Alleyways To Torah

Our Rabbis teach that creating a match between man and woman is as difficult as the splitting of the sea. The sea didn't just split for a moment but it remained in that state for an extended amount of time [until all of the Jews passed through]. So too, it is not enough to get married, the difficulty is in REMAINING married.

Well, my FAVORITE couple in the WORLD [!!] just celebrated another anniversary!!!!!!

Mom and Dad - YOU'RE THE GREATEST. THANKS FOR GETTING MARRIED. Hope you are happy with the fruits of your labors.

Many, many more healthy and happy years to come!

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The Minchas Chinuch explains that the mitzva of having children is NOT the ACT of having them but the fact that they exist - the תוצאה. So even if they were born when he was a gentile the fact that they are alive after conversion enables him to fulfill his mitzva. This is different than the matza case. There the ACT of eating is the mitzva and thus must be performed when he is obligated [i.e. not a shoteh].

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What do you say to a kind gentile who does you a favor?

ShGOYach.

Which brings us to our question:

The Gemara [R.H. 28a] says that if a shoteh eats matza on Pesach night and then becomes sane he must eat again because a mitzva performed when one is not obligated [such as when he is a shoteh] doesn't count.

However we also pasken like Rav Yochanan who says [Yevamos 62a] that if a person had children when he was a goy and then converted to Judaism, he has fulfilled his mitzva of having children. But WHY??? His mitzva was performed when he was a goy and not yet obligated in the mitzva of having children!?

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OK, you are at a simcha and the band is playing a song. Great tune! But what do the words mean?

Who knows?!

Sometimes we don't even know the words so we just "la la" along.

That is why a good friend of mine created a blog knowthewords.blogspot.com

CHECK IT OUT!!

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Iamhavingaproblemwithmyspacebar

soiwillnotbebloggingtilliget
mycomputerfixed

love
and
blessings

andremember
ifthecomputerhasatikkun
youcertainlydo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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A friend of mine is driving with me in the car on a New York road. My friend gets distracted and bangs [lightly] into the rear of the car in front of us. A black man gets out of his car and starts running towards us.

OH NO!! Is he going to beat us up or have mercy and just curse at us?


He gets close to our car [without checking the status of his own car] and says in a concerned tone "Are you OK?"

Ahhhh Yidden. Sometimes, you can learn mentschlechkeit from unlikely sources. If that is the way they behave, should we do any less?

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1] So many things for sale.

2] Headline of the NEWS section of the NY Post today read "New York Mess". This means two things. 1] The Mets aren't doing well. 2] People are very interested in complete nonsense. While many on the train I was riding were immersed in their newspapers and the like I saw a Yid deeply engrossed in a sugya. Made me feel that Jews are - well - special. But I didn't say it aloud.

Don't want to upset the locals.

3] Seen a lot of fine Yidden. There are fine Yidden EVERYWHERE, not only in Israel. But there is one spiritual element that you only find in Israel - it simply doesn't exist in Chutz L' aretz.

Namely, Israel.

4] I like the way people here say "Please", "Thank you" and "Have a nice day".

5] The wedding I came to attend [Yaakov and Rochel] was AWESOME!!



HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!

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The power of taiveh [desire].

I was on the airplane yesterday and there was a fellow who NEEDED to smoke. What is a man to do? Smoking is strictly forbidden on the airplane. So he went to the bathroom and smoked there. Now, smoking in an airplane bathroom is a fire hazard. A fire on an airplane is VERY dangerous. There are signs in the bathrooms telling people NOT to smoke. But this person was willing to endanger 400 passengers for his smoke. Usually he just endagers himself but now he was taking hundreds of people along with him.

Remember: We don't have taivehs. Taivehs have us. The same applies to eating [for some], spending money [for others] and many other destructive behaviors. They CONTROL us. That is why avodas hamidos is so important. It's about being in control of your life and of your decisions.

Love and blessings!

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When you get your mezuzos checked [twice in seven years] afterwards you should really hang them up again. Otherwise, why did you get them checked?!

But do you make a bracha?

Well, if you munch on a cracker when you put them up you should make a mezonos on the cracker but most authorities hold that a mezonos doesn't cover you for a mezuza [unless it is one of those cool, edible mezuza cases]. Do you make a "likboa mezuza"?

