Wednesday, March 13, 2013

What Does Bitachon Have To Do With Pesach Cleaning?

This room cleaned for Pesach door hanger

Proper Bitachon regarding mitzvah performance

The Chovos Halevavos (Duties of the Heart) teaches us that there are 3 components to doing a mitzvah:

  1. Choosing what is right
    This involves the evaluation process: what is the right thing to do?
  2. Deciding to do it
    Now that I have ascertained the correct course of action, I must choose to do it.
  3. Doing it
    This refers to physically carrying out the task.

Two out of three parts are completely in my control: I have the ability to identify what is right and to decide to do it. However, the third aspect, carrying through with the action, is not completely in my hands.

Let's take an example:

Moishy knows that he should get up to go to shul every morning for Shacharis (#1). Even though he really likes to sleep late,

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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

True Story: A Child's Bitachon

I'd like to share a heartwarming story that happened in our home not long ago . . .

(See the glossary at the bottom for definitions of Hebrew terms.)

The Yad

One of my sons has a fascination with sifrei Torah. He has two kid-sized Torahs, and we even made an Aron Kodesh to house them. He dons a tallis that he borrowed from my linen closet (otherwise known as a flat sheet), sets up a makeshift bima, and reads from the Torah. Sometimes he even calls up one of his brothers for an aliyah!

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