Podcasts about living emunah

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.

Living Emunah 2717 In the Blink of an Eye Believing in Hashem's ability to bring salvation in the blink of an eye is an invaluable avoda . It is also something that is expected of every Jew to fully internalize. This is not always easy—especially after years of hoping and waiting without seeing salvation. A year ago, I met a rabbi who told me that he was davening for his 34-year-old daughter, who was still waiting to find her zivug . Recently, I met this man again, and this time he told me, "Mazal Tov!" His daughter, now 35, had just gotten married a few weeks earlier, and they couldn't be happier with the shidduch . We must never give up hope, no matter how long it takes. At the recent A Time Shasathon , a family shared their painful yet inspiring journey through infertility. A man explained that when his daughter was 14 years old, doctors discovered that she did not have a uterus. Naturally, this meant she would face a very difficult road ahead. Wanting to protect her, the family chose not to tell her right away. However, when she was 18 and in seminary , she found out. She understood the enormous challenge she was facing, and of course, she was distraught. Then, when it came time to begin shidduchim , the question loomed: How could she possibly get married under such circumstances? It was during COVID, and she met someone over Zoom. Their conversations went well, and they continued meeting virtually several more times. After about a month, she felt it was time to tell him everything. She explained her medical condition, and the young man immediately grasped the gravity of what she was saying. But at that moment, something remarkable happened—he thought of his grandfather. His grandfather had been engaged when he was told that his kallah was ill and had only six months to live. Instead of walking away, his grandfather said, "I believe in Hashem. Only He determines a person's time in this world." He went ahead with the marriage, and in the end, his wife lived for 22 more years. They had three beautiful children and many grandchildren—including this young man. Hashem had already trained him with the emunah and perspective he would need to marry this girl. He consulted with rabbanim and expressed his desire to stand by her side through life's journey. He received their beracha , and the wedding took place. Later, the couple began exploring the possibility of a uterus transplant. After extensive research, they were approved for a program at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. They had to move there indefinitely and wait for a match. Every day there felt like an eternity. They were alone in a foreign place, unable to travel for Shabbat or Yom Tov , since they had to remain on-call at all times, but they knew Hashem was with them. Then, on Shabbat Parashat Lech Lecha , while her husband was in shul , the hospital left a message—their match had arrived. Early Monday morning, she underwent surgery. It was during the week of Parashat Vayera , the very parasha that contains the words: " וה' פקד את שרה " —Hashem granted Sarah a uterus at an advanced age so she could conceive. That week, this woman was also given a uterus, and b'ezrat Hashem , she would one day be able to have children. In that same parasha , we read the words: " היפלא מה' דבר ?" —Is anything beyond Hashem's power? This was the beginning of the miraculous road that Hashem paved for them. Baruch Hashem , this past year, they were blessed with their first child. Everything is possible with emunah . The Rishonim discuss why there is a mitzvah to eat on Erev Yom Kippur . Many say that it is to provide strength for the fast the next day. This raises a question: If someone is ill and unable to fast, does he still have the mitzva to eat on Erev Yom Kippur ? The Sdeh Chemed writes that he absolutely does. Why? Because Hashem can heal a person in an instant, and by the time Yom Kippur arrives, he may very well be able to fast. The Sdeh Chemed uses the phrases: " ישועת ה' כהרף עין " and " היפלא מה' דבר ?" —principles that are so fundamental they even influence halacha . It is up to us to develop our emunah to the point that no matter what we are going through, we know—Hashem can always help us in an instant.

Living Emunah 2712 The Depth of Hashgacha Everything that happens in this world is precisely calculated and orchestrated by Hashem. Even the simplest interactions in our daily lives—those that seem to follow the natural course of events—are, in reality, entirely governed by hashgachat Hashem . There is nothing "natural" about what happens in our lives. Everything is connected to our purpose in this world and to our deeds. If we are approved or denied for something, it is not because administrators made the decision, but because Hashem directed them based on what is truly best for us. Rabbi Gad Busquila from Congregation Netivot Yisrael in Brooklyn shared an incredible story that recently took place: Rabbi Busquila traveled to Israel at the beginning of Tevet for his father's yahrzeit . While there, he met an old congregant who had made aliyah in 2012. This man, whom we'll call Yehuda, had initially learned in kollel full-time after his marriage and later tried to enter the business world. But nothing worked out for him in the U.S., so he moved to Israel, where he became a highly successful real estate developer. This past year, before Rosh Hashanah , Yehudah purchased a large plot of land, planning to build major developments on it. He had a great relationship with his bank, so he assumed his building loan would be approved without issue. The bank told him they would finalize the loan after Sukkot but mentioned that interest rates had increased by 2% since his last loan, meaning he would have to pay the higher rate. Weeks passed with no response. Yehudah repeatedly contacted the bank, but they kept telling him they didn't know why there was a delay—it was stuck in upper management. By the time Chanukah arrived, he still had not been approved. The delay was costing him a significant amount of money, and he was growing increasingly anxious. Then one night, he had a dream in which he saw the Baba Sali . The Baba Sali told him that he had an outstanding debt towards him, and if he would pay it, everything would work out. Yehudah woke up shaken. He had only ever seen pictures of the Baba Sali but had no recollection of ever pledging money to one of his institutions. Three days later, while driving, Yehudah received a call from an American number. Normally, he wouldn't answer unknown calls, but for some reason, this time he did. It was the secretary from Netivot Yisrael in Brooklyn, informing him that he had an outstanding balance from two pledges he had made in 2012 at a hilula for the Baba Sali hosted by the shul. One pledge was for $180 for a candle, and the other was for $101 for besamim . Yehudah froze. Pulling his car over, he took out his credit card and immediately paid the balance in full. As the secretary thanked him and was about to hang up, he asked her to stay on the line until the transaction was confirmed. Only once he received confirmation did he end the call. Fifteen minutes later, Yehudah received another phone call—this time from the bank. His loan had been approved. Not only that, but the bank had decided to grant him the lower interest rate he had previously received—2% lower than the current rate. Stunned, Yehudah called Rabbi Busquila to share the incredible story. However, the call went straight to voicemail—Rabbi Busquila was on a flight to Israel at the time. When they finally met in person, Yehudah recounted the entire experience. Who could have imagined that a $281 pledge made 12 years earlier could have impacted his bank loan? Yehudah was a known ba'al tzedakah , yet this small, unpaid pledge had a significant effect on his business dealings. But in reality, this was a great chesed from Hashem. Had this situation never happened, Yehudah would have completely forgotten about that pledge and never fulfilled it. Nothing happens in this world without being decreed by Hashem first. How fortunate we are to recognize the depth of hashgacha pratit in every moment of our lives.

Living Emunah 2686 Raising Pure Children Raising pure children in this generation is a very challenging task. Children are being pulled in many different directions, and as Chazal predicted, in the end of days, there will be a great deal of chutzpa. We are witnessing this with our own eyes. Children are disrespecting parents, talking back to them, and not giving them the respect and honor that previous generations upheld. Of course, we need to do everything in our power to create the proper environment for them to grow in the way Hashem wants. However, there is only so much that a parent can do. This is why we need immense Heavenly help to ensure that our children remain pure and grow to be true servants of Hashem with good middot. To that end, we must beg Hashem for His help. The power of a parent's tefilla on behalf of their children is enormous. Parents who pray sincerely for their children have a tremendous advantage in raising them. Our children can receive the best of everything if we ask Hashem to provide it. A rabbi from Israel shared a story about a nurse who had no understanding of what it meant to be a religious Jew. One day, everything changed for her, and eventually, she became fully observant. People were curious about how such a transformation happened. She explained that once, she cared for an elderly woman with a very painful illness. The woman required frequent injections, yet she was always holding a siddur and praying happily. While most people with her condition lost the will to live, this woman radiated joy. One day, the nurse asked her about the secret to her happiness. The woman replied that it was all in her siddur. She constantly thanked Hashem for everything He gave her and then prayed for things she had yet to receive. The nurse admitted, "I see how happy you are when you pray. I also want to pray, but that book is far too overwhelming for me. Could you photocopy just a few pages for me?" The woman photocopied the Birkot HaShachar and explained the meaning behind each blessing. Included on the photocopy were the Birkot Hatorah, which the nurse began saying daily. The nurse continued: "My second daughter was very difficult to control. She was outspoken, headstrong, and paid no attention to anything I said. However, over time, I noticed a transformation in her. Her bad traits were disappearing, and she was becoming a kind and respectful person. Eventually, she became religious and asked to attend seminary. She later married a deeply religious young man. Seeing the love and respect they have for each other fills me with so much joy. I wanted to be more like them, and that's how I became religious as well. At first, I couldn't understand how my daughter changed without being exposed to Torah. But now that I am observant, I fully understand it. Every day, when I recited the words ונהיה אנחנו וצאצאינו וצאצאי עמך בית ישראל כולנו יודעי שמך , I was praying for her." The power of tefilla on behalf of our children is truly remarkable. Rabbi Yechiel Michel Stern shared another story about an outstanding student who invited him to his engagement party. When the rabbi arrived, he was surprised to see that the bride's family were very simple people. Rabbi Stern had expected the boy—one of the top students in the yeshiva—to marry into a family of great talmidei chachamim. Someone explained to Rabbi Stern that the bride's grandmother had been a neighbor of the Chazon Ish. Years earlier, when the Chazon Ish's wife was unwell, this grandmother had gone out of her way to help her. On one occasion, the Chazon Ish gave her a beracha, saying that one day her family would merit an outstanding talmid chacham. This beracha enabled her granddaughter to marry such an exceptional boy, something completely out of the ordinary for a family like theirs. Our tefillot for our children can work wonders. We should utilize every opportunity to pray, helping give them the siyata dishmaya they need to become the great people they are capable of becoming.

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.

Living Emunah 2683 The Waiting Period One of the great ways the Ba'al Emunah serves Hashem is with his patience. Hashem promised Avraham He would give him Eretz Yisrael. Yet, when it came time to bury his wife there, he had to pay an enormous sum of money for the land. Hashem was so proud of Avraham for not questioning Him, not asking why he had to pay for the land that Hashem had already promised him. Avraham was also promised a child who would take over his legacy. Yet Avraham had to wait 30 years to see the fulfillment of that promise, and he never questioned Hashem even once about it. We learn a lot about how much Hashem appreciates our acts of self-sacrifice and how much blessing they bring down. However, because today we live in a generation where everything comes instantly, it has become much harder for us to have patience and to wait to see the blessings come after we perform heroic deeds. This just means that the rewards for us waiting today are astronomically greater. A person who has done a great act to bring honor to Hashem and has not seen the yeshu'ah he was hoping for has an opportunity today to earn infinite merits by staying patient and trusting that Hashem will help him at the proper time and that his deed will bring down a great amount of blessing. It is true that our deeds bring blessing, but it doesn't necessarily come right away. Rachel Imenu performed one of the greatest deeds in all of history by giving over the signs to her sister Leah. She was willing to give up her husband-to-be to her sister to save her from shame. Chazal tell us that Rachel was physically incapable of having children and that it was in the zechut of this act of self-sacrifice which gave her the merit to have children. Yet, she still had to wait 14 years from that time to have her first child. We see from here that, just because she did the deed that merited her salvation, it didn't mean she was going to get it right away. Similarly, Chazal tell us that because of Yosef's ability to resist the temptations of Potiphar's wife, he became the second in command over the entire country of Egypt. It was his being in that position that enabled him to save his family from the hunger and bring them down to Mitzrayim with dignity. Yet, what happened after he heroically overcame his inclination and did the will of Hashem? He was thrown in jail. Not only that, he had to stay there for 12 long years before he finally came out.The act he did was tremendous. It earned him the title of Tzaddik. But he didn't see an immediate salvation from it. The same is true in many situations. People may be told by holy rabbis about different things they can do as a zechut for salvation. They listen to the rabbis and they sacrifice so much to do what the rabbi recommended. But they don't see any results from it. This does not mean that the deed didn't produce a yeshu'ah. It could very well be that because of what they did, they will get the salvation they're looking for. It just may not come right away. It could possibly take even years. Our job is to have patience and trust in Hashem. He will reward everything we do if we maintain our emunah during the waiting period. We will become so great from it, especially today when waiting is so difficult.

Living Emunah 2677 Our Deeds Although we may not always perceive the effects of our deeds, we can rest assured that every small action we take is immensely valuable and carries great weight in Shamayim. The way events unfold in the physical world depends on decisions first made in the spiritual realm in Shamayim. Our tefillot and mitzvot make all the difference; they have the power to alter even what has already been decreed. In Parashat Toledot, the Torah uses the word ויעתר , meaning a pitchfork, to describe tefilla. Chazal explain that just as a pitchfork overturns the grain on the threshing floor, moving it from place to place, so too the prayers of the righteous overturn the "mind" of Hashem. A man, whom we'll call Yitzchak, shared a personal story from years ago. Yitzchak had a relative, whom we'll call Reuven, who was extremely wealthy. One of Reuven's dreams was to dedicate a shul that would serve as a center for Torah and tefilla. Two congregations in Israel, each in dire need of a building, heard about Reuven's aspirations and sought his support. Both congregations were operating out of trailers and desperately needed a proper building. Representatives from each kahal approached Reuven, imploring him to choose their congregation. They promised to prominently display his name on the building as a gesture of gratitude. Reuven was unsure which kahal to support, so he sought advice from a rabbi. The rabbi suggested sending a trustworthy individual to pray in both shuls undercover to determine which one showed greater potential for growth. Reuven appreciated the suggestion and asked Yitzchak to take on this task. Yitzchak flew to Israel, planning to spend the first Shabbat with kehillah number one and the second with kehillah number two. During his visit to the first kehillah, Yitzchak observed an older congregation. There were no Divrei Torah, and the seudah shlishit lacked enthusiasm. The members were scrambling to find a speaker until they finally asked Yitzchak to say a few words. It was a very quiet and uneventful Shabbat. The following week, Yitzchak attended the second kehillah and found an overflowing crowd. Older people, younger people, avreichim, and children all prayed with fervor. Each tefilla included a fiery speech focused on themes of achdut and shalom. This kehillah exuded unity and mutual love. Yitzchak concluded that this was the kehillah for which Reuven should build a shul. Reuven was thrilled to support such a vibrant kehillah. The second kehillah was elated upon learning that they would receive a new building. When the project was completed, Reuven flew to Israel to pray in the new shul. However, that Motzaeh Shabbat, he called Yitzchak with complaints. Reuven described the congregation as primarily older people, resembling the first kehillah Yitzchak had visited. Yitzchak had no immediate explanation. The following Shabbat, Reuven went to pray in the first kehillah, only to find the lively, multi-generational community Yitzchak had initially described for the second kehillah. Confused, they investigated further and discovered what had happened. On the Shabbat Yitzchak visited the first kehillah, a Shabbaton for the younger crowd had been held at a hotel, leaving only the older members in attendance. During Yitzchak's visit to the second kehillah, it had been the yahrzeit of the rabbi's father, and the rabbi had invited his large family, including dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who filled the shul. When Reuven heard this, he said, "I have no complaints. It is obvious that Hashem arranged the events to work out like this because He wanted that Kehillah to get the shul that I donated to." He wondered, however, what zechut this kehillah had to warrant such divine favor. The rabbi of the second kehillah explained: "We longed deeply for a shul. We committed to completing the entire Tehillim every day in shul with a minyan. Additionally, two members who were involved in a bitter machloket, which affected the entire kehillah, were asked to reconcile as a zechut for receiving the new building. On the Shabbat your representative visited, we emphasized achdut and shalom." Through the power of their Tehillim and efforts toward shalom, Hashem orchestrated circumstances so that one kehillah appeared nearly empty and the other overwhelmingly full, ensuring the second kehillah received the building they so desired. Our deeds are truly wondrous.

Living Emunah 2675 Praying Again The pasuk says, " וישכם אברהם בבקר אל המקום אשר עמד שם " and Chazal tell us, it was at this time that Avraham Avinu instituted the tefilla of Shacharit. This took place right after Sedom was destroyed. We know Avraham prayed so hard to save Sedom, and seemingly his tefillot were not answered. That was precisely when he went to the exact same place and prayed again. It was this tefilla that saved Lot and the spark of Mashiach that was inside of him. Avraham did not get discouraged when his tefilla was not accepted. He immediately went back and prayed again, and this made his tefilla so much greater. The Sefer Sas B'Imratecha tells a story about a family who lost their matriarch after she fell ill with a dreaded illness. They prayed and prayed, but in the end, she was taken to the Upper World. Sometime after that, their father got sick as well. The family was broken and was having a difficult time bringing themselves to pray again with the same emotion they had displayed when their mother was sick. Their father then proceeded to tell them a story that took place during the Holocaust. He said a Jewish woman had given birth to a baby whose bones were out of place. She knew of a Gentile woman who was an expert in fixing this issue. One night, she snuck out of her house in the ghetto and brought her baby to this Gentile's home. The Gentile woman was shocked to see the Jewish woman with her baby at her doorstep. She told her they were doomed to death anyway. The woman begged for help, and the Gentile woman had mercy on them. She said she would not only help the baby, but she would hide both of them in her basement and save their lives. The woman thanked her, but then she said she had eight more children at home and couldn't leave them. The Gentile woman told her to go get the rest and bring them all back. She would protect them all. This mother, with all of her strength, managed to smuggle out her children, and they spent the next couple of years in this Gentile's cellar. When the war ended, they moved to America. Later on, after they were settled, they decided to make a grand party to honor this Gentile woman who saved their entire family. They sent her a plane ticket and arranged to have a party in a hall with a lot of guests in her honor. The Gentile woman came and greatly appreciated the tribute. They asked her what possessed her to not only cook and toil for ten complete strangers but even risk her own life for them, as it was known that if the Nazis caught someone harboring Jews, they would kill them on the spot. The woman said that she loved studying the Bible, and she had a special affinity towards Jews. Initially, when she offered to protect the woman and her baby, she was very scared. However, when the woman said she had eight more children, the Gentile woman felt excited and much calmer. She recalled the story of Avraham praying for Sedom and how Hashem said He would have saved the entire city had there been ten righteous people there. She felt that if she could have ten righteous people staying in her home, then God would protect her. This was the story that this ill father told his children. He concluded by telling them, "It seemed that Avraham's prayers for Sedom did not work. However, 3600 years after those tefillot, we still see them saving more lives. We have no idea what our tefillot accomplish. Just because it appears that you were not answered in the past does not mean you should be discouraged from continuing to pray in the future. Please pray hard for me. B'ezrat Hashem, Hashem will take your tefillot and rip up the decree of this illness." Tefilla is always wondrous, but it is especially powerful when a person comes back to pray after it seems that he was not answered before.

Living Emunah 2655 Don't Fall for It The joy that we experienced on the Chag is supposed to carry us throughout the year. There is a big yetzer hara that can disturb a person's happiness, and we must not fall prey to it. The Gemara tells us that Adam and Chava had the most blissful life in Gan Eden. There were angels roasting meat for them and serving them wine. But then the nachash came along and told Chava that she was lacking. He made her feel that without that one fruit they weren't able to have she would be missing so much. Then she set her eye upon it, desired it, and ate it, and that ruined everything. They had it all, but the nachash who was the evil inclination made them feel lacking. They felt that they couldn't be happy without the one thing they didn't have. This yetzer hara plagues all of us until today. Hashem gives every person everything he needs to be happy but then he looks elsewhere and sees what others have and becomes envious and can no longer enjoy the wonderful blessings that he has. The secret to the happiness of the Jewish people in the desert was that the openings of their tents did not face each other, and thus no one was able to see what the other one had. Someone could have the most beautiful kitchen but then he looks through his window and sees that his neighbors are redoing their kitchen and all of a sudden his kitchen is not good anymore. Today this yetzer hara has found its way into apps that contain pictures of everyone else's lives. This is bringing the nachash into our homes and destroying them. Someone could have the greatest life but the eye fools him into thinking that everyone else has everything better than him until he can no longer enjoy anything that he has. Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out that today even a poor man lives better than the wealthiest people from 300 years ago. Someone from that time who had it all did not have running water in his house. He did not have a shower or a toilet. He did not have air conditioning or heating. His bed was not as comfortable and his kitchen was not as equipped, yet he enjoyed everything so much. Today when we have so much more we are unhappy just because someone else has something that we don't have. It doesn't make sense, but it's the yetzer hara, and it doesn't have to make sense. The best advice is not to look at what others have but rather focus on what Hashem has given us. The same thing applies in the spiritual realms. Some people become depressed because they aren't able to comprehend the Gemara like their peers or they aren't able to give tzedaka like their peers. They must realize that Hashem expects a different avodah from different people. Someone who wasn't blessed with the highest IQ is not expected to comprehend everything. Hashem does not reward for results. He rewards for efforts. There can be two people in the same shiur and one understands everything and the other understands only half of what is being taught. Yet the one who understands half may be better off than the one who understands everything if he invests more effort than him. Someone who gives a hundred dollars to tzedaka can be considered greater than someone who gives a thousand or ten thousand. It's all relative to how much Hashem gives each person. Hashem gives everyone the exact lives that they need to be happy and successful in this world: Their spouse, their children, their living conditions, their brain power, their background. They are all carefully planned out for their success. If we could learn to focus on what we have and what we are capable of doing, we will always be happy and be able to do the jobs that we were sent here to do with joy.

Living Emunah 2652 Sukkot: In Hashem's Hands The Sefer Ha'ikarim writes, there are three fundamentals of Emunah that every Jew must believe. Number one is the existence of Hashem. Number two is that the Torah was given to us from Shamayim. And number three, Hashem is involved in everything that happens in this world- hashgacha peratit. The Sefer Kometz Mincha suggests that each of the shalosh regalim corresponds to one of these three fundamentals. On Pesach, the world learned that Hashem exists. On Shavuot, we saw the Torah coming down from Shamayim. And on Sukkot, we saw how Hashem took care of the Jewish people's every need in the desert, surrounding them in His clouds of glory. Thus, we leave our homes and go to live in temporary structures to show that we know we are in Hashem's hands. He is the One who protects and watches over us at all times. This is one of the reasons why Sukkot is called "zemans simchatenu," the time of our greatest joy. Because when a person internalizes that he is in Hashem's hands, he can be happy in all situations in life, even during the trying times. A woman related how Emunah gave her the ultimate strength and joy to deal with a very difficult situation that she was experiencing. Last year, she had a miscarriage late in the pregnancy. It was a devastating blow, especially since they had been waiting to have a child. After the loss, she worked very hard on her Emunah. That is what enabled her to get through that very difficult time with sanity. She conceived shortly afterward. However, to her dismay, things went wrong right from the beginning. The pregnancy was filled with fear and panic. Every doctor's visit meant more fear. And every trimester brought its own challenges. She decided to start listening from the beginning of an Emunah hotline that she would regularly call. This hotline has over 2,000 5-minute clips. And she went back and started from number one. She drank every word thirstily and allowed the words to penetrate her soul and override her emotions. There were many times when she thought the pregnancy had ended. She kept repeatedly attempting to strengthen herself like a lion and kept listening to the classes aggressively. She would dial the number trembling and then hang up feeling much more relaxed and hopeful. There were many nights when panic would overtake her and the doctor's grim prognosis wouldn't let her sleep. She would then call the Emunah hotline and let the words of chizuk calm her nerves and enable her to fall asleep. There were times when she had questions like, if Hashem didn't want us to be parents yet, why did He have to pick up our hopes so high only to drop them down so low? But then the Emunah lessons answered that question for her too. Perhaps there was a harsh decree written for them and Hashem in His infinite mercy was giving them temporary challenges in exchange. Those thoughts gave her a lot of Chizuk. She felt like she entered the pregnancy on a premature theoretical level of Emunah and left it on an advanced level with a concrete connection to Hashem. She would not sell this connection for any money in the world. It's the most precious commodity that she possesses. By the end of the pregnancy she had already listened to 770 classes on the hotline. She especially connected with the lesson about imagining the yeshua of Hashem before it happens and relying on Him for it. As she holds her beautiful baby girl in her arms, she knows with certainty that the only thing that got her to this glorious moment was her Emunah and Bitachon. When we go outside and look up at the flimsy s'chach, we should internalize that it is only Hashem who protects, only Hashem who helps and only Hashem who takes care of us. The more we recognize this, the happier we will be.

