so much good happens in our lives think of someone who really deserves a thank you from and show your hakaras hatov & see how far it goes!!

Injecting Power in Your Tefillah

The following question was submitted anonymously. If Hashem hates it when we do things by rote (mitzvas anashim milumadah), then why do we say so many tefillos in davening? I love Hashem, I love talking to Hashem and I love tefillah. It's just that when I haven't yet gotten to the point where you can say every tefillah with immense kavvanah then should I not be saying all the "smaller" tefillos?
B"h I've conquered shmoneh esrei, ashrei, and shema. And I can say that I am very proud of my concentration and understanding of those tefillos. But what about the rest of them? Do you think I'll ever get that far that I can really pay attention by every hallilukah, etc? You have to take things step by step, no? Why do they pile on so many tefillos whith out teaching them to us when we were younger?

I want you to know that I really respect you for asking this question! I see that you are someone who wants to grow and perfect your tefillah and you are not satisfied with just saying the words without the proper concentration. Here is part 1 of my answer to you.

There's a quote, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will still be among the stars." Applying this to tefillah and specifically to your question, I would say that you need to aim high. By aiming high, even if you don't reach your goal, you'll still be getting somewhere.

R' Shimshon Pincus zt"l compares tefillah to dynamite. How is a bomb able to cause a giant wall to crumble? The power of a bomb lies in those little particles that are inside of it. When that bomb is thrown against the wall, it's the little pieces of powder that give the bomb the ability to break mountains. How does tefillah have so much power? It's in those little letters combined to make words, written by the anshei knesses hagedolah with ruach hakodesh. The words themselves are filled with incredible power and just by saying them, you can break barriers and make things happen. Just by saying the tefillos, you are accomplishing so much!!

The way you'll be able to reach the level of concentration you are hoping to get to in even the "little tefillos" is by realizing that they are not so little. They may be short, they may be tefillos you say every day really quickly, but the first step is to tell yourself that there is amazing power behind these words. They were written by people much greater than us and there are deep meanings in these words.

No, you will not be able to reach the proper level of concentration overnight. But you can get there if you try to do it one by one. And it's normal if sometimes your mind wanders and you are not fully focused on the meaning of each and every one. By telling yourself that you will never get there you will not be able to even reach the first step! That sounds like a tactic of the yetzer hara.

The Chofetz Chaim in his introduction to sefer shmiras halashon says that the yetzer hara uses this specific approach to get people to talk without thinking. He says, "the laws of shmiras halashon are so detailed and will rule every aspect of my life. The only way I will be able to ensure that I never violate the rules is by not speaking at all. Since this is impossible, I might as well just throw it all away and just say whatever I want whenever I want."

By not trying at all, by not saying the "smaller tefillos" you are not giving yourself an opportunity to work on achieving kavannah in those tefillos! There is a purpose in saying them because slowly, you'll be able to have the proper concentration, if you tackle each tefillah one at a time. Yes, it will take work but you will feel so good about it afterwards - when you see that you have conquered yet another tefillah! Each tefillah has something unique about it. Delve into the meaning behind tefillos and you will find so much depth there!

There is still plenty more to say on this topic but I want to hear from you first. How does this help you? Do you still have questions?

An Answer and an Article

Someone asked this question: What is the story when Hashem goes to all the different nations and asks them if they want the Torah?

Here is a link to an article discussing this topic.

Let me know if you want to know more about this.

I also wanted to share a really good article from Aish.com that I posted last year. Enjoy it!

How to put your ego in check and let your soul shine through.
by Rabbi Chaim Levine

Ah Spring. Hay fever, Spring fever. The sound of lawnmowers being restarted after months of hibernation. What spring would be complete without houses full of neurotic Passover cleaners, scurrying around hardware stores looking for everything from sandpaper to gas torches.

To the uninitiated perhaps all this Passover cleaning looks a bit mundane. Hopefully by now you know better, and the questions on your mind are more like:

• What exactly does bending down to scour out the space under the fridge have to do with purification of the soul and achieving true freedom?

• Can we use herring for Marror?

• Can one use a Dustbuster to pick up chametz?

Let me reassure you that before Passover there’s not much more you can do for the old inner spirit than bowling for breadcrumbs. Why you ask? This is how it works:

You may have noticed that in Judaism we approach the spiritual through our involvement in the physical. Sitting by a river meditating is nice, but real spirituality comes from making the mundane sacred.

Further, we see the physical as bridge to the spiritual because Judaism recognizes that the physical has been created as a visceral mirror for abstract spiritual concepts. Case in point: cleaning for chametz.

