Winning the War

As it was with the first redemption, so it will be with the final redemption. Again, prayer is in exile. Again, we must not only start praying - we must pray that all of Israel joins us. Then, Hashem will again hear our prayers and redeem us, speedily and in our days, with tremendous mercy, AMEN!
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Red Alert from R' Moshe Shternbuch

B'H

This is copied from: http://www.shiratdevorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/11/red-alert-to-klall-yisroel-in-name-of.html

Here is another tzaddik of Klal Yisrael also trying to wake us up, trying to help us realize that the key right now is strengthening our emuna!!!

The Jewish people are witnessing miracles in Israel. The missiles fired at us have the power to level buildings, yet miracles are taking place and we were spared from mass destruction. Even the most secular newspapers report that there is no way to explain these events according to natural law.

While the word "miracle" has been liberally splashed around by the media, neither the secular nor the religious press grasped the vital message of the hour. The situation arouses an urgent and critical obligation for each Jew to ask himself: "Why is Hashem performing these miracles for us? How should I be conducting myself in these extraordinary times?

If we do not deal with these questions immediately, this current security crisis could – Chas Veshalom – escalate into the most dangerous period in Jewish history. Hashem performs miracles for the Jewish people so that we will become more aware of His Presence in our lives. In recent days, He has made perfectly clear that He alone wields power in the world and that no missile can harm so much as a hair on the head of a Jew without His consent. Every rocket has an address that He predetermines, though the terrorists may believe that they can aim at a particular target.

Miracles are Hashem's alarm bells, "a red alert" that we must wake up and become truly conscious of Hashem's hashgachah in our daily lives. If we ignore these messages and conclude that miracles are just a natural part of living in Israel, the tables w could – Chas Veshalom – quickly turn.

We could – Chas Veshalom – in fact be handed over to natural law, and the missiles inexplicably could – Chas Veshalom – begin to hit their targets with greater frequency. And that means that the lives of our fellow Jews – our brothers and sisters living in Israel – could – Chas Veshalom – be in mortal danger.

We must learn this lesson from the story of the meraglim (spies). When they returned from Eretz Yisrael they claimed this land was a place where miracles were apparent on a daily basis, and therefore an extremely high spiritual level would be demanded of those who dwelled there. There was no way that Klal Yisrael as a nation could maintain such a level, and therefore the spies, who were all Gedolei Yisrael, ruled that the people should not enter the land.

The opinion of the meraglim was brought before the Sanhedrin, and they concurred with their ruling. It may seem, on the surface, that their reasoning was sound, and logic dictated that it was unwise to enter Eretz Yisrael. Yet we see from the grave punishment incurred by that generation that they could not have been further from the truth. What was the mistake in their reasoning?

The answer is simple. If Hashem told us to enter Eretz Yisrael, He obviously knew that we would ascend to the spiritual level necessary for a nation that sees miracles on a daily basis. For this reason, the claim of the meraglim was heresy, and we suffer from its bitter consequences to this very day.

In more recent times, Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg once told Rav Sternbuch about a meeting of secular non-Jewish and Jewish professors to discuss the authorship of the Torah. Their conclusion was that while the Torah was far too complex to be man-made, they were not ready to attribute it to a Divine source that they knew nothing about. Like the meraglim, they perceived the significance of the Divine influence, but refused to follow through by accepting the full import of this conclusion.

During the current military operation, we are facing the very same challenge. Hashem is sending us a message that we must make real changes in our lives and raise our level of consciousness of His Presence, to the point where we are worthy of such supernatural treatment. If we rise to the occasion and raise our level of emunah as a result of these miracles, then we will pass the nisayon (test), and it is very likely that Moshiach will arrive shortly.

Chazal offer us practical advice in this area, and write that reciting a hundred brachos every day and saying Amen yehei Shmei Rabba has the power to annul decrees. Reciting Tehillim is important, but we need to make sure that our tefilah is also said with the proper kavanah. Everyone should take upon themselves to do something small to raise their level of emunah.

