Accepting the Tiny Suffering with Emuna

Harav Arush explains in Gates of Gratitude that by thanking Hashem for the small things, even the most tiny things, and accepting them with emuna, one can spare himself 5,000 times that amount of suffering, AND atone for all his sins! Sounds incredible – and it’s really very easy except that we need first to believe completely in Divine Providence even over the tiniest happening.

One example he gives is a person who asks for a hot drink, and receives a cold one – or vise-versa. Accepting this with emuna means taking this very small happening and seeing only Hashem and His Divine Providence – and saying: This is what Hashem wants, and therefore this is what Hashem wants! Such a person smiles, and drinks the “incorrect” drink happily. If the waitress, or wife, or child comes up to him saying – “Oh my, I made a mistake! I'm so sorry! Do you want me to exchange your hot chocolate for the shoko that you ordered?” he says – “No mistakes here, kacha Hashem rotzeh – this is what Hashem wants! Thank you so much!” This person adds mitzvot to his mitzvot, atones for all his sins, and spares himself 5,000 times that amount of suffering.

Let’s see what the opposite looks like – such a person fails to see Hashem and His Divine Providence. Instead, he yells and insults the waitress, his wife, or the child who made the mistake: “You never get it right! This is too cold! This is too hot! I wanted something else! Do you have a brain in your head?” and the like. This person adds many sins to his basket, of course gets no atonement for his sins and will get much more suffering his way c”v.

These examples make this concept seem oh-so-easy. But in real life, I'm finding it very difficult to fulfill. Do I accept it with love when my toddler throws paper pieces all over his just cleaned room and hallway, not yell or get angry, and say – Thank you Hashem for sparing me much worse suffering! Kacha Hashem rotzeh! Hashem did this! Or do I see the toddler… the examples are endless because these little sufferings happen absolutely all the time. They are for the very best if we see Hashem through them, accept them with love and don’t sin against the person or thing which brought us the suffering – including ourselves and the seeming mistakes we make. A person stubs his toe – do you say “Thank you Hashem” or blame yourself for missing the doorstop? As I've begun to notice my reactions, inevitably what seems like such a simple, obvious teaching becomes readily apparent for the very big work that it is. But the first step, as always – is to recognize that this is the truth, want to fulfill it, and PRAY to fulfill it.

Happy Zot Chanukah! Chabura Tonight

B'H

As the sun fades along with the light of Chanukah, I wanted to share with you a small piece of daat that I spoke to Hashem about today during my hitbodedut. It isn’t from Harav Arush exactly, but based on things I have heard from him, as well as from Rabbi Nosson Maimon and Rabbi Michel Twerski of Milwaukee on this subject.

REMINDER: CHABURA MEETS TONIGHT! 8PM

Next week – back to usual Tuesday night 8:15PM

Zot Chanukah is a funny day. It gets me every year. Besides the few hours that the Chanukiah actually burns with the flames of all 8 candles lit, most of the day – the holiest, strongest day of Chanukah – it sits quiet and silent. It’s still Chanukah, but where is the light? I struggle to remember that it is still Chanukah, even – with no presents to look forward to, no candle lighting tonight, no more doughnuts and no more dreidle and gelt.

I was talking to Hashem about this today and suddenly it hit me – the light that burns in the Chanukah candles is the ohr ein sof  - the unending light of Creation. Using it you can see from one end of the world to the other. Really, this day of Zot Chanukah it burns the brightest because it is the connection between the first 7 days when it burned in physicality and the rest of the year, when it burns in spirituality only. And how can we access it the rest of the year?

IN THE TORAH. The Torah is also the ohr ein sof – using the Torah it is possible to see all of Creation, to know everything, if only one knows how to mine the Torah for that information. I believe it was the Chazon Ish (correct me if I'm wrong) who developed a new method of brain surgery in order to help someone who came to him and the doctors didn’t know how to operate on his brain tumor – and the Chazon Ish based on the Torah gave that doctor exact instructions on how to do the surgery an alternate, safer way. Many such stories abound in fact. Rabbi Lazer Brody loves reminding people that you can learn all of geometry through the laws of Sukkah in the Gemara, including pi and others. It is possible to know everything through the Torah.

This comes with an important aside. We must recognize the principle importance of the Torah!!! I hear from people all the time, and even used to believe myself, in Torah that is “added to by the wisdom of the world around us” and the like. Why, we should be worldly Jews, right? NO!!! That is what Chanukah is all about. It gets me every year that as a child in public school I learned all about Greek culture etc. etc. And that “beautiful democratic” society we were taught to love and admire – THAT society is exactly the society that is against the Jews, against Judaism, who we fought and won in the Chanukah story, whose victory over that same society we celebrate every year. That society that tried to make us deny the Torah and forbid us from keeping from some of its most important commandments, including Rosh Chodesh, Shabbos and brit milah.

