Please daven that Matisyahu Yaakov ben Gittel Rivkah should have a Refuah Sheleyma bikarov. Your tefilos are so important and have such a tremendous koyach.

Amazing video about Rav Grossman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-VvMMBkfs

Hi everyone! I know a little girl who is 5 yrs old and she was completely normal and healthy like her identical twin sister. One day a few months ago she was diagnosed with cancer. Her mother at the time was bH pregnant but because of that could not visit her own little daughter in the hospital because the area could have been harmful to her fetus. This little girl has already gone through so much (more then a lot of people go through in a life time) and maybe if we all daven our hearts out hashem can make her better. IyH she is having a surgery tomorrow- Please daven for chaya mushka bat gila elka. Thank you so much and if you don't mind please pass it on.

WOW!!!!!!! (I got this from a chain email)

Several years ago, a rabbi from out-of-state accepted a call to a community in Houston , Texas . Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it'.
Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet'.
When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, 'Here, you gave me too much change'.
The driver, with a smile, replied, 'Aren't you the new rabbi in town?'
'Yes' he replied.
'Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you in Shul on Shabbos'.
When the rabbi stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, 'Oh Rebono Shel Olam, I almost sold a Yid for a quarter.'

Our lives are the only thing some people will ever read.
This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as JEW, and will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of HaShem on your shoulders when you call yourself a 'JEW'.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

I'm glad a friend forwarded this to me as a reminder.
So, I choose to forward it to you - my friend.
May HaShem bless you; I hope you are having a wonderful day!
If you don't pass this on to anybody, nothing bad will happen; but, if you do, you will have reminded someone he/she is being watched.

Truly Taking on the Yoke of Torak

When someone once asked the Divrei Yisrael of Modzhitz, zt”l, why many say l’shem yichud before performing a mitzvah he explained in a wondrous manner. “Our sages teach that, 'אמירתו לגבוה כמסירתו להדיוט'. Although this literally means that one’s pledge for hekdesh is equivalent to handing it over to a person, there is another explanation which answers your question. We explain simply that saying one’s intentions causes the action to already belong on high, and enables him to do it with proper purity. It follows that evil has no part in such a mitzvah since it has already been consigned to Hashem above and this cannot be reversed.” The Alter of Kelm, zt”l, explained that feeling and showing love for one’s fellow man is the most important way to develop one’s middos. “Our sages famously teach: 'ואהבת לרעך כמוך' is a כלל גדול בתורה. This means that through loving one’s fellow Jew he is able to truly fulfill the Torah. This is because focus on love for one’ fellow slowly diminishes his arrogance and anger which are the products of negative self-love.” He added, “This is also why we find that during judgment one will be asked whether he has made his friend a king over himself. This is the critical factor in determining how much a person accepted the yoke of heaven.” This is another way to understand the statement, "אמירתו לגבוה כמסירתו להדיוט". The more completely one gives himself over to his friend, the more effective his words of Torah and tefilah will be.

Hashem is holding you!

Footprints:

There was once a person who died and went up to shamayim. There he saw his whole life flash before him by the sea. Whenever times were good, he saw two sets of footprints in the sand. However, when times were rough, he only saw one set. At the end of the viewing, he turned to Hashem and asked, "Hashem, during my good times you were always with me, but when I needed you most, why did you leave me alone." Hashem replied, "my beloved child, who I love more than anything, it was during those times that I was carrying you.

Fulfilling Commandments

Is there a problem with fulfilling the commandments in a basic fashion and not in the choicest manner (Mitzvah Min Hammubar)? From Rashi's explanation on the Gemara of Berachot (30a) we see that someone who is in a position to perform the commandments in the choicest manner but does not do so, is called wicked. Why should that be so?

A person should look closely at how particular he is about his food and drink, that it should be to his taste and palate, with the right seasoning and ingredients. The wine has to be of the type and strength that he likes and all the utensils that he eats and drinks from should be pleasing to him. And when it comes to his clothing, he is not willing to wear the first thing that comes into his hands, but wants to ensure that it fits correctly and is of the right color and material for him.