The Sages say that the wick of the candle is a metaphor for the body and the flame is a metaphor for the soul.

The Talmud states that actual mitzvah of cleaning out your chametz is to be done with a candle. After the chametz is found, it is then to be burned in a flame.

The Sages say that the wick of the candle is a metaphor for the body and the flame is a metaphor for the soul. Just like however you position the wick, the flame always points upwards to the heavens, so too, no matter what you do with your body, your soul always stays true to its source. Your essence always remains pure and good, no matter what you do with yourself.

(I like to call this the "weebles wobble but they don’t fall down" theory of the soul.)

ALL PUFFED UP

Chametz -- the air that puffs up dough into bread -- is the ego. Just as chametz makes bread look bigger than it is without adding any substance, so too an ego filled with self importance is ultimately nothing but hot air.

How to we remove the ego? The answer is through the seemingly mundane act of Passover cleaning.

We take the candle and shine it in the darkest hidden cracks, exposing the chametz. When we look at ourselves through the lens of the soul we expose the chametz hiding within and recognize it as a puffed-up illusion. Once exposed, it goes up in smoke.

SEASON OF FREEDOM

Passover is the season of freedom. But freedom can only come if you have released yourself from being a slave to your ego.

If your ego has you in a death-hold, if you run after success because you think only success will you be happy, if you need other people's praise and reassurance to feel okay about yourself, you are a enslaved. If you can’t control your anger, or you are trapped by your fears, then you aren’t free. Burning away the chametz of your personality frees you to the life of the soul.

There is another spiritual idea that comes from chametz that, when understood, teaches the true nature of the ego.

Chametz is nothing but puffed up matzah. But what chametz is actually made out of is nothing less than matzah itself! So too there is an idea that the ego is nothing but a corrupt twisted desire that actually has its basis in a drive coming from the soul. For example:

• The soul wants only to give, to help humanity and fix the world. The ego’s perverted version of this noble drive is the desire for power and control, the urge to conquer the world.

• The soul wants to connect with the Divine. The ego wants to use spirituality to serve its needs (this is the basis for idol worship).

• The soul wants to connect with other people meaningfully. The ego corrupts this desire into a drive to manipulate and take from people.

By seeing that often the ego is nothing but a corruption of a noble desire we can easily move past it and choose to be truly free.

Here are a couple of exercises that you can try this Passover.

1. Ask yourself: "What ego-driven behaviors are enslaving me? What would life be like if they weren't there?" Ask God for the wisdom and understanding to see them for what they are.

2. Try so see that some of the biggest problems your ego gives you are actually a corrupt form of something beautiful from the soul. Then pursue the noble, pure expression of that ego-driven behavior.

Every mitzva that you do buys you olam haba that is the money to get into gan eden:)

Pesach Cleaning Thought

Here is an interesting thought on the reward for a mitzvah that takes time, work and effort. It says about Rivka and Eliezer: "And the servant [Eliezer] ran toward her and said, “Please let me drink some water from your pitcher.” (Bereishis 24:17) Rashi quotes a Midrash that says Eliezer ran toward Rivka because he saw that when Rivka drew water for herself, the water rose towards her of its own volition. Yet, the Ramban points out that when Eliezer later asked Rivka to draw water for him, the Pasuk says: ‘[Rivka] herself drew all the water for his camels.’ This time, the water did not rise up to greet her on its own.

The Kedushas Levi explains that when Rivka went to draw water for herself, Hashem accommodated her and made the water rise toward her since she was a tzaddekes. However, since Eliezer had requested water from her, she would now be fulfilling a mitzvah. Hashem did not want to ease her burden, since doing so would lessen her reward. Therefore, He made her work as hard as any other person in order to accomplish the mitzvah.

What a wonderful thought! During this short and sometimes pressured period between Purim and Pesach, we sometimes may wish that things could be a bit easier, and could go just a tad more smoothly. That might not always happen, but we should most definitely be encouraged and energized by the fact that Rivka Imeinu did not have it easy either--and that was especially so--so that the sweat and toil involved with the Mitzvah in the here and now could go a very, very long way in the forever and ever. As you perform your tasks in preparation for the Chag, remember that whatever you are doing is not for the day or for the week, but for the eternal and everlasting thereafter!

Taken from today's hakhel post.

Understanding the Death of Young People

This past week's parsha, Parshas Shemini, discussed the death of Aharon's two sons, Nadav and Avihu.