And that’s is what Chanukah comes to remind us about, year after year. Sure the wisdom of the non-Jews, Greek philosophy and everything else, looks great. It’s all diamonds – looks nice and shiny but on the inside it is empty - really it is DARKNESS. Compared to the light of the Torah, which is the Truth of Hashem Himself and contains in it that same ohr ein sof that burns in the Chanukah candles, the supposed wisdom of the non-Jews is utter darkness and confusions, borne out of their own lusts and desires and their desire to fulfill them, and hold by a philosophy that enables them to do that. That is why every single nation refused to accept the Torah – each nation wanted their lust and desire, their sin, and didn’t want to keep a Torah that told them to change. It is also the primary reason why accepting the Torah upon ourselves is so difficult according to Rebbe Nachman as he explains in Likutei Moharan – the Torah tells us to curb some lust or desire we have (for instance, our innate desire to please and act like the goyim around us!) and we don’t want to listen, we don’t want to be challenged to change, we don’t want to give up that forbidden thing. So we deny the Torah, or change the Torah (really they are the same thing) in order to keep our lusts and desires.

Even more, Chanukah is all about belief in the tzaddik. We aren’t celebrating all the people who were Hellenists and acted like Greeks. We celebrate “Matityahu Kohen Gadol and his sons” – the tzaddik of the generation – who recognized that in order for Judaism to survive, he had to stand against Greek culture and its subversions. And Hashem helped him. And Purim too – everything was in the merit of Mordechai, the tzaddik of that generation. So BOTH of the holidays of “exile” are celebrations of the Tzaddik of the generation, and the Jews who followed him.

So what about us in this generation?! We can survive without following the tzaddik? To celebrate Chanukah and Purim IS to recognize that the only way to make it through exile is to follow everything they say, even if they say fight the mighty Greek empire! Fight the mighty Persian empire! Don’t go to the feast of the non-Jews, even if it’s 100% glatt kosher! So whose side do we want to be on today? Whose side do you think Jews of the future are going to celebrate – those who followed the tzaddik and had true emunat tzaddikim (belief in the true tzaddikim), or those who didn’t?!

Don’t worry that it’s dark outside now and Chanukah is over. We still have the light of the Torah, and the light of the true Tzaddikim, lighting up the way for us – IF ONLY WE CONNECT TO THEM, BELIEVE IN THEM, AND FOLLOW THEM NO MATTER WHAT – even and especially when that means leaving behind the ways, dress, jobs, lands, and opinions of the non-Jews.

Emuna is the Only Answer to Fear and the Only Way to Cope

In response to a Q&A regarding a little boy who is now afraid to go to sleep, and when told that Hashem guards him, asked: "And where was Hashem for the 3 boys who were kidnapped?!" The mother asked in a forum for the answer to her son, and herself.

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I also asked this same question, just like the mother who wrote in, we are all asking this question, kal v’chomer after Har Nof and all the other things that are happening to the Jewish people. I also am afraid. This little boy doesn’t need child therapy – he just has less keilim to cope ie deny the fear than we adults do! He needs the answer, just like his mother, just like me, just like all of Klal Yisrael.

Well there is only one answer, and that is emuna. It is pashut Halacha from the Shulchan Aruch that a Jew must know that everything Hashem does is GOOD. This is emuna – which is also the very first commandment in the Torah – to know Hashem. We must know Hashem, believe in Him and know that everything He does is for the very best! Of course we all constantly need to strengthen our emuna, especially in the face of such tragedies, but it is the ONLY ANSWER. The only answer to the questions, and the only answer to the fear. The reality is that we cannot understand what Hashem is doing – if we could then we would be G-d Himself. But we can see His goodness in other ways and thereby strengthen our emuna to know that everything He does is indeed good, even and especially when we cannot see it. The Midrash says that when Moshiach comes, we will get a double nechama – we will know that there will be no more suffering, which is a big nechama. But Moshiach will also show us that all of history was all for the best, he will turn around the tapestry that we’ve only seen the underside of so to speak – and knowing that all the suffering was for the best will be an even greater nechama. We don’t have to wait for Moshiach! We can strengthen our emuna now, to know that everything is for the best, that things might seem so very out of control but truly Hashem IS indeed in control of all of it – ein od milvado (that means no terrorist has power for us to fear them!), and if we just call out to Him in prayer, just like we did in Mitzrayim, then Hashem will surely redeem us, just like He did in Mitrayim!

Surely we all need to pray for emuna, especially to really believe that everything is for the very best, and we also to pray to not bear the brunt of such tests R”L. And we have to learn about emuna, just like every other mitzvah in the Torah – the books I found the most helpful were The Garden of Emuna and The Garden of Gratitude, both by Rabbi Shalom Arush Shlita. Although there are many others, I found these books in particular to lay out the fundamentals of these mitzvot the most clearly and understandably, with lots of stories, examples and inspiration. I can personally vouch that the only reason why I am at least partially sane and not totally frozen by this same fear is because of these books which taught me emuna. Although obviously having 100% belief with no fear whatsoever is a work in progress, just having the answer, and knowing where to turn with these questions helps immensely. In fact it’s everything!

