If You Were God (link)

Kiruv.com (aka Project Inspire) just posted part of  the text of one of my favorite original works written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan z"tl.  To check out If You Were God just click here.

I believe it was originally posted at SimpleToRemember.com.

I've used this text for study goups with teens and adults of various backgrounds (in my previous career).  If you've never read it, please check it out.

Some great shiurim from R Efraim Twerski and other Chicagoland Gems

Here's a new website that I recently found out about called AvodasHashem.com. It includes shiurim from Rabbi Efraim Twerksi, R Moshe Schechter, Dr. Julian Unger, and other true gems within the Chicago area.
I have been listening to R Twerksi's shiurim on Netivos Shalom and have been loving them.  Kol HaKavod to Sender Baruch ben Nesanel HaCohen for this project which is truly l'Shaim Shamayim.

Sunday's Salanter Selection

Rav Yisrael Lipkin of Salant

Man can see very far.  But the smallest coin blocks his vision.

From Tenuas HaMussar (The Mussar Movement)

I'm not serious all the time

My son asked me a few years ago where Eliyahu HaNavi got his clothes.  My answer is posted on Dixie Yid's blog, here.

Want to smile again, read this older post.

Spoons, sugar, Chelm, and me

Last night my son and I were talking and he mentioned a book he saw in his school library about the "Wise Men of Chelm".  He told me one story (the one about the bell that signals the town's fire brigade) and I, in turn told him the following:

The was once a debate in Chlem about which item actually makes tea taste sweeter: the Sugar or the Spoon.
One side held that it was the sugar because when you pour the sugar in your cup of tea and stir it, the sugar will disappear. When you can't see the sugar then your tea is sweetened.
Now the other side believed that the tea would be sweetened by the spoon itself. The sugar's only purpose was so that one would know how long to stir. When the sugar had dissolved then the spoon would have sufficiently sweetened the cup of tea.

My son thought this story was hilarious.  He told me that it was funny because even though everyone knows sugar makes thing sweet, in then end it really doesn't make a difference, as long as you like sweetened tea.  He went on to bed and I kept think about this story.

People like stories that point out the silliness of others.  It's the same reason we might laugh when we see someone trip or slip on the ice.  It makes us feel better about ourselves.  It doesn't make us better people, though.  Like those in Chelm, I know that I tend to get confused about what is causing certain things to happen.  I'm lucky that my wife usually points this out to me.  Focusing too much on the spoon blinds you from seeing what is truly sweet in life.  (For the record, this last line too about 4 different rewrites).

"Ben Zoma would say: Who is wise? One who learns from every man."- Pirkei Avos (4:1)

Mussar À La Breslov

I am always happy when I read something that makes me feel good about myself and what my potential is.  This is one of the things at attracted me to mussar seforim.  That knowledge of our potential also attracted me to the teaching of Reb Nachman of Breslov.  While I own a number of Breslov seforim, I'll be the first to say that I'm no where near the level of calling myself a chossid of Reb Nachman.  I do, however, get a lot of mussar and chizuk from his teachings.  


R Lazer Brody recently posted a fantastic essay on the importance of Believing in Yourself.  It always amazes me that Hashem allows me to hear a d'var Torah or read something that happens to be exactly what I needed at that time.  R Brody's post was one of those things that I needed to read today.
Here's a taste of what he says:

Observant Judaism is also like a war. The Yetzer, or Evil Inclination, has an array of weapons and forces at his disposal, to deter and discourage a person from making Tshuva, or to break the heart of a person who's trying to effectively become a ben- or bat-Torah. If you believe in yourself, you'll be able to wipe the floor with the Yetzer.

The whole essay in all of its glory can be found here.

Sunday's Salanter Selection

Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin of Salant

The world is like a small cloth spread over a table.  By pulling the cloth too much towards himself, one leaves the other end exposed.

