Readers have long recognized Yair Weinstock’s incredible storytelling flair. The author of many bestselling novels as well as the popular Tales of the Soul series, Yair Weinstock is an artist, creating masterpieces with nothing but ink on paper. His words paint a compelling picture of long-ago cities and faraway towns (and, yes, our own backyards too!). He introduces us to people we feel we know – or people we would love to meet.

In this new collection of exciting, inspirational true stories, we follow a chassid on a mysterious mission of rescue in the island paradise of Curacao. We meet a lottery-winning rebbe who finds an unusual way to deal with his new fortune and a dead merchant who turns up, very much alive, on the eve of his wife’s wedding. We read stories that show us the greatness of luminaries like the Baba Sali and the Sanzer Rebbe and others that reflect the strength of “just plain folks” like you and me.

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KINNOS FOR THE SIX MILLION KEDOSHIM (Holy Martyrs): The destruction of the Six Million is our own generation’s stark connection to the eternal Tishah B’Av. Two great and inspiring spiritual leaders of our time, The Bobover Rebbe and Rav Shimon Schwab composed Kinnos lamenting and memorializing the unspeakable tragedy. Adopted by many congregations worldwide, these painful laments are read on Tishah B’Av. Excerpted from the NEW Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Kinnos / Tishah B’Av Siddur Click on image to download A SECTION OF THE TALMUDIC PORTION DISCUSSING THE TEMPLE’S DESTRUCTION: On Tishah B ’Av, it is customary to study the interpersonal conflicts which led to the ruin of the Second Temple. One well-known source comes from the Schottenstein Edition Talmud Bavli Tractate Gittin, pages 55b-56a. Click to download an excerpt from the Schottenstein English Edition Talmud Click to download an excerpt from the Schottenstein Hebrew Edition Talmud

A Tishah B’Av Message The Antidote to the Destruction In the very well known teaching of the Sages, the Second Temple was destroyed because our nation suffered from baseless hatred. Indeed, the period was characterized by factionalism and strife, The rabbinic leadership urged their people to maintain a good relationship with the powerful Roman occupiers, and the militant factions that not only wanted to fight the Romans, but also warred among themselves. The result was the Roman brutality that crushed the nation and destroyed the Temple. Many classic commentators have asserted that since the destruction resulted from sin’as chinam – baseless hatred — hatred without cause, then the ultimate redemption will be brought about by love without cause. As one of the great Chassidic masters taught, “G-d loves the greatest sinner more than we love the greatest tzaddik.” What we must do is to tolerate, help and love one another, helping the needy, fostering unity, and drawing the distant closer to Torah and service of G-d. Rabbi Yonasan Eibeschutz, one of the greatest minds of recent centuries, gave a novel interpretation of the “baseless hatred” of those tortured times. He wrote in his classic Ya’aros Devash that it is inconceivable that Jews did not feed the needy and nurse the sick. Jewish benevolence and philanthropy is not a new phenomenon. Such kindness is our legacy from the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and has been in Jewish genes from the days of Abraham and Sarah. The generation of the destruction may have suffered from political and ideological conflict, but surely not from apathy and cruelty to those in need. How then did the hatred express itself? The Ya’aros Devash maintains that jews were indifferent to the spiritual poverty of “outsiders.” Instead of reaching out to the spiritually famished, most Jews tended to “mind their own business” and feel no responsibility to bring Torah and mitzvos to their brethren. That is not what we normally call hatred, but in the truest sense it was extreme hatred, because no nation – especially our nation – can long thrive if it is morally and “culturally” empty. To the Jewish people, “culture” means Torah, and when people ignore the communal responsibility to disseminate its study, they are starving their brethren of spiritual nourishment. It is like feeding an entire nation on a tasty diet on saturated fats, sodium, and sugar. On Tishah B’Av, as we mourn the loss of the Beis Hamikdash and long for the coming of Mashiach, let us also resolve to bring the Torah and the beauty of Jewiish tradition to our brethren wherever they are. Thanks to the generosity of friends and supporters like you, the Mesorah Heritage Foundation is your agent in doing so. When we see people on planes and trains studying the Talmud, when we see synagogues filled with people developing a new understanding of prayer, when we see a burgeoning interest in Torah study and observance, even when we see children reading stories that have a positive Torah message, we are seeing the antidote to the spiritual animosity that has been a bane of life for too long. There is much, much more to do, but thanks to you, the scholars and editors of the Foundation are making powerful inroads. Many people speak of a Torah revolution. The revolution is yours. May we all merit the day when Tishah B’Av will be a day of joy, the day when we celebrate the end of the galus – and may it be speedily, in our time. Rabbi Nosson Scherman            Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz

