Dear chaverim,

This morning during Selichos the following piece touched my heart. I felt it was a good representation of how I feel sometimes.

Perhaps…

Perhaps He will have mercy and rescue an afflicted one of his affliction,
His imprisonment He will annul from the land of his captivity,
He will prepare his cure and will dress his sickly wounds,
His cry He will hear and He will hurry the time of redemption,
Perhaps He will have mercy on an afflicted and destitute people,
Perhaps He will have mercy.

Perhaps…

MT

Amen

Shkoyach.
Amein too.

To all my dear GYE chaverim,

I would like to avoid the last minute High Holiday rush, so I take this opportunity to wish you all a Healthy, Happy, Holy and Humble new year (one day at a time, naturally).

Which reminds me of a Gemara (Rosh Hashnah 2b, 7b, 10a, 10b, 12b, etc.) Yom echod bashonoh choshuv shonoh - a single day in the year counts as a full year. We (i.e. addicts) can say pshat that the reason for this is since the only way to reach a full year of sobriety is by concentrating on a single day. Vedoi"k.

Anyhow, I also would like to suggest that during our prayers on the Heiligeh Teg, we should remember our GYE community and ask Hashem to help all our dear friends in the coming year(s) to have a Shanah Tovah (i.e. good - without slips & falls) Umesukah (i.e. sweet - without hardships and rough edges).

Ksiva veChasima Tova!

MT

ויהי כעשרת הימים ויגף ה' את נבל - שמואל א' כה:לח
אלו י' ימים שבין ר"ה ליוה"כ - מס' ר"ה יח

The possuk says, “And it was after 10 days, and Hashem struck Novol”. Chazal explain that these 10 days were Aseres Yemei Teshuva, when he was given the opportunity to repent but didn’t. What a wasted opportunity! What a shame!

I once heard from R’ Moshe Wolfson Shlit”a that this is what we daven in tehillim (39:9):
חרפת נבל אל תשימני
Please, Hashem, let me use these 10 days properly, and don’t let me end up like Novol’s embarrassment.

Gmar Chasima Tova to all.

MT

כי הנה כחומר ביד היוצר… כן אנחנו בידך - ערבית ליום כפור
"For as raw material in the hands of a craftsman … so are we in Your hands"

The Heilige Rizhiner zy”a once on Erev Yom Kippur explained: Imagine a goldsmith has a piece of raw gold which he wants to fashion into a nice piece of jewelry. So he says to the gold, “You had better make yourself into a nice piece of jewelry. Otherwise, I will have to put you in the fire, hit you with a hammer, and cut you with my scissors.”

והנמשל מובן

May Hashem make of us what we cannot make on our own.

Gmar Chasima Tova

MT

Sweet. It's still Monday where I am. Gmar chasima tova. And we are clean. amen.

B"H the Yomim Tovim were nice by me. Although it was not as "derhoiben" (spiritually uplifting) as I would have liked them to be, but be'zrat Hashem I managed to keep on trucking by keeping up my commitment to avoid all lustful histaklus and to 'try' and avoid all lustful machshovos. Daily shiurim commitments also helped me keep busy. Daily renewal of commitment, and daily accounting, and daily talks with the Boss helped keep me afloat B"H.

The highlight of my Yom Tov was when I met a GYE chaver in person (for the first time - after extended chavrusa-shaft via phone). I'm not sure whether he wants his (GYE) name divulged, but I'll share one thing I shared with him: In the back of sefer Shaarei Teshuva by Rabeinu Yona there is a section called Yesod Hateshuva. It is only 2-3 pages long, but it contains a beautiful approach that may be helpful (for some people) in breaking this habit. For a while now, I read it every day (bl"n) carefully and follow all instructions. I find it works wonders for me. If you have no problem with mixing Mussar and recovery (as many seem to have), then maybe you ought to check it out.

And finally - I would like to share an insight that occurred to me today. I received over Yom Tov an unsolicited email where the sender has a nice sounding female name, and 'her' short message was that she is my secret admirer and she is getting very excited at the 'cool' idea of setting up a date with me...

My immediate response was to delete the email without even opening it (I read the contents in the preview pane). We all understand that the female name probably belongs to a wacko who is trying to hack my computer and/or plant some malicious virus on my PC.

But then I realized: And how about all the shmutz out there? Why do we chase it as if it were some sweet stuff, while in reality it is a wacko trying to hack your soul and plant a malicious virus in your brain?

May Hashem protect us from all evil.

Ah gezinteh vinter

MT

Machshovo wrote on 10 Oct 2012 17:02:

Why in the world not?
[but now everybody knows that you live in lakewood... ::) [although it's possible that I left lakewood just long enough to meet you in teaneck or at that beach resort you went for vacation :P]

...as a wise GYE member recently said (please bring up the exact quote):
"I plead the fifth."

MT

www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?topic=3635.msg145496#msg145496 />

I wish to congratulate My [virtual] Zeidy Reb MT on becoming a HERO MEMBER!!!!

Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov! In my eyes you're a REAL hero!

Thank you. I didn't even notice (too busy posting away).
Hero Member? HMmmmm....

MT

MOzel TOV MT,

Try to tell the teller at the bank you are a Hero Member, maybe it will help.......

How does the naming like newbie and married member etc. work. Does anyone know?