ZemirosShabbos wrote on 24 Jan 2012 20:24:

Hey, if your wife likes them, you must be doing something right .

either that or we're both craz... forget it  :-X

ZemirosShabbos wrote on 24 Jan 2012 20:43:

It takes a wise man to know when to keep his mouth shut!

gibbor120 wrote on 24 Jan 2012 20:47:



...... and it takes a Strong Man to do what he knows is right!
                    (This where strength of character comes to play!)

Imagine that you had your own well in your backyard and that is where you got your water from.  One day you look out the window and you notice your neighbor pouring dirt down into the well.  You run out and depending on how nice you are, you ask him in words and substance what does he think he's doing?  Chances are you're not really that interested in why he was doing it, you just want him to stop and quick, he's polluting your water.  Now, if the scenario was slightly reversed, and your neighbor was looking out the window and you were putting dirt down your own well, your neighbor depending on how nice he is, may ask you what do you think you're doing, but whether he asks or not, he certainly would be thinking to himself or telling his wife, that guy is crazy, he's polluting his own well.  Now if you told him, well I need the exercise and the workout is good and healthy for me.  He'd still probably walk away thinking you are crazy.

In Parshas Bo, Moshe tells Pharoah that the Arbeh will cover עין הארץ, the eye of the land:  Rav Shamshom Rafoel Hirsh offers the following comment: 

"The human eye is called עין a spring, or source, not because the soul of man flows out of it, but because it is through the eye that the world flows into man.  The eye of a man is therefore literally עין הארץ, the source of the world."

The message is pretty plain:  Don't pollute your eyes, it's your world view.

Thank You HAshem for this timely message.

wow!

On the words ויאר את הלילה  the targum translates ולישראל נהר כל ליליא.  I think the message is that even in our darkest moments, even when we are such a low level that its a situation of ישראל נתונים בדין ... אם להתנצל אם להאבד nevertheless there is still light in that darkness and it is never hopeless. 

Thank you Hashem for another sober week of life.

thank you for the enlightening vort!

The shot heard round the world. Yisro wasn't the only one to hear krias yam suf.  The whole world heard it.  So וישמע יתרו was no great achievement. What sets Yisro apart from the rest of the world is ויקח יתרו he acted on what he heard. Hearing without action is meaningless. We all know and hear the problems with porn, lust and the internet but if we don't act on what we hear we are not different then the rest of the world who heard and didn't act.

Thank you Hashem for all the kindness you did for me and my family this week

Various pshatim are offered for the half measurements that comprised the aron (2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5). The Kli Yakar explains that since the Aron represents Torah the halves come to teach even the accomplished Talmud chochom that he is never done.  Along those lines I was thinking that the Torah is giving a message to the Kohen Gadol (and to us). The Kohen Gadol would see the aron once a year when as a messenger for klal yisroel he endeavored to obtain a kaparrah for all. Pretty lofty position that could go to a person's head. At the pinnacle of that process the Kohen stood before the Aron with its half measurements as a reminder you are not perfect. A twofold message. One don't let the power get to your head and two don't forget that Hashem even here is not demanding perfection.
RBSO Thank you for another wonderful week of life.

Beautiful!
thank you rebbe UAJ for that
wishing you a mahvelous shabbos

p.s. eat a half piece of kokosh cake for me please

Some Thoughts on Parshas Vayahkel

The Power of Change

The Maharal in Gur Aryeh asks how come when it came to the cooper mirrors donated for use in the Mishkan, Moshe was unsure whether or not to accept them, but the Kumoz he immediately accepted?One would think that the Kumoz an ornament for the mokom zimah would have been even more problematic than the cooper mirrors. Answers the Maharal that the cooper mirrors were incorporated into the kiyor as is, and were still recognizable as such.  The kumoz by contrast were melted down and then used. Since they completely changed there was no question that they can be used.
There is a fundamental lesson there. One's whole existence can be one of כומז, i.e., כאן מקום זמה (Rashi) yet he has the ability to transform himself by changing and he can then even be a vessel in the
kodesh hakodoshim

Be a Nosi

Rashi brings the chazal why the nesiam brought last in the donating of the mishkan but first by the chanukas hamezbayach.  Rashi explains that the nesiam made a calculation that they would make up any shortfall missing in the donations. But there was no shortfall, there was more than enough. Continues Rashi  לכך התנדבו בחנוכת המזח תחילה, I think the emphasis is on the "lekach."  I think Rashi is telling us that the nesiam recognized immediately their mistake and took steps right away to rectify it by insuring that they would be first by the chanukas hamizbayach. That is what being a nosi is about seeing a mistake you made and learning from the experience.  We all have a shaychus and ability to do that. You are on a website and it triggers you to down a wrong path. The key is to immediately take steps to insure that you don't find yourself in that situation again. Not now, not in a week and not in six months. That's how one becomes a nosi.

Thank you Hashem for showering me with brocha in my life, please help me use it properly.  A wonderful Shabbos to all. 

Beautiful!
thank you

Thanks UAJ, have a great shabbos!

u-r-jew thanks
we can change and we should change and we will change