gibbor120 wrote on 07 Nov 2011 20:58:

correct
you are one gehoibene guy

ZemirosShabbos wrote on 07 Nov 2011 21:29:

Better than being 2 (if you get what i mean).

Parshas Vayera

וישב אברהם אל נעריו וילכו יחדיו אל באר שבע

The previous times where it says 'yachdav' Rashi explained what the special intention. Even though Avraham knew where he was going and Yitzchok didn't they were equally happy. What is the meaning of yachdav in this posuk?

Avraham just came from the Akeidah and we might think his heart would swell with a feeling of accomplishment and pride. He did not feel that way, he felt the same way the ne'arim felt, without feeling all puffed up and proud of what had transpired.

Rebbe Moshe Kobriner zy'a in Toras Avos

Parshas Vayera

והם בעלי ברית אברם

Why did Avraham make a treaty with Aner Eshkol and Mamre given that they were Cana'anim and the Torah forbids making a pact with them (lo sichros lahem bris)?

Chazal teach us that Klal Yisrael is zocheh to Eretz Yisrael in the zechus of the mitzva of mila. By seeing Aner Eshkol and Mamre Avraham was shown the practical barrier preventing him and his children from inheriting Eretz Yisrael and was thereby inspired and motivated to perform the mitzva of mila. They are therefore called 'Ba'alei bris Avram', the ones who directly inspired Avraham to fulfill the mitzva.

Me'or Einayim (lekovod his yartzeit today 11 Cheshvan, zechuso yagen aleinu)

have a vort for the shabbos tish on Tuesday already. Shkoyach Zem.

thank you

lekovod the yartzeit of the Yesod Ha'avoda - Rebbe Avrohom from Slonim zy'a

this story is not for the faint of heart.. from the Sefer Sipurei Ramach, stories related by Reb Mottel Slonimer zt'l

_________

The Yesod Ha'avoda once said:
"You can be an oved Hashem, AND a sonei yisrael..."

_________

vayischabei ha'adam ve'ishto.
After Adam harishon ate from the etz hada'as he thought that he would not be able to serve Hashem with the same level and intensity as he did prior to the cheit.
Hashem said: "Ayeka?" where are you? where are the intensity and levels you had previously? Through teshuva you can get back to the same high levels you once had.

Parshas Vayera

אל נא אחי תרעו

Rebbe Yisrael of Modzitz beshem his grandfather Rebbe Yechezkel of Kuzmir said:
The way to know if your tefila is the way it shoud be and was accepted on High - if you had a sworn enemy earlier and after davening you feel a cheshek to befriend him entirely that's a sign that your tefila is as it should be.

Al na, na is a lashon of tefila, after tefila you should not feel 'achai tarayu' a desire to harm others.

Divrei Yisrael

My tefillah is a success if I can remember whether I said Mashiv Haruach or not  :-[.

baby steps ;).

100%

Parshas Vayera

Seforim quote the Zohar saying that Avraham was mesakein the chet of Adam Harishon. באלני ממרא is the letters אילן and Mamre is a lashon of rebbelion, like mamrim heyisem. Referring to the cheit of the Eitz Hadaas.

After he was 'complete' - tamim - by doing bris milah he began doing mitzvos, which are the means for a person to re-gain the level of Adam Harishon prior to his sin.

Adam ate from the Eitz Hadaas in order to lower himself and thereby the entire Creation and increase the 'odds' against him and overcome that challenge. He thought that to serve Hashem without a major struggle and without overcoming strong desires and urges is nothing impressive. In essence it was a desire to assert himself and his sophistication in avodas Hashem. (heard in a shiur by R' Akiva Tatz).

What was the first mitzva Avraham does after his bris? How was he mesakein the over-sophistication?

He served some (alleged) Arab wayfarers tongue with mustard. nothing fancy. no deep mystical stuff. just helping another person.


(this is freshly baked and may well not be the pshat, but for me it is a good lesson)

Clearly GYE inspired! I like it!  Adams chet, thinking too much instead of humbly serving.  That sums up our challenge pretty well I'd say.  Putting me and my understanding into the equation ruins everything.

Brilliant!... um, I mean a nice and humble pshat .

