Lazer Brody's Blog, page 312

A Home in the Land of Emuna

Make your decision to come home to the Land of Emuna and try to strengthen yourself in emuna with all your heart, and you'll see big miracles like my wonderful friends the Gros family did:

Dear Rabbi Brody,

Exactly a year ago, my husband (Michael Gros) and I had a question for you. I wanted to give you an update on Hashem's answer to that question.

We had made aliyah two years prior and had still not sold our home in America. In the meantime we were renting it out and the rent our tenants were paying covered the mortgage plus a little spending money.

Our problem was that we really wanted to buy a home in Eretz Yisrael but were unable to without the sale of our home in Atlanta. As you know the real estate market in America is bleak and it is even worse in Atlanta.

Your advice to us was to actively look for an apartment here in Israel and talk to Hashem telling him our dilemma and asking for help. We told Him all the reasons we wanted to buy here (including that we know that Moshiach's arrival is imminent and we wanted to be able to house all the guests that are going to be pouring into Erertz Yisrael!)and asked him to send a buyer to purchase our Atlanta home at the right time and the right price.

After much searching we found our dream apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh. It was beautiful with a view of the neighboring mountains. The sunset from our balcony would be breathtaking and we really wanted the apartment however there was not even a bite on our Atlanta home.

We did not loose faith! We continued talking to Hashem every night and made an offer on the apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh and it was accepted. Although we had enough money for the down payment we knew that the monthly mortgage payments would be an enormous financial strain on us. We would have to start asking relatives to help us each month if the house in Atlanta did not sell.

A closing date on our apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh was set and instead of getting nervous about our Atlanta home we kept davening and talking to Hashem.

A week before our closing here in Eretz Yisrael we received a phone call from a family in Atlanta saying they were interested in our home, how much were we asking and how quickly could we close.

In the end, we got for out home in Atlanta the exact amount we needed to make our mortgage payments comfortable here. The best part of the whole story is that we closed on our apartment here at 3pm and in Atlanta 11pm all on the same day...only a 7 hour difference. We couldn't have planned it that!!

Thank you for your advice! Thank you for showing us that Hashem really listens to us. Thank you for giving us the gift of Emuna!

Shoshana and Michael Gros

 

Long Beard, Short Emuna

Avremel is a very pleasant individual, but he suffers. His most difficult challenge on Shabbat is refraining from  biting his fingernails, even though they're already bitten down to the skin. He has a tell-tale twitch in his left eye and he picks at his beard all the time. He's an upright person who won't touch a morsel of food that's does not display the BaDatz hechsher that his Chassidic group eats and he won't walk out of his front door without wearing a hat and a long reckyl (suit coat). Avremel knows that it's wrong to get angry so he doesn't shout at people. He also bites the bullet when his wife complains that he's not making enough money. The truth is that he works three jobs; together, they consume fourteen hours of his time a day, so you can't say that Avremel is lazy. The problem is that in his circle, you have to keep up with the Goldbergs, and the average Mrs. Goldberg won't be seen at a social function without a Euro-Kastem natural-hair wig with a natural-looking part that costs well over $1000. So, Avremel bites the bullet, continues biting his fingernails, and shells out the money for the sheitel-macher(wig maker), money that he more than often does not have.

Hashem has blessed Avremel with fantastic son-in-laws. They learn all day long. They're considered sharfers, "sharp ones", the best boys and strong Chassidim. They walk 50 meters ahead of their wives and they won't talk to fremders(strangers) – anyone, even with beard and payot, that doesn't belong to their Chassidic group. The problem is that with three married daughters, Avremel shoulders half of three monthly mortgages. If he would stand erect, he'd be 6'2", but with such a load on his shoulders, I can look him straight in the eyes and I'm only 5'9".

The other day, Avremel and I met each other in a neighborhood bomb shelter after taking cover from one of the recent GRAD missiles that was fired at Ashdod from Gaza. Avremel looked especially forlorn, even more than his usual jittery self. I put an arm on his shoulder and asked him if the missiles were frightening him, especially one had already landed a few hours earlier only three streets away. "No, Reb Lazer, the missiles don't bother me. I'm glad you asked, though, because I need someone to talk to." In Avremel's Chassidic group, you don't tell others your problems because that either destroys your façade or messes up shidduchim(so they believe, nebich). As such, Avremel has to chew quite a bit of anti-acid tablets. I pray that he doesn't get a bleeding ulcer or something worse, G-d forbid.
 
I thought that from the look on his face, maybe one of his children were ill; fortunately, that wasn't the case, Avremel told me solemnly that he just finalized a shidduch (marital match)for daughter number four. "Mazal Tov," I smiled, somewhat perplexed at his lack of joy and enthusiasm on such an occasion. But, many of his peers react the same way – a shidduch means more keeping up with the Goldbergs, more financial commitments (whether he can afford them or not), and more worries. "So what's the problem?" I asked, pitying these poor Chassidim who live their lives without Rebbe Nachman's books ("it's not our custom," they say) and without the Garden of Emuna, the Garden of Riches, and the other life-saving teachings of my beloved rabbi and teacher Rav Shalom Arush, may Hashem bless him always.
 
"My inlaws are willing to foot the bill for half an apartment in Ashdod, as long as we don't buy a flat that costs more than 600,000 Shekels." For that money, they can find a 65 square meter flat in one of the mitchardim, the less expensive neighborhoods adjacent to the Chassidic neighborhood...

