Rav Miller zt”l – The Best Day of The Year .....Yom Kippur

 

LIVING RAV AVIGDOR The Best Day of the Year RAV AVIGDOR MILLER · LECTURE 933 From Chapter One of Yom Kippur Lessons

Lecture 933 in 42 quotes — the Rav’s exact words, in the order he said them, taken from different points in the lecture. Each one stands on its own, so there is no need to read them all at once. Take them slowly — he is building one argument across the ninety minutes, and by the last of them it is made:

Yom Kippur was one of the two most joyous days in the year. It was a happy day, a day when the mind was at its best. And when the mind is at its best, that’s the happiest day. Hakadosh Baruch Hu made this world in such a manner that people should not see Him. And He put up barriers, walls, between us and Him in this world. And our purpose in our lives is to break through these barriers, one after the other. That’s our purpose in life, to break through all the barriers. During the year, one of the ways of breaking through the barrier is keep your mouth closed. Working for a living helps you smash the mechitzos. Whenever you have any difficulty in life, you should know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is helping you out. It breaks down the mechitzos because when everything is going smoothly, you forget about Hashem. Of course, if somebody prefers a more comfortable way of coming close to Hashem, we say, כָּל הָעוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה, יִסּוּרִין בְּדֵילִין הֵימֶנּוּ — “If you engage in Torah,” which causes your mind to be united to Hashem, and you’re thinking of Hashem in Torah, then “yissurim, suffering, goes away from you” (Berachos 5a). You don’t need suffering. That’s an easier way. So you have your choice. Eating in luxury, unless you’re capable of appreciating it, constitutes a barrier between you and Hashem. We approach the subject of Yom Kippur. In the Torah it states, קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ — “You should be holy” (Vayikra 19:2). קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ is a commandment in itself. How do you do it? So our chachamim tell us, פְּרוּשִׁים תִּהְיוּ — you have to be abstainers (Sifri, Kedoshim, parashah 1). You have to abstain. You want to become a kadosh? You have to learn how to say no to yourself. He writes (Iggeres HaGra) that the best prishus is when you don’t talk. מָה אֻמָּנוּתוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה — “What’s a man’s profession in this world?” His profession is, יָשִׂים עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלֵּם — “He should make himself as a mute” (Chullin 89a) He has to make himself as though he cannot talk. To keep quiet. Among the studies of [different forms of] prishus, we have to know that one of the most important is to keep away from goyim. Yom Kippur is a wonderful opportunity, when we sit all day only among Jews. What a berachah that is. The mechitzos are down today. You feel a closeness to klal Yisrael. And Yom Kippur becomes for you the day of the greatest success. We’re coming to the theme of today, to understand that this day is the happiest day of the year. Of course, for some people, it isn’t. You want to get home, you’re looking at the clock, counting how many hours until Ne’ilah, and thinking what will be for supper tonight — it’s human nature; but you have to start training yourself now so that when you get a little older you might even start to enjoy Yom Kippur. Start now, start persuading yourself that Yom Kippur is a happy day. The Mesilas Yesharim tells us there are three causes why men forget their purpose in life. And one is haschok v’halatzon, all the joking around, making fun, amusement, all kinds of things, entertainment. The second is chevra raah, wrong company, which most people are. Most people are wrong company. And the third reason he said is the most prevalent one, hatipul v’hatirda, being too busy. On Yom Tov, on Sukkos, you can cook, but not on Yom Kippur, because Yom Kippur is the day of prishus, it’s a day of abstinence, not to have any business with anything. Your mind should be available for the greatest purpose in life, and that is to think about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The commandment of קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ is completely fulfilled by us on this one day in the year. Our forefathers practiced it, and therefore, it was one of the two most joyous days in the year. Another very great achievement on Yom Kippur is the subject of bitachon, trust in Hashem. On Yom Kippur, what are you doing? You’re declaring all day long who is going to be the author of your happiness, only Hashem. The purpose is that you should hear what you’re saying; that everything comes only from Hashem. When Yom Kippur is over, you’re not the same man. You have changed fundamentally. You have learned the very great lesson of bitachon. There are smaller benefits. You ever think what a benefit it is to talk lashon hakodesh all day long? Every letter of the alef-beis is made for the purpose of changing our souls, the neshamos of those who talk that language. Saying the words alone, even if you’re an am ha’aretz and don’t know the meaning of the words, just saying them — the words transforms your neshamah. We come to one of the most obvious achievements of Yom Kippur: כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם — “On this day Hashem will atone for you” (Vayikra 16:30). When people hear that, they feel it means Hashem will forgive us for the wrong things we did and give us a good year. That’s not the purpose of lichaper. Lichaper means Hashem wipes you clean. We come to the most fundamental of all the things that happen on Yom Kippur. Who are you? You are the neshamah. That’s all you are, and that’s forever and ever and ever, until techiyas hameisim when you will be clothed again. Sin is a stain on the neshamah. The purpose of Gehinnom is to remove the stains. Yom Kippur is an opportunity to get rid of your stains in this life. Hashem says, “Offer your face to Me. Do teshuvah a little bit and cooperate. Don’t miss this opportunity. It’s a glorious day, Yom Kippur. And that’s why it’s a day of happiness.