Getting out of concealment

In The Garden of Gratitude (can't recommend this one highly enough, especially if you can read it in the original Hebrew) Rabbi Arush explains a concept that in my opinion, solves the situation in Israel right now (what follows is me paraphrasing the book): He says that sometimes Hashem does something that is totally unexplainable. If a person becomes sad and complains about this situation, saying that it is bad, etc. – then he fails to see Hashem in that situation, which is a lack of emuna. Because of this, the person then falls under hastara – concealment. Now, more things happen to the person that are totally unexaplainable and seem bad, without a good in them. If the person continues to complain and not see Hashem, then the cycle continues, with more and more bad things happening to the person that are confusing and perhaps downright evil. But if the person chooses to praise and thank Hashem, even though it really does look bad, then Hashem saves the person and eventually, they will understand how what happened was totally for the best. And if a person has already gotten into a negative cycle of hastara doubling and re-doubling itself, they can stop the process by starting to thank Hashem for EVERYTHING and strengthen their emuna that everything is for the very best. Then the hastara will go away, and Hashem will save them and show them how everything is indeed for the very best!

 

This is true on an individual level, which is what Rabbi Arush was discussing in the book. But it certainly is true on a global level as well! In Israel, people are frightened by seemingly senseless terror attacks which are happening, seemingly at random, all the time. The attacks continue to get more gruesome and terrifying, and people are truly afraid. Afraid to walk down the street, afraid to stand at a bustop, afraid to ride the train, afraid to go shopping, afraid to leave the house. Afraid! The cycle of violence continues to escalate, seemingly completely out of hand. The situation in Ch”l isn’t much better, with reports of anti-semitic attacks and propaganda from literally all over the world, also escalating daily, coming to a low boil and threatening to explode R”L. This to me seems like the solution. If Klal Yisrael, instead of being afraid, complaining and seeing the evil – if we would only start thanking Hashem and strengthening our emuna, not complaining at all, knowing instead that there is absolutely no evil in the world and everything comes from Hashem, and only Hashem can permit a terrorist to touch a hair on a Jew’s head, then the concealment surely would go away completely, and Hashem would surely save us from our enemies!!!

 

*One note – Harav Arush was very strong a few weeks ago that we are not to thank Hashem that another Jew is suffering c”v. We thank Hashem for everything in our private lives since Hashem is waking us up, and that is good! And in general, we can thank Hashem that He is waking up all of Klal Yisrael, and showing us that we have no one to lean on besides Him, and that we know in general everything is for the best etc., but we don’t G-d forbid say something like “thank you Hashem that 4 Jews were killed in Har Nof.” We cry for the suffering of other Jews, but we do not allow ourselves to fall under the concealment that Hashem is not there. Instead, we thank Hashem for all the good that He is surely doing for us, even within the suffering, and strengthen our emuna that everything is for the best, the evil is really not able to touch us at all if we cling to Hashem, and surely Hashem will save us if we only call out to Him.

This Week

B'H

 

It has been quite a week. More than other attacks, the attack in Har Nof on Tuesday struck right at the heart of the Jewish people, and images of men killed in their tefillin like this are reminiscent of the Holocaust. All of Jerusalem is in mourning.

 

That being said, the most important response as I wrote earlier is not trying to convince the world around us to care, or care about even telling the truth about what happened. When we care about what Hashem thinks of us, THAT is when things are going to start changing! So, this is a much longer than usual email in a lot of parts – look at the headings to see each piece.

 

First things first - Update on the wounded from Tuesday's attack in Har Nof:

The best news is that Shmuel Yerucham Goldstein lay tefillin this morning!! Of course many more tefillos are needed, but he's all there.

Eitan ben Sara - Rav Eitan Mualmi – had an 8-hour operation on his arm yesterday to try and save it. They seem optimistic. The blow to his head did not reach the brain!!!! They haven't woken him up yet because he needs kochot to deal with his arm – but Mrs. Mualmi is very optimistic and thanks Hashem that his brain is OK. (it's his left arm…)

Chaim Yechiel ben Malka (Rothman) - The doctors can't be sure whether there's brain damage or not (there is reason for serious concern, at first they thought he might never wake up) – STORM SHAMAYIM!!! They're worried because he lost so much blood. For sure he has lost sight in the left eye completely. Based on his injuries it is clear that he fought the terrorists and risked himself to save others. "The doctors are cautiously optimistic," Rothman-Benhaim said Wednesday. "They're more optimistic about his condition than they were (Tuesday). They're hoping to take him out of a medically induced coma (Thursday) to see how his responses are, his reflexes are." He is from Canada originally and has 10 children, the youngest of whom is only 4.

