Holy is like being right (no mistakes) all the time. It is righteousness extended into one's nature. Prideful righteousness is not holiness.

Ever notice that it is only to His people that He reveals Himself clearly, or with reasonable clarity? Those who reject Him, and especially those who reject the idea of ever having anything to do with the idea that He exists, those are the ones that never see anything of Him except in the vaguest way.

There is no money in Heaven. There is no wealth in the sense that we know it. God can create anything and everything. So what could be wealth? Everything is simply run-of-the-mill stuff to Him. "The cattle on a thousand hills" are His. So, what is the wealth of God? It is to be esteemed by Him and to hold Him in esteem.

How can you esteem someone that you do not believe exists? So, God works with His people because they esteem Him and are held in esteem by Him.

He made us the way we are, with a touch of Him within ourselves, so that we could recognize Him and His holiness enough that we could hold Him in esteem. The fact that some of us can and DO hold Him in esteem is to His glory. To glorify God is to multiply His wealth BECAUSE, being esteemed by those who can understand Him is the only REAL WEALTH THAT THERE IS for Someone Who can create ANYTHING. And when we multiply His wealth of glory, He in turn multiplies ours by glorifying us. It has to do with the esteem we hold for Him. In rolls the compassion that He has for us.

6/30/2014 There Are No Words… There are no words to express our pain, our sorrow, our anger. Our boys, the boys who united the Jewish People, have been brutally murdered. May Hashem avenge their blood. Tonight is Gimmel Tammuz, the date of the hishtalkus of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe once said “We can only face evil with faith.” Even now? Especially now! Should we be angry, of course we should be. But we must find the path of channeling our anger, our sorrow, our pain into our connection with our Father in Heaven. If there is one lesson we learned from the Rebbe, it’s that everything can be turned into a drive for good. Good does not mean turning the other cheek nor trying to make peace with murderous barbarians. It does mean remembering these Jewish boys, building in their name, doing good in their help. Helping others, giving charity, doing a mitzvah. imageBut for now we mourn. Our dead are lying before us. We cry out, when will the cup of tears be full? We try to console the inconsolable. Already we hear the cries to act with restraint, but we ask where was the restraint of the murderers? We hear cries to not cause collective punishment, but were the boys not a collective punished for the perceived honor of the murderers? When we are kind to the cruel we are cruel to the kind. ENOUGH! We do not call for revenge, revenge is for the Hand of Hashem. BUT WE DO SCREAM OUT FOR WISDOM IN DEALING WITH BARBARIANS, MURDERERS, THOSE WHO DO NOT VALUE LIFE. Ribono Shel Olam, we call out – is it not enough? Bring us your righteous Moshiach now and end this unbelievable evil. There are no words, but some have spilled forth with our tears. May their families be comforted among the mourners of Tziyon and Yerushalayim. And may Hashem avenge their blood. [For those who did not hear – the 3 boys kidnapped over 2 weeks ago in Israel by “Palestinians” from Hebron were found this afternoon murdered.]

7/01/2014 "You Shall Be Holy…" by Reb Gutman Locks "You shall be holy, for I am holy…."[i] Why does Hashem being holy require us to be holy? And what is holiness? Hashem wants us to appreciate His holiness. In order to appreciate G-d's holiness, we ourselves have to attain at least some degree of holiness. But how can we even dream of attaining such an exalted state? After all, we are mere people, flesh and blood (and a lot of animal mixed in, too). Is this a realistic goal? If Hashem commanded us to attain it, it must be attainable. Then, what is holiness? The fact is, only Hashem is holy, and everything that we call holy, be it a sefer Torah, a unique sage, a good deed, all these merely point to Hashem's holiness. Hashem is always present. He is everywhere, but He is hiding. He hides Himself in order to give us freewill. If we could see the actual reality of His Presence…, if we were able to see that He is actually right here watching all the time, no one would ever sin. Would a pickpocket reach into someone's pocket if he saw the judge standing right there watching? Hashem hides this reality so we will be able to choose good or bad. Then, He repays us in kind. The rewards are commensurate with the effort, and so are the embarrassing repercussions according to their sins. Hashem has given us holy deeds so we will become holy. Then, as we do more and more holy deeds we begin to see G-d's holy Presence. Be aware, holy deeds only reveal G-d's presence if we pay attention to what those holy deeds are doing. Paying attention is an essential part of the mitzvah. In order for there to be spiritual awareness, we have to recognize at least some of the spiritual aspects of the deed. What spiritual changes are taking place when we do it? When a woman lights her Shabbos candles she should see that she is doing more than lighting physical candles. She is actually bringing holy time into her home. When she lights Shabbos candles more than mere physical light fills the home. If she would light those candles on any other day, only physical light would spread out from them. But since she is lighting them for a holy purpose, there is an even greater light, the spiritual light of the holy Shabbos. The physical light merely announces the spiritual light. Because of her deed, her day has become holy. Now we see why when she lights her candles it is a "time of favor," and why Hashem listens intently to her prayers at that time. When we give charity, more than a mere coin changes hands; kindness has become manifest, poverty is somewhat relieved. Each mitzvah brings both physical and spiritual changes to the world. In order to appreciate the spiritual changes one has to be aware of what they are. Try to see how your holy acts spread out into the world, and then little by little, you will begin to see the holiness of the One Who has commanded them. [i] Leviticus 19:1