Proof that One Person is Enough to Change the World...

Migdal Ohr

Do We Really Want Mashiach?

by Reb Akiva

The Holocaust was unimaginably horrible. The Jewish people barely survived, the Torah world was destroyed. Every single major yeshiva in the world was destroyed, almost every rabbi and student slaughtered. Almost every chassidic group was murdered down to the last chossid, and the rebbe.

Yet from the ashes, literally a few of yeshiva teachers that stepped up to be rosh yeshivas to rebuild, and a few rebbes that survived (or children of rebbes or nephew’s of rebbes) to recreate their chassidus, the Torah world rebuilt. The majority were planted in the United States at the time the United States grew to be a world power and economic powerhouse. The golden medina.

The Jews prospered, the United States prospered, and as discrimination decreased the Jews stepped up to greater and greater levels in American society. It became a golden age for Jewry. And Torah Jewry probably would not have survived and regrown if the soil had not been so fertile.

As it reached it’s peak, one man stood up and said “now is the time to cry out for Moshiach”. Now, when we’re prosperous and successful, now is exactly the moment to realize that as nice as the physical circumstances are we cannot be complete without the Divine Presence and without the Beis HaMikdash.

He stressed we must learn the halachos of the redemption. We must speak of ending the “horrible exile” and returning to Hashem. We must speak of Moshiach, yearn for Moshiach and understand that our current large home with two kosher sinks and a Passover kitchen in the basement is MEANINGLESS without the redemption!

…and people laughed and made fun. They said “why now?” and “who are you, if the gedolim of the previous generations didn’t emphasize this, who are you to do so?” And his chassidim overreacted and said “oh, you mean YOU are Moshiach!”

And the moment to bring the redemption b’kovod in the nicest and most pleasant way for this generation WAS LOST.

We are almost 20 years since then. We WILL cry out for Moshiach and the redemption, the question is how. We could have cried out from our luxury saying “Hashem, we are honored to perform Torah and mitzvot, to support more Torah learning and yeshivot than have ever existed, but it’s all MEANINGLESS without the Divine Presence, without Moshiach tzidkaynu, without the geulah shalayma”, but we didn’t.

So almost a generation later we find the luxury has been taken away, poverty in our communities is becoming a serious percentage. Our schools are struggling to stay open, chesed organizations are failing. Many are unemployed, and the supports and donors of the past are sometimes to be found among them.

In America, if the populace is not turning against us the (federal) government surely is. In Europe, the Muslim immigrants are directly threatening Jewish communities and local or national authorities are too intimidated to do anything about it.

We see the world turning unjustly on Israel, holding her to standards which would allow no country to survive. We see existential threats from Iran and Hezbollah, with other countries happy to offer to help.

Inside Israel we see a portion of secular society, the media and the judiciary, targeting religious Judaism.

Today we have threats and concerns throughout the world as Jews. Economic pressure, political pressure, threats of attacks, war and even worse. Things aren’t terrible (Baruch Hashem), but we’re getting not so subtle not so gentle reminders from all directions that golus (exile) sucks.

Everything Hashem does is for the best, and we’re being given another opportunity right now to recognize every day that something is lacking. The Divine Presence has no home, the mitzvah of building the Beis HaMikdash is ignored every day (though we may not be able to work on actually building the physical structure, there’s a lot of preparation we could be doing).

Here’s a chance with the current circumstances to say “our lives, Jewish life, cannot be complete without the redemption” and to cry out to Hashem, ‘WE WANT MOSHIACH NOW!’ And if the Jewish people are crying out together, we surely will be answered. Let’s not wait, G-d forbid, for additional motivation.

Parsha Vaeschanan

this dvar torah was taken from torah.org

Parshas Vaeschanan

Simply- a Symptom of Love

By Rabbi Label Lam

Hear O’ Israel, HASHEM is our G-d, HASHEM is One. And you should love HASHEM your G-d with all you heart and all your soul and with all your might. (Devarim 6:4-5)

How can the Torah command one to love? Isn’t true that you either feel it or not? Apparently that’s not the case. Why does the requirement to understand the absolute unity of HASHEM precede the need to love HASHEM?

The Chofetz Chaim writes in “The Concise Book of Mitzvos” the following: The way to love Him is when we contemplate His deeds each according to his mental abilities and then it will cause His love to enflame in our hearts. This is the obligatory love that one should place all his thoughts to love HASHEM Blessed Be He! A person only loves The Holy One Blessed Be He according to the knowledge that he has of Him. According to the knowledge so will be the love, and if it is a little it will be minimal and if it is a lot it will be a lot!