Living Emunah 2649 Yom Kippur: It's Not Hopeless The pasuk says, דרשו ה' בהימצאו, קראוהו בהיותו קרוב . We are to take advantage of the times that Hashem is closest to us. And right now, on Erev Yom Kippur, He is extremely close. We need to utilize this time to make teshuva and accept upon ourselves to improve our ways. There are people who want to be better, but the environment that they're in is stopping them. There are people who have relatives that have veered from the path, and they would do anything to get them back. To them it seems hopeless, but they must strengthen themselves and recognize that with Hashem nothing is ever hopeless. The Tanah de'Veliyahu teaches us that Hashem yearns for His beloved children to come back to Him more than a woman yearns for her husband to come back from a long journey. Hashem wants our relatives back more than we do. And we can help with our tefilot. A woman related that after her divorce she had to split the time she has with her daughter with her ex-husband. While she was growing in religion at a rapid pace, her ex-husband was going in the opposite direction. It was very confusing to her daughter to go back and forth to these different environments. The woman was so worried about her daughter every time she left the house to go to her father. This year specifically a change happened in scheduling. The daughter was going to go to her father every single Shabbat, while she would be by her mother during the week. The problem was the man doesn't keep Shabbat, and this was causing the woman so much stress and anxiety. He doesn't attend shul. There are no rabbis in the picture who he's connected to. To the woman this situation seemed hopeless. Every day she has a hotline reading the book A Daily Dose of Pesukei Bitachon . And one morning a few days before Rosh Hashanah they were discussing the pasuk which basically means there is nothing stopping Hashem from bringing salvation no matter what the salvation may be. This pasuk gave her so much strength and amazingly that same night she saw with her own eyes how Hashem could bring a yeshuah in the blink of an eye. The community in which her ex-husband lives decided to bring in a speaker from another city to give chizuk for Rosh Hashanah. Her daughter enjoys listening to that speaker very much, so she asked her father if she could go. He didn't want her to go by herself, so he said he would bring her. He went and became very inspired from the class and Bezrat Hashem will continue to grow going forward. The fact that this speaker ended up in that community on that night was an amazing story in itself. Hashem is ready and waiting to help us but we have to call out to Him first. Another story happened a couple of weeks ago. A woman was walking on Shabbat and lo alenu was struck by a car. As she was lying on the ground, the driver got out to see if she was okay. He then said out loud, "I knew Hashem was going to punish me for driving on Shabbat." The woman on the floor heard this man saying he is a Jew who desecrates Shabbat. In her weakened state she said to him, "If you will accept upon yourself right now to keep Shabbat, I will forgive you for this." The man accepted. We see a couple of lessons from this story. Number one, look at the purity of this woman. While she was suffering in pain, she was concerned that the driver who hit her should keep Shabbat. Number two, it was decreed for whatever reason that this woman had to get hit, but Hashem orchestrated it in a way where it would be this man, to give him a chance to come back to religion. Even somebody who has drifted so far that he was driving on Shabbat right in the heart of a Jewish community, Hashem yearned for him to come back. If someone has no connection to rabbis or Torah, we would think how is he going to get inspired, but Hashem always has a way, ways that we could never dream of. Now is the greatest time for us to ask Hashem for help with our own Teshuvah and to help bring back those people who we know have veered from the path. Gemar Chatima Tovah

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe Sometimes a person cries out to Hashem night and day for help. He doesn't only ask during the tefila times, he asks multiple times throughout the day at every chance he gets. He cries, he begs, he tells Hashem how good he's going to be if He gives him what he wants. Then, when the help doesn't come, he cries more and accepts even more things upon himself, but still no response. It appears as if Hashem is completely ignoring him, and he can't understand why. He's asking for something he knows is going to help him in so many ways, and he knows that Hashem wants to help him more than he wants to be helped, so why isn't Hashem helping? Then, regarding something seemingly insignificant, he sees clearly that Hashem helps him, and he wonders why would Hashem help him with things not so important, and not with the things that are very important? Someone told me her friend who works in a yeshiva day school needed to make baked ziti immediately after school one day, but had no time during the day to pick up the cheese to make it. If she first went shopping after school, she wouldn't meet the deadline that she had to cook by. She didn't know what to do. That afternoon, a truck pulled up at the school with a free delivery of cheese for whomever needed it. That may have been the first time that ever happened in the history of the school. The woman was amazed at how Hashem was personally involved in helping her accomplish what she needed to that day. It wouldn't have been a catastrophe if she didn't make the baked ziti, but even with that Hashem helped her. A man told me, he got home late from a wedding with his wife last week, and she thought she saw a roach go into one of their cabinets. She told him he had to find it. He was so tired, but he tried. While looking, he stumbled upon a paper that said his wife had a court date the next day for a traffic ticket that she got two years before. This was the final notice, and if she didn't make the appearance, they were threatening to suspend her license. They had completely forgotten about that notice. He never found the roach, and who knows if it was even there. That was Hashem alerting them to their court date. The next morning, she took the Zoom option of the meeting, and it lasted for about three minutes. She pleaded not guilty, and they dismissed the ticket. Hashem was clearly directly involved in helping them with something they were unaware of. It wouldn't have been the biggest deal if they had missed it, but even with that Hashem helped them. So again, why do we sometimes find Hashem helping people with things not so important, and then with things that are very important, it seems that the help is not coming? The answer is, Hashem is always helping from the most important things to the least important things. To Hashem, everything about us is important. If it's good for us to be helped, He'll help us, and if it's better for us not to be helped, then He'll refrain from giving us what we're asking for. Him refraining is out of love, because He knows it's better for us for things to remain the way they are. Although we can't fathom how not getting what we're asking for could be good, Hashem, who has the past, present, and future revealed before Him at all times, knows that it is. The rule is, Hashem always wants to help, and He does always help. The one condition that He has is that the help is going to truly benefit us. If we can trust Hashem during the times that we don't get what we're asking for, that is a great avodah of emunah, which will earn us endless rewards.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe A man told that from the moment his baby came home after his Brit Milah, he wouldn't stop crying. Nothing could calm him down. He would eat, doze, and immediately wake up crying again. It was obvious that something was hurting him, but nobody knew what it was. All different kinds of advice began coming their way. One person suggested one type of doctor, another suggested a type of counselor, another an allergy specialist. All of those professionals were prepared to see their baby, but for a high cost and a lot of effort on their part. The man said to himself, "Let me first set up a meeting with the Healer of All Flesh." The man wanted to dedicate an hour to the meeting, no less than he would if he were meeting some professional. He prepared for the meeting. He got dressed up. He took time out from work and sat at a table saying Tehillim . He had a full one-hour meeting with the greatest doctor of all. Before the hour was up, his mother-in-law called his wife and told her about a new idea she had just heard about, something they could try right away. His wife listened to the advice and immediately the baby was quiet. The baby slept for several hours and since then has been calm and happy. The problem was resolved. When we have the right approach with Hashem, all of His messengers suddenly "change their tune". A man told me he had to go with his father on Shabbat to the hospital in a Hatzalah truck, because the Hatzalah told them he needed a PICC line to get certain vital nutrients. They arrived at the hospital and had to wait for the cardiovascular team to arrive. They waited there the entire night, but the team still didn't come. In the morning, the man went to see if there was some type of Bikur Cholim room where he could find food for Shabbat. From the time that he left the hospital room until the time he got back was about 45 minutes. When he got back, the nurse told him he had missed the cardiovascular team. They were not able to put in the PICC line without his permission and so they left. She said they would be back the following day. The man couldn't believe his ears. He was waiting the entire night for them, and now he missed them? He started to cry. The nurse apologized, but said they were there more than a half hour ago and this was their last stop before they went home. The man was going to have a fit, but instead he decided to take the emunah approach. He went into a corner and began speaking to Hashem. He said, "Hashem, you brought me away from my family for Shabbat. I don't have my shul. I don't have my learning. I don't have my seudot, and now we didn't get the PICC line either. If you want me to come here just to spend the entire Shabbat in a hospital, then I'm going to do it b'simcha ." He strengthened himself and accepted the will of Hashem with happiness. Just a few minutes later, the cardiovascular team showed up. They said they decided to come back and try one more time. This man made the correct approach with Hashem and, suddenly, the messengers followed suit. Another man said he lost a business account and tried his hardest to accept it with love. Instead of not going out to learn that night, he pushed himself to add a second class. The next day his mortgage company called him and told him about an escrow surplus check that they sent a full year ago that never got cashed. The amount was more than the commission that he usually earned for the entire year from the account he lost. It's true we have to make hishtadlut in the way of the world, but when we first go to Hashem and accomplish what we need to with Him, everything else falls into place afterward.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe At this time of year, we're trying to find the most favor in Hashem's eyes. We want to know what steps we could take to accomplish this. The pasuk says, ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני ה' אלוקיך . There's a mitzvah to go beyond the letter of the law and do what is upright and good in the eyes of Hashem. Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian writes in his Sefer Lev Eliyahu , this is a mitzvah which specifically makes us find favor in Hashem's eyes. It is accomplished by doing things that we are not commanded to do, but we know would make Hashem proud if we did. The Gemara speaks about many cases in which, according to the letter of the law, Person A was entitled to keep money, but he was encouraged to go beyond the law and give the money to the other party. Rabbi Lopian points out, in the previous pasuk , it says שמור תשמרון in plural which is a general command to perform the mitzvot, and therefore it is written in plural. But, when it comes to the pasuk to go beyond the letter of the law, it is written in singular, ועשית הישר והטוב because this is according to each individual's level to be able to accomplish that. The pasuk continues, למען ייטב לך - we should go above the letter of the law so that Hashem will be able to give us more good. Whenever we are presented with a circumstance and we know we're right but there's room to give in, we can either exercise our right to be correct or we can choose to do what would make Hashem proud and thereby find favor in His eyes and be zocheh to more good from Him. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman related a story that was told to him by the head of Hatzalah in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi which took place just a few weeks ago. It was a Sunday morning at around 5:30 AM. They got a call about a fire on the third floor of a building on Simta Menasheh Street. There was an older couple trapped in the home, and the street was too narrow for the fire department to reach with their big truck. The Hatzalah members arrived on the scene and saw the older couple in the window of their apartment completely trapped. The stairwell was on fire, and it was slowly creeping towards them. The couple could not physically jump out of the window, and since the fire trucks couldn't reach them, there was no ladder that would extend to their height. One of the Hatzalah members, Rabbi Elchanan Maimo, saw that underneath their window was a porch with beams in place ready to be used for a sukkah , a type of pergola. He got a ladder and was able to climb to that porch. He then climbed up the pergola, stood on top of the beams and helped each of those people come down. Just as the fire was approaching them, he was able to save their lives. Rabbi Yaakov, the head of the Hatzalah, then recalled the events which led to that pergola being built, the means that was used to save this couple's lives. About a year and a half ago, that elderly woman fainted in her apartment and the Hatzalah came and revived her. A couple of weeks later, she went down to the Hatzalah office to thank them personally. She also told the head of Hatzalah that her downstairs neighbor wanted to do a major construction job, and he needed her permission. Her doctor had told her that because of her condition it would not be wise to allow it as the dust could hurt her very much. She asked the head of the Hatzalah what to do. He told her, "You definitely have every right to deny them, but I'm sure they really want to embark on this building project, and if you want to go above and beyond, if there's some place you could stay for a few months that would allow them to build then you should do that." She took the advice and stayed by one of her children's homes and allowed the neighbor to do construction. Part of their new construction project was building that pergola. Her going beyond the letter of the law is what Hashem used to save her life. " ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני יהוה למען ייטב לך "

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe This week's parasha Ki Tavo begins with the mitzvah of bikurim , where a farmer brings a basket of fruits from the seven species to the Kohen and recites certain pesukim . The Mishnah describes the bringing of the bikurim as a very elaborate process. There were crowds of people waiting to greet the landowners in Yerushalayim, with music playing in the background. It is noteworthy to point out that the farmer only had to bring one fruit from each of the species. The sefer Mapik Margaliot writes, we see from here the unbelievable value that the Torah places on the littlest deeds that we do. Imagine a farmer with orchards full of fig trees or date trees and thousands of fruits that are going to grow upon them, and he takes just one to do the mitzvah of bikurim , and the Torah makes such a big deal over it. When he walks to Jerusalem with the basket, everyone who sees him stands up in honor of the mitzvah he's doing. To the onlooker, it may have seemed that a king or president had just arrived, but it was just a man holding a basket of fruit. To us, it looks like something simple, but the Torah knows how valuable it really is. Sometimes the evil inclination tells a person, "You're going to learn Torah now? It's not worth it. You're going to be late. You're not going to understand what's being taught. It's going to take you at least ten minutes just to find parking." Or if a person wants to go to shul to pray, the evil inclination tells him, "How much are you going to concentrate anyway? Most of the tefila you space out. It's not worth the effort." Let us make a simple kal v'chomer . If for one fruit, that is worth less than a penny to the farmer, the Torah gives him endless honor. How much more so if a person would wake up early in the morning and push himself out of bed to go to shul at a time when he wished he could sleep just a little longer. He fights himself and he goes anyway. How many worlds is he building in Shamayim for those efforts? Or after a long day's work, a person comes home and is so tired he just wants to relax, but instead he strengthens himself and goes back out to learn, sometimes in the freezing cold, searching for parking. Every word of Torah gives endless rewards. How much more so when they are learned with difficulty? Every deed that we do is worth so much and we can never underestimate even the smallest things that we do. A woman related, she heard a short class about giving chizuk to others. The rabbi specifically mentioned that if someone is going through a difficulty and that person has ever gotten chizuk that has helped him, then he should use that chizuk to give someone else he knows who is going through the same difficulty. The woman told this to her son who was having a very hard time in shidduchim . He took the advice and called someone that he knew was struggling in the same area. He gave him all the lines that have helped him in the past. The other boy thanked him for the kind words and then said, "You know, I have someone that I think would be great for you." P.S. A couple of weeks ago, they were celebrating their engagement. Every deed accomplishes worlds in Shamayim . We don't necessarily get to see their effects down here, but rest assured, every deed we do is immeasurable. Shabbat Shalom.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe There are many rituals that we do, often without thinking too much of their significance. When a person moves into a new home, he is supposed to make a Chanukat Habayit , which consists of a meal and a reading, including portions of Mishnah , Gemara , Zohar and Rambam. The idea is to thank Hashem for the home, and also to inaugurate its use with words of Torah. The rabbis tell us as well that the tikkun that is read and the Torah that is learned drive away all the harmful forces that may be in the home. A man told me that he moved into a new home and was planning on making a Chanukat Habayit a couple of weeks later when things were more settled. When his neighbor, who's a rabbi, heard of that plan, he told him he is supposed to do it the day he moves in and not to delay. It was very difficult, but the man listened. That night, in the middle of the night, their carbon monoxide alarm went off and the fire department came. They checked the home with a detector and found no traces of carbon monoxide. While they were there, they made some other inspections and found a burning hot wire in the wall, which, baruch Hashem, they were able to take care of and avoid a potential catastrophe. Everything we do in Torah and mitzvot has so much significance. The Me'am Loez writes in Parashat Ekev, anyone who's careful to do the mitzvah of mezuzah properly will get extra protection from Hashem, both when he is home and when he goes on the road. Like it says, ה' ישמור צאתך ובואך . We don't do the mitzvah because it provides protection, we do it because it's the will of Hashem. But this mitzvah, like all other mitzvot, provides side benefits and for this particular one, the side benefit is protection. A woman related that she moved into a new home a couple of months ago. Since the move, two of her daughters broke different bones and recently she broke her elbow. She went for an immediate x-ray, which showed a break, and the doctor said she would need surgery to repair it. In the meantime, someone suggested that she get the mezuzot checked. The writing was found to be of poor quality. Two of the mezuzot were completely disqualified and some of them were put upside down. After the sofer made all the necessary repairs, she went for a preliminary visit to a surgeon. When he checked the elbow, he said it was not broken and it would heal on its own. One of her daughters, who broke her foot right when they moved in two months ago, was never able to fully get healed. After the mezuzot were fixed, her foot went back to normal. Another man told me last year he shattered his kneecap and had to have a major surgery to fix it. He checked his mezuzot afterward and saw that in one of the mezuzot , one of the letters was broken into two. Another man told me, this past summer his children and their families stayed by his home. In the beginning of the summer, none of the grandchildren were able to sleep at night. Every single night there was another reason causing them to be up. After two weeks, they decided to get their mezuzot checked. It was found that in one of the mezuzot , the word ובקומך , which means to get up from sleeping, had an error. The word was divided into two, with a big space, rather than being one continuous word. All of our mitzvot benefit us one way or another. Our purpose in doing them is always just for the sake of Hashem, but it's good to know how much the mitzvot do for us. Besides for all the rewards they provide in the next world, they help us in this world as well.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe One of the ways that a person can receive an abundance of mercy from Hashem is by emulating His character traits. One of the middot of Hashem is called מי קל כמוך . The Tomer Devorah explains, this is referring to Hashem's attribute of having mercy on people despite the fact that they sin against Him. The pasuk says, ואתה מחיה את כולם - Hashem actively gives life to every living creature. A person cannot live without Hashem saying so. The way of the world is if someone gives another person a gift and that person uses the gift against the giver, the giver will most probably never give that person a gift again. And if he was able to, he would take back what he had already given. Hashem on the other hand, gives a person the gift of life and even while the person uses that gift to sin against Him, Hashem continues giving him the gift. Imagine a poor man pleading with a wealthy man to give him money. Finally, the wealthy man takes a large wad of cash and puts it into the hand of the poor man. At that same moment, the poor man takes the wad and smacks the wealthy man across the face with it. The obvious reaction of that wealthy man would be to take back what he had given. But what if instead the poor man then asked the wealthy man for another donation? This is the midda of מי קל כמוך . Even while we're sinning against Hashem, He continues pumping into us the gift of life. The angels call Hashem the מלך עלוב - the King who bears insult and shame. If someone is able to emulate this midda , that act would go up to the highest places in Shamayim and arouse so much Heavenly mercy for him and for the world. I read a story about a man who was making a Sheva Berachot in the courtyard of the building in which he lived. He wanted to have music and dancing and needed a place to plug in the speaker system. He asked the people who live on the first floor, who we'll call the Steins, if he could plug in the speakers to their outlet. Mr. Stein happily agreed and wished the man a mazal tov. That night, many guests came, and the party was very festive. However, it was almost midnight and the music was still blasting. Mr. Stein was trying to sleep, but he couldn't. He sent one of his children to tell the host that the hour was late and he had to shut off the music. The host replied that he would do it soon. Mr. Stein didn't know what soon meant. It could be another half hour or even an hour, especially since the people were having such a good time. Then, Mr. Stein's wife reminded him that they had the ability to shut the music whenever they wanted to because the speakers were plugged into their outlet. At that moment, Mr. Stein breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to go over to the outlet to pull out the plug. But before he did, he looked out the window and saw how much the family was enjoying themselves. He thought about it a little more and then decided to emulate Hashem's midda of מי קל כמוך and continue supplying the power to the people who were "using it against him." That was a heroic act and it activated such a special siyata d'Shamaya . A person should never say emulating Hashem is too hard. Because when Hashem created man, He blew a piece of Himself into him. We all have that same piece of Hashem inside of us. That neshama tehorah is capable of being like Hashem, and if we tap into it, we could accomplish amazing things. The next time we are tested in this area, we should stop ourselves from reacting with the animalistic part of us and instead follow what the Hashem part of us really wants to do.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe Sometimes it appears at face value that good people lose out and wicked people prosper. This is because Hashem hides Himself so well and does not let it be obvious that those who follow Him always win and those who don't always lose. Because if that would be obvious, we would lose our free will. Hashem's ways are beyond our comprehension. There's a story told which took place in the days of the Ibn Ezra. There were two people traveling and they sat down on the road to eat. One of them had three loaves of bread while the other had two. A third man was passing by and asked them if he could eat together with them, and he would pay for the meal. They sat together and ate all five loaves. Afterward, the third man paid the other two five gold coins. They then argued about how to divide the money. The man with the three loaves said he should get three coins while the other one should get two. The man with two loaves argued that the guest ate from both of them and they don't know who he ate more from so they should just split the money equally. They brought the question to the rabbi of the city and he ruled that the man who had three loaves gets four coins while the man with two loaves gets just one. When people heard the ruling they started mocking the rabbi and the Torah saying it made absolutely no sense. When the Ibn Ezra heard about the case, he bemoaned the fact that people have a hard time understanding the ruling of a human being made of flesh and blood, and yet they think they're capable of understanding the ways of Hashem. The Ibn Ezra explained the ruling simply to the people as follows: Each loaf can be divided into three parts so five loaves makes a total of 15 parts, which means most probably each person consumed five parts so the man who had two loaves had a total of six parts which means he ate five of his own and shared just one with the other men. The man with three loaves had nine parts; he ate five of his own and shared four with the other men. That is why he got four and the other person got one. We have a mitzvah to trust that what Hashem does is always just and upright and is the absolute best thing for us. The pasuk says תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך , which Rashi explains to mean כל מה שיבא אליך קבל בתמימות - anything that happens to you accept wholeheartedly. Rabbi Menashe Reizman said he visited a talmid chacham who has the dreaded disease known as ALS, he can't even move one limb in his body. The only thing that he has is his wisdom, his ability to think and comprehend. This particular talmid chacham had the disease for over 20 years and he is as happy as ever. He learns Torah with chavrutot from morning until night. Rabbi Reizman compared him to Nachum Ish Gamzu, someone who lost his hands and his feet and his eyes yet always managed to say " Gam zu l'tovah." This man has even less, because Nachum Ish Gamzu at least was able to talk while this man cannot, yet his face seems to be shining from the joy he has in his life. The natural response from someone in this position would be bitterness and agony, but someone who knows he has a mitzvah of תמים תהיה , someone who knows that Hashem is always doing best for him can shine despite his very difficult life. There are many people in this world who have very hard lives and they can't possibly fathom how what they are going through could be good. Yet, if they could say, "I don't have the ability to comprehend the ways of Hashem, but I trust that what He is doing is best for me," they can soar to the greatest heights. The harder that is to do, the more valuable it becomes. One day Hashem will enlighten us to see the goodness in everything He ever did, but before that happens, we can elevate ourselves by believing it and trusting in Him.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe The Rambam writes, the more a person learns about who Hashem is, the closer he gets to Him, and the more favor he finds in His eyes. There's a sefer called Tomer Devorah , which explains in detail the attributes of Hashem. Rav Chaim of Sanz said, to learn this sefer is a wondrous segula to be saved from all types of sicknesses and plagues. Simply the reason is because the way we act down here is the way that Hashem treats us from above. And when we learn about the ways of Hashem, and then emulate them, that opens the storehouses of blessing. One of the middot of Hashem is that He is חפץ חסד , He loves doing kindness. And that is something that we are supposed to emulate. The midrash in Bereshit Rabbah 33 tells of a very difficult famine which took place in the city of Rabbi Tanchuma. There had been a long drought, and the city residents requested the Rabbi to decree a fast day to stop the famine. The Rabbi agreed, and the entire city fasted, but it still didn't rain. Rabbi Tanchuma then decreed a second fast, but still no rain. After a third fast went by without results, Rabbi Tanchuma told the city residents to increase their acts of kindness. One day, someone saw a man giving money to his ex-wife, and being that according to halacha , a person is not allowed to have a relationship with his ex-wife, this person told Rabbi Tanchuma, suggesting that perhaps there was an aveira prolonging the drought. The Rabbi summoned the man to ask him why he was giving her money. The man replied, "I saw her in such distress without any money and no one helping her, so I decided to help." At that moment, Rabbi Tanchuma lifted his face towards heaven and said, "Hashem, this man who has no obligation whatsoever to feed this poor woman, yet he had mercy on her and did it anyway. You, who are our loving Father, who is filled with compassion and mercy, please feed your loving children." Immediately, the skies opened up and it began to pour. We see from here that a simple man, with one pure act of chesed , could accomplish more than three fast days by an entire community. This is the value of having compassion on others and helping them. The Yerushalmi in Masechet Ta'anit tells the story of another occasion in which there was a severe drought in Israel. It was told to some Chachamim in a dream that if a certain donkey driver would pray for rain, then the blessing would pour down. The Chachamim called over this man and asked him what he did for a living. He replied that he transports merchandise on his donkey for people. Then they asked him if there was something special that he did recently. He said that a woman came crying to him, asking to rent his donkey. He asked her why she was crying. She said her husband was taken to prison by the Romans for not paying certain taxes they were requesting. They would not release him until they got the money. So she thought maybe she could rent a donkey and use it to make money with. The man had compassion on her. He sold the donkey and gave her the money to redeem her husband. The Rabbis asked this man to pray for the community to have rain and Hashem immediately answered his tefila . When we emulate Hashem and have compassion on His children, it opens up the gates of blessing and mercy.

