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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…. ------

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky / Farbrengable Studios ---- A gut voch everybody. Motzei Shabbos shuva, everybody’s getting ready for Yom Kippur. I’ll tell you a Yom Kippur’dik Maaseh. It’s always a good thing to say stories of Tzadikim but in this time of year it’s important to say stories of R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.  One Yom Kippur people were gathering in the shul and they were getting ready to start Kol Nidrei. They see in the corner of the room that there was a man clearly drunk and rieked? Of alcohol. People were thinking and talking saying what’s he doing drunk in shul for Kol nidrei? Finally the Rebbe comes in. The gabbaim quickly go open the Aron kodesh and they begin to take the sefer torah out for kol nidrei. Davka at that moment this drunk guy wakes up. He doesn’t even know what’s going on, he thinks it’s simchas Torah he screams 100 Ruble Ata horeisa. Everyone shushes him. The Berditchover turns to them and says let him be.  And that’s what happened, that guy in the back was saying Ata Horeisa and dancing and everyone else said Kol Nidrei. Everyone was curious and went to ask the Rebbe why he didn't do anything about the man. The rebbe said, this guy's name is Reb Shmuel. He’s not a drunkard, he’s a good guy. How did it happen that he got drunk for Kol Nidrei? It was erev Yom Kippur, and this Shmuel got a message from one of the surrounding shtetlach that there was a widow who was late on their rent. You had to give rent to a Porutz and oftentimes they were antisemites.  This widow with her children owes rent, she was very behind in her payments. This porutz (landlord) decided that he would take advantage of this time of year and on Erev Yom Kippur he threw them in jail. This Reb Shmuel heard about this, and he said how can I go about my day and let this family be in jail for Yom Kippur. So he goes to the Porutz and he says you don’t know who I am, but what’s it going to take to get this family out at least for Yom Kippur.  The Porutz says I'm not budging. They’re staying here until I get every single penny they owe. And how much is it? He says 1000 ruble. He says I’ll give what I can give but I don’t have that money. Okay so they’re staying in jail.  Reb Shmuel leaves, he’s not a gabbai tzedaka, a fundraiser by profession but I need to step up. I’ll give what I can, and I’ll go knock on doors. The problem is, everyone in the town was poor. The Gabbaim already went around collecting money for the poor people in the community, it was going to be difficult to raise money for a family from another town they don’t know about.  He’s struggling to get the funds. After all his efforts in collecting money for Erev Yom Kippur he has 700 Ruble altogether which is an amazing accomplishment but this Porutz isn’t budging. He gave all the money he could, collected from the yidden as much as he could. As he’s walking home thinking of ideas, he sees people in a bar. And he happens to notice amongst all the people there, there was one particular table of young men dressed nicely and classy. He figures you know what, it can’t hurt to try.  He goes into the bar, they look at him, they can tell that he needs something. He gives them the whole story with this widow and children who are stuck in jail for the holiday season and that he needs 300 more ruble. They see, hey we can have fun with this guy. They say, if you drink this whole bottle of Vodka we’ll give you a hundred Ruble. He’s not used to drinking, he sits down and starts preparing. He takes it down, they were super shocked and they give him a 100 ruble. They say you know what, if you drink another bottle we’ll give you another 100. He was already losing balance, pushing himself to take down the second. By now he’s already out of...

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…. ------

Gut voch everybody, I’ll tell you a maaseh. One of the great chassidim of the Tzamach Tzedek named Reb Hillel PAritcher and he would repeat this story that happened to him, in this time of Elul. And to him, this brought out what Teshuva and Elul is all about. He was walking on a late winter night in Russia somewhere. Those days, the Czar had a palace that he lived in, but the Czar had many different palaces. Even though the Czar was only in one palace at a time, every palace had to be guarded and respected because it’s still his palace and he coukld theoretically be there. One time, Reb hillel Parithcer was walking by one of these palaces, and he heard a lot of screaming and moaning, it wasn’t normal. He goes in to see what’s going on, he sees a young soldier who’s being beaten mercilessly by his higher ranking officer. It was a strange sight, he goes over and there’s a whole commotion over there. This young soldier was charged with standing guard and watching the place of the Czar. Most likely the Czar wasn’t even there, and unfortunately this young boy fell asleep and his officer cae around to check on him and caught him slacking off from his job. The proper mode of conduct is when the higher ranking officer walks by, he’s supposed to stand up. This young guy fell asleep and his boots froze to the ground, and this is why this kid is being beaten up. While this is happening this kid is begging for his life, please just have compassion on me. It’s so cold, I fell asleep for one minute and my boots froze. It’s so cold and i’m so tired it’s not my fault. The office said I was there 10 years ago when you took an oath to serve the Czar. That oath should keep you warm to this day. Reb Hillel Paritcher said nu, in the Tanya it says every single one of us before we come to the world we take an oath that we will be a tzaddik not a rasha. And even if the whole world is telling you you’re a tzaddik, don’t think your work is done. We take this oath then get sent to the world with all the coldness of the inter, the tough times, our oath has to keep us warm, an inner desire to be able to make sure our boots don’t freeze to the ground. Reb Hillel Paritcher says the avodah of Elul is to remember that oath that we took, Elul will help us dance, to go vaiter and fulfill that oath today, keeping us warm in the cold winter. Hashem should help us, this week as we get closer to the Yomim Noraim we should be zocheh to remember that oath, this is ultimately the secret of Teshuva, to keep us warm with this oath. We should be zocheh to have a week of yeshua and nechamos b’vias goel tzedek b’heirah b’yamenu amen.

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky ---- A gut voch everybody. I’ll tell you a maaseh, there was a yid in Russia going back some time. He had a daughter. This daughter at a young age developed some sort of issue with her eye, an infection or something. As a chossid, the first place this guy goes when his daughter isn’t feeling well is to the Rebbe. This guy was a chabad Chassid, and at the time the Rebbe Rashab was Rebbe.  The Rebbe was not only a huge tzadik but was also familiar with medicine and science.The chossid brings his daughter to the Rebbe, he looks at her and says i’ll give her a bracha for a refuah sheleima. I see what’s going on with the eye and go to this particular pharmacist, gives a name and address and tell them that he should prescribe for your daughter a particular type of cream, it’s a yellow one and he should prescribe it to your daughter. The chossid takes the prescription, goes to the pharmacist and says that the Rebbe said to write a prescription for this cream, it’s a yellow one and my daughter should have a refuah. The pharmacist looks at the note, he knows what cream it is and goes to the drug store to get it.He finds it and hands it over and the chossid is on his way.  They apply the cream for a few days but nothing’s happening, it might even be getting a little worse. What’s going on? The chossid is such a chossid, he didn’t even question the Rebbe he just took the cream. He takes a look and he sees that it’s not yellow! The chossid goes back to the pharmacists and shows him, the Rebbe said it was going to be yellow cream. The pharmacist said that it’s true that very often this cream is yellow but sometimes it’s made without the pigment of yellow but it’s the same cream. It doesn’t make a difference.  The chossid said the Rebbe told me it has to be yellow, so make it yellow. So what should I do> Put food coloring in it? Yup. So that’s what he does, and the chossid is happy and thinks it’s going to work. He goes home, puts on the new cream and she was healed. It’s not the cream that heals her, it’s always the bracha of the Rebbe, of the tzadik. It’s always the ribbono shel olam doing things through the tzadikim and things of this world. Because it came out of the mouth of the tzadik that it’s going to be yellow cream, even if scientifically the color of medication is yellow, it doesn’t matter because what the tzadik said is what matters most.  Hashem should help us that we should have emunas chachamim and tzadikim like this chossid had. We should be zocheh to all the brachos and yeshuos that come through all the tzadikim. We should be zhocheh to have a good week, B’vias goel tzedek b’imheirah b’yamenu amen.

