The Key to Redemption

From the Shiur
Pesach: Redemption through Faith
Teacher: Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller



The key to redemption is a broken heart. This means that the smaller we are the more open we are to the suffering of others. When we are real, we are open to Tefilos. When our Tefilos are real, they have more power.

Nothing can change you until you empower it to change you.

Pesach is a time for humility.

From the Shiur
Pesach: Redemption through Faith
Teacher: Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller


Pesach is a time of humility. The Matzah is a bread without yeast. It is not puffed up. We have to try to conduct ourselves with humility while preparing for Pesach.

None of this I'm frummer then you because we keep more Chumras.

Staying Sane durring Pesach Cleaning

From the Shiur
Pesach: Redemption through Faith
Teacher: Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller

The light of Pesach begins to shine immediately after Purim (30 days). The light of Pesach is the light of Emunah and Geulah.

Emunah is the awareness that everything comes from Hashem, and everything is good. Geulah is returning to self, being able to peel away all of the externals and getting to know oneself.

During this time of getting rid of chametz it is important to focus on what is important and what is not. Spring cleaning is wonderful but it is not Pesach cleaning. True Pesach cleaning does not have to take more then a day.

The most important thing is not to loose our emunah. The main symptom of losing our emunah is anger. The nisayon of Pesach is to say, I have emunah, this is exactly the way it is supposed to be, even if it is not the way that I want it to be.

Keep the Taste of Purim going

Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31lWVTjRlU

"Taste and See that Hashem is good."

From the Sefer "Building A Sanctuary in the Heart" Part Two- Bilvavi Miskan Evneh

"Taste and See that Hashem is good". Once you feel this "taste" , it will be no less enjoyable then a food enjoyed time and again.

This Purim I felt like I got a little taste, if only we could bring that closeness to the rest of the year.

Reflections on an abstinent Purim

The Yetzer Hara has ways of making every Nisayon seem bigger then it really is. Once we withstand the test we can look back and say that it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Even when we have to "white knuckle" it, we usually find that our nisyonots are worse in our imagination then in reality.

On the opposite side, the Nachas from a Yomtov or a Simcha is often greater then we can anticipate.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could occupy our thoughts with contemplating the good, instead of dreading the bad.

This Purim was a perfect example. Food does not have to be part of a great Purim. A great Purim comes from the nachas of sharing with family and friends. The warm feeling of giving a Shalach Monos that will add to someones Simchas Yomtov, and the ability to give Tzedakah. But most important the ability to get close to Hashem on this special day, far outweighs the difficulty of doing the right thing.

Preparing for Shushan Purim

Sometimes we prepare ourselves for a difficult nisayon and we withstand the test only to fall right after the test. Someone passed this piece of advice on to me and I wanted to share it.

She was prepared for staying away from junk food on Purim. She knew that eating the wrong thing would send her on a spiral of indulgence that she did not want to go on. But she was not prepared for Shusham Purim. Somehow she lost her guard, and she lost her abstinence.

The Yetzer Hara is there at all times. We can never relax our guard.

Purim is the great equalizer.

From a Shiur by Shira Smiles on Naaleh

Purim: Pride and Prayer
Teacher: Mrs. Shira Smiles
Class: Jewish Calendar II (Chanukah and Purim)


Purim is a great equalizer, the rich send to the poor, and the poor send to the rich, and we don't make distinctions. We are all children of Hashem. That is also the idea of Matyonos L'Evyonim (giving to the poor) on Purim we give to everyone who puts out their hand. We work on seeing every Jew as our brother and equal and deserving of help.

Hashem will send help from somewhere else.

This week I had the words of the Megilah thrown back at me, and it is haunting me. As part of a professional committee helping someone we made a decision to draw an appropriate boundary to help the person.

The person turned around and quoted Mordechai saying, "If you don't want to help, Hashem will send help from somewhere else".

How often do we do this in life? Refuse to see that the help is coming from the appropriate place and the answer is, "No".

It is so hard to accept change.

Understanding Hashem's Ways

While listening to the Megilah tonight I remembered something that I once heard Rebetzin Heller say. Sometimes when we are enduring a very difficult Nisayon we expect to see a solution to our problem right away. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Esther was in the palace for many years until she realized why she had been sent there.

