci\u00f3n estadounidense finalmente ha demostrado que los desaprobamos.
\n\n\n\nEsta \u00faltima elecci\u00f3n, arrolladora, realmente fue una revoluci\u00f3n contra los locos progresistas. Y es hora de que los echemos de los gobiernos de las ciudades y de los gobiernos estatales tambi\u00e9n. Tenemos que deshacernos de ellos en todas partes porque esta gente est\u00e1 arruinando a los Estados Unidos. Ellos son aquellos por los cuales el crimen est\u00e1 floreciendo. Es s\u00f3lo por culpa de esos locos que el mundo est\u00e1 confundido y patas para arriba.
\n\n\n\nEl asesinato es asesinato. \u00bfY el asesinato de ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os que no han nacido? Tambi\u00e9n es una forma de asesinato. Entonces, \u00bfel hecho de que no es lo mismo que asesinar a personas nacidas, es que la gente se frotar\u00e1 el est\u00f3mago y dir\u00e1: \u201cSoy virtuoso; \u00bfS\u00f3lo he asesinado a beb\u00e9s que iban nacer\u201d? Eso es lo m\u00e1s malvado que podr\u00eda haber. Y es algo que se entiende perfectamente.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #337 (noviembre de 1980)
\nThe post El aborto y los progresistas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-28T04:14:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-28T04:14:59+00:00" }, { "id": 34253, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-abortion-and-topsy-turvy-liberals/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Abortion and Topsy-Turvy Liberals", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said before that according to the Torah law, life in its fullest sense actually begins only when a child is born. But when a pregnant woman, let\u2019s say she\u2019s in her fifth month, when she goes to a religious obstetrician and he examines her so he\u2019ll turn around and say, \u201cI actually feel life.\u201d What does that mean when he says he feels life?
A:
When the doctor says he feels life in a baby it means he feels animal life, vitality; but he can\u2019t say that the changes that occur when the baby comes out of the womb don\u2019t complete the process of the baby being considered fully alive.
But before we leave the subject \u2013 I\u2019m sorry that that the subject even came up because it shouldn\u2019t lead to confusion. And so in order that there shouldn’t be any misunderstanding we\u2019ll say in the strongest possible terms that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is interested only in giving life, and not the taking of innocent life.
\n\n\n\nNow, when it comes to the lives of criminals, of murderers, Hakodosh Boruch Hu does want the taking of their lives. It’s repeated again and again; like it says \u05e9\u05d5\u05e4\u05da \u05d3\u05dd \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d3\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e4\u05da \u2013 anybody who sheds the blood of a man, by man his blood must be shed. \u201cDon’t wait for Me,\u201d Hashem says, \u201cyou have to take revenge for the victim.\u201d That\u2019s said openly.
\n\n\n\nOf course the criminal liberals, they are the most wicked hypocrites in the world. They say, \u201cOh no; you can’t kill a human being!\u201d Here is a murderer who killed five five or six people and he intends to continue. And the liberals say you can’t kill him. You have to put him in an institution and rehabilitate him with color television, with a new menu everyday; a balanced menu. And work? You can’t force him to work; it’s against his conscience.
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to abortion; \u201cOh sure! The right to abort? Everybody should have the right to abort,\u201d they scream.
\n\n\n\nAnd these people are typical of the topsy-turvy attitudes of these wicked people. And the American nation has finally shown that we disapprove of them.
\n\n\n\nThis last election, the landslide, really was a revolution against the crazy liberals. And it’s time we threw them out of the city governments and the state governments too. We have to get rid of them everywhere because these people are ruining America. They are the ones because of whom crime is flourishing. It’s only due to these crazy people that the world is upside-down.
\n\n\n\nMurder is murder. And murder of little children that are unborn? It’s also a form of murder. So the fact that it’s not the same as murdering born people, are people are going to rub their stomachs and say, \u201cI’m virtuous; I’ve only murdered unborn babies\u201d? It’s as wicked as could be and that should be clearly understood.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 337 (November 1980)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Abortion and Topsy-Turvy Liberals appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-27T17:07:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T17:11:33+00:00" }, { "id": 34158, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/licencia-para-portar-armas/", "title": "Licencia para portar armas", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nCuando una persona trabaja en un barrio peligroso \u00bfes recomendable solicitar una licencia para portar armas?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsa es una pregunta que no es tan f\u00e1cil de responder, porque muchas veces puedes arregl\u00e1rtelas con un sustituto de un arma. Como lo que dices en Elokai Netzor todos los d\u00edas: \u05d5\u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05db\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u2013 Y que mi alma sea como polvo para todos. Si alguien, un goi, es descarado y te insulta, convi\u00e9rtete en anav (humilde). Vale la pena ser anav. Vivir\u00e1s m\u00e1s si eres humilde y mantienes la boca cerrada.
\n\n\n\nPero cuando tienes un arma en el bolsillo, puedes olvidarte de ti mismo y responder precipitadamente. Y luego, no es tan seguro que tu atacante no tenga tambi\u00e9n un arma. Y podr\u00eda saber c\u00f3mo usarla mejor que t\u00fa.
\n\n\n\nUna vez fui a visitar a un amigo. Me encontraba caminando en la calle y mi amigo vio que yo llevaba un palo, un palo pesado. Fue hace muchos a\u00f1os, hace unos treinta a\u00f1os y era un barrio peligroso, as\u00ed que estaba sosteniendo un palo. Y este amigo me dijo: \u201c\u00a1No hagas eso! Es peligroso llevar un palo.
\n\n\n\nEs peligroso llevar un palo, porque en primer lugar podr\u00edan quitarte el palo y golpearte con \u00e9l. Eso n\u00famero uno. En segundo lugar, con un palo, te vuelves imprudente. Sin palo, te quedar\u00e1s en tu casa. Y estar\u00e1s m\u00e1s seguro. Y siempre es mejor evitar problemas.
\n\n\n\nLo he dicho muchas veces. Los chinos dicen: \u201c\u00bfQui\u00e9n es un h\u00e9roe? El que sabe huir.\u201d Ese es un h\u00e9roe. Si sabes c\u00f3mo huir, eres el h\u00e9roe.
\n\n\n\nPor lo tanto, no responder\u00e9 la pregunta. Siempre es mejor evitar cualquier posibilidad de peligro, pero llevar un arma a veces te vuelve imprudente e ir\u00e1s a lugares a los que normalmente no ir\u00edas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #714
\nThe post Licencia para portar armas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T19:17:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T19:17:06+00:00" }, { "id": 34152, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%97-4/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05e8\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e7\u05e8\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05e8\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T19:09:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T19:09:27+00:00" }, { "id": 34149, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%93-%d7%90%d7%a4%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%99%d7%93%d7%9f-%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%94%d7%a0%d7%90%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%a8-%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%a2-%d7%91%d7%99/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d3: \u05d0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05d3\u05df \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05e0\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d9\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05ea\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-224The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05db”\u05d3: \u05d0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05d3\u05df \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05e0\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d9\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05ea\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T19:08:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T19:08:01+00:00" }, { "id": 7544, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-carrying-a-handgun/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Carrying a Handgun", "content_html": "\nQ:
When a person works in a dangerous neighborhood, is it advisable to apply for a license for a gun?
A:
Now that\u2019s a question that\u2019s not so easy to answer because many times you can get by with a substitute for a gun. Like what you say in Elokai Netzor every day: \u05d5\u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05db\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05ea\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u2013 And my soul should be like dust to everybody. If somebody, a goy, is fresh and insults you, become an anav. It pays to be an anav \u2013 you\u2019ll live longer if you\u2019re humble and keep your mouth closed.
But when you have a gun in your pocket, you might forget yourself and answer back something rash. And then, it\u2019s not so certain that he doesn\u2019t have a gun. And he might know how to use it better than you.
I was once walking in the street and I visited a friend of mine and he saw that I carried a stick, a heavy stick, on me. It was many years ago, about thirty years ago and it was a dangerous neighborhood so I was holding a stick. And this friend told me, \u201cDon\u2019t do that! It\u2019s dangerous to carry a stick.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s dangerous to carry a stick, because first of all they could take the stick away and hit you with it. That\u2019s number one. Secondly, with a stick, you become reckless. Without a stick, you\u2019ll stay home. You\u2019re safer off. And it\u2019s better always to avoid trouble.
\n\n\n\nI told you this many times. The Chinese say, \u201cWho is a hero? The one who knows how to run away.\u201d That\u2019s a hero \u2013 if you know how to run away you\u2019re the hero.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore, I won\u2019t answer the question.\u00a0It\u2019s always better to avoid any possibility of danger, but carrying a gun sometimes makes you reckless and you go into places where ordinarily you wouldn\u2019t go.
Tape # 714
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Carrying a Handgun appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T17:37:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T17:05:39+00:00" }, { "id": 34144, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%97%d7%a7%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05e7\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d7\u05e7\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05e7\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T05:06:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T05:06:03+00:00" }, { "id": 34132, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-korach-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Korach", "content_html": "\n\u201cShimmy, wait up!\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy turned around to see Pinny running to catch up with him as he headed to the park.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh hi,\u201d smiled Shimmy. \u201cDid you bring the ball?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYep!\u201d said Pinny, holding up the ball in his hand.
\n\n\n\nWhen the two boys reached the park, they saw a group of their friends sitting on the grass together.
\n\n\n\n\u201cShimmy, Pinny, over here!\u201d called Avrohom Yitzchok Stern, waving to them over two gigantic bags that were next to him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s in the bags?\u201d asked Pinny.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTake a seat!\u201d answered Avrohom Yitzchok. \u201cI\u2019ve got a surprise for you!\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy and Pinny joined their friends on the grass, as Avrohom Yitzchok pulled gigantic pastry boxes out of the bags. Avrohom Yitzchok\u2019s father owned Stern\u2019s Bakery, and they made the absolute best cakes and cookies in town.
\n\n\n\nAvrohom Yitzchok opened the boxes to reveal the most delectable looking chocolate chip cookies, caramel rugelach, and more. There were even little miniature kokesh cakes oozing with chocolate. It looked amazing!
\n\n\n\n\u201cPlease, take!\u201d said Avrohom Yitzchok as he passed the boxes around to the boys who started making brachos and eating the delicious treats. \u201cMy father\u2019s bakery made the desserts for the Horki Dinner later tonight. Every pastry had to be exactly perfect and he had all of the rejected ones left over. See?\u201d Avrohom Yitzchok held up the most perfect-looking chocolate chip cookie they had ever seen. \u201cThere\u2019s a tiny nick in the side of this cookie so it\u2019s not perfectly round. So anyway, my father gave me all of these cakes since it was the end of the day and he wasn\u2019t going to be able to sell them anymore.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell they still taste pretty perfect,\u201d said Chezky, who was eating a vanilla danish with sprinkles.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d agreed Yoiny. \u201cYou can tell your father that we\u2019ll take his rejected products any day!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs the boys ate, Avrohom Yitzchok pulled a sefer out of his bag.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI thought while we\u2019re here we could chazer what we learned today,\u201d he told his friends. \u201cI thought the Mishnayos we learned today were pretty tough.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAvrohom Yitzchok and his friends spent the next hour enjoying the scrumptious desserts and going over the Mishnayos, before it started getting dark.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll see you guys tomorrow!\u201d said Avrohom Yitzchok as they got up to leave.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThank you so much for the treats!\u201d the boys all responded.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow!\u201d said Rebbi Caplan. \u201cYesterday I got the impression that we didn\u2019t learn the Mishnayos well enough, but now I see that you all know them so well!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cRebbi,\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cIt\u2019s all because of Avrohom Yitzchok and his bakery cookies.\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy quickly explained to their Rebbi about the previous evening.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou know,\u201d said Rebbi Caplan. \u201cThis reminds me of this week\u2019s Parsha.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys looked at each other, horrified. What did they do that reminded the Rebbi of Korach\u2019s machlokes with Moshe Rabbeinu?
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-3.png?resize=640%2C460&ssl=1\")
\u201cNo, not in a bad way,\u201d laughed Rebbe Caplan as he saw the boys\u2019 stricken faces. \u201cBut you know, Rav Avigdor Miller asks a question: How was it possible that tzadikim ended up joining Korach against Moshe? And he answers that the Gemara tells us that Korach used to host seudos. And when guests were sitting at his table, he would share his bad opinions about Moshe Rabbeinu.
\n\n\n\nNow, when you\u2019re sitting with someone and he\u2019s serving you delicious food, you are more likely to be influenced by his opinions. You have to like him! He’s feeding you tasty cholent and good nosh after all! So as they were swallowing down Korach\u2019s food, along with the food Korach\u2019s ideas were also going down. And they started to agree with Korach and get upset at Moshe Rabbeinu just like Korach was.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNow, Avrohom Yitzchok here did the same thing with you boys, but he did just the opposite of Korach \u2013 he used good tasting food to get you to learn Mishnayos. Instead of playing ball you joined Avrohom Yitzchok in the park with his cakes and cookies. And because you were enjoying his treats, you were happy to sit and chazer the Mishnayos with him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo you see boys that eating food is a wonderful opportunity to be changed for the better. While you\u2019re eating supper, that\u2019s the best time to think about how much you love your Mommy for cooking for you and feeding you. That\u2019s one of the lessons from this week\u2019s parsha; to become influenced for the better when you\u2019re eating from someone\u2019s food.
\n\n\n\nAnd you want to know who\u2019s the One Who\u2019s really giving us tasty food all the time? Hashem! Yes, He\u2019s the best Cook and best Chef and best Baker ever. And that\u2019s why eating is the best time to practice loving Hashem. Don\u2019t just say a bracha and forget about Him. While you\u2019re chewing that delicious piece of watermelon or that tasty piece of bread, think about how kind Hashem is to you by feeding you. And that\u2019s one of the ways a person learns to love Hashem \u2013 by loving Him more and more as you eat.
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: As we eat, we swallow down lessons with our food. Let\u2019s get used to thinking about Hashem and thanking Him while we eat His delicious food.
\n\n\n\n\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Korach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T02:18:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T02:18:13+00:00" }, { "id": 34137, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-pecado-de-los-espias/", "title": "El pecado de los esp\u00edas", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nRav, usted habl\u00f3 sobre lo grandioso que fue el Dor HaMidbar (la generaci\u00f3n del desierto). Pero, si es as\u00ed, \u00bfc\u00f3mo podemos entender la falta de Emun\u00e1 demostrada en la parash\u00e1 de esta semana (Shelaj)?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 falta de Emun\u00e1?
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nNo confiaron en que Hashem los har\u00eda entrar a \u00c9retz Israel.
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSi la generaci\u00f3n del desierto era tan grande, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 hubo una revuelta en los tiempos de los esp\u00edas?
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, debes comprender que hay ciertos principios en el comportamiento correcto de los que todos deben aferrarse en todo momento. Uno de esos principios es Pik\u00faaj N\u00e9fesh. Tenemos que salvar vidas. Las vidas jud\u00edas son demasiado preciadas como para desperdiciarlas.
\n\n\n\nHashem le dijo a Mosh\u00e9 que enviara meraguelim a espiar la tierra y todos entendieron que el prop\u00f3sito era ver la viabilidad de entrar en la tierra. De lo contrario, \u00bfpara qu\u00e9 enviar meraguelim? Si no importa cu\u00e1l ser\u00e1 el informe, si igualmente habr\u00e1 que marchar adelante, entonces \u00bfpara que enviar esp\u00edas? Es una p\u00e9rdida de tiempo.
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que entendieron que si va a ser un informe desfavorable, tendr\u00e1n que encontrar formas y medios para resolver la situaci\u00f3n. Es sentido com\u00fan.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, entend\u00edan que finalmente Hakadosh Baruj Hu les dar\u00eda la tierra, pero ir ahora y hacer un ataque frontal a un pa\u00eds que estaba tan fortificado, con ciudades amuralladas, armamento y una poderosa poblaci\u00f3n, ser\u00eda un suicidio.
\n\n\n\nPero el pecado de los meraguelim fue que le dieron consejos a la gente. No deber\u00edan haberles asesorado (ese no era su trabajo). Deber\u00edan haber contado su reporte y luego deber\u00edan haber retrocedido y permanecer en silencio. En cambio dijeron que es demasiado peligroso intentarlo. No se esperaba que dijeran eso.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, en ese momento hubo una sobredosis de precauci\u00f3n. Pik\u00faaj N\u00e9fesh seguro [que es algo a tener en cuenta], pero la gente tiene que saber que si Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu, quien es el Ohev Israel (el que ama a Israel) escuch\u00f3 el informe y entiende los pros y los contras, y es el shal\u00edaj (env\u00edado) de Hashem; y si \u00e9l les dice beshem Hashem (en nombre de Hashem)que hay que ir, entonces hay que ir. Recibimos el informe y tendremos que proceder con precauci\u00f3n. Tendremos que planificar adecuadamente c\u00f3mo ir, por el camino m\u00e1s seguro para que no hayan bajas humanas; pero tendremos que seguir adelante de todos modos. Deber\u00edan haber superado sus miedos. Pero debido a que los meraguelim, que eran hombres de gran influencia, inyectaron una dosis de terror en la gente, entonces la gente entr\u00f3 en p\u00e1nico.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no creo que todos hayan entrado en p\u00e1nico. Kalev no tuvo miedo. Iehosh\u00faa no tuvo miedo. Puedes estar seguro de que Betzalel no tuvo miedo. Tampoco Miriam tuvo miedo. Hubo muchos buenos jud\u00edos que estaban dispuestos a seguir a Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu. Pero hubo algunas personas que dijeron que no quer\u00edan ir debido al informe de los meraguelim. Y ese fue el pecado de los meraguelim.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, la verdad es que si eso hubiera ocurrido en nuestra generaci\u00f3n, no hubiera sido un pecado en absoluto. Ese es el principio del Kuzari. El pecado se hace grande de acuerdo con la grandeza de la gente. Para ellos, para aquellas grandes personas, se consider\u00f3 un pecado. Pero para nosotros, si nos negaramos a ir a \u00c9retz Israel porque est\u00e1 ocupada, habitada por una poblaci\u00f3n densa de personas bien armadas, no ser\u00eda considerado algo malo. Pero como hab\u00eda un Mosh\u00e9 Rabenu, y era al pi Hashem y era una gran generaci\u00f3n que vio Nisim y Niflaot (milagros y maravillas) en ietziat Mitzr\u00e1im, entonces, seg\u00fan su grandeza, se consider\u00f3 un error y fueron culpables de eso.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #413
\n\n\n\n | ReplyForward |
The post El pecado de los esp\u00edas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T02:14:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T02:14:02+00:00" }, { "id": 34120, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-korach-5-you-take-it-with-you-2/", "title": "Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You", "content_html": "Fighting Over Finances
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a famous story in Mesichta Brachos(18b) about a certain chossid, a pious man, who was angered by his wife. It was during the famine years and a poor man came to his home to collect tzedakah and this chossid gave the poor man a dinar, which is a sizable amount of money.
\n\n\n\nNow when his wife heard about that she became angry. \u201cIn famine years you give away so much to strangers?\u201d She was concerned about feeding her family and she thought her husband had given away too much. And so she vexed him and he became angry. It doesn’t say that he did anything, but he was irritated.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara says that it was Erev Rosh Hashanah and so we understand that this man had already made many preparations for the Yom Hadin. He had purified his character for the Day of Judgment over a long period of time, many days, and now suddenly just before the Yom Hadin he became angry. And he knew that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05e1 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b5\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, to become angry is like being an idolater (Shabbos 105b); and so he needed to do a hurry-up teshuva before the Yom Hadin.
\n\n\n\nTaking the Jab
\n\n\n\nWhat could he do in such a short time? If there had been still a long time before Rosh Hashanah, he could work on himself and he could regain his complete composure, the perfection of character that he had lost. The Gemara says (Mesichta Brachos5a) that when a man sees that the yetzer hora is gaining control of him there are certain things to do, certain programs. But those things are long-term remedies and now the time was too short. When you don’t have time for a long-term treatment you have to find some emergency treatment.
\n\n\n\nWhat’s an emergency treatment? The Gemara says yazkir lo yom hamaves, he should remind himself of the day of death. That’s a very quick injection to heal the yetzer hora. Of course it has side effects and it’s not recommended if something else is available. But if necessary you have to take that injection.
\n\n\n\nAnd so this chossid decided to use the emergency treatment. \u201cTomorrow is Rosh Hashanah,\u201d he was thinking. \u201cTomorrow I\u2019ll stand before Hashem to be inscribed in the Book of Life or that other book – and so I must do something extreme.\u201d And so he went that night, the night of Rosh Hashanah, to the cemetery, and he slept there all night. He didn’t only sleep; I\u2019m sure he was thinking too. He was there all night among the dead trying to engrave lessons upon his mind so that he should become purified.
\n\n\n\nThe Underdressed Ghost
\n\n\n\nNow, during that night Hashem gave him a vision. He was a noble man, a holy character, who went out of his way to purify himself so he was given a gift. As he lay sleeping in the cemetery he had a dream; he saw a vision about two girls who were buried in that cemetery. And he heard them conversing; one said to the other, \u201cLet\u2019s get up and let us float around in the world and hear what\u2019s going to happen to the world during the ensuing year. It\u2019s Rosh Hashanah so let\u2019s discover from behind the curtain what\u2019s going to be the verdict for the ensuing year.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut the second girl answered, \u201cI\u2019m not able to go with you because I haven\u2019t been buried in funeral shrouds, in tachrichim. I\u2019m buried only in a basket of reeds.\u201d She was too ashamed to go out in public if she wasn\u2019t dressed to a \u201cT\u201d.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the chossid saw that night and although it\u2019s only a vision we understand that every word is fraught with wisdom here. We have to know that in the Talmud everything is important and this story is no less \u2013 we\u2019re going to learn a very big lesson from this vision.
\n\n\n\nHow You Develop a Taste
\n\n\n\nYou know, when people are born, when they\u2019re still very young children, they have no interest in styles of clothing. If a child would grow up without being influenced, he would just as well walk in the street dressed in reeds as any other kind of garments. Only that over time people acquire various tastes, tastes in styles and colors, because of society.
\n\n\n\nEven if we will grant that there is an instinctive interest in clothing \u2013 I imagine it\u2019s so \u2013 nevertheless if the style would have been to wear a dress of reeds, then it would have been just as acceptable as silk. Your idea of what\u2019s proper is based on what Dior, a fellow sitting in Paris, thinks. You\u2019ll wear \u2013 not only you\u2019ll wear but you\u2019ll like whatever he decides. Don\u2019t you see how as styles deteriorate even good people follow along like dumbbells? Things that thirty years ago would have been out of the question even for the lowest people, today are accepted in the streets.
\n\n\n\nAnd so this girl, because she had been among the living, she had acquired a taste for clothing \u2013 an especialized taste that meant she disdained to wear a basket of reeds. And therefore the spirit of this girl refused to go along because she wasn\u2019t properly dressed to go out.
\n\n\n\nNow this to us is a puzzle. A spirit should refuse to go out because she wasn\u2019t properly dressed?! We think it\u2019s incongruous for a spirit to sincerely speak such words because we know that clothing means something only to the living. And so even if they had been permitted to float around in the world like this vision portrayed, the lack of proper funeral shrouds should not have been a drawback. She was dead now and her spirit was now in the land of eternal life; wherever she was she didn\u2019t have a body or clothing to be concerned about. So how could she be pictured \u2013 even in a vision \u2013 as refusing to go out because she wasn\u2019t properly dressed?
\n\n\n\nInterworld Parcels
\n\n\n\nThe answer to that question involves a great principle that will be important for our subject tonight. But first another story; a similar story that will help emphasize the principle. The Gemara there tells us about another vision that a great man once had. It could be it was a dream, I can\u2019t tell you, but whatever it was, it was intended to teach a lesson.
\n\n\n\nThis man was talking to a woman who had already passed into the Next World \u2013 she had hidden something of his and she had died before telling him where she had put it and so he was trying to get some information from her. Meanwhile, while he was speaking to this spirit she asked him for a favor. She said, \u201cIf you can please get my comb and my eye paint, my makeup, that I left home; I didn’t take it along with me. There’s a young woman who is going to die soon,\u201d she said, \u201cand if you could please send it along with her, I\u2019ll have what I need.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so once again we see here a queer thing. We see that when there are no longer any eyes, no longer any cheeks, no longer any hair \u2013 there\u2019s no need for makeup and combs \u2013 still there is a desire to continue all the foibles, all the mannerisms of life.
\n\n\n\nKeep Your Attitude
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, that\u2019s what Olam Habo means! Not only do you bring with you into the Next World all of your maasim, all of your good deeds and the other deeds, but even your attitudes and idiosyncrasies \u2013 all of the quirks of character that get into the neshama \u2013 that also goes along with a man into the Next World. And that\u2019s how it is le\u2019olam; you\u2019re stuck like that forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s anything wrong with wanting to be pretty. A married woman should always try to be pleasing to her husband. But if someone will put her heart into prettying herself and that becomes the overriding principle in her life and there’s nothing else; so when she goes to the Next World she\u2019ll take along nothing but that. Even in the grave she\u2019ll be thinking about combing the hair that she doesn\u2019t have anymore and about putting makeup up on her long gone eyes.
\n\n\n\nBecause when a person passes over the boundary into the Next World, he doesn’t stop existing. He continues on just like he always was. The body in itself is nothing and when a person sheds this earthly cloak it’s like taking off a garment; the wearer continues to exist; he just moved over to a different place. The word \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea, to die, is a brother of the word \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1, to move away, to depart. In the holy language we don’t say \u2018die.\u2019 We say \u2018depart\u2019 because you don’t die; you move. And you move with everything you had in your mind.
\n\n\n\nThe Clay Factory
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Rambam says in Mesichta Avos(4:17). He says that when a man dies, the way he is in the last moment of life \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd, that’s how he’ll remain forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nI’ll explain this with a parable so we can better understand it. Imagine we are all working in a big factory, a tremendous ceramics factory. There are tables where we work and right next to each one of us is an oven, a very hot oven. And the big foreman comes and gives each one of us a lump of clay and he says, \u201cGet busy making the best that you can out of that piece of clay. And don\u2019t waste time because as soon as the bell rings, you\u2019ll have to hurry and shove your clay into that little oven and it will be baked.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow some don\u2019t take it seriously. They play around. They squash it. They put their fingers into it. It becomes unsightly and shapeless. Others, the smarter ones, are busy from the beginning making a beautiful vessel out of it. There are all types of workers. Some work a little bit in the beginning of the day but then they become negligent. Others are negligent the whole time but before they finish, the last hour they get busy and they try to make something out of it. Sometimes you even have a person who was bumbling over the clay the whole day, wasting his opportunity. But then when he heard the bell, in that last moment he\u2019s desperate so he quickly punches a hollow into that clay. It\u2019s crude; it\u2019s nothing to look at but he did something at least. You can drink from it. That man at least rescued himself to a certain extent.
\n\n\n\nWhatever it is, finally the bell rings and everyone has to get up in a hurry. There\u2019s no waiting now and you have to shove your clay into that little door of that hot oven. You slam the door shut and lock it and in one second it\u2019s baked hard. That\u2019s the shape it\u2019s going to keep forever. Whatever it is in that second, that’s how it will be forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nYours Forever
\n\n\n\nSometimes a worker runs over to the foreman and he pleads \u2013 \u201cI didn\u2019t realize you were serious. Let me take it out please \u2013 I was negligent; I didn\u2019t do a good job.\u201d So the boss says, \u201cSorry my friend, it’s baked already; it\u2019s baked hard forever.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that, says the Rambam, is what death is. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd! That\u2019s how you\u2019ll be forever! Death bakes a man’s character forever and ever. What a man is in his last moments that\u2019s how he enters that kiln and in one second he is baked permanently. And in the Next World the personality continues; the entire personality with all its attitudes and desires and ideals continue on into the World-to-Come. If you acquired wise attitudes or benevolent traits, you\u2019ll take that with you. And chas v\u2019shalom if you acquired silly ideas or irritable and malicious traits then that\u2019s what you\u2019ll take with you. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd!
\n\n\n\nDiscovering Korach
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the famous personality from this week\u2019s parsha; it\u2019s our old friend Korach. And we\u2019ll begin our story in Mesichta Bava Basra (74a) where we read the strange experiences of Rabbah bar bar Chana. Now, we must understand all the narratives that we find there are intended in a figurative sense. Important and fundamental lessons are being taught in simple language and therefore they have to be studied with the utmost seriousness. And we read as follows.
\n\n\n\nRabbah bar bar Chana was once traveling in the desert and he met an Arab who said to him, \u201cTa achvei lach belu’ei deKorach \u2013 come with me and I\u2019ll show you the swallowed-up congregation of Korach.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Rabbah bar bar Chana states that this Arab took him to a certain place where he saw two fissures in the earth from which there issued a smoke. This represents the smoke coming up from Gehenom. And this Arab took a big wad of wool which he soaked in water and he put it on the edge of his spear and he inserted it into one of these holes; and when he took it out it was scorched black. He wanted to demonstrate how hot it was inside of the fissure.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Arab said to Rabbah bar bar Chana, \u201cPay attention to what you hear from this crack in the earth.\u201d So he put his ear close to the apertures and he heard screaming; he heard people crying out, \u201cMoshe vesoraso emes \u2013 Moshe and his Torah are true, va\u2019anachnu bada’in, and we are liars!\u201d It was Korach va\u2019adaso.
\n\n\n\nThe Liar Tells the Truth
\n\n\n\nNow this Arab was an experienced desert wanderer and he told Rabbah bar bar Chana that every thirty days the Gehenom turns them over to this place. It means that they\u2019re going to sink soon and be carried away but in about thirty days the boiling water will bring them to the top again. It\u2019s like meat cooking in a pot. The meat rises to the top and then revolves and sinks again and again it rises. And whenever they come to the top you can hear them yelling those same words, \u201cMoshe emes vesoraso emes va\u2019anachnu bada’in \u2013 Moshe and his Torah are true and we are the liars!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that’s the end of this episode in the Gemara but we have to study this story well. Right away we understand that Gehenom is not in the crack there, somewhere in the desert. We\u2019d be very fortunate if Gehenom was just a hole in the ground with boiling water. Gehenom is some place that’s deeper than this earth can supply. It was only a vision; but that vision was important however.
\n\n\n\nKorach was suffering in the next world because of what he had said and done in this world. In this world he had said \u201cMoshe is not true and what he’s telling us is not true \u2013 it\u2019s exaggerated and distorted.\u201d And because of that, because he opened his mouth against Moshe, finally the earth opened its mouth and swallowed him up.
\n\n\n\nAsimov and Trotsky
\n\n\n\nAnd now Gehenom started. Because right away Korach and his cronies came into the Next World and suddenly everything became as clear as could be. It\u2019s like what I said once when Isaac Asimov alav hashnubbel died. Isaac Asimov was a famous Jewish apikoris, a big atheist. He was proud to say, \u201cI don\u2019t believe in G-d.\u201d Well, you know what happened as soon as he died? He went over to the Next World \u2013 the lower level \u2013 and he heard a big booming voice, a loud voice: \u201cSo, Isaac! You didn\u2019t believe in Me, ehh?!\u201d And now Gehenom began for him.
\n\n\n\nAy! A rachmanus! If only he had changed his mind before he was baked permanently. While you\u2019re still on this side of the curtain anything is possible \u2013 as long as the candle burns there\u2019s still hope even for the most wicked ones.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say Leon Trotsky, when they shot him down for his good deeds \u2013 Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico; I think it was in Mexico. Trotsky was an ardent communist and an enemy of the emunah. But suppose a moment before they shot him \u2013 the assassin pointed the gun at his temples and as he was pulling the trigger, at that last moment suppose Trotsky would have shouted, \u201c\u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea.\u201d He would have been saved from Gehenom! In that last second, if he would have said those words he would have been saved. I\u2019m not saying he would have gone straight to Gan Eden but it would have helped, absolutely.
\n\n\n\nNow he\u2019s saying it! Right now Trotsky is yelling, \u201cThe rabbonim in Russia were emes and I am a liar! Reb Yitzchok Elchonon was emes. Reb Chaim Brisker was emes!\u201d Those were the rabbonim who were famous when Trotsky became a revolutionary and an enemy of Judaism. Now he\u2019s saying it because in the World of Truth he knows the truth. But it\u2019s too late; he cannot change his tune now because he was baked solid already. But he knows! And he wishes he could get those words into his personality only that it\u2019s too late. And that\u2019s why these words are hurting him more than any boiling waters.
\n\n\n\nConfronted by the Truth
\n\n\n\nBecause in the Next World there\u2019s only truth. Gehenom is the other side of the boundary and all the fallacies of life come to an end over there. It\u2019s only in this world that a person can be fooled by the weakness of his character. Only in this world can a person be fooled by materialism and dresses and combs. It\u2019s only here that there can arise a Korach. Only in this world can a person be foolish enough to say that Moshe is a liar or that we come from monkeys.
\n\n\n\nOnly in this foolish world can you have imitators and falsifiers. Only here can there arise a Paul who says that Moshe didn’t know the whole truth and that along came this new fellow, a mamzer, and he knows everything. And then along comes Mohammad and he says, \u201cIt’s all abolished. I’m the one who knows everything.\u201d Along come the evolutionists and they say, \u201cNo, no. Nobody knows anything except us.\u201d Only here can people be fooled with garbage like that.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what the Gemara is telling us. Korach is suffering now because now he\u2019s facing the truth. He sees now that it was one big mistake and that actually Moshe was emes and soraso emes. As soon as he died he recognized how wrong he was.And he understood that this was his Gehenom. This was his suffering; knowing the truth that Moshe emes v\u2019soraso emes but now he was baked hard already and he couldn\u2019t make that truth part of his personality. He couldn\u2019t change what had already become part of his personality in Olam Hazeh.
\n\n\n\nThe Truth Hurts
\n\n\n\nAnd so Korach\u2019s existence became regret; very deep sorrow and regret. Forever and ever he\u2019s crying and he\u2019s trying now, every day and every moment, with all of his strength to cause this truth to penetrate into the core of his soul. Korach is trying his best to bring his suffering to an end and that\u2019s why he and his people are saying over and over again, \u201cMoshe emes vesoraso emes!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThey\u2019re attempting with all their power to bring the realization of this into their hearts. If only they could get these words into the core of their consciousness, that would solve their problem and the Gehenom would be dispelled. If they would only be able to cause this knowledge to penetrate their souls, they know that their suffering would stop immediately. They’d be delivered \u2013 they’d come out of Gehenom. And so they’re saying it over and over again in the hope, \u201cMaybe it will change us; maybe our minds will finally accept it.\u201d But it\u2019s not possible anymore. It’s only while a person is alive that he can make a change in his mind and his character.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s a big part of what Gehenom is. Their errors go along with them and that’s the fire that burns them. They’re punished by the understanding and recognition of the truth. And that fire consumes a person by day and by night and he can’t end it. He would like to end it because now he knows the truth but it’s impossible to change anymore.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that you think you can breathe a sigh of relief when you hear that. \u201cOh,\u201d people think, \u201cif that’s the case we’re quite relieved. We thought it was really a fire, a burning fire. It\u2019s only going to be the torment of the error in our minds, that’s all? Boruch Hashem!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOh no! That’s worse than anything else! In the world of the neshamos, where what you acquired in your mind is so important, and where it\u2019s forever and ever, that\u2019s going to be a terrible suffering.
\n\n\n\nAn Endless Nightmare
\n\n\n\nDid you ever have a nightmare? You’re lying in bed and in your dreams you\u2019re suffering. You\u2019re suffering terribly and you\u2019re scared and you\u2019re nervous. You\u2019re in a panic! But finally you wake up and you see it was nothing. You were twisting and turning all night and you woke up exhausted but now you see it was nothing.
\n\n\n\nThat’s Gehenom! Only that you never wake up! It’s worse than a nightmare because in a nightmare at least the morning brings relief. You wake up, you’re exhausted but now you see the problem is no problem. But Gehenom is a nightmare that doesn’t come to an end.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that when a man is still alive he should make sure to get busy creating a good mind. When you walk out of here tonight you can say, \u201c\u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea!Whatever foolish ideas I\u2019ve heard, whatever sheker I\u2019ve read in my life, I\u2019m saying now once and for all that \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea!”
\n\n\n\nNow, maybe you\u2019re saying it because you want to show off to other people, to make a good impression. No matter! It\u2019s a good start; it\u2019s something. Look, if Korach was saying it to get out of Gehenom it certainly wasn\u2019t entirely sincere and still it would have been accepted in this world. Because that\u2019s the power of the gift of free will that is given to us while we\u2019re alive.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we should utilize that gift as much as possible. Everyone! Let\u2019s say you have a street corner loafer and he\u2019s sitting on the street corner for hours and hours; he\u2019s wasting time. His mind is a television mind and a New York Mets mind and a magazine mind. There\u2019s still hope! That\u2019s the principle we\u2019re learning from this story. That this world is your chance! And you have to grab it because whatever you are when you\u2019re \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 into the other world, that\u2019s how you\u2019ll remain forever.
\n\n\n\nThe Greatest Pleasure
\n\n\n\nNow I want to change the scene to a happier place; I want to talk to you now about Gan Eden. And it\u2019s not a new subject because actually it will be exactly the same; it\u2019s the mind that you create for yourself in this world, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to be your happiness in the World to Come. All the good attitudes that you acquire in this life, all the improvement that you created in your character, all of those ideals and attitudes go with you and it continues in the form of reward. The mind you create in this world will cause you joy and happiness forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019ll be such a happiness that it\u2019s impossible to imagine it now. In the Next World Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to give us a sensation of the greatest happiness, the greatest sensation of pleasure that He Himself is able to create. You hear these words? These are the words of the Mesillas Yesharim. It’s the greatest sensation of pleasure that Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself is able to create and He\u2019ll bestows it on us.
\n\n\n\nBut the rule is that it requires a certain preparation of the mind. The truth is it requires a lot of preparation. To create a mind that believes \u201c\u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea,\u201d takes work; you can\u2019t just say it once, superficially, and patur yourself. You have to create a mind that loves Torah; a mind that loves learning Gemara. You have to create a mind that loves Hashem and that loves His loyal people. There\u2019s so much work to do in this world to create a mind that will enjoy the Next World.
\n\n\n\nOlam Habo Rehearsal
\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m going to tell you something now that might be a chiddush to many of you. It\u2019s good you came here tonight because you\u2019re going to hear something now that is very important. Listen well because you won\u2019t hear this outside: we have to train our minds in fun and good times! Even though there are many attitudes that will cause you tremendous happiness in the Next World, one of the most important is the attitude of being happy. If you want to be happy in the Next World being \u05e0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b1\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4, enjoying the splendor of seeing the Shechina \u2013 the greatest pleasure possible \u2013 you have to get busy creating a mind that enjoys Hakodosh Boruch Hu while you\u2019re still in this world.
\n\n\n\nNow we\u2019ll try to study that subject in the little time we have left tonight. First we’ll see what Rashi says in Mesichta Brachos; it\u2019s in daf samech gimmel amud alef, if you care to look. Not that I’m a baki in Mesichta Brachos; I\u2019ve just said it so many times that I can’t forget it. The Gemara says there that in the Beis Hamikdash when they used to conclude a bracha, it was different from the way we finish up a bracha. They used to say min haolam ad haolam \u2013 from this world to the Next World \u2013 at the end of every bracha. For instance, we say baruch atah Hashem Goel Yisrael but in the Beis Hamikdash they said baruch atah Hashem \u2018min haolam ad haolam\u2019 Goel Yisrael \u2013 We thank You from this world to the Next World.
\n\n\n\nNow why did they do that? So Rashi says an interesting and important statement. Rashi explains that every bracha begins here in this world and it finishes there in the next world. And here’s his language; pay good attention because these words are the clue to our function in this world: \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4, accustom yourself to saying His blessings, the blessings of Hashem, in this world, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b0\u05d2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0, in order that you should be practiced in them for the World-to-Come. Become accustomed to thanking Him in this world in order you should be well rehearsed for Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a Happy World
\n\n\n\nTo explain it a little more, we’ll learn a Gemara in Mesichta Sanhedrin (91b): \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05bb\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levy says that if a man is osek, he\u2019s occupied, with saying song in this world, so something special is going to happen to him. I\u2019ll get to that special thing momentarily but first, what does it mean osek? It means he is busy with it; it\u2019s not just once in a while. And what\u2019s he busy with? Beshirah. Beshira doesn\u2019t mean saying prose; it means saying song. If a man says \u201cthings are good\u201d that’s prose. But suppose you get a call from OTB that you are the one, that your horse won and you\u2019re a millionaire now, so when you turn around and your wife says, \u201cwhat is it?\u201d you won’t speak prose to her. You will speak in poetry! You will speak in lyric words! You might even dance too! And that’s the way we have to talk about this world.
\n\n\n\nNow, a person doesn\u2019t sing from unhappiness. If a man goes around this world unhappy, if he says \u201cthis world is nothing; this world is just darkness and bitterness,\u201d so that man will never fulfill his purpose in this world. But if you learn how to be happy with this world and you get busy singing about it too, you\u2019re always thanking and expressing gratitude, that\u2019s how you live successfully.
\n\n\n\nAnd what\u2019s going to happen just because of that? \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05bb\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 If you busy yourself singing to Hashem in this world, you\u2019ll be rewarded that you\u2019ll continue to say the song in the Next World. You\u2019ll be happy forever! Forever and ever you\u2019ll be singing in happiness!
\n\n\n\nAfflicted with Butter and Cream
\n\n\n\nSo what do you see? It\u2019s your job as a good Jew to be happy in this world. Don’t make the great mistake of thinking like many frum Jews think that this world is suffering. \u201cIt’s only affliction,\u201d the frum Jew thinks, \u201cbut I’ll get it all in the Next World. That’s where it’s waiting for me.\u201d So as he sits for his breakfast, eating let’s say eggs and butter and jam on his bread; he’s afflicting himself with coffee and cream and he’s so sad at his plight in this world. And at lunchtime again he goes through the whole torture all over again. And he’s waiting for the Next World. There at least, he will be paid back. There all his pious deeds, his Torah and mitzvos will be paid back.
\n\n\n\nWell, when the time comes and he comes to Gan Eden and knocks on the door, he’s in for a big surprise. \u201cYou ate it all up already,\u201d they tell him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut I had no fun out of it,\u201d he says.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt makes no difference,\u201d Hashem says, \u201cYou had it. If you would have had fun out of it then we would have rewarded you.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut I made a bracha every time. I never missed a bracha in my life.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu tells him, \u201cLook, it\u2019s true that you have to pay for everything in this world and a bracha is the coin with which you pay Me. But you\u2019ve been paying with counterfeit money all your life!\u201d
\n\n\n\nCounterfeit Brachos
\n\n\n\nSuppose you walk into a store to buy a big bag of vegetables and you put a shiny coin on the counter and you walk out. So the storekeeper bangs the coin on the table and he hears no noise. Or he holds up the bill to the light and he sees that it\u2019s Monopoly money, fake money. So he yells at you, \u201cGet back here. Put those vegetables back. This money is counterfeit.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cYes, you made brachos. But they were counterfeit because you didn’t mean them. You weren\u2019t happy! You didn\u2019t enjoy it! If you didn’t learn to be grateful then it\u2019s counterfeit money.\u201d If you never learned how to enjoy this world then you’re not singing to him; your brachos are counterfeit.
\n\n\n\nNow it doesn’t mean you have to run after the piece of bread. That\u2019s a mistake. Don’t run after any pleasure in this world. But you have to eat sometimes, don\u2019t you? So when you finally eat your pas bamelach, your bread dipped in salt, and when you drink your glass of water, learn to appreciate how good it is! Train yourself to feel what a great experience it is to eat. It\u2019s so much fun, so much happiness.
\n\n\n\nAnd then the next time you’ll say baruch atah Hashem hamotzei lechem min ha’aretz, you\u2019ll say it in sing-song. Not merely \u201cBaruch muh muh muh.\u201d Like an old mashgiach once said to his students. He said, \u201cYou boys, when you make a bracha you don’t even open up your mouths. If not for the fact you have to put in the piece of bread you wouldn\u2019t even open up.\u201d
\n\n\n\nLearn to Have Fun
\n\n\n\nIt means we have to get busy opening our mouths. You have to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu from the bottom of your heart and you can’t do that unless you learn to appreciate a glass of water. So when you take in your hand that glass of crystal clear liquid, you should stop and think first. \u201cAhh! This wonderful elixir of life, a miracle combination of two gasses.\u201d Could you drink gasses? It wouldn’t do you any good. A tank of oxygen and a tank of hydrogen wouldn’t do any good. And here you have this wonder chemical and it goes down so smoothly and it quenches your thirst. And then it gets busy transforming all of the organs and tissues and fluids of your body. It lubricates everything in your body.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you’ll drink a glass of water and you\u2019ll say baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melech haolam shehakol nehiyeh bidevaro, all of those happy thoughts will go into the bracha. And as you\u2019re drinking you\u2019re becoming happier and happier with every swallow. That’s how to drink a glass of water. You have to do better than that; I’m making it short because we’re late.
\n\n\n\nAnd don’t think you only have to pay for vegetables and bread and water. You have to pay for everything! You have to pay for air in this world. Even if you\u2019re a tzadik and you don\u2019t want any luxuries but you have to breathe don\u2019t you? Even tzadikim have to breathe. And so as you breathe in a lung full of air, you have to learn how to be grateful for it. You\u2019re doing it anyhow, so learn how to be grateful for it.
\n\n\n\nThe Boring Smorgasbord
\n\n\n\nAnd if you train yourself to live that way, so all your life you’re singing a song of happiness. You don’t have to be rich. Rich people don’t sing songs of happiness. On Park Avenue a lot of people have jumped off from their fancy penthouses. More people commit suicide on Park Avenue than in Brownsville. Happiness doesn’t depend on money; it depends on your mind.
\n\n\n\nNow, all this takes a great deal of effort because if you don’t study it, so you become a leitz, a scoffer. The leitzanim of the world say, \u201cWhat so great about it? It’s an ordinary pair of shoes, an ordinary house, ordinary electric lights, ordinary warm water.\u201d To a leitz everything is ordinary. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing,\u201d the world says. That\u2019s because they never learned how to be grateful. They never learned to enjoy this world.
\n\n\n\nInstead of being morose, instead of being sad, you have to be happy in this world because that\u2019s the only way to thank Hashem continually. There\u2019s so much He\u2019s giving us. This world is a smorgasbord; so many knishes and other good things He’s serving us and we have to say thank You, baruch atah, thank You, baruch atah.
\n\n\n\nAnd so all of you sad-faced people perk up and listen to what’s being said here. Hanhigu birchosav, accustom yourself to saying in this world to Hashem, \u201cBaruch atah!\u201d Thank You and thank You and thank You. And the more you say thank You in this world, the more you\u2019ll be happy in the World-to-Come.
\n\n\n\nOur Motto: Rejoice!
\n\n\n\nThat’s why I say that in this place we always remind ourselves that our motto is \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. That’s our motto: all you righteous people, let’s be happy in Hashem. \u05e8\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, let\u2019s get busy singing to Hashem. Because that’s the great rehearsal for when we come into the big banquet hall where we’re going to have something really important to say thank You for. That’s the preparation for the great happiness that will be served in the World-to-Come.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore along with all the other Torah attitudes we have to get busy gaining, one of the most important is to gain the attitude of happiness. The more you learn to be happy with Hakodosh Boruch Hu in this world, that\u2019s how you create a mind that\u2019s prepared for happiness. And then move into the Next World with the same mind you created here and you\u2019ll be happy forever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAttaining Eternal Happiness
\n\n\n\nThe errors we make in this world are engraved in our minds forever and cause us endless torment in the World of Truth. Conversely, by gaining the right ideas and attitudes, we can make them part of our personality so that they will bring us pleasure forever. This week I will bli neder stop twice a day to state the truth that \u201cMoshe is Emes and his Torah is Emes\u201d. This will remind me to try and acquire good attitudes as long as I\u2019m alive.
\nThe post Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T01:58:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-06-01T13:24:01+00:00" }, { "id": 34127, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-korach-5-you-take-it-with-you/", "title": "Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You", "content_html": "TA-Korach-5782The post Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T01:56:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T01:56:37+00:00" }, { "id": 34119, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-korach-5-you-take-it-with-you/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You", "content_html": "42-Korach-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Korach 5 – You Take it with You appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-26T01:56:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-26T01:56:09+00:00" }, { "id": 34245, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-sin-of-the-spies/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sin of the Spies", "content_html": "\nQ:
The Rav spoke about how great the Dor Hamidbar was. But if so, how can we understand the lack of emunah demonstrated in this week\u2019s parsha (Shelach)?
A:
Which lack of emunah?
Q:
They didn\u2019t trust Hashem to bring them into Eretz Yisroel.
A:
If the generation of the wilderness were so great, why was there a revolt in the times of the spies?
Now you should understand that there are certain principles of correct behavior that everybody should cling to at all times. One of these principles is pikuach nefesh. We have to save lives. Jewish lives are too precious to squander.
\n\n\n\nHashem told Moshe to send meraglim to spy out the land and everybody understood that the purpose was to see the feasibility of coming into the land. Otherwise, why send meraglim? If no matter what the report will be they have to march ahead, so why should they send spies? It\u2019s a waste of time.
\n\n\n\nSo the answer is that they understood that if it\u2019s going to be an unfavorable report, they would have to find ways and means of dealing with the situation. It\u2019s common sense.
\n\n\n\nNow, they understood that eventually Hakodosh Boruch Hu would give them the land but to come now and make a frontal attack on a country that was so fortified with cities bristling with armaments, with big walls and a powerful populace, it would be suicide.
\n\n\n\nBut the sin of the meraglim was that they gave advice to the people. They shouldn\u2019t have given them advice \u2013 that wasn\u2019t their job. They should have reported and then they should have stepped back and kept quiet. But they said that it\u2019s too dangerous to try. They weren\u2019t expected to say that.
\n\n\n\nNow, at that time there was an overdose of caution. Pikuach nefesh, certainly, but the people have to know that if Moshe Rabbeinu who is the oheiv Yisrael and he heard the report and he understands the pros and cons and he is the shaliach Hashem and he\u2019s telling them b\u2019sheim Hashem to go, so you go. Good; we received the report and we\u2019ll have to proceed with caution. We\u2019ll have to plan properly how to go in the way that\u2019s safest so that there shouldn\u2019t be a loss of life; but we\u2019ll have to go ahead anyhow. They should have overcome their fears. But because the meraglim, who were men of great influence, injected a note of terror into the people, so it became, to a large part of the people, a panic.
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t think everybody panicked. Kaleiv didn\u2019t panic. Yehoshua didn\u2019t panic. You can be sure Betzalel didn\u2019t panic. Miriam didn\u2019t panic. There were a lot of good Jews who were willing to follow Moshe Rabbeinu. But there were some people who said they didn\u2019t want to go now because of the report of the meraglim. And that was the sin of the meraglim.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is had it been in our generation, it wouldn\u2019t have been a sin at all. That\u2019s the principle of the Kuzari. The sin is made great in accordance with the greatness of the people. For them, for those great people, it was considered a sin. For us, if we would refuse to go to Eretz Yisrael because it\u2019s occupied, inhabited by a dense population of well-armed people, there would be nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. But since there was a Moshe Rabbeinu, and it was al pi Hashem and because they were a great generation that saw nissim and nifla\u2019os of Yetzias Mitzrayim, so as far as their greatness was concerned, it was considered an error and they were blamed for it.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 413
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sin of the Spies appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-24T16:47:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T17:00:05+00:00" }, { "id": 34116, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/el-monte-del-templo-a-quien-le-pertenece/", "title": "El Monte del Templo, \u00bfa qui\u00e9n le pertenece? ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nA ra\u00edz de lo que el primer ministro Shar\u00f3n ha hecho recientemente al subir a Har Hab\u00e1it para mostrar que hay soberan\u00eda jud\u00eda all\u00ed, mi pregunta es: \u00bfes mejor que Har Hab\u00e1it est\u00e9 en manos jud\u00edas o es mejor que est\u00e9 en manos de los musulmanes?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nPrimero te voy a contar una peque\u00f1a an\u00e9cdota. Cuando escrib\u00ed por primera vez mi libro Rejoice O Youth, no ten\u00eda dinero para imprimirlo. Necesitaba dos mil d\u00f3lares, pero no los ten\u00eda.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que fui a lo del Sr. Feldheim, alav hashalom; pens\u00e9 que tal vez \u00e9l tomar\u00eda mi manuscrito. Se lo ense\u00f1\u00e9 y lo abri\u00f3 justo en una p\u00e1gina donde dec\u00eda qu\u00e9 bueno que los mahometanos tengan el Har Hab\u00e1it en sus manos porque si los jud\u00edos lo tuvieran, entonces las mujeres ir\u00edan all\u00ed en pantalones cortos y profanar\u00edan el lugar. Pero ahora que los gentiles est\u00e1n all\u00ed, los jud\u00edos no pueden profanar el lugar.
\n\n\n\n(En Rejoice O Youth en la p\u00e1gina 146, p\u00e1rrafo 272, Rav Miller escribe: \u201cLos mahometanos protegen la sagrada tierra [de Har Hab\u00e1it] no solo contra los id\u00f3latras y las im\u00e1genes, sino tambi\u00e9n contra los jud\u00edos irreverentes. Si los jud\u00edos tuvieran acceso a ese lugar sagrado, vendr\u00edan con sus mujeres y c\u00e1maras y sus almuerzos y profanar\u00edan esa tierra sagrada. Adem\u00e1s, hoy todos estamos impuros, por lo que ser\u00eda un gran pecado para los jud\u00edos ascender al Monte del Templo\u201d).
\n\n\n\n\u00c9l vio eso y me mir\u00f3. \u201cNo s\u00e9 si el libro se vender\u00e1\u201d, dijo. A la gente no le gusta escuchar eso.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, d\u00e9jame decirte algo. No queremos que los mahometanos tengan jurisdicci\u00f3n all\u00ed. Nosotros somos los due\u00f1os del lugar y podemos decirles eso.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, no queremos que los jud\u00edos vayan all\u00ed en absoluto. Jas veshalom! Es karet ir all\u00ed hoy. Somos teme\u00e9 metim (impuros). No podemos ir all\u00ed. Y si permiti\u00e9ramos que los jud\u00edos vayan all\u00ed, pod\u00e9s estar seguro de que habr\u00edan ah\u00ed picnics y todo tipo de tumot y nevelot (impurezas y comida no k\u00f3sher). \u00a1Dalo por seguro!
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, as\u00ed como es ahora es mejor; ning\u00fan jud\u00edo puede ir all\u00ed. \u00a1Esa es la verdad!
\n\n\n\nPor supuesto, debemos decir que tenemos derecho a poseer esa tierra y, por lo tanto, no tienes derecho a excavar all\u00ed y romper las cosas que encuentres. No. Eso s\u00ed podemos exigir. Y podemos castigarlos en la corte por hacer esas cosas. \u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05dc\u05db\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d5 \u2013 Los zorros andan por ese lugar. Son zorros, es verdad. Pero los jud\u00edos no pueden ir all\u00ed de todos modos. Eso es todo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-259 (diciembre de 2000)
\nThe post El Monte del Templo, \u00bfa qui\u00e9n le pertenece? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-23T20:57:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-23T20:57:09+00:00" }, { "id": 34112, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/escaleras-entre-los-mitnagdim/", "title": "Escaleras entre los mitnagdim", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nUsted dijo que a veces los jasidim est\u00e1n tan apegados a su Rebe que eso los lleva a pelear con otros jasidim en lugar de ser una escalera para subir m\u00e1s cerca de Hashem. Pero, \u00bfno es cierto que incluso entre los mitnagdim tambi\u00e9n admiran y emulan a los rash\u00e9 ieshivot?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfNo es cierto incluso entre los mitnagdim, que los seguidores admiran a su rab y lo emulan? S\u00ed, pero no tienen esa actitud de que \u00e9l lo es todo.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, dije antes que hay una contra en esto y un beneficio. El beneficio es que las personas que est\u00e1n influenciadas por un Rebe jas\u00eddico har\u00e1n m\u00e1s de lo que otras personas har\u00edan por un adam gadol que es su rabino. Es un hecho. Porque hay menos independencia con un Rebe. Con un Rebe jas\u00eddico es un guezerat hakatuv. Si el Rebe dice algo, siempre tiene raz\u00f3n. Y por lo tanto, la gente est\u00e1 m\u00e1s ansiosa por cumplir con sus requisitos. Mientras que en el caso de un adam gadol, un rosh yeshiv\u00e1 o cualquier otro, todav\u00eda hay una cierta cantidad de libre albedr\u00edo y cr\u00edtica. Las personas tambi\u00e9n usan su propio juicio y no siempre est\u00e1n tan ansiosas por cumplir sus palabras.
\n\n\n\nSin embargo, no encontramos personas peleando por \u201cmi rosh ieshiv\u00e1, tu rosh ieshiv\u00e1\u201d. Tanto no encuentras. No est\u00e1n tan comprometidos. Como dije antes, viene de mucho amor, mucho compromiso. Un jasid est\u00e1 comprometido con su Rebe. Pero tambi\u00e9n tiene una cierta debilidad porque si la gente se queda s\u00f3lo con eso y no va m\u00e1s all\u00e1, se vuelve s\u00f3lo una causa de lucha.
\n\n\n\nTambi\u00e9n hubo lucha en Europa, pero all\u00ed no hab\u00eda peri\u00f3dicos para publicitarlo. Aqu\u00ed tienes el Algemeiner Journal y est\u00e1n cometiendo un tremendo error al escribirlo. No deber\u00edan escribir sobre eso en los peri\u00f3dicos. \u00a1No se debe hablar de estas cosas en absoluto! Es bastante malo por s\u00ed solo, pero no tienes que difundirlo; especialmente entre los jud\u00edos no religiosos y los go\u00edm.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, ciertamente, \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e8\u05d1 (procura tener un Rab) es un gran principio para el \u00e9xito. Y \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e8\u05d1 no viene a excluir a un Rebe. Un Rebe tambi\u00e9n es un rab. Entonces, ya sea que el rab sea un rosh ieshiv\u00e1 o el Jafetz Jaim zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1 o Rav Aar\u00f3n K\u00f3tler zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1; ya sea uno de estos grandes hombres o el Rav I\u00f3isef \u00cdtzjok, el antiguo Lubavitcher Rebe zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1 o el antiguo Rebe de Gur zijron\u00f3 livraj\u00e1, todos ellos pueden hacer que una persona sea guiada por el camino del \u00e9xito.
\n\n\n\nS\u00f3lo que debe asegurarse de que no sea la causa de su ruina. A veces, mediante una lealtad cegadora, es decir, sin pensar y con emociones, las personas pueden usarlos solo para majl\u00f3ket y ese no es el prop\u00f3sito de un rab y un Rebe.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #165 (abril de 1976)
\nThe post Escaleras entre los mitnagdim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-23T04:43:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-23T04:43:07+00:00" }, { "id": 2794, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-free-will-of-the-misnagdim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Free Will of the Misnagdim", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said that sometimes chassidim are so attached to their Rebbeh and it leads to fighting with other chassidim instead of being a ladder to climb closer to Hashem. But isn\u2019t it true that even among the misnagdim that they also look up to and emulate the the roshei yeshiva?
A:
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t it true even among misnagdim, that the followers look up to their rav and they emulate him? Yes, but they don\u2019t have this attitude that he\u2019s everything.
\n\n\n\nNow, I said before that there\u2019s a loss in this and there\u2019s a benefit. The benefit is that people who are influenced by a chassidishe rebbe will do more than other people would ever do for an adam gadol who\u2019s their rebbe. It\u2019s a fact. Because there\u2019s less independence with a Rebbeh. With a chassidesheh Rebbeh, it\u2019s a gezeiras hakasuv. If the Rebbeh says something, he\u2019s always right. And therefore, people are more eager to live up to his requirements. Whereas in the case of an adam gadol \u2013 a rosh yeshiva or anybody else \u2013 there still is a certain amount of free will and criticism. People use their own judgment too and they\u2019re not always as eager to fulfill his words.
\n\n\n\nHowever, we don\u2019t find people fighting over \u201cMy rosh yeshiva, your rosh yeshiva.\u201d That much you don\u2019t find. They’re not that committed. As I said before, it comes from a lot of love, a lot of commitment. A chossid is committed to his Rebbeh. But it has a certain weakness too because if people will remain just with that and they don\u2019t go further, so it becomes only a cause of fighting.
\n\n\n\nThere was fighting in Europe too, but in Europe you didn\u2019t have newspapers to publicize it. Here you have Algemeiner Journal and they\u2019re making a very bad mistake in writing it up. They shouldn\u2019t write about it in the newspapers. These things shouldn\u2019t be spoken about at all! It\u2019s bad enough on its own but you don\u2019t have to spread it; especially among the irreligious Jews and the goyim.
\n\n\n\nNow certainly, \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e8\u05d1 is a very great principle for success. And \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e8\u05d1 doesn\u2019t come to exclude a Rebbeh. A Rebbeh is also a rav. So whether the rav is a rosh yeshiva or the Chofetz Chaim zichrono livracha or Rav Aharon Kotler zichrono livracha; whether it\u2019s one of these great men or if the rav was Rav Yosef Yitzchok, the old Lubavitcher Rebbe zichrono livracha or it was the old Gerrer Rebbe zichrono livracha, all of them can cause a person to be lead on the way to success.
\n\n\n\nOnly that he should make sure that it shouldn\u2019t be the cause of his undoing. Sometimes by blinding allegiance \u2013 it means with unthinking and by emotions \u2013 people can use them just for machlokes and that\u2019s not the purpose of a rav and the Rebbeh.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 165 (April 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Free Will of the Misnagdim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-22T15:22:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-07-04T16:44:31+00:00" }, { "id": 34701, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-korah/", "title": "Paracha Kora’h", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Korah-5782The post Paracha Kora’h appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-22T03:41:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-08-09T03:44:58+00:00" }, { "id": 34087, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/los-rebes-son-escaleras/", "title": "Los Rebes son escaleras ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 los jasidim de Satmer se pelean con los jasidim de Lubavitch? \u00bfUsted aprueba eso?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, si ustedes son jasidim, tendr\u00e1n que aguantarme un momento porque tendr\u00e9 que herir sus sentimientos.
\n\n\n\nHay una debilidad b\u00e1sica en todos los jasidim, y esa debilidad b\u00e1sica es “\u00a1Mi Rebe!” Ahora bien, \u201cMi Rebe\u201d es algo maravilloso y logra muchas cosas buenas, pero tambi\u00e9n causa muchos problemas.
\n\n\n\nAntes de los jasidim, todos los jud\u00edos dec\u00edan “\u00a1Mi Hakadosh Baruj Hu!” y eso es todo. Sin embargo, cuando el B\u00e1al Shem Tov vio que muchos jud\u00edos hab\u00edan dejado de decir eso, dijo que es mejor decir “Mi Rebe” que no decir nada en absoluto. Y si dices “Mi Rebe” el tiempo suficiente, con el tiempo dir\u00e1s “Mi Hakadosh Baruj Hu” tambi\u00e9n.
\n\n\n\nPero ha habido muchas personas sencillas que nunca pasaron de la etapa de “Mi Rebe”. Y por lo tanto se convierte en “Mi Rebe” versus “Tu Rebe”, y se arrancan los ojos los unos a los otros. Esa es una debilidad.
\n\n\n\nMira, si avanzas m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de esa etapa, entonces todos los Rebes se convierten en “Mi Rebe”. \u00a1Todos los Rebes! \u00a1El Satmer Rebe! \u00a1Ah! Zol ehr lang leiben! (Que tenga larga vida). Es un hombre maravilloso. Un gran guerrero; y \u00e9l hizo mucho por nosotros. El Lubavitcher Rebe, zol ehr lang leiben! Logr\u00f3 mucho y lo est\u00e1 logrando. Ambos deber\u00edan ser nuestros Rebes.
\n\n\n\nPero cuando alguien dice “s\u00f3lo este” y la otra persona dice “s\u00f3lo este”, entonces surgen los problemas. Y esa es la debilidad b\u00e1sica.
\n\n\n\nNo tiene que ser as\u00ed, porque se supone que la gente debe graduarse. Tu Rebe es solo una escalera. Subes en tu escalera a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. El Rebe s\u00f3lo est\u00e1 all\u00ed para facilitar el ascenso a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Pero si un hombre simplemente se para en la escalera y nunca llega al estante, entonces le decimos: “\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 est\u00e1s parado ah\u00ed?”. Hay mucha gente parada en las escaleras y todos se gritan unos a otros. Este dice: “Mi escalera es mejor”, y este dice: “Mi escalera es mejor que la tuya”. As\u00ed que les decimos: \u201cV\u00e1yanse ya. \u00a1Vayan m\u00e1s alto!\u201d Pero est\u00e1n ocupados con las escaleras. Y eso causa problemas.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #165 (abril de 1976)
\nThe post Los Rebes son escaleras appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-22T01:44:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-22T01:44:56+00:00" }, { "id": 2737, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-getting-stuck-on-a-ladder/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Getting Stuck On A Ladder", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why are the Satmerer chassidim fighting with the Lubavitcher chassidim? And do you approve of it?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow if you\u2019re chassidim then you\u2019re going to have to bear with me for a moment because I\u2019m going to have to hurt your feelings.
\n\n\n\nThere is a basic weakness in all chassidim, and that basic weakness is \u201cMy Rebbe!\u201d Now, \u201cMy Rebbe\u201d is a wonderful thing and it accomplishes a lot of good things \u2013 but it causes a lot of trouble too.
\n\n\n\nBefore chassidim, all Jews said \u201cMy Hakodosh Boruch Hu!\u201d and that\u2019s all. However when the Ba\u2019al Shem Tov saw that a lot of Jews had stopped saying that, so he said that it\u2019s better to say \u201cMy Rebbe\u201d than to not say anything at all. And if you say \u201cMy Rebbe\u201d long enough, then in the course of time you\u2019ll say \u201cMy Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u201d too.
\n\n\n\nBut there have been very many plain people who never graduated past the \u201cMy Rebbe\u201d stage. And therefore it becomes \u201cMy Rebbe\u201d versus \u201cYour Rebbe,\u201d and they scratch out the eyes of each other. That\u2019s a weakness.
\n\n\n\nLook, if you advance beyond that stage, then all Rebbes become \u201cMy Rebbe.\u201d All Rebbes! The Satmerer Rebbe! Ahh! Zol ehr lang leiben! He\u2019s a wonderful man. A big warrior; and he accomplished for us so much. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, zol ehr lang leiben! He accomplished so much and he is accomplishing. They should both be our Rebbes.
\n\n\n\nBut when someone says \u201conly this one,\u201d and the other person says \u201conly this one,\u201d then trouble comes. And that\u2019s the basic weakness.
It doesn\u2019t have to be that way because people are supposed to graduate. Your Rebbe is only a ladder. You climb up on your ladder to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The Rebbe is only there to make it easier to climb up to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But if a man just stands on the ladder and never reaches the shelf, then we tell him, \u201cWhat are you standing there for?!\u201d There are a lot of people standing on ladders and they\u2019re all yelling at each other. This one says, \u201cMy ladder is better,\u201d and this one says, \u201cMy ladder is better than yours.\u201d So we tell them, \u201cGet going already. Go higher!\u201d But they\u2019re busy with the ladders. And that causes trouble.
TAPE # 165 (April 1976)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Getting Stuck On A Ladder appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-21T17:38:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-28T21:39:43+00:00" }, { "id": 34083, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-a-boy-greets-a-girl/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When A Boy Greets A Girl", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
What should the response of a frum girl be\u00a0when a frum boy greets her on the street?
A:
Her response should be a nod and that\u2019s all. If it\u2019s a person you know, you should acknowledge\u00a0his greeting with a nod\u00a0and keep on going.\u00a0And if\u00a0it\u2019s a stranger, then act as if you didn\u2019t even notice him.\u00a0
Now, exactly how a girl should behave when it comes to greeting men deserves really\u00a0more than a few minutes; it\u2019s a complicated question. Because according to the Mishna\u00a0if somebody greets you then you should respond with at least a smile: \u00a0\u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05e1\u05d1\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea \u2013\u00a0You have to greet everybody with a pleasant face.\u00a0And so\u00a0you\u2019re expected to smile at people. However,\u00a0that\u2019s men with men and women with women. When it comes to men with women and women with men, it needs a\u00a0peirush. It needs an explanation\u00a0\u2013 it depends on the circumstances.
\n\n\n\nBut just to answer the question briefly, then that\u2019s enough. The girl should acknowledge the greeting \u2013 after all, a man that you know greeted you \u2013 acknowledge it and keep on going.
TAPE # 413 (July 1982)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on When A Boy Greets A Girl appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-20T18:00:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T18:00:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34060, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/cuando-un-chico-saluda-a-una-chica/", "title": "Cuando un chico saluda a una chica", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l deber\u00eda ser la respuesta de una chica frum (religiosa) cuando un chico frum la saluda en la calle?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nSu respuesta deber\u00eda ser un asentimiento y eso es todo. Si es una persona que conoces, debes aceptar su saludo con un asentimiento y continuar. Y si es un extra\u00f1o, entonces act\u00faa como si ni siquiera te hubieras dado cuenta.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, exactamente c\u00f3mo debe comportarse una chica cuando se trata de saludar a los hombres merece realmente m\u00e1s de unos minutos; es una pregunta complicada. Porque seg\u00fan la Mishn\u00e1 si alguien te saluda, entonces debes responder al menos con una sonrisa: \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05d1\u05e1\u05d1\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea: Tienes que saludar a todos con una cara agradable. Y por eso se espera que sonr\u00edas a la gente. Sin embargo, eso es hombres con hombres y mujeres con mujeres. Cuando se trata de hombres con mujeres y mujeres con hombres, se necesita un perush. Se necesita una explicaci\u00f3n, depende de las circunstancias.
\n\n\n\nPero s\u00f3lo para responder la pregunta brevemente, entonces eso es suficiente. La chica debe aceptar el saludo – despu\u00e9s de todo, un hombre que conoces te salud\u00f3 – aceptarlo y continuar.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #413 (julio de 1982)
\nThe post Cuando un chico saluda a una chica appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-20T15:02:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T15:02:01+00:00" }, { "id": 34078, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-separating-boys-and-girls/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Separating Boys and Girls", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a boy have any friendship with girls?
A:
Now that question really is superfluous. The answer is N-O, no! That’s all. And the truth is not only no friendship; there should be no kirvah at all. No kind of closeness at all. You shouldn’t stop on the street to talk to a girl. If he meets a girl on the street and he wants to fulfill the mitzvah of being mekabel es kol adam beseiver panim yafos, no; it doesn’t apply to girls.
I was once, about forty years ago, in a\u00a0country place with Satmarer chassidim, and we were saying kinos on Tisha Ba’av. So I said to chossid who was next to me, \u201cThe ladies out there are too far away. They can’t hear the kinos.\u201d He said to me, \u201cThey’re not far away enough. The further away they are the better they are.\u201d A piece of wisdom I heard from him.
\n\n\n\nNow don’t think he’s downgrading the ladies. No. He’s not scorning the ladies; but he recognizes the truth of nature. And don’t deceive yourself.
There’s a chapter in Shulchan Aruch that\u2019s titled, \u201cLehisrachek min hanashim \u2013 keep away from women.\u201d And women keep away from men. And that’s an ironclad rule. It’s a common sense rule. And once upon a time even lihavdil the goyim understood that themselves. That’s how important it is.
TAPE # 867
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Separating Boys and Girls appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T17:48:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T17:53:25+00:00" }, { "id": 34056, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05e8\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e7\u05e8\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05e8\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T17:37:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-22T05:25:49+00:00" }, { "id": 34054, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/separacion-entre-chicos-y-chicas/", "title": "Separaci\u00f3n entre chicos y chicas ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPuede un chico ser amigo de chicas?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, esa pregunta realmente es superflua. La respuesta es N-O, \u00a1no! Eso es todo. Y la verdad es que no s\u00f3lo no debe haber amistad; no debe haber kirv\u00e1 en absoluto. Ning\u00fan tipo de cercan\u00eda en absoluto. No deber\u00edas pararte en la calle para hablar con una chica. Si te encuentras con una chica en la calle y quieres cumplir con la mitzv\u00e1 de ser mekabel et kol haadam bes\u00e9ver panim iafot, \u00a1no!; no se aplica con las chicas .
\n\n\n\nUna vez, hace unos cuatro a\u00f1os, estaba en un lugar rural con jasidim de S\u00e1tmer, y est\u00e1bamos diciendo kinot de Tish\u00e1 BeAv. As\u00ed que le dije a un jasid que estaba a mi lado: \u201cLas damas est\u00e1n demasiado lejos. No llegan a escuchar las kinot\u201d. Me dijo: \u201cNo est\u00e1n lo suficientemente lejos. Cuanto m\u00e1s lejos est\u00e9n, mejor es\u201d. Una perla de sabidur\u00eda que escuch\u00e9 de \u00e9l.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, no creas que est\u00e1 degradando a las damas. No. \u00c9l no est\u00e1 despreciando a las damas; pero reconoce la verdad de la naturaleza. Y no te enga\u00f1es.
\n\n\n\nHay un cap\u00edtulo en el Shulj\u00e1n Aruj que se titula: “Lehitrajek min hanashim: alejarse de las mujeres”. Y que las mujeres se mantengan alejadas de los hombres. Y esa es una regla f\u00e9rrea. Es una regla de sentido com\u00fan. Y en una \u00e9poca incluso lehavdil los go\u00edm entend\u00edan eso por s\u00ed mismos. As\u00ed de importante es.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #867
\nThe post Separaci\u00f3n entre chicos y chicas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T17:31:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-19T17:31:52+00:00" }, { "id": 34049, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T04:09:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-19T04:09:11+00:00" }, { "id": 34044, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-shelach-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Shelach", "content_html": "\nTheir mouths watering, the Greenbaum family watched as streams of steaming hot melted chocolate flowed and mixed with rivers of caramel. They were visiting the Jolly Munz Candy Factory and were absolutely amazed to watch the incredible process of how their favorite candies were made.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThis next room is our candy wrapping room,\u201d said the tour guide as the children looked down through the large glass windows at a huge area filled with massive machines. \u201cAnd you guys have picked the perfect day to visit because today we started using brand new automatic candy wrapping machines!\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn the room below were giant gleaming machines that were taking thousands of freshly-made candies and instantly wrapping them before dumping them into boxes.
\n\n\n\n\u201cUntil today,\u201d the guide was saying, \u201cour workers had to wrap each candy by hand. Now all they have to do is load the wrapping paper into the machine and watch it all happen by itself!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cLike those workers are doing over there?\u201d asked Shimmy, looking at two workers who seemed to be ignoring their brand-new machine, which was still in its box and were painstakingly wrapping their candies by hand.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat? Where?\u201d asked the guide in shock, before noticing the two workers whom Shimmy pointed out. \u201cOh no! Why aren\u2019t they using their machine?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cMaybe that machine is not working,\u201d suggested Yitzy.
\n\n\n\n\u201cImpossible!\u201d said the guide. \u201cThese machines were custom-made and each one was tested before we received them!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe guide quickly ran down to the factory floor and approached the two workers.
\n\n\n\n\u201cJimbo! Earl!\u201d he said. \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you using your new candy wrapping machine?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut we are using it,\u201d replied Jimbo. \u201cWhenever we get tired we sit down and lean against it. It\u2019s so comfortable – I bet that\u2019s why the boss said it will help us wrap more candies!\u201d
\n\n\n\nEarl nodded. \u201cLook at how many candies are in our box!\u201d he said. \u201cHave the other workers wrapped this many candies today?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course they have!\u201d the guide exclaimed. \u201cLook at Sticky Stu and Mo Munchy over there! Their boxes of candies are overflowing and you haven\u2019t even filled your first box yet!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHmmm, maybe our machine is defective,\u201d said Jimbo thoughtfully.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d said the guide. \u201cThis machine can\u2019t just magically help you wrap candies if you don\u2019t take it out of the box and plug it in! It\u2019s a wonderful machine, but if you don\u2019t turn it on it\u2019s no better than a heap of metal for leaning on.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMeanwhile up on the observation deck, the Greenbaum family were all watching in amusement.
\n\n\n\n\u201cKinderlach,\u201d said Totty. \u201cWhile I agree that this is quite funny, can you tell me what important lesson we can learn from this?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat we should remember to turn on the oven when we make Challah?\u201d asked Basya, grinning.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat we need to dial a phone number if we want to make a phone call?\u201d suggested Shimmy, giggling.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, actually, yes,\u201d said Totty. \u201cThose are also good examples.\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-2.png?resize=640%2C577&ssl=1\")
\u201cAnd we should put on Shabbos clothes before eating gefilte fish!\u201d added little Yaeli.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYaeli, you\u2019re actually close,\u201d Totty said, smiling. \u201cBoys, you know we put on Tzitzis every day. And do you know what the Torah says about putting on Tzitzis?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe say it every day in Shema!\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cThe possuk says \u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u2019 \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd – when we see the Tzitzis we should remember about Hashem\u2019s Mitzvos and keep them.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cExactly,\u201d Totty said, \u201cthe possuk tells us that Tzitzis are a wonderful machine which help us remember about Hashem and His Mitzvos. But you see, your Tzitzis don\u2019t just magically make you remember Hashem and cause you to do Mitzvos. You have to use them properly. Just like a candy-wrapping machine won\u2019t help you if you don\u2019t plug it in, and our oven won\u2019t bake Challah if we don\u2019t turn it on, seeing Tzitzis won\u2019t help you remember Hashem and do His Mitzvos unless we use them properly.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo the Tzitzis are like a machine?\u201d asked Shimmy, \u201cA reminding machine?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIn a way, yes,\u201d explained Totty. \u201cAnd the way to use this \u2018machine\u2019 is to think about the Tzitzis when we see them and remember to do all of the Mitzvos that Hashem commanded us to do.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou and Yitzy should be taking peeks at your Tzitzis as many times as you can during the day. And you,\u201d he said turning to Basya, \u201ccan do the same thing. When you see my Tzitzis and Shimmy and Yitzy\u2019s Tzitzis, you should think about it.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThank you Totty,\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cAlthough I think from now on my Tzitzis will also remind me of candy as well.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAs long as it also reminds you to make a brocha on the candy!\u201d said Shimmy with a grin.
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: When you see your Tzitzis, or your father\u2019s or brother\u2019s – use it! Remember about the mitzvos that Hashem commanded us with. If you do that you\u2019re wrapping millions of \u2018candies\u2019 for yourself in Olam Habo.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Shelach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T03:58:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-19T03:58:21+00:00" }, { "id": 34032, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shelach-5-pride-of-israel-2/", "title": "Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel", "content_html": "The Pride Parade
\n\n\n\nFirst, a short introduction. Someone once brought me an interesting picture from London; I still have it in a drawer at home. You see there a parade of important people; nobles and dukes, and they\u2019re walking in a procession to Windsor Castle. All of them are wearing long gowns of purple velvet \u2013 Royal Purple \u2013 and elaborate hats with large feathers protruding.
\n\n\n\nBy the way, if you ever see a person wearing a feather in his hat \u2013 it\u2019s a strange thing; why should you have a feather in your hat? The answer is it\u2019s an imitation of those nobles in London.
\n\n\n\nNow, who are these nobles in the picture? It\u2019s \u201cthe Most Noble Order of the Garter\u201d. Once a year they parade through the streets celebrating their ancestors who had the privilege of being from the Knights of the Garter.
\n\n\n\nA Great Privilege
\n\n\n\nWhat does that mean to be a Knight of the Garter? Now, I\u2019m just imagining but it\u2019s something like this. It means that your ancestor had once been given the privilege to come to the palace early in the morning to help the king get dressed by putting a garter on his foot. Not both feet; that\u2019s too much honor for one person. And it doesn\u2019t mean every day he had the privilege to put on the king\u2019s garters \u2013 it was a once in a lifetime event.
\n\n\n\nAnd so this nobleman got ready. He rehearsed beforehand \u2013 you can\u2019t just walk in and put a garter on a king stam azoy. He rehearsed for a long time. And he had new garments sewn for him by the best tailors and he bought the best coach and horses he could to travel to London. And the night before, he made a big banquet to celebrate with all his friends. And then the great moment came \u2013 he was in the palace and he was being coached by the chamberlain. And he knelt on one knee and the king stuck his foot out from the bed and this nobleman reverently took the garter and he put it on the king\u2019s foot.
\n\n\n\nAnd then the chamberlain gave him a signal, \u201cScram. It\u2019s enough. Enough kovod for one person.\u201d And the nobleman bowed his way out; he walked out backwards. And he was glowing; he was radiant. He and his children forever were happy with this dignity and they were privileged to wear a big medal: The Medal of the Knight of the Garter. And they fought for this kovod! They schemed, intrigued and they bribed! The chamberlain got rich!
\n\n\n\nAscending the Ranks
\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s consider the truth of the matter: Who was the king after all? He wasn\u2019t elected. He wasn\u2019t chosen because he was most worthy. How did it begin way back? Way back there was a brigand in the highland of Scotland who was more vicious than his fellow murderers and so he gained control of his clan. And after doing very many deeds of mayhem, he finally succeeded in building himself a castle and making himself a member of the Scottish nobility; and after a while he was so rich that his family intermarried with the reigning family in England and then when it was a suitable situation, he hired someone to plunge a dagger into his mechutan and he took over. That\u2019s how he became king.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, when this king, this \u2018noble creature\u2019, stuck his foul foot out from the bed and somebody was privileged to put a garter on it, to service the king by pulling up his garter, that honor was never forgotten. That especial privilege given by the King to the Knight of the Garter was l\u2019dorosam, it was for all his generations. Forever and ever the children considered themselves privileged.
\n\n\n\nOur Royal Symbol
\n\n\n\nThat was the introduction. Now we come to our subject.
\n\n\n\nAt the end of this week\u2019s sedrah Hakodosh Boruch Hu is talking to the Am Yisroel and He\u2019s teaching them about the mitzvah of tzitzis. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05b4\u05ea \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 You should make fringes on the edges of your garments for all your generations. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05b4\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05e3 \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 and you should add on a psil techeiles, the tzitzis had strings of blue wool originally and the purpose of the blue is royalty.
\n\n\n\nIn ancient times this techeiles, that\u2019s a certain kind of blue – royal blue – was forbidden to anyone except members of the royal family. That\u2019s why it\u2019s called royal blue. Nothing to do with the royal navy. Royal blue means in the olden days, techeiles was worn only by princes; and so Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 this shall be your fringes. \u201cOthers will wear their own fringes,\u201d Hashem says. \u201cSome may put feathers in their hats. Others will have badges, insignias and medals. But I, the King of the universe, I confer upon you an eternal sign of royalty, the blue threads of the tzitzis. All day, every day, you\u2019ll be walking around with royal garments.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecoming Fashionable
\n\n\n\nI remember when I was in Europe I was once passing through a town where Jewish glaziers were putting windows into a building. The Jewish glaziers were wearing beards and their tzitzis were flowing in the wind. They were on top of a building \u2013 it was a gentile place \u2014 and they were putting in glass panes. I was watching those Jews on top of the building and their tzitzis were flowing in the wind; they were proud. I was proud too.
\n\n\n\nIn America a lot of this pride went away. If you walked among Jews in America you had to have emunah that they were wearing tzitzis because you couldn\u2019t see them. You had to be a big believer! Of course if you went into the synagogue it was possible to see people who put on taleisim but Orthodox Jews on the street never demonstrated that they wore tzitzis.
\n\n\n\nBoruch Hashem, it has become a fashion lately among Orthodox Jews to display them. Today if you walk in the better neighborhoods you\u2019ll see men and boys and they have tzitzis hanging out of their pants. It\u2019s frequent to see Orthodox Jews with strings trailing down from under their coats.
\n\n\n\nAnd it means royalty! Whatever else tzitzis means, this is number one \u2013 we are royalty! Everything else that is included in the mitzvah is built on this idea \u2013 that it\u2019s a beged of royalty.
\n\n\n\nReal Princesses
\n\n\n\nNow, before we continue this subject I want to say one thing. Ladies, I want you to listen to me. Our ladies, our girls, the women of the Am Yisroel are included in everything I\u2019m saying here. It\u2019s true, there\u2019s a technical reason why women don\u2019t wear tzitzis. Men are obligated in time-bound mitzvos; women not. Why is that? It\u2019s not our subject for now. But the women of the Am Yisroel are included in the Royal Nation. When men put on tzitzis they\u2019re not putting it on for themselves. Every father puts on tzitzis for all of his children and for his wife, too. There\u2019s no question that tzitzis are the property of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no question that this is the case. I\u2019m not saying this because it\u2019s America or because it\u2019s the spirit of the times; you can trust me on that one, I\u2019m saying it because it\u2019s the truth. When women look at men and see that they\u2019re wearing a garment of glory, it\u2019s a glory for her too. If your husband is a king, then you\u2019re a queen. If your brother is a prince then you\u2019re a princess.
\n\n\n\nIt means our people \u2013 all of us; men and women, boys and girls \u2013 are princes and princesses. We are dukes and barons and earls. We\u2019re all of that and more. We\u2019re kings and queens!
\n\n\n\nThe Poor King
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll illustrate that. Rabbi Akiva (Bava Metzia 113b) tells of a case in halacha. There was a man who was in debt and he couldn\u2019t pay his debts but this man was seen to be wearing a remarkably expensive mantle. He was wearing a coat that cost a tremendous sum of money. And therefore the creditor came to beis din with a complaint that it\u2019s not right for this man to be dressed like a king when he couldn\u2019t pay his debts.
\n\n\n\nThere were two opinions about this question. One opinion was that we should confiscate his cloak and sell it and part of the money would go to pay his debts and with the rest we would buy him a garment that\u2019s suited for his status, for his rank.
\n\n\n\nAnd Rabbi Akiva said, \u201cNo.\u201d Rabbi Akiva said, \u201c\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u2013 Every Jew is a king. He has the right to wear a kingly garment.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow it\u2019s important for us to understand that we\u2019re not talking halacha here. In practice it could be that we follow the other opinion because to be a king you have to pay your debts. A man who doesn\u2019t pay his debt is certainly not acting like a king. But it\u2019s the theory of Rabbi Akiva that\u2019s important for us \u2013 that a Yisroel deserves to have a royal garment. Who? Everyone, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 every Jew. Every Jew is royalty. That\u2019s an immense concept!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s Our World
\n\n\n\nAnd we have to rise to that; we have to raise our minds to that, to appreciate that every Jew, even the poorest, the lowest, deserves to be dressed in the garments of a king! He deserves a crown! He deserves an ermine cloak! He deserves all the trappings of a monarch! Every single Jew! That\u2019s how the Torah expects us to understand the Jewish people.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNow why should that be?\u201d you ask. \u201cIs it fair to elect one nation and to give them the superiority?\u201d So let\u2019s clear the decks for action and understand once and for all the answer to that question.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu didn\u2019t make the world so that it should be full of insects or plants or mammals. The world wasn\u2019t created for animals and birds and fish. The world wasn\u2019t even created for human beings. The world was created for the purpose of a righteous nation! Not for the Jewish people \u2013 for a righteous people, for a nation that would choose to be devoted completely to the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, at the beginning, any nation could have stepped forward to fill that role. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu was waiting. Who would it be? And when finally Avraham stepped forward, Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cI confer upon you and your children forever and ever the crown of royalty. You have been chosen now to work on My behalf, and to fulfill the purpose for which I created the world.\u201d And from that point on, we became the purpose of the world.
\n\n\n\nTrue Pride
\n\n\n\nOnly us! The truth is that anyone who wishes can join us, but if he doesn\u2019t, he has no complaints against the plan of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It\u2019s too late, you nations of the world. We may be sorry for you. We may sympathize with you. You had your chance however and you didn\u2019t utilize it; and now it\u2019s gone forever. You cannot undo history. \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d9\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 The word of Hashem will stand strong forever (Yeshaya 40:8).
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05dd, You Hashem chose Avraham (Nechemia 9:7).\u201d And from then on, we are the one nation in the world. Not we are a good nation. We are the nation, the one nation privileged to work in the service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And that\u2019s our pride forever and ever. Of course, we have nothing against the nations of the world. Let every nation be proud to be what they are. Why not? Let the Italians be proud and the Americans and the others; gezunteheit, be proud of whatever it is. But it\u2019s a rachmonos on them because when we say we’re proud, we mean something else. We mean that we\u2019re royalty. And not royalty in the sense of the king of this country or that country. It\u2019s the only true royalty there is. When we say we are proud, it means that we are proud that Hakodosh Boruch Hu said about us, \u201cAvodai heim \u2013 they are My servants.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBlessings of Gratitude
\n\n\n\nNow, that lesson of feeling pride because of our connection to the Melech Malchei Hamelachim is so important that it has to be studied and repeated every day. And actually we do; we do that. I\u2019ll explain.
\n\n\n\nEvery day in shemoneh esrei, three times every day,we make a bracha \u201c\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5’\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 Blessed are You Hashem, the most perfect G-d.\u201d And it\u2019s a bracha that seems to be different from all of the other brachos in shemoneh esrei. Because all the brachos, you have to know, are brachos of gratitude. \u05de\u05b8\u05d2\u05b5\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 we thank You Hashem for being the shield of Avraham, which means He is a shield of our nation, He protects us because of Avrohom. In the second bracha, \u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, we are thanking Hashem because He gives us food and He heals the sick and He gives rain \u2013 all the good things enumerated there \u2013 and someday He will revive the dead too.
\n\n\n\nLook through the entire shemoneh esrei; every bracha is a bracha of gratitude; we are grateful for a benefit bestowed. Actually that\u2019s what the word boruch is. Boruch fundamentally means \u201cwe bend our knee to You.\u201d It means we are bent-kneed, humbled, before You in gratitude.
\n\n\n\nBut there is this one brachah, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5’\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1, we thank You for being holy, that doesn\u2019t seem to fit. We are talking about the kedusha of Hakodosh Boruch Hu which means His shleimus, His perfection. Ok, He\u2019s perfect; that\u2019s true. But what are we thanking Him for? We thank You because You are holy? What gratitude is required because He is holy? That’s a point that we have to consider. What gratitude should we be thinking about?
\n\n\n\nPride in Perfection
\n\n\n\nNow we said here once that there are three answers to this question (See Rav Miller\u2019s sefer \u2018Praise, My Soul!\u2019) and the truth is that all three should be included in our expression of gratitude. Some people do that. One intention by shacharis, another by mincha and another for maariv. Very good, very good. All three are important. But for our subject tonight we\u2019ll study only one of them.
\n\n\n\nThe Navi says (Tehillim 106:47) about the Am Yisroel \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8, that we aggrandize ourselves by Your praise. With what does our nation pride itself? Is it because we are an am chacham v\u2019navon, a wise and understanding nation? Or maybe because we are a nation of chesed, other good traits? It could be; could be that\u2019s true but that\u2019s not how we praise ourselves. \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 we aggrandize ourselves with one thing. \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 with Your praises. However great and perfect and shaleim You are, that\u2019s how we find our pride.
\n\n\n\nWe take pride that we have such a G-d Who is unequaled. That is our pride, that is our happiness. He chose us. We are His people. That is an unequaled pride.
\n\n\n\nProud Servants
\n\n\n\nA mashal. Let\u2019s say you have a boss over you but the boss himself is an underling; he\u2019s a nobody, an unimportant man; so you won\u2019t take too much pride in working for him. But if somebody, let’s say, is an assistant to the President, so that\u2019s already something to be proud of. Even the President today, he\u2019s nothing special but still, you probably feel some pride if you work in the White House. And if you\u2019re the assistant, l\u2019havdil, to Dovid Melech Yisroel, then surely you are important. That\u2019s already something you can be proud of.
\n\n\n\nAnd if we are assistants to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, if He chose us and He considers us His beloved ones, and His entire interest is in us, so we are so happy that we have such a G-d, that \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 we have to boast in the praise of Hashem. We take pride in the fact that He is so great and we thank Him because of that, that we have such a Hashem. We thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu because we are His people, we are the people of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore our Melech, that’s our greatness. Who are we? We are \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2014 we are servants of Hakadosh, the One who is perfect. We don’t serve any caricature of a god. We don’t serve a man who died or a desert madman. We don’t worship any idols. We were chosen to serve the One who has all power and all wisdom and all kindliness.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we say to Him, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 we thank You, \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5’\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 the perfect One. Because all of that redounds to our credit and our greatness. Now there’s much more to it than that, but that’s important to have in mind; when we say \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5’\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 we’re thanking Him for our greatness that’s reflected upon us from Him. We are identified with Him and therefore our greatness is measured by His greatness.
\n\n\n\nCause of The Gold Rush
\n\n\n\nWe have to remember that. We have to thank Hashem for that always, \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 we have to thank Hashem for that \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05de\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Our place in this world is not like everyone else. \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 He is ours! The King who is King of all Kings, the One who made the universe and rules the universe. He knows the furthermost reaches of the most distant galaxies; \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05bb\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 – he knows the name of every star among the trillions of stars in the remote distances, it is all His and \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc – He is our G-d.
\n\n\n\nYou know what that means? \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 He is ours, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 – And in all the world are His judgements (Tehillim 105:7). It means that whatever happens in the world we shouldn\u2019t make any mistake, anything that happens in the world is done because of us. \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 in all the world are His judgements. How do You do Your Judgments? In the role of Hashem elokeinu.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if you hear that there is a lack of rain in a certain place and that people are suffering, Hashem is doing it because of us. Now, how that works is a question, it is a good question, but it is because of us. If gold is discovered in a certain state, it is because of us. If there is a hurricane, it is because of us. There is no question about that. Because it is made by Hashem, and who is Hashem? \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 He is our G-d. \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 in the whole world are His judgements.
\n\n\n\nThe Subject of Tanach
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that most people don\u2019t think this way. They never understood what the bracha of Hakeil Hakodosh means. They don\u2019t know what tzitzis means; they\u2019re not listening to what the tzitzis is trying to teach them. And there\u2019s no excuse for that. You have to study what is written in the kisvei hakodesh and you have to attune your mind to the truth of the Torah; everything is done by Hashem and is done because He is \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. Everything is done because we are the Royal Nation.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t say everybody is the people of Hashem, don\u2019t be a democrat. You have no right to give away what doesn\u2019t belong to you, you have no right to hand out honors to the other nations of the world. Andanybody who feels he wants to be an anav, he wants to feel meek and humble and not be superior to anybody else, he has to know that he is a kofer b’chol hatorah kuloh; because the entire Torah talks only about one subject. You know that? It talks only about one subject. What is the subject the Torah talks about all the time? It talks about Hashem, but it talks about something else too, it talks about Hashem\u2019s people.
\n\n\n\nI myself have 165 places I counted where it says in Tanach Hashem Elokei Yisrael, Hashem calls Himself \u201cthe G-d of the Jewish people\u201d. Besides all the places which say Elokei Avraham Yitzchak veYaakov. Besides the many places where it says \u201cyou are My people\u201d. Besides the many places where it says, \u201cYou are My servants.\u201d The whole Tanach from beginning to end says you, Yisroel, you are My people and nobody else.
\n\n\n\nBook of The World
\n\n\n\nDid you ever pass a church and you hear on the loudspeaker someone reading from the bible, and he\u2019s saying \u201cAnd the lord spoke to Patrick\u201d? No, it doesn\u2019t say that. The L-rd spoke to Moshe it says. Even the priest in the church says that. He reads \u201cAnd the L-rd spoke to Moses.\u201d Even Christians say the L-rd spoke to Moshe. Mohamedans also say that.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a remarkable thing. It\u2019s only because of habit we overlook that point. We think, \u201cNaturally, a Jewish book is about Jews.\u201d But it\u2019s not a Jewish book! It\u2019s the world book! It\u2019s the universe book! The history of the universe is being narrated because the Torah starts out \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 in the beginning Hashem created everything. It\u2019s not a history of the Jewish people! The Torah is a history of the universe!
\n\n\n\nAnd what is written in the Torah? It is written that Hakodosh Boruch Hu chose the Am Yisroel. You know, if there were a lot of torahs in the world it would be a different story. A Polish Torah that Hashem gave, alright, in the Polish Torah it talks about the Polish. If there was an African Torah, it talks about Africa. There is only one Torah however, and even the Polish say that; there is only one Torah, they don\u2019t say there are two torahs, they agree.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet as soon as Avrohom appears on the scene, then the Torah stops to talk about anyone else and from now on it\u2019s \u05d6\u05b6\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 the seed of Avrohom who loved Me. Avrohom is in the center of the stage from now on and his son and his son\u2019s son and their grandchildren and so it continues throughout all the centuries forever.
\n\n\n\nGood News!
\n\n\n\nIf that is the case, we begin to see what an obligation there is upon the Am Yisroel to be proud. Even as you walk on the street, you must think you are a prince or a princess.
\n\n\n\nOf course you shouldn\u2019t despise or show contempt to anybody. The pride we have in being servants to Hashem should never lead to a certain disrespect of non-Jews. That\u2019s not prudent; it\u2019s silly and it\u2019s not kvod Shomayim. But amongst ourselves, when we speak to each other, of course we say the truth. We must spread the good news among our families and among our friends. Absolutely we must do that.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just talk. It\u2019s Torah. And if you don\u2019t feel it in your bones, then you’re a cold Jew. You have a lot to warm up to yet, to understand that principle.
\n\n\n\nReasons To Weep
\n\n\n\nNow, when Yirmiyahu HaNovi was foretelling the Churban Beis Hamikdash and exile to Bavel he made a statement in the name of Hashem (13:17): Hakodosh Boruch Hu is talking and He says, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u2013 My soul weeps in secret places.
\n\n\n\nFor what is Hashem weeping? So we think we know. So many Jews were slaughtered in the time of the churban! \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b8\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 – the house of Yisroel and the people of Hashem that fell by the sword (Shmuel II, 1:12, Kinnos). Hakodosh Boruch Hu cries for that, no question.
\n\n\n\nHe weeps because His people were plucked from their homes and sent away among goyim in foreign countries; Galus – exile, a tragedy. They had to forsake their beloved homesteads; their farms and gardens and orchards that they had inherited for hundreds of years from their forefathers. And now they are on admas neichar, on foreign soil, and they look back with longing to their old homes. \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc – We sat by the rivers of Bavel, \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dd\u05be\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 and we wept, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05be\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 when we remembered Zion. And so we can be sure that Hashem wept along with them.
\n\n\n\nAnd what about the beautiful Bais Hamikdosh, the glorious bais kodsheinu v’tifarteinu that is now a heap of ruins. The house of Hashem was laid waste. Now that is something to weep for! That glorious house which once represented the presence of Hashem among us and it is now ashes.
\n\n\n\nWeeping for Pride
\n\n\n\nBut listen to what the Navi Yirmiyahu tells us that Hashem is crying for: \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u2013 My soul weeps in secret places, \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b5\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 it\u2019s because of her pride. \u05d2\u05b5\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 from the word \u05d2\u05d0\u05d5\u05d4. And the Gemara (Chagiga 5b) says it means this: \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d8\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Hashem says, \u201cI weep because the Am Yisroel lost their pride. I\u2019m crying because they were once a proud nation, and it was taken away from them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a big chiddush to us. Because if you would have asked us why Hashem wept at the time of the churban, the pride of our people would have been way down at the bottom of the list. When we sit on the floor on Tisha B\u2019Av and think about what to weep over, so we think that there are many things that come before that.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s certainly true, of course He weeps for all those things too; absolutely He weeps for that too. But the Navi tells us that more than anything else, He weeps \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d8\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 because they lost their pride in being a Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nOnce, they considered themselves bnei melachim; they knew they were princes. They knew why they were a nation that wears tzitzis, a nation garbed in royalty. We were a proud nation; we felt that we were the choicest of mankind, the exalted people. In the ancient days every Jew knew that. It ran in our veins; it was our lifeblood.
\n\n\n\nProselytizing in Adiabenne
\n\n\n\nYou know, once there was a group of Jewish merchants who were traveling on business and they were waiting for the next caravan to come so instead of wasting time, they visited the king and tried to make a Jew out of him. You hear that? A merchant, he\u2019s traveling in a foreign country but he has to wait now for a day for the next caravan to leave. So instead of wasting a half day, he found a way to the royal palace and he tried to convert the king to Judaism.
\n\n\n\nA merchant had to go through Chadayev, it\u2019s Adiabenne, a certain province. And so instead of wasting time, he converted the king and the queen and some more people of the royal court. And that\u2019s how Munbaz, Munbaz HaMelech, came into being. Years later, the king of the Kuzarim was converted by a Jewish merchant the same way.
\n\n\n\nJews were so confident, so proud of themselves that they felt they\u2019re doing a favor to the king to make a Jew out of him. Why should they be silent? They preached Judaism because they knew that\u2019s the best merchandise there is and they had a monopoly on it. And the King grabbed the opportunity.
\n\n\n\nYou know if President Bush had some brains he would give up the presidency to become a member of a shtibel, a little shtibel. He\u2019d be mesgayer, he\u2019d be mahl himself, put on tefillin, keep Shabbos; it would be a tremendous elevation for him! If he understood what\u2019s taking place, he\u2019d go wild with simcha! Of course he wouldn\u2019t be able to tolerate such a simcha. He\u2019d collapse from happiness. Unfortunately, we\u2019re not collapsing!
\n\n\n\nCone, Koch and Lewis
\n\n\n\nOnce we were put into exile, that pride began to weaken; we began to forget who we are. That is the greatest of all tragedies. And for this Hashem weeps. He weeps for all of those who learned to cringe in galus. All the Jews who lost their pride. Here\u2019s a Jew; his name used to be C-O-H-E-N; the name has been metamorphosed ten times and now it is C-O-N-E, like an ice cream cone. Ice cream sounds better than C-O-H-E-N which means a kohen Hashem, a priest of the most high.
\n\n\n\nKatz became Koch. What does Koch mean? It means nothing. You\u2019re ashamed of Katz? Katz means Kohen tzeddek; it\u2019s roshei teivos for kohen tzedek, righteous Kohen. The last name Levi became Lewis. Look at the names of the writers in the New York times, if you are careful you will note they\u2019re all Jewish names metamorphosed. They are ashamed of their Jewishness:, they are ashamed of being Jews. They say we are not ashamed; \u201cWe are proud,\u201d they say. No, they are ashamed; they have an inferiority complex. To them being a Jew is a shame.
\n\n\n\nEven rabbis! How is it that Jewish rabbis take gentile names? Rabbi Louis, Rabbi Charles, Rabbi Howard, Rabbi Alfred. A rabbi should take pride in a gentile name? The answer is they have lost their pride as Jews. They think it\u2019s an honor to have the name of some Scotch drunkard or some Irish wife beater. To them, that enhances their personality. It\u2019s nitlah gaavasan.
\n\n\n\nAshamed of The Crown
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man; one of the top men in the Syrian community had to visit me in my home for a certain reason. He wanted to invite me to speak somewhere. I knew he was coming, so I looked through the window. He got out of his car and he put a yarmulke on his head and walked in the house. Why? Why just when he walked into my house? He wouldn\u2019t walk with a yarmulke in the street because they\u2019re trained to be ashamed of a yarmulke.
\n\n\n\nA yarmulke is a crown of glory! You know we make a bracha every morning on a yarmulke and on a hat. Not on tefillin. The bracha is \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 we thank You, \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 You crown Your people Yisroel with glory. A hat or a beanie; whatever it is you wear on your head, a stovepipe, a tarbush, a snood, a sheitel; anything you wear on your head, if you do it because you\u2019re a Jew, then it\u2019s a crown of glory!
\n\n\n\nTzitzis surely he wouldn\u2019t wear out \u2013 if he\u2019s fortunate enough to wear tzitzis he surely won\u2019t let the strings hang out. Now isn\u2019t that a tragedy? To be ashamed of bigdei malchus? To stick a sign of royalty inside your pants? Suppose a king gives you a badge. You\u2019re ashamed of the badge? Instead of pinning it on your coat here, you pin it on your underwear?
\n\n\n\nTrue Dignity
\n\n\n\nI ride on the bus sometimes. Sometimes by accident my tzitzis come out. I see the Jewish matrons; they\u2019re looking with their eyes popping out. What do I do? I pull them out like this! Let their eyes pop out entirely!
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu has given us signs of glory and we have perverted them; we\u2019re being ashamed of it. To be so ingrained in self shame is a tragedy of tragedies! The tzitzis are a raiment of glory!
\n\n\n\nNot only tzitzis. How is it that a Jewish girl walks out wearing almost nothing? And as she\u2019s walking down the street well \u2018un\u2019dressed, she\u2019s so proud of it. She thinks that she is dressed in the most noble raiment. How could that happen to us?
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s because she doesn\u2019t understand. She has no criterion of what it means to be dignified. Suppose a Jewish girl knew that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0, that she\u2019s a kevudah, an honored person. Suppose she understood the lesson of tzitzis that she sees her nation wearing and she knew that she\u2019s a daughter of a king. A Jewish girl is a daughter of a king! She\u2019s a princess. She has to know that. It\u2019s not a mashal! It\u2019s a fact! She\u2019s a princess! A princess doesn\u2019t dress that way!
\n\n\n\nOur Job
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the source of a lot of our troubles is a lack of pride in Hashem, in our being the Am Hashem. All the wickedness of the gentiles has made inroads in the Jewish people solely due to the fact that the Jews have lost this pride. And therefore we have to go back and study the subject once more and realize what does it mean \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc – to be proud of being a Yisroel. That\u2019s our job, to regain the ancient pride of the Jewish people.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore at all times we sing \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 How fortunate we are. A Jew has to sing at all times! At least in his heart he should always be singing in happiness because of the great honor that he possesses. His heart should sing within him because Hakadosh Baruch Hu has elevated him. A proud Jew walks the streets, whatever street it may be, and he\u2019s walking on air. He\u2019s happy always!
\n\n\n\nCrowding The Royals
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s a happiness that will be forever. Because the Navi says in those days when the truth will finally conquer, when it will overcome all the falsehood of the world, what\u2019s going to happen? Now it sounds like a guzma, an exaggeration but listen anyhow to what he said: \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05bd\u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05db\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e3 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 Ten men from every gentile nation will take hold of a corner of a Jewish man\u2019s garment. Why the corner? They want to hold on by the corner because that\u2019s where our nation displays its royalty.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is: Why don\u2019t they put on tzitzis themselves? Let them wear tzitzis. Nothing doing! If a man has a crown of a king, can anybody else have the boldness, the impudence to put a crown on his head? You can\u2019t even put a sign outside your house Dr. So-and-so if you\u2019re not a doctor. They\u2019ll sue you in court. So how can you call yourself a king if you don\u2019t have the authority? And therefore, the goyim won\u2019t be able to wear tzitzis. But they\u2019ll want to hang on; at least that.
\n\n\n\nNow the Navi says \u201cten men for every nation;\u201d how many nations are there? There are seventy nations. Ten men for each nation means seven hundred people. So seven hundred goyim will hold on to the end of one of your corners of your garment. But your garment has four corners so it\u2019s 4 times 700; take out your calculator; 4 times 700 is 2800. The Navi is saying 2800 people will want to walk with you in the street when the time comes. Maybe you won\u2019t be able to let them all walk with you \u2013 it\u2019ll be too crowded \u2013 but they\u2019ll want to.
\n\n\n\nNow that only seems a guzma to us because we are far away from the truth. And therefore it\u2019s about time we started getting closer to the truth! We are royalty! And not royalty in the sense of the king of this country, that country. It\u2019s the only true royalty there is. We, men and women, boys and girls, we are the nation that wears bigdei malchus! And that\u2019s why we\u2019re proud and happy forever.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTaking Pride in Royalty
\n\n\n\nThis week I will attempt to regain the Pride of Israel, the pride in our status as the chosen ones of Hashem. At least once a day when I see tzitzis – whether my own, my husband\u2019s, father\u2019s or that of any Jew in the street – I will bli neder take a moment to remember that this is a symbol of royalty. We are chosen by the King to wear His sign. This will have a profound effect on my behavior throughout the day, I\u2019m not just anyone, I\u2019m an honored servant of The King.
\nThe post Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T03:55:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-30T19:45:06+00:00" }, { "id": 34039, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shelach-5-pride-of-israel/", "title": "Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel", "content_html": "TA-Shelach-5782The post Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T03:53:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-19T03:53:40+00:00" }, { "id": 34031, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-shelach-5-pride-of-israel/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel", "content_html": "\n\n\n\nTA-Shelach-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Shelach 5 – Pride of Israel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-19T03:53:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-19T03:53:13+00:00" }, { "id": 34029, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/motos-television-panales-y-aristoteles/", "title": "Motos, televisi\u00f3n, pa\u00f1ales y Arist\u00f3teles ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es su opini\u00f3n sobre la gente de la ieshiv\u00e1 que anda en moto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nMira, un poco de diversi\u00f3n todo el mundo tiene derecho a tener. Depende de d\u00f3nde la usen. Si van a la ieshiv\u00e1, ciertamente es algo bueno.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #172 (junio de 1977)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi hubiera un programa en la televisi\u00f3n sobre el Lubavitcher, \u00bflo ver\u00eda usted?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNo podr\u00eda porque no tengo [televisi\u00f3n].
\n\n\n\nCINTA #70 (abril de 1975)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSi me deshago de mi televisor, \u00bfdebo venderlo o romperlo?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nNinguna de los dos. Deber\u00edas quitar el interior del aparato, y \u200b\u200bconvertirlo en una estanter\u00eda para sefarim.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-102 (marzo de 1997)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs una buena idea que una mujer ahorre dinero lavando pa\u00f1ales de tela en lugar de usar pa\u00f1ales descartables?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nEsta es una buena pregunta que necesitar\u00e1 mejores cabezas que la m\u00eda. Es una pregunta con varias implicaciones, pero son tan complicadas que dejaremos esto para alguien m\u00e1s capaz que yo.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #47 (febrero de 1975)
\n\n\n\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\nSupuestamente hay una carta escrita por Arist\u00f3teles que se cita en algunos sefarim que dice que hizo teshuv\u00e1 y admite que hay un Hakadosh Baruj Hu. \u00bfQu\u00e9 opina usted Rav al respecto?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHay una historia de que Arist\u00f3teles se convirti\u00f3 en jud\u00edo. Creo que es una locura. Es rid\u00edculo. No creo en eso en absoluto.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-269 (marzo de 2001)
\nThe post Motos, televisi\u00f3n, pa\u00f1ales y Arist\u00f3teles appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-17T20:29:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-17T20:29:30+00:00" }, { "id": 34074, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-motor-bikes-television-pampers-and-aristotle/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Motor Bikes, Television, Pampers and\u00a0Aristotle", "content_html": "\nQ:
What’s your opinion of yeshiva people who ride motor bikes?
A:
Look, a little bit of fun everybody is entitled to have. It depends where they’re riding it. If they’re riding to the yeshivah so it’s certainly good.
TAPE #172 (June 1977)
Q:
If there was a show on television about the Lubavitcher, would you watch it?
A:
I couldn\u2019t because I don\u2019t have one.
TAPE # 70 (April 1975)
\n\n\n\n
Q:
If I\u2019m getting rid of my TV, should I sell it or break it?
A:
Neither. You should dig out the window, the insides of it, and make it into a bookshelf for seforim.
TAPE # E-102 (March 1997)
Q:
Is it a good idea for a woman to save money by washing cloth diapers instead of using disposable pampers?
A:
This is a good question that will need better heads than mine. It\u2019s a question with a number of implications but they are so complicated that we\u2019ll leave this for somebody that is more capable than me.
TAPE # 47 (February 1975)
\n\n\n\nQ:
There\u2019s supposedly a letter written by Aristotle that\u2019s quoted in some seforim saying that he did a teshuva and he admits that there\u2019s a Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Is it the Rav\u2019s opinion that this is authentic?
A:
\u200bThere\u2019s a story that Aristotle became a Jew. I think it\u2019s nuts. It\u2019s ridiculous. I don\u2019t believe in it at all.
TAPE # E-269 (March 2001)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Motor Bikes, Television, Pampers and\u00a0Aristotle appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-17T17:16:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T17:20:57+00:00" }, { "id": 34026, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%9b%d7%92-%d7%a4%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a4%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%a2-%d7%94%d7%95%d7%99%d7%96-%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%99/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d2: \u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05e4\u05df, \u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9\u05d6, \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9 \u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-223The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d2: \u05e4\u05d9\u05d9\u05e4\u05df, \u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9\u05d6, \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9 \u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-16T20:14:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-16T20:14:54+00:00" }, { "id": 34070, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-learning-to-love/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Learning To Love", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it a mitzvah to love all Jews including the non religious?
A:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutely not. It’s a mitzvah to love frum Jews.
\n\n\n\nWhy deceive yourself? Everyone wants to know about loving the non-religious but they don\u2019t love even the frummeh. Halevai you should love frum Jews. That’s the first thing. Get busy loving frum Jews.
\n\n\n\nIt’s a very important function. First say you love them even if you don’t mean it. First say it. And say it and say it. After saying it a thousand times, hachitzoniyus meoreres es hapenimiyus \u2013 your words will awaken your thoughts. By saying it again and again, little by little it comes into your mind.
\n\n\n\nSo get busy practicing loving all frum Jews. Love all black-hatted Jews. \u201cAh! I love black hat Jews. I love frum Jews. I love their families. A blessing on them. A blessing on their wives and their sons and their daughters and bless them all you can.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBless them. Mevorech es Beis Yisroel as much as you can. Continue to say brachos on the Jewish people. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cIf you say brachos on My people then I’ll fulfill what I told Avraham Avinu \u201c\u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u2013 Those who bless you, I’ll bless them.\u201d If you bless the Jewish people, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will bless you in kind.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-2
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Learning To Love appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-16T17:08:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T17:14:44+00:00" }, { "id": 34023, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/aprender-a-amar/", "title": "Aprender a amar", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfEs una mitzv\u00e1 amar a todos los jud\u00edos, incluidos los no religiosos?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAbsolutamente no. Es una mitzv\u00e1 amar a los jud\u00edos frum (religiosos).
\n\n\n\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 enga\u00f1arte a ti mismo? Todo el mundo quiere saber acerca de amar a los no religiosos, pero no aman ni siquiera a los frum. Halevai (ojal\u00e1), ames a los jud\u00edos religiosos. Eso es lo primero. Oc\u00fapate de amar a los jud\u00edos religiosos.
\n\n\n\nEs un entrenamiento muy importante. Primero di que los amas, incluso si no lo dices en serio. Primero dilo. Y dilo y dilo. Despu\u00e9s de decirlo mil veces, hajitzoniut meor\u00e9ret et hapenimiut, tus palabras despertar\u00e1n tus pensamientos. Al decirlo una y otra vez, poco a poco te vendr\u00e1 a la mente.
\n\n\n\nAs\u00ed que oc\u00fapate de practicar amar a todos los jud\u00edos frum. Ama a todos los jud\u00edos de sombrero negro. \u201c\u00a1Ay! Me encantan los jud\u00edos de sombrero negro. Me encantan los jud\u00edos frum. Amo a sus familias. Una bendici\u00f3n para ellos. Una bendici\u00f3n para sus esposas, sus hijos y sus hijas. Bend\u00edcelos todo lo que puedas\u201d.
\n\n\n\nBend\u00edcelos. Tevarej et Bet Israel (bendice a la casa de Israel) tanto como puedas. Contin\u00faa diciendo berajot sobre el pueblo jud\u00edo. Y Hakadosh Baruj Hu dice: \u201cSi dices berajot sobre Mi pueblo, cumplir\u00e9 lo que le dije a Avraham Avinu \u201c\u05d5\u05d0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05da \u2013 Aquellos que te bendigan, yo los bendecir\u00e9\u201d. Si bendices al pueblo jud\u00edo, Hakadosh Baruj Hu tambi\u00e9n te bendecir\u00e1 a ti.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #E-2
\nThe post Aprender a amar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-16T16:51:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-16T16:51:15+00:00" }, { "id": 34011, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-chelah/", "title": "Paracha Chela’h", "content_html": "TA-Paracha-Chelah-5782The post Paracha Chela’h appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-16T01:28:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-16T01:28:51+00:00" }, { "id": 34006, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/como-ensenar-tzeniut/", "title": "C\u00f3mo ense\u00f1ar Tzeniut ", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l es la forma m\u00e1s eficiente de ense\u00f1ar tzeniut (recato)?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, este se\u00f1or, les puedo decir, que no est\u00e1 preguntando para s\u00ed mismo porque \u00e9l tiene una casa muy frum; \u00e9l est\u00e1 preguntando porque quiere ense\u00f1arle a la gente.
\n\n\n\nLa mejor manera de ense\u00f1ar tzeniut, si est\u00e1s hablando con personas inteligentes -por supuesto, si est\u00e1s hablando con personas no inteligentes, hay otros enfoques, -pero para las personas intelectuales, tzeniut es un signo de superioridad. Y voy a explicar eso.
\n\n\n\n\u00c9rase una vez, cuando nuestros antepasados \u200b\u200bestaban en Europa, era de sentido com\u00fan que una mujer no expusiera su cuerpo; \u00a1al menos no m\u00e1s de lo que lo hace un hombre! \u00bfQu\u00e9 hombre expon\u00eda su pecho? Hoy encuentras hombres que lo hacen, pero anteriormente ning\u00fan hombre lo hac\u00eda. \u00a1Las mujeres seguramente no lo hac\u00edan! \u00bfQu\u00e9 hombres expon\u00edan sus brazos? Los jud\u00edos no muestran sus brazos. \u00a1Las mujeres seguramente que no!
\n\n\n\nEntonces, \u00bfc\u00f3mo sucedi\u00f3 que hoy en d\u00eda se considera una vestimenta decente e incluso formal? T\u00fa sabes que hoy en d\u00eda la vestimenta formal para una mujer significa casi desnuda. Un hombre vestido formalmente es como un caballero con una armadura; a veces tiene una camisa y corbata, y tiene un esmoquin ajustado. Sol\u00edan vestir camisas almidonadas; tal vez todav\u00eda lo hacen. Y por supuesto que usa pantalones. Est\u00e1 vestido de pies a cabeza. Pero su dama de compa\u00f1\u00eda, \u00a1es terrible! Parece que est\u00e1 a punto de tomar un ba\u00f1o.
\n\n\n\nNo solo vestimenta formal. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 ocurre que ves en la calle, digamos, un hombre que no es un tzadik, de hecho ni siquiera es jud\u00edo; que va caminando por la avenida y est\u00e1 completamente vestido; pero su novia o su esposa est\u00e1 completamente, no dir\u00e9 vestida; ella est\u00e1 completamente o casi completamente desnuda. \u00a1Casi desnuda! \u00bfCual es la raz\u00f3n? Debe haber algo en esto.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfDir\u00e1s que la temperatura corporal de las mujeres es diferente a la de los hombres? Tal vez, pero esa no es raz\u00f3n suficiente para explicarlo.
\n\n\n\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo sucedi\u00f3 esta estupidez?
\n\n\n\nLa respuesta es que es el resultado de una educaci\u00f3n negativa, un entrenamiento desfavorable. Es un entrenamiento que se ha inculcado en la mente de las mujeres estadounidenses y, en cierta medida, de las mujeres de Europa occidental; pero las mujeres americanas m\u00e1s. Se les ha inculcado en la mente que es algo bueno, es algo apropiado, exponer el cuerpo femenino. Eso es lo que se les ha ense\u00f1ado; que la exposici\u00f3n del cuerpo femenino es una cosa agradable. Y como las personas no tienen cerebro, se dejan adoctrinar con propaganda perversa y piensan que es bueno.
\n\n\n\nY por lo tanto, es importante que toda persona inteligente se d\u00e9 cuenta de que cuanto m\u00e1s muestre una mujer su cuerpo, m\u00e1s se parece a un caballo. Un caballo es la imagen ideal para mostrar el cuerpo. Entonces, una mujer que sale as\u00ed, est\u00e1 imitando al caballo. Y por otro lado, cuanto m\u00e1s se cubre el cuerpo, m\u00e1s cerca est\u00e1 de lo humano. Cuanto m\u00e1s te ocultas, m\u00e1s superior eres.
\n\n\n\nAhora bien, incluso si no est\u00e1s interesado en la respuesta para las personas m\u00e1s inteligentes, es de sentido com\u00fan de todos modos. Simplemente no se puede evitar porque la naturaleza humana es la naturaleza humana y las mujeres que se visten sin modestia est\u00e1n causando da\u00f1o. Una mujer que no se viste modestamente, en realidad es una maldad, una forma de molestia. Una mujer debe sentir que es una molestia p\u00fablica si no est\u00e1 vestida adecuadamente. No hablo de los pecados que ella comete al aparecer as\u00ed en presencia de los hombres; ella es simplemente una molestia. Y por lo tanto, los jud\u00edos consideran de muy mala educaci\u00f3n, extremadamente mala educaci\u00f3n, que una mujer exponga parte de su cuerpo.
\n\n\n\nY por eso, una mujer puede servir a Hakadosh Baruj Hu por medio del tzeniut. No s\u00f3lo est\u00e1 demostrando su superioridad, sino que cuando se cubre, en realidad est\u00e1 sirviendo a Hakadosh Baruj Hu. Y ella ser\u00e1 recompensada con muchas cosas buenas en la vida como recompensa.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #91 (septiembre de 1975)
\nThe post C\u00f3mo ense\u00f1ar Tzeniut appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-15T19:48:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-15T19:48:02+00:00" }, { "id": 34066, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-teach-tznius/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Teach\u00a0Tznius \u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the most efficient way of teaching tznius?\u05bf
A:
\n\n\n\nNow this gentleman I can tell you is not asking for himself because he has a very frum home; he’s asking because he wants to teach people in general.
\n\n\n\nThe best way to teach tznius if you’re talking to intelligent people \u2013 of course if you’re talking to non-intelligent people there are other approaches \u2013 but to intellectual people tznius is a sign of superiority. And I’ll explain that.
\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time when our forefathers were in Europe it was common sense that a woman did not expose her body; at least not more than a man does! Which man exposed his chest? Today you find men who do it but no men did it then. The women surely didn\u2019t! Which men exposed their arms? Jews didn’t expose their arms. Women surely didn’t!
\n\n\n\nSo how did it happen that today it’s considered decent and even formal dress? You know that today formal dress for a woman means almost naked. A man in formal dress is like a knight in a coat of armor; he sometimes has a wing collar with a neck tie and he has a tight tuxedo and a white shirt. They used to wear starched shirts; maybe they still do. And of course he wears pants. He’s dressed from head to foot. But his lady companion, it’s terrible! It looks like she’s about to take a bath.
\n\n\n\nNot only formal dress. Why is it that you see in the street, here’s a man who\u2019s not a tzaddik, he’s in fact not even a Jew; he’s walking down the avenue and he’s fully dressed; but his girlfriend or his wife is fully \u2013 I won’t say dressed; she\u2019s fully or almost fully undressed. Almost undressed! What’s the reason? There must be something to it.
\n\n\n\nYou’ll say that the body temperature of women is different from that of men? Maybe, but that’s not enough of a reason to account for it.
\n\n\n\nHow did this silliness happen?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is it’s the result of an adverse education, an adverse training. It’s a training that has been instilled in the minds of American women and to some extent West European women; but American women more. It’s been instilled in their minds that it’s a nice thing, it’s a proper thing, to expose the female body. That’s what\u2019s been taught to them; that the exposing of the female body is a nice thing. And so because people have no brains they allow themselves to be indoctrinated by wicked propaganda and they think it’s nice.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it’s important for every intelligent person to realize that the more a woman reveals her body, the more she resembles a horse. A horse is the ideal picture of revealing the body. And so a woman who goes out like that, she\u2019s imitating the horse. And on the other hand, the more the body is covered, the closer you are to humanity. The more you cover up, the more superior you are.
\n\n\n\nNow, even if you\u2019re not interested in the answer for the more intelligent people, it\u2019s common sense anyhow. It just can\u2019t be helped because human nature is human nature and women who are dressed immodestly are causing harm. A woman who is not dressed modestly, it\u2019s actually a wickedness, a form of a nuisance. A woman should feel that she is a public nuisance if she isn’t properly dressed. I’m not talking about the many sins that she commits by appearing like that in the presence of men; she\u2019s simply a nuisance. And therefore Jews consider it very bad manners, extremely bad manners, for a woman to expose part of her body.
\n\n\n\nAnd so a woman can serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu by means of tznius. Not only is she demonstrating her superiority but when she covers up, she is actually serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And she is going to be rewarded with a great many good things in life as a reward.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 91 (September 1975)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Teach\u00a0Tznius \u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-15T17:04:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T17:07:54+00:00" }, { "id": 33994, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/la-bandera-de-estados-unidos/", "title": "La bandera de Estados Unidos", "content_html": "\nPregunta:
\n\n\n\n\u00bfCu\u00e1l debe ser nuestra actitud ante el fen\u00f3meno de la quema de banderas que estamos presenciando en los \u00faltimos meses?
\n\n\n\nRespuesta:
\n\n\n\nHasta ahora, los jud\u00edos estadounidenses estaban demasiado ocupados para pensar en el patriotismo. Pero debemos darnos cuenta que hoy la quema de banderas se ha convertido en uno de los s\u00edmbolos de los v\u00e1ndalos que quieren quebrantar todos los principios morales. Y es una forma de demostrar la deslealtad a la patria.
\n\n\n\nTenemos que apreciar a Am\u00e9rica. Estados Unidos es una beraj\u00e1 muy grande. Lo que tenemos aqu\u00ed es un lujo. Hay tanta libertad y tantas oportunidades para ganarse la vida. Estados Unidos es como un gran pastel de helado. Y, por lo tanto, cuando a una persona se le da un pastel de cumplea\u00f1os muy grande, o digamos un pastel de iom tov muy grande, con mucho helado y muchos ingredientes, y mete la cara en el pastel y come y se ensucia con helado, y luego dice: \u201cUy, qu\u00e9 molestia es esto. \u00a1Que desastre!” \u00a1Se queja! Entonces Hakadosh Baruj Hu le dice: \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 m\u00e1s puedo hacer por ti, amigo m\u00edo?” Estados Unidos es un gran pastel de felicidad y deber\u00edas apreciar lo que Hakadosh Baruj Hu te est\u00e1 dando.
\n\n\n\nY, por lo tanto, tenemos que estar muy disgustados con esas personas que llegan tan bajo como para quemar la bandera estadounidense. La bandera es un s\u00edmbolo de todos los privilegios que nos da Hakadosh Baruj Hu en este pa\u00eds. Y por lo tanto, no es una mala idea -aunque nunca lo haya hecho antes -colgar una bandera el 4 de julio, lehaj\u00eds haresha\u00edm (para hacer enojar a los perversos). No es una cosa de go\u00edm. \u00a1No! Hazlo lehaj\u00eds para mostrarles que, s\u00ed apreciamos lo que Hashem nos dio.
\n\n\n\nCINTA #790 (julio de 1990)
\nThe post La bandera de Estados Unidos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-15T02:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-15T02:21:01+00:00" }, { "id": 33991, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-37/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 37", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-37The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 37 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-15T02:19:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-15T02:19:58+00:00" }, { "id": 228, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-burning-the-american-flag/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Flag Burning and Flag Hanging", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should our attitude be towards the phenomenon of flag burning that we have been witnessing in recent months?
A:
\n\n\n\nUp till now American Jews were too busy to think about patriotism. But we must realize that today\u00a0flag burning has become one of the symbols of the vandals who want to break down all the principles of morality and a way of demonstrating disloyalty to the country.
\n\n\n\nWe have to appreciate America. America is a very big\u00a0bracha. What we have here is a luxury. There is so much freedom and so much\u00a0opportunity to make a living. America is like a big ice cream cake. And\u00a0therefore, when a person is given a very big birthday cake, or let\u2019s say a very big\u00a0yontif\u00a0cake with lots of ice cream and a lot of toppings and he\u2019s putting his face into the cake and eating and he\u2019s getting smeared with ice cream. And then he says, \u201cUch, what a bother this is. What a mess!\u201d He\u2019s complaining! So Hakodosh Boruch Hu says to him, \u201cWhat more could I do for you, my friend?\u00a0I tried.\u201d America is such a big cake of happiness and you should appreciate what Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving you.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we have to be very displeased with those people who go as low as to burn the American flag. The flag is a symbol of all the privileges that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving us in this country. And therefore it\u2019s not a bad idea \u2013 even if you never did it before \u2013 to hang out a flag on the Fourth of July,\u00a0l\u2019hachis ha\u2019rishaim.\u00a0It\u2019s not a\u00a0goyishe\u00a0thing. No! Do it\u00a0l\u2019hachis\u00a0to show them that, yes, we\u00a0do\u00a0appreciate what Hashem gave us.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 790 (July 1990)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Flag Burning and Flag Hanging appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-14T16:49:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-14T16:49:37+00:00" }, { "id": 34062, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-fishtanks-and-apples/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Fishtanks and Apples", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is having a fish tank in the home a good way to teach children the niflaos ha\u2019Borei, the wonders of Hashem\u2019s creations?
A:
An apple in the home is a good way. Put an apple on the table and teach your children to admire that apple. \u201cLook how beautiful it is. It looks almost natural.\u00a0Of course it’s nothing but a plastic, a\u00a0Hashem-made plastic. But it’s so beautiful. And when you finish eating it, inside there’s a coupon, the seeds, that entitles you to another plant, another fruit. And the seeds are wonderful; it\u2019s all miracles.\u201d So certainly you can teach a child niflaos ha\u2019Borei in the home.
You want a fish tank? Nothing wrong; but you don’t need it. Anytime you open an orange say, \u201cMy child, why is an orange so beautiful on the outside but when we open up the skin there’s no color on the inside of the skin? You know that’s a kasha that no scientists can answer? They\u2019ll stand on their heads but they can’t answer that. Why is the orange’s skin so beautiful on the outside while on the underside of the skin there\u2019s no color, no color at all? Nobody can answer that.
\n\n\n\nBecause there\u2019s only one answer. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to see the color, to be seduced by it. Once you open it up, you see the color inside, the fruit, so you’ll eat it anyhow \u2013 you don\u2019t color on the underside of the peel.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the purpose of color is chesed; it\u2019s for kindliness. Not only He gives you something to eat. He gives it \u05d1\u05d7\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05d7\u05dd \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05e8. He makes the color to make you happy; and you don’t need color underneath. So color is not an accident. It\u2019s niflaos ha\u2019Borei.
And therefore certainly at home you can teach your children niflaos ha\u2019Borei; but first teach yourself. Teach yourself first.
TAPE # E-2
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Fishtanks and Apples appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-13T17:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-20T17:04:07+00:00" }, { "id": 33976, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-13T02:54:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-13T02:54:57+00:00" }, { "id": 33971, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-childs-yetzer-hora/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Child\u2019s Yetzer Hora", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the purpose of a yetzer hora in children if anyhow they will not receive reward or punishment for their deeds?
A:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that a child benefits greatly by the battle for virtue. It\u2019s only because of trial and error, the experience that a child gains by means of trial and error, that\u2019s what makes him prepared when he is bar mitzvah to immediately step into the shoes of an adult.
\n\n\n\nWhen a child has to fight against jealousy \u2013 for example when he sees his mother handling a new baby and this little boy who was there first, he was the only one, the darling of the house, and now feels left out and he feels jealous, so he knows he has to contend with it. Even without being intelligent but because he has to live in that house, he knows he can\u2019t run away. And so to some extent he battles against his yetzer hora and he\u00a0adjusts.\u00a0He has an innate intelligence to battle against any wicked feelings. And by means of that he is flexing his muscles.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThat, by the way, is why little children frolic so much; it\u2019s why little kittens jump around, and little dogs jump around, and little birds jump around; because when they do that they are flexing their muscles and they develop their bodies and so they are prepared for the career of adulthood.
\n\n\n\nAnd the same is spiritually. A child is tested by the yetzer hora; he battles against it. Little children have conscience too;\u00a0they have chochmah within them and they battle against the yetzer hora. Until finally at bar mitzvah, they are prepared somewhat. They don\u2019t suddenly make an abrupt change; they are prepared for the test because they are already experienced in the milchemes hayetzer.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 440
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Child\u2019s Yetzer Hora appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T17:36:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T17:36:44+00:00" }, { "id": 33967, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-nazirs-sin/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Nazir\u2019s Sin", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the meaning of that gemara that says that it\u2019s a sin for a person to become a nazir because he\u2019s taking away the pleasures of the world from himself?
A:
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a statement in the Gemara that a person who becomes a nazir is sinning against his body and he has to bring an offering to atone for that sin. So we\u2019ll explain it as follows:
\n\n\n\nSuppose there\u2019s a couple, a man and a woman, and she is overweight. So she decides that she has to reduce and therefore she and her husband are going on a diet.
\n\n\n\nSo he says, \u201cWhat is it my fault that you want to reduce?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo she says, \u201cI can\u2019t help it. If we\u2019ll put those appetizing foods on the table, then I\u2019ll yield. It can\u2019t be helped. You\u2019re married to me! We have to go together!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSuppose, however, he says, \u201cBut I have to work. You sit home all day long so you can get along with small things, but I have to work. I have to eat a healthy breakfast to go out to work.\u201d And so he eats a big hearty breakfast and she sits there with her saliva drooling; she\u2019s fighting to hold back her yetzer horah.
\n\n\n\nSo he has to bring a korban, he has to atone. He has to do some atonement for that. He can\u2019t help himself, he says, but he has to atone for what he\u2019s doing to his wife.
\n\n\n\nHow does he atone? So a wise husband will atone like this. From now on, when he sits down and eats breakfast he takes that one cracker she gives him and one glass of milk and he says a bracha achrona and then goes out to work. And he stops at a kosher restaurant before he goes to work and he fills himself up.
\n\n\n\nNow it costs money, of course; it\u2019s inconvenient. But what doesn\u2019t he do in order to help out his wife? He has to atone.
\n\n\n\nNow your body is married to your soul. The body says, \u201cI want to live a normal life. I want everything.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe soul says, \u201cIf I\u2019ll give you everything, what\u2019s going to happen to me? I\u2019ll be ruined if I yield to every whim; I want to be a nazir. I want to separate from this world to a certain extent in order to be more devoted to Hashem. I want to make progress in my life and I\u2019m only living a short time in this world.\u201d The soul wants to make itself better.
\n\n\n\nSo the body says, \u201cBecause you want to improve, I have to suffer?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the soul says, \u201cIt can\u2019t be helped. I have to do it. I\u2019m going to become a nazir. But I\u2019ll bring an atonement. I\u2019ll have to seek forgiveness for my sin against the body.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat is the principle that is involved here.
\n\n\n\nSo you have to realize that even though you\u2019re chastising your poor body in order to make progress with your soul, but you have to realize that you\u2019re doing a wrong to the body. The body is not yours to mistreat. The body is like a child or an orphan given to you and it\u2019s your ward. And you have to make the body happy! But in case you find it necessary to deny the body pleasures for your spiritual benefit, then you have to bring an offering to atone for the body. You have to realize you did harm to the body.
\n\n\n\nOnly that the Torah says, \u201cGo ahead and do it anyhow because you need it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 495
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Nazir\u2019s Sin appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T17:25:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T17:25:15+00:00" }, { "id": 33961, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-whistling/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Whistling", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is there anything wrong with whistling?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou know that a Jew has certain manners \u2013 I\u2019ll say mannerisms. Whistling is not practiced by Jews. It\u2019s something practiced by gentiles. Once upon a time all gentiles whistled; they walked and whistled. Today not everybody does that, but still it\u2019s not a Jewish minhag.
\n\n\n\nNow, what’s wrong with it? There\u2019s nothing wrong with whistling itself but even to identify with umos ha\u2019olam is already a certain weakness of character and a lack of understanding.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say the yeshiva men of Torah Voda’as would come out whistling \u2013 they walk out of the beis medrash and they\u2019re whistling. It\u2019s impossible that it should happen! The Jew is the Am Kaddosh. The problem is we don\u2019t realize what it means when the Torah says: \u201cYou are a mamleches kohanim and a goy kadosh \u2013 a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.\u201d Every Jew is a kohen. It\u2019s not a mashal. Every Jew should feel like he\u2019s a dignified kohen. If a kohen would whistle, an old time kohen, we would be very much surprised.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, there is nothing wrong with whistling; only it\u2019s all wrong. If you want to whistle, do it when nobody is around. If you want to whistle to make some music or for fun, there\u2019s nothing wrong; but you should know that to walk on the street and whistle, that\u2019s a sign that you are identifying with the umos ha\u2019olam.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-139
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Whistling appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T17:16:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T17:22:01+00:00" }, { "id": 33954, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%9c%d7%aa%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05da", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05da-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T03:17:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T03:17:50+00:00" }, { "id": 33949, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-behaaloscha-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Behaaloscha", "content_html": "\n\u201cTotty, where are we going?\u201d asked Yitzy, as the Greenbaum children followed their father to the car.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll see soon enough,\u201d Totty responded with a mysterious smile.
\n\n\n\nWondering what on earth Totty could possibly have in mind, the curious children piled into the car and Totty drove off.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow, look at that huge cloud!\u201d said Shimmy, looking out the window as the car sped down the highway.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt looks like a water cloud,\u201d said Basya craning her neck to get a good look at it.
\n\n\n\n\u201cActually,\u201d said Yitzy, looking up from his book. \u201cThat\u2019s a cumulonimbus cloud. It\u2019s a multi-level cloud that can produce thunderstorms and hail, because the strong winds inside lift the water droplets to very high altitudes, where they freeze.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI bet that\u2019s what the ananei hakavod looked like,\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cIt\u2019s so thick it looks like it could stop an arrow. I bet it would be fun to jump on top of it!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cShimmy,\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cIf you chas veshalom jumped on that cloud, you would fall right through all the way to the ground! It\u2019s nothing but a bunch of water droplets suspended in the air.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThen I won\u2019t try it – thanks for the warning,\u201d Shimmy said with a grin. \u201cBut I still like to imagine that\u2019s what the ananei hakavod looked like. Could you imagine being in the Midbar with Moshe Rabbeinu, Aharon HaKohein, and the seventy Zekeinim, surrounded by the clouds of Hashem\u2019s Glory? You would never stop thinking about Hashem!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIs Moshe Rabbeinu inside that cloud?\u201d asked little Yaeli, sounding worried. \u201cIs he going to fall down like Yitzy said?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, Yaeli,\u201d Basya answered reassuringly. \u201cMoshe Rabbeinu isn\u2019t inside the cloud. He\u2019s in Shomayim with Hashem!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut the cloud is in Shomayim,\u201d said Yaeli, still confused.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYaeli,\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cMoshe Rabbeinu is learning Torah in the Yeshiva Shel Maalah. That\u2019s much higher than the clouds.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then Totty pulled the car into a parking lot.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHey, this is the Shearim Mezuzah Store!\u201d said Yitzy as everyone got out of the car. \u201cWhy do we need to buy Mezuzos, Totty? Our house already has one in every room.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll explain inside,\u201d said Totty with a smile.
\n\n\n\nInside the store, the Greenbaum children looked in shock at the vast selection of Mezuzah cases. They had never seen so many types of Mezuzos before! Simple white Mezuzos, brown ones with silver lettering, and even one that was two feet long and looked like it was made out of solid gold and studded with diamonds!
\n\n\n\n\u201cKinderlach,\u201d said Totty. \u201cI\u2019ve decided to buy new Mezuzah cases for our house and I want you each to pick one out that you like for your rooms.\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-1.png?resize=640%2C500&ssl=1\")
\u201cWe want the gold one with diamonds,\u201d Shimmy and Yitzy promptly responded at the same time.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d laughed Totty. \u201cI think that was custom made for the Horki Beis Midrash. Why don\u2019t you choose something from this side of the store where the prices are within our budget?\u201d
\n\n\n\nFifteen minutes later, the children had picked out the Mezuzos that they liked and they went to pay. While waiting in line, Totty turned to the children.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYitzy, you asked why I decided to buy new Mezuzos,\u201d Totty began. \u201cAnd Shimmy, back in the car you said how amazing it must have been to live surrounded by the ananei hakavod and to be constantly reminded of Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut you see, we can still be constantly reminded of Hashem. We don\u2019t have the ananei hakavod, but we do have the Mitzvah of Mezuzah, which reminds us of Hashem. Any time you walk into a Jewish home, a shul, or your school, you pass through doorways that have Mezuzos. It\u2019s not enough just to kiss it and walk by. Every time you see a Mezuzah, you should think \u2018this is a reminder that Hashem is always with me and watching me\u2019!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s why I wanted you kinderlach to pick out Mezuzos that you like for your rooms. So that your Mezuzah should be extra special to you and any time you see it you should think about it and remember that just like in the Midbar, Hashem is constantly with us and watching to see whether we do His Mitzvos.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: A Mezuzah is Hashem\u2019s reminder for us. Whenever we see one we can imagine it saying \u201cLook at me! Remember to love Hashem who gave you a house, and remember to do His Mitzvos always\u201d.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Behaaloscha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T03:11:56+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T03:11:57+00:00" }, { "id": 33938, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-behaaloscha-5-struggle-and-motivations-2/", "title": "Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations", "content_html": "The Queer Nuns
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah there is a small parsha, justtwo pesukim, that appears to be set off from the pesukim around it. I\u2019m talking about \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05e1\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 until \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc. You know these pesukim because we say the first posuk when the sefer Torah is taken out of the aron kodesh and the second one when we put it back.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you look in the Chumash you\u2019ll see something that you won\u2019t find anywhere else in the entire sefer Torah; you\u2019ll see that there\u2019s an upside-down nun before these two pesukim and an upside-down nun right after. It\u2019s a queer thing.
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara (Shabbos 115b) explains that this parsha doesn\u2019t actually belong here \u2013 it belongs somewhere else, only that Hakodosh Boruch Hu ordered it to be written here for a purpose and so it was taken from there and placed here. That\u2019s why there are two backward nuns there, one before and one after. They are put there to show that this parsha does not belong here.
\n\n\n\nTwo Misfortunes
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is why was it moved here? To move pesukim from one place to another, Hakodosh Boruch Hu must have had a good reason for that. Why did He move these verses?
\n\n\n\nAnd on that, the Gemara says, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 it\u2019s to make a division, a break, between one misfortune and another misfortune. It means there were two sad events in this week\u2019s sedrah, and Hakodosh Boruch Hu had mercy on us; He didn\u2019t want that while we\u2019re hearing krias haTorah, we would read about one misfortune and then right away another misfortune, so we might feel faint; we might have to run out to get some fresh air and then we\u2019ll miss krias haTorah altogether. And so He put in between a little rest, an intermission, to let us recuperate from the effects of the first misfortune before we read the second.
\n\n\n\nNow, what misfortunes are we talking about? The second one most of us here are familiar with. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 And the nation made themselves into complainers. That\u2019s when the people complained that they weren\u2019t getting good enough service in the midbar. They complained that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wasn\u2019t feeding them well enough. So something happened. They were punished for that; people died. A big misfortune \u2013 that we understand.
\n\n\n\nWhat was the first misfortune, however? We look in the pesukim before \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05e1\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05df and don\u2019t see anything there that we would describe as a misfortune, something that the nation should be embarrassed about. It\u2019s talking there about the Am Yisroel traveling in the Wilderness; how the Aron Bris Hashem traveled ahead of the camp and they had with them the Anan Hashem. We don\u2019t see any trouble, anything we would be embarrassed about at all.
\n\n\n\nLeaving Sinai
\n\n\n\nSo along come our Sages and they tell us that the misfortune was this: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 They departed from the Mountain of Hashem (Behaaloscha 10:33). When they left from Har Sinai, that was the great setback, the misfortune.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? The Am Yisroel had been encamped at Har Sinai for a full year after Matan Torah. They built the Mishkan, the House of Hashem, there at the foot of the mountain. And the entire camp became a full-time kollel. They were studying Torah all day long; everybody was busy. It was unequaled in the history of our nation and certainly in the history of any nation. It was a national kollel in the best place possible \u2013 right near the mountain where they received the Torah.
\n\n\n\nBut as the world says, all good things come to an end. Finally, Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave the signal and they were commanded to set forth on their travels. And they did. And so our Sages tell us that it was this event, when the Am Yisroel left Har Sinai \u2013 when they traveled away from that place where the greatest event in the history of the world took place \u2013 that was the misfortune where we sinned against Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Americans are Forced to Leave
\n\n\n\nNow the question is, what do you want of the Am Yisroel? They didn\u2019t leave because they wanted to. All of their travels were al pi Hashem. \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 They started out when Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave the order and they stopped and made camp when He gave the order (Behaaloscha 9:18). So what\u2019s the problem here? To stay at Har Sinai forever, who wouldn\u2019t want such a thing? But finally, the time came when Hashem gave the order, \u201cIt\u2019s time to move on\u201d and they had no choice.
\n\n\n\nI remember in Slabodka when bein hazmanim came everybody went home. But we, the American boys, didn\u2019t have any home to go to so we sat in the yeshiva. The yeshiva was empty \u2013 everybody went home for Pesach \u2014 but we sat in the beis medrash learning. Finally a few days before Yomtiv the shamash came. Once a year he made a thorough cleaning because the boys were always there. So he came in before Pesach and he was washing the floor and he was spreading sand on the floor and he was doing whatever was necessary.
\n\n\n\nSo we had to get out. We had no choice. Nobody is going to blame us for leaving the beis medrash. And that\u2019s exactly what happened by Har Sinai too \u2013 they had no choice. So what was wrong?
\n\n\n\nNot Sad Enough
\n\n\n\nSo listen to what the Gemara (ibid.) tells us: \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d7\u05b7 \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 They left Har Sinai like a boy going home from the yeshiva. It\u2019s not that they left \u2013 it\u2019s how they left.
\n\n\n\nNow you can be sure they didn\u2019t skip and hop away; you can be sure that they went away with regret. Everybody knows that when our forefathers received the Torah, they did it with very great enthusiasm. Hakodosh Boruch Hu praised them greatly for this enthusiasm. And so there\u2019s no question they regretted leaving this great place. Har Sinai! That\u2019s the place of our greatness! Never again did any nation experience such a greatness! There\u2019s no question they left with regret!
\n\n\n\nBut Hashem has a different set of Eyes than we do. He\u2019s \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1 \u2013 He searches out the depths of the mind of a person (Shmuel I, 16:7). And when Hashem probed into the minds of the Am Yisroel, He wasn\u2019t satisfied. He saw that they didn\u2019t leave with enough regret. They should have been still more sad.
\n\n\n\nMotivations Matter\u2026
\n\n\n\nNow, this subject is a very great preface to all that we do in this world; our motivations and inner thoughts are everything. The Chovos Halevavos (Yichud Hamaaseh ch. 6) explains it like this: \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e7\u05b9\u05d3 \u05de\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 It\u2019s important not to neglect to examine your thoughts and the inner motives of your mind, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b6\u05e4\u05b0\u05e1\u05b5\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 because your acts are primarily valued according to the quality of intent and motivations that accompany them.
\n\n\n\nNow, this preface about how important your motivations are needs another preface. Before we continue we must first make clear to ourselves one of the fundamental principles of Torah, and that is the greatness of man! Gadlus ha\u2019adam!
\n\n\n\nNow, we\u2019re not talking about Mankind in general. Gadlus ha\u2019adam means the greatness of each individual. And not only all the acts of his life, a conglomerate of everything he did over 120 years; oh no! It means the greatness of a single act of a human being is more important to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than all the other events of history.
\n\n\n\nLet that sink in! The deeds of one man are more important than the entire history of an empire! In the Eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, a man is the most important of all objects in the universe! And so the slightest act of one person outweighs the greatest event in the history of the heavens. If stars would explode and disintegrate, if millions, if billions of tons of matter would fall apart in the distant heavens, if many worlds would collide and be smashed into bits and disappear, all this would mean nothing in comparison to the single act of a human being!
\n\n\n\n\u2026Because You Matter
\n\n\n\nThe truth is, the subject of man\u2019s greatness is so wide that it requires a lifetime of work to study. But that\u2019s not our subject right now \u2013 we have to realize that because of our immense greatness, because of the tremendous importance of Mankind, that\u2019s why our minds, our motivations, and thoughts, will be probed.
\n\n\n\nEvery motivation that is attached to a deed will be analyzed by Hakodosh Boruch Hu and analyzed with a fine-tooth comb. We may want to live superficially \u2013 it\u2019s easier that way \u2013 but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re here for. Not only are we judged on our actions but we\u2019re judged on our thoughts. And not only our superficial thoughts \u2013 Hashem looks deep inside our minds.
\n\n\n\nNow I know that some people when they hear this, so right away they are not interested. After all, we\u2019re good people; we\u2019re Orthodox Jews and we\u2019re doing all the mitzvos and Torah and chesed. And we\u2019re raising big families too. Kein yirbu! Kein yirbu! Wonderful! No question the Am Yisroel is accomplishing! We\u2019re a very successful nation, absolutely!
\n\n\n\nAnd here, along comes Rabbi Miller and he says that it\u2019s not enough, that we have to search deeper and study our motivations. But, my friends, what can I do? I shouldn\u2019t tell you the truth? That this business of the mind, of purity of thought, is very important. It’s the kind of mind you earn in this world that’s going to go with you in your whole lifetime and in the World to Come. Because that\u2019s what Olam Habo is all about \u2013 that’s all it is, a mind business.
\n\n\n\nBasement of the Mind Business
\n\n\n\nNow, imagine you have a man who has a store and in the store, he\u2019s doing a legitimate business. He\u2019s selling seforim, let\u2019s say. Very nice! But underneath in the basement, he\u2019s renting it out to people who are selling dope to children. But he never looks to see what\u2019s doing; he doesn\u2019t bother checking it out. They pay the rent on time and so he\u2019s not interested in anything else.
\n\n\n\nNow, one day the police come barging into his store and he\u2019s standing behind the counter, he says, \u201cWhat do you want from me? I\u2019m innocent \u2013 I\u2019m running a legal business.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo they say, \u201cNo, no. We want to go down in the basement and see what you\u2019re doing there.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOh, now he\u2019s in trouble! Once the police open up that basement door he\u2019s finished.
\n\n\n\nNow, this, you have to know, actually is more than just a mashal. It\u2019s exactly what\u2019s going to happen to us. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to come knocking. He wants to see what\u2019s doing in the basement.
\n\n\n\nRevealing the Secrets
\n\n\n\nNow, we never imagined such a strict din v\u2019cheshbon! That Hashem wants to know what\u2019s doing down below in the subconscious of our minds?! We didn\u2019t realize such a thing! That\u2019s why the Gemara (Pesachim 54b) says that \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b6\u05e7 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df, the profundity of Hashem\u2019s judgment is \u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd, it\u2019s hidden from people. It means that people don\u2019t realize how much Hakodosh Boruch Hu will demand from us on the Yom Hadin! And Rashi says \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9, most people are in error. Most people!
\n\n\n\nYou know what that means? It means that unless people are willing to dig into their consciences \u2013 unless we do that \u2013 we are deceiving ourselves. A person has to be willing to dig into the subterranean basement of his mind to find what really motivates him. Not only do we have to think about our deeds, we have to think about our motivations. What are our real motivations? If we knew, we\u2019d be amazed at what’s at the bottom of it.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m telling you now one of the great secrets of the Torah. You should listen with great derech eretz to this because it sums up one of the great secrets of history. You\u2019ll say if it’s a great secret how do I know it? The answer is I was told. I had great teachers and my rebbe told me what he heard from his rebbe. They didn’t tell it only to me \u2013 I was listening as they were saying it to everybody else.
\n\n\n\nOne of the great rebbis of Slabodka, the Alter, said that nothing is done with seichel; nothing is done with pure rationale. There always is some motivation of character. It’s either anger or retaliation. Or it’s envy; a desire for glory or a desire for power or some other character inclination.
\n\n\n\nVegetarianism and Math
\n\n\n\nEven the biggest movements that were started in the world, he said, were started because of hidden middos of character. You know, we think that a movement starts because of some idea. Somebody sat down and thought out a new idea and he thought the idea was \u201ctzadik v\u2019yashar\u201d;so righteous and so correct. \u2018So righteous\u2019 means it was decent and \u2018so correct\u2019 means it was mathematically perfect. He decided that’s the way things should be and therefore he started a movement.
\n\n\n\nSo the Alter, zichrono levrachah, said no. All the movements that were started in the world were started because of some hidden motivation, some character flaw. As an example \u2013 he said it in jest to make an example \u2013 he said the one who started the movement to avoid eating any living things, the vegetarians, was a man who had a business of a milchige restaurant. He had a milchige business, a dairy business, so he started a movement that it’s wicked to slaughter animals and eat their flesh.
