Excerpted from the Tanya, Chapter 27, by the first Admor of Chabad, the Baal HaTanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.
"However, should the sadness (in serving G-d) stem not from worry over sins, but from evil thoughts and desires that enter his mind – if they appear not d...
If G-d has given you these struggles he is saying to you "I don't want you just to be an average Jew like everyone else, I am giving you a chance to be a real "Tzaddik".
One member wrote:
"In retrospect, I have to thank G-d for all the struggles he gave me in breaking f...
Once upon a time, a king wanted to see who among his servants was truly brave and strong. He had one of his foolish court jesters dress up in a large dragon outfit that looked truly strong and fierce. The king then called his two most trusted servants into the arena to fi...
Shmirat habrit is the foundation of all of the Torah. The Kabbalists teach that if a Jew keeps Shabbat, studies Torah, gives charity generously, and generally excels in his overall mitzvah observance, but is lax in guarding his sexual holiness, then all of the spiritual e...
In the year 1927, at a time of world depression and widespread persecution of the Jews, the Chafetz Chaim wrote an appeal to world Jewry to speak out on the dangers of immodesty, in order to stem the sufferings of the Jewish People. We quote here some excerpts from his le...
A person who just found out that he has a serious disease, or someone who is ill, in pain, or just lost a large sum of money - it's unlikely that such a person would be having a difficult struggle with shmiras ainayim or improper thoughts at that time. Suddenly these type...
In the Daf Yomi in Sotah (9a), we learned in the Gemara; "One who puts his eyes on that which is not his, not only will he not achieve his desires, but he will lose even that which he has."
We think we have it hard with Shmiras Ainayim and Shmiras Habris. And sometimes we do. But take a look below at the mesirus nefesh and love for Hashem's mitzvos of a simple Jew, just 65 years ago. It makes me so ashamed.
A friend of mine told me a story that happened with him. He is a a Sefardic man, a Ba'al Teshuvah, who was sitting and learning Torah for many years in Kollel. He has a very strong Emunah and humility about him. About 12 years ago he found a hidden Tzadik in Tel Aviv who ...
A Jew needs to use both the attributes of humility AND haughtiness - but both, for the service of Hashem! As the Pasuk says "Vayigbah Libo Bedarkei Hashem" - "and his heart was proud in the ways of Hashem" (about one of the kings of Klal Yisrael). One of the previous Karl...
"Battleworn" posted something really nice today on the forum to strengthen a fellow struggler:
The fact that you are struggling is not a chidush (it's nothing new). But the fact the you're waging war against such a powerful force, now that's a chidush. And that you haven'...
When we say "no" to the Yetzer Hara and we feel pain, that is not our pain. That is the Yetzer Hara in pain. We are striking HIM where it hurts. And sometimes, when it takes real Messiras Nefesh to turn away from the bad things we used to do, that taste of "death" we may ...
When Moshiach comes - any day now, G-d willing, we will yearn for the days when we had the struggle, when the struggle was so real. There is no greater connection with Hashem than when a person feels that he needs Hashem every second to save him.
The Sefer Shamati (from t...
Taken from the website www.ilovetorah.com
Every tzaddik is faced with the most difficult tests. Chazal say that the higher ones level the greater their evil inclination. There is no tzaddik that exists that wasn't tempted and didn't face sin head to head. We think that be...
Recovery from harmful addictions is like a caterpillar climbing a staircase. For the caterpillar, stairs are a challenge. After a short upwards incline, the caterpillar reaches a plateau, a long flat surface that is not going up at all. Things go smoothly for a while as t...
People spend their whole lives running after happiness and thinking "if only I had this or that I would be happy". But happiness through physical pleasure disappears the moment the pleasure is gone. One can never get enough and is never happy. This has been shown, time an...
We've been working for the past few months with a 20 year old Ba'al Teshuvah, unmarried and schooling in a secular environment. Through great self-sacrifice he has been clean for close to a half a year already. Recently however, he has been feeling a bit frustrated and se...
Here are some excerpts from a discussion on our forum that's just packed with great tips and chizuk! (Some slight editing was done to make it easier to read).
"Frumthinker" writes:
I came across this site today, and I felt compelled to make some comments here. I won't say...