Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | The Awesome Power of Joyful Willpower and Firepower Your thoughts are the source of your willpower. The actions you take flow from your thoughts about them. Every step you take is through the use of your willpower. Every time you do anything, it is through the use of your willpower. A person who uses his willpower to engage in meaningful goals will feel a great sense of victory and joy. This might be difficult initially, but in the long run a person who uses willpower wisely will live a life full of joyful accomplishments. You have the ability to choose to be joyful when you use your willpower in positive, meaningful ways. There is tremendous power in mastering "joyful willpower," to joyfully do what is in your best interests to do. In the videos below, we learn that in addition to willpower, there is Firepower. Wyatt Earp learned sometimes you use willpower and sometimes you use firepower Love with willpower and Firepower Yehuda Lave | | WYATT EARP - THE REAL STORY OF THE LEGEND (WILD WEST HISTORY DOCUMENTARY) Wyatt Earp has been portrayed in countless movies and television shows by some of Hollywood's greatest actors, including Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, and more recently, Kevin Costner, but these popular fictions often belie the complexities and flaws of a man whose life is a lens on politics, justice and economic opportunity in the American frontier. As a young man, Wyatt Earp was a caricature of the Western lawman. He gained notoriety as the legendary gunman in the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, but shortly after his death in 1929, distressed Americans down on their luck transformed Wyatt Earp into a folk hero, a central figure in the narrative of how the West was won. Celebrated as a man who took control of his own destiny, Wyatt Earp came to epitomize the town-taming marshal responsible for bringing the forces of law, order and civilization to the Wild West. Wyatt Earp's actual life story, though, was more complicated than the romantic legend. He spent his youth carousing, gambling, and visiting brothels - sometimes just one step ahead of the law. A wanderer and an opportunist, Earp was ever in pursuit of greater fortunes in the next boomtown. He spent most of his life roaming the West, supporting himself with police work, mining, gambling, saloon-keeping, and real estate deals. After the tragic death of his young wife, Earp fell in among prostitutes and gamblers and remained closely connected to this underworld even after becoming a lawman. Soon after settling in the burgeoning silver mining town of Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp and his brothers became involved in a feud with the local Cowboys which culminated in the notorious 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Though it lasted less than a minute, this infamous gunfight blurred the boundaries of law and criminality, and became a symbol a chapter in the winning of the West. In revenge for his brother's murder Earp took the law into his own hands, killing at least three of the local Cowboys before finally leaving the territory of Arizona for good. In his later years, living in a small bungalow in Los Angeles, Wyatt Earp was haunted by his past, and fretted over his legacy. He died before he could witness his redemption as an enduring and admired hero in the American imagination. | | gunfight at the ok corral In 1881 Virgil Earp,marshal of Tombstone, suspects Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers of stealing cattle and,backed up by his brothers Wyatt and Morgan and 'Doc' Holliday,challenges them to surrender near the OK corral. In the following thirty second shoot-out the suspected and unarmed thieves are shot in the back,leading to the Earps standing trial for murder - though they are exonerated by the judge,who also happens to be a relation. This retelling,along with commentaries,is a far darker version of the story in which the Earps are usually represented as the unequivocally good guys. | | Reb Shlomo's Teaching's Parshat Shlach - Got to Try Again (6/18/74) Imagine I take upon myself to keep Shabbos. I'm working really hard on it but it just doesn't go. What happens to me then? There are two ways before me. I might end up hating myself, and come to the conclusion that this is not for me. Or I make myself stronger, and I say to myself "I got to try again." If I tried and I end up being disappointed in myself, I'll end up dropping Shabbos altogether, since I cannot walk around hating myself. So I have to make an excuse saying "it is what it is, I'm just not up to Shabbos." But if I am strong enough, I say 'okay, take a deep breath. It didn't work the first few times, but I will try again."
So the Alexanderer Rebbe says that this is essentially the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and the spies. Moshe Rabbeinu's anava was was that in a very deep and holy way, he realized that he hasn't served G-d the way he should, but he was a savlan about it, he could bear it. The spies were very holy but they were not on this level. For them, if they felt that they couldn't overcome that which they were working on, they understood that it's not for them. Here they are coming into Israel, they see it's a totally different story from that which they were used to. In the desert with Moshe Rabbeinu, we had no problems. Food was coming down from heaven, we had water from the well of Miriam. A cloud would come down every Friday afternoon, washing you clean. Your garments would grow with you, everything was absolutely miraculous. When the spies came to Israel, they realized that Israel is a different story. In Israel G-d wants you to plow your field, food doesn't fall down from heaven. But you see what it is, to feel high in Israel takes more than whatever you thought. Eretz Yisrael is a different kind of high.
