Russian Soldiers /vodka . Direction of head.

One night, In old-time Russia, in Czar Nikolai's army, a few soldiers decided to secretly climb over the fence to pay a visit to the local inn. At the inn, they thirstily drank their vodka, their much longed for drink.

After a while one of the soldiers cried out: "Hey, we have to hurry up and get back to our base before inspection so that they don't catch us missing!"

The soldiers quickly paid and starting running back to the army camp, but having drunk too much one by one, they fell to the ground, at the side of the road.

It was their bad luck that just then one of the officers passed by and found them lying there drunk.
The next day, of course they were summoned to appear to the commander's office. The soldiers were trembling with fear, knowing they may be severely punished for what they did.
The commander spoke in a harsh voice explaining to them the army laws that they had transgressed.
Suddenly though, he changed his tone. His voice became softer and he said; "I also like to have some vodka from time to time. I understand your reason for escape, i am aware that it has been a long time since you were last allowed to visit the inn. Thus i have decided not to punish you for this act!"
"However", barked the commander pointing to one soldier, "Everybody is exempt from punishment - except you! You will be penalized because when i passed by on the road i noticed that all of the soldiers were lying with their heads in the direction of the army camp - except you. Your head was in the direction of the inn!"

We all have our ups and downs in our service of G-d. It happens that sometimes we may fall. However, what is important is - in what direction our heads are.

The downfalls lose their impact when we keep sight of our direction.

Grab the Jewels - i.e. the Mitzvot - NOW.

There was once a king who, wanting to show his appreciation to his new general for winning the war, offered to allow him to go into his treasury house for an hour and take whatever he wanted for himself.

The general was thrilled. He prepared a large sack and waited anxiously for the day. But then the king regretted his decision. Not wanting to renege on his promise the king's advisers advised the king to place musicians at the treasury house and have them play the most beautiful music. This would distract the general from despoiling the king's treasury.

Sure enough the plan worked. The general became paralyzed and fixated with the music. By the time the general realized that he was losing the chance of a lifetime, the hour of opportunity had passed. He wound up with just a few small items, but lost all that potential for riches because of his distraction with the orchestra.

Rav Eliyahu Lopian said this parable refers to this world. G-d puts us in this world and tells us to "grab the jewels", i.e. – the mitzvot. However, at the same time, G-d gives us distractions of life. We become fixated with these distractions. One day, someone taps us on the shoulder and says, "It is time to leave this world." We look back and bemoan the fact that we have missed our opportunity of mining this world for the spiritual treasures that were available to us. We leave the world empty handed or at best, we leave with our sacks half full.

When the mitzvot are just there for our taking, it is hard to imagine that there will come a time that they will not be there anymore. We need to foresee the future and take the proper implications from that vision.

Everybody has FREE CHOICE! Choose wisely, be good!

No matter who you are, or what your situation is, you can always make the choice to do the right thing. G-d gave you the gift of 100% free choice.

Our sages explain that if we merit, G-d will hasten the redemption for us, but if not then it'll come in its regular time. It's the very actions we do that cause Moshiach to come. G-d carefully constructed a perfect system that the result of any good deed is a better world. The redemption is not a reward, it’s just part of nature, it’s how G-d originally planned the universe.

Therefore, every single act that we do directly impacts the world as a whole either for the better or for the worse. As soon as enough good is done, Moshiach will automatically arrive. G-d created this system and gave us the free choice to use it.

We bring Moshiach. It’s completely in our hands.

It says that G-d heartened Paroh's heart. What does a hardened heart mean? Did Pharaoh no longer have free choice? The truth is that G-d still allowed Pharaoh free choice despite hardening his heart.

The mystics explain that G-d did not alter Pharaoh heart. Pharaoh’s heart became hardened automatically after a lifetime of evil and G-d sent Moses to warn him about the next plague despite his ‘hardened heart’ because everyone has 100% free choice.

Pharaoh, despite everything he had done which had hardened and desensitized his soul, still possessed a spark of good, a sliver of power to turn himself into a good person. There is no such thing as I can’t.

G-d always gives a person the tools he or she needs to do the right thing. No one is ever beyond the power of Teshuva, of returning to G-d and his good ways.

Every good deed we do not only makes our heart a little ‘softer’, more sensitive to spirituality, but automatically brings the entire world one step closer to Moshiach.

