Heaven on Earth

At nighttime, elephant trainers tie the elephants to wooden poles to prevent them from escaping. The  elephant is strong enough to pull free from the pole, but it doesn't try. And that is because when it was a  young, small calf, it tried to pull away from the wooden pole, and it couldn't. It has never tried again  since then. It doesn't realize that now it is much greater, larger, and has strengths that it didn't have in the  past. We are similar because we tried to do things in the past and failed, and since then, we don't try again. We  don't realize that we have grown since that time. Past letdowns shouldn't prevent us from trying again.  Perhaps this time we will succeed. (Torah Wellsprng, Tazria, 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)

Rebbe Uri of Strelitz zy’a said, “When a person has an urge to say something forbidden and he holds back it's as though he fasted eighty-four days." Rebbe Ahron of Belz zy’a added, “And I say, nach un nach, un nach," which means that it’s like fasting for eighty-four days, and much, much more than that. (Torah Wellsprings, Tazria, 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman shlita)

"Klal Yisrael is 'heimish' with the Creator; we draw near to Him and bring Him close to us, and we address him as "ata" (you), as we bring two opposite concepts together. On the one hand, there is the revelation of His awesome greatness and on the other hand there is our heimishkeit with him. This is the relationship between Klal Yisrael and the Creator, blessed be He." (Sefer Da'at Shlomo, Ma'amarei Geulah, Purim & Pesach, pages 265-66 [translated from the Hebrew]) And then the rav quotes Rashi to Vayikra 26:12: "I will stroll with you in Gan Eden as one of you and you will not be terrified of me." That's the heimishkeit side of the relationship. But then Rashi adds, "Now one might think that you will not fear Me. Therefore scripture says "and be your God." (Vayikra 26:15). This is the recognition of God's awesome, reverential, fearsome aspect.

A priest once came into a Jewish village and, with permission from the local government, announced that someone should come forward to debate with him. This time, the loser of the debate would be thrown into a river and face their death. The court said, "There will be no second chances and no  appeals. Whoever loses the debate will be drowned immediately." The Yidden were very afraid and davened to Hashem for salvation. The date of the debate was quickly approaching. No one wanted to be chosen to challenge the priest because everyone was scared that the Yid would lose the debate and be thrown into the river. A simple tailor volunteered to take on the contest. This tailor was unlearned – which made his chance of success against the scholarly priest slim, but since no one wanted to take on the  challenge, the  community had no choice other than to accept his offer and pray for his success. When the priest saw the tailor standing before him, he was confident that he would ea...

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z"l draws our attention to the geulah (redemption) that is happening now.  It's so simple to see that we can easily miss it. In the Amidah prayer, HaShem is described as גואל ישראל, the redeemer of Israel. Or you could say "the One who is redeeming Israel." It's in the present tense, meaning the process is underway. When we understand that redemption is going on right now, it makes us stop for a moment and evaluate what we can do to assist in the process. We see other signs in the Amidah that redemption is underway since other verbs associated with this process are also in the present tense.  HaShem מְקַבֵּץ נִדְחֵי עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל (is gathering the dispersed of His people Israel, בּוֹנֵה יְרוּשָׁלָֽיִם (is building Jerusalem) and מַצְמִֽיחַ קֶֽרֶן יְשׁוּעָה (is causing the power of salvation to grow). How do we know that we are obligated to assist HaShem in this process? In the Amidah we declare that HaShem רוֹפֵא חוֹלֵי עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל (i...

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z"l (1914-2005) was a radical thinker. He was born into a secular family in Berlin, became a ba'al teshuvah in college, spent World War II in Sweden, and immigrated to Israel in 1946. His brilliant insights leap out at you from every page of his writings. Most of his books, including the classic Alei Shur, have not been translated into English. I recently opened "Sefer Da'at Shlomo: Ma'amarei Ge'ulah, Purim & Pesach."  We make free choice a cornerstone of the practice of Judaism, yet Rabbi Wolbe speaks of ge'ulah (redemption) as a state of mind where free choice is eliminated since we have no option other than to do the right thing, to do good. Moshiach will be greater than the prophets since he will show us that "from free choice itself we need to be redeemed, in being compelled to do good, as is appropriate and fitting for someone who lives in the world of the Holy One blessed be He."  Rabbi Wolbe provides a loophole...

An advantage of getting older is learning that everything always works out in the end. Just like in the Purim story. Winston Churchill, in old age, once said: "I spent half my life worrying and none of it ever did me any good." The word for worry is דאגה. The first letters of the alphabet are there: aleph, gimmel, dalet, and hey, but  the beit is lacking.  That's because the beit stands for  ביטחון, meaning trust. If you trust in God, you have bitachon, and worry vanishes. Happy Purim.

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z"l wrote that each era has its own form of  avodah zara or idol worship.  In the time of the First Temple, idol worship was idol worship and the  prophets railed against it. From Artistotle until a few centuries ago, avodah zara took the form   of  philosophy and the Rambam  countered it with Moreh Nevuchim,  The Guide for the Perplexed. For the last several hundred years, avodah zara has taken the form of  false messiahs and messianic  movements, from Shabbtai Tzvi  to  Marxism and communism.   Our own deep longing for the Messiah is  expressed in our return to  the  Land  of Israel, the beginning of redemption not only for our own  people  but for the entire world.

אהבה ממבט ראשון Love at First Sight אריק איינשטיין   מילים:  אריק איינשטיין לחן:  שם טוב לוי מה שהרס אותי                                       What destroyed me  היה הצחוק שהיה לך בעיניים                     Was the laughter in your eyes כשאמרת נעים מאוד                                 When you said "what a pleasure to meet you" מה שהמיס אותי                                      What melted me היה החום שזרם ממך                               Was the warmth that flowed from you כשנתת לי ידך                    ...

On becoming the eagle we were meant to be

The Ben Ish Chai zt’l told the following story: Once, there was a poor but generous woman who baked four loaves of bread each day. She gave three loaves to the poor and kept one for her family. One morning, after distributing the three loaves, a destitute man came to her door begging for food. He said he hadn't eaten for a few days. She had mercy on him and gave him the fourth bread. "I'll bake another one for my family," she thought. She took a bag of wheat kernels and went to the shore, where the communal mill stood. After grinding her wheat into flour, she filled her bag with flour, flung it over her shoulder, and headed back home to bake bread for her family. Just then, a powerful gust of wind snatched the bag out of her hands and tossed it into the sea. She cried, "Why do I deserve this punishment? Is this my reward for giving tzedakah?" There was a yeshiva near the shore, and she went inside and asked the rosh yeshiva for an explanation. "I gave e...