Winning the War

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

Red Alert from R' Moshe Shternbuch

B'H

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What can we do? Pray!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

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

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

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

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

Rosh Chodesh Nissan - Time to Pray for Moshiach

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

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

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

This is the time for miracles!

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

A faucet of miracles – at your seder

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