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GuardYourEyes Chizuk E-Mail (No. 1116) 

Getting stronger every day!

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Recording of Rabbi Twerski's Talk 

  

"Abstinence is crucial, but not enough"   

And Q & A.

 

  

 

Click here to Download the talk

  

For more recordings of guest speakers on

Duvid Chaim's phone conference

CLICK HERE  

 

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Two Inspiring Chanukah Articles


To Err is Essential
By Avi Shafran


Let's Celebrate Our Victories
By Benyamin Bresinger 

 

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Chanukah

 

By "Me 3"
 

We all know the story, or do we? 

The Greeks worshiped beauty, feats of strength and physical prowess and of course pleasure. They were instituting their philosophies rather forcefully on the Jewish people and they were having a tremendous effect on the Jews. Many Jews started following their culture because it was rather enticing. Matisyahu and his sons fought them and were able to repel the Greek armies miraculously and restored the purity of the Bais Hamikdash and the Jewish people.

There seems to be one piece missing from the story. I understand that the Jews defeated the Greeks in battle, but how did they convince the Jews to not follow the Greek culture? I looked at the Rambam and this point really wasn't clear. All it says in that Hashem had mercy on the Jews and saved them.

Then I thought that maybe there isn't anything more to say, maybe there isn't any missing piece after all? You see, for the people who were entrenched in Greek culture who were addicted to the pursuit of pleasure, there really was no way to fight it. BUT maybe they came to the realization that they were powerless to overcome this addiction, that only Hashem could restore them to sanity & they turned over their will and lives to Hashem. And as the Rambam says, Hashem had mercy on them and saved them.

And just maybe the lessons of Chanukah have never been more applicable then they are now.

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Let Go!
 
 

It is important for us to internalize the message of this story from the SA book (Step 1: Surrender) 

There is the story of the man who fell off a cliff in the dark and on the way down grasped a branch and hung on for dear life. Weakening, he finally cried out to heaven, "Please help me!" and the answer came, "Let go!" "But if I let go I'll die," the man replied. "Let go!" was all he heard. When finally he could hold on no longer, he did let go, knowing it was the horrible end. To his great surprise, the ground was only a foot below him. 


As long as we either clung to it or tried to fight it into submission, our habit fought back, and being more powerful than we, it always won! Only when we let go does the release come, as though God mercifully raises the very earth itself to meet us. 


Merely knowing and admitting we were powerless over lust, or whatever form our acting out took, didn't help until we gave up our right to do it and let it go. There was no mistaking this change of heart when it happened; we knew it and those about us knew it. There is no faking surrender. And thank God, when we did give up and stop fighting, He was always there, waiting with open arms. Instead of killing us as we had feared, surrender killed the compulsion!

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4lashon

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