The Greatest Segulah

The Nefesh HaChaim, zt’l, famously learns from the gemara the power of connecting to Hashem and experiencing that "אין עוד מלבדו"—“There is nothing but Him.” He learns the effectiveness of this “segulah” from Rabbi Chanina in Sanhedrin 67 and explains that one who cleaves to Hashem in his thoughts and heart can remove the from himself the influence of any force or person. He must only set in his heart that "אין עוד מלבדו", there is no force in the world besides Hashem, since everything is one with Him.
Rav Dovid Soleveitchik, shlit”a, recounted two fascinating stories about the practical use of this concept in his family. “When the time came for my grandfather, the renowned Gaon, Rav Chaim of Brisk. to present himself in Warsaw for a preliminary check-up to determine if he was fit for the army, his father made the journey with him by train. Throughout the entire journey, they learned the famous segulah in Nefesh HaChaim and the Beis Halevi adjured him to be careful not to take his mind off the segulah for one instant, even during the examination.
“To the amazement of everyone—except the Beis Halevi and Rav Chaim himself—he was given a dispensation from serving in the army for no apparent reason.”
Rav Dovid explained, “Anyone inducted into the army during those years was in serious spiritual danger. He was required to violate Shabbos every week and eat non-kosher food at every meal. It is also well known, that my father and our family left the Nazi occupation with astounding miracles. Although he had a faked passport, it was still a clear manifestation of Divine providence that he got away. Interestingly, when they got to the Soviet border, a Gestapo guard suddenly began to chase them and screamed that they halt and give him money, but Stalin’s soldiers threatened him and he ran away.
“Later, my father explained that the entire time he had indeed focused on the segulah, but when he saw the border and thought he was out of danger he stopped. The minute he did so, the Nazi began to chase them!”

Atonement for Profaning Shabbos

A pair of religious women underwent a serious trauma and needed a soothing atmosphere to recover. It was recommended that they travel to a Swiss resort for their health. While there, the atmosphere was so relaxing that they lost track of the days and miscalculated when Shabbos was due to arrive. On the day they mistakenly thought was Friday but was actually Shabbos, they did many prohibited labors. It was only when they were about to light candles before sunset that they had a feeling that they might have made an error. After a few minutes of checking, they realized they had miscalculated—they were horrified to find that they had accidentally disregarded Shabbos.
They knew enough to recite the text of the korban chatas and did so straight away, but they wished to know what else they could do to atone for their terrible mistake. Fasting is not suggested in any event nowadays since people are so weak. And, obviously, in this particular case, their poor health precluded any fasting at all. Giving money to tzedakah in lieu of the fasts was also not feasible for them since they were both of severely limited means. When they consulted with Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlit”a, he ruled that they organize and attend shiurim in the halachos of Shabbos to atone for their inadvertent error.
Similarly, when HaRav Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv, shlit”a, was consulted by a man who accidentally placed a cooked dish on an uncovered burner on Shabbos, he ruled that this man should learn hilchos Shabbos to atone his sin. Since these women had violated an entire Shabbos, Rav Zilberstein required them to go one step further and organize shiurim to help others learn the halachos so that Shabbos observance would be maximized further as an appropriate atonement.

Kosher Shabbos Protests

The Chofetz Chaim, zt”l, advocated protesting against flagrant Shabbos violation in his times. Nevertheless, he had certain general rules that he followed to ensure that his rebukes were as effective as possible. The first rule was to avoid protesting on Shabbos itself. He explained that while Jews are involved in sinning it is much more difficult to convince them to change. As the Mishnah famously states in Avos: "עבירה גוררת עבירה"—“One sin draws another in its wake.” When Jews are involved in sin, they find it much easier to sin again by disregarding the protestor—or worse, by falling into outright sinful behavior to retaliate. And the Chofetz Chaim would say that the inverse also holds true. The Chofetz Chaim would tell those who went around selling his sefarim to bring them to shuls after davening. He reasoned that after having davened with a minyan, people would be much more likely to do the mitzvah of purchasing a sefer on guarding their speech.
Not surprisingly, the Shabbos protests lodged by the Chofetz Chaim were very effective. On one occasion, he went to a certain city with his brother-in-law to raise money for the yeshiva in Radin. When he heard that the Jews there did not keep Shabbos he wanted to leave immediately, but the locals begged him to remain so as not to shame their city. Instead of asking for donations from money tainted by chilul Shabbos, the Chofetz Chaim stayed a couple of weeks and gave three fiery derashos for the thousands of Jewish residents. In each of them he discussed the terrible ills of chilul Shabbos and the vast spiritual attainments of keeping Shabbos.
Later, when the Chofetz Chaim recounted this story to his son, he remarked, “Boruch Hashem, as a result of those derashos, three hundred stores closed for Shabbos! When people heard about this it made a great kiddush Hashem.”

