My first entry
This is pretty cool I guess. Now I have a livejournal. I chose LiveJournal even though I already had a blog account in Blogspot bc Adina told me to.
Anyway, as part of my first blog I want to share the idea I heard tonight from R' Chaim Markus. He was talking about the special time of the year that we are in now, the weeks of Shovavim. [Shovavim is an acronym for the Parshios of the weeks leading up to Purim (Shmos, Va'era, Bo, B'shalach, Yisro, Mishpatim) and act as an "Aseres Yemai Tshuva" of sorts for Purim, which itself shares alot of its inherent qualities with Yom Kippur (one common drash is that of Yom Kippur = Yom K'Purim).]
When the Hebrew leap year occurs and we add an extra month of Adar the Shovavim weeks are extended by two weeks Tat (Truma & Tetzaveh). These 2 weeks add an even more powerful element of tshuva (representing the mida of yesod), than the previous 6.
R' Markus suggested a seemingly simple solution for enhancing our everyday lives.
There's an idea brought in the Talmud that everyday one should say 100 brachos. If we took our brachos seriously, and spent a matter of seconds longer, concentrating on the words we are saying it would greatly change our outlook on life. The extra minutes each day we would spend in ahavas Hashem, everytime we proclaim our G-d, Blessed . . . Master of the Universe, it would influence the rest of our day. If we allow ourselves to be affected, it will be very productive, especially in this critical time of Tshuva.
I know I'm going to try it, and I challenge y'all to try it as well. Let me know how it goes.
Anyway, as part of my first blog I want to share the idea I heard tonight from R' Chaim Markus. He was talking about the special time of the year that we are in now, the weeks of Shovavim. [Shovavim is an acronym for the Parshios of the weeks leading up to Purim (Shmos, Va'era, Bo, B'shalach, Yisro, Mishpatim) and act as an "Aseres Yemai Tshuva" of sorts for Purim, which itself shares alot of its inherent qualities with Yom Kippur (one common drash is that of Yom Kippur = Yom K'Purim).]
When the Hebrew leap year occurs and we add an extra month of Adar the Shovavim weeks are extended by two weeks Tat (Truma & Tetzaveh). These 2 weeks add an even more powerful element of tshuva (representing the mida of yesod), than the previous 6.
R' Markus suggested a seemingly simple solution for enhancing our everyday lives.
There's an idea brought in the Talmud that everyday one should say 100 brachos. If we took our brachos seriously, and spent a matter of seconds longer, concentrating on the words we are saying it would greatly change our outlook on life. The extra minutes each day we would spend in ahavas Hashem, everytime we proclaim our G-d, Blessed . . . Master of the Universe, it would influence the rest of our day. If we allow ourselves to be affected, it will be very productive, especially in this critical time of Tshuva.
I know I'm going to try it, and I challenge y'all to try it as well. Let me know how it goes.