Lashon Hara, Hatred and Lack of Union

2019 is being a turbulent, noisy, crazy year, many people around the world are in panic, sad or doing bad something against another, there is not more wars between countries only but there are virtual wars but they are lethal its effects, channels like Facebook, You Tube have become a battlefield, unfortunately there is so much reproduction to increase hatred in this world. TV news is a drug to violence, the attack of the yetzer hara (evil inclination) enters through our eyes and it affects our minds directly.

The game title is: Disturb spiritual emotional balance. The biggest battles we face today are psychological attacks! This endangers our souls and like we should serve Hashem with honor, love, awe and shalom “peace”.

Have you thought about stopping watching TV? Have you thought twice before sharing negative news through your smartphone? No good to us. Hatred is poison, it steal our joy, peace of mind. We will not be more Peacemakers the servants of G-d and His Torah in this world, but destroyers of this world. Hate attracts more hatred, even if we want to justify and show the truth, it is dangerous as we expose the facts, a word or a misunderstood phrase becomes hell.

The root of the problem of our humanity is to be influenced, voluntarily or involuntarily by the media, not only by false news, but also by general news, movies, novels, (content) aggressive, offensive, low language, this is a kind of garbage that is absorbed in our minds, it seems that our life force diminishes, know that today our devotion to the Holy One, blessed is He and our study of Torah can be started again, doing the right thing. Remember Rabbi Nachman teachings; "Gevalt !!! Never give up hope! There is no despair." Likutey Moharan II, 78. "It is a great mitzvah to be happy always" likutey Moharan II, 24. "There is a way in which everything can be turned to good" Alim LiTerufah 114.

When we shared negative something, more negativity will be magnified, what to do? As Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said “keep silent, keep your mouth shut” against slander, insult, quarrel.

Focus on teachings of sages Tzaddikim is the best thing to do. Easy like this, it is not our option or alternative, this is the only right way to serve God that we should do.

Shalom,

Gilson Sasson

Journal Mitzvah

Teachings of RAV DOV BER, the MAGGID of MEZRITCH

6. Teachings of RAV DOV BER, the MAGGID of MEZRITCH

[The Ba’al Shem Tov’s successor, also known as “Der Groisser Maggid”, THE GREAT MAGGID]

HIDDEN WITHIN THE SIN

Just as olive oil is hidden within the olive, so is teshuvah hidden within the sin itself. This is because, although repentance is one of the 613 commandments, one cannot repent unless he has sinned in the first place. Teshuvah, the possibility of repentance, is already hidden in its initial state of potential within the sin itself. LIKUTEI AMARIM

DISGUISED AS A MITZVAH

There are two types of people. One is truly wicked; he recognizes his Master and nonetheless rebels against Him. The other has been so blinded by his evil inclination that he and others around him are fooled into thinking that what he is doing is really good. They believe that he is a righteous Tzaddik. He might even study Torah and pray and afflict himself, but since he lacks true sincerity and faith in Hashem, his whole path is crooked and false.

The difference between the two is that there is hope for the truly wicked one. If he will one day pay heed to his feelings of remorse and does teshuvah wholeheartedly and beseeches Hashem for guidance, he can be saved.

The same cannot be said of someone who is fooled into thinking himself a Tzaddik! How can such a person ever do teshuvah when he does not even know that he is mistaken in the first place?

This is why, when the yetzer hara tries to seduce us into sinning he tries to convince us that our misdeeds are actually mitzvos. This is a clever ploy ­­– it prevents us from doing teshuvah over what we have done, because we don’t think we have done anything that requires repentance! OHR TORAH

THE BROKEN EGG

There are two types of sin: when a person transgresses the word of G-d and he knows it, and when a person is so full of himself that he thinks he is truly serving Hashem and doing mitzvos like a Tzaddik. When the first type of person encounters thoughts of repentance and feelings of remorse, he simply thinks more highly of himself for feeling this way, and his vanity only women. This effectively prevents him from doing teshuvah.

It is like the woman who was holding an egg and boasted to all who would hear her how this little egg was going to make her rich. “This egg will make me a wealthy woman”, she declared.

