Podcasts about hakadosh baruch hu

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We're on our final pasuk of Bikurim quoted in the Haggadah shel Pesach , "ויוציאנו ה׳ ממצרים" . Finally, God took us out of Egypt . "ביד חזקה" – with a strong hand, " בזרוע נטויה" – with an outstretched arm, " במורא גדול" – with great fear, " באותות" – with signs, and " ובמופתים" – with wonders. The Ba'al Haggadah explains " ויוציאנו ה׳ ממצרים ," with a very long description before proving it. He tells us there was no other force—not an angel, not a "fiery" angel, nor a messenger. Rather, it was " הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו" – God Himself took us out of Egypt. This refers specifically to Makat Bechorot , as the pasuk says, " And I passed in the land of Mitzrayim on this night, and I hit every firstborn in Mitzrayim , from man to animal, and with all of the gods of Egypt, I judged, Ani Hashem." This pasuk definitely requires explanation and understanding, as we have to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim every single day. God took us out of Egypt at midnight on that night. Why does it say midnight? There is a discussion about when the main Yetziat Mitzrayim was. Was it at night or by day? The reason we say Kriat Shema both at night and during the day is because there was an aspect of Yetziat Mitzrayim both at night and by day. There are two important lessons based on what happened at that moment. As mentioned previously, the Egyptians worshipped the sheep. The reason they worshipped the sheep was because the sheep was called Bechor Lamazalot . It was the firstborn of all the symbols of the horoscope. Sheep, or Aries as it's referred to in Latin, is why the month of Aviv, springtime when we got out, is called Aviv. It's a contraction of two words, " אב י"ב," the father of 12. The ram symbolizes the father, the first of the 12 symbols. Therefore, the Egyptians worshipped the ram and the sheep, due to their belief that this was the mazal that was in charge of the world. Furthermore, they respected the firstborn children because they were also connected to the horoscope of the sheep. The reason for Yetziat Mitzrayim was to take the Jewish people out from under mazal and have us deal directly with Hashem. This originated with Avraham Avinu. When he didn't have any children, God said, " צא החוצה" / " Go outside". Rashi says this meant, "Go out of the horoscope". We are above the horoscope. In order to portray this concept that God is the only force in nature and all other seeming forces do not have independent power, it was God Himself that wiped out the Egyptian gods and showed the world that the Egyptian horoscope symbol had no force. The reason it happened on the 15th of the month is because that is when the moon is fullest, which is the most powerful time. And Chatzot Laila , midnight, is the "power of the power". So at the point when the sheep was most powerful in the month of Nissan, its own month, we were going to bring her to her knees. And that's what happened. We have to always remember Yetziat Mitzrayim . There is a famous Nefesh HaChaim ( Shaar Gimmel, Perek Yud-Bet ), where he cites the Gemara of a certain witch that was trying to cast a spell on Rav Chanina ben Dosa, and he said, "You're wasting your time. אין עוד מלבדו" – " There is nothing else but Him". The Gemara says, "What do you mean? Kishuf / witchcraft, is able to undo things that seemingly are against God's decree!". To which the Gemara says, Rav Chanina ben Dosa had great zechut . The Nefesh HaChaim says that doesn't mean he had a lot of mitzvot . It means he had the clarity that there's nothing else but HaKadosh Baruch Hu , and he realized that this kishuf was created from God, and nothing exists other than God, and everything here comes from God. With that, he was able to undo any kishuf powers. That's the same Rav Chanina ben Dosa who said, "No problem," when his daughter complained that they had no oil to light the candles, only vinegar. "What's the difference? The One that said oil should light, [can also say] vinegar should light". That means it wasn't a miracle for him; he didn't see a difference between oil and vinegar. It was all Hashem. There are many such stories about Rav Chanina ben Dosa. The Nefesh HaChaim applies this to us and says, "This is inyan gadol v'segulah nifla'ah " – A wondrous segulah to remove all judgments and negative wills of others against you, so that they can't affect you, won't impact you, and won't make an indent at all. If a person says in his heart, "I know Hashem is in charge, and He's the only true force, there's nothing else but Him, and everything in the world only comes from Him," and he annuls in his heart a total annulment and does not pay attention to anything else in the world but God's will, and subjugates himself and connects the purity of his thoughts to God, insofar as he does that, God will annul all those negative forces so they can't impact him at all. This is easier said than done. But the point is that this revelation of " אין עוד מלבדו" ) Ein Od Milevado ) happened at the time of Makat Bechorot . It was totally revealed later on at Har Sinai, where it says, " אתה הראת לדעת כי ה׳ הוא האלקים אין עוד מלבדו" . There they actually saw it. God , it says, split open the heavens and showed them that there's nothing in the world but God. But the beginning, so to say, of God showing us this was at Makat Bechorot at Chatzot Laila . Furthermore, the Nefesh HaChaim in Shaar Gimmel, Perek Gimmel , tells us that it says, " ה׳ הוא מקומו של עולם" – " God is the place of the world," and " ואין העולם מקומו" – " and the world doesn't hold Him". One of God's names is Makom , which means that nothing else exists without Him. He's the place ; everything is within Him. It's interesting that the term Makom is used in the Haggadah shel Pesach , possibly more than any other place, when talking about God. ברוך המקום ברוך הוא. ברוך שנתן תורה לעמו ישראל ברוך הוא". "ברוך המקום ". "ועכשיו קרבנו המקום לעבודתו" – " And now the Makom (God) brought us close to His service" . "כמה מעלות טובות למקום עלינו" – " How many great qualities is it to God," referred to as Makom . "על אחת כמה וכמה טובה כפולה ומכופלת למקום עלינו" – four times it says Makom . Because this is the night that we understood this important lesson. Rav Shimshon Pinkus, in his book Tiferet Shimshon on Devarim , in Parashat Re'eh where it says " בנים אתם לה׳", says that's why, heaven forbid, when someone passes away, the custom in many communities is to say, " המקום ינחם אתכם" / God, who is called Makom , should bring you comfort" . But why is the term Makom used here? Because of this concept that God is Mekomo shel Olam , God holds everything , there's nothing there but Him. And therefore, Lo Alenu , with a problem or without a problem, with a parent or without a parent, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the constant in their lives, and that concept should bring nechama . May we all hear nechamot from all the tzarot that we go through, and have the ultimate revelation of Makom in the future.

One of the reasons that people may lose energy and excitement in their avodat Hashem is that they misunderstand the way Hashem deals with them. It makes logical sense that when a person is doing what Hashem wants, he should feel a certain spiritual elevation and receive some type of reciprocation which shows that Hashem is appreciating what he is doing. And so, when those things don't happen, people may begin to lose the enthusiasm that they once had. If they only knew how much Hashem appreciates what they are doing, and how much they are gaining every second of it, they would happily increase their enthusiasm. Let us analyze the way that Hashem dealt with Avraham Avinu. Hashem promised him a baby boy when he was 70 years old, but he did not see the fulfillment of that promise for another 30 years. Then, when Yitzchak was 37, Hashem commanded Avraham to offer him up as a korban . One would think, being that this was arguably the greatest mitzvah ever performed, that Avraham should have felt a connection to Hashem like no other on his way to do the Akeda . He should have felt an incredible spiritual feeling beyond imagination. Yet, it says וירא את המקום מרחוק – and he saw the place from afar. Chazal tell us that means he saw the מקומו של עולם - HaKadosh Baruch Hu – very distant from him. He did not feel any spiritual elevation, nor did he feel any connection to Hashem. It was actually just the opposite, a feeling of being distanced from Hashem. And one would think, after Avraham passed this monumental nisayon , Hashem should have showered him with blessing and showed him how great he became as a result. Yet that is not what happened. Rather, Avraham discovered that his wife had passed away, and he had to go deal with finding her a burial plot. This is precisely what made Avraham's deed as great as it was. The entire Jewish Nation is still benefiting from that one deed until today. Avraham knew that what he was doing was what Hashem wanted and that's all he needed to know. Going there without the spiritual feelings made the avodah even more precious. Not seeing Hashem patting him on the back, kavayachol , afterward made the avodah even more valuable. This world is the world of work. We need to toil in our avodat Hashem and the rewards come later. If someone has been praying for something for years without seeing results, he may feel that Hashem is not listening to him. Yet our Chazal teach us otherwise. Our Imahot prayed for years without seeing any results and that is precisely what made them as great as they became, continuing to push themselves without seeing the reciprocation. We know what Hashem wants from us. He told us in the Torah. And we know He appreciates every little move we make. When we continue growing and serving Him to the best of our ability, without the spiritual feelings and without the immediate rewards, it makes our service infinitely greater. If someone starts learning more or going to shul more, his natural expectations are that he will see more open blessing in his life from it. That may happen and it may not, depending on what Hashem knows is good for him. But if it doesn't happen and he continues learning and continues going to shul more, it makes those efforts so much more valuable and it raises him to such a higher level. He will most probably not feel any more spiritual from what he is doing, but that will just add to the potential levels he could reach. Akedat Yitzchak was done without any special feeling and without any immediate reciprocation. And we know that Hashem appreciated that act more than we could imagine. It made Avraham so great and the rewards of it are still being paid until today. This should be a model for us to understand that the greatness of our avodah does not depend on how spiritual we feel or how quickly Hashem gives us what we want afterwards. It's actually just the opposite. The more we persevere without the feeling and without the reciprocation, the greater the avodah becomes.

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue with the next unit in the Haggadah . במתי מעת Bimtei Me'at/In a little bit of Meteh What does Meteh mean? One year we were doing the Haggadah shel Pesach and I asked, what is Meteh ? No one around the table knew. The truth is, I didn't know either. So we stopped right there and opened up a Chumash . Rashi said bimtei me'at bishivim nefesh , with 70 souls. But that doesn't translate what metei me'at means. So we looked at the Targum , our next choice after Rashi , and it said be'am ze'ir , a small nation. So metei is being defined as nation . The Metzudot David in Shoftim 20:48 says, metim- hu shem le'enoshut / Metim means humanity , or people like anshei . The Ibn Ezra says the word Meteh , anytime you have a tzere yud , it means the "plural of". For example, שער Shaar is a gate. שערי Shaare is the gates of . It's a plural possessive. So the word Meteh means a small amount of many people. That's a little strange term. Furthermore, the Ibn Ezra says the word מת never shows up in singular form. He sends us back to Devarim 2,34 where it says we overtook the nations of Sichon and it says we took over the whole city, metim . Which means anashim , but again, in plural. So it's a term for humanity in the plural sense. So a small amount of humanity. That's a strange term. The Jewish people went down in a small amount of humanity, and as Rashi says bishivim nefesh, they went down with 70 souls. Rav Dessler, in volume 3 page 211 explains that certain numbers are significant. The number 70 has a significance. There are 70 nations in the world, broken down into 35 nations under Esav , which we'll call Western civilization , and 35 nations under Yishmael , which we call that the Arab world. Those are the 70 nations. It's not a coincidene. The number seven is a completion, like the seven days of the week. And 10 is also a full gamut. So 70 is a completeness. 70 years is a full life. So the number 70 is not a coincidental number. When the Jewish people, hit the number 70, they were a metim . They were a small humanity, a small nation . Those 70 people had inside of them the 70 forces that corresponded to all the 70 nations. This shows us that Hashem is setting us up for greatness and every detail is measured. It says in Bereishit 46:27, kol hanefesh le'beit Yaakov haba'ah Mitzrayimah shivim / All the souls that came down were 70. The commentaries point out from the Midrash Rabbah 94:9 that if you count, there weren't actually 70. Some say Yocheved was born as they were coming in (She was the mother of Moshe Rabbenu, and God was sending the refuah before the Makkah ), others say it was Serach bat Asher . Still others say it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu who ended up being the 70th one. In Ha'azinu 32:8, it says be'anchel Elyon goyim / when Hashem started to give the inheritance to the nations, be'hafrido bnei Adam, when he separated them by the Dor Haflagah into 70 nations ( that's when the 70 nations happened). It says there lemispar Bnei Yisrael . The 70 nations corresponded to the 70 Jews that went down to Mitzrayim . So God was working out 70 corresponding to the 70. Rabbeinu Bachya on that pasuk lemispar Bnei Yisrael adds that the 12 tribes correspond to the 12 months and the 12 mazalot . We're above the stars, and we're above the mazal . Getting back to our Haggadah and Bimtei me'at , we're thanking Hashem that we came into Mitzrayim not just as 39 people, or 28 people, or a random 83 people. No. It was a bimtei me'at . It was small, but it was a force of humanity of 70 . As we say, bishivim nefesh yardu avotecha Mitzrayimah / 70 souls went down . And it says Ve'ata hena samcha Hashem Elokecha ke'kochvei hashamayim larov / We're like the stars in number- referring to when they got into the desert- there were 600,000 people. So we went from 70 to 600,000! And the number 600,000 is also not a random number. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot 58a says that when you see 600,000 people, there's a special bracha called Baruch Chacham Harazim . Blessed is God, Who has the wisdom of the secrets that He knows all the secrets of these 600,000 people . That means 600,000 includes all the personality types that exist in the world. Although we can have more than 600,000, those are offshoots of the basic 600,000 personalities and types of people that exist in the world. All of the energies of humanity are in 600,000. So we went from the 3 Avot ,which correspond to the three main traits the world stands on, to 70 children of Yaakov that correspond to the 70 nations, which includes all of the United Nations- every possible country type, German, France, every country type is rooted in the Jewish people. And then we go on to the 600,000 personalities. So the Jewish people are perfectly worked in to the entire makeup of the world. This is all part of the hashgacha of Hashem Every person makes a difference. The Gemara in Masechet Bava Kamma discusses one reason one should never have a dog. It says imagine if there were 600,000 people standing ready for the Shechinah to come down, and one dog barks and causes a miscarriage. Now the Shechinah won't come down in that way that it comes down only on 600,000 people. Every individual adds something. That's the uniqueness and the perfect planning that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing as He brings the Jewish people down into Egypt and eventually takes them out of Egypt and continues to watch each and every one of us.

Welcome to Daily Bitachon. We continue our lessons with the four Pesukim that we read at Bikurim , which is also format of our Hagadah Shel Pesach story. The next two words are VaYered Mitzraimah / And he ( Yaakov Avinu) went down to Mitzrayim . Says the Baal Hagadah , ' Annus al pi hadibur/He was forced based on the word of God.' Anoos or Onness means forced . The Yalkut Shimoni on Bereshit chapter 39, letter 145, says on the pasuk "VaYosef hurad/Yosef was brought down , or, he brought down others, that Horid Avinu Yaakov / Yosef caused Yaakov to come down. A mashal is given- of a cow that did not want to go where it was supposed to go. What did they do? They put its calf in front of it and it followed, against its will. So too, Yaakov Avinu was supposed to go down to Egypt in chains of steel. Imagine Yaakov Avinu in steel chains! But Hashem said, Bni Bechori hu ? Yaakov is my firstborn son, V'ani morido b'bizayon / Am I going to take him down in disgrace? No. His son would go down first, and he would follow. This is an important concept. Hashem made a gezera and it had to happen. Hashem makes it happen. However, he was originally supposed to go down as a slave, but Hashem was able to change the gezera and make it happen in the best possible way. In Shmuel א , Perek יב , Pasuk ו – ח Shmuel HaNavi describes to the people their history, in short. It says there, " Listen my nation, to what Hashem did to Moshe and Aharon who took you out of Mitzrayim. And let me tell you ," he says, " all the good things that He did with you and your forefathers: Ka'asher ba Yaakov Mitzrayim / When Yaakov came to Mitzrayim, and your fathers cried out, Hashem sent Moshe and Aharon, and they and they came." The Chida , in his sefer Chomat Anach on that pasuk in Shmuel asks, What does it mean Ka'asher ba Yaakov/When Yaakov came ? He says, this is a hint to us. Ba means he came on his own. He was really supposed to go down in steel chains, but Shmuel is hinting to the fact that he came on his own. And he says that the four words, K a'asher B a Y aakov M itzrayim , כ אשר ב א י עקוב מ צרים have the Rashei Teivot of מכבי Makabi which stands for Mi Kamocha Ba'elim Hashem / Who is like You among the strong ones ? God was able to undo the Gezera in the Zechut of Yaakov, and he went down through Yosef. This is an important lesson in Hashgacha Pratit . Hashem will make things happen. How? With tremendous intermediary causes. The sefer Tzror HaMor on Bereshit 41:1 tells us in the pasuk, U'Paroh cholem / And Paroah had a dream , as well as " Vayehi miketz shnatayim yamim, U'Paroah ," that it should have said Paroh cholem / Paroah dreamed . Why does it say, And Paroah dreamed? He says it goes back to another dream. The Vav / and is mosif / adding on . What's it adding on to? It's adding on to the dreams of Yosef . Yosef had two dreams, both with the same theme, and Paroah also had two dreams with the same theme. He says this was all in order to fulfill the word of God that: Ki ger yihyeh zar'acha b'eretz lo lahem / For Your children will be sojourners in a land that's not theirs. As the Gemara in Shabbat 89b says, Yaakov should have gone down with steel chains, but Hashem brought it about that he went down b'kavod gadol/ great honor. This was all in order to fulfill the ma'amar or the dibbur . So Annus al pi hadibur / Yaakov was forced down . How? With respect, with kavod . But at the end of the day, he was forced . Everyone is forced. Sometimes we are forced in limousines , but we're all forced , because everything that happens is there to fulfill a gezera . You can be forced in a respected way, or chas v'shalom , forced in a disrespectful way. Yaakov Avinu came down through dreams, through famine, but he came b'kavod gadol. But ultimately, Vayered Mitzrayim a. He didn't go because he decided to go. He went because he had no choice. Hashem set it up that he had to go. This is an important lesson called Anoos al pi hadibur . Everything that we do happens because of Hashem . Of course, we have freedom of choice. We make our choices, but at the end of the day, Hashem is going to make it happen. To illustrate can look to Yosef- He was out looking for his brothers but couldn't find them, so he was ready to go back home. Then he saw a man on the road. Who was that man on the road? Rashi tells us, it was the angel Gavriel . Yosef was lost. He never would have found his brothers. He was going back home. But Hashem needed to get Yaakov down to Mitzrayim so He sent down an angel tour guide , so to speak, to send him where he had to go. And Paroah had dreams. Why? Well, how could we get Paroah to meet Yosef? No problem. We'll have a fly land in the cup, the Sar Hamashkim will have to go to jail and meet Yosef, and eventually Yosef will interpret the dreams. All of this falls under this rule of Anoos al pi hadibur . It's fascinating how HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes things happen in so many steps!

