Purim is Coming! Special learning for Purim

Countdown to Purim! Harav Arush spoke about Purim on Wednesday both to the Yeshiva and in his weekly class. There were some amazing thoughts and important pointers - over the next week I will G-d willing be emailing even daily with important tidbits from Harav Arush on this holiday, which is the most important holiday according to Harav Arush - even Yom Kippur is "yom" the day "k-Purim" like Purim, a day we get close to the holiness of Purim. Over the 3 days of Purim (the fast of Esther, Purim and Shushan Purim) a person can bring down incredible salvations. Even more, Purim sets the calendar for the entire year - everything begins with Purim. Rebbeinu also explains that a kosher Pesach depends on a proper Purim.

Let's begin with the basics - who is Amalek?

Rabbi Arush chuckled - he said in order to know how to erase Amalek, we first have to know who and what he is! So we must speak about him!
Klipat Haman-Amalek - the dark side force of Haman and Amalek (Haman was Amalek, and the most notable one, but this influence began before him and continues today) - is the force of denial of Hashem (kefirah).... Interestingly, the most bold manifestation of this is denying the good - that is how closely tied denying the good is to heresy. Everything that comes to a person comes to him from Hashem - this is a basic tenet of emuna. So if a person denies the good done to him by the messenger of Hashem (the flesh and blood person doing him the good, for instance) then if a person denies the messenger, they certainly also deny the one who sent him!

The famous example Rabbi Arush brings is that Haman had 10 sons, and incredible wealth and power. Everyone bowed down to him in the streets! Yet the fact that one little Jew, Mordechai, would not bow to him - he says "it is all like nothing in my eyes." This is the greatest denial of good possible and the quintessential example of denying the good and letting the "dark spot" in your life overwhelm all the good in it, to the point where you feel like the dark spot is everything and the good is like nothing - when really, if you could see clearly all the good being done for you and properly appreciate it, you would feel the exact opposite!
So the war against Amalek is the war of emuna, against kefirah (heresy). This is also the war of every person, at every moment - to strengthen themselves in the emuna to see Hashem, appreciate the good, and know Hashem is doing everything for the best - or to deny that G-d forbid, and question Hashem instead - "What's going on here? What does Hashem want from me? Why is this happening?"
Don't forget to start praying NOW already for a meaningful and inspiring Purim!

Ahavat Yisrael

Rabbi Arush says that the highest form of Ahavat Yisrael (loving your fellow Jew) is hafatzah - distributing emuna. Everyone needs to learn about emuna, the simple belief in Hashem. Because Hashem is the only address for everything a person needs, both physically and spiritually, and the path to true happiness and fulfillment in life is found only through emuna, helping another Jew (or any person, really!) learn about emuna is enabling them to also find that happiness and fulfillment and joy in their life. Even more, emuna enables a person to reach their highest potential and fulfill their purpose in life - certainly helping a person achieve that is the best good you can do for them!

So when Rabbi Arush said at the funeral that we need to focus on Ahavat Yisrael (hence the inspiration for this learning in her merit) and hafatzah, really they are the same thing. Granted, Rabbi Arush was specifically speaking about getting rid of machloket (fighting), but with increased emuna through hafatzah this also happens - being able to make peace is dependent on emuna as well. How can you make peace with someone or something if you don't recognize that they are really just a stick in Hashem's hand? Without emuna, this is extremely difficult - with emuna, it's easy.

Rabbi Arush has been stressing lately just how much merit there is in spreading emuna - endless merit. He had one of his students tell his story in one of the lectures, which is basically that someone gave him the CD "Stop Crying" in Hebrew and it changed his life. He did teshuva and joined the Yeshiva, and now has given out thousands of books and CDs himself. All of that is in the merit of the person who gave him one single CD, someone who didn't even know him. He also uses the analogy of a father who has a son who is very distant - what reward is that father willing to give to someone who helps bring his wayward son closer?!

