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Monday, 30 March 2020
Learn Talmud - Tractate Berachot - Lesson 15 Daf 6a/6b (Koren Talmud Bav...
God wears Tefillin... but what is in the pair that He wears?! The Gemara continues, teaching us the value of praying in the synagogue (shul). The Mitzvah of praying with a Minyan (10 male Jews over the age of 13) is discussed. The importance of running to the synagogue as opposed to running away from the synagogue is discussed. The importance of having a fixed place to pray is discussed.
The Gemara then continues onto an interesting discussion about the rewards giving for various things. These include rewards for going to lessons where there is discomfort of some sort and the rewards giving for listening to the lesson itself. What are the rewards for one who fasts? Is reward giving for fasting - or perhaps there is something much more important than the fast itself - for which the fast is given to us to earn that reward?
Thursday, 26 March 2020
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
Lessons in Derech Hashem - The Way of God - The Student Prophet - Lesson...
The Ramchal teaches us about the way in which the student desiring to learn how to prophesy would be required to learn by a teacher. The teacher would instruct him, monitoring his progress so that ultimately he too would reach the tremendously high levels of holiness and being able to prophesy for himself.
Of course, everyone is different, but prophecy is there for all those who wish to explore further in their spiritual growth. In days gone by it was clear that all had to go to a school in order to learn. It is no different today. One must study true kosher Jewish spirituality from one who has learnt it from a master himself. It is a long path, but it is also short... There is a process to follow. There is much to be done.
But let us find out how it all worked in the meantime, and begin to imagine the reality of it, and that God has certainly wanted for us to strive to attain levels of holiness so that we could be able to attach ourselves to Him and experience true prophecy!
Lessons in Tanya - Lesson 20 - Repentance Out of Love - Repairing Damage Done Through Sin -Chapter 7
The three Kelipot (husks/shells/peels) are completely evil. Nevertheless, if a person engaged in an activity which is bound by these three Kelipot, he can still make repair to the sin which was committed. This can be done through Teshuvah Mei'Ahavah - repentance out of love. When one has tremendous love for God - and a real regret for having done wrong, then not only is he forgiven, but one's sins are converted into merits!
Therefore, one can repair even such sins as having eaten non-kosher food and having engaged in sexual immorality (sexual activity forbidden by the Torah.) However, there is one sin that the kelipah holds onto that it not released through a repentance out of love. This is the sin of the emission of seed (the spilling of seed) in vain. Though it is in fact worse than general sexual immorality, there is another way that repentance can be done for this sin. The Alter Rebbe tells us what to do based upon the teachings of the Arizal.
There is however one sin that can never be atoned for - though even here, there is a certain way to repair it.
We now begin chapter 8 of the Tanya. We begin to explore the idea of using the strength gained from having eaten forbidden foods for the sake of Mitzvot and whether there is a benefit. Can one use the strength gained from non-kosher forbidden food to perform Mitzvot? Can one raise the level of holiness that exists within the forbidden? Is there such a thing? Is there holiness inside the unholy that can somehow be elevated?!
Monday, 23 March 2020
Learn Talmud Easily - Tractate Berachot - Lesson 14 Daf 6a (Koren Talmud...
Demons... They do exist. There are ways to know they exist, and there are ways to actually see them! Our Gemara today teaches us these ways.
Much like in today's times with the coronavirus, we have a situation of disease existing without our ability to see the actual disease - but we clearly know it to be so, so too with demons. We might not be able to see them with our physical eyes, but underneath a spiritual microscope, we would indeed be able to see them.
Our Gemara continues with some amazing teaches about the dwelling of the Divine Presence, and how it dwells first and foremost in a synagogue - where ten men pray. But even if there are not ten men there, the Divine presence still rests within this holy place and according to Halachah, even if there are not ten men present, it is still better to pray in a synagogue (a shul) than in one's own home. Of course - we're talking about when life goes by as normal again - and not during these unusual times of physical distance because of the coronavirus!
But don't be alarmed - the Divine Presence can also dwell even in as little as three men - where they are involved in adjudicating a Din Torah (a Torah judgment). In fact, the Divine Presence can also be found when there are just two Jews studying Torah together. And if that isn't good enough - the Divine Presence can be found even when one Jew sits and studies Torah alone?
What do we need all these different examples for then - if the Shechina (the Divine Presence) can be found even with one? Our Gemara goes into the details!
We start the next discussion of the Gemara. Did you know that God also wears Tefillin? We'll be learning more about those Tefillin (phylacteries) in our next lesson!
Wednesday, 18 March 2020
Lessons in Derech Hashem - The Way of God - Prophecy - Lesson 18 of Section 3
How did the prophets of old actually become prophets? The Ramchal gives us an insight into the manner of the schools that existed in those days and how they would learn.
We take a tangent on the subject and deal with the real question of whether prophecy can still exist today. Can we become prophets? What would theoretically be involved? How can one know the levels required of one who wishes to become a prophet? And we deal with the comparison between Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Inspiration) and Nevuah (Prophecy) - where they meet and where they differ.
Ahavat Chessed - Loving Kindness - Chofetz Chaim - Lesson 1
We are starting the famous work Ahavat Chessed - Loving Kindness - written by the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaKohen Kagan.
This is an amazing work that teaches us the values of loving kindness. Not just practising kindness, but how to actually come to love kindness.
We are living in an especially difficult time at the moment with the Coronavirus and it is important for us to increase in our acts of lovingkindness towards each other. I start this lesson with some insights into the attribute of kindness and some ideas of how we can work on increasing kindness with each other.
Thereafter we begin from Chapter 2 of the famous work (dealing with how we can understand the attribute of kindness and how to implement it.) The book has been divided into small sections to help learn it again and again over a three month period.
In this lesson we go through the first two days of reading where we find out why it is that sometimes things get taken away from us and that if we see this in the correct light, we can understand why it is happening to us this way. Thereafter we find out what it really means to love kindness and how this will help us to be better.
Now, more than ever, we must increase in loving kindness - caring for one another, wishing the best for one another and doing whatever we can to turn around our moments of self-quarantine and distance from each other - to moments of connection and love!
Sunday, 15 March 2020
Tuesday, 10 March 2020
Monday, 9 March 2020
Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Tuesday, 3 March 2020
Monday, 2 March 2020
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