We must consider ourselves warned by the lessons of our history: If Hashem shows us miracles and we do not respond by strengthening our emunah, His mercy could – Chas Veshalom – turn to fury and we are handed over to the forces of natural law. We dare not speak about what this could could – Chas Veshalom– lead to, but we all understand the ruthless nature and implacable hatred of the enemy we face.

Now is the time, while Hasehm continues to shower His miracles upon us, to recognize His hand in our lives on a national and individual level, to turn to Him in tefilah and teshuvah, and eagerly watch the redemption unfold before our eyes.

What can we do? Pray!

R’ Arush said in his shiur last night that we must all pray that all the Klal Yisrael begins to pray! He said prayer can make a gun not fire. He also said that when we speak to Hashem in personal prayer, Hashem stops what He is doing in the world, so to speak, and stops to listen to you. Hence, Rebbe Nachman says that personal prayer stops harsh decrees.
Rabbi Brody relates the story that just before World War II, a group of Breslevers started a round-the clock personal prayer cycle within their group, so not a moment would pass that someone wasn’t doing hitbodedut. At some point, they were rounded up and dispersed, hence stopping the constant hitbodedut cycle. That day, WWII started.
My husband also mentioned to me that Rabbi Berland once commented that during the Second Intifada, he set up a 24 hour hitbodedut cycle in similar fashion. After every single bombing, he looked into who was supposed to be doing hitbodedut during that hour, and found out that he had been side-tracked and was not davening then!!!

R' Arush also said that the Evil Inclination is directly responsible for the fact that prayer is so overlooked among many religious people. People look for all types of segulas, inyonim, etc. etc. He said "I don't have any for you! You don't need them! PRAY!" Every prayer creates a vessel. Do you know how many vessels are just in the Shemonei Esrei alone? Why rush? Say every word slowly, with intention. He actually started repeating prayers himself, displaying exactly how one is to say the words. Slowly. Refaeinu, pause. Hashem. Pause. Just like that. He said you can even repeat the words, as many times as you want - just not the blessing itself. 

We can all make a difference. The Evil Inclination has convinced us that prayer isn't effective, we must do, do, do to create vessels. No! Hashem loves us and He wants to give us! The Evil Inclination is a LIAR. Ask Hashem to help you strengthen your belief in prayer - to show you that prayer really does work. Know that Hashem hears every word.

Moshe Rebeinu went into the desert for 60 years before he came back at Hashem's behest to redeem Israel from Egypt. What did he do that whole time? Personal prayer! R' Arush explains even further: He prayed that the Jewish people would start praying. Prayer itself was in exile. Hakol Kol Yaakov - the voice is the voice of Jacob. The Jewish people's strongest middah is prayer! Moshe knew that the Jewish people needed to pray in order to be redeemed. Finally, the Torah says that the Jewish people called out to Hashem in prayer. And what happened next? Hashem went to Moshe and said "I hear their cry! Go redeem them!"

As it was with the first redemption, so it will be with the final redemption. Again, prayer is in exile. Again, we must not only start praying - we must pray that all of Israel joins us. Then, Hashem will again hear our prayers and redeem us, speedily and in our days, B'RACHAMIM, AMEN!!!

Overturning the Decree

We read on the Yomim Noraim (High Holy Days) the end of the chilling Unetanetokef prayer:
Teshuva, tefillah, u'tzedakah - mavrin et ha roa gezeira
Repentance, prayer and charity - overturn the harsh decree

I thought about this a lot this morning. I've talked with so many people - each one tells me about dreams (really, nightmares) about major changes, natural disasters, G-d forbid G-d forbid won't even say the rest. Myself included. For years. People with bad feelings, sick stomachs, afraid for the coming years. One friend told me this morning she even had a dream that an angel came to her some months ago, and told her there was a harsh decree, and then quoted the above. Hence, between this conversation and Obama's re-election, I was speaking to Hashem, trying to understand this crucial verse. How do we DO this? What does this formulation mean in actual function?

I opened up the sefer (holy book) I've been learning every morning, to where I left off yesterday. Right there, it quotes Rabbi Natan, explaining Rabbi Nachman - that tzedakah primarily means holy acts [performing mitzvot], which is considered charity for the soul (Likutei Halachot, Tzedakah 1).

