Parshas Balak

וכסה את עין הארץ

It is known that the primary kedusha of a person is achieved by guarding the eyes, as it says: איה הקדשה היא בעינים.

Balak saw that the Yidden were guarding their eyes, וכסה את עין הארץ. Bilaam, conversely, would carelessly indulge in forbidden sights, and that was his downfall, נופל וגלוי עינים.

Tiferes Shlomo

ZemirosShabbos wrote on 07 Jul 2011 19:42:

beutiful!
thats why the eitzha was to get the BY to  get involved with znus

Great vort as usual, Zemiros.

Parshas Balak

עמי זכור נא מה יעץ עליך בלק ומה ענה אותו בלעם מן השטים עד הגלגל

The tactic used by Bilaam is all too familiar to us. מן השטים, starts with a ruach shtuss, blinding us to the nature and consequences of our action. That is followed by 'ad hagilgul', like a wheel, a galgal. A vicious cycle starts. A fall gets us depressed and despairing. So we need more comfort, medication and pleasure. So we fall again...

Zemy this is really beutifull

Parshas Pinchas

תחת אשר קנא לאלקיו ויכפר על בני ישראל

The midrash says that the RBS"O asked Eliyahu Hanavi to go to every bris that yidden make. Eliyahu said what will happen if the baal bris did aveiros (in shmiras habris)? How can i go there, i am a kana'i and I cannot bear to be in the same place as such a person. Hashem answered i will be mochel the baal bris whatever he has done.

Eliyahu asked what about the sandek? Hashem said for him too.

Eliyahu asked what about the family of the baal simcha? Hashem said for them as well.

What about the guests? For them too.

That is the meaning of tachas asher kinay le'elokav, because he was a kana'i, that was the cause for vayachaper al bnai yisrael.

Shema Shlomo beshem Agra Depirka beshem Rebbe Shlomo Karliner zy'a

A person should only eat when he has a true desire/need to eat (ta'ava amiti), not a false desire/need (ta'ava zara).
How can a person differentiate between the two? A true desire is when the stomach is empty and therefore food is needed. A false desire is when the desire is for a specific food.

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, siman 32

Parshas Pinchas

Why was kehuna the reward for Pinchas' actions?

Ish ki yikach es achoso chesed hu, the Baal Shem Tov explains that the supernal attribute of chesed, love, was drawn down and engaged in a lowly and fallen manner. Its essence stems from midas hachesed. The same applies for midas ha'gvurah, yirah, when a person does an aveira even in a totally secluded place he looks around to see if anyone is looking. Mashgiach min hachalonos meitzitz min hacharakim. That is the midah of yira in a lowly and fallen state. In truth Hashem *is* looking, but that idea cannot be experienced in its true form due to his lowliness.

Pinchas, by his heroic action stopped the downslide of Klal Yisrael into the temptations of the b'nos Moav and the 'exile' and desecration of the supernal mida of chesed. The Zohar teaches that a Kohain is associated with midas hachesed (and a Levi is associated with gevura), so the reward and effect of his action was to become bound up with midas hachesed by receiving kehuna.

Meor Einayim

Parshas Matos

One warm summer Sabbath afternoon, Rabbi (Aryeh) Kaplan began to discuss the Torah portion, Mattos, which deals with the concept of nedarim. This is a technical subject, dealing with intricate halachas, the laws of vows and oaths. But there was nothing dry about this discussion.

With visible excitement, Rabbi Kaplan declared this to be the weekly portion which demonstrates the Torah's infinite scope. In this chapter, he explained, we see how everything in the universe can be brought under the umbrella of Halacha. That is, any individual who makes a vow concerning any object, or any activity, whether to use or perform, or even abstain from it, automatically brings it into the realm of applied Torah. Not in a
theoretical sense, but most actually and practically, any Jew can, through this mitzvah, activate the latent applications of the Torah to everything in the universe.

Nothing exists which could not be enveloped in the kedusha, the holiness, of the Torah. The idea clearly gave Rabbi Kaplan great simcha, tremendous joy.

Preface to Faces and Facets

ירושלים הבנויה כעיר שחוברה לה יחדיו

Sefarim say that Yerushalayim alludes to Yir'ah-Shaleim, complete and perfect awareness of Hashem.

Every person is born with certain areas he excels in and areas that he is weak in. A person's challenges and areas of struggle are where he is tasked with bringing out his latent energy and to build his character and spiritual world. Yerushalayim hab'nuya, the challenge is to build, not to blithely use naturally endowed abilities.

A person might also think to himself, 'if only i would live in isolation and not have a spouse, children, friends, neighbors and others then I would be able to learn, daven, and do chesed the way i should'. That is not what Hashem wants, He wants you to get married, have children, have friends, neighbors, change diapers, go to the bank, change flat tires etc. Ke'ir shechubra la yachdav, Hashem wants the combination of you and family and friends and within that framework to serve Him.

May'ein olam haba, ikar ha'avdus lihiyos bikdusha hu bishmiras ha'ayin, ma'ein - through guarding your eyes, olam haba, you will merit to become a ben olam haba.

Tiferes Shlomo

Thank you, Zemiros. We all want to get a good place in Olam Haboh.

ZemirosShabbos wrote on 19 Jul 2011 21:05:



GEVALDIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rabbi Yaakov Abu Chatzeira of blessed memory asks: If everything begins with the eyes, the why did the Torah mention the heart before it mentioned the eyes, for it is written, "You shall not stray after the heart and the eyes that you are pandering after them" (Bamidbar, ch. 15).

The answer is simple and quite self-apparent: When a person lives with emuna, he surely closes his eyes, so there's no need to command him to close his eyes. But, the heart incites a person to open his eyes, therefore the heart must be commanded first, as it is written, "You shall not stray after the heart and the eyes."

Because of the heart's role in tempting a person, the Torah also commands (Devarim, ch. 11), "Beware lest your heart tempt you to stray and serve false gods and bow down to them." The Baal Shem Tov of blessed memory explains that as soon as the heart tempts – in other words, a person allows himself to be tempted by the heart – immediately one strays and serves false gods, for he loses his connection with emuna. Losing one's emuna is tantamount to idol worship, for in spirituality, there's no middle ground.

The Garden of Yearning by Rav Shalom Arush

see attached for a great piece from the sefer Avodas P'nim by R' Aron Yosef Luria zt'l of Teveria
(Emuna & Bitachon 7)

this is pertinent to the discussion here as well:
www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?topic=4153.msg112385#msg112385