You are not a duck

On becoming the eagle we were meant to be

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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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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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Give away your challah or get slapped

The renowned tzaddik Reb Zelig Braverman zt'l and his Rebbetzin would bake and distribute challos on erev Shabbos, to the poor of Yerushalayim. Once, a poor person came to his door late on Friday afternoon and asked for two challos. Reb Zelig replied,  "I'm so sorry, but all the challos have been distributed. Nothing is left." The man got angry and smacked Reb Zelig on his face, twice. Reb Zelig immediately took the two challos that were on his table for the Shabbos meal and gave them to the poor man. When the poor man left the house, the family members asked Reb Zelig, "Why did you give away our challos? We need them for the seudah. And does he deserve anything after he slapped you?" Reb Zelig explained that if this poor man slapped him, he probably neededs the challos desperately. Reb Zelig understood that the poor man's wife would be angry if he came home without challos, and there would be a serious shalom bayis problem in their home. "As for us...
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