Yiddishe Mamme

The youth that drop-out are very lofty souls who long for spirituality Rabbi Morgenstern shlita is known for his remarkable brilliance in the revealed and hidden Torah, erudite in all areas of learning. His piety, evident from his youth, attracts to him a growing group of devoted and attached "Chassidim" from all corners of the world that revere his every word and do not make any decision with out him. His daily schedule involves continuous learning, delivering profound shiurim in Torah, both revealed and in mystical teachings, in his Yeshiva "Torat Chaim", writing innovative Torah discourses, private audiences with the general public and pious devotion only witnessed in earlier generations. In a rare conversation Rabbi Morgenstern reveals his approach in education which includes words of guidance, inspiration, encouragement for the holiday of receiving the Torah. (Y. P. Tirenower) “Unfortunately the problem of the youth, which have dropped out of the community, i...

When talking to someone who thinks very differently than you, especially when the person is being irrational, enter the other person's world and answer him according to his line of reasoning. If you have any hope of your communication being accepted, you must try to reply in a way consistent with the other's way of thinking -even if you feel it is distorted and illogical. This is the principle of entering the world of the person you are communicating with. (see Vilna Gaon - Proverbs 26:5; Rabbi Pliskin - "Consulting the Wise")

by Shalvi Weissman My house is a mess, my head is a mess. Before, all three kids were crying; now the house's soundtrack is noticeably quieter, a strong contrast to the images that meet the eye. Dirty dishes, a sewing project on the living room floor (the only surface in the house big enough to lay out fabric to cut)--once clean, new fabric and patterns, now covered in dusty footsteps of four different sizes; on the table, together with the lunch leftovers, lie papers waiting to be filed, bills post due, lists of urgent phone calls waiting to be made. My head is reeling The baby is on my lap as I type—she wakes up and screams for half an hour any time I try to put her down. I got some very harsh news today. My head is reeling. Someone I love is in pain. The clean laundry is on my son's bed; I'd better put it elsewhere soon or he will just lie down on top of it and it won't be so clean anymore. You should know, none of this is my fault. I paid a babysitter to take my k...

The Talmud tells us that, in Heaven, the gates of salvation are never locked – they are always open to the prayers of the broken-hearted. Rabbi Simcha Bunim of P’shischa once asked his Hasidim, “If the gates are always open, then why did God put gates there? What purpose do they serve?” He explained, “The gates keep out those who do not even try. Seeing the gates, some immediately assume that the way is barred, and they turn back. If only they would give the slightest push, God Himself would swing the gates open wide and clear the way before them.” Posted by Moshe Kranc

During one of his lectures on psychiatric disorders, our professor Dr. Z told us that every once in a while a patient would come to him and he could not pinpoint what was exactly the matter with the person. In such a situation he would prescribe a wonder-drug called Obecalp. Obecalp was an effective agent against depression, pain, and a host of other common conditions. Although this drug is no longer available for clinical use (nowadays it is solely used in research), when Dr. Z was practicing as a young doctor many decades ago, he was friendly with a nearby pharmacist and this pharmacist would privately formulate Obecalp. Nowadays the drug name has changed (they spell it backwards), but even today, before any new drug is approved the drug manufacturer must prove that his drug is more effective than Obecalp. Recently, researchers are finding the Obecalp is becoming even more effective, yet no one knows how Obecalp works. One leading theory raised by proponents of Lubavitcher Hassidism ...

Some Hasidim of the Maggid of Mezheritz came to him. "Rebbe, we have a problem. It says in the Talmud that one must thank God as much for the bad , as for the good. How can that be? What would our gratitude mean, if we gave it equally for the good and the bad?" The Maggid replied, "Go to Anapol. Reb Zusya will have an answer for you." The Hasidim undertook the journey. Arriving in Anapol, they inquired for Reb Zusya. At last, they came to the poorest street of the city. There, crowded between two small houses, they found a tiny shack, sagging with age. When they entered, they saw Reb Zusya sitting at a bare table, reading a volume by the light of the only small window. "Welcome, strangers!" he said. "Please pardon me for not getting up; I have hurt my leg. Would you like food? I have some bread. And there is water!" "No. We have come only to ask you a question. The Maggid of Mezheritz told us you might help us understand: Why do our sages te...

