One Who Suffers

Art: 'The Garden of Melancholia' - Mike Worrall

The Talmud [Berachos 5] says one who suffers should examine his actions. If he doesn't find anything bad, he should consider it is due to "bitul Torah" [neglect of Torah study]. 

The commentators note "bitul Torah is also something bad. So how can one say he didn't find anything bad??"

The Vilna Gaon explains "If a person learned Torah properly, he would have found the "bad thing", since Torah opens a person's eyes to good and evil. [i.e. according to one's level of Torah learning will be his level of sensitivity to good and evil].

No Fear

by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

In our rapidly changing society, events occur with such speed that before we absorb one, another is already upon us. Additionally, our attention span has become nil. We no longer know how to listen.... even while someone is talking to us, we are busy texting someone else or scrolling through our Blackberrys. So let us pause for a moment and review recent events.

During the last months, we have lost many great Torah sages, but I wonder if we truly feel the terrible void that has been left. And now, the beloved Rebbetzin Bathsheva Kanievsky has been called on high. Her sudden demise represents a tragic loss, especially to the many thousands of women who found solace and comfort through her loving guidance, wisdom and sage advice. May her holy neshama have an aliyah and may she continue to daven for all of us.

This past week has also been a cause for jubilation and thanksgiving. For the past five years, all of us have been davening for the safe homecoming of Gilad Shalit, and now, Baruch Hashem, this past Succos we saw our prayers answered. I realize that there has also been some controversy over the exchange that made his freedom possible – a thousand savage monstrous killers released for one frail, painfully thin little Jewish soldier! To many it is incongruous to even imagine that such a disproportionate, suicidal deal could be struck. Surely, this was a grossly dangerous, ridiculous exchange.

I am not going to argue the pros and cons of that, but I do know that every Yiddishe neshama is precious to us. Our sages teach that ‘kol ha mekayem nefesh achas’ – all those who save just one life, it is accounted to them as though they saved an entire world’. Of course, you could protest, “At what price?” These savage killers could, G-d forbid, take many more lives and encourage more kidnaping.

I am not a halachic expert and I am not here to make a judgment call on that. We are Am Yisrael, and we march to the tune of a different drummer. It is not that we are unaware of the terrifying dangers that this deal represents, but just the same, to us, every Yiddish neshama is precious, so even as we offer prayers of thanksgiving for Gilad’s homecoming, we also pray that Hashem protect us from these barbaric monsters and that they perish before they inflict more harm.

Throughout the years, in my classes, I have taught that one can always find some sort of “remez” - allusion in the parsha (Torah portion of the week) to events that are unfolding before our eyes. This time, it was not only the parsha, but the Book of Psalms as well which stunningly confirm this teaching.

The Book of Tehillim designates a psalm for each day of the week. Gilad Shalit was released on the third day – Tuesday, and the psalm for that day is number 60. There are two words in that Psalm that jump out and demand our attention – Succoth and Gilad. Indeed, the release occurred on the holiday of Succoth, followed by the words, “li Gilad.” “Gilad is mine”

As for the parsha which we read on Simchat Torah, it is written, “And Hashem showed him the entire land – the Gilad” [Deut. 34:1]

Farfetched? Coincidence? Remez (a sign), a message? Take it as you will, but the fact is that these are the passages that we read from the Torah and the Book of Psalms at the time that Gilad Shalit was returned to his land. So take a few moments, put aside your Blackberry and your cell phone, and think. Think some more and absorb.

For a long time now, in many of my messages throughout the world, I have quoted a passage from our sages which teaches that our final redemption will be akin to the first one when we went forth from Egypt. In Jewish history, everything is replayed – What was it that broke Pharaoh and Egypt? – The Ten Plagues. And indeed, today we have experienced the beginnings of this very same phenomena. Time and again, I have demonstrated how each of these ancient plagues has unfolded before our very eyes.

At one of my programs, a young girl approached me: “I have to admit that your examples cannot be refuted, but Rebbetzin,” she challenged, “what about the plague of wild beasts that roamed the streets of ancient Egypt? Surely such occurrences could never happen in our 21st century.”