Gut Voch everybody. In the summer months, I can’t call it a minhag but very often what happens in camp late night motzei shabbos whatever it is they tell ghost stories and try to scare each other. Let me tell you a holy ghost story, the intention isn’t to scare anyone, hopefully we'll get some chizzuk.  The story goes like this, don’t ask me to explain it, this is the maaseh. The Kotzker Rebbe was once walking with one of his chassidim and as they were passing by a particular area there was a bunch of hoodlums, of goyim. They were standing there, they saw the Kotzker and his talmid and they began to throw rocks at them. Saying anti-semetic things. Immediately the chassid, see these rocks coming so he ducks down behind the bush. But the Rebbe just stands there and continues walking. The chossid turns up and says Rebbe you have to hide, they’re throwing rocks. The Rebbe says Meh, there’s no goyim, there’s no rocks. Let me tell you something, those guys over there they’re not from the living. They’ve already passed on. They don’t realize it yet. They think they’re part of the world, but they’re not really. I’ll prove it to you. Stand up, you’ll see that all these rocks coming your way they’re not going to hit you. They’re not real. When you go close to them you’ll see that they’re wearing clothes of the dead. They go closer and that’s what they're wearing.  The Chossid after this experience turns to the Kotzer with an amazing question and says Rebbe, how do I know that I’m alive? Maybe I’m also stuck thinking I’m alive but am not really. The Kotzker says if at any point in your life, you ever had a hirhur Teshuva, you ever had a real thought to becoming a better person that’s a siman that you’re alive.  But if a person goes through life without even a moment of thinking or wanting to become better, then it could be that they’re not alive. That’s the siman of life.  The siman of life doesn’t mean to be a tzaddik, or to be the person we want to become. But it’s the wanting to be that person. Having a thought of Teshuva of becoming better, that’s called being alive.  When Hashem says I’ve placed before you good and bad, life and death choose life He doesn’t say choose good he says choose life. Good is something that comes after you choose life. Life is to want to do good. Now that you’ve chosen life you’ll be good. You have to choose life, and that means to have thoughts of Teshuva and become better people. That itself is making us alive, it’s injecting us with life-force itself.  Hashem should help us, this week should be a week of Chayim, chayim amiti’im. True life, of growth, of Cheshek, desire, Hirhur Teshuva. We should be zoche that not just as individuals, all of klal yisroel should have that hirhur teshuva and choose that life and connect to life in a real way, in a pnimiyusdik way. With that be zocheh to the CHay Hachayim B’vias goel tzedek bimherah byamenu amen.

A Gut Voch everybody. There’s a story that the Mezrithcer Maggid, Rav Dov Ber of Mezritch who took over Chassidus after the Baal Shemn Tov passed away said the following Maiseh.  He was by the Baal Shem, it was mamash right after havdalah, there’s a knock on the door and it’s an old woman collecting money for tzedakah. Everyone is still wearing their Shabbos clothes and the Baal Shem Tov turns to his Chassidim and says this lady needs x amount of money.  Everyone reach into your pockets, pull out whatever you have and we’ll pool it together to see what we have. Everyone reached in and miraculously everyone had some money. When they counted it up it was exactly what this lady needed. This was the story the Mezritcher Maggid told the chassidim.  Now the Mezeritcher Maggid turned to the chassidim and asked What’s the Moifes, the miracle of this story? What’s the great lesson to learn from this story. One person said well, we see that the miracle was that they had money in their pockets even though it was just Shabbos. Another chassid said even more than that, not only did they have the money but it was exactly the amount this lady needed. The Mezritcher Maggid said it’s true these are miracles but there are countless stories of the Baal Shem that are miraculous like that. The chassidim told the Maggid, Rebbe, now you tell us what you think the amazing part of the story is.  The Mezritcher Maggid said I think it’s when the Baal Shem said to reach in your pockets to see how much money you have, without doubting at all they put their hands in. Even though they knew they doidn’t have their wallets on them it was just shabbos. Their Emunah in the tzaddik was so strong that without batting an eye they put their hands in. Of course miraculously there was money there but that’s not a chiddush. The chiddush is the faith of the students. That’s what we have to learn from these stories, not just about how amazing the tzadikim are but to have faith in them. To believe in the teachings of tzadikim and their lessons. Emunas Chachomim is of vital importance for ourselves, for our generation, for our children. Hashem should bless us that this week should be filled with EMunah, emunah  in Hashem, Emunah in ourselves, Emunas Chachomim, Emunah in ourselves, Emunah in Torah and in Yiddishekeit. We should be zocheh to have a Gitteh Vuch, a Lichtig Voch and a blessed Voch.

A Gut Voch everybody. There’s a Maiseh that a yid once came to the Baal Shem to give a donation for the Beis Medrash and for any poor people that the Baal shem Tov was involved with. So he gives him the envelope full of money and the Baal shem Tov says it’s so beautiful to donate such an amount, it’ll go to a good cause bezras Hashem, is there anything I can give you in return, do you want a Bracha for anything? The yid says Boruch Hashem I’m good, I don’t really need a bracha for anything, I have everything I need. The Baal Shem Tov says, what about your family, do you want a bracha for nachas from your children and health? The yid answers. “Everyone’s fine, I’m good to go.”  The Baal Shem Tov says “You know what, if I can’t give you a bracha, if you don’t need anything like that then maybe you can do me a favor. There’s a letter, if you don’t mind delivering it for me. He says sure. The Baal Shem Tov goes into the other room, he writes a letter, puts it in an envelope and gives it to this yid. He says I want this to be delivered to Mr. Tzadok, who’s the gabbai tzedakah the head of the charity fund in the city of Brodt, one of the neighboring cities. The person doesn’t think twice about it and puts it in his coat pocket.  Meanwhile the guy goes back home, forgets about the letter, days, weeks, months even a couple of years go by. Slowly but surely his business takes a turn unfortunately. He begins to lose money to the point where he’s mamash broke. He can’t explain why but things began to unravel. Things are deteriorating more to the point that he has to sell the assets, his home, his silverware he has no choice. To the point where he was literally selling his own clothes.  One day he looked in the closet to see if there was anything he could possibly sell. He finds this old coat that was tucked away in the closet. He figures it’ll be worth something, he takes it out to take a look, empties out the pockets and he finds the letter. It hits him like a ton of bricks, remembering what happened 16 years ago when he was by the Baal shem and everything was going amazing. He remembers vividly that moment where the Baal Shem tov offered to give a bracha and this person is thinking about himself that he was so confident in everything he has,m that everything is set in stone that he wouldn’t even take the bracha from the Baal Shem and he’s kicking himself.  At the time he didn’t think he needed it but we’re always hanging by a thread with Hashem fully in control. He remembered this letter and decided to try to do it now. He hitchhikes to the city of Brodt, now a beggar he asks around for a Mr. Tzadok, the gabbai tzedakah. People are looking around at each other and saying Really? This Mr. Tzadok was just appointed today as the Gabbai Tzedakah. This yid thinks it’s a coincidence and he asks more about Mr. Tzadok. They tell him that throughout his whole life he was a tailor in the city, nothing major, not wealthy at all but just recently his business began to take a turn in the upside and he became very wealthy and powerful in the city, and just today he was appointed the gabbai tzedakah.  This yid goes to Mr. Tzadok and he tells him, you’ll think I’m crazy but 16 years ago the Baal Shem Tov gave me this letter to give to a Mr. Tzadok who is the Gabbai Tzedakah in th city of Brodt. I forgot about it, over the years my mazal turned a lot but now I just remembered this letter and now i'm here. I was told that literally today you became the gabbai tzedakah, here’s the letter.  Mr. Tzadok is taken aback, he takes this letter and reads it. This is what was written. I, yisroel Baal Shem Tov am writing to you Mr. Tzadok, and the person I sent as a messenger to deliver this to you is someone who right now is very successful in his business but I’m seeing his mazel is going to turn and he’s going to be in desperate need of help. At the time when he delivers this letter you are