The Baal Shem Tov taught: And G·d said to Abram, "Go out from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1) "I will make your nature known in the world" (Rashi). I heard from my Master in the name of Rav Sa'adiah Gaon, that a person is created in this world solely to break his negative, inborn character traits. Through this, he raises up the level called "your nature" [i.e. what is natural for you] "in the world" - [i.e. into the world] Above." It is called "world" (olam) from the word "hidden" (he'elam) and "concealed." Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

Article resent: because of Lech lecha and the first Brit mila. Leviticus: 12-3: And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Did you know that the 8th day is the safest day for the child to be circumcised?? The " rofe kol basar " ["the Healer of all flesh"] knew this of coursevery well and may have probably engineered -so to speak- the system of every newborn this way. Of course these kind of medical facts are just an example of the wonderful ways in which we may recognize our creator. On this day the clotting factors in the blood are super-optimal. Before that date and after that date they are or sub-optimal or just "normal". Do you know that metsitsa /metzitza [ sucking by mouth] of the blood during/after the brit[circumcision ]is the best and safest method there is to regulate the bleeding after the circumcision[and not by a tube]? This was highly recommended by chazal and many rabbis of the past and today still hold the same o...

An Incredible Story: Following is an incredible true story that happened recently: An elderly lady in a nursing home in the Midwest passed away. Her children, who always visited her and took care of her, did their duty and did a proper Jewish Tahara and burial. On the 5th day of sitting Shiva, the phone rang and the daughter sitting Shiva answered the phone. On the other end of the phone was her mother who she just buried. The daughter, in shock, immediately fainted. The phone rang again and it was her mother again, complaining that no one came to visit her that week. The family then rushed to the nursing home and it turned out there was a mix up at the nursing home and it was her roommate that passed away and not this lady. So now the nursing home had the grim job of informing the children of the other lady that their mother died five days ago. The nursing home called and was trying to break it to these children slowly but before they could even tell the children what happened, the ch...

THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968 41 years ago - Astonishing! You probably don't remember the name Eric Hoffer. He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Eric Hoffer was one of the most influential American philosophers and free thinkers of the 20th Century. His books are still widely read and quoted today. Here is one of his columns from 1968 -- 41 years ago! Some things never change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION...by Eric Hoffer - LA Times 5/26/68 Deja Vu The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a millio...

October 19, 2009 [By Rav Yitzchok Fingerer] As Iran becomes more vehement in their cataclysmic threat, inching imminently closer to nuclear power, there are questions that gnaw every thinking person’s conscience: What is Iran’s ultimate motive? Who will preemptively strike Iran? Will it be Eretz Yisroel or America? Will we survive retaliation? How does this tie in to the grand scheme of Hashem’s plan for the Jewish people? Where does the Torah prophesize this? The Roots of Iran in the Torah: The prodigious histories of Babylonia and Persia, modern day Iraq and Iran, may be traced to postdiluvian civilization. Shem, Cham, and Yafes, Noach’s sons, were bequeathed distinct divine missions. While some of Cham’s descendants were cursed to be slaves, Yafes’s descendants were ordained with a twofold mission—to be the aesthetic developers and monarchs of the world and the facilitators and catalysts of the spiritual ascendancy of Shem’s progeny. Finally, Shem’s descendants were charged with bei...