The Seal of Hashem is Truth

Once, Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa, zt”l, demurred before the , zt”l. “I am nothing,” he stated simply.
“Excellent!” replied the Chozeh.
“No, I don’t mean it as a kind of avodah. I mean that I am really nothing.”
“Well, it is certainly better to feel as though you are nothing from nothing than to feel that you are something from something.”
Suddenly Rav Bunim began to cry out, “Oy! But I am absolutely nothing!”
The Chozeh’s final reply assuaged Rav Bunim. “You may feel like you are nothing but at least you go in the way of Hashem. Our sages teach that the seal of Hashem is truth. If a person thinks that he achieves something on his own, he is living a lie. As our sages say, if Hashem does not help one in his daily struggle with his evil inclination, evil would prevail.”
Rav Simcha Henoch of Alexander, zt”l, explained why Hashem’s seal is specifically truth. “Why not use one of the attributes that are mentioned earlier in the grouping of His thirteen middos, such as רחום or חנון? The answer is that every other attribute can be faked, in which case it is false. A person can show mercy where it is not warranted, or be gracious inappropriately. Usually he will then be cruel when it is proper to show mercy, like our sages tell us about Shaul and Agag.
“The only attribute that cannot be falsified is truth. The reason why is obvious. If one falsifies truth, it is not truth at all!”

Judging Favorably

The Klausenberger Rebbe, zt”l, once gave a very inspiring shiur about judging others favorably. “The Chozeh of Lublin, zt”l, explained that the greater a tzaddik is, the more he is able to judge others favorably. A true tzaddik can even see the good in a wicked person who appears to have no positive qualities at all. The tzaddik searches and searches until he is finally able to see good even in him.
“We find a similar idea in the writings of the students of the Arizal regarding the special quality of Moshiach. He will truly understand the motivations of even the worst person, and this will enable him to always give the other the benefit of the doubt. This explains why we judges in a capital case which sentenced someone to death must fast. The gemara learns this from the verse, 'לא תאכלו על הדם'—‘Do not eat upon the blood.’ The fact that the sanhedrin found someone guilty means that they must fast. If they were truly righteous, they would have found a way to judge the murderer favorably, as expressed in the startling statement of Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva: ‘If we were in the sanhedrin no one would ever have been killed.’ Due to their great righteousness they would have found a way to exonerate even the worst-seeming wicked person in the world.”

Protecting the Honor of Shabbos

The Chofetz Chaim, zt”l, advocated protesting against flagrant Shabbos violation in his times. Nevertheless, he had certain general rules that he followed to ensure that his rebukes were as effective as possible. The first rule was to avoid protesting on Shabbos itself. He explained that while Jews are involved in sinning it is much more difficult to convince them to change. As the Mishnah famously states in Avos: "עבירה גוררת עבירה"—“One sin draws another in its wake.” When Jews are involved in sin, they find it much easier to sin again by disregarding the protestor—or worse, by falling into outright sinful behavior to retaliate. And the Chofetz Chaim would say that the inverse also holds true. The Chofetz Chaim would tell those who went around selling his sefarim to bring them to shuls after davening. He reasoned that after having davened with a minyan, people would be much more likely to do the mitzvah of purchasing a sefer on guarding their speech.
Not surprisingly, the Shabbos protests lodged by the Chofetz Chaim were very effective. On one occasion, he went to a certain city with his brother-in-law to raise money for the yeshiva in Radin. When he heard that the Jews there did not keep Shabbos he wanted to leave immediately, but the locals begged him to remain so as not to shame their city. Instead of asking for donations from money tainted by chilul Shabbos, the Chofetz Chaim stayed a couple of weeks and gave three fiery derashos for the thousands of Jewish residents. In each of them he discussed the terrible ills of chilul Shabbos and the vast spiritual attainments of keeping Shabbos.
Later, when the Chofetz Chaim recounted this story to his son, he remarked, “Boruch Hashem, as a result of those derashos, three hundred stores closed for Shabbos! When people heard about this it made a great kiddush Hashem.”

