Before every tefillah, I daven…that I will daven during the davening. ~ The Divrei Chaim of Sanz
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So geshmak! Anyway, yesterday’s quote was a bit more difficult. It was the Yehi Ratzon found after “brachos” in Birchos Hashachar. This personal prayer was recited by R’ Yehudah Hanassi every day after Shacharis (Berachos 16a). It is a prayer for protection in day-to-day dealings with one’s fellow men. During the recitation, one may add personal requests for Hashem’s help during the day (Tur).
May it be Your will, Hashem, my God, and the God of my forefathers, that You rescue me today and every day from brazen men and from brazenness, from an evil man, an evil companion, an evil neighbor, an evil mishap, the destructive spiritual impediment, a harsh trial and a harsh opponent, whether he is a member of the covenant or whether he is not a member of the covenant.
Worrying about making a living ruins a person’s livelihood. ~ R’ Lazer Brody
Although you are permitted to inquire about someone for a possible shidduch, do not solicit information from anyone who dislikes the subject of your inquiry, since you may cause him to speak loshon hora. For the same reason, do not ask a tradesman for information about his competitor.
On erev Shabbos it is a mitzvah to taste the dishes that are prepared for Shabbos (Magen Avraham 260:101). We say in musaf shemona esrei of Shabbos, “Those who save it will merit long life.” This refers to people who taste the Shabbos dishes on erev Shabbos; they will live to a ripe old age (Machzor Vitry 191). He who tastes the Shabbos meals on erev Shabbos will merit a happy and virtuous life. ~ Shaar Harav as quoted by R’ Dovid Meisels
Success and failure does not depend on circumstance, but on your approach to the circumstance. ~ R’ Dovid Hazdan
To confess one’s sins is to honor the Holy One ~ R’ Yehoshua ben Levi, Talmud Sanhedrin 43b
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The tefiliah that I quoted yesterday is found in Nishmas Kol Chai, beginning with the words, E-lu Pi-nu Malay…which we say each Shabbos.
Were our mouth as full of song as the sea, and our tongue as full of joyous song as its multitude of waves, and our lips as full of praise as the breadth of the heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon, and our hands as outspread as eagles of the sky and our feet as swift as hinds – we still could not thank You sufficiently Hashem our God and God of our forefathers, and to bless Your Name for even one of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads of favors that Your performed for our ancestors and for us.
A person must renew himself, and his world with him, each and every day.
But one who does not do so, and rather performs his deeds as a mechanical function, does nothing other than the actions of a monkey.
Just as a monkey has no personality of his own, but rather copies his own actions and his fellow, so too this person. ~ The Kotzker Rebbe