From Tenuas HaMussar (The Mussar Movement)

Why most Jews light Chanuka Candles

From Rav Yosef Stern's Sfas Emes sefer, Days of Joy:


There's a halacha in germara Shabbos 21b that describes how certain oils and wick are "not acceptable for Shabbos candelabra, but are permitted for the Chanuka Menorah.  The substances are prohibited for Shabbos use because of the flame's inability to cling to the wick.  Likewise, the light of Torah is unable to fully penetrate certain souls even on Shabbos.  Yet on Chanuka these rejected wicks may be used.  So too, souls that are not inspired by the weekly Shabbos are spiritually moved by the yearly observance of Chanukah. A certain spark, an inner purity, always remains burning bright in the heart of every Jew.  This spark, know as the Nekudah HaPinimius, constrained all year long from permeating the Jewish psyche, is liberated on Chanukah through the power of praise and gratitude, for the miracles that occurred at this time"

Soul Movements

Please check out BeyondBT.com for my recent post regarding the sefer Da Es Atzmecha and the movements of the soul.

Sunday's Spark of Mussar

Rav Yisroel Meir HaCohen, the Chofetz Chaim

He tried to avoid sending letters or books without using the mail.  When he was forced to use other means, he ripped up the stamps that would have been required, in order not to cheat the government of its income.

From Sparks of Mussar by R Chaim Ephraim Zaitchik

TorahLab Chanukah links

The TorahLab website has some very good links for Chanukah.

Q and A with Modya from madrega.com

I recently emailed a few questions to Modya Silver, the founder of madrega.com , "The online community for the Soul-full Jew".  His answers will give you a little insight into why I think his website is unique and fills a big void for those who are looking to grow in character development.

1. How did the idea of Madrega.com come into being?

A number of years ago I developed my life goal to bring together 1,000 people in some meaningful way so that I can provide a conduit for their measured growth. I have worked in technology and also have a passion for middot (character trait) development. Finding a way to combine the two was a natural fit for my passions.

I then thought about how every Jew around the world, learns/reads the same Torah portion each week (except sometimes in Israel where they are off by a week, or maybe the rest of the world is off and Israel is on). I thought about daf yomi, the schedule by which everyone in the world learns the same page of Talmud every day. It made me think of the power of community and collective learning. A light bulb went on that if we all explore the same middah at the same time, there would be a tremendous opportunity to share ideas and experiences and, through that, grow more than if we worked in isolation. Imagine for example that 1,000 people are all working on developing lovingkindness for two weeks at the same time – all over the world. Imagine if 10,000 are doing that, or a million people. Wow, that would shake the world off its axis.

2. You mention “middot” development and not Mussar. Is madrega.com not a Mussar site?

I learned from my uncle a long time ago that “’ism’ isn’t any good”. So, I’ve always been reluctant to hook onto one school, one ideology for risk of devaluing other ideas and ideologies. When I set out, I thought that madrega.com would be a Mussar site since my middot teachers are within the Mussar tradition. Then I started to learn with a Slonimer Chassid. I also would meet frum Jewish men who, when they heard that I was into Mussar, would literally cringe. They had gone through a yeshiva system and for them Mussar was simply rebuke for doing something wrong, not a path for spiritual growth. It became obvious that the Mussar focus was fraught with potholes and so I broadened the scope to include all authentic Jewish paths that have something to say about middot. In this week’s reading on generosity for example, I quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom. Other times I have quoted the Chofetz Chaim, the Malbim, the Netivot Shalom. Any number of sources, provided they offer useful and authentic teachings that are rooted in Torah.

3. How have you grown as a Jew since the web community started?

I’ve always had a strong sense of spirit and find it easy to do daily exercises that open my heart and soul to G-d. My difficulty has been in staying focused and staying the course in Jewish learning. I found that there are so many paths to travel down and often for me, those paths didn’t seem related to each other. I would lose my focus and stop learning. Writing a weekly piece for the madrega.com community and then thinking through all the comments that people post makes me traverse the many paths of Judaism and look for common threads. Last week for example, I was learning a piece of gemorra about when you reject myrtle for a lulav set. It seems like a remote teaching, because in practice, I buy my myrtle in a plastic sealed bag and to me it all looks the same. However, I asked myself how the teaching relates to me today and I found that the answer came through a middot view. There was something about whether I can affect change or whether it’s out of my hands and I need to “reject” my drive to affect change. That made me think hard about effort (hishtadlut) and when I have done all I can and need to let go and trust. I think that without the discipline of daily and weekly learning and reflection on madrega.com, I wouldn’t have seen the gemorra as a lesson for my life.