Who is Fit to Lead?

Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk, zt”l, was anxious that his son Rav Eliezer, zt”l, succeed him in leading his chassidim. But of course this could never be like the mere dynasty of a king who bequeaths the kingship to his son no matter the worthiness of his scion. The chassidim needed an exceptional guide who did his utmost to perfect himself and continue ascending in avodas Hashem. In order to ensure that his son was not resting on his impressive laurels, Rav Elimelech would give him mussar every so often to galvanize him to further efforts. “Our sages teach that when Moshe and Aharon would walk in front of the nation, Nadav and Avihu would follow them. Nadav said to Avihu, ‘When will these old-timers die and you and I will lead the generation?’”
Rav Elimelech explained, “Know my son that Nadav and Avihu were very great tzaddikim. But even so, they would wonder from time to time whether they were really on the level for the job of leading the nation. This is the meaning of their strange words. Nadav asked ‘When?’ When will we make a real cheshbon hanefesh? ‘These two elders will eventually die and it will be up to us to shoulder the burden of leading the generation.’ It is our task to continually make a cheshbon hanefesh whether we are worthy of taking their place...’”
Rav Elimelech sighed and concluded in a very moving matter. “The younger generation always feel worthy of filling in the shoes of their elders. In truth they need to work hard to much improve themselves in holiness and purity. They do this by following the ways of their elders and delving deeply in Torah and avodah. It is only in this manner that one can possibly be fitting to lead.”

"Shpitz Litvak!"

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said: "I want my path to spread among the Litvishe hearts!" (Siach Sarfei Kodesh II:257)

Some ask: if we are focused on the ample rewards of Torah, why doesn’t this impinge on Torah l’shmah?
Perhaps the best answer to this question is found in the words of the Avnei Nezer, zt”l. “I heard that certain people ascribe to a grievous error regarding learning Torah. They claim that one who enjoys learning must be definition be learning with a lesser level of ‘l’shmah’ than a person who feels no pleasure in what he learns since the latter is only learning to fulfill the mitzvah, while the former also learns for the joy he feels in learning.
“This is a fallacy, since we find that the opposite is certainly true; the main mitzvah of learning Torah is to take delight and feel happiness in one’s learning. It is only Torah learned in this manner that truly penetrates to a person’s innermost being. This is explicit in the Zohar, which states that joy gives strength to one’s good inclination while depression and sadness feeds his inner urge for evil.
“Obviously, one who learns for pleasure without a thought of coming close to Hashem is still on the level of shelo l’shmah. But even regarding this person, our sages say, ‘Through learning not l’shmah, one comes to learn l’shmah.’”
When someone asked the Chazon Ish, zt”l, what he thought about this essential part of the Avnei Nezer’s approach to how one must learn, he replied, "דאס איז שפיץ ליטוואק"—“This is the essence of what it means to be a Litvak!”