We are always in control, and we always have100% free choice. What we do with it is up to us! Let's choose wisely!

The Commandment to Love G-d.

Little Chaim doesn't like fish. Now what if his father were to command him to like fish – would the son be able to overcome his inherent dislike of fish and begin to love it?

It is a basic part of the Shema prayer, “And you shall love G-d with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might”. How is it possible that G-d has given us a mitzvah, a commandment, to 'love' Him? If we do not have love in our hearts for G-d, how is it possible to change our nature and begin to love G-d?

What is it that makes it possible to command someone to love G-d yet to command someone to love fish may be foolish?

The basic difference is that man can exist without fish. A man is not dependent on fish alone for his life. But man can not exist independent from G-d; man's total existence is dependent on G-d. More than that, nothing exists outside of G-d. While we may appear to have an independent existence, it is only because our senses can not perceive G-d. We are limited beings.

Our every moment existence is totally dependent upon His good will, which He never retracts. Even when man sins against Him, He gives man the ability to continue.

We in fact have an inherent love of G-d hidden in our soul. And so by contemplating on G-d that He is the source of our existence and provider of our physical needs, evokes that hidden love for Him.

The active concept of love of G-d is the contemplation and awareness of His goodness. The more we contemplate on His goodness, the greater will be our awareness of Him. The more we will be aware of Him the more love we will feel for Him in our hearts.

However the more we look at ourselves as a separate entity, the less we can feel any love for G-d. The more we try to see G-d in our lives, the more He will give us the ability to perceive Him in this world.

Basically, The more we contemplate on G-d's goodness, the better.

Golus, exile - like in a dream.

When we will be redeemed from exile, the experience will be like awakening from a long sleep.
A dream can fuse two opposites; in a dream state, we can visualize things that are logically impossible. While praying, we can become aroused with love for G-d. When the prayer is over, though, the love vanishes and we go back to our preoccupation with material mundane matters.

However, we should not assume that our spiritual service while in exile has no value. Even if the inspiration later vanishes every spiritual success is real and permanent. Our G-dly soul is always complete, and its accomplishments can never be erased.

The fact that we are in a 'dream-state' has a positive component. It means that we are able to overcome boundaries tht to our rational mind seem insurmountable. Our rational mind tells us that we must progress in an orderly, systematic fashion. We mustn't think too big or get ahead of ourselves. However, in a dream state we ignore all these limitations and can make a huge spiritual leap all at once, out of proportion to our previous level.

Our exile is a state of sleep but through increasing in Torah and Mitzvot we can awaken in an instant to the ultimate state of redemption.

PARSHA - VA'AIRA. Gratitude!

'Gratitude is an attitude'.

This week’s torah portion of Va'aira, demonstrates just how far Jewish tradition teaches us to be grateful and to remember our benefactors.

Seven of the ten plagues occur in this week’s reading. Moshe, messenger of G‑d, is bringing down these terrifying plagues on Pharaoh’s Egypt. Yet, interestingly, he calls upon his brother Aaron to be the agent for the first three plagues—blood, frogs and lice. Why did Moshe not do those himself?

The Midrash, quoted by Rashi, teaches us that this is because it was through the waters of the Nile River that Moshe was saved as an infant when he was put in the basket. It would have been insensitive and inappropriate, even after so many years later, for him to strike those very waters that saved him. The blood and the frogs both came directly from the water, and so Aaron struck the water rather than Moshe.

And the same thing with the lice that came from out of the ground, the earth too, had helped Moshe to cover the body of the Egyptian taskmaster whom he had killed while defending a Jewish slave. Therefore, it would have been wrong for Moshe to strike the earth, and so for this plague too, Aaron did it.

What a monumental lesson to each of us on the importance of gratitude. Do water and earth have feelings? Would they know the difference if they were struck, and who was doing the striking? How much more so should we be considerate of human beings when they have done us a kindness..

The story is told of the Chatam Sofer that he once did an enormous favor for someone. Later, the fellow asked him, “Rabbi, what can I ever do to repay you for your kindness?” The Chatam Sofer replied, “One day, when you get upset and angry with me, please remember what I have done for you today—and, rather than pelting me with big rocks, please throw small stones instead.”

Once again, the Torah is teaching us not only religious ritual, but how to be better people—more sensitive, and yes, eternally grateful human beings.

