Following on from Rabbi Kessin's shiur below, a couple of things I have just read.
Firstly, from R' Avrohom M. Alter:
Following on from Rabbi Kessin's shiur below, a couple of things I have just read.
Firstly, from R' Avrohom M. Alter:
Audio from Rabbi Mendel Kessin - given 5/3/21
L'ag b'Omer at Meron, the yarzheit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
At the core of his teachings Rabbi bar Yochai taught that there is more than meets the eye in any situation.
Minutes before the fatal crush the men are singing Ani Ma'amin b'emunah shleimah b'viat ha Mashiach..... I believe in perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach.
Art: Boris Dubrov
''And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree...'' [Emor 23:40]
The Vilna Gaon had a great love for the mitzvah of the four species. Year after year, Vilna's vendors streamed to the Gaon's house with choice etrogim, and he would select the one he thought was the nicest.
One year, a vendor showed the Gaon an exquisite etrog. The Gaon was very impressed and was willing to pay its full price.
''I do not wish to sell the etrog for money'' responded the vendor. ''Rather, I desire the reward that you will garner for performing the mitzvah of the four species.''
''I readily agree'' said the Gaon. ''I will take the etrog, and you will receive my reward.''
All those who visited the Gaon that Sukkot saw him savoring his beautiful etrog to a far greater degree than in previous years.
To calm their curiousity, the Gaon explained: '''Throughout my entire life, I have yearned to fulfill the words of our Sages [Pirkei Avot 1:3] ''Be like servants who serve their master, not for the sake of receiving a reward.'' A person must not serve Hashem simply in order to receive a reward. This is extremely difficult, however, as we are constantly aware that we will receive a reward each time we perform a mitzvah, But this year I was given the opportunity to perform a mitzvah with the knowledge that I would not be receiving any reward for doing so!''
''I am so fortunate to have merited such an opportunity. This is why you find me so overjoyed.''
Source: Rabbi Yisroel Bronstein |
by Rabbi Benjy Simons
Rabbi Mendel Kessin audio, shiur given 4/19/21
Looking at the east coast of Australia right now.....it reminded me of this blog post about a great roaring of water.
Last year it was fire, this year it's water. The great floods of 2021, which you can read about here
I'm not in a flood zone, but I feel the pain of those who are.
Three new lectures by Rabbi Mendel Kessin have been uploaded, here they are:
Moshiach's Current Struggle - given 2/8/21
Kever of Rabbi Elimelech in Lizensk, Poland [Photo: יהונתן וואקסמאן] |
Someone close to someone close to me committed suicide last week. I was searching on the internet for something sensible to say to one of the relatives, and to be honest, I couldn't find much there that felt right.
Until I read this:
The Tachash is said to have had one horn, this picture is for illustrative purposes only, and not a real Tachash |
...are you programmed
New shiur from Rabbi Alon Anava whose videos can now be found at Vimeo.com
Wonderful lecture, everything is explained here, highly recommend this shiur.
The battle of the last war - Are you Programmed? from Rabbi Alon Anava on Vimeo.
Rabbi Mendel Kessin, audio - this lecture was given in October 2020
Back in 2016 I published a blog post about ''Nibiru'' [the Star of Jacob] which was predicted by the Ramak to appear on the 25th day of the 6th month, which generally speaking is Elul. See A Date with Nibiru
Another rabbi is saying that we will see the Kochav Yaakov in Adar this year: if you count the months beginning at Tishrei, then Adar IS the sixth month: see Major Kabalistic Leader predicts Star of Jacob as early as Adar
It seems to be that Adar is the month we have been waiting for, on so many levels.
I'm re-listening to this shiur, which was given in March 2020 by Rabbi Anava who has been unwell and hopefully will return to the video scene very shortly. Anyway, I found that the re-listening one year later was quite interesting.