We live in a world of Illusions.

We live in a world of Illusions, we think that we are free, but we are not. The only person who is free is the person who is involved in learning Torah. We are so controlled by our desires that we miss the true meaning of life.

Making the most of yourself.

What does the soul of a gadol look like? Exactly like ours, the only difference is that they worked on themselves. When we look at a gadol we are looking at a mirror of what we could be like if we would work on ourselves.


from a Shiur by Rabbi Wachsman, "Reaching New Heights, Powerful Perspectives on Shavuos"


from the Chofetz Chayim Heritage Society

Overcoming temptation as a preparation for Shavuos

Hashem responds to us like a mirror.  When we expose the Elokus within ourselves Hashem comes towards us.  The time of the Sifiros Haomer leading up to Shavuos is a time when we are able to reveal this holiness within ourselves.  Shavuos is a time when we can see and hear Hashem's revelation.  How do we bring out the Elokus within ourselves? Every time we have a temptation and we overcome the temptation and we break our physical nature we are taking the Elokus that is within us and bringing it to the forefront. The more that we do this the more that we are developing our own holiness.
This day, Shavuos, is the purpose of creation.  A person has to imagine the power and awe of Kabolos HaTorah to understand what our neshamas are living through. We have to use this opportunity for growth.
The only one who is truly free is the person who is occupied in learning Torah.  We have to make ourselves free from all temptations and devoted to the Torah. Sometimes the temptations of the world are so overwhelming that we think that we are in a jail, but it is not true, we do have the ability to break free of our Taivahs (desires). 

Torah  is so sweet that if we were to taste the true taste of Torah we would give up all of the temptations of this world to do nothing but learn Torah. The real neshamah of the peson is the same in a gadol as in a simple person, the only difference is that the gadol worked on himself to bring it out.  On Shavuos we have the opportunity to grow and bring our holiness out.  We have to daven that Hashem should allow us to feel the tree sweetness of Torah so that we can desire nothing but Torah

from a Shiur by Rabbi Wachsman, "Reaching New Heights, Powerful Perspectives on Shavuos"


from the Chofetz Chayim Heritage Society

Sefirat HaOmer is a time of challenges.

Hashem conceals himself and makes it seem like he isn't here. If we were given Hashems presence as a gift it would always remain external. The only way that we can become a godly person is by internalising his midos by meeting challenges.
Sefirat HaOmer is a time of challenges.

from a Shiur by Rebbetzin Heller

Preparing for Shavuos.

Every time that we have a Taivah(desire) for something physical and we deny it, we are elevating the spiritual side of ourselves and making ourselves a more spiritual person.
from a Shiur by Rabbi Wachsman, "Reaching new Heights, Powerful Perspectives on Shavous"

If we don't prepare for Shavuos we are wasting a tremendous opportunity.

Once there was a poor man who lived across the street from a very rich man.  Every day he would look longingly at the rich man's house wishing that he could experience what it is like to live like that.  One day the rich man saw him looking at him and asked him what he wants, he said that he would like to experience what its like to live like that  for just one day.  The rich man is a sport so he tells him that in three months he is going away and he has some meetings with people who do not even know him.  The rich man offers him the opportunity to fill in for him for the day and experience the life of a rich man.  Three months go by and the poor man shows up just as the rich man is pulling away. His clothes are torn and his hair is long and straggling.  The rich man says,"I thought you forgot, why didn't you get your hair cut and dress nicely"  The poor man says, "I didn't realize that I had to prepare".  The rich man drives away, and the poor man is whisked inside to try to find something that will fit him and go to a meeting.  The poor man has no idea how to behave in rich society.  He does not know how to use a menu at a restaurant, how to answer a simple question, how to give a speech.  He makes a total fool of himself.  When the rich man comes home he asks him how it was.  The poor man says that it was worse then being poor, all day long nothing but humiliation and laughter. 

If only the poor man would have prepared a little, he would have enjoyed the day.  If he would have dressed nicely and learned how to behave he could have been treated with  the honor that he so deeply wanted.
This is a mashal of us before Shavuos. If we don't prepare for Shavuos we are wasting a tremendous opportunity.  The days of Sefias HaOmer are an opportunity for growth
from a Shiur by Rabbi Wachsman, "Reaching New Heights, Powerful Perspectives on Shavuos"
from the Chofetz Chayim Heritage Society

Why do Jews love eating so much?