Maybe you're wondering how you can really get involved in spreading emuna. Not everyone is cut out to speak to random people, after all, and I still struggle with it. Here are a few suggestions:

Carry emuna materials with you, and leave them around! I always have some Margoliot (mini books) and CDs with me - and guess what they are now in English! The Gems series! Contact me for info on how to get them sent to you and you can get them super discount in bulk in order to give out as well. Anyway, I keep a mix of them in my purse, and I leave a few in a waiting room wherever I am, wherever I go, with the other books and magazines usually out at such places. Leave them next to the cashier at a Jewish bookstore or restaurant. And you might be surprised how many easy situations Hashem sends you - oftentimes people ask me about my kemea (special necklace with Likutei Moharan inside) and end up with some mini books or a CD in their hands. It's actually very easy - have you heard of the Garden of Emuna? If they say yes - great, here is some more! And if they say no, I hand them Pearls of Emuna mini book - here, find out what it's all about, it changed my life and it can change yours too. Also, if you know someone going through a rough time, send them a book or a mini book or a CD. When someone sends me a story of someone in need, I send them The Garden of Emuna along with a donation anonymously. Pray about it and Hashem will certainly give you lots of great ideas that will be super easy for you!

Don't forget, of course, to do hafatzah with yourself. Carve out a few minutes a day or a week to read a book, listen to a CD, download one of the Chabura recordings, listen to a shiur on Emunah Channel - whatever! Personally, my few minutes of learning is like grounding time, time that then affects the rest of my day, because now I'm starting from a place of emuna, trying to remember emuna, connected to Hashem and to the truth. And even if my learning is at the end of my long day, it still makes a difference. All the difference, in fact.

Don't Sell Yourself as a Slave

In our current chapter in Women’s Wisdom, Rabbi Arush has been stressing the importance of hakarat hatov – appreciating the good. In essence, he explains, it is the foundation on which emuna is built – if you are not recognizing the Creator, you can't come to have emuna in Him. And if you don’t recognize the messenger that Hashem is sending, then for sure you will never come to recognize the One who sent him! This is the most basic level – to recognize that Hashem doesn’t owe you anything, and therefore everything you have, no matter who it comes from (or through), is a gift for which you must be grateful. At the highest level, this is being so grateful to Hashem for everything, that you cannot possibly sin against Him – how can I misuse the body Hashem gave me? The breath that Hashem gave me? (each and every one). So on and so forth…and this gratitude to Hashem is so encompassing that you spend every moment serving Hashem in gratitude, unable to move against His will.

It’s an incredibly high level, one I can sort of imagine – and that’s about it! But in working to practice his advice in my everyday life, I have noticed that it is truly changing my relationships. Even more fundamental to the gratitude is that you can't take anything for granted – and seeing just how much I do in fact take for granted has been really eye-opening to me. The mind can only hold so many things in the front of it – so when I was busy seeing how much I was lacking, how much wasn’t being done to my liking, etc. etc. – that is what I noticed. Now that I'm working on filling my gratitude quota for the day, I'm noticing just how much is being done around me, and there isn’t as much room for complaining, being disappointed, and feeling like I'm doing all the work and pulling the weight around here. It’s like a ton of frustration and tension has just been lifted from the house. Lo and behold, just as Rabbi Arush promises, as those around me notice that I actually noticed what they did, and really thanked them from my heart – indeed they are doing more to boot!

Anyway, please listen to the Chabura recordings and check it out in The Garden of Gratitude. I really cannot properly put into words the extreme change I am witnessing around me, happening now only because I'm really working on this idea with lots of prodding from Rabbi Arush (between the two books I'm learning, at the same time!). I want everyone to experience how much your life can and will change just from this incredibly simple piece of advice! You will see what you want to see – start praying and really trying only to notice the good in others, to pay attention to every single small good that you receive from anyone and thanking them for it!

Amazing news, outright miracles

I have beyond incredible news – Reb Shimon Arush and his family – all four of them – left the hospital today!!! Outright miracles!!!

