{"id":5187500,"date":"2025-11-12T10:27:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T07:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breslev.co.il\/?p=5187500"},"modified":"2025-11-12T10:27:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T07:27:26","slug":"a-love-that-opens-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/5187500\/","title":{"rendered":"A Love That Opens Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Translated from Rabbi Arush\u2019s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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When the Heart Opens\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

You know what\u2019s the worst trait a husband can have? What is the bad middah<\/i> that is most destructive for peace at home? It is even more destructive than anger and strictness and all bad middot<\/i>. What is it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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For years I have had the merit to guide Jews towards shalom bayit<\/i> (harmony in the home) and I\u2019ve seen this in countless couples. I also wrote about it in my book, The Garden of Peace<\/i><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The worst middah<\/i> when it comes to shalom bayit<\/i> is that of miserliness<\/b>! A miserly husband will never experience shalom bayit<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why? Because the wife must know and feel that her husband loves her, and love is expressed mainly in money<\/b>. If you love \u2013 you bestow and give generously; if you don\u2019t give, if you don\u2019t bestow \u2013 there is no love. And even if you tell your wife all day long that you love her \u2013 your claim will not be accepted; it will not enter her heart, because there is no giving involved, and in this world giving is important. And that means that in reality there is no love. And if there is no love, how could there be shalom bayit<\/i>?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This Shabbat we will be saying the blessing for the month of Kislev. True, Kislev is written with a vav <\/i>(\u05db\u05e1\u05dc\u05d5<\/strong><\/span>), but the darshanim<\/i> say that the sound of the word reminds one of the two words: kis<\/i> (\u05db\u05e1 – pocket) and lev<\/i> (\u05dc\u05d1<\/strong><\/span> – heart \u2013 written with a beit<\/i>). In this month we open our hearts and increase our feelings of love, and as a result we also open our pockets and increase the amount of tzedakah<\/i> we give. Because the pocket and the heart are connected: If you don\u2019t open your pocket and give to your wife, you don\u2019t love her. Period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Peak of Love\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

And therefore, what is more appropriate for this Shabbat than the peak of Avraham Avinu<\/i>\u2019s service of Hashem, Avraham who is called \u201cAvraham who loves Me\u201d1<\/b><\/sup><\/span>. The climax of all his service and his greatest nisayon<\/i> (trial) was particularly a trial involving money<\/b> \u2013 giving freely.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the previous parsha<\/i> we read that Avraham Avinu<\/i> was willing to sacrifice his beloved son. What can be higher than that? It becomes evident that there is a more difficult <\/b>nisayon<\/i><\/b> and that is the <\/b>nisayon<\/i><\/b> of money<\/b>, and that is why Avraham, after passing the test of the Akeida<\/i> (the binding of Yitzchak), must pass one more test \u2013 a test regarding money.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Gemara says that the Heavenly beings were most impressed by his passing this test: \u201c[The Satan] said before God: Master of the Universe, I have gone to and fro across the entire world and have not found anyone as faithful<\/b> as your servant Abraham, to whom you said: \u2018Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it to you\u2019 (Bereishit 13:17). And when he wanted to bury Sarah, he could not find a place to bury her until he bought it for four hundred silver shekels, and yet he did not criticize Your ways.\u201d2<\/b><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, we see that the nisayon<\/i> of money is more difficult even than the Akeida<\/i>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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According to this, it is possible to understand the order of the words in Kriyat Shema<\/i> every day: \u201cYou shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and all your soul and all your might\u201d. Chazal<\/i> explain that \u201call your heart\u201d refers to \u201cboth your inclinations\u201d (yetzer hatov <\/i>and yetzer hara<\/i> \u2013 good and bad inclinations). Serving Hashem with the yetzer hara<\/i> is not easy, and it demands an extremely high level of ahavat Hashem<\/i> (love of Hashem).