Torah

The Gemara in Brochos, ;perek ;9, says, "One who sees a gamal (camel) in a dream should know that it was decreed he should die, but he was saved from the decree." It brings from this week's parsha Va'Yigash perek 46 possuk 4, "Hashem tells Yaakov: 'I will go down with you to Mitzrayim and I will ...

Each day counts, that means if I messed up yesterday - so what?! Today is a new day!

Yosef HaTzadik is teaching us an approach in life – be a minimalist!  Many try for perfection.  We feel that anything short of perfection is not worth it.  Yosef is saying “Not true.  Accomplish whatever you can accomplish, even if it does not solve the problem, even if it is not a foolproof plan.”  Doing something is better than doing nothing!

Let's train ourselves to be Yitzchoks, not Esavs.

Today is the 19th of Kislev, the yahrzeit of the Maggid of Mezritch. I was learning his sefer and he was talking about fearing Hashem and loving Hashem.

"Sadness by itself is no sin, but the apathy (lit. 'numbness of the heart') that sadness brings about, no other sin can bring about. Mikva by itself is no mitzvah - since Tvilas Ezra was annulled - but the goodness that mikva brings, no other mitzvah brings.

"Please Hashem, within all my defects, my sins, my warts, my hurts, my huge mess,  lies a specialness that you put in me. Why did you create me? Because you say I have value. Otherwise, I would not be here in this world.

Yes, we know that during the Chagim, he tried to stick his foot in many times, because when there is greater kedushah (the yom tovim), then there is greater tumah, i.e. Mr. Menuval.  But, now we have finished with the chagim. Let us not forget that on one hand it was the Chagim that helped us. We tuned into the kedushah and ran from the tumah.

Our addictions are internal. Sometimes the external factors are unchangeable. Sometimes we accidentally see things we aren’t supposed to. Sometimes we even do it on purpose. But our Tefillah to Hashem should be to keep us strong internally.

Jewish tradition, however, does not see sex , per se, as sinful. In fact, in the right context, and when engaged in with conscious purpose, sex is seen as a positive commandment,