Friday, February 26, 2010

Purim/Titzaveh

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem and my grandfather Rav Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehudah (Yahrtzeit was Yud Adar)... (little different than usual) In Meseches Megila the Gemorah says that the reason why Klal Yisroel deserved to be punished was because they were nehene from the seuda of Achashveirosh, and because they bowed down to the Tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer. Reb Yonasan Aybeshetz ztl asks, why would Klal Yisroel be punished now in the times of Achasveirosh for bowing down to the tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer, wouldn't it make more sense to punish them right then, or at least the next dor during Baal Shaatzar's reign? Also, why would having hana'ah from Achashveirosh's party make them chayiv misa? Its a lav not a misa? To answer these questions, he brings down a Zohar that asks, when Yaakov met Esav how was he able to bow down to him? The Zohar answers, that the
 posuk says "vhu avar lifneihem" "vhu" is reffering to the Shechina. Yaakov saw the shechina passing by and bowed, and Esav made the mistake of thinking that Yaakov was bowing to him. It says in the Medrash that the tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer had the Tzitz from the Beis Hamikdash with the The name of Hkbh on it, therefore Klal Yisroel took a lesson from their father Yaakov and bowed down to Hashem causing Nevuchadnetzer to mistakingly believe that they were bowing to the Tzelem. However, in truth, once the Tzitz fell into the hands of the goyim, it lost its kedusha as it says in Avoda Zarah "u'bau pritzim v'chaliluhu" Once the pritzim got the keilim they were nischalel.  The party of Achashveirosh was filled with the keilim of the Mikdash, and the Halacha for m'ilah b'meizid is misa. However, the claim could have been, that once the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed there is no Din Hekdash
 anymore and therefore no isar of m'ilah so the jews there were only doing a lav. Using this as their excuse would cause them massive problems, because mimah nafshach, if there is no din hekdash after the beis Hamikdash is destroyed, then what were they doing bowing down to the Tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer, and they are chayiv misa, and if there still is a din of hekdash, then how could they use the keilim by Achashveirsoh's party, and that is why they were chayiv misa. That is why Hashem waited until Achashveirosh's dor, because until then Klal Yisroel had a good svara why they bowed to the tzelem, and that is why eating by the party would have a penalty of death.... Good Shabbos and Afreilichin Purim

Friday, February 12, 2010

Parshas Mishpatim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem......In perek chaf alef posuk lamud zayin "ki Yigniv ish shor oh seh u'tvacho oh micharo chamisha bakar yishaleim tachas hashor v'arbah tzon tachas haseh" Reb Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl author of the Darchei Mussar brings down a very famous chazal. The Rivaz says, that the reason why a ganav pays less for the seh than the shor is because he has to carry the sheep on his shoulder. Reb Yeruchum Levovitz ztl adds an extra nekuda, doing an aveira and being happy and nehene from it is incomperable to doing an aveira and being bitzaar as you are doing it, feeling those pangs of guilt as you are giving in to the yetzer harah. The ganav who is carrying the sheep on his shoulders and is embarrassed  is not having the same hana'ah from his newly acquired possesion. He's not so happy that he stole and therefore has some charata in his heart, that
 is why he has a lighter punishment. The Darchei Mussar says that if this is how onshim work its forsure true by schar. Someone who does a mitzvah happily gets much more schar than one who does it in an unhappy state. In the Parsha of the Tochacha it says that the whole reason why the Tochacha was given was "Tachas asher lo avadita es Hashem Elokecha bLsimcha" There are people who ask, how could the whole tochacha have been given just for people not doing mitzvos with simcha? Isn't the main part still at the end of the day doing the mitzvah? They answer that its not saying that they did the mitzvos but didn't do them b'simcha, there's a comma after "Elokecha" they went against Hashem B'simcha. However, one Goan explained that both readings are correct. Originally, people begin serving Hashem, but without any happiness, without any good feelings, and therefore they are led to completely abandoning the mitzvos, and that is done with simcha. There's a tremendous lesson to be learned. Firstly, we see how important it is to do the mitzvos we do happily, and how in doing so it is a completely differet action. We also see that there's a domino effect, just as not doin mitzvos b'simcha causes u to totally cease to do them, by starting with doing small things that are easy B'simcha we could strengthen ourselves to be able to be oved Hashem completely in the highest way possible. Good Shabbos

