Dear members,

We've just launched our once-a-year campaign so we can continue fighting the battle of Kedusha on all fronts and get thousands of Yidden back on track.

We had an explosive year of growth with more new members than any previous years. We currently have 20,000 members, but we know this is a drop in the ocean compared to the real need.

This year we are relying on your help more than ever. We have a plan to take our work to a whole new level to meet the challenge. But to do this, we must raise $250,000 between now and Yom Kippur so that we can:

• Get an additional 5,000 new members in the next 12 months with new advertising.

• Hire additional full-time staff to provide members with individual guidance and support.

• Produce a new 90-day recovery program to double our effectiveness.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski is taking a lead role in our campaign this year, and as a small gesture of gratitude, he’ll send an autographed copy of his latest book, Teshuvah through Recovery (written together with GuardYourEyes) to partners who give $500 or more.

Please think about this: Can there be a greater zechus for the days of judgment than having a significant share in the Teshuvah of thousands?

Ksiva Vechasima Tova!

Please Donate Now

Last night I received a prompt on my iPad, asking me to approve a software update to IOS 10. I was in the middle of something, so I clicked on “Later”, and then “Install Tonight”. I finished up whatever else I was working on, and went to sleep, counting on the update to occur overnight..

This morning I woke up, and went to shut down my iPad, assuming the update had completed while I was sleeping. Instead, I was greeted with a notification: “Your update was not completed, since iPad was not connected to power”.

“Silly me”, I thought. How could I expect to get the update done without being plugged into the power? It’s so energy-draining, and that would be tough on the battery unless I had plugged in.

I then stopped cold. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are around the corner. We are told to take the time to introspect and consider ways to improve the way we act, behave and think. We are essentially trying to give ourselves an update. This is a truly daunting task, and it is fraught with roadblocks. We have been ingrained with these behaviors and negative thought processes for so long, that it seems foolhardy to even bother changing. “Look, we’re not angels”. “I’m only human”. These are some of the phrases we utter to ourselves as we avoid committing to real change.

But G-d still expects us to engage in this special mitzvah of Teshuva. How can we? Isn’t G-d being unreasonable?

Rabbi Dov Yaffe is the Mashgiach Ruchani (spiritual advisor) of Yeshivas Knesses Chizkiyahu in K’far Chasidim, Israel, and is a direct link in the chain of the Musar (ethical) tradition taught by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter from Lithuania in the 19th century. He tells us that according to Jewish mystical tradition, G-d sends a special illumination to each of us on Rosh Hashana and our job is to tap into its power to help ourselves effect personal changes.

The Talmud tells us that Joseph was freed from prison in Egypt on Rosh Hashana (Talmud bavli, RH 11a). Why is this significant for us to know?

Rabbi Yaffe answers that this is a paradigm for all of us that G-d is sending us the power to liberate ourselves from being incarcerated in our own habits and behaviors.

That the same page of the Talmud states that our Matriarchs Sarah and Rachel, who had been biologically incapable of having children, conceived on Rosh Hashana. G-d miraculously changed their biology to start the Jewish Nation. These great women were reborn on Rosh Hashana.

Rabbi Yaffe says that we, too, can be reborn miraculously on Rosh Hashana, since G-d has put that power of potential and change into the world.

The update needs to happen. But it will only work if we plug into the Power.

Rabbi Shlomo Horwitz
Director, Jewish Crossroads
http://www.jewishcrossroads.org/about.htm

facebook.com/JewishCrossroads

443 744 5476

Dear GYE Family,

We just thought of a great idea that would give you a huge zechus before Rosh Hashanah and can potentially help some friends and family -- and also help GuardYourEyes at the same time.

There's a good chance that a few people in your circle of friends or family who could benefit from GuardYourEyes as much as you have (hopefully!). Many of us wish there was a way to let everyone know about GYE, but it's a difficult topic to bring up with people without raising eyebrows...

Now during our High Holiday campaign, there's a great opportunity to indirectly make your friends and acquaintances aware that there's help available.

Here's how. Send out an email to your entire contact list with the following:

We are told to pray on Rosh Hashana to be given life for the rest of the coming year and to beg Hashem for a good, easy, and successful year.

But that is poison for myself and the addicts I know.

Fortunately, there is a dissenting (or maybe clarifying) opinion: R. Nathan holds man is judged at all times.

I purposely avoid davening for the rest of the year on Rosh Hashonoh, b"H, in any respect. It's a constant struggle for me not to give in to the temptation to play with 'One Day At A Time' in granting a dispensation for things that sound religious and proper...like davening for the year instead of living truly one day at a time.

Instead, I have discovered a simple and faithful way to experience and daven on Rosh Hashonoh as a recovering addict. I say the machzor, but trust that all it is about is 'doing Rosh Hashonoh right'. Hashem wants me to say these things - but I do not think about them. I leave my year to Him in surrender. My best 'malchuyos' is surrendering my desire to pray for the year, and instead just praying for today (Rosh hashonoh) to be the way He wants it to be.

And the rest of the year? None of my business. It's His business. I trust Him because He is the Melech, not I. To me, that is the ikkar of the entire Rosh Hashonoh experience (as R" Chaim Volozhiner and the RMCH"L write clearly) - that I am not G-d. The biggest shock there is, truly. (There is a great book about AA by the name "Not G-d," by the way, kind of about this.) And perhaps the greatest practical applicatin of the acceptance that I am not G-d that there is, is admitting that the rest of the year is none of my business, ever. It's His business, because it is about Him and His Will for me, not about me.

Apparently normal Yidden do not need that. For they are instructed to pray for the whole year...and they are also instructed to drink wine on Purim till they are drunk, which most alkies cannot and should not do. They are also told sex is a must on mikvah night (or any night) - a thing that is crazy for many sexaholic marriages. So we are different, right?

Do you have a problem with obsessive and compulsive porn use? Have you seriously tried the tools on GYE and feel that you are not getting better? Maybe it’s time to consider joining a 12-Step program.

Porn Anonymous (PA)
If you’re compulsively acting-out with pornography and masturbation we suggest you explore joining Porn Anonymous (PA). If you need help deciding whether to join PA, call Michael at 347-699-2368, or email help@pornanonymous.org to schedule a time to talk. For more information visit pornanonymous.org (Hebrew: p-a.org.il / Yiddish: pa-yid.org).

Sexaholics Anonymous (SA)
If your compulsive acting-out has progressed beyond the screen (with other people, paid sexual services, etc.) we suggest you explore joining Sexaholics Anonymous (SA). To figure out if SA is for you, call Dov at 917-414-8205, or email Dov at dov@guardyoureyes.org to schedule a time to talk. For more information visit www.sa.org.