]]> http://www.thejewishinsights.com/wp/free-download-enhance-tishah-bav-artscroll/feed/ 0 http://www.thejewishinsights.com/wp/yearning-fire-longing-geulah-enhancing-life-process/ http://www.thejewishinsights.com/wp/yearning-fire-longing-geulah-enhancing-life-process/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:57:01 +0000 yossi http://www.thejewishinsights.com/wp/?p=6222

Down through Jewish history, our Sages have urged us to deeply long for the days of redemption and the coming of Mashiach. They explain that by longing for redemption we bring the Divine Presence closer to us and so bring a great flow of blessing into our lives – even before the Final Redemption arrives.

But how do we actually achieve and sustain an inner state of anticipating that occurrence – especially at a time when there are so many daunting challenges facing Jews in the Diaspora and Eretz Yisrael?

Rabbi Heshy Kleinman, whose Praying With Fire books changed the way a generation davens, now turns his insightful eye and talented pen to the vital topic of redemption – the ultimate redemption that we await as a people, and the personal redemption that each of us looks for in our daily lives.

In as little as five minutes a day, this book teaches strategies that will help us hasten the redemption – principles that will help us achieve “ahavas chinam,” the unity and love for one another that will help bring Mashiach. Here is clear and practical guidance to enrich our prayers, our charity, our Torah study, our Shabbos observance, and our desire for repentance – all important elements in our longing for redemption.

All salvation, all good, begins with our yearning to see that exile end. Yearning With Fire, with its wonderful combination of strategies, stories, and scholarship, helps us bring salvation – personal and national – into our lives.

For more information or to purchase please visit Artscroll.com

We all want the blessings of peace and harmony. What this remarkably enjoyable and transformative book shows us is that those blessings, and many more, often begin with small words of greeting or a tiny act of kindness.

One Small Deed (can change the world) is an unusual book, combining great true stories with a vital and inspirational message for today. Compiled by bestselling author Nachman Seltzer, here are stories of both the amazing and the everyday miracles that a few small words or actions can bring about. We read how a man’s daily greeting to a factory guard saves four lives and how a badly-pronounced “‘allo” brings a young man back to his Jewish roots. A Jewish grocer extends credit to a poor Irish family and four decades later the Jewish world reaps the benefits; a businessman is saved from financial ruin by a casual twenty-dollar donation to an annoying old man. All these acts were “one small deed.”

These are stories that will touch us, often amuse us, and always inspire us. And One Small Deed (can change the world) will also change us. For the better.

For more information or to purchase this book please visit Artscroll.com

War. Peace. Treason. Friendship. A novel like none you’ve ever read.

War and treachery threaten the legendary kingdom of Khazar. And only the young prince, Istrak, untried, unsure of himself, can lead his people back to harmony.

The Betrayal is a novel too big to be defined by a simple description. It’s a page-turner, with non-stop action and surprises. It’s a family saga, following the lives, and the conflicts, of the many members of Khazar’s royal house. It’s a human drama, a story of growing up, of friendship and frailty; it’s a mystery, with an unknown traitor plotting against the king.

A tremendously popular bestseller in its original Hebrew, The Betrayal is a gripping saga that blends the mythic history of a fascinating kingdom with a compelling and contemporary message.