\n\n\n\nWar and Peace
\n\n\n\nEverything in the world, everything that a person does has some character flaw mixed into the decision. If there was a war between the North and the South \u2013 I’m speaking now; this the Alter didn\u2019t say \u2013 the Civil War wasn’t because of the idea of freeing the slaves. Forget about it. Entirely different motivations caused the war. They would never fight over such a thing. Nobody was interested to fight over freeing slaves. That you can tell children, but it\u2019s not the truth.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think that Harriet Beecher Stowe, when she wrote that big book called Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin and inflamed the minds of the people against slavery and caused the Civil War, don\u2019t think it was done with pure intentions. Don\u2019t think for a second that the generals and soldiers were not motivated because of bad character. They were hotheads, people who were looking for glory and power and there was anger and arrogance mixed into the stew.
\n\n\n\nNow don’t tell this outside but there’s no question the war was not caused only by idealism. No war is the result of idealism. Now, I’m not blaming our country here for going into war because sometimes it\u2019s important. I’m not saying pacifism is a principle. Even pacifism you have to know is a result of character flaws. But when Abraham Lincoln signed the declaration of war, I don’t know if he spent hours and hours studying his character beforehand.
\n\n\n\nKayin the Inventor
\n\n\n\nBut all that doesn\u2019t bother us now. I\u2019m not worried right now about Abraham Lincoln\u2019s character; I\u2019m just mentioning it as a mashal for ourselves so that we understand what Hashem is demanding from us. And so let\u2019s leave Abraham Lincoln alone for now and let\u2019s talk about somebody much greater.
\n\n\n\nIn Parshas Bereishis we read about a great event in Mankind\u2019s history: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Kayin brought from the fruit of the earth an offering to Hashem. At that time, Kayin pioneered a new undertaking and he invented a form of service to Hashem which had never been done before.
\n\n\n\nNow, such a thing didn\u2019t come on a whim. Kayin was a person who went around thinking of ways and means of serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu: \u201cWhat could I do to demonstrate my love to the One who created me?\u201d That was a worry that consumed him always. And so when Kayin decided to show his love for Hakodosh Boruch Hu by bringing some of what grew out of the ground as an offering, it was a result of much thought and great devotion.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s something new to people. It\u2019s not like we were taught as little children that Kayin was some kind of low character. Forget about that! Kayin was a great man and he was the inventor of a new form of service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSurpassing the Inventor
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? Kayin\u2019s younger brother, Hevel, was more gifted, more talented than Kayin. That, the Kuzari tells us. Hevel had been given by Heaven more acuteness of mind. And the Medrash tells us that he also possessed more physical strength than his older brother; all around, he was a more perfect man. It means Hevel was stronger than Kayin. It\u2019s important to remember that.
\n\n\n\nNow this younger brother, when he saw what Kayin had accomplished, so he took his older brother as his teacher, as his model. As it states \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b5\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u2013 and Hevel, he too brought a korban\u201d. \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 means he also followed suit; he was only following in his brother\u2019s footsteps.
\n\n\n\nNot only did Hevel learn from his brother but he brought even better than his brother. \u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b5\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 And Hevel, he too brought a korban, \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e6\u05b9\u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05df \u2013 from the fattest of his flocks. Hevel made a step forward beyond what Kayin had accomplished.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu showed His favor to Hevel and to his offering. By means of going beyond what even his brother had done, Hevel gained Hashem\u2019s favor.
\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s the REAL Reason
\n\n\n\nAnd so \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 Kayin was troubled exceedingly. Not merely he was disturbed. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 means he was exceedingly upset by this! Because that\u2019s what he wanted! There was nothing Kayin sought in this world more than the ratzon Hashem. That\u2019s why he had thought days and nights until he had contrived a form of serving Hashem by bringing his beloved produce, what his hands had toiled over, what he had taken out of the earth with his sweat. And here his younger brother who was only his disciple, a follower in his footsteps, had outdone him and gained Hashem\u2019s favor.
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05e7\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 and then the prophecy came to Kayin. They were great men then; their minds were pure and unsullied and so Hashem spoke to Kayin, He said: \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 Why has this vexed you?
\n\n\n\nNow, what\u2019s the question? Didn\u2019t Hashem know what was bothering Kayin? He needs Kayin to tell Him? Now pay attention to the answer because this is what we\u2019re talking about tonight. Hashem was saying, \u201cWhat really is it that is vexing you? What\u2019s the true reason for your frustration?\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu was calling Kayin\u2019s attention to the necessity of analyzing his feelings. \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 means, \u201cWhat is the real reason that you are vexed? Is it because it distresses you that Hevel achieved the perfection of ratzon Hashem that you really could have achieved? Or maybe it\u2019s because you are plain jealous?\u201d
\n\n\n\nFights and Fratricide
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hashem made something happen, an altercation, a test. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Kayin said something to his brother. What he said is not reported in the Torah, but we can supply from our own imagination what he said. \u201cLook, my younger brother; you shouldn\u2019t forget I was the one who thought of bringing offerings. I\u2019m the older brother; I was your rebbe. So don\u2019t you think you\u2019re somewhat wrong in doing what you did? Isn\u2019t it \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9? You\u2019re undertaking something that I as your older brother and your teacher didn\u2019t do. It\u2019s fitting for a younger brother to be more restrained. Maybe it\u2019s too much ostentation? It would have been good enough if you would have repeated what I had done.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd Hevel, I\u2019m sure, had words to answer. Hevel had a better head than Kayin and there was an argument. Finally, Hevel became so displeased with his brother who was trying to hinder his growth in serving Hashem, so he stood up and he floored him. It\u2019s a Medrash. Hevel gave Kayin a knock and now Kayin was sitting under his brother and he was afraid he would be the first murder victim in history.
\n\n\n\nSo Kayin said, \u201cHevel, my brother, remember I\u2019m your brother. Have pity on me. Don\u2019t destroy me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hevel said, \u201cYou\u2019re trying to throttle my progress. You\u2019re blaming me and hindering me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Kayin said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, my brother. I won\u2019t do it anymore. But have rachmanus.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hevel allowed Kayin to get up.
\n\n\n\nAnd now Kayin thought, \u201cThis time he spared me. What will happen the second time?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05dd \u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5, so Kayin said, \u201cI must do something now to save my life because this brother has murderous intentions towards me.\u201d So Kayin arose against his brother Hevel and he slew him.
\n\n\n\nPurpose of the Story
\n\n\n\nAnd once again Hakodosh Boruch Hu spoke to Kayin, \u201cWhere is your brother Hevel?\u201d Again we understand that Hashem was teaching us something here; He was talking about motivations.
\n\n\n\nSo Kayin said \u2013 I\u2019m supplying the conversation; it could be that the conversation was better than what I am attributing to them. So Kayin said, \u201cIt was self-defense. Hevel was going to come back at me again and there\u2019s a rule \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d2\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 If you know someone wants to kill you tomorrow morning, so you get up earlier in the morning and kill him.\u201d That\u2019s a Torah rule (Sanhedrin 72a).
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cTrue, it was self-defense, but wasn\u2019t there also a motive of getting rid of your opponent, of your competitor? Do you mean to say that when you were destroying your younger brother you did not have in mind also the thought that from now on you won\u2019t be consumed by envy? And if you had an ulterior motive, even though you had, in addition, a justified motive, then you\u2019re considered as a shedder of blood. Forever and ever, you\u2019ll be remembered as the first murderer in the world!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that story is told to us for a purpose. We\u2019re expected to learn chumash, not with the head of cheder boys. It\u2019s a big problem when grown people, adults, don\u2019t study chumash again with adult heads because all of the intended lessons go lost.
\n\n\n\nAnd so even though this story is interesting on its own merit, but it\u2019s more important than that. It\u2019s intended as an illustration of human nature \u2013 of my nature, of yours \u2013 of how easily a person can make errors in their true motivations and how easily it can lead to sins, even the greatest of sins. Because here we have the first murderer in the world \u2013 a great man, a tzaddik, an oved Hashem \u2013 who was judged not because of the murder but because of what was doing in the basement of his thoughts.
\n\n\n\nDesire and Separation
\n\n\n\nNow, one of the places where this problem crops up most in our lives is in our dealings with other people. And who doesn\u2019t deal with other people? It\u2019s a problem that all of us have to begin taking more seriously.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man who tells me that when he sees his mechutan in the street, he walks away to the other side of the street to avoid meeting him. He\u2019s telling me the story of how the relationship disintegrated and as I listened I was thinking, \u201cYou\u2019re all wrong!\u201d He was saying this and that, showing me how right he is and how it\u2019s a machlokes lisheim shomayim, but I was thinking that he\u2019s all wrong because he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s doing in his basement.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a posuk in Mishlei (18:1):\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4, because of some desires, \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d3, that’s why he separates.
\n\n\n\nWhy does a person go away? People go away. All of a sudden somebody gets up let’s say from a yeshivah and leaves. Or two chaveirim are studying Torah together and then we hear that one gets up and breaks off. Partners break up. Sometimes a son in a family moves away. A husband goes away; a tragedy. And Shlomo Hamelech analyzed this and he said it\u2019s because he wants something. \u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d3, it’s because he seeks a certain desire, that’s why he separated.
\n\n\n\nWeakness of Character
\n\n\n\nNow there could be a lot of desires to explain this. Sometimes it’s his anger. He lives in anger and he wants to avenge his anger. He finds no other means of showing it except leaving. I\u2019ve seen it. When a man leaves your shul suddenly, he’s angry. Sometimes it’s envy. He felt he wasn’t recognized. \u201cRecognized\u201d is another word for getting glory, recognition is glory. Or some other desire, some other character flaw, but there is always something hiding under the surface that is the motive that causes people to break away.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when people have machlokes with somebody else, it\u2019s an obligation on them \u2013 the first thing is to suspect yourself. Maybe you\u2019re wrong! I say maybe. It\u2019s not maybe. Look into the matter, look into your heart and you\u2019ll see it\u2019s not what you thought.
\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t mean to think for a minute. You have to be mefashfesh b\u2019maasov. \u201cWhat\u2019s the reason, what\u2019s the real reason for my opposition, for my anger, my hostility?\u201d And if you\u2019ll search, you\u2019ll discover. In many cases, you\u2019ll discover that you are wrong. And even if you\u2019re not all wrong, you\u2019ll find that a very big part of it is exaggerated because of your middos; jealousy, anger, and other things.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore in all machlokes, in every case, we should know that it\u2019s nothing but a weakness of character that has misled us to become hostile to our fellow Jews.
\n\n\n\nMoney, Kovod, and Advice
\n\n\n\nNow, once we know that \u2013 it\u2019s an axiomatic truth that Hashem teaches us in His Torah \u2013 so you begin to understand that in any case of dispute even though you seem to be fully justified, even though you have reasons, good arguments on your behalf, you should always know that it\u2019s perilous to make any decisions.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the best thing is to always avoid any friction, any hostility. Never make any kind of a break with anybody unless you have a special heter from somebody. And even though you think you\u2019re justified, have somebody besides yourself to tell you that you\u2019re justified.
\n\n\n\nNever make a fight with your daughter-in-law. No matter what! Never criticize your son-in-law, no matter what! No matter what! Don\u2019t give your son-in-law any advice. You can give him money, you can give him kovod, but don\u2019t give him any advice.
\n\n\n\nSo many lives have been ruined, so many people have lost a big part of their Olam Habo because of hidden motives by which they deceived themselves. But if you know beforehand \u2013 if you\u2019re prepared with the awareness that there\u2019s such a thing as self-deception in motivation, then you\u2019re always ready to think, \u201cMaybe I\u2019m wrong. Maybe the other party is right. And what can I lose if I give in? What can I lose if I make shalom? What can I lose if I don\u2019t talk about it? What can I lose if I act friendly despite what I think he did or thought he did to me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSuccess in Both Worlds
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the way of success in life is the way of shalom with people. When you train yourself to get along with people even though many times you think you may be justified, you have avoided a most perilous form of behavior. For many people sinas chinam can be the greatest mistake in their lives \u2013 good people, even talmidei chachomim, are yoreish Gehenom because of this mistake. And therefore the derech of shalom, of anavah, is always the safest.
\n\n\n\nAt least let us say, \u201cWe are moichel. We overlook it.\u201d That\u2019s the secret to success. And that perfection of character will be the very best preparation for our great success in the World To Come.
\n\n\n\nYes; I\u2019m talking about the World to Come. Of course, you\u2019ll live more happily in this world too. Absolutely. This lesson that we\u2019re learning today is so necessary because our relations with our fellow Jews, that\u2019s our success in both worlds. Mitzvos bein odom l\u2019makom are extremely important; learning Torah, very good! \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05d0\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9! Absolutely! A great achievement! And of course, even when it comes to all those things, motivations are very very important. But the most difficult of all tests is our dealings with our fellow Jews. That\u2019s where the most serious errors are committed. Only that no one thinks; no one is spending time thinking that maybe he is the guilty one.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that even as you\u2019re hearing this you don\u2019t believe it. You\u2019re thinking that the other one should be mivateir; that he should be the one listening to this. You\u2019ll tell me that you thought about it, that you thought about your motivations. But it\u2019s not true. Did you ever spend five minutes \u2013 five minutes on the clock \u2013 thinking digging into your motivations, your middos that may have caused you to come to machlokes?
\n\n\n\nThe Best Type of Friend
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re not capable? Ask someone else. Ask a Rav. If you ask a Rav, he doesn\u2019t have your motivations. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a daughter-in-law and you know that your mother-in-law is wrong; she\u2019s the guilty party. But your Rav, he\u2019s not her daughter-in-law so he can talk from a more balanced perspective. Or ask a chaver, someone who\u2019s wise, someone with some experience. If you\u2019re lucky he\u2019ll tell you the truth about yourself.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why it states in Pirkei Avos (1:6) \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1, you must make for yourself a teacher. Everything is so complex. Everything is so intricate that it’s a big mistake to think that you can do everything yourself. You must have a teacher. Not only a teacher in halachah. You need a teacher in worldly matters. You need a teacher in health, in parnasah. You need a teacher in how to get along with your family at home. Men need teachers and women need teachers. Everybody needs a teacher. You need a teacher for how to deal with the tricks of the yetzer hara. So number one on the list is \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u2013 Make for yourself a teacher.
\n\n\n\nAnd then the second injunction is \u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 get for yourself a comrade. When you’re by yourself, when you’re alone then you won’t remain standing. You’ll fall down. You must have an environment. You must have chaveirim, good friends who have the same ideals. And the best friend is the one who will tell you the truth; he\u2019ll help you recognize your motivations. That\u2019s a real friend \u2013 it\u2019s a rare bird but that\u2019s the best thing you can find, someone who will tell you the truth when you ask him.
\n\n\n\nThe Alien Amendment
\n\n\n\nNow, is that enough? A Rav and a friend? That’s the whole program? No, the Sages put in an amendment. They tacked on a third condition. \u05d5\u05b6\u05d4\u05b1\u05d5\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e3 \u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 judge every man for the side of the merit. It means to give every man the benefit of the doubt. How does that fit in? It looks like a third thing that is alien; it’s strange to the whole subject.
\n\n\n\nThe answer is it’s not. It’s part of the first two because it’s not enough to make yourself a rebbi and to get a chaver. The problem is how to hold on to him. The problem is how to get along with everyone!
\n\n\n\nIf you’re going to find faults, you’ll interpret one act as a lack of respect for you and another act as a lack of appreciation; you’ll be jealous sometimes, you\u2019ll get upset. He’s bossing you. He’s too domineering, too critical. So sooner or later we know what’s going to happen. So therefore \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8 but hold onto them. How will you hold on to your relationships? \u05d5\u05b6\u05d4\u05b1\u05d5\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05e3 \u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 you have to make it your business in life to judge everyone in the best possible way. And the best way to judge others litovah is to realize that there\u2019s a lot doing in the basement of your mind that you\u2019re not aware of.
\n\n\n\nRemember the Lesson
\n\n\n\nNow that’s good advice when it comes to remaining married. A wife is a chaver. A husband is a chaver. But when people are always letting their middos get in the way then we know what’s going to happen. In every case of a husband and wife, many times there are serious quarrels \u2013 it shouldn\u2019t happen \u2013 and sometimes it becomes very, very serious because each one as he or she tells the story, is perfectly right.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a case of a husband who told me his story; sounds good to me. She tells me her story; sounds good to me. How can they be both right? The answer is each one is not telling the real motivations. If they would dig down, they would discover how wrong both of them are. That\u2019s usually the case. Both are usually wrong; sometimes one more than the other, but both are wrong.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when you start dealing with other people, the first rule is to remember that whatever you\u2019re thinking, whatever you\u2019re certain about, is far from certain. The truth is that you have selfish motivations and you\u2019re constantly covering up the true ideas that you have in the bottom of your mind. And it\u2019s because people don\u2019t want to study themselves that\u2019s why many times they\u2019re headed for a collision. That\u2019s why today so many people who go to the wedding hall are really headed for the divorce court. So many people! It\u2019s remarkable! But if you remember this lesson so when things come up, you won\u2019t allow that ship of your marriage to be shipwrecked on an iceberg for nothing!
\n\n\n\nNot only marriage and neighbors and friendships. It\u2019s everything you\u2019re busy with \u2013 if the Am Yisroel was criticized because of their motivations, their subconscious thoughts when they left Har Sinai that\u2019s because Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to know that He\u2019s yirah laleivav, that He\u2019s judging you always on your hidden motivations. And because every Jew is so important, because every action is so tremendous and so eternal, that\u2019s why every thought of ours is also tremendous and eternal. That\u2019s what we\u2019re here for \u2013 to make our one chance in this world as perfect as possible.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nInvestigating the Basement
\n\n\n\nAlthough it doesn\u2019t seem to us that we should be embarrassed by the verse \u201cthey traveled from the Mountain of Hashem\u201d, we are taught that Hashem investigates what is doing in the basement of our minds, deep in our subconscious, and we are judged accordingly. This week I will bli neder take one minute each day to review one of my actions and try to see beyond the story I\u2019m telling myself, to reach down into the depths of my subconscious and see my true motivations. I will also make an effort to run any big decisions by my Rebbi or a wise Chaver.
\nThe post Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T03:09:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T03:09:10+00:00" }, { "id": 33944, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-behaaloscha-5-struggle-and-motivations/", "title": "Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations", "content_html": "TA-Behaaloscha-5782The post Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T03:07:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T03:07:26+00:00" }, { "id": 33937, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-behaaloscha-5-struggle-and-motivations/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations", "content_html": "TA-Behaaloscha-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Behaaloscha 5 – Struggle and Motivations appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-12T03:06:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-12T03:06:52+00:00" }, { "id": 33928, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%9b%d7%91-%d7%92%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%98%d7%a2-%d7%98%d7%90%d7%92-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%94%d7%99%d7%a1%d7%98%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%a2-%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d1: \u05d2\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05d8\u05d0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05e1\u05d8\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05da \u05dc\u05e0\u05e2\u05e8, \u05de\u05e2\u05de\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-222The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d1: \u05d2\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05d8\u05d0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05e1\u05d8\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05da \u05dc\u05e0\u05e2\u05e8, \u05de\u05e2\u05de\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-10T02:36:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-10T02:36:54+00:00" }, { "id": 33916, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-does-talmud-torah-go-lost/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Does Talmud Torah Go Lost", "content_html": "\nQ:
At\u00a0the end of the fourth part of the Shaarei Teshuva, Rabeinu Yonah brings a possuk, \u05d1\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d0\u05de\u05ea \u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05d5\u05df and he explains there that by doing acts of kindliness or by learning Torah even a sin as terrible as chillul Hashem will be forgiven. I\u2019m wondering what\u00a0happens to that\u00a0Torah that gave\u00a0you a kaparah? Does it go lost forever? Let\u2019s say\u00a0you learned a hundred hours of Torah and now that cancels out a chillul Hashem that you caused. Is that hundred hours lost forever? Or do you still have it to your credit in the Next World?
A:
\n\n\n\nIf Torah is being utilized by Hakodosh Boruch Hu as a kaparah for some sin that a person did, does it mean that the merit of Torah is wiped off and is lost from him because that merit was expended already?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is no. Because Torah is not merely the mitzvah of the Torah; Torah is the state of mind. When a person has Torah in his mind it will remain there forever \u2013 as long as he continues to review it remains a part of his personality. And therefore, even though he utilizes the Torah for Hashem to forgive his sins, the Torah is still in his mind and that man is still a ben Torah. He has a Torah mind, a Torah personality, and that means he\u2019s a ben Torah. And a ben Torah after all, is what Hakodosh Boruch wants us to be. And therefore, the fact that Torah is mechaper on certain things, that will not deduct from his madreigah as a ben Torah, a person whose mind is filled with Torah ideals.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-139
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Does Talmud Torah Go Lost appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-08T18:17:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-08T18:17:07+00:00" }, { "id": 33912, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-happiness-of-a-small-house/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Happiness of a Small House", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can one happily accept the nisayon of a large family living in a small house?
A:
So let\u2019s picture forty years from now. All of your children are married and you are alone in that house. And now you look back to the good old days when everybody was together. Ohh! You yearn once more for the happiness of yachad, when the family was together.
Now your sons and daughters are married and the house is empty. Even if they live near you \u2013 most of the time they don\u2019t live near you; they live in Lakewood; some in Yerushalayim \u2013 but even if they live near you it\u2019s not the same. Once upon a time every child was close to you; it\u2019s a rachmanus now on the old people. Now they look back and see how they didn\u2019t understand; that was the time to be happy. It was a small house? Alright, so you were close together; what about it?
And therefore, think about the future when you won\u2019t be together anymore and try to enjoy life right now.
TAPE # E-139
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Happiness of a Small House appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-08T17:39:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-08T17:39:36+00:00" }, { "id": 33908, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-forced-acceptance/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Forced Acceptance", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said before that the Am Yisroel\u2019s greatness is that they accepted the Torah. But don\u2019t we know that it was only because Hashem held the mountain over them and forced them into it. So what\u2019s so great about that?
A:
Doesn’t it say na’aseh venishma? So they accepted it willingly. How could you say not? Where does it say in the Chumash that a mountain was held over their heads?
Q:
I don’t know where it says it, but it says it.
A:
It doesn’t say in the Chumash at all. It\u2019s a Gemara (Shabbos 88a).\u00a0But the Chumash says openly that they said na’aseh venishma, doesn\u2019t it? So there you have it. The Chumash is more important.\u00a0
And the answer is that they accepted the Torah willingly. It’s like a chosson. A chosson accepted the kallah willingly. He looked at the kallah and he considered it and he decided to go to the chuppah. Now the day came. He put on his bigdei yontif; he’s dressed for the occasion, and the kallah is also dressed.
\n\n\n\nAnd the chosson is now standing outside the door of the hall and the caterer is pushing him, \u201cGo in.\u201d And the chosson is thinking now of turning his tail and running out in the street. But the caterer is holding on tight. He has to. And finally the caterer gives a push and the fellow staggers into the hall.
\n\n\n\nNow how does it happen that the caterer should give him that push? It’s a reward. Because of his good decision that he made when he was sober; when he wasn’t frightened he made a decision to marry the kallah so therefore he’s rewarded that the caterer gives him a push to help him finish up the job. \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d8\u05d4\u05e8 \u05de\u05e1\u05e2\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 If you come to do a good thing, so Hakodosh Boruch Hu helps you to finish it.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore our forefathers made the decision na’aseh venishma; only that when the Torah started being given, the heavens opened up and they saw things. They saw responsibility! A fear came upon them that they never dreamed of!\u00a0And they were thinking of retracting so Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, \u201cNo! No retracting now!\u00a0Go to the chuppah!\u201d So we really accepted the Torah; only we were given a push to finish it up as a reward for the initial decision.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # R-70
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Forced Acceptance appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-08T17:24:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-08T17:24:31+00:00" }, { "id": 33893, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-behaalotekha/", "title": "Paracha B\u00e9haalot\u00e9kha", "content_html": "Be\u0301haalote\u0301kha-French-5782-New-3The post Paracha B\u00e9haalot\u00e9kha appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T20:24:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T20:24:39+00:00" }, { "id": 33888, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-nasso/", "title": "Paracha Nasso", "content_html": "Nasso-French-5782-New-4The post Paracha Nasso appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T20:23:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T20:23:47+00:00" }, { "id": 33883, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%a9%d7%90-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e9\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e0\u05e9\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e9\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T20:16:50+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T20:16:51+00:00" }, { "id": 33871, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%9c%d7%aa%d7%9a-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05da \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05daThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05da \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T03:46:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T03:47:23+00:00" }, { "id": 33866, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-naso-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Naso", "content_html": "\n\u201cGirls,\u201d Morah Lerenstein said during Chumash class. \u201cCan anyone tell me some of the gifts that the Nesi\u2019im brought to the Mishkan?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShaindy Katz raised her hand. \u201cYes, I know!\u201d she said as she surprised everyone by reciting entire pesukim verbatim with trop: \u201cKorbano-o-o-o-o kaaras kesef acha-a-a-as, shloshim umeia-a-ah-uh-uh mishka-lo; mizrak e-chad kesef, shiv\u2019im shekel b\u2019shekel hakodesh; shneihem milei-i-i-im, so-o-o-les, bilulah vashemen limincha; kaf acha-a-a-as, asarah zahav mileiah kitores; par echa-a-a-a-ad be-en baka-a-a-ar\u2026\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe whole class listened in mild amusement as Shaindy leined the entire list of the gifts and korbanos that the Nesi\u2019im brought.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow, Shaindy, that was incredible!\u201d said Morah Lerenstein. \u201cBut I have two questions for you. First of all, how do you know the entire list by heart? And secondly, how do you know the trop?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShaindy blushed. \u201cWell, Naso is my brother Tuli\u2019s Bar Mitzvah parsha. He has been practicing for months and these pesukim are repeated in the Torah twelve times! Do you have any idea how many times we have had to listen to it? Even my three-year-old brother Shimshy knows it by heart!\u201d
\n\n\n\nShaindy paused for a moment before asking, \u201cWhy does the Torah repeat it so many times, anyway? It\u2019s the same exact thing over and over!\u201d
\n\n\n\nMorah Lerenstein smiled. \u201cWell first of all, Mazel Tov on your brother\u2019s upcoming Bar Mitzvah. It must be an exciting time for your family.\u201d
\n\n\n\nShaindy\u2019s face lit up. \u201cOh yes!\u201d she responded. \u201cIt is going to be the BEST Bar Mitzvah ever! My father is Anshel Holtzbacher\u2019s business partner, so he has gotten to know the Horki Rebbe. The Rebbe is coming to the Bar Mitzvah and is going to eat at the meal so we will have the zechus of eating from the meal of a tzaddik. I mean, it\u2019s going to be some meal\u2026 Baked Alaskan salmon, scalloped potatoes, grilled portobello mushrooms, goose liver, grilled rib-eye steaks, oh it\u2019s all going to be so yummy!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd then the music! There is going to be a 21-piece band, and Mordechai Friedman is going to sing \u2018Harbei Asu Kirabi Shimon\u2019, \u2018Ben Hei Hei Omer\u2019, and \u2018I Love You Reb Yid\u2019! Avraham Ben David is also coming and he is also going to sing \u2018Harbei Asu Kirabi Shimon\u2019, \u2018Ben Hei Hei Omer\u2019, and \u2018I Love You Reb Yid\u2019! And not only that! Joel Newbrush is coming too! And he is going to be on stage together with Mordechai Friedman and Avraham Ben David and he is also going to sing \u2018Harbei Asu Kirabi Shimon\u2019, \u2018Ben Hei Hei Omer\u2019, and \u2018I Love You Reb Yid\u2019 together with them!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd of course all of you are invited!\u201d Shaindy finished warmly, smiling at her teacher and classmates.
\n\n\n\nThe whole class listened with excitement and watering mouths as Shaindy went on, describing every detail of the Bar Mitzvah, repeating some things multiple times, just to make sure she didn\u2019t leave anything out.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image.png?resize=640%2C452&ssl=1\")
\u201cWow, Shaindy,\u201d said Morah Lerenstein. \u201cIt all sounds so exciting!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI know!\u201d said Shaindy. \u201cAnd did I tell you about Mordechai Friedman, Avraham Ben David, and Joel Newbrush?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes, you did,\u201d smiled Morah Lerenstein. \u201cSeveral times, in fact.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh sorry,\u201d said Shaindy. \u201cIt\u2019s just that it\u2019s so special and exciting, I can\u2019t stop talking about it.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, Shaindy,\u201d Morah Lerenstein responded. \u201cI think you just answered your own question about the Nesi\u2019im\u2019s gifts.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI did?\u201d asked Shaindy, confused.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAbsolutely!\u201d said Morah Lerenstein. \u201cYou can\u2019t stop talking about all of the amazing things that are happening for your brother\u2019s Bar Mitzvah because of how special it all is to you. That\u2019s the most important thing in the world to you and you\u2019ll repeat it a thousand times because you also want us to know how great it\u2019s going to be.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s why the Torah repeats again and again exactly what the Nesi\u2019im brought. Because Hashem wants us to know what He\u2019s excited about; that\u2019s what\u2019s really important in this world!
\n\n\n\n\u201cEvery gift that is brought for the Mishkan \u2013 the place where Hashem lives and where the luchos and the Torah are \u2013 that\u2019s the most exciting thing in the world. This lesson is so important \u2013 we should be excited about the things that Hashem is excited about: Torah and Mitzvos and the Am Yisroel!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: When something is exciting to us, we talk about it over and over again. Let\u2019s try to talk to others about how we love Hashem, His Torah, and His People, our fellow Yidden!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Naso appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T03:37:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T03:37:54+00:00" }, { "id": 33853, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-naso-lessons-from-the-sotah-2/", "title": "Parshas Naso – Lessons from the Sotah", "content_html": "Visiting the Psychiatrist
\n\n\n\nWe find that when the Navi Amos (2:11,12) was reproving the people during the days of the first Beis Hamikdash he said as follows: \u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d6\u05b4\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 I raised up from your sons nevi\u2019im and your young men to be nezirim, only that \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05bc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e6\u05b4\u05d5\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b5\u05d0\u05de\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 you said to the nevi\u2019im don\u2019t prophesize, \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b4\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 and you gave the nezirim to drink wine.
\n\n\n\nIt means that the parents in the Ten Tribes were no longer of the same caliber as the old time Israelite parents who were proud to have sons who separated themselves for the service of Hashem. Lehavdil it\u2019s like today when parents see their children moving ahead, going further in avodas Hashem than they themselves are, so they\u2019re opposed to it. They try to take you to the psychiatrist.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what mothers do when they see the boy is getting too frum; theypanic. And in the later days of the Bayis Rishon similar things happened. In many instances when a young man was moved to take upon himself such a vow, his parents forced upon him wine in order he should break his neder. That\u2019s what the Navi was reproving the people about.
\n\n\n\nNazirites Everywhere
\n\n\n\nHowever, we see from Amos\u2019s words that in Eretz Yehuda and the whole Am Yisroel in the days of old, this was an accepted practice. If a young man or woman\u2019s heart was moved to be devoted to the service of Hashem they assumed a vow of nezirus for a certain period of time during which they were devoted entirely to the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIn the ancient times, nezirus was an institution in our people. There was a class among our nation who had taken upon themselves a vow of nezirus, some for thirty days and some for many years and some for their lifetime. And it was approved of. In those days, it was done frequently.
\n\n\n\nIt was a common thing on the streets of old Yerushalayim to see nezirim walking with long hair, individuals or bands of nezirim who kept together because they all lived the same kind of life. Even in the times of the second Beis Hamikdosh when there was no longer any nevi\u2019im, but there were bands of nezirim. It was a common thing. It was an accepted part of Jewish life.
\n\n\n\nIn the times of Shimon ben Shatach, when he was the av beis din, there were three hundred poor nezirim whose time had come to bring their offerings, but they couldn\u2019t afford them. There were many others \u2013 maybe thousands \u2013 who brought their offerings out of their own pockets. But we find that Shimon ben Shatach appealed to King Yannai, that the king should finance the offerings of three hundred nezirim who couldn\u2019t afford them (Yerushalmi Brachos 7:2). So you see how many nezirim there were.
\n\n\n\nStanding Out
\n\n\n\nNow we have to understand that in those days, the Jewish people kept the Torah. Everybody ate kosher. Everybody kept Shabbos. And so when a man separated from the people, he didn\u2019t separate from a crowd of agnostics, chas v\u2019shalom. He wasn\u2019t separating from people who were disloyal. Every Jew in those days had a fiery patriotism burning in his heart. In the ancient times, the Jews were proud of their nation, even the Jews who weren\u2019t so frum! They were all proud of their Torah and that was their constitution. They had no other code of laws except the Torah. And therefore, when a nazir separated, he wasn\u2019t separating from a low multitude. He was separating from what today would be a very good public, people who would be admired today.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, when a man separates in order to become better, Hakodosh Boruch Hu approves of him; He considers it a remarkable thing. That\u2019s what it says \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 If a man does an extraordinary thing and becomes a Nazir for the sake of Hashem (Naso 6:2). \u05d9\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d0 means he does something remarkable; he separates out from the usual behavior of what\u2019s doing around him. Something stirred his mind, and now he wants to go beyond what others are doing; he wants to be better, a head taller.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Nazir lived a normal life among his fellowmen. He lived like we do. He was married too in most cases. Of course he worked too. A Nazir is still obligated to fulfill his requirements of the kesubah. But there was a certain attitude he had, and certain practices, which he made use of to lift himself up from the multitude. He was a man who separated from the world in certain respects.
\n\n\n\nAnd Hakodosh Boruch Hu crowned him because of that; \u05e0\u05b5\u05d6\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9. It’s an approval of the Torah on people who want to get ahead of themselves, who don\u2019t want to remain in a rut and they try to lift themselves out of their daily environment and they seek to do things that other people would not do.
\n\n\n\nRemoving the Crown
\n\n\n\nHowever, right now I want to leave the topic of Nazir for a few minutes and speak to you about something else. Because in this week\u2019s sedrah right before we read about the Nazir, the man or woman crowned with the crown of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, there\u2019s another parsha, a parsha that we\u2019re not so proud of. The Chumash tells us about a woman whose husband warned her not to go into any private places with a certain man and then she did it anyhow; she went someplace with that man and now her husband suspects her of doing an aveirah, that\u2019s a Sotah. A Sotah \u2013 a misfortune!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a tragedy in the Am Yisroel, the goy kadosh. It\u2019s the opposite of a Nazir\u2019s crown; we\u2019re talking now about a woman whose crown of glory is removed and she is disgraced in public.
\n\n\n\nWhat would they do? It was a big procedure. She was forced to come to Yerushalayim, into the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdosh, where the Sanhedrin Hagedolah was sitting and she had to go through a very humiliating ceremony. She had to drink a certain water in which they erased a megillah. They wrote a megillas sotah, in which a curse with the name of Hashem was inscribed, and that ink was dissolved in the water and she was supposed to drink it.
\n\n\n\nConnecting the Dots
\n\n\n\nNow, according to the Torah, if she was guilty, it would happen a miracle to her and she would be smitten with an illness immediately. And if she\u2019s innocent, she would survive. It wasn\u2019t a trial by water like the j\u016bdicium De\u012b, that she needed a miracle to survive. It wasn\u2019t a danger because there was nothing that would convict her except the miracle. If a man has to be convicted by a miracle, he has a very good chance of surviving. But still, the ordeal of going through such a test is a great disgrace.
\n\n\n\nNow, our Sages made note of the fact that this parsha of the Nazir who crowns himself by going above and beyond, comes immediately after the story of the Sotah. \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05ea \u05e0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05ea \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cWhy,\u201d they asked, \u201cis the parsha of Nazir and the parsha of Sotah put together? (Brachos 63a). Why is it that right after the story of this disgraced woman, the Torah comes along and teaches us about a Nazir?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, to us that might not be such a big question. After all, something had to follow the parsha of Sotah. What does it matter if it\u2019s this or that? But our Sages understood that everything in the Torah is important; every letter, every nuance. And therefore they asked about that. What\u2019s the connection between the two?
\n\n\n\nLeave It To The Experts
\n\n\n\nThe truth is, on our own we\u2019ll never know all the reasons. It\u2019s like a little boy trying to understand why the Secretary of State of the United States issued this and this pronouncement. Imagine a little child in pre-kindergarten and he\u2019s sitting on his stool, the stool with the hole in it, and he\u2019s looking at the most recent pronouncement from the State Department and he\u2019s trying to figure out why the Secretary of State said this exact word, why he put this sentence next to that sentence. You can understand already how far he\u2019ll get.
\n\n\n\nOur sages on the other hand were experts. Of course even they would never get the whole thing \u2013 nobody could dig down deep enough and understand the full gamut of the wisdom of Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u2013 but whatever diamonds they could scoop up were very valuable.
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer they give is that the Torah is teaching us an important lesson here about how to succeed in this world: \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05ea \u05e0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05ea \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Why are the two parshiyos of Nazir and Sotah together, one after the other? \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 To teach us that when someone sees what happened to the Sotah, he should become a Nazir; he should accept a vow of nezirus upon himself. Anybody who sees the downfall of a Sotah should become a Nazir and separate himself from wine.
\n\n\n\nAbstinence and Common Sense
\n\n\n\nOne of the contributing factors to the downfall of an otherwise decent person is drinking, intoxication. What people do when they\u2019re intoxicated is unimaginable to the sober person. The Gemara (Sotah 7a) says, \u05d4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u2013 wine does very much. It can accomplish things that wouldn\u2019t happen otherwise.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the great virtue of coming to cocktail parties where men and women are mingling. In the gentile advertisements it\u2019s portrayed as an ideal \u2013 they show you a picture of a man standing around holding a glass of whiskey in a certain fashionable way while leaning against a piece of furniture and engaging in conversation with a silly female in a cocktail dress.
\n\n\n\nAnd of course that whiskey or bourbon plays a very important role in that game they\u2019re playing. They\u2019re drinking intoxicating liquors and therefore \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0? It is surely followed by sin, it\u2019s inevitable. Of course it happens and it\u2019s a great misfortune. They\u2019re ruined people. Their lives are ruined. Their families are ruined. Don\u2019t we see it happening all the time?
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the lesson our Sages wanted us to learn from how the Torah ordered the parshiyos – that when a man sees what could happen as a result of too much drinking, he should take upon himself a vow to become a Nazir. That\u2019s why the two are together. If you see what happened as a result of intemperance, then you must take a vow of temperance, of abstinence. It\u2019s common sense advice. And our Sages learned this common sense from the Torah. It’s the Torah’s common sense.
\n\n\n\nA Message from Heaven
\n\n\n\nNow the way the meforshim generally explain this maamar Chazal is as follows. According to this understanding the Torah is teaching us that if you see a Sotah in her disgrace \u2013 then you should take it as a lesson to separate yourself from what led to that downfall. It\u2019s a warning from Heaven: \u201cYou are being warned now \u2013 take action!\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen you see the effects of intemperance, when you see what happens when people follow the ways of the world and don\u2019t have any check on their behavior and then you see the misfortunes that happen because of that, so you become obligated to think, \u201cOy vey! Chas v\u2019shalom, that could have been me! Chas v\u2019shalom, chas v\u2019shalom! No more wine for me! No more intemperance and mingling for me!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why you saw it. It was sent min haShomayim; these messages are sent to you from Heaven, as a signal that you should take them to heart. It didn\u2019t happen just by itself. It could have happened and you wouldn\u2019t be aware of it. The fact that you heard or saw is because Hakodosh Boruch Hu has pity on you and He\u2019s forewarning you. And therefore, it\u2019s your obligation to listen to the message. That\u2019s what he\u2019s saying. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 if you see something like that, then don\u2019t wait any longer! That\u2019s the final warning! \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 you have to change your ways.
\n\n\n\nSeeing is Knowing
\n\n\n\nNow the question is asked: Why do you have to wait for the Sotah to demonstrate it? If we know that wine could cause such a thing, why do you have to wait until we see that it actually happened? Even without seeing it, anybody who reads the Torah or the Gemara should immediately say, \u201cI\u2019ll be a Nazir.\u201d Parshas Naso comes along and right after the baal korei reads the story of the Sotah we should all become nezirim without ever seeing a sotah bekilkulah. But no, it says \u201cAnyone who sees the Sotah in her disgrace should separate from wine.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ll say that the idea is like this. Once you see it, it’s not theoretical anymore; it\u2019s real. It\u2019s a different kind of knowledge that Hashem is sending you and it therefore puts a much bigger burden on you. When you see it actually happen, then it becomes an obligation on you more than ever before.
\n\n\n\nDrunk Driving
\n\n\n\nAfter all, don\u2019t we know that children are killed on the highway every day while speeding under the influence of liquor? It\u2019s no longer news today. Not only are they killed, but they kill others too. Drunken driving is maybe more dangerous than homicide. Despite the climbing figures of homicide, drunken driving is even bigger. And the drivers themselves are also victims. We don\u2019t take it to heart, however.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose you pass by and you see three ambulances and three police cars and a smashed car and they\u2019re pulling a mangled young fellow out of the car; so that is a lesson that has an effect.
\n\n\n\nIf somebody tells you, \u201cYou know so-and-so from the synagogue? His son just died in a crash from drunk driving on a highway\u201d \u2013 it happened once in my synagogue; during davening three policemen came in and they had to tell one of the congregants that his son was killed in a drunk driving accident. When something like that happens, when you see that, you must take action. You have to think, \u201cWhy did Hashem make me see such a thing? Isn\u2019t that telling me something?\u201d
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Be Stupid
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re a rabbi, you get the messages from all over, the tragedies, all over! In Orthodox Jewish life, Modern Orthodox Jewish life, it\u2019s one after the other \u2013 you see what happens to people who follow in the ways of the gentiles under a hechsher of the OU. They have kosher food but otherwise their gatherings are gentile gatherings. And therefore many times women and men fall into the net of sin because they don\u2019t have any separation between men and women. In the synagogues, maybe they have a little mechitzah, but in their parties they don\u2019t have any mechitzah and we know what happens.
\n\n\n\nHow many times have we seen a woman who chooses to go to a therapist and terrible things happen?! I could tell you stories of ruined families, ruined children. And so ha\u2019roeh, when you see that, yazir, take that lesson! Men shouldn\u2019t be involved with women and women shouldn\u2019t be involved with men. Beware of psychologists and psychiatrists! Beware of therapists! If you\u2019re foolish enough to go to a therapist, choose a woman therapist. A woman should choose a woman, and a man goes to a man. No exceptions!
\n\n\n\nThose who are lax with the dinim of yichud that forbids a man to be alone with a woman are victims of circumstances that are tragic – besides making them broken people morally – their lives are ruined. It happens all the time among them. Here is a man, could be he doesn\u2019t mean any harm, but he happens to be alone with a female. And it happens. He\u2019s human and he\u2019s nichshal. He stumbles. He does a cheit and his life is ruined.
\n\n\n\nYou have to learn the lesson! How long will you wait, you dumb people?! Will you forever remain stupid fools? When you see something like that you\u2019re not supposed to remain thick headed and ignore it. That story was put next to you, it was nismacha to you, so you should swear off all of those foolish attitudes and gentile practices that caused that to happen. Don\u2019t think such things happen in a vacuum. It starts with the television and the radio and the novels, the magazines that people bring into their homes.
\n\n\n\nPublic Schools Ruin Children
\n\n\n\nPeople are very slow in waking up. Among the gentiles there are a lot of Christians who have already decided to throw out the television. They realize what a danger it is. And here is a fool, a man with a little beard, an ex-yeshivah man; he has semichah and he even comes to shiur at night. But every night he sits with his little children in front of the television set, and he holds them with his arms; he embraces them. He wants to show them that the father is together with the children in their interests; so he’s mechanech them in the mitzvah of being metameh their little neshamos \u2013 besides his own.
\n\n\n\nThis is a craziness! He\u2019s ruining his family! And other people who see this must learn lessons. Why are you Americanizing your family?! Why are you allowing every type of filth into your home?! Why are you sending your children to high schools where boys and girls learn together in the same classrooms?! That\u2019s not a yeshiva. It\u2019s a caricature. They have a sign \u201cYeshiva\u201d outside. It\u2019s a terrible place. How can a parent not see the disgrace of what\u2019s doing in the gentile world, the disgrace that mixing has brought upon the world, and be so stupid?!
\n\n\n\nAt least be like an Irishman or an Italian of forty years ago. Forty years ago (in 1944) there wasn\u2019t an Irishman or an Italian who would send his daughter to a co-ed public school, all schools were segregated. For high school there were separate buildings entirely, in different parts of the city.
\n\n\n\nSo we tell you, \u201cDon\u2019t you see what\u2019s going on today? They\u2019re ruining our children! How many examples are you going to see without reacting?!” That\u2019s why you have ruined families; because nobody is taking the lessons.
\n\n\n\nHorror in Spring Valley
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a mother and father who didn\u2019t learn. They could have sent their daughter to a Jewish school. But they weren\u2019t interested in seeing any lessons. And so one day, the girl is about seventeen, and in anger against her parents \u2013 it doesn\u2019t take much to make a spoiled child hate her parents \u2013 so she brought over a couple of friends, Italian boys. And first of all, they beat the father to death. That\u2019s what this Jewish girl did with her friends. Then they took the mother and drowned her in the bathtub. That happened in Spring Valley, in New York State.
\n\n\n\nNow if we read that, we have to learn a lesson. First of all, who tells you to move far out? They lived out in the suburbs, far away from the Jewish neighborhood. Near Spring Valley, in Monsey there are frum Jewish neighborhoods. Why couldn\u2019t you live on the frum block? Don\u2019t you see what\u2019s happening to the Jews who run away from their people?
\n\n\n\nIf you would have sent your daughter to Bais Yaakov, you would have remained alive. A Bais Yaakov girl, even if she isn’t the best girl but she wouldn\u2019t do that. You would have remained alive. They would have taken their daughter to the chuppah. They could have grandchildren instead of being beaten to death or drowned in the bathtub.
\n\n\n\nLive in The Schmaltz
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you read what happens to people who live out in the sticks and they raise their children like American bums, do something about it! Anybody who doesn\u2019t want that \u2018nachas\u2019, \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df! You have to learn the lesson! Don\u2019t you see what\u2019s happening?! And even if the child won\u2019t murder you, if your daughter moves out into an apartment by herself, who knows what she does there? That\u2019s nachas?!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9, separate from the wine of gentile ways. That\u2019s what the ma\u2019amar is saying. Don\u2019t wait to be hit over the head fifty times. If you get clubbed over the head once, take the lesson to heart and do something about it. Better yet learn from someone else\u2019s clubbing. Move! Move into a good Jewish neighborhood! Join a frum kehilla \u2013 the best you can! Try to bring back your children with every kind of subterfuge, by bribery, by cajoling. There are ways and means of helping children come back. But you have to take action. Don\u2019t wait anymore because there\u2019s a pit of destruction waiting for you in this world, and after that there\u2019s a Gehenom.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 if you see such things, how much should a man be taught the same lesson over and over? Don\u2019t you see what happened again and again? How many times do you have to be taught the lesson? And so \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df \u2013 he should separate from wine and from all other factors that cause people\u2019s downfall.
\n\n\n\nSign Of The Times
\n\n\n\nHowever, the Chovos Halvovos has another peirush on this ma\u2019amar; he says the following, a different pshat. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 When you see a Sotah in her downfall, it\u2019s a symptom of what\u2019s doing in the world. Not only is it a sign sent for you; it\u2019s a symptom. And a symptom is never an isolated phenomenon. It means there\u2019s something wrong in society. If such a thing could happen in a society, it shows that they\u2019re straying away from the ideals.
\n\n\n\nIn the olden days when Jews were a loyal people, when did it happen that a man committed adultery with another woman? When did such a disgusting thing happen among the Jews? Once in a blue moon. It was so rare that it would be a historic matter.
\n\n\n\nAll around them, there was a sea of immorality; all the nations were loose in their behavior. I remember when I was in Lithuania. Among the gentiles, getting married was a waste of time. If somebody saved up enough money to get married, so the children would come to the wedding. I myself saw it.
\n\n\n\nIsland of Decency
\n\n\n\nAnd every Wednesday was a spectacle in itself. Wednesday was the fair day, the market day, in the small town where I lived, and all the peasants would come, the poor peasants; they were as poor as anything. They came and they sold their produce. They were selling their chickens, their sheep, their lumber and their linens.
\n\n\n\nAnd then they took their money and they went straight to the saloon and they got drunk. I can\u2019t say it was every single one of them, but I\u2019ll tell you what I saw. I saw a shocking sight. On Thursday morning I saw a heap of men and women, lying dead drunk, all on top of each other, like a pile of old clothing. And with vomit all over them. I was shocked but people told me that this is the regular procedure for every week.
\n\n\n\nBut the Jews were an island of decency among them. Among the Am Yisroel we didn\u2019t have such symptoms of sickness. But suppose it happened once. \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc! Oy vey! It\u2019s a symptom that something is wrong in the nation! How could it happen, that a woman was warned by her husband and still she went into hiding with a strange man? The healthy constitution of our people, the vitality of the nation is weakening! It means corruption has seeped in.
\n\n\n\nSchool for American Girls
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df; you have to take vitamins. That nation has to receive a dose of vitamins in order to restore the general health of that body of the people. Because this symptom shows there\u2019s a rot in the body that caused the symptoms to develop, and so you have to start creating vitamins for the body by behaving in a way that\u2019s more than the usual norm of decency.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what it means \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df. Not only wine. Everything! People should now take upon themselves a different kind of life in order to bring a new wind to blow upon the people, a different trend of society. When you see a generation that\u2019s porutz, that’s broken down in a certain thing, then you should go to the opposite direction and be extreme in the opposite direction. You have to aspire to a more noble, holier life and that\u2019s going to cause the balance to weigh against the corruption that is weighing down on the wrong side.
\n\n\n\nI once spoke to a chaver of mine, a Litvak, a real Litvak. He came to America and he put his daughter into Beis Rochel, into the Satmar girls’ school. I said, \u201cWhat’s the matter? What\u2019s going on?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo he said, \u201cIt\u2019s different times today.\u201d And he gave me a mashal. He said it\u2019s like when you’re walking when there’s a wind storm, a very strong wind is blowing against you, so it’s not enough to walk erect. You\u2019re afraid you\u2019ll lose your balance and keel over so you have to walk bent over; otherwise, the wind will knock you down. You have to lean in against the wind to maintain your balance. Otherwise, if you\u2019ll stand straight, you\u2019ll fall down.
\n\n\n\nWe Need Extremism
\n\n\n\nToday, it’s not enough to walk komemiyus. The Sifri says \u201ckomemiyus\u201d (Vayikra 26:13) means knowing Torah. Today it’s not enough to be erect with Torah, komemiyus with Torah. To be erect is not enough. You have to bend over today. Otherwise, the strong winds are sure to cause people to swerve from the path.
\n\n\n\nWhen you see that the world is becoming worse and worse; like today when you see things that are so wicked, so immoral \u2013 things that I can\u2019t speak about in a shul; things I wouldn\u2019t speak about even in a beis hakisei \u2013 then you must become better and better. The Chovos Halevavos says this pshat. He says that if it’s a time, if it’s a generation when we see that such things can happen, then the people of that time are more obligated than people in any other time.
\n\n\n\nToday is the time for everybody to become more and more strict in tzniyus; more and more strict in keeping everything in the Torah than even our forefathers did \u2013 because it’s more necessary. We see today sotah bekilkulah all around us!
\n\n\n\nOn all sides we see misbehavior. We see wickedness. We see laxity in areas our grandparents wouldn\u2019t have dreamed of in their wildest nightmares. Of course, the shomrei Torah are kedoshim compared to the world but even among us things have happened. And you\u2019d be surprised how many people who are orthodox went off the path. The winds of depravity are creeping in and therefore, in a time of stress like today when so many Jews are going lost, it\u2019s not enough for the good ones to be observant Orthodox Jews.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Feed Them
\n\n\n\nEven if we would be like our fathers or their grandparents who were good people, it\u2019s not enough! There\u2019s a strong wind blowing today! And therefore, the small group of devoted frumme have to become more devoted than ever! When there is so much corruption, so many anti-Torah attitudes in the air, how much more do the people today who are loyal to the Torah have to add chumros upon chumros.
\n\n\n\nI’ll give you an example. There\u2019s a law in the Gemara (Kiddushin 81a) that if a woman has a husband in town and somebody comes, let’s say a meshulach comes in. He wants to eat, so she can give him a meal because there is a deterrent for evil doing. She has a husband in town and he might come in at any moment. It\u2019s called baalah ba\u2019ir, a certain heter. She’s afraid of her husband.
\n\n\n\nThat was in the good old days. But when we see the world that we live in today, so now you have to say to yourself, \u201cIt\u2019s not the olden days anymore. In the olden days people were moral. But today, absolutely not.\u201d Not only the woman has her mind polluted by the air, but the meshulach also has his mind polluted. Even if he comes from Yerushalayim. Even in Yerushalayim today there’s so much pollution. The bad smell of Tel Aviv goes over to Yerushalayim.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it doesn\u2019t pay today to say that heter anymore, no. You can\u2019t rely on that today in a generation that\u2019s so porutz. Besides, baalah ba\u2019ir in those days, it meant it was a small town. But if he\u2019s in Manhattan and she\u2019s in Brooklyn it\u2019s not called baalah ba\u2019ir. But even if they\u2019re both in Brooklyn, no; these rules don\u2019t hold good anymore. You have to be machmir in dinei yichud much more than once upon a time.
\n\n\n\nConditional Marriage
\n\n\n\nEven the best people today are spoiled, and today we need more harchakah than ever before. And I know what I’m saying. A bit of experience has taught us that we have to be especially careful today; we have to be more careful with tznius than our forefathers were. We\u2019re obligated to be more machmir than they were. You cannot congratulate yourself that you\u2019re just as good as you were in the 1930s or 1940s. It\u2019s a different atmosphere today. You hear today on the radio things you wouldn\u2019t hear fifty years ago and that\u2019s a warning call to you: \u201cYazir atzmo min hayayin! Go further than ever before.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore today, if a young man marries a young woman and he says, \u201cLook, on one condition, no radio in our house,\u201d so she\u2019ll be somewhat surprised because her parents always had radio. Television, that much she understands because today everyone knows that television is a sewer that brings all the filth into your home. But a radio, why not?
\n\n\n\nOh no! Today is not yesterday! And so if he says, \u201cI\u2019m marrying on condition that you have no radio,\u201d she shouldn\u2019t be surprised because today it\u2019s different! It\u2019s not the same radio! The things you hear on the radio today are already outrageous things! And we shouldn\u2019t be afraid to speak up and say, \u201cNo! We don\u2019t want it! We\u2019re different today! We have to fight back.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd if you\u2019re married already thirty years, same thing. Say to your wife, \u201cChana, don\u2019t you see what\u2019s going on in the world? We can\u2019t just be the same as we were yesterday. We have to cut loose from the media. How can we continue bringing into our home all of these things that we see are destroying the world?
\n\n\n\nWe Are Especially Precious
\n\n\n\nToday anybody who goes with a New York Times in his pocket, that person is demonstrating that he hasn\u2019t learned the lesson of our sedrah, that \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d9\u05b7\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05df.
\n\n\n\nIt’s like a Jew walking around with a Nazi symbol on his arm. The Nazis destroyed our bodies and this progressive craziness is eating away at our souls. The only eitzah today is to be yazir atzmo min hayayin, to keep far away from all these things that have brought disgrace and misfortune to mankind.
\n\n\n\nNow I know that I won’t be obeyed, but I’m telling you anyhow because that’s the only remedy; and the more we learn that lesson, the more we apply that lesson in our own lives, the more credit we get.
\n\n\n\nThe frum Jews today in this wicked generation who go all out to beware of all of those Sotah-attitudes and practices and ideals \u2013 those are the special people who are finding especial favor in the Eyes of Hashem. They are the ones who are turning the tide for our nation, strengthening and invigorating our people in the face of the winds of corruption that are blowing stronger and stronger every day.
\n\n\n\nKeeping Away from \u201cWine\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOne who witnesses the disgrace of the Sotah must swear off wine\u201d. We are witness to the great moral decline of society at levels unheard of before. This means that we must bend over backwards to resist being influenced by the winds that are blowing. This week I will bli neder take one minute each day to think about what I can do to remain firmly entrenched in the camp of the frumme, what can I do to show my loyalty to Hashem and His Torah. May Hashem help us stand strong.
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\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T03:35:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-04-10T14:53:34+00:00" }, { "id": 33860, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-naso-lessons-from-the-sotah/", "title": "Parshas Naso – Lessons from the Sotah", "content_html": "TA-Naso-5782The post Parshas Naso – Lessons from the Sotah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T03:32:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T03:32:53+00:00" }, { "id": 33852, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-naso-lessons-from-the-sotah/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Naso – Lessons from the Sotah", "content_html": "TA-Naso-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Naso – Lessons from the Sotah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-07T03:32:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-07T03:32:26+00:00" }, { "id": 33841, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-john-hinckley-and-a-country-gone-mad/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on John Hinckley And A Country Gone Mad\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What can we learn from the verdict given to John Hinckley (who attempted to assassinate\u00a0President Reagan on March 30 1981)\u00a0of non-guilty by reason of insanity?
A:
\n\n\n\nWe learn from this that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is angry at America; He is making America insane. If a country has fallen so low, if the judges are such rascals, so stupid as to acquit a man on weak grounds of insanity \u2013 a man who attempted to kill the President! \u2013 it is a tragedy; and such a thing could never happen unless Hakodosh Boruch Hu is angry at that country.
America is being punished today and we are sinking lower and lower. And I want to tell you one thing that may hurt: to a big extent you people are to blame because if you don\u2019t raise your voices in protest constantly against this wildness and wickedness then you are sharing the blame. Thousands of letters should go out protesting this. There should be big protests! The American public is crazy if they don\u2019t do something!
But it is all a sign of a puraniyos. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is sending puraniyos on the country. When such insane verdicts can be handed down, it means it is an encouragement for every adventurer to try to put a bullet in the President\u2019s head.
TAPE # 415 (July 1982)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on John Hinckley And A Country Gone Mad\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-02T19:43:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-02T19:43:42+00:00" }, { "id": 33837, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-happiness-plan/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Happiness Plan", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should a person do in order to be always happy?
A:
In order to be always happy a person must first choose one thing and concentrate on it until it makes him happy. You have to work on that one thing. After a while you\u2019ll be happy with that one thing. Then add another thing. And work on that. After a while work on something else. After a while you\u2019ll have so many things that you\u2019ll be a rich man. You\u2019ll actually feel a happiness about so many things.
So start out as follows. Say, \u201cI\u2019m happy that I have something to eat.\u201d Learn how to be happy that you have food. Work on that. It takes some effort. Practice that for a while without any weakening of your resolve.
\n\n\n\nNext, you went to the bathroom. Everything worked? Learn how to be happy with that. You hear that?! Learn how to be happy with that. You don\u2019t think about it?! When you\u2019ll be eighty years old you\u2019ll start thinking about it. Trust me, you\u2019ll think about it. And you\u2019ll long for those days of happiness when everything worked so well. So start thinking about it now. Work on being happy that you can go to the bathroom.
\n\n\n\nLittle by little, add. It takes work. It takes time. Like I said before, it doesn\u2019t come by itself. Little by little, you\u2019ll add. And after a while you\u2019ll have forty, fifty things. And that\u2019s nothing yet because there\u2019s so much more than that. But you\u2019ll be happy with forty things and you\u2019ll be a rich man. You\u2019ll be a rich man already. And if you\u2019re a young man yet \u2013 even a young man of sixty \u2013 you\u2019ll keep on this path, on this career, until you\u2019re in your nineties and you\u2019ll be a very wealthy person.
\n\n\n\nBut you have to do it, though. Just hearing me say it, is not enough. You have to make up your mind that you\u2019re going to pursue this career of happiness and that you\u2019ll always be saying, \u201cI thank You Hashem.\u201d Always, \u201cI thank You Hashem for giving me this breakfast.\u201d \u201cI thank you Hashem for being able to go to the bathroom.\u201d And don\u2019t rely on the brachos you make. You must say it with your mouth in your own language. Always. And, \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e0\u05de\u05e9\u05db\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d3\u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u2013 your mind will be transformed because of your speech and you will become a happy man. You will become happy with the so many wonderful things that you have always taken for granted. And you will become a servant of Hashem and a great man. Not only will you become a happy person but you will become a great person.
TAPE # E-202 (July 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Happiness Plan appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-02T18:17:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-02T18:17:58+00:00" }, { "id": 33833, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-lazy-or-happy/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Lazy Or Happy", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s the difference between an \u05e2\u05e6\u05dc, the lazy man who is criticized by the sages for not working to improve his situation, and the \u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05d5, the one who is happy with his lot, and who is praised by the sages?
A:
A lazy man, he\u2019s not necessarily satisfied with his lot, only he doesn\u2019t have the energy to change it. But he could be quite dissatisfied! In the slums you have a lot of people who are not \u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05dd \u2013 they\u2019re very angry that they have to be poor; they\u2019re complaining all the time. Only that they\u2019re too lazy, they\u2019re too irresponsible or shiftless to do anything about it.
A samayach b\u2019chelko on the other hand is a man who has plenty of energy to do things but he feels that his lot is so satisfactory that there\u2019s no need to change. He\u2019s actually satisfied with his lot!
\n\n\n\nQ:
But according to this definition, a man would never become richer, because if he\u2019s samayach b\u2019chelko he has everything that he needs?
A:
So there are two things to consider however. First of all, what\u2019s the misfortune if he wouldn\u2019t become richer? If he\u2019s samayach b\u2019chelko then he\u2019s rich enough. And secondly, there are plenty of fellows who no matter how much they have, they\u2019ll never be happy. So they\u2019ll be the ones who keep working to make more money \u2013 it\u2019s almost everyone.
Q:
But then the \u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d7\u05dc\u05e7\u05d5 will never work harder, he\u2019ll never look for more opportunities to make money, right? So he\u2019ll never become rich.
A:
So who says that there\u2019s a mitzvah to be rich? It\u2019s not so terrible. If he doesn\u2019t want to become rich, if he\u2019s happy, so let him remain that way. And secondly, sometimes a person becomes rich even without trying. It happens too.
Q:
So you think that there are rich men who aren\u2019t samayach b\u2019chelko, right?
A:
I think all of them are not. And all of the poor people are also not samayach b\u2019chelkom. The answer is nobody is samayach b\u2019chelko. Only a very great man will stimulate his mind with the proper thoughts and create a mind that is truly happy with his lot. It takes work! You have to be an exceptional person, and exceptional people are very few and far between.
TAPE # R-22 (December 1972)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Lazy Or Happy appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-02T17:29:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-02T17:29:39+00:00" }, { "id": 33830, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%9b%d7%90-%d7%90%d7%9b%d7%a9%d7%a8-%d7%93%d7%a8%d7%90-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%99%d7%91%d7%9f-%d7%a4%d7%a2%d7%98%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d0: \u05d0\u05db\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d3\u05e8\u05d0, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d1\u05df \u05e4\u05e2\u05d8\u05d9\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2\u05e1", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-221The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05db”\u05d0: \u05d0\u05db\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d3\u05e8\u05d0, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d1\u05df \u05e4\u05e2\u05d8\u05d9\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2\u05e1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-02T16:53:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-02T16:53:49+00:00" }, { "id": 33827, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-36/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 36", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-36The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 36 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-02T03:19:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-02T03:19:16+00:00" }, { "id": 33822, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/paracha-bamidbar/", "title": "Paracha Bamidbar", "content_html": "Bamidbar-French-5782The post Paracha Bamidbar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-06-01T04:00:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-06-01T04:00:10+00:00" }, { "id": 33804, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%9e%d7%93%d7%91%d7%a8-%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8-\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8-\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8-\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-31T03:24:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-31T03:24:46+00:00" }, { "id": 33798, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-bamidbar/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Bamidbar", "content_html": "\n\u201cHi Miram Chana!\u201d said Chayala as the girls walked into their classroom. \u201cWanna come over after school?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThanks, but maybe another time,\u201d Miram Chana said warmly. \u201cWe are going to my Bubby\u2019s house today.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOooh how fun!\u201d said Batsheva, \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm\u2026 I dunno\u2026\u201d Miram Chana said. \u201cProbably just sit in her living room and talk.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut she\u2019s your Bubby!\u201d protested Batsheva. \u201cShe should do something fun with you guys!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy Bubby loves to dance!\u201d said Blima, who was sitting nearby. \u201cWhen we come over she puts on music and we all dance together in her living room. It\u2019s so fun!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy Bubby took us to the ocean and we rented a boat and spent the day on the water,\u201d said Chayala. \u201cYou should do that! Or rock climbing – that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing next week!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cGirls,\u201d said Miram Chana, \u201cmy Bubby is 96 years old, bli ayin hora. She can\u2019t take us boating, or rock climbing, or even dance with us in her living room. She can barely walk, even with her walker and cane. When we visit her, we usually just sit in the living room. We talk and she tells us stories.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe classroom got very quiet. \u201cOh, I didn\u2019t know that. I\u2019m sorry,\u201d said Chayala, as the teacher walked into the classroom and the girls quickly took their seats.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMiram Chana! Don\u2019t sit like that\u201d, said Bubby. \u201cIt\u2019s not good for your posture. Look at how Genendy and Nechy are sitting. It\u2019s much healthier to sit straight like them.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, sorry,\u201d said Miram Chana, straightening herself in her chair.
\n\n\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t apologize to me!\u201d Bubby said. \u201cIt\u2019s for your own good! And why aren\u2019t you eating any of my oatmeal raisin cookies? They\u2019re full of wonderful nutrients!\u201d
\n\n\n\nMiram Chana took a cookie from the plate on the coffee table, and quickly mumbled a brocha before taking a bite.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMiram Chana!\u201d said Bubby. \u201cHow can you just mumble a brocha like that? Did you even stop for a second to appreciate that Hashem gave you these wonderful cookies?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSorry,\u201d Miram Chana apologized again.
\n\n\n\nMiram Chana ate her cookie in silence as her two sisters excitedly chatted with Bubby about school and asked her questions about the \u201colden days\u201d.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMiram Chana,\u201d said Bubby suddenly after a few minutes. \u201cWhy are you so glum? Where is that beautiful smile of yours?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm\u2026 it\u2019s kind of hard to explain,\u201d Miram Chana said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNonsense,\u201d said Bubby. \u201cTell me what\u2019s on your mind.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMiram Chana didn\u2019t know how to explain what was bothering her without making Bubby feel bad, so she started by talking about what Chayala had said about her boating trip with her Bubby.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d Bubby said. \u201cI see what\u2019s going on. You want a young, energetic Bubby like your friends have. You wish I would take you on a boat, or maybe sky-diving or even jump off a cliff into a river with you?\u201d
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image-4.png?resize=640%2C454&ssl=1\")
Miram Chana smiled as Bubby went on.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI know sitting here is not as exciting as it must be for your friends to go running around with their Bubbies. But let me tell you why it\u2019s actually even better to have an old, wrinkled Bubby like me.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh Bubby,\u201d Miram Chana said kindly. \u201cYou\u2019re not old and wrinkled.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d Bubby said. \u201cWhy just yesterday I was looking everywhere for my false teeth until I finally found them stuck between the wrinkles in my face!\u201d
\n\n\n\nMiram Chana laughed at Bubby\u2019s joke as Bubby continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIn this week\u2019s parsha Hashem says \u2018\u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05dd – and the Levi\u2019im will be Mine\u2019. And do you know what Rav Avigdor Miller says about this possuk? He says that the reason the Levi\u2019im are so special is because Levi lived longer than all of the rest of his brothers – he lived 137 years.
\n\n\n\nAfter all of the other Shevatim were niftar, Shevet Levi still had their Great-Zaidy to teach them how to live. This is why Shevet Levi never got involved with any of the bad things in Mitzrayim. And this is why Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam came out of Shevet Levi. Because when you have an old Zaidy or Bubby to teach you what to do, you are zoche to live a better life in this world and the Next World.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo I may not be able to take you boating or dance with you, but I have the wisdom of many years that you can learn from and become better Ovdei Hashem as a result.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMiram Chana smiled. After all, Totty and Mommy took them on many fun trips – but having an old Bubby was something she had that none of her friends had!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: The earlier generations are closer to Har Sinai and it is a privilege to be connected with them. We should try to be around our Zaidies and Bubbies as much as we can.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Bamidbar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:54:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:54:46+00:00" }, { "id": 33795, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shavuos-5-shavuos-qas-2/", "title": "Shavuos 5 \u2013 Shavuos Q&As", "content_html": "Q:
\n\n\n\nWith the three day Yom Tov coming up, people are asking how we can use it to maximize our closeness to Hashem as opposed to I guess what some might say is a feeling of cabin fever; as if we\u2019re locked up for a three days siege instead of a three day Yom Tov?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nWhen a three day Yom Tov comes up, it\u2019s a special privilege because in general we\u2019re too busy. We\u2019re too busy with unimportant things. And when a day of leisure comes, Yom Tov, it\u2019s a day when you can finally think a little bit.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore you should thank Hashem for each day, for each one. It\u2019s a great privilege to have some spare time! We need the spare time!
\n\n\n\nOur trouble in life is that we\u2019re too busy! The Mesilas Yesharim says that one of the biggest obstacles to perfection in this world is hatipul v\u2019hatirdah, being too busy. We\u2019re just too busy, too busy with everything. That\u2019s the biggest obstacle. You hear that? Hatipul v\u2019hatirdah. Of all the obstacles that stand in the way of a person making himself or herself more perfect in this world, the biggest one is the obstacle of being too busy.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we say, \u201cBoruch Hashem! Three days of leisure one after the other! It\u2019s mamesh a matanah min haShomayim, a gift from Hashem.\u201d You\u2019ll have time to think a little bit about what you heard here today or similar thoughts. And sometimes as a result of three days your entire life can change \u2013 your mind can be transformed into a different mind entirely.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you something. Once a man told a doctor, \u201cI took the medicine you prescribed. It didn\u2019t work.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the doctor said, \u201cTake a bigger dose. Take more of the same.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, one day, Shabbos, is valuable. One day of Yom Tov after Shabbos is even more valuable. But we need a bigger dose; more and more thoughts. Three days! Shabbos and then Yom Tov and then another day of Yom Tov! Boruch Hashem, He gave us three days! Three days to think!
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat should a ben Torah today do to prepare for Matan Torah?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nHe should sit and learn. He should get into the habit of learning. That\u2019s very important.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s one more thing. He should make the bracha on the Torah with more kavanah. Because we know that this was a ta\u2019anah, a complaint, against the Am Yisroel. \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 that they did not make a bracha before they learned Torah (Nedarim 81a). And the Ran says that what it means is that they didn’t say the bracha with enough kavanah; they did make the brachos before learning but they didn\u2019t have enough appreciation. So therefore, every ben Torah \u2013 not only a ben Torah; a working boy too; every frum Jew, boy and girl, should think, \u2018How lucky I am that we received the Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIf you didn\u2019t have the Torah, what would you be already? You\u2019d be nothing. Torah transforms your life. And even though you\u2019re a man who\u2019s in business, the Torah transforms your life. A mother at home is a different mother because of the Torah. A Jewish home is an entirely different institution than any kind of a home just because of the Torah. The Torah changes everything in us.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the Torah is \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 it\u2019s our life in this world, and also it\u2019s our \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0. The Torah is forever and ever; it\u2019s this world and the next world. And so there\u2019s no gift like the gift of Torah.
\n\n\n\nBut if you\u2019re asking about a ben Torah, so in addition to that, he should get busy learning the Torah as much as possible. We have to get into the habit of learning. The habit of learning is something you have to acquire. And you have to get a taste, a geshmak in learning. It should be sweet and delicious to you. \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b9\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Torah is sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycombs. You should try to get the impression that you\u2019re eating something delicious when you\u2019re learning; as if the Gemara was printed on chocolate cake and as you\u2019re chewing the sugya, you\u2019re enjoying. \u201cAh! A geshmake sugya it is.\u201d That\u2019s how you should get a geshmak in learning. You can do that if you try it. If you know that\u2019s the purpose, you can do it. It actually becomes \u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b9\u05e4\u05b6\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd.
\n\n\n\nSo two things. Accustom yourselves to think about the great gift of the Torah. When we make the bracha on the Torah every morning, that\u2019s a good time to practice up. Also, get a haggle, a practice in learning Gemara and learning all the time as much as possible. And try to get a taste for the sweetness of learning Gemara.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow does the Gemara know that yom hashishi means the sixth of Sivan? Isn\u2019t it talking about the sixth day of creation?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Avoda Zarah 3a) says that the Torah is hinting to us that all of creation is dependent on the Am Yisroel accepting the Torah. That\u2019s how the chachomim explain the possuk, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9 \u2013 And it was evening and it was morning; it was the sixth day. They took note of the fact that it doesn\u2019t say yom shishi the way it says by all the other days, yom sheini, yom shlishi, yom revi\u2019i. It says yom ha\u2019shishi, the sixth day; a special sixth day. And the Gemara says there that it\u2019s talking about Shavuos, the sixth of Sivan.
\n\n\n\nSo we read the possuk like this: \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05e8 \u2013 The creation of day and night, that means the creation of the world, you know when it was? \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9 \u2014 It was on yom hashishi, on that sixth day of Sivan when the Am Yisroel accepted the Torah; that\u2019s when the world was created. Because Matan Torah is the fulfillment of the creation of the world. If not for Matan Torah, the whole creation would have been a waste.
\n\n\n\nNow how does the Gemara know that? And the answer is it’s written in big characters all over the entire chumash. As follows.
\n\n\n\nLet’s say that you enter a house and you see on the walls a picture of the master of the house. A big picture. Then you see his diploma hanging on another wall. Then you see on another wall a framed testimonial that his local synagogue presented to him.
\n\n\n\nSo you start thinking, \u201cProbably this man is somebody important in this house.\u201d At least he thinks he’s important. Because on all sides there are mementos to remind you of him. His personality is being displayed on all sides. Here is his big Morris chair where he sits in the evening. Here is his box of favorite cigars. The man is all over the place even though you don’t see him right now. Here are his slippers. Here is his favorite place where he sits by the television, where he munches let’s say. He munches peanuts or whatever it is. The man is all over the place. All you need is he should come in and show himself.
\n\n\n\nNow, when you look lehavdil at the Torah, what do you see in the Torah? You see one thing in the Torah, and that’s Torah. Wherever you look in the Torah, you see Torah. You see learning Torah. You see keeping the Torah. It’s reiterated again and again. If there’s anything conspicuous in the chumash it’s Torah.
\n\n\n\nNow, if the creation of the world was paramount in the Mind of Hakadosh Baruch Hu then that’s all we should talk about. Torah? Alright. You put it someplace in the corner. You mention it in passing. But the continents! That should be the main subject! Why shouldn’t there be a sefer, not Bereishis, not Shemos, not Vayikra, but a sefer Europe and Asia, a sefer North and South America, a sefer Africa? Let’s study geography. Or the chumash should talk about astronomy; this galaxy, this solar system. There’s so much to talk about in the world and they’re all wonders. It should talk about the nature of insects; the wonderful instincts you see in animals. There’s so much to speak about in flowers. There’s no end to the beauties and wonders of nature that demonstrate the Hand of Hakodosh Boruch Hu on all sides. It would bring you to a lot of emunah.
\n\n\n\nBut all that valuable space is sacrificed and it’s all for Torah. Again and again, it says \u201cKeep My laws,\u201d \u201cStudy My laws.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat do we see here? We see that that’s what the Torah is talking about. Not the creation of the world. And therefore it stands to reason whether you’ll interpret vayehi erev vayehi boker yom hashishi means the sixth day of creation or something else makes no difference. It’s as clear as if it had been there. Just like the man in the house, his pictures are all over the place, his things are all over the place and so we see that the man is demonstrating his personality.
\n\n\n\nAnd because the Torah demonstrates that everything depends on Torah so we understand that all of creation is dependent, is hanging, on the sixth of Sivan when the Am Yisroel accepted the Torah.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhy do we say Akdamus on Shavuos?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nOn Shavuos we received the Torah. Now, the Akdamus portrays how the nations of the world are proposing to us that we should go along with them and we\u2019ll share together with them the greatness that they promise us. And we say to them, \u201cNo matter what you\u2019ll give us, it\u2019s nothing compared to the greatness that Hashem already gave us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no greater happiness than Matan Torah. The greatest gift that Hashem can give, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 that\u2019s the gift of all gifts.
\n\n\n\nOf course, one gift is more important. That\u2019s the gift of life; that\u2019s something else. But life and Torah is the same thing \u2013 Toras Chaim. You can\u2019t learn Torah if you\u2019re not alive. The gift of life and Torah, that\u2019s the gift.
\n\n\n\nThe nations have nothing to offer us. And even though they promised us the highest rewards for coming with them, it\u2019s nothing at all compared to what we have.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the Akdamus come to emphasize, what is the great happiness of Shavuos? The happiness is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu did for us what He never did for anybody else. That\u2019s the biggest of all possible gifts that He could give. \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b8\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. Because Torah means everlasting life. Torah means Olam Habo. \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b8\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc! It\u2019s so important to realize what a happiness Torah is.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat are some thoughts that we should be having on Shavuos?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that in the yeshivos in Europe, up till not long ago, Shavuos was celebrated as the happiest day of the year \u2013 even more than Simchas Torah. It became wild on Shavuos in the yeshivos; a wild simchas haTorah. Why?Because they, the yeshiva men, understood best that \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 How fortunate we are to be able to enjoy the special privilege of the being the nation that received the Torah.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the number one thought, that by receiving the Torah, first of all we all became Yisroel. Before Matan Torah even the Avos were called bnei Noach. Our nation became geirim at Sinai. The Gemara says that. We all became geirim at Sinai. We became the Am Yisroel, and once that happened then we were included in all the promises that Hakodosh Boruch Hu made to the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nIncluded in those promises was that at Har Sinai everyone received a ticket. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 Every Jew is given a ticket to Olam Habo. Of course you could lose it. You could lose the ticket. It’s a big responsibility. If you have a precious ticket, you have to guard it at all times. You have to hold onto it. You can’t take your eyes off of it. Never to be meisiach da’as from this great privilege that you now possess forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s a foundation of being a Jew, to believe implicitly in that. Because included in guarding that ticket is that you have to believe be’emunah sheleima. A person has to believe in it. If you don’t believe in it then forget about it. You have to believe be’emunah sheleima that being a Yisroel gives you the right to Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nNow, Avraham Avinu and the kadmonim before Matan Torah when they got Olam Habo, it was not because they were Yisroel; they earned it with a very great merit. Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, they earned it. They were very great people.
\n\n\n\nBut after Matan Torah even if you’re not great, you\u2019re holding that ticket. A plain Jew \u2013 as long as he doesn\u2019t rebel against the Torah, as long as goes along with the derech haTorah, he is promised \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0. That’s why we say \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b8\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. When You gave us the Torah, You planted everlasting life among us.
\n\n\n\nNow, isn\u2019t that a happy thought? Nothing could be happier because Olam Habo, that’s the greatest happiness that even Hakodosh Boruch Hu could invent.
\n\n\n\nNow, some ask a kasha . How could I say that? Hashem can’t make a greater happiness than Olam Habo? And the answer is He can’t make anything greater than Himself. And Olam Habo is \u05e0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b1\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4; you\u2019re enjoying looking at the splendor of the Shechinah. And so Olam Habo, that’s the greatest splendor there is.
\n\n\n\nRight now a generation of tzaddikim are sitting and looking at the Shechinah, and they’re so full of joy. If we had the ability to see for one minute, our nerves, we would be so excited that we would fall apart. Our blood vessels would burst with excitement. That’s why \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d5\u05b8\u05d7\u05b8\u05d9, you can’t see Hashem while you’re alive. You’ll burst. It’s a tremendous excitement! And the longer you sit there, the greater the excitement; the more and more is the pleasure.
\n\n\n\nAnd when the Torah was given we are promised, we’re given a guarantee, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc, without any exception. Every one of us was given a ticket: \u201cYou are hereby entitled to Olam Habo.\u201d All the great happiness with all the pleasures, unlimited and forever and ever and ever is yours because you received the Torah and you’re now an entitled Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThe happiness of Olam Habothat our forefathers are now enjoying is unimaginable; it’s infinite. And we achieved all that on Shavuos when we received the Torah and became the Am Yisroel. So how can we not be overwhelmed with everlasting happiness when we celebrate Shavuos?! \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 We are so happy, so grateful to You, Hashem, that forever and ever You put us on a level far above the rest of the world.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the first obligation of a Jew on Shavuos is to be full of joy that he has been included in the Klal Yisroel by means of what occurred at Har Sinai when we accepted the Torah. That’s pashut shebepashut. There are no chiddushim here, no drashos. That\u2019s the happiness of Shavuos.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat did Klal Yisroel do in the midbar to prepare for Matan Torah?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nWhat did they do to prepare for Matan Torah? So we know Hakodosh Boruch Hu told Moshe Rabeinu beforehand what to say to the people. \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d2\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 So shall you say to the House of Yaakov and tell the sons of Yisroel (Shemos 19:3).
\n\n\n\nWhat did He say? \u05d5\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 \u201cYou, the whole nation, will be for Me a special treasure from all the nations\u201d (Shemos 19:5). \u201cI\u2019m going to do something now,\u201d said Hashem, \u201cthat\u2019s going to change the nature of the entire people. The whole Klal Yisroel will become different now. If you will stand at Har Sinai and you say, \u2018Na\u2019aseh v\u2019nishma; yes, Hashem, we accept You forever and ever,\u2019 then I\u2019m going to make you into an Am Segulah, an exceptional type of people.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, Am Segulah doesn\u2019t merely mean \u201cI\u2019m going to give you semichah; I\u2019m going to give you a rabbinical certificate to hang on the wall and you\u2019ll be honored just by the title.\u201d No; it\u2019s much more than that. Segulah means that your nature is going to change. Your character will be entirely metamorphosed and you\u2019ll become an entirely different type of people. At Har Sinai not only did we adopt certain attitudes and promise to remain faithful to them, but we became an entirely different people than we were before.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Hashem said then: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 And you will be for Me a Kingdom of Kohanim and a Holy Nation (ibid. 6). \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Take these words and tell it to the Bnei Yisroel\u201d (Shemos 19:6). \u201cMake sure the people understand what I\u2019m saying now very well,\u201d Hashem said to Moshe Rabeinu. Because it wasn\u2019t just a promise of reward for accepting the Torah \u2013 it was being proposed as part of the acceptance, part of Kabolas Hatorah.
\n\n\n\nAnd you can be sure that Moshe Rabeinu was masbir to them, he explained to them what it means to be a kingdom of priests. That\u2019s how they prepared. Moshe told them Mamleches Kohanim means we\u2019re all kohanim to serve Hashem. That\u2019s your job in this lifetime. Your entire history should be like a kohen, someone who\u2019s devoted to serving Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, I wasn\u2019t present. I could only guess some things, but that\u2019s the idea that he spoke to them, about the greatness of choosing to accept the Torah and the function in the world as a nation to serve Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 and when you accept the Torah, you\u2019ll be a holy nation. Moshe spoke at length; he gave them a peirush on that. How accepting the Torah means becoming a holy nation, a nation that strives for perfection.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhy was the mountain that we received the Torah on, called Har Sinai?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s called Har Sinai because that\u2019s its name. But the Gemara says that there\u2019s a hint here to something more; Sinai is connected to the word sinah. Sinah means hatred. The Gemara (Shabbos 89a) says, why is it called Sinai? \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 a hatred came down on the world. Unfortunately a number of people misinterpret this. They say that it means when the Torah was given, a hatred against Jews developed in the world, antisemitism. But that\u2019s not what the ma\u2019amar is saying. Whether it\u2019s true or not, I can\u2019t tell you, but that\u2019s not what the ma\u2019amar is saying.
\n\n\n\nRashi explains like this: When the Torah was given, a hatred came down against the nations. \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd means Hashem became angry at the nations of the world. That\u2019s the plain meaning.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m going to take some time now to explain that because there\u2019s a lot of confusion about this subject. At Matan Torah, a big change took place. Up until Matan Torah, all the nations were equal. Once upon a time, the whole world was one. The gentiles and the family of the Avos were all one. That\u2019s why, Avraham Avinu, when he wanted to practice hospitality and he saw people coming whom he suspected of being idolaters, people that worshiped even the dust of their feet, nevertheless, there was no difference to him. He ran out to greet them. He prostrated himself on the ground. He begged them to eat with him and to rest with him. He went to all the limits that he could to show them hospitality.
\n\n\n\nBut after Matan Torah, we don\u2019t find such a thing. After the Torah was given, no more. Yes, to fellow Jews, yes; but not to others. Yes, you should be polite and kind to everybody but there\u2019s a big difference now, a tremendous difference, between the Am Yisroel and the Umos Ha\u2019olam.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we have certain dinim in the Torah. \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05d7\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05dd: \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd (Avodah Zarah 20a). You\u2019re limited in your dealings with the gentiles because they lost out. Up until Matan Torah, all the nations were in Hashem\u2019s good graces but once we accepted the Torah, no more. At that time, \u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 a sinah went down to the world. And from now on, you\u2019ll never find Moshe Rabeinu running out of his tent and bowing down and slaughtering oxen for an Amoni or Emori or anybody else. Nothing doing. It\u2019s all over! \u201cToo late,\u201d we say to the nations of the world. \u201cYou had your opportunity. Why didn\u2019t you come and try to be included in the opportunity of accepting the Torah?! You had your test and you failed the test.\u201d
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nShould I stay up on Shavuos night?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no question that it\u2019s a big zechus to stay up on Shavuos night. Now, some people however are ill, they\u2019re physically weak, so I\u2019m not telling you what to do. But if you\u2019re capable, there\u2019s no reason why not because it\u2019s a demonstration of what we said before \u2013 for an important event it pays to be up all night.
\n\n\n\nThere was one time when I was in Williamsburg \u2013 the old Satmerer Rav was still alive then. So I went in to see him because I was going to do something, a job, for him. I was the one who composed the advertisement against the Zionists that was placed in the New York Times \u2013 I wrote it for the Satmerer Rav. So I went in to him and he gave me a bracha that I should succeed. And I was up all night writing that article. Over and over again, I worked on it. All night I was up because it was important!
\n\n\n\nNow, when you\u2019re going to accept the Torah and you know how important it is, so you stay up all night. Just like they stayed up that night at Har Sinai. That\u2019s our tradition, that they were up all night. (See Eben Ezra Shemos 19:11, Moed L\u2019kol Chai [Palagi] 8:17). They couldn\u2019t sleep; they didn\u2019t want to sleep, they were so excited.
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that you do want to sleep, but l\u2019zeicher, to remember what our forefathers did, we act as if we are excited to stay up all night.
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to know that everything in the halacha is with a grain of salt, you may need some personal guidance vu ein vu ois. It\u2019s not a mitzvah min haTorah to stay up. It\u2019s not even a takanas chachomim. It\u2019s a minhag of the Am Yisroel. And therefore, if you have any chashoshos, any suspicions, about your health, so consult somebody. And if he\u2019ll tell you it\u2019s better you should sleep, so you go to sleep. But otherwise there\u2019s no question that Klal Yisroel is up that night and it makes a tremendous impression on them. They feel like they\u2019re walking in the footsteps of our fathers who prepared in that manner by staying up all night waiting for that great day of Kabolas HaTorah.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow do we know that our nation stood at Har Sinai and got the Torah?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nA Rosh Yeshiva was once talking to a group of boys. It was in America. A Rosh Yeshiva from Europe was talking to American boys. I was there; I was listening. So one of the American boys asked, \u201cHow can we prove what happened in the days of old, that we stood at Har Sinai? What’s the proof?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the Rosh Yeshiva said, \u201cDo you believe in George Washington?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boy said, \u201cYes.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDid you see him?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, I never saw him.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDid you see anybody who saw him?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo. That also not.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHow many people saw George Washington when he was alive? Maybe 10,000 people at most. A million people for sure didn’t see him. When George Washington was alive, nobody in Poland knew about him. Nobody in Africa knew about him. Even today, if you go to Africa, most people don\u2019t know about him. In America they talk about him a little bit, but in other countries, who knows about George Washington?
\n\n\n\nNow the Rambam (Yesodei Hatorah ch. 8) explains that when the Torah was given, it was no secret; like it states \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 From the beginning I did not speak to you in secret (Yeshaya 48:16). The entire Jewish nation witnessed the giving of the Torah. How many people were present at Har Sinai? At least two million witnessed it.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a very important point because it\u2019s a claim that is unequaled in the claims of all the nations. All the religions have big claims, they make big promises, and they tell about big incidents, but never will you find a claim that Hakodosh Boruch Hu appeared to the entire nation and spoke to them. Because even the biggest falsifier has limits to what he can claim.
\n\n\n\nNobody in the world, no nation had ever claimed that their entire nation had heard the voice of their deity speaking to them. Nobody ever said that. At least let them claim that! No, that\u2019s too much for them to claim, because people will say, \u201cYou know it’s not so.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMuhammad never claimed that a deity appeared to a multitude of Arabs. At best, some miracles are claimed but they were not performed\u2014even according to his statement\u2014in the presence of a great multitude. Yeshu never claimed, or his disciples never claimed, that Hakodosh Baruch Hu spoke to him in the presence of a multitude, and when his followers wanted authority for their claims, they based them all on statements in the Hebrew scriptures.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, all the Mohammadans believe that there was a Matan Torah, that Hashem gave the Torah at Har Sinai. There’s no question about it. It\u2019s clear and open in the Koran. All the Christians believe that Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish nation at Har Sinai. It’s in the New Testament openly; they all believe in it. So the whole civilized world believes that the Torah was given to us. The whole civilized world admits it!
\n\n\n\nThe only case in history that such a claim is made is by the Jewish nation because it happened only once in history. And we\u2019ve been speaking about it and celebrating it and living it since that great day.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nYetzias Mitzrayim we have a mitzvah to remember, to mention it twice a day, by day and by night, and then on Pesach we even have a special night dedicated to it. If Matan Torah is so important, why does it get only a short two day Yom Tov?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that here the mitzvah is not only in the morning and night, it’s in between the morning and night too. A Jew must be always cognizant of Ma\u2019amad Har Sinai; he must be aware of Matan Torah at all times. Every day of his life and all day long.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a possuk like this: \u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 Be on guard and watch yourself very much. You hear that? \u201cBe very much on guard.\u201d What\u2019s this all about? \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 lest you will forget what you saw with your eyes, \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d1 \u2013 the day that you stood before Hashem at Chorev. It means always; never to forget that.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll say, \u201cWell, that’s a very big demand to make.\u201d So I\u2019ll tell you that it\u2019s like saying never forget that you’re a Jew. What does a Jew mean? A Jew means Kabolas HaTorah. It’s like saying that when you wake up in the morning, when you go out in the street, when you’re in business, when you’re in yeshiva, when you\u2019re with your family, when you’re asleep, you have to be a Jew all the time. That you understand, right? Well, being a Jew means only one thing; remember Kabolas HaTorah. A Jew doesn’t mean anything else except Kabolas HaTorah. And that, you should never forget.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only to never forget about it, but to speak about it too. That\u2019s the mitzvah of the Torah. \u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7… \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 you should make it known to your children. Speak to your children and to your grandchildren.
\n\n\n\nSo when you\u2019re an old man and your grandchildren come to your house, say, \u201cKinderlach, you know what happened on Shavuos? We all were assembled at Har Sinai and we heard a voice.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe children say, \u201cWhat kind of voice was it?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cKinderlach, I cannot tell you exactly. But it was a sweet and dreadful voice. It was so sweet that \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9, our souls went out when He spoke (Shir Hashirim 5:6, Shabbos 88b). We all fell down on the floor when we heard that voice. Malachim had to come and revive us! Ooh, was that an experience.\u201d Tell that to the children.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a mitzvah to think about standing at Har Sinai. Once in history, at least two million people were standing in front of Har Sinai and they heard the Voice of Hashem. \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 when He spoke, they fainted from happiness. They were delirious. They fell down on the floor in happiness. They had to be revived. They got up; they were groggy, they were intoxicated with happiness. \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9.
\n\n\n\n\u05d4\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Was there ever such a thing that a nation should hear such a sweet and dreadful voice?! (ibid. 4:33). They fainted; they died and had to be revived! It was a tremendous excitement, an unbearable experience; and yet it was the most happy and joyous experience ever. You have to speak about that to your children more than you speak about anything else.
\n\n\n\nAbout Matan Torah the Rambam in his Iggeres Taiman says, \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 Make this the most important of all great things to speak about. You have to speak about Matan Torah. Speak to your wife about Matan Torah. She should speak to the children about Matan Torah. Get excited about it. Make that bigger than the biggest things. Don\u2019t get excited over small things. Here, people are getting excited, let\u2019s say, over the news of a dybuk in Eretz Yisroel, about water coming out of a rock, about a fish that talks.
\n\n\n\nPeople\u2019s minds are on small things. What\u2019s so important? What difference does it make? This is what is important, thinking about Har Sinai!
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t forget about it,\u201d you\u2019ll say. \u201cOf course, I wouldn\u2019t forget about Matan Torah.\u201d But you\u2019re not remembering it.
\n\n\n\nSo why not get busy now, on Shavuos? You\u2019re walking around in the street and you\u2019re trying to recall Ma\u2019amad Har Sinai, how once in history the Jewish nation all stood together \u2013 the entire Jewish nation! They weren\u2019t scattered over the world! All together in one place! And they all swore \u2014 mushba v\u2019oimed mei\u2019Har Sinai \u2014 they swore, \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep the Torah.\u201d It was a moment of the greatest excitement! And even Hakodosh Boruch Hu was excited kavyachol. He said, \u201c\u05de\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9… \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 If only this kind of heart that they have today would that would it be forever! Hashem was excited at that great moment!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore as much as possible we have to keep that scene in our minds. The Rambam says that every Jew should make that the greatest of all things to talk about. If you can\u2019t find somebody to talk to, think about it. That glorious one day in history! \u05d4\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Did a nation ever hear the Voice of Hashem \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 like you did hear. A glorious experience! Never before or after!
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhen we lain Rus on Shavuos what\u2019s one of the lessons we should learn from that story?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nWe learn how great is the middah of loyalty. Here\u2019s a queer situation. There\u2019s a Jewish woman, Naomi, whose husband decided to go away from Eretz Yehuda because there was a famine. And so they went to Eretz Moav to wait until the famine would end in Eretz Yehuda.
\n\n\n\nIn the meantime, the husband died and you know, when the father dies, it\u2019s like a sefer where one of the covers falls off. The cover falls off, so the pages start falling out too. So now his two sons took gentile wives.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally Hakodosh Boruch Hu took away the two sons because they married gentile women and they died and now she was left alone with those two women.
\n\n\n\nThen she heard that in Eretz Yehuda \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e4\u05b8\u05e7\u05b7\u05d3 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 that Hashem had pity on His people, \u05dc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b5\u05ea \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 He gave them food once more (1:6). So she said, \u201cI\u2019m going back to Yehuda.\u201d
\n\n\n\nEverybody knows the story, how these two young women were so much in love with her that they said, \u201cWe\u2019re going with you.\u201d And they both set out together to join her.
\n\n\n\nAnd she said, \u201cPlease, don\u2019t go with me. Stay here. It won\u2019t be good for you. You\u2019ll be strangers. Go back to your people, to your father and mother. Stay here in Moav.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut they didn\u2019t want to listen. And as they walked on the road, Naomi was begging them to go back and she was arguing with them. You can picture that.
\n\n\n\nNobody was present except Hakodosh Boruch Hu and He was watching the proceedings. These three lonely women were on the country road, and Hakodosh Boruch Hu was listening. And finally Orpah broke down and she wept and she kissed Naomi and she turned back to Midyan.
\n\n\n\nThen Naomi turned to Rus and said, \u201cLook what the other one did. You do the same. Go back home.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd Rus said, \u201cNothing doing. Nothing doing!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd Naomi starts begging her. Rus says, \u201cNothing doing! \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 wherever you go I\u2019m going to go, \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 I\u2019ll die wherever you die, \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 your people will be my people!\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen Hakodosh Boruch Hu saw that Rus was exercising her free will, her bechirah in the middah of ne\u2019emanus, of emunah, loyalty, that she wanted to stay together with Naomi no matter what, so Hakodosh Boruch Hu pushed her tongue to say one more thing. And she added, \u201c\u05d5\u05b5\u05d0\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 Your G-d is my G-d.\u201d Ooh wah! That\u2019s already something else! That was siyata diShmaya. Hashem said, \u201cI\u2019m going to give you a gift,\u201d and her tongue said these words. That was Hashem\u2019s gift to Rus, her schar for being a ne\u2019eman, for being loyal.
\n\n\n\nAnd we know what happened. When Moshiach will come, he won\u2019t deny that he came from his Bubbeh Rus.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s only because of the middah of loyalty that she was zocheh to it. That\u2019s a big lesson for us, that Hashem loves those who are loyal. That\u2019s why we say those words in the Akdamos on Shavuos: \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d0 – but because of our emunah. Hakodosh Boruch Hu despite everything, because of our emunah, that\u2019s why sof kol sof He\u2019s going to give us all the things. He\u2019s describing Olam Habo, the happiness of the tzaddikim in Olam Habo, and he says, \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 it\u2019s all because of emunah, \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e3 \u05d4\u05b5\u05de\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 because of the strength of their loyalty.
\n\n\n\nWe have to know that this is the middah because of which the Am Yisroel is a nation forever. We belong to Hashem forever. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 because you\u2019re loyal to Me, because you\u2019ll stick to Me, \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 you\u2019ll be forever. It\u2019s a covenant, a bris Hashem made. If you\u2019re daveik in me, then just as I am forever, then you\u2019ll be forever too. Because of your loyalty to Me, because you never forget what happened that day at Har Sinai when you became My people forever, that\u2019s why you will all be with Me forever \u2013 in this world and the next.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nNow that we finished counting the Omer and we had Shavuos and we already received the Torah, so what should be the focus of our service of Hashem from after Shavuos until Rosh Hashana?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow rabosai, I\u2019m going to tell you something that I always say: The happiest season of the year is the summertime; yes, the good old summertime. There\u2019s nothing like the days of summer and so, let\u2019s learn to enjoy life right now.
\n\n\n\nThe summertime is a pleasure! What a great blessing it is! Look how much there is to enjoy in the summertime. You\u2019re getting vitamins free of charge. The sun is a vitamin dispensary. Walk out in the street and the sun is showering vitamins on you. In the wintertime there are clouds and you don\u2019t always get the vitamins you need. Sometimes you have to take extra vitamin pills. But in the summertime, you get all you want. And so, boruch Hashem for the summer.
\n\n\n\nWhen you walk out in the street, don\u2019t complain, \u201cOh, it\u2019s a hot day.\u201d Don\u2019t be a fool. Say, \u201cThank You Hashem for the heat!\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving you so much energy from the sun and it\u2019s free of charge. Millions of tons of horsepower energy are pouring onto this earth and it\u2019s causing the earth to become enriched and the fruits to develop. In the summertime fruits are plentiful. The tasty apples are coming! Ah! Red apples and luscious cherries and plums and peaches! They\u2019re plentiful in the summer and the prices go down in all the fruit stores. Now you\u2019re living!
\n\n\n\nSo, this person asks, \u201cWhat\u2019s the service of Hashem from Shavuos until Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur?\u201d The service is singing to Hashem! Practice singing to Hashem! What do you think was the avodas Hashem that we were mekabel when we accepted the Torah on Har Sinai? The most important service of Hashem is gratitude to Hashem!
\n\n\n\nSo now you know! From Shavuos until Rosh Hashanah that\u2019s our avodah; we have to get busy singing and thanking Hashem for the manifold benefits He\u2019s giving to us. That\u2019s the very great service in the summertime. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to stop learning. We can continue learning and doing Torah and mitzvos. Nevertheless, the avodah of gratitude for the summertime \u2013 the happiness of the summertime and thankfulness for the summertime \u2013 that\u2019s a very important avodah to be busy with after Kabolas HaTorah.
\nThe post Shavuos 5 \u2013 Shavuos Q&As appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:52:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:52:23+00:00" }, { "id": 33792, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/shavuos-5-shavuos-qas/", "title": "Shavuos 5 – Shavuos Q&As", "content_html": "TA-Shavuos-5782The post Shavuos 5 – Shavuos Q&As appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:48:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:48:35+00:00" }, { "id": 33791, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-shavuos-5-shavuos-qas/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Shavuos 5 – Shavuos Q&As", "content_html": "TA-Shavuos-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Shavuos 5 – Shavuos Q&As appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:48:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:48:15+00:00" }, { "id": 33772, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bamidbar-5-junior/", "title": "Parshas Bamidbar 5 – Junior", "content_html": "TA-Junior-Bamidbar-5782The post Parshas Bamidbar 5 – Junior appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:47:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:47:08+00:00" }, { "id": 33771, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-bamidbar-5-junior/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Bamidbar 5 – Junior", "content_html": "TA-Junior-Bamidbar-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Bamidbar 5 – Junior appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T21:46:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T21:46:59+00:00" }, { "id": 33779, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-greatest-day-in-history/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Greatest Day In History\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
In your opinion, what was the greatest event in all of history?
A:
\n\n\n\nBesides for the creation of the world out of nothing I would say that the greatest event in history is unquestionably Ma’amad Har Sinai. That\u2019s why the Rambam says, gadleihu al kol gedulah, you should elevate that event above all other great things. Elevate Matan Torah above everything else because that was the grandest moment in history!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Torah says, \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e8 \u05dc\u05da \u2013 Be careful, \u05d5\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05da \u05de\u05d0\u05d3 \u2013 and guard yourself very much. What about? \u05e4\u05df \u05ea\u05e9\u05db\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e8\u05d0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u2013 that you shouldn\u2019t forget the thing that your eyes saw at Har Sinai, \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05de\u05d3\u05ea \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05da \u05d1\u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d1 \u2013 the day that you stood before Hashem your G-d at Har Sinai.
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam says it\u2019s a command not to forget Ma\u2019amad Har Sinai; it\u2019s a mitzvah to remember how we were standing at Har Sinai. In all of history it only happened once! At least two million people were standing in front of Har Sinai and they heard the voice of Hashem. \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e6\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5 \u2013 When He spoke, they fainted from happiness. They were delirious; they were intoxicated with happiness and they fell down on the floor. They had to be revived.
\n\n\n\nDo you ever think about that? Maybe on Shavuos. Maybe. Shavuos is an especial day for remembering but it\u2019s true every day. Don’t stop talking about it, the Rambam says. Gadleihu al kol gedulah; talk about it more than anything else in the world. You have to talk about Ma’amad Har Sinai and make it great.
\n\n\n\nWe should speak about it to our children and grandchildren. \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea\u05dd \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05da. The Torah says, you should inform your children and your children’s children and always remind them of Ma’amad Har Sinai.
\n\n\n\nYou grandfathers, do you speak about it to your grandchildren? Think about that when you become grandfathers. If you’re looking for a conversation piece, bring up Matan Torah. \u201cBut we know all about it,\u201d they say. Say it anyhow! You should always continue to speak about Matan Torah all the days of your life because that\u2019s the most important day in history that we have to remember.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 613
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Greatest Day In History\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T17:25:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T17:25:59+00:00" }, { "id": 33775, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-yerushalayim-and-peace/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Yerushalayim and Peace", "content_html": "\nQ:
Many groups have called for the internationalization of Yerushalayim. What is the Rav\u2019s opinion about that?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhether Yerushalayim should be internationalized or not, is a question of which I’m not able to speak. It’s not so simple. Therefore, I’m not able to give any opinion at all. I’m a big am ha’aretz on many subjects including that one.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 98 (December 1975)
\n\n\n\n
Q:
What foreign policy should the Israeli government follow when it comes to issues like giving up land and even giving up parts of Yerushalayim?
A:
\n\n\n\nThat’s a question that I\u2019m not competent to answer. But one thing I can say is that it should be a policy of friendship with America.
\n\n\n\nBut friendship with America doesn\u2019t mean friendship with the New York Times. The New York Times will want only one thing from Israel \u2013 otherwise they won’t be satisfied \u2013 when Israel gives up all of its territory, even Yerushalayim. When everything will be surrendered, only then will the New York Times be happy. And one of the big problems today is that for many Israelis, for many of the leaders in Medinas Yisroel, the New York Times is their Bible.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 555 (June 1985)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Yerushalayim and Peace appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T17:24:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T17:24:10+00:00" }, { "id": 33764, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a0%d7%a9%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e0\u05e9\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e0\u05e9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-30T02:52:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-30T02:52:43+00:00" }, { "id": 33760, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%9b-%d7%94%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%95%d7%93%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%a2-%d7%94%d7%99%d7%99%d7%96%d7%a2%d7%a8-%d7%99%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a2%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7”\u05db: \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea, \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-220The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7”\u05db: \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea, \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-26T21:44:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-26T21:44:07+00:00" }, { "id": 33756, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-speaking-up-about-the-holocaust/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Speaking Up About the Holocaust\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Many rabbonim say we should not discuss in public why the churban of Hitler happened.\u00a0 Why do you, Rabbi Miller, think it is important to discuss it?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is this:\u00a0 Because it\u2019s one of the most frequent questions against the emunah.\u00a0 The public has the impression that everybody in Europe was an observant Jew and therefore there\u2019s the argument, \u201cThat\u2019s what happens to observant Jews.\u201d\u00a0 And then there\u2019s another argument:\u00a0 \u201cIn America they\u2019re not observant and it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd so it\u2019s important to defend the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and explain to people that in Europe it was much worse than America. Not that there was less observance, no. Less observance than America is hard to find. But in Europe, the people were throwing away the Torah more rapidly than any other place. They had just two generations ago kept everything and now they had revolted against the Torah violently! Not like American ignorami who went to public school and never learned anything and they became goyim because of the environment. These Jews in Europe learned to hate Judaism. Not all of them, but there were so many of them that it became a wave of revolt against the Torah.
\n\n\n\nAnd Reb Elchonon Wasserman zichrono livracha said, \u201cThe Jews in Europe declared war on Hashem.\u201d And he said, \u201cAnd now\u00a0He has declared war on them.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why He\u2019s sending His armies against them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo therefore, if you won\u2019t speak in this vein, the people will remain with their fatal error and they\u2019ll think that the Jews in Europe were all perfect and they were unjustly visited with retribution.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 277
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Speaking Up About the Holocaust\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-26T17:07:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-26T17:07:45+00:00" }, { "id": 3637, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-satmar-and-lubavitch/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Satmar and Lubavitch", "content_html": "\nQ:
\nCan you justify the motives of two groups of chassidim who are in conflict with one another?
\nA:
\nYou mean the Satmarer and the Lubavitcher?
Q:
Yes, I had that in mind.\u00a0
A:
\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to this we have to know that we are talking about two groups of devoted Jews. There\u2019s no question that the Lubavitcher are devoted Jews and there\u2019s no question that the Satmarer are devoted Jews. I wouldn\u2019t listen to any one party who says that the other one is not. There\u2019s no question that both groups have among them people who are full of love for their ideals, people who serve Hashem. And therefore before we enter this subject, I\u2019ll say \u2013 and I\u2019ll say it briefly with the greatest caution.
\n\n\n\nAnd we\u2019ll say as follows. Whatever they do, that\u2019s their business. Whatever their motives are, it\u2019s their business. We ourselves, outsiders, are not fully aware of the motives of one or the other and therefore we keep our mouths shut. If we would be aware, we would see that it\u2019s not as empty as you think. Everybody who is a frum Jew has some motive for what he does. And therefore we say as follows: Yivoreich es Beis Yisroel \u2013 Hashem should bless the Beis Yisroel. Only we hope that He will bless them in such a way that they will bless each other too. We hope the time will come when everybody \u2013 RECORDING ENDED HERE, V\u2019CHAVAL AL D\u2019AVDIN
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 475 (September 1983)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Satmar and Lubavitch appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-25T09:33:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-25T17:17:51+00:00" }, { "id": 33735, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-attitude-quandaries/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Attitude Quandaries\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
If I see a frum Jew who\u2019s not so good, should I love him for being a Jew\u00a0or hate him for the bad things that he\u2019s doing?
A:
\n\n\n\nIf you see a frum Jew who is doing something wicked, let\u2019s say. Let’s say a frum Jew is standing in line in front of the movies. Of course he’s not a frum Jew. But suppose you see a Jew with a yarmulke standing in line in front of the movies.
\n\n\n\nSo you say, \u201cAh, a yarmulke!\u00a0 Ah!\u00a0 That’s wonderful!\u201d A yarmulke means\u00a0oter Yisroel b\u2019sifarah,\u00a0You crown Yisroel with glory; and that\u00a0tifarah,\u00a0that glory, means you believe in Hashem.\u00a0 Anybody who wears a yarmulke,\u00a0he\u2019s demonstrating, \u201cI believe in Hashem.\u201d Even a small little\u00a0yarmulkeh;\u00a0so he\u2019s a\u00a0modeh b\u2019miktzas, but\u00a0he\u2019s still one of ours. That already is\u00a0very great. But\u00a0it\u2019s a pity that he\u2019s taking that crown and he’s taking it into a stable full of manure, full of tzoah.
So you have two attitudes; here, he’s a\u00a0meshugene\u00a0or a\u00a0shoteh;\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0wasting his money.\u00a0 Suppose a man stands in line for a chance to dip his head in a trough full of manure. Only four dollars today! A special! You get a headful of manure!\u00a0 So he’s a meshugene.\u00a0 It’s a pity on him.\u00a0 At the same time you should think he’s wearing a yarmulke too.\u00a0 So it’s a problem; you have to have both attitudes.
TAPE # 445
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Attitude Quandaries\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-23T17:00:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-23T17:00:48+00:00" }, { "id": 33725, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%9e%d7%93%d7%91%d7%a8-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-23T03:07:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-23T03:07:07+00:00" }, { "id": 33718, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-are-we-going-to-yerushalayim-or-not/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Are We Going to Yerushalayim Or Not?", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why do we say \u05dc\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd on Pesach? Is it true? Where is our attempt?
A:
\n\n\n\nThis person is throwing it up to us why we don\u2019t go immediately and settle in Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNow my friends, let me explain something to you. Suppose somebody will go and settle in Yerushalayim at a certain address \u2013 you know, I specialize in gay literature. You don\u2019t know about it, but I do. And I have a gay handbook. I didn\u2019t pay any money for it \u2013 people bring these things to me. In that handbook, he gives you addresses in Yerushalayim. If you\u2019re a gay and you want to geyn into Yerushalayim, so there are certain addresses where you can go.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s interesting, by the way. He says that in Saudi Arabia you have to watch out because it\u2019s dangerous if you\u2019re a gay \u2013 your head might be chopped off. He says to watch out from Iran entirely. He says don\u2019t go to Iran. Keep away from Iran. It\u2019s a handbook. It tells you where to go, safe places. But he warns you to keep away from the Muslim countries.
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to Yerushalayim, it\u2019s a different story. It tells you some places where you can cruise; he gives you addresses in Yerushalayim where you can go.
\n\n\n\nSo suppose a man who said \u05dc\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd, and the next year he goes to one of these places. Did he fulfill his vow? It\u2019s \u05dc\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d2\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05dd!
\n\n\n\nSo it depends where you\u2019re going in Yerushalayim. Suppose a person will go to Yerushalayim where he can\u2019t make a living. If you can\u2019t make a living, then you\u2019re going to be reduced to doing all kinds of wrong things. So better stay here and make a living.
\n\n\n\nSuppose you go to Yerushalayim and lose the good influence, the good chaveirim, that he has. Let\u2019s say he\u2019s in a yeshiva where he\u2019s learning, he\u2019s succeeding. So he\u2019ll go to Yerushalayim and he\u2019ll get lost? Don\u2019t think Yerushalayim has facilities for everybody.
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re fit for Yerushalayim to do at least what you\u2019re doing here spiritually, and also you can make some kind of a living, then \u05dc\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd. But if not, you have to wait until the time will come when you can do it in the proper way.
\n\n\n\nJust to get up and rush to Yerushalayim? Many people have been ruined.\u00a0 They went on aliyah and on their aliyah, they first were put in a place where they were passed through the washer, the wringer, and they were brainwashed by people who spoke Hebrew but didn\u2019t have any kind of interest in Torah.\u00a0 And when this poor immigrant got through with the whole training, he was ready now to go back to Chicago.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd so, \u05dc\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd is something that we have to say. We have to aspire to it but it must be done properly. Otherwise there\u2019s a great error for some people to go to Yerushalayim right now.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 508
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Are We Going to Yerushalayim Or Not? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T17:23:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-23T17:34:51+00:00" }, { "id": 33714, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-beauty-of-music/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Beauty of Music", "content_html": "\nQ:
You said a few weeks ago, if I quote you right, that you despise music, or what\u2019s being done with music. Now, I\u2019m wondering, are you denying the good effects that music can have on a person like teshuva and hisorerus to ahavas Hashem?
A:
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s good you brought this up. I like to talk about this subject.
\n\n\n\nBut first of all you have to know that arrayed against us is a tremendous amount of propaganda. Affectation! Music for music\u2019s sake! Art for art\u2019s sake! And I therefore I know that I\u2019m going to get a bad name by talking about this, but I\u2019d like to do it anyhow.
\n\n\n\nOne of the false idols \u2013 not ideals; false idols \u2013 of modern civilization is art. Anything that is officially included in art, you\u2019re expected to say, \u201cOoh\u201d and \u201cAhh\u201d. Ooh and ahh! The truth is if they would put baseball under \u201cthe arts,\u201d you would also have to say, \u201cOoh and ahh.\u201d Don\u2019t you see today the fools who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about; The Met and The Mets or The Mets and The Met. The Met means the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the Mets means the baseball team but today anything can be art. Once upon a time baseball was just for roughnecks, but then when they put the Mets together with the Met, so baseball can be included in art too.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only a question of what\u2019s officially recognized. So you go to school and you study music appreciation. The question is, do you study eating appreciation? If you enjoy it, you enjoy it; that\u2019s all. Are you going to go to a school and study how to enjoy it? What music appreciation actually means is affectation, showing off, that\u2019s all it is. The whole opera is nothing but showing off. It\u2019s for rich people to come and show that they\u2019re cultured \u2013 besides for showing off their diamonds.
\n\n\n\nAnd even the Orthodox world has been bamboozled. People who sit on Motzaei Shabbos and listen to records. What is there? The same droning silliness over and over again. I don\u2019t want to say which records, the same word, ten times the same word, over and over. It\u2019s sickening. It\u2019s meaningless. It\u2019s only for people who live with emotions and don\u2019t live with thoughts.
\n\n\n\nThe Jewish world used to say, \u201cA chazzan is a na\u2019ar \u2013 a cantor is a fool.\u201d And the reason was because he\u2019s a man who lives with emotion; he doesn\u2019t live with thought.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why you walk into some modern synagogue and you hear them singing, \u201cYehei ra\u2019ava \u2026\u201d. I don\u2019t want to sing the words the way they sing it. \u201cMay it be Your will that you open up my heart in the Torah.\u201d People who never opened up anything more than a siddur; and they sing it so pathetically, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d0 \u05e8\u05e2\u05d5\u05d0 \u05e7\u05d3\u05de\u05da \u05d3\u05ea\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d1\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d0. It\u2019s the tune! Ahh, the tune! So you see that the words have nothing to do with the tune. It\u2019s just music by itself. There\u2019s no thinking in it.
\n\n\n\nAnd what is music after all? It\u2019s nothing but the excitement of the nerves caused by sound waves. That\u2019s all it is. And the sound waves come from a piece of dried cat gut.
\n\n\n\nHowever \u2013 and this was mentioned here \u2013 we have to know that it\u2019s not false. There is a great truth in it. Because if music inspires us, it\u2019s for the purpose of letting us know that there is within us a great world of nobility. It\u2019s only the excitement that makes us aware of what we are, of what we can be. Life is wonderful! There are secrets in life! There is splendor in life! That we don\u2019t see it is only because our eyes are fleshy eyes of materialism. But there\u2019s no question that life itself, this world as long as we\u2019re here, is full of the most splendid things to learn and understand and to do.
\n\n\n\nAnd we become aware of that, faintly aware, when we hear music. Music stirs in us tremendous ambition. But what do the fools do? So these wonderful feelings, the tune, they put in worthless words: \u201cI love you.\u201d \u201cI want to be near with you.\u201d \u201cForever and always and eternally.\u201d And that\u2019s a tragedy. It\u2019s taking the the sublime emotions of our soul \u2013 our souls have depth, sublime depth \u2013 and we\u2019re expending it on nothing.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s true! We have sublimity within us \u2013 music tells us what\u2019s true about ourselves; it inspires us. Only that just as we\u2019re ready to receive the great secret, all of the sudden this low character comes and gives the steering wheel a turn and we go off the track. We bump against a wall.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore, music certainly has a place but only when it\u2019s in the hands of righteous people. And that\u2019s what the Kuzari says. What I\u2019m telling you now is what the Kuzari said. The Kuzari \u2013 it was written 900 years ago \u2013 here\u2019s his statement. He says that music was once \u201cthe servant of Hashem.\u201d It was used in the Sanctuary by our greatest prophets. They had these noble ideas and they expressed them with a lyre and with a harp. And once you have the nobility of spirit, then the music coupled with that gives you the ability to raise your feet from the earth. It\u2019s like an airplane. An airplane is able to fly if you fuel it. You put in the high octane fuel, then it soars. It goes to the clouds, above the clouds. And the man who has greatness of spirit, then together with music, he becomes much bigger than he was before.
\n\n\n\nBut the Kuzari adds that today music has become the playthings of avodim u\u2019shfachos, servants and servant girls. Music has become, he says, the accessory for immorality. What is most music? Most music is love songs. And if it\u2019s military songs, not much better. So it\u2019s martial music and love music. And that\u2019s why music has been prostituted from its great place that it once had as a servant to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re not including symphonic music in that, are you?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThe truth is I\u2019m not including anything because I know beforehand that people have their ideas and \u2013
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nBut I know that you\u2019ve mentioned in the past certain types of music, like pop music and that\u2019s \u2013
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nYes. The truth is I don\u2019t want to bring it down to anything specifically because I know beforehand that people have ingrained attitudes towards it; people have their ideas. And I want to leave this place with your good opinion of me. So that\u2019s why I\u2019m speaking only generally.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # R-76
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Beauty of Music appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T17:12:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-22T17:12:24+00:00" }, { "id": 33708, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%97%d7%a7%d7%aa%d7%99/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T04:34:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-22T04:35:00+00:00" }, { "id": 33703, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-bechukosai/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Bechukosai", "content_html": "\nThe classroom was filled with the sound of learning as the boys learned with each other b\u2019chavrusa. Rebbe Cohen walked around as boys argued and worked their way through the sugya, asking questions and coming up with answers.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d Rebbe Cohen exclaimed, after hearing Shloimy stumping his chavrusa Motty with a difficult question. \u201cTosafos asks exactly that kasha!
\n\n\n\nRebbe Cohen explained Tosafos\u2019s answer to Shloimy and Motty and headed to the back corner of the room, where Donny and Benjy were learning much more quietly than the rest of the class. Approaching, he was shocked to see that instead of Gemaros, these boys had large colorful comic books in front of them!
\n\n\n\n\u201cDonny, Binyomin!\u201d Rebbe Cohen said in a surprised voice. \u201cI don\u2019t understand. How can you be reading comics when everyone else is learning?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut we are learning,\u201d Benjy replied, holding up his \u201ccomic book\u201d. \u201cSee, this is the new Risnik Edition Talmud – the whole masechta is illustrated in comics to make it easy to learn!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s more fun this way too!\u201d added Donny. \u201cLook how angry Rami Bar Chama is as he asks his kasha!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRebbe Cohen peered at the red-faced bearded man in the picture and sighed. \u201cBoys, can you maybe think of why this might not be the best way to learn?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNot the best way to learn?\u201d asked Donny. \u201cBut look how much further ahead we are than the rest of the class!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Rebbe Cohen. \u201cHave you boys thought of any kashas of your own while learning this way?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell no,\u201d answered Donny. \u201cThe pictures explain it so well that we have no kashas and we can just fly through the sugya!\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn response to this, Rebbe Cohen repeated Shloimy\u2019s kasha from a few minutes earlier.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHmm\u2026\u201d said Benjy. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think of that.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRebbe Cohen continued. \u201cIn this week\u2019s Parsha it says \u2018\u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05bb\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u2019 – Rashi explains that it means \u2018\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u2019 – now what does that mean?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat we should learn Torah!\u201d Benjy said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cClose, but not exactly,\u201d Rebbe Cohen explained. \u201cYou see, the word \u2018ameilim\u2019 doesn\u2019t just mean \u2018learning Torah\u2019 – it means that we must \u2018work hard\u2019 in Torah. In Pirkei Avos it says \u2018\u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd \u05e6\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d2\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u2019.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, that\u2019s an \u2018Avraham Ben David\u2019 song!\u201d said Benjy.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd what does it mean?\u201d Rebbe Cohen asked.
\n\n\n\nBoth boys stared blankly back at their Rebbe.
\n\n\n\nRebbe Cohen went on. \u201cIt means that the more a person works hard on something, the bigger the reward that he will receive. But it\u2019s not just talking about the reward in Olam Haba. It also means the immediate reward.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cImmediate reward?\u201d asked Benjy, puzzled.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes, let me show you. This is something Rabbi Miller always pointed out.\u201d Rebbe Cohen walked out of the classroom and quickly returned with a box of plain crackers, which he started distributing to the class.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image-3.png?resize=640%2C460&ssl=1\")
\u201cBoys,\u201d he said. \u201cI want you to make a brocha and start eating your crackers, but don\u2019t swallow right away. Chew for a minute before swallowing.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAfter the boys did as instructed, Rebbe Cohen asked, \u201cdid anyone notice anything interesting about the taste of the crackers?\u201d
\n\n\n\nDonny raised his hand. \u201cYeah, as I chewed it, it became sweet!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d said Rebbe Cohen. \u201cHashem puts amazing enzymes in our saliva which turns the starch in the cracker into sugar. Now, I assume you\u2019re wondering what this has to do with learning. And the answer is, that just like when we chew starchy food it becomes sweet, so too when we \u2018chew\u2019 on the sugyos in the Gemara, it also becomes sweet and we understand it better.
\n\n\n\n\u201cFor example, Shloimy and Motty worked so hard to understand the sugya, that they were zoiche to ask Tosafos\u2019s kasha. The harder we work in our learning, the more we get out of the Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAll that because they don\u2019t have pictures in their Gemara?\u201d asked Donny in wonder.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d Rebbe Cohen said. \u201cBefore Rashi, people had to work harder to learn the Gemara and they knew it even better. And earlier than that, there were no written Gemaros and everyone had to learn by heart. And the result was that all of the talmidim learned the entire Shas Baal Peh!
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course, nowadays we need to have a written Gemara with Rashi and Tosafos, but as long as our Gedolim don\u2019t decide that the Gemara should be converted into comic book format, we should probably just keep using our regular Holtzbacher editions of Gemara. Anyway, I am pretty sure you boys are smart enough to learn from words, without needing pictures to understand pshat. When it comes to learning, we should put in as much effort as we can so that we will get as much as possible out of it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd with that, Donny and Benjy sheepishly closed their comic books and opened real Gemaros to learn from.
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: It is important to \u2018toil\u2019 in Torah Learning, to struggle and keep learning even though it\u2019s tough – that\u2019s what makes the Torah sweet!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Bechukosai appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T04:24:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-22T04:24:21+00:00" }, { "id": 33691, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bechukosai-sin-and-exile-2/", "title": "Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile", "content_html": "The Good Land
\n\n\n\nWhen the baal korei reads in this week\u2019s sedrah (Bechukosai 26:32-33), \u201c\u05d5\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 And I will make the land desolate \u2026 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 And I will destroy your cities,\u201d we are thinking, \u201cA tragedy! All of these words came true\u201d and we are reminded about those familiar words from the Siddur, \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Because of our sins we were exiled from our land. We\u2019re thinking; \u201cwe are the ones who caused our beautiful cities to be destroyed.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhich cities? Which land? Of course, we\u2019re talking about Eretz Yisroel here but there\u2019s more to it. I remember a rav in Brownsville was once speaking. He said something that appeared queer to me at that time. He was quoting a possuk that describes our exile:\u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05de\u05b0\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05b9\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 you will go lost from this good land that I\u2019m giving you (Devarim 11:17). And he said: \u201cBe careful because one day you might go lost from the good land that I\u2019m giving you \u2014 the land of America.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAt first I was thinking that it\u2019s not true \u2014 it\u2019s talking about Eretz Yisroel! And here, this old rav was talking about America. But I learned something important then. America is a good land too. Not only America; Australia is a good land too. There are a lot of good lands that Hashem is giving to you, so \u05d4\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 watch out! Because golus is not only what happened once in Eretz Yisroel; it\u2019s a process of history.
\n\n\n\nRichest Man in Babylon
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we say \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, that because of our sins we were exiled from our country, we have to remember that we\u2019re not talking only about the sins of our forefathers thousands of years ago when the Beis Hamikdash still stood; it means all of our history.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think Bavel wasn\u2019t an eretz tovah. The Babylonian Exile was a remarkable stage of our history.We had all Jewish cities in Bavel. Neharda\u2019a is described by Josephus as an all Jewish town; only Jews lived there. And it was a big fortified town that had powerful walls around it. Imagine that, an old Jewish town with fortifications.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Jews were respected there. From the very beginning the kings gave the highest positions in the government to the Jews. Daniel, was the second in command for a time over all of Babylonia. You remember Mordechai? He became the vice regent instead of Haman. Many great Jews had positions of power in Babylon and in Persia. It\u2019s together, one kingdom.
\n\n\n\nThe Happy Exile
\n\n\n\nAnd even many years later we know that the kings of Babylon were friends of the Jews. It\u2019s described once in the Gemara (Zevachim 19a) how Rav Huna bar Nosson was standing before the king, and Rav Huna\u2019s belt had gone down a little bit, so the king with his own two hands lifted up the belt for him. And he said to Rav Huna, \u201cYou\u2019re a mamleches Kohanim. You\u2019re a nation of priests and the priests should have the belt up higher. It looks better.\u201d The king of Persia raised up the belt for Rav Huna.
\n\n\n\nLaterwhen Rav Huna bar Nosson came to Ameimar and told the story, Ameimar said, \u201cIt was fulfilled on you the possuk, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 Kings will be your servants.\u201d It means that in Bavel, in golus, we were served by the gentiles.
\n\n\n\nIt was a remarkable thing how we lived in Babylonia! Bavel was a gift; it wasn\u2019t exile the way we think today. For one thousand years, the gentiles didn\u2019t molest us. We lived a thousand happy and fruitful years there. You think the Talmud Bavli was made there for nothing?! Bavel was the home of the Torah!
\n\n\n\nBecoming a Minority
\n\n\n\nBut then things started happening. Suddenly they began to try to look like gentiles. They began to despise themselves. There were sins. Oh yes. When we began to suffer there, it wasn\u2019t for nothing; it was \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc that we lost that gift.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, if you don\u2019t appreciate that big gift, I\u2019ll take it away from you.\u201d It was the last Jewish majority we enjoyed. From then on, when we went among the nations, even though we lived in some countries happily more or less, but we were always a minority among strangers. In Bavel, we were a majority! And so we look back and we say, \u201c\u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 because of our sins we were exiled from our land. We caused it to ourselves.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat’s part of our obligation as frum Jews \u2013 especially when we\u2019re reading this parsha \u2013 we must look back on our past and say \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. Again and again, because of our sins we lost the gift that Hashem was giving us
\n\n\n\nThe Caliphate\u2019s Culture Cradle
\n\n\n\nYou know, we had a Spain once. It was a pride for us, how we succeeded in Sforad. The Sefardim who originate from Spain sign their names with a samach tes \u2013 Sefardi tahor; a pure Sefardi Jew. It means, \u201cWe came from Spain, from pure lineage.\u201d Those were Jewish families of aristocracy.
\n\n\n\nSpain was a wonderful country! It was ruled by the Moorish Arabs \u2013 they were a cultured and advanced people and the Jews lived there in wealth and they lived with a rich culture. There was commerce in Spain and Jews were so powerful that one Jew was even the vizier, the vice regent for the Caliph in Spain.
\n\n\n\nPoetry, grammar and Jewish literature flourished in Spain. Everything! Of course, the Torah and the gedolei Yisroel flourished there. The Jews wrote wonderful Torah books. All the great Rishonim, almost all of them were composed in Spain. The Ritva and the Rashba lived in Spain. Even the Rosh came from Germany and settled in Spain. So many of our great ones. Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. And the Rambam came from Spain originally.
\n\n\n\nSpain was a glorious place, a cradle for Jewish culture, for Torah and for wealth! For happiness! How great was the happiness of our nation in Spain! Every facet of Jewish living was enriched in Spain!
\n\n\n\nCatholic Conquistadors
\n\n\n\nAnd then they made an error. They began to forget how fortunate they were and they began to cast their eyes on the non-Jewish population and they began to imitate them. They began to mingle with them. They began to write love songs and sing love songs in Hebrew. We never had such things before. They brought in the gentile culture into their homes, into their lives. They began to get lost among the gentiles.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cBefore it\u2019s too late, I\u2019m going to have to stop this.\u201d And therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu caused the Christians to conquer all of Spain. When the Christians took over Spain, the good times came to an end. The Church moved in with its wrath and animosity and it began to make decrees; they began to persuade the king and the queen that we don\u2019t need the Jews anymore.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally in 1492, the churban Beis Hamikdosh took place. Ah! Tragedy of tragedies! \u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 \u201cYou will go lost among the nations \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b9\u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 and the land of your enemies will devour you\u201d. That\u2019s what happened. We began to get lost among the gentiles and what was once a welcoming land, an eretz tovah, turned into a land of enemies. And so the Jewish nation had to once again take up its traveling stick in hand and we left Spain. The Jewish nation had to go into exile again.
\n\n\n\nPirates and Savages
\n\n\n\nWe have to look back on Spain and see how great a tragedy was caused by the errors of those who began to walk in the paths of sin. That\u2019s an important lesson to think about always. Sin brings calamity upon the nation! How many people lost their lives when they went into exile from Spain? They had to travel on the seas and they were attacked by pirates. Women were seized, snatched away from their husbands by the pirates. How many ships went down at sea?
\n\n\n\nAnd when they were put on the shores of Northern Africa, they were attacked by savages. Very many lost their lives. Finally the new communities were settled, but in the meantime a very great tragedy had been experienced by the people. And so we look back and we say \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 because of our sins, we were exiled from Spain.
\n\n\n\nNot As It Seems
\n\n\n\nI\u2019d like to jump now to our recent past. You know, we look back at our exile in Europe, Eastern Europe, and we think, \u201cThey weren\u2019t treated well. They had to pay extra taxes. There were ghettos.\u201d And it\u2019s true. In old Russia, the rulers were Greek Orthodox Christians and the Jews were second class citizens and a Jew was sometimes despised and scorned on the roads. But let me explain something to you.
\n\n\n\nWhat do you think is happiness? The fact that you have Rome on your floor? You must know happiness consists of human emotions. And there is not the slightest question that the Jews years ago in Europe enjoyed more real happiness than anybody does today. Even though they were persecuted, you must realize that first of all the history books give you the wrong perspective, there were wealthy Jews in every generation. And the wealthy Jews took care of the poor Jews. There never was so much tzedokah in the world as there always was among Jews.
\n\n\n\nIn addition, the Jews had a family life, the Jews were under the leadership of the beis din, and the beis din saw to it that there was shalom bayis, and when a parent fell ill, an old parent, the beis din saw to it that the sons and the daughters took care of their parents. We have no idea how powerful was the beis din in Europe, it was powerful. Even the church supported the authority of the beis din.
\n\n\n\nAnd they lived independently. Way back before World War I, every town had a pristov. There was a chief of police who was a rasha and he was in charge; and you had to bribe him from time to time so he shouldn’t make trouble for the Jews. But it was all under control and the Jews were in authority.
\n\n\n\nGlory to Russia
\n\n\n\nThe Jews had their own community life in Europe. Shabbos was a glorious day, then they really appreciated the Shabbos. Don’t make any errors, when it came to solid happiness, the Jews in Russia sucked the honey of this world. The Am Yisroel in Europe lived gloriously!
\n\n\n\nOld Russia was a glorious home for the Jewish people for many hundreds of years. And don\u2019t let anybody tell you that it wasn\u2019t \u2013 I saw it with my own eyes, the Jewish towns! When I was in Europe, I once took a five-day hike with a fellow yeshiva man through Lithuania. This was before Russia had come in. It was still a Lithuanian republic. And it was remarkable to see how the towns were Jewish towns. As we went on the highway, we marched for days and days, we came to a town. In the distance, we saw the spires of the Catholic church, two towers. It meant a Jewish town because the goyim lived out in the fields. The town, the settled areas, were all Jewish. As soon as the cobblestone paving began, there was an eiruv, a wire over the road. When the rainy season came the dirt roads where the peasants lived were a quagmire. The wagon sank up to the hubs in mud. The paving began where the eiruv was, for the Jews.
\n\n\n\nAnd the town was all Jewish. Every town was all Jewish! All the businesses were all Jewish. The town had synagogues. Every town had a mikveh. It had a beis hashchita, a slaughterhouse. The eretz tovah of Russia was a glorious opportunity.
\n\n\n\nWeapons In Yeshiva
\n\n\n\nWhen did that come to an end? Why were we exiled from the eretz tovah of Russia, of Europe? It was \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. That\u2019s the plain truth. Had we not sinned, had the so-called enlightened ones not come and helped the anarchists who plotted to overthrow the Czar, who knows what could have happened? Russia could have remained our salvation, our future.
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc it all went away. The maskilim began to wean the youth away from the Torah. They brought in gentile ways among the Jews and they began to ruin the Torah institutions. \u201cYou don\u2019t need any Jewish religion,\u201d they said. \u201cAll of us together will be brothers from now on! No more oppression in the world! No more intolerance! Intolerance is dead forever! All we need is redistribution of wealth! Everybody will be happy!\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn Slabodka Yeshiva once in 1904, a former talmid of the yeshiva walked in and went up on the bimah in front of the aron kodesh with a revolver and held it aloft and he gave a drasha against the yeshiva. He said, \u201cThings are different. We don\u2019t need this old fashioned business anymore. A new era has been introduced.\u201d Nobody could say a word; he was holding a revolver.
\n\n\n\nThere were Jewish youth also among those who wanted to kill the Czar and overthrow the government. And the rabbis pleaded with them. \u201cYou\u2019re bringing a ruination upon the Jewish people.\u201d The rabbanim warned the youth, \u201cDon\u2019t organize a revolt against the Czar! Don\u2019t try to overthrow the Czar! What\u2019s going to happen subsequently will be even worse!\u201d The rabbanim foresaw what would happen. But the people sinned! They ignored the Torah leaders! They knew better. That was our sin! Our sin!
\n\n\n\nPrison of Freedom
\n\n\n\nAnd finally it happened; Russia collapsed. The Czar was taken down to the basement of a prison and he was shot dead. It was all over! And the Jewish youth were celebrating. \u201cOur glorious new period is going to begin now!\u201d The Jewish Communists were shouting, \u201cHurrah! We\u2019re finished with the house of Romanov! Kaput with the tyrants! Now we have freedom.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd what happened? Russia today is one great prison! When the Czar of Russia held power, there were always things to criticize, nobody is perfect, but in those days you could travel all over Russia. If you wanted, you could leave Russia. Nobody stopped you. Millions of people left Russia under the Czar \u2013 nobody stopped you. You could engage in all kinds of businesses. There was some limitations. Jews were limited for certain things, but in general there was liberty. There were Jewish millionaires too.
\n\n\n\nAnd now \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, the Russian Jews are only waiting to get out of Russia. Their sole hope is to come to some other country. Today there’s an outcry. Help Russian Jews! Help Russian Jews! Who caused the downfall of the Jewish people if not the Russian Jews? The Russian Jews embraced communism. It was only when Stalin came along and he began putting the main Jewish communists against the wall and shooting them then the Russian Jews lost their faith in communism. But up until Stalin they were all for it.
\n\n\n\nThe Best Jews
\n\n\n\nWho was the Yevsektsiya? I’m not talking about the small minority. There is a small minority of heroes that remained Yidden to this day. Among the best Jews in the world are in Russia today. When a Jew comes out of Russia, when a frum Jew, a Lubavitcher comes out of Russia today they’re much better than American Lubavitcher. They are real Jews who have given their lives for Yiddishkeit, for Judaism.
\n\n\n\nBut I’m talking about the masses. The masses yielded to the onslaught of communism. They embraced it. It was their fault. You know why they embraced it? Because the masses had been so rotted through and through beforehand; they hated Judaism. They despised it. Even Jews who kept Shabbos already hated Judaism. They kept Shabbos because it was a national day. It was the Jewish national day of rest. Jewish towns had no other day of rest except Shabbos. But they despised everything Jewish. The youth hated it. They were so poisoned by the Haskalah, by the Bundists and Socialists.
\n\n\n\nIn all of Russia today, there\u2019s only one synagogue left. In Moscow. And even that\u2019s only a showplace where the KGB comes and puts on tefillin and sits there and watches that the tourists shouldn\u2019t say one word against the Communist regime. If you ever visit the Moscow synagogue, watch out to whom you\u2019re talking to next on the bench. He\u2019s an undercover agent of the Russian government. One synagogue! There were hundreds of thousands of synagogues in old Russia! Not one is left. All wiped out!
\n\n\n\nWe look back on the desert of what\u2019s left: The Jewish cemeteries are gone. They\u2019re made into parking lots, athletic fields \u2013 Jewish cemeteries. Synagogues, Slabodka yeshiva. When I was in Slabodka, after years and years of hard work, they finally gathered enough money to build a decent building. For a hundred years, they lived in a building of wooden logs \u2013 that\u2019s where I learned. In wintertime, it was freezing! We had to wear woolen boots because of the chilblains in our toes. Finally, they gathered enough money from America and they built a nice looking building. As soon as they moved in, Russia came and the Yeshiva had to move out again. The old building was taken over as a stall for horses and the new building became a club for workers. Goodbye! No more Yeshiva.
\n\n\n\nCause of The Holocaust
\n\n\n\nNot only in Russia. In Lithuania. In Poland. Wherever Jews used to live before and the Communists came in \u2013 goodbye Jews. Cuba too. When Cuba was taken over by the Communists, American Jewish students all wore Cuban hats. They sympathized with Castro. Wonderful! An agrarian reformer! \u201cOh no, he\u2019s not a Communist dictator. He\u2019s just an agrarian reformer who wants to redistribute the lands among the people.\u201d Well, are there Jews left in Cuba today? Havana was once a place where Jews lived and made a good living and there were kehillos in Havana. Today nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have a lot to be sorry for. Because who made the mistakes? Who sinned? We did! \u2018We\u2019 means the Jewish nation in general. It was our sons who were Communists. Our sons were Socialists. Our sons threw bombs at the Czar. Yes, our sons. Our sons! Of course there were gentiles too, but \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, because of our sons we went into exile again.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s how the Holocaust finally came. It was due to the efforts of our sons. They ruined everything. Hitler only came and destroyed the bodies, but the souls were ruined before. Not like Young Israel writers or some American Jewish rabbis or modern history writers who say that in Europe it was a flourishing Torah culture when Hitler came. It was very far from flourishing.
\n\n\n\nJews destroyed the Torah, not Hitler. Hitler came after Jews did the job. That’s what the Nefesh Hachaim says. He says gentiles never come unless first Jews destroy it. And he quotes what the Gemara Sanhedrin (96b) says about the Beis Hamikdash: \u05e7\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b0\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b0\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05ea \u2013 The gentiles came and ground flour that was already ground. When Titus was boasting that he destroyed the Beis Hamikdash so Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cYou ground flour that was already ground by the Jews. You didn’t grind any wheat; you ground flour.\u201d The Jews had already destroyed it.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Vote for Liberals
\n\n\n\nAnd so we come back to that old rav in Brownsville. Someday, someday, I\u2019m afraid we\u2019ll look back on America and say, \u201cOy! Look what happened because of our sins!\u201d And so the question is, what is better? Is it better to look back some day and say, \u201cLook, America was such a great place. We had freedom. Nobody bothered the Jews. You could open yeshivas everywhere. You could even keep Shabbos in this country. Jews could make a living. They could put O-Us”. You know, to put a O-U on food products is a big nerve. The gentiles don\u2019t like that idea. But they can\u2019t stop us. And so gentiles buy products even though they don\u2019t know what it means, but they\u2019re helping to pay. They pay more for the products because we get the hashgacha. And all over the country, we\u2019re enjoying prosperity.
\n\n\n\nSo what are the Jews doing? Jewish youth are Marxists. They\u2019re trying their best to break down America. Jewish politicians like Koch, Solarz and others are helping the Jews break down America with their liberal policies. Of course there are plenty of gentiles that are doing it too. But our sons are there with liberal ideas.
\n\n\n\nAnd Jews are voting for Solarz and Koch. Jews are keeping them in power. Of course Koch gives them in return some benefits. And for that benefit, the askanim, the shtadlanim, are selling our votes. Whole kehillas of frum Jews, whole congregations, vote for these people, and they are guilty of breaking down everything we have!
\n\n\n\nAmerica\u2019s Socialist Future
\n\n\n\nLook what\u2019s happening to America! The whole youth is being demoralized! In the schools! The Jewish teachers in the schools are hammering away at the minds of the children, And it\u2019s our sins! Our votes! Our apathy! The Jews are ruining all this. They\u2019re ruining America!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a tragic error when these ultraliberal Jews battle religion in the schools. Let them have religion! Jews should not resent the fact that this is a white Christian country. We should say \u201cGezunteheit!\u201d More power to you! We are satisfied with that. Let it remain a white Christian country! Certainly it\u2019s a Christian country and it must remain so. The salvation of America is that it should remain a Christian country because to be a Christian country is ten thousand times better than being a G-dless country \u2013 because atheism is ten thousand times worse than idolatry.
\n\n\n\nWhat do you want? That we should someday look back from our new place of exile in Japan, or maybe we\u2019ll be exiled in Australia, and we\u2019ll look back to the good old days when they had this great country of freedom from one ocean to another where we could travel and make money and live comfortably and practice Judaism. We could have built yeshivas all over the country. We could have Torah and Olam Hazeh together, happiness and success and perfection in serving Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd we\u2019ll look back and say, \u201cLook what became of that eretz tovah?!\u201d It can become a Communist controlled country, chas v\u2019shalom, where you won\u2019t be able to have one shul. Don\u2019t say \u201cHow can it be? It\u2019s impossible!\u201d The truth is it\u2019s even more surprising that Russia doesn\u2019t have one synagogue; but don\u2019t think it can\u2019t happen here; in America it\u2019s easier to happen. It can turn Socialist, no question.
\n\n\n\nAmerican Gas Chambers
\n\n\n\nOr chas v\u2019shalom it\u2019ll turn into a Fascist country. Finally the gentiles in the Midwest will get so disgusted with the liberals and make a revolution and who knows what will be then. America, a Fascist country, chas v\u2019shalom?! Who knows what kind of gas chambers can be here? They can make better ones in America than the Germans did.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we have to strengthen ourselves now! Not to cry later and bang on our chests, \u201c\u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d0.\u201d We have to be united to fight for righteousness, to spread Torah, to support yeshivas. We should build kollelim and Beis Yankevs. Our communities should be fortresses. Our own families should be all frum. We have to keep the gentile ways, the materialism and leitzanus out of our homes.
\n\n\n\nWhen we vote, we vote only for those who are trying to build up America, not for people who are for gay rights; not for those who are destroying morality, who are ruining the youth. Together we have to to try to preserve what we have because that\u2019s what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants of us. And maybe if we\u2019ll be zocheh, maybe Hakodosh Boruch Hu will bring Moshiach to take us from America straight to Eretz Yisroel. We won\u2019t need to make another stop in Australia or Japan.
\n\n\n\nImagine Moshiach
\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s imagine that great day. Why shouldn\u2019t we imagine it \u2013 there will be an end after all. No question about it. That\u2019s part of our emunah. Every Jew must subscribe to the faith that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has promised us He is going to restore us to our former greatness and even more.
\n\n\n\nIt means that one day we\u2019ll be sitting, maybe we\u2019ll be sitting here in our shul in Flatbush and suddenly, \u201cMoshiach!\u201d Oh, is it going to be glorious! \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b5\u05e1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e5 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05bb\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Hashem will raise up a banner to gather together our dispersions. We\u2019ll march back to Eretz Yisroel from all the countries under the banner of Hashem! It\u2019s going to take place on a huge scale, all over the world, and the nations won\u2019t be able to do a thing.
\n\n\n\nAll they can do is watch in awe. \u201cThe People of Israel are now vindicated! They\u2019re marching back to their homeland!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBy the way, if you don\u2019t have such a picture in your mind, go ahead and put in such a picture because that\u2019s necessary for the emunah that is required of every Jew.
\n\n\n\nGlory and Happiness
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen eventually. We\u2019ll come back. And all the nations will cooperate and see that we come back. They\u2019ll give us our money out of the banks and they\u2019ll give us good money for our property. The nations will begin giving airlifts to our people. All the airplanes will be chartered only for us \u2013 one way! All the ocean liners will be outfitted for us! All the trains will be traveling in one direction! The Am Yisroel is coming back to their homeland!
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019ll be so much handshaking. It\u2019ll be a tremendous exultation. \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6 \u05d9\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7 \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Then our mouths will be full of laughter, \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 and our tongue will be full of song. There\u2019s no question that there\u2019ll be laughter and singing in the streets. \u05e2\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b4\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 Our feet will be standing within your gates O\u2019 Yerushalayim. The happiness is so great that we cannot picture it! It\u2019s incredible, the joy of the Jewish nation! They\u2019ll all be reunited finally after all the years of exile.
\n\n\n\nWhen the great shofar will be sounded, it will be a signal that the nations have to give in. All the Arabs will have to yield, everybody will have to say yes. And that is a very complicated process, there are many international obligations, treaties among the nations, everything will have to be rejected because they are now going to yield to the great proclamation that the Am Yisroel must be restored to its land, no matter what.
\n\n\n\nHappiness and Weeping
\n\n\n\nNow, I don\u2019t want to ruin the scene for you but I have to tell you that it\u2019s not that simple. It\u2019s not so simple. Because when Yirmiya HaNavi describes the return of the nation of Am Yisroel from their exile, how the tribes will one day come back, he says like this: \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 With weeping they shall come, \u05d5\u05bc\u05bd\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05bd\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b5\u05dd \u2013 and with entreaties I shall carry them. It means that as we come back there\u2019ll be some sadness too, some crying.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is, we\u2019re talking now about the time of the redemption, the time of the greatest happiness, and here Yirmiyahu is telling us there\u2019s going to be weeping. What\u2019s going on here?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that in the midst of the great happiness will also be sadness; sadness about the many people who won\u2019t be coming back with us, the Jews who went lost among the goyim in golus! Ooh, to get lost; that\u2019s something to weep about.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s frightful to think about! Like the Gemara (Makkos 24a) says, \u05de\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u2014 I’m afraid of that possuk, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 And you will go lost among the nations! (Bechukosai 26:38). It\u2019s some of the most fearful words in the Torah; that someone from the Bnei Yisroel should go lost among the nations. And therefore when we go back, we\u2019ll cry about our brothers who went lost for two thousand years.
\n\n\n\nPlan of Exile
\n\n\n\nBut I want to tell you now a big chiddush about this tragedy; that possuk \u05d5\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, that going lost, is not an accident, an inadvertent result of golus. It\u2019s the plan of golus from the beginning. Of course, Hakodosh Boruch Hu has many intentions, many plans. One day I hope we\u2019ll have the time to talk about all of them; we\u2019ll make a list and discuss all of them in detail but right now I want to talk about this one, the people who go lost.
\n\n\n\nIn our parsha Hashem says, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05d6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2014 And I will scatter you among the nations.\u201d Now, the word ezoreh is unusual for the concept of scattering. There are better lashon kodesh words to describe a dispersal. Maybe afitz would be better. I could tell you other words, better words.
\n\n\n\nNo, no, there\u2019s no better word. Because ezoreh means winnowing, the purposeful separating of the chaff, the psoles, from the good grain. I don\u2019t know if you ever saw somebody winnowing grain. I once watched it when I was in Europe. The wind was blowing and the farmer had a big pile of wheat next to him. He picked up a shovelful and threw the grain into the wind and the chaff blew away and the grain, which is heavier, fell down.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very slow process. Again and again you\u2019re throwing the grain into the wind and again and again some of the chaff gets blown away. And so we\u2019re learning now a purpose of Golus that we didn\u2019t know before. It\u2019s not just \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 a punishment due to our sins. It\u2019s a purposeful process. It\u2019s separating the weak from the strong, the loyal from the not so loyal. That\u2019s what it means, \u201cI will ezoreh you among the nations.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSeeking True Blue
\n\n\n\nNow, in case you didn\u2019t understand that word in our parsha so along comes Amos Hanavi and he makes the following statement in the name of Hashem: \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05d5\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Behold I am giving the order, \u05d5\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 and I am going to move around the House of Yisroel among all the nations, \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 like you shake something in the sieve (9:9). \u201cI am giving an order\u201d means if you see these things going on, don\u2019t think it\u2019s an accident; it\u2019s My command! \u201cI\u2019ll shake them like you shake flour in a sieve.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know what a sieve is, the purpose of a sieve? In a sieve, you have flour and you have some pebbles, so by holding it still, you won\u2019t separate the flour from the pebbles. You must shake the sieve up and down. Now the flour would prefer you should let it alone; it\u2019s not so comfortable to be shaken like that but we want pure flour so we shake it up and down and back and forth and that causes the flour to go out and the dirt is kept back. And the stronger you shake it, the better it works \u2013 the dirt is sifted out and after you finish, you have pure grain.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu declares here that one of the primary purposes of being dispersed among the nations is to sift out the disloyal. \u201cI am going to move the Beis Yisroel among the nations in order to get rid of the disloyal. That’s the purpose, to see who will remain until the end. Who\u2019s going to be loyal through thick and thin? Those who will drop out are the ones whom I wish they should drop out. Only those who are true blue will remain.\u201d
\n\n\n\nProcess of Weeding
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Reformers are peeling off of us, off the body of the nation, and going lost. They fall off like scabs! As long as a scab is attached to the body, it\u2019s a source of suffering, discomfort. And finally it dries up and falls off.
\n\n\n\nAll those who run away in Greenwich Village and all those who live with gentiles and all those who imitate gentile ways and they are ashamed of being Jews, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is happy to get rid of them! That\u2019s the purpose of golus, to weed out the weaklings. Only the heroes who persist even though they\u2019re a minority; they\u2019re the purpose, the future, of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNow this doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t attempt to save them. Of course we have to save Jews, but nobody is being sifted out by others. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 I\u2019m going to shake you among all the nations. Hashem is shaking but nobody is being sifted out; they sift themselves out. Remember that. Nobody goes lost against his will. It\u2019s when they choose to intermarry, when they choose to go away from their people, when they choose to convert, when they choose to throw away Yiddishkeit and to live like the goyim around them, they sift themselves out. Of course it\u2019s a tragedy. But that\u2019s the purpose \u2013 in order to weed out the disloyal and that’s the process which we are going through now and throughout all our history.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re Being Shaken
\n\n\n\nNow, the sieve doesn\u2019t always function the same. There was a Babylonian sieve and a Spanish sieve and there was a German sieve. There was an Arabian sieve and there was a Polish sieve. Each one had different kind of temptations and different kinds of ordeals.
\n\n\n\nThere is an Eretz Yisroel\u2019dike sieve too. Jews go lost in Eretz Yisroel today too just as well as anyplace else. On the streets of Tel Aviv, plenty of Jews go lost today every day. And missionaries are busy there. Very many Jews have been exported from Eretz Yisroel to Argentina and other South American countries because the missionaries caught them and converted them and sent them off to mingle among the Christians elsewhere.