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But above it <\/b>is \u201cand all your soul\u201d \u2013 which means \u201ceven if He is taking away your soul\u201d \u2013 in other words, complete mesirut nefesh<\/i>, being willing to give up your life for the sake of Hashem. This is already a much higher level of ahavat Hashem<\/i>, and you would think there is nothing higher than it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But here the Torah surprises us and says, \u201cand with all your might\u201d. And Chazal explain that it means \u201cwith all your money\u201d, which is the highest level<\/b>, even higher than giving up your life, and it is the peak of ahavat Hashem<\/i>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbi Nachman says: How does one fulfill \u201cand with all your might\u201d? By giving one fifth of your money to tzedakah<\/i> \u2013 twenty percent. This sounds like a huge sum. How can one do this? We will try to learn and reveal the secret of how to do it from Avraham Avinu<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Love with Emuna<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In Kriyat Shema<\/i>, as well as with Avraham Avinu<\/i>, we see that emuna<\/i><\/b> and <\/b>ahavat Hashem<\/i><\/b> (love of Hashem) go hand in hand. The first pasuk<\/i> of Shema is a statement of belief<\/b> that Hashem is One, and immediately in the next pasuk<\/i> we are commanded to love<\/b> Him. Avraham Avinu<\/i>, as well, on one hand is called \u201cAvraham who loves Me<\/b>\u201d1<\/b><\/sup><\/span>, for he achieved complete and full ahavat Hashem<\/i>, and on the other hand, the passage in the Gemara<\/i> we brought says about Avraham\u2019s passing the test of money \u201cI have not found anyone as faithful\u201d2<\/sup><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 emuna<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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And this is the foundation that we repeat again and again: True <\/b>emuna<\/i><\/b> in Hashem yitbarach<\/i> is the belief that Hashem loves me<\/b>, and when a Jew truly feels that Hashem loves him \u2013 he loves Hashem in return, because true <\/b>emuna<\/i><\/b> leads to love!<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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For how can one observe the mitzvah of loving Hashem? Can one be commanded to love? But the mitzvah is to know how much Hashem loves us<\/b>, as we say in the prelude to Kriyat Shema<\/i>: \u201cYou have loved us with eternal love\u201d \u2013 and then we naturally mirror Hashem\u2019s love to us by loving Him in return.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It is impossible to reach complete ahavat Hashem<\/i> without complete emuna<\/i>, because complete emuna<\/i> is to know that Hashem loves me and loves each and every Jew personally, in every situation, because that is what causes the person to truly love Hashem!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Secret of Avraham\u2019s Generosity<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Therefore, it is Avraham Avinu<\/i> in particular who reached the peak of emuna<\/i> \u2013 he was the one who reached the highest level of love of Hashem, and that is how he reached the optimal expression of love \u2013 to love Hashem with all his money<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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As we see in our parsha,<\/i> Avraham Avinu<\/i> spends a lot of money freely, without any compunctions and without any haggling. And not only that \u2013 \u201cHe says little and does much\u201d3<\/b><\/sup><\/span> \u2013 he gives the best shekels<\/i>. It is told about the Ari Hakadosh<\/i> that when he would pay for a mitzvah, he would never try to bargain but would just put his moneybag in front of the seller and say to him: \u201cTake as much as you want!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Throughout the parashot<\/i> that tell of Avraham Avinu<\/i> we see his giving and his easy concession when it comes to money. How does one reach such a level of limitless giving, without any compunctions? One reaches it by the feeling of trust that is hinted to later on in our song: \u201cHashem yitbarach<\/i> always loves me and I will have only good<\/b>\u201d. When a Jew knows that Hashem loves him, he trusts him wholeheartedly that He will always give and bestow upon him all the good in the world, because he knows that Hashem will give him everything that he will need, and he will not lack anything!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Only when a Jew knows that Hashem loves him and as such he lives the knowledge that Hashem will do only good to him and will give him and will bestow upon him anything that he lacks \u2013 only he can gird himself with ahavat Hashem<\/i> and spend his money on mitzvahs and also give a full fifth of his profits to tzedakah<\/i> without any fear. He will do everything out of a true love for Hashem yitbarach<\/i>, making him the fulfillment of the pasuk<\/i> \u201cIf a man offered all his wealth for love \u2013 they would laugh him to shame.