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 tell 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

Current Events, Suffering and Tisha BÁv

Another great shiur from Rabbi Mendel Kessin - includes timing of ''blood moons'', Iran, ISIS and much more

Recorded on Tisha B''Av

click here to listen on You Tube

In Anticipation

The Sefer Chareidim says that one of the 17 parts of a mitzva that you must do in order to fulfill a mitzva completely is to yearn to do the mitzva even if you cannot do it at this moment. For example we should long for the Beit HaMikdash in order to be able to bring korbanot. We should want to live in Eretz Yisroel to be Mikayem mitzvot that are only relevant when planting in Eretz Yisroel. 

Rav Levi Yitzchok MiBerditchev in the Kedushas Levi says that is pshat in the pasuk [8:1] "Kol HaMitzva Asher Anochi Mitzavecha Hayom Tishmirun La'asot" - ''All the mitzvos that I command, you should watch to fulfill''.   Sometimes the word "shamar" [watch], means wait in anticipation, as when Yaakov "watched" to see what would happen with Yosef's dreams. 

Similarly here the pasuk says every mitzva that I command, you should yearn to keep even if you are in Chutz La'Aretz and cannot do it. Then in that merit, continues the pasuk, you will be zocheh to "V'yirashtem Et HA'Aretz"; Hashem will eventually bring you to Eretz Yisroel to realize your aspirations.

Source: Revach.net

''Israel Stands Alone''

The AR"I is cited as saying: "Gog u'Magog has the numerical value of seventy, corresponding to the seventy nations, because Gog and Magog will then rule over seventy nations, and they will all come together against Israel.

The AR"I emphasizes another aspect that is also embedded in the verses of the prophecy and the Haftarah, that of a universal war against Am Yisrael.

.... afterwards will come the definite redemption. [Likutei Torah, Parshat Shemot. Cited in Be'er Moshe by the Ozrover Rebbe]   Source

Yesterday's headlines: Obama Says Israel Stands Alone against Iran Deal

Overwhelmed by Troubles

''....when you see a generation overwhelmed by many troubles as by a river, await him...'' [Sandhedrin 98a]

A new lecture from Rabbi Mizrachi including the suffering of our times and how we are living in The Time Immediately before Moshiach 

Olives to Forget, Olive Oil to Remember

by Rabbi David Hanania Pinto Shlita

It is written, “A land of wheat, barley, grape, fig, and pomegranate; a land of olive oil and date-honey” [Devarim 8:8].

This is surprising. For the first five products on this list, it is the fruit itself (wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate) that is mentioned, but for the olive the verse mentions only what is derived from it, namely olive oil. Why?

The Maharsha cites a statement from the Gemara: “Our Rabbis taught: Five things make one forget one’s learning:

Eating something from which a mouse or cat has eaten, eating the heart of a beast, frequent consumption of olives, drinking the remains of water that was used for washing, and washing one’s feet one above the other. Others say: He who also puts his clothes under his head.

Five things restore one’s learning: Wheat bread, and especially wheat itself, eating a roasted egg without salt, frequent consumption of olive oil, frequent indulgence in wine and spices, and the drinking of water that has remained from kneading. Others say that dipping one’s finger in salt and eating is also included.

‘Frequent consumption of olive-oil’ – this supports the view of Rabbi Yochanan, who said: ‘As the olive causes one to forget 70 years ears of learning, olive oil restores 70 years of learning’ ” [Horayot 13b].

The Trait of Arrogance

וְלֹא תָבִיא תוֹעֵבָה אֶל בֵּיתֶךָ 

Nor should you bring an abomination into your house [Eikev 7:26]

The verse teaches us, noted R' Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, just how despicable the trait of arrogance truly is.  It is so abhorred that one is forbidden to even allow a haughty individual to enter his home.

We learn this from a verse in Mishlei: ''Every haughty heart is the abomination of Hashem'' [Mishlei 16:5]

We see, therefore, that a haughty individual is referred to as an ''abomination'', about which our verse explicitly states:  "And you must not bring an abomination into your home''.

Source: Rabbi Y. Bronstein

Torah Codes of Malayasian Flight MH370 Proved Correct

On 24 March this year I published Rabbi Glazerson's video [below] where the Torah Codes told us   that the plane was ''ín the sea'' - @ 3:00 on the video.

Now we know that information was correct: see here for story.