Emuna Daily

To give good advice to someone, you do not need special talents.  All that is necessary is that you must sincerely love that person.  If his suffering deeply affects you, you will be able to help him with sound advice. ~ R’ Yerachmiel Yisroel Dantziger

The Maggid of Kozhnitz taught that one who does a favor for another Jew may give God greater pleasure than by doing a ritual mitzvah; the King certainly derives more pleasure from something done on his child’s behalf than from something done on His own behalf.

One who is involved with the community for the sake of Heaven is thereby taking care the King’s children.  ~ The Pirkei Avos Treasury

If you will it, it is no dream. ~ Theodor Hertzl

All that is thought need not be said, all that is said need not be written, all that is written need not be published, all that is published need not be read. ~ Kotzker Rebbe zt”l

When I first started learning mussar I became angry at the whole world, but not at myself.

Afterward, I became angry at myself also.

Finally, I became angry only at myself, and I judged the world l’chav zchus (to the side of merit).

~ R’ Yisroel Salanter zt”l

We have learned before that when someone speaks Lashon Hara about you, all of your sins are transferred to the speaker and all of his mitzvos are transferred to you.  Quite the exchange!

However, halachah teaches that if someone asks you for forgiveness, you shouldn’t be cruel, and you should forgive them (see Shulchan Aruch 606:1). Therefore, if someone spoke lashon hara about you, but then asks for you forgiveness, you should forgive him.

The Ben Ish Chai zt’l asks: The lashon hara that was spoken against you redeemed you
from all your aveiros and gave you the speaker’s mitzvos. Who would want to forgive and lose all that good?! Wouldn’t it be wiser not to forgive the speaker of lashon hara, so you can remain with his mitzvos, and he remains with your aveiros?

The Ben Ish Chai answers that by forgiving your fellow man, all your sins will be atoned for, as the Gemara teaches “כל המעביר על מדותיו מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו” – Whoever forgives others, his sins are forgiven” (Yoma 23). So by forgiving, you will still remain without sins, so you may as well forgive your fellow man.

And although you will lose the mitzvos that you earned, nevertheless, forgiving is also a great mitzvah. Because by forgiving someone who spoke lashon hara about you, you are performing the mitzvah of Hashavas Aveida, returning lost items (because you are returning to him the mitzvos he lost due to his lashon hara). The reward for Hashavas Aveida is in accordance with the value of the item returned. So when one forgives, and gives back all the mitzvos he earned from the lashon hara, he will earn a great mitzvah of Hashavas Aveida.  Therefore Shulchan Aruch advises that one shouldn’t be cruel, and he should forgive his fellow man, because by forgiving you don’t lose anything at all. ~ R’ Elimelech Biderman Shlita

When a person is in doubt whether something he is doing is good or bad, there is one way he can test this: if he will regret his action, then it is the wrong thing to do. For a person never regrets a good deed. ~ Alshich

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The answer to yesterday’s “Identify that Prayer #21” – The last line of Ana Bekoach starting with “Shavaseinu” which is said daily by many and also said before Lecha Dodi on Friday night.  This was not an easy one.  I was so impressed with the amount of people who replied with the correct answer.  Kudos to you all!

It has been a while since we played this game.  This quote, which appears at the end of a certain prayer, made an impression on me recently:

“Accept our entreaty and hear our cry, O Knower of mysteries.” 

Feel free to reply with the correct identity of this prayer.  The answer will be in tomorrow’s post.

During the war, our people were indiscriminately hated, simply for being Jewish. After the war, we must respond by indiscriminately loving all Jews, simply for being Jewish. ~ The Bluzhover Rebbe

When we look forward to a certain day, we count down the days until that day arrives.  The Sefer HaChinuch famously asks why when it comes to Sefiras Ha’omer and the giving of the Torah, why we count the days that passed instead.

The Chidushei HaRim zt’l answers that each day of Sefiras Ha’omer, we rise to a higher level of purity. Therefore, we aren’t only excited about receiving the Torah on Shavuos, but we’re also happy with each day that passes, because each day brings us closer to our Father in Heaven.