Hashem has his reasons but they are not always clear.

Don't Take Plesure from the Seudah of Secular Life

Purim, Assimilation, and Holocaust
by Rabbi Noson Weisz
from Aish.com

Achasveiros tried to unite the world around the idea that if we all work hard and work together we will all be successful, and we will get more and more things. He failed to maintain a rule based on this idea but today's world is based on this same idea. Jews believe the opposite. We believe that the goal of life is not to attain more, it is to do Mitzvot and come closer to Hashem. This is our purpose and the reason that we are in this world. As long as Jews follow the way of Hashem and serve as a positive role model to the world we do not face destruction. When we do not "do our job" and serve as a role model, Hashem brings destruction to the Jewish People. We have to remember not to "Enjoy the Seudah (life)" but to enjoy our relationship with Hashem.

We have to remember that as soon as we did Tesuvah everything turned around in a minute. This is an important lesson of Purim- the importance of Teshuva

My Purim Grateful List

From Rabbi Lazer Brody-

Rabbi Shalom Arush, may Hashem bless him always, says that if you haven't seen miracles today, it's because you haven't said "Thank You" to Hashem.

Since Purim is a time for miracles and gratitude I wanted to share this:

Thank you Hashem for bringing me to a point where I was so sick that I felt that I had no choice but join OA.

Thank you Hashem for helping me to find an amazing sponsor and stay Abstinent since day one (kineinehora),

Thank you Hashem for helping me to lose over 45 pounds.

Thank you Hashem for Helping me to see what a difference this has made to my health, by having the doctor tell me that the difference is as dramatic on the inside as on the outside.

Thank you Hashem for helping me by elevating my learning through writting for this Blog.

Thank you Hashem for bringing me readers from around the world so that I feel that there is Torah learning and chizuk happening because of this Blog and that encourages me to learn more.

Thank you Hashem for making me a compulsive over eater so that I found OA.

Thank you Hashem for snowing me in so that I was able to focus and learn more today to prepare for Purim.

Blind Faith on Purim

Purim Perspectives on Simcha # BY 554 A
by Berkovits, Rabbi Yitzchak


The mitzvah of Purim is to suspend our logic and to realize that everything that happens is from Hashem and to know that therefore it is good. The reason that Purim is named for the lots that Haman drew is because we are celebrating that what appears to be trouble is not. We have to be happy that Hashem knows what he is doing, because we do not. We have to understand that even though we do not know what is going to happen we know that it is for the good.

We are celebrating blind faith, but it is not really blind, because we have Purim to back it up. This is why there is a mitzvah to drink until we don't know, we want to remember that we don't ever really know, only Hashem knows.

To prepare for Purim we should make our own Megilah. Look back at our lives and realize that the seemingly bad things in our lives where there for a reason, and they all come together to bring us to where we need to be.

Why is Purim greater then Yom Kippur?

From the Shiur "Purim- Happiness in Action" by Rabbi Kirzner ztl

Purim is a time of great salvation and revelation that creates tremendous Kiddush Hashem, This Kiddush Hashem causes us to appreciate Hashem. The more that we appreciate Hashem's greatness the more that we want to do for Hashem. The more that we do for Hashem the more that we love Hashem. This cycle of giving and loving Hashem is what makes Purim greater then Yom Kippur.

The true Simcha of Purim

From the Shiur- Purim- Happiness in Action by Rabbi Kirzner ztl

What is unique about the Purim story that made Bnei Yisrael accept Hashem out of Love instead of fear, which makes Purim a holiday of Kabolos Hatorah even greater them?

What does it mean that Hashem takes revenge? If someone took something away, you are take something away in return. Since no one can take something away from Hashem, how can Hashem take revenge. When people hurt Benei Yisrael it takes away from Hashem's perception in our eyes. When Hashem punishes people who hurt us, Hashem is reinstating our clarity of Hashem's greatness. Revenge is really only for the human being. Hashem does not need revenge, we do.

The Purim story was unique in that it showed Benei Yisrael Hashem's revenge which reestablished our view of Hashem's greatness. The Simcha comes from the element of Kiddush Hashem. That glory of Hashem's name wells up in a Jew and causes tremendous Simcha.