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A Gut Voch everybody. The Baal Hatanya the first Lubavitcher Rebbe was a talmid of the Maggid of Mezritch.The maaseh goes that it was during sukkos one year, on Chol Hamoed and the Baal Hatanya found himself traveling for a particular issue was traveling to a certain town. On his way he happened to stop off in a certain shtetel. In those days it wasn’t like his face was so well known like it would be today and he looks like a normal yid.  So he goes to shul like everyone else and it happens to be a Friday, about to be Shabbos Chol Hamoed. He finishes, he doesn’t really know where he’s going to stay. The minyan in those days was that there was a corner where people who needed a place would stand and after davening people would come and invite them. So that’s what the Baal Hatanya did.  Someone comes up to him and says Reb Yid, do you need a place to stay? So he brings the Baal hatanya home, they bring him into the sukkah and right away this host can tell that this guest is a very special person. The way he davened, the way he just held himself. Then something stranger takes place. They’re in the sukkah and all of a sudden they hear strong thunder, lightning in the entire sky. In a moment they heard the sound of an intense downpour. Despite the fact that it was pouring, there was thunder and lightning and their sukkah was completely dry. The Baal Hatanya wasn’t surprised by this, but the host was mamash shocked. He walks outside and he’s soaking in the rain. A step into the sukkah and he’s completely dry.  He knows that it’s not because of him and it’s because of his guest. So what does he do? Nowadays he would take a selfie or something and post it online. He decides to run to tell the Rov, and what type of thing I have here and that he should come over and eat in my sukkah. So he runs over and he tells the Rov what’s going on, that he has this guest who must be a tzadik nistar and it’s not raining in my sukkah. The Rov says come on, it’s not possible. The hose says no I’m telling you, come and see.  So the Rov says fine, if you’re telling me you didn’t lose your mind. So he puts on his coat and they head back and he sees no rain in the sukkah. The Rov has an eye for these things and can see that the guest is really a special yid. Yankel (the host) moves to the side and lets the Baal Hatanya and the Rov talk on the side. They’re talking in learning and the Rov is beyond shocked to have such a great person in his midst. In the middle of the conversation the Rov asked why he was traveling. The Baal Hatanya said I was doing something for my Rebbe. The Rov asks, do you have a Rebbe? You’re such an impressive and talented yid! You could be the Rebbe of all of us. The Baal Hatanya answers yes I have a rebbe, The Mezritcher Maggid. The Rov asks, you already know kol hatorah kula, you’re obviously a really big tzaddik. What can you possibly be learning from the Mezritcher Maggid that you don’t already know? The Baal Hatanya doesn’t answer.  They continue schmoozing and in passing the Rov says that he has a daughter who’s looking for a shidduch. At that moment the Baal Hatanya notices a jew passing by outside the sukkah, and the Baal Hatanya says, nu how about that yid? Does he have a son? The Rov looks at him and he says he actually does have a son. This Rebbe also has ruach hakodesh. The Baal Hatanya asks, what about him for your daughter? The Rov answers that he doesn’t think it’s shayach. So why not? If you must know, I’m the Rov, and he’s a bagel salesman. He has a push-cart and he walks around selling bagels to the townspeople. It’s not a shidduch. The Rov’s daughter and bagel salesman’s son it’s not kavodik. The Baal Hatanya was taken aback by that. He said, you asked me what I learned from the Mezritcher Maggid. I can’t tell you what I learn from the Maggid. But I could tell you that I learned that I could never say such words about another jew. What I learned is what...

Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky There is a tradition amongst Jews, that on Motzei Shabbos, we get together and share stories of Tzadikim. These tales of holy people, from times long ago, can have a profound affect on our week. On Shabbos we rest from our weekday activities, and we have an opportunity to reconnect with who we really are. The energy and spirit of Shabbos enables the ultimate rendezvous with our true selves and deep moments with our Father in Heaven. And then, right before we re-enter the world of action, we sit together and recall the lives of our exalted Tzadikim, gleaning lessons, morals, and values to carry this spirit of unity forward with us…Until next Shabbos…. ------ A gut voch everybody, a gut voch, there’s a very holy minhag by many yidden on motzei Shabbos, when Shabbos ends jews sit down for melave malka, they gather together and say stories of tzadikim. It’s a very beautiful and holy minhag, so that’s what we’re gonna do, we’ll get together virtually and say stories of tzaddikim. So for tonight I wanted to share with you a thought. What’s the significance of saying stories of tzadikim? Why is it so powerful, and what exactly is the avodah? What’s the mindset that a person should be in when you relate a story and hear a story? So to explain that, I’m going to tell you a maaseh I’ll tell you a story that explains that a little bit.  The story goes like this, when the baal Shem Tov was on his deathbed, so he gathered together a number of his great students and he told each one what their shlichus, what their mission is going to be for the rest of their lives in terms of spreading the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. For example one student he said your mission is going to be to teach my Torah to as many people as possible. To one student the Baal Shem Tov said you’re avodah is going to do kindness to other jews in my name as much as possible, and so on and so forth. To one particular jew the Baal Shem Tov said, your Avodah, your job is to say stories about me for the rest of your life. Whenever you have the opportunity to say a maaseh about me the Baal Shem, you say the maaseh.  This particular Chassid, who was the storyteller of the baal Shem Tov, not only was that his spiritual mission, that was also his parnassah. He would go around from place to place, people would hire him for you know parties, shabbatons, to be the story-teller, to be the entertainment to say maasim. So there was one particular story, one event where he got a letter in the mail from a particularly wealthy elderly man, this person was having a 90th birthday, he was gathering his whole family and so on, he wanted to make a whole thing of it, so in this letter he invites this storyteller to come for the weekend, to regale everyone with maasim of the baal shem, it’ll be a very nice birthday week. So fine, 100% that’s what the story-teller does. So he travels already Thursday afternoon Thursday evening to where the weekend is going to be, and he comes off the wagon and the birthday boy comes with his whole family to go greet him everyone’s excited, they have a whole tish setup, a whole party set up and the entertainment is going to begin, he’s going to say a maaseh.  The storyteller comes and everyone is looking at him, everyone’s watching for the first story of the weekend, and he says let me tell you a maaseh and he completely goes blank. This is someone you have to appreciate it, he spent years and years amassing hundreds and hundreds of stories and he knew them off by heart, this was his life, and all of a sudden he’s there and he can’t think of one story. It’s a little embarrassing, the family says listen you just traveled today, it’s been a long journey, you’re a little tired, rest up, tomorrow we’ll pick up. So he goes to bed, he wakes up the next day all refreshed and he has a whole bunch of stories he’s gonna say....

