welcome back!

no one can fill your place, yechida

I sent our esteemed R’ Guard 3 items last week. Two, R’ Guard posted already and this is the third.

The Wise Woman’s stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.
Author Unknown

Wow! Thank you...

With Hashem's help, may we all reach the point where we can make that same choice as the traveler - to recognize what has TRUE value.

amen!
thank you Yechida!

How are YOU doing?

Amen!!

and Boruch Hashem, I am doing much better

It's good to be back here

down the road,I will discuss certain things,from personal experience,that I think will help.

I am not ready yet. but with Hashem's help, I will get there

we're here when your ready
you're "doing better"?
i didn't even know you were doing not so good?
POST! ;D

Cynicism

Almost finished  Mitch Albom’s “have a little faith’. The Rabbi he knows and communicates with is conservative but it seems that that was the way he was raised, and that he did the best he can with the background and ability he had.

Anyhow, here is one of the encounters

I put it here because yechida has the tendency of being cynical. I improved over the years but I still need to work hard to combat it. My wife has told me several times that she could handle my anger but not my cynicism. Of course she prefers that should have neither of those traits. So do I. And I must learn to only use this trait when I must.

How do you not get cynical?

He stopped

“There is no room for cynicism in this line of work”

But people are so flawed. They ignore ritual, they ignore faith, they even ignore you. Don’t you get tired of trying?....

“Let me answer with a story,” he said “There’s this salesman, see? And he knocks on the door. The man who answers says, ’I don’t need anything today.”

“The next day, the salesman is back”

“Stay away” he is told

‘The next day the salesman is back

“The man yells,”You again!! I warned you!!” He gets so angry, he spits in the salesman’s face.

The salesman smiles, wipes the spit with a handkerchief. then looks to the sky and says “Must be raining”

Mitch, that is what faith is. If they spit in your face , you say it must be raining. But you still come back tomorrow….

So the  next time that cynical voice in you tells you that your'e a lowlife and spits at you in disgust,and you want to give up,just smile and keep coming back.Hashem promises you that if you keep coming back,the sun will shine,and the door will open wide,and that man who spit at you will give you the greatest profit of your life.

Just keep coming back

All i can say is, that its great to have you back, Yechida. Please keep on posting. You never know what your doing for others.

imtrying25 wrote on 08 Dec 2009 16:51:


ditto. totally awesome.

when i was in sem, i thought of something that i wanted to do.
smile at my parents once a day.
no matter what.

that was really nice yechida. and letakain, you too.

i can't wait to hear what you write yechida, can't wait!
it's really really nice to have you back

thank you everyone.I appreciate your kindness.

Pearls-R Kook

When you sense that you have fallen because the spirit of your ethical awareness is weak,
consider this: you have to draw forth precious pearls from the depths of the abyss.

When you know this, then you will rise. You will renew your abilities with strength and tranquility. You will approach the ever-lasting light with more capability than you ever had before.

This rule applies to the entire generation. It governs reality forever.

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 252



and he was talking to you too.....

Begin Again
by Susan Coolidge


Every day is a fresh beginning,
Every day is the world made new;
You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
Here is a beautiful hope for you-
A hope for me and a hope for you.

All the past things are past and over,
The tasks are done and the tears are shed;
Yesterday’s errors let yesterday cover;
Yesterday’s wounds, which smarted and bled,
Are healed with the healing which night has shed.

Yesterday now is a part of forever,
Bound up in a sheaf, which God holds tight;
With glad days, and sad days and bad days which never
Shall visit us more with their bloom and their blight,
Their fullness of sunshine or sorrowful night.
Let them go, since we cannot relieve them,
Cannot undo and cannot atone;
God in His mercy, receive, forgive them;
Only the new days are our own,
Today is ours, and today alone.

Here are the skies all burnished brightly,
Here is the spent earth all reborn,
Here are the tired limbs springing lightly
To face the sun and to share the morn,
In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.

Every day is a fresh beginning;
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
And puzzles forecasted and possible pain
Take heart with the day, and begin again.

Hashem talks to us in many different ways

From Albom’s book page 62

I remember once , as a boy, I was so hungry ,and there was a fruit and vegetable truck parked by our building. I tried to bump against it, so an apple would fall into my hands. That way it wouldn’t feel like stealing.

“Suddenly, I heard a voice from above yelling at me in Yiddish, ”Albert, it is forbidden!!” I jumped. I thought it was God.

“Who was it” I asked

“A lady who lived upstairs”

I laughed. Not quite God.

“No. But , Mitch, we were part of each other’s lives.

If someone was about to slip, someone else would catch him

Beauty of Yefes in the Tent of Shem

Dear brothers and sisters,

One of the greatest tactics of the yetzer horah is to convince us that in order to be a frum and good Jew we have to give up the pleasures of this world in a very radical way. Now, it is true that many our  great tzaddikim have chosen this unique path, and there are times that Hashem chooses it for them. And we need such tzaddikim in the world.