How do we perceive the power and unity of HASHEM in His deeds? Let’s take a simple example we can all appreciate without having to be rocket scientists. Anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of the periodic table of elements knows that everything in the universe that we perceive and us are made up of a jumbled mass of the same stuff- the same protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks and whatnots whirling at varied valences and at differing densities, from hydrogen to uranium. When any atom is split open, as we came to realize in the 20th century, oceans of tightly packed energy are instantly released.

What was is that impressed the life long 81 year old spokesman for atheism, Anthony Flew, to become a Deist this past year? He was overwhelmed by the “unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are necessary to produce life” and concluded that “intelligence must have been involved.”

A paper was recently published revealing the DNA genome for rice. Can you think of a more inert food type than rice? Well, half the world relies on it for their main food source. “The rice genome is a sequence of chemicals represented by symbols looking like this: ATTGTGTAGTAGTTCTT. That goes on for 389 million letters.” Like a Sefer Torah with some 300,000 letter, if one letter is broken or missing the whole scroll is rendered invalid, so it is that if one part of the sequence is wrongly transcribed or transmitted than rice is not produced. Not surprisingly, what has been found in the genes of every living thing on earth is a four letter digital code, from a piece of rice to Condalisa Rice. The imagination can run wild in this jungle gym of not just ideas. One can find the unity and genius and power of HASHEM (a four letter name in Hebrew) peaking out from every corner of creation.

The Chofetz continues that “included in this Mitzvah is to bring people closer to His service and to make Him beloved to others as Avraham did…” Why is this activity an extension of the Mitzvah to love HASHEM? When someone reads a book they like, or discovers a recipe, or a business opportunity they are very excited about, the first instinct is to want to share it with a friend. When somebody gets even a glimpse of “The Big Picture”, it is impossible to not want to share. It is simply- a symptom of love.

charlie harary does it again.... tisha b'av: the root of destruction!

http://www.aish.com/h/9av/mm/98394544.html

http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48936387.html

Hakaras Hatov/tisha baav

throughout our lives, we are always asking for things, whether it be us asking our friends parents or Hashem to help and give us things that we want and need. but how often is it that when finally receive that "something" that we ask for do we say thank you.. yes we may say it.. but how often do we really MEAN it, and feel that sense of gratitude and appreciation that someone gave you something you wanted or needed. i read in a amazing book from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin called "Life is Now" that hakaras hatov is such an important thing to show and how often we seem to let opportunities to show our hakaras hatov to other slip away. he tells a story about how a man went to shamayim and walked into one "chamber" of shamayim and saw milllions of malachim running back and fourth, he stopped one of the malachim and asked "what is this place why are all these angels running around?" the angel responded, we are delivering all those requests to Hashem and everyone keeps asking for things so we have to keep going back and forth!" the man went on to the second chamber and again saw millions of angels runnning back and forth but in the opposite direction.. he stopped another angel and asked what is this place why are all the angels running in the opposite direction as the last chamber? the malach responded .. we are delivering all the things that Bnei yisroel has asked from Hashem... the 3rd chamber was different from the previous 2. this 3rd chamber was slow and there were very few angels there, the man stopped an angel and said .. what chamber is this? and the malach responded.. we deliver all the "thank you's" to Hashem after He gave them what they wanted......

its natural for poeple to ask for things when they lack it. we have to make sure to not only speak to Hashem when we want and need things. we should also speak to Hashem when we get the things that we asked for. thats how u form a true meaningful relationship with Hashem and with other people. going into the 9 days i think that its a time to really execute this midda of Hakaras Hatov because from this , stems good feelings towards other people and when we have good feelings for members of klal yisroel we counteract the reason why the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed (i.e sinas chinam)

i hope that these 9 days are days of really working on feeling true ahavas chinam for klal yisroel, days of connecting to Hashem and asking Hashem to please rebuild the home where His shechina can dwell in and IYHashem when Hashem does rebuild it we should all be able to say THANK YOU SO MUCH and feel the love that i know we all work so hard to feel and that this should be the last time we mourn over the loss of our beis hamikdash amen !

