Yartzeit/Hillula of Chafetz Chaim HaKadosh Today

Shabbat Shalom!

From today's Hakhel email:

Special Note Four: Today is the Yahrzeit of the Chofetz Chaim. We provide a sampling of his essential teachings, excerpted from the excellent Sefer, Give Us Life, collected and edited by HaRav Mendel Weinbach, Shlita:

1. Everything approaching its end summons all of its energies for a last stand. A candle’s brightest flame appears before it dies, and it is always darkest before dawn. The power of evil is approaching its end so it has summoned all of its resources and massed the greatest attack in history on the forces of good.

2. People often say “This world is also a world,” but the truth is that “Only this world is a world” because only here can a person improve and accomplish. This is the World of Action, the World to Come is only for the reward.

3. Good manners require a person to carefully prepare for an audience with an important official. If one is privileged to see the king, he takes several days to get ready. So if Chazal tell us that we must prepare for a lifetime before entering the palace of the King of Kings we must appreciate how supremely exalted this palace must be.

4. The reward mentioned by the Torah for certain Mitzvohs such as honoring parents is not their real payment for that is only due in the World to Come. The small reward we receive in the meantime is like the meals given to the king’s soldiers which are not subtracted from their pay.

5. Teshuva must be performed with great energy. A person should return to Hashem with at least the same degree of enthusiasm and energy with which he had sinned.

6. The greatest sinner will be called to account for the slightest wrongdoing because his terrible record is no license for further evil. The Rambam writes that the wicked King Yerovom will be punished for not fulfilling the mitzvah of Eruv Tavshilin.

7. Just as there are rich and poor, strong and weak, so do people vary in their talents and abilities in Avodas Hashem. The Torah therefore commands; “You shall love Hashem with *your* heart, *your* soul and *your* might--each man according to his particular powers. Additionally, the real meaning of “all your might” is whatever is most precious to you--Chazal knew that to most people money is the most precious item. However, to someone who Torah and Mitzvos is most precious, he must be prepared to sacrifice even these, if necessary, for the honor of Hashem. A Rosh Yeshiva, for example, must be prepared to sacrifice his own Torah study--his “all your might”--in order that Torah may flourish among his disciples.

8. An orderly, efficient shopkeeper knows exactly where each item in his stock is located and its precise value. An orderly Jew does every act with Hashem in mind because he knows that the simplest act--like the simplest ware--can bring a tremendous profit if it is used correctly.

9. One of the signs given by Chazal of a madman is that he sleeps overnight in a graveyard. A man has the opportunity of returning from the grave to a new and eternal life by studying or supporting Torah. If he wastes this opportunity and remains forever sleeping in the graveyard, he is truly a madman.

10. If you should ask your wife for Shabbos Kugel on Friday she will suggest that you eat something else because “ this Kugel is for Shabbos”. Honor is like Kugel and is only to be enjoyed on the day which is forever Shabbos--Olam Haba. If you eat the Kugel today, you may go hungry on Shabbos.

11. HaRav Yisroel Salanter, Z’tl, compared momentary interruption in Torah study to the uprooting of two feet of railway track from a line stretching for thousands of miles. Just as this seemingly insignificant act can wreak havoc upon the railroad, so too can a break in Torah study.

12. I am neither a Chosid or a Misnagid. My only ambition is to fulfill what is written in Shulchan Aruch. Chazal teach that a person will be asked whether he set aside times for Torah study and whether he dealt honestly in business. There is no mention of ever being asked whether one is a Chosid or Misnagid.

13. Even a small storekeeper keeps a record to know the small amounts that his customers owe him. Let us not fail to keep records of our life in this world--for it affects us for eternity.

14. A Torah supporter gives a few copper coins and the institution he supports gives him a share in an eternal Torah.

15. What good is our Selichos if all we do is tell Hashem our sins? He knows them well enough already. Our duty is to resolve not to repeat our foolishness!

Avoiding Din, Increasing Torah Study, Brachot and Passing Over Middos

From Today's Hakhel Email:

Special Note Five: With the crisis situation and defeats of the previous weeks, we experience a feeling of fear and strict justice. Bila'am himself exclaimed, "Oi-Mi Yichyeh M'Sumo Kel-- OH! Who will survive when He imposes these?" (Bamidbar 24:23)
It would seem appropriate, especially as we enter the period of the Three Weeks, for each one of us to do what we can to avoid this din, this strict justice, upon us individually and upon our families. After all, Hillel teaches in Avos, "Im ain ani li mi li--If I am not for myself who will be for me?" (Avos 1:14) Last week, we wrote about the importance of Chessed, especially Chessed which is infused with Rachamim--True Mercy. The following are three additional recommendations--life vests supplied in turbulent waters:
1. The Gemara (Rosh HaShana 17A) teaches "For one who passes over his Middos (e.g., does not anger, does not take vengeance, and does not react--even when the situation may completely justify it)--Hashem will, in turn, pass over his sins. The Cheshbon is simple-you control yourself even when justified, and Hashem likewise controls His anger against you--even when justified.
2. The Gemara (Sotah 21A) teaches that the study of Torah does not only save one from punishment once punishment has commenced--but actually even shields and protects one before the onset of any new punishment, as well. The Gemara explains (based upon the Posuk in Mishlei (6:23)), that Torah is compared to the light of the sun, which unlike the light of a candle that eventually is extinguished, successfully provides light for a person day after day. In the summertime, when the Tinokos Shel Beis Rabban--the schoolchildren--study less than when in school, we should try to make up the slack by learning a little more ourselves.
3. It is said that in the name of Gedolim, that one should make Brachos aloud in order to cause others to answer "Amen." This special level of gratitude and faith serves as an affirmation and reaffirmation of Hashem's control over the world, obviating the need for Hashem to remind us personally in other ways. For an excellent review of this concept, you can order the tape "Attitude of Gratitude" (Rabbi Jonathan Rietti and Rabbi Yechiel Spero) from the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation at 845-352-3505.
As is evident from all of the above, Hashem is not asking that we stand on our hands, stretch or shrivel, or do 180 degree flips! Some nicely-made Brachos, some additional Torah study, some self-control in situations which last only a fleeting moment anyway, can be literally life-saving--and as troubles reach from Teheran to Emanuel, and from the Mediterranean Sea to Iowa, we must light up the darkness long enough and strong enough for us to survive until daybreak.

How Should we Respond to Flotilla Events?

This is noteworthy from today's Hakhel Email:


Special Note One: The travesty and tragedy of yesterday’s events in the waters outside Eretz Yisroel (which according to one opinion is part of Eretz Yisoel itself) brings us a step closer to the important reality of the times that we live in. An earthquake in Haiti, volcanic eruptions in Iceland which affect millions in Europe, or even last week’s carpeting of millions of frogs over a Greek highway that caused its temporary closure may not have drawn our complete focus and attention. They too, of course, represent Hashem’s reminder of His ruling hand over the world. However, now that we have been attacked personally, the sting feels greater. To analogize, the recent other events may be viewed as Tzora’as on the house, and yesterday’s seaboard and worldwide attacks against us are more like the feeling of Tzora’as on one’s clothing. One thing is certain, we must react. To some, it may be with more Tefillah (either qualitatively or quantitatively), others will respond to the call with some additional Torah learning, and yet others will respond with a Chesed or Chasadim that go beyond the ordinary. But react we must, if we truly have Emunah--that nothing is happenstance, nothing is mere ‘news’, and that nothing is simply El Quada ploys to hurt Israel’s image in the international community. As we move toward the last quarter of the year of Tammuz-Av-Elul, let us take stock, and let us demonstrate to Hashem our Emunah in him by showing that we received the message--and that we are really and truly acting upon it immediately!



Additional Note One: Today, in the aftershock of the event, it may be a wise idea to give some additional Tzedaka, for if Hashem sees that we act charitably with others, he will act charitably with us. Additionally, as we come ever closer to our final redemption, we remember that “Veshaveha Betzedaka”… those who return, will return with the righteousness of their charitable acts.



Additional Note Two: Today is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Shlomo Yisroel Gelber, Z’tl. He always taught that Hashem expects of the person that he use the Sechel that was given to him personally. Especially in the circumstances we are in, each person must apply his own Sechel to what he can do and how he can do it--for his sake, and for the sake of K’lal Yisroel.