Well, last week, we witnessed the unbelievable – lions, lionesses, tigers, wolves, bears, monkeys, roaming the streets of Ohio. Can you imagine looking out of your window one morning and seeing lions and bears in front of your home? You’d probably shake your head in disbelief and think that you were having some sort of a nightmare.

Yes, events are unfolding so rapidly that even as they do, we remain immune. We are so preoccupied with our addictive gadgets that we don’t see, we don’t hear, and we don’t think, but while we are playing games, time is relentlessly marching on. The signs are becoming more and more intense and menacing, but we congratulate ourselves and rejoice in a false sense of security. Bin Laden and Khadaffi have been killed, so what is there to fear? We forget that even before their elimination, they had become “has been” and no longer represented a global threat. Tragically, we are oblivious to the new menace that threatens us – IRAN!. Ahmadinejad is given free rein to continue her Satanic agenda while Washington ties up Israel’s hands and instructs her to “take risks for peace.”

Just recently, Ahmadinejad’s long arm reached the U. S. where he planned to murder the Israeli and Saudi Ambassadors .... Make no mistake about it, he has many partners ready to execute his nefarious plans and some of them are right here in our own neighborhood. Just consider Chavez of Venezuela. And mind you, he has these partners throughout the world, the most dangerous being Israel’s Moslem neighbors who, in the guise of democracy and with the support of the U.S. have overthrown their dictators. These terrorists have been romantically dubbed “Revolutionaries of the Arab Spring”, but they are the harbingers of a bitter Arab winter that could freeze the world.. They have only one agenda: “Kill the Jews! Obliterate Israel!”

Ironically, it is Washington that helped choreograph this ominous scene. With America’s blessing, Mubarak of Egypt, Khadaffi of Libya, have been eliminated, paving the way for Iran’s domination of the region. It is maddening when you think about it. It was only yesterday that America helped unseat the Shah of Iran, paving the way for the mullahs to take over and impose sharia law, and it is that road that made it possible for Ahmadinejad to institute his satanic plans.

As I write these words, the murderer of Khadafy is joyously celebrating, but even as this news reaches us from Libya, so does the announcement that henceforth Sharia will be the new law of the land. Ahmadinejad is laughing up his sleeve. Not only has Washington given him the green light and tied Israel’s hands, but Washington has also eliminated all his neighbors who would obstruct his path. To be sure, he has one more obstacle to overcome..... American troops stationed in Iraq. But not to worry – Washington will soon pull them out as well.

As you my readers know, I am a survivor of the Holocaust. I smell the toxic fumes that assailed us in pre-Hitler Europe, but not only has our generation lost its ability to see, to hear, but we have also lost our sense of smell, so as the toxic fumes assail our nostrils, we fall asleep and become oblivious.

I have just touched upon a few events that must give us pause, but trust me, my friends, there is much, much more. When will we realize that there is no one to help us – that in the entire world there is no one to even raise a voice on our behalf. We, the Jewish people are like one little lamb among 70 ferocious wolves who stand ready to pounce upon us and totally devour us.

There is only One source of help for us, only One support, and that is our Heavenly Father, the Almighty G-d. From time immemorial, He has saved us from their clutches. We need not fear.. We need only turn to Him – and if we do so, not only will He answer us, but He will take our hands and lead us through the dense darkness that looms menacingly before us.

“If only My people would heed Me – If Israel would walk in My way, I would subdue their foes and against their tormentors turn My Hand...” [Psalm 81]

What a simple teaching, and yet, how difficult to understand.

When Sheker Met Pachsa

This is one of the first things I ever blogged..... a timely message for the world.

by Rabbi Daniel Travis

Two by two the animals came into the Ark to Noach. [Bereishis Noah 7:9]

The concepts in this verse are illustrated by the following allegory:

Sheker (lies/deceit) approached Noach and requested entry into the Ark. Noach refused sheker on the grounds that it did not have a “mate.” When sheker left Noach, it met pachsa (financial loss and destruction) and proposed that they form a partnership, so that together they could gain entry into the Ark. Pachsa agreed, stipulating that any profit which would be earned through sheker would be handed over to pachsa to be destroyed.

