MerkosLoop

Of Snakes and Sticks

2010-12-30T23:03:00.001+11:00

Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh, and they did as G-d had commanded: Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it turned into a serpent. Pharaoh summoned also [his] wise men and sorcerers... each cast his staff, and they turned into serpents; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Exodus 7:10-12

The Torah emphasizes that it was Aaron’s staff that consumed the serpent-staffs of the Egyptian sorcerers. Our sages explain that since it is natural that a snake swallow another snake, G-d made that Aaron’s staff should swallow the others after it had reverted to its original, inanimate form, thereby demonstrating the impotence of Egypt’s idols in a manifestly miraculous way.[1]

But the miracle of the swallowing stick is more than a sign and warning to Pharaoh; there is also a lesson here, to each and every one of us, on how to confront the various “Pharaohs” we must deal with in the course of our lives. The Torah’s “ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace”[2]—our mission is to create light, not to battle darkness. Nevertheless, there are times when we are forced to resort to battle, when we must vanquish those who seek to vanquish us. Thus Moses, the gentle shepherd of Israel,[3] and Aaron, the epitomic man of peace,[4] found themselves in the role of “judge and chastiser of Pharaoh”[5] and the Egyptians, crushing their might and obliterating, one after another, their icons and myths.

But even when he wages war, the Jew is not a warrior. Even when he consumes the serpents of the enemy, he is not a serpent himself, spewing poison and hate. His instrument of vengeance is as devoid of vengeful feeling as the stoic staff, as cold to the rage of war as a lifeless stick.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Va’era 5742 (January 23, 1982)[6]

Turnover from cold to warm

2010-12-30T23:01:00.000+11:00

And I appeared (va'eira) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex. 6:3)
The word va'eira means both "And I appeared" and "And I will appear." This shows us that the G-dly revelation to the Patriarchs can be found, now, within every Jew. For, within the soul of every Jew there is Abraham (who epitomized love of G-d), Isaac (awe of G-d) and Jacob (mercy and compassion). When these traits are revealed, it is similar to G-d's revelation to the Patriarchs.

(Ohr HaTorah)

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I will take you out...and I will release you...and I will redeem you...and I will take you...and I will bring you into the land (Ex. 6:6-8)

The first four expressions of redemption allude to our redemption from Egypt, whereas the fifth expression, "I will bring you," alludes to the future redemption, the final one which we are now awaiting. Why is this mentioned, then, when foretelling our departure from Egypt? To teach us that ever since the time that we left Egypt, we have been slowly but surely approaching the Final Redemption.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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These are Aaron and Moses...These are Moses and Aaron (Ex. 6:26, 27)

Aaron, the first priest, embodied the proper worship of G-d, and by extension, symbolizes prayer in general. The job of the priests was to offer the sacrifices in the Holy Temple; in our days, prayer takes the place of these sacrifices. Moses symbolized Torah study. The repetition of the two names in the reverse order teaches us that there are times in our daily lives when one aspect takes precedence over the other. Sometimes we stress prayer as a preparation for performing mitzvot and Torah study, and sometimes we study first in order to pray more effectively.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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And G-d said..."Behold I will smite... the waters which are in the river and they shall be turned into blood." (Ex. 7:17)

The icy waters of a river are a symbol of coldness. Blood is symbolic of warmth and vitality. The first plague with which G-d smote the Egyptians - the preface to the Exodus from Egypt - was changing water to blood. This is similar to a Jew's spiritual service. A Jew asks G-d to take him out of his own Egypt - physical or spiritual limitations. But first it is necessary to turn the water - coldness toward Torah and mitzvot, into blood - warmth and excitement toward holy things.

(Likutei Sichot)

Settling in Eretz Yisroel?

2010-12-30T22:59:00.000+11:00

16 Cheshvan 5734 [1974]
Blessings and Greetings:

This is to confirm receipt of your correspondence. In the meantime, you no doubt received my previous letter.

With reference to you writing about the idea of settling in Eretz Yisroel [the Land of Israel] in the near future, about which you ask my opinion.

