What Does Satan Really Want?

Latest from Rabbi Mendel Kessin.
The Trump victory, yarzheit of Rachel Imeinu, the Mabul, the significance of 9 November...... and he's only just getting started.

The Secret of ''Good Inclination''

Rabbi Kessin's most recent shiur, which I have not yet listened to.


''Everybody knows that Evil Inclination, or Yetzer HaRah, or Satan, or Malach Hamaves, is an angel assigned to do the job.

We've also heard about Good Inclination, or Yetzer Tov.

However, the nature of Yetzer Tov is obscure. Somehow nobody heard about an angel representing Good Inclination. What is it, really? What kind of a creature, what kind of a being is hiding behind the term?

The nature of Good Inclination is revealed by R' Mendel Kessin.

The series on Ramchal's Derech Hashem continues.

The The shiur was given in Lakewood, NJ, 11/19/2016.''

Connecting to the Source

Art ''Holy Land'' Michoel Muchnik

by Rabbi David Pinto Shlita

It is written: “Sarah died in Kiryat-Arba, which is Hebron” [Chayei Sarah 23:2]

Rabbeinu Bechaye explained why the text mentions two names for the same place [Kiryat-Arba and Hebron].

Kiryat-Arba is called Hebron because the soul of anyone buried there unites [mithaberet] on high in the city of G-d with the four [arba] camps of the Shechinah.

This is why the Patriarchs sought to be buried in this place, namely that from there, souls merit to be reunited [leit’haber] with their source, which is the Throne of Glory.

Hence the meaning of “Kiryat-Arba, which is Hebron.”

G-d Speed

Art Majcho Zmajcho

Avraham sent Eliezer to fetch Rivkah at the earliest opportunity, as soon as she had reached marriageable age.  

Eliezer's miracle - where his journey was miraculously shortened, allowing him to complete a 17 day journey in one day - thus spared Rivkah from spending an additional 17 days in an atmosphere of idol worship.

From this we can be assured of the speed with which G-d will send Moshiach, saving the Jewish people from even an additional moment in Exile.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe Likutei Sichos vol 1

Once A Clown

Here is some light relief, in the form of Jackie Mason, who returned to the internet to record this 90 second video on Donald Trump.

A Meeting of Extremes

Shortly before his marriage, Yitzchak had reached a remarkable degree of spiritual perfection.  Right at the beginning of his life he was the first Jew to be circumcised at eight days.  He was then educated by Avraham our father, and later showed an eagerness to sacrifice his life to G-d, at the Akeida, from which point on he attained the sanctity of a burnt offering [an olah temimah].

Rivkah, on the other hand, was ''a rose amongst the thorns'', born into a wicked, idol-worshipping family.

The union of Yitzchak and Rivkah was thus a meeting of extremes, and for this very reason it is recorded in the Torah, since Torah itself is a guide to uniting extremes.  For when any mitzvah is observed, a mundane physical object becomes infused with Godliness and holiness.

Thus, the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivkah represents the marriage of the spiritual and the physical. And this explains why the Parsha spends so much time discussing their story, since it was the basis of everything that was to follow.

Source: Lubavitcher Rebbe: Based on Likutei Sochos vol 20 p 95-96 

Prepare Yourself for the Banquet

"I am an alien and a resident among you" [Chayei Sarah 23:4]

What is the meaning, asked the Dubno Maggid, of the expression "alien and resident"?  An alien is a person who resides in a land temporarily, while a resident's status is a permanent one.  An alien, therefore, is not a resident, nor is a resident an alien.

The answer, said the Maggid, is as follows:  Chazal comment on the verse "For you are aliens and residents with Me" [Vayikra 25:23] - "This world is like a lobby before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall." [Avos 4:21]

Each individual is required to prepare himself for his eternal residence in the World to Come by performing mitzvos and good deeds in this world, his temporary dwelling.  Thus Avraham Avinu was saying "I am both an alien and a resident; I am an alien temporarily living in the world before I will become a permanent resident of the World to Come."

The Chofetz Chaim illustrated this idea by way of the following parable: There was a very wealthy man who wished to build himself a luxurious house. He contracted an architect who began to draw blueprints for the future home.

"It is very important to me" said the wealthy man to the architect, "that the living room be spacious and comfortable. Yet it is also important that the hallway leading to the living room be very large as well."

The architect took the necessary measurements and began to tell the man what he thought. "There is most certainly not going to be enough space for both the living room and the hallway to be large and roomy. You are going to have to make a decision - do you want a spacious living room or a spacious hallway?"

