Torah

Our life includes more than just fulfilling mitzvot. We also have goals we aim to achieve.

We are not only able to help ourselves, we are also responsible for doing so. Though many assist us throughout our lives, in the end, we are responsible for ourselves.

By honoring our teachers, we learn through the interpersonal social dynamics how to revere G-d as well.

There is no question in my mind that we as a nation have improved in becoming more sensitized to the plight of our Jewish impoverished and in general to providing chesed, kindness, to people in need... But there is something more that is wholly missing!

How can we reconcile the fact that the pasuk says that the mitzvos are both tov and yashar are in Hashem’s eyes while Rashi says that yashar refers to the way man views the mitzvos?

Halakhic man’s goal is to bring G-d down into this world by first understanding the blueprint He created for this world – the Torah, and its practical expression through halacha – and then striving to align this world with that ideal system.

Hashem taught Moshe and us this lesson through the construction of the Mishkan and the giving of the luchot. When Hashem told Moshe to assemble the Mishkan, Moshe protested that it was too heavy for him to lift. Hashem told Moshe to do what he could: Make it look like you are trying to erect it.

Noted marriage therapist Dr. John Gottman also contends that each marriage has perpetual, unsolvable problems. The goal is not to resolve those conflicts but to know how to relate to those conflicts in healthy ways.

Sometimes the soldier and his family are most bothered by the worry that their difficulty adjusting is not normal and reflects severe psychological distress.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: When Hashem created the world, He desired to have a dirah b'tachtonim, a place for Him to reside below the way He had above.

On the most basic level, challenges inspire reflection and appreciation. The need to work hard to regain something lost or return to a previous position deepens our appreciation for what we had and where we were beforehand.

If left to our own merit, the rabbis presumed that divine justice would demand punishment.

Because the great sound that did not falter was simultaneously a great sound that would never be repeated, no navi sheker could ever produce evidence that could rival Sinai.

Suffering may be painful, but when we realize that Hashem is behind it, the month truly becomes Menachem Av.

All of our nation’s suffering is rooted in the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. More precisely, our suffering is rooted in what the destruction reflects – distance between us and Hashem.

Learning how to politely say no to opportunities that take us away from our top priorities and goals is essential for fulfillment and success. Moreover, once we neglect studying Torah, writes Arvei Nachal, we will lose motivation to study, leading to even more idleness.

Older Americans may remember one of the great betrayals felt by American military service members upon their return from fighting in Vietnam, when many were greeted with jeers and accusations. Indeed, the type of homecoming a soldier receives was found to predict PTSD up to 40 years later (Steenkamp et al, 2017).

The Land of Israel is the most desirable of all lands. Hashem watches over the Land constantly and more closely than any other land.

Getting up from a fall can often feel very difficult. Understandably, many think that after falling, they cannot rise again.

Generalizing from judges to general ethical advice, the Lubavitcher Rebbe suggests that getting another’s perspective is essential for self-improvement. We tend to have self-serving biases in either positive or negative directions that distort our self-assessment.

Even those less academic and studious can master the Torah and even those less disciplined have the capacity to fulfill all of their mitzvot.

Part of what makes each of us so important is that we are all unique... Hashem created us this way because we each have unique missions in this world.

Building a Mishkan, circumcision, tzedakah, and farming are not our only significant actions. Every good deed we perform, no matter how small, is important and impactful. Each of these deeds contributes to the betterment of the world and should be appreciated and recognized.

It’s time for all our people to stop using these rationalizations because any thinking Jew knows in their heart of hearts that every Jew should be in Israel, and these excuses have no basis. Our grandparents would have given everything that they own to have the opportunity that we have today to make aliyah and live in Israel.

We do not just resemble G-d. We also have a personal relationship with Him.

Angels emanate from and inhabit pure spiritual worlds above. G-d’s presence and their mission are both clear to them.

The Jews assumed that Hashem hated them because they saw themselves as unworthy of His love.

Presumably, even the lowly of spirit according to Maimonides is not purposefully self-denigrating and contains a healthy sense of self-worth (contingent on an awareness of G-d, not one’s own accomplishments).

Some research indicates that heroism during war or, maybe more specifically, the acknowledgement of a soldier’s heroism, might be beneficial to the soldier himself, as it is associated with lower levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms (Stein et al., 2020).

Baruch Hashem, we are witnessing a revolution in this area. Though no soldier can match the Vilna Gaon’s or P’nei Yehoshua’s piety, we have thousands of IDF soldiers who are both deeply committed to halacha and Jewish values and are genuine talmidei chachamim.