I have often emphasized, as you may be aware, that a Jew considering emigration from any part of the world to any other, must not take a narrow view, but should consider it in broader terms. What I mean is that Jews are, of course, a minority in terms of the nations of the world, and must therefore always think in terms of self- preservation. Wherever Jews are they must consider themselves in a state of perpetual mobilization to protect their independence, not only insofar as they themselves are concerned, but also insofar as the Jewish people as a whole is concerned. This applies to all places, but the situation varies, for there are some places where the percentage of Jews is relatively smaller, and hence more vulnerable. And among the Jews themselves, there are places where those who are active in the strengthening of Torah and Mitzvoth [commandments], the very foundation of Jewish existence, are very few. This increases their responsibility all the more, especially those who have been active and successful, whose departure would leave an irreparable void.

And as already mentioned, this is a question of survival not only for the local communities, but for the Jewish people in general. Clearly, one's first responsibility is toward the community where one has been brought up, and to which one can contribute effectively.

Now, let us consider South Africa, where Jews originally came mostly from Lithuania and similar places, where Jewish life was flourishing. I do not have to tell you what the situation is in the Republic of S. A. in terms of true Yiddishkeit [Judaism], even in Johannesburg, which has the largest Jewish community in S. A.

Consequently, you and your husband occupy a very special place in the community, and must consider yourselves in the forefront of a far-reaching endeavor to strengthen the true religious foundation of Jewish life in your community and in the country at large.

One can well understand the motivation and desire to help Eretz Yisroel. But it is sometimes overlooked that such help can often be more effective when those who are responsible for their posts on the local front remain at their posts. If in the past this point might have been debatable, recent events have shown how important has been the help of the Jews in the Diaspora, through their contacts in the world's capitals, and otherwise, although it is premature to reveal the full extent of such help. Obviously it is such Jews who are deeply concerned for the survival of the Jewish people who have provided this vital help.

I am sure there is no need to elaborate to you further on the above.

With blessing,

The Jewish State and its criminal occupation of the West Bank

2010-12-30T22:58:00.001+11:00

Question of the Week:

As a believing Christian, I made a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I was profoundly disturbed by the Jewish state and its criminal occupation of the West Bank. How can you justify usurping land that belongs to others?

Answer:
You are entitled to your opinion on the matter. But I hope you are consistent in your beliefs. Being that you oppose a Jewish presence on the West Bank, I assume you will not be participating in any celebrations during the coming days. According to your view, there is no reason to be merry on December 25.
The Christian holidays celebrate an event that you have named a criminal act - the birth of a Jewish baby to a Jewish family living in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Your views should not allow you to have any part in this cheer, for if you did you would be giving retroactive approval to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank that dates back more than two thousand years.
Perhaps you will be joined by the UN and other humanitarian organizations around the world condemning any celebrations this week that are connected with this controversial birth, as such events would be recognizing the rights of a Jewish family to live on what you see as occupied territory.
However I must warn you, by espousing this view and not celebrating, you will be vastly outnumbered. Not that it's so bad to be in the minority, I personally have been all my life. But keep in mind, while you accuse Israel of occupying land, there will be two billion Christians around the world celebrating the fact that the West Bank has always been the home of the Jewish people.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

He loved peace and pursued peace, loved all creatures and brought them closer to Torah

2010-12-30T22:57:00.002+11:00

We read in this week's Torah portion, Va'eira, of the specific instructions given to Moses by G-d prior to Moses' and Aaron's appearance before Pharaoh: When Pharaoh asked them for a sign to prove that the One who sent them was mighty, Aaron was to throw down his staff and it would turn into a serpent. When Aaron, in fact, threw down his staff, Pharaoh immediately called in his wise men and magicians, demanding that they duplicate the trick with their own staffs. They easily performed this feat. However, their staffs were all swallowed up by Aaron's staff.
The miracle which took place here was not that Aaron's staff turned into a serpent, for Pharaoh's magicians were also able to perform this feat. Rather, it was the fact that Aaron's staff (after having changed from a serpent back into a staff) swallowed the magicians' staffs.

The wonders and plagues that occurred in Egypt did not come about for the sole purpose of punishing the Egyptians, but rather to break down the resistance and opposition of the Egyptian people to G-d. Egyptian philosophy claimed that G-d has no power or influence in the world. According to them, after Creation the world was given over to the laws of nature and G-d relinquished any day-to-day supervision or attention.

The Ten Plagues served to disprove this ideology, each one of them illustrating a different error in their way of thinking. The miracle of the swallowing of the staffs was an introduction and precursor to the miracles that would follow. The general prelude to this refutation was the swallowing of the staffs.

