Sunday, July 25, 2021

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


Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Tu b'Av: Hidden Secrets on the Coming of Moshiach

The 15th Av [also known as Tu b'Av] will be this coming Shabbat.  On Rabbi Anava's website, he has these three videos which he suggests we should watch in preparation for the day.

The Secrets of the Coming of Moshiach

The Mystical Explanation of Tu b'Av

The Hidden Secret of Tu b'Av

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

The Lower We Fall.... The HIgher We Will Rise

The world is experiencing a huge DESCENT and we are collectively experiencing many trials.  

The lower we fall, the higher we will rise.


"All the affairs of the world, whether for the good or for the bad, are trials [nisyonos] for a man"… [Mesillat Yesharim* (Path of the Just) Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto]

When a person is destined to reach a level which is much higher than his present rung, it is necessary for him to undergo a descent first. [The Lubavitcher Rebbe]

Before a person experiences a miracle - נס - , he is given a trial - ניסיון. There is no ascent (aliyah) without a prior descent (yeridah). The lower the descent, the higher the potential ascent.

G-d tries the righteous, for knowing that the righteous will do His will, He desires to make them even more upright, and so He commands them to undertake a test, but He does not try the wicked, who would not obey.

Thus all trials in the Torah are for the good of the one being tried. [Nachmanidies, Commentary on the Torah; Genesis, p. 275; Chavel translation; ]

From here, we learn a number of important points. First, the purpose of a nisayon is not to reveal anything new to G-d, but to increase the spiritual reward of the person by bringing forth his or her latent greatness into actual deeds of righteousness.

Second, a person is only sent a nisayon that he or she has the potential to "pass," provided the person uses his free will properly.

Third (and this is implicit in the first point), the nisayon is intended for the good of the person—to elevate the person spiritually.

Nes can also be translated as "banner": The test is meant to "lift a banner" and reveal to the world, and to the person himself, the potential hidden within a human being.

Monday, July 19, 2021

Gender Identity Confusion

What is really going on with Gender Identity, same sex marriage, and rampant gender confusion?  

In the video below, Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz has some answers as to why our generation is so confused about gender, and gives us some Halachic insights. I highly recommend this shiur, it's not too long either.

I remember learning or reading somewhere.... perhaps it was in Sha'ar HaGilgulim... that if a male soul reincarnates into a female body, that female cannot give birth to a male child, only female children.  I hope I've remembered that correctly, if  I've got it wrong, please let me know. [Rabbi Breitowitz mentions this aspect of souls born into opposite gender bodies towards the end of the shiur]

Rivkah Lambert Adler has also written a blog post on this subject, which you can read by clicking here.



Sunday, July 18, 2021

A History of the Olympic Games and The Lubavitcher Rebbe's Warning

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to begin on Friday 23 July - Sunday 8 August, and are already marred by a case of an athlete with Covid in Olympic city, and despite Tokyo reporting their highest number of Covid cases in six months.


Compiled and written by Rabbi Elozor Reitchik

The Olympic Games began over 2700 years ago and was a religious event in honor of one of the many Greek gods.

The original Olympic Games took place in Olympia, where temples for idolatry were situated. The modern-day Olympics, which resumed in the year 1896, are directly connected to the ancient games since they begin with the lighting of the Olympic Torch. The Torch is ignited by the sun's rays in the temple on Olympia, and from there it makes its way to the country where the Games are held.

Even the fact that the Games take place every four years, as well as the Olympic symbol of five interlocking rings, are connected to idol worship. The five intertwined circles represent Venus, which traces a perfect pentacle across the sky every 8 years. To the ancient Greeks, Venus became the symbol of perfection and beauty, qualities prized in athletes' bodies. As a tribute to Venus, the Greeks used "her" 8-year cycle to organize their Olympic Games. The 4-year schedule follows Venus' half cycle.

Sourced in Idolatry

When the Olympic Games took place in Munich, Germany in 1972, the Lubavitcher Rebbe referred to it in a sicha on Shabbos parshas Vayeishev, Shabbos Chanuka, 5733, and said that this was an inyan of avoda zara [idol worship].  [Note: 11 Israeli athletes were massacred at the 1972 Games in Munich]

Free translation follows: 

The entire concept of the Olympic Games is connected with idol worship. These games began with the Greeks, who had a custom of going to a certain place and running there, jumping on stones and bones, dancing, fighting, and killing, etc. The modern version is the Olympic Games, but the source is idol worship. 

In those days, the Greeks attained very high levels of wisdom, even the wisdom of mathematics and astronomy. After reaching very high levels of wisdom, they began to think -- what about faith? 

There was a mountain near the city, and it wasn't a high mountain, but a mountain that goats and sheep, cows and oxen, and people too, could climb. This mountain wasn't in some forsaken place in the mountains of darkness, but right near the city. So the wise men of Greece declared that their two idols were there, that one had hit the other and killed him, and they did all sorts of evil things there. Including every possible bad trait, and even those you can only think of, and they said that these idols were their gods, and were omnipotent -- the name of this mountain was Olympia. 

