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CHAZAK V'AMATZ 88
Erev Lag B'Omer, 5785
Inspirational stories from this war, miracles, chessed, Shabbos stories... our spiritual growth...more!
Written & compiled by Tamar Ansh
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Hi ,
Hi ladies
This is quick because I’m leaving shortly. First to Meron – yes! – and I will have all of you in mind and all of all of us, be’H!
And then to the States, as I wrote to you last week!
So far we have incredible challah events in both Toms River and Passaic, NJ! When I’m able to I will give details.
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SO: before continuing, you’ve asked me for updated lists of the hostages…I know the lists are “old”. That’s because it is a long time already since anything has been changed!! We need to daven harder – every day stuck there is a hell unto itself for the families and the hostages!
Here's what I have. Sadly it has still not changed yet. If only we could share, by this time next week, that they are all coming home!
List of remaining hostages in English
List of remaining hostages in Hebrew
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From the tunnels of Gaza!!
I got this super inspirational video clip of Omer ShemTov, one of the more recently released hostages, on what he says he did to connect to Hashem while in captivity in the tunnels of Gaza. It is so moving, it made me tear up.
SEE IT HERE.
Even though I’m literally leaving almost this minute, I just had to share that with all of you. It was so amazing!
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🔥🔥 Lag B’Omer is a very very holy day, full of so much opportunity. Even if you cannot go anywhere, light a candle li’luiy nishmas Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai, and then daven and daven and daven for all that is in your heart and for all of Klal Yisrael to be saved.
You can make your davening even more powerful by choosing something small, especially if its in the area of upgrading something small in our tznius, is our mitzvah of being modest and holy in the eyes of Hashem. This “supercharges” your tefillos, so to speak!
Here’s more Lag B’Omer info I got from Rabbanit Yamima Mizrachi.
And you can and should read background info from Chabad.org about R’Shimon and Lag B’Omer, too. This will give a lot of context.
Segulas and davening of Lag B’Omer from Rabbanit Y. Mizrachi:
1) Light 17 candles, in relation to the numerical value of the word “Tov” (“good”). From Lag BaOmer to Shavuot, there are 17 days conducive to prayer, and it is good to pray for these days to be filled with light. It is recommended to pray for closest people to you first, people for whom you wish to be pregnant or to be married soon.
2) The Admor of Sochtshov said that it is the best day to ask to meet your soulmate, for marriage. We are also taught that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, also known as “Rashbi”, “frees the oppressed”, and no one is more oppressed than a man or a woman who longs to find his soulmate. The word “Hilula” means “marriage”, and Rashbi himself married on the day of Lag BaOmer. It is good to ask the Master of the world for success concerning our children’s marriages.
3) We must pray for Torah learning. Pri Tzadik writes that every year when Lag BaOmer arrives, man can be granted with the merit of reaching high spiritual levels, thus enabling him to a better understanding of the words of the Torah.
4) We will pray for good housing. No man moved as much as Rashbi did. He lived in Yavneh, then he lived in Usha, after that in Tekoa, and in Bnei Brak; he hid in study halls, and he also hid in a cave. Upon praying for housing, make the following request: “Hashem, I would like a big house with many entrances, a parking lot, a garden and a splendid view of the landscape.” Hashem turns to Rashbi, who answers: “I know what instability means for a person who has to move from house to house. Give him a comfortable house.”
5) It's a great day to ask for children and numerous descendants. The Segula consists in buying a bow and an arrow, as it is written: “Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of one's youth.”
6) There is a widespread Segula with miraculous results, surprising though it may seem: it consists in sending 18 rotels of beverage to Meron (1 rotel equals 3 liters) and take it upon yourself that once your prayers fulfilled, you will send 18 rotels again. It represents the amount of 54 liters of drinks (water, orange juice...). You can either send the corresponding sum of money or send the bottles, that will be distributed to all participants at the Hillula.
** MY NOTE: This is known as "Chai Rotel". You can look online as many known tzeddakah organisations offer this service -- look for one that you know and trust. If I had direct info I would give it here, but I do not this time.
And since I will not be here, I can't answer personal questions this time... :(
Back to Rabbanit Mizrachi:
“I have a neighbor who sent some bottles every year (but not 54). 12 years went by, and she gave birth to a child she named Yochai, 6 years later, she had another child sue named Shimon, and two years later, she gave birth to a girl she named Hod (splendor), because the day of Lag BaOmer is, according to the Zohar, the day of splendor.”
What is the meaning of this Segula? When a person in Meron is thirsty, then opens your bottle and drinks, at the very second he drinks, Rabbi Shimon blesses you with the Bracha he composed himself, the Birkat HaOreach (the blessing of the host): “May the Merciful One bless this table on which we have eaten, and may He grant it all the sweets of the world and may it be like the table of Avraham Avinu (...) and may he lack nothing forever. Let him always be happy in riches and honor forever. May he not be ashamed in this world and may he not be disgraced in the future world...”
When you send drinks to Meron, you invite and give to drink to a man who, in the heat, needs urgently to drink. What a relief it brings! Hospitality has the strength to bring about the resurrection of the dead.
At the time of her son's death, the mother of the Prophet Habakkuk, a respectful woman of Shunem, addressed the Prophet, “I beg you, revive my child,” she pleaded. And she offered him something to drink. The drink she gave to Elisha before he restored the child to live, was the means by which the miracle materialized.
7) Very important: sustenance. Rashbi is the Tzadik who is responsible for Parnassa in heaven. The manna descended to Bnei Israel in the desert for the first time at Lag BaOmer. It has in it the combined strengths of the month of Iyar and of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
What should we ask for? That blessing may lie in any little thing Hashem grants us. Have you ever experienced this situation, when you come out of a department store with a 500-shekel expense and with a dress that you will never ever wear in your life? And besides that, you come out of the Ramla market with a 200-shekel expense, with lots of things you will wear all your life. Sometimes, an enormous blessing hides in “the little”. Rashbi only fed on locust beans and water, but he is responsible for Parnassa.
8) Read 7 times chapter 67 of Tehilim. This is the psalm of splendor and thanks to Hashem. This chapter expresses the greatest gratitude to Hashem.
9) It is forbidden to be sad on the day of Lag BaOmer. Lag BaOmer is always on the same day of the week as Purim. It is a day of joy where everything is reversed. A day when rigor changes into mercy.
10) Pray for a correct and balanced education of your children – for being parents who know how to guide and not just dominate.
May we deserve all these blessings by the merit of our Master, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and may his merit protect us. Amen.
My note: you can also put some coins in tzeddakah liluy nishmas the tzaddik.
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