Honesty

 Great.

When I was in HS, cheating was rampant in Yeshivos. Sadly, things haven't changed.  

To not cheat, not lie, not steal, requires Avoda. Studies show that almost everyone does it. It's an old problem. See Bava Basra 165. 

WOW!! Chasidei Umos Haolam Extraordinaire!!!

Freddie Oversteegen was only 14 when she joined the Dutch resistance during World War II, and only a couple of years older when she became one of its armed assassins. Together with her sister—and later, a young woman named Hannie Schaft—the trio lured, ambushed and killed German Nazis and their Dutch collaborators.

Freddie and her sister Truus, who was two years older, grew up in the city of Haarlem with a single, working-class mother. Their mother considered herself a communist and taught her daughters the importance of fighting injustice. When Europe was on the brink of war in 1939, she took Jewish refugees into their home.

Through their mother’s example, Freddie and Truus “learned that if you have to help somebody, like refugees, you have to make sacrifices for yourself,” says Jeroen Pliester, chair of the National Hannie Schaft Foundation. “I think that was one of the main drivers for them, the high moral principle and preparedness of their mother to act when it really matters.”

Then in May 1940, Nazis invaded the Netherlands, beginning an occupation that lasted until the end of the war. In response, the girls joined their mother in distributing anti-Nazi newspapers and pamphlets for the resistance.


“We also glued warnings across German posters in the street calling men to work in Germany,” Freddie later recalled in interviews she and her sister did with anthropologist Ellis Jonker, collected in the book Under Fire: Women and World War II. “And then we’d hurry off, on our bikes.”

These acts weren’t just subversive, they were also dangerous. If the Nazis or Dutch police caught the sisters, they might have killed them. However, the fact that they were both young girls—and Freddie looked even younger when she wore braids—meant that officials were less likely to suspect them of working for the resistance. This might be one of the reasons why, in 1941, a commander with the Haarlem Resistance Group visited their house to ask their mother if he could recruit Freddie and Truus.

Their mother consented and the sisters’ agreed to join. “Only later did he tell us what we’d actually have to do: sabotage bridges and railway lines,” Truus told Jonker. “‘And learn to shoot, to shoot Nazis,’ he added. I remember my sister saying: ‘Well, that’s something I’ve never done before!’”. As the commander who recruited them had said, Freddie and Truus learned to shoot Nazis too, and the sisters began to go on assassination missions by themselves. Later on, they focused on killing Dutch collaborators who arrested or endangered Jewish refugees and resistance members.


“They were unusual, these girls,” says Bas von Benda-Beckmann, a former researcher at the Netherlands’ Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “There were a lot of women involved in the resistance in the Netherlands but not so much in the way these girls were. There are not that many examples of women who actually shot collaborators themselves.”

On these missions, Freddie was especially good at following a target or keeping a lookout during missions since she looked so young and unsuspecting. Both sisters shot to kill, but they never revealed how many Nazis and Dutch collaborators they assassinated. According to Pliester, Freddie would tell people who asked that she and her sister were soldiers, and soldiers don’t say.

Consequently, we don’t have too many details about how their “liquidations,” as they called them, played out. Benda-Beckmann says that sometimes they would follow a target to his house to kill him, or ambush them on their bikes.

Their other duties in the Haarlem Resistance Group included “bringing Jewish [refugees] to a new hiding place, working in the emergency hospital in Enschede… [and] blowing up the railway line between Ijmuiden and Haarlem,” writes Jonker. In 1943, they joined forces with another young woman, Hannie Schaft.

Hannie was a former university student who dropped out because she refused to sign a pledge of loyalty to Germany. Together, the three young women formed a sabotage and assassination cell. Hannie became their best friend, and the sisters were devastated when Nazis arrested and killed her in 1945, just three weeks before the war ended in Europe. According to lore, Hannie’s last words were, “I’m a better shot,” after initially only being wounded by her executioner.

After the war, the sisters dealt with the trauma of killing people and losing their best friend. Truus created sculptures, and later spoke and wrote about their time in the resistance. Freddie coped “by getting married and having babies,” as she told VICE Netherlands in 2016. But the experience of war still caused her insomnia. In another interview, Freddie recalled seeing a person she’d shot fall to the ground and having the human impulse to want to help him.

“We did not feel it suited us,” Truss told Jonker of their assassinations. “It never suits anybody, unless they are real criminals.”

Both women died at age 92—Truus in 2016, and Freddie on September 5, 2018, one day before she turned 93. Throughout much of their long lives, the Netherlands failed to properly recognize the women’s achievements, and sidelined them as communists. In 2014, they finally received national recognition for their service to their country by receiving the Mobilisatie-Oorlogskruis, or “War Mobilization Cross.”