A gut voch everybody. I’ll tell you a maaseh. Nowadays if kids want to get in trouble there’s plenty of opportunities unfortunately. But if you go back a few hundred years in the shtetlich of Europe you have to go find trouble it won’t find you as much. If you have a teenager 200 years ago in the town of Lubavitch, if he’s looking for trouble what can he possibly do?  There’s a story of a kid like that who is working and saves some of his money . He’s not in yeshuva, he’s barely frum at this point. He saves up money to buy a race-horse. It’s the equivalent of a motorcycle today. So what does this kid do? He spends his afternoons and nights racing kozaks, racing goyim with his race-horse. And he’s pretty good. But everyone in the city is looking at this kid as a nebuch, it’s a shame on his whole family. The kid feels the eyes of the city looking at him and judging him and he’s being pushed further and further away because of that.  There was one Shabbos morning where this kid was feeling extra rebellious and he happened to take a ride outside the shul on shabbos. The halacha is that you’re not allowed to ride a horse on Shabbos and he’s doing it just to spite the people.In a few minutes everyone is going to come out of shul including the Rebbe who at the time was the Tzemach Tzedek. When everyone sees this kid trodding up and down on the street in front of the shul people are getting angry saying what are you doing! You’re going to make the Rebbe see chilul Shabbos.  Finally the Tzemach Tzedek comes out and sees the kid. He knows what's going on with him and comes directly to him. Let's call this kid Moishy. He immediately gets defensive and assumed to be upset by this conversation. The Tzemach Tzedek goes “That’s such a beautiful horse, where did you get it?” Moishy answers I saved up some money and I bought it. “Wow what a gevaldig horse. It’s probably fast right?” asks the Tzemach Tzedek. By now Moishy is proud and answers Yes it’s very fast! “And do you race the kozaks with it, do you win?” Moishy answers yes, it’s great. I win all the time. It's a very good horse! “Gevaldik I’m so happy you win.  The Tzemach tzedek adds but i’m just nervous about one thing. If the horse is so fast and it’s used to racing, I’m afraid what’s going to happen if you’re trodding down the street and the horse thinks it’s a race. It could use its speed to get lost and it’ll travel very quickly. If you look for it you can get lost in the woods very quickly. Moishy says it’s not really concerning, the horses don’t act like that they know i’m in control. The Rebbe answers but it still could happen, what’s going to be if it does? Moishy says you know what it’s actually a good point I guess it could happen.  The Rebbe explains but you know what? I’m not really that worried. Because the same speed that the horse has to get so lost so quickly, the horse could use that same speed to find his way back so quickly.  There’s no such thing as a character trait in a yid that’s bad. It’s just a matter of harnessing it the right way. If we have a part of ourselves that’s a little wild, untamed or out of control that got a jew lost very quickly. That same exact energy can get a jew to become an even greater person back on the path in a stronger way quickly as well.  Hashem should bless each and every one of us to be able harness our kochos in the right way in the same zerizus and hislahavus that sometimes the yetzer hara uses. That fire is not in the yetzer hara’s jurisdiction; it's for the neshama’s sake. To use that fire for excitement for avodas hashem and to grow.  It should be a mazaldik voch, a Geuladik Voch, a simchadik voch, Amen.