 

What Should Our Response Be? – More Prayer!

A recap on Harav Arush on women doing an hour of personal prayer , translated and summarized from Chochmat Nashim (in Hebrew), called Women's Wisdom in English. If we focus on prayer and doing serious cheshbon hanefesh (spiritual soul accounting) every single day, from yesterday's hitbodedut until today, we can correct everything and sweeten the judgments on ourselves, and all of Klal Yisrael. Don't forget to spend at least 10 mins of your daily hitbodedut praying for Klal Yisrael! The attack represents dark-side emuna, and the only way to beat it is with more emuna to holiness. Rabbi Nachman explains that prayer and emuna are one aspect – along with Eretz Yisrael and miracles. Prayer is the functional manifestation of emuna, and the key to really living the emuna concepts we learn about. And strengthen prayer – you don't just strengthen emuna, you also strengthen miracles and our connection to the land of Israel.

 

Rabbi Arush says the best time for hitbodedut is while it is still dark, and that a woman should work hard to go to bed early and wake up early, in order to do hitbodedut while it is even still dark, and that the praise in Eshet Chayil (she is awake while it is still night) is brought down by the Ben Ish Chai refers to all the work in the house before everyone else is awake to prepare the house for them, and kal v'chomer for shaa hitbodedut.

 

By doing hitbodedut first thing in the morning, she has a lot of seata dishmaya in her day and has a totally different day because of it. She also sweetens all the dinim and therefore doesn't encounter the problems, difficulties and confusions in her work. Literally, a day with hitbodedut is a completely different day than a day without it, and you pre-empt everything by waking up early for it.

 

If a woman cannot wake up before the children wake up to do hitbodedut because her crying baby kept her up late (I'm not writing this, he said that) or other reasons, then she should "grab her hour" FIRST THING she possibly can, for instance after she has sent the children to school. It doesn't matter if the house is completely turned upside-down, if the laundry is up to the ceiling, and she doesn't feel that she can manage with the house in its present state – DO HITBODEDUT FIRST (again the examples are NOT mine). First and foremost is hitbodedut, and he GUARANTEES that the work done after the hour of hitbodedut will be done easily and quickly, for the same reasons stated above – she will have no judgments and a settled mind to work quickly and efficiently.

 

He ends the section by noting that it is very important to read "In Forest Fields" his book on hitbodedut, which contains a lot of practical advice and details at length, as well of chizuk on doing hitbodedut.

 

Needless to say, he does NOT say that a daily hour of personal prayer is only for men! It is for every man, woman and child on the planet.

 

To finish – a moving emuna piece about the kedoshim, the minyan and the attack from Har Nof

We heard the ambulances. We heard there was a terrorist attack. Then we heard it was at our shul down the road. We got a phone call from Chaya Levine asking my husband to please look at the shul next door to see if Rav Kalman was there. My husband had dovened neitz with him just a short time ago. Rav Kalman gave him a hearty "yashar koach" for his duchening, and went back to learn. My husband came home to get Binyomin Dovid ready for the school bus. You see Tuesday morning is Abba day- Binyomin Dovid looks forward to Tuesday morning all week-. maybe because Abba puts ketchup on the cheese sandwich- or puts more pretzels in the bag than Ima does, or more salt on the salad. Or maybe because he so loves his Abba and their special morning together. And because Tuesday is their special day, my husband dovens at the neitz minyon next to our house, instead of his regular minyon in Kehillas Bnei Torah. My husband might have gone to his regular minyon anyway. Since he was often the only Kohen, on Tuesdays he would pop in for chazaras hashatz just to duchen for them. The carnage occurred during chazaras HaShatz. But Hashem had other plans for my husband. A few months ago a member of the shul, a Kohen, became an avel-a mourner- and he asked my husband if he could be the regular ba'al tefila. This Tuesday my husband did not go back to duchen, because he knew there would be a Kohen in his minyon. So after neitz at HaGra, he came home from shul. But Kalman- where was Kalman? My husband went back to HaGra to look for him. But he had left. Kalman had gone to Rav Rubin's shul to ask the Rav a question. And Kalman did not come home.

We heard names- we heard rumors- we didn't want to believe they were true. Rav Moshe Twersky- the kind talmid chacham who always made time for those who came to him for guidance and halachic advice, and then taught and learned until late at night. He was the one to whom my husband would turn with questions that came up in the minyon. It was Rav Moshe who said at his son's aufruf that this minyon was like mishpacha. We had lost a family member.