If one is so particular about these items, how much more so should one be particular about pleasing the Creator. If one is in a position to perform a Mitzvah in a better fashion and one does not do so, it gives the impression that one is not concerned about the honor of the Creator, Heaven forbid. Therefore, one should do whatever one can to fulfill the commandments in the best possible manner.

by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe

taken from Shirat DevorahA Hint of Moshe Rabbeinu

taken from Shirat DevorahA Hint of Moshe Rabbeinu

"And you will command the Children of Israel" [Tetzaveh 27:20]

The Vilna Gaon asks why the verse begins with Hashem instructing Moshe "And you will command..." without first stating the standard opening "Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying..."

The answer, said the Gaon, is as follows:

The day of Moshe Rabbeinu's passing (and day of his birth) was the seventh of Adar. In most years, this day falls out during the week in which Parshas Tetzaveh is read. Now, in the entire Parshas Tetzaveh, Moshe's name is not mentioned, even once. This alludes to the fact that Moshe's demise took place during this week.

However, continued the Gaon, even though Moshe's name is not mentioned explicitly in Tetzaveh, it is nevertheless there in a hint:

There are 101 verses in the Parsha. If the letters that comprise the name "Moshe" - משׁה -are spelled out in their entirety, we would have the following:

מ the letters comprising Mem are מ מ -

שׁ the letters comprising Shin are שׁ י ן -

ה the letters compring Hey are ה א -

Total numerical value: 446

If we add up the numerical value of all these letters, and then subtract the numerical value of משׁה (Moshe: 345) - we will be left with the number 101 - the exact number of verses in the parsha.

Source: Rabbi Y. Bronstein

A MUST READ AND DO

https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?authkey=CKX9998D&hl=en&key=tJpD22X5Uvp9k7K9Ms7sqTg&hl=en&authkey=CKX9998D#gid=0
click that when done please


Last week, my niece Michelle's youngest son, Mickey (Meir Yechezkiel), never woke up. He was three years old, born exactly two months after Mordechai (Mo), our grandson. He had a virus the day before, and was taken to the doctor the day before he passed away, and nothing seemed otherwise amiss. As there was no autopsy done; a flu appears to be the cause. He was a gorgeous, bright, engaging, and very spirited little boy, and despite his short time here, he made an impression on many people. His upsherin was 2 weeks ago and he was so excited to join his three older brothers in wearing a kippah. We were supposed to have gone this week to visit them and play for a few days, but instead returned to Philadelphia after spending most of the shiva in Cedarhurst with Michelle, her husband Yossi, and their 3 other sons. This is the third time in 5 years that Michelle has sat shiva, as both of her parents (my brother and sister-in-law) passed away from cancer in that period. Mickey was named in memory of his grandfather Myron, AKA Mickey, and his brit was on his first yahrzeit. This loss is so profound and these past 10 days have been wrenching. What emerged during the shiva, was that while the pain and suffering was clearly etched in their faces and the tears did not stop, and no amount of words or gestures can take away or lessen that pain, their emunah was an incredible strength to behold. Their beliefs and observance are helping them survive this tragedy and breathe through the last week, which I am sure will be a major help in getting them through the foreseeable future, and through other difficulties they will face. We are starting a little project, in memory of Mickey (z"l), to be completed within the next three weeks, in time for Mickey's shloshim. As Mickey was here on this earth for such a short time, he was unable to do many mitzvot, but he was so engaged enthusiastically in the ones he was being taught, such as kippah, tzizit, and brachot. His gannanot told us during shiva that he was the loudest to sing during davening. We are asking you to think of something which you can strengthen in your life, a mitzvah you want to improve upon, and do an extra mitzvah or more during the next three weeks, in Mickey's zechut. When you have chosen this and done it, please go to this website - Mitzvot for Mickey - and write down what you did (it's all anonymous). It is our hope there will be many mitzvot and these will continue beyond the sh'loshim period. At the end of the shloshim, we will be giving this to the family, so they can see all the extra mitzvot that were done on Mickey's behalf, and that he has been the cause of bringing more mitzvot into our world. They are aware this is going on and it is a way to provide some strength to them as they cope day to day. We hope this will be something that will help them, and give them some chizuk, to bring something positive out of this terrible time in their lives. Please pass this onto anyone who you think might be interested. Thank you all in advance for your participation, if you choose to become involved. It is an opportunity for self-improvement while helping a family in great sorrow. May we only know smachot and many chances to celebrate life's beautiful events with each other. ----Cheryle and the Levitt family

Growing Each Day =)

One who humiliates another person in public ... even though he may be a scholar and may have done many good deeds, nevertheless loses his portion in the eternal world (Ethics of the Fathers 3:15).