\u201d4<\/b><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Rectification of This Generation\u2019s Avodah Zara<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Our Sages cancelled the yetzer<\/i> (inclination) for avodah zarah<\/i>5<\/i><\/b><\/sup><\/span>, but one cannot cancel the angel of the avodah zarah<\/i>. In our generation, the avodah zarah<\/i> takes the form of love of money.\u00a0Rabbeinu<\/i> says that all the avodah zaras<\/i> of the nations are connected to money. And just like emuna<\/i> confronts avodah zarah<\/i>, so too the zenith of emuna<\/i>, which is the emuna<\/i> that Hashem loves me and I will have only good, confronts the zenith of avodah zarah <\/i>\u2013 the love of money. For the only true tool against the desire for money is the belief and the knowledge that Hashem loves me and I will always have only good and therefore I am not dependent at all on money, only on Hashem\u2019s love and chessed<\/i> (grace).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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May Hashem give us the complete knowledge that He loves us personally, always, in every situation, and wants to give us only good, and then we will spend money with love on anything that is part of Hashem\u2019s will and we will trust Him wholeheartedly to give us more and more and do us more and more good, and may we always have only good, Amen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Editor\u2019s Notes:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/sup><\/span><\/strong> Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 41:8\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/sup><\/strong><\/span> Talmud, Baba Basra 15b\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3<\/sup><\/strong><\/span> Mishnah, Tractate Avot 1:15\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4<\/sup><\/strong><\/span> Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 8:7\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5<\/sup> <\/strong><\/span>Talmud, Yoma 69b and Sanhedrin 64a\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from Rabbi Arush\u2019s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.\u00a0 \u00a0 When the Heart Opens\u00a0 You know what\u2019s the worst trait a husband can have? What is the bad middah that is most destructive for peace at home? It … Continue reading “A Love That Opens Doors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62109,"featured_media":5187511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[15144,15178],"tags":[32505,56191,16369,26234,54788,24775],"author_post":[14273],"new_serie":[],"class_list":["post-5187500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewish-outlook","category-marital-harmony","tag-chomesh","tag-abraham-and-sarah","tag-emuna","tag-idolatry","tag-ahavas-hashem","tag-bitachon","author_post-rabbi-shalom-arush"],"acf":{"paragraph_first":"Complete emuna is to know that Hashem loves me and every Jew personally, in every situation. That is what causes the person to truly love Hashem!","paragraph_second":"The only true tool against the desire for money is the belief and the knowledge that Hashem loves me and I will always have only good. I am not dependent at all on money, only on Hashem\u2019s love and chessed.","meta_title":"A Love That Opens Doors","meta_description":"Could Avraham face a greater test than sacrificing his son Yitzchak? Yes \u2013 to give generously and without qualms to pay for Sarah\u2019s burial place in Hevron. Why is this test harder than sacrificing his son, and what motivated his generosity?","special_content_in_the_post":"none","youtube":"","intro_text":"

Could <\/span>Avraham <\/span>face a greater test than sacrificing his son Yitzchak? Yes \u2013 to give generously<\/span> and without qualms<\/span> to pay for Sarah\u2019s burial place in Hevron<\/span>.<\/span> Why is this test harder than sacrificing his son, and w<\/span>hat motivated his generosity?<\/span><\/p>\n"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5187500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5187500"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5187500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5187522,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5187500\/revisions\/5187522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5187511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5187500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5187500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5187500"},{"taxonomy":"author_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author_post?post=5187500"},{"taxonomy":"new_serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_serie?post=5187500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}