PREPARING FOR ELUL

"The ways of God are straight.

The tzaddik uses them for progress;

The rebel comes to failure by them."

(Hoshea 14:10)

The ways of God are straight. There should be no possibility of taking the wrong turn. There are no turns. But if one does not want the truth... If one rebels... Even the ways of God, even the precious gifts of God can lead to failure.
When one is making progress in the life of the spirit many doors open before him. But there is no standing still. If one thinks one is standing still, in truth he is falling. This is our situation. We are falling continuously, but we don't know it. There is nothing worse that this.
The very "ways of God" used by the tzaddik as a means of progress lead to failure when used by the rebel. Everything is a test. The very means given by God to achieve aliyah- spiritual ascent -can be used by the yetzer ha-ra for the opposite.
(Michtav Me'Eliyahu, Rabbi Eliyahu E Dessler)

FAST FOOD RELIGION-1,000,000 CONVERTED

There are rabbis among Am Yisrael that believe we should take a "McDonalds" approach to "converting" the goyim. These "rabbis" say we have a mission to be a "light to the nations" and we are following in the footsteps of our father Avraham when we act like "missionaries" and go out to the goyim to forcefeed them Torah. These rabbis want to twist the Torah and even throw out halachah to make it more palatable to the goyim. Well I have three words for them "quality over quantity"!

Bereishis 17:3 Abram fell on his face: Abraham's life goal was to bring all the nations to faith in the Living God. As is known, he would attract passersby by offering them drinks, and then some would heed his call to convert. But when he heard the new condition for conversion, namely circumcision, he was seized with trembling, for henceforth his goal would be beyond reach. What fool would listen to him to undergo an operation on his own flesh? Abraham fell on his face in great anguish, like a man whose ship had sunk at sea. This is what is behind Chazal's statement (Breishit Rabbah Ch.46), "Before I underwent circumcision they would come and join me, but who will come now that I am circumcised?" God answered him:

Bereishis 17:4 As for me this is my covenant with you. I do not need a lot of "converts," who come to "look for God" among the food and drink, and who are unwilling to shed their blood on the altar of faith. It is sufficient for Me that you keep My covenant. I am content to have one believer like you, who goes through fire and water to sanctify My Name.

(Insights in the Torah/Bereishis, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin)

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GALUT MENTALITY

After 2000 years HaKadosh Baruch Hu has removed us from the galut and returned us to our holy land but it is up to us to remove the galut from within us. That means we have to remove all that is unholy and unjewish from within our hearts and minds. We have to remember the true Jewish idea without the influence of western philosophy or morality.

Parshat Mishpatim

Taken from Michtav Me'Eliyahu by Rav Eliyahu Dessler

In parshat Mishpatim, Hashem commands us: "If you lend money to my people, the poor man who is with you, you shall not behave to him like a creditor..."

On this, the Midrash Rabba comments:

Happy is the man who stands his test. For there is no person whom Hashem does not test. The rich man is tested whether his hand is generously open to the poor. The poor man is tested whether he can stand suffering without becoming resentful... If the rich man stands his test and is gererous with his charity, he enjoys his money in this world, the capital remains for him in the World to Come and Hashem saves him from the judgement of Gehinnom...And if the poor man stands his test and does not rebel against his lot, he receives a double portion in the future world...

We have discussed this midrash elsewhere. We explained there why the poor man who passes his test receives a double portion in the World to Come. (He receives one portion for observing his mitzvah-accepting his fate without resentment-and another as a reward for the suffering he underwent in this world.) Now we ask: Why does G-d have to "Save the rich man from judgement of Gehinnom"? If he passed his test and was generous with his charity, why is he threatened with Gehinnom and need to be saved by the mercy of Hashem? The answer is that the rich man who "enjoys his money in this world" is in constant danger of becoming absorbed in his possessions and his pleasures. If he is not careful, they may become the dominant interests in his life. In this way, he would be erecting an idol in himself and this would be Gehinnom itself. This would mean that he was investing his whole life in nothingness and, as we have explained elsewhere, a basic aspect of Gehinnom is indeed "nothingness". By placing his main interest in possessions which, in themselves have no spiritual value-which spiritually speakiing, are nothing-he loses his own spiritual value and nothingness fills his soul. This is Gehinnom.

However, if that person tries to be the best of his ability, sincerely and devotedly, to use his possessions as God wants him to use them, then God will bestow upon him the heavenly aid needed to avoid the pitfalls of the situation-to overcome the temptations and to act on the principle that the sole value of material possessions resides in the mitzvot that we do with them.

May we all be "happy with our lot". Shabbath Shalom!

"Love your enemies" is not a Jewish teaching

I have been accused of "hate" as if it is always wrong, never called for and even unjewish. To those people I point out the following....

From the Tanakh

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to dance; a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.(Eccles. 3:1-8)

From Or HaRa'ayon

Mercy toward the cruel is not a good trait. Quite the opposite, one is duty-bound to separate oneself from the evildoer, even if this is a difficult step, and even if it appears cruel. The cruel, wicked person will influence goodness and corrupt it. There can be no coexistence between evil and upright people-only separation.

The mitzvah of eradicating evil from our midst requires us to hate it, as in Psalms 97:10, quoted above, "Those that love the L-rd, hate evil." It is the duty of him that loves G-d to hate evil and evildoers, for they are G-d's enemies. Nonetheless, in the alien Hellenist culture, the themes of love and hatred have been so entirely distorted that it is a terrible crime to speak of hatred as a halachic duty in the right time and place. False love finds a hundred different ways to overlook evil. Advocates of that culture have transformed all such traits as cruelty and revenge into an evil that must be shunned. Such is not the Torah's way... (Or HaRa'ayon p.148)

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS

Rabbi Elyashiv: Refuse Money from IFCJ

by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, one of the top Torah authorities in the hareidi-religious world, has issued a ruling that says that the public may not take money from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Keren HaYedidut) headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

Groups that take money from the fund are flouting the Torah's prohibition of idolatry, Rabbi Elyashiv said, and they even aid future missionary activities and grant them legitimacy. “We regret to say that we have learned that several institutions, organizations and charity groups have made mistakes of this nature,” he added.

Taking money from this fund is an “unclean” act, the elderly rabbi said. Other rabbis who made similar decisions include R. Samuel Auerbach, R Nissim Kerlitz, R. Ovadia Yosef, R. Mordechai Eliyahu and others.

The IFCJ was founded in Chicago in 1983 by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. The fact that it takes money from Christian groups causes much suspicion in some religious Jewish circles. However, other religious circles have no problem with the group.

Parshat Haazinu

In last week's parsha we read

"They provoke his jealousy with strangers;
they would anger Him with abominations.
They would slaughter to demons without power, gods whom they knew not,
newcomers recently arrived, whom your ancestors did not dread."
(Dvarim 32:16,17, Stone Edition)

According to the commentary this refers to Israel's worshipping strange gods and performing acts of sodomy. The commentary goes on to say, "Israel's provocations will not go unrequited. If the people use God's blessings to anger Him, He will remove the blessings and cast them to the mercies of their enemies."

You would think that with the threat from Iran, Gaza, Lebanon etc., we wouldn't want a parade, "The feast of tabernacles", that glorifies idolatry on the streets of Yerushalayim. It is interesting that the other major yearly parade through the streets of Yerushalayim, the Pride Parade, glorifies sodomy.