Podcasts about Shalom aleichem

When did people start making schlissel challah?  Why do women light multiple Shabbos candles when the Gemara says to light one?  Why do we say "Shalom Aleichem" at Kiddush Levanah when according to Shulchan Aruch we should say "Shalom Alecha"?  Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ron, author of Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim, answers these fascinating questions and more.

Rabbi Sam SternOCTOBER 15, 2012 BY SAM STERNEarly BackgroundI was born at a time when the whole world lay in turmoil caused by World War I. People suffered hunger and starvation. I came into a strict orthodox Jewish rabbinic and Chasidic home. Although my parents were poor at that time, they sent us boys to an expensive orthodox religious school. I had three brothers and a sister. My father's only desire was to make rabbis of us four boys.At five I was already going to cheder for first grade pupils and when seven I was able to read Hebrew. At nine I was introduced to the Five Books of Moses and the Bible commentator “Rashi,” and also to the ancient now obsolete Jewish books of jurisprudence called “Talmud.” When I was 10 or 11 years old, the Talmud eclipsed all the other books and became the main textbook for the next 10 years of my life. At thirteen I started my independent religious life. I was told that we children are under our father's jurisdiction until thirteen; at that age we become free from our father's supervision; we alone are responsible for our sins. Therefore, after I became thirteen I was taken to a synagogue where my father thanked God that he had got rid of my sins.The Gentiles And IThe home of my parents was very strict Orthodox. My father was a rabbi. He went to the synagogue to pray three times a day. We observed the Jewish laws according to the Talmud, for our parents desired that their children, too, should follow in their father's footsteps and remain strict Orthodox Jews.My family stayed in a little town in Congress Poland near Warsaw. 500 Jewish and 800 Polish families lived there, but the Polish and the Jewish people were separated by these four “Chinese Walls”:1. Clothing: Jews wore long black coats called “Kaftans” and a black hat called “Yiddishe Hutel.” The Polish people wore European clothing. It was considered a great sin for a Jew to wear European clothing.2. Language: Jews spoke Yiddish while the Poles spoke Polish. Yiddish is a Germanic language mixed with Hebrew and Slavic words.3. Religion: Jews worshipped in the synagogues which were also used as places of social gathering and Bible and Talmudic study classes. Polish people were almost 100% Catholic.4. Occupation: Jews were mainly blacksmiths, tailors, shoemakers and small businessmen, owners of small hardware stores and grocery stores, while thePoles were mainly farmers and government employees. The Jews were not granted the privilege of working for the municipal and federal government, nor in factories or agriculture. There were a thousand other differences between the Jews and the Poles, differences in customs, way of life, behaviour, temperament, and outlook. Their interests, hopes and wishes were also different. It is hard to put into words the things that separated us.We were two peoples living in one territory, under the same wonderful Polish sky. We ate the same healthy Polish bread and breathed the same clean air. Yet we were as strange to each other as the east is from the west.My first acquaintance with GentilesWhen I was six years old I tried to go for a walk outside the Jewish “Ghetto.” Suddenly a Gentile boy threw a stone at me while shouting: “Jew, Jew!” I, as a child, did not know that a Jew is hated by non Jews. Therefore I was surprised and scared. I ran back home to mother and told her that a boy threw a stone at me, calling me “Jew, Jew!”“Why is the boy throwing stones at me? Why is he calling me ‘Jew?' I never saw this boy before. Why does he hate me whom he had never seen before?”“He is a Christian and Christians are Jew haters. Even if he does not know you, he is your enemy.”“But why is he my enemy?” I kept on asking.“He believes what he is being taught. His priest, his teacher, his parents tell him to hate the Jews. Therefore he hates you even without a cause. But when our Messiah comes, we shall be the head and not the tail. Then we will go back to Palestine and no one will persecute us any more.”“But when will the Messiah come?” I kept on asking.“We don't know the exact time, but He will come some day. Then our sufferings at the hands of the Christians will come to an end.”The hope of the coming of the Messiah accompanied me all my life. It gave me power to endure suffering and humiliation from my Gentile neighbours.My EducationAfter my “Bar Mitzvah” I was sent to a higher rabbinical school with the sole purpose of becoming a rabbi. I spent the years from 13 to 22 in different schools where the main subject was the Talmud, which consists of 60 books dealing with everyday life. The main problems with which they deal are: damages, Holidays, marriage and divorce, prayer and farming problems. The main style of the books is “the argument.” For example, one rabbi said that if an egg is laid on a Holiday, it is kosher to eat, and the other rabbi said that the egg is not kosher, but “trefa.” The Talmud is a work of arguments and scholastic pilpulistic sayings (Pilpul refers to a method of disputation among rabbinical scholars regarding the interpretation of Talmudic rules and principles or Scripture that involves the development of careful and often excessively subtle distinctions). It deals also with mysticism, metaphysics and folklore.I, as a student of the Talmud, had to know by heart the name of every rabbi who expressed his opinion in the matters of damage, Holidays, etc. The Talmud was written in the time of the Tannaim and Amoraim, 1800 years ago. Since then thousands of books of comments on the Talmud have been written. The most famous ‘books, which are as important and binding to the Talmudists as the Talmud itself, are: The Rambam, the “Rosh,” The Tosafot, and Rashi, who is the greatest Talmudic commentator.I had to know all these different opinions and sayings. Since there were so many to study, we did not have time for even the most elementary secular subjects. I was ignorant in matters of arithmetic, geography, etc., but at the age of twenty two I was considered a “lamdan” which means a man who is learned in the Talmud.World War II broke outOn September l ,1939, World War II broke out. I had just received my rabbinical diploma called “Smicha” that past summer. I planned to marry and to become a religious leader of Israel, and to use my acquired knowledge to lead my fellow Jews in the ways of the Talmudic, rabbinic traditions.An alternate plan was to leave Poland, perhaps to emigrate to a country in Latin America, because there was a great need for rabbis. The war destroyed all my plans. My very life was in danger, as was that of all my fellow Jews in Europe.The Nazis and the Polish peopleOn September 4, 1939, the German soldiers came into our town. Life became unbearable for the Polish Jews. Every Jew was condemned to die. If all the skies were parchment, all men writers, and all trees pens, even then it would not be possible to describe what the Nazis in co-operation with the Polish people did to the Jews in Poland.During six years of such anti Jewish activities, 6 million Jews, among them one million children, lost their lives. One third of the world's Jewish population was annihilated. The fields of Europe are still wet with the innocent blood that was shed. Yes, here and there a conscientious Polish family rescued a Jew, hiding him and feeding him, but the number of these good people was very small.In May, 1945, World War II was over. The result: Nazi murderers were destroyed, Israel rose to become a nation and I had lost my entire family.In search for a friend and for an answer to the question: Why?After the war I came out of the concentration camp with the hope of seeing and being united with my relatives. I put advertisements in newspapers. I went to different institutions to find out about my relatives. To my great sorrow I learned that all my loved ones had perished with the six million Jews who were victims of the greatest demon in the history of mankind, Nazi Ideology. I came to realize the bitter fact that I was alone in the world without a friend, not belonging to anybody, nobody belonging to me. I could hardly believe that I would never see my parents, my sister, my brothers or my uncles again. I was now in a strange world, in a world without a friend and without a relative. I started to look for a human friend, but no one could satisfy my longing for a true mother heart or father love. Nobody could substitute the love of a sister, the faithfulness of a brother.I was disappointed and desperate: I lifted my eyes up to heaven and asked the old Jewish question: Why? Why was one third of the nation of God put to death by the Nazis? Where was God when a little innocent Jewish child cried for help when the Nazi murderers raised their brutal hands to kill it? Why was God silent in these terrible times for His chosen people?From D.P. Camp to the United States of AmericaSince I had no one in Poland. I decided to go to America: I thought that perhaps in a new land I would forget the dreadful past and start a new life. In order to go to America I had to go first to Germany where the American Army occupied the Western German territory. I became a member of a Zionist group whose sole work was to take the Jews out of Poland and bring them to Germany and Italy in order to enable them to emigrate to Israel or America.In April 1946 I came to a Jewish D.P. Camp near the Austrian border of Germany. I registered there as a rabbi and started to work as such in the D.P. Camp. I also edited the D.P. Newspaper. In 1952 I came to Rhode Island., U.S.A., where I worked as an assistant rabbi in a synagogue.Unbelief and DoubtAlthough I worked in the capacity of a Talmudic teacher in the synagogue, there was a great conflict in my heart. The question: “Why did God allow 6 million Jews to die?” bothered me. I taught things that I was not sure were true. I told my congregation and students: “If we Jews want to exist and to overcome our enemies we have to keep the Sabbath day holy.” In my heart I knew that 99% of the Hitler victims had kept the Sabbath day holy, yet it did not protect them from being killed. I did not have any proof or assurance that what I taught was true. I also lost my belief in the Talmudic legends, laws, and arguments pro and con. I was looking for the truth, but could not find it.Confession alone is not enoughEach Holiday we Jews go to the synagogue and pray to God, confessing our sins, and asking for forgiveness.We say, “Because of our sins we were driven from our land.” Confession of sins is a very important part of our prayers. The Jewish prayer book cites different kinds of sins which a Jew must confess in his daily prayers. The most solemn day of prayer is Yom Kippur, and on Yom Kippur Eve, every Jew over 13 years of age must recite 45 confessions called “Al Chets.” After the confession, the “Slach Lanu” (Forgive Us) is chanted by the congregation.When I prayed these prayers I felt unhappy and dissatisfied because I knew that according to the Bible, confession alone does not forgive sin. I knew that in order for sin to be forgiven, a sacrifice called “korban” must be offered. Leviticus deals with the “korban” many times, especially Lev.5:17-19.I was not sure that the Yom Kippur prayers have any significance in the sight of God, because I knew that right after the confessions and prayers we went back to the same old pattern of a life of sin. It seemed to me that as we were confessing our sins in the synagogue, we were mocking God. We spoke with our lips about repentance but did not really mean it. I knew that we are sinners and need a real, more valid approach to God.Longing for the TruthI felt very unhappy with my spiritual state of mind. I lost faith in mankind and in the rabbinical legends and teachings. I felt miserable knowing that I, as a rabbi, was teaching the people things that I did not believe. I knew that the Talmudic teachings, sayings, pilpulistic arguments, scholastic debates, hair splitting comments about obsolete damages, laws, rules and regulations regarding Sabbath, Holidays, clothing and washings, are of very little significance to us. I realized that we need some real solid spiritual truth by which to live, walk and exist as Jews. What is the truth? What is the true way for us and for me individually? I did not know!I looked on my people as on sheep without a shepherd. I saw that 2,000 years of Talmudic, Chasidic, cabbalistic and worldly teachings could not save one Jewish child from destruction. I knew that we Jews suffer for our sin, as we read in our prayers on the Holidays, but I did not know what our sin is.First Contact With Light: One spring evening I walked somewhere in Rhode Island. I looked here and there without a goal, just breathing in some fresh spring air. While I strolled, I noticed some young people standing near a store handing out little printed papers. They caught my attention and handed me a pamphlet too. As I could not read English I decided to go into the store to find out what kind of sale they were having. When I came inside I was surprised to see that there was no merchandise. To my astonishment, I noticed every one sitting with eyes closed and head bowed.“What is going on here?” I thought. I did not know that this is the manner in which Christians pray. It was in contrast to the way Jews pray with eyes open and shaking on all sides. I waited a while till everybody had finished praying and opened their eyes. A boy came and talked to me, but I did not understand him. I had been in the United States only a few weeks and did not know the English language. Finally I said that I speak only German and Yiddish. Through the use of sign language I made a date to come back the next Wednesday, when a German speaking person would come and explain to me what the organization was.LoveThe next Wednesday the German gentleman was waiting for me when I came. He shook my hand in a friendly manner and said to me in German: “This is a mission to the Jews.”“What is a mission?” I asked.“The Lord sent us to the Jews to let them know that God loves them and wants them to be saved.”“What do you mean saved? How can you speak about love after the cataclysm that came over the European Jew?” I asked.He smiled and said, “I know how you feel; but Christians, followers of Christ, love the Jews, and all those who harm them are not Christians. The Alpha and Omega of Christianity is love to mankind, Israel included. The Lord told us to go to the Jews first.”“Weren't all those who carried crosses and had pictures of saints in their homes yet organised pogroms against the Jews of Europe, weren't they Christians? Weren't the churches in Poland and Ukraine the main source of anti-Semitism? Didn't the priests incite their people against the Jews?”He looked at me and said. “The Lord teaches us to love our enemies, to show love to those who hate us. All those who do not obey the teachings of the Lord are not His followers.”Then he gave me a Yiddish New Testament and said, “Read it and you will find the true teaching of Christ.”I took the New Testament, put it into my pocket and said, “Yes, sir, I will read it. I want to see what the New Testament is really like. I don't know anything at all about it.”In the next few nights I had much to read. Every line, each page, was a great revelation to me as I read with great interest. Opening the Book of Matthew, I was surprised to read that Jesus is of the lineage of Abraham and David. I also noticed that on every page it says “As it is written,” which means that it was written in our Jewish Bible. For example, in the first chapter I read that He will be born of a virgin because it is written: “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel…” (Isaiah 7:14).In the 2nd chapter I read that He was born in Bethlehem as it is written:“Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come forth a governor that shall rule my people Israel” (Micah 5:2).Also I saw that He shall come out of Egypt, for it is written: “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” (Hosea 11:1) Thus reading I noticed on each page and in every chapter constant references to the Old Testament. It became clear to me that this book called New Testament is actually the fulfilment of the Old Testament. I realized that we rabbis were too much occupied with the Talmud and paid little or no attention to our Holy Bible. Then and there I became a Bible believing Jew. I thanked God for leading me to that little mission and decided to dedicate my life to Messiah.My acquaintance with a Jewish missionary.It was a few weeks before Passover. The missionary in Rhode Island gave me the address of a Jewish believer in Jesus who lived in New York, and I went there because I had never before seen a Jewish believer in Jesus. As soon as I contacted him, he invited me to his home. He welcomed me with the greeting, “Shalom Aleichem.” We read together from the New Testament in Yiddish.After a while he told me he had written a poem called “The Sufferer,” and started to read it. But this was only a pretense, as it was in reality the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Then he asked me, “Who is the subject of this poem? Who suffered for our sins? By Whose stripes are we healed?”I answered, “It probably refers to Jesus Christ.” Then he said; “I just copied out and read to you the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. He was the one who wrote about the Messiah.”Imagine my surprise and shock. I did not know the contents of Isaiah 53!The next day I showed the same “poem” to a friend, a rabbi in New York. He did not know either that Isaiah had written the chapter. The only conclusion I could reach was that the main reason so many rabbis and other Jews don't know the Messiah, the Saviour of the Old and New Testament, is that they don't know the Bible. I decided to do everything in my power to bring the Jewish Bible to them.The same evening I came to the New York missionary and told him that I believe in the Bible and in the Lord Jesus. Then and there we knelt and prayed for sin forgiveness and for salvation. I accepted Jesus as my personal Saviour. What a change came over me! I was very happy. I felt a peace, joy and happiness that I had never known before. My whole being turned into a happy life. I was a new creature.God Forgives Sin: When l came home I took the Bible and read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah over and over again. As I read I wondered why I had not heard of Isaiah 53 before. Why didn't the rabbis tell me of this chapter? It was obvious to me that we Jews could not be considered Bible believers if we deny Isaiah 53. As I read more, it became clear to me that Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 53 expresses God's glorious plan of forgiveness, reconciliation with God and salvation.My new education I went to Los Angeles and started my American education in the second grade of elementary school. After finishing 8 grades I graduated from high school. Later I went to Los Angeles City College, and finally to Biola College, where I received a B.A. degree. I was baptized, and ordained a minister of the Gospel. Now my deepest interest is to bring the Gospel to my people, the Jews, that they, too, may accept their Messiah and inherit eternal life. Messiah said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father except by me” (John 14:6).The GoalAfter I was saved I felt that it is not enough that I know the Light, but had the desire that all the Jewish people should believe in the Messiah of Israel. I saw that this would not be easy. The ones who do not believe, bitterly oppose the preaching of the glorious Gospel to my brethren in the flesh. I knew their prejudice against the Gospel and their worldly views of life. Yet, knowing that the struggle would not be easy, I decided to go on with the work of God. I became more and more interested in spreading the truth among the innocent Jews who were being misled by their “shepherds.” They were blind leaders of the blind who were interested in their own welfare, but cared little for the people.God called me to His service and I was sure that He would protect me and help me to spread the light among those who never heard the true story of Christ.A great force from within pushed me to do the work and this great force was the Holy Spirit Himself. This power of the Holy Spirit told me day and night, “Feed my sheep.” And I answered, “Here I am . I am willing to go to the House of Israel whom the Father loves so much, and to tell them the simple but sure plan of His salvation.”I saw tired and unhappy Jews who were groping in darkness, looking for the truth, and there was nobody to help them. Therefore I was the more determined to go and proclaim the Gospel to the weary and heartbroken ones. Jesus said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”ReasonI appeal to all rabbis, leaders of the Jewish people, and Jewish laymen: Come back to our prophets, to our God and His Anointed One.“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).For further information regarding this testimony write to: Hebrew Witness, Inc., P.O.Box 132, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11229, U.S.A. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awolinsky.substack.com

