Rav Tzadok HaKohen wrote in his sefer, Tzidkat Hatzadik, just like a person has to have emunah in Hashem, he also has to have emunah in himself. Hashem gave every single one of us a נשמה טהורה , a pure soul, a piece of Himself that is eternal, and thus we have endless potential. The Chafetz Chaim once said about himself, he wanted to change the wor…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Teshuvah, tefila, and tzedaka are able to take away any harsh decrees. This time of year is the greatest for tefillah. As well, any kind of teshuvah is accepted at this time. And we have to go out of our way to give extra tzedaka. When someone is approached for money or some other type of request, the person may feel like he is being bothered again…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

At this time, we are supposed to feel that our judgment is pending, and it is in our hands to get the best of everything. We need to utilize these days of Aseret Yemei Teshuva , to accept upon ourselves to become better, to make teshuva for what we have done wrong in the past, and to pray with all of our heart and soul. If there is anything we want…

If we look around, we will notice that many people – perhaps most people – are unhappy. There are people who have fulfilled many of their dreams. They got married, had children, bought a house, built a career or a business, but are disappointed and dissatisfied. The reason – or one of the reasons – for this is that many people look for happiness in…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

All of the money that will come into a person's possession this year was determined on Rosh Hashanah. This does not only apply to the money a person will earn from his job, it includes every last penny from every possible source, both expected and unexpected. At this time, the judgment is still pending and can be changed for the better. Many people…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

והחזירנו בתשובה שלמה לפניך . The mitzvah at hand is teshuvah . Some people have done things that they wish they could be forgiven for, but they don't even know how to start the process. The damage has been done, and teshuvah seems very far away. But the Torah tells us otherwise, לא בשמים היא...כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו . Teshuvah is …

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Living Emunah 2649 Yom Kippur: It's Not Hopeless The pasuk says, דרשו ה' בהימצאו, קראוהו בהיותו קרוב . We are to take advantage of the times that Hashem is closest to us. And right now, on Erev Yom Kippur, He is extremely close. We need to utilize this time to make teshuva and accept upon ourselves to improve our ways. There are people who want to …

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Every year on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem reveals His kingship when He judges each person and determines his fate for the upcoming year. The Gemara says, אמר רבי יצחק: כל שנה שרשה בתחילתה מתעשרת בסופה - Any year when a person feels humbled like a beggar at the beginning of the year, it brings about blessing for the upcoming year. We are supposed to feel …

One year on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, my son turned to me and said, "These simanim , the special foods we eat on Rosh Hashanah, are horrible! "Don't we want to have a good year, a happy year? So why are we eating this terrible stuff????" "Moshe," I said, "you have to understand – we're eating these things in order to destroy our enemies!" …

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

There are many lessons that our Rabbis learn from the case of the בן סורר ומורה -the rebellious wicked son, which apply to Rosh Hashanah. One of them is that Hashem judges a person based on the direction that he's headed in more than on what he has done in the past year. Another one is that the בן סורר ומורה can only be sentenced to his harsh punis…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

There's a well-known saying found in many of the sifreh Acharonim , אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון , which literally means nothing can stand in the way of a person's will. Rabbi Menashe Reizman cautioned that misinterpreting this statement can lead to giving people false hope and letdowns. On the surface, this statement seems to be saying that if a person…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Chazal tell us that the malachim ask HaKadosh Baruch Hu why the Jewish people don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. The Chatam Sofer in his Derashot asked, why would the angels think that we should say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. On Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, we are celebrating the miracles that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Mitzrayim and gav…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

A quick review of the text of the Rosh Hashanah prayers shows us that the theme of this day is מלכות – Hashem's kingship over the world. This is the day when we crown Hashem as King over the universe, and we reaffirm our loyalty to Him as His subjects. Another theme that features prominently on Rosh Hashanah is עקידת יצחק – the story of Avraham Avi…

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe Sometimes a person cries out to Hashem night and day for help. He doesn't only ask during the tefila times, he asks multiple times throughout the day at every chance he gets. He cries, he begs, he tells Hashem how good he's going to be if H…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe A man told that from the moment his baby came home after his Brit Milah, he wouldn't stop crying. Nothing could calm him down. He would eat, doze, and immediately wake up crying again. It was obvious that something was hurting him, but nobo…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe At this time of year, we're trying to find the most favor in Hashem's eyes. We want to know what steps we could take to accomplish this. The pasuk says, ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני ה' אלוקיך . There's a mitzvah to go beyond the letter of the law…

A Daily Gemara podcast, brought to you by Daily Gemaraبقلم Rabbi Eli J. Mansour