The Library

"Fortunate is he who did not sin!One who did should returnAnd will be forgiven" This is the song that was taught at the annual "Simchas Beis Hashoeva" festivities in the Beis Hamikdash (1) Which sin are they referring to? And why was the the song of choice? They were hint...

Dear GYE Family, I hope everyone had an easy fast and a meaningful and uplifting Yom Kippur. Now as we move from the Yemei HaDin (which were also Yemei HaSimcha) into the days of Z'man Simchaseinu, I'd like to share a few thoughts with the chevra, which have special signi...

Today is the Ushpizin of Yosef Hatzadik, and tonight - Hoshana Rabba, is the Ushpizin of David Hamelech. The Zohar in Parshas Lech Lecha, discusses the merits that both Yosef and David had that enabled them to achieve kingdom. Here is what the Zohar writes: The Pasuk stat...

You may find that the Yetzer Hara feels stronger these days than usual. Because it's vacation-time, people are often not learning as much Torah as they usually do. Hashem says "barasi Yetzer Hara, barasi torah tavlin" - "I created the Yetzer Hara, and I created the Torah...

Sukkos is a time of Simcha. The Chassidic Rebbe of Karlin once said that with Simcha Shel Mitzva a Yid can break down all barriers! The Yetzer Hara just flees when Jews rejoice with Hashem's Mitzvos. Have a Simchadik Yom-Tov!

Last night was very, very tough. My wife had to go out shopping, which would have been a great time for me to act out previously. I won't say I wasn't tempted, but I looked at my personal printout of my 90 day chart and ...

Chaza"l say that the Schach should be from "Pesoles Goren Ve'Yakev". Why do Chazal use the Lashon of "Pesoles", couldn't they have found a nicer way to describe the material we use for this holy Mitzva? Says the Alter Sadigerer Rebbe ...

For the first time in many years, I just took some time to learn this afternoon in the Sukkah and just enjoy this mitzvah. I was able to identify with my feelings for the first time in many years. Es chatai ani mazkir hayom... I rememb...

It seems that for me and a lot of people on the forum, the days after yom Kippur were especially hard. But why? Shouldn't they be easy for us? At least for a few days till Y"K wears off! Why were we falling or having such urges to ...

Before Yom-Kippur, some people were discussing on the forum how they think their Yom-Kippur will be, based on where they are "holding" in their struggle, and whether they feel inspired or not. Dov posted the following importan...

The GYE forum is virtual land... the land of the fake. All you guys here are not people, you are algorithms... it's all 1s and 0s, right? The real world is people in $1500 suits and the New York Post at every...

Chazal call the first day of Sukkos, "Rishon l'Cheshbon Ha'avonos - the first day for an accounting of sins". This cannot simply mean that we're too busy to sin before then, because that's not necessarily true and, furthermore, that's not w...

Question of the Week: Why do we celebrate the festival of Sukkos immediately after Yom Kippur? Wouldn't it be better to space out these festivals? Or is there some connection between fasting on Yom Kippur and eating in an outdoor hut f...

"X-addict" posted on our forum 4 months priviously: Hello, regards from Stamford Hill. I'm 20 years old and have a computer with internet access in my room. I used to be a crazy addict, seriously now, I was, like, the king of p**n, ...

A fascinating and beautiful Zohar (Raya Me'heimna) that is read before Tekiyas Shofar in many kehillos: On Rosh Hashana, Yitzchak (representing the aspect of judgement) calls his son Esav (representing the Satan) and asks him to bring ...

The Beis Ahron of Karlin writes that we should take a reshima (a mark) of: Yiras Shamayim for the whole year - from Rosh Hashana, Teshuva for the whole year - from Yom Kippur, Ahavas Hashem for the whole year - from Sukkos, and Torah for the whole year - from Simchas Tor...

For the first time in many years, I just took some time to learn this afternoon in the Sukkah and just enjoy this mitzvah. I was able to identify with my feelings for the first time in many years. Es chatai ani mazkir hayom... I remember last year Sukkos. It followed a ma...

Chaza"l say that the Schach should be from "Pesoles Goren Ve'Yakev". Why do Chazal use the Lashon of "Pesoles", couldn't they have found a nicer way to describe the material we use for this holy Mitzva? Says the Alter Sadigerer Rebbe (son in law of the Beis Ahron of Karli...