A few sentences from the Ne-ila [closing service of yom kippur], after the Shofar blowing at the very end. יז כָּל-כְּלִי יוּצַר עָלַיִךְ, לא יִצְלָח, וְכָל-לָשׁוֹן תָּקוּם-אִתָּךְ לַמִּשְׁפָּט, תַּרְשִׁיעִי; זֹאת נַחֲלַת עַבְדֵי יְהוָה וְצִדְקָתָם, מֵאִתִּי--נְאֻם-יְהוָה No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their due reward from Me, saith the LORD. Go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a happy heart, for G-d has now accepted thy works. [Book of Prayer: According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews David de Sola Pool, New York: Union of Sephardic Congregations, 1979]

Last night, the Sudilkover Rebbe told me that 5770 (תש"ע) will a year in which Hashem will express His rachamim (compassion) and ratzon (desire). He explained that this is hinted to in the fact that the letters that make up this year תש"ע can be rearranged into the word שְׁעַת that is found in the tefilla of Avinu Malkeinu: אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ תְּהֵא הַשָּׁעָה הַזּאת שְׁעַת רַחֲמִים וְעֵת רָצון מִלְּפָנֶיךָ posted by simple jew

In the Torah we read that Sarah and Abraham are going to have child. When Sarah hears this she starts to laugh. Sarah's' laughing wasn't cause she was doubting G-d. As the commentaries say that Sarah had more faith and trust in the almighty G-d master of the universe then did Abraham. The laugh she had was in realizing and knowing in everything we go through, the almighty G-d master of the universe is going through it with us all. The first paragraph tells us that G-d came to visit Abraham after his circumcision. It is interesting that that the last two words are kichom hayom at the heat of the day. This is to teach us that as the sun is located in the heavens and it is able to affect and heat the the lower worlds. So is true with a person that is spiritually connected to the almighty G-d master of the universe. The spiritually connected person is physically on this world but his thoughts and ideas come from the place called the garden of Eden. In turn he is able to chan...

This is hysterical. If it had been presented this way, I don't believe any of us would have applied!!! Position: Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop Job Description: Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required. Responsibilities: The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the b...

Even those who aren't particularly sympathetic to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview with British Television during the retaliation against Hamas' shelling of Israel. The interviewer asked him: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" (A nasty question if there ever was one!) Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?" Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) Why not? Netanyahu: "Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestap...

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum. From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered. This was one of those "I don't want to be bothered" times. "I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought. He didn't. He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke. "That's a very pretty car," he said. He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly blond beard kept more than his face warm. I said, "Thanks," and continued wiping off my car. He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for...

People walk around sad because they don't know what to do with their future. You have this minute right now. What are you going to do with it? The difference between sadness and joy is very simple. Sadness always tells you: 'Oy vey! What are you doing to do in ten minutes? What will you do ten years from now?' If you are really filled with joy for one minute, then you will know what to do the next minute also. What is G-d giving you? He is giving you this minute. He hasn't given tomorrow. Of course I don't know what to do tomorrow, because I didn't receive it yet. Sadness is very much concerned with what I don't have, and I really don't have tomorrow yet. The truth is, I am always standing before nothingness, because I am nonexistent yet for the next minute. I'm not there yet. Time isn't there. The world isn't there! The world is here...right now! -- Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, zt"l

The main thing is simple faith and stubbornness, so as not to be broken when one is depressed. With the same breath that G'd reveals Himself to you, you should live with Him in his distress of His children, who live with needless hatred and in all the different evil ways which disturb G'd's connection with us. Then G'd brings upon us an awakening of His pain, so that we can participate in His pain and so that there will be a place for Him in the world of asiyah, our world, from which the life force of all the worlds stems. When G'd does not have a part in this world below, we have no nurturing powers from above, and all the springs are stopped up. And as G'd has mercy on his creatures, He causes us to have pain and suffering, so that we will cry to Him and arouse His mercy on His nation, and redeem us soon.Rather than crying out from the depth of our hearts that there should be an end to all our troubles and that we should remain silent about all our pain and su...

