Dedicated to Dovi Feit on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah this Shabbos. A special Mazel Tov to his entire family on this occasion, particularly Dovi's father and the longest standing chavrusa of my life [!!], my beloved friend R' Aharon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
לרפואת יוכבד פייגע בת מיכל יהודית בתיה וטליה אביגיל בת שרה דניה בתוך שח"י
"She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul."
F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Modesty isn’t about covering up our bodies because they are bad, modesty isn’t about hiding ourselves… it’s about revealing our dignity."
SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALOMMMMMM SWEEEETEST FRIENDSSSSSSSS!!!!
Some time back, a Rav spoke to a group of religious men. Many of these men were graduates of serious, top level yeshivos and now found themselves in the working world. The Rav spoke about the problem of use and misuse of the Internet. Namely, that people often look at things that they shouldn't. One of the participants was annoyed and offended. "What are we? A bunch of sinners??!!!"
This Rav happened to have an envelope in his pocket with thousands of shekel [or dollars. I don't remember]. He put it on the shtender in front of him and said that he will give the money to ANYONE who can show him his browsing history in a week from now and all that appears are work related things and innocent emails where his wife asks him to run an errand or the like. Nobody took the Rav up on his offer....
This is a problem. A MAJOR-BIG-TIME-PROBLEM. People are good people and mean well but we also have this constant companion known as the Yetzer Hara who strongly encourages us to look at forbidden images and read inappropriate material of an immodest nature. "Pritzus" we call it. Terrible, terrible, Mabul-causing Pritzus!! Another related problem are those sites containing lashon hara. Some of the most popular sites are sites for religious Jews with Lashon Hara about religious Jews. Who is frequenting these sites? Who CARES and is interested about all the Lashon Hara in our world like we do? Who wants to know what is happening in the two Satmars and two Gers and two Ponivitches etc? We frum Jews do!! These stories are CHOCK FULL of Lashon Hara. The most revealing moment in anyone's life would be to just look at all of the things they have seen over the years. We would be very surprised to find how many otherwise respectable people have their mind and eyes in the shmutz of shmutz shebi-shmutz.
In this week's Parsha it says "ואברהם זקן בא בימים וה' ברך את אברהם בכל" - Avraham is old coming in days and Hashem blessed him with everything. It starts with the present tense - ואברהם זקן בא בימים. Then it goes into the past - וה' ברך את אברהם בכל. So it sounds like the end of the pasuk is explaining the beginning of the pasuk. Why did Avraham age so gracefully such that he was בא בימים which means according to the Holy Books that he reached incredible heights of closeness to Hashem when taking advantage of each and every day? Because Hashem had blessed Avraham "בכל".
The word "בכל" denotes, according to the Books of Kabbalah, a careful vigilance in matters of Kedusha - purity and modesty. The sixth sefira of the lower sefiros is Middas Yesod. Yesod means "foundation" and purity of eyes, thoughts, speech and action is the foundation of all of our service of Hashem. Middas Yesod is "כל" because all of the Middos go through and are actualized only through Yesod. If there is a foundation then the building stands. If there is no foundation then the whole thing crumbles. Our whole edifice of Avodas Hashem depends on our Yesod. We need to daven, learn, do chesed etc. but they will only achieve their desired effects if we have a strong foundation. "כל" in Kabbala is this Middas Yesod. Why did Avraham accomplish so much in every day of his life? Why ואברהם זקן בא בימים? B/c Hashem blessed Avraham that he managed to be careful about בכל - Middas Yesod.
That is the meaning of the pasuk - לך ה' הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת והנצח וההוד כי כל בשמים ובארץ. This pasuk speaks about Hashem Middos - גדולה = Chesed. גבורה = Strict judgement. והתפארת = Glory. והנצח = Eternity. וההוד = Splendor. These are the first five [lower] Middos/Sefiros. How can we relate to these Middos and try to emulate then?? Continues the pasuk כי כל בשמים ובארץ. Because of "כל" in the heavens and earth. It is the Middah of "כל" which brings everything together. [Based on the Torah of Rav Leibele Eiger ztz"l]
כי כל is gematria יסוד!!! [From R' Stu Forgash in the name of R' MT Weinberg]
HOLLLLLLLYYYYY BELOVED FRIENDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
FORGIVE ME FOR GIVING MUSSAR [or sue me and we will meet in court and then we can go out and do lunch
]!!! But so many of us need to strengthen ourselves in the Middah of כל. Our Yesod is SHAKKKKYYYYYY. This world totally shakes Yesod. In the summer, there is a worldwide illness, "PANDEMIC" if you will, of temporary amnesia, when women forget to get dressed in the morning 
. During all four seasons the Internet and social media are filled with so many frontal, vicious attacks on Yesod. The vulgar language that is so acceptable today in most circles is anti-Yesod. Humor is devoid of any sensitivity to modesty and purity. The most prominent and respected women have no problem appearing in public as if they are at the beach. A person sees more immodesty in five minutes in midtown Manhattan than a person would see in 80 years in his Polish shtetl. A person attends a sporting event and there are young ladies there who ostensibly lead cheers [as if cheers need leaders...] who assault any concept of Yesod.
So this is the BEST time to strengthen ourselves in this critical area. If you take this challenge - you will be part of a RARE and HOLY species.
Have a delicious sweet Shabbos blessed with EVERYTHING good. כל" טוב"
Much love to all!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS - Recent shiurim on the Parsha here here and here.
HOLLLLLLLYYYYY BELOVED FRIENDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
FORGIVE ME FOR GIVING MUSSAR [or sue me and we will meet in court and then we can go out and do lunch
]!!! But so many of us need to strengthen ourselves in the Middah of כל. Our Yesod is SHAKKKKYYYYYY. This world totally shakes Yesod. In the summer, there is a worldwide illness, "PANDEMIC" if you will, of temporary amnesia, when women forget to get dressed in the morning . During all four seasons the Internet and social media are filled with so many frontal, vicious attacks on Yesod. The vulgar language that is so acceptable today in most circles is anti-Yesod. Humor is devoid of any sensitivity to modesty and purity. The most prominent and respected women have no problem appearing in public as if they are at the beach. A person sees more immodesty in five minutes in midtown Manhattan than a person would see in 80 years in his Polish shtetl. A person attends a sporting event and there are young ladies there who ostensibly lead cheers [as if cheers need leaders...] who assault any concept of Yesod. So this is the BEST time to strengthen ourselves in this critical area. If you take this challenge - you will be part of a RARE and HOLY species.
Have a delicious sweet Shabbos blessed with EVERYTHING good. כל" טוב"
Much love to all!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS - Recent shiurim on the Parsha here here and here.