But many tzaddikim have not chosen this path.

And in truth, almost all of us cannot do this.

Nor are we supposed to.

As we give us those unhealthy pleasures, Hashem is giving us a path towards enjoying even this world, in a way that will not only not will not conflict spiritually, but will enhance it, where the  physical and the spiritual will go hand in hand.

Now if you are going to say that Yaakov wanted to be “sit” with tranquility and Hashem wouldn’t let him.

So why would He let us do so?

There the key is the ‘sitting”. There is nothing wrong with yearning for tranquility, and we have every right to ask Hashem to grant us this. But He does not like the ‘Layshaiv’-the sitting. You need a vacation, you want to walk near a beautiful lake and enjoy it, that is perfectly Ok. But always bear in mind the constructive purpose behind it. To appreciate  Hashem’s world. To recharge your batteries. he same is true with all types of pleasures of this world. You can ask for them. As long as it is not an end in and of itself. For those single ones who yearn for intimacy, or for the married ones who yearn for it to be better;. Nothing wrong with that at all. You can ask Hashem for this. And He wants to give it to you too. All you need to do is to go beyond it.  As a vehicle and expression to be close to the one Hashem will give you or has given you -and to thank Hashem for it too.

Yes, every person will experience suffering of various kinds. But most of us have many blessings too .I break my ankle. I cannot ask Hashem to unbreak it (He could do that too, but that is not the way He wanted the world to operate).But what I can do is experience the many other blessings that I took for granted until then. or even in time to see the hidden blessing of that break itself. and even more serious stuff usually has myriads of open blessings as well as hidden ones. We cannot judge others who do not handle suffering well. But we can try to improve ourselves, because deep in our hearts we know that despite the suffering, there are millions and trillions of blessings that we do have. would you give up an eye, even just one? or both kidneys and hook ourselves to a dialysis machine? or as bad as these struggles with lust are, it would be a terrible thing if the normal body functioning in those areas would be cut off from you. Now, it may be a burden to you. But it can turn into your greatest blessing. It is to be used.The way Hashem wants it to be used. He gave it to you as a gift. Don’t abuse it. Cherish it. By not giving in to the temptation you are not losing anything, you are not killing this drive. You are saving it, because Hashem does not want to take it away from you. He just wants you to learn how to use it. It is something you can look forward too. like you look forward to a delicious meal, yes the food is great, but you have your eye on that Great Birchas Hamazon that will shake the Heavens, and especially if you are eating in the aura of Shabbos. You have Shabbos to look forward to. Everyday could become a small Shabbos. And Shabbos becomes a Big one.     

Knowing that you have this to look forward too makes the current struggle much easier and much more bearable.

Because you are not giving up what you are yearning for.

You may feel crummy for a while

But know that you have not given up a thing.

It’s a safe investment.

Hashem, you know what I need

Please allow me to have it in a kosher way.

And not just in a kosher way, but in a way that I could become close to You

You like nice cars? Fine. Hashem may want you to have a nice car. Yes, He may actually want you to have one and to enjoy it too. But He tells you please do not to lose focus, That car I am giving you, also give the guy a lift, he needs a ride from a chasuna, do that mitzvah, you have a long commute, enjoy your nice car. But please talk to Me sometimes while you drive, or listen to a Torah Tape, or if you are too tired, then listen to some wonderful niggunim and be happy that you are a Yid. 

As I saw something kanesher wrote .That often , for us wounded children, “intimacy with real people(our wives) is not as desirable as intimacy with false people”.

We can ask Hashem to help us with this.

Help us make intimacy more desirable with the real person that Hashem placed before you .or if you are yet single , then with the real person that He will place before you.

But isn’t there something fishy about asking Hashem for this?

No.

He wants you to ask this of Him.

Because you are asking this not as an end game thing, you ask to be healthy ,to heal that wounded child, that you will use this intimacy to promote peace and harmony and chessed in your home, and peace of mind that goes along with this, peace of mind to learn, to daven, to help people ,to help your wife and children in any way and every way that you can, peace of mind that will allow me to let go of all that trash that I soiled myself with for so long. Help me Hashem. That this should cause me to never even consider going in that unhealthy way ever again.

Beauty of Yefes belongs in the Tent of Shem

That is where it belongs.

Outside of the Tent of Shem, the beauty is Ugly

Open beauty without boundaries is deadly, and it is Rat Poison in Candy form.

Inside the Tent of Shem , it is truly Beautiful.

You are not giving up the beauty of Yefes when you coax it into the Tent of Shem

You are saving it. You are cherishing it. It’s protected. The walls of the Tent does not diminish the beauty. It enhances it. When you are outside the tent, it looks like you have drowned out this beauty in that small humble tent.

But when you are inside the Tent, you see this is not true.

You have not given up a thing.

The physical is not neglected.

Body and Soul are in Harmony.

Hashem wants us to have both.

We should talk to Him about this.

He is much more Open Minded than you think.

He listens.