Parshas Pinchas
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
18 Ideas, Suggestions, Observations, and Reminders to Share with Your Son the Bar-Mitzvah Boy on How to Live a Meaningful and Rewarding Life Until 120
At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.
At 40, we don't care what they think of us.
At 60, we discover they haven't been thinking about us at all.
The only way to become great is by doing small, good things consistently over a long period of time.
Remember! It always works out in the end ….and if it’s not working out it just means that it’s not the end yet.
The highest level that a Jew can reach in this world is to go through one’s entire life without ever hurting anyone else (Chazon Ish).
As a newly “minted” Bar-Mitzvah boy you have a totally clean slate with absolutely no sins …so don’t mess up now!
Every night before you go to sleep, try to make a cheshbon hanefesh (a “spiritual accounting”) of everything you did (or didn’t do) that day
Don’t sleep too much. This world was made for doing and accomplishing. You’ll sleep when you die.
Make it a goal to finish the entire Talmud (that’s 2,711 double-sided folios) at least once in your lifetime.
A man lives with himself for seventy years, yet he does not know himself. And if he does not know himself, then he cannot change himself.
Don’t just pray to G-d at the fixed times of morning, afternoon, and evening …. talk to Him and keep a running conversation with Him throughout the day.
Time is your most precious gift – and once it’s gone it’s not coming back - so use it wisely while you still have it.
Life is like a down elevator. If you’re not growing and going upwards, you’ll be taken down.
The only way to change (bad character traits) … is to change! It requires will power, and there are no real shortcuts.
Just as you believe in G-d, so must you then also believe in yourself, i.e., that G-d cares about you personally and cherishes you, especially when you do His will (Tzidkas HaTzaddik).
You might not realize it, but people are watching you … so be sure to make a Kiddush Hashem (“Sanctification of G-d’s Name”) wherever you go and whatever you do.
“L’fum tzara agra, according to the effort is the reward.” (Ethics of the Fathers). As with all good things in life…no pain, no gain!
"A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." (King Solomon in Proverbs).
“Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived” (Eleanor Roosevelt). Don’t aim to be ‘happy’ in life. Aim to be ‘good’ and to fulfill your potential. The happiness will come…
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=672