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#2 Yomim Noraim – Issues of the Day |  |
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%OUI%
So many issues are decided on this day: who will live, who will die; who will be healthy, who will be sick; who will be successful, who won’t…. Since we accept and understand this, one would assume that we would be deeply moved by the davening on Rosh Hashanah. One would assume that we would spend the day in reverence and awe. Yet that seems to be very far from the... |
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#7 Noach: Understanding Belief | |
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By all accounts Noach was a Tzadik. Yet he didn’t go into the teivah until the water forced him in. Rashi tells us the reason was that Noach “Believed and he didn’t believe”. Whilst he knew that Hashem was going to bring a mabul, he still doubted it. What seems perplexing is that Hashem spoke to Noach telling him there would be a flood. Not only that, but Noach had spent the last 120 years... | |
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#9 Akaidas Yitzchak | |
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After all is said and done, what was so great about the Akeidah? Throughout history many people have been called upon and have made great sacrifices. Yet this single act echoes through the millennia. What was so unique about what Avrahom did? What was so special about the way he did it? And more pointedly, what relevance does it have for us some 3,700 years later?... | |
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#15 Chanukah G-d fights Our Wars |  |
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What actually happened in the war to recapture the Bais Hamikdash? How many battles were fought? How long did they last? What was it like living in Yerushlayim at the time? Detailing the story of Chanukah as brought in Megillas Chashmonaim, this Shmuz brings us closer to understanding the events of the time, and appreciating the miracle that unfolded. It then takes us forward in time to... |
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#18 The Difference Between Emunah and Bitachon – Four Levels To Emunah | |
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Did you ever notice that no one does anything wrong? It seems that no matter how clear it is to you and me that this person is engaged in self destructive behavior, he doesn't admit that he is doing something wrong or harmful; rather he comes up with an entire rationale why it is good and in fact proper. To allow for Free Will, we humans had to be given this ability to rationalize away our... |
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#10 Questioning G-d: Finding and keeping your Bashert | |
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The Shadchan says, "So tell me, what are you looking for?" And, out comes the laundry list. "I need someone who is extroverted, funny, and outgoing." "I need a woman who is very frum, good, kind, tolerant, and funny." "I need a guy who is tall, a take-charge type, strong but not headstrong." And unwittingly, many people make the first... |
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#20 Davening - Making it Real | |
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Of course we daven.
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#21 Choosing a Career | |
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It is clear that Hashem wants man to work for a living. But is there a particular profession that I should I be doing to make a living? Does the Torah have a formula for me to figure out exactly what line of work I should pursue? Using the system explained by the Chovos Halevovos we are given clear directions towards finding the right way for me to earn my living. (Essential hashkafa for a... |
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#22 Evolution - Does it Make Sense? | |
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To many of us the issue of belief in the Creator boils down to logic against faith. As if from a purely rational, intellectual point of view it would appear that the world evolved, and we who believe have to hold on to our faith against the onslaught of logic and scientific discoveries. In this Shmuz we are asked to look at matters from a very different vantage point, namely: that which... |
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#28 People Believe what they want to Believe | |
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If Hashem would just show me one miracle, then I would really believe. If Hashem would just show me one clear sign -- it would change my life. This premise that seeing a miracle would make a person believe is brought into sharp relief by one central question: Why didn’t the ancient Egyptians believe in Hashem? They experienced all of the greatest miracles ever shown. They lived through the... | |
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#32 Understanding Nature – Putting the “WOW” back into Nature | |
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Who can look at a sunset and not say “Wow, look at the beauty of this world.”? Yet, it seems that we rarely do that. It is almost as if we are detached from the natural world -- As if the world of lions and tigers and bears is a place reserved for taking our children to when they are little, but has no connection to our lives. The Rishonim tell us that the surest way to come to understand... |
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#37 Three Types of Miracles – The Fifth Level of Emunah | |
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Hashem created this world. Hashem orchestrates this world but there is another dimension of Hashem’s relationship with this world -- Hashem is the maintainer of this world. A very deep Shmuz that deals with the way that HASHEM interacts with this world, and directly deals with some fundamental questions:
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#38 Where is Hashem – The Sixth Level of Emunah | |
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We are trained from our school years to say boruch Hashem and im yirtzeh Hashem. Yet it seems that something is lacking. While we mouth the words that Hashem is responsible and we thank Hashem, if we are honest with ourselves we will soon recognize that what is lacking from our sentiments is Hashem. The sense of Hashem’s presence and involvement in our life that we talk about is what is missing... | |
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#39 I Need, Needs | |
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It is clear that Hashem is capable -- very capable. It is also clear that Hashem has great wisdom -- enough wisdom and capacity to create the cosmos and all that it contains, with words alone -- from galaxies that stretch over billons of light years, to tiny amoeba that float in a sea of flotsam, all parts of the whole, all harmoniously integrated, all so seemingly perfect. Yet Hashem created man... | |
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#44 Bar Kamtza - Do you really have Free Will? | |
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I accept that each person’s life span is set before they are born. I also accept that the question is visited on Rosh Hashanah when Hashem decides who will live and who will die. All that is fine and well, until I pick up a gun and say to myself, can’t I decide to end that person’s life? Isn’t it obvious that whether that person will live or die is now in my hands? Using the Tisha B’Av... |
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#45 WYSIWYG- Developing Willpower | |
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It’s true that I’m not quite where I hope to be one day. It’s even true that there are many thoughts that go through my head that I’m not proud of. I am still selfish and self centered, and there are many things that I feel that I would be deeply ashamed of if anyone else knew about them. But it’s OK, because one day I will change. This Shmuz focuses us on the shocking realization that as... |
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#122 - Parenting 102 | |
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For thousands of years, parenting was a pretty straightforward responsibility. Society offered highly structured guidelines for behavior. Adult's roles were well-defined, as were children's roles, and throughout the strata of the community, everyone knew his place. New parents had their own parents as role models, and the techniques to use were time-tested and proven -- to fit that world.
