Visualizing Our Success | Rabbi Heshy Kleinman

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

The Gemara relates this incredible scene. The great Rabbi Akiva is being tortured to death by the Romans, and at the time, he's saying קריאת שמע. And he's saying it over flawlessly, with great serenity and calm. So his students, who are observing what is happening, ask their Rebbe, how are you able to say Shema at the time that you're being tortured by the Romans with such serenity? Rabbi Akiva answered, All the days of my life, I've been saying the pasuk in Shema, We should love Hashem, our God, with our soul. And I always wanted to be able to fulfill that. Now the time has come when I'm actually being tortured, I can actually love Hashem with my soul, with my Nefesh. But the question is, How was he able to pull it off? Rav Dessler, in the מכתב מאליהו, explains, You see, Rabbi Akiva, every single day, when he said the Shema, he closed his eyes and he visualized. He visualized being tortured,

Jump to a moment

1. 0:07The Gemara relates this incredible scene. The great Rabbi Akiva is being tortured to death by…
2. 0:39We should love Hashem, our God, with our soul. And I always wanted to be able…
3. 1:10he visualized actually loving Hashem with all his soul. That enabled Rabbi Akiva to be able…
4. 1:42four hours a day, and he visualized the minutest details of his swing. And you know…
5. 2:14That means they visualize doing the endeavor that they might find difficult, and they visualize this…
6. 2:44Visualize yourself overcoming the obstacles. That will become a part of your successful routine. One other…
7. 3:15the Mal’achim and HaKadosh Baruch Hu are reveling in our success, that we are עומד on…

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