Body, then mind

Hi,

"Service of the mind must begin from below and work upward, at first purifying one's body [through labour], and then one's thoughts will be purified and strengthened automatically. One should not begin with his thoughts first."

עבודת המחשבה צריכה להתחיל מלמטה למעלה, מתחילה יטהר את גופו ואז מחשבתו ממילא תטהר ותתחזק, ולא שיתחיל האדם במחשבתו בראשונה. 

(Rabbi Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah pg. 11-12)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Don't rush!

Hi,

"You must distance yourself from haste, distance yourself, distance yourself, distance yourself, for the hasty one does not contemplate. But also guard yourself lest you achieve the extreme with your patience, and do not achieve laziness and depression."

. צריך אתה להתרחק מן המהירות הרחק, הרחק הרחק, כי אין המהיר מתבונן. אבל גם השמר בנפשך שלא תגיע במתינותך עד קצה גבולה, ולא תיגע בעצלות ועצבות.

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Emtzaei v'Yesod haChevra 11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Establishing spiritual chevra through material enjoyment

Hi,

"It would be good if they would drink together from time to time, not for the purpose of intoxication or empty celebration, Gd forbid, but only in the manner of the pious, to join closer together and to awaken the animal spirit from its laziness. Even one who does not drink such beverages because of poor health, Gd forbid, should dilute his beverage with water and drink together with them.

"After they drink, they should sing some song of awakening, like Yedid Nefesh, Adon Olam, Psalm 23 and so on. If their souls are inflamed and they want to dance together, they should dance. They should only avoid wasting their time with drinking, singing and dancing exclusively."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 6-7)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

The soul is hidden

Hi,

"Every Jewish soul experiences awe of, and loves, Gd. It is only that she is buried in a reed mat (reference to Berachot 18b), hidden in the body, and so her love and awe are also buried."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 14)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Learn chassidut and kabbalah

Hi,

"Learn works of chassidut, such as Sh"lah, Maharal, the works of the early chassidim like the great Maggid, Noam Elimelech...

"Even if they include things you do not understand, do not rest your hand from them. At the least, you understand their path, their path of holiness and piety, on your level. Aside from this, their words themselves and their spirit of holiness will stick to you and you will be purified.

"You should also learn a little from the works of kabbalah, so that, at the least, you won't be entirely ignorant in them. The book will be a flow of dew, good for you."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Anger management

Hi,

"A person [who suffers from attacks of anger] might not have any flaw in his trait of anger, but in his trait of arrogance, such that all others appear as monkeys to him and so he yells at and degrades them.

"Such a person might spend his entire life working on improving his anger management unsuccessfully; might a person who has no anger issues not shout at, and even strike, a monkey or donkey on occasion?

"Were he to examine and come to the kernel of his anger and see that the cause is actually his arrogance, and so repair his arrogance, then he would be healed."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 8)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The impact of thoughts

Hi,

"Every thought and desire, whether good or, Gd-forbid, bad, that passes through a person, does not pass without impact. One by one they gather and are established in the soul, and an edifice is built from them.

"Sometimes a bad trait, far worse than one's normal traits, arises in a person, Gd spare us, and he is shocked at himself. How did I enter such a lowly state?! But as we have said, thoughts and desires as thin as a hair took root in him. He did not know them or sense them, due to their intangibility, but inside him they thickened and gew, and then became visible and were revealed in the form of a repellent trait and ugly block, Gd forbid.

"The opposite is also true - every good thought and desire which rises within you, even if you do not achieve it, will thicken and grow and manifest itself in a holy trait or thought."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapiro, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How to read Tehillim

Hi,

"Two people read Tehillim [Psalms], one of them lacks for nothing, the second is drowning in trouble, Gd-forbid. This one reads it as words spoken by King David, as though he is re-telling a story of the past. The one who is crushed by suffering cries out, 'I drown in the depths!', his own cry, and King David is only giving his mouth the words to produce his cry from his heart."

(R' Klonynus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Hadrachah uKlalim 1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The importance of being earnest

Hi,

“Answer questions earnestly, as is in your heart, in sincerity and simplicity, and use your intellect only to determine that an answer is not incorrect. Even your intellect should be simple and earnest, a tool to serve the earnestness and simplicity of your heart, to help her and to bring her intent into action.

“And if you find that this answer will harm you, or there is some other reason you cannot give this answer, then say, ‘I don’t know,’ as the sages instructed, rather than bend and corrupt with a twisted answer, without earnestness and without simplicity.”

