TRANSFORM YOUR EMUNAH!

One who doesn't believe in HaShem, God forbid, would of course not reach out to HaShem about anything. One who is privileged to be able to know the truth and believe in HaShem and know that He can help me and I have the opportunity to talk to Him about anything and everything, which would be a greater effort than doing anything else, much of the time does go ahead and talk to HaShem about my needs...

When making a commitment to Hashem of how much time we are planning to commit to be our sacred time, just you and me Hashem, it is motivating to internalize what the verse states in Divrei Hayamim. The verse states, "For everything is from you, Hashem, and from your hand we have given back to you." Hashem created the world and Hashem created us. Every single moment of the 24 hours of the day is a...

We've been discussing how when it comes to talking to Hashem, a basic practical application of emunah, although we might understand logically how it is so obvious and vital for us to talk to Hashem, because if we believe in Him, obviously we should have a personal relationship with Him, and although we might have also had the opportunity to learn what many Torah passages write about how vital and...

We've been discussing how one of the highest forms of expressing our emunah, belief in HaShem, in a practical way, is to talk to HaShem in our own personal words. And at the same time, how do we deal with the reality that it can be difficult to talk to HaShem, because HaShem is not seen nor heard. And ultimately it comes down to growing more in our emunah, because the more we believe He is there,...

We've discussed many times that the Torah commentaries write, that the ultimate way for us to gain our place in the next world is by making our maximum effort to grow in our emunah. We've also mentioned how one of the highest expressions of emunah, belief in Hashem, is to place high focus in our dedication to talking to Hashem in our own words. We've mentioned previously how the Chofetz Chaim writ...

Hashem runs the world exclusively, He does not need my help. Nevertheless, I have a commandment to perform the mitzvah of Hishtadlus, to make my own personal effort, although this might seem like an apparent contradiction. As discussed many times, if this is what Hashem commanded us, this is what we do. And the best advice of how to find out what our personal requirement should be, in terms of how...

We've been discussing that truly internalizing emunah, that Hashem exclusively runs the world, can and perhaps should lead to us sometimes being uncomfortable about having to make our own efforts in our endeavors, otherwise known as hishtadlus. There is no black and white law in Torah literature which outlines subjectively how much hishtadlus each and every one of us is required to make and theref...

We've been discussing the seemingly absurd mitzvah of Hishtadlus, because again, if Hashem runs every detail of the world exclusively as Emunah teaches us, my job is actually seemingly to do the opposite, to internalize that I don't need to help Hashem. So why then, Hashem, did You command me to make my own effort to perform Hishtadlus, to try to succeed in my endeavors? We've discussed that the b...

Seeing as our life's work is to internalize the meaning of the words Ein Od Milvado - there is nothing else in the world except for Hashem - not just to know Emunah in our heads, but to truly grow in internalizing the Emunah in our hearts and in the very core of our beings, it is worth revisiting a question we've discussed previously.  If Hashem runs the world exclusively, why do I need to try mak...

We've discussed previously with regards to the famous verse that states ein od milvado - there is nothing else in the world except for Hashem exclusively - and we've discussed that there are many levels to what it means to truly understand and internalize this verse. Simply speaking, if someone were to ask me, "do you believe that Hashem runs the world?" and I am to answer in the affirmative, that...

When we approach prayer, tefillah, we know that there are different forms. As discussed previously, one of the highest forms of tefillah is when we offer our thanks and praises to Hashem. Hashem knows exactly what we need, and when we thank Him for what He is already giving us, that gives Him reason to shower more blessings upon us, seeing our appreciation for what He is already giving us. We of c...

As discussed many times, our main job in this world is to grow in our emunah, our belief in Hashem. And one of the branches of emunah is to believe in the potency of the words of the prescribed prayers. If we were to see the spiritual impact of the words that we say, we would not have the free choice anymore whether to say these prayers and how to say them, whether we have devotion, intention and...

