50. A Tiny Bit of Sweetness

How many times do we stop and wonder if our actions are really making enough of a difference?

We work so hard, invest SO much time and energy, and sacrifice so many of our comforts, yet we don't always see how it's really all worth it! 

We are each working tirelessly in our own little corner of the world but we don't always see the major payoffs and effects of our labor, and we can sometimes feel discouraged.

The other day someone sent me an amazing message about bees and how much honey they make in their whole lifetime.

You can google it and see for yourself that it takes 12 bees to make just one little teaspoon of honey! 

So what would happen if the bee would think to himself, "This is crazy! A whole life of labor and all I can show for it is a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey?!"

"In just one moment a Jew can come and dip his apple in my honey and there goes all my life work?!"

"Forget it, I'm discouraged, Let me instead just sit back and enjoy life. I quit!"

Word would get out to all the bee Whatsapp groups, and soon there would be no more honey in the world!

Just like the bees, our life work is to each add a tiny bit of sweetness to the world around us. 

And even if it would take a whole life time just to add one drop of sweetness to one Jewish soul- it would all be worth it! 

Like the Baal Shem Tov said, "for 70, 80 years, a Neshama wears and tears, just to do a favor for another!"

And the bees come to tell us that even if all our life work only serves to bring Moshiach a tiny bit sooner, making the world sweet for just a few extra moments, it is still worth all the sweat and toil!

And the good news is, that in our case, that extra moment of sweetness we contribute, will serve not only one person, but every single soul in the entire world!

Our honey will be spread out and multiplied throughout all of creation, to millions of souls, billions of people, our dear Rebbe, and the Shechina herself!

The entire universe will be grateful for that one extra minute of a completely pain free, sweet existence.

And more importantly, just like the bees, our integral contribution will add up together with everyone else's life work to create MILLIONS of extra doses of sweetness- not only in quantity but also in quality, since the level of pleasure of the future world is completely dependent on our deeds now!

So thanks to our efforts, Moshiach will come a whole _lot_ sooner, and His times will be a whole _lot_ sweeter, and together we will celebrate the global sweetening of the entire world - before this Rosh Hashana, and forever!

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה

49. Time to go Home

There is a special energy that we feel on Selichos night.

It suddenly hits us that the year is almost over.
That we're about to start the cycle over yet again.

How did time fly so quickly?!

There is an excitement about the new year and new opportunities to come, but also a wonder, of where has this past year gone?

We have accomplished so much good!
Yet we still haven't reached our ultimate goal!

But there's still a few days left to make it happen _this_ year.
And now is the easiest time because the King is in the Field.

True, we are way too busy with all our work "in the field" to think about its ultimate purpose - "the King".
But if there's ever a time it's possible, it's now!
Because He's here, really close to us, so we don't need to search anywhere too far!
All we have to do is stop what we're doing, no matter how busy it is, and notice the King standing right near us, waiting for our attention.

Thank Gd, mostly,
our work is all just for Him!
And we love all we're doing!
And we're grateful for the opportunity to plant and sow and watch things grow!

We have the most wonderful job in the world!
And the King gets great pleasure from it all.

But He doesn't just want us to keep working like this forever!

Every job must have an end!
Every journey must have a destination!
Every race must have a finish line!

It's time to tell the King,
That we're ready to let go,
ready to put down the shovel,
ready to see Him in His full glory,
ready to receive our full payment-
for thousands of years of labor,
ready to enjoy the delicious fruits -
of all we've planted all these years!

Because we've grown enough to last us forever!

It's time to just stop and gather it in,
It's time to go home to His Palace, with Him
It's time to rejoice together as one
As we watch the field itself become
A peaceful extension of his Royal Palace.

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה

48. Soldiers

Today is the anniversary of the founding of Tomchei Temimim, which we are told was established for a clear and specific goal:

To hasten the coming of Moshiach. 

To produce strong soldiers who will form the army of Moshiach.

Who will fight those who shame the "footsteps" of Moshiach. 

Those who can never be called "enemies of HaShem", because they spend all their time learning Torah and doing Mitzvos. 

Perhaps even teaching others to do the same. 

But those who can't handle hearing that Moshiach is near. 

Don't like to announce that "He's almost here."

Those who believe in HaShem with complete heart and soul. 

Yet believe in Moshiach with only half, if at all.

To produce strong soldiers who will go out with love and peace.

Yet fight for Moshiach with full confidence, no fear of what will be.

Who will face those who mock, those who shame, those who doubt, 

Who will embrace them each with love,

Yet with a faith so fiery 

That it will melt the cold and apathy.

And warm anyone in its way.

But today *every* Jew is being called upon to serve,

Not only students, but every father and mother.

Because Moshiach is counting on each of us to fight.

It's only through us, that He can light up this night.

And even if we think we're not strong enough ourselves. 

Even if we have our own doubts, and no time.

Even if we feel we don't know how to win.

Even if we recognize the enemy, within.  

Because the greatest battle lies inside our own hearts.

Because the greatest battle starts, and ends inside our minds. 

Because once we conquer ourselves, we can conquer the world. 

Because Moshiach is counting on us to win His war.

We can't leave the job to anyone else,

Because each of us was given all of the strength. 

And even if we fell, we can rise up once more

Until the job is done, we can't just ignore

If not me, then who? 

If not now, then when?

It's time to enter the Land of Israel, 

Again!

47. The Only Candidate

Yesterday, just a day after we read about the importance of Jewish leadership, the whole world watched the literal collapse of American leadership!
The top nominee for president proved how unfit she is to lead the country.

And unfortunately, she's not the only one who is unfit to be in a position of leadership!
Over the past years we have seen the collapse of tens of governments around the world! And those who took them over are no less corrupt.

