Shmeichel wrote:


Oh, I don't even bother with the innocent sites;) .

informal
destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.

Origin
from Sanskrit karman ‘action, effect, fate.’

Here, it just means if you seem like a nice guy who helps others, people are likely to give you a boost.
You can only add or substract every 6 hours, so choose wisely.

or, as Gevurah likes to say: Splat! As I just did to Big Moish.

Those sports buffs should not confuse this with "Jungle Karma," which is: When an athlete or coach appears on "The Jungle," and then wins their next game and most of the time has a great game individually to go along with it.

Jungle karma can also backfire if you back out on your commitment to come on. If you do that, you lose the game, have a bad game, or get hurt for jerking with the karma.

Bottom line: Don't mess with Zemmy or Skep!
[Dov won't notice.]

yiraishamaim wrote:


Couldn't be better said, yes if we hold our sobriety the most valuable thing in our life, [which to me it is, without sobriety I'm a miserable person] we make many sacrifices for it and BH it does help much, I relate so much to what was written here news sites, bill boards anything and everything on the street or in any public place.

Yes yes Belmont

Perhaps it might be helpful to not call it "sacrifices" but simply put - the things we do for success. Does a body builder think he is sacrificing when he works out to build those biceps? Is a parent "sacrificing" by spending time helping their child do their homework? We make choices based on what is the right thing to do- what will ultimately give us the greatest benefit. So lets do - or better said - not do - with our heads held high and not a sour fabisina ponim.

I disagree. Even when you give up some small fleeting pleasure in favor of a much greater benefit that will only come later, that is also a sacrifice. And sacrifices can also be made joyfully.

Bigmoishe I was giving a lot of thought to your point about sacrifice. I remembered
learning how Rabbi Shamhan R' Hirsch and how he defined korban in the Torah. I went back and looked it up. He explained that the word is coming from getting close to Hashem and he did not like the word sacrifice. " The term sacrifice implies the idea of giving something up that is of value to oneself for the benefit of another, or of having to do without something of value, ideas which are not only entirely absent from the nature and idea of a korban but are diametrically opposed to it". ... even suffering itself becomes exalted happiness in the nearness of G-d" He argues that korban comes from the word karov - close to Hashem. by bringing a korban we get closer to Hashem. Since getting close to Hashem is the only thing that is truly good " Kirvas Elokim li tov" everything it takes to get there just pales in comparison. So in terms of getting close to Hashem whatever it takes is nothing in comparison to what we are getting.

Therefore there is no real sacrifice.

That's in the case of pure ruchnuis. Like in not partaking in activities that will or might bring us to lust and therefore distance ourselves from HKBH

However in the case of gashmius. like I will give up my strawberry-shortcake for the joy of losing weight. Perhaps here Rabbi Hirsch would say sacrifice is true -like you said.

What are your thoughts?

Just gonna attempt to imagine what Dov would say.

For Rav Hirsch, giving up something of gashmiyus was something of absolutely no value.
We, however, have given chashivus to lust. We have idolized the women we chase after; we have made porn and masturbation our sweet escape from the rigors of daily life. We enjoy it. (In a deviation from the classic Dov response, I would dare say that this may even apply to the non-addicts who are caught up with these issues.)
Hence, it is a sacrifice, much as a father who would just like to kick up his feet and relax after a hard day's work, and instead opens a Gemara and learns with his son is sacrificing his relaxation. Does he know with certainty that putting effort into his kids is a better use of his time? Yes. Is it more enjoyable right now to relax? Yes.

I hear ya.

All I'm saying is that if we need to come onto lomdus to explain why it's not a sacrifice, it may be better for us to call a spade a spade and admit that we feel like we're giving up something precious.

I got ya

When we are in the shmutz its most difficult. We understand it intellectually but emotionally we are still struggling.

Bigmoish wrote:


This post to me looks like Chinese(I must mention that to silly me Chinese is a foreign language) I couldn't trouble you to explain could I.

I just noticed this great thread and all agree I think that a worthwhile sacrifice isn't really a loss in any way because really what it is is a good business deal. I loved the vort that yiraishamaim brought from Rav SR Hirsch although sometimes the word hikriv is used on the actual offerer of the korban keillu hikriv es nafsho, hikriv being a poel yotze which indicates that something is being given away by the giver who isn't the same as the gift so it's not just 'getting' closer which is a poel omed. So all of the understandings derived from the experiences of the ovdei hashem here are true. It is getting closer through paying a worthwhile price. Even for a tzadik like Rav Hirsch there were sacrifices in his level which came to him with yegia. So Bigmoish, I don't know if Dov would say that.