The Library

$20,000 in 1956 would be worth $175,000 today. That’s the price point at which Norman Larsen – a self-educated chemist with only a high school diploma to his name – sold his newly invented water displacement formula. That is quite a bargain considering the fact that the...

I've always had this weird thing in me... Whenever I would destroy something of value, I felt a high. When I was in highschool, I would secretly burn books and clothes of mine when I felt down. Nothing gave me a bigger high than taking a $20 and watching it burn, or break...

Let’s say, for example, that you just got done with a 10 mile run on a hot day. You come inside and there are two glasses of water on the kitchen table. One is regular water from the tap; the other is salt water. Both look the same. Both are water. But while one glass ...

The yetzer hara deludes people to thinking that life is for pleasure. Looking back upon one’s life and realizing that it was all in futility, is the despair expressed by King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, “Nothingness of nothingness—all is nothingness.” A man came across a p...

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of training the master ...

Member: “You say that when you fall, you fall to go higher, but why does it have to be that way? I'm recognizing a lot that I didn't see before. Yes, I'm in a better place in a way. But why can't it be different? And I don't think it's worth breaking Shabbos and knowing I...

{1} Once all villagers decided to pray for rain, on the day of prayer all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That's FAITH {2} When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch her. That's TRUST {3} ...

An ageing master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it. “How does it taste?” the master asked. “Bitter,” said...

Dear chashuva fellow strugglers,You might ask, if the Jews said naaseh v'nishma, why did the Creator find it necessary to force them to accept the Torah by hanging a mountain over their heads? The answer is that the Creator of all things knew that even though the people...

Imagine: you're caught in a whirlpool, doggy-paddling with both hands to stay afloat, but you're right in the middle of the vortex and are about to go under. You know you are powerless against these strong natural forces, but you are relying on the power of your two arm...

If you give me to look at a woman,I may not see everything I want to see at first glance.So I may ask to look again. When I look again, I may think she is attractive, and if I find her attractive, I'll want to sexualize her. Once I've sexualized her, I'll want a fantasy ...

In Chinese, the word for disaster and opportunity is the same. No one is immune to the fear of failure; all of us have failed and misinterpreted its meaning. The experience of failure is painful However, it is this pain that can initiate a search for its sources. We can ...

The jack is a simple machine. It allows you to lift or move something that otherwise would be too heavy. However, this ability doesn't come from nowhere. You have to move the lever much farther, so you are exerting a smaller force but over a larger distance. When someone ...

A newspaper editor once offered a prize for the best answer to the question, "Who are the happiest people on earth?" The four winning answers were the following: 1. A mother bathing her baby. 2. A craftsman, or an artist, whistling over a job well done; 3. A docto...

Hi, I'm an addict. Although I've been clean for quite some time now I still call myself an addict and not a recovering addict. Let me explain myself with a story. The Kotzker Rebbe once had a talmid who thought he was ready to tackle the real world. "Let me go out into t...

To my star pupil, I am writing this letter to let you know what I think of you. Up here in heaven things are not like they are down on Earth. Over there, people only know what they can see. If they see a person is "successful", they think that he is the greatest guy. Whe...

Rav Baruch Ber's genius is never doubted by anyone; however, we must also never forget that besides excelling in learning, he excelled, perhaps even more, in his exemplary character traits (Midos Tovos) and particularly in his extreme exactness with which he performed the...

Football is a game played by men Gotta run, hit da ground and get up again Preparation durin' the week is a definite must - and so it is with recovery from lust. Gotta shvitz, gotta train, muscles to build Otherwise, you gonna get killed Guys on the other side can be ...