KOL HASHONEH HALACHOT BECHOL YOM MUVTACH LO SHEHOO BEN HAOLAM HABA

For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L.

Translated from Yalkut Yosef:

1. Tzom Ha’Asiri, the fast of the Tenth (10^th of Tevet), is a day when all the Jewish people are fasting and imposing suffering upon themselves to remember the horrible events that happened on this day.  The fasting causes one to open up his/her heart and wake themselves up to Hashem, that leads us to do Teshuva (repentance). The fast causes us to see our own sins clearly and then causes us to get closer to Hashem by doing Teshuva properly.

2. We fast on Yud B’Tevet (Tenth of Tevet) to remember the siege (that lasted 3 months) that began the Hurban HaBayit  (Destruction of the Temple).

Tzom Mo’il (have a meaningful fast)!

Want to sponsor today’s Halachot for the Ilui Neshama (memory of) or Refua Shlema (the speedy recovery) of your loved one? Click the Donate Button on the Right Sidebar and BH e-mail us (CLDFundraising@gmail.com) with the name(s)! All monies go to the current CLD Fundraising Project. 

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CLD #474

For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L.

When walking out of the Kotel on the men’s side if you look to your right you see many shelves of Siddurim (prayer books). On one of the shelves today both when I had the zchut to walk into the Kotel and walk out the books were so tightly squeezed together that I had to actually force my Siddur into the pile of Siddurim.

What can we learn from this and what does this have to do with the Fast of Asarah B’tevet on Thursday?

The Yetzer Hara reminds us over and over again (and he does not forget to miss a single day) “there is no room in the religious world for you,” “there is no chance you of all people can get closer to Hashem! Are you crazy?! Look at all the Averot (sins) you have done! Just continue going with the flow of society and everything will work out. I promise.” We need to know that the zchut to enter into the world of Torah and Mitzvot is indeed out there and we need to ignore the Yetzer Hara’s claims! 

Every Jew has a chance to do Teshuva everyday and get back on track in regards to gluing oneself to Hashem, our Father in Shamayim! We are exactly like a bunch of books on a shelf. The Yetzer Hara tells us: “There is no space left for you, sorry.” And then we just give up and forget the Teshuva we wanted to make.

But we are wrong! The shelf is actually filling up and there is always room (until Mashiach comes)! Hashem does Chessed (great unimaginable kindness) with us and always gives us a chance to really change our lives and just swing into His arms with love and repentance. He stretches the shelf so we can fit, no matter how much we spiritually stink with sin.

What does this have to do with the Siege on Jerusalem that occurred over 2,000 years ago; which is the reason we fast on Thursday? A big challenge in life is to feel the pain and suffering the Shechina (Divine Presence) goes through everyday by there being no Bet HaMikdash in the world. There is a need as a Jew to feel the pain that Hashem goes through by having no home, no Bet Mikdash. We tell ourselves: “Me?! How can I out of all people feel the pain that Hashem goes through. I am so distant from Hashem. After all, when was the last time I put on Tefillin, when was the last time I listened to a Shiur Torah?” 

We need to turn around and just like the books on the shelf tell ourselves that if we try Hashem gives us a helping hand and helps us by opening our hearts to Him and just making everything so much simpler and easier.

Tzom Mo’il (have an influential fast).

It is not as difficult as the Yetzer Hara tricks you to think it is. We can do it.

Judaism=Think.

Want to sponsor theCLD for the Ilui Neshama (memory of) or Refua Shlema (the speedy recovery) of your loved one? Click the Donate Button on the Right Sidebar and BH e-mail us (CLDFundraising@gmail.com) with the name(s)! All monies go to the current CLD Fundraising Project. 

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KOL HASHONEH HALACHOT BECHOL YOM MUVTACH LO SHEHOO BEN HAOLAM HABA

For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L.

Translated from Yalkut Yosef:

1. Man must say a Beracha on bad exactly like he says a Berache (blessing) on good. One must say a Beracha on something bad with full and complete recognition just like blessing with Simcha on something good because the bad for true Ovdei Hashem is their Simcha and Tova (happiness and goodness). Because when one accepts with Simcha what Hashem has done for him (even if it seems bad); with the acceptance of this ‘bad,’ he fulfills Avodat Hashem.

2. One who buys a new piece of clothing, even if he already has something similar to this must say the Beracha of Shehecheyanu with Shem U’Malchut (ie. Saying Baruch Ata Hashem Elokenu etc.). One says this Beracha after literally wearing the new piece of clothing for the first time. One says Shehecheyanu on all clothing except of something unimportant like levanim (underwear, hanes shirts, socks), shoes, etc. The one who buys a new car or jewelry for his wife or even a tape recorder that makes him in Simcha says Shehecheyanu on a new piece of clothing having in mind to say it for the new car/jewelry also.

Want to sponsor today’s Halachot for the Ilui Neshama (memory of) or Refua Shlema (the speedy recovery) of your loved one? Click the Donate Button on the Right Sidebar and BH e-mail us (CLDFundraising@gmail.com) with the name(s)! All monies go to the current CLD Fundraising Project. 

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CLD #473

For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L.

Besides for the Gemara giving us the opportunity to fill the Mitzvah of VeHagita Bo Yomam VaLayla, [and you shall delve into it (the Torah) day and night], the Gemara also wakes up man’s heart to be directed to serving Hashem with happiness and even greatens man’s ratzon (will) to serve Hashem!

In Masechet Berachot 5b, we learn about the opinions on the difference between Yissurim Shel Ahava (suffering that is brought to the tzadik/tzadeket to greaten his/her Olam Haba) and Mizbach Kapara (suffering that is brought to the person to ‘erase’ his/her Averot, sins).

If we think a little bit in spiritual terms, with the help of Hashem we can reach a fine conclusion to see how much Hashem indeed loves us. An avon (sin) is a spiritual matter. Therefore, its punishment is also spiritual and deals with Olam Haba (the world to come). We know that Olam Haba and everything associated with spirituality is at the Netzach level (eternity). We now can say that a punishment of an avon is on netzach levels! 

Hashem has so much rachamim (mercy) on us, that he gives us suffering to erase our sins. Our sins have ‘eternal’ punishment and these yissurim (suffering) have limited time to take effect on the person. This means that with Shamayim’s lack of set time, we can no longer categorize one’s punishment in a way that would make sense. Because we are speaking about actions in another world we cannot relate the punishment of sin to our world. Therefore, we see that a kapara (atonement) is only physical. How much love and rachamim does Hashem have on us to erase our ‘eternal’ punishment with limited physical pain?!?!? It’s absolutely endless!

The Orchot Tzadikkim says that one of the pillars of Bitachon (trust in Hashem) is to realize that everything we get from Hashem is absolute Chasdei Hashem (kindness and charity from Hashem), because in reality (we don’t understand it so much) we do not deserve anything. This shows us even more that everything we do, even if we are not deservant of it, is all a huge present from Shamayim! 

We have health, happiness, kindness, friends, companionship, love, success, etc. all with the help from Hashem and how much do we still complain?! Sometimes we just need to open our eyes and see the good in life!

B’H we need to know that even if we do not deserve anything, we should open our hearts to Hashem and pray endlessly because it’s the way Hashem made the world that we pray and He gives (with happiness)!

Judaism=Think.

Want to sponsor theCLD for the Ilui Neshama (memory of) or Refua Shlema (the speedy recovery) of your loved one? Click the Donate Button on the Right Sidebar and BH e-mail us (CLDFundraising@gmail.com) with the name(s)! All monies go to the current CLD Fundraising Project. 

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