Emuna

Imagine that a stranger knocks on your front door. You look through the peephole to see who it is, and before you know – without your permission – he walks right through the door as if it were thin air. Right away you understand that this is no human. It's an angel. He identifies himself: the head debt-collection angel from the Heavenly bank and he looks serious. Here's how to avoid situations like this... 

Imagine that 40 Nakba special-ops Hamas terrorists are occupying your home. You are locked in the house bomb-shelter and they know it. Explosions, screaming, shouting in Arabic, a raging battle outside - and you are living this nightmare. Hear the first-hand story of Racheli Fricker, who miraculously survived the Be'eri massacre of Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023. See how the merit of charity, Sabbath observance and building the synagogue at Be'eri all stood as a protective force for Racheli and her family.

Emuna is not at all blind faith. It's about actively choosing to trust in God and rely on Him, even when things don't make sense. It's like having a friend who always has your back, no matter what. So, next time you're feeling lost or overwhelmed, let emuna be your guide. It's your GPS...

Don't let society tell you that the important things in life are the curves in your figure or your six-pack abs. Health is important, but a healthy body is not everything. Most horses are much healthier than we are and stronger too. So what makes us any better than a horse?

In the face of peril, King David yearns to be constantly closer to Hashem. He delights in the thought of the Holy Temple and foresees the future of his offspring. He sees that his descendent, the Prophet Daniel, will be facing identical dangers that he faced. King David not only prays for Daniel, but for each of us as well.

Did you ever stop and ponder Hashem's magnificent creation of Planet Earth, with all its wonders like the Northern Lights, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and much more? That vast Planet Earth of ours is only a miniscule part of the solar system, and only one-millionth the size of the sun. Yet, our entire solar system is like a grain of sand within the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn is like a fleck of dust within the vast super-galaxies that extend beyond our imagination. Now stop and think: Hashem momentarily turns aside from His entire vast universe to create a rain drop, make a flower blossom and help a newborn chick hatch out of the egg. Imagine what He does to perfectly direct every tiny facet of our lives in mind-boggling Divine Providence. Why? Because He loves you so very much, more than you can ever imagine.

King David suffered unspeakable emotional and physical hardships. These included imminent death in captivity on more occasions than one. Prophetically, he felt our pain and wrote these Psalms for us too.

Sometimes our troubles are so tormenting that we'd be happy to sprout wings like a dove and just fly away to a place of peace. King David felt exactly like that when he had no rest from enemies, both foreign and domestic. Prophetically, he felt our pain and wrote these Psalms for us too.

The closest distance between two points is a straight line. In spirituality, straightness means simplicity and honest innocence. The two traits, which are really one, makes a person beautiful. They also create the closest distance between the person and the Creator.

Confessing one's wrongdoings to the Almighty does more than merely cleansing one's soul. It rejuvenates the spirit. A rejuvenated spirit is a healthy spirit, and a healthy spirit is a happy spirit.

The 210 years of exile and 116 years of slavery in Egypt ended with on the eve of the 15th of Nissan, 2448 in the Hebrew calendar. This was the year 1312 BCE. Hashem gave a most difficult command to the Israelites. Each family had to slaughter a lamb, which the Egyptians held sacred as their prime deity. This was an act of total dedication to the Almighty, where emuna had to prevail over logic and fear. Such dedication triggered the final exodus from Egypt, in a remarkable chain of events that we learn in todays lesson.

When Moses relayed Hashem's message of "Let My people go" to Pharaoh, the Egyptian monarch snarled back, "Who is Hashem that I should listen to Him? Besides, I've never heard of Hashem before" (Exodus 5:2). With such unprecedented insolence, Pharaoh was begging for punishment. The punishment came quickly. There were ten different plagues. Each one was a precise measure-for-measure response to the suffering that Pharaoh and the Egyptians meted out to the Israelites, as we see in today's lesson.