“First I will hatch it and raise the click, and she will grow to be a chicken. Instead of slaughtering the hen, I will let her lay more eggs, and those eggs will also hatch, and soon I will have an entire coop of chickens laying eggs for me. I shall sell some of them and buy a calf and raise her to be a cow. Instead of slaughtering the cow, I will breed more calves until I have a herd, and then I will sell some of them and buy a field…”

As she went on and on, bragging and boasting, she dropped the egg and it broke, and so did all her foolish fantasies come to an end.

When we first begin to learn and we tell ourselves. “One day I will be a great scholar and a true chassid”, these vain fantasies are so full of arrogance that they cancel out any possibility of attaining true spiritual greatness from the outset. OHR TORAH; DARKEI CHAIM

HASHEM’S PRIDE IN THE BA’AL TESHUVAH

There was once a king who had two sons. One son was faithful and dutiful toward the king. He could always be found at his father’s side. The second son was wayward and reckless. He could happily go for long periods of time without seeing his father more than once a week.

Eventually he grew so distant and rebellious that he took off and ran away. He disregarded his father’s deep, abiding love for him. Instead he blatantly shook off his father’s rule and decided to follow his own heart’s desires. He took up company with a band of vagabonds, thieves, and cutthroats.

The king could have sent armed guards after his son to force his return, but instead he exercised great mercy and restraint. Rather than punish his son, he pined after him and sighed longingly, “Woe is he who has exiled himself from his home and birthplace, and woe is the son who is not found at his father’s table!”

One day the wayward son came to his senses and regretted his ways. He recalled his father’s love and compassion and decided to return home. He would prostrate himself before his father, the king and plead with him that he take him back.

And so he did. He prostrated himself and begged his father’s forgiveness. “Father”, he pleaded, “I have sinned and seen the error of my ways. Please forgive me!”.

When the king heard his son’s earnest entreaties, the king’s compassion was roused and he took his son back. Seeing that his son’s remorse was genuine filled him with joy. Finally he had his son back, the one whom he had almost given up any hope of ever seeing again. He took pride in his son for returning of his own good sense and was filled with love for him, for returning out of love for his father.

The king’s affection and pride in the wayward son who had returned surpassed even those feelings he had for his dutiful son. He took the dutiful son’s obedience for granted since it had never wavered, but the sudden upsurge of emotions that he felt at being reunited with his lost son was much greater.

The king forgave his son completely and absolved him of all wrongdoing. He raised his once – wayward son in stature and gave him a station above that of all his brothers.

This parable, explains the Maggid, illustrates how Hashem feels differently toward the ba’al teshuvah than for the Tzaddik who has never sinned. Like the wayward son of the king, a wicked sinner who once turned away from Hashem evokes great pride and joy when he finally returns. OHR TORAH

Returnity – The Way Back To Eternity [Selected Teachings From The Chassidic Masters On Teshuvah] by Rabbi Tal Moshe Zwecker.

Rabbi Tal Moshe Zwecker is a Chassid and teacher in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Translator of Noam Elimelech and other classics of Chassidus in English.

B”H, publication in Journal Mitzvah with permission / authorization of author Rabbi Tal Moshe Zwecker.

R’ Tal Moshe Zwecker

Director Machon Be’er Mayim Chaim Publishing

Chassidic Classics in the English Language

Website: www.chassidusonline.com

Email: chassidusonline@gmail.com

God bless the Americas!

HaShem, loving God, Thank You for this special day, grant us good union between the Americas now and forever inspired in faith and doing Your will. Illuminate us with Holiness of Heaven for the Peace 'Shalom' and for the good of All.

God bless the Americas!

Shalom,
Gilson Sasson.

Falling in Order to Rise

Falling

There are many searching questions about God. It is only fitting and proper that this should be so. Indeed, such questions enhance the greatness of God and show His exaltedness. God is so great and exalted that He is beyond our ability to understand Him. It is obviously impossible for us to understand His ways with our limited human intelligence. Inevitably there will be things that baffle us, and it is only fitting that that should be so. If God’s ways were in accordance with the demands of our meager understanding, there would be no difference between His understanding and ours, God forbid.

