No days were as festive for Israel as Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur –Tractate Ta’anit.
What is the Mishna trying to tell us? We understand why Tu B’Av, a magical day of love, was considered a happy day. But Yom Kippur? Isn’t that supposed to be the day that we punish our bodies by fasting and reflect on the many awful things we did in the previous year? How does that promote simcha (Jewish joy)?
One of the number one things most of us will be praying for on Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, is happiness. Jewish joy (simcha) is the nectar that will enable us to have a sweet New Year.
But it’s not as easy as merely requesting happiness from G-d. We have to work hard and partner with G-d to advance spiritually. And the first step is a technique called “cheshbon hanefesh,” or “an accounting of the soul.”
Continue reading Crucial Practice for Post-Rosh HaShana Happiness
Pesach (Passover) is coming soon and we Jews are busy searching for and cleaning the chametz (leavened food that is forbidden on Pesach) from our homes. But we must not get so busy searching for the pretzels our kids stuffed behind the couch cushions that we forget to look for the chametz inside of ourselves.
What is this internal chametz? It’s all the detritus – the negative character traits, immoral desires, etc. – that impurify us and hold us back from being the best that we can be.
What is YOUR chametz?