in this shiur we discuss: 1) Can a mourner celebrate on Lag B'Omer. 2) Which hand to use to remove Tefillin, 3) Nefilas Apayim when no sefer Torah is present, 4) Giving a grandfather and grandson back to back aliyos, 5) Giving brothers Hagbah and Galilah, 6) Marking the challah on Shabbos, 7) Why say Aleinu after Kiddush Levana, 8) During Kiddush Levana must people respond to your "Shalom Aleichem", 9) Covering mirrors and paintings in a mourner's home, 10) Throwing grass above one's shoulder when leaving a cemetery.

#diepodcastin shalom aleichem: Isabel Rohner & Regula Staempfli zum Grundgesetz, Rechtsstaat, Sprechakt, Ideologie & Normenkontrolle gegen sog. Selbstbestimmungsgesetz und laStaempfli outet sich als TRANS-AGER (JUNGER GEIST IM FALSCHEN KÖRPER).

Watch this interview with Hillel Halkin. Hillel has translated over thirty books, written novels and most recently released a book called: A Complicated Jew: Selected Essays. In our interview he tells amazing stories about spending time with Amos Oz, who he translated a book for. You'll hear insight scoops on Hillel's ballsy move to write on behalf of Shalom Aleichem, out of necessity.   There is much to take away from in my schmooze with Hillel Halkin, especially the pure old-time view of Zionism and the State of Israel. 

This week, in our second episode of our Shabbat at Home series, Eliana, Ellen, & Josh explore the liturgy of Shalom Aleichem. Topics include angels of good and evil at the table, different melodies used for the text, and what this poem sparks in us. Plus, we listen to our favorite versions of Shalom Aleichem!  What is your favorite Friday night Shabbat memory? Join our ⁠facebook group⁠ to connect and comment.  Check out this week's show notes and transcript @ lightlab.co/episode-53-shalom-aleichem  Follow us on facebook and instagram @thelight.lab. Support our show! Donate here, and please rate, subscribe, and share around. Thank you!

Shiur given by Rabbi Bezalel Rudinsky on Dvar Halacha Rosh Hashana. Shiur recorded in Yeshivas Ohr Reuven, Monsey, NY.

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IN THIS PODCAST:   Peace be with you, Fr. Peter B presents to us a deeper meaning of the Peace of Christ in his homily. Let us join him in this reflection and pray to the Lord for Peace in our lives, our families, the Church and among the nations. This homily was preached on the passage from Jn 14:27-31 by Rev. Fr. PETER B, CSsR, on 17th May 2022. Let us reflect and pray to the Lord

Welcome to Embrace Shabbat. In his sefer Tefillah l'Moshe (page 191), Rav Moshe Kordevero, famously known as the Ramak, teaches that the air of weekdays is tamei , contaminated, while the air of Shabbat is tahor , pure. He draws a parallel to the difference between the air in Eretz Yisrael and the air of outside of Eretz Yisrael, as it says אוירא דארעא ישראל מחכים , the air of Eretz Yisrael brings wisdom . Negative forces exist in the air outside of Eretz Yisrael, just as they do during the mundane weekdays. However, on Shabbat, the air becomes holy. It is for this reason that we mention Yerushalayim in our Shabbat Arvit prayers; Shabbat has a certain aspect of Eretz Yisrael. This concept is also reflected in our recitation of Shalom Aleichem. As he left Eretz Yisrael, Yaakov Avinu dreamt of angels going up and down a ladder; the angels of Eretz Yisrael were leaving him as the angels of Chutz LaAretz were coming to accompany him. Similarly, on Friday night, the angels of the weekday leave and the new Shabbat angels come to a person's home. We sing Shalom Aleichem, the angels of peace , to welcome the angels of Shabbat, angels of peace. Shabbat has a flavor of Eretz Yisrael. Rav Wolbe, quoting his brother-in-law, Rabbi Kreiswirth (they both married sisters, daughters of Rav Avraham Grodzinski, hy”d) explains the Chazal that teaches that the air of Eretz Yisrael brings one wisdom. Mekubalim teach that Moshe Rabbeinu personifies the trait of Netzach , eternity. Therefore, anything that he came in contact with lasted forever. For example, Moshe built the Mishkan, which will last forever. Because of this power, Moshe Rabbeinu could not build the Beit HaMikdash, as it would last forever and G-d wouldn't be able to destroy it. When the Jewish people sinned, G-d would be “forced” to destroy the Jewish people instead, because of the eternal power of the Beit HaMikdash. This is one of the reasons why Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't enter Eretz Yisrael. Instead, Moshe Rabbeinu went up to the mountain and looked at Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Kreisworth teaches that by looking at Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu was able to uplift the air of Eretz Yisrael. Even after the Beit HaMikdash is destroyed, the air of Eretz Yisrael, which was uplifted and purified by Moshe Rabbeinu, has eternal powers until today. ישמח משה במתנת חלקו - Moshe Rabbeinu was the one who introduced Shabbat to the Jewish people. Therefore, just as the avir of Eretz Yisrael remains, the avir of Shabbat, touched by Moshe Rabbeinu, lasts forever. It still has its purity and kedusha . When a person merely breathes the air of Shabbat, he fills up with a different, holier air. We must be cognizant and ready for that wonderful kedusha that does not just come with the time of Shabbat, but also in the air of Shabbat. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.

This week we had Noxolo Dlamini speaking about "The God Kind of Peace". She spoke about the difference between the kind of peace given or perceived by the world and the kind of peace that is given by God. She spoke about how we should first be at peace with God, and then with ourselves, in order for us to be effective peace makers in the world and with others. Peace is found in God , If we move away from God we move away from peace. Shalom Aleichem!

What if peace is more than just relaxation or a state of tranquility? We invite you on a journey into the heart of Shalom, a term deeply rooted in concepts of peace, wholesomeness, and complete contentment. In this enlightening conversation, we unravel the paradoxical relationship between peace and violence, as exemplified by the story of Pinchas. We discover that Shalom is the ability to unify one's motives—synthesizing and working with absolute purity.Shalom emerges from a world that signifies wholeness and full content. Join us as we delve deeper into its importance and significance. We leave you with a powerful message to find your Shalom and unify, rectify, and internalize your motives to achieve total peace. Tune in and allow the beauty of Shalom to transform your life.Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

Havenu Shalom Aleichem, Matthew 5-9, Stephen Feinstein

Did you ever wonder how young lives can be transformed if someone steps in the gap in a person's life and becomes a father to the fatherless? Listen to what happens when God gets hold of a man's heart? That man is changed forever. Sometimes when God gets a hold of a man and gives him an assignment not only is he changed, but everyone around him is transformed too. Jeff Storment is such a man. It wasn't that long ago that God got hold of him and gave him an assignment to be a father to the fatherless. This podcast is a story of what God is doing in the impoverished areas of Statesville and Salisbury NC. In small town America, just as in the big cities, young men find themselves fatherless. The cycle of addiction and destruction rolls on generation after generation. When will this vicious, nefarious cycle end? Listen to a story of transformation, wherein one man stood up and went all in with everything he had to help young men connect to their Father. Young boys ages 7 thru 17 are put into a program that teaches them to read, learn the Word of God, become educated and learn to train their bodies and their minds to become responsible citizens. Moreover, they are given an opportunity through scholarships to leave the environment they were born into and learn that they have a Father in heaven who loves them. They learn to become men and some of them will learn to become sons of the Father, and in turn fathers themselves. This podcast is the story of Power Cross, a Christian ministry that is transforming the lives of young men who are fatherless. It is gives them a sense of dignity and pride to become the human beings God created them to be. Jeff and his wife Natalie Storment are the founders of Power Cross. It all started 15 years ago in a small bible study in their home. It has now become a prolific agency for transformation in the lives of 650 young men. All the glory belongs to God. If you are wondering what God has in mind for your life. Papa Tom has a suggestion for you: find out what God is doing and get behind it with your resources: your time, energy and money. Make a difference in this world! Overcome the greatest General the dark side has at its disposal: General Apathy. Become part of the solution. Do whatever you can to set other people free of fear so that they can become all that God our Father created them to be in the first place. Shalom Aleichem! Papa Tom. Come and listen, enjoy, and connect with God Your Father! Show Notes: Come follow Papa Tom on social media on both YouTube and Facebook at www.YouTube.com/thefathersheartmedia  and www.FaceBook.com/papatomstales. Help us distribute our media content by donating to the Father's Heart Media on our websites or www.Patreon.com/thefathersheart. We will be looking for people who will want to become part of our launch team to re-launch Book One and then Book Two and Book Three on Amazon in the first quarter of 2023. Become part of our community by subscribing at our   website:www.thefathersheartmedia.com and enjoy all our media: podcasts, articles, blogs and Children's Books.  We released a new eBook for adults “The Last All Hallows Eve”. It is a story written in the tradition of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. You can download our eBook for free at our website. Our third Children's book: “The Birthday Present” has been completed and is in the process of being published. Further developments: The Fathers Heart Talk Show with Papa Tom will air every Thursday morning at 8:00 am on WSIC from Statesville NC on channels 105.9 FM, 100.7 FM, 1400 AM. You can also find us on www.wsicnews.com/thefathersheart wherein recorded shows will be saved for you to visit and listen to the recordings. Blessings: Papa Tom ·       Websites: ·       www.facebook.com/papatomstales ·       www.Youtube.com/thefathersheartmedia ·       www.thefathersheartmedia.com ·       www.papatomstales.com

LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA nos abre uno de sus archivos, que nos va a acercar a: "Los sefardíes, españoles sin patria". En este programa de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA hablaremos sobre los sefardíes, que son los judíos españoles expulsados en 1492 de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón por parte de los Reyes Católicos y que se diseminaron por todo el mundo, quizás con la esperanza de poder volver a Sefarad, a España, algún día. Sin más preámbulos os dejo con el programa. Durante el programa hemos escuchado la increíble música de Emilio Villalba y Sephardica: https://www.youtube.com/@EmilioVillalbaMusico También ha sonado en el programa Shalom Aleichem de Maayan Band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=913jZFL1bdE Este es un Podcast producido y dirigido por Gerión de Contestania, miembro del grupo "Divulgadores de la Historia". Somos un podcast perteneciente al sello iVoox Originals. Canal de YouTube de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHTOD0Z_yC-McS71OhfHIA Correo electrónico: labibliotecadelahistoria@gmail.com *Si te ha gustado el programa dale al "Like", ya que con esto ayudarás a darnos más visibilidad. También puedes dejar tu comentario, decirnos en que hemos fallado o errado y también puedes sugerir un tema para que sea tratado en un futuro programa de LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA. Gracias. Música del audio: -Entrada: Truce No More by Johannes Bornlöf. License by Epidemic Sound. -Voz entrada: http://www.locutordigital.es/ -Relato: Music Whit License by Epimedic Sound Redes Sociales: IBLIOTECADE3 -Facebook: Gerión De Contestania Muchísimas gracias por escuchar LA BIBLIOTECA DE LA HISTORIA y hasta la semana que viene. Podcast amigos: La Biblioteca Perdida: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-podcast-la-biblioteca-perdida_sq_f171036_1.html Cliophilos: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-cliophilos-paseo-historia_sq_f1487551_1.html Niebla de Guerra: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-niebla-guerra_sq_f1608912_1.html Casus Belli: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-casus-belli-podcast_sq_f1391278_1.html Victoria Podcast: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-victoria-podcast_sq_f1781831_1.html BELLUMARTIS: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-bellumartis-podcast_sq_f1618669_1.html Relatos Salvajes: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-relatos-salvajes_sq_f1470115_1.html Motor y al Aire: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-motor-al-aire_sq_f1117313_1.html Pasaporte Historia: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-pasaporte-historia_sq_f1835476_1.html Cita con Rama: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-cita-rama-podcast-ciencia-ficcion_sq_f11043138_1.html Sierra Delta: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-sierra-delta_sq_f1507669_1.html Permiso para Clave: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-permiso-para-clave_sq_f1909797_1.html Héroes de Guerra 2.0: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-heroes-guerra_sq_f1256035_1.html Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Classic and contemporary musical selections in Yiddish, Hebrew and English, connecting one generation to another Interview with award winning television producer Scott Davis, discussing Jewish literary greats of the late 19th century, notably Jacob Dinezon, a friend and mentor of I.L. Peretz and Shalom Aleichem. A Yiddish Expression (weekly feature)

A discussion of the beauty, meaning and controversy around the opening song of Shabbos

In the Trocadero metro station in Paris, a group of Jewish musicians play a klezmer-style arrangement of the traditional song Shalom Aleichem, which is typically sung on Friday evenings upon returning home from synagogue prayers and means “peace be upon you”. This performance represents one aspect of Jewish culture being played out across the city, and how in a healthy city there is space for multiple cultures, religions and beliefs to co-exist simultaneously. Recorded by Cities and Memory.  Part of the Well-Being Cities project, a unique collaboration between Cities and Memory and C40, a global network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. The project was originally presented at the C40 Cities conference in Buenos Aires in 2022. Explore Well-Being Cities in full at https://citiesandmemory.com/wellbeing-cities/

In this intimate conversation, composer, conductor,and host of the Interplay YouTube series Michael Shapiro takes us on a journey through his Peace Variations – a Theme and 18 Variations on the traditional melody of Shalom Aleichem ("peace be upon you"), played by the virtuoso violinist Tim Fain. Shapiro's beautiful and thought-provoking music represents a calm yet persistent voice – a call to action for universal peace, what the composer calls "the ultimate goal of Judaism and civilized living."

