Some pearls of wisdom from Rebbetzin Jungreis

I had the pleasure of hearing Rebbetzin Jungreis speak on Shabbos and wanted to share with you a few pearls of wisdom from her talk:

• The most important thing to look for in a marriage partner is a good heart. All other qualities (intelligence, sense of humor, financial situation, physical appearance, commonalities) can be either built-up or h"v corrupted by a good heart or a bad heart. 

• In order to truly take in advice we need to cultivate a lev shomea. When Shlomo HaMelech was granted one wish from an angel, he asked for a listening heart. Most people listen with their ears; listening with your heart means that the advice or Torah will truly integrate with your personality and start to materialize. 

• The answer of the Jewish people to all that has befallen us is rising up again and building bayit ne'eman b'Yisrael - raising a Jewish home. When praying for a soulmate, one should not seek to address merely their own loneliness, but rather one should pray to Hashem to have the opportunity to raise children and grandchildren who will be steeped in Torah and mitzvot. (On this note, Rebbetzin Jungreis speaks of children and grandchildren broadly and spoke to the whole audience as her grandchildren).

• How often do we walk around Yerushalayim, crying out of the beauty and amazement that we are here, back in our land in great numbers? The rise of the state of Israel is the fulfillment of the prophecies of all the sages, and we are on the path towards our ultimate redemption, may it come speedily in our days.