BS”D 3 Iyar 5781 Today we look at Mussar, specifically at Chapter One of Mesillas Yesharim. The author, R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, of blessed memory, begins by stating that the foundation of devotion is to clarify and verify one’s duty in the world and that one should make an effort to achieve that in all of one’s labours through one’s lifetime. It is important to note here that R. Luzzatto does not give an endpoint to this. One must strive to know better what is one’s duty in the world but not rest once enough is achieved. The search for one’s duty is constant and does not end. How does one know better and know one’s duty? By studying and learning. This, however, should not be limited…
BS”D 2 Iyar Today we celebrate the Independence of Israel, on the Fifth of Iyar 5708, when the dominion of the Jewish people was returned to part of the promised Land of Israel. After many long years during which the Land lay forsaken in a state of ruin and destruction, during which we, her children, were dispersed in bitter exiles, where we were enslaved, humiliated and persecuted, Jewish sovereignty was re-established in the Land of Israel. Three thousand, seven hundred and six years after God, the endower of all lands, had promised Avraham, at the covenant drawn between them, that To your seed I have given this land, from the River of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates (Bereshis 15:18), Avraham’s children were able to once…