Chodesh Elul

Hagaon Rav Moshe Chadash once told over an incident when he was a bochur in Yerushalayim, and he ate a meal by a family during Elul. While he was in the house, he overheard a conversation between the husband and wife, who were the parents of many children. The wife was complaining to her husband that they had finished all the food in the house, and there was no money to purchase additional food. She reminded her husband that there were several people who owed them money, and since the situation in the house was becoming dire, she asked him to approach these people and request their money.

The husband answered, "I'm sure you remember that it is now Chodesh Elul, and we will soon stand by the Yom Hadin. We will request from Hakadosh Boruch Hu that He will grant us a good and blessed year. And with what zechus will we dare to request a good year from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? In Shamayim, they will present all our debts from the past year! And if the debts of the past year are not enough, they will also remind us of old debts from past years. And what will we answer?"
The husband continued, "The only advice I have is that we also will not demand from our debtors that they return the money to us, and we will struggle to continue to live with what we have. Maybe doing this will serve as a defender for us, and will act for us as midah keneged midah. We won't demand what we are owed, despite the great difficulty it will cause us, and maybe there will be hope that in Shamayim they will also have mercy on us and agree to grant us a good year, and not mention our debts."

Rav Moshe Chadash said, "These were the husband's words, and I was awed by the fact that his wife listened to his words and agreed with them! Despite the fact that she had many small children in the house and had no food left to feed them, she was convinced by her husband's words. These were the type of Jews of yesteryear, with their simple emunah!" (Aleinu Leshabeach)
http://revach.net/article.php?id=2734

Anti-Semitic discrimination

Lori Lowenthal Marcus reports the following:

After five days of deliberation, a Santa Monica jury announced on Wednesday that Shangri-La Hotel owner Tamie Adaya committed anti-Semitic discrimination when she uttered her now-famous cry, “Get the [expletive] Jews out of my pool!”
Continue reading: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/jury-throws-the-book-at-muslim-hotel-owner-who-threw-jews-out-of-her-pool/2012/08/19/

Forever

In this week's haftorah ( Yeshaya 51:12-52:13) Hashem tells the Bnei Yisrael that He will console them. The Yalkut Shimoni says that Avrohom couldn't console them because he called the Bais HaMikdash "Har" a mountain, neither could Yitzchok because he called it a "Sadeh", and neither could Yaakov who called it a "Bayis", house.

Reb Yehonoson Eibshitz explains this enigmatic Medrash and says that Bnei Yisrael couldn't be consoled with a promise of the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash because they were afraid that eventually their aveiros would cause it to be destroyed just like the previous ones. Avrohom's consolation fortelling of the future rebuilding didn't satisfy them. Avrohom referred to the Bais HaMikdash as a mountain and the pasuk says in tehilim "Mi Yaaleh BeHar Hashem...Neki Kapayim...; Who can go onto the mountain of Hashem only people with innocent hands and hearts." In that case they knew the Bais HaMikdash would rise and fall on their purity, not a good thing for them to hear.

Yitzhchok called it a Sadeh, a field which is open to all, including the non-Jews, with whose help it was built, allowing them to stake a claim to it as well. It was this influence of theirs that allowed the Bais HaMikdash to ultimately fall into their murderous and destructive hands. Yaakov called it a house. To enter Hashem's house requires the utmost modesty and humbleness, a level that they were afraid they could not maintain.

Only when Hashem said, "Anochi, Anochi, Hu Minachemchem." Hashem whose building and handiwork survives forever with no preconditions, were the Bnei Yisreal finally consoled.
http://revach.net/article.php?id=820

Soul desires

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky writes about soul desires in a Torah thought titled The Meat of the Matter.
Click here to read article.
Let's substitute the word "meat" with the word "internet."

A celebration of Torah study

Avi Shafran writes about the mostly positive coverage of the Siyum HaShas.

And then there was a television reporter’s puzzlement at my response to his most basic question about the Siyum: “Could you tell me what’s happening here?”
It was every reporter’s first question that evening, and my stock short answer “A celebration of Torah study” seemed to bewilder him. “What do you mean by ‘study’?” he asked. “And why is it being celebrated?”
He wasn’t being difficult, it was clear. He simply couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of study as anything but the means to an end. One studies to pass a test, he (I think) was thinking, for a diploma, to advance a career. But celebrate study? What was this study meant to lead to?

Read more: http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2012/08/14/what-was-happening-there/
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Dwelling in security

The following Torah thought is by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple.

