TRANSFORM YOUR EMUNAH!

Life is full of challenges. Torah sources teach that usually a person's life has more challenges and difficult times than pleasant experiences. Challenges, also known as Yisurin in Torah literature, are clearly a fundamental aspect of HaShem's plan for our lives. Without Emunah there are no answers. With Emunah there are no questions. When a person is able to let go and rely on HaShem absolutely and sincerely, all the questions abo...

We've been discussing one of the six constant mitzvos is to love Hashem. And as the Rambam teaches, the way of coming to love Hashem is by taking note of His amazing creations with admiration and that will bring us more and more to be able to love Hashem.

There is a Mishnah in Pirkei Avos which teaches that if somebody is on the road and whilst traveling they are thinking Torah thoughts or discussing a Torah topic with another in...

We've been discussing how every moment of our lives is really an opportunity and throughout the many extra moments that we might find for ourselves, instead of wasting the time idly just because maybe we can't center ourselves to a full-out task, because we're currently busy with something else and we only have a few spare moments at hand, it would nevertheless be so wise and recommended to use that time as an opportunity to gain e...

Every single moment of life is an opportunity. There is always a mitzvah to perform in every situation, and sometimes just being mindful of something can change a situation from being a waste of time, or even perhaps a sin, to a great mitzvah.

The halachic authorities teach that there are six constant mitzvahs that can be performed at any and every single moment. Just by thinking of them, we fulfill the mitzvah. It is worth havin...

We've been discussing one of the most important and fundamental mitzvahs, the mitzvah to love Hashem. That although it is such a fundamental and basic prerequisite to the Torah, nevertheless, at face value, it is quite a difficult mitzvah to fulfill, seeing as Hashem is an abstract being that is difficult for us to connect with due to our human limitations.

We've discussed that when one views life through the lens of everything t...

We've been discussing one of the six constant mitzvahs, the mitzvah to love Hashem, which on the one hand is such an important fundamental mitzvah, whilst at the same time can be so difficult, because Hashem is not something tangible, not something we can see nor hear, and therefore how does one bring oneself to this place of being able to truly love Hashem?

We mentioned the Rambam who says that by noticing Hashem's creations and...

One of the six constant mitzvahs is the mitzvah to love HaShem. It is difficult sometimes to fulfill this mitzvah of loving HaShem because I don't see HaShem, I don't hear HaShem and in many ways it's hard for me to relate to HaShem - this abstract figure. How do I come to loving HaShem?

The Rambam writes that the way we come to loving HaShem is by taking note of the things that He has created and admiring them and doing so will ...

We know that the Torah sources refer to Hashem and the Torah as one. One of the most potent things that we can do in our endeavor to connect to Hashem is to learn Torah. The Gemara, as outlined by the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, also teaches us that even if one does not have this high motive of just connecting to Hashem and learning the Torah just because He commanded us to, even if one is learning for some personal mot...

We've learned many times the incredible, potent value of Torah learning. There is no question that the more involved we are in Torah learning, the more we come closer to HaShem, because we are taught in Torah literature that HaShem and the Torah are in essence one and the same. In a sense, the closest that we can get to HaShem is when we take the Torah and delve into it and learn it to the best of our abilities. Of course, each one...

The information that is found in the Torah is so much that sometimes it can be overwhelming. How am I supposed to learn all of the information in the Torah? Even if somebody is completely dedicated to Torah, it is almost an impossibility to get to know all of the different diverse areas of the Torah. Certainly, for most of us who are limited, it can be overwhelming. Again, here we have Hashem's perspective guiding us as to how we a...

I acknowledge that Hashem's perspective is the only true perspective. Hashem teaches us in the Torah that one of the greatest activities to be involved in is Torah learning. The value of Torah learning is equal to the value of all 613 mitzvahs put together. For many people, although one might see the incredible value of Torah learning, however due to our other commitments, many of us have a very limited amount of time to involve ou...

Human nature is to appreciate things that we understand to have value and be important, much more than things we are just told to believe are important, but are sometimes difficult to relate to and difficult to see their true value and importance. After one performs the tremendous mitzvah of visiting a sick person, and the sick person thereafter tells you, “you just made my day, I didn't feel like living on anymore, but since you c...

The Code of Jewish Law outlines that all people, men, women and children, are obligated in the pursuit of Torah learning. Women have a mitzvah to learn and master all the areas of Torah that are related to the practical fulfilment of the mitzvos, as well as areas that focus on the development and improvement of our character traits, as well as the areas of Torah that talk about how to bring us closer to Hashem, how to derive inspir...

We are so privileged to have received the Torah from Hashem, the only perspective that can be absolute truth. We know from many Torah sources that the Torah itself is considered the sweetest item in the world. But what am I supposed to do if I just don't feel the sweetness of Torah? I might believe the fact that if the Torah and Hashem's perspective tells me that the Torah is greater than anything else in the world, and sweeter tha...

One of the traditions of the festival of Shavuos is that we eat honey. The Torah commentaries explain that the reason for this custom is because the verse compares the sweetness of Torah to honey, which is so sweet. The Torah, the mitzvahs, and everything that is encompassed within the Torah is the sweetest thing in the world.

I once heard a beautiful idea based on a famous verse which states that Torah is so great that it is bette...

As the festival of Chanukah comes to its culmination, let us remind ourselves of what the Ramban writes about open miracles, that although usually the world operates under the veil of nature, however when Hashem performs open miracles, one of the main objectives is to give us the opportunity to derive inspiration and motivate us to living lives according to the values of emunah and bitachon - that ultimately every single moment of ...

We've been discussing how Chanukah is a tremendous opportunity to springboard a boost in our emunah and bitachon endeavor. Although most of us are not on the level to experience outright open miracles like we experienced during Chanukah, however, when we fulfill the mitzvos of Chanukah and give ourselves an opportunity to contemplate on the reason why we're lighting the Chanukah candles, that we're commemorating the outright miracl...

The incredible miracles of Chanukah serve to inspire us throughout our lives, that just like Hashem performed miracles against all the laws of nature, such as causing oil to burn for much longer than anything nature would allow, as well as causing a handful of people to win a war completely against any and all of the laws that nature can dictate, when we make an effort to internalize these miracles, it can serve as a tremendous spr...

We are so privileged to be able to experience another one of these holy days of Chanukah. Besides the miracle of the oil, which we commemorate with the lighting of the Chanukah candles, where the amount of oil which was only supposed to last for one day, against all the laws of nature, lasted for eight days, again clearly showing that although usually the world seems to run according to the laws and course of nature, however, as th...