Living Emunah 2620 How to Deal with Difficulties If a person is given a very difficult situation to deal with, having emunah does not mean that the person just says, "There's nothing to worry about. I know Hashem is with me. Everything will be fine." It is true that Hashem could take the person out of the difficulty in the blink of an eye, but it doesn't just happen with a positive attitude. A difficulty is something serious that needs to be dealt with in the proper way. The pasuk says, when we go out to war and see an army greater than us advancing towards us, לא תירא מהם . We are not to fear them because we have Hashem with us. Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out, it doesn't say have no fear at all. It says don't be afraid of them . The army has no control, but Hashem does. From Him we must have fear. Someone in a difficult situation who has bitachon will increase his fear of Hashem. He will say, "I know Hashem can save me. And I also know Hashem wants something from me." The difficulty is a calling to get closer to Hashem, to improve spiritually, to pray harder. But to just say everything's fine and continue living life as is, is not emunah or bitachon . Bitachon requires work, to understand who Hashem is and what His capabilities are, to fully believe in His ability to help. Yes, He loves us and wants to help us, but first we have to do something to activate that Heavenly help. Hashem can help us in many ways, in ways in which we could never imagine. A man told me he was in great need of money, and he exhausted all the natural possibilities of obtaining it. He put all of his energy into heartfelt tefila , getting closer to Hashem. Amazingly, he received a check in the mail from his mortgage company from something which took place seven years ago. The mortgage company said they decided to reopen a case and they ruled in his favor, sending him the unexpected check just when he needed it the most. The man had a problem. He worked hard on his tefila, and then Hashem helped him. Another man told me he had a large order that arrived at the port, and his customer's clearance agent told him that he was informed by the FDA that the item he ordered was considered a medical device and would not pass inspection without a registered medical device number. The supplier did not have this number, and there was no other way for him to get it. The supplier wouldn't take the merchandise back either, which left this man with a big problem. He made all the hishtadlut he could make to get that number but was unsuccessful. This meant that the goods were just going to have to be destroyed, leaving him with a very big loss. He decided he was going to go to the only One who was really in charge. He worked on his emunah to believe that Hashem orchestrated this entire process for his good, to the point where he was thanking Hashem for the position he was in. Amazingly, the next day, the FDA released the goods without the number they were requesting. When someone is given an issue, it's usually a calling to get closer to Hashem. If the person works on improving himself and his bitachon in Hashem, then he is responding with emunah.

We are taking a break from the Bet Halevi today, to share a beautiful that I saw over the weekend from Rav Don Segal, one of the great Mashgichim of the generation. He says that David Hamelech says (Tehilim perek 27), “ אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יְהֹוָה֮ אוֹתָ֢הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ Achat Sha'alti/There's One thing that I ask from Hashem, and that's what I request.” What is that One thing? שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹעַם־יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵֽיכָלֽו “To sit in the house of Hashem all days of my life, to gaze in the sweetness of God, to visit in His sanctuary. So simply, that's the one thing he's asking for. But Rav Segal explains, in what we call a Drush (which means it's not the simple reading of the pasuk), that the word אחת Achat also shows up where is says, בָּא חֲבַקּוּק וְהֶעֱמִידָן עַל אַחַת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״ Habakuk came and put the the entire religion on one pilla (on one mitzvah). And what is that? וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה״. The righteous man lives with his Emunah. It's not just that the righteous man has Emunah in his mind, but he lives with Emunah. (This, by the way, is the source for the amazingly successful Living Emunah series. It's called Living Emunah because of וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה״ Sadik B'Emunato Yihyeh The righteous man lives by his Emunah. That's where Rabbi Ashear got the title- from Habakkuk) So Habakuk took the whole religion and put it on one thing. Says Rav Don Segal, that's what David Hamelech meant when he said, אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת ה׳ “ I ask from Hashem, I want the Achat !I want the ONE thing.. I want that ONE main thing. That's what I'm asking Hashem for. Give me Emunah. Give me Living Emunah. I want to live with Emunah. That's all that I want.” That's what David Hamelech was asking for. What does the continuation of the pasuk mean? שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י Shivti B'Bet Hashem.. I'll dwell in the house of Hashem all days of my life. If I have that Emunah, and I'm living Emunah , then I am in the house of God all days of my life. Wherever I go becomes the house of God because I have that Emunah, and so God's with me wherever I go. And that is Yosef HaSadik as well. Wherever Yosef HaSadik goes, the words of Hashem are on his mouth. Wherever he goes, they see God is with him, because he's always praying. He's always whispering. He's always saying something. His boss says, “ What are you saying? Are you trying to put incantations on me?” He says, “No . I'm praying that I should find favor in your eyes. I'm thanking Hashem that I was successful.” All day, God's name is on his mouth. Always . And that's why Vayehi Hashem Et Yosef/Hashem is with Yosef and brings him success. And that is why, although Yosef Hasadik is in Mitzrayim, in the most contaminated of places, he continues to grow and grow and grow like he's in the Bet Midrash. We have to realize that Yosef became Yosef HaSadik despite the fact that he was stolen from the yeshiva. He gave up the best 22 years of his life- from 17 till 39! He could have grown and grown and grown in yeshiva to become outstanding. And yet he did it in Mitzrayim, in the house of Potiphar, in a jail, in the king's palace. How did he do that? The answer is, wherever he went, he was B'bet Hashem. He was always in the Bet Midrash. He was always in the house of study. Why? Because, “ Achat Sha'alti M'et Hashem/ I asked for the ONE. I asked for Sadik B'Emunato Yihyeh. I asked for that pillar. When you have that pillar, it's Shivti b'Bet Hashem Kol Yeme Hayai I'm in the house of God always. I see the sweetness of God. I'm visiting in His palace, His sanctuary. ” When David Hamelech says (Perek 116) אֶ֭תְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה בְּ֝אַרְצ֗וֹת הַחַיִּֽים I'm going to walk in front of God, in the land of the living,” most commentaries say Arsot HaChaim refers to Eretz Yisrael, a place where God's Shechinah is. That's what it means. “I'll go in front of Hashem.” But the Gemara in Masechet Yoma, (71A) says that it refers to the marketplace . Why is it called Arsot HaChaim ? Because it's where you buy your food. That's the simple explanation. Others say it refers to Gan Eden. How could we have such different explanations? The Ben Ish Chai says in the sefer Ben Yoyada on Yoma, it means, “ I always see myself in front of God. Even when I'm buying things for bodily functions, I'm always in front of God. ” That's David Hamelech. That's the Sadik B'Emunato Yihyeh. As long as he's focusing on Hashem, living in Emunah, he's always in Gan Eden. He's always in Bet Hashem, wherever he is. That's the power of Achat, the power of One. One is Emunah. Have a wonderful day

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html When a person realizes how intimately Hashem is involved inhis life, it brings such a good feeling. It brings a sense of calm andtranquility. He understands that everything that is transpiring in his life isbeing orchestrated by his loving Father who only wants his best. So even whenthings are not going the way that he hoped, he's still able to remain in acomplete state of happiness, knowing with a clarity that whatever is happeningis exactly what is meant to be happening. Hashem knows our innermost feelings.He feels what we're feeling. He knows what we're going through. That itselfshould give a person chizuk to persevere through times of challenge. When a personsees so clearly Hashem's loving care for him, it strengthens his Emunah in avery big way. A woman told me that one year ago, before Rosh Hashanah,her father received a gift from a Yeshiva that he helped support. It was abeautiful set of black leather-bound benchers. Being that he is Sephardic andthe benchers were nusach Ashkenaz , he really had no use for them. Thenext time he went to visit his daughter at her house, he brought over the setand gave them to her. She said "Dad, I also have no use for these."He told her, "Please find someone who could use them." So she leftthem on her front table for the time being. That erev Shabbat was thefirst time she could remember that she finished her Shabbat preparations early,and she decided to go sit out on her front porch to relax a little. When shewent outside, she saw a religious man walking by. She immediately thought ofthe benchers and ran in to get them. She sent her son to go give them to thatman telling him that they have no use for them and would be happy if someoneelse would use them. Initially, the man refused the extravagant gift, but afterthe woman told him from her porch that he would be doing them a favor by takingthem, he accepted them. Fast forward one year to this year during the AseretYemei Teshuva. This woman got a knock at her door from a Mrs. Goldberg whomshe did not recognize. Mrs. Goldberg said, "I'm here to thank you. I meantto come so many times this year. I just never got around to it. Last year, atthis time you gave my husband the leather-bound benchers. You have no idea whatthat meant to me. You see, last year we had the hardest year financially of ourlives. My husband told me we were not going to be able to buy anything new forthe Yom Tov of Sukkot. I totally accepted it. But there was one thingthat I really wanted— new black leather-bound benchers. I did not tell oneperson about it, not even my husband. Only Hashem knew what was in my heart.Then my husband came home that erev Shabbat and said he managed to getme a Yom Tov present, and explained how. When I saw what it was, I feltlike I got the biggest hug from Hashem. He knew exactly what I wanted, and Hedelivered it right into my hands." The hashgacha of this storyis mind blowing—for that woman to be on her porch at that time, and just thenthe one man whose wife wanted those benchers so badly happened to be walkingby. This episode gave that woman so much strength. Although she was having ahard year, she realized Hashem was in total control and taking care of everyone of her needs. And that gave her the most chizuk.

Living Emunah 2388 Every Tefila Some tefilot are answered on the spot. A man told me he was out of work for two months and just couldn't find a new job. He was told about a special tefila from the Ramak for parnasa, so he sat in shul one day and said it, pouring out his heart to Hashem. One hour later, he received a phone call with someone offering him just the job he was hoping for. I read a story about a man who is an eved Hashem and toils in Torah. He was not always religious, however. He used to serve as a judge in a secular court. He had a very respectable position and was publicized by the media as a very important person. During his journey of coming back to Hashem, he was called to preside over a ceremony appointing new judges. As is customary at these ceremonies, a special waiter was appointed to pour wine into each person's glass. This man was at the head table and all eyes would be on him when they would pick up their glasses to drink together. He was religious now and did not want to partake of the non-kosher wine, but it would be too embarrassing not to drink. He prayed from the depths of his heart that Hashem should save him from having to drink this wine. The waiter was going from glass to glass and precisely when he reached this judge, the wine bottle was empty. The waiter apologized profusely for the embarrassing mistake, saying he couldn't understand after so many years of experience with these events how he had made this error. We, however, know what happened; Hashem answered this judge's tefila on the spot. Sometimes people pray for years for something they want without seeing the results they were hoping for. Their prayers have surely made a tremendous influence, and it could very well be that the next prayer will put them over the top. Chazal tell us, a prayer with tears has so much power. The sefer Tochachat Musar quotes the Zohar HaKadosh who says that the door in Shamayim into which the tears go through is opened only by Hashem Himself. Rabbi Ephraim Sharabani told a story about a young man he knows personally. This young man has a very big issue which is the obvious reason why, b'derech hateva, he was having such a hard time getting married. Every girl who heard about his issue immediately refused the shidduch. One night, Rabbi Sharabani went upstairs in his shul and saw this young man alone in the midrash crying to Hashem. The young man did not realize the Rabbi was there. He was saying, “Hashem, I know You are in pain because I am your son and I am experiencing so much pain. Please, Daddy, help me.” Tears were streaming down his face as he kept praying. The Rabbi felt the intensity of the prayers and knew they were making a big difference in Shamayim. It was not too long after that night that he finally got a shidduch that was willing to go out with him. After the first date, he couldn't believe she actually wanted to continue. Eventually, they got married. And when he asked her how she is able to tolerate his issue, she said, “My brother has the exact same thing, I'm very used to it. It doesn't bother me at all.” Everybody has a match out there for them. Although people may have been praying for years with tears without seeing results, they should never give up because perhaps the next one will be the one that bring the yeshua. Every tefila makes an impact, some are answered on the spot, and some take more time. We must never give up. The more emotional the tefila is, the better it is.

The month of Nisan is auspicious for salvations. Our Chazal have told us, in this month of Nisan will come our ultimate salvation, the redemption from our current exile, which we hope will take place today. One of the great Rebbes once said, just like when Adar comes we increase our joy, when Nisan comes, we increase our emunah. No matter what problem a person is experiencing, he must believe that Hashem could rescue him in an instant. We say in the haggadah , כל דיכפין ייתי וייכל – whoever is hungry should come and eat. Now is the time for a person who has been struggling with parnasa to be zocheh to an abundance of blessing. We say כל דצריך ייתי ויפסח – whoever is in a time of difficulty and needs to get out of it should pass over his problem and merit a personal redemption. People feel chained in their problems and want to experience the wonderful feeling of freedom. B'ezrat Hashem now is the time. Singles who have been waiting years to get married would love to experience the joy of marriage. Everyone loves to hear of a good segula they could do to speed up the process, and there are segulot brought down regarding shidduchim . Some of them include accepting Shabbat early, helping others get married, saying Az Yashir with kavana , but the greatest segula of all is tefila with true emunah of Who we are speaking to and His exclusive ability to help us. We must never give up on tefila , no matter how long we have been praying for something. The longer we keep our hope, the more valuable the tefilot become. Anything done with great self-sacrifice is always a good segula for yeshua . Rabbi Chizkiyahu Mishkovski told a story about a family in Ramat Shlomo who had a widowed mother living alone for years. The children were able to take turns visiting her, making sure all of her needs were taken care of, but as she got older, she became much weaker and required care 24/7. She refused to have an aide in the house and she refused to go to a nursing home, which meant that the responsibility to care for her fell completely on her children. One of her boys lived in Bnei Brak. Each time he came in, it took him nearly two hours each way, having to use multiple buses. For him to come more than one day a week was going to be extremely hard. The same was true of some of the other children. The daughter who lived in Yerushalayim discussed the matter with her husband and, heroically, they said to the other family members that their own family will make sure to have someone there around the clock six days a week and the other children could just take turns coming in one day a week. They didn't do this begrudgingly. They told the others they were happy to have the zechut of doing this precious mitzvah. This family had three girls of marriageable age, all not married. One was 28, one was 26 and one was 21. After just one month of this family's self-sacrifice with their mother, the 28-year-old girl got engaged. A month after that the 26-year-old got engaged and, amazingly, a month after that, the 21-year-old got engaged. They told the Rabbi, “When our mother got weak and needed this care, we felt the extreme difficulty and pressure of having to take care of her all the time, but little did we know, this was going to be the ticket to our salvation. All of those years of difficulty trying to get our daughters married, and now in just three months all of them got engaged.” The opportunities we get in life to put forth self-sacrifice in the performance of mitzvot is a gift to us from Hashem for our own good. May everyone experience the glorious feelings of salvation in this wonderful month. Baruch Hashem, we are happy to announce the release of Living Emunah on the Topic of Shidduchim from Artscroll. It can be attained at any local sefarim store.

Welcome to Embrace Shabbat. We have mentioned in the past that Shabbat is our opportunity to advertise G-d to the world and that whoever keeps Shabbat becomes a partner with G-d in creation. One Friday night, a great Rabbi was asked to give a bracha to a person that was deathly ill. He replied that the person should wait until after Kiddush because at that point, the Rabbi would become a partner with G-d in creation and would have the right to voice his opinion. Every Friday night, we become a partner with G-d in creation and have the chance to voice our opinion! This opportunity is especially important before Rosh Hashana, when G-d recreates the world for us- we want to become a partner with G-d in creation! This seems like an impossible task. The world was created so long ago; didn't we miss our opportunity? Although the person advertising for a company is not producing or selling, he still can get a share in the business. Rabbi Adess gives a mashal of three partners: one works in production, one works in sales, and one works in advertising. At the end of the year, they split the profits equally. Someone protests, “but the person advertising has nothing to do with the product!” He answers, “You are right, but if not for the advertising, no one would be buying the product.” The Jewish people are the advertisers of G-d- we do things to spread G-d's word. In the past week, I have been advertising the opportunity we have to spread G-d's word through “airborne propaganda.” Previously, this term referred to the act of dropping leaflets from airplanes during wartime in order to influence the enemy. We can utilize a similar tactic to “fight” against the war of heresy. We have to keep advertising! Over 30 years ago, I had a fellow by my house who worked in the world of advertising. I asked him a question that had been bothering me for a while: why does Coke continue to spend money on advertising- everyone knows about Coke! How long do they need to advertise for?” He answered with three reasons: Pepsi is also advertising! If Coke doesn't advertise, then Pepsi is going to advertise against them. People forget. They are fickle. There is always an emerging market. There are new people that didn't hear about it. The same three concepts apply to our job of advertising: There is a world outside that is advertising that there is no g-d. People forget. What about the children? They are the emerging market! We can do so many different things to spread G-d's word. And it doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot of money! Last week, we raised over $25,000 to give out books on Emunah and Bitachon. Giving out books is such a great way to advertise our message. Each year, there is a fellow in our community, Mr. Avi Ben Dayan, who gives out thousands of copies of the book Aleppo: City of Scholars to graduating classes so that they can learn about their heritage. His brother, Mr. Charlie Ben Dayan, also gives out children's books every single year to graduating preschoolers so that children can read about their heritage. There are so many other opportunities. You can order any book to spread awareness! Send an email to rabbisutton@gmail.com and say that you would like to order a bulk order of Rabbi Asher's Living Emunah for Children to send to a school. Or that you would like to order Living Shabbat or Embrace Shabbat . It is important to fight the way that the enemy fights. There is a fellow that spends millions of dollars on propaganda a year and he is literally swaying countries! We have to fight back as well. If anyone is interested in giving out books to organizations, you can send me an email at rabbisutton@gmail.com to give a pledge. Just last week, people sent $5,000, $2,600, or $1,800 because of these videos. BH people are generous at the end of the year and it is a great zechut to give children books on Shabbat or Emunah. Have a Shabbat Shalom and a good year. We should only share good things together.

A man told me he became inspired after hearing a class about the power of answering אמן יהא שמיה רבה מברך... with kavana . It is a great praise that we give Hashem and it has the power to change decrees. He had been struggling for months trying to close a large business deal. One party involved was being very stubborn and not allowing it to go through. It seemed like they had hit an insurmountable roadblock. The man strengthened himself saying, “People are not in charge of holding back business deals, only Hashem is and if Hashem is holding it back it must only be for my best.” He decided to think about that while praising Hashem during the words יהא שמיה רבה מברך in Kaddish. The next time he was in shul, he said those words with great kavana . About an hour later, the party who was holding back the deal called him saying he decided he would proceed if certain things would be done. The man said it was amazing, he hadn't been in contact with him for two weeks and right after the יהא שמיה רבה he called. He continued having kavana the entire week and, baruch Hashem, on Thursday of that week the deal was finally closed. It's so nice to see a glorious end to an emunah story, but as we know, things do not always happen that way. Sometimes people respond with emunah but don't receive the salvation they were hoping for. They must know, the response they had is the greatest gain. Hashem will bring the yeshua if and when the time is right, but the rewards for the response will be paid for all eternity. We can't imagine the value of having even one heroic emunah response. A man sent me an email a while back and at that time he did not want the email to be publicized. He wanted to wait at least 2 years before publicizing it. And now, that time has come. I do not know any details to the conclusion of the story he told, but in my mind, the response itself is the whole story. He said that he had gone through a divorce that he did not really want. And to make matters worse, one of his children, a daughter, took sides with her mother and refused to have any communication or contact with him. He used to be so close to that daughter and then, all of a sudden, all communication had to end with her. The pain of losing his wife and his daughter was overwhelming. He entered into a darkness which he never experienced before. People tried to give him chizuk but he could not be consoled. One day, he saw a talmid chacham in his shul reading the book Living Emunah. He inquired about it and the rabbi told him it had a tremendous influence on improving the quality of his life and he suggested that he should get it as well. The man went to get it the next day and never put it down. And then, read Volume 2 afterward. He said the following in the email, “I felt so distant from the ba'al bitachon that is described in the book, but nevertheless I tried to live the lessons the book was teaching. It was nothing short of a miracle that my attitude in life started to improve. I stopped constantly sulking and, once again held my head up, and for the first time in my life, I looked forward to praying. Every day I would read and reread and I became a different person. I clearly see that Hashem is in charge of all events that take place and He loves me more than my parents and that everything He does is good. I can't exactly see how my daughter distancing herself from me is good, but I have no questions. I trust that He is doing everything for my own benefit. I have recently discovered that my daughter got engaged and I was told by someone else that I would not be allowed to attend the wedding. Before I learned emunah, that news would have devastated me. Now, I pray that my daughter should build a bayit ne'eman . I also pray to Hashem that He will allow me to attend the wedding, but if He doesn't I will accept it and on the night of the wedding I will dance alone in my apartment. A while back I told my rav that if I would not be allowed to attend my daughter's wedding, I would appreciate it if he wouldn't go as well. After learning emunah, I begged the rabbi to disregard what I told him and rather participate in any simcha my daughter makes. Why should I prevent Hashem's ratzon ? I even told the rav that I would be willing to pay for the wedding, even if I couldn't attend.” That was basically the end of the email. I hope that man was able to dance at his daughter's wedding. But even if he wasn't, his emunah response was his greatest gain, something that he will be rewarded for l'netzach netzachim .

We all go through challenges. I've been going through a several-year challenge and when I came upon a recent Torah teaching, it gave me a lot of comfort. Then it seemed like everywhere I turned, I was learning new insights into how to grow through pain and suffering. I share these lessons on the Podcast today, through the lens of my own challenges, in hopes that it will inspire you to grow through your pain. Click here for all things Modern Jewish GirlReferences:·      Living Emunah on the Parashah, Rabbi David Ashear (Parsha Vayechi) ·      Yehudis Golshevsky, Zohar on the Parsha, Shiviti 

We are pleased to announce that Living Emunah 6 has been released. To order directly from Artscroll and get free shipping, click the link below and add promo code EMUNAHFREE https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422630235.html “The Best Book in the Series Yet! Order the NEW Living Emunah Vol. 6 at 10% off + FREE SHIPPING at ArtScroll.com Use code: EMUNAHFREE” If a person is going through a difficult time, it is very easy for him to blame other people and circumstances for it. It may seem that someone was directly responsible for causing the difficulty. It may seem that if certain things were done differently, it could have been avoided. And so the person thinks about all the “what if's” and how things should have been different. It is during these times that a person has a big opportunity to shine, to see through what meets the eye and recognize that it was Hashem who was behind it all. Although what happened might not seem to be fair, it's up to the person to say, “It must be for my best, I will not blame anyone. I will accept that this is from Hashem. I will do my best to maintain loving and peaceful relationships with all of those around me.” This avodah is extremely valuable. It could very well be that one of the reasons the difficulty occurred was specifically to give the person the opportunity to go through it with emunah which will then open the door for Hashem to shower him with blessing. I read a story in the Machon Shaar HaBitachon that a man, who we'll call Shimon, related about how he became extremely wealthy. He said he is the youngest in a large family. His father worked hard to provide for them and managed to marry off all of them. All of his brothers got apartments, but when it was his turn, his father had already gotten sick and a short while later he passed away. After the shiva, his brothers sat together to discuss how to divide up the estate. Shimon was sure he was going to get his father's apartment since he was the only one who didn't get one. But not everybody felt the same way and being that there were a total of ten brothers, there were many different opinions. The majority consensus was to sell the apartment and divide the proceeds equally, but that was going to take time. In the meantime, Shimon had to rent his own apartment with no financial help. He was so upset, he went to his rabbi and asked if he could halachically demand the apartment for himself, after all, everyone else got their own apartment and his father was going to get him one too. The rabbi said, “You have a great case, but I have a piece of advice for you that will gain you much more: Shalom is worth millions. Don't fight with them. Accept your lot in order to gain peace and you'll see you'll only gain from it.” Shimon took the rabbi's advice. It was not easy, being that his family was growing and he really needed the money. From then on, each time he passed his childhood home he would think of his brothers, living peacefully in their own homes while he had to work day and night to cover his rent. He wished he was able to accept this inwardly with more happiness, but he wasn't on the level yet. Nonetheless, outwardly he was able to maintain shalom and that avodah elevated him greatly. He decided to learn a profession and started advertising a service that he could provide. In the beginning, the customers came in a slight trickle, but after a while they were coming in droves. He had to hire more workers and open more branches and after a few years he was earning millions. Hashem sent His blessing in a way he could never have imagined. At one point, one of his brothers who had been opposed to giving him that apartment, needed a medical procedure that cost a half a million dollars that he couldn't afford. Shimon heroically stepped up and paid for the entire procedure out of his own pocket. He did not take revenge or bear a grudge. And he testified that after that episode, his business success began to hit new levels. His ability to rise above the difficult circumstance he was put in opened the door for Hashem's blessings to come pouring in. While going through any difficulty, it's very hard to do it with emunah. But with a little chizuk, everyone can find within themselves the strength to persevere.