The Vilna Gaon says that the difference between a Jew and a non-jew is in his nefesh habehemi. The Jew has the ability to take the physical world and elevate it into a spiritual thing. When a Jew eats on Shabbos and Yomtov it can become a holy thing, if done right. The Jewish Soul longs for Kedushah, and the holiness of eating in a spiritual way.

Adapted from a Shiur by Rebbetzin Heller

Don’t Forget About The “Small” Mitzvos!

Sometimes as we grow in our spirituality, we tend to forget the “smaller” spiritual pursuits. When I say ‘forget,’ I mean that we tend to take lightly and not place enough emphasis or give enough chashivus to (what seems to us) the ”smaller” mitzvos. This is a big mistake.

For example, a Chashuv Ben Torah who can explain and expound upon a difficult Rav Akiva Eiger, might be too quick to dismiss the importance in saying the entire karbanos every morning during Shacharis. He might say to himself “anyone can say Karbanos”! However, I’m a Talmid Chacham, this is too small for a person of my stature.. Or, he might not take heed of his outward manners and social behavior.

It is a grave mistake to lack in appreciation for the nuances of our Yiddishkeit which are just as important as we grow, as it is in how it enables us to grow in the first place.

An analogy to explain this, is like a Jew who climbs up to the 10th branch of a tall tree. He looks down and sees how far he’s come and how much he has climbed and he feels a profound sense of accomplishment and empowerment. He thinks to himself, look how much I have achieved, who needs the tree trunk at this point!…and he proceeds to cut the trunk down! Of course, he will naturally fall down with the trunk and smash his head!

We must becareful not to ‘cut down the trunk’ when we grow in our spirituality!

April 19, 2010 by ylevi

כל העולם לא נברא אלא בשבילי

A universal crisis, millions of people stranded, billions of dollars lost, and one volcanic eruption in Iceland causes chaos across the European continent. Within all these tumult, one Jew merits a smile of loveliness from the Creator of the World, as if whispering to him - my son, the whole world was not created except for you כל העולם לא נברא אלא בשבילי.

The story begins with a young Yeshiva student, an 18 year old Yerushalmi, that came down with a fulminate hepatic failure and was mortally ill.

With little hope of receiving a liver transplant in Israel, Rav Firer sought to send the boy emergency to Brussels, the world center of liver transplants. The only problem however, is that Brussels under no circumstances transplants non-EU patients in order to save the scanty supply of livers for Europeans. Nevertheless, it was decided to send him to Brussels despite the full knowledge of negligible chance of receiving a liver.

The young Yeshiva student had no choice but to include his name to the long waiting list for a liver transplant. In the meantime, he tried to maintain his learning despite the illness, consciously aware that it will takes weeks, months, and even years till he will be able to be given a new liver. Many patients were on the waiting list, and his name was somewhere on the bottom… And when his turn does finally arrive, it must completely match his blood type and other medical criteria. If it’s not a perfect match, he will need to continue waiting … for a miracle.

However, רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה’ היא תקום Many thoughts in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of HaShem shall stand. HaShem had a different plan for this young Yeshiva student and HaShem’s loyal servants produced avalanches of hot ash, rock and gas on Europe, causing Europe to completely shut down its skies into a no-fly zone. No one can leave and no one can enter; a self-imposed siege in the euro zone skies. It is during this time that a young religious Yerushalmi man in the capital of Belgium is sitting in the yeshiva learning Torah.

During the course of the shut down airspace above Europe, a person dies in the hospital in the capital of Belgium, a person whom agreed to donate his liver to anyone that might need it. Astonishingly, a liver that is perfectly parametric for our young Yeshiva student.

Health authority of Belgium began searching the liver transplant waiting list but ‘unfortunately’, not even one patient was able to fly into Belgium for the very needed healthy liver transplant due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

As they advanced further on the waiting list, they reached the young Yeshiva student. However it was not offered to the boy due to his lack of citizenship. As the clock closed in on the deadline for time in which the the liver’s lifespan for transplanting, the precious healthy liver cannot be wasted and must be swiftly replaced with a diseased liver, no one else was able to arrive in Belgium for the transplant except this young Yerushalmi.

With the clear Divine Intervention, this budding talmid chacham received the liver and is now recovering from surgery.

