PARSHAS KI SISO:

The 1st of the 13 midos is "Hashem, Hashem", Rashi says this is the mido of rachamim - it is repeated because one needs rachamim before he sins and after he sins.

Q. Why would a person need rachamim before he sins?
A. When someone is in the throws of a difficult nisayon, all he needs to do is to reach out to Hashem and realise that without His rachamim, he can't succeed and withstand the test!

PARSHAS PEKUDEI:

Rashi at the begining of the sedra points out that Betzelel was named as such coz he clearly had ruach hakodesh (ie in the shadow of Hashem).

How does rashi know? coz he even did stuff that Hashem told Moishe but Moishe didnt repeat to him. ie Moishe was 1st told about the aron and all the keilim of the Mishkan coz they're the ikkur and then the mishkan itself, but clearly it was to be built in the opposite order and Betzalel knew that even though Moishe didnt tell him.

This reminded me of rabbeinu dov's peshat in derech eretz kodmoh latorah. The keilim inside the mishkan are like the torah itself - that's the ikkur - that is Hashem's gift to us to enable us to reach great heights.

But we 1st need to build the mishkan which will house the keilim - ie ourselves as a mikdash me'at, we are supposed to make ourselves a place where Hashem and the torah can function. Ie we have to be proper people with our middos straight, right across the spectrum before we can put the torah inside ourselves.

PARSHAS PEKUDEI:

The last rashi in sefer shemos asks why all the bnei yisroel's encampments were called journeys? surely they were stopped, they werent journeying! He answers that seeing as the overall journey was from mitsrayim to eretz yisroel over a period of 40 years, even the stops are considered part of the journey.

This gave me an encouraging thought. We say its progress not perfection - progress being a consistent upward climb in the long run. sure there are gonna be times where we cant grow, where we stop and rest and just tread water to stop from sinking. But Hashem takes those stops and dips into account and counts them as part of the journey, because they are part of the overall journey toward sobriety.

PURIM:

a very fitting bit of chizuk from a mashgiach:

Message from Rabbi Menachem Glick

הרב דסלר זצ"ל brings down in the מכתב מאליהו an unbelievable מאמר in the name of the אריז"ל. The אריז"ל says that  יום כיפורים means יום כ-פורים. יום כיפור  is similar to פורים, and it is secondary to פורים. We must understand the similarity between יום כיפור and פורים and certainly why יום כיפור is secondary.

The similarity between יום כיפור and פורים can be understood if we look into the end of תפילת נעילה. The peak of the  תפילת יום כיפור is the seven times we say "ה' הוא האלוקים". The משגיח הר' וולבה זצ"ל always said that the fundamental תשובה is תשובה on the source of sin. We complete the תשובה of יום כיפור by strengthening our אמונה that everything comes from the רבונו של עולם. The catalyst for inspiration to do מצוות is אמונה, and lack of אמונה is the cause of sin. פורים is also the time we strengthen our אמונה. Klal Yisroel realized the reason behind המן’s decree, did תשובה, and were saved from the decree. They were able to see that the מגילה was not a series of coincidences, but rather השגחה פרטית every step of the way.

We still must understand why יום כיפור is secondary to פורים. The גמרא in שבת פח says that at מתן תורה, the רבונו של עולם was כפה עליהם הר כגיגית.  Klal Yisroel  accepted the תורה under coercion. However, in the time of Mordechai and Esther they accepted it willingly. רש"י explains מאהבת הנס from the love of the miracle. The obvious question is, Klal Yisroel had seen many miracles throughout the generations, why was this miracle so unique that it inspired them to accept the תורה willingly now?

ר' חיים פרידלנדר זצ"ל in his ספר שפתי חיים explains that the uniqueness was the fact that it was a נס נסתר. Superficially we think that ניסים גלוים are greater miracles then ניסים נסתרים. However, the truth is that ניסים נסתרים show more love of ה' to כ"י then ניסים גלוים. The revealed miracle happens when כ"י is on a high level and they are worthy of it, which might not be at all times. The hidden miracle shows that ה' is with us even in the גלות and even if we’re not on the highest level. כ"י saw that what seemed to be a catastrophe was really a blessing in disguise. For example, אסתר המלכה was taken away to be the wife of אחשורוש.  The wife of מרדכי, the גדול הדור has to be married to רח"ל a non Jew (ח"ו if one of the גדולי הדור’s wives had to marry Sadaam Hussein…) However, this situation enabled her to be the savior of כ"י.  This is what רש"י means by אהבת הנס. The love that הקב"ה has for כ"י at all times inspired כ"י to have love for him also.

With this we can understand why פורים takes precedence over יום כיפור. יום כיפור  is love between כ"י and the רבש"ע when we’re clean from sin and are similar to מלאכים, but פורים shows that the רבש"ע has not and will not forsake us in all situations! פורים can give us חיזוק that the בורא עולם is with us in גלות and בעזרת ה' יתברך will soon reveal himself with our תשובה
במהרה בימינו.

PARSHAS SHEMINI:

The Chasidoh is listed as one of the non kosher animals. Rashi says the animal was so called because they did chesed with their friends.

Why then is this animal not kosher? What's wrong with chesed?!

The Rishiner Rebbe answers that its because they only did chesed with their own min, they didn't branch out and do chesed with other animals. It's not the jewish way to restrict chesed to one group.