There are many questions to be asked about this allegory. Why did our Sages see fit to single out sheker from all the possible negative character traits? Furthermore, why was it necessary for sheker to find a mate? Surely it would have been better to deny sheker entrance to the ark altogether. On the other hand, if sheker belonged in the world, should it not have been allowed to enter the ark without having to fulfill any conditions?

The decree of the flood was sealed on account of the dishonesty of that generation. Sheker was rampant, and there was no way to stop it short of wiping out the entire world. In the process of reconstructing the world, God wanted to make sure that the sins which had caused it's demise would not be repeated. Therefore sheker could not be allowed to perpetuate in its present form. However, it was important that sheker continue to exist in order for the iniquities of the previous generation to be rectified. This could only come about through recognition of the utter futility of any involvement with sheker.

When pachsa joined forces with sheker, causing the loss of all profits earned through sheker, it made it glaringly evident that any association with sheker is totally counterproductive. The lesson that would be learned from the alliance between sheker and pachsa allowed sheker to continue to exist.

After leaving the ark, sheker came to pachsa and requested all of the profits that it had acquired through under-handed methods. Pachsa reminded sheker of their agreement, and sheker was unable to respond. Although under normal circumstances sheker would have denied ever making such a promise, this case was different. Denying the truth would be tantamount to self destruction, for without its partnership with pachsa, sheker would not be allowed to exist.

At the time of the flood sheker joined with pachsa to teach the following generations the futility of trying to acquire wealth dishonestly. Although this type of destruction is certainly a punishment for one’s crooked behavior, there is a flip side to this relationship. Since pachsa “wed” itself to sheker, it can not affect any money earned one hundred percent honestly.

This concept was vividly demonstrated to the Jewish people after their Exodus from Egypt. For forty years they were sustained every day with manna, a miraculous food that descended from the heavens. Each individual was instructed to take an omer each day – not more, not less. If someone tried to “steal” a little bit more than he was allotted, the extra manna would disappear. The futility of taking more than was Divinely allotted was quite clear. Although we are not privileged to see this principle in action in such a striking fashion, it is still in effect even in our times.

Someone once came to Rav Mordechai Schwab and told him that one of his investments had gone sour, causing him a loss of seventy thousand dollars. Rav Schwab asked him if the money had been earned honestly to which the man replied in the affirmative. Rav Shwab assured him that he would recover the money, for wealth acquired honestly does not get lost. Within a few months the investment turned a profit.

Similarly, when Rav Chaim of Volozhin was hosting a meal in his home, one of his guests inadvertently knocked over the table. All the delicate porcelain on the table came crashing to the floor. The guests were all stunned into silence, in anguish over the tremendous loss which they were certain had occurred. Only Rav Chaim remained calm. He explained to his guests that property loss can occur only if the money used to purchase that property had been acquired corruptly. Since he knew that every penny used to buy the dishes that now lay on the floor had been earned honestly, he was sure that none of the porcelain had broken, so there was nothing to worry about. When they picked up the dishes, they found that not a single one was broken or damaged.

From the above incidents we see that the partnership that sheker established with pachsa still remains in force. As such, we can be sure that any funds acquired without a tinge of corruption are not subject to pachsa, and will be spared from damage.

(c) Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Daniel Travis and Torah.org

The Dove's Message

Art: Charnine

"The dove came to him toward evening, and behold it had plucked an olive leaf with its beak"[Noach 8:11]

Rashi, quoting a Midrash, recounts that the dove said to Noach: "Let my food be as bitter as an olive - as long as it is provided by the hand of HaKadosh Baruch Hu - and not as sweet as honey - if it will be provided by the hand of flesh and blood."

Why, asked the Dubno Maggid, would the dove make such a statement to Noach before taking leave of him and the ark?  Hadn't Noach so graciously provided for it and cared for all of its needs over the course of an entire year?

