Trying to find a Tikun for the Chet Harishon

A collection of Parsha Insight that reflect the conflict of Ruchnious and Gashmiuos in our lives.

Bereshit:Rav Itamar Schwartz, from a Shiur on Tu Beshvat talks about how Adam Harishon destroyed the world through eating one fruit wrong and we can begin to be mistaken this Chet by eating correctly. He says that it is very important when we eat that we eat from need and not from desire.

Before I began OA I did not think that this was an attainable goal. I thought that it would be lovely to do it, and a Tzadik like Rav Schwartz could do it, but me-forget it. Now that I am working the program I feel that this is what I am doing.

Rav Schwartz talks about the need to balance the physical and the spiritual in his book “Da Et Atzmacha”He says that you should seek to develop your creativity with spirituality not through the material world. He even says, it is good to eat the same thing every day.

This was an eye opener. I could not imagine that this was a good thing. Now that I have a set food plan every day I see how important this is. I do not have to waste spiritual energy on thinking about food. I do not even think about how much food to eat. I am abstinent. I do what my sponsor tells me to do. I know that the plan works, I see with my own eyes that it works for so many people, I can save my spiritual energy for what really counts.

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The lesson for October 14 was: “The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger” …Shakespeare

This was talking about the fact the the easy way is not always the good way.

I was lisenting to a Shiur by Rebbetzin Heller about Yichud Hashem She was explaining that good and bad come from Hashem. It is important to understand that the source of everything is Hashem and that the reason that we need bad in our lives is to help us grow.

I was having problems with the idea that I had to look to non-Jewish sources for wisdom. I kept thinking that everything that I need is in the Torah so why do I have to look elsewhere. It is comforting to see the same ideas discussed in my learning it make me feel that I am going in the right way.

Noach

In a Shiur on Parashat Noach Shira Smiles says that one of the reasons for the Mabul was that people had started to become imprecise in their talk and in their action.

I find that one of the most important things that I am learning while working the program is that I need to be more precise. I have to measure my food. I have to tell my sponsor exactly what I am going to eat.I find that this is spilling over into my life. My desk at work is neater and I am being more careful of details.

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Rabbi Lazer Brody in a Shiur on Parshat Noach said that the reason that the Dor Haflagah did not get destroyed was because of Unity and that they did not speak Loshon Harah.

One of the things that is most impressive on the program is the mix of people. They range from modern to the most chasidic. It is really beautifulOne of the important things we talk about in meetings is anonymity. To me this is so similar to shmiras Ha Lashon. YOU Can not tell someone what someone said in the meeting, you can not even tell someone that another person is in OA. This follows that laws of Loshon Harah. IT is assur to tell someone what someone else said, or what you saw someone else do.