We are pleased to announce that Living Emunah 6 has been released. To order directly from Artscroll and get free shipping, click the link below and add promo code EMUNAHFREE https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422630235.html “The Best Book in the Series Yet! Order the NEW Living Emunah Vol. 6 at 10% off + FREE SHIPPING at ArtScroll.com Use code: EMUNAHFREE” Although after a person leaves this world he is no longer able to perform mitzvot , Chazal tell us that a child is considered an extension of his parents and every mitzvah a child does is considered as if his deceased parent is actively doing it as well. There is no greater pleasure than for someone in Gan Eden to be able to rise to higher levels. Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita , said that a grandchild's performance of mitzvot has the same effect for his grandparent as a child has for his parent. What a zechut it is for a parent to leave offspring in this world who are Yirei Shamayim . The same way Hashem gives siyata d'Shamaya to someone in this world, who has zechut, to help him do more mitzvot , He also gives siyata d'Shamaya to people in the Next World who have zechut to help get mitzvot done on their behalf. A man told over a story about his grandfather Rabbi Michael Dreyfus from New York. Rabbi Dreyfus is part of a Daf Yomi group where the youngest participant is about 80 years old. One day, a young man walked in who looked like he was about 40 and sat down and opened a Gemara, listening in on the class. At the end of the shiur, this young man called out, “Let's say Kaddish.” All of the older men in the shiur were very surprised at this young man's boldness. Here he came from the outside to sit in on their class and then he's making suggestions about what they should do afterwards.Furthermore, there were only a total of seven people in the room and a minimum of ten was required for Kaddish. This young man then quoted a statement from Chazal that the world stands on the yeheh shmeh raba that is said after a class of Torah sheBaal Peh . He asked everyone to please wait there while he went out to find three people. He came back a few minutes later and handed a siddur to Rabbi Dreyfus, inviting him to be the one to say the Kaddish. They said the " Rebbi Chananaya ben Akashya …" and then Rabbi Dreyfus proceeded to say Kaddish. When Rabbi Dreyfus got home that evening, it was already after dark. He was told that his sister from Israel had repeatedly called, trying to get in touch with him. That day was their grandfather's yahrtzeit and she was designated to remind him to say Kaddish on his behalf. Every year she made a point to call him in advance of the day, but this time she forgot to call and was hoping to catch him before the day ended, but by now it was already too late. At that moment, Rabbi Dreyfus understood the unbelievable hashgacha that he had just experienced. That young man seemed to have come out of nowhere to sit in their class that day. In actuality, he was sent by Hashem to remind him to say Kaddish. He suggested that they say Kaddish, he went outside to complete the minyan and then, out of all the people there, he handed Rabbi Dreyfus the siddur to say it. Rabbi Dreyfus's grandfather had a zechut in Shamayim that he shouldn't lose out on the Kaddish on his yahrtzeit, and Hashem gave him s iyata d'Shamaya to get it done.

We are pleased to announce that Living Emunah 6 has been released. To order directly from Artscroll and get free shipping, click the link below and add promo code EMUNAHFREE https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422630235.html “The Best Book in the Series Yet! Order the NEW Living Emunah Vol. 6 at 10% off + FREE SHIPPING at ArtScroll.com Use code: EMUNAHFREE” There are times when people need immediate salvation. They know already that they need to pray hard but they also want to know if there is something else they could do that could possibly speed up the process. They want to know if there is a segula that could help them with their particular need. In general, prayer and good deeds are always our greatest tools to overturn decrees, and usually the way it works is the more difficult it is to perform the deed, the greater value it has. We need to keep our eyes open for the opportunities that Hashem is presenting us with. He knows which mitzvot could help us the most and sometimes He sets up the circumstance where the answer to our problem is the very deed He puts before us to perform. Most likely, it will not be easy to do and it will appear to have come about through happenstance, but it is up to us to understand that it came from Hashem and He is giving us the exact opportunity we need. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman told a story which recently took place in Israel. There is a hall there which has two places to have a party. One is much bigger and nicer than the other. In early December, two families had booked the nicer hall to make a sheva berachot . The manager accidentally booked both for the same exact night. The caterer set up “Family B” in the smaller, not so nice hall, and he set up “Family A” in the larger, nicer hall. When both families showed up that evening, a dispute erupted. The owner of the hall had to be called down to somehow figure out what to do. When he got there, he heard Family B saying if this wasn't resolved they were going to take their whole party to a restaurant and then sue the hall for the pain and suffering they caused. The owner went over to Family B requesting them to be mevater. He told them their party would be much nicer spiritually if they would be mevater because they would be performing a great mitzvah and it would be something they would never forget. He also offered them a large discount on the regular price of the smaller hall, as well as free hotel rooms in a hotel in Tiberias. But they wouldn't hear of it, they had a large amount of people coming, and they were set on having a beautiful party in beautiful surroundings. When the owner saw he wasn't getting anywhere with Family B, he went to go try to talk to Family A. They said, “We're already set up here, our musicians have set up already, and we don't want to switch.” The owner pleaded with them and said he would give them a major discount. The man of the family said he didn't need a discount and, in fact, if it was up to him, he'd be willing to switch halls. But he told the owner he would first have to convince his wife of it. The owner went over to the wife and said, “You have an opportunity to do a great chesed and acquire an enormous mitzvah which will bring about peace to everyone. Giving in is a great zechut . Don't you want a great zechut for your family?” Those words struck a chord in this woman's heart. Just a week earlier, her father was diagnosed with the machala and he was going to have to travel to Brussels, Belgium for a difficult surgery to remove it. She said, “Okay, I need the zechut for my father. We'll give in in the zechut that it should help him have a refuah shelemah .” The caterer switched everything around and both parties were held that night. That Thursday, four days later, her father went for his first chemotherapy treatment. A CT Scan was done and the doctor was in shock. He told them it looks like he made a mistake, there was only something small there which didn't need chemo or a surgery. A certain medication in the form of a pill would be sufficient to cure it. The family celebrated and thanked Hashem for giving them the opportunity to do a heroic act and thereby bring about the refuah shelemah they were hoping for. Good deeds are wondrous, especially when they are very difficult to perform.

We are pleased to announce that Living Emunah 6 has been released. To order directly from Artscroll and get free shipping, click the link below and add promo code EMUNAHFREE https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422630235.html “The Best Book in the Series Yet! Order the NEW Living Emunah Vol. 6 at 10% off + FREE SHIPPING at ArtScroll.com Use code: EMUNAHFREE” If someone ever insulted or harmed another individual, in order for this person to be completely absolved of that transgression, he must get forgiveness from the one he harmed, besides for the teshuva he needs to make with Hashem. Nobody wants other people harboring hatred towards him. Besides from the blessing it may be blocking, it also leaves the person with a blemish on his neshama . We must try our hardest to be sensitive to the feelings of other people. But, there may be times when we inadvertently hurt others without even realizing it. In those instances, we won't even know what we did to ask forgiveness for. Part of a person's tefilot to Hashem should be asking Him for help to avoid harming others and if, chas v'shalom, he already did, to be able to have the opportunity to get forgiven. Hashem could help us with all of our spiritual needs including this very important one. A rabbi from Bnei Brak who spends his days and nights engrossed in Torah related the following story of how Hashem helped him in this area. The rabbi said his wife takes care of all the household needs and most of the time she does all of the household errands. On one occasion it was very important that she deposit a certain check in the bank on a certain day. For whatever reason, she was prevented from being able to go that day so she called her husband and asked him what to do. With no choice, her husband left his learning to go deposit the check. It was the first time she ever called him away from his learning to do an errand. The rabbi went and waited on a long line at the bank and finally, when it was his turn to make the deposit, the bank teller seemed to recognize him. The teller asked him if he was born in England, to which the rabbi replied, “Yes.” Then the teller asked him if he went to a certain yeshiva when he was younger. Once again the rabbi replied, “Yes.” The teller then asked him if he recognized who he was to which the rabbi replied, “No.” The teller then told him, “For the last 30 years, every Yom Kippur I ask Hashem to forgive all of those people who wronged me. But then I say, everyone except you. You are the only one I don't forgive.” The rabbi was shocked to hear this revelation. The man proceeded to tell him the story of what he did. Basically, he caused him to feel uncomfortable in that yeshiva when they were younger which caused him to want to leave and he ended up going to a different school which he regretted his whole life and held this rabbi responsible for. The rabbi had no idea that he caused this. He started crying and begging the bank teller to forgive him. They went over to the side to talk and at the end of their conversation they were both crying. The man forgave the rabbi and they hugged. Turned out this bank teller works in the same branch of this bank in Tel Aviv but on this day, they were short staffed in the branch in Bnei Brak and they asked this teller to go work there instead. This was the one day that the Rebbitzin asked her husband to leave his learning to go do this errand. The hashgacha of Hashem here was clear and obvious. He gave the rabbi the zechut to be forgiven for an act that he didn't even know he did. That man had been harboring hatred for 30 years and if this episode didn't happen the rabbi would never have known about it. Hashem can help us with everything, even getting forgiven for a misdeed that we didn't know we did. It is up to us to ask Hashem for siyata d'Shamaya for everything.

We are pleased to announce that Living Emunah 6 has been released. To order directly from Artscroll and get free shipping, click the link below and add promo code EMUNAHFREE “The Best Book in the Series Yet! Order the NEW Living Emunah Vol. 6 at 10% off + FREE SHIPPING at ArtScroll.com. Use code: EMUNAHFREE” After makat barad, Pharaoh declared “Hashem HaTzaddik”, and the midrash says because Pharaoh honored Hashem with those words, Hashem honored him, as well as all of the Egyptians, by giving them a proper burial. Even though Pharaoh didn't wholeheartedly mean what he said and he still denied letting the Jews go free afterward, he was still rewarded. Honoring Hashem is extremely valuable. One of the ways a person can bring glory to the Name of Hashem is by praising Him even when he's not getting what he wants. The Gemara says in Masechet Shabbat that if a person says the words Amen,יהא שמיה רבה מברך לעלם ולעלמי עלמיא with all of his strength, it would rip up an evil decree even if that decree was supposed to last for 70 years. One of the explanations for this is that this person had already been suffering with this decree and yet he was still able to praise the Name of Hashem with all of his might, saying those beautiful words יהא שמיה רבה מברך, that brings honor to the Name of Hashem and, in turn, Hashem brings that person honor. Rabbi David Amon, the Rosh Yeshiva of Noam HaTorah in Eretz Yisrael, told me that every year on Rosh Hashanah, his yeshiva works extra hard on having kavana in saying those words יהא שמיה רבה properly. And for each Kaddish they say the right way, they dedicate the יהא שמיה רבה to a different person who needs help. Baruch Hashem, they have seen many yeshuot come about from this practice over the past few years. Last year, a shul whose congregants get together basically just on the High Holidays, called one of the Rabbi's students to ask him if he would lead their services for Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur. The young Rabbi accepted the job and flew to a different country to try to be a positive influence on this congregation. He prepared inspiring speeches and was hoping to get some of them to become more observant. At the end of the tefila on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, two men came over to this young Rabbi and asked him if he could give each one of them a beracha . One of them was 38 and the other one was 39 and neither of them were married yet. The young Rabbi was humbled by the request, feeling that he was not someone capable of giving a beracha to them. But he told these two men he had a better idea. He proceeded to tell them about the power of Amen, יהא שמיה רבה מברך and how answering the right way could do wonders. He told them all of the success stories that he personally witnessed in his yeshiva and then suggested that he would speak to the congregation about it the next day and then dedicate the Kaddish they would say afterward in their merit. They were both happy with this suggestion and so it happened. The next day, the young Rabbi taught the kehal about the power of answering Amen, יהא שמיה רבה מברך and then he gave them a basic understanding of what the words mean. He requested that for the upcoming Kaddish, they answer with all of their heart and soul and dedicate it to finding a shidduch for these two men. When Shavuot time came around last year, this young Rabbi received a phone call from one of those men thanking him for what he did for him on Rosh Hashanah and then sharing with him the good news, telling him about his upcoming wedding. Just two months after that, the second gentleman called the Rabbi to invite him to his wedding as well. Bringing honor to the Name of Hashem is wondrous. When a person really means what he's saying and truly praises Hashem even when things aren't going the way he hoped, the value of that praise and honor becomes even greater.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html There are times that people may look back upon and think if we only would have used different words, the outcomes would have been much better. Of course, the ba'al emunah is not supposed to second guess himself, but it's not always that easy. Whenever a person is looking for the right words to say, his automatic reaction should be to ask Hashem to give them to him. Hashem can give us the best words to use to give someone chizuk or to gain someone's forgiveness or to convince someone to buy our product. A short tefilla can go a very long way. I read a story in the book Chizuk for Your Heart, which took place recently. A girl from New York had her wedding scheduled to take place on a certain date in a large hall with a lot of guests, earlier this year. But when a citywide curfew was invoked and a limit was placed on gatherings, they had to act fast before all opportunity would be lost. So instead of the wedding of her dreams, this bride Chana was told, "We're moving up your wedding, and it's going to take place in a backyard with just fifty people. Also, it's going to have to end by eight o'clock at the latest." Her father was brokenhearted, seeing his daughter in tears, when this was supposed to be the happiest time of her life. He wasn't able to comfort her. And so he called Rabbi Fischel Schachter and asked him if he could give his daughter some words of encouragement. When Chana got on the phone, she asked the rabbi, 'Why is Hashem doing this to me?" Rabbi Schachter tried to find the right words to help her, but he saw his efforts were falling short. The kalla began to cry again, and Rabbi Schachter paused and made a brief tefila to Hashem asking Him to give him the right words to properly comfort her. Suddenly he saw that his son was trying to reach him on the other line. Normally, he wouldn't interrupt the call to pick up another one, but because he needed time to think, he put Chana on hold for a few moments. His son said, "My principal is asking me about the chocolate bar story that you once told. Could you please give me the details?" The rabbi gave him a very quick synopsis and excused himself saying he had an important call on the other line. He then told his son, "Thank you for reminding me about that story. You are the one Hashem just sent me to give me the words I need." When he got back on the line with Chana, he proceeded to tell her the following story. One day as Rabbi Mendlowitz taught his class, he told them whoever could memorize the mishnayot they just learned would get a chocolate bar. Ten boys did it. But the next day, the rabbi only brought in nine chocolate bars. One boy, who we'll call Chaim, didn't get one. "Don't worry," Rabbi Mendlowitz told him, "come to me tomorrow. I'll have a chocolate bar for you." The next day, Chaim was too embarrassed to ask for his chocolate bar. He assumed if his rabbi would have had it, he would have offered it to him. When the end of the day came and he still didn't get his chocolate bar, he felt dejected. Eventually, Chaim went on to become a talmid chacham and a disseminator of Torah in a small Jewish community. Fifty years after that chocolate bar incident Chaim had a massive heart attack and fell into a coma. His doctor gave him a slim chance of survival. However, just one day after the heart attack, he began to emerge from the coma. From there, he made a miraculous recovery. When he was able to speak, he told his wife, he knew he was going to live. "How?" she asked him. He said, "While I was unconscious, my childhood Rebbi, Rabbi Mendlowitz came to me and said, "I owe you a bar of chocolate. I'm going to pay you back now. I interceded on your behalf in Shamayim . You're going to live." Rabbis Schachter then told Chana that every bride on her wedding day gets a certain amount of simcha(joy). Because of your situation, seemingly, you're going to be deprived of that simcha, but don't worry, Hashem has a plan for you. One day He is going to give you all of that joy at the best time for you to have it. The day will come when your “chocolate bar” reward will be paid in full. And if you strengthen yourself now and have emunah that this is the best possible wedding for you to have, your rewards will be even greater. Those were the perfect words. Chana got so much chizuk from them. Hashem could give all of us the perfect words in any situation. Always remember to ask Him for them.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html If a person is going through a hardship and is having a difficult time focusing or being happy, he can give himself chizuk by thinking about the fact that one day he will see that what he is experiencing at the moment is actually to the greatest benefit to him. Everything that happens to a person is the best thing that could have happened to him. Just because he can’t see it now, shouldn’t preclude him from feeling that way. We have heard countless stories of people thinking the situations they were going through were the worst possible ones, and afterwards they saw how they were really yeshuot from Hashem. A man told me this year, out of nowhere, he began experiencing excruciating pain in his stomach. It was so bad, he couldn’t even stand up. He was rushed to the Emergency Room. After a few CT scans and tests, the doctors told him he had diverticulosis which are pouches that form in the colon. They said it is a common condition for people over 50 but rarely found in someone his age – 37. When food gets stuck in those pouches, it could bring on an infection and that is what causes the severe pain. The man was given antibiotics and sent home with instructions to change his diet and visit a gastroenterologist. The gastro confirmed the diagnosis and then he told him to go get a colonoscopy. When he went for the colonoscopy, they found and removed a 15-millimeter polyp from his colon. This polyp was totally unrelated to the diverticulosis. The doctor said there is a high risk of cancer in a polyp that size, so he sent the specimen to the pathology lab for analysis. When the results came back, the doctor called the man and began with the words, “G-d must really love you. That polyp was pre-cancer and, generally, they have no symptoms and are not discovered until it is too late. That’s why colonoscopies are so important. But you wouldn’t have started with them for another ten years.” That day, when this man was rushed to the ER in pain, he thought it was the worst of times, but now he sees it was Hashem saving his life. Another man in his thirties told me, this past year in mid-April, he was rushed to the hospital with the most severe pain he could possibly imagine. It was presumed to be kidney stones and because the hospital was flooded with Corona patients, he was totally neglected. He said, for two whole hours he was on the floor in the Emergency Room in what he described as unimaginable pain. People were just stepping right over him, totally ignoring him. It was from the worst moments of his entire life. Eventually, he got some attention and was put in a hospital bed. When they performed scanning on him to see what he had they confirmed that it was kidney stones, but they added that they found a very large tumor. It was not until a week later that the man was called with the dreaded news that it was cancer. Right before that, he had heard a story about someone who thought he was going through the worst time in his life, and it ended up being the best time. That story gave him chizuk to bear the news and he told his wife to be strong saying, “maybe that’s why Hashem gave me the kidney stones.” When they did the surgery to take out the tumor, the doctor told him the tumor was in a place that would have grown to the size of a football without being noticed. “Those kidney stones just saved your life,” the doctor related. Baruch Hashem, they were able to remove all of the cancer. Now the man looks back at those moments on the floor of the ER, in the worst pain of his life, and instead of crying tears of sorrow, he cries tears of joy. What he thought was the worst moment of his life turned out to be his biggest blessing.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html The principles of emunah are generally well known. However, to become a ba’al emunah requires internalizing and applying them. Sometimes a concept that we may have known for years suddenly hits us from a new angle and affects us in a profound way, becoming a principle that we live by. This is one of the reasons why review of the general concepts of emunah is so important. A woman told me she reads a lesson a night from a book on emunah with her sister on the phone. On their third time reading from the same book, the woman was amazed by a statement quoted in the name of Rav Chaim Palachi which said, “If a person experiences a loss or some sort of affliction and is able to strengthen himself like a lion to joyfully accept Hashem’s decision, then he is guaranteed to get back what he lost.” The woman couldn’t believe that she hadn’t realized the potency of those words the previous times she had read them. She then repeated them to her sister again, this time with more enthusiasm, and they were hooked. Since then, that attitude has become their new way of life, and they have not been disappointed with the guarantee. They have experienced hundreds of small to very big, amazing incidents and they nickname each one “HaRav Chaim Palachi.” They introduce their experiences to each other by saying, “You have to hear my latest Rav Chaim Palachi.” They invoke this principle each time they lose money or valuables, or when something happens that appears to be bad. This woman is a teacher. One time, the drawer of her desk refused to open. She paused and confidently told her students that she is positive it will open as soon as they accept Hashem’s decision with joy. “That was a great learning experience,” she related, “because right after that, the drawer slid open as if nothing was wrong with it just a few moments before.” One Friday, she left all of her packages in the trunk of a taxi-cab, $200 worth of a morning-full of errands. And by the time she realized it, the cab was gone. She turned to her children and said, “Are you ready to joyfully accept what happened? We’re going to experience another Rav Chaim Palachi.” She was so calm about it that she even dozed off on the couch as she rocked her baby to sleep. Suddenly, her son ran into the room saying, “The taxi came back!” The driver actually took the time out and figured out whose packages were in his trunk and drove back to her house to deliver them. She called her sister right away and said, “I have another Rav Chaim Palachi to share with you.” Taking a concept in emunah and applying it can do wonders for a person. Another woman shared that over six months ago, she and her husband purchased a new home which they planned to renovate. They figured it would take about six weeks to get the permits and then four months of construction and then they would move in. They currently live in an expensive neighborhood and the rent is extremely high. The wait for the permits dragged on, causing them to have to pay many additional months of rent. Each time they submitted another outstanding document, a different issue arose. They had the most powerful, influential people from their community who have an “in” with the township, and none of them were able to help. After four months of delays and feeling totally hopeless, this woman began reading a book on emunah to try to help give her the proper perspective on the situation. She read a little every day and saw a big improvement in her attitude in general as a result. She was diligent with it for two months straight. And then, on Erev Sukkot, her emunah was tested. When they were getting ready to travel to their parents for the holiday, they noticed that their daughter’s dress that they took to be tailored had been cut in half. It was extremely disappointing, especially since they were in a hurry to get there and that was the only new dress that she was going to wear on the holiday. At the same time, her young son trampled on the fancy miniature pastries that she prepared for her mother’s birthday which coincided with the first day of Sukkot. Hours of work out the window. It might have seemed like something trivial, she said, but those things were very important to her. On the way to her parent’s house, she said some perakim of Tehillim and told Hashem she fully accepted those Erev Sukkot disappointments and she internalized that they were all for her good. After truly feeling that way, she made a prayer asking Hashem to please give her the permits so that they could start construction on their home. She had a glorious first two days of Sukkot, celebrating with complete happiness. On Monday morning, Chol HaMoed , the town informed them, out of nowhere, that they would be issuing their permits. Implementing the principles of emunah into our daily lives will help us immensely .

