You are not a duck

On becoming the eagle we were meant to be

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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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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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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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