(Likutey Moharan II, 52)

Falling in Order to Rise

The major theme of Ayeh? is what to do when we fall. Many times, we feel low and far from God. Then we have to search for God. Reb Noson takes up this theme in the following extract from Likutey Halakhot, his eight-volume work discussing the laws of the Shulchan Arukh in light of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings. This excerpt is from Choshen Mishpat, Hilkhot Gevi’at Chov Mihayetomim 3. Rebbe Nachman taught that the fall comes for the very purpose of helping us to rise up (see above, p. 21). Indeed, spiritual progress is impossible without falling. Reb Noson explains why this is so: The fall forces us to search Ayeh?—“Where is the place of His glory?” And the level of Ayeh?—the very source of the Creation—is the source of the new energies we need in order to rise up.

The material demands on our lives necessarily produce times when we are far from God’s glory. Reb Noson shows us how to overcome the distance by giving the Torah, the revealed glory of God, pride of place in our lives. The Torah provides us with a firm base on which to fight the challenges of life and find God wherever we are.

Reb Noson then widens the discussion from the path of the individual to the journey of the Jewish People from exile to redemption. In the light of Ayeh? we see that exile is far from a purposeless episode. Rather, it is the necessary preparation for an ascent to the highest level of spirituality. This is what we await now, as we prepare for the coming of Mashiach.

Reb Noson writes:

The teaching of Ayeh? is relevant to people on all different levels, especially those who have become detached from religion. If you have fallen down badly, there is really no other way to give yourself new life. You must search for God where you are, in your actual situation, there in the place you have fallen to. This is how you can climb out of your low and rise way above.

However, Ayeh? also applies to those who have already attained a high degree of spirituality. All people need to follow this teaching, because everyone must constantly move forward from level to level; it is no good to stand still. When the time comes to progress from one level to the next, you must necessarily experience a fall before you can rise up. The moment you actually fall, you are far from God. His glory becomes concealed from you. This is when you have to search Ayeh?—“Where is the place of His glory?” Only by searching can you rise and attain the higher level.

It is only possible to move from level to level through Ayeh?, which is the highest Utterance, the Hidden Utterance of Bereshit, from which all Ten Utterances derive. The reason is that when you move from one level to the next, in effect you become a new person with new spiritual powers. All your energies are renewed when you leave your previous level and enter the next. The only way to renew yourself and go forward is by first going back. You have to go back to the ultimate root—which is Ayeh?, the root of all Ten Utterances through which the world was created. As such, Ayeh? contains all the worlds, all the souls, and all the levels in the world. This explains why there has to be a fall before you can move forward. Before you can rise, you must first go back and attach yourself to the ultimate root of Ayeh?, which contains all the levels in the world. Only here is it possible to receive the new spiritual energies needed to rise to your new level. There has to be a fall because it is through falling that you are spurred into searching Ayeh? When you search properly, you can rise to the ultimate heights of Ayeh?, the root of all, and then you can draw from there the new life and energy you need to achieve the higher level.

Book Ayeh? edited by BRI.

Authorized by BRI to Journal Mitzvah.

The coming of Moshiach depends on people coming close to the Tzaddik

“The coming of Moshiach depends on people coming close to the Tzaddik”

I have to admit, I woke up this morning feeling a little despairing about the state of the world.

In particular, I was feeling upset at how so many of us are chasing after ‘broken cisterns’ that really can’t help us resolve the real and difficult problems in our lives, instead of returning to God:

“FOR MY PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED TWO EVILS; THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME, THE SPRING OF LIVING WATERS, TO DIG FOR THEMSELVES CISTERNS, BROKEN CISTERNS THAT DO NOT HOLD WATER.” – YIRMIYAHU 2:13

It seems to me that a huge part of the problem is that so much of the ‘Torah’ we’re being taught, especially in the English-speaking world, is coming from a woefully superficial place.

