Drops of Rain: Shoftim 5771

My internet was down on Erev Shabbos so I couldn't post Drops of Rain. Here it is, belated but just as good.

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Oldie of the Week: To Love A Fellow Jew (Karev Yom)

Click HERE for another "Oldie of the Week" of the Rebbe's from Gruntig.

The clip there is powered by YouTube, so since many filters will block it out, I stripped just the audio. DOWNLOAD

Hat tip to Sruli Besser (of Mishpacha fame) for sending me the link.

Apparently, this has become a very popular song in Lubavitcher camps over the years. Here is a clip on YouTube of a little Lubavitcher "shliach" singing the Hornosteipeler Rebbe's Karev Yom (how cute!).

Tomorrows

The following article was written by the Rebbe, shlit"a, a number of years ago for aish.com.

During a recent excursion, I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a sea of "tomorrows." No, I was not visiting a maternity ward or a nursery school classroom where the bright potential of young children gives off a tangible sense of "tomorrow", i.e. the future, vital and promising. While it is true that I always experience the elation of "tomorrow" when I am with little ones, the sensation I am describing came from the opposite end of the spectrum -- a cemetery.

My official duties as a community rabbi take me, more often than I might prefer, to the quiet fields where the generations before us have come to rest. If one looks about and listens carefully to the stillness, there is a stifling awareness of a multitude of (for want of a better word) "tomorrows" -- a profusion of things that might have been, could have been, should have been, and would have been... but for "tomorrow."

Growing up in Milwaukee, and having served for some 40 years in the rabbinate, I am able to look around, no matter which cemetery I may be visiting, and recognize many familiar names, people whom I remember from my childhood years and thereafter. Many lived lives of great distinction. The rest, as a rule, were upstanding individuals, devoted to their families and community, Jews who left a heritage of industry and integrity. It is about this latter group that I am so saddened. Because I not only remember who they were, but who they might have been, had they not squandered their "todays" for their "tomorrows."

Of course, we all do it; procrastination is as old as mankind itself. Yet the sheer deluge of what the past put off for "tomorrow" rose like a heavy mist above the field, casting a long and heavy shadow upon the ground.

My reflections took me back to the present, to family, my friends, and myself. Each of us has many things we cherish and hope to accomplish during our lifetimes. Invariably they are achievements of substance, the stuff of which enduring legacies are made. What do we do about these aspirations? Put them off for "tomorrow", of course! Today is just too busy, too cluttered, and too demanding. With unfailing constancy tomorrow becomes yet another today, full and hectic with characteristically unforgiving demands which brazenly refuse to be postponed. Pathetically, the eternal verities of life, the ones that should clamor for our attention and insist upon recognition, wait silently and patiently in the wings of our consciousness to be converted at long last into the living tissue of life. Altogether too many tombstones tell the story of tomorrows which never came, and altogether too many of us are etching similar epitaphs for ourselves.

The beginning of a New Year represents a unique opportunity to make our "tomorrows" into "todays," by making a serious commitment to the goals we hold sacred. Putting "first-things-first" will enable us to feel the energy of coming alive and experiencing the liberation of our potential.

On my personal list for the coming year, "today" is uppermost on the roster. I would respectfully urge that everyone reflect on the many blessings that would be forthcoming if we had the tenacity and the determination to transform our "tomorrows" into "todays."

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Elul Reflections (4 audio shiurim)

In the Reflections of Rabbi Michel Twerski tape series, there are four entire shiurim devoted to the avodah of Elul. Here they are in MP3 format for your downloading and listening pleasure (hopefully for more then just pleasure):

1. Courtship 

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2. Jewish Love 

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3. Mirror Mirror On the Wall 

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4. Ascending the Mountain

  DOWNLOAD or PLAY

To purchase the entire tape series, other tapes and music, visit the shul's website.

Elul is Do-It-Yourself Month

Last week's Drops of Rain was very apropos for Elul. The piece revolved around the necessity to know if one is for real or not. The only way to know for sure is to be tested. While the whole piece is very important, available in its entirety here, it is specifically the last paragraph that spoke directly to the avodah of Elul:

"The month of Elul is upon us; in the blink of an eye we will be standing before the King of Kings on Rosh Hashanah. We never ask Hashem for nisyonos; we would much rather our faith and commitment not be tested. But we need not wait to be up against a wall to find out if we really mean it. We can and must ask ourselves if we are for real. If we were to be tested, how far would our current convictions take us, and how can we recommit to the values and creed of authentic Jewish living? Would that we could stand in front the Master of the World over the upcoming Days of Awe and be able to say with absolute assurance, to ourselves, our loved ones and the Almighty, 'I am for real.'"

In conjunction with the above idea, we bring to your attention something that the Rebbe said a number of years ago. Integrity means what the Gemara refers to as tocho k'varo, that one's inside should be like his outside. In other words, what he portrays outwardly, in his actions and behavior, must reflect where is at on the inside. The holy texts (Maor Einayim and Pele Yoetz among them) are replete with the idea that when we daven, we must "connect" our hearts and our lips, that the words that we speak should be coming from our authentic selves and not just "from the lips out". There are many such instances when our pnimiyus might not be in line with our chitzoniyus.

