Rav Kanievsky: ''Moshiach is already here''

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky

HT: Rivkah Lambert Adler

An Israeli news report states that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, whilst visiting a father in Bnei Brak whose son had just passed away, said to him  “The redemption is closer than ever”. 

Kooker reports that the man asked Rav Kanievsky “How can you console me, when my dear son left behind ten orphans?” 

Rabbi Kanievsky answered him, “Don’t be sad. The Moshiach is already here. He will reveal himself very soon and your son will see his children again.” 

Tikkun HaMiddot Part 5

Parts 3 and 4 - click here

A Stubborn Cold

"A man or woman who distinguishes himself (or herself) by taking a Nazirite vow of abstinence for the sake of Hashem" [Naso 6:2]

Rashi asks "Why was the Torah portion of the nazir put adjacent to the portion of the sotah (a woman who deviated from moral behaviour)? To tell you that anyone who sees a sotah in her disgrace should take upon himself to abstain from wine [by becoming a nazir]."

Whenever a person sees something improper, he must think: "Why has Heaven shown this impure thing to me?" He must do some serious soul-searching and attempt to strengthen himself in his Divine service.

R' Yisrael Salanter once caught a bad cold. The first day of his illness, he spent the entire day worrying.

"Why is the Rav so worried?" asked one of his close disciples. "Baruch Hashem, it's just a cold and it will not pose any serious threat to your health."

"It is not my health that concerns me" responded R' Salanter. "I worry over what it states in Mishlei: "Colds and traps are in the path of the stubborn" [Mishlei 22:5] "This verse is evidence that I was stricken with a cold on account of possessing the terrible trait of stubbornness".

Only once evening had arrived and R' Salanter had thoroughly examined his deeds without finding the trait of stubbornness within himself, was his mind put to rest.

Source: Rabbi Y. Bronstein

The Test of the Jews at the End of Time

The title of this blog post is a quote from the shiur below, by Rabbi Mendel Kessin, which was given in New Jersey December 2015.

The real title of the shiur is ''Greatness of this Generation''.

If you have ever felt insignificant or lacking in greatness, listen to this shiur and have your perception changed.  This is another highly recommended shiur from the amazing Rabbi Mendel Kessin.



Also see: The Highest Souls

Tikun HaMidot Parts 3 and 4

Click here for Part 1 and Part 2

Tikkun Lei'l Shavuot

Etsy Art

by Rabbi David Hanania Pinto

The custom to learn Torah on the eve of Shavuot [also see here for more information]

Millions of people all over the world are eager to receive “only” one blessing from the Creator of the world. They are willing to work hard with all their heart and soul in order to merit being included in the category of fortunate people, who are listed in the sefer zichronot of Hashem. Of course, to merit receiving The ultimate blessing, with a capital “T”, is not simple. However, once a year a unique opportunity presents itself to receive not only one blessing from Hashem, but to receive a package full of blessings, with seventy blessings all together.

This unique opportunity will commence on Motzei Shabbat, on the eve of Shavuot, since on this night it is the common practice throughout the Diaspora to remain awake all night to study Torah until dawn.

What is the reward for those who learn Torah all night on the eve of Shavuot?

This is what the holy Zohar reveals [Introduction to the Zohar chelek I, p. 8]:

All those who complete the tikkun on this night and do so joyously, will be registered and recorded in the sefer zichronot, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu blesses them with seventy blessings and with crowns from the Upper world. Regarding them it says, “Then those who fear Hashem spoke to one another and Hashem listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear Hashem and those who give thought to His Name.”

Regarding the segulah of learning Torah throughout the eve of Shavuot, the sefer on the customs of the Arizal, called Pitora d’Abba, states: All those who did not sleep in this night at all, not even for one moment, and was involved in the study of Torah the entire night, is promised that he will live out the year and no harm will befall him in that year. As Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai writes in his introduction to Bereishit, “He will live through the year in peace.” Moreover, a person’s life is determined according to this matter, because if he will not sleep at all on the eve of Shavuot, then he will surely not die that year. This is why it became a custom for Am Yisrael to delve in Torah the entire night of Shavuot.

