I was shown the following in Rambam’s list of the 613 commandments.

Negative Mitzvah 58: Those engaged in warfare shall not fear their enemies nor be panic-stricken by them during battle. (Deut. 3:22, 7:21, 20:3)

IDF Soldier of the Nahal Haredi battalion dons his tefillin.

Deuteronomy 3:22 “You shall not fear them; for HaShem your G-d, it is He that fights for you”
Deuteronomy 7:21 “You shall not be terrified by them”
Deuteronomy 20:3 “1 When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for HaShem your G-d is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

2 And it shall be, when you draw nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

3 and shall say unto them: ‘Hear, O Israel, you draw nigh this day unto battle against your enemies; let not your heart faint; fear not, nor be alarmed, neither be you affrighted at them;

4 for HaShem your G-d is He that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’”

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When a Jewish soldier is called up to the battlefront, he must trust in HaShem. He must realize that he is fighting for the sake of the Master of the Universe.

The Jewish soldier is commanded not to fear the enemy. He must gather all his courage and rely on HaShem to protect him.  This is no small feat.

A Jewish soldier who retreats from the enemy because of fear violates this Negative Mitzvah.

This wonderful cartoon by Dovid Taub is brought to you by Chabad.org <-- Go there for a larger version.

Wow…

http://www.whoshalllive.com

Thanks for the embed tip DJ!

I spent Shabbat at my friend’s house.

So there I am, lying in my bed getting comfy and close to dozing off when my friend (we’ll call him Ploni) enters the room quietly and slips into his bed in the guest room that we are sharing.

Ploni had a long drive that day, so he fell asleep within a couple of minutes.

I could tell he was asleep because there was a sudden explosion from his side of the room that sounded like a tank engine stalling.  I’ve never heard such snoring in my life!  It was actually startling at first.

My previous experience with snorers is that:

A) It’s not their fault
B) They can’t control the snoring
C) Even if you nudge them or tell them to turn over, the snoring comes back relatively quickly

So instead of pushing, tapping, nudging, shoving, kicking, or calling my friend to stop snoring, I simply rolled up my sheets, blanket, and pillow and went downstairs to sleep on the couch.

The next morning, Hashem choreographed things in such a way that Ploni had no idea I had left the room, and thus was not embarrassed by my leaving due to his snoring.

That afternoon, I went back to the same couch to do some Torah study while everyone else remained at the dining room table discussing politics.  It was difficult for me to leave the dining room conversation because we had a staunch Democrat with a huge brain and a staunch Republican who works in Washington.  Yet I needed to read the parsha.

So I’m sitting there studying Torah when the hostess walks in to have a nap in the room in which I was studying. Despite the hostess’s manners in not interrupting my learning, I kept losing focus because I could still hear the fascinating political discussion taking place in the dining room.

Every time I started getting focused on what I was reading, I would be drawn back into their political debate.  And I thought, “Hashem!  I pulled myself out of the political conversation so that I could learn Your Torah.  But even here on the couch I can’t seem to focus.”

That’s when the hostess started snoring.

Except that this time instead of getting up and leaving, I smiled and started chuckling at G-d’s kindness.

You see, now I was being given white noise that drowned out the political debate in the other room, but was gentle and quiet enough to let me study!

And THEN I realized that not only was Hashem doing me a kindness by giving me white noise to help me study, Hashem was teaching me a lesson in emunah (trust in Hashem)!

The lesson, I think, is that just as the hostess’ snoring was a gift for my benefit in the afternoon, so too was my friend Ploni’s snoring a gift for my benefit the night before - even though at first glance I may have been slightly frustrated that I had to sleep on the couch.  So retroactively, Hashem taught me to have more emunah next time something doesn’t go as planned.

Usually we hear stories of a person who was late to work on September 11th, and thus spared the terrorist attack, or other such miraculous stories of Divine Providence.

Yet, I think it crucial to recognize that Hashem is guiding our life every moment!  Not just in times of trauma and great peril.

And furthermore, if we put in our effort (like pulling out of the political debate in order to study Torah) then Hashem is right there to assist us along the way.

The positive attitude of Judaism toward sexuality stands in sharp contrast with a more negative picture that developed in early Christianity. Although Christians disagreed on the nature of Adam’s sin in the Bible, it was generally believed to be tied up with sexuality. Paul particularly emphasized this attitude. According to Elaine Pagels, a Christian scholar:

“He [Paul] often speaks of marriage in negative terms, as a sop for those too weak to do what is best: renounce sexual activity altogether. Paul admits that marriage is ‘not sin’ yet argues that it makes both partners slaves to each other’s sexual needs and desires, no longer free to devote their energies ‘to the Lord’ [1 Cor. 7:1‑35].

Admittedly, Paul was speaking to a community that believed the kingdom of God was imminent. Even after such hopes failed, however, this identification of sex with sin was further developed by the early fathers of the church, particularly Augustine, and has remained influential in Christianity to this day.”

