A Woman's Prayers

No matter what problems you may have, do not turn to bachyanut with questions and complaints against Hashem. For example, "Hashem, why are you doing this to me... This is not fair... Why must I suffer... etc." Rather, you should use your power of prayer to strengthen your emuna and bring about positive changes and miracles in your life.

Instead of complaining, try saying, "Thank You Hashem." Even if you don't feel it, the words will eventually penetrate into your heart. Then begin asking Hashem to have mercy on you, to have mercy on your children. Tell Him how much you want to build a Jewish home with lots of Torah and Tefilla in the home. Ask Hashem to have mercy on your husband and to help him be zoche to learn Torah, pray with kavana and guard his eyes. Ask Hashem to have mercy and send blessings to his work so that he can make a living and support his family and so that you can be worthy of giving large amounts of money to charity and having many guests in your home. Ask for help to be able to give your kids a healthy spiritual and physical upbringing. That they should be zoche to find good friends, learn good middot, and eat good and nourishing food, etc.

This is the way Hashem wants us to pray to Him, these are the words that will find grace in His eyes. Like Chana who went to the Mishkan at Shilo and just opened up her heart and prayed to Hashem until she finally merited having a son who became one of our greatest prophets, Shmuel Hanavi. (Interesting to note that the name Chana comes from the word chen – grace)

Rav Arush explains; what does it mean that women took nine measures of speech (and only one measure was given to men)? It means that women have a tremendous power of prayer, they can sit and pray and say Tehillim all day long, from morning until night. In fact this is really what our grandmothers and great grandmothers used to do. They would always be reading Tehillim and talking and praying to G-d about everything all day long. They didn't care about anything else in life, because they knew that the secret to all the blessings and successes of their family was in their prayers. It's also good to go to kivrei Tzaddikim if possible and also to light many candles in the house that in the merit of the Tzaddikim, your prayers should be heard.

Precious mother and wife, you should know that you possess the greatest power that exists in the world. As it says in Tehillim, "Hashem is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" Have you ever called upon Hashem in truth and not found Him to be there?

Rebbe Natan whose yartzeit is this week, 10^th of Tevet, said that he merited getting close to Rebbe Nachman only because of the tefillot of his mother. Every day during her pregnancy, his mother would go and cry and pray at the grave of the Baal Shem Tov, begging Hashem and pleading with Him that her child would grow up to be a Tzaddik. Then, even after he was born, she would take him in a basket, put him on the kever and continue to cry and pray for him.

This is the power of a Jewish woman's prayers, may we all merit much nachat from our family and be zoche to see all of our tefillot answered, amen.

Don't Get Shot!

Have you ever played the game called "Don't get Shot?"

Here's how it works. Before going out into the street, say a small prayer asking Hashem to help you guard your eyes, so that you should not see any improper images that will filthy up and destroy your mind and heart. Then once you step outside, the game begins. You are walking through heavily guarded enemy territory where there are soldiers and snipers out to get you at every corner. You have to accomplish your mission of... (here you can insert whatever it is you need to do, go to yeshiva, go shopping, drop off the kids, etc.). Now the rules are, if you don't see the enemy, then the enemy cannot see you. But if you do look up and see the enemy, then you get shot. If it's a quick look then it is just a flesh wound, but if it is a long look with desire, you just got shot and it's game over.

Bonus level: Perfume is really poison gas that the enemy puts out to trap you. If you quickly exhale it out and cover your nose you will probably live, but if you inhale it and enjoy the smell... that's right, you just got shot!

The best part of this game is that it is just like any other game; as soon as it ends, you can just start over. Do not despair, just hit the reset button, say your prayer, restate your mission, and you are back in the game. The score is kept by how long you can go without getting shot.

I once read a story that the Baba Meir zt"l said to his attendant, that he has not seen a woman in over 40 years; he was 47 years old when he said this. I challenge anyone to try to beat that score.

I Place Hashem Before Me Always



The Circle of Life



In the first siman of the Shulchan Aruch, the Rema writes, "I place Hashem before me always; this is a big concept in the Torah and it is the reason for the exaltedness of the Tzaddikim who walk before G-d..."

Both the Be'er Heitev and Mishna Berura explain as follows. A person should be aware that he is in the constant presence of The Creator, for the Holy One blessed be He fills the entire creation. A person should picture the letters Yod (and) Heh (and) Vav (and) Heh in front of his eyes with the same vowelization as the word yirah (fear). This is the real meaning of "I place Hashem before me always", and this practice has a great benefit in helping one gain fear of Hashem (fear of sin). The source given for this is in the writings of the Ari Z"L.

I was once learning this halacha in kollel and a gentleman sitting next to me who overheard this, shared an incredible story with me. He said that he had a secular nephew who after completing his duty in the Israeli army went off to India to experiment with meditation and spirituality. He found a group that was about to begin some sort of meditation and he joined in with them. They all sat in a circle and were given instructions of what to meditate on. This young man felt guilty about thinking of such unholy things and instead, an image of the name of Hashem popped into his head (he had grown up seeing a framed picture of a menorah in his house with the name of Hashem written on the top of it, so it was easy for him to picture it in his mind). A few minutes into the meditation, the group leader walked over to him and threw him out of the circle. Being determined to experience some spirituality, he went and found another meditation group. Again he was instructed on what to meditate on, and again he began to picture the name of Hashem. A few minutes later, the same thing happened and he was removed from the group again. He realized that this was not a coincidence, and he immediately returned to Eretz Yisrael and checked himself into a yeshiva where he began learnig Torah and eventually went on to become religious. 

Attached above is an image of the name of Hashem with the vowelization of yirah (as mentioned in the Be'er Heitev and Mishna Berura)

Try looking at it for a few minutes, and see if you are able to picture the four letters in your head with your eyes closed. It could take some practice, but it comes with many benefits.

As a young child, the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) wanted to literally fulfill the verse, "I have set G-d before me constantly (Psalms 16:8)." He continually tried to depict G-d's ineffable Name before his eyes, even while studying with his tutor. His thoughts were so occupied that he often did not know his lessons, making his teacher very angry.

Despite this, the Rebbe acted like a normal child his age, playing, jumping and taking walks. But he was also very constant in the above practice.

(Shevachay HaRan #2)