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Enhance Your Shavuot with Links to Insights on Shavuot & Megillat Ruth

31/5/2022

 
For Shavuot, please the booklet of Rav Itamar Schwartz's shiurim, plus Q&A, and special inspiration for women:
https://bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.Shavuos.Talks.pdf

And also on the 48 Ways to acquire Torah:
https://bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.The.48.Ways.pdf

And on the month of Sivan:
http://www.myrtlerising.com/blog/bilvavi-insights-for-the-hebrew-month-of-sivan-for-shavuot

And here are past posts on Megillat Ruth and Shavuot:
  • Falling in Love with Hashem & His Torah All Over Again: Rav Avigdor Miller on Shavuot
  • The Phenomenal Importance of Mussaf on Shavuot & What It Does for Your Soul
  • Megillat Ruth: What Naomi & Ruth Teach Us about Self-Transformation, Teshuvah, Mistakes, Rebuke, Criticism, and How It's Okay to Not be Perfect
  • When Feeling Heavy & Struggling Means You're on the Right Path
  • Why was Ruth's Conversion to Judaism So Monumental? What Does Conversion Actually Accomplish? And Why is It So Vitally Necessary for a Conversion to be Absolutely Kosher & Sincere?
  • ​Difficulty in Serving Hashem? Everything Going Wrong? Feeling Heavy & Lazy About It All? Then You're On The Right Track! Here's Why...
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A Free Downloadable Graphic with a Quote from Rav Itamar Schwartz on the Correct Way to Work on Your Middot

20/5/2022

 
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You can find the quote within the following parsha PDF (Bechukotai 5782) at the Bilvavi site: [link will be posted – if I don't forget – when available].
For your convenience, here it is in the body of the post in case it's hard to read in the graphic (plus a bit more): 
​One also has to reveal, repair, and balance, any of the abilities of the soul that haven’t yet been revealed, repaired, or balanced.

But this should not be done with a perspective of a war against the evil within oneself.

Rather, it must be done with a positive perspective, from the understanding that every part of ourselves, every ability of our soul, is a gift from Hashem and a part of us.

After we have revealed, balanced, and repaired the abilities we aren’t making use of, we need to become connected with them and utilize them properly, and we will get vitality and joy from these abilities no less than how we can get vitality and joy from our strong and good abilities.

​This is the inner perspective to have on all self-recognition and self-actualization, and to the extent that we view our soul and its abilities in an inner, positive way like this, our ability to recognize our soul and work with our abilities will be refined, and we will be much closer to repairing our souls and reaching self-perfection in this world.

Special Message with Baby-Step Initiative Just for Today

19/5/2022

 
Just received this wonderful idea in my Inbox...

If you're into improving the world and yourself via one baby-step at a time, this bite-sized initiative is perfect for you.

Here's the message from a truly fabulous frum woman with a link to the spreadsheet in red at the bottom:
Let's make no mistake about it  - Lag B'aomer connotes many mixed feelings & emotions now...

Klal Yisroel proved their finest in myriads of aspects - but especially in the over 6300 Kabbalos & Ma'asim Tovim that were collectively taken on in the week of Shiva and Shloshim the period. An absolute Kiddush Sheim Shamayim of awe-worthy caliber!

Ashreichim Klal Yisroel!!

A beautiful compilation of these Kabbalos & Ma'asim Tovim were put together in a beautiful book and were hand-delivered to each family.

It's Lag B'aomer again - and the feelings they're experiencing we cannot understand nor comprehend. What can we do to convey to them & most of all to our Avinu Sh'Bashamayim that we are united in the Tza'ar/united in support/united in gifting the Neshamos HaKedoshim an Aliyas Neshama/united in offering whatever Nechama we humanly can.

Just for TODAY! 
Can we do one thing/refrain from one thing just for TODAY?
Can we offer a zechus for an Aliya for the Kedoshim just for TODAY?
Can we offer a teeny tiny feeling of "I care" just for TODAY?

