by Yedidah on August 25, 2016
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When we look back on our lives, we find many things we wish we had done differently. Yet ultimately everything that transpired did so according to the will of God. So what do we need to say sorry for?
This question was asked by the great Kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag. He considers a saying of the Sages of the Talmud,
” The evil inclination would prevail over a person every day and if God does not help him he does not manage to overcome it. “
This would seem to suggest that we are not to blame for our sins. In which case what is the real sin?
In this article, Rabbi Ashlag looks at the source of our mistakes, and shows us that the real sin lies in our not asking for help from the Creator to deal with them. We need to believe that not only God wants to help us , but that He really can!
This podcast is dedicated for a Refuah Shlemah to my mother Chaya bat Sara Leah.
From Sefer Hama’amarim of Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag ( article 4 תשמ”ח)
by Yedidah on January 3, 2016
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:56 — 14.7MB)
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“Then Yehudah drew near to him, (Yoseph) and said: ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I pray you, speak a word in my lord’s ears,'” (Genesis 44:18)
It is with these words that one of the most moving and dramatic episodes of the Torah opens. “And Yehudah drew near to him”; the Zohar teaches,”in prayer”.
There are many sad and broken people in the world, but it does not come to all of them to pray. Why not? When a person’s heart wakes up to pray it is because the Divine is calling him. This is the greatness of HaShem, who is calling to us, “Come close to Me, come and pray.”
We may feel that the impulse to pray is coming from within ourselves, but this is not the case. It is HaShem, the Creator of the world, who calls to us, as a father calls to his beloved child, to turn to the One in prayer, and this is a redemption in itself.
Podcast inspired from the Zohar and the work Bircat Shalom, articles by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag
With grateful thanks to Mordecai (Yoel) Shoot whose questions sparked this study.