4. What obstacles have gotten in your way and how did you overcome them in creating the web community?

The middah that comes to mind here is anavah (humility). I had so many technical problems in building the site. I went through three development teams before we got it working. In the middle of all that I took on development myself (thank goodness I stopped that quickly). My question to myself all along was what was my role. I leaned on the way Alan Morinis so adeptly defines anavah as occupying the space that Hashem wants you to occupy. Nothing more, nothing less. My space was to create content and help build awareness of the community to increase our size and success. However, I kept wanting to step outside that role and do everything else. I overcame my drive to take it all on by constantly asking myself the question until I finally listened to the answer. It wasn’t easy to listen.

The second challenge which I still have is in community leadership. I know that in its early days I need to be the catalyst for activity and so I write and post and blog and discuss and create chants etc. However, I never wanted this to be the Modya Silver community. I wanted a more distributive, democratic community where everyone becomes equal participants and everyone’s voice is heard equally. I trust that we’ll get there within the next 12 months, but this remains an obstacle for me now and I find I bump up against my issues with anavah all the time because of it.

I'm feel very fortunate to have formed a nice friendship with Moyda thanks to many emails over the past few weeks.  Madrega.com allows you to work on a specific character trait for two weeks and post comments regarding the middah and post blogs about your growth.  It is "The online community for the Soul-full Jew".

The value of life and the day the Yetzer Hara will be slaughtered

"Life is very dear to those who discover its value, and very cheap to those who squander it."- from the sefer GESHER HACHAIM (The Bridge of Life)


I posted this quote about three weeks ago on Facebook.  The sefer Gersher HaChaim, by Rav Yechiel Michel Tucazinsky, was suggested to me by Micha Berger as a good thing to learn when dealing with the death of a loved one.  Micha was kind enough to comment on Facebook, "I'm happy to see it is speaking to you.  BTW, contrast that quote to the various perceptions of the size of the yeitzer hara on the day it will be slaughtered."


The gemara that R Berger was referring to is in Sukka 52a:
"Rabbi Yehuda lectured: In the future, Hashem will take the yetzer and slaughter him in the presence of both the tzaddikim and the reshaim.  To the tzaddikim he will appear like a high mountain and to thereshaim he will appear like a thin hair. Both, however, will cry. The tzaddikim will cry "How could we have overpowered such a high mountain?" and the reshaim will cry: "How could we not have subdued such a thin hair?"


 Rav Dessler discusses this gemara in Michtav M'Eliyahu.  He explains thats that a tzaddikim will view all of their challenges, urges, difficulties in life as a tall mountain.  The rashaim will see "that one act of the will which could have taken him to the top in one bound" as that thin little hair. (See Strive for Truth Vol 1 pg 105)
The goals and aspirations of a tzaddik in this world are to get close to Hashem.  For the rasha, his only interest is to distance himself from the Creator.  I think this is what Micha was alluding to.


The things we have a ratzon, a desire, for will fight for.  We'll climb, to use the gemara's imagery, the mountain if we have to.  We will use all of our energy and might.  The tzaddik will fight his yeter hara until the end to get closer to Hashem.   Don't be fooled.  The rasha will fight also for what he desires.  With just as much strength as the tzaddik.  What the Gesher HaChaim is telling us is that those things that the tzaddik values are looked upon as almost worthless to the rasha.


That is why both the tzaddik and the rasha will cry, in the end.  Out of joy and awe will the tzaddikim cry when they see the high mountain that was their yetzer hara.  All most too difficult to conquer, yet they did conquer it.  The tzaddikim will cry tears of joy.  The rashaim, on the on other hand, will see their yetzer hara, that they gave into time and time again, as nothing more than a hair.  Nothing more than a little thing they could have blown or brushed aside.  That is why they will cry tears of regret.

