Parnassah

 

Duties of the Heart says that your parnassah isn't dependent on a particular means. "One should not think that his livelihood depends on a particular means and that if these means fail, his livelihood will not come from a different means. Rather, trust in the Al-mighty, and know that all means are equal for Him." You will get what is decreed for you. You should choose for your parnassah a field that interests you. "One who finds his nature and personality attracted to a certain occupation, and his body is suited for it, that he will be able to bear its demands - he should pursue it, and make it his means of earning a livelihood." 

Thus, aiming for a high paying field is not proper if you will not enjoy that field. It will not bring you any more money. Often, those who live the contemporary mantra of the world standing on Gemara, Gelt, and Guilt can't imagine doing anything but studying Gemara lomdus. Then they can't imagine the purpose  -- for  those who "must work" as they say -- of doing anything but the most lucrative business because one needs money to support Torah and one word of Torah, blah, blah, blah. All the nuances of life are lost in this dogma. It is not the proper way to approach things. Going for the money against your nature is the same as seeing your occupation rather than Hashem as the source of the money. "If one's livelihood comes through one of the means he worked on, it is proper for him not to trust in this source, rejoice in it, intensify in it, and turn his heart to it, because this will weaken his trust in the Al-mighty."

Working in the wrong profession can destroy a person's mind. Likewise, abandoning your dreams can destroy your psyche. The Rambam said, "Seeing that the maintenance of the body in a healthy and sound condition is a God-chosen way, for, lo, it is impossible that one should understand or know aught of the divine knowledge concerning the Creator when he is sick, it is necessary for man to distance himself from things which destroy the body, and accustom himself in things which are healthful and life-imparting." (Hilchos Deos 4:1) If you destroy your mind,  you also will not be able to engage in spiritual pursuits.

All those who give eitzah, all those rabbis who tell people how to live, keep this in mind. Get to know the person who comes to you. What makes him tick? What is his nature? You don't have to divine it. Ask him and usually he'll you. If your practice is always to deliver the bad news, always to say no, always to say no you can't do it, you can't go there, if you deem your job to be Mr. Din, if like the old Marx Brothers song line "whatever it is I'm against it." know that you are going to ruin people. The result will not be more Torah study but less. 

 

kedushah in Eretz Yisroel

"Someone once told Rav Sternbuch that before he came to live in Eretz Yisroel, he went to ask

the Rogatchover Gaon, Rav Yosef Rosen, for a brocho. The Rogatchover told him: “The sanctity of

Eretz Yisroel is eternal, but its intensity is not identical in all periods. When people observe the

Torah in Eretz Yisroel, its sanctity is great, but when sinners reside there, they desecrate its sanctity.

When the Zionists started coming to Eretz Yisroel, they damaged its sanctity to a great extent. But on

the other hand, those who learn Torah with kedushah in Eretz Yisroel and keep the mitzvos there

sanctify the country, and happy is their lot. Make sure to be part of those who sanctify Eretz Yisroel,

and do not defile it, chas vesholom.”'

פ' בהר תשפ"ב

Based on droshos by Maran HaGaon Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita, raavad of Yerushalayim. To

receive these weekly divrei Torah email benipray@netvision.net.il.

Quotes by Thomas Sowell, Wow

 

Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.

 

"People say 'you’re a very tough person.' I’m not tough. Life is tough. I’m merely trying to acquaint you with those facts."

 

There are no solutions. There are tradeoffs.

 

It is easy to give up freedom and hard to get it back.

 

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

 

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.

 

The left is not necessarily aiming at totalitarianism. But their know-it-all mindset leads repeatedly and pervasively in that direction, even if by small steps, each of which might be called "micro-totalitarianism."

 

People are never more sincere than when they assume their own moral superiority.

 

It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything, without having to bother to deal with facts or logic.

 

The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant criticisms, can feel both intellectually and morally superior

 

Historians of the future will have a hard time figuring out how so many organized groups of strident jackasses succeeded in leading us around by the nose and morally intimidating the majority into silence.

 

Inflation is in effect a hidden tax. The money that people have saved is robbed of part of its purchasing power, which is quietly transferred to the government that issues new money.

 

One of the bittersweet things about growing old is realizing how mistaken you were when you were young. As a young political leftist, I saw the left as the voice of the common man. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

There have always been ignorant people, but they haven't always had college degrees to make them unaware of their ignorance. Some people imagine that they are well informed because they have memorized a whole galaxy of trendy dogmas and fashionable attitudes.

 

Politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like the national interest.

 

Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has if you count the tail as a leg. When they answered “five,” Lincoln told them that the answer was four. The fact that you called the tail a leg did not make it a leg.

 

Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important.

 

The totalitarian mindset behind the liberal vision shows through in innumerable ways. There are no institutions in America where free speech is more severely restricted than in our politically correct colleges and universities, dominated by liberals.

 

Anyone who studies the history of ideas should notice how much more often people on the political left, more so than others, denigrate and demonize those who disagree with them — instead of answering their arguments.

 

Life does not ask us what we want. It presents us with options. Economics is one of the ways of trying to make the most of those options.

 

“Parents who send their children to school with instructions to respect and obey their teachers may be surprised to discover how often these children are sent back home conditioned to disrespect and disobey their parents”

 

When Hillary Clinton said, “It takes a village to raise a child,” someone said it takes a village idiot to believe that.

 

Envy was once considered to be one of the seven deadly sins before it became one of the most admired virtues under its new name, "social justice."

 

I cannot understand people who say that minorities should be represented everywhere and yet are upset when there are blacks represented in the conservative movement.

 

Jessie Jackson is not good for blacks, he’s good for himself. And that’s true of most ethnic leaders in most groups in most countries in most periods throughout history.

 

One of the most pathetic—and dangerous—signs of our times is the growing number of individuals and groups who believe that no one can possibly disagree with them for any honest reason. 

Jews oppose abortion

"Rabbinical opinion on the issue of abortion in Judaism includes that of the supreme halakhic authority in modern times, Rav Moshe Feinstein, who stated, “Not only are Jews prohibited from having an abortion, but they are prohibited from assisting non-Jews from having an abortion, too. According to halacha, abortion is prohibited for non-Jews; it’s actually a capital crime. A Jewish doctor may not perform an abortion even if it would result in antipathy towards Jews.” (Igros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat 2:73:8). In responsum 69, Rav Moshe not only categorizes abortion as bloodshed; he unequivocally warns against relying on an erroneous heter (decision) for aborting babies with physical abnormalities."

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/184580/20210721170924501_41204%20pdf%20Parker.pdf

Concern for Gentiles

 "There are religiously committed Jews who are indifferent to the concerns of the larger non-Jewish society. They are content to reside in isolated communities with unconcern, if not actual disdain, for the Gentile world and for the problems which afflict humanity. This introversion can be explained as a reaction to the centuries-old derision and persecution which have been the Jewish historical experience and to which they were subjected with particular ferocity in modern times. Nowadays, there are particular aspects of moral perversion afflicting the general society which are repellent to Jewish sensibilities. Nevertheless, this insularity cannot be vindicated as authentic Judaism even if it can be understood and justified in particular historical periods and situations."

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Man of Faith in the Modern World, p. 73.