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html The Tikuneh HaZohar writes ( Tikkun 21) that a tefila made on Shabbat has the same power as the tefilot we pray during the Aseret Yameh Teshuva . Shabbat is such an opportune time to pray. The Sefer Charedim writes in chapter 71 that Mincha on Shabbat afternoon is so special it is an עת רצון-time of favor and all of our tefilot are accepted. And therefore, the question becomes why are our tefilot of Shabbat not filled with requests like they are during the week? In fact, the halacha is that it is forbidden for us to make personal requests on Shabbat. Why aren’t we taking advantage of this great opportunity? There are some built-in general requests in the Amida, such as קדשנו במצוותיך שים חלקנו בתורתך שבענו מטובך ושמח נפשנו בישועתך,. We ask Hashem to become sanctified through His mitzvot, to become connected more to the Torah, to be satiated with His goodness and to rejoice in His salvation. Knowing how powerful our prayers are on Shabbat, we should have a lot of extra kavana in them, but again, in general, we do not make personal requests. Why do we miss out on this great opportunity? Rabbi Shimshon Pinkus answered with a mashal . There was once a man in charge of collecting for a Yeshiva. He heard about an extremely wealthy man who could easily cover his entire budget as well as donate the new building they so desperately needed. But he knew, if he would just approach him and ask him for a donation, it wouldn’t get him too far. He thought of a better plan instead. One day, he was lingering outside the wealthy man’s home and, when the wealthy man arrived, he asked him if he knew of any restaurants in the area where he could get a cup of coffee and some cake. The wealthy man, who had a heart of gold, immediately invited him inside for a cup of coffee and some dessert. While there, the collector made nice conversation with the wealthy man and he was invited to come back another time. Eventually, he was invited to come back with his entire family for a Shabbat meal. He gave the wealthy man some inspiring Divrei Torah at the meal and their families ended up becoming close. This went on for close to a year. And then, one day, during their regular course of conversation, the collector mentioned that he has a Yeshiva and they are desperately looking to build a building that would give them ample space for the boys to learn in. The wealthy man said, “You need a building? I’ve been looking to dedicate a building in my father’s name. I would love to pay for the entire project.” And just like that, the collector got everything that he needed. If this collector would have asked the wealthy man for a donation a year before, he probably would have gotten something like $300. Now he got more than $3 million. So too it is with us and Hashem. Shabbat is the holiest day. It is a day that we are supposed to utilize to connect with Hashem on – to eat the three meals with joy, sing holy songs and inspire those around us with Divrei Torah , keep the halachot , go to shul, pray and learn. The time is so special, we don’t want to ruin it by focusing on our needs. After Shabbat is over, and we made that great connection with Hashem, then during Melava Malka, if we would just mention that we need anything, automatically Hashem will be eager to grant it. As we begin this new year, starting once again from Bereshit , let us strengthen ourselves to use Shabbat the way it is meant to be used and develop that close bond with Hashem. Shabbat Shalom.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html Spending some time daily learning emunah is invaluable. Besides for the mitzvah in it as well as the spiritual elevation involved, it also gives a person the tools he needs to have a happy life. Unpleasant situations may arrive which threaten to put a person into a depressed state, but when his emunah is operating the way it is supposed to, he’ll move on happily and soar to great heights by dealing with the issue the way Hashem wants him to. Numerous people have given me examples from their own lives. I would just like to share a couple of recent ones. A woman who has been learning emunah lessons daily for over five years said, “to say that it has been life altering for me is just scraping the surface of the intense metamorphosis which it had engendered in my life.” With emunah there is a constant sense of peace and tranquility. The litmus test to see how deep it penetrated is from the reaction a person has when facing adversity. About two years ago, this woman drove with her husband from New York to New Hampshire to spend a few days rejuvenating themselves along with some other family members. When they arrived at the hotel, her sister-in-law who was already there helped her up to her room while her husband ran to catch Mincha. As she opened the closet doors in her room, she was suddenly hit by a jolting realization – she forgot her clothing bag at home. Her sister-in-law said in disbelief, “How are you saying that so calmly?” The woman said she honestly felt very calm inside. She had no thoughts of “I could have, I should have or would have.” She felt a peaceful aura engulf her and was not flustered in the least bit. That is when she realized what a profound effect the emunah lessons had had on her. She managed to get by borrowing until she found a way for a different vacationer to bring them up to her two days later. The exhilarating feeling of passing that test made the trip a truly memorable one for her. A young man aged 23 told me, he has been learning a lesson a day in emunah for the past four years. Since then, every day of his life has been so much better. He related an incident to me that gave him a lot of chizuk in which he realized how much he had grown in that last few years in emunah. He was set up with a girl who, in his mind, was perfect for him in every way. They dated for a month and things were looking very positive. From the feedback he was getting, he knew it wouldn’t be long before they were engaged. He was so happy; he was floating on air and his friends and family were excited for the good news ahead. He was so relieved to have gotten over the hump of shidduchim . And then, without warning, after a very good date, he was told by the shadchan that the girl wanted to end it. Initially, he was absolutely devastated. It felt like his whole life had just crumbled before his eyes. But, as the tears were streaming down his face, he began to think of all the emunah that had been drilled into him over the past four years, how Hashem loves him more than he can possibly imagine and how He controls everything on this earth, down to the tiniest detail, and would never do anything that wasn’t for his absolute best. He then looked up and said, “Thank You Hashem for this challenge. I trust that You know what is best for me. I accept this with love.” It did take him a little more time to get over the emotional pain, but he never questioned Hashem even once. The feeling of security that Hashem was acting for his best was, in his words, “Life-saving.” Getting through that very difficult experience so quickly for him was truly remarkable. Emunah helps a person in so many ways. A small investment of five minutes a day will reap a person endless benefits.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html Hashem is called the Shomer Israel . He protects us and watches over us. We just finished the holiday of Sukkot, in which we fulfilled the great mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah. The schach represents Hashem's protection over us. One might ask, why something so flimsy, and insubstantial is the symbol of Hashem's protection. Shouldn't it be something more substantial like maybe brick or iron? The simple explanation is that we are recognizing, we don't need any physical protection, because Hashem himself is protecting us, but perhaps we can give a new insight, based on the following story, which recently took place. A rabbi from Israel told me, about seven months ago he made a wedding for his son there. Because of the Coronavirus, it had to be with just a few family members and friends in attendance. The rabbi made sure to adhere to all of the guidelines and regulations. And so when the police came to check up on the wedding at the beginning of the chuppah, they looked around and left peacefully. However, in the middle of the dancing, the police came back, but this time with a vengeance. They cornered the chatan and kallah with a gun pointed at them. The rabbi who made the wedding was taken to jail. Everyone was in a panic. The wedding came to an abrupt end. The chatan and kallah were released, but they were fined 10,000 Shekalim. While in jail, the rabbi was being screamed at by a very hostile police officer. The news of this quickly spread and everyone was trying to help get the rabbi out of jail. He was finally released in the wee hours of the morning. It was an experience they hoped they would quickly forget. Fast forward, seven months. The rabbi came home on Friday morning, Erev Shabbat Shuvah , to prepare a speech that he would give to his congregation the next day, but first he played his voice messages, and was shocked when he heard the voice of a man saying, "I wanted to call months ago and ask for your forgiveness. I am the one who called the police on your wedding, and I have had no rest since. Please, I am begging you to forgive me." At that moment, the rabbi made the decision to change the topic of his speech, and he began working for hours on a speech about forgiving people. He read about how much Hashem appreciates when we forgive and how Hashem forgives us when we forgive others. He read a sefer from Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, which was elaborating on a piece of the Messilat Yesharim in chapter 19, and he became very inspired. He then called this person back and began by saying that he commended him for admitting his wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness. The person is a young man in his twenties. He said he called the police because he thought that they were violating the rules. He then admitted ever since he told on them, he stopped getting shidduch opportunities. Until that point he was actively dating, and had no issues with finding people to go out with. But in the past seven months, he couldn't even get one opportunity. The rabbi said he forgave him, but he also added that being a malshin , and reporting innocent people to the authorities is a very severe averah . He told the person he needed to learn mussar on a daily basis to improve himself. The rabbi then added, “the main people you need to ask mechila from are the chatan and kallah; it's their wedding that you ruined.” He gave the young man their home number, and a few minutes later, the rabbi's daughter-in-law called him in tears saying she wishes she could forgive, but it's just too painful. The rabbi then told her an inspiring story about forgiving, and how Hashem forgives those who forgive others. Then he quoted her a statement that he read in the Zohar Ha'Kadosh which said when Hashem sees that a person has a Midat Hadin( harsh decree) on him, He'll send the person an opportunity to do a great deed of mercy or kindness. And that will invoke a midah keneged midah from Hashem, to rip up the decree and give the person kindness instead. He concluded by telling her to please think about it over Shabbat. On Motza'ei Shabbat , the young man called the rabbi, crying, telling him his son and daughter-in-law just called and forgave him with a full heart. He praised the rabbi for what an unbelievable chinuch that he had given his children. The next night was Yom Kippur. Then on Tuesday afternoon, the rabbi got a dreaded phone call, informing him that his daughter-in-law, who is also expecting, was just in a massive, high-speed, three-car collision on the highway, and she was rushed to the hospital. He feared the worst. B'chasdei Hashem , the next morning, she was released without a scratch on her, and the baby was totally fine. Although her car was totaled, she walked out, unscathed. When another relative heard about this story, she decided to forgive someone that she couldn't look at for 26 years. The power of forgiveness is amazing. Hashem indeed gave the Rabbi’s daughter-in-law an opportunity to remove the Midat Hadin from her, but it goes much further. Now, looking back in hindsight, when those policemen entered the wedding hall, and seemed to have ruined that evening, that was Hashem, from seven months in advance, setting up the circumstance to give this woman an opportunity to forgive, days before that dreaded car accident. And perhaps this is another explanation of the flimsy schach representing Hashem's protection. Hashem is always protecting us. Sometimes it appears that He's not, and then we ask, why is Hashem doing this to us? Why isn't he helping me? During those times Hashem kaviachol is saying, if you only knew how I was protecting you, you wouldn't question. Even what appears to be a so-called, flimsy protection, is in essence, Hashem's loving hand, helping us with exactly what we need.

We are excited to announce the release of a new book, the Living Emunah on the Parashah. B'ezrat Hashem, it's the first of its kind, and it's now available from ArtScroll and can be ordered using the link below, or can be found in any local bookstore https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422627402.html When a person realizes how intimately Hashem is involved in his life, it brings such a good feeling. It brings a sense of calm and tranquility. He understands that everything that is transpiring in his life is being orchestrated by his loving Father who only wants his best. So even when things are not going the way that he hoped, he's still able to remain in a complete state of happiness, knowing with a clarity that whatever is happening is exactly what is meant to be happening. Hashem knows our innermost feelings. He feels what we're feeling. He knows what we're going through. That itself should give a person chizuk to persevere through times of challenge. When a person sees so clearly Hashem's loving care for him, it strengthens his Emunah in a very big way. A woman told me that one year ago, before Rosh Hashanah, her father received a gift from a Yeshiva that he helped support. It was a beautiful set of black leather-bound benchers. Being that he is Sephardic and the benchers were nusach Ashkenaz , he really had no use for them. The next time he went to visit his daughter at her house, he brought over the set and gave them to her. She said "Dad, I also have no use for these." He told her, "Please find someone who could use them." So she left them on her front table for the time being. That erev Shabbat was the first time she could remember that she finished her Shabbat preparations early, and she decided to go sit out on her front porch to relax a little. When she went outside, she saw a religious man walking by. She immediately thought of the benchers and ran in to get them. She sent her son to go give them to that man telling him that they have no use for them and would be happy if someone else would use them. Initially, the man refused the extravagant gift, but after the woman told him from her porch that he would be doing them a favor by taking them, he accepted them. Fast forward one year to this year during the Aseret Yemei Teshuva. This woman got a knock at her door from a Mrs. Goldberg whom she did not recognize. Mrs. Goldberg said, "I'm here to thank you. I meant to come so many times this year. I just never got around to it. Last year, at this time you gave my husband the leather-bound benchers. You have no idea what that meant to me. You see, last year we had the hardest year financially of our lives. My husband told me we were not going to be able to buy anything new for the Yom Tov of Sukkot. I totally accepted it. But there was one thing that I really wanted— new black leather-bound benchers. I did not tell one person about it, not even my husband. Only Hashem knew what was in my heart. Then my husband came home that erev Shabbat and said he managed to get me a Yom Tov present, and explained how. When I saw what it was, I felt like I got the biggest hug from Hashem. He knew exactly what I wanted, and He delivered it right into my hands." The hashgacha of this story is mind blowing—for that woman to be on her porch at that time, and just then the one man whose wife wanted those benchers so badly happened to be walking by. This episode gave that woman so much strength. Although she was having a hard year, she realized Hashem was in total control and taking care of every one of her needs. And that gave her the most chizuk.

The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features a special sit-down with Rabbi Yaakov Bijou, along with Mickey, Judah and Morris, three wonderful students from Yeshivat Shaarei Torah of Flatbush. Rabbi Bijou is the author of Let’s Talk Living Emunah, a book designed to get children, parents, and teachers speaking to each other about emunah! Let's Talk Living Emunah contains short and engaging stories, adapted from the bestselling Living Emunah series by Rabbi David Ashear, allowing children and adults to explore the wonders of Hashem's world and His Hashgachah Pratis. In this episode, host Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger, Rabbi Bijou and the three boys conduct a “Let’s Talk Living Emunah” conversation from the pages of this unique book - talking, and living, emunah. Watch – and be engaged.

