As we review our year and wonder what happened to our New Year resolutions from last year – we may want to give up trying to improve ourselves. But never do that! We can learn from Winston Churchill and the best selling business author Jim Collins, who
Read more →Elul marks the beginning of the countdown towards the Yamim Noraim (High Holy Days). What is the significance of this month? The Ramchal writes that time does not progress in a linear fashion, in which each moment of history is completely unrelated to all the moments that follow.
Read more →Author: Chofetz Chaim: A Lesson A Day/Mesorah Publications The standard order of teshuvah (repentance) for sins between man and G-d is: Confession, regret and resolution never to repeat the act in the future. One who willfully listened as someone related loshon hora is required to engage in
Read more →Elul Suggested Reading List There are many books which deal with the themes presented in this booklet. These are some of the more popular ones. You can choose to read all of them or none of them. The Book of Our Heritage Eliyahu Kitov The Complete Story
Read more →(based on the teachings of Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt’l) Personal Godby Rabbi Baruch Leff. Elul. The very mention of this repentance-filled, preparatory month before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, usually evokes feelings of dread. Right in the middle of our summer vacations we are forced to
Read more →Part Three: Teshuva as the process of climbing the mountain; of coming to terms with the vision of the yetzer hara, of setting a mandate for next year’s spiritual successes. Part One established that the judgment of Rosh HaShana is one on potential. i.e. how much an
Read more →The concept of potential is very difficult to understand because the potential is very unusual – it both exists and yet doesn’t exist. It exists because it is the stuff of which reality is made, yet it does not have substance until it does become reality, a
Read more →Yom HaDin – The Day of Judgment. This is the name by which almost every Jew, observant or non-observant, knows Rosh HaShana. The Jewish New Year conjures up images of long hours in shul praying more than it does of celebrations, as do other peoples’ new years, and
Read more →Author: Arnold H. Glasow Supplementary Prayers, Readings, Meditations and thoughts to Ponder for the High Holy Days 1. The Tzanzer Rebbe was asked by a Hasid: “What does the Rabbi do before praying?” “I pray,” was the reply, “that I may be able to pray properly.” 2.
Read more →(based on the teachings of Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt’l) The Rambam writes in Perek Aleph, that when an Adom is choteh andkesheyaseh Teshuva he is chayev lehisvados-to say viduy. He should’vesaid im yaseh teshuva- if he’ll do teshuva. Why does the Rambam saythat vaday he’ll do teshuva?
Read more →Author: Rabbi Emanuel Feldman Tishrei, the month of Rosh Hashana, is the first month of the universe, and just as when G-d completed His Creation He contemplated and evaluated it, so does He do every Rosh Hashana — which means that Rosh Hashana is actually the Day
Read more →Author: Rabbi Eliyahu Touger 1. Free will is granted to all men. If one desires to turn himself to the path of good and be righteous, the choice is his. Should he desire to turn to the path of evil and be wicked, the choice is his.
Read more →Author: Rabbi Eliyahu Touger 5. There are five qualities which have the tendency to lead the transgressor to continue to commit them and which are very difficult to abandon. Therefore, a person should be very careful lest he become attached to them, for they are very bad
Read more →Author: Rabbi Eliyahu Touger 1. Each and every person has merits and chets. A person whose merits exceed his chets is righteous. A person whose chets exceed his merits is wicked. If his chets and merits are equal, he is termed a Beinoni. The same applies to
Read more →Author: Rabbi Eliyahu Touger 1. Who has reached complete teshuva? A person who confronts the same situation in which he transgressed when he has the potential to commit the chet again, and, nevertheless, abstains and does not commit it because of his teshuva alone and not because
Read more →Author: Rabbi Eliyahu Touger Based on the translation of Maimonides Mishne Torah, Hilchot Teshuva, by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger. This text describes one mitzvah; that a transgressor should do teshuva from his chet before G-d and say Viduy. This mitzvah and the fundamental principles that follow in relation
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin The Purpose of The Al Chet When one begins to look at the task of teshuva, it can be overwhelming. We have done so many things wrong over the past year that it is hard to know where to begin. Do we take
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin We are Four Days into the Ten Days of Teshuva, How Much Teshuva have You Done? We are now four days into the Ten Days of Teshuva. The obvious priority for these days is teshuva. There is no greater opportunity to get close to
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction One of most difficult aspects to understand about the Ten Days of Teshuva is the Fast of Gedalia (Tsom Gedaliah). Right in the middle of working very hard on ourselves and growing and focusing on the issues of Tishrei, and the Fast
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction: It was taught in the name of R. Eliezer: The world was created on the twenty -fifth of Elul. The view of Rav agrees with the teaching of R. Eliezer. For we have learned in the Shofar Blessing composed by have learned
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction In yesterday’s sheet, we spoke about different pathways that can be used to allow an individual to figure out his goals. After an individual has clarified his goals, there is another very important step that needs to be done. Some sort of
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction We are now beginning the final week of the month of Elul. According to the Rosh HaYeshiva’s plan (see sheet #1), now is the time to intensify the process of Cheshbon (spiritual accounting) and come up with a plan for change. The
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin WHAT ARE SELICHOT? Last night many of us participated in the Selichos Service. The Selichos Service consists of special prayers for forgiveness that our Sages instructed us to say the days before Rosh HaShana and during the Ten Days of Teshuva. The goal
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction This Motsei Shabbos (Saturday night) at around 12 o’clock, wherever Orthodox Judaism is practiced, many Jews will be staying up to do the Selichot Service. During the service, there is a section that will be repeated over and over again in a
Read more →Author: Rabbi David Nivin Introduction In yesterday’s sheet we discussed the four steps of teshuva. Today’s sheet will focus primarily on providing answers to the most frequently asked questions about these steps. Question 1 – What Is The Difference Between Regret And Guilt? Every Time I Start
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