Rav Nassan Maimon of Breslov in Cedarhurst at 8 PM Tonight!

Rav Nassan Maimon of the Breslov World Center, a great master of Rebbe Nachman's teachings and organizer of the annual Uman Rosh Hashana program, will be speaking at 8 PM tonight for men only at the home of Avi Weiss:

493 Oxford Rd.
Cedarhurst, NY 11516

Audio Shiur on "Es Tzemach Dovid" - Tefillos for Moshiach ben Yosef

In this fourth shiur on berchas "Es Tzemach Dovid" in Shemoneh Esrei, Reb Yerachmiel introduced us to a tzaddik in need of our tefillos. His name is Moshiach ben Yosef. And his future depends on us.

Highly important and practical shiur on a seldom explored topic which truly requires our tefillos.

Click on PART 1 and PART 2 to get the shiur by either left clicking to listen right away or right clicking and selecting "Save Target As" to download the wav file to your system.

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Kavod Harav, Kavod of Clothing, Drawing Down Torah - Rebb. Golshevsky Audio Shiur

Continuing Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky's shiurim for women on Breslov Chassidus, the following shiur covers the drawing down of new Torah concepts, kavod haRav, and the kavod of clothing. It is based on Likutei Moharan I:126-127. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE to download.

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R' Leff on Bilvavi Beis - Everything is in the Hands of Heaven, Even Yiras Shomayim?

Rabbi Boruch Leff has been mezakeh us with Part 3 of his series of shiurim on Bilvavi Vol. 2, Chapter 12. The shiur discussed the concept of davening for everything in our lives, even spiritual success. But where's free will if G-d is giving me my spiritual success? Are you allowed to ask for things on Shabbos? Why should we daven so that we should be able to daven?

CLICK HERE to get the shiur!

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

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Bilvavi Vol. 2 and Da Es Atzmecha in English Now Available in the U.S.!

Da Es Atzmecha in English now available in the U.S.! Getting to Know Yourself

Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh Vol 2 now available in the U.S. in English! Building a Sanctuary in the Heart

HT Steven Frankel and A Simple Jew

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One Day Intensive Rosh Hashanah Preperation With Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh Author

I would like to announce two opportunities to learn about how to practically get closer to Hashem and yourself.

IY"H, Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh and Da Es Atzmecha seforim, will be in the U.S. starting on September 6th, for a week (ending a few days before Rosh Hashana. If you would like to bring the Rav to speak at your Shul/yeshiva/organization, he will be available that week. The Rav speaks in easy Hebrew. The Rav will also be available to a community for Shabbos. The speaking fees will go toward printing more copies of the seforim to distribute in communities around the world. For information, call 516-668-6397.

Also, you can come to a one-day intensive workshop with Rav Shwartz on Labor Day, available to both men and women (separate seating). That day, there will be three drashos that relate to preparing for Rosh Hashana and carrying out the avodah that the Rav teaches about in Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh throughout the year. All participants may meet with the Rav individually to discuss their own personal application of the avodah necessary for each person. The cost is $200 per person and the workshop will take place in Woodmere, NY. Participants are welcome from Brooklyn, Monsey, New Jersey or anywhere else. If you live too far to drive, you may either fly in or participate by phone conference in the drashos and have your private meeting with the Rav by phone call or video conference.

To participate, follow this link. Payment is required in advance. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

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United In Our Hand: Moshiach ben Yosef and Moshiach ben Dovid - Audio Shiur

In this third shiur on berchas "Es Tzemach Dovid" in Shemoneh Esrei, Reb Yerachmiel discussed an additional pshat in the words "V'Karno Tarum Be'Shuasecha" and elaborated on the words of Rav Pincus zt"l to explain how this short phrase, which we say three times as day, holds within it the miraculous plea for HASHEM to unify the two brothers known as Yehudah and Yosef, the two kingdoms know as Malchus Bais Dovid and Malchus Yisroel, and the two Moshiachs, Moshiach ben Dovid and Moshiach ben Yosef.

CLICK HERE to get the shiur by either left clicking to listen right away or right clicking and selecting "Save Target As" to download.

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You Are Where Your Thoughts Are -Friday Night Davening

Ramban, Igeres Hakodesh, Ch. 5 - "You are where your thoughts are."

On Friday afternoon, I was working on getting an assignment done at the firm where I am engaged in an intense associateship for the summer. It was just about time for me to catch my intended train home and the copy center had just returned some materials I needed in order to turn in my work. I realized that I needed a three-hole-puncher before I could include the last section necessary to make the project complete. So I quickly ran to find one when I found a kind hearted secretary who generously offered her extra hole puncher so that I could finish my assignment and run to the train.

But just at that moment, I felt someone punch me on the chest. Before I even had time to react, though, whoever it was did it again. After taking a moment to get oriented, I realized that I was in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei back in Shul on Friday night, and that I was hitting my own chest during the beracha of "Slach Lanu."

