What we say and what we do

Hi,

"At first, one comes to shul and stands and declares before Gd that he will sanctify His Name in the world as do the celestial hosts of Heaven. In the course of this he departs the Beit Midrash and someone offends his honor, and fire comes from his mouth and he removes his mind entirely from serving Gd, and he dirties his soul with various prohibitions, harmful speech, gossip, strife, mockery, sometimes also theft and taking by force.

"Within some hours he returns to the Beit Midrash to daven minchah with the community before Gd, and he returns and cloaks himself in the sanctity of an angel, saying, 'We will sanctify Your Name in the world, as they sanctify it in the Heavens!'"

(R' Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chafetz Chaim), Shem Olam II Chapter 11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How to avoid arrogance regarding one's Torah knowledge

Hi,

"Sometimes the yetzer hara adds to a person's sins; not only does it seduce him to desist from learning Torah, but it inspires him with a spirit of arrogance, to think himself an honored person because of his breadth of intellect and his ability to question and answer and gauge the authenticity of words of Torah.

"In truth, this is fundamentally flawed. To what may this situation be compared? To a servant of a great Count, appointed over inspection of forgeries. He becomes a great expert in recognizing documents to identify them as valid – but can he therefore think himself wealthy?!...

"There is counsel to help him conquer his yetzer: Let him stand before a shelf holding a complete Shas [Talmud], and contemplate the fact that he does not have so much as a single volume inscribed on his heart, so that he is truly impoverished. As the sages said, 'One who lacks this, what has he acquired?' And then he will be humbled, and he will repent and be healed."

(Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chofetz Chaim), Shem Olam II, Chapter 6, footnote)

Pitka tava,
Mordechai

The value of bekius [broad but superficial study]

Hi,

"I heard regarding the Gaon, Light of the Diaspora, our Master Rav Chaim, that a certain man in his city was expert in Shas [the Talmud], and the Gaon would honor him, standing before him. His students were surprised at this.

"He told them, with his customary clarity: Is a Sudilkov edition of Shas not a Shas? True, the Amsterdam edition is checked and without errors, and so it is finer, but this is also a Shas."

(Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chafetz Chaim), Shem Olam II, Chapter 5, final footnote)

[I am not sure who "Rav Chaim" is - perhaps it is Rav Chaim Ozer?]

Gmar tov,
Mordechai

No tzedakah in the next world

Hi,

"It is known that in this world even the poorest Jew, who has no home and must beg at doors, is still not cast out in the streets - every Jew is instructed to give him a place to stay, at least.

"However, in the next world it will not be relevant for one to bring another into his place in the Garden of Eden, for a rotating sword's blade guards the path to the tree of life, and one who lacks merit will not be permitted to enter there at all."

(R' Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chofetz Chaim), Shem Olam II, Perek 4)

Gmar tov,
Mordechai