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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What you need to be happy: The shirt on your back

  A princess became ill, and the doctors determined that she was suffering from depression. To cure her,  the king hired musicians to play music near her bed, and he hired clowns to make jokes, but she wasn't interested, and remained sad. A wise man advised the king, "The princess will  become happy  when she wears the clothes of a very happy person. Find someone  who is always  happy, someone who has no worries, and borrow his clothing. She will wear them, become happy, and will be cured." The king sent his servants to find a happy person. The servants started their search in the wealthy  part of town because “who is happier  than the wealthy? What worries could they possibly have?” They started at the home of the wealthiest person in the kingdom, but he told them, "I'm sorry, and I know that this might surprise  you, but I'm not always happy. In fact, I’m always worried  that I could lose my wealth due to theft, fire, et...
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