Moreover, it is important to note that there are many communities that are meticulous about not speaking any mundane words the entire night until after the Kedushah beginning with “Keter” (כתר) in the tefillah of Mussaf. This is a special segulah, according to the Arizal, to be saved from death defined as “karet” (כרת), since the word “karet” (כרת) contains the same letters as “Keter” (כתר)

Befitting Teshuvah

The reason for learning Torah on the eve of Shavuot is explained in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer. At the time of Matan Torah, Bnei Yisrael had slept throughout the night, since sleeping on the Atzeret is pleasant, and the night is short. Hashem had to wake them up from their sleep with thunder and lightning, which occurred prior to receiving the Torah on Har Sinai. In order to make amends, Chazal established, as befitting teshuvah, to be on duty that entire night and study the holy Torah in the way they outlined, until dawn, and hear kriat HaTorah and the Ten Commandments as if we had just received them on Har Sinai.

Rabbi Mendel Kessin - ''Current Events''

The Kessin brothers have a couple of new videos given for the yarzheit of the RamChal, which you can listen to or watch at TorahThinking.com

In the video below Rabbi Mendel Kessin speaks about current events - a new shiur.  Fascinating as usual, he speaks about the cosmic clock, Yishmael, Obama, Moshiach ...... and the end of time.

The Ability of Prayer

The evil inclination does all that it can to fight and disturb us during prayer, because fulfilling this mitzvah is the most fitting way to defeat it. Hence we must concentrate on praying with all our strength. The evil inclination is ready to fight us, the Jewish people, and to prevent us from pouring out our hearts as we should during prayer. In effect, prayer has ability to “defeat it more than all the other mitzvot.” We can therefore deduce its great value and importance. – Be'er Moshe

Aftermath

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

''My Country'' - Dorothea Mackeller c. 1904

Australia is used to floods.  ''Droughts and flooding rains'' are nothing new to Australians. But this time, the entire east coast was deluged, from the northern tip of Queensland down to the southern island of Tasmania - that's about 3860 kilometres.  As you can see from the picture, the United Kingdom has been inserted to give you some idea of the size of Australia.

The deluge of rain, combined with the king tides [Rosh Chodesh inspired king tides, I believe] have destroyed many beach-side properties, including the 106 year old Coogee Surf Club.  

Part of the famous beach walk from Bondi to Bronte has collapsed.

Beach walk: Bondi to Bronte; June 6 2016

The giant king tides washed away people's backyards as well as an entire apartment block.  

Rivers and creeks have burst their banks, and dams are overflowing.  Aerial footage shows flooding in Sydney's south-west.

Now the rain has stopped, the clean up begins.  Australians are very good at cleaning up, they are used to it.   But.....   this time it seems different, it's the entire east coast, and properties worth millions of dollars are now worthless.  

The Power of R''H Sivan and Shavuot

The power of Rosh Chodesh Sivan & the Holiday of Shavuot + The prayer for kids by the Shloh Hakodosh - Rabbi Alon Anava




How to Prepare for the Night of Shavuot - Tap into Ohr Ein Sof

Shelah HaKadosh - Parent's Prayer

All parents want the best for their children — that they should be good and upright, that they have everything they need for a fruitful, joyous life. 

The classic work, Shelah HaKadosh, contains a prayer that parents should recite for their children at any time of the year — but especially before Rosh Chodesh Sivan, for that is the month when G-d gave us the Torah, and when the Jewish people began to be called His Children.

Prayer should be recited on erev Chodesh Sivan which is today - June 6th.

For text of prayer in Hebrew and English Click here

In the Desert

Bamidbar, the name of this week's parsha as well as the name of the entire 4th book of the Torah, means "in the desert". However, the name Bamidbar itself does not seem to bring to light any unique qualities of the Parsha at all. At this point, the Jewish people have been situated in the desert for a considerable period of time: throughout the whole book of Vayikra and part of the book of Shemos. So what is added now by stressing that the Jewish people were "in the desert"?

