Rochel Imeinu's Yartzeit

Today is Rachel Imeinu's yartzeit. Here are two things I would like to share with you.

Why is Rachel the only one of the imahos that are called "Imeinu"? There's no Sara Imeinu, Rivkah Imeinu or Leah Imeinu? Why is she the lucky one to be called, OUR MOTHER?!
We all know, that Lavan fooled Yaakov and set up that Leah should marry him instead of Rachel. So what did Rachel do? She spared her sister major pain and emarrassment by giving over the simanim to Leah.
When she did this, not only did she give up her olam hazeh, that she would now have to be married to the rasha, Eisav, she also gave up her olam habah. At that point, she had no idea that she would still marry Yaakov. In her mind, by giving up the simanim, she was giving up her whole life - in this world and in the next!
The dream of every Jewish woman is to bring up a family. She wants to be a mother to her children so she can have a part in the future of Klal Yisroel.
When Rachel Imeinu gave the simanim over to her sister Leah, she gave up that dream. She gave up her whole future. She lost her chance to be a mother of the future generations. She would not be the mother of the twelve shevatim. She didn't know that in the end she would marry Yaakov and have a part in being the mother of two of the shevatim.
And that is why she is given the title of Rachel Imeinu. Since she gave up her dream to be a mother of Klal Yisroel, she is called by the beloved title of Rachel Imeinu.

***

Today is a very powerful day, a day when our tefillos can be accepted on a deeper level.
I remember learning the following in 10th grade from my teacher, Reb. Slomowitz…(b’shem omro, I hope it brings the geulah real quick because we really need it!)
When we speak about Rachel Imeinu, we say, “Kol B’ramah nishma…Rachel mivaka al baneha ki eineinu…” a voice is heard on high…Rachel is crying about her children…
The word mivaka seems to be grammatically incorrect. The definition of mivaka is to cause someone else to cry. The question is, why do we use this term for cry? If Rachel is crying for us on high, (as we know that Hashem says that her tears are going to bring the geula, not the tears of any of the avos) why is the term "causing to cry" used?! It should probably say, Rachel boche, Rachel "is crying" because she is constantly crying for us to come out of galus!!!!!
The answer is, that Rachel Imeinu is crying because we Jews are not crying! She is trying to get us to cry out of the pain of galus because we seem to forget where we are. Hashem puts us through soo much pain and suffering in galus and our job is to cry out to Him and BEG Him to take us out! But instead, we try to ignore the pain we are in and try to run away from the pain using all sorts of escapes and distractions. We forget that we are in galus by making ourselves comfortable here. We try to enjoy life to the fullest instead of remembering that we are supposed to be davening to come out!! What we have to do now is cry out to Hashem and beg and plead for Him to take us out!!!
Rachel is trying to get us to cry, to feel uncomfortable in galus! If we don’t feel like we are in galus and we don’t cry out to Hashem, then why should He take us out altogether?! If we are fine where we are, then why should anything change?! The only way to get out is by asking for it! And if Hashem sees we really want to come out, He will take us out!!!!
And I’m telling you, when we come out of this galus, life will be soo beautiful! Life will be soo unbelievable! We will live with total clarity and understanding of Hashem and His world and our job in it! We will feel what Torah means and realize how much we were missing out on beforehand!!
So take out your siddur, take out your tehillim or use your own words to BEG Hashem to bring us out of galus!!
And THEN Hashem will tell Rachel Imeinu, “Minee koleich m’bechee v’einayich midim’ah,” Rachel, you can stop crying, because “v’shavu banim ligevulam,” Bnei Yisroel will return to their boundaries!
May we all have the zechus to see these very words come true!!

Shema Yisroel

What a Great Mitzvah!