The meeting between Aaron and Pharaoh was a confrontation between the forces of good and evil. Aaron's staff symbolized the G-dly force which comes from holiness. The serpent symbolized Egypt, as it says, "Egypt is a great serpent stretched out within its rivers." By turning the staff into a serpent, Aaron showed Pharaoh that Egypt itself owes its life-force to G-d. When Pharaoh's magicians were also able to turn their staffs into serpents, they were insisting that they have their own power. When their staffs were swallowed up by that of Aaron, it proved that the power of impurity and uncleanliness is nothing in the face of the power and force of holiness, and can have no existence or duration.

Through this miracle, G-d showed Pharaoh and his wise men that they, too, were under His dominion, and that Pharaoh truly had no power of his own. This underscored the lesson that was to be learned by all of Egypt, and foreshadowed the Ten Plagues that were to come.

From this discussion about the confrontation between Pharaoh and Aaron, we can learn a general lesson in our treatment of and relationship with others. Aaron was described as one who "loved peace and pursued peace, loved all creatures and brought them closer to Torah." When we meet someone who behaves improperly or with offensive character flaws, we must approach him with the staff of Aaron - with true love, and we must remember that we are using the staff of Aaron, not the serpent; our interaction should be without anger or ill-feelings, without involving our own emotions, rather like a dry stick.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Searching For So Long

2010-12-30T22:57:00.001+11:00

A boy came running to his father in tears. He had been playing hide-and-seek with his friends and the boy who had been chosen to be "it" had played a trick on them. They had all hidden, but instead of going to find them, "it" simply went home. For a while, the children hiding felt very successful. After all, they had remained in hiding a long time without being found. But afterwards, they began to feel lonely and betrayed.
As the son was talking, he saw his father - the Maggid of Mezeritch - also break out in tears.

"Why are you crying?" the child asked his father.

"Because G-d has the same complaint that you do."

When He hides Himself, He is waiting for us to search for Him.

If you were G-d and You wanted people to be conscious of Your existence, what would You do?

Most of us would answer: Just say "Hello." Afterall, we aren't interested in games. If we want something, we go for it.

Why doesn't G-d do that? One of the reasons is that if He were to reveal Himself as He is, nothing else could exist. It would be like looking directly at the sun; the light would be too powerful. Were He not to withdraw and conceal Himself, we could not exist.

But if concealment is necessary to maintain our existence, how can He make Himself known? If it is necessary for Him to withdraw to create the world, how can He enter it again?

These questions lie at the core of the spiritual history of the world. The concealment of G-dliness creates the framework of our existence. On the other hand, the progress of civilization is directed towards one goal: that He make Himself known.

One of the tools that He uses to make Himself known is nature itself. The natural makeup of the world conceals G-dliness, creating the impression that the world exists independently with its own rules and on its own power. On the other hand, when a person probes more deeply, he or she comes to the awareness that nature cannot exist on its own. There is too deep and encompassing a harmony. The ongoing, inner rhythm is too powerful to ignore. This is one way that man comes to appreciate G-d.

This way is, however, problematic. First of all, it requires contemplation and deeper thought. As such, not everyone will come to that awareness. Secondly, even when a person is capable of reaching such an understanding, it will not be his inherent reaction. Ingrained in his nature is the idea that the world exists for itself. The awareness of G-d always comes second, as a learned - and therefore a weaker - conception.

For this reason, from time to time, G-d performs revealed miracles, for example, the Ten Plagues visited upon the Egyptians, seven of which are described in this week's Torah reading.

Why did G-d bring the plagues? His purpose was not only to motivate Pharaoh to release the Jews.

The intent of the plagues is clearly stated in the Torah: "So that you tell... your son and your grandson that I made sport of Egypt... so that you may know that I am G-d."

The miracles of the Exodus made it plainly obvious that G-d exists. After all, water does not ordinarily turn to blood and frogs do not swarm over the land. Seeing these miracles, one after the other, made everyone - the Egyptians and the Jews - conscious of G-d.

On the other hand, miracles are not ordinary. Were that true, the concealment mentioned above would be broken. There would be too much revelation for this world. Also, there would be little point in man's service, for when G-dliness is obvious, is it a challenge to serve Him?

Our lives contain a fusion of the two. The prevailing paradigm is that of the natural order. Yet, from time to time, we are granted an appreciation of G-dliness that transcends nature to inspire us to deeper and more committed service.

