Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Rabbi Kessin on Moshiach ben Yosef



This shiur by Rabbi Mendel Kessin was recorded in Israel in September 2015. Some very interesting facts about Moshiach ben Yosef, I think you'll enjoy this one.

The Secrets of the Torah are Revealed to Him

From the Teachings of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi David Hanania Pinto Shlita

It is written, “See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse” [Re'eh 11:26]. It would appear that the term “see” is redundant here, for can one see a blessing or a curse?

However the term re’eh [“see”] has the same numerical value, including the word itself, as raz [“secret”]. This means that whoever wants to search for and discover the Torah’s secrets will find them, and its mysteries will be revealed to him, as King David said: “Unveil my eyes, that I may perceive wonders from Your Torah” [Tehillim 119:18]. 

However one who does not want to discover the Torah’s secrets and puts no effort into it, even if he studies the same passage with his friend, will not discover what his friend does. 

King Solomon said, “If you seek her like silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Hashem and discover the knowledge of G-d” [Tehillim 2:4-5]. 

To what can this be compared? It is like someone who loses something and becomes distraught over ever finding it again. When does he stand a chance of finding it? Only when he looks everywhere for it. However if he stays home and whines about it, without looking, the lost object will not reappear on its own.

The same applies in regards to Torah. A man cannot understand it and will not find the treasures it contains if he does put an effort into looking for them. The Mishnah teaches, “If a man says to you, ‘I have labored and not found,’ do not believe him. If he says, ‘I have not labored but I still have found,’ do not believe him. If he says, ‘I have labored and found,’ you may believe him. This is true in regards to words of Torah” [Megillah 6b]. 

This teaches us that nobody can understand the Torah unless he puts an effort into it. As the Sages say, “Whoever occupies himself with the Torah merits many things. … The secrets of the Torah are revealed to him” [Pirkei Avoth 6:1].

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Fluid Movement

Art: Xetobyte

We are all connected, like a single, fluid mass, and this is why we are able to help each other change. 

When one of us begins moving forward, everyone else is pulled along. 

But if you yourself are standing still, how can you expect to push someone else ahead? 

If you need to help someone else overcome his fault, first find that flaw within you. Move forward in that area, and then you can pull along the other guy. 

Source: Maamar of Lubavitcher Rebbe [Chabad]

Monday, August 29, 2016

Rabbi Mendel Kessin 21st Century Part 10


The Hidden History of Eisav... and America today...



To see previous lectures click on the KESSIN label below

Individual Tests



''...for the Lord, your God, is testing you...'' [Re'eh 13:4]

One of the basic teachings of the Torah is that God does not expect of a human being anything which is beyond the human capacity to carry out.  This is quite understandable, for even a human being, who is very far from absolute perfection, would not expect of a tool that he has fashioned any more than he has put into it.

Certainly God, the Creator of man, knows man's capacities.  From this, it immediately follows that when a person faces any kind of a test of faith, it is certain that he has been given the capacity to overcome it.  And the more difficult the test, the greater are the individual's capacities.

The reason that an individual is tested is not because God wants to know how he will acquit himself, but in order that this person be afforded the opportunity to realize his potential, even that which is unknown to him.

And when one's potential capacities are released and activated, they become part and parcel of his or her arsenal, to be used for personal as well as communal benefit.

Source: Excerpt from a letter of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Red Moon Over Manhattan

I can't believe I missed this one - better late than never!   Photo shows the red moon over Manhattan on the night of August 24.  Photo by Jennifer Khordi.


Why is it red?  Probably because Nibiru is reflecting it's redness upon it.

Story: Daily Mail

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Final Credits

Artist Unknown

Every commandment that I command you this day you shall keep to do, that you may live and multiply, and come and possess the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers. [Eikev 8:1]

The lesson that one who completes a mitzvah is credited with it [see Rashi] is particularly apt for our generation.

For according to all the signs which were given by our Sages, we are presently in the last generation of exile, which will become the first generation of redemption.

Thus, it is greatly encouraging to know that despite the fact that the Torah study and observance of mitzvot in previous generations greatly surpassed that of our more humble efforts, nevertheless one who completes a mitzvah is credited with it.  

Mashiach will come in the merit of our mitzvot, which are performed in the last moments of exile.

Based on Likutei Sichos vol 9 pp 104-5 Lubavitcher Rebbe

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Rebetzin Esther Jungreis a''h


Very sad to hear about the passing of Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, whose articles I have blogged from time to time, and who was one of the greats in Kiruv work. Click on the JUNGREIS label below to see past blogs.

The levayah will take place on Wednesday morning, at 11 o’clock, at Agudath Israel of Long Island, located at 1121 Sage Street in Far Rockaway, NY.

See Matzav and The Yeshiva World for more about her life and holy work.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Life of the Tzadik

Art Baruch Nachshon

''From there, they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Yotvath..'' [Eikev 10:7]

Rashi: And at Moserah, you made a great mourning for the death of Aaron, which was the cause of this [your retreat], and it seemed to you as though he had died there. Moses juxtaposed this reproof with the breaking of the tablets to indicate that the death of the righteous is as grievous to the Holy One, blessed is He, as the day the tablets were broken...

Why is a tzadik [Aaron] compared to the tablets?

The writing on the tablets represented the ''soul'' of the tablets, and the tablets themselves, their ''body''.  The fact that the Ten Commandments were engraved into the tablets, and not merely written onto them, means that the words and the tablets [''soul'' and ''body''] became one single, indivisible entity.

Likewise in the case of a tzadik, it is not merely that his soul interacts with his body, but that the tzadik's physical life is totally at peace with his soul such that ''the life of the tzadik is not a physical life, but a spiritual life''.

Based on Likutei Sichos vol 14 pp 32-34 Lubavitcher Rebbe

Friday, August 19, 2016

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

Thursday, August 18, 2016

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

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

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

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

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

Monday, August 15, 2016

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

Saturday, August 13, 2016

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.

Friday, August 12, 2016

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.





Thursday, August 11, 2016

Amen

The Meaning of the Word ''Amen''  
by Rav DovBer Pinson

Amen means ‘May it be true’, it is also an acronym for ‘Keil Melech Ne’eman / Hashem is a trusty ruler.’

The word Amen comes from the word Emunah, ‘faith’, and Emes, ‘truth’. Amen is therefore a declaration of faith and truth: ‘I have faith in this; I know it is true.’

Amen is also related to the word Umnas: ‘craft’ or ‘trade’. This teaches us that generating authentic spiritual faith and conviction requires skill and labor.

Numerically the word Amen is 91 as the Hebrew word Malach / Angel. Every time we recite Amen we create “angels”; releasing healing / positive vibrations into the world.

91 also corresponds to two primary names or manifestations of Hashem. Hashem [the Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei] is numerically 26. Hashem is the Transcendent ‘Beir’ of Beingness. Ado-noi is numerically 65. Ado-noi is the manifestation of the Transcendent One within creation - 26+65=91.

By saying Amen we are drawing down Blessings from the Highest High into the lowest vessels possible.

Source: From the book “The Mystery of Kaddish

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

When Rebuking

Art: Beth Stephens


When rebuking the Jewish people here, Moshe did not mention, or even allude to their sins.  Rather, in order to maintain their dignity, he merely mentioned the places where they had sinned [see Rashi].  

This teaches us how careful one should be not to cause distress to another person.  
If, on occasion, it proves necessary to rebuke another - even for serious sins, such as the ones which Moshe indicated here - one should nevertheless do so subtly and gently, while at the same time drawing the person close with warmth and love.

Lubavitcher Rebbe: Sichas Shabbos Parshas Devarim 5725