\n\n\n\nAnd of course there\u2019s an American sieve too. It’s a great pity, how many Jews have sifted themselves out. It’s unfortunately true. Many more have become secular and they follow the goyim. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is still shaking the sieve and very many Jews are lost in the stupid pop culture of America today. Very many Jews move out where there are no Jewish neighbors anymore. That\u2019s also a shaking; the desire for bigger houses, for luxuries, for gentile ways and entertainment. And so they move to places where there are only gentiles and get lost.
\n\n\n\nPart of The Plan
\n\n\n\nAnd all these processes of shaking us up and down are for the benefit of ridding us of the undesirable elements and giving the stronger ones, the more loyal ones, to prove their mettle and become great. That\u2019s one of the reasons we needed shikkere Cossacks. We needed Germans. We needed all the goyim to make us great. And that\u2019s why we still need the temptations. We need the Americans, the luxuries, the leitzanus, the liberals and the antisemitism. It\u2019s all acting as a sifter, to weed out the weaker ones and to let the best remain. That\u2019s our greatness! To prove our mettle.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see that golus is not merely a misfortune. It\u2019s a plan! It\u2019s an old plan! You remember when we came out of Mitzrayim it says \u05d5\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05bb\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd. So our Sages say \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05d4 \u2013 only one out of five went out. And some say \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 one out of fifty went out. Whatever it is, a tremendous number went lost in Egypt.
\n\n\n\nNow they weren’t bad. Nobody was bad. They weren’t good enough, however. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted more than just being good and so the ones who weren\u2019t good enough to come out with us to receive the Torah at Har Sinai were sifted out. When the days of darkness came, three days of darkness, very many Jews died out. Hakodosh Boruch Hu picked out the good ones and saved them and that became the Am Yisroel. It was the loyal ones, the strong ones, the stiffnecked ones; they\u2019re the ones who went out.
\n\n\n\nThe Happy Ending
\n\n\n\nAnd it won\u2019t be different in the future. If people are facing Hawaii, if they\u2019re facing far away, so Hashem says, \u201cStay there. I\u2019m looking for My people, the ones who stayed with Me.\u201d Now, it could be that the people who were born in Hawaii, they don\u2019t know, they\u2019re tinok shenishba, so \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e5 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05d7\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu will gather them together. But those who are trying to get lost, will succeed in getting lost.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s so important to make sure that you get found without waiting till it\u2019s too late. When the time will come, it\u2019ll be too late then. Just like in Mitzrayim; when they went out of Mitzrayim those who had to remain behind said, \u201cI changed my mind. I want to go out.\u201d No, nothing doing. You missed the boat. They missed the boat. When the time comes to go out, you have to be ready for the call. You have to be prepared.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s our career in this world, to become better and better; to become ready for that great day. That\u2019s the greatness of our nation, to remain the best, the most loyal we can. And the better we realize that, the sooner will come the day when we will be able to stop saying \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc; we\u2019ll merit to see an end to the tzaros and we, the ones who remained strong as the sifter was shaking, will \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4, we\u2019ll go up to Eretz Yisroel with song and happiness.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nSurviving the Golus
\n\n\n\nAmong the many purposes of Exile one of the more important ones is to act as a sieve, sifting out the weaker and less faithful of our Nation so that Hashem\u2019s people who merit the final redemption will be a perfect nation of ovdei Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder spend thirty seconds each day thinking about this purpose of golus and what I can do on a practical level to strengthen my attachment and my family\u2019s attachment to the Am Yisroel. The more loyal I am to Hashem and the more separate I remain from the attitudes of gentiles, the more of a chance our golus will end soon and my family and I will merit to be redeemed along with Hashem\u2019s People in the coming Geulah.
\nThe post Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T04:20:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-04-10T11:03:08+00:00" }, { "id": 33698, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-bechukosai-sin-and-exile/", "title": "Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile", "content_html": "TA-Bechukosai-5782The post Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T04:18:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-22T04:18:28+00:00" }, { "id": 33690, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-bechukosai-sin-and-exile/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile", "content_html": "TA-Bechukosai-5782-EasyPrint-1The post [EasyPrint] Parshas Bechukosai – Sin and Exile appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-22T04:18:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-23T03:14:55+00:00" }, { "id": 33672, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%98-%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%98%d7%99%d7%a9-%d7%97%d7%a1%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%94/", "title": "‘\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d9”\u05d8: \u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d8\u05d9\u05e9, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-219The post ‘\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d9”\u05d8: \u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d8\u05d9\u05e9, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-20T03:30:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-20T03:30:56+00:00" }, { "id": 28162, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-lag-baomer-lessons-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Lag Ba’omer Lessons", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s the lesson of Lag Ba\u2019omer?
A:
The lesson of Lag Ba\u2019omer, first of all, is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a Rachum v\u2019Chanun and He gives us a break from the difficulties of sefira. That\u2019s number one. Isn\u2019t it a good idea to think about that? A break; very good!
\n\n\n\nNow, the minhagim of sefira are very good too of course. You\u2019re denying yourself certain things. We\u2019re like nezirim in a certain sense. Like a nazir, we don\u2019t cut our hair. But Hashem says, \u201cWhen it comes one day, Lag Ba\u2019omer, I\u2019m giving you a respite; I\u2019m giving you a rest, a vacation from sefira.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou think it\u2019s a wrong idea to think about that?! No, it\u2019s a very good idea! No question about it! It was no accident. Lag Ba\u2019omer is like an island \u2013 and for some people it\u2019s already the end of the road of sefira.
\n\n\n\nHowever, if you want to talk more about the lessons of Lag Ba\u2019omer then we have to talk about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the tremendous miracle that happened to him. He was a man who because he spoke the truth and criticized the Romans, so he had to go into hiding because the Romans wanted to kill him.
\n\n\n\nNow, when he went into hiding it should have been a ruination for his ruchniyus. He went with his son \u2013 the poor boy couldn\u2019t go to yeshiva. He was in the cave with his father for thirteen years! You think that\u2019s something that\u2019s not difficult? It\u2019s a ruination!
But what happened there? In that cave they reached the highest pinnacle of greatness. In that cave, all by themselves without the beis hamedrash \u2013 they were in hiding; they had no rebbeim, no chavrusas. And learning without chaveirim is a problem. \u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5 \u2013 People who learn without any chavrusahs become foolish; they don\u2019t grasp the svarahs of the Torah. And yet, these two became great. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai became very very great. And his son, Rebbe Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon, became very very great as a result. Rebbe Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon was a remarkable man who is known for the nissim that happened to him.
And all of this is a result of a gezeirah of the Romans. Now, this gezeirah was a terrible decree \u2013 to have to go into golus, into hiding, is certainly a misfortune we would say. But it turned out to be the greatest stroke of good luck that could have happened to them. It made them into the greatest that they could be.
\n\n\n\nAnd we learn from this that sometimes what people think is a misfortune, what they think is something to be sorry about, no \u2013 it\u2019s a chesed Hashem. It was a chesed Hashem that the Romans made the gezeirah on them. And our golus too; it\u2019s also a chesed Hashem that He sent us into golus. We have to know that it was a very great thing. It\u2019s a very big chesed for us. When you look in the tochacha and study it, you\u2019ll see that every one of the puraniyos is a very big chesed. If you study it well, you\u2019ll see that it was a very big chesed.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore a man has to know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has planned a man\u2019s life that the things that seem to be a misfortunes are actually for his benefit. And it\u2019s the misfortunes that will make him the very best that he can be. That\u2019s one of the lessons of Lag Ba\u2019omer.
TAPE # 960
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Lag Ba’omer Lessons appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-19T17:40:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-19T17:40:44+00:00" }, { "id": 33652, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-being-like-rashbi/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Being Like Rashbi", "content_html": "\nQ:
When Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son came out of the cave where they were hiding for so many years they did strange things like wanting to destroy anyone who was working instead of learning Torah. Is that something we\u2019re supposed to learn from?
A:
\n\n\n\nLet me explain something to you. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son spent twelve years at first in the ma’arah, in the cave. What did they do for those twelve years? You understand that they did things that other people usually did not do. They were entirely devoted to nothing but coming as close to Hashem as possible. Even when they learned halachos \u2013 Bava Kama or Zevachim, whatever they learned \u2013 they did it with such a fiery devotion to Hashem. It was Torah lishmah in the highest sense so much so that they were actually communing together with Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd they did it in the midst of the utmost privation. What can you enjoy in life if you’re hiding in a cave? They used to take off their clothes and bury themselves up to their neck in sand so that they shouldn’t be naked when they studied Torah.
\n\n\n\nNow you understand that’s not comfortable. It’s itchy. All kinds of skin troubles can result. What about drinking water? What about food to eat? They suffered terribly. For twelve years, they went through every kind of yisurim, and they were devoted entirely to the service of Hashem. Twelve years!
\n\n\n\nNow when they came out, they weren’t ordinary people; and to them everybody else was wasting their time. When they saw a man plowing his field, they said, \u201cHe\u2019s insane! He\u2019s wasting his life plowing his field!\u201d Until finally Hakodosh Boruch Hu caused them to be rebuked, to show how wrong they are. \u05dc\u05d4\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u2013 \u201cDid you come out to destroy my world?! Go back to your cave,\u201d Hashem said. \u201cGo back to your cave.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow this story, however, illustrates the greatness of great men. Great men look at other people as if they’re insane. And the truth is that in a certain sense they are. Only that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants people to be insane. He wants people to live in certain ways. If you want to be exceptional you can do it but not everybody can. \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u05db\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d5\u05d7\u05d0\u05d9 \u2013 many did like him; but only harbei, not everybody. No; very many couldn’t do it.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the world is made for moderate people mostly. And moderate people have to do things like everybody else does. But if you\u2019ll learn from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai to at least once in a while to devote yourself more to Hashem, to go above what others are doing, then that is a career of greatness that is available to everybody.
\n\n\n\nSome people become so great like the Ba’al Shem Tov who went into isolation for a long time in the forest. Or Rav Yozel Novardoker. He had a hut in the woods where he used to go. Nobody knew the place where he went and he spent time in that hut all by himself thinking about Hashem. Yes, there were great men who did that.
\n\n\n\nNow, we’re not recommending that to anybody today but you have opportunities; like the Chovos Halevavos says: \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 you can have solitude in the midst of a crowd of people.
\n\n\n\nImagine you\u2019re going to a wedding. You have to go to the wedding, what can you do? Everybody is talking and talking and chatting and laughing, and you’re standing there smiling to everybody, and you’re thinking your own thoughts. You’re thinking your own thoughts about Hashem. That’s hatznea leches im Elokecha \u2013 you\u2019re walking secretly with Hashem. You show the people that you’re together with them \u2013 you say, \u201cMazal tov, mazal tov.\u201d But as soon as he walks away, forget about him and you’re thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That’s hatznea leches im Elokecha.
\n\n\n\nAnd you get more reward for that because nobody is going to know. When you came out of the woods, people said, \u201cOoh! This tzaddik was in the woods for five weeks! Oy yoy yoy, such a tzadik!\u201d But when you come back from the chasunah, nobody knows you were in the woods for five minutes or ten minutes at a time. You won\u2019t get any honor for that. Only that Hakodosh Boruch Hu will one day give you the biggest honor.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-33
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Being Like Rashbi appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-18T17:27:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-18T17:27:47+00:00" }, { "id": 33631, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-yawning/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Yawning\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it an aveirah to yawn during davening if the yawning is involuntary?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is no; but the yawning is not involuntary.
\n\n\n\nAnd I\u2019ll prove it to you. Because when you\u2019re standing in front of the mayor, although the mayor \u2013 especially the New York City mayor \u2013 is a zero shebi\u2019zeros, still you wouldn\u2019t yawn because you have a little bit of respect for him. Yawning is always a sign that you don\u2019t care at all. So it\u2019s not involuntary.
\n\n\n\nSuppose you\u2019re standing with a beautiful young woman who\u2019s been introduced to you and it\u2019s a marriage prospect; you\u2019re not going to yawn. It would never enter your mind! You wouldn\u2019t even have any desire to yawn!
\n\n\n\nOr would you ever yawn during supper? Did you ever see anybody yawning during supper?
\n\n\n\nYawning is a sign of disregard. You don\u2019t care what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s boring. And not only is it boring, but you\u2019re going to demonstrate that it\u2019s boring. You don\u2019t care even if you\u2019ll show that it\u2019s boring because at least if you didn\u2019t want to show it, you\u2019d control yourself.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, suppose a bum is talking on the street and threatening you and he\u2019s speaking at length; you wouldn\u2019t yawn. Because you\u2019d get a punch in the nose for yawning. So yawning is a sign that you don\u2019t care so much; so much so that you\u2019re even willing to demonstrate your disregard.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 277
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Yawning\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-18T01:05:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-18T01:05:14+00:00" }, { "id": 33601, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-we-count-sefiras-haomer/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Count Sefiras Ha\u2019omer", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should we think about when we count sefiras haomer?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow, everyone knows that we’re counting sefira to come closer to the very greatest event in history; and that event was Matan Torah. If not for Matan Torah, the whole creation would have been a waste. And so everybody knows that we were counting down towards that great day, the most important day ever.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut there is a kasha on this p’shat. Because why\u00a0do we say, \u201cToday is so and so many days\u201d\u00a0and the next day we add a day; we count up, one day, two days, three days. We should count down. Like this: \u201cToday is 49 days of the omer, 49 days till Matan Torah.\u201d The next day we should count 48, then 47. If you’re waiting for Matan Torah that\u2019s how you should count.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nI want to make sure the kasha is understood. You should go from the bigger number to the lesser number. And the less days there are left, the happier you are.
\n\n\n\nAlso, why call it Sefiras Ha’omer? We should call it Sefiras Hatorah. Why Sefiras Ha’omer? What does it have to do with the omer?
\n\n\n\nSo pay attention. There is a machlokes ha’poskim if the brocha we make on talmud torah is mi\u2019dioraisah, if it\u2019s a torah obligation. We follow the shitah that it’s mi\u2019dioraisah. It means that if you’re in a safek if you made a brocha on the Torah in the morning, you have to say it anyhow, even though you might have said it already. In case you want, you can wait till Ahavah Rabah, the bracha before krias shema and be michaven that you’re thinking of bircas hatorah; but you must do something. But even though that\u2019s the halacha, there are poskim who say that birchas hatorah is de’rabanan. It\u2019s a machlokes haposkim.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, when it comes to the bracha on eating bread, everyone agrees it’s d’oraisah.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that an interesting thing? The bracha on Torah\u00a0is a machlokes but the\u00a0bracha after\u00a0eating bread,\u00a0hakol modim\u00a0is d’oiraisah;\u00a0everybody agrees that the possuk \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05de\u05e1\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d7\u05dd \u2026 \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05ea means you have to say brachos after eating bread.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo what do we see from this? That bread is more important than Torah; bread is more important than Torah because bread is life and life is the most important thing. Without that we couldn’t learn Torah. Not merely you say im ein kemach ein torah. No; kipshuto, bread is the opportunity to live in this world.
\n\n\n\nSo what do we do? We thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the bread and everyday we count. \u201cToday is the first day we’re thanking You for the bread.\u201d \u201cToday is the second day we\u2019re thanking You for the bread.\u201d The omer means bread. The third day, the fourth day. Keep on thanking.
\n\n\n\nNow where does it all end up? At Matan Torah. The bread is for the purpose of kabolas hatorah, for learning Torah. We’re thanking Hashem for giving us life. Boruch Hashem that You give us food to live.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo when you sit down to eat bread in the morning \u2013 every morning you eat a piece of bread, pas shacharis. The Gemara says it’s a mitzvah to eat bread every morning, a little piece of bread, and it will save you from many illnesses, many sicknesses. When you eat that piece of bread, so you\u2019re thinking, \u201cAhh! Bread! That\u2019s Torah, that\u2019s life, that\u2019s everything.\u201d And when you say \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u2026 \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d7\u05dd \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5, say it with\u00a0hisragshus, with excitement. Love Hashem for the bread because bread is going to bring you to everything else.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s what sefira is coming to tell us. How great is the gift that Hashem gives us! \u05e4\u05d5\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05de\u05e9\u05d1\u05d9\u05e2 \u05dc\u05db\u05dc \u05d7\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df. He\u2019s feeding us! And the purpose is eventually, to bring us to Har Sinai, to Matan Torah. It gives us life, and with all of that happiness and gratitude that we\u2019re increasing every day, that\u2019s how we go into Matan Torah. We love You so much Hashem for the bread You give us, that now we\u2019re going to accept the Torah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-8
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Count Sefiras Ha\u2019omer appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-16T17:22:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-16T17:22:36+00:00" }, { "id": 33598, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-35/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 35", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-35The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 35 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-16T04:04:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-16T04:04:30+00:00" }, { "id": 33593, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%94%d7%a8/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e8", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05d4\u05e8-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-16T03:49:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-16T03:49:28+00:00" }, { "id": 33584, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pesach-sheini-regrets/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Pesach Sheini Regrets", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s the significance of commemorating Pesach Sheini?
A:
\n\n\n\nI can tell you one thing from my little head. When the korban Pesach was made in the Midbar, at that time it states that there were people who were unclean because they were carrying the coffin that contained the body of Yosef Hatzaddik.\u00a0 They were carrying a dead body and because of their uncleanliness, they could not participate in the korban Pesach.\u00a0
The possuk says that they came to Moshe Rabbeinu and they were complaining,\u00a0 \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u2013 Why should we be left out? All the Bnei Yisroel are making a Pesach offering! Everybody will participate except us?!\u201d\u00a0
The question is, what are you worried about? You\u2019re absolved! If you\u2019re tamei, you\u2019re patur. Nobody\u2019s going to blame you. It\u2019s not your fault!
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, fault heint, fault morgen! They weren\u2019t satisfied with being absolved! \u201cWe don\u2019t care! We want to participate!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu saw that, He said, \u201cThat\u2019s a good argument \u2013 a very good argument.\u201d And He gave Pesach Sheini as compensation for those who desired to do more than they were capable of: \u201cIf you\u2019re regretting it so much,\u201d says Hashem, \u201cthen I\u2019m going to give you another chance; you\u2019ll be able to fulfill the korban Pesach thirty days later.\u201d And He gave them another chance. A month later, it was a Pesach Sheini. The people who were unclean the first time have another chance.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see how important it is \u2013 and this is one of the lessons of Pesach Sheini \u2013 that even where you\u2019re blameless, when nothing could be held against you at all, nevertheless to miss out on a mitzvah is a sadness; it\u2019s something that deserves much regret. \u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u2013 \u201cWhy should we be left out?\u201d And when you regret missing out on a mitzvah, even if it wasn\u2019t your fault, you find favor in the eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and He gives you new opportunities.
TAPE # E-43
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Pesach Sheini Regrets appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T17:07:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-16T20:32:38+00:00" }, { "id": 33579, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%97%d7%a7%d7%aa%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d7\u05e7\u05ea\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T12:00:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-20T03:18:21+00:00" }, { "id": 33573, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-behar/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Behar", "content_html": "\nA hectic scene was taking place near the Central Bus Station in Yerushalayim. Tonight was Lag Ba\u2019omer and buses were lined up waiting to take thousands of Yidden to Meiron for the yahrtzeit of the holy Tana, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
\n\n\n\nEverywhere one looked there were crowds of all types of Jews: Chassidim, Litvaks, Sefardim, Teimanim, and more were all trying to find a bus with empty seats. Organizers worked their way through the crowd, answering questions, helping people find places on the buses, and handing out sefarim for people to learn on the three-hour bus-ride. There was even one Jew yelling \u201cchai rotel\u201d and handing out shot glasses of wine!
\n\n\n\nRav Volender, the Rov of the Jerusalem Prison, was one of the many people arriving at the scene. As he was making his way towards the line of buses, he noticed a familiar face nearby.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, is that you?\u201d Rav Volender called.
\n\n\n\nTzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d, who was about to board a bus headed to the airport, turned around. \u201cAh Rav Volender! How good to see you!\u201d Tzadok said.
\n\n\n\nAs Rav Volender approached, he noticed that Tzadok was carrying the largest sefer Zohar he had ever seen. \u201cWhere did you find such a gigantic Zohar?\u201d asked Rav Volender.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, I wrote this Zohar myself,\u201d Tzadok said. \u201cI decided last week that I wanted to learn the whole Zohar in honor of Rashbi\u2019s yahrtzeit, but it was way too long and all the words were in a funny language I didn\u2019t understand. So I had no choice but to write my own. I made the sefer extra large so everyone who sees me carrying it will immediately know what a massive tzadik I am.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUh\u2026 uh huh\u2026\u201d Rav Volender replied. \u201cBut if you are so interested in Rashbi\u2019s yahrtzeit, then why are you getting on a bus to the airport instead of going to Meiron?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell I actually was planning to go to Meiron,\u201d Tzadok replied. \u201cI\u2019ve been living in America helping Mayor McGillicuddy – I\u2019m his chief kabbalah advisor, you know – and I flew in special just for Lag Ba\u2019omer so I could daven for the mayor at Rashbi\u2019s kever. But after seeing the long lines of frum Yidden crowding onto cramped buses, I changed my mind. I mean, look at these buses – it\u2019s like Meah Shearim on wheels! I\u2019m heading back to St. Louis, where I will ask the mayor to build a new Kever Rashbi in the middle of Forest Park. There\u2019s a lot more space there and there won\u2019t be as many Jews crowding all around on Lag Ba\u2019omer.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Tzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cLook how beautiful it is when there are so many Yidden together!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBeautiful?\u201d Tzadok replied. \u201cHow is this beautiful? It\u2019s just throngs of people wearing black and white\u00a0 as far as the eye can see. It\u2019s so boring!\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image-2.png?resize=640%2C451&ssl=1\")
\u201cTzadok,\u201d Rav Volender continued. \u201cIn this week\u2019s Parsha there\u2019s a halacha about houses in walled cities. In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, if someone sold a house he would get the chance to buy it back after the Yovel came. But then the Torah says something very interesting. If the house you sold was in a walled city, then when the Yovel came, unlike houses in other cities, you only had one year to buy this house back. The Torah did that so people who sold houses in walled cities would hurry up and buy them back before they lost their chance.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh I bet I know why,\u201d Tzadok said. \u201cIt\u2019s because the walls of cities have special segulot inside of them that make people rich, right?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm, no, I never heard that,\u201d Rav Volender said. \u201cBut there was something special about walled cities. You see, walled cities were safer places to live so more people lived there. The walled cities in Eretz Yisroel were packed with Yidden learning Torah and keeping Mitzvos. And Hashem wants us to realize how special it is to live in a place surrounded by frum Yidden – the more the better! You mentioned Meah Shearim – what a wonderful place for those who have the zechus to live there! Places that are packed with frum Yidden doing mitzvos are places of kedusha, places filled with Hashem\u2019s shechinah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok\u2019s eyes opened wide. \u201cSo you\u2019re saying it\u2019s a segulah to be surrounded by frum Jews?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cA segulah?\u201d Rav Volender replied. \u201cI didn\u2019t use that word. I\u2019m saying it\u2019s a wonderful thing for a Yid to surround himself as much as possible with other Shomrei Torah uMitzvos!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSounds like a segulah to me! Thanks Rav Volender!\u201d said Tzadok as he ran off into the crowd to find a seat on a bus heading to Meiron.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: When you\u2019re surrounded by frum Jews, you\u2019re in a place of great holiness. It is a zechus to live in a frum neighborhood!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Behar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T03:53:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-15T03:53:16+00:00" }, { "id": 33562, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-behar-5-speak-with-care-2/", "title": "Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care", "content_html": "\nTwo Sorrows
\n\n\n\nIn Parshas Behar the Torah warns the Am Yisroel against dealing unjustly with one another in monetary transactions: \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 When you\u2019re doing business with your fellow Jew; if you\u2019re selling to him or you\u2019re buying from him, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t aggrieve him by cheating him or overcharging him (Behar 25:14). It\u2019s a fundamental Torah law, what the Gemara refers to as ona\u2019as mammon, the aveirah of causing sorrow to your fellow Jew in monetary matters.
\n\n\n\nBut then, in possuk 17, when the Torah comes to the end of this subject matter, we\u2019re warned the same thing a second time: \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 And you should not aggrieve your fellow man. And the Gemara (Bava Metzia 58b) is bothered by that \u2013 what\u2019s this repetition for? What is the second possuk coming to teach us?
\n\n\n\nAnd what the Gemara answers introduces us to an entirely new Torah commandment altogether: \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 How do we explain this second possuk? \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u2013 the possuk is talking about hurting a person with words. The seeming repetition of these pesukim above actually is no repetition at all. It\u2019s not speaking about preying on your fellow Jew\u2019s money but about preying on his emotions \u2013 it\u2019s a specific lav against speaking words that hurt a fellowman\u2019s feelings.
\n\n\n\nTwo Storekeepers
\n\n\n\nAnd even more than that, the Gemara tells us a big chiddush there. It says there that not only is it an aveirah to hurt somebody with your words, but it\u2019s even worse than hurting him monetarily. That\u2019s what Chazal say: \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 It\u2019s worse to hurt a man\u2019s feelings than to steal his money (ibid.). Hurtful words are worse than taking his money!
\n\n\n\nI always give the same mashal. Here are two storekeepers on the same avenue. One of them, when you walk in there, you have to watch him very carefully because when he\u2019s weighing the merchandise on the scale, sometimes he pushes down with his hand. He wants to add a little bit more weight to the banana you\u2019re buying so that he can overcharge you. You have to say, \u201cMister, please take your hand off the scale.\u201d Also, with him you always have to count your change. However, this cheating grocer is a polite fellow; he\u2019s always kind to you and he doesn\u2019t say any mean words. You have to watch out when he\u2019s handling your bananas and your money, but you don\u2019t have to beware of a sharp tongue.
\n\n\n\nNow, on the other side of the street, there\u2019s another grocer. He\u2019s a man who is perfectly honest, 100% honest. He wouldn\u2019t even think of cheating you out of a nickel. If you accidentally left a penny of your change on the counter he would put it on the side for you; he would hold it for you and give it to you next time you come in. But on the other hand, he is mean. If you say an extra word, if you ask him where the tuna fish is, he answers you with a sharp word: \u201cLook right in front of you on the shelf! Can\u2019t you see?!\u201d He\u2019ll never steal even a penny from you but he\u2019ll hurt you with his careless tongue.
\n\n\n\nThe Bigger Crook
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is, who is better? Of course, neither of them is good because every man must strive for perfection in all areas of avodas Hashem. But for the sake of understanding our subject we have to answer this question: Who is better? The pleasant crook on this side of the street or the grocer on the other side who\u2019s mean, but is straight as an arrow when it comes to money?
\n\n\n\nListen to what the Gemara says about this: \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 The sin of hurtful words is worse than the sin of cheating a man out of his money. The nice crook on this side of the street is better \u2014 he\u2019s only cheating you out of your money, but at least he\u2019s not hurting your feelings. And who\u2019s the bigger crook? The honest grocer who would never take a penny from you.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re learning now that if you put your hand in somebody\u2019s pocket and take out his money, it\u2019s a smaller aveirah than saying something to hurt his feelings. Here\u2019s a nice Jewish boy who would never even dream about stealing from his mother \u2013 a son wouldn\u2019t sin against his mother like that. But suppose his mother is talking a little too much, so he says, \u201cMa, don\u2019t talk so much.\u201d Ooooh! He\u2019s hurting his mother\u2019s feelings! That\u2019s worse than stealing money out of her pocketbook!
\n\n\n\nSpecial Fear
\n\n\n\nGadol ona\u2019as devarim \u2014 hurtful words are worse than geneivah. And the Gemara (ibid.) explains three reasons why it\u2019s worse. Number one is this: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai points out that in the first possuk, by stealing or cheating in money matters, it doesn\u2019t say anything about fearing Hashem. Of course we know that we have to be afraid of Hashem \u2013 everybody knows how serious it is to take away money from a Jew \u2013 but still nothing is said there about fearing Hashem.
\n\n\n\nBut in the second possuk, when we are being warned against hurting your fellow Jew with words, the Torah goes out of its way to add the words \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 You should be afraid of Hashem. Which means, especially afraid! A cheater also has to be afraid, but for the man who hurts feelings, the Torah says: \u201cBe afraid of the repercussions!\u201d No question about it. Hakodosh Boruch Hu takes action if you hurt people\u2019s feelings.
\n\n\n\nWords Are Sticks and Stones
\n\n\n\nNow, Rabbi Elazar adds a second reason why ona\u2019as devarim is worse than stealing money. Zeh b\u2019gufo v\u2019zeh b\u2019mamono \u2013 When you hurt his money it\u2019s only his money, it\u2019s something external to him, but when you hurt his feelings, you\u2019re hurting him. Words hurt the body. He\u2019s affected physically \u2013 his nerves, his heart, his mind is hurt. It\u2019s actually painful. \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u2013 Sometimes words that come out of your mouth are like the piercings of a sword (Mishlei 12:18).
\n\n\n\nAnd Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeini adds yet another reason. Zeh nitan l\u2019hashavon v\u2019zeh lo \u2013 Money you could always pay back but hurt feelings you can\u2019t pay back. You can\u2019t make it up to him!
\n\n\n\nMoney you can always repay. You can do teshuva. You took it away, you give it back. If a man stole from you, he might mail in a check some day and pay it back; but if he hurt your feelings no check can make that up. If the feelings are hurt, they\u2019re hurt, and you can never pay back the hurt feelings. And even if you asked for mechila and he says wholeheartedly, \u201cI am moichel you,\u201d but his feelings are still hurt \u2013 the effect is still there.
\n\n\n\nScarred Forever
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you wound somebody; you make a cut on him with a knife. Right now there\u2019s a gash and it\u2019s going to leave a terrible scar. So you asked for mechila and you also paid his medical bills. Wonderful; very good. But the scar is permanent; he\u2019s a baal mum forever as a result. That\u2019s how it is with feelings too; they are forever.
\n\n\n\nWe remember the words \u2013 even though you are kind hearted and you\u2019re moichel, but you still remember the incidents when your feelings were hurt by somebody. And you remember them years and years. When you\u2019ll be an old man of a hundred years and you\u2019ll look back, you\u2019ll remember, \u201cThis one hurt my feelings,\u201d and \u201cThat one hurt my feelings.\u201d It\u2019s engraved in your mind.
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m ashamed to admit it but I remember what people said to me many years ago to hurt my feelings. I\u2019m moichel them with a mechila gemura but I can\u2019t forget it. I was in the yeshiva for many years; I dealt with maybe two thousand boys. Every one of them was polite to me; everyone was nice and polite. Only five bochurim in my entire career \u2013 nineteen years I was in the yeshiva and only five bochurim said something fresh to me. I remember it. Hakodosh Boruch Hu should bless them; they should have bracha v\u2019hatzlacha b\u2019chol ma\u2019aseh y\u2019deihem. They should grow old and have great grandchildren and they should have parnasah b\u2019revach. All good things should happen to them. But what happened still remains, it remains.
\n\n\n\nThe Criminal Record
\n\n\n\nYou know, there\u2019s a beautiful custom that some husbands and wives have, to ask mechila of each other before the yamim no\u2019raim. Rav Yitzchak Petterburger, when he went to shul on erev Rosh Hashana, before he walked out of the house he turned around and told his wife, \u201cZeit mir moichel \u2013 Forgive me, my wife.\u201d And she said, \u201cForgive me too.\u201d It\u2019s a very good minhag to imitate! And you don\u2019t have to wait for erev Rosh Hashana either. It\u2019s very wise to do that.
\n\n\n\nBut even if you do that, you have to know like the Gemara said, it\u2019s bigufo and it\u2019s not nitan l\u2019hishavon. It\u2019s pain that cannot be repaid. A man who hurts his wife with words, it\u2019s not forgotten \u2013 and even though she is willing to overlook it, in her heart it rankles! The pain is still there and it\u2019s considered a blot on his record.
\n\n\n\nAnd if it happens many times he should know that when he comes to the next world, the record will be taken out before the Dayan Emes, and he\u2019ll be judged; he won\u2019t be able to get away with the things that he did \u2013 neither will she. It\u2019s a very serious matter! It\u2019s a pity that so many people have their records filthied with blots on them. Because Hakodosh Boruch Hu is listening and he puts it down in the sefer hazichronos. A fine couple, living together loyally, but still they spend their lives in hurting each other\u2019s feelings \u2013 it will be played back for them and each word is going to cause them an unimaginable guilt. U\u2019magid l\u2019adam mah sicho and they\u2019ll be condemned for every word (See Chagigah 5b).
\n\n\n\nThe Devil and the Deathbed
\n\n\n\nOf course it could be that they forgive each other before they die. On her deathbed, she forgives her husband. He approaches the bed and says, \u201cPlease forgive me for everything I said.\u201d At least he should have seichel to say that. Some don\u2019t even have seichel to say that. And when he is dying, his wife should approach him and say, \u201cPlease, my husband, forgive me for everything I said or did against you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI know one man who was evil to his wife; he was always belittling her. He made her life a Gehenom. I know the story very well. I spoke to him; I called him a devil! And he was a frum man! A frum devil! And when she was on her deathbed, he came to her and he asked her to forgive him. And she said, \u201cI won\u2019t forgive you.\u201d And then she died. A true story. He was finished! She had left the world and he hadn\u2019t acquired her mechila.
\n\n\n\nFrum Hamsters
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the subject of Ona\u2019as Devarim just can\u2019t be ignored. We have to realize that hurting someone\u2019s feelings is a lav just the same as eating ham. It\u2019s worse. Eating ham is a lav d\u2019oraysa, but it never happens. Frum Jews eating ham? We cringe at the thought of eating chazir; but when it comes to ona\u2019as devarim we\u2019re trampling on it all the time.
\n\n\n\nAnd I want to tell you something \u2013 the place where many of us are trampling it most often is in our homes. So many people are sinning with their mouths in their homes. Imagine a Jewish home where all day long they\u2019re eating ham. A bite of ham in the morning, a ham sandwich in the afternoon, and some ham for supper! Is that a frum house?
\n\n\n\nA home where a husband and a wife or where brothers and sisters are transgressing ona\u2019as devarim all the time, what kind of home is that? A place where they\u2019re transgressing a very serious lav all their lives \u2013 very many times; sometimes thousands of times \u2013 is that a frum home?
\n\n\n\nThe Heavenly Drama
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara in Mesichta Eirichin(15b) says that l\u2019asid lavo, in the time to come, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to put on a great drama, a pantomime. And who\u2019s going to be the audience? Who\u2019s going to come and watch the play? Us! All of mankind will be assembled to watch.
\n\n\n\nNow, we understand that plays are usually a waste of time \u2013 sometimes they have to make tzedakah plays, things like that, but stam plays for entertainment are a narishkeit. But if it\u2019s a performance put on by Hashem, if Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Producer and the Director of the drama, then we understand that there\u2019s a big lesson to be learned.
\n\n\n\nNow, it says there that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to bring onto the stage all the wild animals \u2013 all the animals together on one side, and on the other side all by himself will be the snake. And the animals are going to confront the snake; they\u2019ll fall upon the snake and accuse him, \u201cYou wicked creature! What did you get out of biting people and injecting your venom into them? \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 What benefit do you have from that?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen we fell upon prey,\u201d the animals will tell the nachash, \u201cat least it was because we were hungry. But you didn\u2019t do it because you wanted to eat \u2013 any creature that crossed your path, you bit! Merely to inject venom and to kill for no purpose at all, that\u2019s wickedness!\u201d That\u2019s what the animals are going to say at that great drama \u2013 and all mankind will be viewing and listening.
\n\n\n\nSo the snake will defend itself: \u201cWhy are you attacking me? There\u2019s a creature that\u2019s even worse than me. Go after him first!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Wicked Man
\n\n\n\n\u201cWorse than you?! Who\u2019s worse than you?\u201d the animals will ask. And the nachash will turn and point at the audience, at us: \u201cIt\u2019s him! The man with the wicked tongue! What benefit does he get by talking about other people and slandering them? I at least have an instinct to protect myself. So when I think somebody is an enemy, I have an instinct to poison him. But what does this man get out of poisoning people? Just to inject venom for no reason, for some puny little pleasure of shooting off the mouth?
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo all of you wild animals,\u201d says the nachash, \u201cshould assemble and accuse the real guilty party \u2013 the ba\u2019al haloshon, the one speaks lashon hara. \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 What benefit is there to a man of a bad tongue? He is the very worst creature there is in the world!\u201d It means, he\u2019s the very worst of all creatures. The very worst person is the baal lashon hara. That\u2019s what this pantomime is going to demonstrate. And we have to remember who he\u2019s talking about. He\u2019s talking about us!
\n\n\n\nThe Other Lashon Hara
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that when you talk about lashon hara today, it\u2019s a popular subject. People learn the sefer Chofetz Chaim and Shmiras Haloshon and they think that lashon hara means gossip, talking evil about people. And of course it does, and that\u2019s a subject that needs a great deal of circumspection, a great deal of caution! \u05e0\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e2 \u2013 You have to guard your tongue from wickedness!
\n\n\n\nNow, a person who talks bad about other people is a rasha gamur, no question about it. But he\u2019s not the only poisonous person that the nachash was pointing at. There\u2019s a different type of lashon hara that is often overlooked and that is the lashon hara of saying hurtful words to your fellowman. To hurt people\u2019s feelings, that\u2019s the real lashon hara; that\u2019s the most wicked tongue.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think that what you say just bounces off of people. Many times people have commited suicide because of an unkind word. They were already loaded down with so much discouragement \u2014 all they needed was one more word and they said, \u201cTo heck with it all.\u201d A woman, a sensitive woman, told me that her husband almost killed her once. She wasn\u2019t well and he came home and said something careless and he pierced her with a sword. He almost finished her off.
\n\n\n\nThe Dangerous Tear
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you a little story of a tzadik who didn\u2019t vex his wife with any words \u2013 but even without opening his mouth he hurt his wife unintentionally. That\u2019s also a form of ona\u2019ah. Yehuda, the son of Rabbi Chiya, he was a great man. Yehuda and Chizkiya are the two famous sons of Rabbi Chiya. Now, Chizkiya lived much longer and he was the rebbe of Rabbi Yochanan and he\u2019s frequently in the Gemara. But Yehuda is found rarely in the Gemara. Now, why is he so rarely found? Because he died when he was young.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara tells what happened. All week he sat in the Yeshiva and learned. He didn\u2019t come home at night. Erev Shabbos, that\u2019s when he came home. And so, every Friday his wife would wait by the window, looking down the road, \u201cMaybe he\u2019s coming now, \u201d \u201cMaybe now.\u201d She\u2019s so happy \u2013 her husband is coming home for Shabbos. Without a father what kind of Shabbos is it?
\n\n\n\nOne Friday afternoon, it was getting late and somebody asked Yehuda a Talmudic question in which he was interested and he became involved in a discussion that dragged out;and it became later and later. And his wife was sitting at the window waiting; she saw it was getting late and there was no sign of him. And so her heart fell within her and she thought, \u201cMaybe he\u2019s not coming for this Shabbos.\u201d And a tear dripped out of her eye, down her cheek. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu, at that time, took Yehuda\u2019s life. \u201cBe careful of ona\u2019ah against your wife! If she sheds a tear, your punishment will be swift!\u201d That\u2019s what the Gemara (Bava Metzia 59a) says.
\n\n\n\nDangerous Words
\n\n\n\nNow, Yehuda was an innocent man who loved the Torah with all his heart and he certainly intended to come home, but because of a certain disregard for the feelings of his loyal wife who was waiting for him, he was punished so severely.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a story that should cause us to tremble. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 You should be afraid of Hashem! We begin to understand what it means, ona\u2019as devarim, to vex people with words. If a tear caused unintentionally has such severe repercussions, how much more so when a husband pierces his wife with the sword of a sharpened tongue?
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it becomes necessary for people to think, \u201cWhat did I say during the day? Maybe I should train my tongue to be restrained. Maybe I am too careless with my words.\u201d Husbands and wives, boys and girls, old sages and business people, everyone must spend some time thinking about how they speak.
\n\n\n\nMarriage Counseling
\n\n\n\nYou should know that I consider ona\u2019as devarim the most serious michshol in marriage. For many years I\u2019ve dealt with people coming to me. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn\u2019t succeed, but I can tell you that most of the time the troubles began with ona\u2019as devarim, words that hurt.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why, when a chosson or kallah come and ask for advice, this is one of the first things they should know. It\u2019s a very serious chet. Unfortunately, some people spend all their lives saying unpleasant words to each other\u2014fifty years of bickering and constant quarrelling; each time hurting each other\u2019s feelings. These people who are spending their lives in careless words and recrimination, they have to know what a very great burden there\u2019s going to be on them! A very great guilt!
\n\n\n\nNow, of course if you\u2019re a wise person you\u2019ll say, \u201cWhat do words mean? I\u2019ll forget about the words!\u201d That\u2019s right! That\u2019s what you should do \u2013 make believe you never heard it. But not always are both wise \u2013 sometimes one is not so wise. And what you said to her, or what she said to you, who knows how long it will rankle? And it becomes a poison, like the venom of a snake! And then, on that great day of judgement, the snake will point at you: \u201cThat\u2019s the truly wicked one,\u201d he\u2019ll say.
\n\n\n\nEleven Blessings
\n\n\n\nNow, as much as a tongue can be a most dangerous weapon in the hands of a careless person, the opportunities for doing good with your tongue, to heal instead of destroy, are just as readily available. The Gemara (Bava Basra 9b) says, \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05df \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 if you give a penny to a poor man, you have six mitzvos, six brachos and he quotes six glorious pesukim from Yeshaya. You read the pesukim, it\u2019s such an enormous benefit for you if you give something to a poor man!
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara adds, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05b9\u2013 but if at the same time, you say some friendly words to the poor man, you give him a bracha, you encourage him, you get five brachos. Let\u2019s say you give a poor man a dollar, you\u2019re finished? No, you\u2019re not finished. And so you wish him he should be at the wedding of his great grandchildren. Say that, you\u2019ll get five wonderful brachos.
\n\n\n\nNow the question is, what does it mean five brachos? Tosfos explains, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 even if you don\u2019t have any money to give, you just speak kind words, it\u2019s five brachos more than the money. It\u2019s eleven brachos, Tosfos says! That\u2019s how important it is, to speak kind words to a poor man.
\n\n\n\nNow if the Gemara makes that statement, it\u2019s a promise. Just think how easy it is to do that. You pass by a poor person, let\u2019s say a frum person and you give him a dollar, and you go on coldly, unemotionally you walk by. No. A wasted opportunity. You lost an opportunity. \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 say kind words to that person and you\u2019re going to gain a tremendous amount.
\n\n\n\nThe Poor Millionaire
\n\n\n\nNow, if your wife serves you at the table and you\u2019re sitting with gusto and enjoying the meal that she prepared to you, what about a few kind words, \u201cit tastes very good\u201d. Why shouldn\u2019t you say that? You can be sure it\u2019s gratifying to her to hear that. She\u2019s waiting. But it\u2019s nothing. He eats. He\u2019s destroying the food. How will you make up for the food you\u2019re eating up? Say at least, \u201cYou\u2019re an excellent cook\u201d? Ah! \u201cExcellent wife,\u201d you want to say? Even better. You must say something. You must be mefayes people.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, you went to a barber. Let\u2019s say you went to a shoimer Shabbos barber and of course you\u2019re paying him. When you\u2019re finished, don\u2019t get up and give him the money and walk out. Add, \u201cYou did a good job.\u201d He looks at you with surprise. It\u2019s the first time he ever heard that! You don\u2019t realize what a big zechus you have. You\u2019re filling in what\u2019s necessary. It\u2019s lacking in the world! Lacking encouragement!
\n\n\n\nEven if a millionaire is talking to you, you say some words. Of course not to flatter him, you think you might get some money out of him. No. You can praise him. \u201cYou know, the yeshiva that you\u2019re supporting is a tremendous thing. You\u2019re doing a great zechus,\u201d tell him, \u201cwhen you supported that yeshiva,\u201d or whatever institution they\u2019re supporting.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, this is an opportunity, to say words of encouragement to people. Make it a principle to think about that. And it\u2019s so easy. And the easier something is, the bigger the obligation is. \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05dc\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05e8 \u05de\u05b5\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea (Menachos 43b). The white threads in tzitzis were cheaper than the techeiles threads in the olden days. If a person neglected lovon it\u2019s a bigger sin than neglecting techeiles. What\u2019s easier is more obligatory. And so since it\u2019s so easy to do these things, the obligation is much greater.
\n\n\n\nBecome a Professor
\n\n\n\nIn Mishlei (15:4) it states: \u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 A healing tongue is a tree of life. That means if you train yourself to console people, to make them feel good, you\u2019re going to become a very great professor of medicine.
\n\n\n\nWith your tongue you can accomplish more than physicians do; people are ailing and they need a lift \u2013 everybody needs a word of consolation, a friendly expression or a compliment. You\u2019ll be surprised how important a friendly word is. Don\u2019t think that because a person is an extrovert and he\u2019s bubbling with talk and it\u2019s hard to get a word in sideways, that he doesn\u2019t need it. Don\u2019t worry. He\u2019s listening for something from you.
\n\n\n\nCalling For Advice?
\n\n\n\nWhat people need more than anything else in this world are a couple of kind words. I hear it when people call me on the telephone. Many people call me up for advice. But they don\u2019t let me talk! It\u2019s remarkable! It looks like they\u2019re coming for advice but they don\u2019t want to listen to me. They are waiting for a \u201cwow.\u201d Once in a while they\u2019ll give you a space of a few seconds to say a word or two in between, \u201cYou\u2019re right. You\u2019re right.\u201d Of course you can\u2019t always say, \u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d but that\u2019s what people want. They don\u2019t want advice; they want justification and kind words.
\n\n\n\nEveryone needs a little more joy in their lives and you can be the one who pours salve on the wounds of your discouraged fellow Jews. That\u2019s the medicine that mankind craves most \u2013 some recognition and kind words \u2013 and you have the medicine to give them. That\u2019s what your tongue is for \u2013 it\u2019s not for ona\u2019as devarim, it\u2019s for refuah. And if you say one kind word, he\u2019ll remember that and it\u2019ll change not only his day, it could be it will change his life too. Because as much as a wicked word remains forever, a kind word is even more.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m ashamed to tell you this story. I once spoke to a galach when I was a little boy \u2013 I was about twelve years old and the galach said to me a little something, a compliment. It meant almost nothing but I can\u2019t forget it. I even know his name. To this day I remember his name. He had a white necktie \u2013 I remember exactly the picture before my face. When somebody says a good word to you it\u2019s inscribed in your memory forever.
\n\n\n\nHome Sweet Home
\n\n\n\nThe opportunities are all around you, everyone can use a kind word. But of all the opportunities there\u2019s not one that is as prolific, as fertile, as the home. The Jewish home is the scene where the avodah of marpei lashon can be carried out in the best possible way. Your family members; your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your children \u2013 those are the best opportunities because they\u2019re always available in the house.
\n\n\n\nChildren who are encouraged in the home learn better. They are more neat in their habits. They are cooperative if they are encouraged. And most of all it\u2019s the best vitamins! Encouragement, compliments, praises \u2013 those are the best vitamins for your children. When he does a little bit, make it better than it is and let him feel that there\u2019s an incentive to do good. If a mother or father see a child making a berachah with kavanah they should praise him. The principle of encouragement, of marpei lashon, of kind words and compliments, is one of the foundations of a Jewish home.
\n\n\n\nAnd by the way children should seek to encourage parents. Don\u2019t forget about that. You have to encourage your father. You have to encourage your mother. Don\u2019t think it\u2019s just a one-way business. There are a lot of ways you could encourage your parents, and they need it too because the world is busy doing the opposite. And therefore a few kind words from children mean a great deal.
\n\n\n\nThe Outcry of Many
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s so easy to gain olam habo if a man would make it a principle once in a while to give his wife a compliment. That\u2019s the outcry of very many women: \u201cHe never once gave me a compliment.\u201d Now, the husband is an honest man. He\u2019s not a superficial fellow, and he thinks it\u2019s ridiculous. He thinks, \u201cShe knows I appreciate everything \u2013 I have to say it?!\u201d And because he is begrudging in words, his life goes by with lost opportunities.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s very important to keep in mind that you have a whole treasury of gold that costs you nothing to share. And your wife is right there and she is willing and ready to hear encouragement from you. Your poor wife, after a day in the hot kitchen, after hours of taking care of the children, is waiting for it; and if you\u2019d be willing to donate one or two words of encouragement, you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re accomplishing. You can say, \u201cI see you\u2019re working very hard to bring in Shabbos Kodesh. What a big mitzvah to be involved with all day.\u201d Say something like that; encourage her. With a thoughtful kind word you can gain success in every encounter with your wife \u2013 not only your wife; every person you meet is an opportunity.
\n\n\n\nThe Man With Thirty Wives
\n\n\n\nYou have to realize that a man is measured, a man is judged, by how many people he encounters successfully. It pays to think about that; to make a cheshbon hanefesh about that. So you start thinking. In the morning you went to the beis hamedrash to pray, and you encountered somebody on the way and then in the synagogue you encountered a few people. You didn\u2019t speak to most of them but maybe one or two you did. And then you went home for breakfast and encountered your son who was on his way out the door to yeshivah. Then you ran to the corner to catch the bus, so the bus driver was also an encounter. And then in the place where you work or lehavdil if you\u2019re in the yeshivah, you also bumped into a few people.
\n\n\n\nLook back at your day and see how successful these thirty or forty or fifty encounters were. Were you successful in the important avodah of marpei lashon? Or did you chas v\u2019shalom use your tongue for the opposite, for ona\u2019as devarim. You\u2019re being tested all day, every day. Every human being is a test, and the more people you encounter, the more tests you have.
\n\n\n\nNow, you have to know that your wife is a lot of people! You don\u2019t have one wife. Even after the cherem d\u2019Rabeinu Gershom, it\u2019s not one wife. The many times that you encounter your wife add up to many people; same thing with a husband. Each encounter is another opportunity, another test. The thirty times in one evening that you had some masa umatan, a talk, exchange of words, or something, that\u2019s thirty encounters; it\u2019s like thirty different people.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, with whom is it more frequently possible to utilize your tongue for chesed, than a husband to a wife and a wife to a husband\u2014they see each other more than anybody else. What difference does it make if it\u2019s your wife or your neighbor or another neighbor or another neighbor? Your wife is like a hundred neighbors. Each encounter is a new test. Did she have a pleasurable response to your company, or the opposite?
\n\n\n\nSing Her Praises
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore you should say good words when your wife cooks for you supper. Tell her it\u2019s a good supper. Usually it\u2019s good. And even if not, say it anyhow \u201cIt\u2019s a good supper.\u201d You know how encouraging that is? You might think it\u2019s nothing; no, it\u2019s not nothing \u2013 it\u2019s everything! Choose your words; only compliments and praises. When your wife hands you something to eat, let\u2019s say, it\u2019s an opportunity. Other things too; when you walk into the house, say, \u201cHow nice and clean your house is.\u201d Or say, \u201cYou\u2019re an expert manager\u2014a good balabuste.\u201d From time to time, tell your wife she\u2019s an eishes chayil. Show appreciation\u2014it costs no money. The human being is capable of finding the right expressions and that\u2019s your job; to look for ways and means of complimenting your wife. Sing her praises \u2014 not once and finished. Investigate, find what to praise \u2014 that\u2019s your function.
\n\n\n\nSometimes it\u2019s worth giving little presents. Some husbands don\u2019t have the knack of expressing themselves \u2013 they have to learn, they have to practice; even if it sounds strange in the beginning, keep at it. But sometimes, until you get the hang of it, you can buy little gifts. If you have trouble expressing yourself, one of the best ways a husband can continually compliment his wife is by frequently, at least once a week, buying some small article, an inexpensive gift, and bringing it home to his wife.
\n\n\n\nA Wife\u2019s Business
\n\n\n\nWives to their husbands too. Your husband maybe puts on a facade, but he craves the toras chesed al leshonah (Mishlei 31:26) of his wife. So your poor husband when he comes home tired from a day in the office or in his shop \u2014 he has so much friction with customers, with supervisors, with competitors. Maybe his boss was mean to him and he\u2019s knocked out. If you\u2019re a wise wife, you greet him with a couple of nice words. \u201cChaim, I\u2019m glad to see you. I made a nice supper for you today.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs much as possible she has to show appreciation for her husband. If she sees that her husband is oseik in Torah, she should praise him. Anything he does, she should praise. It doesn\u2019t mean she has to stand there like a canary all day long and sing his praises but she should look for opportunities to say a good word. A woman must make it her business always to look for opportunities to drop a word of encouragement to her husband. \u201cChaim, you fixed the sink very well. It\u2019s working perfectly now.\u201d Or \u201cYou\u2019re looking good today.\u201d It\u2019s all part of the great career of marpei lashon.
\n\n\n\nThe Beginning of the Great Career
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when we read about ona\u2019as devarim in this week\u2019s parsha, and we study the words of Chazal describing how wicked it is to say hurtful words to your fellow \u2013 we must understand that avoiding that sin is only the beginning of our careers. Even if people are successful in other forms of avodah, but if they\u2019re belittling each other, it means they\u2019re doing the opposite of what\u2019s expected in this great career, this great mission, which Hakadosh Baruch Hu requires of us.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, people who have a head on their shoulders and they think about the tremendous opportunity that they have, they won\u2019t be satisfied if they just don\u2019t criticize or recriminate. It\u2019s not enough if they won\u2019t bicker and belittle. Avoiding ona\u2019as devarim is most vital, but it\u2019s not enough. Because really it is only the foundation for much greater things \u2013 it\u2019s the stepping stool for the great career of marpei lashon.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nAcquiring a Healing Tongue
\n\n\n\nThe sin of ona\u2019as devarim is greater than stealing money. Hurtful words are like sharp swords, like the venom of a snake. This week I will bli neder endeavor to speak words of healing and encouragement. At least three times each day I will use my tongue to make someone feel good, and thereby acquire eleven brachos.
\nThe post Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T03:45:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-15T03:45:48+00:00" }, { "id": 33568, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-behar-5-speak-with-care/", "title": "Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care", "content_html": "TA-Behar-5782The post Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T03:44:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-15T03:44:05+00:00" }, { "id": 33561, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-behar-5-speak-with-care/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care", "content_html": "TA-Behar-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Behar 5 – Speak with Care appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-15T03:43:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-15T03:43:17+00:00" }, { "id": 33553, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-melaveh-malkah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Melaveh Malkah", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should you have in mind when you eat melaveh malkah?
A:
\n\n\n\nAt the melaveh malkah, one of the things we do is we regret that Shabbos is over. And we think: Did we utilize the Shabbos properly? When we sat down to eat, were we thinking of that great principle of briyas ha\u2019olam yesh me\u2019ayin. That\u2019s the great principle, the yesod hayesodos of this world. There\u2019s nothing in the world except the dvar Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhile you were eating the Shabbos seudah did you think about the possuk, \u05d1\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d4’ \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05e4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05dc \u05e6\u05d1\u05d0\u05dd \u2013 With the word of Hashem the world was created. Or the possuk, \u05db\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05e6\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u2013 He commanded, and it came into being.
\n\n\n\nWhile you were chewing on the challah do you think about the possuk, \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05e0\u05d9\u05e6\u05d1 \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 Your word \u2018Yehi,\u2019 is in the skies. The whole world is nothing but \u2018Yehi.\u2019 Hashem could take back His word and the world would collapse into nothing. The whole world is dvar Hashem. Do you think about that on Shabbos? Briyas ha\u2019olam yesh me\u2019ayin!
\n\n\n\nOr did you think about \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d9\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4, that this world was made for kindliness? \u05de\u05d6\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd. The song of Shabbos means you have to thank Hashem. What are you thanking Him for? For this world! You\u2019re thanking Hashem for giving us a world. \u05db\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4’ \u05d1\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc\u05da \u2013 You made me happy with Your work. \u05de\u05d4 \u05d2\u05d3\u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05da \u05d4’ \u05de\u05d0\u05d3 \u05e2\u05de\u05e7\u05d5 \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u05da \u2013 how deep are Your plans, how great is Your kindliness. \u05d1\u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e0\u05df \u2013 I will sing to You about Your handiwork.
\n\n\n\nSo the second thought as you\u2019re eating the melaveh malkah is, did you think during Shabbos about the chesed Hashem, that the world is full of kindliness, that \u05d2\u05d3\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd?
\n\n\n\nDid you think a third thought, that Shabbos is the declaration of the greatness of the Am Yisroel, \u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc? The nation that chose to serve Hashem, they came forward and now retroactively we understand that the world was made for them. The world was made for the Am Yisroel that would step forward and choose to be avdei Hashem. A tremendous lesson! The world is made for those who serve Hashem. \u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u2013 Shabbos is a sign between Me and you. \u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05e2\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u2013 you\u2019re My testimony in this world.
\n\n\n\nSo did you think about those things on Shabbos? Oh, it\u2019s a pity! You didn\u2019t utilize the Shabbos properly. So he\u2019s sitting at the melaveh malkah and he says, \u201cOy, I wasted the opportunity of Shabbos. Next week I\u2019ll make it my business when I sit down to eat, to think about those three things; one, briyas ha\u2019olam yeish mei\u2019ayin. Two, olam chesed yibaneh, and three, beini u\u2019vein Bnei Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s only the beginning. There\u2019s much more to think about. But at least these three things. And therefore at the melaveh malkah we say to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cWe thank you for the great gift of Shabbos! We\u2019re so sorry it went away! And next time we\u2019re going to make use of the Shabbos even more than now.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s one of the ideas of melavah malkah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-183
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Melaveh Malkah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-13T16:55:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-13T17:00:22+00:00" }, { "id": 33549, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-kiruv-rechokim-versus-selfishness/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Kiruv Rechokim Versus Selfishness", "content_html": "\nQ:
How much time should a yeshiva man give away to help others come closer to Torah and to yiddishkeit?
A:
Now that’s a question that I have been concerned with for at least forty years; and I never found an answer.
But tentatively we will say as follows. As long as you’re interested in learning and you have an hour that you want to spend on learning, keep it for yourself. Learn that hour.
But keep in mind that there are hours that you do waste. Many people need some recreation. It’s fun to be mekarev rechokim and there is plenty of wasted time.
I’ll give an example. If you’re a yeshiva man, and on Fridays after the seder you are one of those who sit in the beis hamedrash while they’re sweeping up and you sit in the dust and you continue to learn \u2013 some people do that by the way; they learn until the last moment and then just before Shabbos they run home to take a bath \u2013 if that\u2019s you, then I say, don’t budge. Keep on learning. But if you’re going to waste time Friday afternoon then \u2018waste\u2019 it on kiruv rechokim and get Olam Haboh in your spare time. There’s a lot of time wasted by everybody. Some people need a little rest from learning or a change so waste that time in the right way.
But the rule is \u2013 and it may sound selfish but I wouldn’t budge from it \u2013 if you have an hour to learn, do so and don’t give it away for any other purpose.
TAPE # 263 (May 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Kiruv Rechokim Versus Selfishness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-13T16:50:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-13T16:50:10+00:00" }, { "id": 33545, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-following-laws-of-your-country/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Following Laws of Your Country", "content_html": "\nQ:
How obligated is a frum Jew to keep the civil laws and statues of the country where he lives?
A:
\n\n\n\nHe is obligated fully.
\n\n\n\nNow, sometimes there are certain things which the usage of the country permits; it is customary to overstep the bounds in certain things and they themselves will consider it ridiculous if he toes the line meticulously. There are certain things like that.
\n\n\n\nHowever, I cannot tell you publicly what all of these things are . But there are certain things that everybody expects you might do even though it oversteps the law. For instance, everybody expects that you might park for a moment in a non-parking area if you intend to be right out. So you\u2019ll say it\u2019s a chet? That you did an aveirah? No. Everybody understands that; even the policeman as he is taking out his notebook, if you come out just in time, he might desist.
\n\n\n\nSo therefore there are certain forms of leeway which have to be Torah shebaal peh; I cannot tell you in a way that it should be publicized but there are certain things that are understood that people have a right to do if nobody is looking.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 405
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Following Laws of Your Country appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-13T16:28:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-13T16:28:11+00:00" }, { "id": 33541, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%97-%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%94-%d7%a2%d7%a9%d7%94-%d7%93-%d7%9b%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%9e%d7%92%d7%9f-%d7%93%d7%95%d7%93-%d7%93%d7%90%d7%a1-%d7%94%d7%99%d7%a0/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d7: \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3’ \u05db\u05db\u05d4, \u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3, \u05d3\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d9\u200e\u200e", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-218The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d7: \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d3’ \u05db\u05db\u05d4, \u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3, \u05d3\u05d0\u05e1 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d9\u200e\u200e appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-12T21:08:20+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-12T21:08:22+00:00" }, { "id": 33537, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-marry-a-kollel-man/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Marry A Kollel Man", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should a woman marry a man who learns in the kollel and has no parnasa?
A:\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, she has to find out two things; first of all, is he a learner? If he loafs in the kollel \u2013 which a lot do \u2013 if the kollel is just a bais manos to escape the responsibilities of life, then forget about it. He is just a drifter. To sit in a kollel and chalom all day is no good. But if he\u2019s a man who insists that he sincerely wants to learn; if he\u2019s pursuing Torah and he might become a gadol too, certainly. If she is an idealist and she is willing to work all her life, certainly!
\n\n\n\nHowever, if she doesn\u2019t want to work all her life \u2013 and many don\u2019t want to work all their lives; it is not an easy choice to make \u2013 so she can\u2019t marry a kollel man.
\n\n\n\nSo two things I am answering. First of all if he is a genuine kollel man that\u2019s one thing; but if he is an imitation kollel man, let her forget about him.
\n\n\n\nAnd secondly, if he is a real kollel man then she has to make up her mind, how much is she willing to sacrifice? Is she willing to wait ten years and then he should go out and work? Or is she willing to work all her life? That\u2019s a big decision and it is up to her to decide before their marriage; she shouldn\u2019t deceive him.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 405
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Marry A Kollel Man appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-12T19:07:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-12T19:07:23+00:00" }, { "id": 33533, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-hidden-sins-of-talmidei-rabbi-akiva/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Hidden Sins of Talmidei Rabbi Akiva", "content_html": "\nQ:
How should we understand the sins of the students of Rabbi Akiva that caused so many thousands of them to die?
A:
\n\n\n\nThere’s a certain tradition that in the time of sefirah many talmidim of Rabbi Akiva perished by a plague. And we have a tradition that it was because \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05d4\u05d2\u05d5 \u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d6\u05d4 \u2013 they didn\u2019t treat each other with respect. So I’ll explain this to you. The Jewish nation is a nation that blames itself for everything. Whatever happens they say, \u201cIt’s our fault.\u201d And that’s a virtue. Even if it’s not true, it\u2019s a virtue because if you blame yourself, you look for faults; and once you look for faults, you’ll discover them and you’ll become perfect. It\u2019s the people who don’t look for faults and don’t blame themselves, they are full of sins, full of imperfections. It’s only when people look that they find.
\n\n\n\nIf you look for chametz, you might find some forgotten piece of bread that is hidden away. If you don’t look, you won\u2019t find. It doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have some chametz stacked away. Everybody has some chametz stacked away; a bottle of whiskey here or a biscuit there. If you don’t look, you’ll have chametz in your possession. The Jew always looks for chametz, for sins, all year round and therefore he discovers wrong things of which he rids himself.
\n\n\n\nNow, there was a plague. And so the disciples of Rabbi Akiva said, \u201cChatanu! It’s our fault. We weren’t polite enough to our comrades. We mistreated them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHow do we know it’s true? Did a prophet come or did a bas kol come from heaven that said, \u201cYou wicked fellows. You were so rude to each other. That’s why I’m sending a plague on you.\u201d No such thing happened. It was a plague, a regular plague. Plagues comes because of germs. Plagues come because of other reasons. But they didn’t say that. They said, \u201cIt\u2019s our fault.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? What did they blame themselves for? It could be that in their fire of discussing Torah one said to the other one, \u201cYou ignoramus! How could you say such a thing? How could you say such a pshat in the Gemara?\u201d Today, you hear it every day, but they were such great men that they blamed themselves.
\n\n\n\nNow, we don’t have any bas kol that tells us that this was the reason for the plague. They themselves told us that. They searched in their hearts and couldn’t find anything else. If they could find other sins, they would have told us, \u201cFor these sins we’re being punished.\u201d But they couldn\u2019t find anything. So they finally said, \u201cIt\u2019s because lo nahagu kavod zeh bazeh; it’s probably because you weren’t polite enough to each other.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat’s a monument, a testimonial, to the greatness of the old generations. They blamed themselves. And therefore today every Sefirah we think about it and we decide we’re going to be more and more polite to each other. That’s how we should learn.
\n\n\n\nWhat do we do, however? The truth is we are as rough and rude to each other as possible; husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. Neighbors are rough and rude to each other. Everybody is rude to some extent. They shouldn’t be but they are. But these rude people are sitting and saying, \u201cOy, the talmidim of Rabbi Akiva! They deserve what they got.\u201d
\n\n\n\nInstead, let’s learn from them and let’s understand that we are a thousand times worse. What’s considered impoliteness among them would be among us the best etiquette.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 313
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Hidden Sins of Talmidei Rabbi Akiva appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-12T18:44:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-12T18:44:49+00:00" }, { "id": 33513, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-mothers-day-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Mother\u2019s Day\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the Torah view of the significance Mother\u2019s Day? And should we consider it a halachic problem of chukos akum, of going in the ways of the non-Jews?
A:
There\u2019s no question that the American public has been sold an item that was created for the purpose of filling the pockets of businessmen. The American public is the real proverbial sucker because no matter what you\u2019ll say about Mother\u2019s Day, it\u2019s a day when people make money. Not only florists! Jewelers and bakers and caterers \u2013 everyone is lining his pockets because of Mother\u2019s Day.
Now, Mother\u2019s Day doesn\u2019t have any significance based on historical reasons or some religious grounds. A President didn\u2019t think it up. It didn\u2019t begin as an act of Congress \u2013 legislators didn\u2019t get together and decide that there must be a day to honor mothers. It was nothing but a ploy of the businessmen. That\u2019s all it is. Now, you mothers will have to forgive me for being so crass and vulgar but that\u2019s the plain truth.
So you\u2019ll say, \u201cBut now that Mother\u2019s Day already exists; now it\u2019s real \u2013 we can\u2019t ignore it.\u201d That\u2019s a different question, what to do now that it\u2019s real. But it\u2019s important to realize where it came from \u2013 that makes a difference too.
Now, I\u2019m going to say something that\u2019s going to be fifty percent unpopular. The authenticity of your celebration of Mother\u2019s Day depends on how much you celebrate Father\u2019s Day. Because Father\u2019s Day like Mother\u2019s Day is not genuine. The truth is that Father\u2019s Day was just an afterthought by the businessmen. That\u2019s all. They thought, \u201cIf we\u2019re going to cash in on the mothers, so what about the fathers too?\u201d But it turned out to be a flop. Father\u2019s Day is a very small business item. So they sell a few cufflinks, a few cheap things to give the old man; but it\u2019s Mother\u2019s Day \u2013 that\u2019s the big day! Oooh and ahhhh!
And you\u2019re taught that you\u2019d better observe it \u2013 or else. And how many fights have arisen between husbands and wives because of insufficient appreciation of Mother\u2019s Day! \u201cMother\u2019s day!\u201d she says to him. \u201cThat\u2019s how you\u2019re going to celebrate my day!\u201d
Now, whether observing Mother\u2019s Day or Father\u2019s Day is a transgression of walking in the ways of the goyim, that I\u2019m going to leave to the gedolei Yisroel \u2013 because I always do that when it\u2019s a halacha shailah. And therefore I\u2019m going to limit myself merely to this overview of the origin of these days.
Now, it\u2019s important for us to realize that as Jews we have days that are really important. \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05db\u05d7\u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd. If you want to celebrate, the fifteenth day of Av is a beautiful opportunity. So many good things happened on that day. On that day the generation ceased dying in the Wilderness; the sentence to perish in the wilderness came to an end. Isn\u2019t that a glorious occasion to celebrate? Let\u2019s see all the Mother\u2019s Day participants gather and get drunk on Chamisha Asar b\u2019Av. That\u2019s not the proper procedure by the way, but at least something you should do. All of us skip tachnun on the fifteenth of Av because that\u2019s a day you should celebrate.
Now, if you really want to do something, what about Purim? Some people show lip service to Purim; shalach manos and so on. But Purim is a very big day \u2013 you should make a big banquet on Purim! That\u2019s the time to summon all the relatives \u2013 spread out good foods; make it a big expense! We have days! In the Torah calendar there\u2019s a plentitude of happy occasions. Lag Ba\u2019omer is a glorious occasion. And there are plenty of them.
So why do you have to go shopping for Mother\u2019s Day and Father\u2019s Day? And not only are you shopping among the gentiles but you swallow the bait that the storekeepers and the Chamber of Commerce are hanging out for us. We\u2019re silly suckers, and because they say \u201cOoh,\u201d so we say \u201cOoh.\u201d We\u2019re impressed by what they say even if it\u2019s meaningless. It\u2019s all meaningless.
Now, if you\u2019ll go out and say, \u201cRabbi Miller made Mother\u2019s Day into nothing,\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s the truth. But whether we actually should ignore it? That\u2019s a different story because there\u2019s such a thing as darkei shalom. Sometimes for the sake of harmony it pays to do certain things. But this I\u2019m going to leave to bigger men than me. I just want to emphasize that we shouldn\u2019t be slaves to the mode of the day.
Listen to me. There will come a day in America when Mother\u2019s Day will be forgotten. I can guarantee that. It\u2019s not a chok v\u2019lo ya\u2019avor, a statute that will last forever. It\u2019s not in the Constitution by the way. Mother\u2019s Day is not guaranteed by the Constitution. So it\u2019s possible that it\u2019s still going to be forgotten.
So people are going crazy because of things that not gentiles, but that businessmen invented!
TAPE # 122 (May 1976)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Mother\u2019s Day\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-10T17:11:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-10T17:11:22+00:00" }, { "id": 33509, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-hashem-created-medinas-yisroel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Hashem Created Medinas Yisroel", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhy did Hashem create Medinas Yisroel?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu is doing things that have more than one purpose. In the beginning Medinas Yisroel served as a place where many Jews came. In the meantime it became a haven.
\n\n\n\nBut at the same time, it was a test. It\u2019s an ordeal. Had they utilized it properly, it could have been a great gift. But if it\u2019s misused, so it\u2019s like taking any good thing Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives to you which you could have utilized to do very great things and you didn\u2019t. So they failed. They failed and today it\u2019s not even a safe haven for Jews. Today the Am Yisroel is suffering from Medinas Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 166 (May 1978)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why Hashem Created Medinas Yisroel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-10T17:05:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-10T17:05:25+00:00" }, { "id": 33501, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%94%d7%a8-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05d4\u05e8The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T16:05:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-11T11:26:47+00:00" }, { "id": 33495, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a8-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T01:59:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-08T02:00:00+00:00" }, { "id": 33491, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-emor-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Emor", "content_html": "\nThe Greenbaum Family excitedly arrived at Ziggy Zaga\u2019s Kosher Karnival. It was the best frum event a family could attend. This year, every single one of the rides had a theme relating to a different sha\u2019ar in the Chovos Halevavos.
\n\n\n\nThe seats on the Bechina Ferris Wheel were decorated according to the many amazing things Hashem does for us. The Kniah Slide was a narrow tube which you could only fit into if you bent down to show how humble we must be in front of Hashem. And the Bitachon Roller Coaster made you feel like you were going to fly off of the edge of the track – the only way to make it to the end without screaming in fear was to have full trust in Hashem that you would survive the ride in one piece!
\n\n\n\nYitzy and Shimmy were skipping happily as they headed towards the entrance, while Basya walked with her eyes in the sky, watching the \u201cCheshbon Hanefesh\u201d hot air balloons floating by in the air. It looked like the best Kosher Karnival yet!
\n\n\n\nJust then, a gust of wind blew the hat off of a man in front of them. Quickly, Yitzy ran forward to pick it up and hand it back to him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThank you so much!\u201d said the man in an oddly familiar voice, as he placed the hat back on his head. \u201cWhat you just did was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait a second,\u201d said Basya suddenly. \u201cThere\u2019s a big \u2018Pei\u2019 on your hat. You\u2019re Uncle Pinky!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo way!\u201d said Yitzy and Shimmy together. \u201cThe famous Uncle Pinky who teaches Jewish boys and girls all about chessed and midos?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoodle-bee – that\u2019s me!\u201d Uncle Pinky said with a huge smile.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait a minute, aren\u2019t you the Greenbaum family who gave me a ride to the Karnival two years ago when my car broke down on the highway?\u201d (Read the story in the newly published book \u201cToras Avigdor jr.\u201d Parshas Devarim).
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s us!\u201d the Greenbaums all replied at the same time with a smile.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, thanks again!\u201d said Uncle Pinky. \u201cI have to go prepare for the show I\u2019m performing in soon. I hope to see you there!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait, Uncle Pinky, can I ask you a question?\u201d asked Shimmy.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSure,\u201d said Uncle Pinky, the huge smile still on his face.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThere are only frum Yidden here.\u201d Shimmy said. \u201cSo why did you say that we did a Kiddush Hashem by returning your hat?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah, and we didn\u2019t even bring any wine to make Kiddush!\u201d Little Yaeli added.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t need wine to make a Kiddush Hashem,\u201d Uncle Pinky said warmly to little Yaeli. Turning to the boys, he continued. \u201cAnd you can even make a Kiddush Hashem when there are only frum Yidden around. A Kiddush Hashem doesn\u2019t depend only on what a goy thinks about Jews; it depends on what anybody thinks about Hashem!\u00a0
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image-1.png?resize=631%2C439&ssl=1\")
\u201cDon\u2019t you kids love the Kosher Karnival? I\u2019m sure you do because I can\u2019t get enough of it and I\u2019m already sixty years old. And wherever I go, I hear people talking about how great the Karnival is. Everyone is so impressed with Ziggy Zaga, the man who runs the Karnival, and how he makes it so different every year. Wherever I go, all I hear is, \u201cIsn\u2019t Ziggy great,\u201d \u201cMr. Zaga is the best carnival maker in the world; we love him.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the same way it works with the mitzvah of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc in this week\u2019s parsha. Just like every ride in the Kosher Karnival makes Mr. Zaga\u2019s name greater and greater in the world, everything we frum Jews do can make Hashem\u2019s name greater and greater.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are Hashem\u2019s people, so everything we do and everything we say becomes attached to how people look at Hashem. Every Jewish boy and girl has the opportunity to give Hashem \u2018a good name\u2019 and to make people think well of Hashem.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem is so important. We know that Hashem is so great and so perfect and so wonderful \u2013 after all, He made the whole world which is a billion, trillion, gazillion times better than Ziggy\u2019s Karnival \u2013 but we want all people to think that way too. So the more perfect we act, the more people will think, \u201cWow! Look at those wonderful Jewish boys and girls! If they can be so good and so holy, can you imagine what their Hashem is like!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd now friends,\u201d Uncle Pinky finished, \u201cDun diddly dun – I gotta run!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThank you Uncle Pinky! Goodbye Uncle Pinky!!!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: We are Hashem\u2019s people and when we behave nicely, people compliment Hashem and speak nicely about Him, that\u2019s what\u2019s called a Kiddush Hashem.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Emor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T01:54:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-08T01:54:44+00:00" }, { "id": 33481, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-emor-5-pleasure-and-shabbos-2/", "title": "Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos", "content_html": "\nThe Holy Bakery
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah the Am Yisroel is commanded by Hakodosh Boruch Hu to bake twelve loaves of bread and to display them on a golden table in the Beis Hamikdash: \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05e7\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05e1\u05b9\u05dc\u05b6\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b6\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 You should take fine wheat flour and bake it into twelve loaves \u2026 and you should set them up in two stacks, six in each stack, on the pure table, before Hashem (Emor 24:5-6).
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a question here because we\u2019re talking about the holiest place on earth now, the place where the Shechina resides; it\u2019s the place where every act, every procedure, was kodesh kodoshim and here the Am Yisroel were commanded, by means of their representatives, the kohanim, to be bakers! Not to meditate in the words of the Mesillas Yesharim or Chovos Halevavos but to bake twelve loaves of bread and to leave them sitting on the table all week long.
\n\n\n\nNow I must tell you beforehand, I must apologize because the Rambam says he doesn\u2019t understand the idea of the shulchan with lechem hapanim. A table with bread from which the kohanim eat on Shabbos? He says he has no explanation (Moreh Nevuchim 3:45). The Rambam says he doesn\u2019t know and here, in a little synagogue in Flatbush, a nobody is going to come along and give an explanation? It\u2019s uncomfortable but what can I do? What can I do \u2013 I can\u2019t help myself.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Be a Horse
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ll say as follows: it\u2019s noteworthy that these loaves are the sole instance of an offering in the Sanctuary which is kept for display. It\u2019s true that the bread was eaten on Shabbos, but that was only the culmination of a week-long exhibition. And all week long, whatever avodah the kohen was busy with, every time he passed by he took note of the bread being showcased on the golden table. And therefore it is obvious that the function of this avodah is to emphasize the supreme importance of bread.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be that we don\u2019t see what\u2019s so special \u2013 it\u2019s only bread after all. But that\u2019s exactly the point! We\u2019re learning now that it\u2019s not just bread \u2013 it was kodesh kodoshim, it was holy bread. And you know why it\u2019s so holy? Because it\u2019s teaching us daas; it\u2019s giving us a mind. Bread is one of the great testimonies to the Creator\u2019s wisdom and the lechem hapanim is a symbol that the function of bread is to make us aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nNow don’t make any mistake about this; it\u2019s plain common sense what I\u2019m telling you now only that it requires some thought. Because if you look at a piece of bread like a horse looks at bread, you’ll have the mind of a horse. But if you learn how to look at bread, you’ll begin gaining a Torah mind.
\n\n\n\nHow are you supposed to look at bread? Well, if you ever admired a beautiful diamond and wondered at the texture, the sparkle, the beauty of it, you should know that it’s nothing at all compared to a piece of bread. Bread! Bread is unequaled in creation; there is nothing in the whole universe like it. Except your brain – you\u2019ll agree that your brain is superior. But bread is a miracle! Not one miracle \u2013 it\u2019s miracles upon miracles.
\n\n\n\nDifficult for G-d
\n\n\n\nYou know, there\u2019s a statement in the Gemara (Pesachim 118a) that \u05e7\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b0\u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d9\u05b7\u05dd \u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3, a man\u2019s mezonos, his food, is as difficult as tearing apart the Yam Suf. And it\u2019s a maamar that is misunderstood by everybody because when you ask a person, \u201cHow is business?\u201d so if he knows a little Gemara he replies with this statement. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy; it\u2019s k\u2019kriyas Yam Suf.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut actually that\u2019s not true at all because most people do get their food; look around and you see that most people are eating. Unless they\u2019re trying to reduce, everybody is gaining weight. But let them try to split the Yam Suf.
\n\n\n\nSo you must say that this statement means something else. It means that it\u2019s more difficult for Hashem \u2014 for Hashem to give you food, it\u2019s more difficult than opening up the Yam Suf.
\n\n\n\nNo Exaggerations
\n\n\n\nNow, we know of course nothing is difficult for Him but it means that when it comes to bread there are even bigger miracles, more miracles, than took place at the Yam Suf. And since we know \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc \u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05de\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, that 250 nissim took place on Yam Suf so it means there are at least 250 miracles when you eat bread. When bread is produced, it’s a succession of hundreds of miracles.
\n\n\n\nNow when I say hundreds, I\u2019m understating it. The truth is that the number is so remarkable that you won\u2019t believe me. \u201cA guzma,\u201d you\u2019ll say, \u201cHe\u2019s just exaggerating.\u201d But the plain truth is that millions of details need to cooperate to make bread. I won\u2019t be able to take up the time now and describe for you all the nissim taking place in the making of food \u2014 first of all, I know very little; and even if I would tell you the little I do know we would never be able to leave this place; you\u2019d never go home.
\n\n\n\nOut of Thin Air
\n\n\n\nBread comes out of nowhere every day. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of bread materialize out of the atmosphere every day. Don’t think it comes out of the earth. The aretz gives only a tiny contribution to the lechem. We say \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 because the roots of the wheat are in the earth but actually only a tiny part comes from the earth; the majority comes from the air. It\u2019s mavhil; it\u2019s just unbelievable. If you ever studied any science, you\u2019ll know that bread comes out of nowhere. You hear that? Bread is air! You have to become excited when you hear that!
\n\n\n\nHow does air become bread? It\u2019s a nes! How did the starch come about? How did the plant produce starch? It\u2019s using the sunlight. The sun is sending its rays from 93 million miles away to the plant and the plant has a little chlorophyll \u2014 another nes \u2014 a material that is able to take the sunlight and produce starch.
\n\n\n\nBut sunlight is not enough. To make bread you need some carbon dioxide too \u2013 it\u2019s part of the recipe. So the plant takes in some carbon dioxide from the air and it combines with the sunshine and gets to work making starch.
\n\n\n\nNow, carbon dioxide is only three parts out of ten thousand in the air. And the plant is standing here sucking the carbon dioxide from the air around it. In a minute, it has exhausted all the carbon dioxide. So the plant should die. No! Hakodosh Boruch Hu made the wind. \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 Without the winds, the world couldn\u2019t exist (Taanis 3b). The wind keeps the air moving, so as the plant exhausts the carbon dioxide from the air around it, the wind pushes some new air into place and the air keeps on moving \u2013 nissei nissim.
\n\n\n\nEating a Miracle
\n\n\n\nAnd so, a little bit of water and carbon dioxide, some sunlight and chlorophyll, and the little wheat plant gets busy combining them and producing starch. That starch is the wheat; that\u2019s the bread. That\u2019s cheilev chitah \u2013 that\u2019s the fat of the wheat. And so if you\u2019re holding a piece of bread you have to know that you have in your hand a piece of miracle.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why our Sages decreed that \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea \u2013 you can\u2019t throw bread (Brachos 50a). Derech eretz! Let’s say your son says, \u201cAbba, throw me a piece of challah please.\u201d \u201cOh no,\u201d you say, \u201cI don’t play catch with challah. Challah is a nes.\u201d Would you throw let\u2019s say the urim v\u2019tumim?! Imagine the Kohen Gadol said to you, \u201cHand me the urim v\u2019turim please,\u201d would you throw it? You would take it with the biggest derech eretz when you hand it over to him.
\n\n\n\nYou have to be polite with bread. It\u2019s Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s miracle. The urim v\u2019tumim is such a rare miracle, but bread is no less. The truth is it\u2019s bigger! The piece of bread is more nissim than the urim v\u2019tumim \u2013 more nissim! It\u2019s a life-giving product that\u2019s created from sunshine combined with a little carbon dioxide and water. Not that the sunshine helps the food come into existence; the sunshine becomes part of the food. You\u2019re eating sunshine and carbon dioxide when you eat bread. That\u2019s what it is.
\n\n\n\nG-dly Wisdom
\n\n\n\nNow, the next time you\u2019re nice and hungry, why don\u2019t you go outside and see what you can do. You have everything you need after all; there\u2019s plenty of air and carbon dioxide and earth and sunshine. You couldn’t do a thing! Not only you. Nobody in the world can do it. Even the biggest chemical company can’t make bread; it\u2019s such a nes that the greatest chemical geniuses at DuPont can\u2019t duplicate it. They’d become millionaires with the patent.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s how a kohen was thinking when he saw the lechem hapanim. He\u2019s busy with the avodah; he\u2019s walking past the open doors of the heichal carrying dam of the korban or whatever else he might be doing and out of the corner of his eye he sees the lechem hapanim; \u201cOoh wah! Lechem! Loaves of bread on a golden table!\u201d And he\u2019s reminded to think about these things.
\n\n\n\nOther things too. He\u2019s thinking about the wheat seed. The farmer puts a wheat seed into the ground and it rots away and it produces a root and a stem. The seed rots away and a root and a stem begin growing out. How does such a thing happen? And the root always grows down and the stem always up. Never the opposite. No matter how you put the seed it never happens that the root goes up and the stem down. It’s a miracle, chochmas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Library and The Factory
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m just talking kindergarten talk now because it\u2019s a million times more complicated than that; in that little seed after all, is all of the machinery needed to make wheat plants. Only it\u2019s so minute, so microscopic, that you don\u2019t realize what\u2019s doing. There\u2019s marvelous machinery there \u2013 it\u2019s like a big factory a block long \u2013 and it\u2019s all concealed in the cells of that seed.
\n\n\n\nNot only machinery but all of the information, all the instructions needed to make the bread are there. If you would try to write it out in books, the biggest library in the world will not have enough books to record all the information. They try; they\u2019ve written books but they can’t go through the whole subject. The real library, you know where it’s written? It’s written on the helix of the DNA molecule in each seed. Instructions in the millions for how to produce wheat. And each bit of information is precisely numbered to step forward in sequence \u2013 not a second before it’s needed and not a second too late \u2013 in the right moment it comes in and gives this bit of information.
\n\n\n\nNow, all of that and much much more was on display in the Beis Hamikdash at all times. It says \u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9\u05d3. Tomid means it\u2019s on the table without even the slightest interruption. Even when the kohanim come on Shabbos to remove the bread, as they\u2019re taking off the old bread, they\u2019re already pushing on the new bread; the display of Hashem\u2019s wisdom shouldn\u2019t go lost even for a second.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the lesson of the lechem hapanim, the twelve loaves of bread that were on display on that golden table. It\u2019s so that we should know how to look at bread; we\u2019re training ourselves to make use of the bread that we see all the time and make sure to engrave the lessons of the chochmas Hashem on our minds \u2013 it means that the bread is for the purpose of creating our minds.
\n\n\n\nGet Excited
\n\n\n\nNow, everything that was done in the Beis Hamikdash was a lesson \u2013 what took place there was only a hint, a mashal, for the thoughts that we\u2019re expected to have in our heads; all of the procedures that we read about in the Torah symbolize something important that we\u2019re expected to study. And therefore, when we talk about the lechem hapanim, let\u2019s keep in mind that it\u2019s mechayev us; that bread that was displayed on a golden table obligates us to always keep in our minds the importance of bread.
\n\n\n\nIt means that the next time you see a piece of bread on your table, you have to be excited about it. \u201cOoh wah! I\u2019m looking now at maaseh nissim. Kriyas Yam Suf is child\u2019s play compared to bread! This is remarkable!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d you\u2019ll tell me, \u201cbut how can I be excited? I see it every day.\u201d So Hashem says, \u201cIs that My fault? I\u2019m giving it to you every day, therefore you shouldn\u2019t be excited? You want Me to give it to you once in ten years? So learn to be excited!\u201d Just like the kohanim were expected to think about it and not get used to it, you also have to learn to be excited about a piece of bread.
\n\n\n\nAn Italian Education
\n\n\n\nLet’s say you pass by a bakery. You look in the window and you see loaves of bread. Don\u2019t just take a quick look and walk further. Stop and look. Say, \u201cIsn\u2019t that wonderful?!\u201d Where does bread come from? Say it with your mouth. \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle! Nobody can make bread out of nothing. Hamotzi \u2013 He is the One who can bring forth bread from the earth!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, of course if you\u2019re an ordinary person so you\u2019re too much of a wise guy to do that. To stop and look in the window and think about the miracle of bread?! But we\u2019re talking now to people \u2013 men and women, boys and girls \u2013 who want to make something out of themselves.
\n\n\n\nYears ago I used to wait for a bus at a certain corner and there was an Italian bakery on that corner. And I would stand there looking in the window while I was waiting. I saw there twenty kinds of bread \u2013 all kinds of bread, in different shapes and sizes. And I studied them. I was amazed! Of course, I couldn\u2019t eat their bread but it was remarkable to see. I was looking through the big glass window and I was misbonein. And I did it for a long time because I had to wait there on the corner every day for the bus. It was an education for me. If you pass by a window like that, you should utilize it.
\n\n\n\nFill Your Stomach
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that all this is just an introduction to the subject for tonight. It\u2019s an important introduction but I want to talk to you now about something that\u2019s even more fun than looking at bread. Because what happened with that lechem hapanim? What did they do with the bread at the end of the week, when Shabbos came? Did they take the loaves and put them on the mizbeach and burn them up to Hashem as a symbol of gratitude?
\n\n\n\nNo, no, that\u2019s not what was done. Every Shabbos the bread was taken off the table and distributed among the kohanim to be eaten. In order to complete the lesson of the lechem hapanim that were on display all week long, the kohanim got busy chewing and filling their stomachs.
\n\n\n\nNow, that needs an explanation because it seems so crude, so distasteful. Here we\u2019re talking about daas, about filling our minds with wisdom and suddenly we\u2019re cheapening the whole subject by talking about filling our stomachs instead.
\n\n\n\nLearn From the Pros
\n\n\n\nThe answer is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is wiser than us. And He knows that the best way to learn is when you take all of your thinking, all of your ideals and ideas, and you chew on them. Don\u2019t deceive yourself; thinking alone is not enough. It\u2019s good but it\u2019s not good enough however. Do you know when ideas make an impression on a person? When you sit down to eat. Thinking is excellent, absolutely, but there\u2019s nothing like eating when it comes to making an impression on the mind of a person.
\n\n\n\nIn business, if you want to make a big sale so if you\u2019re an amateur salesmen you think that the best way is to take out a big prospectus describing your product, how good it is; and you show the customer all the benefits of your product, how it\u2019s better than your competitor\u2019s product. Wonderful! Very good! But he’s falling asleep; he’s yawning.
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re a good salesman what do you do? You take him to a restaurant and sit down to a big lunch. And while he\u2019s eating, that\u2019s when you get busy plying your trade; that\u2019s when you feed ideas into his head. And then when you\u2019re at the end of the meal and you see that he\u2019s full \u2014 he\u2019s burping already \u2014 that\u2019s the time to sell your product. That\u2019s when you ask him, \u201cYou want to buy my product?\u201d And he’ll give you an order.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why at the end of the week, when Shabbos came, the kohanim got busy ingesting all these ideas they thought about all week long. All of the daas that was on display all week was now going to be engraved even deeper into their minds. They chewed on the lechem and were thinking, \u201cAhh! Delicious! It\u2019s true! All those ideas I was thinking about all week taste wonderful!\u201d That\u2019s how the kohen ate the lechem hapanim; he was ingesting the lessons it taught him all week.
\n\n\n\nInformation Versus Knowledge
\n\n\n\nNow before we proceed we should take a little time to explain this term da’as; and we should be sure to keep it in mind during the entire hour because it\u2019s crucial for understanding our subject. Da’as does not refer to information in the sense that people usually understand it. Chochmah is \u2018information\u2019 but da’as means \u2018clarity of information\u2019.
\n\n\n\nAll the things we learn with our minds, that’s not the chief accomplishment of life, oh no. Many people understand and know and nevertheless have never absorbed, have never taken into their inner consciousness the real truths of life. \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 means to know the wisdom, to be margish it, to feel it.
\n\n\n\nI always give the same example. A mother is standing in her kitchen, and the little boy comes in and starts fooling around. So the mother yells at him, \u201cDon’t touch the stove! It\u2019s hot; you\u2019ll get a burn. It hurts!\u201d Now, a little boy knows that his mother is an Encyclopedia Britannica. He believes his mother knows everything and he believes be’emunah sheleimah that it hurts.
\n\n\n\nBut what does he do? He puts his finger on the hot stove and burns his finger. \u201cOw, Mommy! It hurts!\u201d Oh, now he learned another form of knowledge! Before it was intellectual knowledge but now he knows sensory knowledge. His mother told him it burns; yes, he believed that. That’s called yedias haseichel. But now that his finger was burned by the fire, he felt it with his senses; that\u2019s called yedias hachush, sensory knowledge, and that’s a new kind of knowledge entirely. There’s no comparison between them. And when it comes to knowledge of Hashem, it’s not enough yedias haseichel; you have to have yedias hachush.
\n\n\n\nShabbos: A Day of Daas
\n\n\n\nOn Shabbos we sing a song \u2018Deror Yikra\u2019 and when we study that song, we see that it begins with the theme of proclaiming leisure. Deror means leisure, freedom from physical obligations.Now, we don\u2019t have time right now to study all the stanzas of that song but if you look there you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s describing all types of freedom that our nation will merit in the future, on the Yom Shekulo Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nBut the last stanza of the song is what we’re going to talk about now, our subject. It\u2019s talking about Shabbos and it says, \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Know wisdom for your soul, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05db\u05b6\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and it will be a crown upon your head. A crown in the next world means the daas you acquired in this world. The more you gain a Torah mind in this world, the more prepared you are for the happiness of Olam Habo, and therefore the zemer says \u201cget busy knowing wisdom for your soul, so that it should be a crown upon your head.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, you have to know that the end of that stanza is an explanation of the first words: How will you know wisdom for yourself? How will you acquire the wisdom that will be a crown on your head in Olam Habo? \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea \u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 by keeping Shabbos properly.
\n\n\n\nMore Than Shomer Shabbos
\n\n\n\nNow it doesn\u2019t mean merely to be a shomer shabbos \u2013 of course that in itself is extremely valuable but that\u2019s not enough if you want to acquire a crown for yourself. Shemor Shabbos kodshecha means to keep it the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended. And He intended Shabbos as one of the great opportunities to acquire a mind in this world. What\u2019s the purpose of Shabbos? The purpose of Shabbos is to acquire daas!
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re learning something new about Shabbos now. It\u2019s the day that\u2019s set aside for creating a Torah mind. Of course, every day is good for that; on Wednesday you can also accomplish a lot; but which day is the best day of the week for creating a mind? No question about it, it\u2019s Shabbos. That\u2019s what the day of leisure is all about \u2013 we rest from melacha so that we can be free to acquire daas; to fulfill the words of that song: \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Teach yourself daas, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05db\u05b6\u05ea\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and that will be your crown in the Next World.
\n\n\n\nThe Day That Teaches Daas
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the purpose of Shabbos. You didn\u2019t know that, did you? Shabbos is a day of leisure, a day of deror yikra, not that you should put on your pajamas and climb into bed and sleep all afternoon. It\u2019s so that you can be free to get busy working to create a mind. Shabbos you have more time; deror yikra, you’re at leisure which means you have the opportunity to think about Hashem and acquire daas.
\n\n\n\nAnd what\u2019s the best way to do that? What\u2019s the best way to acquire the sensory knowledge of Hashem\u2019s wisdom and kindness in this world? By means of oneg! Not only are we going to look at the challah; we\u2019re going to eat it! And so just like the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash ingested all of the great ideas on Shabbos, we do the same thing. Shabbos is a Day of Daas and so we sit down to a nice luscious repast for that purpose.
\n\n\n\nNow that, however, requires eating in a certain manner. Because most people fulfill the eating, and there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s a mitzvah, but they\u2019re losing out on the great benefits. Because the greatness is not in the eating; it\u2019s in the daas you acquire by means of eating. The food is going down to your stomach but at the same time the daas is going into your brain. That\u2019s the real way to eat.
\n\n\n\nAlways Eating
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the great subject of eating on Shabbos.You know, some people call frum Jews \u201ckishkeh Jews\u201d \u2013 it means intestinal Jews \u2013 because we\u2019re always eating. But the truth is, it\u2019s very important. Because we\u2019re here in this world, to acquire a mind, and one of the best ways of getting a mind is by means of your stomach.
\n\n\n\nIt means that a Jew has to learn how to eat on Shabbos; it’s a whole Torah and it takes some practice. The truth is you have to know how to eat on the weekdays too \u2013 it\u2019s an important subject that we\u2019ll speak about one day, bli neder, but on Shabbos surely you have to know how to eat.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why when you sit down at the table on Shabbos and you see the challos on display, you should know that it\u2019s telling you that it\u2019s time to get to work. When you\u2019re sitting at the seudah, that\u2019s the work you have to do on Shabbos. That\u2019s your melacha on Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s a good idea to imitate the kohanim and take note of the challah on the table. Don\u2019t just dive into the food. Make sure to be prepared, to think thoughts beforehand.
\n\n\n\nSomething From Nothing
\n\n\n\nYou sit down and you\u2019re waiting for everyone; so you take a peek at the challah. They\u2019re so beautiful, the challos; you should compliment the baalebuste by the way. If she baked them let her know how beautiful they are. If she didn\u2019t bake them, don\u2019t say anything. But either way, you\u2019re looking at the challos and admiring them. They\u2019re such an exquisite display of the chochmas Hashem it\u2019s a shame we have to eat them.
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is it\u2019s not a shame at all because it\u2019s by means of eating that the lessons will go down. It\u2019s the lessons that you want to digest; the food is merely the way you\u2019re going to achieve that. That\u2019s the best way to do it!
\n\n\n\nNow we can\u2019t expect that you\u2019ll begin eating like a kohen right away. It takes practice. So this Shabbos you\u2019ll start with the first bite of challah. The very first bite, you’re eating to celebrate brias haolam yesh meiayin, that Hashem made this world and everything in it out of nothing. That\u2019s what Shabbos celebrates, the creation of the world from nothing; and that\u2019s one of the reasons we eat challah.
\n\n\n\nSo while you\u2019re chewing, you\u2019re thinking about how this challah came from almost nothing at all and you remind yourself that really the whole world is ayin; it’s nothing at all.Just like this bread came from nothing, from a little air and sunshine, that\u2019s how the world was created.But at Creation it was really nothing; no sunshine, no air, no nothing.
\n\n\n\nThe First Lesson
\n\n\n\nDid you ever hear of such a thing, to make things out of nothing?! \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05bc, just by the word of Hashem the heavens came into existence, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05dd. The sun, the moon, the winds, the rain, the soil, the stars, whatever you see, all are nothing but the devar Hashem. That’s called ayin. Hashem willed it into existence.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the first and most obvious of all the lessons of Shabbos, that \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd; Hashem made the world out of nothing. Now this is something that has to be absorbed in our minds. It’s easy to say it, to talk about it, to think about it, but that\u2019s only chochma and we want more than that; we want \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8, we want to transform that wisdom into deah, into real knowledge. We want to accustom ourselves that whatever you see in the world, it’s devar Hashem. And it needs a great deal of training until we get into that mood.
\n\n\n\nEating Books
\n\n\n\nAnd so, imagine the mother of the house would come in from the kitchen carrying a tray of chumashim for the Shabbos seudah. Everyone would get a chumash and open up to Bereishis and we\u2019d start reading about Creation, that would be the meal. Wonderful! But that\u2019s not enough. We have to digest the ideas with our bodies too! Because it could be that your mind is enjoying it but your body is not so interested. We want our bodies to participate too; I want my mind and my body to unite in understanding this great concept. And so I sit my body down at the seudah and now it\u2019s going to enjoy; my body is going to work together with my mind.
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019re chewing on the challah and you\u2019re thinking. \u201cAh! Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz, the miracle of the production of food! And you’re thinking of yesh mei\u2019ayin. \u201cI\u2019m eating the Word of Hashem.\u201d Not only did it come from nothing but it\u2019s going to change again. You\u2019re chewing and you\u2019re thinking about how as soon as your teeth get to work, immediately the starch begins converting into sugars. By means of the enzymes in your saliva the starch turns into sugars in your mouth.
\n\n\n\nAnd once you swallow the bread, then begins the great adventure. It goes down into your gut and it’s propelled along the digestive tract by nissei nissim; they give it a name \u2013 peristalsis \u2014 but a name doesn\u2019t change the fact that it’s moving along with millions and millions of miracles.
\n\n\n\nYou Are What You Eat
\n\n\n\nEven if you knew all the sciences of today, you cannot enumerate a small fraction of the wonders that are taking place with that piece of bread as it travels through your system. Once it gets inside of you, it starts going through thousands of transformations.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s breaking down into all the various components that are then reassembled again into the materials needed by your organs; your kidneys need some things, your heart other things. Your eyes, your toes, your scalp; there are so many different places the bread has to go. And each destination needs something else. And so by means of miracles the bread is replacing the used up materials that your organs, your body, lost by your working, by your using them.
\n\n\n\nMiracles upon miracles are taking place now. If you can explain to me, without writing a whole library of books, how bread becomes eyes. Bread becomes eyes! This bread that came from nothing, and now it\u2019s making me. You have to think about that while you\u2019re eating. Your eyes are the result of what you eat. Your skin, your heart, your brain, your blood. Everything is now revitalized.
\n\n\n\nYou’re not the same person today that you were yesterday because your materials have been broken down and carried off in the waste or breathed out by your lungs. Every day you’re a new man. Your shape is the same. You have the same sized nose, the same lips. That’s the plan of Hakadosh Baruch Hu you shouldn’t get lost, that people should continue to recognize you. But the truth is you’re not the same as you were last week. You\u2019re new material! The food that you ate changed you. You are the bread you ate. It means that sunshine became challah and then the challah became your eyes! Nissei nissim!
\n\n\n\nWatery Soup
\n\n\n\nNot only the challah. The soup and the chicken too. When your wife serves the chicken soup \u2013 number one is you say thank you, that\u2019s the first thing you think about. But then you talk to the children. \u201cYou know that this soup is all water? Isn’t water a nes? What is water? Water is hydrogen and oxygen. That’s all it is. Try to drink hydrogen and oxygen. You’ll still be thirsty. But Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes a nes. They come together and it becomes water.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust think about that when you eat the soup. It’s a miracle! Because that soup, that water, becomes you! Two gases combined together that made this life-saving elixir that gives you koach. It causes your blood to run inside of your veins. It makes your eyes sparkle. It’s you. You’re 80% water.
\n\n\n\nAnd the chicken. Why do we eat chicken? Of course, we eat it because it tastes good. But while we\u2019re enjoying it, we have to learn the lesson of the chicken. When you sit down to eat the chicken so the father says to his children, \u201cChildren, we’re going to eat chicken now! A very important part of the seudah.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWho cares? It\u2019s just chicken,\u201d they say.
\n\n\n\nCorny Chicken
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d you say, \u201cit’s not just chicken.\u201d And you explain to them that chicken is also nothing but devar Hashem. What is a chicken? A chicken eats chicken corn and chicken corn is not meat. It’s only the devar Hashem that makes chicken corn turn into chicken meat. How can a vegetable turn into proteins? The chicken is protein. Chicken corn is not protein. The answer is it\u2019s the devar Hashem. He made a machine, a chicken, that’s capable of taking carbohydrates and manufacturing from it protein.
\n\n\n\nToday we know that in order to transform something into a protein, you need one thousand steps of different nucleotides. Each one has to be exactly tailored to a certain formula and they follow in sequence. A thousand steps just in one little process. It means that chicken is a nes! It\u2019s the devar Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way to sit at the Shabbos table; you\u2019re thinking about these things. You sit around the table, you and your wife and your children and you’re eating the yesh mei\u2019ayin.
\n\n\n\nYou Are Nothing
\n\n\n\nBut actually you are also yesh mei\u2019ayin! You and your children are yesh mei\u2019ayin! There’s nothing in the world except Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Hashem Elokim emes, the Rambam (Yesodei Hatorah 1:4) says it’s the only emes that exists. Only He is the emes. He’s the only truth there is. Everything else is nothing but His will. So we are only His will and our children are His will and our food is His will. And therefore the whole world is demonstrated now to be nothing but a sign of the presence of the Borei.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could be after a while your wife and children get tired of hearing it. Keep talking anyhow. It goes in, it goes in. Little by little it goes in. And most importantly, it goes into you. Talk to yourself constantly, over and over again, all your life, and the more you review it, the more you attain chochmah lenafshecha, you get more Knowledge.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose someone is not capable of such intellectual pursuits. Let’s say the woman of the house who is busy raising a big family and she works so much Erev Shabbos that she’s sitting at the table and falling asleep while the husband is dilating about proteins and yesh mei\u2019ayin. Should we say that she is losing out? She is not fulfilling the purpose of Shabbos?
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s no such thing. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05e7\u05d1”\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b7\u05e8 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu does not deny anyone his reward (Bava Kamma 38b). And therefore I\u2019m not saying if a person doesn\u2019t think these thoughts that he\u2019s not fulfilling his duty as a Jew. As long as he\u2019s shomer Shabbos, keeps all dikdukei mitzvos, very good. But there\u2019s no question that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is waiting for people who will be exceptional. As much as possible we have to become thinking people, people who are fulfilling the words \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05da\u05b8.
\n\n\n\nIf a person keeps Shabbos in this sense then his reward is going to be so much greater than the person who kept the Torah but did not gain deah. When a person has gained the ability to understand the great truths of the briah then that same reward that others get will be to him multiplied immeasurably. And by that means, vehi kesser leroshecha, it’s a crown on your head and with that crown, after 120 years, you’ll sit in Gan Eden and be neheneh miziv hashechinah. If you do that, that’s the way to live.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLearning From the Showbread
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder find ten seconds every day to stop and pay attention to any display of bread that I come across in order to think about some of the manifold miracles involved in the creation of bread.
\n\n\n\nAnd then on Shabbos I will use the opportunity of the first bite of challah to review what I thought about during the week and to remind myself that the miracle of the creation of bread from nothing is a reminder of the first creation ever, when Hashem created the world from nothing.
\nThe post Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T01:52:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-08T01:52:30+00:00" }, { "id": 33487, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-emor-5-pleasure-and-shabbos/", "title": "Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos", "content_html": "TA-Emor-5782The post Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T01:51:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-08T01:51:12+00:00" }, { "id": 33480, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-emor-5-pleasure-and-shabbos/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos", "content_html": "TA-Emor-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Emor 5 – Pleasure and Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-08T01:50:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-08T01:50:45+00:00" }, { "id": 33476, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-contact-with-not-frum-family/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Contact With Not Frum Family", "content_html": "\nQ:
If one has brothers who are not frum, should he have nothing to do with them?
A:
\n\n\n\nThis is a delicate question. And the answer is, it depends. If they\u2019re not pressuring him to give up his principles, he should maintain a certain cordiality by telephone. He should call them up frequently. He should send them gifts. He should try to send them books to influence them.
\n\n\n\nBut he shouldn\u2019t bring his family to visit them. That should be out of the question. And he shouldn\u2019t invite them to visit him. But he himself can have contact with his brothers, even personal contact, if they are not going to pressure him or ridicule him.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 495
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Contact With Not Frum Family appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-06T01:01:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-06T01:01:15+00:00" }, { "id": 33451, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-chicken-or-the-egg/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Chicken or the Egg", "content_html": "\nQ:
When Hashem created the world, what came first, the chicken or the egg?
A:
It\u2019s a big problem for the scientists, a problem they can\u2019t answer. What came first? If the egg was first, then there was no mother to hatch it. But if the chicken was first, so how did the chicken come? It\u2019s a problem for them.
And the answer is, both were first. Hashem said, \u201cLet there be chickens sitting on eggs.\u201d When the world was created, chickens were sitting on eggs at the very beginning of the world. That\u2019s the only way to solve the problem. Otherwise there are too many contradictions.
\n\n\n\nWhen Hashem made the world, He made it ready, functioning. Right at the beginning of briyas haolam, He put metal into the earth; He put iron into the earth. Trees we\u2019re growing and rivers were flowing and chickens were sitting on eggs. Everything was put there. Just like when Adam HaRishon was created, he didn\u2019t wait for someone to come along and give him a pair of eyes. As soon as he was born, he had a pair of eyes. As soon as he was born, he could talk. And so as soon as the earth was created, it had everything that it needed. \u05d4’ \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 \u2013 He created, \u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u2013 out of nothing; everything came into being immediately. The whole world came into being, functioning immediately. And so the world came into being with chickens sitting on eggs.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-171
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Chicken or the Egg appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-04T17:02:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-04T17:02:33+00:00" }, { "id": 33446, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-34/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 34", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-34The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 34 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-04T03:56:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-04T03:56:48+00:00" }, { "id": 33463, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-four-humors/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Four Humors", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nI heard the Rav once say that the concept of four basic elements making up\u00a0 the human body is not a Jewish idea. But I\u2019ve seen it quoted in seforim.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The\u00a0four humors in the body is an old medical concept which was taken from Galen and other Ancient Greek physicians.\u00a0But today nobody will study medicine from Galen and that is why this concept of the four humors of the body is meaningless today. You will find old seforim that talk in these terms and there is no harm in that; they are talking in general terms. But actually it is not a real concept because today medicine is so far advanced that it is out of the question to use these ancient medical works as any kind of standard for anything at all.\u00a0
TAPE # 405
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Four Humors appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-03T18:26:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-04T18:33:52+00:00" }, { "id": 33428, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%93%d7%95%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-03T04:19:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-03T04:19:30+00:00" }, { "id": 33459, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-evil-eye/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Evil Eye", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow should\u00a0we understand the principle of ayin horah, the evil eye? And how do we avoid it?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
It was explained here once\u00a0but I\u2019ll\u00a0explain it again. What is the evil eye? The evil eye is as follows: If you are proud of your possessions and you practice ostentation \u2013 you display your wealth or your success \u2013 then you cause a certain sorrow to other people who don\u2019t have that success. That is why Jewish mothers who have a brood of a lot of children, they make it their business that when somebody comes in to the house,\u00a0they shoo the children out. The visitor may be a childless person or somebody who doesn\u2019t have that much nachas; why should he be pained to see how successful you are in building your family?
Now, you have to know that even though it\u2019s not your fault \u2013 on the contrary you are doing a great thing by raising a big family \u2014 nevertheless Hakodosh Boruch Hu takes into account the distress of every individual. And it doesn\u2019t mean that there will be some drastic action but there could be some kind of penalty for causing distress to people.
\n\n\n\nAnd that is why it is always good to cover up your success. Don\u2019t display your wealth with expensive diamonds, expensive necklaces; you can never know what is going to happen. Maybe Hakodosh Boruch Hu will cause a bum to come along and snatch it off of you. And that would be the easiest way to get away with it! Sometimes a physician might have to take it off of you in the operating room.
\n\n\n\nAnd so it\u2019s always good not to display your success. Try to be as plain as you can. That is why it is good for wealthy people to teach their children to live plainly; not to give them too much money to spend; and they should try to act like people of the poor. You wealthy people, see to it that your children are always like poor children. They shouldn\u2019t have things to display and come among other children in the yeshiva and they show expensive watches or expensive toys to others and it hurts the poor boy or poor girl who can’t afford it. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t keep quiet. And that is ayin horah; that is a bad eye, because people look at you with an eye and they feel bad and Hakodosh Boruch Hu will take some action. That is why it is so important.
\n\n\n\nNow, the things that people do to ward off ayin horah are all foolish things. The best way is not to be ostentatious, not to display your success. But if you are displaying it, it\u2019s not going to help you to put a piece of garlic in your pocket.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 408
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Evil Eye appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-02T17:10:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-04T17:12:20+00:00" }, { "id": 33413, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8-reducedThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-02T04:09:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-02T04:09:50+00:00" }, { "id": 33410, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%96-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%94-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%a5-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d6: \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-217The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d6: \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-02T04:05:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-02T04:05:47+00:00" }, { "id": 33404, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-recognizing-the-importance-of-the-chachmei-hatorah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Recognizing The Importance of the Chachmei Hatorah", "content_html": "\nQ:
It\u00a0says in the Gemara that when Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi passed away so anyone who was there at that time was rewarded with a special place in Olam Haboh. What was so special about being there when Rebbi passed away?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhen Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi passed away there was a tremendous demonstration of the appreciation of the gadol hador. He was on his deathbed and people were standing outside jammed together. A huge multitude. And they were all osek in tefilla; they were begging Hashem for Rebbi, that he shouldn\u2019t be taken away.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nNow, that you have to know is one of the highest forms of avodas Hashem, when people understand the value of the chachmei hatorah in every generation; in every generation the leaders of the generation are given authority by Hakodosh Boruch Hu almost like Moshe Rabeinu. They used to call the chachmei hatorah \u201cMoshe.\u201d \u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e7\u05d0\u05de\u05e8\u05ea \u2013 Moshe, you\u2019re saying a good pshat. The leaders were looked up to like Moshe Rabeinu. To appreciate the gedolei hador is part of our avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEvery generation has its leaders and it\u2019s of utmost importance to us to be loyal to these leaders. It\u2019s of utmost importance! Don\u2019t make any mistake about that! A very great error is made when people say, \u201cIt\u2019s not like it used to be; it\u2019s not like the old time gedolim.\u201d No; this is our generation and these are our gedolei Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNow, in the times of Rebbe \u2013 he was a human being; they saw him. He walked like a human being. He ate like a human being. He slept like a human being. And still they were all aware, they were cognizant of the greatness of the gadol hador. And therefore they were weeping and begging Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally when Rebbi passed away a bas kol came out and said, \u201cAll those who are here and participated in this tremendous universal effort to save his life, are all \u05de\u05d6\u05d5\u05de\u05df \u05dc\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05d0.\u201d A tremendous thing! If you pray, if you are mispallel, you want the gedolei Yisroel to continue to live, then you also in a certain sense you should know you are gaining tremendous sechar.
\n\n\n\nHave in mind always the welfare of our great Torah leaders! We need them. We can\u2019t afford chas v\u2019shalom to lose any of them.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know today that today it\u2019s a world of kalus rosh and people have a tendency to say that it\u2019s not like it used to be, and that this is not the same kind of gadol. But that\u2019s a tragic mistake. That\u2019s what they said after Moshe Rabeinu passed away, when they saw Yehoshua take over. You know, when some of the ziknei hador looked at Yehoshua they said, \u201cOy, look what happened to us! Who is Yehoshua compared to Moshe Rabeinu?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cNothing doing! Like I was with Moshe Rabeinu, I\u2019ll be with Yehoshua.\u201d Of course he wasn\u2019t like Moshe Rabeinu but even in Moshe Rabeinu\u2019s time, did everybody appreciate Moshe? Not everyone appreciated him. The Gemara says a terrible thing. Moshe was a heavy man and the Gemara says that some people looked at him and said, \u201c\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Look how thick his paunches are.\u201d That\u2019s how you look at Moshe Rabeinu?! But he\u2019s a person after all, a live person. He seems the same as we are. Could be he even coughed once in a while.
\n\n\n\nBut now, when Moshe Rabeinu passed away, so now people said, \u201cOh, we lost the great one, Moshe. But Yehoshua is different. Who is Yehoshua?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201c\u05db\u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dd \u05de\u05e9\u05d4, just like I was with Moshe, I\u2019ll be with Yehoshua too.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore all those who were at the ashkavta d\u2019Rebbi, they gained a tremendous zechus because they showed that they were eager with all their hearts that Rebbi should live. They cried out and cried out, all together \u2013 it was a tremendous demonstration of kavod hatorah which is kavod shomayim.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-176
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Recognizing The Importance of the Chachmei Hatorah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T21:52:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-01T21:52:39+00:00" }, { "id": 16088, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-rosh-chodesh-iyar-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Rosh Chodesh Iyar", "content_html": "\nQ: What should I think about on Rosh Chodesh Iyar?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
You know, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan you were asking Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cOy Hashem, please give us life.\u201d We\u2019re worried every Rosh Chodesh; who knows what\u2019s going to be. The people who passed away last month weren\u2019t expecting it. Now, suppose someone would tell you, \u201cMy friend, I have a secret to tell you. I was listening in to the Beis Din Shel Ma\u2019alah and they said that you\u2019re going to get a whole month of life for the coming month.\u201d Oh, what a happiness it would be! If someone would know for sure he\u2019s going to live the whole month, it\u2019s a happiness. A month of life is a gift. A month of life?! It\u2019s diamonds.
Are we happy? Sure; that\u2019s why we say Hallel. We\u2019re wild with happiness! We lived a month already! We look back at the past month, the month of Nissan \u2013 all the hachonos for Pesach, and then the whole Yom Tov, and then after Yom Tov \u2013 we were busy all month and now the month came to an end. Boruch Hashem, no big troubles came during the month. So what\u2019s the question?! It\u2019s a happiness; certainly it\u2019s a happiness. It\u2019s the happiness of being alive.
\n\n\n\nAnd now we ask Hashem for the next month in ya\u2019aleh v\u2019yavo. I want to tell you something. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cYou\u2019re asking for another month? It depends on how your attitude was to the past month. Did you appreciate the month of Nissan?\u201d
First you have to say to Hashem: \u201cHodu lashem ki tov ki l\u2019olam chasdo,\u201d in Hallel. \u201cWe thank You Hashem, how good You were to us this past month. Now please give us another month.\u201d
\u201cOh,\u201d Hashem says. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to hear.\u201d And if that\u2019s the case so He\u2019ll give us another month. So therefore Rosh Chodesh in itself is the biggest gift. Life is the biggest gift. The pashtus of what Rosh Chodesh means is enough for us to spend the day in gratitude to Hashem for having lived another month.
TAPE # E-106
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Rosh Chodesh Iyar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T19:31:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-04T17:08:06+00:00" }, { "id": 33387, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-kedoshim/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Kedoshim", "content_html": "\nThe Holtzbacher home was abuzz – literally. The family\u2019s new housekeeping robots were bustling around, cleaning the house. One robot with sponges for hands was busy cleaning the windows. Another was scooping up toys off the floor and putting them on their proper shelves in the playroom. In the kitchen, a team of pastry robots were busy making cookies and cakes for the Sheva Brachos that the Holtzbachers were hosting the next day.
\n\n\n\nAri Holtzbacher walked into the house after a day of learning in cheider and took off his backpack. A gleaming stainless steel robot zoomed over, took it from him, removed the mishnayos chazara sheet from inside, and placed it neatly on the dining room table, while a shiny black robot swiftly fetched a mishnayos from the shelf and put it next to the chazara sheet.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThank you!\u201d Ari said to yet another robot that had just come from the kitchen carrying a paper cup filled with ice water. Ari then made a beautiful shehakol, reading the brocha off of the electronic screen built into the robot\u2019s chest, and drank the water. The robot then refilled his cup and put it next to his mishnayos.
\n\n\n\nAri began to learn. He usually would go play with his friends before dinner, but there was a big mishnayos test coming up and he wanted to make sure he knew it well. And besides, Mommy said he couldn\u2019t go play until his room was clean and the robot that did that was cleaning his sister Malky\u2019s room first.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHi Ari, how was school?\u201d Totty said, walking into the dining room.
\n\n\n\nAri hurriedly stood up for his father before answering. \u201cBoruch Hashem, great!\u201d he said with a smile.
\n\n\n\nTotty offered to help Ari with his chazara and the two of them sat down to learn together.
\n\n\n\nThe Mishna in Maasros was describing at what point different fruit become chayav in Maaser. \u201cI don\u2019t understand what the Mishna means by \u2018\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b2\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e1\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b6\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u2019,\u201d Shimmy said. \u201c\u05d0\u05b2\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e1\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05df are peaches, right? But what does \u2018\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b6\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u2019 mean?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell actually,\u201d Totty said. \u201cIn modern Hebrew \u05d0\u05b2\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e1\u05b5\u05e7 is a peach, but it\u2019s a machlokes what \u05d0\u05b2\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e1\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05df in the Mishna are. Rashi and some other Rishonim say that they are indeed peaches, however some meforshim say that they are actually pistachios. But assuming they are peaches, it means that red lines start to appear inside the fruit.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cRed lines in the fruit?\u201d asked Ari. \u201cI guess I never paid too much attention to the inside of a peach before.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell why don\u2019t we see for ourselves,\u201d Totty said. \u201cThe peaches in our garden are just starting to ripen. Let\u2019s go out and maybe we can find one just like the Mishna describes!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAri and Totty got up to walk outside. As they walked across the dining room towards the garden, Ari tossed his now-empty cup onto the floor.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAri!\u201d said Totty, surprised. \u201cHow could you just throw your cup on the floor? I\u2019m shocked!\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image.png?resize=640%2C454&ssl=1\")
\u201cWell, I just figured a robot would clean it up anyway,\u201d Ari said, as just then a floor-sweeping robot rolled into the dining room and promptly began sweeping the floor.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAri,\u201d Totty said. \u201cIt says in this week\u2019s Parsha by the Mitzvah of Orlah \u2018\u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc – When you come to Eretz Yisroel and you shall plant all forms of fruit trees\u2019. And the Medrash tells us that even in the beautiful and fruitful Eretz Yisroel there is a Mitzvah to plant trees!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not just about trees. The lesson here is that wherever we are, we must respect our environment and take care of it. You\u2019re in a beautiful home – don\u2019t disrespect it by throwing trash on the floor.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the beis midrash and you take a sefer off the shelf, you put it back on the shelf. It is basic hakoras hatov to make sure we leave our surroundings just the way we find them.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Ari sheepishly. \u201cI didn\u2019t think of it that way.\u201d And quickly, before the robot could make it to the cup, Ari picked it up and put it in the trash can.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOne more thing, Ari,\u201d his father added. \u201cWe always have to keep in mind what the world will look like after we leave from here. Are we \u201cplanting beautiful trees and flowers\u201d and making it better with our mitzvos? Or are we \u201cthrowing garbage on the floor\u201d and \u201cplanting thorns\u201d – ruining the world by our aveiros?
\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is a very important lesson that I heard from Rav Avigdor Miller thirty years ago and I still think about it every single day. I hope you remember it as well.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway:
\n\n\n\nWe must always be productive and \u201cplant\u201d and make the world better. Certainly we shouldn\u2019t ruin anything.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Kedoshim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T03:17:53+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-01T03:17:54+00:00" }, { "id": 33377, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-kedoshim-5-planting-in-this-world-2/", "title": "Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World", "content_html": "Commanded to Plant
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah we are introduced to the laws of orlah in Eretz Yisroel, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u2013 When you come to Eretz Yisroel and you shall plant all forms of fruit trees (Vayikra 19:23). And it goes on there and tells us certain dinim of orlah; \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9, how you must refrain for the first three years from eating the fruits of those newly planted trees.
\n\n\n\nBut our Chachomim tell us that in these first four words, \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc, before we go any further and learn any halachos of orlah, these words already have stated an important principle. \u201cAnd you will plant all types of fruit trees\u201d is understood by our Chachomim not only as a description of when these rules of orlah are going to apply but as a separate stand-alone commandment as well: \u201cWhen you come to the land, \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 there\u2019s a mitzvah to plant all kinds of trees.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s surprising because when the Bnei Yisroel first came into the land they found it very much cultivated already; Eretz Yisroel was never as fertile, as beautiful and well-planted, as those days. The Canaanim had trained themselves by generations of practice to become the very best agriculturists and Hakodosh Boruch Hu had allowed them to remain on the land for many years for the purpose of completing the task of making the land k\u2019gan Hashem, a land of lush gardens and orchards.
\n\n\n\nGarden of Hashem
\n\n\n\nAnd so when the Bnei Yisroel crossed the Yarden they found a land that was filled with beautiful fruit trees \u2013 fig trees, date palms, pomegranate trees, grape vines; all good things they found. We have no concept how fruitful the land was; whatever we\u2019ll say is not sufficient. And so if there was one land that didn\u2019t need planting it was Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nBut along comes the Torah \u2013 it means Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u2013 and it says that when you come to Eretz Yisrael and everywhere you see fruit trees, don’t think that you’re absolved from the duty of planting. After all, you’re going to use up the trees. Trees don’t live forever.
\n\n\n\nNow even if they didn\u2019t plant, there would remain plenty and plenty for their children; there was so much! But suppose the first generation came to Eretz Canaan and they said, \u201cAh! K\u2019gan Hashem! This land is one big garden of trees!\u201d and they would begin eating the fruits without bothering to replant new trees. The next generation would still have a good land but there would be less because some of the trees will get old and worn out. And the next generation would have still less; and in a few generations nothing will be left. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cWhen you come into the land, \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc, you should make sure to plant all types of fruit trees.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBe A Planter
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Medrash (Tanchuma 8:1) says on this possuk: \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc, \u05d0\u05b7\u05e3 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u2013 Hashem is telling the Am Yisroel, \u201cAlthough you\u2019ll find the land full of all good things, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t say, \u05e0\u05b5\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05d8\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2- \u2018We\u2019ll dwell in the land and it\u2019s not necessary for us to do any planting.\u2019 No, don\u2019t say that. \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b5\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Just like others, the Canaanim, planted for you, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b1\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 so you should plant for your children too.
\n\n\n\nThe Medrash brings a story to illustrate this. The Roman Emperor Hadrian once saw an old man planting a tree and he was laboring, sweating \u2013 it was very heavy work for him. So the Emperor said, \u201cOld man, why are you laboring so hard to plant a fruit tree? Anyhow it won\u2019t bear fruit in time for you to eat it. You surely won’t live to enjoy the fruits of this tree.\u201d He was an old man already.
\n\n\n\nSo the old man replied, \u201cMy master, the king. When I came into this world I found fruit trees that were prepared for me. Just like I found trees in the world I came into, I want to plant for my descendants.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat’s what the Medrash brings as an example to this commandment of \u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc, of being a planter in this world. You came into a world that was prepared for you and you made good use of what you found here. And so when you leave this world and pass on to the next world, it should be no less than it was when you found it \u2013 you must see to it that the land remains beautiful with all the gardens and orchards that you found; you should leave it as perfect as you found it.
\n\n\n\nA Frightening Encounter
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll give you an example \u2013 it\u2019s not our subject but it\u2019s a good example. Let’s say Jews came to America and they found a garden here, a beautiful garden of freedom and opportunity and equality. You young people don\u2019t realize it but America was really a rarity among countries. When our forefathers came from Eastern Europe and from Russia it made them intoxicated with happiness.
\n\n\n\nI remember once I was in Slabodka and the head of the kollel, an elderly man, was telling of his visit to America. We were sitting at a table and he was telling us his story. He had come to New York and he was lost in the subway; he didn’t know what to do \u2013 an old man who doesn\u2019t know any English, lost in a New York subway.
\n\n\n\nSuddenly a policeman approached him and began speaking to him. But he didn\u2019t understand a word. And he became frightened because a policeman in Europe meant something different than in America. The policeman motioned to him that he should stand still and he came back a few minutes later with a Jew who could speak Yiddish. And the Jew asked him in Yiddish, \u201cWhat’s the matter?\u201d and he told him and this Jew translated into English for the policeman. And the policeman gave directions on how to get to the destination and the Jew translated it into Yiddish for him. And so when this Slabodka talmid chochom came back to Europe he was telling us about the glories of America. \u201cA country where the policeman wants to help you! A policeman wanted to help me!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Ruined America
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you come to this country and you find equality and many even have become affluent, so what’s your reaction? According to the principle of \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd we should know among all the things we must do is not to ruin America! We should leave it at least like we found it! Instead of becoming Jewish gays who are bashmutzing America with their wickedness; instead of becoming feminists and radicals and socialists and ruining everything, at least leave it alone!
\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time in America, people believed in a Creator. In the public schools they taught about a Creator. Yes. They talked about \u201cthe hereafter.\u201d Politicians in America used to speak about Olam Habo. And we of all people, we should have made sure to plant and plant and plant more of those ideals. At least to leave it like it was! Instead the atheists, with the Jews leading the way, are trampling down everything.
\n\n\n\nLook what they’re doing to America! They’re taking this beautiful land that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave them, the happiness that they had here, and instead of planting they\u2019re uprooting it. They’re trampling on America and ruining this garden. And they\u2019ll be held guilty for that. Besides for all of their other sins they\u2019ll be punished for this too \u2013 for transgressing this mitzvah of \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd. If you\u2019re not going to improve the country at least let it remain what it was when you came here.
\n\n\n\nDo Not Spoil It
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a big principle involved here and in short the idea is as follows: Make sure the world is not worse because you came here! That\u2019s the principle that comes even before planting. Your first function is don\u2019t spoil the world. And that\u2019s why it was the first thing Hakodosh Boruch Hu told Adam Harishon as soon as He created him.
\n\n\n\nThe Medrash Koheles (ch. 7) states as follows: \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 When Hakodosh Boruch Hu created Adam HaRishon, \u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b8\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d6\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05df \u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05b6\u05df \u2013 He took him around to look at all the trees of Gan Eden. And these are the first words Hashem spoke to him: \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b7\u05c2\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cLook at my works, \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05bb\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b5\u05df – how beautiful they are. Look at these beautiful trees \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 and make it your goal that you shouldn\u2019t spoil things; \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t ruin My world.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s number one. It\u2019s not enough, but the minimum is don\u2019t spoil this beautiful world. When you go out of this world when your time is up, the world shouldn\u2019t be worse because you were here.
\n\n\n\nThe First Lesson
\n\n\n\nSo therefore let’s say you’re a yeshivah man and now it’s 1:30 time to learn mussar in the yeshivah. The mashgiach gives a knock on the table and everybody comes to the shelf and takes out mussar sefarim. At the end of the mussar seder, what is the first thing you\u2019re expected to do as a result of learning mussar? I remember once when I was in the Mesivta, after mussar seder one talmid came over to me and said, \u201cWhat should be our first response to the mussar that we studied just now?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe was thinking; he wanted to hear something special. I said, \u201cIt\u2019s simple. The first response should be to put back the mussar sefer on the shelf from which you took it.\u201d That\u2019s the minimum response! You found it on the shelf, put it back on the shelf. It has to be just as neat as when you came in.
\n\n\n\nAny place you go; let’s say you walked into a beis hamedrash or into your beis haknesses and you sit down to learn. You take a sefer off the shelf, another sefer, another sefer. Before you leave, the first thing you have to do is put it back. Don\u2019t leave the place in a less orderly fashion than it was when you found it. The beis hamedrash should be just as clean when you leave it as it was when you came in.
\n\n\n\nClean Up After the Bums
\n\n\n\nThe street too; you walk in the street, it was once a clean street. You can’t litter in the street by dropping things there; even a little piece of paper, other things. If you have some paper to throw, don’t throw it on the floor. Throw it in the wastebasket on the corner. There\u2019s no wastebasket? Put it in your pocket or your bag. It was clean when you came so leave it clean when leave.
\n\n\n\nEven better, as you pass by and see a bum throw an empty beer can on the sidewalk, you can walk over and pick it up and put it in the wastebasket. I once saw something like that; a Jew with a beard and a black hat was walking down Kings Highway and before him a bum was walking and eating a banana, throwing the peels on the sidewalk. What does he care for the world? Let people slide to the hospital. What did this Jew do? He shoved it off the sidewalk into the sewer drain with his foot.
\n\n\n\nAnd so that\u2019s rule number one under the principle of \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u2013 When you come anyplace make sure that you\u2019re doing whatever has to be done in order to upkeep it. You found a clean shul, leave a clean shul. You found a clean street, leave a clean street. That\u2019s the obligation we\u2019re learning now: You found a good world, make sure to leave a good world.
\n\n\n\nRecycling and Planting
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that just for replenishing Hashem doesn\u2019t need you. You know, today everybody talks about recycling, but long before we thought about that, that was the original plan of Hashem anyhow. Everything is recycled according to the plan Hakodosh Boruch Hu made from the beginning.
\n\n\n\nThis rainwater that’s on the window pane here, was already used by hundreds of generations before us. It was urinated by people 100 times already. It ran down to the sea by the sewer, and in the sea it was purified with salt and chemicals. Then when the sun was shining on it, it was distilled and only pure water evaporated into the clouds. The rain comes down and waters the fields; the grass is regrowing on its own every year. So Hakodosh Boruch Hu is recycling all the time, planting and keeping the world going.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu is on the job! And He\u2019s doing a fine good job! Your job is to add something to the world and make it somewhat better. Because our possuk is teaching us that not only shouldn\u2019t you ruin what was given to you, but you should be sure to plant and make things better. You have to plant so that when you pass out of this generation and go to the next world, you should leave over a land that\u2019s even more beautiful than it was when you came in. That was the command. \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 you have to plant. That\u2019s the responsibility that a person has in this world. \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd!Keep planting as much as you can! It\u2019s a fundamental demand of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nStudy The Art
\n\n\n\nNow, once we understand that this is a requirement of Hakodosh Boruch Hu not only in the land, in the planting of fruit trees, it has to be a principle in our lives that we have to be busy making this world a better place. And so, we have to put some thought into this obligation. What kind of planting can I do in this world in order to make it a better place? How can I uplift this world?
\n\n\n\nOf course one of the big achievements we have to learn in this world is we have to make other people’s lives sweet. It\u2019s not our subject tonight but it\u2019s included in this obligation \u2013 we have to make people’s lives happy in this world; it\u2019s one of the ways you can make this world a better place because of your being here.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s an art that you have to study. You must master how to treat people in order that you should plant happiness wherever you go. Instead of being a weed, a thorn, you have to be a flower in this world. You smile at others, encourage them, compliment them, and that way you become a beautiful flower; with color and fragrance.
\n\n\n\nThe Smile Deficit
\n\n\n\nAnd so if your wife serves you at the table and you\u2019re eating with gusto and enjoying the meal that she prepared for you, how about a smile and some kind words? \u201cChana, it tastes very good.\u201d Why shouldn\u2019t you say that? She\u2019s waiting for it but nothing is coming. Instead you\u2019re just munching, destroying the food. At least \u201cThank you,\u201d you can say. You want to say, \u201cYou\u2019re an excellent cook\u201d even better. \u201cAn excellent wife,\u201d you want to say? Ten times better! But something you must say.
\n\n\n\nAnd when you do it, you can be sure that you\u2019re filling the world with what\u2019s necessary. Smiles and sweet words are lacking in the world! You\u2019re making the world better, happier. And that\u2019s a valuable contribution, it\u2019s tremendous! You\u2019re making the world a better place!
\n\n\n\nNow, a person who recognizes this obligation of tikun olam, of improving the world, lives a different type of life because his eyes are wide open for these opportunities to plant good things in this world. He won\u2019t scorn even the smallest opportunity to encourage, to smile, to compliment, because that\u2019s his function while he\u2019s alive \u2013 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd, as much as possible to keep planting and leave this world a better place.
\n\n\n\nSponsor Toras Avigdor!
\n\n\n\nNow, although we don\u2019t disdain even the small opportunities, we shouldn’t forget about one of the most valuable methods of planting in this world, and that is the great subject of zechus horabim. Zechus horabim! Conferring merit on the public! What could be better than planting Torah and mitzvos, planting Awareness of Hashem, emunah and bitachon, among the Am Yisroel?
\n\n\n\nNow there are very many ways of doing it. I won\u2019t go into details now \u2014 there are all forms of zechus horabim \u2014 but when a person has in mind the attitude that this is one of his functions of life, that person should know that he is fulfilling this obligation of \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b5\u05e5 \u05de\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05dc to its fullest.
\n\n\n\nMaking Torah Available
\n\n\n\nOf course, the great men in our history did it on a tremendous scale. When they left the world, they left it a much better place than when they found it. Let\u2019s say, when Rav Ashi finished the Sidur Hashas \u2013 the Shas is a masterpiece! It\u2019s concise and it contains very many valuable principles in a few words. That\u2019s our Torah. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b5\u05dd \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc means Shas. And that was made by Rav Ashi. He is credited for organizing it, perfecting it. A tremendous achievement!
\n\n\n\nHe didn\u2019t do it himself. He had a very great assemblage of chachomim who were dedicated to zikui harabim. In Bavel, the two great mesivtas had taken over the leadership from Eretz Yisroel and Bavel was now the home of the Torah. And Rav Ashi was the one who took all the teachings that were necessary in addition to all the mussar that was necessary with the aggadeta and he performed something so tremendous that we cannot measure how great is his merit. The zechus horabim of Rav Ashi has no equal as far as we can see.
\n\n\n\nBut Rav Yosef Gaon about eighty years afterwards did something that made it even more valuable. He was the one who gave permission to write down the Shas. Rav Ashi organized and memorized the Shas \u2013 a tremendous job \u2013 but Rav Yosef Gaon came along about eighty years after Rav Ashi and he made a revolution when he gave the heter to write the Shas. It was forbidden to write Torah sheba\u2019al peh, but when Rav Yosef Gaon saw that the world couldn\u2019t get along anymore he committed it to writing. He gave a heter and now the Shas was in writing. What a new world it was! Our Torah was made available to everybody.
\n\n\n\nRashi and Rambam
\n\n\n\nThenRashi Hakodosh came along \u2013 I\u2019m skipping a lot \u2013 and Rashi made a tikkun that filled the world with light. The peirush Rashi is genius \u2013 brief and clear. Every word is well thought out, every line cunningly explained.
\n\n\n\nAnd Rashi guesses beforehand what problems you\u2019ll think about, the kashes you\u2019ll have, and he answers them b\u2019mesek l\u2019shono. Rashi is a masterpiece. There\u2019s nothing in the world since that time as enormous as the contribution of Rashi. When he left the world, he left over a yerusha that to this day we\u2019re all enjoying. What Rashi did is almost unequaled, there is almost no equal to his achievement in making the world a better place.
\n\n\n\nThe list of mezakei horabim is almost endless. I wish I could stay here all night and speak to you about it; what the Rambam planted for the world. For the first time in our history the Torah was codified and arranged in chapters and numbered halachos; all in place where they belong. To this day, we all are enjoying the Rambam\u2019s accomplishment. When he left the world, he left the world much wealthier than when he found it.
\n\n\n\nChanging the World
\n\n\n\nThen the Shulchan Aruch came along and planted other trees. The Shaarei Teshuva, the Chovos Halevavos, the Mesillas Yesharim, the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov, Sarah Schenirer; they all influenced many thousands of people over the generations.
\n\n\n\nOf course most of us, we\u2019re not competent to make such achievements; you can\u2019t be like Rashi. What the Chofetz Chaim did, we won\u2019t be able to do. An adam gadol once told me, he said, \u201cFrom now until Moshiach, if anybody is careful with loshon hora, it\u2019s due to the Chofetz Chaim.\u201d Many people today are nizhar, are very careful in shmiras haloshon only because of him. He changed the world.
\n\n\n\nWe won\u2019t be able to achieve that but these people give an example of our goal in this world \u2014 to plant as much as possible and make the world a better place when we leave it than when we found it.
\n\n\n\nYou Can Do It
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think you can\u2019t do such things. Don\u2019t say, \u201cWhat can I do already? I\u2019m a simple Jew in Flatbush; I don\u2019t have influence, I don\u2019t have money.\u201d It\u2019s not true; many good people, simple people, have taken the words of the Chovos Halevavos to heart and become mezakei horabim. The Chovos Halevavos writes (Ahavas Hashem 6): \u201cNo matter how perfect you are in all the forms of shleimus, in every kind of perfection, it is as nothing compared to the perfection that comes from causing the multitude to become virtuous\u201d.
\n\n\n\nWe had a man in our kehilla who went and bought from 770 Eastern Parkway a stack of old copies of Talks and Tales \u2014 it\u2019s a Lubavitcher children\u2019s magazine \u2014 and he sent it out to Jewish homes, homes where the families have no connection to authentic Judaism. So every month a frum magazine was coming into people\u2019s homes because of him. For a family that knows nothing about Judaism, a little Jewish magazine is a boon! It comes into their mailbox a newspaper that\u2019s speaking about Torah ideals, about the Am Yisroel. It opens up their eyes.
\n\n\n\nNow, he was a plain man; not wealthy at all \u2014 sometimes when he didn\u2019t have enough money he would collect money from people here in the shul \u2014 but he made an impact. He was a simple man who worked for the city and yet he was one of the mezakei horabim in Flatbush.
\n\n\n\nBribe the Janitor
\n\n\n\nLook at all these big apartment houses \u2014 there are so many ignorant Jews who live there. Even the Jewish Press will be to them like a fanatic newspaper. So send Talks and Tales to these apartment houses. I\u2019m not saying only that magazine. Maybe there are better things today.
\n\n\n\nWhy don\u2019t you adopt an apartment house? Adopt a big apartment house on Ocean Parkway and say \u201cThis house is mine \u2013 this is my project.\u201d Make it your project and send Torah literature to them. If you can\u2019t afford it all at once, do it little by little. There\u2019s a lot of work to be done. Find out who lives there and get to work.
\n\n\n\nHow do you find out? You can walk through the building writing down the names until the janitor throws you out. Give him $10 and he\u2019ll let you stay for another hour. Or you can go into the real estate places and they have directories; house by house, apartment by apartment. I once did it to one apartment house; I had the names of everybody in the apartment house and I was able to accomplish for Hashem. That\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, to improve the world.
\n\n\n\nA Great Man
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that there\u2019s a planting that comes even before zechus horabim and it\u2019s just as important, maybe even more so. You remember the story of Chizkiyah HaMelech? Chizkiyah HaMelech was a very great tzaddik and he spread Torah in all of Eretz Yisroel. It says about him (Yeshayahu 10:27), \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05bb\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b6\u05df \u2013 and the Gemara explains that Chizkiyah distributed oil to all the batei medrashim for the lamps so that the nation should be able to study Torah at night.
\n\n\n\nChizkiyah made sure that all across Eretz Yisroel the batei medrashim were illuminated at night and because of him everywhere people sat late at night and learned. And those years became famous in our history \u2013 they were unequaled in the study of Torah! There was no person m\u2019Dan v\u2019ad Beer Sheva that didn\u2019t know all the hilchos tumah v\u2019taharah. They knew everything. And it was all due to the effort in zikui horabim of Chizkiyah. And so we understand on our own that Chizkiyahu was a tzaddik gamur; our sages tell us that he was worthy even of being Moshiach (Sanhedrin 94a).
\n\n\n\nExpelled From Olam Habo
\n\n\n\nWhat happened? A surprise, a tragedy. In those great days Chizkiyah became deathly ill. He was on his deathbed. And the navi Yeshayah came to be mevaker choileh, to visit him.
\n\n\n\nAnd Chizkiyah said to the navi, \u201cWhat\u2019s going to be my fate? What will happen to me?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re going to die,\u201d said the navi. \u201cYou\u2019ll die in this world and then in the next world too \u2013 you will have no chelek l\u2019Olam Habo.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Chizkiyah said. He was shocked. \u201cWhy?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause you didn\u2019t marry and have children.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cMarry?! But I was too busy doing more important things\u201d said Chizkiyah. \u201cI was spending my entire life in being mezakeh es horabim. Look how many good things I accomplished for our people, for the world! I spread Torah over all Eretz Yisroel.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d the navi said. \u201cThat\u2019s no excuse. Nothing will help if you didn\u2019t get married and have children.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe First Step
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a remarkable story! It\u2019s not a mashal, an idea; it\u2019s a real story about a great person who was mezakeh es horabim and yet it wasn\u2019t sufficient. Zikui horabim? Very nice! Excellent! But what about planting children in this world?! That\u2019s the first step in being mezakeh es horabim; that\u2019s number one in making this world a better place.
\n\n\n\nLiving on this earth means you are using up all the resources of the world; do you know how many loaves of bread you ate before you reached 180 pounds? If you would sit down and make a quick calculation, you\u2019ll see that you consumed a mountain of bread. Do you know how many mountains of vegetables you ate? How many hundreds of gallons of milk? A mountain of fish! A mountain of meat! Could be that you ate from this world a herd of cows already. Even water is a commodity. Tons of water you drank. Ice cream too \u2014 maybe a ton of ice cream.
\n\n\n\nSo it\u2019s your function to replenish the world in one way or the other. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cLook, you came into My world and you\u2019re using up so much materials. Just to come into this world and consume? How will you pay back what we expended on you, the investment we made in you? What will you leave over when you leave this world? Nothing but a mess of dead decaying flesh \u2013 that\u2019s all?
\n\n\n\nNow, you cannot, let\u2019s say, bring more water into the world or more air into the world. You could bring more fruit trees into the world, more cotton plants and wool, yes, but there are other things besides that, more important things. And the most important is children. When parents raise a family, a Torah family, that\u2019s the best planting a Jew can do.
\n\n\n\nWe Want Diversity
\n\n\n\nWhat are they doing? The parents are planting various kinds of trees and flowers in the world. The world can\u2019t have just one kind of tree or plant. Even all roses, it\u2019s not enough. All violets, that\u2019s not enough. You need various roses and violets and lilies, everything else \u2013 all kinds of plants. You need apples and oranges and bananas and dates and figs. You like to eat everything, don\u2019t you? The sweetness of apricots is not like the sweetness of an apple. And the sweetness of an apple is not like the sweetness of an orange. And grapes are different and pears are different.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when parents have children, they\u2019re putting into the world people of different natures and each nature is a plant, a sapling, with its own sweetness. Why did Hakodosh Boruch Hu make all kinds of fruits? Because He wants the world to have all kinds of hana\u2019os. \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05df \u2013 He gives everybody all kinds of pleasures. And every child is a different pleasure that you gave the world. It\u2019s a pleasure to have skinny serious Jews \u2013 it\u2019s very important to have them. Fat jolly Jews \u2013 it\u2019s a pleasure to have them. Business like Jews \u2013 it\u2019s a pleasure to have them. Each one is a pleasure, no question about it.
\n\n\n\nWhen a mother and father look at their children and they see that they planted the world with various kinds of peiros, they should know that they\u2019re planting for the world. One son is full of energy, the second one less so; but he\u2019s quiet and thoughtful. One daughter is quiet and obedient. Another daughter is a little freilach and mischievous, a lebideger. Another daughter is stubborn. Even their voices are different! That\u2019s adding flavor to the world. We want Jews with mellow voices, with soprano voices, people with bass voices; all kinds of voices are necessary
\n\n\n\nMore Than Seforim
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s the husband and wife who are accomplishing that tremendous achievement for the world, the great zikui horabim of raising the next generation. It\u2019s true that the parents didn\u2019t make any famous chiburim. They didn\u2019t write books, they didn\u2019t say drashos. He didn\u2019t write a peirush on Shas, and she didn\u2019t write the shaalos u\u2019tshuvos. But you should know that they published something more important than a sefer! Tzaddikim, talmidei chachamim, daughters who will have families of their own; they added so much to the world. What a tremendous achievement!
\n\n\n\nAnd so those people, the mothers who are having those children and raising them, the fathers who are laboring to pay tuition and support the family, together they\u2019re building the world. They\u2019re paying for all the things that they took out of this world. For the air you breathe, for the garments you wore out, the food you ate. It\u2019s a tremendous replacement! And don\u2019t think it\u2019s a small thing. It\u2019s a tremendous form of replacement!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore don’t drag your feet. Old bachurim don’t wait any longer. Find a nice homely girl who likes to cook, who likes to be a home girl, and get married as soon as possible. Forget about romance. Forget about love and happiness. Just get married. And even if sometimes she’ll have a bad temper, it’s worth suffering from her because she’s going to produce children for you. That’s a tremendous accomplishment! And even though all your life you’ll suffer from her, it’s worth it. You don’t have to, by the way. If you’re wise, you’ll get along with her. You’ll learn how to handle it. It\u2019s one of the greatest fulfillments of \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd, to build up this world by means of children. Every child is a world of good!
\n\n\n\nPlanting Yourself
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the grand finale, the most important child of all. The child that you have to worry about most is yourself. I repeat the same things all the time. When it tells us the history of Noach, it says \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05ea \u05e0\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 these are the generations that came out of Noach, \u05e0\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 \u2013 Noach was a tzadik. So the word Noach is repeated; \u201cThese are the children of Noach; Noach.\u201d So the Medrash says like this: \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05ea \u05e0\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7, \u05e0\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 These were the children of Noach; Noach \u2013 the first and the best child was Noach himself.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when Noach was thinking of building the world with children after the Mabul he knew that his most important child was himself. Of all the good products he would produce for the world, the best product should be Noach. Of course you should have many children and from all your children you should have nachas; but the biggest nachas should be from yourself.
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t say, \u201cWell, that\u2019s a different subject; improving yourself has nothing to do with improving the world. That\u2019s selfish! Right now we\u2019re talking about making the world a better place!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo listen now to the words of the Mesillas Yesharim on this subject: He\u2019s talking there about an adam hashaleim, a person who is striving for perfection in the service of Hashem, and he says, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 it\u2019s a great elevation for all the creatures in the world and all the things in the world, when they serve a superior person. Not it\u2019s an elevation for himself \u2014 it\u2019s an elevation, a great elevation, for the world and everything in the world.
\n\n\n\nMysteries Revealed
\n\n\n\nNow that can be explained in various ways and in some ways it\u2019s mysterious but I want to explain it in a way that we should understand. To serve you, we need all the features of this world. You have to have the world revolving on its axis. You have to have the sun and the moon. You need rain. You need the atmosphere and summer and winter. You need bees and flowers. You need soil and grass and cows. The world is full of innumerable details, marvels of arrangements that cause this world to function and you need everything \u2013 otherwise you couldn\u2019t exist.
\n\n\n\nNot only the world but people too. Do you know how many people are employed in bringing food to your table? Farmers far away have been plowing their fields, and mills have been grinding the grain for you; the trains have been running and the trucks are carrying the produce to the markets for the purpose of supporting you with your sustenance. There are carpenters and painters and electricians and delivery men; you need the telephone operators in their headquarters. There are policemen and firemen. The entire world is busy servicing you.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you are making yourself a better person, the entire world becomes elevated because they are now in service of an Adam Elyon, which is the purpose of the world. All of the world is now functioning for you which means the entire world is functioning for its purpose, the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nChange The World
\n\n\n\nNow we have to get that in our heads because we’re very far from that musag \u2013 that idea, that concept, is remote in our minds. When you become a little bit better, ki iluy gadol hu labrios kulam, it’s a great elevation for all the creatures.
\n\n\n\nWhether you\u2019re a man or a woman or a boy and a girl, if you make yourself a righteous personality, if you\u2019re working on yourself and you\u2019re a little bit better today than you were yesterday, then you\u2019re improving the world; you\u2019re not only improving yourself \u2013 you\u2019re improving all of creation. And of all forms of planting good things in this world, that\u2019s the best because you\u2019ve elevated the world along with you.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nBecome a Planter
\n\n\n\nIn our Parsha the possuk discusses the trees that would be planted by the Am Yisroel upon entering their land. Chazal learn from here that we must be planters in this world. We cannot be a weed or a thorn and leave the world worse than it was when we found it, we must plant good things in the world.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder take these lessons to heart. I will be careful in my cleanliness, to leave every place as clean as I found it. I will plant smiles and happiness wherever I go, by smiling at people and complimenting them. I will also try to increase the service of Hashem by inspiring others (perhaps by purchasing subscriptions to Toras Avigdor or making a donation to bring Toras Avigdor to more Yidden all over the world).
\n\n\n\nAs I interact with my wife and children, I will do it with the thought that raising a family is like planting a garden for Hashem in this world. The biggest and most fruitful garden I can possibly plant is in my own mind by increasing my own service of Hashem.
\nThe post Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T03:11:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-04-07T14:09:23+00:00" }, { "id": 33383, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-kedoshim-5-planting-in-this-world/", "title": "Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World", "content_html": "TA-Kedoshim-5782The post Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T03:09:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-01T03:09:30+00:00" }, { "id": 33376, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-kedoshim-5-planting-in-this-world/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World", "content_html": "TA-Kedoshim-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Kedoshim 5 – Planting In This World appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-05-01T03:08:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-01T03:08:51+00:00" }, { "id": 33359, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-coatroom-and-olam-haboh/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Coatroom and Olam Haboh", "content_html": "\nQ:
You told us before a story about a Jewish woman in the Middle Ages who was dragged to her death by anti-semites who tied her to the back of a horse. Why does Hashem test His children so severely to the point of having a good woman killed like that?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer, my friend, is as follows. You know, when you go to a wedding, you walk into the lobby and there is a room where somebody is taking your coat and in return for your expensive coat he gives you a little slip of paper. And it seems as silly as could be. If you’re a child and you walk in and see such a thing, you think people are crazy. They’re trading in their good coats and they’re getting a little piece of paper. He wouldn’t do such a foolish thing!
\n\n\n\nIt’s only when you know what’s the story behind that, that there’s a big hall inside and a banquet where you sit and you rejoice and have a good time and after the banquet is over then you go back and you get your coat back, then it starts to make sense.
\n\n\n\nWhen a man doesn’t know about the World to Come and he sees that we have to deposit our bodies he gets flustered. And sometimes the clerk who is behind the counter gives you not only a ticket, but with the ticket he gives you a punch. It happens.
\n\n\n\nLike Hitler. Hitler was a very important cloakroom attendant. He led millions of Jews out of this world. They gave him their bodies. And if you\u2019re ignorant of the World to Come so it doesn’t make any sense at all to give away your bodies.
\n\n\n\nBut we have to realize that we’re giving our bodies away not because that’s the end of the story. The crematorium is not the end of the story. It’s just the beginning of the story. Behind the crematorium is the World to Come. We don’t live in this world for this world.
\n\n\n\nAnd if there wasn’t a Hitler, people would die anyhow. Most of Hitler’s victims would have been dead by now anyhow. It’s the World to Come that counts.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu took many Jews who were not aware of Him and they suffered so greatly that they were purified by their suffering. Very many died with the realization that this world is false. It’s a tremendous success to learn that lesson.
