Your Eyes

A person’s evil inclination only has control over that which he sees. ~ R’ Nachman of Breslov zt”l

Posted in Mussar | 2 Comments

Loshon Hora Lesson from the Parsha

Instead of arranging for Yitzhak to become blind so as to enable Rivka and Yakov to trick him into blessing Yakov, G-d could have simply revealed Esav’s wickedness and unworthiness to Yitzhak. G-d would not have been divulging anything that Yitzhak didn’t already suspect of his son–after all, Yitzhak already knew that Esav’s wives were idolaters (although he excused his son by saying that he could not control his wives) and that he did not usually mention G-d in his conversation. G-d’s reticence here teaches us an important lesson: if G-d chose to allow Yitzhak to go blind rather than speak negatively about the wicked Esav, certainly we must take extreme care not to speak negatively of others. – Lubavitcher Rebbe

Posted in Parsha, Shmiras Haloshon | Leave a comment

The Marketplace Won’t be Open Forever

The Steipler once told a student, “You’re depressed, and I’ll tell you why: you are learning to gain recognition.  But that is not the reason why one should learn Torah.  This world is like a marketplace which is open for seventy or eighty years.  We have to be smart and grab as many blatt Gemara and mitzvos while the market is open, because once the market closes, we come to a world where nothing else has any value – not money, not honor, not lineage.  Riches on this world will bring nothing in the next world.  Torah and mitzvos, that’s all that will count.”  ~ 5 Great Lives

Posted in Stories of Tzaddikim | Leave a comment

Treat Your Spouse Like a Stranger

R’ Yitzchok Blauser used to say that a man should treat his wife as respectfully as he would treat a stranger.  Just as a person is careful to be polite to strangers, so should a husband be polite to his wife. ~ Kochvai Ohr as quoted by R’ Zelig Pliskin

Posted in Shalom Bayis | 3 Comments

Understanding Others

These days, given the stresses and tension of modern life, many people are irritable and depressed.  This may cause them to say things they really do not mean, and they regret having said them.  We should keep this in mind and give people every consideration. ~ R’ Avraham Pam zt”l

Posted in Spirituality | Leave a comment

Our Individual Bricks

We know that Hashem takes every good deed we do and transforms it into the building the Bais Hamikdosh. In fact, when Mashiach comes, each of us will actually see the individual bricks or stones that were added because of our mitzvos. ~ Divray Yechezkal, Shiniver Rebbe

Posted in Spirituality | 1 Comment

Does Hashem care about little things? 

Try to call out [to Hashem] at every opportunity. Let’s say you’re going somewhere; if you say a short prayer you shouldn’t miss the bus, Hashem will love you for that.
If you say, “I won’t bother him for such a small thing; I’ll try to catch the bus myself, without him,” you’re off the tracks already. In everything you try to remember to call out to Hashem; he doesn’t mind being bothered. ~ R’ Avigdor Miller zt”l

Posted in Emuna, Spirituality | Leave a comment

Where to Look

In material matters one should always look at he whose situation is lower than one’s own, and thank the good G-d for His kindness to him. In spiritual matters one should always look at he who is higher than oneself, and plead with G-d to grant him the intelligence to learn from the other, and the ability and strength to rise higher. ~ R’ Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson zt”l

Posted in Mussar, Spirituality | Leave a comment

Even In Front of the Person

If you feel that you would relate the loshon hora even if the subject were present, it is still forbidden.  ~ Guard Your Tongue

Posted in Shmiras Haloshon | Leave a comment

Incredible Story about a Single Boy trying to find his Zivug

A 25 year old yeshiva bachur was still not married. Usually, yeshiva bachurim get married at ages 22, 23, not older then that. So a 25 years old boy is considered old if he is not married by then. This boy went out with girls and after the first date, none of the girls wanted to continue going out with him. He had a scar on his cheek, that looked like a cut which didn’t look so good to the eye. He was an amazing boy, good middot, Yirat Shamayim, he was a really great boy. But every girl would go out with him on a date, she would see his scar, and there would be no second date after that. Therefore, he got to the age of 25 and he was still not married. He goes to Rabbi Kanievsky and he tells him “Kvod HaRav I don’t know what to do. I want to get married. My friends are all married and I am still in yeshiva.” And he told him that he thinks that it’s because of his scar.

Rav Kanievsky told him “the next time you meet a girl, talk to her about your scar on the date and tell her the story about what caused you to have this scar”. He didn’t understand what difference it would make by him telling his story since he knew that if the girl does not like his scar then it doesn’t matter what caused it. One or two months passed by and a girl was suggested to him. He looked into her, he hears that she is a very special girl with Yirat Shamayim, and exceptional middot. He asks what she looks like and he is told that she looks good. This made him feel worried because he prefers that she is not going to be so good looking because he knew that if she is really beautiful then she definitely won’t be interested in him. So he thought to himself “maybe she doesn’t look as good as people say, nobody ever says about another person that she doesn’t look good even if she is not so attractive.” So he decided to go out with her. On the way to the date he was very nervous. He was hoping that she wasn’t so good looking. He was hoping that maybe something would come out of it. When he got there, he saw that not only did she look good, she looked stunning. She was gorgeous! He was very disappointed because he knew that a girl that looks like this would never want him. He went over to her and they started talking. He noticed her looking at his scar. As they were getting into a deeper conversation he saw how everything that he heard about her was really true. She had good middot, Yirat Shamayim, she was truly a special girl. As hard as it was for him, he decided that since Rav Kanievsky told him that he should tell his story about his scar then he is going to do it. So he told her “I am sure you realized the scar that I have on my cheek. Rav Kanievsky told me to tell my story about this scar on the first date so I am going to tell it to you.” He told her that 5 years ago, when he was 20 years old, he came back from Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He was learning in Mir Yeshiva and when he left it was late at night and it was very dark and deserted. All of a sudden he heard a young Jewish lady screaming. He saw an Arab man running after her and trying to catch her. He immediately caught the Arab man, and he held him back from hurting the lady. He screamed out for help and the neighbors came out of their houses to see what is going on and the young lady was able to run away before he did anything bad to her. He saved her, but before he himself could run away, the Arab man took out a knife and cut his face. He was taken to the hospital and he was healed. He told her that this is why he has this scar on his face until today.

The girl lowered her eyes and when she lifted her eyes back again to look at him, he saw saw that she had tears in her eyes. She told him, “For years I have been looking for the guy who saved me from that Arab man on that day”.

They got married to each other and today they are happily married and they built a bait ne’eman b’yisrael together.

A person that is close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, trusts in Him. You never know what Hashem plans for you and why he sends you certain challenges. You may not understand why it’s taking so long for you to find your zivug and why it doesn’t work out for you with anyone but whenever you find your zivug, everything will be clear to you. ~ R’ Zamir Cohen

Posted in Stories | 1 Comment