"That's terrific," I commented. "They're willing to give 300,000 NIS toward the flat above and beyond paying for half the wedding expenses – what's wrong with that?"

"But, Reb Lazer – I don't have the other 300,000; if I don't give my half, they won't give their half. And, the wedding is only 7 months away. I can't go overseas to schnorr (beg), because I can't take off of work. I can barely make a living, so how will I afford to make another wedding?" 

Continue reading Long Beard, Short Emuna in this week's stimulating issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.

Also featured this week:

Rabbi Shalom Arush: Time for Truth

Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook: Machpela - The Double Cave

Zev Ballen: Aliya and Personal Growth

DovBer Halevi: Lessons from a Madman

Racheli Reckles: Land of the Holy

Natalie Kovan: Peanut Butter Cat

Rivka Levy: The Direct Relationship

Gila David: Rebel With a Cause

Chaya Ovadia: Celiac of the Soul

Big Beams blessings for a wonderful week! We look forward to seeing all of our friends in London this coming weekend.

He's With Me

This week's emuna lesson is probably the most important thing a person needs to know in life:

Have a wonderful week!

Parshat Vayera: Sarah's Denial

The Torah tells us that Sarah laughed when she was informed that she would become a mother. How could she deny that she laughed when the Torah bears witness to the contrary? Also, why did Hashem tell Abraham that Sarah laughed? Isn't that a transgression of Torah and forbidden speech?

Big Beam blessings for a wonderful Shabbat!

Chef Sam Talks to Hashem

Chef Sam grew up in an observant home, fell "out of the program", and returned to Hashem big-time by way of emuna books and CDs. I'm so very proud of him. Together with Lipa Schmeltzer, Chef Sam has inspired many other Williamsburg and Monsey "expatriates" and helped them become upright observant Jews out of choice and through love, not force. Let's hear what Chef Sam has to say:

A Big Surprise: Soon!

Guy Tzvi Mintz and I have a delightful big surprise on the way, G-d willing, in the nearest future...

Mama Rochel

Tonight and tomorrow is the 11th day of Cheshvan, the yahrtzeit of our matriarch Rachel whom we affectionately call, Mama Rochel.

Here's my dear friend Yaacov Shwekey singing "Mama Rochel", a moving song written by Abie Rottenberg. May her sacred memory guard over us.

Confusing Paths

Day after day, we've been hearing about Iran. Israeli public officials, rather the leaving such discussions for behind locked doors, having been displaying their opinions, worries, and indecision in public. Do we bomb Iran to stop their A-bomb production or don't we? Do we take the chance of blowing up the Middle East or don't we?

In Tehran, there is no such confusion. Since they have a burning dark-side belief - the spiritual inverse of emuna and true holiness - they move forward single-purposely in their program to develop atomic weapons aimed to annihilate us.

So why are Israel's leaders so confused?

They don't know what our country is all about. Hashem did not give us this holy land for the purpose of Club Med and Maccabee Tel Aviv. The sidewalk cafes on Sheinkin Street don't contribute to our mission that Hashem intends for us to fulfill. Israel is neither Vienna nor Venice, and certainly not Monte Carlo. Yet, our leaders in total disregard of what Hashem wants from us, make wrong decisions. That's no surprise - they're simply confused.

Here's a critically important lesson for all of us: people are confused because they're not on the right path, even further confused about which path to take, and disconnected from their ultimate purpose in life. Even temporary success in whatever endeavor we're currently pursuing won't satisfy us in the long run unless we're pursuing our designated path in life. With the tachlit, our ultimate purpose, we'll only look in the mirror and end up saying, "So what?"
 
One cannot possibly be happy with his current lot in life if he's disengaged from his true lot in life, fulfilling that purpose that the Creator created him to fulfill. Those fortunate people who live their lives while focusing on their true goal in life are always happy. But, to find one's true goal – the very purpose that the Creator created him to fulfill – one must get to know the Creator. To get to know the Creator, we must establish an intimate personal relationship with Him by speaking to Him daily in personal prayer. The more we get to know the Creator, the quicker and closer we arrive at our designated path in life; the more we pursue our true path and purpose in life, the more we understand everything that happens to us. A person who understands what the Creator wants from him is truly happy and fulfilled, no matter what. His happiness is internal, independent of outside influences...

Continue reading Confusing Paths on this week's stimulating issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.

Also featured this week:

Rav Shalom Arush's The Power to Win might be the most important thing you ever read.

Rabbi Nissan Dovid Kivak: Disinterest or Enthusiasm?

Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook: Sanctity in Space

Zev Ballen: Teenage Rebellion

Howard Morton: Throwing the Beatles in the Mikva

Rivka Levy: Fixing the Past

Chaya Ovadia: Falling Apples

Tikvah Motley: Training for the Elite

Adina Hershberg: The Genuine Facebook

USA Speaking Tour, Dec. 11-25, 2011

G-d willing, we'll be in the USA for two weeks in December, including the first nights of Chanuka. Our time slots are closing quickly, so if you'd like for us to visit your community, please send an email right away to Yosef Nechama, Breslev Israel's general director.

Path to Success

Want to be a success in life? See this week's emuna leson:

Lech Lecha

If we see that Abraham was strong enough to defeat Nimrod and four great armies, why didn't he fight Pharaoh - a much weaker enemy - when Sarah was taken away from him in Egypt? See today's mini lesson on this week's Torah portion to find out: