When You Love Someone

When you love someone, don’t love him according to your preferences and desires, but according to his preferences and desires. ~ Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi zt”l

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You Live There for a Reason

Divine Providence leads EVERYONE to his place of residence for the purpose of strengthening Yiddishkeit and disseminating Torah. When you plow and you sow – things will grow.  ~ R’ Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson zt”

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Benefit of the Doubt

If at all feasible, you should give people the benefit of the doubt.  If you relate an incident, not giving the benefit of the doubt in circumstances which obligate you to do so, you would be guilty of speaking loshon hora, and of failing to perform the commandment of b’tzedek tishpot amisecho – “Judge your neighbor with righteousness.” ~ Guard Your Tongue

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A Mother’s Womb – Brilliant!

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other:
“Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”
The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”
The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”
The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”
The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”
The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”
The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”
Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”
To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”

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Teshuvah on Shabbos

The Lubliner Rebbe asked “How is it possible that one may do teshuvah on Shabbos?  After all, when doing teshuvah on Shabbos, one carries all the sins of the secular world into the kedusha of Shabbos, which is like carrying from a public domain into a private domain.  And on Shabbos, moving things from a public to a private domain is forbidden.”

“Not so.  For doing teshuvah is a life-saving process, and when it comes to saving a life, we are required to violate the law of Shabbos.” ~ Zikaron Zos as quoted by R’ Dovid Meisels

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Desire

Whoever desires something that is not his, will not get what he wants and will lose what he already has. ~ Talmud – Sotah 9a

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Grow

We grow when we remember we are not who we were yesterday, and tomorrow we will not be who we were today. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman

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One of the Greatest Gifts

One of the greatest gifts that Hashem has given us is the opportunity to do Teshuva.  One day, we will no longer have that opportunity.  We don’t know when that day will be.  Therefore, don’t wait.  Do it now.  Here is how:

  1. Deep inside, regret your sin.
  2. Immediately stop sinning.
  3. Tell Hashem in your own words about your sin and ask for forgiveness.
  4. Make a commitment not to repeat it.

Again, don’t wait.  Do this now.  Do this constantly if need be.   It could take a minute and will change your eternity.

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Worldwide Shema Yisrael – Today at 2pm NY Time, 9pm Israel Time

In less than 45 minutes, Jews around world will simultaneously recite “Shema Yisrael” in hope that Hashem will bring Moshiach and that the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt very soon.

Please see links below:

http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2015/12/worldwide-shema-yisrael-monday-21-dec-2015-9pm-israel-time.html

Additional Prayer to say with Shema – http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2015/12/prayer-for-rebuilding-the-holy-temple.html

Text of Shema –  http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm

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Learning in our Dreams+ Link to a Shiur

Every night a part of our neshama goes up to Hashem to get energy for the next day. If one learns very hard during the day or davens with tremendous kavana, sometimes one can dream about what they learned. It may be a dream about Gemara or Chassidus; one’s neshama can even learn NEW things in that dream. One merits such a special dream due to the effort put into davening and learning during the day.‎ ~ Rebbe Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson based on the Zohar.

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As an aside, for those of you who are interested, here is a link to a fascinating mind blowing shiur regarding the 9th of Teves (today), Pope Simon Peter and the root of Christianity: http://www.yesodei.org/obm/?p=2255 

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