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It’s free will (bechira), the divine spark in man that means living. Without free will, it’s only habit, it’s not bechira, he’s really a dead man. And so what does Hashem do when people honor Him with prayer but their hearts are far away? He punishes them with something worse than the tochacha (admonition as in Leviticus 26). He takes away the great leaders and they are left without guidance. They are left in an eternal sleep, a sleep of death. – Bitachon (#32)
"Yaancha Hashem b'yom tzara (Hashem will answer you on the day of distress)."
Yaancha — He's going to answer you. Which means that despite all the merits and mitzvos you gained previously, which make you deserving that Hashem should listen to your outcry, you still must cry out to Him. It's not sufficient merely to mumble a little prayer. It's important to make a big outcry to Hashem. - Wine of Prayer (#555) If you look back and see what happens to people, you will see very many people today who are frum (religious) and married and live settled lives, and yet it's all the result of some upheaval that took place in their lives, some misfortune. - The Complainer (#379)
It's important to be grateful to Hashem for mishaps and misfortunes. It's like a doctor who gives you a prescription. When you taste it — oh, is it bitter! What do you want to do, poison me? But sensible people wouldn't say that. They paid the doctor and they paid the pharmacist for the prescription, so they accept it and try to enjoy it. Hashem gives you His medicine free of charge. - The Complainer (#379)
If you study life, you'll see that even good health can be a peril; wealth can be a peril; peace can be a peril. And, therefore, although the yetzer hara (inclination for evil) is a great kindliness that Hashem did for us, it is also a very great peril. -- Contending with the Yetzer Hara (#788)
Hashem is in control — whether people admit it or not. That’s what it means when we say, Hashem echad. He is the sole power that controls everything. This principle is so important that we say it every day [as part of the Shema]. The Jew makes it his motto. Before he breathes his last, he declares it. It is a pity that we so often say it hastily and thoughtlessly. - Emunah and Bitachon
We are the chosen ones because Hashem gave the Shabbos only to us. No other nation is commanded to keep the Shabbos. Any of the gentiles can do whatever they want on Shabbos, there is absolutely no criticism; on the contrary they are criticized if they keep Shabbos. Shabbos is an honor, it’s a badge conferred upon Hashem’s chosen people and others have no right to put on this badge. And therefore we celebrate the Shabbos to demonstrate we are His chosen people.– Preface to Shabbos (#439)
We have to train ourselves to look through the eyes of the Torah. Look at the world and see how many benefits Hashem is giving us. How many? Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, they're countless. That's our job: to open up our eyes and recognize that Hashem has created a world of kindliness. - Learning to See (#E-36)
It is impossible to maintain society without the fundamental premise of a First Being, Who established eternal concepts of right and wrong.- Sing, You Righteous
We’re in this world to have a good time - haadam lo nivra elah l’hisaneg (Mesilas Yesharim). That’s the purpose. And I’ll prove it. Let’s say a tzaddik (righeous man) fasted. At night when he sinks his teeth into that crust of bread, he has more fun than the fellows outside with the long hair, licking a big ice cream. Because they're so stuffed with nosherai, candy and other things, they can hardly taste the sweetness anymore. When a tzaddik eats, he's really happy with his food. -- The Afterlife (#R-35)
What will you gain by doing mitzvos (commandments)? An edifice that will last forever. No bulldozer will ever come to raze that building, that palace you’ll erect for yourself. Think about the reward. It’s so important to constantly be aware of the World to Come. The World to Come must be the chief ingredient in our life. All our thoughts, all our efforts must be directed towards the achievement of success in the World to Come. - Preparing for Eternity (#549)
"Kedoshim tiheyu” - you should be holy. This doesn’t mean that you should wash your hands and that’s all or walk on tiptoes, or look holy, dress holy. Holy means be like Hashem as much as you can. Of course He tells you a list of things but they are only examples. And why? Because I am. Everyone should be like Me, the more you’re like Me, the more you’re going to be happy in the world to come. That’s your success. — The Drive to Perfection (#736)