A Gut Voch everybody. They say that when the Baal Shem Tov davened shachris Mincha or Maariv he had a very long Shmonei Esreh. One particular davening everyone was finished and people were standing around in the back waiting for the Baal shem tov to finish on Shabbos morning. Some of the chevra got together and said, usually we know how long the Baal Shem Tov’s Shemonei Esreh is and we figure, we’ll have a little bit of time right now. Let’s go home, we’ll learn a little bit, make Kiddush and by the time we’re done we’ll come back and the Baal Shem Tov will be done. So they went home, they made kiddush and learned a little bit.  They came back, and the Baal shem Tov was sitting there waiting for them. He asks what happened? They say “Rebbe we’re so sorry usually the Shmonei Esrei is much longer and we expected to have a little more time but I guess it went quickly today.” The Baal Shem tov says “Let me tell you a story.”  There was once a group of yidden and they were walking through a forest. One of the people noticed a rare and magnificent bird on top of the tree. One of them decided that it would be worth it to try to get the bird, it’s worth a lot of money and it would be a good thing to have. The problem is, none of the people were capable of climbing the tree all the way to the top. So they all decide that what they’re going to do is build a human pyramid. Then there’ll be one person to climb up the entire pyramid to get the bird. So everyone stacks on top of each other and one person is designated to climb all the way up. As he’s climbing up all the way to the top, the Baal Shem Tov says one of the guys on the bottom started thinking to themselves the following. “Listen, what do you need me for? There’s this whole pyramid, I’m not even on top, what am I needed for? I’m unnecessary so let me just leave and everyone else will take care of it.” So that’s what he did, he climbs out of the bottom row, stands up and starts walking out. Obviously what begins to happen is everyone begins to fall on each other because he was on the bottom row, and they needed every single member to make a stable pyramid for the person to climb up to the top to grab the bird.  The Baal Shem Tov said “Listen, I go to very high places in my Shmonei Esrei, but you know how or why I’m able to? It’s because of you! We’re building something together. It looks like my Shmonei Esrei is private and yours is private as well but we’re all making this pyramid together. I’m climbing up and building upon all of your avodah in order to get that bird on top of the tree. But if you think that you could leave in the middle then guess what? The whole thing collapses then I can’t reach where I usually go to. When you guys leave the room, of course my Tefillah is shorter, I can’t reach that high without you being there!” There’s a big lesson for us to learn. We see tzadikim who accomplish big things and what are we? They build on us. Every single member of Klal Yisroel is a nuclear plant of divine energy. When we come together, that’s what creates the infrastructure to allow tzadikim to reach high places. We can’t ever think “What am I worth? What’s the significance of my Avodah? Who cares about me?”  The greatest of the great are only able to accomplish what they can, because of all of Klal Yisroel who created the pyramid for them to climb on. When they eventually reach that bird and accomplish whatever they can accomplish it’s because of every single one of us. We should remember that and be mechazek our avodah. Even if it feels like we’re not accomplishing much, we're a part of that bigger pyramid and it’s because of us that great things are being accomplished by very special people.  Haahem should bless us with that confidence, with emunah within ourselves, emunah in tzadikim. It should be a Gezunte Voch, a Lichtogeh Voch, a week of emunah, of madraigos of Avodah. We should be zocheh to see...

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 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. 

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. 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...

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, 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. 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. 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...

A gut voch everybody. I’ll tell you a maaseh. The tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe was a tzadik yesod olam, a genius of geniuses in Torah,  Nigleh and Nistar on of the gedolei hador on all levels. He was raised in the house of the Baal Hatanya. So the maaseh goes that after the Baal Hatanya passed away, every once in a while the Baal Hatanya would visit his grandson the Tzemach Tzedek in a dream at night. Some questions that the Tzemach Tzedek would have in learning the Baal Hatanya would give answers to. Sometimes they were clear and sometimes not so much.  There was a time when Tzemach Tzedek was learning a hard topic and he had many kashyas on it. He davened very much that his grandfather should visit him, no anwer. No one’s answering him, the Baal Hatanya doesn’t answer. It goes on for weeks like this and it’s eating him up inside that for whatever reason the Baal Hatanya isn’t coming anymore. He’s staying with these questions: it is what it is.  It happens to be one particular morning the Tzemach Tzedek was walking to shul and it was the shuk. The fair in Lubavitch where businessmen would come and do business. The Tzemach Tzedek is traveling to shul and there was a yid who the Tzemach Tzedek knew. Clearly it seemed like he was preparing himself to get involved with the shuk that day. He comes to the Tzemach Tzedek with an innocent question. I’m sorry to bother. I know you’re very busy, but is there any chance I can borrow 15 Rubles? It would be a huge help. There’s something I’m trying to purchase today. The Tzemach Tzedek said yes sure I’d love to lend it to you, I just don’t have it with me. I’m on my way to shul for shachris after davening I’ll stop at my house and we can meet there and I’ll give you the money. Okay fine, thank you very much and he goes on.  The Tzemach Tzedek goes to shul, puts his talis over his shoulder, he's checking his tzitzis and he has this nagging feeling that maybe he did something wrong. This yid who needs the money, he’s trying to make a parnassah and working hard. Maybe by the time I finish davening and meet him, the deals will be missed. Maybe I should’ve taken care of it right away. He says you know what it’s not too late I’ll take care of it now.  He takes off his tefillin and runs home, gets the money but he doesn’t know where this yid is. Because they were going to only meet later. But he says, this is the Yetzer Hora trying to prevent me from doing the right thing. And that’s what he does, he takes the money and runs to the shuk. He looks for this yid, and finally after some time he finds him. The yid is so thankful and says, thank you so much you could’ve waited from later. But I very much appreciate having the money now, like the Rebbe thought of and was concerned about. Thank you.  The Tzemach Tzedek runs back to go daven, puts his talis on his shoulder, wraps himself with Tallis and tefillin. All of a sudden he has a vision with his grandfather. But this time it’s not when he’s asleep it’s when he is wide awake and he sees clearly. The Baal Hatanya answers all the questions with complete clarity, and gives advice for questions that will arise in the future. It’s mamash one of the greatest visions in his whole life.  The Tzemach Tzedek was bothered, why did I merit this extreme nevuah right now? A person can do many mitzvos to open certain gates in shamayim. But the biggest key to open the biggest gates, is doing a Toivah for another yid. Doing a toivah with mesirus nefesh and l’shem shamayim, it opens the biggest doors in shamayim. That key that’s called ahavas yisroel, gemilus chassadim with mesirus nefesh. The Alter Rebbe says, I know how much davening with Kavannah and with a minyan means to you. For you to go out to help this yid and give him the money, was exxtreme mesirus nefesh and opens all the gates.  We should be zocheh to be gomlei chassadim like that, we have it in our...

