R' Shlomo Carlebach - Color Video Kumzitz With Stories

HT R. Bechhoffer

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Shlomo Carlebach Singing Boi B'Shalom - 1973 - Video

Picture courtesy of XYZ. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Shlomo Carlebach Video - Erev Yom Kippur 1971

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Reb Shlomo Carlebach Speaking on Tisha B'Av - 4 Parts

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Reb Itchie Mayer on Devarim

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Dervarim, with English excerpt and full text in Hebrew in pdf form from Reb Itchie Mayer's Torah. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

Appointing a King

We eradicate Amalek nowadays by sanctifying ourselves from all evil. We rebuild the temple by building up our understanding through the holy works of the tzaddikim, both of Mussar and Chassidus. How to fulfill the third mitzvah of appointing a king in our time seems unclear, however.

Rebbe Nachman writes in Likutei Moharan: “Every person must say that the world was created for my sake.5 Since the world was created for me it follows that I must look carefully, delving at all times into how I can rectify the world through filling in what is missing in the world and praying for them.”6

It is not only Moshe who must lift up his fellow Jew in any way that he can. It is incumbent on every Jew to do his utmost to help his friend in material and spiritual matters. We all must feel for our friends’ lacks and do everything we can to rectify your fellow Jews. The entire world having been created for each of us means that each of us is responsible for the entire world.

Jews are all part of one cohesive neshamah. Like the heart, which the Zohar teaches is the king of the body because it is always working to bestow vitality on every part of our bodies, a person must always do good for his friends. He must pray that Hashem give everyone whatever they need. We should never think that another's problem is not our business, since we are all connected and everyone must do his part to rectify what he can. We do this either through prayer or focused thought where we draw down Hashem’s mercy on every Jew that he knows. This is an aspect of, “And he saw their suffering.”

Rebels Against the King

The main obstacle to truly entering into this mindset is one’s perception of his friend’s attitude. He stops wishing his friend well and praying for his benefit when he sees that his friend does not return the kindness. And worse, at times his friend may even repay evil with good. Yet even if one breaks off for this reason he is still
blemishing the Malchus since the main element of Malchus is to bestow good on everyone unconditionally. Without this characteristic he cannot possibly eliminate Amalek or attain true understanding which is the rebuilding of our personal Beis
Hamikdash.7

There is an aspect of the destruction of the holy temple that exists in every Jewish heart. This is when one falls prey to discouragement and small-mindedness. Yet Hashem always waits for every one of us to reign over his kingdom in holiness by acting like the heart of the world. This person does not only think about himself and his own needs. He feels for his fellow Jews and prays for their every need.

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom on Devarim.

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom on Devarim in English.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Shiur by Yaffa Jungreis for Women in Woodmere This Sunday 8 PM

My friend passed on to me this notice that Rebbetzin Yaffa Jungreis will be speaking this Sunday night, July 18th, at 8 PM in the home of Jenny Gerber, at 325 Howard Ave in Woodmere.

The shiur is entitled "From Darkness to Light" and was organized by Ruchie Frei. This shiur is for women only. Enjoy!

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Info on Upcoming Women's Trip to Uman & Other Kivrei Tzadikim

There will be a women's group to Uman after Sukkos with Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky. Here is the text of a message from her:

With Hashem's help, I will be taking a women's group to Ukraine after Sukkos (babies, girls, and boys before seven are welcome), with one night in Berditchev, one night in Mezhibuzh, a stop in Breslov, and three nights in Uman. We will be arriving in Kiev on Tuesday night, Oct. 5th, and leaving from Kiev on Sunday night, Oct. 10th.

This year, we will actually arrive in Berditchev within three days of Rav Levi Yitzchak's yohrtzeit, so we will still have a "taste" of the greatness of that day. We will be spending Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan in Uman, b'ezras Hashem.

