The little Jew said, “I think I can, I think I can”

Take your time and read through old posts here, there is much to learn from my Ilovetorah blog which has years of my daily reflections and new Torahs.

A Devar Torah for you all….
“Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18 ) Learning to love other human beings as much as yourself really takes a lifetime of training. It really is the deepest, deepest concept of true Judaism. And if you truly love another person, then it can’t be that you would sin against your own body and soul, when we are all eccentrically attached and One. If there is any hate in your heart to others, even those not Jewish, you simply can’t completely separate in most cases and have a full heart to love all Jews as the Torah commands us. In the Sefiros, heavenly spheres, Chesed, love comes first and then flows to Gevurah, Strength. Therefore, even before we are to dislike our enemies, we must flow our thoughts through love, compassion and pity for those in the wrong. May Hashem help us to grow in the true aspect of, “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself” Leviticus 19:18

“For none may enter the King’s get clothed in sackcloth.”(Esther 4:2) If we do not take responsibility to take a few moments before prayer, torah study to make sure we are dressed well and clean, how can we truly keep the fear of Hashem like we should? If in the moments when we purposely stand before Him we don’t show …enough respect, how will we during our daily activities fear Him?

Eating is something we have to do constantly to sustain ourselves. Before and after we eat, we have to say a blessing. Therefore, the real purpose of eating is to bless Hashem. If we bless Hashem for food with deep thought, concentration, emotion… the entire world is sustained & blessing flows down to us & the entire world.

Sefer Yom LeYom Children
1. We always underestmiate a childs ability to comprehend. We should soak their minds each day with knowledge & faith.
2. When children speak we should listen. We learn this from Hashem who listens to all his childrens prayers, speech and concerns.
3. The world would be a different place if only parents would have listened & given more attention to their children.
4. The entire world is held up by the Torah study of Children, so says the Talmud. Well then, we have to hold up the children & get involved in activities to help them.
5. We always blame the worlds influences on effecting our childrens well being and perspective. But don’t they simply miror their parents?
6. Lets be a better example. Children are so holy that they don’t have to see us doing bad, they just feel it.
7. We have to take upon ourselves the simplness of being like a child to his Father in Heaven.
8. A child will do amost anything for a piece of candy. Hashem has a storehouse filled with treats for adults, they simply have to follow His commandments.
9. You know why children don’t have long attention spans, because their parents don’t either.
10. A parent should always be one step ahead of their children.
11. A child’s Rebbe impacts his or her life forever.
12. Most chinuch is learned at home. Parents are the main teacher for their children.
13. The most important thing to teach children is love of DOING the actual commandments. This is taught completely by a parents pureness of heart while performing commandments infront of their kids.
14. If ones children are happy, their parent’s parnasa increases 10 fold.
15. It is very important that children are taught to wash their hands.
16. The more toys a child has to play with, the less they learn to appreciate things.
17. If you want to connect to high spiritual levels, surround yourself with children.
18. If you can’t appreciate children, what can you appreciate?

There is a certain pressure people feel in all classes of life. A rich person feels he has to live up to the expectations of his friends and neighbors. Middle class and even poor also feel this sort of pressure. It is unfortunate but in the religous world, we feel this as well. This pressure that makes us live black so to speak, gives us an external connection to Hashem which is fixed with falsehood. Through cirounding oneslef with a religous environment is healthy. Being too close also has its pitfalls. A persons internal truth gets confused and this truth is one of the most important aspects to have spiritually. To know exactly who you are and too live at this place is of utter importance. Only through separation with Hashem in deep thoughts can one rlease themsevles from this religious falsehood and begin to grow. It may be important to be black and while but only when the colors inside one are true. A Kabbalist once said, you can’t force your connection to Hashem, by doing so, you just create klipah. You have to ease you way into it comfortably without force. There are so many unhappy people, nebach. All this because they live a show just like their friends. If you get to close to fire, you just get burnt. Learn to stay back a little and proceed comfortably at a healthy pace. One that is you and not your friends pathway.