Rather, answered the Maggid, the dove was concerned that perhaps Noach would suspect that it had returned not because the flood had ended but because it knew that it would receive all of its food on the ark.  This is why the dove told Noach, "I have not returned for food. For I prefer to be sustained with food that is as bitter as olives, as long as it is provided by Hashem, rather than with food that is as sweet as honey but provided by man!"

Source: Rabbi Y. Bronstein

Hashem Sent Me

A true story - from a friend: 

Just now. Driving through the rain. Spotted an obviously Jewish man in his late 60s. Offered him a lift. He said "How did you know I needed a lift so badly? I am running late to an important meeting". I said "Hashem sent me to you". He asked me what I do for work and I told him. He said, "How interesting. This meeting you are driving me to, a group of us retired friends are deciding where to invest a pool of our finances. We were debating bonds, shares or property. You just decided for me. We want you to develop an 18 month construction project for us. I'll be in touch tomorrow." My jaw dropped and he smiled and said to me "Hashem sent me to you"!

Pray for the Redemption....

HaRav Moshe Halberstam, the Kiviashder Rebbe zt"l

HT: Yaak

Brooklyn, NY - Klal Yisroel suffered an irreplaceable loss as the Williamsburg community mourned the passing of one its most revered Rabbanim, Harav Moshe Halberstam, the Kiviashder Rebbe, zt’l, who was niftar yesterday.  He was 87.

The Rebbe, who was a direct descendant of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, zy’a, was famed for incredible levels of yiras Shamayim. 

“He feared an aveirah like someone trembles from a revolver pointed at his head,” his son Rav Boruch Nosson Halberstan recalled at the levayah yesterday.

On Hoshana Rabbah, a visitor asked him what the primary focus should be during davening on this special day.

“Daven for the Geulah Shleimah [pray for the Redemption]” the Rebbe instructed. “Everything is included in this request.”

Source and complete article: VIN News

The Sign of the Rainbow

And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth, that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. [Noach 9:14]

When does God show a rainbow?  

Rashi: When it arises in His mind to bring darkness and destruction to the world.  

Bachaye: The rainbow does not appear on every cloudy day or on any occasion that it rains, but only when the generation deserves destruction, to indicate that God is guarding His promise.

Noach: A Vessel of Giving and Receiving

by Rabbi DovBer Pinson

This week’s Torah reading begins with the words “These are the generations of Noach/Noah… the earth was full of corruption…Hashem said to Noach, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth …Make for yourself an Ark.“ [6:9;14]

Noach is instructed to build an Ark to protect himself and his family from the subsequent Great Flood.

The reason given for the flooding/cleansing of the earth is, “… the earth was full of corruption.” The Talmud says that this means that the inhabitants of the earth were consumed with robbery and theft. [Sanhedrin] “…for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.” This is understood to mean that even the animal kingdom had become corrupted and there was interspecies relationships occurring even amongst the animals themselves. [Ibid]

Theft is an act of ‘receiving’ from another without consent, whereas interspecies relationship is an act of ‘giving’ without the other partner’s consent. In both actions there is a misalignment between the giver and the receiver.

The generation of the flood sensed that giving was an important part of their humanity, but allowed their selfishness to warp the give and take in the universe. They became selfish receivers and dominant givers, meaning that they received from others without giving in return and their giving was a dominating and abusive act.

The actions of humans affect the environment, and eventually even the animal kingdom became influenced by the unbalanced behavior of the human beings. Nature itself became infected with the tyranny of this generation, and the animals began mating with others not of their species. The masculine and feminine, giver and receiver, are designed to work in sync, yet, lacking the proper balance, giving became a method of controlling the receiver and receiving became a selfish act. This set the stage for wanton abuse.

Noach was commanded to build an Ark, a vessel which contained the universe in microcosm. Within this miniature world, Noach was obliged to give himself totally to the care of each of the animals, as well as the humans, that were ensconced within the ark.

His entire existence was both a constant labor of feeding and caring for the creatures, each according to their specific needs and schedules, and simultaneously an act of protection for himself and his family - sheltered as they were within the confines of the ark.