For anyone traveling with American, Canadian, or EU-country passports, the total cost from Israel is $880 and includes ElAl round trip tickets, ground transport in Ukraine, lodging for five nights, beautiful Shabbos meals, one hot meal a day, and shiurim in English every day.

For anyone coming from the States or Europe (or anywhere else), we coordinate your flight that you arrange yourself in time to meet us in Kiev and leave after we return. Whatever the price of the flight--from the US it should run about $700, from Europe it will run about $300, you add the ground costs of $350.

One should not worry about meeting since we already have a number of women coming in from NY and other places and no one will have to wait alone in Kiev, G-d willing.

If you are interested in joining us, please be in touch with Yehudis Golshevsky at yehudisg013(at)gmail.com.

Wishing you a month of revealed mercy,
Yehudis

Picture courtesy of techhouse.brown.edu. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Stories From the Zohar - First in a Series of Articles by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

The Book of Radiance: Stories from the Zohar
By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

1. The Stories in the Torah

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the sage behind most of the teachings of the Zohar, once offered a remarkable statement there about the Torah … and about the holy Zohar itself (3:152a).

“Woe to those who say that the Torah only came to relate simple stories and foolish tales!” he warned. For, “if that were so, why, then even we ourselves could create a ‘Torah’ with foolish tales -- and even better ones!”

What an astounding thing to say! But how could he ever say that about the Torah, which “existed 974 generations before the world was created” (Zevachim 116a), which “G-d took council (with) before He created the world” (Pirkei d’Rebbe Eliezer 3), which is “one of the three things thanks to which the world is sustained” (Pirkei Avot 1:2), and without which “heaven and earth couldn’t continue to exist” (Petachim 68b)?

Rabbi Shimon didn’t stop there, though. He went on to say that “if (the Torah only came) to address material matters” as it sometimes seems to, “then our leaders would have better stories to tell, so we should follow their example and produce (such) a ‘Torah’”.

He ended his point there, though, and offered the following insight.
“The truth of the matter is that all the words of the Torah are exalted and (contain) arcane mysteries.” They aren’t at all what they seem to be. And his point is that it’s the job of the Zohar to reveal those secrets.

All kinds of mysteries and secrets are discussed in the Zohar: the secret details about creation, about the ways of the angels and the tzaddikim, about the meaning of life, about the purpose of this mitzvah and that one, about the Jewish Holydays, as well as about birth and death, happiness and sadness, and much more.

“Come and see,” Rabbi Shimon goes on …. “It’s said of the angels (that G-d) ‘formed His angels (as pure) spirits’ (Psalms 104:4), yet when they descend down here the angels don earthly clothing”. Why -- “because if they wouldn’t, they couldn’t function in this world, and the world couldn’t endure them”. That is, seeing them in their native clothes of bright, celestial light would be too intense to bear, so they have to “dress down”, as the expression goes.

“Now, if that’s true of angels,” he says, “then how much more so is it true of the Torah … which all the worlds exist thanks to!” Shouldn’t it “don earthly clothing”, too? After all, who could stare straight ahead at the Torah in all its celestial light?

So in fact “the Torah did do that when it was conveyed to this world, (because) if it didn’t don worldly garments, the world couldn’t bear it.” The point is that “the Torah’s stories are its ‘garments’” and the Torah has to don them so that we can handle it.

And so, for example, when the Torah speaks about the various goings-on of our ancestors or about the sights and sounds it depicts in one story or another, it isn’t just passing information on to us and trying to catch our interest -- it’s stowing away a clue here and there about the secrets of the universe.

Rabbi Shimon goes on to offer this parable about our naiveté when it comes to this.

“Come and see!” he says, “when simple folks see someone dressed beautifully they (look at his garment alright, but they) don’t look any further. In fact, they look at his outfit as if it was his body, and they look at his body as if it were his soul”.

That’s to say, when some people see someone’s clothes they look at it as if they were actually catching sight of the person behind it, when they’re really not. After all, they think they’re looking right at a person’s soul when they look at him face to face.