\n\n\n\nVery many learned the lesson that the gentiles are not so good. That’s an important lesson. They had admired the Germans to no end but now they learned that the Germans were savages; they were the worst of all of mankind. That\u2019s a very great lesson. And they went to the next world; and then the time will come when \u05d5\u05e0\u05d0\u05de\u05df \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd. Once more their bodies will be returned to them and they’ll arise once more.
\n\n\n\nSo if you don’t understand the World to Come, you cannot understand anything about this world. Not only the case of the woman who died such a glorious death and went to her reward in Olam Haboh and she sat on a golden throne and she’s waiting and enjoying until the time comes for her body to be restored to her. Not only her; everybody who passes out of this world is the same thing. You don’t pass out of this world with music. There’s always some discomfort in dying. And the consolation is that we’re only giving away our cloaks \u2013 the body is only a cloak \u2014 while we go into the banquet hall and we enjoy Olam Haboh. We hope so. We hope we’ll be worthy. And then the time will come when Hakodosh Boruch Hu will restore the bodies and give back those cloaks that we gave in to the waiting room attendant.
\n\n\n\nAnd so without understanding the whole picture, the whole plan of Olam Haboh that is waiting beyond this world, there’s no hope of explaining this world to anybody.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 465
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Coatroom and Olam Haboh appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-29T17:32:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T17:32:06+00:00" }, { "id": 33345, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%97%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-29T02:55:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T02:55:43+00:00" }, { "id": 15442, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-we-ignore-yom-hashoah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Ignore Yom Hashoah", "content_html": "\nQ:
Can you explain to me why some synagogues do not observe the Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) observance for the Holocaust victims?
A:
I certainly will be happy to explain it. If the\u00a0gedolei Yisroel,\u00a0the great Torah leaders, will come together and declare a certain day for a certain purpose\u00a0then we are certainly,\u00a0bli\u00a0neder,\u00a0going to do so. But if atheists get together and decree a day of observance, so the only way to treat that is to ignore it completely.\u00a0 Any synagogue that makes a Yom Hashoah observance is a synagogue of fools. And there are no exceptions!\u00a0 Any synagogue that is going to celebrate the Holocaust Memorial Day, a day that was founded by atheists, is a place of fools. Bareheaded men\u00a0who don\u2019t believe in Hakodosh Boruch Hu, people who eat\u00a0tarfus;\u00a0reform rabbis\u00a0and leaders of the State of Israel who are atheists \u2013 I\u2019m not talking about Begin, but others before him who started it \u2013 people who don\u2019t believe in a\u00a0Borei\u00a0Olam,\u00a0and they get together and they decree a certain holiday, either a festival or a day of mourning, there is no question that any Jew with any guts has to fight back and see to it that it\u2019s not observed. When it comes to making laws for the Jewish people, we observe only the edict of the Torah leaders, not the edicts of Reform rabbis.
I\u2019m going to quote to you what Balfour Brickner, a famous reform rabbi said a few weeks ago. Somebody asked him: If a reform rabbi becomes involved in Jews for J, should he be expelled from the rabbinate? So he said, \u201cWhere are we going to start? There are reform rabbis who are homosexuals, reform rabbis who are atheists and agnostics. So where are we going to start and where are we going to end?\u201d What that means is that they would have to expel all the reform rabbis.
\n\n\n\nSo, if such low characters are proclaiming a day of mourning \u2013 and there are homosexual reform rabbis, no question about it. If Balfour Brickner says it publicly, then you can believe him. And it\u2019s not just ten or fifteen of them! And therefore, if these perverts get together and declare a Yom Hashoah, so somebody is going to ask me: \u201cRabbi Miller, why don\u2019t you observe it?\u201d!
TAPE # 215 (April 1978)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Ignore Yom Hashoah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-27T20:04:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-05-01T21:19:20+00:00" }, { "id": 33305, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-33/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 33", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-33The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 33 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-27T02:49:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-27T02:49:56+00:00" }, { "id": 33264, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-acharei-mos/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Acharei Mos", "content_html": "\nBRIIIIIIINNNNGGG!!!! went the bell signaling the end of recess. All of the boys in the Horki Cheder hurried back to their classrooms. The sixth graders were especially excited to return to class, because Rebbi Horowitz had promised a big surprise for them after recess.
\n\n\n\nThe boys ran inside as fast as their legs could carry them, but suddenly Srulik tripped and fell at the entrance to the building. Noticing this, Hershy stopped running and helped his classmate up.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSrulik, are you okay?\u201d asked Hershy.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Srulik tearfully. \u201cI think I\u2019m bleeding.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOy!\u201d Hershy exclaimed, seeing Srulik\u2019s ripped pants and the cut on his knee. \u201cLet\u2019s get you to the office right away!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut don\u2019t you want to get to class in time for Rebbi\u2019s surprise?\u201d asked Srulik.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut you\u2019re hurt!\u201d Hershy protested. \u201cHow can I just leave a friend who\u2019s in pain? Come on, let\u2019s go.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSrulik smiled. He had never really thought of Hershy as a close friend – they sat on opposite sides of the classroom and Hershy liked to play frisbee during recess, while Srulik preferred to read. It was really nice of Hershy to be so considerate to him, especially when everyone was excited to get back to class for Rebbi Horowitz\u2019s surprise.
\n\n\n\nIn the school office, Rebbi Shteiner, who was a Hatzolah member, cleaned Srulik\u2019s cut and bandaged it neatly. Then the two boys headed back to class together.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh, there you are!\u201d exclaimed Rebbi Horowitz as the boys walked in and took their seats. \u201cI was waiting for you so I could announce my big surprise!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRebbi Horowitz unfurled a large colorful poster with the words \u201c\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da\u201d on it. The boys all looked blankly at the poster, as Rebbi Horowitz continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSince we are in middle of Sefiras Haomer, we are having a bein adam l\u2019chaveiro campaign. Every boy will be given a chart to put down at least one way you showed love to a fellow Yid each day. Whoever shows the most dedication to this beautiful Mitzvah will be awarded the opportunity to spend an entire day with the Rebbe Shlit\u201da!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRebbi Horowitz looked around the class, expecting the boys to be excited about the bein adam l\u2019chaveiro campaign, but most of the boys were still looking at him with confused looks.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d asked Rebbi Horowitz. \u201cI would have thought that you would have been more excited about this.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHershy raised his hand. \u201cIt\u2019s just that we all know about \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da already,\u201d he said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d added Srulik. \u201cIn fact, Hershy just did this mitzvah beautifully when helped me after I fell and cut my knee at the end of recess.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHershy raised his hand again. \u201cAlso, loving other Yidden is a mitzvah that applies the whole year long. Why would we davka want to have a campaign for it now?\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image-2.png?resize=625%2C445&ssl=1\")
\u201cBoys, I\u2019d like to call your attention to something in this week\u2019s Parsha,\u201d Rebbi Horowitz said. \u201cWhen the Torah talks about Yom Kippur, it adds two seemingly extra words: \u2018\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4\u2019. Now why does the Torah need to tell us that Yom Kippur comes once a year – it doesn\u2019t tell us that about any other Yom Tov?
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe answer is, there\u2019s no such thing as \u2018we know it already\u2019. Rav Avigdor Miller would say \u2018Thank you Hashem for everything\u2019 is nothing at all. Like when someone tells you \u2018come over anytime\u2019 it usually means \u2018never\u2019. If you want to be sincere, you have to be specific. Not everybody is an expert lover of other Yidden like Hershel Krausz here. And so we need a dedicated time to work on it. Like teshuva. It\u2019s a mitzvah all year round. In fact it\u2019s a chiyuv. You can\u2019t push it off. You can\u2019t say \u2018I\u2019ll do teshuva when Yom Kippur comes\u2019. But the Torah says achas beshanah, because this is the time to put all our energies into it.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe need to make set times to work on mitzvos even though we \u2018know all about it already\u2019. Now in these days of Sefirah when we mourn for the Talmidim of Rebbi Akiva we will concentrate on the teaching of Rebbi Akiva that loving other Yidden is the \u2018klal gadol batorah\u2019….\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys all thought about this as Rebbi Horowitz pinned the new poster on the classroom wall. Suddenly, Srulik jumped up from his seat.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHere, Yanky,\u201d he said, picking up Yanky\u2019s pencil and handing it to him. \u201cYour pencil fell on the floor.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThen, turning to Rebbi Horowitz, he added. \u201cThank you, Rebbi. What you just said made me realize that there is always more we can do to work on this tremendous mitzvah of \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway:
\n\n\n\nWhile we must always do all Mitzvos, the Torah teaches us that it\u2019s good to set aside specific times to concentrate on individual Mitzvos.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Acharei Mos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-25T04:11:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-25T04:11:35+00:00" }, { "id": 33251, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-acharei-mos-5-two-goats-2/", "title": "Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats", "content_html": "\nThe Most Unusual Kaparah
\n\n\n\nIn Parshas Acharei Mos, we come to the special subject of the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel, the unique goat offering of Yom Kippur. It\u2019s a very unusual kaparah, this Sa\u2019ir. Its procedure is unlike all other kodshim. Although it\u2019s a goat, one of the animals that is typically brought as a korban, nothing else about it is typical. The primary avodah of the Sa\u2019ir doesn\u2019t even take place in the Beis Hamikdash. Instead, it is taken far away from Yerushalayim to the desolate area of Harei Yehuda. And the procedure that takes place there doesn\u2019t appear to be that of a korban altogether.
\n\n\n\nThe Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel you don\u2019t slaughter, and you don\u2019t sprinkle its blood. And nothing at all is offered up on the mizbeyach to Hashem. All you do is lead the Sa\u2019ir to a precipice, a high cliff, and you give it a shove; you push it over the edge and watch it roll down the rocky mountainside, crashing against the rocks. By the time it reaches the bottom, it\u2019s smashed to little pieces. \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d3\u2026 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd. That\u2019s how we bring this offering to Hashem! It\u2019s a remarkable thing!
\n\n\n\nThe Powerful Goat
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, this goat that doesn\u2019t seem to be a korban at all \u2014 it has none of the characteristics of a korban \u2014 achieves what no other korban can achieve. It\u2019s so potent that it has the power to be mechapeir, to atone, even for people who sin b\u2019meizid, intentionally. And what\u2019s more, the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel brings you atonement even if you didn\u2019t do teshuvah! It\u2019s unbelievable. No korban is mechapeir unless a person does teshuvah beforehand.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a remarkable thing that you\u2019re hearing now. A man sins b\u2019meizid; he shaves his beard with a razor, let\u2019s say, and he doesn\u2019t do teshuvah; he\u2019s not even meharheir b\u2019teshuvah. And now, just because a goat is thrown off a cliff, this sinner becomes purified; he\u2019s a clean man now. The Rambam says that in Hilchos Teshuvah. It\u2019s remarkable! It\u2019s the one exception in the Torah where such a thing is found.
\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s true, it won\u2019t be mechapeir for everything; chayavei krisos it won\u2019t be mechapeir for. But it\u2019s mechapeir on all esin and lavin \u2014 that\u2019s a lot of aveiros! And so, something like this, a korban that is so different from all other korbanos, needs a good explanation.
\n\n\n\nStudying the Ceremony
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not capable of explaining Hashem\u2019s reasons, but when we study the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel we should keep in mind the words of the Rambam: \u201cThese ceremonies are of a symbolic nature, and they are intended to teach certain ideas and to induce men to repent\u201d (Moreh Nevuchim 3:46). So we understand that some of the lessons are so self-evident that we are expected to study them.
\n\n\n\nThe first thing we must ask is: What\u2019s so special about this goat that it brings such a kaparah? And for the answer to that question, we turn to a medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 65:15) that says as follows: \u201c\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u2014 Who is this goat, this Sa\u2019ir, that is being led out to the mountain? It\u2019s Eisav.\u201d Now, that\u2019s a cryptic statement \u2014 Eisav is a goat? What does that mean? So we think back to our days in cheder when we learned Chumash and remind ourselves that we once had an uncle Eisav who was compared to a sa\u2019ir.
\n\n\n\nYou remember when Eisav was born, it says about him: \u201c\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 And the first one came out covered all over k\u2019aderes sei\u2019ar, like a hairy coat.\u201d (Bereishis 25:25). Eisav was exceptionally hairy, and he was well-known for that. \u201c\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d5 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8 \u2014 My brother Eisav is a hairy man,\u201d said Yaakov (Bereishis 27:11). Sa\u2019ar means hair, and sa\u2019ir is a goat because the goat is a very hairy animal. And Har Se\u2019ir is the land where Eisav, the hairy man, dwelled.
\n\n\n\nPushing Eisav Off the Cliff
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we lead the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel out to the desert, we understand now that it\u2019s Eisav we are taking out. And we note that Eisav doesn\u2019t just go out the wilderness unencumbered. \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u2014 The goat carries\u201d something out to the desert. When we push the Sa\u2019ir off the cliff, with him a heavy load goes tumbling down. And what is in that load that goes over the cliff with Eisav? \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd. And the Medrash says, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u2014 Eisav carries away on his back, \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd, \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u2014 the word avonosam, \u2018their sins,\u2019 should be read \u2018avonos tam\u2019,\u201d the sins of the \u2018tam,\u2019 the ish tam \u2014that\u2019s Yaakov. On the back of Eisav we load all of our sins, even sins b\u2019meizid, and we lead them away to a high rocky cliff.
\n\n\n\nAnd when we get to the tzuk, to that precipice where the kaparah takes place, it\u2019s Eisav we are pushing off a cliff. That\u2019s it; that\u2019s the whole ceremony! We throw Eisav off a cliff and we have a kaparah! It\u2019s a remarkable concept! Throwing the goat that represents Eisav off a mountain cliff should bring such a powerful atonement for the Am Yisrael?!
\n\n\n\nBlaming Eisav
\n\n\n\nNow, we wouldn\u2019t be wrong if we asked a question: Is that fair? Why should Eisav be blamed to suffer for the sins of Yaakov? And that\u2019s a big question \u2014 at least, I think it\u2019s a big question. Why is it Eisav\u2019s fault that the Am Yisrael sinned? We throw Eisav off a cliff, and our sins go down with him? Where is the yosher here?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, it\u2019s all yosher. Because if you want to know the reason for almost all the sins of Yaakov, it\u2019s because there\u2019s an Eisav around. Now, I don\u2019t mean to blame only our Uncle Eisav; Eisav is a mashal for the goyim, for all the nations of the world. It\u2019s the goyim who bear the responsibility for all those Jews who were misled by their false ideas. The shortcomings and imperfections of the Am Yisrael are almost always traced back to the umos ha\u2019olam.
\n\n\n\nYou know, it was only seventy years ago [1905] that in the small towns, and even the big towns, most Jews put on tefillin, and most of them kept Shabbos, ate kosher, and learned Torah every day. The Jews used to keep everything! It used to be easy to resist the blandishments of the goyim. Let\u2019s say you lived in old Cracow, and the satan came over to you and said, \u201cTake off your hat,\u201d so you\u2019d put up a big fight, because to walk bareheaded in Cracow meant that you were liable to get a broken head! To be a Jew meant you had to act like a Jew \u2014 there were no two ways about it.
\n\n\n\nThe Way It Was
\n\n\n\nThe whole atmosphere of a Jewish community was different when the influence of Eisav was kept far away. Cracow was a town where children in the street babbled divrei Torah. It\u2019s not what I say; Graetz, the sonei haTorah,said that. A fact, a verifiable truth like that, even an enemy of Torah couldn\u2019t dispute. He said that children babbled divrei Torah in the street! Even women spoke Gemara lashon because that was the language of the people. Every third word in Yiddish is a Gemara word. When the people weren\u2019t busy with gentile ideas, when they lived in a pure environment, they were able to remain the nation of the ish tam.
\n\n\n\nNow, why did they leave that environment? When was it broken up? It was Eisav who disrupted the Jewish communities, communities that had existed for hundreds of years, with established ways.
\n\n\n\nWho broke up the yeshiva in Slabodka? The Russians! The yeshiva has just finished building a beautiful building; it was a very poor yeshiva and it had taken them fifteen years to gather together money to build the building. I was there at the chanukas habayis; it was a big simchah! And then, not long after I left, the Russians marched in. The Communists took it away from the yeshiva and they made it into some workers\u2019 place or something.
\n\n\n\nWho ruined the yeshivos? Who ruined Judaism in Russia? The goyim! Who ruined everything that we had built up so painstakingly, where all our traditions were observed? Eisav!
\n\n\n\nAmerican Jewry Was Swallowed Up
\n\n\n\nSo now these Jews came to America and there was no community, no organization. And there\u2019s a law in America that you must send your child to school. But to set up functional yeshivos you need money, and they weren\u2019t experienced; nobody had done it here before. And so the majority of Jewish children went to public school, and that was the beginning of the ruination of American Jewry.
\n\n\n\nIn America itself, hundreds of thousands of Jewish families have disappeared. They moved out, settled among the gentiles and went lost; many intermarried \u2014 a tragedy of tragedies. Until the gedolim came from Europe and founded frum communities, American Jews were being swallowed up, devoured by the ways of Eisav.
\n\n\n\nNow, are the Jews such a disloyal nation? No, there\u2019s no nation as loyal as we are. Jews wouldn\u2019t be michaleil Shabbos and throw away their tefillin; we\u2019re not a wicked people! So who deserves the blame for this great desolation, the great ruination of Jews who forsook the whole Torah? The blame must be laid squarely on the shoulders of Eisav. It\u2019s only due to the effort of Eisav, who would never let us alone, that so many Jews have become ruined. Eisav is the one who broke up the communities. They physically smashed up our lives; they exiled us, driving us from town to town, from country to country. And in our new homes, we had to start building all over again from scratch. It was Eisav who ruined the Jewish communal life in Cracow and Slabodka and forced us to rebuild anew.
\n\n\n\nThe Spanish Goats
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is, what were Jews doing in Cracow and Slabodka, anyway? They didn\u2019t belong there; they had been in Spain. In Spain there were old, organized, prestigious communities. But Eisav threw them out. Ferdinand and his wonderful wife Isabella, y\u2019mach sh\u2019mam v\u2019zichram, threw them out. The persecution in Spain broke up the established Jewish communal life.
\n\n\n\nAnd looking further back, how did they end up in Spain? They should have been in Bavel where they had been for a thousand years. A thousand-year-old community, now that\u2019s a settled community, where everybody kept everything. So why didn\u2019t they remain there? Eisav again!
\n\n\n\nAnd what were they doing in Bavel? They should have all been in Eretz Yisrael, with the Beis Hamikdash, organized under the chachmei haTorah who were in charge. Every little detail of Jewish life was under the supervision of the Sanhedrin. You couldn\u2019t just do whatever you pleased when the Sanhedrin was in charge!
\n\n\n\nThe Roman Goats
\n\n\n\nSo who abolished the Sanhedrin? It was Gabinius, the Roman governor of Syria. He abolished it. And whose orders was he following? Antipater, the father of Hordus, who didn\u2019t want the Sanhedrin in his way. Antipater, where did he come from? He was an Edomi, from Eisav. And Rome is also Eisav. So these two minions of Eisav got together and abolished the Sanhedrin.
\n\n\n\nSo who broke up the Am Yisrael\u2019s established system of avodas Hashem? Who destroyed our communities of kedushah? Who broke us down and drove us out among the goyim with their polluted ideas, which polluted us? Eisav! And so, it\u2019s Eisav who has to carry our sins upon his shoulders because he is the one to blame.
\n\n\n\nOf course, we have bechirah \u2014 no question about it. We have the free will to resist. But suppose someone comes and disturbs your good intentions; he\u2019s rodeif you, and then he tempts you, and pressures you, and now you yield. Is he innocent? You\u2019re to blame for not fighting back hard enough, but if he deliberately tempted you then he\u2019s the guilty one here. He\u2019s the one who has to go over the cliff.
\n\n\n\nWe Want to Do Your Will
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Brachos (17a) the Gemara says that the Jewish nation declares to Hakadosh Baruch Hu: \u201c\u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Ribono Shel Olam, we want to do Your will.\u201d By nature, the Am Hashem, the holy nation, desires to do the will of Hashem. \u201c\u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1 \u2014 But what prevents us?\u201d Something is hindering us. Take a look around on the street and you\u2019ll see that something is wrong; a great many Jews are very far from doing Hashem\u2019s will. And even for the frummeh, it\u2019s not so easy; we\u2019re not always doing the retzon Hashem. But we want to! \u201c\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Hashem, we want to do whatever You want!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo what is it that prevents us? asks the Gemara. And the answer given there is that one of the most pressing ikuvim is shibud malchuyos, the fact we are subject to the whims of the nations.
\n\n\n\nNow, shibud malchuyos means a lot of things. It\u2019s a sheim hakollel for a lot of what we suffer from the nations of the world. I mentioned already the shibud of being moved from one place to another and the breakdown of our communities. And they didn\u2019t move us gently. No, they did it with Crusades, pogroms, and Inquisitions. They did it with yellow stars and crematoria. And because of that, they will bear eternal responsibility for preventing us from doing the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nThe Danger of Liberty
\n\n\n\nHowever, there\u2019s another shibud that has wreaked even more havoc on the Am Yisraelthan that. Because a few hundred years ago, into the world came a very great sakanah, the era of tolerance. Napoleon \u2014 and others as well \u2014 broke down the walls that the Church had erected around us, and the removal of those barriers did even more damage to us than the forced destruction of our communities in the past. The Enlightenment \u2014 tolerance, freedom, and equality \u2014 has been one of the worst of all tests in our history.
\n\n\n\nHere in America, we\u2019re free; we have liberty. We have almost a hundred percent freedom, and we have to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for that. After all, America is a good country. We came from countries where we were persecuted, and this country gave us all the rights.
\n\n\n\nI would say we should kiss the ground of America for all that it gave us. I was in Europe for some time; I learned in Slabodka. And when I came back, I saw even more that this was a blessed country; it\u2019s a gift from Hashem to us. Shouldn\u2019t we appreciate it? Of course, we pay taxes; of course, we keep the laws. I even say that a Jew should hang out the flag on the Fourth of July. I won\u2019t say you\u2019re a sinner if you don\u2019t, but I think it\u2019s a good thing to hang out the flag. It\u2019s not a contradiction to being a frum Jew by any means. We hang out the flag from this shul on the Fourth of July. Certainly, you should be loyal to your country.
\n\n\n\nThe Mabul in America
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll ask me, what\u2019s the problem, then? Freedom, liberty! It\u2019s all good; what\u2019s the shibud?! And the answer is that that itself is the worst shibud! There\u2019s nothing worse than being free to follow the ways and attitudes of the goyim. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b7\u05bc\u05c1\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u2014 To a certain extent, we are slaves today \u2014 we\u2019re slaves to our environment. You\u2019re not really free if you live among gentiles, because the worst slavery of all is being enslaved to gentile influence.
\n\n\n\nMore people have been lost in the crematoria of tolerance than were destroyed in the Holocaust. This spiritual Holocaust has no equal. I remember in 1930, when you couldn\u2019t find a frum girl to marry. A frum girl was impossible to find. A frum boy was also a rarity. There was only one yeshiva in America.
\n\n\n\nThe shibud malchuyos of being enslaved to the influence of the goyim is still our most dangerous enemy today. The whole sevivah, the whole environment, is trying to drown out our ideals. We\u2019re being inundated on all sides by apikorsus, ta\u2019avos, shtus, avodah zarah; there\u2019s wickedness all around us. And it\u2019s flooding our homes, most of us are being affected.
\n\n\n\nOn all sides you see gentiles and gentile ideals. Money, clothing, sports, entertainment, movies, leitzanus, atheism, evolution. In the winter seasons, you\u2019re inundated with season\u2019s greetings, signs of the holidays \u2014 of course it\u2019s all business; it\u2019s not genuine; it\u2019s all for money. But still you can\u2019t help yourself from being drawn along. The atmosphere is avodah zarah and atheism and materialism on all sides.
\n\n\n\nGoyishe Bar Mitzvahs
\n\n\n\nYou pass by a yeshiva today, and you see things going on. Tayereh boys, precious boys \u2014 and yet, they\u2019re behaving like goyim. Their games are goyishe games. Their sports are goyishe sports. The way they speak, and what they speak about \u2014 it\u2019s words of Eisav. When you go to a bar mitzvah, a lot of the dancing is goyishe dancing. It\u2019s gentile ways. Jews should have other ways of doing things. And instead, they\u2019re thinking in goyishe ways, with goyishe thoughts.
\n\n\n\nBaruch Hashem, we\u2019re happy with them. I\u2019m happy with them. Kein yirbu. And kein yigdelu. I love them! Tayereh boys, a thousand times better than the best goyim. And yet, they don\u2019t realize that they\u2019re being influenced by the outside world tremendously.
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05b5\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 And there, in galus, you will serve strange gods\u201d (Devarim 4:28). Now, you won\u2019t actually bow down to avodah zarah there, but being among the gentiles is like serving strange gods \u2014 you can\u2019t help yourself. The attitudes of Eisav are being pounded into your head day and night, and you\u2019re bowing down to gentile ideas. Some of us less, some of us more, but everyone is being affected.
\n\n\n\nThe Amerikahner Rebbe
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the Rambam who says that: \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d2 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d2 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 A person will always behave like the people of the country where he lives.\u201d It can\u2019t be helped! Even when the tzaddikim from Europe came to America, as soon as they got off the boat they had to fight against the environment. That\u2019s why I always say that a tzaddik, even the biggest tzaddik, when he comes to America, is already an Amerikahner;he\u2019s already spoiled. The Satmar Rav, zecher tzaddik livrachah, as soon as he set foot down on the soil of America, had to fight back. All around him was the environment of Eisav, and everyone in America was filling their minds with American ideals.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019m telling you right now \u2014 it\u2019s affecting all of us. It\u2019s happening this minute. If you\u2019re living here in America, you\u2019re going to be an American. It\u2019s impossible for a person to avoid the influence of the country in which he lives. It enters your ears, your eyes, and worst of all your mind. Don\u2019t fool yourself. It\u2019s happening in every part of your life. Just the fact that I\u2019m speaking to you in English right now is a sign of our environment pressing down on us.
\n\n\n\nI remember many Jews in Europe who couldn\u2019t speak Lithuanian, or Polish. I saw many people who couldn\u2019t speak the language of the land, and it was a great barrier, a wall, between the Am Yisraeland Eisav. And the fact is they were proud of it. I remember the old generation. They were proud of the fact that they couldn\u2019t speak goyish.
\n\n\n\nThe Yiddish Principle
\n\n\n\nYou should know, the fact that I speak English here is against my will. I would never speak English in public! Only because this is a Syrian place \u2014 they don\u2019t speak Yiddish here, and I can\u2019t speak Syrian \u2014 so I have to speak English. In my shul I speak English, too, but that\u2019s business; it\u2019s parnassah, so I can\u2019t help myself. What you do for business is something else. But if I\u2019m invited out to speak, it\u2019s only Yiddish. It\u2019s a principle of mine. In the house also \u2014 I speak only Yiddish to my children, since they were born. They answer me in English; what can I do? But I speak Yiddish; it\u2019s a principle.
\n\n\n\nNow, they must learn English in the schools; I\u2019m not saying English is a bad thing to learn. But the problem is that you have to learn for the Regents. So they tell you to read books, novels. And you have to learn evolution, too. Apikorsus has to be taught in the yeshivos, in the Beis Yankivs. Of course the teacher says, \u201cWe don\u2019t believe in it; but when they ask you the question on the examination, you have to say this and this \u2014 you have to write this and this apikorsus.\u201d And of course, once you can read English, you have the opportunity to read all the filth of the umos ha\u2019olam. We need to know that this shibud malchuyos is hollowing out our nation!
\n\n\n\nMoshe Rabbeinu\u2019s Last Warning
\n\n\n\nAnd now we can begin to understand the words of Moshe Rabbeinu when he spoke to the B\u2019nei Yisrael just before they entered the land of Eretz Yisrael. \u201cYou\u2019re coming now into Eretz Yisrael, and you\u2019re going to settle in your own land,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I must warn you.\u201d And he said as follows: \u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2014 You know very well that you once lived in Mitzrayim, \u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2014 and you saw their abominations, you saw their ways, the wicked things that they did.\u201d So the question is: What about it? They were already forty years away from Mitzrayim and now they were going to their own land, into Eretz Yisrael. Who cares what they once saw?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that once you see something, even if you saw it forty years ago, it\u2019s already in your mind. It\u2019s called mental assimilation. It\u2019s not only physical assimilation you have to worry about, that you\u2019re mixing among the goyim, it\u2019s also your mind that you have to be worried about. Your head is becoming assimilated. You could have peyos down to your belt, but what does it help if they\u2019re growing out of a gentile mind?! \u201c\u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05e8\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 There might be a poison root growing in your minds\u201d (Devarim 29:17). What you see, what you hear, could bear poison fruit in your mind. All types of seeds are planted, and now you have a gentile jungle growing in your head.
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2014 Once you saw with your eyes the gentile culture, their attitudes and ways, so the picture of those abominations remains in your mind. And that picture is a sakanah. It could very well be a root of poison, and it will grow in your mind; and who knows what dangerous fruit it might bear in the future.
\n\n\n\nWe think it\u2019s too much, too extreme, that Moshe Rabbeinu was making a big deal about nothing. But that\u2019s only because we\u2019ve already assimilated gentile ideas. They\u2019re already a part of our lives, so they determine what we think is normal. But if you listen to Moshe Rabbeinu\u2019s words, you\u2019ll see how careful you must be. \u201c\u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2014 You might have poison in your head!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so, we begin to see that in addition to the danger of being persecuted by the gentiles, there is the bigger danger of having our minds follow the attitudes and the ways of the gentiles \u2014 even from a distance. If you live in Long Island, in Westchester, or in West Orange, so of course you have to beware; but even in Boro Park and Williamsburg and Lakewood, you\u2019re in grave danger.
\n\n\n\nThe Real Fight
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very important point you\u2019re hearing now. We\u2019re expected to fight back against the great influence of Eisav that fills the world, and the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel is the korban that was designed to underscore this point. We\u2019re being told, \u201cYou know what the remedy to all this is? Take Eisav as a korban, but don\u2019t offer him on the mizbeyach \u2014 Eisav has no place in the Mikdash. Instead, take him far away \u2014 lead him as far as possible away from Yerushalayim \u2014 and throw him off a mountain; get rid of him so that you shouldn\u2019t be tempted again. And when you see him tumbling down the steep mountain, smashing to pieces, that\u2019s the atonement for your wicked ways.
\n\n\n\nIf we wish to be rid of our sins, if we wish to achieve a kaparah for the wrong things we did, so one of the most important things that we have to do is to get rid of Eisav. Now, that doesn\u2019t mean that you should go out on the street and get rid of goyim. We\u2019re not going to take goyim and throw them off the roof. Leave them alone; that\u2019s not our business here. Don\u2019t fight with goyim!
\n\n\n\nYou have to fight with the goy inside you \u2014 that\u2019s the toughest goy there is \u2014 and get rid of him. Once you find him and take hold of him, you\u2019ll find that he\u2019s a tenant that doesn\u2019t leave so easily. And the truth is that you love that tenant. You\u2019ll be surprised how much you love that goy inside of you \u2014 so much so that you refuse to part with him.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s like a landlord who complains about his tenant and calls the marshal to evict him. But then, when the marshal comes, the landlord starts hemming and hawing, \u201cNo, I can\u2019t let him go. I want him.\u201d We want that tenant in us! That\u2019s the real problem here, the goy inside our heads \u2014 not the goy on the street.
\n\n\n\nThe Atmosphere Creeps In
\n\n\n\nThe Torah tells us a general principle: \u201c\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Do not bring any abomination into your home\u201d (Devarim 7:26). Of course, the plain meaning is that you shouldn\u2019t bring an idol into your home \u2014 even as a memento or souvenir. But the lesson here is that nothing abominable, nothing of Eisav, should be brought into your home. And the Torah says why \u2014 because you\u2019re going to make your home abominable. What you bring into your home changes the nature of your home. You could have a beautiful home, and then you bring in something from Eisav and it\u2019s all ruined. It\u2019s like a delicious piece of steak that fell into the toilet. It\u2019s ruined!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, as much as possible you should keep the goy out of your home, and out of your thoughts. And that\u2019s a very big job today because the gentile attitudes are permeating our lives. The air is tamei and it\u2019s creeping under the door \u2014 and I\u2019m sorry to say that in many homes the goyim are not just creeping in; the door is wide open and we invite them in.
\n\n\n\nSpread the Word About TV
\n\n\n\nOf course, you shouldn\u2019t have any TV, chas v\u2019shalom. \u201c\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b4\u05d9. \u05d1\u05b4\u05d9. \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 You shouldn\u2019t bring the abomination of television into your home.\u201d Don\u2019t allow Eisav into your house, because his big mouth opens up and he pours out all of his leitzanus into your family room. Surely you wouldn\u2019t take the sewer main, with all the filth from people\u2019s toilets, and let it empty into your home.
\n\n\n\nIf you have a wire bringing Eisav into your house, you can forget about it altogether because ein lo cheilek l\u2019Olam Haba. No question about it. If \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0, and this man brings them into his home every night \u2014 he sits and looks at their shows and their movies, surely he can forget about Olam Haba! No question about it at all; and spread the word, by the way. It\u2019s impossible to have a Jewish home with a television in it. There are no two ways about it; either you have a mikdash or you have a television. It can\u2019t be both.
\n\n\n\nCleaning the Home
\n\n\n\nAnd if chalilah you\u2019re still living with Eisav in your home, so you should take that TV and throw it off a cliff. You don\u2019t live near a mountain? So throw it out your window. Make sure that nobody is walking on the sidewalk below. If the coast is clear, throw it over and watch it become eivarim eivarim, smashed to pieces. Your wife won\u2019t let? So give her some money to go shopping and when she\u2019s out spending your money, throw the TV out the window. It\u2019s worth all the money in the world to get that to\u2019eivah out of your home.
\n\n\n\nIncluded in the abominations that we send out on the back of the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel and throw over the cliff is the reading material of the goyim. Magazines, novels, even children\u2019s books. In the public library, there is no end of dirty books. Today, that\u2019s what they offer to children in the libraries; the library books are full of tumah. Once upon a time the libraries had good books; I know \u2014 they didn\u2019t let any immoral books into the library. The books weren\u2019t always so wise, but they were good books. They taught you to work hard and make a living, and how you can get rich with good character. That was the old-time books in the library. But today it\u2019s terrible what\u2019s available there, terrible.
\n\n\n\nCleaning Out Your Head
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t tell me it has no effect on you. It has an effect! It leaves over a bad smell. You can\u2019t have a nice home that smells like tzo\u2019ah (excrement); it doesn\u2019t work. It smells up your house. Now, some people are so accustomed to the bad smell of Eisav that they think it\u2019s natural. If you have to have a book by Eisav \u2014 I\u2019m not giving you a heter, but if for whatever reason you have something from Eisav in your home \u2014 so make sure to keep it in the bathroom, where the smell won\u2019t bother you. The bathroom, that\u2019s the goyishe library. Otherwise it will be m\u2019tamei the atmosphere of the whole house. As much as possible, try to keep the ideas of Eisav out of your home.
\n\n\n\nAnd so this very important offering of the Sair La\u2019azazel, although it\u2019s not a korban on the mizbeyach, is mechapeir more than all the korbanos. Throwing the influence of Eisav off a mountain and smashing him to pieces, that\u2019s our kaparah. Getting rid of the influence of Eisav as much as possible, that\u2019s the true path to teshuvah. Because our faults, our sins, our indiscretions \u2014 they\u2019re all imitations of the umos ha\u2019olam. Eisav and the goyim are to blame for our lapses and our dereliction of duty to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And therefore, \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u2014 Eisav the Sa\u2019ir carries away our sins, \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d2\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 to a desolate land.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThinking Along with Hashem
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Avos (2:4) we learn: \u201c\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05c2\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Make the will of Hashem your will.\u201d What Hakadosh Baruch Hu considers important, that\u2019s what you should consider important. What Hakadosh Baruch Hu admires, that\u2019s what you should admire.
\n\n\n\nFor instance, Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves the Am Yisrael. He\u2019s oheiv amo Yisrael. He loves the Jewish people. It says that openly \u2014 again and again it\u2019s stated that He loves the Am Yisrael more than anything else. So you should train yourself to think the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu thinks. You should also love the Am Yisrael. Become a patriot for the Am Yisrael. Love the Am Yisrael. That is making His will like your will.
\n\n\n\nHakadosh Baruch Hu loves the places of Torah. \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b2\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2014 Hashem loves the she\u2019arim hametzuyanim b\u2019halachah. So when you pass by a yeshivawhere people are learning, practice loving that place. Even though you have no money to give them, love them anyhow. Have a feeling, \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful place, an excellent place. I love the people inside, all those who are learning Torah. Because Hashem loves yeshivos, I love the yeshivos, too.\u201d Say it; it\u2019s fine, nobody will hear you. Say, \u201cI love this yeshiva; I love the people in the yeshiva.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Beis Hamikdash on Ocean Avenue
\n\n\n\nNow, once you\u2019re doing that, little by little you begin to think the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu thinks. Like it says (Yeshayah 56:4), \u201c\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d7\u05b2\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2014 They should choose what I choose.\u201d You can walk down the street in Flatbush and think, \u201cI\u2019d like to build yeshivos all over the world. I don\u2019t have any money, but that\u2019s what Hashem wants, so I want it, too.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to have the Beis Hamikdash again and bring korbanos.\u201d Work on creating that desire in your mind. At first you won\u2019t mean it; you don\u2019t desire the Beis Hamikdash. You desire maybe to eat in the restaurants of Eisav, or to put on the radio to hear Eisav speaking. You desire to sit in a stadium with thousands of Eisavs, watching Eisavs hit balls with a stick. Or maybe you\u2019re more \u201csophisticated\u201d than that, so you want to go see Eisav at the theatre. A lot of things you desire, but not the Beis Hamikdash, not to build yeshivos. But if you put effort in, if you begin to think along with Hashem and say the words, so little by little you begin to shape your thoughts to be like the thoughts of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSo you walk down Ocean Avenue and you say \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1, and you say it with a desire, a cheishek. Instead of looking around at the goyim \u2014 at their cars, and their billboards, and their advertisements in the store windows inviting you to come waste your money on things that one day you\u2019ll have to send off on the back of the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel anyhow; instead of all that \u2014 you\u2019re filling your mind with Torah ideals, the attitudes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nOur True Desire
\n\n\n\nThe lesson of the Sa\u2019ir La\u2019azazel is the lesson of what our great test in this world is \u2014 to fight back against the influence of the umos ha\u2019olam. The nations of the world are no accident of history. Hakadosh Baruch Hu put them in this world for our benefit, to give us the opportunity to fight back by filling our minds with His attitudes instead of the attitudes of the street.
\n\n\n\nAnd by means of this act of saying good riddance to Eisav the goat, by pushing him off a cliff and watching him smash to pieces, we internalize the necessity to rid ourselves of all gentile influence. And that\u2019s why it is the most powerful of all kaparos; it was an atonement that was unparalleled anywhere else in the Torah. \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05dd \u2014 The goat carries away all their sins,\u201d because it is the influence of the umos ha\u2019olam that has stifled our ratzon to do the will of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, all year long \u2014 not only on Yom Kippur \u2014 we must take this Sa\u2019ir and hurl him off the mountaintops. When you smash the influence of Eisav, when you get rid of the hashpa\u2019ah of Eisav, that\u2019s the kaparah, that\u2019s the way to take away your sins. Because a very big part of our sins is on the head of the gentiles; most of our sins are their sins. And it\u2019s only when a person takes Eisav far away from the Jewish camp, away from Yerushalayim, and throws him off the cliff, that he is prepared now to achieve the greatness that Hashem brought him into this world to accomplish: \u201cRetzoneinu la\u2019asos retzonecha \u2014 Hashem, what we want in this world is to do Your will.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nEisav and His Influence
\n\n\n\nThe influence of the umos ha\u2019olam is the primary cause of our sins. This week, I will bli neder attempt to free myself completely of gentile influence. For one week I will stay away from all secular literature, news or entertainment and attempt to connect more with Jewish sources.
\nThe post Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-25T04:09:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-25T04:09:12+00:00" }, { "id": 33258, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-acharei-mos-5-two-goats/", "title": "Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats", "content_html": "TA-Acharei-Mos-5782The post Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-25T04:06:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-25T04:06:11+00:00" }, { "id": 33250, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-acharei-mos-5-two-goats/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats", "content_html": "TA-Acharei-Mos-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Acharei Mos 5 – Two Goats appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-25T04:05:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-25T04:05:39+00:00" }, { "id": 25642, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-isru-chag/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Isru Chag", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s this idea of Isru Chag; of celebrating Yom Tov on the day after Yom Tov?
A:
In Mesichta Sukkah (45b) it says like this: \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d7\u05d2 \u05d1\u05d0\u05db\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05e9\u05ea\u05d9\u05d4 \u2013 Anybody who makes an addition to Yom Tov by eating and drinking something additional, \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05db\u05ea\u05d5\u05d1 \u2013 the Torah considers it for him, \u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7 \u2013 as if he built an altar to Hashem, \u05d5\u05d4\u05e7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e7\u05e8\u05d1\u05df \u2013 and he offered an offering. Now, that doesn\u2019t make sense! The day after Yomtiv, you\u2019re going to bring an offering?! But I t\u2019s all over! Everybody has gone home!
And the answer is that you haven\u2019t gone home yet! You\u2019re still in the aura, in the atmosphere of the Yom Tov because you hate to part with Yomtiv!
You know, when Yomtiv comes to an end we\u2019re not required to do more \u2014 it\u2019s all over. And some people are even looking through the window and they\u2019re counting the stars that are visible to know when Yomtiv is finished. But here is a man who long after Yomtiv is over \u2013 actually it\u2019s the day after Yomtiv and he has to go to work already \u2013 but before he sets out to go to work in the morning, he puts on his breakfast table a bottle of wine. He doesn\u2019t have time to drink much but he pours out a little thimble-full of wine and he also adds one more thing to his breakfast that he ordinarily wouldn\u2019t eat. And why is he doing that? He\u2019s doing it in honor of the Yomtiv that just passed by.
Now, to us it seems like a futile expression because after all it\u2019s not Yomtiv. Last night was havdalah; it\u2019s all over. But not for him! This man is still adding to the simchas Yom Tov. By demonstrating his affection for the past Yomtiv, by showing that it still lingers in his memory he demonstrates an affection for the Yomtiv and its lessons.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara is telling us that it\u2019s not considered a small thing at all. Adding beyond the line of duty is such an achievement that it\u2019s as if he has built a mizbeach and brought an offering to Hashem. That\u2019s the greatness of Isru Chag.
TAPE # 584
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Isru Chag appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-24T19:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T17:17:55+00:00" }, { "id": 33241, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%95-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd", "content_html": "\nHashem blesses His people with\u00a0\u201cthe peace\u201d. This means both the peace that Hashem currently bestows upon us, as well\u00a0the\u00a0great peace that He will eventually bring to His people Yisroel at the time of the Geulah. All day long, we must not let the tranquility of Peace lull our minds into a slumber of forgetfulness of Hashem; we must constantly remind ourselves of the countless thousands of blessings included in the blessing of Peace, and repeat again and again, all day long, \u201cBlessed are You Hashem,\u00a0\u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd.\u201d
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-24T18:24:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-24T18:24:30+00:00" }, { "id": 33235, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%93%d7%95%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-24T16:56:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-28T02:29:09+00:00" }, { "id": 33355, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-many-zivugim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Many Zivugim", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one know when he comes across the right shidduch?
A:
And the answer is, he will never realize because there is no one\u00a0right shidduch. There are a thousand right shidduchim. If you are rich enough and Rabbeinu Gershon wasn\u2019t born yet, you could marry a thousand women al pi Torah as long as you can support all of them. And nothing would be wrong; you could be madly in love with every one of them. And it\u2019s\u00a0not silly at all. Why shouldn\u2019t you\u00a0be?\u00a0
But since you can only choose one, so there is no such thing as\u00a0the\u00a0right one. You can say, when can I know I met\u00a0one\u00a0of the right ones? That, I\u2019ve spoken about many times; I\u2019m not going to go over it now because the most important thing is that\u00a0you\u00a0should be the right one. You make sure that you\u2019re the right one and that\u2019s how you\u2019ll have a successful marriage. The one you married is one of your zivugim so you\u00a0do the best you can with that one\u00a0zivug\u00a0and that\u2019s your success in this world.
TAPE # 405
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Many Zivugim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-21T17:15:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T17:15:32+00:00" }, { "id": 15324, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-we-say-half-hallel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Say Half Hallel", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nOn the last days of Pesach we say only half-Hallel. Isn\u2019t that because of \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 (Megillah 10b)? Aren\u2019t we sad that Egyptians were drowned and we therefore don\u2019t want to sing to Hashem?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The answer is no, it\u2019s not because of this; it\u2019s not because of \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05dd. There is no gemara that says that this is the reason for not saying Hallel on Pesach. I know that it\u2019s frequently quoted and people think it\u2019s a gemara but there is no gemara to that effect. And even if you show me a medrash that says it, you\u2019re misinterpreting the medrash.
The reason why we say only half Hallel is because there was a takanah that on the first day of Pesach \u2013 for us the first two days \u2013 that we have to say Hallel. There is no reason, no takanah, to say Hallel on the other days. The other days it was only a minhag to say Hallel. And therefore, because there was no takanah, they couldn\u2019t say the whole Hallel, so they said half-Hallel. Half-Hallel is only a minhag \u2013 the takanah was only the first day.
\n\n\n\nNow, on Sukkos the takanah was to say Hallel every day, because on Sukkos every day there was a different korban tzibur brought in the Beis Hamikdash. Because every day was something new and special, like its own yomtiv, so each day was also made special with the whole Hallel. Pesach however has the same korban every day and that\u2019s the difference, that\u2019s why we say only half-Hallel on all the other days of Pesach.
\n\n\n\nBut this reason that you give, you heard it from others, and I\u2019ve heard it as well many times, but there is no real Talmudic source that says that. Maybe in some sefer it\u2019s written, but we have a right to discount it as the real reason for why we say half-Hallel.
TAPE # 26 (April 1973)
Q:
If we rejoice at the fall of the wicked, why don\u2019t we say Hallel on the last days of Pesach?
A:
\n\n\n\nSo I\u2019ll say two answers to that. One answer is what there is in seforim and one answer what I think is the real answer.
\n\n\n\nIn seforim it says the last day of Pesach we don\u2019t say the whole Hallel because of the drowning of Pharaoh\u2019s army. But this is contradicted by the fact that az yashir Moshe \u2014 so we see we do rejoice \u2014 so we\u2019ll say it\u2019s just a zecher to the fact that the malachim didn\u2019t rejoice. We\u2019re reminded that Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t rejoice. That\u2019s all. But we have to rejoice anyhow! Still, we don\u2019t say the full Hallel the last days in order to remember that the angels weren\u2019t allowed to rejoice. That\u2019s according to the seforim.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is, however, there\u2019s a more simple and straightforward answer. Because the takanah of Hallel was only a whole Hallel. There\u2019s no such thing as half-Hallel in the original takanah. And the takanah was to say Hallel on the first day of Pesach and that\u2019s all. The Hallel we say Chol Hamoed, that\u2019s only a minhag that they started later. And the minhag of Hallel is only half-Hallel.
\n\n\n\nThe same is Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh is half-Hallel because originally there was no takanah to say Hallel \u2013 later on some communities began to say Hallel on their own, and when Hallel is said as a minhag, only half-Hallel is said.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 425
\n\n\n\n
Q:
Doesn\u2019t it say, \u05d1\u05e0\u05e4\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9\u05da \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u2013 \u201dWhen your enemy falls, do not rejoice?\u201d And isn\u2019t that the reason we say only half-Hallel on the last days of Pesach?\u201d
A:
Now, this was asked many times but it deserves an answer again.
The answer is as follows: When an enemy is your private personal enemy and he falls, don\u2019t rejoice. But if he\u2019s an enemy of Hashem, then rejoice and say Hallel.
\n\n\n\nLike the Am Yisroel did! \u05d0\u05d6 \u05d9\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. Moshe sang when Pharaoh and his army were drowned. Certainly we rejoice! And so when we see the enemies of Hashem everywhere are perishing from AIDS we rejoice. They\u2019re all atheists. They ridicule us. I once went into a store. There was a young man with an earring and he looked at me as if I was dirt. I\u2019m a religious Jew so I\u2019m a nothing. But he? He was wearing an earring so he\u2019s an important person. You know what an earring means, don\u2019t you?
\n\n\n\nAnd so, they\u2019re our enemies. And therefore, when we read in the New York Times obituary, that so-and-so, an enemy of the Am Yisroel, died at the age of forty-two, we smile. We\u2019re happy! Certainly! And we\u2019re not ashamed to say so. We rejoice at the downfall of the enemies of Hashem.
\u201cDon\u2019t rejoice at the downfall of your enemy\u201d means if you have a store and another Jew has a store. He\u2019s your competitor. Now, maybe sometimes you spoke against him. Maybe he spoke against you. Whatever it is, \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05d7 \u2013 If chalilah something happens, don\u2019t rejoice. But suppose it\u2019s a person like Haman or Hitler or Pharaoh, certainly we rejoice. And by rejoicing in the downfall of the reshaim, Hashem is elevated. He\u2019s elevated in our minds.
Now, Hallel on the last days of Pesach you have to understand it like this. The gemara says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu told the malachim, \u201cYou should not sing.\u201d The question is why shouldn\u2019t malachim sing when we did sing?
\n\n\n\nWe sing because our function in this world is to get better and we become better when we see the downfall of reshaim; we become more and more aware of Hashem by means of our singing and our gratitude so we\u2019re justified in singing. That\u2019s the ladder by which we climb up higher and higher to Hashem.
But malachim cannot get any better. Malachim can\u2019t improve. So why should they sing when they see the downfall of people who are the creatures that Hashem made? Every person is a marvelous product of Hashem\u2019s handiwork and therefore it\u2019s a great loss if a human being goes lost. So a malach has no right to rejoice. But we do rejoice; we\u2019re obligated to rejoice!
Now, some say that on the last days of Pesach, as a zecher to what Hashem said to the malachim, that Hashem is sorry that anybody is destroyed, so we say only half-Hallel. But we say Hallel! After all, we do say half-Hallel. We don\u2019t say no Hallel at all. So we see that our job is to rejoice, only that in order that it should be a zecher to the rachmei Hashem, so we just make a little remez.
\n\n\n\nNow the truth is, not everybody agrees with that reason. The real reason we\u2019re saying half-Hallel is because it\u2019s a continuation of the first day. On Pesach we bring the same korbanos every day, not like on Sukkos. We don\u2019t say shehechiyanu in kiddush the last two days of Pesach. The last two days of Pesach, you don\u2019t say shehechiyanu whereas the last two days of Sukkos, on Shmini Atzeres, you say shehechiyanu because it\u2019s a special regel bifnei atzmo.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, not everybody agrees that that\u2019s the reason. But even the source that says that reason is not saying that it\u2019s a check on us, a check on our happiness. Because we do rejoice at the downfall of the wicked! Like it says, \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 Dovid didn\u2019t say shira, \u05e2\u05d3 \u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05de\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05df \u05e9\u05dc \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 until he saw the downfall of the resha\u2019im. \u05d9\u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05d7\u05d8\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d5\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05dd \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d4. The first hallelukah in Tehillim, Dovid said only when he saw the downfall of the resha\u2019im.
TAPE # 905
Q:
The Gemara says that when the Egyptians were drowning in the Yam Suf and the malachim wanted to sing shira to Hashem, Hashem didn\u2019t let them. He said \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cMy handiwork is drowning and you dare sing songs?!\u201d Do we say only half-Hallel on Pesach because of \u05de\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05dd, because we are somewhat sad that Hashem\u2019s handiwork was destroyed in the Yam Suf?
A:
No, no. We don\u2019t go along with that thought. That was said for the malachim \u2013 the angels weren\u2019t created to grow greater in Awareness of Hashem, so why should they sing to Hashem when His handiwork is drowning? But we, we\u2019re different; we\u2019re in this world only to become more and more aware of Hashem. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants us to sing to Him in gratitude when He takes nekamah for us because that\u2019s one of the more important methods of gaining tangible awareness of Him.
Now, there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s a loss \u2013 it\u2019s Hashem\u2019s handiwork drowning in the sea. Those are human beings that are drowning! They\u2019re not just slabs of meat. It was people, with families. You know what that means? Hashem was drowning real people for our benefit! And what that means is that it\u2019s incumbent upon us that we recognize that Hashem is expending His creatures for us, so that we should grow in Awareness of Him. That\u2019s why we make note of the fact that it was the handiwork of Hashem \u2013 so that we should realize how big of an obligation we have to sing to Hashem.
But not that we should feel in any way sad that the Egyptians are drowning \u2013 the loss of human life is accentuated only so that we should realize how vital it is to make use of this event. Hashem wants us to sing to Him \u2013 that\u2019s why He did it! And if Moshe Rabeinu hadn\u2019t led the Bnei Yisroel in shira, Hashem would have said: \u201cMy handiwork is drowning in the sea and you\u2019re not singing songs to Me?!\u201d So we must sing! Only that in memory of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s thoughts, as a memorial of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s thoughts, that’s why we yield a little bit and say half-Hallel.
But that\u2019s not the real reason, what the seforim say. The real reason is because of the korbanos. You see, there\u2019s no such thing as half-Hallel al pi din. It\u2019s either all Hallel or no Hallel. Half-Hallel is only a minhag. Only that in order to justify the minhag they invented this thought. But it\u2019s not our thought. It\u2019s a thought that Hashem told the malachim.
But we ourselves, even on chol hamoed we say Az Yashir \u2013 the whole shira \u2013 we’re very happy. We are very happy with what happened to Mitzrayim. We sing Az Yashir and we\u2019re very happy. It says \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d4! We sing the song of gratitude with great happiness. We sing \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05d5 \u05d1\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05de\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05df. They went down into the depths like stone, like lead. We\u2019re very happy that they drowned. We sing and we rejoice that they drowned. We\u2019re not sorry at all that they drowned.
\n\n\n\nAnd when Haman was hung up, nobody was going to be sorry for Haman. And all the reshaim of the world are the same. \u05d5\u05d4\u05d6\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e2\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05ea\u05e9\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05ea\u05de\u05d2\u05e8 \u05d5\u05ea\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05e2 \u05d1\u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5. In that bracha we say \u05de\u05d4\u05e8\u05d4 three times. More than we say for anything else. And that\u2019s because we have to get rid of the reshaim.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Dovid Hamelech didn\u2019t say \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4 until he saw the punishment of the wicked. Dovid waited until kepitel \u05e7\u05d3, he waited till the 104th chapter to say \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4. All those kepitlech he said, but he couldn\u2019t say \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4. Only when he came to \u05d9\u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05d7\u05d8\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d5\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05dd \u2013 The wicked will be destroyed from the land, and there will be no more resha\u2019im. \u201cOhhh, now I can say \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4,\u201d said Dovid. \u201cNow I can praise Hashem\u201d (Brachos 9b). So now you know that the real happiness is not when Hashem does us favors; when He saves us. That\u2019s not enough. We want to see the revenge that Hashem brings upon the wicked because that\u2019s how we see Hashem; that\u2019s how Hashem becomes real to us.
That\u2019s why when Moshiach will come it\u2019s not enough that we\u2019ll go back to Eretz Yisroel. That\u2019s not enough. We\u2019ll have to see the nekamah on the gentiles for what they did to us. Especially in Europe. We must see the nekamah. And it\u2019s going to be a tremendous nekamah. \u05dc\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e0\u05e7\u05de\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05d9\u05dd. Hakodosh Boruch Hu, in order to show that He\u2019s a shofet tzedek, He\u2019s going to justify his mishpat by meting out a tremendous punishment that they deserve to get. And it will happen; it will happen.
TAPE # E-182 (April 1999)
Editor\u2019s Note:
\n\n\n\nIn private, the Rav told talmidim that although the reason of \u201cmaasei yadai toiv\u2019im ba\u2019yam\u201d is quoted by the Beis Yosef (OC 490) in name of a medrash, as well as the the Taz, the Mishna Berura and others, it is only a drush and the actual reason is the one brought in the gemara in Arachin [that only on Sukkos when a different korban was brought each day, was there a takanah to say Hallel each day].
The Maharsha (Sanhedrin 39b and Brachos 9b) clearly says that the gemara in Arachin is rejecting the angel paradigm as the reason for half-Hallel. Many others including the\u00a0Aruch Hashulchan (490:1)\u00a0make\u00a0note of the fact that the actual reason is the Talmudic one as does his son in Torah Temimah (Shemos 14:20) and the Mishna Berura himself in Hilchos Sukkah (644:4).
When talmidim asked the Rav about the medrash\u00a0and how it might be explained, he said as follows:\u00a0
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05d5 \u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Everything that Hashem does in this world is for the purpose of us becoming more aware of Him. It means that the sun, trees, fruit, clouds etc. were all made by Hashem so that our Awareness of Him should become more genuine.
\n\n\n\nNow, when Hashem makes the sun or a tree or a cloud and people ignore it and don\u2019t use it for its intended purpose, it\u2019s a tragedy because it\u2019s the handiwork of Hashem that is going to waste \u2013 it\u2019s going to waste in the sense that it\u2019s not being used for it\u2019s intended purpose.
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s a much bigger tragedy when Hashem destroys people for the purpose of the Am Yisroel growing in Awareness of Him \u2013 as was the case with the drowning of the Mitzrim in the Yam Suf \u2013 and people still don\u2019t use that opportunity to see the Hand of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a much bigger tragedy than not making use of the sun because here it\u2019s people being expended, not merely solar energy. And that\u2019s why if the Am Yisroel would not have said shira at the Yam Suf, Hashem would have said \u201cMy handiwork is drowning in the sea and you\u2019re NOT singing to Me?!\u201d Meaning, \u201cHow can you not make use of such a great opportunity to become more aware of Me, to tangibly feel My Presence, an opportunity that was only created by means of expending human life?\u201d \u200b
\n\n\n\nAnd the point of the medrash is intended to serve as an impetus for us to understand how big of an obligation we have to say the half-Hallel with the proper Awareness of Hashem.\u200b And like the Rav said, \u201cthe real reason is because of the karbonos\u201d and the medrash is only intended to \u201cbe a zecher to the rachmei Hashem,\u201d and to emphasize our obligation to praise Hashem for the downfall of the reshaim.
\n\n\n\nAs an additional note, it\u2019s quite possible that the Beis Yosef brought this medrash down only in order to explain the daas yachid of the Ramban (ad loc) who says that there actually was a takana to say half-Hallel and that it wasn\u2019t just a minhag like by Rosh Chodesh. However the reason from the Gemara in Arachin that the Beis Yosef brings down first, remains the primary reason for the halacha of our minhag to say half-Hallel on Pesach.
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Say Half Hallel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-20T20:25:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T02:44:59+00:00" }, { "id": 33210, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-32/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 32", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-32The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 32 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-20T04:01:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-20T04:01:55+00:00" }, { "id": 15320, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-use-chol-hamoed/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Use Chol Hamoed", "content_html": "\nQ:
What does the gemara mean when it says \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d1\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05e2\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05d1\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d6\u05e8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cAnyone who disgraces the yomim tovim, it\u2019s considered as if he worshipped idols\u201d?
A:
It says in the possuk, \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05de\u05e1\u05db\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u2013 You should not make molten gods for yourself; and that possuk is immediately followed with the words \u05d0\u05ea \u05d7\u05d2 \u05d4\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 \u2013 You should guard the Yom Tov of Matzos. And the gemara explains that these two pesukim were written next to each other in order to teach us this lesson: If you disgrace Yomtiv so it\u2019s as if you worshipped avoda zara.
Now, according to many, that statement is talking about chol hamoed specifically. It\u2019s a rebuke against those who are disrespectful to chol hamoed by engaging in melacha. Now, I must say at the outset, that some people can\u2019t help themselves and they have to go to work on chol hamoed \u2013 their heter is addressed in the Shulchan Aruch \u2013 but the gemara is also referring to those who disgrace chol hamoed by treating it simply as any other weekday; as if it\u2019s a Sunday, a vacation day.
Now, we see that the gemara doesn\u2019t simply say that it\u2019s inappropriate or it\u2019s wrong to behave disrespectfully to chol hamoed. It says there that it\u2019s something like worshipping avoda zara! That\u2019s not just drush; it means something. It\u2019s something we have to understand however, why is that being disrespectful to chol hamoed is compared to the sin of idolatry?
And so we\u2019ll explain it as follows. The yomim tovim are intended to rejuvenate the spirit in each of us. During the year, you have to go out into the world and often you have to mix with the gentiles \u2013 maybe you work in a non-Jewish environment and even if not, but you\u2019re influenced by the gentile environment. It\u2019s difficult to maintain an elevated state of ruchniyus week after week if your mind is constantly surrounded with gentile ideas. And now Pesach comes along and you have the chance now to recharge your batteries. We spend time on Yomtiv \u2013 on chol hamoed too \u2013 only with frum Jews and we\u2019re expected to use that time to think over all of the great lessons that the Yomtiv is teaching us. We have to spend the minutes of chol hamoed filling up with ruchniyus, recharging our batteries.
Now, I know that it has become a minhag to take trips on chol hamoed and I don\u2019t want to say that you shouldn\u2019t do it. However, the truth us that chol hamoed wasn\u2019t meant to be a vacation time. When we treat chol hamoed like that, when we treat it lightly, so we\u2019re interrupting the recharging of our batteries, and that puts us at risk of sinking chalila to the level of the non-Jews. We don\u2019t maintain our spiritual level properly and that\u2019s how we become more susceptible, we are more easily influenced by the ways of the umos ha\u2019olam; and it could be someone will even succumb to the depths of avoda zara, chas v\u2019shalom.
It\u2019s important to find productive ways to utilize chol hamoed \u2013 even for children. There is a tzadik in Boro Park who every chol hamoed he gathers together many children and he takes them to talmidei chachomim, to tzadikim, to listen to them. It\u2019s a practice that should be copied by others \u2013 that\u2019s using chol hamoed properly. In your own house, you can make a seudah on chol hamoed. Besides for the regular seudah, you can make a party for the children too. Give them nosh. Sing songs with them. Talk to them about the Yomtiv. Whatever it is, you must find ways to use chol hamoed properly.
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Use Chol Hamoed appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-19T20:23:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-29T02:34:12+00:00" }, { "id": 33331, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-chol-hamoed-lunch/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Chol Hamoed Lunch\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nIs it a mitzvah to eat matzah on Chol Hamoed?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nEating matzah on Chol Hamoed is an opportunity for becoming great. Only that it involves some effort, some thinking. You take a piece of matzah, Chol Hamoed Pesach, when you\u2019re eating lunch, and while you\u2019re chewing, you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhy am I eating matzah? Why not bread?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, the Torah says so.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut why did the Torah say so? The answer is to remember Yetzias Mitzrayim. That\u2019s a new idea, no? You\u2019re eating matzah, lunchtime, in the middle of Chol Hamoed Pesach and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhy matzah? Why not a roll? Why not bread?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, in order to remember Yetzias Mitzrayim. Instead of being avodim to Pharaoh we were taken out of Mitzrayim to be free men.
The only question is what does it mean to be free?
You know, the Reformers say “Pesach is the Holiday of Freedom! Pesach is not only for Jews; it’s a holiday of freedom for everyone \u2013 the whole world should be free!\u201d It means the blacks should be free to get the best jobs in the universities. Women should be free to get the best jobs. Freedom means to take away jobs from the men and give it to the women even if they don\u2019t qualify. Freedom for the whole world!
\n\n\n\nNo; Pesach is not a festival of freedom. Pesach is when we went out of Pharaoh’s service \u2014 but we went into another service however; we went out of Mitzrayim in order to serve Hashem. Pesach is not for freedom! \u05d7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 means we go free from Pharaoh; but it\u2019s only in order to serve Hashem! \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 I took you out of Mitzrayim to be your G-d. Instead of working for Pharaoh you have to work for Me. It’s freedom from Pharaoh, freedom from shtus. But now you have to work for Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd how do you work for Him? By learning Torah, by doing mitzvos. It’s a good type work. It’s for your benefit to do that kind of work. But still, you have to know that you are a servant to Hashem, no less than you served Pharaoh. That\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking about on Chol Hamoed when you\u2019re eating matzah \u2013 that\u2019s what it\u2019s for.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-229
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Chol Hamoed Lunch\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-18T17:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-28T17:24:41+00:00" }, { "id": 33109, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%97%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9-\u05de\u05d5\u05eaThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-18T08:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T03:15:25+00:00" }, { "id": 15311, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-why-we-have-the-seder-at-night/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Have The Seder At Night", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nThe Rav said earlier that even more important than being freed by Pharaoh in the middle of the night, was the Yetzias Mitzrayim that took place in the morning because that\u2019s when the Am Yisroel left Egypt and finally escaped the gentile environment. So why do we have the Seder at night and not in the morning?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The answer is that the Seder is the time of the eating of the korban Pesach; it\u2019s the finale of the Chag Ha\u2019Pesach, the fourteenth of Nissan, which is a yomtiv of its own that comes before the Chag Ha\u2019Matzos. The yomtiv of Pesach means the shechita on the fourteenth of Nissan and the eating by night. That\u2019s the yomtiv of Pesach. And we eat the korban pesach at night because that\u2019s the time when a very great thing happened. They put the blood of the korban pesach on the mezuzos and on the mashkof, and Hashem saw that and He passed over them. That happened at night. The pesach, the skipping over, happened at night time, and so the Seder, which in its original form was constructed around the korban pesach, is at night.
Now, Chag Ha\u2019Matzos is a different story. All the significant teachings of the matzoh that we learned tonight continue for all seven days. And a wise person makes sure to use all the days and nights of Pesach to think these thoughts and transform himself into a new person. But the great lesson of the korban pesach, of Hashem skipping over us, that was at night. That was a special lesson that we learned on Pesach night. The makkas bechoros was at night: \u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd there was a \u05e6\u05e2\u05e7\u05d4 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4, loud screams from all the Mitzri homes. In every home there was death and screaming. And we were sitting securely in our homes eating the korban pesach and listening to the Mitzri\u2019im crying out in their anguish. Hashem was making a very public declaration that although the all nations of the world will eventually go lost, but the Destroyer will always skip over the Am Yisroel. That\u2019s what the Pesach symbolized \u2013 that we will be forever. Forever and ever Hakodosh Boruch Hu will watch over and protect the Am Yisroel. It was a tremendous experience that night, and we try to relive it on the Seder night, just like it happened at night.
It was a night to remember! \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc \u05e9\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd! What does leil shimurim mean? Shimurim means to always remember it; to keep it always. It means we remember that night forever and ever. Of course, the lesson of the daytime geulah was also of utmost importance. But for the lesson of recognizing the miracles of Hashem, the nighttime is the most outstanding of all the opportunities.
At the Seder we speak about what Hakodosh Boruch Hu did for us that night, when all over Mitzrayim we heard Hakodosh Boruch Hu bringing vengeance upon the Mitzri\u2019im. And Pharaoh got up in the middle of the night. That was a neis too. In the middle of the night, for Pharaoh to run around looking for Moshe and Aharon?! All the great things happened that night. Hashem was \u05e4\u05e1\u05d7 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc; He passed over our homes. And that great event was a portent, a prophecy for the future \u2013 that the Destroyer will always pass over our people, because we are the Am Olam, the eternal people. And because it happened at night, the Seder at night is the great opportunity to talk about these things and remember them.
TAPE # E-133 (March 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Why We Have The Seder At Night appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-15T19:59:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-27T21:37:31+00:00" }, { "id": 33185, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%98%d7%95-%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%98%d7%96-%d7%a9%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%92-%d7%94%d7%a4%d7%a1/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d8\u201d\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d8”\u05d6: \u05e9\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d7\u05d2 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7\u00a0", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-215The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d8\u201d\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d8”\u05d6: \u05e9\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d7\u05d2 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-15T14:25:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-15T14:25:32+00:00" }, { "id": 5679, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-ten-drops-of-wine-at-the-seder/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Ten Drops of Wine at the Seder", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nThe Rabbi mentioned in his lecture tonight that we are expected to rejoice at the downfall of the wicked and that\u2019s why we celebrate the punishment of the Mitzrim. If that\u2019s really true, then why do we take drops of wine out of the cup of wine at the Seder?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
This gentleman is asking, why is the cup of wine diminished by drops at the Seder? Which means that this person has heard that the significance of the drops that we remove from our cup at the Seder is that the suffering of the wicked is a diminishing of our own happiness.
Now, I want to tell you people something that will come in handy. There are many explanations that have been invented to suit the modern taste. But at this table (the Rav zatzal banged on the table) the principle is that we\u2019re suiting nobody\u2019s taste except the truth.
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that if I had to speak someplace else I couldn\u2019t speak on this subject. And that\u2019s because the spirit of the gentile world is not to exalt in vengeance. Oh no! They only exalt in killing Jews, and in gas chambers and crematoria. They wouldn\u2019t think of such a wicked thing as vengeance. The Pope and the bishops of the Anglican Church are very much interested only in the nobler aspects of life. And so when the Jews were being shipped off to the death camps and being burned at the rate of twenty-thousand a day, so the Pope was busy talking about peace and the love of all man. And the archbishop of the church of England was busy talking about brotherhood and friendship. All the time, words of love were gushing forth from these two fountains of saintliness. But never did one of them speak up that it\u2019s time to stop murdering Jews. Maybe instead of twenty-thousand Jews a day, maybe they should kill only ten thousand Jews a day?! No, this they didn\u2019t even try. Twenty-thousand, that\u2019s fine. It\u2019s good enough. It\u2019s not thirty-thousand, they said. What do you want already?
\n\n\n\nAnd so, nobody intervened for the Jews. But at the same time they would deign to say such wicked words like I\u2019m saying here tonight; about rejoicing in the downfall of would-be murderers and such terrible oppressors as the Egyptians were. To rejoice in their downfall is a righteous thing?! Oh no; that, they would never say!
\n\n\n\nSo the modern rabbis who are paid by the Sisterhood are busy reinterpreting the Torah in a way that is acceptable to them. And therefore, after a while it becomes widespread in the Jewish street that this is a Torah attitude \u2013 that you take out drops of wine in order to signify that our happiness is diminished because of the suffering of the wicked.
\n\n\n\nAnd I want to tell you, even if you saw it in a chassidishe sefer, don\u2019t be excited. I can tell you that not everything that is printed, even in lashon kodeshdika seforim, deserves to be read. And even some seforim that are three-hundred and four-hundred years old.
\n\n\n\nYou have to use discretion in what you read. Drush has been in force for at least three-hundred years, so don\u2019t be excited even if you saw this in a sefer. It\u2019s absolutely not true! That\u2019s not the significance of this minhag.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you want \u2013 now, I\u2019m just telling you a guess of mine, but if you want a more true significance, I\u2019ll tell you that we\u2019re shedding the blood of the Egyptians when we drip the drops from the cup; we\u2019re taking part because we\u2019re happy \u05e2\u05dc \u05d3\u05dd \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05e0\u05e9\u05e4\u05da, about the blood of the wicked that has been spilled. That\u2019s a different explanation, a better explanation.
\n\n\n\nNow, of course, if I was out in Westchester or in Scarsdale, and I was giving a pre-Pesach class to the Ladies\u2019 Auxiliary, I would speak about something else. So, it may be that you saw this in some good sefer, but I\u2019m not impressed anyhow. You have to know that not everything printed is worth repeating.
TAPE # 26 (April 1974)
Editor\u2019s Note: Although this reason of \u201cour diminishing joy due to the suffering of the Mitzrim\u201d is widely quoted in many hagadahs today (and sometimes even wrongly attributed to the Abarbanel) it is actually a quite recent explanation that was first invented in the late 1800\u2019s and then recorded in print for the first time by Eduard Baneth in 1904. This reason was then popularized among the masses when it was quoted in haggadahs that were printed in America in the 1940\u2019s and 50\u2019s. For example in a popular haggadah published in 1943 by the National Jewish Welfare Board \u201cfor members of the armed forces of the United States to address the compatibility of Jewish and American values\u201d this is the reason given for the minhag.
The earliest reference to the minhag itself is actually found in the Pesach Drashos of the Rokeach (c. 1176-1238) and his mystical explanation of the sixteen drops of wine seems to be more in line with Rav Miller\u2019s words above, in that it hints to the \u201csixteen sides sword of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.\u201d The Sefer Maharil quotes the Rokeach and explains that we want the vengeance of Hashem \u201cto fall upon our enemies.\u201d The Darkei Moshe quotes the Maharil and writes that the minhag hints to the \u201cangel in charge of vengeance.\u201d
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Ten Drops of Wine at the Seder appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-14T15:29:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-25T21:52:55+00:00" }, { "id": 33171, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-31/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 31", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-31The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 31 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-14T04:08:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-14T04:08:13+00:00" }, { "id": 33167, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-30/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 30", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-30The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 30 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-14T04:07:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-14T04:07:39+00:00" }, { "id": 7470, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-clean-jewish-homes/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Clean Jewish Homes", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should religious Jews be careful to have neat and clean homes?
A:
Now pay attention to what I\u2019m going to tell you now. This subject you must understand as follows \u2013 but don\u2019t be prejudiced by what I\u2019m going to tell you in the beginning. There was an Ilse Kuch. Ilse Kuch, y\u2019mach sh\u2019mah, was a famous Nazi woman. And in the concentration camps she used to walk around with a whip and she would beat the dying inmates. She was called The Beast of Buchenwald. If you want a picture of one of the lowest characters in history, that\u2019s it.
Now at her trial, there were Germans who spoke up for Ilse Kuch and defended her. And what did they say in her defense? They said that her kitchen is spotless! And I believe it; I\u2019m sure it was. So keep that in mind while I give you the answer now because that was the introduction to the answer.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019re going to have a Jewish house, it means you\u2019re going to have children. And if you have children, it means one, two, three, four, five, six; various ages. And in a house full of children, it\u2019s not near impossible, it\u2019s impossible to have a spic and span house. If you\u2019re one of these women, one of these modern orthodox women who want to live a selfish life, so you\u2019ll have one baby and then you\u2019ll practice \u201cspacing.\u201d Until this baby is already an old man, and then you\u2019ll have another one. So maybe that woman will succeed in having a nice clean house.
\n\n\n\nBut if you\u2019re not doing any spacing, if you\u2019re trying to raise a Jewish generation, it\u2019s impossible to expect such a thing. It\u2019s only in these castles of selfishness, where people live only for themselves, so the house is nice and clean \u2013 because there is nobody there to make it dirty. That\u2019s number one.
\n\n\n\nAnd the second thing is this. I was once in a Jewish house in Boro Park. And it was a house of love and warmth. Any wayfarer who would knock on the door at night and say, \u201cI have no place to sleep,\u201d they wouldn\u2019t ask any questions. \u201cCome in, there\u2019s place here to sleep.\u201d Now, if you have a fancy home, so you\u2019ll think, \u201cMaybe this man is filthy; maybe he\u2019s a bearer of bedbugs.\u201d How can you let him sleep on your nice bed? You\u2019ll let him into your bathroom?! He\u2019ll contaminate your nice toilet seat. It\u2019s hard for a nice ba\u2019al habus to let a stranger into his fancy and clean home. So he says, \u201cGo someplace else; go to the rabbi. Go to this one or go to that one.\u201d He sends him away to the rabbi.
\n\n\n\nThe Bostoner Rebbe, in Boston, he has a big house. And anybody who wants can find lodging there \u2013 and food too. You walk into the house during the day, two o\u2019clock in the afternoon, there\u2019s a man eating breakfast. He slept late, so he\u2019s eating breakfast. Nobody bothers him. The people in the house know that\u2019s the Rebbi\u2019s system. You walk in and they have a place to sleep for you always; there\u2019s always something to eat.
How could it be fancy, such a house? It can\u2019t be a spic and span house if people are always coming in, going out, coming in, going out. Even if you have fine guests, they bring in their baggage all over the floor. If your home is a place of hachnosas orchim, a place of hospitality, then it can\u2019t be fancy.
Now, in this home that I was in, in Boro Park, it always looked like they were moving. They weren\u2019t moving; but everything was in wrong place. And that\u2019s because there were children all over the place. They had little children all over the place. You can\u2019t always give a child rubber diapers. He leaves an impression sometimes. And there were always guests in that place, wayfarers. Here\u2019s a meshulach, drinking a glass of tea. And the mother of the house, as soon as she finishes preparing the tea, she has to make lunch for somebody. She\u2019s packing up a lunch. She can\u2019t take care of everything. So she\u2019s taking care of her children and the meshulachim instead of cleaning the walls. And therefore, we\u2019re seeing here that if it\u2019s a house of raising children, and a house of hospitality, then it\u2019s impossible that it should be clean and neat all the time.
\n\n\n\nAnd now, a third thing; something else. If you\u2019re poor, if you don\u2019t invest a lot of money into your house, it\u2019s going to be shabby. Now, don\u2019t tell me this fairy tale, \u2018poor but clean.\u2019 A shabby house is shabby! The linoleum is worn through! And if the linoleum is worn through and there\u2019s a big hole in the linoleum, don\u2019t tell me that you get down on your knees three times a day and scrub out the hole. Dust accumulates in that hole and that\u2019s it. There\u2019s a nail sticking out where the linoleum used to be. It\u2019s impossible!
\n\n\n\nI once walked into the house of Rav Aaron Kotler, zichrono l\u2019vracha. Now, I\u2019m not an expert on a neat house, so I\u2019m not judging its neatness. But it was a poor house, a very poor house. And because of that, Rav Aaron rose in my eyes all the way up. I saw that he didn\u2019t take the money from the Yeshiva and spend it on expensive things. He lived poorly. He lived very poorly. He gave the money to the boys in the Yeshiva who were hungry. There were poor boys who needed it.
\n\n\n\nSo if you want to have a spic and span home, that means that you\u2019ll invest in this world instead of the next world. Instead of charity, you\u2019re buying things for yourself, for the house, expensive things. Don\u2019t bother telling me fairy tales. It means expensive! It means investing a lot of money, besides for investing a lot of time.
\n\n\n\nNow, certainly it\u2019s good to have a clean home. Certainly. But anybody whose criterion of the quality of people in the home, is if the home is clean or not, that person is a fool; he\u2019s an idiot. Why do I say that? Because he\u2019s a goy. He has the head of a goy. You know that there are some goyim who every day they go to the cleaners. Cleaners tell me that. Their best customers are the low goyim! Why are the low goyim the best customers? They\u2019re the cleanest people \u2013 every day they\u2019re cleaning their clothing \u2013 because they have no ideals in life. So all they know is that they want to be clean and smell good. Besides, goyim, I\u2019m sorry to say, have more occasion to unbutton themselves, to expose themselves, than others people have. Decent people are covered up all the time but low people, they\u2019re in contact all the time, males and females, and so they want to smell the best that they can. So they bathe twice a day.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, are we going to emulate animals? We live for the purpose of spiritual achievement, for being kindly, for serving Hashem, for doing mitzvos. Certainly, the gemara says that the house of a talmid chochom is well ordered. Certainly! Everything should be in place. Certainly everything should be mesudar; everything should be neat. But the question is where is it on the list of virtues?
So along came some goy with a new Torah that cleanliness is next to you know what. And the Jews swallow this bait and they repeat the same thing. You know, people who say \u201cCleanliness is next to G-dliness\u201d they are the people who hold that G-dliness is meaningless. It\u2019s a hundred percent rule.
So in answer to your question: Should the homes of religious Jews be neat and clean? Absolutely. But we have another question: Should the homes of religious Jews be full of little children? And should religious Jews and their homes be hospitable to the poor and needy? There\u2019s a home not far from here, and to that home a man once came; an old man who never married. He has no home, no family. So they let him in. He slept there one night and he said, \u201cCan I sleep here a little longer?\u201d So they let him stay a little longer. He\u2019s been sleeping there for ten years already. Ten years! He\u2019s been sleeping and eating for ten years in this home! Not far from here. I\u2019ll tell you privately where it is. And he\u2019s an old man, a demanding man. For breakfast, if you make for him his eggs not exactly the way he wants it, he tells the balabusteh. And she and her husband take it, and they take it more. It\u2019s ten years of taking it! Now, if you have an old bachelor at home and he sleeps in your living room or wherever, and he eats whenever he wants in your kitchen, it can\u2019t be so fancy.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll tell you another story on this subject of neat and clean. Once, a young man called me up from Grand Central Station. It was eleven o\u2019clock at night. I asked him, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d \u201cAre you Rabbi Miller?\u201d he said, \u201cthe one who wrote Rejoice O\u2019 Youth?\u201d So I said, \u201cYes.\u201d He tells me that he came from a city in the Midwest and he read my book and he decided he wants to visit me. I said, \u201cBut it\u2019s eleven o\u2019clock at night! And it\u2019ll take you another hour still to get here! \u201d He says he has no place else to go. I said \u201cDo you have money?\u201d \u201cNo, I have no money.\u201d
So what can I do? He read my book after all. So he came to me. So it\u2019s twelve o\u2019clock at night \u2013 and I go to sleep early, mind you \u2013 and he comes waltzing into my house. He comes with duffel bags, and all kinds of stuff. He\u2019s here to stay! I took a look and I saw nit gut, it\u2019s not good. I thought to myself, \u201cJust tonight; one night, OK.\u201d So he slept in my house.
You see I\u2019m not that kind of Jew. I\u2019m talking about good Jews! So the next morning I called up one of our people in the shul who had a car and I said to him, \u201cTake this young man with all of his stuff to the Satmerer Beis Hamedrash, and leave him there. Right in the middle of the beis hamedrash and don\u2019t worry about him.\u201d I know the Satmerer; I knew he\u2019d be taken care of.
\n\n\n\nSo he took him with all his duffel bags and his suitcase and everything else and he took him and he parked him in the Satmerer Beis Hamedrash in Williamsburg. A few minutes later a Polish Jew comes along \u2013 he davened there in the Satmerer shteibel \u2013 and started talking to him. Now this boy couldn\u2019t speak a word of Yiddish, and this man could barely speak English. But they understood each other. It\u2019s called \u201cthe language of the needy man.\u201d He needs a place to eat and sleep. So he took him to his house and he kept him for two weeks! It was hot; it was summertime. This was before the were air conditioners in the homes. His wife called me up finally. She says there\u2019s a stranger in her house; she can\u2019t take off her coat and she has to wear a sheitel all the time. She can\u2019t; it\u2019s very uncomfortable. There\u2019s a strange man in the house.
\n\n\n\nAnd they kept him for longer than two weeks however. He remained. They didn\u2019t put him out on the street. For nothing by the way; nobody paid them anything. And finally another Jew, a Williamsburger Jew, took him in hand and took him into his home, and he found him a job, and a place to eat for Shabbos. And for years he suffered from him. He suffered from him; he wasn\u2019t an easy fellow, this ba\u2019al teshuva.
\n\n\n\nAnd so these are the people whose homes are not \u201cneat and clean\u201d enough for you? At least you can get into their homes! Their homes are sanctuaries! If you want a neat and clean home, I\u2019ll tell you what you should do. Try coming without money to, let\u2019s say, Scarsdale. Spend your last nickel on car fare to Scarsdale and show up there at nine-thirty at night or ten o\u2019clock at night. And start knocking on doors. And say, \u201cI have no money. Can you give me some food and a place to sleep?\u201d Now, I\u2019m sure that the Scarsdale homes are fancy. There might be maids too. But they won\u2019t even open the door to you. They might even call the police.
And so, there are different ways of looking at this subject. But one thing is certain; if you have a lot of children spilling out all over the place, and you have a guest sprawled on the sofa, and you\u2019re trying with a broom and a brush to do the best that you can, so your house is the neatest and cleanest house that could be.
TAPE # 132
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Clean Jewish Homes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-13T18:23:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-24T18:33:54+00:00" }, { "id": 33146, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91-%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%9a-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%91%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%a2%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%91/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05dc\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, \u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\nIt is always good in Your eyes and You always desire to bless Your people with Your\u00a0full\u00a0blessing of\u00a0\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd. We therefore request from You, that even when we sin\u00a0(\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e9\u05e2\u05d4), You should even then continue to fulfill Your desire to bless us with Shalom. And although we are truly deserving of chastisement in order to heal us from our sins, still we ask that You allow us to attempt to heal our sins by recognizing the great happiness and blessing of Shalom that You will continue to bestow upon us.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05dc\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, \u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e9\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-12T15:44:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-12T15:44:45+00:00" }, { "id": 33143, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%95%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd", "content_html": "\nWe request \u2018life\u2019; life is the climax of all our requests, for life is the grand gift of Opportunity of Perfection. There is no greater blessing than life, even in its barest form, and it is the greatest form of \u2018the light of Hashem\u2019s face\u2019 that we request and that we must constantly thank Him for. However, in order to successfully utilize this great gift of life, one must have\u00a0“\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd”. Thus, in our last words we cry out to Hashem our final and ultimate request, the one word that includes everything else:\u00a0“\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd”, \u201cPeace!\u201d
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-12T15:43:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-12T15:43:45+00:00" }, { "id": 26923, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-many-remained/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How Many Remained?", "content_html": "\nQ:
The medrash on the words \u05d5\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd says that only one out of fifty went out of Mitzrayim. Is this to be understood literally, and if yes, why was it so?
A:
When the rasha asked a question in the way that shows he wasn\u2019t so loyal, so the father had to say, \u05d0\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d2\u05d0\u05dc \u2013 had he been there he wouldn\u2019t have been redeemed. So you see that only the good ones were redeemed. Now how many? Echad m\u2019chamishim, one out of fifty, could be just a loshon, an expression, but really we don\u2019t know exactly how many. But there\u2019s no question that not everybody was redeemed from Mitzrayim. Some say guzma\u2019os, exaggerations: the Mechilta says that chamushim is \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05de\u05d7\u05de\u05e9 \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 that only one in five hundred came out! It\u2019s very hard to understand that. But whatever it was, not everybody left Mitzrayim.
What happened to the others? \u00a0They were destroyed; they went lost. \u00a0A tragedy of tragedies. The Torah doesn\u2019t blame them because they were under the influence of a\u00a0shibud\u00a0for two hundred and ten years. Two hundred and ten years is a very long time and it\u2019s very hard to be\u00a0to be tested for so long and be\u00a0omed b\u2019nisayon,\u00a0to survive.\u00a0They were all\u00a0bnei olam haboh,\u00a0no question about it,\u00a0but they didn\u2019t fully utilize the opportunity.
But there were those who did utilize\u00a0shibud;\u00a0those who utilized all that Hakodosh Boruch Hu did for them, and for them\u00a0the difficulties they encountered in Egypt were of greatest benefit for them. \u00a0All the persecutions made them feel that they were privileged more and more, that they were the ones set apart for Hashem. \u05dc\u05e4\u05d5\u05dd \u05e6\u05e2\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d2\u05e8\u05d0 \u2013\u00a0According to the difficulties, so is the reward.\u00a0V\u2019lo shinu, v\u2019lo shinu, v\u2019lo shinu!\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re not changing a thing,\u201d they said. They didn\u2019t change their names. \u00a0Even their clothing, they didn\u2019t change. \u00a0And therefore, those who went out of Mitzrayim were the ones who deserved to go out because they fought back against the environment. \u00a0
But as far as exactly how many didn\u2019t go out? We don\u2019t know. But we know enough to say that it was a tragedy that there were people who didn\u2019t fulfill the main purpose of life of fighting back against the environment. They fought back, but not enough;\u00a0not enough.
And Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants of us that we should all our lives build up a strong conviction that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is with us, \u05db\u05d9 \u05e2\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0-\u05dc, that Hashem is with us forever and ever, and thereby gain the strength to fight back against the outside environment that creeps into our lives.\u00a0
TAPE\u00a0# E-104
Q:
In\u00a0today\u2019s generation\u00a0will everyone merit\u00a0the geulah when Moshiach comes? I mean will it be like Mitzrayim where some were left behind or will today be different?
A:
Absolutely not!\u00a0No, it won\u2019t be different.\u00a0In order to be\u00a0zoche\u00a0to the\u00a0geulah,\u00a0you have to want the\u00a0geulah.\u00a0 If people are facing Hawaii, if they\u2019re facing far away, then Hashem says, \u201cStay there.\u201d Now, it could be that the people\u00a0who were born in Hawaii, they don\u2019t know, they\u2019re\u00a0tinok shenishba,\u00a0so \u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05e5 \u05e0\u05d3\u05d7\u05d9 \u05e2\u05de\u05d5 \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu will\u00a0gather them together.\u00a0 He\u2019ll gather them together.\u00a0 But those who are trying to get lost, will succeed in getting lost.
And\u00a0therefore it\u2019s so important to make sure that you get found without waiting till it\u2019s too late.\u00a0When the time will come, it\u2019ll be too late then.\u00a0 Just like in Mitzrayim; when they\u00a0went out of Mitzrayim those\u00a0who had to remain behind\u00a0said, \u201cI changed my mind.\u00a0 I want to go out.\u201d\u00a0 Ha, nothing doing.\u00a0 You missed the boat.\u00a0 They missed the boat.\u00a0 When the time comes to go out, you have to be ready for the call. You have to be prepared.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, you have to be \u05de\u05e6\u05e4\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 every day.\u00a0 Every day!\u00a0 They\u2019re going to\u00a0ask you when you come to the next world:\u00a0\u05e6\u05e4\u05d9\u05ea \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05d4 \u2013\u00a0Did you hope for the\u00a0yeshua?\u00a0\u00a0You have to hope for the\u00a0yeshua.\u00a0 So when you say the\u00a0bracha,\u00a0don\u2019t just say the words.\u00a0 Say, \u201cI\u2019m hoping for Moshiach to come.\u00a0 Every day, I\u2019m hoping.\u201d\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done;\u00a0oh yes!\u00a0 I mean it.\u00a0 There\u2019s a very great amount of work to be done!\u00a0What can we\u00a0do?\u00a0 That\u2019s our purpose in this world. \u00a0And if\u00a0you utilize this world to achieve all of the great Torah ideals with\u00a0emunah chushis\u00a0\u2013 it means you\u00a0actually feel them and live with them \u2013\u00a0then you\u2019re living for a purpose.
TAPE # E-104
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on How Many Remained? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-12T05:29:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-12T15:56:59+00:00" }, { "id": 27650, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-matzah-and-enthusiasm/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Matzah and Enthusiasm", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one maintain enthusiasm in mitzvos?
A:
There are two ways; a superficial but useful way and also an intrinsic way. The superficial way is to do the mitzvah with a superficial alacrity, a superficial enthusiasm. When you do something in a sleepy way, you fall asleep. When you do it with enthusiasm, you become enthusiastic. For example, let\u2019s say at the Seder you\u2019ll take the matzah in your hand, and you\u2019ll say, \u201cAhh! Matzah!\u201d And you say, \u05d4\u05e0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d5\u05db\u05df \u05d5\u05de\u05d6\u05d5\u05de\u05df and you are talking about the greatness of the mitzvah, so even though your mind is blank but by doing the externalities so \u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05e8\u05e8\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u2014 doing certain external acts will wake up your interior.
So therefore, if you are the father of a house, before you wash you should\u00a0say to the children, \u201cChildren, we\u2019re about to perform a mitzvah de\u2019oraisa of\u00a0\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u00a0\u05ea\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05ea.\u00a0It\u2019s a mitzvah de\u2019oraisa tonight to eat matza. Tomorrow it won\u2019t be\u00a0a mitzvah de\u2019oraisa anymore to eat matza. You can\u2019t eat chometz tomorrow\u00a0but tonight eating a kezayis matzah is the same as tefilin; it\u2019s\u00a0the same as any mitzvah de\u2019oraisa, that\u2019s how important it is. And it is going to give you kedusha; \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5. And keep in mind that it\u2019s \u05d6\u05db\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd and put all you can into it.\u201d That\u2019s how the father should speak to his children \u2013 even if he doesn\u2019t feel it.
\n\n\n\nSo the father, by his externalities, by means of his words, and the children who listen to him, they\u2019ll do the mitzvah with a certain superficial enthusiasm and we have to know how valuable that is.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why you come to daven in the morning and you sit down and say \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u2019 \u05db\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1, if you\u2019re mumbling the words quietly, so you fall asleep after a while. But if you say \u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u2019 \u05db\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 (the Rav said the words loudly), then you wake up; your words wake you up and you become enthusiastic. And that\u2019s how we have to do all the mitzvos. The exteriority awakens the interiority.
\n\n\n\nHowever, a second and more fundamental way is understanding what you\u2019re doing. And that\u2019s what we are talking about tonight. Spend time on thinking! Learn how to think! It\u2019s a rare exercise for most people. Did you ever think five minutes on one subject? Did you ever think five minutes about matzah? Come on, tell the truth; you never did.
\n\n\n\nSit down for five minutes \u2013 before Pesach \u2013 and think about matzah; sit five minutes and think about Yetzias Mitzrayim. Don\u2019t tell me you think about it all night at Pesach seder, you\u2019re not thinking; you\u2019re just saying words.
\n\n\n\nWhen a man learns the art of thinking, he becomes a different man. Now I have a program for people who like to do that, a program for teaching yourself how to concentrate for five minutes in thinking. It is of the utmost importance to gain this knack; if you learn how to do that you\u2019re a different personality. When you learn how to think about things, then you\u2019ll have insights and understanding that others don\u2019t have. And then your enthusiasm will be kindled; it\u2019ll be just like you pour oil on a fire. Every time that you refresh your thoughts that you invested in this mitzvah \u2013 when you remember what you once thought about it \u2013 it\u2019s like pouring oil on the fire and your enthusiasm will burn brightly.
TAPE # 504
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Matzah and Enthusiasm appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-12T05:05:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-24T19:42:44+00:00" }, { "id": 33135, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a1%d7%97-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e1\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-12T04:02:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-12T04:02:01+00:00" }, { "id": 33125, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-pesach/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Pesach", "content_html": "\n\u201cHi Shimmy, Hi Yitzy! Happy Chol Hamo\u2019ed!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Greenbaum boys, who were just coming back from shul, looked up to see their neighbor, Stevey Risnik getting out of the back seat of his parents\u2019 car, wearing a t-shirt, baseball cap, and large backpack.
\n\n\n\n\u201cGut mo\u2019ed, Stevey,\u201d both boys responded with a smile.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo where did you guys go today?\u201d Stevey asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe went to shul to learn,\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cWhat about you?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cLearning???\u201d asked Stevey, aghast. \u201cOn Chol Hamo\u2019ed?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah, why not?\u201d Yitzy asked, perplexed. \u201cAnd besides, today Anshel Holtzbacher sponsored Avos uBanim. He gave out amazing prizes and he even brought the Horki Rebbe to speak to all of the children.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s Chol Hamo\u2019ed!\u201d Stevey replied. \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to go on trips! Today we went to Sea Monster World! I got to see the sharks, whales, and dolphins put on an amazing show together – they danced to music in the water! Tomorrow we\u2019re going to the Chometz factory, and the next day my father got us tickets to the World Frisbee Championship! We\u2019ve got box seats and I\u2019m going to get my frisbee autographed by Yvon Shtunk, the world-famous frisbee thrower!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait, you\u2019re going to a chometz factory on Pesach?\u201d Shimmy asked in surprise.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah, what\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d asked Stevey. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re going to eat it. But the whole place smells delicious and they\u2019re having a special show about how amazing chometz is. They even have this catchy song all about eating chometz and it plays on the speakers throughout the whole tour. It\u2019s the closest thing to eating chometz that you can do on Pesach!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Greenbaum boys thought that this was the silliest thing they ever heard, and it was probably ossur too,but they continued listening politely as Stevey continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy family always makes sure to go on the very best and most exciting trips on Chol Hamo\u2019ed so that the holiday isn\u2019t boring. Why don\u2019t you come with us tomorrow? It\u2019s chometz like you\u2019ve never experienced it. It\u2019s much more exciting than going to a learning group – this is vacation time, not a time to learn Torah!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not what the Horki Rebbe said today,\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cIn fact, he talked about the Gemara which states that \u2018someone who doesn\u2019t respect the Yomim Tovim, it\u2019s as if they did Avodah Zarah\u2019. And the best way to respect Yom Tov is by learning Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNow that doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d said Stevey. \u201cHow is learning all day respecting the holiday? I would think wildly fun trips are the way to do that.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cThe Rebbe said that Yomim Tovim are a way to recharge our \u2018ruchniyus batteries\u2019. The whole year all sorts of things keep us busy, like dentist appointments and shopping – and adults have to go to work. But now we can\u2019t do any of those things, so it\u2019s a chance for us to reconnect with Hashem by spending time learning his Torah.\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image-1.png?resize=640%2C442&ssl=1\")
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be enjoyable,\u201d added Shimmy, holding up the big box in his hand. \u201cLook, Yitzy and I won a camera at the raffle after learning today! And tomorrow, the Holtzbachers arranged for us to go on a trip to the nearby forest with the Horki Rebbe, who is going to show us all of the amazing things that Hashem created. There are all sorts of incredible plants and animals there and each one is so fascinating. They even have trees which produce the fancy expensive wood that they used to build the Aron Kodesh in the Horki Beis Midrash.\u201d
\n\n\n\nStevey\u2019s eyes opened wide. \u201cI heard they have frogs in the forest. Is that true?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYep!\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cAnd you can see the baby tadpoles swimming in the ponds there! Last year the Horki Rebbe explained how important those frogs are to the forest and its animals. They eat mosquitos so there are less of them to bite us, they are food for some birds, and the tadpoles actually filter the water to keep it clean! And that\u2019s just a tiny bit of the incredible ways you can see Hashem\u2019s wonders in a walk through the forest!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHmmm,\u201d thought Stevey. \u201cThat sounds even more interesting than the chometz factory. Do you think the Rabbi would mind if I came along?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course not!\u201d both boys said graciously.
\n\n\n\n\u201cThanks!\u201d Stevey said. \u201cI\u2019m curious to learn more about how you respect Chol Hamo\u2019ed! I want to do that too!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Yom Tov!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway
\n\n\n\nChol Hamoed is a time to recharge our Ruchniyus batteries and think about the lessons of Pesach.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Pesach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-11T03:31:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T03:31:32+00:00" }, { "id": 33116, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/pesach-5-pesach-q-as/", "title": "Pesach 5 – Pesach Q & A’s", "content_html": "TA-Pesach-QAThe post Pesach 5 – Pesach Q & A’s appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-11T03:28:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T03:28:24+00:00" }, { "id": 33115, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-pesach-5-pesach-q-as/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Pesach 5 – Pesach Q & A’s", "content_html": "TA-Pesach-QA-EasyPrint-1The post [EasyPrint] Pesach 5 – Pesach Q & A’s appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-11T03:27:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T03:27:59+00:00" }, { "id": 33106, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a1%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91-%d7%99%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 (\u05d9\u05dc\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd)", "content_html": "31-\u05e4\u05e1\u05d7-\u05d9\u05dc\u05d3\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05e4\u05e1\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 (\u05d9\u05dc\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd) appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-11T03:12:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T03:12:35+00:00" }, { "id": 33094, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pesach-hotels/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Pesach Hotels", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nDo you\u00a0approve of celebrating Pesach in a hotel?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
And the answer is I do not. I definitely disapprove of hotels for Pesach.
Now, some hotels are definitely not kosher lePesach despite the fact that they say so; but I’m not talking about that. And some hotels are kosher lePesach but they provide other kinds of activities that are not in consummate with Pesach spirit; and I’m certainly not talking about that either. I’m talking about a hotel where there are no Broadway shows. There’s not even a television there. There’s nothing there except sefarim in the beis hamedrash and everything is 100% kosher \u2013 even better than in your own home. And still I say Pesach is a home celebration. The seder is kodesh kodoshim in your own sanctuary, your own Beis Hamikdash.
It’s an opportunity given by Hakodosh Boruch Hu that is intended to raise the spirit of the home. \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea. Pesach is for a family, that’s what it is. And the father gets together with his children in the hallowed atmosphere of the seder, and he hands over to his children the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the birth of our people. Not some official singer or a chazan or even an official rabbi. The father! The father represents the whole background of Jewish tradition; and every child should be able to say, \u201cMy own father is handing this over to me like his father handed it over to him; and the chain goes back, link by link, to Har Sinai, link by link to Yetzias Mitzrayim.\u201d That’s what Pesach should be. I definitely disapprove of going away for Pesach. There are no two ways about it.
TAPE # 263 (April 1979)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Pesach Hotels appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-10T21:24:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-11T14:18:38+00:00" }, { "id": 33092, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-humility-before-him-2/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Humility before Him", "content_html": "\nThe\u00a0\u05d7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05dc\u05d1\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u00a0writes that one of the essential objectives and purposes of Tefillah is\u00a0the humility of man before his Creator. In Tefillah, we recognize how much we truly need Hashem, and how insignificant we are without Him. We thereby gain more Fear of Him, and begin to feel truly humbled in His presence.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Humility before Him appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-10T21:14:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-10T21:14:40+00:00" }, { "id": 33084, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-49/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 49", "content_html": "\n
\u05db\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3
ALL OF US AS ONE
\u201cBless all of us k\u2019echad\u201d. \u00a0Blessing is not defined by what we have and others do not, rather we desire that every one of Yisroel should be blessed exactly as we ourselves desire to be blessed.
\u00a0
\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da
WITH THE LIGHT OF YOUR FACE
All blessing, all well-being and success, both in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus, is nothing but the result of the\u00a0light of Your face. Please cast Your smiling gaze upon us, which without there could be no blessing at all.
\u00a0
\u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e0\u05ea\u05ea \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5, \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5, \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3
FOR WITH THE LIGHT OF YOUR FACE YOU GAVE TO US, HASHEM OUR G-D, A TORAH OF LIFE AND A LOVE OF KINDLINESS
Our greatest fortunes came from the light of Your face; the gift of Torah, life itself, and Your endless kindliness and love for us. Thus we ask that You continue to smile upon us with \u2018the light of Your face\u2019.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4, \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd
AND MERIT AND BLESSING AND MERCY
Grant us\u00a0\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4, the opportunity to gain zechuyos, and\u00a0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, for our zechuyos will never be enough, and\u00a0\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, which without we surely are undeserving. Only with these can we merit \u2018the light of Your face\u2019.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 49 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-10T02:16:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-10T02:16:38+00:00" }, { "id": 7269, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-missile-attacks-in-eretz-yisroel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Missile Attacks in Eretz Yisroel", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should have been the proper reaction of the Jews in Tel-Aviv to the missile attacks this week?
A:
They should have huddled in their rooms in fear of Hashem, no question about it. It was a time to make an accounting. When a scud missle fell on Tel-Aviv, so the mayor of Tel-Aviv should have thought about what he said in defiance of the Orthodox Jews. The Orthodox Jews wanted to make a law that all places of amusement should be closed on Shabbos. So the mayor of Tel-Aviv said, \u201cNothing doing! In Tel-Aviv, I\u2019ll see to it that every Friday night all these places, the cafes and the theaters will be open all night long.\u201d So when the scud fell on Tel-Aviv, he should have said, he should have announced, \u201cI changed my mind.\u201d Because that\u2019s the purpose!
You think that\u2019s the end? I\u2019m telling you, it\u2019s only the beginning. Saadam Hussein is only the first shot in the great battle against the evil that holds sway in Eretz Yisroel. It\u2019s only the first shot! Hashem is not finished at all. Hakodosh Boruch Hu sent a warning. But for people who refuse to listen, He might have to send another one.
TAPE # 815 (March 1991)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Missile Attacks in Eretz Yisroel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-09T16:00:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-10T02:26:21+00:00" }, { "id": 33079, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%93-%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%9c%d7%90%d7%a0%d7%93-%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%a2-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a7%d7%90%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%a8/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d3: \u05e8\u05d5\u05e1\u05dc\u05d0\u05e0\u05d3, \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05e8\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05db\u05d8", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-214The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d3: \u05e8\u05d5\u05e1\u05dc\u05d0\u05e0\u05d3, \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e7\u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05e8\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05db\u05d8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-08T04:44:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-08T04:44:23+00:00" }, { "id": 2820, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-role-of-the-father-in-the-home-2/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Role Of The Father In The Home", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should the role of the father be in the home?
A:
He should contribute everything that he has to give. That\u2019s the plain and simple answer. Which means that when he comes home, before he even walks in, while he\u2019s still holding the doorknob, he should make it his business to dispel any crabbiness, any grouchiness that he acquired during the day. Because now begins his big career in life \u2013 the career of the home.
He has to expect anything from his wife when he comes in. \u201cAll day long you\u2019ve been in a quiet office while I\u2019ve been suffering from these kids.\u201d Could be she is about to give a blast at him. So while he\u2019s holding the doorknob, he should steel himself for that blast. He should be ready for anything and he should make up his mind that \u05d9\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05db\u05dc \u2013 \u201cNo matter what is going to happen, I\u2019m going to play my role. I\u2019m going to be a good actor.\u201d That\u2019s how he should prepare himself before he goes into the home.
\n\n\n\nThe only problem is if he\u2019s home all the time \u2013 what should he do then? On Shabbos \u2013 now that\u2019s hard! To act only in the evening, maybe, but all day Shabbos, that\u2019s a big job! And so when he goes to shul on Shabbos he acts natural, and then when he comes home again, he should prepare again for the ordeal. And then he shouldn\u2019t remain long in the house. He should come quickly back to the synagogue to learn. The less you\u2019re around, the easier it is to be an actor.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the beginning. There\u2019s a lot more to say about what a father should be contributing to the family. He has to put in a sense of humor into the house. A father must bring with him a sense of humor. Mothers are dealing with the children all day long, so they\u2019re worn out raw. And therefore every little problem is magnified in her eyes. Little Chaim\u2019l, he doesn\u2019t eat, and it becomes such a major problem, that all the problems of the world are dwarfed in comparison. And so the father has to make a joke out of it. Of course, he to be careful to do it in such a way that she doesn\u2019t become the butt of the joke. But it has to be a joke \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s not so serious; Chaim will one day be a big fat rabbi anyhow.\u201d
TAPE # 165 (April 1977)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Role Of The Father In The Home appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-07T20:16:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-07T20:48:04+00:00" }, { "id": 33066, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-die-the-torah-way/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on \u00a0How To Die The Torah Way", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nIf a person is senile at the end of his life and he dies without the ability to do teshuvah in his last years or to review let’s say his learning or some other avodas Hashem, is this a form of punishment from Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nWhen a person passes away in senility and he’s not able to think thoughts of repentance or other important meditation, is that a punishment from Hashem?
\n\n\n\nI won’t say it’s a punishment. It could be that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to make it easier for him to leave the world. Let’s say he’s an important man; he has a very big business. Now, suppose he would die with all his faculties. It would hurt him no end to give up such a great career that he has. So what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu do? He makes him senile. Little by little, this person withdraws from public life. He doesn’t feel the loss so much now and as he dies he doesn’t suffer so much. Whereas a man who dies in the midst of his career, he\u2019s thinking, \u201cHow could I give up all my money for somebody else? I worked all my life. How could I give up my fame, my great name \u2013 whatever it is?\u201d But now, this way, little by little he retires. He doesn’t walk in the streets anymore. People don’t visit him anymore. There\u2019s not much there to talk to. He doesn’t understand anymore. Little by little he retires from active life and he fades away in a peaceful way; so it’s a good thing for him.
\n\n\n\nSometimes, however, Hashem makes an exception and rewards tzaddikim with full awareness until the end. And so the tzaddik is lying on his deathbed. He’s suffering; he\u2019s suffering very much. But he has prepared himself. All his life he was saying krias shema anticipating this moment; every day he was saying, \u201cAnd you should love Hashem bechol nafshecha, with all of your soul.\u201d And our Sages tell us that it means, \u201cAfilu besha’ah shenotel es nafshecha \u2013 even when He’s taking away your life you still have to love Him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so he\u2019s lying on his deathbed and he says, \u201cYes, Hashem. I love You. I cannot forget what You did for me Hashem all my days; how happy I was all my days. I sang to You all my days because of all the good You did for me. You gave me health all my days. Just because of what’s happening now, I’m going to forget that? No; I won\u2019t be so ungrateful like that. Now is an opportunity to love You despite my pangs. I’m going to sing to You. I’m going to die with gratitude to You, with the greatest love to You.\u201d That’s how the tzaddik passes away. Ah! That’s called loving Hashem afilu besha’ah shenotel es nafshecha, even while He\u2019s taking away your soul.
\n\n\n\nNow, not everybody is given such a privilege. Not everybody is prepared to utilize such a privilege. You have to train yourself. It’s not easy to love when you’re hurting all over. Did you ever see a dying man? I once visited a dying man. He was lying in a bed that had walls around it so that he shouldn\u2019t fall out; like a baby bed with walls, like a crib. He was rolling in the bed with yesurim. It’s not pleasant to die. It’s very difficult to prepare for that moment properly.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose a man had studied this all his life; like the gemara says: \u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05de\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05de\u05e6\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc \u05de\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d6\u05d4 \u2013 All my life I was working on this possuk, \u05de\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u2013 thinking, \u201cWhen will it come to my hand I should be able to fulfill it?\u201dYou have to practice up on that when you say krias shema. In the midst of your happiness think, \u201cI love You Hashem for giving me food every day, for giving me parnasah, for giving me a home over my head, for keeping my family well. I love You Hashem for all You’re doing for me.\u201d Constantly you\u2019re thinking about that. And little by little, the love becomes part of your entire personality and eventually when the last day comes\u2014like it must for everybody\u2014you\u2019re thinking about how Hashem is going to bring you into the next world, the world of happiness, and you love Him even more and more; and that love overcomes all of your sufferings.
\n\n\n\nNow, the sufferings of death have two purposes among others. One purpose is it’s an atonement. When a person is willing to accept the atonement, it wipes out many sins. Another purpose of suffering and death is it makes him happy to say goodbye to this world. Otherwise, nobody wants to go out of this world. But when he’s suffering, he’s glad to get rid of his sufferings and therefore death is a gift to him. When a man understands that and he is grateful to Hashem then he passes out of this world with gratitude, with service to Hashem; that man is dying for a purpose.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 751
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on \u00a0How To Die The Torah Way appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-07T20:14:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-07T20:15:58+00:00" }, { "id": 33063, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a6%d7%93%d7%a7%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4, \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\nWe have but one request,\u00a0\u2018the light of Your face\u2019, yet we now express this request in further detail. We request\u00a0\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4, which refers here to zechuyos, merits (as in Dvarim 6:25), and we pray that Hashem give us the opportunity to attain zechuyos, and thereby gain \u2018the light of His face\u2019. But our own Merit is never sufficient, and we therefore beseech Hashem for\u00a0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, for no zechuyos can earn us true happiness without the especial blessing of Hashem. And\u00a0\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd, the mercy of Hashem, for without His mercy, we are surely undeserving of any\u00a0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4.
\n\n\n\nRabbi Miller explains the following words as a continuation of our original request,\u00a0“\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da”, \u201cBless us, our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Your face\u201d. We now continue to request that He bless us with\u00a0“\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4 \u05d5\u05db\u05d5'”, \u201cmerit etc.\u201d
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4, \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-07T19:58:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-07T19:58:10+00:00" }, { "id": 33057, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-07T05:34:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-07T05:34:36+00:00" }, { "id": 33052, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%91%d7%90%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%a4%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%a0%d7%aa%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%94-%d7%90-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%aa-%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e0\u05ea\u05ea \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5, \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5, \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3", "content_html": "\nWe request of Hashem only \u201cthe light of Your Face\u201d. We know firsthand that all our successes and our greatest fortunes resulted only because of Your shining countenance. You turned Your Face toward us and gifted us with the Torah. The Torah is our greatest fortune; it is life itself\u00a0(\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd), both in this world and in the next. You turned Your Face toward us and demonstrated Your great love for us through acts of endless kindliness and especial intervention on our behalf \u2013 what more can we ask than that You continue to turn Your face toward us and cast upon us \u2018the light of Your face\u2019, the source of all blessing.
\nThe post \u05db\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05e0\u05ea\u05ea \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5, \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5, \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-06T21:28:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-06T21:28:38+00:00" }, { "id": 33028, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%90%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%a4%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da", "content_html": "\nAll blessing that can be found in this world, all well-being and success, both in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus, is nothing but the result of the\u00a0light of Hashem\u2019s Face. We therefore request of Hashem that He cast His smiling gaze upon us, for without \u2018the light of His Face\u2019, there could be no blessing at all. Thus, in this final request for the ultimate blessing, we request nothing but \u2018the light of Your Face\u2019.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-05T20:14:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T20:14:32+00:00" }, { "id": 33025, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%9b%d7%90%d7%97%d7%93/", "title": "\u05db\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3", "content_html": "\nThis tefillah is easier said than felt. With these words, we are expected to pray sincerely that every one of Yisroel be blessed\u00a0“\u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3”, \u201cas one\u201d, exactly as we ourselves desire to be blessed. \u201cWe draw out the \u2018Echad\u2019 of Shema\u201d (Brachos 13b), \u201cand we should draw out this \u2018Echad\u2019 as well\u201d (Rabbi Isaac Scher). We must let go of our desire for superiority and recognize that blessing is not defined by what we have and others do not. Only then will we be able to call out in truth that Hashem\u00a0\u201cbless all of His beloved children,\u00a0\u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3, as one\u201d.
\nThe post \u05db\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-05T20:12:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T20:12:09+00:00" }, { "id": 5006, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-visit-to-the-pet-store/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Visit to the Pet Store", "content_html": "\n\ufeffQ:
What should a parent tell a child that wants to get a pet like a dog or a goldfish?
A:
If he wants a goldfish, that\u2019s just like getting him a toy. Nothing wrong with buying him a toy. But a dog he doesn\u2019t need for that. A dog is a symbol that he identifies with the goyim of the neighborhood. I\u2019m not saying that every child wants it for that reason, but that\u2019s what a dog means.
What is a dog for? Some people say that a dog is for the purpose of protecting them, but actually it\u2019s not so. Some people have these little dogs \u2013 tiny fragile things \u2013 and the dogs themselves need protection. For these tiny, little dogs \u2013 anyone can give it a good kick and kill it. What a dog really means in most cases is, \u201cI\u2019m a goy like all the goyim.\u201d That\u2019s what it really means in most cases.
\n\n\n\nSome people, unfortunately, pick up their dog in their arms and kiss it like a child. They use it instead of a child. Instead of having any children, they have two dogs in the house. I once saw a family saying farewell to their married son and daughter. They bent over and first they said goodbye to their son and daughter. Then they bent over and kissed their daughter\u2019s dog goodbye, like a member of the family.
\n\n\n\nSo when people sink so low that they accept animals on the level of human beings, then you have to know that they\u2019re sinning against the Torah, sinning against Hashem and sinning against common sense.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, I\u2019m very much against having dogs. But goldfish are no harm. It\u2019s a hobby, a toy, for a child, so let him have a goldfish if he wants.
TAPE # E-37
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Visit to the Pet Store appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-05T16:21:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T20:37:29+00:00" }, { "id": 33021, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-29/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 29", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-29The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 29 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-05T03:13:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T03:13:59+00:00" }, { "id": 33016, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%a2-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-05T03:06:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T03:06:25+00:00" }, { "id": 4879, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-owning-a-dog-the-orthodox-way/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Owning a Dog the Orthodox Way", "content_html": "\nQ:
My question is, what’s the Jewish viewpoint on having a pet like a dog in the house?\u00a0
A:
\n\n\n\nSo the question is also what\u2019s the Jewish viewpoint about eating lukshen? And the answer is that there\u2019s no Jewish viewpoint. You want the Jewish viewpoint on every petty issue? So I\u2019ll tell you. The Jewish viewpoint about eating macaroni is it should be kosher, that\u2019s all. And you have to make a brochah.
\n\n\n\nHowever, I must tell you one thing about pets. They shouldn\u2019t be a nuisance to other people! That\u2019s a Jewish viewpoint. If you learn gemara, you learned that if you have a dog that always remains politely behind the fence but then when people go by, your dog rushes up to the fence and gives a loud bark and their hearts stop beating for a moment, then you have to worry about your Olam Habah. That\u2019s the Jewish viewpoint. And such a thing, if you didn\u2019t learn gemara you\u2019d never know it.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a gemara about that (see Bava Kama 79b, 83a). You have to be careful that your animal should not frighten people. Here\u2019s a man who has a dog and when you pass by, the dog starts growling and you walk by apprehensively, nervously. You\u2019re worried \u2013 you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWho knows? Maybe he\u2019ll tear my trousers.\u201d And sometimes he does! A rabbi, a neighbor of mine in East Flatbush, had his trousers torn by a dog. I was bitten by a dog too! I called the police. And I was cursed out by the owner for calling them. He said, \u201cMy dog is helpful.\u201d His dog is helpful! Helpful?! That means, \u201cHere, you can enjoy a bite from my dog; it\u2019s worth it because he\u2019s helpful.\u201d A meshugeneh!
An Orthodox Jew is the only one who knows about what it means to own a dog, how responsible you have to be. Of course, there are Orthodox Jews who are ignorant as well. But they\u2019re not Orthodox; they\u2019re not Orthodox enough. If you didn\u2019t learn, or even if you did, but you don\u2019t practice, then you\u2019re not an Orthodox Jew enough. Because really it\u2019s only the Orthodox Jews, the real ones, who know what it means to prevent injury to your fellow man.
TAPE # 204 (January 1978)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Owning a Dog the Orthodox Way appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-04T12:51:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-05T20:21:46+00:00" }, { "id": 32997, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-yearning-of-the-soul-2/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Yearning of the Soul", "content_html": "\n\u201cThe\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd\u00a0waited an hour before davening\u201d (Brachos 32b). Before we daven, it is important to consider the objectives of Tefillah, and to understand its purpose. The\u00a0\u05d7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05dc\u05d1\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u00a0writes that there are five different objectives to Tefillah. The first, he writes, is the\u00a0\u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05e7\u05d4,\u00a0the yearning, of the soul to connect to Hashem\u00a0\u2013 to speak to Him and to recognize His presence. The\u00a0\u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d4\u00a0wishes to return to the place from which it originated, and that is to Hashem, the\u00a0\u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, the Soul of the entire universe. Tefillah is the expression of this deep yearning of the soul.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Yearning of the Soul appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T15:58:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T15:58:47+00:00" }, { "id": 32988, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-metzora/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Metzora", "content_html": "\nAfter the fiasco with Tzadok\u2019s helicopter crashing at the airport, Mayor McGillicuddy took a liking to Tzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d and made him his \u201cchief kabbalah advisor\u201d.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said Mayor McGillicuddy, looking up from a pile of paperwork on his desk. \u201cHave you seen my zoo?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou hev zoo?\u201d Tzadok said in wonder. \u201cI love zoos – most of my segulot come from animals! Can ve go see it now?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh that\u2019s a great idea,\u201d said the mayor, tossing the stack of papers into the trash can. \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d
\n\n\n\n*
\n\n\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t this the best place for a zoo, Tzadok?\u201d the Mayor asked proudly, as they arrived.
\n\n\n\nTzadok stroked the remaining half of his bead. \u201cZis is not good place for zoo,\u201d he said. \u201cYou should move it someplace else. In a place vhat has more trees.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe mayor looked around. \u201cYou\u2019re absolutely right!\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cI know just the place! Let\u2019s move all of the animals right now!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh I vould love to help!\u201d Tzadok said. \u201cI can take zat crocodile in my car!\u201d
\n\n\n\nMayor McGillicuddy quickly arranged for the zookeepers to all take the various animals to the zoo\u2019s new location. A giraffe went into a pickup truck, penguins into the back of a station wagon, an elephant into a minivan, and the alligator went into the backseat of Tzadok\u2019s rental car.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll see you back at City Hall!\u201d the mayor called to Tzadok, as he got into his waiting limousine.
\n\n\n\nTzadok got into his car and started driving, the other vehicles following behind him. The crocodile thrashed around in the back seat as Tzadok sang to him in an attempt to calm him down.
\n\n\n\n\u201cKol haolam kulo\u2026 gesher tzar me\u2019od\u2026\u201d Tzadok trilled as they drove over a bridge\u2026
\n\n\n\nSuddenly there was a loud crashing sound. Tzadok looked over his shoulder to see the bridge collapsing behind him under the weight of the minivan that was carrying the elephant.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYishtabach shemo!\u201d cried Tzadok as he realized that had he only been a few feet further back he would have also crashed with the falling bridge.
\n\n\n\nTzadok continued driving and saw that he was approaching Agudas Yisroel of St. Louis. Seeing that it was time for Mincha, he parked the car, sternly instructed the crocodile to stay, and walked into the shul.
\n\n\n\nInside, Rabbi Bromberg looked up from his sefer as Tzadok entered. \u201cSholom aleichem,\u201d Rabbi Bromberg said warmly, \u201cyou must be Tzadok \u2018Hatzadik\u2019!\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image.png?resize=577%2C745&ssl=1\")
\u201cYes zat is me,\u201d Tzadok answered. \u201cAnd today is a special day because Hashem showed me zat I really am a tzadik!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHe did?\u201d asked Rabbi Bromberg. \u201cHow so?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok related to Rabbi Bromberg how he had been saved from the collapsing bridge, while the car with the elephant wasn\u2019t as lucky.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo you see,\u201d Tzadok finished, \u201cobviously zat elephant and his driver were reshaim, but I am a Tzadik so I was saved!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, are you sure that is the only possible explanation?\u201d Rabbi Bromberg asked gently.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course!\u201d Tzadok said indignantly. \u201cWhat else could it possibly mean?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Rabbi Bromberg, stroking his full beautiful beard. \u201cYears ago, when I lived in Brooklyn, I used to go to Rav Avigdor Miller\u2019s Thursday night shiurim. And I heard him speak about the korbanos of the metzora. Did you know that the metzora would bring two birds to the Beis Hamikdash, but only one was brought as a korbon? The other one was set free.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh I bet I can find the one that was set free,\u201d Tzadok said thoughtfully. \u201cI could sell the feathers for a lot of money!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, listen to me,\u201d Rabbi Bromberg continued. \u201cRabbi Miller explained that the reason one of the birds was set free was to teach the metzora a lesson. This man could have been stuck with tzora\u2019as for the rest of his life, but Hashem gave him a huge gift of being completely healed, just like the bird who escaped. Hashem is telling the metzora:\u2018look! You could have died from this tzora\u2019as, but I\u2019m giving you another chance! Take this opportunity to look around at all of the chessed that Hashem does for you! Do teshuvah and spend the rest of your life thanking Me for saving you and giving you another chance at life!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo you mean I\u2019m not really a Tzadik?\u201d asked Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t answer that,\u201d Rabbi Bromberg said. \u201cBut I can tell you that you now have the opportunity to start a new career of being thankful to Hashem for saving you, among everything else He does for you. It\u2019s a job that never ends!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAmazing!\u201d said Tzadok, as a loud snarl and screams were heard from outside of the shul. \u201cBut speaking of animals escaping, I just remembered I have a loose crocodile in the back of my car! I gotta run! Thank you, Rabbi!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway
\n\n\n\nSo many people have problems that I was saved from. I thank You, Hashem!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Metzora appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T03:29:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T03:29:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32970, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-metzora-5-hidden-treasures-2/", "title": "Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures", "content_html": "\nPlagued Houses
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah (Metzora 14:34) Hakodosh Boruch Hu says to the Am Yisroel, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05df \u2013 When you will come to the land, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05d7\u05bb\u05d6\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 \u201cI will give a plague of leprosy in the houses of the land that you inherit.\u201d The Torah is introducing us here to the subject of nigei batim, leprosy of the homes; besides for tzaraas that comes on the skin of a person, there’s also such a thing as leprosy on a house.
\n\n\n\nToday, if we find a stain or a certain growth on a wall so we just wash it off; if washing doesn\u2019t do the job, we might scrape it off. But during the period when the Jewish nation was living on the land and conducting itself according to the Torah laws, you couldn\u2019t do that. You had to bring the kohen over to your house and he had to view the nega.
\n\n\n\nAnd according to certain procedures, the kohen declared it to be a certain fungi which is called tzaraas; and after a certain time and under certain conditions if it doesn’t depart then they go so far as to tear down the house in order to fulfill the law of negaim according to the Torah.
\n\n\n\nNow there are very many details involved in nigei batim \u2014 those people who don’t know about it won’t learn much about it from my words now and those who do know about it don’t need these words \u2014 but our point is something else.
\n\n\n\nThe Secret Gift
\n\n\n\nOur sages took note of an unusual word in our possuk: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9. Instead of \u201cI will place\u201d or \u201cI will send,\u201d the Torah says, \u201cI will give you leprosy.\u201d And our sages reveal to us a secret lesson hidden in that word v\u2019nosati; they tell us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is giving the nation a gift. \u201cI\u2019m going to give you the gift of leprosy on the walls of your homes.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBesurah tovah nisbasrah leYisrael, the Jewish people were given good tidings here,\u201d the good news that there’s going to be a leprosy in some of their houses (Rashi ibid.).Good news?! There will be a nega tzaraas and you might have to move out of your home. And if the house is declared tamei and the kohen gives the fateful order, sometimes there’s nothing to do except to knock down the house. And so with a heavy heart, you\u2019ll take a chisel and a hammer and begin banging away. You know they had good heavy walls in their houses; walls that were built generations ago by the Canaanim. Not homes like in Flatbush that are wood with some stucco on top of it. No, they were solid stone walls made to last for 1,000 years. At least that’s what he thought when he moved in. But now he sees he has to knock down the wall. He\u2019s tearing down his home! What kind of \u201cgood news\u201d is it here?! It\u2019s a tragedy, a disaster!
\n\n\n\nA Lucky \u201cBreak\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so our sages go on and explain. What’s so good? What\u2019s the good news for this man? Because as he starts dragging out the big pieces of chiseled stone from the wall, he sees there\u2019s a big hollow there. He takes a look in the hollow and he can’t believe his eyes. He sees something shining, glittering. Jewelry!
\n\n\n\nSo he digs a little more and he finds there a whole mountain of diamonds, golden rings and bracelets concealed in the wall, hidden there by the ancient inhabitants of the land. These were their walls before the Am Yisroel came into the land and in their haste to escape they left over treasures in the walls. And so it happens that the proprietor who is mourning for the loss of his house discovers that in the walls there was hidden away a chest of treasures, a pot of gold.
\n\n\n\nNow, this Jew, the Israelite, would have lived there forever without finding the treasure. In stone walls he would never discover what’s hidden. And now this! \u201cAh,\u201d he says, \u201cnow I understand why the nega tzaraas came.\u201d He looks back and he understands why this misfortune occurred to him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu sent the leprosy to cause him to break down the walls in order that he should discover the treasures.
\n\n\n\nBroken by the Business
\n\n\n\nAnd now, all his life he looks back with gratitude to that misfortune. What better news could there be? If not for the leprosy on the walls of his house, he would have remained a poor man all his life. And now, he\u2019s wealthy! He could buy a new house if he wants. He\u2019s able to support his sons-in-law in the kollel. So that\u2019s the besurah tovah, the good tidings that nisbasrah l\u2019Yisroel. What he thought was a tragedy, ended up being a windfall.
\n\n\n\nNow, from this Gemara it would seem that that is the purpose of all misfortunes; every tzarah that comes on a person is a besurah tovah; every misfortune is a treasure chest. Like the man whose business was torpedoed. A true story \u2013 a man in my shul. He took a big order from a Stop and Shop store, a chain store. And he didn\u2019t know that this store was already a customer of someone else, someone in the mafia. By accident he took away a customer from the Italian mafia and so they came the next night and they firebombed his store. He\u2019s out of a job now. And he thought he was ruined. He was finished.
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that the business was breaking his health. His nerves were frayed and his heart was sick \u2013 he was sacrificing his life for the store. But now nothing was left so he went out of that business, and he went and got another job; a nine to five city job where his health was maintained. And he had time even to start learning. The man never learned Gemara before but as a result of the firebombing, he finally started learning Gemara. He became a talmid chochom, a shtikel lamdan too.
\n\n\n\nLike they used to say a joke, a frum joke: \u05d7\u05b2\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d7\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e7\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u2013 A man lost his money and that’s why he began learning. There are people who would have wasted their lives but their business went broke so they said, \u201cI\u2019ll just let it go. I’ll sit in a kollel someplace and I’ll be mistapek b\u2019muat.\u201dI know a man like that. And then he spent his life, a long happy life, learning Torah.
\n\n\n\nThe Bum Breaks Up
\n\n\n\nThere are all kinds of ways that misfortunes turn out to be good later in life.What about that beautiful girl who was engaged to a doctor and everybody was happy? It was sasson v\u2019simchah, the culmination of the dreams of her family, that the daughter should marry a doctor.
\n\n\n\nAnd then the engagement was broken. His mother interfered and he called it off. You could imagine the tragedy in her home. A yelalah went out, an outcry. \u201cOy yoy yoy yoy!\u201d The family was sitting shivah. They had lost that golden shidduch.
\n\n\n\nBut I know that this doctor happened to be a bum. A very modern Orthodox man who was a bum too. And soon after the broken engagement there came along a wonderful young man, a frumme ben Torah who was making a good living in computers. It was a wonderful match! As a result of the \u2018tragedy\u2019 she was married to somebody else who was ten times as good and they lived happily ever after. She was saved from the doctor by this tragedy for which they were sitting shivah.
\n\n\n\nOf course, I’m not recommending breaking engagements, but many times in life we see tzaros have a benefit in this world. And looking back we see it was a stroke of good luck, that nothing better could have happened.
\n\n\n\nFrom Tragedy to Treasure
\n\n\n\nIrecall a case of a kollel man, a ben Torah, with a beard, a frum young man, and he happened to be in a certain place where gentile boys came and annoyed him outside the door, outside the window. They were banging on the window and disturbing him.
\n\n\n\nThis kollel man happened to be a husky fellow and hot tempered, a very strong type, so he ran out with the intention of doing something to them and they fled. And as he was pursuing them, he fell down and broke both arms!
\n\n\n\nI happened to meet him subsequently, and I told him it’s a stroke of good luck for him. Because he would have beaten them up and then their big brothers or their fathers would have come. And they might come with a weapon! He got off easy this fellow. The breaking of both arms, that’s the way that he was prevented from getting into trouble.
\n\n\n\nIf we study, if we look back, on very many of the misfortunes in our lives, we will see that they were blessings sent to prevent some later misfortune. There was a woman who crashed her car. She had a smash-up. So she had to go for a checkup. And the physician discovered there was a lump on her breast. She never would have found it until it would have been too late.
\n\n\n\nSuch things happen again and again. These stories are in the thousands only we’re not accustomed to looking back and seeing how Hakodosh Boruch Hu is rescuing us and helping us. And that\u2019s the great lesson of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2013 I will give you a gift of tzaraas in your home. The tragedy leads you to the treasure.
\n\n\n\nCanaanite Spending Habits
\n\n\n\nNow just reading this we get the impression that tzaraas is always a telegram from OTB. Tzaraas means you’re rich! A house acquires the nega in order that you should find a chest of gold. And so imagine now that a man and his wife came from the midbar to Eretz Yisrael, and now finally, for the first time in many years, they\u2019re permanently settled in a real home with stone walls. He and his wife finally have a house, no more tents like they lived in the Wilderness\u2013 now we have real walls. It\u2019s a great happiness to live in a home!
\n\n\n\nAnd all of a sudden after getting settled, ready to stay here forever, they discover that there is a nega tzaraas on the wall. And maybe the whole thing will have to come down. His wife is frantic! \u201cChaim! What are we going to do with the kids? Where are we going to live?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo suppose he says, \u201cDon’t worry about it, dear. I remember Moshe Rabeinu giving a shiur, a Torah lesson, in the Wilderness and he said that we\u2019ll discover gold in the walls. It\u2019s a besurah tovah.\u201d Is that how a Jew is expected to react when he finds a nega tzaraas on the walls of his home?
\n\n\n\nOf course not! It\u2019s not that simple. Not always were gold and silver found in the walls. Not every Canaanite had treasures; there were middle class Canaanites too \u2013 and even the wealthy Canaanite, maybe his wife was a high roller who squandered her husband\u2019s money and didn\u2019t leave anything to hide away. And even the ones who had extra gold and silver, not every one of them hid his treasure between the stones of his wall \u2013 some found better hiding places than that. And so, as much as the lesson is true that sometimes what you imagined was a tragedy will lead you to a pot of gold, we have to understand it on a deeper level.
\n\n\n\nChaim\u2019s House Clearing
\n\n\n\nOur sages tell us that treasure in the wall is far from the whole story. It\u2019s an important lesson but it\u2019s not the whole story. Because the Gemara tells us what’s the reason leprosy comes upon a man? A nega tzaraas comes because of certain sins that a person did (see Eirechin 16a).
\n\n\n\nFor example our sages tell us (ibid.) that sometimes tzaraas comes because of tzaras ayin, he was stingy to help his neighbors. Neighbors sometimes needed to borrow something and he was stingy with his things. When his neighbor knocked on the door to borrow a hammer or a saw, he said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I don’t have a hammer. I don’t have a saw.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s one of the reasons why he has to carry out all of his stuff in the street. When a house becomes leprous the first thing the kohen has to do before he declares the house tamei is \u05d5\u05b0\u05e6\u05b4\u05d5\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b5\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05ea \u2013 the kohen first tells you that you have to bring out all the things from the house onto the sidewalk (14:36). That’s the din; before the house is declared tamei you have to clear out the house.
\n\n\n\nAnd now the neighbors are standing by and now they see the man carrying out his things. \u201cOh,\u201d they say, \u201cChaim does have a hammer! He said he has no hammer but he had one the whole time.\u201d Then he carried out a saw. \u201cHe has a saw! All these years he told me he didn’t have any saw. We see he has a couple of saws.\u201d So while he\u2019s carrying out all the utensils into the street the neighbors are seeing he has a hammer, he has a saw. He has everything!
\n\n\n\nChaim\u2019s Tool Gemach
\n\n\n\nSo we see now an entirely different reason why the tzara’as came onto this man\u2019s home; he\u2019s supposed to see that he\u2019s being punished for something.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara (Brachos 5a) says about tzaraas, about all misfortunes: \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5, if a man sees tzaros coming upon him, what should he do? He shouldn’t say, \u201cBoruch Hashem, it’s for a good purpose.\u201d Certainly, it has a good purpose, but that\u2019s not enough; \u05d9\u05b0\u05e4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d9\u05d5, he has to search his deeds. He has to say, \u201cWhy did Hashem do this to me?\u201d And if he searches, he\u2019ll discover.
\n\n\n\nAmong the things he’ll discover is that he didn’t lend his things. He had tzaras ayin. He was stingy with his things. That could be one of the things he’ll discover. Tzaraas is a punishment.Because Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t allow a man to camouflage himself forever. It’s a principle with Hakodosh Boruch Hu that sooner or later the truth will come out. A man can put up a front for some time but there’s a policy of Hashem to make him known. And so we see from this that the purpose of tzaraas is to expose this man, to show that he’s been deceiving the people all these years. He doesn’t have this, doesn’t have that, but actually he was just a stingy fellow who never worked on breaking the middah of being a tzar ayin. And now, because the tzaraas came he\u2019s embarrassed in front of all of his neighbors.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s an opportunity, a wake-up call. Hashem is knocking on the door trying to wake him up. Because as much as he was embarrassed now, shame in the next world is even worse. And so he gets busy doing teshuva. He\u2019ll become a lender of his tools from now on. He might even make a gemach for tools.
\n\n\n\nClean Out the Dirt
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see now that tzaraas is not so that he should find the pot of gold hidden within the walls. It\u2019s so that he should find the pot of dirt hidden within the walls of his heart, b\u2019kiros libo. That\u2019s the real pot of gold a person can find in this world.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what Rabeinu Yonah tells us (2:2): \u201cIf as a result of a misfortune a man improves, then he should always look back to this time with the greatest joy as if he had actually become wealthy as a result.\u201d That’s the pot of gold! There’s no greater stroke of good luck than if a misfortune happens and because of that a person stops a bad habit, he changes a bad trait; if he can make even a little bit of teshuva and change himself, so he found a great treasure.
\n\n\n\nBecause that’s the greatest success a man can have in life. After all, what are we in this world for? To find hidden treasures? To collect ducats? To collect apartment houses? \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 When a man has to go away from this world, \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d5\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05db\u05b6\u05bc\u05e1\u05b6\u05e3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d6\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05d1 \u2013 his money and his property do not go with him. \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3 \u2013 Only the Torah that he learned and the mitzvos and good deeds that he performed (Avos 6:9). They’re the real wealth of a person.
\n\n\n\nHow to React
\n\n\n\nAnd so, the good fortune is before you find the gold, when you’re worried about the nega on the wall and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhy did Hashem bring this upon me?\u201d If you\u2019re searching out your ways, that’s the best fortune you could find. When you change, when you improve. There’s nothing in the world as valuable as getting better.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why in his Shaarei Teshuva when Rabeinu Yona introduces us to his program for making teshuva and he tells us that we have to look for incentives \u2013 as life goes by, day after day and season after season, people tend to relax into a lethargy and they fall behind in their program of accomplishment and so we need incentives \u2013 and so he gives us six opportunities which we could utilize as stimulants, as reminders to bestir ourselves and get busy and accomplish.
\n\n\n\nAnd haderech harishon, says the Shaarei Teshuva (2:2) \u2013it means the first opportunity, the most important, the most common stimulus that we should utilize to get better is the following: In translation: \u201cWhen there happens to a man some misfortune, he should take it to heart, and he should say, \u2018This is only because of my own misdeeds\u2019.\u201d That\u2019s how he should react to any misfortune that comes to him.
\n\n\n\nHigher Atheism
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s the great principle, a very important principle that’s neglected by almost everybody. It’s a way of life that was practiced by our forefathers from the very beginning of our history and it’s repeated again and again in the Torah. Throughout Jewish history it was always \u201c\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc – We\u2019re guilty\u201d. \u201c\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e7\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 – Let us search out our ways and investigate our failures, let us return to Hashem\u201d. Again and again, in the times of the Tanach, in the times of the Gemara, always, our forefathers only attributed their misfortune to their sins.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because they understood a great principle of our emunah;that there are no accidents in the world. That’s the first lesson a Jew has to learn: Hakodosh Boruch Hu is in charge! Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, means He is the only One who controls the affairs of the universe; whatever happens comes directly from Him. And if that’s the case, everything has a purpose.
\n\n\n\nYou know, when a person attributes some happening merely to natural causes, it\u2019s a sublimated form of atheism. Could be you\u2019re a frum Jew \u2013 you have a beard and peyos, even a long coat, but there\u2019s something very important missing. You\u2019re missing the most important yesod that it\u2019s Hashem who\u2019s doing everything.
\n\n\n\nLower Atheism
\n\n\n\nYou know, the textbooks try to ridicule the old generations; they say that the ancients were ignoramuses who attributed epidemics to acts of G-d. But now they’re smarter, they imagine; they think they\u2019ve progressed because the scientists today know that there are bacteria. Like a man wrote a letter in The Jewish Week and he said there that Rabbi Miller says that AIDS is a punishment min hashomayim. So Mel Rosen alav hashnubbel, the President of a gay synagogue, wrote a letter in response; he said, \u201cMiller is ignorant! Because we know that AIDS comes from a germ.\u201d You hear the chochma? Mel Rosen died recently at the age of 42. On his deathbed he was still blaming the germs.
\n\n\n\nThey think that they\u2019ve made progress because they don’t understand how the ancients thought. Everybody in the ancient world understood that Hakodosh Boruch Hu acts through agents. Whatever the agents are, that’s a different story. Did they recognize precisely what the agents were, how they worked, I can\u2019t tell you. But they believed in agents then too; only they were looking behind the curtain at the One creating the agents, the One controlling the causes. And so you can be an up-to-date scientist and still understand that all the natural causes are agents of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nWealth is Wealth!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore even when a man is suffering even from an ordinary cold, if he wants to live according to the great principles of Judaism, he should feel what the Torah teaches him to feel: \u201cWhen a man sees misfortune coming on him, he should examine his deeds.\u201d He understands that this is sent for the purpose of bestirring him, of awakening him to search out his ways.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why when tzaraas came upon a man’s house, he followed the old Jewish derech of suspecting himself, of blaming himself, of searching. \u201cMaybe I have to remedy this fault and change this wrong habit.\u201d And he discovered; \u2018this thing is wrong\u2019 or \u2018that thing\u2019 and he became better because of that. Because if a person searches, if he looks hard enough \u2014 a lot of people don\u2019t have to look hard at all \u2014 he’s going to discover a pot of gold.
\n\n\n\nNow is it true that only because of their sins a misfortune comes? Absolutely not. Because we already learned about how leprosy came upon a house and the purpose was for the owner to discover a chest of gold. Sometimes it happens that way. He might discover wealth; diamonds and gold and silver. Wealth is wealth! You can’t ridicule wealth!
\n\n\n\nBut the real chest of gold is what we’re learning about here. That he becomes better because of that nega on his wall, that he searches out his ways and does teshuva. That’s the besurah tovah. That’s the real good news \u2013 the great wealth of perfection that comes from utilizing misfortune for nachpesah deracheinu, for searching in ourselves.
\n\n\n\nSuffering on the Bus
\n\n\n\nNow this doesn’t mean that some big catastrophe has to happen. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to wait for fungi to grow on your walls. Because the wise man will use every opportunity he can, even the smallest things, the most minimal misfortunes.
\n\n\n\nThere’s a Gemara in Eirechin (16b) that asks a question: \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05d4\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05df \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 How far is the limit of suffering? Now, what kind of question is that? There’s no limit to suffering \u2013 some people suffer tremendously.
\n\n\n\nBut the Gemara means this. It\u2019s talking about the minimum. How much is already called suffering that you should take it as a hint to search out your ways? Does suffering have to be something big? Let\u2019s say you get on a bus \u2013 this happened to my relative \u2013 he got on the bus, it was the trolley in those days, and he couldn’t find any money to pay the fare. So he lost his head. He wouldn\u2019t get off. He didn’t know what to do so he said to the conductor, \u201cI’ll write you a check.\u201d The conductor took him by his neck and threw him off. That’s a real misfortune. He got hurt.
\n\n\n\nIt happened to be that there was a lawyer on the trolley who said to him, \u201cI’ll take your case,\u201d and the lawyer eventually collected big money from the city for him. So even with that big misfortune, it turned out he found his pot of gold.
\n\n\n\nAlso Suffering on the Bus
\n\n\n\nBut suppose it\u2019s something much smaller than that. Suppose a man gets on the bus, and he has money. He has the 35 cents, only that he forgot in which pocket. And as he\u2019s reaching into his pockets the passenger behind him says, \u201cMister, let\u2019s go!\u201d And he’s a little bit embarrassed. So the Gemara in Eirechin says that even that is called yissurim. That little bit is called suffering. And if you look in the Gemara there you\u2019ll see other things, even smaller things, that are called suffering.
\n\n\n\nNow, for what purpose does the Gemara tell us that? Just to know? Just to be able to say over a piece of Gemara? We\u2019re taught this so that we should not regard even such minor incidents as accidents. Because \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 if a man sees yissurim come upon him, he has to search out his ways; and he must know that these little things are included in the yissurim, they are prods to wake him up from his stupor.
\n\n\n\nYou have to be a big man to take a hint like that. It says, \u201cA word to the wise is sufficient.\u201d Dai lechakima beremiza. Everybody knows what a Kapula untzuherenish is. Ever heardof a Kapula untzuherenish? It’s called a Kapula hint.
\n\n\n\nBaffled in Kapula
\n\n\n\nA man in the city of Kapula once came to see a rich man and propose a business project. So the rich man said, \u201cI’m not interested.\u201d But this small minded fellow kept on talking. The rich man was giving hints that he should leave, but he didn\u2019t listen.
\n\n\n\nFinally the rich man took him and threw him down the stairs. And as he’s lying at the bottom of the stairs, he says \u201cI think he wanted to get rid of me. I suppose he\u2019s not so interested in my business\u201d. That’s called a Kapula hint. So if a man has to wait for a Kapula hint, it won’t be good. But a chochom, a wise man, takes the very first hint. And that’s what the Gemara in Eirechin wants to tell you.
\n\n\n\nNow there are many small things that happen to us \u2014 every thinking person will see them in his or her own life. But at least a few examples we can talk about together; that way we train ourselves to practice up finding them and utilizing them to improve. That\u2019s how we’re going to find the most important pot of gold.
\n\n\n\nHorsing Around at the Dentist
\n\n\n\nWhen you\u2019re sitting in a dentist chair, why should you sit there like a horse? A horse also sits in a dentist chair; veterinarians drills a horse’s teeth too. That’s not the way a Jew is supposed to sit. As a Jew sits in the chair and the dentist says, \u201cOpen wide,\u201d why not think it over? Why do you have to open wide? Maybe you opened wide some other time when you weren\u2019t supposed to?
\n\n\n\nAnd as the drill is going down and it hurts \u2013 whether it hurts much or it hurts a little \u2013 a wise person doesn’t waste his life. He gets busy and thinks, \u201cWhy is he drilling in my mouth? Maybe it’s because I open my mouth too much? I talk too much!\u2019
\n\n\n\nNow naturally somebody will say, \u201cWell, he didn’t brush his teeth. He ate candy before he went to sleep and all that sweet stuff was twinging around his teeth during the night and rotting it away.\u201d But I know a relative of mine who hasn’t brushed his teeth since he was born. I’m not recommending it by the way. You should brush your teeth every night. Everybody, boys and girls, men and women, should brush their teeth at least once before going to bed. No question that it’s beneficial. But this relative of mine has never gone to the dentist and he never had a cavity.
\n\n\n\nNow it could happen that he was born with an especial kind of mouth. Could be. But we have to understand that whatever happens has two reasons. Besides the material reason, there is no question that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is at the controls. Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t yield the control of the universe to bacteria. He’s the boss over them too. And therefore whatever happens is a result of His decree.
\n\n\n\nLeaving The Dentist
\n\n\n\nAnd if a Jew understands that and he takes the message directly from Hakodosh Boruch Hu to his heart and he utilizes it, so he leaves the dentist’s office not only with his cavity filled but also with a new resolve to change his ways. And that’s the biggest achievement in life!
\n\n\n\nEven if only the first hour he’ll keep his mind on his mouth; just for one hour after the leaving the dentist’s office he won’t talk \u2014 he won’t talk period \u2014 he’s a fortunate man. It’s worth having a cruel fellow put a drill into your mouth and mine into your teeth just to remind you that for the next hour you shouldn’t talk at all. Or for the next two hours you should be careful what you talk.
\n\n\n\nInflation and Charity
\n\n\n\nAnd if you stick your hand in your pocket and instead of that quarter you needed, you find a hole in the lining, so don’t be hard-hearted; don’t be like an atheist and say \u201cIt just happened. I should have taken care of my lining.\u201d You should take care of your lining; certainly you shouldn’t have a frayed pocket. But now that the quarter is gone, you have to think, \u201c\u05e0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. Maybe I was stingy when the poor man came to me. Why did I give him a measly quarter? What’s a quarter nowadays? It’s time to give him a raise. Everything has gone up and I’m still giving quarters. That’s why the quarter left my pocket.\u201d And who found it now? Some unworthy fellow found it. What are you getting out of it now?
\n\n\n\nThat’s how a Jew should live. If while you’re eating you give a good bite on your tongue, so instead of cussing, give a thought. \u201cWhat’s my tongue to blame? Maybe something is wrong with my tongue. Maybe I should have bitten my tongue instead of saying that to my wife this morning.\u201d \u05e0\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e2, Guard your tongue against saying what you shouldn’t.
\n\n\n\nAnd so as we go through life, we grab these opportunities that Hashem is sending upon us. I recall once, I had just learned this idea during mussar seder and somebody told me, \u201cThere’s a telephone call for you.\u201d So I left the beis medrash and was running to the phone booth. And the booth was very low so I banged my head against the top of the door. And I actually saw stars. Once in my life I realized what it meant to see stars. I saw lights. But I was still fresh from the mussar seder so I had the presence of mind to think, \u201cAhh! That’s what you deserve. That’s what you get for running out of the mussar seder.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOnce in my life I was smart enough to take a hint. It just happened because I was in the midst of studying this subject so I made use of it. But that’s how we should be all our lives; and life will be one steady procession of tikun, of growth, of improvement.
\n\n\n\nFool\u2019s Gold
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, that\u2019s silly,\u2019 somebody will say, a chochom, \u201cI’m going to waste my life thinking about the things that happened, imputing them to sins which I don’t know about? I should say that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is sending them upon me because of this or that? Maybe it’s not because of that. It’s so silly!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe answer is it pays to be silly. If you’ll discover a pot of gold, it pays to be silly. And there’s no question you’ll discover it. It could be it’s not the true reason, but what’s going to happen? The result is that you\u2019re going to become better! And that’s what the Rabeinu Yonah says. It’s none of your business why Hakodosh Boruch Hu sent it. Your duty as a Jew is to attribute it to your own faults, and the result will be you’ll become improved. That’s what counts. And that\u2019s how you\u2019ll discover that chest of gold.
\n\n\n\nStriking Gold
\n\n\n\nThe chest of gold is if a Jew learns to take a hint from Hakodosh Boruch Hu. So if you will make use of the opportunity, even if you won\u2019t guess the real reason, let\u2019s say you will blame yourself for something else that wasn\u2019t the real reason, but at least you will get the benefit \u2013 in one thing you will improve.
\n\n\n\nAnd to improve, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for. Every Jew has to feel that his function in life is to become the best that he is capable of becoming. As long as he is given the opportunity \u2014 which means life; life means opportunity \u2014 then it’s his function to seek to perfect himself more and more. It\u2019s only once in all history that we are given this opportunity so the wise person tries to utilize every little thing that happens to him. Because as long as we have the opportunity, we strive for greater and greater improvement.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the wealth we should be aiming for, because that is the wealth of this world. That\u2019s what Rabeinu Yonah says: \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b7\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 When a man accepts the instruction of Hashem, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b5\u05d9\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 and he will improve his ways or his deeds, \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 he should rejoice on his misfortunes, on his sufferings, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 as on the great successes. Because that is the great success in this world; that’s the real pot of gold, to come closer to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s Get Practical
\n\n\n\nDiscovering Your Pot Of Gold
\n\n\n\nLife is an opportunity for improvement. Whenever something happens to us we trust that it\u2019s the best thing that could have happened. But the real best thing is when we improve ourselves. This week I will remember to think into whatever happens to me. If I find a reason for self-improvement, I have struck gold.
\nThe post Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T03:23:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T03:39:13+00:00" }, { "id": 32983, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-metzora-5-hidden-treasures/", "title": "Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures", "content_html": "TA-Metzora-5782The post Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T03:21:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T03:21:38+00:00" }, { "id": 32976, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-metzora-5-hidden-treasures/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures", "content_html": "TA-Metzora-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Metzora 5 – Hidden Treasures appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-03T03:21:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T03:21:07+00:00" }, { "id": 32957, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-48/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 48", "content_html": "\n\u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3
AND KINDLINESS
We request, firstly, that Your\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u00a0be upon us to give us in \u2018abundance\u2019 beyond our basic needs. We also intend to request that You bestow upon the world a spirit of\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u00a0and kindheartedness among men.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd
AND MERCY
Even when we are unworthy of Your blessing, we request that You continue to shower us with Your great kindliness, fulfilling our requests\u00a0\u2018with mercy\u2019.
\u00a0
\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da
UPON US AND UPON ALL OF YISROEL YOUR PEOPLE
Upon ourselves and those of our own kehillah, as well as upon all of \u201cYour people\u201d Yisroel, every man, woman and child without exception, for they are loyal to You and Your Torah forever.