Parshas Chayei Sarah

ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה

Yitzchak is a lashon of simcha/laughter. Lasuach can be understood as a lashon of hachna'a, like ma tishtochachi nafshi.

Generally when a person humbles himself and bends to the authority of another that brings sadness because it limits and controls you. But if a person humbles himself and bends to the will of HKBH that does not bring sadness. HKBH is the source of simcha - oz vechedvah bimkomo.

Yitzchak, which is simcha, comes about by lasuach, by humbling yourself and bending, basadeh, which is a reference to holiness, HKBH.

Kedushas Levi

Angels

The story is told of a student of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov who, after much preparation, felt himself deserving of a vision of the prophet-turned-angel, Elijah. His master instructed him to journey to a certain town and ask to be hosted at the home of a specific family. "Make sure to bring food," the Baal Shem Tov added. The student eagerly packed a wagonful of food and set off. Upon arriving, he was directed to an old, dilapidated house, home of a poor widow with many young children. The student spent Shabbat with them, and was only too happy to share his mountains of food. But Elijah never showed up.

The Baal Shem Tov instructed the dejected student to try again the next week. As he approached the door, he heard a child's plaintive voice, "But what will we eat on Shabbat?" A reassuring voice replied, "Don't worry. Just like Elijah came last week, he will come this week again!"


You and I can be angels as well. All we need to do is act the part.

from: dixieyid.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-reb-shlomo-videos-and-awesome.html

from: dixieyid.blogspot.com/2011/11/cleaning-up-old-garbage.html

Cleaning Up Old Garbage

Squirrels and cats sometimes get into our garbage cans and our local sanitation professionals do not empty them of the garbage which fell out of the holes in the garbage bags.

Not wanting to deal with loose, rotten garbage, I continued putting new garbage bags on top of the loose garbage. It didn't bother me too much because as long as the rotten garbage stayed down and out of sight, I took the approach of "see no evil hear no evil."

At one point a few weeks ago, I realized that this could not go on forever, so I got some new garbage bags and cleaned everything up. I will spare you the unpleasant details, but it suffices to say that I had to get my hands into some liquids and solids which had been there for a very long time.

Afterward, I changed my clothes and washed my hands up to the elbow one, two, three, and four times. I could not get rid of the putrid smell and I couldn't stand being in the same room as my hand. Finally, at my wife's suggestion, I doused my hand with a significant amount of a perfume she no longer used. After some time, I washed my hands a couple more times, and that pretty much did the trick.

It's remarkable that such putrecense existed right on my property for so long and it only bothered me a little, like a little fly that I kept shooing away. It was only when I finally started to clean my lingering garbage that it started to really stink and make itself felt. As long as I ignored it and pretended that it wasn't there, it only bothered me a little. It only seemed really bad when I finally decided to get rid of it.

Rav Moshe Weinberger has taught us at various points from various sources that as long as a person doesn't deal with his lingering issues in ruchnius (laziness, histaklus nashim, ga'avah, etc.), they exist, covered up by his every day life, they do not seem to bother him very much and they are not as apparent to others.

When a person finally decides, however, that he cannot raise himself higher with this or that ga'avah or ta'aiva weighing him down, he begins to dig out the problematic mida in order to get rid of it. But once he brings the tumah to the forefront so he can dispose of it, the stink and filth of the problem finally shows itself and he realizes how bad that innocuous fly really was all along.

This is why when a person starts to work on himself and thinks that he's becoming better, he will suddenly face bigger and stronger ta'avos and greater anger, etc. than he ever had before he was working on himself.

We must know not to take the monstrous ta'avos and bad midos that come out of us as a sign of failure or hopelessness though. We must know that exactly the opposite is true. When we stir up the issues we'd never dealt with before, they're only making themselves more known now exactly because we're finally bringing them to the fore as part of our effort to rid ourselves of them. The fact that we stink more of our latent problems when we start coming closer to ruchnius is a function of the fact that our efforts are meeting with success. This should encourage, rather than discourage us.

When one pours water on the dying ember of some ta'ava in order to extinguish it, the ember rattles and hisses and makes a big stink. It's presence and power is made more known precisely because it is finally being put out, and not because it is getting stronger.

May we all be zoche to clean out all of our old garbage and not get discouraged by the smell!