“It’s the same thing when it comes to the Torah” Rabbi Shimon says. “For it (too) has a ‘body’ … (which) wears (different) garments, and they’re the Torah’s stories” that cover-over the Torah’s “body”.

“Simple folk only look at that garment, which is the stories in the Torah, and are oblivious to everything else. They don’t consider what’s beneath it”.

“Those who know a thing or two” on the other hand, “don’t (just) look at the garment -- they look at the body beneath”, which is far more splendid.

“But the wise -- those who are servants of the great King and who stood at Mount Sinai (when the Torah was given, and thus know what they’re looking at) look at the (Torah’s) soul …” to be sure, which is stupendous. But it’s not the ultimate.

For “in times to come, (these same people) will actually be able to look at the soul of the Torah’s soul”, which is to say, at its inner essence.

And so we learn that the Torah is alive, that it wears splendid clothes that are rich in texture, and that somewhere deep within the seams and pockets, along the edges, and along its contours the Torah itself calls out to us!

“Woe to the wrongful who say that the Torah is just (a collection of) stories!” says Rabbi Shimon in the end. ”For they only look at the garment and no further”.

“Praised are the righteous,” on the other hand, “who see the Torah as it should be seen”.

May we ourselves be counted among the righteous!

© 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Picture courtesy of Zchus Avos. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Rav Weinberger, Rav Hershel Reichman, & Others' Video Shiurim on Naaleh

For those who have not already found it, there's a great site with many many shiurim by a number of great magidei Shiur, Naaleh.com. Of course closest to my heart is their shiurim by Rav Moshe Weinberger. Here are the first two in a series of 10 on a ma'amar from the Baal Hatanya on the relationship between Hashem and the nation of Israel:

You can see the full series by Rav Weinberger HERE.

There are also a number of shiurim by Rav Herschel Reichman, renowned rebbe of the "Rebbe Reichman Ruach Revival" chassidim. Here is one shiur by Rav Reichman on the importance of consistency in one's avodah of tefillah:

Click HERE for all of the shiurim by Rav Reichman.

Another interesting speaker they have is Rabbi Ari Jacobson who I just saw at my daughter's camp Visiting DAy this past Sunday! He's the rabbi of the YOung Israel of Monsey and Wesley Hills. But I knew him as a Rebbe at YU back in the day. His shiurim are mainly on tefilla. So check that out. Here is one shiur by Rav Jacobson on a very practical topic, how to catch up with the shaliach tzibur:

Again, there's a list of all available shiurim over there at Naaleh.com.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Want to Join Our Kevarim Bus on the Way to Uman?

If you are going to Uman (like me!) and would like to travel to daven at the kevarim of several Tzadikim on the way to Uman for Rosh Hashana, I have an opportunity for you.

My friend Chaim is coordinating transportation to several kevarim on the way to Uman. A number of us are already coming and we're going to Mezbitz, Berdichiv, Vilednick, Annapoli, and Breslov on the way to Uman.

If there is enough interest, we will be renting a tour bus. Details:

• Departing Monday Sept. 6th from Kiev airport @ 3 PM
• Cost: $200 (unless enough people sign up, then it will be less)
• Traveling to the kevarim in Mezbitz, Berdichiv, Vilednick, Annapoli, and Breslov
• Traveling for about 24 hours
• Arriving in Uman about 2 or 3 PM on Tuesday Sept. 7th, erev erev Rosh Hashana
• This will allow us plenty of time to rest and go to Rebbe Nachman's tziyon in preperation for Slichos at about 3 AM erev R"H.

Please contact Chaim at 516-851-8855 or by e-mail if you're interested in joining.

Picture courtesy of Chaim. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Interview & Archive Video on Rabbi Grossman & Migdal Ohr

This is a beautiful video with a video from a major NBA personality and with some nice clips from Rav Grossman and Migdal Ohr. Very nice.