Honoring One’s Parents

Rav Borodiansky shlit”a (the son-in-law of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l) relates that all of Rav Auerbach’s efforts to clarify the halachos of using electricity on Shabbos were inspired by his desire to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring his mother. She required a hearing aid, and avoided using it on Shabbos because of fear of violating the halachah. When Rav Shlomo Zalman ztz”l saw how pained she was by being cut off from everyone around her, he did his absolute utmost to make this very complex area of halachah more clear.
Rav Shlomo Bloch zt”l once received a letter from an old friend with whom he had learned in Novardok, asking that he bring his question before the Chofetz Chayim zt”l. His friend was an unmarried man of twenty-six, but wore his beard long and it made him look about forty years old. He had received a letter from his father commanding him to shave. He would like to know what he must do—does he have to listen to his father in such a case? The Chofetz Chayim began by asking Rav Shlomo, “Is he normal?” When Rav Shlomo answered in the affirmative, the Chofetz Chayim began to groan, “Such hard things a father puts on his child?!” The Chofetz Chayim then said, “I cannot answer the question, for that he will need to ask Rav Chayim Brisker, but I can give him some advice. He should write to his father that since his whole demand that his son shave is so that he should be marriageable, well, he only wants to marry a girl who is looking for a boy with a beard! And if he shaves, he will not find the kind of girl that he is looking for.” The advice that the Chofetz Chayim gave worked, and not much time passed before the young man got married and became a Rav in a small town.

An Undeserved Curse

Sometimes people get into altercations that can turn very heated. One woman got into a fight with her neighbor and was so upset that she pronounced some hair-raising curses. Her neighbor was very upset even though she had done nothing to deserve such curses. Despite her blamelessness, she felt very uncomfortable and wondered if this was merely superstition or if there was any basis to being afraid of such a curse.
When Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlit”a, was consulted about the matter, he explained that an undeserved curse was definitely nothing to worry about. “This is clear from Rashi in Sanhedrin who writes that an undeserved curse becomes manifest for the person who wrongly did the cursing. Yet this seems to contradict the gemara in Gittin 35a regarding Rabbah bar Rav Huna. There we find that a widow asked him to allow her to collect her Kesuvah When he said that this was impossible, she asked him to fix the amount she was entitled to receive to pay for her upkeep from her deceased husband’s estate. He said, ‘Now that you have asked for your kesuvah, you are no longer eligible to receive anything from his estate.’ The distressed woman cursed him and he was always weak after that episode. According to Rashi, though, we should ask why wasn’t she cursed rather than him since the curse was undeserved?”
“My brother-in-law, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a, explained that she had a bona fide claim on Rabbah bar Rav Huna. Although he was halachically correct, he should have realized that he was dealing with a broken-hearted widow and treated her accordingly. In such cases it is incumbent on a dayan to explain the halachah clearly and gently, to ensure that she understands and can accept it.”

Slaughtering the Yetzer

The Beis Yisrael of Gur, zt”l, worked incessantly to encourage others to use every ounce of their strength to fight the yetzer hara. For tens of years, he acted like a general, imbuing his chassidim with the fortitude that enabled them to overcome many bitter tests.
Many chassidim remember his penetrating gaze that would sweep the room filled wall to wall with chassidim. It was when they had just finished saying the ten chapters of Tehillim that they recited after every Mincha since the Yom Kippur war. His face radiated a glowing fire as he would intone, 'זובח תודה יכדנני!'
Every man present knew exactly what he was referring to. Our sages use this verse as the proof of a very striking statement. “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, ‘Anyone who slaughters his yetzer by doing teshuvah and confessing his sin is considered to have honored Hashem in this world and the next. As the verse states, 'זובח תודה יכדנני!'”
But of course, it takes a huge effort to overcome one’s natural inclination to minimize and rationalize our flaws away. Yet this effort is well worth it. The Toras Avos of Slonim, explains this in his insightful way. “First one must be slaughter his yetzer by mustering up all of his strength to force himself to overcome his evil inclination. Even though he is filled with longing for what he knows to be wrong, he forces himself to abstain, even though in his gut he doesn’t yet feel his behavior was so negative. But if he forces himself despite his inability to grasp why in much more than an intellectual way, the Mishnah in Avos is fulfilled in him. ‘Nullify your desires before Hashem’s will.’ After bending his yetzer to Hashem’s will, he will begin to feel how truly reprehensible his old ways were and he is able to say viddui from the bottom of his heart.”