I met a teenager, a young man who is growing close to Torah life. “Rabbi,” he asked me, “how can we be expected to be able to watch where we look, to guard our eyes in public…are we angels?
That was his question.
I turned to him, “A malach?” No, you’re not a malach, you’re not an angel… You’re something much stronger – you’re a human being! You have the capacity to choose, the strength to fight, powers that no angel has!
“You’re so much more”
~ R’ Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi
Only the Creator of the world knows your path, only Him. So try and trust Him and Thank Him. ~ R’ Shalom Arush
The Divrei Chaim of Tzanz’s zt’l doctor asked him what he does. He replied, “I build bridges.” The doctor couldn’t imagine that the rabbi seated before him is an engineer. The Tzanzer Rav explained, “I’m busy building a bridge that spans between my mind and heart, so the thoughts of my mind will affect my heart.” Because the mind can know concepts, but it requires constant review until the heart also knows it.
In other words, people are often worried about the future even though they know all about emuna. This is because they know intellectually that everything is for the good, that Hashem is helping them and they can place their trust in Him, but this emuna hasn’t reached their hearts. The same was true for the Jewish people in Mitzrayim until Hashem took us out. This occurs every year anew, for on Pesach we acquire genuine emuna that reaches the heart. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizensk zt’l said that the time that is most mesugal for attaining perfection in emuna is the night of Shevi’i shel Pesach.
Reb Avraham Genichovsky zt’l told his students that once, his watch fell to the ground and stopped working. He thought that something must have broken inside, because it was working well until it fell. He brought it to a watchmaker, who said that all it needed was a new battery.
That seemed strange. It stopped working when it fell. Why should the battery die exactly when the watch fell to the ground?
The watchmaker explained, “The battery was weak, but functioning. When it fell, the watch stopped for a moment, but it didn’t have strength to begin again.”
Reb Avraham Genichovsky told his students that one’s emunah needs to be strong, so that even when one falls, or when goes through hard times, his emunah won’t fail. If the emunah is weak, every small struggle may cause him to fail.”
One should be involved in avodas Hashem constantly. If you don’t have strength to concentrate on Torah right now, you can still say Tehillim. And if you don’t have strength for Tehillim either, you should give tzedakah…” but always be active and do something in Hashem’s service. ~ R’ Elimelech Biderman
When baking matzah, one is either kneading the dough, baking it, or perforating holes into it. The dough is constantly being processed. Whereas, chametz is made by allowing the dough to sit idle to rise. The Satmar Rebbe zt’l said that this implies that one should always be active, not passive, in avodas Hashem.
Some Chassidic rebbes would take a stroll in the quiet streets on the Seder night, and listen to the Sedarim of the simple townsfolk coming through the open windows. The Bnei Yissaschar zt’l was once taking such a walk together with a few of his followers, and heard someone chant by the section of the four sons, “echad chacham, viechad rasha, viechad tam… But with each “Echad” the simple man stretched it out in the same manner as people say “Echad” in Krias Shema. The Bnei Yissaschar went inside to ask the man why he said it that way.
The man replied, “My father told me that one should stretch “Echad” by Shema, so I thought why should “Echad” in the Haggadah be different?”
The Bnei Yissacher turned to his followers, “This Yid has turned the four children of the Haggadah into the same concept as Shema.”
When people told Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz about how the Bnei Yissaschar heard the simpleton say “Echad” in the mode of Shema and that he said that the concept of the four children and saying Shema were related, he became very excited and happy about it, though he didn’t explain why. His son, Rebbe Yissacher Dov of Belz explained why his father was so happy: Chazal say that wealth and wisdom, and several other things are a matter of mazal, dependent on the mazal each person was born with. What should a person do if he was born with a mazal to be poor or foolish? Must he remain that way his entire life?
The sefarim tell that when one says “Echad” by Shema, he can change his mazal. When Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz heard that the four sons of the Haggadah also applies to the “Echad” of Shema, he understood that on this night, one has the potential to change his mazal. Even if he was born with a negative mazal, it can be improved, as he attains awareness that “Hashem Echad”- Hashem is One.
On Seder night, we seek to imbibe our children with belief in Hashem and awareness of “Hashem Echad.” ~ R’ Elimelech Biderman
Chag Samaeach!
It is known just how important it is to honor parents. Honoring them is compared to honoring Hashem. To disgrace them is a grave sin….Therefore, dear children of Bnei Yisrael, honor Hashem, and be careful to honor your father and mother. Listen to everything they say….
Each mitzvah has its mazal. People spend a lot of money to have the merit to open up the aron kodesh or to be a sandak, and the like, but these aren’t mitzvos from the Torah or mitzvos of the rabbanan. They are chibuv mitzvah (a gesture, showing love for the mitzvos). Ashreihem Yisrael (they are fortunate)! However, each time one obeys his father or his mother he is doing a mitzvah from the Torah! But the fools transgress and they are punished.” ~ The Pele Yoetz
Before surgery, doctors tell patients not to eat anything, so the body will be clean for the operation. Pesach can be compared to a great surgery, because our bad will be extracted, and in its place we will be imbued with holiness. For that, we clean our homes from chametz before Pesach. ~ Rebbe Ahron Leib of Premishlan zt”l as quoted by R’ Elimelech Biderman
Ruminating about the past will get you nowhere. So go ahead and learn from the past whatever you can, and then put it behind you. Remember, there is nothing you can do to change it, but you can use its lessons to improve your future. ~ R’ Dr. Avraham J. Twerski zt”l
Emuna Daily 