I started to write a long comment on an excellent post at Emunaroma:
Two sides of the 'images of women in frum media' debate and then I realized that everything I wanted to say could be encompassed in one sentence from the Talmud: Blessing does not rest upon something that is out in the open, but rather on something that is hidden from the eye.
To expound on this: The negative force only has power over that which can actually be seen by the physical eye. This is one of the reasons that it can actually be a blessing to not be so noticeable in the public eye. [See Remedy for an Evil Eye]
That is just one reason why I am an Anonymous blogger...
Once, when one of my daughters was eleven years old, she complained about a pain in her knee.
Seeing nothing wrong with her knee, I suggested that it was probably growing pains. My daughter didn't like the explanation. "Why can't we grow without pain?" she demanded.
Unfortunately, in real life, growth is often associated with pain. As the famous saying goes, "No pain — no gain." While we may not have control over the "pain" part, especially when it’s caused by others, we do most definitely have control over the "gain" part.
Most of our learning and growth in life comes not from the good times but rather from the difficult times. During the good period we are happy and therefore do not want anything to change. It is during the bad times, when we are unhappy with the status quo, that we learn how to change things — how to make our world better than it is.
When life throws challenges at us, we have a choice. We can feel sorry for ourselves and cry and complain, "Why me?" Or we could stop and say to ourselves: "What can I do, given the new circumstances that have arisen?"
I once asked an elderly wise person whom I used to approach for advice, "Where do you get such good judgement from?" He answered, "Good judgment comes from bad experience." He related to me the following story, which had a profound effect on me.
One day, a donkey fell into a pit. The animal cried and whined for hours while his owner tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided that since the animal was old, and the pit needed to be covered up anyway, he'd just bury the old donkey right there. He got a shovel and started filling in the pit. The donkey kept up its wailing, but then fell silent. After an hour of furious shovelling, the farmer paused to rest. To his amazement, he saw his old donkey jump out of the pit and trot away!
At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he cried even more piteously. But then the wise animal hit on a plan. As each spadeful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the growing mound of earth. Eventually, the mound grew high enough for him to jump out of the pit.
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the pit well is to shake it off and take a step up. We can get out of the deepest pits by not stopping and never giving up. Just shake it off and take a step up.
At the end of January, we are going to see a red blue moon.
A blue moon is the term used when one month contains two full moons. However, this time it coincides with a total lunar eclipse, which will turn the moon a deep red colour.
According to Space.com the total lunar eclipse on January 31 will be the first time
an event of this kind has coincided with the Blue Moon in over 150
years.
Rabbi Kessin outlines a general overview of the messianic process as it manifests throughout history.
He discusses the Cosmic Clock timeline [he calls it the Creation Clock], which you can see ticking away [thanks to Yeranen Yaakov] in the left hand column of this blog...which is now just past 12.39pm on Friday afternoon.
The picture below is not connected to Rabbi Kessin, but I thought it was appropriate.
Now Yosef could not bear all those standing beside him, and he called out, "Take everyone away from me!" So no one stood with him when Yosef made himself known to his brothers.[Vayigash 45:1]
Yosef could not bear that Egyptians would stand beside him and hear his brothers being embarrassed when he would make himself known to them. [Rashi]
We can learn from the example of Yosef towards his brothers that one should never seek revenge against a person who causes him any form of distress or damage. Rather, one should repay even a guilty offender with kindness. [Tanya ch.12]
Why should we be kind to guilty offenders?
Because whatever that person did to you ultimately stems from G-d. The person was merely an agent from G-d, Who decreed that this thing should happen to you.
Thus, since "everything that G-d does is for the good", you must repay the person - who brought this "good" to you - with kindness.
"And they rushed him out of the dungeon"[Mikeitz 41:14]
In the Chofetz Chaim's later years, the Communist Revolution raged in Russia. One of the aims of the wicked Communists was to stamp out any trace of Judaism from the hearts of the Jewish people. They spared no effort at trying to achieve this goal. They mercilessly leveled harsh decrees against the Jews, and only thanks to the mercy of Heaven were Jews able to remain firm in their faith.
"Look at what the Torah states in Parshas Mikeitz", said the Chofetz Chaim to one of his students. "The verse says that 'Pharoah sent [messengers] and called Yosef, and they rushed him out of the dungeon.' For twelve years Yosef languished in prison and no one paid any attention to him.