Yes, I know the title contains some pretty LOFTY CLAIMS, but TORAH expects us to LIVE PRETTY LOFTY LIVES, In YAHUSHA!! We understand the religious/church Game has to be OVER, so we teach WARFARE Through AHABAH, by setting FREE those that don't even know they are CAPTIVES!! TRANSFORMED Recovery, Is a MINISTRY like NONE OTHER, We take the S.A.R.S.(Search and Rescue ) Operations Directive from our Master very seriously, but not RELIGIOUSLY!! For a FRESH APPROACH maybe it's time to get back to what has been perceived as STALE!! LIVE LIFE BOLDLY, LIVE LIFE AS THOUGH IT MAY BE YOUR LAST DAY!!! Shalom Aleichem!! scrYbe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/love-live/message

With just two and a half weeks until Christmas Day, you may wonder why I chose John 20 for this episode. Well—thanks to the heartwarming presentation Linus gave on the stage of the Charlie Brown Christmas special—I feel a need to clarify the angel's words in Luke 2:14. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (KJV) Goodwill toward men is better translated as “toward men of goodwill.” The NLT puts Luke 2:14 this way. “Peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” The NIV says, “…on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” In John 20, Jesus greeted the terrified disciples the same way the angels greeted the terrified shepherds—with the hope and promise of peace. Jesus is the prince of peace. Having peace is not dependent on being at peace with the world. The angels did not promise the shepherds that there would be goodwill among all men. Peace was given that night to the people who would receive their newborn King. Jesus greeted His disciples with a reminder of his gift of peace when he exclaimed, “Peace be with you!” The Bible uses exclamation marks, so don't miss our Lord's excitement. I can't help but wonder if Jesus spoke the traditional Hebrew greeting: Shalom Aleichem! The New Testament was written in Greek, but Shalom Aleichem is how you say, “Peace be with you” in Hebrew. All thirteen letters of Paul, both of Peter's letters, one of John's, as well as Jude's letter, and finally Revelation ALL include a form of that very same greeting. But Jesus spoke this well-worn phrase on just one occasion. Jesus waited until after His death and resurrection to greet His beloved disciples with the traditional Hebrew greeting: Shalom Aleichem! At Christmas, the angels announced that peace had come to earth. At Easter, Jesus gave us the best gift we could ever receive—peace with God forever. Peace with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, who is our Peace. Shalom Aleichem! Peace be with you, now and forever! Once you receive this indescribable gift, you can believe and speak today's declaration with blessed assurance. This week's scripture: John 20:19-21, 24-26   Discover the healing power of Psalm 139 in my book, Longing to Belong: Discovering the Joy of Acceptance. Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart.com, Booksamillion.com and Christianbook.com. Also available as an audiobook from Audible, and as a digital download to your Kindle or from the Apple store for your iBooks app. Take the 10-day journey with me and let Scripture heal your heart. Look for the Longing to Belong Reading Plan on your mobile device via the YouVersion Bible app.

Shalom Aleichem by Avraham Arieh Trugman

A Daily Dose of Chassidus with Rabbi Shmuel Braun A super imposed harmonizing light of peace; and the peace that comes from within.

Who knew Shalom Aleichem was so deep?

It's that time again for another Torah Story. Meet Avram and Sarai, and hear about how G-d chose them to focus on for a special journey and blessing.... and of course it doesn't stop there. The doesn't the journey change us all? On their way they experience tons of hardships and even get a name change: Avraham and Sarah. Hear how actress and healer Daniella Rabbani and Rabbi Rebecca Keren Eisenstadt relate to this iconic story and meet our common patriarch before we stretch and sing Shalom Aleichem and wish each other a Shabbat Shalom. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Why do we sing Shalom Aleichem on Friday night? What can it teach us about Shabbos and Erev Shabbos?

Join Rabbi Rebecca Keren Eisenstadt and performer Daniella Rabbani as they break down the weekly portion in the Hebrew Bible. We'll discuss: The beginning of time, Bereshit, Genesis, two opposing creation stories, Adam and Eve, The Garden of Eden, women of the Bible, transgression and knowledge, history of the Jews and much more. Enjoy our relaxation wind-down, study session, and get a little Jewish with us! Make sure to sing along with Shalom Aleichem as we welcome in Shabbat for a peaceful weekend. Shalom in your phone! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Welcome to The Jewish Hour with Rabbi Finman, for September 26, 2021. In this episode, Rabbi Finman talks to Curt Leviant translator of “Moshkeleh the Thief: A Rediscovered Novel” by Shalom Aleichem. How do you listen to The Jewish Hour? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s […]

En este episodio: Dr. Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero el cónsul ecuatoriano en Suecia que salvó cientos de judíos. El Violinista en el Tejado basado en el libro de Shalom Aleichem, Tobias el lechero (Tevye der Milchiger), sobre las costumbres judías y lo que representa cada uno de los personajes. La historia de los paralímpicos y e médico judío que les dio origen: el Dr. Ludwig Guttman. La crisis en Afganistán, de la libertad a la opresión. ¿Te gustó este podcast? Compártelo con tus amigos. * Suscríbete a nuestro canal de YouTube aquí https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYty... * Síguenos en Facebook https://www.facebook.com/diariojudio * Síguenos en Twitter https://twitter.com/diariojudio * Síguenos en Instagram https://www.instagram.com/diariojudio... * Síguenos en Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61LHQrz... Si quieres SABER Y CONOCER MÁS de estos y otros interesantes temas de judaísmo, la comunidad judía del mundo, de México, y de Israel visita https://diariojudio.com/ Diario de la vida judía en México, Israel y el Mundo --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/diariojudio-mexico/message

We are thrilled to present a diverse collection of prayers & songs from our pre-produced spring & early summer 2021 Shabbat services. Each Shabbat service was filmed live on the Vollmer Deck with our clergy team & Temple Isaiah musicians. Our collection of songs includes contemporary & traditional music of Israel, beloved Shabbat classics, modern prayers on love, healing & community and much more. Featuring Rabbi Jaclyn Cohen & Cantor Tifani Coyot with Mary Ekler (piano), Rosy Rosenquist (drums), Leo Chelyapov (horns), Lacy Rostyak (violin), Tim Kobza (guitar) and Eric Sittner (bass). With gratitude to the folks who made this possible, especially the production team of Drama ¾ led by David Fickas and Pranav Shah.

Dias conturbados no Oriente Médio e Cáucaso: novo governo em Israel acaba com a Era Netanyahu. No Irã, teremos mesmo um governo de 'linha dura' ou é mais do mesmo? Na Armênia, eleições parlamentares antecipadas renovam mandato de Nikol Pashinyan mesmo após derrota militar em Nagorno-Karabakh. Para entender esses três cenários, teremos Andrew Traumann analisando as eleições no Irã, Monique Sochaczewski destrinchando a situação em Israel e o host do podcast, Heitor Loureiro, comentando o cenário na Armênia. Apresentação: Heitor Loureiro Análises: Monique Sochaczewski , Andrew Traumann e Heitor Loureiro Edição: 20 a 20 Feed: http://onomedissoemundo.com/feed/podcast/ Streaming: Spotify — Booking — Reserve seu hotel pelo Booking.com. — Links — ONDE Política #028 – E a Colômbia? ONDE Política #032 – História no século XXI com Monique Sochaczewski ONDE Política #035 - Perspectivas dos conflitos a partir de Jerusalém ONDE Mundo #015 – Shalom Aleichem, Israel ONDE Mundo #048 – Irã ecológico ONDE Mundo #093 – Um brinde à Armênia ONDE Mundo #130 - Um biquíni e um fuzil em Israel ONDE Mundo #136 – Palestina para quem? Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa sobre o Oriente Médio Apoia.se do ONDEM Grupo do ONDEM no Facebook Telegram do ONDEM Você pode entrar em contato com a gente pelo Twitter, Instagram e Facebook. Para não perder nenhum episódio, assine o podcast no iTunes, no seu agregador de podcast preferido ou no Spotify. Para apoiar o ONDEM, acesse apoia.se/ondem e contribua com nosso projeto.

In this intimate conversation, composer, conductor,and host of the Interplay YouTube series Michael Shapiro takes us on a journey through his Peace Variations – a Theme and 18 Variations on the traditional melody of Shalom Aleichem ("peace be upon you"), played by the virtuoso violinist Tim Fain. Shapiro's beautiful and thought-provoking music represents a calm yet persistent voice – a call to action for universal peace, what the composer calls "the ultimate goal of Judaism and civilized living."

In this intimate conversation, composer, conductor,and host of the Interplay YouTube series Michael Shapiro takes us on a journey through his Peace Variations – a Theme and 18 Variations on the traditional melody of Shalom Aleichem ("peace be upon you"), played by the virtuoso violinist Tim Fain. Shapiro's beautiful and thought-provoking music represents a calm yet persistent voice – a call to action for universal peace, what the composer calls "the ultimate goal of Judaism and civilized living."

"The Book of Mysteries" - Jonathan Cahn Isaiah 53:5; John 20:19-21; Colossians 3:15

Welcome to YESHUA Ministries - This is Navi and I will be Proclaiming the "Unadulterated" Word of GOD (YAHWEH), in a series of condensed illuminating teachings to encourage, edify, and comfort all believers in the Messiah Yeshua around the world, from a Hebraic Cultural Perspective. So Come in and BE REFRESHED. And also please remember to share this podcast with others and (follow/subscribe). Shalom! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/navi113/message

On this episode, Rabbi Andrea Goldstein and I discuss the similarities between Jewish ethics and those that drive NBC comedy The Good Place, plus why Jews probably didn't really guess about 5% - but that all depends on who you ask.Follow us at @outofclaypod on Instagram and Facebook!

What do you think of when you hear music? Does it bring back memories? Does it make you want to get up and dance? Let's add voice into the mix and think about the images that your mind conjures up. Ilyana Kadushin uses both music and voice. And both manage to affect change, whether narrating or performing a book, producing music or co-hosting the podcast 'No, I Know.'  Ilyana has delved into the world of performance, film, art and music melding these creative mediums. Always a part of the storytelling process, Ilyana wrote and performed the one woman "Devour the Apple" musical. She also performed the audio of Stephenie Meyer's bestselling Twilight novels and narrated the heartbreaking memoir of Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad, The Lost Girl. Incredible as it may sound, something positive came out of Superstorm Sandy...the creation of Stories Love Music. Ilyana and her creative partner and husband, James Harrell, were asked to help with some of the displaced seniors. Not knowing what to expect or how they could help, they chose something they both did well...they played music and sang. Music tugs at the heart and can brighten up even the bleakest of times. The moment evolved into Stories Love Music, a nonprofit program for caregivers of seniors with dementia and Alzheimers. Ilyana is an award winning film producer. She won HBO's 2011 Best Documentary for Separate, But Equal. She also won the Audi Award for audiobook narration and is an adjunct faculty of voice and public speaking at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. As a producer and co-host of the podcast No, I Know, Ilyana and husband James, feature live music and spirited conversation. A conversation with Ilyana Kadushin: A little microcassette player A fascination with voices Landing in New York City & Tisch School of the Arts How about some 'voice watching' Twilight series and Edward's character Jeremy Irons inspiration Nadia Murad and The Lost Girl Storytelling and performing Superstorm Sandy The 'spell of music' A senior, a song (Shalom Aleichem), a memory and a voice Voice Performance Coaching Stories Love Music

Gospel: John 20: 19-31 Description:  Peace can be elusive in a world divided.  Jesus appears to us daily and says "Shalom Aleichem" (Peace be upon you) and restores our peace.

Does Kiddush Levanah not look or feel like moon-worship? If it's not that, what exactly is it? Why do we do it? And why, during Kiddush Levanah, do we (1) greet people "Shalom Aleichem," (2) sing "Siman Tov U'Mazel Tov"/"Dovid Melech Yisrael," and (3) break into dancing? In this session, we will visit the sources of Kiddush Levanah in the Gemara, Rishonim, and the Shulchan Aruch, and hopefully answer all of the above questions and more.

Most Jews would readily agree that angels exist in Judaism -- they are mentioned in many places in the Chumash, and we incorporate them into hymns such as Shalom Aleichem. Interestingly, the Mishnah does not mention angels at all, and there was a vigorous debate among the Rishonim commentators as to the reality of angels. In this episode, Gavin and Jordan discuss the history of angels in Rabbinic thought, the rational and mystical approaches, and modern reactions to liturgical texts that invoke angelic intervention. Read the original articles at http://www.kotzkblog.com/2017/01/110-angels-in-rabbinic-literature.html and http://www.kotzkblog.com/2016/12/104-praying-to-angels.html

In this episode, we find that David's music has the power to soothe the savage beast (King Saul). Except, there's something deeper that brings peace, hope, purpose and strength. Something David has, and Saul does not. That's where the soothing happens.We also have a lengthy discussion about mental health. Saul is clearly suffering from some sort of mental illness, and the passage makes it clear that God is tormenting Saul with these evil spirits. Is this how we are to understand all mental illness? Is there a place in the Kingdom and the Body of Christ for mentally ill individuals? Absolutely. Join the conversation.---------------------------------------------------------------------Contains audio from "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel: A Live Performance of Track 19 (Shalom Aleichem)", as performed beautifully on the lyre by Michael Levy.Clyde Christian Bible Church does not own Mr. Levy's material.We encourage you watch Mr. Levy's entire virtuoso performance at[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiA86HI-GLU ]or purchase Michael Levy's material at [ www.ancientlyre.com ].Features "You Are My King (Amazing Love)", performed by David HarrisWords and Music by Billy J. FooteCCLI Song # 2456623© 1996 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)CCLI License # 1251412Clyde Christian Bible Church does not own the rights to any songs featured in this podcast, nor are we profiting off their use. They are included solely for the purpose of congregational worship.