\u00a0
\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
BLESS US, OUR FATHER
Bless us with Your unlimited blessings of love, for You are our Father, the One Who created us, the source of all our blessing, and the One Who truly loves us \u2013 truly, our Father.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 48 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-01T17:12:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-01T17:12:15+00:00" }, { "id": 32955, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%90%d7%91%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\n\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
BLESS US, OUR FATHER
We call out \u201cFather\u201d, expressing our recognition that Hashem is both our Creator, the source of all blessing, and the One Who truly loves us (\u201cav\u201d, \u201cfather\u201d, like \u201cavah\u201d, \u201cwillingness\u201d and \u201cahav\u201d, \u201clove\u201d). Our awareness that Hashem is our Father is actually the justification for His loving fatherly blessing that He bestows upon us. Thus, we request of Hashem, \u201cBless us with Your unlimited blessings, for we know and recognize You as\u00a0\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5, our loving Father\u201d.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-01T17:11:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-01T17:11:29+00:00" }, { "id": 32951, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%92-%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%99%d7%9c%d7%9f-%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%98%d7%99%d7%a2-%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d2: \u05d3\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05e1\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05df; \u05e1\u05d9\u05de\u05e4\u05d0\u05d8\u05d9\u05e2; \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8’\u05df \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-213The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d2: \u05d3\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05e1\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05df; \u05e1\u05d9\u05de\u05e4\u05d0\u05d8\u05d9\u05e2; \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8’\u05df \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-04-01T04:08:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-01T04:08:38+00:00" }, { "id": 27848, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-boycotting-walt-disney/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Boycotting Walt Disney", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nIs it wrong to allow one\u2019s children to read Disney books like Mickey Mouse and things like that?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
Now, whether or not you should be reading Walt Disney to your children is one question. But I say that you shouldn\u2019t for a different reason. I say that you should boycott Walt Disney because Disney is an active force in promoting all types of immorality and I don\u2019t want to say what else. They promote very filthy things like H-O-M [the Rav spelled out the three letters] \u2013 I really don\u2019t want to say the rest. And therefore, we should boycott Walt Disney as much as possible.
And if they hadn\u2019t been promoting immorality then it would just be stam a waste of time. What do you get out of books that make it that mice talk and other animals are talking? It\u2019s meaningless. But Walt Disney is worse than meaningless because of the immorality that they are promoting in America.
And therefore we should do everything we can to lend our support to those who are trying to make this world more moral. We should help the people \u2013 even the goyim \u2013 who are fighting for morality. We really should do that.
TAPE # E-219 (January 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Boycotting Walt Disney appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-31T17:46:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-01T17:32:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32925, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a2%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\n\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da
UPON US AND UPON ALL OF YISROEL YOUR PEOPLE
\u201cUpon us\u201d means upon ourselves and those of our own kehillah that are present, for they are the first for whom we must pray. After our own congregation, we include \u201call of Yisroel\u201d, every man, woman and child without exception, that they be blessed with Shalom and all of its subdivisions, for they are \u201cAmcha\u201d, \u201cYour People\u201d (from \u201cimcha\u201d, with You), who serve You and are loyal to Your Torah forever.
\nThe post \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-30T21:45:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-30T21:45:55+00:00" }, { "id": 32921, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-hashem-is-not-silent/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When Hashem Is Not Silent", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhen we see how the present government in Israel has appointed a Minister of Religions and a Minister of Education who are so anti religious and they\u2019re doing other things against frum Jews in Eretz Yisroel, trying to wipe out every vestige of Torah, could it be that Hashem will remain silent?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nCould we think Hakodosh Boruch Hu will be silent when He sees that the reshaim are trying to wipe out the Torah in the Eretz Yisroel?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, He\u2019s not silent. That\u2019s why there are terrorists. It\u2019s a big mistake to read the newspapers and think that it\u2019s the result of them not wanting the peace treaty or because they want to have the Jews out of Eretz Yisroel. No. The terrorists are sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu as a puraniyos on the Labor Party, on the apikorsim, on those who are trying to teach Jewish children immorality and atheism in the Israeli public schools.
\n\n\n\nNow, don\u2019t misunderstand me \u2013 I’m not sympathizing with the Arabs. The Arabs are reshaim gemurim. But absolutely that\u2019s why the terrorists come.\u00a0 No question, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is punishing the people in Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nOf course, when troubles comes because of the koitzim, because of the thorns, so the gemara says that the gadish, the good crop, is also affected. \u05d5\u05e0\u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05d2\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d5 \u05e7\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 just because of the thorns, the good ones also suffer to some extent (Bava Kama 60a). And it says there that sometimes the troubles come onto the better ones first. Even tzadikim suffer because of the reshaim. But there\u2019s no question, we should never forget that any act of terror against the people in Eretz Yisroel is nothing but the result of the sins of the Jews in Eretz Yisroel. Don\u2019t make any mistake about it.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-31 (October 1996)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on When Hashem Is Not Silent appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-30T15:07:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-30T15:07:28+00:00" }, { "id": 1697, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-beautiful-girls-and-beautiful-middos/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Beautiful Girls and Beautiful Middos", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat should I do if I want to marry a pretty girl because I\u2019m concerned about what my friends will say?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
If you want to marry a woman just because of your friends, then you\u2019re not a big\u00a0chochom\u00a0\u2013 you\u2019re not too wise. You have to marry a woman with whom you\u2019ll be able to get along and succeed in building a holy house.
Now, in most cases she\u2019ll be deceived by him and he\u2019ll be deceived by her. That\u2019s how it always is. At first he tells me, \u201cAh, her middos! Ah yah yai, her middos are so special!\u201d Later he discovers what her middos really are. The same with his middos. She comes now to speak with me not because she\u2019s impressed with his middos. I deal with people and I always have this experience.
\n\n\n\nSo, get ready for reality. And don\u2019t say it\u2019s not so. At first everybody looks nice and talks nice. But when you get down to living together, it\u2019s not so simple. So you have to make up your mind that no matter what \u2013 of course you have to choose the best that you can; but you\u2019re going to be deceived anyhow \u2013 so make up your mind that no matter what, you\u2019re going to be the best that you can be. You\u2019ll keep your mouth closed. You won\u2019t criticize your wife. You won\u2019t criticize your husband. You\u2019ll always say yes. You\u2019ll never say no. Never say no to your husband or your wife. Even though you\u2019re not going to listen. Don\u2019t say no anyhow. Don\u2019t say no. Say yes, yes. Always say yes.
\n\n\n\nAlways be nice to your son-in-law. Never say anything wrong to your son-in-law. Never. Don\u2019t give any eitzos. Don\u2019t give him your advice. Just give him money and kavod. I always tell you my rule: With your son-in-law, keep your wallet open and your mouth shut. Money and honor \u2013 that\u2019s all you should give him.
\n\n\n\nAlso, your daughter-in-law. Give no advice to your daughter-in-law. No advice to your daughter-in-law! Never mix in. Don\u2019t ask your daughter how she\u2019s getting along with her husband. You shouldn\u2019t do that! And she shouldn\u2019t tell you anything. It\u2019s none of your business. None of your business! A husband and wife \u2013 everything is their own business. They shouldn\u2019t tell their parents anything.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when you get married, you have to make up your mind, not only you look for the best, but you yourself have to try to be the best. That\u2019s all. That\u2019s all! You be the best!
TAPE # E-192
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Beautiful Girls and Beautiful Middos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-30T11:16:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-01T17:20:00+00:00" }, { "id": 32969, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%96%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-30T03:11:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-04-03T03:15:42+00:00" }, { "id": 32895, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\n\u2018And mercy\u2019 \u2013 even when we are unworthy and undeserving of His blessing, we request of Hashem that He continue to shower us with His great kindliness and continue to fulfill our requests\u00a0\u2018with mercy\u2019. Like a mother who has compassion even on an undeserving child, so too we request of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He continue to have mercy and compassion upon us, His beloved children, even when we are undeserving.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-29T17:02:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-29T17:02:14+00:00" }, { "id": 6405, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dealing-with-a-mother-in-law/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With a Mother-in-law", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow do I deal with my husband\u2019s mother who I would consider a difficult mother-in-law?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The best answer to that is, \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da \u2013 Make sure to love your fellowman like you love yourself. And you can be sure that if your mother-in-law is difficult right now, part of it is due to difficulties in you. And you love yourself anyhow.
And so, at all times make your mother-in-law feel that you like her. Because that\u2019s what you\u2019re going to want your daughter-in-law do to you. \u05de\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e2\u05dc\u05da \u05e1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d7\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05d3 \u2013 That which you don\u2019t want done to yourself, don\u2019t do to others. And remember that someday, you too will be a mother-in-law, and your daughter-in-law will ask the same question about you.
And therefore, get busy now and utilize your mother-in-law. Being a daughter-in-law is a training school for you because you will learn how to be a mother-in-law. If you pay attention, you can prepare yourself by learning about what not to do to your own daughter-in-law.
In general, a mother-in-law must be treated with great diplomacy. You must treat everybody diplomatically but your husband\u2019s mother deserves a good deal of thought. Whenever she gives you advice without being asked, don\u2019t resent it. Now, I\u2019m not saying you should encourage it; don\u2019t go and ask her \u2013 even if it\u2019s just for politeness sake \u2013unless there\u2019s no risk of her going too far. But if she does tell you something, act like you accept it; and then when she hangs up the phone or when she leaves the house, forget all about it.
In case she resents the fact that you don\u2019t consult her, make it a plan to frequently send her small gifts. Always remember her anniversary and you should do it on other occasions too. And sometimes you can ask her advice about things that are not important \u2013 how to make a certain dish or how to soak a certain object. But don\u2019t get her too much involved in your affairs.
TAPE # 40 (November 1974)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With a Mother-in-law appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-29T16:37:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-29T16:59:08+00:00" }, { "id": 32872, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%97%d7%a1%d7%93/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3", "content_html": "\n\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u00a0here has a double meaning. We request, firstly, that Hashem\u2019s\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u00a0be upon us to give us in \u2018abundance\u2019 and with generosity beyond our basic needs. In addition, we intend to request of Hashem that He bless us with\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u00a0itself, that is, that He bestow upon the world a spirit of\u00a0\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3, that all men be moved to deal kindly with each other, and, in particular, with us, Hashem\u2019s beloved People.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-28T16:25:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-28T16:25:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32869, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-the-siddur-2/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: The Siddur", "content_html": "\nWhen we speak about the\u00a0Siddur, we are not only discussing the mere\u00a0Avodah\u00a0of Tefillah. The\u00a0understanding\u00a0of the Siddur itself is a major objective. The Siddur contains in it almost all of the general principles of the Torah, including the Chovos Halevovos and\u00a0Ahavas\u00a0and\u00a0Yir\u2019as Hashem. Thus, the study of the Siddur is actually an important part of\u00a0Limud Hatorah, as well as a way to attain true Greatness of Soul and\u00a0Da\u2019as Hashem.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: The Siddur appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-28T16:24:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-28T16:24:08+00:00" }, { "id": 2986, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-fooling-your-father-in-law/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Fooling Your Father-in-law", "content_html": "Q:
\nWhat’s the best way to deal with a father-in-law?\u00a0
\n
A:
\nDon\u2019t laugh. That\u2019s a very important question. And the answer is that the very best way is to always honor him and to keep quiet. Honor your father-in-law and keep your mouth shut. The less you say the more he\u2019ll like you. He\u2019ll think you\u2019re a somebody if you keep your mouth closed. Open up your mouth, you\u2019ll begin to bray, and he sees that you\u2019re a donkey in disguise.
\nIt\u2019s very important to know that with your wife\u2019s relatives you have to smile always, no matter what. Smile always and keep quiet. And they\u2019ll like you. They\u2019ll like you. If you open your mouth however, you\u2019re in trouble.
\nTAPE # E-183 (April 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Fooling Your Father-in-law appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-28T05:46:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-28T21:21:04+00:00" }, { "id": 32859, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%96%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%a2-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T20:39:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-30T13:54:51+00:00" }, { "id": 32855, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-evaluating-hachnasas-orchim-opportunities/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Evaluating Hachnasas Orchim Opportunities\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow far should a person go to fulfill the\u00a0mitzvah\u00a0of\u00a0hachnasas orchim?\u00a0
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
And the answer is it depends on the circumstances. If you have to go to work, so your job is\u00a0hachnasas\u00a0orchim\u00a0to your wife and your children. You have to pay rent for them. So you have to weigh one thing against another because your family comes first.
And if the guest you\u2019re considering\u00a0happens to be a dangerous person; let\u2019s say you see him walking up your steps mumbling to himself, so watch out \u2013 you have a wife and children at home and they are your first concern.\u00a0Let him stay in the street. If you want, you can carry something out for him into the street, but make sure to close your door behind you.
So everything depends on the circumstances; how far you should go depends on the situation.
If it\u2019s a meshulach from Eretz Yisroel or a chossid from Williamsburg and he\u2019s walking in the hot sun all day long trying to collect a dollar or so for his fourteen children, when he comes to your house try to finagle him to take a glass of water from your kitchen. He wouldn\u2019t eat anything else in your house, I can assure you. He\u2019s afraid that your milk is not cholov Yisroel; he\u2019s afraid that your bread is not kosher. But ask him, \u201cMaybe you want a glass of water? Maybe you want an orange.\u201d Ah, if you can deceive such a man, if you can trick him into taking an apple from you, then you have lived for a purpose that day.
It\u2019s a pity that people don\u2019t understand that. They give him a dollar and let him go on. And he goes farmatert, weary and thirsty, from house to house. This man has a lot of children and he works hard. He works in the factory. But on Sundays he\u2019s off, so Sunday he goes collecting money to pay tuition for his children. That\u2019s what they do. They have to pay tuition. The Satmarer cheder doesn\u2019t give tuition for nothing. And so on Sundays he collects tuition for his children. So if you see him on the street and you give him something, it\u2019s not a bad idea to invite him in for a drink. If you can pour something down his throat, you\u2019re a lucky man. So how far you should go depends on the circumstances; it depends on the giver and on the recipient and on the circumstances.
TAPE # 371 (August 1981)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Evaluating Hachnasas Orchim Opportunities\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T17:31:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T17:31:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32850, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-one-and-only-yeshayah-hanavi/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The One And Only Yeshayah Hanavi", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nSomeone told me that there were two nevi’im called Yeshayah. Is that true?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nSome apikorus told this person that a study of the Tanach shows that there were two different neviim who said the nevuahs of Yeshayah. And the answer is that this has already been exploded by all the great authorities. There’s no such thing. There’s only one Yeshayah.
\n\n\n\nNow let me explain. They’re misled by the fact that the first part of Yeshayah was not as lyrical and poetic as the latter part. And so therefore the apikorsim who are always seeking to break up the Tanach into layers and sections and so on, so say there are two Yeshayahs. But it’s ridiculous. There’s only one Yeshayah. Yeshayah Hanavi started when he was young; and even though the nevuah came min hashamayim but kol navi venavi misnabei besignon acher, every prophet one has his own signon, his own style. And Yeshayah in the beginning had a serious signon, a more pashut and simple style. As he became older and developed, he became a mevaser of yeshuos. Hakodosh Boruch Hu chose him and gave him a lyrical shirah, and he developed the ability to speak in those glorious terms that are a nechamah; nachamu nachamu ami. But it\u2019s the same Yeshayah. It’s been proven already by great authorities that it\u2019s the same one.
\n\n\n\nNow if I had the time I’d go into details and show one of the arguments and how they exploded this theory. But I won’t waste any time now. It’s enough to know that it has been demonstrated by our chokrim that it’s a false accusation. There’s only one Yeshayah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 906
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The One And Only Yeshayah Hanavi appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T17:22:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-28T14:29:38+00:00" }, { "id": 32848, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-47/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 47", "content_html": "\n\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05d7\u05df \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd
GOOD AND BLESSING, FAVOR AND KINDLINESS AND MERCY
We specify these subdivisions and details of Shalom, in order that we become keenly aware of Your kindnesses upon us, and our gratitude and our trust in You can continue to grow to perfection.
\u00a0
\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4
GOOD
We request \u2018Good\u2019, that which benefit our Perfection of mind and character, and we request that this \u2018good\u2019 be bestowed upon us through \u2018good\u2019 circumstances of sweetness and happiness and joy.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4
AND BLESSING
\u2018Bracha\u2019 here connotes increase and growth. All the blessing that You gives us should not be limited or temporary, but rather should continue to increase and bear fruit forever.
\u00a0
\u05d7\u05df
FAVOR
In our request for Shalom, we request that we find favor first in Your eyes, and thereby in the eyes of all others as well, so that no one should see any fault in us or wish to harm us in any way at all.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 47 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T17:10:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T17:10:37+00:00" }, { "id": 32843, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-arson-in-jerusalem-indiscretion-or-heroism/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Arson in Jerusalem: Indiscretion or Heroism?", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nCan the Rav comment on the two yeshiva boys who were put in jail in Israel?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nAbout the two yeshiva boys who were jailed in Yerushalayim for burning down the Eros pornography store, there’s nothing for me to comment. The boys are heroes.
\n\n\n\nToday the youth do terrible things and you have committees \u2013 I don’t want to say who signs \u2013 but certain people sign on, certain roshei yeshiva sign on, to release boys who bombed or shot at the Russian embassy. And there’s a lot of sympathy for them.
\n\n\n\nSo, in such an atmosphere the question is where is the sympathy for two honest boys who burned down a pornography store in Jerusalem? This Medinah is the only place that such a store can be opened in Jerusalem \u2013 never before did it happen; not under the Turks, not under the Arabs and not even under the Englishmen, did anybody dare to open a pornography store in Yerushalayim, the sacred city. That itself is a sign that the State is rotten to the core. Medinas Yisroel is rotten through and through. You have to know \u2013 it’s rotten through and through.
\n\n\n\nPeople don’t realize that the greatest peril to the Jewish nation today is the State of Israel. People say it’s fanaticism but they don’t understand. The greatest peril to our nation today is the State of Israel! Because you have today an organized group of atheists \u2013 they’re atheists \u2013 and they’re not just atheists like a man on the street who’s an atheist, who just doesn’t care. They’re atheists who are interested in wiping out Torah Judaism from the world. And they have today more power than any atheist ever had before. It’s the power of a nation, a State!
\n\n\n\nAnd so, these two boys, let’s say they committed an indiscretion – to me it’s not an indiscretion because you have to do something! But let’s say they committed an indiscretion. And now the government refused them bail. What motivated the court? The court said they were doing this to reach a lesson to the Orthodox community. They were punishing the whole Orthodox community. They were punishing you and me so that we shouldn’t think that we are going to be the ones who are going to tell them how Jerusalem should be. Yerushalayim can be a Paris as far as they’re concerned, chas v’shalom. That’s what they want.
\n\n\n\nBut we won’t let it. We don’t want it to be Paris. We want Yerushalayim to be at least what the Turks wanted it to be. Not even what the Jews should want it to be; but at least as decent as the Turks wanted it. If we can’t be in Yerushalayim as decent as the Turks were \u2013 I’ll tell a little story: Someone once showed me a copy of that rag, the Jewish Press, and it showed a picture. An Arab was sitting on a donkey and a girl in shorts, presumably a Jewish girl, was walking by. And the Arab was looking at her. Underneath the picture was a caption. The Jewish Press was full of glee: “For The First Time in the History of the Old City They’re Seeing Such Sights.” The Jewish Press, the Orthodox mouthpiece \u2013 at the other end; I won’t say what \u2013 they were melting in happiness, that we have arrived at such a nachas, that in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, where Arabs never before saw anything like this, now we’re treating the Arabs to a scene, to a sight of what Jews really can do. It’s a national disgrace!
\n\n\n\nSo when they told those boys that they’re not giving them bail because they want to punish the Orthodox community; it was a declaration of war!
\n\n\n\nActually we know it already \u2013 it’s old business. But the people in America are asleep. They don’t have any idea what is taking place. They think that these Orthodox Jews are too pious, too extreme. And they think that the people in Israel \u2013 the government in Israel \u2013 they don’t mean anything wrong. All they want is just to build up the state; only that they’re not Orthodox. But they have nothing against the Orthodox. Nothing is further from the truth! They are actively interested in stamping out every vestige of Torah! They don’t want any Judaism! They want a brand new kind of ideology called “Israel”. And \u2014 [ at this point the tape ended and the rest of the Rav’s answer was not recorded. V’chaval al di’avdan]
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 1
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Arson in Jerusalem: Indiscretion or Heroism? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T17:07:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T17:07:40+00:00" }, { "id": 32840, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%97%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d7\u05df", "content_html": "\n\u05d7\u05df
FAVOR
In order to live a life of Shalom, one must be blessed with\u00a0\u05d7\u05df, favor. We request of Hashem that we find favor first in His eyes, and thereby in the eyes of all others as well, so that no one (including our competitors and even our gentile neighbors) should see any fault in us or wish to harm us in any way at all.
\nThe post \u05d7\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T16:46:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T16:46:39+00:00" }, { "id": 32836, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-investigating-terror-attacks/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Investigating Terror Attacks", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat is the da\u2019as Torah on the whole mess that\u2019s going on in Eretz Yisrael, that they\u2019re busy with peace talks but meanwhile Yidden are getting killed every day? What do we have to think \u2013 what\u2019s the daas Torah?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow da\u2019as Torah I can\u2019t tell you; I don\u2019t know the da\u2019as Torah. But I\u2019ll just tell you da\u2019as in a pashute way. Everything that\u2019s taking place in Eretz Yisroel, you should know, is done by Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u2013 not by Arabs. Arabs are not killing anybody \u2013 Hashem is killing. No question about that.
\n\n\n\nWhy is He doing it? Because the Jews in Eretz Yisrael are going m\u2019dechi el dechi.
\n\n\n\nHere they passed a law decriminalizing homosexuality. It\u2019s kosher now to be a homosexual in Eretz Yisroel. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cThat\u2019s a toevah. If that\u2019s what Eretz Yisroel is going to be, I\u2019ll take steps.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThey passed a law now that you could import treifeh meat now. For the first time since the history of the medina you could import treifeh meat in Eretz Yisroel. Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cI\u2019ll show you. I\u2019ll show you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd now Tel Aviv has become a place of hefkeirus. All kinds of wickedness in Tel Aviv. Hashem says, \u201cI made Eretz Yisroel for Tel Aviv?!\u201d The Israelis, some of them, are so terrible, they\u2019re even worse than goyim in some places.
\n\n\n\nWhy are women in the Israeli army? You know why they\u2019re there? So a man wrote a book about the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force; not a frumme. He said, \u201cThe purpose of women is not for fighting.\u201d You hear that? The purpose of women in the Israeli army is not for fighting, not for defense. You understand that? You understand what that means?
\n\n\n\nAnd this great wickedness happened before America had female soldiers. America is now no good either. But Israel led the way with this abomination.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cPay attention. \u05d4\u05b2\u05d9\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05d7\u05b7 \u2013 The one who is bringing upon the nations adversity, isn\u2019t He showing something? He\u2019s showing something! \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2013 Isn\u2019t He teaching wisdom (Tehillim 94:10)? So it\u2019s up to us to understand that we\u2019re being taught. We\u2019re getting messages from Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOf course we have to fight back. Of course, we have to defend ourselves. Of course we have to look for ways and means of stopping the terror. And yet, fundamentally we have to understand it\u2019s Hashem and the purpose is to teach us that something is very wrong in Eretz Yisroel today \u2013 very wrong!
\n\n\n\nIn the schools, they teach atheism. In the schools in Eretz Yisroel they teach Jewish boys and girls atheism! Children should be taught there\u2019s a Boirei, a Creator. In every school, even not a religious school. But no, in all the Israeli schools they\u2019re being taught atheism.
\n\n\n\nSo what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu say? \u201cYou\u2019re forgetting about Me? I\u2019ll remind you.\u201d
\n\n\n\nQ:
But if that\u2019s so, why is it that many of those killed are frum people rather than the people in Tel Aviv?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhy are many who were killed frum people?
\n\n\n\nI must explain something here. It\u2019s a fundamental principle that Hakodosh Boruch Hu conceals His hand. He doesn\u2019t want to show that it\u2019s a neis.
\n\n\n\nNow suppose only reshaim would be killed; suppose only mechalelei Shabbos and oichlei treifos would be killed. Then everybody would do teshuva. Let\u2019s say a man who walked in the street on Shabbos and lit a cigarette, he would fall dead right away; so nobody would smoke on Shabbos. Even the Puerto Ricans would make teshuva. The Mirrer Yeshiva would be filled with Puerto Ricans.
\n\n\n\nSo Hakodosh Boruch Hu conceals it. In order to leave room for bechira, for free choice, He makes it look camouflaged; so you shouldn\u2019t see His open hand. And that\u2019s what it says, \u05db\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05d7\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 when a mashchis has power, \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 \u2013 he makes no distinction between a tzaddik and a rasha.
\n\n\n\nLike it says in Mitzrayim; when the malach came to destroy the firstborn in Mitzrayim, \u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e6\u05d0\u05d5 \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e7\u05e8 \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t walk out in the streets. Why not? We didn\u2019t do anything wrong. Egyptians oppressed us \u2013 why should we be afraid to walk in the streets? The answer is no. Once the mashchis is loose, then he makes no distinction.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn\u2019t make any distinctions. People should know that once there\u2019s a tzara, the tzara comes upon the tzaddikim and the reshaim equally \u2013 that\u2019s a fundamental principle of how Hashem guides the world in order to leave room for free will; so His hand shouldn\u2019t be so evident.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 942 (November 1993)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Investigating Terror Attacks appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T16:37:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T16:37:06+00:00" }, { "id": 32832, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-simcha-and-sympathy/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Simcha and Sympathy", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nYou said that when we see people who are less fortunate than us so we should use that sight as an incentive to be happy with what we have. But how can we be happy when we pass by a person with a disability who cannot walk or some other crippling disability? Aren\u2019t we hurting that person when he sees us, that we\u2019re able to function in ways which he cannot?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is this. There are two parts to this subject. One part is sympathy, yes. But that\u2019s not everything.
\n\n\n\nThis week I saw two sights. One day I saw a man without one arm. And I said, \u201cBoruch Hashem, I have two arms.\u201d I started shaking my arms like this. \u201cI have two functioning arms!\u201d You have to appreciate your two arms. One sleeve of this man was empty. It was sent min haShomayim to make me aware that I have two arms; my sleeves are full! I forgot about it. All your life you\u2019re going to forget about that great gift, that you have two arms?! So He sends reminders.
\n\n\n\nThen, also this week, another instance. A man was in a wheelchair; he had only one foot. \u201cOoh,\u201d I said, \u201cTwo feet, what a blessing it is! I can hop and skip and jump. Two feet! What a chesed it is!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd we have to utilize that. We must utilize that and learn how to thank Hashem: \u201cOh Hashem! What You did to me that I\u2019m not sitting in a wheelchair!\u201d You must think that. That\u2019s why He sent it. This is a vision granted for the purpose of making you more aware of how fortunate you are and how much you owe to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAt the same time, you have to have sympathy. Yes. You have to have sympathy too. It\u2019s not a contradiction at all. The happier you are, the more sympathy you have for him. \u201cLook how happy I am; and he doesn\u2019t have it. Ah, ah, what a pity on him.\u201d That\u2019s sympathy. The happier you are, the more you recognize the gift, the more sympathy you will feel.
\n\n\n\nWhat will you do with the sympathy? I can\u2019t tell you right now; there are various things. At least you can daven to Hashem for him: \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu, He looks like a decent man, maybe he\u2019s a shoimer mitzvos too; let\u2019s hope that You\u2019ll comfort him and make him happy despite his disability.\u201d That\u2019s sympathy \u2013 of course you should have sympathy.
\n\n\n\nBut the sympathy should not rob you of utilizing the opportunity of learning how to thank Hashem; and to always, always remember to be grateful to Hashem that you have two hands and two feet.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-187
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Simcha and Sympathy appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T16:30:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T16:30:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32828, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-28/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 28", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-28The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 28 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T03:08:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T03:08:49+00:00" }, { "id": 32823, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-tazria/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tazria", "content_html": "\nAvraham and Totty walked into Shul to learn together before Mincha. As they took two Gemaras off the shelf, they noticed that Tzadok \u201cHatzadik\u201d was walking around the shul picking up tissues that had been accidentally dropped on the floor.
\n\n\n\n\u201cGood afternoon, Tzadok,\u201d said Totty. \u201cHow are you? Is this a new segulah you came up with?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cRav Volender, the Rov of the prison, got me a subscription to Toras Avigdor Junior and I read two weeks ago all about how even a choshuv person like me should do humble things like cleaning up the shul.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, not that,\u201d replied Totty. \u201cI was referring to the fact that you\u2019re kissing each dirty tissue that you pick up off of the floor.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh yes, that is my latest segulah!\u201d Tzadok said proudly, picking up another tissue and giving it a big loud kiss. \u201cYou see, these tissues were used by people while they were davening and learning Torah, so they have kedushah. Kissing them is a segulah for me to live a long and healthy life!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not so sure about that,\u201d Totty said slowly. \u201cThose are covered with other people\u2019s germs. It looks more like a segulah to get sick.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d Tzadok said, his face falling.
\n\n\n\nTotty noticed a tear sliding down Tzadok\u2019s face.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Tzadok?\u201d Totty said, concerned. \u201cDid I insult you?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, it\u2019s just that everything always goes wrong for me,\u201d Tzadok sobbed. \u201cEvery segulah I invent turns out to be a bad idea! I work so hard and nothing ever works out – I don\u2019t know what Hashem wants from me. I don\u2019t want that much – I just want to be Moshiach!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty pondered this as Tzadok continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI spent years of my life inventing segulot that nobody ever heard of. I searched every cave in Eretz Yisroel looking for animals from the Makos and the hairs from Bilaam\u2019s donkey. And where did it get me? I just ended up getting thrown in jail twice! Why does Hashem keep punishing me? The only person who was ever nice to me was Rav Volender, and even that only happened because I keep getting arrested and sent to jail.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok collapsed into a nearby chair and buried his face in his arms.
\n\n\n\nTotty quickly grabbed a clean tissue and handed it to Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, Tzadok,\u201d Totty said, sitting down next to him. \u201cListen to me. What if I told you that Hashem was actually trying to help you?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTrying to help me?\u201d Tzadok asked, wiping the tears from his face with the tissue. \u201cHow is sending me to jail \u2018helping me\u2019?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHave you ever heard of Chizkiyahu Hamelech?\u201d Totty asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course,\u201d Tzadok answered. \u201cHe was my great-great-great-grandfather!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHe was?\u201d Totty asked, surprised. \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell he has to be, if I\u2019m going to be Moshiach,\u201d Tzadok said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, it\u2019s Moshiach ben Dovid, not Moshiach ben Chizkiyahu,\u201d Totty said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh well, then maybe he\u2019s my cousin,\u201d Tzadok said thoughtfully.
\n\n\n\nTotty ignored this and continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo Chizkiyahu once got very sick. And Chazal tell us that the reason he got sick was so that Yeshayahu Hanavi would come to visit him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cActually, there\u2019s an example of this in the Parsha this week! Do you know about the Metzora?\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-4.png?resize=601%2C429&ssl=1\")
\u201cOh yeah, that\u2019s someone who gets sick because he talks too much lashon hora so he needs to go to the doctor,\u201d Tzadok replied.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, not to the doctor,\u201d Totty said. \u201cThe Torah says he has to go to the Kohen.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Kohanim work in the Beis Hamikdash, not hospitals,\u201d Tzadok said, puzzled. \u201cWhy would the Metzora go to a Kohen?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe same reason that Hashem made Chizkiyahu Hamelech ill,\u201d Totty said. \u201cYou see, sometimes Hashem makes things happen to us that seem bad for a good reason, because he wants us to get close to tzaddikim. Chizkiyahu became sick so that he could get close to Yeshayahu Hanavi. And it\u2019s very worth it! Because when you have an opportunity to be near tzadikim, it\u2019s an opportunity to learn good things and become a better person!
\n\n\n\nSame thing when Hashem gives a Nega to the Metzora; He does that so that he could get close to the Kohen and become a better person. And so what seems like something bad is often actually an opportunity for us to grow.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOkay, so what does that have to do with me?\u201d Tzadok asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d Totty said. \u201cDid you ever think that maybe the reason Hashem sent you to jail was so that you would meet Rav Volender?
\n\n\n\n\u201cThink about it. Had you never got arrested, you would have never met him. But now you know him and he introduced you to Toras Avigdor Junior which teaches you weekly how a Yid is supposed to behave.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow,\u201d said Tzadok, feeling better. \u201cI never thought about it like that. I\u2019m kind of like the person who gets punished with tzaraas and Rav Volender is the Kohen.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty smiled. \u201cIt is important to remember that even when things don\u2019t seem like they are going well, Hashem is actually helping us and bringing us closer to Him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd with that Totty said goodbye to Tzadok and sat down to learn with Avraham.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\n\n\n\nTakeaway: Sometimes what seems like bad luck was Hashem\u2019s way of connecting you with good people.
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tazria appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T02:45:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T02:45:14+00:00" }, { "id": 32812, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tazria-5-silence-is-golden-2/", "title": "Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden", "content_html": "He\u2019s Tamei, Tamei, Tamei
\n\n\n\n\u201c\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b6\u05bc\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d8\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d0, \u05d8\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05de\u05b4\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5 \u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 All the days that the tzara\u2019as is upon the person he shall be tamei; tamei he should be. He should dwell alone; outside the camp should be his place of residence\u201d (13:46). When reading this possuk, we are immediately struck by the repetition of the tamei status of the metzora, \u201cHe shall be tamei; tamei he shall be,\u201d and that requires an explanation.
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019ll say as follows: The root \u201ctum\u201d denotes something that is \u201cclosed off.\u201d That\u2019s what the word tumah means, and that is the principle underlying all the laws of tumah. Wherever we find tumah,we must understand that it is a decree of Hashem to teach us what should be avoided and shunned.
\n\n\n\nSo we read the possuk as follows: \u201cAll the days that the tzara\u2019as is upon the person, he shall be ritually unclean.\u201d The first mention of \u201ctamei\u201d declares his status. He is an av hatumah. That\u2019s information we have to know. It\u2019s a technicality the Torah is teaching us, the basic law that this man is tamei and that he makes anything that comes in contact with him tamei. But the second \u201ctamei\u201d in the possuk is giving us the reason for the tumah being imposed on him, as if to say: \u201cHe shall be tamei, because Hashem desires that he should be closed off from society.\u201d \u201cHe is tamei,\u201d because \u201ctamei \u2014 shunned and avoided \u2014 he should be.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Lonely Seder Night
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s something we have to study. Because we\u2019re talking here about a frum Jew. He could be a father, a husband, a loyal servant of Hashem who puts on tefillin and davens three times a day with a minyan. His home is a kosher home and his children are all frum boys and girls. He\u2019s one of us! And yet, one morning he wakes up with tzara\u2019as; and now he must take leave of his family and friends and make his way beyond the walls of the city to live alone. This friend of ours, a fellow Jew, is now tamei; he\u2019s closed off from the rest of mankind. \u201cBadad yeishev \u2014 He shall stay in isolation,\u201d meaning that even other temei\u2019im must avoid his company (Rashi, ibid.).
\n\n\n\nSo our fellow Jew is now sitting alone outside of the walls of his city, and there he will remain until the tzara\u2019as heals. He\u2019ll miss the Shabbos seudos with his family. He might even have to spend the Seder night all alone!
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s no accident of fate here. The Rambam says that tzara\u2019as is not a natural form of leprosy; it\u2019s a miraculous phenomenon. \u201cTzara\u2019as is one of the miracles that Hashem provides to His nation\u201d (Moreh Nevuchim 3:47) and that\u2019s why a goy can\u2019t become tamei with tzara\u2019as (Nega\u2019im 3:1).
\n\n\n\nHashem miraculously sends tzara\u2019as upon a Jew, and now he has to be shunned. And it\u2019s not because of contagion, or merely because he can be metamei others \u2014 it\u2019s because Hashem wants him to be \u201cclosed off\u201d from other people. Hashem wants him to leave the machaneh, so he should be separated from society and dwell alone.
\n\n\n\nLooks Can Be Deceiving
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because this man is actually a dangerous man; he may appear to be very frum, but the Gemara(Eirechin 15b) says: \u201c\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e1\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05e0\u05b0\u05d2\u05b8\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2014 One who speaks wrong words, who uses his mouth in the wrong way, is stricken by leprosy.\u201d And so we understand that this man misused the gift of people\u2019s company; when he was healthy, he sat around with his friends and wagged his tongue. And that doesn\u2019t mean only that he ridiculed and belittled other people; even just talking devarim beteilim is misusing the tongue.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, in the great days of nevuah, the nega of tzara\u2019as declared to this man the Word of Hashem: \u201cHe shall be tamei, and he should be closed off from people and avoided.\u201d He will dwell alone where he won\u2019t have anyone with whom to speak, and now he will study how a person is to use his tongue, and he will understand that the proper way to use a tongue is primarily by not using it.
\n\n\n\nProducing Silence
\n\n\n\nThe Rambam gives us an insight into this: \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 A person should always produce a great deal of silence\u201d (Rambam, Hilchos Dei\u2019os 2:4). You hear that? You have to produce silence as much as you can. Imagine you\u2019re producing goods for a certain purpose. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re manufacturing toothbrushes, or you\u2019re a tailor and you\u2019re sewing suits. Whatever it is, you\u2019re producing. So you have to keep cheshbon: \u201cHow many goods did I produce today?\u201d \u201cDid I do better today than yesterday?\u201d \u201cWhat could I do differently in the factory tomorrow to produce more toothbrushes?\u201d So it\u2019s the same with silence. A man should always be producing silence in this world. You have to think about that! \u201cHow much silence did I produce today?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s considered a service of Hashem: \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2014 To you, Hashem, silence is praise\u201d (Tehillim 65:2). That\u2019s an interesting idea, because we always thought that the Hallelukahsand the brachos are praise. Ashrei, Hodu, and Modim \u2014 that\u2019s how we praise Hashem. And now we\u2019re being told that keeping quiet is the real way to praise Hashem; to produce silence is actually a career of praising Hashem. And that needs a good explanation.
\n\n\n\nA Lesson from the Wise Man
\n\n\n\nAnd so, who better to turn to than the chacham mikol adam. Shlomo Hamelech tells us in Koheles (5:1): \u201c\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2014 Don\u2019t be in a hurry to express yourself; \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u2014 and your heart, your mind, shouldn\u2019t be in a hurry to say something in the Presence of Hashem.\u201d When you\u2019re sitting at the table with your family, or your friends, Hashem is present. So keep quiet! \u201c\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2014 Hashem is in the heavens and you\u2019re down below on the earth; \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 therefore, your words should be few.\u201d Oh, now something else comes into the picture \u2014 Elokim is in the picture! Elokim is in Shomayim, above you, looking at you. And you\u2019re down on this earth. That\u2019s why you shouldn\u2019t talk so much.
\n\n\n\nIf a man opens up his mouth and words flow out without restraint, so it means he doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s in anybody\u2019s presence! Let\u2019s say you were standing in the presence of the mayor, or in front of the President of the United States. He\u2019s not such an important person today, but still you wouldn\u2019t talk much in his presence. You certainly wouldn\u2019t be shooting off your mouth.
\n\n\n\nIn the Presence of a Gadol Hador
\n\n\n\nNow, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05e3 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, if you are talking with the gadol hador, with, let\u2019s say, Rav Shach, or Rav Moshe Feinstein, whoever is the Gadol Hador, would you talk a lot? If you have any sense, you won\u2019t say a word! Let\u2019s say you meet the Sigheter Rav, or you\u2019re standing in front of the Satmerer Rav, and somebody comes over to you and shouts, \u201cHey, Chaim! What time is it?\u201d Would you say, \u201cIt\u2019s three o\u2019clock\u201d?! No, you would keep quiet; you keep your mouth shut; you\u2019re standing in front of your rebbe! Let him talk; you keep quiet. \u201c\u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u2014 Someone with chochmah doesn\u2019t open his mouth when he\u2019s standing in front of somebody bigger than him\u201d (Avos 5:7).
\n\n\n\nSo the fact that you keep your mouth closed indicates that you realize that you\u2019re standing in the Presence of Hashem. It\u2019s a demonstration that you possess a sensory perception of the closeness of Hashem. Just like you wouldn\u2019t talk in the presence of somebody important, you don\u2019t open your mouth in the presence of Elokim baShomayim. You keep quiet, at least as quiet as you would be in front of the President. At least that!
\n\n\n\nThe Peculiar Man of Our Parshah
\n\n\n\nSo now we can understand why this frum man is shunned by Hashem, sent out to live in solitude. If he\u2019s hasty with his words, if he doesn\u2019t think before he speaks, so he needs to be sent out where he will have time to think about this great principle of Elokim baShomayim. The metzora had to cover his mouth \u2014 did you know that? It\u2019s an open possuk: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e4\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05d8\u05b6\u05d4 means that he had to wear his cloak in a certain way so it covered his mouth. What for? Because he was proclaiming to the world this lesson! Part of his kaparah was to walk around dressed in this peculiar way; and he had to make a lot of noise, too: \u201c\u05d8\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d8\u05b8\u05de\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u201d \u2014 wherever he went, he had to proclaim to everyone that he\u2019s tamei.
\n\n\n\nSo here\u2019s a man with his cloak covering half his face, all the way over his mouth, and in his muffled voice he\u2019s crying out: \u201cI\u2019m tamei, I\u2019m tamei!\u201d It was a strange sight, and anyone who saw the metzora took his condition to heart and learned that he\u2019d better get busy covering up his own mouth before the nega struck him. And so we gained a lot by seeing the metzora dressed this way.
\n\n\n\nA Guide to Gaining Emunah
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re learning that no matter how frum a person is, he has to have hargashah, emunah chushis, that he\u2019s standing in front of Hashem, and that should motivate him not to talk. What does that mean? Suppose you\u2019re an ordinary Jew who never worked on these concepts; you don\u2019t actually feel the Presence of Hashem. But you\u2019d like to do it; you aspire to become a ma\u2019amin. Now, of course you won\u2019t admit that you\u2019re not a ma\u2019amin, but at least you\u2019ll admit that you don\u2019t feel the Presence of Hashem all the time. And so, each time you wish to open your mouth, you remind yourself: \u201c\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Hashem is listening and therefore your words should be few\u201d \u2014 little by little, you instill in your neshamah an awareness of this tremendous principle, and you thereby acquire yiras Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhen someone approaches you and makes a remark, don\u2019t rush to respond. You\u2019d like to talk; you have a wisecrack or a rejoinder; you want to say something. Instead, you should say to yourself, \u201cNo, I won\u2019t say it because I\u2019m standing before Hashem.\u201d Sometimes you don\u2019t have to answer at all. If someone says something to you, do you have to say something back? Let\u2019s say a cow says moo, do you have to moo back? A dog barks as you pass by \u2014 you have to bark back? So if someone speaks to you, unless it\u2019s necessary, don\u2019t say anything. Just listen. Who says you always have to answer?
\n\n\n\nAnd suppose you must answer; sometimes you must say something, so just make sure to count your words. You know, some people are like a faucet; they start pouring out everything they have inside. All the emptiness they have in their minds comes gushing out. That means they\u2019re being masiach da\u2019as from Hashem. A person must always keep in mind that Hashem is listening. Keeping your mouth closed, and keeping your words few when you do have to speak, shows that you have emunah that Hashem is always listening. If you open your mouth and talk without restraint, it means you think you\u2019re a free bird. It means that you have no emunah, because belief in Hashem requires that we keep quiet. He\u2019s standing right here, after all, and He\u2019s listening.
\n\n\n\nExtracting Honey and Gems
\n\n\n\nNow, in order to appreciate more this career of yiras Shamayim, we have to see how the Gemara in Chullin (89a) darshens a possuk. As a matter of fact, the following Gemara was once used by the Alter of Slabodka, zichrono livrachah, as an illustration of how to appreciate every word of a ma\u2019amar Chazal. The Alter thought about every word the Chachamimsaid, and he sucked as much honey as he could from each ma\u2019amar. The Gemaraquotes the following possuk: \u201c\u05d4\u05b7\u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05dd \u05e6\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05df \u2014 The truth is, silence is appropriate; only speak righteous words\u201d (Tehillim 58:2). That\u2019s the poshut peshat, but Chazal revealed some hidden gems in that possuk.
\n\n\n\nFirst, I\u2019ll say the words of the Gemara and then I\u2019ll tell you how the Alter explained them: \u201c\u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd, \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2014 What is a man\u2019s profession in this world?\u201d From the word \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd comes umnus, profession. And the Gemara asks a question: What\u2019s your job here in Olam Hazeh? And it says that the next word in the possuk, \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05dd, that\u2019s the answer: \u201c\u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd \u2014 Make yourself as if you were a mute, as if you couldn\u2019t speak.\u201d So we read the possuk like this: \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd, what\u2019s your umnus, your profession? \u05d0\u05b4\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd, to be a mute. That\u2019s your business in this world.
\n\n\n\nBaruch Hashem for Accountants
\n\n\n\nThe first thing we see is that man has a profession in this world. A \u201cprofession\u201d means it\u2019s not just a hobby to keep silent, not just a good thing, an added perfection. No, silence is your business in this world \u2014 that\u2019s what you came into this world for. Now, at first glance that\u2019s hard to understand, because how could everyone have the same profession? If everyone was a shoemaker, so we\u2019d all have comfortable shoes, but we\u2019d have to tailor our own pants. Without good Jewish accountants, we\u2019d be paying a lot of extra money to Uncle Sam. So everything is important, but what we\u2019re learning now is that whatever you\u2019re doing in your life, that\u2019s only your second job, a side business; you have to pay the bills, after all. But your main business in this world is to be k\u2019ileim, to keep your mouth closed.
\n\n\n\nNow, the Alter, zichrono livrachah, emphasized that an umnus is not something that you just pick up and do; you have to be trained for a profession. You have to take courses to learn the skill of silence, just like you would for any other serious profession. If you want to be a plumber, let\u2019s say, so will you just put on a pair of blue overalls, grab a wrench, and immediately get started?!
\n\n\n\nBecoming a Plumber Is Not Easy
\n\n\n\nNobody ever became a plumber by just saying, \u201cI decided I\u2019m a plumber.\u201d You have to roll up your sleeves and get under a sink. And you\u2019ll have to lie there on your back and watch the master plumber for months and months to learn all the tricks of the trade. You\u2019ll have to carry his tools for him and watch: When do you use this tool? When do you open that valve? When do you close it? It\u2019s a chochmah, and there\u2019s a lot to learn. And if silence is our career in life, that means we have a lot to study.
\n\n\n\nTo become a professional mute, you can\u2019t just buy a padlock for fifty cents at the corner hardware store, lock your mouth firmly, and then walk around the street without worries. It\u2019s not that easy. If that\u2019s all it was, it wouldn\u2019t be a profession; it would just be a fifty-cent expense and finished. But it is a profession, and actually, it\u2019s \u201cthe profession of a person in this world.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, the Alter points out something else in this Gemara that\u2019s worth our attention: It says, \u201cWhat is the profession shel adam in this world?\u201d The profession of an adam! It\u2019s this profession of making yourself into an ileim, a mute, that will cause you to earn the title of adam. An adam is expected not to open his mouth unless it\u2019s justified. And only one who has mastered this art can boast that he\u2019s made it, that he\u2019s graduated. Otherwise, you\u2019re not an adam. Maybe you\u2019re a croaking frog, or a blue jay; you\u2019re certainly something \u2014 you\u2019re making noise, after all. But you\u2019re not yet an adam unless you\u2019ve mastered this career of silence.
\n\n\n\nGet Busy!
\n\n\n\nNow, what usually happens when I speak on this subject? I\u2019ll tell you. There\u2019s always one idealist who wants to get busy accomplishing. Why not? Rabbi Miller said so! He said it\u2019s the profession for everyone. A young man comes here and he\u2019s inspired by the words of the Alter; now he\u2019s ready to make changes! So he goes home after the lecture, and as soon as he walks into the house, he hears his mother talking on the phone. So he bangs on the table, \u201cUh, uh, uh. Nu, nu!\u201d He wants to make sure his mother knows what her new profession is!
\n\n\n\nSo the Alter tells us that we have to know how to learn a ma\u2019amar Chazal. The Gemara says, \u201cYa\u2019aseh atzmo \u2014 Make yourself into a mute.\u201d Yourself! Oh, that\u2019s a different story already. What are you banging on the table for? Get busy banging on your own head! Don\u2019t bother other people!
\n\n\n\nThat means when a man comes home to his wife after hearing my lecture tonight, and now his wife wants to talk \u2014 she wants to tell him about what happened with the children today, and about what her sister said, and probably some other things as well \u2014 so he should let her talk about whatever she wants. He shouldn\u2019t say, \u201cKeep quiet; in this house we work on producing silence.\u201d That man is a dumbbell! He\u2019s working on her silence! It says, Ya\u2019aseh atzmo! He has to make himself an ileim \u2014 that\u2019s who he has to worry about.
\n\n\n\nSometimes You Have to Talk
\n\n\n\nNow, this profession, this career we\u2019re speaking about tonight, wouldn\u2019t be so difficult if you never had to talk at all. You could just decide never to talk again and, mazel tov, you\u2019re an ileim! But that\u2019s not what Chazal are demanding of you; it doesn\u2019t say you should be an ileim, it says \u201ck\u2019ileim,\u201d like a mute. The extra letter kaf would seem to be an unnecessary addition. It could have just as well said, \u201cMake yourself into an ileim.\u201d What\u2019s ya\u2019aseh atzmo k\u2019ileim, make yourself like a mute?
\n\n\n\nWhat it means is that you can\u2019t padlock your lips shut! You have to make yourself k\u2019ileim, like a mute, as if you can\u2019t speak. Because you have to talk, and sometimes you have to talk and talk, but you have to talk like somebody who is an ileim. If you have to walk through the street, you have to say \u201cGood morning\u201d or \u201cGood evening\u201d to the people you see. You can\u2019t just walk around with a deadpan face, ignoring people. Why should your neighbor suffer because you\u2019re learning a new profession?! You come into the home, so you have to walk in and say, \u201cHow was your day, Chanaleh?\u201d At least that you have to say! You can\u2019t come in and be an ileim. A boy comes in from the yeshiva, he can\u2019t walk in quietly and go to his room. He has to say, \u201cVus machstu, Mammeh?\u201d \u201cHow are you, Tatteh?\u201d Something he has to say! He\u2019s k\u2019ileim, not an ileim mamash.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the Gemara says, \u201cYachol lakol \u2014 You might think that once you adopt this practice, so you shouldn\u2019t open your mouth for anything. \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e6\u05b6\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7 \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05df \u2014 So the passuk says, \u2018Speak righteousness.\u2019\u201d When it comes to words of righteousness, you have to talk. Divrei Torah you have to talk. Words of kindliness you have to talk. If someone is sad and dejected, you must go over and put your arm around his shoulders and say a few kind words to him. Tzedek tedabeirun. Good things you must say!
\n\n\n\nFind Things to Praise
\n\n\n\nTo say words of encouragement to your fellow man, to comfort a fellow Jew, that\u2019s what you have a mouth for, that\u2019s part of your profession. You don\u2019t have to babble, though. Think of ways and means of making people happy by saying a timely word. If it\u2019s a child, then sometimes a little glett on the cheek and a gentle word or two can be a lifesaver. Tell him something that buoys his self-respect, something that gives him the ambition to continue improving.
\n\n\n\nIf you tell your wife that she cooks well \u2014 that\u2019s very important, by the way \u2014 that\u2019s tzedek. Make sure to compliment your wife when she serves you anything: \u201cChanaleh, this challah tastes excellent.\u201d Of course, if she bought it at the bakery, don\u2019tpraise the challah; find something else to praise. \u201cThis chicken soup is me\u2019ein Olam Haba, Chanaleh. Yasher koi\u2019ach!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, usually it does taste good; it\u2019s usually easy to find things to compliment. So don\u2019t be bashful! That\u2019s not the time to be an ileim \u2014 that\u2019s the time for tzedek t\u2019dabeirun. And even if it happens sometimes that supper is not such a success, if you\u2019ll say \u201cit\u2019s excellent\u201d anyway, there\u2019s no harm in that. Only that most people have it all wrong; when they have what to complain about, then the words come gushing forth \u2014 pearls of \u201cwisdom.\u201d But when it\u2019s time for tzedek tedabeirun, then suddenly these \u201ctzaddikim\u201d remember their profession of being k\u2019ileim.
\n\n\n\nPractice Makes Perfect
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s an art. Always be careful not to say what you\u2019re not supposed to say. But what you have to say, you must say. So when you come home tonight and your wife says, \u201cWhat did he say over there?\u201d Don\u2019t say, \u201cUm \u2026\u201d Say something. Say it briefly but say something. Don\u2019t just keep your mouth closed. K\u2019ileim, like a mute! That\u2019s an umnus. It\u2019s even harder than lying on your back under a sink studying how to plumb!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, we should get busy practicing this profession of shesikah because it means that we\u2019re practicing a career of yiras Shomayim! You\u2019re sitting at the table at the Shabbos seudah, and everyone is prattling away. Talking and talking and talking. So what do you do? You say to yourself, \u201cI\u2019m going to train myself now for my profession in this world. I\u2019m going to sit for two minutes \u2014 two minutes on the clock \u2014 and listen and not open my mouth.\u201d
\n\n\n\nOr let\u2019s say you were forced to go somewhere; sometimes you have to go to visit your in-laws in Boro Park. You can\u2019t say no this time. So they\u2019re eating melaveh malkah and everybody is chatting. Or maybe you\u2019re sitting at a chasunah and all around you everyone\u2019s tongue is clacking. While their minds are being ground to pieces by the idle chatter, you can grab the opportunity to work on your profession. So you casually pay attention; pretend you\u2019re interested, and smile at the right times. But tell yourself, \u201cChaim, keep your mouth closed. As much as you can, keep quiet because Elokim is baShomayim, and He\u2019s listening.\u201d
\n\n\n\nValuable Health Advice
\n\n\n\nNow, to make a career out of silence because of Elokim baShamayim, that would be enough. That\u2019s our primary obligation in this world \u2014 to prepare for Olam Haboby training ourselves to become more and more aware of Hashem. But it\u2019s more than that \u2014 it\u2019s also your happiness and success in Olam Hazeh!
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a mishnah in Avos (1:17) that says the following: \u201c\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2014 Shimon the son of Rabban Gamliel said, \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, all the days of my life I grew up among the wise men, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05de\u05b8\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e3 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d4, and I found nothing better for the body than silence.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, if this great sage bequeathed to us this gem, it pays for us to study his words. He said, \u201cI\u2019ve found nothing better for the body than silence.\u201d He didn\u2019t say it\u2019s the best thing for your neshamah; it\u2019s certainly is good for your soul, too, but he is telling us here that for your physical health, there is nothing as good as keeping your mouth closed. If you want to live a long, healthy life, then the first thing to think about is the remedy of silence. \u201c\u05e1\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05bb\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d0 \u2014 The best medicine of all is silence\u201d (Megillah 18a).
\n\n\n\nNow, if someone on the street would offer you some health advice, I don\u2019t know how valuable it would be; could be it\u2019s worth something, but you never know for sure. But here you have a man who spent years and years sitting at the feet of the Sages. \u201cAll my days, I grew up among the Sages.\u201d And he heard many important ideas, many important attitudes, and he studied them all. And after many years of investigating, he came to the conclusion that of all the things that are good for a person, the best one is shesikah, silence.
\n\n\n\nThe Cause of Most Illnesses
\n\n\n\nYou know that most illnesses, most of the disturbances that take place in our bodies, are from emotions that cause a rough reaction in our bodies. It\u2019s remarkable what a great effect emotions have on a person\u2019s physical nature. We are full of glands and hormones that stimulate important functions of the body; but if the body is overstimulated by emotions like anger, tension, and nerves, then instead of being beneficial, these hormones are harmful.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s been established already by medical science. All over the body, there are effects from improper stimulation of the emotions. And how are the emotions stimulated most? By talking! Someone says something and you answer back, you argue back and forth, and that\u2019s when the trouble begins. The metabolism is upset, and very many people become ill as a result. A world of illnesses is caused by talking. Many cases of cancer are due to friction in human relationships.
\n\n\n\nThe Quarrel That Kills
\n\n\n\nI know of a man who dropped dead in the middle of an argument with his wife. He was a fine man, by the way, a good man. But if he would have studied this mishnah in Pirkei Avos, he would have known: \u201cDon\u2019t answer back!\u201d And that would have saved him; he\u2019d probably still be alive today. Who told you to answer back?! If you can be a diplomat and say something nice, do it. If not, don\u2019t say anything. He was a frum young man \u2014 he probably even knew this mishnah \u2014 but he never studied it, and so he acted according to his nature and he answered back. He said his piece, and she answered back, and it went back and forth, back and forth until he dropped dead.
\n\n\n\nIt happens again and again. Don\u2019t you read sometimes in the paper \u2014 a certain man, so and so, died of heart failure. Where did his heart attack happen? Did he die in his business because of his competitors? No, people don\u2019t usually die because of their competitors. Did he die on the street because someone in the street insulted him? That\u2019s not too common, either. He dies at home! People die because of their wives, because of their husbands! Of course the newspaper will never say that. The obituary published in the newspapers will never say, \u201cMr. Anderson dropped dead Sunday night after an argument with his wife.\u201d No, no, it won\u2019t say that! It says, \u201cMr. Anderson died peacefully in his sleep at his home this past Sunday.\u201d But if you know how to read the obituary pages, then you already know what that means.
\n\n\n\nLet Evils Pass You By
\n\n\n\nIn Mesichta Sanhedrin (7a), it says: \u201c\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2014 Happy is the man who hears people saying things that insult him, that bother him, and he ignores it. \u05d7\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05d4\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2014 A hundred evils will pass him by.\u201d Memorize those words; say them to yourself again and again.
\n\n\n\nLearn to ignore any words you don\u2019t like. Somebody said something sharp to you, so \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2, you heard it, but \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1, don\u2019t let it bother you. Pay no attention; make believe you never even heard it, and you\u2019ll be spared from many troubles. If your husband is mean to you, pay no attention. If your wife is mean to you, pay no attention. And one hundred evils will pass you by. You\u2019ll live together happily for the rest of your life.
\n\n\n\nMost of the time, a punch in the nose is a result of opening your mouth instead of ignoring. Suppose you\u2019re walking in the street and a bum says something insulting to you. Forget about it! Don\u2019t feel that you have to stand up and defend your honor. Don\u2019t do that. I know a man who did that and he got beaten up. Don\u2019t even look at the bum; it\u2019s dangerous. As far as you\u2019re concerned, you didn\u2019t hear it; you didn\u2019t hear anything. Keep walking and in another minute, you\u2019re out of danger. And thank Hashem that you\u2019re able to keep on walking. If it\u2019s a goy who insults you, so you can give him a brachah that he should drop dead. Don\u2019t let him hear you, though! Don\u2019t even mutter; don\u2019t say it with your mouth. The mouth stays closed!
\n\n\n\nHow to Deal with Hate
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say somebody calls you on the telephone and insults you. It happened to me a number of times. People have called the house and cursed me. You know what I did? I didn\u2019t say a word! Not a word! And they hung up. It happened again a few months ago and I knew who it was. And after that, this man came into my shul one evening to daven and I didn\u2019t say a word. And it was finished. But once you start up with these people, who knows what\u2019s going to be? You exchange a word for a word, and it can turn into who knows what! There\u2019s no knowing how it\u2019s going to end! So just grin and bear it.
\n\n\n\nHow many people have lost their jobs by talking back to their boss? Sometimes your boss is in a bad mood, so just swallow what he said, and it could be an hour later he\u2019ll be a good boss. He might even promote you. I had that experience once. In my first position in rabbanus, a man once came into a meeting of the board of directors and made a grand announcement: He said, \u201cRabbi Miller, I greeted you last week and you didn\u2019t answer me! You didn\u2019t answer me \u2018Good Shabbos\u2019!\u201d He brought it up to the board of directors at a meeting, a complaint against the new rabbi. So the president of the shul came over and asked me about it. Now, it wasn\u2019t true, but I didn\u2019t say anything. I could have opened my mouth, but I remembered this ma\u2019amar Chazal and I kept my mouth closed.
\n\n\n\nI met this man again and again; he was a shul member, and I was always friendly to him. One day he gets up at a board meeting and makes a motion to give me a raise. This man! No one thought of giving me a raise except this one man! Now, had I answered him back, that would have never happened. And so I learned the lesson that it \u201cpays\u201d to keep your mouth closed.
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve seen it all! I\u2019ve watched as people put themselves in danger by opening their mouths. I\u2019ve seen good people lose jobs, lose customers, just because they answered back. They lost their wives or husbands, siblings and friends. And sooner or later they lose themselves; they excite their bodies and they end up sick. Many lose years from their lives because of their mouths.
\n\n\n\nThe Key to a Good Life
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Dovid Hamelech tells us (Tehillim 34:13-14): \u201c\u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05e5 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 Who is the man who wants life?\u201d We think it means eternal life, and that\u2019s true; but it\u2019s not the whole truth. There\u2019s more to it: Who wants to live in this world? \u201c\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05d1 \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2014 You\u2019re an oheiv yamim?\u201d You like days, don\u2019t you? You want more and more of them. \u201c\u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u2014 You want to see happiness and good times during those days?\u201d You want to see yourself getting along well with others? You want a successful marriage? You want to see good health? That\u2019s all included in \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1. \u201cOh,\u201d you say. \u201cThat\u2019s me! I want to live long! I want to see good times!\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut you don\u2019t! You\u2019re not really interested in trying to live long. You say it, you repeat it, you might even sing it, but you don\u2019t think about it. You have to take steps to live long, and one of the most important steps is to keep the mouth closed. \u201c\u05e0\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u2014 Guard your tongue against evil.\u201d What does \u201cevil\u201d mean? Not only that you shouldn\u2019t say derogatory things about people or quarrel with them. The real lashon hara is opening your mouth to say stupid things, to chatter and babble and say nothing. The general rule is: Keep your tongue inside your mouth and your mouth closed. That\u2019s the rule you should follow. If we live according to that, our physical happiness in this world will increase and we will attain a life of \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1, of seeing good times.
\n\n\n\nA Moment of Silence
\n\n\n\nSo we go back to the great principle that the job of a person in this world is to learn the skill of being quiet, the profession of being like an ileim. And before we conclude, we\u2019ll listen to the words of a great man, the Vilna Gaon (Iggeres HaGra); these words deserve to be stowed away in our memory. \u201c\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05e8\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b6\u05d2\u05b7\u05e2 \u2014 For every moment, for every minute, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1\u05b5\u05dd \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 \u2014 that a man muzzles his mouth, \u05d6\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6 \u2014 He\u2019ll be rewarded by that secret brilliance, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b5\u05e8 \u2014 that no creature, no angel, is capable of measuring.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe reward for one minute of silence is so great! We\u2019re not talking about a whole lifetime of silence; he says there that for every moment you keep your mouth closed, you\u2019ll be rewarded with a splendor, a brilliance that is so great that even an angel is not capable of measuring its magnitude, the extent of its greatness. I know that this is a very extreme statement, but the Vilna Gaon is a very responsible personality. So it\u2019s not only a profession of yiras Shomayim, and not only is it the best advice for good health and long life, but it\u2019s also a career that will reward you beyond your highest dreams.
\n\n\n\nLearning the Lesson
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to get busy. How can you read about the metzora every year, yet continue to ignore the lessons for your own life? Even if today we aren\u2019t privileged to see the miraculous Hand of Hashem bringing tzara\u2019as on a person, still the lessons remain as applicable today as they were then. When Hashem separated a good man, a loyal frum Jew, from his family and friends, he was expected to learn this lesson of \u201cElokim is baShomayim listening to you \u2026 therefore, your words should be few.\u201d And we, no less than him, are expected to learn that lesson as well.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to delve into these pesukim and apply them to our own lives. This man had to cover his mouth. So what about me? Am I an adam yet? Am I producing enough silence? Am I succeeding at my profession of making myself k\u2019ileim? And so, when we study this parshah, we can\u2019t just let it pass by. As often as you can during the day, a minute here and a minute there, you remind yourself that it\u2019s your job to be as silent as you can. Not complete silence \u2014 tzedek tedabeirun! But as far as everything else, we will try to be as careful as possible and remember that \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2014 to You, Hashem, silence is praise \u2014 and thereby we will gain the great reward of Hashem, a reward unknown even to the angels.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nUndertaking A New Profession
\n\n\n\nI must get busy studying my life\u2019s profession of making myself like an ileim. This week, once a day for a period of ten minutes, I will concentrate on remaining silent and not speaking unless it is necessary. I will thus train myself to be more Aware of Hashem every time I open my mouth to speak: \u201cWill this speech be positive and productive, or not?\u201d.
\nThe post Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T02:42:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-04-02T13:03:13+00:00" }, { "id": 32819, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tazria-5-silence-is-golden/", "title": "Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden", "content_html": "TA-Tazria-5782The post Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T02:40:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T02:40:15+00:00" }, { "id": 32811, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-tazria-5-silence-is-golden/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden", "content_html": "TA-Tazria-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Tazria 5 – Silence is Golden appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-27T02:39:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-27T02:39:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32797, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4", "content_html": "\nWe request of Hashem that He place upon us\u00a0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4, which here connotes increase and growth. We desire that all the blessing that Hashem gives us should not be limited or temporary, but rather should continue to increase and bear fruit forever (such as the blessing of children, that they should increase and beget children and grandchildren forever).
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-25T00:14:15+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-25T00:14:19+00:00" }, { "id": 32795, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4", "content_html": "\nWe ask Hashem for \u2018Good\u2019, that is, the\u00a0\u2018true Good\u2019, which includes all that will be a benefit for our Perfection of mind (Torah) and character (middos); yet we request that this good be bestowed upon us not through circumstances of sorrow or pain, but rather with\u00a0\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4, through circumstances of sweetness and happiness and joy. This is all included in our request for\u00a0\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4, the\u00a0Good\u00a0of Hashem.
\nThe post \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-24T23:54:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-24T23:54:40+00:00" }, { "id": 32792, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%94-%d7%97%d7%9f-%d7%95%d7%97%d7%a1%d7%93-%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05d7\u05df \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\nShalom is the blessing of blessings. All of the countless blessings of Hashem must join together as one to form the great blessing and gift of Shalom. \u201cGood, blessing, favor, kindliness and mercy\u201d, these are all subdivisions of Shalom, for without them, Shalom couldn\u2019t exist. In our request for Shalom, we specify all of the subdivisions and details as well, in order that we become more and more aware of Hashem\u2019s kindnesses upon us, and our gratitude and our trust in Hashem can continue to grow to perfection.
\nThe post \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d4 \u05d7\u05df \u05d5\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-24T23:53:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-24T23:53:27+00:00" }, { "id": 32788, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-studying-tefillah-2/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Studying Tefillah", "content_html": "\nThe Chovos Halevovos writes that if the Tefillah and Torah which one learned in his youth are not reexamined as he matures, then the Tefillah and Torah will remain like that of a young child. One may become an expert in the entire Talmud, Shas and Poskim, and at the same time remain with the same childish understanding of\u00a0“\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0”. The same is true with Tefillah. It is possible to find an old man who still davens like a small child, because he never went back to think about and delve into the topic of Tefillah. One who does reexamine his Tefillos, however, will begin to see a whole new world of Wisdom before him that he never even thought to exist, and his Tefillos will be changed forever.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Studying Tefillah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-24T20:50:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-24T20:50:19+00:00" }, { "id": 32765, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%99-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-21T21:54:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-22T02:23:08+00:00" }, { "id": 32761, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-lessons-from-russia/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Lessons From Russia", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nWhat can we learn from the situation in Poland where the Russians have declared martial law and the Poles are suffering?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
What can we learn from the story of Poland?
First of all, we learn the hypocrisy of the nations, the sheker of the nations; asher pihem dibar shav, that their mouths speak falsehood. We see that everything that Russia said about American imperialism, all of their complaints about American imperialism, is all lies. And bah zeh velimed al zeh \u2013 if they\u2019re liars when it comes to that, you can be sure they\u2019re lying about a lot more. Not only when it comes to imperialism; everything. When Russia spoke about helping the poor, the working people; all the Marxism talk about helping the working class, the proletariat, it’s all lies. It’s only a grab for power. There’s no idealism. There never was any idealism. The first Communists to seize power wanted to take power that the czar had so that they should have the power; and even though they spoke words of idealism, it was a sheker.
\n\n\n\nAnd you should know the same is for all the liberals. All the liberals who are talking about compassion for the poor downtrodden murders who are killing people in the subways: \u201cWe don’t want capital punishment.\u201d \u201cWe want to give them beautiful prisons.\u201d We can\u2019t even say the word prisons today. \u201cFacilities,\u201d we\u2019re supposed to call them. And they should have all kinds of color television and big grounds where they can walk around and even have their prostitute friends visit them; they want us to give them special rooms where they can entertain their friends. That’s what they want. Full facilities for criminals. They\u2019re all about compassion. But we know that they’re all liars. These people don’t care for humanity. They have no compassion. If they had compassion, they would have compassion on the innocent victims who are being murdered every day Hashem yeracheim. Every day people are falling before the bullets and the knives of these murderers who are protected by the liberals, the ACLU and the other reshaim, the Jewish liberals who are protecting them.
\n\n\n\nAnd so ba zeh velimed al zeh; the fact that Russia now demonstrated they’re holding the Polish as prisoners \u2013 the Polish didn\u2019t choose to live under such a regime; the Poles hate it; they’re prisoners \u2013 it shows that everything Russia says is lies. And so when Russia opens their big mouth and they shout at Begin, \u201cImperialist!\u201d the whole world should take rotten eggs and throw them at the Russians. The fact that the world doesn’t do it is because the world also is shakranim. The liars sympathize with the liars. They’re all liars. They’re all imperialists.
\n\n\n\nAnother thing we learn is that the Poles are only getting what they deserve to get. There’s no question about that.
\n\n\n\nIt’s not enough yet.\u00a0There are a lot of things to learn yet from that but for the time being we’re yotzei.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 393 (December 1981)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Lessons From Russia appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-21T21:53:05+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-21T21:53:09+00:00" }, { "id": 32755, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-21T21:27:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-21T21:27:58+00:00" }, { "id": 32752, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%90-%d7%a0%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d0: \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-211The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d0: \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-21T21:10:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-21T21:10:32+00:00" }, { "id": 32739, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shemini-5-our-noble-diet-2/", "title": "Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet", "content_html": "TA-Shemini-5782The post Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T21:01:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T21:01:10+00:00" }, { "id": 32738, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-shemini-5-our-noble-diet/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet", "content_html": "TA-Shemini-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T21:00:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T21:00:37+00:00" }, { "id": 32733, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-weeping-for-lost-tzadikim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Weeping For Lost Tzadikim", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nAt the outset of the shiur the Rav said that we shouldn\u2019t be distraught when tzaddikim are niftar from this world. But shouldn\u2019t we be upset because we don\u2019t have their guidance and also that we don\u2019t have the protection they give us by just existing?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a good question. Shouldn\u2019t we have been upset when, let\u2019s say, the Chofetz Chaim passed away? Shouldn\u2019t we be upset that a great man passed away?
\n\n\n\nAbsolutely we should be sad. The Gemara says when a tzaddik chalilah dies, \u05de\u05dc\u05de\u05d3 \u05e9\u05e7\u05e9\u05d4 \u05e1\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05df \u05e9\u05dc \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05e4\u05ea \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u2013 it\u2019s like the Beis Hamikdosh was destroyed. And don\u2019t think it\u2019s just a mashal. The truth is that the death of a tzaddik is worse than the burning down of the Beis Hamikdosh because a tzaddik builds up in himself all the great Torah ideals, all the greatness of Torah and Awareness of Hashem; he trained himself to think about Hashem and to love Him and to walk in His ways. And therefore this man becomes in his mind a Beis Hamikdosh. He built a Beis Hamikdosh right here in his head! And when he dies it\u2019s like the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. So of course, we weep. Absolutely. Absolutely!
\n\n\n\nNow, are we weeping because we\u2019re missing his guidance, his wisdom? Suppose the tzaddik would have said, \u201cI\u2019m resigning. I\u2019m not going to give any more advice to anybody. I\u2019m going into a hermitage.\u201d Nobody would weep that much. We weep mostly because of commiseration; sympathy for the fact that a great man lost his life.
\n\n\n\nOf course, the truth is that when a tzaddik goes lost, it\u2019s a loss for us. A tremendous loss! The mere fact that he lived was a benefit for us. Even if a tzaddik doesn\u2019t speak a word, his presence on this earth is a benefit for us.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we weep for that loss; the destruction of a Beis Hamikdash as well as the loss of a tzadik who benefited us by his mere presence. However, there\u2019s a certain limit to our mourning. And after that limit is passed we are consoled because we know the tzaddik is in Gan Eden. We cannot imagine the happiness of the reward in the afterlife. No matter what you\u2019ll say, you\u2019re going to understate it. It\u2019s such an eternal ecstasy that the tzaddik is enjoying right now that it\u2019s impossible to have sympathy for him now.
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s say, the Chofetz Chaim; I remember when he passed away. I was present at the hesped in Kovno. After all these years, am I going to weep that he passed away? He wasn\u2019t going to live forever after all. He\u2019s in the next world now. The only thing I can do is envy him. That\u2019s all I can do; I\u2019m jealous of him; of his happiness, of his success forever and ever.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, that\u2019s how we should view all the things in this world \u2013 as Hashem views them. And everything in this world is nothing but a preparation for our great career in the World To Come. This tzaddik prepared his whole life for the World to Come and that is our consolation, that we know he\u2019s in Gan Eden now.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-43
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Weeping For Lost Tzadikim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T17:34:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T17:34:42+00:00" }, { "id": 32729, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-emunah-and-daas/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah and Daas", "content_html": "\nIn Slabodka I had two rebbes,\u00a0zichronom livrocha, and\u00a0boruch Hashem\u00a0they were both inspirations to me. I will describe to you how different their behavior was on Purim.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOn Purim it was a minhag of the\u00a0bnei hayeshiva\u00a0to go to all the\u00a0roshei yeshiva\u00a0and\u00a0menahalim\u00a0of the yeshiva. We went to the homes of the\u00a0roshei yeshiva\u00a0and to the\u00a0mashgiach\u00a0and we went to all the important people of the yeshiva. And these two rebbes of mine were different in the way they behaved on Purim. Pay attention, because the ways of\u00a0tzaddikim\u00a0we have to learn; both of them are ways in\u00a0avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOne rebbe\u2014I won\u2019t tell names\u2014when he sat at the head of the table and the yeshiva people were dancing around the table, he was watching to see who was a little wild, and those were the ones he gave wine or a glass of schnapps to. He poured fuel on the fire in order it should burn more brightly!
\n\n\n\nThe other rebbe was an old misnaged type; a cold misnaged. When we were dancing around his table, he looked at the boys suspiciously to see if somebody was ungeshikert, intoxicated, and anyone who was drunk and a little wild, his face turned unhappy and sour. That was the other rebbe.
\n\n\n\nNow, which rebbe I followed you can understand yourself! The rebbe\u2019s face that was sour, that\u2019s the one I followed. And this rebbe said two separate schmoozen. One schmooze was that you shouldn\u2019t get drunk on Purim; you should drink but don\u2019t get drunk. Because gedolah deiah \u2013 how great it is to have daas! It means Awareness of Hashem. It\u2019s always good to have daas. You drink \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d3\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 \u2013 until you don\u2019t know. \u05e2\u05d3 means \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d1\u05db\u05dc\u05dc; it means just before you lose your deiah, that\u2019s when you stop. You should drink \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d3\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 \u2013 until you don\u2019t know. When you reach that stage, you\u2019re yotzei already the mitzvah, more than that – stop. That was one schmooze; that whatever you do, you shouldn\u2019t lose your deiah on Purim.
\n\n\n\nBecause Purim is a time of deiah; Purim is time to gain Daas Hashem, Awareness of Hashem. \u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05e4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e0\u05d5\u05e7\u05e9 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2 \u2013 Hashem becomes known when He does justice; when the wicked is ensnared in the work of his hands. So when Haman was hung on the same eitz that he made for Mordechai, it was \u05d1\u05e4\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05e4\u05d9\u05d5, it was the work of his own hands, \u05e0\u05d5\u05e7\u05e9 \u05e8\u05e9\u05e2, that ensnared the rasha, and that\u2019s when \u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u2013 that\u2019s when you get daas Hashem awareness of Hashem. That\u2019s when you get real emunah. When you see \u05d1\u05d5\u05e8 \u05db\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d7\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05dc \u05d1\u05e9\u05d7\u05ea \u05d9\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc, that the wicked falls into the same pit that he himself made for somebody else, that\u2019s when people get daas of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSo Purim is a time to recognize Hakodosh Boruch Hu from what happened on Purim and to be mifarseim the nes, to publicize what Hashem did for us. And therefore Purim is not a time to lose your deiah, no. On Purim you have to have deiah, you have to acquire deiah. Only you drink up till then, as we said before, in order to get more hislahavus in deiah; more enthusiasm in this knowledge of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nHowever, the other time we went to him he said as follows: Since Purim is a time for deiah, therefore we have to know that there\u2019s a rule that the Mesillas Yesharim teaches us: \u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05e8\u05e8\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 The outward acts of a person awaken up the inner thoughts. By doing certain outward actions, you stimulate your inner machshovos, your emotions.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTherefore,\u201d he said, \u201con Purim when we dance\u2014we were dancing around his table\u2014every stamp you make on the floor\u2014the floor was shaking from that\u2014every stamp you make, you have to know that you\u2019re stamping emunah into your neshama.\u201d
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think it\u2019s not so! You may be thinking also of a good time; why not? You like the exhilaration of dancing; you can let go on Purim. But if you\u2019re doing it with a little bit of lisheim shomayim, you have to know that you\u2019re imprinting emunah onto your neshama. That\u2019s what you\u2019re doing. \u201cEvery klop that you knock with your foot,\u201d he told us, \u201cyou\u2019re knocking the emunah into your neshama more clearly.\u201d
From the Rav\u2019s Purim Mesiba, \u05ea\u05e9\u05de\u05f4\u05d4, March 7th 1985
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah and Daas appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T17:20:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T17:20:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32724, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-shemini-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Shemini", "content_html": "\nShimmy went into the kitchen where all of the remaining mishloach manos packages were piled on the table. Wow, there were so many yummy things to choose from! There were taffies and chocolates, hamentashen and rugelach, and what looked like fifty different types of cookies! What should he pick?
\n\n\n\nShimmy\u2019s eyes were drawn to one very fancy mishloach package – this one hadn\u2019t been opened yet! Shimmy peeled off the cellophane – inside was a gooey homemade kokosh cake oozing with chocolate – YUM!
\n\n\n\nJust then, little Yaeli walked in holding a big box. \u201cHi Shimmy!\u201d she said. \u201cWant some siwial?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy looked at the box. \u201cYaeli!\u201d he exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust. \u201cThat\u2019s not cereal, that\u2019s dog food! Where did you find that?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNext to the stweet!\u201d Yaeli replied proudly.
\n\n\n\n\u201cUch, that\u2019s disgusting!\u201d Shimmy said, reaching for the box. \u201cGive me that!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo! It\u2019s MY siwial!\u201d Yaeli protested, jerking the box away. A few bits of dog food popped out of the bag and flew onto the kitchen table, right as Totty walked into the kitchen.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTotty,\u201d said Shimmy, holding his nose. \u201cYaeli is walking around with dog food!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty reached down, took the box from Yaeli, and looked at it. \u201cWell at least it has a hechsher,\u201d he said with a laugh, pointing at the kashrus label on the box before throwing it into the garbage and handing her an old spatula to play with instead.
\n\n\n\nRelieved, Shimmy turned back to the kokesh cake in his hand.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait, Shimmy,\u201d said Totty. \u201cThat mishloach manos didn\u2019t come with a card or say who it\u2019s from. So we can\u2019t eat it – we don\u2019t know who sent it or what the kashrus is.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Totty,\u201d protested Shimmy. \u201cIt\u2019s probably fine. I mean who would make kokosh cake with non-kosher ingredients? It\u2019s such a Jewish food! I\u2019m sure it\u2019s kosher!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cShimmy,\u201d said Totty. \u201cI know it looks delicious, but would you want to chas veshalom take a chance on eating something that Hashem doesn\u2019t want you to eat? I agree that it\u2019s probably kosher, but why don\u2019t you choose something from items over there that have a good hechsher printed on them?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy looked where Totty was pointing. \u201cBlech! Ew! No way! That\u2019s where the dog food spilled!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh Shimmy,\u201d said Totty looking closely over the table. \u201cI don\u2019t see any pieces of dog food anywhere here. They all went onto the floor. And look – this strawberry-vanilla pudding with chocolate-caramel sprinkles looks absolutely delicious!\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-3.png?resize=623%2C697&ssl=1\")
\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d Shimmy answered. \u201cIf there\u2019s even a chance that there was the tiniest piece of dog food in something, I\u2019m not touching it, no matter how good it looks or tastes. That\u2019s what dogs eat!\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy continued, \u201cmy Rebbi told us that Hashem offered Adam Harishon that humans could eat and enjoy grass – that we would never have to work for food since we could just go outside and eat what grows wild in the fields. And Adam Harishon said no, because we\u2019re not animals – we\u2019re a tzelem Elokim – it\u2019s disgusting for us to eat the same thing that animals eat.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said Totty. \u201cAnd what about this cake of questionable kashrus in your hand? The same way that humans are better than animals, Yidden are better than humans. We are bnei melochim – we are the sons of the King. We eat royal food. We don\u2019t eat the same food as the rest of the world. Other people can eat slimy oysters or pig meat and just shove it into their mouths without a brocha. But we Yidden are extra careful when we eat. We never put something in our mouths without first thanking Hashem for it and we always make sure we know where it came from and that there is no question that it is good for our Neshama.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou know, I was once at the airport and I saw all of these people walking up to a food stand, buying food, and just eating it. No brocha, no questions about what was in it, just eating without thinking. How can a person just put something into his body without knowing where it came from and without giving thanks to the One who created the food? At that moment, as I unwrapped the tuna fish sandwich that Mommy packed for me, I was so thankful to be a Yid – someone who lives and eats like royalty.\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy thought about what Totty said. Then he placed the kokosh cake back in the bag and instead chose a bag of cookies with a clear hechsher and no signs of dog food on it.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Shemini appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T04:15:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T04:15:35+00:00" }, { "id": 32720, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-shemini-5-our-noble-diet/", "title": "Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet", "content_html": "The Elevator Pitch
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu speaks to the Am Yisroel and forbids them from eating sherotzim and other non-kosher foods, He concludes the command as follows: You should fulfill My words, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Because I am Hashem, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 who brought you up from the land of Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nNow, on its most simple level we understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is making that point as a motivation towards gratitude. He\u2019s talking about our liberation from Mitzrayim \u2014 the great phenomena that took place and all of the benefits that the nissim of Yetzias Mitzrayim conferred upon us; \u201cIn return for what I\u2019ve done for you,\u201d He says, \u201cyou should fulfill My words and abstain from eating these forbidden things.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut the Gemara (Bava Metzia 61b) makes a comment on this possuk that makes a very big difference in the meaning. Our sages took notice of a curious choice of words in the possuk and they derived from it an important lesson. \u201cI am Hashem, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd, who elevated you from the land of Mitzrayim.\u201d It could have said \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8, who took you out of Mitzrayim. Instead we find here an unusual word, not used in all the other places where the Torah talks about Yetzias Mitzrayim: \u201cI elevated you from Mitzrayim.\u201d And our chachomim explain, what was the elevation? That they eat sherotzim and you don\u2019t.
\n\n\n\nBad Tidings
\n\n\n\nNow, in order to better appreciate, what iluy, what elevation, we\u2019re talking about we\u2019ll first go back to the beginning of the history of Mankind. And then after we study it in a more general sense, we\u2019ll come back to our subject, the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nWhen Adam was expelled from Gan Eden, Hakodosh Boruch Hu informed him of what was going to be now the diet of Mankind for the rest of history: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d3\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 You\u2019re going to eat the grass of the field (Bereishis 3:18). It means that from now on your food will be available to you in the gardens and the fields.
\n\n\n\nNow, our sages (Pesachim 118a) tell us that when Adam heard that decree, he was far from happy.\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d3\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 When Adam was told that from now on his diet would be the grass of the field, \u05d6\u05b8\u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 his eyes flowed with tears; he wept copiously begging Hashem to reverse the decree.
\n\n\n\n\u2018All You Can Eat\u2019 Special
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to understand why Adam complained about this gezeirah. Actually he should have accepted it with joy because he was being offered now an extraordinary opportunity. \u201cYou will eat grass of the field,\u201d meant that grass would henceforth fulfill all the desires of man\u2019s palate. And not only would man\u2019s taste buds be satisfied but grass would also provide him with all of the vitamins and minerals he needs. Our bodies would be accommodated now to chewing vegetable fibers and our digestive properties would adjust to the task of deriving nourishment from grass.
\n\n\n\nThat would have been a glorious opportunity for Mankind! Adam is being offered now a life of leisure because it wouldn\u2019t be necessary to toil for his sustenance. Grass you don\u2019t have to plant; it\u2019s supplied by Hashem. Like it states in the Chumash, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d3\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 I\u2019ll give grass in the fields (Devarim 11:15). That’s why grass is rhizomes; it grows from roots that remain over winter in the ground. It’s not seeds that you have to plant. Some grass grows from seeds but they fall in abundance and they lie in the ground and in the springtime it comes up by itself.
\n\n\n\nGrass is free and abundant. Nobody plants grass except the man who wants to have a fancy front yard \u2013 if you want it planted in a special place then you have to order it from the landscaper but ordinarily, if you walk out into the fields, there\u2019s plenty of grass.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, all men would be free to sit in kollel all day, and whenever his wife says to him, \u201cWhat are we going to feed the children if you\u2019re sitting with your books all day?\u201d, so he says, \u201cLet’s go.\u201d And he takes her out in the backyard, \u201cHere! Eat to your heart\u2019s delight! All you want!\u201d
\n\n\n\nContent Cows and Crying
\n\n\n\nGrain, on the other hand, requires a lot of work before you\u2019re ready to eat it. Bread doesn\u2019t grow. It\u2019s a whole process. It\u2019s very hard work to plow! Even looking at somebody plowing makes you tired. Back and forth all day long and the next day and the next day. Today even with diesel machines you see it’s a heavy job. And then there\u2019s the sowing and harvesting and sheathing and winnowing. It\u2019s a very big job!
\n\n\n\nBut grass, if you\u2019re equipped to eat grass, then it\u2019s the simplest matter in the world. Cows don\u2019t have to go to the bakery. Cows don\u2019t have to go to the grocery store; they don\u2019t have to slave away all week at a job from 9 to 5. Their parnassah comes easy. And so, if Adam would have remained with the first proposition, with that gezeirah of \u201cYou shall eat grass,\u201d he could have lived a life of ease and devoted his entire career to ruchniyus, to making progress. He would have lived a happy and successful existence.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet we\u2019re told that Adam wept when he heard the decree. Not only he wept. \u05d6\u05b8\u05dc\u05b0\u05d2\u05d5\u05bc \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 His eyes flowed with tears! It means that tears rained down his cheeks and he begged the Almighty not to give him this gift! And we don\u2019t understand that at all! Because to be physically satisfied with grass, to get all the vitamins and nutrients that we need from grass, what could be better?
\n\n\n\nFighting For the Truth
\n\n\n\nAnd so let\u2019s listen in to Adam\u2019s words and maybe we\u2019ll be able to understand a little better. Here’s what he said: He cried and he said, \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b9\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u2013 \u201cShall I and my donkey eat from the same trough, from the same foodbox?\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt means that when Adam would go out to the backyard for breakfast and he would bend over to partake of the grass of the field he would hear somebody rustling nearby; he would look over his shoulder and he would see his donkey is doing the same thing as him, eating the same breakfast. His donkey is eating side by side with him!
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy donkey and I should eat the same breakfast?! If that’s the price then I don’t want it!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThere was a very important principle involved here; it\u2019s the principle of the dignity of man. Man was created b\u2019tzelem Elokim, in the image of Hashem and if he\u2019s going to eat side by side with his animals, the same diet, then it is a frontal attack on this foundational truth of the greatness of mankind.
\n\n\n\nAdam was fiercely protective of his peculiar status because he knew more than anybody else what it meant to be an Adam. \u201cThe image of Hashem\u201d \u2013 we say the words, but we are very far from coming anywhere near appreciating the meaning. But Adam, the first one created at the hands of the Creator, he understood what it meant.
\n\n\n\nRescinding the Decree
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s nothing in the universe like man. Man is not an animal \u2013 man is an angel. It\u2019s a malach who is encased in batei chomer, an angel that dwells in the clay habitation of a body. Man is not a body. He is much greater than a body; the truth is he is greater even than the malachim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, it was enough indignity that he was sentenced to live in a human body, in a house of clay, but to be reduced to the status of the beasts of the field?! That would be to him the greatest heartache.
\n\n\n\nNow this doesn\u2019t mean if Adam would eat grass that therefore he has surrendered his distinction. He\u2019s still Adam even if he\u2019s eating grass alongside his donkey; his neshama is still a neshama and he is still unequaled in the universe. But there\u2019s a principle here and that principle is not only to be unique in the universe, not only to be distinguished, but always to remember that you are unique, never to forget that you are distinguished. That\u2019s what\u2019s most important!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore Adam\u2019s dignity was to him paramount. And he therefore wept bitterly that this decree should be rescinded, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu should withdraw this proposition that he should have to live off of grass.
\n\n\n\nThe Distinct Diet
\n\n\n\nAnd he wept untilHakodosh Boruch Hu said to him, \u201cAlright! I accept your protest and I am going to give you a different menu; I’m going to give you an elite diet, only aristocrats will have it, only mankind. \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d6\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd. You are going to eat bread.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBread! Bread is unusual. No creature in the universe has bread except man. Do you know why? Because it\u2019s a dignity to eat bread. It\u2019s a mark of distinction.
\n\n\n\nWhen Adam heard that, \u05e0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 so his mind was calmed. He was satisfied. Because that\u2019s a demonstration that there\u2019s nobody in the universe that can compare to me. I am reminded that I am the tzelem Elokim and I and my children forever will always have an ois, a testimonial that we are not animals! That we should never sink to the level of animals in behavior, in morals, in derech eretz, in our attitude towards the world.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see that the diet of Adam HaRishon was a very important part of his world hashkafa. It was an important foundation for his awareness of the truths of the Torah and his knowledge of who he was.
\n\n\n\nDistinct from Donkeys
\n\n\n\nTodaymost of Mankind has forgotten this great lesson. And that\u2019s why today the donkey is already catching up with us! And I\u2019m afraid he\u2019s going ahead of us already because what human beings are doing today. Under the inspiration of the New York Times, people are doing things that a donkey wouldn\u2019t stoop to do. A lot of humans have become worse than donkeys
\n\n\n\nBut we follow the principle of the Torah! Derech eretz has a number of principles, but one of the chief principles of derech eretz is to demonstrate that you are different, to demonstrate that you have tzelem Elokim.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if someone were to pick up from the table a loaf of bread and take a bite from the loaf, it\u2019s an infringement on this principle of tzelem Elokim. You cut off a piece to size, that\u2019s all. You can\u2019t hold a very big hunk of bread in your hand like a helpless animal and eat from the whole thing. You can\u2019t bend over and nibble from the loaf like a beheimah.
\n\n\n\nDistinct from Dogs
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the Gemara (Kiddushin 40b) says that haochel bashuk domeh lakelev, if a man eats in the street, he’s like a dog. Even if he washed his hands and he made a brachah, if he eats in the street he is domeh lakelev, he’s like a dog. Because a human being has to remember who he is and therefore he eats his bread in a different manner.
\n\n\n\nSo if you walk in the street munching on a piece of pizza, you have to know where you belong, in which category. Whether you belong to the higher mammals or the lower ones, you weren\u2019t sure; but now you know where you belong and at the next lamppost you can pick up your hind leg and let go.
\n\n\n\nThe world today has forgotten the sublime principle of \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 You, Adam, shall eat bread. And so before we go on, let\u2019s keep in mind what we have already gained tonight; and the next time you eat bread you have something to think about. It\u2019s a demonstration of the greatness of mankind, that \u05d7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 How beloved by Hashem is Man, he\u2019s created in Hashem\u2019s image (Avos 3:14). And it\u2019s a demonstration of what\u2019s expected of us. Our diet, bread and other foods instead of grass, is an eternal reminder of the greatness of Mankind that must always be kept before our eyes as a foundation principle of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nWe Are Different
\n\n\n\nNow, all of this, the greatness of Mankind, is actually only an introduction to the subject because now we come back to the diet of the Am Yisroel; and it\u2019s an entirely new subject because the Am Yisroel is more than Man.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Mishna there in Pirkei Avos (ibid.) says. It\u2019s true that \u05d7\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e6\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05dd; an especial gift of tzelem Elokim was given to Mankind, a skyscraper of greatness. But when we come to the Am Yisroel we are building another, much taller, skyscraper on top of that one. Because the Mishna doesn\u2019t stop there. It goes on and tells us, yes, man is beloved because he\u2019s created in Hashem\u2019s image, but \u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 Yisroel are more beloved, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 because they are called the children of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nYou know, we\u2019re accustomed to hearing that we\u2019re all children of Hashem. Let\u2019s say when the Reform Jews get together with the NAACP to work together, they say it\u2019s because \u201cwe\u2019re all children of G.O.D.\u201d That\u2019s what they say but it\u2019s not Torah! No other people are the children of Hashem! Yes, they\u2019re Mankind! They\u2019re tzelem Elokim! It\u2019s a remarkable greatness, it\u2019s a remarkable potential for perfection that every gentile has within him, but chavivin Yisroel, make no mistake about it, it\u2019s only you. \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b2\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 Only you are children of Hashem (Devarim 14:1). We don\u2019t care what the world says, we stick by the Torah. \u201cYou are My children and nobody else.\u201d
\n\n\n\nGreater Than Adam
\n\n\n\nAnd if Mankind is distinguished with a special diet of bread and all the various foods for human consumption, so the Am Yisroel must be distinguished with an even more noble diet. Just as Mankind demonstrates its superiority over animals by its diet, so the Jew, the child of the King of the Universe demonstrates his superiority over Mankind by a still more restricted diet; a royal diet of princes.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why Adam could have eaten sherotzim. Along with his bread he could have eaten other foods that a Jew is forbidden to put in his mouth. Whether he did or not, I cannot tell you, but the Am Yisroel was elevated even above the greatness of Adam. The am kadosh was given a separate distinction on top of the distinction of Adam HaRishon.
\n\n\n\nAnd now we come back to the snails and the oysters in the Egyptian waters, to the mitzvah of our parsha to not eat the sherotzim. Hakodosh Boruch Hu, when He told us you cannot eat these things, that you can\u2019t eat mussels, you can\u2019t eat seafood, all those things that the nations have in their diet, so He said, \u201cI have conferred upon you a very great honor now! \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 I have elevated you, \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 from Mitzrayim. It means, \u201cI lifted you up. I made you distinguished. The fact that you cannot eat these foods is a demonstration of your greatness.\u201d
\n\n\n\nKosher Is Everything
\n\n\n\nAll of the worms and snails and oysters and all the other delicacies that the gentiles are so happy to pay big money to eat; they sit and eat in a restaurant to the sound of music as they’re ingesting worms and slimy things that look like \u2013 did you ever see an oyster? An oyster and milk? A man once described the experience to me. It was something slimy, he said. It was nauseating. It looked like somebody had emptied the contents of his nose into the milk.
\n\n\n\nThe disgusting things that the nations eat \u2013 and even the less disgusting things \u2013 for them it’s all right but not for us. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b5\u05dd, All Jews are princes, and therefore what the common multitudes eat is not our diet. It means that every time you eat kosher food, every time you check for a hechsher, it\u2019s a demonstration of your greatness; a reminder of your elevated status.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara says, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd, it\u2019s a great aliyah for them that they\u2019re forbidden to eat sherotzim. It\u2019s such an elevation that Hakodosh Boruch Hu says (Gemara ibid.), \u201cIf I took you out of Mitzrayim only for one thing, that you shouldn\u2019t eat these things that goyim eat, it\u2019s worth that.\u201d It means that\u2019s the whole business! Although there\u2019s a whole Torah waiting for us but for this alone it would be enough \u2013 if no other purpose was achieved by taking you out except this one, to put this stamp of royalty on you that you cannot eat these things, it was worth coming out of Egypt.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the Jew realizes that kosher is everything to him. \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, I have separated you from the nations. That’s said in our parshah of forbidden animals. You cannot eat these forbidden animals because I have separated you from the nations. That’s your greatness. That’s your mark of distinction.
\n\n\n\nProud of Our Kishke
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we don’t look down on dietary laws. Some Jews ridicule, they say \u201cThe Orthodox are only kishke Jews, only intestinal Jews. All they worry about is food, kosher food.\u201d But it\u2019s not a small thing. It’s important; very important, very, very important. What you eat, that’s what you are. It’s a mark of royalty. And the Torah itself says that. That’s the sign of distinction from the nations of the world and we won’t give it up. We’ll hold onto that badge of royalty forever.
\n\n\n\nHere’s a rich man and he could eat in all the restaurants but he’s sitting and eating a sandwich in his office because he\u2019s a prince. A person is traveling for business and he doesn\u2019t know where to go for lunch. Even if has to fast all day long he\u2019s happy. That’s a mark of a prince!
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why when a person passes a salumeria, an Italian delicatessen, and he see in the window all kinds of appetizing baloney, if he says, \u201cOh well, it\u2019s not kosher,\u201d that\u2019s a missed opportunity. Because according to the principle of the Torah, he should say, \u201cBaruch Elokeinu shehivdilanu min hatoim. I thank You Hashem. You gave me a privilege not to eat that.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou look at the window, at the dried wurst hanging from the ceiling and generate a certain feeling: \u201cFeh! I\u2019m too aristocratic for such food.\u201d
\n\n\n\nLet Them Enjoy
\n\n\n\nFor them, by the way, you should have appreciation. It\u2019s beautiful to see that Hashem is feeding goyim. \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 He feeds the whole world with His goodness. \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b5\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd means that gentile salami tastes good. And so if you see a gentile salumeria or you see someone standing on the street corner selling hotdogs and a goy comes over and gives money and buys a hotdog and eats it, so you should think, \u201cHashem is feeding him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo for the umos ha\u2019olam \u2013 alright. Let them eat treif salami and hotdogs and snails. That\u2019s very good if all you are is a tzelem Elokim. But we look down on this, \u201cFeh! We are aristocrats!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou never thanked Hashem for elevating you by means of your diet? Don\u2019t miss that opportunity; as you\u2019re walking on the avenue look for a seafood place where you\u2019ll be able to exercise your mind in this noble activity of understanding what Hakodosh Boruch Hu did for us. When you see snails in the window, don’t just pass by. Think, \u201cBoruch Hashem!\u201d You should get the attitude that it\u2019s undignified for you. It\u2019s for gentiles to eat lobster. Gentiles can eat pork. For a Jew, not only it\u2019s ossur, but it\u2019s a descent to the bottom of the social ladder.
\n\n\n\nEarning the Honor
\n\n\n\nNow, you have to understand however that once you know of your aristocracy, then you have to live up to it. You have to behave accordingly. It\u2019s not enough for a person to know that he is a Jew; he has to feel it in all of his behavior! He behaves like a Jew behaves. There are certain rules that aristocrats follow. And therefore the aristocratic Jews have certain chukei derech eretz that the Torah prescribes and the aristocratic Jew lives with such a perfection of behavior that he earns the appellation, he earns the honor of being called \u201cSon of the King\u201d.
\n\n\n\nA Jew who understands why he eats kosher never thinks that by looking like a goy, by having a haircut like a goy or wearing Reeboks like a goy or wearing pants like a goy, jeans, whatever it is, that we\u2019re doing something that makes us better. Chas v\u2019shalom! We\u2019re sinking into the mud! We\u2019re drowning into the tzoah, in the filth of the umos ha\u2019olam!
\n\n\n\nBe A Smart Turk
\n\n\n\nOnly gentiles go to the movies.Anybody who has aristocracy, it\u2019s beneath his dignity to enter such a place. A place of meshugoyim! Fools! To see things that don\u2019t exist, a story that never happened, a film filled with foolish corruption.
\n\n\n\nWhen I pass by a movie and I see a big line waiting to be admitted to the place of morass and they want to pay for it too, I see one or two yarmulkas. I say, \u201cWhat\u2019s this?! A prince waiting on line for such garbage?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nOnce I stopped someone; a man with a black hat. I said, \u201cWhy are you standing in line here?! A Jew should want to go into a place like that?!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not a Jew,\u201d he said to me. \u201cI\u2019m from Turkey. I\u2019m a Turk. And anyhow I\u2019m not going in there. I\u2019m just waiting here.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d I said, \u201cYou\u2019re a smart Turk.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhen a man learns the attitude of aristocracy, he looks down. He despises these things!
\n\n\n\nAlways Be Happy
\n\n\n\nAnd so we begin to see that it is not easy to be a Jew. Like a person once said, \u201cIt’s not easy to be a Jew.\u201d But he didn\u2019t understand what it meant. It means that a Jew has to have in mind a great deal of meditation, of radial reflection. We must constantly be aware of our greatness.
\n\n\n\nThe reason that you find Jewish people who are ashamed of their Jewishness is because they are ignorant of their greatness. If you learn Chumash properly, if you learn Tanach properly, you begin to understand what a great privilege it is to belong to the Am Yisroel. \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc – how fortunate you are Yisroel, \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 – who is like you!
\n\n\n\nA Jew has to sing at all times; his heart should sing within him because Hakodosh Boruch Hu has elevated him. \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 How fortunate is the nation that thus is their lot; you know what lot? \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b1\u05c1\u05d4’ \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 – That Hashem chose us; He\u2019s our G-d. And therefore at all times we\u2019re singing in our hearts, \u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc – How fortunate we are! A Jew has to be happy at all times because of the great honor that he possesses.
\n\n\n\nAnd in an upside-down world it\u2019s a constant nisayon to feel that, never to lose sight of the great principle of \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd, that we are the princes of this world. And one of the great and most common, one of the all encompassing ways that we constantly remind ourselves is by means of what we eat and what we don\u2019t eat. Who are we, plain nobodies? A cat will eat anything. A goy not so much but still it doesn’t need a hechsher. But a king has a special diet. And we are the privileged ones who every day demonstrate our status of being chosen as Hashem’s children, by means of our noble diets.
\n\n\n\nNext Level Food
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to know that as important as it is what we\u2019ve said up till now, as great as it is this demonstration that the parsha of sherotzim teaches, something else is being taught to us by means of these dinim of what can and cannot go into our mouths. Because up till now we spoke on one level, that we are not permitted the diet of the nations of the world as a demonstration of our aristocracy: \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 I lifted you up from Mitzrayim. \u201cI made you exalted,” says Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u201cabove all the nations.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut now we go to a second level, a higher reason why we don\u2019t eat these things. Because it\u2019s not merely as a demonstration of our aristocracy; there\u2019s something else that the laws of kashrus, the elevated status of eating kosher food, come to teach us. And it\u2019s a very important principle that we\u2019re going to learn now.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the great principle that the Jewish body is a sanctuary. The body of a ben Yisroel or bas Yisroel is a Beis Hamikdosh! And we have to study that well because it\u2019s not a mashal! It\u2019s actually true that our bodies are holy \u2013 and just because of that it\u2019s forbidden to bring into it something that is unworthy.
\n\n\n\nIntroduction to Pesach
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s a very important introduction to the Yom Tov of Pesach because that\u2019s when we achieved that status when we came out of Mitzrayim, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu elevated us at Yetzias Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a possuk in Shir HaShirim (4:16) that says like this: \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 Awake, bestir yourself, O\u2019 north wind, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u2013 and come, you south wind. The north wind is told to move, to move away, and the south wind is told to come and take its place.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara (Zevachim 116a) tells us a queer peirush. Who is the north wind? North means all the nations of the world. And which nation is represented by the south? That\u2019s us, the Am Yisroel. \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 Move on, all the nations, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u2013 and come in, the Am Yisroel. We take the place of the umos ha\u2019olam.
\n\n\n\nWhat does it mean we\u2019ll take their place? I\u2019ll tell you two pshatim and both are true. One interpretation is that it\u2019s talking about Eretz Yisroel at the time that we came out of forty years in the Wilderness. The nations of the world lived there for generations and those generations are told to move on to make place for the Am Hashem. It\u2019s our land now. You watched over it, you planted beautiful gardens and built stone houses \u2013 very good, very good. But now Hakodosh Boruch Hu has taken us out of Mitzrayim and He has decreed that it\u2019s time for you to move on and for us to take your place. That\u2019s one pshat.
\n\n\n\nThe Glorious Future
\n\n\n\nAnother understanding is that it\u2019s talking about l\u2019osid lavo. In the future all the nations will be demoted and the Am Hashem will be recognized as the princes of the world. Of course, we\u2019re the princes even now but the gentiles have a hard time admitting it, they have a hard time recognizing it. It\u2019s among ourselves that we have this secret. But in the future it\u2019ll become clearly evident to all.
\n\n\n\nLike it says openly in Sefer Yeshaya (49:23), \u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05d5\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 they\u2019ll bow down to the earth to you, \u05d5\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e8\u05b7\u05d2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 and they\u2019ll lick the dust of your feet. Yeshaya says openly l\u2019osid lavo the nations will feel it a privilege to kiss the dirt under your feet. And another possuk (ibid. 60:14), \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 the children of those who once persecuted you will go to you bowed down and they\u2019ll bow down to the dust of the earth and kiss the dirt under your feet.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what our possuk is saying. \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05df! In the future, the nations of the north \u2013 it means all the gentile nations \u2013 will make way for the nation of the south, the Am Yisroel. Our princely status, our distinguished aristocracy, will be recognized by all.
\n\n\n\nDifferent Kinds of Offerings
\n\n\n\nBut still the language of the possuk has to be explained. Because after all it\u2019s a question, why are the goyim called the \u2018north\u2019? And why is the Am Yisroel called the south? Where do north and south come in here?
\n\n\n\nNow we have to listen to a big principle that you\u2019ll hear now, a remarkable principle.
\n\n\n\nThe only kind of offering that the nations of the world can ever bring are olos, burnt offerings. The nations of the world always brought offerings, even before the Torah was given. We know that Adam HaRishon brought offerings. Kayin and Hevel brought korbonos. Noach brought korbonos. But all their korbonos were korbonos of the north, burnt offerings that are brought on the north side of the mizbeach. An olah is kosher only if it\u2019s sacrificed \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4, on the north side of the mizbeach.
\n\n\n\nSo we tell them, \u201c\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 Move on you people of the north side of the mizbeach, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b8\u05df \u2013 now come and take their place, you Am Yisroel, the people of the south.\u201d We are the nation of the south because in addition to olos, we can bring shlomim that are offered on the south of the mizbeach. The olah you slaughter only on the north, \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7 \u05e6\u05b8\u05e4\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4, but shlomim you can slaughter anywhere. You can slaughter them on the south if you wish.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s no answer yet. Because what of it? So the goyim have only olos and the Am Yisroel have shlomim too; very good, but what\u2019s so important? Is that a reason why the goyim have to move on and the Am Yisroel take their place?
\n\n\n\nSanctity and Sacrilege
\n\n\n\nNow listen to the principle. Before Yetzias Mitzrayim nobody ever dreamed of putting a piece of a korban, a piece of sacrifice into his mouth. You mean to say you\u2019re going to chew up a piece of the kodshei Hashem and reduce it to garbage? It\u2019ll go down into your intestines and then later you\u2019ll excrete it? That\u2019s sacrilege! Nobody ever dreamed of treating the kodshei Hashem in such a manner.
\n\n\n\nUntil we came to Yetzias Mitzrayim. The korban Pesach was a very big novelty; it was the very first time in the history of the world that an offering was eaten. On Pesach night a revolution occurred; the entire picture of history changed with these three words: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u2013 The bnei Yisroel must eat the flesh of the sacrifice (Shemos 12:8). We were commanded to eat from the korban Pesach!
\n\n\n\nAt that time Hashem declared that the Jewish body is kodesh kodoshim. You hear such a thing?! When a Yisroel consumes a korban it\u2019s like the fire of the mizbeach is burning it! And that\u2019s the answer to how it could be such a thing now that never happened before, that a human being eats from a korban. Because a Yisroel is not a human being! He\u2019s much more than a human being! That\u2019s a very important lesson we learned at Yetzias Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nFrom then on, we eat from the korbanos. We eat kodshim! No nation ever dreamed of insulting the kodshei Hashem by eating it until the Am Yisroel came along and Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cYes, they can eat, because when they put korban into their mouths, it\u2019s burning on the offering on the mizbeach to Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRejecting the Stranger
\n\n\n\nNow that was the demonstration of the korban Pesach. It is only we that Hashem has decided can eat the korban Pesach. So let’s imagine in Eretz Mitzrayim on that great night wherever there were Bnei Yisroel, in every house they were roasting the sheep on the fire. Imagine, thousands and thousands of homes. They weren’t wealthy; they were servants to the Egyptians and they had poor little homes, but there were very many of them. In fact there were already two million of them. And in all of these homes they were roasting lambs that night. And so the odor of roasting lamb began coming out of the houses.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Egyptians who passed by, sniffed at it. \u201cWe wouldn’t eat such things. Lamb, sheep, we wouldn’t eat that.\u201d But their mouths were watering and in their hearts they were very envious of the Bnei Yisroel. Roasted mutton is delectable and the aroma it gives off is very tempting. Now suppose an Egyptian decided to yield his principles and come in and participate. As he walked in, he\u2019d see a man standing in front of him. \u201cNothing doing,” he said. “I’m sorry my friend, but you can’t come in tonight.” \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05e0\u05b5\u05db\u05b8\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05db\u05b7\u05dc \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 A stranger cannot eat from the Pesach sacrifice. (Shemos 12:43)\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d the Egyptian says.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat can I do?\u201d he says, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu says that we are chosen to eat the korban Pesach and only we.”
\n\n\n\nThe Shechina Within You
\n\n\n\nSo now we begin to see that the eating of the korban Pesach among other purposes was to demonstrate the superiority of the Am Yisroel. That night we sat down and only we, nobody else could come in. Even a gentile king couldn’t come in and eat the korban Pesach. To demonstrate that we are not only distinguished aristocracy, but our bodies are holy. We\u2019re not ordinary people, we\u2019re not only tzelem Elokim, we\u2019re much more than that.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the nations of the world will have to move on and make place for us. \u201cI\u2019m introducing the Am Yisroel to the world,\u201d Hashem says. \u201cMove out of the way for the holy nation; not only the distinguished nation, the aristocratic nation, the chosen nation, but the holy nation!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so I go back to the beginning. Our special diet, the laws of kashrus, are not merely laws; they are signs of nobility. Why don\u2019t we eat all of those foods that Mankind, that tzelem Elokim, can eat? \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 \u201cBecause I am Hashem, \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 who elevated you when I took you out of the land of Mitzrayim.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd for that we should never stop thanking Him. We owe a debt of gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for these laws because it means that He declared our bodies sacred; the Jewish body is a makom kadosh, a Mishkan or a Mikdash, and in these sacred precincts, you cannot bring in any sherotzim.
\n\n\n\nA remarkable teaching! \u201cI elevated you! Not merely I showed that you are elevated, you\u2019re distinguished from all the nations of the world, but I have declared the sacredness, the holiness of the Jewish body. And it\u2019s not a mashal! It\u2019s a fact!” And in that Beis Hamikdosh there resides the Shechina. The Shechina is the neshama, the soul of the Jew and that soul fills the space of his Beis Hamikdosh.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nRemember Your Nobility
\n\n\n\nThe Torah dietary restrictions are actually a sign of our nobility. Every time we eat kosher food it\u2019s a reminder of our aristocracy. This week I will bli neder be careful to eat with dignity as befitting a human created in Hashem\u2019s image. Moreover, when I pass a non-kosher store I will reflect on the fact that I am a Chosen son of the King and I have been elevated by these dietary laws. My body is a Mishkan for the Shechina which dwells inside of me.
\nThe post Parshas Shemini 5 – Our Noble Diet appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T04:12:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-03-21T14:33:37+00:00" }, { "id": 32717, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-27/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 27", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-27The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 27 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-20T04:02:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-20T04:02:54+00:00" }, { "id": 32708, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a6%d7%95-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e6\u05d5-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1-1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-16T22:30:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-16T22:30:03+00:00" }, { "id": 32678, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%91-%d7%9c%d7%9b%d7%91%d7%95%d7%93-%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%92%d7%93%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d1: \u05dc\u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-212-1The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8\u05d9”\u05d1: \u05dc\u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05de\u05d5\u05d2\u05d3\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-16T18:59:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-16T22:29:02+00:00" }, { "id": 32692, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-purim-drinks/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Purim Drinks", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow do I utilize drinking \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d3\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 in order to serve Hashem?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\n\u05e2\u05d3 \u05d3\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05e8\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05df \u05dc\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05de\u05e8\u05d3\u05db\u05d9. I\u2019ll tell you one peirush. It means \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d1\u05db\u05dc\u05dc \u2013 You drink up to the point of losing your da\u2019as. You drink just enough \u2013 but not enough to lose your da\u2019as. You have to have more da\u2019as on Purim, not less.
\n\n\n\nNow, a little bit of da\u2019as can be gained by drinking. It\u2019s like an airplane that needs high octane gas to get up in the air. A little bit of alcohol helps your spirit go higher; a little bit of mashkeh, yes. But too much alcohol will sink you. There\u2019s no use in falling asleep in the middle of Purim like a drunken goy and then they have to call Hatzalah. On Purim you should be gaining da\u2019as and if you utilize the day properly, that\u2019s what it will be \u2013 a day of da\u2019as. But you won\u2019t gain any da\u2019as lying on the floor waiting for Hatzalah to come.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-225 (March 2000)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Purim Drinks appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-16T17:06:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-16T17:06:54+00:00" }, { "id": 27309, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-pur-purim-and-the-holocaust/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Pur, Purim and the Holocaust", "content_html": "\nQ:
If Purim got its name \u05e2\u05dc \u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8, because of the lot that Haman cast, why isn\u2019t it called Pur instead of the plural Purim?
Pur means a lot, the casting of lots. The Persians used to throw dice among to find an auspicious date. So why Purim? The yomtiv should be Pur. That\u2019s the question.
The answer is Purim means two kinds of lots. One is the lot that Haman threw. And one is the lot that Hakodosh Boruch Hu threw. Haman chose a date that was auspicious for him but Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cThat date is auspicious for Me too; this happens to be a good date for Me too. That\u2019s the date I want that the Jewish nation forever should sing and dance and drink a little bit and eat and remember what happened on that day!\u201d
What does that mean? It means this. It could have been Pur! Don\u2019t think that the whole thing was just a frame-up, just a show or an empty demonstration. It could\u2019ve turned out like Haman wanted! It could\u2019ve turned out like it turned out in Europe.
The truth is, it was also possible to be Purim in Europe. Only that in Europe there was no Mordechai. In Europe, the few Mordechais that were present, were not able to talk. The press wasn\u2019t theirs. The newspapers didn\u2019t belong to them. The Jewish people didn\u2019t listen to their leaders anymore. The Jewish people listened to the misleaders. There were reform rabbis and socialists and extreme secular Zionists. They were the ones who led the Jewish people in Europe. Did anybody raise the banner of teshuva in Europe? Maybe somebody, a rebbe in his shtiebel somewhere, but nobody saw it. There was no call to the national conscience of the Jewish people to do teshuva and that\u2019s why it didn\u2019t turn out Purim; it tuned out to be a Pur.
But here it says \u05d5\u05de\u05e8\u05d3\u05db\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u2013 Mordechai knew all that was taking place. And the gemara says \u05d9\u05d3\u05e2 \u05e2\u05dc \u05de\u05d4 \u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u2013 he knew why it was taking place. Mordechai understood that they were getting a little too close to the gentile. \u201cYou\u2019re fraternizing with gentiles! You see that in Persian Empire you have full equality and you\u2019re forgetting that your destiny is to be separate. Ah, if that\u2019s the case then you better change your ways.\u201d And because Mordechai gathered them all together and for three days, and they wept and prayed for three days; they didn\u2019t eat or drink for three days. Try that! Try it sometime, just for fun. They did it!
\n\n\n\nAnd they accepted the Torah all over again from the bottom of their hearts without reservations. Ah! The Pur changed into Purim \u2013 there were two faces to that Purim. Oh yes, it was a chosen date, but instead of being what Haman wanted, it turned out to be what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted. That\u2019s why it\u2019s called Purim, \u05e2\u05dc \u05e9\u05dd \u05d4\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8.
\n\n\n\nBut unfortunately, in Europe there was no Mordechai and it wasn\u2019t a Purim. It was nothing but a pur. And a very poor kind of a pur it turned out to be.
\n\n\n\nWe have to learn from that. Oy, it could\u2019ve been another Purim. Hitler you know finally was burned. I remember the day Hitler was burned. It was splashed all over the world. His picture was on the front page and the Yiddish newspapers said \u05d0 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4. It was a big headline: \u05d0 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05d4. You know what that means? \u201cAn atonement for the Jewish people.\u201d But it\u2019s a big pity it was so late. If they had done what they were supposed to do, it could have been different. The Jewish people had always listened to the Torah leaders. But now \u2013 if only they hadn\u2019t accepted Stephen Wise, yemach shemo, a rasha m\u2019rushah. You know Stephen Wise; recently a woman reporter reported that she once went to interview him so he raped her on his desk. That\u2019s the leader of the Jewish people in America! And the second time she met him a couple of years later, ditto. He tried a third time, but she didn\u2019t go this time. That\u2019s the leader of the Jewish people in America. He was the one who had the ear of the President and all the Jews of America listened to him when he broadcast on the radio. So with such a leader, he changed the Purim into Pur.
\n\n\n\nAnd in Europe who were the leaders? The Bundists. The socialist were the leaders. Atheists were the leaders. The rabbanim and the roshei yeshiva didn\u2019t have a word. Nobody listened to them and that\u2019s why there it turned into Pur.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s one of the great lessons of Purim! We have to remember why this Purim turned into Purim. It was because we had Mordechai; we had Esther too. Esther was very important in this. It was Esther\u2019s idea to fast three days and to do teshuva!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if we\u2019ll dance and sing this Purim and we\u2019ll also give money to the poor; poor bnei Torah, poor lomdim in Yerushalayim or elsewhere, and we\u2019ll invite them to our tables wherever we can and we\u2019ll talk about this great lesson that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is running the world and there\u2019s nothing of chaos in our history. It\u2019s all purposeful and it\u2019s all connected from the beginning till \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd. We have to learn that and stick to the chain. And any Jew who tries to break away from that chain will go lost. Only \u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05d4\u05d3\u05d1\u05e7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05db\u05dd \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd.
TAPE # 209 (February 1978)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Pur, Purim and the Holocaust appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-16T04:29:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-16T17:17:26+00:00" }, { "id": 32676, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd", "content_html": "\n\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd, Peace, is not merely a lack of misfortune, rather it is the kindliest creation and gift from Hashem, where countless thousands of factors and blessings from Hashem join and function together perfectly. Thus, this final request for Shalom actually includes all that which we have requested of Hashem in Shemoneh Esrei, for \u201cShalom is actually the vessel which contains inside of it all the blessings of Hashem\u201d (Oktzin 3:12), for every state of peace is actually a state of millions of the kindliest miracles coming together as one, all, of course, straight from Hashem.
\nThe post \u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-15T21:51:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-15T21:51:19+00:00" }, { "id": 32673, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9a-%d7%a0%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%95%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05d5\u05dc\u05da \u05e0\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea", "content_html": "\nJust as we begin this Brachah with\u00a0“\u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da”, giving thanks to\u00a0You alone, so too we conclude\u00a0“\u05d5\u05dc\u05da \u05e0\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea”, \u201cto You alone it is fitting to thank\u201d. Even though we study the different causes, and even though we are obligated to be grateful to our parents and teachers and all our benefactors, still we know that You alone are the cause of all goodness, and therefore our true gratitude is directed only toward You, and to You alone it is\u00a0fitting\u00a0to give full thanks.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05dc\u05da \u05e0\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-15T21:50:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-15T21:50:44+00:00" }, { "id": 32670, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/meditation-vs-tefillah/", "title": "Meditation vs. Tefillah", "content_html": "\nMeditation is one thing, and tefillah is something else. Meditation is great, it\u2019s wonderful \u2013 but it\u2019s not Tefillah. Meditation is a matter of intellect. Intellect is very important. It\u2019s one of the big foundations of greatness. But Tefillah is something else. Tefillah is when you take the results of your meditation and speak directly to Hashem, thereby awakening the emotions in your heart. When you say\u00a0“\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4”, your heart starts to pump because you are talking directly to Hashem. \u201cAtah \u2013 You, Hashem\u201d.
\nThe post Meditation vs. Tefillah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-15T21:42:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-15T21:42:49+00:00" }, { "id": 10921, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-purim-yom-kippur-and-drinking/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Frum Purim Jokes", "content_html": "\nQ:
Some people say that Yom Kippur means that it\u2019s Yom Ki-Purim, that it\u2019s a day like Purim. Could you explain that?
A:
Of course, it\u2019s only a joke, but I\u2019ll explain the joke. It means that Purim, if it\u2019s properly celebrated, then it\u2019s possible for us to rise great levels.
On Yom Kippur you can\u2019t take in any fuel \u2013 but on Purim you can fuel. And you can refuel too. And therefore, on Purim you can soar to great heights. Of course, if there\u2019s nothing in your airplane except fuel, so what\u2019s the purpose? You\u2019ll ride higher, and then you\u2019ll pour in more fuel and ride higher \u2013 but if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, so what\u2019s the purpose? But if you have a mission, then there\u2019s a purpose in fueling.
But Yom Kippur since you can\u2019t refuel, so it\u2019s Yom Ki-Purim. It\u2019s a day like Purim. It means you have to get all the exhilaration of Purim in without benefit of fuel. That\u2019s what it means. That\u2019s a big job of course, but what can you do?
And that\u2019s what the joker who said that frum joke meant when he said Yom Kippur means Yom Ki-Purim. But don\u2019t quote me on that.
TAPE # 212 (March 1978)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Frum Purim Jokes appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-15T15:38:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-16T17:03:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32649, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a6%d7%95-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e6\u05d5The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-14T13:55:18+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-15T16:24:47+00:00" }, { "id": 32641, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-tzav/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tzav", "content_html": "\nContinued from last week\u2026
\n\n\n\nTzadok \u201cHatzadik\u2019s\u201d helicopter has just spun out of control and crashed, sending wreckage flying everywhere. The Friedman family stands near the scene, surrounded by burning aircraft parts.
\n\n\n\n\u201cVell,\u201d said Tzadok in his heavy Israeli accent, grabbing a broom that happened to be nearby. \u201cI better start to cleaning up dees mess.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d asked Dovid. \u201cHow are you going to clean up those huge pieces of metal with just a broom?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh don\u2019t vorry,\u201d Tzadok replied. \u201cI have given zees broom a special brachah so dat it vill able to clean up anyting!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs Tzadok tried sweeping up the large helicopter pieces, workers arrived with bulldozers, excavators, and a dump truck to start clearing the airport taxiway from all the rubble. Suddenly a limousine pulled up, and none other than Mayor McGillicuddy himself stepped out, wearing a hard hat and reflective vest, followed by several reporters and newspaper photographers.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s start cleaning up!\u201d said Mayor McGillicuddy with a huge smile, resting his arm casually on a bulldozer as the photographers snapped pictures of him. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get this airport back in service!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok looked up in surprise. \u201cAre you ze famous Mayor McGillicuddy?\u201d he asked. \u201cI hear so much about you!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI sure am!\u201d said the mayor proudly, holding out his hand for Tzadok to shake. \u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure to meet you!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut you\u2019re ze mayor!\u201d Tzadok said. \u201cVy did you come to cleaning up? Zat doesn\u2019t sound like someting a bigshot mayor like you should be doing – vy don\u2019t you leave it to ze construction vorkers?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs the big burly construction men started driving the bulldozers and pushing the wreckage off towards the dump truck, Mayor McGillicuddy posed for some more photographs, before turning back to Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWho, me?\u201d he asked modestly, but loudly enough for the reporters to hear. \u201cOh I\u2019m just a regular guy just like everyone else here. It is my duty to clean up my city like anyone else.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe excavators started lifting the helicopter pieces into the dump truck as Mayor McGillicuddy continued to run around, standing for pictures in front of the clean-up operation.
\n\n\n\nThe Friedmans watched all of this with fascination. After a few minutes, Totty turned to Moishy and Dovid.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoys,\u201d said Totty. \u201cDoes this remind you of anything?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d Moishy said. \u201cRemember a few months ago, when the seforim shrank in school collapsed? Everyone rushed to pick up the seforim, even the Rebbeim.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I was thinking,\u201d said Totty.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image-2.png?resize=640%2C458&ssl=1\")
\u201cWhy did the Rebbeim help pick up the seforim?\u201d asked Dovid. \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t they just let all of the kids do it – they are busy learning and teaching.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said Totty. \u201cBut the Torah tells us something different. You know, in Parshas Tzav it says that the kohen would clean up the leftover ash from on top of the Mizbeiach. Now if you\u2019ve ever tried to clean up burnt ash, you\u2019d know that it\u2019s a very messy job. It\u2019s much finer than dirt and it gets everywhere and makes you dirty. So why would that be a job for the kohen, who has one of the most important jobs in Klal Yisroel?
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd the answer is that no matter how important a person is, we are still nothing in front of Hashem. Not like Mayor McGillicuddy, who is trying to look like a regular clean-up man, but is actually just standing around pretending so that people will think he is helping. When we are in front of the Ribono Shel Olam, we must be humble and modest in front of Him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHashem is so great that even the kohen does what looks like dirty chores in his service of Hashem. This is an important lesson. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re in shul and see that someone left an empty plastic cup on the table. Don\u2019t think \u2018oh the janitor will take care of it\u2019, oh no! Pick it up and throw it out yourself. Nobody is so important that he can\u2019t do little things like that in front of Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA thought suddenly came to Moishy. \u201cOh, is that why Rabbi Frank is always putting the seforim away in shul, even though he\u2019s a big talmid chochom?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cExactly,\u201d Totty said with a smile. \u201cAnd that\u2019s something all of us can do. We should never think that we\u2019re too important to do something when we are serving Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tzav appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-13T04:20:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-13T04:20:05+00:00" }, { "id": 32631, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tzav-5-lessons-in-humility-2/", "title": "Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility", "content_html": "\nThe Kohen and His Servant
\n\n\n\nIn the beginning of this week\u2019s sedrah we come across a mitzvah that at first glance appears to be quite surprising. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b5\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05df. The kohen Hashem, the one who\u2019s been chosen to do the most sacred work \u2013 he\u2019s busy all day with the service of Hashem in the House of Hashem \u2013 he is the one who is commanded to remove the residual ash from the korbanos.
\n\n\n\nNow; that the leftover ashes have to be removed, we can understand that. If the ashes would accumulate every day it would become unmanageable after some time. And so of course the ashes had to be taken away. But why did it have to be done by the kohen himself? After all such a menial task could have been done by a servant. That\u2019s how it should have been. \u201c\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b6\u05d1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05df \u2014 And one of the servants was called to remove the ashes.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we must spend a little bit of time discussing the subject of keniah. It\u2019s a little bit of a diversion but it\u2019s important for our subject.
\n\n\n\nDuties of The Mind
\n\n\n\nThere’s a very valuable sefer that was written over 800 years ago in Spain by a Rabeinu Bechaya ben Yosef. It was written in Arabic and later it was translated into Hebrew as the Chovos Halevovos. In English its name is Duties of the Heart \u2014 it means the Duties of the Mind; in lashon kodesh the word leiv means the mind. And kishmo kein hu \u2013 it\u2019s called the Duties of the Mind because it teaches us the duties of a Jew; what he has to think in order to fulfill the obligations of his mind towards Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSo you learned something very important now. Even if you went home right now it was worth the trip because you learned about a new Shulchan Aruch that you didn\u2019t know about. There’s one Shulchan Aruch that you\u2019re familiar with already \u2013 it tells you all the duties that you have to do with your hands, sometimes with your feet. It tells you about the things you have to say with your mouth, the things you can eat and can\u2019t eat, the way to do kosher business and the way to do mitzvos.
\n\n\n\nEvery good Jew has that sefer in his home \u2014 if you don\u2019t follow the Shulchan Aruch you\u2019re not a real Jew. But now you know that it\u2019s not everything because there are duties that have to do with your mind and they are also very important duties. And that’s what this great book, the Chovos Halevovos discusses \u2013 it\u2019s your relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu in your own mind.
\n\n\n\nThe Misplaced Chapter
\n\n\n\nNow, if you open up the Chovos Halevovos you\u2019ll see that he has there a big section called Sha’ar Hakeniah, The Gate of Humility. And to us that seems to be out of place in this book. Because keniah means humility and we know what humility means. Towards other people you’re humble. You act decently towards them. You treat other people as equals. You honor them. You’re careful with their feelings. You don’t trample on them. You’re not conceited. You’re not arrogant towards them. That’s what humility means.
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is when you look in other seforim that deal with the subject, you\u2019ll see that they talk about being humble bein adam lechaveiro, between man and man. A man should be humble towards his wife. A wife should be humble towards her husband. Neighbors should be humble to each other. That’s what humility means in all of the seforim.
\n\n\n\nSo how does humility fit in in the Chovos Halevovos which is a sefer that deals with your relationship with Hashem? It\u2019s a sefer that specializes in our duties towards Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Where does \u201cThe Gate of Humility\u201d come into such a book?
\n\n\n\nThe Humble Rasha
\n\n\n\nAnd so we see that the Chovos Halevovos has an entirely different intention when he talks about humility. When he speaks about keniah, humility, it’s not in the sense of a man who is humble to other people. After all, even a rasha gamur can be humble when dealing with others.
\n\n\n\nLet’s say the vice president of a bank. He has to hear complaints from the customers all the time \u2013 people call him up on the phone and complain; people come into his office, \u201cWhat’s this with my balance?!\u201d Sometimes the most foolish complaints but if the vice president will say what he\u2019s thinking he’ll lose business and so he learns how to be humble. It doesn’t mean he gives everybody what they want but he’s polite to everybody. Of course, as soon as you leave his office he\u2019ll have some choice words for you but he trained himself to be humble because that’s his success.
\n\n\n\nNow, it could very well be that this humble vice-president doesn’t even believe in Hashem. He believes in customers, in money, but where does Hashem come into it? It could be not at all. And so we see a man can be a rasha and still be an anav.
\n\n\n\nHumble To Hashem
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the Chovos Halevovos doesn\u2019t speak about such humility. Bein adam lechaveiro, that kind of anavah is not the focus of the Chovos Halevovos; instead the Shaar Hakeniah is about becoming an anav towards Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSo you’ll say, \u201cWell, that’s easy. Who isn’t humble to Hashem? To a customer, that takes work to humble myself, but to Hashem \u2014 what\u2019s the question?!\u201d Unless chas veshalom he’s an atheist; but a man who believes in the Creator, certainly is humble before Hashem. Who is there in the world who will be arrogant towards Hashem?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is everybody. That’s the true answer. The truth is that every human being is arrogant towards Hashem! And even though with his lips he may say words of pious hypocrisy \u2013 \u201cI bow down to You Hashem\u201d, \u201cI am nothing before You\u201d \u2013 but in his heart he is bowing down only to himself. That\u2019s what\u2019s amok, amok inside him, that this world is too crowded for both of us.
\n\n\n\nHuman Nature
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara says. What does Hakodosh Boruch Hu say about him? \u201c\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b8\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 This man and I cannot live together in one world (Sotah 5a). The universe is too small for both of us because he wants to crowd Me out of the world. \u201cIf he could,\u201d Hashem says, \u201che would swell himself up like a big balloon and fill up the whole space, the whole universe.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s human nature. \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u2013 I\u2019m what matters and nothing else (Yeshaya 47:8). Every man! Even if you\u2019re a tzaddik and you daven and do mitzvos; you\u2019re serving Hashem all day long; no matter \u2014 as far as you\u2019re concerned you\u2019re still the most important person there is and even Hashem is imposing on you; He\u2019s crowding you.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why a man must work on himself to be humble to Hashem. Even the kohen, the one who\u2019s working in the Beis Hamikdash all day long, he\u2019s commanded to change into other clothing \u2013 he takes off his bigdei kehuna and puts on his work clothes and he takes the dirty ashes out. That\u2019s what the Chovos Halevovos tells us about this mitzvah.
\n\n\n\nThe Humble Priest
\n\n\n\nThis mitzvah is given to the kohen because Hashem wants the perfection of a person \u2013 not only the avodah. The korbanos and the zrikas hadam and everything, very good; excellent. But it\u2019s nothing if it\u2019s not done with humility, with the awareness of Whom you\u2019re serving.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the kohen was obligated by Hashem every day in this menial task, to carry out the ashes, in order to humble himself and to remove the pride from his heart. Because as great as a person is \u2013 even if you\u2019re the kohen serving Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash \u2013 it\u2019s humility to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that is the greatest of all achievements. That\u2019s the true crown of an eved Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOne of the great kohanim in our recent history was always practicing that. The Chofetz Chaim, he was already an old man, a tremendous servant of Hashem \u2013 he\u2019s famous for that \u2013 and they were carrying him, they were helping him from one place to another, and they heard him whispering under his breath; he said, \u201cShlep der neveilah, shlep der neveilah.\u201d \u201cPull the dead carcass,\u201d he said. He was reminding himself that he\u2019s nothing special.
\n\n\n\nEvery little grain of hachna\u2019a to Hashem is so valuable, it\u2019s such a perfection of character, that it\u2019s never enough. As much as you can you\u2019re reminding yourself that whatever you\u2019ve accomplished, as great as you may be \u2013 and you are! \u2013 but before Hakodosh Boruch Hu you’re humbled.
\n\n\n\nThe Worm and The Wristwatch
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why Dovid Hamelech spoke to himself all the time. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 I\u2019m a worm and not a man (Tehillim 22:7). It didn\u2019t matter if he was a little boy in the fields shepherding his father\u2019s sheep or the king of a nation sitting on his throne, he was always reminding himself, \u201cI\u2019m a little worm.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow to imagine that you\u2019re a worm is difficult even for a nobody. Look at yourself as you\u2019re strolling in the street; you have a wristwatch, you have a fountain pen in your pocket, you\u2019re wearing eyeglasses. You have a purse with money, maybe a checkbook in your pocket. You\u2019re equipped with everything! Can you picture yourself like a worm, a caterpillar wending its way slowly across the sidewalk on which it fell? Dovid Hamelech put efforts into that and he succeeded.
\n\n\n\nNow we could say it \u2013 it\u2019s easy to say words; \u201cWorm\u201d and \u201cneveilah\u201d \u2013 it sounds so frum. But a person can say such things and in his heart he\u2019s so proud of himself, so arrogant, that he\u2019s saying such things. It needs a lot of work for us to really mean it because we\u2019re intoxicated, we\u2019re inebriated, we\u2019re drunk with arrogance, with self-importance.
\n\n\n\nBut great men \u2013 and those who want to be great \u2013 work on themselves. They learn the lesson of the terumas hadeshen and look for ways to make themselves more and more humble. Because they understand that this is the great error, to forget that you\u2019re nothing before Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore one of our big obligations in this world, one of the important duties of the mind, is to humble ourselves before the One who created us.
\n\n\n\nTwo Steps
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s no question that whatever humility a person can gain is worthwhile. Even to be humble for one moment and be arrogant the rest of your life is also not a waste. That one moment, you have lived! It\u2019s a success! But we\u2019re talking now not about moments \u2013 we\u2019re talking now about gaining the quality of anavah. Ahh! To become someone who is nichna to Hashem; it\u2019s one of the highest achievements that the world can offer to mankind.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, let\u2019s listen to the words of our sages on this subject very carefully because they are the ones who can best guide us on the path to achieving that great quality. It\u2019s a statement in Shir Hashirim Rabah: \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05bc\u05c1\u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05d8\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d4\u05bc \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e7\u05b6\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e1\u05bb\u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc – What wisdom made as a crown for its head, humility has made a heel for its shoe. In other words, when a person achieves the pinnacle, the crown of wisdom, that\u2019s where the quality of humility begins.
\n\n\n\nNow I want you to pay attention to what it\u2019s saying here because it\u2019s not merely a technicality; it\u2019s telling us the secret to achieving a feeling of hachna\u2019a to Hashem. And it tells us that it\u2019s a process \u2013 first you have to achieve the crown of wisdom and only then can you begin being a true anav.
\n\n\n\nDefining the Crown
\n\n\n\nSo the first thing we have to know is what is this \u201ccrown of wisdom\u201d? What is the highest wisdom? And the answer is Awareness of Hashem. \u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 What is the highest degree of wisdom? \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Awareness of Hashem (Tehillim 111:10). Constant thinking about Hashem, that\u2019s yiras Hashem, and that constant Awareness is the crown of all wisdom.
\n\n\n\nNow it doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no other wisdom in the world, but this is the highest \u2013 whatever other wisdoms you might acquire in this world, the wisdom of Awareness of Hashem is higher than that. To recognize His greatness is an achievement of tremendous proportions! It\u2019s a crown you can be proud of!
\n\n\n\nNow, along comes our sages and they tell us something astonishing. That great achievement, that crown of wisdom called yiras Hashem, is only the beginning of something much greater. Awareness of Hashem is the heel of humility!
\n\n\n\nBecome Aware
\n\n\n\nNow yiras Hashem is a very big subject on its own \u2014 if it\u2019s the crown of wisdom then it must be \u2014 but we\u2019re learning now that it\u2019s like climbing up a tall mountain. It takes work but finally you\u2019re there. You reached the summit! And now you see there\u2019s another mountain on top of this mountain. The top of the mountain is the bottom of another mountain, the mountain of perfection of keniah. And so another effort begins \u2013 now that you\u2019re aware of Hashem\u2019s greatness, now you\u2019re ready to be nichna to Him.
\n\n\n\nOnce we begin to realize the greatness of Hashem, then we begin to realize how little we are in comparison. That\u2019s what we say: Romemu Hashem Elokeinu \u2013 Raise up Hashem in our minds; that’s one thing; vehishtachavu, make yourself low, shachah means to bow down. It\u2019s not two different things; it\u2019s one thing \u2014 the more you raise up Hashem in your mind, the more humbled you feel.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s paramount, it is of the greatest importance to get busy thinking about the greatness of Hashem \u2013 otherwise it\u2019s just words. A man has to understand that compared to Hakodosh Boruch Hu he is nothing and that means thinking about Him, talking about Him \u2014 becoming more and more aware of His presence.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to study the greatness of Hashem. We have to study and study. Dor ledor yeshabach ma’asecha, you have to talk about it with your children and what you learn from your father you have to add to and continue to talk about it always. To become aware of the greatness of Hashem \u2013 that’s our job in life.
\n\n\n\nSpend the Five Minutes
\n\n\n\nNow don’t say \u201cthat’s superfluous\u201d, don’t say \u201cwe know all about it.\u201d You don’t know it. You don’t begin to know it. I’ll tell you why you don’t begin to know it. You never put your mind on it. You never spend five minutes thinking about it.
\n\n\n\nYou have to study. You have to study everything. Don\u2019t think you just have to study Torah alone. You have to study everything around in order to be aware of Hashem. It\u2019s remarkable how if a person opens his eyes and looks at nature, on all sides he sees plan and purpose. On all sides he can see the greatness of the Creator. And the more of His greatness you see, the more humbled you become.
\n\n\n\nA Majestic Crack
\n\n\n\nNow a man from here once told me he went to the Grand Canyon. He didn\u2019t ask me beforehand if he should go. He went. And when he returned he told me of his reaction. He said as he stood on the brink he was gasping at the majesty of the scene! He was amazed. It made a tremendous impression on him. Such a big crack in the surface of the earth!
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is even that is nothing \u2014 it\u2019s only a crack! If you\u2019d go up to the moon and look down, you\u2019d see it\u2019s only a crack. You wouldn\u2019t see any canyon. It\u2019s only a crack in one little planet among trillions. To Hakodosh Boruch Hu, it\u2019s nothing at all.
\n\n\n\nBut the reason you have the Grand Canyon is because it\u2019s grand to us! That\u2019s the purpose of all of these creations. It makes you think of the greatness of the One who made them. That\u2019s what the Grand Canyon is for. That\u2019s what big mountains are for. And the big oceans and rivers. Imagine that you are De Soto with his followers, and you suddenly come upon the father of waters, the Mississippi. A tremendous river, the Mississippi. You climb up onto the bank and the river isn\u2019t obscured by anything. Your mind soars to the heights of inspiration. Such a tremendous river! A tremendous river like that must have a tremendous Creator.
\n\n\n\nBeneficial School Trips
\n\n\n\nNow, I\u2019m not saying you should go to the Grand Canyon or the Mississippi River. It takes a lot of time to travel there \u2013 it\u2019s too much \u2014 but it would be worth it if you could do it, if you could just walk around the corner and take a good look at it. Even Niagara Falls is too much. When people ask me about a Beis Yaakov high school that takes their students on a trip to Niagara Falls, I don\u2019t like it. You have to travel so far, and spend so much money to see Niagara Falls?!
\n\n\n\nThe truth is, it\u2019s only the yetzer hora that makes everyone dissatisfied with what they have right now. People who are really happy with what they have are almost impossible to find. They may say, \u201cWe\u2019re happy,\u201d but they\u2019re not. And therefore, they\u2019re always seeking something else. And so, they travel to Niagara Falls. You might say differently, but I\u2019m telling you, that\u2019s the reason why people travel to Niagara Falls. It\u2019s the yetzer hora that is making you dissatisfied. Of course, if you have a school so you yield a little bit to the yetzer hora in order that more girls should come to your school. You have an outing every year to get new talmidos, new students.
\n\n\n\nBut really it\u2019s nothing. You won\u2019t find happiness there. You know when it\u2019s something? If you study it in order to become humbled before Hashem! I don\u2019t mean to just say \u201cOoh\u201d and \u201cAhh.\u201d We\u2019re talking about filling our minds with Awareness of His infinite Greatness, His infinite Perfection and Power. It makes you gasp. It gives you a little respect for Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Because people think they\u2019re \u2018it\u2019. You don\u2019t realize how nothing you are. And in order to counteract your ga\u2019avah you have to see the gedulas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEndless Space
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why He made the vastness of space. It\u2019s such an important understanding that it has to go with you wherever you go. You don\u2019t have to travel to Niagara Falls or the Mississippi River because wherever you are, you always have the vastness of space. You know the scientists say that there’s no end to space. It\u2019s not true \u2014 everything in gashmiyus has an end \u2014 but it’s almost endless. If you look through a telescope you see no end. When you look up and you see billions of miles, billions of light years, you can\u2019t calculate! The logarithm would come to an end because the space is so vast, so endless!
\n\n\n\nYou know, if you started out in a space shuttle before you were bar mitzvah and you wanted to go to that star over there, before you get to the star you’ll have a long white beard. You’ll be an old, old man. That’s how long it will take and you’re not even halfway there yet.
\n\n\n\nSome of the places are so far away that your great-great-great-grandchild will not reach it yet even though your shuttle is traveling at the speed of light. You hear that? That’s how far away it is. It\u2019s as far as you could imagine.
\n\n\n\nMeet The Little Nobody
\n\n\n\nYeshaya Hanavi (40:26) says: \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2014 Lift up your eyes on high, \u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 and see Who made these. You hear that mitzvah from the Navi Yeshaya?! Pick up your head and look up to the sky and become aware of the Creator! From the greatness of space you get somewhat of an idea of the greatness of the One who made it. It helps you understand a little bit because really the whole universe \u2013 you know what it is? I\u2019ll give a little mashal and it\u2019s not true either. It\u2019s too little but I\u2019ll say it anyhow. The whole universe, the trillions and trillions of miles, is one blood corpuscle in the veins, kavayochol, of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The whole universe, from one end to the other, if there is an end, it could be one little corpuscle in the body, kavayochol, of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Of course He doesn\u2019t have a body but it\u2019s a mashal \u2014 the almost never ending greatness of space is nothing compared to the greatness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAndYeshaya is telling us that it was made that way to help you understand the greatness of the One who created it all. You hear that?! Those billions and trillions of miles into nowhere, those trillions of stars, were created for you, to humble you. And therefore the thinking person looks up into the sky all the time and he\u2019s nichna. You never did that? Try it out once. When nobody\u2019s looking, raise up your eyes and say, \u201cLook how far that is! It\u2019s so vast! And that\u2019s just the little handiwork, the plaything, of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore who am I before Him? I\u2019m a little nobody.\u201d
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s Get Practical
\n\n\n\nNow, as I say these words I realize that there are people who listen to such things with reservations. If you go outside you\u2019ll find those who poo-poo such things. And I don\u2019t blame people because nobody is willy-nilly going to allow himself to be persuaded to spend his life recognizing Hashem. He should be looking up at the sky all the time and making himself small?! He has his own business to achieve. He is willing to give a little bit of maaser or a little less than maaser in recognizing Hashem; something yes, but he wants to live his normal life.
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re learning now that this is the most normal life you can live \u2014 to be aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu to the extent where you\u2019re actually nichna to Him; you feel an actual tangible feeling of \u201cI\u2019m standing before Him and therefore I\u2019m nothing,\u201d that\u2019s the best way to live because there\u2019s nothing more true than that.
\n\n\n\nNow, although it\u2019s very important to spend a little time every day on this subject of keniah to Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2014as much as possible to try and spend a few minutes a day meditating on His greatness and utilizing that Awareness as a stimulus to keniah\u2014but since it\u2019s a matter of intelligence and thinking it\u2019s not so easy to attain, therefore any kind of stimulant that will actually help you become an anav should be utilized. To be nichna to Hashem is such a valuable achievement that we should grab onto any opportunity that presents itself.
\n\n\n\nSeven Effective Actions
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why in the fourth perek of Sha’ar Hakeniah the mechaber tells us there are seven ways in which a person has to behave as a result of keniah. Now, I say \u2018as a result of\u2019 but really it\u2019s more than that because the more you practice these things the more you will become humble.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s an important rule! \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 A person will be affected according to his actions. And therefore whether you\u2019re a man who is truly humble, or even if you\u2019re not so genuine but you want to be, you can make use of the following practices. And by practicing up with these behaviors as much as possible, they become exercises in humility \u2013 you build up your keniah muscles
\n\n\n\nNow, we won\u2019t have time for all seven and even the ones we discuss need a lot more explanation but we\u2019ll talk about some of the ways that a person can utilize opportunities in daily life in order to activate this middah of keniah \u2013 it\u2019s a good beginning.
\n\n\n\nA Humble Attitude
\n\n\n\nNumber one is \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 the way he deals with and behaves with other people, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d2 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 and how proper is his behavior towards other human beings. It means that a person who doesn\u2019t treat other people right, it\u2019s a sign he\u2019s not nichna to Hakodosh Boruch Hu \u2013 yes, to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nThe Chovos Halevovos quotes the possuk (Tehillim 15:4), \u05e0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e1 \u2014 He considers himself unimportant in his own eyes. It doesn\u2019t mean he is unimportant but in his own eyes, when he knows that he\u2019s standing in front of the vast greatness of Hashem, he automatically feels humbled; and therefore when he deals with people \u2014 no matter who \u2014 he acts like he\u2019s an unimportant person.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if he\u2019s an anav or if he\u2019s trying to activate and exercise his keniah muscles, he won\u2019t get angry at people; he won\u2019t give orders to people. He won\u2019t look down at people; he won\u2019t be stubborn and insist on having his own way. He\u2019s unimportant after all. He’s standing in the Presence of Hashem! All good middos bein adam lachaveiro follow as a result of that. And so he speaks gently to all people. He\u2019s kind. He is mivateir. He becomes a person of good character towards his fellow man.
\n\n\n\nNow that however needs a great deal of explanation \u2014 and it\u2019s worth the explanation \u2014 how a true anav should behave towards other people, towards his wife, his neighbors, towards his employees, towards his employer; in general to people. He\u2019s nichna to everyone because he\u2019s nichna to Hashem. As much as we can, we practice up on being nichna before Hakodosh Boruch Hu in our dealings with other people.
\n\n\n\nAccept Instruction
\n\n\n\nThe second of the forms of behavior which distinguish somebody whois humble before Hashemis \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2 \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 when he encounters chachomim who know the Torah and the ways of the Torah. When he has the opportunity to come in contact with those who are close to Hashem, he behaves towards them with humility and he opens up his ears to their instruction.
\n\n\n\nLike it says (Mishlei 14:19), \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b8\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 the less good ones should lower before the better ones. Before people of higher caliber in knowing Hashem and His ways, he makes himself humble. When he meets people who are superior, he acknowledges it. Whether they\u2019re bigger lamdonim or more pious than him, he\u2019s humbled before them and welcomes guidance from them because he knows that they know what they\u2019re talking about.
\n\n\n\nCritical Daas Torah
\n\n\n\nLet’s say if a tzaddik calls you up and says, \u201cR’ Chaim. I want to talk to you about your behavior.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you don\u2019t say, \u201cMy behavior? What’s the matter?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo, no. If your rebbi is calling you, you have to listen. You lower yourself before him. \u201cYes, Rebbi, please tell me, what is it?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe says \u201cI hear that you’re not polite to your wife. Your wife complains. You go into the kitchen and you stick your nose into the pots and the cabinets and you criticize and you belittle her all the time. What business do you have in the kitchen? Does she go to your store, to the office, and tell you what to do?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo you listen and you say \u201cYes Rebbi, I’m mekabel.\u201d Even if you don\u2019t understand. That’s how you should be. Even though you may not understand what he\u2019s saying, you\u2019re humble towards him.
\n\n\n\nSo if you react favorably, properly to good people, to tzaddikim and talmidei chachomim and you accept what they say, you listen, then that’s a sign you’re an anav. That’s a sign you’re nichna to Hashem because they’re not telling you their own opinion. They’re telling you da’as Torah. They’re telling you the ratzon Hashem.
\n\n\n\nHumble Before Praise
\n\n\n\nA third sign of an anav is that when someone will praise this man with his good qualities, \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u2014 it\u2019s his duty to become humbled as a result. When people praise him for his good middos, when they say \u201cWhat a good character you have,\u201d or \u201cWe hear good things about you,\u201d that itself should be a stimulus towards even more hachna\u2019a. How is that?
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man and they\u2019re praising him; let\u2019s say they make him the guest of honor and they\u2019re praising him. What does he do? He knows in his mind all the things that he once did, things that he still does. \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 And he\u2019s reviewing them in his mind at that moment. And he\u2019s thinking, \u201cHowcan I rejoice just because people are making a mistake in me. I’m sorry, I’m in mourning because Hakodosh Boruch Hu knows the truth. He knows how wrong my deeds are. He knows how I have neglected to pay my obligations to Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nStinging Praise
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important for people when they\u2019re being praised not to be ruined by the praise because it can lead them astray, it could twist their minds and make them think, \u201cLook people are saying it so it\u2019s a sign that it\u2019s true.\u201d No it\u2019s not a sign at all! It\u2019s an opportunity! And therefore when such a time comes he should utilize that opportunity to think just the opposite; what he really knows about himself.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when he\u2019s being praised, on the street, even the littlest praise, right away he\u2019s thinking to himself about his faults that people don\u2019t know about. In his heart he makes himself humbled and he thinks, \u201cDo they know what bad things I did that Hakodosh Boruch Hu helped to conceal from them? He has pity on me and he covered them up so that people shouldn’t know, to give me a chance I should repent.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd he shouldn\u2019t be happy that people have an error in him and think that he\u2019s a good man; instead he should be sad because Hashem does know. And therefore the more people praise him, the more he becomes nichna and humbled. He\u2019s being praised but he\u2019s thinking about how his deeds are wrong and how he neglects to pay his obligations to Hashem for the benefits that he does to him. That’s the third sign of somebody who is nichna to Hashem. Isn’t that beautiful?
\n\n\n\nHumble Before Criticism
\n\n\n\nAnd the fourth \u2013 I wish we had more time together to speak about these exercises at greater length \u2014 the fourth exercise of the Chovos Halevavos is, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05e1\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d2\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 When people speak about your faults, \u05d9\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 you should take that opportunity to humble yourself to the Borei. He should be humbled to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05d8 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 and He should thank Him that at least a little bit was now revealed to him, a little bit of the much more that should have been revealed. Hakodosh Boruch Hu was kind to him and revealed a little something, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05b7\u05e1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 in order to chastise him and criticize him, \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2014 in order that he should turn back to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way an eved Hashem reacts to criticism \u2013 he should be nichna and say, \u201cThis was sent to me in order I should do teshuvah and become better and better.\u201d When somebody speaks against him, somebody criticizes him, people say something against him, they talk loshon hara about him, he should be humble to the Borei and he should thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu that He revealed to these people only a little bit of the truth about him.
