There is a gevaldigeh piece of Tanya (ch. 27) relating to a possuk in this week’s Parsha, which is a great source of chizzuk for those who keep trying to overcome their desires and are upset by the fact that they forever keep on getting such lowly lustful nisyonos.

The possuk says ועשה לי מטעמים - Tikunei Zohar says that this is an allusion to the Shechina asking of Klal Yisroel, “make for me delicacies”, i.e. through your good deeds. The word ‘matamim’ is plural, hinting to two different kinds of delicacies that one can make for Hashem. Just as in worldly delicacies, there are sweet delicacies such as cake, candy, chocolate, ice cream etc, and there are bitter or sharp delicacies such as pepper, mustard, horseradish, lemon, sour pickles etc; similarly, in avodas Hashem there is the pleasue that Hashem gets from tzaddikim and their ‘sweet’ avoday; but at the same time there is the pleasure that Hashem gets from those who constantly are faced with ‘bitter’ nisyonos and they stick it out for Hashem’s sake. People who are faced with these ‘bitter’ nisyonos all their life need to realize that this is their mission in life, to offer such type of ‘delicacies’ to Hashem with their avodah.

Gut Shabbos

MT

jewish wrote on 12 Nov 2012 17:40:

I think it's based on the number of posts. I think 500 is hero member. If you are married and have access to the married section, it says "married".

Beautiful Vort, MT.

As far as the levels it works like this:
0-49 posts - Newbie - 1 box
50-99 posts - Jr. Member - 2 boxes
100-199 posts - Full member - 3 boxes
200-499 posts - Sr. Member - 4 boxes
500+ posts - Hero member - 5 boxes

But if you are a member of the Married group you always have 3 boxes
Other group memberships (such as Moderator) also give various numbers and colors of boxes.

Gitshabbis!!

Gevura wrote on 16 Nov 2012 16:38:

That's because your wife has the other 2 .

OK thanx for the explanation on how the names work.

Yitzchok

כי האדם עץ השדה
For a man is compared to a tree in the field.

The Heilige Strelisker Rebbe zt"l said: If you plant a small tree and you stand there every day to watch it grow, you will be disappointed because you will not notice any progress. Instead, you need to concentrate daily on caring for the tree and helping it thrive. You need to constantly get rid of the dead leaves/twigs/branches. Make sure it gets ample water and sunshine, etc. After many months - or years - of doing so, you will then be able to step back and appreciate how your tree has progressed so beautifully.

So too, we cannot afford to just sit and complain how we don't see ourselves improving. Instead, we need to concentrate daily on our recovery - remove the obstacles in our path, introduce positive traits, etc. And be"H after a while we will look back and appreciate how we actually have progressed so beautifully. Amen!

MT

Nice thought, and very true!

Dear Chevra,

Today (April 19) is my first anniversary since joining this forum. Words cannot express my Hakoras Hatov to GYE. As an “elderly” member of this forum, I have had more years (and decades) of dealing with this Parsha than almost all of you. I can write many volumes describing my shady behavior throughout my life. I can also write many volumes describing my many unsuccessful efforts to solve this problem throughout my life.

Thanks to GYE, its heilger founder (R’ Guard shlit”a), and its esteemed members (each and every one of you), I can proudly say that although I do not have an exact count of my current sobriety, it is currently the longest streak in my entire life (the previous longest was 6 months).

In a nutshell, GYE changed my life from one of misery, loneliness and hopelessness to one of happiness, camaraderie and hopefulness.

GYE helped me straighten out many misconceptions that plagued me all my life, such as:

I am not an evil sinner who needs to kill his YH and repent – I am an ill guy who needs to recover.
I am not the only heimishe yid with this problem – there are many bigger tzaddikim than me who suffer as well.
I was harming myself by living in isolation all my life – I need to reach out and connect with others like me.
Opening up to a live person really helps – as R’ Elimelech (and R’ Dov) says.
Being depressed about my failures is not a virtue – it is very harmful and counterproductive.
Half measures don’t work – I need to avoid all lusting if I want to free myself of this affliction.
I need to be aware of my false rationalizations – brutal honesty is required to remain on track.
Instead of focusing on avoiding “M***”, “P***” or even “Lust”, I should focus on thinking and living like a Mentch.
Instead of panicking and despairing of ever achieving complete recovery, I need to focus only on today
And last but not least, only Hashem can help me, if I acknowledge that fact and let Him take over.

…and much much more.

Yasher Koach and hatzlacha to y’all,

MT

P.S. And yasher koach to TZ, my "live person".

Mazel Tov!
thank you for adding so much to the forum with your divrei torah chizuk and warm words
have a great shabbos and lots of continued hatzlocha

p.s. can you be my zaidy too?

Thanks MT for your heartwarming words.

Have a great shabbos!

Mazel Tov and happy anniversary. KUTGW Ad Meah vEsrim!!!!

ZemirosShabbos wrote:


Sure! I have 2 knees. Hop on to the vacant one...

MT

Gevura Shebyesod wrote:


(nenter vee veiter. not exactly, but almost)

Today I mentioned to TZ a powerful vort which I once posted, and he said I should post it again - it's worth repeating. So here goes.

Machshovo Tova wrote:

moiredig! thank you