The concept that the sin of Adam and Eve was related to sexuality is not a mainstream idea in Torah. On a number of levels, I’m not qualified to speak about the true perspective that G-d’s Torah gives us on sexuality. So I’ll leave it to one of the holiest rabbis in Jewish history:

“We the possessors of the Holy Torah believe that G-d, may He be praised, created all, as His wisdom decreed, and did not create anything ugly or shameful. For if sexual relations were repulsive, then the reproductive organs are also repulsive…If the reproductive organs are repulsive, how did the Creator fashion something blemished? If that were so, we should find that His deeds were not perfect.” (attributed to Nachmanides)

Like most other things the Torah instructs us to do or not to do, it all boils down like this: proper time, proper place, proper person.

A lovely post by Rabbi Lazer Brody on dietary wisdom.

I thought that this would be appropriate to post now, at the beginning of the month of Av - a month filled with calamities for the Jewish people throughout history. Yet this month is associated with the coming of Mashiach, and in the future (please G-d soon) will become a day of celebration instead of mourning.

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Hi friend,

I wanted to point out something that I think the author of the article you posted should have told us.
The author says:

Let me be frank, the apocalypse is coming and there is no way to avoid it

The Rambam, of blessed memory, would disagree with such a statement, and he does so here in the Mishneh Torah:

Mishne Torah > Sefer Mada > Hilchot Yesodey HaTorah > Perek yud > chelek dalet:

דברי הפורענות שהנביא אומר, כגון שיאמר פלוני ימות או שנה פלונית שנת רעב או מלחמה וכיוצא בדברים אלו, אם לא עמדו דבריו אין בזה הכחשה לנבואתו ואין אומרין הנה דבר ולא בא. שהקב”ה ארך אפים ורב חסד וניחם על הרעה. ואפשר שעשו תשובה ונסלח להם כאנשי נינוה או שתלה להם כחזקיה: אבל אם הבטיח על הטובה ואמר שיהיה כך וכך ולא באה הטובה שאמר בידוע שהוא נביא שקר, שכל דבר טובה שיגזור הא–ל אפילו על תנאי אינו חוזר.

Translation:
“Words of calamity that a prophet says, for example that he says So-and-So will die or Such-and-Such a year will be a year of famine or war, and similar type words - if his words do not come about in the future, this is not a proof against his being a true prophet, and we do not say “He spoke and it did not come true!” Rather, we know that The Holy One Blessed is He is slow to anger and great in kindness and relented on the calamity that was decreed.

And it’s possible that the people [upon whom the calamity was decreed] repented and were forgiven, as in the case of the people of Ninveh [in the story of Yonah and the whale]…But if the prophet promised something positive and said that there will be Such-and-Such [positive things] and the positive things that the prophet said did not come about - with certainty he is a false prophet, because everything good that G-d will decree, even on condition, will never be reversed!”
END RAMBAM QUOTE.

The prophecies involving calamities that our prophets made do NOT have to come about since Hashem is forgiving, merciful, and compassionate.

When world events happen according to the frightening prophecies, it is a proof that we have not done enough teshuvah (repentence). But if the terrible things do NOT happen (G-d willing), it means that our teshuvah was accepted, and Mashiach will come ברחמים through mercy and compassion as opposed to through calamities.

Part of this is understanding - knowing - that Hashem is compassionate and merciful and wants us to improve our ways so that the calamities will not come about.

Another thing that disturbs me about the above quote from the article is that it goes against the following teaching in Judaism from the Talmud:

The sages taught in the Talmud that one must not give up hope in G-d’s Mercy even when “the blade is against your throat.”

Having said the above (Rambam and the Talmud), I am perplexed and concerned that the author of the article you posted for us would say:

“the apocalypse is coming and there is no way to avoid it…“

What do you think? Perhaps I’m reading this wrong?

May Hashem send us Mashiach with mercy and compassion speedily in our days. And may we know what to do to merit such a future.

blessings,
Daniel

Why did I choose this video? Why didn’t I choose one of the big Torah scholars on YouTube? Why do I feel he articulates such a beautiful message, despite the imperfections in his enunciation?

Because “Words which emanate from the heart, enter the heart.”

Shabbat Shalom!

(source: Ohr Somayach)

Dear Rabbi,

While on a plane from Boston to Philadelphia two weeks ago, I happened to look at the cover of the book the man seated next to me was reading. On the back cover of the book, the following quotation appeared: “Words written from the heart, enter the heart.” As a scholar and professor, I was very moved by the quotation and wrote it down for my own keeping. The quote was attributed to “The Sages.”

I would like to ask: Where do these words appear in the vast writings of The Sages? I would be very grateful if you could find the time to provide me with an exact reference so that I might consult the entire text and see in what context the statement was made.