The question is, after you tried once and you couldn't do it, why don't you try again? The Alexanderer says that this stems from utmost arrogance, it's the biggest chutzpah in the world. What makes you think that if you tried and it didn't go, it means you can't do it, or that it cannot be done? Who are you? Try again.
Now imagine a mathematical problem is placed in front of me, and I really don't know anything about mathematics. If I'm a mentsch I say "I don't know, maybe you can help me." But if I think I am the greatest mathematician in the world and I can't solve it, I would say that it's simply impossible. So since the mergalim thought that they were so great, they assumed that Israel is a country where you can't be high. But if they would been real students of Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbeinu's level, they would have been tuned in to the midda of savlanut.
The Zohar Hakadosh says that Shlach is really the way we have to go into the Holy Land. As hard as it is to be a high yidele outside of Israel, but in Israel it's murder, it's absolute murder. Why is it so hard to bring yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisrael? I might be able to turn on all of Brooklyn to yiddishkeit, but it's very hard to turn on all of Tel Aviv because this is really where it's at. If it's where it's at – the harder it is. Sometimes you go to Israel and you don't feel anything. You come to the holy wall, and you are a stone. The wall is not the stone, you are the stone. So you got to try more.
So what was the holiness of Yehoshua? How did he make it? Yehoshua was mamesh Moshe Rabbeinu's pupil, and Moshe Rabbeinu's pupil knows that you always have to try again.
I want you to know how deep this is. The holiness of the land of Israel is, this is our whole connection to the land of Israel… we always try again. Can you imagine, we are waiting for two thousand years to go back… try again… try again.
All of yiddishkeit, the holiness of us yidden, our mission to the world is 'try again, but really… be humble and bear it' | | AS HEARD FROM RABBI AVIGDOR MILLER Z'TL "And you will see it and you will remember all the Mitzvot of Hashem and you will do them" (15:39)
The Mitzvah of Sisit is a Commandment which is categorized as an 'Edut', Testimony. An Edut testifies to Historical events or great principles. Since we can understand the Edut more easily, therefore they are more obligatory for us to do them. Principle: "Whatever is easier to do is more obligatory".
Some examples of Edut are: Matzah – to recall being slaves in Egypt. Sisit – to remember the Mitzvot. Mezuzah – reminds us that this is a Holy home given to us by Hashem. Teffilin – reminds us that Hashem took us out of Egypt. And that the words of Torah should be on our lips. Pesach – Yetziat Mitzrayim. Shabbat – that Hashem created the world from nothing (ex nihilo).
The verse says that when we look at the Sisit we should remember all of the (613) Mitzvot. This would necessitate the knowledge of all the Mitzvot and include a special effort to perform. The Rabbis tell us, "If a person tries to do too much at one time he will not accomplish anything". Therefore, when we gather the 4 Sisit every morning during the Shema prayer, lets try to think and 'remember' at least the following 4 Mitzvot which will fulfill 4 Commandments from our Torah.
1. "To gain fear/awareness of Hashem" – think that Hashem is looking at you. "Et Hashem Elokecha tira"
2. "To Love Hashem" – say, 'I Love You Hashem'. "Veahabta Et Hashem Elokecha Bechol Lebabecha"
3. "To Thank Hashem" – Thank Him for Everything. "Tob Lehodot LeHashem"
4. "To Love your fellow Jew & Jewish Nation" – Hashem created the world for Am Yisrael. "Beni Bechori Yisrael".
We must listen to the testimony of the Edut as they were made in order to speak to us. When you see 'Sisit', your neighbor's or your own, remind yourself of the Mitzvot.
By thinking into the Edut/Testimonies of our Torah you will produce a diamond and a collection of gems in your mind which will give you pleasure in this world and in the next world forever. | | Rav Kook on the Perasha Repairing the Sin of the Spies
One of the greatest tragedies in the long history of the Jewish people occurred when the spies sent by Moses returned with a frightening report about the Land of Israel. Their dire warnings of fierce giants and a "land that consumes its inhabitants" convinced the people that they would be better off returning to Egypt.
Unlike other incidents in which the Israelites rebelled against God, on this occasion, Moses was unable to annul God's decree. The entire generation died in the desert, never reaching the Promised Land. The best Moses was able to do was delay the punishment for forty years.
Rav Kook wrote that even today we still suffer the consequences of this catastrophic error. The root cause for the exiles and humiliations of the Jewish people, throughout the generations, is due to our failure to correct the sin of the spies.
