"For People who are at Least Somewhat Desperate #2"

Selections from the Spinka Rebbe, Shlita, of Bnai Brak

[A recent letter received by the Admor, Shlita, followed by his reply]

The Question:

I don’t understand what the Yosher Divrei Emes meant when he wrote that the worst thing, the great evil is to fall into depression and gloom. Then right after that, he continues and says that this state of mind comes about because of arrogance and a false, exaggerated sense of self.

I cannot understand the connection between them. It seems that depression is the opposite of pride. Depressed people are broken people, not prideful people.

The Spinka rebbe answers:

Rav Asher Freund taught us that a person generally lives his 70 years with either excessive pride or despair. 

Despair comes as a result of excessive pride. If things don’t bring me happiness, enabling me to be prideful, then I find myself settling into despair.

For example, when a person walks into a room full of people and someone recognizes him and greets him, he feels prideful. If suddenly, his best friend doesn’t pay any attention to him, his whole mood falls. And then if, right after that, somebody who he knows a little bit smiles at him, he again has his mood lifted.

He feels like a passenger on a mountain train, going up towards the heavens and down towards the pits.

There is a third way:  submission. That’s where he understands that all the honor that’s given him is a gift from  G'd.

The evidence for this is when he is not given recognition, and yet he remains all the time attached to the Creator. And then even when this is taken from him, he knows that it is also from G'd, and it’s wondrous in his eyes.

Contrary to this, a person would often choose to rather be in sadness and despair, rather than give submission. 

With despair, he at least has something to hold on to, whereas when he submits, he needs to give to the Creator everything that he had control over.

The Pri HaAretz  (Parshas Shoftim) points out that the point of simple believe in G'd that a person has is also something that is given to him by G'd.

The proof is from the homeless people. Once I said in front of Reb Asher that I thought that the homeless people are the most downtrodden.

Reb Asher then said that actually they are at the summit of self-pride. 

Just try to motivate them to any kind of order or stability and they will come up with thousands of entangled emotional reasons that have to be taken into account. They cannot by themselves reach the point of simple believe in G'd (emunah).

“Release my soul from confinement, to acknowledge Your Name.” (Tehillim 142:8) 

How do you feel when you do good? And what language is actually a Holy language?

 How should a person feel when he does good things for other people? Says Rav Asher Freund zt''l, G'd gave a lot of examples in our world. 

Just like an electric iron, that straightens out all of the clothes, nobody thinks he has to get up an stand and thank the iron. Because without any electricity, the iron would not be able to do anything. 

The same applies to  a person, he himself does nothing. It is only G'd who gives him the electricity, the life, that he should be able to help other people.

 

The Holy language

The Ahavas Yisroel from Vizhnitz said: "I was looking for a language that is clean from slander, gossip, anger and conflict
. I, G'd, found a language, a holy language. When a person talks clean, without lashon harah, slander and conflict even if it's English, Danish or Dutch, it is a holy language. 

Source: Spinkah Rebbe Bnei Berak

One of the signs of the Final Redemption is that the nations will march against Jerusalem. The United Nations seems to play a key role in this.

As is well known, Israel receives far more criticism in the UN than any other country. You would almost think that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are killed by Israeli massacres and that Israel should therefore be condemned. Nothing is less true. But in the UN, different countries work together to advance their own interests at the expense of Israel.

Facts

The true facts don't matter that much. The geo-economic and social interests are valued many times over the existence of that small country of Israel. Israel seems to be a thorn in the side of many countries and the destruction of the Jewish state is not considered an impossibility by those countries.

Israel's opponents confuse the true facts of history with lies and distortions. This is currently not only the case with Israel. If countries have an interest in distorting the facts, many will not resist. Doesn't this also happen in the media?

Disaster

As decided at the beginning of this month the United Nations thinks it is a good idea to hold an annual ceremony for the Palestinian Naqba Day. Naqba means "disaster". This is what Israel's opponents call the birth of the Jewish state. The United Nations has decided to declare the anniversary of the Jewish state a disaster

Wasn't it the same United Nations that approved the creation of the Jewish state nearly 75 years ago? Apparently they regret that and Israel is a disaster in their eyes.

Anti-Semitism

Doesn't that bring us to the age-old theme of anti-Semitism, a subject as old as the Jewish people? The Torah teaches us the well-known phenomenon: Esaf soneh l'Yakov - Esau hates Jacob. Therein lies a key to understanding our present time as well.

From Esau sprang the people of the Edomites. Jewish tradition has always identified Rome with Edom. The Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic Church growing out of it, laid the foundations for the present-day Western world. Jacob (Israel) represents the Jewish people.

So the western world's hatred of Israel can be traced back to Jacob and Esau! But what is the reason for that hatred?

Ethics

Throughout history, we see again and again that when morals are broken down within a society, it always goes hand in hand with anti-Semitism. When norms and values in society disappear, hatred of the Jews grows. Jews have experienced this with many nations through the centuries. Egypt, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Germans… And don't we see the same thing happening in the Western world today?

The common denominator is always the disappearance of ethics or the creation of a new one. The rules of ethics began to disappear. Everything was possible and allowed. Especially when it came to the existence of G-d and sexuality.

Torah

The Torah is the ultimate source of ethics in the world. The rules of this ethic were given to the Jewish people and apply to all nations. The prohibition against killing, stealing, behaving immorally stems from the Torah.

If a people does not want to accept these rules and make their own ethics, then G-d and His people will soon be criticized. G-d is abstract, so He cannot be touched, so the Jew is left to accuse of anything that does not fit within the new thoughts and ideas.

When ethics fall away, lies have free rein. Everything becomes acceptable. From theft to murder and sexual fornication, etc. The Torah has no place here and therefore neither does the Jewish people. Do we see ethics disappearing in America and Europe? At the same time, we see an enormous increase in anti-Semitism.

United Nations

We now seem to see that change in morality in the world and the associated increase in anti-Semitism reflected in the UN. Unhampered by factual knowledge, many people
wonder unashamedly what the Jewish people actually have to do in the land of Israel.

The leading commentator on the Torah, Rashi, asked why the Torah begins with the description of the creation of the world and not with the first commandment? The answer is: The nations will go to the Jewish people and ask them what is their right to the land of Israel. The people will answer that G-d created the world and that He has decided to give the land of Israel to the Jewish people.

These are one of the signs of the end times described in the Talmud.

"Do not be afraid Israel, for I am with you." (Isaiah 41:10)

Gazelles in Jerusalem preparing for winter

 Jerusalem has 80 urban gazelles and they are preparing for winter.

Warm up

As Jerusalem's weather cools, the endangered wild Israeli gazelles are changing their diet and eating habits. They also do a warm-up run to keep warm during the coming cold Jerusalem winter.

Winter is approaching and the 80 animals prepare to survive the cold, rainy weather in Jerusalem.

The gazelles are  switching from eating dry grass to fallen leaves, almonds and olives that are rich in nutrients and oils that provide a lot of energy.

In addition, the animals do instinctive physical training to keep warm.

In the evening the gazelles go for a run to warm up before the temperature drops.

All the animals in the herd participate in the running and this 'training' can take a very long time.

Endangered species

This is very special, because the mountain gazelle of Israel is an endangered species worldwide. About 5000 still live in the wild.

The greatest danger to gazelles in the wild is the destruction of their natural habitat. Also the construction of roads that interrupt their habitats and isolate them from their habitats of their own kind.

Additional threats to the lives of gazelles are illegal hunters, who hunt them mainly for the sale of their meat and hides. Another problem is the huge increase in stray dogs and jackals that prey on the gazelles and their fawns.