Without rehashing the whole article, you can go back and read more below: Doing a pidyon nefesh before Rosh Hashana ==== Bottom line:  [E]veryone undergoes a certain amount of suffering. There is no such thing as a person going through life with everything going exactly according to his desire. What comes out of these teachings […]

A strong back

Today, I went to a local cafe that decided to reopen after a few closed days for a muffin. While I was there, the cafe owner - a nice, frum man from Mexico - was talking to his co-worker and explaining how last week he'd try to volunteer for…

Take heart! And turn off the news

The news - and most of your social media - is lying to you about everything. It's lying about what happened on Simchat Torah, and how. It's lying about who did it. It's lying about who arranged, planned and financed it. And most of…

Only fear Hashem

I couldn't get into my blog for three days... Maybe it got hacked, maybe it didn't. Who knows. In the meantime, I'm here to tell you that the only thing to fear right now is Hashem. ==== Like so many of us, I have been on a crazy roller-coaster…

For residents of the North

There's a few clips going around of a 'hidden tzaddik' from just before the horrible events of Shabbat warning about what was about to happen. One of my friends who speaks Hebrew sent me the following - then scroll down to see the response…

New prayer from the Rav for the soldiers

Cut and pasted from ravberland.com == New prayer from Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit”a for the success and protection of the soldiers of Israel who now stand on the frontlines to defend the Jewish people: Obligatory prayer for protection for…

Four funerals, and a wedding

Yesterday was a busy day. I spent hours reciting the whole book of tehillim, as per the Rav's requests for more people to stop relying on 'the army', and to start spending their time doing things that will really help Am Yisrael. Then, I…