OK, so the tzedakah mentioned in the prayer doesn't per say have to do with money, although giving money to appropriate causes is certainly also tzedakah. I suddenly realized that indeed the entire formulation is a remez (hint) to the functional actions that exemplify each category, and what they are. Here goes:

TESHUVA. Repentance. Certainly we must evaluate our entire lives and what we could be doing better. But what did I learn just before the quote from Rebbe Natan this morning? Kitzur Likutei Moharan 19 - explaining that while every nation has a particular sin, and the language of that nation exemplifies that sin, the common sin among all non-Jews is sexual lust. Hence, sexual lust is the "general sin" and every other type of sin in the world is subsumed within it. But the Jewish people can distance themselves from it altogether, and this is the definition of holiness.
So if the general sin is the lust of sex, then the general teshuva must correspond - negating the lust for sex. For men, this is guarding the brit (circumcision) which is tied directly to guarding the eyes, from which the lust stems (Do not go after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray... - the Shema prayer in the Torah - the heart lusts after what the eye sees). For women, this is modesty. For both, it is the head of the entire concept of connecting ourselves to holiness (Kedoshim t'hiyu - the mitzvah to be holy), which means distancing ourselves from all forms of goyishe (non-Jewish) culture and all forms of unholiness (speech, food, etc.). Meaning each person must start with working on their personal holiness (shmirat habrit/tznua). This distances them from the general sin and from the unholiness of the non-Jewish nations. Then they can start working on distancing themselves from other forms of unholiness and non-Jewish culture as well, while being drawn to more and more holiness in every aspect of life.
For help with understanding these concepts in more depth, please read Rabbi Arush's incredible guides for men and women respectively: The Garden of Peace and Women's Wisdom.
From personal experience I must comment that this process happens organically. It actually amazes me. The more I have focused on modesty and connected to emuna, the more I have naturally disconnected from more and more aspects of goyishe culture, some without even really working on them. Suddenly I am sensitive to it in a way I never was before. I can't explain it in words any better than this feeble attempt.
And yes, I am making this real for me too. This morning I had this revelation, and this afternoon I took a very small, but incredibly big in its ramifications, step in modesty. Thank you Hashem for giving me a lot of seata dishmaya (Heavenly assistance) in this matter. I have been praying a lot about it as well. That brings us to:

TEFILLAH. Prayer. What is the most powerful prayer? Nay, what is the true definition of prayer? Hitbodedut - personal prayer. Because it's your own words. The intention is there by definition. Please read In Forest Fields or any number of lessons and books available about it and Rebbe Nachman's praise of personal prayer. It is the true definition of prayer, and what made our leaders - the Patriarchs, Moshe Rebbeinu, King David and more - the tzaddikim they were. Why do you think they were all Shepherds? So they could spend all day talking to Hashem. The Chofetz Chaim spent 2 hours a day in personal prayer. It's mentioned by the Ramchal in Mesillas Yesharim. There is no space to continue - I hope it's obvious and if not, please learn. Tefillah refers to hitbodedut - the highest form of prayer there is.

TZEDAKAH. Charity. As above, holy acts - mitzvot. But perhaps there is some mitzvah that is so universal and powerful that it can include everything else, that is the most powerful way to negate a harsh decree? Certainly learning Torah comes to mind: Torah k'neged kula - the Torah is equivalent to everything, because in order to act properly, you must learn what to do and not do. The problem is that Torah without prayer is a husk without an inside. Again, no space here to explain in depth - learn Rebbe Nachman's teachings to understand completely (also refer to In Forest Fields for a concise explanation), but for now take it as fact. So there must be something even more all encompassing, something that in one aspect includes everything, with no caveats. If you know anything about Rabbi Arush's teachings, the answer is obvious.
EMUNA. Emuna is the ultimate charity for the soul. Emuna encompasses everything in the Torah. Indeed, it is what the first commandment in the Torah alludes to: I am Hashem your G-d. KNOW that I am Hashem. That is emuna! And indeed, yes - emuna is the key to negating harsh decrees. The key to miracles. The key to the redemption itself (read The Garden of Emuna and The Garden of Gratitude and really, any and every book and CD by Rabbi Arush for explanation).

