Akiva Society- The Art of Being Good

"Rav Dessler, who wrote poetry too but was above all a keenly incisive philosophical thinker,..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:37:40 +0300

“Rav Dessler, who wrote poetry too but was above all a keenly incisive philosophical thinker, explains that there really is no inherent difference between nature and what we call the miraculous. We simply use the word “nature” for the miracles to which we are accustomed, and “miracles” for those we haven’t previously experienced. All there is, in the end, is G-d’s will.”

- Read more: http://www.cross-currents.com/#ixzz2TvjXW54n

Applications - Nefesh B' Nefesh - Aliyah: Live the dream

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:39:05 +0300

Applications - Nefesh B' Nefesh - Aliyah: Live the dream

"Coming to Israel is sort of like getting married: Everyone should do so eventually, but not because..."

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:36:12 +0300

“Coming to Israel is sort of like getting married: Everyone should do so eventually, but not because a well-meaning relative bullies you into it. If you do so when the time is right, you’re more likely to fall in love.”

- http://www.aish.com/atr/Mitzvah_to_Live_in_Israel.html

20 Factors for Parnassah

Tue, 07 May 2013 19:15:34 +0300

Parnassa? Everyone is always looking for ways to get it or enhance it. Parnassa is a complicated matter with many factors involved. Below a list of 20 factors affecting parnassa compiled from “Sefer HaMidos” by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. If you are really interested in parnassa the list is worth going through carefully!

1. Lack of trust in Hashem vs. Trust in Hashem
2. Cruel to others vs. Compassionate
3. Lewdness vs. Shmiras HaBris
4. Alcohol vs. Spiritual awareness
5. Disdain of Torah vs. Respect of Torah
6. Foul Speech vs. Clean speech
7. Desecrating the Sabbath vs. Honoring the Sabbath
8. Failing to repent for old sins vs. Tshuva
9. Sadness and depression vs. Happiness
10. Ingratitude, especially to Hashem vs. Gratitude and prayer
11. Stinginess vs. Charity, especially a full tithe
12. Idol worship, blasphemy vs. Strengthening faith in Hashem
13. Immodesty vs. Modesty
14. Anger vs. Patience
15. Judging others severely vs. Judging others fairly
16. Dishonesty vs. Integrity
17. Arrogance vs. Humility
18. Infidelity vs. Honoring one’s wife
19. Domestic strife vs. Peace in the home
20. Instigating hate vs. Making peace between people

Thank you to our partner Ratzon4 for submitting this list!

http://revach.net/lists/article.php?id=68

Video

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:04:19 +0300

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remains silent"

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:53:36 +0300

““Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remains silent”

- Victor Hugo

Live Deep | with Benjamin Rapaport

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:31:02 +0300

Live Deep | with Benjamin Rapaport:

with Benjamin Rapaport

Lessons from Talmud

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:20:28 +0300

By Yaakov Menken, on May 1st, 2013

The Talmud in Eruvin [47b-48a] discusses the unusual case of a lake situated between two villages, such that each end of the lake is within the Sabbath limits of one or the other village. Because the water mixes, and thus someone who goes out and draws water might be removing water from the Sabbath limits of the other village, Rebbe Chiyah says you can’t draw water without an iron wall dividing the lake. The Talmud continues that Rebbe Yosse bar Rebbe Chanina disagrees — and laughs at Rebbe Chiyah.

The Talmud asks… why? Without focusing upon the rest of the story, and the actual reason behind the laughter, it’s interesting to note what the Talmud discounts. “Because his logic goes with a lenient view, he laughs at someone who teaches a more stringent opinion?!” The Talmud finds that inconceivable!

So you might think, as I did, that obviously the rabbis of the Talmud did not understand the blogger mindset. You know, the type of person who will make fun of anything that his shallow mind doesn’t understand? Perhaps the rabbis didn’t know such people!

But then I realized, no, of course not. The Talmud isn’t talking about your average ignoramus, but on the contrary, about one of the holy Amoraim, Rebbe Yosse bar Rebbe Chanina. Of course there are loads of people who would make fun of scholars who follow stricter opinions; the Talmud only said that that is inconceivable for a person of knowledge and intelligence.

