In contrast to the sad story told two entries ago, here, here is a story where one positive remark changed a person's life:
The story is told (I read it in Let There be Rain) about the secular president of an Israeli university who recognized Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponovezher Rav in an airport. The president introduced himself by saying, "K'vod harav, we are in the same business. I am raising funds for my university and you are raising funds for your yeshiva."
R' Kahaneman responded by embracing the man and greeting him warmly.
The president said, "If the rav knew what a sinner I am, he would not give me such a warm greeting."
The rav said, "If only you knew what a holy spark lies in your neshama, you would talk differently about yourself."
In his memoirs, the man wrote that from that day on, "I began to feel like a Jew and act like a Jew. I refrained from certain sins forever, and I accepted upon myself to do certain mitzvos. I was reborn because of how the Ponovezher Rav greeted me and spoke to me."
***
In this case, it was the yetzer tov and the neshama coming to the fore. In the previous examples, it was the yetzer hara triumphing.
Apr 29, 2017
Apr 23, 2017
27 Nissan: The yartzeit of Rabbi Avigdor Miller z"l
Rabbi Miller passed away 16 years ago. Although I only attended one of the famous Thursday night classes one time, I listened to dozens of his tapes and felt that I owed him the respect of attending his funeral.
He was a remarkable man for his time (he was born in 1908). Not too many young men were raised frum in America, and of those who were, not many remained religious. He was one of the few. He was also one of the few to make the trip to the famous yeshiva in Slabodka in Europe to learn Torah. His brother Yeshaya followed his older brother there and became a rav in Boston.
What stands out about him to me are:
his discipline - every moment was accounted for
his focus on Shaar Ha'Bechina of Chovos Ha'Levavos
his hasmada
his focus on bitachon and gratitude
his humor and simcha
his talk about love for Hashem
his outreach, i.e. teaching Torah to people on all levels
his principles like only speaking Yiddish in the home
his being an American gadol
his emphasis on "asei lecha rav" and living in a makom Torah
his having a program for every goal with exercises, breaking it down into steps, leading his kehilla step by step
the supremacy of Torah learning
his half hour walk every day
his being a non-conformist
his outspokenness
His teachings are widely spread today by his books, MP3 lectures, and emails.
yehi zichro boruch
Apr 21, 2017
We Do Have Choices 2
As a follow-up to this post here, Rabbi YY Jacobson tells the following story:
He got an email from a parent. A ten year old girl started displaying apathy to Judaism. Today she is 14 and is completely irreligious. The parents are wonderful people and have a wonderful home. They could not understand what went wrong. They tried various therapists, was there trauma of some kind? What alienated her? They couldn't figure it out.
A few weeks ago, she told them what happened. She was eight years old and she did something wrong in class. The parent was embarrassed to tell R' Jacobson what she did, it was silly. The teacher went over to her in front of the class and said, "I never met someone who has a yetzer hara as big as yours."
The girl told her parents that she decided to prove her teacher right.
***
Why was her self-image defined by a statement by a teacher as opposed to all the things she saw and heard at home? Granted, a morah is a major force in a little girl's life, and the way the woman said it to her in front of the class made a huge impact, but still ...
Does the 14 year old understand that she is living her life as though dictated by a lady whose class she was in six years ago? That she has not thought through what life is about and made her choices accordingly, but is acting like the woman's lackey? Is her life so enjoyable this way, with her thinking every day - Yes! I will show my teacher she is right! - ?
As someone who recreated herself as an adult put it, "We are the people we decide to be, not the people others expect us to be. We can decide."
He got an email from a parent. A ten year old girl started displaying apathy to Judaism. Today she is 14 and is completely irreligious. The parents are wonderful people and have a wonderful home. They could not understand what went wrong. They tried various therapists, was there trauma of some kind? What alienated her? They couldn't figure it out.
A few weeks ago, she told them what happened. She was eight years old and she did something wrong in class. The parent was embarrassed to tell R' Jacobson what she did, it was silly. The teacher went over to her in front of the class and said, "I never met someone who has a yetzer hara as big as yours."
The girl told her parents that she decided to prove her teacher right.
***
Why was her self-image defined by a statement by a teacher as opposed to all the things she saw and heard at home? Granted, a morah is a major force in a little girl's life, and the way the woman said it to her in front of the class made a huge impact, but still ...
Does the 14 year old understand that she is living her life as though dictated by a lady whose class she was in six years ago? That she has not thought through what life is about and made her choices accordingly, but is acting like the woman's lackey? Is her life so enjoyable this way, with her thinking every day - Yes! I will show my teacher she is right! - ?
As someone who recreated herself as an adult put it, "We are the people we decide to be, not the people others expect us to be. We can decide."
Apr 14, 2017
Splitting the Sea
With Shevii shel Pesach around the corner, which marks the splitting of the Yam Suf, here is an astonishing observation.