\n\n\n\nYour Wife\u2019s Generosity
\n\n\n\nAnd so if somebody says \u201cYou’re a rotten fellow,\u201d revel in that opportunity. It doesn’t mean you have to admit it; you have the right to protect yourself, but you should understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending you a message. Get better. Do teshuvah. Maybe it\u2019s true \u2014 everyone has some rot in them after all.
\n\n\n\nIf you remind yourself that you\u2019re standing in front of Hashem so you\u2019ll thank Him for that. It\u2019s a gift min hashomayim. At least somebody is telling you the truth. Nobody wants to tell you the truth about yourself. Nobody cares about you enough. You can\u2019t find anybody. And here is one person who\u2019s willing to tell you the truth.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if it does happen that you have the good luck that somebody criticizes you \u2014 your wife is probably generous enough to give you some criticism from time to time, you should listen carefully. If your wife tells you you’re no good \u2014 by the way, you should never say it to your husband because the more you tell him he’s no good the worse he becomes. You should always tell your husband how nice he is! But suppose a wife made a mistake and she told you the truth \u201cyou’re no good\u201d, she tells you something wrong about yourself, so don\u2019t just be angry and answer back. Listen! It could be true. You have to say to yourself \u201cBoruch Hashem, she doesn’t know how no good I really am.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAvailable Opportunities
\n\n\n\nNow there are a few more there in the Chovos Halevovos \u2013 you can take a look on your own; it\u2019s perek daled in Shaar Hakeniah \u2013 but we\u2019re out of time and so we\u2019ll have to stop here for tonight. Anyhow, there\u2019s enough here for us to make use of, to practice up as we make our way through this world. These opportunities are available all the time, only that we have to put our heads towards noticing them and making use of them.
\n\n\n\nAnd by means of practicing up these methods whenever the opportunity comes your way and at the same time you\u2019re climbing the mountain of yiras Hashem \u2013 you\u2019re becoming more and more aware of the greatness of the Borei by looking at the remarkable plan and purpose in nature; you look up at the sky all the time and you\u2019re convinced more and more of His greatness \u2014 so little by little, \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 you\u2019re going to ascend this mountain of Awareness of Hashem and begin to climb the mountain of humility as well. And you\u2019ll spend your life climbing to perfection because the closer you get, the more aware you are of Hashem and the more you\u2019re humbled before Him. And the more you are nichna before Hakodosh Boruch Hu, that\u2019s the perfection of Man in this world.
\n\n\n\nNow I\u2019m just beginning my subject. I\u2019m sorry I didn\u2019t even begin. I\u2019m on the first few lines of the subject, but it\u2019s a subject that\u2019s very important. Every day, every day try to improve yourself a little bit more and that\u2019s going to be the way that\u2019ll lead you to the final success, the shleimus for which you were created.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nGaining True Humility
\n\n\n\nThe Torah teaches us that we can never be too humble in the Presence of Hashem. Even the priest must lower himself and perform menial tasks in the house of Hashem. True humility comes from recognizing the greatness of Hashem and our lowliness. This week I will bli neder spend twenty seconds a day contemplating the greatness of creation and its Creator, as a way of attaining Yiras Hashem and Anavah.
\nThe post Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-13T04:16:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-13T04:16:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32637, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tzav-5-lessons-in-humility/", "title": "Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility", "content_html": "TA-Tzav-5782The post Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-13T04:14:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-13T04:14:48+00:00" }, { "id": 32630, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-tzav-5-lessons-in-humility/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility", "content_html": "TA-Tzav-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Tzav 5 – Lessons in Humility appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-13T04:13:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-13T04:14:00+00:00" }, { "id": 32624, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-remembering-to-forget-amalek/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Remembering To Forget Amalek\u00a0", "content_html": "\nQ:
On Shabbos we\u2019re going to lein about\u00a0timcheh es zecher Amalek,\u00a0about erasing the remembrance of Amalek. But if we are always trying to remember to forget Amalek, how are we going to finally do it? Wouldn’t it be better if we\u00a0wouldn’t have written about Amalek and we would have forgotten about them by now?\u00a0
A:
To erase the memory of Amalek is not something that’s done by ignoring it, because the Torah wants us to erase Amalek by acts. It\u2019s the act and the attitude of mind that matters.
I’ll explain that. Just to forget Amalek is a neglect of the subject; it means you\u2019re turning the mind away from the subject. But Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t want you to do that. He wants you to put your mind on Amalek. He wants you to have thoughts of fighting Amalek and erasing Amalek. Your intention should be to erase the memory of Amalek, but you erase it by acts, by maasim, not by hesech hadaas and turning your thoughts away.
And the reason for that is because it’s not merely the lack of Amalek that’s important. The failure to think about Amalek, that’s not the achievement. The achievement is the positive attitude of being an enemy of the sonei Hashem. We have to realize that being an enemy of those who hate Hashem is a perfection of the mind. And you don’t get that perfection by just having an empty mind.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 445
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Remembering To Forget Amalek\u00a0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-11T17:01:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-11T17:01:42+00:00" }, { "id": 32621, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-46/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 46", "content_html": "\nA declaration and a prayer; we declare that\u00a0all the living\u00a0are obligated to thank You, and at the same time we pray that all men come to recognize the\u00a0true purpose of life\u00a0to thank You, Hashem, forever.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05d0\u05de\u05ea
AND THEY SHOULD PRAISE YOUR NAME IN TRUTH
‘\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc’\u00a0\u2013 we must go wild with Your praise. But\u00a0\u2018in truth\u2019; we must study and see Your great and kindly hand bestowing unlimited kindnesses, upon all of mankind, and specifically upon each and every one of us.
\u00a0
\u05d4\u05d0-\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4
O G-D WHO IS OUR SALVATION AND HELP FOREVER
You alone are the Powerful G-d; and You dedicate Your Power solely for our \u201csalvation and help\u201d, for the sole purpose of kindliness; kindliness that knows no end \u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u05e1\u05dc\u05d4, forever and ever.
\u00a0
\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e9\u05de\u05da
BLESSED ARE YOU HASHEM THAT YOUR NAME IS GOOD
The goodness and the kindliness that we see and that we hear in nature and in Your deeds are all\u00a0Your name, all testifying that You alone are the true Good.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 46 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-11T16:53:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-11T16:53:39+00:00" }, { "id": 32618, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-26/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 26", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-26The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 26 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-10T22:52:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-10T22:52:53+00:00" }, { "id": 32612, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%99%d7%94%d7%9c%d7%9c%d7%95-%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%a4/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d9: \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5, \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, \u05ea\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8", "content_html": "image.pngThe post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d9: \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05de\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5, \u05de\u05dc\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, \u05ea\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-10T22:28:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-10T22:28:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32608, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e9\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\nThe goodness and the kindliness that we see and that we hear in nature and in Your deeds are\u00a0Your name, all testifying that You alone are the true Good.\u00a0\u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e9\u05de\u05da, all the good is Your name; whatever good that can be found in the world, even the goodness of men, is caused solely by You, Hashem.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05e9\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-10T22:19:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-10T22:19:10+00:00" }, { "id": 9557, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-adar-happiness/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Adar Happiness", "content_html": "\nQ:
\u05de\u05e9\u05e0\u05db\u05e0\u05e1 \u05d0\u05d3\u05e8 \u05de\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u2013 When the Adar comes in we try to make more simcha. What does that mean?
A:
\n\n\n\nI\u00a0want you to understand that it\u2019s not difficult at all. We have within us a fountain of simcha because when Hashem blew into a man the neshama, He also blew in a fountain of simcha \u2013 an endless fountain of happiness. And all you need is to turn on the faucet and it starts pouring out. It\u2019s remarkable how much joy there is in a human heart. Of course, you have to be a good plumber because sometimes it\u2019s plugged up. But if you know how to unplug it, you\u2019ll understand to look at the sunlight and say, \u201c\u05d5\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05e7 \u05d4\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8.\u00a0How sweet is the sunlight!\u201d and you enjoy it; you become happy with the sunlight. Imagine that! Happy with sunlight!
So all year round you\u2019re busy with all kinds of things, but in Adar, you take a little extra time to look at the sun and you become\u00a0\u05de\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, full of happiness. It says: \u05d5\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05e7 \u05d4\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u2013\u00a0How sweet is the light,\u00a0\u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e8\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05de\u05e9 \u2013\u00a0How good it is to see the sunlight\u00a0(Koheles 11:7).
Now, once you start practicing you\u2019ll be amazed how much happiness you have in your heart. When you walk outside and breathe the air, even cold air, it\u2019s a happiness. It\u2019s good, clean air, and the cold helps clean the air; it makes it free of germs. When you breathe it in, you\u2019re so happy. It comes into your lungs, it invigorates you and it\u00a0makes your blood become more red;\u00a0and you\u2019re so happy. And so, \u05de\u05e9\u05e0\u05db\u05e0\u05e1 \u05d0\u05d3\u05e8 \u05de\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, \u201cI\u2019m so happy I\u2019m breathing!\u201d
In the yeshiva they used to say that the biggest simcha, of course, is Torah: \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u05db\u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05ea \u05d4\u05e1\u05e4\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 There\u2019s no happiness greater than clarifying Torah concepts, and so when you learn more in Adar, when you\u2019re succeeding in your learning, that\u2019s the biggest simcha of all.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 999 (February 1995)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Adar Happiness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-10T10:59:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-10T22:29:32+00:00" }, { "id": 32604, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%94%d7%90-%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%aa%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%96%d7%a8%d7%aa%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%a1%d7%9c%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d4\u05d0-\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4", "content_html": "\n\u05d4\u05d0-\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4
O G-D WHO IS OUR SALVATION AND HELP FOREVER
Hashem alone is G-d, meaning the Powerful; and all of His Power He dedicates solely for our \u201csalvation and help\u201d, for the sole purpose of kindliness.
\n\n\n\nHashem is\u00a0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5, from the word\u00a0\u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2\u00a0(Breishis 4:4), which connotes Hashem\u2019s constant attention upon us. And He is\u00a0\u05e2\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5, from the word\u00a0\u05e2\u05d6, for He provides us with strength every moment of our lives,\u00a0\u05e1\u05dc\u05d4, forever and ever.
\nThe post \u05d4\u05d0-\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05e2\u05d6\u05e8\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-09T23:12:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-09T23:12:46+00:00" }, { "id": 32600, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%99%d7%94%d7%9c%d7%9c%d7%95-%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9a-%d7%91%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%aa/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05d0\u05de\u05ea", "content_html": "\n‘\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc’\u00a0denotes enthusiastic praise. We must go wild with praise to Hashem \u2013 but we must do it\u00a0\u2018in truth\u2019. This requires that we set aside time to study our lives and recognize the kindnesses of Hashem, both that He bestows upon all men, and that He bestows specifically upon us. And, of course, we must always keep in front of our eyes that all of the benefits and kindliness that we see are all straight from Hashem, despite all the intermediaries and apparent causes that attempt to conceal His great and kindly hand.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05d0\u05de\u05ea appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-09T23:11:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-09T23:11:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32590, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tzedaka-for-resettling-jews/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Tzedaka For Resettling Jews", "content_html": "\nQ:
I know that the Rav says about the UJA that it’s treif and it\u2019s a waste to give them money but people are saying that when it comes to resettling the Russians refugees the UJA is the only one that has the koach to help them?
A:
Question: Should we help the UJA in the resettling of Russian Jews?
The Agudas Yisroel has a big fund for that too. So give to the Agudas Yisroel. They can\u00a0use your money \u2013 they’re helping the Russian Jews too. You don’t need the UJA.
And the Agudah does it in a much better way than anybody else does it. I’m not saying that the Agudah is the very best organization,\u00a0I’m not saying that. But they certainly can use that money better than the UJA people can use it. No question about that.
TAPE # 792 (July 1990)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Tzedaka For Resettling Jews appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-09T22:22:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-09T22:23:17+00:00" }, { "id": 32567, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%90-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-08T04:09:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-08T04:09:04+00:00" }, { "id": 32565, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%94%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%99%d7%95%d7%93%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%a1%d7%9c%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d5\u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05da \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4", "content_html": "\n\u201cAll the living should thank\u201d \u2013 this is both a declaration and a prayer; we declare that all the living are obligated to thank Hashem, and at the same time we pray that the eyes of all men be opened to recognize the truth so that they thank Hashem forever.
\n\n\n\nWe say \u201call the living\u201d, for it is the obligation of all the living, and it is the true purpose of life, to thank and praise Hashem every day and every moment,\u00a0forever.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05da \u05e1\u05dc\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-07T16:44:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-07T16:44:59+00:00" }, { "id": 32561, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-everyone-a-lamdan/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Everyone A Lamdan", "content_html": "\nQ:
It states that when a man comes to the next world, they’re going to ask him, \u201cPilpata bechochmah?\u00a0Did you engage in pilpul of chochmah, in discussing the fine points of Torah wisdom?\u201d
Does that mean everyone is going to be asked that question?
A:
\n\n\n\nYou have to know that this question is going to be asked of every ignoramus. Every am ha’aretz will have to answer that question. And that\u2019s because every man has the opportunity to become something.
\n\n\n\nNow, women who didn’t learn pilpul of Torah will be asked, \u201cDid you see to it that your husband studied enough to be capable of answering such questions?\u201d She has to spur her husband to continue to make progress in learning. And every man should feel that he has to be capable of understanding things more and more deeply. Now,\u00a0of course there’s no end to how much Torah you could learn but at least to make steps in that direction; everybody should make steps.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nSo therefore when the time will come when you will be asked before the great tribunal of heaven, \u201cPilpalta bechochmah?\u00a0Did you discuss fine points in Talmud learning?\u201d so you’ll say, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu, I must admit I wasn’t able to do that but I was on the way already.\u00a0 If You had let me live a little longer, I might have made it.\u00a0 Let’s say fifty more years, sixty more years, so I might have made it. It could be I would have made it.\u201d But if you didn’t make the first step in that direction then you have no alibi.\u00a0 If you’re going in the opposite direction surely you have no alibi.\u00a0 So only people who are attempting to learn will be able to answer that question.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 750
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Everyone A Lamdan appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-07T16:43:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-07T16:43:08+00:00" }, { "id": 32556, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-07T03:56:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-09T22:35:37+00:00" }, { "id": 32551, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-curse-of-leisure-time/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Curse of Leisure Time", "content_html": "\nQ:
Isn\u2019t the added leisure time in modern society a sign that generations are improving because it means Hashem trusts us to do better things with our free time?
A:
Isn\u2019t the fact that we have more leisure time today a sign min hashomayim that we\u2019re better because it means that we\u2019re more capable of using our leisure time?
And the answer is \u2013 now you might condemn me for these words but I\u2019m not going to back out no matter what you think. I\u2019ll tell you anyhow. I say it was a big mistake when they started instituting limited hours for laborers. It was an error because all they did was to slow down to production. America was once the leader in the world\u2019s industry. Today, America is being shouldered out by other countries.
\n\n\n\nYou know that Japan is flooding America with products. Just look at the tape recorders wherever you are. They\u2019re all Japanese; which means millions of Americans are deprived of opportunities because of that. And because of everything else that\u2019s also being manufactured abroad.
\n\n\n\nThe same thing happened in Great Britain; in England they made that tragic mistake. They tied themselves up because it was a trade union government that gave so many privileges for the workers that they slowed down their production and today England is one of the worst producers. And they\u2019re being shouldered out.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, the fact that it happened doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a good thing. The fact is that when a man comes home early from work and he has a lot of legal holidays, there\u2019s more time for him to injure himself. He\u2019ll look for unlawful pleasures.
\n\n\n\nI remember the good old days when people came back Saturday late from work. The gentile workman came back late Saturday from work. He had his pay with him and he came back late. He went into his home, he ate supper, got drunk, fell asleep and he woke up in the morning and he went to church. And Monday morning he was back on the job. Legal holidays were very few. Very few legal holidays. In those days, they didn\u2019t have Veteran\u2019s Day yet. They didn\u2019t have a lot of these days that were instituted later. And it was better for them. They lived much longer. They had less heart failures. You have to know when a man works, work is a prophylactic. Work is vitamins. Work is a lifesaver. You don\u2019t realize. \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d4. Melacha, work is a lifesaver for people.
\n\n\n\nBut of course what I\u2019m saying is not the modern idea and therefore people will condemn me for that; but I say it anyhow. I say it\u2019s a big mistake. And I repeat what I always say, that every time there\u2019s a legal holiday a thousand more gentiles get killed on the highways who would have lived had it not been a legal holiday. Because there\u2019s more opportunity, more leisure time, to commit mayhem on each other; more speeding on the highways and more collisions. There\u2019s more opportunity to go to low places, to dives, and to experience narcotics.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, it\u2019s the same story. Leisure is not good; it\u2019s a curse.
\n\n\n\nWhy is Hashem giving it to us? Because it\u2019s a punishment. It\u2019s a punishment! Pay attention to that. And we\u2019re suffering the results of leisure. We\u2019re suffering very much. It would be a great blessing if we became once more an industrious and frugal nation like we were in the olden days. Then we\u2019d be healthier and more moral. People turn to wickedness, to immorality only because of leisure time. \u05d4\u05d1\u05d8\u05dc\u05d4 \u05de\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 \u2013 leisure brings to immorality.
\n\n\n\nOf course, the frum Jews benefit. The more leisure they have \u2013 from the frum Jew, that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be \u2013 the more they can go to shul, the more they can learn. So there is a benefit there. And it could be that\u2019s one of the factors, it happened for the sake of the frummeh; but it\u2019s not enough because even the frummeh are enjoying the leisure in ways that are not entirely intended by Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, don\u2019t think it\u2019s a blessing.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 269
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Curse of Leisure Time appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T20:17:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T20:17:34+00:00" }, { "id": 32547, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-negel-vasser-and-kohanim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Negel Vasser and Kohanim", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is\u00a0it a good thing to wash my hands in the morning, negel vasser, right next to my bed?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, that you should do it as close to the bed as is practically possible. And let me tell you why. Because the Rashba says that negel vasser is for the purpose of showing that we are kohanei Hashem. And by the kohanim it says, \u05d5\u05e8\u05d7\u05e6\u05d5 \u2026 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05d4\u05dd \u05d1\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4\u05dc \u05de\u05d5\u05e2\u05d3 (Pikudei 40:31-32). Before coming in to serve Hashem the kohanim washed their hands as a preparation for this important opportunity.
\n\n\n\nIn the morning, we\u2019re getting up in order to serve Hashem all day long. That\u2019s the lesson. Washing your hands when you wake up means that you\u2019re getting yourself ready to serve Hashem. You are a kohen Hashem all day long. So as soon as you get up, at your earliest opportunity, you wash your hands to prepare yourself for His service. That\u2019s a tremendous lesson, that we\u2019re in this world to serve Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, as you wash your hands don\u2019t just do it without thinking. Think, say, \u201cI am doing this now because I am a kohen. Hashem has appointed us as the \u05de\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05ea \u05db\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9.\u201d Our entire lives are dedicated to serving Hashem. Whether you\u2019re in the kitchen cooking or you\u2019re washing diapers. Whether you\u2019re working in the office or shopping in the grocery store. Besides your davening and learning, you should know that whatever else you do is all part of serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You\u2019re an eved ne\u2019eman and you\u2019re a kohen, and therefore the washing of the hands is a very important symbol. And it should be utilized to make us aware of our status as kohanei Hashem. Don\u2019t waste that opportunity that you have every morning. It\u2019s a glorious opportunity for greatness that most people are wasting.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-167 (November 1998)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Negel Vasser and Kohanim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T20:10:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T20:10:18+00:00" }, { "id": 32542, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-seek-a-wife/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Seek A Wife", "content_html": "\nQ:
What qualities should one seek when looking for a wife?
A:
Now, I only looked once so I am not an expert but I\u2019ll tell you what I think. First of all, you have to find somebody who is physically and mentally healthy. That\u2019s number one. Of course if you yourself are not physically or mentally healthy then you have to lower your price a little bit; but if you are then that is number one.
Secondly, you need someone who shares your ideals. If you want to be an observant Torah Jew then she has to be the same or at least willing. Now, I don\u2019t approve of marrying with the intention of reforming someone; reforming should be done before marriage. You have to strike while the iron is hot; while there is still romance that\u2019s when you can try to change the person. If you will postpone changing until after marriage, you are going to be disappointed because once you are married romance flies out of the window. And so that is an important requirement; your future partner must share your ideals.
\n\n\n\nThen we have to look for character. Character, although it is very important but it\u2019s not the first thing. Because what good is good character if she is ill mentally or physically? And therefore it\u2019s only after the first two requirements then you have to try to discover the middos. And this you will never discover, you will never know. Because love is blind and men don\u2019t know anything about women.
\n\n\n\nIf you have a grandmother, take her along to look at your kallah. She is not in love with the kallah; she looks at her with clear eyes and she is the very best to be judge. Your mother perhaps is prejudiced against you taking anybody but your grandmother is more charitable; she is willing to allow her grandson to get married but still she has clear eyes. It is important to have women pass judgment on a woman. Because you will never know. Now it doesn\u2019t mean that they will know either but they will know more than you do.
\n\n\n\nNow, after she has passed all these hurdles then she is already a good candidate.
\n\n\n\nOf course if you have two that have fulfilled all the requirements and one comes from a frum family too, then of course a frum family is better than not a frum family.
\n\n\n\nIf one has brothers who have good heads, baalei kishronos, that is a big thing because you want to have children who are not dumb. If you have stupid children you will have trouble in the yeshivos with them; could be they\u2019ll be discouraged and unambitious children. So \u05d9\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05e7 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d7\u05d9\u05d4 – examine her brothers. But that is after the previous requirements are fulfilled.
\n\n\n\nNow, \u2018looks\u2019 are at the bottom of the list. Most people will never concede that fact but \u05e9\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d7\u05df \u05d5\u05d4\u05d1\u05dc \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9. You shouldn\u2019t forget this great principle that graciousness and beauty is just a falsehood. Men are inexperienced; they don\u2019t realize how much preparation there was beforehand to make the curl look exactly this way. That little curl that snagged his heart, he doesn\u2019t realize that he will see her the day after the marriage without that curl \u2013 she is not ready yet because it takes three hours to make it. So it is a pity that people go lost because of such superficialities.
\n\n\n\nHowever, suppose you have two that have both all qualities and one appeals to you more, then naturally you take the one that appeals more, certainly. But it certainly is not the number one requirement.
\n\n\n\nNow there are more things, but it is enough. I think I did a big favor to you, so be satisfied with that.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 405
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Seek A Wife appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T20:01:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T20:05:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32539, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-repetition-makes-perfect/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Repetition Makes Perfect", "content_html": "\nIn Tefillah, we repeat the same words, day after day, over and over again. The reason for this repetition is in order for us to become more aware of the great truths that we are saying, and get closer and closer to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThe Chovos Halevavos says, \u201cYour mind follows your words\u201d (Sha\u2019ar Cheshbon Hanefesh, Cheshbon 9). Each time you say these great truths, you\u2019re making it more and more real to yourself, and you\u2019re making yourself more and more an\u00a0\u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05e9\u05dc\u05dd, a perfect, complete, whole person.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Repetition Makes Perfect appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T19:47:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T19:47:29+00:00" }, { "id": 32537, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-45/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 45", "content_html": "\n\u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da
BLESSED AND ELEVATED SHOULD BE YOUR NAME
Not only will we ourselves bless and elevate Your name, but we will ensure that Your name be blessed and elevated by all our future generations, and by all of mankind as well.
\u00a0
\u05e9\u05de\u05da
YOUR NAME
Although\u00a0You Yourself\u00a0we cannot know in this world, but\u00a0Your name\u00a0we can perceive and know through Your great and kindly creations and deeds.
\u00a0
\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5
OUR KING
‘\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5’, \u2018our\u00a0King\u2019 Who rules over the entire Universe with ultimate Power and \u2018Wisdom\u2019\u00a0(from the Aramaic word\u00a0\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d0, council); and \u2018our King\u2019, for all of Your Wisdom and Power is especially directed upon us alone.
\u00a0
\u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3
ALWAYS FOREVER AND EVER
\u2018Always\u2019, all day long,\u00a0and \u2018forever and ever\u2019, all the days of our life and the lives of our children forever, for Your kindnesses are limitless and forever, and all are for the purpose of bestowing upon us Olam Haba forever and ever.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 45 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T19:42:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T19:42:52+00:00" }, { "id": 32534, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%aa%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%93-%d7%9c%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%93/", "title": "\u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3", "content_html": "\n\u2018Always\u2019, for all day long we must be constantly busy blessing and elevating the name of Hashem. And \u2018forever and ever\u2019, for we cannot possibly express the great praise for all of Hashem\u2019s kindnesses, not even in a million years; His kindnesses are limitless, and they are all for the purpose of bestowing upon us the everlasting kindness of Olam Haba. Thus, we pledge to bless and elevate the name of Hashem\u00a0forever and ever, all the days of our life, as well the lives of our children and their children forever.
\nThe post \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T19:41:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T19:41:53+00:00" }, { "id": 32529, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-vayikra-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Vayikra", "content_html": "\n\u201cHey, look at all those cool airplanes!\u201d exclaimed Dovid from the back seat.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah, it looks like there\u2019s some kind of air show going on!\u201d Moishy added. \u201cTotty can we please stop and watch?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty glanced at the clock in the car. \u201cSure, we have some time,\u201d he said.
\n\n\n\nThe Friedmans pulled into the parking lot of Spirit of St. Louis Airport and followed the crowd towards the area where the event was being held. There were all types of aircraft there, small planes, big planes, helicopters, and even a blimp!
\n\n\n\nAt the center was a large stage with a helicopter on it.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHey, isn\u2019t that Tzadok Hatzadik from Toras Avigdor Junior?\u201d said Dovid.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut I thought he lives in Eretz Yisroel,\u201d wondered Moishy.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoys,\u201d Totty began. \u201cI don\u2019t think Tzadok Hatzadik is a real person\u2026\u201d Totty\u2019s voice trailed off as he saw Tzadok. \u201cWow, that does look like him!\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it looks like he\u2019s missing half his beard again!\u201d he added.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLadies and gentlemen,\u201d came the announcer\u2019s voice over the loudspeaker. \u201cWe have a guest from Israel who has come to present what he says is the greatest invention in aviation history! Please welcome – um – Zaddoke Hazadeek!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok stepped up to the podium. \u201cTenk you,\u201d he said in a heavy Israeli accent. \u201cMy invention may look like a plain old helicopter, but it actually can fly all by eetself – look, I vill show you!\u201d Tzadok held up a remote control in his hand.
\n\n\n\n\u201cUh, Zaddoke,\u201d interrupted the announcer. \u201cAre you sure this is safe to demonstrate in front of this large crowd?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d Tzadok answered with a wave of his hand. \u201cI have put many segulot into the helicopter so dat it cannot crash. I even put hairs from Bilaam\u2019s donkey inside ze engine!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWait,\u201d said the announcer as Tzadok started pushing buttons on the remote. \u201cWhat happened to the tail rotor on the back of the helicopter?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh. Dat.\u201d Tzadok said abruptly. \u201cVen I vas testing the helicopter I didn\u2019t to realize dat ze tail rotor vas spinning and I valked into it and it took off heff my beard, so I remove it! Who need it ven ve hev ze big rotor on top of ze helicopter?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, don\u2019t!\u201d cried the announcer, but it was too late – Tzadok hit the big red button on the remote, the helicopter\u2019s rotor spun up and the aircraft started spinning out of control. People screamed and ran for cover as the wild machine flipped on its side and crashed into the stage, sending helicopter parts flying everywhere.
\n\n\n\nTzadok stood alone next to the stage in shock as his new \u201cinvention\u201d lay there in pieces. But then he noticed the Friedmans and ran over excitedly. \u201c\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea?\u200f (do you speak Hebrew?)\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\nTotty smiled and nodded.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image.png?resize=633%2C809&ssl=1\")
\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see frum Jews here!\u201d Tzadok gushed in rapid Hebrew. \u201cI really need money to repair my helicopter. Can I sell you some segulot? I have a bone from one of the cows in Paraoh\u2019s dream – it will make you rich!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo thank you,\u201d said Totty politely.
\n\n\n\nJust then Dovid opened his water bottle to take a drink. As he lifted the bottle to his mouth, Totty said \u201cdon\u2019t forget to make a brocha, Dovid! And when you do, remember to think about how thankful we are to Hashem for providing us with fresh water to quench our thirst!\u201d
\n\n\n\nAs Dovid slowly made a brocha with kavanah and took a drink, Tzadok turned to Totty again.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is a young boy. He\u2019s not Bar Mitzvah yet. Why is it so important that he make a brocha with kavanah?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d Totty said. \u201cYou know in this week\u2019s Parsha the Torah specifies that small pieces of wood should be put on the Mizbeiach and then the larger pieces. Lighting the smaller pieces first is necessary for the larger pieces to catch fire. And we also learn from this that we need to start working on serving Hashem from the youngest possible age, to light the fire in our Neshama when we are young so it can light even larger fires in our minds as we get older. That is why we teach our children to serve Hashem in the highest possible way even before they are Bar Mitzvah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Tzadok, I think there\u2019s a lesson for you too here. You may have thought that only the large rotor on the helicopter was important. But as you see, the helicopter needed the smaller rotor as well, and without it, the whole thing spun out of control. So too, just like the small wood on the Mizbeiach, even the younger members of Klal Yisroel are crucial to our Nation\u2019s success, as Chazal said \u201c\u05d5\u05de\u05ea\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd – I learned more from my students than even my Rebbeim and friends.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then a loud explosion was heard as pieces of the helicopter struck a large barrel of jet fuel, resulting in a huge explosion. Everyone was in shock.
\n\n\n\nTo be continued\u2026
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Vayikra appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T05:24:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T05:24:56+00:00" }, { "id": 32518, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayikra-5-the-precious-mind-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind", "content_html": "Learning From the Insane
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll begin tonight\u2019s subject with a short introduction. It\u2019s just an anecdote but I think it\u2019s an important preface to the subject.
\n\n\n\nI was once in my home late at night \u2013 I was in my pajamas already \u2013 and the phone rang. It was somebody important and he asked me to go visit somebody, a talmid of the yeshiva who unfortunately had lost his mind and was in an insane asylum. I had never been to an insane asylum before \u2013 today you can walk the streets in New York and it\u2019s almost the same as if you visited Bellevue. But this important person said it was an emergency and that I should go right away.
\n\n\n\nAnd so I went. It was after visiting hours, and they gave me a big strong guard as high as the ceiling to go with me, to protect me. I came into the room and three hundred meshugaim are sitting and looking at me; they were laughing at me. I had a beard. In those days nobody had beards. Today, meshugaim also wear beards but in those days it was a rarity. Anyhow, I met with this bochur and we spoke. After a short while I had to leave. Now, I can\u2019t say that I recommend it to everyone \u2013 but it most definitely pays to make a visit to an insane asylum. It was an enlightening experience for myself. When I walked out, I realized that I possessed something. I possess a mind!
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the introduction. You possess a mind!
\n\n\n\nThe Parade of Body Parts
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah we read about the korban olah. Now we spoke here once about the mitzvah of nituach; \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05d7\u05b6\u05d9\u05d4\u05b8 \u2013 And cut it into its pieces (Vayikra 1:6). After the animal was slaughtered, the kohanim dismembered it into separate limbs. And the Mishna (Tamid 4:3) describes how the kohanim lined up in a procession, like in a parade, to bring up to the mizbeach the various parts of the korban olah: \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 All of the kohanim were standing in a row with the limbs in their hands.
\n\n\n\nAnd we explained that one of the purposes of the korban olah was to express our gratitude to Hashem for the parts of the body that He gave us. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful that You gave me an arm that actually I should be offering up one of my arms on the mizbeach to You.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAfter all that would be the most sensible thing. You gave me two arms for forty years already. I used them happily every day so now I\u2019ll express my gratitude to You by returning one of them. Let\u2019s say I lend you my car, and you\u2019re riding around in my car, enjoying yourself for a couple of days, and then I say, \u201cMy friend, can you please give me back my car tomorrow?\u201d So are you going to say, \u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018Give back the car?! I don\u2019t want to give it back.\u201d Of course you give it back. And you say \u201cthank you\u201d too.
\n\n\n\nSo we should return our arms, why not? Only that Hashem is kind to us and He says, \u201cDon\u2019t do anything to yourself. Don\u2019t cut yourself. Live happily. Keep all of your limbs till you\u2019re 120.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut something we have to do! Something we have to do to remind ourselves! And that was the korban olah.
\n\n\n\nLeading the Parade
\n\n\n\nNow, the first part of the body in that parade of limbs was the head. The possuk says \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05b8\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 And the kohanim placed the head \u2026 onto the fire of the altar (ibid. 1:8) and the Mishna (ibid.) learns from there that \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 the first kohen in line carried the head. And that was a great lesson for the Am Yisroel; your head, your mind, that\u2019s number one. What\u2019s the first thing you have to be grateful for? Your sanity, your intelligence, your ability to think.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a big chiddush to us. There’s a weakness in mankind; we are under the assumption that our ability to think is inherent in ourselves. My mind, that\u2019s my identity! It doesn’t even occur to us that our intelligence is something outside of us; a gift that’s being bestowed on us that requires our gratitude.
\n\n\n\nThe Unique Introduction
\n\n\n\nNow, if you come here probably you\u2019ve heard this before but I\u2019ll repeat it again for our new customers. If you look at the weekdays brachos in the shemone esrei, the middle brachos of gratitude and supplication, you’ll see that they don\u2019t begin with declarations. They are all supplications and right away we get down to the business of asking. For instance, \u05d4\u05b2\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Turn us back to Your Torah. \u05e1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Forgive us. \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b0\u05d9\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Pay attention to our troubles. And so on, \u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, Heal us, \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, Bless us. They all begin with entreaty.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s one exception however. When we come to the first bracha in the parade of brachos; the supplication for wisdom and knowledge, we see that it begins in an unusual way; it begins with a statement, a declaration: \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2014 You bestow upon a man intelligence. Later, right afterwards, we move onto making an entreaty like all the other brachos: \u05d7\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 favor us \u05d3\u05b5\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc \u2013 with different forms of knowledge and wisdom. But unlike the other brachos it starts off with a statement of fact: \u201cYou give us our daas.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to first get clear in our heads that there’s nothing haphazard in these brachos. The Anshei Knesses Hagedolah who arranged the tefillos were men of the greatest perspicacity and every word was weighed and discussed before it was passed by a great assemblage of sages. And therefore it’s not just by accident that one bracha has a certain expression and another one doesn’t. It\u2019s certainly conveying to us an important idea.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have a right \u2013 actually an obligation \u2013 to ask such a question: Why does this bracha, the bracha when we request daas, begin with a declaration, \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05df \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u2013 \u201cYou are the One that favors man with knowledge\u201d.
\n\n\n\nHe Gives Us That Too?!
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that all the other things we need from Hakodosh Boruch Hu can more easily be recognized. For instance, everybody knows that mankind is weak and that we have to be brought back to the Torah. So we get down to business right away and say Hashiveinu, bring us back. We don’t need any declaration.
\n\n\n\nS\u2019lach lanu \u2014 Forgive us. There\u2019s no preface needed for that. We know that we are sinners. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05d8\u05b8\u05d0 (Koheles 7:20). And so we can jump right into it and ask His forgiveness without any declarations of fact. \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b0\u05d9\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Look in our affliction. This we know that we are afflicted; we know very well that we need His help. We don’t need any declaration. And so on, all the brachos.
\n\n\n\nDeclaration of Daas
\n\n\n\nBut when it comes to daas people are generally unaware that it\u2019s a commodity that’s constantly being supplied to them. Men consider their intellect, their intelligence as inalienable, an inseparable part of their personality. As a matter of course I have a mind. \u201cI am my intelligence.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when it comes to this subject it requires first a clarification. It\u2019s necessary to declare beforehand to ourselves that all consciousness is a gift. And so we say, \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b5\u05df \u2013 It\u2019s You Who gives us our minds! We\u2019re not going to be fooled like the unthinking masses. We\u2019re going to practice up three times a day, realizing that something has been given to us. And who is the Giver? Atah! Atah! You are the One who bestowed upon us. Any function of the mind comes directly only from You!
\n\n\n\nThe Ten Percenters
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us now to the great necessity of thanking Hashem that we\u2019re not in the insane asylum. Don’t underestimate that. You know, 10% of the world’s population is insane. I’m not talking about people who have idiosyncrasies, eccentricities; no. I’m talking about plain insanity. Don’t we see people lo aleinu v\u2019lo aleichem, who are born without daas? And we see people who do have daas, but in certain areas their minds don’t function. And if you’re not one of them, then you have a very great debt of gratitude. The fact that 90% of the world is able to function, that doesn’t absolve you from your obligation.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important to always remind ourselves of that. \u201cRibono Shel Olam, we admit that if it were not for You, then we would be \u2014 we wouldn\u2019t even be gibbering idiots, people who have to be confined in a padded cell. If not for You we would be lying flat on the ground like a stone. We wouldn’t even know how to raise a finger. We thank You that we are not idiots. We thank You that we are not in a straitjacket.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe thank You that we’re able to walk in the streets without suspecting that every person is attempting our life. We thank You that we are able to live without imagining that we have every disease.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Misery of Illness
\n\n\n\nI once met a man, a hypochondriac; a man who was otherwise successful, but he was so unfortunate because he thought he was suffering from a serious disease. So I called up his physician and he told me, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with him; he’s a hypochondriac.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut he made his life so miserable because of his imaginary disease that his wife left him and she finally divorced him. His children moved away from him. I don’t know what happened to him; he couldn’t have lived long because he was suffering terribly. \u201cRabbi Miller,\u201d he said, \u201cI’m suffering acutely. Whether it’s true or not, but I’m suffering.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so when we have normal daas \u2013 pretty normal at least \u2013 we have to appreciate this as one of the very greatest gifts that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives. The ability of the mind to function is one of the greatest of gifts and it obligates us \u2013 we\u2019re up to our ears in debt just because of our brains.
\n\n\n\nRav Miller\u2019s Style
\n\n\n\nNow, if you tell people outside what you heard now, it will mean nothing to them. \u201cIt\u2019s just Rabbi Miller\u2019s style\u201d they say. And so before we proceed, we’ll listen to the words of the Chovos Halevovos \u2013 you have to learn that this is Chovos Halevovos style, it\u2019s Torah style. And I don\u2019t care who tells you no and no and no, the Torah tells you yes and yes and yes.
\n\n\n\nIn Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh the Chovos Halevovos gives us thirty subjects for homework; thirty things that we have to think about if we want to fulfill our obligations as servants of Hashem. He calls it thirty cheshbonos. And the third cheshbon on the list is \u2013 I’ll just say it in translation \u2013 \u201cThe third cheshbon is how a person must make a consideration with himself, how great is the benefit of Hashem that He bestowed upon him intelligence.\u201d
\n\n\n\nChange Your Tefillah
\n\n\n\nNow, if this great author chose just thirty subjects and number three is this one \u2013 it’s not talking about anything else, just sanity \u2013 then we begin to understand how big of an obligation it is. The Chovos Halevavos is telling you that if you want to serve Hashem at a minimum level, you must spend some time thinking about the gift of a mind.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLet a man think,\u201d the Chovos Halevavos continues, \u201csuppose he was bereft of his intelligence. Suppose he was walking around in a blank; he couldn’t function at all. And somebody came along, a specialist who was able to open up his skull and to insert a functioning brain. How much would he owe this man?! How great would be his gratitude towards his benefactor?! Would even all the days of his life be sufficient to spend in the thanks to this benefactor?\u201d
\n\n\n\nI’m not talking about a genius, something brilliant; he\u2019s talking about the gift of minimum intelligence. And three times a day you are expected to have that in mind. So that’s going to change our shemone esrei from now on. Now we will have something to think about when we say these words.
\n\n\n\nThe Billion Dollar Gift
\n\n\n\nHowever, if we are going to remain just on the level of appreciating that we\u2019re not lunatics, that Hashem gave us ordinary intelligence, we are not fulfilling the purpose. Recognizing that great gift of sanity is very big \u2013 it\u2019s so important that\u2019s why I recommended going to visit an insane asylum \u2013 but it\u2019s only the beginning. I’ll explain this to you.
\n\n\n\nSuppose you have a rich uncle and this uncle wants to give you a gift. And so he goes out shopping and he wants to spend a few billion dollars on you. So he goes let’s say to Harvard and he sees they have a mechanical brain there. It’s a very big object; it\u2019s beeping and it has wires running in all different directions and it can do all types of calculations.
\n\n\n\nAnd he speaks to the president there, \u201cWould you like to sell this thing here?\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe says, \u201cOur mechanical brain? What do you need it for?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI have a nephew. I want to give him a present.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo the president thinks it over and he says, \u201cWell, to tell you the truth, we already used it a good deal; it’s not new anymore and we’re thinking of getting a new one anyhow so we’ll give you a big reduction and we’ll sell it to you for four billion dollars.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so your uncle parts with the money. What wouldn\u2019t he do for his nephew?
\n\n\n\nFree Delivery
\n\n\n\nAnd so he rents a special truck and he gets an exclusive license from the highways department because you can’t drive such a truck on the highway. It’s a truck that has tires as huge as let’s say a tank and it\u2019s pulling this big contraption. They have to take down bridges and telegraph poles in order that it should be able to pass through.
\n\n\n\nAnd finally the day comes when you see in front of your house the sidewalk is being broken by a huge contraption. The street is broken down from the weight of this tremendous machine. And now it’s yours.
\n\n\n\nNow, imagine you’re a man who once in a while, when you have to calculate, if the thing has more than three digits, you give up. You were never good at mathematics in school and you have a lazy head too. So you never bothered with making simple calculations in the house. But now this big thing is outside. Now\u2019s your chance to impress your wife.
\n\n\n\nGovernment Inflation
\n\n\n\nSo let’s say your wife comes back from shopping and she spent let’s say \u2013 on an ordinary shopping trip today you can spend let’s say 100 dollars. That\u2019s not much today. Today the prices are going up because the government is wasting billions of dollars. Don\u2019t deceive yourself. Our politicians are to blame. And even though they\u2019ll come to us and say, \u201cLook, we are getting certain grants from the government and the yeshivos can use the grants,\u201d don\u2019t be fooled. Don\u2019t think the grants are going to give you something for nothing. You are getting something right now, but you are paying out much more in other ways.
\n\n\n\nEventually it comes out of the yeshiva man\u2019s pocket. When he goes to the store he pays much more. He has to spend much more for the produce that he could have gotten for much less had the government not wasted billions. You\u2019re going to pay through the nose for everything! Gasoline and cars cost more when taxes are raised and therefore transportation costs more. So there\u2019s no such thing as saving money by getting handouts from the governments. You\u2019re going to pay more for a pound of potatoes.
\n\n\n\nSo now your wife came back from the grocery store and you\u2019re trying to calculate if you have enough money in the bank to cover the check. But it\u2019s more than a hundred dollars; that\u2019s three digits already. \u201cI\u2019m too lazy,\u201d you think. \u201cI’ll use my Harvard mechanical brain.\u201d
\n\n\n\nUsing the Gift
\n\n\n\nAnd it works! You\u2019re so happy with it. It makes grocery shopping so easy now.
\n\n\n\nNow, let’s say a month later your uncle comes around and wants to have nachas from you. \u201cHow are you doing my boy? How are you making out with the gift I gave you?\u201d he asks.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d you say, \u201cI use it.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s great! What for?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI use it to calculate how much my wife shopped in the local grocery. And sometimes I use it to help my little one with his math homework.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat are you, crazy?!\u201d he says. \u201cThat’s what I gave you this mechanical brain for?! You don’t even need a pocket calculator for that!\u201d He\u2019s angry. Such a gift he gives you and you\u2019re wasting the opportunity to use it.
\n\n\n\n\u201cGive me back my mechanical brain and here’s a nice lead pencil. That\u2019s all you need.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu says \u201cI gave you such a prized gift, the human brain that’s unequaled in the universe and you’re using it merely to function like somebody who has achieved the great perfection of not being insane?! That’s what the brain is for?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Believe in AI
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is that the Harvard mechanical brain doesn\u2019t come near the greatness of our brains. Don\u2019t be deceived by the computers! Don\u2019t be fooled by the enthusiastic inscriptions in the periodicals that make people think that the computers are almost able to think; they can’t think at all. It’s sheker ve’kozov! It can’t do a thing other than what they are programmed to do. It will never do anything near what a mind can do.
\n\n\n\nThe calculating abilities of the brain are far beyond whatever will be manufactured by the human hand. Even the biggest computer machine \u2013 even if it was bigger than this room; even if it was as big as from here until London \u2013 it would be a pocket calculator compared to the poorest human brain.
\n\n\n\nThe Evolving Brain
\n\n\n\nOne savant ventured a guess that the human brain can store 15 trillion different bits of information. Not billion; trillion! I really don’t believe it; I think it’s an understatement. I believe that the brain learns to store more and more because the endless number of electric circuits in the brain are developed so that each circuit learns to take over a lot of the functions. That\u2019s why people who learn more, are accustomed to memorizing more.
\n\n\n\nThe more you practice and use your mind, the more agility your mind acquires and the more facts are able to be registered. A man’s mind is unfettered; without any incentive, without any initial input, a man’s mind is able to develop the greatest theses, the greatest thoughts, the greatest arguments, the greatest results from logic. There’s nothing like the mind.
\n\n\n\nGreater Than Cats
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s one of the reasons we repeat to ourselves over and over again all of our lives, \u201cAtah Chonein!\u201d You are providing me with such a great gift, such a tremendous machine that is almost unlimited in its potential. And like the uncle in our story, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is asking us, \u201cWhat are you doing with my present? How are you using it?\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecause for what you\u2019re accomplishing, the brain of a cat would be good enough. A cat’s brain is perfect for our needs; even more than we need because the cat has some gifts, talents that we don’t have. A cat has the ability to figure out things by instinct; we don’t have that.
\n\n\n\nEven less than a cat’s brain would be good for us. We could function, we could eat properly, we could take care of our bodies. We could get along with our wives. Why not? Cats get along; cats don’t have any divorces. Why should they divorce? A cat wants a mate. They don’t divorce; it’s an insanity to divorce.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we could function perfectly with a smaller brain. Why did Hakodosh Boruch Hu give us this great brain? And immediately we understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants us to know that we’re expected to make use of it; He expects great things from us.He says, \u201cI gave you a brain for big things \u2013 it\u2019s more than just sanity. It\u2019s intended for bigger things than just living like a cat.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTen Thousand Years of Toras Avigdor
\n\n\n\nAnd now we come to the very great subject which Hakodosh Boruch Hu really intended with the brain. What’s it to be used for? What did He expect of us with this brain?
\n\n\n\nNow, it wouldn’t be right for me to imagine we can answer that question tonight. And so I invite you to come and listen to these lectures for the next 10,000 years. That would be a good beginning on the subject of daas and I’m not exaggerating. If you’ll find better lectures, then certainly go there. But you must go somewhere and learn the subject of creating a Torah mind. You’ll never get enough of it; it’s the greatest thing of life.
\n\n\n\nNow, most people think they have a good mind \u2013 it\u2019s a tragedy that most people suffer \u2013 and that’s the best proof that their mind is entirely vacant. You don\u2019t really have a mind unless you labored on it. And you have to labor years because included in a Torah mind are all the perfections of mankind. All the shleimus of Torah, all the great qualities that Hakodosh Boruch Hu implanted in us and that we are capable of achieving.
\n\n\n\nYou Can Know Shas!
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cI gave you a brain for big things. If you’re a man, so inscribe a mesichta on that brain. Maybe you can inscribe Shas on that brain”. Why can’t you do it? You think you can’t learn Shas? Everybody can learn Shas. If you’re not lazy it\u2019s possible. Get busy now. Learn without Tosfos; learn Shas!
\n\n\n\nWhy should you waste Motzei Shabbos sitting home and talking to the folks? Why should you waste Sunday night visiting your relatives? Why should you waste your evenings? Take a tape recorder and play yourself tapes of Gemara. Go over it again and again. Listen and repeat and listen and repeat, and over the course of time you can take on this mechanical brain of yours, you can inscribe Shas on it. It’s possible. At least inscribe a mesichta; at least a perek.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you’re a woman, you can inscribe the great lessons of all the seforim on your mind. There’s no end of wisdom that people can inscribe on the tape recorder of their minds.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if we get busy on this job of producing in ourselves a new mind, a Torah mind, we will change. By thinking Torah you gain a Torah\u2019dige sevara. It’s not just that you think halachos and you think dinim. Over the course of time you begin to think according to the style of the Torah. You begin to think according to the direction of the Torah. You learn how to think in an entirely new way. That\u2019s how you take the most valuable gift you\u2019ve received from Hakodosh Boruch Hu and use it for its intended purpose.
\n\n\n\nThe Insured Thesis
\n\n\n\nI recall once there was a dean of a college who had a big surprise. He was sitting in his office and he saw two armed guards coming into his office carrying a package. \u201cWhat’s this?\u201d he said. So they told him that it’s postal regulations. \u201cAnything that’s insured for $1000 must be delivered with armed guards.\u201d That’s how it used to be in the regulations.
\n\n\n\nOne of the students had written a thesis for his doctorate. He put a lot of work into it so he had it insured for $1000 and mailed it to the professors for review. And that\u2019s how it was delivered \u2014 with two armed guards. Well, the professor, later when he read it through, he didn’t think it deserved any armed guards but we see that things that are valuable have to be guarded.
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the next part of our subject. Let’s say you heard tonight\u2019s lesson and you took it to heart. Not only are you constantly filled with gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for giving you a mind, for giving you sanity, but you also got busy making use of that gift and creating for yourself a Torah mind. And now you’re full of Torah up to your nose. You know everything. You can answer every apikores. You know what to say because you’re loaded with Torah and yiras shomayim up to the gunwales.
\n\n\n\nThe Security Industry
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t think that\u2019s it! That\u2019s only half the story because a mind has to be guarded too. Such a valuable gift \u2014 it\u2019s your ticket to the Next World after all \u2014 has to be guarded like nobody\u2019s business.
\n\n\n\nShlomo Hamelech said that. He says (Mishlei 4:23) \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 More than anything you guard, you must guard your mind, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 because from your mind come forth all the results of life. It means anything that you achieve in life is from the mind. The kind of mind you have, that’s the kind of life you’re going to have in this world and in the Next World. All your eternal happiness forever and ever in the World-to-Come all depends on the kind of mind you get. And therefore there’s nothing more precious than guarding your mind.
\n\n\n\nNow, you see today that one of the biggest industries is security. Remember years ago, when did you see a store that had iron bars? It was a rarity. Today because of the liberal politicians, iron bars are everywhere. And alarms and also uniformed security men; it’s a very big part of the world’s commerce today. It’s a big business, guarding property.
\n\n\n\nBut the truth is that property you can guard with a certain amount of carefreeness because the only way it could be ruined, let’s say, is if a vandal passes by and throws a torch inside the window. So if the windows are locked or if you have the windows covered with metal sheets, you\u2019re pretty safe. You don\u2019t have to worry too much.
\n\n\n\nMany Security Threats
\n\n\n\nBut your mind, you can never stop worrying because there’s nothing as sensitive and delicate as your thoughts and from all sides there are going to enter influences that are going to change and influence your thoughts. The influences are pouring in without stop! And therefore \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e6\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8, guard it more than anything else.
\n\n\n\nBut what do you see? Just the opposite happens. It\u2019s one thing that they don’t guard. The most precious thing that they have, their minds, is wide open. Imagine a bank at night; the bank doors are wide open, even the walls inside are wide open. The president of the bank goes home to sleep; everybody’s asleep, there are no guards, everything is open. What would you say to such a bank?
\n\n\n\nWell, we are worse than that because our bank is wide open; our ears are open all the time and the eyes are wide open all the time, and anything that wants, can come in. When he walks in the streets, this shoiteh, he looks everywhere. You\u2019re not watching your eyes? No kedushas einayim? There’s nothing to look out for?!
\n\n\n\nDo you know what danger that is? There’s nothing as precious as your mind; but nobody’s on guard! It’s a fact!
\n\n\n\nInviting The Criminals
\n\n\n\nPeople sit and listen to a radio; some listen to other things. They listen to fools who are sitting with them together. Let’s say Cousin Jack comes with his family and you sit for two hours and listen as he fills your ears with naarishkeit. Where are the bars?! Where are the walls? Where are the fences? Where are the security guards? All these things that are coming in are taking away your mind, your seichel.
\n\n\n\nEven if you gained a Torah mind, you\u2019re ruining it. Let’s say you\u2019re pouring into yourself Mesillas Yesharim day and night, you never let go of the Mesillas Yesharim. All day long you’re pouring Chovos Halevavos into your heart. It’s a good thing by the way. Even one drop is a good medicine and if you would pour it day and night, ahh is that something! But if at the same time the sewage is pouring in too, then what good is it? You have the best wine, the most expensive wine, and you pour it in a cup that’s filthy with mud, that’s crawling with bacteria, with worms and you pour in the wine so what kind of appeal will it have?
\n\n\n\nAnd some people invite criminals into their home. They have a special window, you turn a little knob and criminals climb in through the window and there’s a big light. And sometimes for two hours the criminals are there and they’re stealing your mind; they’re stealing your mind through that little window, they’re taking everything you have. And this is as true as anything could be. If you would let them climb into that window and take all your jewelry, it’s a much smaller misfortune.
\n\n\n\nSuppose they climbed in and took away, let’s say, your wife’s diamond ring and your golden watch and maybe $100 cash you keep hidden away somewhere, it would be a terrible thing for you. You’d call the police. Oy oy oy! And here you’ve lost your entire mind; you’ve been robbed, you’re impoverished, you’re a pauper, and you don\u2019t even think about it for a minute.
\n\n\n\nKeeping Your Mind
\n\n\n\nEven if you\u2019ll listen to a conservative gentile on his talk radio show you\u2019re losing your mind. Of course it\u2019s much less harm than if you listen to the liberals. However, you should know that the best goy is a leitz \u2013 even if he\u2019s the best of them you\u2019re losing your mind to a leitz.
\n\n\n\nSo he says, \u201cOh no, they didn\u2019t take away my mind, no. No one can take my mind. My mind you can\u2019t take away. I’m not such a fool. I can see all these things and my mind remains the same.\u201d It’s the biggest deception, it’s the biggest sheker. Your mind is gone already.
\n\n\n\nNow, if when your wife is away shopping you can tiptoe into the dining room with a hammer and demolish the television set, you don’t know what a big accomplishment you’re doing for your family. And you young fellows who are not married yet have to know you should make up with the girl that you’re going to meet, make up \u201cin our home: no television\u201d. There shouldn’t be any question in your mind and if she is hemming and hawing and hesitating then you look elsewhere.
\n\n\n\nA Diamond For a TV
\n\n\n\nNow you old fellows who already have your girls, so buy her a diamond ring. Tell them, \u201cA diamond ring instead of the television.\u201d Buy them anything! There’s no price too big to pay for that television set because you don’t know what a mistake you made when you let it come into your house.
\n\n\n\nSuppose a man built a beautiful home and then into his dining room he opened the sewer main, and anytime the people in the block defecate or urinate it goes right into his dining room on his expensive rug. That’s preferable. That’s much better than having a sewer main direct to channel this and channel that. Because these low characters are spewing out day and night the worst kind of filth and it’s coming into your home and your poor little children, innocent little children are growing up in the midst of a sewer.
\n\n\n\nNow you don’t need me to tell you this. Today even the gentile authorities are saying this openly everywhere. So al achas kamah vekamah, how much more so do we have to beware, more than the decent gentiles who are worried about the problem.
\n\n\n\nNow they\u2019re not worried about minds. They’re worried about crime. And they say it demoralizes the youth and causes crime. But preventing crime is not enough for us. If we prevent crime, if our children don’t mug and don’t hold up people in the streets are we happy? There’s a whole world, a whole outside world, that’s pouring into us every second all of the sewage, all of the garbage, all of the wickedness and foolishness of the gentile world. And therefore we have to stand guard day and night over our minds.
\n\n\n\nThe Unfair Contest
\n\n\n\nNow remember, remember how unequal a contest this is. Because how much yiras shomayim are we actually pouring into our minds day and night? How many programs of yiras shomayim is your wife seeing on the television? How many exhortations to tznius and to avodah and to tefillah and mitzvos come in on the radio every day? How much do you hear on the radio about being pious? How much are the magazines urging our children to become great talmidei chachomim and to spend their time studying Torah? All this you don’t hear from the street. All you hear is the opposite; so what kind of a contest is this? From the outside world is pouring in all kinds of filth and we are pouring in to ourselves nothing else. It’s a very unfair contest and so we have to get busy \u2013 it\u2019s the only way we\u2019ll win out. And the first step is to realize the great gift of the brain, the immense potential we have.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the great lesson of \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 the head was carried up to the mizbeach before all the other parts of the korban olah. It was brought up on the mizbeach first because that\u2019s the most important thing in our lives, our minds. And that\u2019s why the first of all the weekday brachos is Atah Chonein, because that\u2019s number one! To thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the great gift of sanity. And to remember always that it\u2019s this gift that is our most precious possession in this world \u2013 and that\u2019s why we\u2019ll develop it and guard it more than anything else.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nThe Gift of A Mind
\n\n\n\nIn the times of the Beis Hamikdash we had a constant reminder of the great gift of having a functional mind. Whenever a korban olah was brought, the people would witness the procession of limbs which was headed by the head, and feel gratitude for their heads and for each of their limbs. This week when I stand shemone esrei I will bli neder take the time to appreciate that proclamation in the first weekday bracha: \u201cYou are the One Who gives me sanity! You give me a mind! I must guard it and utilize it in Your service!\u201d
\nThe post Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T05:18:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-08T16:35:16+00:00" }, { "id": 32525, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayikra-5-the-precious-mind/", "title": "Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind", "content_html": "TA-Vayikra-5782The post Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T05:15:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T05:15:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32517, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayikra-5-the-precious-mind/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind", "content_html": "TA-Vayikra-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayikra 5 – The Precious Mind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-06T05:14:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-06T05:14:59+00:00" }, { "id": 32513, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-25/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 25", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-25The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 25 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-04T04:49:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-04T04:49:32+00:00" }, { "id": 32507, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%9b%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\n‘\u05de\u05dc\u05da’, \u2018king\u2019, in\u00a0\u05dc\u05e9\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05e9\u00a0refers not to one who rules with power alone, but to one who rules with power and\u00a0wisdom;\u00a0\u05de\u05dc\u05da, from the Aramaic word\u00a0\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d0\u00a0(council). Hashem is the true King, He Who rules with ultimate Power and Wisdom. But Hashem is not just any King \u2013 Hashem is \u2018our\u00a0King\u2019 (Yeshaya 44:6), for all of His Power and Wisdom are especially directed to manage\u00a0our\u00a0affairs alone.
\nThe post \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-02T23:01:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-02T23:01:09+00:00" }, { "id": 32488, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-sunny-side-of-life/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sunny Side of Life", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it possible to teach children to appreciate the world?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is absolutely! That\u2019s when it should be taught. You should teach a child and tell him, \u201cIsn\u2019t it beautiful that the sun is shining right now?\u201d Explain to him the benefits of the sun. In the summertime, the sun warms you. Walk on the sunny side of the street and walk on the sunny side of life. And the sun gives you vitamins as it hits your skin. The sun gives you light. And it\u2019s all free energy! No landlord will send you a bill. Con Ed won\u2019t send you a bill for the daytime light. It\u2019s so beautiful, the sunlight.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a mashal of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The Gemara says the sun is a mashal of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Just like the sun floods the world with happiness and light and joy, so does Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And so certainly you can teach children to enjoy sun.
\n\n\n\nWe have to teach ourselves too, by the way. Let\u2019s enjoy the sun. The biggest bracha that we make in davening is on the sun. Doesn\u2019t that show the hypocrisy among us? The longest bracha in davening is on the sun \u2014 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 and it concludes \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea and the malachim are so excited over the sun that they say \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05e7\u05d3\u05d5\u05e9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05e2\u05e9 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc; with great excitement they\u2019re praising Hashem \u2014 and we, we\u2019re the recipients of all this, and we\u2019re not interested. We\u2019re asleep.
\n\n\n\nSo there\u2019s a lot of work to be done on children and on ourselves.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 301
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Sunny Side of Life appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-01T22:18:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-01T22:19:10+00:00" }, { "id": 32482, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05e9\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\nAlthough\u00a0Hashem Himself\u00a0we cannot know in this world, but\u00a0His name\u00a0we can perceive and know through His creations and deeds. It is the name of Hashem which is able to be perceived and known by all of mankind, and we therefore express our deep desire to bless and elevate the\u00a0great and kindly name of Hashem\u00a0forever and ever more.
\nThe post \u05e9\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-01T22:06:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-01T22:06:56+00:00" }, { "id": 32474, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a4%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-01T21:22:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-01T21:22:48+00:00" }, { "id": 32471, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9a-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\n\u201cBlessed and elevated [it] should be\u201d; not only must we ourselves bless and elevate Hashem\u2019s name, but we must desire that His name be blessed and elevated by all our future generations, and by all of mankind as well; we must teach (or aid those that teach) and ensure that the younger generation will continue to carry on the function of blessing and elevated Hashem forever.
\nThe post \u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-03-01T18:53:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-01T18:53:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32454, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-every-word-a-gem/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Every Word a Gem", "content_html": "\nWhen one davens, he must understand what he\u2019s saying, not merely the translation of the words. Every line is another gem, another important thought we must live with. Even the word \u201cHashem\u201d, you have to study what it means. First, Hashem means the One Who has existence; another meaning is that He is the One Who causes existence. These are just general headings, but once you start learning what \u201cHashem\u201d means, the next time you say it, you\u2019ll really think about Hashem. And the same goes for the rest of davening as well. Study what the Siddur is saying, and you\u2019ll soon begin to see what davening is.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Every Word a Gem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T20:13:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T20:13:09+00:00" }, { "id": 32449, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%94%d7%9c-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91-2/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T19:45:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-03-02T14:42:44+00:00" }, { "id": 32441, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-pekudei-5-the-torah-nation-2/", "title": "Parshas Pekudei 5 \u2013 The Torah Nation", "content_html": "TA-Pekudei-5782The post Parshas Pekudei 5 \u2013 The Torah Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T15:53:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T15:53:11+00:00" }, { "id": 32440, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-pekudei-5-the-torah-nation/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Pekudei 5 \u2013 The Torah Nation", "content_html": "TA-Pekudei-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Pekudei 5 \u2013 The Torah Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T15:52:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T15:52:49+00:00" }, { "id": 32435, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-pekudei/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Pekudei", "content_html": "\nShimmy and Yitzy Greenbaum walked home discussing the Mishkan. Their cheder was having a contest to see who could remember all of the details of the Mishkan and they both wanted to win the grand prize. But it was really hard – there were so many things to remember, there were kerashim, vavim, amudim, taba\u2019os, and of course all of the keilim and their measurements\u2026
\n\n\n\n\u201cHi Shimmy! Hi Yitzy!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Greenbaum boys looked up and saw Stevey Risnik, their next-door neighbor waving to them, holding what looked like two small cards in his hand.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHi Stevey,\u201d both boys said politely.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHow are you?\u201d Shimmy asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh I\u2019m doing so great!\u201d gushed Stevey. \u201cLook, I just got two new candy cards!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cCandy cards?\u201d asked Yitzy, confused. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou mean you don\u2019t collect Jolly Munz candy cards?\u201d asked Stevey in disbelief.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Shimmy and Yitzy together.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSeriously? You have to! I just got the two rarest cards, Sticky Stu and Mo Munchy! Look at their statistics and how much candy they make! Stu\u2019s best year in candy volume was 2021 but he hit a 94.6% in tastiness back in 2019, no one ever scored so high in tastiness. I know the names of all of the Jolly Munz candy workers by heart and these two are the best! Mo Munchy has the highest sugar factor of any employee – he did over 700,000 candies in 2020 – and Sticky Stu is the reason Jolly Munz candies are stickier than any other candy, thanks to his secret formula. And that\u2019s not to mention \u201cHigh Fructose Fred\u201d and \u201cCaramel Craig\u201d and all of the other people who make these delicious candies. And did you know that Chewy Charlie is the only person in the world to have successfully planted and grown candy corn in his backyard?\u201d
\n\n\n\nShimmy and Yitzy listened in bewilderment as Stevey continued to rattle off facts and statistics about the Jolly Munz Candy Factory and its employees. How did Stevey know all of this in such detail?
\n\n\n\nAfter a few minutes, the Greenbaum boys said goodbye to their neighbor and walked inside their house.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHi Shimmy! Hi Yitzy!\u201d Totty greeted them with a smile. \u201cHow was cheder?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cIt was great,\u201d answered Shimmy. \u201cBut can I ask you a question?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course,\u201d said Totty.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe were just talking to our neighbor, Stevey Risnik,\u201d Shimmy began. \u201cAnd he was telling us all about Candy Cards and the Jolly Munz workers. He even knows how many candies every employee makes each year! I don\u2019t get it – why would anyone care about all of those silly details?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHmmm\u2026\u201d said Totty. \u201cThat is an excellent question, and I agree with you that it is quite silly. But I think there is something we can learn from that about this week\u2019s Parsha.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Totty,\u201d said Yitzy. \u201cThis week\u2019s Parsha is about the Mishkan. What does candy have to do with it?\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image-3.png?resize=640%2C456&ssl=1\")
Totty grinned. \u201cWell, it doesn\u2019t really have anything to do with candy, but did you notice at all how much the Torah talks about all of the details of the Mishkan?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said Shimmy. \u201cWe have been chazering all of that for the contest in cheider! And besides for going over all of the details, the Torah already told us all of the things that were made for the Mishkan in Terumah and Tetzaveh, yet it repeats them again in Pekudei!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cExactly,\u201d said Totty. \u201cAnd do you know why? Because when something is important to us, even the smallest details are important. You know, when both of you were born, Mommy and I davened that you should be healthy, that you should have working hands and feet, your eyes should work, that you should be able to hear, and countless other things. Why? Because we love you so much that every single detail about your health and wellbeing is important to us. So too, when Klal Yisroel built the Mishkan, we understood that Hashem living among us was the most important thing in the world. Therefore every single detail is important and not one thing can be left out!
\n\n\n\n\u201cNow, for someone who the most important thing in his life is something silly like Jolly Munz candy, then instead of caring about and memorizing the details of the Mishkan, they may instead waste their time studying all of the details of candy workers.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoruch Hashem, we know what\u2019s really important,\u201d beamed Yitzy. \u201cWho cares about how many candies some worker makes every year?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d chimed in Shimmy. \u201cI am so happy that we are Torah Yidden who care more about Hashem\u2019s Presence than tastiness percentages and sugar factors.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d Totty exclaimed. \u201cHow lucky we are to spend our time learning the details of what is truly meaningful in life. Ashreinu mah tov chelkeinu!\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Pekudei appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T01:06:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T01:06:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32431, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-pekudei-5-the-torah-nation/", "title": "Parshas Pekudei 5 – The Torah Nation", "content_html": "\nThe King\u2019s Scroll-Room
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b9\u05d3\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d7\u05b9\u05d3\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u2013 The greatest day in the history of the world had finally arrived. On the first day of Nissan the dwelling place for Hashem was established and the Presence of Hashem would now rest among His chosen people. The Mishkan was now going to be the place for the revelation of Hashem in this world, the fulfillment of Hashem\u2019s promise: \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 \u201cAnd I will dwell among them\u201d (Shemos 25:8).
\n\n\n\nAnd what was the first thing that Moshe did after spreading the roof over the Mishkan? He set up the kodesh kodoshim, the holiest space on the face of this earth, the room where the Presence of Hashem would dwell most intensely.
\n\n\n\nNow, if you would have asked me what I would have set up in that room where Hashem would now reside, so with my little head I would say, a throne; a big beautiful golden throne, something resplendent and ornate, placed in the middle of the kodesh kodoshim; and that would symbolize the kisei hakavod, the place where Hashem rests His Presence in this world.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNothing doing,\u201d said Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cI have other plans for My room, for the kodesh kodoshim\u201d:\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05bb\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u2026 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u2026 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e1\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e6\u05b4\u05d5\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u2013 Hashem commanded that into this holiest part of the Mishkan, the room that symbolized His place in this world, should be placed the two stone tablets engraved by the Hand of Hashem, and afterward the Torah itself was put alongside the luchos (Devarim 31:26).
\n\n\n\nA Mountain In The Little Room
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Dovid Hamelech said in Tehillim (68:18): \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 \u201cHashem has settled among the Am Yisroel.\u201d And how did He do that? \u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 \u201cBecause Har Sinai is now in the Mishkan.\u201d That great day of the Giving of the Torah at Har Sinai is now found in the kodesh kodoshim. The Sanctuary was the heart of the nation, and it was the Word of Hashem, the stone luchos and the Torah, that were at the heart of the Mishkan.
\n\n\n\nWhat we\u2019re learning here is that preparing a home for Hashem to live among us, really meant preparing a home for the Torah to reside among us. And the Mishkan in its entirety was actually an altar of devotion to the Word of Hashem. And so instead of a throne for Hashem to rest His Presence on, the revelation of Hashem in this world came by means of His Torah. And the Am Yisroel in the midbar lived according to that revelation.
\n\n\n\nWhat Did They Do All Day?
\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll explain that. Because really we have to ask ourselves: What were the Am Yisroel doing in the midbar for forty years after all? They ate what fell from the clouds; they didn\u2019t have to go to the factory to get a paycheck. And so we have to understand that for forty years they had nothing to do except to study Torah. The entire nation actually became one big yeshivah.
\n\n\n\nAnd it was a yeshivah where they studied day and night. They didn\u2019t have newspapers to read, or radio to listen to. And even if they would have been able to get their hands on something; let\u2019s say a ben Yisroel would try to pick up a newspaper from a neighboring tribe, from Midian; you couldn\u2019t get away with such a thing in the machaneh Yisroel. You were in a kollel, and every kollel has a mashgiach. And this kollel in the midbar had more supervision that any kollel since then. Every nine men had a mashgiach who watched them, the sar asarah, and so they had to behave. And every forty nine men had a super mashgiach, the sar chamishim. Every ninety nine men had a super super mashgiach, the sar mei\u2019ah. And every nine hundred and ninety nine had a super super super mashgiach,that was the sarei alafim. You couldn\u2019t sneak anything past this army of mashgichim. And Moshe Rabeinu with his watchful eye was overseeing the whole thing, the whole Yeshivas Hamidbar.
\n\n\n\nBut the mashgichim didn\u2019t have a very difficult job, because they were serious yungerleit in that yeshivah. Never, in any subsequent era, was the Torah so supreme and so studied as under the forty year rule of Moshe Rabeinu, the Torah teacher par excellence. \u201cYou should speak in the words of Torah when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the road, and when you lie down and when you arise\u201d (Devarim 6:7) wasn\u2019t merely a possuk, a mitzvah, or even an aspiration to yearn for \u2013 it was their way of life! The sole occupation for the dor hamidbar was Torah study. The midbar was actually a forty year Kollel, a Torah Academy.
\n\n\n\nThe \u2018Main Dish\u2019 Of Our People
\n\n\n\nAnd it was that kollel that would define what the Am Yisroel would be forever. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (92a) says: \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d7\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05dd, that the word sarid, \u201cleftover\u201d or \u201cthe one who remains\u201d refers to a talmid chochom. Now that\u2019s a puzzle, why is a talmid chochom called a \u201cleftover\u201d? He\u2019s not the leftover; he\u2019s the main dish after all!
\n\n\n\nThere are various pshatim, but the simple pshat is that originally the whole Klal Yisroel were chachomim; the entire Dor Hamidbar was a big kollel of talmidei chachomim. And therefore, anyone who studies the Torah today is a \u2018leftover\u2019 from those days in the midbar. Because it was then that the Am Yisroel in its entirety recognized the truth that the goal of every Jew is to be a talmid chochom.
\n\n\n\nAnd from then on, the study of Torah became the national vocation and pastime. Never did the Am Yisroel, in all its subsequent history, ever use their leisure time for anything else but Torah. There was no telling stories of adventure and war, and no playing sports. There were no theaters or stadiums and no amusement parks either. We found everything we wanted and everything we needed in the study of Torah and in the raising of families to be ohavei Torah. The word entertainment doesn\u2019t exist in the lexicon of our people.
\n\n\n\nWhy Are We Still Here?
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what Rav Saadia Gaon meant when he said (Sefer Emunos V\u2019deios 3:7) \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, that we are a nation only as a Torah nation. It means the following: We have no right to exist. We should have long ago disappeared. Where is Edom? They disappeared! Where is Amon? They disappeared! It\u2019s all gone! Where is Ancient Mitzrayim? All gone! Ancient Greece is all gone, everything is underground. You\u2019re going to need a lot of shovels and you\u2019ll have to sweat a lot before you can see all the ancient nations of the world.
\n\n\n\nSo why are we still here? We\u2019re also one of the ancient nations, so why didn\u2019t we also disappear along with all the others? And the answer is that we are only here because of the Torah. We are a Torah-nation and that\u2019s the cause of our existence. It\u2019s the study of Torah that defines the Am Yisroel; it\u2019s our life-breath, our way of life. We are a nation of Torah learners and that\u2019s why we are forever. Hashem is forever, His Torah is forever, and we who study His Torah will be forever.
\n\n\n\nThe Pageant In The Mesivta
\n\n\n\nYou know that in Bavel there were great Mesivtos, great yeshivos where the chachomim gathered to study and to teach. There was a Mesivta in Sura where Rav was, and there was another Mesivta in Naharda\u2019eh where Shmuel lived; two big Mesivtos that were the center of the Am Yisroel. And there were other Mesivtos too that functioned in Bavel.
\n\n\n\nBut the Mesivta wasn\u2019t a place where you just learned Torah and heard shiurim. It was a very interesting experience, the Mesivta. Everything was done with a procedure. They used to march into the beis medrash at the beginning of the session; the chachomim marched in first, and then the talmidim marched in behind them, and everyone took his place; each one of the chachomim had his particular place. And there were designated people who would make the announcement, \u201cThe chachomim are coming in now; they\u2019re entering into the Mesivta.\u201d It was mamish like a pageant; that\u2019s how they opened up the Mesivta.
\n\n\n\nBabylonian State Of The Union
\n\n\n\nAnd not only in the beginning of the zman; every day was like that. It was done with a certain panoply, like in a royal tribunal, with certain procedures, formalities and announcements. Like in the Congress l\u2019havdil or in a king\u2019s palace; it was done with the greatest kind of ceremony. And we should ask ourselves: What was this for? Why all the fanfare?! Why couldn\u2019t they just get busy with learning already? Isn\u2019t that what they came for? It wasn\u2019t the State of the Union address after all; it was a yeshivah! And they didn\u2019t do this once a year; it was every day!
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that this pomp and the ceremony was vital for an understanding of the place of the Torah in the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nIn the midbar, where they all saw the Mishkan, and they all knew that hidden inside, in the room that Hashem chose to reside in, was the luchos and the Torah, so the entire nation lived with a tangible understanding that it was the study of the Torah that was the core function of our people \u2013 everybody was learning in kollel, and there was no question in anyone\u2019s mind that limud Torah was the function of our people. But in order to keep that fire of kavod hatorah alive forever and to understand the centrality of the Torah to our nation, the nation had to see with their own eyes the glory of Torah. And so the Mesivta functioned with the prominence it deserved and the Am Yisroel learned that the aristocracy of our people were the ones who were studying the Toras Hashem in the beis medrash.
\n\n\n\nThe Great Kiddush Hashem
\n\n\n\nIn Bavel they also established the Yarchei Kallah together with the Mesivta. Twice a year there was a yarchei kallah, a kiddush Hashem of remarkable proportions. You know they were almost all farmers in Bavel, so when the farming season was over, two months a year, tens of thousands of people came to the Mesivta. The town was overflowing with Jews. They slept on the streets, on the roofs, and in cellars, and they were learning all the time. The entire month they were learning Torah. And the chachmei haTorah were there to test them, to see if they knew it! Everybody was learning the same thing \u2013 it was a scene to behold \u2013 they were all learning the same mesichta and the chachomim farherred them.
\n\n\n\nAnd it wasn\u2019t little children we\u2019re talking about; these were adults, men in their forties and fifties, older than that too, men with families. From where did this fire of dedication to Torah come? How could a nation of so many different personalities: workers, wise men, simple folk, intellectuals, rich and poor alike all humbly submit themselves before the chachmei haTorah?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that it wasn\u2019t something that began in Bavel; it was already engraved on our souls from the Dor Hamidbar. The same way the Dor Hamidbar submitted themselves before Moshe Rabeinu, the Am Yisroel continued that practice always. And therefore there was always a tremendous outpouring of Torah learning, a tremendous demonstration that Torah is everything for the Am Yisroel. We are always a nation of Torah learners.
\n\n\n\nNothing But Torah
\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time Jewish men didn\u2019t stay home at night. They weren\u2019t at the movies either; they were in the study halls, in the shuls. When fathers and sons would return home at night from the beis medrash they would bring all their baggage of Torah with them. Mothers and sisters would hear nothing but Torah. And therefore the Jewish street used to be a street of Torah.
\n\n\n\nEven a certain writer, an enemy of the Torah \u2013 I won\u2019t honor him by saying his name here \u2013 when describing Cracow in the times of the Rama he said that the children in the street \u201cbabbled Torah.\u201d And the truth is that it wasn\u2019t only Cracow. That\u2019s how it was in every Jewish community; every town was a yeshivah town.
\n\n\n\nI remember when I was a little boy in Baltimore, when the new immigrants arrived, they used to laugh when they saw that the shuls were locked during the day. Locked?! \u201cAren\u2019t there people learning all day in the shuls?\u201d And it wasn\u2019t the talmidei chachomim who laughed; it was the peddler, the poor working man trying to eke out a living. It was something impossible to them! Because in Europe, even a hundred years ago, they were still emulating the Dor Hamidbar, and still learning the lessons of the Mishkan. Some were there all day, some would come in for an hour here and there, but to close the shul?!
\n\n\n\nNo Seats Available In Shul!
\n\n\n\nWhen I was in Lithuania I once visited a shul in a small town and an old melamed, a remnant from the old generation, said to me, \u201cBefore World War I there was a time when if you came a little bit late to this shul on Thursday night you couldn\u2019t find a seat. It was filled with people learning late into the night. Every night the shul was filled with people learning.\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn Slabodka, a bachur whom I learned with b\u2019chavrusa once told me that in Beers, his hometown in Lithuania, there used to be a chevrah mishmarim. This was a group of people who were peddlers all week; it was their bitter lot in life to put a pack of merchandise on their backs and trudge through the gentile hamlets and villages to peddle merchandise among non-Jews. Now in those days a Jew still looked like a Jew, so the gentiles would set their dogs on the Jews as they passed through the town. It was a hard life, a wearisome week of work. And where did they go when they finally returned home? They gathered in the shul in Beers where they would spend all Thursday night learning to make up for the time they missed during the week. That was the chevra mishmarim!
\n\n\n\nAnd as a young man in New York, I saw echoes of those great days. I once tried spending the whole night learning in a chassidishe shtiebel on the Lower East Side on Montgomery street. I tried staying awake, but I kept dozing over the Gemara. But I couldn\u2019t sleep anyhow because the Poilisheh chassidim started coming in while it was still dark. They put on their gartels, took down their Gemaras, and started learning before the morning came. Early in the morning when it was still dark, the shtiebel was packed with Jews sitting and learning. And in the Gerrer shtiebel I used to watch a Litvishe Jew standing and learning Mishnayos by heart all night. Once in a while he would look into the open Mishna to refresh his memory. That\u2019s a remnant of the older generation; once upon a time the Jewish nation studied Torah.
\n\n\n\nThe Greatest Mitzvah
\n\n\n\nThere are two pesukim in Mishlei: One says \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d7\u05b2\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d5\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u2013 \u201cAll of the things that you desire cannot equal to the Torah\u201d (Mishlei 3:15). All the things that people love in this world; people love wealth, they love honor, they love food and all types of pleasure, it\u2019s nothing compared to the Torah. Everybody desires things in this world, all good things; health and happiness, nachas, long years, and wealth. But nothing compares to one word of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s another possuk, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b2\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d5\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc (ibid. 8:11). Here it doesn\u2019t say chafatzecha, your desires; it says chafatzim, all desirable things, even the things that Hashem desires, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d5\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc, cannot compare to the Torah. What does that mean? It means that even all the mitzvos of the Torah cannot compare to the mitzvah of studying Torah (Moed Kattan 9b).
\n\n\n\nOf course if you have to do a mitzvah, and there\u2019s no one else who can do it, you have to stop learning and do the mitzvah; but the mitzvos of the Torah are not as great a privilege as the one mitzvah of studying Torah. \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d7\u05b2\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8, all the things that you consider important, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b6\u05e4\u05b0\u05e6\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, and even all the things that Hashem considers important, all the mitzvos, \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d4\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4, they don\u2019t equal one thing of the Torah.
\n\n\n\nOne line of Torah is more important than all the mitzvos put together. How can that be?! It\u2019s astonishing! All the mitzvos together, the tefillin and mezuzos and tzitzis and matzah and korban pesach, all the obligations of the Torah cannot compare to one thing of the Torah. You sit down, open a Gemara and learn one line, it\u2019s such a tremendous happiness, such a great achievement, that it eclipses, it far outdoes all the good things together. If you can open the Gemara for one line, you should know what you\u2019re doing for yourself in this world. I\u2019m not saying you\u2019re a talmid chochom already; that takes work after all. But you\u2019re already joining the aristocracy of the Am Yisroel; you\u2019re emulating the upper class, the elite of our nation. You\u2019re becoming a Torah Jew; because that\u2019s the function of a Jew in this world.
\n\n\n\nThe Kosel In Your Living Room
\n\n\n\nYou know it has become the style today to travel. People are busy traveling, going, doing, visiting, and there\u2019s no time left for the most important function of our lives. Even to Eretz Yisroel, people are traveling back and forth, back and forth. For what? Who needs you there? What is the purpose of Eretz Yisroel? It\u2019s only for you to make something out of yourself. You\u2019re going to give up learning, even one line of gemara, for travel?! \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b2\u05e4\u05b8\u05e6\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05d5\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc!
\n\n\n\nIf you want to go to the Kosel Ma\u2019aravi, then you should know that the Shas Bavli is your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. Make the seforim shrank with the Shas Bavli in it, your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. That\u2019s your success! The success of life is transferring the contents of the Shas into your mind. So stand in front of that big Shas on the shelves and make that your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. You want to give that up to travel thousands of miles to Eretz Yisroel? If you want to, you can put kvitlach, prayer notes, in between the gemaros on your shelf and pray to Hashem for success in becoming a Shas yid.
\n\n\n\nThe Ambitious Couple
\n\n\n\nThe Shas is our everything! That\u2019s why the luchos were the centerpiece of the Mishkan, because that\u2019s everything. Since the churban Beis Hamikdash, when the kodesh kodoshim and the luchos went lost, there\u2019s nothing more important to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than the place where Torah is studied(Brachos 8a). There\u2019s nothing in the world more kadosh, more special to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than the study of His Torah.
\n\n\n\nYou must have seforim in your home and they should be your pride. It\u2019s very important! Even if you don\u2019t have the competition of a television set, nevertheless if you live within four walls without those important companions that every Jew must have then you\u2019re not going to utilize your life. Every young couple that begins to feather its nest after marriage should have an ambition to line the walls of their home with bookshelves of seforim.
\n\n\n\nBuilding Your Dream House
\n\n\n\nThat should be your dream house! If your wife wants drapes, OK, nothing wrong with drapes; you can buy her drapes at the five and ten too. Explain to her \u2013 first you\u2019ll have to explain it to yourself \u2013 the beauty of a home where the walls are covered with shelves of seforim. And even if you\u2019ll dip into the sefer only once in your lifetime \u2013 you bought a sefer and it cost you sometimes twenty dollars and you used it only once? It was worth it; it was a bargain. Sometimes you get a lift, you can get some inspiration from one line, and there\u2019s no price you could put on it. So in case your wife tells you, \u201cLook Chaim, you used this sefer only once, or maybe you never even used it yet. So why did we spend so much money on the seforim?\u201d So tell her, \u201cChana\u2019leh, wait; if I\u2019ll ever look into it once it\u2019s going to be worth everything that we paid for it.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is that even if you never looked inside, it was worth it. Because just to have seforim lining the walls of your house, it\u2019s a demonstration of where your heart is. It should be the showcase of pride in your home. I always say that even if you\u2019re never going to open it, it\u2019s worth all the money in the world to have a big Shas \u2013 buy the biggest one you could find and display it in your home. The Shas, the seforim, should be placed in the most prominent place in the home. When you walk into a Jewish home, it shouldn\u2019t be the chandelier or the curtains that you see. It should be a big Shas, shelves and shelves of seforim should be showcased in your living room. The seforim shrank, that\u2019s the glory of our nation, that\u2019s what makes your house into a Mishkan.
\n\n\n\nImportant Demonstrations
\n\n\n\nAnd if the loyal Jewish home, with seforim lined shelves is the Mishkan, then the beis medrash, the yeshivah is the kodesh kodoshim. The atmosphere in the beis medrash is mamish kodesh kodoshim. I can tell you \u2013 I\u2019ve been in the atmosphere for so many years. It has an effect on you. No matter how good you are, you become improved by breathing that air.
\n\n\n\nYou have to realize that \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05dc \u05d7\u05b2\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 \u201cThe praise of Hashem is when there is a great number of chassidim coming together\u201d (Tehillim 149:1). Just that alone \u2013 when the chassidim come together as a kahal \u2013 that itself is a tehillas Hashem. What are they all gathered in the beis medrash for? They\u2019re all there for the purpose of demonstrating that learning Torah is important. Every day the beis medrash is full of demonstrators. Some are demonstrating by learning Gemara. Some are demonstrating by learning Mishnayos. Some are demonstrating by just sitting there. But they are all demonstrating that learning Torah is the foundation of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nDo you realize what that demonstration means?! Walk out on the street and what do you see? Even a frum street. Money is important. Food is important. Clothing is important. Who knows what else is important?! So the beis medrash is mamish a Noach\u2019s teivah \u2013 especially today. Boys get married when they\u2019re young, twenty maybe, twenty-one, twenty-two. You can\u2019t go out into the world yet. A boy of twenty-two is very raw material. He\u2019s not capable of dealing with the world. He has to be in the kollel for some time. For years and years. Even if he\u2019s not so serious about learning, it\u2019s the best place for him to be; limud haTorah is our salvation.
\n\n\n\nA Dedicated Life
\n\n\n\nA yeshivah man who leaves the kollel and he begins a life of productivity in gashmius, must make sure that he remains dedicated to Torah learning as well. A man like this, he can\u2019t afford the luxury of wasting all those odd hours. A yeshivah man, whether he\u2019s still in the yeshivah or not, has to get up Shabbos morning early to learn. He has to spend Shabbos studying. Shabbos night he can\u2019t go out to melave malkas with the family. He can\u2019t visit Uncle Yossi on Sundays; he can\u2019t go to every wedding, and he can\u2019t stay late at the ones he goes to.
\n\n\n\nI recall once \u2013 it was at a melave malka in the old building and I said over from the Rambam (Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:13): \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 “Anybody who wants to earn the crown of Torah, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 he shouldn\u2019t waste even one of his nights.\u201d You have to work by day, what could you do already; but you shouldn\u2019t waste even one of your nights.
\n\n\n\nYou hear that?! The Rambam says that you shouldn\u2019t even waste one of your nights! And there was a man who was sitting there and he heard that. I saw that it went into his ears and he changed his way of life. He became great subsequently. He was a working man and he became great in Torah. I remember once his wife had to attend a wedding in the Riverside Plaza, uptown, but that night was a shiur. So he took his wife by car to Riverside Plaza and left her there and he came back here to attend the shiur. Then he went all the way back to the hall to bring her home. That\u2019s dedication!
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if you won\u2019t waste any of your nights, you\u2019ll be able to remain a yeshivah man forever. Forget about going to weddings. Forget about family parties. Now you\u2019re wedded to the Torah. Now of course some women will say: \u201cWhat kind of a life is that? What kind of a life is a kollel life? My husband is a businessman, not a kollel man.\u201d I\u2019ll tell you \u2013 it\u2019s a dedicated life; it\u2019s a life dedicated to success! If you want to be a nothing, so you do what everybody else does and you\u2019ll succeed in becoming what you want to become. Nothing! But if you have some idealism, if the fire still burns in you, then this is the career of success for you in this world.
\n\n\n\nWomen Lamdanim
\n\n\n\nNow you\u2019ll ask me about the women. How do women do that? Women encourage their husbands to learn Torah. They say, \u201cChaim, go to the shiur\u201d. \u201cChaim, go to the yeshivah\u201d. They encourage them to go, so they have full partnership in all the Torah of their men and that\u2019s going to be their great happiness. That\u2019s what the Jewish nation once did. In Europe of long ago every shul used to be a place where people sat and learned. Some men worked part of the day, but others were forced by their wives to go and learn all day long. Their wives ran little businesses, they managed the family, and their husbands were expected to do nothing but learn for their entire lives.
\n\n\n\nIn Europe, before World War l, there were a lot of Jews who moved into the shul in the morning, and they didn\u2019t move out till late at night. There was a whole population like that all over Eastern Europe. It stopped with World War l, it began to disintegrate little by little. But way back, throughout our history, all the shuls had a big populace of learners. Many men were driven away to the shuls by their wives. These dedicated women, the noshim tzidkoniyos, said \u201cDon\u2019t work; you sit and learn and I\u2019ll take care of the parnassah.\u201d All over Eastern Europe it was a frequent thing. Even when I came to Europe in 1932, when it was already ruined, I saw it. The wife stood in the store and her husband sat in the beis medrash.
\n\n\n\nA Full Partner
\n\n\n\nThe Zichron Yaakov tells us that when Friday night came \u2013 this was before the people spoiled \u2013 so all the townspeople slept until around chatzos. Then they started getting up to study Torah. He even describes how there were a lot of Jews who weren\u2019t capable of studying Torah so a paid rebbe would come to their homes late Friday night or early Shabbos morning. A man would learn with his rebbe while his wife was still in bed behind the curtain; and she was shepping nachas from her husband\u2019s learning. To take the little money they had and use it for learning was a great sacrifice that the wife made. But she was encouraging him and was happy with what he was doing.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore if the wife cooperates and she doesn\u2019t demand the husband\u2019s presence at home; if she understands it\u2019s her success as well, that it\u2019s her partnership, that woman is from the noshim tzidkoniyos that always preserved our nation. And the fact that he is making progress, that he\u2019s forging ahead in learning, that\u2019s her zechus. She is a full partner in all of his Torah; not a fifty percent partner, a one hundred percent partner!
\n\n\n\nThe Female Siyum Hashas
\n\n\n\nAnd not only is she learning Shas along with him, but she\u2019s raising Shasim at home too. Every child that a mother raises is like finishing Shas many times! So she\u2019s at home learning her Shas and she\u2019s encouraging him to finish his Shas in the beis medrash. And with such a great partner in life he can forge ahead, as long as he\u2019s not lazy and he\u2019s willing to carry the brunt of a career of study. And that\u2019s what the Jewish nation once did; and that\u2019s an ideal which many people are beginning to realize today.
\n\n\n\nRight now in Gan Eden all the men and women are enjoying the great splendor of eternal happiness because of their portion in Torah \u2013 in addition to all the good things that they do. You\u2019re all invited to go to Olam Habo. All those who pass away, even a pashute Yehudi, is basking in happiness in the World-to-Come. But those people who spend some time learning Torah are far, far more privileged, beyond all the rest of them.
\n\n\n\nStart Selling Peanuts
\n\n\n\nSo here\u2019s a man who asks me: \u201cHow can someone even begin to learn when there\u2019s so much to learn; it looks so impossible?\u201d But you have to know that those are the words of the yetzer hora talking. When it comes to making money you don\u2019t say, \u201cWhy should I bother to start making money when there\u2019s so much money to make?\u201d No, you don\u2019t say that; you start selling peanuts on the street corner, you hustle, you try to get whatever you can. And little by little you accomplish.
\n\n\n\nStart hustling; learn one line of Gemara. You mean to say you\u2019re going to leave this world and you won\u2019t be able to say that you learned one line of Gemara? You can\u2019t learn one line?! Are you such a dumbhead?! Ask somebody to help you! Say it over inside, ten times, fifty times.
\n\n\n\nNow the truth is you could learn more than one line. If you would learn one line a week, you know that in ten years you\u2019d know something! One line a week, and you\u2019d review it constantly. One line a week; who couldn\u2019t do that?! And so, there won\u2019t be any excuse to give on that great day when the question will be asked, \u201cOsakta baTorah? Did you engage in the study of My Torah?\u201d Everybody must study the Gemara. And it\u2019s not hard. It\u2019s difficult to learn a lot of Gemara, the whole Shas, but one line?! You can\u2019t learn one line?!
\n\n\n\n\u201cWho Was Rav Huna?\u201d
\n\n\n\nIn shomayim they\u2019ll ask you, \u201cWho was Rav Huna?\u201d \u201cRav Huna? I think he lived in our neighborhood.\u201d There are people like that; they think that Rav Huna was maybe the rav of the other shul in their neighborhood. No; we have to recognize our Tana\u2019im and Amora\u2019im. Not just recognize them but to love the names in the Gemara. You should love the sound of Abbaye and Rava. Of Rav Papa and Rav Huna brei di\u2019Rav Yehoshua. All of our great men. Love their names! The taste of their names should be on our tongues sweeter than honey. Because that is the honey of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we are not impressed by the fact that there\u2019s so much to learn. Certainly we are impressed but we aren\u2019t overwhelmed. It says \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05de\u05b9\u05e8, it\u2019s not your job to learn the whole Shas. If you can, learn it. But at least learn a piece of it. You mean to say that you\u2019re going to leave here and you\u2019ll forget about what you heard here, about the great ideals of Torah learning? You\u2019re not going to learn Gemara because it\u2019s so much, so vast of a wisdom?! No, you have to learn, at least one line. And make it your business to repeat that line again and again and again.
\n\n\n\nThe Perfumed Yeshivah Man
\n\n\n\nNow once a person understands these ideas, so the way he looks at the Am Yisroel is transformed. Because now he understands who really are the aristocrats of the Am Yisroel. And so when you see a yeshivah man, a talmid chochom, you know that he is the one who is closest to the kodesh kodoshim, he\u2019s closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than anyone else. And you admire him, you\u2019re impressed by him.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara says: \u05e2\u05b2\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b5\u05d9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u2013 \u201cThe young men of Israel will in the future emit a fragrance like the forest of Levanon\u201d (Brachos 43b). The time will come when the young talmidei chachomim, the yeshivah men who spend their days and nights learning, will issue a sweet fragrance like the cedar trees of the Levanon. It means that one day the world will recognize the truth; the whole world will learn to look through the Eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And everyone will see that it is the Torah learners who smell pleasant, that they are the ones who give off the sweetest of fragrances in this world.
\n\n\n\nBut we are expected to recognize that truth even today. When you see a yeshivah man, you should imagine that he smells like sweet smelling roses. Let\u2019s say you see a group of yeshivah boys walking in the street. Now, there is nothing especially attractive about them. They\u2019re all wearing the same uniform, white shirts, and black pants; nothing special. So what about it? What\u2019s so important?
\n\n\n\nBut if you understand this lesson of Parshas Pekudei, you understand that these yeshivah men are the aristocrats of our nation. Because it was in the midbar that the Am Yisroel learned that our nation is only a Torah nation. That\u2019s the lifeblood of our people; it\u2019s what we are. \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05bb\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cOur nation is a nation only because of the Torah.\u201d And it\u2019s those who keep pumping the blood of Torah through the veins of our nation, who are keeping us alive. And therefore it\u2019s the Torah learners who are the aristocrats of our nation, the ones whom we admire and emulate. Once you understand this, you have gained a new perspective on the Am Yisroel, and you\u2019ve learned to see our nation the way Hashem sees them.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nJoining the Torah Nation
\n\n\n\nThe centerpiece of the Mishkan was the Torah. \u201cOur nation is only a nation by means of the Torah.\u201d This week, once a day, I will bli neder stand near my seforim shrank as if I\u2019m standing at the Kosel and reflect on the fact that I am a member of the Torah nation. I will beg Hashem for the merit of acquiring more and more Torah Knowledge, and think of ways to achieve that.
\nThe post Parshas Pekudei 5 – The Torah Nation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-27T01:03:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-27T01:03:40+00:00" }, { "id": 32427, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-wartime-lessons/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Wartime Lessons", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
What should be our reaction when we hear about wars and other upheavals that are happening in other parts of the world?
A:
When\u00a0you see trouble among, let\u2019s say, in Africa, in the Congo, and\u00a0they are massacring entire tribes or massacring each other, or if you hear that\u00a0the brown peoples in Vietnam are trying to destroy each other,\u00a0or in Korea, North Korea and South Korea they\u2019re warring with each other, or in\u00a0China,\u00a0the nationalists and the communists are fighting against each other, all these phenomena shouldn\u2019t be lost upon us.
And one of the purposes is\u00a0to make us think, \u201cSuppose we lived there; can you imagine\u00a0what suffering we would undergo.\u201d It\u2019s a very great suffering to live in Vietnam.\u00a0 People are constantly in terror, in commotion.\u00a0 Their lives are ruined.\u00a0 And how many of them have been destroyed? How\u00a0many have been maimed, orphaned, widowed? How many are\u00a0refugees?\u00a0 They\u2019re afraid to sleep at night.\u00a0\u00a0
If we can live in peace, if we can get up in the morning after a good night’s sleep \u2013 you know what it means to sleep in peace? We don\u2019t even think twice about it. Maybe some people are worried, so you check to see that the doors are locked at night, the windows are closed. Very good. But then you go to sleep in peace. Do you know what a luxury it is to go to sleep in peace? To be able to put your head on your pillow without any fear and to fall asleep peacefully is a very great bracha.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re not afraid that somebody will shoot machine guns through our window or burn down the house. We\u2019re not afraid that all of a sudden at night, there\u2019ll be an invasion. When you go to sleep in America, you know that nobody is going to wake you up. Nobody will bother you. You\u2019re sleeping in peace.
\n\n\n\nSleeping peacefully is a precious commodity. So tonight when you say \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 think about that. \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u2013 let us lie down in peace. Appreciate that! If you just came here to learn that, it\u2019s worthwhile. \u05d4\u05e9\u05db\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4’ \u05d0\u05dc\u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd \u2013 we should be able to sleep in peace. It\u2019s a big bracha!
\n\n\n\nNow this is such a precious commodity that we have to pay for it. And the minimum payment is gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That should be our minimum reaction to the news of upheavals in the world.
TAPE # 2 (October 1973)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Wartime Lessons appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:27:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:27:17+00:00" }, { "id": 32423, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-who-stays-in-the-kollel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Who Stays in the Kollel", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
If\u00a0a person is capable, should he aspire to learn in yeshiva and kollel his entire life or should he attempt to work also?\u00a0 Is there an obligation to prepare for a career?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow these questions are not to be answered for the general public. It depends on each individual.
\n\n\n\nLike it says, \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u05db\u05e8\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05df \u05d9\u05d5\u05d7\u05d0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05dc\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3\u05dd \u2014 Many tried to do like Reb Shimon ben Yochai who learned all day, and they didn\u2019t succeed. So the Nefesh HaChaim says, many didn\u2019t succeed, but a minority did succeed. \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 and failed. But some succeeded. So it depends on you.
\n\n\n\nSome people have no heads at all. If you have no head, so why should you be in a kollel? You\u2019ll be sitting all day moping and the end will be you\u2019ll have mental disorders. Because most mental disorders come from not having something to do. Certainly you have to work. In the yeshivas, some boys should be taken out and put to work and that\u2019ll save them. There\u2019s no question about it. Anybody who knows yeshivas knows that some boys are not fit for yeshivas and they\u2019re going to rack and ruin because their minds are deteriorating.
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re capable, certainly you can aspire to remain in the yeshiva. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on the person. Therefore you cannot give advice wholesale in this matter, who should be in a kollel all day long and who should work or who should prepare for a career.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 301
\n\n\n\nQ:
\n\n\n\nHow long should a person aspire to remain in the yeshiva?
\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nThis is the same question as before. If you\u2019re capable, your ambition should be to remain until your last day. If you\u2019re not capable, then you should stop a little before your last day, a few years before the last day. If you\u2019re less capable, you stop earlier. It depends on the person. But there’s no wholesale answer.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 301
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Who Stays in the Kollel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:24:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:24:02+00:00" }, { "id": 32419, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-quick-fix-menuchas-hanefesh/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Quick Fix Menuchas Hanefesh", "content_html": "\nQ:\u00a0
How can one attain menuchas hanefesh?
A:
\n\n\n\nWell, that needs a full lecture to explain that. But if you want a short answer, at least I could recommend the lower pathway, the easier pathway. And one of the easiest ways is to sit down by yourself and sing \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05dc\u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05d7\u05d9\u05db\u05d9. Sing that over and over again. It\u2019ll calm you. Say the words, \u201cMy soul, return to Your tranquility.\u201d Say it over and over again and after a while some of it will sink into your neshama. It\u2019ll be like balsam for your soul.
\n\n\n\nI recommend it. It\u2019s not a segulah. It\u2019s common sense. After a while, you might even understand what the words mean.
TAPE # 301
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Quick Fix Menuchas Hanefesh appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:20:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:20:28+00:00" }, { "id": 32414, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-mekubalim-and-dybuks/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Mekubalim and Dybuks", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s your opinion about going to mekubalim, those who practice practical kabbalah?
A:
Look, I had a man here in this congregation who had some kind of problem. So he went to a mekubal and gave him five hundred dollars, and the mekubal gave him a few little stones to carry around with him. So I told him that if he had put the five hundred dollars into a pushka to support a yeshiva then maybe it would have helped him. But here, all he did was help the mekubal pay his bills. He\u2019s not a mekubal. He\u2019s a mikabel!
Now, if you go to a\u00a0mekubal\u00a0who is not taking any money from you, then we can begin to think about it. But if you have a\u00a0mekubal\u00a0who is doing this for the purpose of making a living, we really have to beware of such people. You have to realize that it\u2019s\u00a0so\u00a0easy for people to be deceived. Don\u2019t be fools! Here comes a man who wants to read your palm.\u00a0Chochmas ha\u2019yad!\u00a0Do you know what his\u00a0chochmas ha\u2019yad\u00a0is? [The Rav stretched out his hand with his palm open and made the motion of taking money] \u201cPut something into my\u00a0yad.\u201d That\u2019s\u00a0chochmas ha\u2019yad!\u00a0Where do you find\u00a0chochmas\u00a0ha\u2019yad\u00a0in the Gemara?! It\u2019s not found even once. So you have to be very careful about being misled.
\n\n\n\nQ:
And what about dybuks?
A:
I see that I have alot of questions about dybuks tonight. [The Rav was skimming through the slips of paper with written questions on them that people had passed forward in order to ask questions anonymously] People are wasting alot of their time with dybuks. Life is too short for that. You have to make use of your time by accomplishing something in life.
TAPE # E-185 (April 1999)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Mekubalim and Dybuks appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:17:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:18:22+00:00" }, { "id": 32412, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-44/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 44", "content_html": "\n\u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05da
O GOOD ONE, THAT YOUR MERCY NEVER ENDS
You are the sole\u00a0Good One; Your goodness is not limited to any level of tolerance, and You withhold well-deserved punishment for injustice with endless\u00a0mercy\u00a0and forgiveness.
\u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05e8\u05d7\u05dd \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05da
AND HE THAT HAS MERCY, THAT YOUR KINDNESSES DO NOT END
You alone are the truly merciful One, for not only do You spare us from punishment for our sins, but You even continue to bestow kindnesses upon us, even though we are undeserving.
\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da
FROM EVER WE HAVE HOPED TO YOU
Since the beginning of our nation, and since the beginning of each of our lives, all of our hopes have been only in You, and in no other object, person, or cause at all.
\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da
AND FOR ALL OF THESE BLESSED AND ELEVATED SHOULD BE YOUR NAME
For each and every one of Your innumerable kindnesses, we bend our knees before You in humble gratitude (\u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da) and proclaim to the world of Your great power, wisdom, and kindliness (\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd).
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 44 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:08:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:08:45+00:00" }, { "id": 32409, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%9a-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\nFor each and every one\u00a0of Your innumerable kindnesses, we must bend our knees with gratitude and humility before You and bless Your kindly Name, and we must elevate Your Name and proclaim to the world of Your great power, wisdom, and kindliness.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05d9\u05ea\u05d1\u05e8\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:07:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:07:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32407, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%9c%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da", "content_html": "\n\u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da
FROM EVER WE HAVE HOPED TO YOU
Your goodness and Your mercy truly have no end, and we have therefore always\u00a0hoped to You\u00a0since the beginning of our nation, and each one of us individually, as well, has\u00a0hoped to You\u00a0from the beginning of our lifetime; and all of our hopes were solely\u00a0\u05dc\u05da, in You alone, not in any other object, person, or cause at all; only in You, Hashem.
\nThe post \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:04:24+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:04:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32404, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9d-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%9e%d7%95-%d7%97%d7%a1%d7%93%d7%99%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05e8\u05d7\u05dd \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05da", "content_html": "\nHashem is \u201cHe that has mercy\u201d, for He alone is the only truly merciful One. So great is Your mercy \u201cthat Your kindnesses do not end\u201d, for not only do You have mercy upon us and spare us from punishment for our wrong-doings and sins, but You even continue unceasingly to bestow kindnesses upon us, even though we are undeserving;\u00a0You alone are the truly merciful One.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05e8\u05d7\u05dd \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05de\u05d5 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-25T17:03:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-25T17:03:34+00:00" }, { "id": 32400, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%98-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a1-%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%98-%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%a8-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%99%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%98%d7%a2%d7%a8/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d8: \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05d8 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8, \u05e0\u05d5\u05e7\u05dc\u05e2\u05d0\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e4\u05df, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05d6\u05e0\u05e2\u05e1-\u05e4\u05e8\u05d0\u05d1\u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05e2\u05df", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-209The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d8: \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05d8 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8, \u05e0\u05d5\u05e7\u05dc\u05e2\u05d0\u05e8\u05e2 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e4\u05df, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05d6\u05e0\u05e2\u05e1-\u05e4\u05e8\u05d0\u05d1\u05dc\u05e2\u05de\u05e2\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-24T22:48:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-24T22:48:48+00:00" }, { "id": 32397, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-24/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 24", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-24The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 24 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-24T22:22:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-24T22:22:22+00:00" }, { "id": 32374, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%94%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-22T04:55:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-22T04:55:16+00:00" }, { "id": 32372, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%94%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%95-%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05da", "content_html": "\nYou alone are the \u201cgood One\u201d. All \u201cgood ones\u201d have a boundary beyond which they are no longer willing to tolerate insult or injustice to them. But Your goodness is not limited to any level of tolerance; You can withhold punishment even when it is well-deserved, for Your\u00a0mercy\u00a0and forgiveness for injustice\u00a0never ends.\u00a0You are thus the only truly\u00a0Good One\u00a0Whose goodness is unending and forever.
\nThe post \u05d4\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-21T17:16:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T17:16:58+00:00" }, { "id": 32368, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-running-from-sin/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Running From Sin", "content_html": "\nQ:
If\u00a0the tests that Hashem gives us are necessary to acquire greatness \u2013\u00a0we need these tests to cause us to prove ourselves and achieve perfection\u00a0\u2013 so why do we pray for Hashem not to test us?
A:
This is a question that is asked frequently here and so I\u2019ll explain it to you like I always say. And it\u2019s simple.
If a man finds himself in a burning building, there are two courses. One course is to get out as fast as he can. A second course is to remain and see how long he can endure it and then escape at the last minute. Now it could be that someone might say he\u2019s a hero if he could hang around for a while. But as the Chinese always say, \u201cThe hero is the one who runs away.\u201d That\u2019s a hero. If you run away, you\u2019re a hero. To save yourself is a first requirement.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, when you\u2019re in peril of some temptation, the very best way to pass that test is by running away fast to avoid temptation. That\u2019s the reaction you should have. That\u2019s how you acquire greatness.
\n\n\n\nNow, sometimes a man is confronted with a temptation that he didn\u2019t seek and there\u2019s no escape. Then he\u2019s really put to the test. And the way he passes that test, that\u2019s his greatness in that situation.
\n\n\n\nBut never look for tests. Always stay out of the way of trouble. And that\u2019s the Jewish attitude, to stay out of places of temptation. As much as possible \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e9. Just like you flee from fire, so you flee from something that smacks of sin.
\n\n\n\nA man called me up long distance, a frum man, married, who is working in a certain place. He says there\u2019s a young lady there that took a fancy to him. And he\u2019s somewhat perturbed. What should he do?
\n\n\n\nSo I said, \u201cDrop that job immediately! Don\u2019t report for duty anymore! It makes no difference! You\u2019re in great peril! You can\u2019t afford to flirt with something worse than death!\u201d People don\u2019t realize that.
\n\n\n\nI had a case once, a woman told me in confidence that the Italian bachelor next door speaks to her every day and she is quite friendly with him.
\n\n\n\nSo I said, \u201cDrop everything and take the first plane to Florida and don\u2019t come back anymore. Let your husband stay here to rearrange all the affairs and when he\u2019s finished he\u2019ll follow you to Florida. You\u2019re in great danger if you don\u2019t do that!\u201d
\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t know what happened; I\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t take my advice but that\u2019s how you deal with danger like that. A sin is perilous and when it comes to peril, you run away. Let\u2019s say, if a mafia man called you up and said, \u201cI\u2019m coming to your house tonight because you didn\u2019t pay me up and I\u2019ll take care of you. I\u2019ll bring along the cement. I\u2019ll see that you have a kimono of cement.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAre you going to wait for him? You\u2019ll take the first plane to Mexico and even though you\u2019ll never be able to come back again.
\n\n\n\nThe same is for a sin! It\u2019s worse than a mafia man! And therefore, we don\u2019t seek tests. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4!
\n\n\n\nI once knew a case where there was a couple that had a sickly child. And a physician for some reason told them that the child needs the climate of Southern Italy. That was very many years ago; about sixty years ago. I remember that. He needed the climate of Southern Italy. What did they do? They moved to Southern Italy, that\u2019s all. They only had one child. They couldn\u2019t let his life be lost. They moved to Southern Italy. That\u2019s some change! They have to find a home. They have to find a new livelihood. They moved to save the child\u2019s life!
\n\n\n\nIf you live way out near Bangor let\u2019s say, in some country place in Maine,\u00a0and you see your child is losing religion, there\u2019s only one thing to do.\u00a0 Drop everything and come back to Brooklyn.\u00a0 Nothing to do!\u00a0 You can\u2019t help yourself.\u00a0 You can\u2019t put yourself in sakana of losing your life!\u00a0 You have only one life to live!\u00a0 And you see people are being lost constantly!\u00a0 Intermarriage! Constantly people are going lost because they don\u2019t run away from sin.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, Jews have to take the most extreme steps to save themselves even if it means becoming a refugee. A refugee drops everything. He leaves all his clothing in the house. He runs out of the house in the middle of the night and he runs down the street as far as he can to get away from home where the peril is threatening. He makes up his mind, \u201cI\u2019ll never come back again to the place of danger. I don\u2019t want to encounter the mafia man in my house! If I come back there, my life is over!
\n\n\n\nThe same way, spiritual peril is much worse! You have to do everything in your power to save yourself!
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 659
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Running From Sin appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-21T17:15:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T17:15:12+00:00" }, { "id": 32353, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-talking-to-whom/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Talking to Whom?", "content_html": "\nRav Levi Yitzchak Berditchever once told his shamash in the middle of davening to walk over to the bimah, bang on the table, and make an announcement. \u201cThe Rebbe wants everyone to know,\u201d he said, \u2018that there is a Borei.\u201d That was the announcement. Don\u2019t laugh! It\u2019s a very important announcement to make in all the shuls. In the middle of davening, you have to announce it. Because we\u2019re too busy davening to think about that \u2013 too busy to think, for even a moment, that we\u2019re talking to Hashem.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Talking to Whom? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-21T00:30:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T00:30:17+00:00" }, { "id": 32349, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%94%d7%9c-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dcThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d4\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T21:25:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-23T22:10:10+00:00" }, { "id": 32344, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-vayakhel/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Vayakhel", "content_html": "\nNechemia and Shlomo nervously knocked on the office door. Why had the Mashgiach called for them? They didn\u2019t think they had done anything wrong.
\n\n\n\n\u201cCome in!\u201d called the Mashgiach warmly.
\n\n\n\nThe two bochurim walked cautiously into the office where their Mashgiach, Reb Yosef, was sitting at his desk waiting for them.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHow are you boys doing?\u201d he asked with a smile.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoruch Hashem, good,\u201d Nechemia said quietly.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI want to talk with you boys about what happened at the Shabbos seudah in Yeshiva,\u201d Reb Yosef began.
\n\n\n\nNechemia and Shlomo exchanged a glance. What had happened on Shabbos?
\n\n\n\nThe Mashgiach continued, \u201cI always love when I get the opportunity to spend a Shabbos seudah in Yeshiva with all of my talmidim. But this week, after the cholent was served, I noticed that the two of you were laughing and cracking jokes. I was disappointed to see such amazing bochurim like the two of you acting like that on Shabbos.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d said Shlomo. \u201cWe were in a silly mood and weren\u2019t acting the way Bnei Torah should. But what does Shabbos have to do with it? It\u2019s not like we were doing any melachos or moving muktzah.\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then, they were interrupted by a strange looking man who had appeared at the doorway to the office. He had long blonde hair, a banjo on his back, and a surfboard under his arm!
\n\n\n\n\u201cEm\u2026 can I help you?\u201d asked the Mashgiach.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSure, Rabbi!\u201d said the man. \u201cHey guys, how\u2019s it going?\u201d he added, nodding at the two bochurim.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy name is Matthew Sweeney, but you can call me \u2018Riptide\u2019. I\u2019ve been looking everywhere for a Rabbi and then I saw this Yeshiva building and I was like \u2018whoa, I bet there\u2019s a Rabbi in here!\u2019 And what do you know, here you are!\u201d
\n\n\n\nReb Yosef and the bochurim stared as Matthew continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m not Jewish or anything, but I find your whole religion fascinating. Every time I go to the beach I see that huge ocean and think \u2018man, that is awesome – there must be a Creator!\u2019
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo anyway, on Friday G-D gave me such amazing waves to ride that I realized that I need to do something in return for Him. So I decided that I\u2019m going to keep Shabbos just like you guys do. I went home and made kiddush on a cup of orange juice. I didn\u2019t even turn on any lights! I just sat in the dark the whole Shabbos thinking about the wonderful ocean that G-D made for me and I decided I want to become Jewish!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh no! Don\u2019t do that!\u201d shouted the Mashgiach, causing Nechemia and Shlomo to jump. \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous to do such a thing if you\u2019re not a Jew yet!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t do what?\u201d asked Matthew.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image-2.png?resize=611%2C435&ssl=1\")
\u201cYou can\u2019t keep Shabbos!\u201d answered Reb Yosef. \u201cHere, take my number and give me a call this evening and we\u2019ll talk. But don\u2019t keep Shabbos!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOkay, thanks Rabbi! Bye guys!\u201d said Matthew, as he walked out of the office.
\n\n\n\nNechemia turned to the Mashgiach. \u201cWhy is it so bad if he keeps Shabbos if he anyway wants to be a Yid?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause Shabbos is special!\u201d said Reb Yosef. \u201cIt\u2019s not for Goyim. Just like the Beis Hamikdash! Do you know that in the Beis Hamikdash they had a sign in Latin saying that any Goy who comes in would be chayav misah? And even the Romans understood and let them keep that sign there. Because the Beis Hamikdash was a kadosh place and only Yidden were allowed inside.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd Shabbos is the same – it\u2019s a kadosh day that Hashem gave us and only to us. When we go into Shabbos we\u2019re entering a day of kedusha. That\u2019s why \u2018Nochri sheshovas chayav misah\u2019 – if a gentile keeps Shabbos, he gets the death penalty, just as he would if he walked into the Beis Hamikdash.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo you see, Shabbos isn\u2019t just a day that we don\u2019t do melacha. It\u2019s a very special day, just for us. And we can\u2019t act on Shabbos the way we act during the week. When we enter Shabbos, we are entering a time of Kedusha, just as if we were entering the Beis Hamikdash, where we would never, chas veshalom, act silly. We can\u2019t talk on Shabbos the way we talk during the week. It\u2019s a time to enjoy our closeness with Hashem, and we have to treat it with tremendous respect.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNechemia and Shlomo thought about this for a second. \u201cThank you,\u201d they said. \u201cFrom now on we will make sure to always keep in mind Kedushas Shabbos and treat the day with respect.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Vayakhel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T04:18:07+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-20T04:18:08+00:00" }, { "id": 32332, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayakhel-5-three-roads-to-greatness-2/", "title": "Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness", "content_html": "The Half-Shekel
\n\n\n\nIn the ancient days of our nation a very big event took place every year which attracted a great deal of attention, and that was the collection of the machatzis hashekel. Today we still have a small zecher of those bygone days \u2014 we remember what used to be by reading a special sedrah on Shabbos Shekalim; we give a half dollar to a tzedakah fund before Purim; we do different things \u2014 but in our early days the gathering of the machatzis hashekel and bringing it to Yerushalayim was much bigger than that.
\n\n\n\nOur chachomim tell us that \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b8\u05e8 \u05de\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b0\u05bc\u05c1\u05e7\u05b8\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 On Rosh Chodesh Adar they begin to make announcements reminding everyone that it is the time to bring in the machatzis hashekel. Everywhere, in all of the places where the Am Yisroel dwelt, there were commissions set up, officials and gabboim for the purpose of collecting the half-shekelfrom every Jew.
\n\n\n\nAnd although it was only a half-shekel, but because it was an obligation on every Jew, very large sums of money were collected. All over Eretz Yisroel and Bavel and wherever Jews lived, bucketfuls and trunkfuls of half-shekels were collected. And finally the money was gathered together and sent to Yerushalayim, to the Beis Hamikdosh.
\n\n\n\nThe Convoy
\n\n\n\nIt was a very big affair every year, a tremendous scene to behold. There was a large convoy of about ten thousand people who came from Bavel, besides others who joined as the convoy passed their locales. All those who wanted to come to Eretz Yisroel to study Torah utilized the opportunity and came along. Also all the meisim that died in Bavel and wanted to be buried in Eretz Yisroel were now exhumed and the bodies were carried with this convoy.
\n\n\n\nThey had with them groups of armed soldiers who made treaties with the kings and governors whose lands they passed through. This was so that they should have the privilege to pass through unhindered and have the right to collect machatzis hashekel from the local Jews without having to pay taxes. And as they converged upon Yerushalayim from all sides of the galus, it had a very big effect on all the Jewish communities they passed. Everybody, wherever he was, knew that it was his duty to contribute.
\n\n\n\nMembership Money
\n\n\n\nThe entire nation participated in the avodah of the Beis Hamikdosh with this money. It was with the half-shekels of Abba in Pumbedisa and Chanina in Bnei Brak and Chisda in Neharda\u2019ah, with the half-shekels of all the Jews everywhere, that the korbanos tzibbur, the community sacrifices, were purchased.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s how the entire nation participated in the avodas Beis Hamikdosh. Just like when the Mishkon was erected in the Wilderness, everybody took part by means of an obligatory contribution of a machatzis hashekel, that\u2019s how it remained always.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the machatzis hashekel means \u2013 it represents the obligations of a Jew by means of which we become Hashem\u2019s people. All of the people participated, and that\u2019s how they were counted as Bnei Yisroel. Of course, it represents all of our obligations; everything, not only the half-shekel. It means tefillin and Shabbos and tznius. It means limud Torah and eating matzah. It means shaatnez and birkas hamazon. It\u2019s the whole Shulchan Aruch. Fulfilling all of those minimum obligations, that\u2019s what makes you part of the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nMembership Perks
\n\n\n\nNow, what does it mean to be part of the Klal Yisroel? It means everything! It\u2019s not like the Pole says, he\u2019s so happy to be a Pole. Or the black man says \u201cWe are so proud that we are black.\u201d Now, I have nothing against them for being proud; I think it\u2019s good to be loyal to your people \u2013 let the Blacks be proud, let the Poles be proud; gezunterheit. But what is it really after all? Not much. It means they\u2019re proud to be a member of one of the mishpechos ha\u2019adama, the nations who live for this world. Because the nations of the earth live only for now and then they go down in the soil and are forgotten forever.
\n\n\n\nBut when we say \u201cwe are proud to be part of the Jewish people\u201d, we mean much more than that because Hakodosh Boruch Hu said to us that we are living for a different place. When the Bnei Yisroel accepted the Torah, from now on, they are not of this world; they are forever.
\n\n\n\nWhen you do a mitzvah you are investing in eternity. You are a person that is forever! You are part of the Am Olam \u2013 not only you live forever in this world, you’re a nation that will forever exist, a nation that will live forever in the World to Come.Membership in the Klal Yisroel entitles you to the most important thing you could imagine: \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u05d9\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05e7 \u05dc\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u2014 Every Yisroel has a portion in the World to Come.
\n\n\n\nNow, we note that it doesn\u2019t say, \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd. Maybe only tzaddikim should get Olam Habo? No, it says \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc. It means that the World to Come is the very great reward given to every Jew who keeps the Torah. That\u2019s what it means \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 every Jew who fulfills the basic Torah obligations is guaranteed a ticket to Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nEarning Your Ticket
\n\n\n\nAnd just like a person who fulfilled the minimum obligation of giving a half-shekel was guaranteed a share in the Mishkon. So too, by means of the obligatory performance of all the mitzvos, a person acquires a share in the Eternal Mishkon of the Afterlife. If you want a portion of whatever our nation is promised, that\u2019s the minimum you have to do.
\n\n\n\nWe should keep that in mind always, that by participating, by fulfilling our basic obligations we\u2019re not merely \u201cdoing mitzvos.\u201d We\u2019re not merely \u201cOrthodox Jews.\u201d What it means, k\u2019pshuto, is that we\u2019re gaining a ticket to Olam Habo. That\u2019s our zechus! Because we belong to that great nation of those who follow the dvar Hashem \u2013 the Shas, the Rishonim, the Shulchan Aruch \u2013 because we have a Torah and we have to fulfill it, that\u2019s the way we merit eternal life.
\n\n\n\nCatching Fagin
\n\n\n\nAnd so, kol Yisroel, everyone,is promised a cheilek in Olam Habo. Because everyone participates in everything. In ancient times everybody kept the letter of the Torah. Up until recently even in our memory \u2013 that is the memory of our grandparents \u2013 in European communities up until the 1870s, everybody kept everything; except in Germany, certain parts of Austria, Italy. Otherwise in Poland and in Russia where the masses of the Jews lived they kept the entire Torah. Everybody put on tefillin. Everybody fasted on Shiva Asar BeTammuz.
\n\n\n\nEverybody washed negel vasser when they got up in the morning. Everybody had a basin with a pitcher of water near his bed. Everybody! It was remarkable. That’s how it used to be. No Jew would leave his bed if something happened to the negel vasser in the morning. He would ask, \u201cWhere’s the water?\u201d They had to bring the water before he could get off the bed.
\n\n\n\nThey used to say that if you want to catch a Jewish thief so when he’s asleep take away his negel vasser. When he gets up in the morning he can’t leave his bed because a Jew without negel vasser doesn’t leave his bed.
\n\n\n\nI told you once about Warsaw. In Warsaw the pickpockets had long beards and kapotes. The crooks were frum Jews. There was nothing else you could be in those days. There was no possibility of not being an Orthodox Jew. A Jew wouldn’t walk daled amos with his head uncovered once upon a time. You couldn’t find it. Every detail of Jewish life once upon a time was fulfilled.
\n\n\n\nA Golden Woman
\n\n\n\nOf course there were many who went beyond the line of duty too. Everybody knows the famous story of the Goldene Roize who was once sentenced for some reason in the Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages she was sentenced by the gentiles to be put to death, a woman, and she was tied to the tail of a wild horse who was supposed to be driven into a fast run dragging her onto death.
\n\n\n\nSo before they did that she asked for one favor. She asked for a pin. A well-known story, a true story. They gave her a pin, the last request, and she pinned her skirt to her feet, to her skin. She pinned her dress to her skin so the dress should be kept down as she would be dragged. It’s a famous story, the Goldene Roize they called her, the golden rose.
\n\n\n\nGetting Into the Straightjacket
\n\n\n\nAnd there are a thousand more stories like that. But that wasn\u2019t the minimum machatzis hashekel \u2014 it was above and beyond; it was glorious \u2014 but even the most simple Jew, the simple tailor and shoemaker, the mother raising her children, the masses of Am Yisroel lived gloriously and acquired a share in Olam Habo because they lived by habit, by the good habits of Torah and mitzvos. That\u2019s how we lived in all the generations and that\u2019s how we continue to live today. We follow the beaten path of fulfilling everything.
\n\n\n\nYou know, somebody once wrote a history and he said when Rav Yosef Karo came along and made a Shulchan Aruch, he put the Jewish nation into a straightjacket from now on. Up until Rav Yosef Karo there was not one sefer that told you everything you have to do. But today you open up a sefer, look in the table of contents, this siman, that sif, and you know what to do in this and this case. You can look it up.
\n\n\n\nTo a very great extent our course in life is delineated and so this writer \u2013 he wasn’t a big tzaddik by the way \u2013 he was complaining that the Shulchan Aruch put us into a straightjacket. But we say baruch Hashem! We need a straightjacket! Otherwise, we would be crooked. Better a straight jacket than a crooked jacket. That\u2019s our ticket to the Next World.
\n\n\n\nConvoy to Destiny
\n\n\n\nAnd because we follow the Shulchan Aruch, we all earned our ticket. If a Jew is a shomer mitzvos, if he tries to keep the mitzvos, then he is ours, yeish lo cheilek l\u2019Olam Habo. I don\u2019t care what kind of yarmulke he wears; if he wears a knitted yarmulke or if he wears something else, he\u2019s traveling along with us. A person who keeps taharas hamishpacha, family purity, he eats kosher, he sends his children to yeshiva and not public school, he\u2019s a shomer Shabbos, he has mezuzos on his doors \u2013 a person like that is walking with us to Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s how the masses of our people traverse the same path together towards Olam Habo. Just like the march of the machatzis hashekel to Yerushalayim meant they were marching together with the whole nation; in every generation, by following that pattern of fulfilling the basic obligations of the Torah, that\u2019s how the throngs of our people are marching towards their destiny in Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nThe Surprising Question
Now, as simple as all this sounds, it’s interesting to note that among our sages of old it was not considered a simple matter at all. Because we find in the Talmud a question repeated again and again, \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05bc\u05b6\u05df \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05b8\u05d0 \u2013 Who is worthy of the World to Come? Once and again this question is posed; and our sages give various answers, examples of those who undertook a special behavior that merited for them a place in Olam Habo.
Now, that\u2019s surprising to us because we wouldn’t even ask such a question. To us it seems so simple. Kol Yisroel! Every frum Jew has a share in the World to Come. What\u2019s the question already? And yet, if the sages are asking, \u201cWho is worthy of the World to Come?\u201dwe already have reason to suspect that the matter is not as simple as we imagined.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara (Taanis 22a) tells us a story about a certain Rav Beroka who was standing in a marketplace and he encountered Eliyahu Hanavi. It means he had a vision \u2013 giluy Eliyahu is a vision that some of our great men merited. Now, it\u2019s a special privilege to be able to encounter Eliyahu Hanavi and so Rav Beroka utilized the opportunity to ask him this question. \u201cIs there anybody in this marketplace who\u2019s a ben Olam Habo?\u201d
\n\n\n\nClowning Around
\n\n\n\nNow, you understand already that in a marketplace there must have been many Jews, many people who merit Olam Habo, and yet that\u2019s the question Rav Beroka chose to ask of Eliyahu: \u201cIs there someone here who is going to be a resident in the Next World?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d Eliyahu said to him, \u201cI\u2019ll show you.\u201d And he pointed out a clown who was dancing in the corner of the marketplace; a poor Jew whose business it was to make people laugh \u2014 he was dancing up and down for some pennies. \u201cThat\u2019s a ben Olam Habo,\u201d Eliyahu said.
\n\n\n\nRav Beroka was quite surprised. \u201cA clown? That\u2019s the ben Olam Habo of the marketplace?!\u201d And so after Eliyahu departed Rav Beroka went to investigate. He approached this clown and he asked him for details of his behavior. \u201cTell me something about yourself.\u201d He wanted to discover what is there about him that merits Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nClandestine Clowning
\n\n\n\n\u201cMy line of work is to be a comedian,\u201d the man said. \u201cI dance and sing and make jokes. And I try especially to cheer up those who look sad.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow that’s not a simple statement. What Rav Beroka discovered was that this clown used to clown in his off-hours also. When he was finished clowning for parnassah, he went clowning for a mitzvah. The clown told him, \u201cWhen I am off from my work and I have spare time, I go around to people who are sad and I jump up and down and make them laugh.”
\n\n\n\nNow, I’m not able to tell you exactly what this clown did but it’s certain that it was a program that this man followed not once or twice. It was a system of his that he kept his eyes open as he was performing; and if he saw among the crowd someone who seemed to be not enthusiastic or didn’t respond so he singled him out to give him a special private treatment later.
\n\n\n\nAnd even though he was tired from dancing and juggling all day, after hours he made it his business to visit that person and to perform for him especially, to cheer him up. That was his shittah; if someone was sad or depressed, he donated his services for nothing; he would visit sick and lonesome people and entertain them. He racked his brain thinking of ways and means to amuse them and make them happy. And that\u2019s how he became a ben Olam Habo; he received not just a cheilek, a portion along with everyone else, but a much higher station in the world that\u2019s forever.
\n\n\n\nNo Simple Thruway
\n\n\n\nAnother story from the Gemara. It\u2019s about a chacham who left this world for a short time and then came back to give us a report about what he saw there in Olam Habo. Now exactly what happened I cannot tell you. Whether he died and came back to life again or he was close to death and while he was close to death he had a vision of Olam Habo, I can\u2019t tell you \u2013 the details are not supplied. I suspect that most people who die tend to stay dead and so I venture to say that it was a vision. But whatever it was, when he returned to the life of this world, when he regained consciousness, they asked him \u201cWhat did you see? What did you see in the other world?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd this sage told them that he was amazed at what he saw there, at the information that was revealed to him. \u201c\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 I saw an upside-down world. \u05e2\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05d8\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 The upper ones here, the ones who are most important in this world, are at the bottom there, and those who are at the bottom here are on the top in that world.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow don\u2019t get your hopes up now just because you feel you\u2019re not much in this world. It doesn\u2019t mean that everything is upside down. But it means that we\u2019ll be in for some surprises because there are some of the elyonim in this world who are lematah there and there are some tachtonim in this world who are lema’alah there.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we begin to see from these stories an important principle that the way to Olam Habo is not the simple thruway we imagined. It’s not just a straightforward matter how Olam Habo is conferred on people. Because if it’s possible that such big surprises should take place \u2014 clowns who are first in line and elyonim who are at the bottom \u2014 you must say that something is being done by people even today that we don\u2019t recognize so easily but when they come to the World to Come they are going to be given great distinction. In that world they will be greatly honored for things that they’re not honored for now. And therefore when we talk about the question who is a ben Olam Habo we’re not speaking about fulfilling that which everybody else does. We’re talking about being original, doing something unusual.
\n\n\n\nA Greater Share
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why in our parsha we find that Hashem spoke to Moshe Rabeinu and said \u05e7\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05e0\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b8 \u201cTake from among you a terumah to Hashem, whoever is of willing heart should bring it\u201d (Vayakhel 35:5). It means that after the machatzis hashekel was given by everyone, ensuring for everyone a nominal share in the Mishkon; an additional chance was given to afford everyone a very much greater opportunity. Now you could volunteer with your free will and acquire a larger share in this eternal achievement.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhoever is of willing heart\u201d should step forward with whatever they\u2019re capable of. And many did! Women brought their copper mirrors \u2013 it\u2019s not easy for a woman to give away her mirror \u2013 and donated them to the Mishkon. Others came with valuable metals, gold and silver. Those who had been forced to learn metallurgy in Mitzrayim as slaves stepped forward and willingly offered their expertise and time. Those who had become expert weavers came to use their talents for Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nIt could be some stayed in their tents, I can\u2019t tell you \u2013 could be some were satisfied with the minimum half-shekel \u2013 but everyone had the opportunity to be a \u05e0\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d1 and gain a greater share in the Mishkon.
\n\n\n\nTwo Levels
\n\n\n\nAnd these two opportunities to donate to the Mishkon; the half-shekel and the appeal to step forward with more, are parallels of all the achievements that a Jew can make in his lifetime.
\n\n\n\nOne level, the minimum, is the obligatory performance of all the mitzvos; when a Jew performs all of them he has acquired a share in the eternal Mishkon of the Afterlife. But those that choose to go beyond the line of duty \u2013 these people acquire a greater share in the eternal Mishkon of Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what matters most when we talk about Olam Habo; we\u2019re not interested in the minimum that gives us an ordinary portion in the World to Come. That cheilek is not enough for us. When we\u2019re talking about the eternal Mishkon, we\u2019re talking about something that\u2019s forever, and so we\u2019re interested in achieving much more than the minimum.
\n\n\n\nLevel of Love
\n\n\n\nAnd that brings us to the important question of what’s called chassidus. Now when you hear this word, chassidus, don’t lose interest because that’s the crux of the whole matter. We’re not talking about chassidus the way it’s spoken about today, certain groups that teach certain kinds of ideologies. Right now we’re talking about chassidus in the original sense, the way it\u2019s used in the Gemara.
\n\n\n\nThe sages ask, \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d7\u05b8\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u2013 Who can be truly called a chossid? \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 the one who does some kindliness to his Creator. Now, at first glance that doesn\u2019t appear to be much of an answer. Because how can you do kindliness to your Creator? You can’t do a thing for Him. What does \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05e1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 mean?
\n\n\n\nWhat it means is that you show a special devotion to Him, an exceptional loyalty and love, by doing more than is required of you. That\u2019s what kindliness means \u2013 you do more than you have to because you love that person. And that\u2019s what chassidus means \u2013 if you do beyond the line of duty because you love Hakodosh Boruch Hu, you\u2019re a chossid.
\n\n\n\nThe Real Candidate
\n\n\n\nThe Mesillas Yesharim gives an example. Suppose a father and his son are walking down the street, and the father stops for a moment and he admires a certain fruit on the fruit stand. He doesn’t say anything. He just looks at it, and then he passes on. Now, this son is the kind of son who wants to please his father and so he doesn’t wait for his father to say, \u201cSon, buy me this\u201d or \u201cI want this.\u201d No. He sees that his father’s interested in it so he comes back later and he buys that for his father. That’s a truly devoted son. He doesn’t wait to be told, but he seeks opportunities to fulfill the desires of his beloved father.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Mesillas Yesharim says, a chossid is somebody who, if there\u2019s an indication in the Torah that Hashem approves of a certain practice, then he\u2019s not satisfied by doing the minimum; instead he goes all out and adds to it. \u201cOh Hakodosh Boruch Hu, is that what You want? You want me to participate with a machatzis hashekel in building the Mishkon? So I\u2019m going to go out of my way to do even more.\u201d That’s chassidus and that\u2019s the heart of the subject that we’re talking about \u2014 the person who is willing to step over the border line and do more than he’s required, that’s the one who is the real candidate for Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nA Different Mind
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019re learning now that our station in the Next World depends on our \u201cwillingness of heart\u201d to do more. It\u2019s not only the \u201cmore\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s the \u201cwillingness of heart.\u201d It\u2019s not merely a quantitative difference; it\u2019s a difference in quality because it demonstrates that you love Hashem. When you add to what is required of you, when you\u2019re looking for ways to express your devotion to Hashem, it demonstrates that your entire attitude is different. You\u2019re demonstrating what’s in your mind \u2013 an especial loyalty and an affection for his Creator.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the great maalah in being a chossid \u2013 the mind of a chossid is an entirely different mind because he loves Hashem and therefore he utilizes whatever abilities he has to serve Hashem and to bring Him pleasure. There are a lot of things in life \u2013 whether you\u2019re a clown or a goldsmith or a weaver or even a quiet woman who is willing to collect copper mirrors for the Mishkon \u2013 you\u2019d be surprised how much chassidus there is in life.
\n\n\n\nAll our lives we have to be on guard to add and add and add. That’s the best way to serve Hashem. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu is able to recognize what\u2019s in a man\u2019s mind. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has His eye open for these people and that\u2019s why they are the true bnei Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nThe First Two Ways
\n\n\n\nOur chachomim tell us (Makos 24a) that \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b8\u05df \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 Micha the Navi came and he established the Torah on three principles; it means he pointed out for us three foundations on which a person\u2019s avodas Hashem rests. It\u2019s related to our subject so let\u2019s listen to what he says: \u05d4\u05b4\u05d2\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u2013 He tells you, O man, what is good, \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and what does Hashem require of you, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8\u2013 but to do mishpat and to love kindliness and to walk secretly with Hashem (Micha 6:8).
\n\n\n\nWhat are these three things? Number one, asos mishpat, is what we spoke about in the beginning of tonight\u2019s talk. If you\u2019re interested in knowing what Hashem wants of you, the first thing is asos mishpat, to fulfill the Torah; it includes all of the dinim; allthe laws between man and man and the laws between man and Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That’s mishpat \u2014 all the minimum obligations that we must fulfill. It\u2019s the first step of being a Jew and it\u2019s our ticket to Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s not enough. A good Jew, if he loves Hashem, he wants to do more. And so the second thing that Hakodosh Boruch Hu requires is ahavas chessed, to love the practice of chassidus, of going beyond the line of duty. Of course it means kindliness too but in general it means to not be satisfied with the minimum; instead you go beyond what the mishpat requires. That\u2019s what kindness is, after all. It\u2019s nedivus haleiv, what a man’s heart volunteers to do; it means making use of your free will to add even more and to acquire a greater and more special share of Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nClandestine Activities
\n\n\n\nAnd now, the third principle of Micha; if you fell asleep pay attention now because this is something new: After asos mishpat and ahavas chesed comes \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 To walk with Hashem in secret. Now what does it mean to \u201cwalk in secret\u201d? It\u2019s an added dimension; it means to do everything without displaying it. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 to conceal your good deeds; to do these things privately without ostentation.
\n\n\n\nLet’s say if a man wants to give charity; so instead of doing with display, he gives it secretly. Nobody knows about it. Our sages did that. Everybody knows about the story of Mar Ukva (Kesubos 67b), how he gave tzedakah secretly. He used to come and deposit money behind the door so that the poor could take it without knowing who the giver was. That was the policy of Mar Ukva. And once a poor man wanted to discover who it was that was giving him the money so Mar Ukva fled; he made a quick getaway and in order to conceal his identity he entered a furnace, a burning furnace. That’s how important it is to conceal your good deeds. As much as possible all good deeds should be done without display.
\n\n\n\nIt’s like a certain precious stone that has a brilliance only when it’s in the dark. When you display it in a cave or in a cellar where the windows are draped over then this precious stone gives forth a bright light. But when you take it into the street in the sunshine, it loses its brilliance.
\n\n\n\nNow, why can\u2019t a mitzvah shine in the daylight too? What is it that makes a mitzvah shine when it\u2019s done in secrecy? The answer is that you\u2019re thinking about Hashem. The great advantages of \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea is that you do it \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8; you\u2019re doing it only for Hashem Elokecha and for no ulterior motive. Otherwise it could very well be that you\u2019re doing it for the acclaim of others.
\n\n\n\nImpress the Guests
\n\n\n\nLet’s say you’re in the shul. You’re a yeshiva man or you’re a ba’al habayis in the shul, and you’re praying now. It’s hard to deny that we are encouraged by the fact that people are looking. Of course we don’t do it because of that but every additional shake gets a little bit of a push from the fact that we have an audience. And I can prove it. Because when you’re home, let’s say you\u2019re saying birkas hamazon after the meal, you can catch yourself sometimes saying it without so much shaking \u2013 and it could be a pretty cold bentching too \u2014 because there’s no audience. Nothing but your poor wife and you don’t feel like showing off so much in her presence.
\n\n\n\nBut suppose a stranger happened to be present at your table. Oh, that\u2019s a different story. Now, because I\u2019m an old hand already, I utilize it. When I have guests at the table I tell them, \u201cI’m glad you’re here because you give me an incentive to bentch with more kavanah.” I let them know. \u201cI’m glad to have you here because now I’m saying it better than usual.\u201d I make use of the audience. But first thing I give a mesiras modaah, \u201cDon’t think that’s the way I always bentch. Only because you’re around, I want to make use of the opportunity and I’m doing it better.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s human nature \u2013 you want to impress. Are you thinking about Hakodosh Boruch Hu? Could be you\u2019re thinking about Him too. More or less; usually less. But the people, that\u2019s who you\u2019re actually performing for.
\n\n\n\nClandestine Cleaning
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea is so valuable. When you serve Hashem in secret it\u2019s especially prized because it\u2019s not merely an improvement on the mitzvah; it\u2019s a brand-new career of im Elokecha, of training yourself to be aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. A career of awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu! That\u2019s called living!
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s a career that\u2019s open to everyone. To walk secretly with Hashem is open to everyone; you don\u2019t have to be a talmid chochom; you don\u2019t have to be wealthy or wise \u2013 all you need is a desire to become great.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why every man and woman, every boy and girl, should take up a program of \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea; everyone should make up his mind that once a day he\u2019s going to do an act of chesed secretly. Nobody should know about it. \u201cI\u2019m not doing it for people to like me; only because I want Hashem to see that I\u2019m serving Him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nDid you ever try that? Do it tonight when you get home. When your mother\u2019s not looking, wash a dish for her. Wash out a dish, yes. Or when nobody\u2019s looking, wash your wife\u2019s dish. Do that once in a while when nobody\u2019s looking. And don\u2019t ever tell anyone.
\n\n\n\nSecret Service
\n\n\n\nIf you think about it you’ll find many ways of helping people secretly, of doing things that they don\u2019t know about. Let\u2019s say you go to the yeshiva and nobody\u2019s around; put the seforim back on the shelf before anybody comes in. Or you\u2019ll buy, let\u2019s say, fragrant soap and bring it into the lavatory of the beis haknesses or the yeshiva \u2013 put a piece of fragrant soap in a urinal, yes. It\u2019s a big chesed!
\n\n\n\nI know a man who goes into the bathrooms of the synagogues and puts bars of soap there. And he goes out and nobody knows who did it. Sometimes he goes into the yeshivas and leaves tissues there, on the tables, when nobody is looking. Other people go buy seforim and they deposit them in the azat of the yeshivas. There are people like that; nobody knows about them. Secretly they are doing mitzvos. Only Hashem knows.
\n\n\n\nIf you think you have nothing to do, so write a nice letter to some person and encourage him without signing your name. An anonymous letter. I do that many times; I write letters to encourage people. I don\u2019t sign my name so they\u2019ll think it\u2019s somebody important writing to them. They love it! If you want you can sign your name too, but if you do it secretly, it\u2019s a tremendous thing!
\n\n\n\nClandestine Calling
\n\n\n\nPeople can pray for others in secret. No effort is involved and everybody needs prayers. Some need it desperately. So many people \u2013 people who can\u2019t get married, people who have trouble with parnassah, people who don\u2019t have shalom bayis, people who are ill.
\n\n\n\nWhen you hear that a friend\u2019s child is very sick, or that a neighbor or cousin had some mishap, don\u2019t just say \u201cTsk, tsk\u201d and move on. Take the name down and pray for that person. Nobody has to know. Stand in a corner somewhere and speak to Hashem. Or find a telephone booth \u2013 you can even take the receiver in your hand if you want and pray to Hashem: Make a long distance call to Hashem: \u201cPlease Ribono Shel Olam, send a refuah sheleima to so and so, bi\u2019soch sha\u2019ar cholei Yisroel.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI know a man who carries papers with him that have the names of cholim. Do that. Carry these papers and from time to time look into the papers and be mispallel. It\u2019s a very important opportunity. It\u2019s gemillas chassodim, a chassidus, to be mispallel for someone who is sick. And the more you\u2019re minadeiv leiv to do it, the greater you become. And when it\u2019s done b\u2019hatzneia, in secret, that\u2019s the pinnacle! Everything is made especially great when it\u2019s done in secret.
\n\n\n\nThe Ladder
\n\n\n\nAnd so we learn now that there\u2019s a ladder to climb to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Of course, a ladder to Hakodosh Boruch Hu goes up very high, but we see now that there are three principles upon which the ladder stands. Number one is the half-shekel that everyone participates in \u2014 it means all of the obligations that make us into the Am Yisroel, the Yisroel that\u2019s included in kol Yisroel yeish lahem cheilek l\u2019olam habo.
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re not satisfied with that. After all, this world is merely transitory; it\u2019s not permanent \u2013 whatever Olam Hazeh success you achieve is not forever. But whatever you achieve for the Next World, that\u2019s what counts.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why we all want to be chassidim. That\u2019s the second principle. As much as possible we look for ways and means of going beyond the line of duty \u2013 we\u2019re not satisfied with just the minimum cheilek in the Next World.
\n\n\n\nAnd on top of all that, the pinnacle of our service of Hashem, is to do it solely for Hashem. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e2\u05b7 \u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05e2\u05b4\u05dd \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8. Look for opportunities \u2013 not look; make opportunities to serve Hashem in secret. Your wife and your children should not know. Your husband and parents shouldn\u2019t know. That\u2019s the especial greatness of an oved Hashem; to train oneself to become aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu by doing things in His service that nobody knows about.
\n\n\n\nAnd if you begin this program and persist \u2014 don\u2019t become tired and don\u2019t scorn the opportunities \u2013 then you\u2019re going to be surprised at the harvest of shleimus which will be yours in the years to come. Little by little you are climbing the ladder of perfection and becoming a ben Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nTraveling All Three Roads
\n\n\n\nMicha teaches three ways of serving Hashem: (1) Keeping all the requirements of the Torah, (2) Doing extra, and (3) Doing things secretly. This week I will bli neder set aside time to work on all these areas. I will spend five minutes each day studying the basic laws of the Torah in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch or a similar sefer. Additionally, I will go beyond the call of duty by praying to Hashem for someone else each day. I will do this secretly so that no one but Hashem knows of my devotion to Him.
\nThe post Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T04:16:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-11-12T20:33:48+00:00" }, { "id": 32339, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayakhel-5-three-roads-to-greatness/", "title": "Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness", "content_html": "TA-Vayakhel-5782The post Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T04:11:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-20T04:11:35+00:00" }, { "id": 32331, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-vayakhel-5-three-roads-to-greatness/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness", "content_html": "TA-Vayakhel-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Vayakhel 5 – Three Roads to Greatness appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T04:11:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-20T04:11:05+00:00" }, { "id": 32328, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%97-%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%a2-%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%94%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%92%d7%95%d7%99-%d7%a9%d7%a9/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d7: \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d4\u05e8\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u200e\u200e", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-208The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d7: \u05d3\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e1\u05d9\u05e2, \u05d4\u05e8\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea\u200e\u200e appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-20T01:55:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-20T01:55:14+00:00" }, { "id": 32319, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dancing-around-the-golden-calf/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Dancing Around The Golden Calf", "content_html": "\nQ:
When Moshe Rabeinu came down from Har Sinai it says \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d2\u05dc \u05d5\u05de\u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u2013 And he saw the eigel and the dances. What was the dancing about?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhen they made the eigel, there was a happiness because it was to them a great relief. \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b6\u05bd\u05e2\u05b1\u05dc\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05bd\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Because this man Moshe who took us out of Mitzrayim, we don\u2019t know what happened to him. Moshe Rabbeinu was their contact with Hakodosh Boruch Hu and now they thought he\u2019s so many days on the mountain, the time came to come down and he didn\u2019t show up. We don\u2019t know what happened! They were afraid he got lost, he was killed. He was finished. What\u2019s going to happen to us? We\u2019re left without our contact to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, they were accustomed to the ideas of the world that the contact of Hakodosh Boruch Hu with us is by means of some image and so they thought, \u201cWe want to make a certain object where the Shechina should rest and make contact with us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow this image, however, was made as the \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e9\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d1\u05de\u05e8\u05db\u05d1\u05d4. It was the image of the ox in the merkava. And therefore they thought that at least was kosher. They didn\u2019t want to make one of the keruvim. The keruvim looks like a human being. An image of a human being, that\u2019s too much chutzpah to make; it looks like an avodah zara. So they took an eigel, a kosher animal, and they thought that the Shechina would rest on the eigel and therefore by means of that contact they\u2019d continue having some kind of a connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That was the intention. The meforshim say that. The Rishonim say that this was their intention.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Aharon yielded. He yielded because he thought their intentions were good. The act itself was not right, but what can you do in an emergency? The people are already in despair. Moshe is not here! What should we do?! And therefore, he gave them permission to do that and make a contact with Hakodosh Boruch Hu by the means of an eigel. And the Shechina would rest on the eigel and thereby they\u2019d still continue to have the Shechina with them.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, when they made that eigel they were so happy that they danced. Why do we dance today on Simchas Torah? Why do we dance? And the answer is we\u2019re happy before Hashem. Now, I\u2019m sure they danced with more yiras Shamayim than we dance on Simchas Torah. On Simchas Torah we dance and we forget what we\u2019re dancing about. We dance and dance; we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re dancing about. It\u2019s like fun. It becomes fun. We forget the purpose of dancing on Simchas Torah. But when they were dancing at the eigel, they were dancing because they were happy because once more they were being joined to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
But Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, \u201cNothing doing! My Torah should never be transgressed. I said you cannot make an image \u2013 matter how good your intentions are, it\u2019s forbidden to make an image.\u201d That was their sin. And so Moshe Rabbeinu said, \u201cNothing doing! No matter how good you think you\u2019re becoming, you\u2019re doing it in the wrong way.\u201d
TAPE # E-269
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Dancing Around The Golden Calf appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-18T17:45:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-18T17:45:18+00:00" }, { "id": 32318, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-unfortunate-children/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Unfortunate\u00a0Children", "content_html": "\nQ:
What benefit does Hakodosh Boruch Hu accomplish when children are born who are retarded, Down Syndrome, other things. And how can parents cope and deal with the situation?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow you should know that this is a very big problem. I receive letters from all over the world about this. And they ask me to tell them what to do. \u201cWhat can we do? What can you tell us?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is Hakodosh Boruch Hu created unfortunates in the world for two reasons \u2013 my little head is telling me two reasons. One reason is that we have to learn how to deal with them with rachamim.
That’s why there are poor people in the world. A poor man is matzil the wealthy man midina shel Gehenom. When you give money to a poor man, you are not doing him a favor \u2013 he is doing you a favor. He is saving you from Gehenom. A very important function of unfortunate people is that they save us by giving us the opportunity to do things to help them. And therefore having a child like that in the home means you are gaining a tremendous benefit. The chasodim you do to that child are going to pay you in this world and in the next world.
Now what about the child himself? Why shouldn’t he enjoy a happy life, a normal life? The answer is Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to pay him off for his service, that he served in this world for the benefit of other people.
\n\n\n\nThe Gemara in Avoda Zara says that in the Next World Hakodosh Boruch Hu will teach him Torah. The Gemara says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu teaches the children who die young. He’ll take all the Down Syndrome children and He\u2019ll teach them Torah. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a good teacher. He’ll give them Olam Haboh because they served His service \u2013 they were loyal servants to Him.
\n\n\n\nNow, a second function of the unfortunates is in order we should realize how lucky we are, how fortunate we are. If you have good children and you yourself are normal, then thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And that\u2019s why there are unfortunates in the world, so that we should compare ourselves to them. If you pass a place of Muscular Dystrophy; if you see people who are cripples and their heads are wandering from side to side as they are carried out in wheelchairs as you pass by, don’t waste the opportunity. Give a shevach to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that you are not among them.