R' Aryeh Kupinski. R'Aryeh? No- not R' Aryeh? Haven't they suffered enough? When his daughter Chaya died suddenly in her sleep he was mekabel the din with pure deep faith- and went on to be mechazek others. R' Aryeh- always running to help others; always a smile on his face- despite constant challenges. R' Aryeh was the one who yelled "you run, I'll fight" using a chair against a gun and a hatchet to buy time so that others could flee. The ultimate chesed. 
The names to doven. Shmuel Yerucham ben Baila. Chaim Yechiel ben Malka. Eitan ben Sarah. Yitzchak ben Chaya. All still in need of tremendous Rachmei Shamayim. Please continue to storm the gates of rachamim on their behalf. Avraham Shmuel ben Sheina. Then the rumors turned to agonizing truth- Avraham Shmuel ben Aharon hy"d. Mr Goldberg. That nice warm smiley gentleman who loved Torah and Torah scholars, and every single Jew. Who learned every morning and only then went to work. My husband would set up a shtender for Mr. Goldberg and he in turn would lay out a siddur for Rav Twersky. That was the kind of minyon it was. It can't be. But it was.
What about Rav Kalman? We still didn't know for sure – rumors flying- but Rav Kalman was the most alive person in the world. He was the reason many people came to our shul on Simchas Torah- to see Rav Kalman's ecstatic dancing with his beloved Torah. We should have known if he didn't come home and didn't call something was terribly wrong. But we couldn't believe it could be. And then we heard. The brutal animals shot as they yelled out their vicious war cry. They butchered Rav Kalman as he stood in the hallway absorbed in a sefer-those few seconds gave some of the men in the minyon time to flee out another door. Rav Kalman's last act of ahavas Yisroel was to save the life of his friends. 
And now- Rav Moshe הי"ד, Rav Aryeh הי"ד, Rav Avraham הי"ד, Rav Kalman הי"ד are in the Beis Medrash shel maalah- with their beloved Torah.
Between the hope and the tears we spoke. "Chaya, do you remember….". Binyomin Dovid was a sickly baby with Down syndrome and a host of medical issues and I needed chizuk. I made my way to Bnei Brak to see Rebbetzin Kanievsky. I waited outside until it was my turn. I came in to her- a sleeping baby in my arms. Rebbetzin Kanievsky took one look at him and said "you don't know what shmira (protection) you have in your home". I thought I understood. Perhaps, I thought, other things would be easier because this would be difficult. But now, almost 13 years later, I understand. BD was the only reason my husband was not in his minyon that morning. And because he knew my husband wasn't coming, his post dovening chevrusa- a stalwart regular in that minyon, decided to doven elsewhere that morning. We could not have imagined so many years ago that our son would save his father's life and the life of his chavrusa. 
The stories abound. Those who were saved- Rav E- an elderly gentleman who takes a cab the half a block each morning- but THIS morning the cab didn't come. Rabbi L was on his way to that minyon and for some reason he cannot explain, found himself turning into a closer shul, and stayed there. A. was up during the night helping his wife who felt unwell, so he decided to doven elsewhere. R' S who smashed a terrorist over the head twice with a chair to try to stop his shooting, and somehow managed to run out unscathed. Rav P, Reb B, Rav Pr and Rav F who somehow ran through the line of fire out the door. Rav S who was hiding behind the bima until something told him to get out- and he managed to run through the side door. Rav I saw one of the terrorists in the kitchen on his way in earlier. He thought he was one of the many who come into the shul to take a free cup of coffee in the morning. Why didn't he shoot him then? He escaped through a side door when the shooting started in the shul. Dr. H and Rav W who ran out after throwing a table at the terrorists. HaRav B, who is not a young man, heard the commotion and came downstairs. As he was trying to help one of the victims, he was shot at repeatedly by the terrorists- but the guns misfired four times. When they pulled out a knife he ran upstairs. An old man outrunning two young terrorists? 
And those who were not saved. Rav Kalman regularly dovens shacharis elsewhere and only came to ask a question of a Rav whom he didn't know was not yet there. Rav Aryeh came perhaps once or twice a month to that minyon. The first chovesh (paramedic) who appeared at the scene always carries a gun- but he left it at home that morning. One thing was clear-it appeared random- but it is only random in the eyes of the world- we have to know that it is exacting in the eyes of Hashem, and that while we cannot possibly understand the equation we know it is the Truth.
To us, it is clear that the world is run with exactitude- and that this brutal butchering of innocent souls had purpose and meaning. We must focus inward- -avoiding politics and rage. We must focus our energy inward by asking what each of us can do better than before. That is the Jewish response.
Wednesday morning my husband dovened in his minyon. He set out no shtender, laid out no siddur. R' Chaim, fighting for his life, was not there to call out "kohanim". Rav Moshe was not be there today to lein. He will not ask for an Aliyah for his grandmother's yahrtzeit R"H Teves. My husband took out his gabbai book and added הי"ד to four names.
As Rav Rubin said at the levaya, we must strengthen ourselves in Emuna. We must internalize the knowledge that nothing is by chance, nothing is without purpose and meaning
We must strive in some small way to emulate the kedoshim- so different on the surface but so very much the same- each a true lover of Torah and Talmidei chachamim, each a true lover of his fellow Jew, each a ba'al chesed, each a man with true simchas hachaim. Each of us must look inward; ask "what can I rectify?" Each one of us must make some small yet powerful change. 
The family of the kedoshim asked those who came to the shiva to please take on something for Am Yisrael. This is derech HaTorah. This will give nechama to the widows, the orphans. This will be a z'chus for a refuah for the injured.
And we can pray, that this will be the final chapter in the long and painful history of golus- and this will bring the Geula bimheyra biyameinu

 

AMEN!!!

