The Library

Free Translation of the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh, Bereishis 2:1: You should know, that there is no craving in the world that is as pleasing, as precious, as desirable, as beloved, as coveted and as yearned for by the creations (specifically by the spiritual part [of the cr...

To a member who had a fall, "AlexEliezer" writes: We always need to ask ourselves, "What's the plan?" I have found that the cleaner I stay, the cleaner I stay. Being sober doesn't mean not looking at shmutz and not acting out. Being sober means not taking the small drinks...

How old will be you be in seven years if you don’t go to medical school (or fulfill any other ambition)? – Pauline Phillips (“Dear Abby”) Abigail Van Buren, who penned the long-running “Dear Abby” advice columns from 1956 until her death in 2013, was actually a Jewish wom...

So many dear friends (mostly bochurim, but some marrieds too) are crying and miserable. They had worked so hard, b'ezras Hashem reached major milestones, and had attained real menuchas hanefesh. They had set up practical gedarim​, filters, guidelines, accountability. They...

If you want the evil eye to have no power against you and your children, then make your eyes do not want to enjoy what’s not yours, as Yosef Avinu’s eyes that didn’t want to enjoy what was not his (Potiphar's wife who tried unsuccessfully to seduce him), that’s why the evil eye has no power against him nor his descendants. - The Gemara, Berachos 20a

This quote from Mishlei (24:16) teaches us a valuable lesson on how to deal with our struggles against addiction, obsessions and compulsive behaviors. You might understand this to mean that the definition of a righteous person is someone who falls many times and gets back...

1. A lot of good luck is undeserved; so is a lot of bad luck. 2. Life is what happens while you are planning your future. 3. Failure is an opportunity to make another, more intelligent, beginning. 4. If you don't learn from your mistakes, making them makes no sense. 5...

Here's something nice I found on a Jewish forum discussing the plague of internet pornography. A Christian woman, Mrs. Robertson from St. Pete, FL writes: "Christians the world over look to the Jewish people to set a holy moral standard for all of us to follow. Don't allo...

THE REWARD FOR THOSE WHO GUARD THEIR EYES FROM LOOKING INTO FORBIDDEN THINGS He becomes a chariot [Merkava] to the Shechina, and he is considered as if had offered all the sacrifices (The Chida, Avodat ha Kodesh, Tzipporen Shamir, 9:128) When he prays to the Holy One Ble...

One of our members sent us some excerpts of ideas from the book "The Light of Ephraim" by Simchah H. Ben Yosef. When Hashem created the universe at Breishit, he mandated that a soul be sent to this world every time a man releases his seed, whether intentionally or not. Th...

The purpose of this site is not the goal of sobriety in itself, rather it's the journey that is important; the ups, the downs, the falls, the slips, and the days you feel like you are going nowhere. It is all part of this wonderful journey. I have found that the most insp...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly,...

I was going to say that I hate being an addict. But then I thought of something "habib" recently told me. You know those people who walk down the street; the people who daven 3 times a day, wear the clothes, walk the walk, talk the talk, but you just know they do...

We can't do 90 days now. We can't even do 2 days now! Can we EAT or go to the bathroom for tomorrow?? We can only do TODAY. Forget about yesterday's slip, forget about today's slip, and forget about the future. The Pasuk says: ...

There are two ways to ascend: You can step upward, leaving one foot in its place as the other moves ahead. Or you can crouch down and jump. This is the true meaning of failure: It is the way we have of tearing ourselves out of our past...

I am, B"H, very successful in everything in life, besides for my addiction. I feel that Hashem gave me this struggle to remind me that everything is from Him! If not, I would forget about Hashem completely and only focus on my success - and how I am on top of the world. ...

Romantic Love is a huge fraud foisted on the western world by poets and novelists, but it has no place in reality, and it always ends in frustration. It is only when marriages are made with rational considerations, that the participants thereby are satisfi...

Direct anger and frustration at the addiction and use that energy for recovery. My shooting instructor once told me, "there are people in this world who need to be shot. When that time comes, you want to be able to help them". We owe him. Now it's yo...