Gut voch everybody, I’ll tell you a maaseh. Until the Baal Shem Tov was 36 years old he was very hidden, he didn’t publicize himself as a Tzadik yesod olam. But this Maaseh we have is one of the rare stories from before that point. Before his public display of greatness that is attributed to him.  There was a big city that was experiencing a drought, and especially back in those days it caused great difficulty. These were frum holy jews, and they were trying to figure out what to do. Maybe we’ll make an asifa, everyone will get together one day we’ll make a taanis, daven slichos. What we’ll do is we’ll gather funds to hire one of the biggest maggidim to shmooze and to get everyone to do Teshuva. Back in that day they had Rabbonim and Maggidim. Maggidim were traveling darshanim, very often they were big talmidei chachamim and tzadikim. They would travel from place to place giving shmuezen and that’s how they made a parnassah.  There was a stereotype about maggidim, not all of them were like this but stereotypes have truth to them somewhat. That the Maggidim were the opposite of the philosophy of the Baal Shem. The Baal Shem Tov felt that the way to bring yidden closer to Hashem was with love, telling them how great they are and showing them the power they possess. The Maggidim of old were the opposite, talking about punishments, Schar Ve’Onesh. So the city gets together to hire one of the biggest Maggidim, the whole city is there.  The opening line the Maggid opens up with is “You guys are all Reshaim!” Why do you think this is all happening! The reason it’s not raining is because you guys are always sinning. You deserve this! Halevai you should suffer and die in this world, to take away the pain and suffering you’ll have in the next world. It happens to be the Baal shem Tov is in the crowd and he’s jumping out of his skin to hear this.  At some point he can’t take it anymore, he jumps out and in front of the whole city he asks, why do you hate yidden so much? What did they do? They give you parnassah! The maggid says what are you talking about? I don't hate yidden. The Baal Shem Tov answers yes you do, that’s why you’re talking like this. You think that’s what’s going to bring the rain? I’ll show you how to do it! He takes the yidden on both sides of him, they make a little rikud, a few minutes later a storm comes, thunder and lightning and it begins to rain.  There was a time in jewish history where the way to bring jews close to Hashem was with a stick. But the Baal Shem Tov revealed to us that there has been a change, that the way to bring geula and yeshua is with simcha, talking up to yidden, showing how much power they possess. To show them how unbecoming it is if they don’t live up to who they are, B'etzem.  We should be zocheh to have a geulah in that way. A geulah b’rachamim, b’chassadim. A geulah where all the shefa comes not g-d forbid with the way of the old maggidim, but with simcha and the way of the Baal Shem tov. 

Gut voch everybody. The great Rebbe of Radzin, Reb Gershon Henoch was a grandson of the Izhbitzer, Reb Mordechai Yosef of Izhbitz. The story goes like this. Reb Gershon Henoch, even as a tzaddik, an adult was a very fiery, confident, creative personality. People that are like that as adults usually start off like that as children as well. So when you have a child who has a big neshama like Reb Gershon Henoch coupled with that creative, energetic, confident changing the world type of personality it could sometimes become a difficult thing to manage.  Reb Gershon Henoch was a little kid and he was walking in the city. In Izhbitz at the time, there was a stream, a river and there was a narrow foot-bridge to cross that stream. The width of the bridge was only wide enough for one person to walk at a time. It happens to be that Reb Gershon Henoch’l as a kid is trying to cross and to his mazel there’s a person walking in front of him. This was an elderly chassid who was walking very slowly.  Reb Gershon Henoch’l is getting a little bit antsy so he starts pushing to try to get through. The older chassid turns around and says how dare you push me, do you know how I am? I’m an einekel of the chozeh of Lublin. Reb Gershob Henoch’l on the spot without flinching says so what, the Chozeh is dead. My grandfather is the Rebbe and he’s alive. The old man hears this and is shocked to hear such a thing so disrespectful about the Chozeh.  After crossing the bridge the old man goes to tell on the little boy so he goes to the Izhibtzer. He knocks on the door, he goes in and tells the Rebbe what happened, he tried to cut me off and I told him I’m the einekel of the Chozeh and he says who cares the Chozeh is dead and my grandfather is the Rebbe he’s alive. The Izhbitzer was shaken up to hear that, he calls in his grandson and he says, nu is it true that you said that? The kid answers, yes I said it. The Izhbitzer begins to shake, to say such a thing and talk like that about the Chozeh? Who am I compared to the Chozeh. Reb Gershon Henoch’l as a kid begins to get nervous, feels a little bit bad and begins to cry a little.  The Izhbitzer then says, but the truth is, the Chozeh is dead and I’m alive. And as long as I’m alive, I can be as great as Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai. That’s what he said to his grandson.  That’s an amazing thing. Of course it goes without saying to respect gedolei hador. But as long as you’re alive, it means that you have a spark of the divine within you and the sky's the limit. Why limit yourself to the Chozeh, you can be as great as Rebbe shimon Bar Yochai. As long as you’re alive.  The Chozeh was niftar, the Izhbitzer was niftar. Tzadikim of past generations are no longer here but we’re alive. As long as we’re alive we have to dream and aspire to be great people, if we aspire to be bigger then maybe we’ll become the people that we have to become.  Hashem should help us that this week should be filled with Brachos, yeshuos and potential to be actualized. B’vias G’oel Tzedek B’mheirah B’yamenu amen. 

Gut Voch everybody. Let me tell you a maaseh. One of the great chassidim of the Baal Hatanya was a chassid, a tzadik by the name of Reb Shmuel Munkis. This Chossid Reb Shmuel was a huge eved Hashem, a huge tzadik, but he was a little mischievous and would do things in a funny way. He was a famous chassid, this is a maaseh that they say about how he originally became a chassid of the Baal Hatanya. He had heard about the greatness of the Baal Hatanya and he wanted to come visit him. He traveled to the Baal Hatanya’s city of Liadi. But in those days, he didn’t know what the Baal Hatanya looked like he didn’t have an address. He shows up at 3 o’clock in the morning and he’s planning to find the Rebbe. He looks throughout the city and sees there’s only one house where the light is still on. So he assumed that’s got to be the Baal Hatanya sitting and learning. He knocks on the door, the Baal Hatanya comes and Reb Shmuel falls on the floor. He says Rebbe i’m here, take me in, turn me into a chassid. So the Baal Hatanya stands up and says, how do you know that I’m the Rebbe. Reb Shmuel is taken aback by the question, and says you’re the only house still lit. The Rebbe says how do you know that the Rebbe’s house is filled with light? Reb Shmuel doesn’t know how to answer. After a minute, the Baal Hatanya says this place isn’t for you, get out. Reb Shmuel says no, I’m here. I want to be a chassid, I want to come in. The Baal Hatanya says no, this isn’t for you, I don’t know why you came here, go find some other Rabbi. Reb Shmuel says no, I’m staying, I'm going to learn by you, I’m not moving. So the Baal Hatanya says you’re not leaving from my house? This is trespassing, I’m going to get the goy and he’s going to pick you up and throw you out. At that moment, Reb Shmuel begins to cry and says, Rebbe, my goy is stronger than your goy. The Baal Hatanya smiles and says ahhh, then come in. What does that mean? What’s the Maaseh? What the Baal Hatanya was trying to say was you came trying to find me because my house was lit up. In other words, You came with the assumption that by a tzadik everything is light. And a tzadik doesn’t have a goy. Doesn’t have a yetzer hara, everything is perfect and fine. By you connecting to a tzadik and trying to become one you’re goal is to become a person that’s full of light, and light alone. But when Reb Shmuel said my goy is stronger, ah, now you have a goy inside, now you can serve Hashem. Without the fake face, pretending as if there’s just light. There’s choshech in the world, there’s choshech inside of us. And aderaba, with our choshech, with our darkness, with our goy inside of us that’s how we come to serve Hashem. We serve Hashem with everything we have, especially with honesty. That’s the ikkar avodah to become a chossid, to become a tzadik you come with you go, with everything you have that’s how you serve Hashem. Hashem should help us that this week should be a week of light, of Ohr. But if we have choshech within ourselves, in those situations we serve Hashem with that choshech as well. We’re honest with ourselves, we admit it and we do our best with that choshech. Hashem should bless us that it should be a lichtigeh voch, a mazaldik voch, a simchadik voch and with that we should be zoche to the great light of all lights b’vias goel tzedek, amen.