Please use the spreadsheet attached and do your part just for TODAY!

For those who have the ability - please consider utilizing social media properly and forwarding/blasting/statusing/sharing this message on whichever platforms you can.

Tizku L'Mitzvos!

May the Mishpachos of the Kedoshim & the greater Mishpachas Klal Yisroel have the ultimate Nechama with the arrival of Moshiach sooner than soon!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MtUBveKwZV-Eq8u071H-g7bjmEfbMBci_QNxbtw524Y/edit#gid=0
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Lag B'Omer Links, Plus Excerpts from Bilvavi Q&A

17/5/2022

 
For Lag B'Omer, please see last year's beautiful poem by Nechumelle Jacobs here:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/a-poem-for-lag-bomer-by-nechumelle-jacobs
And please see the PDF by Bilvavi, compiled from various lectures by Rav Itamar Schwartz (who himself no connection to the website or anything else Internet-related):
https://bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.Lag.Ba'Omer.Talks.pdf
A separate PDF provides a thought-provoking & enlightening Q&A with Rav Itamar Schwartz. While it mostly concerns last year's tragedy, it also answers general existential questions regarding suffering, mussar, teshuvah, and dealing with others' needs regarding individual responses to suffering:
https://bilvavi.net/qanda-weekly/eng/Bilvavi_242_Bilvavi%20Q&A_Bechukosai-Lag%20B'Omer_5782.pdf

Here are some excerpts (boldface my own addition):
ROCKETS & MERON TRAGEDY: IS MASHIACH COMING?

QUESTION

Are the rockets now in Eretz Yisrael a sign of the “war of Gog and Magog” and that Mashiach is coming?

ANSWER
It is not a sign – it is a part of the war of Gog and Magog, for we are already
amidst it.



LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THE MERON TRAGEDY

QUESTION

When more people told me about it, I said Hashem wants us to do teshuva.

To my surprise, people had strong negative reactions to that!

One wanted to be in the moment of grief feeling for the families of the victims and absorbing the shock, basically calling me unsensitive to the pain of others.

Another did not want to be blamed and told me I was burning up the world.

And both felt very strongly that telling people to do teshuva was too harsh on people who cannot take it, who have gone off the derech hearing those crushing messages about Hashem’s anger at us and becoming hardened and cold to Him.

A third person told me that she is so numb from everything that the tragedy simply has not registered in any way.

I realize that the galus has been long and we are storm tossed and we need Hashem to be gentle with us. Is the message that Hashem wants the Yidden to do teshuva applicable here?


ANSWER
Speak to each person on their own level and in their "language."

Any one lesson that can be learned from something will not be understood by everyone equally.


QUESTION
Is the [negative] reactivity to that all a kelipah in which the very light Hashem wants to come into the world being concealed?

ANSWER
Yes, but before giving over the message to others, first see if the message will be taken positively or negatively by the other.

QUESTION
If it is indeed a message to do teshuvah, what is a way to respond so that those experiencing a push back to doing teshuva can recognize Hashem and “do the work” of opening their hearts?

ANSWER
...You need to figure out what the individual in question needs to hear, based on his on her personal soul and what you think they need to hear.
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Essential Hashkafah for Our Times

5/5/2022

 
An important word from Rabbi Yehuda Mandel appeared in The Bitachon Magazine ​Volume I, Issue 3, Parshat Kedoshim (a separate publication from Bitachon Weekly; The Bitachon Magazine consists of only 4 pages & seems geared more for women):
The Baal HaTanya writes that some people were created NOT to conquer a Midda; just for the battle itself.

There has to be a side to you that is enjoying working without success, meaning just to enjoy the "working" on the Midda itself.

The world today is heavily involved with success.

They say that even the most successful people have a "Blue Monday."

Boldface & underline my own addition.