An Hour of Personal Prayer a Day - For Women Too!

A recap on Harav Arush on women doing an hour of personal prayer , translated and summarized from Chochmat Nashim (in Hebrew), called Women's Wisdom in English:

 

He says the best time for hitbodedut is while it is still dark, and that a woman should work hard to go to bed early and wake up early, in order to do hitbodedut while it is even still dark, and that the praise in Eshet Chayil (she is awake while it is still night) is brought down by the Ben Ish Chai refers to all the work in the house before everyone else is awake to prepare the house for them, and kal v’chomer for shaa hitbodedut.

 

By doing hitbodedut first thing in the morning, she has a lot of seata dishmaya in her day and has a totally different day because of it. She also sweetens all the dinim and therefore doesn’t encounter the problems, difficulties and confusions in her work. Literally, a day with hitbodedut is a completely different day than a day without it, and you pre-empt everything by waking up early for it.

 

If a woman cannot wake up before the children wake up to do hitbodedut because her crying baby kept her up late (I'm not writing this, he said that) or other reasons, then she should “grab her hour” FIRST THING she possibly can, for instance after she has sent the children to school. It doesn’t matter if the house is completely turned upside-down, if the laundry is up to the ceiling, and she doesn’t feel that she can manage with the house in its present state – DO HITBODEDUT FIRST (again the examples are NOT mine). First and foremost is hitbodedut, and he guarantees that the work done after the hour of hitbodedut will be done easily and quickly, for the same reasons stated above – she will have no judgments and a settled mind to work quickly and efficiently.

 

He ends the section by noting that it is very important to read “In Forest Fields” his book on hitbodedut, which contains a lot of practical advice and details at length, as well of chizuk on doing hitbodedut.

 

EMUNAGAL COMMENTS: Needless to say, Rabbi Arush does NOT say that women are exempt from personal prayer ! Every man, woman and child should be doing a full hour, every single day. Nor does he exempt women for being “too busy.” That being said, although hitbodedut is best done totally alone and no one else is supposed to be able to hear it, I do believe that having a baby or very small child around, if this is the absolute only way to do hitbodedut, is OK, but preferably at a time when the child is sleeping or not going to be interrupting your train of thought.

HaRav Arush on Rosh Hashanah

Some notes from Harav’s Wed shiurim on Rosh Hashanah you might appreciate: Erev Rosh Hashanah is ONLY for teshuva and tefilla. Do everything on Tuesday so that starting netz on the last day, you can focus on the tachlis (purpose) – ruchnius! Go through the Table of Contents of Sefer Hamiddot and do teshuva on every midda – Hashem will help you focus on the ones most important for you. Men can go through the Table of Contents of the Shulchan Aruch as well. Do teshuva on every aspect of your day and how it was, versus how it should be - (his examples are for men but apply to women) – how was Shachris, Mincha, Maariv? How was my kavana? How was my hitbodedut? Did I do minimum 1 hr every day? etc etc – AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

Remember that this last week of the year – each day corrects that day of the entire year, so this week corrects for the entire year! Even if you couldn’t make the year what you wanted, MAKE THIS WEEK THE WAY YOU WANT IT.

 

Then for the 10 days of Teshuva – all the books are open before Hashem and Hashem writes based on your ratzon – will/desire. Spend every single minute, not just fixed prayer times, telling Hashem what you want! Hashem, write me in the book of – emuna shleima, ratzon d’kedusha b’shleimut, tefilla b’kavana, shaa hitbodedut yom yom, adding to kedusha and daat every moment of every day, saying todah with your whole heart, etc. etc. You can do this before Rosh Hashanah too, but especially starting on Rosh Hashanah itself through the 10 days, all the time!!!

 

Remember that these days are incredible chesed. You get to clean the table, to start over, to get a new din for the year, a new opportunity. If you’re doing daily hitbodedut it’s even easier since you are cleaning your table every day. Make the most of it!