That being said, it is not easy. The family still needs treatments (I don’t know details) and physical support, especially since neither parent is strong and healthy enough to deal with 2 healthy kids, let alone 2 sick kids just out of the hospital. Additionally, emotionally, now the reality of little Faige Chana z”l is really hitting them – I spoke today with Daniela, and my husband with Reb Shimon, and both of us felt the same thing after getting off the phone – they both sounded really weak, like we could hardly hear them. Hardly themselves. But Reb Shimon was really strong with my husband: “Rak Todah. Rak Todah” – “Only thank you.”

I hear Harav in my head over and over again: thank you Hashem that the rest of the family is alive. That in the merit of Faige Chana z”l who was taken as a korban for all of Klal Yisrael, they are alive to live through the suffering in the first place. Alive. And out of the hospital. To not deny the good done for us, in our pain over the loss.

Harav Arush was very strong in his shiur tonight – one way or another, a person must speak to Hashem. If you are not at the level of emuna to say thank you for everything, OK. So go to Hashem and say “It hurts me. It is hard for me. I don’t understand. Give me emuna. Give me the emuna to say thank you.” But go to Hashem!!! And to focus on your will – maybe you can't do something. But go to Hashem and say “I WANT to do this.” The only true free choice (bechira) that we have is our will, our good desires. The success (or failure) is only up to Hashem, but we can choose what we want, what we yearn for.

Holy yearning is the highest thing. In a class for Rebbe Nachman’s yahrtzeit a few years ago, Rabbi Arush spoke about the tremendous importance of good will and yearning for holiness, for emuna, for Hashem. The yearning creates angels which run around the world. A person can run into that angel, and suddenly, they wake up and desire what you yearned for! Even the biggest rasha (evil person), if he runs into that good will you created, and he has just a single thought of teshuva – just a thought! (hirhur) of doing teshuva – all his sins are erased, and now he can truly do teshuva because he doesn’t have harsh judgments on him. In the next world, you get the merit of this person doing teshuva, and you’re like – I don’t know him! Yes, but he did teshuva because of your desire!!!

So don’t get frustrated if you want to do something, and it’s not your level. You want to thank Hashem and not deny the good He did in healing Reb Shimon’s family, but you just can't get over the pain of losing Faige Chana z”l. It’s OK. Ask Hashem to give you that level, to give you complete emuna, to help you not kick the suffering and deny the good. Want to be at that level, and do your very best to thank Hashem. So you wanted to do that mitzvah, and you could not. Don’t let the Evil Inclination get you down – your holy will, and prayers to fulfill that mitzvah in the future are so precious. More precious, in fact, than even doing that mitzvah without will. In whatever you do or don’t accomplish, the main thing is the will!

Turn Around!

I had a funny occurrence this week. I read and speak Hebrew quite well actually, but the weird cursive fonts used on some packaging can still be very confusing. A particular brand name had me confused forever – it just didn’t make sense and I knew I had it wrong, but didn’t know how to pronounce it. As I was doing hitbodedut earlier in the week, I suddenly saw the package and realized that I didn’t know what it said because I had been reading it with a peh and really it was a shin (in cursive, they are basically the same shape, just the direction is reversed – one faces right, and the other faces left). Once I realized that I had the opposite letter, it read easily and it made sense!

So there I was, thinking – “OK Hashem, why this now, in my hitbodedut, while I'm trying to do chesbon hanefesh (spiritual accounting of my actions)?” The answer was apparently obvious once I asked it – clearly there are things in my life, and everyone’s life, that we cannot understand. They just don’t make sense. We try to wrap our minds around it, and we just end up more confused. What’s the problem? We are looking at the problem from the exact opposite angle of the truth – just like from one direction it is a peh, but see it from the other direction (ie flip it around) and you get a shin. I am looking po (here, seeing myself, the “I” or the ego) and the truth is understandable once you look shama (there, seeing Hashem).