\n\n\n\nAnd all your life you have to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu for being normal. You have to do that; that\u2019s the purpose of these people. And whenever you see anybody that is a baal mum, one of the purposes is to awaken you to your duty of saying to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cThank you!\u201d You should feel an eternal gratitude that you are not in that person\u2019s shoes.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-10
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Unfortunate\u00a0Children appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-18T17:37:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-18T17:37:13+00:00" }, { "id": 32316, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-43/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 43", "content_html": "\n\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05e2\u05de\u05e0\u05d5
AND FOR YOUR MIRACLES THAT ARE WITH US EVERY DAY
\u201cYour miracles\u201d\u00a0that testify of Your great Wisdom, Power, and Kindliness, and cause us to become tangibly aware of Your presence. You rescue us every day with Your\u00a0mighty\u00a0and\u00a0kindly\u00a0miracles.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da
AND FOR YOUR WONDERS AND YOUR BENEFITS
All the natural phenomena of the world are\u00a0wonders\u00a0that have been arranged solely for our\u00a0benefit, thus causing us to gain true Awareness of You and Your kindliness upon us at all times.
\u00a0
\u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e6\u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd
AT EVERY TIME, EVENING, AND MORNING, AND NOON
Your wonders and Your benefits occur at all times, evening, morning, and noon; all day and all night Your wonders and benefits continue.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 43 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-18T17:26:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-18T17:26:58+00:00" }, { "id": 32313, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%a2%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%91-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%a7%d7%a8-%d7%95%d7%a6%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e6\u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\n\u201cYour miracles\u201d\u00a0(\u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05da)\u00a0occur \u201cevery day\u201d. But \u201cYour wonders and Your benefits\u201d, they occur\u00a0“\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea”, \u201cevery time\u201d, that is, at all times. \u201cEvening, and morning and noon\u201d, the three divisions of time \u2013 all day and all night Your wonders and benefits continue.
\nThe post \u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05ea \u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e6\u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-18T17:25:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-18T17:25:35+00:00" }, { "id": 32311, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%a0%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%90%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%95%d7%98%d7%95%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da", "content_html": "\nAll the natural phenomena of the world are both \u201cYour wonders\u201d and \u201cYour benefits\u201d, for all that is in the Universe has been arranged with the deepest wisdom and cunning, and it has all been planned solely for our benefit. These phenomena (Your wonders) cause us to be amazed at Your wisdom and thus gain Awareness of You and Your greatness, and they (Your benefits) cause us to be grateful to You and to thank You forever.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-18T17:23:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-18T17:23:45+00:00" }, { "id": 32307, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-23/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 23", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-23The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 23 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-17T22:16:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-17T22:16:43+00:00" }, { "id": 32300, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-threat-of-nuclear-war/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Threat of Nuclear War", "content_html": "\nQ:
What is the reason for Hashem making it that the nations of the world have created nuclear weapons and now there\u2019s a danger of nuclear war?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhat explanation can be offered for the advent of nuclear weapons?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to let us know we don’t have Him stymied. Although He already committed to a promise He won’t bring a mabul, a flood of water, but the gemara says He could chas veshalom bring a flood of fire.
\n\n\n\nNow we might forget that. We might think it’s only a bluff. And therefore He gives us a little intimation.
\n\n\n\nSo we’ll hope that these nuclear weapons will always be used only to threaten each other so the nations will be afraid to go into war, and let’s hope it remains that way.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nBut in the meantime we learn that lesson that they’re around. They\u2019re around! Which means we have to be better. We have to learn more Torah and practice more Torah and remember Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nAnd among all the good things we have to enjoy in this world is the fact that we don’t have the nuclear age being practiced right now. It’s not being practiced. It’s only in laboratories. It’s only in army stations. It’s not being practiced. And we’ll enjoy life as long as we’re able to enjoy it. Who knows if our children will be able to be as happy as we are, because once they start pressing the wrong buttons, it will be a different kind of world. So right now let’s enjoy it and be happy.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 127
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Threat of Nuclear War appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-17T20:45:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-17T20:45:28+00:00" }, { "id": 32280, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%90-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05db\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-16T04:39:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-16T04:39:37+00:00" }, { "id": 32273, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-family-attachments/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Family Attachments", "content_html": "\nQ:
Would you say that the future success of a person in avodas Hashem is dependent on him fostering deep family attachments as a child?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is no. Deep family attachments are an aid to a child but it’s certainly not a necessity. In the days of old, that means up to a hundred years ago, very many boys left home; they left their families. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4. Many went to other towns and studied Torah and they hardly ever came back again. They married in those towns and almost never came back.
\n\n\n\nFamily attachments are only important after you’re married. After you marry you have to have a family attachment and responsibility to your wife and to your children. That’s part of a man’s shleimus.
\n\n\n\nOf course, \u05db\u05d1\u05d3 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05de\u05da; no question that honoring your father and mother is a fundamental form of perfection. But very many people never even saw their parents. They were orphaned and still they gained perfection without that. So although it certainly is useful, it’s not a sine qua non that it must be utilized in order to gain shleimus.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 434
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Family Attachments appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-15T21:21:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-16T01:26:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32265, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dealing-with-business-trouble/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With Business Trouble", "content_html": "\nQ:
If a person is experiencing problems in his business, how can he prevent himself from being overwhelmed by his problems?
A:
\n\n\n\nIf a person has problems in business, he should know that \u05db\u05dc \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05dd \u05dc\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u2013all the occurrences that happen to a person in this world are tests for him. It\u2019s only a test and he should think, \u201cHakodosh Boruch Hu is testing me in two ways. Two ways. First of all, am I forgetting, because of these problems, all the good things that are happening to me? That I\u2019m in good health; that my family is in good health.\u201d
\n\n\n\nI once went to a Russian shoe repair man.\u00a0 He said to me like this: \u201cAz m’iz gezunt, iz men reich.\u201d\u00a0 I learned a piece of Torah from him. \u201cAz m’iz gezunt, iz men reich.\u00a0 If you\u2019re healthy then you\u2019re wealthy.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s all.
\n\n\n\nSo even though a person has business troubles, but you\u2019re not in the hospital; you\u2019re functioning. Look how many people are sick and have so much trouble.\u00a0 Look in the doctor\u2019s offices.\u00a0 They\u2019re crowded with patients. And you are able to be outside the doctors\u2019 offices.\u00a0 So you have business problems.\u00a0 But health problems are a thousand times worse.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s one test.\u00a0 Are you forgetting to thank Hashem?\u00a0So number one, keep on thanking Hashem.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\n\n\nThe second test is bitachon. You have to have trust in Hashem. And your business troubles are a spur, a stimulus to pray to Hashem. You have to pray to Hashem. We don\u2019t pray enough. We don\u2019t ask enough. \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d9\u05d1\u05e7\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d5 \u2013 A person should always ask for mercy about this thing: \u201cPlease Hashem don\u2019t make me poor. Don\u2019t make me poor.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou hear that? Did you do it even once? You have to do it always! Always you have to ask Hashem, \u201cPlease don\u2019t make me poor.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow this man didn\u2019t do it; and now he\u2019s having business troubles. So what should you do? Cry out to Hashem. Pray to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nSo you have two tests. One test is don\u2019t forget the good things He\u2019s doing for you. He\u2019s giving you your health. And second, utilize the opportunity to cry out to Hashem and ask Him that He should give you parnassa.
\n\n\n\nBy the way, the Gemara also says, \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d9\u05d1\u05e7\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d7\u05dc\u05d4 \u2013 A person should always ask rachamim not to become ill.
These are two things that are very good advice. Always ask Hashem you shouldn\u2019t become poor. Always ask Hashem you shouldn\u2019t become ill. Always ask Hashem! L\u2019olam! Every day! Every day! Don\u2019t wait for a tefilla to say it in shmoneh esrei. Say it with your own words: \u201cPlease Hashem, see to it that I don\u2019t become ill. Please Hashem, I shouldn\u2019t become poor.\u201d Every day these two bakoshos. Two requests every day.
And therefore, business problems will give you an idea about these two things.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-269
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With Business Trouble appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-14T18:11:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-14T18:11:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32262, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%a0%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%a9%d7%91%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9d-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05e2\u05de\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\nMiracles occur every single day, and they are\u00a0\u201cYour miracles\u201d, for they testify of Your great Wisdom, Power, and Kindliness, and cause man to become tangibly aware of Your presence. We are constantly faced with all kinds of peril, both inside our bodies, as well as outside from external enemies, but You rescue us again and again with Your\u00a0mighty\u00a0and\u00a0kindly\u00a0miracles.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e1\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05e2\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-14T17:52:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-14T17:52:29+00:00" }, { "id": 32254, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05db\u05d9-\u05ea\u05e9\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-14T01:29:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-17T04:33:36+00:00" }, { "id": 32250, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dont-despair-of-knowing-torah/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Don\u2019t Despair of Knowing Torah", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can one talk himself out of his despair in knowing the Torah?
A:
\n\n\n\nI suppose it means that he thinks that it\u2019s too much for him to do and he gives up hope; he gives up hope of succeeding in knowing Torah.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ll take an analogy. As you walk on Kings Highway, you see big establishments. There are some big businesses there, successful stores. But on one street corner, there\u2019s a man with a peanut stand. It\u2019s a simple cart; two wheels, that\u2019s all, and there\u2019s a little stove that\u2019s heating the peanuts. And this man is standing there and waiting for customers.
\n\n\n\nNow, they\u2019re not standing in line for him. Customers are few and far between. And sometimes it\u2019s cold too. Does he give up? No. Why doesn\u2019t he give up? Because he wants as much as he can earn. He can earn three dollars a day, five dollars a day, he\u2019s satisfied. Of course, he\u2019d like to earn five thousand dollars a day but when it comes to money, however, you earn as much as you\u2019re able. And he\u2019s quite happy if he takes home five dollars at the end of the day.
\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to learning, all of a sudden nobody wants to learn for peanuts. Everybody wants to be a millionaire. \u201cIf I cannot be a gadol hador, then I don\u2019t want to learn.\u201d He gives up. I had a case like that. He said, \u201cI can\u2019t become a gadol so what\u2019s the use?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo! If you can learn one line a day it\u2019s a success! You learn two lines? A bigger success! Learn whatever you can and that\u2019s a great achievement.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s only the yetzer horah that tells you either you learn for the highest stakes or don\u2019t learn at all. It\u2019s a deception and many people allow themselves to be persuaded by that. It\u2019s remarkable how much people can accomplish if they learn little by little. In the course of time, it adds up to a great amount of wealth.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 307
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Don\u2019t Despair of Knowing Torah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T22:38:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T22:38:34+00:00" }, { "id": 32246, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-not-to-blame-hashem/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When Not To Blame Hashem", "content_html": "\nQ:
I was listening to one of your lectures and you said that everything comes from Hashem; that Hashem is paying you back for something. And then you quoted the sages that the only thing that doesn\u2019t come from Hashem is the common cold. Can you explain that?
A:
\n\n\n\nThis gentleman is quoting me as saying that the common cold is not from Hashem. And he wants to know why is it that the common cold is the only thing that does not come from Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow we have to qualify that statement. It\u2019s not only the common cold. All the things that a person causes by his own negligence to himself are his own doing. Let’s say if a man walks up to this wall. He walks from here and makes a charge with his head against the wall and he has a headache tonight. So this man is lying in bed and his head is throbbing and he’s thinking, \u201cMah zos asah Elokim lanu? Why has Hashem brought this upon me? For what sin did this come to me?\u201d
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a good question. And the answer is for the sin of butting your head against the wall. And that’s a big sin.
\n\n\n\nSo if a man is lying in bed with a cold and he’s thinking about what he did to deserve this \u2014 and he should think! \u2014 but the first of all things, before he thinks about any other thing, he should think, \u201cDid I go out without a jacket? Did I go to sleep too late last night so I lowered my resistance. I could have gone to bed on time but I was looking in the newspaper until too late at night and in the morning I woke up and I didn’t have any energy and therefore when the germs started floating in the air on an airplane of a piece of dust and I breathed it in so my mucous membrane had been breached because my resistance was lowered. And that’s why the cold germs found a nest in my throat.\u201d That’s number one. That\u2019s the first thing to think about when you get sick.
\n\n\n\nSo why blame Hakodosh Boruch Hu for what you did? Is that clear now?
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 13
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on When Not To Blame Hashem appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T22:36:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T22:36:45+00:00" }, { "id": 32243, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-praying-with-desperation/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Praying with Desperation", "content_html": "\nEven when all is well and one is healthy as can be, he still must pray to Hashem with desperation and plead, \u201cHashem, please keep me well!\u201d Imagine a rich man sitting in his penthouse, his desk piled up with checks from all over, his pantry fully stocked, yet he tearfully bentches, \u201cv\u2019na al tatzricheinu,\u201d \u201cHashem, please don\u2019t let me starve!\u201d Even in his success, this man understands that everything is only from Hashem, and that without Hashem,\u00a0he truly is a starving man.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Praying with Desperation appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T22:00:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T22:00:59+00:00" }, { "id": 32241, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-42/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 42", "content_html": "\nA) You have been and will always be the Rock and the Shield of Your People Yisroel, \u201cfrom generation to generation.\u201d
B) \u201cFrom generation to generation we thank You\u201d. Forever we are indebted for the kindnesses that You have bestowed upon us throughout the generations, and we will thus continue to thank You forever.
\u00a0
\u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05d5\u05e0\u05e1\u05e4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\u05da
WE SHALL THANK YOU AND WE SHALL RELATE YOUR PRAISE
\u2018We shall thank\u00a0only\u00a0You\u2019, with our mouths and our deeds; and to others as well, \u2018we shall relate\u2019\u00a0\u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\u05da, nothing but \u2018Your praise\u2019.
\u00a0
\u05e2\u05dc \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05de\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3\u05da
FOR OUR LIVES THAT ARE GIVEN OVER INTO YOUR HAND
You alone provide us with the entire sequence of life and all of life\u2019s necessities. And\u00a0we ourselves have given\u00a0over \u201cour lives\u201d into Your hand as well, by putting our full trust only in You.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05da
AND FOR OUR SOULS THAT ARE DEPOSITED WITH YOU
\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea, \u2018deposited\u2019 or \u2018entrusted\u2019. The existence of the soul in the body is\u00a0deposited\u00a0with You, for it is entirely in Your power. And we too\u00a0entrust\u00a0our soul with You and rely on You that it continue to exist.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 42 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T21:52:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T21:52:40+00:00" }, { "id": 32237, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%a0%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%94%d7%a4%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05da", "content_html": "\n“\u05d4\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea”, \u201cdeposited\u201d or \u201centrusted\u201d. The existence of the soul in the body is\u00a0deposited\u00a0with You, for it is entirely in Your power. And it is\u00a0entrusted\u00a0with You as well, for we, too, entrust our soul with You and rely on You that it continue to exist, as is written\u00a0“\u05d1\u05d9\u05d3\u05da \u05d0\u05e4\u05e7\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7\u05d9”, \u201cIn Your hand I entrust my spirit\u201d (Tehillim 31:6).
\nThe post \u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e7\u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T21:17:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T21:17:58+00:00" }, { "id": 32235, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%99%d7%93%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05e2\u05dc \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05de\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3\u05da", "content_html": "\n“Our lives”- our health, our welfare, our tranquility etc., they “are all given over into Your Hand”, for You alone provide us with the entire sequence of\u00a0 life and all of life’s necessities. And we ourselves have given over “our lives” into Your Hand as well, by putting our full trust only in You.
\nThe post \u05e2\u05dc \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05de\u05e1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d9\u05d3\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T21:15:49+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T21:15:49+00:00" }, { "id": 32232, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%93%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%9a-%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%a1%d7%a4%d7%a8-%d7%aa%d7%94%d7%9c%d7%aa%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05d5\u05e0\u05e1\u05e4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\u05da", "content_html": "\nAll our thanks are solely\u00a0\u05dc\u05da, to You, and to no other cause. \u201cWe shall thank You\u201d, that is, between us and You, with our mouths and with our deeds; and \u201cwe shall relate Your praise\u201d to others, and spread the knowledge of Your kindness and greatness among all men. We shall relate nothing, nor will we get enthusiastic about anything, but\u00a0\u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\u05da; our tales will not speak of war or romance or adventure, only \u201cYour praise\u201d, and nothing else.
\nThe post \u05e0\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05d5\u05e0\u05e1\u05e4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T21:13:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T21:13:32+00:00" }, { "id": 466, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-sometimes-a-good-cholent-is-better-than-moshiach/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on a Good Cholent is Better Than Moshiach", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s pshat in the statement of Chazal that Moshiach won\u2019t come on Erev Shabbos?
A:
It\u2019s Eliyahu Hanavi you\u2019re referring to. \u05db\u05d1\u05e8 \u05de\u05d5\u05d1\u05d8\u05d7 \u05dc\u05d4\u05dd \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e9\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1 \u2014 The Am Yisroel is promised that Eliyahu Hanavi won\u2019t come to announce the good tidings of the geulah on Erev Shabbos (Eiruvin 43b). And the question is, why not?
Because the Shabbos is too important for us and we need time to prepare ma\u2019adanim and ta\u2019anugim for Shabbos. The recognition of chesed Hashem that the Shabbos seudos are intended for is too important. When you sit down on Shabbos to eat and you\u2019re thinking, \u05d1\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd \u05e9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05e0\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5 \u2013 All this came by the word of Hashem. \u05db\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u2013 He spoke and it came into existence. And while you\u2019re thinking that, you\u2019re eating. It\u2019s a geshmaka sugya. A geshmaka chulent. You\u2019re eating and enjoying it.
\n\n\n\nThat sugya has to be learned with cheishek and therefore Eliyahu has no business interfering with that. It\u2019s too important. So on Erev Shabbos he won\u2019t come. It would spoil the lesson of Shabbos if we were too busy to prepare tasty foods. And that lesson is so important that even Eliyahu Hanavi has to wait.
\n\n\n\nBy the way, it\u2019s a very important lesson and we should utilize that lesson. When you sit Shabbos and you\u2019re enjoying the ma\u2019achalim you should be thinking, \u201cBoruch Hashem, that He gave us the Shabbos.\u201d What a great blessing the Shabbos is for the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nAnd among the blessings is \u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05db\u05dd. The Shabbos is a special sign of recognition for the Am Yisroel. It\u2019s a sign of kavod. Suppose a man came over to you and gave you a gold medal to hang on your chest. You\u2019d be very excited. You\u2019d wear it every day. Shabbos is a gold medal for us. And we\u2019re so happy with it.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore you have to enjoy the Shabbos and feel what a kavod it is for the Am Yisroel. \u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05db\u05dd. And therefore Eliyahu Hanavi cannot come on Erev Shabbos and spoil the geshmakeit of that seudah.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-253
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on a Good Cholent is Better Than Moshiach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T19:39:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-14T01:57:50+00:00" }, { "id": 32189, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-ki-sisa-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Ki Sisa", "content_html": "\n\u201cMmmm\u2026\u201d said Chesky, as Totty drove down 16th Avenue in Boro Park.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIs everything okay?\u201d asked Totty. \u201cThat\u2019s the third time you said that in the past five minutes.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cEverything is amazing, Totty!\u201d Chesky answered. \u201cI\u2019m just enjoying the beautiful scent of Klal Yisroel like we read in Toras Avigdor Junior two weeks ago!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty smiled. \u201cAh! That really does smell delicious,\u201d he agreed.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLook Totty!\u201d said Chesky. \u201cThere\u2019s a yungerman hurrying to Kollel to learn Torah!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cGevaldig!\u201d said Totty. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a Mommy taking her little boy to cheider to learn Aleph Beis! Ah, beautiful!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s the Bostoner Rebbe!\u201d exclaimed Chesky. \u201cI\u2019d stand up for him, but it\u2019s not safe to do that while we\u2019re driving.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Bostoner Rebbe?\u201d said Totty sharply. \u201cWhere?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTotty looked over and saw that the Bostoner Rebbe was indeed walking down the avenue ahead of them. He quickly pulled the car over right in front of \u201cNosh A Bagel\u201d, and jumped out.
\n\n\n\nChesky was confused. Did Totty pull over just so he could stand up out of respect for the Rebbe? Chesky took off his seatbelt and stood up as much as he could inside the car.
\n\n\n\nMeanwhile Totty had run over to the Rebbe. \u201cPlease!\u201d Chesky heard him say. \u201cThe Rebbe shouldn\u2019t have to walk! Come inside my warm car and I\u2019ll give the Rebbe a ride to wherever he\u2019s going.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Rebbe smiled at Totty. \u201cThank you for offering,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I actually prefer to walk.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut I would love to give the Rebbe a ride,\u201d Totty pleaded. \u201cCome, it will save the Rebbe time – it would be a big zechus for us!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI actually walk every day for my health,\u201d Rebbe said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I learned from my great Rebbe Rav Avigdor Miller Zatzal.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNothing Totty said could persuade the Rebbe to ride with them, so Totty said goodbye to the Rebbe, who then gave Totty and Chesky a brocha and continued walking down the street.
\n\n\n\nBack in the car, Chesky turned to Totty. \u201cTotty,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy did you so badly want the Rebbe to ride with us? I mean I know it\u2019s a chessed, but once he said no, why did you keep insisting?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause of a Possuk in this week\u2019s Parsha,\u201d Totty answered.
\n\n\n\nChesky looked confused. \u201cBecause of the Eigel Hazahav?\u201d he asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, no, no!\u201d Totty said, shaking his head vigorously. \u201cNothing to do with the Chet HaEigel! Towards the end of the Parsha there is a Possuk that says \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05bb\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05df\u05be\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05df \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc – that Moshe\u2019s helper Yehoshua never left his Rebbe\u2019s tent.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHis \u2018helper\u2019?\u201d asked Chesky. \u201cWasn\u2019t he his talmid who eventually became the Rebbe of Klal Yisroel?\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image-1.png?resize=615%2C479&ssl=1\")
\u201cWell he was definitely constantly learning Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu,\u201d Totty said. \u201cBut it was more than that. He was serving his Rebbe!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cLike he brought him his Mann?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat, and anything else his Rebbe needed,\u201d Totty explained. \u201cYou see, Chazal tell us that serving Talmidei Chachomim is even greater than Limud Torah! By serving Moshe Rabbeinu, Yehoshua was serving Hashem. And that way he got closer and closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu until he reached the level where he was worthy to become the next leader of Klal Yisroel.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo that\u2019s why you so badly wanted to give the Rebbe a ride?\u201d Chesky asked.
\n\n\n\n\u201cExactly,\u201d said Totty. \u201cAny time we can do something for a Talmid Chochom, that gets us closer to them and in turn it brings us closer to Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI wish I was old enough to serve Talmidei Chachomim,\u201d mused Chesky.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut you are old enough!\u201d Totty said. \u201cHow about when the Rov gives a shiur in shul – you can help him carry his seforim to the table. Or when you see Reb Zundel coming to shul in his wheelchair – he\u2019s a huge Talmid Chochom – you can help push his chair to his seat for him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBoruch Hashem we live in Boro Park and we are surrounded by Talmidei Chachomim – we just have to open our eyes and look for opportunities to get close to them!\u201d
\n\n\n\nChesky thought about this as Totty continued driving. He decided right then to always keep his eyes open for as many opportunities as possible to serve Talmidei Chachomim.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Ki Sisa appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T01:54:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T01:54:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32179, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-sisa-5-speaking-up-2/", "title": "Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up", "content_html": "The Terrible Event
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah the Torah tells us that when Moshe Rabeinu came down from Har Sinai with the stone tablets he had received from Hakodosh Boruch Hu, he saw that in the interim a very terrible event had taken place \u2014 some of the people had fashioned a golden calf and they were celebrating, dancing around that image.
\n\n\n\nNow, these people didn\u2019t worship the golden calf. That\u2019s only kindergarten talk. It\u2019s time to let go of those immature ideas of your youth. They were worshiping Hashem! And that\u2019s what they themselves said. When they made the golden calf, they said (Ki Sisa 32:4), \u201cThis is your G-d who took you out of Egypt.\u201d Now, they knew a calf didn\u2019t take them out of Egypt. They knew it was Hashem that took them out of Egypt.
\n\n\n\nBut now they became frantic because their redeemer was late. He had promised to come down in forty days and he didn\u2019t come down, so they thought he had perished on the mountain. They were frantic! They were afraid that Moshe was lost, that he would never come down again. And so they decided that they needed some form of a tangible image on which Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s Shechina should rest \u2013 something in place of Moshe Rabeinu.
\n\n\n\nThe Response
\n\n\n\nNow, although they meant well, they did it in a way that was illegal. Even though the image was made in honor of Hashem, but the Torah says, \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t make any images of Me.\u201d Hashem says \u201cNothing doing. No images at all!\u201d And now they were dancing around a golden calf, which was a crime. And crimes against Hashem are the worst crimes. Someone had to do something!
\n\n\n\nWhat was the first thing Moshe Rabeinu did when he came down? \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b2\u05de\u05b9\u05d3 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05e2\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05e0\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 He stood at the entrance to the camp. He didn\u2019t go into the camp. He stood at the entrance all alone and called out \u2013 he made a big announcement: \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 Whoever is for Hashem should come to me (ibid. 32:26). It means, \u201cIf anybody is left who is willing to stand up for Hashem, let him come to me. There\u2019s some business that has to be taken care of here.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, when Moshe Rabeinu made that proclamation, we are sure that there were many people who agreed with Moshe. \u201c\u2018Who is for Hashem?\u2019 What kind of question is that?! Of course we\u2019re for Hashem! Who isn\u2019t?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNobody Moved
\n\n\n\nAnd yet nobody moved; the Am Yisroel, the loyal men and women of that great nation didn\u2019t hurry to join Moshe Rabeinu. Nobody reacted because it\u2019s not always easy to take a stand. Once you go with Moshe Rabeinu, who knows what you\u2019ll have to do? Moshe wasn\u2019t inviting them to a melaveh malka or a chamisha asar b\u2019shvat party. This was something else. You might have to kill. It\u2019ll be quite uncomfortable.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the people were stolid. They understood that there was trouble here but they were calm; they weren\u2019t excited. They said it with self control, they said \u201cWe\u2019ll see what\u2019s going to happen here. We don\u2019t want to get embroiled in a fight. After all, some of these people are newcomers to Judaism and therefore we can\u2019t be so strict on them.\u201d And so nobody moved.
\n\n\n\nThousands Sentenced
\n\n\n\nBut there was one group that did move. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05e1\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 All the bnei Levi hurried to Moshe Rabeinu\u2019s side. They all came to him; they rallied to the cry of Moshe Rabeinu and they gathered around him. \u201cHere we are,\u201d they said.
\n\n\n\nAnd Moshe said, \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d7\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05db\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 Let each one of you put his sword by his side. Gird your sword on your loins, and go through the camp and arrest everyone who has some complicity with the calf. Walk around the people, discover who are the sinners, and we\u2019re going to have to execute everyone who worshiped the golden calf.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what happened. They made courts immediately and sentenced people and executed them. Three thousand were executed at that time.
\n\n\n\nJudging Brothers
\n\n\n\nNow that was some job. The Levi\u2019im, you have to know, had relatives in the camp. There were no Levi\u2019im who participated in making the eigel, but they had kin, stepfathers and stepsons and so on, half brothers. Among them were the closest relatives of the Levi\u2019im by intermarriage from other shevatim. This was before the shevatim settled in Eretz Canaan in separate areas. They all lived in one camp so they mingled \u2013 there was some intermarriage between the shevatim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so when the time came to judge people, here was a man who had to judge his widowed mother\u2019s husband, his stepfather. He had to judge his half brother, his good friend. But when Moshe Rabeinu told them that they have to act in honor of Hashem they went forth and they fulfilled the word of Hashem. They refused to recognize any relatives and they were the ones who executed the worshippers of the golden calf. \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 And he said to his relatives, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t see you.\u201d (Devarim 33:9). Levi refused to recognize his relatives. They didn\u2019t care. Relatives, not relatives \u2013 anybody who is guilty of the eigel, they put him to death. The Bnei Levi had no pity \u2014 they had pity of course but what won\u2019t you do for Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOut of Love
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to know that this is the reason that the shevet Levi attained greatness with Hashem. \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1\u05b6\u05d8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u2014 At that time, Hashem set apart the shevet haLevi (Devarim 10:8). At what time? At the time that they stood up for Him!
\n\n\n\n\u201cOooh,\u201d said Hakodosh Boruch Hu, \u201cSuch a shevet, a shevet who puts Me first, I\u2019m going to put them first. Just because the children of Levi were zealous in My honor \u2013 they loved Hakodosh Boruch Hu so much that they came to help Moshe Rabbeinu \u2013 then \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05dd, the Levi\u2019im will be mine (Bamidbar 8:14). Because that\u2019s how Hashem deals with those who truly love Him.
\n\n\n\nOf course, it has to come from that \u2013 a love of Hashem. Sometimes, people are kana\u2019im not because they love Hashem; it\u2019s for their personal motivations. But the true secret of kana\u2019im \u2014 a genuine kanai is somebody who loves Hashem so much that he cannot remain quiet when he sees something is being done against Hashem\u2019s will. He can’t stand people doing what\u2019s wrong because the One he loves most doesn\u2019t want it.
\n\n\n\nMemories of Three Gedolim
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Mesillas Yesharim says. When the Mesillas Yesharim deals with the subject of ahavas Hashem, he declares that one of the main branches of loving Hashem is kinah. Kinah means you love Hashem. Speaking up, defending the honor of Hashem and opposing the enemies of the Torah is an expression of Ahavas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t tell me that the gedolim don\u2019t speak up. I’m not a gadol but I can tell you that I saw real gedolim and they spoke up. Reb Aharon Kotler z\u201dl gained a number of enemies because he was outspoken. The old Satmerer Rebbe gained enemies also because he was outspoken. There was a writer, a frum shomer Shabbos writer who once characterized the Satmer Rebbe in the story, \u201cThe Rebbe and the Satan\u201d \u2013 a whole story about how the Rebbe made a bris with the Satan to attack Jews.
\n\n\n\nEven Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky \u2013 he was a very sweet man \u2013 but he had teeth! I was present once at a certain gathering and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky spoke up against Bar Ilan University. Bar Ilan is a rotten place, a terrible place, and if it would close down, the world would be much better without it. And there were people present there who were big supporters of it and one man had the chutzpah to speak up and contradict Rav Yaakov, but he wasn’t afraid. He spoke up. He felt it was an important issue and he spoke up.
\n\n\n\nThe Truth about Hollywood
\n\n\n\nIf you see chachomim that never say anything then they’re not chachomim. They look like chachomim. Sometimes they have positions where you think they’re chachomim but not necessarily are they the real thing. Here\u2019s a Rosh Yeshiva. He\u2019s worried that if he opens his mouth he\u2019s going to lose all of his contributors. Suppose he would come out strongly against those who watch television. Let\u2019s say he would say the truth \u2013 \u201cyou\u2019re all fools, stupid shotim who are giving up your chelek in Olam Habo\u201d \u2013 he knows that\u2019s the truth. But every one of his contributors is a slave to the television! And if he\u2019ll say the truth so he\u2019s worried he\u2019ll have to close the yeshiva. I’m sure he says it to his talmidim \u2013 they speak about it in the Yeshiva \u2013 but in public, sometimes they\u2019re too weak-kneed.
\n\n\n\nLike me. Do I really speak up against television like I should? I say it but the truth is that I\u2019m not saying it in the way I should be saying it. I know that people have it in their homes. People are putting up a good front \u2013 that\u2019s all that they\u2019re doing. Some of them even grow beards, they put on black hats. But I know what\u2019s doing in the homes. There\u2019s a ruach hatumah in the homes. And so, if I was real, if I really loved Hashem, I would speak up. I\u2019d blunt your teeth.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what our parsha is teaching us \u2014 if you want to be chosen by Hashem you have to have a big mouth. You have to speak up. If you\u2019re a nice quiet Jew that\u2019s good \u2013 it\u2019s important to be quiet \u2014 but most people are quiet at the wrong times. If your wife says something to you that you don\u2019t like, that\u2019s the time to keep quiet, that\u2019s an excellent opportunity to keep your mouth closed. But when it comes to protesting against wickedness every person is mechuyav to speak up if he can. And who can\u2019t? You must speak up!
\n\n\n\nThe Fringe Group
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that in the modern world this type of attitude is decried \u2013 although the liberals themselves are belittling the conservatives all the time, it\u2019s considered wrong today to criticize the wicked. However we are different from the world. We follow the Torah and the Torah says \u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e9\u05b4\u05c2\u05e0\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05e8\u05b8\u05e2 – people who love Hashem, hate evil (Tehillim 97:10).
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what we need today. We need more indignation at wickedness, at crime, at immorality. Not to sit quiet and let it continue. You have to get up and do things. And even though you\u2019re not popular \u2013 people don\u2019t like those who make a fuss \u2013 but Hakodosh Boruch Hu does like you. I say \u201clike\u201d \u2014 He loves the kana\u2019im, the true kana\u2019im who love Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWe have to know, the whole world stands on the merit of a little group of frum Jews in Yerushalayim, they are insulted by everybody. They get nothing for their services; they are jailed for protesting against chilul Shabbos, they are beaten by the police for tearing down immoral posters. Whatever they do for the glory of Hashem doesn\u2019t pay them in this world, so it seems. And yet they persist. And they get no kavod either. The Jewish newspapers, the religious press speaks against them. The frum Jews speak against them. Even rabbis speak against them. All of a sudden people remember about speaking up! These people are the real heroes of our nation, popular or not, they speak up because it\u2019s their responsibility.
\n\n\n\nThe Cow on Shabbos
\n\n\n\nThere’s a Gemara in Mesichta Shabbos (54b). The mishnah there tells us that \u201c\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d6\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b6\u05bc\u05df \u05e2\u05b2\u05d6\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05df \u05e7\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05d4\u05b8 \u2013 Rabi Elazar ben Azaryah permitted his cow to go out on Shabbos with a ribbon between her horns.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe din is on Shabbos; anything that’s not required for the purpose of guarding a beheimah is considered as an unnecessary thing and is a burden. It’s carrying. And therefore just as we must abstain from carrying on Shabbos, so we should see that our animals don’t carry on Shabbos. It’s a lav, \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2026 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05d4\u05b6\u05de\u05b0\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8, You and your animal shall not do any work. And here it states that Rabi Elazar ben Azaryah, \u201cpermitted his cow to go out on Shabbos with a ribbon between her horns.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBlaming The Millionaire
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara asks: that’s a surprising thing to say. What does that mean \u201chis cow\u201d, \u201cDid he have only one cow?\u201d He was a millionaire. We know that every year he used to give twelve thousand heads of cattle as his ma’aser beheimah! That’s just a tenth of what was born to him every year. He gave twelve thousand every year just for his tithe, a tenth of what was born to him. Do the math. So what are you telling me \u201chis cow\u201d went out on Shabbos with a ribbon between its horns?
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara answers: you’re right. \u201cIt wasn’t his cow, shel shecheinto haysah – it was actually the property of a female neighbor of his.\u201d Now, she didn’t live next door. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya had a big estate, many acres of land. Somewhere down the road there was a widow’s cottage and she owned one cow; and on Shabbos her cow went forth with a ribbon between its horns.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Gemara asks, \u201cWhy is he blamed that \u2018his\u2019 cow went out on Shabbos? It wasn\u2019t his cow after all?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer the Gemara gives is our biggest worry! \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b0 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05bc \u05e0\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9, because he didn’t protest against that, it’s called on his name. You hear that? He should have protested but he didn\u2019t, and now, because of that, all the Jews who have learned Mesichta Shabbossubsequently are saying that mishnah, \u201cRabi Elazar ben Azaryah’s cow went out on Shabbos\u2026\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Stain Forever
\n\n\n\nSo here is a great man, a person who accomplished very much in his life. And after his lifetime of ma’asim tovim, a lifetime of being mezakeh es horabim, of teaching Torah and doing all kinds of good deeds, he goes to the next world and suddenly they’re going to slam him with an accusation: \u201cYour cow went out on Shabbos!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat’s what the mishnah says. And you should know; each time that a boy sits down in the yeshivah and says these words or each time a Jew sits down to say mishnayos, it pierces him like a needle. It hurts him.He knows what’s going on. He knows that it\u2019s a stain on his record forever \u2014 and it\u2019s because he didn’t intervene. He didn\u2019t walk down the road and knock on this widow\u2019s door and speak up.
\n\n\n\nDealing with The Romans
\n\n\n\nNow why didn’t he intervene? He had bigger things to worry about. He was a leader of the nation. He had to worry about the Am Yisrael \u2013 especially in that disturbed time. It was after the churban Beis Hamikdash and so many Jews had been carried off into captivity, into slavery or worse than slavery, and Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was very busy redeeming Jews from the Roman prisons. He was saving Jews from the arenas where gladiators would cut them down or where lions would devour them. All the chachmei Yisroel in that time were busy with pidyon shevuyim, especially the rich ones.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore this man who was negotiating with the Roman government and was leading the Jewish people, so he should think that down the road somewhere there’s a widow’s cottage and from this humble cottage there emerges a cow on Shabbos with a ribbon between her horns and it’s his business to butt in and to put an end to it?
\n\n\n\nBut that’s what we’re learning now. If you have any authority to influence others to do what’s right, then your failure to take action makes it considered as if you yourself did that thing.
\n\n\n\nThe Disciple Speaks Up
\n\n\n\nAnd even if you think you have no authority, you\u2019re not relieved of your duty. The Gemara (Shabbos 55a) tells a story: A woman came before Shmuel, ka tzavchah kamei, and she was crying out, she was shouting. She was crying for justice and she was demanding that Shmuel should take action on her behalf. Velo hava mashgach bah, and yet Shmuel did not look at her.
\n\n\n\nShmuel had not had his first encounter today with her. She had come a lot of times and he saw he couldn’t do anything for her so this time he didn’t answer. Sometimes that’s the best way to deal with a woman. Once you get involved with words, you’ll be the loser because she’s more practiced in the art of talking. She has rehearsed more and she is able to answer you with a torrent of words. So Shmuel saw there was no purpose in arguing with her so he didn’t look at her. If he didn’t look at her, she’d take that as a signal and she’d let go.
\n\n\n\nAt that time Shmuel\u2019s disciple, Rav Yehuda, spoke up. Now remember who is going to talk. Rav Yehuda was afraid of his rebbi no end. He feared his rebbi so much that his natural impulses couldn’t exert themselves in the presence of his rebbi. He was like paralyzed with awe for his rebbi (Niddah 13a). This disciple was so full of awe, so full of respect for his rebbi that he’s cited as an example of a man who fears his teacher.
\n\n\n\nBut he spoke up. Rav Yehuda spoke up. When he thought it was necessary to speak he found courage and he spoke up. He forced himself to speak and he said, \u201cDoesn’t the Rebbi hold the following possuk, otem azno miza’akas dal, if a manshuts his ears to the outcry of the poor man, gam hu yikra velo yeianeh, someday he’s going to call out and won’t be answered?\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Topsy-Turvy World
\n\n\n\nThose are sharp words to say to a rebbi. It’s very sharp words for any talmid who admires and worships his rebbi but for Rav Yehudah it was unthinkable. We feel faint when we read those words of Rav Yehuda. But he did it. He got up enough courage and he said this possuk to his rebbi. \u201cBut Rebbi\u201d, he says, \u201cwhat about the possuk if you shut your eyes to the outcry of the poor man then someday you’re going to cry out and you won’t be answered?”
\n\n\n\nNow in the Halochos Gedolos, in the divrei hagaonim there’s a tradition, a very queer addendum to this story. We have an ancient tradition from the geonim that is terrible to relate. A certain sage saw in his vision about the next world, he saw Rav Yehuda, the disciple sitting on a throne, on a great chair of a teacher, and seated on the ground before him was his teacher Shmuel.
\n\n\n\nNow, in this world if you would have asked Rav Yehudah even to walk beside his rebbi, he would have considered it sacrilege. He looked up to his rebbi like a man fears Hashem, like it says in the Gemara es Hashem Elokecha tira lerabos talmidei chachamim. Yehi morah rabcha kemorah shamayim. He feared his rebbi like one fears Heaven. We know the statement but he fulfilled that statement. And yet in the next world he is sitting on the throne and his rebbi is sitting at his feet and listening to his disciple’s teachings. And it’s not once. That’s the permanent situation in the world to come.
\n\n\n\nNow this tradition has a footnote, and the tradition adds it’s because of this incident here in Mesichta Shabbos. Rav Yehudah brought this matter to his rebbi‘s attention; \u201clook this woman is crying out and you’re not answering her.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Divine Argument
\n\n\n\nNow, the truth is Shmuel was able to answer. If you look there you\u2019ll see he had what to say. Shmuel defended himself. He said, \u201cIt’s not my fault. The authority belongs to Mar Ukva. Mar Ukva is the av beis din. Mar Ukva was of the house of the nasi, an aristocrat with a lot of authority. So let her go to him. What does she want of me? He has the power to do things.\u201d So Shmuel defended himself.
\n\n\n\nBut in the next world Shmuel couldn’t say that. In this world you can talk that way but there it wasn’t good enough. Why wasn’t it good enough? Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Shmuel \u201cYou’re right. Somebody else had more authority. But why didn’t you speak up and tell them? Why didn’t you bring it to their attention?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo what do you think Shmuel stood like a dummy? He answered back. \u201cWhy should they listen to me? Even if I would have told him, he wouldn’t have listened.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Shmuel \u201cI know. I know that if you would have spoken to him he might not have listened. Maybe he wouldn’t have listened at all. But did you know it? Did you know he wouldn’t listen? Why didn’t you try it even out of doubt?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNo Excuses
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why Shmuel was demoted in the world to come. It’s very hard to say these words because to us Shmuel is sacred. Shmuel is one of the great teachers through whose mouth a great part of the Torah has come down to us. Anyone who learned even a little bit of Gemara knows that it\u2019s constantly Amar Shmuel, Amar Rav Yehuda Amar Shmuel; all the time. Shmuel’s words are everywhere in Shas. Hilchasa keShmuel bedina \u2014 we pasken like Shmuel in dinei mamanos. Shmuel, he’s one of the pillars of our tradition.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, Shmuel wasn’t spared in the world to come. And it\u2019s because of this great responsibility of speaking up when he was supposed to speak up.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re learning now that excuses won\u2019t mean so much. In this world you can finagle your way with excuses but it\u2019s not going to work in the real world. That\u2019s what the Gemara there in Shabbos says again and again, one story after another.
\n\n\n\nWe don\u2019t have the time for all of them, but I can\u2019t resist to tell you one more.
\n\n\n\nYou Never Know\u2026
\n\n\n\nRabi Zeira once said to Rabi Siman, \u201cWhy don’t you rebuke these people of the house of the reish galusa?\u201d So he answered lo mekabli minei, they won’t accept from me. They won’t obey me. There’s no use talking to them. They won’t listen to me.
\n\n\n\nSo Rabi Zeira said \u201cThat’s no answer. Even though they won’t obey you, it’s your job to criticize them.\u201d You have to tell them off even if they won’t listen to you. It’s your job.
\n\n\n\nYou hear that? Even though they’re not going to listen to you, you have to tell them off and tell them they’re wrong. And the Gemara says\u201cHow do you know it wouldn\u2019t have helped?\u201d You think you know. Maybe this time it would have helped. Maybe you could have tried again. Maybe a different approach \u2014 maybe stronger, maybe more delicately, with more finesse and cunning. But how do you know it’s so?
\n\n\n\nCaught In the Trap
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore of all the troubles in the world, of all the worries in the world, this is going to be our main worry. Of all the worries that will occur to us, it’s this worry that’s the biggest of all, the worry \u201cwhy didn’t we speak up?\u201d. Because the Gemara says, kol mi shebeyadav limchos ve’eino mocheh, \u2013 if a man is able to speak up, to protest and he doesn’t, hu nitfas beoso avon – he is caught in the trap of that sin.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a tremendous worry! Maybe we are responsible for all the people who are doing sins. Of course we\u2019d like to say, \u201cWell, it’s no use talking to them because they wouldn’t listen anyhow.\u201d But those excuses won\u2019t stand up in the next world. And therefore we must speak up. We must speak up for what’s right.
\n\n\n\nThe Traditional Observance Organization
\n\n\n\nNow, this subject is a part of avodas Hashem that is too often ignored. And it\u2019s hard to blame people because it\u2019s uncomfortable, it\u2019s difficult sometimes. It\u2019s a very delicate question. Are you going to constantly rebuke your fellow man? Even though you\u2019ll be hated or ridiculed by him? In most cases I’m afraid if you stopped a Jew on the street on Shabbos and told him \u201cplease shop some other day\u201d he would take offense, he would take umbrage and he might even insult you.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet there are so many ways that we could rebuke people without being insulted and not insulting them. I’ll give you an example. To print up circulars, flyleaves, saying, \u201cDon’t shop on Shabbos\u201d and hand them out on Kings Highway every Wednesday. Every week, with some positive words about keeping Shabbos. Why not? Shabbos is fun! They should enjoy the Shabbos with their family instead of spending money.
\n\n\n\nWe did that in East Flatbush. Before we moved here, we used to do that. Since we came here I\u2019ve been so busy that we let go of that. But we did that. In the tens of thousands we distributed our \u201cDon’t Shop on Shabbos\u201d circulars, \u201cDon’t Travel on Shabbos\u201d papers. We called it our Traditional Observance Organization. We had big propaganda coming out of our little shul. Why can’t Jews do that? Where is the Jewish nation? How much does it cost? Today you can Xerox, photo offset. Why shouldn’t we do it?
\n\n\n\nGet Involved!
\n\n\n\nIf you would hand out leaflets, \u201cSend your child to a yeshivah instead of public school,\u201d nobody is going to haul off and hit you. So why can’t you do that? It’s not against the law. If he says, \u201cMind your own business mister,\u201d so what’s the worst thing that can happen? The truth is, if you do it with finesse, with intelligence, they won’t even insult you. Because today they know already that public schools are dens of immorality. At best, a public school graduate will be a bum, an ingrate with no respect for his parents. At worst \u2013 I don\u2019t want to say what. On all sides we see the ruination of the hopes of parents who send their children to government schools. So all they need is a push, a little protest.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that the Orthodox Jews should help a lot more than they\u2019re doing; the Jewish Orthodox should identify with the American scene and they should all join in the fight against immorality. It’s a pity that the Orthodox tzibbur is like dead lumber and doesn’t do it. And the fact that we don\u2019t do anything puts the blame on us. You can\u2019t blame the irreligious Jews; they don\u2019t care a thing. The freiyeh Jews \u2013 they don\u2019t know and they don\u2019t care. But we are organized. We are under one banner of Torah, so why shouldn\u2019t we speak up?!
\n\n\n\nEverybody here should feel it’s their duty that you must take action when public issues are concerned. You might be a yeshivah man or a chossid or an old woman. It makes no difference.
\n\n\n\nFighting The Filth
\n\n\n\nThere’s a petition that will be circulated soon to close down the filthy movie theaters in this neighborhood. If you have even a little bit of love for Hakodosh Boruch Hu in your heart, you\u2019ll get involved \u2013 you have to do something to get these filthy theaters closed down.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll say it\u2019s a free country, they can do what they want. Well, it\u2019s a free country for us too \u2013 we\u2019re allowed to protest. Everyone should make sure to sign the public letter against the filthy movie theaters. Ask your friends, your neighbors. We have one on the bimah right here. After the lecture be sure to come up and sign it. Sign it legibly and put your address and your phone number on it.
\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a tremendous amount of work to be done to try and stop the torrent of wickedness. If America won\u2019t stop this headlong flight into perversion, who knows what\u2019s going to happen. We have to do our part to help the Italians and the Irish win out against the Jewish liberals. Jewish liberals are doing the best to ruin America and we have to stand up to them.
\n\n\n\nFive Thousand Letters
\n\n\n\nAnd so, it\u2019s up to us to speak up and write letters; we must write to politicians and protest constantly. If people would just write letters to our assemblyman, to city councilmen, to state senators, if we would write letters to congressmen, letters to U.S. senators on every issue; against crime, against everything else, you\u2019d be amazed how big an effect our letters will have.
\n\n\n\nImagine if you would write one letter a week. It costs 20 cents \u2013 one letter a week. Fifty letters a year and let\u2019s say there are a hundred people here, maybe more. Do you know how many letters that is every year?! A hundred letters every week! It\u2019s the equivalent of a hundred thousand people who don\u2019t do anything. You\u2019d have a big effect on the policies of the city, the policies of the state.
\n\n\n\nSometimes you can even start a little chain letter. Look in the telephone book. Look for an Italian name. A Jewish name probably is a liberal and he\u2019ll throw it in the garbage can. Look for an Italian name. Write him a letter and say \u201cLook, Mr. Mazotti it’s your duty to do like I’m doing. We have to stand up.\u201d Write a letter to your neighbors and get them to protest against immorality in the schools or on the billboards.
\n\n\n\nYou say, \u201cI’m a yeshivah man.\u201d So what about it? A yeshivah man doesn’t take time off to look in the paper? A yeshivah man wastes plenty of time bein hasedarim. You\u2019re afraid you\u2019re going to be disturbing the learning? There\u2019s plenty of time left to learn.
\n\n\n\nRav Miller\u2019s Secret
\n\n\n\nI want to tell you a secret. I spend a lot of money every week sending letters. I personally spend a lot of money every week on stamps. And time! I can\u2019t afford the time \u2013 I\u2019m very busy. But I spend a lot of time sending letters. Constantly I send letters out.
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that people who are lazy and cynical say it doesn\u2019t have any effect. But actually it\u2019s just a defeatist attitude, an excuse not to do anything, to remain frozen in your ways. And it\u2019s not true.Sometimes when we send a petition from here, from the shul, a petition with thirty names, and the recipient, an assemblyman or a congressman, sends thirty letters back to them. If he can read the handwriting, he sends thirty letters to them at their homes. So you see it makes an effect. If everybody would send one letter a week, you\u2019d be amazed at the effect it has.
\n\n\n\nWe should never say it’s no use because when we show Hakodosh Boruch Hu that we’re interested, that there are still some of us left who are willing to respond to the call of \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9, then Hakadosh Baruch Hu will be interested. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will say, \u201cIf that’s the case, if you have a kavanah lesheim shomayim, then I’ll have to help you!\u201d
\n\n\n\nFlorida Governor for President
\n\n\n\nWhat about crime? What are we doing to fight crime? Here they shot a Jew, a father of eight children; they killed him. You\u2019re keeping quiet?! What about an outcry demanding to restore capital punishment? Everybody should be fighting for capital punishment. There should be a big fuss about it.
\n\n\n\nHere you have a judge who releases a murderer; he lets him out of jail for no good reason. How can we stand for that?! I’m not saying to do anything against the law \u2013 chas veshalom I should preach such a thing, but suppose people would call up these judges all hours of the night for years and years until he drops dead of heart failure. The judges have to be afraid of our protests! Why do they let go of the criminals?
\n\n\n\nI say everybody here ought to write a letter congratulating the Governor of Florida for carrying out the death sentence. Everybody! Write letters to the Governor in Florida saying, \u201cWe\u2019re with you. We wish you were president.\u201d That\u2019s what you should do.
\n\n\n\nWrite letters to the state senators, to legislators that you want capital punishment restored, by all means. Do it once and next week write again and write a few times. That’s the least you can do.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Trust The Science
\n\n\n\nAnd why don’t we speak up against evolution in the public schools? I wrote a letter to the State Department of Education and they wrote me a long letter back. They saw it was dangerous. Here\u2019s a rabbi already who is demanding that evolution shouldn’t be a required subject in the Regents. They wrote me a long letter explaining it’s a consensus of educated opinions. It’s a consensus and therefore a scientific fact and so on and so forth. They’re telling me. I know all about their educated opinions. Let them come listen to me. I’ll tell them about evolution.
\n\n\n\nWhere are the Jewish professionals? If you’re a Jewish professional, you have a title; a Jewish physician or a Jewish professor, you surely should write letters again and again. Every week Orthodox doctors should get together. What’s the Association of Jewish Scientists doing? Holding banquets? Holding conventions? Let them get together and batter away at the gates of evolution.
\n\n\n\nYou have to beware of the yeshivah high school. Yeshivah high school is a dangerous place. Teachers are irresponsible. In almost all the mesivta high schools the teachers who teach the secular subjects are irresponsible and they’re ruining the talmidim with immorality and with minus, with evolution and other things. I know this subject well. Boys have complained to me again and again. I’ve received letters from boys.
\n\n\n\nWe Must Get Busy
\n\n\n\nNow, you people here have to know that I\u2019m talking practical things here \u2013 I\u2019m not saying drashos. We have to walk out of this place with an understanding that we have a new job, a new obligation that we have to get busy with. We have to stand up against evil \u2013 in the world, in America, in New York and in our homes. That\u2019s the great obligation of \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s more than an obligation \u2013 it\u2019s a perfection of character that makes you beloved to Hakodosh Boruch Hu forever. That\u2019s what we learn from the Levi\u2019im. Because \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05b4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1\u05b6\u05d8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9 \u2013 At that time when they stood up for Hashem, they were separated. Hashem said, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05dd \u2013 The Levi\u2019im belong to Me. And the Gemara says it means they belong to Him in the next world too.
\n\n\n\nThe Chovos Halevavos says that in the world to come the Levi\u2019im are specially privileged because anybody who stands up for Hashem \u2013 no matter what you accomplish \u2013 that person is beloved by Him. Just because of this quality of devotion to Hashem, when a person takes up for the honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, so He says, \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, if you\u2019ll go out of your way to stand up for Me then you\u2019re Mine forever.\u201d These are the people who have chosen a way in life that leads them to eternal greatness in Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nSpeaking Up Every Day
\n\n\n\nSpeaking up for Hashem is an integral facet of Loving Him. As we witness the moral decay of the society we live in, we cannot be silent. This week I will bli neder spend five minutes each day writing letters to politicians and others, to try to increase morality and Avodas Hashem in the world.
\nThe post Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T01:51:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-02-08T08:10:34+00:00" }, { "id": 32185, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-ki-sisa-5-speaking-up/", "title": "Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Sisa-5782The post Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T01:49:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T01:49:58+00:00" }, { "id": 32178, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-ki-sisa-5-speaking-up/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up", "content_html": "TA-Ki-Sisa-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Ki Sisa 5 – Speaking Up appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-13T01:49:03+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-13T01:49:03+00:00" }, { "id": 32174, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-22/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 22", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-22The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 22 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-10T22:51:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-10T22:51:31+00:00" }, { "id": 32170, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%96-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%a8-%d7%90%d7%9e%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%a2-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%94%d7%99%d7%98%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d6: \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05e8, \u05d0\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05d8\u05df", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-207The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d6: \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05e8, \u05d0\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05d9\u05d8\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-10T22:43:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-10T22:43:56+00:00" }, { "id": 32156, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-depression-and-sleep/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Depression and Sleep", "content_html": "\nQ:
What should somebody do when he is annoyed by depression and sadness and doesn’t know what the reason is?
A:
\n\n\n\nI want to tell you one thing I do know from experience. Many times boys in the yeshiva cause an upset in their nervous system because of a lack of sleep. In the dormitories you can’t go to sleep early. Even if he gets into bed, somebody comes in at 1 o\u2019clock and doesn’t let him sleep.
\n\n\n\nI once told a man about this problem and he went and took his boy out and put him in a separate room. He was a wealthy man and he paid money to the dormitory for a separate room, so his son should be able to sleep.
It\u2019s very important to sleep. I myself know two cases of boys who didn’t go to sleep on time and they went insane, nit eingedacht. Yes, it happened. They ruined their lives.
Also, married women who have babies, they must take care of their sleep. Without sleeping sufficiently your nervous system is upset.
\n\n\n\nNow, once a person gets into a depression it’s not so easy to get out of it. And therefore an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So try with all your efforts not to upset your system and get your sleep every night.
\n\n\n\nNow some people say, \u201cWell, I’m a porush. I want to be a masmid.\u201d We\u2019ll, I\u2019ll tell you what the Chofetz Chaim said. Once the Chofetz Chaim came into the yeshiva in Radin at night, and he saw boys learning late so he said to them \u201cGei shlufen. Morgen is oich a tug.\u201d He told the boys to go to sleep. \u201cYou can learn tomorrow,\u201d he said.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s the sensible way. That\u2019s saving the lives of people by advising them, \u201cLearn by day and sleep at night.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, sometimes there are other factors, but one of the most general factors that I know from my experience, is this one of not sleeping sufficiently.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-10
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Depression and Sleep appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-09T17:26:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-09T17:26:05+00:00" }, { "id": 32148, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-high-school-secular-studies/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on High School Secular Studies", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it proper for a yeshivah bachur to be studying secular studies in high school?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow, this is a question that I’m going to leave for you and your father and a talmid chacham who knows you to answer.
\n\n\n\nIf it\u2019s possible for a person to dodge any limudei chol then he should make sure to do it in a way that he won\u2019t lose anything. You have to have some limudei chol. You have to know how to calculate. You have to add and subtract. You must have some knowledge of certain things. And that’s why I don’t want to say anything. It depends on the circumstances.
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is many times limudei chol, if taught properly, could be a great benefit in avodas Hashem. Many times if the high school boys would be taught by the right rebbis you would be amazed at what could be. A teacher in algebra can implant yiras Hashem in a boy and girl. You\u2019d be surprised. A teacher of history, a teacher of biology, can plant seeds of emunah, no question about it. There were German schools of Orthodox Jews in Germany where they had such a system. However, here unfortunately we don’t have that system, and therefore the subjects are not utilized properly.
\n\n\n\nBut exactly what to do in a specific situation, we have to leave that to individuals. And you must take counsel of talmidei chachamim; let’s say the rav of the shul where you daven \u2013 you should ask his advice.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 445
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on High School Secular Studies appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-09T17:07:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-09T17:07:43+00:00" }, { "id": 32143, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%94-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-09T06:10:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-09T06:10:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32135, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%95%d7%93%d7%95%d7%a8/", "title": "\u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8", "content_html": "\nThese words can be understood as both an ending to the previous statement, as well as a beginning to the next. \u201cYou are the Rock of our lives and the shield of our salvation\u00a0from generation to generation\u201d. You have been and will always be the Rock and the Shield of Your People Yisroel; and \u201cfrom generation to generation we shall thank You and relate Your praise\u201d. We not only thank You for the kindnesses which You bestow upon us, but even for the past kindnesses that You bestowed upon our forefathers we are indebted forever, and we will forever continue to thank You, from\u00a0\u201cgeneration to generation\u201d.
\nThe post \u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-07T16:14:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-07T16:14:17+00:00" }, { "id": 32133, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-become-a-yashar/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Become a Yashar", "content_html": "\n\u201cU’Sfilas Yesharim Retzono\u201d, \u201cThe tefillah of the just is His will\u201d (Mishlei 15:8). One may ask, what if I am not a Yashar? But the answer is, as the Mesilas Yesharim teaches us, that either a person\u2019s pnimiyus can affect his chitzoniyus, or he can begin first with the chitzoniyus, and thereby be me\u2019orer his pnimiyus. So if you have reached the lofty madreigah of the yashar, then your tefillah will be an expression of the emunah that is already inside of you. But if you have not yet reached that madreigah, then it will be your exterior act of Tefillah that will bestir your pnimiyus – and eventually, you too will become a Yashar.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Become a Yashar appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-07T16:11:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-07T16:11:15+00:00" }, { "id": 32129, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e6\u05d5\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T16:46:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-09T06:05:21+00:00" }, { "id": 32127, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-41/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 41", "content_html": "\n
\u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3
FOREVER AND EVER
\u201cMy kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed\u201d. Your particular interest and love for us will never end, \u201cforever and ever\u201d.
\u00a0
\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
ROCK OF OUR LIVES
Like one who stands safe from his enemies upon a rock, we too stand upon You, tall and strong, for You alone are the One Who has taken us through life, step by step, and has blessed us with all of our needs.
\u00a0
\u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5
SHIELD OF OUR SALVATION
You stand between us and misfortune, and like a shield You prevent misfortune from ever even materializing, so that we are usually entirely unaware of Your great salvation.
\u00a0
\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0
YOU ARE HE
\u201cYou are He\u201d, and there is no other but You. You alone are our Rock and our Shield, the sole source of all kindliness, and therefore, to You alone we give thanks.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 41 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:25:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:25:36+00:00" }, { "id": 32124, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%95%d7%90/", "title": "\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0", "content_html": "\n\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, \u201cHe\u201d, denotes\u00a0exclusion\u00a0\u2013 \u201cYou are He\u201d, and there is no other but You. You alone are the Rock that our very lives stand upon, and You alone are the Shield of our Salvation that stands between us and misfortune. You are (He) the sole source of all kindliness, and no other. Thus, to You alone we give thanks.
\nThe post \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:24:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:24:33+00:00" }, { "id": 32122, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9e%d7%92%d7%9f-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\nNot only are You the Rock and the strength of our lives, but You also act as a Shield that stands between us and possible misfortune. Not only do You save us from misfortune that has already befallen us, but You are like a shield that prevents misfortune from ever even materializing, so that we are usually entirely unaware of the great salvation that You do for us; \u201ceven the recipient of the miracle is unaware of his miracle\u201d (Niddah 31a).
\nThe post \u05de\u05d2\u05df \u05d9\u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:22:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:22:39+00:00" }, { "id": 32119, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\nHashem is the Rock and strength of our life. One who stands on a rock is strong, for it is difficult to fight one who stands high, and the hard rock doesn\u2019t allow the opponent to tunnel underneath as well. Hashem is the \u201cRock of our lives\u201d, for He alone has taken us through life, step by step, and has provided us with all of our needs. We therefore give thanks to You Hashem, for You alone are\u00a0the Rock of our lives.
\nThe post \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:21:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:21:12+00:00" }, { "id": 32116, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9c%d7%a2%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%9d-%d7%95%d7%a2%d7%93/", "title": "\u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3", "content_html": "\n\u201cFor the mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed\u201d (Yeshayah 54:10). Hashem\u2019s particular interest in His nation will never end, and His attention and love will be upon us \u201cforever and ever\u201d; how can we thank You enough for Your never-ending kindliness to Your nation.
\nThe post \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d3 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:05:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:05:41+00:00" }, { "id": 32113, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-gaining-his-favor/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Gaining His Favor", "content_html": "\n\u201cUsfilas yesharim retzono\u201d, \u201cthe tefillah of the just is His will\u201d (Mishlei 15:8) \u2013 simply, this means that through davening, one is able to gain the ratzon, the favor, of Hashem. In Mesilas Yesharim it is written, that while our prayers for the Ge\u2019ulah won\u2019t necessarily bring Moshiach, still it is a nachas ruach to Hashem that we are desiring and praying for it. And that is the true purpose of Tefillah; it\u2019s about the asking, not the answering. If a person is 119 years, 364 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes old, it is not silly at all for him to pray for life; for it\u2019s the praying that\u2019s the purpose, not the result.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Gaining His Favor appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T04:04:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T04:04:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32103, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-proposing-aliyah-for-others/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Proposing Aliyah For Others", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why shouldn\u2019t all the frum Jews go to Eretz Yisrael and vote out the irreligious Jews and we’ll take over the country?
A:
You\u2019re asking a good question. Why shouldn’t we all go to Eretz Yisroel? But I\u2019ll ask you a better question. Why don’t you go right now and do it? Why are you telling us to do it? Why don’t you do it? The answer is, it’s easy to talk.
First of all, if I would go to Eretz Yisroel, who would be saying the lectures here Thursday night? If Rav Kalmanowitz goes to Eretz Yisrael, what would happen to the Mirrer Yeshiva?
Besides, many people have to ask themselves, \u201cWhat will happen to myself if I go?\u201d You have to make a living. How will you make a living? You want to serve in the Israeli army? You want to go on shooting expeditions in the Levanon? And therefore it’s not so easy to do that. It’s just a theory.
And many people have duties here. You have married children. You have to supervise your married children. You can’t forsake them. You have to see that they go in the derech hayashar. Many obligations people have! It’s not easy to do. It’s easy to propose, that\u2019s all. That’s why I say, all those who propose they should go. And you\u2019ll find that most of the proposers don’t go themselves. Most of the preachers who tell others to go are right here. And therefore the first question we’ll ask when they tell us to go, is what I asked this gentleman over here: Why don\u2019t you go and do it right now?
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 701
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Proposing Aliyah For Others appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T03:39:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T03:39:05+00:00" }, { "id": 32095, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-making-mussar-last/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Mussar Last", "content_html": "\nQ:
Most people have this problem that when we hear a talk on moral instruction, mussar, so we may be at the time somewhat influenced, but it does not last long; the impression does not remain. What do you say about that?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that what somebody tells you is only the beginning of a career of repeating it to yourself. Because if you\u2019re going to wait only for outside influence, then it\u2019s too rare; it\u2019s too few and far between to make a lasting impression.
\n\n\n\nWhen something good is said to you\u2014let\u2019s say you read something in a sefer or you hear something useful\u2014it should be adopted by you as your own idea, your own words. You should repeat it constantly to yourself, in the street, in the subway, at work and at home. And by that means, it will become your own.
\n\n\n\nOnce it becomes your own, it becomes part of your personality.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a matter of long practice. It could be years before it finally sets into your character. But sooner or later, someday you\u2019ll wake up and it\u2019ll be part of your personality.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 553
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Making Mussar Last appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T03:29:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T03:29:42+00:00" }, { "id": 32086, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-virus-evolution/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Virus Evolution", "content_html": "\nQ:
Are new strains of flu virus considered a new creation? Is it a form of evolution?
A:
Oy Ribono Shel Olam! How people are looking for ways and means to fall into error!
Look; there are certain foxes that when you run after them with dogs they have learned certain tricks to elude the dogs. They can go back in the same tracks to escape. Or they know how to cross rivers where there are no footsteps to smell. But suppose you go into a virgin territory where the fox never was hunted. At the beginning you’ll catch fox because they don’t know. They’re not experienced yet. Hakodosh Boruch Hu has given animals a certain wisdom where they can learn \u2013 they become conditioned.
\n\n\n\nYou have to know Hakodosh Boruch Hu put wisdom even into viruses and bacteria and they learn after a while how to react. Just like the fox. And just like a person. A person had an illness. He becomes immunized to some extent against that illness. It’s a reaction that the Borei put into him to protect him. But just as He protects you, He protects the viruses and bacteria too and the germs react in certain ways to protect themselves. So now you need different antibiotics; not the same old ones. The same old ones won’t help.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it’s not a matter of new strains, new creations. They’re being conditioned to new conditions according to the original creation of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore it has nothing to do with this idea of new types of creations developing.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 588
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Virus Evolution appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T03:15:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T03:15:46+00:00" }, { "id": 32082, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-tetzaveh/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tetzaveh", "content_html": "\nRochel Leah sat on the front steps of her house with her friend Sorah Miriam. The girls had just come home from school and were happily chatting. A new bakery had just opened next door and the whole block smelled amazing. Even the sight of the delicious cakes, cookies, and danishes in the store window had their mouths watering.
\n\n\n\nJust then the door to the bakery opened and a man walked out carrying a bag bursting with freshly baked bread. The smell from both the bread and the cakes inside the store seemed to waft right under the noses of the two girls.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh that smells amazing!\u201d gushed Rochel Leah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d Sorah Miriam cried out. \u201cIt makes me want to just run inside, grab a cookie and stuff it right into my mouth!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSorah Miriam!\u201d said Rochel Leah, shocked. \u201cA Bas Yisroel shouldn\u2019t talk like that!\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then, the girls were interrupted by their neighbor, Rebbetzin Kalatsky, who was walking towards them.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh! What an amazing smell!\u201d the Rebbetzin exclaimed.
\n\n\n\n\u201cRebbetzin Kalatsky,\u201d said Rochel Leah, \u201cdo you also like the smells from the bakery?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh yes, it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d answered the Rebbetzin, \u201cbut that\u2019s not what I was talking about. I was talking about you girls.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRochel Leah and Sorah Miriam looked at each other. Nobody had ever complimented them on how they smelled before.
\n\n\n\nRebbetzin Kalatsky chuckled at the girls\u2019 confused expressions. \u201cNo girls,\u201d she explained. \u201cI wasn\u2019t referring to how you smell, but to what Rochel Leah just said.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou can smell words?\u201d asked Rochel Leah. \u201cIs that something we\u2019ll be able to do when we get older too?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou are able to do it right now!\u201d smiled the Rebbetzin. \u201cBut you need to use your head instead of your nose. You see, hearing such gorgeous words coming out of your mouth when you said \u2018a Bas Yisroel shouldn\u2019t talk like that\u2019 just as I was passing the bakery reminded me of how beautiful Klal Yisroel is!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat did the bakery have to do with it?\u201d both girls asked together.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell you see,\u201d said Rebbetzin Kalatsky, \u201cIt reminded me of a shiur I heard from Rav Avigdor Miller many years ago. He was talking about the Ketores in the Mishkan and Beis Hamikdash. Why was it so important to have sweet smelling incense burning in the holiest place in the world? And he says it was to remind us that ruchniyus and kedusha is what smells good in the world! The parsha of the Ketores teaches us that Torah and Mitzvos are the most beautiful things in the world and frumme Yidden who act in the ways of Hashem are the most beautiful people in the world.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou said to your friend \u2018a Bas Yisroel shouldn\u2019t talk like that\u2019. Ah! How beautiful are Bnos Yisroel, who say such things. Only in the Am Hakadosh do children talk in a special way such as that.\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image.png?resize=614%2C472&ssl=1\")
Rochel Leah and Sorah Miriam looked at each other and smiled as the Rebbetzin continued.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut we don\u2019t need a bakery nearby to appreciate the beautiful smell of Klal Yisroel. Girls, why don\u2019t you try smelling with your heads right now the beautiful scents of Klal Yisroel?\u201d
\n\n\n\nRochel Leah looked down the road and saw two yeshiva bochurim talking loudly in learning. \u201cAh! What a beautiful smell!\u201d she said.
\n\n\n\nA man ran into the shul across the street to catch Mincha. \u201cMmm, delicious!\u201d Sorah Miriam exclaimed.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Rebbetzin Kalatsky. \u201cJust listening to you girls is making Klal Yisroel smell sweeter and sweeter to me! I have to go now! Have a wonderful rest of the day!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe girls said goodbye to the Rebbetzin, but continued looking for things to help them appreciate the exquisite smells of Klal Yisroel. A man giving tzedakah, a boy helping his older neighbor carry his groceries inside, a truck driving by delivering cholov Yisroel milk.
\n\n\n\n\u201cMmm, delicious!\u201d said Rochel Leah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh\u2026 geshmak!\u201d Sorah Miriam responded.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYummy yum yum!\u201d Rochel Leah exclaimed.
\n\n\n\nJust then, Totty walked up to the house. \u201cHi girls,\u201d he said warmly. \u201cAre you also enjoying the smells of the bakery?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are,\u201d said Rochel Leah, jumping up for her father. \u201cBut that\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about. We\u2019re smelling Klal Yisroel with our brains!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d asked Totty, confused.
\n\n\n\n\u201cLet me explain,\u201d said Rochel Leah, as she opened the front door for Totty and they walked inside together\u2026
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Tetzaveh appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T01:54:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T01:54:13+00:00" }, { "id": 32072, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tetzaveh-5-career-of-listening-2/", "title": "Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening", "content_html": "\nThe Blood of the Ram
\n\n\n\nWhen the Kohanim were inducted into the service of the Beis Hamikdash for the first time, before they would be permitted to approach the mizbeach to bring korbanos, an Eil Hamiluim, a Ram of Consecration was sacrificed. And it was this inauguration service performed with the blood of the ram that empowered the Kohanim to commence their avodas Hashem in the Beis Hamikdosh.
\n\n\n\nNow, what was the first act that was done with this blood? \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d7\u05b7\u05d8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dc \u2013 \u201cAnd you shall slaughter the Ram,\u201d Hashem told Moshe Rabeinu, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05e7\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b9\u05d6\u05b6\u05df \u05d0\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e8\u05b9\u05df \u05d5\u05b0\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b9\u05d6\u05b6\u05df \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u2013 \u201cand you shall take of its blood and put it on the cartilage of Aharon\u2019s right ear and on the right ears of his sons\u201d (29:20).
\n\n\n\nIt was the ear of the Kohanim that was dedicated to the service of Hashem before anything else. Before the blood would be placed on their hands and on their feet to symbolize that the hands and feet of the ovdei Hashem should be dedicated entirely to His service, it had to be placed on the ears of the Kohanim. And that\u2019s something that requires an explanation. Why is the ear the preface, the introduction, to korbanos?
\n\n\n\nThe Value of Listening
\n\n\n\nEverybody remembers the story from Shmuel Alef\u2013 it\u2019s in this week\u2019s haftorah too \u2013 when Shaul Hamelech was sent on a mission by Shmuel Hanavi to wipe out Amalek. He was commanded to destroy them completely; there should be nothing at all left of them. And when Shaul Hamelech and his soldiers returned from the mission he greeted the navi and said, \u201cI have fulfilled the word of Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut the navi wasn\u2019t satisfied with that: \u201cWhat\u2019s this sound of cattle that I hear?\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Shaul said, \u201cThe people spared some of the cattle so that we could bring them as an offering to Hashem. Why should we slaughter them on the battlefield in vain? Instead we\u2019ll bring them as korbanos to Hashem in gratitude for what He\u2019s done for us.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, at that time the Navi Shmuel made a declaration to Shaul Hamelech; he said some very important words that will help us understand why it was the ozen, the ear, that was dedicated to Hashem\u2019s service first, before everything else: \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 Behold, I want you to learn something important now: \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u2013 To listen, to obey, \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u2013 is better than bringing offerings, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u2013 to hearken to what you are told, \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 is more important than the fat offerings of oxen\u201d (Shmuel I 15:22). Korbanos are wonderful, they\u2019re very important. But the Navi is telling us here that to use your ears for listening \u2013 not just for listening but to be obedient \u2013 that\u2019s even more valuable.
\n\n\n\nNo Substitute for Korbanos!
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that the modern world has been propagandized and bamboozled by the gentile writers who have belittled offerings. The truth is that they have done it for their own benefit, for the greater glory of the substitute religion. So they say that Judaism was a bloody religion \u2013 a religion of slaughtering and sacrifice \u2013 and it was only when oso ha\u2019ish – that man, when he came along and began preaching a religion of \u201clove\u201d, that\u2019s when the world became better. He introduced a new religion of love that disdains the offerings! A new religion where instead of slaughtering cattle, from now on you slaughter Jews. That\u2019s what they\u2019ve been doing for the last two thousand years after all \u2013 they\u2019ve slaughtered Jews like cattle. But korbanos? Oh no; never!
\n\n\n\nBut we, the Am Yisroel, know that bringing korbanos is of utmost importance. And that\u2019s why we hope that someday soon, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Hashem will bring back the service to His Sanctuary, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 and we will once again bring to Him the burnt offerings. Not just Moshiach we want \u2013 we look forward to the great day when once again we\u2019ll bring sacrifices! Don\u2019t make any mistake and think that we made improvements, that we\u2019re advancing from sacrifices to prayers. It\u2019s not advancing \u2014 it\u2019s retreating!
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we look forward to the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdosh and to that great day when we will once again inaugurate the Kohanim for the avodas hakorbanos, exactly like was done in our parsha.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet, as important as this ceremony was for the Am Yisroel \u2013 when the Kohanim became the kohanei Hashem who would spend their days serving Hashem in the Beis Hamikdoshbringing korbanos on behalf of the Am Yisroel \u2013 it was exactly at this moment that they had to be taught that before anything, even before the korbanos, the avodah of the ozen, the ear, comes first. \u201c\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u2013 To obey, \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u2013 is better than bringing offerings, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 to listen obediently is more important than the fat offerings of oxen.\u201d Because as tremendous as a korban is, as great of an effect it has on a person, we must know that listening is number one. And that\u2019s why the first thing the kohen did, even before he would be permitted to serve in the Mikdosh, he had to dedicate his ears to be obedient in the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nA Great Form of Happiness
\n\n\n\nIn the second sha\u2019ar of Sha\u2019arei Teshuva, siman 12, Rabeinu Yonah explains there that the ears, the ability to hear, is one of the greatest gifts that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us. You know, we\u2019re accustomed to thinking that this is how it\u2019s supposed to be \u2013 we were born with ears and we\u2019ll one day die with ears; they\u2019re always functioning and therefore we don\u2019t think about it at all. Many people might go their whole lives without thanking Hashem once for their ears.
\n\n\n\nBut actually the ears are a great form of happiness. It\u2019s fun to be able to hear sounds! Hearing is an important part of our existence. We live by means of hearing; it\u2019s our lifeblood. Without it, a man is missing so much fun, so much of life, that it\u2019s almost as if he was dead. It\u2019s a terrible tragedy to not be able to hear.
\n\n\n\nIf you learned a little bit you know that when you damage another person you have to pay him for the value you decreased. Ayin tachas ayin, an eye for an eye, means that if someone chalilah disables a fellow Jew\u2019s eyes, so he is liable to pay the monetary value of that man\u2019s eyes (Bava Kamma 85b). But it says there that, \u201cChirsho, nosein lo dmei kulo \u2013 If you make a man deaf, you have to pay the value of that person\u2019s entire self!\u201d And that\u2019s because the deaf man is like he stopped existing entirely.
\n\n\n\nFree Earphones
\n\n\n\nYour ear is very very valuable! Only that hearing is such a subtle gift that we forget about it. Some people are only happy when they buy a pair of earphones and they can walk someplace and listen to a walkman, a little tape machine with headphones. Ooh wah! That\u2019s fun! If they can listen to a person talk with an artificial set of ears, then it\u2019s fun times \u2013 that they enjoy. But to be happy with their original earphones, that they never thought about.
\n\n\n\nDid you ever see a man who is missing one ear? I did. I know a man in Manhattan, a very successful man, who\u2019s missing one ear. Whenever he\u2019s in a picture he makes sure it\u2019s with his profile \u2013 to make sure you don\u2019t see the other side of him. Now, if he could get back that ear, how happy he would be! How grateful he would be to Hakodosh Boruch Hu! He\u2019s a very wealthy man and he would give away a lot of his money to get his ear back. And here we are, most of us are walking around with two working ears!
\n\n\n\nDid you ever stop to think about that? Take hold of your ear and think about that \u2013 hold on to your ear and say thank you to Hakodosh Boruch Hu! Don\u2019t do it when your wife is around because who knows what she might think, but make sure to do it once in a while. \u201cAhh! Ahh! My ear! What a chesed it is to have two ears!\u201d
\n\n\n\nWhat Doctors Can\u2019t See
\n\n\n\nNow, the chesed is even greater than you imagine, because the ear isn\u2019t just an earphone, a piece of plastic with some wires. The ear is a compendium of miracles of staggering complexity! What the process of hearing involves is even today not understood. Ahh! The ear is such a complicated piece of machinery! The ear is the receiver for sound waves. As the sound waves come towards the eardrum it also hits the outside part of the ear. The ear is made like a funnel; it gathers together the soundwaves and funnels them into the hole where the eardrum is.
\n\n\n\nA physician once told me that most physicians never even saw an eardrum. \u201cThey go through the motion of looking into your ears,\u201d he said, \u201cbut most physicians never saw an eardrum.\u201d The drum is less than a tenth of a millimeter thick but it\u2019s composed of three separate layers! And it\u2019s especially constructed so that it should produce no after-vibrations that would blur the sound.
\n\n\n\nAn ingenious system of bone levers connected to the eardrums magnify the sound waves that beat against your eardrum \u2013 three tiny bones that are connected to each other and they miraculously magnify the movement of the waves so that when it finally pushes against the liquid in the inner ear, it creates a wave of motion that excites the 30,000 or so nerve endings that project into the liquid \u2013 and according to the force of the movement, so is the volume of the sound.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Laugh!
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is that it\u2019s not only hearing. You need your ears for walking too. You learn how to walk when you\u2019re a child and once you learn it seems so easy but you should know that you\u2019re a trapeze artist when you walk. It takes a lot of work to balance yourself. And how do you do it so easily? It\u2019s because you have in your ears, in each ear, a bed of nerves.
\n\n\n\nThere are nerves sticking up out of the bed of that little chamber in your ear. On top of that chamber of nerves is a stone, a loose stone. And when you move your head a little bit, the stone moves and it tickles those nerves \u2013 and the nerves warn you, \u201cStraighten up!\u201d Both ears have that. There\u2019s an ear stone in each ear \u2013 there\u2019s a little chamber in your ear and on the floor of the chamber there are nerves sticking up out of the floor and there\u2019s a stone lying on the nerves. And the stone is loose. And as you\u2019re moving like this, they tickle the wrong nerve \u2013 ope! Straighten up! And you do it automatically. Nisei nissim! Nisei nissim! Ears are so much fun!
\n\n\n\nNow, go and tell all of this to the unthinking people outside, they might laugh at you. They\u2019ll ask you what Rabbi Miller spoke about and when you tell them that we spoke about ears, they won\u2019t understand. But what that means is that they\u2019re not living according to the will of Hashem. It says \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 All my parts should praise You. Each part speaks up separately and says: \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 \u201cHashem who is like You? (Tehillim 35:10). That\u2019s how you have to live \u2013 you have to spend time in this very important function of feeling gratitude to Hashem for each detail.
\n\n\n\nNow, even if we came merely for this it\u2019s worthwhile because you have to give a cheshbon to yourself. When is the last time that you thought about thanking Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the ability to hear? You know that some people never even thought about it! Very many people never even thought once about the great gift of two ears. So at least that we learned here tonight, that you must engender a feeling of gratitude for the ability to hear. And even if years may pass by before you actually appreciate it, it\u2019s worth all the effort you put into it.
\n\n\n\nNothing In This World Is Free
\n\n\n\nNow, in this world you don\u2019t get anything for free. Every gift requires a certain payment and the price that we pay, the minimum price, is a feeling of gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And therefore it\u2019s incumbent upon each one of us to think, \u201cWhat is the proper way to express this gratitude?\u201d
\n\n\n\nOf course, you might want to just patur yourself: \u201cI\u2019ll say, \u2018Baruch atah Hashem \u2013 Thank You Hashem for my ears\u2019,\u201d and finished. The truth is that even that is a good beginning but when we study the words of Rabeinu Yonah (ibid.) you see that much more is required: \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d9\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b7\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 A person is obligated to serve Hashem with all of the limbs and creations in his body because they were created for that purpose. \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 As it states: \u201cEverything that Hashem made is for His sake\u201d (Mishlei 16:4). It means that nothing in this world is without a purpose in avodas Hashem, and if we were given ears, we must utilize them for serving Hashem.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that all this is like water on a duck\u2019s back; I understand that the listeners think that it\u2019s just exaggerated propaganda. But I\u2019ll say it again and again because it\u2019s not exaggerated at all \u2013 it\u2019s actually a foundation of our avodas Hashem. Once you realize how much you\u2019re enjoying what Hashem is giving you, you\u2019re expected to demonstrate your indebtedness to Hakodosh Boruch Hu by utilizing the gift for His service. That\u2019s what Rabbeinu Yonah says is expected of us \u2013 to feel that in return for the gift of ears, you want to apply them to the service of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhat Are Ears For?
\n\n\n\nIf the ears are such a great pleasure \u2013 of course not everybody\u2019s convinced of that yet; it still requires a great deal of talk and a great deal of practice until finally we arrive at the conclusion that it\u2019s fun to have ears \u2013 but once we start understanding the great gift of hearing, right away we should ask ourselves, \u201cHow can I serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu with my ears to demonstrate my gratitude for this gift? After all, it states, \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Hashem made everything for His sake \u2013 and therefore, I\u2019d better start thinking, what are the ears for?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow of course it sounds like an exaggerated demand on us. How are we going to serve Hashem with our ears? They\u2019re just there hanging on the side of my head; what am I going to do already? But there\u2019s no question that this is what the verse is demanding. In return for all of the great gifts we should endeavor to use them to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It means we have to take our two ears and put them to use the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants. Did you ever think about that? You can\u2019t do whatever you want with your ears. You have to be aware of what you\u2019re doing with your ears! When we sit down somewhere, when we walk in the street, wherever it is we are, we should be aware that we\u2019re wearing our earphones now and we should be applying them for the purpose of avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nDigging Tunnels
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a very big subject, the subject of ears and so we are going to listen now to what an expert said on this subject. I want to quote for you the words of Dovid Hamelech: \u05d6\u05b6\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e0\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc \u2013 Hashem, You don\u2019t desire our sacrifices and our offerings, \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 You dug for me ears (Tehillim 40:7).
\n\n\n\nDovid Hamelech became king when Shaul Hamelech was deposed by Hakodosh Boruch Hu for putting korbanos before listening; and Dovid therefore learned very well the lesson that there\u2019s something much greater than korbanos. So much greater that when we compare the two it\u2019s as if the offering is nothing. Of course, Hakodosh Boruch Hu does want sacrifices but it means that Dovid understood the lesson of the placing of the blood on the tnuch ozen. As great as a zevach or mincha is, the service of the ears \u2013 listening and obeying \u2013 is so great that it dwarfs the importance of an offering and it makes it like \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d7\u05b8\u05e4\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc, as if He doesn\u2019t desire it!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd what is it that You desire more than my korbanos,\u201d said Dovid? \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 You dug out ears into my head. Now, we should pay good attention to those words of Dovid because he didn\u2019t say \u201cthe ears that You gave me,\u201d or \u201cthe ears that you placed on my head.\u201d He said it\u2019s the \u201cears that You dug out in my head, that\u2019s really what You desire.\u201d It\u2019s a chiddush to most people that the ears aren\u2019t just hanging on the side of your head; that actually they are tunnels that lead into your brain and they\u2019re bringing the words and ideas to the most sensitive of all places in your body \u2013 to your mind.
\n\n\n\nConscious Listening
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if we want to demonstrate gratitude to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for our ears, the first thing we should do is to make up our minds that from now on we are going to serve Him with these gatherers of information by gathering only the information that He wants us to hear.
\n\n\n\nImagine that there are two funnels in the sides of your head into which you can pour important essential elements that will mold your personality. You wouldn\u2019t just pour anything in! The purpose of the ears is that they should gather all the necessary information which Hakodosh Boruch Hu is sending to you; and by means of using the ears for that purpose, we are fulfilling their function in life: \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u2013 Behold listening is better than an offering, \u05dc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 \u05de\u05b5\u05d7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 to pay attention is greater than the fat of offerings of oxen.
\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s get this in the right perspective because we\u2019re not talking here merely about listening to information \u2013 we\u2019re talking now about serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu with your ears. So let\u2019s say you\u2019re a yeshiva man and you\u2019re going into the beis hamedrash to hear the rosh yeshiva or the mashgiach deliver a shmuess. Now, of course you\u2019re going to listen; of course you\u2019re going to pay attention and be interested and you\u2019re going to try to fulfill what you hear. But we\u2019re not talking about that; we\u2019re adding something new here. We\u2019re adding a new element now, that as you come in you\u2019re thinking, \u201cI\u2019m now taking my two ears, this great gift that Hakodosh Boruch Hu bestowed upon me, and I\u2019m going to utilize these ears to serve Hashem in order to show my gratitude. I\u2019m going to lean in with my ears to gather in the information Hashem wants me to hear.\u201d
\n\n\n\nInclining Your Ears
\n\n\n\nIn the Tanach when we want to describe how someone should listen we find the expression, hatayas ozen \u2013 Inclining your ear. Now, actually you can hear without inclining your ear. You can lean back in the chair and relax and listen too. But when somebody leans forward, what he\u2019s doing is making a demonstration, \u201cHineni muchan umezuman \u2013 I\u2019m now bringing my ears to You, Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and I am listening; I\u2019m applying these gifts that You gave me to Your service.\u201d Isn\u2019t that a beautiful thing to do if you want to thank Hashem for your ears?
\n\n\n\nSo next time when you come to a place where somebody is teaching or preaching some divrei tochacha or divrei yirah, so instead of leaning back like somebody who is taking a ride in the car and enjoying the scenery and his mind is asleep \u2014 no, that\u2019s not called listening. Instead, you demonstrate your gratitude by leaning forward \u2014 you feel you\u2019re bringing your ears closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That\u2019s a thing you should practice. Some people even cup their ears \u2014 not because it\u2019s necessary, but because they want to emphasize the importance of listening. \u201cI\u2019m dedicating my ears to the service of listening to Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Most Important Purpose
\n\n\n\nOf course, while the ears are still attached to our heads, we are permitted to use them for other things too. So when you\u2019re crossing the street, in addition to looking both ways \u2013 by the way, even on a one way street you should look both ways because young people with bicycles are a menace today \u2013 but you should use your ears to listen for cars as well. Why not? There are a lot of kosher things you can use your ears for.
\n\n\n\nBut at the same time, the most important purpose of our ears is to act as funnels! Above all, a Jew must make up his mind that his ears are for the purpose of hearing what Hakodosh Boruch Hu is telling him in the Torah. The function by which we demonstrate most our awareness of the purpose of ears is by using them to funnel Torah information, Torah ideals and attitudes, into our heads.
\n\n\n\nNow, you\u2019ll find many observant Jews who are deaf to the messages of the Torah because they don\u2019t really listen. Even Jews who \u201ckeep everything\u201d must know that actually they\u2019re not keeping a great part of the Torah because they\u2019re not listening to the Torah. Of course they \u201ckeep everything,\u201d but they\u2019re listening only to what their neighbors say. They\u2019re listening to the radio and to the words they hear on the street.
\n\n\n\nListen to Tanach
\n\n\n\nYou have to utilize your ears chiefly to hear Torah. And Torah means everything. It means Shulchan Aruch. It means halacha. It means dinim. It means Mishnayis and Gemara. These are elementary things \u2013 it goes without saying \u2013 but if you want to listen to the Torah so you learn everything; Torah, nevi\u2019im, kesuvim, everything you have to learn. If you don\u2019t learn nevi\u2019im and kesuvim it\u2019s like taking the bran out of the wheat. Just white bread you\u2019ll eat? It\u2019s not nourishing.
\n\n\n\nYou need Mishlei, you need Iyov, you need everything. You need it. And if you can\u2019t read it in lashon kodesh, I urge you to read it in English at least. Isn\u2019t that queer advice? No, it\u2019s not queer at all. If you have no time to learn Tanach so read it in English at least. Find out what it\u2019s all about!
\n\n\n\nYou never read Ezra in your life?! You mean to say you\u2019re going to go your whole life without reading Ezra? How could you do such a thing? A newspaper you\u2019ll read, but Ezra you won\u2019t read?! Even if you read a frum newspaper, so you\u2019ll skip Ezra and Nechemia for a frum newspaper? At least once you should read Ezra and Nechemia. Read it in English! Why not? \u201cI\u2019ll get around to it someday,\u201d he says. When he\u2019ll be 199 years old in the old age home \u2013 he thinks he\u2019ll still be there; so that\u2019s when he\u2019ll get around to it.
\n\n\n\nListen To Rashi
\n\n\n\nYou have to study the words of Rashi. Let Rashi\u2019s words enter into your ears. Rashi is full of wisdom. I myself have a compendium, a collection of statements from Rashi that you can live by. Rashi\u2019s statements \u2013 you could live by them! Gems of wisdom in Rashi! Rashi was a remarkable commentator and he put in a few words here and there \u2013 gems that you wouldn\u2019t see in the Gemara. Good advice, how to live successfully and happily too.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, this never-ending amount of Torah information that you can be funneling into your head by means of the ears, is an important part of the service of the ear. You have to listen to the words of the Chovos Halevavos! And to the Shaarei Teshuva too. And what about the Mesillas Yesharim?! As much as possible you should be funneling the words of the seforim into your mind by means of your ears! Say it with your mouth and listen to what you\u2019re saying. Even if you read the Mesillas Yesharim only one time you\u2019re already a different person altogether.
\n\n\n\nVirtues of Obedience
\n\n\n\nNow, when we speak about the subject of listening, we must not limit ourselves to just filling our minds with Torah information. Because there\u2019s another tremendous subject \u2013 it\u2019s part of the Torah but it\u2019s a separate branch \u2013 and that\u2019s the great subject of \u05d0\u05b9\u05d6\u05b6\u05df \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 an ear that listens to the instructions of life (Mishlei 15:31). It\u2019s not talking here about an ear that only hears words but an ear that is obedient to the words it hears; a person who reacts to what goes into his ears. \u201cWhat am I supposed to learn from this?\u201d he thinks. \u201cHow can I apply what I\u2019m hearing to my own life?\u201d \u201cHow can I get better?\u201d
\n\n\n\nBecause no matter what the people outside in the street say, no matter what\u2019s written in books and magazines, and what the radio says, we have to live with the ideals of Torah, and Torah tells us that listening, obeying, that\u2019s the great offering. Now I know that in our day, according to the winds that blow now in our culture, the word obey is an unpopular one, but the truth is that the absence of that word is the cause of all our misfortunes. That\u2019s why the youth are running wild today.
\n\n\n\nMankind must overcome the great propaganda that has been erected against the humbling of oneself before criticism. The principle of shema, obedience, must once again be learned because \u05d0\u05b9\u05d6\u05b6\u05df \u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b7\u05ea \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 the ear that is capable of hearing the instruction of life, that\u2019s one of the great functions of our ears in this world.
\n\n\n\nWith Friends Like These\u2026
\n\n\n\nDovid Hamelech, the one who taught us about our ears, said the following: \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e7\u05b8\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cWhen the wicked rise up against me, let my ears hear\u201d (Tehillim 92:12). Now, it\u2019s usually understood to mean, \u201cLet me hear of their downfall,\u201d but Rav Yisroel Salanter explained it a different way: \u201cWhen the merei\u2019im\u2013 those who want to say bad about me and criticize me, when they stand up against me, let my ears hear their critique.\u201d Not like people think today, that if someone criticizes you then he\u2019s already your enemy. No! That\u2019s your best friend. That\u2019s the one to listen to because that\u2019s the person who\u2019s going to bring you to Olam Habo.
\n\n\n\nRabeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuva 2:11) says that anybody who comes along and criticizes you, he\u2019s a malach from Hashem. You hear that?! And here you thought that your neighbor criticizing you is your enemy, and Rabeinu Yonah comes along and tells you that he\u2019s a malach from Hashem! What that means is that anybody who comes along in this world and says something to you of mussar, of rebuke, something that could be useful for you to hear, he\u2019s called a malach \u2013 he\u2019s your best friend.
\n\n\n\nYour Wife Knows the Truth
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if once, for a moment, the heavens opened up and there was a flash of lightning, a flash of clarity \u2013 let\u2019s say your wife said something to you and you saw a little spark of truth \u2013 so don\u2019t close your ears. Don\u2019t huff and puff and make excuses, because she\u2019s your best friend. A wife is an excellent opportunity for hearing the truth about yourself. Oh yes, a wife who criticizes you is a glorious opportunity! Lucky is that man whose wife has a big mouth and tells him what she sees. Because in the kollel, and at work, and in the synagogue, nobody is going to tell you too much about your sore points. Usually they\u2019re too polite. Or it could be that you put on a good show in public. Who\u2019s going to tell you the truth outside the home?! Nobody! And after a while you begin to think, \u201cMaybe I really am a good person after all.\u201d
\n\n\n\nBut your wife knows the truth! She knows you better than anyone else. So this important man comes home from shul and his wife deflates him \u2013 she sticks a pin in his balloon and it bursts. That\u2019s a tremendous achievement; it\u2019s a shleimus, a perfection of character to be put down to size once in a while. But if you don\u2019t open your ears to it, so what is it worth?
\n\n\n\nAcquiring Diamonds
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that criticism from anybody is a gift. Let\u2019s say someone happens to hurl a diamond at you and it hurts \u2013 it pokes you \u2013 you\u2019re not going to be angry at him; you\u2019ll grab it and pocket it. Seventy years ago a homeless man, a bum on the street, told me something \u2013 he criticized me about a detail of my behavior. I\u2019m not going to tell you what it was, but to this day I still remember his every word. And I\u2019m a better man because of it.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if it happens that somebody will give you some criticism you have to seize it like a diamond because you won\u2019t get many such diamonds in your life. All you\u2019ll hear your whole life is perfumed spitballs; flattery and shkarim; and you\u2019ll never open your ears to criticism and discover the truth \u2013 you\u2019ll walk in darkness all your life.
\n\n\n\nClosing Your Ears
\n\n\n\nNow, before we end, we must not forget another function of the ear \u2013 to know when not to listen, to know when to close the ear.
\n\n\n\nNow pay attention. The Gemara (Kesubos 5b) asks an interesting question: Why is it that the alyah, the bottom part of the ear, the lobe, is soft? Further up on the ear there\u2019s cartilage, but here on the bottom there is nothing but soft tissue. Why is it that the bottom is soft? That\u2019s the Gemara\u2019s question. A good kasha. So the Gemara answers like this: Im yishma davar she\u2019eino hagun \u2013 If you\u2019re in a place where they\u2019re saying things that you shouldn\u2019t hear, so you should turn up the alyah and press it into your ear. You plug up your ear so you shouldn\u2019t hear it. I once did that. I was in a meeting of rabbonim and one of the people got up and he said something, so I closed up my ears. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d he said. I said, \u201cIt\u2019s a Gemara!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, if it wasn\u2019t for this Gemara, we would have other ideas about the lobe of the ear. Because we know that when the outer ear gathers the soundwaves to funnel it to the eardrum, the ear trembles a little bit from the soundwaves; it shakes. And that shaking would interfere with the sound. And therefore, Hakodosh Boruch Hu put a lobe down here on the bottom of the ear \u2013 the lobe doesn\u2019t shake because there\u2019s no bone at all in it, and therefore it absorbs the shaking. So we\u2019re able to hear better because the lobe absorbs the tremors that the ear would have experienced from the soundwaves. It\u2019s there to help us hear more clearly, more sharply. Otherwise we\u2019d hear everything with a shake.
\n\n\n\nBut along comes the Gemara and says no \u2013 there\u2019s an even more important reason for the earlobe \u2013 it\u2019s there in order to help you close up your ears in case someone is saying something that is not worth hearing.
\n\n\n\nToras Avigdor Should Be Prized
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s because even one foolish remark can overthrow a hundred edifices of avodas Hashem. That\u2019s the language of the Mesillas Yesharim: \u05dc\u05b5\u05e6\u05b8\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d7\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05db\u05b8\u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 One hundred rebukes can be pushed away with one wisecrack.
\n\n\n\nNow these talks \u2013 I think we should prize these Thursday night talks. I\u2019m not rebuking anyone here but I know that idealists come to this place and I try to raise myself up to talk to you on that plane of idealism. We talk about important things here. So let\u2019s say you listen to a hundred of these tapes \u2013 it\u2019s a good idea by the way; you and your wife should listen to one hundred tapes. Now let\u2019s say you did that \u2013 let\u2019s say you listened to a hundred of these tapes and didn\u2019t talk to anybody in between. So now, you are already at some madreigah of idealism. You\u2019re already a head taller than a lot of other people.
\n\n\n\nBut now along comes a leitz \u2013 leitz doesn\u2019t mean a wicked person; people with beards can be leitzim too \u2013 so a leitz comes along and he says one wise-crack. Let\u2019s say your friend comes along and he says, \u201cOh, you\u2019re trying to be frum, heh?\u201d And now the whole edifice of idealism, the whole skyscraper that you built up, all hundred floors, come crashing down. It explodes into smoke; nothing remains. That\u2019s what the Mesillas Yesharimis saying: One hundred rebukes, one hundred lectures \u2013 serious talks on noble themes \u2013 and at the end, one leitzanus can overcome those one hundred edifices that you built in your mind.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s Dangerous Out There
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s of the utmost necessity to keep away from shallow and foolish people. Now it doesn\u2019t mean only people who murder or people who are michalilei Shabbos. It means people who aren\u2019t interested in living lives of idealism, people who disdain the attitude of seeking perfection. As long as you\u2019re sitting here you\u2019re okay. But once you walk out the door you have to be very careful with your ears. Unless maybe you take along the tapes and they\u2019re glued to your ears until next Thursday night \u2013 otherwise it\u2019s dangerous out there. Once we understand that the ear must be dedicated to avodas Hashem, we begin to understand how important this tunnel to the mind really is.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s because of the importance of the ear, because of its function as a tunnel to the mind, that\u2019s why the first thing the Kohanim did when they became inaugurated to serve in the Beis Hamikdoshwas to dedicate their ears to the service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nWe Are All Kohanim
\n\n\n\nAnd actually what the Kohanim did in the Beis Hamikdoshwas a symbol of how we all are expected to live our lives. Because when Hashem told the Am Yisroel \u05d5\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 You\u2019ll be for Me a special treasure from all the nations (Shemos 19:5), what did He mean? What is our function as Hashem\u2019s treasured nation?
\n\n\n\nHashem answers that in the next possuk: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b6\u05bc\u05dd \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05de\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b6\u05db\u05b6\u05ea \u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05d4\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 You\u2019re going to be to Me a Nation of Kohanim (ibid. 19:6). Here Hashem declares that He has chosen us to be a \u201cNation of Priests.\u201d What that means is \u201ca kingdom consisting of priests\u201d \u2013 a nation in which every individual, man, woman and child, is a Kohen, trying to live a life of holiness in the service of Hashem. Hakodosh Boruch Hu said to the Am Yisroel, \u201cAll of you, are My Mamleches Kohanim, and I want you to act in the same manner as My Kohanim \u2013 I want you to emulate the principles that I teach them.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why the clarion call of the Am Yisroel is \u201cShema Yisroel. Listen!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b9\u05e2\u05b7 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc means you have to listen diligently \u2013 your ears must be dedicated to the service of Hashem. You have to open your ears and listen to how to fulfill Hakadosh Baruch Hu\u2019s will. It\u2019s a career of listening \u2013 that\u2019s our job in this world \u2013 to listen and learn.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nEmbarking on the Career of Listening
\n\n\n\nI understand the lesson of our parsha that the first step in Hashem\u2019s service is dedicating our ears and am getting ready to embark on this glorious career of listening. I understand that the ears are a gift and I am ready to repay Hashem by consciously employing them in His service. This week, I will bli neder set aside five minutes each day to learn mussar out loud and listen to the words as I\u2019m reading them from the sefer.
\nThe post Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T01:51:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T01:51:55+00:00" }, { "id": 32078, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-tetzaveh-5-career-of-listening/", "title": "Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening", "content_html": "TA-Tetzaveh-5782The post Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T01:50:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T01:50:45+00:00" }, { "id": 32071, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-tetzaveh-5-career-of-listening/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening", "content_html": "TA-Tetzaveh-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Tetzaveh 5 – Career of Listening appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-06T01:50:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-06T01:50:15+00:00" }, { "id": 32065, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%95-%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%a2%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%91%d7%a0%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d5: \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, \u05d4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e2\u05d4, \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-206The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d5: \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4, \u05d4\u05e9\u05e4\u05e2\u05d4, \u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-04T19:29:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-04T19:32:06+00:00" }, { "id": 32045, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%94-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-01T15:32:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-01T15:32:36+00:00" }, { "id": 32037, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05ea\u05e8\u05d5\u05de\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-02-01T04:14:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-02-01T04:14:57+00:00" }, { "id": 32029, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-terumah-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Terumah", "content_html": "\n\u201cYou\u2019ll never catch me!\u201d cried Moishy as he zipped past his friends.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh yes we will!\u201d shouted Eli and Avi.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, I\u2019m gonna get you!\u201d squealed Dovy as he ran after them through the Shul lobby.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHa ha, I got you!\u201d exclaimed Avi.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo you didn\u2019t!\u201d answered Moishy. \u201cYou just touched my shirt. That doesn\u2019t count!\u201d
\n\n\n\nMoishy ran even faster. But Eli was right behind him and Dovy in front. Without thinking, Moishy darted sideways into the Shul door. His friends chased after him, squealing and giggling, not even noticing that the Ba\u2019al Korei was in the middle of reading the Torah.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHaha!\u201d Moishy screeched, running through the Shul. As they charged through the Beis Midrash towards the side exit, the boys didn\u2019t seem to realize that they were bumping into people and knocking over shtenders and seforim.
\n\n\n\nMoishy disappeared through the side door, followed by his friends. The Ba\u2019al Korei kept reading, raising his voice above the commotion.
\n\n\n\n—
\n\n\n\nExhausted, the boys collapsed, catching their breath just outside the door.
\n\n\n\nA few minutes later, Moishy\u2019s Totty walked outside. \u201cBoys, come inside. The Rov is about to give the drasha.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut why, Totty?\u201d asked Moishy. \u201cYou never make me come in for the drasha.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYeah,\u201d chimed in Eli. \u201cMy father doesn\u2019t make me come to the drasha either. He lets me play outside until Mussaf.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cActually,\u201d replied Totty. \u201cThe Rov is giving a special drasha for the children in the simcha hall downstairs.\u201d Turning to Moishy\u2019s friends, he added \u201cand your fathers asked me to tell all of you to please come as well.\u201d
\n\n\n\nConfused, the boys followed Moishy\u2019s Totty inside and headed downstairs. The Rov was sitting at a table waiting for them, along with the other children from the Shul.
\n\n\n\n\u201cGood Shabbos, kinderlach,\u201d the Rov began with a wide smile. \u201cDoes everyone know what this week\u2019s Parsha is?\u201d
\n\n\n\nEli raised his hand. \u201cParshas Terumah!\u201d he said happily. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the Mushka!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s Mishkan, Eli,\u201d smiled the Rov, handing him a candy. \u201cAnd you are correct. Do you know what the Mishkan was?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThis time Avi raised his hand. \u201cIt was Hashem\u2019s House, just like the Beis Hamikdash! And there was a mizbeiach and a menorah and the aron, which had two keruvim on it!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBeautifully said, Avi!\u201d the Rov responded, handing him a candy as well. \u201cDo you know what Keruvim are?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t they look like children made out of gold?\u201d asked Dovy uncertainly.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell yes, the keruvim that were on the aron were made of gold, and they had faces of children,\u201d said the Rov, sliding a candy in Dovy\u2019s direction. \u201cBut Keruvim are actually a type of malach in Shomayim. And Hashem sent real Malach-Keruvim down to guard the Mishkan.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if you heard, but just as you boys were running through the Shul earlier, the Baal Korei was reading how there were also pictures of keruvim woven into the paroches, as well as on the yerios which covered the Mishkan.\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-4.png?resize=624%2C489&ssl=1\")
Moishy raised his hand. \u201cWhy did we need pictures of keruvim if Hashem sent real keruvim to guard the Mishkan?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cA gevaldige question, Moishy!\u201d beamed the Rov. \u201cHere, take a candy,\u201d he said, holding out his bag of taffies.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou see, people can\u2019t see real keruvim,\u201d the Rov continued. \u201cSo Hashem had us make pictures of keruvim to remind us that the Mishkan was the holy House of Hashem that was guarded by real Malochim. It was a reminder of \u201cMora Mikdash\u201d – that when we came to the Mishkan we couldn\u2019t just act like we normally do. It\u2019s Hashem\u2019s House and we need to act with respect when we visit.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWow,\u201d said a boy named Elchonon. \u201cImagine visiting Hashem\u2019s House!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Elchonon,\u201d said the Rov. \u201cYou were in Hashem\u2019s House today!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI was?\u201d Elchonon said, perplexed.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d the Rov answered. \u201cA Shul is a Mikdash Me\u2019at – it\u2019s like a miniature Mishkan or Beis Hamikdash. It also has kedusha, and it is also the House of Hashem!
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo when you approach a Shul, you need to remember that you are right outside of Hashem\u2019s House. And when walking inside, one must remember that he is walking into a place of kedusha. You may not see the Keruvim outside but I\u2019m pretty sure that there are malachim in our shul too. And that means walking calmly, keeping our voices down, and acting with respect \u2013 not shouting or even stam schmoozing.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys looked at each other a bit uncomfortably. They felt bad about how they had behaved in the Shul earlier and decided to make sure to act properly when they went back upstairs for Mussaf.
\n\n\n\nAnd with that, the Rov handed candies to the rest of the children and wished everyone a Wonderful Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Terumah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-30T02:02:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-30T02:02:24+00:00" }, { "id": 32017, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-terumah-5-images-of-youth-2/", "title": "Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth", "content_html": "The Cherubic Children
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou should place two keruvim \u2026 on the two edges of the covering for the aron habris \u2026 and I will speak to you there from between the keruvim\u2026 (Terumah 25:18-22)\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s one of the most queer commandments we could ever come across in the Torah. Images?! Where do images come into the Toras Hashem? Everyone knows that to fashion an imageis a terrible sin. And here, suddenly, it\u2019s a mitzvah! This possuk in our sedrah is the only exemption in all Torah where images were permitted. And we\u2019re talking about real images \u2013 the keruvim were golden figurines of young children. The Gemara (Sukkah 5b) says that \u2013 \u201cwhat did they look like, the keruvim?\u201d So the gemara says \u201ckeravya, they looked like children.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd now we have a second problem; first make an image, and now, an image of children? Why children? If you\u2019re going to make an image, why not old men with long beards, ziknei Yisrael? If it was me, I would have said it should be a figure of an old talmid chochom, an eved Hashem with a long white beard, with his hands upraised to Hakodosh Boruch Hu in tefillah. Oh! That would have been some image to have on top of the aron habris! But little children?
\n\n\n\nImages to Learn From
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that the lesson that we\u2019re expected to learn from these images is so important, so fundamental, that it\u2019s worth it. Hakodosh Boruch Hu made this one exception to the law of making images because He wants us to study these images of when we come to serve Him.
\n\n\n\nIn the book of Koheles (12:1), Shlomo urges us and he says: \u201c\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth\u201d. Now that has to be understood because we know that we\u2019re expected to remember our Creator when we\u2019re middle-aged too. And even when we\u2019re old, when someone is already near the end \u2013 he\u2019s 119 years and 364 days old \u2013 he still has to remember his Creator. And the truth is that\u2019s when you should remember Him most \u2013 because you\u2019re going to be seeing Him soon! And so we have to understand these words, \u201cRemember your Creator in the days of your youth.\u201d Why mention the \u2018days of youth\u2019?
\n\n\n\nSo we\u2019ll explain it is follows: \u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Remember your Creator, \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 in the days of your youth, because that’s the time when it has the biggest effect; that\u2019s when a person who wants to remember his Creator can have the most success.
\n\n\n\nMature at Eighteen
\n\n\n\nListen to what Rav Yisrael Salanter, zichrono levrocho, said when he was already an old man. \u201cAll my yiras Hashem, whatever fear of Heaven and piety I have right now,\u201d he said, \u201cI gained by the time I was eighteen.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow the truth is that we don’t believe him. We don’t take his word for it because we know stories about Reb Yisroel \u2013 he was a famous servant of the Almighty all his life and we know he was gaining yiras Hashem on his last day too. So it\u2019s not exactly true, but it means that already at the age of eighteen a wave raised him up and the crest of the wave was still carrying him forward; that impetus of his younger years was pushing him forward all his life.
\n\n\n\nYouth has a certain vitamin in it. No, I take that back \u2013 vitamin is not the word. It\u2019s more than that \u2013 it\u2019s an enzyme, a catalyst. Youth has a catalytic agent, a dynamo that is able to transform all things into idealism, into true achievement. And that’s why the best time to make progress \u2014 especially in remembering the Borei \u2014 is then. \u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8. The days of your youth are when you have the most enthusiasm and energy.
\n\n\n\nA Gift with Purpose
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why Hashem gave it! The gift of youth is given to us because we’re in this world for a purpose. Take a bee for example. Everybody realizes that bees have a purpose. You sit down on Rosh Hashanah night with a piece of apple and you dip it in the honey and you\u2019re reminded about that. \u201cWhere did this honey come from? Oh right, that’s what a bee is for!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe bee is for the apple too, by the way. If it wasn\u2019t for the bee you wouldn’t have apples. A bee is for a hundred thousand things. Apples and peaches and cherries and plums and flowers \u2013 without the bee, we wouldn’t have any of them. One hundred thousand species of fruits and flowers are produced by the little bee and its miraculous function of pollination.
\n\n\n\nNow because bees have a purpose, the Creator who made it for that purpose has equipped it with all the apparatus it needs. You know he has tools on him. If you could look at the bee’s legs under a magnifying glass, it’s remarkable. The bee has brushes on his legs, real brushes, and it has baskets on its leg, built in baskets. I’m not exaggerating. And when it gets to a flower it brushes off the pollen with the brushes and pushes it into the pollen baskets on its legs. Then the bee takes this pollen to its hive and it takes the nectar and it mixes the nectar with the pollen. In addition, the bee has a little factory in its body and it produces beeswax.
\n\n\n\nThe bee has many other pieces of equipment and many instincts to assist him in fulfilling his purpose. And so we see that the bee was created for a certain purpose and is superbly equipped by its Creator to carry out that purpose.
\n\n\n\nPurpose of Humanity
\n\n\n\nNow, if that\u2019s true for the little bee then how much more so is it true for ourselves? You must say that we\u2019re here for a purpose too. Are we for nothing? You\u2019re going to tell me that a bee has a purpose in the world and a man doesn’t have a purpose?
\n\n\n\nAnd so the first thing we have to settle is what is a man supposed to produce? If bees are here to produce honey, what are we for then? Certainly man has to produce in this world! Certainly he\u2019s expected to fulfill a certain function! What is a man\u2019s honey? Where are the fruits that he pollinates?
\n\n\n\nNow, some people will say, money, property. A paycheck at the end of the week. No, that’s not a man’s fruit. It\u2019s useful \u2013 nothing wrong with making money, but that\u2019s not what you\u2019re here for.
\n\n\n\nSo you\u2019ll tell me children, a family. No, that\u2019s not it. Of course, children are very important. The more children you can have, the more successful you are. But that’s only a byproduct.
\n\n\n\nThe true fruits of a man’s efforts are self-improvement. That’s what we’re here for. To make something out of yourself, that’s the reason that we’re here! That’s our function. That’s our honey. We\u2019re here to spend our days pollinating ourselves, producing the honey and sweet fruit of self perfection.
\n\n\n\nEquipped to Succeed
\n\n\n\nNow, if our purpose is self perfection, so you\u2019ll have to say that just like the bee, we are also equipped to fulfill our function. We are superbly equipped by the Creator to achieve. We don\u2019t have pollen baskets and brushes but He has given us a set of tools and instincts to help us achieve our purpose.
\n\n\n\nNow, among these instincts \u2014 there are many instincts and they have to be discussed \u2014 but among them is the enthusiasm of youth. The \u2018days of youth\u2019are an important tool given to us for the purpose of self perfection. It\u2019s intended to be used for the purpose of throwing ourselves into the great Torah ideals with all our energy.
\n\n\n\nAnd that’s why Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave youth a great gift of enthusiasm. You need energy to succeed with Hashem! You need youthfulness to fight against yourself too. You have a big enemy within yourself; the yetzer hora is always on the job and you have to fight against it.
\n\n\n\nOur Military Service
\n\n\n\nLike Iyov said (7:1), \u05d4\u05b2\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e6\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 isn\u2019t it military service for a man on this earth? Every man in this world is in military service. It means that we\u2019re waging a battle in our service of the Almighty. And to win battles you have to have guts, you have to have fire in you. If a man is a namby-pamby, a Mr. Milquetoast, what kind of battle is it going to be? You have to have \u2018fight\u2019 in you. A weakling is like a washed out rag; he won\u2019t accomplish anything in life.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, you young fellows who still have this energy in your system, be happy about it and make sure you make use of it. That is the way to have the spirit; and that is why the youth is given to you.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Grow Old
\n\n\n\nNow, as soon as somebody hears this, a young fellow of sixty years hears this, so he settles back now and decides it\u2019s too late. He thinks he\u2019s justified in retiring; he heard already that it\u2019s no use. No, no. It doesn’t mean that a man cannot start even at an advanced age.
\n\n\n\nYou need never surrender that youthfulness. Of course it won’t be so easy but there’s no question that everyone can draw forth from his reserves of youthful energy and throw off the artificial lassitude which elderly people adopt when it comes to good things.
\n\n\n\nAfter all, a lot of that weakness is nothing but a pitui hayetzer. Why is it when it comes to money-making a man is never too old? Why is it when it comes to ta’avos, to looking for fun, he’s never too old? When it comes to going fishing, you’ll find elderly people put on white pants and a seagoing cap and they’re going out to the ocean. For deep sea fishing, for good times, they’re young.
\n\n\n\nSelective Energy
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s an old fellow in the shul; he’s washed out. He has no energy. Shabbos, he barely goes to minchah. He has no koach to come to learn before minchah. But Sunday morning I see him in his driveway. He’s wearing white pants and he’s washing his car; he’s ready to go out in the world!
\n\n\n\nThe answer is he\u2019s only old when it comes to certain things. It’s nothing but a persuasion of the yetzer hora. It’s only for good things that they\u2019re already too old and played out.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, whether you\u2019re a young man eighteen or a young man of eighty \u2013 whatever it is, it’s the quality of youthfulness that makes a man go ahead in life. That\u2019s the lesson that the keruvim are trying to teach us about. Hashem speaks from between the keruvim because He wants us always to draw from that youthful energy in order to serve Him best.
\n\n\n\nChinuch Advice
\n\n\n\nNow, as much as a person can still accomplish in his old age but we should always keep in mind what Koheles said that the best time is when you’re young because then it will go into the bones. And the earlier the better. We shouldn\u2019t wait even one day! Don\u2019t postpone!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s reported that a woman once came to Reb Simcha Zissel for an eitzah; she wanted advice from this old sage about raising children. Reb Simcha Zissel was a talmid of Rav Yisroel Salanter, and so who better to go to for such a question?
\n\n\n\nAnd the first question she asked was this: \u201cAt what age should I start teaching my little boy derech eretz?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cHow old is the child?\u201d Reb Simcha Zissel asked her.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s three years old.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo Reb Simcha Zissel said, \u201cGo home! Hurry home right away because you\u2019re very late. The age of three is late already so hurry up and do whatever you can.\u201d
\n\n\n\nEvery Day Counts
\n\n\n\nNow, if you know anything about Rav Simcha Zissel you\u2019ll know that his words were measured \u2013 everything he said was important. And so, if he said, \u201cHurry up because you\u2019re late,\u201d he wasn\u2019t just cracking a joke; he meant business.
\n\n\n\nAnd so we have to ask ourselves: Why is it that three years old is already late to begin teaching a child? You can do a lot of good things with a three year old! He\u2019s still a young child! Did you ever see a precocious three year old boy? He\u2019s a sponge; he can absorb a lot of ideas still!
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s a very important lesson that Rav Simcha Zissel is teaching us. Every day of our youth counts! Those are the days best suited for achievement; the summer flowers of achievement can only grow in the heat of youth. It’s the best time to plant all of the Torah ideas into the garden of our mind.
\n\n\n\nRejecting and Accepting
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean only if you\u2019re three years old. Thirty three is good too. It\u2019s better than forty. And forty is still better than fifty. As early as possible we have to plant all the Torah ideas into the garden of our mind because even the shortest delay is too long when it comes to avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nYou know who taught us that? Abaye. I\u2019ll tell you a little story from the Gemara (Shabbos 21b). Abaye was one of the sages of the Talmud and it was once reported to him a Torah teaching that had been made by Rabbi Yirmiyah. Now, Rabbi Yirmiyah was an important man \u2014 he’s famous in the gemara and his words have weight \u2014 but Abaye refused to accept the statement. He didn\u2019t agree with it and so he rejected it out of hand.
\n\n\n\nNow some time elapsed and at a later date the same statement was again said to Abaye and this time he saw its truthfulness and he accepted it. He accepted it and studied it well until it became part of his repository of Torah knowledge. And yet, our sages tell us that whenever Abaye recalled this incident he would express regret as to why he didn’t accept it the first time. Now that he saw it was true he was sorry that he hadn’t accepted it the first time he heard it. And he said, \u201cHad I been worthy, I would have learned it the first time.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRelatively Young
\n\n\n\nSo the gemara asks, what harm was done? He learned it now \u2014 now he knows it, so what\u2019s the difference anyhow? And the Gemara answers nafka mina legirsa deyankusa \u2013 it makes a difference to have learned it when you were young. Learning when you are young is an entirely different thing and therefore Abaye regretted that he hadn’t accepted the first time around.
\n\n\n\nNow young here is only a relative word because Abaye was not young when he heard it the first time. He must have been in his prime at least. Otherwise, who would he be to refuse to accept what Rabbi Yirmiyah said? Rabbi Yirmiyah was one of the great men of the preceding generation. And so you must say that he wasn\u2019t a youth \u2014 he was younger but he wasn’t a child.
\n\n\n\nAnd still Abaye always looked back with regret at the fact that he hadn’t learned this statement when he was younger because it makes a big difference. The sooner you get into your head a truth, the bigger is the benefit to you.
\n\n\n\nDiamond Seeds
\n\n\n\nI’ll explain this briefly. Imagine you put a diamond or some other piece of jewelry into a box and you hide it away in a drawer. And now after many years let\u2019s say you open the box \u2014 all you’ll find there is what you put in. It’s not going to have any babies. At best the diamond will still be there.
\n\n\n\nBut let\u2019s say you\u2019re eating a watermelon in your garden and as usually happens one of the slippery seeds eludes you and flies out and lands on the soft earth. Now, if no one will trample that garden and you\u2019ll revisit it thirty years hence you\u2019ll discover that it is overgrown with melon vines! Because a seed properly planted produces generations and generations of results.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what a thought is \u2014 when a thought is put into a human mind, it’s not going to remain there without progeny like a diamond does. That thought is going to take root and as long as it\u2019s watered and cared for it will grow and produce fruits with seeds of their own and those seeds will produce other plants. It will branch out. That one thought becomes so complex. It branches out into all fields of your thinking and it becomes a part of your entire personality. A thousand thoughts result from one. Not only dinim. Every Torah thought, every Torah attitude and ideal, is a seed that over time will branch out into beautiful fruit. And the earlier you plant, the more it\u2019ll develop into a garden of Torah ideals and attitudes.
\n\n\n\nNo Time to Lose!
\n\n\n\nNow I understand that most people are satisfied to do the minimum, to just fulfill their obligations and that\u2019s all, but the wise person understands that his whole future in the next world depends on his mind and therefore he wishes to build up in his head a beautiful garden full of delightful fruit. That\u2019s the perfection of Mankind \u2014 to create a more perfect mind \u2014 and if you start in your younger years you\u2019re much better off.
\n\n\n\nNow when we talk of younger years, it includes people who are sixty five years old \u2013 they\u2019re in the young years if they\u2019re starting out. Of course, it\u2019s better to start at sixty. Fifty nine is still better. But even sixty five or sixty six, there\u2019s still a lot of hope for you. If you pay attention to what I\u2019m going to tell you, you\u2019ll see that a sixty five year old man can accomplish a tremendous amount in his life \u2013 even if he won\u2019t live a hundred and sixty five years.
\n\n\n\nSo if you’re a young fellow of sixty, hurry up and don’t wait. Boys and girls, men and women, no matter what age, take yourself in hand.There’s no time to lose. If you’re an old man of eighteen, you’ve lost a lot of time already. Hurry up and see that the right seeds are planted because by eighteen you could have had a wonderful luxurious garden. You could have had a garden growing with strawberries and watermelons and sunflower seeds and sugar corn. You could have had apple trees and peach trees and pear trees and cherry trees if you had planted the seeds at the proper time.
\n\n\n\nIdeas You\u2019re Not Used To
\n\n\n\nOf course you have to know what to plant. Most people \u2014 even yeshiva men \u2014 don’t do that in their youth. And it\u2019s mostly because they don\u2019t know what to plant. Even if you go into places where they talk Torah, it’s remarkable that today it’s very hard to find a place where people speak straightforward Torah.
\n\n\n\nThey\u2019ll take a possuk or a statement from Chazal and the whole wisdom is to twist it to mean what it doesn’t say. In most places that’s the whole wisdom. And that’s why in one week, just this past week, two people came to me in the street to tell me something about a sentence in the Torah that means one thing and both of them twisted it to mean something else; chassidishe peshetlach. Both of them ignored what the possuk really wanted to say \u2013 and the possuk had a lot to say. And what do they learn from it? Nothing new. It\u2019s a plain commonplace idea they were telling me. But the chochma is in the twisting. That’s what’s interesting to people.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore to learn straight Torah ideas, true Torah ideas, is not simple at all. You have to look for it. You have to want to hear it. That’s why at our meetings here you’re going to hear things here that are not always an echo of what you yourself think. Whether you are an ordinary citizen or whether you’re a yeshivah man or even if you’re a rabbi, don’t expect to hear the same ideas that you think. And if you hear things that are opposite to your accepted ideas then you should know it’s worth coming. That’s what you’re here for.
\n\n\n\nDisappointed With Toras Avigdor
\n\n\n\nI know from experience; some people have left because they were displeased with the ideas they heard. It has happened. People who lost the plasticity of youth and they can\u2019t change. They came here and they asked questions and they were disappointed because they didn\u2019t like the answers; they wanted to hear something else, something that fits in with their preconceived notions. That\u2019s not Torah. Torah means you take ideas and you plant them in your heads.
\n\n\n\nThe truth is that most of the ideas that people bring in are wrong because even yeshivah men, talmidei chachomim, didn\u2019t plant properly when they were young. You know, if a person puts no time into the Sha’ar Habechinah then he knows nothing about bechinah. If he didn\u2019t plant the seeds of seeing Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the briyah then he\u2019s missing something very important \u2013 and it\u2019ll be very difficult to start planting when he gets older already. The energy is not there anymore; he\u2019s not plastic anymore and it\u2019s very hard to mold a head that\u2019s already hardened in its ways.
\n\n\n\nI once had an adam gadol in my house for a Shabbos morning. A big rosh yeshivah from Eretz Yisrael was sitting in my house. So I took out all of my old merchandise and I was talking about an apple. All my old customers know about the apple but he never heard it. He looked at me politely but such things he had never heard; he never encountered it. He had never looked in the Chovos Halevavos Sha’ar Habechinah. He doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s important.
\n\n\n\nThe Biggest Achievement
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore the biggest of all achievements is to acquire correct ideas. All great truths of the Chovos Halevavos, the Mesillas Yesharim, the Rambam and the Kuzari; all of the great truths of all the rishonim and the great achronim who were our great teachers.
\n\n\n\nThat’s our big job in life, to put good seeds in our heads and to plant gardens \u2014 and to do it as soon as possible.And when a man does that in his younger days he\u2019s able to draw forth from that reservoir of youthful energy and the rest of his life he is nothing but a self-operating system of nature. All the seeds that he planted with the energy of his youthful enthusiasm; all the ideas that he took into his mind with enthusiasm, take root and they grow and produce fruits and flowers and seeds and they multiply, and that’s how he develops into the perfect man.
\n\n\n\nThe Secret Ingredient
\n\n\n\nNow, just to conclude the subject we will discuss one example of a seed that is best and most easily planted with youthful enthusiasm. There is one ingredient that is almost instinctive to youth and is so important for the success of an eved Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd if we had to say it in one word it would be simcha. Happiness! That\u2019s the secret to living successfully! That\u2019s why Koheles said (11:9): \u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05d7 \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Rejoice O Youth in your boyhood, \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05d8\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 and let your mind make you happy in the days of your young-manhood. That\u2019s the advice of Shlomo Hamelech: when you\u2019re young, learn how to enjoy life!
\n\n\n\nEnjoy life? It could be that you won\u2019t hear such things in other places. But that\u2019s why you have to come here. In this place we say that you have to learn how to enjoy life; it\u2019s a very important seed that yields luscious fruits.
\n\n\n\nThe Joys of Youth
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re walking down the street? Enjoy it! You\u2019re effortlessly cruising down the street on your two healthy legs? No hint of arthritis yet? Learn the happiness of having healthy joints that function so smoothly as if they were lubricated with oil in between the moving bones. Ahh, is that a pleasure! That’s happiness!
\n\n\n\nYou have to learn to enjoy the fact that you can hear. Hearing is a miracle. Even today nobody can explain this wondrous process whereby sound waves travel from here to your ears. But more than a miracle, it\u2019s a happiness. It\u2019s fun to hear your friends, your children. We live by hearing. Hearing is life! Like the gemara (Bava Kamma 85b) says, If you made your fellowman\u2019s slave death, you have to pay him for the entire slave. If you make a man deaf, you have to pay his total value because the deaf man is like he stopped existing.
\n\n\n\nAnd it\u2019s when you\u2019re still young and healthy, when you still have your teeth and your hearing, when you can still walk without any effort, that\u2019s the best time to enjoy life. When we\u2019re young, in the morning of life, the whole world appears to us more beautiful; everything seems so much more glamorous. Even without money and without fame, you’re happy.
\n\n\n\nPurposeful Joy
\n\n\n\nNow, if you\u2019ll just be a happy fellow, that’s not enough. There\u2019s a purpose here. And it\u2019s not what most people are doing with it. The purpose of youth is not merely to live more happily; to drive around in cars and eat and play games. That\u2019s a very big mistake that many people make; they think that youth is given to us merely as a commodity to enjoy. Oh no, that\u2019s a waste \u2013 it\u2019s like a bee who goes to the salt mines and gathers salt with his pollen brushes; he fills up his buckets with salt; a big waste, a disaster.
\n\n\n\nSimcha is the high octane that lets you get off the ground. With simcha you can travel in avodas Hashem; you can pick up speed and accomplish. And that\u2019s what Shlomo Hamelech is telling you: \u201cRejoice O Youth,\u201d says Shlomo; because that’s the fuel that makes a man succeed! This happiness and energy is the catalyst for great achievements.
\n\n\n\nPurposeful Sorrow
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why the yetzer hora is hard at work fighting it. The yetzer hora says \u201cWhat happiness?! You’re not happy now. All you have is functioning joints. All you have is three meals a day and some underwear and a few suits and a roof over your head and a house that’s heated in the winter and a bed and pillow. You have cold water and hot water. You have toilets in your house. Everybody else has it too. That’s not happiness. That\u2019s nothing!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNothing? So what is happiness? He doesn’t tell you what happiness is. Happiness is something that you don’t have now. That’s the important point he\u2019s telling you. And that’s why Mankind is unhappy.
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a man who is in the hands of the yetzer hora. He goes around feeling unhappy; he feels that life is nothing but disappointment and all his days are spent in sorrow.
\n\n\n\nNow \u201cwhat is so wrong with that?\u201d you ask. Everything. Everything is wrong with such an attitude because living happily is the foundation of all your avodas Hashem. It\u2019s not merely a catalyst \u2014 it\u2019s actually the foundation of everything. The whole Torah is based on feeling gratitude! In return for all of the kindnesses that Hakodosh Boruch Hu bestows upon us, we\u2019re inspired to serve Him. But if we\u2019re unhappy and we don\u2019t see any kindness, so why should we serve Him?
\n\n\n\nBasis of The Torah
\n\n\n\nThe whole Torah stands on gratitude. From the beginning all the way to the end the Torah is based on the attitude that we have to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu and serve Him because of what He did for us. And so, because that\u2019s the foundation of kol hatorah kulah, just because of that, the yetzer hora is hard at work fighting that. The biggest attack that the yetzer hora can make on a man \u2013 even bigger than the attack on Torah and mitzvos \u2013 is to persuade people that they’re not happy right now.
\n\n\n\nBut if you can teach yourself to enjoy the now \u2013 when you\u2019re eighteen years young or sixty years young \u2013 it\u2019ll last you into your older years too and you will be successful in making something out of yourself.
\n\n\n\nAdvice For the Elderly
\n\n\n\nIn his Shaarei Teshuva, Rabeinu Yonah tells us something that\u2019s connected to this subject and it\u2019s very important. He says that when a man is old he sometimes becomes dispirited; he\u2019s discouraged and despondent because he no longer has all the fun of his youth. Many of the youthful pleasures are unavailable to him now. Even eating! In the days of Rabeinu Yonah when you got old you didn\u2019t even have enough teeth to eat well. You couldn’t buy false teeth. Maybe your digestion wasn\u2019t so good either. And so much of the happiness of life departed.
\n\n\n\nBut that cannot be, Rabeinu Yonah says, because if you don\u2019t enjoy life, you can\u2019t be an eved Hashem. You must have a certain simcha, a certain energy to serve Hashem. An old man also needs some lubrication, some fuel of happiness and gratitude, in order to travel and to achieve. \u201cSo what should you do?\u201d he said. Pay attention to his words.
\n\n\n\nHe quotes for us a statement in Koheles(11:7): \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05ea\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u2013 How sweet is the light, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b7\u05e2\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 it\u2019s good for the eyes to see sunlight. Rabeinu Yonah asks what’s the purpose of this passuk? Shlomo Hamelech wouldn’t say things that are devarim beteilim.
\n\n\n\nSo he says it’s connected with the previous passuk. Before that it says \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b9\u05bc\u05e7\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d6\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 in the morning of life is when you must plant seeds, \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05e2\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 but you shouldn\u2019t rest your hands from planting even in the evening of life. All the way till the end you must be active in serving Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEnjoying Sun
\n\n\n\nAnd so Shlomo is speaking to the old man, encouraging him. \u201cEnjoy the sunlight!” And even though your happiness is more limited now \u2014 you have aches and pains and illnesses \u2013 but you should utilize all the opportunities that are still available. And so he tells us, \u201cLearn to enjoy the light!\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know daylight is fun? People don’t know it’s fun to see daylight. I’ll tell you when you can find out. You should never find out this way. But when you’ll pass by a hospital and there’s a man lying in the window in a bed and this man’s days, his hours, are numbered and he’s looking out of the window into the street. I\u2019m talking about the dismal streets of Brooklyn; no trees, no gardens, but still that street is so alluring to him. It’s so lovely, so delicious. He sees the light of day and he knows he won’t have it long. Then he realizes how good it is to be alive and see daylight.
\n\n\n\nNow of course it\u2019s better to start when you\u2019re young and study the happiness of light. If you\u2019ll try and start enjoying the sunlight when you\u2019re eighty five you\u2019re out of luck \u2013 it’s a little late now. When you’re old and your bones are aching from arthritis and your days are numbered, it’s a little late to start appreciating the sunlight.
\n\n\n\nThe Pool of Gold
\n\n\n\nBut if you start practicing up when you’re young, you learn to enjoy the chasdei Hashem now, you\u2019ll learn to be happy with sunlight! As you walk through a section of sidewalk that’s bathed in sunlight, feel that you’re wading through a big swimming pool of golden coins, golden sovereigns and ducats; it’s a lot of fun!
\n\n\n\nIt’s a lot of fun wading through such a pool. Imagine a big pool like this room and it’s full of golden coins, and they tell you: wade through it and pick up all you can. That’s how you should learn to enjoy wading through the sunlight. You see the sun shining, a bright day, and it\u2019s a pleasure! A happiness!
\n\n\n\nOf course you look at me with blank faces, like I just fell off the moon. But Koheles says it\u2019s because we\u2019re spoiled! We want ice cream! We want nosherei! Well, if you think the whole fun of life is only chocolate cake then when you get old and you can\u2019t take it anymore, your stomach doesn\u2019t take these things, then what is life?
\n\n\n\nThere is Fun to be Done
\n\n\n\nBut if you learn to enjoy the sunlight \u2013 other things too besides sunlight; you should learn to enjoy your eyes. Seeing is fun. You\u2019re wearing a pair of camcorders, taking pictures all the time with these eyes; color pictures, motion pictures. It\u2019s a pleasure to be able to see. And if you don\u2019t think so, you\u2019d better hurry up and get busy practicing enjoying your eyes.
\n\n\n\nThe pleasure of sleeping! Sleeping is a big ta\u2019anug! You put your head on the pillow and you drift off into slumberland. Ahh! Not everybody can fall asleep right away. If you can, you\u2019re a rich man. It\u2019s a luxury to sleep!
\n\n\n\nThe fact that your heart is beating all the time; it\u2019s working, pit-pat-pit-pat. A very great pleasure! Only when does a man realize that pleasure? When he feels something is wrong, chalilah, and a doctor tells him, \u201cWe have to make an angiogram.\u201d Hoohoohoh! Now he looks back at the good old days when he was enjoying a good heart. \u201cOh! Why didn\u2019t I enjoy it when I had it?!\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow is The Time
\n\n\n\nSo a person has to learn when he\u2019s young and happy to appreciate the things that take place every day. Don\u2019t wait until the time will come and you\u2019re dreaming that you\u2019ll retire and you\u2019ll be in your palace, let\u2019s say, in Florida or someplace else and you\u2019ll have a lot of money and you won\u2019t have to work, then you\u2019ll enjoy. Aaaach! Who knows first of all if you\u2019ll ever reach that time? And secondly, by that time you\u2019ll have so many illnesses. You\u2019ll be busy going to the doctors every day. Who knows what\u2019s going to happen then? The time to do it is right now. Right now is the time to learn happiness!
\n\n\n\nAnd if you start in your youth \u2014 even if you\u2019re a young man of sixty \u2014 if you practice up on this business of being a sameach bechelko there’s no question that the genuine youthful happiness and enthusiasm will last you all your life. That\u2019s the person who has learned the lesson of the keruvim, the images of youth, that stood above the aron bris teaching that eternal lesson to the Am Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s Get Practical
\n\n\n\nLearning from the Keruvim
\n\n\n\nThe Keruvim, the apparent source of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u2019s voice, were made to resemble children. This teaches us the lesson of the importance of youthful energy in His service. The earlier we begin planting Torah thought seeds, the richer the fruits they will yield. This week I will bli neder spend one minute each day appreciating the light of day. As a youthful joy wells up in my heart I will be ready to serve Hashem with enthusiasm.
\nThe post Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-30T01:58:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-31T10:35:16+00:00" }, { "id": 32024, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-terumah-5-images-of-youth/", "title": "Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth", "content_html": "TA-Terumah-5782The post Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-30T01:57:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-30T01:57:14+00:00" }, { "id": 32016, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-terumah-5-images-of-youth/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth", "content_html": "TA-Terumah-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Terumah 5 – Images of Youth appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-30T01:56:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-30T01:56:40+00:00" }, { "id": 32007, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-40/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 40", "content_html": "\n\u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05da \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAccording to the intensity of Hashem\u2019s favor is the corresponding degree of Shechinah that rests upon us. Please favor us once more, and restore the presence of the Shechinah to rest upon us forever.
\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df
BLESSED ARE YOU HASHEM THAT RESTORES HIS SHECHINAH TO TZION
Thank You Hashem for \u2018favoring\u2019 our Avodah and for ultimately resting Your Shechinah upon us, for that is the purpose of all our Avodah and it is dearest wish and desire.
\u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da
WE GIVE THANKS TO YOU
We give thanks solely \u05dc\u05da, for all good comes only from You. In truth, we give thanks to You for everything that comes upon us, for it is all only good, and it is all only from You.
\u05e9\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
THAT YOU ARE HE, OUR G-D AND THE G-D OF OUR FATHERS
We thank You for being \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5, our G-d, for giving particular attention to each of us individually, as well as to the entire nation, from the time of our forefathers until this very day.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 40 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-28T16:40:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-28T16:40:58+00:00" }, { "id": 15327, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-shabbos-and-yetzias-mitzrayim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos and Yetzias Mitzrayim", "content_html": "\nQ:
In\u00a0kiddush\u00a0on Friday night we say that Shabbos is\u00a0zeicher l\u2019yetzias Mitzrayim;\u00a0it\u2019s a remembrance of our going out of Egypt. In what way is Shabbos supposed to remind us of\u00a0Yetzias Mitzrayim?\u00a0
A:
\n\n\n\nShabbos shows that Hashem chose\u00a0us\u00a0to be His people; we were\u00a0chosen to be the nation that\u00a0testifies\u00a0that Hashem created the world out of nothing. \u201c\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd \u05e2\u05d3\u05d9\u201d\u00a0Hashem said. \u201cYou are My witnesses.\u201d\u00a0Even though the creation of the world from nothing was for all the nations, we\u00a0are the ones\u00a0chosen to be\u00a0His witnesses to\u00a0testify to the truth of His existence and to His creation of the world from nothing. That\u2019s our job in this world;\u00a0to never back down from testifying to Hashem\u2019s creation of this world from nothing. And the most fundamental way we testify to that truth is by keeping Shabbos.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nNow, when were we chosen for this job? We were chosen in Mitzrayim. At Yetzias Mitzrayim Hashem chose us. \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cSend out My son,\u201d Hashem said. That\u2019s the first time Hashem said that. It was at Yetzias Mitzrayim that Hashem called the Am Yisroel \u201cMy son,\u201d because it was then that we were chosen. And He chose us for what? \u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u2013 Send out my nation so that they should serve Me. It means that it was at Yetzias Mitzrayim that Hashem chose us to serve Him. It says that openly: \u201cSend My people out.\u201d For what? \u201cSo that they should serve Me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo it was at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim that we were chosen for this job of being His witnesses by celebrating Shabbos and thereby testifying to the briyah yesh mei\u2019ayin. And that\u2019s one of the reasons why we mention Yetzias Mitzrayim in kiddush Friday night \u2013 because Yetzias Mitzrayim is when it all began.
TAPE # E-229 (October 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos and Yetzias Mitzrayim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-28T08:28:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-28T16:45:19+00:00" }, { "id": 31994, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a9%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%95%d7%90-%d7%94-%d7%90-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%95%d7%90-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05e9\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\n\u05e9\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
THAT YOU ARE HE, OUR G-D AND THE G-D OF OUR FATHERS
We thank You for giving Your specific interest and Your particular supervision to us; for being\u00a0\u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5,\u00a0our\u00a0particular G-d. We thank You both individually, for the particular interest You have given each of us from the day we were born until today, and as a nation as a whole, for the particular interest that You gave to our forefathers, from the very beginning of our nation until this very day.
\nThe post \u05e9\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-27T22:27:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-27T22:27:16+00:00" }, { "id": 7505, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-planting-in-america/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Planting in America", "content_html": "\nQ:
Should we trust that Moshiach is coming soon? Or should we continue planting anyhow?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow what you mean by planting, I don\u2019t know. If you mean planting in your garden, go ahead. Do\u00a0you\u00a0mean building institutions? Go ahead! I recall, almost forty-five\u00a0years ago, I was at a banquet in Boston\u00a0and a Mizrachi\u00a0gadol\u00a0was speaking there \u2013 it happened to be my business to be there;\u00a0I couldn\u2019t help it. One of the biggest leaders of the Mizrachi was speaking; I won\u2019t mention his name because he\u2019s long dead. And he said, \u201cYou American Jews are making a great error by building big synagogues and\u00a0yeshivos\u00a0in America. Go to\u00a0Eretz Yisroel\u00a0and build,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only place that has any future.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat was forty-five years ago. In those days there was no Lakewood yet. There was no Chaim Berlin, no Mirrer Yeshiva, no Torah Vodaas, no Tiferes Yerushalayim \u2013 there was nothing except for YU. And he was telling the world then that it doesn\u2019t pay to build in America. It\u2019s so silly what he said! During those years, from then till now, a whole generation grew up of beis yaakovs and yeshivos; a glorious young generation.
\n\n\n\nSo even if Moshiach will come tomorrow, you start tonight building a yeshiva or contributing to a yeshiva \u2013 don\u2019t worry about what will happen. Don\u2019t worry what will happen! You\u2019ll get reward for your good intentions anyhow.
So Moshiach has nothing to do with our plans; we have to go ahead with all of our plans. And not only plans to build a yeshiva; even plans to make a nice garden. Springtime is coming; it\u2019s a good idea, go make a nice garden in your backyard. If Moshiach will come before the garden has a time to develop, so what! You\u2019ll still go to Eretz Yisroel b\u2019rinah, with singing. Who cares what will happen \u2014 we\u2019ll sing in Eretz Yisroel; there are good gardens there too.
You can paint your homes in America too. Of course, don\u2019t go all out and spend all your money in beautifying your homes, but you can have decent homes. You can make a good living and you can enjoy life too. Don\u2019t worry about it; if Moshiach comes it won\u2019t be held against you.
TAPE # 308 (April 1980)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Planting in America appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-27T12:41:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-27T22:38:38+00:00" }, { "id": 31978, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-21/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 21", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-21The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 21 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T21:41:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T21:41:37+00:00" }, { "id": 31974, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-kosel-in-america/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Kosel in America", "content_html": "\nQ:
Is it OK for me to give up on some of my Torah learning in the evening, in order to work a little extra so that I can save up money for a trip to Eretz Yisroel?
A:
And the answer is no. Absolutely not. The purpose of Eretz Yisroel is only for you to make something out of yourself. To give up learning to go to the Kosel Ma\u2019aravi, the Western Wall?! If you want to go to the Kosel Ma\u2019aravi, then you should know that the Shas Bavli is your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. Make the seforim shrank with the Shas Bavli in it your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. That\u2019s your success.
To go to Eretz Yisroel and to stand at a wall that means nothing to you?! It\u2019s just a zeicher of yimei kedem, a remembrance of our glorious past. It\u2019s something but it\u2019s a failure. The success of life is the transferring the contents of the Shas into your mind. So stand in front of that Shas on the shelf in your living room and make that your Kosel Ma\u2019aravi. Stand there and put kvitlach, prayer notes, in between the Gemoras and pray to Hashem. The Shas is our everything! There\u2019s nothing in the world more kadosh, more special, to Hakodosh Boruch Hu than the daled amos shel halacha. Since the churban beis hamikdash He has nothing in the world that is more important than the Shas and our Torah seforim. So what are you thinking? To forego learning Torah for a cheap substitute?! And therefore, you don\u2019t forego learning for anything in the world.
TAPE # 829 (May 1991)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Kosel in America appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T18:00:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T18:00:31+00:00" }, { "id": 31970, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-reckless-driving/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Reckless Driving", "content_html": "\nQ:
\n\n\n\nIs it an aveirah to speed through a red light?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
The answer is that it\u2019s a very big sin \u2013 one of the biggest sins. First of all, you\u2019re endangering your life. And a person who endangers his life should know that even though Hakodosh Boruch Hu has saved that man\u2019s life, He will be collecting that man\u2019s mitzvos from him. It will cost that individual many years of tefillin! Many years of tefillin! Many years of kriyas shema! \u05de\u05e0\u05db\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem deducts from a man\u2019s mitzvos when He saves him from a dangerous situation that he had put himself into. You\u2019ll find out that making that red light wasn\u2019t worth it at all.
In addition to that, you have put other people in danger as well which is a very severe crime. It\u2019s considered as if you are a shoifech damim, even if you didn\u2019t kill anybody. Because you put yourself in a situation where you could have killed someone, you\u2019re considered a shoifech damim \u2013 potentially. And that\u2019s a tremendous sin. You must understand that. Just because nothing happened doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re not guilty. People who are reckless in their driving are doing something that is opposite from the will of Hashem and they are asidin li\u2019tein es hadin; sooner or later they will be punished.
TAPE # E-180 (April 2000)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Reckless Driving appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T17:50:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T17:50:31+00:00" }, { "id": 31963, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%a0%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%9c%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da", "content_html": "\nAll our thanks are solely\u00a0\u05dc\u05da, to You, for all good comes only from You. Truthfully, everything that comes upon us is actually only good, for You are the forever kindly G-d; therefore,\u00a0\u201cmodim anachnu lach\u201d.
\nThe post \u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e0\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T17:11:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T17:11:12+00:00" }, { "id": 31961, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%96%d7%99%d7%a8-%d7%a9%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%aa%d7%95-%d7%9c%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df", "content_html": "\nThis is the purpose of all our Avodah, and this is our dearest wish, to draw near to Hashem in such measure that we should be worthy of His Presence among us. We thank You Hashem for \u2018favoring\u2019 our Avodah and for ultimately resting Your Shechinah upon us,\u00a0may it happen soon in our days.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d4\u05de\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05db\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T17:08:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T17:08:40+00:00" }, { "id": 31958, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%96%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%91%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05da \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\nThis brachah begins with \u2018favor\u2019 and concludes with the restoration of the Shechinah, for\u00a0according to the intensity of Hashem\u2019s favor the corresponding degree of the presence of the Shechinah\u00a0is upon us. Since the destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash, the Jewish People have been yearning for the return of the Shechinah to dwell in their midst. To this day, we continue to beg Hashem that He favor us once more, and restore the presence of the Shechinah to rest upon us forever.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1\u05da \u05dc\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-26T17:05:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T17:05:52+00:00" }, { "id": 31947, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-25T21:59:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-25T21:59:37+00:00" }, { "id": 31936, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05ddThe post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-24T03:26:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-26T22:10:34+00:00" }, { "id": 31931, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-mishpatim-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Mishpatim", "content_html": "\nContinued from last week\u2026
\n\n\n\nTzadok had just removed the leashes from his frog and giant chimpanzee and before Rav Volender could stop him, the animals were running amok through the streets of the Old City.
\n\n\n\n\u201cQuick, Tzadok!\u201d Rav Volender cried out. \u201cWe need to catch those wild animals before they damage anything!\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok and Rav Volender ran through the streets of the Old City trying to catch the animals. Huffing and puffing, they arrived at Sha\u2019ar Yafo just as the frog crashed through the window of a storefront in a shower of broken glass. Meanwhile, the chimpanzee jumped up on a pushcart full of bananas, tipping it over and sending fruit flying.
\n\n\n\n\u201cStop that crazy monkey!\u201d yelled the Arab banana merchant. \u201cHe is ruining my precious bananas!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe chimpanzee responded by throwing a banana at the man\u2019s face, splattering him with mushed bananas. People everywhere started screaming and the ape began flinging bananas at everyone, creating a massive slippery mess.
\n\n\n\nTzadok tried his best to fix the situation. \u201cMakat Tzefardeia and Makat Arov are over!\u201d he cried. \u201cStop being wild and come back home with me!\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then, two policemen arrived. \u201cAre these your animals?\u201d one of them asked Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYes, and I\u2019ve never seen them act like this before!\u201d Tzadok said, close to tears.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell, you\u2019re under arrest for endangering the public and irresponsible handling of animals,\u201d the other policeman said, as he put Tzadok\u2019s hands behind his back and handcuffed him.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOy, Tzadok,\u201d sighed Rav Volender. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry but I\u2019m late for work. I guess I will be seeing you at the jail shortly, one way or another.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok sat in his jail cell, thinking things over. How had he managed to land himself here twice in less than a year? Just then he looked up and saw Rav Volender approaching.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHello, Tzadok,\u201d Rav Volender began. \u201cI\u2019m afraid you missed my Mesilas Yesharim class, but after lunch I\u2019m giving a Gemara shiur. We\u2019re learning Mesechta Bava Kama.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBava Kama?\u201d Tzadok asked. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of that. What\u2019s it about?\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender looked surprised. \u201cYou never learned Bava Kama? It\u2019s all about the halachos of theft and damages. It\u2019s very important for a Jew to learn these things.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cThat sounds boring,\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cI want to start doing teshuvah! I need to learn about Ruchniyut and how to become closer to Hashem!\u201d
\n\n\n\nJust then a guard arrived and unlocked Tzadok\u2019s cell.
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok,\u201d said the guard. \u201cThe judge has instructed us to release you. You just need to sign this form that says you will pay fifteen thousand Shekels for the damages you caused to the store owner, the banana stand, and the injuries people received from slipping on the banana peels.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d cried Tzadok. \u201cHow am I going to pay that? I don\u2019t have any money!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the guard. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you get a job to help you pay for it?\u201d
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-3.png?resize=592%2C460&ssl=1\")
\u201cA job???\u201d Tzadok exclaimed. \u201cBut I need to do teshuvah! I need to say Tehillim all day and come up with new segulot that will give me a kapparah! I don\u2019t have time to do something silly like getting a job!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok, Tzadok,\u201d said Rav Volender gently. \u201cYou can\u2019t do teshuvah just by saying Tehillim. Do you know what the Torah talks about immediately after Matan Torah?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cAkeidat Yitzchak?\u201d Tzadok guessed.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cThe Torah immediately continues with Parshas Mishpatim, which talks about all of the halachos of one who steals, injures, or causes damage to other people\u2019s property.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d said Tzadok. \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t it talk about something more Kadosh right after Hashem gave us the Torah?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause it is Kadosh!\u201d Rav Volender replied. \u201cHashem gave us the Torah to teach us how to live in this world! Do you know that if you take or use something that is not yours without permission, you\u2019re stealing from Hashem? Because everything in this world is His! One of the most important things we can learn are these halachos because they remind us that this is Hashem\u2019s world and we are just passing through.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOur entire lives need to revolve around the knowledge that we are living on this earth for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that means living by the rules that Hashem put in place. This includes being careful not to touch anything that is not ours and, of course, paying for any damages that we may cause.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo Tzadok, to be a good Jew you must immediately get busy with learning how to live in Hashem\u2019s world. And you can start your path to teshuvah by paying your fine so you can fix the damages you caused.\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok thought this over for a minute. Then he signed the form and walked out of jail, a free man once again.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Mishpatim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-24T03:06:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-24T03:06:18+00:00" }, { "id": 31920, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mishpatim-5-doctors-and-healing-2/", "title": "Parshas Mishpatim 5 – Doctors and Healing", "content_html": "Permission to Heal
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s sedrah we read about someone who wounds his fellow man and because of that, many obligations now fall at his feet.