"I'll give you a bit of advice." continued the architect.  "Being that the prevailing custom is to make the living room as large as possible and not to invest very much in the hallway, I'd suggest that you do the same. It would be ridiculous to do the opposite and make the hallway larger than the living room.  After all, you don't want people to laugh at you."

So it is with us, said the Chofetz Chaim. Our duty in this world is to prepare ourselves for the eternal life, so that our portion in the World to Come will be as great as possible. How are we supposed to do this? By living our lives according to the Torah and by performing the mitzvos.

How foolish is the man whose sole concern is to ensure himself a comfortable life in this world. He is comparable to the wealthy man who requests a large hallway but a small living room. When he arrives in the World to Come everyone will laugh at him!

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Rabbi Sacks on Leonard Cohen

''There's a crack in everything - that's how the light gets in.''  [Leonard Cohen]

...actually I would say that's how the light gets out.... because every single thing in this world contains a Divine spark,  and when we utilize that object in a good way, as part of a mitzvah, we redeem the sparks.  This is called birurim.

Sitting in his hotel room in New York, Rabbi Sacks suddenly had a thought about a connection between the late Leonard Cohen's final song "You Want It Darker", the current state of the world and the week's parsha of Vayera. 

The following is written by Zvi Hershcovich 

Leonard Cohen was given a Halachic Jewish burial in a quiet ceremony before the media was notified of the poet and musician's passing.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard [Eliezer Ben Nissan HaKohen] was born in Montreal on the 12th of Tishrei, 5695 [September 12, 1934]. His great-uncle, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen, a pious graduate of the Volozhin Yeshiva, had been the chief rabbi of Montreal and Canada.

Born in Westmount, both his grandparents were prominent Orthodox Jews. His mother's father was Rabbi Shlomo Kolnitsky-Kline, a graduate of the Kovno Yeshiva. He was called the Sar HaDikduki (master of grammarians), and he wrote important Sefarim, including a thesaurus on Talmudic interpretation. His father's father was Lyon Cohen, one of the founders of the Shaar Hashomayim Shul, of which Leonard was a member.

In an interview with Jeff Burger, he told the biographer that he often reads Tehillim to find inspiration for his music and poetry. "When they lift up the Torah and say ‘Etz chayim hi l’mah chazikim bah,’ that kind of thing sent a chill down my back," he said. "I wanted to be that one who lifted up the Torah."

He also recalled his pride at being a Kohen. "I wanted to wear white clothes, go into the Holy of Holies, and negotiate with the deepest resources of my soul," he told Burger. "That was poetry to me."

As Cohen's fame grew, he took public stands for Jewish causes and openly displayed his Judaism with pride, singing in Yiddish and going on a tour in Israel where he performed the Birkas Kohanim. During the Yom Kippur war in 1973, he flew to Israel to perform and raise the morale of Jewish soldiers. Cohen's father had fought in World War I, and he rushed to Israel, because as he later told the media, "I am committed to the survival of the Jewish people."

According to the New York Times, he was Shabbos observant on tour and wore Tefillin. He described inheriting his grandfather's Tefillin, gazing at them and trying to make sense of them. "I saw I really could use this material, how exquisite and skillful these prayers were, how they had been designed by minds that you have to incline your heads towards," he said. "These minds who designed these prayers or received the inspiration to design these prayers–these are incredibly subtle and exquisite prayers for lifting the soul."

Just before Rosh Hashana, Cohen released a single which he worked on together with Cantor Gideon Zelermyer of the Shaar Hashomayim and his choir. The song quotes directly from the mourner's Kaddish.

Cohen passed away on Monday, the 6th of Cheshvan [November 7] and was buried quietly in the Orthodox Jewish tradition near the entrance of the Shaar Hashomayim cemetery on Mont Royal.

The media was notified of his passing on Thursday when the Shaar Hashomayim issued a release which noted that, "Leonard’s wish was to be laid to rest in a traditional Jewish rite beside his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents."

Rabbi Adam Scheier shared in a post on social media, that the community had taken great pride in Cohen. "Our pride was not simply that a child of the congregation grew up to be successful and famous; rather, it was that Leonard took the Jewish themes and concepts that he learned at The Shaar and gave them new and inspired expression in his poetry and his songs," wrote Rabbi Scheier. "It was at The Shaar that Leonard first encountered the liturgy of Who By Fire, the praise of Hallelujah, and the reverence of Hineni, I’m ready, my Lord."