[Aspaqlaria] Aspaqlaria

Fri Sep 19 11:00:25 PDT 2008

Aspaqlaria

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Emunah and Bitachon

Posted: 19 Sep 2008 10:25 AM CDT
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/397292066/emunah-bitachon.shtml

There is a halakhah of semikhas geulah letefillah, that one must finish the last berakhah after Shema, that about the redemption, immediately before the Shemoneh Esrei, with no interruptions. The Mishnah Berurah even advises that in Shacharis the chazan should whisper the end of the berakhah to himself, so that the congregation would not be obligated to interrupt between their own birkhas Geulah and Shemoneh Esrei by having to answer amein.

In Maariv, we insert Hashkiveinu, a berakhah about peace, and outside of Israel most communities also say Barukh Hashem leOlam. These are generally justified because Hashkiveinu is also on the broader subject of redemption, and Barukh Hashem leOlam is a surrogate for Shemoneh Esrei. So the concepts of geulah and tefillah are still juxtaposed. A full discussion is off topic, but even in the case of Maariv, R JB Soloveitchik would limit his responses to the intervening Qaddish to just Amein. Yehei Shemei rabba and the final amein since these interruptions are mandatory, whereas the other reponses to Qaddish are custom.

Why the need to so closely preface geulah to tefillah?

Gaal Yisrael speaks of past redemption. We point to the miracle at the Red Sea and other redemptions as a source of emunah, of belief in the existance and involvement of the A-lmighty. We establish the foundation that there is a G-d capable of aiding us and we know this because He has in the past. It is only with that concept that Hashem is Omnipotent and involved in human affairs that it is meaningful to engage in the praise, requests and thanks of tefillah, to expect His involvement in our own lives.Thats bitachon, the belief of Hashems actual involvement in the present and future, that He can be relied upon..

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Mussar Kallah VI - New York - November 16

Posted: 19 Sep 2008 08:19 AM CDT
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/397197935/mussar-kallah-vi-new-york-november-16.shtml

Dear friends,

The extraordinary gathering that is the Mussar Kallah will take place on Sunday November 16 at the JCC in Manhattan in New York. This is your opportunity to learn from some of this generations foremost teachers of the profound and ancient Jewish spiritual discipline of Mussar, and to gather with the growing community of people walking a Jewish path with heart. 
Whether you have little or no knowledge of Mussar or if you are an experienced student, the Mussar Kallah is your opportunity to meet and learn with:

Rabbi Micha Berger, founder of the AishDas Society

Rabbi Yaacov Feldman, translator of The Duties of the Heart and The Path of the Just

Rabbi David Lapin, great-nephew and student of the Mussar master Rabbi Elya Lopian, and creator of the website iawaken.org

Rabbi Dr. Meir Levin, author of Novarodock

Rabbi Zvi Miller, director of the Salant Foundation, translator of Ohr Yisrael

Dr. Alan Morinis, author of Climbing Jacobs Ladder and Everyday Holiness

 among other sweet and deep souls who will share their wisdom and experience with you, to help you guide the journey that is your life. 
The theme of this years Kallah is Lifting the Veils to Relationship. The days full program of sessions will focus on learning, insight and practice to remove the obstacles to relating to yourself, to other people, and to HaShem.
Though little known outside the Orthodox world, and even neglected there over the last decades, the embers of Mussar have continued to glow, and this tradition is being reinvigorated today. Mussar addesses the spiritual yearning that is arising in every corner of the Jewish world today. 
Only 200 places are available! Register now to reserve your place. 
For more information and to register, please visit the JCC website or email info at mussarinstitute.org. 
If you are coming to New York from out-of-town, or if you are already a student of Mussar, you are invited to join in the rich and intimate Shabbaton that will precede the Kallah. Information on the Shabbaton is also available at the JCC website, where you can register as well.
Warm wishes for a shanah tovah,

Alan Morinis

The Mussar Institute 
P.S. If you know of other souls who might benefit from this day, please forward this email to them. I look forward to meeting you there.

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Lehman Brothers and Bitachon

Posted: 18 Sep 2008 01:30 PM CDT
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Aspaqlaria/~3/396450545/lehman.shtml

During last nights commute home, someone asked me how my preparations for Rosh haShanah were going. I had to admit, not well, as I had no thoughts as to which particular issues were calling for my attention this year, which were the battles to choose to fight.

Thank G-d, this morning I saw the following by R Chaim Brown on his blog Divrei Chaim:

 Sometimes a maaseh turns out so badly that it seems only Divine intervention can explain what happened. When you consider a 158 year old company (Lehman Bros.) drive to bankrupcy in the course of weeks, insurance giants (AIG) reduced to nothing, banks one after the other on the verge of failure, one is faced with either assuming the best minds in business simultaneously have all been overtaken by a bout of very contagious stupid disease, or someone up there is pulling the strings in ways that are just out of everyones control.

R Elchanan in one of his maamarim, which if I recall correctly has no date attached but must have been written in the 30s, writes that the failing of the economy (at the time of his writing) was not caused by a lack of money, as plenty of people still had fortunes and great wealth. The economy failed because of a loss of confidence in the institutions of finance - a loss of faith in the economic system. What was true then is certainly true today, as the credit crunch is primarily a loss of confidence and trust. The key to understanding this phenomenon is the principle of middah kneged middah. R Elchahan writes that a loss of faith in worldly institutions comes about because of the greater loss of faith in our spiritual institutions - a failing of emunah. And only through the strengthening of emunah can we find the tools to emerge from such a crisis.
As I spend much of my waking hours providing software support for traders, the air Im breathing is thick with this insecurity. And then to note that our self-confidence is being shaken within Elul Im not sure how Hashem could have made His point much clearer.
This isnt an attempt to play prophet, to claim one knows the reasons G-d chooses to do something. Rather than prophecy, this is wisdom, as in איזהו חכם? הרואה את הנולד  Who is wise? One who sees upcoming consequences. (Tamid 32a) The conclusion emerges from simply looking at the impact of the events  we are now worried about our own financial stability, about our savings for the future, of the stability of all the support systems we usually rely upon. To not use that emotional shift in our avodas Hashem by leveraging it with a constructive alternative would be foolhardy.

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