The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features an interview with Rabbi David Ashear, author of the best-selling Living Emunah series, whose books have sold over 200,000 copies. Rabbi Ashear is a renowned speaker and a rabbi at the Yad Yosef Torah Center in Brooklyn. In his books and lectures, Rabbi Ashear shares powerful inspiration for achieving a life of serenity, happiness and tranquility through the acceptance of faith in Hashem and His goodness. His messages have transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people across the world. In this interview, Rabbi Ashear provides an inside look at the Living Emunah journey, showing how the power of emunah can support and guide us even in these dark times.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The mitzvot are our greatest treasures. They benefit us both in this world and the Next. And it brings Hashem so much satisfaction when He sees us performing them. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot , whoever does a mitzvah the way it is supposed to be done will not be informed of evil tidings, like it says in Kohelet , "שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע". Another Rabbi in the Gemara there says, in the merit of doing a mitzvah the right way, Hashem will nullify any decree that had been written against the person doing that mitzvah. When we are involved in the performance of mitzvot , we should feel that there is nothing in the world that we could possibly be doing with our time better than the mitzvah we’re doing. Mitzvot protect us from doing wrong things. There’s a discussion in halacha if the chazan for Mussaf on Rosh Hashanah is allowed to blow the shofar during the Amida or we’re afraid it will disturb his concentration and he won’t be able to go back to the Amida with the proper kavana . Some say, even if there is no one else in the shul to blow, if the chazan doesn’t feel confident that he’ll be able to go back to concentrating, they should skip the shofar there. The Taz , however, writes, the chazan should for sure do the blowing because since he’s doing a mitzvah, Hashem will ensure that he won’t lose his concentration because the kedusha of the mitzvah only produces more kedusha . A person will never lose out by doing a mitzvah. In this week’s parasha, Shelach , we read the tragic story of the meraglim . Rabbi Menashe Reizman quoted from sefer Derash Shemuel , who said, based on the Midrash , that the meraglim were sent out on their mission within three days of Shabbat. We know the halacha is that a person can’t go on a dangerous journey within three days of Shabbat, so how did Moshe Rabbenu send them, being that their mission was indeed dangerous? The answer is because he sent them to do a mitzvah and, for a mitzvah, you could even leave on Friday and the mitzvah will protect. The problem was that, from the inception, the spies had the wrong intentions and therefore, for them, it wasn’t considered a mitzvah and that’s why they didn’t get the protection. When we are involved in a mitzvah with the right intentions, we’ll never lose out from it. A rabbi from Israel told, he learns with a boy every day from 10:00 in the morning until 12:00. During a certain time in his life, he needed a loan in the worst way. He heard of a person in Yerushalayim who has a loan fund. The way it worked was, this man would lend every Rosh Chodesh , and the loans were due back one month later in the morning of the following Rosh Chodesh . He would get the money back in the morning and then lend out new loans in the afternoon. His loans were always the same amount and he did them without co-signers. The loans were given between 1:30 and 2:00 pm. Those were the rules. And it went by a first come, first serve basis. He lent until the money ran out and, if you missed it, you had to wait for the following month. This rabbi planned to get there on the upcoming Rosh Chodesh by 1:00 so he could be first in line to get a loan. The problem was, it was more than an hour drive from where he lived and he didn’t finish teaching until 12:00. He decided he would have to end 15 minutes earlier that day at 11:45 to get there on time. As he was preparing to leave that day, the boy said he didn’t fully understand the Gemara and asked the rabbi if he could repeat it one more time. The rabbi didn’t want to turn him down so he began explaining it again. Now it was 12:00. the Rabbi got up to go and the boy said, “Please, I still need a little more help.” The rabbi clung to his chair with the emunah that he will not lose by continuing to teach. So instead of leaving early that day, he left 15 minutes late. The traffic was very bad and his bus did not arrive until 2:15. He had already missed the time for appointments. Once he was there, he decided to go anyway. He knocked on that man’s door and asked if there was any money left from the loan fund. The man said, “Yes, I have exactly enough for you.” And he gave it to him. He said, “the money from the loan fund had been given out well before 2:00 today, but just a minute before you came, someone else returned their money from last month. He brought his money back late, but I guess it was meant for you.” "שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע". We don’t always see how mitzvot help us or protect us, but we know they do. If this man had not gotten a loan that day, all that would have meant was it was best for him not to have the money. It would not have been because he taught the boy extra Torah, because we never lose from a mitzvah, we only gain. Shabbat Shalom.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The mitzvot are our greatest treasures. They benefit us both in this world and the Next. And it brings Hashem so much satisfaction when He sees us performing them. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot , whoever does a mitzvah the way it is supposed to be done will not be informed of evil tidings, like it says in Kohelet , "שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע". Another Rabbi in the Gemara there says, in the merit of doing a mitzvah the right way, Hashem will nullify any decree that had been written against the person doing that mitzvah. When we are involved in the performance of mitzvot , we should feel that there is nothing in the world that we could possibly be doing with our time better than the mitzvah we’re doing. Mitzvot protect us from doing wrong things. There’s a discussion in halacha if the chazan for Mussaf on Rosh Hashanah is allowed to blow the shofar during the Amida or we’re afraid it will disturb his concentration and he won’t be able to go back to the Amida with the proper kavana . Some say, even if there is no one else in the shul to blow, if the chazan doesn’t feel confident that he’ll be able to go back to concentrating, they should skip the shofar there. The Taz , however, writes, the chazan should for sure do the blowing because since he’s doing a mitzvah, Hashem will ensure that he won’t lose his concentration because the kedusha of the mitzvah only produces more kedusha . A person will never lose out by doing a mitzvah. In this week’s parasha, Shelach , we read the tragic story of the meraglim . Rabbi Menashe Reizman quoted from sefer Derash Shemuel , who said, based on the Midrash , that the meraglim were sent out on their mission within three days of Shabbat. We know the halacha is that a person can’t go on a dangerous journey within three days of Shabbat, so how did Moshe Rabbenu send them, being that their mission was indeed dangerous? The answer is because he sent them to do a mitzvah and, for a mitzvah, you could even leave on Friday and the mitzvah will protect. The problem was that, from the inception, the spies had the wrong intentions and therefore, for them, it wasn’t considered a mitzvah and that’s why they didn’t get the protection. When we are involved in a mitzvah with the right intentions, we’ll never lose out from it. A rabbi from Israel told, he learns with a boy every day from 10:00 in the morning until 12:00. During a certain time in his life, he needed a loan in the worst way. He heard of a person in Yerushalayim who has a loan fund. The way it worked was, this man would lend every Rosh Chodesh , and the loans were due back one month later in the morning of the following Rosh Chodesh . He would get the money back in the morning and then lend out new loans in the afternoon. His loans were always the same amount and he did them without co-signers. The loans were given between 1:30 and 2:00 pm. Those were the rules. And it went by a first come, first serve basis. He lent until the money ran out and, if you missed it, you had to wait for the following month. This rabbi planned to get there on the upcoming Rosh Chodesh by 1:00 so he could be first in line to get a loan. The problem was, it was more than an hour drive from where he lived and he didn’t finish teaching until 12:00. He decided he would have to end 15 minutes earlier that day at 11:45 to get there on time. As he was preparing to leave that day, the boy said he didn’t fully understand the Gemara and asked the rabbi if he could repeat it one more time. The rabbi didn’t want to turn him down so he began explaining it again. Now it was 12:00. the Rabbi got up to go and the boy said, “Please, I still need a little more help.” The rabbi clung to his chair with the emunah that he will not lose by continuing to teach. So instead of leaving early that day, he left 15 minutes late. The traffic was very bad and his bus did not arrive until 2:15. He had already missed the time for appointments. Once he was there, he decided to go anyway. He knocked on that man’s door and asked if there was any money left from the loan fund. The man said, “Yes, I have exactly enough for you.” And he gave it to him. He said, “the money from the loan fund had been given out well before 2:00 today, but just a minute before you came, someone else returned their money from last month. He brought his money back late, but I guess it was meant for you.” "שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע". We don’t always see how mitzvot help us or protect us, but we know they do. If this man had not gotten a loan that day, all that would have meant was it was best for him not to have the money. It would not have been because he taught the boy extra Torah, because we never lose from a mitzvah, we only gain. Shabbat Shalom.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html We all know the basic principles of emunah. We all believe that whatever happens to us is from Hashem for the best. Yet, when things don’t go the way we hoped, we naturally feel bad about it. It’s hard during those times to really internalize that the best outcome took place. But, with a little reminder or a little chizuk we can become strengthened and move forward happily. A little emunah reminder goes a very long way, especially when we view them as subtle messages directly from Hashem. A man, who we’ll call David, told me he had been happily learning in a Kollel in Lakewood for nine years, looking to eventually become a Rebbe in a yeshiva. One day he received a call from a principal in Monsey asking him if he would take over an 8 th grade class for the remainder of that school year, as the Rebbe of that class became sick. David felt that it would be a good opportunity for him and hopefully would turn into some other permanent position somewhere in that yeshiva. He commuted back and forth that year six days a week, over three hours a day in the car. And he had a successful experience. Baruch Hashem, the 8 th grade Rebbe who was sick was returning to the yeshiva the following year, but there was a 7 th grade Rebbe position available that David was hoping that he would get, and it looked like the position was going to be his. However, that summer, with just two weeks to go before the school year, he was informed that the position was being given to someone else instead. It was a big blow to him. He was happy there, and he needed the money to support his growing family. At that point, there were no other positions available in any other yeshivot so he went back to learning, but he really needed money. His wife told him, “Maybe you’re eligible for unemployment now.” So he applied and, lo and behold, his application was accepted. He was able to learn and be supported. But a few months later, he received another notice from the government saying he’s really not eligible and the payments were stopping. Now he felt down. He felt like Hashem was giving him presents and then taking them away from him. First he thought that he had the job that he wanted in Monsey and then that was taken away. Then he thought he would be able to learn with peace of mind, having his expenses taken care of and then that was taken away too. He needed chizuk . He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost time for the early Mincha. He wanted to go pray and pour out his heart to Hashem. When he got in the car and turned it on, music began playing very loudly, his children must have been playing with it before. The song that was playing was composed of the words, “כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד – Whatever Hashem does is for the best.” Those were the exact words he needed to hear. Those were the words playing at that exact moment, although there are hundreds of hours of music downloaded in that car. He took the message from Hashem and strengthened himself and instantly became a changed person. He managed to survive his expenses that year with a lot of Siyata d’Shamaya from Hashem. He tried out for three different Rebbe positions in three different yeshivot, but he was rejected from all of them. He kept playing the words of that song in his mind after every rejection, giving himself chizuk that it’s for the best. At the end of that summer, he took his family on a much needed vacation to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They were having a great time, but right in the middle of it, he received a call from a yeshiva in Lakewood saying they needed a Rebbe and he was their top candidate. There was only three days left until the new year and they couldn’t wait for him to come back for an interview when his trip was over. That meant David had to end his vacation on the spot and lose the money that he already spent on accommodations, but the job sounded promising, so they immediately drove back. He went there for a long interview that evening and was hopeful that the job was his. The next evening, however, he received a call from them saying they decided to hire someone else. Another big blow. He spent a half hour being michazek himself that it’s all for the best, and he was happy once again. Right after that, he received another phone call. This time, it was a job offer from a yeshiva in Brooklyn. It wasn’t ideal for him, but he went the next day for that interview and he got that job. He signed a three year contract and it was a great learning experience. The commute was tough, but he did it happily. At the end of the three years, he was called and offered a job in a prominent yeshiva in Lakewood, the job he always dreamed of. And baruch Hashem, he’s been there now for a number of years and he couldn’t be happier. It was a long and grueling process until he finally ended up where he wanted to be. The understanding that the whole process was orchestrated by Hashem for his best is what gave him the fortitude to go through it with emunah and simcha . We all have emunah inside of us, we just need small reminders sometimes to bring it out.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html We all know the basic principles of emunah. We all believe that whatever happens to us is from Hashem for the best. Yet, when things don’t go the way we hoped, we naturally feel bad about it. It’s hard during those times to really internalize that the best outcome took place. But, with a little reminder or a little chizuk we can become strengthened and move forward happily. A little emunah reminder goes a very long way, especially when we view them as subtle messages directly from Hashem. A man, who we’ll call David, told me he had been happily learning in a Kollel in Lakewood for nine years, looking to eventually become a Rebbe in a yeshiva. One day he received a call from a principal in Monsey asking him if he would take over an 8 th grade class for the remainder of that school year, as the Rebbe of that class became sick. David felt that it would be a good opportunity for him and hopefully would turn into some other permanent position somewhere in that yeshiva. He commuted back and forth that year six days a week, over three hours a day in the car. And he had a successful experience. Baruch Hashem, the 8 th grade Rebbe who was sick was returning to the yeshiva the following year, but there was a 7 th grade Rebbe position available that David was hoping that he would get, and it looked like the position was going to be his. However, that summer, with just two weeks to go before the school year, he was informed that the position was being given to someone else instead. It was a big blow to him. He was happy there, and he needed the money to support his growing family. At that point, there were no other positions available in any other yeshivot so he went back to learning, but he really needed money. His wife told him, “Maybe you’re eligible for unemployment now.” So he applied and, lo and behold, his application was accepted. He was able to learn and be supported. But a few months later, he received another notice from the government saying he’s really not eligible and the payments were stopping. Now he felt down. He felt like Hashem was giving him presents and then taking them away from him. First he thought that he had the job that he wanted in Monsey and then that was taken away. Then he thought he would be able to learn with peace of mind, having his expenses taken care of and then that was taken away too. He needed chizuk . He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost time for the early Mincha. He wanted to go pray and pour out his heart to Hashem. When he got in the car and turned it on, music began playing very loudly, his children must have been playing with it before. The song that was playing was composed of the words, “כל דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד – Whatever Hashem does is for the best.” Those were the exact words he needed to hear. Those were the words playing at that exact moment, although there are hundreds of hours of music downloaded in that car. He took the message from Hashem and strengthened himself and instantly became a changed person. He managed to survive his expenses that year with a lot of Siyata d’Shamaya from Hashem. He tried out for three different Rebbe positions in three different yeshivot, but he was rejected from all of them. He kept playing the words of that song in his mind after every rejection, giving himself chizuk that it’s for the best. At the end of that summer, he took his family on a much needed vacation to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They were having a great time, but right in the middle of it, he received a call from a yeshiva in Lakewood saying they needed a Rebbe and he was their top candidate. There was only three days left until the new year and they couldn’t wait for him to come back for an interview when his trip was over. That meant David had to end his vacation on the spot and lose the money that he already spent on accommodations, but the job sounded promising, so they immediately drove back. He went there for a long interview that evening and was hopeful that the job was his. The next evening, however, he received a call from them saying they decided to hire someone else. Another big blow. He spent a half hour being michazek himself that it’s all for the best, and he was happy once again. Right after that, he received another phone call. This time, it was a job offer from a yeshiva in Brooklyn. It wasn’t ideal for him, but he went the next day for that interview and he got that job. He signed a three year contract and it was a great learning experience. The commute was tough, but he did it happily. At the end of the three years, he was called and offered a job in a prominent yeshiva in Lakewood, the job he always dreamed of. And baruch Hashem, he’s been there now for a number of years and he couldn’t be happier. It was a long and grueling process until he finally ended up where he wanted to be. The understanding that the whole process was orchestrated by Hashem for his best is what gave him the fortitude to go through it with emunah and simcha . We all have emunah inside of us, we just need small reminders sometimes to bring it out.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html I received an email from someone expressing her feelings when, in her opinion, she failed her test in emunah and bitachon . Those same feelings are shared by many people, and we have to know how to deal with them. She wrote: I have been working on the Shaar HaBitachon for over a year and a half. I spend time every day hearing about it and thinking about it and I really thought I had it. I smile at traffic, I see Hashem’s hand in my blessings, I rely on Hashem for parking spots and I’m always saying Baruch Hashem. And I’m really an excellent preacher. This week I had a very big test and, though I have been studying for a year and a half, I think I got a 20 on it. I gave myself 10 points for knowing Hashem runs the world and 10 more points for knowing that once we picked the best doctor we had done our hishtadlut and so I didn’t second guess him, even though complications arose. But I’m so worried. I can’t find that calm reliance I thought I had. I’m so scared, which means I have a lack of bitachon, which means I don’t get the guarantee of bitachon. And on top of worrying and being scared, I’m upset at myself over my failure. What a mess. I know having real bitachon requires a lot of work, but I’ve always been such a good student. I’ve been working so hard on it. I can’t get myself to be happy. I can’t thank Hashem for my worries, although I’m trying very hard to. I talk the talk but I can’t walk the walk. Is my grade accurate? That was the end of the email. A man I know called me with the same feelings when he was given the biggest challenge of his life this past month. He was given a negative report by a doctor that every person hopes he’ll never have to hear. He said he thought he had so much emunah, he thought he would be able to handle anything, but he totally fell apart. He felt like he had no emunah and everything he ever learned went totally out the window. I told him, just because you didn’t initially react like the greatest Rabbis of all time, doesn’t mean that you don’t have emunah. When hearing negative news, some people are able to accept the will of Hashem after an hour, some after a day, some after a week and some after months. But the common denominator for all of them is the emunah that they have inside of them which gives them that ability. Getting down on ourselves that we don’t have emunah is a ploy of the yetzer hara to get us depressed. Every person who has been working on emunah has so much of it stored inside of him. It just takes time to come out. This man called me back a couple of weeks later and said he had never been so strong in emunah in his entire life. The emunah kicked in in full capacity. “Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, “I still have my ups and downs, but it’s definitely my emunah that’s keeping me going. He then told me about an episode that he had and the course of action which he took that helped him immensely. Once he was diagnosed, he got an appointment with one of the top doctors in the country in that field. After consulting with him and testing and getting a surgery done, the doctor then said, “I was wrong. This never happened to me before, but your sickness is in a different part of your anatomy. You’ll have to go to a different specialist to handle it.” This meant a whole new set of tests, new doctors, new hospitals. But he started once again from scratch and made a new hishtadlut . And then he ran out of steam being bounced around from person to person, continually having to give his information. He felt he couldn’t handle it anymore. He told his wife, instead of spending the next day on the phone with physicians, like he has been accustomed to doing, he needs to go to shul and talk to Hashem. So he went into a private room in a shul and cried to Hashem for hours. He said, “Hashem, You have shown me how nobody knows anything. We are all helpless and completely in Your hands. Instead of analyzing every word of every doctor, which is just too much for me to bear, I’m going to continue making a good hishtadlut , but I’m giving over the mental work to You. After his heartfelt tears and recognition of Hashem’s control, he was a new man, ready for anything that could possibly come his way. Emunah is never an all or nothing endeavor, it’s a slow and steady process. The knowledge begins in our brain, but has to travel to our heart. Rav Yechezkel Levinstein once said, the distance between the brain and the heart is about 50 cm, but to take an idea from the brain and to penetrate the heart and truly feel it, could take 50 years. The woman who wrote that email probably scored a great mark on her emunah test. For not responding immediately with emunah, I would take off about 5 points. It takes time to kick in, but it is there, and it will. We need to keep working on our emunah on a daily basis. Every little bit helps and every little bit is cherished by Hashem and will be rewarded greatly.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html I received an email from someone expressing her feelings when, in her opinion, she failed her test in emunah and bitachon . Those same feelings are shared by many people, and we have to know how to deal with them. She wrote: I have been working on the Shaar HaBitachon for over a year and a half. I spend time every day hearing about it and thinking about it and I really thought I had it. I smile at traffic, I see Hashem’s hand in my blessings, I rely on Hashem for parking spots and I’m always saying Baruch Hashem. And I’m really an excellent preacher. This week I had a very big test and, though I have been studying for a year and a half, I think I got a 20 on it. I gave myself 10 points for knowing Hashem runs the world and 10 more points for knowing that once we picked the best doctor we had done our hishtadlut and so I didn’t second guess him, even though complications arose. But I’m so worried. I can’t find that calm reliance I thought I had. I’m so scared, which means I have a lack of bitachon, which means I don’t get the guarantee of bitachon. And on top of worrying and being scared, I’m upset at myself over my failure. What a mess. I know having real bitachon requires a lot of work, but I’ve always been such a good student. I’ve been working so hard on it. I can’t get myself to be happy. I can’t thank Hashem for my worries, although I’m trying very hard to. I talk the talk but I can’t walk the walk. Is my grade accurate? That was the end of the email. A man I know called me with the same feelings when he was given the biggest challenge of his life this past month. He was given a negative report by a doctor that every person hopes he’ll never have to hear. He said he thought he had so much emunah, he thought he would be able to handle anything, but he totally fell apart. He felt like he had no emunah and everything he ever learned went totally out the window. I told him, just because you didn’t initially react like the greatest Rabbis of all time, doesn’t mean that you don’t have emunah. When hearing negative news, some people are able to accept the will of Hashem after an hour, some after a day, some after a week and some after months. But the common denominator for all of them is the emunah that they have inside of them which gives them that ability. Getting down on ourselves that we don’t have emunah is a ploy of the yetzer hara to get us depressed. Every person who has been working on emunah has so much of it stored inside of him. It just takes time to come out. This man called me back a couple of weeks later and said he had never been so strong in emunah in his entire life. The emunah kicked in in full capacity. “Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, “I still have my ups and downs, but it’s definitely my emunah that’s keeping me going. He then told me about an episode that he had and the course of action which he took that helped him immensely. Once he was diagnosed, he got an appointment with one of the top doctors in the country in that field. After consulting with him and testing and getting a surgery done, the doctor then said, “I was wrong. This never happened to me before, but your sickness is in a different part of your anatomy. You’ll have to go to a different specialist to handle it.” This meant a whole new set of tests, new doctors, new hospitals. But he started once again from scratch and made a new hishtadlut . And then he ran out of steam being bounced around from person to person, continually having to give his information. He felt he couldn’t handle it anymore. He told his wife, instead of spending the next day on the phone with physicians, like he has been accustomed to doing, he needs to go to shul and talk to Hashem. So he went into a private room in a shul and cried to Hashem for hours. He said, “Hashem, You have shown me how nobody knows anything. We are all helpless and completely in Your hands. Instead of analyzing every word of every doctor, which is just too much for me to bear, I’m going to continue making a good hishtadlut , but I’m giving over the mental work to You. After his heartfelt tears and recognition of Hashem’s control, he was a new man, ready for anything that could possibly come his way. Emunah is never an all or nothing endeavor, it’s a slow and steady process. The knowledge begins in our brain, but has to travel to our heart. Rav Yechezkel Levinstein once said, the distance between the brain and the heart is about 50 cm, but to take an idea from the brain and to penetrate the heart and truly feel it, could take 50 years. The woman who wrote that email probably scored a great mark on her emunah test. For not responding immediately with emunah, I would take off about 5 points. It takes time to kick in, but it is there, and it will. We need to keep working on our emunah on a daily basis. Every little bit helps and every little bit is cherished by Hashem and will be rewarded greatly.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html Man is able to make a hishtadlut in any way he feels, but the ultimate decision of what actually transpires is always only up to Hashem. Many times we may feel that our actions are going to cause a certain outcome, but Hashem has completely different plans in mind. The Midrash at the beginning of parshat Vayeshev quotes a pasuk in Yirmiah in perek 29 which portrays this idea. It says there, “כי אנכי ידעתי את המחשבות אשר אני חושב עליכם נאום ה' – Hashem tells us we may have many ideas in our minds of what we’re accomplishing, but Hashem’s ideas are the ones that are going to prevail." The Midrash continues, describing a scenario in which many people had many different plans but Hashem was orchestrating all of them into His master plan. It says the Shevatim were involved in selling Yosef, Yosef was in pain over what was happening to him, Reuven was in pain over what happened to Yosef, Yehuda left his brothers to go get married, and Hashem was involved in bringing the light of Mashiach into the world. Sometimes things look very bleak and we don’t understand why they are happening. During those times, we need to take a moment and strengthen ourselves, realizing Hashem is orchestrating the events to carry out His plan. I heard a story that was said over in the name of Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman. It was about the Rabbi’s wife’s grandfather. When the Nazis entered Vienna, he escaped with his wife and three children to Bayon, France. There were thousands of other refugees there also trying to escape. They needed to travel further to save themselves but they didn’t know how to leave from there. He desperately wanted to get to England, a place he believed he would be protected. He saw a sailor and asked him where his ship was going. The sailor replied he was leaving for England the following day. He then begged him to take him and his family. The sailor said, “Sure, no problem, you can come. You could bring as many people as you want, I have plenty of room. The problem is that you’ll need a visa to enter England, and the only way to get one is at the English Embassy, but good luck because everyone’s trying to get one.” The man prayed to Hashem for help and proceeded to walk for miles until he saw a mob of hundreds and hundreds of people outside the Embassy with guards pushing them back, saying, “We can’t give any more visas.” Once again he looked up to Hashem and asked for help. All of a sudden, a heavy downpour began with thunder and lightning. People started running in all directions. He was able to make his way through the crowd, all the way to the front by the door of the Consulate. He made his way inside and then saw the man who gave the visas all alone with no one else in the room. It was like a miracle. He started crying to him, “Please stamp our passports, my wife and children’s passports and myself. You’ll give us life.” He said, “Okay, okay, I’ll give it to you.” He went to pull out the passports from his pocket, but they weren’t there. It was then he realized he forgot the passports miles back. At that moment he said in a loud voice, “This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.” And he fainted. The consul helped get him up and asked what was wrong. He replied he forgot his passports, but he needed them stamped or they were going to die. He was crying bitterly. The consul said, “Stop, I’m going to help you. Don’t worry. I’m going to give you a piece of my own stationary with the English emblem on top and I’m going to write my name with the words, “I hereby declare anyone on this paper allowed into England.” He stamped it and gave it to him. He thanked him profusely and, when he walked out of that office, he realized he could fit every Jew he finds on that paper. He went running through the streets and found hundreds of Jews and wrote their names on every inch of the paper. He showed up the next day with an entire congregation of people and gave life to all of them. Until this day, their children and grandchildren are all known. What this man thought was the worst moment of his life was Hashem preparing the way to save generations of people instead of just him and his family. We involve ourselves in hishtadlut, but Hashem determines outcome. What we may think is bad, He knows is good. If we could trust Him along the way, it will help us both emotionally and spiritually.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html Man is able to make a hishtadlut in any way he feels, but the ultimate decision of what actually transpires is always only up to Hashem. Many times we may feel that our actions are going to cause a certain outcome, but Hashem has completely different plans in mind. The Midrash at the beginning of parshat Vayeshev quotes a pasuk in Yirmiah in perek 29 which portrays this idea. It says there, “כי אנכי ידעתי את המחשבות אשר אני חושב עליכם נאום ה' – Hashem tells us we may have many ideas in our minds of what we’re accomplishing, but Hashem’s ideas are the ones that are going to prevail." The Midrash continues, describing a scenario in which many people had many different plans but Hashem was orchestrating all of them into His master plan. It says the Shevatim were involved in selling Yosef, Yosef was in pain over what was happening to him, Reuven was in pain over what happened to Yosef, Yehuda left his brothers to go get married, and Hashem was involved in bringing the light of Mashiach into the world. Sometimes things look very bleak and we don’t understand why they are happening. During those times, we need to take a moment and strengthen ourselves, realizing Hashem is orchestrating the events to carry out His plan. I heard a story that was said over in the name of Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman. It was about the Rabbi’s wife’s grandfather. When the Nazis entered Vienna, he escaped with his wife and three children to Bayon, France. There were thousands of other refugees there also trying to escape. They needed to travel further to save themselves but they didn’t know how to leave from there. He desperately wanted to get to England, a place he believed he would be protected. He saw a sailor and asked him where his ship was going. The sailor replied he was leaving for England the following day. He then begged him to take him and his family. The sailor said, “Sure, no problem, you can come. You could bring as many people as you want, I have plenty of room. The problem is that you’ll need a visa to enter England, and the only way to get one is at the English Embassy, but good luck because everyone’s trying to get one.” The man prayed to Hashem for help and proceeded to walk for miles until he saw a mob of hundreds and hundreds of people outside the Embassy with guards pushing them back, saying, “We can’t give any more visas.” Once again he looked up to Hashem and asked for help. All of a sudden, a heavy downpour began with thunder and lightning. People started running in all directions. He was able to make his way through the crowd, all the way to the front by the door of the Consulate. He made his way inside and then saw the man who gave the visas all alone with no one else in the room. It was like a miracle. He started crying to him, “Please stamp our passports, my wife and children’s passports and myself. You’ll give us life.” He said, “Okay, okay, I’ll give it to you.” He went to pull out the passports from his pocket, but they weren’t there. It was then he realized he forgot the passports miles back. At that moment he said in a loud voice, “This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.” And he fainted. The consul helped get him up and asked what was wrong. He replied he forgot his passports, but he needed them stamped or they were going to die. He was crying bitterly. The consul said, “Stop, I’m going to help you. Don’t worry. I’m going to give you a piece of my own stationary with the English emblem on top and I’m going to write my name with the words, “I hereby declare anyone on this paper allowed into England.” He stamped it and gave it to him. He thanked him profusely and, when he walked out of that office, he realized he could fit every Jew he finds on that paper. He went running through the streets and found hundreds of Jews and wrote their names on every inch of the paper. He showed up the next day with an entire congregation of people and gave life to all of them. Until this day, their children and grandchildren are all known. What this man thought was the worst moment of his life was Hashem preparing the way to save generations of people instead of just him and his family. We involve ourselves in hishtadlut, but Hashem determines outcome. What we may think is bad, He knows is good. If we could trust Him along the way, it will help us both emotionally and spiritually.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The Torah praises the Jewish People for traveling and encamping in the desert according to the Cloud of Hashem. When the cloud rested, the Jews stayed in their place and when the cloud arose, the Jews traveled. The commentaries note an apparent redundancy in the pasukim here. After already stating that praise, the next pasuk elaborates by saying if the cloud stayed put on top of the Mishkan for many days, the Jews still stayed in their place and didn’t travel. The next pasuk says, sometimes the cloud was at rest for just a few days, sometimes for just one night, sometimes for a day and a night, sometimes for two days and sometimes for a month. No matter what it was, the Jewish People always followed it exactly, "על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו" – according to Hashem did they camp and according to Hashem did they travel. The question the Mefarshim are bothered with is why the need for so many pasukim seemingly reiterating the same point. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman quoted from Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsh who explained, the Torah here is praising the Jewish People’s ability to subjugate themselves to the will of Hashem. Although they were very eager to travel and get to Eretz Yisrael, they remained encamped as long as Hashem wanted them to be there. Furthermore, the experience of traveling and stopping and not knowing when they would travel again was potentially very unsettling. Every time the Jewish People traveled, they had to disassemble the entire Mishkan , they had to gather up all their belongings and then they had to go in travel formation. When they were encamped, they had to assemble the Mishkan , unpack all their belongings and settle in their camp formation. While they were encamped, they were not sure if they would remain in that spot for one day, for two days, for a month or even a year. How were they able to go through that amidst all of the potential anxiety? How could they unpack and settle down not knowing if they would have to move an hour later? The answer the Torah says,"על פי ה' יחנו" -they knew that at that time they were doing the will of Hashem by camping. It didn’t matter if they would have to leave a few hours later or a year later because the unpacking and the settling itself was the will of Hashem. This beautiful quality of being able to nullify oneself to the will of Hashem has given people the strength to get through any circumstance that life presents them with. We’re living through an unsettling time period. Rabbi Biderman said he asked a man whose daughter is getting married when the wedding was going to take place. The man answered, “ Im yirtzeh Hashem, next Wednesday.” He continued, “Normally when I say, ‘ Im yirtzeh Hashem – if it’s the will of Hashem,’ I don’t fully mean it, but now I definitely mean it. I honestly don’t know what could happen from one day to the next.” These are the times we are living in. We have the ability to be calm and happy, knowing we are exactly where Hashem wants us to be. And what could be better than that? If Hashem wants a wedding to take place on Wednesday, that’s when it will take place. And if He wants it on another day, we’ll accept His will happily. People who are single wish they could know when they will finally be married, whether it’s in a month or in a year. They just want to know and then they could be calm. If they could think, today they are where Hashem wants them to be, they will be praised for their emunah, את משמרת ה' שמרנו –they could say to themselves, I’m going to keep doing my hishtadlut, but the entire time I’m going to be calm, knowing Hashem is in control, and today I am where I am supposed to be . We just found out that sleep-away camps will not be allowed to open this summer in New York. That means many people who depended on an income from those camps will be left wondering how they are going to make ends meet. If they could think, we are in the circumstance that Hashem wants us to be in, we are going to follow His cloud. If He wants it to be like this today, then we’ll accept it with love. We’re not worried about tomorrow because, when tomorrow comes, we know we’ll also be in the circumstance Hashem wants us to be in then. This is a wondrous midah to possess, to subjugate ourselves to the will of Hashem. It is something that Hashem praises and elaborates on. And it is something that will be rewarded for every moment that it is accomplished.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The Torah praises the Jewish People for traveling and encamping in the desert according to the Cloud of Hashem. When the cloud rested, the Jews stayed in their place and when the cloud arose, the Jews traveled. The commentaries note an apparent redundancy in the pasukim here. After already stating that praise, the next pasuk elaborates by saying if the cloud stayed put on top of the Mishkan for many days, the Jews still stayed in their place and didn’t travel. The next pasuk says, sometimes the cloud was at rest for just a few days, sometimes for just one night, sometimes for a day and a night, sometimes for two days and sometimes for a month. No matter what it was, the Jewish People always followed it exactly, "על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו" – according to Hashem did they camp and according to Hashem did they travel. The question the Mefarshim are bothered with is why the need for so many pasukim seemingly reiterating the same point. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman quoted from Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsh who explained, the Torah here is praising the Jewish People’s ability to subjugate themselves to the will of Hashem. Although they were very eager to travel and get to Eretz Yisrael, they remained encamped as long as Hashem wanted them to be there. Furthermore, the experience of traveling and stopping and not knowing when they would travel again was potentially very unsettling. Every time the Jewish People traveled, they had to disassemble the entire Mishkan , they had to gather up all their belongings and then they had to go in travel formation. When they were encamped, they had to assemble the Mishkan , unpack all their belongings and settle in their camp formation. While they were encamped, they were not sure if they would remain in that spot for one day, for two days, for a month or even a year. How were they able to go through that amidst all of the potential anxiety? How could they unpack and settle down not knowing if they would have to move an hour later? The answer the Torah says,"על פי ה' יחנו" -they knew that at that time they were doing the will of Hashem by camping. It didn’t matter if they would have to leave a few hours later or a year later because the unpacking and the settling itself was the will of Hashem. This beautiful quality of being able to nullify oneself to the will of Hashem has given people the strength to get through any circumstance that life presents them with. We’re living through an unsettling time period. Rabbi Biderman said he asked a man whose daughter is getting married when the wedding was going to take place. The man answered, “ Im yirtzeh Hashem, next Wednesday.” He continued, “Normally when I say, ‘ Im yirtzeh Hashem – if it’s the will of Hashem,’ I don’t fully mean it, but now I definitely mean it. I honestly don’t know what could happen from one day to the next.” These are the times we are living in. We have the ability to be calm and happy, knowing we are exactly where Hashem wants us to be. And what could be better than that? If Hashem wants a wedding to take place on Wednesday, that’s when it will take place. And if He wants it on another day, we’ll accept His will happily. People who are single wish they could know when they will finally be married, whether it’s in a month or in a year. They just want to know and then they could be calm. If they could think, today they are where Hashem wants them to be, they will be praised for their emunah, את משמרת ה' שמרנו –they could say to themselves, I’m going to keep doing my hishtadlut, but the entire time I’m going to be calm, knowing Hashem is in control, and today I am where I am supposed to be . We just found out that sleep-away camps will not be allowed to open this summer in New York. That means many people who depended on an income from those camps will be left wondering how they are going to make ends meet. If they could think, we are in the circumstance that Hashem wants us to be in, we are going to follow His cloud. If He wants it to be like this today, then we’ll accept it with love. We’re not worried about tomorrow because, when tomorrow comes, we know we’ll also be in the circumstance Hashem wants us to be in then. This is a wondrous midah to possess, to subjugate ourselves to the will of Hashem. It is something that Hashem praises and elaborates on. And it is something that will be rewarded for every moment that it is accomplished.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html Shidduchim can become a very embarrassing experience at times. People can go months and even years without getting a single date. They watch as their friends and relatives get married one by one, and they haven’t been moving forward even the slightest bit. They try to give themselves chizuk with the understanding that there is only one person out there for them and, when the time comes, Hashem will bring that person k’heref ayin. But the daily struggle of waiting and being anxious about the future and feeling ashamed becomes so hard for them to deal with. They must internalize that every moment of them waiting, every feeling of shame, is calculated by Hashem for their good. The best thing they could do is tell Hashem, “I fully accept what You are doing. I thank You for dealing with me the way that You know that I need to be dealt with.” Praising and thanking Hashem will take away pain and it will elevate them so much. They have an opportunity in their situation to gain unfathomable rewards by reaching deep down within themselves and exercising their emunah muscles. They are 100% right, when the time comes, Hashem will send their zivug and nothing will get in the way, but until then, they need to maintain their strong level of emunah. The Chazon Ish used to say, even in today’s times when Hashem works in hidden ways, when it comes to shidduchim, He reveals Himself even more. Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein told a story which began when a young woman by the name of Esther, who lives in America, called her brother Yaakov, who lives in Israel. She told him that she had a friend there in America who’s looking to go out with a certain boy. She found out good things about his family, who also lives in America, but was unable to find anything about him. He’s currently learning in a yeshiva in Yerushalayim, and she told him the name, and she is desperately trying any way possible to get some information about him. Esther continued, “My friend said , ‘I know your brother Yaakov is involved in chinuch in Israel and knows how to read people very well just from a conversation with them. Could you please ask him to go and speak to this boy and see if he thinks he’ll be a good shidduch for me?’” Yaakov told her, “I would love to help, but you have to understand, I live in Elad and to travel all the way to Yerushalayim and back would take up most of a day for me. Not to mention, I have to try to locate the boy and then, out of nowhere, just go over to him and strike up a conversation. It’s not so practical. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be able to help.” Esther’s friend desperately wanted this to work out and she honestly had no other way of finding out about this boy. The following Shabbat, this boy who’s learning in Israel, who we’ll call Reuven, had an off Shabbat in yeshiva and, from weeks before, his other friend made arrangements for him and another boy to go spend Shabbat by somebody in Modi’in Ilit. So him and his friend boarded the bus on Friday and, on their way to their destination, they called their hosts to tell them they’re on their way. The host turned white when he heard they were coming. He apologized profusely saying he had a change of plans and was already en route to his in-law’s house. He had totally forgotten they were even coming. Now these boys were on a bus on a Friday afternoon with nowhere to go for Shabbat. They called the friend who made the arrangements for them and asked him what to do. He said, “I heard there’s a Maggid Shiur in Yerushalayim who loves having guests who have no place to go come to him. I’ll get you his number.” They got the number, they called him and he said he does have guests every week but they’re boys from his yeshiva, and he literally has no extra room for any more people to come. But then he told the boys, “I have a son, Rav Yitzchak, who lives in Elad. He is very kind and has a golden heart. He’ll for sure let you come to him if you ask him.” So with no other choice, the boys called him and told him their story. He welcomed them with open arms. He gave them his address and told them to get off the current bus they were on at a certain stop and the bus that comes from Yerushalayim to Elad would stop there and pick them up. After he hung up the phone, he realized how late it was, they had already missed that other bus, but he had no way of contacting them as they had borrowed the phone to make the call. Thirty minutes before candle lighting, those boys arrived, saying somehow they found a ride there. That night, after dinner, Rav Yitzchak said he’s going back to shul, as he does every week, to sing and learn and asked if the boys wanted to accompany him. Of course they went, but as they approached the shul, Reuven got shy. He said, “I don’t know anybody here. I’m not going to sing with them.” So Rav Yitzchak said, “No problem, there’s a shul next door, nobody's there. It’s quiet, you can go learn there.” As they were about to go, the other boy told Reuven, “This is a once in a lifetime experience. Let’s go sing with them.” He convinced Reuven and they went. Who was in that very shul at that time? None other than Yaakov, Esther’s brother. He is a warm individual, he always goes over to greet new people and, when he heard the name of one of those boys, Reuven from Yerushalayim in the yeshiva that he was told he learns in, he couldn’t believe it. That’s the boy! He came all the way to him. He spoke to him for a while and felt like he was a great person. The next day he sent back the report to America and, baruch Hashem, within weeks, Reuven and Esther’s friend were engaged. For Reuven to meet Yaakov, Hashem made his original host change his plans, he made his friend think to call that Maggid Shiur, he made that Maggid Shiur think to call his own son, He got Reuven there in a private car ride and then at the last second he made Reuven’s friend convince him to walk into that shul. When the time of a shidduch comes, Hashem will ensure to bring it to fruition. Our job is to keep our emunah, to believe what is happening is for the best and then, no matter when the shidduch finally comes, we will know we handled the situation the best way possible.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html Shidduchim can become a very embarrassing experience at times. People can go months and even years without getting a single date. They watch as their friends and relatives get married one by one, and they haven’t been moving forward even the slightest bit. They try to give themselves chizuk with the understanding that there is only one person out there for them and, when the time comes, Hashem will bring that person k’heref ayin. But the daily struggle of waiting and being anxious about the future and feeling ashamed becomes so hard for them to deal with. They must internalize that every moment of them waiting, every feeling of shame, is calculated by Hashem for their good. The best thing they could do is tell Hashem, “I fully accept what You are doing. I thank You for dealing with me the way that You know that I need to be dealt with.” Praising and thanking Hashem will take away pain and it will elevate them so much. They have an opportunity in their situation to gain unfathomable rewards by reaching deep down within themselves and exercising their emunah muscles. They are 100% right, when the time comes, Hashem will send their zivug and nothing will get in the way, but until then, they need to maintain their strong level of emunah. The Chazon Ish used to say, even in today’s times when Hashem works in hidden ways, when it comes to shidduchim, He reveals Himself even more. Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein told a story which began when a young woman by the name of Esther, who lives in America, called her brother Yaakov, who lives in Israel. She told him that she had a friend there in America who’s looking to go out with a certain boy. She found out good things about his family, who also lives in America, but was unable to find anything about him. He’s currently learning in a yeshiva in Yerushalayim, and she told him the name, and she is desperately trying any way possible to get some information about him. Esther continued, “My friend said , ‘I know your brother Yaakov is involved in chinuch in Israel and knows how to read people very well just from a conversation with them. Could you please ask him to go and speak to this boy and see if he thinks he’ll be a good shidduch for me?’” Yaakov told her, “I would love to help, but you have to understand, I live in Elad and to travel all the way to Yerushalayim and back would take up most of a day for me. Not to mention, I have to try to locate the boy and then, out of nowhere, just go over to him and strike up a conversation. It’s not so practical. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be able to help.” Esther’s friend desperately wanted this to work out and she honestly had no other way of finding out about this boy. The following Shabbat, this boy who’s learning in Israel, who we’ll call Reuven, had an off Shabbat in yeshiva and, from weeks before, his other friend made arrangements for him and another boy to go spend Shabbat by somebody in Modi’in Ilit. So him and his friend boarded the bus on Friday and, on their way to their destination, they called their hosts to tell them they’re on their way. The host turned white when he heard they were coming. He apologized profusely saying he had a change of plans and was already en route to his in-law’s house. He had totally forgotten they were even coming. Now these boys were on a bus on a Friday afternoon with nowhere to go for Shabbat. They called the friend who made the arrangements for them and asked him what to do. He said, “I heard there’s a Maggid Shiur in Yerushalayim who loves having guests who have no place to go come to him. I’ll get you his number.” They got the number, they called him and he said he does have guests every week but they’re boys from his yeshiva, and he literally has no extra room for any more people to come. But then he told the boys, “I have a son, Rav Yitzchak, who lives in Elad. He is very kind and has a golden heart. He’ll for sure let you come to him if you ask him.” So with no other choice, the boys called him and told him their story. He welcomed them with open arms. He gave them his address and told them to get off the current bus they were on at a certain stop and the bus that comes from Yerushalayim to Elad would stop there and pick them up. After he hung up the phone, he realized how late it was, they had already missed that other bus, but he had no way of contacting them as they had borrowed the phone to make the call. Thirty minutes before candle lighting, those boys arrived, saying somehow they found a ride there. That night, after dinner, Rav Yitzchak said he’s going back to shul, as he does every week, to sing and learn and asked if the boys wanted to accompany him. Of course they went, but as they approached the shul, Reuven got shy. He said, “I don’t know anybody here. I’m not going to sing with them.” So Rav Yitzchak said, “No problem, there’s a shul next door, nobody's there. It’s quiet, you can go learn there.” As they were about to go, the other boy told Reuven, “This is a once in a lifetime experience. Let’s go sing with them.” He convinced Reuven and they went. Who was in that very shul at that time? None other than Yaakov, Esther’s brother. He is a warm individual, he always goes over to greet new people and, when he heard the name of one of those boys, Reuven from Yerushalayim in the yeshiva that he was told he learns in, he couldn’t believe it. That’s the boy! He came all the way to him. He spoke to him for a while and felt like he was a great person. The next day he sent back the report to America and, baruch Hashem, within weeks, Reuven and Esther’s friend were engaged. For Reuven to meet Yaakov, Hashem made his original host change his plans, he made his friend think to call that Maggid Shiur, he made that Maggid Shiur think to call his own son, He got Reuven there in a private car ride and then at the last second he made Reuven’s friend convince him to walk into that shul. When the time of a shidduch comes, Hashem will ensure to bring it to fruition. Our job is to keep our emunah, to believe what is happening is for the best and then, no matter when the shidduch finally comes, we will know we handled the situation the best way possible.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The Gemara says in Masechet Shabbat , daf 88, if a person is shamed or insulted and he is able to refrain from lashing back at the one who shamed him and is actually happy, thinking about the atonement that Hashem just provided for him, he is called a person who loves Hashem and, in the future, he will merit that his face will radiate kedusha as bright as the sun. The Orchot Tzaddikim writes, the reward is mida kineged mida : His face lost its color when he was shamed and he accepted it, Hashem is going to restore that color with a radiance even more brilliant than the sun. He is called someone who loves Hashem because he held back his natural inclination in order to honor Hashem by doing His will and accept it. It is an act of complete emunah, believing that Hashem was behind the entire thing and that it was for his best. People need yeshuot and they are willing to travel long distances and spend large amounts of money to get them. Being able to overlook what people do to us, recognizing that it's from Hashem for our best, and completely forgiving them is a great segula to open the door for yeshuot . Rabbi Elimelech Biderman told a story of a Jew from Bnei Brak named Rav Yaakov who traveled yearly to America to be a chazan in a shul for the Yamim Noraim . In the shul in which he was hired, one of the congregants, who we’ll call Yosef, had two older boys still unmarried. Every year he would buy the honor of opening the Aron for Neila as a zechut for his boys to find their zivug . He and his sons would stand by the Aron the entire Neila and cry heartfelt tears to Hashem to give them a yeshua . They needed extra Heavenly help as these boys had their share of issues which was, biderech hateva , preventing them from getting married. Four years ago, Yosef got into a little confrontation with the gabai of the shul and the gabai was so angry at him, he wanted to get back at him. On one of the days preceding Rosh Hashanah, when Yosef was not in shul, the gabai announced they were taking bids on the kibudim for the Yamim Noraim in advance and, if the number was right, he would sell it to them right then and there. Someone from the crowd placed a bid on the opening of the Aron at Neila and the gabai sold it to him. His entire purpose in that whole episode was just to hurt Yosef, selling petichah for Neila to someone else, and he succeeded in doing it. When the time for peticha of Neila came around that year, Rav Yaakov the chazan , watched Yosef to see what his reaction would be when someone else was opening the Aron . Yosef appeared to be burning with anger. After Yom Kippur and everyone broke their fast, Rav Yaakov went over to Yosef’s house and spoke to him for nearly two hours, trying to appease him and get him to forgive the gabai for what he did. Yosef was so bitter, he wouldn’t hear anything Rav Yaakov was trying to tell him. At the end of the conversation, Rav Yaakov said, “Look, you have been buying peticha for years and your boys are still not married. Maybe you should try a new segula – accepting that what happened was from Hashem, and forgiving the gabai completely for what he did, is a great segula .” Yosef thought about it for a couple of minutes and then he said, “You’re right, I’m going to forgive him.” He released all of the built up tension and hatred and worked on himself to truly forgive him. The following year, in the summertime, a man from that shul office called Rav Yaakov as he always did to confirm that he would be coming back for the Yamim Noraim . While he was on the phone, Rav Yaakov asked him about Yosef. The man replied, “Oh, you didn’t hear? This past winter, both of his boys got married.” Accepting what people do to us as coming from Hashem, thanking Hashem for the kapara that it brought and forgiving the individual is such a powerful avodah . It will bring us glory in the future and it opens up the doors for yeshua now.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html The Gemara says in Masechet Shabbat , daf 88, if a person is shamed or insulted and he is able to refrain from lashing back at the one who shamed him and is actually happy, thinking about the atonement that Hashem just provided for him, he is called a person who loves Hashem and, in the future, he will merit that his face will radiate kedusha as bright as the sun. The Orchot Tzaddikim writes, the reward is mida kineged mida : His face lost its color when he was shamed and he accepted it, Hashem is going to restore that color with a radiance even more brilliant than the sun. He is called someone who loves Hashem because he held back his natural inclination in order to honor Hashem by doing His will and accept it. It is an act of complete emunah, believing that Hashem was behind the entire thing and that it was for his best. People need yeshuot and they are willing to travel long distances and spend large amounts of money to get them. Being able to overlook what people do to us, recognizing that it's from Hashem for our best, and completely forgiving them is a great segula to open the door for yeshuot . Rabbi Elimelech Biderman told a story of a Jew from Bnei Brak named Rav Yaakov who traveled yearly to America to be a chazan in a shul for the Yamim Noraim . In the shul in which he was hired, one of the congregants, who we’ll call Yosef, had two older boys still unmarried. Every year he would buy the honor of opening the Aron for Neila as a zechut for his boys to find their zivug . He and his sons would stand by the Aron the entire Neila and cry heartfelt tears to Hashem to give them a yeshua . They needed extra Heavenly help as these boys had their share of issues which was, biderech hateva , preventing them from getting married. Four years ago, Yosef got into a little confrontation with the gabai of the shul and the gabai was so angry at him, he wanted to get back at him. On one of the days preceding Rosh Hashanah, when Yosef was not in shul, the gabai announced they were taking bids on the kibudim for the Yamim Noraim in advance and, if the number was right, he would sell it to them right then and there. Someone from the crowd placed a bid on the opening of the Aron at Neila and the gabai sold it to him. His entire purpose in that whole episode was just to hurt Yosef, selling petichah for Neila to someone else, and he succeeded in doing it. When the time for peticha of Neila came around that year, Rav Yaakov the chazan , watched Yosef to see what his reaction would be when someone else was opening the Aron . Yosef appeared to be burning with anger. After Yom Kippur and everyone broke their fast, Rav Yaakov went over to Yosef’s house and spoke to him for nearly two hours, trying to appease him and get him to forgive the gabai for what he did. Yosef was so bitter, he wouldn’t hear anything Rav Yaakov was trying to tell him. At the end of the conversation, Rav Yaakov said, “Look, you have been buying peticha for years and your boys are still not married. Maybe you should try a new segula – accepting that what happened was from Hashem, and forgiving the gabai completely for what he did, is a great segula .” Yosef thought about it for a couple of minutes and then he said, “You’re right, I’m going to forgive him.” He released all of the built up tension and hatred and worked on himself to truly forgive him. The following year, in the summertime, a man from that shul office called Rav Yaakov as he always did to confirm that he would be coming back for the Yamim Noraim . While he was on the phone, Rav Yaakov asked him about Yosef. The man replied, “Oh, you didn’t hear? This past winter, both of his boys got married.” Accepting what people do to us as coming from Hashem, thanking Hashem for the kapara that it brought and forgiving the individual is such a powerful avodah . It will bring us glory in the future and it opens up the doors for yeshua now.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.htm We thank Hashem in Modim “שאתה הוא ה' אלוקינו – that He is Hashem our G-d.” The Bet Tefila learns that Hashem and Elokenu are two separate thank yous. First we thank Hashem that He is Hashem. Just the knowledge that Hashem is in control of everything that goes on in the world is something to be thankful for, to know that we are not subject to happenstance, to know that no one could do evil and get away with it, doing the right thing is rewarded, no one has the ability to harm another individual, everything is calculated and done according to His perfect plan. That is a reason to thank Hashem. The second thank you is Elokenu – that He is our G-d, He loves us, He wants to help us and He personally guides each and every one of us during every moment of our lives, with such love. Hashem gives us because we’re His children, not because we deserve it. The last four words of Modim are “כי מעולם קיווינו לך”( we have always put our hope in You) – the Bet Tefila explains, the greatest chesed Hashem does for us is that He gives us just because we ask Him, just because we know He’s our Father and we come to him, even if we have no other merits other than קיווינו לך, that we come to Him for help. We need to truly feel that Hashem is ours, that He wants us to come to Him, and utilize that opportunity all the time. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman related a story that a man from Bet Shemesh told him. This man was making a wedding for his daughter on the 20 th of Sivan last year. He was struggling a lot financially and the wedding only made things harder for him. A few days before the wedding, he told his daughter he wasn’t going to be able to afford to get her a kallah chair. He wished he could, but he simply ran out of money. She began to cry saying she would be so humiliated not having that chair. He repeated, he wished he could get her one, it just wasn’t possible. Then he told her, “Although your father on earth can’t afford it, your Father in Heaven has all the money in the world. Ask him to get you a kallah chair.” That day, she recited the entire Tehillim and then made a heartfelt request to Hashem to get her a Kallah chair. The day of the wedding, she didn’t just get a kallah chair, she got one that looked to be one of a kind. It was a chair that not even the wealthy have at their weddings. How did it happen? The wedding hall was called Vorhand Hall in Beit Shemesh. It has two floors and can accommodate two social events going on at the same time. On the day of her wedding, there was another wedding on the second floor. The man making that wedding was extremely wealthy and had a party planner organizing everything. He ordered the most exquisite kallah chair for his daughter. Some people have a custom not to make wedding on the 20 th of Sivan and this wedding being made on the second floor was being made by one of those people. They weren’t planning on starting until very late, at least 72 minutes after sunset to be sure that it was no longer the 20 th of the month. The wedding on the first floor, however, was starting much earlier, as they didn’t have that minhag . A couple of hours before the wedding in the upper hall was scheduled to begin, the man making the wedding realized that the expensive kallah chair that he ordered was not there. He immediately called the party planner to find out where it was. After investigating, it was discovered that it was accidentally delivered to the lower hall. The other bride was already using it. But because of the large difference in times of the two weddings, the poor bride was able to get the full use of that chair. Hashem worked it out for her that not only wasn’t she embarrassed at her wedding, she got one of the most beautiful chairs she had ever seen. Hashem has millions of ways of helping us, and He could always help us the best way possible. We have to feel that He is our G-d. He loves when we call out to Him. Let us truly internalize this, thank Him for being our Hashem and come to Him with all of our needs.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.htm We thank Hashem in Modim “שאתה הוא ה' אלוקינו – that He is Hashem our G-d.” The Bet Tefila learns that Hashem and Elokenu are two separate thank yous. First we thank Hashem that He is Hashem. Just the knowledge that Hashem is in control of everything that goes on in the world is something to be thankful for, to know that we are not subject to happenstance, to know that no one could do evil and get away with it, doing the right thing is rewarded, no one has the ability to harm another individual, everything is calculated and done according to His perfect plan. That is a reason to thank Hashem. The second thank you is Elokenu – that He is our G-d, He loves us, He wants to help us and He personally guides each and every one of us during every moment of our lives, with such love. Hashem gives us because we’re His children, not because we deserve it. The last four words of Modim are “כי מעולם קיווינו לך”( we have always put our hope in You) – the Bet Tefila explains, the greatest chesed Hashem does for us is that He gives us just because we ask Him, just because we know He’s our Father and we come to him, even if we have no other merits other than קיווינו לך, that we come to Him for help. We need to truly feel that Hashem is ours, that He wants us to come to Him, and utilize that opportunity all the time. Rabbi Elimelech Biderman related a story that a man from Bet Shemesh told him. This man was making a wedding for his daughter on the 20 th of Sivan last year. He was struggling a lot financially and the wedding only made things harder for him. A few days before the wedding, he told his daughter he wasn’t going to be able to afford to get her a kallah chair. He wished he could, but he simply ran out of money. She began to cry saying she would be so humiliated not having that chair. He repeated, he wished he could get her one, it just wasn’t possible. Then he told her, “Although your father on earth can’t afford it, your Father in Heaven has all the money in the world. Ask him to get you a kallah chair.” That day, she recited the entire Tehillim and then made a heartfelt request to Hashem to get her a Kallah chair. The day of the wedding, she didn’t just get a kallah chair, she got one that looked to be one of a kind. It was a chair that not even the wealthy have at their weddings. How did it happen? The wedding hall was called Vorhand Hall in Beit Shemesh. It has two floors and can accommodate two social events going on at the same time. On the day of her wedding, there was another wedding on the second floor. The man making that wedding was extremely wealthy and had a party planner organizing everything. He ordered the most exquisite kallah chair for his daughter. Some people have a custom not to make wedding on the 20 th of Sivan and this wedding being made on the second floor was being made by one of those people. They weren’t planning on starting until very late, at least 72 minutes after sunset to be sure that it was no longer the 20 th of the month. The wedding on the first floor, however, was starting much earlier, as they didn’t have that minhag . A couple of hours before the wedding in the upper hall was scheduled to begin, the man making the wedding realized that the expensive kallah chair that he ordered was not there. He immediately called the party planner to find out where it was. After investigating, it was discovered that it was accidentally delivered to the lower hall. The other bride was already using it. But because of the large difference in times of the two weddings, the poor bride was able to get the full use of that chair. Hashem worked it out for her that not only wasn’t she embarrassed at her wedding, she got one of the most beautiful chairs she had ever seen. Hashem has millions of ways of helping us, and He could always help us the best way possible. We have to feel that He is our G-d. He loves when we call out to Him. Let us truly internalize this, thank Him for being our Hashem and come to Him with all of our needs.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.htm The Chatam Sofer writes, even though from a bitachon standpoint it doesn’t seem logical to pray to change things because Hashem is always doing what’s best for us, nonetheless, we have a tradition from our Avot and we were instructed by Hashem to call out to Him with our needs and He will answer. Hashem wants us to pray to Him. He’s like a loving father who wants to give in when his son begs him for something. It doesn’t have to make sense. If it’s Hashem’s desire for us to pray to Him, then we do it. The pasuk says, “ואתה קדוש יושב תהילות ישראל.” The Midrash explains the pasuk to be saying, Hashem is sitting and awaiting the prayers of His beloved children. We are so fortunate, not only do we have Hashem, who can solve all of our problems in an instant, but He’s even hoping that we come to ask Him for help. He gives us a mitzvah for requesting our needs from Him. Those who have accustomed themselves to pray to Hashem all of the time throughout their day have gotten so much closer to Him and felt a great improvement in their lives as a result. It requires a little bit of training to instinctively turn to Hashem and ask Him for help, in our own words, when we have a need. A woman sent me an email saying she had been in the hospital to undergo surgery. After it was completed, the doctor told her he needed to do an additional surgery. He scheduled it for the following day which was a Friday which meant she would have to be in the hospital over Shabbat. There were no visitors allowed due to the Corona restrictions, and she was extremely lonely. However, she was looking forward to it all being over soon. The surgeon came into her room on Friday and apologized saying that because the hospital is so busy, there’s no operating room available and they will have to reschedule, hopefully for the next day. Now she was really down. She didn’t want to have an operation on Shabbat. She had no way of contacting her family to tell them about these developments, and she really didn’t want to sit around and wait to have her turn. She began to think of all the stories she had been reading in various emunah books and how a person could always turn to Hashem and ask Him for help in any situation. She knew she wasn’t alone, Hashem was with her, so she poured out her heart to Him in heartfelt tefila and she already felt better just praying to Him. Shortly after her tefila , a nurse came in and told her, “Today’s your lucky day. Things shifted, a room just became available and we can do the surgery right now.” Baruch Hashem, it was successful and she was back in her room recuperating, with a lot of time before Shabbat even started. It is so comforting to know we could turn to Hashem for help in any situation we’re in. Another woman emailed me. Her husband began learning the halachot of Shabbat and became more on top of things in the home. It bothered him that his kitchen faucet didn’t have a separate knob for hot and cold. He felt one could easily turn on the hot water by accident with their current faucet, so he wanted to change it. They didn’t really have any extra funds to buy new faucets and have a plumber install them but they said, we’re doing this l’shem Shamayim , we’ll do what’s right and Hashem will provide. They called a plumber who said he would let them know when he’s available. The following week, friends of theirs were going out of town and asked if a child of theirs could stay by them for the weekend. They happily agreed. The plumber ended up coming to them on that Sunday and gave them a bill for the faucets and installation for $300. The very same day, their friends came back to pick up their child and handed them an envelope with money as a gesture of thank you. They opened it up and saw it was $300. Hashem helps us with our big needs and our little needs. He loves when we ask Him for help so we should take advantage and call out to Him all the time.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.htm The Chatam Sofer writes, even though from a bitachon standpoint it doesn’t seem logical to pray to change things because Hashem is always doing what’s best for us, nonetheless, we have a tradition from our Avot and we were instructed by Hashem to call out to Him with our needs and He will answer. Hashem wants us to pray to Him. He’s like a loving father who wants to give in when his son begs him for something. It doesn’t have to make sense. If it’s Hashem’s desire for us to pray to Him, then we do it. The pasuk says, “ואתה קדוש יושב תהילות ישראל.” The Midrash explains the pasuk to be saying, Hashem is sitting and awaiting the prayers of His beloved children. We are so fortunate, not only do we have Hashem, who can solve all of our problems in an instant, but He’s even hoping that we come to ask Him for help. He gives us a mitzvah for requesting our needs from Him. Those who have accustomed themselves to pray to Hashem all of the time throughout their day have gotten so much closer to Him and felt a great improvement in their lives as a result. It requires a little bit of training to instinctively turn to Hashem and ask Him for help, in our own words, when we have a need. A woman sent me an email saying she had been in the hospital to undergo surgery. After it was completed, the doctor told her he needed to do an additional surgery. He scheduled it for the following day which was a Friday which meant she would have to be in the hospital over Shabbat. There were no visitors allowed due to the Corona restrictions, and she was extremely lonely. However, she was looking forward to it all being over soon. The surgeon came into her room on Friday and apologized saying that because the hospital is so busy, there’s no operating room available and they will have to reschedule, hopefully for the next day. Now she was really down. She didn’t want to have an operation on Shabbat. She had no way of contacting her family to tell them about these developments, and she really didn’t want to sit around and wait to have her turn. She began to think of all the stories she had been reading in various emunah books and how a person could always turn to Hashem and ask Him for help in any situation. She knew she wasn’t alone, Hashem was with her, so she poured out her heart to Him in heartfelt tefila and she already felt better just praying to Him. Shortly after her tefila , a nurse came in and told her, “Today’s your lucky day. Things shifted, a room just became available and we can do the surgery right now.” Baruch Hashem, it was successful and she was back in her room recuperating, with a lot of time before Shabbat even started. It is so comforting to know we could turn to Hashem for help in any situation we’re in. Another woman emailed me. Her husband began learning the halachot of Shabbat and became more on top of things in the home. It bothered him that his kitchen faucet didn’t have a separate knob for hot and cold. He felt one could easily turn on the hot water by accident with their current faucet, so he wanted to change it. They didn’t really have any extra funds to buy new faucets and have a plumber install them but they said, we’re doing this l’shem Shamayim , we’ll do what’s right and Hashem will provide. They called a plumber who said he would let them know when he’s available. The following week, friends of theirs were going out of town and asked if a child of theirs could stay by them for the weekend. They happily agreed. The plumber ended up coming to them on that Sunday and gave them a bill for the faucets and installation for $300. The very same day, their friends came back to pick up their child and handed them an envelope with money as a gesture of thank you. They opened it up and saw it was $300. Hashem helps us with our big needs and our little needs. He loves when we ask Him for help so we should take advantage and call out to Him all the time.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.htm At the end of this week’s parasha Naso , we read about the inauguration offerings of the Nesi’im and the mefarshim ask why the Torah repeats the same donations again and again for each Nasi , rather than just writing once that all the Nesi’im gave the same korban . The Ramban answers, Hashem wanted to give honor to each Nasi for his efforts, therefore, He wrote down each name, the day they brought their korban , what their korban consisted of and thereby honored each of them individually. Although we are supposed to run away from honor, we are also supposed to give honor, and when we have an opportunity to compliment someone or give them praise, we should utilize it. It’s so important for a person to have self-esteem. Many people have feelings of inferiority and it causes them to become depressed. They see friends or family members accomplishing great things in their lives and they are left feeling worthless, with no accomplishments to show for themselves. Any day a person spends time praying, learning, doing mitzvot , is a very successful day and accomplishes a tremendous amount in the eyes of the only One who matters – Hashem. People don’t even realize how much they are accomplishing through their everyday activities and through their contact with other people. No one should ever feel worthless. The Gemara says on the pasuk , “"כפלח הרימון רקתך, that “ אפילו ריקנים שבך מלאים מצוות כרימון – even people who aren’t fully observing Torah and mitzvot are still filled with mitzvot , many of which they don’t even realize they are doing." About 22 years ago, a man, who we’ll call Aaron, passed away in a tragic way at the age of 55. He had a very hard life. From a young age, he felt like he was in the shadow of his older brother, unable to have an identity of his own. He was married for less than a year and he didn’t have any children. He never held a steady job and basically lived with his parents until he passed away. At his funeral, every speaker alluded to the fact that if he would have applied himself more, he could have made something of himself. He was depressed and always felt that he didn’t have any value. A few weeks ago, someone noticed on a webpage a man with a unique last name who happened to be Aaron’s great-nephew. That man was asked by a total stranger if he was, by any chance, related to Aaron. He replied, “Yes, he’s my great-uncle, but he passed away 22 years ago.” The other man said he always wanted to thank Aaron for what he did for his father, but he was never able to locate him, so he’ll tell this person the story. He said, “My father always told us how he owed his life to Aaron. He would always talk about him. When they were younger, in college, they both tried out for the soccer team. Aaron was one of the best players while my father was just okay. My father asked Aaron what he thought of his soccer abilities. Aaron replied, ‘You’re about a 90%, very good!’ My father became so uplifted from that compliment. He loved soccer but he didn’t think he was good. He didn’t make the team, but Aaron encouraged him. He said, ‘You have talent, keep trying. You could always be a coach if you don’t end up making it as a player.’ My father took those words to heart and he went on to play semi-pro and then coach semi-pro and then he bought a pro team and he was inducted into two soccer Hall of Fames. He made his parnasa from soccer and raised an upstanding family and he credits everything to your great-uncle’s words of encouragement. Although he wasn’t religious, his children are now ba’alei teshuva and they are also beneficiaries of your great-uncle’s words of inspiration.” None of the speakers at Aaron’s funeral knew that story. Aaron himself didn’t know that story. People should never feel like they have no worth. They have no idea who they affect and how they affect them. Every mitzvah that we do is immeasurable and the mitzvot are available to be done by anybody who wants to do them and they are the true determinant of our success in this world.