One of the things that the Baal HaHaggadah mentions that is relevant to our days, although it doesn't seem so, is the Brit Ben HaBetarim , the deal that Hashem made with Avraham Avinu, where He tells Avraham, " Your children will be sojourners in a land that's not theirs, they'll work them, they'll pain them over 400 years. I will judge that nation and they will walk out with a great wealth." Right after that, we say, Hi She'amdah Lavoteinu Velanu . That promise of the Brit Ben HaBetarim stood for our forefathers and for us . And we all know it as a song, Shelo Echad Bilvad, Amad Alenu Lechaloteinu / Not only one wanted to destroy us, rather, in every generation they try to destroy us, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu Matzilenu M'Yadam saves us from their hand All that protection is traced back to the promise that God gave Avraham. But God promised Avraham Avinu about the exile of Egypt. What does that have to do with the exile that we're in today? The rabbis explain that Avraham Avinu was told his children would be in exile for 400 years. And yes, God did calculate the end, as it says, HaKadosh Baruch Hu chishav et haketz /He worked it out to get us out early so that we wouldn't be assimilated and reach the 50th level of tumah . But we really should have been there 400 years. And although God was able to work out the legalities and get us out earlier, we really did not get the full cleansing and purification that needed to happen. That is why we went back into future exiles. The Midrashim find hints in the Brit Ben HaBetarim , Avraham is going through his vision,to the four exiles. Because it was hinted there that we're going to end up going through four exiles, and the promise that Avraham Avinu got was for all four exiles, and the protection was also for all four exiles. This is important because in order for something to be defined as a miracle it has to be predetermined, pre-announced. The Ramban explains that Moshe Rabbenu's birth, which occurred when Yocheved was 130 years old, is not called a miracle in the Torah, because it was not mentioned, whereas the birth of Yitzchak from Sarah Imenu is, because Sarah Imenu's miracle was announced beforehand by the angels. It can't be after the fact. And this Brit Ben HaBetarim , which refers to our exile as well, means that God will protect us through our exile as well, and it turns our survival into a miracle, every single day. Like Yaakov Shwekey's song, We are a miracle. Rav Yaakov Emden states in the Hakdamah to his Siddur , in the section that's called Sulam Bet El , he says, I swear that I see something that's greater than the miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Greater than the miracles performed then is the fact the Jewish people have survived throughout the long and difficult Galut that we're in. That's a greater wonder. It's been more years, it's been more time. Similarly, the Chovot HaLevavot says, if you want to look for a miracle today, similar to that of Yetziat Mitzrayim , look at us; look at the survival of the Jewish people. We are a miracle .And this is not just true on the national level, but every individual has to feel that way. One of the lessons of Yetziat Mitzrayim is that from the open miracles, we see the hidden miracles. The beautiful words of Yaakov Shwekey's song, We Are a Miracle, lyrics by Sophia Franco, really make this point. A nation in the desert We started out as slaves Made it to the motherland, and then came the Crusades It's been so many years crying so many tears don't you know don't you really know? We are pushed to the ground through our faith we are found standing strong. The Spanish Inquisition wanted us to bow But our backs ain't gonna bend Never then, and never now It's been so many years crying so many tears don't you know don't you really know? We are pushed to the ground through our faith we are found standing strong. Extermination was the plan When the devil was a man Oh oh But the few who carried on Live for millions who are gone It's been so many years crying so many tears Don't you know, don't you really know? Generations have passed Only we're here to last…. Standing strong. Every day we fight a battle On the news we are the stars As history repeats itself And makes us who we are Hate is all around us But we'll be here to sing this song… CHORUS : We are a miracle We are a miracle Through it all, we remain… Who can explain? We are a miracle… And that is really the story and the message of Vehi She'amdah . It's also worthwhile to quote the from the famous essay by Mark Twain concerning the Jews: He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all the ages, and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonian, the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream stuff and passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his mortality? Obviously, we know the answer.

Welcome to Daily Bitachon. We are now in Chol Hamoed Pesach , if you're up to date, and we're still going through the Haggadah . Haggadah is not just a one-night event. We're at the point of בָּרוּךְ שׁוֹמֵר הַבְטָחָתוֹ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא. Baruch Shomer Havtachato L'Yisrael Baruch Hu . Blessed is He who keeps His promises to Israel, Blessed is He Hashem keeps His promises Again the question is, what are you telling me? Isn't that obvious? And the Bet HaLevi has a beautiful explanation in Parashat Bo , where he tells us, which many of us might know, that if HaKadosh Baruch Hu didn't take us out of Mitzrayim , we would have mixed with the Egyptians, entered the 50th level of Tumah , and we would have lost our yichus , we would have lost our lineage , our connection to our forefathers. Therefore, we would no longer be the seed of Abraham . The Abraham inside of us would have disintegrated. That's what it means that if Hashem didn't take us out of Mitzrayim , we would still be there, because the promise was to the seed of Abraham . And once we lose our Yichus and we're no longer recognizable as the seed of Abraham , it's all over. Just like Esav and Yishmael are no longer a seed. The same thing could have happened to us. And that's what it means, Baruch Shomer Havtachato L'Yisrael . God kept His promise to Yisrael . If Hashem hadn't worked it out, there would be no Yisrael left to keep the promise to. This concept shows up very much in the Sfat Emet , where he talks about the concept of Magen Abraham . The Sfat Emet in Likutim Parashat Vayigash says the following, in the name of the Chidushei Harim : Magen Abraham means, Hevtichoh Hashem Yitbarach , Hashem guaranteed him (Interesting, it's the same word as Shomer havtahato L'Yisrael ) Lhiyot nish'ar nikudah achat tamid . There will always be a little dot, which we call the Nikudah HaYehudi , that little dot. In Yiddish they say the pintelle yid , the point of the Jew that will never be destroyed. Rvery Jew has in him a little bit of that Abraham Avinu DNA, which is never lost. The Sfat Emet in Bereshit Parashat Lech Lecha tells us that that's what it means when we say a person is chayav to say matai yagil ma'asai le ma'asai avotai ? When will I reach the levels of my forefathers? How in the world could we ever discuss that? Could we ever reach the levels of Abraham , Yitzchak and Yaakov . And the answer is we have that little bit of them inside of us. And he says that special spot helps every Jew to reach the levels that he needs to reach. The Sfat Emet again in Parashat Lech Lecha says that this drop inside of us, this spirit inside of us, can never be extinguished. And every Jew has that connection and that love. And that's what it means. Mayim rabim lo yuchlu lechabot et aAhava . All the oceans and waters of the world will not extinguish that love. The Sfat Emet in Devarim Parashat Vayelech says that the terms in Shir Hashirim that refer to the Jewish people, such as Gan na'ul/A sealed garden and Mayan chatum/ A sealed wellspring indicate certain areas that are sealed, where no danger, or negativity can impact. It's always protected and saved, and that's Magen Abraham, because Hashem is always looking out to make sure that we don't get lost, that we don't get tainted. There's always something left behind. This concept goes back all the way to the beginning of creation. There's a certain part of our body called the Luz bone that will never be destroyed. At the time of Techiat HaMetim / Resurrection of the dead comes, it's going to start from that Luz bone that will never be destroyed. So even when a person is buried, there is still something left, that bit that was never impacted by negativity, and from which we will be reborn. How does that work? The commentaries explain that Hashem built a safety system into creation. When Adam HaRishon ate from the Etz Hadaat , the decree was, if you eat from it, you will die. What was the safety plan? There's a part of us that only benefits from what we eat on Motzei Shabbat on Saturday night, and that's the Luz bone. And therefore, when Adam HaRishon ate on Friday from the tree, that bone wasn't impacted, so that bone did not get the decree of death on it, because it only benefits from food eaten on Motzei Shabbat . That's why it's so important to eat Seuda Reviit , the Seuda of Motzei Shabbat , which is also called Seudat David HaMelech . The three meals correspond to Avraham , Yitzhak , and Yaakov . And David HaMelech is the fourth meal, which symbolizes Mashiach . We're going to survive because of that Luz bone that Hashem put into creation, that we will never be destroyed, because there's always a spot that remains clean inside of us. And that's the safety plan. The Ramchal , in one of his sefarim , says something fascinating. He says, everything shows up in time, place, and person. There's a Luz in the person, that's their Luz bone. There's a Luz in time, and there's a Luz in place. The Luz bone in place is the Kotel HaMaravi , that will never be destroyed. That's a spot that always has in it the Shechina , and from there, everything will be reborn. That's why every Jew who goes to the Kotel HaMaravi , feels that special connection, because that spot hasn't been tainted. The Luz bone in time is Yom Kippur . That's the day that wasn't tainted. That's the day we can come back and rebuild from, because we rebuild from health. You have to have healthy skin. You have to have a healthy spot. There's always that healthy spot. That's the Magen Avraham . Hashem protects that healthy spot inside of us that will never be destroyed. It's interesting that the final prayer of Yom Kippur is called Ne'ilah / sealed , like Gan Na'ul . It's the part of the Jew that was sealed and was never tainted or affected by sin. When that is revealed, we can rebuild. And that's what happens by Ne'ilah . And everything goes back to Yetziyat Mitzrayim . Everything is Zecher L'Yetziyat Mitzrayim . Is was at Yetziyat Mitzrayim that Hashem first revealed to us how He is Shomer Havtachatol Yisrael , how He protects the Jewish people. And at the last moment, when He realized that if we didn't get out now, we would never get out, He made sure to guard that Nekudah , that spot, that Magen Avraham , so that the Jewish people wouldn't get disintegrated and get lost. That's why, to this day, there are some Jews that only keep the Seder or Yom Kippur , because these are the times where that Nekudah , that Pintele Yid comes out and is revealed. The Seder night is one of those nights. And that's Baruch Shomer Havtachatol Yisrael . And even though the Seder is over, if you listen to this after the Seder , it's not too late. Because we say Magen Avraham every single day, three times a day. Magen Avraham / God protects Avraham, doesn't only mean He protects Avraham . Of course, it means that too, He protects the Avraham of old. But it also means He protects the Avraham inside of you. There's a little dot called Avraham inside of you. And that inner Avraham is always protected and will never be destroyed.

00:00 - Good Morning00:13 - Where am I?00:30 - It's about the Yomi01:02 - Guests02:00 - Emails06:39 - MDYsponsor.com08:45 - Introduction09:43 - Amud Beis14:43 - Amud Aleph34:16 - Amud Beis49:15 - Have a Wonderful Shabbos & YT!Quiz - http://Kahoot.MDYdaf.com----Mesechta Sponsors:Anonymous: Hatzlacha bruchnius U'vgashmius-Yisroel Cherns: In honor of my chavrisa Shmueli Unger-Szlafrok Family: In memory of their uncle, Simmy Schaer, Simcha Yisrael ben Naftali Tzvi A”H-Anonymous: May our learning bring us closer to one another and to Hashem----Monthly Sponsors:Hatzlacha B'Parnasa-Parnasa Birevach for Baruch Tzvi Nissim ben Shoshana Leah-Yoni Klestzick: Refuah Shelamah יהודית בריינה בת צפורה רבקה----Kollel of the Month:TY to R' Elis wife & kids for the great sacrifices they make allowing him to spread Torah to the masses----Sponsors of the Day:Avi Berger: Welcome Elimelech and Levi to the Daf! May their learning be a zchus for the hostages-Aaron Hirsch: LZ'N My father's 30th Yortzeit הרב אברהם יצחק בן בנימין ז"ל devoted his life to spreading Torah-Berel Steinerman: Hoda'ah to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the positive results from my post-chemo scan!----MDY Kids:Kidnovations: Zechus for Fishel, Elchanan, Akiva | Rivky & Mrs Stefansky----Art of the Month​:Refuah Shleima for יהונתן איתן בן בת שבע ברכה-In honor of Yossi Klein & Mark Ashkenazi for all the work they do----Turning of the daf:Adar Global: One-stop Shop for all your Financial needs-Kidnovations LLC: In honor of our sons; Kalmo (12yr) & Yisrael (9yr) for learning Sanhedrin with Reb Eli ♥-In honor of Adar global and Kidovations. True role models of how to support the daf and learning ________________________________

The pasuk in this week's parsha states: " ויקרא אל משה וידבר ה' אליו מאהל מועד לאמר " - Hashem called to Moshe, and then Moshe entered to speak with Him. At the end of Parashat Pekudei, it says that Moshe was unable to enter the Ohel Mo'ed because the cloud of Hashem had descended upon it. However, in Parashat Mishpatim, it states that Moshe entered the cloud of Hashem at Har Sinai, which seems to indicate that he was able to enter. The Ohr HaChaim explains that in that instance, it first says " ויקרא אל משה " , meaning Hashem called Moshe in first. A person cannot simply enter a place where the Shechina resides. However, if Hashem calls the person in, then it becomes possible. That is why Parashat Vayikra begins with Hashem calling Moshe to enter the Ohel Mo'ed. What did Moshe do to merit this calling? The Shevet Mussar explains that Moshe did not contribute any donations toward the Mishkan, even though he was in charge of its construction. Specifically because he did not contribute, Moshe was chosen for this role—so that no one could ever claim personal credit for building Hashem's house. The Midrash states that the phrase " כאשר צוה ה' את משה " appears 18 times regarding the Mishkan. It gives a parable of a king who commanded his servant to build him a palace. On each part that the servant built, he wrote the name of the king—on the walls, on the pillars, on every detail of the palace. When the king entered and saw his name everywhere, he said: "My servant has honored me so much, and yet I am inside while he remains outside." Immediately, the king called his servant to enter the palace. Similarly, when Hashem instructed Moshe to construct the Mishkan, Moshe "wrote" on everything " כאשר צוה ה' את משה " . Hashem saw that Moshe had given Him all the honor, while he himself remained outside. In response, Hashem called Moshe inside. The phrase " כאשר צוה ה' את משה " reflects Moshe's complete self-nullification. He did not take any credit for his role; rather, he attributed everything to Hashem. Even though Moshe did not physically build the Mishkan, he stood by the workers, reminding them that their strength and talent came from Hashem. He even reminded Betzalel, despite his wisdom, not to lose focus and to recognize that all his abilities were granted by Hashem. The one who did not physically labor was the one invited in—because he gave Hashem the most honor. Humility, in which a person attributes everything to Hashem, brings Hashem honor. In turn, Hashem honors that person. The letter Aleph in Vayikra is small. The Gemara explains that in Moshe's humility, he wanted it to appear as Vayikar (without the Aleph ), implying that Hashem " ויקר -happened" to appear to him, rather than explicitly calling him. He wrote the Aleph small so it would not seem as though he was exceptionally deserving. In the end, Hashem used the extra ink from the small Aleph to make Moshe's face shine. Moshe's name is absent from the Haggadah because Yetziat Mitzrayim was meant to teach for all generations that Hashem alone controls the world. One of the reasons Moshe was chosen as the leader was because he was willing to remove himself from the story and give all credit to Hashem. His humility allowed him to gain immeasurably. Each day, we have the opportunity to serve Hashem in this way. The more we attribute everything we have and do to HaKadosh Baruch Hu , the more He rests His presence upon us. If we internalize that all success comes solely from Him, we truly honor Hashem—and in that merit, may He call us closer to Him. We all desire closeness with Hashem. The path to achieving it is through humility—by recognizing that everything we have and everything we accomplish is entirely from Him. Shabbat Shalom.

