Category: Mussar

Moshe at the Burning Bush 0

Compassionate Moshe

והיה רגיל להוכיח אותי על שראה שאינני משתתף בצערא דאחרינא. וכה היה דברו אלי תמיד שזה כל האדם. לא לעצמו נברא רק להועיל לאחריני ככל אשר ימצא בכחו לעשות. [My father, Rav Chaim Volozhiner,]...

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Who Am I?

I am only trying to start a conversation about whether this definition of who I am is one we should really promote. As for who “I” am, that’s a matter of perspective. Even on...

My Tzitzis 0

So you shall not veer…

The Medrash about Qorach rhetorically asking of Moshe why a tallis that is made of tekheiles would need one more tekheiles thread for tzitzis ties the mitzvah of tzitzis to the next story in the Chumash – Qorach. The words of the parashah about tzitzis tie it to a slightly earlier story – the meraglim. ,,,

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Neo-Chassidic Spirituality and Self-Focus – a Pothole to Avoid

A big problem, and perhaps The Big Problem, of the Orthodox community as it revived post-Shoah has been “Frumkeit”, as Rabbi Wolbe defines the term. Doing mitzvos out of an instinct that I need to be holier, rather than out of a desire that Hashem’s Will be done. It is a self-centered and self-serving orientation, as are all instincts. Rav Dessler would say it is coming from one’s Will to Take rather than one’s Will to Give. … Neo-Chassidus, with its focus on my relationship with G-d, doesn’t have many tools to fix that. Going to a kumzitz or a singing minyan to have an inspirational moment certainly don’t. All it offers is a hope that one internalizes one’s studies.

Jar of oil 0

The True Hero

Don’t picture a single jar of oil found amidst the rubble. The Beis haMiqdash wasn’t trashed, it was perverted into a Temple of Zeus. … That single jar oil needed to be searched for because it had been hidden. Who hid it?

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Widen Your Tent, ep. 1 / Relationship ep. 27

On Wednesday Chol haMo’eid Sukkos (October 12th) at 8pm, started our discussion of the introduction to Shaarei Yosher, by Rav Shimon Shkop. This is the last text in the Beyond Meaningful Relationship – Relationshipful Meaning chaburah,

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Mishum Eivah and Darkhei Shalom

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l proved that the common knowledge is simply wrong….

Mishum eivah is “merely” the importance of keeping hatred out of the world.

Whereas darkei Shalom is the ultimate – to walk in Hashem’s and His Torah’s ways.

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Rav Shlomo Wolbe, “Frumkeit – Relationship ep. 26

Wednesday night (Sep 28th, 2022) the Beyond Meaningful Relationship – Relationshipful Meaning chaburah chaburah discussed Rav Wolbe’s essay titled “Frumkeit”, found in Alei Shur vol II, pp 152-155. (Warning: he actually comes out against!)

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Rav Eliyahu Dessler, Qunterus haChessed (sec. 1 ch. 3- sec. 2, end) – Relationship ep. 24-25

Wednesday nights (September 14th and 21st, 2022) the Beyond Meaningful Relationship – Relationshipful Meaning chaburah completed our study of Rav Dessler’s Qunterus haChessed.

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Rav Eliyahu Dessler, Qunterus haChessed (ch. 9-12) – Relationship ep. 23

Wednesday night (August 24th, 2022) the Beyond Meaningful Relationship – Relationshipful Meaning chaburah continued our study of Rav Dessler’s Qunterus haChessed chapters 4 through 6 (pp. 35-39)…. This week we saw how …[g]iving leads to love, far more than the other way around.