And this is where we make our mistakes, and this is why the essential and most important aspect of doing teshuva is turning around. If G-d forbid we’re facing away from Hashem, then everything we see will be backwards. And unfortunately sometimes it does sorta look like it makes sense, even backwards, but we’re not seeing the truth at all. We have to first turn and face Hashem, and be willing to honestly look at our lives and where we are holding, and where it is leading us. Here are some simple examples, generalizations from my own life, Hashem has helped me see recently:

-I am so frustrated with my husband not filling his responsibilities, and he really isn’t! But I can't see that the pushing is making everything worse, just like the rubber band that bounces back the tighter you pull it…and as I am learning Women’s Wisdom (enter the importance of the good advice of the tzaddik in your life!!!) and working on appreciating him per the advice in his book. Everything is turning around so quickly, because instead of looking at my husband, I'm focusing on myself AND working on appreciating him, and now I see that he has been doing so much all this time, even if it wasn’t everything I expected…and big surprise, admitting that I am not fulfilling all of my responsibilities 100% either. All I had to do was turn around to see that the situation was the exact opposite of what I thought it was.

-I used to think that people holding this or that chumra were insane. Now that I'm sitting and learning pashut Halacha, I see that many things I thought were chumrot are not at all. In actuality, I was holding by many, many heterim, albeit that everyone around me also holds – but they aren’t the simple halachah. They are incredible leniencies that I can clearly see result in many halachic problems because people inevitably use (and I know they are using) the gaping holes created by them in ways the heter does not expect, and in some things, people aren’t even holding by the heter – the heter is being used in conditions that are clearly against the original conditions in the original teshuva that people are supposedly holding by! I am changing my life in big ways just to hold by the Shulchan Aruch plain and simple (as Rabbi Arush says – halevai, if only every person could just follow the Shulchan Aruch simply, forget one single chumra! And Rabbi Nachman requires everyone to learn Halacha every day, if only 2 halachot a day, for this reason as well – how can you hope to fulfill the Torah if you are not learning what you need to fulfill?). I thought the truth was one thing, but I see that it is the exact opposite.

Update on Arush Family

I am overjoyed to report that all are significantly on the mend! My husband was finally able to go tonight, and I was able to reach another friend who visited him at the end of the last week. Reb Shimon Arush is doing much, much better and the hospital is even getting ready to release him!!! Mamash complete miracles. Right now the word is that his wife is going to be kept in Shimirat Herayon (pregnancy hospital bedrest) until she delivers, and I hear that the children are doing much better, but I don’t have details about their release. Our friend believes that they are indeed expected to make a complete recovery, but I don’t have confirmation about that. We were hoping to get some details from Reb Shimon, but he needed to rest and obviously my husband was not going to press him.

I will continue to send updates as I have them.

Additionally, the following was printed in the Chut shel Chessed weekly Torah portion newsletter for this past Shabbos, Beshalach:

A person is required to bless on the bad just as he blesses on the good“Happy is the man that Hashem gives him suffering.” Happy are we that Hashem has chosen us to bring a pure, clean korban (offering) on the Altar of atonement, thank you Hashem that we merited almost two years of the free gift of the presence of the pleasant child Faige Chana z”l (her memory should be a blessing).

We have no choice other than to accept the suffering with love and joy, to thank Hashem that He left the other members of the family alive, and that He has graced us with the daat (holy knowledge) of gratitude and emuna.

Now we need to wake up Am Yisrael to have even more strength to know and believe with complete emuna that from the mouth on high evil does not leave (ie Hashem does not do anything evil), and we must not kick the direction of Hashem Blessed be He, our merciful Father, our perfect Rock – and certainly then we will see eye to eye (ie with our own eyes) how everything is only good for us and all of Am Yisrael, and through us accepting the suffering with love we will turn over the trait of judgment to the trait of mercy and bring redemption and salvation to the whole world.

Similarly when we see harsh judgments and the trait of judgment is taking the lives of gentle children who are free of sin, we must wake up and strengthen ourselves in all aspects of (mitzvot) between man and fellow man, and first and foremost, to distance ourselves from all discord and arguments and baseless hatred, only to honor one to the other and to speak kindly and with honor to every person, and in this merit Hashem will say to stop the slaughter, and send a complete healing to all the sick of Am Yisrael and in particular to those injured in the car crash: Shimon Machluf ben Miriam Varda, Daniela bat Zahava Chaya, Nachman ben Daniela and Miriam bat Daniela.