The term "keria," splitting, which is how the miracle is known, i.e. kerias Yam Suf, קריעת ים סוף, does not appear in Tanach. It is a much later word used by the Sages almost exclusively scores of times and is quoted by Rashi.
What is used in Tanach to refer to the splitting of the sea is the root בקע as the verse that describes the event says, ""נטה את ידך על הים ובקעהו" stretch out your hand and split it," and גזר as in "לגוזר ים סוף לגזרים."
When googling this, you can find articles that explain why this is so.
The term "keria," splitting, which is how the miracle is known, i.e. kerias Yam Suf, קריעת ים סוף, does not appear in Tanach. It is a much later word used by the Sages almost exclusively scores of times and is quoted by Rashi.
What is used in Tanach to refer to the splitting of the sea is the root בקע as the verse that describes the event says, ""נטה את ידך על הים ובקעהו" stretch out your hand and split it," and גזר as in "לגוזר ים סוף לגזרים."
When googling this, you can find articles that explain why this is so.
Apr 7, 2017
Some Answers 4
Answer 10:
No
answer to that – but something I sense when cleaning: A Yid has to
live in 2 different worlds: among the non-Jews but apart;
hishtadlus in earthly matters but knowing Hashem controls everything;
sadness at our pain and suffering but joy in life, serving Hashem
– and, of course, chometz and non-chometz!
Answer 11:
freeing
ourselves from internal and external limitations that keep us from
serving Hashem in the most complete way.
Answer 12:
From
Rabbi Miller: Because as we said before, the purpose of the whole
story of Mitzraim
was to create seichel
in us; deiah,
emunah,
understanding.
Answer 13:
I would say that our job is to internalize the message that Hashem loves us with a tremendous love and expressed his love in an unprecedented manner (breaking nature in numerous ways and selecting us from all the other nations despite our not being worthy at that moment etc...)
As a result of that love we should have an unending hakoras hatov to Hashem and should praise him and please him by reciprocating his love to him through fulfilling his will with passion and devotion.
In this sense Nishmas is the high point of the Haggada (I heard this from Rav Brevda zatzal).
Apr 6, 2017
Some Answers 3
Answer 7:
I think the main message is about breaking though our self-perceived limitation in our avodas Hash-m, as well as leveling out our ga'ava (ego, arrogance) -- both of which create a barrier between one another. Then we can achieve the achdus (unity) originally established at Matan Torah.
Answer 8:
I think the main message would be that Hashem is always there and when He promises something he fulfills His promise. Hashem promised Avraham that his children will be strangers in a strange land, but they will be freed and will leave with great wealth. Well, that is exactly what happened. So a lesson we can take is that if Hashem says He will do something, it will come. For example, the Mashiach will come even though it feels like it won't as it is taking so long.
I think the main message is about breaking though our self-perceived limitation in our avodas Hash-m, as well as leveling out our ga'ava (ego, arrogance) -- both of which create a barrier between one another. Then we can achieve the achdus (unity) originally established at Matan Torah.
Answer 8:
I think the main message would be that Hashem is always there and when He promises something he fulfills His promise. Hashem promised Avraham that his children will be strangers in a strange land, but they will be freed and will leave with great wealth. Well, that is exactly what happened. So a lesson we can take is that if Hashem says He will do something, it will come. For example, the Mashiach will come even though it feels like it won't as it is taking so long.
Also throughout the Hagaddah, there are things that remind us of what our role in life is. For example we say that there will always be nations who will rise up against us.
Answer 9:
'vehigadeta lebincha bayom hahu leimor ba'avur zeh asah Hashem li b'tzeyti mimitzrayim' (and relate to your child on that day, saying, because of this, Hashem did this for me when I left Egypt) - the centrality of mesorah, imparting our traditions to the next generation.
Apr 5, 2017
Some Answers 2
Answer 4:
Remembrance of who we are as a people and a nation.
Our essential connection to Hashem.. who rules the world
And... it takes work to leave one's personal Mitzrayim
Answer 5:
I think the main message or event of Pesach is that we prepare very carefully and attentively to perform a very special mitzvah.
On Pesach, we eat a mitzvah - matzoh.
By eating it and digesting it, it enters into and becomes part of our entire system.
We do this mitzvah for a long time and in many forms, as the bread of faith.
The mitzvah cannot be undone or taken off. It is the closest possible connection with Hashem.
Answer 6:
Freedom from slavery
Faith in G-d
Gratitude to G-d
Apr 4, 2017
Some Answers
(see previous post)
Answer 1:
cheirus
as we say in the Pesach davening - zman cheiruseinu
Answer 2:
Answer 1:
cheirus
as we say in the Pesach davening - zman cheiruseinu
Answer 2:
Let My people go so they will serve Me.
I think that line, from the Torah, includes the ideas of 1) we are Hashem's chosen people, 2) that He is involved in the details of our lives, 3) that our purpose in life is to serve Hashem - all three vital messages encapsulated in those words.
Answer 3:
If you don't let G-d's people go you get in mucho trouble!