One of the lessons of Sefiras Ha’Omer is to focus only on today.
“Don’t think about your aveiros of the past [which will make you distressed and lose hope] and don’t think about what will be in the future [which will make you feel that it is impossible to maintain your teshuvah for a long time]. Think about this day alone. Today I can make a nachas ruach for Hashem with Torah and mitzvos.”
~ The Divrei Shmuel zt’l
The Bal Shem Tov says if you want to know whether you are really serving G-d, it is simple:
If my heart is filled with joy each time I put on tefillin, and each time I do something good my heart is filled with joy, then I am serving G-d.
If I am not on that level, then I am just doing mechanical things.
Even that is very holy, and I’ll be rewarded in Heaven for doing it, but it is heartbreaking.
~ R’ Shlomo Carlebach zt”l
If one is always joyful, his face will shine, his countenance will be radiant, his body will be healthy, and old age will not leap upon him, as it is written [in Proverbs 17:12], “A happy heart is healing as medicine ”
~ Orchot Tzaddikim
Faith is about seeing the miraculous in the everyday, not about waiting every day for the miraculous.
~ R” Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l
If you don’t know what you’re prepared to die for you don’t know what you’re living for!
~ R’ Noach Weinberg zt”l
At the funeral for his wife, Lucy, R’ Leo Dee shared the following 9 rules his wife taught him and how she lived her life:
1. Forgive. When you hold grudges, it only hurts you.
2. Apologize. Even if it’s not your fault.
3. Don’t stay upset for too long.
4. Be passionate about what you do. If you aren’t, change what you do.
5. Find yourself an occupation that you are so passionate about that you want to jump out of bed in the morning.
6. You don’t have to be the best, you have to give it your best.
7. Explore. Grow older, if you’re so fortunate, but never grow up. There should always be a sense of wonder in everything.
8. Love all your children equally.
9. The more you share, the more you have.
Sadness isn’t a sin, but the timtum haleiv (closed heart) that sadness generates, the greatest sin doesn’t create.
~ R’ Ahron HaGadol of Karlin zt”l
When one is afraid of something, he makes himself vulnerable to it.
If he is afraid of poverty, poverty rules over him, and therefore, he is liable to become poor.
~ The Maharal (Bava Metzia 33)
I have not come to this world merely to fulfill my obligations.
~ The Kopischnitzer Rebbe
We can’t control life, but we can control our attitude.
~ The Ba’al Shem Tov
