Accept the Favor

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Emuna Daily

“It is forbidden for a day to go by without doing some kindness for another.  A day without doing a favor for a fellow Jew is not considered a day of living.  The favor need not be a big one.  It may be a simple loan of a household utensil to a neighbor, making a small monetary loan, preparing a cup of tea for someone (even if he could do it himself) – it doesn’t matter whether it is big or small.  Sometimes someone offers us something and we say “no thank you” because we do not want to inconvenience them or we do not need the favor or we are begrudging and do not want to feel like we are in someone else’s debt.  Overcome!  Accept the favor joyously.  Say “thank you” and bless the other party.  In this way, the kindness that you receive becomes a kindness on your part as well – often the highest manner of kindness. ~ Rav Menachem Azolai as translated by Dov Elias

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Sage Advice

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Emuna Daily

Along the lines of the famous quote in Pirkei Avos which states “Repent one day before you die,” I saw the following quote, the author of which is unknown:

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”

Posted in Mussar, Teshuva | 1 Comment

The Truly Free Person

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Emuna Daily

Most people are servants of their passions, but the truly free person is the one who can control his desires.  When the sages taught “Only one involved in Torah is truly free” (Pirkei Avos 6:2), they meant to say that only Torah allows one to free himself from the shackles of desire and to truly exercise free choice.  Without Torah, one is not free at all, he is a slave, controlled by a master foreign to his better instincts.  While intellectually he might have correct ideas of how to live, ultimately his master – his passion – will force him to act otherwise. ~ The Torah Treasury pg. 146

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It’s Up to You

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Emuna Daily

“You get out of Yiddishkeit what you put into it!” ~ R’ Yosef Rosenzweig (Torah Tavlin)

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Hope and Trust

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Emuna Daily

There is hope, and there is trust in G-d –and they are two distinct attitudes.

Hope is when there is something to latch on to, some glimmer of a chance. The drowning man, they say, will clutch at any straw to save his life.

Trust in G-d is even when there is nothing in which to hope. The decree is sealed. The sword is drawn over the neck. By all laws of nature there is no way out.

But the One who runs the show doesn’t need any props. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman

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The Ripple Effect

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Emuna Daily

“If a Jew strays from Yiddishkeit in Paris, it is because people are lax in their Torah studies in Kovno!” ~ R’ Yisrael Salanter (Torah Tavlin)

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Be Careful How You Ask for Financial Assistance

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Emuna Daily

During Benching, we say “shelo naivosh vi-lo Nekaleim liolam va-ed” which means “That we not feel shame or disgrace forever.”

“We…ask Hashem that the sustenance He gives us should not subtract from our standing in the Afterlife.  The Gemora in Taanis (25a) relates that upon the cajoling of his Rebbetzin, Rav Chanina ben Dosa prayed that Hashem give them some financial relief.  Hashem sent them down from Heaven a golden leg from a table that would have made them wealthy beyond imagination.  However, they were shown a vision: In the Next World, the righteous would eat from a table of three legs, while they would eat from a table of only two legs for all eternity.  Thus, they prayed that the leg be returned to Heaven.  We ask Hashem that the support He gives us should not embarrass us in the Next World.”  ~ R’ Moshe Meir Weiss Shlita

Posted in Parnasah, Prayer | 1 Comment

The Typist

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Emuna Daily

To a mother who asked advice on becoming a typist to supplement the family income, the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote:

Don’t become a typist. You are a mother. Type, if you feel you need to in order to support your family. But don’t become a typist. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman

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Important Advice for when saying Sh’mona Esrei

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Emuna Daily

“When adding personal requests to the berachos of Sh’mona Esrei one must be especially careful to have kavanna by the other berachos, so that in Shomayim it is not said that he thinks he only needs help with this one particular matter.” ~ Sefer Hachasidim 158

If you want to subscribe to the daily halacha email which I took this quote from, just click on this link and add your email address http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001Qo1SzxA2oRRh0TVBKXJ6qA%3D%3D

Keep in mind that Whoever learns Halachos each day is assured of a place in the World to Come… Megillah 28b

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How Can We Not Take Full Advantage of This?!

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Emuna Daily

This past week, those holy Jews who are learning Daf Yomi, reached the famous Gemora on Shabbos 119b which states “Whoever says ‘Amen Yehei Shmei Rabba…’ with all his might will cause evil decrees against him to be torn up.”

It is explained that “when a Jew’s soul becomes filled with one yearning – that the Name of Hashem be sanctified everywhere – then evil decrees against him will be torn up.  For at that moment, Heaven does not judge him in accordance with his personal deeds, but in accordance with his goal in life.  Therefore, even if on a personal level he is deserving of punishment, the judgment against him will be entirely different when his declaration of ‘Yehei Shmei Rabba…’ is taken into account.” ~ Shiurei Daas [L’Maharil Bloch], part II)

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