Friday, February 5, 2010

Parshas Yisro

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem....... In perek yud tes posuk beis it says "Vayisu meirifidim Vayavou mitbar Sinai vayachanu bamidbar, Vayichan sham Yisroel neged hahar."  Rashi says that the Torah wrote "Vayichan" a singular lashon as appose to Ovayachanu" because they were K'ish echad bleiv echad, one man with one heart.  Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl brings down, that Chazal say, because they lived together in such harmony without any resentment toward one another, they were zoche to Kabalas Ha'Torah.  Hashem said "Hoil v'sanu Yisroel es hamachlokes v'ahavo es hashalom v'naaseh chaniyah achas, harei ha'shaah she'etein lahem es Torasi." Surely Klal Yisroel was on a tremendous level, however the thing that caused them to deserve Kabalas Hatorah was their oneness, their unbelieveable bond to one another.  The Gemorah in Sanhedrin says "'Sheker Hachein' zu Doro shel Moshe V'yehoshuah" because they were osek in Torah, "'hevel Hayofi' zu doro shel Chizkiyahu," because they were even more osek in Torah than the dor of Moshe, "isha yiraas Hashem hi tisalal" zu doro shel Reb Yehuda be Rebbi Ilaiy because they would have six talmidim under one taalis.  Pashut pshat is that even though they were extremely poor, they pushed themselves to learn in an extremely difficult situation." However, Reb Chaim says, that the gadlus was something else.  Most people worry about themselves, imagine being underneath one taalis/blanket with five other guys on a freezing winter night.  In the freezing cold you're trying to get as much of the blanket as you possibly coud, but the guy next to you is doing the exact same thing, at the end of the night all six guys are freezing cold.  Imagine if you cared about the guy next to you and instead of trying to keep yourself covered and warm you were pushing the blanket towards your friend, and he is pushing it toward you, at the end of the night, everyone is covered, everyone is warm.  This was the greatness of the dor of Reb Yehuda ben Illaiy, each person honestly cared so much for their freinds, for their neighbors. Chazal say that these three doros are mentioned because these are the second and third doros that could have accepted the Torah, had Moshe's dor not been mikabel it.  Rashi says that although the first two were tremendous, the third was even greater than the first two because "shisha b'talis achas" is the highest level of "K'ish echad bleiv echad" throughout all doros of Klal Yisroel, and therefore they deserved to be mikabel the Torah more than any other dor.  We see the koach of shalom, of v'ahavta lreiacha kamocha, how much it could bring.  We should work on ourselves to truly feel like we are one, "k'ish echad bleiv echad"... Good Shabbos

Friday, January 29, 2010

Parshas Beshalach

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem (today is the first Yahrtzeit of Elchonon)....
In perek yud dalid posuk chaf alef it says "Va'yeit Moshe es yado al hayam vayoled Hashem es Hayam b'ruach kadim azah kal halayla, vayasem es hayam lecharavah vayibaku hamayim" Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea, and Hashem made a wind come and split it. In Tehillim it says "hayam ra'ah va'yanas" The yam saw the aron of Yosef and split. Hashem told the sea "yanus mipnei ha'nas" as it says by the story of eishes Potiphar, "vayanas Hachutzah" The Darchei Mussar, Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman Ztl asks, If Hashem told the sea to split, why would the sea need to see the aron of Yosef to make it split? He answers that Hashem did not tell the Yam to split, rather he told Moshe to stretch his hand over it and split it. Moshe was the one commanding the yam to split, which he had the koach to
 because Hashem gave tzadikkim the power to be mitzaveh parts of the briah to listen to them.  However, the yam did not feel that it had to listen to Moshe because it too did the ratzon of Hashem so what made Moshe better than it? However, when it saw the aron of Yosef it understood the difference between itself and Moshe Rabbeinu, between man and angel. True both of them are doing the ratzon Hashem but its no kuntz for the Malach. Every step that we take is filled with tremendous nisyonos that can hold us back and destroy us. Yes the yam listened to all Hashem commanded, but after seeing the aron of Yosef it understood, man who fights on and continues doing the ratzon Hashem even through tough times, even through a maaseh eishes Potiphar,is far greater than it, and therefore it knew that it should listen to Moshe Rabbeinu..
Good Shabbos.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Parshas Bo