John the Revelator’s tour guide: Rev 19:10 and Rev 22:9 Moses and Elijah were dispatched from their ethereal dwelling to speak to Jesus. Matt 17:3 Heaven and Earth will pass away Matt 24:35 New Heaven and New Earth Rev 21:1-3, 10, 22-24 What it looks like to me is that the heaven that exists and the earth that we know won’t always be around. The Most High said behold all things become new, and that includes heaven and earth. The earth will be the dwelling place of humans and God. What will be the purpose of heaven? Well, that’s something that I don’t yet know. Just like I don’t know where we’ll be when God is creating the new heaven and new earth. What I do know from the scriptures is this: God will make all things new and abide with His people on the new Earth. Well, at least my mind is made up about the matter until God says otherwise. This brief glimpse of scripture is not meant to make up your mind for you, but perhaps to present to you things your pastor won’t tell you. Until next time, Shalom Aleichem. Peace be unto you

In this special edition podcast Jay Beilis shares the story of his grandfather and the legacy of one of the most significant events in modern history.  Mendel Beilis never sought celebrity nor to profit from his suffering even though his case gripped Russia, and the world, even more than the Dreyfus affair had gripped France.  His conduct – resisting the pressure to implicate himself or other jews – saved his countrymen from a pogrom.  Close to his death, when he was asked what was the enduring impression of the trial he paid tribute to the Russian Gentiles who had helped him.  It was kindness, in particular the kindness of many ordinary Russians before and during his imprisonment, that mitigated his bitterness towards his persecutors.It is in this spirit of kindness that this podcast has been created.(credits: Jay Beilis, Jeremy Simcha Garber, Mark S. Stein; Music by http://filmtv-tracks.com)

This week, our hosts are connecting via Zoom conference to discuss their new remote realities and read a lot of listener mail. We also hear from Tablet writer Yair Rosenberg, who composed and recorded an album of original modern melodies for traditional Jewish songs (listen to the first single, a Mumford and Sons-esque “Shalom Aleichem,” here). We’re going to continue dropping mini episodes in addition to our weekly Thursday episodes, so watch your podcast feeds for more (and subscribe on iTunes). Our tour events for March and April 2020 have been postponed. Stay tuned for updates on rescheduled dates, and join our Facebook group to see much more of us, virtually, in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: The Great Courses Plus is an online streaming service that offers unique perspectives from engaging experts at the top of their fields. Get an entire month of courses for free when you sign up at thegreatcoursesplus.com/UNORTHODOX. Fleishigs magazine is like getting a gorgeous kosher cookbook delivered every month. Each issue features restaurant reviews, wine pairings, kosher destination wedding reviews, and more. Save Monday when you subscribe at fleishigs.com using discount code UNORTHODOX. Kol Foods is the organic kosher butcher offering delicious meats from animals raised using healthy, ethical, and sustainable methods. Kol has everything you need for the Passover Seder and beyond, delivered safely to your door. Go to Kol Foods.com and use coupon code Unorthodox3020 to get 10% off your order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Israeli Medley - Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem, Bashana Hab'ah, Am Yisrael Chai by Temple Isaiah

Learning How to Love - Part 10 "Sabotage!" With Rabbi Ari Sollish (Recorded live at the Intown Jewish Academy on January 26, 2020) It's a curiosity when you think about it. The typical Jewish greeting is "Shalom Aleichem." To which the greetee responds "Aleichem Shalom" -- exactly reversing the blessing that was originally sent their way. Why reverse the greeting? Why not just reply with the same "Shalom Aleichem" wish? One great rabbi humorously noted that this reflects the innate desire of human beings to be contrarians. You say " Shalom Aleichem"? I'll say "Aleichem Shalom"! It's funny... until it isn't. So often we sabotage ourselves, our families, and our communities by feeling the need to go against what someone else is saying or doing -- just for the sake of going against them. We splinter ourselves because we don't want to align ourselves with others. And while individualism can be a great virtue, being fractured is a great liability. In this session of Kabbalah & Coffee we explore the roots of individualism and the origins of the desire to sabotage ourselves by turning against each other.

Shalom Aleichem everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of THE COOK UP ON COOKING WITH PETEY NATURE RADIO SHOW we will be live today October 27, 2019 this Sunday evening at 7pm EST / 6pm CST/ 4pm PST. This version of the podcast is when we have no guest on the show and get our DJ on while we continue to share and educate you on food, cooking, health tips, cooking techniques, scripture, and more. Me and my beautiful Co-Host and Queen Alana Hannah will be discussing many topics plus sharing my Hibachi Turkey meatballs recipe. We pray you enjoy the show and continue to show your love and support to the movement lead by Petey Nature called Powerful And Dangerous The Movement/ Gun Violence Awareness. To listen to the show call (347)857-1395 and press 1 to be live or hit this link to listen online.

Shalom Aleichem everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of THE COOK UP ON COOKING WITH PETEY NATURE RADIO SHOW we will be live today October 6, 2019this Sunday evening at 7pm EST / 6pm CST/ 4pm PST.  This version of the podcast is when we have no guest on the show and get our DJ on while  we continue to share and educate you on food, cooking, health tips, cooking techniques, scripture, and more. We pray you enjoy the show and continue to show your love and support to the movement lead by Petey Nature called Powerful And Dangerous The Movement/ Gun Violence Awareness. To listen to the show call (347)857-1395 and press 1 to be live or hit this link to listen online.      

Shalom Aleichem everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of THE COOK UP ON COOKING WITH PETEY NATURE RADIO SHOW.  This version of the podcast is when we have no guest on the show and get our DJ on while  we continue to share and educate you on food, cooking, health tips, cooking techniques, scripture, and more. We pray you enjoy the show and continue to show your love and support to the movement lead by Petey Nature called Powerful And Dangerous The Movement/ Gun Violence Awareness To listen to the show call (347)857-1395 and press 1 to be live or hit this link to listen online.    

Shalom Aleichem everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of The Cook Up On Cooking With Petey Nature Radio Show. This Sunday September 15,2019  @ 7pm EST / 6pm CST / 4pm PST  Me and my beautiful Co-Host / Queen Alana Hannah are really honored to introduce to our listeners The Season Of The Warrior, so make sure you tune in. To listen to the show call (347)857-1395 and press 1 to be live or hit this link to listen online.    

