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Are You a BT Employing Your Secular Professional Skills to Benefit the Frum Community?

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A senior writer at the OU is conducting research for an article about baalei teshuvah employing the professional skills they had previously used in the secular arena to benefit the frum community.

Examples thus far include: french horn player now ba’al toke’a, modern dancer in Merce Cunningham troupe currently working with frum individuals with MS, Parkinsons and other challenges, competitive horse racer turned horse therapist for frum individuals with special needs.

Anyone else fit the bill?

Please contact Bayla Sheva Brenner at: brennerbs@ou.org

More on More Mitzvah Mileage

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In yesterday’s post, we pointed out that for mitzvos to have their intended effect of getting closer to Hashem, we need to perform them with mindfulness, which can include attention, focus and kavannah. Fellow spiritual growth traveler, Neil Harris, emailed us and pointed out that mindfulness is currently a very popular concept in the secular world.

In a recent post on Brevedy, titled Pay Attention to this Post, David Linn highlights a recent secular book named Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher. Gallagher states what we have known in the Torah world for a while, specifically, that we have the ability to control what we pay attention to and focusing on the good will expand our world and make us healthier and happier. I want to note that Brevedy, which is focused on growth in the physical, emotional and intellectual dimensions has gone to a daily posting schedule.

Getting back to spiritual growth and more mitzvah mileage, we suggested a simple starting point of saying one brocha a day with more focus and mindfulness and we gave a simple translation of the Shehakol blessing which we say over many foods including water and coffee.

R’ Micha Berger, mentioned in the comments to that post, that he has been focusing on his Shehakol over his first cup of coffee for a while and provided us with the translation he uses when he says the brocha. Micha has a great explanation of the meaning of a beracha in his post on his site called “What is a Berakhah”.

Links for 10/10; Shul Financial Success Strategies; In Memory of Rabbi Dovid Heller; Are You Enjoying a Life Worth Living?; Progressive Lakewood

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Strategies for Shul Financial Success – Part 1 – Changing Needs Over Time

How Rebbetzin Heller Changed My Life; In memory of Rabbi Dovid Heller, of blessed memory.

Are You Enjoying a Life Worth Living?

Noah Feldman of Harvard highlights the astonishingly egalitarian and democratic aspects of the Lakewood learning model.

Rav Ovadia Yosef was Niftar at Age 93

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BORUCH DAYAN EMMES: MARAN HAGON OVADIA YOSEF ZATZAL; Yeshiva World News
1:23PM IL: Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital officials’ announced the bitter news moments ago. HaGaon HaRav Chaim Ovadia Yosef ZTVK”L was niftar a short time ago, Monday, 3 Marcheshvan 5774, after his bodily organs collapsed despite doctors’ best efforts. The gadol hador was 93-years-old.

Unprecedented Crowds Attend Levaya For R’ Ovadia Yosef; Voz Is Neis
Jerusalem – A historic number of people turned out today in Jerusalem to mourn HaRav Ovadia Yosef, who passed away early this morning at age 93 in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center. One of the world’s most highly acclaimed halachic authorities, the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and the spiritual leader of the Shas party, R’ Yosef’s appeal was so broad according to the AP police estimated the turnout for the levaya at 700,000, with several Israeli news sites reporting that 800,000 mourners that swarmed the streets of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Spiritual Leader Of Israel’s Sephardic Jews, Dies at 93; New York Times
JERUSALEM — Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who became a fiery figure in Israeli politics as the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, championing the interests of Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin, died here on Monday. He was 93.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef buried in largest funeral in Israeli history; Times of Israel
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the powerful, much-loved and sometimes controversial spiritual leader of Israel’s Sephardi community, passed away in Jerusalem early Monday afternoon after being hospitalized repeatedly over the last several weeks. He was 93. Ovadia was laid to rest Monday night in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sanhedria, with some 800,000 mourners converging from all over the country to attend what became the largest funeral in Israeli history. Despite the huge crowds, far beyond the numbers police had anticipated, there were no reports of serious injuries.

The Ramchal and How the Shofar Draws Down Mercy

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The Elucidated Derech Hashem is an amazing work in which Rabbi Abba Zvi Naiman brings down many footnotes from the other works of the Ramchal to explain the concepts in Derech Hashem.

In regards to the mercy invoked when the Shofar is blown, Rabbi Naiman explains, based on Derech Hashem and other works of the Ramchal:

1) The Shofar invokes the merit of the Forefathers, specifically the Akeida (Zichronos)

2) The Shofar strengthens the forces of good over evil as it did at Sinai when the Jewish people reached the state of Adam before the sin (Shofaros)

3) With the proper intent on our part, the Shofar evokes Hashem’s guidance of the world through His Sovereignty and Oneness, instead of through our short-falling deeds (Malchuyos)

Ms. Reva Esther Robin a”h and the Power of a Mitzvah

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On August 25th, 2010, the memorial service for Reva Esther Robin who was killed in a fatal car accident in New Hampshire on 14 Elul 5770 was held. Today is her Yahrzeit

Reva Esther was known for her chesed and in the last few years of her life, she dedicated herself to help people who passed away and did not have frum relatives to properly take care of their burials and perform zechuyos (merits) such as saying kaddish. She often used her own money for this purpose as well as for the mitzvah of obtaining a burial plot for those who otherwise would not have one. In one case she saved a father and son who died on the same day from cremation by convincing the family to arrange a Jewish burial.

At the service, Rabbi Herschel Welcher told of all the amazing things that happened after she died that allowed her to be buried on the day after she passed away in the absence of her closest relatives being available to make the arrangements. Rabbi Matis Blum also discussed that because she was often consulting Rabbis with her questions regarding these mitzvos her phone book was found and the Rabbis were contacted immediately after her passing.