From Keeping In Touch by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, published by Sichos In English

The Infant Shepherd

2010-12-23T23:03:00.003+11:00

We all know the story of how Moses’ mother, to save him from Pharaoh’s decree that all newborn Jewish males be drowned in the Nile, placed the three-month-old infant in a basket and concealed it in the rushes that grew along the riverbank; and how Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the weeping child when she went to bathe in the river, and raised him in the royal palace.

There is one detail in this story that is the subject of some confusion. Where, exactly, was Moses’ basket placed? In the Torah’s account, we read: “And she placed it in the rushes, on the bank of the river.”[1] According to this, Moses was not placed in the Nile itself, but on the Nile’s shore.[2] A few verses later, however, the Torah tells us that Pharaoh’s daughter named the child she found Moses (“the drawn one”), “because I have drawn him from the water.”[3]

The Torah is G-d’s blueprint for creation, whose every detail is of eternal relevance to our lives. If the Torah tells us that Moses’ mother placed him on the riverbank, this means that she could not have placed him in the Nile itself; if the Torah tells us that Pharaoh’s daughter subsequently took him from the Nile’s waters, this means that it was crucial that he be in the river at that time. And if the Torah troubles itself to tell us all this, this means that it is important to our understanding of the event and its application to our lives today.

The Purging of the Nile
The Gaon of Rogachov (Rabbi Joseph Rosen, 1858-1936) offers a halachic (Torah-legal) explanation for the basket’s change of location. Moses’ mother could not have initially placed him in the Nile itself because the Nile was worshipped by the Egyptians as a god, and it is forbidden to make use of an object of idol-worship even to save oneself.[4] However, Torah law also stipulates that if an idol-worshipper renounces his idol, it becomes “nullified” and permissible for use.[5] Our sages tell us that Pharaoh’s daughter “came down to the river to bathe”[6] not only in the physical sense, but also “to cleanse herself from her father’s idols.”[7] Her renunciation of the paganism of Egypt nullified the river’s idolatrous status, and its waters could now receive and shelter Moses. It was at this point that Moses’ basket entered the Nile.[8]

Why was it important that Moses should be in the Nile? The Midrash tells us that Pharaoh’s astrologers had told him that “the savior of Israel will meet his end by water,” which was why Pharaoh decreed that all male Jewish babies should be thrown into the Nile. When Moses was in the river, the astrologers told Pharaoh, “The savior of the Jews has already been cast into the water.” Thus Moses’ entry into the Nile brought the end of Pharaoh’s decree.[9]

The Cult of the River
Very little rain falls in Egypt. Agriculture is completely dependent on the Nile, whose overflow fills a network of irrigation canals. The ancient Egyptians therefore deified the Nile, regarding it as the ultimate source of sustenance and the ultimate endower of life.

This was the deeper significance of Pharaoh’s decree to drown Jewish children in the Nile. Pharaoh knew that if the next generation of Jews were submerged in the Nile-cult of Egypt—if they were raised to regard the natural purveyors of sustenance as gods—the Jewish faith would be obliterated. The message of a One G-d who is the creator and source of all, which so threatened his pagan oligarchy, would be silenced forever.

One can say that Nile-worship is as prevalent today as it was in the days of the Pharaohs. Today’s “Nile” may be a college degree, a career, social standing—anything that is venerated as a provider of sustenance and life. These are tools of sustenance, as the Nile is an instrument of G-d’s sustenance of those who dwell along its banks; but when the vehicle is confused with the source—when a person submerges his entire self in the “Nile,” investing his choicest energies in the perfection of the instrument rather than the cultivation of his relationship with its divine wielder—this is idolatry.

Faith Feeder
Moses is the raaya meheimna, the “faithful shepherd” of Israel.[10] The words raaya meheimna also mean “shepherd of faith”—i.e., one who feeds faith to his flock.[11] Moses’ primary role was to nurture the faith of his people, to broaden it, deepen it and develop it so that they became completely permeated with a knowledge of G-d and the understanding that “There is none else besides Him”[12]—that all the “Niles” of the world are not forces or realities in their own right, but merely vehicles of divine sustenance.

