Today I reached the BIG 90 and I am quite excited. I never dreamed I could go on for 90 days without a fall, but thanks to GYE's combined forces I made it.
That menuval!! Even on the last day he tried to make me fall. In previous situations he could have been successful, but not with friends like you all!! Thank you GYE.
Rashi tells us in this week's Parsha, that the middle of the ladder in Jacob's dream was above the Beis Hamikdosh. The question that struck me is, what do we have to know this for?
And I thought of an answer with a story (told over in the name of the Bal Shem Tov) of a king that promised his daughter to whoever will climb this massive huge building of 100 floors - till the top.
Loads of people started ascending the stairs, but they eventually became exhausted at some level. The strong ones climbed up till the 40th, others till the 45th floor, and then they gave up.
There was one person who was on the verge of giving up but he thought to himself,"if the king said climb to the top, it must be possible. It can't be that he gave a task that nobody can fulfill", and with this he climbed another 5 floors.
Upon reaching the 50th floor, he saw that the stairs finished at a lift, and as soon as he entered the lift, it took him straight to the top!!
The king just wanted to see who will trust him blindly; and he took care of the rest!
That's the lesson of Jacob's ladder. You are trying to climb up? Just do all you can, even if it seems impossible and you want to give up. Trust Hashem that if he gave you this task, you will succeed. And once you have done your part - that is like reaching the middle of the ladder ("our half" as opposed to "Hashem's half"). And Rashi is telling us, that the middle of the ladder is parallel to the Beis Hamikdosh, i.e. Hashem's lift that will shoot us straight to the top!
May we all continue climbing only upwards!
When G38 first joined, he posted the following:
Here I am. I am married, father of kids ble"h.
As many of us here, I have been struggling for 20+ years, knowing well that this is wrong - but clueless how to get out of it.
Since I came here the first time over three weeks ago, I am clean completely on p***, and no intentional m** either.
Here's my first thought:
I live in Europe and I have been a few times to the Swiss mountains. I noticed a simple yet inspiring point. When you climb up to the top, you go up most of the time, but also down sometimes.
Even on the downs, there is no doubt that you are climbing, this is just the way Hashem made it; to go down sometimes a bit as well, on the way up. No reason to panic!
Yet how do you now when you are shteiging?? When it gets hard, when you lose your breath, when your feet and back are hurting... in other words, whenever it's getting difficult then you are going up!!
R' Chaim Wosner writes in his sefer "Reai Chaim" about this problem, although he does not elaborate too much. His point is basically, "stop staring at the girl in the bank and you will see how your interest in your wife will come back".
Note: Along these lines, I'd like to call everyone's attention to the "Q&A" page on our site called "Do I like my wife?".
Even if you feel strong, don't forget that we are in middle of a war here. Just like in a war, there are times of calm and times of heavy fighting. When it is calm, you should utilize the time to rearm. As the Noam Elimelech says in parshas Emor, "Lehazhir Gedoilim al haktanim" means to shine from the times of high to the times of low. When you have no desire for this nonsense, that is the best time to fortify your soul. Get as much chizuk as you can now, it will come into good use when the fighting will begin again.