So: Teshuva, tefilla, tzedakah mean in functional action - Personal holiness, personal prayer and emuna!

These are the keys to the tikkun (personal rectification) for every person. These are the keys to negating harsh decrees - and these are the keys to negating the harshest decree that is the root cause of it all - the exile. With these 3 keys, every one of us helps speed the redemption along, b'rachamim - with mercy.

One little side note, something else I realized while doing hitbodedut some time back. By definition, mercy is a free gift we don't deserve. So how does one deserve something that by definition, you don't deserve?
EMUNA.
Why?
Because with emuna, we give Hashem something He doesn't deserve, if you will. We look at the world and see bad. We should think it's bad. But we give Hashem something He doesn't seem to deserve - we strengthen our emuna and say "No, this is really from Hashem, for a purpose, and for the best. Gam zu l'tova!!!" We ignore reality altogether, ani ma'amin - I believe with emuna!
So what does Hashem do? Middah k'neged middah - measure for measure - the way He always runs His world - He looks past our reality. Hashem looks past everything that seems bad in us, too! And He has mercy, even though we don't deserve it.

May we all strengthen ourselves in these 3 key areas, overturn all the harsh decrees, and may Hashem in His mercy give us a free gift and send Moshiach Tzidkeinu in His mercy, in a merciful way, bimheira v'yameinu AMEN.

Thank you Hashem for giving me this incredible inspiration. Please understand that this absolutely did not come from me, although I lack the ability to quote someone else for it. Basically I just put together why these 3 aspects are the key aspects Rabbi Nachman constantly discussed, as does Rabbi Arush now. Now it makes perfect sense why these 3 keys are so important.

Just How Much Hashem Loves You

I just heard this directly from Rabbi Arush:
Think about how much you love your children (if you don't have them - try to imagine it). How much you want everything for them. How much you will always want everything for them, no matter what they do.
Do you think Hashem loves you less than you love your children? Certainly not. He loves you so much more than you can imagine! R' Arush said even the greatest rasha (evil person) - Hashem still wants him to be like Moshe Rebbeinu. He wants to give him everything too!
We must create the vessels to receive all the sheffa (abundance) Hashem wants to give us. How do we create vessels?
Prayer. Every prayer, every word, creates a vessel. Every hour creates a vessel. 6 hours of personal prayer creates an incredibly large vessel. Hashem then fills these vessels with all the good things He wants to give us!
So we don't need to convince Hashem why we need or deserve something. We don't need to worry about our sins getting in the way either. Hashem loves you! Hashem wants to give you everything! Just be happy, and pray about everything, everything, everything. Create the vessels. And Hashem will surely fill them.

I would like to add to this something Rabbi Natan of Breslev continuously discusses, that he learned first hand from Rebbe Nachman:
Obstacles are nothing!!!
Literally. Nothing.
Obstacles are created by Hashem in order to increase our desire. Everything good in the world has a spiritual "price tag." Perhaps someone doesn't have the ability to acquire the good they want, for whatever reason. But they want it, and Hashem wants to give it to them, because Hashem loves us!!! So Hashem sends obstacles. This enables them to increase their desire, more and more. They also increase their prayers. The prayers create vessels. When the amount of desire and prayers surpass the spiritual "price tag," all the obstacles suddenly fall away completely!
The obstacles were created by Hashem. He can easily take them away at will too! The most important thing is to press on with desire and prayers, and the obstacles WILL fall away at the right time! Just don't, don't, DON'T give up. Rebbe Natan stresses this time and again - how many obstacles stood in the way of his pursuit of holiness and truth (many times reflected in trying to go to visit Rebbe Nachman), and how time and again he saw them all miraculously fall away just at the right time. He bemoans those who give up on themselves and don't press on to break all the obstacles through prayer.
Have patience, and increase your desire and prayers, and break through all the obstacles! It really works - because Hashem really loves you. The obstacles are BECAUSE Hashem really loves you!
So please, don't give up. Remember how much Hashem loves you. And just keep praying.

If Only I Had a Minyan...

