The following are a hodgepodge of Torah'dig thoughts that Hashem planted in my head.

Comments, Cashiyos, & constructive criticism calmly collected by PM. I locked this thread to replies so that it should be easy reading for those that are interested in my Torah. You shouldn't have to search for the Torah between all the other stuff.


(Public comments to me can be made in my thread in the Introduce Yourself section entitled Tov veyoshor Hashem al kein yoreh chata'im baderech!)

At Chazoros Hashatz we say: Modim anachnu luch she'ato hu .... yotzreinu.

These words can be understood to mean, we thank Hashem that Hashem is the one who created us, not some other entity. When someone commits a crime against a human, there is no room for forgiveness. (As we saw in Florida this week, a repentant man was put to death for a heinous murder he committed 25 years ago.) Hashem is not like that. We say on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur before KEDUSHA, emes ki atoh hu yotzrom ve'atoh yodei'ah yitzrom ki heim bosor vedom, Hashem knows why we sinned, what pushed us to the aveirah. He understand the circumstances. He accepts our teshuvah. He HELPS us do teshuvah, he leads us to teshuvah!

We thank Hashem that He is Elokai kol bosor. He is Yotzreinu.

Motzei Shovavim:

I heard that just as on motzei Yom Kipur we must believe that Hashem was mochel our aveiros, so to after shovavim we believe that we were zoche to be mesaken some of our pegamim.

Elsewhere in this BEIS HAMEDRASH it is brought that when a person is r"l nichshal, he creates sickly neshomos through his aveiros. When those neshomos go to Hashem asking for nourishment, he tells them to go to the person that created them through his deeds. They come to the ba'al aveiro and tell him you are our father give us your spritiual nourishment. How can a person survive when his chiyus is taken from him? when a person's teshuvah is accepted, Those neshomos are returned to their Source and receive their nourishment from Hashem.

The last avodah of shovavim is the birchas hamozon at seudas shlishis. If a person is zoche to be mesaken some of his pegamim, he can have the following in mind when saying the first brocho:

We thank Hashem that He is zon es ha'olom kulo betuvo b'chein b'chesed uberachamim even those neshomos... and from now on... uvetuvo hagodol tamid lo chosar lonu v'al yechsar lonu MOZON le'olom vo'ed!!!

Parshas Terumah:

Venosato el ha'oron es ho'eidis.
The Torah is an eidis between Hashem and Klal Yisrael.(Rashi)

The Luchos were in the Oron along with the broken pieces of the first luchos.

The fact that we slipped, broke the luchos, did teshuva, and received a new set from Hashem bears witness for us that we can slip and even fall, but we can always find our way back to Hashem!

Parshas Terumah:

The keruvim have their wings raised (poised to soar), they are standing on the Oron & Kapores, but they still need to be pneihem ish el achiv, they need constant support from one another!

A smile, a good word, a wink, or even a knowing look can do wonders.

Everyone needs compliments!

Parshas Devorim:

After conquering Sichon Melech Ho'emori and Og Melech Habashon, Moshe started to explain the Torah.

Siach is a loshon of speech, Vayeitzei Yitzchok lasi'ach besodo, melech ha'emori=speaking.
'Og, Bashan' is begematria 'Ayin roeh, lev chomed' (In yiddish Og is an eye.)

In this BEIS HAMEDRASH there is a thread discussing that bris halashon is mechuvan negged bris hamaor, after these two are conquered can we start seeing the true depths of Torah!

Megilas Esther:

B'chol yom v'yom u'Mordchai mis'halech lifnei chatzar beis hanashim...........
U'mordchai yosheiv b'sha'ar hamelech.

Mis'halech is a loshon nifal, as he didn't aim for that place , he just found himself passing through. Yoshev means he consciously sat himself down there with intent to be there.

At the sha'ar hamelech, Mordechai can sit and spend some time, but lifnei chatzar beis hanashim he couldn't do any more than just pass by! If Esther wouldn't have been there he would have avoided the whole area completely. Even when we must go to a Dangerous Place [dangers to ruchnius] it should be k'ilu kofoi sheid.



P.S. A talmid chochom showed me that this vort was already written by the Shevet Mussar .