It’s being taught by people who barely read the Gemara, barely know any of the Arizal’s kabbalistic ideas, barely spend any time learning the commentaries like Ketzot HaChoshen, or delving into the Zohar, or turning up obscure midrashim (or even, really reading the ones that aren’t so obscure and already translated into a nice gold-embossed Artscroll volume.)

In Sefer HaMiddot (Tzaddik, #151), Rebbe Nachman makes it very clear how we’re going to get Moshiach and geula, redemption.

There, he writes:

THE COMING OF THE MOSHIACH DEPENDS ON DRAWING CLOSE TO THE TZADDIK.

Next, he explains (Tzaddik #152):

THE PRIMARY FULFILLMENT OF THE SOUL COMES THROUGH DRAWING CLOSE TO THE TZADDIKIM.

Which is why I’m currently feeling so frustrated with what’s going on in the orthodox Jewish world, because there are all these ‘talking heads’ who know a bit of Torah, and who give entertaining classes, and who are coming up with no end of ‘daas me’ about what it’s going to take to really get geula and Moshiach.

Who really don’t know what they’re talking about.

Because if they did, they would focusing far more of their efforts on explaining that:

The coming of the Moshiach depends on drawing close to the Tzaddik.

Recently, I read Part 2 of the interview with Rav Michael Goll, where he was talking about the power of Lesson 65 in Likutey Moharan, to draw people closer to the true tzaddikim and out of all the superficial confusions and beliefs they’re stuck in.

I decided I can do no better than to copy out an abridged version of it below, and trust Rabbenu to start doing his thing. So here it is:

===

Abridged version of Lesson 65:

The Master of the Field

Know: There is a field where beautiful and pleasant trees and grasses grow. It’s impossible to depict the indescribably beauty of this field and its foliage….These trees and grasses are the holy souls.

But, there are many, many naked souls that move and wonder about outside the field, waiting for and anticipating rectification, so that they will be able to return and enter their places. Even a great soul, upon which many souls are dependent, sometimes finds it difficult to return if it has left.

All of these souls seek and anticipate the Master of the Field, who is able to deal with what they need in order to be rectified….

Anyone who aspires to take it upon himself to be the Master of the Field must be dauntless and courageous, a fighting spirit, a sage, and a very great tzaddik, for one has to be a great person at a very high spiritual level.

Someone might only be able to complete the task with his own death, but even for this, one needs to be very great. There were many, many great people who would not be able to accomplish it, even with their own deaths.

Only someone who is great and outstanding at an extremely high level can complete the task within his lifetime. He must endure much suffering and difficult experiences, but by virtue of his greatness and exaltedness, he is able to overcome them all, seeing to the needs of the field.

And when he successfully rectifies these souls, and brings them inside [the field], it is then very good and appropriate to pray, for then prayer is perfected….

…the concept of ‘oneness’ is itself an aspect of the ultimate purpose, as written: “On that day, God will be One and His Name One” (Zechariah 14:9)…oneness is absolute good….

Even the troubles and suffering and other ‘bad’ events that befall a person are surely not bad at all, but great good, from the perspective of the ultimate purpose. Certainly, all suffering comes intentionally from God, for one’s own good, whether to remind one to repent, or to atone for one’s sins.

Hence, suffering is great good, for God’s intention is certainly only for the good.

So, if one looks at all the ‘bad’ and suffering that befalls a person from the perspective of the ultimate purpose, which is God’s ultimate intention, one will not suffer at all. On the contrary, one will be filled with joy from looking at the great good of the ultimate intention of these difficult experiences…

The real pain that a person has from the difficult experiences that befall him is only because spiritual awareness has been withheld from the person… For when one possesses spiritual awareness (daat), and looks at the ultimate purpose, one doesn’t experience suffering at all….

….one must completely close one’s eyes from the illusions of this world, covering one’s eyes and shutting them tightly, not looking at all the desires of this world and its follies. Only then, will one be able to see and perceive this ultimate purpose, which is absolutely good.

Suffering then comes to an end, for suffering is essentially on account of one’s distance from the ultimate purpose.

==

Ad kan, from Rebbe Nachman and Likutey Moharan, Lesson 65.