B'H

Rabbi Arush spoke on Shabbos Chazon, during Shalos Seudos. According to reports (my husband was not there himself, and since it was Shabbos anyway, did not record of course) Rabbi Arush was extremely upset, saying (again, paraphrasing a report):

A terrible new thing has been created – the IPhone and Smartphone. Now, anytime the Evil Inclination puts into a man’s heart, he can sin, the Internet walks around with him and tempts him. If only I had 10 men in the Yeshiva who had completely nullified all their teivot (lusts, desires), I would have been able to make a man KNOW that he is sinning with his Smartphone, whenever this happened. At least he would know it was wrong and have a better chance at fighting his Evil Inclination. Alas, I do not have 10 men, and therefore, he does not even realize that it is wrong…

Now, do not take this as an insult to the men of Rabbi Arush’s Yeshiva, Chut shel Chessed, G-d forbid. What Rabbi Arush is demanding is an incredibly high level – to have not one lust come up, ever, in any situation. Even a man who ever feels a lust for anything, even once a year, and stomps it completely is not on this level. The men in the Yeshiva are certainly working incredibly hard towards this goal, and as a whole the Yeshiva is an incredibly holy community, but alas, not 10 of them have gotten there yet.

So why do I mention it? Two reasons:

<![if !supportLists]>1.      <![endif]>To remind us of the dangers of the Internet.
I blog on the Internet, so obviously I don’t believe it’s wholly evil. I do believe it is something like the Klipat Noga in Kabbalah – it is not good nor evil specifically, but leans towards evil and must be used very, very carefully. There is no doubt that an Internet filter of some kind is absolutely required by halachah, and if a man is on the Internet, either his wife must be able to (and do it!) to monitor his usage on a regular basis, no less than once a month, or he must use a kosher Internet filter which will filter and monitor him if needed.
Even if it’s kosher, it still must be used carefully – how many hours to people waste away with silliness on Facebook or Twitter? I myself have to fight this Yetzer – it is just oh so easy to take a 5 minute break, that ends up to be an hour, and my entire day is messed up because I took time I didn’t have. Why is it so addicting? Because it’s mindless and easy. OK we’re answering people’s important questions on some group. But are you achieving your purpose in life doing so? If the answer is no, the amount of time must be carefully watched to make sure it makes sense.

<![if !supportLists]>2.      <![endif]>To remind us of how everything we do affects the world.
Just imagine – if there were 10 men like this, they would have such power! That every man would always know he is sinning, every time, without becoming complacent. That is power!
Nothing we do is lost. Every minute of personal prayer, Tehillim, Torah; every time we light Shabbos candles or put on tefillin; every time a man guards his eyes, and a woman dresses modestly, and they both guard themselves only for their spouse; every word of emuna, and every time we refrain from speaking lashon hara or slander…we don’t know the power of holiness we are putting into the world! We don’t know how every time we talk to someone else about emuna, some other person is strengthened and comes a little closer to Hashem.
We are fighting a war against evil. This IS the war of Gog and Magog according to Rebbe Nachman. An individual cannot see the war going on, nor can they see the outcome of each battle. And if they lose, but pick themselves up and do teshuva, and grow a bit humbler knowing they cannot be successful in coming closer to Hashem without His help – that is a battle won!!!
Slowly, but surely, every one of Hashem’s warriors is fighting their little battles, and one day, G-d willing soon, when Moshiach comes – Moshiach is going to show each of us just how much we accomplished, and how with what seemed to us as a little battle, we wiped out entire armies of enemies.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

We lost a tremendous light today, HaRav HaGaon Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l. Klal Yisrael has no words to describe our loss. We can only pray that He will beseech Hashem for us in Shamayim and that his death should be considered an atonement for our generation.

Rabbi Arush spoke recently about the decree in this year on Torah giants. Indeed this year we have lost Rebbetzin Kanievsky (one of Rabbi Elyashiv’s daughters), Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, and now Rabbi Elyashiv, and more – all tzaddikim, their memory should be a blessing. He said that we must pray that our tzaddikim be spared, especially this year. He said specifically that we shouldn’t say that it’s natural that a tzaddik passed away, after all Rabbi Elyashiv was 102, Rabbi Scheinberg 101, etc. They lived a long, good life, right?

