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[notes-jordanstauber]

כל מה שהאדם יודע יותר את ערכו ככה ערכו באמת גדול הוא

הרב קוק - אורות הקודש ג עמ׳ סה

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ההבדל בין ישראל בגלות ובין ישראל בגאולה, הוא יותר גדול מההבדל שבין הקטן שאַך נולד, לגדול ובא בימים. - טללי חיים, הקיצו ורננו ע״מ מה

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המחשבה של שילוב תורה ועבודה בדרך של שכנות זה לזה, כמין נסיון לחבר שני עולמות נפרדים ושונים, טעות היא, ועלולה לדלדל את שני הערכים. יחס הקודש והחול אינו כיחס שני עצים השתולים בשדה אחד, אלא כנשמה אדירה בגוף חי, הממשיכה בו כוחות נאמנים ורבים.

- טללי חיים, הקיצו ורננו ע״מ עד

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When I Heard the Learned Astronomer

When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,   and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with   much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

- Walt Whitman

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נזר ישראל נישואין דף נג

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If reshaim would know how much enjoyment is to be found in Avodah Hashem, they would run after it, no less than how much they pursue physical gratification. Why don’t they run after it? It is because they are simply unaware. In order to know how good it is, one has to indeed work hard at it.

Reb Moshe of Kobrin zt”l

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Just like you love yourself for no reason, you can understand that you are able to love others for no reason

Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh

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Seeing Your Flaws in Others

The Baal Shem Tov said that a person who is completely pure, who never caused even the slightest blemish in the world, cannot see evil in any man. He cannot even hear about the bad that a person has done. For Hashem does not allow him to see or hear evil. When You see that somebody is doing something bad, or even if you are told about it, you must therefore know that you have somewhat of a stain of the very same thing. Even if you are a righteous person, you still have something of that blemish. God therefore brings about this sight or news in order that you should direct your heart to do better and rectify it. And with this he too, the one who was doing something wrong, will change because he’s dependent on you. Therefore, one shouldn't speak Lashon Harah on someone else even if he saw them doing something wrong, or he heard about it, because from the fact he saw or heard about it, it is really because within him is the flaw as well. And now it is up to him to change himself and with that he will also change the other person who did something wrong...

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Every Act

Through what we do and how we do it—moment by moment, day by day, consciously or unconsciously—we alter the chemical flows in our synapses and change our brains. And when we hand down our habits of thought to our children, through the examples we set, the schooling we provide, and the media we use, we hand down as well the modifications in the structure of our brains. (Nicholas Carr, The Shallows - What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains)

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Love

Love is a continuous process of growth, and therefore, there never is a point at which we’ve made it. We’re always aspiring for perfection. We’re always on the road but never quite reaching our destination. And when we look back, we realize that there is perfection in the journey. (Rabbi David Aaron - Endless Light p.56)

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phubbing

phub·bing /ˈfəbiNG/ (v) the practice of ignoring one's companion or companions in order to pay attention to one's phone or other mobile device.

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Family Conversation

Young people have grown up in a world of search, and information is the end point of the search. They have been taught that information is the key to making things better–in fact, to making everything better. Family conversation teaches a another message. Talking to your parents doesn’t just offer up information. You experience the commitment of a life long relationship. A parent may have no immediate “solution” for you but may simply say, “No matter what, I will always love you.” And “I’m staying around for another conversation: we’ll keep talking this out.” Even if a family is broken and a parent lives at a distance from a child, this last message is what a child wants to hear, no matter what the circumstances. (Sherry Turtle, Reclaiming Conversation p.116)

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Don't mistaken the menu for the meal

Rav Aaron

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Heal the source

Imagine how you would look if you had fulfilled your every wish��every thought, desire, and fancy you ever had in your life. How disgusting and offensive would that person be to Hashem and the people around him. And all that you are now is only because you have successful tied your desires down and have not allowed them to escape and be actualized practically. And if this is so, what difference is there between your inner anima and the criminal who’s locked up in jail and isn’t able to act on his desires for he is tied down by chains. Look well into yourself, is not the “criminal” side of yourself deep down in the same position, locked down there in his prison sell, waiting to be set free to fulfill all his desires. And if you have truly overcome yourself, and are in control, not allowing your hearts desires to be actualized, that’s already a great success and good for you. However you still have not accomplished what is right for your inner pure soul, only listen to this piece of advise: heal your soul at it’s source and don't just rely on self control. (See Tzav V’ziruz: 4)

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There are no proofs for the existence of God, only witnesses.

Heschel

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The Truth

The Torah speaks a poetic language. Language doesn’t capture the whole truth but can only point to the truth. But this truth is much greater than anything that can be expressed with words. 

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Emunah

People think Emunah is I “believe” in God; that’s not what it is. Emunah is "I live God into the world." Emunah is expressed in action not as a collection of ideas. Everyone deep down has Emunah it’s just about tapping into it.