A gut voch everybody, I’ll tell you a maaseh, I think it was in the early 1920’s. The 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, the rebbe Rayatz made a short trip to Eretz yisroel. There’s an interesting story that took place when he was there. When he was staying in Yerushalayim for about a week or so, he stayed at a particular hotel and that was his home base while there.  It happens to be that there was a yid who was living in Yerushalayim in that time who knew the Frierdiker Rebbe. This yid, let’s call him Yankel knew the Rebbe, he grew up in Chabad going to the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivos and at some point something happened in this guy’s life, he took a turn and he was no longer connected at least in an outer way from Torah and Mitzvos. Very far from Yiddishkeit, being a Chassid. But he was in Yerushalayim and he heard that his old Rebbe the Rebbe Rayatz was in town. He had fond memories of him and didn’t have personal issues with him. This jew didn’t want to go visit him, to bring that up again. He was comfortable in his life, just wanting to close the chapter of his old life in Europe and continue on.  His mazal was that the street he had to travel by to get to work he would pass by that hotel. He was always concerned that as he passed by, maybe the Gabbaim or the chassidim might recognize him. Or even if they don’t they’d invite him in. What this Yankel does is he dresses in the opposite of his finest. Wearing short shorts, sandals, a tank top trying to be as opposite of a chassidishe yid as possible. To the point that all the chassidim would assume that he doesn’t want to visit the Rebbe.  The first day he passed by, went unnoticed and it was great. The second day the same thing happens but he thinks to himself maybe he should go say hi to the Rebbe. The days go by and no one is inviting him in, but he himself is finding a part within him to go to the hotel and say hi to the Rebbe and that’s what he’s fighting, himself. On the last day that the Rebbe is in Eretz Yisroel, as he’s passing by the hotel in his non-chassidish clothes. He knows that since it’s the last day he can’t hold himself back anymore and decides to go see his Rebbe. He goes in, opens the door and all the chassidim see this guy come in without a head-covering or anything pushing to go see the Rebbe.  The Rebbe is in the room by himself, despite the gabbaim’s best efforts to hold him back he opens the door and goes in. He sees the Rebbe Rayatz in all his glory. The Rebbe looks at him and has a big smile on his face. He says Ah, Yankel he recognized him. The chassid looks at him and says yes Rebbe, I’m here. The Rebbe looks at him and begins to cry. He says that sometimes we go in circles and circles but eventually we come home.  A few years later the Rebbe Rayatz passed away and throughout Eretz Yisroel they all made gatherings to share divrei hesped. There was one particular gathering in Yerushalayim where chassidim got together and out of nowhere this chassid comes out with a beard, a kapote is pushing his way up to the front. He takes the mic, begins to talk and says this story about the israeli guy who passed by the hotel, and saw the Rebbe. He told him we go in circles and circles, but eventually we come home. And that was me. The moment the Rebbe said that sentence, that alone completely changed my life around. That’s why I am who I am now, because of that story. That’s the story of yidden, the story of klal yisroel in Galus, we go around in circles, go like this, go like that and eventually we come home. It’s true for klal yisroel and it’s true for each and every one of us. We know what we're supposed to do, we know who we’re supposed to become, it's a matter of getting there. Of going home to the place we’re supposed to go.  Hashem should bless us with a mazaldik voch, a lichtigeh voch a geztuntike voch. 

A gut voch everybody, let me tell you a maaseh. There was once a yid who was a chassid of the great Chozeh of Lublin. A custom amongst the chassidm was, that before you undertook any business proposition you would get a bracha from the Rebbe. Not every tzaddik would be willing to give advice when it came to business, some tzadikim were purely focused on ruchniyus of their chassidim. The Chozeh and the entire Shalsheles were comfortable giving eitzahs about gashmiyus as well.  So someone goes to the Chozeh about a business deal with a particular on-jewish person and it looks like it should be successful. The chassid is telling me to do it, but I wanted to come to the Rebbe first. The Chozeh looks at him, looks at the Kvittel and says I don’t think you’ll be matzliach. I don't think you should do it? The chassid says really? I’m shocked because it seems like it’s a perfect opportunity and all signs point to hatzlacha. The Chozeh says ya, I don’t see it as being matzliach. But you know, like things in medicine sometimes we need to get a second opinion. The Chozeh was a talmid of the great Noam Elimelech, Reb Meilech of Lizhensk. It happened to be that this chassid was going to Lizhensk soon anyways, so he figured he’ll push off this business venture until he sees Reb Meilech.  So the time comes and he goes, he doesn’t tell him about the interaction with the Chozeh. He tells Reb Meilech that he has this opportunity that he thinks will be successful but he wants a bracha from the tzadik and the Rebbe says Bracha Vehatzlacha. He got his heter, finally.  After a few months of being involved with this non-jew he saw real signs of how difficult of a person his new business partner was. Not only was his personality overbearing but he wasn’t as honest as he thought he was. Not only that, the business began feeling apart. There weren’t any profits and even many losses. He also began having a lack of hatzlacha in his other business dealings as well. It seemed like the Chozeh of Lublin’s eyes saw the truth and his prediction was correct.  This was going on for a couple of months, and this chassid’s whole life was beginning to be affected. Until finally after about half a year, slowly but surely the tide begins to turn and things begin to pick up. After another few months everything goes back to the way it was. He even begins to make greater profits than ever before. There’s a change in personality with this non-jew and that business begins to turn-around as well. Then it seems that Reb Meilech was actually correct, it’s a funny thing.  About a year or so later, there was a chasuna where the Noam Elimelech and the Chozeh were at a wedding together and this chassid was invited as well. He was a little bit awkward because he asked both of them for eitzah on the same thing, but to his knowledge they both didn't know that he spoke to the other one. He goes to say hi to both of them. When the tzadikim both look at the yid, they understand what actually happened. The Noam Elimech turns to the Chozeh and tells him that he has very good eyes. But you only saw the difficulty. I saw further, until after the difficult patch.  That’s how we have to think about the Ribbono Shel Olam towards us. It’s one thing to see until the difficulty, but we have to work to see beyond it. B’ezras Hashem we should be blessed with no difficulties at all. But if there is, even on any level b’ruchniyus or b’gasgmiyus we should be zocheh to have the eyes of Reb Meilech. To see, to hope and to wait for the menucha and the nechamah that will come after the difficulty.  Hashem should bless us to have a mazaldik voch, a geulahdik voch, we should be zoche to celebrate this week with mashiach tzidkeinu bimherah beyamenu amen. 