 

Don’t forget – until this moment, rak todah – only say thank you. To pray on something is a lack of emuna, because then you think Hashem should have done it differently and that is heresy! You have to cancel your will to Hashem’s will. Just say thank you and all the salvations will come to you, because now you are expressing emuna shleima, complete emuna. Whatever happened was for the best. Remember that “good” is getting closer to Hashem and “bad” is going farther away. You want money, but if not having money is bringing you closer to Hashem, then it’s good! Say thank you! Until this moment you didn’t have the vessels for whatever, but now you say thank you, and you strengthen your emuna, and you request for the future, and now you have vessels – and now Hashem can give it to you! Remember Hashem is all merciful, He WANTS to give it to you, you don’t need to convince Him, you just need to have the vessels so it will be good for you in truth.

 

And for the future – ratzonot. Even a person lost is sadness and despair, express your will for the future. OK so I want happiness, and I'm not happy. Thank you Hashem I'm not happy. Please Hashem, from this moment on, make me happy! From this moment on, give me emuna shleima! Enable me to say thank you with my whole heart! Etc etc. It brings all the salvations immediately AND it gives a person incredible koach, energy and strength.

 

Every minute should be filled with either todah, or ratzonot!

 

Shana tova u’metukah!!!

Anti-Semitism wrap up for the day

Let's do an anti-Semitism (AKA Kill the Jews) wrap up just from skimming today's news, with some best of excerpts:

 

Holland: http://www.mpaths.com/2014/08/muslims-attacking-jews-in-amsterdam.html  - "Death to the Jews, Netanyahu is the devil , don't buy from the Jews, boycott all Israeli products." Now you know what divestment is REALLY all about! (don't forget to check out the story of how the Muslims tried to kill Jewish kids while the police watched and did nothing -RT)

 

LA: http://www.jewishjournal.com/hollywood/article/a_hate_incident_against_elon_gold - We all know too well, that “Free Palestine” means free Palestine from every Jew. As they chant “Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.” That doesn’t mean they want a two state solution, they want Hitler’s final solution and a Jew-free middle east. (two states don't fit between the river and the sea, that's all of Israel BTW -RT)

 

Australia: http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/israeli_rabbi_attacked_visiting_mall_in_australia  - “The wider community needs to know that Jews around the world are being affected because they are Jews,” Mayer said.

 

Chicago: http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/society/jewish_world/chicagos_summer_of_hate.aspx?id=26518&language=english - They also bullied a Jewish classmate, telling him to “get into an oven and put on striped pajamas.” Several of the bullies were given only a one-day in-school suspension.

 

Every day I feel like I’m screaming into thin air – wake up and get out! To quote one of the articles:

Yes, Israel has been under attack. But throughout the world’s long bloody history of war, it’s only the Jewish Land of Israel that could miraculously absorb thousands of deadly missiles with extremely few casualties.

Could the same thing be said for communities outside of Israel?

 

It's time for Aliya - the sooner the better.

 

I couldn’t have said it better myself. In Israel Hashem is the Guardian. Everywhere else – just look at the police doing nothing. Who would you prefer watching over you? They both have proven track records over history – one does a great job, the other at some point or another, even joins in killing Jews. Hmmmm. That took me a long time.

 

Remember that one fine day before WWII, passports ready no longer helped. The ones who survived got out while the goyim were only (mostly) talking. Generally, once they come out in the open about what the intend to do, the generally then attempt to do it.

How about CH"L Summer of Hate?

B'H

 

WOW - I knew it was bad in Chicago. I didn't realize that it was THAT BAD. Wake up, my friends, please. It's true that bombs are raining down on us here. But here we have incredible miracles protecting us. Thousands of missiles and unimaginably, not hundreds, not tens, not thousands, not hundreds of deaths. We certainly mourn each martyr who surely was a sacrifice to save many more. But it is still incredibly safer to live here than anywhere else, where open miracles are not happening. Where virulent, open anti-Semitism (that sounds so nice, so PC, hey I'm not a Semite - much nicer than the little boy told to get into striped pajamas and hop in an oven or the Hitlerwasright hashtag) is becoming more and more commonplace. I'm very, very afraid. History shows that once the goyim come out and start telling the Jews what they intend to do, generally, they attempt to do it. GET OUTTA THERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!
Remember one fine day just before WWII broke out...it was too late already. And even a passport didn't help. The ones who survived got out now, while the goyim were only (mostly) talking. They didn't care what they left behind, they were refugees and they cared most of all about living...
Living in Israel is paradise, if only you recognize that the Baal Habayit (Master of the House) is Hashem and strengthen your emuna. Adjustments must be made, but I'll take them any day than having to live under conditions like in Chi town!!!

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is death! That proverbial ostrich – guess what, it gets killed. Wake up calls are meant to wake us up, to the truth, whatever the ramifications of that truth might be. Reality might bite – but if you deal with it, you only get bit once.

 

http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/society/jewish_world/chicagos_summer_of_hate.aspx?id=26518&language=english

For those in CH"L

Rabbi Lazer Brody Lazer Brody back in Operation Cast Lead said - rockets don't fall on Israel and the Jews outside the land sit on their laurels. If the Jews in the land suffer, the Jews outside the land must also suffer, albeit by other means.

