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There are certain things that can be likened to icebergs facing a person traveling in his ship on the sea of life. If he knows how to look, he will find opportunities to navigate himself safely through the icebergs. But there are icebergs; you have to know what or who they are, and you have to know exactly what to do when you encounter them. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim vol. 1 Most human beings think that they are lucky to have been born with good character. Although they know they didn’t work on their character, they didn’t labor to train themselves, but they’re convinced that they’re good anyhow. In order to live like a servant of Hashem, you must study how to do it. In order to live decently, you must learn and train yourself. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim If a person would study Mesillas Yesharim (Path of the Just) ten minutes a day, I guarantee you his life will be transformed. However, I’ll settle for five minutes. Because it’s so valuable that no matter how little it is, it’s a precious achievement. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim One cannot claim to be a servant of Hashem while doing all sorts of wrong things just because he is not aware that they are wrong. He must study and learn the details of what Hashem expects of us. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim Attaining chassidus (peity) is an important achievement in life to which we should aspire. Even if you can’t be a chassid (pious) in everything, it’s possible in some of life’s smaller and easier details to succeed in chassidus. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim In reality it requires a great deal of acumen and a sharp mind to understand the true way of being devoted to Hashem. [Even] those who are capable will not have it because they didn’t put time into it... But since those with good minds don’t study it, the general public is not aware of what true service of Hashem really means. — Ohr Avigdor Mesilas Yesharim Most of life is happiness. Even a blind man is blessed with good fortune. After all, he can eat, he can think, he can walk, he has a good heart. He should acknowledge that, despite his problems, most of the functions of his life are successful. He shouldn't allow himself to be bitter just because one of the functions was taken away from him. — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah 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 When it comes to doing something for the community, the responsibility of a person who is able to do something becomes especially great. The sin of a man who is capable, but doesn't teach, is even greater than the sin of an unqualified man who goes ahead and teaches anyway. — Ohr Avigdor Hakdama Think about what you have and be happy with it. Remember that there are very many people who don't have even what you have right now. Of course, you could try to be wealthy. There is no harm in that. But to be dissatisfied because you think you could have achieved more wealth is a tragedy. — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah Every man has an infinitely deep reservoir of potential wisdom upon which he can draw. Hashem is waiting for him to bring that wisdom to the surface; actually, Hashem originally filled the reservoir with the wisdom of the Torah. By utilizing opportunities that arise in a person’s life, he can draw upon and bring forth this wisdom with the aid of the Torah, and thus acquire the great gift of chachma (wisdom). — Ohr Avigdor Hakdama There is a man walking in the street, and there is a big noise of traffic so nobody can hear what he's saying. He opens up his mouth and says, "I love you Hashem!" That the wisest thing you can do. It's a mitzvas asei min haTorah (positive commandment from the Torah), and don't think it's not true. Once you open your mouth and say it, your thoughts follow your words. A certain amount of ahava (love) is generated by saying it. — Out of Eden #93 Although most people think about Hashem and are willing to say that He is all-knowing and all-wise, they do not put a lot of thought into it. But when we study Shaar Habechinah (The Gate of Examination) and we begin to realize how everything in the world is made with wisdom and with benevolence, the mind gains a picture of Hashem as a great Father and a great Benefactor. — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah The whole thing is foolishness. The whole purpose of the Holocaust was a summons to teshuva (repentance). It's a demonstration of ruination caused by forsaking the Torah. Hashem was issuing a call to the Jewish world to repent and come back to the Torah, and it was a summons that was unheeded. — Privilege of Persecution #29 "Siyag l'chachma shesika (The fence for a man's wisdom is being silent)." (Pirkei Avos) The Rambam tells us just by being silent he won't become a wise man. Rather, everybody has good qualities by nature, and by being silent he's building a fence around these good qualities. That kind of chachma (wisdom) is protected by your silence. — Working on the Midos #658 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 #516 It was Abraham's admiration of Hashem that made him great and that made his seed chosen forever. Because he meditated by day and by night on the greatness of the Creator and on His qualities as revealed 1) in nature and 2) in history, Abraham gradually was transformed into a human likeness of that which he admired. — Awake, My Glory From all the diverse things that Hashem created, we see a purpose of kindness. Everything in the world is for the purpose of helping, of doing good. If we study the world, we see that everything has a purpose. If we find something that seems not to have a purpose, it's only because we don't understand it. — Ohr Avigdor Shaar Habechinah When Jews come together, united for Hashem, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) comes down to them. That took place at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) and remained with us forever; we became Yisrael from that point on. While the nations of the world fell at that time, the Jewish people became greater. — The Truth of the Torah In the midbar (desert) their chief occupation was teaching the Torah to their children. They taught them all their history, all the nissim (miracles) that they had seen. They described Matan (the Giving of the) Torah to their children constantly, and they inspired them, they inflamed them. — The Home, Fountain of Torah #967 If the Yam Suf (lit. Sea of Reeds) would split open today, the Hebrew university would send a team of scientists to investigate the seismic disturbance — some earthquake! — and the New York Times would have a write up about it, various theories, and that’s where it would end. Hashem at that time was able to give them this miracle because they were people who could appreciate it. And today it would be a waste of a good miracle. — Preface to Purim #302 Kabolas Hatorah (Receiving the Torah) was not a one time thing (it just happened once at Har Sinai), but it’s something that takes place every day. A girl marches into a synagogue, takes a seat in the ladies’ section, opens up a siddur (prayer book) and reads the English — the first time in her life she’s in a synagogue. She walks in with a little flame, a holy flame burning in her heart and now she’s mekabel (accepting) the Torah. Whatever her Torah is, is still pretty small, but she’s mekabel her Torah. — Receiving the Torah 2 #508 We’re keeping exactly the same Torah that was given at Sinai... There's no other nation in the world that’s doing that... That’s not an accident; Hashem knew that he was investing in somebody with character. — Midos: Whom Hashem Chooses #544 The existence of Free-Will is the greatest miracle after the Creation of the Universe. The Creator, by especial miracle, left a space in which He allows Man to move of his own Free-Will. Outside this space, everything is decreed and foreordained; but in this area, men can choose to do according to their own wishes. No object, or force, or being in all the Universe has any impulse of will of its own choice, except Man. — Rejoice, O Youth We can't understand Hashem at all, but we look at His creations and we see His wisdom, His planning, His shrewdness, and His purpose in everything. We also see His kindness everywhere, giving us a powerful sense of His presence. — Ohr Avigdor Hakdama |
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