By: Chaviv Danesh The period of time between the first day of Elul until Yom Kippur is 40 days. The number 40 occurs in Judaism quiet often. If we look closely we will see that every time the number 40 is used it is in connection with a transformation of one sort or another. Let’s look at some examples: The flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights. The Midrash along with many other sources state that the world became radically different after the flood. From the nature of the people to the land everything changed. In a sense the world was reborn and given a second chance for their misdeeds. The Jewish people were in the desert for 40 years. The time the Jewish people spent in the desert was a punishment for the spies who searched the land for 40 days and for the people believed their bad report. Therefore, here the 40 years were 40 years to compensate for the mistake they made and get them spiritually clean of that sin so that they can enter the land. Here again we see the number 40 transfor...

There is a story told of a person who came to a great rabbi with a question. Can one fulfill the obligation of drinking the four cups on Pesach with milk? The rabbi thought a moment and then went into his safe to take out money to give to the fellow. As the rabbi handed the money to the fellow to use to purchase wine the rabbi gave him extra to purchase chicken and other foods. The man bewildered asked the rabbi how is it that you know that I didn't even have chicken for pesach?. The rabbi answered if you are asking me about using milk for the four cups then as well you don't have any chicken!!! For we know that one doesn't eat milk and meat together.

Written by Rabbi Avraham Moshe Kiper - Founder of Neve Ziviya This year we read Parshat Bamidbar on the day preceding Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Let’s look for the connection between this Parsha and the giving of the Torah. In chapter 1 verse 19 it is written, “ According to G-d’s command to Moshe he counted them in the desert”. The Kedushat Levi asks why this verse is written as it is. We might think that it should have been written the other way, that is, “He counted them in the desert according to G-d’s command to Moshe.” Why is the verse seemingly reversed? He then explains that our sages teach that there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, corresponding to the six hundred thousand souls of the Jewish people. Moshe Rabeinu knew which letter each and every person corresponded to. Therefore when he was counting the Jewish people, he was also learning all of the letters of the Torah. That is why the verse hints to us, “According to G-d’s command to Moshe.” It is telling us that in...

by Shalvi Weissman There are angels in the world who tell us that we're not good enough – and they are right! As perfect beings, angels hold up perfection as their standard of measurement, but their measurements have been getting us humans into trouble from the very beginning. When G‑d decided to create the world, in His humility He asked the angels what they thought. The answer was, of course, "No! Don't do it! They will tell lies, they will break the rules, they will make mistakes, and it's not worth it!" G-d never expected perfection G‑d, however, decided that despite the risk, it was a worthwhile investment- and Adam and Eve were created. His explanation to the angels was that we would be kind to each other. When it was time to give the Torah, the angels didn't want Him to entrust it to us. Moses was in heaven for forty days and forty nights learning the Torah and preparing to bring it down to the Jewish people. The angels came to G‑d and said, "What...

Shavuos marks our personal relationship to Torah. In his wild quest to locate who stole the Torah, Satan turns to Moshe (Shabbos 89a) and asks where it is. Moshe responds to the Satan: Who am I that God would give me the Torah. Ultimately, Satan accuses Moshe of lying. Moshe responds: True, I have the Torah – but it is not mine, for how can I possibly own God’s Torah? Hashem corrects Moshe: precisely because you diminish yourself, you now become its proprietor. In effect, Hashem is saying that to acquire Torah, humility is the requisite trait. The great paradox of owning Torah now becomes: the less one claims Torah, the more he has of it.

I'm sure that you believe in G-d. When it comes down to it, most people do. If they don't, then they say "Maybe there's a G-d." But our souls know, and when we are honest with ourselves, we know too. So where do all of the doubts come from? We all have doubts sometimes. If part of us believes in G?d, then where do these doubts seep in? The doubt is really a doubt in ourselves. We know all of our faults and failings better than any other human alive. We know our weaknesses, our fears, our moments of utter failure. Sometimes situations arise that seem to demand from us much more than we have: more strength, more willpower, money, patience, wisdom, holiness… If I were… If I had… then I could handle this situation. But I'm not and I don't and I can't. So there! But the situation doesn't go away! It keeps on pressing, demanding, insisting. Maybe it occasionally lets up, but before you're finished taking a deep breath it's back with a vengeance. ...