Dear Dr. C.,

“Words which emanate from the heart, enter the heart” is sometimes quoted in the name of “the Sages,” meaning that it is from the Mishnah, Talmud or Midrash. But the truth is that the source for this phrase is a bit of a mystery! Although it has indeed become an accepted Jewish teaching, it does not seem to appear in any of the above mentioned sources!

…

I would like to propose that the phrase is an application of the principle taught by King Solomon in Proverbs: “As water [reflecting] the face is to the face, so a man’s heart is to [his fellow] man.” Meaning that the human heart intuits the emotions of others, and thus if one speaks with an open heart, the heart of the listener will be open as well.

In the late 1800’s Poland issued a ban against shechita (ritual slaughter of animals). It is told that Rabbi Yisrael Meyer Kagan, the Chafetz Chaim, came before the Polish officials to plead for the rescinding of this decree which would cause tremendous hardship for Poland’s Jews. The Chafetz Chaim pleaded passionately, in Yiddish. When he’d finished and the translator began translating into Polish, the official said, “Stop. You don’t need to translate.” He was so moved by the Chafetz Chaim’s words, even though he hadn’t understood them, that he agreed to do all he could to help rescind the decree.

Sources:

* Tractate Berachot 6b
* Proverbs 27:19, see Metzudot David

Guest Post by Noahide Alice Jonsson
Source: BreslovWorld.com

I’m going to go out on a limb and declare that there is an experience that unites all B’nei Noach. Regardless of age, race, socio-economic strata, gender, or nationality; Democrat, Republican, Cherokee, Israeli, former Christian, former Atheist.

It is the confused — nay, incredulous — face a person makes when hearing about B’nei Noach for the first time.

“So what religion are you?”
“Well, OK, so you know what a Jew is right?”
“Oh, so you’re Jewish.”
“No. I believe in Judaism but..”

“So you’re not a Jew.”
“Right. See Jews have to follow 613 commandments and…”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, I know, it’s a lot. And B’nei Noach follow only seven. So..”
“Banana who?”
“No. OK, so you know who Noah was, right?”

“The guy with the boat.”
“Yeah! So there are some laws from the time of Noah, and…don’t go! I’m not crazy!”

When I first became a Bat Noach these reactions bothered me. I’m not the kind of girl who appreciates being looked at like I’m a religious wacko. I like my religion Orthodox and old school. No make-it-up-as-we-go, new-fangled stuff. When someone looks at me like I’m a member of a cult, not good. Not confidence inspiring. However, as wobbly as I was, I recovered from these awkward moments quickly. Why? Because Hashem reassured me with concrete, visceral results from my prayer - custom fit for my predicament.

When I started talking to Hashem, I felt I had plugged in to a source of power that was alarming to me. Previously, I thought religious people were talking to the sky or to something in their heads and that this somehow had a therapeutic effect. I thought some of them were clearly bonkers. And that most of them were a little bonkers. What they believe in sounds like fiction, weird fiction.

But when I do what our rabbi says, even when I cannot believe it will actually work, it works so thoroughly — and often with such speed — I know this “fiction” is true, like I know my mother loves me. Example: When my husband and I were doing in vitro fertilization — I’m talking the kind that costs as much as a new car — the doctors were throwing bills at us like confetti.

“Ma’am, we’ve decided to give you an ultrasound today. That’ll be $464. Cash. Now. And that’s the discounted price so wipe that look off your face.”

We had tried for many years. This was our chance. Rabbi said to go for a walk and to tell God we need some help and that we need some money. Truthfully, this seemed really tacky to me. I mean money is dirty and God is clean and there are hungry people. Surely a lightning bolt would fry me the second I opened my mouth to ask. But I go and I explain the situation to Hashem, apologetically.

The walk was uneventful. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I closed the sliding door, at least feeling refreshed from the cool fall air, brushed the grass and the burrs off my jeans, meandered around the house for maybe ten minutes, and the phone rings. It’s the mail order pharmaceutical company the doctor recommended to acquire the giant box (literally) of drugs that I would be administering from home. The patient woman who’d been helping us decided to resubmit our drug order to the insurance company one more time, just for the heck of it.

This was a bill for an amount so large it’d pay for a few classes at an Ivy League school, for a procedure not covered in our state. Period. And guess what? Despite the fact that the insurance company had just the day before categorically refused to pay for the drugs, they had agreed to cover our request. She calculated how much money we saved on the first few items on the list and it was at two grand in a few seconds. She was laughing and bubbly and was clearly loving the moment right there with me.

Ten months later, a very chubby little boy was born. And our lives went from black and white to color.

What tickles me most about how that specific event went down was how perfectly God knows me. He knows that I can be quite shallow and that a sure-fire way to get my attention is to make money fall out of the sky so I can pay a bill. There is nothing theoretical about a bill being paid. And most importantly, there is nothing theoretical about the gorgeous toddler hanging out in our living room. It all makes awkward religious discussions about bananas and Noah feel like nothing. Knowing that Hashem will meet me right where I am, (with no pretense) and that sometimes He even likes my plans, is everything.