Overcome Your Fear

B’shalach: Monday: Overcome Your Fear

     “And the Children of Israel lifted their eyes and behold, Egypt was coming after them and they were extremely afraid and the Children of Israel called out to G-d…and Moses said to the Nation, ‘Do not fear, stand firm and see the salvation of G-d…G-d will fight for you and you must remain silent.” The Children of Israel are afraid and they cry out to G-d. What is more natural and fitting than that? If you feel fear – start praying!

     True, it is very good to cry out to G-d and to pray. But Moses saw that the Children of Israel were still in an immature state. They were like a small child who is afraid and calls out to his father. Moses wished to raise them up to a state of maturity. The mature person knows how to employ his mind to overcome his emotions and to calm his fear. Thus, the fundamental point is “Do not fear, stand firm and see the salvation of G-d” (and understand that there is no reason to fear).

     “And know that a person must pass over a very, very narrow bridge, and the rule and the main point is not to feel fear at all.”  (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov). And if you are afraid and run to pray to G-d, it is best to stop praying and put your effort into overcoming your fear by strengthening your faith in G-d.

     (From Rabbi Ginsburgh’s book, Amudeha Shiv’ah)

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Vayeitzei:Friday:Lev Lavan-The Heart of Lavan

11/24/17, 8:20 AM - Gal Einai: *Vayeitzei: Friday: Lev Lavan – The Heart of Lavan*

_“And Jacob stole_ *Lavan’s heart*, _not telling him that he was fleeing.”_ In Hebrew, the word _Lavan_ is spelled lamed, _beit_, _nun_. The first two letters, _lamed_ and _beit_, spell the word _lev_, which means ‘heart’. When the letters _lev_, heart, are stolen from _Lavan_, all that is left is the final nun, which alludes to _nefila_h, falling.

Jacob took from Lavan the holy sparks that were in captivity by him. This is the lev, the heart, of Lavan. After this clarification was completed, there was no reason to stay. It was imperative to flee quickly and whatever was left of the husk would fall by itself - the vitality had already exited.

One of the things that Jacob acquired by Lavan was the wisdom of leadership. Shepherding is preparation for leadership, as we see with Moses and King David. Abraham and Isaac also had flocks, but they had shepherds. Jacob, on the other hand, was actively  and deeply involved and shepherded the flocks with devotion for twenty years.

If so, the lev, heart of Lavan is the wisdom of leading a state. Lavan thought that Jacob was completely with him in leadership of the state. Suddenly, he understands that it was all a charade, a leadership school - and that in truth, Jacob, already equipped with the wisdom of leadership,  the lev, heart, of Lavan, is going to lead his own state.

*The translations this week are l’ilui nishmat Alteh Necheh bat R’ Chaim Nuta and R’ Elimelech ben Moshe*.

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Toldot: Friday: “And He Shall Give You”

Gal Einai: *Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh*

*Toldot: Friday: “And He Shall Give You”*

Isaac blesses Jacob, _“And G-d shall give you from the dew of heaven and from the fat of the Land and an abundance of corn and wine.”_ Why does Isaac add the word, “And” at the beginning of his blessing? After all, this is the first sentence in his blessing!

This is why Rashi explains, “He will give and give again”. In other words, a never-ending blessing. He will give and give again and again…for eternity. 

We must also go in G-d’s path and adopt this character trait: Never-ending giving of charity and loving-kindness, to give and to give again. The more that we conduct ourselves in this way, the more that the Holy One, Blessed Be He will give to us and give to us again – an abundance of blessing with no end.

This year, the Friday of the Torah portion of Toldot falls out on the 28th of Cheshvan. This is the 58th day from the beginning of the year. 58 is the numerical value of the word חן, _chen,_  which means “grace”. The concept of grace in the Torah is expressed by the completeness of symmetry, exactly like the first appearance of _chen_  in the Torah: _“And Noah found favor_ (‘grace’ *chen*) _in the eyes of G-d”_. The Hebrew for Noah, *נח* , is *חן* _chen_  in reverse.

The Hebrew word for _“And He will give”_ in our verse, ויתן , _Veyiten_, also hints to the secret of _chen_. If we write out the letters of the word _chen_ in Hebrew in full, _chet חית_ and _nun  _ נון, we discover that the letters that fill out those two words actually spell out ויתן , _Veyiten_. The letters that fill out  the _nun_  - _vav_ and _nun_, surround the letters that fill out the _chet – yud_ and _tav_. Something so graceful always finds favor, awakening never-ending giving. He will give and give again and again. 

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*The translations this week l’ilui nishmat Alteh Necheh bat Chaim Nuta and R’ Elimelech ben Moshe.*

5777 The Year of Peace

A gutten erev Shabbos everyone. After listening to Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh's shiur on the year 5777, (HaRav's video shiur had over 12,000 views) I just had to put this google picture I found on the dove with the olive branch - together with the topic of the shiur which focused on the word עז which translated means might. 

If you have not had the opportunity to listen, I highly recommend that you do. Here is the link to the transcript of this amazing shiur.