Jewish People given the privilege to refine sparks

A king once lost a precious gem from his ring, and many of his subjects—servants, ministers, generals, and so on—volunteered to search for it. However, the king refused to allow them to. Instead, he instructed his precious only son to search for the lost object and return it.

The king did not do so because he suspected that his other subjects might pocket the gem. Rather, he wanted to be able to give the opportunity to his son to find it, so that his son would receive the credit. Moreover, he even dropped his son several hints as to the whereabouts of the gem. But how did the king know so well where the gem was to be found? In fact, it was all a setup. The king had deliberately feigned to have accidentally lost the gem only so that his son would find it, and so that the father could beam with pride at his son’s accomplishment.

The Baal Shem Tov offered this parable for the spiritual process by which the sparks of holiness came into our physical world:
G-d deliberately caused the sparks of holiness to fall into the physical world, and then insisted that only the Jewish people, of whom it is said, “You are sons of Hashem, your G–d,” be charged with the mission of refining them.

Refining the lofty sparks of holiness trapped in the physical world is a task and privilege specifically assigned to the Jewish people.

Wow what a privilege. And how do we refine these sparks? By doing Mitzvot and living holy.

Yetzer Horah. Score points when there's opposition.

Who is this formidable foe who greets us upon our entry into this world and attempts to accompany our every action throughout our existence?

He is known as the Yetzer Harah, the Evil Inclination.

Rabbi Sholom noticed that one of his students at the yeshiva was missing on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday morning he approached him, "I know you for two years", he told the boy. "You never missed a day of yeshiva. Tell me why were you absent."

At first the student didn't want to say but then gave in, he said: " I missed yeshiva because I was at the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer games. And I probably won't be in yeshiva tomorrow as well. It's the final day of the championship."

"How do you play this game of soccer ? How do you win?"Asked the Rabbi.

"Well," said the student, "there are eleven players, and their aim is to kick the ball into a large netted goal...

"So what's the big deal?" asked the Rabbi. "Go there, kick the ball in the goal and come back to yeshiva!"

The boy laughed. "Oh, you don't understand! There is an opposing team and their job is to stop our team from getting the ball into their goal!"

"Then why...." suggested the Rabbi, "don't you sneak into the stadium at night and kick the ball into the goal when they are not looking! Then you can win and return to yeshiva!"

"Oy! Rebbe! You don't understand. You don't score if the other team is not trying to stop you! Its no big deal to kick a ball into an empty net if there is no one trying to stop you!"

"Ah!" exclaimed the Rabbi, " It's no big deal to come to yeshiva when nothing is trying to hold you back! It is when the Yetzer Harah is crouching in the goal, that it is most difficult to score. That is when you really score points. Come tomorrow, and you can't imagine how much that is worth in G-d's scorecard!

The Yetzer Harah is our ultimate challenger. He stands crouched in the door, ready to block any shot and spring on a near hit. Our job is to realize that we must overcome him when the urge is the greatest. Because when it is most difficult to do the right thing, that is the time we can really score points!

10th of Tevet - Fast day - opportune day....

Tomorrow we will fast, mourn and pray, remembering the day -- the 10th of Tevet. It is the day on which began the siege on Jerusalem by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar, which led to the conquest of the city, the destruction of the Holy Temple, and the expulsion of the people of Israel from their land.

Why are we fasting? It's not our fault that the Temple was destroyed. The people at that time refused to listen to the prophets who warned them to better their ways. We are still suffering the consequences.

On this, the sages explain: "Every generation for which the Temple is not rebuilt, is as though the Temple was destroyed for that generation." If so, a fast day is not really a sad day, but an opportune day. It's a day when we are empowered to fix the cause of that first destruction, so that our long exile will be ended and we will find ourselves living in messianic times—may that be very soon.

"Because of baseless hatred between Jews," says the Talmud, "was Jerusalem destroyed."

Why, asks the Lubavitcher Rebbe, does the Talmud insist that the hate was "baseless"? Were there not reasons, both ideological and pragmatic, for the divisions amongst the Jews? But no reason, explains the Rebbe, is reason enough for hate. The commonality of our fate runs so much deeper than any possible cause for animosity. All hate, then, is baseless hatred.

