Baruch felt happy, full, and exhausted. He grabbed the broom and started to sweep around the dining room, slowly making his way around the table.
His father sat at the head of the table still in his kittel, saying Shir Hashirim with a niggun, a satisfied smile on his face. “Leave the pillows,” called his mother. His siblings had all gone to bed, except for his little brother Dovy, who was sleeping face-down on the gold and white tablecloth at his seat at the table. His school-made afikoman bag was tucked under his arm. Matzah crumbs slowly spilled out, falling to the floor. It had been an awesome Seder. The Haggadah, the matzah, the charoses, (he had had a bit too much maybe), the singing, the Torah – amazing. He glanced at his watch: 2:47 am. The rebbe had said it was good to stay up discussing sipur yetzias Mitzrayim as much as possible. Baruch put away the broom, mentally noting to clean around Dovy’s seat again in the morning, and took out a Chumash Shemos. He turned to Va’eira, and began to learn.
Bam! Baruch lifted his head. He had been thrown to the ground with tremendous force, causing him to hit his head. He spit out… sand? And he tasted blood. Baruch looked around him and saw sand and many pairs of bare feet. He struggled to stand, when a blow across his shoulder blades made him crumble to the ground again. A voice from behind him: “You think this is a vacation? Work, Ivri, or there’s more where that came from!” Baruch spun around and was face to face with a Mitzri. The gold headband, the Egyptian robes… was he in Mitzrayim?!
Baruch quickly caught the heavy brick that the man threw at him, and followed the crowd to a large wall under construction. He was pushed and shoved amongst a great crowd of people. They all looked so… sad. So skinny, sad, and familiar… It was very hot, Baruch realized. The sun beat down on him with zero rachmanus. Baruch placed the brick in the wall. He heard a cry. He looked to his right, startled. There was a baby being placed in the next wall over. Baruch looked away. He couldn’t watch.
Night came, and with it cooler temperatures. Baruch could not believe it. He was in Mitzrayim! The things he had seen today were hard to forget; the baby in the wall, the man who was made to sweep the dusty streets, and beaten because the streets were “still dusty.” He saw Yidden, collapsed, who seemed like they were not sure if they should stay on the ground forever or fight to survive: bloodied, beaten, swollen, and sometimes wounded by wild animals. Baruch’s heart was simply broken. He saw men sleeping amongst the tall grass in a nearby field. Baruch found an empty spot. If he was going to stay here, he might as well get some sleep.
Berikut teks yang ada di gambar tersebut:
Cleaning For Shabbos continued from page 1
which the Baal Shem Tov established the custom to recite just before Mincha on Erev Shabbos.
During Hodu, take a moment to reflect on your week: Think of every good moment you may have forgotten to attribute to Hashem and thank Him for, and express gratitude as we repeatedly say “Yodu l’Hashem chasdi, v’niflaosav livnei adom.” Recall the challenges you faced but failed to recognize as coming from Hashem, and now, retroactively, call out to Him with the repeated mention of “Vayitzaku el Hashem b’tzar lahem.”
If you can’t do it at Hodu, do it after lighting candles or after Maariv. Neshamah-cleaning is permitted on Shabbos! This special form of “Emunah Teshuvah” requires you to ask yourself two simple questions: 1) What good things happened to me this week that I forgot to credit to Hashem? 2) What challenges did I experience that I failed to recognize as being from Hashem? Go through each moment in your mind, one at a time, and speak openly to Hashem: “Hashem, I didn’t see You at that moment, but I see now that You were there then. Please help me recognize You right away the next time something like this happens.“
Start small. In a 30-second reflection, you can identify 1 or 2 incidents in your week that will jump out as moments that could use a cleaning. As you get used to this avodah, and start to feel the incredible spiritual high of coming into Shabbos with a cleansed soul, you’ll want to upgrade to a detailed deep-clean, with a more thorough reflection of every part of your week. 👑
See the story above to learn one of the ways Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk would clean up for Shabbos.
