I was in the midst of saying my morning brachos today, and somewhere in the middle, when I reached the words "Baruch Atoh", a Torah I had learned way back hit me between the eyes, and made me pause for a minute. Baruch "Atoh", H" - wow. I remembered HaRav Shimshon Dovid Pincus, ZT"L, saying over in a shiur how during the reign of Dovid HaMelech, a terrible plague raged. One hundred people per day were dying of unnatural causes. Through Ruach HaKodesh, Dovid HaMelech understood that if Klal Yisroel would be careful to recite 100 brachos per day, the plague would be removed. Rav Pincus asked, "Mah Kesher?" How did this formula of 100 brachos break the plague? Because saying "Blessed are YOU, H"..." in 100 brachos a day will remind us at least 100 times a day that there is a Creator of the world. Yeish Borei Olam!
Rav Pincus went further. He said that when we address great people, we refer to them in the third person. If you speak to your Rav or Rebbe, when you address them, you'd say "Would the Rav like a cup of water?", or "I'd like to ask the Rebbe a question." We address those who we want to give kavod to in the third person as a sign of respect. And yet the Master of the World allows us to talk to him directly - Blessed are "YOU", H".
How privileged are we? What a zchus! H" allows us to speak to him directly, whereas a king of flesh and blood would never allow such a thing. So as I said brachos this morning, and went through the motions, I remembered this Torah, and was mechaveyn on the words Baruch "Atoh" a bit more than usual.
A good friend of mine once told me that he was listening to a shiur by Rav Pincus ZT"L, and at some point in the Shiur, Rav Pincus mentioned Hashem (as he surely had done earlier)... but in that particular mention it seemed as if something came over him...
And this is what he said:
"Hashem Yisbarach;
our Almighty Hashem;
our Wonderful, Dear Father in Heaven;
Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu,
Who loves us so much,
and we love Him."
That's how he (suddenly) described Hashem Yisbarach.
I cut this out when I heard it and have kept it in my wallet ever since. I'm going to try bli neder, once a day, to have this in mind during one of my brachos. Imagine how referring to H" in this way can change us. Imagine the connection.
H" Yisbarach, help us connect to you in our tefillos. Help us remember you throughout the day. Help us to remember what a privilege it is for us to be able to talk to you. Help us not to take this privilege for granted.
B'Ahava.
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ReplyDeleteDiscussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
24 Adar 2 5774 (March 25, '14)
"Achdus Is To Be One With Hashem"
I want to tell you something very important. I want to tell you that the only way that we are going to survive this terrible time before Moshiach brings us to the Geula Sheleimah is by having Achdus, and Achdus is to be one with Hashem. Those so-called Jews that do not want to be one with Hashem cannot have Achdus with Jews that have chosen to have Achdus with Hashem, His truth, and His Torah. The Olam Habah of Moshiach that Hashem has promised us will not be able to accommodate the Apikores the atheist the Erev Rav the Jew-hating gentile, the Amalak, the Helininst etc. Therefore I beg all true Jews to band together and separate ourselves from the evil ones. We must stop mixing with them because their distorted Judiasim could rub off on us and our very spiritual and physical existence can be endangered. We can be polite to them, but they are not part of the truth. We can't mingle with them because it makes us become like them. It rubs off and therefore this is not what Achdus is.
Achdus is to be one with Hashem. That means Am Yisroel must be one with Hashem. On Har Sinai when Hashem lifted the mountain over our heads and we said Na'aseh Venishma, that was Achdus. Only that Achdus will save us. Therefore I don’t know how many Yidden will be left to greet Moshiach. However those that will be left will be those that stood at Har Sinai, and said Na'aseh Venishma, and that is the true Achdus, and we will do the same thing. We won't be standing at Har Sinai, but we will be standing together and we will say again Na'aseh Venishma. We will say Shema Yisroel and we will be one, one nation together with the one and only G-d, the Hakol Yachol, the Ribbono Shel Olam and then we will be ready to become true and eternal Bnei Chorin.
I am very worried about Am Yisroel because I know that as of right now we don’t really have this kind of Achdus, Hashem Yishmor. Some of us have Achdus with the Egel HaZahav, and a bit with Hashem, and some have Achdus only with themselves and their desires, even though they are considered Chareidi Jews and dress like Chareidi Jews. Boruch Hashem, there are still some Jews that are really looking for truth and are trying to have this kind of Achdus. But the Frum society all over the world has broken up into groups. It's not one Am anymore. It's this one with this Rebbe and that one with the other Rebbe or with this Rav or with that Rav. Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Chassidish, Litvish, Taimani, etc. everyone with their own little groups and unfortunately those little groups have become the whole world for each one of their members, and therefore it's hard to have Am Yisroel Echad, and very many times in these Chareidi groups, their connection with the group becomes almost an Avodah Zorah, Shelo Naida. And therefore, there will come a time where all the Sheker will disappear and those who are seeking truth will come together Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Chassidish, Litvish, Taimani, etc. We will come together as one. Until that happens we can't have the Geula Sheleimah, but it will happen soon, and it will happen suddenly, but I don’t know how many will be part of that group that will enter into the Geula Sheleimah alive.
I cannot tell you how many nights I don't sleep over this just thinking how many Jews are going to fall by the way because they really don’t have the souls of Yidden, but Erev Rav. It's so hard to know who they are, especially if they are considered Frum Yidden. Still this is the fact and this is the way it is going to be. I have to remind you that it doesn’t mean that any Jew that Chas Vesholom, is Niftar before the Geula Sheleimah, is an Erev Rav. No we'll know at the end who the Erev Rav are and their death will be much different than a regular one.
But I cry at night many tears because I feel that there will be a comparatively few Jews that will actually greet Moshiach Tzidkainu.