So if "baseless hatred" was the cause of the destruction, continues the Rebbe, its remedy is "baseless love"--our rediscovery of the intrinsic unity which overrides all reasons for discord and strife.

Show love to a fellow Jew--no matter how he or she differs from you. For if there is one redeeming virtue in being under siege, it is the opportunity to realize that we're all in this together.

PARSHAT VAYECHI - Yaakov blesses....we have potential...

If life were a chessboard, would you be a pawn who can travel only in one direction? Or would you be a queen, who can strike out in the direction of her choice?

Angels are unidirectional. Their characters are molded by G-d into single, predetermined profiles. Some angels serve G-d in love. Others serve G-d with joy. etc. Angels are described as stationary. It is incapable of doing things that are different from their nature.

But we are different. We are referred to as G-d's bride. If G-d is the king, then we are his queen. On the chessboard this means that the Jewish soul IS capable of multi-directional travel. We each have our own characteristics and prefer our own path of worship. Some of us are joyful, others loving. Some like to study, and so on. Our paths are unique to ourselves, but unlike angels, we CAN veer from our characters.

Just before his passing, Yaakov blesses his sons. Each son receives a blessing consistent with his character of spiritual worship.
After Yaakov blessed each son individually, he repeated all the blessings to each of his sons because he wanted his children to enjoy all forms of spiritual worship, not only those with their individual characters. He wanted them to engage in all mitzvot even those inconsistent with their personalities.

Jacob's blessing, which enabled his sons to transcend their limitations and enjoy all manner of spiritual worship, endows us, too, with that wonderful ability. Which means that no mitzvah is beyond our potential.

PARSHA - VAYECHI. The Big Picture....

This week’s Torah reading speaks of Yaakov's final years of life, the seventeen years he spends reunited with his family and the blessings he gives them for the future.

Throughout his life, Yaakov is continually being taken by surprise; him taking the blessings from Esav, then needing to run away, being tricked into marrying the sister of the woman he loves and then the disappearance of his beloved son, Yosef. But at the end of his life he is peacefully reunited with his family, and in these final years, he is able to recognize the patterns of his journey through life. He sees the intent of each step along the way, realizing the bigger picture. It becomes clear to him that all the details of his life were bringing him to this place he was now at.

In life we have the ‘big picture’ vision and ‘small picture’ vision. Very often we find ourselves stuck in the ‘small picture’ reality. We get bogged down by the small picture vision of life that we forget the big picture. We see the trees and not the forest, as it were. Our lives have a route, yet, we often lose ourselves in the minutiae, “this and this person did this to me, i can’t believe this is happening to me now, etc . . ." It is because of this that we forget the bigger picture, and we veer off course.

This week’s Torah reading gives us the ability to step back from the details and recognize the little fragments as integral parts of a whole. And This way, we recognize the minutiae for what it is and we dont get stuck in the smallness of events and/or emotions.

This week, let's keep sight of our greater goals and purpose, and not get bogged down by the details.

The Rebbe gives blessings to light Chanuka lights in Iran...

In 1980, during the Iranian occupation of the American embassy, Rabbi Hershberg, the past chief Rabbi of Mexico, was scheduled to travel to Iran for a public service project. Because of the tense atmosphere at the time, many tried to persuade him to postpone his trip. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, however, encouraged him: "Go with blessing," The Rebbe told him. "You are certain to light the Chanukah menorah in Iran."

Rabbi Hershberg was puzzled by the Rebbe's closing words. He was not necessarily planning to stay in Iran for Chanukah. But if he would, there was no question that he would light a menorah. He did not understand the Rebbe's reference, nor the emphatic (em-fa-tik) tone in his words.

Afterwards, it all became clear. His mission in Iran took longer than expected, during which time he developed a relationship with some Iranian officials. He knew that there were six Jews among the hostages in the American embassy and he asked permission to light the menorah with them. "Just as we have granted permission for a priest to meet with the Christian hostages on their holiday," the Iranians replied, "we will allow you entry as well."

And so it was in the barricaded American embassy in Iran that Rabbi Hershberg lit the Chanukah menorah that year.

Chanuka is not over. Today is the last day, we still have a chance to bring down whatever light and blessings we need. Let's take advantage of this special day and accomplish whatever holiness we can....and we should take these chanuka lights, take these chanuka messages and miracles, to last us throughout the year....