Tenth of Teves and Using Fast Days as a Gateway to Spiritual Renewal

Show Notes
Transcript

Have you ever considered that there might be more to fasting than just an empty stomach? Join us as we unpack the more profound significance of fast days, where hunger pangs are merely a backdrop to an introspective journey of personal and spiritual growth. Inspired by the wisdom of the Chofetz Chaim, this episode is a call to embrace the essence of teshuva, the transformative process of repentance at the heart of these sacred times. We discuss how fasting serves as the perfect setting to strip away daily distractions and focus on aligning our actions with our higher selves.

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter steps into our conversation, bringing his profound insights on the necessity of targeted learning to overcome personal challenges. It's not about broad strokes of study; it's about finding the "beit midrash," or study hall, tailored to the specific sin we're battling. Today, we're not just abstaining from food; we're on a mission to identify the sources of our spiritual setbacks and proactively seek the wisdom to conquer them. Let this episode be your guide as you transform a day of fasting into an awakening, turning the page on old habits and emerging renewed in your spiritual journey.

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Transcript

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I know it's a fast day and I hope everyone has an easy fast.

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But would you walk into Glopight or to your friendly neighborhood schnitzel shop and order yourself a schnitzel sandwich, but I don't want the schnitzel, I just want the bun.

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Or I want a burger, but I only want the lettuce and the tomato?

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You would not do such a thing.

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In fact you would be considered perhaps foolish to do such a thing.

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So how come, says the Chavitzchheim, would we do something similar on a fast day?

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The Hinei Haikar.

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The main point, the essence of a fast day is not for the tainus, but it's for the chuvah.

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It's for how Hashem saw that the people of Nenvei had repented.

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What did he see?

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He didn't see that they didn't eat.

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He saw the Esma'asehim.

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Their actions were different.

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The Ainah tainus, the fasting itself.

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Why don't we eat Elahachana, this preparation, the chuvah?

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Today is a day that we get rid of the distractions and the chicken sorry for the muscle.

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But the burger of the fast again sorry for the muscle is to be able to turn your heart, to be metha'keach al tchuvah, to be able to understand what you need to do, to be able to do repentance.

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Buy yourself a book, a safer, that will teach you that specific area that you feel stymied.

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The Rabisroh cilantro.

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Explain that the Gomorrah says if you bump into the disgusting one, if you bump into the Yetzahara, you should schlep him into the house of study, and that can help you to free yourself of him.

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There's a certain individual, a base medrish for each sin, says Rabisroh, you can't just say I'm stuck and therefore I'm just going to go learn Tyra.

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It's not enough.

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He says you have to find the base medrish that's a mechad for that sin.

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If you're stuck in Lush and Harro, you can't just say I'm going to learn Masih Yashoram.

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You need to learn Shmira Salaushan.

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If you're stuck in Shmira Sanaim, you need to learn about Shmira Sanaim.

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Today is a day that we get rid of the distractions.

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Go buy a book, go buy a safer and think about what pulls you in places you wish you wouldn't go.

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What types of people do you hang out with that perhaps lead you down paths you wish that you had never gone?

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The Iqra of a Fast Day is Chuva, and let us take full advantage.

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