Sefer Yom LeYom eating: (I’m sending this from wifi near Yeshiva shaim v aver in tzfat)

1. Make sure to eat slowly and with concentration. Your thoughts while eating can lead you on the path of righteousness or evil when the food starts to digest and starts to be used by the body.
2. It is better to purchase food more often than too store up.
3. When you eat, make sure to concentrate on the blessing. What helps the most is to stop and think to yourself, let me say this blessing slowly.
4. Pray for physical food and nourishment each day.
5. This is very important, food has the power of nogah. When elevated with proper intentions, it elevates with a person to purity. If a person doesn’t eat with the right intentions, if the food is not kosher to the highest standards, the food drops a person from higher spiritual levels and causes them to sin.
6. Almost all sins stem from a lack of eating properly. It is the main area in a person’s life where they draw power.
7. Be careful not to eat while you are committing any improper act. This only emphasizes the power of the klipah.
8. It is very important to respect food. Many things we eat have not only sparks within them but are connected to actual souls of Jews of previous incarnations awaiting a rectification.
9. It is easy to remember to make a blessing before eating but far more easy to forget the one thereafter. Therefore, make a sign for yourself to remember. Maybe by putting an object in front of you as a symbol.
10. Certain foods warm or cool the body. Foods give vitamins and minerals. Therefore, it is important to balance the things we eat and to change them.
11. Depression causes a person not to eat and drink enough or overindulge. It is important to be aware of this and keep a balanced appetite as weakness by a lack of good diet, opens a person up to sin.
12. Before benching, say the psalm 23 having in mind that it is a segulah for parnasa because the letters equal “Zan”, which represents sustenance.
13. Food is elevated all the more when you prepare it yourself.
14. Eating things you are allergic too or that are not healthy during the weekdays not only hurts a person physically but also spiritually. Shabbos can many times override this in one or both aspects.
15. Eat food on a table as then the food is like a sacrifice in the holy Temple.
16. Always make sure there is plenty of food in the house to make women and children feel secure.
17. Taking a moment before eating to think about Hashem is very helpful
18. A person should be careful that they have good nutrition, exercise so they can serve Hashem with strength.

I would like to thank all the wonderful people who have come to take part in this simcha.
I was learning in medresh that Avraham at first questioned the bris milah, he asked, Why did you not give it to the first man Adam? Why me? He worried that he would no longer be able to help people and do chesed as they would think he had lost his mind.
Hashem had to insure him that this would not be the case, the covenant would strengthen him in his avodah and chesed. Through it Rashi says, klal yisrael would inherret eretz yisrael.
It is important to note here that a person who loves chesed lives it at every moment. With every action they wonder, will this help other people? What will be the end result of my actions?

In this case, Avraham wasn’t satisfied having just performed milah on himself. A chesedich person always has to share in his mitzvos. A emesdich person can’t find enjoyment in anything unless others are a part of it. This same day, Avraham also gave milah to 318 other people.

It is not a small thing that people come to the simcha event of milah. Every person here is seeking completeness and perfection or they wouldn’t be here. You are all part of Avraham’s household who that very day also saught perfection and also entered milah.

Our generous host seeks perfection (and the hidden chesed of this family i have seen personally and it goes beyond the normal) , my holy brothers who traveled to Tiberias to see rav kook be the mohel seek perfection. Everyone when they leave this simcha, walk away with a tikkun from milah.