Thank you so much to N.E.J., who sent this magazine my way.
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Please Daven for the Safe Recovery & Return of the Missing Jewish Teenager AVRAHAM MOSHE BEN GITTEL

4/5/2022

 
Someone sent me the following about Avraham Moshe ben Gittel, a 16-year-old boy missing from Modi'in Ilit/Kiryat Sefer, Israel. The information originated from Yeshiva World News:
 FROM YWN:
The Israel Dog Unit issued an "urgent appeal to the public" in its search for a missing youth whose life may be in danger.

Avraham Moshe Kleinerman, 16, of Modiin Illit was last seen over a month ago at Meron.

He has a thin build, dark hair and eyes, and wears glasses.

The unit requests that anyone who knows about his whereabouts or could be of assistance in finding him should contact:
—
Israel Police at 100
— the Israel Police Modiin Illit station at 08-644-7200
— or the Israel Dog Unit-Search and Rescue at 054-487-6709.

***
PLEASE DAVEN AND SAY TEHILLIM THAT HASHEM OPENS THE EYES OF THE SEARCHERS AND LET'S AVRAHAM BE FOUND AND THAT NO HARM COMES TO HIM.  

UPDATE 3- MAY-2022 SUSPECTED ABDUCTION BY ARABS.  PLEASE DAVEN AND SAY TEHILLIM THAT NO HARM COMES TO HIM!  Here's what was printed in YWN:

Avraham was once injured by Palestinian Arabs throwing stones at him in the Shomron and even has a large scar on his forehead due to a stone thrown at him.

According to his father, he was hospitalized after the incident and has never been the same since, wandering around confused since he was released from the hospital.

Perhaps due to the trauma of the incident, he attempted in the past to return to the scene of the attack despite the fact that it occurred in Area A, which is legally forbidden for Israeli citizens to enter and extremely dangerous.

Additionally, the IDU received a threatening message in Arabic from a Jordanian telephone number that Avraham was captured and would be killed in 24 hours.

Security officials fear that he indeed may have been abducted.

“This is very serious,” said IDU director Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov. “Over a month has passed and it’s as if the ground swallowed him up. We are not ruling out a terrorist motive. I can’t say more at this time, other than request from the public to contact us if they can recall seeing Avraham any time over this past month, at our special missing person hotline.”
 

​PLEASE INCREASE YOUR PRAYERS AND TEHILLIM FOR HIM THAT HASHEM PROTECTS HIM.

Once again, the name is AVRAHAM MOSHE BEN GITTEL.

May Hashem protect him and quickly bring him back to his family.
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Baruch Dayan Emet: Rabbi Zecharia Shimon HaKohen Wallerstein (it's really, really hard to write his name after BDE)

3/5/2022

 
The announcement of Rabbi Wallerstein's petirah hit me in the heart like a battering ram.

It just feels wrong, like: "This wasn't so supposed to happen!"

While I knew he wasn't well, he sent out reassurance that it wasn't serious. So I davened for him, but not with the heart and kabbalot that I would've had I known his illness really was so life-threatening. (And maybe he didn't really realize until the end either.)

I just sat staring at the message in disbelief. Then I cried a little, then felt ill, then cried some more.

Hashem blessed Rabbi Wallerstein with unusually strong energy, drive, and raw honesty — and he used these qualities to save Am Yisrael, both physically and spiritually.

Hashem also blessed him with the ability to call a spade a spade and to see the seedier side of things—most people like that turn cynical & harsh—but Rabbi Wallerstein simultaneously could also see people's holy & pure neshamot and also honing in on what they COULD be.

Our generation desperately needed someone who could combine seeing people and situations as they are while also seeing what they could be AND what they were right now underneath it all.

And Rabbi Wallerstein was one of the few who could do all that.

I'm heartbroken for his wife Rebbetzin Estee and all his offspring who must feel his loss most intensely.  

