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Date Posted: 21:58:03 12/03/12 Mon
Author: d
Subject: fb275


#658 Preempt Your Fears

"If you have something negative about yourself that you wish to share with others, take the initiative to say it right from the beginning." (Talmud - Baba Kama 92b)

This is an effective tool to use when it comes to overcoming needless fears of other people. If you want to ask a question and are afraid that someone will become angry at you, at times it's worthwhile to start off, "I would like to ask you a question, but I am afraid to ask."

Most people will reply, "You don't need to be afraid. Feel free to ask."

(From Rabbi Pliskin's book, "Courage")


See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"




20 Kislev

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner (1906-1980), the brilliant dean of the Chaim Berlin yeshiva in New York, whose thousands of students formed the nucleus of American Jewish leadership in the late 20th century. Rabbi Hutner had a warm, welcoming posture toward all Jews, and two of his disciples, Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld and Rabbi Noah Weinberg, headed the first yeshivas catering to baal teshuvas. In 1970, Rabbi Hutner was on an airplane which was hijacked by Palestinian "Black September" terrorists, and was held hostage on a runway in Amman, Jordan. (After all the hostages were removed, the planes were blown up in front of TV cameras.) Rabbi Hutner's discourses on Shabbat and the holidays, influenced largely by the Maharal of Prague, are collected in the seven-volume, Pachad Yitzhak. He is buried in Jerusalem.



20 Kislev

Consider three things, and you will not approach sin. Know whence you came, whereto you are going, and before Whom you are destined to give an accounting (Ethics of the Fathers 3:1).

If we thought about our humble origin on the one hand, and the greatness we can achieve on the other, we would come to only one logical conclusion: the potential for such greatness could not possibly reside in the microscopic germ-cell from which we originated. This capacity for greatness can reside only in the neshamah (soul), the spirit which God instills within man.

What an extraordinary stretching of the imagination it must take to think that a single cell can develop into the grandeur which a human being can achieve! People have the power to contemplate and reflect upon infinity and eternity, concepts which are totally beyond the realm of the physical world. How could something purely finite even conceive of infinity?

Our humble origins are the greatest testimony to the presence of a Divine component within man. Once we realize this truth, we are unlikely to contaminate ourselves by behavior beneath our dignity. We have an innate resistance to ruining what we recognize to be precious and beautiful. We must realize that this is indeed what we are.


Today I shall ...
... try to make my behavior conform to that which I recognize to be the essence of my being: the spirit that gives me the potential for greatness.

See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com


20 Kislev

No Pork

What’s the big deal about Jews not eating pork? It’s actually more healthy than the chopped liver and pastrami that you find in a Jewish delicatessen. So what’s the problem?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The one Jewish law that everyone in the world seems to know is that a Jew is not allowed to eat ham, pork or anything else derived from a pig. Interestingly, there is nothing in the Torah that seems to make this prohibition more stringent than others. In fact, there is no difference in Judaism between eating pork or catfish or a chocolate-covered ant. Why then have we singled out this prohibition against the pig?

One reason you may have heard for not eating pork is that prior to the advent of refrigeration, pork was a primary cause of the disease trichinosis. This is not the reason that the Torah gives, and ascribing this as "the reason" for not eating pork is dangerous because it implies that nowadays – since trichinosis is no longer a problem – pork should therefore be permitted.

This is totally incorrect reasoning. The laws of the Torah are eternal and immutable. Of course, there can be many practical side benefits. But the Torah forbids a Jew to eat pork, and that's the bottom line.

Having said that, we can try to examine some of the philosophical underpinnings of this mitzvah.

The Torah tells us (Leviticus 11:7) – and zoologists concur – that the pig is the only animal in the world possessing the outward symbol of kosher (split hooves), but not the inward symbol (chewing cud). The pig therefore represents that which is kosher in outward appearance, but is in fact unclean on the inside. This type of hypocrisy is described the Talmud as one of the categories of behavior that God detests. For that moral reason, the pig is universally viewed as reprehensible to the Jew.

Interestingly, the Midrash compares the arch-enemy of the Jewish people – Esav (Edom) to a pig. Because just as a pig puts forth its hoof as if to say: "See, I am Kosher," so too does the Empire of Edom boast as it commits violence and robbery, under the guise of executing justice." (Midrash Rabba – Leviticus 13:5)

Maybe that's what King Solomon meant when he said, "Better the anger of a friend than the kiss of an enemy." At least you know what you're getting.

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