Imagine a situation: you have a fine home, a well-paying job, a comfortable car, and a substantial retirement annuity. If you do a single thoughtless act, you will lose everything you have worked to achieve: home, job, car, and savings. What kind of precautions would you take to avoid even the remotest possibility of incurring such a disaster? Without doubt, you would develop an elaborate system of defenses to assure that this event would never occur.

The Talmud tells us that everything we have worked for during our entire lives can be forfeited in one brief moment of inconsideration: we embarrass another person in public. Perhaps we may say something insulting or make a demeaning gesture. Regardless of how it occurs, the Talmud states that if we cause another person to turn pale because of being humiliated in public, we have committed the equivalent of bloodshed.

Still, we allow our tongues to wag so easily. If we give serious thought to the words of the Talmud, we would exercise the utmost caution in public and be extremely sensitive to other people's feelings, lest an unkind word or degrading gesture deprive us of all our spiritual merits.

Today I shall ...
... try to be alert and sensitive to other people's feelings and take utmost caution not to cause anyone to feel humiliated.

Shmiras Haloshon Yomi 3 Adar 1, 5771 / February 7, 2011

To Walk in His Ways

SEFER CHOFETZ CHAIM Introduction: Positive Commandments 13-14

When relating the bad points of another person — especially when one becomes swept up in telling a story — it is natural to exaggerate for dramatic effect.

The Chofetz Chaim tells us that even one word of exaggeration constitutes a lie, and when it is spoken in a loshon hora conversation the speaker adds the violation of the commandment “Distance yourself from falsehood” (Shemos 23:7) to his list of transgressions.

The Rambam tells us (Hilchos Dei’os) that a person who exaggerates someone’s bad points is guilty of motzi shem ra, slander, a more severe form of loshon hora.

By requiring every one of us to observe these laws, Hashem, in His infinite wisdom, shows us the power of one word. In truth, we see this ourselves in everyday situations. For instance, if someone is asked for information regarding a shidduch (marriage match), there is a world of a difference between saying, “He is a quiet boy,” and saying, “He is a very quiet boy.” With that one word, a significantly different image of the boy is conveyed.

By saying that he is a quiet boy, the speaker characterizes the boy as thoughtful and reflective. But the description “very quiet” gives rise to the possibility that he is perhaps reclusive or dull. That one word, which very possibly is inaccurate, might be cause for this suggested shidduch to be rejected. This is what one word can do.

The Chofetz Chaim lists one final positive commandment that is transgressed when speaking loshon hora: “And you shall walk in His [Hashem’s] ways” (Devarim 28:9). Hashem’s kindness is boundless; He is deeply pained when we speak badly of Jews, even those who are clearly wrong. Hashem’s way is to wait for people to repent. When we observe the actions of our fellow man, decide that he is guilty, and even go so far as to share our opinion with others, then we have drifted far from the ways of Hashem.

That is why people who speak loshon hora are included among those who are not “permitted to greet the Shechinah” (Sotah 42a). By indicting others through words of loshon hora we have traveled a distance from Hashem that is too far to bridge.

Project Mitzvah A Community Wide Response

Project Mitzvah

A Community Wide Response

When sanctity diminishes in the world through the loss of precious life, we are challenged to increase sanctity through our actions.

The past few weeks have been difficult ones. be it personal or communal loss or political tension, as a klal we must take action. the appropriate response is, to be the strengthening of our ongoing, daily relationship with God and his Torah. The performance of Mitzvos provides us with a structure when answers elude us; a structure that, in turn, offers directions through the darkness.

let's each join Project Mitzvah through which we cam adopt one additional Mitzvah on an ongoing basis. By doing so, we will not only enrich the quality of our personal lives, but will also help transform the character of the klal through concrete actions.

May God bless us all with better times and may our re-commitment to His law grant us each a life of greater personal meaning and fulfillment.

(if you have any mitzvah recommendations, comment on the post!)

