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!

Emuna and Daat

There is such a need for daat (holy knowledge) in our lives, especially since everywhere the Evil Inclination is trying to fake us out and rob us of true love, joy, connection to Hashem, and everything good. How does he do this? He gives us the klipah, and only if we withstand the test of grabbing onto the klipah, can we get to the real deal. When does he do this? DAVKA when Hashem has the real deal ready and waiting for us! But the test to actually receive that goodness is first to say no to the false version.

There are so many areas where this is true – I’ll give you a few examples and a life story to make this more meaningful.

First off, every woman needs kavod – to feel beautiful, noble, upstanding. She can have this in truth, through being tzniut, and reserving herself for her husband (or future husband) and truly not wanting any other man to notice her. This is true kavod, because to give herself out to anyone else is to throw away her kavod and make herself cheap. The Evil Inclination (EI) tries to trick her, and give her kavod to someone else in other circumstances, someone who sweet talks her, gives her presents, etc and makes her feel good – the klipah of kavod, or the fake version. Sadly this fake version only brings her down, and now she is even more laid bare as she realizes that she has been used…but now her kavod is so broken, that she can fall prey even easier to the next fake who comes her way because she needs those reassuring, sweet words even more…R’ Arush says a woman can even die by this cycle r”l.

Another place I've been seeing this recently is regarding the supposed wisdom of the goyim. We are allowed to believe simple facts – Consumer Reports is a great place to check out safety ratings etc. for goods, for example, as a good friend of mine always says. We can believe those ratings, no problem. But if they say they have Torah – do not believe them! Meaning, if they say that they have a system of wisdom – throw it away. It isn’t wisdom at all. There is so much out there about parenting – but it is just the klipah of proper parenting. Who knows who these authors are, really. Do they even believe in G-d at all? What do they believe are the ideals a human being should be living up to in the first place? What kind of child are we trying to create, anyway? Do we even believe that a truth exists out there with a capital T? It is so easy for it to sound nice, and glossy, and beautiful but look at the foundations – it is IMPOSSIBLE that with such foundations, any of these popular parenting techniques are coming anywhere close to Truth – in this case, the Truth of how to properly raise a child and what we are trying to raise that child to be.

And even worse, how many modalities are out there in the supposedly Torah world, based on the same nonsense! They throw in Torah as proof that these non-Jewish ways of thinking are true. It is the worst form of lie there is. I recently went to an event where a big, big name in Chinuch spoke, and everything he brought as proofs, and explanations, and everything, EVERYTHING was non-Jewish – he even said so! And said that the frum world needs this information, and this is going to prevent children from going off the derech! Everything was completely upside-down in his speech – everything. I was in complete shock. It happens to be that I myself in a previous life studied this entire method he was teaching, except that he had it all wrong – it is true that what he taught would somewhat help people but the basis of all the issues he discussed in every situation was a fundamental flaw in middot. To use his techniques were simply to try to cover up those flaws, like arrogance, perfectionism, etc. – but really, those techniques would never truly be used properly because a person who flies off the handle easily isn’t going to remember to look at his victim in the eye and speak in a measured manner, for instance!

This doesn’t even start to touch the problems we see in shalom bayis, marital harmony. It is hard to read a book and have any clue on what basis the facts are coming from, and if it is truly from the Torah or from somewhere else. Let’s see, the author of a major book in the goyishe world is himself divorced – he clearly knows what he is talking about (Men are from Mars). Psychology – all based on Freud’s recant, when he had it right in the first place but no one wanted to admit that (if you don’t know what I'm referring to you are better off but if you really want to know, email me). Look deeply into its principles and you’ll see that none of it actually makes sense and brings forth a completely flawed view of the human mind.

The truth is that GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you fill your mind with garbage, big surprise that garbage comes back out of it in the straightness, or crookedness, of your thinking. That is why we have to let go of our thinking, of our wisdom, of what we “get” and connect into the Tzaddik – someone who thinks straight, and can tell us what is true and not. Then we can apply our minds to see just how wise that truth is, how true that wisdom is, how it applies to our lives perfectly, etc. To follow anything else is to follow the klipa of wisdom, and not wisdom itself.

And what do you need to properly discern the klipah from the real deal? Daat – holy knowledge. And on what is that dependent? EMUNA.

First and foremost, we must strengthen ourselves that the Torah is the ONLY source of wisdom from Hashem Himself. That ONLY a Rabbi who comes from a completely and only Torah perspective can help us (as I quote all the time, R’ Arush says a lot of supposed “rabbis” out there giving advice on shalom bayis, who don’t have it themselves, they are all going to have a nice place in Gehinnom waiting for them for all the bad advice they gave out…I have some great stories if you want them. Including some “rabbis” who have given me “great advice” as well!). To believe that Hashem loves us, He knows everything, and He is the only answer to our problems…sure, you can talk to other people and they will speak to you in a voice – and more often than not, their answers will only lead you to more confusion because they are speaking from their own crooked, broken mind (everyone’s mind is crooked and broken BTW, except for the tzaddikim. They are sane, and we are not). Only Hashem can give you real answers – maybe not with a voice (although sometimes an idea in your head happens), but through lots of signs and signals, if only we would have the EMUNA to know that Hashem IS talking to us through all the things we experience and think, and search for the message, and continue speaking to Him about it all. It’s the longer short way – the answers aren’t quite as fast or obvious, but they are real answers, and when they come it is so obvious that this is the truth, this is the real solution. Speaking to others gets you the short long way – fast answers that only take you farther off track. If you really need to speak to someone, speak only to someone who is either the tzaddik himself (pick one that speaks to you – Rabbi Arush, Rabbi Shternbuch, Rabbi Schwartz, Rabbi Yaakov Ades, to name a few good ones) or someone who is already on a level that they threw out their own mind and can just quote you the tzaddik directly.