Divrei Elokim Chaim: Maamer From the Rebbe For the Month of Elul

Since there is no Medrash Shiur today, here is a maamer written (in loshon hakodesh) by the Rebbe, shlit"a, in 5765 (2005) about the avodah of the month of Elul. It was typed from the k'sav yad by the Rebbe's son, Reb Yaakov Moshe Twerski, shyichyeh. An exclusive opportunity for readers of Doleh Umashkeh as this is the first time such a maamer has been made available. Enjoy!

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Elul Emails: Introduction

Sounding the Shofar by Elena Flerova

By request of Rabbi Bentzion Twerski, shlit"a, and with the encouragement of the Rebbe, shlit"a, we will be sending out a daily email during the month of Elul with a short d'var Torah, halacha or story about the most awesome days that are upon us. We often talk about the need to begin prepare for a Yom Tov thirty days prior to the Yom Tov, and this way one can have a constant (well, at least daily) reminder of the responsibility and the z'chus (merit) that we have been given. Just mentioning the myriad of mitzvos and experiences that fill Elul and Tishrei to the brim is enough to elicit a full scale of emotions: nostalgia, trepidation, excitement, yearning, joy, sadness, the list is endless. Here are some of the powerful tasks and opportunities that we have been given by the Master of the Universe over the next two months:

The Road of Elul

In 5768, the Rebbe, shlit"a, spoke to the chaburah in Yerushalayim by telephone and said a truly awesome vort regarding the preparation for Elul. It is one of my personal all-time favorites, and when I repeated it to the Rebbe this past Shabbos (of course, he claimed to have no recollection of ever saying it, as usual), he was duly impressed and said that it was "an excellent vort".

Purging Evil From Oneself

This morning the Rebbe spoke about the pasuk ובערת הרע מקרבך, saying that the pasuk is referring to purging evil from oneself. He then went on, using potentially damaging thoughts as an example, to enumerate some very practical, specific steps and components necessary to be rid of the evil and fill the void with kedushah. For those familiar with Innate Health, there are some very useful mashalim in this shiur as well.

If that's all not enough of a reason to hear this shiur, the Rebbe concluded by saying, "Now that is a real chassidishe vort!" How doesn't have 13 minutes for a "real chassidishe vort"? DOWNLOAD

Drops of Rain: Re'eh 5771

This week's Drops of Rain is entitled, "Do You Know if You Are for Real?" It is a hybrid from a shiur the Rebbe gave in 5765 together with one of morning shiurim from this past week. Enjoy and a gitten Shabbos!

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"Kiruv, Rebuke and Tefila" and The Rebbe/Chassid Dynamic (audio)

In this morning's shiur, the Rebbe spoke about the three responses we must have to fellow Jews who are not yet Torah observant. The discussion turned towards the nature of the Rebbe/Chassid relationship and ended with a particularly moving story from the Belzer Rav whose yahrtzeit is today.

Rav Aaron Rokeach of Belz in Marienbad

Priorities

In relation to Drops of Rain: A Styrofoam Cup, a Paper Clip and a Rubber Band, the Rebbe, shlit"a, added the following practical advice for anyone involved in bettering their material situation.

“I told a young man who was starting a new job as an attorney that he should be vigilant because the only way to be successful in these large legal firms is to give them what they want...to own your soul. A little while later, he came to see me and said, “I was thinking about what you said before. How can I be vigilant about this new job?”

"He is the Rebbe's Son!"

Last night by Melava Malka, the Rebbe, shlit"a, told of the esteem in which the Satmar Rebbe held the Rebbe Reb Motele.

The Satmar Rebbe was once in Chicago and he took the opportunity to bring a kvittel to the Rebbe Reb Leibele. Upon learning the Satmar Rebbe's plan, his gabbai expressed his bewilderment that his Rebbe felt a need to go to Reb Leibele "as a Rebbe". The Satmar Rebbe replied, "Reb Leibele is no "rebbisheh einikel". He is "the Rebbe's son!"

Drops of Rain: Eikev 5771

This week's Drops of Rain is entitled, A Styrofoam Cup, a Paper Clip and a Rubber Band.

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Medrash Eikev 5771: Love and Avodah

This week's Medrash Shiur was about ahavas Hashem. It was phenomenal! The Rebbe referenced a maamer in the Baal Hatanya's siddur about the differences between the first and second parshiyos of Shema. Why does "b'chol m'odecha" appear in the first parsha but not the second? And why doesn't the first parsha talk about avodah at all, unlike the second? The Rebbe went on to explain the yesodos of loving Hashem and keeping His mitzvos.

DOWNLOAD "LOVE AND AVODAH" (36 min., 4.12 MB)