HT Gruntig. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Connecting the Beginning and End of the Torah - R' Boshnack on Likutei Moharan

I am happy to have the zechus to share a very deep shiur given by Rabbi Reuven Boshnack, the heiliger Brooklyn Colleger Rebbe. He gave this shiur during his recent stint as guest lecturer at the Young Israel of Staten Island, as a guest of the world renowned Rabbi Elie Mischel.

CLICK HERE to listen to the shiur

Picture court

esy of Rabbi Boshnack. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

True Hisbodedus - Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern on Matos-Masei

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Matos-Masei, with English excerpt and full text in Hebrew in pdf form from Reb Itchie Mayer's Torah. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

Dovid HaMelech said, “My heart said to You [לך]...”[1] Rebbe Nachman quotes Rashi’s comment there, “to You” can also mean, “for You, on Your behalf.”[2] If a person wants to do a real hisbodedus, he must stand before Hashem believing fully that every word he says is from Hashem, that he is Hashem’s emissary. To come to this, one must begin by working at learning Torah lishmah, because it is certain that a person who learns Torah superficially will not come anywhere near to pouring his heart out spontaneously before Hashem. But with both Torah and prayer infused with dveikus, one merits [the influence of] the upper three sefiros of Atik, whose “breath” is completely infused with dveikus. One merits to make yichudim at the level of the Divine chariot, to really feel that everything is G-dliness. This is the meaning of Chashmal: mal [“speaking”] indicates ma’aseh merkavah, and chash [“quiet”] indicates ma’aseh bereishis.

One must feel a chiddush in prayer just as one finds a chiddush in Torah, and the tzaddikim said that when a person merits to speak fresh words of prayer before Hashem it is a sign that his prayers are accepted on high. But to be able to pray spontaneously before Hashem, one needs purity of heart—how do we purify it? “Every thing that went in fire must pass through fire.” The fire of enthusiasm purifies the heart so that one can compose his own prayer with freshness. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches further that such words are a manifestation of ruach hakodesh, and this is the basis of the entire book of Tehillim.[3]

One must yearn for these levels, and feel pained for not having reached them. And one must yearn that the Torah should be like fire within him, because, “Everything that was in fire [and became impure] should be passed through fire [to purify it].”[4] As the Baal Shem Tov taught, all of the fiery sounds of Matan Torah can still be heard, and every person must sanctify himself so that he can catch them. Every little bit of learning must be in the fire of the dveikus of Matan Torah so that we can come to be, “directly before [נכח] the face of Hashem.” The word נכח is equal to three times the value of the Shem HaVaYaH [78 = יהו"ה x 3]; one must see three permutations of the Shem HaVaYaH before him at all times and eventually he will be able to really see that everything is Elokus—and this is the purpose of creation and the beginning of the redemption.

The Oath of the Exile

Through all of this we will merit to undo the oath that binds us to the exile, as the Zohar explains. [These are the “three oaths” in Shir Hashirim, as explained at the end of Kesuvos.] The Torah teaches that the sage, the bearer of Chochmah, has the power to annul a vow, and this is because the vow itself is on the level of Binah. We begin the fast of Yom HaKippurim with the annulment of vows in Kol Nidrei; this is a manifestation of the light of Chochmah. The exile [גולה] and the redemption [גאולה] stem from the same root—it is only that we are bound in exile because Chochmah manifest in completed Da’as represented by the alef [which means to teach] is absent. Yet this is repaired by anyone who seeks Da’as and dveikus, who believes that the Torah is Divine and that the Torah that he learns is the same that was given at Sinai, who feels that Hashem has planted eternal life in him now and has been chosen right now from all the nations to receive Torah as a gift from the heavens. And this is why there were many tzaddikim who exhorted their followers to spend time every day studying the words of the Zohar regarding the greatness of the Torah, or who learned section 47 in the Bach that discusses the blessings of the Torah time after time—to awaken their hearts to the holiness of the Torah.

