A question was asked as to why we make brachos before acting out mitzvos.
We make a bracha for lulav, we make a bracha for matza,
we make a bracha for all the mitzvos were about to do.
We step back and focus on this amazing opportunity
Hashem gave to us to fulfill this mitzvah........
But there is one mitzvah where Hashem says, do not hesitate!!!
Don't even take a minute to think of Me or bless Me just do it!
And that mitzvah is the mitzvah of tzedaka..
Hashem is trying to show klal yisroel that we should always be quick
to help out our fellow Jews and we should do it with zrizus..without
any hesitation!
IyH on June 6, 230-600 there will be a bake sale for Shaalva. They
are planning a trip for the children to a park with all sorts of fun
games and rides and we have the zechus of contributing to this super
awesome fun day that's really going to brighten up their cute little
faces!!!! So bake ur goods and bring 'em over!! It'll be a great way
to do chessed and bring something home for your family for
shavuos!!!!!!!
JUNE 6 2011
230 - 6PM
SALIG HOME
411 MISTLETOE WAY
LAWRENCE NEW YORK
Sunday, May 29, 2011
From Rav Ehrman's blog
Sunday, May 29, 2011
THE VISION!!
Sweetest, beloved friends SHAAALOM!
After a week of soul searching I have made a decision about what I am going to attempt - and succeed at BS"D. As you may know in a few days I will no longer be affiliated with any Yeshiva or Seminary. This allows me to fulfill a DREAM which I hope will change many peoples lives for the better.
THE VISION
I would like to start a kollel. But not just any kollel.
A kollel unlike any other kollel in the world! A kollel where the curriculum consists primarily of mussar, character refinement, chassidus, Emuna, shalom bayis, raising children, learning how to daven, learning ahavas yisroel, with a stress on the emotional aspects of avodas Hashem etc.. Teaching and learning the writings of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Yisroel Salanter, Ramchal, Maharal, Rav Kook etc. etc. A place where talmidei chachomim are only accepted to the program if they are true bnei aliyah. High intellect and vast knowledge is NOT ENOUGH [although if a person is not deeply grounded in Gemara then he will not be accepted. Part of Avodas Hashem is studying profound lomdus and svara]. We are searching for men who want to learn in order to purify their hearts and achieve true closeness with Hashem. The goal is that the members go out into the world and spread the light using the skills and knowledge they gained in the kollel. The future Rosh Kollel has many ideas to disseminate and just needs the means to do it. YOU can make it happen.
HOW?
I am planning on coming to the United States soon in order to drum up interest for the program [which will start BEZ"H next Elul]. You can help if you know of any place where I can speak, give a shiur or be scholar in residence for Shabbos. Also, if you could set me up with people of means who would be interested in furthering this ground breaking [not to mention yetzer hara breaking] project. The purpose is not chas vi'shalom to make money off of this but to spread Dvar Hashem in this world that seems all too often to be bereft of it. Money is a necessary means to make it happen. I have to pay to rent a beis midrash and also give a stipend to the kollel fellows. You can also forward this letter to a lot of people so that the idea becomes public knowledge.
It is very easy to read this and ignore it. Hey, I don't see you and you don't see me, so you remain completely anonymous. Cool. But Hashem knows and I really believe that this kollel will be a fulfillment of His will. If you do what you can to help I believe your reward will be eternal, not to mention the eternal debt of gratitude I will feel towards you. I believe that we can start a trend and make the world a more spiritual, holy, loving place.
The kollel will be non partisan. I personally see myself as a litvish-yeshivish-chassidish-charedi-tziyoni-american-israeli-yu-mercaz-harav-chaim-berliner who tries to incorporate EVERYTHING that contributes to his growth as a mentsch, Ben Torah and Eved Hashem and distance everything that separates me from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I also don't like labels at all and just use them so that people get the idea ["Labels are for cans"]. I plan on accepting anybody open-minded enough to grow, who meets the high standards of this institution of higher learning and feeling.
So if you identify with my goals, PLEASE get involved. There are already a number of good yidden who have volunteered to help.
I was encouraged to pursue this by the Tolna Rebbe Shlita and will be following his Divinely inspired guidance.
My email address is ally.ehrman@gmail.com and will be thrilled if anyone takes the trouble to contact me.
On a personal note - I don't think I have EVER been as excited about ANYTHING in my life. I think that this is HUGE.
But I can't do it all alone.
LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO ALL OF MY SWEETEST FRIENDS!!