Unfortunately, my mistake was not only that my head was back at work when it should have been in davening. But even worse (?), it was ma'ariv on Shabbos night and I was saying the weekday davening.

Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, in the 6th perek of Da Es Atzmecha, says that one understands why "one his where his thoughts are" with a correct perspective of who one really is. If I am in Shul, but I'm thinking about work, and I perceive that I am a body, with a neshoma inside, I would think that I (my body) is actually in Shul, but that it is only my thoughts that are at work. But the truth is that I am a neshoma that is "wearing" a body. So when I am in Shul, but thinking about work, it is only my clothing, my body, that is in Shul. But my mind is still at working when that's what I'm thinking about.

Of course it's the same thing al tzad hatov. When I'm at work but thinking about being in the beis medresh, then the true "I" is in Shul.

Friday night, I was able to use the "wake up call" to focus on the davening more than I probably would have, had I not committed my double thoughtless-ness. IY"H, we should all be zocheh that our thoughts should be where we belong.

Hashgacha Pratis on Baseball - Bilvavi Shiur by R' Boruch Leff

Rabbi Boruch Leff has been mezakeh us with his latest shiur on Bilvavi Vol. 2, Chapter 12.

This chabura discussed the importance of Tefila and bringing Hashem into everything we do.

A tangential point led to a lengthy interesting discussion regarding whether there is Hashgacha with who will win the World Series and other like events, how the David Letterman show made someone a shomer Shabbos, and whether G-d is a Yankees fan or Yankees hater. . . :)

(DY: Where do the Orioles fall in Hashem's plans?)

CLICK HERE to get the shiur!

Related article: Aish.com: The Downfall of the Yankees

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

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Kol Brisk on Parshas B'ha'alosecha

לעלוי נשמת הגאון הר"ר אהרן בן הר"ר משה הלוי סאלאווייציק זצ"ל
Parashas Beha'aloscha
A Question of Attitude - A Crucial Turning Point in the Torah

In the middle of פרשת בהעלתך we find two psukkim set off from the rest of the parasha by inverted letters "נ" (gematria nun = 50). These two psukkim of ויהי בנסע הארן and ובנחה יאמר שובה ה' do not belong here, and should have been placed fifty chapters earlier, in פרשת במדבר. The reason that they are placed here is כדי להפסיק בין פורענות לפורענות, in order to pause between two punishments (Rashi 10,35).

When we examine the psukkim, we do find one apparent פורענות after these psukkim:
"ויהי העם כמתאננים.. ותבער בם אש ה'.."
"and when the people were complaining.. and the fire of Hashem burned among them"
We find, however, no apparent פרענות preceding the psukkim. The Ramban explains that the first פרענות is to be found in the words:
"ויסעו מהר ה'.."
And they travelled away from the mountain of G-d",
שנסעו מהר סיני בשמחה, כתנוק הבורח מבית הספר, אמרו שמה ירבה ויתן לנו מצוות..
..they left Har Sinai with joy, like an infant fleeing from school, saying lest He give us more mitzvos!

Although we find no punishment spelled out in the passuk, if not for this, says the Ramban, perhaps we would have entered Eretz Yisrael immediately..
This fleeing with joy from Har Sinai, alas, turned out to be a great calamity. Thus far, the Torah relates the preparations to enter Eretz Yisrael. ספר שמות tell us of the redemption and its culmination with מתן תורה. The redemptive process was set back by the חטא העגל, the golden calf, which caused the Divine Presence to depart. The building of the Mishkan brought the Shechina back. ספר ויקרא deals with the laws concerning the Kohanim and korbanos, sacrifices in the Mishkan. This all brings us to ספר במדבר. In the first parshios of במדבר and נשא, the nation was counted and the encampments were set up, everything was set and ready to proceed to the Promised Land. In פרשת בהעלתך , the tempo of the preparation increased; the leviim were sanctified, the silver trumpets were prepared for battle "in your land". Moshe Rabbainu even said to his father-in-law Yisro, נסעים אנחנו אל המקום.., "WE are travelling to the place that Hashem said.." And the aron travelled in front of the camp a journey of three days in order to seek for them a resting place...

Within three days they, we, were to have arrived.
But Am Yisrael fled from Har Hashem, fearful of receiving more Mitzvos.
Because of this, the entire direction turned. And for the first time, at the end of this parsha, we hear of the chilling נבואה by Eldad and Meidad – משה מת ויהושע מכניס את ישראל לארץ . A downward process, a chain of events had begun that ended with chait hameraglim, the sin of the spies. The entering into the land was then delayed for thirty-eight years. The whole generation of the desert died out. Moshe Rabbainu did not enter and was not Mashiach. Alas.