This is part of what it means to be part of am Yisrael, which is really one nation and like one body.

So what is happening...anti-Semitic everything all over the world. Calgary, Toronto, Montreal...Chicago...France is on fire literally...Sweden...Germany...there is much more...

Now, where would you rather be?

In the land, Hashem is working incredible miracles (THANK YOU HASHEM) and despite incredible attempts by Hamas, everyone is OK. There are sirens, people are scared, but we are united and protected by Shomer Yisrael.

Outside the land, there are not such revealed miracles. There are goyim protesting, rioting and drawing swastikas and worse, everywhere - whether you currently see it or not. And if this conflict continues in Israel, Hashem have mercy, you will see the goyim around the world continue to go more anti-Zionist aka anti-Semitic and it will become even more dangerous to be a Jew. Already those in France who just made aliyah say - better to be in a bomb shelter than afraid to walk out on the street!

Rashi zt"l whose yahrtzeit is today says in his commentary on the Torah that the pit Yosef's brothers threw him into was empty of water, meaning it had snakes and scorpions. What kind of yeshua is that - so instead of the brothers killing him, a snake or scorpion will? Except they don't! He is taken out alive to be sold to the Ishmaelim. How is that??? He again comments, as David Hamelech writes in Tehillim - better to be in the hands of Hashem than to be in the hands of other people.

Again, with that in mind, where would you rather be - here in Israel in the hands of Hashem, where HaRav Arush says we are completely protected, this is all a big kaparah and for the purpose of mass teshuva...or outside the land, in the hands of the goyim whose hands are already filled with blood, without outright miracles to protect you???

 

Rain in Iyar is bracha

This is amazing. Do you remember it rained in Iyar this year? Look what HaShem gave us with this geshme bracha!

Miracles to and via Badatz Mashgihim
Badatz Mashgihim needed to find wheat fields whose wheat was not invalid for Shemura Matza and due to the rain around Shavuot time, many wheat fields were invalid.  These Mashgihim were forced to go to fields far away - close to Kibbutz Sufa with other G-d-fearing Jews with tractors to harvest the wheat.  During their work, there were many rocket attacks.  Miraculously, no Mashgihim were hurt doing their holy work.  When they found out later about the tunnel infiltration by terrorists that happened in the area, and that the IDF spotted them and thwarted their plan, the Mashgihim knew what had occurred.  The terrorists' plan was to hide in the very tall wheat that was near the opening of the tunnel, but to their surprise, the tall wheat was gone - it was cut a few days earlier by these people cutting wheat for next year's Matza.  And in fact, one of the farmers in the area called up the Mashgihim and based the entire miracle on the merit of cutting wheat for Matza for Pesah.  ושמרתם את המצות has a whole new meaning now.

 

HaRav Arush on Moshiach

B'H

Rabbi Arush spoke about Moshiach in his shiur last Wednesday that I attended. The following is an outline of his words, translated from the Hebrew.

First he mentioned that many people have been asking about Moshiach coming. He was very funny about it, actually, imitating them: “What’s with Moshiach coming? Why hasn’t he come yet? Things are so hard!” He said yes, things are very hard…but we do not want Moshiach now! We do not understand what Moshiach coming is. He said that part of his avodat Hashem right now, is that he is connected to Moshiach every time he prays, literally in everything he does, he is connected to Moshiach…but Klal Yisrael is not ready for this.

Then he mentioned a story he heard from Rabbi Dovid Stern shlita, and confirmed by another person who was there at the time, that happened to Rabbi Yehuda Zev Leibovitz zt”l. Rabbi Arush said one day, a group of tzaddikim nistarim (hidden righteous men) came to Rabbi Leibovitz, and he knew what they wanted – to agree to let Moshiach come. He said to Aaron his helper – “Tell me, what he in the Holocaust?” Aaron said no. “And was he in the Holocaust?” Again, no. And for all the tzaddikim the answer was the same. Then Rabbi Leibovitz said: “Well I was in the Holocaust and far be it from me to agree to let one Jew suffer because of my decision!”

Then Rabbi Arush mentioned that if Rabbi Leibovitz had agreed, Moshiach would have revealed himself right then. But he did not agree, because Am Yisrael was not ready, and still is not ready. And then he said very strongly, looking right at the people listening to him: “Have you done true teshuva today? Are you doing a real cheshbon nefesh every day? Are you doing hitbodedut every day – one hour is just the minimum! How can you receive the face of Moshiach???”

It was very strong and very clear…we don’t want Moshiach until all of Klal Yisrael can say “yes” to that question. Because once Moshiach comes a person cannot move up levels…wherever they are, that is where they stay. And if you can't stand to see the face of Moshiach... “We do not want another Shoah!!!”