Erasing The Name Of Hashem - Safek/ Gentile/ In English/ Koach Sheini

 HERE!!!!

The Remaining Reshaim

 וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִ֖ים יִשְׁמְע֣וּ וְיִרָ֑אוּ וְלֹֽא־יֹסִ֨פוּ לַעֲשׂ֜וֹת ע֗וֹד כַּדָּבָ֥ר הָרָ֛ע הַזֶּ֖ה בְּקִרְבֶּֽךָ

תרגום יונתן

 ורשיעיא דמשתיירין ישמעון וידחלון ולא יוספון למעבד תוב כפיתגמא בישא הדין ביניכון.

 And the wicked who remain will hear and be afraid, and not add to repeat an evil thing like this among you.

This is talking about עדים זוממין. The עדים זוממין received their punishment. Who are those who remain that are called רשעים??

Asking for the sister of a friend. 

 

 

Dveykus

  Gvuros Hashem 64: Different Types Of Dveykus BaShem

 

 ואח"כ אמר בית ישראל בטחו בה', זכר ג' כתות בית ישראל בית אהרן יראי ה', פירוש כי אלו ג' כתות ישראל מצד שהם בניו הרי הם דבקים בו בעצם, כמו שיש דביקות הבן אל האב כך יש דביקות ישראל לאביהן שבשמים, ומפני כך ראוי להם לבטוח בו יתברך מצד הדביקות הזה. אמנם בית אהרן עובדים לו מאהבה כמו מי שהוא אוהב את אחר כך הם בית אהרן אוהבים הקדוש ברוך הוא עובדים מאהבה וזהו הדביקות הזה מצד האהבה, ואח"כ זכר יראי ה' בטחו בה' שהם עובדים השם מיראה ומצד היראה יש להם דביקות בו יתברך. הנה ג' כתות הא' בית ישראל דביקות עצמי מה שהם בנים אל השם יתברך, בית אהרן אוהבים אל הקדוש ברוך הוא ועובדים לפניו, הג' יראי ה' עובדים מיראה.

3 Shofars

בשנת תרצ"ג, התחילו להגיע ידיעות נוראות ואיומות מגרמניה על חדשי שלטונו הראשונים של הטלר ימ"ש. הרב דרש ביום הראשון של ראש השנה בבית הכנסת 'חורבת ר' יהודה החסיד'. ולאחר קריאת התורה דרש הרב זצ"ל:

בשופר של ראש השנה ישנן שלוש דרגות: בשופר של ראש השנה ישנן שלוש דרגות: א) מצוה מן המובחר שופר של איל. ב)כל השופרות כשרים חוץ משל פרה ג)אם אין לו לאדם שופר כשר מותר לו לתקוע בכל שופר שהוא אפילו בשופר פסול, אלא שאין לברך עליו.

שלוש מדרגות אלו מתאימות לדרגות שופרה של הגאולה – "תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו":

התעוררות של העם להגאל ולגאול את ארצו, התעוררות שמקורה קדוש, האמונה בד' ובקדושת ישראל עמו – זהו השופר הגדול והמעולה לקולו שמעו גדולי ישראל וקדושיו, אשר נתעוררו לחבית ציון ושיבת שבותה. חסידי עליון אלה ראו בעיני רוחם את ירושלים של מעלה מחוברת עם ירושלים של מטה. הם הריחו באויר הארץ חיי נשמות, כל גרגיר של אבק אדמת ארץ ישראל היה קדוש אצלם קדושה עליונה. בקול השופר הגדול הזה עלו לארץ ישראל, הרמב"ן, ר' יהודה הלוי, ר' עובדיה מברטנורא, תלמידי הגר"א, חסידי בעש"ט – זהו ודאי שופר גדול לחרותנו.

אולם יש גם שופר אחר שקורא ליהודים לעלות לארץ ישראל, מפני שזוהי ארץ אבותינו, פה חיו אבותינו, נביאינו, מלכינו. פה נוכל לחיות כעם בן חורין במולדתו, פה נוכל לחנך את ילדינו באוירה יהודית וכו'. גם זהו שופר כשר, אם כי הוא לא גדול כראשון, שופר בינוני הוא, ויש לברך עליו.

אבל – פה פרץ הרב בבכי – יש שופר של בהמה טמאה, שונאי ישראל תוקעים באזני העם וקוראים ליהודים לנוס כל עוד נפשם בם ולעלות לארץ ישראל. אויבים מכריחים אותם להגאל, מתריעים בתרועות מלחמה ומרעישים ברעש צרות ויסורים ... אולם על שופר זה אין לברך – "אין מברכים על כוס של פורענות".