So on the one hand he was being protected from the outside forces of the flood, and on the other hand, his primary function in the Ark was to give to those who needed his care.Based on this state of existence, once the flood was over, Noach was able to rebuild a humanity based on a balanced equilibrium of giving and receiving.

The Energy of the Week:

A Vessel of Giving and Receiving

Our existence is a constant flow of giving and receiving.

To create a harmonious balance we must be sure that even as we protect ourselves and our loved ones, we are also giving out to the universe.

In order to give we must know how to receive, and in order to properly receive we must learn the art of giving, this way we complete the circuitry of life’s flow.

This week’s Torah reading imbues us with the energy of attaining this balance, to be able to give openly and simultaneously be capable of receiving that which we need to continue this cycle of receiving/giving.

We ourselves become an ark, a vessel, of reciprocity, and the energy of giving and receiving flow seamlessly through us, creating a harmonious, balanced universe.

Ariel Sharon: Remains Responsive

The New York Times reports: Ariel Sharon, who suffered a debilitating stroke nearly six years ago while serving as prime minister of Israel and remains in a coma-like state, responds to some requests and, despite being fed intravenously, has put on weight, according to his son Gilad Sharon.

“When he is awake, he looks at me and moves fingers when I ask him to,” Mr. Sharon said in a telephone interview. “I am sure he hears me.”

Details of Mr. Sharon’s health and status have been closely guarded by the family. His son agreed to discuss the matter as he prepares to publicize a biography of his father that he has finished after four and a half years.

Titled “Sharon: The Life of a Leader,” and due out Tuesday in Hebrew and English, the book says of the famously stout former general: “He lies in bed, looking like the lord of the manor, sleeping tranquilly. Large, strong, self assured. His cheeks are a healthy shade of red. When he’s awake, he looks out with a penetrating stare. He hasn’t lost a single pound; on the contrary, he’s gained some.”

A year ago Mr. Sharon, who is 83, was transferred from a hospital outside Tel Aviv to the family ranch in southern Israel. But Gilad Sharon said that the stay was brief and that his father was returned to the hospital, where he had remained. He hopes that in the coming year his father will come home permanently.

“The problem is Israeli bureaucracy,” Mr. Sharon said. “I think it would be better for him to be at home.” He added that his father had been visited every day since his stroke either by him, his wife, Inbal, or his brother Omri. “We haven’t missed a single day,” he added.

He said that in recent times there had been no improvement in his father’s condition.

The book asserts that doctors and nurses urged the family to let Mr. Sharon die after his stroke in January 2006 because, as it paraphrases one doctor as saying, “Based on the CT scan, the game was over.” The Sharon brothers would not hear of it and insisted on an operation and other efforts to keep their father alive.

“I told them about a dream I had had many years ago,” Mr. Sharon recounts in the book, speaking of his discussions with the medical staff of Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. “In that dream I was with my father in the hospital. He was lying in bed, surrounded by medical staff, and they had all either given up or lost hope and were about to leave, and my father didn’t say a thing, but he stared at me with this look, with those green-gray eyes of his, and I knew I would never give up, and that I simply would not leave him. This was a dream I had when my father was healthy and strong and the scenario was completely divorced from reality. I did not tell a soul about the dream at the time, but now I shared it with them and my fear that it was happening now and that I would never be able to forgive myself if we did not fight to the end.”

While it has long been assumed in Israel that Mr. Sharon was kept alive due to his sons’ insistence, the book offers the first public acknowledgment and detail of the decision. Mr. Sharon was widowed twice, and his sons are in charge of his farm and his care.

Gilad Sharon adds in the book that while he insisted on not letting his father die more out of instinct and sentiment, it turned out he also had medicine on his side: the CT scan had been misread. Doctors acknowledged after the operation that his father was healthier than they had realized, according to Mr. Sharon.

Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001 and was at the height of his power when he had the stroke. Having spent his career as a hawk and a champion of the settler movement - amply documented in the new biography - he shocked his political base by removing Israeli settlers and soldiers from Gaza only months earlier, in the summer of 2005. He then left his political home in the rightist Likud party and established the centrist party, Kadima.