Living Emunah 2738 Parashat Pekudei: No Matter What In the beginning of parashat Pekudei, the Torah calls the Mishkan, the Mishkan of testimony. One of the things it testified to was Hashem's great love for us. The Mefarshim are bothered why the Torah repeats so much about the Mishkan in parashiyot Vayakhel and Pekudei, after they were already mentioned in Terumah Tetzaveh. Some explain the Jewish people were commanded to build a house for Hashem before they did the Chet Haegel. After they committed that grievous sin, they felt so distanced from Hashem and feared they would never be able to bring His presence down to dwell amongst them. However, after they made Teshuva, Hashem told Moshe to tell the Jewish people that He wants the exact same Mishkan built with every detail and that He was going to dwell with them. And that is why the details are repeated after the Chet Haegel. We see from here that no matter what a Jew does, Hashem always wants him back. We should never feel that because of our sins that Hashem doesn't want us. All we have to do is say that we are sorry and Hashem will be waiting with open arms, kavyachol, to bring us closer. Rabbi Snir Gueta told a story about a young woman named Shlomit. After years of waiting for a child, her parents were blessed with her birth. Tragically, a few years later, her mother fell ill and passed away, leaving her father to raise her alone. He tried his best to connect to his daughter and give her all the love and attention that he could. As she grew during her teenage years, she began drifting from the religious path that he was trying so hard to keep her on. As she got older, she drifted further until she was constantly arguing with her father about religion. She told him outright she was not interested in being religious. Her father kept telling her that he promised her mother that he would raise her to be a true Bat Yisrael, but she wouldn't change. One day she told her father she was leaving home and moving to India. Her father yelled at her, saying that she was being so insensitive, ignoring his request and leaving him all alone. She apologized for leaving him, but said she was going no matter what. Her father, in a moment of desperation, said to her, "If you leave, you are not welcome back. I will never forgive you for this." Her friends were waiting outside, and she left. She was in India for three years. At that time, one of her friends from Israel traveled there, and when she saw her, she hugged her, telling her how much she missed her. And then she gave her her condolences over the death of her father. Shlomit couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had no idea that her father passed away. She began crying uncontrollably, regretting the nonsense that she had been involved in over the past three years, completely abandoning her father and Hashem. She took the next flight back to Israel, and went straight to the cemetery, searching for her father's grave. When she finally found it, she sat there, crying, begging for him to forgive her. She said, "Please, Abba, I made the worst mistake. I will come back to Hashem now. All I want is for you to forgive me." She then went to the Kotel. She stood right by the mechitza between the men and women, and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a note to Hashem, asking Him to please show her if her father forgave her for what she did. She put the note in the wall, and it immediately fell out. There was no room in any hole there for her note. She saw by the edge of the mechitza, in the men's section, an opening, and she put it there. When she put it down, another note fell out. She picked it up, and saw the name Shlomit bat Chana. She opened it, and began to read, and started to tremble. It said, "Borei olam, my daughter is in India, please bring her back to Teshuva. Her name is Shlomit Bat Chana. If I could talk to her right now, I would tell her that I forgive her for everything. All I want is for her to come back to You, Hashem." Shlomit broke out in tears, and thanked Hashem, and fully came back to Torah and Mitzvot. A human father is willing to take his daughter back, no matter what she does. All the more so, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants every one of His children back, no matter what they have done. Hashem loves and wants every Jew close to Him. All we have to do is be sincere. Shabbat Shalom.

The Kav HaYashar in siman 97 writes that the day of Ta'anit Esther is very auspicious for having our tefilot answered and therefore, he says, anyone who needs rachamei Shamayim should take time out on that day and say Mizmor 22 in Tehillim and afterward he should pour out his heart to Hashem and ask Him for whatever he needs and then he should add-in the zechut of Mordechai and Esther, Hashem should open up the gates of Shamayim and accept his tefilot with favor. The sefer Bishvili HaMinhag explains why tefila is so powerful on this day. It is clear from the words of our Chazal that the entire salvation of the Jewish People at the time of Purim was all because of tefila . The Rambam writes, one of the reasons we are commanded to read the Megillah is to make known to the generations the promise given to us in the Torah " kaHashem Elokenu bichol korenu elav" – that Hashem answers us whenever we call out to Him. Which means, we were saved at that time in the merit of our tefila . And that is what we are reminding everybody when we read the Megillah . As a side note, the pasuk stresses that Hashem answers us when we call out elav – to Him. Which means, when He is the only One we are focusing on, when we truly understand that there is no other means of salvation other than Him. Ta'anit Esther specifically was established to commemorate the fact that our people fasted and prayed in anticipation of Hashem helping them at that time. And so, this day went down in history as a day of tefila . And as we know, the same spiritual energy that was in the world at that time comes back each and every year and we can take advantage of it now as well. Regarding tefila in general, the Midrash Tanchuma in parashat Vayera says, Hashem tells us to be very careful and utilize tefila because there is nothing better than it. It's even more powerful than all of the korbanot . And Hashem said further, "Even if a person is not worthy to be saved, just because he prays and is sincere with his pleas, I will do chesed with him ." Here, HaKadosh Baruch Hu bichvodo ubi'atzmo is teaching us the greatest segula of all to be helped – heartfelt sincere tefila . Hashem loves when we ask Him for help with our spiritual needs. A Rabbi who was zoche to learn with the Chazon Ish said, when they used to get to very hard sugyot which they couldn't fully grasp, the Chazon Ish would get up and go to the corner of the beit midrash and say Tehillim . Then, he would ask Hashem to open his mind to comprehend the depth of the sugya and that is how he merited to comprise the wondrous sefer called Chazon Ish. Tefila works. A man told me he was having difficulty understanding the Gemara which he learns once a week. He attends a class which is given on a high level while he is just a beginner. I told him to use the power of tefila to help himself. The following week he told me, before the class he spoke to Hashem at length, asking him in his own words with sincerity to give him the merit to understand the class. That day, he practically took over the class. All of the other students were in awe at the clarity he had. Tefila is wondrous and on Ta'anit Esther it's even more powerful. Let us utilize this gift that Hashem has given us, let us pray for the Mashiach and for the Geula Shelemah and, b'ezrat Hashem, the same way that tefila brought salvation to the Jewish People in the days of Haman, so too it should bring salvation to us today.

When people hear of a great new segula, they're very eager to try it, in many cases, even if it would cost them a lot of money or entail traveling. We have the greatest segula of all available to us at any time, free of charge. When a person prays to Hashem with real belief in His power and control, and a true feeling that He could easily help despite the hurdles that need to be overcome, that can produce the greatest salvations. When person A approaches person B for help, it can easily be detected if A really believes person B will help, or he's just going through the motions of asking. When a person really believes that Hashem is his best and only option, his approach will be different than when he thinks he has other options. A man told that both of his parents died young from heart conditions, רחמנא ליצלן . After he himself experienced certain sensations and symptoms in his heart , h e went to a doctor who determined that something was very wrong. He had a rare defect in his heart muscle, and to fix it, he would need to undergo a complex surgery by a world-renowned specialist, the only expert known for that type of issue. All of the people he spoke to told him the same thing. "If you value your life, make sure to do the surgery." This man lived in Israel, and would need to travel to Minnesota for the operation. He would have to rent an apartment near the hospital, then go for the surgery, and after recovery, go back to stay in that apartment. He would need to periodically go for checkups for up to six months after the surgery. In his mind, this meant a half a year in exile. What would be with his children? His wife would have to come along to take care of him. What would he do about minyan, about his shi'urim in Torah? What would become of his business? And where would he get hold of the astronomical sums needed for the surgery? He tried to get advice from anyone he knew in the medical field. He was advised to consult with a senior advisor who perhaps could find an alternate solution. He made the meeting and the advisor said, there is no other choice. "You must go to Minnesota as quickly as possible. Don't waste any more time. Your life is on the line." The man left there in a state of panic. He then went to shul to pray Arbit and heard the chazan saying, ה' צבאות עמנו משגב לנו - Hashem is with us and He supports us. At that moment, he was overcome with a feeling of bitachon in Hashem. The chazan continued, אשרי אדם בוטח בך. ה' הושיע המלך יעננו ביום קראנו - Hashem, save us, the King who answers us on the day we call out to Him. What a treasure. He had been saying those words all of his life but never fully appreciated them like he did at that moment. Hashem is the King of the entire world. With all of the doctors and all of the refuot, He is the only One who saves us. That Arbit was like Ne'ila on Yom Kippur for him. In fact, it was even more intense. He understood with all of his senses and bones that he is dependent only on the Chesed Hashem and that He is the only One with any say. He begged Hashem to heal him and spare him from six months in exile. After that, he still had to prepare in case he had to go. His wife was trying to work out the finances with his insurance company as well as all the other logistics of the trip to Minnesota. Meanwhile, he was becoming weaker and weaker. His heart was giving more and more warning signs. The surgery was scheduled for three weeks later in Minnesota and he continued to pray that Hashem give him a Refua Shelema right there in Israel. About ten days before the surgery, he received a call from his local hospital telling him the most amazing news. A very wealthy man with the same condition as him paid a huge sum of money to fly in the surgeon from Minnesota. He would be in the hospital there for 24 hours and they were hoping he would do his surgery as well. The hospital itself wanted all of their surgeons present to watch and learn from this man. The day came and the surgeon operated on him as well. It took only six hours instead of the eight that was expected. The surgeon told him it went extremely well. The man only had to be in the hospital for one week. He never had to leave his children or his minyan or his learning. Now, its 25 years later, and his heart continues to beat with tremendous gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for orchestrating those events the way he did. There is no segula like believing in the power of Hashem.

Rabbeinu Bechayai discusses how Moshe experienced seeing a miraculous fire in the bush, then a Malach and then a Nevuah from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Why was the revelation done in a progression, and how did he grow from examining the fire itself? Have a wonderful Shabbos.

If someone has been making hishtadlut in a certain area for a long time but hasn't seen success, there is a segula attributed to Rav Chaim Palachi that can work wonders. Whether the hishtadlut pertains to shidduchim , parnasa , health, or any other matter, strengthening one's bitachon in the following way can bring great siyata dishmaya . The practice involves saying the first paragraph of Alenu l'Shabe'ach with intense kavana . Then, go back to the words הוא אלוקינו ואין עוד אחר —"He is our G-d, and there is none other"—and deeply internalize that no one else in the world can help besides Hakadosh Baruch Hu. With this mindset, proceed to the second paragraph, על כן נקוה לך ה' אלוקינו , and focus on the specific issue causing distress. As you recite it, think: "Hashem, I am placing all my bitachon in You." A man who learned of this segula for the first time shared it with his niece in Argentina, who was struggling with shidduchim . She asked if it was enough to perform the segula once a day when reciting Alenu , as she only prayed once daily. Her uncle assured her that this was sufficient, and he committed to having her in mind as he performed the segula three times a day. Remarkably, within a month, she found her shidduch . This segula is not new; it is simply another method to instill the principle of אין עוד מלבדו . A woman once told me about her longstanding eye condition. Her eyes were persistently watery and produced mucus, and none of the medications she tried brought relief. A few years ago, she turned to the Rebbetzin whose class she attended weekly for advice. The Rebbetzin encouraged her to work on internalizing that only Hashem could help her. Then, she suggested a practical step: "Chanuka is coming up this week. Each night, stand by the candles for 15 minutes and pray to Hashem, fully believing that only He can help." The woman followed the Rebbetzin's advice and even stopped relying on the ineffective medications. Each night of Chanuka, she stood before the candles, praying with all her heart and focusing on her emunah that only Hashem could heal her. Amazingly, her condition improved with each passing day. By the end of Chanukah, her eyes were completely healed. Baruch Hashem, it has now been two years, and the issue has not returned. There is no substitute for genuine belief in Hashem's power. It cannot be faked, as Hashem perceives the true feelings within a person's heart. When one fully believes in אין עוד מלבדו , it becomes a wondrous segula that brings an outpouring of siyata dishmaya .

Living Emunah 2685 There Is Always a Purpose Nobody wants to feel that they are toiling in vain. We want to feel accomplished and want to know that there's purpose in everything we experience. People have certain conditions that they feel are causing a big strain on their lives. They feel they could be doing so many more productive things if they didn't have this condition. Learning emunah is crucial because it teaches us that there is purpose in everything we experience. It's not just purpose; it is the best possible situation to be in and is accomplishing more than anything else we feel we could be accomplishing. Only Hashem knows what we need to accomplish in this world to be successful, and it is He who gives us the exact circumstances that we need to be in to fulfill our mission. Some circumstances may last for a month or a year or even longer. It all depends on our mission. If we can internalize the fact that there is purpose for the circumstance or situation and also internalize that serving Hashem under those conditions is the best possible thing for us, then we'll be able to do it with joy rather than stress. A woman told her rabbi that she is suffering because she takes to heart her friends' and relatives' issues as if they are her own. Someone she's very close to is going through such a difficult time and it is paining her to no end. She has tried to go to therapists to see how she can prevent herself from letting other people's problems affect her so much, but nobody has been able to help her. She has a hard time wanting to get up each morning because of all the stress she's feeling. The rabbi told her the pasuk says Moshe Rabbenu became great because he felt the pain of his brothers who were in slavery in Mitzrayim. Moshe Rabbeinu could have just taken it easy in the palace, but instead he chose to empathize with his brothers and became completely distressed over their pain to the point that he used to cry watching them and would go over to each person and tell him, "I wish I could die for you." Hakadosh Baruch Hu saw this and said, "Moshe turned away from his comforts to be in distress with his people. I am going to leave my comforts and appear to him from a thornbush." There he told Moshe that he was choosing him to become the leader to take the Jews out of Mitzrayim. It was this quality of feeling the pain of others that merited Moshe to become the Rabban Shel Kol Yisrael . The rabbi then told the woman that although she looks at this quality as something negative, Hashem views it as a great mitzva. Furthermore, the Sefarim HaKedoshim teach us that when a person is נושא בעול עם חבירו , feeling the pain of others, it actually alleviates some of the pain that the person is experiencing. So this woman's pain is not only considered a mitzva, it is also helping the one she's pained over. Moreover, we know that everybody experiences yisurim in this world. If she is feeling pain over other people's problems, then she is getting her yisurim that way, which means the difficulties that she needs to go through will not have to come in her own life because she's already experiencing them in other people's lives. These are just some of the benefits she's gaining by having these feelings for others. By learning emunah, she didn't need to fight her circumstances but rather accept them with love. Of course, we are always encouraged to make any hishtadlut that we feel would improve the quality of our lives, but we don't have to feel that what we are experiencing is ever in vain. There is always a purpose, and it's always for our benefit.

Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein told a story in his Sefer בך בטחנו about a great Admor who appeared to his son in a dream a year after he passed away to give him a message. The son asked his father to tell him what it's like in the upper world. His father was not able to reveal too much, but he did tell him that the reward for every little deed that we do is tremendous, even for little things like getting a chair for someone to sit on, serving a cup of water or giving someone directions. We have no comprehension of how great the reward for these minor deeds are, all the more so for deeds that are more difficult to do. He said further, if someone sings a song of praise to Hashem, even if he's sitting at a Shabbat table all alone, it is as precious to Hashem as the Leviyim singing to Him in the Beit Hamikdash. We can't imagine how great even one Amen is. A man by the name of Mati had to deliver an envelope to someone who worked in a bank in Tel Aviv. When he arrived he was told the person he needed was in a meeting. In the meantime he sat down to eat an apple. He was accustomed to always saying all of his berachot slow and loud, so right there in the bank he made the beracha out loud. One of the bankers there went over to him and said, "What are you yelling? This is not Bnei Brak, please talk quietly." A few days later he returned to that bank with another letter to deliver and once again he had to wait. This time he said his beracha quietly. The same banker saw him and said, "Why did you say the beracha so low? I wanted to hear it." Mati told him he was only following orders. The banker then told him he used to be religious but he lost everything. Last week when he berated him for saying the beracha out loud, his mother came to him in a dream very angry saying how much suffering he was causing her in the upper world. She then said, "If you would have answered Amen to that beracha, it would have elevated my soul so much. But instead, you yelled at the person for doing it." The banker then told Mati he couldn't believe that even an amen from someone like him would be meaningful. The banker then apologized and gave Mati something else to make a beracha on so he could answer Amen. Hashem appreciates every little deed that a person does and will reward him greatly for every one of them. How much more so if the deeds are difficult to do. A rosh kollel in Lakewood recently told the following story about one of the students who learned in his kollel who we'll call Yehuda. Lo aleinu, Yehuda's wife had a miscarriage at a late stage. The rosh kollel told Yehuda to take off as much time as needed to be with his wife and give her support. This was on a Friday. On Sunday morning Yehuda was back in the kollel learning the full day. The rosh kollel asked him about it. Yehuda told him they were inspired by a statement from the Zohar: " חזו בני חביבי דמשכחין בצערא דילהון ועסקין בחדוותא דילי - Hashem says, "Look at my precious children. They forget about their own sorrows and they take delight in my Torah." They wanted to fulfill that precept and bring pleasure to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So the man's wife encouraged him to go learn. The very next day Yehuda received a call from a cousin of his asking if he could borrow his violin. The cousin came to pick it up. Before leaving, he wanted to test it out. This cousin had no idea what was going on in Yehuda's life with the miscarriage. He then started playing a song and the words were " חזו חזו בני חביבי "- the very same words that had just inspired Yehuda and his wife to go learn. They felt Hashem was talking to them directly telling them how much He appreciated that sacrifice. Our deeds are so valuable, and therefore we should do every one of them happily and enthusiastically.

Chazal tell us that the malachim ask HaKadosh Baruch Hu why the Jewish people don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. The Chatam Sofer in his Derashot asked, why would the angels think that we should say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. On Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, we are celebrating the miracles that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Mitzrayim and gave us the Torah. So that is why we say Hallel on those holidays. But there were no miracles that took place on Rosh Hashanah that should warrant saying Hallel. So why would they think that we should say it? The Chatam Sofer answered, that we have been in galut for nearly 2000 years, and now a new year is coming up and there are still Jews in the world keeping Torah and mitzvot just like they did during the days of Moshe Rabbeinu. Not only that, there are people interested in knowing what time they have until to say Kriyat Shema or until what time they have to say the Amidah . The angels in heaven are amazed that after centuries of persecutions and attempts to get us away from religion, we keep coming back stronger than ever. If we would think about it logically, it doesn't make any sense that there are millions of Jews flourishing in Torah and mitzvot after what we have been through. There are people in every shul across the world learning, praying, doing gemilut chasadim and serving Hashem in the most beautiful ways. The main time to recognize this miracle would be at the beginning of a new year. Our Avot never imagined that in the year 5785, we would still be in galut, and yet still keep every halacha the best way possible. We're still educating our children with purity. We still stand in shul on Rosh Hashanah and accept the kingship of Hashem and we say Malchuyot , Zichronot and Shofarot just like they did in the days of Ravah and Abayeh. There is no miracle greater than this. And so, what did Hashem answer the angels when they asked Him why we aren't saying Hallel? He replied, how could they say Hallel when the Sifrei Chaim and Sifrei Metim are opened in front of Me? The Chatam Sofer explained, those books also refer to the amount of life we will be given when doing mitzvot. Life- meaning excitement and energy. And the Sifrei Metim refers to doing mitzvot without any excitement or any enthusiasm. How could we say Hallel for something that's being decided right at that time? Are we going to have heavenly help to enjoy the Torah and do the mitzvot with a passion? Knowing that this is at stake, it is incumbent upon us to at least try our best on the day of Rosh Hashanah to show as much excitement and enthusiasm as we could when learning and praying. All the blessings for the entire year are found inside the day of Rosh Hashanah, both physical and spiritual. Everything we do on that day matters so much. We eat sweet foods, we act on our best behavior, and we are supposed to put forth our best spiritual efforts in everything we do that day. If we want to do mitzvot with a feeling of life, we have to at least show it outwardly. Even if we may not always have kavanah throughout the year during our tefila , we should make a special effort on Rosh Hashanah to focus from the beginning of the tefila all the way to the end. Hashem is ready to shower us with the greatest year, both spiritually and physically, but first we have to do our part. To get spiritual blessings, we have to want them deep down and show it as well. B'ezrat Hashem, everybody should be inscribed in the Sefer Hachaim , both spiritually and physically. Shabbat Shalom

One of the reasons we are supposed to feel calm and composed in all situations is because we are always in the best hands, the hands of our loving Father, HaKadosh Baruch Hu . During difficult times, internalizing this fact can help a person so much. A woman related that she had to travel from Minnesota to Lakewood for a family wedding. She was going to return by herself, while her husband was going to take her son to Denver Yeshiva after the wedding. They found flights to Philadelphia, and then they would take a taxi to Lakewood. When it came time for the woman to go back on Thursday, she assumed the flight was from the same airport that she arrived in, and so she called the driver to take her from Lakewood to the Philadelphia airport. Her husband had already printed out her boarding pass and she had it with her in her pocketbook. While in transit, she was very busy catching up on missed phone calls and messages and did not pay attention to the road at all. When they arrived at the airport, the driver asked her which airline and she told her. She then got out, went through security, got to the gate, and finally boarded the plane. She needed to check her ticket to see what seat she had. When she looked at the ticket, she couldn't believe her eyes. It said that the flight was leaving out of Newark airport in New Jersey. She wondered how they let her on the flight if she was in the Philadelphia airport. She then asked the flight attendant where exactly they were to which she was told, Newark. That is when she realized the miracle that Hashem just did for her. She asked for a taxi to take her to Philadelphia airport and somehow the driver decided, on her own, to take her to Newark, the airport she was really supposed to leave from. And she really had to get back that day because she needed to cook the entire Friday for the Sheva Berachot they were making on Shabbat. She thought to herself, we may think we are supposed to be heading in a certain direction, but it doesn't always work out the way we want, because Hashem is always steering us in the direction He knows we need to go in. She is currently going through a very troubling time with one of her children. She prays for salvation every day, but now she knows even more that Hashem is always leading her to the circumstances she needs to be in to get where she has to be in this world. Sometimes a person needs help but he doesn't know where to turn to get it. But what he may not realize is that Hashem has already been planning out his salvation. A man from Bet Shemesh related, one day he overheard a conversation between two people that learn in his kollel . One of them, we'll call Shmuel, said that the electric company did not send him a bill for a few months and then they sent him a bill for 6,000 shekel in one shot. He did not have the money to pay for it and was hoping that the electric company would allow him to pay in small increments. That night everybody left the kollel at about 11pm and the only ones left were Shmuel and the one telling the story. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. It was two Americans who only spoke English. They asked if there was someone there currently learning Torah. The man telling the story told them yes. They came in and saw Shmuel learning and they went over to him and handed him a thousand dollars cash. They said they were meeting with someone who suddenly said, in the middle of the meeting, he wanted to give a thousand dollars to a man who's learning. They told him they would find someone. This was the nearest Bet Midrash so they came there and gave the money to Shmuel who was learning. While they were there, they took out a few hundred dollars more from their own pockets and gave him more money. A minute later two people came in and sat down and started learning. The hashgacha of Hashem here was so precise, He caused those Americans to come to this kollel exactly when only Shmuel was learning so that he would get all the money that he needed to pay his electric bill. Hashem knows about everything a person's going through and is always taking the best care of us. If we could always feel that we are in His hands, it will help us in so many ways.

What if living a life of kindness could transform your relationships and secure your place in the world to come? Join us for a heartfelt discussion inspired by the teachings of HaKadosh Baruch Hu as we explore the profound concept that we are all siblings, children of one divine Father. This episode underscores the unparalleled significance of benevolence and the eternal rewards that acts of kindness bring. It's a call to It'son, especially during the reflective month of Elul, to reset our mindsets and strive for personal growth by mending our relationships with others.We'll break down Rambam's laws of repentance, revealing that true atonement on the Day of Atonement is incomplete without making peace with those we've wronged. We've why seeking forgiveness and fostering harmonious relationships are not just spiritual niceties but divine imperatives. You'll be inspired to take meaningful steps towards genuine repentance and live in a way that honors our shared divine heritage. Don't miss this mindful conversation that motivates you to nurture better connections and create a more compassionate world.Support the showJoin The Motivation Congregation WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content!Elevate your impact by becoming a TMC Emerald Donor! Your much-needed backing is crucial for our mission of disseminating the wisdom of the Torah. Join today for just $18.00 per month. (Use your maaser money!) https://buy.stripe.com/00g8xl5IT8dFcKc5ky---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly talk on the week's Parsha. Listen on Spotify or 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our website, themotivationcongregation.org ----------------Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

R' Joey Rosenfeld - IntroductionIn this episode, the speaker explores the teachings of Rabbi Nachman centered on the transformative process of turning Torah into Tefillah through Hisboididus (self-seclusion and contemplation). The discussion highlights the refinement and clarification needed in personal and communal spiritual practices. By delving into the works of David HaMelech (King David) and his Tehillim (Psalms), the session underscores the powerful impact of expressing personal struggles and vulnerabilities as a form of prayer. The profound wisdom of David HaMelech provides a framework for believers to turn their knowledge and experiences into heartfelt supplications, ultimately fostering a deeper connection with HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, Blessed be He).Kollel Toras Chaim was established to learn Rebbe Nachman torah in depth and to live with his torah for several months with chaburas in various cities learning together. Download our learning pamphlet here, our special English version here feel free to reach out to us by email or by WhatsApp. Subscribe to our WhatsApp status for exclusive updates, short clips and more. We are also available on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Torah as Healing01:04 Exploring Torahs in Tinyana03:24 Transforming Torah into Tefillah04:12 The Power of Hisbodedus06:37 David HaMelech and Sefer Tehillim08:44 Personalizing Tehillim10:41 Conclusion: The Secret of Tehillim

This week is sponsored by the Weitzner Family,  In loving memory of Esther bas Pesachye In this week's parsha, Mattos, HaKadosh Baruch Hu commands Moshe Rabbeinu to take vengeance against the Midyanim. But why does Moshe then delegate this task to others if he feels it is so vital to do so urgently? What profound lesson can we learn from this seemingly perplexing decision? Reb Asaf Aharon Prisman delves into the depths of this parsha, uncovering a powerful message about the impact of our actions on our neshamos. How can cultivating gratitude in this world affect our eternal future in Olam Haba? And what surprising connection exists between a simple banana and the key to unlocking true simcha in our avodas Hashem? Join us as we explore these captivating questions and discover how becoming "Gan Eden compatible" is not just a lofty goal, but a practical path we can embark on today. Tune in to unravel the mystery of how our middos in this world shape our eternal destiny. Always on www.prismoftorah.org

Is your imagination the key to unlocking a deeper spiritual connection? Join us as we explore the astounding capabilities of the human brain, a creation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This episode highlights how our brain's processing power outstrips even the most advanced technology, but more importantly, we delve into the unique human gift of imagination. Discover how this imaginative capacity allows us to conjure new ideas, visualize historical events, and teach ourselves through vivid mental imagery. As we reflect on the poignant three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the holy temples, we emphasize the role of imagination in connecting emotionally with pivotal moments in Jewish history. We invite you to let the evocative poetry of this period guide your thoughts and emotions, helping you vividly picture the tragic events and feel the collective pain of the Jewish people. By harnessing your Koyach Hatziur, or power of imagination, you can deepen your understanding of what was lost and amplify your prayers for the future rebuilding of the third and eternal Besa Mikdash. Tune in to uncover how imagination can profoundly transform your spiritual experience and connection to Jewish history.Support the Show.Join The Motivation Congregation WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content!Elevate your impact by becoming a TMC Emerald Donor! Your much-needed backing is crucial for our mission of disseminating the wisdom of the Torah. Join today for just $18.00 per month. (Use your maaser money!) https://buy.stripe.com/00g8xl5IT8dFcKc5ky---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly talk on the week's Parsha. Listen on Spotify or 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our website, themotivationcongregation.org ----------------Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

What if you could transform your spiritual life with just 60 seconds of contemplation a week? Discover how the teachings of the Ramchal provide the "Golden Key" to self-control and overcoming the Yetzirah, and learn how to ignite the dormant knowledge of God within you. Through reflection, we uncover the profound lessons from Parsha Chukas, recounting the pivotal losses of Miriam and Aaron HaKoen, Moshe's punishment for striking the rock, and the Israelites' dramatic encounter with Sihon, King of the Amorites. Witness the extraordinary power and support of Hakadosh Baruch Hu as these events unfold.Join us on an enriching journey as we explore the life-changing practice of cheshbon, or self-contemplation, inspired by the profound teachings of the Ramchal. We'll dive into the lives of exemplary figures like Moshe, Aaron HaKoen, Rashi, and David HaMelech to understand how honest reflection can lead to true success and fulfillment. By dedicating just 60 seconds weekly to pondering fundamental questions about our existence and role in God's world, you can foster genuine self-control and spiritual growth. Prepare to take a "vacation to the town of Hezbon" and achieve remarkable personal and spiritual development with us.Support the Show.Join The Motivation Congregation WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content!------------------Check out our other Torah Podcasts and content! SUBSCRIBE to The Motivation Congregation Podcast for daily motivational Mussar! Listen on Spotify or 24six! Find all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our website, themotivationcongregation.org Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

On our quest to acquire perfect emunah and think correctly, we want to purify our minds with the right hashkafa according to the Torah. The pasuk in parashat Ekev warns, if a person becomes well-to-do, he will forget about Hashem, saying, it is my might and strength that made me this wealth. The Saba from Kelm points out, the Torah does not say, maybe he will say this, because the nature of a person is to automatically think that way. It is only with proper training that we can uproot this thought process. If we see a successful businessman, what are our thoughts about his wealth? Do we think about what appear to be the immediate causes that brought him his wealth, like the product he sells or the stocks he bought? Or do we think that Hashem wanted him to be wealthy and He gave him his wealth? If we see an army successful in battle, do we think about their great strategies and war tactics? Or do we attribute their success to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? This is one way in which we could test our level of emunah, seeing if our initial thoughts have adapted to the way that Hashem wants us to think. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot that Rav Huna had four hundred barrels of wine that soured, and when the Rabbis heard about it, they immediately told him to check into his deeds. Rav Huna asked the Rabbis why they suspected him of doing something wrong, and they replied, because without a question it was Hashem who made the wine sour, and it was a kapara for something that the Rabbi did wrong. Rav Huna looked into his deeds and indeed discovered his error in a different business dealing, and right after he made teshuvah , the issue of the wine went away. The baalei mussar point out from here, usually the way it works is when someone experiences some type of misfortune like this, he thinks about all the different natural causes of why the wine may have spoiled, but Chazal are teaching us with their pure emunah that the natural causes don't matter. Everything that takes place is because of Hashem. If we fix what Hashem wants us to fix, then the issue goes away. The Apta Rav used to say, the way of the world is when someone makes a certain hishtadlut and it doesn't work out the way he hoped, he thinks, “If only I would have done things differently, then I might have gotten what I wanted.” If the person said something he wishes he didn't say, he would think, “If only I would have said something else, then I would have gotten what I wanted.” Both of those reactions are incorrect. The outcome that took place was exactly the outcome that Hashem wanted to take place. And if the outcome could have been different because of different words or a different hishtadlut , then Hashem would have put those thoughts in the person's brain at the time he was making the hishtadlut . It is extremely difficult for someone to put in a lot of effort into something and then believe that the result had nothing to do with his efforts. But this is the way Hashem wants us to think, because this is the absolute truth. This is the way He runs the world. Even if someone says, “I did it and Hashem helped me do it,” that is tarnished emunah. אין עוד מלבדו , there is nothing other than Hashem. He doesn't need our help. He wants us to put in our efforts for various reasons. One of them is to test us in this very area, to see if we'll believe it was Him, even though we had to put in the effort. The more we train ourselves to think this way, the better we'll get at it. And b'ezrat Hashem, we will train ourselves to the point where our initial thoughts are with pure emunah.