[I believe his “as the sages instructed” refers to Kallah Rabti, “‘Teach your tongue to say, ‘I don’t know,’ lest you lie and be trapped.”]

(R’ Klonymus Kalman Schapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Emtza’ei v’Yesod haChevra 15)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

We dare not waste

Hi,

"The gemara [I know that this is in Mechilta Bo 9, but I have not found it in the gemara - MT] says that if a mitzvah comes to hand, you should not let it go to waste.

"Wasting one mitzvah opportunity is bad, but teshuvah is possible. But wasting one’s self, all of one’s potential actions, is so great that teshuvah is nearly impossible! To our great sorrow, many youths are struck with this."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapiro, Chovot haTalmidim Perek 13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The value of Seudah Shelishit (Shalosh Seudos)

Hi,

"When you sit at seudah shlishit [the third meal of Shabbat] in the company of the pious, do you not feel anything?

"The righteous say that the time of seudah shlishit is the time described [in Avot 4:17] as, 'A moment of teshuvah and good deeds is greater than all of the next world's life.' My great father-in-law told me that he heard from the Maggid of Koznitz that seudah shlishit is in the category of, 'The righteous sitting with crowns atop their heads, benefiting from the radiance of the Shechinah. [Berachot 17a]'...

"Certainly, your laziness seduces you further, saying, 'Who could compare to the Maggid and other righteous people?' But I have already told you that responses like this are the product of your yetzer hara."

(Rav Klonymus Kalman Schapiro, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Emtzaei v'Yesod haChevra 11)

Have a great day,
Mordecahi

Know how to look

Hi,

"Therefore, our group instructs and declares to each of its members: Know how to look. When anything occurs within yourself or outside yourself, know how to look.

"Looking does not refer only to seeing that which is [readily] found, but to a kind of birth in which we birth and produce something upon which we can look... One who experiences some kind of stirring must look, meaning to produce a form and look upon it and so stir himself."

(R' Klonymous Kalman Schapiro, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Emtzaei v'Yesod haChevra 11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Developing inspiration for prayer

Hi,


"Often one prays but the time is not ripe for awakening, and often one reaches awakening but he does not pray, for it is not the time for prayer...

"This is why we have presented ways for him to awaken himself in prayer through various strategies, but he should not abandon the second side. When he has any kind of internal awakening at any point during the day, outside of the time of prayer and worship, he should not abandon it. He must only use it as a key to the soul. As we have mentioned, all types of feelings, even of business or other matters of the body, of a broken heart or of joy, includes a revelation of the soul. It is only clothed in the needs of this world.

"One must use this ripe opportunity, and when he feels any type of broken heart, even for physical reasons, he should immediately go off to the side, stand by a wall, and recite some chapter of Tehllim. It would best to recite a chapter that relates to the event, and to his worries... And so when one feels joy inside..."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapiro, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Seder Emtzaei v'Yesod haChevra 9)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The imposed constraints of imagination

Hi,

"It is impossible for you to elevate your thoughts to a pure state without any physical picture or imagined image, because you demand that every thought in your head involve a physical picture or imagined image, because you are used to such thoughts… There is an examining agent in a person’s mind, checking and editing his thoughts. That which does not resemble and match the visible world is considered false, and this agent pursues it and eliminates it from his mind."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Schapiro, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Emtza'ei v'Yesod haChevra 6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Not only service, but Love

Hi,

"Our merciful Father had mercy upon us and aroused a spark of will and intelligence in our heart, to know that it is insufficient for us to be like servants, children of servants, who also work for the king...

"Our desire and thirst is to be like children, as in, "You are children to HaShem your Gd," such that in our service of Gd, in Torah, prayer and other mitzvot, we will feel our nearness to Gd."

(R' Klonymus Kalman Shapira, Bnei Machshavah Tovah, Matarat haChevra)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Passion and Purity

Hi,

"Pure thought depends upon awakening and passion, and passion depends upon pure thought. Were a person capable of softening his heart and being continually passionate, his thoughts would be more pure. Were a person possessed of pure thought, he would be able to be increasingly passionate and awakened whenever he prepared himself.

"Therefore, a Jew needs both of these: To work and to elevate his thoughts as well as the awakening of his passion."

(Rav Klonymus Kalman Shapira, Bnei Macshavah Tovah, Seder Emtza'ei v'Yesod haChevra 8)

Gmar chatimah tovah,
Mordechai