The answer to this question lies in the fact that "we always read Parshas Bamidbar before Shavuot" [Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim]. Before we experience the giving of the Torah once again - for spiritually the Torah is given anew every Shavuot - it is necessary to recall and take to heart the fact that the Torah was not given in a civilized environment, but in a desert.

The lesson here is twofold:

1. A desert is a place of utter desolation where "no man can live". Thus the Torah was given there to indicate that it should be embraced without any preconceptions or ulterior motives. When a person lives in a civilized place and he encounters a new idea or suggestions, he will first evaluate it to determine whether it is acceptable according to societal norms. With Torah, however, this would be a mistake; the correct approach to accepting the Torah is "we will do, and (later) we will understand" (Shemos 24:7). Therefore the Torah was given in a desert, where nobody lives, to indicate that one needs to be truly "open-minded" - i.e. not influenced by one's environment - to appreciate its values.

2. The Torah was given in a desert to teach that sharing the Torah with those who currently find themselves in a spiritual desert is fundamental to Torah Judaism. It is not the case that the Torah can "also" reach those who are found in a spiritual wasteland; to the contrary, this is a central theme of the giving of the Torah: To transform every spiritual desert into a "civilized environment".

Based on Sichas Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (5732 and 5734)

The Power of Prayer

To the reader who asked me to publish the entire video of Rabbi Anava's Power of Prayer: here are the two parts. I'm not sure why I missed this back in February, but here it is now.

 

The Highest Souls

A kabbalistic lesson of Gan Eden and how our souls can fall into klipa. ''In our generation many special souls are stuck in the deepest Klipa, trapped in impurity and separated from G-od and his Torah. it is up to us to pull them out.''

Eventually

Artist Unknown

''and I will remember My covenant [with] Jacob, and also My covenant [with] Isaac, and also My covenant [with] Abraham I will remember. And I will remember the Land'' [Bechukotai 26:42]

Unlike the redemption described here, where the Jewish people were redeemed despite their lowly state, without having done teshuvah, in the case of the true and final Redemption '''the Jewish people will eventually do teshuvah at the end of their exile, and they will immediately be redeemed''.  [Rambam, Laws of Teshuvah 7:5]

Source: Based on Likutei Sichos Vol 27 Lubavitcher Rebbe

Thank you to Yeranen Yaakov for the Cosmic Clock which you can now see on the side bar.  This clock shows us where we are when we count each millenium as one day, with the seventh day being Shabbat [the Geula].  We are now past the mid-day hour of the Friday and as we can bring Shabbat in early, we can see that we are very close to the Geula.

The Importance of Hitbodedut [Self Seclusion]

The Times of Mashiach – What Is Going On in the World Today?

All about what is happening now:  Obama, Trump, Hillary, the state of the world and why now.
A new shiur from Rabbi Mendel Kessin - available to download as an MP3 file: click here

Fraudulently Obtained Wealth

by Rabbi David Hanania Pinto Shlita 

It is written, “As the partridge broods over eggs that she did not lay, so is one who amasses wealth unjustly. In the midst of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will be considered a fool” [Jeremiah 17:11]

The Midrash states that the partridge takes the eggs of other birds and sits on them until they hatch. When the chicks hatch, they soon realize they are not of the same species and desert the partridge. Why does the partridge deserve this? Because it covered eggs that did not belong to it!

The Reshith Chochma writes in chapter Massa UMattan BaEmuna that a person who cannot be trusted in business will not rejoice in his lot. He who pursues wealth and struggles to acquire money dishonestly brings evil upon the world, as well as a tremendous amount of harm upon his body and possessions, as it is written: “One who is impatient to get rich will not go unpunished” [Mishlei 28:20]. A curse will suddenly come upon his possessions, and all his money will disappear. He will depend on others, and of him it is said: “As the partridge broods over eggs that she did not lay.” How much better and enjoyable is the little that is acquired honestly and justly, than the much that is acquired dishonestly!