How can we rectify the sin of the spies? To repair this national failure, a teshuvat hamishkal is needed, a penance commensurate with the sin which will "balance the scales." The spies defamed the Land of Israel, as it says, "They despised the desirable land" (Psalms 106:24). We must do the opposite and show our unwavering love for the Land.
"[We must] declare to the entire world [the Land's] magnificence and beauty, its holiness and grandeur. If only we could express (with what may appear to us to be greatly exaggerated) even a ten-thousandth of the desirability of the beloved Land, the splendorous light of its Torah, and the superior light of its wisdom and prophecy!
The quality of wonderful holiness that Torah scholars seeking holiness may find in the Land of Israel does not exist at all outside the Land. I myself can attest to this unique quality, to a degree commensurate with my meager worth." (Igrot HaRe'iyah, vol. I, pp. 112-113)
For Rav Kook, this recommendation on how to address the sin of the spies was not just a nice homily. Stories abound of his burning love for the Land of Israel and his indefatigable attempts to encourage fellow Jews to move to Eretz Yisrael.
Kissing the Rocks of Acre: The Talmud in Ketubot 112a records that Rabbi Abba would demonstrate his great love for the Land of Israel by kissing the rocks of Acre as he returned to Israel. What was so special about these rocks?
Rav Kook explained that if Rabbi Abba had bent down and kissed the soil of Eretz Yisrael, we would understand that his love for the Land was based on the special mitzvot that are fulfilled with its fruit — tithes, first fruits, the Sabbatical year, and so on. The soil, which produces fruit, signifies the importance and holiness of the Land through the mitzvot hateluyot ba'aretz.
But Rabbi Abba's love for the Land was not dependent on any external factors — not even the Land's special mitzvot (see Avot 5:16; Orot, p. 9). Rabbi Abba cherished the intrinsic holiness of Eretz Yisrael. He recognized that the special qualities of the Land of Israel, such as its receptivity to prophecy and enlightenment, go far beyond those mitzvot connected to agriculture. Therefore, he made a point of kissing its barren rocks and stones.
'God Willing': During a 1924 fundraising mission in America, Rav Kook tried to convince a wealthy Jew to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. The man gave various reasons why he could not yet leave America, but concluded, "God willing, I too will soon make Aliyah to Israel."
Rav Kook responded: "God is certainly willing. After all, settling Eretz Yisrael is one of His commandments. But you must also be willing..."
Without Calculations: Once, a Jewish tourist visited Rav Kook in Jerusalem, seeking advice as to the possibility of living in Eretz Yisrael. During the discussion, the visitor calculated the pros and cons of moving to Israel; and in the end, he decided that it was not worthwhile.
Rav Kook told the man: "Before the Israelites entered the Land in the time of Moses, they first needed to kill Sichon, the king of Heshbon. This teaches us that one should come to the Land of Israel bli heshbon — without making calculations." (Sapphire from the Land of Israel. Adapted from Malachim Kivnei Adam, pp. 221, 222, 237.) | | | Beyond Words Selected Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane, 1960-1990 Volume 6 AN OYLEM GOYLEM What Alexander Hamilton said in his day ("the masses are asses") was a mere echo of a famous Yiddish folk saying, "der oylem iz a goylem". The golem, one recalls, is that brutish being, incapable of independent thought, and keyed to the will of its master. Alas, the more things change, the less anything in the Jewish world does. The oylem, the Jewish audience, remains a goylim… I speak of the incredible willingness of the Jew to want to believe any lie, fraud and cynical manipulation – as long as that allows him to preserve his illusions of heroes. I speak of the almost absolute ability of politicians to do and say anything, in the knowledge that their idolatrous followers will see only divinity and truth in them – despite the fact that if the same act would be done to by a politician they despise, they would be crying for "the traitors scalp." And I write this, as the cult of Ariel Sharon spreads among the oylem that is a goylem, the masses of asses. There is an apparent need on the part of human beings, and certainly Jews, for a hero. There is a need for man to worship. Alas, G-d lacking enough charisma for the modern Jew, he seeks something more exciting. And in every decade there is someone else to worship, some other god with feet and mind and soul of clay. Now, it may be legitimate to raise high the banner of a leader, but only the goylem refuses to see his feet of clay and his nakedness of principle. In the past it was Moshe Dayan, he of the one eye and the lion heart of Judah. Jews of the Exile, humiliated for two millennia, ached for a hero and here was the Jewish Samson who smote the gentiles and gave every Jew in Levittown pride and self-respect. Little matter that Dayan was a man of tiny faith and immense fear of the gentiles, who along with Golda Meir (yet another Jewish winner), refused to allow