The proof to this is Rebbe Akiva, who said about himself [Pesachim 48b] that before he went to study, if he would have encountered a Torah scholar he would have bit him “like a donkey.” His students asked, why say like a donkey, and not like a dog? He answered that a dog doesn’t break bones, meaning that the donkey’s bite is more violent.

There is another answer, though… when someone mocks scholars for their strict opinions, it’s not merely true that he shows himself to be lacking in both knowledge and intelligence. He’s also acting, like, well, a donkey…

Just saying.

Read more: http://www.cross-currents.com/#ixzz2SAlBundV
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

"The purpose of wealth is to help others, not to show it off."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:48:14 +0300

“The purpose of wealth is to help others, not to show it off.”

- http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/againstosten.html

"Atheists With an Asterisk Atheists may not believe in God, but they’re still uncomfortable..."

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:34:25 +0300

“

Atheists With an Asterisk

Atheists may not believe in God, but they’re still uncomfortable urging a deity to “make someone murder my parents cruelly.”
That was one of 10 ugly requests of God that volunteers were asked to read aloud, as part of a study in Finland, while their skin conductance was measured.
Asked how they felt, believers were more bothered by the statements than nonbelievers. But the skin test, which measures stress by sensing how much people sweat, revealed that the nonbelievers were just as bothered as the believers. An atheist ought to regard any statement calling on God to do something as meaningless.
The researchers suggest several explanations, including that atheists might believe deep down in a deity, or might once have believed and can’t completely shake the notion.
“Atheists Become Emotionally Aroused When Daring God to Do Terrible Things,” Marjaana Lindeman, Bethany Heywood, Tapani Riekki and Tommi Makkonen, International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (Feb. 19)

”

- Wall Street Journal

Telz Yeshiva- Their Path in Torah

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:30:13 +0300

Telz Yeshiva- Their Path in Torah:

Great article by Rabbi Bechhofer

"How many shuls are there in Chicago? 35? 40? How many in the whole midwest? Then add in New York...."

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:51:31 +0300

“

How many shuls are there in Chicago? 35? 40? How many in the whole midwest? Then add in New York. West Coast. Europe. South Africa, Australia, etc. Then add in Israel. What do you think? 10,000? 15,000? Maybe 20. Let’s assume one rabbi per shul. Can you imagine if every single Rabbi of every single shul in the whole world would all (chas v’shalom!) pass away within 33 days of each other? And what if they were all, every single one of them, your talmidim? Would we be able to go on?
I love Rebbe Akiva.
Have a great shabbos everyone,

R’Zvi

”

- Rabbi Zvi Zimmerman

Masgiach Ruchani of Skokie Yeshiva

Video

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:16:12 +0300

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:16:35 +0300

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self”

- Ernest Hemingway

"If you are depressed you’re living in the past. If you’re ambitious you’re living in the future. If..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:15:10 +0300

“If you are depressed you’re living in the past. If you’re ambitious you’re living in the future. If you’re at peace you’re living in the present.”

- R’ Yitzchok Schochet

"The Jews stood under Har Sinai."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:05:21 +0300

“The Jews stood under Har Sinai.”

- Shabbat 88A

Our Legacy Passed Along

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:37:00 +0200

by Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky

A Passover letter to my child.

My dear child,

It is now a quiet moment late at night. After an exhausting day of Passover cleaning, you have sunk into the sweetest of sleeps, and I am sitting here with a pile of haggadas, preparing for Seder night. Somehow the words never come out the way I want them to, and the Seder evening is always unpredictable. But so many thoughts and feelings are welling up in my mind and I want to share them with you. These are the words I mean to say at the Seder.

When you will see me at the Seder dressed in a kittel, the same plain white garment worn on Yom Kippur, your first question will be, “Why are you dressed like this?”

Because it is Yom Kippur, a day of reckoning. You see, each one of us has a double role. First and foremost we are human beings, creatures in the image of God, and on Yom Kippur we are examined if indeed we are worthy of that title. But we are also components of Klal Yisrael, the Jewish People, links in a chain that started over 3,000 years ago and will make it to the finish line of the end of times. It is a relay race where a torch is passed on through all the ages, and it is our charge, to take it from the one before and pass it on to the one after. Tonight we are being judged as to how well we have received our tradition and how well we are passing it on.