Well, here is the opinion of a great halachic authority and, lihavdil, the practice of a non-authority. Rav Ovadiah Yosef Shlita says to MAKE A BRACHA. Today, I did just that.

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Mazel Tov to my sweet [and very learned] friend Yaakov Dov Hakohen Slomnicki and his kallah Rochel Weiss who are getting married this week. I am so excited that even though the wedding is in the US I think that I will fly there without an airplane. I am on "Cloud Nine" so maybe the cloud will be blown over there.

Mazel Tov to my sweet [and very learned] friend Daniel Hakohen Tabak who became engaged this week to his kallah who doubtless has a name [and a great personality] but I just don't know it.

And to ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of the other Yidden who have Simchas - Ken Yirbu!! [No relation to Ken Griffey]

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Since I am "posting" I thought it would be apropo to discuss how to affix a mezuza to your doorPOST.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that it should be NAILED on to the doorpost. What about using glue? It is better not to but if it is firmly in place then it is permitted.
[Sova Smachos P. 356]

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His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy.

Woody Allen


Whom does G-d want to see? Who gets invited to His house?

Talmidei Chachamim? Not necessarily!

Chareidim? Maybe, maybe not!

True Religious Zionists, those who settle and endanger their lives for the land of Israel? Ummmmm, can't guarantee it!

People who give lots of tzedaka? I am not so sure!

The correct answer is - [drum roll] PEOPLE WHO ARE HONEST IN THEIR FINANCIAL DEALINGS!

WOW!!!!!!!! That's how you get invited to the Beis Hamikdash? Well let's listen to Dovid Hamelech: "Mi yaaleh bihar Hashem u'mi yakum bimkom kodsho"? [Who is allowed on the mountain of G-d and who may stand in His holy sanctuary] "NAKI CHAPAIM" - literally "clean hands" but meaning honest people, people who would never take a penny dishonestly, people who work every minute that they are being payed for, people who would never make a personal phone call on the company's bill, people who never overcharge a naive customer, what was called in the old country "Ehrliche Yidden". [See Tehillim 24]

Sweetest friends, my life experience has taught me that there are not an overabundance of "Naki Chapaim's" out there. "Frum Jews?" - there are plenty.

But then again being "Frum" doesn't allow one the right to enter Hashem's domain. Being honest does.

Let's lead the way and act super honestly and demonstrate others that, yes indeed, there is something in this world that has even more value than cold hard cash.

Clean hands.

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I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

Woody Allen

When the Jewish people received the Torah they no longer were supposed to die [as Chazal teach]. Only after the sin of the Golden Calf did we die again. Torah is life.
עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה

Remember what it says about the Tree of Life in Gan Eden? He who eats from it will live forever!

Grab on to the Tree of Life. It is available to all!!!

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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

Susan B. Anthony

The Torah talks about a Nazir in this weeks parsha. A Nazir is one who separates himself [to a certain extent] from this world. The Torah says that when he makes his vow "Ki Yaflee" which literally means: "When he performs a wonder". The Ibn Ezra comments that it is TRULY wondrous when one overcomes his base desires and instincts.

A "Nezer" [related to the word "Nazir"] is a crown. Somebody so elevated is really a king.

There is a story of a student of a great Rabbi who was asked to relate wonders that his Rebbe performed. He replied "Most Tzaddikim do wonders when they get G-d to fulfill their wishes. My Rebbe's wonders are that he fulfills G-d's wishes".

Thanks Rebbetzin Susan for your insight. Worthy of a true Ba'alas Mussar.

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Ahmedinijad has promised to wipe us off the face of the planet.

Famous last words.

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Sent by my friend Reb Shimshon Yitzchak

Friends
This coming Tuesday, June 3/ 29 Iyar, is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Erev Rosh Chodesh
Sivan is the optimal time for reciting the special Tefilah of the Shelah HaKadosh.
The Tefilah is a prayer for our children that they grow in Torah and that Hashem provide for all their needs. This Tefilah can be said any time, however, the day before Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the month of Kabbolas HaTorah, is an especially auspicious time for parents to daven for the benefit of their children. Please try and recite the Tefilah on Tuesday.

The Tefilah can be accessed at http://www.artscroll.com/images/siteimages/prayer.pdf.

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