No Revenge and No Worries

"You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your people" [Kedoshim 19:18]

There are times, said the Chofetz Chaim, that a man grows angry with a friend who did not do him a particular favor.  Such feelings are completely unjustified.

To what can this be compared?  To a man who was walking down the street, looking for his friend.  As he passed people in the street, he would ask them "Have you seen my friend perhaps?"

"Try looking for him in the town square," he was told.  "There are many people gathered there; maybe your friend will be among them."

He went to the town square, searched for his friend, yet he did not find him.

Would it even occur to him to feel anger toward those individuals who directed him to the town square?  Of course not! He realizes that he must simply continue his search.

The same thing applies to the prohibitions of taking revenge and bearing a grudge, said the Chofetz Chaim.  We are forbidden to feel anger towards a friend who did not do us a favor.  What reason can there be to be angry with him?  Hashem obviously did not designate him as the one who would bestow this particular kindness upon us.  We must simply turn to someone else, and place our request with him; perhaps he is the one who will be able to assist us. 

If a person accustoms himself to constantly thinking in this manner, he will never bear a grudge or feel the need to take revenge.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

No Intermediaries

What is a Rebbe? What does a mitzvah reveal?

A Rebbe is not an intermediary, we don't require an intermediary, we are already connected to Hashem.  So why do we need a Rebbe?  Rabbi Nochum Schapiro explains - 2 min video:

Is the Prophecy about Iran and Turkey Coming True?

Rav Ron Chaya

An ancient prophecy foretells a decisive war between Rome and Persia before the liberation. Yet, who are these powers today, and what role does Turkey play in this scenario? Indeed, certain geopolitical signs seem to correspond precisely to these millennia-old writings. Are we truly on the verge of experiencing the events that herald the coming of the Messiah?

[French with English subtitles.  If you make yourself a You Tube account, it remembers your settings, so as soon as you click on the "CC" your chosen language automatically appears in the sub-titles.  If you don't want to make a You Tube account, then you need to click on the Cog as well as the CC, and navigate to auto-translate and choose your language.]

Click here to watch on You Tube.

Moshiach's Coming, Climate Change and the Sun

H/t Anonymous commenter

Rabbi Sholom Zirkind

Understanding "the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be sevenfold" and "climate change" at the time of Moshiach.

The Three Blessings

Chassidus teaches that the Angel Michoel is responsible for bestowing the three blessings of  health, wealth and children.  Some people have all three, some people have only one of them, and some people have none at all.  The word ''children'' does not just refer to being blessed with having children, but also that the child grows up to be a mensch... that you receive nachas [loosely translated as pride and pleasure] from your children.

The Zohar teaches that if a Jewish woman covers her hair, she will be blessed with all three..... [Likutei Sichos, vol. 13, p. 188 Lubavitcher Rebbe]

.... unfortunately, these days, it is not always that simple.   Our souls are all reincarnations and our situations in this life are probably determined by our past lives and whatever needs to be atoned for and fixed in this life  [although for women, covering the hair is still a very good way to give yourself and your family extra blessing from Above].

Of course, Torah, Tefilla [prayer] and Tzedaka [charity] can improve all three blessings.

Wealth

There are two tests – for a wealthy person, his challenge is to not believe that he is the creator [of his wealth].

For the person in dire straits, it is to still believe.

Both can be educated through the “Ma-an” [manna - the daily seeds which fell, giving the Jews food during their duration in the desert].

For the wealthy person, the Ma-an was literally the Jews' sustenance  - for though people were famously wealthy – having taken the Egyptian wealth, nonetheless they were in a desert, and the Ma-an was their sole sustenance which forced them to daily look Heavenward.

In contrast, the Ma-an was miraculous in that if you took extra even for one day, it rotted [in other words, the poor person could appreciate that extra was actually not a blessing].

How To Unlock Divine Flow 

However, the key to unlock the Divine infinite flow is by setting aside one’s ego – acknowledging that everything is merely G-d’s kindness.

We find there is a commentary that explains that after Yitzchak gave Maaser [tithe] on the produce of his fields, he discovered that the same produce multiplied one hundred times.

In other words, what Hashem is coming to teach us is that from the reward of giving Maaser, man is blessed even a hundred times more. 

We can ask, if the ultimate reward is spirituality, and fulfilling unconditionally G-d’s will, why does the Torah promise physical rewards [as we learn in the Shema]?