Think before you complain

This is the story of a man who through a tragic turn of events lost all of his money. A once happy and rich individual happened to have found himself in the middle of the worst thing that could possibly happen to him, the loss of his money. With nothing left and not having the ability to cope with the situation he turned to the rabbi and asked him what he should do. The rabbi told him to go to a rabbi named reb Yosi who lived on a certain street. So the man goes to the street and sees these big houses and is thinking that maybe was such a great man that he set him up with someone to give him a loan till he got back on his feet. So the man goes into the first house and says does reb yosi live here? No he lives farther down the block. Ok so the man keeps walking and he notices that the sizes of the houses are getting smaller and smaller. So he walks into one of the smaller homes and asks if they know where reb yosi lives? He loves farther down the block. So the man continues on and now he really notices that the houses are no longer houses but are more like small caravans. Wishfully he knocks on a door and asks where reb yosi lives. He lives farther down the block. So the man keeps going and eventually he gets to an area where the people there are living outside with huge pieces of cardboard for walls and ceilings. So the man asks if they know where reb yosi lives and they said yeah, he is the last box on the right. So the man goes to the very end of the block where there was a tiny awful looking box and a person with a long beard reading by candle light. This was the most rundown of all the boxes. It was sagging and ripped and warped and leaking. So the man walks up to the reader and asks if he is reb yosi. Yes I am, how can I help you? Well I just had a terrible turn of luck and I’ve been having a rough day and my rabbi told me to come to you for help. Well I’m not sure what your rabbi had in mind. I don’t think there is anything I can help you with. But I’m having such a bad day and week and he said you would help. I don’t know what to say to you because, well, I have never had a bad day in my life.

The obligation of Am Yisrael as exemplified by Rav Amital:

The Jewish people for years have endured anti- semitism that made the Jewish people a victim of society. The list of countless Jewish lives that were taken, and thousands of casualties inflicted upon the jewish society is endless. Today we are fortunate enough to have our own country to call home, but every single day we are fighting for it's existence. Wether it is a fight against the anti-israel media, a fight against false Palestinian propaganda, or a military response against those who threaten our livelihood, the Jewish nation is constantly at war. Something remarkable about Am Yisrael is that we are all given the obligation to fight against those who pray for our demise, together. This bond demonstrates something beautiful as seen in this weeks parsha. Everyone in the nation of Israel is responsible for one another. In this weeks parsha, the obligation is laid out explicitly.

They said, "If it pleases you, let this land be given to your servants as a heritage; do not take us across the Jordan."

ה. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִם מָצָאנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ יֻתַּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לַעֲבָדֶיךָ לַאֲחֻזָּה אַל תַּעֲבִרֵנוּ אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן:

[Thereupon,] Moses said to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, "Shall your brethren go to war while you stay here?

ו. וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה לִבְנֵי גָד וְלִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן הַאַחֵיכֶם יָבֹאוּ לַמִּלְחָמָה וְאַתֶּם תֵּשְׁבוּ פֹה:

When the tribe of Reuven asks that they be exempt from war to raise cattle Moshe is stunned. Moshe, the leader of Israel understands that war is an obligation of all the people. Millitary preperation is not the only thing neccasary in waging battle. As we know from the time of Yaakov, torah and prayer are needed as well. Winning a war has miltary and spirtutal components synthesised as one. No one demonstrated this synthesis better than Rav Amital ZL" who passed away earlier this morning. Rav Amital the founder of the Meimad movement believed in two integral obligations of the Jewish people. These two obligations as used in war were that everyone take part in defending the Jewish state and nation through torah and military preparation. It is fitting that Rav Amitals death coincide with this parsha for Rav Amitai exemplifies the lessons learned in this parsha. Rav Amital believed that we all shared the common goal and part in protecting the Jewish people, and impacted our nation by sharing his marvelous torah with the Jewish people. May we all be zoche to follow in his footsteps.

Publish Post

Shabbat Shalom

more asher yatzar inspiration

click here!!!!

Thank you E.B.H.M for sending this!

Moshiach's Hat

I'm sure 99.9999999% of you holy girls probably read this but if not...its awesome and if you have..its still awesome...

Lets all really really work on loving an accepting every single Jew...especially during this time....

Have an amazing shabbos!!!

'Twas the night of the Geulah, -- And in every single Shtiebel

Sounds of Torah could be heard -- Coming from every kind of Yeedel.
This one in English, -- Some in Hebrew, some in Yiddish.
Some saying P'shat -- And some saying a Chiddish.
And up in Shamayim--The Aibishter decreed:
"The time has come -- For My children to be freed.
"Rouse the Moshiach -- From his heavenly berth.
Have him get in his chariot, -- And head down to earth.