A gut voch everybody. The Baal Shem Tov had many students, there were 2 particular brothers who were absolutely brilliant people, huge talmidei chachamim. Not only that, they also came from a family of rabbis, judges, dayanim, a very illustrious family of torah and they got connected to the Baal Shem.  These 2 brothers had a younger sister and she was getting to the age where she could get married. They figured they’d go to the Baal Shem for a bracha for shidduchim that their sister should get married without any problems. So they go and ask for a bracha, the Baal Shem says you know what? I’ll do something even better, instead of just giving a bracha I'll tell you who the chosson is and where to find him. The Baal Shem takes a paper and writes down the name and the shtetl where he could be found.  In those days things were a little different, when these brothers told their sister that the Baal Shem Tov has a chosson she said okay gevaldik let’s get married. The 3 siblings travel to the shtetl, they’ve never been there before and start asking around. Let’s call him Moishe so they begin asking around for Reb Moishe. People are thinking Reb Moishe? I’m not sure. Finally people say you mean Moishe the peasant?  So they meet this Moishe, he’s a sweet guy, delightful middos and is a complete am ha’aretz. Doesn’t know the alef beis, his family is all the same way as well. It seems like it’s not a good shidduch for this illustrious family of talmidei chachamim but the Baal Shem Tov said it’s a shidduch so they listen. The chasuna was held back by the girl's family where the Baal Shem Tov was. By the sheva brachos the chosson is sitting next to the Baal Shem Tov. The minhag was that the chosson says a deep torah by the sheva brachos. The Baal Shem Tov turns to the chosson and says nu, say a vort a torah. The chosson answers I don’t know anything, not even the alef beis. The Baal Shem Tov took his handkerchief and waved it over the face of the chosson, all of a sudden the chosson’s eyes lit up and he began saying the most beautiful and deep torah for half an hour. Once he finishes his eyes go back to normal and he asks what just happened? The sheva brachos the next day the Baal Shem Tov asks again, nu, share a torah? The chosson has the same answer and says he doesn’t know anything. The Baal Shem Tov waves his handkerchief, the chosson lights up and shares incredibly beautiful and profound torah for a long time. Once the shiur is over he’s back to being the same ignoramus. This follows itself every single day of the sheva brachos.  After the week is over the Baal shem Tov brings the chosson into his office and says I’m not stupid, I understand that the family you married into has a different background than you. I understand that you’re not as learned and you probably think that the miracles that took place over the week with the handkerchief is just a miracle that I caused. You should know that you are a talmid chochom, you have the soul of a talmid chochom, you have lots of Torah inside of you. It happens to be that the Torah is covered by years of ignorance.  All I did in those times was uncover the Torah you already have. Now after sheva brachos, that you now know what kochos you have inside of you, go to yeshiva, go learn and discover the words of Torah that are beneath your surface.  That Maaseh is not only true for that chossid, it’s true for every single one of us. A yid is overflowing with torah and kedusha. A person doesn’t have to acquire Torah or Madregos from the outside. You have a neshama, a chelek eloka mima’al mamash it means you are a lebedig, living piece of dvar Hashem. Avodas Hashem is about uncovering that, the chosson was able to realize that with the handkerchief of the Baal shem. We have to realize that from the story of the handkerchief of the Baal Shem Tov to remember who we are and the kochos we have. Bezras Hashem to uncover...

TYH Nation Presents Grateful Warriors Hosted by Yossi Hecht Episode 3 Hashem is always in "front" of us Yehudah Blonder ------- Listen one Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grateful-warriors/id1653510715 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3XaxfxVic78fGriBYnZ9m4?si=513ac8e20f5e41ab ------- Welcome back to Episode 3 of Grateful Warriors! Today, we're lucky to have Yehudah Leib. Not only does Yehuda Leib live with the mantra of "Thank you Hashem" at the forefront of his life, but the TYH team is lucky to have him as part of the Chevra! The youngest of 11, Yehuda Leib was born with a rare Jewish genetic disease called familial dysautonomia, with only 350 people in the entire world who have it. Be inspired as Yehudah Leib shares with us his unique challenges and the way he talks about it. ‘Thank you Hashem,’ and ‘Hashem gave me’ are just a few of the phrases that are found in his speech, and are inspiring for us all! Yehudah shares with us why he is grateful for what He gave him, how it changes him as a person, and what keeps him going every day. His beautiful answer is sure to inspire you. Yehudah Blonder can be reached at (347) 603-0033 VENTUREtech Computer Repair LLC https://www.venturetechcomputers.com ------------------------ To learn more about Yossi Hecht and his incredible journey & mission: https://www.ashertotheyatzar.org/ Asset ID: SBA-300554659