Part I. Purpose of SorrowTHE DAY OF TEN CROWNSויהי ביום השמיני – “And it was on the eighth day” (Shemini 9:1). In the beginning ofParshas Shemini, we come to that glorious day of thehakamas hamishkan, when the Sanctuary, the Home of Hashem, was finally erected in this world. And theAm Yisroelwould now claim the exclusive glory of having Hashem reside among them. They would be the ones privileged to approach the home of Hashem and worship Him.Now, it’s important to understand that theYom Hasheminiwas a most majestic and joyful day for theAm Yisroel.There were very few days – we could even say no day ever – in the history of the world when there was so much rejoicing. And theGemara(Shabbos 87b) tells us that נטל עשר עטרות, it was a day crowned with ten crowns of glory; an exalted day like no other in our history. TheShechina, the Presence of Hashem, was now coming down to rest among them – and they wentwildwith happiness. וירא כבוד השם אל כל העם ותצא אש מלפני השם… וירא כל העם וירונו ויפלו על פניהם – “And the Glory of Hashem appeared to all the people, and a fire came forth from before Hashem…and all the people saw, and they shouted in joy, and they fell down on their faces” (Shemini 9:23-24).Imagine that! A whole nation; millions of men, women and children shouting in great ecstasy at the sight of theShechina. All together they stood and witnessed this momentous event, and they were electrified by what they saw! It was the thing that they desired more than anything else – to see with their own eyes that Hashem had chosen to reside among them forever. And they were thrilled down to their marrow. It was a remarkable experience – a happiness and a thrill that was never to be repeated. That was the great day of ויהי ביום השמיני, one of the most joyous days in the history of our people.THE HAPPIEST WOMAN EVERNow, themedrash(Tanchuma, Shemini: 2) points out that there was one person who was reveling in happiness more than anyone else; there was nobody happier than her – ever! And that lucky person was Elisheva bas Aminadav, the wife of Aharon HaKohen. For her it was the most special of all days,mamish me’ein Olam Habo. She was privileged to be the wife of theKohen Gadol,and she saw success that no other woman ever saw, before or after. Her husband was the High Priest who put on the glorious gold vestments, garments studded with gems and jewels to serve Hashemlifneiu’lifnim. And not only that, but he was anavias well, a prophet of Hashem.And her sons? Ahh, whatnachasfrom her sons! She had four sons, Nadav, Avihu, Elazar and Isamar, and all of them were chosen to work in the Mishkan, assisting their father. A mother’s dream! And not only was she glorying in the greatness of her husband and her sons but it was only the beginning; because she knew thatherdescendents forever would enjoy this privilege. The family ofkohanimwould descend from her for eternity. And that was a success that no other woman was ever given the privilege to enjoy.HAPPINESS ON ALL SIDESThe truth is that Elisheva bas Aminadav had even more than that. In addition to the greatness of her husband, her brother-in-law was the king of the Jewish nation. That itself is an honor and a greatness. “My husband’s brother is Moshe Rabeinu, the leader of our nation. And he speaks to Hashem face to face.” Her brother-in-law was the greatest prophet that ever lived. And in addition to that was her illustrious brother, Nachshon ben Aminadav, the leader of the twelve princes of theAm Yisroel.And on thisYom Hashemini, all of this pride and joy was coming together before her eyes. It was being encapsulated on the day of thehashra’as hashechina; when the Presence of Hashem entered into the Mishkan; and her husband and sons would be the ones officiating in the place that Hashem has designated as His home. And it was all taking place under the direction of her brother-in-law, the King, as well as her brother Nachshon, the leader of thenesi’im. And so while theYom Hasheminiwas a day of great happiness for everyone, this most fortunate woman was reveling in joy more than all others.THE PARTY’S OVER!And yet it wasn’t to last. Her joy – not only her joy, but the joy of the whole nation – was about to be marred by the worst of misfortunes a mother could ever suffer through. Because on that day, ויהי ביום השמיני, when two of her sons went in to officiate in thekodesh, they were struck dead by a fire that came forth from Hashem and consumed them. ותצא אש מלפני השם ותאכל אותם וימתו לפני השם – “And a fire went forth from Hashem and devoured them and they perished there before Hashem” (Shemini 10:2).Ay yah yay! What a terrible sadness! A most unfortunate event that will forever spoil the memory of this great day.Now most of us, when we study this terrible event, we regard it as a debacle, an unfortunate mishap that came at a most inopportune moment. We shrug our shoulders and commiserate. “It’s hard for us to understand thedarchei Hashem; that such a beautiful day, a most glorious day, should be ruined by a tragedy like that.” That’s how we think. But we’re going to learn now that it wasn’t a chance mishap, that it wasn’t an accident at all.To this tragic day ofYom Hashemini, theMidrash Tanchuma(Shemini 9:2) applies the followingpossuk,and we should pay attention very well now because it’s Hashem talking to us,and He’s revealing to us one of the fundamental ways He deals with us in this world: אמרתי להוללים אל תהולו – “I said,” proclaims Hashem, “to those who are revelling, ‘Do not be too merry’” (Tehillim 75:5). Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives an order here, an order for how this world should run; He says, “I don’t want people to betoohappy.”And that means that anybody, even the most virtuous man or woman – Elisheva and Aharon were virtuous after all – Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to make sure that a certain element enters into their life, an element that is essential to the success of their career. And that one ingredient that is necessary for success in this world, in addition to all the other components of life, is sadness. Yes, sadness! Sadness is essential in life. And therefore: “I say to the merry, ‘Don’t be too merry.’”A STIRAH TO WHAT WE LEARN HERE?Now for us that’s a big question, a very big question. Because you know, especially if you come here, you already know that in this place we try to live according to the true principle that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is עולם חסד יבנה (Tehillim 89:3), that Hashem made a world of kindliness. After all, we know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is atov u’meitiv. That’s number one! It’s fundamental, and we are required to assimilate the idea into our bones that Hashem created everything for the purpose of kindliness.I say “number one” because it’s something we learned way back in Bereishis: וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד – “And Hashem saw everything that He made, and behold it was very good” (Bereishis 1:31). Not onlytov!Tov me’od. And when Hashem saysme’od, it meansme’ooooooooooooooooooooood! It means an endless good! It’s extremely extremely extremely good. We know it’s a very good world because Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t give His seal of approval “very good” unless it is very, very, very – and forever we won’t stop saying very – good. That’s how good it must be if Hashem says it’s “tov meod.”So on the one hand we’re saying that Hashem is all kindliness, that He’s good, that He’s very good, and very very good. And yet this great goodness is not always readily apparent to us. Because Elisheva the wife of Aharon did not see thetov me’odshe expected. And most of us don’t see it either because Hashem is always tempering our happiness with some sadness. Our successes in life are almost always sobered by the hand of Hashem one way or another. We don’t have all the wealth we’d like to have. We’re not having the fun in life we’d like to have. We feel that we’re being deprived. There’s always some unhappiness that creeps into our lives. We have grudges against people, we feel we’ve been wronged. People don’t appreciate us, we’re rejected and so on and so forth, all the things that make a person unhappy. And don’t think it’s only you, that it’s only certain people. No; everybody has unhappiness like that. And so, it’s a good question: What happened to thetov me’odof Hashem?OLAM HAZEH IS FAKE NEWSIn order to understand this subject we’ll read a selection from ourrebbi, the Mesillas Yesharim. The Mesillas Yesharim, in the first chapter, wishes to impress upon us the importance of directing our thoughts towards the World to Come. And he begins as follows: ותראה באמת שכבר לא יוכל שום בעל שכל להאמין שתכלית בריאת האדם הוא למצבו בעולם הזה – “Nobody who has anyseichelat all could believe that the creation of man was for his situation in this world.” The Mesillas Yesharim is warning us here: Take note, this world is not your purpose. You hear this? This world is so good that the Mesillas Yesharim has to warn you not to get too caught up in it! There is so much happiness in life, there is so much joy in life, there is so much zest and fun in life, that it’s enough to deceive anybody into thinking that this world is it! And so the Mesillas Yesharim makes sure that you know that it’s not real, that it’s illusory and fleeting.And he explains it like this: כי מה הם חיי האדם בעולם הזה, או מי הוא ששמח ושלו ממש בעולם הזה – “Because what is the life of a man in this world? And who is there who is actually completely happy and who really has tranquility and peace in this world? ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה ואם בגבורות שמונים שנה ורהבם עמל ואון – Our days are only seventy years, andb’gvuros,if a man has strength and a healthy constitution, then he can live maybe eighty years. But a great part of these years is filled with difficulties and toil. בכמה מיני צער וחולאים ומכאובים וטרדות, ואחר כל זאת המות – A great part is sadness; various kinds of vicissitudes, pain, illness, troubles and worries. And after everything, comes death.”RAV MILLER KNOWS ALL ABOUT ITFind me someone whose life is not visited with disturbances! There is no such thing! The disappointments; the troubles and turbulence are constant. Every family, every individual, suffers in various ways in this world and I know all about it. I get the phone calls all the time. People are ringing my bell constantly. I know much more than you do. Trouble withparnassah,shalom bayis, shidduchim, sicknesses, fighting with neighbors and mothers-in-law, debts and everything you could imagine – and more. Life is full of difficulties for everyone – even the “fortunate” ones suffer in this world.And even if one would live a long life, peacefully, without any disturbances, the end is almost always filled withtzaros.Before death there is infirmity and sickness. Almost everybody eventually ends up in a home for the aged. Many of those who imagine and hope that they will forever make their way merrily through life, will most likely find themselves one day lying in a bed wearing diapers. Some of them will be laying for years in a bed unable to move and unable to perform their functions without the help of a nurse. You imagined yourself to be a happy success in this world and now you find yourself in a nursing home and an apathetic woman is changing your diapers five times a day. “Made in your pants again? So soon?! I just changed you two hours ago!” It’s no longer fun, I imagine, when you get up to there. Could that be thetovme’odthat you pursued all the days of your life?NO NEED TO SIGN UP!And after all of those “pleasures”, what is waiting for him? The cold clammy clay of the grave.Ay yah yay, the grave! The thought that we push away and hope to ignore forever. Because, of course, onlyotherpeople die. There’s a “chevrah shtarbers,” a club for people who die, and people imagine they’ll be able to say, “I never signed up for that!” That’s how we think.And the truth is that even if you would live a thousand years, and it would be a life of no disturbances at all, OK, so now you’re a thousand years old and it’s coming to an end. So what good is it all now? Those thousand years are not enough when the last day comes. A thousand years is not terribly long. It might be long when you’re starting it, but when you come to the end it doesn’t seem long at all. Now begins sadness. And to a certain extent this sadness pervades the entire life. No matter how jolly a group of revelers seem to be; they’re jumping around, blowing horns, and drinking. It looks like they’re living it up, but they’re not living it up, they’re covering it up. Because all of them have at the bottom of their heart – no matter how much they try to cover it up with good times – laying there is the awareness that eventually there will be death.WHAT HAPPENED TOTOV ME’OOOOOOOOD?!And so the Mesillas Yesharim tells us that this proves that Hakodosh Boruch Hu must have intended for a different existence where that promise oftov me’odwill be fully fulfilled. Because this world may betov, and it may betov me’od,and it may betovme’od me’od,and with another thousandme’ods –but that’s where it stops. It will always come to an end. And the ultimate promise oftovme’odwill only be fulfilled in the Next World. It’s only the happiness ofOlam Habothatwill never end, and that’s where yourneshamahwill finally be satisfied.Now we must know that the Mesillas Yesharim is not talking to people who have to be convinced aboutOlam Haba. His words are directed tobnei Torah,toma’aminimwho already believe in the Next World. He’s talking to people who are born into an environment – this was two hundred years ago or more – an environment where the entire world, even gentiles, all subscribed to the principle of the Afterlife, the Hereafter.But belief is not enough! You don’t just sign on the dotted line הריני מאמין באמונה שלימה בעולם הבא and finished. No! That’s only the first step. And so the Mesillas Yesharim wasn’t writing this to convince us about theexistenceofOlam Habaper se, but to emphasize thatOlam Habais thesole purposeof our stay in this world. Because even ama’aminwho believes implicitly inOlam Habacould think that maybe this world isalsoan end in itself.THE SECRET TO ALL DISSATISFACTIONAnd that’s one of the most important explanations for all the disappointment and unhappiness we see in this world; because this world is not the final goal and we have to be reminded of that. We need to be reminded that there’s another place where the enjoyment will continue forever. And there, the enjoyment will take place in such a manner that we will never tire from it; we’ll always be happy with that pleasure and it will continue forever.And so what happened on thatYom Hasheminiwas part of the eternal plan of Hashem in this world, to interject sadness into the midst of great joy. And the purpose of that was to teach them, during their great joy, that you must always remain focused on the principle that true unadulterated joy will only come inthe Afterlife. Whatever sin the two sons of Aharon may have committed, the severity of their fate and the sadness it brought upon the people was decreed beforehand, to teach theAm Yisroelforever and ever the lesson of supreme importance, the great fundamental lesson ofOlam Haba.It was no accident; it wasn’t something that justhappenedto have taken place during a moment of great happiness. It was the plan of Hashem that especially on this great day of joy, theAm Yisroelshould be reminded of the true joy that they live for, their true purpose in life. And it isdavkasadness that comes about during moments of great joy that accentuates most effectively this great teaching ofOlam Haba.Hakodosh Boruch Hu is talking to thehollilim –that’s us – He’s talking to us all the time, and He’s saying אל תהולו – “Do not lose yourself in the addictive happiness of this world. Remember that you are here only to prepare for the World to Come.”TOO MUCH GOOD IS NO GOODAnd that’s what ourMedrash Tanchumameans when it describes the happy day that turned tragic with these four important words: שאין שמחה ממתנת לאדם – “Happiness does not last in permanence for anybody.” Joy in this world will not continue forever and the one who rejoices today is not necessarily rejoicing tomorrow. Like thepossukin Koheles says (2:2): לשחוק אמרתי מהולל – “About laughter I said ‘It is wild, it is too much’”. מהולל means gaiety, happiness. And Hashem says, “If someone is reveling in this world, if he’s making his way merrily throughOlam Hazeh, getting entangled and absorbed in the success of this world, then I say to him: ‘That’s too much, it’s not good for you. I can’t let a person get lost in his happiness, in his desire to achieve satisfaction in this world, because that’s how a person squanders his life away.’”You’re here for seventy, eighty years after all; it seems so permanent, and you begin to feel that it’s an end in itself, and that’s how a person misses out on the opportunity of life. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu sends reminders. He gives His order of אל תהולו and He introduces into your life an element of sadness.And so when we study ourparshaand read about the great tragedy that took place on this happy day we understand that it was Hashem’s plan to inject sadness into the happiest day in the history of the world. Hakodosh Boruch Hualwaysbrings into people’s lives experiences that are meant to sober them. And He has in mind this general principle of tempering the happiness and success of life so that a person will be encouraged to keep his focus on the Next World.Part II. The Great ConsolationWHAT’S WRONG WITH A LUXURIOUS HOTEL?If life was merely one thing after another, one joy following the next one, people would get lost in this world. Like a man we once had in our congregation. A true story! In our shul! He and his wife lived in a beautiful home on a tree-lined street with gardens. It was a beautiful street and an expensive home. But they had to go for vacation to the country. I don’t know if the country was any better than their home, but they went to an expensive hotel in the country for the summer.The truth is that I didn’t understand the necessity at all. She didn’t overwork herself here in the city, and they didn’t lack anything in their spacious and luxurious home. But they went to the country to spend the summer in an expensive hotel. A luxurious hotel where they could find “happiness”. Butthen, they left the hotel for a vacation to Switzerland for two weeks. Imagine people who lived that way constantly. They thought that maybe in Switzerland they’d find the satisfaction they were yearning for. But the truth is that they would never find true happiness in this world. Because they were looking in all the wrong places –because they were looking in this world.So what happened eventually? Unfortunately she suddenly contracted cancer. She was quite young and after a long and painful illness she finally had to leave this world. And she didn’t leave as a satisfied and happy woman. Now we understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has many purposes; and I’m not the one to interpret any purpose. I’m just saying an illustration. Because even if people have everything in this world, they will keep on looking for other things. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to remind them: “Kinderlach!” He says. “Children! Don’t get lost in this world. Because your appetite forOlam Habais going to be dulled. And I want you to prepare a big lusty appetite for things of the spirit.”HASHEM TAKES AWAY YOUR LOLLIPOPYou know, one of the surprises that little children get is when they discover how “mean” their mothers are. Here’s a little boy who was given, let’s say, a quarter. A whole quarter! He’s on top of the world now! So he goes to the store and buys two lollipops. He comes home so happy, and as soon as he comes home, his mother snatches them out of his hand. And he can’t understand why his mother who is always so considerate and so kind is now so mean to him. His mother can’t explain to him that it’s just before mealtime and she doesn’t want him to spoil his appetite for nourishing food, and therefore she deprived him of hisnosherai.And so too, Hakodosh Boruch Hu sometimes takes away happiness from people in order that they should not lose their appetite for what’s coming later; to keep them focused on the great happiness they should always be anticipating, and that’s the World to Come.THE BOOK RAV MILLER NEVER WROTEToo much success is unhealthy. It’s like too much sweets in your diet. You can’t live on sugar; you need proteins and other nutrients and vitamins too. And you need a little bit of bitterness in life too. And that’s what themedrashis teaching us – it’s an illustration of the lesson that nobody should expect that this life will be nothing but pleasure and good times.You know, many times I was thinking about writing a book. I wanted to write a book called The Pursuit of Happiness. I have a lot of material on the subject and I knew that it would be a successful book because this world is a very happy place. But I didn’t write it because I didn’t want to mislead people. Because this world isnotfor the pursuit of happiness. Although this world is full of happiness, but people would read that title and think that happiness is a purpose in itself. No, it’s the pursuit of achievement, the pursuit of perfection, that’s what we’re here for in this world.THERE’S A LOT OF FUN IN THIS WORLD BUT…And therefore,Hashem has in store a lot of these treatments for everybody; it can’t be helped. Because the treatment oftzarosis the biggesttovahpossible when it causes a person to think ofOlam Habah.When people see that there is no complete happiness in this world, and they understand why that is so, that’s already a perfection of character. And therefore it’s important that Hashem remind people that this world is not for enjoyment and pleasure; although there’s a lot of fun in this world, but there’s a special world that was made for enjoyment. The Next World is especially set up for pleasure – it’s a world of happiness. And this world is not the place for that; this world is set up especially for achievement. And that’s the great consolation of this world –that this world is not it!Like Dovid Hamelech said when he saw that difficulties were coming upon him: אם אמרתי מטה רגלי – “When I thought that my foot was slipping,” חסדך השם יסעדני – Hashem, it was Your kindliness that supported me” (Tehillim 94:18-19). That means that I cried out to You that Your kindliness should help me. And many times it did. And then Dovid continues: ברוב שרעפי בקרבי – “In the multitude of my thoughts in my midst.” Dovid had thoughts, worries, of what was going to happen. He was confronted with peril at every footstep. Shaul was seeking Dovid with armed men; he was ambushing him and Dovid was hiding like an animal in caves and thickets. He was constantly beset with worries. And what did he say? ברוב שרעפי בקרבי – “Because of the many worries within me, תנחומיך ישעשעו נפשי – Your consolations were the delight of my soul.” Which consolations? What consolations?THE ONLY TRUENECHAMADovid was thinking aboutOlam Haba! Because he knew how to utilize his troubles in this world. He knew that one of the most important functions of sadness is to loosen your grasp on this world a little bit. So he made use of his troubles to create for himself a mind that was anOlam Haba’dikehmind. And it’s only the man with anOlam Haba’dikehmind who can weather the storms of this world.Somebody called me up now; he lost his son. A couple lost a son and they wanted to talk to me. Now, if they want to come sit with me, I could speak to them various words of consolation, I could do that. But the only true consolation is the words that we’re speaking here tonight. This world is a place where everybody loses something. But your world shouldn’t collapse for you because of what happened. When you concentrate your life onthisworld, even if you believe superficially inOlam Haba, but you live here with a feeling of permanence, that’s when the world turns out to be not what you wanted. Everything turns dark and it all collapses into nothing.THE BEREAVED FATHERHere’s another man who lost his son; this man was amispallelhere in our shul. And his son was atachshit; a sweet and brilliant man. He was married with a big family and he was eminently successful; successful in the Torah world and in the scholastic world as well. I still remember how the parents were having from this son a tremendousnachas. He really was an example of success and everything was the best that could be. And then suddenly in the midst ofYomtivrejoicing he died. An unexpected tragedy!And the father took it to heart; it broke him and he never really recovered. He didn’t live long after that. He was a healthy man but he left this world soon after that. And that’s because this father made a fundamental error. He was a good father, afrumman, but he made a mistake. The father had concentrated too much of his hopes on this world. And when this world collapsed, he collapsed with it.WEATHERING THE STORMS OF LIFEBut Aharon Hakohen and Elisheva, when their two beloved sons perished on theYom Hashmini, they didn’t collapse. And that’s because they understood the nature of this world; they understood that it’s a world of disappointments. And they concentrated on the thought that they would see their sons again. They would continue making their way successfully through the hallway of this world – what is it after all except for a hallway of seventy, eighty years – and then they would meet their sons again in the world of eternity.And that’s what everyone has to know. You can’t expect to be able to weather the difficulties of life, the small disappointments or the tragedieschas v’shalom, if you’renot prepared beforehand with the proper Torah attitudes. It’s the person who lives withOlam Habaon his mind who is able to make his way successfully through everything that life brings his way. Because he knows that he will see his family again and rejoice with them in the Next World. And he knows that he will receive his just and everlasting reward there, no matter what type oftzaros –big or small – he undergoes here.THE SNEAK ATTACKAnd that’s why the Chovos Halevavos tells us that of all the principles theyetzer haratries to weaken in a man, it is this one, the belief in the next world, that he attacks first and foremost. Because he knows thatOlam Habais theyesodof our lives. It’s our purpose here. So all the other things theyetzer haracan ignore – believe in Hashem, good; believe inMattanTorah, good; believe inYetziasMitzrayim, good; believe inTorah she’bal peh,good; believe in the wholegemara, believe in everything! You can even believe in arebbeh,atzadik! But be weak in just one thing; just be weak when it comes toOlam Haba.