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem..... In perek yud beis, posuk chaf ches, regarding the karbon pesach it says, "Vayeilchu vaya'asu Bnei Yisroel ka'asher tziva Hashem es Moshe V'Aharon ken asu.  "Rashi says that the Torah is coming to give praise to Klal Yisroel that they did not leave out a single thing that Moshe and Aharon told them to do. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, it's mashma from Rashi that the great thing that Klal Yisroel did was that they did exactly as they were told, what happened to the fact that they were risking their lives to take the god of their masters from right under their noses?  Wouldn't you think that that is a much greater feat, and should be a greater reason for praise?  The Rosh Yeshivah explains that we see that what Klal Yisroel did must have been a tremendous accomplishment.  The teva of a person is not to do things exactly as they are told, not to do
 it, with every single prat.  Klal Yisroel did not leave one single thing out, they pushed themselves to go against their natural genetic makeup, and that is an unbelievable accomplishment. Its brought down in seforim the tremendous difference in schar between doing mitzvos, and doing mitzvos b'shleimus.  By focusing a little more as we do mitzvos, we can fight our teva and bring our mitzvos to a level of shleimus.. Good Shabbos

Friday, January 8, 2010

Parshas Shemos

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem........ In perek alef posuk vav the posuk says "Vayamas Yosef vchal echav vchal hador hahu. The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh says, as long as any of the brothers were alive, the mitzrim respected Bnei Yisrael, and even after they died, as long as there was one person from that generation still around, Bnei Yisrael were still chashuv in the eyes of the mitzrim, and the mitzrim couldn't bring themselves to enslave them. He also says, that when Yosef passed away, Bnei Yisrael were lowered from their stature. Originally, they were greater than the mitzrim, and when Yosef died, they became equal. When the brothers passed away, they became lower than the mitzrim, yet they still did not enslave them. Only after the entire generation was gone did they begin to enslave Bnei Yisrael. Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl says that even though the mitzrim were
 terrible risha'im, they were unable to enslave klal Yisrael, as long was Klal Yisrael was Chashuv in their eyes. Only after they began looking at them as lowly beings were they able to enslave them. Reb Chaim says, that there are two sides to this. One mitzad the mitzrim themselves. They just couldn't enslave someone who they believed was great. Two, mitzad Bnei Yisrael themselves. As long as they themselves felt that they were chashuv, as long as they felt confident that they were great, the mitzrim could not get to them. Only once they began to feel that they were not chashuv, were they capable of being enslaved.  This is the derech of the yetzer harah, at first he tries to make us believe things are muttar, when that fails he tries to convince us that we are not worth so much, we are not so great. If we keep in mind how great we are and how much each and every one of us is worth to
 Hkbh, how great all of our actions are to him, then we will all Iyh be zoche to guard ourselves from aveiros, and the traps of the yetzer harah..... Good Shabbos

Friday, January 1, 2010

Parshas Vayechi

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.......... In this weeks haftorah the first two psukim say, "Vayikrivu yimei David Lamus Vayitzav es Shlomo bno laimor.  Anochi holeich lamus biderech kol ha'aretz v'chazakta v'hayisa l'ish."  Dovid tells Shlomo that he is going to die and Shlomo should be strong and become a man.  The Ralbag says that what Dovid meant by "V'chazakta v'hayisa l'ish," was that he should not act like a youth, rather he should act as an adult, as an "Ish Gadol," and be shaul eitzah from people.  The Rosh Yeshivah Ztl says, that we see from this Ralbag that what seperates an "Ish tzi'ir" from an "Ish gadol" is that a youth will rely on his own wisdom and will not ask people for advice ever, while a real man will seek advice and therfore be matzliach.  The youth believes he doesn't need any help, and by asking he is lowering himself down, and it's a pchisa in his kavod so its too hard for him to ask.  David Hamelech knew how great Shlomo was and how brilliant he was, but Dovid was afraid that in this nekuda, Shlomo would act like a youth and not ask for advice from others.  Therefore, in order to make sure that Shlomo's kingdom flourished David made sure to relay this message to him.  So many times we in our everyday life, whether it's in business or in learning, or in anything that we may need advice, we feel like we are too good to ask, as if asking belittles us.  We don't realize that that's far from the truth.  One who can bring themself to be shaul eitzah is far greater than one who can't.  It's the difference between an "ish Tz'ir" and an "ish gadol." It's what seperates the men from the boys...... Good Shabbos