What if choosing the right wireless provider could transform not just your connectivity, but your entire approach to trust and reliance? Join us as we navigate the complex landscape of wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, assessing their strengths and weaknesses in coverage, network speed, and affordability. But this isn't your ordinary tech review. We bring in the profound insights of the Holy Chovos Halevavos to offer a unique perspective on why selecting the right provider is akin to choosing where to place your trust in life.Discover why AT&T is lauded for its top-tier 5G network, Verizon for its unmatched coverage and business plans, and T-Mobile for its cost-effectiveness. Then, journey with us as we draw enlightening parallels between these attributes and the qualities of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We explore seven compelling reasons why trusting in Hashem—compassion, availability, generosity, and more—provides the ultimate peace and reliability. This episode promises not just to inform but to inspire, urging you to rethink your choices and find solace in the ultimate provider. Don't miss this blend of practical advice and spiritual wisdom that's bound to leave you both enliLuxury Class Tours Let us take care of your business trips or vacations! Flights, Hotels, Car rentals. Up MoneyEarn 100,000 bonus points with the Ink Business Preferred® card!ArtscrollDiscover and enjoy your favorite books from Artscroll! Dating Resources NetworkA financial aid fund open to aid families who cannot afford the cost of dating. Donate today!Torah LiveSign up for a year's subscription and enjoy their 500+ videos. Use my page to get a 10% discount! Mosaica PressMosaica Press is a notable independent publisher of Jewish books, showcasing profound authors.Graphics DesignedBringing your vision to reality.Peak Performance CoachingUnleash your full potential with personalized strategies and overcome ADHD challenges! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the Show.Join The Motivation Congregation WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly talk on the week's Parsha. Listen on Spotify or 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our website, themotivationcongregation.org ----------------Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Some people have a hard time hearing so many stories where people received the salvation they were hoping for in a timely manner. When people are struggling and not getting the yeshua they are seeking, it is definitely difficult to hear others getting what they themselves need. We must remember everyone has a different purpose in this world and everyone has a different reason for why they experience the challenges that they have to go through. If a person is going through his challenge the right way, praying, growing spiritually, accepting upon himself to do mitzvot better, then he is a guaranteed success. When we follow Hashem, we always win. Yeshua stories are just more examples of how we gain when we follow Hashem. Sometimes we see the gains immediately and sometimes we have to wait to see them. Nobody ever followed Hashem and lost as a result. Even if it seems that a person loses, it is just a test. Sometimes it may appear that we gain by doing the wrong things, but that is also part of life's tests. We never gain by going against Hashem. Whatever it looks like we gained will eventually be lost and we don't know what we would have gained had we chosen correctly. I read a story that a man told about himself. He and his family lived in New York while his parents lived in London. He made it a point to visit his parents with his entire family multiple times a year, and it was very costly. Even though it was just him, his wife and three children, airline tickets to another country many times a year added up to a very large bill. On one occasion, they ran into many delays at the airport and he realized he wasn't going to have time to gather a minyan for mincha . They ended up just making it to the gate by the skin of their teeth. When they finally got to their seats on the plane, he saw he only had five minutes left until sundown and so he began praying mincha immediately. While the boarding was taking place, an announcement was made on the PA system asking if anybody would be willing to give up their seats on the flight and take the next scheduled flight instead, which would be a few hours later. They were offering $1,000 per customer who would be willing to give up his seat. While this man was in the Amida , he couldn't help but hear that announcement. To wait until the next flight for him and his family would not be an issue. This was a golden opportunity to receive a much-needed $5,000. But he couldn't reply as he was in the Amida . When nobody came forward, the announcement was made a second time. The man had a very strong inclination to just say a couple of words and secure the money. His yetzer hara gave him dozens of reasons on why it would be permitted for him to speak. But he said to himself, he's in the middle of talking to HaKadosh Baruch Hu , the One in charge of all the money in the world, and he knew deep down it's forbidden to interrupt the Amida for money. Baruch Hashem, he managed to go back to concentrating on his tefillah and he prayed the full Amida to the best of his ability. Right when he finished, there was a new announcement being made. The airline was now offering $2,500 per customer who would be willing to take the later flight. He immediately volunteered with his family members and instead of getting just $5,000, he got $12,500. If he would have interrupted, he most probably would have thought that he gained from that interruption. But in truth, it would have cost him an additional $7,500 and most likely he would not have truly benefited from the $5,000, being that he did something wrong to get it. We always gain by following Hashem. Even if we don't see the yeshuot now, we must continue praying and growing, knowing that Hashem is appreciating every bit of effort we're making and He will reward us for all of them.

One of the greatest ways of empowering our tefilot is by believing in them more. When someone gets used to asking for the same thing day after day, even though he wants it so much, he tends to lose the energy and emotion that a good tefila requires. Sometimes, it gets to a point where tefila becomes just another box to check instead of the wondrous meeting between us and our creator that it's supposed to be. A few words of chizuk can go a very long way. People who have been praying for something for years by rote, who suddenly got the right inspiration, have boosted their tefilot immensely and seen amazing results. A man told me, when he was 22 years old, he lifted something too heavy and developed a severe back problem as a result. The pain was enormous and he was not able to function normally. He went from doctor to doctor, getting various shots and treatments, but nothing worked for more than a day or so. It came to a point where he realized there was really nothing else left for him to try, and so he accepted the fact that he was going to have to live his entire life with a bad back. Of course, he continued praying every day for his back to be healed, but deep down, he didn't fully believe it would happen. Over time, his back slightly improved, but he still was not able to do most things that people with a healthy back could do. One day, about 20 years after that incident, he went to a class on the topic of tefila. There, the rabbi spoke about the wonders of tefila and how much it could accomplish. The rabbi suggested to his crowd that when they ask for things from Hashem, they should ask with thoughts of how they are going to use what they're asking for towards avodat Hashem. The man became very inspired by that class. He thought of the different ways he would be able to improve in his service of Hashem if he had a good back. He began praying with those thoughts in mind. He said to Hashem, "Please, I want to be able to bow down when I say the Amida." He said to Hashem, "I want to be able to help my wife more, instead of being the one who always needs the help." Then he said his wife was about to give birth. He wanted to be able to bend over and lift the baby out of the crib. His prayers improved one hundred percent. Weeks later, he was on his way to work as usual, and the roads were slippery. All of a sudden, the car in front of him stopped short. He quickly slammed on his brakes and avoided an accident. The car behind him, however, was not as quick in stopping, and it crashed right into him. His first thoughts were about his back. He couldn't afford to injure it more than it was already injured. He attempted to get out of his car as usual. He lifted his hand to grab the assist grip in his car to lift himself up. It was always a process to get out of the car with his back the way it was. This time, he got out fairly easily. Before he even turned around to look at the accident, he attempted to bend over. Baruch Hashem, he was able to fully bend with ease. His back was healed! He then turned around and saw a six car pile up. The car behind him looked like an accordion, but Baruch Hashem, nobody was hurt. His car had no damage. When the police report came out a week later, his car wasn't even put on it. The only thing that resulted in his life from that car accident was that his back healed . Something no doctor could fix, Hakadosh Baruch Hu fixed in a very surprising way. Today, he is over 60, and Baruch Hashem his back has been fine for the last 20 years. Prayer can do wonders, but we must give it the respect that it deserves.

Have you ever wondered how a simple cloth can embody profound spiritual truths? Imagine gazing at the tzitzis and uncovering layers of divine wisdom intertwined within its knots and fringes. In this episode, we promise to take you on a journey that transforms how you perceive these sacred strings. Through personal anecdotes and insights from renowned scholars like Rashi and Ramban, we reveal how the tzitzis serve as a powerful daily reminder to align your heart and eyes with divine intentions. Join us as we explore how deep engagement with the Torah can radically change your everyday experiences. Learn how every glance at your tzitzis can become a moment of profound connection with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Whether you're cloud-gazing with your child or studying ancient texts, this episode encourages you to see the world through a lens of holiness and mindfulness. Tune in to discover how this simple commandment can enhance your spiritual life, helping you find the sacred in the seemingly mundane.Support the Show.Join the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

With our good deeds, we are able to bring joy and satisfaction to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Although logically that doesn't make so much sense, we would never imagine that a little ant could bring satisfaction to a king surrounded by servants and advisors at his beck and call. How much more so us in comparison to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Yet, Hashem told us in the Torah regarding the korbanot, they are a ריח ניחוח לה ', which Chazal explained to mean that Hashem gets satisfaction when we follow His will. The greatest satisfaction we could bring Hashem is when we do His will with joy and excitement. Being happy to do Mitzvot elevates us and brings us even closer to him, as well as opens up pipelines of blessing, both physically and spiritually. It's not easy to be excited about something we do all the time, but when we hear of what previous generations had to go through to do what we take for granted, it gives us extra chizuk to appreciate the treasures that we have before us. Rabbi Bergman told a story which took place 30 years ago. An elder, noble-looking Jew began coming to a certain shul in Brooklyn for shacharit. He arrived 15 minutes early and said Birkot HaShachar and korbanot with great kavana. Rabbi Bergman was astonished to see him pray the entire Tefillah without tefillin. After the Tefillah, he went over to the man and introduced himself. The man said his name was Zusha and he had come to America from Russia. The rabbi offered to let him use his tefillin, but Zusha declined, saying he would never borrow tefillin because they're too expensive and he's afraid to damage them. The next morning, he prayed once again without tefillin. This time Rabbi Bergman went around and made a collection to buy tefillin for Zusha who couldn't afford them himself. Everybody in the shul donated generously and the rabbi was able to buy a pair of very mehudar tefillin. The next day, the rabbi presented Zusha with the tefillin when he arrived at shul. When he heard they were a gift from the members of the shul, he burst out into tears like a young child. His tefillah with tefillin that day was like ne'ilah on Yom Kippur. He was so emotional, crying the entire tefillah. Afterward, Rabbi Bergman approached him and asked him when the last time he put tefillin on was. Zusha replied 60 years ago. Rabbi Bergman was shocked. He said to Zusha, "I watched you put them on. You knew exactly what you were doing. Not like a secular newcomer for the first time." Zusha replied, "Not a day went by that I didn't put on tefillin." Now, Rabbi Bergman was really confused. Zusha explained. He said, "My father was a real yireh shamayim. During those years in Communist Russia, whoever was caught practicing religion would vanish without a trace. My father bought me the most beautiful tefillin for my bar mitzvah, and he took me up to our attic, shuttered all the windows, and taught me how to put them on. Within ten minutes, three KGB thugs appeared. Someone had informed on us. They tore the tefillin off my head and my father from the house. Since then, I haven't had tefillin, and since then, I haven't seen my father, 60 years." "The next morning while my mother cried in the kitchen, I went back up to the attic without my father and without my tefillin, but with my siddur. I lifted my eyes to the heavens and said to Hashem, 'They stole my father and they stole my tefillin, but they can't steal my heart. My heart is fired with love for you, Hashem. I want to put on tefillin so badly, but I don't have them. I'm going to go through the motions of putting on tefillin with the proper kavana every single day. Through that, I will connect to you the Boreh Olam.' And every day, for the last 60 years, I put on tefillin with just the motions. I didn't have the physical tefillin, but I had the heart of tefillin." Rabbi Bergman was so inspired. Look at the love that this Jew had for the mitzvot. From that day on, Rabbi Bergman had a new appreciation for his tefillin and for all the mitzvot as well. If we could value the mitzvot and feel that they are our greatest privilege, that would bring so much satisfaction to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

We waited on Shabbos, holding our breath, to find out if the rumors were true. Israel made a daring rescue operation and successfully rescued four hostages! We'll go over the details, the fallout and the media spin while thanking Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the amazing news!   Help us continue creating content! Visit http://www.buymesomeherring.com   Support Our Brothers and Sisters!  One Israel Fund - https://oneisraelfund.org/ United Hatzalah - https://israelrescue.org/donate/ Friends of the IDF - https://www.fidf.org/   We have a call-in number where you can hear the cast! Tell your friends and family who may not have internet access! 605-417-0303 To Call In From Israel: +053-243-3287   Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiddushclubpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kiddushclubcast Join our WhatsApp chat: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HTWhnT1WiVFCioXjatEFi6 Send us you thoughts comments and suggestions via email: hock@kiddushclubpodcast.com

The best investment a person can possibly make in this world is in Torah and mitzvot. Those are the only things that are eternal. Those are the only things he can take with him when he leaves this world. Now it may not appear that mitzvot are valuable, but in the future, it's going to be revealed. The Shulchan HaTahor writes that in the future, all of a person's mitzvot will gather and appear before him. They will give off a light whose brightness is beyond comprehension. Those lights will become the clothing he will wear in Gan Eden and in Olam Haba . And when he finally sees the value in every mitzvah that he ever did, he will say to himself, מי ילד לי את אלה - I can't believe that I did all of this! The Shomer Emunim writes on the next few words in that pasuk , ואני שכולה וגלמודה , that now, especially at the end of this long exile, people feel low and don't think they are accomplishing anything with the mitzvot they do. But when Hashem shows them how much each mitzvah accomplished and the ripple effects of what they accomplished and how much they affected in the Upper Worlds, the person will be in awe seeing what he actually did. We have no idea about the effects that our actions and words have on other people. With one good deed or one word of encouragement, we can gain a lifetime's worth of mitzvot. Every person we inspire or encourage is credited to our spiritual bank accounts. We should never be shy and hold back from helping others grow in Torah and mitzvot. This is the purpose of why we were put in this world. A young man called me the other day to tell me about how much he has seen Hashem taking care of him and his family with parnasa. The hashgacha of Hashem in his life is very obvious, but what inspired me even more was the background he gave about himself before the story. He said after he graduated from yeshiva high school, he went off the derech . He slowly stopped keeping the mitzvot and then quickly spiraled downward spiritually. He got a job that required a lot of time, but he loved it because he was making a lot of money there. By the time he was 24, he was living his life completely like a goy . One day, a friend of his courageously invited him to come to a Torah class given by a very popular rabbi. He immediately declined saying that wasn't for him, but the friend persisted and each week, with a sweetness, suggested that he come with him to the class just to try it once. Finally, one week he agreed, and he enjoyed it. He went back the following week and again the following week and he felt a feeling of spirituality that he realized he was lacking. Slowly, he started becoming religious again until he became fully shomer Torah and mitzvot and he even married a religious girl. He left that job that required working from early morning until late at night and threw himself into the arms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu , dedicating more time to learning Torah. Eventually, he began learning in a full-time kollel and that is where he is right now. Hashem has supported him in miraculous ways. He is now able to earn money to support his family by working just one hour a day. Here is a man that was completely separated from Torah with nothing in his life even potentially able to bring him back to religion. And then, an old friend came along and he did not just turn the other way and say, “We lost him.” He made a hishtadlut just to try to get him to come to one Torah class and look what that turned into. B'ezrat Hashem, this young man is going to raise generations of religious children and grandchildren all because of one person who cared. Every one of us can make a difference. Every effort we make counts. We may not see the fruits of our labor now, but one day, Hashem is going to show us all the ripple effects of everything we ever did. And at that time, we will be in awe and think the words, מי ילד לי כל אלה - I can't believe that I did all of this!