What a limud for us. We must be kind and giving to all types of people. When you think about it, the reason is because all people are creations of Hashem. Chavivin odom shenivro beztelem & varachmov al kol ma'asov. This idea helps us remember that the world belongs to Hashem and He is in charge of and loves everyone.

PARSHAS TAZRIA:

The Metzora's punishment is isolation! Isolation is a punishment! let's stop punishing ourselves and get out of isolation!

PARSHAS METZORAH:

Rashi says that having tzora'as on the houses was really a brocho in the end because the jews found the treasure hidden by the people who lived there before.

This is a beautiful Moshul for us. Our struggle is the negah that we get and we're forced to get it all out in the open and deal with it, like all the keilim had to come out of the house. But, as a result of that, we realise it was really a brocho all along, we discover the treasure that we had within all along - our potential for closeness to Hashem and to give and love. All we needed, was a push to get it out in the open.

PARSHAS ACHAREI MOS:

In this week's sedra there is a possuk found often in the torah. Hashem says about a sinner, "I will place my face toward that man" which rashi explains to mean that Hashem will totally clear His schedule and focus all His attention on dealing with this sinner.

Why does Hashem need to clear His schedule to deal with this guy? He runs everything that goes on in the entire world all at the same time! I think that we are being taught a lesson here. Hashem is ready for each and every one of us to establish a relationship that is as if there is only me and Hashem.

If He treats it like that for a sinner kal vechomer for someone who is trying to establish a kesher with Him! That is how we have to imagine our relationship with Hashem to be. Hashem will as-it-were clear all of His time for us, if we make the effort to clear our time for Him.

that is a beautiful idea! thanks

PARSHAS KEDOSHIM:

in this week's sedra, at the begining of perek 20, it says "vehiskadishtem ve'heyisem kedoshim", you shall make yourselves holy and you will be holy. Why the double loshon? If we make ourselves holy of course we will be holy!

The meshech chochmo says this possuk is refering to thoughts about idol worship and it is so hard to control our thoughts. How can we be expected to do that? so the torah is saying, you do the actions of making yourself holy and I (Hashem) will ensure that you will actually be holy.

This also applies to us and our struggle with lust! It's so hard to control our thoughts, but if we take the steps to remain holy by implemeting all the suggestions on GYE that work for us, Hashem will ensure that we will remain holy.

PARSHAS KEDOSHIM:

Towards the end of the parsha, there is the section of arayos. In the pasuk about not having relations with a sister, the torah calls it a "chesed". Obviously this is a word that requires an explanation.

The Radak says that this word has 2 meanings - kindness and disgrace. The reason being that the disgrace of immorality stems from an over indulgence in the desire to give, to do chesed. Giving without restriction or constraint will lead to immorality.

For those of us who have encountered the disgrace of immorality, the Radak is telling us that it all stems from a burning desire to do chesed, to give. If we can channel it in the right direction and look after, this desire can help us give give give, but to the right causes.

HALLELL:

We say in Hallell, "loi hameisim yehalelu Koh, veloi kol yordei dumah. Va'anachnu nevarech Koh...".

Taking this vort (www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?topic=2196.0) from rav chaim shmulevitz further, if we are takers living only for ourselves in isolation, we will not be able to praise Hashem, we wont appreciate His hand in our lives because we will be in a mindset of "never enough".

However, if we live in a spirit of "va'anachnu", living together with other people, not only for ourselves, then we will be able to bless Hashem - then we will see His hand in our lives and we will appreciate what he does for us.

SEFIRAS HA'OMER:

At this time of year, we are mourning the death of 24,000 talmidim of rabi akiva. Chazal tell us they died because they didn't give kovod to each other, a chisaron in "ve'ohavto lerei'acho kamoicha".

During this time of year therefore, we should take the lesson and be mechazek ourselves in this mitsva, we should treat the people in our lives with greater respect, our wives, children, parents, employers. We should also give women in general more respect and realise that they are people and not just there for our pleasure.

Lastly, there is a diyuk in the posuk, in order to love your fellow as you love yourself, you have to love yourself first. This is something that can be difficult for an addict as we have belittled ourselves for so long. We have to remind oursleves that we are tzelem Elokim and Hashem loves us!

(oy vey, it's been a long time...) KI SAVO:

Devorim: 28:34:"vehoyisa meshugoh mimarei einechoh asher tireh" - You will go crazy from the sight of your eyes that you see

This possuk sounds sooooo familiar to me! We have slowly but surely, over a period of many years, made ourselves
crazy by seeing things that we shouldn't have. We have distorted our perceptions and priorities and made oursleves go crazy jumping from one type of life to another. We have been literally living a kloloh, a curse.It's time to move into the brochos, I think.

CHIZZUK FOR CHANUKA:

In Parshas Noach, Noach gives the well known berocho "yaft Elokim l'yefes, veyishkon beohalei shem".

There is real true beauty out there in the world with Yefes, modern day western culture, but the permanent dwelling with Hashem is inside our own ohel, our home. We're all craving connection and we're looking for it outside, but the real, true and lasting connection is to be found in our homes, ie in how we conduct our lives and act at home with our loved ones.

Maybe that's why Chanuka comes in the winter, when it's all dark outside, you can't see what's going on out there, but inside our homes, the light is ablaze with fire...