When a person lies down to sleep, he should think of the time when he shall lie down not to arise the next day; when he sees fire, he should think of Gehinnom; when Shabbos comes, he should think of the Afterlife; and when he sees the busy ant, he should be reminded of the necessity of preparing for the Afterlife.
Everything in this world is a Mashal for eternal things. ~ R’ Avigdor Miller Zt”l (Sing, You Righteous)
Any place in which we lack understanding, we must have emuna. When we cannot fathom how certain things can happen to us – we must know that it is first choice (לכתחילה), predestined, this is the plan, it is the path that we must traverse on the way to our ultimate correction – it is not a bad break – nothing happens to us that does not need to happen to us. ~ Rav Menachem Azolai as translated by Dov Elias
R’ Chaim of Volozhin illustrates the importance of doing mitzvos in their proper time: The Evil Inclination begins by convincing someone that it is preferable to pray with proper intent, even if one must do so past the assigned time.
The next step is, “Take your time. You have already set a precedent; pray whenever you are ready!” By indulging such laxness, a person can eventually be swayed totally from doing the mitzvos. ~ The Pirkei Avos Treasury
This reminds me of a time when I used to convince myself that it is ok or even preferable for me to daven at home rather than with a minyan since it allows me to take my time and concentrate better. – That was definitely the yetzer hara (evil inclination) talking.
Di tefliah gait aroif un di brocheh gait arop.
The prayer ascends and the blessing descends.
On Friday, in the rush to finish the Shabbos preparations on time, a person is apt to become short-tempered. On Shabbos, when the entire family sits at the table together, parents might become angry with young children for misbehaving. Thus, special care should be taken on Shabbos to control one’s anger. ~ R’ Eliyahu Lopian zt”l from Torah Tavlin.
All the worlds were created only for the sake of man, and his entire value and importance lies precisely in his having the evil inclination. His task is to strengthen himself to fight it. The more forcefully an evil inclination attacks someone, the more precious in God’s eyes are his efforts to fight it. Then God himself comes to his aid, for it is written “God will not abandon him to its hand” — to the grasping hand of the evil inclination. ~ R’ Nachman of Breslov zt”l
Hashem wants us to get the most out of misfortunes. He wants us to understand why the come. Therefore, He gives a clue to understand them. The way the misfortune comes, that’s a clue, a hint why it comes. ~ R’ Avigdor Miller zt”l
For a person with no parnassah, it’s clear to me how he lives – he lives off emunah and bitachon. But when a person has parnassah, how, in fact, does he live?
~ Rebbe Simcha Bunim of Peshischa zt”l
When Moshe went up to Har Sinai to receive the Torah, how did he not sleep for 40 days
The Midrash (Shemos Rabbah 47:7) draws the following analogy: A king gave his servant 24 hours to count the gold in the treasury. Whatever the servant counted was his to keep. The servant said to himself “How can I sleep during these 24 hours? Every minute slept is treasure irretrievably lost.”
It was for this reason teaches the Midrash, that Moshe did not sleep during the 40 days and nights he spent in Heaven; he did not want to miss a moment of the glorious opportunity to partake of God’s mission. ~ The Pirkei Avos Treasury
Emuna Daily 