In the book, Gilad Sharon says he gave his father the idea of Israel’s unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza, saying that it had become impossible to protect the Jewish settlers there adequately and that most Israelis did not want to pay the price to keep the territory.

Two months after Mr. Sharon’s stroke, his deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected prime minister.

Gilad Sharon, who was a confidant of his father’s and had access to his private papers, is not kind to his father’s longtime rival Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister and Likud leader. Mr. Sharon says in the book that in 1997 Mr. Netanyahu promised to make his father finance minister but then reneged.

“Netanyahu summoned my father to a meeting in his office,” he writes. “Standing at the entrance to the room and putting an end to the shortest meeting in the history of the prime minister’s office, my father said to Netanyahu, ‘A liar you were and a liar you have remained.’ ” (Mr. Netanyahu’s office denied that Mr. Sharon said that.)

Recounting his father’s decision to withdraw from Gaza, Mr. Sharon says that Mr. Netanyahu - who was by then his father’s finance minister - hesitated and demanded that the withdrawal be subject to a referendum. Mr. Sharon refused, and Mr. Netanyahu walked out of Parliament as the vote on the withdrawal was taking place. At the end, according to the book, Mr. Netanyahu returned to the floor and voted in favor.

“This was a true manifestation of Netanyahu’s character,” Gilad Sharon writes. “Not only was he subversive, but he was also a coward.”

A spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu’s office said, “Gilad Sharon has a long history of being highly critical of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and these charges are neither new nor surprising.” The spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the parliamentary vote in question was a procedural one and that when the real decision about the Gaza withdrawal took place the following summer, Mr. Netanyahu voted against it and left the government.

Gilad Sharon joined the opposition Kadima Party last year and is thought to be interested in entering politics. He said, however, that having just finished the book, he was still contemplating his next step.

Source: NY Times/Matzav.com

Gilad's Release: A Message in the Torah Parsha

What would the Lubavitcher Rebbe have said about Gilad Shalit and the reference in the parsha to his release?

Rabbi Shmuel Butman presents Shabbos Night Live [video] - highly recommended!

And to pre-empt any queries regarding the 'speaking' at the Rebbe's grave: people go to the graves of tzaddikim to ask that those tzaddikim assist them, and so they 'speak' to the tzaddik...... don't misunderstand and think that chassidim pray to their Rebbes and not to Hashem.... that is not the case at all.   However, a tzaddik can intervene for us in Shamayim and bring about a salvation. Their merits are much greater than ours, they are closer to Hashem, they can [and do] intercede on our behalf..... This is why Jews will make a special trip to daven at the gravesites of tzadikim.

english from COLlive.com on Vimeo.

Yarzheit: 25 Tishrei: R. Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Deberamdiger of Berdichev [1740 - 25 Tishrei 1810] is one of the most popular Rebbes in chassidic history. He was a close disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch. He is best known for his love for every Jew and his active efforts to intercede for them against [seemingly] adverse heavenly decrees. Many of his teachings are contained in the posthumously published, Kedushat Levi.

A Story of Rebbe Levi Yitzchok

The Jewish wagon drivers of Berdichev felt they had to be ready for work as soon as it became light, so in order to save time, they would wrap tefilin and pray speedily next to their wagons, and at the same time do all the little tasks necessary to prepare the wagons for the road that day. When the Berditchever first saw them doing this, he raised his eyes towards Heaven, and exclaimed, “O Merciful Father, how wonderful are your children, the Jewish people. Even while they work, they pray!”

Of course, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was not one to fail to try to improve the situation. One day he approached the wagoners as they were completing their prayers and removing their tefillin and tallises. Walking right up to them, he mumbled, “Why-do-you-pray-so-fast-no-one-can-make-out--the-words-yadayada-blablah-etc”

“WHAT?” they exclaimed in amazement. He repeated: “Why-do-you-pray-so-fast-noone-can make-out-the-words-yadayadablablah-etc”

“Rabbi, please slow down. And a bit louder. We can’t understand a word you are saying.”

“Aha!” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak pounced. “So how to you expect The Holy One to understand and accept your prayers, the way you race through them?”

