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GuardYourEyes Chizuk E-Mail (No. 1234)
Getting stronger every day!
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In Today's Issue
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Torah Attitude: GYE Principle 15
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12-Step Attitude: Humility and Renewal
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Daily Dose of Dov: Dov's Story by Yechida
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One-liner
If you turn it over (to G-d) but don't let go of it, you will be upside down.
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Category: Torah Attitude
GYE Principle 15:
Hashem looks at our efforts, not the results
(Click here for the previous principles)
Hashem doesn't seek great successes and big achievements from us. Whether we succeed in a big way or not, is ultimately His business. All He asks from us is that we try to get a little stronger every day and do what we can at this point in time. Our struggle with the Yetzer Hara is even more precious to Hashem than our ultimate success in breaking free. Hashem has enough great and powerful Malachim in Shamayim, but only humans struggle with the Yetzer Hara and can give Hashem Nachas Ruach through that.
It is brought down in the sefer Menucha v'Kedusha, written by a talmid of R' Chaim Volozhiner, that even a person who sins his whole life can still be considered a Tzadik, as long as he never gives up and always continues to fight. We like to think of success in terms of results. But Hashem looks at our efforts, not at the results.
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Discuss these ideas with your friends on the forum. See this and other articles on your Personal Homepage (log-in required).
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Category: 12-Step Attitude
Humility and Renewal
The 12 steps of AA could be traced to Torah concepts without much difficulty.The following explanation according to Chasidic Torah and Kabalah Masters could be one source. The Tzadik
מאיר שלום אבד"ק פאריסאב זצק"ל (quoted in דרך צדיקים) says that the תיקון for חטאת נעורים is mainly to have utmost humility. In his words להיות לב האדם נשבר.
It works this way : According to the Kabbalah (and it is also brought down by The Rav Nefesh Hachaim (Volozhin) and Rabi Moshe Cordovero ( The Rama"k) זצ"ל) the whole creation is being renewed every hour and every minute. The world that you see now is a completely new creation from a minute ago.There is a constant התחדשות. I will quote his words :
כי הקב"ה מחדש בכל עת ורגע את כל העולם,וכשהאדם הוא בעיניו לאין ממש אז הוא בבחינת
יפשוט צורה וילבוש צורה, ויכול לקבל בכל עת ורגע חיות חדש.משא"כ כשהוא בבחינת יש
והקב"ה רוצה לחדש עולמו הקב"ה משפילו. וכו
Meaning that Hashem Yitbarach recreates the world and recreates the person's spirit anew and this is happening constantly every hour on the hour. But in order for this personal change to happen, the person has to be very humble ("turn his will and his life to the care of G.od").
The same with us: anybody who holds dearly unto his ego, his "this is ME," will not advance, will not get a promotion. But if he lets go and lets G.od, Hashem will mechadesh your person and your spirit, your body and neshama, and you actually are reborn, recreated, anew. And you go free breaking the chains of your past slavery.
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Category: Daily Dose of Dov
Dov's Story
By Dov and Yechida
This is a long piece by Dov, but well worth reading. See the full 4-part article by clicking above. At the end, there is a short summary of the main Yesodos that I understood from Dov's words.
The issue of "addiction" vs. "Yetzer Hara, Aveiros and Teshuvah" has been discussed many times before on GYE, with me as a participant, too.
I love these issues, as they touch on the core of recovery for me and what it has done for my life, my wife's life, and the lives of my children. I am absolutely convinced that if I had not surrendered to the facts about myself, I'd have continued down the exact same useless and deadly path I was on, for yet another 20 years or so, until I'd have died from it. And on the way, the lives of my wife and children would have been irrevocably damaged. That would mean another few generations of severe pain and chilul Hashem, too.
I became frum over the years of my adolescence, as do many. My parents are not what you'd call "really frum", but are traditional. Nonetheless, I chose to learn in a post high school yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel and continued after that in an unpaid kollel arrangement for about 3 more years after getting married, then went to school and am now working in a profession, learning (Torah) quite a bit on the side b"H, and helping raise a family.
That is what you'd have seen, had you seen me as a neighbor, in shul, yeshiva, etc. My wife knew me pretty much as that guy, too.
Continue reading... or wait till we bring the continuation in the following issues.
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and you feel you would have a lot to benefit from a hard copy,
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