To His Face

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Emuna Daily

Speaking loshon hora about someone in his presence is very serious even if your sole intention in mentioning his faults is to criticize him constructively.  Corrective comments should be delivered privately.  Offending someone publicly is loshon hora and constitutes a grave sin.  You may also be guilty of causing him humiliation and mortification. ~ Guard Your Tongue

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Not an “All or Nothing” Religion

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Emuna Daily

In an Inn one Shabbos, R’ Yisroel Salanter zt”l noticed a young guest writing. Although deeply shaken at this desecration of Shabbos, R’ Yisroel said nothing. During the day he inquired about the fellow and discovered that he worked as an agent for a big firm, and his job required him to keep a daily record of his business. Then R’ Yisroel conversed at length with the young man himself.  After ascertaining that the young man could not be convinced to leave his job, R’ Yisroel persuaded him to keep his writing to the bare minimum.  That Saturday night, R’ Yisroel sat up late with him and helped him devise the shortest possible report, which he would use on Shabbos.  In this way the desecration of Shabbos would be reduced to the minimum. ~ Sparks of Mussar

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Darwin

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Emuna Daily

Darwin was able to formulate his theory of evolution only because he had never seen a real human being. Thus he could view men as no more than smarter monkeys. “Had he seen my rebbe, Reb Yisrael Salanter, who developed his character traits to a degree of perfection that fully expressed the essence of the Divine Image, he never could have entertained the possibility that human beings evolved from monkeys. ~ The Alter of Kelm

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A Sigh – wow!

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Emuna Daily

There are two books in Heaven, one of sins where you gave a sigh when you sinned and one when you didn’t, and the difference in punishment between them is greater than the distance between heaven and earth. ~ R’ Itzele Peterburger Blazer zt”l

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Silence

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Emuna Daily

One should always cultivate silence and refrain from speaking, except with regard to matters of knowledge or things that are necessary for his physical welfare; it’s said that Rav, the disciple of our saintly teacher, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, never in all his days uttered an idle word–which is what the conversation of most people consists of. ~ Rambam

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Marathon

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Emuna Daily

If life is like a marathon, then a doubt in faith is like a pebble in your shoe. ~ R’ Lazer Brody

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Your Eyes

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Emuna Daily

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

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Emuna Daily

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

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The Marketplace Won’t be Open Forever

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Emuna Daily

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

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Treat Your Spouse Like a Stranger

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Emuna Daily

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