TYH Nation Presents Tachlis, What's My Avoda? with HaRav Yussie Zakutinsky Shlita  & Yakov  Wohlgelernter  Episode 3: What's the Avoda of Anti-Semitism? Anti-semitism is something we live with as Jews. We are blessed to live in a period of history where most of the time we experience it differently than previous generations. But every once in a while it rears it’s ugly head and we get a taste of the bitterness of galus. Recently very famous people have expressed views that are hurtful and painful to hear and in this episode we explore with Reb Yussie how we are meant to react and think about this timeless topic.  Exciting announcement! You can now submit questions or topics that you would like to be featured on a future episode of Tachlis, What’s My Avoda?  Email [email protected] with your ideas.  ----------  HaRav Rabbi Yussie Zakutinsky Shlita is the Rav of Khal Mevakshei Hashem, in Lawrence NY and a major Mashpia on the lives of all who know him and learn from him. He always encourages his talmidim to recognize the deeper and hidden element of life.  He teaches that all of our experiences are lessons in Avodas Hashem, and that even in the regular everyday moments, we have to constantly be asking what’s my avoda?  What does HASHEM require from me?  Listen in as Yakov Wohlgelernter and Reb Yussie explore various areas of life through this perspective.  Each episode will examine different aspects of everyday life and help us uncover the meaning and beauty within them.  Lisen on Apple Podcast - https://l.tyhnation.com/3BBSZitListen on Spotify - https://l.tyhnation.com/3oTkL29 Farbrengable Studios #thankyouhashem #tyhnation

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…. ------

Questions, questions, questions. Our generation seems to have so many questions. Yet some people, and especially parents, are afraid of questions, part of which because we're trained that way — to be afraid. But once upon a dor, there was a time for questions! They were asked in the right way and answered with clarity. But is there a reason WHY this generation has so many questions? Perhaps a better way to look at this is a restructuring of mindset. Because what are questions if not a neshamah yearning for something so tangible, and authentic? Questions have a clear call to action. They say: "We don't WANT to live a fake existence! Give me something REAL!" In today's episode, we dive straight into the tough questions with Shlomo Friedman, CEO of Imperial Real Estate, a real estate brokerage that has overseen Lakewood's biggest residential developments of the past decades. One topic was Sales, and what started off with "questions," pivoted, and spun around again. Because: as a salesman, when do tactics become harmful? Shlomo takes us through the one factor that determines the ישרות of a sale, reveals how he "became close to Hashem through my business," and the Rav's surprising answer to a question that changed his life. Hint: the physical and spiritual worlds aren't so different, and our questions and searches that wind down alternative paths may just be two sides of the same coin, that have the same goal at heart. And while the beginning may capture your mind, the end will enthrall your heart, with a powerful message for business, life, for all ages, to fuel our everyday search and "reconnection" to Hashem. Laibel's take: It's not every day you get to spend time with someone who you feel comfortable diving deep with; but Shlomo Friedman is a special person, with a unique ability, passion, and perspective. Getting to the heart of what he does was meaningful for both of us. As the owner of Imperial Realty, Shlomo is responsible for the many changing faces of Lakewood, helping it develop into the thriving Jewish center we know it as today, and here, we dive into his journey, to see how his quest began with a question, the challenges that he faces, and what it takes to be authentic truly. We focus on business, life, and the series of challenges that so many of us as parents and children "clash" with throughout our lives. This particular meeting with Shlomo changed my life. And if you take the time to digest it, it might just change yours, too

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…. ------

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…. ------

TYH Nation Presents EMUNAH AT WORK Richie Taylor NYPD Inspector Commanding Officer ------------------------ "When you wear a garment—a police garment or a religious item—yarmulke or something else... You're representing G-d in a very specific way. You're also representing your community, and that's a tremendous responsibility." This is an excerpt from today's episode of Emunah at Work with Richie Taylor, a frum Jew, and Inspector at the NYPD. Richie takes us through his career, what it's like to be the "Jew in the room," and what that responsibility feels like. But really, any of us who looks outwardly "Jewish" in the manner of dress shares this responsibility—we're carrying G-d on our shoulders! In today's episode, we had this remarkable opportunity to talk to this distinguished, fascinating, and very special guest: Richie Taylor, Commanding officer, and Inspector at the NYPD. An Inspector is one of the highest levels within the police structure, and as noticeably religious Jew, we didn't shy away from the questions that were on our minds. And he didn't shy away from answering them. Inside this episode, Richie reveals what he believes has made him well-received, and what's like to be noticeably distinguishable as a religious Jew. He also takes us through his memories, and reveals to us how Hatzolah, the Shalom Task Force, and the NYPD work together! After all, it's not for themselves, and their own kavod, but for the communities, they're protecting. And then, came a text that could potentially change Leibel's business career. And the story that Richie shared was deeply heartfelt and moving. ------------------------ Listen on Apple Podcast: https://l.tyhnation.com/3N2Npby Listen on Spotify: https://l.tyhnation.com/3O1wQg8 Listen to more episodes https://tyhnation.com/pages/emunah-at-work ------------------------ Emunah is the core of our identity as a nation with 3,000+ years of putting our complete faith in One Above, but nowhere are its inherent challenges and apparent impediments more pertinent than in the realm of parnassah. The role of hishtadlus; coping with failure; the lucky and unlucky breaks; powering through those difficult periods––if you live with emunah, you will truly see emunah at work at your workplace. In this conversation series, Laibel Schwartz and TYH Nation sits down with business leaders and prominent members of the community to hear how they apply emunah at work and the impact emunah has on their business and personal lives. Join us on this journey of emunah and success. Laibel Schwartz x TYH Nation #EmunahAtWork #Faith #TYHnation #thankyouhashem Laibel can be reached on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/laibelschwartz/ or by calling his office at 845-418-2527 Thank you Avraham Kohn and the entire Laibel Schwarz team, for making this project happen! MB01JEIAXGWPI2V

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky ---- A gut voch everybody. I’ll tell you a maaseh, there was a yid in Russia going back some time. He had a daughter. This daughter at a young age developed some sort of issue with her eye, an infection or something. As a chossid, the first place this guy goes when his daughter isn’t feeling well is to the Rebbe. This guy was a chabad Chassid, and at the time the Rebbe Rashab was Rebbe.  The Rebbe was not only a huge tzadik but was also familiar with medicine and science.The chossid brings his daughter to the Rebbe, he looks at her and says i’ll give her a bracha for a refuah sheleima. I see what’s going on with the eye and go to this particular pharmacist, gives a name and address and tell them that he should prescribe for your daughter a particular type of cream, it’s a yellow one and he should prescribe it to your daughter. The chossid takes the prescription, goes to the pharmacist and says that the Rebbe said to write a prescription for this cream, it’s a yellow one and my daughter should have a refuah. The pharmacist looks at the note, he knows what cream it is and goes to the drug store to get it.He finds it and hands it over and the chossid is on his way.  They apply the cream for a few days but nothing’s happening, it might even be getting a little worse. What’s going on? The chossid is such a chossid, he didn’t even question the Rebbe he just took the cream. He takes a look and he sees that it’s not yellow! The chossid goes back to the pharmacists and shows him, the Rebbe said it was going to be yellow cream. The pharmacist said that it’s true that very often this cream is yellow but sometimes it’s made without the pigment of yellow but it’s the same cream. It doesn’t make a difference.  The chossid said the Rebbe told me it has to be yellow, so make it yellow. So what should I do> Put food coloring in it? Yup. So that’s what he does, and the chossid is happy and thinks it’s going to work. He goes home, puts on the new cream and she was healed. It’s not the cream that heals her, it’s always the bracha of the Rebbe, of the tzadik. It’s always the ribbono shel olam doing things through the tzadikim and things of this world. Because it came out of the mouth of the tzadik that it’s going to be yellow cream, even if scientifically the color of medication is yellow, it doesn’t matter because what the tzadik said is what matters most.  Hashem should help us that we should have emunas chachamim and tzadikim like this chossid had. We should be zocheh to all the brachos and yeshuos that come through all the tzadikim. We should be zhocheh to have a good week, B’vias goel tzedek b’imheirah b’yamenu amen.