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celebration of our return and settling Eretz Yisrael 

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claiming and farming our Holy Land…….

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WARNING: What’s Coming Next Is Worse Than You Think

 

The Greatest Jewish Transformation in 2,000 Years

I Was the “Dangerous Settler” Huckabee Filmed | Amishav Melet Speaks

 

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee filmed a security Ranger near Turmus Ayya and called it “dangerous settlers.” After Shabbat, the driver identified himself. That was Amishav Melet — a 35-year-old farmer and father of six from the Shiloh Valley. In this ⁨‪@channel18israel‬ interview, Amishav explains why he was in the Ranger on Shabbat, what the shepherd actually reported, and why he says the ambassador heard only one side. His position is simple: the Jewish people are returning to their land. Whoever wants peace can live here under Israeli sovereignty. Whoever wants war will meet the IDF. 0:00 Meet Amishav in the Shiloh Valley 2:18 Why he drove the Ranger on Shabbat 4:18 After Shabbat: the Huckabee video 7:09 The PA, pay-for-slay, and the army 9:38 His vision for Israel 10:40 Peace, war, or leave 13:52 Remembering his brother Benyahu 16:18 A message to America and Trump 19:23 Oslo and farming the land 22:17 Message to Turmus Ayya Filmed on location in the Shiloh Valley w/ Sam Schubert, founder of Channel 18 Subscribe for more on-the-ground reporting from Judea and Samaria. #Huckabee #JudeaAndSamaria #israel

Embedded With Hilltop Youth in Qusra | What Really Happened During the "Siege"

 

There’s a race to settle the second-highest mountaintop in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). It sits in no-man’s-land — Area B. Eight months ago, a group of bold Israeli youths took it upon themselves to settle a hilltop farm outpost there, after months of attacks from the nearby Arab town of Qusra. Just when they thought they’d won the battle, the media arrived and created one of the biggest lies of the year: that a besieged Palestinian family home was under attack. ‪@channel18israel‬ founder Sam Schubert (‪@samschub‬) was given access to the other side of the mountaintop in the middle of the media frenzy.

הרב עקיבא בן יוסף זצ"ל

 

The Tanna Rabbi Akiva zt"l

הרב עקיבא בן יוסף זצ"ל

Tishrei 9 , 3897 / Tishrei 10 , 3897

Father's Name: Yosef

(Some say 10 Tishrei)

Rabbi Akiva was born in Lod in the year 3777

His father, Yosef, a descendant of Sisera, the general of Yovin, King of Canaan, was a righteous convert (see Sanhedrin 32b and Rambam’s introduction to Mishneh Torah).

He was an ignoramus until the age of forty, when he was shepherding the flocks of the wealthy Jerusalemite Kalba Savua, whose daughter, Rochel, saw in Akiva good qualities and urged him to give up his shepherding and go to the Bais Medrash to learn Torah in return for marrying him. When Kalba Savua learned of their marriage, he disowned his daughter in anger and turned them out penniless from his home. They were so poor that they lived in a barn. One day, Eliyohu HaNovi, posing as a pauper, asked them for some straw for his wife who was about to give birth. They comforted each other that there were people even poorer than them.