Berikut teks yang ada di gambar tersebut:
TIMELESS
CHAPTER 12
Things were spinning out of control. Baruch took a deep breath. Remember the Muncaczer passport. Remember Baruch Mordechai. Remember the Klausenberger Rebbe.
Baruch started walking back to Mr. Shpeiter’s house. He would think there. Baruch walked down the stairs in the back of the house. He looked mournfully at the crock pot. It was going to be okay. He forced a smile. Thank You. This seems really tough, but You know this is best for me. A noise startled him. He turned around, and fluttering to the ground was another note. Baruch looked across the room and saw drawers. Baruch slowly opened them, and saw… an extra pipe! Wait, he thought, this could fix the Time Machine!
He grabbed the pipe and connected the crock pot to the dangling, disconnected pipe… the crock pot bubbled back to life! But the mysteries were not solved at all. Where was Mr. Shpeiter, and who was that man, aaaand…. Was he safe? He wanted to press the button and go back in time, but with that AMELEK10 guy still at large, maybe it wasn’t safe. Baruch sighed. But wait! Under the crock pot. Another letter! Who was leaving these?
Anyway, he read: Rav Yankel Galinsky zatzal was sent to Siberia for teaching Torah. One night when he was sleeping in the prisoners’ barracks, a noise woke him up. He looked and saw a tall man in the corner. The man looked around worried, put something on his shirt and marched back and forth. Then he quickly took it off and dashed back into bed. Hmmmm…. The next morning Reb Yankel asked the man what he was doing. After assuring himself that Reb Yankel wasn’t from the KGB, the man explained. “Before I came here, I was a general in the Latvian army. They torture me here because of that and because I’m big and strong. But every night, I put on a pin from my days in the army, and I march a bit, to remind me, ‘I am not a prisoner. I am a general!'” Reb Yankel would relate this story and remark, “The yetzer hara bothers us, and tells us lots of things that are not true about who we are. We need to look at our uniform, our tzitzis or yarmulke etc. and remember, we are not his prisoners! We are generals! We. Are. Yidden!
Baruch looked down at his tzitzis. You know what he needed to do? He needed to… daven. How else would he find his way? He went to the shelf near Mr. Shpeiter’s workbench and took down a Tehillim. He was crying before he even found the chapter he wanted to say. He whispered, Hashem, please help me find the right way to go! Help me defeat AMALEK10! Help me! Help me…
Continued next week…
We need to look at our uniform and remember that we are not the yetzer hara’s prisoners!
Berikut teks yang ada di gambar tersebut:
Tzemech Tzedek
“When one helps another Yid earn 70 kopeks on the sale of a calf, the gates of the Heavenly chambers are opened before him.
Sparks of Berditchov
Society claims that to change the world requires a revolution: a momentous statement of the masses backed by tremendous power and charisma. The Berditchover teaches that it isn’t true; each of us is changing the world every single day. Our every action has a real effect, both spiritually and physically, on all of humanity, causing people all over the world to begin acting in the way we have acted.
Kotzker Rebbe
Death is but a change of circumstances, like moving homes. But a wise person sees to it that the new home is better and nicer than the old one.
Lubavitcher Rebbe
G-d created the universe in a manner in which we perceive our own existence as the intrinsic reality, and G-dliness as something novel and acquired. Our role is to achieve an entirely new level of perception, where G-dliness is the absolute reality and we are the novel creations, channels for Divine expression.
Dubno Maggid
A suitcase full of rocks is heavy. A suitcase full of diamonds is light. One who treats his challenges like diamonds, as a method to become closer to Hashem, will have an easy time carrying the burden.
Kotzker Rebbe
Why do you call out to G-d and beseech that He have mercy on Israel? Better to call out to the people that they have mercy on G-d!
Sparks of Berditchov
Whatever salvation we long for in all areas of life already exists. The way to draw these gifts from the future into the present is by maintaining perfect faith that our problems will certainly be solved. Emunah has the power to draw our salvation from the future to the present. Think good and it will be good!
