Yiddishe Mamme

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...