* * *

What starts the downward slide? It all starts out with a question of attitude.
When a Mitzvah is done out of אהבת ה' , out of love, out of a true desire to fulfill Hashem's will, and to cleave unto Him, one doesn't look for exemptions or excuses to avoid the burden.
In this parasha itself, perhaps as a contrast, in order to instruct us, we find two examples of קיום מצוות מתוך אהבה:
1) מה נסמכה פרשת המנורה לפרשת הנשיאים? לפי שכשראה אהרן חנוכת הנשיאים, אז חלשה דעתו בשלא היה עמהם בחנוכה..

Why is the topic of the menorah next to the portion about the princes? Because when Aharon saw the inauguration done by the princes, he became grieved that he had not taken part in this mitzvah..

2) ""ויהי אנשים אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם ולא יכלו לעשות הפסח ביום ההוא.. ויאמרו האנשים ההמה.. למה נגרע.. ?!
And there was men that were temai'ai mes and were unable to bring the korban pesach on that day (the 14th of Nissan).. And those men said.. WHY SHOULD WE BE LEFT OUT..!?
These men had been occupied with a mitzvah (carrying the coffin of Yosef Hatzaddik) and therefore were TRULY EXEMPT from the mitzvah of Korban Pesach. However, this excuse did not satisfy their deep desire to draw close to Hashem through whatever mitzvah possible. They actually agonized over the fact that they had missed an opportunity.
A mitzvah is an opportunity to cleave to Hashem. When done out of habit, or for external reasons, there is a basic FLAW in the mitzvah.
It may seem like a minor and subtle difference. After all, both are fulfilling the Mitzvah, whether out of love, or out of habit and social norms. Why scrutinize with a magnifying glass??
From פרשת בהעלתך we see that it does make all the difference. It is a totally different direction that the doer faces: one is marching with his face toward "the Promised Land", the other, chas veshalom is facing the opposite direction. At the outset, they might be standing near each other. As time goes on, however, the gap keeps widening.

Practically speaking, there is a tendency that people have to identify and affiliate themselves with a religious circle, and to set their behaviour and standards in accordance with the norms of their group. This is true for all the groups.

We can learn from this week's parsha that no matter what label we give ourselves, no label exempts anyone from our obligations as members of Hashem's nation. Tznius, modesty and Yiras Shomayim, fear of G-d apply to all, even if particular styles vary. The obligation of Torah study applies to all; no type of hat or kippah exempts anyone from this most basic mitzvah. Frum attire also cannot discharge a person from the most scrupulous standards of בין אדם לחברו, in his dealings with his fellow Jew.

The list goes on.

This same concept translates into one's attitude towards leadership. A person looking to express his Ahavas Hashem and love of His Torah and mitzvos will surely respect and support and maintain a leader, a manhig, who represents all this. However, someone with the mindset of - "I'll go only with someone who is willing and understands how to share the profits and the fringe benefits with me" will surely reject such idealistic leadership.

Rav Aharon zt"l would often quote the Kotzker on the passuk, "כרחוק מזרח ממערב הרחיק ממנו את פשענו.." . As far as the east is from the west, so He has distanced from us our sins. How far are the two directions from each other? All it takes is for a person to turn around to do Teshuva!

Where do we all stand? Which direction are we facing?
It is all a question of attitude.
A gutten Erev Shabbos, from Yerushalayim Ir haKodesh.

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The Pride, The Horns and The Rays Accompanying Moshiach Tzidkainu

In this second shiur on berchas "Es Tzemach Dovid" in Shemoneh Esrei, Reb Yerachmiel discussed the enigmatic phrase "V'Karno Tarum Be'Shuasecha" and provided multiple explanations as explained by Chazal. Along the way, insights were provided into the character and qualities of Chana Ha'Neviah, Shmuel Ha'Navi, Dovid Ha'Melech and Moshiach ben Dovid, each of whom has shychus to the many definitions of the "Keren" of Am Yisroel.

CLICK HERE to get the shiur by either left clicking to listen right away or right clicking and selecting "Save Target As" to download.

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Breslov Chassidus on the Holiness of the Shabbos Meals - Rebb. Golshevsky

Continuing Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky's shiurim for women on Breslov Chassidus, the following shiur covers the holiness of the Shabbos meals, and is based on Likutei Moharan I:125, 139.

CLICK HERE to download.

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Chaim Dovid in Cleaveland Tonight: The Double Meaning

I was zoche to be by some great chevra with Chaim Dovid last night and found out that Chaim Dovid would be in Cleaveland tonight. It got me to thinking about the double meaning of that word, "Cleave."

On one hand, to "cleave" it means "to split apart," as in the word "cleaver." on the other hand, it means to attach, or to be medabek one thing to another. I was wondering about why this word seems to have two opposite meanings. One one hand, it means to split apart or separate, to create a pirud. On the other hand, it means to attach, unify and connect, to be me'acheid.