'But when the moment that Hashem had designated for Yosef's salvation finally arrived, he was immediately rushed out of the dungeon.'
''We are in a similar situation. Our predicament appears to be hopeless: the Communist regime, in their cruelty, will stop at nothing to sever our ties with the holy Torah. Yet when Moshiach comes and our moment of redemption arrivesthere will be no delays and we, too, will be rushed to our Land.''
In this fascinating show, we talk about the spiritual meaning of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We also talk about ‘The Last War’ and what we might see happening in the near future. Rabbi Mendel Kessin joins Tamar and shares his insights into the Messianic process that we are seeing unfold in front of our eyes. A ‘DON’T MISS’ show!
With all the confusion out there regarding this topic, Rabbi Jacobson answers the question: ''Are we doing enough to spread the Sheva Mitzvot Bnei Noach?'' [ @ 24:20 on the video] and ''Can Chassidus be taught to non-Jews? '' ...... also Chassidus applied to Chanukah..... and more topics
Here is the live Statement on Jerusalem, he gets started about two-thirds of the way through, just move the red dot with your mouse until you see him appear.
Smoke appears to rise from behind the Hollywood Sign in this view from Downtown Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday, December 5, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi author of The Tanya
The 18th of Kislev marks the completion of the annual cycle of daily readings from the Tanya. The 19th and 20th of Kislev are the "Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus".
On Yud-Tes Kislev we re-commence the annual cycle of daily readings in Tanya, as divided by the Rebbe Rayatz.
It is the anniversary of the release of the Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi [Hebrew: שניאור זלמן מליאדי], the first Rebbe of Chabad, who was informed upon by misnagdim in Russia and arrested on trumped-up charges of supporting the Ottoman Empire.
His informers pointed to the fact that he would urge his followers to send money to the Land of Israel as "evidence" of his alleged insurrectionist aspirations [in fact, the money was sent to support poor Jews]. At the time, the Land of Israel was a part of the Ottoman Empire, which was at war with Russia.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman was charged with treason, and released in the secular year 1798 on the Jewish date of Tuesday, 19 Kislev.
The 53 days of Rabbi Shneur Zalman's imprisonment are said to correspond to the 53 chapters of the first section of the Tanya.
19 Kislev is also considered to mark the day upon which Rabbi Shneur Zalman was conceived, for he was born exactly nine months later, on 18 Elul. [Shemu'os Vesippurim, Refoel Kahn, vol. 1, p. 39]
Rebbetzin Menuchah Rachel born [1798]
On the very day that Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was liberated from prison, a granddaughter was born to him -- the daugher of his son Rabbi Dovber and his wife Rebbetzin Sheina. The girl was named Menuchah Rachel -- "Menuchah", meaning "tranquility" [Rachel was the name of a daughter of Rabbi Schneur Zalman who died in her youth].
In 1845, Rebbetzin Menuchah Rachel realized her lifelong desire to live in the Holy Land when she and her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Culi Slonim [d. 1857], led a contingent of Chassidim who settled in Hebron. Famed for her wisdom, piety and erudition, she served as the matriarch of the Chassidic community in Hebron until her passing in her 90th year in 1888.
The 19th of Kislev is also the yahrzeit of R. DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch, who [as successor to the Baal Shem Tov] was the mentor of the second generation of the chassidic movement - from 5521 [1761] until his passing on the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev, Yud-Tes Kislev, 5533 [1772]. His resting place is in Anipoli.
Rabbi Dov Ber was born in Volhynia in 1710, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, though other sources say his year of birth is unknown. Little is known about him before he became a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. A Hasidic legend states that, when he was five years old, his family home burst into flames. On hearing his mother weeping, he asked: "Mother, do we have to be so unhappy because we have lost a house?" She replied that she was mourning the family tree, which was destroyed, and had begun with Rabbi Yohanan, the sandal-maker and master in the Talmud. The boy replied: "And what does that matter! I shall get you a new family tree which begins with me!"
How aptly those words described the role he was later to play; for the boy was destined to become the successor to the Baal Shem Tov.
This is a video from 2013 which came up on my FB feed..... now normally I don't watch too many random videos, but something drew me to this one, and it totally blew me away. I just had to share it here. Watch the amazing story of how Diabolo became Spirit. There is so much to be learned here. Names affect animals too.
Digital Photo by David Pasillas ''You shall be holy'' [ Kedoshim 19:2 ] There is a principle in Chassidic thought t...
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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."