For generations we've been praying  for the return of our judges and advisors, three times every day.
But never before has there been such an obvious and desperate global need for a true leader!

Someone who all nations can truly look up to, admire, and aspire to follow.

Today, we are living the Talmudic prophecy that in the days before Moshiach's coming, "The face (i.e., the leadership) of the generation will have the face of a dog.”

But we are not afraid of what will be.
Because we know that there is a perfect leader who is ready and waiting to lead the whole world to complete peace and goodness!

All we need to do is vote him in!

And the good news is that we don't need to wait until Tuesday, November 8, to vote for this One and Only worthy candidate!
We can choose to elect Him at any time...

So what are we waiting for?

Let's crown Him, TODAY!

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה

46. Lights and Vessels

Don't know where I was in elementary school, but I just got my first lesson in how electricity works.
I recently ordered a Dessert Bullet because it looked really cool and was also quite cheap! I counted down for it to arrive to NY and then to Moscow, and when it finally did, I excitedly took my simple adapter that I use for little things around the house, and plugged it in.
I pressed the button once and heard a noise- it works!

So I quickly put in my frozen fruits and flavors and pushed again..
But this time nothing!
The fuse blew and I realized that my new dessertbullet was fried. Gone.

It took me a while to understand what that means, but my dear uncle patiently explained to me that just using a different plug didn't change anything.
I needed to use a large converter, that actually transforms the voltage.
I was taking an American device that can only accept 120 volts and giving it a powerful European 240!
That's way too much light for it to handle, and so it naturally just burst!
Or in other words-
Too many "oros" for the "keilim" = shviras hakeilim.
No going back.

If I would want to prevent that, I'd need to use a converter which would transform and condense the light in a way that it can now fit in the small vessel.

I finally got what the Rebbe meant when He said that we need to spread the message of Moshiach in a way of "great lights", but that can fit in "small vessels".

That when we're talking about lighter subjects, it's possible to use just a simple adapter, and the message is accepted.
But with such a powerful topic like Moshiach, just translating the message to another language doesn't help.
On the contrary, it can even turn the person "off" and make it really hard for them to accept the idea later, no matter how it's given!
To prevent that, we need to take the full original message, but then really transform it, convert it, and cater it to the specific audience in front of us, so that it can be fully received, appreciated, and enjoyed!

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה

45. To be Desperately Desired

This morning I called a girl from our community to wish her Mazel tov and best wishes on her wedding day. 

Her wedding is in Florence tonight, but I wanted her to know that while I'm physically in Moscow, my heart and soul are fully with her! 

But as she spoke, I could hear how much she missed me and wished I was there with her! How upset she was that I didn't make it, what a difficult day it is for her, and how much she needed me to be by her side. 

My eyes welled up with tears as she told me about her 4 hour drive back and forth to Mikvah, how tired she was, and about all her emotions and concerns.

Immediately, I forgot any previous calculations of why I decided not to go, and within 5 minutes I had booked a ticket with a travel agent, packed my hand luggage, had my baby bundled, and had a car on the way to drive me to the air train.

A minute later though, we realized we had a problem. Our passports are at the embassy now and there was no way I could fly.

I understood it's Hashgacha protis and that I wasn't meant to go, but in that same moment, I realized something else. 

What changed from when I got the original invitation until now? 

Why didn't I let her book us tickets right away, and plan for the trip normally? 

Why did I suddenly feel such regret and intense desire to be there with her, when I knew about her wedding all along?

Because until that moment, I didn't realize how much she _really_ wanted and needed me to be there! That although she had other important guests, it was important to her for me to be there too.

I didn't realize that it wasn't just words or a nice invitation, but that it really made a difference.

And I realized what it would mean to Hashem if He saw that _our_ request for Moshiach wasn't just words or a nice invitation. 

What would happen if He saw that we _really_ wanted and needed Moshiach, that we _really_ cared, that it _really_ made a difference to us, today.

What He would do if He saw that we're not just understanding or forgiving of the delay, and that we can't just casually move on to Plan B..

There's no question that in that moment, He will instantly drop all calculations!

He will just stop, drop, and do everything in His power to reveal Himself with the complete Geulah now!

And with Hashem, nothing in the world could ever get in the way of making it reality!

His desire to fulfill our desire will materialize immediately! 

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה

44. "They" are Never the Problem!

To be honest, Moshiach is a really hard and uncomfortable topic to talk about, especially to people who are not yet frum! 

It's easy to talk about ideas like goodness and kindness and making the world a better place. 

It's easy to talk about our tradition, our history, and about concern for our strong Jewish future..

It's also relatively easy these days to talk about the beauty and meaning of most of the Mitzvos, and to discuss most fundamental deep concepts of Torah..

It all seems to be received with so much respect and appreciation. 

But as soon as we say the word Moshiach, there seems to be a kind of block. A feeling that people can't relate or take us seriously. A feeling that not only are we talking about something "religious", but that we're talking about some fantasy, some unrealistic dream. 

And it's understandable.

Besides that it's something none of us have ever seen or experienced, it's something that the last generation has already been disillusioned by.

The communist concept of "utopia" failed them terribly and people don't want to hear or believe anything that sounds similar..

But today's hayom yom reminds us that "they" are never the problem!

Because every Jew truly does believe and know it deep inside their heart! 

The fact that we don't see it is only a reflection of ourselves, and of our own desire and power to reveal what's hidden. 

If it's not easy for us to uncover another's faith in Moshiach, it only means that we need to look deeper into our own hearts and strengthen our own faith.

Because once we find our own inner confidence, we'll naturally be able to reach deeper into the depths of our fellow Jew, and uncover the spark of Moshiach hidden within them. 

לע״נ ר׳ מנחם מאיר בן ר׳ חיים משה יהודה הכהן ע״ה