"The Moshiach got dressed -- And with a heart full of glee,
Went down to earth and entered -- the first Shtiebel he did see.
"I am the Moshiach! -- Hashem has heard your plea!
Your Geulah has come! -- It's time to go free!
"They all stopped their learning; -- This was quite a surprise.
And they look at him carefully, -- With piercing sharp eyes
"He's not the Moshiach!" -- Said one with a grin,
"Just look at his hat, -- At the pinches and brim!"
"That's right!" cried another -- With a grimace and frown,
"Whoever heard of Moshiach, -- With a brim that's turned down?"

"Well," thought Moshiach, -- "If this is the rule,
I'll turn my brim up -- Before I go to the next shul."
So he walked right on over -- To the next shul in town.
Sure to be accepted, -- Since his brim was no longer down.
"I'm, the Moshiach!" he cried, -- As he began to enter
But the Jews wanted to know first -- If he was Left Right or Center
"Your clothes are so black!" -- They cried out in fright.
"You can't be Moshiach--You're much too far right!"
"If you want to be Moshiach, -- You must be properly outfitted.
"So they replaced his black hat -- With a Kippah that was knitted.

Wearing his new Kippah, -- Moshiach went out and said:
"No difference to me -- What I wear on my head.
"So he went to the next shul, -- For his mission was dear.
But he was getting frustrated -- With the Yidden down hear.
"I'm the Moshiach!" he cried, -- And they all stopped to stare,
And a complete eerie stillness -- Filled up the air.
"You're the Moshiach?! -- Just imagine that!
Whoever heard of Moshiach -- Without a black hat?"
"But I do have a hat!" -- The Moshiach then said.
So he pulled it right out -- And plunked it down on his head.
Then the shul started laughing, -- And one said " Where's your kop?
You can't have Moshiach -- With a brim that's turned up!
If you want to be Moshiach -- And be accepted in this town,
"Put some pinches in your hat -- And turn that brim down!"

Moshiach walked out and said: -- "I guess my time hasn't come.
I'll just return -- To where I came from.
"So he went to his chariot, -- But as he began to enter,
All sorts of Jews appeared -- From the Left, Right, and Center.
"Please wait - do not leave. -- It's all their fault!" they said,
And they pointed to each other -- And to what was on each other's head.

Moshiach just looked sad -- And said, " You don't understand."
And then started up his chariot -- To get out of this land.
"Yes, it's very wonderful -- That you all learn Torah,
But you seem to have forgotten -- A crucial part of our Mesorah.
"What does he mean?" -- "What's he talking about?"
And they all looked bewildered, -- And they all began to shout.

Moshiach looked back and answered, -- "The first place to start,
Is to shut up your mouths -- And open your hearts.
"To each of you, certain Yidden -- Seem too Frum or too Frei,
But all Yidden are beloved -- in the Aibishter's eye."
And on his way up he shouted: -- " If you want me to come,
Try working a little harder -- On some Ahavat Chinam!"

( i heard this story in one of rabbi wallerstein's shiurim)

there is a story that i heard that demonstrates the point that rav silver / rav frand were trying to make.... there was a big shoe company that opened up and it became very popular in america, because of the success they had in america they decided it would a good idea to send people over seas to sell more shoes. 2 businessmen were sent to africa to sell shoes.. 1 week passed and 1 of the businessmen called and said " book me a flight home, this place is hopeless, no one here wears shoes, no one even knows what they are!" another week passed and the company still had not heard from the other man sent! he called 2 weeks later and was so excited when he got on the phone he screamed " SEND OVER 10000 pairs of shoes NO ONE wears shoes here!!! we need to get everyone a pair!"

2 men looking at 1 picture and saw completely different things... lets be the one who screams " there is no shoes" with a smile =)

Rabbi Frand in one of his essays explains how fools find fault and the wise find the good. He illustrates this point with the following story. Rav Eliezer Silver who was known for having helped many displaced persons after the holocaust, bringing them back in to the fold of Judaism was one time visiting one of the displaced persons camp. There he met a man who had suffered for many years in the camps. The man told Rav Silver that never again will he daven. Never again will he even pick up a siddur. Why not asked Rav Silver? Because when we were in the camps there was only one Jew who a had a siddur. Did he let others pray in it? No! Not unless we paid him. Anyone who wanted to use the siddur had to give over half of his daily rations. That's crazy!! This man was running a business by taking rations from starving men. So I decided that if that is what religious Jews are like then I will never again open a siddur and pray. I want no part of it. Rav Silver then smiled and shook his head. I don't understand you. Why do you only look at the man who rented out his siddur? You should look at all the men who were willing to give up half there rations for the ability to pray out a siddur. This is really what Jews are like and you should be very proud to be one of them.