It is the only real solution. Along with honest prayer for emuna and daat, and learning emuna and daat via the books of true tzaddikim, only Hashem can give you a real solution to your problems.

With prayers that all of am Yisrael should strengthen themselves to learn about and pray for emuna and daat, and especially to have the daat to speak to Hashem for an hour every single day…

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.

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!

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.

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.

The First Commandment

Frumkeit isn't about doing this or that, although that is certainly a big part of being frum. In the end, frumkeit is all about “ani H’ Elokecha” – the first commandment. That commandment is basically saying – you shall follow ME! and not anyone else. Don’t hold by the secular world. Don’t hold by your own desires. Don’t compare yourselves to them. Hold by the Torah. Take upon yourself the yoke of Torah. Remember Me, remember My commandments, and be holy because I am Holy.

The first commandment is a commandment to have a certain attitude towards the world – an attitude that there is a G-d who gave us a Torah that we must live and die by – and judge ourselves and others by. We must be able to look out at the world, and say “this is right” and “this is wrong” not based on the morality of the society around us, but based on the Torah.
Just because Joe Shmoe down the street owns a TV and isn't a violent person doesn’t mean that TV is OK. And just because Joe’s wife is a “football widow” doesn’t mean that a husband can tell a wife that she shouldn’t be upset when he skips out on helping out around the house to watch the big game because “hey –at least I'm not Joe.” And he certainly shouldn’t say: “well, Joe does it! Everyone watches sports – it’s OK.” The husband may not be as bad as Joe, but that doesn’t mean the Torah says that what he’s doing is acceptable. And “everyone doing it” certainly doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate for a Jew either.

Hence, the first commandment details a primary concept: Hashem is G-d – judge yourself according to His rules, and not Joe’s down the street. We must accept the Torah upon ourselves and take on the Torah’s attitudes about life, reality, etc.

And there is a very good reason for this commandment: accepting Hashem and His Torah is a prerequisite of being a holy person and living up to our potential. If you judge yourself by Joe’s rules, then you're reducing yourself to Joe’s level. But if you want to be on an elevated level and reach your full potential, you have to judge yourself from that high level – and there is no level higher than G-d’s.

Hashem IS Driving

I had the most amazing epiphany this morning.

I have been overwhelmed by negative feelings lately. I can't get out of bed until the last possible moment, when I finally overcome my tremendous desire to fall asleep for the rest of my life because I have to get up (I guess all those “musts” in my life that I'm usually fighting are actually serving a good purpose now). People are starting to talk about “anti-depressants” and “trying to take the edge off” the tremendous emotional pain I'm walking around with.

Even more, the trigger situation has really deteriorated, directly resulting in my chronic back disc issue flaring up. BARUCH HASHEM right now it has gotten much better, but still on a daily basis – and a week ago, on a moment by moment basis – I am reminded of my situation (as if I could forget?) by the nagging pain in my back and legs. In psychology, there is a nice little formula that describes my situation perfectly:

Pain + Non-Acceptance of Pain/Situation = SUFFERING.

So I'm getting whammed by both physical and emotional pain right now, and I admit – I have not been accepting it all so well. I feel like I've been drowning.

Even hisbodedus has been suffering. I know I must be doing something wrong because I feel worse, not better, when I'm done (note to self – re-read chapters on proper and improper prayer in The Garden of Yearning). I'm using everything in my toolbox – it could be much worse, Hashem loves me, look at all the little things that are going well, I may feel like I'm dying but B’H” I'm not, and there are people who would take this trial in a heartbeat compared to their own…nothing has lifted the fog for more than a few moments.

I have been feeling utter despair – I don’t know how to get out of this situation and I'm literally frozen by my current pain, and the knowledge that under any and all circumstances it will get worse before it gets better. I absolutely believe that gam zu yaavor – this too shall pass – but I'm terrified by the fire and brimstone I'm going to have to endure before I get there. I have a gigantic, life altering choice before me – and I don’t know which road to take. It’s like I'm sitting in a car, and the engine is running, but the signs at the fork in the road are all turned around. I know one way is hell, and the other is Heaven – but I don’t know which is which. And I just can't make myself hit the gas and drive on either road. I am totally immobilized by fear.

Don’t think I haven’t been davening (or at least trying, as I've explained). But an answer doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. My Rabbi said point blank: “I don’t know. I think you’ll know in the right time.” Inside, I'm screaming: I want answers!!! Where the heck is Eliyahu HaNavi when I need him? Hashem, I simply don’t know what to do! I’ll do whatever You want – but what IS it???

Then this morning it hit me. I'm not driving. Hashem is driving.

But it’s not just that. I feel like I'm not moving, I'm frozen, I don’t know where to go and what to do and and and… AND Hashem IS driving.

I'm not sitting here immobile, looking at my dreams in the distance as they fade into gray while I sit and watch my friends achieve them. Hashem IS driving my car, and yes eventually I will need to veer to the right or the left. The essential thing is that I'm not standing still in the meantime – even if it feels like I can't continue down my path in life until I make this decision.