PARSHAS SHOFTIM:

(19:11) 'vechi yehiyeh ish soneh lerei'eihu v'orav loi v'kam loi...' 'if a person hates his friend and ambushes him .... to kill him etc' Rashi comments on here, that the hating caused the killing - from here we learn that if a person is oiver a small aveiroh he will end up being oiver a big aveiroh. He was oiver 'dont hate your brother in your heart' that led to 'dont kill'.

lusting in our hearts 'acharei levavchem' leads to other things, we cant take that 1st sip. We have to start a program to correct the corrupt thinking in our hearts and to uproot it, or it will lead us further astray.

easier said then done, mouse. (I like the thought, though.)
This is especially when society throws suggestive material in our faces wherever we look. I hate to blame others for my shortcomings but sometimes SOCIETY shoves the 'first sip' in our faces...

yeh i hear you, i was just noticing an obvious source for the fact that we have to work on fixing ourselves on the inside, in our hearts as well as our actions. Not easy, but thats the goal...

Hope you don't mind if I jump in with own thoughts, mouse

Ki Seize
22:4- "you see your friends donkey suffering with the owner....help him!"
Rashi- “with him”: only together with the owner.
However,  if the person is watching the animal, you don’t have to help.
Chaftez Chaim- it applies to avodas Hashem, as well. we have to help ourselves out to get others to help us. We can only ask Hashem for help if we do some hishtadlus as well.
I think those that are on the site understand this concept, BH.
have a great shabbos
- sg

To clarify: If the owner himself is sitting and watching his animal suffer from the load and asks you who happens to be there :" Can you please help my animal out?" ...  the person that comes by and responds "I will help you out, but only you as the owner try yourself!"

not at all, thanks for the idea! its so true.

PARSHAS KI SEITSEI:

The parsha of yefas toar always got my lustfilled mind excited, look the Torah knows its too hard so there's a certain way out, where its all mutar... WRONG!! look at the torahs way to do it, wait a month, make her disgusting, thats the outlet! and then you have to marry her! The same is true with the parsha of rape which is also this week, the rapist has to marry the girl forever, he cant divorce her!

I think what the torah is teaching us, is that there are consequences to our lusting, far reaching consequences that cant be outdone. the addiction is lying, there is no such thing as a one off fling where you walk away from her - you have to keep her forever - thats the torah view on following lust through to the end - real, lifelong consequences. Is it worth it for an extremely fleeting moment of pleasure??

PARSHAS KI SAVO:

two points of chizuk from Bikurim. Firstly, Rav Moshe Feinstein asks, Why does the person bringing his bikurim have to say he has come to the land (ki vosi el ha'aretz26:3)? His anscestors came to the land and had been there already for hundreds of years! Rav Moshe learns from here that each day is brand new, he has to feel that he just arrived in eretz yisroel that day. This teaches us an important lesson - each day must be evaluated independantly, if i was successful today, doesn't mean ill neccesarliy be so tomorrow and vice-versa. Even if i fell big time today, i could be great tomorrow (i personally had this experience just this week!) and even if i was great tomorrow that doesn't mean tomorrow is gonna be easier - one day at a time!

Second - The malbim is bothered with the same possuk, that 'i have declared' in past tense ('higaditi'. Why past tense, i didnt say anything yet? He answeres by saying that actions can also be declarations, like in teffiloh lemoshe, "the sky declares the handiwork of Hashem". Therefore, this guy who went all the way to the bais hamikdosh to take his first ripened fruits which he planted with his own hands and give them away is making a big statement. He shows that he believes it all comes from Hashem. So he didn't get to the mitsva yet, but its considered that he already started the declaration just by taking the journey.

So im still falling, i still am controlled by my rid, but you know what, i started a journey, i joined steve's phonecall and therefore i have started my declaration of recovery!

YA'ALEH VEYAVO HA'OROS WITH YOSEF HATZADIK:

recap: ahm posted - that we say in shmoneh esrei "we should be able to see the shechina with our eyes" (vezechezeno). How could we deserve to see the shechina with the same eyes that we used for shmutz?! we've gotta guard eyes before we can be zoche to such a thing.
yh posted - maybe ya'aleh veyavo has a special power to facilitate that because chazal put it right before vezecheno.

Maybe the pshat is like this. We say at the end, "in the matter of salvation and compassion, have pity, be gracious and be compassionate with us and save us for OUR EYES ARE TURNED TO YOU..." in other words, we're acknowledging that we can only be saved if Hashem saves us and we turn our eyes toward Him instead of the shmutz. that means we have admitted powerlessness and are searching for Him in A&W moments, we are talking to Him and are focusing on Him. That is what will get us to a place where we can be zoche to see the shechina with our eyes, becuase that is how they will stay clean. More than that, middoh keneged middoh, because we searched for Hashem's presence we'll be zoche to see it in its full glory.

Your eyes saw what mine couldn't see!  8)

I searched in the tefilla of Ya'aleh veyavo for a connection  but I was unsuccessful. A person cannot touch that which is destined for his friend even by a hairsbreadth! 

but it was your ha'orah which made me think about it. That is exactly why we need a chavrusa and boy - what a chavrusa i was zoche to!

The feelings are mutual!

Boruch Hashem!!!!

PARSHAS NETZOVIM VAYELECH:

(31:17) 'umetsauhu raos rabos vetsaros veomar bayom hahoo haloh ki ein elokai bekirbi metsauni haraos haeileh' 'many evils and distresses will encouter them and they will say on that day, is it not because G-d is not in my midst that these evils have befallen me?' 

The simple meaning here is that Hashem will punish us for serving other gods and not Him and we'll realise thats what were being punished for.

Perhaps a deeper meaning, is that life's trials and happenings which come our way will be painful for us, greatly distressing, why - because we dont have G-d in our midst! our lives are painful because we dont live with G-d in our lives. It's not that life will actually change for the better if we bring Hashem into our lives, but we wont be in so much pain because we'll be living with the realisation that Hashem has the better plan, not us.

In other words, without Hashem being a trully practical part of our lives, there will be Restlessness, Irritability & Discontent and just general pain, when we bring Him into our lives on a personal level there is more tranquility and serenity because we start to trust that He knows what He's doing.

THOUGHTS FROM DAVENING:

(in ezras avoseinu) : 'poideh anavim' Hashem redeems the humble. We are locked up in our addiction, slaves to it, we need redemption, well we have an indication of how to do it - Hashem redeems the humble - we gotta replace that EGO with humility.

(l'keil orech din - yomim nora'im) 'l'taher chosov badin' 'to the One who purifies those who trust Him in judgement'. Hashem will purify us if we trust Him, if we let go of our plan and rely on His will for us instead of our own. Let go and let G-d!

THOUGHTS FROM DAVENING:

In Hashivo shofteinu, we say 'vehoser mimenu yogoin vo'anocho umeloich aleinu meheiro atoh Hashem levad'cho' 'remove from us sorrow and groan and rule over us You Hashem on Your own.'

The more we let Hashem rule over us alone without other things ruling over us, the less sorrow and groan we will have. Ie, more spirituality = less RID.

THOUGHTS FROM DAVENING:

(pesukei dezimra) 'uveyadcha legadel ulechazek lakol' 'And it is in Your hand to make great or to strengthen anyone'. We should never ever feel like the job is too hard or the road is too long because we have Hashem on our side and He has the power to strengthen anyone and to make anyone great, no matter how tough or unlikely it seems. We just have to train ourselves to believe it.