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky / Farbrengable Studios ---- A gut voch everybody. Motzei Shabbos shuva, everybody’s getting ready for Yom Kippur. I’ll tell you a Yom Kippur’dik Maaseh. It’s always a good thing to say stories of Tzadikim but in this time of year it’s important to say stories of R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.  One Yom Kippur people were gathering in the shul and they were getting ready to start Kol Nidrei. They see in the corner of the room that there was a man clearly drunk and rieked? Of alcohol. People were thinking and talking saying what’s he doing drunk in shul for Kol nidrei? Finally the Rebbe comes in. The gabbaim quickly go open the Aron kodesh and they begin to take the sefer torah out for kol nidrei. Davka at that moment this drunk guy wakes up. He doesn’t even know what’s going on, he thinks it’s simchas Torah he screams 100 Ruble Ata horeisa. Everyone shushes him. The Berditchover turns to them and says let him be.  And that’s what happened, that guy in the back was saying Ata Horeisa and dancing and everyone else said Kol Nidrei. Everyone was curious and went to ask the Rebbe why he didn't do anything about the man. The rebbe said, this guy's name is Reb Shmuel. He’s not a drunkard, he’s a good guy. How did it happen that he got drunk for Kol Nidrei? It was erev Yom Kippur, and this Shmuel got a message from one of the surrounding shtetlach that there was a widow who was late on their rent. You had to give rent to a Porutz and oftentimes they were antisemites.  This widow with her children owes rent, she was very behind in her payments. This porutz (landlord) decided that he would take advantage of this time of year and on Erev Yom Kippur he threw them in jail. This Reb Shmuel heard about this, and he said how can I go about my day and let this family be in jail for Yom Kippur. So he goes to the Porutz and he says you don’t know who I am, but what’s it going to take to get this family out at least for Yom Kippur.  The Porutz says I'm not budging. They’re staying here until I get every single penny they owe. And how much is it? He says 1000 ruble. He says I’ll give what I can give but I don’t have that money. Okay so they’re staying in jail.  Reb Shmuel leaves, he’s not a gabbai tzedaka, a fundraiser by profession but I need to step up. I’ll give what I can, and I’ll go knock on doors. The problem is, everyone in the town was poor. The Gabbaim already went around collecting money for the poor people in the community, it was going to be difficult to raise money for a family from another town they don’t know about.  He’s struggling to get the funds. After all his efforts in collecting money for Erev Yom Kippur he has 700 Ruble altogether which is an amazing accomplishment but this Porutz isn’t budging. He gave all the money he could, collected from the yidden as much as he could. As he’s walking home thinking of ideas, he sees people in a bar. And he happens to notice amongst all the people there, there was one particular table of young men dressed nicely and classy. He figures you know what, it can’t hurt to try.  He goes into the bar, they look at him, they can tell that he needs something. He gives them the whole story with this widow and children who are stuck in jail for the holiday season and that he needs 300 more ruble. They see, hey we can have fun with this guy. They say, if you drink this whole bottle of Vodka we’ll give you a hundred Ruble. He’s not used to drinking, he sits down and starts preparing. He takes it down, they were super shocked and they give him a 100 ruble. They say you know what, if you drink another bottle we’ll give you another 100. He was already losing balance, pushing himself to take down the second. By now he’s already out of...

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky ---- A gut voch everybody. You know, bezras Hashem, we’re all getting ready making hachanos for the yuntif of sukkos. One of the biggest hachanos that a person does in this time is to get the nicest lulav and esrog they possibly can.  I’ll tell you maaseh about a yid who also cared very much about these mitzvos. There was a yid from a particular shtiebel. Every yid has their itzvah that they make a particular inyan out of. And this yid, wasn’t a rich person but his inyan was to buy the nicest esrog. It was known in the town that he would travel to other towns, to Yaniv and he would spend a fortune on his Esrog and it was known that on sukkos you go to that shul and you get to see Yankel’s esrog. It was one of the social events of the year for him where he gets to show off his esrog.  One year he was saving up, he saved 50 Rubles, and he was traveling before Yom kippur, he goes to Yaniv, whatever the location was that he gets his esrogim. On his travels he happens to stop by an inn, a hotel to stay the night. He’s sitting by the bar having supper and he overhears that there’s a yid next to him mamash moaning, crying and kvetching there’s something bothering him. So there’s the bartender there, he asks him what’s on his mind.  This yankel is over-hearing this. This yid says what he does for a living, he’s a wagon-driver. People hire him to go from place to place so his whole parnassah depends on his horses. My mazal is one of my horses died. What am I supposed to do? I have no money to buy a horse and I don’t know what to do.  This bartender is like a shadchan, he knows everyone's inyan. He wasn’t necessarily the greatest person in the world but he says you know what? I can get you a horse. It’ll cost you 50 Rubles. 50 Rubles? I don’t have that kind of money. The bartender says I’m barely breaking even! It was Hashgacha that this Yankel saved 50 rubles. Yankel overhears this and he says what am I going to do, travel to Yaniv to buy an esrog knowing this yid doesn’t have a parnassah?  He goes to the bartender and says listen. Between me and you, what’s the lowest you can do for this horse? He says between me and you 45, but I’m basically losing money. He pulls out 45 rubles, gives it to him, this bartender says to this other yid find this yid over here you’ll get your horse. Thanks so much you mamash saved life. Don’t thank me, thank the ribbono shel olam Yankel says.  Meanwhile he’s traveling to Yaniv where the nicest esrogim are but he won’t be able to buy anything there. 5 Rubles can barely get him an esrog in the regular market with that money. Everyone is expecting a huge esrog. He heads back home and on the way he sees someone selling a shvach lulav and esrog and goes back. His wife is expecting to see him all happy, it’s the highlight of his year and he’s all dejected. He tells her the whole story and says maybe for davening i’ll go to the neighboring town to Lizhensk so everyone won’t see my shvach esrog. She says fine, so that’s what he does.  Sukkos morning that’s what he does. He's a new person in the shul and he’s in the back shaking his lulav and esrog. Even there he doesn’t want people to see him. Reb Meilech starts davening for the amud, they’re about to bench hallel and all of a sudden Reb Meilech stops and turns around smelling for something. There’s a sniff in his face, it seems like he smells something beautiful and at some point he stops and goes back to his tefillah.  Reb Meilech runs over to his brother Reb Zusha, and says did you smell what I smell? HE says of course! We need to find this esrog. Meanwhile they’re trying to find this smell and they get to Yankel. They say we don’t know who you are, you’re new to the shul but tell us the story of your esrog. Because your esrog smells of Gan Eden. He says

