We added a new "Simcha Niggun" to our Music page in honor of Jack's achievement (scroll down to the 'Simcha Nigunim').
Let's put on Jack's Simcha Niggun (set it to loop) and let's dance together with Jack in our hearts! Let's lead Jack under the canopy, like a Sefer Torah, and accompany him to the WALL OF HONOR! We'll send the Yetzer hara flying with our true Simcha shel Mitzva!
When you have time, read through Jack's "90 day Log" over here. You are guaranteed to be inspired.
To all my dear brothers - warriors in arms, Jack is Mechayev us all. He is 49 years old and before he started, he hadn't had a clean day in 38 years. He suffers from low-self esteem, fear, anxiety, an abusive childhood, and constant pain (from a burst appendix in his youth that never healed properly). If Jack can do it, we all can. Like the Gemara says; "Hillel Mechayev es Ha'aniyim" (Hillel obligates paupers to learn Torah). With Jack's amazing achievement yesterday, the time for excuses has ended!
We strongly encourage all those who want to begin their journey to freedom to start a Log of their own on the "Wall of Honor" section of our forum. Currently, we have a few valiant warriors there, like PostalServico, Be-Holy and Ano-Nymous who are doing great battles against the Yetzer Hara and making great strides. Let's all do it and cheer each other on!
thanks to you, my life is better. i can speak to my kids about yiddishkeit without feeling like a hypocrite. i can sing zemiros at the shabbos table without feeling guilt. i can shake the rabbis hand without saying to myself - 'if he only knew'. ok, i'm doing the work, but you are there, which makes all the difference between now and prior to now. and i feel exactly the same about elya k - he is there, with his comforting soothing, understanding, non-critical, non-judgmental voice. between you two and all the people on the forum who are rooting for me, i can pull through this struggle. i can't express in words how much i owe you. (someday, we'll meet and you'll know who you helped).
dear all, in today's yom, it says 'Hashem knows the thoughts of man that they are HEVEL. this brought to mind a beautiful vort on koheles. it says there that everything is hevel. why is it important for us to know this? because we have to look at the things that Hashem made forbidden to us - that they are hevel. in other words, don't feel so bad that they are forbidden to you, because they are hevel anyway. if hashem didn't let you have something that was really wonderful, that would be a reason to complain. But He didn't do that. He only made osur to us things that are really bad for us, so don't feel bad about this and don't complain!
by the way, have all of you gotten on that weekly phone call yet? have you spoken with elya k. yet? if not, what are you waiting for? you can't do this by yourself - it's too hard. you need caring fellow Jews who are willing to listen to you, understand you, and are willing to go out of their way to help you - like elya k and guard. So get on that phone and start the healing!
Today is my 31st day. This is the most difficult battle that i have ever undertaken voluntarily. and i couldn't do it without the phone support. if you are trying this on your own, maybe the forum is enough for you. but, for me, i need the phone support - the withdrawal symptoms are too strong - i need to unload on a human being who is there for me and will listen. did you ever see a drug addict coming off drugs? (i can only imagine) what it's like. well, what i have is not a chemical dependency, but the withdrawal symptoms are (i can only imagine) just as powerful, and i need a support person to listen to me scream and cry it out of my system. i don't know how long i will need this, but the people are there for me, and that's how I'm doing it. and that's what changed from the past 38 years, when i always wanted to stop, but couldn't. the withdrawal was just too much to bear alone. but now, i have a new family, and that's what's doing it for me, plain and simple. Jack