Failed Suicide - Great Yichus

Another great lesson from Rabbi Alon Anava. He discusses topics that other rabbis don't really speak 

about.  Only Hashem decides who will die, and when.  

How To Get Rid of Bad Thoughts

All day long we have unwanted thoughts in our mind. Where do they come from and how can I block them and/or get rid of them?

A Date With Nibiru

It is a fact that Rav Moshe Sternbuch has said it is too early to speak about Nibiru [see video here by Rabbi Daniel Travis] and also Nir ben Artzi, when asked about Nibiru, replied that he is aware of it, but did not have any information to add, therefore he does not discuss it yet [see comments here].

I find it quite strange that if Nibiru is indeed going to show itself on or around Purim, that Rav Sternbuch would say it is too early to speak about it.  So I began to think that the proposed date of Purim, or even Pesach, would not necessarily be correct.

This comment was just posted on Nibiru: You Will Lift Up Your Eyes to the Sky and I am re-publishing it as a blog post, below, as it makes perfect sense.  The author of the text below is ''Daniel'', and the highlighted links are my own additions for clarification.  Thank you Daniel.

''Rabbi Travis the Tzadik did leave out some very important mekoros regarding "Nibiru" as the world calls it [Xena according to NASA] that explains it more fully including why the date of March 26 is completely false and will be altered soon.

It was all forecast 3,300 years ago by Bilaam the gentile prophet in Parshas Balak. דרך כוכב מיעקוב -- "When the star of Yaakov is on its pathway towards the earth" -- is that exact prediction. When the star of Yaakov is en route...then קם שבט מישראל... Mashiach Ben Yoseph will rise up.

''Jacks''

The Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordevero, classically and clearly explains the Zohar on this key pasuk [Balak 212b] in such detail that he even draws a picture of how the star will look. Remember we used to play with Jacks? That's precisely what he drew. A star with several smaller bodies surrounding it with 70 rays of light streaming out of [Nibiru] connecting itself to each body surrounding the star. 
[and we can almost see this from Devash's photo here]

This display will be seen above the earth when he states that all will marvel at the following event: The rays of light will gradually [over 70 days] swallow each of the seven smaller bodies that will be absorbed into this Star [I believe this represents the seven continents]. 

The whole world will see this happen and will indeed panic but know this is from Hashem who is arranging this display because of us - Yaakov [Yisroel] since he had a family of 70 vs. the 70 nations of the world. 

I believe scientists and astrologers may attempt to explain it away as a "natural phenomena" saying it is either turning into a black hole or going supernova - but they will try to explain it away when it is anything but a "natural " occurrence. 

Immediately after this they will be overcome by Mashiach -- the True Star after the 70 days of viewing this heavenly display. 

The Ramak even gives the date: the 25th day of the six month -  כה׳ אלול  [Elul 25 -  since that was the date of creation, so HASHEM will begin this display just prior to a briah chadasha - new creation coming.''

Grandfather's Demand in a Dream

After a retired Mohel declined to perform the bris, the boy's late grandfather appeared in a dream and gave a chilling motivator.

A full crowd filled the main hall of Chabad's Jewish Russian Community Center of Montreal to participate in the bris milah ceremony for the son of Lubavitcher couple R' Simi and Chana Wenger.

The celebration on Sunday was especially joyous, in addition to being held in the month of Adar, in a year of Hakhel gathering and the fact that a new child would be entering the covenant of Avraham Avinu.

Unlike most bris milahs, this child was older than 8 days old. In fact, the boy was 2 months old, having been hospitalized since his birth on the 7th of Teves 5776. He has been connected to machines and receiving close medical attention due to health complications.

"Can you write to say Tehillim for my baby," the father asked COLlive.com to post a public Tehillim request on Rosh Chodesh Adar I. The name given for prayers was simply tinok ben Esther Chana (child son of Esther Chana, the mother).

On Friday, Simi Wenger already had good news to share. "Baruch Hashem, our baby came home Wednesday night," he updated COLlive.

"We wanted to thank everyone who said Tehillim and had the baby in mind," he wrote. "He went from being on a ventilator and fully sedated to being home 2 weeks later. We should all hear only good news."

Following the circumcision, the child was finally given his own name: Ori Yosef Wenger. He was named after his great-grandfather, Rabbi Ori Shonthal OBM, the long-time Director of Ecole Primaire Beth Rivkah, a Lubavitch girls school in France.

If that wasn't enough of a cause for celebration and joy, then came a chilling speech at the festive Seudas Mitzvah meal that followed. The speaker was Rabbi Pesach Sperlin, Director of Mesivta Ateres Menachem of Montreal and Shliach of Chabad Montreal West center, who performed the bris.

Rabbi Sperlin candidly told the crowd that when Simi Wenger first approached him to do the bris, he immediately declined. "I stopped doing brisim to focus on the Mesivta and the Chabad House," he said. "If I make an exception now, it will be difficult for me to refuse others in the future."