ואנו מתפללים "תרע בשופר גדול לחרותנו ... בקשתנו "תקע בשופר גדול", בשופרה של החרות האמיתית של הגאולה השלמה ממקור הקודש. וכולנו מצפים ליום הגדול שעליו נאמר "והיה ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול, ובאו האובדים בארץ אשור והנדחים בארץ מצרים, והשתחוו לד' בהר הקודש בירושלים".

(על פי ספר מועדי הראיה של הרב נריה זצ"ל עמ' סז-ע)

Controlling Impulses

 

We are often tempted by destructive or selfish impulses. How can we control and resist these urges?

When King David called upon his opponents to repent, he counseled them:

רִגְזוּ וְאַל-תֶּחֱטָאוּ. אִמְרוּ בִלְבַבְכֶם עַל-מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם, וְדֹמּוּ סֶלָה. (תהילים ד:ה)

“Tremble and do not sin. Speak in your hearts upon your bed, and be still forever.” (Psalms 4:5)

According to third-century scholar Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish — himself a well-known penitent — this verse outlines a four-step program how to master the temptations of the yeitzer hara, the evil inclination.

• First, רִגְזוּ וְאַל-תֶּחֱטָאוּ, you should “tremble and not sin.” Awaken your innate positive nature, your yeitzer hatov. Use your positive traits to counter any bad impulses.
• If this does not work, then אִמְרוּ בִלְבַבְכֶם — “speak in your hearts” - i.e., engage in Torah study, which should be עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ (Deut. 6:6).
• If that is not enough, then say the Shema prayer, which is recited עַל-מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם — “upon your bed” before going to sleep. As it says, “when you lie down” (וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ) (Deut. 6:7).
• And if that does not vanquish the negative impulse, then וְדֹמּוּ סֶלָה — “be still forever.” Remind yourself of the day of death (Berachot 5a).

These are four tools to overcome negative urges and unhealthy desires. But if the ultimate weapon in battling evil inclinations is to reflect on our mortality and the transient nature of life in this world, then why not use this method right from the start? Why wait before employing our most effective weapon?

 

1. Awaken Your Good Traits

All of our characteristics, whether positive or negative, are meant to be used for the good. Even bad traits, such as jealousy, competitiveness, and pride, have their place and can be sublimated for positive purposes. If we weaken these negative traits, they will not be available to help us attain our goals. The ideal is that all of our energies be strong and healthy, while our negative traits are firmly under the control of our intellect and positive nature.

It is natural that negative traits are more readily aroused. Therefore, the first step in subduing them is to “awaken the good inclinations.” We must bring our good traits to the fore so that they will be in control and rule over the negative ones.

 

2. Learn Torah

For those who have a strong sense of right and morality, it is enough to awaken the soul’s innate goodness. But those who have not adequately refined their character traits must gain knowledge of the proper path. Therefore, Rabbi Shimon’s second advice is “to engage in Torah study.”

This does not refer to the study of Torah in general. Rabbi Shimon meant specifically studying those areas of Torah that we are lacking. By absorbing this knowledge, we bolster our higher aspirations and will be prepared to overcome negative urges.

 

3. Uplift Your Emotions

For some people, however, knowledge alone is insufficient to awaken their inner good. They need to refine and uplift their emotional faculties. To purify their emotions — which have a stronger impact than abstract knowledge — the third technique is to recite the Shema prayer.

The Shema is not simply a matter of intellectual recognition of God’s oneness. Were that the case, it would be sufficient to recite it at infrequent intervals, perhaps once a year (like the mitzvah to remember the evil of Amalek). The fact that we are commanded to recite the Shema twice a day indicates that this recitation relates to our emotional faculties. The Shema is meant to instill in us feelings of love and closeness to God. We recite it every morning and evening, to constantly confirm and renew this truth in our hearts. It is a continual spiritual need, like air to the soul. As we refine our emotions, we strengthen our positive character  and our control over negative impulses.

 

4. Contemplate Life’s Transience

All of the first three techniques share a common element: they work by strengthening the soul’s positive qualities. But if we have still not overcome these impulses, it becomes necessary to weaken the negative traits. This is the final method: to “remind oneself of the day of death.“ When we reflect on our mortality, we dampen the lures of our imaginings that inflate the importance of worldly pleasures.

However, if it is possible to strengthen our positive forces, this is the preferred method. For once we start weakening the forces of the soul, we will also weaken — as may occur with certain medical treatments like radiation therapy — our positive and healthy powers.

 (Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. I, pp. 13-14; vol. II, p. 389)