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.

Another case of my learning matching my OA reading.

The reading in For Today is: I choose things that are lovely to put in my mind.

Last night Rabbi Brody said that the reason that the word B'Simcha (happiness) has the same hebrew letters as the word Machsava (thought)is that your happiness depends on your thoughts.

Filling Yourself with Good

From "BATTLE PLANS"

BY Rebbitzin Heller and Sara Yoheved Rigler
page 42

The Maharal advocates filling the empty space with Torah and with acts of Kindness. How do these vanquish the yetzer Hara?

The Torah offers you goodness. People are mistaken when they think that learning Torah is a matter of acquiring information, like learning chemistry or medieval history. Rather, learning Torah is a process of actually acquiring goodness.

When the urge to eat compulsively comes on us, learning Torah fills us in ways that food can't.

The three second rule

From a Shiur by Rabbi Lazer Brody
Last night in Iselin NJ

When you feel tempted to do something wrong keep in mind that the Yetzer Harah has you in its grip for 3 seconds. Count to 3, visualise the letters of Hashem's name, and you will free yourself from the grip of the Yetzer Harah.

I am really grateful that I got a chance to hear Rabbi Brody live, for more of Rabbi Brody's wisdom go to.

http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/

Sunbeams

All of the pleasures of this world are like sunbeams in a dark room. They may seem solid, but when a person tries to grasp hold of a sunbeam, he finds nothing in his hand. The same is true of all worldly desires.

Rabbe Nachman of Breslov
Sichot Haran #6

We should keep this in mind when food tempts us.

OA Shabbaton

The OA Shabbaton this year is in early January.  For more information listen to the torah 12 steps.

Anyone can do chesed- Rebbetzin Heller

From Torah Anytime --Chesed in Turbulent Times - Rebbetzin Heller

These are not really turbulent times. Our great grandparents didn’t have to worry about going on a diet. We have less then we had, but we still have a lot.

Giving keeps us spiritually alive. It is like oxygen for the soul. Chesed , the Maharal says, is spreading forth of yourself. This means knowing yourself and believing that you have something to give. Chesed means giving what you are, not just what you have. Everybody has the ability to do this.


In OA we talk about service, service is chesed. Sometimes just by being who we are we can influence and do chesed for others.

Repairing our relationships with others - Rabbi Weingberger

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2276/single/

When a person becomes obsessed with their own list of everything that others did wrong, they can argue for “13 gilgulim”. When a person nullifies his own desires and complaints and looks at the source of the relationship. What brought them together in the first place will bring them together again.

In OA we talk about letting go of our resentments, being honest with myself and not blaming others.

Lust as a tool for growth.

Rav Noach Weinberg ztl from a Shiur on Hashem Echad

Hashem told us to love him B'Chol L'vavcha. This means with our lust for bodily pleasures and our desire for meaning. The way to become Godly is to turn our strong bodily lust away from physical desires and to use the power of lust to pursue spiritual good. Rav Weinberg ztl said that the reason that Hashem gave us these strong bodily urges is so that we understand what it means to truly long for something and then we can take these feelings and harness them for good.

Those of us on OA has felt these longings for food and now we are learning to use these desires for good.

The Importance of completing a Mitzvah.

Shira Smiles from a Shiur on "Seeds of Moshiach:Yehudah and Tamar"

http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/2270/single/

says that when you begin a mitzvah it is as if it is given birth and has malachim of its own. Therefore it is important when you begin a mitzvah to follow though. Of course it is better to try even if you are not sure that you will succeed. The problem that she is warning us against is the person who is always starting things but never follows through.

Now that we have begun to take care of our health, it is very important for us to follow through.

Bitul Torah Keneged Kulam

In a Shiur by Rav Noach Weinberg "Don't let your past weigh you down" he talks about the meaning of Chet (Sin) except that he does not like the translation sin. He says that a Chet is a mistake. We all know that we have to correct a mistake. Rav Weinberg says that we should look at the source of our mistakes and the most important one is Bitul Torah, not occupying ourselves with Torah. He says that every minute of our day can be filled with learning. We can be reviewing the six constant Mitzvot, going over common prayers (like bentching) and thinking about what the words mean, or reviewing what we have learned that day. He says that if we do this we will find ourselves connecting to Hashem on a much deeper lever, we will have much more energy, and it will keep us from making mistakes in the future.

Rav Weinberg says that just like "Talmud Torah Keneged Kulam" learning Torah leads to the other Mitzvot, "Bitul Torah Keneged Kulam" not learning Torah leads to all the other avierot.

If we nurish ourselves with Torah we do not need to stuff ourselves with food.

Examining our needs

From a Shiur by Chevi Garfinkel on Emunah and Bitachon

Every parent loves their child and wants what is best for them no matter what they do, but there are acts that the child can do that brings them closer to the parent or further away.

Hashem loves us more then any parent no matter what we do, but if we want to develop a relationship with Hashem we have to focus on doing acts that bring us closer to Hashem.

As we work the program it is important for us to develop a relationship with Hashem to give us the strength to stay on the program and to grow as a person. We should analyze our actions to make sure that they take us in this direction.

Just like a parent gives a child what they need but not always what they want, Hashem gives us what we need. When we daven in Ashrei that Hashem should open his hand and satisfy the will of every living thing, we are davening that Hashem should satisfy our Neshomah not our bodily desires. The purpose of davening is not to get what we what, but to ask Hashem to help us to accept what we need.

We need to put our focus on needs and not wants.