“No, Rabbi,” responded immediately the most quick-witted one. “It is just like a baby that is first learning to talk. It sounds like nonsense and no one can understand. EXCEPT the baby’s mother; she can always understand her child.”

The Berditchever was delighted with their answer. He repeated it at every opportunity. It became yet another quiver in his arsenal to remind his Jewish flock as well as G-d of the ongoing love affair between them.

[Source: Yerachmiel Tilles]

Rebbe Nachman predicts the passing of Rebbe Levi Yitzchak

The Rebbe's conversation on Sunday night, the week of Noah 5570:

"My teachings are very great. They are filled with divine inspiration and can be used to predict the future. Listen carefully and pay close attention to my lessons and you will see the future. After things happen, you will also see that they were predicted in my lessons. It all has been set forth in my teachings."

I heard this after the Sabbath of Beraishis 5570. I had come to the Rebbe on Sunday night to show him the lesson "In the Beginning.... Before the Eyes of All Israel" as brought in Chapter 67 of the second part of Likutei Moharan.

That week we actually saw the Rebbe's words come true. That Sabbath's lesson had actually revealed deep secrets and predicted future events.

On the previous Thursday, the 25th of Tishrei, the famed Tzaddik and holy light, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchov passed away. Friday night was the Sabbath of Bereishis, and the Rebbe revealed the lesson "In the Beginning... Before the Eyes of All Israel". In this lesson, the Rebbe spoke of the "glory of Israel". He said that when a Tzaddik passes away, this "glory of Israel" is eclipsed.

News of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok's passing did not reach us until the following Monday. When the Rebbe revealed this lesson, we had no idea of his inference.

When we later heard of the passing of this great Tzaddik, we then understood the Rebbe's meaning. The lesson speaks of the eclipse of the 'glory of Israel", a title the Rebbe had often given to Rabbi Levi Yitzchok. He also spoke of him as the attribute of Tefillin. [During the previous summer, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok had travelled through Wallachia, and Rabbi Nachman had his Tefillin examined. He explained that both are "the glory of Israel".]

Esrogim had not been available that year, and only arrived miraculously at the last moment. The Rebbe said that he knew Esrogim would come, for he trusted in the Tzaddikim of our generation, particularly in the great Tzaddik, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the glory of our congregation.

It is therefore obvious that with Divine inspiration the Rebbe had revealed in that lesson that the sainted Rabbi Levi Yitzchok had passed on. Look carefully into this lesson and you will see that it all speaks about this. Search, and you will find it."

Source: from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, by Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov

Translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

The Release of Gilad Shalit in Torah Codes

Two new videos:

Five Years: Gilad - Before and After

Waiting for Redemption 1941 days

Gilad Shalit: It's All In His Name

In the blink of an eye

Did you feel it?

Yesterday was a kind of turning point. Erev Hoshana Rabba, the ushpizin of Yosef, and the miraculous release of Gilad Shalit.

How could it possibly be coincidental that Gilad, whose soul is connected to Yosef as we saw in Rabbi Glazerson's Torah codes, was released on the day Yosef is the spiritual guest in everyone's sukkah? There are no coincidences in this world, everything that happens here is orchestrated by Hashem. If you don't understand this yet, you need to go back and start again.

I know I'm not the only person in the world whose life has changed dramatically over the past few months. The world is moving into a new era, the signs are all there, and it's happening so quickly. Who would have thought that Gilad would be home for Sukkot? Alive. Talking. Sane. An unbelievable miracle.

I, for one, am not worried at all about the release of the terrorists. Hashem is in control here, and will take care of business, but for the moment, it's enough to have Gilad back. Ness gadol haya po. A great miracle happened here, make no mistake about it.

Everyone has a mission in life. For Gilad, it was a huge one, and not too many people would have the strength or will to survive in a dungeon for five years... but Gilad is special, he was given the necessary tools [as we all are] to cope with the ordeal that is/was his mission in this world. Whatever tikkun he was chosen to do, on behalf of klal Yisrael,  has now been achieved. We are one step closer to the Redemption. It should give us all encouragement in our own lives, when we are facing some kind of test, that there is a time limit to suffering, and one day we will all be set free from whatever kind of Galus has been given to each one of us.

