Makubal

My serious suggestion is to stay far away from any mekubal. Read “Faith and Folly” by Rav Yaakov Hillel.

No one mourns

There are many reasons that bad things happen to a person. The first avenue to check is to see that your observance is in line. Also make sure you are careful with the big ones like Shabbos, Kashrus, Taharas Hamishpacha, tzedaka…

I spoke to a mekubal from the lineage of the famous Abuchatzera family once. He is a Rosh Yeshiva in Israel, but is recognized as a mekubal. His advice to me was learn hard and daven hard and Hashem will help. People go with all these fantastic expectations from mekubalim, but that’s not what Kaballah is about. Kaballah is basically an explanation to the “mechanics” of the spiritual realm in which we exist. Understanding the spiritual helps us understand the physical, but generally speaking the derech stays the same. Do what Hashem requests of you, and have bitachon that everything will work out for the best.

Always be introspective. Give your excess money to tzedaka, not mekubalim.

Garden of emunah is excellent. So is the essence of emuna by Rav Gamliel Rabinovich. There is a Hebrew and English version depending on your preference.

“Also make sure you are careful with the big ones like Shabbos, Kashrus, Taharas Hamishpacha, tzedaka…”

If life and death and good and bad were doled out based solely on our actions, we wouldnt deserve any reward for the good we do, because it would be self-serving.

What about Tzadik v’Ra lo and Rasha v’Tov lo?

Sometimes were urged to observe past our individual limits and at the end of the day, it lessens our observance and belief, not increases it.

Its like telling a child “Be good annd you’ll get your lolly”. How good is good enough? There are people who go mad hoping that if they continuously improve, their dreams will be realized and then they are not. This sometimes pushes them totally off, mentally and religiously. Not good.

groisnaches

Well if one doesn’t keep the Torah properly then it is likely bad things will befall him, if someone is not keeping the Torah and bad things are not befalling him it is because he is so far gone (at least he has no interest of ever changing although there’s always the chance to do Teshuva) that Hashem is giving him his reward on this world or he is getting reward based on zechus avos or something.

I am not discussing the ultimate reward for mitzvos which is in Olam Haba but there is a certain good life that Hashem promises to those who keep the Torah properly. Nobody says this is easy but those who keep the Torah properly and try hard usually have a generally good life. I am not saying there arent exceptions and obviously there is Tzadik v’Ra lo but it takes a lot to be on the madreiga of being a “Tzadik” that we should apply this to him.

“How good is good enough? There are people who go mad hoping that if they continuously improve, their dreams will be realized and then they are not. This sometimes pushes them totally off, mentally and religiously. Not good.”

I dont know how good good enough is, but people today have set very low standards of good. There are many people walking around thinking they are good Jews because they do some things right. That doesnt make you a good Jew. If you do aveiros on a regular basis, things that you know you shouldnt do but dont try to change, or things that you dont know you shouldnt do because you never open a sefer you arent a good Jew. And for all the people who think they are wonderful but their wives and daughters dress like I dont want to say what you arent a good Jew and if you wife and children generally arent keeping the Torah they should and you havent tried to help the situation or allowed it to happen you arent a good Jew.

So being good means keeping the Torah, all of it, or rather whatever mitzvos are still applicable from the 613 bizman Hazeh. But the truth is its not enough to keep the mitzvos, they also need to be done with a positive attitude. Hashem doesnt need anyones “favors” and Hashem has no need for mitzvos done by rote or worse, with an “attitude” or in a bored disinterested fashion.

Being a Torah Jew requires a lot of effort and study, so no its not easy, but it is required by Hashem, that is what he wants. He didnt say “only do the ones you feel like doing” they are all binding and obligatory. However if someone is a Baal Teshuvah or went off the derech and is coming back obviously it needs to be done gradually, but for everyone else you gotta keep all of it to the best of your abilities.

No one mourns the wicked – Well, I was satisfied with the experience.

Another mekubal I went to told me to work on Kibud Av Va’Eim as a zechus for shidduchim. He told my sister the same thing. I think it’s the one thing parents won’t call him complaining about.

WIY: “but for everyone else you gotta keep all of it to the best of your abilities”.

So you and I agree that different people, at different ages and points in their life, from different backgrounds, different families, the list of differences goes on, etc.. may not be able to observe all Halachos in the same manner.

A whole nation cant be poured into a mold to get identical resuts.

WIY I think the mekubal tells you what you want to hear. Apparently I didn’t pay enough to get more than one compliment. But you seem like a really nice person and that was a nice thing to say.

Mommamia, I’m not sure what Torah 613 meant. Maybe the Mekubal wanted to say that his Yiras Shamayim will help him face the challenges in his life, such as being an older single. Chas V’Shalom anyone should think that people who have not been successful in finding their zivug, or people who face any misfortune or tragedy, are lacking in yiras Shamayim! Life is not simple at all, and the challenges that are tailor made for every person are unfathomable.

@ Torah613. The rav who told you about the kibud av vaem is truly special and unique. He is a mekubal who does not do “freaky” things. He will simply tell you to work on the basics like halacha and minyan but the honoring your parents segula, he brings down in his seforim many times.