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html When a person does an act of mesirut nefesh – self-sacrifice, overcoming his natural inclinations, going against the grain to do a mitzvah for the sake of Hashem, it opens the doors of blessing. When it appears that by acting in a certain way we’ll be losing out, but we recognize Hashem is watching, our lives are in His hands, and we go through with the action that we feel is correct, that is considered a great act of emunah. Believing that we’ll never lose out by doing a righteous act is a big zechut . There is a man in Israel who fell on hard times and for the first time in his life he was forced to ask for handouts. One year on Purim, he went from shul to shul with his hands stretched out like the other poor people. His son was praying in one of those shuls and, when he saw his father asking for charity, he became so ashamed. He went over to his father and asked him to please stop, it’s too embarrassing for him. His father replied, “Who said I’m collecting for myself? I have a friend who is in a lot of debt.” The man continued collecting and, by the end of the morning, he had amassed a lot of money. He thought to himself, I told my son I might be collecting for my friend. Maybe I should be giving the money to him? But I need it so badly . So he told Hashem, “If it’s your will that I give the money away, please let me see that man today, at some point during the day, and I’ll give it to him.” Although that friend lives all the way on the other side of the city, later on in the day he did see him. And so he went over to him and handed him the envelope with all the money he collected and told him it’s a Purim present. It was difficult, but he was happy doing the ratzon Hashem. He concluded, over the next few days, on two different occasions, he earned sums that were much more than he collected in ways that he could never have imagined. One was four times the amount he collected and one was five times that amount. He gave away the money that he got for himself at a time that was so difficult, believing that he was doing the will of Hashem and Hashem was watching. Immediately, Hashem paid him back with more. Rabbi Joey Haber told a story that was told to him by a man that he knows very well. That man said, he used to be well-off, but six years ago he was forced to close down his business and he began working for others. Things got very tight, to the point where he didn’t know how he would meet his monthly expenses. Yet, throughout it all, he kept growing religiously and his commitment to Torah and tefila was unbreakable. Right at the time that the Corona pandemic began spreading here in New York, he received a $20,000 check from his boss, money that he was owed. It was the first time in so many years that he saw money like that. What was he going to do with it? He and his wife were thinking and they decided, the first thing they wanted to do was pay up all their tzedaka pledges. It came out to over $5000. They used the rest to pay other bills that they owed. They happily wrote out every check to tzedaka with excitement. They put them the mail and sent them out. The very next day, that man was told like most others in his company that his salary was going to be cut, due to the shut-down of their business. His salary was already low and now it was being cut by 25%. When he told his wife what happened, thinking about the $20,000 they just spent, the only regret she had was giving too much to the mortgage company. Not one word about the quarter of the money that they spent on tzedaka . They gave away so much at a time where they needed so much. At a time when others were hording, they were giving. But they were happy about it. Within a short time after that, this man was able to connect a friend of his, who is a supplier of masks, to a customer of his and the commission he earned for that connection came out to $200,000. He recently received the check in full. Mesirut nefesh is so beloved to Hashem. Doing what’s right at a time that is hard is an act of great emunah which brings about great beracha .