A gut voch everybody. The Baal Shem Tov had many students, there were 2 particular brothers who were absolutely brilliant people, huge talmidei chachamim. Not only that, they also came from a family of rabbis, judges, dayanim, a very illustrious family of torah and they got connected to the Baal Shem.  These 2 brothers had a younger sister and she was getting to the age where she could get married. They figured they’d go to the Baal Shem for a bracha for shidduchim that their sister should get married without any problems. So they go and ask for a bracha, the Baal Shem says you know what? I’ll do something even better, instead of just giving a bracha I'll tell you who the chosson is and where to find him. The Baal Shem takes a paper and writes down the name and the shtetl where he could be found.  In those days things were a little different, when these brothers told their sister that the Baal Shem Tov has a chosson she said okay gevaldik let’s get married. The 3 siblings travel to the shtetl, they’ve never been there before and start asking around. Let’s call him Moishe so they begin asking around for Reb Moishe. People are thinking Reb Moishe? I’m not sure. Finally people say you mean Moishe the peasant?  So they meet this Moishe, he’s a sweet guy, delightful middos and is a complete am ha’aretz. Doesn’t know the alef beis, his family is all the same way as well. It seems like it’s not a good shidduch for this illustrious family of talmidei chachamim but the Baal Shem Tov said it’s a shidduch so they listen. The chasuna was held back by the girl's family where the Baal Shem Tov was. By the sheva brachos the chosson is sitting next to the Baal Shem Tov. The minhag was that the chosson says a deep torah by the sheva brachos. The Baal Shem Tov turns to the chosson and says nu, say a vort a torah. The chosson answers I don’t know anything, not even the alef beis. The Baal Shem Tov took his handkerchief and waved it over the face of the chosson, all of a sudden the chosson’s eyes lit up and he began saying the most beautiful and deep torah for half an hour. Once he finishes his eyes go back to normal and he asks what just happened? The sheva brachos the next day the Baal Shem Tov asks again, nu, share a torah? The chosson has the same answer and says he doesn’t know anything. The Baal Shem Tov waves his handkerchief, the chosson lights up and shares incredibly beautiful and profound torah for a long time. Once the shiur is over he’s back to being the same ignoramus. This follows itself every single day of the sheva brachos.  After the week is over the Baal shem Tov brings the chosson into his office and says I’m not stupid, I understand that the family you married into has a different background than you. I understand that you’re not as learned and you probably think that the miracles that took place over the week with the handkerchief is just a miracle that I caused. You should know that you are a talmid chochom, you have the soul of a talmid chochom, you have lots of Torah inside of you. It happens to be that the Torah is covered by years of ignorance.  All I did in those times was uncover the Torah you already have. Now after sheva brachos, that you now know what kochos you have inside of you, go to yeshiva, go learn and discover the words of Torah that are beneath your surface.  That Maaseh is not only true for that chossid, it’s true for every single one of us. A yid is overflowing with torah and kedusha. A person doesn’t have to acquire Torah or Madregos from the outside. You have a neshama, a chelek eloka mima’al mamash it means you are a lebedig, living piece of dvar Hashem. Avodas Hashem is about uncovering that, the chosson was able to realize that with the handkerchief of the Baal shem. We have to realize that from the story of the handkerchief of the Baal Shem Tov to remember who we are and the kochos we have. Bezras Hashem to uncover...

Gut voch everybody. Let me tell you a Maiseh. One of the great tzadikim was the holy Ruzhyner. Reb Yisroel of Ruzhyn. He was a unique tzadik even since he was a child, the truth even from before he was born. Tzadikim say that when his mother was pregnant with him whenever she would go to a chashuv tzadik, they would stand up for her. The tzadik would say I don’t know who it is that you’re carrying, but whoever you’re carrying is a big neshama. From the time he came to the world he was mamash Kulo Ohr.  There’s a Maiseh we have from the Ruzyner from when he was 7 or 8 years old. His father took little Yisroel to the side, and told bhim you’re already 8 years old and very smart. I want to teach you something. He asks what is it? His father says I want to teach you how to play chess. Listen, it’s a really interesting game, it challenges the mind, many tzadikim would play so he wanted to teach his son. Yisroel the little Ruzhyner is sitting next to his father who’s going through the chess-board introducing all the pieces.  After Yisroel gets a handle of all the pieces and how they move around, what the objective of the game is, he asks his father a very innocent question. What happens if we’re playing, I make a move and then I pull back and I realize that it was a mistake. Can I go back and undo the move? His father says, Yisroel’ke that’s not how this game works. If your finger is still on the piece you can put it back. But if you took it off then you can’t take it back. Yisroel’ke then says, Tatte with all the respect, I never want to play chess for the rest of my life. Chess is not a jewish game. Such a thing that when a mistake is made you can’t undo it, that’s not a jewish game. A yid shouldn’t be playing such a game. That’s what little Yisroel’ke said.  Listen, chess is an okay game to play. But the lesson to learn from that, that a game where we can’t undo a mistake isn’t jewish. The whole tachlis of yiddishkeit is to fix. Moshe Rabbeinu gave us a Torah that was taken from the Malachim. How was he able to take it? BEcause we have challenges, we have taivos, the whole essence of Torah is fixing. If a person realizes he has what to fix then that’s good, that’s exactly why we're alive. As long as we’re alive we’re here to fix something. To think that we can’t fix, it’s the opposite of what it means to be a yid. This week Hashem should bless us that we have a week of fixing, of Tikkunim. As long as we’re here there’s what to fix. We should grow, with tikkunim, shefa bracha Ve’Hatzlachah. 