Rabbi Tzvi Hebel from Lakewood, the author of a sefer called “The Neshamah Should Have an Aliyah,” also spoke as this was the sefer that inspired Reva Esther a”h to start a Gemach for the purpose of doing mitzvos in memory of deceased individuals who did not have frum family.

Reva Esther was one of those amazing Baalei Teshuva who accomplished so much in her lifetime. She knew what it was like to have a small support network and she focused her chessed on helping Neshamos who had no one to support them after their passing.

The Aliyah Neshama Gemach has been set up in her name for people who do not have any family to honor their memory. The gemach will take on zechusim (merits) to elevate the neshama.

If you know of someone who needs their efforts please email aliyahneshama@gmail.com with the deceased’s Hebrew name, father’s name and yahrtzeit date. If you would like to volunteer, seen an email to aliyahneshama@gmail.com. You can make a tax deductible contribution to Congregation Ahavas Yisroel, and write in the memo, Fund for Reva Esther A”H. Checks can be mailed to Congregation Ahavas Yisroel, PO Box 670503, Station C, Kew Gardens Hills, NY 11367.

The memorial service for this amazing woman can be downloaded here.

Elul – Some Resources for Motivation

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Elul is coming which means that the Teshuva season is about to begin. If we want to have a successful Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur, seforim strongly advise us to start early in the month. It’s a tremendous opportunity for growth and we’d be foolish not to take advantage of it.

Most of the current day Rebbeim advise us to pick something small. Maybe saying Asher Yotzar with Kavanna, or pausing before we speak on occasion or perhaps starting an extra 10 minute seder in Mussar, Mishnah or Tanach. The sky is truly the limit, but we have to start reaching for it when Elul begins.

Being that our goal is to get closer to Hashem and we’re doing mitzvos to accomplish that goal, it might make sense to try to do the mitzvos with a little more Kavanna. There are three simple thoughts we can have before doing any mitzvah:

1) Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah
2) We are the ones being commanded
3) And the specific mitzvah, whose commandment we are fullfilling is …. (whatever mitzvah you are doing)

It’s really pretty simple and it will help us get so much more mileage out of the mitzvos we already do.

Here’s a few resources for extra motivation:

Stepping Stones to Repentance: A thirty-day program based on Ohr Yisrael the classic writings of Rav Yisrael Salanter By: Rabbi Zvi Miller here’s an excerpt

DAY ONE: “BOUNDLESS BLESSINGS”
“There is no enterprise that yields profit like preparation for the Day of Atonement. Through studying Mussar and reflecting on how to improve one’s ways, a person is inspired on Yom Kippur to make resolutions for the future. Even the smallest, most minute preparation to enhance one’s Yom Kippur experience is invaluable, bringing boundless blessings of success. It saves one from many troubles — and there is no greater profit than this.” (Ohr Yisrael, Letter Seven, p. 193)

Rebbetzin Tzipora Heller – Three Steps to Genuine Change. An excerpt:

In the course of our lives, we close doors to higher and deeper selves and sometimes forget that we, too, are more than earners, spenders, and travelers through life. Our thoughtless enslavement to mindless routine can leave us without much of a relationship to our souls. In a materialistic society, it is all too easy to view others as competitors. As toddlers we observed that when you have three cookies and give one away, all you have left are two. From that point onward we are afraid to give.

R’ Dovid Schwartz – Rabbi Yonah of Gerona – Guilt is Good – mp3

R’ Daniel Stein – Hilchos Teshuva Introduction – mp3

R’ Moshe Schwerd – Din V’Cheshbon – mp3

R’ Yakov Haber on Rosh Hoshana and Hirhur Teshuva according to Rav Soloveitchik can be downloaded here.

R’ Yakov Haber on Rosh Hoshana davening can be downloaded here.

Originally posted August 14, 2007

The Ramchal on the Power of In-Depth Torah Study

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In Part II, chapter 5, section 3 of Derech Hashem, Rabbi Chaim Moshe Luzzato explains that Hashem sustains and provides spiritual energy to the world through Hashpaos, which Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translates as Influences.

In Part IV, chapter 2, section 2 on the Study of Torah the Ramchal states:
Of all the Influences that God causes to emanate from Him for the sake of His creations, one is higher than all the others, being more dear and precious than anything else that God created. This Influence is the closest thing to God Himself that can be found in Creation, its loftiness and excellence resembling God’s own to some degree. Through this Influence God enables creations to actually partake of some of His Glory and Perfection.

This Influence, however, was bound by God to yet another creation — the Torah — which God designed specifically to carry this Influence to the physical world. In practice, the Influence arrives by means of two activities, namely, the speaking and understanding the words of Torah.

In Part IV, chapter 2, section 3 the Ramchal continues:
It is obvious that the higher the level of comprehension, the higher will be the corresponding Influence derived through it. An individual who understands only the language of a Biblical passage is therefore not equal to one who understands its meaning. Likewise, one who understands only its superficial meaning is not the same as one who delves more deeply. Furthermore, even when one does go into the deeper meaning, the more he delves, the higher will be his level.

It is an aspect of God’s love, however, that even the lowest level of comprehension can transmit a degree of this Influence. Everyone who comprehends any element of the Torah can thus benefit from this great Influence, merely as a result of what is bound together with such comprehension.

In Part IV, chapter 2, section 4 the Ramchal continues:
One level of the Torah’s Influence is therefore to reward the effort that people put into it, according to the true measure of that effort. Besides this, however, there is another aspect and level, and that is to rectify creation as a whole. There is no element in all creation that is not rectified through the Torah. Furthermore, each element of the Torah has the ability to perfect some part of creation.

An individual who wants to serve his Creator with complete devotion must therefore involve himself in every aspect of the Torah to the best of his ability. Through this, he can take part in the rectification of all creation.