Excuses Don’t Give Life

One might say, “I have no time. I’m busy. I have a wife and children. I need to make a living.” That’s all true, but what can we compare him to? He is like a person in the hospital with a severe illness in his kidney. The doctor explains to him, “Either we do a transplant, which costs $30,000, or in two months, it’s all over; you will die.”

The patient says to the doctor, “But I’m in a difficult financial situation. I can’t do it.”

The doctor will respond “If you can’t, then you will die! The loan funds don’t give away $30,000; the government doesn’t give it away either, so this is the situation. You must decide. Either find a way to get the amount and, with the help of Hashem, live, or, G-d forbid, you will die.”

All the excuses and answers, even if 100% correct, will not keep him alive. We can compose a whole book of excuses, but excuses don’t give anyone life.

A person may have a whole bundle of excuses for identifying with his material components and the Heavenly court might even sign on it, but after the signature, they will add “He died with justification.”  He has a rationale, but he has no life. ~ Getting to Know Yourself (Da Es Atzmicha)

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The Power of Teshuva

When a person returns to Hashem through teshuvah, Hashem responds by drawing him close as if he had never sinned. To the words “Hashem, Hashem,” which are the first of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, our Sages expound, “I am He [the God of mercy] before a person sins, and I am He after a person sins and repents” (Rosh HaShanah 17b). This means that Hashem’s ways are very different from the ways of man. When a man sins against his friend and later seeks to correct his mistake and begs forgiveness, even if the friendship will be restored it is doubtful that it will be as it once was. However, Hashem is not this way. Through teshuvah, a person can restore the original closeness with Hashem that he once enjoyed. ~ Sefer Shem Olam

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Finding Fault In Others

Es iz leichter bei andereh chesroines tsu gefinen vi bei zich meiles.

It is easer to find faults in other than virtues in oneself.

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Duck

Some people came to inform Rabbi Chayim Halberstam of Tzanz that the wife of a recipient of charity was seen buying expensive duck meat.

“I am much obliged for you having told me,” said Rav Chayim.  “I had thought that this man’s wife was able to manage with a small amount of money.  Now that I know that she requires duck meat, I’ll have to increase the weekly stipend of that family.” ~ Haadmor Mitzanz as quoted by R’ Zelig Pliskin

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Hashiveinu – {Song}

“Bring us back to You, HaShem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old.”

Here is a video of Yehuda Green leading us in Seloichos a couple of years ago.  He is IY’H doing it again this Saturday night.  Can it get any better?  I hope to see you there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-Eh3s9po0

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If we were all Authors

If all the people in the world would be authors, they still would not be able to describe adequately how reprehensible loshon hora really is. ~ Maharal of Prague

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How to get up

If you wouldn’t fall, you’d never learn how to get up.  When you are falling, let your heart be filled with joy, because the One, the Only One, is teaching you to get up.  ~ R’ Shlomo Carlebach zt”l

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I am Here Standing Before You – {Song}

The words below are holy, but when you hear it sung over and over in this holy niggun, trust me, it will penetrate the neshama and bring you to another level.

 “Hashem says to his children I will conceal myself on that day but the Rebbe Rav Nachman says that even in the Hidden concealment Hashem yisborach is definitely present there, even during the hard times you’re experiencing I’m here standing before you.  ~ Rabbi Nachman of Breslov zt”l in Likutei Maharan.”

 דער אויבשרטער זאגט אונז קינדערלך
“ואנכי אסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא” אבער דער רבי זאגט
ואפילו בהסתרה שבתוך הסתרה בוודאי גם שם נמצא השם יתברך
גם מאחורי הדברים הקשים העוברים עליך אני עומד

 

Listen to this.  By the third or fourth go around, you won’t know what hit you.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcGX2xBaMbw

 

 

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Song

Song and melody is the most amazing links between a person and his Creator. Our soul is wrested from upper worlds, where it is accustomed to hearing the singing of the ministering angels. Therefore, even now, when it is in a body – it yearns for song and melody.
When we hum and sing, we are immediately joined to Hashem. It is an amazing force and it has great power to draw the heart of a person to Hashem. We can get lost in a song that connects us and we lose interest in anything else – we just want to continue to feel this ecstasy. ~ R’ Menachem Azolai as translated by Dov Elias

With this in mind, every now and then, I plan on posting quotes from holy songs and including the audio so you can hear them.    There are some songs that can help you reach new heights that you may not be able to achieve with just a short quote.   Look out for tomorrow’s post which will include a song that is catching fire and will surely ignite your holy neshamas.

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Can’t take it with you

Tachrichim mach men on keshenes

Shrouds are made without pockets.

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