I recently read a story about Rav Nosson, the Talmid of Rebbe Nachman. He was walking together with his students after a raging fire ravaged the town of Breslav. They passed by completely burned down houses, and in one of the houses, R' Nosson saw the owner of the house sifting through the ruins, trying to find or rescue some of his belongings. The fact that everything was burnt down didn't stop the owner from looking. R' Nosson turned to his students and said: "This is how we have to …

There was a rich man who unfortunately had his business take a turn for the worse and soon found himself barely feeding his family. He noticed his son one day looking exceptionally sad. When asked why, the son explained as follows, "father, when we had money, we had all the best food – and lots of it. Now all we have is bread. But at least give us a decent amount!"
This is us. We don't have much left to give Hashem, the Beis Hamikdash is no longer here. No korbanos, …

By "Ben-Moshe" (sober for approx. 3 years)

Your phone rings. It's your wife. "Can you stop off at Walmart to pick up some groceries?" "Sure." You take down the details, then draw a deep breath. Your delightfully clueless wife is sending you into the Gaza Strip, into Afghanistan, because Walmart on a hot and humid summer afternoon, will be full with unwanted stimuli and slippery distraction, not ben-Torah friendly, certainly not recovering ben-Torah friendly. However, you don't panic. You remind yourself that you know the drill, you have learned neat tricks, …

By "London"
I would like to share with you an amazing experience I just had. My seven year old daughter is going through a difficult time at school at the moment, both socially and academically. This morning, she had a massive tantrum that she is not going to school, refusing to eat breakfast and throwing her bag around. In the car on the way to school, she told me how sad she is that she does not have friends, etc. I was able to sympathize with her and I told her …

A man told me that he was at the airport, and he had his tallis and tefillin in his carry on. "I had to go to the men's room, so I left my carry on outside the men's room, because I didn't want to take my kedusha items in there. Then it occurred to me, that my neshama is kedusha, and if I don't take my tallis and tefillin into the bathroom, how can I take my holy neshama into an indecent place? Sure, I take my neshama into the bathroom because …

My son went to the beach in Bat Yam yesterday on a class trip. He had a wonderful time BH, except for one minor setback. Towards the end of the day, a larger than normal wave came crashing in. As he fought to retain his balance, he noticed a huge, opaque jelly fish wash towards him. Because he was still trying to stay afloat, he was unable to avoid it. It attached itself to his leg and stomach, stinging him. Finally pulling free, he waded back to shore and went …

There was a Gerrer Chasid who lost all of his family in the Holocaust. Although he had a beard, payos and yarmulka before the war, the Nazis - Yimach Shemem Vizichrom (may their memory be obliterated) – took them away from him and he didn't reclaim them after the war. He moved to Tel Aviv and after some time, he missed his Rebbi, the Imrei Emes. He decided to visit him, and when the Imrei Emmes saw him, he recognized him and invited him into his study and asked him to tell …

I was speaking to an 87 year old Warsaw ghetto and Auschwitz survivor before Mincha on Shabbos. He mentioned that seeing his entire family wiped out only strengthened him to keep up the energy to remain alive until the war finished – and then to rebuild his family, contrary to Hitler's wish to destroy it. He is now a proud great-grandfather. (And I thought my battles were difficult!)
Just to pound the point home, he mentioned that after the war he found a former ghetto member learning in yeshiva – he …

On Tisha Ba’av night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. (Gulping down cups of water before the fast can have a down side). In the bathroom, I noticed a mosquito zipping past my eyes. Although many people would just go back to sleep and hope that the mosquito doesn’t bite, in my house it is quite different, since my wife and some of my kids are very sensitive to bites. The bites blow up and they hurt very much.
Even though it was 3:00 in the morning …

Sifting Through the Ruins

I recently read a story about Rav Nosson, the Talmid of Rebbe Nachman. He was walking together with his students after a raging fire ravaged the town of Breslav. They passed by completely burned down houses, and in one of the houses, R' Nosson saw the owner of the house sifting through the ruins, trying to find or rescue some of his belongings. The fact that everything was burnt down didn't stop the owner from looking. R' Nosson turned to his students and said: "This is how …