“There is a time when He relates to us as a father relates to his infant child. We can cry and spit and make those little messes babies make—but He loves us, just because we are His child.
And then there comes a time when we have to grow up and do something.” – R’ Tzvi Freeman
The Sefer Hachinuch writes; “One who is careful with the mitzvah of Birchas Hamazon will always have Parnasah in abundance and in a respectful manner.” One who want to be careful should always bentch while reading the words in a siddur (or bentcher) and not bentch by heart. ~ Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 185:1, see also Be’er Haitaiv
The Sefer Hachasidim writes; “A person once died and appeared to a relative in a dream and told him that he is being judged every day for not having been careful to say all his berachos with proper kavannah.” Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 185:1, see also Be’er Haitaiv
I got this from “Daily Halacha,” an email which goes out daily with 2 halachas. I highly recommend you subscribe, which you can do by clicking here.
The first thing needed to fix this world is that Jews should love each other and be united.
And this can begin even without a planning committee and without funding.
It can begin with you.
—A letter from The Lubavitcher Rebbe
In this past week’s daf, I learned a very holy gemara that I just kept reading over and over and would like to share with you regarding the verse “The end of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is all of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13):
“And Rabbi Chelbo said that Rav Huna said: Any person who has fear of Heaven, his words are heeded, as it is stated ‘The end of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is all of man’. What is meant by ‘for this is all of man’? Rabbi Elazar said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said about him: The entire world was created only for this person. This is the ultimate person for which all of man was created. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said ‘for this is all of man’ teaches that this is equivalent to the entire world, all of man. Rabbi Shimon ben Azzai, and some say Rabbi Shimon ben Zoma says: Not only is he equivalent to the entire world, but the entire world was created to serve as companions for him, so that he would have society in which to live and with which to interact.” ~ Talmud Berachos 6b
Whether you are learning dafyomi or not, please check out this website. http://dafhachaim.com – It has 3 videos for each daf – a 1 minute intro, the actual shiur and a 5 minute review. It uses visual learning techniques kind of like Khan Academy, but for the daf.
Even if you do not learn the daf, the 5 minute review is a great way to keep up to date with those who are learning it. And if you are learning the daf, I am sure you will find this to be a great chazara tool.
“The natural state of Man, the way G-d created him, is to be happy. Look at children and you will see.” – R’ Tzvi Freeman
“When G-d takes something from your grasp, He’s not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.” – unknown
“A good barometer to determine whether something will be of benefit materially is whether it is the proper thing to do spiritually. A business venture that implies breaking your moral principles will also be detrimental materially.
At times, we experience tremendous pressure when our ethics seem to stand in the way of success — but this is only an illusion. The spiritual and the material are in conflict only to our subjective eyes — in fact, they work in harmony as one.” ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman
“Days are scrolls: write on them what you want to be remembered.”
~ R’ Bahya ibn Pakuda in Chovos HaLevavos
“Guard your spare moments well for they are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” ~ R’ Raphael of Emden zt”l as quoted in Torah Tavlin
Sorry for the late post, but some people commented that they were surprised that I didn’t post anything about the Siyum Hashas or the beginning of the daf yomi cycle which starts today. I don’t know if it is really my place to give over my opinion, but since you never know who will be inspired by what, and just a little push is sometimes all people need, I’ll go out on a limb and just make a brief pitch in hope that perhaps one of you will be inspired to start learning the daf today.
My opinion is that if you are not setting aside time to learn Torah each and everyday, take on daf yomi. This is certainly not to exclude people who already learn each day, but those that don’t learn everyday need structure and that is what the daf offers. I started the daf 8 1/2 years ago for that reason and was fortunate enough to complete the cycle last summer. I can’t put into words how much doing the daf had an effect on me, but to say the least, I am certain this blog would not have been created but for the daf. It really molded me into the person I am and I encourage everyone to do it.
With the amount of resources available today, there is no one that should feel like they cannot do it. Everyone will get something out of it. I just read that the Tana D’vei Eliyahu tells a story in his sefer about an elderly man who completed recitation of the entire Shas without understanding a single word, and yet his face shone like the sun at noon.
There are many different levels, but anyone can do the daf.
The 7 1/2 cycle begins today with Berachos which is my favorite mesechta and a perfect starting point. If there is even a little part of you that is thinking of going along for the ride, don’t let the yeitzer hara convince you otherwise. Don’t think about it; just do it! I promise you won’t regret it.
Here is a list of just a few great websites that I found to be very helpful:
http://www.dafdigest.org/ – Great short review or preview of the daf which can be emailed to you daily for free.
http://daf-yomi.org/ – same idea as above.