“Be weak in that,” says theyetzer hara. “Don’t talk about it; soft-peddle it. Be embarrassed to mention it.” BecauseOlam Habais everything! If theyetzer haracan weaken your awareness ofOlam Habathen everything else falls away. If yourOlamHabais weak, then your Torah is weak, yourmitzvosare weak. Everything else is weakened ifOlam Habais not constantly at the forefront of your thoughts.THE THOUSAND YEAR PHONE CONVERSATIONAnd let me tell you something – theyetzer harais doing a good job on us. There are plenty of frum people who are very weak in this principle. Now you may argue with me but I’m telling you that very many of us have succumbed almost entirely to theyetzer hara.And I can prove it to you immediately by a simple experiment. Let’s listen in to the conversations in an Orthodox home.All they talk about is this world. And they talk about it a lot! With details; all theolamhazehdikehdetails. The little girl listens to her mother on the telephone. What does she hear already?! Sheitels! This kind ofsheitel, that kind ofsheitel. And dresses! The mother is complaining about how hard it was to buy a dress. “I couldn’t get a dress anywhere. I went all over town to find a dress.” Finally she found it in a “special” place – around the corner. This is an Orthodox mother?! And that’s all the child hears. Sometimes recipes, and maybe makeup. All things fromthisworld. She can sit next to her mother fora thousand yearswhile her mother talks on the telephone, and she won’t hearOlam Habamentioned even once.And I’m afraid next to the father is no better. I’m not talking now about the father who is a connoisseur of wines, of bourbons. He has a cabinet filled with all different types of wineand he knows their names! That man I’m not speaking about now. He’s already sold out toOlam Hazehcompletely. He’s already sinking in quicksand; he’s in grave danger and he has to take emergency precautions to save himself.WHERE IS ZEIDY?I’m talking now to thefrummeh, the best. Here’s a father, and his children, all with black hats, sitting around the table talkingdivrei Torah.Maybe the father will say overpilpulimif he’s atalmid chochom; if not he’ll say over someguttaverter, some comments on thesedrah. ButOlam Habah? It’s a rare bird. You can sit sometimes for twenty years at a table and not hear even onceOlam Habahmentioned! Little children growing up don’t even know there’s such a thing. Unless someone dies and so they tell the child that “Zeidehis inOlam Habahnow.” But even then, the child is thinking, “What? Where?” Because nobody is talking about it. And there’s a good reason for that. Because theyetzer harahis most interested that it shouldn’t be mentioned.And so we have to do whatever we can that we shouldn’t fall into the trap of theyetzer hara! We should make it a point to speak aboutOlam Habaat the table. You have to plan ahead, with wisdom, with cunning. “How am I going to sneak in the subject ofOlam Habatoday?” And when you succeed, so you start making plans for the next meal. And even more than that – how long will we have to wait to hear them talk aboutgehenimat the Jewish table? Now that would be a Jewish table! The father and his family discussGan Edenandgehenim. And the father is always pointing out that למחר לקבל שכרם, in the Next World, that’s where we’ll be rewarded for our life’s work. “Chaim’ll, in the Next World Hashem is going to give you everything! Only Hashem can make you truly happy. And you should know, Chaim’ll, it’s notstama reward. A person won’t be able to handle thesimcha! Hashem is going to have to revive you again and again in order to continue bestowing His goodness upon you.” Now that’s table-talk for the Jewish home!YOUNG ISRAEL OF SLABODKAThe truth is that even in the shuls there’s nobody talking about it! How long will we have to sit in the shul and listen to the rabbi’s speeches before we hear a dissertation on the great subject ofOlam Haba? I remember when the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva once came to America and they invited him to a Young Israel convention – it used to be held here in a hotel in New York City. He didn’t know what Young Israel means; he didn’t know, otherwise he would have surely not gone. So he went and they asked him to speak. Speak?! What is the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva going to say to them already? Which subject should he speak about? He thought, “I should speak about what the Jews of America need to hear most.” And so he spoke on the subject ofgehenim.But you won’t always have the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva to tell you those things. And there aren’t too many rabbis who are willing to tell you the truth. First of all, many of them are themselves weak in theemunahofOlam Habah. And even if not, he can’t tell you the truth. You’ll run to the other shul down the block, and your rabbi will lose all of his congregants. I told you once that in my shul we make a “membership drive” once in a while. I tell the shul members the truth, and I drive them out to all the other shuls in the neighborhood. That’s why the otherrabbonimin my neighborhood love me.IT’S NOT JUST THE OLD PEOPLENow I know that many people don’t like to hear about this subject and I don’t blame them. You might think, “That’s all Rabbi Miller is going to tell me?! That this world is not a happy place?!” I know some people don’t want to hear about the Next World; it makes them sad when I talk about it. They want to imagine that they’ll live forever and ever.But what can I do, my friends? It’s so important to internalize that this world is not forever; that everybody will die sooner or later. So a man comes back to the house after thelevayah; the mother of the house is now gone and he’s going to her home now to sitshivah. He sees a nice quiet home; it’s very neat because last week she was still cleaning up. And now she’s gone. What a pity! What a pity! Thealtermotheror thealterfather is gone. They always said such good words to us; it’s such a pity they’re gone now. But he has to know however that someday he’ll be gone too. Everybody mustknowthat he won’t live forever. And therefore we’re in this world only for the purpose of preparing.And the truth is that it shouldn’t make you sad; because when you know you’re living for a purpose, so every moment in this world becomes more precious to you. You enjoy this world even more because of the opportunities it provides for achieving the eternaltov me’od. And so the wise man, thechochomwho isro’eh es ha’nolad,doesn’t invest his hopes in this world. Because he knows that if he puts his hopes intoOlam Hazehso he’s going to be terribly disappointed. And that’s why you find a lot of old people are very soured onOlam Hazeh; because that’s all they were concerned about and now they see that it turned into nothing.THE HAPPY OLD MANI once visited a home for the aged and I was looking around at the old people. It was filled with American style old Jews,burim,amei ha’aretz, and it was a pity to see them. They were sitting around, staring. Life had turned out to be a disappointment. “This hurts me,” “I have none of my own teeth left,” “I can’t go here, I can’t do this or that.” It was nothing but disappointment. Only complaints, that’s all you could hear.And in the corner I saw an old man with a white beard, sitting at a table with agemaraopen. And he was busy getting ready for the next world. He was reviewing everything he had learned in his lifetime. And he was the happiest man in the place! He was busy, he was accomplishing, because he knew that he had a purpose. You know why he was happy. Because none of the disappointments in life had disappointed him! Everything was turning out exactly as expected and now he was getting ready now to cash in. He was busy counting all of his bonds before going to the bank, making sure he wouldn’t leave anything over. He was a happy man!WE DON’T LIKE TRAGEDIESAnd it wasn’t because he searched for happiness his whole life – it was because he recognized all the bumps of life for what Hashem intended them, as reminders from Hashem to remain focused on the true goal. Because he understood the important lessonal taholu,he knew not to get lost in the happiness of this world,and he therefore was the happiest man in this world.How can you be preparing forOlam Habaif you never even think about it, no less mention it? Isn’t that a tragedy? So we’re not going to let that happen to us because we don’t like tragedies. And so, we’re going to have to muster our resources, all of our energy, to fight this battle: Like the Rambam (Teshuva 8:7) says, “A person should always yearn forOlam Haba; he should always think aboutOlam Haba. Like Dovid Hamelech did. כמה כמה דוד לעולם הבא, How greatly did Dovid yearn for Olam Habah, כאיל תערוג על אפיקי מים, like a deer thirsting for drink.” (Tehillim 42:2)THE OLAM HABA PROGRAM – ONLY THIRTY SECONDS A DAYSoinstead of just talking about becoming great, we’ll actually do something about it. Instead of being like the people who just talk about doing things, we’re going to get busy immediately thinking about the World to Come. Together we’ll start anOlam Habaprogram. We’re going to spend at least thirty seconds every day thinking aboutOlam Haba,reminding ourselves that we’re in this world only as a preparation for the World to Come. For one half a minute, remind yourself that this world is just a vestibule, a place to put your things in order, before the World to Come.Every day at least thirty seconds on the clock, we’re going to think aboutOlamHaba. Whether you’re hanging on a strap on the subway, or driving to work; maybe you’re waiting to see the doctor, or even if you’re standing on the corner waiting for the light to change – whatever it is – look at your watch and let it tick off thirty seconds while you are now in the World to Come, thinking about the purpose of life.THE SWEETEST SHALOM ALEICHEM YOU’LL EVER HEARAnd then, when we come into the Next World so they’ll ask you, “What do you want here?” And you’ll say, “I prepared; I thought aboutOlam Habahin the world where I’m coming from. I worked on it!” “Oh!” they’ll say, “Shalom Aleichem! Welcome!” Because you’re superior to everybody else. You’re adagul mei’rivavah,you’re one in ten thousand. You’re a head taller than everybody else because you understood the lessons of what happened onYom Hashminiand you’re thinking every day about the World to Come. Now, whether they’ll give you a front seat, or a middle seat or a back seat, that will depend on how much effort you put into the things we speak about here. But they are going to welcome you; that’s guaranteed.And so, if anyone asks you what you are doing in the world – whether you can tell him or not – you at least have to know for yourself that we’re here to prepare for the great career of everlasting happiness in the Next World. That is the foundation upon which we build everything in this world. It’s theyesod hachasidusv’shoresh ha’avodah,and if you have this before your eyes then you can build. But if not, or even if you do but it’s weak, then you’re building without a foundation. The whole foundation of being a Jew is the clear conviction that our purpose isOlam Habah,the Afterlife. Not that the Afterlife is an annex, something that isalsogoing to be given to us. No –the Afterlife is it!It’s onlyOlam Habahthat counts! That’s your great joy! And do you know what’s going to happen when you train yourself to think this way? It’s going to illuminate your life. It will put asimcha, a deep and profound happiness, into your life. Because no matter what happens, from the smallest bumps of daily life, tochas v’shalomthe most terrible of tragedies, you know that you are being reminded by Hashem of your purpose in this world, and you know that you’re headed for success. And once you assimilate this idea ofOlam Habahinto your bones, then you’ll be capable of weathering all of the turbulence that life brings. And you’ll grow even greater from the constant lessons of אל תהולו that Hashem brings upon you as He prepares you for the great day when you will finally leave thisprozdor, the hallway that this world is, and you’ll enter into the טרקלין, the great palace of the World to Come. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Part I. Purpose of SorrowTHE DAY OF TEN CROWNSויהי ביום השמיני – “And it was on the eighth day” (Shemini 9:1). In the beginning of Parshas Shemini, we come to that glorious day of the hakamas hamishkan, when the Sanctuary, the Home of Hashem, was finally erected in this world. And the Am Yisroel would now claim the exclusive glory of having Hashem reside among them. They would be the ones privileged to approach the home of Hashem and worship Him.Now, it’s important to understand that the Yom Hashemini was a most majestic and joyful day for the Am Yisroel. There were very few days – we could even say no day ever – in the history of the world when there was so much rejoicing. And the Gemara (Shabbos 87b) tells us that נטל עשר עטרות, it was a day crowned with ten crowns of glory; an exalted day like no other in our history. The Shechina, the Presence of Hashem, was now coming down to rest among them – and they went wild with happiness. וירא כבוד השם אל כל העם ותצא אש מלפני השם… וירא כל העם וירונו ויפלו על פניהם – “And the Glory of Hashem appeared to all the people, and a fire came forth from before Hashem…and all the people saw, and they shouted in joy, and they fell down on their faces” (Shemini 9:23-24).Imagine that! A whole nation; millions of men, women and children shouting in great ecstasy at the sight of the Shechina. All together they stood and witnessed this momentous event, and they were electrified by what they saw! It was the thing that they desired more than anything else – to see with their own eyes that Hashem had chosen to reside among them forever. And they were thrilled down to their marrow. It was a remarkable experience – a happiness and a thrill that was never to be repeated. That was the great day of ויהי ביום השמיני, one of the most joyous days in the history of our people.THE HAPPIEST WOMAN EVERNow, the medrash (Tanchuma, Shemini: 2) points out that there was one person who was reveling in happiness more than anyone else; there was nobody happier than her – ever! And that lucky person was Elisheva bas Aminadav, the wife of Aharon HaKohen. For her it was the most special of all days, mamish me’ein Olam Habo. She was privileged to be the wife of the Kohen Gadol, and she saw success that no other woman ever saw, before or after. Her husband was the High Priest who put on the glorious gold vestments, garments studded with gems and jewels to serve Hashem lifnei u’lifnim. And not only that, but he was a navi as well, a prophet of Hashem.And her sons? Ahh, what nachasfrom her sons! She had four sons, Nadav, Avihu, Elazar and Isamar, and all of them were chosen to work in the Mishkan, assisting their father. A mother’s dream! And not only was she glorying in the greatness of her husband and her sons but it was only the beginning; because she knew that her descendents forever would enjoy this privilege. The family of kohanimwould descend from her for eternity. And that was a success that no other woman was ever given the privilege to enjoy.HAPPINESS ON ALL SIDESThe truth is that Elisheva bas Aminadav had even more than that. In addition to the greatness of her husband, her brother-in-law was the king of the Jewish nation. That itself is an honor and a greatness. “My husband’s brother is Moshe Rabeinu, the leader of our nation. And he speaks to Hashem face to face.” Her brother-in-law was the greatest prophet that ever lived. And in addition to that was her illustrious brother, Nachshon ben Aminadav, the leader of the twelve princes of the Am Yisroel.And on this Yom Hashemini, all of this pride and joy was coming together before her eyes. It was being encapsulated on the day of the hashra’as hashechina; when the Presence of Hashem entered into the Mishkan; and her husband and sons would be the ones officiating in the place that Hashem has designated as His home. And it was all taking place under the direction of her brother-in-law, the King, as well as her brother Nachshon, the leader of the nesi’im. And so while the Yom Hashemini was a day of great happiness for everyone, this most fortunate woman was reveling in joy more than all others.THE PARTY’S OVER!And yet it wasn’t to last. Her joy – not only her joy, but the joy of the whole nation – was about to be marred by the worst of misfortunes a mother could ever suffer through. Because on that day, ויהי ביום השמיני, when two of her sons went in to officiate in the kodesh, they were struck dead by a fire that came forth from Hashem and consumed them. ותצא אש מלפני השם ותאכל אותם וימתו לפני השם – “And a fire went forth from Hashem and devoured them and they perished there before Hashem” (Shemini 10:2). Ay yah yay! What a terrible sadness! A most unfortunate event that will forever spoil the memory of this great day.Now most of us, when we study this terrible event, we regard it as a debacle, an unfortunate mishap that came at a most inopportune moment. We shrug our shoulders and commiserate. “It’s hard for us to understand the darchei Hashem; that such a beautiful day, a most glorious day, should be ruined by a tragedy like that.” That’s how we think. But we’re going to learn now that it wasn’t a chance mishap, that it wasn’t an accident at all.To this tragic day of Yom Hashemini, the Midrash Tanchuma (Shemini 9:2) applies the following possuk, and we should pay attention very well now because it’s Hashem talking to us, and He’s revealing to us one of the fundamental ways He deals with us in this world: אמרתי להוללים אל תהולו – “I said,” proclaims Hashem, “to those who are revelling, ‘Do not be too merry’” (Tehillim 75:5). Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives an order here, an order for how this world should run; He says, “I don’t want people to be too happy.”And that means that anybody, even the most virtuous man or woman – Elisheva and Aharon were virtuous after all – Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to make sure that a certain element enters into their life, an element that is essential to the success of their career. And that one ingredient that is necessary for success in this world, in addition to all the other components of life, is sadness. Yes, sadness! Sadness is essential in life. And therefore: “I say to the merry, ‘Don’t be too merry.’”A STIRAH TO WHAT WE LEARN HERE?Now for us that’s a big question, a very big question. Because you know, especially if you come here, you already know that in this place we try to live according to the true principle that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is עולם חסד יבנה (Tehillim 89:3), that Hashem made a world of kindliness. After all, we know that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a tov u’meitiv. That’s number one! It’s fundamental, and we are required to assimilate the idea into our bones that Hashem created everything for the purpose of kindliness.I say “number one” because it’s something we learned way back in Bereishis: וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד – “And Hashem saw everything that He made, and behold it was very good” (Bereishis 1:31). Not only tov! Tov me’od. And when Hashem says me’od, it means me’ooooooooooooooooooooood! It means an endless good! It’s extremely extremely extremely good. We know it’s a very good world because Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn’t give His seal of approval “very good” unless it is very, very, very – and forever we won’t stop saying very – good. That’s how good it must be if Hashem says it’s “tov meod.”So on the one hand we’re saying that Hashem is all kindliness, that He’s good, that He’s very good, and very very good. And yet this great goodness is not always readily apparent to us. Because Elisheva the wife of Aharon did not see the tov me’odshe expected. And most of us don’t see it either because Hashem is always tempering our happiness with some sadness. Our successes in life are almost always sobered by the hand of Hashem one way or another. We don’t have all the wealth we’d like to have. We’re not having the fun in life we’d like to have. We feel that we’re being deprived. There’s always some unhappiness that creeps into our lives. We have grudges against people, we feel we’ve been wronged. People don’t appreciate us, we’re rejected and so on and so forth, all the things that make a person unhappy. And don’t think it’s only you, that it’s only certain people. No; everybody has unhappiness like that. And so, it’s a good question: What happened to the tov me’od of Hashem?OLAM HAZEH IS FAKE NEWSIn order to understand this subject we’ll read a selection from our rebbi, the Mesillas Yesharim. The Mesillas Yesharim, in the first chapter, wishes to impress upon us the importance of directing our thoughts towards the World to Come. And he begins as follows: ותראה באמת שכבר לא יוכל שום בעל שכל להאמין שתכלית בריאת האדם הוא למצבו בעולם הזה – “Nobody who has any seichel at all could believe that the creation of man was for his situation in this world.” The Mesillas Yesharim is warning us here: Take note, this world is not your purpose. You hear this? This world is so good that the Mesillas Yesharim has to warn you not to get too caught up in it! There is so much happiness in life, there is so much joy in life, there is so much zest and fun in life, that it’s enough to deceive anybody into thinking that this world is it! And so the Mesillas Yesharim makes sure that you know that it’s not real, that it’s illusory and fleeting.And he explains it like this: כי מה הם חיי האדם בעולם הזה, או מי הוא ששמח ושלו ממש בעולם הזה – “Because what is the life of a man in this world? And who is there who is actually completely happy and who really has tranquility and peace in this world? ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה ואם בגבורות שמונים שנה ורהבם עמל ואון – Our days are only seventy years, and b’gvuros, if a man has strength and a healthy constitution, then he can live maybe eighty years. But a great part of these years is filled with difficulties and toil. בכמה מיני צער וחולאים ומכאובים וטרדות, ואחר כל זאת המות – A great part is sadness; various kinds of vicissitudes, pain, illness, troubles and worries. And after everything, comes death.”RAV MILLER KNOWS ALL ABOUT ITFind me someone whose life is not visited with disturbances! There is no such thing! The disappointments; the troubles and turbulence are constant. Every family, every individual, suffers in various ways in this world and I know all about it. I get the phone calls all the time. People are ringing my bell constantly. I know much more than you do. Trouble with parnassah, shalom bayis, shidduchim, sicknesses, fighting with neighbors and mothers-in-law, debts and everything you could imagine – and more. Life is full of difficulties for everyone – even the “fortunate” ones suffer in this world.And even if one would live a long life, peacefully, without any disturbances, the end is almost always filled with tzaros. Before death there is infirmity and sickness. Almost everybody eventually ends up in a home for the aged. Many of those who imagine and hope that they will forever make their way merrily through life, will most likely find themselves one day lying in a bed wearing diapers. Some of them will be laying for years in a bed unable to move and unable to perform their functions without the help of a nurse. You imagined yourself to be a happy success in this world and now you find yourself in a nursing home and an apathetic woman is changing your diapers five times a day. “Made in your pants again? So soon?! I just changed you two hours ago!” It’s no longer fun, I imagine, when you get up to there. Could that be the tov me’od that you pursued all the days of your life?NO NEED TO SIGN UP!And after all of those “pleasures”, what is waiting for him? The cold clammy clay of the grave. Ay yah yay, the grave! The thought that we push away and hope to ignore forever. Because, of course, only other people die. There’s a “chevrah shtarbers,” a club for people who die, and people imagine they’ll be able to say, “I never signed up for that!” That’s how we think.And the truth is that even if you would live a thousand years, and it would be a life of no disturbances at all, OK, so now you’re a thousand years old and it’s coming to an end. So what good is it all now? Those thousand years are not enough when the last day comes. A thousand years is not terribly long. It might be long when you’re starting it, but when you come to the end it doesn’t seem long at all. Now begins sadness. And to a certain extent this sadness pervades the entire life. No matter how jolly a group of revelers seem to be; they’re jumping around, blowing horns, and drinking. It looks like they’re living it up, but they’re not living it up, they’re covering it up. Because all of them have at the bottom of their heart – no matter how much they try to cover it up with good times – laying there is the awareness that eventually there will be death.WHAT HAPPENED TO TOV ME’OOOOOOOOD?!And so the Mesillas Yesharim tells us that this proves that Hakodosh Boruch Hu must have intended for a different existence where that promise of tov me’od will be fully fulfilled. Because this world may be tov, and it may be tov me’od, and it may be tov me’od me’od, and with another thousand me’ods – but that’s where it stops. It will always come to an end. And the ultimate promise of tov me’od will only be fulfilled in the Next World. It’s only the happiness of Olam Habo that will never end, and that’s where your neshamah will finally be satisfied.Now we must know that the Mesillas Yesharim is not talking to people who have to be convinced about Olam Haba. His words are directed to bnei Torah, to ma’aminim who already believe in the Next World. He’s talking to people who are born into an environment – this was two hundred years ago or more – an environment where the entire world, even gentiles, all subscribed to the principle of the Afterlife, the Hereafter.But belief is not enough! You don’t just sign on the dotted line הריני מאמין באמונה שלימה בעולם הבא and finished. No! That’s only the first step. And so the Mesillas Yesharim wasn’t writing this to convince us about the existence of Olam Haba per se, but to emphasize that Olam Haba is the sole purpose of our stay in this world. Because even a ma’amin who believes implicitly in Olam Haba could think that maybe this world is also an end in itself.THE SECRET TO ALL DISSATISFACTIONAnd that’s one of the most important explanations for all the disappointment and unhappiness we see in this world; because this world is not the final goal and we have to be reminded of that. We need to be reminded that there’s another place where the enjoyment will continue forever. And there, the enjoyment will take place in such a manner that we will never tire from it; we’ll always be happy with that pleasure and it will continue forever.And so what happened on that Yom Hashemini was part of the eternal plan of Hashem in this world, to interject sadness into the midst of great joy. And the purpose of that was to teach them, during their great joy, that you must always remain focused on the principle that true unadulterated joy will only come in the Afterlife. Whatever sin the two sons of Aharon may have committed, the severity of their fate and the sadness it brought upon the people was decreed beforehand, to teach the Am Yisroel forever and ever the lesson of supreme importance, the great fundamental lesson of Olam Haba.It was no accident; it wasn’t something that just happened to have taken place during a moment of great happiness. It was the plan of Hashem that especially on this great day of joy, the Am Yisroel should be reminded of the true joy that they live for, their true purpose in life. And it is davka sadness that comes about during moments of great joy that accentuates most effectively this great teaching of Olam Haba. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is talking to the hollilim – that’s us – He’s talking to us all the time, and He’s saying אל תהולו – “Do not lose yourself in the addictive happiness of this world. Remember that you are here only to prepare for the World to Come.”TOO MUCH GOOD IS NO GOODAnd that’s what our Medrash Tanchuma means when it describes the happy day that turned tragic with these four important words: שאין שמחה ממתנת לאדם – “Happiness does not last in permanence for anybody.” Joy in this world will not continue forever and the one who rejoices today is not necessarily rejoicing tomorrow. Like the possuk in Koheles says (2:2): לשחוק אמרתי מהולל – “About laughter I said ‘It is wild, it is too much’”. מהולל means gaiety, happiness. And Hashem says, “If someone is reveling in this world, if he’s making his way merrily through Olam Hazeh, getting entangled and absorbed in the success of this world, then I say to him: ‘That’s too much, it’s not good for you. I can’t let a person get lost in his happiness, in his desire to achieve satisfaction in this world, because that’s how a person squanders his life away.’”You’re here for seventy, eighty years after all; it seems so permanent, and you begin to feel that it’s an end in itself, and that’s how a person misses out on the opportunity of life. And so Hakodosh Boruch Hu sends reminders. He gives His order of אל תהולו and He introduces into your life an element of sadness.And so when we study our parsha and read about the great tragedy that took place on this happy day we understand that it was Hashem’s plan to inject sadness into the happiest day in the history of the world. Hakodosh Boruch Hu always brings into people’s lives experiences that are meant to sober them. And He has in mind this general principle of tempering the happiness and success of life so that a person will be encouraged to keep his focus on the Next World.Part II. The Great ConsolationWHAT’S WRONG WITH A LUXURIOUS HOTEL?If life was merely one thing after another, one joy following the next one, people would get lost in this world. Like a man we once had in our congregation. A true story! In our shul! He and his wife lived in a beautiful home on a tree-lined street with gardens. It was a beautiful street and an expensive home. But they had to go for vacation to the country. I don’t know if the country was any better than their home, but they went to an expensive hotel in the country for the summer.The truth is that I didn’t understand the necessity at all. She didn’t overwork herself here in the city, and they didn’t lack anything in their spacious and luxurious home. But they went to the country to spend the summer in an expensive hotel. A luxurious hotel where they could find “happiness”. But then, they left the hotel for a vacation to Switzerland for two weeks. Imagine people who lived that way constantly. They thought that maybe in Switzerland they’d find the satisfaction they were yearning for. But the truth is that they would never find true happiness in this world. Because they were looking in all the wrong places – because they were looking in this world.So what happened eventually? Unfortunately she suddenly contracted cancer. She was quite young and after a long and painful illness she finally had to leave this world. And she didn’t leave as a satisfied and happy woman. Now we understand that Hakodosh Boruch Hu has many purposes; and I’m not the one to interpret any purpose. I’m just saying an illustration. Because even if people have everything in this world, they will keep on looking for other things. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants to remind them: “Kinderlach!” He says. “Children! Don’t get lost in this world. Because your appetite for Olam Haba is going to be dulled. And I want you to prepare a big lusty appetite for things of the spirit.”HASHEM TAKES AWAY YOUR LOLLIPOPYou know, one of the surprises that little children get is when they discover how “mean” their mothers are. Here’s a little boy who was given, let’s say, a quarter. A whole quarter! He’s on top of the world now! So he goes to the store and buys two lollipops. He comes home so happy, and as soon as he comes home, his mother snatches them out of his hand. And he can’t understand why his mother who is always so considerate and so kind is now so mean to him. His mother can’t explain to him that it’s just before mealtime and she doesn’t want him to spoil his appetite for nourishing food, and therefore she deprived him of his nosherai.And so too, Hakodosh Boruch Hu sometimes takes away happiness from people in order that they should not lose their appetite for what’s coming later; to keep them focused on the great happiness they should always be anticipating, and that’s the World to Come.THE BOOK RAV MILLER NEVER WROTEToo much success is unhealthy. It’s like too much sweets in your diet. You can’t live on sugar; you need proteins and other nutrients and vitamins too. And you need a little bit of bitterness in life too. And that’s what the medrash is teaching us – it’s an illustration of the lesson that nobody should expect that this life will be nothing but pleasure and good times.You know, many times I was thinking about writing a book. I wanted to write a book called The Pursuit of Happiness. I have a lot of material on the subject and I knew that it would be a successful book because this world is a very happy place. But I didn’t write it because I didn’t want to mislead people. Because this world is not for the pursuit of happiness. Although this world is full of happiness, but people would read that title and think that happiness is a purpose in itself. No, it’s the pursuit of achievement, the pursuit of perfection, that’s what we’re here for in this world.THERE’S A LOT OF FUN IN THIS WORLD BUT…And therefore, Hashem has in store a lot of these treatments for everybody; it can’t be helped. Because the treatment of tzarosis the biggest tovah possible when it causes a person to think of Olam Habah. When people see that there is no complete happiness in this world, and they understand why that is so, that’s already a perfection of character. And therefore it’s important that Hashem remind people that this world is not for enjoyment and pleasure; although there’s a lot of fun in this world, but there’s a special world that was made for enjoyment. The Next World is especially set up for pleasure – it’s a world of happiness. And this world is not the place for that; this world is set up especially for achievement. And that’s the great consolation of this world – that this world is not it!Like Dovid Hamelech said when he saw that difficulties were coming upon him: אם אמרתי מטה רגלי – “When I thought that my foot was slipping,” חסדך השם יסעדני – Hashem, it was Your kindliness that supported me” (Tehillim 94:18-19). That means that I cried out to You that Your kindliness should help me. And many times it did. And then Dovid continues: ברוב שרעפי בקרבי – “In the multitude of my thoughts in my midst.” Dovid had thoughts, worries, of what was going to happen. He was confronted with peril at every footstep. Shaul was seeking Dovid with armed men; he was ambushing him and Dovid was hiding like an animal in caves and thickets. He was constantly beset with worries. And what did he say? ברוב שרעפי בקרבי – “Because of the many worries within me, תנחומיך ישעשעו נפשי – Your consolations were the delight of my soul.” Which consolations? What consolations?THE ONLY TRUE NECHAMADovid was thinking about Olam Haba! Because he knew how to utilize his troubles in this world. He knew that one of the most important functions of sadness is to loosen your grasp on this world a little bit. So he made use of his troubles to create for himself a mind that was an Olam Haba’dikeh mind. And it’s only the man with an Olam Haba’dikeh mind who can weather the storms of this world.Somebody called me up now; he lost his son. A couple lost a son and they wanted to talk to me. Now, if they want to come sit with me, I could speak to them various words of consolation, I could do that. But the only true consolation is the words that we’re speaking here tonight. This world is a place where everybody loses something. But your world shouldn’t collapse for you because of what happened. When you concentrate your life on this world, even if you believe superficially in Olam Haba, but you live here with a feeling of permanence, that’s when the world turns out to be not what you wanted. Everything turns dark and it all collapses into nothing.THE BEREAVED FATHERHere’s another man who lost his son; this man was a mispallelhere in our shul. And his son was a tachshit; a sweet and brilliant man. He was married with a big family and he was eminently successful; successful in the Torah world and in the scholastic world as well. I still remember how the parents were having from this son a tremendous nachas. He really was an example of success and everything was the best that could be. And then suddenly in the midst of Yomtiv rejoicing he died. An unexpected tragedy!And the father took it to heart; it broke him and he never really recovered. He didn’t live long after that. He was a healthy man but he left this world soon after that. And that’s because this father made a fundamental error. He was a good father, a frum man, but he made a mistake. The father had concentrated too much of his hopes on this world. And when this world collapsed, he collapsed with it.WEATHERING THE STORMS OF LIFEBut Aharon Hakohen and Elisheva, when their two beloved sons perished on the Yom Hashmini, they didn’t collapse. And that’s because they understood the nature of this world; they understood that it’s a world of disappointments. And they concentrated on the thought that they would see their sons again. They would continue making their way successfully through the hallway of this world – what is it after all except for a hallway of seventy, eighty years – and then they would meet their sons again in the world of eternity.And that’s what everyone has to know. You can’t expect to be able to weather the difficulties of life, the small disappointments or the tragedies chas v’shalom, if you’re not prepared beforehand with the proper Torah attitudes. It’s the person who lives with Olam Haba on his mind who is able to make his way successfully through everything that life brings his way. Because he knows that he will see his family again and rejoice with them in the Next World. And he knows that he will receive his just and everlasting reward there, no matter what type of tzaros – big or small – he undergoes here.THE SNEAK ATTACKAnd that’s why the Chovos Halevavos tells us that of all the principles the yetzer hara tries to weaken in a man, it is this one, the belief in the next world, that he attacks first and foremost. Because he knows that Olam Haba is the yesod of our lives. It’s our purpose here. So all the other things the yetzer hara can ignore – believe in Hashem, good; believe in Mattan Torah, good; believe in YetziasMitzrayim, good; believe in Torah she’bal peh, good; believe in the whole gemara, believe in everything! You can even believe in a rebbeh, a tzadik! But be weak in just one thing; just be weak when it comes to Olam Haba.“Be weak in that,” says the yetzer hara. “Don’t talk about it; soft-peddle it. Be embarrassed to mention it.” Because Olam Haba is everything! If the yetzer hara can weaken your awareness of Olam Haba then everything else falls away. If your Olam Haba is weak, then your Torah is weak, your mitzvos are weak. Everything else is weakened if Olam Haba is not constantly at the forefront of your thoughts.THE THOUSAND YEAR PHONE CONVERSATIONAnd let me tell you something – the yetzer hara is doing a good job on us. There are plenty of frum people who are very weak in this principle. Now you may argue with me but I’m telling you that very many of us have succumbed almost entirely to the yetzer hara. And I can prove it to you immediately by a simple experiment. Let’s listen in to the conversations in an Orthodox home.All they talk about is this world. And they talk about it a lot! With details; all the olamhazehdikehdetails. The little girl listens to her mother on the telephone. What does she hear already?! Sheitels! This kind of sheitel, that kind of sheitel. And dresses! The mother is complaining about how hard it was to buy a dress. “I couldn’t get a dress anywhere. I went all over town to find a dress.” Finally she found it in a “special” place – around the corner. This is an Orthodox mother?! And that’s all the child hears. Sometimes recipes, and maybe makeup. All things from this world. She can sit next to her mother for a thousand yearswhile her mother talks on the telephone, and she won’t hear Olam Haba mentioned even once.And I’m afraid next to the father is no better. I’m not talking now about the father who is a connoisseur of wines, of bourbons. He has a cabinet filled with all different types of wine and he knows their names! That man I’m not speaking about now. He’s already sold out to Olam Hazeh completely. He’s already sinking in quicksand; he’s in grave danger and he has to take emergency precautions to save himself.WHERE IS ZEIDY?I’m talking now to the frummeh, the best. Here’s a father, and his children, all with black hats, sitting around the table talking divrei Torah. Maybe the father will say over pilpulim if he’s a talmid chochom; if not he’ll say over some gutta verter, some comments on the sedrah. But Olam Habah? It’s a rare bird. You can sit sometimes for twenty years at a table and not hear even once Olam Habah mentioned! Little children growing up don’t even know there’s such a thing. Unless someone dies and so they tell the child that “Zeideh is in Olam Habah now.” But even then, the child is thinking, “What? Where?” Because nobody is talking about it. And there’s a good reason for that. Because the yetzer harah is most interested that it shouldn’t be mentioned.And so we have to do whatever we can that we shouldn’t fall into the trap of the yetzer hara! We should make it a point to speak about Olam Haba at the table. You have to plan ahead, with wisdom, with cunning. “How am I going to sneak in the subject of Olam Haba today?” And when you succeed, so you start making plans for the next meal. And even more than that – how long will we have to wait to hear them talk about gehenim at the Jewish table? Now that would be a Jewish table! The father and his family discuss Gan Eden and gehenim. And the father is always pointing out that למחר לקבל שכרם, in the Next World, that’s where we’ll be rewarded for our life’s work. “Chaim’ll, in the Next World Hashem is going to give you everything! Only Hashem can make you truly happy. And you should know, Chaim’ll, it’s not stam a reward. A person won’t be able to handle the simcha! Hashem is going to have to revive you again and again in order to continue bestowing His goodness upon you.” Now that’s table-talk for the Jewish home!YOUNG ISRAEL OF SLABODKAThe truth is that even in the shuls there’s nobody talking about it! How long will we have to sit in the shul and listen to the rabbi’s speeches before we hear a dissertation on the great subject of Olam Haba? I remember when the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva once came to America and they invited him to a Young Israel convention – it used to be held here in a hotel in New York City. He didn’t know what Young Israel means; he didn’t know, otherwise he would have surely not gone. So he went and they asked him to speak. Speak?! What is the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva going to say to them already? Which subject should he speak about? He thought, “I should speak about what the Jews of America need to hear most.” And so he spoke on the subject of gehenim.But you won’t always have the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva to tell you those things. And there aren’t too many rabbis who are willing to tell you the truth. First of all, many of them are themselves weak in the emunahof Olam Habah. And even if not, he can’t tell you the truth. You’ll run to the other shul down the block, and your rabbi will lose all of his congregants. I told you once that in my shul we make a “membership drive” once in a while. I tell the shul members the truth, and I drive them out to all the other shuls in the neighborhood. That’s why the other rabbonim in my neighborhood love me.IT’S NOT JUST THE OLD PEOPLENow I know that many people don’t like to hear about this subject and I don’t blame them. You might think, “That’s all Rabbi Miller is going to tell me?! That this world is not a happy place?!” I know some people don’t want to hear about the Next World; it makes them sad when I talk about it. They want to imagine that they’ll live forever and ever.But what can I do, my friends? It’s so important to internalize that this world is not forever; that everybody will die sooner or later. So a man comes back to the house after the levayah; the mother of the house is now gone and he’s going to her home now to sit shivah. He sees a nice quiet home; it’s very neat because last week she was still cleaning up. And now she’s gone. What a pity! What a pity! The alter mother or the alterfather is gone. They always said such good words to us; it’s such a pity they’re gone now. But he has to know however that someday he’ll be gone too. Everybody must know that he won’t live forever. And therefore we’re in this world only for the purpose of preparing.And the truth is that it shouldn’t make you sad; because when you know you’re living for a purpose, so every moment in this world becomes more precious to you. You enjoy this world even more because of the opportunities it provides for achieving the eternal tov me’od. And so the wise man, the chochom who is ro’eh es ha’nolad, doesn’t invest his hopes in this world. Because he knows that if he puts his hopes into Olam Hazeh so he’s going to be terribly disappointed. And that’s why you find a lot of old people are very soured on Olam Hazeh; because that’s all they were concerned about and now they see that it turned into nothing.THE HAPPY OLD MANI once visited a home for the aged and I was looking around at the old people. It was filled with American style old Jews, burim, amei ha’aretz, and it was a pity to see them. They were sitting around, staring. Life had turned out to be a disappointment. “This hurts me,” “I have none of my own teeth left,” “I can’t go here, I can’t do this or that.” It was nothing but disappointment. Only complaints, that’s all you could hear.And in the corner I saw an old man with a white beard, sitting at a table with a gemara open. And he was busy getting ready for the next world. He was reviewing everything he had learned in his lifetime. And he was the happiest man in the place! He was busy, he was accomplishing, because he knew that he had a purpose. You know why he was happy. Because none of the disappointments in life had disappointed him! Everything was turning out exactly as expected and now he was getting ready now to cash in. He was busy counting all of his bonds before going to the bank, making sure he wouldn’t leave anything over. He was a happy man!WE DON’T LIKE TRAGEDIESAnd it wasn’t because he searched for happiness his whole life – it was because he recognized all the bumps of life for what Hashem intended them, as reminders from Hashem to remain focused on the true goal. Because he understood the important lesson al taholu, he knew not to get lost in the happiness of this world, and he therefore was the happiest man in this world.How can you be preparing for Olam Haba if you never even think about it, no less mention it? Isn’t that a tragedy? So we’re not going to let that happen to us because we don’t like tragedies. And so, we’re going to have to muster our resources, all of our energy, to fight this battle: Like the Rambam (Teshuva 8:7) says, “A person should always yearn for Olam Haba; he should always think about Olam Haba. Like Dovid Hamelech did. כמה כמה דוד לעולם הבא, How greatly did Dovid yearn for Olam Habah, כאיל תערוג על אפיקי מים, like a deer thirsting for drink.” (Tehillim 42:2)THE OLAM HABA PROGRAM – ONLY THIRTY SECONDS A DAYSo instead of just talking about becoming great, we’ll actually do something about it. Instead of being like the people who just talk about doing things, we’re going to get busy immediately thinking about the World to Come. Together we’ll start an Olam Haba program. We’re going to spend at least thirty seconds every day thinking about Olam Haba, reminding ourselves that we’re in this world only as a preparation for the World to Come. For one half a minute, remind yourself that this world is just a vestibule, a place to put your things in order, before the World to Come.Every day at least thirty seconds on the clock, we’re going to think about Olam Haba. Whether you’re hanging on a strap on the subway, or driving to work; maybe you’re waiting to see the doctor, or even if you’re standing on the corner waiting for the light to change – whatever it is – look at your watch and let it tick off thirty seconds while you are now in the World to Come, thinking about the purpose of life.THE SWEETEST SHALOM ALEICHEM YOU’LL EVER HEARAnd then, when we come into the Next World so they’ll ask you, “What do you want here?” And you’ll say, “I prepared; I thought about Olam Habah in the world where I’m coming from. I worked on it!” “Oh!” they’ll say, “Shalom Aleichem! Welcome!” Because you’re superior to everybody else. You’re a dagul mei’rivavah, you’re one in ten thousand. You’re a head taller than everybody else because you understood the lessons of what happened on Yom Hashmini and you’re thinking every day about the World to Come. Now, whether they’ll give you a front seat, or a middle seat or a back seat, that will depend on how much effort you put into the things we speak about here. But they are going to welcome you; that’s guaranteed.And so, if anyone asks you what you are doing in the world – whether you can tell him or not – you at least have to know for yourself that we’re here to prepare for the great career of everlasting happiness in the Next World. That is the foundation upon which we build everything in this world. It’s the yesod hachasidus v’shoresh ha’avodah, and if you have this before your eyes then you can build. But if not, or even if you do but it’s weak, then you’re building without a foundation. The whole foundation of being a Jew is the clear conviction that our purpose is Olam Habah, the Afterlife. Not that the Afterlife is an annex, something that is alsogoing to be given to us. No – the Afterlife is it!It’s only Olam Habah that counts! That’s your great joy! And do you know what’s going to happen when you train yourself to think this way? It’s going to illuminate your life. It will put a simcha, a deep and profound happiness, into your life. Because no matter what happens, from the smallest bumps of daily life, to chas v’shalom the most terrible of tragedies, you know that you are being reminded by Hashem of your purpose in this world, and you know that you’re headed for success. And once you assimilate this idea of Olam Habah into your bones, then you’ll be capable of weathering all of the turbulence that life brings. And you’ll grow even greater from the constant lessons of אל תהולו that Hashem brings upon you as He prepares you for the great day when you will finally leave this prozdor, the hallway that this world is, and you’ll enter into the טרקלין, the great palace of the World to Come. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Susan Watts is a brilliant trumpeter and singer who is also a fourth generation Klezmer musician and daughter of a legendary drummer who broke the paved the way for women in music. Neil caught up with Susan at her home in Philadelphia to chat about growing up in such a musical household, finding her voice on the trumpet and her ongoing work to promote women in Klezmer and female musicians in general.  Music in this episode: Der Freiling Zeisinke (Sweet Spring) off of her album Hartsklap and Shalom Aleichem, a traditional song that welcomes in Shabbat with a melody written in 1918 by Rabbi Israel Goldfarb. 