In Kuntras Middot UMishkalot and Shem Olam, the Chafetz Chaim states that a person must realize that the wealth he amasses dishonestly and by fraudulent means will leave him in the midst of his days. In other words, either his wealth will be abandoned by him in the midst of his days, or he will be abandoned by his wealth in the midst of his days. This means that either a person’s money will pass away or the person himself will pass away. Sometimes this occurs through illness and tragedy (G-d forbid), and such a person will experience more pain than the joy he felt in accumulating his wealth. In fact when wealth does not originate from Hashem’s blessing, such as when it occurs because a person transgressed Hashem’s will, he will experience misfortune at the same time as his wealth, and the more his wealth accumulates, the more his misfortunes will increase. This can occur, for example, through illness, concerns over children, by being attacked or robbed, and by all other hardships that people experience. The result will be that such a person will derive no satisfaction from his wealth.

Unperturbed by the Challenges

The status of the Jewish people in exile is compared to that of being sold into slavery to non-Jewish masters [see Esther 7:4].  In such a difficult situation a Jew may argue: ''How can I possibly keep all the mitzvot when I have to live in a predominantly non-Jewish world?''

Nevertheless, just like the Jewish slave is required to keep all the mitzvot even in the house of his non-Jewish master, likewise, the Jewish people have been given the strength from G-d not to be perturbed by the challenges of the non-Jewish world, and to observe all of the mitzvot with pride.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe: Sichas Shabbos Parshas Behar  5725

Lag B' Omer Round-Up

In honour of Lag b'' Omer, here are some videos and links, and all about coloured eggs.... 

Rabbi Alon Anava - Celebrating the Hilula of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai

A Lag B''Omer tish  - with Rav Dov Pinson in Flatbush last year.  [Tish means ''table'', fahbrengen means ''get together'']

What is the Chabad custom regarding eating browned eggs on Lag BaOmer? 

by Rabbi Levi Garelik -  an halachic authority in Brooklyn and Brussels who is also Dean of TheOnlineRabbi

1. In Sefer Haminhogim [page 43] it says that the Mitteler Rebbe would eat hard-boiled eggs on Lag Ba'omer. 

2. In "Lubavitch Vechayoleho" it says that the Rebbe Rashab would eat hard-boiled eggs on Lag Ba''omer, as well. 

3. In "Otzar Minhogei Chabad" it is written that "it is told" that the Rebbe would eat hard-boiled eggs on Lag BaOmer and that their shells were colored brown during the cooking process. However, he does not write any source. 

When I was a student in the Yeshiva, I had "heard" something about this but was never able to get to the bottom of this. [In those days no one spoke about customs in the Rebbe's home…]  However, when I merited to get married to the daughter of one of the Rebbe's secretaries, Rabbi Binyomin Klein, I was told that a year earlier, on Lag Ba''Omer, my father-in-law called home and told my wife and her sister to quickly prepare "the colored eggs for Lag Ba''Omer."   They had no clue what he was talking about and how do you "color" an egg?  

So they called "Bubby Shusterman" [the wife of the Rebbe's "Baal Koreh" whose yahrzeit is in these days] who was a source of information. She explained that on Lag Ba''Omer it is customary to eat eggs that are colored, and that is done by boiling the eggs, and during the boiling process you insert in the water the shells of onions and this turns the eggs to the color brown.   

Basically, the eggs are colored because that symbolizes transforming [or "coloring"] darkness  - as eggs are a sign of mourning - to light. May we merit to celebrate this Lag Ba''omer, together with Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai!   

What's the reason or meaning of this minhag?   It's for the students/ talmidim of Rabbi Akiva and the eggs end up a kind of bloody color.   We do this davka on Lag BaOmer because it's the Hilulah [Yahrzeit] of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai [the Rashbi], who emphasized that the day of his death should be a day of simcha. 

Another reason for colored eggs is that eggs are for aveilus [mourning], and we ought to mourn the passing of the Rashbi, but because the Rashbi wanted the day to be joyous, we color the eggs. we were told as kids coloured eggs are to remember that no [coloured] rainbow occurred during the life of Rashbi. 

Mrs. Yehudis Groner told us last night that a good way to do this is with red onions!!! That is what the Rebbitzen ob''m used to do  for the Rebbe.....

Also see Moshiach's Rainbow and Lag B''Omer and An Inward Focus