Yomim Tovim

Today is the Ushpizin of Yosef Hatzadik, and tonight - Hoshana Rabba, is the Ushpizin of David Hamelech. The Zohar in Parshas Lech Lecha, discusses the merits that both Yosef and David had that enabled them to achieve kingdom. Here is what the Zohar writes: The Pasuk stat...

You may find that the Yetzer Hara feels stronger these days than usual. Because it's vacation-time, people are often not learning as much Torah as they usually do. Hashem says "barasi Yetzer Hara, barasi torah tavlin" - "I created the Yetzer Hara, and I created the Torah...

Sukkos is a time of Simcha. The Chassidic Rebbe of Karlin once said that with Simcha Shel Mitzva a Yid can break down all barriers! The Yetzer Hara just flees when Jews rejoice with Hashem's Mitzvos. Have a Simchadik Yom-Tov!

We all do/did the Minhag of Kaparos on Erev Yom-Kippur or in the days preceding it. One may ask... before Yom Kippur, we immerse in the Mikvah and supposed to be all clean and dressed in white. So why do we need to get all dirty with the smelly chickens and watch the bloo...

The more we understand the underlying message the 12-Steps represent, the more we can understand the underlying message of Yetzias Mitzrayim as well. Those who work the 12-Steps into their lives, claim that they no longer have to fight the Yetzer Hara; Hashem does it for...

The 3rd step states: "We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him". In the past we tried to explain how this works: Instead of retaining the lust and trying to give up our will to Hashem, we surrender the lust itself to ...

We have previouly discussed how the 12-Steps give us a set of guidelines that are basic foundations of what it means to be a human being - created in the image of G-d. We have also discussed that it is only after our foundations are solid that can we begin to build on top...

Whenever there was a strong Kedusha, it leaves a "void" in its wake when it leaves. That is why we eat Melaveh Malka on Motzai Shabbos, to counter this affect. And perhaps that is also why there is Shushan Purim. Otherwise, the great drop in Kedusha from Purim to regular ...

In the days before Purim, I received an unprecedented amount of e-mails with cries for help, people who had fallen and felt they couldn't get back up, posts on the forum of despair, lack of motivation, etc... It struck me as odd that there should be so many in a row, all ...

In every generation we receive the Torah anew through the Tzadikim of all the generations. Someone sent us an e-mail recently: "Do you use sayings of R' Nachman a lot in your emails? The reason I am asking, is because in my community they don't learn Breslover teachings"....