The Yerushalmi (Shabbos 6:1) tells how Rochel sold her beautiful tresses so that she could support her husband’s Torah learning. He himself sold bundles of wood in the market and daily went to study the letters of the alef bais until he felt he was no longer in the category of a true ignoramus. He then realized that his own soul desired to study Torah, and that he would not learn merely at his wife’s insistence.

The Talmud Bovli, Maseches Yoma, Chapter 8 Mishna 9, reads (with my comments in parentheses):

“Rabbi Akiva said: Fortunate are you, the Jewish people! Before Whom do you purify yourself and Who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven. (They should rejoice that they are cleansed through teshuvah that is encouraged by Hashem and they are awakened to repentance by Hashem Himself), as the pasuksays, (Yechezkel 36:25), ‘I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be cleansed.’ And it also says (Yirmiya 17:13) “The mikveh (literally means Hope) of Yisrael is Hashem.” (We can understand mikveh to mean a ritual bath rather than just hope.) Just as a mikveh [ritual bath] purifies the ritually unclean, so too does Hashem purify the Jewish people.”

It says in the Gemora (Berochos 61:):

“The time to recite Keriyas Shema arrived when [the Romans] took out Rabbi Akiva to have him executed. He accepted upon himself the complete yoke of the kingship of Heaven – ol malchus shomayim sheleima. [He recited the Keriyas Shema with this full intent.] His talmidim said, ‘Rebbe, stop here already [is this really the appropriate time for such kavonos?]’ He responded to them, ‘All the days of my life I was pained because of this pasuk (Devorim 6:5): “…with all your heart and with all your soul.” I asked myself, “When will my moment arrive? When will I finally have the opportunity to fulfill it?””

The seforim teach us that Heaven forbid that such a righteous individual would have something terrible like this [execution] happen to him! Rather [what really happened was that] they executed someone else. Someone from among their own rank and file, someone who appeared to them to be the Tzaddik[Rabbi Akiva, but was actually a Roman] was mistakenly executed in his place instead. * (Noam Elimelech Chukas)

This amazing idea is found in the Sefer Emek HaMelech by Rav Naftoli Hertz Bachrach (Sha’ar Olam Ha’Tohu, Gate 68), citing the Medrash Pirkei Heicholos Rabbosi (Chapter 6), which teaches us that all the ten martyrs known collectively as asora harugei malchus were not actually physically executed at all. Rather, Hashem tricked the wicked Romans by sending malochim down to switch the captives for Romans such as Lupiyanos for Rav Chanina ben Tradyon and they made Rav Chanina’s appearance similar to his. Rav Chanina went and ruled in his place while Lupiyanos was made to look like Rav Chanina and the Romans executed their own man. And this was the same regarding all ten martyrs. Nonetheless, their willing self-sacrifice still counts, since the wicked Romans carried out their execution (even though it was on their own men) and the martyrs mentally gave up their lives.

The Emek HaMelech concludes by saying that this is the meaning of the response of Hashem to Moshe and the malochim (Menochos 29b), when they were shown Rabbi Akiva’s cruel execution and asked, “How can this be the reward for Torah?” Hashem responded, “This is what came to mind –  כך עלה במחשבה.” The Emek HaMelech explains that this is the true, literal answer; this is what Rabbi Akiva had in mind. This execution was all in his mind, a willing self-sacrifice and a mental exercise that happened in thought alone. The Tzaddikim willingly sanctified Hashem’s name. Since Hashem joins a good thought to a deed, it is considered as if they laid down their actual lives.

Jerusalem. A walk from the Yemin Moshe neighborhood to Hansen House and the Jerusalem Theatre

 

לומדי התורה הם עמודי ומקיימי העולם: ממנהיג הדור הרב לנדו במשא רוממות הכנה ליום כפור בממלכת התורה מיר

 [do not like voiceovers; read text below]