So what made him agree to perform the bris, after all?

Rabbi Sperlin said that a few nights later he had a dream about the child's late grandfather, Rabbi Eliezer Wenger, the noted teacher, author, and publisher of works on halacha, who passed away on 22 Adar 5770.

"Rabbi Wenger, olov hashalom, was visibly very happy and asked me to wish him a Mazal Tov. I asked him what is the occasion and he replied that Simi had a son. So I wished him a Mazal Tov," Sperlin told.

He continued, "Rabbi Wenger then asked him to do the bris. To show me that it was not just a dream, he told me to look in the middle drawer of my desk."

When Rabbi Sperlin woke, he rushed over to the desk in his home and rummaged around a little. To his astonishment, he found a photo of himself standing alongside Rabbi Wenger and reciting the Birchas Kohanim at the Chuppah of Simi and Chana Wenger, the child's parents.

Agreeing to do the bris was not a question any more...

Source and more photos at: COLLive

Mental Illness: Where does it come from? How to fix it?

Rabbi Alon Anava

 

''Mashiach'' - Zusha

Past Life Sins

Art: K. Madison-Moore

In his commentary on the Book of Yonah, the Vilna Gaon writes 

“The main thing [to keep in mind is that the purpose of reincarnation] is to effect the repair of a [negative] influence originating in a previous lifetime... [One way] to discern exactly what that negative influence is is to reflect upon the type of wrong your soul yearns after the most in this lifetime. That which you yearn after most is likely something you became habituated to in a previous life. And therefore pay attention to your vices. [They tell you exactly what you have to work on in this lifetime.] ...The main thing is to repair that which one stumbled in in a previous [life] ... How can one know what one stumbled in during a previous life? ... [Pay attention] to that particular sin one’s soul longs for greatly (for it was emblazened into the soul as a habit in the previous life). That’s why some people are drawn after one type of sin more than another. And that’s also why our Sages say that one must continually judge himself and weigh his actions..."

Note the subtle difference here between culpability and character improvement [tikkun]. Consider yourself not responsible for any sins you may or may not have done in a previous life, if you even had one (and/or know about it). Nevertheless, since in principle, at least, a previous life may be impacting on your present life circumstance, pay attention to your vices. Rather than limiting your free will, this information can, in theory, help it. For instance, you may feel you have no chance to overcome your lust for cheeseburgers. You may tell yourself you were born with this lust. It’s genetic. You feel you have no free will to oppose it. Every time you pass a McDonald’s you have to go in there and order a Big Mac.

However, if you take the Vilna Gaon’s teaching to heart, you may then come to realize that, although you are not now responsible for the sin of eating cheeseburgers in a previous life, you have this great lust as an opportunity for tikkun. Had it been just a regular lust for cheeseburgers your overcoming it may not be metaken (fix) the original weakness emblazoned into your soul. You don’t want this weakness when you are given your place in Eternity. So you were sent back here for the opportunity of eliminating the weakness; indeed, turning it into a strength. Overcoming this extra-powerful lust in this world turns your soul into a “body-builder’s” soul; perhaps even a “Mr. Universe” soul. It’s now stronger than it ever was. In any event, the point is that knowledge or even intuition about a past life can be a powerful aid to free will in this life.

Granted, it can theoretically create the opposite effect. A person may think, for example: What the heck; I’ll get it right in the next life. Or: If I didn’t get it right in the past what’s the point in trying in this life etc. The latter fear is the reason I believe the doctrine was restricted to Kabbalah, which ideally is reserved for select individuals of a higher spiritual standing to begin with.

Source: Jewish Soul Searching [unfortunately that site no longer exists]

Seclusion

Art Erik Johansson

It happened in a far-off country that there was a Tzaddik who used to shut himself up in his house in total seclusion. He spoke to no-one but just sat, wrapped in his tallis and tefillin all day, completely separated from the outside world. He sat and learned Torah in this manner day and night. One day, he heard about the illustrious Rebbe, the holy Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, of his miraculous wonders and his amazing powers of ruach hakodesh, and he set out to see the Rebbe.

When he was about to enter the Rebbe's beis midrash, Rebbe Elimelech, who already knew with his ruach hakodesh of the visitor, came out to greet him. He welcomed the traveller and said to him "Im yesaser ish b'mistarim v'lo arenu ne'um Hashem" - "Shall a man hide and think that I do not see him? says G-d".

The Rebbe was implying that "if a man shall hide himself, I shall not look upon him" says Hashem. The Tzaddik understood that the Rebbe had rebuked him for going into seclusion and he wondered how the Rebbe could have known this about him. Amazed and inspired, the traveller became one of Rebbe Elimelech's greatest students and followers.

Source: Mipeninei Noam Elimelech translated by Tal Moshe Zwecker