TehillimZugger wrote:


Two-thirty. What happened to your watch?

Zaidy made us laugh, Zaidy made us sing. Zaidy made us a cake?

Mazel tov!

Mazel Tov! I think a cake is a great idea but it would have to be a big cake for 1000 candles

Mazel Tov!!!

1000 candles? Is that what it was? I thought someone was celebrating Lag Baomer a little early!

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Welcome to the "4-digit" clan!!!

KOP!!

A nisayon?

This morning I was expecting to be home alone. My wife had a school play to attend. My YH suggested some 'zaftigeh' ideas to take advantage of this 'quality time' all alone. I kept going back and forth in my mind, until I finally felt the strength to make a vow that I will stick today to certain gedarim which will keep me a safe distance from those dangerous activities. As soon as I made the vow, I felt calm and serene, and the whole idea of what I wanted to do sounded crazy and unnecessary.

Funny thing is that when I arrived home my wife informed me that the play was postponed for tomorrow... So I guess that comes to show us that even when we think we have a severe nisayon, it is not real, it is just a test.

BTW, when I was going back and forth in agony, at one point I was so frustrated that I was ready to 'throw in the towel' and give up. But then it dawned on me that I am throwing in the wrong towel. I need to throw in the towel and give up these crazy fantazias. Time to start living and enjoying life.

Hatzlacha

MT

Your last paragraph there - and especially the last sentence, which explains why you were motivaed to do it - is exactly what I believe the Alkies who wrote AA meant when they said the main driving force in starting recover is Enlightened Self-Interest. Very powerful idea.

This past Shabbos during davening, I thought of 2 insights, both of which were inspired by my GYE experience.

1. The possuk (Tehillim 33:9) says: כי הוא אמר ויהי - For He (Hashem) said and it was. The Gemara (Shabbos 152a) says that this applies to the woman (כי הוא אמר ויהי - זו אשה). And the Gemara explains that a woman is actually like a vessel full of unappetizing material, and yet everyone chases after her. So the only rationale (as Rashi comments) is that it is a decree from Hashem (so that people will have children).
One can ask: If this possuk refers to a woman why does it not use a feminine term כי הוא אמר ותהי ?
Perhaps it comes to teach us that when people chase after the woman, it’s because they fail to see her as a female person. They see her as an object of lust. That is why the possuk uses a male term, which also refers to general objects.

2. The possuk (Tehillim 34:15) says: סור מרע ועשה טוב, בקש שלום ורדפהו – Keep away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
One can ask: The first half of the possuk already includes avoiding all evil and pursuing all good deeds, so why does it need to separately add the part about working on peace? Isn’t that included in the first half of the possuk?
Perhaps it comes to teach us that in order to be successful in avoiding evil and doing good, we first need to ‘clean house’, i.e. we need refine our character defects, resentments, irritability etc. Once we have inner peace with ourselves and others, we can succeed in avoiding evil and doing good.

Hatzlacha

MT

Shalom!
Peace
Serenity
Closeness
Goodness
Reality
Gratitude
Ahhhh

BTW doesn't sound like a very professional play...

Jus' sayin'

The Shach asks, why did the metzora have to sit by himself? why couldn't he at least be in company of other people with tzaraas?

He answers, that the point of the metzorah sitting outside of the three camps, was in order for him to take account and realize what he did wrong, and if he were to sit with other people that did the same thing and had the same negah then he would have comforted himself that it's not all that bad, and he wouldn't have tried fixing himself!!

Boy!! do we have to be careful!!!

Yes, but the metzorah's problem is talking too much and saying the wrong things to the wrong people. He needs to be separated.

Our machalah is one of separation and lonliness. We need to connect with people.

pidaini and gibbor both point are very strong,

on one hand all of us here know we can't do this on our own and we need each other to keep our minds set straight,

but on the other hand we can't let ourselves get carried away by feeling we aren't the only ones and it's not that bad, or i'm still doing better then many others here(this was a big problem of mine in the past and still somewhat now too)

so what i think we need to do is use others only to help us grow but ch"v not to stay at place where we are by comforting ourselves,

a great example for using help of others to clarify things is this exact topic...

לתועלת הרבים הנני להעתיק מה שמצאתי סגולה נגד התגברות היצר

כתב הרדב"ז בספרו מגן דוד (אות ג') וז"ל קבלתי כי השם הראשון [משם מ"ב] שהוא אב"ג ית"ץ מועיל לתגבורת היצר, ואני נסיתיו ומצאתיו בדוק אם יזכרוהו בכוונה גדולה עכ"ל

New York – 70 Charged In Child Porn Case In NYC Area

Posted: 21 May 2014 05:54 AM PDT

New York – A five-week investigation has resulted in charges against at least 70 men and one woman in the New York City area in what officials called one of the largest-ever roundups locally of people who anonymously trade child porn over the Internet. The defendants include a police chief, a paramedic, a rabbi ...

(Reminder: I need to stay far far away from any forms of lust, so that I don't end up ruining my life and reputation.)