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From the author of the popular Stories for the Jewish Heart series come the most heartwarming stories ever!

Bestselling author Rabbi Binyomin Pruzansky finds Hashem’s Hand – and, yes, great stories – everywhere. In this unforgettable collection we will meet a starving 1960s runaway who looks for food and finds – in addition to a good meal – the beauty of the Gemara and a whole new way of life. We read the touching story of a woman who raised her 13 siblings after their mother’s death, and, after years of waiting, finally became a mother of her own long-awaited child. An autistic child prays and a quiet erev Shabbos miracle takes place; a man learns to truly mourn the lost Temple – and at the same time helps rebuild his own destroyed home and family.

Stories that Warm the Heart inspires, touches, teaches and, of course, warms our hearts and our souls.

For more information or to purchase please visit Artscroll.com.

Women Talk. And they’re well worth listening to.

Debbie Shapiro is a writer who knows how to listen – and she knows how to find interesting, unusual, and inspiring women to listen to.

In thirty-four wide-ranging interviews, Debbie speaks with women of all ages and backgrounds, including a convert from the Philippines, a woman hidden as a child in Bergen-Belsen, a Bais Yaakov principal creating a school in the desert, a woman who grew up in the Mirrer Yeshiva, and a religious woman who drives a “for-women-only” taxi.”

In Women Talk we meet a varied and accomplished group of Jewish women. As we read of their strength, their challenges, and their deep faith, as we are inspired by their lives – and we enrich our own.

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The Haggadah tells us: “In every generation, it is one’s duty to regard himself as though he personally had gone out of Egypt.” As we sit around our sparkling Seder tables, thousands of miles and thousands of years separate us from our brethren suffering beneath the burning Egyptian sun; from our ancestors marching triumphantly out of slavery.

How, then, can we fulfill the Haggadah’s words? How can we, like our ancestors, go out of Egypt?

The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah brings the Exodus to life by drawing upon the wisdom and words of the Sages. We see the slavery, the ten plagues, and the final Exodus through the eyes and ears of Chazal and later commentators.The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah is based on more than 150 sources, from Midrash to Malbim, from the Zohar to Rambam to Rav Moshe Feinstein, and every entry adds to our understanding of the actual Pesach story.

Designed for maximum impact at the Seder, the entries are short, graphic, and unusually detailed. As we move through our Seder we can envision the rigors of slavery, Pharaoh’s diabolical schemes, the miraculous plagues, the glorious redemption, and the unforgettable moment as the Jewish People cross the Sea.

Based on the highly-successful Haggadah V’Aggadata, The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah is a unique, innovative haggadah that will enable us to experience the Exodus at our own Seder, just as we are meant to do.

The Exodus from Egypt. Feel the captivity. Experience the triumph.The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah

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It Could Have Been You: Brand new, inspirational stories about people like you

Good stories are entertaining. Inspirational. Illuminating.
Very good stories are electrifying. Stimulating. Unexpected.
The very best stories are life-transforming.
Nachman Seltzer’s stories are the very best.

When Nachman Seltzer writes, the words almost seem to leap off the page. There’s energy and excitement in his descriptions, his characters, and his unexpected plot twists. And what makes the stories even better is – they are all absolutely true!

Nachman Seltzer is a born storyteller, and people from all over the world share their unusual experiences with him. In It Could Have Been You we will read about 300 Torah scrolls hidden in an abandoned Ukrainian building, waiting to be rescued. We will wonder who sent the mysterious first-class plane tickets to a simple cheder rebbe in Bnei Brak, and why. We will read of lost wallets, lost children, and lost Jewish souls coming back to their heritage. We will meet a man whose skill at Torah reading saves him from losing his life in the rice paddies of Vietnam and hear about the strange presidential curse that finally comes to an end through the power of prayer.

The stories in It Could Have Been You are brand new, and have never before appeared in print. They are powerful, exciting – and absolutely true.

To purchase please visit Artscroll.com