The Malbim, in Yechezkel perek 38 writes, one of the purposes of the final war called Gog u'Magog is for Hashem to take vengeance against all our enemies who have harmed us throughout the generations. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai writes, in the Zohar HaKadosh, parashat Bereshit , that in the future Hashem will bring back to life all of the wicked kings who have harmed us throughout history and they will be part of this final war. It is apparent from the way Chazal interpret the pesukim discussing this war that the Jewish people will not have to fight at all. Whenever that time comes, Hashem will fight our enemies Himself. At times it may look very grim for Klal Yisrael, but we know, in seconds, everything can change. In the story of Purim, Haman was the prime minister over 127 provinces. He made a decree signed with the king's seal to annihilate the entire Jewish nation, men, women and children. At that time, Mordechai was sitting on the floor in ashes, mourning, as the gallows were being prepared to hang him upon. It could not have looked more hopeless than that. And then, in the blink of an eye, everything turned around. Suddenly, Haman was hanged on the gallows and Mordechai was elevated to become the prime minister. The Jews did not need to fight at all to get rid of Haman. Hashem took care of it from behind the scenes. In today's times as well, we have just gotten a glimpse of how Hashem can fight our battles so easily without us even having to lift a finger. Just a week ago, we were all praying for a Jew in Iran, 20 years old, who was sentenced to the death penalty for defending himself against an attacker. It seemed like a hopeless case, but we know there's always hope. After Shabbat, we got word that it was postponed until Monday. And then we got word that it's being postponed for another month and, b'ezrat Hashem, he will be exonerated. The death penalty is carried out in Iran hundreds of times a year due to its wicked leader. A leader who was responsible for firing an unprecedented number of missiles at the Jewish people just one month ago. A man who most certainly spent his days and nights plotting how to kill Jews. And then, in an instant, HaKadosh Baruch Hu rid him from the world in a helicopter crash. We did not need to carry out any secret missions to accomplish this. We did not need to fight any battles to accomplish this. כהרף עין , when nobody expected it, he was killed. As Rabbi Benzion Musafi put it, he was given all four mitot Bet Din simultaneously. This is part of Hashem avenging those who harm his nation. This is just a tiny glimpse into the Yad Hashem at the end of days. B'ezrat Hashem, there will be open miracles to come. כן יאבדו כל אויבך ה'. אמן כן יהי רצון .

Although we have been learning about how valuable it is to accept and thank Hashem for the way He deals with us when things don't necessarily go the way we want, we cannot forget about thanking Him when things do go the way we want. We are not only supposed to thank Hashem when a problem arises. We should thank Hashem and praise Him constantly for the endless chesed which He bestows upon us. In the very same Chazals which tell us to thank Hashem for the “bad”, somehow we sometimes forget and overlook the parts that tell us to thank Him for the good. One example, the pasuk says in Tehillim , חסד ומשפט אשירה , which Chazal tell us means that David HaMelech did not only sing to Hashem when he experienced His open chesed , he even sang to Him when he experienced what appeared to be the opposite of chesed . Usually, when that Chazal is quoted, the speaker ends up talking about thanking Hashem for the difficulties. But we can't forget about the first part of the Chazal . David HaMelech also sang to Hashem every time he experienced something good, חסד אשירה . On the pasuk which tells us to love Hashem בכל מאודך , the Chazal tell us, בכל מידה ומידה שהוא מודד לך הוי מודה לו במאד מאד . Whatever Hashem sends a person's way, he is supposed to thank Him for very much. On this Chazal as well, we tend to focus on the part that tells us to thank Hashem for the “bad”. But we must not lose sight of the words בכל מידה ומידה , for the good as well. We have to thank Hashem very much. The Shomer Emunim quotes the Midrash in Tehillim perek 100 which tells us that if a person thanks Hashem for the good that he receives, it's considered as if he's bringing a korban todah in the Bet HaMikdash , and he brings upon himself and the entire world more chesed from Hashem. The Yesod V'Shoresh HaAvodah used to thank Hashem for every little chesed that he received. He would first acknowledge that every little chesed came from Hashem, and then he would thank Him for it. He gave examples to his children about how he thanked Hashem. He wrote, on one occasion, when a glass that he was holding fell on the floor, it didn't break. He thanked Hashem for the chesed he just did for him. He realized it was Hashem who decided to leave the glass intact. It doesn't have to be that when a glass falls, it breaks. Whatever Hashem wants to happen is going to happen. On another occasion, he passed by a dangerous place and didn't get harmed, and he thanked Hashem for protecting him. The Chozeh M'Lublin had a revelation from Shamayim about how precious this avodah was to Hashem. Hashem loves when people thank Him, especially for every little thing that they receive. Chazal tell us, Yosef HaTzaddik always had the name of Hashem on his lips. He constantly asked Hashem for help, and then would thank Him afterward. And that is why, בכל הוא עושה ה- מצליח בידו - Hashem brought success to everything that Yosef did. Here, the Torah and Chazal are teaching us the recipe for success. Constantly asking Hashem for help, and constantly thanking Him afterward. Chazal also say, if someone had a miracle performed on his behalf, it may take away from his merits in the Next World. But if he sings to Hashem and thanks Him for the miracle, not only will he not lose zechuyot , he will even gain atonement for all of his sins and become like a newborn. Look at the power of recognizing and thanking Hashem for the good! Every time we say thank you for anything we get, it brings so much joy to HaKadosh Baruch Hu . He wants us to recognize all the good that He does. An individual who is looking to thank will find more and more reasons to thank Hashem. And he'll also realize how much blessing he truly has.

The Kohen Gadol only wears white in the Kodesh Kedoshim and not gold, so as not to invoke the memory of the Chet Haegel. So why does he wear gold during the rest of the Yom Kippur service? Differences in how to speak to our fellow Jews, and how we speak about them before Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Have a good Shabbos

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Funny Anecdote of Eliezer From His Sister, published by Daniel Birnbaum on April 22, 2024 on LessWrong. This comes from a podcast called 18Forty, of which the main demographic of Orthodox Jews. Eliezer's sister (Hannah) came on and talked about her Sheva Brachos, which is essentially the marriage ceremony in Orthodox Judaism. People here have likely not seen it, and I thought it was quite funny, so here it is: https://18forty.org/podcast/channah-cohen-the-crisis-of-experience/ David Bashevkin: So I want to shift now and I want to talk about something that full disclosure, we recorded this once before and you had major hesitation for obvious reasons. It's very sensitive what we're going to talk about right now, but really for something much broader, not just because it's a sensitive personal subject, but I think your hesitation has to do with what does this have to do with the subject at hand? And I hope that becomes clear, but one of the things that has always absolutely fascinated me about you and really increased my respect for you exponentially, is that you have dedicated much of your life and the folks of your research on relationships and particularly the crisis of experience in how people find and cultivate relationships. And your personal background on this subject to me really provides a lot of contexts of how I see you speaking. I'm mentioning this for two reasons. Your maiden name is? Channah Cohen: Yudkowsky. David Bashevkin: Yudkowsky. And many of our listeners, though not all of our listeners will recognize your last name. Your older brother is world famous. It's fair to say, world famous researcher in artificial intelligence. He runs a blog that I don't know if they're still posting on it was called LessWrong. He wrote like a massive gazillion page fan fiction of Harry Potter. Your brother is Eliezer Yudkowsky. Channah Cohen: Yes. David Bashevkin: You shared with me one really beautiful anecdote about Eliezer that I insist on sharing because it's so sweet. He spoke at your sheva brachos. Channah Cohen: Yes. David Bashevkin: And I would not think it was not think that Eliezer Yudkowsky would be the best sheva brachos speaker, but it was the most lovely thing that he said. What did Eliezer Yudkowsky say at your sheva brachos? Channah Cohen: Yeah, it's a great story because it was mind-blowingly surprising at the time. And it is, I think the only thing that anyone said at a sheva brachos that I actually remember, he got up at the first sheva brachos and he said, when you die after 120 years, you're going to go up to shamayim [this means heaven] and Hakadosh Baruch Hu [this means God]. And again, he used these phrases PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:18:04] Channah Cohen: Yeah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will stand the man and the woman in front of him and he will go through a whole list of all the arguments you ever had together, and he will tell you who was actually right in each one of those arguments. And at the end he'll take a tally, and whoever was right more often wins the marriage. And then everyone kind of chuckled and Ellie said, "And if you don't believe that, then don't act like it's true." David Bashevkin: What a profound… If you don't believe that, then don't act like it's true. Don't spend your entire marriage and relationship hoping that you're going to win the test to win the marriage. What a brilliant Channah Cohen: What a great piece of advice. David Bashevkin: What a brilliant presentation. I never would've guessed that Eliezer Yudkowsky would enter into my sheva brachos wedding lineup, but that is quite beautiful and I can't thank you enough for sharing that. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org

A lot of money needs to be spent to prepare for a holiday, especially a holiday like Pesach. Whether it's food, clothing, or matzot, the money adds up. Shulchan Aruch writes in siman 529 that we are supposed to honor the holiday, and when it comes to something that will bring more honor to the holiday, we should not be cheap about it. The Mishnah Berura explains, because parnasa is determined on Rosh Hashanah, but the money that we spend on Yom Tov is not included in that allotment. The more a person spends on Yom Tov , the more Hashem will give him to cover it, and the less he spends, the less he'll be given towards those Yom Tov expenses. Part of honoring the Yom Tov is spending with happiness rather than complaining about all of the expenses. Hashem has unlimited funds to help us pay for all of our Yom Tov needs and that is how we are supposed to feel about them. A man told, he began learning Hilchot Shabbat during all of his Shabbat meals. They learn two halachot at each meal and last year at one point, they came to a halacha regarding how Shabbat and Yom Tov expenses come back to the person. It said there, the reimbursement applied to four areas, Talmud Torah , Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Yom Tov and the Rabbis gave an acronym to remember them, TiShReY. One of the children in the family got very excited when hearing this halacha and he said to his father, “Is this true? Everything we spend comes back?” The father answered with steadfast emunah saying, “Absolutely, every last shekel we spend comes back.” The child then asked the father how Hashem gives the money back. The father said, “The Ribono Shel Olam has His ways of providing.” The child then asked, “Could it be that someone would just come over and put the money in your hand?” The father said, “Yes, that's possible.” A short while later, it was coming to Erev Pesach. This family had strengthened themselves in emunah and had bought everything they needed, relying on the open hand of Hashem. On Chol HaMoed , they went to the park for a short outing and a car stopped right near them with the driver calling to one of the children to come to him. The father saw what was happening and got suspicious. He went over to that man himself and asked what he needed. The man said he had an envelope to give him and he proceeded to hand it to him. It was obvious that there was a lot of money inside. At first, the father refused to accept it, asking why he would be giving him this envelope being that they didn't even know each other. The man explained that he and his wife put money aside to give to a family with children for the holiday. They decided they were going to go to Bnei Brak and give the envelope to the first family that they would meet. So he said, “You are the first family we met, so this money belongs to you. Please take it.” Considering the incredible series of events, the father understood this was HaKadosh Baruch Hu sending him the money, and so he took it happily and thanked the man. At home, they counted the money and, amazingly, saw that it equaled the exact amount that they had spent on Yom Tov expenses. Not only that, but for some inexplicable reason, on the envelope was written one word that explained everything - “Tishrey”. They were all in awe. Hashem is the One who gives us money and He told us whatever we spend on Yom Tov , He will reimburse us for. And therefore, we should spend with happiness knowing that we are honoring the holiday the proper way.

With the resha'im in Iran, firing over 300 missiles capable of causing complete annihilation, we are reminded of the words in the Haggadah, בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו - in every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. And how fortunate we are to see the conclusion of that statement with our own eyes. והקב"ה מצילנו מידם - and Hashem saves us from their hands. Sometimes Hashem saves us with open miracles like in Yetziat Mitzrayim. And sometimes He saves us from behind the scenes like in the story of Purim. Giving us the capabilities to create machinery that can shoot down ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and giving us additional countries using their capabilities, is Hashem saving us from behind the scenes. But it's not really so hidden. To have that kind of threat with zero damage is HaKadosh Baruch Hu shooting down every missile out of His eternal love for us. In the Haggadah of Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi, he points out the fact that the Haggadah emphasizes Hashem saving us from our enemies, rather than Hashem wiping out our enemies. The reason, he says, is because if Hashem would just wipe out our enemies, we wouldn't necessarily see His love for us, because perhaps our enemies deserve destruction. But when Hashem comes just to protect us, that shows His complete love. It's only for us. Like when He told Avraham Avinu, אנכי מגן לך - I am your protector. And this is only what we see openly. We have no idea how much Hashem is protecting us from the billions of enemies that we have who are constantly plotting to harm us. We say לעושה נפלאות גדולות לבדו כי לעולם חסדו . We thank Hashem for the great wonders that He does for us that only He knows about. When Yitro came to visit us after Yetziat Mitzrayim , he told us more of the danger that we were in than we even knew, because he was in the government in Mitzrayim . If we would know about the miracles that Hashem is constantly doing for us, we wouldn't stop thanking Him. Regarding the Asher Yatzar , Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out, it says גלוי וידוע לפני כסא כבודיך - only Hashem knows how many miracles He's performing with our bodies constantly. If our bodies would be transparent and we would see the open nisim that are happening every second, we would be so appreciative. It says, הללו את ה' כל גוים - the nations of the world are going to give Hashem the greatest praises of all because only they know how much Hashem protects us. Only they see how many times their plots get foiled back in their faces. After Hashem showed us His love by protecting us, we hope now that He will avenge our enemies and bring the Geula . In the Haggadah we say, Dayenu , which many Mefarshim explain means, if Hashem would have just done one of the chasadim that He did for us during Yetziat Mitzrayim , it would have been enough of a reason to thank Him. How much more so that He did chesed after chesed after chesed . We say there, אילו הוציאנו ממצרים ולא עשה בהם שפטים - even if Hashem would have just taken us out of Mitzrayim without inflicting punishments upon the Egyptians, it would have been more than enough to thank Him. Hashem could have made Pharaoh not be able to sleep one night like Achashverosh and asked for His book of Chronicles to be read. And it would have said that Yosef HaTzaddik saved his country and he never paid him back. And then, with that, he could have released the Jewish people. But instead, Hashem allowed us to see revenge against the people that tortured us. And that was an additional level of love that Hashem did not have to do. We need to appreciate so much that we have Hashem on our side. And now, more than ever, we need to storm the Shamayim with our tefilot and good deeds to merit the Geula Shelema b'karov . Amen.

Every moment of life that Hashem gives a person in this world is the greatest chesed . Rabbenu Yonah writes, with a moment of life, a person can make teshuva and go from being in the deepest darkness to the greatest light. The Gemara tells us how, on different occasions, people utilized the final moments of their lives to acquire eternity. Rav Aaron Dov Gellis related that he once had a relative who had a severe illness and the doctors were periodically treating him with blood transfusions in order to lengthen his life. It got to a point, however, where those procedures were only capable of granting him a few more days, possibly just a few more hours of life, and each time he underwent a transfusion he endured pain all over his body. Deeply troubled by the pain his relative was going through, Rabbi Gellis went to ask the Chazon Ish if it was worthwhile to continue those transfusions for just a small amount of life. The Chazon Ish immediately replied, “Every moment that a Jew lives is extremely valuable to the Ribbono Shel Olam . He should most definitely continue getting the transfusions.” Many years ago a man named Rav Yitzchak was told by his doctor in Mount Sinai Hospital that the results of his tests were terrible, as the disease spread all over his body. Tears began streaming down Rav Yitzchak's face as he asked the doctor if there was anything he could do to cure it. The doctor replied there was a surgery that could be done that would extend his life for about six months, but the entire six months would be filled with pain across his entire body. The doctor then suggested it would be better for him to pass on sooner with as little pain as possible. Rav Yitzchak said he wanted to speak to the Gadol HaDor Rav Moshe Feinstein about it. His son took him to the Gadol's house so he could personally ask the question. After hearing the entire situation, Rav Moshe empathized with him and then told him to go back and do the surgery. And he explained as follows, “Most people in the world at large live for the pleasures that life has to offer. If the only choice they had would be to be bedridden and inflicted with agony for six months, they would surely rather die. But a Jew knows what life is all about. It's about grabbing mitzvot at every opportunity possible.” Rav Moshe's voice then grew stronger and he exclaimed, “Rav Yitzchak, you're a Jew. You will still be able to put on tefillin . You'll still be able to daven. You'll still be able to do teshuva . You'll still be able to learn more Chumash and Mishnayot . Is that not all worth the pain? Imagine how many mitzvot you could do in half a year. These six months can be converted into eternity in Olam HaBa . Is that not worthwhile?” Rav Yitzchak went back to the doctor, and told him what the Gadol had said. The doctor began tearing up himself. He said he was a Jew who moved from Israel many years before to study medicine and eventually became the chief surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital. He never knew what it meant to be a Jew, to truly value life and recognize that every minute is given for a purpose. The surgeon then asked if he could meet Rabbi Feinstein and he did. The surgery was done and it was a success. Rav Yitzchak ended up living for three more years and amassed a fortune of mitzvot during that time. Although he was in a lot of pain, he cleaved to HaKadosh Baruch Hu the entire time. At one point during a visit to the hospital, he saw the chief surgeon who was then wearing a big kipa on his head. “Rav Yitzchak,” he exclaimed, “that day that I met you and the Rabbi changed my life. You went through a surgery and so did I. You had surgery on your liver and I went through a heart transplant. I got rid of my previous lifestyle and rededicated my heart to my Creator. Starting that day, I began to live with a new heart.” Indeed, every moment of life is a treasure. We have to value it and thank Hashem for every breath that we take.