מנהיג הדור מרן ראש הישיבה הגאון רבי דב לנדו נשא ביום רביעי השבוע את המשא השנתי בהיכל ישיבת מיר בירושלים, בהשתתפות ראשי ורבני הישיבה ואלפי תלמידים ובוגרים. בדבריו עמד על חובתם של בני התורה לנצל את זמנם ללימוד בשקיעות וברציפות, ובפרט במהלך עשרת ימי תשובה. המונים צבאו על בית המדרש המרכזי של הישיבה הגדולה בישראל וגדשו את מבואות הבניין והרחובות הסמוכים. לאחר שמסר את שיעורו בהיכל הישיבה, פתח רבינו את דבריו ואמר: "ברשות ראש הישיבה והרבנים הגאונים, נדבר כמה מילים, דברים ברורים וידועים, בעניינא דיומא ובעניינא דכולא שתא". רבינו עמד על מקומם וחשיבותם של לומדי התורה בקיום העולם: "לומדי התורה הם עמודי ומקיימי העולם, והם אלו שזוכים לחיות מתוך קרבת אלוקים. ולכן חיוב גדול מאוד מוטל על לומדי התורה, בני הישיבות ואברכי הכוללים, לנצל את זמניהם לעסק התורה בשקיעות וברציפות, כיוון שכל רגע של לימוד תורה מקיים את כל הבריאה". בהתייחס לעבודת הימים הנוראים אמר כי הנושא המרכזי שבו נדרשים בני התורה לפשפש במעשיהם הוא מידת שקיעותם בלימוד: "כל אחד צריך לבחון מול עצמו אם הוא מגיע למדרגות בלימוד התורה כפי כוחותיו, או שחלילה הוא מסתפק במועט". רבינו הביא את דברי הירושלמי, "כי הוא חייכם – אימתי הוא חייכם, בזמן שאתם יגעים בו", והסביר כי משמעותם הפשוטה היא היגיעה והעמל בתורה. מרן הוסיף כי אפשר לפרש "אימתי התורה היא חייכם, כאשר הלימוד הוא מתוך קשיים ומתוך דוחק, אז הוא חייכם, הוא תמצית חייכם". "רבים רבים מאברכי הכוללים נמצאים בקשיים גדולים, מכל מיני בחינות, ובמיוחד בדוחק הפרנסה", אמר. "ועם כל זאת, שקועים בעמל לימודם בכל מורשי ליבם – הוא הוא חייכם ואורך ימיכם". בהמשך קרא מנהיג הדור לקבוע לימוד בהלכות ממון הנוגעות לחיי היום-יום, בשל ריבוי הפרטים והמכשולות בתחומים אלה. בין היתר הזכיר את דיני ריבית, שואל שלא מדעת ואיסור עושק שכר שכיר. "אולי מן הראוי לקבל לקבוע לימוד בהלכות ממון המצויות כיום, שחלילה לא ייכשלו בהם", אמר, "ישנם בהלכות ממון פרטי דינים רבים ודברים שמשתנים מעת לעת". רבינו בירך כי בזכות ההקפדה בעניינים אלה יזכו האברכים לזון ולכלכל את בני ביתם ברווח ובנקל. את משאו חתם רבינו בברכה לראש הישיבה הגאון רבי אליעזר יהודה פינקל, לראשי הישיבה ולרבניה, שיזכו להרחיב את גבולות התורה ולהעמיד תלמידים הגונים: "יהי רצון שנזכה כולנו ללמוד תורה בשלום ובשלווה, בעיון ובעמל, ונלמד תורת השם באהבה ובדבקות בו יתברך, וניחתם לחיים טובים ולכל מילי דמיטב, לאורך ימים טובים". לאחר המשא השתתף רבינו בריקוד של שמחה יחד עם ראשי ורבני ישיבת מיר.

Axial Seamount Underwater Volcano off Coast of Oregon to blow .....2026!

An underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon could now blow its top by mid-to late-2026, scientists say.

In December last year, scientists said the Axial Seamount was nearing the threshold seen before an eruption a decade earlier and could erupt within a year. Now, they predict the eruption will likely come later than previously expected, by mid-to-late 2026.

Axial Seamount is located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a divergent plate boundary off the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast. It is the most active submarine volcano in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, with known eruptions in 1998, 2011 and An underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon could now blow its top by mid-to late-2026, scientists say.

In December last year, scientists said the Axial Seamount was nearing the threshold seen before an eruption a decade earlier and could erupt within a year. Now, they predict the eruption will likely come later than previously expected, by mid-to-late 2026.
Axial Seamount is located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a divergent plate boundary off the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast. It is the most active submarine volcano in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, with known eruptions in 1998, 2011 and 2015..

More here https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/volcanos/underwater-volcano-off-oregon-coast-likely-wont-erupt-before-mid-to-late-2026