The Library

With regards to teshuvah – returning to G‑d – the common notion is that it wholly consists of tears and intense remorse. After all, if one really feels bad for a wrongdoing, it is only natural to cry. Let me tell you a story. Before entering a private audience with the Re...

My precious child, I want to wish you a shana tova, a sweet new year, and share with you a few things that I think you need you to know. When I look at you I see something very different than what you see when you look in the mirror. You see yourself as you are now. But...

The fourth step... involves accounting and preparation—they are interdependent, because how we account for the past is how we prepare for the future. In our program Inventory means "searching" we examine the mistakes of the past in order not to repeat them. In particul...

Let's cut right to the heart of the matter: We get in trouble if we try to run our own lives. Our ego starts to mess things up. We try to control things we can't control. We think we are smarter than we are. We start to think we can run things just fine by ourselve...

In our tefillah, we say, “Remove Satan (the yetzer hara) from before us and after us.” The Talmud says that “A person’s yetzer hara (evil inclination) renews itself each day and seeks to destroy one” (Kedushin 30a). The yetzer hara has only one goal: to crush and destroy ...

I noticed a very interesting thing in one of the Yom Kipppur Piyutim we say tonight. "We are like raw material in the hands of the creator... When he wants, he makes the vessel big, and when he wants, he makes it shorter (than normal)". "We are like stones in the hand...

Yomim Noraim is not meant to be a time of pressure. It's a time of great simcha and opportunity. First, on Rosh Hashana, we coronate the King over us. Then on Yom Kippur, we get forgiven for the whole year's sins, like a filthy child whose father gives him a shower once...

The Gemara Berachos (34b) tells us "Penitents occupy a level that even the completely righteous cannot achieve." While this statement is encouraging and inspiring, what does it really mean and how can it be fair? Why should people who are consistently righteous and moral...

These days we say Avinu Malkeinu. One of them is: "Batel Machshavos Soneinu - eliminate the thoughts of those who hate us". First of all, this is clearly a reference to the Yetzer Hara as well, who hates us and wants to kill ...

Last week I heard R' Tzvi Meir speak. He spoke about the idea that davka because the power of these days is so strong, the Yetzer Hara really works overtime. Chazal say very clearly that we can get close to Hashem during the as...