The Library

Sometimes one thinks (mistakenly) that he is so far and did so many sins that he can't even come back. He is so embarrassed that he has nothing to say for himself as defense, and he feels he can't even open his mouth or take the first step..... But there is good news........

Dear Lost, Regarding your very important concern about changing our lives vs living only one day at a time, there are a few things I'd like to share with you. One is that Hashem cannot possibly be naive. And since He sees us make the same mistakes over and over while a...

One of the most widespread customs associated with the night of Rosh Hashanah is that of consuming various food items – e.g. carrots, leeks, beets, dates, pomegranates, head of a fish – for a good omen. Intending to serve as a source of merit for our upcoming year, we h...

First the problem: We are sincere people who want to stand before Hashem and tell Him that we really do not want this lust in our lives. That "I want to do Your will, not mine." We want to stand on these days of the Yomim Noraim, free of sin, free of this lust. We want t...

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...

We are told to pray on Rosh Hashana to be given life for the rest of the coming year and to beg Hashem for a good, easy, and successful year. But that is poison for myself and the addicts I know. Fortunately, there is a dissenting (or maybe clarifying) opinion: R. ...

QUESTION: In Elul, we blow the shofar every weekday, except one day - the day before Rosh Hashana. Why? ANSWER: The shofar represents our collective crying out to G-d. A cry from such a deep place in us that there are no words. A cry for connection, to be seen, to be ...

Dear Yidden, This morning on Erev Rosh Hashana, we stopped by the Kever of Shmuel Hanavi and I davened for all of us... I mentioned all the "spiritual" names on our forum that I could remember, Mevakesh, Chasdei Avos, Jack, Snax, Battleworn, Me, Elya, Niceguy (ben Nicedad...

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 ...

Dear Chevra (and especially Guard), The Rosh Hashana that I just had is incomparable to any other that I had experienced in the past. I still have a very long way to go, but I felt that I have at least an opening in my life with which ...

The Michtav Meliyahu explains (in the new sefer on Rosh Hashana pg 137): The avodah of Malchiyos is not enough to subjugate everything we do to Hashem's will by just not doing any sins, but rather we should have no self-will other tha...

The main avodah of Rosh Hashana is Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayim - Accepting the yoke of Heaven. This is why Malchiyus is recite in Kedushas Hayom. The sanctity of the day is Malchiyus, and this is our main avodah. And the heavenly judgement i...

We all love reading Uri's posts on the forum. Not only do they make a great read, but they are written passionately and from the heart. Somehow, Uri's posts talk to everyone's Neshamos. I think it is appropriate to bring two of his bea...

Rosh Hashanah is almost here and I think it's time for each of us to address a very basic question: "Who am I?" Sometimes you feel like a good person. Perhaps more often, you feel like a bad person. Sometimes you feel successfu...

Someone recently sent out the following e-mail to his contacts: Dear all, This is a topic of a truly sensitive nature which is rarely talked about - strictly men only. Open the attachment to this e-mail and you'll see why. I don't...

Last Rosh Hashana, I davened that Hashem should let me die. Literally. I was saying "zochreinu lechaim" and crying "no, please don't, because I can't live with this anymore". I wanted to serve Hashem, but it just used to be just too painful to wake up every ...

The pre-Rosh Hashanah wave of visitors to the town of Uman in Ukraine peaked on Monday as around 9,000 boarded 50 flights from Ben-Gurion International Airport. Another 5,500 people will travel to Ukraine today on 28 flights to visit the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov...

As we prepare to exit the year 5770, it is a time to make a reckoning of how the year passed. How it started with guilt & regret for all the garbage I was living in, along hopes and prayers for Hashem to help me get out of it. The format was exactly the same as the ye...