(Bottom right: promotional graphic for “THE NEKUDA TOVA — PESACH COMPANION: A Practical Guide to Diving Beneath…” from TYH Torah)
The user prompt is empty, so there is no primary language established. However, I’ll provide a summary of the thinking block in English: Prepared to transcribe visual content
Berikut teks yang ada di ketiga gambar tersebut:
Baruch felt happy, full, and exhausted. He grabbed the broom and started to sweep around the dining room, slowly making his way around the table.
His father sat at the head of the table still in his kittel, saying Shir Hashirim with a niggun, a satisfied smile on his face. “Leave the pillows,” called his mother. His siblings had all gone to bed, except for his little brother Dovy, who was sleeping face-down on the gold and white tablecloth at his seat at the table. His school-made afikoman bag was tucked under his arm. Matzah crumbs slowly spilled out, falling to the floor. It had been an awesome Seder. The Haggadah, the matzah, the charoses, (he had had a bit too much maybe), the singing, the Torah – amazing. He glanced at his watch: 2:47 am. The rebbe had said it was good to stay up discussing sipur yetzias Mitzrayim as much as possible. Baruch put away the broom, mentally noting to clean around Dovy’s seat again in the morning, and took out a Chumash Shemos. He turned to Va’eira, and began to learn.
Bam! Baruch lifted his head. He had been thrown to the ground with tremendous force, causing him to hit his head. He spit out… sand? And he tasted blood. Baruch looked around him and saw sand and many pairs of bare feet. He struggled to stand, when a blow across his shoulder blades made him crumble to the ground again. A voice from behind him: “You think this is a vacation? Work, Ivri, or there’s more where that came from!” Baruch spun around and was face to face with a Mitzri. The gold headband, the Egyptian robes… was he in Mitzrayim?!
Baruch spun around and was face to face with angry face with a Mitzri. The gold headband, the Egyptian robes…was he in Mitzrayim?!
Baruch quickly caught the heavy brick that the man threw at him, and followed the crowd to a large wall under construction. He was pushed and shoved amongst a great crowd of people. They all looked so… sad. So skinny, sad, and familiar… It was very hot, Baruch realized. The sun beat down on him with zero rachmanus. Baruch placed the brick in the wall. He heard a cry. He looked to his right, startled. There was a baby being placed in the next wall over. Baruch looked away. He couldn’t watch.
Night came, and with it cooler temperatures. Baruch could not believe it. He was in Mitzrayim! The things he had seen today were hard to forget; the baby in the wall, the man who was made to sweep the dusty streets, and beaten because the streets were “still dusty.” He saw Yidden, collapsed, who seemed like they were not sure if they should stay on the ground forever or fight to survive: bloodied, beaten, swollen, and sometimes wounded by wild animals. Baruch’s heart was simply broken. He saw men sleeping amongst the tall grass in a nearby field. Baruch found an empty spot. If he was going to stay here, he might as well get some sleep.
The screams woke him up. He was the only person left in the field. Everyone else was up and probably already working. The screams were so loud! He made his way to the worksite, and the screams got louder.
A man was on the floor, sobbing. Baruch looked closer. It was a Mitzri! A Mitzri crying? But then he saw why. The man was surrounded by water bottles, and they were all full of… BLOOD! Baruch jumped. Shocking. All around him, Mitzriyim were screaming, running – thick red stains on their shirts. One Mitzri stood on a large rock. “Cowards!” He screamed. “You fell for the magic tricks of the Ivrim?! I’ll show you – it’s water!” He took a big swig of his canteen. His face turned purple, then pink, then blue. Blaaahhhh! He screamed, spitting out the blood… Then he fainted and tumbled off the rock. Baruch tried to hold back a giggle. Hashem had brought Makkas Dom!