\n\n\n\nIn Torah there\u2019s no such thing as paturing yourself with an \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d Some people say \u201cOh\u201d and \u201cUh,\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re so sorry\u201d, and they think they\u2019re done. Sorry?! When you\u2019re a mazik? You\u2019re responsible! \u201cExcuse me,\u201d is not enough. It\u2019s a sin to cause damage. And you have to pay for it!
\n\n\n\nNow, included in those obligations is \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 he must pay for a doctor to heal the one that he wounded. He can\u2019t tell the victim that he should heal on his own, to have bitachon and rely on Hashem; he has to pay the doctor bills.
\n\n\n\nAnd he has to pay for a good doctor too (Bava Kama 85a). \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0, a double lashon, for emphasis \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t want any horsing around,\u201d says Hashem, \u201cBring him to the hospital and make sure he gets healed.\u201d And on this possuk the Gemara (ibid.) comments, \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05df \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05e4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u2013 from here we learn that the physician has permission to heal.
\n\n\n\nThe Tinkerers
\n\n\n\nNow, why it’s called \u201cpermission,\u201d why permission is required, that\u2019s easy to understand. After all, how can an ordinary human being have the chutzpah to tinker with the body?
\n\n\n\nEven if he studied medicine and he\u2019s a specialist too \u2013 the body is such a marvelous and complicated piece of machinery that it would be irresponsible for a basar vadam to make an attempt to intervene. Hakodosh Boruch Hu has created such a marvel that if you studied it for a million years, you\u2019ll never get to the bottom of the wisdom of even one cell. So how could you allow this doctor to tinker around \u2013 that\u2019s the truth; he\u2019s only a tinkerer.
\n\n\n\nKilled by Pearls
\n\n\n\nYou know, when Louis XIV of France was laying sick on his deathbed, the best physicians were brought into the palace to try and heal him. So what did they do? It\u2019s recorded in Journal de Sant\u00e9 du Roi, The Journal of the King’s Health. The best medical care was made available to this monarch. For royalty only the most royal care would do. And so because he could afford it, the royal physician melted pearls and poured them down his throat.
\n\n\n\nNow, an ordinary subject would never have merited such expensive \u201cmedicine\u201d but for King Louis, no stone would be left unturned and so the doctors got busy; they did everything they could to kill him and finally they succeeded. A few days before his seventy second birthday he passed away. If he was a poor man, he might have survived; it could very well be he would have lived into his eighties.
\n\n\n\nOf course, we know that medicine has advanced since the days of King Louis \u2013 no decent doctor today would write a prescription for melted pearls \u2013 but you can be sure that fifty years or a hundred years from now, they’ll ridicule much of today\u2019s medicine. Even ten years from now they\u2019ll laugh at some of the medicines and procedures we rely on today.
\n\n\n\nYour Personal Drug Store
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore we might have thought to let nature \u2013 that\u2019s Hashem\u2019s creation \u2013 run its course. Let the body heal itself! After all, we know that Hashem created the human body for optimum efficiency; He equipped our bodies to be able to cope with all the different sicknesses. That\u2019s why even when people neglect their health and they catch a cold, let\u2019s say they\u2019re sitting near somebody who\u2019s coughing or they go outside without a coat and they get sick, the body\u2019s system fights back and rescues him from illness. The cold doesn\u2019t go away by itself \u2013 that\u2019s the Rofei Chol Basar at work.
\n\n\n\nHakodosh Boruch Hu actually made the body itself into a drug store. The body is full of medicines; so many secretions \u2013 gradually we are discovering some of them \u2013 that come to our aid and are saving our lives all the time. It’s remarkable how many forms of healing the body itself creates.
\n\n\n\nSuperpower Skin
\n\n\n\nYou know, the world has many dangerous microbes that are constantly alighting on your skin. You’re touching so many objects during the day and a big variety of microorganisms find their way onto your body \u2013 many different diseases are represented by the germs on your skin.
\n\n\n\nBut what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? The Creator made it that the skin has the power to destroy germs. It\u2019s not merely a wrapper to contain the body, the skin itself is one of the major organs of the body. The skin produces antiseptic materials that kill off harmful microorganisms and germs. It\u2019s so efficient that most germs are destroyed within twenty minutes of landing on your skin although they could last hours on other surfaces.
\n\n\n\nEvery kind of infection is floating in the air, but as it hits us, the body fights back and protects itself. Otherwise, every germ would find a soft place to feed and it would fester; they would become sores and in a few hours the entire body would be covered with sores.
\n\n\n\nFighting the Invaders
\n\n\n\nAnd even when the invaders make their way into the body, the body is quite capable of self-healing. You know, sometimes people cough in your face. It happens sometimes; last week I was walking on Kings Highway and a man came over to me to ask me a question. And as he\u2019s talking he\u2019s coughing; he’s coughing in my face. Coughing and coughing. I couldn’t dodge him \u2013 it wouldn’t be derech eretz. But I was thinking, \u201cRibono Shel Olam, please save me!\u201d I was davening the whole time he was talking.
\n\n\n\nSometimes you yourself are guilty. You were on the subway or the bus where you were holding onto the strap; but just before you grabbed that strap someone with an illness who had wiped his nose or coughed into his hand had hung on the same strap. And then you were foolish enough to put your dirty finger into your nose or mouth. You just introduced invaders into your body!
\n\n\n\nAnd so all those germs that came in from the outside have to be repelled. What did Hakodosh Boruch Hu do? In the blood itself, in the bloodstream, there are antibodies whose purpose it is to destroy microbes. We have thousands, some say there are a million different kinds of antibodies in the human organism. That’s a statement by a certain writer \u2013 he says that our bodies produce a million different antibodies! One for whooping cough, one for measles, for this virus and that virus \u2013 there\u2019s no end to the viruses \u2013 and our bodies are fighting them off with antibodies.
\n\n\n\nYou know what that means? There’s no chemical company that can supply as many different kinds of materials that our body produces. It\u2019s something that’s so spectacular we can’t even start thinking about it.
\n\n\n\nCrime Scene Investigators
\n\n\n\nAnd they’re all floating around in each cell waiting for the time when some microbe enters. There are the phagocytes and lymphocytes and the neutrophils that are policemen of the body that swim back and forth in the bloodstream looking for miscreants and criminals who might have entered the body.
\n\n\n\nAnd when these policemen get the call; they hear by long distance telegram that somewhere in the body the skin was breached and a foreign matter entered, so from all parts of the body these policemen of the body hasten under their own power and they go straight to the place without wandering, without asking for directions.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s only the beginning because when they arrive they have to find the culprit. Now the blood is a very busy street \u2013 in the blood there are all kinds of things. There are various nutritional materials that are being conveyed by the blood to thousands of places all over the body. The blood is also conveying waste materials; all kinds of secretions are in the blood. It\u2019s very crowded in there! So how can these corpuscles, these antibodies, discover who are the invaders that don\u2019t belong in the body?
\n\n\n\nReal Policemen
\n\n\n\nAnd still without being told, unerringly they go straight to the ones that are the culprits. It’s like picking out a criminal on a busy street; he is not standing with his gun and with his mask on his face \u2013 he\u2019s trying to melt in with the crowd. How can you recognize who he is? But these antibodies unerringly go directly to the criminal \u2013 they don’t stop and ask, \u201cWhere is the criminal? Did you see any wrongdoers here?\u201d They know right away where he is, and they go straight to him.
\n\n\n\nAnd they don’t bring him to a judge that the judge should release him again. They don\u2019t arrest him! No, they\u2019re not liberals! They do justice on the spot. He is sentenced and punished \u2013 no appeals! The white corpuscles swallow up the criminals. They gobble up the microbe on the spot.
\n\n\n\nAhh! If only we had policemen like that \u2013 not little runty policemen or fat little policewomen standing on the street corners; if we had big burly cops who are able to swallow a criminal, that would be the best kind of justice.
\n\n\n\nBut that\u2019s what\u2019s happening all the time in our body \u2013 the best Doctor is on the job all the time. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t need any outside apothecaries to supply medicines because He has a whole chemical manufacturing complex within the body. The body fights infections and it fights every kind of disaster which had it not been opposed would ruin the body; constantly there are all kinds of arrangements in the body that help a person to remain more or less stable. In most cases illness is cured by itself.
\n\n\n\nHerd Immunity
\n\n\n\nEven in the ancient times when they didn\u2019t know about vaccines \u2013 they didn\u2019t know about germs at all \u2013 so when an epidemic occurred it spread like wildfire. And yet despite the proliferation of bacteria sooner or later the epidemic died out because that\u2019s the system of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, if that\u2019s the case, we wouldn\u2019t know if it\u2019s even permitted to rely on doctors. After all they know so little \u2013 whatever they know is only a drop in the bucket. And what we do know is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is most capable; He is capable of healing whomever He wants to heal, no question about it.
\n\n\n\nAnd so along comes the Torah and it tells us \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 You have My permission. More than permission \u2013 you have to go to a physician. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0, it\u2019s double words, for emphasis. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 Make it your business to see that you go to a doctor.
\n\n\n\nAmong Jews there\u2019s no such thing as priest healers. You don\u2019t heal by prayers, by incantations or magic stones. That\u2019s not Torah. There\u2019s no such thing as a medicine-man and there never was such a thing among Jews. Find somebody who is competent according to the best medical theory of the days in which you live \u2013 of course you don\u2019t take anybody who doesn\u2019t know anything \u2013 find somebody who is competent and let him try. \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 \u201cYou have My permission,\u201d says Hashem. \u201cI\u2019m putting it in your hands and it\u2019s up to you to keep yourself healthy.\u201d
\n\n\n\nFollow The Science
\n\n\n\nNow you can understand the following story. When Reb Yisroel Salanter wasn\u2019t well he traveled to Kenigsberg to the medical clinic, to see one of the top doctors. That itself is an important lesson \u2013 he looked for the best and he traveled to find him. But even more important is what this doctor said. He made a statement about Reb Yisroel. This physician had more than a thousand patients and he said, \u201cOf my thousand patients, there is one person \u2013 only one person \u2013 who faithfully observes all of my directives.\u201d And he pointed to Reb Yisroel Salanter zichrono livracha. Reb Yisroel was the one who was most conscientious about following the doctor\u2019s orders.
\n\n\n\nYou know why? Because Reb Yisroel was a Torah Jew who understood the lesson of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0. It\u2019s a din like any other din \u2013 in some respects, even more than other dinim. And Reb Yisroel took that responsibility very seriously. Just like he took the mitzvah of lulav and esrog and matzah and everything else seriously, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0, the permission to be healed, was no less important. It means that Hashem is putting our health into our hands and now it\u2019s part of our avodas Hashem.
\n\n\n\nActions Have Consequences
\n\n\n\nNow to understand this we\u2019ll have a quotation from the Mesilas Yesharim. Mesilas Yesharim is talking about people who look for excuses to avoid doing their duties; to avoid coming to learn, to avoid doing mitzvos. And one of the excuses that people employ is the excuse that it is too strenuous for them, it\u2019s a pressure on their health.
\n\n\n\nNow, before he continues and explains that often it\u2019s merely the laziness of the person that is speaking, the Mesilas Yesharim explains that if it actually is so, then they are right. When it actually is dangerous then they\u2019re right.
\n\n\n\nAnd he says something very interesting, the Mesillas Yesharim says a big chiddush now. In addition to the inherent danger of not taking care of yourself, \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05b5\u05d8\u05b0\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 he\u2019s held responsible because he\u2019s doing a sin. By putting himself into peril, he\u2019s doing a sin! \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b5\u05d8\u05b0\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05de\u05b0\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b5\u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05e9\u05c1 \u2013 And the result is that it\u2019s the sin that causes him to be punished.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not only a matter of germs and seeing doctors \u2013 it\u2019s a matter of avodas Hashem. When a man is negligent, when he disregards danger, that man is doing a sin and for that sin he deserves punishment. And although it wasn\u2019t decreed beforehand on him but when the punishment comes, it\u2019s his fault because the sin of putting himself into danger has incurred punishment. And so, how great is our responsibility to guard our health and protect ourselves from harm.
\n\n\n\nA Fellow Named You
\n\n\n\nYou know, our entire sedrah is filled with dinim about a person\u2019s responsibility not to harm a fellow Jew.To harm someone, to cause him ill health, is a very serious sin and you don’t know how much is going to be collected from you in retribution for harming your fellow Jew. Now suppose that fellow happens to be named you and you harm him; just because it’s yourself, nothing is going to be deducted. On the contrary, you\u2019re even more responsible when it\u2019s yourself you\u2019re harming.
\n\n\n\nWhen a man harms his brother, he’s more guilty than harming a stranger because a brother you must love more. And if he harms himself, he’s more guilty than harming his brother. If you are drowning chas v\u2019sholom, and your brother is drowning and there is only one life preserver, and it cannot hold up two people, don’t be chivalrous, hold onto it yourself. \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b2\u05d1\u05b5\u05e8\u05b0\u05da\u05b8, \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b6\u05bc\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 your life comes first (Bava Metzia 62a).
\n\n\n\nYou have to have pity on yourself first. Because we are not given the power over our bodies; we don\u2019t own ourselves; we are strangers to our bodies, and the bodies are given in trust to us. We are guardians over our bodies and it’s our duty to take care of these bodies, these Jewish bodies. And those who are lazy with their health, those people are transgressing this great sin of being careless with their health.
\n\n\n\nDouble Insurance
\n\n\n\nSo when you come in from the street and you were in the subway, or on the trolley or bus, and you were holding onto the strap, so it\u2019s common sense, you don\u2019t have to be a big scientist to know that you have to wash your hand with soap and water before you touch food. Because just before you, someone with an illness who had wiped his nose or coughed into his hand had hung on the same strap.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why it’s a good idea when you come from the street to wash with soap and water before you eat. And then after your hands are nice and clean you take a keli and you pour water on your hands and make hamotzi so you have double insurance. Make sure you do that. That\u2019s included in the lesson of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 because as much as Hakodosh Boruch Hu is doing in this world, He left room for you to take care of yourself.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s true that your skin is hard at work destroying the microorganisms but the ones that alighted on your hand in the last ten minutes didn’t have a chance to be destroyed yet so don’t rely on that. If you do, you\u2019re a sinner. And whatever happens is the punishment for that sin.
\n\n\n\nHit the Hay!
\n\n\n\nThe very first thing is to take care of yourself. Here\u2019s a man who persists in going to bed late just because he\u2019s reading something interesting \u2013 he can’t put down the book or newspaper. Maybe he can\u2019t turn off that infernal machine; he can’t tear himself away from the program and so finally, the spouse or the parent says \u201cLook Chaim! It’s already half past twelve! And you’re not well.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh, I didn’t notice the time.\u201d That’s a cheit! You have to hit the hay early. I myself know two cases of boys who didn’t go to sleep on time and they went insane, nit eingedacht. Yes, it happened. They ruined their lives. Others got sick. And they\u2019re to blame!
\n\n\n\nNow some people say, \u201cWell, I want to be a masmid.\u201d Better listen to the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim came into his yeshiva, in Radin, at night, and when he saw boys learning late, he said \u201cGei shlufen. Morgen is oich a tug.\u201d He told the boys to go to sleep. \u201cYou can learn tomorrow,\u201d he said. That\u2019s a sensible talmid chochom!
\n\n\n\nBecausewhen someone goes to bed late and gets up in the morning weary and lacking energy, then he\u2019s not prepared for the battle against germs. It\u2019s a constant battle against bacteria. It\u2019s only if your organism is vigorous, then it\u2019s up to the struggle. But if you present a weakened organism to such a hostile world, then it\u2019s a chet and whatever happens is his punishment.
\n\n\n\nStop The Munchies
\n\n\n\nHere is another person who likes to munch. So before going to bed he takes a bag of peanuts or pistachios and he sits down and munches, and munches, and munches. He munches away his life. That person is not taking care of his health. Who said this food is good for him?
\n\n\n\nYou must eat what’s good for your health. That\u2019s Torah! In Mesichta Bava Metzia (107b), there\u2019s a whole long sugya which deals with the subject that is nothing other than the importance of eating breakfast. The Gemara enumerates all the benefits that come from pas shachris, what illnesses can be avoided, what emotional upsets can be avoided.
\n\n\n\nSuppose a tzaddik rushed out in the morning without breakfast and during the day he lost his equilibrium and he became angry, he didn\u2019t have energy enough to accomplish certain things and he didn\u2019t feel well during the day, a number of results. And being a tzaddik, in each case he attributes all these things to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and he feels that he has exercised his righteousness as a ma\u2019amin. But according to the sugya in Bava Metzia, it all stems from neglect to eat pas shachris. He should have eaten a piece of bread in the morning.
\n\n\n\nEating and Noshing
\n\n\n\nEverybody knows you must eat on time. And if you don’t follow a schedule, you’re harming yourself. Everybody knows you have to chew your food properly; you cannot gulp unchewed food. He’s in a hurry, he doesn\u2019t have any patience; it\u2019s not an excuse, you must eat healthfully!
\n\n\n\nNow, will we specify for you that candies and cakes are wrong to eat? It would be foolish for anybody to make such a rule. Sometimes a candy or a piece of cake is important to give you a lift; sometimes it\u2019s not wrong. Many times people are down and they need a lift and then it\u2019s recommended that they take a nosh and enjoy life a little bit more than the regular routine. Yes, sometimes you can do things that are not wrong to do, only that they\u2019re not recommended, but you do it in order to raise your spirits.
\n\n\n\nBut ordinarily, things that are full of sugar will cause your teeth to rot unless you brush your teeth after eating them. And sometimes they take the place of the nourishing foods that you should be eating, and therefore it\u2019s not sensible for a person to waste his efforts on nosherai.
\n\n\n\nCommon Cold and Crookedness
\n\n\n\nIn Mishlei (22:5) it states \u05e6\u05b4\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05e7 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd. Which means \u201cThere are thorn bushes and there are ditches, pits in the road of the crooked man, the one who guards himself keeps far away from them\u201d. But the Gemara in Kesubos (30a) explains this possuk in a different way. \u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd means the word \u05e6\u05b4\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u2013 cold and \u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 the word heat. To suffer from cold, you can catch colds and pachim, not to get sun-stroked, that\u2019s b\u2019derech ikesh. These things happen to a man who has a crooked mentality. \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d7\u05b7\u05e7 \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd. And on this the Gemara says \u05d4\u05b7\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05de\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b4\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 everything is in the hands of heaven except cold and heat.
\n\n\n\nWhen Reb Yisroel Salanter was sick once with a cold, his friends saw that he was very concerned. So they said, \u201cWhat are you worried about? It\u2019s nothing but a cold!\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo he said, \u201cThe Gemara states \u05e6\u05b4\u05e0\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05e2\u05b4\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1. If a person catches a cold, it\u2019s a sign that he has a crooked mentality; it means he\u2019s not doing what\u2019s incumbent upon him to do.\u201d That\u2019s what Reb Yisroel was worried about!
\n\n\n\nReal Emunah
\n\n\n\nSo we learn from this Gemara that in very many cases illnesses are the result of a man\u2019s own negligence. Which means a big part of the unhappiness of life is caused by the lack of foresight. And not in a materialistic sense but because he neglected his duty as a servant of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, therefore he\u2019s being punished. So when a man is unhappy in life, he has to realize to a big extent, it\u2019s the sin that caused it.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s a lot to swallow! People are reluctant to admit that because it puts a great deal of responsibility on one\u2019s shoulders. People prefer to have emunah and blame Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But they should have real emunah and blame themselves. A great deal of the unhappiness of life is a punishment for neglecting his duty to Hakodosh Boruch Hu in caring for his health. And therefore, now that we learn this it means there\u2019s a responsibility on us for our own happiness. We are the ones who are the authors of our happiness or chalilah, of our unhappiness.
\n\n\n\nThe Only Healer
\n\n\n\nAnd now we come to the great paradox; it\u2019s the most important part of this entire subject, and that\u2019s the great ideal of \u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05d0, Heal us Hashem and we shall be healed. We say those words every day, a few times a day, only that sometimes we say it so quickly, so superficially, that we forget what the words are telling us. And in its most simple understanding it means, \u201cOnly by Your means can we be healed.\u201d Again, \u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Heal us Hashem, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 and thus we shall be healed. Certainly if Hashem heals we are going to be healed! So it means to say only thus can we be healed. After everything is said and done, You, Hashem are our only Doctor.
\n\n\n\nIt means that even when we are doing everything, we are taking all the necessary steps to guard our health, using the utmost precautions, but it\u2019s done with the full awareness that without Hashem it\u2019s nothing at all. \u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 You are the One who is healing us. Although it is our duty to seek remedies \u2013 to live by the dictates of good sense in order to maintain our health \u2013 nevertheless we should never lose sight of the fundamental intention that Hashem should grant success to our efforts; that He is the healer.
\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s easy to say but not so easy to do because when we are busy guarding our health \u2013 and we should! \u2013 it drives out of our heads any other consideration; and after a while it occurs to us that it\u2019s our efforts that are giving us success.
\n\n\n\nApplying Antiseptics
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to remind ourselves always \u2013 not only three times a day: \u201c\u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 Heal us Hashem, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05e8\u05b8\u05e4\u05b5\u05d0 \u2013 and only because of You will we be healed.\u201d Every effort we make in the direction of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 should be accompanied with the thought, \u201cI\u2019m doing my part, Hashem, but I\u2019m doing it with the knowledge that it\u2019s You.\u201d
\n\n\n\nSo if your skin is punctured and you run to the medicine chest and take out something, whether it’s peroxide or schnapps, at the same time you should utter a little tefillah before you get into the bathroom: \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e8\u05b8\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05e8\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b0\u05bc\u05d4\u05b5\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b5\u05e1\u05b6\u05e7 \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05e4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u2013 \u201cIt should be Your will Hashem that this business should heal me. I don\u2019t trust in the mercurochrome. I don’t put my hopes into peroxide, into antiseptics, into salves.\u201d And as you\u2019re putting the medicine on the little wound you\u2019re thinking that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the One who\u2019s going to do the healing.
\n\n\n\nOf course, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 you have to do it. We’re not saying, \u201cHashem, we’re going to lean back and relax; we\u2019re waiting for You.\u201d Oh no, we’re doing everything. And still as much as it’s our job to shake a leg and care for ourselves, yet every endeavor which we make and which we must make must be accompanied by the fundamental awareness that we are not doing anything except our duty and that it\u2019s Hakodosh Boruch Hu who is doing the healing.
\n\n\n\nUseful Wisecracks
\n\n\n\nNow, once you understand that, we can come back to the words that I quoted to you a few weeks ago from our old friend Benjamin Franklin: \u201cAn ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow the truth is that Benjamin Franklin just said wisecracks, plays on words. Sometimes it\u2019s useful advice too, but it\u2019s only a play on words mostly \u2013 it wasn\u2019t anything too profound. And so, this idea that the prevention is worth more than the cure we know without Benjamin Franklin. It\u2019s common sense; better to guard your health than to have to heal yourself, no question about it. It\u2019s much better to sleep on time and to eat on time than to become ill and go to physicians for all kinds of disorders.
\n\n\n\nOnly that we\u2019re going to understand it now better than Benjamin Franklin did \u2013 and that\u2019s because we know that the best prevention is Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nThe Best Advice
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019ll study this in some detail now; in Mesichta Shabbos, the Gemara states \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05e8\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b6\u05d7\u05b1\u05dc\u05b6\u05d4 \u2013 A man should always be praying to Hashem, asking for mercy that he should not become sick. \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd means always; even when you\u2019re in the best of health, when there is no premonition, there’s no inkling of any misfortune and it seems that you’re speeding down the straightway of happiness, success and perfect health for the rest of your days. That’s the best time to ask Hakodosh Boruch Hu for good health. You should pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu to remain well.
\n\n\n\nNow just that alone, before we explain it any further, that’s already a piece of very good advice. I really should charge you admission tonight because if I ever told you anything that was worthwhile, this is it – to pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for good health while you still have it. The best time to cry out to be saved is when everything is well!
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important for you young people to think about that. You\u2019re healthy?! Cry out to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that you should stay well! When you walk down Ocean Avenue, you see signs. A doctor specializing in this, a doctor specializing in that, a doctor specializing in something else. Look how many things they specialize in! Look how many problems could happen. Even one thing wrong and you have to go to a big specialist chas v\u2019shalom. And there are so many things that could go wrong, it\u2019s endless. So cry out now before the tzarah: \u201cRibono Shel Olam, please save me! Please keep me healthy!\u201d
\n\n\n\nGetting Out of a Summons
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara adds a reason to pray when you\u2019re healthy: \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05d7\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05b5\u05d0 \u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b5\u05e8 \u2013 Because once he does become sick they will say to him, \u201cBring some proof in order to be freed.\u201d Once a man is lying in bed, it’s much harder for him to get out of it with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Now that you\u2019re already in the hands of a sickness, you\u2019re in the hands of medicines and doctors, now it\u2019ll take more to get you healed.
\n\n\n\nAnd the Gemara gives a moshol. Suppose a man walks out onto the street and he sees a policeman coming to him. So he takes out a fiver and he says \u201cNot me officer, you’re not looking for me\u201d. Five dollars can help you if the officer is looking for trouble but he didn\u2019t catch you yet. If however, the officer is writing a summons already, you can’t get away with $5, it’s hard to tear up a summons. For $25 he’ll do it.
\n\n\n\nHowever, suppose he handed it in already in the precinct; it’s in the books already. Now you have to go to the lieutenant already; with him a measly $25 won’t work, you need a bigger sum. But suppose you’re standing in front of the judge. You can’t just slip the judge $50. Somebody has to bring a letter to the judge and he says \u201chere’s some documents on this case\u201d, and it just happens to be that one of the documents is a $500 check. The next day the judge bangs the gavel and makes an announcement: \u201cAccording to these documents, new evidence has been revealed that cast new light on this case.\u201d
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the moshol of the Gemara. It means that the longer you postpone your efforts in prayer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, the more you fall into the pit of sickness, the bigger the cost is going to be to get out.
\n\n\n\nCalling Out in Truth
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is why does Hakodosh Boruch Hu follow this system? Why does Hakodosh Boruch Hu demand more if a man becomes more involved?
\n\n\n\nYou know, every day we say in Ashrei the following words: \u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2013 Hashem is near to all who call out to Him; you know when He’s near? When is Hashem near? \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05dc \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05bb\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u2013 to all who call Him in truth. If you\u2019re calling out in truth, then He\u2019s right there.
\n\n\n\nBut what is Dovid Hamelech referring to here? Who doesn’t call out to Him in truth? When you ask Hakodosh Boruch Hu for wealth, don’t you mean it? When you ask Hakodosh Boruch Hu for success, don’t you mean it? Who is not calling out in truth?
\n\n\n\nOf course if a person says the words and doesn’t even think what he’s saying, that certainly is not \u2018in truth\u2019. If a man says Refo’einu and he’s not even thinking what he’s saying, that\u2019s nothing. But this Dovid Hamelech is not even talking about; such things didn\u2019t exist in the ancient times.
\n\n\n\nDovid is talking about a person who says Refo\u2019einu and he means it with all his heart. If his mind could be x-rayed, we would see immediately, he means it! He\u2019s very afraid. The specialist sent out the tests and he\u2019s waiting for the results. Maybe it\u2019s that dreaded disease \u2013 I don\u2019t want to say it; it begins with a \u2018c\u2019. So of course he\u2019s calling out in truth! What does it mean \u201cHashem is close to all who call out in truth\u201d?
\n\n\n\nKnow You Have a Heart?
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is that b\u2019emes, in truth, means emunah. When Dovid refers to someone who \u201ccalls out in truth\u201d, it means somebody who speaks to Hakodosh Boruch Hu with a conviction that only Hakodosh Boruch Hu can grant success. Someone who understands that nothing in the world means anything except the rotzon Hashem.
\n\n\n\nWhen a man is already sick and forced to turn to Hakodosh Boruch Hu it\u2019s also good \u2013 it’s always good \u2013 but he\u2019s waking up now because his back is pressed against the wall. There is no comparison to the tefillah which a man makes when he is not hard-pressed \u2013 that\u2019s the tefillah that shows you\u2019re relying on Hashem b\u2019emes.
\n\n\n\nPray for a healthy heart when you don\u2019t even know that you have a heart. When it’s functioning so perfectly, you’re not aware that it’s there, that’s the time to stipulate! Ah, if you do that, then you are calling out to Hashem b’emes. That’s the best heart medicine. To pray that the kidneys shouldnever shut down chas v’sholom, while the kidneys are functioning so smoothly, that all you know about the kidneys is what you read or see pictures in the drug store windows, that’s the time to pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu for good kidneys.
\n\n\n\nHead in the Clouds
\n\n\n\nSo when a man calls out in truth it means he\u2019s doing everything. He\u2019s fulfilling the lessons of \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05e4\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0 to its fullest. He wouldn\u2019t even look at a cigarette! He eats well, he sleeps eight hours a night. If he has to shake hands, he doesn\u2019t touch his mouth with his fingers subsequently. He handles his food only with a napkin, only with a fork; even a piece of bread he picks up with a napkin. He\u2019s doing everything to protect himself because that\u2019s the will of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet at the same time he knows that washing hands and eating healthy is worthless. \u201cMy getting to sleep early doesn’t accomplish a thing. Even my doctor appointment is meaningless.\u201d He\u2019s always calling out to Hashem because he knows that nothing else matters. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing but Your blessing that will keep me healthy!\u201d He relies only on Hakodosh Boruch Hu and he appeals to Him for success; that’s called calling to Hashem in truth.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the man who lives with his feet in this world, just the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants, and at the same time his head, his thoughts, are with Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nHealing the Body and Soul
\n\n\n\nIn this week\u2019s Parsha, the Torah teaches us that we have a responsibility to heed doctors and their medical advice. We must do everything in our power to remain healthy, yet we must remember that all health comes from Hashem, the ultimate Healer, by praying constantly for His protection.
\n\n\n\nThis week I will bli neder keep this lesson in mind twice daily. Once while doing something to maintain my health; such as going to sleep, eating healthfully, or exercising. And again, before I recite the brocha of Refoeinu in Shemone Esrei.
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\n", "date_published": "2022-01-24T03:03:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-17T15:55:02+00:00" }, { "id": 31927, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-mishpatim-5-doctors-and-healing/", "title": "Parshas Mishpatim 5 – Doctors and Healing", "content_html": "TA-Mishpatim-5782The post Parshas Mishpatim 5 – Doctors and Healing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-24T03:00:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-24T03:00:23+00:00" }, { "id": 31919, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-mishpatim-5-doctors-and-healing/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Mishpatim 5 – Doctors and Healing", "content_html": "TA-Mishpatim-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Mishpatim 5 – Doctors and Healing appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-24T02:59:46+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-24T02:59:47+00:00" }, { "id": 31914, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tuition-collection/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Tuition Collection", "content_html": "\n
Q:
How far must a yeshivah administrator go in investigating the financial status of a prospective pupil’s family?
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA:
\n\n\n\nNow this is a question that I’m not capable of answering. But this I have to say, I don’t envy him for his job. Because believe me, almost none of the parents pay what they should \u2014 including me. I was lucky. I didn’t have to pay for my children because I was in the yeshiva all my life. But there’s no question that the people who are running yeshivos are up against it and it’s the duty of parents to pay because there’s nothing more important that they can buy with their money.
\n\n\n\nNow, how much should he put the screws on you? He has to use all the finesse that he can. Now some are not trained; some people are pushed into a job for which they’re not suited. Because he needs tact. He has to be a polite and careful man. But if he isn’t you have no right to attack him or criticize the yeshiva. Because he is collecting a tax which you are obligated to pay. The fact that the tax collector doesn’t wear silk gloves when he comes to tax your property, one thing has nothing to do with the other. You\u2019re still obligated. Of course if possible the yeshiva should hire a diplomatic man because that makes good will for the yeshiva; that gains good friends. But in case he’s not diplomatic, don’t hold it against the yeshiva.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 13
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Tuition Collection appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-23T21:39:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-23T21:39:14+00:00" }, { "id": 31912, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-man-of-tefillah-ii/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Man of Tefillah II", "content_html": "\n
Dovid Hamelech said upon himself, \u201cVa\u2019ani tefillah\u201d, \u201cI am [a man of] Tefillah\u201d (Tehillim 109:4), for he was in constant communion with Hashem, asking and thanking Him for everything, all day long.
A man once asked Rabbi Miller zt\u201dl what he can do to merit having children. Rabbi Miller asked him if he davens, to which the man replied, \u201cOf course, by every tefillah!\u201d R\u2019 Miller turned to the man and said, \u201cThat\u2019s not enough; try doing it while walking on the street, and in English.\u201d (He did, and had a child.)
The post Tefillah Inspiration: Man of Tefillah II appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-23T21:35:02+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-23T21:35:03+00:00" }, { "id": 31898, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-39/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 39", "content_html": "\n\u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 [\u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da]
AND RESTORE THE SERVICE [TO THE SANCTUARY OF YOUR HOUSE]
By virtue of our tefillah and Avodah, please deem us worthy of the return of the Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash, where we will gain the ultimate \u2018favor\u2019, and the Shechinah will rest upon Yisroel once more.
\u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da
TO THE SANCTUARY OF YOUR HOUSE
The \u2018D\u2019vir\u2019 was the chief place of the Shechinah, as there was placed the Aron Habris, as well as the Menorah with its ner tamid; the \u2018D\u2019vir\u2019 is \u2018Your house\u2019, for never will You dwell in any other place at all.
\u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc
AND THE FIRE-OFFERINGS OF YISROEL
Please restore specifically the Avodah of \u201cthe fire-offerings\u201d, so that all of Yisroel could serve You and come close to You, thereby gaining Your favor and the return of the Shechinah upon us once more.
\u05d5\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd \u05d1\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df
AND THEIR PRAYER WITH LOVE YOU SHOULD ACCEPT WITH FAVOR
Just as we pray to You with utmost love, so too we ask that You accept our tefillos with \u2018favor\u2019 and love as well.
\u05d5\u05ea\u05d4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da
AND LET THE SERVICE OF YISROEL YOUR PEOPLE BE ALWAYS FOR FAVOR
Please aid us in our Avodah that it continue to gain Your favor, that it be unblemished and perfect, both in respect to our intentions in our service, as well as in respect to the its quality and its abundance.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 39 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-21T17:31:16+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-21T17:31:17+00:00" }, { "id": 31895, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%94%d7%99-%d7%9c%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%aa%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%93-%d7%a2%d7%91%d7%95%d7%93%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05ea\u05d4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da", "content_html": "\nWe pray that our Avodah should forever continue to gain Hashem\u2019s favor. We ask Hashem to please aid us in our Avodah that it be unblemished and perfect, both in respect to our intentions in our service, as well as in respect to\u00a0its quality and its abundance. \u201cTo do Your will, my G-d, I desire\u201d (Tehillim 40:9). This is our success in this world, and it is truly the happiness of the everlasting life of Olam Haba.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05ea\u05d4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05ea \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05de\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-21T17:23:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-21T17:23:07+00:00" }, { "id": 31893, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%aa%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%90%d7%94%d7%91%d7%94-%d7%aa%d7%a7%d7%91%d7%9c-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%95%d7%9f/", "title": "\u05d5\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd \u05d1\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df", "content_html": "\n\u201cAnd their prayer\u201d that they pray to You \u201cwith love\u201d. Just as we pray to You with utmost love and devotion, so too we ask of You to accept our tefillah with love and \u2018favor\u2019 as well, measure for measure. \u201cI love when Hashem hears my voice\u201d (Tehillim 116:1). It is because of our deep love and devotion to Hashem that Hashem treasures our tefillos like the Karbanos of old and accepts them with great \u2018favor\u2019 and love.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd \u05d1\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-21T17:19:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-21T17:19:42+00:00" }, { "id": 31887, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-20/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 20", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-20The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 20 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-20T04:42:35+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T04:42:36+00:00" }, { "id": 31884, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%96%d7%a2%d7%9f-%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%99%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%98%d7%9f-%d7%90%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%90-%d7%92%d7%98/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d4: \u05d6\u05e2\u05df \u05d3\u05e2\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05df, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9, \u05d0 \u05d2\u05d8", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-205The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d4: \u05d6\u05e2\u05df \u05d3\u05e2\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05e9\u05d8\u05df, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9, \u05d0 \u05d2\u05d8 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-19T22:06:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T18:48:26+00:00" }, { "id": 31877, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-lashon-hora-and-your-spouse/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Lashon Hora and Your Spouse", "content_html": "\nQ:
When a husband comes home from work distressed, should he relate business problems to his wife or is there some fear that some lashon hara will be spoken?
A:
A\u00a0husband must be careful what he says to his wife \u2013 especially if she is the type that becomes excited. First of all if he tells her of some setback that he suffered in business, so she\u2019ll\u00a0say \u201cI’m always telling you you’re no good! You don’t know how to deal with people.\u201d She’ll pour salt on his wounds and there’ll be a big fight.
And therefore one of the meforshim says, when it says \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d7\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05d0\u05e9\u05d4 \u2013 don’t talk too much with your wife (Avos 1:5),\u00a0he says it means don’t give her opportunities to criticize you and attack you. She\u2019ll use that as a handle to belittle you.
\n\n\n\nHowever, if she is a wife who tries to console her husband, you can tell her certain things. But if she gets excited against other people and becomes an enemy and talks against them, you have to watch out.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, you have to be aware of lashon hara between husband and wife. That’s what it says \u05d5\u05de\u05d2\u05d9\u05d3 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd \u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d7\u05d5\u00a0\u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu some day will play back to a man all that he said to his wife, or what his wife said to him (Amos 4:13, Chagiga 5a).\u00a0And lashon hara is one of them. All the things are recorded and so you have to be careful what you say.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 470
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Lashon Hora and Your Spouse appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-18T17:11:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-18T17:11:54+00:00" }, { "id": 31874, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a9%d7%99-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc", "content_html": "\nIn our quest for the restoration of the Avodah and the Presence of the Shechinah in the\u00a0‘\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da’, we specify the Avodah of the Korbanos which gained us the \u2018favor\u2019 of Hashem and caused the Shechinah to rest upon the nation, as it is written\u00a0“\u05dc\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05e0\u05db\u05dd \u05ea\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7\u05d4\u05d5”, \u201cFor your favor you shall slaughter it\u201d (Vayikra 19:5). \u201cThe fire-offerings\u201d are the chief feature of the Beis Hamikdash, where every one of Yisroel can express his gratitude and draw near to Hashem. Our greatest wish is that this closeness and love and desire that was gained by the Avodah of the Beis Hamikdash once again be restored.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-18T16:58:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-18T16:58:13+00:00" }, { "id": 31871, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%94%d7%a9%d7%91-%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%91%d7%95%d7%93%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%91%d7%99%d7%a8-%d7%91%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%9a/", "title": "\u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da", "content_html": "\n\u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da
AND RESTORE THE SERVICE TO THE SANCTUARY OF YOUR HOUSE
By virtue of our sincere tefillos and our devoted service, we ask Hashem to please restore the Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash as well, through which we will earn the ultimate \u2018favor\u2019 of Hashem and the Shechinah will once again rest upon Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nWe say\u00a0‘\u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da’, for the \u2018D\u2019vir\u2019 was the chief place of the Shechinah, as there was placed the Aron Habris as well as the Menorah with its ner tamid, \u201ca testimony to all that the Shechinah rests in Yisroel\u201d (Shabbos 22b). And it is\u00a0‘\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da’, \u2018Your house\u2019, Your permanent dwelling, \u201cFor Hashem chose Tzion\u201d (Tehillim 132 13), and never will He dwell in any other place at all.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d3\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\u05da appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-18T16:54:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-18T16:54:13+00:00" }, { "id": 31858, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-18T04:16:14+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-18T04:16:17+00:00" }, { "id": 31847, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%95-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T22:20:31+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T22:20:34+00:00" }, { "id": 31843, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-hashem-is-always-kind/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem Is Always Kind", "content_html": "\nQ:
Since you say that we have to thank Hashem for all the kindnesses He gives us in this world is there anything that Hashem can do in this world, that is not kind, that is wicked. And if so, what?
A:
Can Hashem do anything that is not kind? And the answer is that He can do something that’s not kind only when He decides that a certain person must be destroyed. Yes. Sometimes Hakodosh Boruch Hu takes nekamah. \u05e7\u05dc \u05e0\u05e7\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05dd. Yes, He takes revenge on certain wicked people in this world, and certainly when He takes revenge in the World-to-Come that is not a kindness to them. But that unkindness, you must know, is really the essence of kindness. It\u2019s kindness to those who deserve it. Now pay attention.
The kindness that Hashem does to the righteous people will never be complete unless Hakodosh Boruch Hu metes out punishment to the wicked. The punishment, the retribution on the wicked, is part of the reward of the righteous.
\n\n\n\nThe righteous know, they are fully aware, that the man who did something wrong cannot get away with it. That’s essential in the plan of a rational universe. To say that a man can be wicked and get away with it, that\u2019s impossible. And it’s not enough to say that he doesn’t get Olam Haba, that he doesn\u2019t go to the happiness of the next world. That’s not enough. It’s against all logic. And it’s against all human feeling to allow him to leave this world without retribution.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore, anything that Hashem does, it’s called \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d9 \u05d4’ \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d0\u05de\u05ea but it’s not always chesed and emes to the person who is getting the treatment. When Pharaoh was drowning with his army in the Yam Suf, it was a great joy \u2013 but not to him. It was \u05d0\u05d6 \u05d9\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8 \u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc. It was a joy to them.
\n\n\n\nSo certainly Hashem does only kindness, but kindness means to those who deserve the kindness. To the others it could be retribution. But even then, it’s a kindness to the righteous who are aware of the retribution on the wicked.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 470
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Hashem Is Always Kind appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T21:59:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T21:59:03+00:00" }, { "id": 31839, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-working-learning-man/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on The Working Learning Man", "content_html": "\nQ:
If a person feels like he hasn\u2019t accomplished enough in his learning, how can you expect him to be happy working at a full-time job in order to support his family? He wants to sit and\u00a0shteig\u00a0and become a\u00a0talmid chochom.
A:
You know, that\u2019s the yetzer harah speaking. Every night, when a person comes home from work, he can take a little nap to refresh himself, and then, if he can learn forty-five minutes every night he can become a great lamdan. Let him learn, let\u2019s say, just gemara alone \u2013 over and over again, one perek, until he knows the perek backwards and forwards. He can learn it with a translation if necessary. From beginning to end he should be able to daven through one perek. If you can say it like ashrei, then you\u2019re on the road to success. And then get busy on another perek. You\u2019ll be surprised \u2013 after a while you\u2019ll know whole mesichtas.
So it\u2019s only the yetzer harah speaking! What about Shabbos? What about Friday night? What about Motza\u2019ei Shabbos? And sometimes you don\u2019t have to work on Sundays either. There\u2019s plenty of time to learn. You just have to start utilizing it.
\n\n\n\nWhat does he want? He wants to be at leisure all day long. He wants to loaf all day long, that\u2019s what he wants. So now, he\u2019ll go back to yeshiva, and instead of learning, he\u2019ll loaf all day long. No, no, don\u2019t fool yourself. You don\u2019t have to be sitting in kollel to become a talmid chochom.
And therefore, if you have opportunity to learn now, utilize whatever opportunity you have. \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e7\u05d1\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 (Avos 3:6). Anyone who makes time to learn, even when it it is difficult to find the time to learn; he makes sure to learn during his free time \u2013 at night, on Shabbos, on Sundays, and some of you have off on legal holidays too \u2013 will see that \u05de\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e8\u05e5, Hashem will make it easier for him, and he\u2019ll find more time to learn as a result. Make use of the opportunities that you have now! You\u2019ll be surprised how great you can become in Torah, just by studying Torah in your spare time.
TAPE # E-173 (December 1998)
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on The Working Learning Man appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T21:50:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T21:50:29+00:00" }, { "id": 31836, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-man-of-tefillah/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Man of Tefillah", "content_html": "\nIt is interesting to note that there is no open, explicit, mitzvah of Tefillah in the Torah. The reason for this is because Tefillah is not something that you do once a day and are then finished with; Tefillah is a constant state of being, to constantly stand in prayer before Hashem. Dovid Hamelech was chosen because of this attribute, as it is written, \u201cVa\u2019ani tefillah\u201d \u2013 I am [a man of] Tefillah\u201d (Tehillim 109:4), a man who is in constant communion with Hashem.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Man of Tefillah appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T21:40:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T21:40:41+00:00" }, { "id": 31833, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-38/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 38", "content_html": "\n\u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd
FOR YOU HEAR THE PRAYER OF YOUR PEOPLE YISROEL WITH MERCY
You especially hear the prayer of\u00a0“\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc”, with\u00a0exceptional mercy. \u201cAmcha\u201d, \u201cYour people\u201d, from the word\u00a0\u201cimcha\u201d, \u201cwith You\u201d, for we are\u00a0with You\u00a0all day in our hearts and in our mouths and in our deeds.
\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4
BLESSED ARE YOU HASHEM THAT HEARS PRAYER
We thank You Hashem, King of the entire Universe, for being willing, and even pleased, to hear our tefillos. Moreover, You strongly desire our tefillos, for we are Your righteous nation, Yisroel, and \u201cHakadosh Baruch Hu strongly desires the prayers of the righteous\u201d.
\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5
BE FAVORABLE HASHEM OUR G-D
Please, Hashem, favor our devoted Avodah; our dearest wish is to do Your will and thereby gain Your favor and love, and ultimately, that You rest Your Shechinah upon us, Your beloved children.
\u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd
TO YOUR PEOPLE YISROEL AND TO THEIR PRAYER
Please do not just favor our tefillos, but favor us, both because of the promise You made to our forefathers, and because of our devotion in tefillah and Avodah in our quest to draw near to You.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 38 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T21:39:08+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T21:39:10+00:00" }, { "id": 31828, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-yisro-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Yisro", "content_html": "\nRav Volender finished davening Shacharis at the Kosel and started heading towards the Jerusalem Prison, where he was the Rov. As he made his way through the narrow streets of the Old City, he encountered a most peculiar and shocking sight. Headed towards him was none other than Tzadok \u2018Hatzadik\u2019, whom he had met in prison last year. In each hand, Tzadok was holding a leash. On one was the largest frog Rav Volender had ever seen and on the other – a chimpanzee!
\n\n\n\n\u201cTzadok!\u201d exclaimed Rav Volender, trying to sound friendly and not as if anything weird was going on. \u201cHow are you?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh Rav Volender!\u201d Tzadok cried out. \u201cHow happy I am to see you! Look what I\u2019m wearing! I was at a clothing gemach yesterday and at the bottom of a pile of clothes I found what is most certainly the Eifod of the Kohen Gadol!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cYou did?\u201d asked Rav Volender. \u201cHow do you know it\u2019s the Eifod?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOf course it\u2019s the Eifod,\u201d Tzadok replied indignantly. \u201cLook, it\u2019s 100% techeilet! I\u2019m wearing it in preparation for when I become Moshiach!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cUm\u2026 Tzadok,\u201d Rav Volender said hesitantly. \u201cMoshiach is going to be from Shevet Yehuda, and not a Kohen. He isn\u2019t allowed to wear the Bigdei Kohein Gadol.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh I didn\u2019t know that,\u201d replied Tzadok. \u201cI\u2019ll give it to the Kohein Gadol when I see him.\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender chose to change the subject. \u201cMay I ask why on earth you are walking with a chimpanzee and a giant frog?\u201d
\n\n\n\nTzadok looked shocked. \u201cKvod Harav,\u201d he said, shocked. \u201cDoes the Rav not recognize these holy animals?\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender looked at the animals again. \u201cI\u2019m sorry Tzadok,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t say that they look familiar to me at all.
\n\n\n\n\u201cRabbeinu!\u201d Tzadok bellowed. \u201cI found this giant frog next to the nuclear power plant in Dimona – his ancestors were the frogs from Makat Tzfardeia in Mitzrayim! And I rescued this chimpanzee from the Jerusalem Zoo because his great-great-grandparents were part of Makat Arov!\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI see,\u201d Rav Volender said slowly, not really seeing at all. \u201cAnd you\u2019re parading them through the Old City because\u2026?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause I\u2019m taking them to see the Kotel!\u201d Tzadok said with a huge smile. \u201cWhen we read about the Makot a few weeks ago and how Hashem saved the Am Yisrael from Mitzrayim, it reminded me of how Hashem saved me from prison last year. I was filled with such Hakarat Hatov to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Yishtabach Shemo, that I realized the only way to properly express my thanks would be to spend my time taking care of these holy animals.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-2.png?resize=507%2C655&ssl=1\")
\u201cI feed them, I bathe them, and I sing and dance to entertain them. I spend my whole day serving Hashem by making them happy. And it\u2019s not just the frog and the chimp!\u201d Tzadok took a glass jar out of his pocket. \u201cLook, I also have a bunch of lice from Makat Kinim!\u201d
\n\n\n\nRav Volender took a long, deep breath before responding. \u201cTzadok, Tzadok,\u201d he said gently. \u201cDid you ever wonder why in the Aseret Hadibrot it says \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u2019 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd? Hashem had just taken us out of Mitzrayim a month and a half earlier – why did Hashem need to remind us?\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cBecause the hot desert air made us forget?\u201d offered Tzadok.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, no, of course we didn\u2019t forget!\u201d said Rav Volender. \u201cJust the opposite! We were so filled with appreciation for what Hashem did for us that when Hashem offered the Torah we said \u05e0\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05d4 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b8\u05e2 immediately, without hesitation. We so badly wanted to do anything Hashem asked, out of thanks for the countless miracles he had just performed for us.
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo Hashem reminded us at Mattan Torah that we are forever indebted to him for all of the wonderful and amazing things that he did and continues to do for us.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut instead of you davening in shul and learning Torah, you\u2019ve been busy with these animals. That\u2019s not Hakarat Hatov – the proper way of showing Hakarat Hatov to our Creator is by constantly doing his Mitzvot and fulfilling his will, as he told us at Mattan Torah! So why don\u2019t you get rid of these silly animals and meet me at the prison where I will be giving a Mesilat Yesharim shiur? I\u2019ll give you a visitor\u2019s badge so the guards know that you\u2019re not a prisoner,\u201d he quickly added, seeing Tzadok\u2019s frightened face.
\n\n\n\n\u201cOh Rav Volender, that sounds like a wonderful idea!\u201d Tzadok exclaimed, bending down to remove the leashes from the animals.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, Tzadok! Don\u2019t!\u201d cried out Rav Volender, but it was too late. The chimpanzee and the giant frog were already bounding away down the road and out of sight\u2026
\n\n\n\nTo be continued next week\u2026
\n\n\n\nHave a Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Yisro appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T02:13:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T02:13:58+00:00" }, { "id": 31816, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-yisro-5-consulting-the-sages-2/", "title": "Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages", "content_html": "When Yisro came to visit Moshe and the Bnei Yisroel in the wilderness and saw how the people were congregating about Moshe Rabbeinu, it was quite a sight to behold. It wasn\u2019t something that Yisro saw in his home country, that an entire nation should gather around one person from morning to night. And the truth is, we ourselves, if we would have witnessed what was going on, our eyes would have popped out of our heads.
\n\n\n\nAnd so Yisro inquired from his son-in-law an explanation of what was doing: \u05de\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b6\u05bc\u05da\u05b8 \u2013 Why are you sitting here alone, \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05e0\u05b4\u05e6\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05de\u05b4\u05df \u05d1\u05b9\u05bc\u05e7\u05b6\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u2013 and the people are standing around you from morning to evening? (Yisro 18:14). What\u2019s going on here? Why are all these people lining up to speak with you? What do they want from you already? That\u2019s what Yisro wanted to know.
\n\n\n\n\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d7\u05b9\u05ea\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 And so Moshe said to his father-in-law, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u2013 \u201cThey\u2019re coming to me in order to seek Hashem.\u201d Now, before we begin our subject it\u2019s interesting to note what this generation was \u2013 they were a people interested in knowing what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted. That is the picture of this great generation, the Dor Deiah; they\u2019re waiting in long lines, crowding around Moshe Rabeinu. And what is their purpose? It doesn\u2019t say they came because they had quarrels or because they had family problems or health problems. They came to Moshe because they wanted to get close to Hashem. And that\u2019s what Moshe told Yisro \u2013 \u201cThey\u2019re coming \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9, to me, in order \u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, to seek Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnswering The In-Laws
\n\n\n\nNow, in the Mechilta \u2013 the Mechilta is a medrash on Shemos \u2013 it states as follows: \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05d6\u05b6\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e4\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e2\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05df \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc \u2013 There was man named Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko who came to Rabban Gamliel and put the following question to him. He said, \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 – \u201cWhat did Moshe see fit to say, \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd – that \u2018the people come to me\u2019?\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, to us there doesn\u2019t seem to be much of a question here. Yisro inquired and Moshe answered \u2014 he should ignore his father-in-law? That\u2019s not a wise thing for any son-in-law to do unless he\u2019s looking for trouble. So what is Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko\u2019s question, \u201cWhy did Moshe say \u2018the people are coming to me\u2019?\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ll understand it as follows. Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko knew that all of our great men are noted for humility. You remember Hillel Hazakein? He\u2019s famous for his humility. Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakai, Rabbi Akiva, Rebbi, all of our Torah teachers were all noted for their humility.
\n\n\n\nInvisible Leaders
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way to recognize a true Torah leader; he\u2019s self-effacing, always trying as much as possible to erase his personality so that he shouldn\u2019t be noticed at all. He wants that the people should be in contact directly with Hashem; he doesn\u2019t want to be a partition, a mechitza, between the people and Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEven in our recent history, the Chofetz Chaim zichrono livracha was a great teacher of the Jewish people but he was almost unnoticed. If you lived in the days of the Chofetz Chaim, you wouldn\u2019t have noticed him much. He dressed like a poor little Jew, a little old man, stooped over, walking in the street with his hands in his sleeves. He never wore gloves; like this he walked in the streets, with his hands pulled up in his sleeves.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a real leader of the Klal Yisroel \u2013 someone who makes himself insignificant. And so when the Chofetz Chaim spoke or when Hillel or Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai spoke, it wasn\u2019t a man speaking to you; it wasn\u2019t a personality. You heard the pure ideology of Torah speaking to you \u2013 Hakodosh Boruch Hu was talking to you.
\n\n\n\nThe Inappropriate Word
\n\n\n\nNow, Moshe Rabbeinu even more so. Of all the humble men, Moshe Rabbeinu was the most outstanding in his meekness, in his humility and his contriteness of spirit. Moshe Rabeinu is famous as the \u05e2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b9\u05bc\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u2013 the most humble of all our great men. He was the prototype of the humble, self-effacing leader.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what bothered Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko; this man, the most humble of all men, when he had to say what the people were doing, he should have just said \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd – the people are coming \u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd – to seek Hashem. It would have been a perfect statement if he would have omitted the word \u2018\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9, to me\u2019. And that would have suited perfectly the nature of Moshe Rabbeinu. Why did he interject that superfluous word?
\n\n\n\nNow, to us it may not seem superfluous, but Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko had an ear for this and he heard a word that jarred in his ears; it didn\u2019t fit in with the personality of Moshe Rabbeinu. If it was one of us, we could excuse that slip of the tongue \u2013 after all when it comes to us \u2018\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u2019 is everything; we think very highly of ourselves \u2013 but Moshe Rabeinu? Why did he have to stick in the word \u201cme\u201d over there? They\u2019re coming to be doreish Elokim and finished!
\n\n\n\nLittle Word: Big Teaching
\n\n\n\nSo let\u2019s see what Rabban Gamliel answered. He said like this to Yehuda Ish Kfar Akko: \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 – What else should Moshe have said? \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u2018\u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u2019 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e4\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 – He qualified the words \u2018they come to me\u2019 by adding \u2018they come to seek Elokim,\u2019 so he is speaking properly.
\n\n\n\nNow it seems at first sight that Rabban Gamliel is merely explaining away this contradiction between the word \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 and Moshe Rabbeinu\u2019s humble character by pointing out that Moshe added the words \u201c\u05dc\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u201d \u2013 they\u2019re not actually coming to seek me, they come to seek Elokim. So that takes off the edge of the \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9; it doesn\u2019t seem so crude anymore. After all, he clarified what he meant \u2013 it\u2019s Hashem they\u2019re seeking.
\n\n\n\nBut actually that\u2019s the wrong pshat. Rabban Gamliel wasn\u2019t merely excusing Moshe Rabeinu; he was saying much more than that.
\n\n\n\n\u201cYehuda Ish Kfar Akko!\u201d said Rabban Gamliel, \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05d5 \u05de\u05b7\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8? \u201cYou\u2019re making a big mistake because what else should Moshe Rabeinu say?! That word, \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9, is of the utmost importance when it comes to seeking Hashem! It\u2019s one of the greatest lessons. If Moshe would have omitted that word we would have lost a tremendous teaching, a big principle of the Torah would have gone lost.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNot The Grand Canyon
\n\n\n\nIf you want to seek Elokim there is only one way and that is \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u2013 you have come to Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu here was not able to play the role of a humble man \u2013 he was teaching Torah; he was enunciating a great principle of what it means to be a Jew, of what it means to be a doreish Elokim, a searcher for Hashem.
\n\n\n\nEvery human being whether he knows it or not has in his heart an instinct to seek to come close to Hashem. Of course, if he doesn\u2019t know what he is looking for, so he might go on explorations of foreign countries. If he doesn\u2019t have the money to fly on airplanes, so he\u2019ll go to places of amusement looking for fun. Maybe he\u2019ll try to become wealthy, real estate. He thinks that he\u2019s seeking apartment buildings. If he\u2019s more intellectually inclined, he\u2019ll go to the laboratories and study and do research. Whatever it is, everybody expresses this yearning in his own misguided way.
\n\n\n\nHowever, even when people understand that this yearning is the desire to seek Hashem and that this is the only way to be happy \u2013 like it says \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05de\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b5\u05d1 \u05de\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd. Even when people have enough understanding to know that it\u2019s Hashem they are seeking, they have to know where to go. Are you going to seek Him by the Grand Canyon? It\u2019s niflaos ha\u2019Borei after all! Some people want to find Hashem in the forests or by the ocean, other places.
\n\n\n\nAll these people are in error; they are wandering off the path because there is only one place to go and that is \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cYou have to come to me\u201d. Moshe Rabbeinu was enunciating a great principle: \u201cIf you want to find Hashem,\u201d Moshe said, \u201cyou\u2019re going to have to come through me.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA System For All Time
\n\n\n\nOh, that seems to be over-arrogance; it\u2019s the opposite of Moshe\u2019s nature. But that is what he had to say, because there\u2019s no other way; you must come to the Torah leaders, to talmidei chachomim, and listen to their words. If a Torah leader tells you to go to the Grand Canyon, fine. Maybe he\u2019ll tell you to go to the beis medrash instead. But whatever it is, it\u2019s by means of the Chachomim that you\u2019ll find what you\u2019re seeking. Otherwise you are going to wander and to continue to stray and you will never discover the truth. That is why Moshe Rabbeinu had to put in the word \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9; it is the most important word in that sentence!
\n\n\n\nNow we might say Moshe Rabbeinu certainly, because he was the mouthpiece, he spoke the words of Hashem. But we must understand that these words are a model for our history; forever and ever that is the system of coming close to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nQuestioning the Oral Torah
\n\n\n\nAnd here we come to the remarkable principle of the Torah shebaal peh. A question is constantly being asked, why is there such a thing as an oral Torah? Why wasn\u2019t the entire Torah written down? If you look in the chumash you will search in vain for the details of the Torah laws that we live by. Not only halacha; even very important and fundamental ideals of yahadus are not in the Chumash.
\n\n\n\nOf course, if you have keen eyesight and you will look into it more deeply you might find certain hints but you certainly will not be able to discover it yourself. And the only way you can find out is by recourse to the sages. The entire Torah is like that, you cannot fulfill anything without the sages.
\n\n\n\nNow that is a queer thing; here we have a book of laws and they are very strict \u2014 the Torah demands strict adherence to the laws \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t tell us how to fulfill the laws; the only way is by asking the chachmei haTorah.
\n\n\n\nSo the question is why did Hakodosh Boruch Hu make it that way? Why did He give the Torah in such a way that we can\u2019t understand it from the written Torah alone?
\n\n\n\nThe Expanded Edition
\n\n\n\nNow, one answer is that hagbah would be very hard! To lift up a sefer torah that has in it the whole Shas and all the meforshim, that would be very heavy. You\u2019d need a crane every time to do hagbah. But that\u2019s not such a good answer \u2013 so we wouldn\u2019t do hagbah, not so terrible.
\n\n\n\nThe most important reason is that Hashem doesn\u2019t want us studying laws from a book. He doesn\u2019t want you to be a lone-ranger, sitting by yourself and learning how to practice Judaism on your own. Because Torah is not merely information \u2013 it\u2019s about seeking Hashem; it\u2019s about learning how to live successfully in this world and the next. And the only way to do it is with a live person to guide you.
\n\n\n\nAnd so from the beginning that was His plan, the system of \u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u05b7\u05d9, of coming to human beings, to the Torah sages. That is why Torah shebaal peh had to be learned only from living sages.
\n\n\n\nTorah Im Derech Eretz
\n\n\n\nYou know how a live rebbe is different than a sefer? I\u2019ll tell you one very important difference. Human beings have eyes and ears. Here\u2019s a man, he\u2019s studying a Tosfos. So while he\u2019s thinking, he puts his hand in his bosom, and he picks under his arm, his armpit. Tosfos doesn\u2019t tell him, \u201cFeh!\u201d But a rebbe will say it! Ah, that\u2019s a rebbe! When you come into the yeshiva or into the shul or beis medrash to learn from a living human being, so your rebbe looks at you; he studies your behavior. If you don\u2019t have good manners he corrects you. If there\u2019s something wrong with your character, he criticizes you.
\n\n\n\nWhen people came to Moshe and they asked him, \u201cWe want to come close to Hashem,\u201d he said, \u201cTo come close to Hashem you shouldn\u2019t wipe your nose with the back of your hand\u201d. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t cough on somebody\u2019s face\u201d. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t talk when somebody else is talking; don\u2019t interrupt\u201d. \u201cYou should be polite to people and say \u2018thank you\u2019.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMoshe Rabbeinu said these things and thousands more. And that\u2019s how the people who came to Moshe Rabbeinu came closer to Hashem. He gave over everything together with the laws of the Torah. Along with the halachos, the people also swallowed a big dose of derech eretz and good middos. You heard words of mussar and yirah and emunah and good character; how to behave with your fellowman, how people should behave to their wives, how wives should behave to husbands, how children should behave to their parents, how you should behave to elderly people, many things you learned.
\n\n\n\nA Calamitous King
\n\n\n\nAfter a while of being close to Moshe, your character changed and you learned to become a perfect servant of Hashem. And that is why Torah shebaal peh has to learned from the sages. You want to learn about the real function of Torah? If you just read the Bible, you are walking in darkness. If you just learn Torah, Nevi\u2019im and Kesuvim, as great as they are, you are living a life of error.
\n\n\n\nHow big of an error? Bigger than you imagine. If you want to understand how serious of a sin it is to forget this principle of coming to a chochom, we should see the story of Yoshiyahu Hamelech.
\n\n\n\nOne of the greatest of all the kings of Yehuda was Yoshiyahu. His was a remarkable history. His grandfather was Menashe who had corrupted the people exceedingly. Menashe reigned for fifty five years. He began at the age of twelve \u2014 at the age of twelve he began corrupting the Jewish people, and he did a very great job of it. You see today what a wicked President in America can do in just a few years! [The Rov was referring to President Carter]. Imagine fifty-five years! The people were getting ruined.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn\u2019t mean it was like Bronx or Bensonhurst Jewry today (1978). They were still better than the Jews of Flatbush and better than the Jews of Williamsburg. But in comparison to what Hakodosh Boruch Hu expected of our forefathers in those great days, it was considered a calamity.
\n\n\n\nA Pliable King
\n\n\n\nAnd so when Menashe died, he left over a bad situation. And his son Amon wasn\u2019t any better. He was a young man, young and cocky, and he followed the wicked ways of his father\u2019s regime. And it became so bad that finally the people became so disgusted with this regime, that they arose and they assassinated Amon. The people got rid of him. They couldn\u2019t do it to Menashe because he was a highhanded ruler, but Amon, he was weaker and so they had the chutzpah to rise up and assassinate him.
\n\n\n\nBut when those who were still loyal to Menashe saw this, they rose up in indignation, and they took revenge on those who assassinated Amon. And then they took the son of Amon, a little eight year old boy named Yoshiyahu, and they made him king. For them this was the very best kind of king. It\u2019s like the synagogues who look for a new rabbi, and they pick the youngest one they can find; because he\u2019s pliable \u2013 you can twist him around the president\u2019s finger, that\u2019s why they want him for their rabbi. Therefore, with this young king, eight years old, Menashe\u2019s party thought that they could do what they wished.
\n\n\n\nAn Enthusiastic King
\n\n\n\nAnd so it seemed at first. But then a queer thing happened. Instead of following the ways of his father and his grandfather, this boy began to inquire about the ways of an earlier ancestor; he was curious about the ways of Dovid, who was his great, great, great, great grandfather. And he became so interested and so inspired by the ways of Dovid, that this boy began to develop in a remarkable way. \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b9\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b8\u05dc \u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 There wasn\u2019t a king like him who returned to Hashem with all his heart (Melochim II 23:25). That\u2019s Yoshiyahu. He was one of the most enthusiastic of all the kings we had.
\n\n\n\nAnd in his time, he turned the nation upside down. He called them together, and they made a bris. Everybody came together and they made a covenant, and they swore they would be loyal to the Torah. They even made an expedition into the neighboring remnants of the Aseres Hashvotim where there they still had the old altars of the golden calves of Yerovom. Yoshiyahu cleared out the avodah zarah from all of Eretz Yisroel.
\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s a lot to say about the biography of Yoshiyahu but that\u2019s not our subject now. We\u2019re interested now in the way he came to his end. Yoshiyahu was still in the flower of his youth \u2013 he was only thirty-eight years old \u2013 and something terrible happened. It was terrible but it\u2019s a tremendous lesson for us.
\n\n\n\nStanding Up To Pharaoh
\n\n\n\nPharaoh Necho, the ruler of Egypt, began a march northwards, towards Eretz Yehuda. But when Yoshiyahu Hamelech got wind of Pharaoh\u2019s plans he sent messengers to him warning him to keep out. He didn\u2019t want any foreign armies on his soil.
\n\n\n\nPharaoh sent an answer to him and he said, \u201cI have no business with you now, I am going to meet my adversary in the north.\u201d He was fighting against the northern kings, not against Yehuda, and he said, \u201cDon\u2019t oppose me. I\u2019m just marching through your territory but I have no ill intent. We\u2019re just going to pass through.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, Pharaoh was a powerful king with a very big army and Yoshiyahu only had a little nation in Eretz Yehuda. And so Yoshiyahu could have backed off. But still, Yoshiyahu decided that he should oppose Pharaoh. How did he decide? He said, \u201cIt\u2019s written in the Torah black on white, a promise from Hakodosh Boruch Hu: \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d7\u05bb\u05e7\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05db\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 If you will go in My ways and observe My commandments,\u201d \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 I will put peace upon the land (Vayikra 25:3,6). \u201cHe promised us!\u201d said Yoshiyahu. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re listening \u2014 we made such a movement for repentance in our country; we\u2019re certainly doing the will of Hakodosh Boruch Hu!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Tragic End
\n\n\n\nAnd in that parsha, Hashem promises: \u05d5\u05b0\u05d7\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05d1\u05b9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e6\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u2013 \u201cNo sword will ever pass through your land.\u201d Now Yoshiyahu reasoned like this: What does it mean \u201cno sword will pass through the land\u201d? It already states, \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u2013 that there will be peace. So why does it say \u201cno sword will pass\u201d? \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e4\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d7\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05dc \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u2013 it means that even a \u2018peaceful sword\u2019 won\u2019t be permitted to pass through. Even when a king wants to march through peaceably, when we keep the Torah, Hakodosh Boruch Hu promises that our borders will be secure even against that.
\n\n\n\n\u201cIf that\u2019s the case,\u201d Yoshiyahu said, \u201cI take upon myself the right to go out and oppose Pharaoh Necho.\u201d So he took his army and he went to meet Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo, south of Yehuda. And there a tragedy took place. \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc \u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2014 The archers of Egypt shot their arrows and they mortally wounded Yoshiyahu (Divrei Hayomim II, 35:23).
\n\n\n\nThe Tragic Error
\n\n\n\nNow, in Mesichta Taanis (22b), the Gemara asks, \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05de\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05e0\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d9\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 Why was Yoshiyahu punished?
\n\n\n\nNow, we have to be medayek, we have to be careful with the language of the Gemara. It says he was punished and the Gemara asks, why was he punished? What did he do wrong?
\n\n\n\nNow, we could say, what\u2019s even the question why he was punished? Who said it was a punishment? He made a mistake, he made an error, that\u2019s all. If a man is color blind and he thinks the light is green and he crosses, and a car happens to hit him, you say, \u201cWhy was he punished\u201d? Of course not \u2013 he was color blind and he made a mistake. What\u2019s punishment have to do with it?
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, the mistake was not the reason why he was punished; a man is not punished for a mistake. He tried his best, he thought his generation was worthy. So where does punishment come in here?
\n\n\n\nThe Tzaddik\u2019s Sin
\n\n\n\nSo the Gemara answers, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05dc\u05b4\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05da\u05b0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05de\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05da\u05b0 \u2013 he should have taken counsel of Yirmiyahu Hanovi and he didn\u2019t. When Yoshiyahu made the decision to confront Pharaoh Necho with the army, he did it on his own. He didn\u2019t consult Yirmiyahu Hanovi. That was his sin for which he was punished. He was punished for the sin of failing to go to the one who was bigger than him to take counsel.
\n\n\n\nNow, Yoshiyahu was a man who was exemplary. He was as perfect as one could be. He followed with all his heart all the ways of the Torah. He strove with all his might to emulate Dovid. This man had every reason to live. Yet, he was cut down in the very best part of his life, in the flower of his youth, for only one sin, and nothing else. They could find nothing against him. He was perfect in every way, but the only fault they could find was that he had failed to consult Yirmiyahu Hanovi.
\n\n\n\nNow, he didn\u2019t disobey. It wasn\u2019t that Yirmiyah had told him one thing, and he did something else. He wasn\u2019t let\u2019s say an official of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations who had a psak from Rav Aharon Kotler and still they go and do what they wish. He wasn\u2019t a Po\u2019el haMizrachi\u2019nik or some other fellow in a very Modern Orthodox congregation who think that gedolei Yisroel are nothing. Yoshiyahu was a tzaddik gamur. And to him every word of the gedolei haTorah was precious. He obeyed them impeccably. They didn\u2019t say anything to him that he disobeyed.
\n\n\n\nA Startling Lesson
\n\n\n\nWhat he did by going out to fight Pharaoh Necho, he thought that it was certainly the Torah truth. He would have been happy to stay in his palace and not fight. But there was no question in his mind that he was fulfilling the will of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd that in itself was the great error. Because you may be right, you may be 100 percent right, but as long as there is a talmid chochom, a navi, someone who knows more than you, someone who is closer to Hashem than you, it\u2019s your duty to consult him. And the failure to consult him means that Hashem does not need Yoshiyahu.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a startling lesson. No matter how great a man is, if he overlooks the necessity of being in contact with the gedolei Yisroel, with talmidei chachomim, and asking, \u201cWhat do you say? What should be done?\u201d, that is such a fatal omission, that he loses thereby the right to be in this world. Not merely he got a slap on the wrist, not merely he was scratched by the arrow. He was pierced by many arrows. He lost his life. And merely for this one misstep of forgetting to consult the sages.
\n\n\n\nIn Every Generation
\n\n\n\nNow, I understand that right away you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWell if I had a Yirmiyahu Hanovi or a Moshe Rabeinu so I would come to him. But I don\u2019t have that opportunity \u2013 I have a Rov, a rebbe, but he\u2019s not Moshe Rabeinu; he\u2019s not a malach like Moshe Rabeinu was.\u201d
\n\n\n\nYou know, had we been in the days of Moshe Rabeinu we would have found excuses too. Chazal tell us that if you would see Moshe Rabeinu walking in the streets, you would see that he is not such a skinny fellow; he was a heavy-set man, Moshe Rabeinu. I don\u2019t want to say such words about the \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, but that\u2019s how it was \u2013 he was a heavy-set man.
\n\n\n\nAnd our sages tell us (Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 27) that some people looked at him and they said, \u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u2014 How thick are his paunches. \u201cHey, look at those thighs!\u201d Moshe Rabeinu had a nose too. And so, people were thinking; \u201cHe\u2019s one of us.\u201d I don\u2019t know if they were actually saying those words or just thinking them but that\u2019s what our sages tell us.
\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s hard to even repeat such a thing. That\u2019s what they think of Moshe Rabbeinu?! That\u2019s the way a person should have in his mind a picture of the \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, the greatest man who ever lived?! But that\u2019s the nature of a person \u2013 he finds things, ways of avoiding this great principle. And we have to take time to understand this, to overcome this.
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t Fall Asleep!
\n\n\n\nNow, to understand this a little better we will listen to what the gemara says elsewhere. There is a special mitzvah, a special command of the Torah, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05b9 \u05ea\u05b4\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7 \u2013 you should cling to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nNow, the question is, what does it mean in practice? It is a beautiful idea to cling to Hashem, certainly, but what do you do in practice?
\n\n\n\nSo here is a man sitting in a room; he decides he wants to cling to Hashem so he pulls the window shades down and he closes his eyes and thinks about Hashem. It is not a bad idea, by the way; you should try that once in your life. Don\u2019t fall asleep though! And if you can do that for two minutes \u2013 two full minutes thinking about Hashem \u2013 that\u2019s most certainly a way to cling to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nBut still, that\u2019s not a plan for life. We\u2019re looking for something more concrete, some method of clinging to Hashem that can guide us throughout our lives. And we have to know that we are not left blind to wander and to experiment and waste our lives in errors. Hakodosh Boruch Hu has revealed to us exactly what this means; He gave us a precise interpretation.
\n\n\n\nGrab Whatever You Can
\n\n\n\nWhat is it? Along comes the Gemara (Kesubos 111a) and says, How do we cling to Hashem? \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u2014 Cling to the sages and to their disciples. That\u2019s it! Attach yourself to the sages, that\u2019s the way of coming close to Hashem. And if you think there is another way then you are going to waste your life; some day you\u2019re going to discover your error but it will be too late.
\n\n\n\nNow we note that it says \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05ea\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd – cling to the sages and to their disciples. It means, not everybody can get close to the sages, to the great leaders; it\u2019s not easy to get close. Sometimes they\u2019re surrounded by thousands of disciples; sometimes there are other barriers. So \u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e7 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05ea\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd! Get close to the disciples!
\n\n\n\nMagnetized Rabbis
\n\n\n\nIt is like a magnet. Did you ever see iron pins attached to a magnet? They hang sometimes fifteen iron pins, one suspended from the other because there is a force from the first one, from the magnet, that goes through all of them. The magnet has an iron pin hanging from it, another iron pin, another one. Now these iron pins are not magnets but they are all attached to the top magnet.
\n\n\n\nSo where there is a Rebbe, an adam gadol, he has disciples and disciples of disciples and disciples of those disciples, even if you can\u2019t get close to the top, get close to somebody who is connected to the top.
\n\n\n\nThis means that the sage we\u2019re talking about is the Rabbi at that little shul round the corner. Which corner? All the corners. You have to come close to that one and make him your Rav. Wherever you are; you\u2019re in Canarsie, you\u2019re in Far Rockaway, you\u2019re in Manhattan; any Orthodox synagogue, make the local Rabbi your Rav, your master.
\n\n\n\nWings and Halo
\n\n\n\nEven if it\u2019s a little rabbi, he is capable of helping you; he is capable of being the chochom you can come to. Of course if you can find someone better and even better and even better, certainly. If, let\u2019s say, Rav Shach will accept you as his personal friend and spend time with you, certainly. If the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva will accept you as his talmid, certainly. If the Lubavitcher Rebbe will let you in to spend time with him, certainly. But it is difficult, so take instruction from anybody.
\n\n\n\nAnd I can guarantee you, the little local rabbi around the corner can save your life for you. People will testify years later that he gave them one steer in the right direction and it changed their lives, again and again we hear such testimonies. How many people lost out on everything, they lost their wives, and many lost their health, and they lost their businesses because they didn\u2019t have a local Rav.
\n\n\n\nNow, I know that you have a lot of kashes on that because on the local Rabbi sometimes there is this kashe, sometimes there is that kashe \u2014 we are talking about a kosher Jew of course; we are talking about a person who is sincere and has a certain competence \u2013 but even though he doesn\u2019t have wings sprouting at the back under his kapote, even though he can\u2019t make any mofsim; there is no halo around him, he looks like an ordinary human being, but he is the one that Hakodosh Boruch Hu points out to you.
\n\n\n\nA Way Out?
\n\n\n\nNow you have to train yourself; you have to change your attitude; in order to cling to a tzaddik you have to train yourself not to see the gashmiyus; you have to see his spirit, his ruach, his neshama yeseira. You have to see that he\u2019s your Moshe Rabeinu; he\u2019s your conduit to be doreish Elokim.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Gemara (Moed Kotton 17a) says, \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05da\u05b0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u2013 If the Rav is similar in your eyes to an angel of Hashem of Hosts, \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e7\u05b0\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 then you should seek Torah from his mouth. And if not, if he appears to you to be an ordinary human beings, don\u2019t seek Torah from his mouth.
\n\n\n\nSo some people \u2013 lamdonim \u2013 make a mistake; they take it as a heter to not attach themselves to any Rebbe. \u201cGo find me a Rebbe who resembles an angel of Hashem of Hosts, they say, there is no such thing\u201d, so they think they\u2019re free now.
\n\n\n\nMaking Malachim
\n\n\n\nBut they\u2019re mistaken; the word malach means a messenger. \u201cIf the Rav is similar in your eyes to a malach Hashem, that\u2019s how you\u2019ll become a Torah Jew.\u201d If you have the attitude of loyalty to this Torah principle, that the Torah teacher represents the word of Hashem and Hashem sent him to you. If you have the ability to regard him in that light, then you\u2019ll be able to seek Torah from his mouth.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the way to seek success. That\u2019s the way to be doreish Elokim; when you get into your head that the Roshei Yeshivah are sent by Hashem, the mesivta rebbeim, the local Rabbanim are sent by Hashem. There are so many fine local Rabbanim. There are a lot of people who are capable of being regarded as malach Hashem, a messenger of Hashem of Hosts.
\n\n\n\nIsn\u2019t that a wonderful thing? Let\u2019s say you frequent a little shtiebel or a little synagogue in Canarsie and there is a Rabbi there and you walk in with the intention, \u201cI am going to make of him the very best use I can.\u201d The first Shabbos first you go over and say \u201cGood Shabbos\u201d to him.
\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ve been there for a long time and you haven\u2019t done that yet? It\u2019s not too late. Go over to him and say \u201cShalom aleichem.\u201d Make yourself known to him and put into your heart a kavanah tovah that you want to get something out of him, that you want to get some guidance from him. You are going to see there will be results that will gratify you. Once you make him a malach Hashem then you are going to succeed in being a doreish Elokim.
\n\n\n\nThe Wandering Jew
\n\n\n\nNow I know that today it is a very alien idea. People who go to shul every week never once came over to their local rabbi to say \u201cshalom aleichem,\u201d \u201cgood Shabbos.\u201d They never came to speak to him, to confide in him, to ask him advice!
\n\n\n\nThey are orphans \u2013 they are wanderers on this face of the earth; they have no father and no mother, there is nobody to guide them. They are like lost sheep. The children go lost constantly from the orthodox camp; people are going lost every day. It is remarkable how many are straying. It is because they have nobody who is in charge of them. They are yesomim, orphans, without parents. The majority of the observant Jews \u2014 I\u2019m not talking about the others who are lost \u2014 the majority of the observant Jews don\u2019t understand this principle and therefore unfortunately a great part of their lives is lost too.
\n\n\n\nThey keep the mitzvos, they learn Torah, they\u2019re raising nice families; very good! Excellent! But they\u2019re losing out on the real perfection in life, the real success of living life to its fullest because they\u2019re ignoring this principle of coming close to Hashem by means of subjugating ourselves to the chachomim.
\n\n\n\nCause of Tragedies
\n\n\n\nIs there any wonder there are so many tragedies taking place? I hear of a couple whom I had known; they are divorced. What happened?! Why don\u2019t you come and ask beforehand?! There is no counsel, there is no guidance?
\n\n\n\nPeople are going crazy today, they are putting themselves in the most precarious situations, and all over it is happening. The orthodox are going lost because of lack of leadership and guidance. Lives are being ruined; people\u2019s health, trouble with children, with in-laws, with neighbors.
\n\n\n\nAnd even though it\u2019s very practical advice you\u2019re hearing now \u2014 you\u2019ll live more successfully in gashmiyus if you follow it \u2014 but we are learning here something much more important: you have to make a Rav for yourself and stick to him in order to come close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu! Because that is our function in this world and there is no other way about it. Hakodosh Boruch Hu has revealed to us that the only way that a person can ever hope to come close to Him is by means of His chachomim.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nComing Close to The Sages
\n\n\n\nMoshe explained to Yisro that the people must go through him in order to come close to Hashem. It is our duty to connect to living teachers as a means of connecting with Hashem. This week I will bli neder take one action each day in order to come close to my Torah teacher. I will make sure to see my Teacher each day and do something to reinforce the connection between us.
\nThe post Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T02:11:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-12T10:42:27+00:00" }, { "id": 31823, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-yisro-5-consulting-the-sages/", "title": "Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages", "content_html": "TA-Yisro-5782The post Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T02:06:57+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T02:06:59+00:00" }, { "id": 31815, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-yisro-5-consulting-the-sages/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages", "content_html": "TA-Yisro-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Yisro 5 – Consulting The Sages appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-16T02:06:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-16T02:06:29+00:00" }, { "id": 31809, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%93-%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%9c-%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%93%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%a5-%d7%95%d7%95%d7%90%d7%a7%d7%90%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%a2/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d3: \u05e2\u05e8\u05dc \u05e9\u05e4\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05e5, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e7\u05d0\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-204The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d3: \u05e2\u05e8\u05dc \u05e9\u05e4\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d3\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e4\u05e8\u05d5\u05e5, \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05e7\u05d0\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T21:39:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T18:48:26+00:00" }, { "id": 31805, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-is-divorce-a-sin/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Is Divorce A Sin?", "content_html": "\nQ:
It\u00a0was mentioned here that divorce is a sin. So how do you explain the verse in the Torah that says a man can give his wife a divorce?
A:
And\u00a0the answer is it’s a sin but he has power to do a sin.
Sometimes you pass by an operating room in the hospital and if they let you peek in you see a terrible thing. A doctor is taking off a hand; he\u2019s cutting off someone\u2019s hand. Now, to cut off a hand is a terrible thing. Suppose you saw that doctor on the street cutting off a man’s hand. What would you do? At least you’d call the police. Probably you’d rush in, swinging a stick at him. But in the operating room you know that it has to be done.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore sometimes divorce is an amputation which is necessary; but when it comes to that necessity, it’s such a big sin \u2013 sometimes of one party, sometimes of two parties \u2013 that you can’t get away from the fact that it is a sin. If you will come to such a state; if you fought so much and so bitterly that it’s already beyond healing chas v\u2019shalom and then you divorce, so it’s an amputation. But suppose you could have avoided amputation? Certainly it’s a sin. If a man will get a rusty nail in his hand chas v\u2019shalom and then he must amputate his hand, it’s a sin. Who told him to risk his hand?
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 206
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Is Divorce A Sin? appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T20:42:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T20:42:11+00:00" }, { "id": 31801, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-ashrei-and-the-aleph-beis/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Ashrei and the Aleph Beis", "content_html": "\nQ:
What\u2019s so special about the\u00a0aleph beis\u00a0that Ashrei was written in order according to the\u00a0aleph beis?
A:
You know, when you\u2019re walking in the street or sitting on the bus or sometimes you\u2019re home and you have visitors, they\u2019re relatives and you can\u2019t kick them out, but they\u2019re wasting your time. So what are you going to do?
You\u2019re sitting and thinking in the dvar Hashem. That\u2019s what you have to do. You want to think into something but it\u2019s hard to remember. You can\u2019t haul out a siddur and look in the siddur and snub your guests. But they\u2019re talking a mile a minute about cousin Jenny and what she said to Aunt Mimi and the precious hours are going by. You live only one time, this life \u2013 what are you going to do?
\n\n\n\nSo you remember something, a good opportunity. You know ashrei by memory and you want a certain possuk to think about. And since you know the Aleph Beis \u2013 we presume you do \u2014 so you go through it until you come to the possuk where you left off the last time when cousin Jenny was here; you were thinking the possuk before, a certain letter of the aleph beis, so now you go to the next possuk.
\n\n\n\nThe aleph beis is the mnemonic device. It helps you remember. In the days when people didn\u2019t have siddurim, they remembered. They remembered ashrei because of the aleph beis.
\n\n\n\nNow, that\u2019s a very big thing. When people want to study ashrei \u2013 and you should by the way; it\u2019s a very big undertaking but you should study ashrei, a half a passuk a day until you go through it. And then you\u2019ll say ashrei with a different kind of kavanah. But it\u2019s the aleph beis that helps you carry that out. And that\u2019s a great accomplishment.
\n\n\n\nBut there\u2019s something more mysterious than that. There\u2019s a segulah in the aleph beis. The letters of the aleph beis, these are the letters of the Torah. The gemara says that. The letters of the aleph beis are the letters of the Torah and when we activate the aleph beis, we\u2019re activating the letters whereby the Torah is written.
\n\n\n\nNow this I\u2019m not able to explain to you. That\u2019s already in the realm of mysticism but it\u2019s a truth that we find repeated over and over again many times. And therefore when you say according to the letters of the aleph beis, there\u2019s a special segulah. You\u2019re maf\u2019il, you put into action, certain forces of olamos haelyonim, the upper worlds. I\u2019m not able to tell you anymore, but that\u2019s one of the segulas of saying the things with aleph beis.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 215
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Ashrei and the Aleph Beis appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T20:36:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T20:36:14+00:00" }, { "id": 31798, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%9a-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%95%d7%91%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%aa%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd", "content_html": "\nWe do not merely ask that Hashem favor our prayer, but we ask that He favor and love us, both because of the promise that He made to our forefathers that He would love their seed forever\u00a0(\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc), and because of our devoted Avodah and tefillah to Him\u00a0(\u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd). The genuine Jew hastens to his house of prayer three times daily, while his neighbors look on in wonder at such extreme devotion. We ask Hashem to please demonstrate His\u00a0\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df\u00a0for us as well, and favor His beloved people Yisroel.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T20:23:37+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T20:23:40+00:00" }, { "id": 31795, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a8%d7%a6%d7%94-%d7%94-%d7%90-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%99%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\nIn this brachah, the word\u00a0\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05df, favor, is mentioned three times. The dearest wish of Hashem\u2019s people is to do His will and gain His favor. \u201cTo do Your will, my G-d, I desire\u201d (Tehillim 40:9).
\n\n\n\nOur success in this world is to earn Hashem\u2019s favor and thereby gain His closeness and love, and ultimately, that the Shechinah rest once more upon our nation as it did in the days of the First Beis Hamikdash. We beg Hashem that He favor our service, which rightfully should be in the Beis Hamikdash, but which we continue to offer Him even today with unparalleled devotion.
\nThe post \u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05d0-\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T20:19:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T20:19:33+00:00" }, { "id": 31790, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-tricks-for-keeping-silent/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Tricks For Keeping Silent", "content_html": "\nQ:
How does one\u00a0succeed in keeping his\u00a0mouth shut?
A:
It depends on the circumstances. The first thing is that you have to think to yourself, \u201cWhere is the place where I have most danger of speaking?\u201d You don\u2019t speak when you\u2019re by yourself. So you have to think about that. \u201cWhat kind of company is the place where I\u2019m most liable to speak?\u201d
Let\u2019s say you talk most at work. So now, when you\u2019re entering your place of work, make up your mind that you\u2019re going to make yourself a reminder. Take out a piece of string that you prepared for the purpose and tie it around your finger. And constantly look at that string to remind you to keep your mouth closed.
\n\n\n\nYou should try that \u2013 it\u2019s not so easy. \u00a0And after a while, you might even forget about the string. After a while, you might become so accustomed that you could be looking at\u00a0the string and you\u2019re still talking. You have to train yourself to react to the string. While you\u2019re looking at the string, you have to say to yourself as follows:\u00a0\u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05db\u05b0\u05e1\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc \u05de\u05b0\u05d7\u05b4\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013\u00a0The mouth of a fool is his ruination\u00a0(Mishlei 18:7). Say it to yourself again and again.
\n\n\n\nWho\u2019s a fool? \u00a0If you open your mouth, you\u2019re already a fool. \u00a0So \u05e4\u05d9 \u05db\u05e1\u05d9\u05dc \u2013\u00a0The\u00a0mouth of the fool,\u00a0\u05de\u05d7\u05ea\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5 \u2013\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0his ruination. And if you want\u00a0to save yourself from that, so keep your mouth closed. When you talk, your\u00a0mind is melted down and goes through your mouth. You lose everything you have in your brains by talking. And therefore, make some sign for yourself.
\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s say you talk too much at home \u2013 let\u2019s say you\u2019re a woman and when your husband comes from work you start\u00a0haken ah tcheinik.\u00a0He\u2019s tired, he wants a rest;\u00a0so make up your mind that\u00a0you\u2019re going to do something about that. Take a rubber band and put it around your thumb and make up your mind that you\u2019ll keep the rubber band on as long as your husband is tired. If he\u2019s well-rested and willing to listen, then you could remove it.
\n\n\n\nDo something mechanical to remind you. By mechanical means, a person can help control his tongue and be successful in learning how to talk only what is most necessary. Try it out. There\u2019s no charge here for good advice.
TAPE # 720
The post Rav Avigdor Miller on Tricks For Keeping Silent appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-13T20:16:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-13T20:16:48+00:00" }, { "id": 31778, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-to-leave-the-kollel/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on When To Leave The Kollel", "content_html": "\nQ:
How can a kollel-man know when it\u2019s time for him to leave the kollel to work?
A:
Never. As long as he is being supported, then he should continue to learn. Whether the kollel supports him, or his or her parents support him, there\u2019s no reason to leave. It\u2019s never too late to go out into the world. And when he goes out with more learning and more ripeness of experience, more seichel, he will be more successful.
However, one criterion he must follow, and that is if they don\u2019t have parnasa. When his wife says, \u201cI don\u2019t want you to learn anymore; I want you to work,\u201d that\u2019s it. A man can only do it if his wife gives him permission. Otherwise, the condition of the kesuvah takes over. \u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d7 \u2013 I will work. And even though they made a condition beforehand, once she says that, he must go out and make a parnasa.
By the way, I want to tell you, when there\u2019s a shidduch and the boy says, \u201cI want to learn forever,\u201d so have somebody talk to the boy. Ask him, \u201cDo you really mean forever, mamish?!\u201d And if he says yes, then good-bye.
If your wife is willing to work to support you, then let her go work as long as she\u2019s willing. But as soon as she says she\u2019s not willing, then the contract is changed now, and you fall back on the kesuvah contract, \u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d0\u05e4\u05dc\u05d7 \u2013 I will work and support you.
TAPE # E-94
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on When To Leave The Kollel appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-12T22:40:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-12T22:40:45+00:00" }, { "id": 31770, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-19/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 19", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-19The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 19 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-12T01:35:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-12T01:35:12+00:00" }, { "id": 31763, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-11T21:49:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-11T21:49:38+00:00" }, { "id": 31760, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%94-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a2-%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%94/", "title": "\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4", "content_html": "\nWe thank You Hashem for the great kindliness, that the King of the Universe is willing and is even pleased to hear our prayers. \u201cHakadosh Baruch Hu strongly desires the prayers of tzaddikim\u201d (Yevamos 64a), because He strongly desires their perfection, and Prayer is indeed a means of gaining great perfection of mind and of character. This, too, is included in our thanks to Hashem Who not only hears, but strongly desires to hear the tefillos of His righteous nation Yisroel.
\nThe post \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-11T20:12:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-11T20:12:41+00:00" }, { "id": 31758, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a2-%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9e%d7%9a-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\nNot only do You \u201chear the tefillos and tachanunim\u201d of every mouth, but You especially hear our prayer, the prayer of\u00a0“\u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc”. \u201cAmcha\u201d, \u201cYour people\u201d, shares it\u2019s roots with the word\u00a0\u201cimcha\u201d, \u201cwith You\u201d, for we are\u00a0with You\u00a0all day in our hearts and in our mouths and in our deeds, and we have always been Your people (amcha) and have always stuck to You (imcha) throughout the generations, and You therefore pay especial attention and hear the prayer of Your beloved people Yisroel\u00a0“\u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd”,\u00a0\u201cwith exceptional mercy\u201d.
\nThe post \u05db\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05ea \u05e2\u05de\u05da \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d1\u05e8\u05d7\u05de\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-11T20:11:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-11T20:11:26+00:00" }, { "id": 31751, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-in-his-presence/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: In His Presence", "content_html": "\nThe Mesilas Yesharim says that although it is hard to picture oneself talking to Hashem, with me\u2019at hisbonenus, a bit of concentration, one could speak to Hashem exactly as one speaks to his friend. You may picture a King on a throne gazing down with kindly eyes & looking down at us, or maybe a compassionate old sage \u2013 as long as at the same time you tell yourself, \u201cKnow this is not Hashem\u201d. This helps one gain a stronger awareness that he is truly talking to Hashem.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: In His Presence appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-10T01:50:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-10T01:50:51+00:00" }, { "id": 31747, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-abortion-a-crime-second-to-murder/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Abortion: A Crime Second To Murder", "content_html": "\nQ:
When you say a child is not alive until the moment he’s born, isn’t that an argument that the pro-abortionists could use to say that they are not committing murder?
A:
\n\n\n\nAccording to the Torah when a child is born that\u2019s when he is \u2018officially\u2019 alive and then if he’s killed it’s murder. If a child is killed before he is born, then it’s not murder; but it’s a crime that’s next to murder.
\n\n\n\nAnd crimes next to murder are very severe crimes. Let’s say if you cut off a man’s nose, it’s not murder, but certainly anybody who would go around giving federal funds to cut off people’s noses; we\u2019d consider that a very big sin. Especially when the people didn’t ask for it! The child doesn’t want his nose to be cut off. And in the case of the child more than his nose is cut off; his nose and his feet and his heart and so on.
\n\n\n\nSo even though you won’t put a man to death for killing a fetus, he has to know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu won’t let him live. A man that does that, won’t be killed by us, but he’s chayav misah bi’dey shamayim. Hakodosh Boruch Hu will kill him.
\n\n\n\nAnybody who kills a fetus should know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is going to get even with him and there’s no question about that! It’s one of the most serious crimes there are.
\n\n\n\nNow, if people are happy that they didn’t commit murder \u2013 if they compliment themselves all their lives, \u201cWell, I didn\u2019t kill anybody\u201d \u2013 if that’s their criteria in virtue, alright. But we think that there’s a better criterion. It’s not enough to say you didn’t murder anybody. If you rob people and you ruin people, so it\u2019s also not such a virtuous career.
\n\n\n\nThere are gangsters that didn’t kill anybody yet; they just mugged them and beat them up and broke their legs and so on; they fire-bombed their businesses. They made people paupers. They didn’t kill anybody, so are they now tzadikim sitting in Gan Eden? No! And so anybody who commits abortion is a terrible criminal and it’s second to murder.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 337
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Abortion: A Crime Second To Murder appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T22:35:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T22:36:03+00:00" }, { "id": 31740, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-18/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 18", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-18The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 18 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T18:17:41+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T18:17:43+00:00" }, { "id": 31736, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a9%d7%9c%d7%97-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T18:12:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-12T12:18:04+00:00" }, { "id": 31732, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-summary-week-37/", "title": "Tefillah Summary: Week 37", "content_html": "\n\u05db\u05d9 \u05d0-\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 (\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd) \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4
FOR YOU ARE G-D WHO HEARS (PRAYERS AND ENTREATIES)
You, Hashem, are the \u2018G-d Who hears\u2019, unlike the lifeless gods of the nations that cannot hear any prayers at all. You not only \u2018hear\u2019, but You are also\u00a0willing\u00a0to hear and You\u00a0desire\u00a0to hear our prayers.
\u00a0
\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd
PRAYERS AND ENTREATIES
\u2018Tefillah\u2019 denotes intense thought, where one contemplates his desires and what he must do to gain Hashem\u2019s favor, whereas \u2018tachanunim\u2019 are merely the expression of a man\u2019s strong desire to find\u00a0\u05d7\u05df, favor, in the eyes of Hashem.
\u00a0
\u05d5\u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05d9\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5
AND FROM BEFORE YOU OUR KING DO NOT TURN US BACK EMPTY-HANDED
We stand \u201cbefore You\u201d, our trust solely in You, thereby demonstrating that only You are \u201cour King\u201d. Because of our trust, as well as for the sake of the honor of the King, please fulfill at least part of our request.
The post Tefillah Summary: Week 37 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T02:30:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T02:30:29+00:00" }, { "id": 31727, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/toras-avigdor-junior-parshas-beshalach-2/", "title": "Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Beshalach", "content_html": "\nIt was a typical day in the frum city of Beitar Illit in Eretz Yisroel. The yeshivos and kollelim were filled with the sounds of Torah learning. The supermarkets were packed with people shopping for Shabbos. And thousands of boys and girls packed the classrooms in the many chadorim and Beis Yaakov schools.
\n\n\n\nSuddenly a massive explosion shook the entire town. Windows rattled, birds took flight from the trees, and the air itself seemed to shake. Everyone was nervous-what had happened? Had a missile been shot from Gaza? Nobody heard the sirens go off. Should they run to the bomb shelters?
\n\n\n\nIn Talmud Torah Nitei Chaim, Rebbe Meltzer immediately started saying Tehillim with the boys in his fourth grade class. After a few terrifying minutes, the Menahel, Rav Bloch, came into the classroom.
\n\n\n\n\u201cI just got off the phone with the head of the local security office,\u201d he said. \u201cBoruch Hashem, there is nothing to worry about. There was a secret Hamas weapons facility in Hussan, the Arab village just outside of Beitar, and they were planning to launch a major attack on Yidden. But a fire started in the building and the whole place blew up, killing the hundreds of terrorist who were training there!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe boys all stared at each other in shock. They were relieved that the explosion had not been in Beitar, they were excited that something so wild had just happened so close to them, and most of all they were thankful to Hashem for destroying the terrorist reshaim before they had a chance to hurt any Yidden.
\n\n\n\nSuddenly Eli jumped out of his seat and started singing. \u201cHodu laHashem ki tov\u2026\u201d Quickly, the whole class joined in and started dancing and singing their thanks to Hashem. As the Menahel continued telling the rebbeim and boys in the other classrooms what had happened, the singing began to spread across the cheider. Within minutes, the boys and their rebbeim were all dancing together in the hallways. Such simcha! Such joy! It felt like Simchas Torah!
\n\n\n\nAfter fifteen minutes, Rav Bloch held up his hands in the middle of the crowd and asked for quiet. \u201cI would like to talk about something very important,\u201d he said.
\n\n\n\n\u201cWhile what just happened is exciting, it is also a very serious time. Can anyone tell me why?\u201d
\n\n\n\nA seventh grader raised his hand. \u201cBecause maybe some Yidden were accidentally in the terrorist hideout and they also died?\u201d he asked. Some boys looked fearful as this idea was mentioned.
\n\n\n\n\u201cNo, Chaim\u2019l,\u201d the Menahel said. \u201cI think we can be quite sure that there were no Yidden there. But we need to think about the lesson that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted us to learn from that explosion.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d said another boy. \u201cWhat does it have to do with us? It\u2019s a Makkah on the terrorists just like the Makos in Mitzrayim or Krias Yam Suf which was to punish the Mitzrim!
\n\n\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said Rav Bloch. \u201cBut you know, even after Krias Yam Suf, after the Mitzrim were destroyed, the Torah is always mentioning the punishments of the Mitzrim. Hashem says that if we listen to the Torah, we won\u2019t get the punishments of the Mitzrim.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/image-1.png?resize=640%2C500&ssl=1\")
\u201cNow boys, why would Hashem threaten us with their punishments? We didn\u2019t enslave His beloved children!
\n\n\n\n\u201cThe answer, kinderlach, is that part of being a good Yid is being afraid of Hashem. As much as we know that we\u2019re going to be rewarded in Olam Haboh with the most tremendous, most gigantic, most exciting reward we could ever imagine, it\u2019s always important to be afraid of Hashem too. It\u2019s a mitzvah in the Torah \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8\u201d. After all, He\u2019s so Big and Powerful and it\u2019s important to always remember that doing anything against His Will is very, very wrong.
\n\n\n\n\u201cBut Hashem loves us so much that He prefers when we learn to be afraid of Him by seeing punishments come on other nations \u2013 that\u2019s the best way to see Hashem\u2019s power of punishment. And that\u2019s why He\u2019s always telling us to watch out for the punishments Mitzrayim got. He doesn\u2019t like punishing and He would much rather we learn from what He did long ago.
\n\n\n\n\u201cHashem could have taken the Am Yisroel out of Mitzrayim without Makkos and he could have stopped Achmed, Abdul, Hamza, Ibrahim, Machmoud, and the other terrorists from attacking us without a huge explosion. But Hashem does these huge public punishments for our benefit so that we can learn from them and remember that it is never a good idea to do what\u2019s wrong in Hashem\u2019s eyes.\u201d
\n\n\n\n\u201cSo yes, we definitely need to dance and sing our praises to Hashem for saving us from both the Mitzrim and the terrorists in Hussan. But we should also never forget another important lesson. Every time we see Hashem\u2019s strength in the world \u2013 a big earthquake in Iran, a big flood in Germany or the Arabs accidentally blowing themselves up \u2013 we should remember that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants us to be afraid of Him too.
\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd now that we learned our lesson, let\u2019s continue dancing for Hashem\u2019s Yeshua! Tov lehodos laHashem\u2026\u201d
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos!
\nThe post Toras Avigdor Junior \u2013 Parshas Beshalach appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T01:16:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T01:16:13+00:00" }, { "id": 31716, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-beshalach-5-emulating-him-2/", "title": "Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him", "content_html": "Miraculous Salvation
\n\n\n\nWhen our forefathers stood at the edge of the Yam Suf, looking over their backs at the enemy closing in on them, they were filled with terror. Because it wasn\u2019t stam an enemy \u2014 the Mitzrim were boiling with anger. They had been laid very low because of us; they had just suffered ten makkos one after the other and then watched helplessly as we made a triumphant escape, taking along with us all of the wealth of Mitzrayim.
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Mitzrim were intent now, not only on regaining their property but on taking revenge. They were armed to the teeth and there was no place for the Am Yisroel to flee \u2013 in front of them was the impenetrable sea and behind them was the vengeful army of Pharaoh with \u201csix hundred chosen war-chariots and all the chariots of Egypt\u201d (14:7), under the leadership of the best generals (15:4). And so \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b0\u05d0\u05b9\u05d3 – they became very much afraid (14:10).
\n\n\n\nEverybody knows what happened next \u2013 the Am Yisroel cried out and the Yad Chazakah of Hashem split the Yam Suf in two and they passed through to safety. As their enemies pursued them into the sea, the waters came crashing down and drowned them. \u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b9\u05ea \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05b6\u05df, the enemy sank like stones into the depths of the sea and they were utterly destroyed (15:5).
\n\n\n\nA Resolution
\n\n\n\nNow, when our forefathers stood at the other side of the Yam Suf and witnessed this unequaled spectacle, a tremendous excitement seized them. They were electrified by what took place, they were exhilarated by the tremendous experience of being snatched from the jaws of death by the Hand of Hashem. And in their gratitude they stood up together and sang shirah to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nThat itself was a tremendous achievement, no question about it, to sing to Hashem for what He does for you, that\u2019s already a great perfection of character.
\n\n\n\nAnd yet we understand that there must have been something that the Am Yisroel undertook that day. When something big happens, when a great salvation occurs, people make nedarim and they promise to try to repay Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the great benefit that He bestowed upon them. Like it states in Tehillim (116:13-14), when \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e1 \u05d9\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b6\u05e9\u05b8\u05bc\u05c2\u05d0, when you lift up the cup of salvation, then \u05e0\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05dd, you have to pay off your vows to Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, it pays to ask, what neder did the Am Yisroel take upon themselves as they stood there on the edge of the Yam Suf?
\n\n\n\nThe Eternal Oath
\n\n\n\nNow, when we study the shirah they sang to Hashem on that day, we see that there are many ideas there, many teachings and lessons that can be gathered therefrom; but in the whole shiras hayam we find only one obligation that they took upon themselves in return for this great yeshua, only one promise that they made collectively.
\n\n\n\nAt that time they took upon themselves an oath, and they swore to Hashem as follows: \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u2014 \u201cThis is my Hashem,\u201d they said, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2014 \u201cand I am going to beautify Him.\u201d Naveh means beautiful and v\u2019anveihu, means \u2018I will make Him beautiful.\u2019
\n\n\n\nAnd so the Am Yisroel stood at the seashore and said, \u201cWe\u2019re so thankful to You Hashem that we\u2019re making now an eternal promise to You. From here on in, we will aggrandize You; we will glorify You all our lives.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA Historical Mission
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s what the Jewish nation chose as its function on the day they were saved from drowning in the sea \u2014 they dedicated their lives and the lives of their children forever and ever to the one great task, the one great function of \u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05dd \u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9 \u2013 \u201cLet\u2019smake Hashem great in the world\u201d. And if that\u2019s the one thing they chose, you must say it’s a pretty big deal.
\n\n\n\nNow, the plain meaning of course is that \u201cWe\u2019re going to spend the rest of our history talking about the greatness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu\u201d. And so you know now one of our most important jobs in this world \u2014 we have to praise Hashem. We should always think and always talk about Hakodosh Boruch Hu to ourselves and to everybody else. That\u2019s what the promise was: \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc!
\n\n\n\nThousand Nations
\n\n\n\nAsJews we\u2019re going to let the world know how great our Hashem is! \u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 we speak to the world and tell them; we are expected to go out and tell it to all the nations. We say it every day: \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e7\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5. Hodu means, elevate. Hodu la\u2019Hashem means to make Him great. \u201cCall out, proclaim in His name; speak in the Name of Hashem and make known among the people His deeds.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd our forefathers were proud of their mission, and they fulfilled it. That\u2019s why in the ancient times we spoke to goyim. Not because we wanted to make them geirim. There’s no mitzvah to convert goyim unless they come asking for it, but there certainly is a mitzvah to let the world know the truth. And so that’s what they did in the days of old. And there were results \u2014 there were remarkable results.
\n\n\n\nWhen we see that Shlomo Hamelech had 1000 wives \u2013 princesses from all over the Near East \u2014 you have to understand it was a demonstration, a recognition by all the kings that Shlomo’s words were having an effect on them. And they were happy to have their daughters marry him even though they were only one out of 1000 wives. This was because Shlomo was spreading the word. He was fulfilling the promise made at the Yam Suf of \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc.
\n\n\n\nThe Emperor and The Empress
\n\n\n\nMuch later too \u2014 in the times of the churban Bayis Sheini you must know that the practices of yahadus, of Judaism, were widespread among the nations. It’s remarkable how many people among the gentiles were sympathetic to many Jewish mitzvos and kept them. Poppaea, the wife of Nero the emperor, was a very frum woman. She kept Judaism. She couldn’t become a giyores because it was danger. She\u2019d lose her life in Rome, but it’s openly known that Poppaea, the Emperor’s wife, kept Judaism.
\n\n\n\nAnd later when Nero disappeared from sight, he also joined the Am Yisroel. The goyim say he was assassinated but I told you once that I saw in the Encyclopedia Britannica, it\u2019s stated there that although Nero was assassinated but still after his death there were persistent reports that he was seen in different parts of Italy. And our chachomim tell us the inside story. Our sages tell us (Gittin 56a) that he ran away and he became a ger. Of course, he did it on the sly \u2013 had they known he was alive, they would have looked for him and assassinated him. The Romans wouldn’t stand for that.
\n\n\n\nIgnoring the Poet
\n\n\n\nWe know also that all over the Near East very many practiced yahadus without becoming geirim. In one of the books that Virgil wrote \u2013 Virgil was an ancient writer, a famous poet \u2013 and he writes there that he was talking to an important Roman that he wanted to speak with and the Roman said, \u201cNot today. It’s the 33rd Sabbath.\u201d
\n\n\n\nNow, there’s only one Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath. This Roman aristocrat is telling Virgil he won\u2019t talk business today because it\u2019s Shabbos.
\n\n\n\nNow the \u2018meforshim\u2019 on Virgil try to explain what it means \u201cthe 33rd Sabbath.\u201d Some say it means Yom Kippur, but whatever it is, it’s remarkable. A prominent Roman said, \u201cI cannot see you today. It’s the Sabbath.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHeroes of Adiabene
\n\n\n\nJewish businessmen when they came to Chadayav spoke about Hashem. Chadayav was a Near Eastern country; it was called Adiabene. Jews travelled there for business but they always kept in mind the business of \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc. We know that they spoke to the king and they spoke to the queen, and they made geirim out of them.
\n\n\n\nIzates, the king of Chadayav became a ger; he forsook the religion of his own countrymen. And Helena, his queen, became a giyores, a very frum giyores. Our sages tell us (Nazir 19b) that she undertook to be a nazir for seven years. Seven years! And for seven years she kept her nezirus!
\n\n\n\nThen she came to Yerushalayim to bring her korbanos and the chachomim told her that a nazir cannot be in chuz la’aretz. Chuz la’aretz is like a cemetery, metame betumas meis. The sages told her that she has to stay in Yerushalayim and start all over again. And that’s what she did!
\n\n\n\nMaking Noise in Kuzar
\n\n\n\nIn the times of the early Middle Ages, there was a country called Kuzar. The Kuzarim were a warlike nation, a Tartar people in Asiatic Europe, and Jewish businessmen traveling through the land of the Kuzarim spoke to the king and he became a ger. A remarkable story. A well-known fact. The melech of the Kuzarimwas a ger.
\n\n\n\nNow, such a thing \u2014 hundreds of years of gentiles, prominent gentiles, seeking out Hashem \u2014 could only be because our forefathers didn’t keep quiet. They couldn\u2019t keep quiet because they had made a promise, \u201cWe\u2019re going to aggrandize You; we\u2019ll speak about Your greatness wherever we go.\u201d
\n\n\n\nAnd so wherever they went they carried aloft with pride the banner of yahadus. They spoke about Hashem\u2019s greatness and made Him beautiful in the eyes of everyone.
\n\n\n\nKeep Talking
\n\n\n\nOf course, today we must limit ourselves; in those days the nations were the only ones who needed to hear it but today there are plenty of Jews who are deaf and dumb and so we can’t afford to waste our time going to Africa or to Norway. We have to talk to the Jews right here in Flatbush \u2013 in Eretz Yisroel too a lot of Jews need to be spoken to.
\n\n\n\nAnd the truth is that before you speak to the Jews here in Flatbush, you have to speak to the one Jew that\u2019s most important to you \u2013 and that’s yourself. You should always be reminding yourself about Hashem\u2019s greatness.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why we daven so much. In my first shul we had a gentile neighbor, an old man, right next door. One afternoon, we were walking into the shul to daven mincha, I heard him say to his daughter, \u201cWhat is it with these Jews?! All day, back and forth, back and forth, to the synagogue. Don\u2019t they ever finish praying?\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe answer is, no, we never finish praying. When we pray, we\u2019re talking to ourselves. We\u2019re busy praising Hashem \u2013 so that we can hear it!
\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t \u2018Catch Borchu\u2019
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why pesukei dezimra is so important \u2013 you\u2019re talking to yourself! You know, sometimes a yeshiva boy comes to davening late in the morning, just before borchu, and he feels happy; he’s getting borchu in. He feels like he accomplished something today.
\n\n\n\nOh no! You’re missing pesukei dezimra! All the halelukos! You’re missing out on the great function of \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 \u201cAnd I will beautify You.\u201d It\u2019s not only a national obligation; it\u2019s an oath that devolves on every individual. \u201cI will beautify Him by speaking about His greatness,\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the plain meaning and that’s the job of every single Jew; every man and woman, every boy and girl has to be busy fulfilling the oath we took on that great day of praising Hashem as much as possible.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the importance of pesukei dezimra. You should be on time \u2014 in some shuls you\u2019ll have to come early \u2014 but no matter; if you want to fulfill the oath that we made on that day you should be early. And say every word with geshmak; enjoy the honey of every word of praising Hashem. Because that’s our function. That\u2019s what we promised at Kriyas Yam Suf: \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 \u201cI’m going to beautify Him!\u201d
\n\n\n\nThe Beauty Surrounds Us
\n\n\n\nNow, there are many ways that we fulfill this promise, there’s not merely one way, and all of them are true. On the possuk \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc our sages tell us: \u05d4\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05b0\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea, make His mitzvos beautiful. It means that whatever belongs to Hashem and His Torah we\u2019re going to go out of our way to make it as beautiful as possible.
\n\n\n\nAll the mitzvos are to us beautiful. We make sure to see all beauty in Torah things. We love all the methods of practicing Judaism. Everything connected with our nation, of course it means the Torah of our nation and the Torah practices, everything connected with the service of Hashem is beautiful.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why to us, the most precious object is a mezuzah \u2013 more than the most expensive jewelry. Tefillin, tzitzis, that\u2019s the glory of the Jewish nation. We take pride in demonstrating and displaying all these signs that Hashem gave us that we\u2019re His people.
\n\n\n\nBe Admired
\n\n\n\nOf course, living among gentiles, many Jews lose that viewpoint. Even the frumme become jaundiced against Jewish attitudes and habits.
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s important at all times to remember, to recollect this vow that we made there that everything that\u2019s Jewish is beautiful!Of course, if it\u2019s not Hashem\u2019s, then it\u2019s not Jewish. It can be Hebrew. It can be in the Land of Israel. If it\u2019s not Hashem\u2019s, if it\u2019s not Torah, it\u2019s not beautiful. But whatever belongs to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, His mitzvos, and His Torah and His ways are beautiful.
\n\n\n\nAnd we go out of our way to make them beautiful in order to make Him beautiful, to aggrandize Him. Because we say that if He commanded it, that\u2019s what matters most. And so we try to buy more beautiful mezuzahs. We try to beautify the Shabbos by setting a beautiful table. We try to beautify the mitzvos of tefillin, of lulav, of sukkah. All the mitzvos we try to beautify in honor of Hashem. Lulav naeh, when Sukkos comes, so you acquire a beautiful lulav. Tzitzis naeh, your tzitzis should be beautiful.
\n\n\n\nSo if you’re buying an esrog not only spend money for a kosher one but give a little extra for a beautiful one and if you’re able to put it in a handsome container so as you march to the synagogue through the streets people should admire that beautiful container and they see that you really love the mitzvos, which means you love Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You’re trying to aggrandize Him, to glorify Him.
\n\n\n\nI and He
\n\n\n\nWhatever you use for a mitzvah to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it should be beautiful. That’s certainly a good idea. Certainly that\u2019s a way of glorifying Him. It’s true and it’s included in this vow that our fathers made.
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re going to see now a different explanation of the oath that we took to glorify the Name of Hashem \u2013 we’re going to hear from Abba Shaul who was an expert in explaining the words of the Torah. And in Mesichta Shabbos (133b) he comes along and gives a twist to these words.
\n\n\n\n\u05d0\u05d1\u05d0 \u05e9\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05de\u05e8 \u2013 Abba Shaul says, what does veanveihu mean? So he makes a play on words and he says \u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc can be read like this: \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u2013 \u201cI and He.\u201d It means, \u201cI am going to be like Him.\u201d It’s a play on words. Anveihu, I will beautify Him, means \u201cI’m going to be like Hashem.\u201d
\n\n\n\nA New Perspective on Drush
\n\n\n\nNow let’s explain that. Because most people, when they learn this Gemara they take it to mean that it\u2019s not the real pshat. It seems like the pshat says one thing, that you have to glorify Hashem and along comes the drash and says ani vehu, resemble Him.
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re going away from the pshat of \u201cI’ll beautify Him; I’ll glorify Him,\u201d and now we\u2019re saying something else \u2013 \u201cI’ll emulate Him; I’ll follow in His ways and adopt His characteristics.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWe understand that v\u2019anveihu really means \u201cI will make Him beautiful\u201d only that Abba Shaul is going away from the plain meaning of \u201cI’ll glorify Him\u201d and he’s putting an entirely different meaning into the words.
\n\n\n\nBut we must know a general principle about the words of chazal, that in most cases their drash is actually the omek hapshat, it\u2019s the profound pshat. If you analyze the plain meaning more deeply, you’ll see that it includes what the chachomim tell us. Abba Shaul is not forsaking the real pshat, he\u2019s not contradicting the first meaning; he\u2019s giving an insight, a more delicate insight, into the original meaning.
\n\n\n\nShirley, Gary and Barry
\n\n\n\nAnd so we’ll explain the principle as follows. It\u2019s a fact of human nature that when you look up to somebody, when you admire somebody, you tend to imitate that person. Don\u2019t we see in everyday society that the poor try to ape the rich? They do whatever they can to resemble the ones they admire.
\n\n\n\nThat’s why fifty years ago all Jewish girls in America were named Shirley. At that time there was an actress called Shirley \u2013 I don\u2019t want to say her last name; it\u2019s too much honor for her \u2013 and so, all over the country women came home from the theater and told their husbands that when they have their baby girl they\u2019re going to take to themselves the great honor of giving their daughter the name of that actress. You walked on the street and all you heard was Shirley, Shirley, Shirley. Everybody was a Shirley.
\n\n\n\nThere was an actor named Gary so a whole generation of Jewish boys became Gary. Then came an actor named Barry, and a whole generation of Jewish boys became Barry.
\n\n\n\nNow, lehavdil, people who aren\u2019t so dumb, if you\u2019re not a dumb American, so you emulate better people. But that\u2019s the nature of Man; he\u2019ll imitate what he admires.
\n\n\n\nLubavitcher \u2018Spodik\u2019s
\n\n\n\nYou know all the Lubavitchers wear their brim turned down. Why? Because the Rebbe has a brim turned down.Their rebbe wears a hat with the brim down in front so all the chassidim have the same fashion.
\n\n\n\nNot only Lubavitch. All chassidim try to look like their rebbe; everywhere. That’s why when the movement of chassidus began, all the chassidim when they dressed up for Shabbos, they looked like their rebbes. It wasn’t merely a matter of pretending to be what they weren’t. They looked up to the rebbe. It’s a compliment to their rebbe. If you love your rebbe, you want to look like him.
\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s one of the great things you find by the chassidim. Every chossid tries to look like a talmid chacham and a rebbe. Why? Because that\u2019s his ideal. He looks up to them.
\n\n\n\nRebbe Becomes a Trucker
\n\n\n\nHere is a man, a truck driver. I saw it yesterday \u2013 he\u2019s driving a big Mehadrin truck and he comes out and he looks like a chassidishe rebbe. You see that all the time! What\u2019s that about? A rebbe driving a truck?! It\u2019s not a rebbe who is a truck driver. It\u2019s a truck driver who\u2019s trying to be a rebbe because that\u2019s his ideal, that\u2019s who he looks up to.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s the biggest compliment you can give someone. If you’ll find somebody who is emulating you; he\u2019s dressing like you and adopting your mannerisms, you must realize that that’s a very big compliment. The fact that someone considers your ways worthy of imitation is a demonstration that he admires you. In fact, it’s the biggest compliment you can give someone. When people emulate you, it’s because they admire you.
\n\n\n\nNation of Copycats
\n\n\n\nAnd so, along comes Abba Shaul and he tells us, \u201cYou want to aggrandize Hashem? You want to fulfill your promise of v\u2019anveihu, of making Him beautiful and great? The best way is ani v\u2019Hu! I and Him! I\u2019m going to be like Him.
\n\n\n\nThat, says Abba Shaul, is the plain pshat of veanveihu. It still means \u201cI\u2019m going to beautify Him.\u201d But how will I do it? How am I going to glorify Him? Ani vehu, I’ll try to be like Him. By trying to be like He is, by imitating Him. In all the middos, all the qualities of character which are described about Hakodosh Boruch Hu in the Torah, I will try to emulate Him.
\n\n\n\nEmulating Baboons and Serpents
\n\n\n\nAnd the Jewish nation did that! Josephus testifies to that. Josephus, you should know, was not a darshan \u2014 he wasn’t a very frum Jew either \u2014 but he had the good sense to understand this.\u201cWe have a G-d that\u2019s perfect,\u201d he writes, \u201cand therefore our nation follows His attitudes.\u201d
\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s speaking there about the nations of the world and he says,\u201cThe gods of the nations have all the vices and the worshippers have adopted those vices.\u201d The gods of Rome and Greece were known to him and they were invested with every kind of wickedness and this was imitated by their worshippers.
\n\n\n\nThe Egyptians worshiped the baboon, he said, and so all people in Egypt emulate the baboon. A baboon is jumping up and down in a cage and the people come and bow down; soon they begin acting like baboons. You became like your god; it\u2019s human nature.
\n\n\n\nThey worshiped the serpent too \u2014 they admired him and so it’s natural that they began adopting his mannerisms and they became serpents in their behavior. Josephus said that; he says the people admired their gods and they acquired the qualities of these animals.
\n\n\n\nBecoming Perfect and Glorious
\n\n\n\nBut the Am Yisroel, says Josephus, they have the perfect G-d, the G-d with all the exceptional qualities, the most perfect of qualities, and because they emulated the One true Hashem, that’s why they acquired exceptional qualities of character.
\n\n\n\nJosephus made that statement. It\u2019s a remarkable thing for a politician to say. But he said it because he\u2019s saying what was well known and famous among the Jewish people. It was an ideal. Unfortunately, a lot of Jews today never heard of it, even frum Jews. It\u2019s an ideal for a Jew to study the Ways of Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd it became our ideal, a national ideal, on that day when our forefathers stood at the Yam Suf and they said together, \u201c\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc!We\u2019re so full of gratitude to You Hashem that we take upon ourselves to forever make Your name beautiful and glorious.\u201d
\n\n\n\nImitation As Flattery
\n\n\n\nNow, when we want to glorify Hashem, there are various things we could do \u2014 you can aggrandize Him by beautifying His mitzvos; you can sing His praises wherever you go and; that\u2019s all wonderful, very good \u2014 but the best way to glorify Hashem is by trying to emulate His middos. Ani v\u2019Hu! I will resemble Him! That\u2019s worth more than all the words in the world.
\n\n\n\nYou want to elevate Hashem? You want to glorify Him? Study His middos as described in the Torah and imitate them. That\u2019s the vow of our forefathers \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u2013 I and He. \u05d4\u05b2\u05d5\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013 be like Him. Strive to resemble Hashem! If you want to really glorify Hashem then you\u2019ll demonstrate it by imitating His ways and practicing them in your own life.
\n\n\n\nBecoming Something
\n\n\n\nAnd so we begin to understand now how vital, how urgent, is the function of transforming our personality by emulating the perfect ways of Hashem. It\u2019s not only the way to be successful in this world, the way to be happy and get along with others. Even an Irishman should try to change his character if he wants to live successfully, if he wants to stay married and keep his job. If he wants to get along with his neighbors he\u2019ll do that.
\n\n\n\nBut we\u2019re not talking about that now. It\u2019s much more than that. For us, perfecting our character means we\u2019re fulfilling the oath that the Am Yisroel made to Hashem on that day He saved us from destruction. And that’s why the subject of transformation of character among Jews is one of the major forms of avodas Hashem. It\u2019s because you\u2019re becoming something, a me’ein of the middos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
\n\n\n\nPesukei D\u2019Zimra at Breakfast
\n\n\n\nSo here’s a man full of praise to Hashem. He comes to shul and he\u2019s holding his gartel and he\u2019s saying Az Yashir, b\u2019kol rom, out loud. He\u2019s shaking and he’s praising Hashem, \u201c\u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc.\u201d He says it with a special niggun too. Woohoo! It\u2019s beautiful!
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s how it should be! It doesn’t say \u05d0\u05b8\u05d6 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4. Chazal say: \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e0\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u2013 it doesn’t say they sang, \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05e8 \u2013 that they’re going to sing. Which means forever and ever. He saved us on that day from destruction.It was a great experience that we\u2019ll never stop singing about. \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 We promise we\u2019re going to sing Your praises forever.
\n\n\n\nBut what happens after davening? This man comes home and he\u2019s frustrated. \u201cWhere\u2019s my breakfast?!\u201d He’s impatient, he’s angry.
\n\n\n\nOooh! That man is not really praising Hashem. Of course he is, but he\u2019s not thinking about what he\u2019s saying \u2013 he’s just putting on a show when he’s in shul.
\n\n\n\nYou know when you praise Hashem? When you come home and you emulate Him. That\u2019s what you were saying in shul anyhow \u2013 \u201cThis is my Keil and I will make Him great by means of imitating His ways.\u201d
\n\n\n\nMake The Compliment Real
\n\n\n\nSo on the way home from shul, he\u2019s thinking, \u201cWhat do I know about Hashem? Well, I know He\u2019s an erech apayim.\u201d Everybody remembers that. Some people say that in Tachanun. \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u2013 He\u2019s long patient. Patience, that’s a great middah of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. If He wasn’t patient with us, we wouldn’t be around here anymore. He\u2019s always giving us another chance, and another chance and another chance. \u201cHe\u2019s \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd! And that means I have to be erech apayim too!\u201d
\n\n\n\nI’m sure you didn\u2019t think about this much \u2013 well, you should start thinking about it now. That’s what we promised at Kriyas Yam Suf \u2013 \u201cI’ll be like Him, I’ll emulate Him”. And it\u2019s not enough merely to say \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc, I decided to be like Hashem. I\u2019ll sign the contract, the commitment. No. If you sign a contract but you cannot produce then it’s not a good signature. To sign a contract means you have to make up your mind you’re going to work on your character.
\n\n\n\nSohe comes into the house and he\u2019s thinking, \u201cJust like Hashem is patient, \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05e4\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd, I’ll be patient.\u201d Oh! That’s \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc \u2013 I’m praising Him; that’s the praise of Hashem. Merely saying praises, that\u2019s cheap \u2013 it\u2019s words flowing out of your mouth that don’t mean anything. But imitating, that\u2019s a real praise, that’s a real compliment \u2013 it\u2019s worth all the words in the world.
\n\n\n\nAt Home and At the Grocery
\n\n\n\nSo when you get married and your wife is bothersome; let’s say she talks a lot \u2013 you’ll be patient. A wife has to be patient with her husband. Sometimes he\u2019s wild. So you\u2019re looking at him and you\u2019re thinking, \u201cAni v\u2019Hu \u2013 I\u2019m going to be like Him. I\u2019m going to keep my mouth closed and be patient.\u201d You\u2019re patient with everybody at home; the children, the neighbors.
\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re a rebbe of talmidim and one talmid is fresh and you have a yetzer hora, you want to throw him out; no, be patient. If you’re dealing with customers, you\u2019ll be patient. Here\u2019s a grocer and a child brings back an open can of sardines, \u201cMy mother didn\u2019t mean this kind of sardines. She wanted a different kind.\u201d
\n\n\n\nCould be he\u2019s boiling. What will he do with that open can? It\u2019s for the garbage. But the grocer is quiet and takes it back. Now it could be he does it because he knows customers are too valuable to throw away \u2013 better to throw away the sardines \u2013 so he keeps quiet. But he should add another thought \u2013 more important than customers is the oath he\u2019s trying to keep.
\n\n\n\nThe Oath Keepers Study
\n\n\n\nNow, to keep that oath, you first have to learn about His ways and that’s a task. You have to learn it. Without learning you won’t know.
\n\n\n\nAnd so, one of our most important functions in life is that we have to look all the time with our eyes to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to see what we should be emulating. Now you have to know where to look. How do you look? If you sit on the street and look at the sky, you won’t see anything.
\n\n\n\nIf you don’t look at the Torah, then you wouldn’t know. It\u2019s only those people who are accustomed to the derochim of Hashem as revealed in the Tanach, in the seforim, these people become imbued with these ideas.In the Torah you’ll look and you’ll learn all the Ways of Hashem. You have to put your mind to it for that purpose, however. Otherwise, you’ll never see it.
\n\n\n\nStealing and Studying
\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a boy learning Bava Kamma and he’s learning all about the dinim of nezikin. He has a good head. He’s sitting, learning from a Gemara learning Perek Merubah about the dinim of stealing, about how a ganav has to pay kefel.
\n\n\n\nBut you take a look. You see his Gemara. This Gemara that he’s learning from, where is it taken from? He stole it from a synagogue. He’s learning about stealing but the Gemara is a stolen Gemara.
\n\n\n\nA true story by the way. He stole it from my synagogue. I said to him, \u201cLook, you’re learning merubah but that Gemara comes from my shul. Who gave you permission to take it? You’re chayav kefel already for stealing. And even though you’ll return the Gemara, al pi din you have to pay two Gemaras if there are witnesses against you.”
\n\n\n\nAnd so you see that it’s possible for people to look with their eyes in the sefer and not see anything.
\n\n\n\nJob of A Jew
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore when you look in the chumash, you have to look with a purpose, with intention. We have to make it an ideal to read the Torah and the Gemara. The Gemara is full of it, the darkei Hashem. Only when you’re not interested in that, you’re not going to see it. You’ll see everything else but that. You’ll see the dinim of kefel, the dinim of daled v\u2019hei and you’ll learn the Tosfos, you’ll learn meforshim too, and sometimes you’ll say a good pshetl yourself but you’re missing the entire point because you’re not looking to learn the darchei Hashem.
\n\n\n\nOnly if you\u2019re looking to see the Ways of Hashem in order to emulate them, that\u2019s how you\u2019ll find them. If you start looking, you’ll find the Torah is full of the Ways of Hashem, constantly.
\n\n\n\nAnd once you begin seeing His Ways you must have a plan; how am I going to put them into practice. You might have to find teachers. There are eitzos. There are schemes. There are strategies. There are tricks to make it easier. There are many seforim \u2013 in English too \u2013 many seforim. Tomer Devorah, Cheshbon Hanefesh, Orchos Tzadikim. So many. But whatever it is you must start a career of working on your character and transforming your personality. That’s the great job that a Jew has to do.
\n\n\n\nSpare Five Minutes
\n\n\n\nI remember in Slabodka Yeshiva we learned these seforim. In the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe, many learned these seforim. Every day there was a half hour of mussar in those yeshivas. And the mussar seforim were put on the table and each student chose one according to his interest. And among those seforim was a Tomer Devorah and Cheshbon Hanefesh. Generations and generations of young idealistic men studied these seforim and to some extent they profited; some more, some less. There\u2019s no question everybody would profit if this was incorporated in the curriculum of yeshivas and Beis Yankevs today. No question about it.
\n\n\n\nBut we can\u2019t wait for that; everyone has this one life to try and become what our shevuah requires us to become. It takes some time, some practice and effort, but that\u2019s included in what we undertook to fulfill. Five minutes a day you can\u2019t put into fulfilling the oath that we took on that great day of salvation?
\n\n\n\nYou should know that there were wise men even among the gentiles who gave this avodah much more than five minutes. There was one wise goy, a true story, who every Saturday night he told his family that he was going into a room by himself; \u201cPlease don’t disturb me\u201d he said. Every Saturday night he spent time reflecting on his life. A true story \u2013 in recent history.
\n\n\n\nAll About The Benjamin
\n\n\n\nI’ll tell you something else. A different goy that you know by name, Benjamin Franklin, spent a great deal of time thinking about himself; he made a calendar and on the calendar he put certain attitudes that he wanted to work on. Patience, humility, guarding his speech.
\n\n\n\nNow, Benjamin Franklin wasn\u2019t trying to emulate Hashem; he wasn\u2019t thinking about that. Only that he wanted to live successfully. And so he identified thirteen virtues and he worked on one per week. And he had a calendar worked out according to the year and four times a year he repeated it. By the end of the year he repeated all thirteen qualities of character four times. It was the thirteen virtues; thirteen weeks, and he repeated it four times each year, thinking and trying to train himself in these virtues. So you see there were sensible people, goyim, who worked on themselves and they gained prudence; they gained insight into themselves.
\n\n\n\nBut a Torah Jew stands to gain much more than Benjamin Franklin if he puts time away for such a project. A Jew who follows this way in life will grow infinitely greater than even the best gentile because he\u2019s not merely preparing for living righteously in this world, for getting along with others; he\u2019s doing infinitely more than that.
\n\n\n\nFulfilling the Oath
\n\n\n\nHe\u2019s fulfilling this great shevuah that our forefathers made at Har Sinai, of \u05d6\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e7\u05b5\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05d5\u05b5\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc, this is my Hashem and I’m going to glorify Him, I’ll beautify Him. It’s a very important oath and the Jewish people throughout their history attempt to fulfill it. \u201cWe\u2019re alive only because of You Hashem and we promise that we\u2019ll spend our days making you great in this world.\u201d
\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re singing Your praises all the time! \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b5\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd \u05e7\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5. We try to advertise Hashem to everybody. We teach Hashem to our little children. Children should know Hashem is giving them bread. He’s giving them ice cream. He’s giving them candy. \u201cHashem gave you the candy,\u201d we tell our children. We have to tell ourselves too! \u201cMake a bracha; thank Hashem constantly.\u201d You have to remind yourself and your children, baruch atah Hashem, constantly you have to remind yourself about Hashem.
\n\n\n\nAnd hisnaeh lifanav bamitzvos. We\u2019ll make everything connected to Him as beautiful as we can. But most importantly, we can never lose sight of what Abba Shaul taught us. We swore on that day, \u201cAni v\u2019Hu! We are going to resemble You!\u201d That\u2019s the greatest praise of Hashem, that we want to be like Him.
\n\n\n\nHave A Wonderful Shabbos
\n\n\n\nFulfilling The Oath of Salvation
\n\n\n\nWhen our people were saved from certain ruination at Yam Suf, we sang enthusiastically. And we accepted an oath of Anveihu – I shall glorify Him. We glorify Him by praising Him at all times to everyone who will listen, but especially to ourselves. We beautify Him and anything connected to His service.
\n\n\n\nIt follows that we do everything we can to emulate Him. This week I will bli neder dedicate five minutes each day to studying about one of Hashem\u2019s ways and endeavoring to emulate him.
\nThe post Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T01:13:38+00:00", "date_modified": "2023-01-11T15:14:19+00:00" }, { "id": 31723, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/parshas-beshalach-5-emulating-him/", "title": "Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him", "content_html": "TA-Beshalach-5782The post Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T01:12:11+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T01:12:13+00:00" }, { "id": 31715, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/easyprint-parshas-beshalach-5-emulating-him/", "title": "[EasyPrint] Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him", "content_html": "TA-Beshalach-5782-EasyPrintThe post [EasyPrint] Parshas Beshalach 5 – Emulating Him appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-09T01:11:36+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-09T01:11:38+00:00" }, { "id": 31711, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9f-%d7%a8%d7%92-%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%a9-%d7%a4%d7%90%d7%a8%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%a2%d7%a0%d7%a2-%d7%a0%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%90%d7%a9/", "title": "\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d2: \u05e2\u05e0\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e9, \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d9\u05d0\u05e9\u05e7\u05e2", "content_html": "\u05e8-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05e2\u05e0\u05d8\u05e4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d8-203The post \u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df \u05e8”\u05d2: \u05e2\u05e0\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05e9, \u05e4\u05d0\u05e8\u05dc\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d9\u05d0\u05e9\u05e7\u05e2 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-06T21:14:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-20T18:48:26+00:00" }, { "id": 31704, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%a4%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9a-%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%9b%d7%a0%d7%95-%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%91%d7%a0%d7%95/", "title": "\u05d5\u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05d9\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5", "content_html": "\nWe stand in supplication\u00a0“\u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da”, \u201cbefore You\u201d, for our Emunah and trust is only in You. May it be in this merit of our trust in You that our tefillos be answered and we not be turned away empty-handed. Furthermore, by turning only to You we demonstrate that only You are\u00a0“\u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5”, \u201cour King\u201d. For this as well, for the sake of the honor of the King, we ask that we not be put to shame and be turned back with nothing,\u00a0empty-handed, with not even a part of our request fulfilled.
\nThe post \u05d5\u05de\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05dc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05e9\u05d9\u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-06T18:06:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-06T18:06:37+00:00" }, { "id": 31698, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-a-girls-checklist/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on A Girl\u2019s Checklist", "content_html": "\n
Q:
What should a girl seek in a boy as far as shidduchim are concerned?
A:
He has to be first of all, not a modern boy. And I mean that seriously. If he’s a modern boy then he’s a boy to whom divorce is an adventure. You need an old-fashioned boy. Old-fashioned means a boy who was brought up with the idea that marriage is for keeps. A ben Torah is the best bet.
And you have to look for a boy with sterling qualities. Now if you look for a dashing boy, a romantic boy, you’re making a big mistake. Because if you think he’s romantic, he knows it more than you do. It means he\u2019s in front of the looking glass. He appreciates himself more than you do. And that’s a dangerous boy to marry.
\n\n\n\nIt doesn’t mean you should marry an ugly boy, but you must look for sterling qualities. And you are going to be the last one to discover it. Love is blind. You won’t realize who he is at all. And so you have to have your brother get busy on the job. Your brother is the one who is least enamored of him. Your brother can see him more readily than you’ll ever see him in a hundred years.
\n\n\n\nYour father should call up the mashgiach of the yeshivah. I told you once how to work it. When your father calls up the mashgiach and the mashgiach says he’s a nice boy so forget about it. If the mashgiach is excited, if he sounds very excited, so subtract 75% and think, \u201cMaybe I should consider it.\u201d Ish lefi mehalalo \u2014 a person can be judged according to the way people get excited about him.
So the boy should have character. Now, the problem is that girls don’t marry for that. Girls don’t know about character. And boys don’t either. A boy wrote me a letter once from Eretz Yisrael. He’s going out with a girl. \u201cAh,\u201d he said, \u201cher middos! Ah! Ah! The best!\u201d He married her. Six months later I got another letter. He said, \u201cAy yay yay, Rebbi, the tzaros I have from her!\u201d
The answer is the middos he never saw; he\u2019s not the judge. He can\u2019t be the judge! For middos in a girl, ask your mother or your sister. They may not know either, but they can more easily discover.
\n\n\n\nAlso he must be healthy. If he’s a sad fellow, watch out for him. A sad fellow; it could be he’s a pensive thinker but it could be he’s a mental case. And a sad girl, beware. Beware of sad girls. It could be they’re full of thought but you have to find out because there’s a lot of mental illness, chalilah, a lot of mental illness in the world. And you have to ascertain who the boy is and the history of the mental health of the family. It’s important.
\n\n\n\nYou must also try to discover his level of intellect. It’s not easy for you, but that’s important too because the fellow who is of inferior intellectual ability will have to take inferior places in life.
If you want a ba’al kishron, you must make up your mind that you’re going to pressure your parents for big money. Because boys with abilities want to learn. They want to make progress in learning, and they must be supported to do so. You’re not marrying an old talmid chacham of forty. You’re marrying a youngster, and a youngster is not a talmid chacham yet. He can’t be yet. So he needs years and years of help. If you want anybody good, you must make up your mind that it’s going to cost money. Throw away the foolish old-fashioned ideas that you’ll marry for love. Because for love you’ll get a bum. A good boy costs money. And it’s not considered mercenary. Girls, don’t feel it’s beneath you to have to spend a lot of money on getting a good chosson.
Now sometimes you can spend a lot of money and get nothing. This happens frequently. But good things usually entail some sacrifices.
\n\n\n\nNow there’s a lot more to say on this subject, but I’ll sum up. You need someone who is solid in his attitude towards marriage, who is conservative, someone who is a ben Torah, who has good physical and mental health and also a family history of good physical and mental health. He should have good character \u2013 of which you cannot be the judge. You must have experts. You must inquire; not you \u2013 your brother or your father should inquire. And the mashgiach has to be very enthusiastic about him if he\u2019s going to be worth anything at all. And you should be ready to sacrifice to get somebody of high caliber.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 48 (January 1974)
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on A Girl\u2019s Checklist appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T22:41:01+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-05T22:41:04+00:00" }, { "id": 31694, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-dealing-with-a-mechalel-shabbos/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With A Mechalel Shabbos", "content_html": "\n
Q:
If someone is mechalel Shabbos in his business despite urging by others to close his store, should we nevertheless treat him as an equal or should we disdain him until he gives in?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, you\u2019re dealing with a patient, a sick person, and you have to see what\u2019s effective for him . You have to treat him with wisdom. Of course, in your heart, there\u2019s no question what you think. A person who is mechalel Shabbos, \u05d4\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05db\u05e2\u05db\u05d5”\u05dd, he\u2019s like a gentile. A mechalel Shabbos is \u05db\u05e2\u05d5\u05d1\u05d3 \u05e2\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d6\u05e8\u05d4, he\u2019s like an idolater. He\u2019s a lost soul. There\u2019s nothing to talk about! There\u2019s nothing to debate!
\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s not the proper way to show that to him if you intend to continue your efforts. Therefore you must do whatever is necessary.
\n\n\n\nNow that doesn\u2019t mean that when he comes let\u2019s say into the congregation that you should be according him the same deference that you\u2019ll give to a decent, frum Jew. You can\u2019t do that. But you can treat him with wisdom, why not?
\n\n\n\nBut whatever you do, however you treat him, in your mind you have to know that a mechalel Shabbos is a very ruined and broken person. No question about it. And you shouldn\u2019t have any doubts where he stands in your mind.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 320
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing With A Mechalel Shabbos appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T22:38:39+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-05T22:38:41+00:00" }, { "id": 31692, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9d/", "title": "\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd", "content_html": "\n\u2018Tefillah\u2019, \u2018prayer\u2019, denotes intensity of thought (Breishis 48:11); when a person prays, he must deeply consider and contemplate the matters between Him and his Creator: what does he desire of the Creator, and what teshuvah and good deeds must he do in order to gain His favor. Tachanunim, on the other hand, do not necessarily require deep thought, rather they are the expression of a man\u2019s powerful desire to find\u00a0\u05d7\u05df, favor, in the eyes of Hashem, even if he is undeserving.
\nThe post \u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T22:36:29+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-05T22:36:31+00:00" }, { "id": 31690, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%9b%d7%99-%d7%90-%d7%9c-%d7%a9%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a2-%d7%aa%d7%a4%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%95%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%a0%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%94/", "title": "\u05db\u05d9 \u05d0-\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 (\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd) \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4", "content_html": "\n“\u05d0-\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2…\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4”\u00a0\u2013 only\u00a0You, Hashem, are the \u2018G-d Who hears\u2019; the gods of the nations are completely lifeless and cannot hear any prayers at all. When we say\u00a0\u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2, we mean not only that Hashem \u2018hears\u2019, but also that He is\u00a0willing\u00a0to hear and that He\u00a0desires\u00a0to hear the prayers and entreaties of His beloved people Yisroel.
\nThe post \u05db\u05d9 \u05d0-\u05dc \u05e9\u05d5\u05de\u05e2 (\u05ea\u05e4\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05ea\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd) \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T22:35:23+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-05T22:35:25+00:00" }, { "id": 31677, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/preguntas-y-respuestas-numero-17/", "title": "Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 17", "content_html": "Preguntas-y-respuestas-Numero-17The post Preguntas y respuestas – N\u00famero 17 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-05T04:45:17+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-05T04:45:19+00:00" }, { "id": 31672, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%90-3/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0", "content_html": "\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea-\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8-\u05d1\u05d0-\u05ea\u05e9\u05e4\u05d1The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-04T20:22:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-04T20:22:45+00:00" }, { "id": 31666, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%aa%d7%a9%d7%a4%d7%91/", "title": "\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1", "content_html": "\u05d1\u05d0The post \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea \u05d1\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e9\u05e4”\u05d1 appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-03T04:53:58+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-03T04:54:00+00:00" }, { "id": 31657, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-seeking-help-by-the-chachomim/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Seeking Help By The Chachomim", "content_html": "\n
Q:
In one of your talks, you discredited the idea of going to psychologists because they are not Torah based. What alternative is there for one with emotional problems?
A:
\n\n\n\nWhat alternative can I offer instead of going to psychologists?
\n\n\n\nNow if a psychologist is a ben Torah, so despite the fact that he studied psychology, he is capable of giving advice.
\n\n\n\nHowever if you are seeking someone who is free of psychology, it was mentioned here already once that you should look for an old Chassidishe rebbe. Not a big one because he has no time for you, but a small local old Chassidishe rebbe because he\u2019s accustomed to dealing with people.
\n\n\n\nIf you can get an old rosh yeshiva to bother with you \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have any time, that\u2019s the problem \u2013 that\u2019s the best thing. An old rosh yeshiva, he knows human nature.
\n\n\n\nBut all talmidei chachamim, those are the ones who will best advise you.
\n\n\n\nHowever, I spoke about this already. They\u2019re not going to waste much time on you because they have other things to do. So you have to find ways and means of inducing them because they have to dole out their time to many people and they can\u2019t sit down for one hour with you. So you have to find ways and means of inducing them.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 104
\n\n\n\nQ:
It has often been mentioned here that there’s a danger in seeing psychologists and psychiatrists. Where should frum people go for help with their emotional problems?
A:
\n\n\n\nNow this has been mentioned a number of times. Boruch Hashem we are an am chacham v\u2019navon. The Jewish nation is blessed with talmidei chachomim. There are people who have a lot of experience in dealing with others. There are bnei Torah; there are a lot of roshei yeshiva. If you live in Brooklyn you are especially privileged and there is no lack of people to whom you can go.
\n\n\n\nNow, it doesn’t mean that you have to take up their time to sit a whole hour with them. These people can tell you in a few minutes what you need to know. Now, who do I recommend? I’m not going to molest any good man and have a landslide on him; but boruch Hashem there are very many.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 154
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Seeking Help By The Chachomim appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-02T22:19:34+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-02T22:19:37+00:00" }, { "id": 31653, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-women-gemara-and-gan-eden/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on Women, Gemara and Gan Eden", "content_html": "\nQ:
Why is it that it is not right for women to learn gemara?
A:
\n\n\n\nAnd the answer is, very simple. Because there is a very important principle in life and nobody should be a wise guy about it; everybody should fear what this ma\u2019amar says: \u05dc\u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05d7\u05e7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd – Keep far away from women. You just can\u2019t help it. It\u2019s human nature. And women should keep far away from man. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e2\u05d1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d4 \u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d7 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05e9 \u2014 You have to run away from sin like you flee from fire.
\n\n\n\nNow, if a man will open a gemara and somebody, a female, passes by and she says, \u201cDo you know, I have a kasha over here,\u201d and they get into a discussion, he should know he is playing with fire. It starts out with Gemara and it ends up with Gehenim.
\n\n\n\nAnd not only that; even Mesilas Yesharim \u2014 let\u2019s say you want to learn Mesilas Yesharim with a woman together, it is a messila that goes straight down into shiva medurei gehenim; there is no question about it. You can\u2019t help yourself. Not because you are a sinful person; that is how Hakodosh Boruch Hu created the world.
\n\n\n\nTherefore, since people have to learn gemara and if women would do the same it would cause a very great, a very, very great disaster in the world, so Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, \u201cLadies, you want to learn? Learn chumash.\u201d It is a very important subject chumash; so you stick to chumash and people who learn chumash they wouldn\u2019t bother with you because the men usually go on to other things. Or if you want, you can learn tanach. You can learn things; there is plenty to learn. Just stay away from gemara because gemara is something that men have to do.
Now, I will explain a little more. Gemara takes up a big part of your spare time and women can\u2019t afford to give all that time because women work all day long. A man\u2019s work is from sunrise to sunset usually, or from nine to five, but a woman\u2019s work is all around the clock; they have to raise up families and they can\u2019t afford to sit at the gemara \u2013 otherwise what would happen to the family? And therefore whenever they get a chance, when they get a little crack in their schedule, they can get in something if they wish; there are plenty of good things to learn. But gemara, anybody who knows anything about gemara knows that it takes up a great deal of your time.
And therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu says to the women: \u201cYou will get reward in the next world for having beautiful children with good derech eretz and frum and as many as you can have.\u201d And Hakodosh Boruch Hu will reward you; you will be a millionaire in the next world. Your husband is going to be jealous of you. You lived such a contentment-filled ride through existence \u2013 you had no problems. The \u2018only\u2019 problem is to raise your family in a kosher way. Of course keep your mouth closed too; don\u2019t talk too much \u2013 but that applies to everybody.
\n\n\n\n\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d8\u05d7\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea\u05e0\u05d4\u00a0\u05dc\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd –\u00a0How great is the promise that Hashem gave to women.\u00a0He promises it to them more easily; they go to Gan Eden more readily than men. Whereas men have various kinds of problems; they fight sometimes over kavod \u2013 glory, who is a bigger lamdan. Oh yes!\u00a0Competition in business, competition in the bais haknesses. Each one wants to be elected president and gabbai;\u00a0all kinds of things happen among men. But the women are excused from that kind of competitive life.\u00a0
\n\n\n\nAnd therefore it\u2019s not so easy to be a man. The only reason we make the bracha of shelo asani ishah, I always say, is because a man has pockets in his suit; women don\u2019t have pockets. It\u2019s such a blessing to have pockets! So when you have pockets that\u2019s why you can say shelo asani ishah \u2013 \u201cBoruch Hashem, I have pockets!
\n\n\n\nTAPE # 947
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on Women, Gemara and Gan Eden appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-02T22:15:45+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-02T22:15:46+00:00" }, { "id": 31649, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-how-to-overcome-a-bad-habit/", "title": "Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Overcome A Bad Habit", "content_html": "\nQ:
Someone who has a nature to come late, what’s an eitzah to improve himself?
A:
\n\n\n\nFirst of all, if he comes late because he goes to sleep late and he gets up late, so the first thing is to go to sleep early. He must get enough sleep. You must get sleep! And after a good night\u2019s sleep, have an alarm clock to wake you up.
\n\n\n\nNow, in case it doesn’t help, make a neder. Listen to me; make a neder that the first time you’ll come late will cost you $50 for a yeshivah that you don’t like. Just one time. Not forever. Just that the first time you come late you\u2019ll have to make a $50 donation to the yeshiva. You’ll keep on putting off the first time. You’re getting up in the morning for $50. If chas v\u2019shalom you are oiver, so it costs you $50 that week.
\n\n\n\nThen make another neder. The first time it happens again, another $50. Little by little I guarantee you’ll stop coming late.
\n\n\n\nTAPE # E-231
\nThe post Rav Avigdor Miller on How To Overcome A Bad Habit appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-02T22:09:48+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-02T22:09:50+00:00" }, { "id": 31647, "url": "https://old.torasavigdor.org/tefillah-inspiration-crying-out/", "title": "Tefillah Inspiration: Crying Out", "content_html": "\nCrying out to Hashem
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the olden days, Jews would scream out in Tefillah to Hashem. Today, many people prefer to daven simply & quietly. But they\u2019re mistaken; they\u2019re really thinking, \u201cHashem, what can I lose? I\u2019ll ask You too.
\n\n\n\nWhen one recognizes that Hashem is the only One Who can help him, he cries out.
\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s what the B\u2019nei Yisroel did in Mitzrayim. They trusted only in Hashem, and they cried out to Him. In public, of course, one must daven at a lower volume; but still, he must cry out to Hashem, at least in his mind. One who cries out to Hashem will begin to gain the awareness that Hashem is the only One who can truly help him.
\nThe post Tefillah Inspiration: Crying Out appeared first on Toras Avigdor.
\n", "date_published": "2022-01-02T18:48:54+00:00", "date_modified": "2022-01-02T18:48:56+00:00" } ] }![image.png](\"https://old.torasavigdor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image.png\"){kind=link}