Part 2 - Questions and Answers with Daniel. Jerusalem, January 30, 2007 Translate from hebrew. (1) Subj: Lofty Neshamah and What Does a Person Need to Rectify? Question: I want to know if my neshamah is a lofty one, and how can I contribute to accelerating the coming of the Redemption. What do I need to rectify? Daniel: Again I must say that I don't answer personal questions (actually it is forbidden for me to do so). Nonetheless every Jew has an extremely lofty neshama and Hashem personally attends to him. He Himself (Hashem) inserts life within a newly born baby. Hashem plans that baby's life. Hashem takes care of him. A Jew's duty is only to perform Hashem's will. If a Jew does performs Hashem's will he has both This World and the World-to-Come. Charming Jew, you have a marvelous neshamah but the problem is with your body. And if we elevate the body to a level of kedusha (holiness) each one of us can reach a sublime spiritual level.
Just as the Torah writes, "Let us make man"(Genesis 1:26) which means that Hashem has made us, created us... But we too need to elevate ourselves, and that must be the result of both Hashem's efforts and our own. I therefore bless you and the whole Jewish Nation with a great deal of success. One‘s shaping his spiritual self isn't at all easy. May we all be privileged to build ourselves together with Hashem's help and in that way reach a towering level both in spiritual and material wealth. We must, however, remember that material wealth exists only to serve what is spiritual.
(2)
Topic: Despaired and Dejected Woman Wants to Repent. Questioner: Tal. of Jerusalem. Question: I want to become a baalat teshuva (repentant) but it is a grueling process for me. The emptiness of this mundane world dejects me and consequently it is back breaking to sanctify myself. Daniel: A Jew who has despaired is a Jew who has gone over to the side of the evil inclination. Despair blinds a person, making him incapable of seeing the truth. Tal, you cannot see Hashem, so to speak, sense him since you are enveloped in depression, in despair. You must sever yourself from such feelings and then you will see the truth. You will then begin smiling and enjoying yourself because only then will things be clear. Tal, I pray for you since it is a pity that you find yourself in such a condition. The evil inclination has grabbed you. You need to free yourself from it.
(3) Ask: S. Question: Is becoming a baal teshuva (repentant) mean becoming religious or does it mean feeling love for Hashem without any connection to a person's religion or nationality. Daniel: Rebetzin S., I can only tell you that this is an interesting question. Let it be clear to you that repenting, coming closer to Hashem and doing His will, is the only thing that can save a person. One cannot do more or less than that. This is the whole formula. There is no other formula for success in life for This World or the World-to- Come (Olam-Haba). (4) Topics: What does one do if one doesn't find a place for himself in life? Will an additional war break out this year?
Question: My name is Y. and I am a student, 27 years old. First of all I want you to know that I believe in you. I have always between attracted to areas of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). I have read much about it, including the connection with autists and all other areas connected to Kabbalah. I have two questions: 1) Since I am a spiritual person I have difficulty integrating myself in our material world. I always felt that I don't belong here. I am also an academician who besides working for his degree takes additional courses, but I don't find a place for myself in life. I want to ask your advice what to do. 2)Will an additional war break out this year in Israel? Thanks a lot and I wish you the best of health. Daniel: R' Yaakov, first of all about the war, all signs indicate that a war must break out both in the north and the south in the very near future. You are a spiritual person but you aren't close to Hashem. To be a spiritual person means being close to Hashem. To find satisfaction from truth in This World it is impossible to live in both worlds. Only in one world and that is Hashem's world can one find spirituality. That world is everything and nothing else exists. All the other things He created. Anyone who studies this deeply, one who not only studies his academic studies but also scrutinizes studies that show one the true structure of This World and the World-to- Come, will live a satisfied life. I therefore bless you that you will have the courage and strength to abandon the world of falsity and come to the world of truth.
(5) Question: After many trips within the muddy pathways of life I have lost any feeling for life. I understand what needs to be done but my ego, which is the fear that rules over my life, doesn't allow me to do it. I am lost and want to know what to do. Daniel: You have surely lost any feeling for life since you have only this world. You need also the World-to-Come. In This World when you fulfill Hashem's will and the will of the Torah you will never lose any feeling for life. Such a life is profound, extremely profound. What is more profound generates more feeling, more of a pleasant feeling. People want to delve even deeper in order to gain an even deeper feeling, and that process is unending. (6) Question: I am a non-religious woman but I feel inside me that everything that you write about is true. What can I do? Changes have commenced within me already but they have found much of an external expression. Are external changes really necessary? Does praying from the heart, not from any prayer book, have any special effect? I shall be profoundly grateful if you could answer all or part of my questions. Sincerely, Y. Daniel: I just want to explain to you that you should surely pray from your heart and praying in such a way is especially important for a woman. Such prayers are particularly accepted and influential in Heaven. But a person needs to perfect himself. It is impossible to live half in a world of falsity and half in a world of truth. A Jew must be perfect both outside and inside, both in This World and the World-to-Come. I bless you that you all and Jews will reach perfection and that together we will greet the Mashiach.
(7) Question: On the one hand our material world is indeed replete with temptations but on the other hand it is replete with advanced technology that has over the years developed tremendously and contributes to everyone's lifestyle. Is this entire technological world incidental and false? It doesn't seem so. If it isn't incidental why does religious Jewry hold it in such low esteem, and how can we integrate the world of religion and mitzvot with the developing technological reality? Daniel: All the technology of our present world was created as a difficult test for the whole world, and unfortunately most of the world has failed this test. Since the need for material benefits is so great and fleeing from truth is so massive, all of these technological inventions cause only one thing-a dilution of the truth, a distorting of the truth. Although it is true that one can listen to Torah classes on a video tape and also in a DVD and other modern gadgets, the beneficial use is pitifully little as compared with that for depravity. In the end what improvement does it provide for humanity? Whatever the improvement is, the degeneration is at least twice as much.
(8) Question: I would like to know what is the main mission of women in this period? Daniel: Throughout history a woman's most important duty is to insure a continuation of generations of G-d fearing Jews. That mission can be carried out by a woman and done modestly by way of love of Hashem that she induces to her children in her home. She does so by bringing an atmosphere of Jewish warmth into the home and by encouraging her husband to cling to holiness. In general she builds a house of kedusha (holiness), and that is her mission at this period and was so throughout the generations. In this generation that has, however, become extremely difficult since most Jews tend to think that all these holy ways of life are old-fashioned and women need (want) so-called freedom and to be like men. This, however, destroys and ruins us. A woman needs to be modest and must actually build her house with important elements such as Torah mitzvot and good deeds. (end)
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