Resource/discussion/study material to heighten emunah

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Apr 16 2017, 12:09 am

My DH and I live in more of a MO community but I'd say we are JPF. Our day to day activities don't really exhibit a lot of spirituality. Life is pretty routine and dry. We go through the motions so to speak. Some of our kids are inherently more spiritual and they will mention Hashem and seem concerned about mitzvoth and then we have one that just doesn't really seem to care.

To him, all the mitzvoth are just a bunch of rules that probably he'd be better off being without. And come to think of it, most of our friends that we associate with aren't really spiritual either. It's "no big deal" if someone doesn't have a dvar Torah at the Shabbos table for example. And in fact, current events and yesterday's complaints are often much more frequently treaded topics. So, it's no wonder that our DS is not so spiritual. It's just not exemplified for him.

Furthermore, even our kids that are more on the spiritual side, I'm not sure are more spiritual because they truly believe or just because they are just mimicking what they have seen at school for example.

So I'm looking for resources, perhaps study material or even short stories or books that I can use to heighten awareness/emunah.

Why would anyone want or care about all these rules and restrictions, especially a pre-teen, if they had no or little emunah.

sourstix

Sun, Apr 16 2017, 12:12 am

Op your doing great. You hit it on the nail. I can't refer anything in particular. But you can go into a judaica or seforim store and look through the emunah section its overwhelmingly full. Eichlers is so full of it. Don't despair you are on the right path. Kudos to you for doing something about it

You can check out eichlers.com

amother

Cyan

Sun, Apr 16 2017, 12:17 am

I'm sure it's not easy when the two of you are somewhat on a different page but I have to say its impressivethat you're looking to go higher. Torah anytime, gateways, hidabroot are all good sources of speakers like Rabbi Jacobson etc.
In all honesty davening and talking to Hashem and doing his mitzvot are more important than anything else. Being nice to one another is more important than zmiros (of course it's nice to have it by the shabbat table).
I am sure you're good.

amother

Mint

Sun, Apr 16 2017, 1:30 am

amother wrote:

In all honesty davening and talking to Hashem and doing his mitzvot are more important than anything else. Being nice to one another is more important than zmiros (of course it's nice to have it by the shabbat table).
I am sure you're good.

It's sweet of you to be trying to reassure OP but your reply is not helpful. OP isn't concerned that she will go to Hell because they don't sing at the Shabbos table. She's worried that the lack of spirituality in her home may eventually send her child/ren OTD and she wants to do something to prevent that. Don't you get that her concern is that kids who see observance devoid of spirituality will see no value to the observance and are this at risk of dropping the observance?

Your "there there, dear, you're a good person and that's what counts" is both condescending and useless.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Apr 16 2017, 7:33 am

Congratulations, you are 100% on the right track. Very Happy

Breslov! Go to their website. There are tons of shiurim online for free. Any book by Rabbi Shalom Arush, Rabbi Lazar Brody, or Rabbi Dr. Zev Ballen will really boost your spirits. I absolutely thrive on them. I'm actually planning a series of women's classes based on their teaching.

Work on your own emuna, and model what you want your kids to be. Thank Hashem out loud for every little thing. Let them know that they can ask for what they need, in their own words. Don't force them to daven from a siddur if they're not into it. Let them know that anything they say is precious to Hashem, and that he wants to know what's in their hearts.

I know from personal experience that lack of emuna is the cause of all anger, resentment, jealousy, stress, anxiety - and eventual rebellion or major depression, G-d forbid.

With emuna, everything in the world makes perfect sense!