Thank You for Saving Me From Social Media, Rabbi Wallerstein

The only reason why I'm not on any social media is because of Rabbi Wallerstein.

Right about the time I started feeling social, family, and parnasa pressure to go on Facebook (before Twitter and all the rest), Rabbi Wallerstein repeatedly attacked Facebook in such a compelling & uncompromising manner, he convinced me not to do it.

Ever.

Maybe a minority of people legitimately need it, but I know I'm not one of them.

So I'm grateful that Rabbi Wallerstein made me avoid social media (which is so hard to get off once on).

​And I know I'm not the only one he saved from social media.

It should always be a zechus for him.

The Ideal Tatty & Knight in Shining Armor

I know a lot of women in their hearts called Rabbi Wallerstein Tatty, even if they settled for calling him only "Rebbi" or "Rabbi Wallerstein."

Privately, many felt like he was the father they never had, but always wanted.

​And I mean women WITH fathers. I'm not talking about orphans.

Rabbi Wallerstein felt so strongly about the kavod of every single bat Melech. He exhorted against any hefkerus of bnot Yisrael, including exhorting bnot Yisrael not to be mafkir themselves at any stage and to recognize their inestimable worth & value.

And he was willing to fight for the kavod & safety of a bat Yisrael.

Women and girls across the board sensed and appreciated this. Even regarding the ones for whom it was too late to save personally, many found it healing to encounter someone like Rabbi Wallerstein (even just hearing him through earphones).

Just as one example of how this played out:

As a secular girl of thirteen, a friend of mine ended up in a relationship with a 21-year-old guy. Not sure how it initially started, but as expected in her modern ultra-liberal progressive society, he felt the right to more physical engagement (to put it delicately) & directed her to acquire the means to prevent conception.

Not knowing how to say no on her own, this 13-year-old girl repeated the guy's directive to her committedly liberal, educated, and progressive mother, secretly hoping her mother would rescue her from this much older and bigger male.

But her well-meaning mother acted according to the doctrine of the times and promptly took her daughter to the doctor to get the contraceptives. 

Where was her father in all this?

I don't know. While she had a decent relationship with him, he wasn't involved in this particular parsha between his daughter and his wife.

Maybe he knew, maybe it didn't, but he wasn't involved. And therefore, he never fulfilled that all-important protective role of a father for his daughter.

Despite becoming contentedly frum later, including marriage and children, my friend always carried this pain with her, this feeling of having been violated as a naïve, helpless, confused young teen by a full-grown man with the full consent of her parents and her society.

And whenever she talked about Rabbi Wallerstein, something came through indicating part of the reason she felt so attached to Rabbi Wallerstein is because had HE been her father, this particular trauma NEVER would have happened.

(And also, Rabbi Wallerstein would have rearranged the guy's face just for trying to get it on with her. This thought is also incredibly comforting to those who've felt violated.)

Bereft

Because Rabbi Wallerstein's work lay in hatzalat nefashot (both saving physical lives and spiritual souls), I'm very concerned about what will be with the many dependent on him now and over the years. (I think it numbers in the thousands.)

Not to mention the people who need him in the future.

I feel like we've been left orphaned & devastated by Rabbi Wallerstein's passing.

And I guess that's all there is to say for now.​

Here are some past posts about Rabbi Wallerstein:
new-rabbi-wallerstein-shiur-on-kav-hayashar.html
new-series-by-rabbi-wallerstein-on-the-kav-hayashar.html

​solid-20-minute-discussion-from-rabbis-wallerstein-epstein-about-why-the-morning-blessing-thanks-god-for-not-having-made-me-a-woman-is-not-offensive-or-misogynist-what-it-all-means-and-where-the-question-is-coming-from.html
And Rabbi Wallerstein on Torah Anytime:
Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein | TorahAnytime.com
And this (H/T Yeranen Yaakov):
https://matzav.com/why-did-rabbi-wallerstein-want-to-be-buried-with-his-tallis-bag/

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