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Mesirut Nefesh

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 9.) teaches that the world will exist for six thousand years. The first two thousand years are called תהו (void) because there was no Torah in the world. The following two thousand years are called the years of Torah. The final two thousand years is the era of Moshiach because Moshiach will come then." The first two millennia of Torah began when Avraham Avinu was 52 years old. Why don’t the two thousand years start from the time Avraham recognized Hashem (which is at the age of 3, 40, or 48, as discussed above)? The Satmar Rebbe zt'l answered that when Avraham was 52, Nimrod threw him into the fiery furnace at Ur Kasdim because he refused to worship idols. The value of Torah is when it’s kept with mesirus nefesh. Avraham believed in Hashem earlier, but when he was 52 years old, he kept the Torah with mesirus nefesh. That’s the beginning of the two thousand years of Torah. During the Communist regime, it was difficult to find a mohel in Russia. One Russ...
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Igniting the spark

The Gemara (Succah 29.) says that the Jewish nation is compared to the moon. The Lubavitzer Rebbe zt'l noted that the moon is always there, only sometimes we don't see it. Similarly, the spark of a Yid is always present, only sometimes it is covered over, and we don't recognize it. But the holiness is there, his spark can be ignited, and then he will return with teshuvah sheleimah. (Torah Wellsprings, Lech Lecha 5783, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman shlita)
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What are we waiting for?

Anyone who regularly reads the words that come just before the Shema during Shacharit and does not come to Eretz Yisrael is not adequately focusing on those words.  Clear as day, we read: ותוליכינו מהרה קוממיות לארצנו (Speedily lead us upright to our land).   Think about what   קוממיות means.  Translated as "upright," it means a lot more than that. It means standing up proudly and independently, something a Jew can only do in Eretz Yisrael. Those waiting for HaShem to take them to the Promised Land on a magic carpet are in error.  He has already provided the means; all you need do is book a flight on El Al and you will speedily arrive in our land. And a few words after we pray that HaShem lead us upright to our land, we say the Shema. The implication is clear: Only by going to our land can we properly appreciate the meaning of the essential  declaration of our faith.
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The Fast of Gedaliah: Did we get the message?

So we just fasted to commemorate the murder of Gedaliah ben Ahikam.  After Eretz Yisrael had been virtually emptied of its Jews following the destruction of the First Temple, Gedaliah was appointed governor over the remnant that remained. Following his murder, those remaining Jews dispersed as well. We fast in mourning over the exit of the last Jews from our land, even while some may question the propriety of this fast since the establishment of the third Jewish commonwealth in Eretz Yisrael more than seventy years ago. In any case, the appropriate way of honoring Gedaliah would be to pack our bags and return to our land. Somehow we continue to linger in exile, cynically dismissing the obvious significance of the Fast of Gedaliah, together with the 10th of Tevet, 17th of Tammuz, and Tisha B'Av fasts.  Clearly, these four fasts of destruction are meant to remind us of the supreme value of Eretz Yisrael and of our sacred obligation to dwell in it.
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How the Mir Yeshiva was saved during the Six-Day War

During the Six Day War, many people took refuge in the bomb shelter basement of the Mir Yeshivah in  Jerusalem.  After the war, some bachurim went up to the roof of the yeshiva and found three bombs there. Miraculously they hadn’t detonated. Reb Chaim Shmuelevitz zt'l told the yeshiva students, "You probably think you were saved in the merit of your never-ending Torah and tefilot in the bomb shelter, but I know the real reason we merited this miracle. A mother and her five children were with us in the bomb shelter. Her husband abandoned her years ago, and since then she struggles to support her family all by herself. As bombs fell in Yerushalayim, I heard her say, 'Hashem, You know that I have all the reasons in the world to be angry with my husband. Nevertheless, I forgive him. And just as I forgive him, You should forgive and save us.' Her vitur and forgiveness is what saved us." (Torah Wellsprings, Yom Kippur 5783, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)
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Forgive every night and miracles will enter your life

The Zohar relates that Reb Abba saw a man, tired from his travels, lie down on a mound of earth. A poisonous snake approached the traveler, but, fortunately, a moment before the snake struck, a heavy object fell on the snake and killed it. When the man awoke, he saw the dead snake and understood that a miracle had saved him. When the man stood up, the mound of earth that he had laid on crumbled and fell down a cliff. He realized he was saved a second time because had the mound crumbled a moment earlier, he would have toppled down the cliff together with it.  Reb Abba approached the traveler and asked him, "What are your merits that Hashem performed these two miracles for you?" The man replied that he merited the miracles because he forgives his fellow man. "At night, before I go  to sleep, I forgive everyone who wronged me, and I seek to do kindness with them." Reb Abba cried and said, "Your deeds are greater than Yosef HaTzaddik's. Yosef forgave his brothe...
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For God's own redemption, He must "grab hold of our hands and drag us from our places" back to our home

Rashi's commentary on Deuteronomy 30:3 includes the following: "The Divine Presence dwells with Israel in all the misery of their exile so that when they are redeemed, He ascribes redemption to Himself -- He shall return with them. Furthermore, the day of the ingathering of  the exiles is so important, yet so difficult, that it is as if He Himself must grab hold of their hands and drag them from their places." Ah yes, what a difficult time God has had dragging us to Eretz Yisrael.  We stubbornly refuse to  grant Him the redemption He so desperately wants for both us and for Him.
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