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Rav Berkovitz on Cheshbon haNefesh

What if, instead of special offers and glitzy offerings, we simply proclaimed loud and clear – in billboards and web ads and social media – that being a Jew, like it or not, precious fellow Jew, means being Divinely charged, that it means shouldering, whether it is always comfortable or not, responsibility ? And that ignoring that mandate is a reckless wasting of an opportunity to live a meaningful life by doing G-d’s will? That each of us has a stark and urgent choice: either to regard our lives as the brief opportunities to access eternity they are, or to waste one’s days in the pursuit of stuff and fun and “rights”?

Read more: http://www.cross-currents.com#ixzz2hM5YYXpd

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Baruch Dayan Emes- THE Gadol haDor

Shavua Tov! We learn in Pirkei Avot 2:18 to be meticulous in our twice-daily recital of the Shema. This includes reciting it within the prescribe time period. It also includes articulating the words properly, which is why Artscroll thoughtfully puts those vertical lines in-between the words that tend to get run together. But perhaps the most important aspect of Keriat Shema is focusing on the meaning of the words. This can be challenging, particularly in the very first verse. So I was excited recently to find the following in an article by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He reminds us just how majestic and how vital are the several ideas signified by those 6 words: Shema Yisrael does not mean “Hear, O Israel”. It means something like: “Listen. Concentrate. Give the word of G-d your most focused attention. Strive to understand. Engage all your faculties, intellectual and emotional. Make His will your own. For what He commands you to do is not irrational or arbitrary but for your welfare, the welfare of your people, and ultimately for the benefit of all humanity.”

Michael Steinberg

A Jewish Music Video - "Narrow Bridge" by Noah Lubin (by jarrod hurwitz)

"Just for today I'll stay clean, I can act out tomorrow." He told over a true story of a Rav who was very involved in kiruv with at-risk teenage boys. The Rav suffered a terrible loss when his son died right after his upsherin. The boys who he worked with came to pay a shiva call, and they told him that they decided, as a group, that even though they were not considered frum anymore, they would keep one Shabbos in this boy's zechus. The Rebbe stood up and hugged and kissed each one and danced with them, even though he was sitting shiva. Afterwards someone said to him, "Why were you so excited? What's the big deal? So they will keep this Shabbos, and then the next Shabbos they will go back to their old ways". He replied, "If someone were to offer me one last Shabbos with my little precious Shloimela, I would give all the money in the world to have that one last day to say goodbye to him." THIS IS HOW HASHEM VIEWS US. We come back to Hashem one day at a time. Maybe we will fall tomorrow, maybe we won't, but Hashem takes every day that we are clean and embraces it. Don't say, "one day isn't good enough", say "ah, at least I have one day clean and pure.

https://guardyoureyes.com/

#Torah #judaism #jews #jewish #teshuva

Aristotle's "thinking being" strives to rule the world through subjugation and domination. Maimonides' "praying being" has a much greater potential to be the true "king" of this world by elevating the world. If man abides by the will of his Creator - the King of kings - he is capable of more than mere thought; he is capable of prayer. This prayer binds him to his Creator to make him a full partner in building a world of truth and beauty.

http://ohr.edu/1330

#judaism #Torah #rambam #aristotle #philosophy #Soul

Rav Nachman of Breslov explained that shame and teshuva are inextricably linked as evidenced through the letters of the two words. Boshes is spelled beis, shin, tav, which are the same letters that spell tashuv, to return. Said Rav Nachman, when the ba'al tokei is blowing the shofar, in the effort to produce the sound, his face turns red, like a person who is embarrassed or blushing. As we hear the sound of the shofar today, we are to be reminded of the capacity to feel shame, we are to be embarrassed by our past indiscretions and be inspired to teshuva, to grow and to change.

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg- Rav Boca Raton

#Torah #jewish #judaism #quotes #yom kippur

Teshuva is the world of real work, perhaps the hardest work we ever do and that is the work of change. We cannot hope to change and we cannot begin to change if we don't acknowledge that what we did was beneath us, unworthy of us and deserving of feeling ashamed. Our parents and grandparents had an expression - "pas nisht" - to describe behavior, conduct, an appearance or a personal choice that is unworthy and unacceptable.

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg- Rav of Boca Raton

#jewish #quotes #Torah #teshuva #yom kippur

Is Judaism a Red or Blue State- The Torah is a Purple State

The story is told about a Jew in a small European shtetl who attended a wedding at the local inn. He wandered upstairs and heard the sweetest sounds of Torah learning that he had ever heard coming from a small room in the rear of the building. Entranced, he peeked in the room and saw all the ba’al agolos (wagon drivers) sitting in a tight semi-circle learning intensely. Later that night he had occasion to speak with the community rav. He commented on the amazing learning skills the drivers seemed to have. The rav responded “Therein lies the essential difference – they see themselves as Torah scholars who happen to drive wagons to put bread on their tables”. So too with our chevra – they are actually Torah scholars who happen to practice medicine, law or dabble in finance – in life it’s all about where you put the dagesh

#Torah #judaism #jews

Get Clarity: Aish.com's Rosh Hashanah Music Video (by AishVideo)

#rosh hashanah #Torah #judaism #jews #jewish

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#teshuva #Torah #judaism

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Akiva Society- The Art of Being Good