A Gut Voch everybody, they say a story that there was a particular wedding that was going to take place and everyone was super excited about it. For the usual reason, but this wedding in particular because the Baal Shem Tov was going to be mesader Kiddushin. The Baal Shem Tov knew the family and he was going to be mesader kiddushin. The way chasunas would work in the old country is that they were usually done outside, by the river and the whole town was invited.  The day of the chasuna came the whole town was there, everyone was super excited. They waited in anticipation for the Baal Shem Tov and his people to come with the Chassidim. Finally the Baal Shem Tov arrives, the music playing and the chuppah is beginning. It was an unbelievable sight. Meanwhile the Baal Shem Tov is standing under the chuppah going through the process of the chasuna. All of a sudden there’s a wagon that was passing by, because it was outside by the river. All of a sudden a person in that wagon sticks his head out to see what’s going on to see the chasuna a little. The Baal Shem Tov takes notice of that person in the wagon, the Baal Shem Tov turns to the chosson and kallah and says excuse me I have to to take care of something I’ll be one minute. They stop the chasuna and he runs to the wagon, says something to the person in the wagon for 30 seconds. The wagon goes on, the Baal Shem Tov comes back and they continue with the wedding. All the Talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov were confused by this, to interrupt a chasuna it must be that the person in the wagon was one of the 36 hidden tzadikim. The chassidim decide that they want to find this person to get a bracha and hadracha, to connect to another tzaddik. They wait until after the chasuna is over, they start going around the town trying to find that wagon. They can’t find it at all, one day goes by, then another and they keep circling the area. They keep taking walks and rides around the area they can’t find it. About a week or 2 later these chassidim happen to be traveling to a neighboring town and they see that wagon that was by the chasuna in the driveway of a particular house.  They get out, they knock on the door and a regular looking jew opens the door. The Chassidim asked him, sorry to bother you, but is that your wagon outside? He says yes, They say let me ask you a question. Were you in that town for a chasuna about a week or 2 ago? The man tries to think but doesn’t recall. They specify that there was a chasuna, maybe you passed by and the Baal Shem Tov came to talk to you? He jogged his memory and he remembers, “Yes, that was actually me.” The chassidim ask “Please give us a Bracha!” He answers, “I’m just a normal guy you don't want my bracha” If the Baal Shem Tov was willing to stop the chasuna and speak to you,clearly you're not just a regular yid. “I’m telling you I'm a nobody and am just a regular guy you don’t want a bracha from me.”  “So then if you’re a regular person what’s your story, why would the Baal Shem Tov stop the chasuna what did he tell you?” He begins to blush a little and says he’d rather not talk about it. The chassidim say “We were looking for over a week, we're not leaving until we hear this story. Who are you, what did the Baal Shem Tov say to you?” He says okay if you need to know here’s the story. I have a neighbor across the street. We get along nicely but aren’t the best of friends. The way his business runs is that he’s out for business for 3 to 4 months a year and whatever he brings back in that time is how he supports his family for the rest of the year.  It happens to be that a couple of weeks ago I was at home, a day just like today. And it happens to be the day that my neighbor came home from his business trip. I see from my window that this man came back with a big sack with all the money he made on this trip. I see that he puts this bag on the front porch and walks into his house. I assumed that he was

Gut Voch everybody, they say a Maaseh that there was was once a yid that came mamash panic stricken, completely tzebruchen to a particular Rov of his town. And he knocks on the door frantically. The Rov opens and asks What’s the problem? He says I need a tikkun. Can you help me out? So the Rov asks again What’s the problem? He says that this past Shabbos I was away, and I was traveling to a neighboring village for Shabbos. I’ll tell you the truth, maybe it was my fault, I got a late start Friday afternoon.  The weather wasn’t good, traffic or whatever and I got stuck on the road in my horse and wagon on erev Shabbos. I drove and broke Shabbos for the first time in my life, I was stuck in a position where I felt it was too dangerous to just stop in the middle of the woods. I had no choice but to move and continue riding. But I still felt like I broke Shabbos, what do I do? How do I fix myself?  The Rov looked at him and said I'll tell you the truth. It’s a big problem to desecrate Shabbos, even though you were in a position where you had no choice and your life would be in danger spending Shabbos in the woods like that. But putting yourself in a situation like that is a serious thing you know? I think you should begin to fast Monday and Thursday, say sefer Tehillim everyday, commit yourself to learn more. A whole regiment. The guy is listening to this and he’s thinking to himself, okay you know maybe a second opinion could be helpful. He says thank you very much.  Meanwhile this person is looking for a second opinion and a week or two later he finds himself in the audience by the Baal Shem. So he goes to the Baal Shem Tov and doesn’t tell him that he had this whole regiment from the Rov and just tells him the story how he was stuck in the road before Shabbos, and he feels terrible, what can he do now to fix his neshama.  The Baal Shem Tov looks at him and he says, you know Shabbos is a very serious thing, it’s a very serious aveirah of having to drive on Shabbos. This guy is thinking to himself, now he’s going to have double the regiment,  to say Tehillim twice every day. So the Baal Shem says maybe this Shabbos you could donate the candles for the shul. The guy is like just that? Nothing else? The Baal Shem Tov said if you do that you'll be okay.  So this guy goes home, he tells the guy in the shul he wants to donate, he asks how much money it is and gives the money. Meanwhile before he leaves, the Baal Shem Tov says, do me a favor, when you go home tell your Rov that I want him to be my personal guest this Shabbos, he should come to me.  The Rov is happy because he’s invited to the Baal Shem Tov’s house for shabbos. The Rov gets on the horse and wagon on Friday, all of a sudden the weather turns, there’s traffic and the Rov is stuck on the road. He has no choice but to drive because it’s dangerous to be in the woods all Shabbos. When he comes to the Baal Shem Tov Friday night he’s mamash beside himself. The first time in his life to break shabbos like that?  