Kiruv.com (aka Project Inspire) just posted part of the text of one of my favorite original works written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan z”tl. To check out If You Were God just click here.I believe it was originally posted at SimpleToRemember.com.
I’ve used this text for study goups with teens and adults of various backgrounds (in my previous career). If you’ve never read it, please check it out.
Here’s a new website that I recently found out about called AvodasHashem.com. It includes shiurim from Rabbi Efraim Twerksi, R Moshe Schechter, Dr. Julian Unger, and other true gems within the Chicago area.
I have been listening to R Twerksi’s shiurim on Netivos Shalom and have been loving them. Kol HaKavod to Sender Baruch ben Nesanel HaCohen for this project which is truly l’Shaim Shamayim.
Rav Yisrael Lipkin of Salant
Man can see very far. But the smallest coin blocks his vision.
From Tenuas HaMussar (The Mussar Movement)
My son asked me a few years ago where Eliyahu HaNavi got his clothes. My answer is posted on Dixie Yid’s blog, here.
Want to smile again, read this older post.
My son thought this story was hilarious. He told me that it was funny because even though everyone knows sugar makes thing sweet, in then end it really doesn’t make a difference, as long as you like sweetened tea. He went on to bed and I kept think about this story.
I am always happy when I read something that makes me feel good about myself and what my potential is. This is one of the things at attracted me to mussar seforim. That knowledge of our potential also attracted me to the teaching of Reb Nachman of Breslov. While I own a number of Breslov seforim, I’ll be the first to say that I’m no where near the level of calling myself a chossid of Reb Nachman. I do, however, get a lot of mussar and chizuk from his teachings.
R Lazer Brody recently posted a fantastic essay on the importance of Believing in Yourself. It always amazes me that Hashem allows me to hear a d’var Torah or read something that happens to be exactly what I needed at that time. R Brody’s post was one of those things that I needed to read today.
Here’s a taste of what he says:
Observant Judaism is also like a war. The Yetzer, or Evil Inclination, has an array of weapons and forces at his disposal, to deter and discourage a person from making Tshuva, or to break the heart of a person who’s trying to effectively become a ben- or bat-Torah. If you believe in yourself, you’ll be able to wipe the floor with the Yetzer.
The whole essay in all of its glory can be found here.
Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin of Salant
The world is like a small cloth spread over a table. By pulling the cloth too much towards himself, one leaves the other end exposed.
From Tenuas HaMussar (The Mussar Movement)
From Rav Yosef Stern’s Sfas Emes sefer, Days of Joy:
There’s a halacha in germara Shabbos 21b that describes how certain oils and wick are “not acceptable for Shabbos candelabra, but are permitted for the Chanuka Menorah. The substances are prohibited for Shabbos use because of the flame’s inability to cling to the wick. Likewise, the light of Torah is unable to fully penetrate certain souls even on Shabbos. Yet on Chanuka these rejected wicks may be used. So too, souls that are not inspired by the weekly Shabbos are spiritually moved by the yearly observance of Chanukah. A certain spark, an inner purity, always remains burning bright in the heart of every Jew. This spark, know as the Nekudah HaPinimius, constrained all year long from permeating the Jewish psyche, is liberated on Chanukah through the power of praise and gratitude, for the miracles that occurred at this time”
Rav Yisroel Meir HaCohen, the Chofetz Chaim
