Nitzotzos: Inspiration to Keep Your Spark Alive with Rav Mordechai Burg

In this short shiur, delivered at the grand banquet of Mevaseret, Rav Burg addresses the Talmidim for the final time of the year. In this shiur he defines the difference between a Malach who is an Omed and a human being who is a Mehaleich. An Omed can be defined by his fall but a human being who is in process can never be defined by what he does.

In this shiur, the last of the year in Tomer Devorah, Rav Burg addresses the inverted nuns that we find in this weeks Parsha. What are they doing in this week Parsha? Why a Nun? Why inverted? Why do we recite these pesukim at least three times a week? A Jew is called upon to swim upstream in life. To go against the current. And as we rebound for our state of Nefillah we climb higher than ever before, to a place that is even beyond our capacity to achieve.

In this shiur, delivered in Tomer Devorah, Rav Burg explores the topic of seeing the sounds by Har Sinai. The Zohar HaKadosh takes this literally. The inner message of this teaching is that Yiddishkeit needs to be something visible and visceral. We cannot teach the menu of Shabbos without teaching the majesty of Shabbos. If we are going to be Hashem's loyal servants, when the mountain of Har Sinai is held over our heads and a deep hester panim has set in, we must be able to draw from the strength of our relationship with Hashem.

When we know deeply that we matter, that our actions matter, we are capable of doing incredible things. The Medrash teaches us that had Boaz known that his actions were being recorded he would have served Rus a fleishigs seuda. This was not because Boaz wanted to look good for eternity but because he did not know that his actions mattered eternally.

In this shiur, delivered to the Nshei of Neve Shamir in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Rav Burg explores the concept of Chazal's explanation thatthe destruction of the Beis HaMidash was destroyed because of the fact that they did not make a Birchas HaTorah before davening. Could it be that they did not make a Birchas HaTorah before learning? Even if it did happen, is that something worthy of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash? Wasn't the Beis HaMikdash destroye because of the big three aveiros? Examining these questions and several more, Rav Burg addresses the topic of finding Hashem in the Torah and now allowing it to become an intellectual pursuit. Only through an authentic relationship with Hashem can we pass on our heritage to the next generation.

In this shiur, delivered in Aish HaTorah to the Chizzuk Mission led by Barrie Feld, Rav Burg addresses how the physical and spiritual can be fused with each other only from the perspective of the essence. This concept can be used to understand how men and women can find each other in relationships. At the end of the shiur there is a question and answer from Rav and Rebbetzin Burg.

In this shiur, delivered in the Jerusalem Gold Hotel in Yerushalayim to NCSY Summer advisors, Rav Burg addresses the topic of Chinuch and how it is an expression of our Avodas Hashem. The shiur was followed by a question and answer session about practical topics regarding dealing with NCSY'ers in the summer.