He also showed me that the Shineve Rav Z"l said that Mordechai Hatzadik was a gilgul of Yosef Hatzadik and Haman was a gilgul of the Sar Hamashkim.

Parshas Tetzaveh:

There are two sets of names on the bigdei kehuna, the names on the choshen and the names on the shoulder straps of the eiphod. These can correspond to the two names that the members of the GYE community have.

On the Choshen each name was engraved in its own gemstone, inlaid in a gold setting; each of us posses our individual name (i.e. our REAL names). Nefesh chaya hu shmoe!

Additionally, there is another set of names. These names are grouped together with many names to each stone, this alludes to us having second names, USERNAMES, to protect our anonymousity thereby hiding our individuality. Together, as one, we form a group of ovdei Hashem. V'yakshev Hashem vayishmah v'yikaseiv basefer zikaron lefonov l'yirei Hashem V'LACHOSHVEI SHMOE!!!!

Parshas Tetzave:

GYE Forum min hatorah minayin? There may be a remez in this parshah:
We joined this eideh kedoshe when we felt like the lowest in K'lal Yisroel, the bottom of the barrel. _{(Woodford barrel maybe?)} We found that we really do have many good points in ourselves. At the very bottom edge of the Me'il of the Kohen Godol there were Pomegranates - afilu reikanin shebuh melei'im mitzvos k'rimon. The bells made noise and v'nishma kolo b'vo'oh el hakodesh, when someone overcomes his Y"H and moves up in his kedusha, he posts in the forum [& gets chizuk]. The bells also make noise when the opposite happens, U'betzeiso, when someone has a fall, or is about to, the oilam helps him out, and together we are zoche to V'lo yamisu, we won't die an eternal death!

shemirateinayim wrote on 23 Feb 2010 23:45:


Last night, at a Vacht Nacht, I heard that Rav Chaim Brim Z"l said that the reason R' Osher Arieli Shlit"a, R"m in Yeshivas Mir, was zoche to give such a great shiur is because he never walked on Rechov Yaffo!

Also overheard last night: R' Asher Arieli Shlit"a said about himself: Many yungeleit save up some money, a little at a time, to amass some funds for a purchase that they want to buy; I saved up the loose change in order that I should be able to take a taxi to yeshiva one day more, thereby saving one more time of walking in the streets of Yerushalayim.

Haftorah of Ta'anis Tzibur:

There may be a remez to Hashem's being mekabel Ba'alei Teshuva in this Haftorah:

V'al yomar ben haneichar- someone who sinned, as Chazal say somewhere else, Mi shenisnakru ma'asov le'aviv shebashamayim, and now he became - hanilva el Hashem - he returned to Hashem, - leimor, "Havdel yavdilani Hashem me'al amo" - Hashem cut me off. And also - v'al yomar hasoris - someone who holds himself back from HZ"L, he makes believe as if he is really a soris. He shouldn't give up saying that it is already too late - "hein ani etz yaveish".

Hashem is still speaking to him too! He is NOT cut off from Hashem - ki koh amar Hashem lasorisim asher yishmoru. - As long as we are GUARDING we are still connected to Hashem. No matter how many slips or even falls we make. He who loses a single battle did yet lose the war. As long as we don't surrender, our flag flies HIGH!!!!!

Parshas Ki Sisa:

The gemara says that K'lal Yisroel was not re'uyin le'oso ma'aseh, they were not really on such a low level as to commit a terible aveiro as idolatry, elo lehoros teshuvah lerabim, to teach us that even when the whole tzibur may be nichshal in a chet, they CAN still do teshuvah.

This may be understood as follows: (Notwithstanding all the other divrei Chaza"l... Ayin panim leTorah) They didn't really have bechira whether to do the aveiro or not. The actual aveiro was not the test that Hashem was testing them with. Rather, Hashem wanted to see what they will do after they were nichshal. Will they just become depressed and dwell in their sorrow, or will they move on and move up.