To order the new Living Emunah 5 please click here https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/9781422626078.html Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein told that he received a letter from a man who said that he had been suffering from terrible back pains for four years. He had a surgery done which eased the pain a little, but did not cure it. He still needed constant pain killers. And then, one day, all of a sudden he woke up and the pain was completely gone, Just like the Gemara said, Hashem says when the time of a sickness is up, then it leaves at that precise moment in its entirety. He and his wife say Nishmat daily, thanking Hashem for removing the pain. He ended the letter with a question, “Should I make a seudat hoda’ah(a meal to give thanks) and publicize Hashem’s chesed to me or should I be worried about the ayin hara(evil eye) ?” Rabbi Zilberstein answered, he should most definitely make a seudat hoda’ah , like it says in Tehillim ישלח דברו וירפאם" – after Hashem send His word and heals – ויזבחו זבח תודה וספרו מעשיו ברינה – a person should offer a korban and relate the miracles of Hashem.” The Korban todah had a shorter time to be eaten than other korbanot and it is accompanied by an enormous amount of bread – 40 loaves – which have to be consumed in just one day. The Ha’emek Davar explained the reason: Hashem wants the person bringing the korban to invite a lot of people to publicize the miracle that He performed for them. The Chavot Yair writes, a seuda made to publicize a miracle has a status of a seudat mitzvah and, therefore, the Rabbi said most definitely he should make a seudat hoda’ah . But then, Rabbi Zilberstein added, there are times that a miracle should not be publicized, at least not by name. And he gave an example of a man who once brought his young 13 year old son to him. The Rabbi said he noticed large scars on the right side of the boy’s face. The man explained, six months before, his son was in a car accident and had major damage to his head. The doctors in the emergency room said there was no hope for his survival. The man ran to the Gadol Hador , Rav Elyashiv, in tears and asked what could he do to save his son’s life? At that time, the boy had not yet begun putting on Tefillin , as he was still only 12. The Gadol advised, the father should buy a very high quality pair of Tefillin and put them on the boy’s head. He said, “Those Tefillin will need a head to be put on every day. That will give your son a zechut to be healed.” The father quickly followed the advice and he got Tefillin and put them on his son’s head in that emergency room. The medical staff was baffled, as the boy made a complete recovery. That man asked Rav Zilberstein, should he publicize that miracle or should he be scared of the ayin hara ? In that instance, the Rabbi told him not to publicize. Although, as he explained before, there is a concept of שיחו בכל נפלאותיו – to proclaim Hashem’s miracles, this case was an exception. He quoted a Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin which asks, why don’t we hear about Chananel, Mishael and Azarya after they were miraculously saved from a fiery furnace? The Gemara answered, they passed away from the ayin hara . They were amidst flames and came out unscathed. Everyone looked at them in amazement all the time and it negatively affected them. Rabbi Zilberstien elaborated, an open miracle that has no explanation according to natural means is something that should be concealed from others. This boy was healed by putting on a pair of Tefillin. That was a supernatural occurrence. There was no medical logic whatsoever for him to be healed. Most miracles, however, that people experience can be explained in the natural way of the world and therefore should absolutely be publicized. Publicizing a miracle is a great avodat Hashem. The Zohar HaKadosh writes, it is incumbent upon people to speak about the wonders of Hashem and, when they do, the angels in Shamayim gather together to listen to his praises and they praise Hashem and, as a result, the Name of Hashem becomes glorified. May we all experience the yeshuot of Hashem all the time.

We are happy to announce that Living Emunah 5 is now available at https://www.artscroll.com/Book s/9781422626078.html To receive before Shavuot request standard ground shipping 1-3 business days, it will be sent overnight and arrive on Thursday bH. This will only work if you live in NY or NJ Will also be available in local stores on Thursday The Zohar HaKadosh calls Shavuot the day of our marriage to Hashem. And on Leil Shavuot , if a person stays up all night long learning Torah, it’s like the bride adorning herself in preparation for the wedding. The Zohar continues, whoever performs this Tikkun , by learning with joy, will be written down in Hashem’s special sefer hazikaron and Hashem will bless them with 70 berachot and bestow crowns upon them that come from the highest places in Shamayim. The Shelah HaKadosh wrote about a time when the Beit Yosef and others were learning together on the night of Shavuot, an angel appeared to them and spoke from the mouth of the Beit Yosef . Some of the words it said were, “You are fortunate in this world and the Next because you have adorned Hashem on this night. You have merited entrance into the King’s palace. The voice of your Torah study and the breath of your mouths have risen to HaKadosh Baruch Hu , breaking through many barriers along the way. The malachim sit in silence and all the Heavenly hosts are listening attentively to your voices. Be happy! Don’t stop learning even for a moment. A streak of Heavenly loving-kindness has been stretched over you, as your Torah is bringing pleasure to HaKadosh Baruch Hu .” Everyone has this opportunity on the night of Shavuot. Although, this year it will be more difficult than others. We will not have that extra push, being surrounded by our rabbis and our friends learning together. Most will be in their own homes, learning by themselves. It may be harder, but the opportunity is even greater. Chazal tell us, כל העוסק בתורה בלילה-שכינה כנגדו- Whoever involves themselves with the study of Torah at night merits to have the Shechina opposite him.” The Meshech Chochma in parashat Vayikra writes, nighttime here refers to learning when nobody is watching. Learning, not for the sake of honor or to make a name for oneself, pure Torah learning, just for the sake of Hashem. Someone who learns for ulterior motives is also good because מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה(he will eventually come to learn for the sake of heaven), but he is compared to someone who is planting seeds with hope that, in the future, he’ll be able to harvest with joy, like the pasuk says "הזורעים בדמעה ברינה יקצורו" – those who seed will eventually be able to rejoice at the time of harvest. But someone who learns lishma doesn’t have to wait to rejoice. Regarding him, the pasuk says, "קומי רוני בלילה" – get up now and dance in the nighttime, because you are learning בלילה – you have reached the goal now, learning when no one is watching. Learning when nobody will know if we stayed up or not, is called learning lishma – it’s just between us and Hashem. That is the great opportunity we will have this Shavuot. But someone might say, “I’m not a scholar. I don’t know how to learn so well. How could I stay up the whole night learning?” Hashem is not interested in results, He’s interested in efforts. And when it’s harder for a person to put in the efforts, it’s even more precious to Hashem. The Pele Yoetz quoted the Midrash on the pasuk in Shir HaShirim , “ודגלו עלי אהבה”, which says, when a person struggles to learn, what is it like? A little child who hasn’t yet learned to speak, he says broken words. But every time he opens his mouth, his parents get so much joy listening to whatever he has to say. So too, when a Jew sits down to learn and he tries to read the words but they don’t come out right, Hashem gets so much joy from that. Kavayachol, He says, “Look how cute he is. Look how he tries to learn My Torah. Look how much he loves My Torah. He’s trying his hardest.” That brings Hashem so much pleasure. And of course, there are many sefarim translated in all different languages to make it easier for us to learn. Everyone could do it. Let us utilize this great opportunity and prepare for the wedding by adorning ourselves with the Torah and thereby merit all the blessings that come along with it.

Chapter 4

The shiur was given in Bergenfield, NJ

Life is Like a Play The Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashanah (11a) tells, כל מעשי בראשית...בדעתן נבראו – all of G-d's creations were brought into existence with their consent. Rashi explains that G-d asked each and every creature whether it agreed to be created in its particular way, and they all consented. On this basis, Rav Moshe Greenwald (Hungary, 1853-1910), in his work Arugat Ha'bosem (Parashat Hayeh-Sarah), suggests a reason for why the ground is called ארץ . Already the Midrash comments that this word refers to the fact that רצתה לעשות רצון קונה – the ground “desired to fulfill its Creator's will.” Rav Greenwald explains that when the ground was told it would exist down below, far from the Almighty, and would not enjoy the privileges given to the celestial beings to exist in the heavens near G-d, it readily agreed, without protest. It eagerly and happily accepted the role which G-d assigned to it, and voiced no objection. This is what the Midrash means when it said about the ground, רצתה לעשות רצון קונה . It desired to fulfill its G-d-given role even though this role was far less prestigious than other roles. Rav Greenwald writes that this is the meaning of the pasuk in Tehillim (101:6), עיני בנאמני ארץ – “My eyes are upon the faithful ones of the earth.” The נאמני ארץ , he explains, are those people who follow the example set by the ארץ , the ground, who happily accept the roles that Hashem gives them in this world, who recognize that Hashem has given them the precise tools and circumstances they need to fulfill their particular roles. Hashem has special love and affection for people who are happy with whatever their roles are, even if they are given “earthly” roles and not “heavenly” ones. The Torah says that after six days of creation, when the first Shabbat set in, the Almighty stepped back, as it were, looked upon the world, and saw that it was perfect. On each of the six days, one individual aspect of the universe was brought into existence. When the process was complete, it became clear how all the different pieces fit perfectly together, and every detail of creation had its particular place and specific function. Shabbat, then, is the time to recognize and acknowledge that we all have our assigned roles. Even if it appears that our assigned role is less honorable or significant than other people's roles, this should not bother us at all. We are all here for the same ultimate purpose – to fulfill the specific role assigned to us by G-d. Shabbat is the time for us to recommit ourselves to, and lovingly embrace, our especially assigned role, without feeling envious of anybody else's role. Rav David Ashear, in his Living Emunah , cites Rav Ephraim Wachsman as comparing life to a dramatic presentation. He writes: Imagine a show where the two main characters are a very wealthy man and a very poor man. The wealthy man is played by a new actor who is still breaking in to the profession, and who is earning just a few thousand dollars for the job. The poor man, however, is being played by a world-renowned actor who is receiving millions of dollars for the role. People in the audience might look at the wealthy character and think to themselves, “Wow, this fellow has everything he can ever want,” while feeling sorry for the pauper who lives such a difficult life and suffers abject poverty. Of course, nothing is further from the truth; the truth is that the person playing the poor man is a millionaire, and he earns his millions by playing the role assigned to him. Like actors on a stage, we all have specific roles to play here in this world. If we play the role correctly, whether it be living a noble life with modest means, or living a noble life in affluence, we earn great reward. But if the actor assigned the role of a pauper suddenly decides on stage to switch roles, he'd be fired. Likewise, if we reject our role, and try playing somebody else's role, we end up forfeiting our reward. A fable is told of two oxen who stood together watching enviously at the majestic sight of eagles gracefully flying overhead. They both admired the beauty and grandeur of the eagles' flight, and very much wanted to emulate them. The foolish ox stood at the edge of a mountain, and when it felt a gust of wind, it jumped into the air and attempted to fly. Of course, it quickly came crashing down to the ground. The wise ox, however, said to itself, “I obviously cannot fly like an eagle. I was not built with this ability. I am not equipped to fly. But I have other talents. I can do things that eagles can't. I will try to plow the earth as gracefully as the eagle flies.” When we see somebody excel in a way we never can, we should not feel disheartened or envious. Instead, we should resolve to work harder and improve in the things we are good at, to do our job as well as that person does his or hers. This is an especially vital message in the area of child-rearing and education. Rav Ades noted the importance of parents empowering their children with self-esteem, and he said the way we do this is by emphasizing this point – that each and every person in this world has his or her own unique role to fulfill. When a child knows that he was created with special capabilities that nobody else has so that he can fulfill the role assigned only to him and to nobody else on earth, he feels confident even if his peers score higher grades than him or are better ball players than him. Rav Shlomo Wolbe ( Aleh Shur , vol. 1, p. 36) writes that no two people have the exact same qualities or the exact same missions in life. Each person has his or her particular role, and is born with specific qualities which are his or her tools to fill that role. And it is critically important for children to hone their G-d-given talents and develop their unique qualities so they can fulfill their particular roles as adults. Too often, children squander their unique talents because they look at other people's qualities and capabilities, and, like the foolish ox, they try to “fly like the eagle.” We recite each morning a berachah thanking Hashem שעשה לי כל צרכי – “who has given me all my needs.” Rav Wolbe explains that this refers not only to our physical needs, but also to our talents and characteristics which enable us to perform our divinely-ordained role in this world. Part of emunah is acknowledging that Hashem has given us precisely what we need to do the job which we were placed in this world to perform, that He has sent us here with all the tools necessary to fill our roles. Rav Avraham Schorr noted that if a country's President and defense establishment sent its military into enemy territory to carry out a military mission, but it did not equip the soldiers with proper provisions and ammunition, then this would be deemed a grave failure of leadership. Accordingly, we cannot possibly imagine that G-d put us here in this world to perform a role for which we are not properly equipped. To believe this would be to question G-d's morality, Heaven forbid. He sent us each here to this world to do a particular job, and He has given each of us precisely what we need to do that job. Rav Ades explained that it is because of our arrogance that we sometimes refuse to accept our mission, and feel we should be doing somebody else's job, which we consider more dignified and noble. If we were truly honest, we would acknowledge that since G-d gave us a particular role, it must, by definition, be the best role for us to fulfill. Building emunah is a lifetime of work. We must constantly strengthen and reinforce our belief. And Shabbat is the best time for this effort. On Shabbat we have the time to refocus our attention on emunah , and, additionally, as mentioned earlier, it is the time to step back and appreciate how every person and every detail in the world fits into place. Let us use Shabbat as an opportunity to remind ourselves and our children that life is like a play, and we are each here to fill our unique role, rather than try to fill the roles assigned to others.

12 - Thoughts on Purim - Living Emunah