Friday, December 18, 2009

Parshas Mikeitz

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem..... In perek mem alef psukim lamud tes and mem it says, "Vayomer Pharaoh el Yosef, acharei hodia Elokim oscha es kol zos ein navon v'chacham kamocha.  Atah tihiyeh al beisi, v'al picha yishak kol ami, rak hakisei egdal mimeka."  Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl asks, how does this make any sense? How did Pharaoh just give over so much of his kingdom to some random eved who was young, a stranger, and to top it off an ivri! Very nice he interpreted a dream for him, but should that be something that causes Pharaoh to just sign off his whole country to Yosef?  Reb Chaim answers, bsheim the Alter of Kelm, ztl, that what Pharaoh saw was the Yiras Shomayim that Yosef had.  He saw how Yosef responded when he said, "Elokim ya'aneh es shilom Pharaoh."  "I don't have any powers to interpret your dream, Hashem will.  That is why Pharaoh answered, "Acharei hodia Elokim."  He saw that the wisdom that Yosef had was straight from Hkbh and therefore knew that he deserved to be and would do wonders as a leader.  Everyone is mivatel themselves in front of a true Yiras Shomayim.... Good Shabbos and Afreilichin Chanuka

Friday, December 11, 2009

Parshas Vayeishev

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem.......In Perek Kuf Yud Dalid Kapital Gimmel in Tehillim it says "Ha'yam Ra'ah Va'yanas" Chazal discuss that what the sea saw that caused it to split was the aron of Yosef that was coming toward the sea. Hashem told the sea "Yanus Mipnei Hanas" as it says in Perek Lamud Tes Posuk Yud Beis "Va'yanas Va'yeitzei Hachutzah"..Yosef fled and ran outside (away from eishes Potiphar).Rav Chaim Shmulevitz ztl is troubled by why running out was singled out from all the other things that he did - For stopping himself from the etzem aveira he got tremendous schar. Not only that, Chazal go through each limb of his and the schar that he got for not doing an aveira with that limb.Obviously there is  something extra special and extra hard about his running outside above all the other restraints,that caused him to get the greatest reward of all, having the Yam Suf split to save all of Klal Yisroel,.Reb Chaim explains,that this teaches us a tremendous yesod in the avoda of man. We all think that we will work on ourselves for years and then we'll go out out and fight our yetzer harah! We think that after preparing for the fight, we have a chance against him! How foolish can we be?! From Yosef we see the way to win is to run, get out of the ring.He knew that sticking around for even one more second would just increase his chances of losing the battle. He understood the power of the yetzer harah and therefore ran for his life not even taking a second to grab his beged (which ended up costing him jail time).Its not easy,in fact its extremely difficult,and that is why Yosef got the most schar for that action. However,it is vital for us to take this to heart. It is almost impossible to beat the yetzer harah, no matter how great we think we are. Don't make it into a boxing match,its not worth it. Sometimes it's good to look like a chicken, sometimes that's the only way to win..Good Shabbos and A Freilichin Chanuka

Friday, November 27, 2009

Parshas Va'yeitzei

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.....In perek Chaf ches posuk tes zayin it says "Vayikatz Yaakov mi'shnaso vayomer, achein yeish Hashem ba'makom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati." Rashi says that Yaakov was saying, "had I known I would not have slept here."  However the Sapurnu says that Yaakov was saying, "Had I known, I would have prepared myself for navuah, and now I was not able to prepare."  My grandfather, Harav Abba Zalka Gewirtz, shlita, explains a tremendous yesod from this Sapurnu.  Where was Yaakov avinu for the last fourteen years?!  What had he been doing?  Was he out partying, was he just clowning around?!  For the last fourteen years he had been learning yomam va'layla, day in day out, not even pausing to sleep.  As we know from Rashi, "Vayishkav Bamakom hahuh," until this point he had not slept!  Furthermore, what did he think he would have gained by preparing himself?  Did he think he
 would get more?  Hashem had just promised him Eretz Yisroel and that his children would be Oka'afar Ha'aretz."  He got so much, what more did he want?  This Sapurnu is teaching us that when it comes to growth in Yiddishkeit one should never be satiated.  The thirst for growth was so strong in Yaakov that, yes, he had been promised so much, and, yes, he had been learning fourteen years and was obviously in a very good position to accept a nevua.  He felt that had he known, he could have done so much more preparation, and been that much greater.  I noticed, in next weeks Parsha Yaakov told Esav "Yesh li kol."  I have it all while Eisav said "Yesh li rav."  I have alot.  Yaakov felt he had all he needed and therefore Eisav should accept his gift while Eisav had a lot but still desired more.  When it came to Gashmius, Yaakov did not have this drive to have more, while Eisav still felt that there was more to get.  This is
 a tremendous lesson for all of us.  We should be zoche to be staisfied with whatever amount of gashmius we are granted like Yaakov Avinu, and we should never quench our thirst for growth in ruchniyus..Good Shabbos