Furthermore, why would it be so laudable that in the messianic era so many Divine miracles will create a miraculous physical abundance [such as “When you plant, things will grow” – “The taste of the tree’s bark will be like its fruit” – all indicating a world of complete physical pleasure]

The answer is that in truth, everything in the physical flows from the Torah.

Hence when a Jew engages in the Torah [as the Zohar teaches, “First G-d creates through Torah, then Jews maintain through its study”] so this manifests not only spiritually, but also physically.

In the era of Moshiach this flow will be apparent.

Sources: Lubavitcher Rebbe: Likutei Sichos 4 Page 1099; Likutei Sichos 5 Page 12; Likutei Sichos 37 Page 79; Kabbalah Wisdom 

The Year Melech haMoshiach Appears

Rabbi Yuval Ovadia

"We are living through the famous words in the Yalkut Shimoni, but many are asleep and do not realize.  We are living history: the past, the present and the future. This is the year that the King Moshiach appears! That's what the Midrash says, it is not me saying it!  This is an ancient Midrash which has been studied for thousands of years, studied, quoted and we have waited for it to come true. Because this Midrash speaks of a year in which the Moshiach will appear. It explicitly says it will be in that year!"

[In its section on the biblical Book of Isaiah and the prophecies contained therein, a Rabbi cited by the Yalkut Shimoni states]: 

“In the year Moshiach comes all the nations of the world will provoke each other and threaten with war. The king of Persia (Iran) will provoke the King of Arabia (Saudi Arabia) with war. The King of Arabia goes to Edom (The Western Countries, headed by USA) for advice. Then the King of Persia destroys the world. And all the nations of the world begin to panic and are afraid, and Israel too is afraid as to how to defend from this. G-d then says to them “Do not fear for everything that I have done is for your benefit, to destroy the evil kingdom of Edom and eradicate evil from this world so that the Messiah can come, your time of redemption is now.”

The rest of the video is Rabbi Ovadia explaining all that is happening now which ties in with the passage above.  Click the CC to activate the subtitles on the video, then the Settings cog to Auto-translate.

Iyar: The Month of Healing

The Sefer Ta’amei HaMinhagim writes that our new month of Iyar is tried and tested as a time for refuah, healing, from the ailments and pains that may affect a person. Why is this so? He brings the B’nai Yisaschar, who teaches that most weakness and illness come from foods which do not comport with the person’s nature or composition.  Read full article at: Days of Mashiach

There are a couple of ways to assist in your own healing, and that is by saying the Unique Healing Prayer [but you have to do it properly and say every chapter relating to your [Hebrew] name, instructions are at the site].... and the other thing to do is to change your eating habits for the following reason:

"The reason a person's health returns through taking medicines is that his soul sees that he is able to control himself and to act contrary to his physical desires and habits. Perhaps he is accustomed to eating bread and other foods, but now he curbs his desires and submits to a medical regime, taking bitter medicines for the sake of his health. His soul sees that he has the power to control his impulses in order to achieve a certain goal, and she therefore comes back to him in the hope that he will curb his desires for the sake of the true purpose - which is to carry out the will of the Creator" [Likutey Moharan I, 268].  

Do we recite a Blessing on Medication?  Rabbi Eliezer Posner says:

If the medicine has a good taste, such as flavored chewable pills, recite the Shehakol blessing. [Seder Birchat Hanehnin 7:8] Flavorless medicine, such as pills that you swallow, do not require a blessing—but we do say a prayer that the medicine should take effect:

"May it be Your will that this medicine shall bring healing."

No blessing is recited on water that you drink to swallow down the pill. If you are swallowing it down with a beverage other than water, then you do recite the appropriate blessing on that beverage. [Tip: recite the blessing, take a sip, swallow the pill and then drink it down with the rest of the beverage.]

Sun Dance

Who remembers when the sun was yellow?  A yellow circle, no variations.

These days, the sun mostly appears to be white.  It looks like it's turned into a LED light.  It also changes shape, as you can see in the video.  This is a real video, it's not AI.  Notice the double lens flares as well.  Two sources of light.  You can clearly see what appears to be a second sun emerging, and that is what is causing the apparent shape shifting of our sun.  

There's hundreds of these videos of the sun behaving in this way, all taken from different parts of the world.