Lehoros teshuva lerabim, every one of us can think about this point AFTER we slipped. (This is not an excuse to set out on the wrong path, chas ve'sholom.) We can think that maybe, in this case, I didn't really have a bechira in deciding not to guard my eyes.  I strayed. I saw. I started slipping. I stumbled. I sank. Now what?? I am worthless. I am a hopeless addict. I am a lost case........... I lost my conection to Hashem. I may as well do another aveiro? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!! Hashem didn't close his eyes. He didn't stop recording. He sees me in my low moments and he sees me as I get up again. Maybe, just maybe, He is the one who pushed me down because he wanted to see me get up. He enjoys seeing me get up from the depths even more than He enjoys it when I coast along at a high altitude without any bumps. So HE PUSHED ME DOWN. Now what? Now I give him what he wants. I show him how I get back up!

The above may be alluded to in the gemoro, bemokom she'ba'alei teshuva omdim ein tzadikim gemurim yecholim la'amod. Tzadikim don't give Hashem this specific nachas.

We praise Hashem in shmona esrei, in the brocho of Gevurah - Eizehu gibor hakoveish es yitzro, that Hashem is Mashiv Haru'ach and He is Mored Hageshem. B'derech remez: there are times that Hashem takes away our Ruchniyes'dige levels and lowers our gashmius to the depths.... to see what we will do then!

Parshas Parah:

The eastern wall of the Har Habayis was shorter than the other three so that the Kohen who was preparing the Parah Adumah could look at the Pischei Shel Heichel while spraying the blood. As Rashi says, Ro'eh Umischaven k'neged pischei shel heichel.

This can be alluding to anyone who is being osek in preparing teharah for tumah. He should concentrate on seeing the Beis Hamikdash. I heard a p'shat in the words of shmone esrei, V'sechzena eineinu b'shuvchah letziyon berachamim, we ask Hashem that our eyes may see his return to Yerushalayim. But if you don't GUARD YOUR EYES, how can you expect to see the Shechinah with those eyes????

Concentrating on preparing our eyes to see Hashem's return to the Beis HaMikdash is part of making a teharah for ourselves.

Parshas Ki Sisa:

Vaya'amod Moshe besha'ar hamachane vayomer mi laShem eiloi vayei'osfu eilov kol b'nei Leivi.
When Maran Harav GUARD stood at the gates and announced "Those who want to connect to Hashem, join this group!" All the 'Bnei Leivi' gathered.

Who are the 'Bnei Leivi'?

The RAMBAM (end of Hilchos Shmita V'yovel) says [following a loose translation], Vlo shevet Leivi bilvad, elah kol ish v'ish m'kol bo'ei ha'olom asher nodvo ruchoh osoh v'havinu mado'oh lehibadel la'amod lifnei Hashem lesharsoh ule'ovdo, l'de'ah ess Hashem, v'holach yoshor kmoh she'osohu ha'elokim u'parak  me'al tzavoroh ol hacheshbonos harabim asher bikshu bnei ha'adam, harei zeh niskadesh kodesh kodoshim .....

Aren't these some of the 12 Steps? To reach a conclusion in our mind that we can't go it alone. We want the connection with Hashem. We are dropping the many different calculation and personal cheshbonos that humans tend to make. We will just go yashar with Hashem. WE ARE NISKADESH KODESH KODOSHIM!!!

WE are the 'Bnei Leivi'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE answered Guard's call! WE gathered around him! WE are chelko v'nachlosoh l'olam u'le'olmei olamim, as the Rambam goes on, v'yizkeh loh b'olam hazeh davar hamaspik loh kmoh shezike l'Kohanim v'laLeviim. Harei Dovid omer Hashem m'nus chelki v'kosi atoh tomeich gorali!!!!!!

We give over the fight to Hashem and we are HIS!                          _{.....and R' Guard will lead the way.}

Parshas Vayakhel:

Even though I don't have internet access at home, I sit at a computer all day at work. A person can build a box around himself, a perfect shelter, but for parnassa we may have to go out of the box. As was said Bnafsho yavi lachmo, he has to give his nefesh, his neshomo for his bread - parnasa. The sitting at a computer at work turned me into a double faced man, to the outside world a regular yungerman and at the computer a monster.

Lechem Hapanim is the symbol of parnassa. Rashi says: al shem shehoyu lo panim lekan ulekan, shehoya osuy k'min teivah p'rutzah, they had a face here and here - a double faced guy. They made him into a broken box, they broke his box.

Maybe even a box of Pritzutz, rachmana litzlan.