Chodesh tov!!!

Mishe, mishe ,mishe, mishe nichnas Adar Marbim B'simcha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chodesh tov to everyone and Shabbat shalom!!!!!!!

Good lighting

Taken from Geshmak Torah
Posted by Zev ben Menachem

There were four keilim that were kept inside the Mishkan – the Shulchan (table), the Aron (Ark), the Mizbeach (altar) and the Menora.

וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ זָהָב טָהוֹר מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ תְּצַפֶּנּוּ וְעָשִׂיתָ עָלָיו זֵר זָהָב סָבִיב – And you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and from outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make upon it a golden crown all around. (25:11) – Aron

וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ זָהָב טָהוֹר וְעָשִׂיתָ לּוֹ זֵר זָהָב סָבִיב – And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and you shall make for it a golden crown all around. (25:24) – Shulchan

וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ זָהָב טָהוֹר אֶת גַּגּוֹ וְאֶת קִירֹתָיו סָבִיב וְאֶת קַרְנֹתָיו וְעָשִׂיתָ לּוֹ זֵר זָהָב סָבִיב - You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its walls all around, and its horns; and you shall make for it a golden crown all around. (30:3) – Mizbeach

The Aron, Shulchan, and Mizbeach all had “crowns”, a gold design that bordered their edges, whereas the Menora is the odd one out, it had no crowns. What is the cause of tis discrepancy?

The Mishna in Avos 4:17 says רבי שמעון אומר, שלושה כתרים הן–כתר תורה, וכתר כהונה, וכתר מלכות; וכתר שם טוב, עולה על גביהן – R’ Shimon said, “There are three crowns – the crown of Torah, the crown of Kehuna (priesthood), and the crown of malchus (royalty) – and the crown of a good name supercedes (is better than) all.

The Aron represents the crown of Torah, as that was where the Torah was kept. The Mizbeach represents the crown of Kehuna, as the Avoda was the Kohanim’s job. The Shulchan represents the crown of malchus, as a table represents prestige and prosperity. But what is a crown of a good name, the כתר שם טוב, and why is it עולה על גביהן, better than the other three?

The Shem Mi’Shmuel answers this using Koheles 7:1 טוֹב שֵׁם, מִשֶּׁמֶן טוֹב – A good name is more precious than good oil. The nature of oil is to diffuse, to spread out, so too does a good name spread.

The Menora’s function was candles fuelled by oil – by it’s very nature it must diffuse. The Menora could not have a crown, as a crown’s power and sphere of influence are confined to within the crown’s empire, and if it were to have a crown, it would limit the function the Menora served.

We can read this into the Mishna too – the כתר שם טוב is not an actual crown – it diffuses, and spreads further than the three crowns. As an aside, if it were an actual crown (to the degree the others are), then surely the Mishna would have said “There are four crowns” instead of the three, above which is שם טוב.

This was taken from Divrei Chizuk:

I heard a beautiful shiur about gratitude:

Whenever we express our gratitude - especially with song and joy-we work miracles and invoke phenomenal Divine compassion. The entire task of a Jew is to give thanks, for the Hebrew word for Jew, Yehudi, means "one who gives thanks." If you thank Hashem for everything, you won't have to run after rebbes and Kabbalists to ask for blessings because you'll be blessed in every single way. On the other hand, if a person persists in crying and complaining, no blessing will help him.

One young woman told me that she began writing down the miracles and the big blessings that Hashem does for her in a little notebook that she keeps in her purse. Ever since, she's always happy because she's always thanking Hashem. Her life has turned into paradise on earth.

Another young man in our Yeshiva was sued for money that he never owed. The company that was suing him had an entire staff of lawyers who had all kinds of circumstantial evidence against him. The young man went up in the hills north of Jerusalem, and thanked Hashem for two hours, telling Hashem how much he appreciates the wake-up call and making a firm resolution to appreciate Hashem's many favors and to strengthen his prayer and his gratitude. Within 48 hours, he received a letter from the lawyer apologizing for the mistake and misunderstanding. Who knows how many thousands of dollars in legal fees and hours of court battles would have been required for him to prove his innocence. Who says the court wouldn't have ruled against him? We have all kinds of stories like this, about how personal-prayer sessions of gratitude - literally thanking Hashem for their troubles - saved people from severe and harsh judgments.