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#125 - Business Ethics | |
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HASHEM created man with and an inborn need to do what is right. But one of the difficulties of ethical behavior is that on the slippery slope of life, that sense of right and wrong becomes dulled. This is especially true in the business world. The lines that distinguish honest and moral behavior from its opposite get quickly and easily blurred.
In the post Enron era, when much of... |
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#128 - Kiruv: The Message & The Medium | |
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In 1996, sociologists Gordon and Horowitz published a study entitled, “Will Your Grandchildren Be Jewish?” Their conclusion: based on the general Jewish population’s ever-decreasing birth rates and skyrocketing intermarriage rates, the odds that any Jews will remain at the end of the 21st century are slim to none.
However, one category of their study stood out in stark relief -- the... |
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#131 - Working For A Living | |
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We know that we were put on this planet for a few short years, to shape ourselves into who we will be for eternity. HASHEM has created this world specifically to give us the chance to mold our inner essence. We also know that the Torah and its mitzvahs are the greatest vehicles of self perfection. If so, one of the questions that a thinking person must ask themselves is, why do...
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#132 - PURIM: Being Human | |
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One of the most difficult character traits to work on is humility. Not only is it considered the most pervasive of the all of the middos, it is the most misunderstood. On one hand, we are obligated to appreciate the greatness of the human, yet on the other, we must remain humble.
One technique to help identify the trait and its pathology is to see it in its extreme.... |
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#148 - Rich, Richer, Richest - How to be Wealthy | |
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%OUI%
Hot, hotter, hottest. Fast, faster, fastest. In the English language we distinguish between the adjective, a descriptive word, and the superlative, an adjective taken to its extreme. Yet when we think about wealth, that distinction somehow gets lost. If I am not as rich as Bill Gates, then I am not rich.
While the Torah does not guarantee that any individual... |
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#149 - The System of Tshuvah | |
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We know that Tshuvah works. The Nivim told us it does, Chazal repeat it many, many times, and we even have Yom Kippur, a day created specifically for tshuvah. The question isn't whether Tshuvah works, but why I don't make use of it?
Why is it that I don't stand there on Yom Kippur with tears flowing down my face, repenting, improving, ridding myself of a year's... |
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#150 - Being a Religious Atheist | |
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%OUI%
An atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in G-d. A religious person is someone who practices a lifestyle that serves G-d. It would therefore seem obvious that “being a religious atheist” would be a contradiction in terms. Yet not only isn’t this correct, the phenomenon of religious atheists is far more prevalent than we realize.
This Shmuz focuses us on some of... |
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#152 - In G-d's Image | |
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%OUI% | |
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#155 - Chanukah - Flexi-dox Judaism | |
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%OUI% SHMUZ INFO COMING SOON... %IF(LOGIN)% | |
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#154 - Marriage: A Work in Progress PART II | |
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%OUI%
Each one of us stands under the chuppah starry-eyed, knowing full well that we have found eternal love and bliss. Yet, something happens between that moment and real life. The reality is that getting married is easy, but staying married isn't. This Shmuz is Part II of a Marriage series that deals with the essential of creating long lasting Shalom Bayis. %IF(LOGIN)% ... |
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#161_April 15th: The Test of Emunah | |
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To most of us, April 15th is nothing more than a deadline for filing our personal taxes. But when a person begins thinking about life from a broader perspective, they come to recognize that April 15th is a great test -- It is a test of my beliefs in practice. Do I truly believe that HASHEM runs this world and not I? Do I truly believe that HASHEM determines how much money... |
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#164 - I Hate Criticism | |
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Shmuz 164 - I Hate Criticism
WATCH THE SHMUZ HERE |
