Who Talks Lashon Hara About Me?

Who talks Lashon Hara about me, and how do I fix it?

Rabbi Alon Anava: the kabbalistic origins of lashon hara - try and listen to this video, it's well worthwhile.  He also discusses Gog U Magog and even mentions ''the planet'' - but that's all it is, a mention - @ 43:00 - and @57.30 where he says it is just one of the ways that Hashem may decide to bring the Geula.

Creating Angels

As soon as Purim is over, Pesach cleaning begins!

According to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, we create an angel whenever we do any cleaning for Pesach.

The following is written by R' Tal Moshe Zwecker

Once, when the Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch was traveling through Berditchev, he saw a group of elderly Tolna chassidim carrying buckets of water and scrubbing the walls and floor of a little shul in preparation for a visit from their Rebbe the following day.

When the Rebbe asked them why they were doing all the work themselves instead of letting the younger chassidim help them, they answered, "We are doing this ourselves because we want to have healthy angels to assist the advocating angels who come out of the tekios, the blasts of the shofar."

"You know the Yehi Ratzon that is said after the tekios of Rosh HaShanah — the one that mentions 'the angels that are formed from the blowing of the shofar, and from the tekia, the shevarim, the teruah, and the tekiah, (kshr"k),' [the identifying letters of the Hebrew words that signify the various sounds of the shofar]?

Well, one Rosh HaShanah the holy Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev said: 'Sweet Father, compassionate Father! Just in case the angels that proceed from the shofar that Levi Yitzchak the son of Sarah Sasha has just blown are weak angels, let their place be taken by the holy, healthy angels that were created by the toil of Your people in preparation for Passover, as they cleaned their kitchen utensils in order to fulfill their mitzvah as perfectly as possible:

kratzen (scouring), shobben (scraping), rieben (rubbing), and kasheren (making kosher)'" — [for the initials of these four Yiddish words are also kshr"k].

[Likkutei Dibburim of the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch, Vol. I p. 280]

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Similarly we find in the holy sefer Kav HaYashar Part II Chapter 89:

It is proper to teach the women of Beis Yisroel to have the following in mind while they are kashering their utensils from Chametz for Pesach through hagalah and libun that [just as they are removing the Chametz ] so should the Holy One should remove and destroy the evil inclination, evil and wickedness from the land. And we trust in the Holy One to removed idolatry from our midst.

The minhag of Yisroel is Torah, that they have the custom to scrape clean tables, benches and chairs as well as the walls from any suspicion of contact with Chametz  and Hashem's watchful eyes gaze over all the actions of Bnei Yisroel His treasured people who are holy and the sons of the holy ones whose hard work and labor is all for the sake of removing and destroying chametz all the days of the month of Nissan, and so should the Holy One scrape away all the afflictions which come from the "other side" [which are found sunk in the walls of homes in this bitter exile] and any prosecutions against us and from their power they cause us suffering in this bitter exile."

Source and more at: Berdichev Org

The Secret of the Final Redemption

The following is from an essay by Rabbi Nachman Kahana

''The Gemara does not elaborate on the tradition stated by Melech Shlomo that only three victories over Amalek may be written in the TaNaCh, because herein lies the hermetically sealed secret of how the final redemption will come about, and when.

My premise is that the three victories over Amalek as recorded in the TaNaCh means that when Amalek will be defeated three times in the time frame of a 70 year life span, the final redemption of Am Yisrael will have arrived.

It has never yet happened in the history of nations that three evil empires fell in the short span of 70 years; since it takes hundreds of years for an empire to develop, to peak, become corrupt and then die. 

But it is occurring right now in our generation of 70 years! 

The 70-year count began sometime between 1945-47 and will conclude in 2015-17. 

In 1945 Nazi Germany, unmistakably Amalek, was defeated. Between 1945-47, ten of the German leaders – the same as the number of Haman’s sons – were sentenced to be hung; 9 were put to death by hanging with the tenth, Hermann Goering, escaping the gallows by committing suicide in his prison cell. 

Forty-six years later, in 1991, the leaders of the evil Soviet Union, also sons of Amalek, together with their anti-Semitic ideology, were discarded into the trash bin of history. 

In the time frame between 2015-17 the destruction of the third and last Amalek power will have begun or will begin. Who will it be? 

Perhaps it will be the Haman of the Koran spinning his hatred from Persia-Iran; or perhaps world Christianity or Islam; possibly both. 

What makes this projection even more interesting is the fact that the year 2015 was a Shmitta (Sabbatical) year corresponding to our calendar year of 5775 תשע”ה which means salvation. 