Discover the moral quandaries and spiritual warfare at the heart of Parshas Zachor as we confront the chilling command to remember and obliterate Amalek's legacy. This episode wades into the troubled waters of a divine mandate that tests our ethical boundaries—eradicating the Amalekites, a people synonymous with pure evil. Through the narrative of King Saul's mission, we grapple with the disquieting extremity of this command, juxtaposing it against the essence of our moral fiber. We delve into the nature of Amalek's malice, which uniquely persists through history as a symbol of doubt and negativity. Join us as we explore how righteous indignation fuels our commitment to combat darkness and uphold light in the world.As Shabbos approaches, we contemplate our capacity to counteract Amalek's darkness with radiating goodness. Each act of chesed, each spark of Torah, and each communal bond strengthens our resolve to be a force for positive change against the Amalek within and without. Envision a world where milchama shel mitzvah—a war commanded for the sake of a mitzvah—transforms our anger into pillars of kindness, learning, and support. We challenge you to join in this aspiration, to earn the favor of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and to bring merit to many. Together, let's cast a bright light that dispels the shadows of Amalek and ignites the promise of a better tomorrow.Support the show------------------Check out our other Torah Podcasts and content! SUBSCRIBE to The Motivation Congregation Podcast for daily motivational mussar! Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Find all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

The Rambam writes that one of the reasons our Chachamim instituted the mitzvah to read Megilat Esther on Purim is to remind us that prayer works, and Hashem is always there for us to call out to. It was because of the tefilot of Klal Yisrael that Esther found favor in the eyes of the King when she went in to plead on behalf of her people without being called first. The Midrash Tanchuma says that although according to the rules, blessings sometimes have to be withheld from people because of their deeds or other reasons, Hashem prefers that the people pray to Him, and then even if they don't deserve the blessings, because of their prayers alone, Hashem will give them anyway. A person who does not utilize prayer properly is depriving himself of things he could have gotten had he taken advantage of this wondrous gift. Many times, we have to work very hard for something and perhaps in the end we get it. But with heartfelt tefila, we could have skipped the long difficult process in obtaining it. Several years ago, a family made aliyah and settled in Kiryat Sanz in Tevariya. Unfortunately, the father passed away leaving behind a widow and orphans who lacked their most basic necessities. The rental money for their apartment was a heavy burden on the widow and those helping out decided it would be best to raise the money and buy the apartment for them. They needed 600,000 shekels and they managed to raise 400,000 of it. A generous donor told them he would give 50,000 on condition they get a hold of the rest, but they were out of people to turn to and they still needed 150. The owner of the apartment threatened that if he didn't get the money in the next couple of weeks, he was going to throw the entire family out of the apartment. The threat was very serious and so one of the askanim involved volunteered to fly abroad and try to raise the money from other communities. The morning before the flight the man got up early to pray with the sunrise minyan and there he saw one of the widow's sons who was already married. The man said to him, “I can't believe you look so calm. The landlord wants to throw your mother and siblings out of their apartment, and you look like this has nothing to do with you.” The young man did not know the extent of the plight of his family. “What could I possibly do?” asked the young man. The askan told him, “What do you mean, what could you do? HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the Father of orphans and the Judge of widows. Cry out to him to bring yeshua .” The young man took those words very seriously and prayed that morning with all his heart, groaning in pain from the depths of his soul over the situation of his mother and orphaned siblings. That same afternoon a philanthropist in America called this married son to ask him a question on a different matter. During their conversation, he asked him how things were. The young man told him that his mother and family were being threatened with eviction if they didn't come up with the remaining 200,000 shekel they needed to buy their apartment. The man on the other line paused for a moment and then said, “Within an hour you'll have 100,000 shekels in your account.” The young man thanked him profusely and then called the askan to apprise him of the recent development. The askan was elated. This meant he no longer had to travel. He could cancel the tickets. He could not stop thanking Hashem who hears the sighs of every Jew and sends them salvation in ways they could never dream of. The yeshua was awaiting but it needed heartfelt tefila to bring it down. It may well be that the askan would have come up with the money with the difficulty of traveling and collecting. And of course that would have also needed tefila . But tefila from the depths of one's heart can cut out all of the difficult steps and bring the yeshua right away. Tefila is truly wondrous

ישועת ה' כהרף עין. Simply that means, the salvation of Hashem comes as fast as it takes to blink an eye. Rav Levi Yitzchak from Berditchev, however, gave another explanation. The word heref in the Torah means to leave, as the pasuk says "הרף ממני" When possibility of salvation has left the eye and the person sees no way to be helped, that is when the salvation of Hashem comes, in a way the person could have never imagined. A man who will call Yosef Steinberg related that it came to a point when he realized his three boys were being negatively influenced in the school they were attending. He discussed it with his wife, and they decided they wanted the best Torah education for their children and they were going to try to get them in to the top Talmud Torah where all the best families sent their children. There was just one small problem. It was the middle of the year, and this particular school was difficult to get into even at the beginning of the year, all the more so in the middle of one. Furthermore, they were a relatively new family to the community, not well known and not connected to any other families who sent their children there. Yosef knew that in the natural way of things, there was no chance his children would be accepted there. And so, he turned to the Chief Principal, HaKadosh Baruch Hu , who teaches Torah to all of His nation. He went to pray by the kever of his Rebbe and asked Hashem to have pity on him and his children, who only desired to do His will better. He wanted his children to learn in holiness and purity, in order to serve Hashem the best way possible. After a full hour of pouring out his heart, he then went to do his basic hishtadlut of calling the principal of that Talmud Torah and asking if his children could be accepted. When he called, he introduced himself as Steinberg and asked if his children could transfer to his Talmud Torah. The principal answered immediately with the words, “ B'simcha raba , it would be our pleasure to have your children.” He then said he would wait in his office for him to come in and give him more information about his children. Yosef Steinberg was ecstatic. The principal didn't even ask to interview his children. He went there and told them their ages and he said, “This child will go to Rabbi Cohen's class. This one will go to Rabbi Levi's class. And this one will go to Rabbi Yisraeli's class.” The very next day, his children started learning there. He thanked Hashem from the bottom of his heart and didn't ask any questions on why that process was so easy. The following week, he found out the whole story. A week after his children were accepted, a call came in to the principal saying, “Hi, this is Steinberg, I want to put my children in your Talmud Torah.” “Classes are full,” he answered, “and besides, it's impossible to take children in the middle of the year.” “But the donor told me he already spoke to you and got your approval,” Steinberg replied. Turned out, one of the big donors to that institution had spoken to the principal, asking him to accept Mr. Steinberg's children. When Yosef called, the principal thought it was that other Steinberg that he was talking to. It did not enter his mind that there would be a different Steinberg calling to get his children accepted. It was incredible hashgacha pratit that Yosef called at that exact time. Ultimately, the other Steinberg did get his children into the school and once Yosef's children were there, they were allowed to stay. The salvation of Hashem can come in ways we could never imagine.

The Maharal writes that through tefila a person clings to Hashem yitbarach . The pasuk says, קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו , Hashem is close to all those who call out to Him. Tefila elevates a person and connects him to Hashem. Yet, people say they don't feel any connection. Others say they feel like tefila is a burden and they just try to quickly unload themselves of it. How can one feel the connection to HaKadosh Baruch Hu through tefila ? How can one value tefila and become excited to pray? The Gemara in Sanhedrin gives a fundamental requirement for tefila to have its full effects. המתפלל צריך שיראה עצמו כאילו שכינה כנגדו . When someone gets up to pray, he must first imagine in his mind that he is standing directly in front of the Shechina. It says in the Yerushalmi , HaKadosh Baruch Hu seems to be far from us, but there is nobody closer than Him. A person enters a shul and stands in the corner and whispers a prayer and Hashem is there listening to every single word. The Mesilat Yesharim writes in perek 19, a person must put a little thought into the fact that he is standing in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and imagine, the same way he talks to a person, Hashem is right there in front of him, listening to his every word. And then, after a person recognizes this, he has to understand who he is standing in front of, the מלך מלכי המלכים, הקדוש ברוך הוא . What people would give to get a meeting with a very important person…Here we have a meeting with the One who controls everything in life. Imagine a person would be told by a great tzaddik , I just got Hashem to come down and talk to you personally. He is in the next room waiting for you to enter. How excited would the person be? How much humility and awe would he have entering that room? Every time a person gets up to pray, he must picture he is entering into a new place, standing alone with Hashem. The Reshit Chochmah writes, it is very good for a person to think before he starts praying that he is leaving the realms of this world and entering into Gan Eden , where Hashem is waiting to hear him. With that in mind, he says, a person will be able to purify his thoughts. The fact that when we pray we are standing in front of Hashem is not just a nice idea. The halacha says it is forbidden to walk in front of somebody in the Amidah , and the reason is because the Shechina is standing right there in front of him. And it is wrong to come in between somebody saying the Amidah and the Shechina . The more a person takes this to heart, the closer he will feel to Hashem and the more pleasure he will get out of praying to Him. Each opportunity to pray is another chance to speak directly to HaKadosh Baruch Hu . Rav Yechezkel Abramsky writes, people think they are doing Hashem a favor by praying. David HaMelech said in Tehillim , ואני ברוב חסדך אבוא ביתך - It is because of Your abundant kindness, Hashem, that You allow me to stand before You in prayer. What a zechut it is that we have. Whenever we want, we can get a private meeting with Hashem. The Chazon Ish writes, if a person can truly internalize that he is actually standing in front of Hashem when he prays, the One who can solve all his problems in an instant, the One who knows every thought that passes through his brain, and He is listening to every word, the person would get so much chizuk. He would put so much importance on every word of tefila that leaves his mouth. He would stand with the utmost honor and respect while praying, and he would have a much easier time having kavanah . This is the key to success in prayer. If a person loses track of his thoughts while praying, he shouldn't get down on himself, rather he should say, let me refocus and start again now. And if he didn't have kavanah for an entire prayer, he should say, I can't wait for the next one, because then I will concentrate better. Every tefila is an unbelievable opportunity.

With the proper emunah, a very challenging situation can become much easier to deal with. Hashem sends challenges for our benefit so that we could fulfill our missions in this world. But He also gave us the tools to understand what the challenges are all about so that we could overcome them with a good attitude. Just like Hashem decides if a person will merit to have a child, He also decides the exact makeup of every child that is born, its struggles and its deficiencies, and He puts each child in the exact families that the child needs to be in. Chazal tells us that Hashem partners with every set of parents in creating their children. He is actively putting every neshama exactly where it needs to be. A man related, when he discovered that his wife gave birth to a special needs child, all of his excitement and joy turned into sadness. He thought of all the challenges ahead of him and was not happy to take them on. He thought about all the shame this was going to cause him amongst his relatives and peers, and it bothered him a great deal. He went to his rabbi asking for chizuk . The rabbi told him about a time when someone went to Rav Yechezkel Levenstein for chizuk in this same area. The rabbi told him, “if you would really know how good this was for you to have this child in your family, you would go out into the streets and dance from being overcome with joy.” Somebody else in the same situation once went to Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein shlita and asked him, “What does Hashem want me to correct?” The rabbi replied, “Correct? It's a tremendous zechut to receive a child like this. You don't need to ask what you should correct.” Rabbi Zilberstein proceeded to tell him that special needs children have the neshamot of the greatest tzaddikim from previous generations who have come back down into this world to fix small blemishes that they had. In the neighborhood of the Maharal lived an eight-year-old boy who was a deaf-mute. One day a chicken was brought to the Maharal to rule on because it had a blemish that made it a doubtful terefa . The Maharal called for this boy to come. He put the chicken in front of the boy and told him to make a ruling. For the first time in this boy's life he opened his mouth and spoke. He said, “Kasher.” And shortly afterward he passed away. The Maharal said he knew for a fact, this boy was the neshama of a certain Gadol who was always careful in issuing his rulings to people. However, one Friday afternoon he was in a rush and a chicken was brought to him to make a ruling upon. In his haste he ruled the chicken taref, wrongfully so, causing that family not to have their chicken that Shabbat. He needed to come back and rule on the very same blemish and this time he needed to rule correctly. He begged in Shamayim to come back as a special needs child so he wouldn't have a chance to make additional averot . The moment he made his tikun he was allowed into the highest places in Gan Eden . The rabbi proceeded to give his student more chizuk . He said to him, “You only feel embarrassed because you think that this is your child. Imagine you were asked to raise someone else's child with the same issue. Not only wouldn't it be embarrassing, you would receive the greatest honor for it. People would be in awe of you taking on such a big responsibility. And imagine that the one asking you to do it was the Gadol HaDor and imagine it was the Gadol HaDor's son. It would be even more honorable to you. Let me share with you a secret. What you got is even more honorable than that. HaKadosh Baruch Hu, in all of His glory, is the One asking you to raise this child. It's His child and He's asking you for this favor, and if you do it, He is trustworthy to pay you the greatest rewards for it.” After this talk, the young father looked at his challenge in a whole new light. He received so much strength and his excitement and joy for the child was restored. Emunah can help a person with every situation in life. Hashem gave us the tools to deal with all of the challenges that He sends.

Sometimes people are put in very difficult positions in life. They need a heroic effort to overcome their extremely difficult test. Most of the time, they are opportunities to elevate themselves to great heights. The people may not be held accountable for passing up on the opportunity, but they would be missing out on so much if they didn't take advantage of it. Every effort we make is paid in the Next World, but Hashem also uses our deeds to benefit us in this world too. Things that we may have done years before can come back to help us at the times we need most. I heard a story of a man who was terminally ill, and when he went to a rabbi for a beracha , the rabbi showed him a letter he had from his wife years earlier. She was completely humiliated, and when she was asked for forgiveness, she couldn't bring herself to do it. This rabbi told her to write down everything that bothered her, and then write that she was forgiving to honor Hashem. The rabbi kept a copy of that letter, and now he handed it to her husband and told him to go and pray by the kever of Rabbi Shimon, and put down the letter there, and ask Hashem to be saved in the zechut of what his wife did. Amazingly, this man's illness was cured within days from that experience. A young Rabbi who will call Rabbi Yitzchak told me, he runs a kollel in Israel with fifty men. Within his first couple of years of marriage, he had two children, and then a problem arose. No one knew why, but his wife was unable to conceive. They went ten straight years without children, and the top doctors told them she would never be able to conceive again. Two years ago, Rabbi Yitzchak was somewhere in America speaking to a wealthy man about what he does. The wealthy man told him he wanted to sponsor kollel learning on Shabbat. He spoke about how valuable every minute of Torah learning is on Shabbat, and he really wanted the zechut of having people learn in depth on Shabbat in a kollel environment, just like they do on weekdays. He told Rabbi Yitzchak he would take full responsibility for supporting it. Rabbi Yitzchak immediately instituted it in his own kollel, and opened up two more kollelim, as the wealthy man wanted, specially for learning on Shabbat. They learned Masechet Shabbat with halacha in depth. About a year ago, a few days before Rabbi Yitzchak needed to pay the $30,000 it costs per month for the 150 people to learn on Shabbat, the wealthy man called him saying he was no longer able to support the project. Initially, Rabbi Yitzchak was very upset. After all, it was this man who wanted the project, not him. How would he continue supporting it? He decided he wasn't going to get upset. He wished the man hatzlacha and hung up the phone. He told Hashem he was going to accept upon himself, at least in his own kollel, to keep the program going. He had no idea how he would raise the funds, but he didn't want to stop such a beautiful project. Two weeks after that decision, they discovered that his wife was miraculously expecting a child. None of the doctors could believe it. At the end of the pregnancy, she went to the doctor for a checkup, and he saw something was very wrong. The heart rate had dropped, and the baby wasn't getting enough oxygen. They needed to perform an immediate C-section. The problem was the uterus constricted, and the surgery would put the life of the mother at risk. Before they knew it, there were twelve doctors in the room discussing what to do. By this time, there was no oxygen going to the baby. They tried to take the baby out the regular way, but it was impossible. The head doctor told Rabbi Yitzchak the baby already had brain damage due to lack of oxygen, and his wife's life was at risk. He told him the only way to save his wife would be to kill the baby. Rabbi Yitzchak was so distraught, they had waited over ten years for a baby, and now this. He asked the doctor how long he had to make this decision. The doctor said a few minutes. Rabbi Yitzchak went outside the room and spoke straight to HaKadosh Baruch Hu . He said, “Hashem, I know that what's happening I deserve. But this baby was given to me miraculously in the zechut of Shabbat. Please, before You make the final decision, ask Shabbat if it agrees with it.” He cried and he prayed, and then he went back into the room, totally calm, accepting whatever Hashem would do. The doctor said he saw a sudden change, and they were able to operate on the spot. The surgery took about a half hour, and against all odds, the baby came out fully healthy, and the mother was fine as well. This heroic act that Rabbi Yitzchak did in the zechut of Shabbat and Torah learning on Shabbat, came back to save his child and wife. And Baruch Hashem, today the baby is four months old and as cute as can be. Our deeds are so powerful, especially the ones that require a great deal of self-sacrifice.

