The Library

I saw a mind blowing Chazal today that can provide tremendous chizzuk to all of us that are struggling or that fell in the past. The Torah tells us that while a Cohen is permitted to marry a widow, a Cohen Gadol, however, is forbidden. The question is why. I saw brought d...

Listen to a short message of Chizuk regarding Pesach Sheini (3.5 min).

It is brought down in many places, especially in the chassidish sefarim, that a person needs friends to help him in avodas Hashem. Chazal say: כל הגדול מחבירו יצרו גדול ממנו. The Beis Aharon of Karlin read this in the following way: כל הגדול - מחבירו - Whoever is gre...

To add to the testimonial regarding "The movie theater up in heaven," I too think like that when it comes to fighting the ultimate fight against my yezter hara. I recently installed a nanny cam in my house which saves clips on a cloud, and I sometimes watch mysel...

In this week's Parsha we learn about the animals, fish, insects, and birds that we may not eat. The Torah describes them as "Toeiva" - an abomination. We are taught that by eating these things we are destroying our Neshamos, and the damage is very great. Why is it that th...

We know "sheva yipol tzaddik v'kum". To fall seven times you have to have been up in between. The possuk tells us don't worry you will eventually stand without falling. But what about someone who remains on the ground the whole time. For where does he know that there is h...

Every place where the chometz was brought during the year, requires careful inspection (bedikah). This means to say that everyone needs to inspect his soul for place that the "chometz" (i.e. the Evil Inclination) dwells there, each one according to his or her level. For e...

Adam ki yakriv meekem korban Lashem min habehemahAdam ki yakriv, a person who wishes to come close to the RBSO, should look at a korban and learn about his own ability. Any person who declares an animal he owns to be a korban, instantly transforms that animal into kodesh ...

I saw a wonderful insight from Rabbi Galinsky Zt"l which is very relevant to our struggles. We all know the Baal Haturim (even if we didn't know that it was the Baal Haturim who says it) why Vayikra is written with a small aleph. Explains the Baal Haturim that when Moshe...

During the hundreds of years that the Children of Israel lived in the land of Egypt, they gathered and elevated sparks of holiness that were hidden there. Our ancestors did what they had to do while enslaved in the lowest place on earth, they were ultimately successful in...

The Klausenberger Rebbe zy"a after the war was in the DP camps and it was Purim and he was at the seudah surrounded by many people, each one with a tragic story, this one lost a wife, this one his parents, this one his children and so on. the matzav ruach was very low. th...

Did Mordechai really suspect that Esther would do something so low? hamispalel ba'ad chavero vehoo tzarich leee'oso davar hu nenah techila. There is a power in a tefila that comes from a lev nishbar. A persn who needs something and his heart is broken because of it, and e...

I heard some tremendous Chizuk from Rabbi Efriam Wachsman in a shiur titled "Megilas Esther: Discovering the Depths of Our Neshomos":(Note: In general, Rabbi Wachsman's shiurim often give chizuk to those who struggle with the Yetzer Harrah.To hear his Shiurim, call the Ye...

The concept of the Mishkan is an astounding one. How can a structure of any size house Hashem in it? How can we attempt to contain the uncontainable? Yet it symbolizes Hashgacha, involvement of Hashem in our physical world. We live in a world with physical houses in which...

The Talmud tells a story. Rabbi Tarphon was ill and his very important friends, Rabbi Akiva, Rabban Gamliel and others, came to visit. They met his mother at the door crying. She pleaded with the Tzaddikim to “please pray for her son Tarphon - he is such a good son.” She ...

The Kapores & its Keruvim were not fashioned as separate pieces and soldered together. Rather, they took a large chunk of gold & started banging at its core. The gold piles at the ends grew higher & higher and they sculpted them into the Keruvim. These Keruvim...

"Vechen taasu," Rashi: "im yoivad oy keshetaaseh klei bais olamim." The Torah is giving instructions how to create a place where the Shechinah will rest, how to construct the necessary components. The Torah is telling you from the very beginning that you might need to fix...