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!

Channeling the Yetzer Hara and the Power of an Hour

Great stuff as usual from today's Hahkel email:

Special Note Four: In last week's Perek (4:1), the Mishna teaches "Who is a Gibor? One who quashes his Yetzer Hora." Rashi to Sanhedrin (111 B) provides a great insight as to the higher form of Gibor one should strive for. Although one can simply deflect the Yetzer Hora--much like one distracts a baby in order to get him to stop crying, one can also channel the Yetzer Hora's seemingly patented drive and desire to sin into zerizus and hiddur in the performance of a mitzvah--just as the baby may be led to stop crying not by a petty distraction but by giving it a challenging, new or more interesting or learning experience. With this approach, the legs which are running to do an aveira--rather than simply stopping in their tracks--instead run to do a chesed or to get to Shul early; the tongue ready to speak sharp or biting words instead recall a d'var torah from the previous week's Parsha or speak gentle and calming words; the mind pondering something waste-filled or evil instead contemplates redding a Shidduch or figuring out how one can best help a neighbor or friend in need with a thoughtful measure of dignity and respect. In all of these circumstances, the vanquished Yetzer Hora is not merely put into prison to rot--but instead is used to build the very fort and castle of the Mitzvos and Ma'asim Tovim so necessary for one to realize his potential. It's great to beat the Yetzer Hora--it's even greater if you take his assault and turn his plans into a part of your offensive and success! If you are already ready to be a Gibor--why not try taking it to the higher level suggested by Rashi -- not only subverting the sin-- but converting it into your Neshama's delight!

Hakhel Note: Chazal taught us as well in last week's Perek (4:21) that one hour of Teshuva and Ma'asim Tovim in this world is 'yofeh'--better than all of Olam Haba. Let us contemplate the awesome nature of this statement. One hour of good deeds in this world is greater than the goodness of a World to Come that is go great that our corporal being cannot even fathom or imagine. The Mishna does not qualify its reference as to an hour of good deeds by clarifying that it is referring to one hour of Rashi or the Ramban's life, or the good deeds of Rebbe Akiva Eiger, the Vilna Gaon or the Chofetz Chaim. Rather, it clearly refers to any one's hour and any one's good deeds. Here, one is on common ground with the Gedolim of all previous generations and of his generation--he has the same potential to make the next hour shine more brilliantly than, using the Tanna's words, 'all of Olam Haba'. Can we find *at least one hour a day* which we consciously choose to make more 'yofeh' --better than all of Olam Haba? The greatness resounds within us --as we hoist up and elevate an Olam Hazeh that is sinking so low to all the world all around us to a very, very special place in the Highest of Heavens above. When someone asks you-- "Do you have the time? You can answer--"I have even more than that--I have the hour!"