The Blessings of the Torah

The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash was because of the Jewish people’s failure to appreciate the greatness of the Torah. This was demonstrated by the fact that they did not make the blessing over the Torah before they learned. And we can also fall into this error today by not having sufficient faith in the Torah’s ability to help us reach the redemption. And so the very beginning is to develop total emunah in the greatness and the holy power of the Torah itself, and this will empower one to devote more and more time to Torah lishmah so that all of the levels described above can be reached.

[1] Tehillim 27:8
[2] Likutei Moharan I:138
[3] Ibid., I:156
[4] Bamidbar 31:26

CLICK HERE for Toras Chochom

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom in English

Picture courtesy of R' Moshe Tzvi Weinberg. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Stories on How Blackberries Affect Our Relationship with Hashem and Other People

Great post over at Army of Achdus on how Blackberries are affecting our relationships with each other, and with Hashem: He has several stories and anecdotes that really illustrate the point. Definitely worth reading.

On Lag B'Omer, at a private "hadlaka," my Rebbe spoke about this topic. It wasn't said over a public drasha for public consumption, but for his "chassidim," he said to just get rid of our Blackberries if at all possible. I don't know about other people, but one friend of mine who's a successful entrepreneur, actually did it! He got rid of it a short time later and he's now doing just fine and is still very successful.

Picture courtesy of here. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Differentiating Between Chizuk & Flattery - Reb Itchie Mayer on Pinchas

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Pinchas, with English excerpt and full text in Hebrew in pdf form from Reb Itchie Mayer's Torah. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

Distinguishing between Avraham Avinu and Bilaam HaRasha

We find in the Mishnah in Avos: “What is the difference between the disciples of Avraham and the disciples of Bilaam…”[1] The Baal Shem Tov asked: why doesn’t the Mishnah discuss the difference between Avraham and Bilaam? Why focus only on their disciples? He explained that the difference between Avraham and Bilaam is not readily discernible in themselves, only in their disciples.

This seems very difficult to understand. How could we say that Bilaam could somehow be comparable to Avraham? The answer is that at times a true tzaddik will teach Torah that seems to be appropriate for the likes of Bilaam too, G-d forbid. The tzaddik may explain that even if a person has sinned and fallen to the worst levels of darkness and distance, even if he has sinned with every limb of his body, there is still hope for him. If he will connect to the tzaddik who truly recognizes Hashem and honestly believe in the unique oneness of Hashem, learning the holy works of the tzaddikim and internalizing their words, they will pull him out of the netherworld and purify him from all defilement. They can do this since they have the power to transform all sin to merit and every bad to good. At first glance, this sounds very much like what a Bilaam might say: “Don't worry about your sins, since everything is Elokus and can be transformed to good. You need not fast or do any kind of self-mortification or difficult exertions to serve Hashem. If you will just associate with a wise man and believe with your entire heart that everything is from Hashem, your sins will be forgiven and transformed to merits.”

When the tzaddik gives encouragement he can sound somewhat similar to the wicked person who claims that it doesn’t matter what you do. For this reason, a righteous person can easily be confused for a wicked one, and vice versa. How can one tell the difference?

The answer is to study their students. What is the practical end of the Torah of encouragement provided by the teacher? Do his students grow by truly focusing on Hashem and truly repent, or do they start off strong but eventually stagnate and fade to a place where their lifestyle is not in accordance with their purported goals? If the students use the encouragement as a way to fight Hashem by continuing to sin, this is a clear sign that their master is not as he should be. But if his encouragement inspires his students to live with Hashem, he will be purified of all his sins like a newborn. They will come to greater dveikus and change their ways for the better as a result of his encouragement.

[1] Avos 5:17

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom in pdf

CLICK HERE to Get Toras Chochom in English in pdf

Picture courtesy of Feldheim. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.