What the Chofetz Chaim told his Daughter about the Arrival of the Mashiach

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - under 2 mins

Truth Be Told

 

The Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism  : the eighth hearing began yesterday and runs until August 14.  

A short clip of NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip’s cross-examination by Dominic Toomey, counsel for the Palestine Action Group (PAG), and counsel for the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) Ragni Mathur. Ossip provided evidence to the Royal Commission about the antisemitic protest organised by PAG outside the Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023, and its effect on the Jewish community.

The Shattered Vessel #2

 

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Instead of hiding the cracks, this method highlights them, treating breakage as an important part of the object's history.

Meaning "golden joinery" Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique that dates back to the late 15th century. It involves repairing broken pottery using lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. This practice reflects a deeper cultural belief that breakage and repair are part of an object's history, not something to disguise but to celebrate.

We should also celebrate our broken-ness and our repair.  Wear it like a badge of honour.  

Part 1 can be seen here

Reincarnation Before Mashaich: The Return of Holocaust Souls

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - video under 2 mins

For the Sake of Giving

נָתוֹן תִּתֵּן לוֹ וְלֹא יֵרַע לְבָבְךָ בְּתִתְּךָ לוֹ 
You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him [Re'eh 15:10]

A poor person appeared before he tzaddik R' Mendel of Rimanov.  He poured his heart out before R' Mendel, sparing no detail of his difficult situation.  The Rebbe gave the man a substantial sum of money. Then, as the man turned to leave, the Rebbe presented him with yet another coin.

''Why did the Rebbe give the man tzedakah twice?'' asked the Rebbe's family.

He answered: ''The first time I gave him it was out of sympathy, as I was very saddened by the severity of his predicament.  The second time, however, was purely for the sake of fulfilling the mitzvah of tzedakah.''

''We find an allusion to this in Scripture'', concluded R' Mendel.  ''For when the Torah tells us to give charity, it uses a repetitive expression ''Natan titein lo''.  This is to teach us that we should ''give and give again''.  

''The first time we give charity, it should be for the sake of ''lo yeira le vavecha'' - that our hearts should not be wicked against our friends.  We must learn to feel compassion in our hearts, then Heaven will have compassion toward us.

''The second time we give, however, we should do so purely for the sake of the mitzvah of giving - ''be titcha lo''.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

The Shattered Vessel

Before you can heal from sin, you must first be broken.

Then, it requires self-restraint/isolation in order to subdue the animal soul.

איסקפיא - Iskafya: suppression, self-restraint, subduing

Broken
First comes the shattering
Then the isolation
You must be hidden
from the world
To escape the ayin hara

To subdue the nefesh habehamis [the animal soul]
To retreat, heal and learn
The light comes down and illuminates
This can take years and years

To re-emerge, with the glory of the nefesh haElokis [the G-dly soul]

A transformation

The emergence from the cocoon

You are repaired

You are re-born

Whole again

The Epitome of Sheker

For Aidel bat Liba

Who to believe?  Every rabbi has a different scenario. 
Listen to one rabbi and have hope, listen to another and have despair.
Everyone is confused and truth is absent.

What is Sheker? שקר  Sheker is lies, deceit.    Even the letters are out of order from their correct listing in the alef bet [ק-ר-ש].

“And that’s how Moshiach is going to be revealed. Moshiach needs to be revealed from the epitome of sheker, Moshiach and his people. They’re not going to be pulled by the sheker. The sheker wants to take everyone. The sheker says: ‘I didn’t say enough sheker. Maybe I’ll say a little bit more, maybe I’ll succeed in saying something else, a different way.’ the more falsehood there is, the more truth will be revealed in a clearer way.

These days you need to search very hard to find your own truth.  There is an abundance of Rabbis Impeding the Redemption.  There is an abundance of sheker.

I heard from my teacher and father-in-law, who was the chief disciple of Rebbe Yechiel Michal of Zlotchov, that once when the Baal Shem Tov was traveling on the road, he stepped into a wooded area to pray the afternoon prayer. His disciples were dumbfounded to see him hitting his head against a tree, crying and screaming. Afterward, they asked him what had happened. He explained that he had seen, with divine inspiration, that in the generations before the coming of the Moshiach there would be a multitude of rabbis, and that they would be the very ones who would impede the redemption. [Otzar Chayim]

Moon on Steroids

Friday night's moon was the most incredible thing I've ever seen.  It was coming up as I was walking down to my daughter's house, and it was very close, and it was HUGE.  According to Google, the full moon peaked on July 30, so by Friday night - July 31 - it had transitioned into a waning gibbous phase with roughly 96% to 97% - but it sure looked full to me.  

I have never seen the moon look so big.  I couldn't drag myself away from it.

This photo is the closest thing I could find to what I saw, but I was nowhere near this tower. in fact on Friday night, the moon was on the opposite side, it rose up over the cliffs in the Eastern Suburbs. I just wanted you to see the colour of it, and the size.  Of course photos don't do it justice, it was shining like the sun !  It was as big as the sun, and we know it appears to be the same size as the sun but we hardly ever get to see it that way.  It was glowing like an LED Chinese lantern.  

The most amazing thing I've ever seen.