Some disturbing news once reached the ears of the Chofetz Chaim. A certain student in his yeshiva was involved in a shidduch, and since the girl was reluctant to say yes, there was no progress. The boy’s friends in the yeshivah advised him to shave off his beard, thinking that the beard was the reason for the girl’s hesitation. They claimed that most yeshivah students these days shaved their beards, and he should do the same. The Chofetz Chaim invited the student to his home, and began to speak to him about shidduchim. Then he told him the following parable.

A locomotive was pulling more than a hundred loaded train cars up a steep mountain. Even though the engine driver had put on full steam, the locomotive was moving slowly due to the extremely heavy load. One of the passengers, who thought himself a clever fellow, decided that he wanted to speed up the pace of the train. He got out and walked to the back of the last car and began pushing with both hands, certain that with his helping hand the train would now move faster. The other passengers laughed at him and said, “What is your strength compared to a locomotive’s strength? Yours is like the strength of a mosquito compared to that of an ox.” The Chofetz Chaim ended his parable and said to his student, “The same thing applies to shidduchim. Even though every shidduch is announced in Heaven forty days before the formation of a fetus (i.e. at the moment of conception), nevertheless, the matter is as hard to accomplish

As Eretz Yisroel faces rockets from the South, attacks in Yerushalayim and the tragic murder of a young family last week I wanted to mention some brief thoughts on the current situation…

The Gemora explains that every person is obligated to say “the entire world was created just for me”[1].  Many have said that this concept requires each individual to consider himself personally responsible for all that happens in the world, and if tragedy strikes then he should suppose that by not living up to a standard that he could reach, he was a cause of this tragedy.  This is a particularly high level to achieve and it is certainly something to aspire to.  However, on a level that is within everyone’s reach; at least when the Jewish community is facing danger or attacks, especially in Eretz Yisroel, then it is for the entire Jewish community to each individually make a private accounting (cheshbon hanefesh) of where they could improve in their own lives with their connection to Hashem through Torah, Mitzvos or bein adam lechavero.[2] It is clear the Hashem is giving us a message.  Nothing can happen if not for His will, and so it is for us to hear our own personal message of what He wants from us.[3]

For many years I suffered from excruciating back pain, rarely letting up for more than a half an hour of sitting still. In truth, it was not so terrible, especially when I was on my feet, but let’s just say that it affected my life in a big way. A few years ago I visited a back specialist who rigorously tested every muscle on my body and finally confirmed that my pain was being caused by a curved spine that was putting a lot of pressure on my lower back when I sit. In fact, this diagnosis made an even greater impression on me since the long and scary name given for my ‘condition’ was also pronounced on my father who also suffered from a bad back. Put simply, I was suffering from a hereditary lower back problem due to my curved spine. My father and I were instructed to follow rigorous exercises and stand for several hours a week next to a wall, totally straight and looking straight ahead –

During the Holocaust, a large group of Polish women were rounded up to be sent to the gas chambers. As the group gathered their possessions to take with them into the camp the evil Nazi officers called out to all the villagers who were standing by watching, “Anything that these Jews leave behind you may take for yourselves, because for sure they will not be coming back to collect them!” Two Polish women who were standing nearby saw a woman towards the back of the group, wearing a large, heavy, expensive coat. Not wanting to wait to see if others got the coat before them, they ran to the woman and knocked her to the ground, grabbing her coat and walked away. As the Jewish women were being led away, these two Polish women lay down the coat to divide the spoils of what was hiding inside. As they rummaged through the pockets, they discovered gold jewellery, silver candlesticks and other heirlooms, but still, as they lifted the coat it seemed heavier than it should be. After further inspection they found a secret pocket, and hidden inside the coat was a little baby girl. Shocked at their discovery, one of the women insisted to the other, saying “I don’t have any children, and I’m too old to have now. You take all the gold and silver and let me take the baby”. The deal was agreed and the Polish woman took her new ‘daughter’ home to her delighted husband.