Then they decided that once every few years they would gather there, and each one would take his cat, etc., with him, and one would strike another, and jump, and celebrate a holiday there. 

All this was in the time of the Greeks. In recent years, this became the Olympic Games, which take place every four years. Therefore, the Olympic Games that take place in our generation are sourced in idol worship. 

The Olympic Torch

On Chanuka 5732, a few months before the start of the Olympic Games in Munich, the Olympic Torch was carried through Eretz Yisrael on its way to Munich. The Rebbe spoke sharply about this and in a talk delivered on Shabbos parshas Chayei Sarah he said: 

This was the custom of the Greeks 2000 years ago. Nothing remains of the Greeks themselves, aside from their books, and among the things written in their books, is the custom to take a torch and to run with it from place to place. Now they want to take this Greek custom and celebrate Chanuka with it! 

The whole point of Chanuka is the Jews' victory over the Greeks, and as we see and all know, nothing remains of the Greeks aside from their language and their books. Now they want to dig up an ancient custom from the cemetery -- not from the "beis ha'chayim" ["place of the living," a Jewish euphonism for a graveyard] but from the "beis ha'kevaros" ["place of graves"] -- and resurrect this Greek custom, the opposite of the whole point of Chanuka! 

In 5748 (1988), before the bar mitzva of Eliyahu Schusterman, his father, Rabbi Gershon Schusterman of Los Angeles prepared a speech in which he derived Jewish lessons to be learned from the Olympic fire which burned on Mt. Olympia in Greece, from which the Olympic torch was lit to open the Olympic Games. 

When he sent in the speech to the Rebbe, the Rebbe crossed it all out and wrote: "as was publicized, the beginning of all this was actual idol worship."  The Lubavitcher Rebbe completely negated any Chabad activity in connection with the Olympic Games, since they are sourced in idol worship. And the Games today are connected and associated with the symbols of Greek idol worship.

Friday, July 16, 2021

The Vision of Isaiah

A commentary on the Haftarah for Shabbat Chazon 


by Yitzi Hurwitz 

On the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, called Shabbat Chazon, we read the haftorah that begins with the words: “Chazon Yeshayahu” [vision of Isaiah].

The haftorah ends: “Zion will be redeemed with justice, and its captives, with tzedakah.”

The question is: Who or what is Zion? And who are the captives?

Some simply translate Zion to refer to Jerusalem, and the captives are the Jewish people. Others understand Zion to be the Jewish people. But if so, then who are the captives?

The answer is that Zion refers to Jews who study Torah and do the mitzvahs, and the captives are Jews who are not involved in Torah and mitzvahs. They are called captives because they have surrendered their will to their bodies and their “animal souls.” So-called Zion Jews are redeemed with justice because they earned it. However, the captive Jews are redeemed with tzedakah because they otherwise can’t be redeemed.

We are told that in the end, all Jews will repent and immediately be redeemed. This is an act of kindness, of tzedakah.

As Jews, we know that our bodies can be subjected to exile. Our G‑dly souls, however, cannot.

Even when the soul is sent down to influence the body and the physical world since it is an actual part of G‑d, it is not affected by the dark concealment it experiences. On the contrary, the darkness and the exile cause the soul to bring out hidden strength that had been lying dormant, strengthening its connection with G‑d.

The body, on the other hand, is subject to the harsh conditions and darkness of the exile. G‑d put us in this great darkness so we can transform the darkness into light.

While the soul is strengthened because of the darkness, it doesn’t directly affect the darkness. However, the body, through fulfilling G‑d’s will in the exile, changes the darkness into light. This light is greater than the light of the soul. It is Hashem’s will, His very essence, which is the greatest light possible.

This brings us to yet a third explanation of our verse. Zion refers to our bodies, and v’shaveha [which we had translated as “captives,” but can also mean “returnees”] refers to our souls.

The soul is not subject to the exile. Being in the body, which is in exile, is merely a matter of being in the wrong place. It doesn’t need redemption; all it needs is to return.

The body will be redeemed with justice because it suffered in exile and did the work, and so it rightfully earned its redemption.

The neshamah, which did not suffer in exile, returns as a kindness, a tzedakah. It did influence the body, and so it comes along and receives the greatest revelation through the body: the body’s reward for its physical work in the dark exile, the revelation of G‑d’s essence.

Now we can understand the first words of the haftorah: “Chazon Yeshayahu.” Chazon means the vision, and the name Yeshayahu comes from the word yeshuah, which means “redemption.” Our haftorah is telling us that specifically during times of darkness, which the Three Weeks and Tisha B’Av symbolize, is where you can accomplish the vision of the redemption.

We will experience this great revelation with the coming of Moshiach. May He come soon. 

Source: Chabad

Thursday, July 15, 2021