NO-ONE WANTS ALL THE SUFFERING AND DARKNESS TO CONTINUE ON A SECOND LONGER.

But I can’t see how superficial Torah and ‘wrong’ ideas about what’s really required to get us out of the spiritual hole we’re all in right now is actually going to help.

Rabbenu tells us loud and clear:

The coming of the Moshiach depends on drawing close to the Tzaddik.

And I guess, that’s what we have to start praying for, that more people will hear these words, and take them to heart.

Taken from Breslov Institutions, Yeshivat "Shuvu Bonim", Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a.

https://ravberland.com/

How to survive shaking the World

How to survive shaking the World

[We can understand our Heavenly Father and His Torah, is through the Tzaddik. Gilson Sasson]

Shaking the world

In Sichos HaRan (translated into English as ‘Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom’, by the Breslov Research Institute), Rebbe Nachman tells us the following:

“It’s written about the time of Moshiach (Job 38:13): ‘To grasp the ends of the earth and shake the wicked from it’. However, one who comes close to a true Tzaddik, [he] can grab hold of him, and not be cast off. When we hold on to the Tzaddik, we can stay firm.”

Who can look around today, and not see that we’re bang, slap in the middle of that process of the earth being ‘shaken’?

I’m not even really talking about massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the other massive geological phenomena that the prophets also describe as happening at the End of Days, when Moshiach comes.

(But wait for it, it’s definitely coming – the quakes in the US and around the world are going up in frequency and scale with every passing month.)

I’m talking about all the ‘shaking’ that’s going on in every body’s private lives at the moment, where every certainty, every assumption, is being shaken from top to bottom, and left-to-right.

Today, no-one has any idea what is ‘truth’ and what isn’t. In the middle of all the craziness that is Trump’s America, and British Brexit, and Israeli elections, and fake news, and manipulative social media, there are precious few people who really have any idea what’s really going on in the world today.

Or what it all means for them.

The world has turned into one huge sea of angry confusion, unspoken anxiety about what will be, and tremendous uncertainty and doubt.

And if there is one thing that human beings hate, and which stresses us out more than any other thing, it’s uncertainty and doubt about the future. That’s why that expression got coined, ‘better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.’

Except today, ‘the devil we don’t know’ seems to have popped up in just about every facet of life. And the strain is really starting to show. So many of the talking heads are falling silent, the effort to pull the pretense of ‘business as usual’ over the glaring cracks is becoming harder and harder to pull off.

People are becoming angrier and angrier. And more and more stressed. And more and more intolerant and impatient. And more and more fearful and anxious.

IF THEY AREN’T HOLDING ON TO THE TZADDIK.

But for the people who are holding on to a true Tzaddik, things aren’t playing out the same way.

Yes, we still see all the uncertainty, we’re still aware of all the huge changes bubbling just under the surface, but our ‘true tzaddikim’ have been telling us what’s going on, and preparing us for the birthpangs of Moshiach for years, already.

They were talking about Iran’s nuke decades before anyone else was; they were talking about heading off awful wars with Israel’s neighbors, and how to sweeten the tens of thousands of rockets pointed at every square meter of Israel, when the government and IDF were still pretending they had the whole situation under control.

It’s so funny that people think we need secular politicians in order for Israel to continue to function as a ‘proper’ country. Look at what a mess these people trail in their wake, in every sphere they venture into. The only reason why they get away with it is because the media is working hand-in-glove to cover up all the corruption and bad things that are really going on.

And we could say the same about every country you care to mention.

The whole world is struggling, the whole world is being shaken, without exception.

How can we get through all this?

There is only one way: grab hold of a true Tzaddik.

No other advice will help, there is no other way of getting through everything that’s going on without losing your marbles, or your health, or your relationships, or your money, or your faith, lo alenu for all of these things.

We are coming down to the wire, and even the secular, anti-God people can feel it.

And the shaking is only going to ratchet up from here.

So batten down the hatches, and hold tight to the true Tzaddik.

Because Moshiach is fast approaching.

By Rivka Levy.

Taken from Breslov Institutions, Yeshivat "Shuvu Bonim", Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a.

https://ravberland.com/