Friday, November 20, 2009

Parshas Toldos

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem......In perek chaf zayin
posuk lamud dalid it says "K'shmoa Eisav es divrei aviv,Vayitzak tzi'aka
gedolah umarah ad miod,va'yomer l'aviv barcheini gam anochi avi"The Medrash
Rabah says,that Yaakov caused Esav to cry out one great and bitter cry,and
therefore he was paid back that his children in Shushan Habira were caused
to cry out a bitter cry as it says "Vayizaak Zi'aka gedola,umarah ad miod"
The Rosh Yeshiva ztl asks,what did Yaakov do wrong by taking the
brachos?Yaakov bought the bechoros from Esav,and it was daad Torah for him
to take the brachos.Furthermore,what choice did he have,his mother Rivka
forced him?He answers this in the name of his father Hagoan Rav Dovid
Liebowitz ztl.Rav Dovid says that of course Yaakov wasn't punished for the
tzaar that he caused Esav,he was an ones and was mechuyav to take
them,however his
 shortcoming was that he didn't feel bad enough for what he did.He didn't
have the right amount of tzaar for having caused another person pain.True he
had to do it but he should have felt worse for causin Esav so much pain.We
see the same idea from the Medrash Rabah that says that the reason why
Shchem was mi'anes Dinah,was because Yaakov held himself back from doing
chesed with Esav. Many Baalei Mussar answer,of course Yaakov should not have married his daughter off
to Esav,but he shouldn't have realized that she could have affected Esav and
brought him back and felt bad that he would not allow her to marry him.There
are times that we are forced into situations that we may have to cause
people pain,or just times that we are unable to come through for people,we
should be zoche to at least realize what we are unable to do and at least
feel bad for not coming through.As strange as it may seem,that could really
be
 the difference between doing the right and the wrong thing....Good Shabbos

Friday, November 6, 2009

Parshas Vayeira

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem.......In perek chaf alef posuk tes zayin when the posuk is discussing the tzaar that Hagar was in when she was in the wilderness and her son Yishmael was dying of thirst, it says "Vatisa es kolah vateivch" She raised her voice and cried.  In tehillim Dovid says to Hkbh "Shimah tefillosi Hashem, v'shavasi haazinu, el dimaasi al techerash, ki ger anochi imach, toshav ki'chol avosai" The Medrash Rabah says that Dovid was saying to Hashem.  "Hagars tefillos you don't ignore but me you will ignore?  And if you want to answer that she was a giyores so she was more chaviv to you, ger anochi imach toshav kichol avosai!  I'm a settler like all my fathers!  The Rosh Yeshivah Ztl asks, how can Dovid compare himself to Hagar?  Hagar was just thrown out of her husbands house, she's alone with her son in the midbar with no water and her son is dying of thirst.  Dovid on the otherhand,is sitting in his palace, in his own kingdom.  These are obvious differences, how is he comparing himself to her.  The Rosh Yeshivah answers that Dovid recognized that everything that was his did not actually belong to him.  They were straight from Hashem, and he felt that Hkbh did not want him to have them anymore and therefore felt like he was in the exact sacana as Hagar had been.  True it seemed he had so much more but he realized that things aren't always what they seem.  He was coming to Hashem with just as little as Hagar was.  The Granat Ztl says, that this explains what we say during yomim noraim, "Ki'dalim U'kirashim dafaknu dalasecha" No matter how wealthy a person is, he has no more than the poor person.  Although he may seem to have it all, he must realize that things are not as they seem, and that everything is a gift from Hashem.  Keeping this in mind we should be zoche to
 strengthen our kavana in tefilla and have Hkbh answer all of our bakashos.  Good Shabbos

