Uri (clean for 11 days) wrote on the forum:
I'm still clean, but barely holding on. I'm in a terrible mood and I'm having trouble getting hold of myself. I was so good this week, I feel like crying. When I drove home tonight I passed town and I felt such mixed feelings. I saw teens just feeding off lust with no inhibitions. I felt angry that they could fill their needs while I sit and struggle to keep myself in check. They look so happy, while I feel so discontent.
One …

By "Ben-Moshe" (who is sober for approx. 3 years)
At first it will seem next to impossible. You will feel antsy and be unable to focus. You will barely be able to stifle your yawns. You won't be able to wrap your mind around a simple piece of shaklah ve'taryah. But rejoice. That is the perfect raw material to work with. The tumah toxins inside you are screaming against the powerful chemo treatment of the "samah de'chaya" – the elixir of life. Focus, focus, focus. Drag yourself through the Gemara, then Rashi, then Tosefos, …

A Beautiful Letter from "Yechidah" to everyone on our network

Dear brothers and sisters,
The Bal Shem Tov says that the 42 locations that Klal Yisroel went through in the desert correspond to 42 stages that a Yid must go through in life.
Every location we have to be in is with Hashgacha Pratis. It has to be that way. To emphasize this, Moishe Rabbeinu wrote all the travels and locations down. Moshe, the Anov, taught us that we too have to be Anavim, realizing that every place is Hashem's Place. And it …

The Hidden Light of Moshiach

It occurred to me recently, that the over-powering lust that Yehudah felt for Tamar that pushed him to sin, and the lust that Dovid Hamelech felt for Bat Sheva when he took her for a wife; both of these "lustings" ended up becoming the harbingers of Moshiach through Hashem's wondrous divine plan! (From Tamar came Peretz, and from Bat Sheva came Shlomo Hamelech).
Let us examine this a bit closer. After David took Bat Sheva, Hashem punished David with many punishments because of this. As it …

(The following idea I heard from R' A. Miller and lahvdil B'CH"L"CH from R' Wolfson and also R' Akiva Tatz)
 
In this past Sedra, Rashi mentions by the Rosh Chodesh korbon on the words "Chatas l'shem", that – kaviyochel – Hashem is asking us to bring a korbon for Him that he made the moon smaller.

There obviously must be a lesson here… Hashem does not need our kapara!

The making of the moon smaller represents the downtrodden status of klal yisroel and holiness in the world (the moon = klal yisroel). 

A …

God commanded Moses to attack Midian in revenge for their devastating scheme against the Israelites. The Midianites had used their daughters to lure the Israelite men into worshipping the licentious idolatry of Peor, resulting in Divine anger and a terrible plague.
The war against Midian was a remarkable success – not a single soldier fell. After the battle, the generals and captains approached Moses:
"We wish to bring an offering to God. Every man who found a gold article – an anklet, bracelet, ring, earring, body ornament – to atone for our souls before …

Posted by "Pintale Yid" from the Sefer
"B'gan Hachachma" by Rav Shalom Arush
Rav Arush discusses how people get depressed because even though they try their best to succeed, they fail and continue to fall. He writes that if someone gets depressed, he should realize that he doesn't have enough Emunah, because he thinks that he could accomplish something that Hashem didn't want him to accomplish. The biggest proof that Hashem didn't want him to accomplish it, is that he continues to fail!
Even though a person tries his best, often Hashem doesn't …

Rav Kook writes that midas HaYesod can bring a person to a lower level than he really is at, and the opposite is true as well, it can boost a person to a higher level than he really is, as the Pasuk says "Tzaddik bechol hadoros" (meaning that a Tzadik, i.e. one who guards the bris, is considered a Tzadik in all generations, not just in his).
 

Posted by "Bardichev"
From HaGaon Reb Leizer Geltdzeler ZT"L:

In the Parsha of TZITZIS, the Torah Teaches us: "VE'LO SASURU ACHAREI LIVAVCHEM VIACHAREI EINICHEM – And you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes".

Said Reb Lazer, VE'LO SASURU – you should not stray from the path of Hashem, ACHAREI LEVAVCHEM, V'ACHAREI AINEICHEM. The Torah is telling us, that even AFTER you already sinned, even AFTER you already started to go after your heart or eyes, DON'T CONTINUE the downward slide that the Yetzer Hara is trying to get you …

Yesterday and today were some of the most difficult days that I remember on our forum in a long time. So many of people seemed to be struggling valiantly against a seemingly invincible enemy. Many of our greatest warriors experienced falls, and others were posting how they've never felt so close the edge of the abyss. I received a lot of e-mails with calls for help, people were claiming they felt as if their very "Bechira" was being removed from them.

Rabboisai, I think I have a theory for why …