“It is now 3,300 years since we received that freedom in Egypt. If we imagine the average age of having a child to be about 25 years of age, there are four generations each century. That means there is a total of 132 people stretching from our forefathers in Egypt to us today. 132 people had to pass on this heritage flawlessly, with a devotion and single-mindedness that could not falter. Who were these 133 fathers of mine?

One had been in the Nazi death camps; one had been whipped unconscious by Cossacks. One had children stolen by the Czar, and one was the laughing stock of his “enlightened” brethren. One lived in a basement in Warsaw with many days passing with no food to his mouth; the other ran a stupendous mansion in France. One had been burned at stake for refusing to believe in the divinity of a flesh and blood, and one had been frozen to death in Siberia for continuing to believe in the divinity of the Eternal God.

One had been hounded by a mob for living in Europe rather than Palestine, and one had been blown up by Palestinians for not living in Europe. One had been a genius who could not enter medical school because he was not Christian, and one was fed to the lions by the Romans…

132 fathers, each with his own story. Each with his own test of faith. And each with one overriding and burning desire: that this legacy be passed unscathed to me. And one request of me: that I pass this on to you, my sweet child.

What is this treasure that they have given their lives for? What is in this precious packet that 132 generations have given up everything for?

It is a great secret: That man is capable of being a lot more than an intelligent primate. That the truth of an Almighty God does not depend on public approval, and no matter how many people jeer at you, truth never changes. That the quality of life is not measured by goods but by the good. That one can be powerfully hungry, and yet one can forgo eating if it is not kosher. That a penny that is not mine is not mine, no matter the temptation or rationalization. That family bonding is a lot more than birthday parties; it is a commitment of loyalty that does not buckle in a moment of craving or lust. And so much more.

This is our precious secret, and it is our charge to live it and to become a shining display of “This is what it means to live with God.”

132 people have sat Seder night after Seder night, year after year, and with every fiber of their heart and soul have made sure that this treasure would become mine and yours. Doubters have risen who are busy sifting the sands of the Sinai trying to find some dried out bones as residues of my great great grandfather. They are looking in the wrong place. The residue is in the soul of every one of these 132 grandfathers whose entirety of life was wrapped up in the preservation of this memory and treasure. It is unthinkable that a message borne with such fervor and intensity, against such challenges and odds, is the result of a vague legend or the fantasy of an idle mind.

I am the 133^rd person in this holy chain. At times I doubt if I am passing it on well enough. I try hard, but it is hard not to quiver when you are on the vertical shoulders of 132 people, begging you not to disappoint them by toppling everyone with you swaying in the wind.

My dear child, may God grant us many long and happy years together. But one day, in the distant future, I’ll be dressed in a kittel again as they prepare me for my burial. Try to remember that this is the treasure that I have passed on to you. And then it will be your turn, you will be the 134^th with the sacred duty to pass on our legacy to number 135.

This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/jw/s/Our-Legacy-Passed-Along.html

"When someone does something good to me, I should think: “thank the person for his good..."

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:18:39 +0200

“When someone does something good to me, I should think: “thank the person for his good intention, and thank G-d for the good itself”. Similarly, if someone harms me, I should think: “this person made a bad choice, but the bad was a decree from G-d for my benefit””

- Shaar Bitachon

"The Torah is an anthology of argument with a shared vocabulary of common restraint"

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:24:24 +0200

“The Torah is an anthology of argument with a shared vocabulary of common restraint”

- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom

"Did Hashem send our souls down to this lowly earth just for another piece of steak, another fling..."

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:28:07 +0200

“

Did Hashem send our souls down to this lowly earth just for another piece of steak, another fling with the opposite sex, or another NBA game? Those who waste their lives in the pursuit of material appetites are neither happy nor fulfilled. What’s worse, they haven’t devoted a single minute to clarifying the truth.

21” biceps won’t give you courage. Truth and emuna will.

”

- Rabbi Lazer Brody

http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/giants_of_judaism/