Links to articles about R Hutner zt"l on his 29th Yahtzeit

Matzav has reposted an older article from the Yated about the life and impact of Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt"l on of several Slabdoka talmidim who change the yeshiva landscape in America.

Jewish Action also had a great article a number of year ago, here.

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg writes in his book Between Berlin and Slobodka that R Hutner was one of the first Roshei Yeshiva in America to start giving shiurim in English.  I think this is a valuable lesson.  An effective teacher is one that uses language in a way that student can understand.  It doesn't mean that you have to know the most current slang or newest entry in the Urban Dictionary, but the message you give over has to in a form that can be received. 

You can feel free to read other post of mine that site Rav Hutner here.

Sunday's Salanter Selection

Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin of Salant


Just like one can not see without eyes and it is impossible to hear without ears, one cannot truly change without learning mussar.


From Tenuas HaMussar (The Mussar Movement)


This quote was suggested to me by R Micha Golshevsky

Great post on Gratitude

R Micha Berger just posted an excellent essay on his blog, Aspaqlaria, on Gratitude.
Here is a quote to give you a taste of this must-print-and-read-on-Shabbos post:

What does “todah” mean? As it stands, it means “thanks”. The same root conjugated as “vidui” means to “confess”. Last, when the mishnah wants to stress that something is outside of a dispute, “hakol modim” — “all agree”. What do thanks, confession and agreement have in common?

To find out, click here.

Video from Khal Chasidim- Harav Michel Twerski and Rav Efraim Twerski

This video was taken (not by me) inside Cong, Khal Chasidim (in Chicago) Motzei Shabbos at their Hachnosas Sefer Torah.  Dancing are HaRav Michel Twerksi, his son (and Rav of the Shul) Rav Efraim Twerski, and HaRav Michel's oldest son Rav Benzion Twerski.  HaRav Michel is doing, what is know as the "Yud-K..dance".  According to my son, who attended, the event was packed with hundreds of people. 

Makeovers

Throughout most of my high school days, Aqua Net (the hairspray of champions) was my secret weapon to cool hair.  Had a friend not pointed out the bottles of Aqua Net on the shelf to me when we were shopping last week, I never would have noticed that Auqa Net got a new can.  I took a can of "Extra Super Hold Unscented" and opened the top...ahh, it still smelled the same..  That sort of crisp-dangerous-to-the-environment-gonna hang out with my friends-"Unscented" smell that is simply Aqua Net.  I guess the company decided sometime between 1989 and now that they needed to revamp their image.  I didn't even know that people really used hairspray anymore.  My wife would never think of using it on a shaitel.  It would totally ruin the hair.

Is it the same formula?  I don't know.  I have a feeling that it is.  Most likely as newer products came on the market the company decided that they had to revamp their image for a new generation.  It doesn't really surprise me now that I think about it.  Feldheim did the same thing with the English adaptation of Michtav M'Eliyahu, Strive for Truth.   That series of six seforim has undergone 3 1/2 different book covers (I count the "cover" of vol 4 as only a 1/2, since it was the only one in the series with that cover) since it's original publcation.  Why?  Probably the same reason as Auqa Net, they wanted to attract a different generation of readers.

I was constantly being told in school not to "judge a book by its cover".  I never fully agreed with this notion.  Without getting into a debate about chitzonius (outwardness) and pnimyus (inwardness) I think it's safe to write that the outer appearance is important, to a certain extent.  If you're looking to buy a book or sefer, the cover does have to catch you eye (even if it's plain like THE CATCHER IN THE RYE).  However, if a company changed the shape of a hairspray can, I'd gather that sales were probably down for a long time and this move was, like, their last chance.   I think about think that we have in our home that have been pretty much the same for generations:  siddurim, mezzuzos, Shabbos candles, a menorah, afikoman bags, the crazy construction paper rings that we put in the sukkah every year.  These are not really revamped, repackaged, or madeover.  Some might look more modern, but these items are pretty much the same.  Sales are hardly down for the things that are timeless.