Emphatically, no. They all died this year specifically because of this decree, and we must continue to pray for our tzaddikim, because we can't imagine the power they have to annul negative decrees c’v in Shamayim and the Divine mercy they bring to all of Klal Yisrael.

May Hashem grant health, healing and long life, mamash until 120, to all of the tzaddikim, revealed and hidden, and all of Klal Yisrael!

The Yetzer Hara is the Best Thing in the World!

B'H

Rabbi Arush recently explained (this is a paraphrase of a lecture my husband recorded) that the Yetzer Hara is the best thing in the world! Thank you Hashem for the Yetzer Hara!

This was a pretty incredible comment to me. I mean, I always think of the Yetzer as what he is – the Evil Inclination, as in evil. How could the EI possibly be good?

Rabbi Arush explains that the EI is incredibly good for us. Without the Yetzer, we would all float around, thinking that we’re tzaddikim on our pedestals. We might even think that we don’t really need Hashem to help us, G-d forbid!

But with the Yetzer, we fall all the time. We see our weaknesses. We cringe when we look back and realize that this conversation was lashon hara, and that time I got angry, and the other time I didn’t tell 100% truth.

Therefore, we come to Hashem with humility. We know we’re not the best thing since sliced bread. We recognize that we’re limited and fallible, that we make more mistakes than we recognize and get sucked into sins and lusts we didn’t even see coming. We recognize our place. And we come to Hashem from there.

Even more, when we do succeed, we see how much it really isn’t us. While yesterday I couldn’t overcome X desire, this morning I prayed extra, and wow I'm succeeding in overcoming it just a little more than yesterday. That’s not me – that’s Hashem! We recognize that we need Hashem, and thank Him for enabling us to overcome the Yetzer, and pray with humility. And that’s the best thing in the world.

A Plea to Singles

B'H

Dating with emuna is for everyone – men, women, Jew, and Noahide. The Gemara says that for Hashem, making a match is like splitting the Red Sea all over again. The dating culture in the Western world, and even the religious world, has become so warped that a veritable “shidduch crisis” has ensued. With emuna, you can beat the statistics. There are simple and yet profound rules you can follow to apply Rabbi Arush’s principles of emuna to dating, and G-d willing, enable yourself to become the person you need to be in order for Hashem to (finally) send you your true soulmate.

Click here to see all the articles in the series on dating with emuna.

The Best Job on Earth

I always thought I would go back to work after I had a baby. No, even more than that: I always assumed I would want to go back to work after I had a baby.
 I have always been “The Sophisticate” (to fully understand this reference, you absolutely must read Rabbi Shalom Arush’s incredible book B’Gan HaChochma – available in Hebrew, and with Hashem’s help, soon to be available in English – right here at www.breslev.co.il). I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California, with all the additional hoopla – Phi Beta Kappa, Special Achievement Awards, you name it. I had so many cords and paraphernalia around my neck, I can't hope to remember what they all meant (although I think I did tag them all appropriately after graduation so I wouldn’t need to remember – more on what motherhood has done to my incredibly organized lifestyle G-d willing in future articles).
 For as long as I can remember, people always told me that someone like me would never be happy being home with a baby. “You’re too sophisticated to be a stay at home mom” – surely, I will be so bored by all the feedings, and baby talk, and baby books, and everything. I will need to have “outside stimulation” to work and be with adults, and be able to have a “sophisticated” conversation instead of just babble. I will need the freedom and independence of working, and a much deserved break from the baby. I'm so smart, why should I waste it staying home! Really, a woman could go crazy being in the house all day! Certainly, I will be flying out the door to go to work after three months home on maternity leave!
 And of course, I believed them.
 I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Read more at: http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/family/children_and_education/the_best_job_on_earth.aspx?id=21857&language=english

Rabbi Arush: Tell all the Jews - Come to Israel!