I submit this in full knowledge that, at the end of the day all human calculations could be proven false in the face of what HaShem has in store for us - 

The entire article may be read at NachmanKahana

Did You See the Red Moon on Purim?

The moon was red on Purim.  I personally didn't see it, but a close and reliable friend of mine did see it, and there is talk on the internet about it.  She saw a red moon as it rose in the sky soon after sunset in Sydney Australia.  When I looked at the full moon much later [around 2am] it was a normal colour.

Seems that the moon is appearing red quite often lately...  all the dates listed below, and now an extra date of Purim 5776.  However, the only people talking about it on the internet are the Xtians and I don't feel like linking to their videos.

I am thinking that the reason the moon appeared to be red on Purim was because there is a red planet [Nibiru] near the sun, and this is what is causing the moon to appear red.   If you think this is nonsense please let me know, I'm just guessing.  If you saw a red moon, let us know where you live and when you saw it.

Love Not Fear

Once again American Jews are being warned of danger.  I do not endorse these warnings, but as I can see that many of my readers are also reading these warnings on a blog I link to, I do feel the need to comment.

Firstly, most of my family live in the US.  If I really believed these warnings, I would be the first to tell them to get out now.

On this subject, as with everything else, I turn to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.  There are hundreds of Chabad Houses throughout America, as there are in every other part of the globe.  The Rebbe himself did not leave America in his lifetime, as he felt it was more important to m'karev the Jews in the diaspora.  Just as a captain would not desert his ship, so to Chabad will not leave until all possible Jews have been brought back to their faith.

If you listened to Rabbi Kessin's shiur the other day, at 31:15 on the video, and onwards from there, he is talking about teshuva through love not fear.  Teshuva done through fear, as with anything else done through fear, is not complete.  That is why the Rebbe and the teachings of Chabad approach Jews through love.  The word ''Lubavitch'' literally means '' city of brotherly love''. And for the record, Rabbi Kessin is NOT a Lubavitcher.

Whilst I don't normally write a blog post which goes against another blog I link to, I do feel it appropriate at this point as I am aware that many Jews in America are panicking over what the future holds.   Just because a blogger writes it, it doesn't mean it's a fact. I can already predict that someone will tell me I am aiding the destruction of thousands of Jews by writing this, and I reject that as well. As with all major issues, consult your local orthodox rabbi, or someone else whose opinion you trust, not a blog on the internet, and don't spend your life worrying about things that may never happen. 

Broken

Art: Harry Watrous

''An earthenware vessel in which it is cooked shall be broken.....'' [Tzav 6:21]

An ''earthenware vessel'' represents the body of man, which was formed from the earth. Just like an earthenware vessel that absorbs a prohibited substance must be broken, so too, if a man's body participates in a sin, it can be atoned for when his heart becomes ''broken'' through true repentance.

Based on Sichas Shabbos Parsha Tzav 5736, Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Truth About Purim [video]

Rabbi Mendel Kessin


 

Giving Thanks

''If he is bringing it as a thanksgiving offering... ''[Tzav 7:12 ]

Rashi comments on when a thanksgiving offering is brought:

To give thanks to G-d for a miracle that had happened to a person. For instance:

1. those who made a sea voyage, or

2. journeyed in the desert, or

3. those who had been in prison, or

4. a sick person who recovered.

All these are required to give thanks to G-d since regarding them, the verse states ''They will give thanks to G-d for His kindness and for His wonders to mankind, and they will slaughter sacrifices of thanksgiving.'' [Psalms 107:21-22]

Chassidic thought has a further sequence of the four cases that require a thanksgiving offering, corresponding to the process by which the soul descends into the world:

1. Sick person: When the soul leaves its source beginning its journey down into this world, the intense love for G-d which is experienced previously is weakened. So the soul becomes ''sick'' with its desire to regain its lost love.

2. Imprisonment: As the soul descends further downwards, it becomes affected by the progressive confinement of the spiritual and physical worlds, until it is eventually ''imprisoned'' in a body.

3. Sea voyage: While the soul is living in this world, there is the danger that it will ''drown'' in the turbulent waters of worldliness and physicality.

4. Desert: The soul may regress further, G-d forbid, to the point that the person lives a life devoid and barren of any spiritual meaning whatsoever.

And since these challenges are great, the soul is made to swear an oath before it leaves its source - ''be righteous and don't be wicked'' - giving it the strength to prevail against all odds.

Based on Sefer HaMaámarim 5737 Lubavitcher Rebbe