the Israeli Army to strike a preventive blow a day before they knew the Yom Kippur War was to begin, out of fear of the American reaction. No less than 4,000 Jewish boys fell because of that criminal decision by Moshe the lion-hearted, who was quoted in the first week of that war that seemed to be a debacle, "we are seeing the destruction of the Third Temple". And who recalled, or cared to, that it was Dayan, who in the Six Day War, opposed reaching the Suez Canal and capturing the Golan Heights lest Israel get involved with the Soviets. (It was Divine Providence that saw the Israeli Army outrun Dayan's pathetic orders). And who recalls, or cares to, that it was Dayan who refused to expel the Arabs in 1967, when the world stood awe-struck, lest as he put it, "the world think that there is another wave of Arab refugees." Indeed, he ordered the army to return thousands of Arabs who had fled on their own, and the tragedy of today is in such large measure the doing of Moshe Dayan, hero of the Jewish people. And yet he continues, incredibly, to dwell in the private Pantheon of millions of Jews. Indeed, an oylem goylem. And Golda, the architect of the murder of 4,000 Jewish soldiers because of fear of the world. The architect, too, of the saying that will surely enter the Hall of Fame of Insanity, as she declared: "I can forgive the Arabs for having killed our soldiers but I can never forgive them for making us kill theirs." And yet, this person still remains in the eyes of millions "the only gever (man) in the Israeli cabinet…" And Begin. What shall we say about a man who will go down in history as the saddest and weakest of all Prime Ministers, while, at the same time, continuing to reap the kudos and hurrahs of millions who make up his oylem goylem. Had Peres given up the Sinai, with its huge oil supplies and land area, knocked down Jewish settlements and dragged out Jews; had Peres stopped the Israeli Army in Lebanon from annihilating the PLO and its leadership and thus cause more than 650 Jewish soldiers to die for nothing; had Peres allowed his army officers to take the blame for Sabra and Shatilla – Begin and his groupies would have taken to the streets calling for the head of the "traitor". But since it was Begin who did it, the goylem accepts it as the decision "forced upon him". What an oylem! What a goylem! Every decade, every year, the goylem finds himself another hero. Shamir. He is better than Peres. Why? Only G-d knows why a man who arrested and prosecuted the Jewish underground; who is Prime Minister of the intifada; who lied on every issue (except money) to the religious parties; who speaks loudly and carries a small twig –is lionized by the oylem goylem. And worst of all - is Aharon Ariel Sharon. Latest hero of the masses He is the "hawk." He is the no-nonsense man. He is the salvation. Masses. Asses, Oylem, Goylem. It was a Saturday night and Begin was on the verge of signing the infamous, insane Camp David Accords. The sticking point was Sadat's absolute refusal to allow Jews to remain, hence the need to dismantle the settlements and remove the Jews. Begin feared one man. Sharon. He called him from the U.S. to ask if he would support the plan. What else was said we can only guess. But what is known is that Sharon agreed to support it, voted for the Camp David accords in the Knesset (Shamir did not) and then was appointed Minister of Defense. And as Minister of Defense, it was Ariel Sharon, hawk, hero, salvation, who hovered over the area in his helicopter directing the knocking down of Jewish settlements (and creating a precedent for Judea and Samaria) and bodily dragging out Jews from their homes. If Peres had done that, what would the hawk have said? What would the hero have shouted? What would the salvation have exclaimed? Masses. Asses. Oylem, Goylem. I know of countless cabinet ministers in the world, and even some in Israel, who resigned over principle. If the handling of the "intifada" is so terrible (and it is!) and if Israel is headed toward disaster (and it is!), why does not Sharon resign? And what can one say about a man who, in November 1987 and then again in December of that year and again after that, called for the drafting of Arabs into the army and who condemns Meir Kahane for his proposal to expel them instead? Donkeys, asses, are programmed in their limitations. They cannot see; they cannot grasp reality. Human donkeys are different. They can – but they are worse than the four-legged brand because they refuse to see and admit truth and reality. The same Ariel Sharon is a man whose word is suspect (and I attempt to be kind). In an interview with the newspaper Ma'ariv on the eve of the 1973 elections, he told the paper that he supported equal rights for all wings of Judaism – Reform, Conservatism, as well as Orthodox, and was for public transportation on the Sabbath. Today he goes to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for his blessings in his battle against Shamir's elections plan, and the oylem goylem goes wild in ecstasy. Please continue your prayers for Rivka bat Talya the 20-year old daughter of Binyamin and Talya Kahane, may G-d avenge their blood. | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