Hashem has given me the privilege to see with my own eyes how people in Israel and abroad have made comebacks from even terminal illnesses when the doctors had already given up all hope. How! They simply took my advice and started to thank Hashem for the terminal disease! They thank Hashem for the fact that there's no one left to depend on but Him! There are dozens of people that we know about who were smart enough to do so. Many people have written us that the doctors gave them a few weeks or months to live, and they're still with us a year or two later. Some people have seen malignant growths disappear altogether.

Emuna teaches us that there's no such thing as bad in the world. If a person thinks that there's a concept of bad in the world, it's simply because he hasn't yet learned a book by the name of The Garden of Emuna. No two people have the same mission in the world; therefore, everything Hashem does is for the very best, to guide each individual along his or her unique path and ultimate soul correction.

Are you having a tough time in life? Maybe it's because Hashem wants you to make a right turn instead of a left. Do you have a so-called friend that's giving you a hard time? Maybe Hashem wants you to associate with other people. Have you lost your job? Maybe Hashem wants you to learn to appreciate what you have, and maybe Hashem has a better job in store for you? So without losing your job, you may have stagnated for years in the same place. We all have to open our eyes and observe how every single thing that happens to us in life is for our ultimate benefit. Once we start thanking Hashem, all stern judgments are totally mitigated, what the Zohar calls "sweetened at the source."

Our expressions of gratitude to Hashem have the unequivocal power to convert harsh judgments into total compassion and loving-kindness.

How can Rebbe Nachman say that there's no bad in the world at all? Simple - since Hashem does everything for the best, then everything Hashem does is good, and we should thank Him for it! From the standpoint of emuna, complaining that something is bad is the worst form of heresy. No wonder crying and complaining cause calamity.

A person's notion of bad is when his desires are different than Hashem's desires for him. As such, a person that encounters difficulties when he's not doing what Hashem wants him to do is liable to think of a situation as bad. Let's see a few examples: suppose you dream of landing a certain soulmate, but he or she rejects you. Now you become depressed and broken-hearted because you didn't get your way. Instead of crying and complaining, you should be thanking Hashem, because that person was not your soul-mate! He or she would have made a terrible partner for you in marriage. Let's take another example: you're devastated because you weren't accepted into medical school. Maybe your soul correction is to be a teacher? Maybe Hashem wants you to be a spiritual leader, a doctor of souls instead of a doctor of bodies? So stop crying and thank Hashem - everything He's doing is for your very best!

People think that thanking Hashem for everything - for the good and the seemingly opposite - is some kind of Breslever nonsense. Sorry - it's an absolute obligation mentiond in the Gemara and codified in Jewish law (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 222:3).

Any person that makes expressions of gratitude a daily part of his or her life - for everything Hashem does, the good and the seemingly otherwise - will see tremendous miracles and solutions to problems that he never dreamed could be solved.

So, what can we do to rectify the terrible trait of ingratitude, crying, and complaining? Two things:

First, we should devote half of our daily hitbodedut - 30 minutes a day - to asking Hashem to help us overcome the terrible trait of ingratitude, until we really feel the change within us and we start thanking Hashem for every single blessing in life, the good and the seemingly opposite.

Second, our sages say that whoever lacks gratitude to his fellow man will certainly lack gratitude to Hashem. Therefore, we should make a special effort to say thank you to anyone that does a favor for us, especially to our parents and our spouses. By the way, if you have a problem with marital strife, you can solve it in a minute: just buy a little pocket notebook and jot down all the favors that your spouse does for you every single day. 99% of shalom-bayit problems stem from ingratitude.

Rebbe Natan said that nothing will help us until we learn to say "Thank you" to Hashem. If you lack something, whether it be a soulmate, a job, or children of your own, thank Hashem for an hour a day for your deficiency and you'll see major miracles.

Rebbe Nachman says that when humility spreads in the world, Moshiach will come. Gratitude is in effect humility, when a person expects nothing and appreciates everything Hashem gives him. On the other hand, ingratitude goes hand-in-hand with arrogance, when a person has a sense of entitlement and thinks he the whole world owes him; he's then upset with Hashem when he doesn't get what he wants. So, the more people thank Hashem, the sooner Moshiach will come!