I am posting two links on the topic of "Why do good people die young?"
Especially in light of the terrible tragedy in Itamar - yes, we have so many questions and are seeking answers. They are long posts, but the time you spend reading them is time well spent.

Part 1 explains how Hashem is so much greater than us, so beyond our understanding that as much as we know, we cannot understand.

Part 2 discusses more in detail why good people die young and why to them, they do not view it as something bad but as something part of the bigger picture.

I hope you gain as much from these as I did when I read them.

This is an incredible remake of kriyas yam suf.. the same craziness is happening now! only turning to hashem for eveything we need will save us!!

We keep hearing so many tradgedies in these last few weeks.. what message are we taking?!! we need to cry and beg hashem for mashiach!!!!!

Do Clothes Make The Man?

The following post was taken from OhrShimshon.

Do clothes make the man or man make the fashion is the question often posed by the fashion cognoscenti in the secular Fashion capitals of the world; Paris, Rome, Milan, and Madison Avenue. Their answers and the “fashionable” clothes they manufacture cater to and elicit from the baser human instincts.

Le’Havdil, our Torah Hakedosha takes a different perspective. In Parshas Tetzaveh, Hashem commands Moshe: Ve’Ohsisa Bigdei Kodesh L’Aharon Oh’Cheey’choh L’Chovod U’Lesifores.

Rav Shimshon Pincus, ZT”L says that the Torah’s message on Fashion re: the singular, beautiful, and holy clothing worn by the Kohanim during their Avodas Hashem in the Bais Hamikdosh applies to all of us for we are all “Kohanim”. ‘Ve’Atem Tiyu Lee Mamleches Kohanim V’Goy Kodosh’. Each one of us, Klal Yisroel, stand and serve constantly before Hashem with our Tefilllos, Kiyum HaTorah, Mitzvos, and in our interactions with the secular society we live in.

And therefore says Rav Pincus, we are just like the Kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash, each one of us has the obligation to be clothed in “Levushei M’Yuchad”, so that we are recognized as Me’Shorsei Hashem.

What is the definition of a Jewish “Levushei M’Yuchad” asks Rav Pincus: They have three characteristics:

1. The clothes should be Tzenua-modest,

2. They must not contain Shatnez,

3. They should contain a Levush of Mitzva, i.e.; Tzitsis.

Clothes, says Rav Pincus, protects us not only from the external elements, cold, heat, etc. but also protects us internally, our Neshama from succumbing to our baser human instincts and behaviors. The proper clothing has a level of Kedusha that serves to protect us from harmful external influences.

Rav Pincus notes that the first people to wear clothes were Odom and Chava as it says: VaYa’as Hashem Elokim Le’Odom U’LeIshto Ketonos Ohr Va’Yalbeesheim”.

Rav Pincus references the Chazal in Bereishis Rabbah that notes the Milah “Ohr” (with an Eyin) is a remez for the word Ohr (Aleph-light) to indicate that one who clothes himself with clothes that are “Levush M’Yuchad” will be zocheh to be clothed and protected in and by the Ohr-Light of the Torah.

I think this is an amazing concept. We need to focus on the beauty behind the mitzvah of tznius instead of telling girls about all the things they can't do. Too short, too tight, too flashy...let's instill this in our hearts - how special we are and since we are part of a holy nation we should dress in a way that reflects who we are! We are compared to Kohanim in the Beis Hamikdosh - what could be more special than that?!

Cycle of Life

The cycle of life begins
When a child is born
The parents are rejoicing
While the angels above mourn

The baby is not capable
His parents take care of his every need
From the diapers that must be changed
To the food they are sure to feed

As he grows up slowly
He learns to do things on his own
Now he can care for himself
As he is already grown

The cycle of life continues
As the child becomes a man
He can now provide for himself
As life goes according to his plans

Then he grows even older
Things get harder to do
Now he begins to rely on others
The cycle now continues

The parents who provided for him
Are now long gone
It's time for him to try
To find help so he can move on

It's hard to be old
It's hard to age
No one could imagine
What it's like to be at the next stage

The wheel starts moving
And yes it moves real fast
Time passes by
It flies by oh so fast

Now the man who used to be a child
Relies on his children to be there
He needs them to do simple tasks
And they take turns taking care

The cycle of life that began with his parents
Now continues as his children see
That he needs them to be there
And watch over him wholeheartedly

This is the message I am trying to bring out
That life begins and ends this way
We rely on others from the very beginning
And at the end it is also the same

Let's try to keep in mind
That we are not here forever
This is something very important
For each of us to remember

If we took advantage of our time
And spent it wisely too
We'd look back at our life
With pride in everything we did do