https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe One of the ways that a person can receive an abundance of mercy from Hashem is by emulating His character traits. One of the middot of Hashem is called מי קל כמוך . The Tomer Devorah explains, this is referring to Hashem's attribute of havi…

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe Sometimes it appears at face value that good people lose out and wicked people prosper. This is because Hashem hides Himself so well and does not let it be obvious that those who follow Him always win and those who don't always lose. Becaus…

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe The Rambam writes, the more a person learns about who Hashem is, the closer he gets to Him, and the more favor he finds in His eyes. There's a sefer called Tomer Devorah , which explains in detail the attributes of Hashem. Rav Chaim of Sanz…

This week's parasha begins with the words כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך - when you go out to war against your enemy. The sefarim hakedoshim tell us that besides for its simple explanation, this pasuk is also referring to the war against our evil inclination. The Maor V'Shemesh in parashat Ki Tetzeh writes that the main attack of the yetzer hara is to stop…

The goal of every parent is to train their children to want to do the will of Hashem on their own without having to be told to. One of the greatest tools we can give them for this is to teach them about who they are serving, to tell them how much Hashem loves them and is interested in helping them, to teach them how Hashem controls everything that …

One of the main jobs of a person in this world is to see through the facade of nature and recognize Hashem's absolute control over everything. It is not the food that we eat that keeps us alive. But rather, as the pasuk says, כי על מוצא פי ה' יחיה האדם - we live because Hashem says so. It is not the clothing that we wear which keeps us warm. It is …

The pasuk says in Kohelet, בבוקר זרע את זרעך ולערב אל תנח ידך .The Gemara in Masechet Yevamot learns from this pasuk that even if a person had many students when he was young and vibrant, he should continue trying to find more in his old age. Also, a person should never underestimate the potential of any student. As it says in the Avot d'Rabbi Nata…

There are many situations in which people have great needs but the odds of them getting what they need are extraordinarily low. The natural feelings in those situations would be to despair of getting help. It could be a doctor giving a patient a negative report, it could be a specialist telling a couple they most probably will never have children, …

The pasuk says that Hashem is משביע לכל חי רצון , which seems to be saying that Hashem provides nourishment for every living creature. However, the midrash asks, if so, it should have said that Hashem is משביע לעל חי מזון , referring to food. Why does it say the word רצון , meaning desire? The midrash answers, this pasuk is coming to tell us that H…

Before every Rosh Chodesh, the moon completely disappears from our view for 24 hours. And then right afterward, on Rosh Chodesh, there's a rebirth of the new moon. And then each day, we see more and more of the moon. And we make a beracha called ברכת הלבנה , or otherwise known as Kiddush Levana. The Gemara says, when the amoraim used to make this b…

Hashem decides who marries who and exactly when the wedding should take place. When the time is right, He puts everything in order so that His will will come to fruition and the couple that's destined for each other will get married. A man told me his good friend who we'll call David was trying to get married for about ten years. During the first c…

One of the consequences of Adam HaRishon's sin was בזיעת אפיך תאכל לחם , which the Kuntrus Minchat Ezra explains to mean that from then on all of mankind had to live in the falsehood of what we call hishtadlut . Why is it a falsehood? If we were asked the following question, "A person takes medication and he gets healed. Did Hashem heal the person …

There are times when people seem to be doing everything right, but everything seems to be going wrong for them. During those times it is natural to feel discouraged and ask oneself, why should I continue on this path when it doesn't seem like Hashem is appreciating what I do anyway? Sometimes a person learns about a good practice to take on that is…

If someone had a sickness that his doctors could not find a cure for and then, one day, he heard that a great doctor was visiting his city and that doctor had a reputation of doing wonders for people in curing them when no one else could. How excited would this person be to get an appointment with him? If someone heard that someone with the same si…

Sometimes a person wants something very badly and he tries every which way to get it, but nothing works out. But then afterward, he realizes there was something else he could have done that would have gotten it for him, but now it's too late. Sometimes a person needs money and a business opportunity presents itself, but he is too hesitant to enter …

The Mishna Berura in siman 47 writes that a father and mother should constantly be praying for their children to be learners of Torah, to be tzaddikim and to have good middot . Rabbenu Yona writes in his Igeret HaTeshuva that a woman should be careful to pray every morning, afternoon and night that her children should be yirei Shamayim. The Mishna …

If a person is trying to do something good but roadblocks get in his way, it's very easy to turn the other way and take the simple road. But if the person does that, he'll never know what he could have accomplished had he faced the challenge head on. Good things come with difficulty. All beginnings are hard. Statements like these should give us chi…

The pasuk says the reason that Hashem gave the Jewish People mann in the desert was למען הודיעך כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם כי על כל מוצא פי ה' יחיה האדם . Meaning, to teach us that man does not live on bread alone, but rather on everything that comes from the mouth of Hashem does man live. It seems to us that the body is able to function when a p…

When someone is in need of money and he doesn't have a natural means to obtain it, it can become a very painful experience. The person will most likely worry about his expenses every waking moment. He'll have trouble sleeping at night and concentrating on anything else during the day. However, if he works hard to strengthen his emunah, he can turn …

If a person does a good deed and gets positive feedback for what he did, that gives him the strength to make the effort to do that deed again. The greatest type of deed that a person could do is one that nobody knows about. But if no one knows about it, how is he going to get that positive feedback? The answer is with emunah. We know Hashem is watc…

How does emunah come into play when it comes to the idea of loving our fellow Jew? First and foremost, someone who has emunah wants to do the will of Hashem to the best of his ability. There are numerous mitzvot in the Torah regarding not hating others, but rather loving them. If someone fully believes in Hashem, he'll overcome his inclinations tow…

Living Emunah 2620 How to Deal with Difficulties If a person is given a very difficult situation to deal with, having emunah does not mean that the person just says, "There's nothing to worry about. I know Hashem is with me. Everything will be fine." It is true that Hashem could take the person out of the difficulty in the blink of an eye, but it d…

At the end of parashat Devarim, when the Jewish people were getting ready to conquer Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbenu told them, לא תיראום כי כי ה' אלוקיכם הוא הנילחם לכם - Don't be afraid of the opposing nations, because Hashem your God will be the One fighting for you. Immediately after that, the pasuk says, ואתחנן אל ה' בעת ההיא לאמר - Moshe prayed …

f a person feels that something is happening in his life that is unfair, and he wants to complain and question Hashem about it, it is important to know that he has a golden opportunity in front of him. One of the main jobs that a person has in this world is to learn to trust in Hashem. When we don't understand why things are happening and we wish t…

I read a story about an avrech who was going through a very difficult time in his life. He called his rabbi to pour out his heart in the hope of getting chizuk . The avrech was walking aimlessly in the streets of Yerushalayim very late at night as he was telling his rabbi all his problems. The rabbi patiently listened as the clock was approaching 2…