The newly released book “Remarkable Insights about Death and the Afterlife” is now available (as a paperback, hardcover and digitized version) for purchase and delivery on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/
Some of the questions discussed in this book are the following.
What is the ultimate way to elevate the soul of one’s parents?
How does the death process rectify a person’s soul?
What profound life lessons can we learn from gravestones?
In what ways can the concept of reincarnation help us better understand life?
What is the idea behind davening at gravesites?
What will happen at the Resurrection of the Dead?
To join the thousands of recipients and receive these insights free on a weekly email, obtain previous articles, feedback, comments, suggestions (on how to spread the insights of this publication further, make it more appealing or anything else), to sponsor this publication which has been in six continents and more than forty countries, or if you know anyone who is interested in receiving these insights weekly, please contact the author, Rabbi Yehoshua Alt, at yalt3285@gmail.com. Thank you.
To purchase any of the author’s books (hardcopy or e-book) and get it delivered to your door, please send an email to yalt3285@gmail.com or visit https://amzn.to/3eyh5xP
לעילוי נשמת שמואל אביגדור בן יצחק מאיר
These Torah articles can also be viewed in French and Hebrew at https://www.dirshu.co.il/
Archives: https://
Please send your feedback to yalt3285@gmail.com.
Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of R’ Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years. He received Semicha from R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of the books, Fascinating Insights and Incredible Insights. His writings inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. He lives with his wife and family in a suburb of Yerushalayim where he studies, writes, and teaches. The author is passionate about teaching Jews of all levels of observance.
Please feel free to print some copies of this publication and distribute them in your local shul for the public, thereby having a hand in spreading Torah.
Gift of a Baby
The father of a newborn baby girl[1] once asked R’ Shach if he should make a kidush.[2] R’ Shach’s reply was if you finally had a baby after 8 years of waiting, you surely would make a kidush. So now that Hashem saved you from all that pain, shouldn’t you make a kidush?!
A father of a newborn baby boy called a mohel to hire him for the bris. Because of the palpable excitement of the father that was conveyed on the call, the mohel asked how long he waited to have this child. The father told him that he had been waiting 22 years for this child. This enthused the mohel and he looked forward with excitement to perform a bris on such an occasion. The day of the bris comes and the mohel arrives, expecting that the event would be teeming with unusual excitement. Of course there was excitement but it was the usual excitement you would expect at a bris, nothing out of the ordinary. Following the bris, the mohel heard a 21-year-old boy say. “Abba, don’t worry. It’s after the bris. I’ll take care of the younger children and my younger sister will take care of the girls.” The mohel realized that the father had ten children. The mohel then approached the father about this. The father said, “We are married 22 years and each child is a gift from Hashem. Must a person be childless to realize such a gift? I waited 22 years for this particular child. Each child is unique and special.”
[1] It has been said from the Steipler that at times a girl cannot find her shidduch because there was never a kidush made for her after she was born. R’ Chaim Kanievsky, the Steipler’s son, was asked in a letter if this was true. R’ Chaim wrote: לא שמעתי דבר זה ואני לא עשיתי קידוש לבנותי ואדוני אבי מורי ורבי זצ”ל לא אמר לי לעשות, I never heard this. And I didn’t make a kidush for the birth of my daughters and my master, my father, my Rebbe didn’t tell me to make a kidush. So R’ Chaim didn’t make a kidush for his own daughters.
[2] R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein (Shiurei Torah L’rofim, volume 4, p. 218) told of a woman who had nine children and didn’t want to have more because it was difficult for her. She asked R’ Shach for his opinion. He told her that his parents had ten children and when his mother was pregnant with him, the doctors recommended she abort the pregnancy. His mother ignored the doctor’s directives and gave birth to him. In World War Two, R’ Shach’s first eight siblings were murdered. Only he and his sister, numbers nine and ten in the family, survived.