In life we should try our bests to look for the positives! Don't you enjoy everything better around positive people? Lets not be that negative person that nobody wants to be around...

asher yatzar

concerning the post about asher yatzar (such a beautiful idea thank you) here is a few inspirational things from the chizuk site itself (pretty ironic...full circle)

http://www.divreichizuk.com/id56.html

we can do it!!!!

rabbi yehuda stern-ohr nava -

it is a mitzvah from the torah to judge everyone favorably, this does not mean that we should be blind, it means we should be able to see all situations in a favorable way. a few stories i heard illustrate this point....

one time, there was a wedding and when the simcha started, the people noticed that the photographer wasnt there, the wedding continued, shmorg.. no photographer.. beddekken.. no photographer he even missed the chuppa!!! he was missing the whole wedding! finally after the first dance the photographer rushes in .. he is snapping shots of everything and anything in sight, all the people at the simcha started whispering "how unproffesional! how untrustworthy" and everyone is very upset with him and look down upon him. a couple of weeks later, a guy who was close with the chassan and kallah was very mad about what had happened, his friends barely had any pictures from the most important day of their lives, he went over to the photographer from the wedding and said to him " how dare you? the photographer responded "what? who are you? what did i do wrong??" .. the guy replied " you missed the whole wedding! you came so late! the camera man replied " me? i dropped everything so that i could save the wedding, i wasnt the original photographer!! they called me last minute i got a crew together in 10 minutes and ran over to the simcha! i was the backup plan , i did all i could to get as many pictures!!...... you could imagine how horrible that guy felt when he walked away from that conversation. what we learn here is that there is so much more that meets the eye, we never really know the whole story.. this photographer was a tzadik! he easily could have said no way im not coming , you should have chose my photography company first, but NO , he ran over as fast as he could to help remember this special event in their lives.

Another story that shows how important it is to have an ayin tova is about a young boy who has a rare disease. the disease goes undetected until the young boy ate a certain type of meat. the damage done to him was SO great that if he were to eat that meat again he wouldn't make it. the doctor gave very strict orders to keep it away from the boy so that he would not fall ill again. one night the boy smelled a piece of this meat and he couldnt resist the temptation and ate it! he was found unconcious! the doctors said it was a pure miracle that he survived, he was weak now and very fragile. his parents were so scared so they made sure to be very strict and always kept tabs on where their son was so that he wouldnt come in contact with the meat. they were very strict for several years.. the father was a very successful business man and he made a fully catered affair in their house it was after the boys bedtime so he thought it would be safe to bring out the meats. all his guests arrived, there were hundreds of people there! from the corner of his eye he saw his son coming down the stairs, and he saw a waiter holding the meat that could potentially KILL his son, the father charged at his son tackling him to the ground... imagine what the crowd thought.." hes crazy, hes a monster" but really he was saving his sons life !

we always have to make sure to be looking for the bigger picture in every situation and judge everyone favorably, we have to be so careful, and if we do live our lives with an ayin tova you could be sure that youll see people and the world in a much more positive light!!!

A father of a 3 year old, diagnosed with abdominal cancer, told his story over to a huge Rabbi speaking at Brooklyn college. The Rabbi gave him a Bracha and people in the HUGELY DIVERSE crowd were SO touched by the story that they ran up on stage and wanted to take upon the Mitzvah of Tzitzit in the z'chus of Refuah for this young boy. This does no justice to how amazing the video is but the doctors and parents had given up hope after 2 months of being in the hospital until after this Bracha was given and this mitzvah was taken on by people who had NO connection whatsoever to this little boy. The father felt that because these people took on such an amazing mitzvah just for this little boy that HaKadosh Baruch Hu would listen to their tefillot and cries for help.

With that being said, we think it would be a huge z'chus to take on a mitzvah for the Refuah Shleimah of not only all the cholim of Klal Yisroel, but especially for Zecharia Kalman HaKohen ben Yael Margolit. If we could all just really take the time after going to the bathroom to REALLY recite and understand the bracha of Asher Yatzar, it could be so powerful. I know for me, I sometimes rush out of the bathroom without really hearing the words and their meanings. Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who fashioned man with wisdom and created within him many openings and cavities. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of glory that if but one of them were to be ruptured or but one of them were to be blocked it would be impossible to survive and to stand before you. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heats all flesh and acts wondrously.

Imagine such an easy mitzvah could do SO much for someone.