TYH Nation Presents EMUNAH AT WORK Moshe Shindler ------------------------ He was in yeshiva, about to join the workforce: "I had friends going into real estate, I had friends going into nursing homes, and these guys… they would make in 15 minutes what I would make schlepping tripods for a year! But I said: it makes no difference. It has nothing do with the industry. Do what you love, and the rest is up to the Ribono Shel Olam." The world at large values "hustle culture," emphasizing that long, hard work with extreme sacrifice sees ultimate results. But does Yiddishkeit agree with this concept? Do we pick up that phone call when we're with our family? Today, Moshe takes us through his own journey, that elusive balance between work-related affairs and ruchnius, and together, we'll find the answer to these questions. In this week's episode, we sat down with Moshe Schindler, Director of Productions at Mint Media, and dive into questions that many find perplexing, and a hard-won balance. What is bitachon and hishtadlus? Where do they intersect and how much of both do we need? Is there ever too much hishtadlus, and how do we manage to stay fully present, without the lure of work in the background? Inside, Moshe tells over a fantastic comparison, and shares with us why he feels so blessed with success. But there never is an end, and even when we achieve our dreams, there needs to be a balance. "By nature, we can't stay still. Because if we do, we'll go backwards," Moshe says. The hard part is the balancing act. This masterful episode will take you through Moshe's own life-transforming techniques, and perhaps, take you on a journey of self-discovery, too. As Laibel says, "space allows us to stop, and see where we're going" "This is when I live! Everything else will dance around it." —Moshe Schindler ------------------------ Listen on Apple Podcast: https://l.tyhnation.com/3N2Npby Listen on Spotify: https://l.tyhnation.com/3O1wQg8 Listen to more episodes https://tyhnation.com/pages/emunah-at-work ------------------------ Emunah is the core of our identity as a nation with 3,000+ years of putting our complete faith in One Above, but nowhere are its inherent challenges and apparent impediments more pertinent than in the realm of parnassah. The role of hishtadlus; coping with failure; the lucky and unlucky breaks; powering through those difficult periods––if you live with emunah, you will truly see emunah at work at your workplace. In this conversation series, Laibel Schwartz and TYH Nation sits down with business leaders and prominent members of the community to hear how they apply emunah at work and the impact emunah has on their business and personal lives. Join us on this journey of emunah and success. Laibel Schwartz x TYH Nation #EmunahAtWork #Faith #TYHnation #thankyouhashem Laibel can be reached on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/laibelschwartz/ or by calling his office at 845-418-2527 Thank you Avraham Kohn and the entire Laibel Schwarz team, for making this project happen!

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky ---- A gut voch everybody. It once happened that there was a group of chassidim of the Tzemach Tzedek, the 3rd Lubavitcher Rebbe. They were sitting amongst themselves and they were talking about stories of mesirus nefesh. Stories about how jews sacrificed their lives, if need be sacrifice their time, their money to help other yidden with mesirus nefesh.  So the Tzemach Tzedek was there and he heard what they were talking about and he said obviously any level of self-sacrifice that a jewish person offers, is of great value. But the Rebbe said the truth is, sacrificing your money or your body for Hashem’s sake or for the Jewish people’s sake it’s a big deal but that's not how far reaching mesirus nefesh can be. You want to kn ow what mesirus nefesh really is? I’ll tell you a story about Reb Boruch of Medzbyzh. He was a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. He was known to be very fiery. It was well-known that it wasn’t so simple to be in his presence; he was very very strong. Only a select few were able to claim the title of being his chassidim.  It was a particular shabbos that he was in town leading Tish and there was a guest in the neighborhood for that shabbos. A chossid, but no one knew who he was, he came for shabbos. All of a sudden when this guest walked in Friday night for the Tish, Reb Brouch’l looked at him for a few seconds and saw something. The rest of the night at the Tish he was just making fun of this guy. Talking about his chesronos, his deficiencies, his aveiros, mamash embarrassing him in front of everyone. He was mamash a guest.  So that was very odd, chassidim were used to strange things with Reb Boruch’l and his fire but this was something very difficult to hear. To be a part of, And the next day, the same thing repeated itself by shalosh seudos and the whole shabbos Reb Boruch’l is making fun of this yid. Really being mevazeh him. To thi schossid’s credit he didn’t leave, he just stood there and took it but it was very very strange.  That shabbos, besides this particular guest that was there there was also a visiting tzaddik that was with Reb Boruch’l the whole time as well and he was also taken aback by this experience until after shabbos was over. This tzaddik went over to Reb Boruch’l, Rebbe if you don’t mind me asking, doesn’t the mishna say that if a person embarrasses another jew in public you lose your portion in the world to come? Reb Boruch’l said I know the mishna. But let me explain. This jew, I never saw him before I don’t know who he is. But when he came, I looked at him and I saw something. What he does for a living, for his parnassah is that he’s a courrier. If a person has to take a product, something of value that has to get to a particular place, they hire this jew as a courier to bring the object or the money whatever it is from point A to point B. This jew he says as a courier right before shabbos he was given a package by a jew to deliver to a particular place.  The problem was, he planned on being able to get to the town of Medzbyzh where Reb Boruch’l was with enough time before shabbos to make the proper arrangements to have this package with product was sent and protected in a particular way. The problem was there was traffic, the weather was not good and they ended up coming to town extremely late. They had no time to set up arrangements to make sure this package that was given to him by this yid was going to be safe. So what did he do, he wanted to come to the tish.  He was a little bit negligent. He went to the first place he saw, the first inn that he found which was owned and run by a goy. He takes this particular object that this yid gave him to bring to another place, it was of great value and he went to the owner of the hotel, i’m here for the weekend, if you don’t mind keeping...

TYH Nation Presents Hold on to Shabbos with Stories of Tzadikim with Rav Yussie Zakutinsky / Farbrengable Studios ---- Gut Voch everybody, I’ll tell you a mayseh. One of the Baal Hatanya’s sons, Reb DovBer (who later became the Mitteler Rebbe) was known as not just a genius but a huge eved Hashem. Someone who davened with intense dveykus.  The mayseh goes when the future Mitteler Rebbe was young, when he was married he went to his in-laws in a different town for a shabbos. He noticed at shul when he was davening there was a particular yid wasn’t davening with as much kavannah and hislahavus that this jew could have. The Rebbe saw it as part of his avodah to help other yidden so he went over and told this yid we can all work on our tefillah and you too. This yid said I know, I need to work on it and maybe I'll get to the point where I'm doing as good as I can do and maybe even as good as you.  Let me tell you why we are different. My parents are simple people. When my parents were having a kid Hashem saw that my parents were trying, simple yidden. So Hashem gave simple parents a simple child. I’m a simple neshama. Not only am I simple, I was raised in a home that was g-d feeling. I went to yeshiva but when I was 14-15 years old I had to go help my father make a parnassah.  The years went on, I daven 3 times a day, go to the mikvah I learn whenever I can but that’s as far as my education goes. When it was time to have my own parnassah, my mazal was that I work in the shuk, I sell merchandise. So what do you think I do in my store all day? I’m talking to people and hondling all day, constantly. The truth is, most of my clients are non-jewish farmers. I sell farming equipment and most of the clients are non-jews. When they come and they hondle enough they’re finally ready to pay but they don’t have the money on the. So I have to keep track, write down they’re name and address and it’s a whole process to get the money.  These are farmers, they work very early in the morning so I have to get there very early, before sunrise to get to their house. Then when I get there they see me and they know I’m here to collect money so they try to push it off, have me sit down, meet their family and then maybe I’ll get their money.  That’s my life. When I come home, I’m already tired and I shlep myself to mincha and Maariv. I will try to open a sefer a mishna. Is my kavannah perfect? No. But it’s the best I can do this is the pekelach I was dealt with.  And now he says, let’s turn to you. What about you? Your parents, your father, your mother are the tzadikim of the generation and have big big neshamos. What kind of neshmos did Hashem give them? A big neshama, so you have one too. Now that you have a big neshama, you were raised in the house of the Baal Hatanya. Raised in the house of Tzadikim, to people who are devoting their lives to Avodas Hashem. You don’t have to do anything but sit and learn and devote yourself to avodas Hashem. You have to appreciate where you come from and where I come from.  That was the end of the conversation. The Rebbe never ever had a conversation like that. No one ever spoke to him like that. He was mamash shaken up. At the end of the day this yid’s right. What is my entire Avodah’s worth? Everything that I’m committing all my Avodas Hashem maybe is nothing compared to them. It’s true that my davening is greater than his, but based on the background that I have he’s right. He laid out the situation very well. Who knows what my avodah’s worth, maybe it’s worth much less than this yid.  He was mamash shaken up to the core like this. He decided after Shabbos was over he’ll go back home to his father, he’s going into yechidus by the Baal Hatanya to work this out.  As a side note, by these tzadikim obviously the Baal Hatanya was his father, but he was also his Rebbe. It’s a funny,...

