Where Have You Been?

                                                                                       בס"ד
I have been getting Emails asking why I have been so quiet for the past couple of weeks. I have been very busy in several different endeavors including the holidays. More so, I have cut down on posting for other reasons.

My original intension with this blog was to teach about Judaism and the extreme importance for a Jew to follow Hashem. This expanded to help non-Jews as well since I do believe that many members of the lost tribes who will return to Israel are non-Jews who aren’t aware of their future situation.

In close to 830 posts over the past 66 months, with over 1700 pages written, I have actually covered all that I had planned. How do I know this for sure? Just about every Email I receive, asking about a subject in Judaism, I need not answer the question, but just refer the reader to what I have already posted. This happens with more than 90% of the questions sent to me these days. I have repeated subjects about which I receive multiple Emails, but new subjects have been kept to a minimum. I do have many subjects about which I could write, but I am finding my readers are more interested in what is happening now, and what is coming up rather than new topics of Judaism (as determined by the pageview count received on each subject).

Many times I have also encouraged my readers to study Torah, but not by reading blogs on the web as their source of information. They must actually open kosher books dealing with the subjects of interest. As an example, there is no better way to study the Jewish Bible than by opening up a Jewish Bible and studying it. When reading the commentary of the great sages over thousands of years, you receive much deeper insight into the reality of this world and Hashem then reading a distorted opinion of a so-called Rabbi on the web. I have even mentioned that my readers should not believe a word that I say, but should check it out with their own research. I am available to try to explain where I got my information on any subject, but only by you digging into that subject and making your own discoveries can you fully understand its true meaning and internalize its importance.

The other subject of even greater interest to my readers is, of course, the coming of the worldwide redemption, the Moshiach, the Temple, the return of the exile from the four corners of the world, the resurrection of the dead, etc, etc, etc. Everyone is convinced that we only need wait for these events to happen and all our worldly and personal problems will disappear.

I have written many times that we are the cause of our own problems. Since everything in this life is measure for measure, if we do not perform according to Hashem’s instructions, we are presented with a problem to compensate (to give us the involuntary correction that we seek in this life).

I can see from Emails how that message has landed on deaf ears. The human psyche (actually the Yetzer Harah) tells us: it is not our fault, it is the other guy, or the circumstances or the world situation, or any other excuse we can dream up. When we realize that we can solve any problem we have by simply turning to Hashem and following His directions, we then catch on to the system Hashem created for us humans. If we are convinced that all we need is the Moshiach and all will be great, we will be extremely disappointed to find we could have solved each problem much earlier. The more difficult concept to grasp is that if we rely on Moshiach for the solution, we will reach Judgment Day with a lesser spiritual level. That will follow us for eternity.

Readers who only want to know “Why is Moshiach not here?” or when is Nibiru going to pass the Earth?, or when will we all miraculously go to Israel?, or when will I get rid of this medical, financial, family, etc problem (enough questions)?, they are all causing the delay of Moshiach. Why? If only waiting and hoping for the best is your agenda instead of doing Teshuvah and solving your own problems, then Hashem is saying: you are not ready; you need more time.

We are our own worst enemy and me repeating this over and over on this blog means nothing. The past two weeks, we did the Selichos prayers every morning (Ashkenazi custom). We ask for forgiveness for our past year’s deficiencies with the hope that Hashem will give us salvation for the coming year (or, as I believe, for eternity). Some of the things that we say in Selichos are exactly what I have mentioned many times. We stray from the good guidance of Hashem and want to do things our way; we don’t do Teshuvah to correct our errors but just complain about what we lack; WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PRAY (a big one since correct prayer works and can get us everything we want in this world); we are very selfish and only want for ourselves with little compassion for others; we cheat for our personal gains even if it hurts others; we lie even to ourselves just to get advantage over others; (this is a long list so I will stop here).

The important point here is to know how we justify in our own minds many wrong things that we do; we even say: “but, everyone does it.” When we ask when will we meet Moshiach, we must first ask: Am I deserving of Hashem’s salvation? Am I ready? Or, will Moshiach’s introduction to the world be a disaster for me, because I didn’t do enough to prepare?

I still believe wholeheartedly that we are close. My days of speculation have ended since we have been told: it will be a big surprise and to try to calculate the date is impossible. What is definite is that the little time we have remaining is extremely valuable and means everything to our eternal future.