He comes to the Baal Shem Tov and says “Rebbe, what am I going to do, I broke Shabbos, I can’t sleep, I can’t face myself. The Baal Shem Tov says, I caused you to break Shabbos, I changed the weather, I put the traffic there. Why? Because when that yid came to you a few weeks ago, complaining and bemoaning the fact that he broke Shabbos, you never tasted the bitterness and the guilt, that that jew was feeling over the fact that he broke Shabbos. So to you, you had to give him this big Avodah, davening, Tehillim, Mikvas, fasting, a whole thing. But if you appreciated what he was going through in his own mind, the guilt that he was feeling, then you would’ve realized the guilt itself that he was feeling wiped away four fifths of the aveirah. All that was left was a little inyan that he has to be mistaken, so I told him just to light candles and that will be enough. The truth is even that

Gut Voch everybody, they say a maaseh that the Baal Shem Tov once said the following story. He said there was once a yid going back a few hundred years before the Baal Shem. This yid lived in Eretz Yisroel, a very simple jew. G-d fearing, good jew, and the Baal shem Tov said that in shamayim there was a huge commotion going on around this person.  What was the issue? When this person became bar mitzvah, he did a particular mitzvah that mamash shook up shamayim. And in shamayim the malachim were talking about it for years. As years went on it was forgotten what the mitzvah was, but the residual effect and impact of the fact that this guy was mamash shining with this light he was the talk of the town for years in shamayim, even though they didn’t know exactly what the inyan was.  The Baal Shem Tov said Eliyahu Hanavi is in shamayim also and he hears this commotion and sees that this person is mamash the center of the universe. Eliyahu Hanavi tries to do some investigation to figure out what this mitzvah was, what did this person do that he became such an amazing radiant neshama? No one really knows, until Eliyahu Hanavi decides that he’s going to pay this guy a visit and find out for himself.  Eliyahu Hanavi shows up to this guy’s house, knocks on the door and introduces himself and proves he’s actually Eliyahu hanavi. He says to this yid that in shamayim they’re mamash talking about you all day, because there’s something you did when you became bar mitzvah and no one knows what it is. “Can you please tell me what it is?” The person answers that he’d rather not say, “it’s between me and the ribono shel olam.” Eliyahu says “listen, I understand and appreciate that, but you know, if you tell me I promise I'll give you brachos, shefa. Hatzlachah and all good things.”  The person looks at Eliyahu Hanavi in the eyes and say “listen to me, what I did was between me and the ribono shel olam, you can offer me all things of this world, it doesn’t make a difference to me, things of this world and the next. What I did was for G-d and for Hashem Himself, nobody else.”  We live in a generation where everyone is in everyone’s business, we see what everyone else is doing. Sometimes that’s good but very often it’s not. Even if it’s good things, it’s important to have that private relationship with G-d and once in a while do something that is just for Him. Not for anyone else, no one has to know about it, just between me and the Ribono Shel Olam. That’s how the Baal Shem Tov develops, that’s how a big tzadik develops, by having that personal, intimate, privacy between you and the Ribono Shel Olam.  You do a mitzvah, no one has to know about it. You have a good thought, say a good word, no one has to know about it except for you and G-d. That’s how you build that relationship. Hashem should bless us with a week that’s full of that, that deep Hiskashrus, personal attachment between us and G-d that comes with being modest and internally pnimiyusdik. Hashem should bless us with a week of Pnimiyus, a week of bracha and hatzlachah, on all madreigos, b’gashmius and b’ruchniyus ad bli dai. 

A gut voch everybody. They say a Maaseh from the Divrei Chaim, the Sanzer Rov. There was once a yid in one of the neighboring towns and he had a very bad ulcer. He was going from Doctor to Doctor to try to find a remedy and it kept on getting worse and painful. Someone told him, the Sanzer Rov is not too far away you should go get a bracha. This man wasn’t particularly a follower of the Divrei Chaim but he believed in tzadikim so he said okay fine It’s a good idea to try.  So he goes, travels to the Divrei Chaim. The Rov asks what the problem is, he says he has a bad ulcer. The Divrei Chaim closes his eyes and he says I think it would be a good eitzah if you walk down the block to the supermarket and buy a bottle of vinegar. If you drink the bottle you’ll have a refuah sheleima. Vinegar is never good to drink straight, and certainly not if you have an ulcer but that’s what the Divrei Chaim said and that’s what he does. He goes to the store, buys a bottle of vinegar, drinks and he was miraculously healed.  A couple of years later this person has a friend who also develops an ulcer, also tried going from Doctor to Doctor trying to get advice but nothing’s working. The friend tells him I have the perfect advice for you. Go to the store, buy a bottle of vinegar and drink it. You'll feel better, that's what happened to me. He goes to the store, gets a bottle of vinegar and drinks it and he’s platzing, mamash dying from it.  Quickly they don’t know what to do so they rush him to the Divrei Chaim. He was pale and white almost on his deathbed and he asked what happened? The man answers that I have a bad ulcer and I drank a bottle of vinegar. The Divrei Chaim asked, What are you doing drinking vinegar when you have an ulcer? It's the worst thing you can do. The man begs, Rebne. Please help me, give me some advice, I'm dying. The Rebbe closes his eyes and he says you know what, go to the store, buy a bottle of vinegar and you’ll be healed. He goes, buys it and has a refuah sheleima.  It’s not the vinegar that cures, it’s the emunas chachamim, it’s a blessing from the tzadikim. Sometimes they have to bring us to have faith in them, they make us do strange things sometimes. It’s not the vinegar, it’s the tzadik and following their advice. Hashem should bless us, we should be zocheh to always know what the truth is. To never attribute our success to the bottles of vinegar, always attribute our success to our Emunah, Bitachon, davening, mitzvos and tzadikim of our generation. We should be zocheh to have a blessed week, a lichtigeh voch, a kavodik voch, a voch filled with geulah, simcha and nachas ad bli dai. 

