Wake UP!

From a Shiur by Rabbi Lazer Brody "Wake up"

If we do not spend time at the end of each day reviewing our deeds and doing Teshuvah, how will we remember everything that we need to do Teshuvah for on Yom Kippur.

Every thing that we did a Chesbon Hanefesh for at the end of the day, Hashem forgives us and wipes the slate Clean and we do not have to face the consequenses for these actions in the future.

STEP 10:
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

focus on Your Grateful list

From a Shiur by Rabbi Lazer Brody. "Kosher Humor". One of the most powerful tools of the Yetzer Harah is to mach you focus on the bad instead of the good. Haman is a perfect example. He was not happy with everything that he had because Mordechai would not bow down to him. That is why it is so impotant to focus on all of the things that we need to thank Hashem for.

Let go of your expectations-so that you have no resentments

One of my favorite quotes from the big book is:
Let go of your expectations-so that you have no resentments

I find this to be such a powerful thought that I have it hanging on my desk at work.

Today I was listening to a Shiur by Rabbi Lazer Brody, "Emunah with Love" and he said that the best barometer of our emunah is how much hate and resentment we have inside. If we have real emunah we will understand that everything comes from Hashem so that there is nothing to be angry about.

Parshat Toldos-Shira Smiles

From a Shiur by Shira Smiles on Toldos

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2312/single/

Yakov came out holding Esav's heel to teach us that life is about struggle and growth. We have to grasp onto the good in life and hold on and grow. Yakov and Esav were twins, they had the same potential but Yakov didn't let go of growth, and Esav felt that he was "Asui" already made.

If we don't work hard to reach our goals we will not get there.

Don't let difficulty turn you away from something

More from the Shiur by Shira Smiles on Chayei Sara

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2294/single/

When Rivkah went to draw water the water came up to her because of her kedushah. When she went to draw water for the camels, the water did not come up to her and she had to work hard to bring the water up.

We learn from this that sometimes when we do a mitzvah it becomes more difficult, not less. We should not allow this to keep us from completing what we started. We should understand that the difficulty is part of the growth process. Sometimes we are tempted to think that because it is difficult it is not meant to be, but we should not think like this. We have to know to persevere and keep trying and we will get even more reward.

Sometimes when we first start controlling our compulsive eating it is easy, in part because of the excitement of being in control. After awhile it seems to get more difficult, but we should not give up. This is part of the process.

Importance in the details

An interesting exchange of letters to and from Rabbi Lazer Brody about the importance of details. Next time I am putting back 3 grains of barley to make the weight perfect and I wonder about details this is a good thing to keep in mind.

Dear Rabbi,

Why does the Jewish religion seem to fuss over insignificant details? How much matza do we have to eat, which spoon did I use for milk and which for meat, what is the right way to tie my shoelaces? It seems to me that this misses the bigger picture by focusing on tiny trivia. Is this nitpicking what Jews call spirituality? I actually already sent you this question over a week ago and didn't receive a reply. Could it be that you have finally been asked a question that you can't answer?! Signed, Rob

Dear Rob,

I never claimed to have all the answers. There are many questions that are beyond me. But it happens to be that I sent a reply the same day despite the fact that I've been away from home on a rigorous speaking tour in the USA. The fact that you didn't receive it is itself the answer to your question. You see, I sent you a reply, but I wrote your email address leaving out the "dot" before the "com". I figured that you should still receive the email, because after all, it is only one little dot missing. I mean come on, it's not as if I wrote the wrong name or something drastic like that! Would anyone be so nitpicky as to differentiate between "yahoocom" and "yahoo.com"? No, it's not ridiculous. Because the dot is not just a dot. It represents something. That dot has meaning far beyond the pixels on the screen that form it. To me it may seem insignificant, but that is simply due to my ignorance of the ways of the web. All I know is that with the dot, the message gets to the right destination; without it, the message is lost to oblivion.

Torah observance and mitzva fulfillment contain a world of symbolism. And every dot counts. When the mitzvot are performed with precision, a spiritual vibration is emailed throughout the universe, all the way to G-d's inbox. If you want to understand the symbolism of the dot, study cyber tech. If you want to understand the symbolism of Judaism, study Torah. Yours always, LB

Humility is the Key to recieving Torah

From a Shiur by Shira Smiles on Parshas Chayei Sara

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2294/single/

When Eliezer came to look for a wife for Yitschak he brought tremendous riches and he could have been mistaken for Avraham. The first thing he said was, "I am Avrahmam's servant" We learn from this the importance of humility. He does not want praise that is undeserved. He clearly learned this from Avrahm. Rav Lugasi says that if you translate this into action you will have success. If you do not have humility, you will not have humility before Hashem, and you will not be able to grow.

Dealing with Bad Thoughts

From a Shiur by Rebbetzin Heller

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2293/single/

You may not be able to prevent a bad thought from entering your head, you do have the ability to decide if it is going to stay there or not.

Maybe this is why we don't discuss food in meetings.

Histadlus Vs Bitachon

Rabbi Lazer Brody from a Shiur "No Bad in the World"

Before you do something you have to do the best that you can, but after the fact you should see all results, good and bad, as coming from Hashem. Just like milk is Kosher on its own, and meat is also, it is traif if you mix them. You should never mix the two. Before the act you should never say, "It doesn't matter how hard I try because it is up to Hashem".

How hard we try is up to us, if we succeed is up to Hashem.