The more a person internalizes the principles of emuna, the more he or she will realize that everything is for the best.

I urge everybody to walk around with a little notebook in their pocket, to pay attention to life's miracles - both big and small - write them down, and thank Hashem for them every day during your personal prayer session. This little notepad will save your life. When you begin thanking Hashem for everything, then Hashem will give you many more reasons to thank Him. Not only will you see miracles, but solutions and salvations to the terrible problems and predicaments that you never dreamed of successfully overcoming.

Remember

Hashem is always holding You,

protecting you, watching out for you.

Always say to Hashem that you need Him

and that you know the help only comes from Him.

Please don't forget to say thank You to Hashem for everything you have.

Since I have been thanking Hashem

I have been happier and seeing great things.

Look at the world b'simcha it's truly beautiful.

Hashem was, is and will always be there for YOU

28 Shevat

Until now Your compassion has helped us, and Your kindness has not forsaken us, and so, God, never abandon us (Siddur).

At a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, a man who was sober for several years stated, "I wish that I could tell you that since I have been sober everything has gone my way, but it has not. My wife has recently served me with divorce papers, I have lost my job, my car has been repossessed, and my house is up for sheriff's sale. But I am certain that God did not see me through so many ordeals only to walk out on me now."

I then realized that although I had recited the words of the above prayer many times, I had not grasped their full meaning. At moments of great distress and anguish, we may become bewildered and even lose hope. How foolish for us to think that after all that God has done to sustain us, He would now forsake us!

Perhaps the problem stems from our not realizing that God has sustained us until now. In the Amidah, we express our gratitude "for Your miracles that are with us every day." Still, we tend to take many things for granted as though they are natural phenomena rather than Divine miracles and we fail to see the protective and guiding hand of God, every day of our lives. A true faith and realization of God's watchfulness over us would reassure us that just as He has not abandoned us in the past, which is attested to by our very existence, He will not abandon us in the future.

Today I shall ...
... try to realize that God has looked after me in the past, and when things happen that cause me to have fear, I will find security in the knowledge that God will not forsake me in the future.

Power of a Prayer

A True Story told over by HaRav Fishel Schachter, Parshas Va’era, 2008

There was a chareidi family that took a vacation to Teveria. The wife and 2 daughters went down to the kineret to go swimming. The husband went to daven by Reb Meir Baal HaNeis. The girls start to wade in the water, and the older daughter steps too far in and is swept into a current, but she couldn’t swim, and begins to go under. The mother is watching as the daughter is pleading for her life, but the mother couldn’t swim. The mother runs onto the highway and is desperately trying to flag down cars for help. They are swerving around her, honking at her, screaming to get out of the road. Finally an elegant car stops and a well dressed man asks what’s happening. The mother screams my daughter is drowning. He throws off his coat and runs and dives into the water. The man’s wife is screaming to him saying, “Remember you just had a heart attack.” He dives into the water and comes up with the little girl. The mother breathes a sigh of relief for a moment, until she realizes that this was the younger daughter who must have jumped in to save the older daughter. She screams “I have another daughter there!” He jumps back in and screams “Where is she? Where is she?” The mother is pointing to him, “Over there, over there.” He dives to the bottom and begins to drag her limpless body to the shore, but now there are people on the shore, who are screaming “Her head is still in the water! Her head is still in the water. Lift it out!!!” He lifts her head and puts it on his shoulder and brings her ashore. There was an arab man was on the beach, who started doing CPR on the girl. They called the ambulance and the ambulance crew said they took a pulse, but her head was in the water too long, there’s nothing they can do. They go off to the hospital, and the doctors say there’s no hope. The family began davening for a miracle. They’re waiting and waiting, davening. The Doctor took an MRI, and when he saw the results, runs back in and said, “I can’t believe it, regular brain activity resumed”. The daughter finally wakes up and leaves the hospital two days later. The doctors said they never saw anything like it, she was deprived of oxygen for so long, it was impossible to have this outcome.

