The 15th of Av: Love and Rebirth

The Jewish mini-holiday of Tu B’Av

The 15th of Av is undoubtedly a most mysterious day. A search of the Shulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law] reveals no observances or customs for this date, except for the instruction that the tachanun [confession of sins] and similar portions should be omitted from the daily prayers [as is the case with all festive dates], and that one should increase one’s study of Torah, since the nights are begining to grow longer, and “the night was created for study.” And the Talmud tells us that many years ago the “daughters of Jerusalem would go dance in the vineyards” on the 15th of Av, and “whoever did not have a wife would go there” to find himself a bride.

And the Talmud considers this the greatest festival of the year, with Yom Kippur (!) a close second!

Indeed, the 15th of Av cannot but be a mystery. As the “full moon” of the tragic month of Av, it is the festival of the future redemption, and thus a day whose essence, by definition, is unknowable to our unredeemed selves.

Yet the unknowable is also ours to seek and explore.

Source and more  click here

Making Room for God

Photo: Source unknown

''You shall love Hashem,  your God'' [Va'etchanan 6:5]

Every individual, remarked the Dubno Maggid, is required to love Hashem with all his heart.  In order to do this, he must remove all negative and sinful thoughts from his heart.

To what can this be compared?  - to a farmer who arrived in a city on the market day and quickly sold all of his merchandise.

Now that he had a large sum of money in his possession, he decided to buy himself an elegant outfit, the type customarily worn by the city dwellers.  He entered a store that sold expensive silk garments and was given one to try on. The garment seemed too small, however, as the farmer was unable to get his arm into the sleeve.

''The garment that you have given me is too small'', said the farmer to the storeowner.

''The garment is exactly your size,'' laughed the storeowner, ''but before you try it on, you must first remove  your heavy farmer's coat.''

Only after a man removes all the wicked thoughts from his heart, explained the maggid, can there be room in his heart to love Hashem properly.

Source: Rabbi Yisroel Bronstein

Moments Before The End And Moshiach

Rabbi Mizrachi's latest shiur - all about Moshiach.  Great for beginners or anyone needing reassurance.

The Power of Pain

A 75-second revelation from Rabbi Simon Jacobson

The Hidden Treasure

Art: Dima Dmitriev

''And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him...'' [Va'Etchanan 4:29]

Chassidic thought teaches that in order for any entity to exist at all, God must renew it continually, by enlivening it with a spark of His own Existence.  Without being connected to God - the True Existence - the entity is unable to exist.  Thus, even the forces of evil must contain a Godly spark that enables them to exist.

But why, then, is it possible for the forces of evil to conceal this presence of Godliness within them?  

The answer is: To make possible the amazing elevation that can be reached through teshuvah.

When a person has regressed to a very low spiritual state, the Torah teaches us that ''from there [i.e. from amidst the forces of evil] you will seek God''.  

This teaches us that the Godly revelation which a person reaches through teshuvah is disproportionate to the effort involved, like ''finding'' a previously hidden treasure, as the verse states ''And you will find Him''.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe: Based on Ma'amer ani Ledodi, Shabbos Parshas Re'eh 5747

Act Like It Already Happened

''...there is none else besides Him.'' [Va'Eschanan 4:35]

In truth, even the creations do not exist in their own right, as it appears to our eyes.  We perceive it that way because we do not see Godly energy.  However, from the perspective of the Godly energy which enlivens us, our existence is totally nullified into absolute nothingness, like a ray of light inside the globe of the sun....  Thus it follows that there is no existence at all other than that of God.

Even in the current period immediately preceding the true and complete Redemption, the way a person acts in day-to-day life should resemble life as it will be during the actual Messianic Era.

One of the most fundamental aspects of the future era is that there will be the fullest expression of the verse ''You were shown [the heavens] in order [for you] to know that God is God.  There is none other besides Him''.  i.e. it will be revealed throughout the entire world that ''there is none other besides Him'' - that there is no existence other than God.

It is this kind of feeling which is required too in our daily lives now:  A person should feel literally, in every part of his life, that ''there is none other besides Him''.  In other words, not only should one's worldly pursuits be done for the sake of a Godly purpose - i.e. that one feels the dichotomy between the ''worldly'' and the ''Godly'', but one nevertheless dedicates his worldly activities to a higher purpose.  

Rather, one should feel the Godly identity of the world matters themselves. Consequently, he will not even become aware of any existence other than that of God, since he feels that ''there is none other besides Him''.

Freely translated from Sichas Simchas Torah 5752 - Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Subterranean Beis Hamikdash: Where is the Aron?

Summary:

This class was presented by Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson on Sunday morning, 25 Tamuz 5776, July 31, 2016, at Ohr Chaimshul, Monsey, NY. It explains the reason the Rambam gives us an unusual history lesson about the Holy Ark in his halachik work. ​"W​hen ​K​ing Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways.” It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temple’s destruction.

The Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in the year 2928 from creation (833 BCE), and was destroyed 410 years later, on the ninth day of the month of Av, by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later it was rebuilt; the second Temple stood for 420 years, until its destruction by the Romans, also on the ninth of Av, in 3829 (69 CE).

From the Rambam's words about the Ark we discover that the core of the Temple was never destroyed. What is more, it means that the first, second and third Temples are not three different structures, but the continuum of a single edifice. in this class we also discover why we allow ourselves to make such destructive mistakes. It turns out we are the ones who do this to ourselves for a very healing reason.

Perseid Meteors and their Torah Code

Astronomers predict that there could be twice as many meteors as usual during the climax of the stunning Perseid meteor shower. 

Stargazers could see up to 200 meteors an hour during the so-called outburst at the peak of the annual shower tonight into tomorrow morning.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2016