Remember: things can go from the very worst to the very best...in just the blink of an eye.' [Rebbe Nachman of Breslov]

Gilad

All I can say is, thank God he's home.

Read more: Malnourished Israeli soldier freed by Hamas after five years faints on his journey home

In this forced interview, Gilad bravely answers some cruel and ridiculous questions from an insensitive reporter:

How Obama Thinks

Obama would have to be the most fascinating person I've ever kept an eye on.  Mainly because he makes no sense.  This article sheds some light.

The President isn't exactly a socialist. So what's driving his hostility to private enterprise? Look to his roots.

Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history. Thanks to him the era of big government is back. Obama runs up taxpayer debt not in the billions but in the trillions. He has expanded the federal government's control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, autos and energy. The Weekly Standard summarizes Obama's approach as omnipotence at home, impotence abroad.

The President's actions are so bizarre that they mystify his critics and supporters alike......

Continue reading at: Forbes.com

It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Art: Mike Worrall

The world thinks the release of 1027 terrorists in exchange for one Israeli soldier is fair. [See UNwelcome]

The world is so crazy, people don't even realize it anymore.... . They should have marked their heads in advance, like the king suggests in this story:

"A king was informed by his chief minister that there had been blight on the crops that year. They were affected so greatly that anyone eating the grain would become insane. "But" said the minister, "there is no need for us to worry. I have set aside enough grain from last year's harvest for the both of us that will last until the harvest of the following year."

The king shook his head. "No," he said. "I will not allow myself any privileges other than those shared by my subjects.  "We shall eat of the same grain," the king continued, "and we shall both go insane together with the rest of the population. But here is what we shall do. You and I will mark our foreheads with an indelible imprint, so that when we go insane, I will look at you and you will look at me and we will know we are insane."

[Rebbe Nachman of Breslov]

It's All Good

Written by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski

Rabbi Baruch of Mezhibozh was reciting the prayer before Kiddush Friday night, and as he read "I thank You G-d for all the kindnesses that You have done for me, and for those that You will do for me in the future...." he paused and reflected, "Why must I thank G-d in advance for future kindnesses? Why not just wait until those kindnesses occur and thank Him then?" After a few moments of meditation, Rabbi Baruch said: "Ah, I understand. When those kindnesses in the future occur, they may be packaged in such a manner that I will not recognize them as kindnesses, but perhaps experience them as sufferings, and I will then not be in a position to appreciate them and be grateful for them. That is why I must thank G-d for them in advance."

After a few moments, Rabbi Baruch began to weep. "How tragic" he said, "that G-d will be doing kindnesses for me and I will not be able to recognize them as such."

Spiritual Growth

The Hebrew term for festivals רגלים, is a derivative of the word  רגל meaning "foot".  This alludes to a level of profound commitment to G-d where one is not merely serving his Maker due to one's understanding, or due to one's spiritual sentiments, but rather, out of simple obedience, like a "foot soldier".

On the other hand, the festivals are also associated with joy, where a person's positive feelings towards G-d take outward expression.

What is the connection between obedience and joy?

The answer is hinted to by the fact that the Torah fixed the festivals according to the agricultural cycle.  In order for a seed to grow, it must first shed its outer shell, and only through this is the seed able to grow many hundreds of times in size.  Similarly, when a person puts aside ("sheds") his superficial preconceptions ("shell") about Judaism and observes all the mitzvot with absolute loyalty, he will experience an enormous spiritual growth.

And likewise, a person who serves G-d with joy which "breaks all boundaries" will experience an unrestrained spiritual growth.

Source: Based on Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Does Noam Shalit have Stockholm Syndrome by Proxy?

In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is a term used to describe a real paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims....

Noam Shalit: No sign of life from Gilad yet
Father of captive soldier says there is no finalized timetable for his son's release. 
'Inshallah he is well,' he says ......

Inshallah ?

Source: Heading Home