The posuk says that Avraham awoke early in the morning and traveled to the place Hashem told him. He had to climb up the mountain to get to this holy place. Moshe Rabbanu also climbed up har sinai to receive the Torah. Usually when referring to mitzvos we are used to the idea of going up and climbing. In this case, we went down to tiberias, to the holy rav kook. I had wanted rav kook to join us here in tzfat to make it easier on everyone to attend but in our case, we had to go down. Because in chassidus, going down is the key to avodas Hashem. Rav kook isn’t someone from this world, he is like a malach. So to enter the world of yetirah to join him in this mitzvah, we had to bring our pride down, bittle ourselves down to tiberias from the high mountain city of Tzfat. The key to closeness to Hashem and perfection of any mitzvah is to do it with humility as this then opens up our ability to connect to Hashem and holiness. This holy child ________ is named after people who are remembered by my wifes family for their kindness and good heart to others. They resembled our holy father Avraham and the holy people here in this room. May he be blessed to follow in the footsteps of avraham, yeshiya and michl in always sharing his simcha with others. May he become a great teacher in israel. I would like to thank my friends…….

I prayed by the Ari, I cried by the ari, then I went to the mikvah ari & washed just my eyes. Then I was able to see that which I could not. That Hashem’s plan which at first was confusing is only for good. Therefore, if you are ever confused, I recommend you take water from a mikvah or stream & put it in your eyes so you can have clarity.

To some a nigun is just a nigun. Something to enjoy because of its interesting rhythm and sound. They cannot fathom that a nigun could be much more. Inside a nigun is the 3 main aspects we must strive to keep. Torah, prayer and Kindness to others. A wise person understands this and this is why he sings. It isn’t because he wants to pass time or entertain himself. Rather, he is completing himself, the Upper Worlds and those around him.

Do you think we were really ready in Mitzrayim, Egypt for the Torah? When we went to Har Sinai, we messed up right away. Here we are just days before Shavuos & we wonder how we are ready and worthy to receive the Torah once again. The understanding of Hashem is more powerful then we can imagine. Even though we know we aren’t ready, He sees beyond this & is confident in giving us once again a NEW chance with the Torah. So therefore, we must be more prepared then we think we are but non-the-less, let us dig deep and continue to prepare ourselves for this great day!

Just as we dance around watching the fire here on earth. There are similar activities residing in Gan Eden. Rebbe Shimon sits on a chair next to a great fire and around him are his main students. Next to them are our holy forefathers and other great sages. Around them dances thousands upon thousands of souls as they sing and chant many of the songs we sing here. Above them ciricles malachim ophanim and chayots. Similarly the malachim circle the bonfires we make here. Heaven and earth unite from this. What takes place here has the same effect in Heaven. The main thing is Joy and to appreciate the greatness of the Torah. Rebbe Shimon taught us this and this revelation we celebrate.

I have been trying to visit a holy Rabbi in Tiberias for davening now each week. He is a very holy man whom some say isn’t in this world. One thing I noticed was that when he wanted to reattach himself to Hashem, he would take his tzitzis and touch both his eyes with them. I have found this to be a great tikkun and protection when one feels he has dropped from his madrega or following a negative thought.

After Chatzos, I headed out to Meron to daven, put on my extra pairs of tefillin and recite shir Hashirim. This has become a regular practice for me slowly. Then I went to the Idra and smoked my pipe to elevate the tefillos of the week and sang some nigunim. While there, I was imagining how the Sages climb from the lower to the upper Gan Eden, Garden of Eden on erev Shabbos. I thought about how they immerse in the mikvah in heaven and are carried to their place in a chariot of royalty surrounded by the Malachim, angels. Then I thought about how even the angels start putting on shabbos garments and switching places in preparation for Shabbos. I imagined the flow of light coming from the Kisay Hakovod and sustaining everything in this world. I put out my pipe and returned home.
Cont…
I just heard some torah outside my window and i went outside to catch it. Magevet, which is towel in hebrew is same letters as Mitzvah Gedola Lios besimcha tamid. Mikvah is gematria 151, add 4 for the letters and one for the name you have 156 which is gematria yosef. It is amazing what you can hear outside your window in Israel.
Good Shabbos

I am taking a bit of Gan Eden & putting it into the Pesach food tonight. Making chicken soup, chicken & fish now. The magic ingredient is Gan-Eden. The secret is to simply believe with perfect faith that you are taking from the holy garden lekovod Pesach! Happy Pesach & happy preparing!