There are people who have had their share of difficulties in life, and things don't seem to be changing anytime soon for them. Numerous times it appeared as if they were going to get some type of yeshua , and every single time it fell through. They're left wondering if their situation will ever improve. They have tried dozens of segulot , have gone to many tzaddikim , and have prayed time and time again with heartfelt tears. It's so hard for them to continue hoping for yeshuot and serving Hashem the way they're supposed to. They feel like they are always being let down, so why bother? They have to know how valuable everything they do is, especially because it's so hard for them. The amount of satisfaction that they can bring Hashem is unfathomable. The Zohar Chadash on Megillat Ruth explains the following pasuk in a way that can give us tremendous chizuk . The pasuk says: ויהי בחצי הלילה - this refers to the darkness of galut . ויחרד האיש וילפת – the איש refers to HaKadosh Baruch Hu . והנה אשה שכבת מרגלתיו - that is a reference to the Jewish people. ? ויאמר בת מי את - Hashem asks us, what do we want? ותאמר אנכי רות אמתיך - Rut is from the word רוויה which means saturated. We say to Hashem, we have been saturated with beatings and afflictions and pain, but nonetheless, we remain אמתיך – your faithful servant. And all we want is ופרשת כנפיך על אמתיך – just to be close to You, Hashem. Hashem replies ויאמר, ברוכי את לה' בתי - You are so blessed my precious daughter. This is the biggest chesed that you could do for Me. Despite the trials and tribulations that you have gone through, you remain faithful and want to be next to Me! The Zohar continues explaining pasukim later on, ליני פה הלילה - Hashem tells us, just to wait a little longer in this darkness of exile, והיה בבוקר - because the light of Geulah will come. We need to keep telling ourselves, we must stay faithful no matter how dark it gets, because that is our glory and we will reap the rewards for it when the light of Geulah comes. We can't even fathom the value of experiencing any type of hardship in this world, even the smallest things. There was once a story of two people who made a deal, whoever dies first would come back and tell the other something about the judgment in Shamayim . When one of them passed on, he came back to the other and said, he is only allowed to reveal one thing. He said, “Remember the time we went to grind our own flour to bake matzot? When we were transporting the flour, it became very cloudy and it looked like it was going to pour. Our hearts were pounding with fear that the flour would get wet and become chametz , which would have made all of our efforts useless. A minute and a half later, the clouds started to disperse and it never rained. I can tell you that those 90 seconds that we experienced fear went on the positive side of the scale of judgment. Every single second was worth so much here in Shamayim .” There are people who have to endure days, weeks, months and even years of pain. Imagine what that will be worth in Shamayim . And if the person is able to stay faithful to Hashem and continue serving Him amidst the pain, it makes his avodah infinitely greater. One minute of avodah in his life with what he is going through could be worth more than weeks of avodah of someone else whose life is relatively easy. We don't ask for the challenges, but once they come, they can be utilized for the greatest gains. Hashem gets so much satisfaction from His children who stay faithful to Him despite having to go through hardship. If they can continue their efforts in the darkness, they'll experience the greatest light of all for all eternity. We're at the doorstep of Geulah . Let us strengthen ourselves and push hard to stay ne'eman .

The Midrash says in the beginning of this week's parasha, Vayeshev , ביקש יעקב לישב בשלווה – after all the trials and tribulations that Yaakov Avinu had gone through, he wanted a little tranquility, but immediately afterwards, Hashem brought about the tragedy of him losing Yosef for 22 years. The Midrash continues with a quote in the name of HaKadosh Baruch Hu , “It's not enough that the tzaddikim are going to get a glorious life in the Next World? They want tranquility here as well?” On the surface level, these sound like harsh words. What would have been so bad for Yaakov to have some peace and tranquility in this world as well? Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out something astonishing in Yaakov Avinu's life. From the moment he received the berachot from Yitzchak, his life began becoming tougher and tougher. Until then he was living in his parents home surrounded by kedusha , with all of his needs being taken care of, learning Torah day and night. Then, after he got a beracha from the Gadol Hador Yitzchak Avinu for success, everything became difficult. His brother was pursuing him to kill him, then Elifaz pursued him to kill him, his father-in-law swindled him one hundred times, nothing went his way. Then he had the horrendous experience with his daughter Dina and Shechem and the horrifying experience with Yosef. About 70 years of hardship, from the moment he got the berachot until he went down to Mitzrayim . How do we understand this? Rabbi Reizman explained, at the end of parashat Toldot , when Yitzchak finally realized that he gave the berachot to Yaakov and not Easav, he then gave Yaakov additional blessings: ואל שדי יברך אתך ויפרך , and then he said, ויתן לך את ברכת אברהם לך ולזרעך . What was the beracha to Avraham and his children that he gave Yaakov? The promise that they would get Eretz Yisrael after 400 years of slavery. At that moment, Yitzchak revealed to Yaakov that he was told that the 400 years started when he was born. He then asked Yaakov if he wanted the count to continue during his lifetime. That would entail him having to endure hardships and overcome tests. But those 70 years of hardships would take away 70 years of millions of people working backbreaking labor in Egypt. Every minute of what Yaakov had to experience was saving pain and heartache and hardship for millions of people. The reward he was going to get in Olam HaBa for that sacrifice was incomprehensible. And therefore, he agreed to take it. And so, when Yaakov requested a short rest of tranquility, Hashem who knew what he was getting for every moment of his difficulty said it's not worth it for him to give up for even one moment of his current life because if he really knew what he was getting in Olam HaBa , he would never make such a request. Very often, people are left with questions on how Hashem is dealing with them, especially after they have done so many good things in the hope of attaining a yeshua they have been longing for. They may have gone to tzaddikim for berachot , prayed very hard, accepted upon themselves new stringencies in mitzvot , but yet what happened after that only made their salvation harder to get. How could it be that after doing so many good things their situation became worse? We have no understanding of the calculations of Hashem, but we know for a fact that if the person knew the calculations, he would be thanking Hashem for every moment of what he had to endure and he would understand why exactly things were panning out the way they were, specifically after he did so many good things. For now, it is our job to trust and continue doing the best we can serving Hashem. In the future, Hashem will reveal how much we have gained from our experiences and how much more we have gained from our emunah during those experiences. Shabbat Shalom.

The Shomer Emunim writes in his ma'amar on emunah that our holy Torah is filled with jewels more precious than gold, but emunah to us is the most precious and beloved jewel of all. It is the zechut of emunah that protects us and stands for us at all times in all places. We received the mitzvah of emunah directly from the mouth of HaKadosh Baruch Hu when He told the Jewish People on Har Sinai the first two commandments. And then He commanded us never to forget the clarity we had on Har Sinai when we saw Him so clearly. It is our job to protect this precious jewel called emunah that it should never get dirty or bent out of shape. The way to do that is with constant reinforcement, learning a little emunah every day and trying to incorporate the lessons into our regular lives. The power of a story is very great. When the lesson of a story resonates within a person it can give him long lasting chizuk. A man told me, he heard a powerful story about making peace and how much Hashem appreciates it. And in a matter of minutes, he ended a longstanding feud with a relative. A woman told me, she heard a story two years ago about someone who took her aged parents into her home and shortly afterward merited to have three of her children get married. The woman said the story made a very big impression on her and gave her a lot of chizuk to help her own parents. She and two of her siblings took care of all their needs, including medical appointments, housing repairs, emergency hospital visits, shopping etc. After ten years of this, her father had a bad fall and even with the assistance of all three siblings, it was too much for her mother to manage. At that point, her sister who lived in Israel told them to send their parents to her. She had an available apartment right next to hers and she and her family were willing to tend to all of their needs. This sister, who we'll call Rivka, indeed took care of every one of her father's needs. This while managing her large family of ten children. At that time, her father was 90 and her mother was 83. Rivka had three daughters of marriageable age, 23, 21 and 17. And the woman relating the story told a different sister, “I remember the story I read of another woman taking on extraordinary responsibilities with her parents and then merited to have her three children get engaged very quickly. I look forward to seeing Rivka's three daughters get engaged soon.” Six months passed and their father became more needy. Middle of the night calls from Mom were a regular, as Dad would fall to the floor so many times. Rivka would go to their apartment and help out, even at that time of night. The chesed she did with her parents was not to be believed. The other siblings from America would come in periodically to give Rivka some breaks, but besides for those short rests, she was tending to her parents round the clock. And then it happened. The eldest daughter got engaged in April of this year, and was married by June. Right after her wedding, the next daughter got engaged and got married in October. And right after her wedding, recently now in November, the third daughter got engaged. It was like a replica of the story that she read. And once again, this woman was given so much chizuk. Hashem recognizes every bit of effort we put into everything we do. And He will reward us for all eternity for those efforts. We must constantly reinforce the basics: That Hashem is with us. That Hashem loves us. That Hashem controls every single thing that takes place. And He is always doing everything for the absolute best.

The Shomer Emunim writes in his ma'amar on emunah that Hashem created a universe that's vastness is beyond comprehension. He also created angels that are tens of thousands of times larger than this world and those angels long for the moment that they will have the zechut to sing one song of praise to Hashem. Yet Hashem, in all His greatness, tells us that He longs for the moments that we will sing to Him. When a Jew opens his mouth with a word of praise, Hashem silences all the angels in Heaven. The song that is requested from us at this time, at the End of Days, is the song of emunah. Each person with his own struggles and tests is being asked to have simple emunah and trust that Hashem is in charge and doing what is best. The Zohar HaKadosh on daf 7 in Shemot writes, fortunate is the person who will live at that time and will have emunah . The Midrash Raba in Beshelach says, in the future the Jewish People are going to sing the most glorious song to Hashem, a Shir Chadash , over the wonders and miracles He will have performed for them at that time. And the zechut necessary to reach that moment is emunah. Regarding someone who will have emunah at that time it says, וצדיק באמונתו יחיה . Now we are living at that time, and we need to strengthen ourselves in this area. When Moshe Rabbenu came to tell the people in Mitzrayim that they were going to be redeemed, the pasuk testifies, ויאמן העם . Even though they were on the 49 th level of tumah , they still had emunah. When they followed Hashem into the desert, not knowing how they would survive, Hashem praised them with the most beautiful praises, appreciating the emunah that they had in Him. Today we are being asked to have the same emunah, although this time it is each person needing to have emunah in his own personal life, no matter what he is going through. Every little bit of emunah brings the geula closer. A simple thought process with emunah, besides for being a great avodat Hashem, can change a person's entire perspective and give him so much happiness at a time where he has reason to be upset. I read a story that a rabbi told about himself. He said he is very sensitive by nature and has been hurt many times from people's reactions to things he did. He became a rebbe in a yeshiva and spent hours each night preparing the Gemara in order to teach it properly. After the first couple of weeks he felt that it was going very well. It was extremely difficult for him to prepare, but it was worth the results he was getting. Then, one day, the principal called him over after receiving a phone call from one of the parents. He said as nicely as possible that it seemed as though he was not investing enough time in preparation and explaining the Gemara properly. The rabbi said the comment was like a dagger to his chest, especially since he felt he was investing more than enough time. He was taking away time from his sleep to ensure he would be clear with all the explanations he was giving, and now he was being told that he was failing. He honestly felt this meant he wasn't suited to be a teacher and he should quit. But then he was given chizuk in emunah and he invested time in learning more emunah, which changed his entire outlook. Although negative feedback hurts, he now understands that it too comes from HaKadosh Baruch Hu . That too is hashgacha peratit . Maybe it is Hashem telling him to lower his head a little and not be so haughty. Or maybe it is just another form of kapara . Now every time he gets an unpleasant reaction to something he does, it still hurts initially, and he still takes it to heart, but almost immediately he is able to rise above it and accept that it came from Hashem. Now, he incorporates his emunah lessons into his class and his students know that if they behave well, they will get a hashgacha peratit story at the end of the day. This rabbi's simple thoughts of emunah are the greatest praises that he can give to Hashem. He believes the negative comments are coming from Hashem for his best and reacts accordingly. It is these reactions that we are all striving to have, and it is these reactions that are going to bring the Geula Shelema .

One of the areas that Chazal tell us to excel in in the days preceding Mashiach is gemilut chasadim . There are endless ways in which a person can help others. I recently met with the head of an organization called Lev Echad . One of the things this organization does is help make shidduchim . The rabbi told me, “you can't imagine the pain I have seen in older singles.” He has a database with thousands and thousands of singles over the age of 30. Most of them have not even received one phone call with a suggestion in years. “A woman told me, she is ashamed to be seen by her relatives who constantly tell her to stop being so picky. She said little do they know she hasn't received one suggestion in years.” A shadchanit related, she called a divorced woman and offered her a shidduch not realizing it was her ex-husband. She was mortified when she found out. That woman saw her in the street a few weeks later and told her she had given her a new spark of life. The shadchanit was surprised to hear that being that she gave her the worst possible suggestion. The woman explained, “I thought that not one person in this world cared about me. I was so delighted to find out that someone was actually thinking of me and trying to help me get married.” We can give people life just by letting them know that we care. And that is gemilut chasadim on the highest level. Doing something to help a person get married is a wondrous chesed . The rabbi who runs Lev Echad said he was pushed by multiple Gedolim to do something to help make more marriages. Recently he met with one of the Gedolei Hador and asked the Gadol if he could call him to get his assistance in moving along shidduchim that run into issues. The Gadol replied in the affirmative. The rabbi then asked the Gadol , “Will the Rav take my calls right away or will I have to keep calling like everyone else?” The Gadol told him, on Purim he normally gets thousands of singles lining up at his home to get berachot for a shidduch . He needs two bodyguards there to ensure that he doesn't get injured from a potential accidental pushing that may occur. This past Purim, one of the bodyguards, who is not religious, asked the rabbi what all the people were waiting there for. He told him that he gives them blessings to get married. The bodyguard then said to the rabbi, “You should also probably be proactive in helping them get married, maybe by setting up some type of dating system.” The rabbi told him he agreed. Six months later, this bodyguard called the house of the Gadol and asked to speak with him. When the Gadol picked up, the bodyguard told him who he was and then asked him, he was just checking to see if he did anything yet to help the singles. The Gadol said to the rabbi who leads Lev Echad , “When he asked me that question, I was ashamed. Not from him, but from HaKadosh Baruch Hu . I didn't do anything to help His children get married. You want to know if I'll answer your calls when you call me? Absolutely! I will make myself available if it is going to help bring about a shidduch .” The rabbi told me there was a boy who was the top learner in his yeshiva but hadn't gotten one phone call for a shidduch in over two and a half years. The reason was because he has a fake arm. Now, with Lev Echad's new system of networking across Israel, in a few days this boy got seven different suggestions. We all need to excel in gemilut chasadim and there are numerous ways to do so. May Hashem help us help His children.