The enormity of this miracle was even greater after the successful liver transplant. The doctors said that the young yeshiva student’s liver was very deteriorated and diseased and it was a matter of days his liver would stop functioning completely. The doctors unanimously believe that if this young man had to continue waiting for the liver transplant, he would have been long dead.
from Matzav.com

How many times have we found that the bad turned into good. We do not know Hashem's plans and it can be hard waiting for a solution to our problems, Hashem has his plans.

Food as a spiritual tool.

The table of a Talmud Hacham is like a mizbayach because he uses food as a spiritual tool.

We can change our lives through our eating. The self control gained from going through the steps, and the honesty that is required to work the steps is life changing. Everyone I have spoken to who has followed the program and worked the steps talks about how they have grown spiritually from the process.

The miracle of change.

The vilna Gaon says that the reason that a person is in this world is to change his midos. The problem is that this is almost impossible. It is easier for Hashem to change nature then for us to change ourselves. The only way that a person can change is through a miracle. When you work together with Hashem you can change.

from a Shiur by Rabbi Keleman

Step 2 is: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity. We can not change ourselves, we need to bring Hashem into the process.

I can't recomend this enough!

I wanted to let everyone know that IY"H, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh seforim, Rav Itamar Shwartz, will be in town before Shavuos.

Similar to last year, he will be holding a seminar of three shiurim in one day on Sunday May 9th at Rabbi Mayer Fund's Shul, Sheves Achim in Flatbush, Brooklyn (1517 Ave. H, off corner of East 16th [across from Q Train]). The shiurim will be at 12, 3, & 6 PM. All proceeds are going to publish more seforim by Rav Shwartz. The suggested donation for the seminar is $200. call 516-668-6397 to register.

The Rav's trip is right before Shavuos so the theme, generally, that he will be speaking on relates to how to prepare oneself for Kabalas HaTorah. The Rav will be in North American from Sunday May 9th (the day of the seminar) till Motzoi Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar, May 15th.

Also, there are still one or two slots available that you can have the Rav speak to your community/Shul. Please call 516-668-6397 for more information on that.

Leave those demons behind!

Once there was a king and a queen who could not have a baby for a long time. When they finally had the baby they were overjoyed until they realized that the baby had an ugly deformed mask. They were devastated and they didn't know what to do. How could they admit that they had an ugly baby. One of the kings ad visors made a suggestion, to have a perfect mask made so that no one would know what the baby really looked like. As the child grew and got bigger they made bigger and bigger masks to cover his face. When the prince was a young man and ready to become married he told his bride to be about the mask. She agreed to get married, but she asked to see his face before the wedding to make sure that she could handle it. the Prince took off his mask, and she said, "Your Face looks exactly like the mask".

When you know that you want to become something but you don't know how to do it, you have to "act as if" you are already there. Actions will bring us to reality.
from a Shiur on Aish Audio
Leave Those Demons Behind # SW 916
by Schwartz, Rabbi Shmuel
In OA we always say, "fake it till you make it". If you do all of the steps required (the 12 steps) you will eventually become a different person, and you will see the promises of OA come true.

Gratitude for the Torah

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato says that the history of the Jewish People can be divided into 4 periods:

pregnacy- the time in Mitzrayim when we lived in darkness, we could not see Hashem

birth- coming out of Mizrayim- the Jews were ejected out as if out of a womb

adolecense- the time in the dessert- a time when we learn to appreciate Hashem, adolescnce is the time when Hakaros hatov is very hard for us.

adulthood- began at Har Sinai-when we could begin to transition from learning to appreciate Hashem, to acting maturely and doing Hashem's will

Our job durring Sefiras Haomer is to work on our appreciation and gratitude towards Hashem so that we will be ready for Shavuos, to recieve Hashem's Torah with appreciation for its true worth.

From a Shiur by Rabbi Keleman

Be as careful with a minor mitzva as with a major one.

Be as careful with a minor mitzva as with a major one, for you do not know the rewards ...Pirke Avot

When we are trying to do Hashem's will it is easy to get so involved with the Major Mitzvas that we forget the minor ones. Of course kashrut and Shabbos are important, but that does not mean that we can forget other mitzvas.

In Oa we have to follow every part of the program. We can't say, I'll weigh and measure my food, but I don't want to go to meetings, or make phone calls. We do not know what part of the program is going to bring us health.