TYH Nation Presents EMUNAH AT WORK Work & Faith Jeff Weinberg "As I was working, and as I was trying my best, if I would not be successful in a deal… I would get upset. I would come home, take it with me…. And I heard my Rabbi speak: This isn't how we're supposed to act if we're Orthodox Jews!" Work. Life. Work-life. Work-life-family and work-life-family-balance. Not once is Hashem mentioned here. But of course He's in the picture! But do we let him into our day to day lives? Do we really, seriously, live with the belief that Hashem controls the world, down to every great success, to failed business deal? Is our perception of the world shaped from our narrow focus—our personal understanding of the "ways of the world," really, like most humans, or is it shaped by true Ahavas Hashem and Yiras Shomayim? In this week's episode, we explore one extraordinary man's quest to find out for himself. And later on—his insights illuminating the lives of countless others as well. Enjoy this special episode. In this week's episode, we sit down and host one our most unusual guests on this platform. Ever since the inception of this series, we've been inundated with requests to talk to Jeff, a man who lives with the core values of Emunah at Work, and inspires others every day. Who is Jeff? Jeff is the author of Faith at Work, a book infused with spirituality in work, inspired by his own journey as a mortgage broker. But where does his story begin? Straight from a businessman and entrepreneur, Jeff's quest for truth and discovery, compiling the teachings of Torah giants such as Rav Moshe Weinberger, and lending his own insights and personal experiences, struck a chord around the hearts of Klal Yisroel, and resonates and inspires Yidden around the world. In today's episode, we get an inside look into Jeff's background, what spurred him on, as well as other topics, including the Rabbanim's understanding of the workplace (preview: "When you read his divrei Torah, it's like he's at the office every day!") Powerful vignettes strike a chord with Jews everywhere. We hope you enjoy this powerful episode—and may it guide your future, too. "A Jew's gloom should not go up and down with the stock market!" — Jeff Weinberg. Faith at work by Jeff can be purchased at Mosaica Press https://mosaicapress.com/product/faith-at-work/ ------------------------ Listen on Apple Podcast: https://l.tyhnation.com/3N2Npby Listen on Spotify: https://l.tyhnation.com/3O1wQg8 Listen to more episodes https://tyhnation.com/pages/emunah-at-work ------------------------ Emunah is the core of our identity as a nation with 3,000+ years of putting our complete faith in One Above, but nowhere are its inherent challenges and apparent impediments more pertinent than in the realm of parnassah. The role of hishtadlus; coping with failure; the lucky and unlucky breaks; powering through those difficult periods––if you live with emunah, you will truly see emunah at work at your workplace. In this conversation series, Laibel Schwartz and TYH Nation sits down with business leaders and prominent members of the community to hear how they apply emunah at work and the impact emunah has on their business and personal lives. Join us on this journey of emunah and success. Laibel Schwartz x TYH Nation #EmunahAtWork #Faith #TYHnation #thankyouhashem Laibel can be reached on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/laibelschwartz/ or by calling his office at 845-418-2527 Thank you Avraham Kohn and the entire Laibel Schwarz team, for making this project happen! MB014ILZVJSDFEQ

TYH Nation Presents GRATEFUL WARRIORS Hosted by Yossi Hecht ---------------------- Challenges. We can't run away from them, can't escape them, and they seem to follow us wherever we go. Sometimes, these challenges turn into something more. They leave us with questions. "Why was I given this challenge, Hashem?! I can't handle this!" They leave us emotionally drained. "If it weren't for [this challenge], I would be so much happier…!" Most of all, they leave us searching. For answers, for truth, and for something inside ourselves to draw inspiration from. In this new series brought to you by TYH Nation, and hosted by Yossi Hecht, we're on a mission: to find the most remarkable people we can, and interview them to bring you their insights, share  their remarkable stories and learn from their simcha. Our hope is that you're inspired to live your most grateful life, and to see the beauty throughout "challenges". Yes, sometimes it's HARD! But you have the power within you. You're also a #GratefulWarrior, just by being here. Welcome to the Grateful Warriors series, where we interview "Grateful Warriors" from around the world. This series is hosted by the one and only Yossi Hecht. Who is Yossi? Yossi Hecht is extraordinary himself, spearheading the Asher to the Yatzar movement after what others would see as devastating challenges to his health. The Asher to the Yatzar movement picked up steam, and is now a viral phenomenon. "It's the reaction of how we respond to challenges that make all the difference." — Y.H. Thank you for listening! We love feedback, so feel free to drop us a comment and let us know how you enjoyed this episode :)  Episode 1  In this week's episode, we sat down with David Zedner. From a young age, David was placed in the foster care system, never staying longer than 2 years at any of the homes he lived in. He comes from a line of courageous people, from his mother who, in David's words was "Mosser Nefesh" to send him to Yeshivah, and from his grandmother, who would pretend to be sick in order that she wouldn't violate the Shabbat. This rich stream of courage and resilience runs through David, but still it wasn't easy. Join us as we discover David's life; what got him through his best and and most challenging days (and homes!); where he is now, and where he's going in the future. ---------------------- To learn more about Yossi Hecht and his incredible journey & mission: https://www.ashertotheyatzar.org/

TYH Nation Presents Grateful Warriors Hosted by Yossi Hecht Episode 2 Hashem is always in "front" of us Eliezer Braun ------- Listen one Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grateful-warriors/id1653510715 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3XaxfxVic78fGriBYnZ9m4?si=513ac8e20f5e41ab ------- "Hashem gave us a whole life of ups and downs. There's ups and there's downs, but it's so important to remember: Hashem is always in" front" of us, even if we don't see Him." Excerpt from this week's episode of Grateful Warrior. Sometimes, life throws at what feels like insurmountable hurdles. What would you do, if nearest what is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, something... Unexpected happens? "Trying to be grateful for what we have and realizing we're in Hashem's hands, watching over and leading us along our way" says Eliezer Braun, today's Grateful Warrior. Welcome back to Episode 2! Today, we're lucky to have a wonderful guest named Eliezer Braun. Eliezer is probably one of the strongest hand cyclers you've ever met. That's because, circumstances that only Hashem could orchestrate, led to Eliezer receiving an amputation that would remove a cancerous tumor from his body. However, this is only the middle of the story. Join us us we discover how Eliezer and his kallah (then wife) faced their trials with admirable courage. Even when more (!) trials came along, Eliezer teaches us that it's all about our mindset to what Hashem put in front of us. ------------------------ To learn more about Yossi Hecht and his incredible journey & mission: https://www.ashertotheyatzar.org/