We hope this can have a huge impact. PLEASE forward to anyone who you feel is missing, or who would LOVE to share in such an amazing Mitzvah.

Have an AWESOME week.

I heard a gorgeous story from one of the rebbaim here in neveh about being able to move on and try to strengthen ourselves even if it sometimes seems very hard to not keep looking back. Especially now, in the 3 weeks we have to be working on ourselves to grow and move forward into the geulah bimhara beyamenu Iy'H amen.

It was a friday afternoon before shabbos and all of the jewish men were at the mikvah. One bearded man with long peis was about him was about to enter the mikvah, he wasn't clothed and he was covering an area of his arm with his hand as he walked into the mikvah. There was a puddle on the floor and the man slipped , and it was revealed that the area of flesh the man was hiding had a big tattoo on it. The man was ashamed, as everyone in the community was looking at him and astonished to see a large tattoo plastered on one of the chassidim of the town. Suddenly, an elderly gentleman walked over to him and offered him a hand , and helped him off the floor. In front of everyone he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo as well, a combination of numbers that had been put there in the Holocaust. The older man said to the chassid "I've been through my gehennom and you've been through yours, and baruch Hashem we both made it out, now let's go to the mikveh and be kadosh"
This story is so applicable to all of us, because we all have things of the past that can tie us down and discourage us from moving on, but the point is that we have to be able to approach Hashem with a desire for growth and devekes Hashem and the knowledge that Hashem loves us no matter what we've been through!

CHIZUK!!!! must watch now!!!!! now!!!

http://www.divreichizuk.com/id32.html

CRAZIEST THING IN THE WORLD WOW!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SHAYNA GOTTESMAN FOR GETTING THIS!

Parshas Pinchas

Hey everyone! sorry I didn't have time to write my own! I loved this though by Rabbi Chaim Dovid Green...

In this week's parsha we learn of the zealous deeds of one of the members of the tribe of Levy by the name of Pinchas, a grandson of Aaron the Kohein. How was it that Pinchas merited to have this week's Torah portion named for him and to be elevated to the priesthood, he and his generations forever?

The nation of Israel, after forty years of wandering and wondering were finally allowed to begin conquering the land they had so looked forward to inheriting. At that time the future of the nation which was on the brink of a beautiful dawn almost set at mid-day.

Pinchas saw the men of his nation being tempted by the women of Midian to sin by serving the idol called Baal Peor. In one fell swoop he put an end to the whole affair in the name of Heaven. The collective sinning ceased. The Torah tells us that the wrath of G-d was turned away. Pinchas needed to be strong for as we know, when a large group of people revels in destructive behavior and invests their time, effort, and money towards making it acceptable, being the voice of reason can literally and figuratively get you your head handed to you on a silver platter.

Pinchas acted when it was most needed that he do so. The chance to turn the tide and bring everyone back to their senses was in his hands. He was keenly aware that if another moment would have transpired with nothing done about the horrible situation at hand, all would have been lost. Either they would triumph or they would trip into oblivion. After all the Divine guidance and all the years of waiting, to see his nation disappear through assimilation into the Midianite culture was too much for Pinchas. Continuity as a holy nation remained intact all because of the action of one person at the right time.

Rabbi Israel Flam, one of the Deans of the Yeshiva of Spring Valley in Monsey New York made a very significant point in a dvar Torah he wrote this year for the parent body of his school. It was based on the saying of our Sages that "One who acts with alacrity merits to perform (many) mitzvos". Rabbi Flam pointed out that running at the last second to leave only _just_ enough time to squeak through on a commandment isn't what was meant when the Sages described a person who acts with alacrity. It is not the ideal to wake up at the last second and rush like a fool to grab the only moment left to do a mitzvah but rather to take the necessary amount of time, proceed carefully, and then see it through to fruition.

Pinchas was no hothead, who was rewarded for acting in a rash manner without stopping to think. His was the kind of zealousness honored by the Torah. He came, he saw, he acted but not over a split second of anger or spite but with a heart and mind set to achieve the honor of Heaven. Only a well honed heart and mind worked on with much prior thought and effort can achieve split second results accurately and effectively. There is no better tool with which we can hone our hearts and minds to be best prepared for the moments in which we need to act with alacrity than Torah study. Just do it!

CHALLA

if anyone has not already made challah for shabbos, knows someone who is or is planning on doing so, please bake for benzion kolonamus chaim ben leah rachel...a 15 year old boy recently diagnosed with cancer. Please respond toayelet.reyna@gmail.com if you can be counted in. Thanks and tizku l'mitzvos"