I am sooo excited to share some great things about tznius! Most important thing to know how great it is in the eyes of Hash em! (Orchos Tzaddikim pg.207 shaar hasimcha)If you do a mitzvah bec. you are excited about the mitzvah it is worth 1000 times more than a mitzva done with anger and negativity!! There aren't even 1000 days in a year to get sooo many brachos!! Do you hear the number how great it is!!! this is not made up or sarcastic its real!! So pls. open up your heart to see the awesome gift that Has hem bestowed upon us women!
Hashem created Chava from a piece of Adam and with every bone that was put onto Chava Hashem said Tehei Tznua!! Be tznius!! Why did Has hem make such a big deal? Why don't the guys have this mitzva as strong??
well lets understand when Hashem gave parts of beauty to the world Hashem divided them between men and women 9 were given to the women and 1 was given to the men!(heard from Rav Shimshon Pincus ztl)Hashem made a woman much more beautiful than a man! Take a look your hair, jewelry, makeup, perfume... come on lets face it we def. look diff. and a lot more attractive than men!
Why? Hashem wanted that Beezras Hashem when you get married your husband will find you the most special in his eyes and he won't go searching to others!! Hashem wants you to save your beauty for the right time and it will be used for great things to bring more kedusha into this world!!
This mitzva is def. one of the hardest and therefore the reward is sooo great!!
Lets think: How much do you want Hashem to watch over you and over your body??
100% every single day every min., you want to be healthy and have every part working!!
Think about it: when you are not feeling well, your whole body is out of commission and you are not in the mood of anyone...!
Well guess what!!
One of the gifts that Hashem tells us is that if we cover our body then Hashem will protect our bodies! Since when you cover your body you are incasing youself with the bracha that Hashem wants to give you!!
Here is a an incredible story to let us see how powerful it is:
Malka was on a very tight schedule. She had an appointment at 1:30 . Since she did not have time to make lunch, she decided to by some pizza by a nearby store before her appointment.
Malka remembered that even though she was in a rush she still wanted to make sure she was dressed appropriately since she knew that tznius not only will bench you with beautiful brachos from Hashem, but also it will protect your body! The next morning Malka was getting dressed to go to work and she realized that her collar bone was exposed, she decided that she would close it up. So she looked around her room for a safety pin it took longer than she expected. Malka ran out of the house in order to get some breakfast before her appointment. Panting and puffing, Malka arrived at the traffic light and looked towards the direction of the pizza shop she had intended to stop at. Bricks and rubble were cascading downward,and smoke was bellowing out of the top of the building, as people were hurriedly leaving the shop in a state of shock!
Just minutes before,the pizza shop had caught on fire and was quickly beginning to collapse. Malka stood at the corner glued to her place, as she realized that her scrupulousness in fulfilling the mitzvah of tznius had saved her life.
(adopted from Daughters of Dignity from Chana Toby)
So you see the power of such a small act of doing something for Hashem has great rewards!!
This is only the intoduction to this great mitzva!
pls. comment how this makes you feel...

Please Vote

There's a poll on the right - so go ahead and vote...and soon I'll try to write a post or two on the topic so hopefully soon we will all gain appreciation and love for this special mitzvah!!

One more thing: Can you please leave a comment letting me know which things are hard for you in this area and what the reasons are that tznius may have a negative connotation for you. I would like to address this important mitzvah and it would help me if you can point out why it's so hard for you and what affects your thoughts and feelings towards tznius.
And if you think of tznius in a positive way, please let me know why. It would be great to hear what things you heard that are inspiring in this area and keep you going!
Thanks!!

what comes to mind when you think of tefilla?

Is Hashem Evil?

This is brilliant!!! I had to post it!!!

The university professor challenged his students with this question. “Did Hashem create everything that exists?”

A student bravely replied, “Yes, He did!”

"Hashem created everything?” The professor asked.

“Yes sir”, the student replied.

The professor answered, “If Hashem created everything, then He created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then Hashem is evil”.

The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Jewish faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question professor?”

“Of course”, replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”

“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” The students snickered at the young man’s question.

The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”

The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”

The professor responded, “Of course it does.”

The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”

Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”

Now uncertain, to professor responded, “Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”

To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of Hashem; it is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the an existance without Hashem. Hashem did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have Hashem’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”

The professor sat down.
The young man’s name--- Albert Einstein