After a week of soul searching I have made a decision about what I am going to attempt - and succeed at BS"D. As you may know in a few days I will no longer be affiliated with any Yeshiva or Seminary. This allows me to fulfill a DREAM which I hope will change many peoples lives for the better.
THE VISION
I would like to start a kollel. But not just any kollel.
A kollel unlike any other kollel in the world! A kollel where the curriculum consists primarily of mussar, character refinement, chassidus, Emuna, shalom bayis, raising children, learning how to daven, learning ahavas yisroel, with a stress on the emotional aspects of avodas Hashem etc.. Teaching and learning the writings of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Yisroel Salanter, Ramchal, Maharal, Rav Kook etc. etc. A place where talmidei chachomim are only accepted to the program if they are true bnei aliyah. High intellect and vast knowledge is NOT ENOUGH [although if a person is not deeply grounded in Gemara then he will not be accepted. Part of Avodas Hashem is studying profound lomdus and svara]. We are searching for men who want to learn in order to purify their hearts and achieve true closeness with Hashem. The goal is that the members go out into the world and spread the light using the skills and knowledge they gained in the kollel. The future Rosh Kollel has many ideas to disseminate and just needs the means to do it. YOU can make it happen.
HOW?
I am planning on coming to the United States soon in order to drum up interest for the program [which will start BEZ"H next Elul]. You can help if you know of any place where I can speak, give a shiur or be scholar in residence for Shabbos. Also, if you could set me up with people of means who would be interested in furthering this ground breaking [not to mention yetzer hara breaking] project. The purpose is not chas vi'shalom to make money off of this but to spread Dvar Hashem in this world that seems all too often to be bereft of it. Money is a necessary means to make it happen. I have to pay to rent a beis midrash and also give a stipend to the kollel fellows. You can also forward this letter to a lot of people so that the idea becomes public knowledge.
It is very easy to read this and ignore it. Hey, I don't see you and you don't see me, so you remain completely anonymous. Cool. But Hashem knows and I really believe that this kollel will be a fulfillment of His will. If you do what you can to help I believe your reward will be eternal, not to mention the eternal debt of gratitude I will feel towards you. I believe that we can start a trend and make the world a more spiritual, holy, loving place.
The kollel will be non partisan. I personally see myself as a litvish-yeshivish-chassidish-charedi-tziyoni-american-israeli-yu-mercaz-harav-chaim-berliner who tries to incorporate EVERYTHING that contributes to his growth as a mentsch, Ben Torah and Eved Hashem and distance everything that separates me from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I also don't like labels at all and just use them so that people get the idea ["Labels are for cans"]. I plan on accepting anybody open-minded enough to grow, who meets the high standards of this institution of higher learning and feeling.
So if you identify with my goals, PLEASE get involved. There are already a number of good yidden who have volunteered to help.
I was encouraged to pursue this by the Tolna Rebbe Shlita and will be following his Divinely inspired guidance.
My email address is ally.ehrman@gmail.com and will be thrilled if anyone takes the trouble to contact me.
On a personal note - I don't think I have EVER been as excited about ANYTHING in my life. I think that this is HUGE.
But I can't do it all alone.
LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO ALL OF MY SWEETEST FRIENDS!!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Rav Pincus, Putting feeling into our Mitzvos
Rav Pincus z'l gave a really beautiful mashal that his father used to tell him about putting feeling into the mitzvos we do in our daily live. he tells the story about a tailor. this tailor was not a wealthy man and he was out of business for a long time until one day he was walking along the road and a man, a very wealthy man, was asking around saying that he was in desperate need for a tailor. he had a meeting very soon and his suit had torn and he needed someone to fix it as soon as possible. the tailor called out to him and said he can try to help, the wealthy man was relieved and the tailor was SO thankful to Hashem that he finally had a customer after all this time. he took the mans suit and with a tehillim in one hand and thread in the other,singing praises to Hashem with a heart filled with Hakaras Hatov for his new customer, he sewed up his suit. the wealthy man said that these stitches were PERFECT! he said that he was officially hired to be his tailor. wow baruch Hashem, this tailor is back in business. he took measurements for the whole family and would take his tehillim in one hand and needle in the other, with a overjoyed heart and made the most beautiful garments for this family. every stitch was perfect and neat. once the tailor gained popularity, he had a lot more business and was very happy and continued sewing stitch by stitch with his tehillim.