I then realized that Cleaveland is a land where people have the choice to either create pirud, division between parts of their lives and between themselves and the Master of the World. Or they can create unity within themselves and unity with the Eibishter.

They can choose which meaning "cleave" will take on for their city!

Cleaveland Jewish News. com: B’nai Jeshurun Congregation’s Israeli and Chasidic Festival of Music is at 7. Featuring Chaim Dovid Saracik, Ariel Zilber, Aharon Razel and Cantor Aaron Shifman. Tickets, 216-831-6555 or at the door.

Bilvavi Beis With Rabbi Boruch Leff from Baltimore - Audio Shiur

The Shiur by Rabbi Boruch Leff began Perek 12 of Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, Vol. 2. The topic was tefila and how one can pray to Hashem constantly throughout the day.

Along the way, the shiur answered why tefila is called avodah if we are making requests. Isn't Hashem 'serving us' then? Where does the word tefillin come from? And more.

CLICK HERE to get the shiur in wav format.

P.S. You can get "Shabbos in My Soul," Volumes 1 and 2 by Rabbi Leff, for the price of one, HERE.

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Koidinover Rebbe in NY/NJ Area Sunday through Thursday

The Koidenover Rebbe will be visiting the NY/NJ area Sunday June 7th-Thursday June 11th. The Rebbe will be available for private consulatations and brachos. To schedule an appointment to meet with the Rebbe or to find out about scheduled events, please contact Rabbi Shlomo Slatkin 443-570-7598

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Anyone Learning Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh in Toronto?

Someone is looking to join a chaburah there. Please e-mail me if you have leads.

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The Moment and Man We've All Been Waiting For: Moshiach Ben Dovid - Audio Shiur

In this first shiur on berchas "Es Tzemach Dovid" in Shemoneh Esrei, Reb Yerachmiel provides an in-depth explanation of the blessing's open phrase "Es Tzemach Dovid Avdecha Mehaira Tzasmiach", while using same to catapult us into the fascinating and detailed world of Chazal who paint a powerful, glorious, mysterious and holy picture of the man named "Tzemach", otherwise know as Moshiach Ben Dovid himself.

CLICK HERE to get the shiur by either left clicking to listen right away or right clicking and selecting "Save Target As."

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The Mensch of Malden Mills - Video

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Ikar & Tafel: Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize

In Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh Vol. 5, Ma'amar 32 in the "Pirkei Avodah U'Machshava" section, Rav Shwartz talks about the fact that the point of life is to focus on the "point of life" in everything with which one comes into contact with.

Everything one comes into contact with has an aspect which is Prozdor/Vestibule/"Means" and an aspect which is Traklin/Hall/"Ends." One always has the choice to focus on the vessel that one must deal with or on the purpose for which that vessel was brought into his life at the time.

The innermost purpose of everything that one encounters is Kirvas Elokim. And there are many vessles and means by which we are meant to acquire that Deveikus B'Borei in all of life's aspects.

For instance, if I have an assignment at my job, I can focus on the external garment of that aspect of my life, or I can focus on its inner point. I could feel about the assignment that I want to work on it in order to learn more about that field of law. In order to make money by showing my firm that I can be trusted with the firm's clients' work. In order to impress others and be recognized as a competent and intelligent member of a team who can be counted on for "important" work. But all of those reasons or purposes for doing the assignment do not begin to touch the real reason Hashem caused me to encounter that assignment.

While it is true that I must perform with excellence and attention to detail on the assignment, that is primarily because doing so is the Ratzon Hashem. Doing the job one is paid for is basic honesty, Choshen Mishpat. To do otherwise would be similar to geneiva, stealing money/ my salary from my employer without performing my part of the bargain, which is certainly not Ratzon Hashem. Doing so also creates a Kiddush Hashem in front of the client and others in the firm.

The doing of a good job is the same outwardly, whether one is doing so for the superficial reasons or for the inner reason. But my spiritual level will be conpletely different depending on my intent. If I think to myself periodically throughout the day that I am doing whatever particular act that I am doing because it is the Ratzon Hashem and that I want to do the Ratzon Hashem to become closer to the Creator and to give Him nachas ruach, pleasure in having His children do His will, then I am not living a life connecting to mere "means" that enclothe the true purpose for things. Rather, I will be connecting to the tachlis, the real purpose of things, and not merely their outer expression.

Then my life will be "real" and not a shell of a life, with an outer form bu no substance.

Shiur in Likutei Moharan - Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky

I am happy to share Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky's latest shiur in Breslov Chassidus for Women. The upcoming series of shiurim, including this one, will be covering LM I:120-123 including the following topics:

The importance of hearing Torah and not just reading;

"finding oneself" in one's Torah study;

the need to "throw away the seichel" to receive a higher form of wisdom

CLICK HERE for the shiur!

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