Friday, October 30, 2009

Parshas Lech Lecha

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem....In the first posuk in this weeks parsha Hashem says to Avraham (Avram) Avinu "Lech Lecha Mei'artzecha u'mimoliditicha umibeis avicha el ha'aretz asher arecha" Rav Akiva Mibartenura al Ha'Torah says the reason why Hashem meintioned these three was to explain the reason why Hashem was giving Avraham this mitzvah to leave.  All three of these were filled with rishaim,and your land,your house and your family are the places you learn your derech in life from.The Rosh Yeshivah Ztl says that we see from the Bartenura,a tremendous yesod.  Avraham Avinu, the person who recognized Hashem at three years old, broke his own fathers idols, and was moser nefesh for Yidishkeit by being thrown into a kivshan Ha'eish, still could have been mushpaah from the hashpaah of his surrounding and the hashpaah of his family,and therefore had to leave.If our father, Avram Avinu, can be mushpaah from his surrounding, imagine us.We think we have ourselves set in who we are and we are good enough to withstand hashpaah, but this is obviously not true.  We have to do whatever we can to remove ourselves from things that can influence us in a negative way.. Good Shabbos

Friday, September 25, 2009

Parshas Haazinu

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem.......In perek lamud beis posuk dalid Moshe says "Hatzur Tamim pa'alo ki chol dirachav mishpat Kel emunah v'ain avel tzaddik v'yashar hu" "The rock, perfect in his work,for all his ways are justice,a G-d faithful,without iniquity." Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl in the Darchei Mussar writes,  In parshas Bereishis and Yisro that we are supposed to believe that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world.However this level that Moshe is speaking about here is a greater level of emunah.At times when things are k'neged our sechel,when they are difficult for us to understand the way of Hashem and it just seems that everything is all wrong,that is when we need to remember "kel emunah v'ain avel"Even though to our eyes things may make no sense we must remember that "kal mah d'avid rachmana l'tav avid".He brings down that he heard from the Chazon Ish
 ztl that if a regular person walked by a tailor and saw him ripping up a beautiful suit,the mans initial reaction would be "He's destroying something so beautiful!",but that thought will be pushed aside by the obvious that if the tailor,the expert, is ripping it up it is to use it to make something more beautiful.Realizing that Hkbh is in the process of making a "beautiful beged" and in the process may be "cutting" beautiful "begadim" is extremely difficult.It was Avraham's greatest of his ten nisyonos,to go against sechel and shecht Yitzchak, especially when Hashem told him that Yitzchak would be the origin of the nation that will come from Avraham.It is extremely difficult but we must work on understanding that no matter what it seems Hashem is a "Kel emunah v'ain avel",Vkal d'avid Rachman L'tav avid.. Good Shabbos

Friday, September 18, 2009

Rosh Hashana

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem...........Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl brings an eitzah on something to work on approaching Yom Hadin.The gemorah in shabbos brings down the posuk in Re'eh that says "V'nasan Licha Rachamim V'rachamecha" "And he will give you mercy and be merciful to you",and says on that,anyone who has rachamim for the bri'os will have rachamim from shomayim,and anyone who does not have rachamim will not have rachamim from shomayim.The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh says on the posuk,that as long as someone has the teva achzari (genetic makeup of being cruel),Hashem will mirror that teva towards him,because Hashem is only merachem a rachman.As we know the yesod of all our tefillos is the bakasha of rachamim from HKBH as we say "Rachmeinu k'rachem av al banim" Even Moshe Rabeinu only davened blashon tachanunim as oppose to the other nine lashonos of tefilla, so kal
 v'chomer that's all we can bring to the table.If that is what we need to beseech Hashem then we must make sure that we are not lacking when we approach him to beg for his rachamim,we have to make sure to be mirachem on our chaveirim.We have to work on ourselves to act in the proper way towards people and to all the bri'os,and to find in our hearts the rachamim to be mochel everyone for what they may have done wrong to us,and only then will Hashem be mirachem on us like the father we know he is.Rachameinu Krachem Av Al Banim!!!!!! Ksiva V'chasima Tova,a Gut G'benched Yur.I hope everyone is mochel me for anything I may have said or done to them.Good Shabbos.