Rabbi Arush spoke specifically about moving to Israel in his private shiur to the Yeshiva yesterday. The following is an exact translation of his words, from a recording my husband took:

We have to tell the all the Jews outside of Israel, that they have to come to Israel! You see that outside of Eretz Yisrael, there is danger. You think that in Eretz Yisrael it's dangerous? You're going to see what's going on outside. But in Eretz Yisrael there is seata dishmaya (Divine Providence), help from Heaven that is special here in Eretz Yisrael. Tzaddikim are saying that in Eretz Yisrael, nothing bad is going to happen! Eretz Yisrael is guarded - shmura. Protected. Tell them - come to Eretz Yisrael! What are you doing over there? What are you doing?

Until now, tens of thousands of missiles are falling in Eretz Yisrael, and nothing is happening. But one time, one missile fell in a Druze Villiage of Arabs, and tens died in one missile. But you see that Hashem is playing with the missiles, that they are going to fall between houses, and nothing is happening. 

He said that one time they asked one of the Arabic soldiers why are the missiles not striking? He answered that everything in the computers are set. It's fixed. But Elokim is moving the missiles from their place.

Rosh Chodesh Nissan - Time to Pray for Moshiach

I also want to share with you Rabbi Arush's thoughts on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, which is this Shabbos. This is a word for word translation!

We must prepare ourselves for a really important time. The month of Nissan. Rebbe Nachman writes that there are two months of teshuva – Tishrei and Nissan. In Tishrei we do teshuva because we are afraid – but in Nissan, we do teshuva because we love Hashem. All of that month, all of those days, are Yamim Tovim. They are festive days. The first twelve days, are days that there were sacrifices of the princes of Israel, 13^th is isru chag for the Nissim, 14^th is the sacrifice of Pesach, then 7 days of Pesach, then Isru Chag – one month of holidays!

This month it's going to be a new beginning for the rest of the year. It's the month of the Geula. Rabbi Nachman of Breselv writes in Likutei Moharan that this is the first day of the year for the kings. On this day Hashem is deciding all of the kings that are going to be. So there is an aspect that Rosh Chodesh Nissan is more important than even the first day of Rosh Hashanah in Chodesh Tishrei! On Rosh Hashanah Hashem judges us all individually. Each and every one, He is judging Him on his actions. But on Rosh Chodesh Nissan Hashem is judging generally – all of the world itself. Who is going to be the kings and so on. On Rosh Chodesh Nissan, Hashem is going to decide when Moshiach is going to come. There is not for no reason that our Rabbis say that Moshiach will come in Nissan. It's because on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, Hashem is going to decide if the king is going to be Moshiach, so he's going to come in Nissan. This is why everyone has to realize how important these days are and put in the effort, and especially on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, to pray that Hashem is going to put His kingdom on top, that He is going to be the King, and if you Hashem are not going to bring the Moshiach this year, please appoint good kings that it's going to be good for us.

This is the time for miracles!

Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi brought this down during here shiur this week, and it's so incredible I wanted to share it with you!

A faucet of miracles – at your seder

We're at an amazing time – "a moment of affection". The month of Nisan – the time of nissim, miracles. What does the Chatam Sofer say? There's a difference between a ko'es, one who is angry, and a ka'asan, one who is by nature angry; the difference between a spender and a spendthrift. One's momentary, the other existential. The same thing with a nes, a miracle. God split the Sea of Reeds, ים סוף , once, and that's it – so what?... But Nisan – that's the nature of the season. A gate of miracles opens up this week. The nature of the time is miracle after miracle, and all I ask, says God, is that הַרְחֶב פִּיךָ וַאֲמַלְאֵהוּ – open your mouth wide and let Me fill it1; שְׁאַל 1 Psalms 81:11 מִמֶּנִּי – וְאֶתְּנָה – Ask of Me and I shall give2. All I want from you is for you to ask. That's it. At the beginning of Nisan the angels overseeing your fortune changed their shifts. If you've felt stuck, locked in, closed – God called for a shift change, and now you have new angels supervising your fortune, your constellation. What's a constellation? A mazal – from the word nozel, meaning to flow. They cause a flow of changed fortunes. I so much want to give you all hope, because if you don't believe it you'll never see the miracles. So we must pray, because salvation is getting closer. We must have faith to receive the miracles. 2 Psalms