For food to grow out of the earth, thousands upon thousands of miracles take place. It’s important to know that. Hashem makes food in such miraculously complicated ways, convolutions, and complications, all with His plan, with His system, and all done to prove it’s yad Hashem, His hand. And it's considered greater than the nisim of Kriyas Yam Suf (miracles by the Red Sea), because from food we’re expected to learn more than we learned from Kriyas Yam Suf. – Show me Your Glory (#E176)
It’s important to realize that all the pleasures of this life are actually not pleasures in themselves. All the fun of this world is actually functional. People go out to eat, with music and entertainment. But as soon as they’re satiated, it stops being fun. People who go out to eat are trying to make an end out of the means. They try to persuade themselves that they’re having a good time. – Bitachon #32
The inequality in the distribution of wealth is one of the great benefits that Hashem provided to mankind. If everyone was equally wealthy, nobody would work and human affairs would be in the doldrums. It is only because people need money that is in the possession of others that they are willing to do things. Money is thus the incentive for doing all the things that men need to do for each other. -- Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechina
Everything in the world is a bluff. From beginning to end, it’s all sheker (falsehood). All the phenomena, all the things that seem important, are a fraud. The purpose of this great darkness is that mankind should not fall into the trap. He should always be on guard and fight against the temptation to live according to the darkness that holds sway. - Koheles: All is Vanity (#328)
Hashem gave us many opportunities. Why are there baalei mumim (crippled ones) in the world? So that the shleimim (whole ones) who don't have these faults should be able to recognize how perfect they are. - Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah
The most important thing you need to learn in This World is how to feel thankful and how to express your thanks. It is only then that you will be on the first rung of the ladder to personal growth. After that you can climb higher little by little until you reach the point where you can say thank-you to Hashem and really mean it. - Ohr Avigdor, Shaar Avodas HaElokim
Suppose there’s a millionaire who had no interest in anything, the only reason he’s in business is to make money to help yeshivas. (You find such a one yet? Let me know when you find him.) Yet that’s Hashem. Poseiach es yadecha, Your hand, all Your koach (strength) is for the purpose of feeding. Hashem, all Your power is devoted to that one purpose of feeding the world. – Show me Your Glory (#E176)
Human acts are forever. When you say a word, that word is forever. You just cannot erase that word. It’ll continue to live on for eternity. And everything that people do in this world is of eternal significance. There’s no such thing as past. Everything is present and future. What you did ten years ago will live on and on. - Eternal Sanctuary of Marriage
There is a benefit to the mind in fulfilling physical mitzvos for which we have no rationale (chukim). We learn how to restrain ourselves, how to obey the Torah, and how to fear Hashem’s word. - Ohr Avigdor Hakdama
When the farmer toils at plowing, sowing, reaping, stacking the sheaves, flailing the grain, winnowing, grinding, sifting the flour, kneading and baking, he finally holds the bread and declares: "Blessed are You... Who brings forth bread from the earth." Every man is subjected to this test, that despite all his efforts, he must declare that it was the work of Hashem alone, and he must make such a declaration in sincerity.
Everything in the world speaks about the Oneness of Hashem. This is because the world is like a great machine in which all the parts are related to each other and cooperate with each other. Such a machine clearly has unity of purpose. When we look around us we see
that everything in the world cooperates. - Ohr Avigdor Hakdama Hashem made the world so each one of us should have an opportunity to gain perfection. Sheleimus (perfection) is what Hashem desires of everyone: to perfect his character. He gave us a body, He gave us a character, gave us Middos (character traits), and He told us Get busy: “His'halech lefanai v’hayei tamim—Walk before me and become perfect.” - #E-201, Fundamental Principles
“Three signs are in this people; they are merciful, they are modest and they practice kindliness.” (Yevamos 79A) The genuine Jew has mercy, is ashamed to do misdeeds and to be arrogant, and he is eager to do acts of kindness. Sometimes one of these qualities may become submerged or atrophied; but when a Jew possesses all three, he thereby demonstrates that he is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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