In Deut. 12:10 the Torah promises that we will have rest from our enemies round about us and we will dwell in security. We wonder why we need a double promise. If we have rest from our enemies, doesn’t that also mean that we will have security?
One explanation is that there are two things a nation needs – rest from external enemies, and security from the internal problems that ruffle national stability. If you ask which threat is the greater – external or internal – the answer is “Both!” It’s not only a question for nations. In the microcosm of the local community there is the same dichotomy… and even in the life of the individual.
http://www.oztorah.com/2012/08/security-reeh/

Leap of faith

Baltimore Jewish Life links to a fascinating article in the Mishpacha Magazine.

If Jerome Bethea’s name is familiar from his ten-year acting career or his high-profile national fitness training programs, today he’s moved into a new realm — taking his own leap of faith together with his wife, Rina, as they have become Orthodox Jews integrated into Baltimore’s frum community. Acting, he says, was always in his blood. What else was genetically imprinted on his soul?
Continue reading: http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=1&ARTICLE_ID=31398

Finding a job

If you want to have a laugh, click here to read A Wall Street Trader Received This Rainbow-Colored Cover Letter

Career choices

As the new school year is fast approaching with students embarking on their college carrers, two young people approached me this week, nervously asking how one makes a career choice. I recalled an article that I was sent a little while back and am posting it below. Hope you choose the correct career path and make sure you like what you do, because you will be doing it for a long time, hopefully. 

Tools for Selecting Your Ideal Career
There are literally dozens of avenues to take on the road to discovering the ideal career. Vocational tests are one option while personality inventories and old-fashioned experience are others. This article will explore academic and experiential ways to find the job that best suits your aptitudes and interests.

Self Understanding and MBTI

A book entitled Do What You Are has proved a mainstay as a tool for discovering personality type and pursuing the career which complements that particular personality type. The idea behind the book is to help the reader find out how s/he processes information, renders decisions, and interfaces with the larger world such that career decisions can best be made. The reader goes through a questionnaire and some exercises to reveal her Myers-Briggs personality type, of which there are sixteen. Once the reader's personality is revealed through the questionnaire, Do What You Are clues the reader in to the merits and pitfalls of her particular personality type as it relates to career choices.

Career Counselors

Similar to the counseling that takes place in schools or a mental health clinic, career counseling concerns issues related to finding optimal employment or issues of career enhancement. Career counselors look to find the perfect career given the aptitude, experiences, interest, personality, and skills of the consultee. Largely depending on the nation, career counselors can be found either in independent career counseling practices or among career counseling clinics comprised of many career counselors. Ideally a career counselor would match the consultee's desired future salary and job duties with her qualifications, experiences, interests, and skills. A good career counselor will realistically frame these details within the context of the current job environment.

Experimentation and Academia

Especially in today's tough economy, many are either staying in school longer or deciding to hazard graduate school to increase their job prospects. The undergraduate years are actually an ideal time to experiment and free spiritedly chase down your interests via undergraduate open electives. At university, you can attempt to master almost any topic which interests you, from applied mathematics and neuroscience to philosophy and English. Professors, other staff, and university advisers will help channel your passions and skills into the most suitable academic areas.

Be Honest with Yourself

The better you can analyze yourself and your goals, the better your chances are of finding the perfect career. It's important to inquire about the following: what do you want your future salary to be? What are the job prospects in particular fields? Does this career field offer steady employment? How will my family be affected by this decision? Once your goals and prospects are prioritized, you can continue to research specific careers online. In addition, online vocational tests and job listings are constantly available and updated.

The theme throughout this article has been self-honesty when researching and selecting a future career. This theme applies to judging your own personality and prospective career goals to being upfront about what you want out of your next career.

 Derek Greggs enjoys writing about career advice, finance, and home equity mortgages.
www.guestpostu.com

The philanthropist

The 5 Towns Jewish Times has an article titled Reb Zev Wolfson OB”M – An Appreciation by Rabbi Yair Hoffman.

He was a man who made a remarkable difference in Klal Yisroel. Reb Zev Wolfson, was a businessman and an exceptional philanthropist, who saw it as his mission to promote Kiruv efforts in this country and beyond. He both launched and supported numerous Kiruv programs that, in this author’s estimation, were responsible for tens of thousands of Torah observant Jewish families today.
Continue reading: http://5tjt.com/reb-zev-wolfson-obm-an-appreciation-by-rabbi-yair-hoffman/

If one reads the coments posted after a VIN article about the philanthropist who was niftar yesterday,
one can get a sense of what one man accomplished. Here are two comments that were posted.

It is impossible to overstate the impact that this gentlemen and his children have had on our communities all over the world. Yehi zichro boruch.

i became frum through an organization he funded. thank you Mr. Wolfson.

His children continue emulating his tireless dedication to Klal Yisrael.

I know his family well. If you have a good memory to share, I'd love to hear from you. I remember one time the family was sitting shiva and as I left their home and opened the door, in walked the Gadol Hador, Rav Moshe Feinstein, z'l.  That memory is indelibly etched in my mind.