Today's 8-minute podcast is a 4-in-1:

1. It's a preparation for Succoth, telling about the significance of the Four Species;

2. It tells a traditional story, well known to Iraqi Jewry;

3. It's an ethics lesson, and -

4. It has a special message about rescinding the harsh decree of the Corona-virus pandemic.

Enjoy it, and feel free to share and download it at no charge, thanks to our wonderful supporters.

"If we knew that a rare gift was concealed within our difficulties, we could laugh; but with emuna, we start laughing even before we discover the gift." 

Shavua Tov! An old parable about a donkey in trouble gives us a different perspective on life's difficulties. Here's two-and-a-half minutes of encouragement:

Thanks to our wonderful supporters, you can download this mp3 here, free of charge, share it and listen to it on whatever platform you desire.

Here's a delightful Jewish parable that gives us wonderful advice in making the best out of the new month of Elul and preparing for Rosh Hashanah:

Here's an Emuna-Beams rendition of an old Jewish parable that teaches the importance of clinging to the roots of our vitality, both national and individual.

A group of friends once made a trip together. On the way to their destination, they saw someone standing with a backpack on a desert crossroads. Seven days later, on their way home, they encountered the same person with the backpack standing on the same desert crossroads in the hot sun. The group of friends asked the backpacker, "Why are you standing here?"

"I want to go to Jerusalem," responded the backpacker. "I'm waiting for a ride."

"How long have you been waiting?" they asked.

"More than a week," he answered.

They laughed. "Jerusalem's only a two-day walk from here. If you'd have started walking, you could have been there and back four times already!"

Many of us want to change, yet we expect it to happen automatically, with no effort on our part. Life doesn't work that way. An old Hebrew expression says, "Even a journey of a thousand kilometers begins with a first step."

The Yerushalmi Gemara in tractate Yoma 5a says that a generation that fails to build the Holy Temple is as if it destroyed the Holy Temple. People think that the Gemara is a little too severe here; let's see...

The Babylonian Gemara in tractate Yoma 9b says that the generation of the Second Temple was learned in Torah and exacting in mitzva observance. The Gemara even tells us that they engaged in charitable deeds. Despite all that, the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinas chinam, baseless hate.

The first Diaspora, the period that lasted for seventy years between the destruction of the First Holy Temple and the rebuilding of the Second Holy Temple, was an atonement for the three terrible sins that led to the destruction of the First Holy Temple - idolatry, bloodshed and debauchery. According to the Gemara in tractate Sanhedrin 74a, these are the three worst sins in the Torah, which a person must give up his own life rather than violate. Yet, the generation of the First Temple was punished for 70 years only? In the Second Temple, there was none of those three. On the contrary, people were super observant and learned too. Yet, they've been in Diaspora for almost 2000 years, with Inquisitions, pogroms, Holocausts and pandemics on the way. Is that fair? Where's the proportionality? We're still part of that prolonged exile and Diaspora! We must ask ourselves, why is the punishment and subsequent exile of the Second Temple already thirty times worse than the first. And it's not over yet!

The generation of the Second Temple they hated each other. Sure, they fed the poor, built luxurious mikvas and study halls and educated the orphans, but they were jealous of each other and they spoke slander day and night. Comes along the Gemara in tractate Arachin 15b and tells us that lashon hara is just as bad as idolatry, bloodshed and debauchery put together. Even worse, the Yerushalmi in Tractate Pe'ah says that those who speak evil are punished in this world and the next, and their punishment is no less severe that the punishment for the three nasty sins that one should die rather than violate.

It's therefore easy to understand while we're still in Diaspora - our generation is still full of lashon hara and sinas chinam, slander and intramural hate. We can now realize what the Gemara means when it says that a generation that fails to build the Holy Temple is as if it destroyed the Holy Temple. Hashem won't rebuild the Temple another time and then let it be destroyed again because the core sin is still there. So we have to get rid of the core sin!

A person called me this week, very upset. He told me that his boss is so cruel to him that he's constantly nervous and he's lost his joy in life. I asked him why he doesn't sit down and discuss the ill treatment with the boss. He said it won't help, because the boss treats all the workers like that. I then asked why he doesn't seek the advice of a local rabbi who might be able to influence the boss. He told me that no one will believe him, because his boss gives millions of dollars to charity. The organizations think he's an angel. That's the type of thing that went on in the Second Temple - people would fund yeshiva and kollelim but they'd murder their employees or their competitors.

Anyone you ask will say that they await Moshiach and the Geula, with the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, once and for all. Yet, we have to ask ourselves: have we taken the first step to bring Moshiach? Have we done the very first thing to reduce the lashon hara or the sinas chinam in the world? How many groups within Judaism carry a flag of hate? For one group, it's a mitzva to hate Zionist Jews. For another group, it's a mitzva to hate non-Zionist Jews. A third group hates people who wear a different style kippa than they do and a fourth group hates all Jews who wear kippas while a fifth group hates all Jews who don't wear kippas. All these groups don't call it hate - they call it ideology. How can the Chassidim get along with the Litvaks if they can't get along with each other? I could go on and on, but this is distasteful.

It's a lot easier to sit on the floor and lament with tearful eyes about the destruction of our Temple and the calamities that have befallen our people than it is to commit to refrain from saying anything derogatory about a fellow human. This Tisha B'av, I am deciding to take the first step. I'm not going to wait for anyone else but you're more than welcome to join me. I ask Hashem to help me avoid saying or writing anything uncomplimentary about a fellow human, much less a fellow Jew. I ask Hashem that not a single syllable of slander or evil speech should appear in my blog or podcast, or anything else I say or write. Hashem, I don't want to perpetuate the exile and Diaspora. I do want Moshiach, redemption, the ingathering of the exiles and our rebuilt Holy Temple. Help me take this first step, Hashem, and help all my wonderful brothers and sisters who are joining me. Show us Your mercy and Your miraculous salvation, and bring us all home to our rebuilt Holy Temple and the glory of Your Holy Presence in Zion, speedily and in our days, amen!

Hear the above lesson on mp3, which you are welcome to download, courtesy of Emuna Beams:

This world is just like a restaurant - there are no free meals. Indeed, the seemingly free meals end up being the most expensive ones. Enjoy this parable about the evil inclination

Today's podcast is dedicated to the loving memory of Jack R. Cohen, Yaakov Yisrael ben Chaviva A"H

There is a terrible phenomenon, even within "religious" circles, of scoffing at baalei teshuva, converts and Noahides because of their pure and innocent desire to strengthen faith and get closer to Hashem. And even within many "religious" communities, people scoff at those who strive past group norms of mediocrity. Today's podcast is a message of encouragement to the victims of the scoffers, who like King Solomon says, will have the last laugh at the scoffers.

Gratitude is the very best insurance policy on earth. The best way to maintain health, income and every other blessing in life is to thank the Almighty daily and profusely for everything we have, taking nothing for granted. Today's podcast tells is a parable from the "Ben Ish Chai", the holy Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad osb"m, to help us understand.

Here's a delightful parable I heard from the renown Novardoker Maggid, Rabbi Yankel'e Galinski, of saintly and blessed memory, about a group of drunkards. This is something to keep in mind not only while preparing for Shavuot, but all year long.

Why are so many good and upright people dying in the Corona pandemic? Is there anything one can do to protect himself from severe judgments? How could a person be his own worst enemy? Today's podcast could potentially save people from making disastrous mistakes.