a big affair was coming up for the wealthy man and his whole family needed new outfits. the tailor had lots of work to do and not much time, so he decided to take his needle in one hand and thread in the other and get to work.. he finally finished and gave all the garments to the wealthy man...shortly after the wealthy man barged into his shop saying "all these clothing dont fit and the stitching is messy! the ball is in a couple of hours! how could you do this", the tailor replied and said "i dont understand how this happened, i did every stitch the way i do EVERY TIME i dont understand this, i did every motion the same like i always do"... the tailor went to his rebbe and told him the situation, the rebbe replied " yes, its true that you stitched each stitch exactly like you always do, but the difference between all the garments you made before and these, is that these new ones were not made with the same tefillah, and Chen that the others have inside every stitch, those garments were made with simcha and ahava for Hashem, these new clothing are made out of distress, the feelings you put into work totally changed the quality of the results" go home and restitch every stitch, but remember Hakadosh BAruch Hu and thank Him for this opportunity..the tailor went home restitched every stitch and made it just in time for the ball, the wealthy man was thrilled with his suit and the family looked beautiful...
what rav pincus was trying to stress here is that we can go through our daily lives, go through all the motions of our mitzvos and never feel our mitzvos. we can totally change the quality of our lives by changing the feelings we feel throughout our lives. there is a huge difference between doing a mitzvah because you are commanded to and doing it out of love. its obviously hard to do all mitzvos out of pure ahava but if we can just try to take one or two mitzvos and say "Hashem, i am so excited about this, i hope this truly brings me closer to you" we can make the mundane areas of our lives full of chen and beauty.
extremely amazing video to remember the fogel family
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144016
Just wanted to thank Aviva for always always keeping TORAHSHARED on its feet and constantly asking people for words of TORAH and inspiration!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Just Try...
If you will go in the way of My ordinances ... I will give your rain in the proper time (Leviticus 26:3-4).
Rashi explains that "going in the way of My ordinances" means that one will "toil in the Torah." This toil and labor itself causes the abundant blessings that follow.
Our culture highly values achievement, and it confers various kinds of reward for academic and scientific excellence. But the world is interested in results, not in the effort expended. If one person of limited capacity were to labor continuously at a given project without achieving success, while another person who is extremely gifted achieves success in the project with a minimum expenditure of effort, the latter will reap the reward. This is not the Jewish attitude. The Talmud states, "Reward is commensurate with effort." In the study of Torah, in the performance of mitzvos, and in the development of character, God measures virtue not by how much we accomplish, but by how hard we try.
The Talmud further states that not only are people rewarded for extreme effort; they are also blessed with those very goals for which they have worked. They receive not only the many material blessings listed in the chapter cited above, but also the spiritual goals for which they strove, and which might not have been attainable through human effort alone.
Today I shall ...
...
try to advance myself spiritually, and realize that God wants me to try - the reward will come from God.
Rashi explains that "going in the way of My ordinances" means that one will "toil in the Torah." This toil and labor itself causes the abundant blessings that follow.
Our culture highly values achievement, and it confers various kinds of reward for academic and scientific excellence. But the world is interested in results, not in the effort expended. If one person of limited capacity were to labor continuously at a given project without achieving success, while another person who is extremely gifted achieves success in the project with a minimum expenditure of effort, the latter will reap the reward. This is not the Jewish attitude. The Talmud states, "Reward is commensurate with effort." In the study of Torah, in the performance of mitzvos, and in the development of character, God measures virtue not by how much we accomplish, but by how hard we try.
The Talmud further states that not only are people rewarded for extreme effort; they are also blessed with those very goals for which they have worked. They receive not only the many material blessings listed in the chapter cited above, but also the spiritual goals for which they strove, and which might not have been attainable through human effort alone.
Today I shall ...
...
try to advance myself spiritually, and realize that God wants me to try - the reward will come from God.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Avoda for Day 20
Day Six of Week 3: Yesod of Tiferet
20th Day of the Omer
For compassion to be fully realized, it needs bonding. It requires creating a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. A bond that continues to live on. That is the most gratifying result of true compassion. Do you bond with the one you have compassion for, or do you remain apart? Does your interaction achieve anything beyond a single act of sympathy?
Exercise for the day: Ensure that something eternal is built as a result of your compassion.
20th Day of the Omer
For compassion to be fully realized, it needs bonding. It requires creating a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. A bond that continues to live on. That is the most gratifying result of true compassion. Do you bond with the one you have compassion for, or do you remain apart? Does your interaction achieve anything beyond a single act of sympathy?
Exercise for the day: Ensure that something eternal is built as a result of your compassion.
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