Gut Voch everybody, they say a Maaseh that there was was once a yid that came mamash panic stricken, completely tzebruchen to a particular Rov of his town. And he knocks on the door frantically. The Rov opens and asks What’s the problem? He says I need a tikkun. Can you help me out? So the Rov asks again What’s the problem? He says that this past Shabbos I was away, and I was traveling to a neighboring village for Shabbos. I’ll tell you the truth, maybe it was my fault, I got a late start Friday afternoon.  The weather wasn’t good, traffic or whatever and I got stuck on the road in my horse and wagon on erev Shabbos. I drove and broke Shabbos for the first time in my life, I was stuck in a position where I felt it was too dangerous to just stop in the middle of the woods. I had no choice but to move and continue riding. But I still felt like I broke Shabbos, what do I do? How do I fix myself?  The Rov looked at him and said I'll tell you the truth. It’s a big problem to desecrate Shabbos, even though you were in a position where you had no choice and your life would be in danger spending Shabbos in the woods like that. But putting yourself in a situation like that is a serious thing you know? I think you should begin to fast Monday and Thursday, say sefer Tehillim everyday, commit yourself to learn more. A whole regiment. The guy is listening to this and he’s thinking to himself, okay you know maybe a second opinion could be helpful. He says thank you very much.  Meanwhile this person is looking for a second opinion and a week or two later he finds himself in the audience by the Baal Shem. So he goes to the Baal Shem Tov and doesn’t tell him that he had this whole regiment from the Rov and just tells him the story how he was stuck in the road before Shabbos, and he feels terrible, what can he do now to fix his neshama.  The Baal Shem Tov looks at him and he says, you know Shabbos is a very serious thing, it’s a very serious aveirah of having to drive on Shabbos. This guy is thinking to himself, now he’s going to have double the regiment,  to say Tehillim twice every day. So the Baal Shem says maybe this Shabbos you could donate the candles for the shul. The guy is like just that? Nothing else? The Baal Shem Tov said if you do that you'll be okay.  So this guy goes home, he tells the guy in the shul he wants to donate, he asks how much money it is and gives the money. Meanwhile before he leaves, the Baal Shem Tov says, do me a favor, when you go home tell your Rov that I want him to be my personal guest this Shabbos, he should come to me.  The Rov is happy because he’s invited to the Baal Shem Tov’s house for shabbos. The Rov gets on the horse and wagon on Friday, all of a sudden the weather turns, there’s traffic and the Rov is stuck on the road. He has no choice but to drive because it’s dangerous to be in the woods all Shabbos. When he comes to the Baal Shem Tov Friday night he’s mamash beside himself. The first time in his life to break shabbos like that?  He comes to the Baal Shem Tov and says “Rebbe, what am I going to do, I broke Shabbos, I can’t sleep, I can’t face myself. The Baal Shem Tov says, I caused you to break Shabbos, I changed the weather, I put the traffic there. Why? Because when that yid came to you a few weeks ago, complaining and bemoaning the fact that he broke Shabbos, you never tasted the bitterness and the guilt, that that jew was feeling over the fact that he broke Shabbos. So to you, you had to give him this big Avodah, davening, Tehillim, Mikvas, fasting, a whole thing. But if you appreciated what he was going through in his own mind, the guilt that he was feeling, then you would’ve realized the guilt itself that he was feeling wiped away four fifths of the aveirah. All that was left was a little inyan that he has to be mistaken, so I told him just to light candles and that will be enough. The truth is even that

Gut voch everybody. Let me tell you a Maiseh. One of the great tzadikim was the holy Ruzhyner. Reb Yisroel of Ruzhyn. He was a unique tzadik even since he was a child, the truth even from before he was born. Tzadikim say that when his mother was pregnant with him whenever she would go to a chashuv tzadik, they would stand up for her. The tzadik would say I don’t know who it is that you’re carrying, but whoever you’re carrying is a big neshama. From the time he came to the world he was mamash Kulo Ohr.  There’s a Maiseh we have from the Ruzyner from when he was 7 or 8 years old. His father took little Yisroel to the side, and told bhim you’re already 8 years old and very smart. I want to teach you something. He asks what is it? His father says I want to teach you how to play chess. Listen, it’s a really interesting game, it challenges the mind, many tzadikim would play so he wanted to teach his son. Yisroel the little Ruzhyner is sitting next to his father who’s going through the chess-board introducing all the pieces.  After Yisroel gets a handle of all the pieces and how they move around, what the objective of the game is, he asks his father a very innocent question. What happens if we’re playing, I make a move and then I pull back and I realize that it was a mistake. Can I go back and undo the move? His father says, Yisroel’ke that’s not how this game works. If your finger is still on the piece you can put it back. But if you took it off then you can’t take it back. Yisroel’ke then says, Tatte with all the respect, I never want to play chess for the rest of my life. Chess is not a jewish game. Such a thing that when a mistake is made you can’t undo it, that’s not a jewish game. A yid shouldn’t be playing such a game. That’s what little Yisroel’ke said.  Listen, chess is an okay game to play. But the lesson to learn from that, that a game where we can’t undo a mistake isn’t jewish. The whole tachlis of yiddishkeit is to fix. Moshe Rabbeinu gave us a Torah that was taken from the Malachim. How was he able to take it? BEcause we have challenges, we have taivos, the whole essence of Torah is fixing. If a person realizes he has what to fix then that’s good, that’s exactly why we're alive. As long as we’re alive we’re here to fix something. To think that we can’t fix, it’s the opposite of what it means to be a yid. This week Hashem should bless us that we have a week of fixing, of Tikkunim. As long as we’re here there’s what to fix. We should grow, with tikkunim, shefa bracha Ve’Hatzlachah.