Blood dripped from the houses, the fruits. Baruch reached down and picked up one of the bottles near the Mitzri. It immediately turned back into water! “H-h- how did you do that?” shrieked the Mitzri. “Give me that!” The Mitzri grabbed the bottle… which turned straight back into blood. The Mitzri handed it back to Baruch, shocked. When he saw it was water he looked crazed. “If you want it, you’ll have to pay,” said Baruch. “1,000 gold coins.” “That’s crazy!” yelled the man. “So no water for you then,” said Baruch. The man reluctantly handed over the money, and grabbed the water. He drank it so fast much of it spilled onto the floor. Baruch turned away, absorbing the scene of Mitzriyim crawling around, looking for water: the walls, the trees, the land covered in blood.
Just then, he felt a tug on his pocket. He turned around quickly, and saw the Mitzri who had just paid him for the water laughing heartily, with venom in his eyes. “You filthy Ivri,” he raged. “Stealing my money!” In his hands he held Dovy’s afikoman bag. How did he get that? Did he think the money was in there? I guess it was in my pocket… He slapped Baruch, hard. Laughing, he walked away, triumphant.
The next few months were interesting to say the least. Soon after Dom was over, the land still caked in dry red blood, Hashem brought Tzifardea.
Baruch laughed as he watched the Mitzriyim deal with the slippery, squishy, energetic reptiles. Shortly after Kinnim came, and the dust of the land suddenly became a pool of lice, mosquitoes, and every possible type of insect. Mitzriyim were covered head to toe – and stung and bitten relentlessly. Not even a fly bothered Baruch or any of the other Ivrim… they just hung back and watched.
Baruch had not seen the Mitzri who had stolen Dovy’s afikoman bag. He wondered what had happened to him. Dovy would be very sad when – or if – he ever got back home. Baruch looked up, and saw an ambush of tigers stalking the streets. They padded about; Mitzriyim running every which way. A pride of lions was less tame. They ran through the streets, their teeth glinting in the Egyptian sun. An elephant had broken down the walls of the neighboring house, and was enjoying a delicious Egyptian salad for lunch, with his friend the octopus who held dessert firmly in its tentacles. Monkeys swung from rooftops, bears bumbled down the street looking for a snack. Makkas Arov!
Then he saw him – the Mitzri! But wait. Was it snowing?! There was a polar bear, flanked by a pack of very angry-looking penguins running at top speed down the street Baruch was standing on. In front of him, just barely outrunning the bear, was the Mitzri who had stolen his money! “Mommmmy!!!!!!!!!!” the man blubbered. His robes were slashed, and his eyes darted every which way looking for a way out. Under the bear was… snow! Around the pack, snow swirled through the air. Baruch’s curiosity got the best of him. The polar bear slowed down, and noticing Baruch, nudged him with his nose. Baruch saw the Mitzri get away out of the corner of his eye. He caught sight of a colorful afikoman bag falling to the ground. It was Dovy’s afikoman bag! He ran and shoved it into his pocket.
He reached down and gathered a handful of snow. He packed it well into a snowball. Baruch leapt onto the bear’s back. The bear reared and charged forward into a crowd of Mitzriyim. Baruch took aim, and fired his snowball at a Mitzri hiding in a tree. It hit him square between the eyes, and knocked him straight off the branch he was on. The man screamed, “It’s Cooold!!!!!!!!!! Aaahhh!!!!” The man shooed off the snow like he was allergic. Right, thought Baruch. When had this guy ever seen snow? Giddy, Baruch quickly gathered an arsenal of snowballs, and together he, the bear and the wild waddle of penguins terrorized the neighborhood for hours. The bear eventually let him down in the field as the sun went down. He hadn’t had this much fun in years! He snuggled in for a good night’s sleep, looking forward to another great adventure tomorrow.
The sun was shining in his eyes. Baruch squinted. He looked around: 6:45 am. He was sitting at the Seder table, a Chumash Shemos at his side, open to Va’eira. Little Dovy was still sleeping, his afikoman bag still clutched tightly. Baruch smiled. Had he gone back in time or was this one his imagination? Was it all real? Hmmm. He reached into his pocket. Was that… sand?
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 31 Special Pesach.