As discussed many times, our job in this world is to believe, to have emunah, even when we don't see, when we don't understand. When it comes to the prescribed prayers that have been outlined to us by the sages, the brachos over food and drink, and the many other prescribed blessings that have been outlined to us, we need to believe and internalize that the words that have been outlined in these p...

The Gemara teaches us that tefillah, prayer, is one of the highest things in the world, and nevertheless, the usual tendency of people is to undermine the power and potency of tefillah. As with many areas, when a certain action is spiritually potent, the evil forces make their maximum efforts to try to deter us from tapping into these holy endeavors. Specifically, because tefillah is one of the hi...

We've discussed many times that our job in this world is to believe specifically when we don't see or when we don't understand. We are also called on to have emunah, to believe that with regards to every single one of us, the amount of pleasure that we are destined to experience in this world has been preordained Not only that, as we've learned previously, the Torah commentaries teach that we ours...

If we are to ask ourselves, what is the greatest gift that we could give to another individual? We might come up with different answers based on our perspectives and preferences. The Gemara tells that Hashem approached Moshe Rabbeinu and told him, “I have a great gift and this great gift that is full of goodness is called Shabbos.” Although we might have some understanding about the great gift and...

The Torah records how Moshe Rabbeinu was prohibited from entering the Land of Eretz Yisrael, and having such a burning desire to have the privilege to enter the Holy Land, he poured out his heart in prayer to Hashem, begging Him to override the decree prohibiting him from entering the Holy Land. We are taught that when Moshe Rabbeinu prayed to Hashem to have this privilege, he chose to verbalize a...

We've discussed many times that emunah ultimately is about what we believe, not about what we see nor about what we understand. In fact, as learnt numerous times, the Torah commentaries teach that this world is referred to as the world of untruth, where things that appear to be a certain way are in actuality very often the opposite. People and situations which are often defined as success stories...

Emunah means belief, specifically, when I don't understand, I don't see, I nevertheless believe. Emunah is a personal relationship with Hashem that is just between me and Hashem. No one else can truly know the real level of another individual's emunah. In fact, you could have two people that, from our perspective, if we were to be painting the scorecard, we would give both of them the same score,...

We've been discussing how the usual way of the world we live in very often directs us towards becoming spectators and passengers. Yes, many would agree that one needs to first work in order to achieve their success, but the goal, according to many with the mistaken perspective, is that eventually we finish our work so that we can sit back and relax to the pleasure and entertainment that the world...

We live in a world where for many people the ultimate goal is to become a spectator and passenger and enjoy the pleasures that the world has to offer you. Very often the message that we hear and are exposed to in this world is that the ideal is to reach a place where I can just sit back, relax and enjoy and have everything done for me, where I can just be passive and enjoy pleasure. We are so priv...

We learned in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos that the world stands on three things, Torah, Avoda and Gemillus Chassadim. Gemillus Chassadim refers to acts of kindness. So important is it to perform acts of kindness that that is considered one of the pillars that keeps the world going. We all have many opportunities on a daily basis to fulfill this tremendous mitzvah of Gemillus Chassadim, acts of kind...

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avos teaches us that the world stands on three things, Torah, Avoda and Gemillus Chassadim. We've learned many times the tremendous potency of Torah learning and how we are taught that the value of Torah learning is on par with all 613 mitzvahs put together and many other powerful fruits that we bear from Torah learning. The second pillar that the Mishnah says upholds the ent...

We know that the Sefer Torah is comprised of 600,000 letters, and the law is that if even one letter is either missing or damaged, the entire Sefer Torah is considered to be invalid and unusable. In the same vein, we are taught by Torah commentaries that there are 600,000 Jewish souls that exist. Now of course, there are many more than 600,000 Jews in the world, however we are taught that differen...

The Gemara recounts an episode where one of the rabbis had a near-death experience. He was considered to be clinically dead, and thereafter his soul returned back to his body, coming back to life. The Gemara recounts that when this sage was asked what he experienced during this episode, the sage responded that he saw the next world, the world where everything is upside down from this world. He exp...