Desde la equidad de genero hasta el papel de las mujeres en la revolución pasando por la importancia de las parteras. Interesantes temas que tienen que ver con el papel de la mujer en la sociedad, su evolución y las luchas a las que aún se enfrentan las mujeres del mundo en búsqueda de la igualdad. Disfrute cada semana de un nuevo episodio de Mujeres de Hoy con Andrea Saldaña y déjese sorprender. Te presentaremos los temas del diario acontecer, pero la retórica o hasta el título buscarán una guía, una propuesta más allá del miedo, una pista para evitar la pasividad, un indicio para no caer en actitudes pesimistas o de autocompasión, algo que rebase la natural indignación de algunos hechos, que suele paralizar, esperamos reconocer en cada problema una oportunidad para actuar, para colaborar, para defender, para buscar nuevas maneras de hacer las cosas, en resumen, parafraseando a Rosario Castellanos debe haber

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Shalom Aleichem - A importancia de cumprimentar a todos - R. Shlomo Safra - Crescimento Pessoal

Classic Niggunim May 22 - Historical Look at Classic Shalom Aleichem's Ext 13-18-05-22 by JRoot Radio

Micah 4:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann For thousands of years, Jews have been greeting each other with the blessing, “Shalom aleichem,” (“peace unto you”) with the other person responding, “Aleichem shalom” (“unto you peace”). This traditional greeting is also the name of the song that begins the Sabbath meal every Friday night. It echoes the final […]

Hodl is the second daughter of Tevye, the poor dairyman whose family are at the heart of one of the world’s favourite musicals. She falls in love with Perchik, a student and revolutionary, and follows him into exile in Siberia. “When I got the phone call that I’d been offered [the part], I burst into tears,” says Kingston. Listen as she tells Judi Herman why, and much more about her research for the part, including reading Shalom Aleichem’s original stories on which the musical is based. The actor also discusses her Jewish upbringing; how she and fellow Jewish cast member Tracy-Ann Oberman (who plays Tevye’s wife, Golde) share insights with the rest of the cast; and the joy of rehearsals with Iranian-born actor and comic Omid Djalili in the role of Tevye.

Goliath was already immobilized - so why did King David cut off his head? In modern Israel you can get prosecuted for something like that! Rabbi Mike Feuer joins Rabbi Yishai for Spiritual Cafe where they discuss the plagues, God's promises to Moses for a successful process, and the merits and the faults of Shalom Aleichem's Fiddler on the Roof. Then, Malkah joins Yishai to discuss the David's Sling defense system, President Donald Trump's hold on transfer of money to terrorists, and the fate of Israel's soldier, Elor Azaria.

Everything you need to know about singing "Shalom Aleichem" on Friday nights! What is the origin of the custom of singing "Shalom Aleichem"? How many times should each line be recited, and why? How do we deal with the philosophical and halachic problem of praying to angels? Should one say "malachei hashareit" or "malachei hashalom"? This and more is explored - in under five minutes! - on The Halacha Minute with Rabbi Ari Enkin (www.rabbienkin.com).

Season 2 kicks off with a special guest: the Orthobox (aka Josh Leviton), helping the boys teach Shalom Aleichem!

No mês da mulher, O Nome Disso É Mundo traz quatro entrevistas com mulheres que vivem ou viveram no Oriente Médio. No primeiro episódio da série, viajamos para Jerusalém, em Israel, a cidade que é considerada sagrada para judeus, cristãos e muçulmanos. Depois de ter realizado um intercâmbio em um Kibbutz, a Carol Waldmann decidiu […] O post #015 – Shalom Aleichem, Israel – SÉRIE A MULHER NO ORIENTE MÉDIO apareceu primeiro em O nome disso é mundo.

Shalom Aleichem by Congregation Emanu-El