A few days later, the family makes a Seudas Hod’ah (meal of thanks) to thank H” for the miracle, and wanted to invite the man who jumped into the water to save their daughter. They couldn’t find him, so thought maybe he called into the hospital to see how she was, and they were right. They found him. He was an attorney from a non observant kibbutz, with no connection to yiddishkeit his whole life. They invited him to the seudah and he told them this story. He was recovering from a heart attack before this incident, and he and his wife were headed up North for a vacation, when he saw this chareidi woman in the street. His wife said keep driving, she’s a meshuganah, but he said she looks desperate, so decided to help. He told the family that he had been sick for awhile, and used to be an Olympic swimmer, but hadn’t swam in YEARS. But just last week, as part of his therapy for the heart attack, he was in a hotel that had a pool, and he started to swim laps during the week. His wife was yelling at him that it was dangerous, and he told her that for some reason, he felt that he had to do this for some reason. He felt that he just loved it. He told them that If he hadn’t done this he wouldn’t have been in shape enough to rescue their daughters. “So I jumped in and saved your first daughter, but then you told me there’s another daughter. I went back in, and as I was pulling your 2^nd daughter to shore, and realized that I didn’t bring her head above the water, I was going out of my mind – during those crucial last few moments, I didn’t bring her head above the water, I was going out of my mind.” Afterwards, I came home and cried to my wife, “I killed that girl.” My wife said what are you talking about, you saved her, you risked your life. “But I’m so stupid, I didn’t take her head out of the water.” No, she said, you just didn’t realize. “NO, She died because of my stupidity” I said, “It was my fault, she would have lived!”. So I ran back to that place, and climbed to the top of a mountain, and I said, “Ribbono Shel Olam, never in my life did I pray to you. I was raised on a kibbutz, and laughed at prayer. I wouldn’t be caught dead praying, I would have been so embarrassed. G-d, this is the first time in my life I’m praying to you. I’ll never be able to live this down. I won’t be able to go on. PLEASE, H”, consider it as if I prayed to you my whole life, and combine all those prayers that I could have said, and use them to save this girl. Please G-d” He continued to tell the family, that “I went back home and called the hospital, and they told me that an hour ago (as I was saying this prayer) she woke up!”

Think about this story, was he a hero b/c he took off his jacket and jumped in? Was it that he jumped in twice? Where was the gift of life? It was at the moment that he said “I blew it, I tried and I tried and blew it.” Instead of falling to despair, he took that broken heart, and instead of letting it turn into depression and sadness, he converted it into Tefillah. A tefillah that he never had before in his life. And miracles came from it. There are moments in life that we think we blew it. We have to realize that those very moments, if used correctly, are the seeds for redemption, Moshiach, refuah and yeshuah for everyone.

-Transcribed from a shiur by Rav Fishel Schachter, shlita

The Eye of A Needle

by Reb Gutman Locks @ Mystical Paths

Yesterday I asked a soldier to put on tefillin. He was a nice guy, but he refused. I tried all of my standard tricks, but none of them worked. I have a fairly new one that I use with soldiers. I call out, “Smole! Yamin! Smole! Yamin!” (Left! Right! Left! Right!) It is the command that they are given when they march, and I “command” them to march over and put on tefillin. They usually smile, but it rarely brings them over to put on tefillin. I tried a couple of other things, but he wouldn’t budge. He said, “I put on tefillin at my bar mitzvah, and that was enough.” He smiled, and walked off.

I went back to my cart and started to help someone else. To my great surprise, the soldier walked over, rolled up his sleeve and waited for me to help him. I quickly put tefillin on him and gave him a copy of the Shema to read. When he finished, and also prayed for his family, I took the tefillin off and had to ask, “What made you change your mind?”

He said, “My grandfather would never forgive me if I came to the Kotel and didn’t put on tefillin.”

What do we learn from this nice story? Well, we see that love for the family can bring someone to some amount of Torah observance, but we already knew that. Here is something different to think about: Nothing I said or did actually brought him over. It was clearly his grandfather who gets the credit for that. But, if I had not walked over to him and tried, he would never have thought of his grandfather’s love of the Kotel and the mitzvah of tefillin.

What’s the point? We (you and I) have to reach out to help. It is only then that G-d decides if we are going to succeed.

“Open for me (an opening the size of) the sharpness of a needle, and I will open for you the upper gates.”[i]