Moses was eighty years old when he took the people of Israel out of Egypt, led them to Mount Sinai, and fed them the ultimate infusion of divine knowledge, the Torah. But he was already a “shepherd of faith” at the age of three months, when he was instrumental in dethroning the arch-idol of Egypt and putting an end to the drowning of Israel’s children in its waters.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Parshat Shemot of 5722 (1962) and 5723 (1963)[13]

70 souls

2010-12-23T23:03:00.001+11:00

All the soul(s) that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 soul(s) (Ex. 1:5)
The Children of Israel are referred to in the collective singular, "soul," whereas Esau's descendants are described in the plural, "souls." The sphere of holiness is characterized by awe of G-d, self-nullification and unity. (Think of two royal ministers, who, despite their disagreements, become totally nullified and of one mind in the presence of the king.) The opposite of holiness, however, is characterized by disunity and plurality.

(Siddur, with Chasidic notes)

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And behold, it was a weeping boy... and she said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children" (Ex. 2:6)

How could Pharaoh's daughter have recognized that the child was Jewish, just from his cry? This is because a Jewish cry is unique; even when he weeps, a Jew is filled with hope.

(Rabbi Mordechai Chaim of Slonim)

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Why "one of the Hebrews' children" and not "a Hebrew child"? As Rashi notes, the baby's cry was stronger than that of an infant, "like a young lad's." When Pharaoh's daughter was surprised by its intensity, Miriam explained that it was "one of the Hebrews' children": not an individual voice, but the collective crying of all the Jewish babies who had been sentenced to drown.

(Meir Einei Yesharim)

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And she called his name Moses... because out of the water have I drawn him (Gen. 2:10)

The name Moses ("Moshe" in Hebrew) comes from the verb "to draw out," and is in the present tense, indicating an ongoing action. This alludes to the task of the true Jewish leader, which is to elevate the Jew from the depths of physicality and guide him toward the shores of spiritual safety. Moses, the first Jewish leader, was the prototype for all time; his actions are continued by the "reflection of Moses" that exists in every generation.

(Teivot Shalom)

scientific research

2010-12-23T23:02:00.001+11:00

21st of Sivan, 5725 [1965]
You have undoubtedly received my regards through Rabbi -, who had also brought me your regards...

I acknowledge with thanks receipt of your letter of May 9th, also your works on your scientific research. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and trouble in sending me this material. Although the subject matter is entirely beyond my province, I trust that I will be able to glean some general ideas from your writings, and perhaps also some specific ones.

At the risk of not sounding very "scientific" to you, I nevertheless wish to express my hope that you will also apply your research work to good advantage in the service of G-d, in accordance with the principle, "Know Him in all thy ways." Indeed, the discoveries in the natural sciences have thrown new light on the wonders of Creation, and the modern trend has consequently been towards the recognition of the unity pervading Nature. In fact, with every advancement in science, the underlying unity in the physical world has become more clearly discernible; so much so, that science is now searching for the ideal formula which would comprise all the phenomena of the physical world in one comprehensive equation. With a little further insight it can be seen that the unity in Nature is the reflection of true monotheism in its Jewish concept. For, as we Jews conceive of monotheism, it is not merely the belief that there is only One G-d, but that G-d's unity transcends also the physical world, so that there is only one reality, namely G-d. However, inasmuch as Creation included all the souls, etc., there has been created a multiplicity and diversity in Nature - insofar as the created beings themselves are concerned, without, however, effecting any change in the Creator, as explained at length in Chasidus.

You ask me about my reference to the Rambam and where it contains in substance, though in different terms, the concept of the conscious and subconscious of modern psychology. I had in mind a passage in Hilchos Gerushin (end of chapter 2), in the Rambam's magnum opus, Yad Hachazakah. The gist of that passage is as follows: There are certain matters in Jewish Law, the performance of which requires free volition, not coercion. However, where the Jewish Law requires specific performance, it is permitted to use coercive measures until the reluctant party declares "I am willing," and his performance is valid and considered voluntary. There seems here an obvious contradiction: If it is permitted to compel performance, why is it necessary that the person should declare himself "willing"? And if compulsory performance is not valid, what good is it if the person declares himself "willing" under compulsion?

And here comes the essential point of the Rambam's explanation:

Every Jew, regardless of his status and station, is essentially willing to do all that he is commanded to do by our Torah. However, sometimes the yetzer (hara) [evil inclination] prevails over his better judgment and prevents him from doing what he has to do in accordance with the Torah. When, therefore, beis din [Rabbinical court] compels a Jew to do something, it is not with a view to creating in him a new desire, but rather to release him from the compulsion which had paralyzed his desire, thus enabling him to express his true self. Under these circumstances, when he declares "I am willing," it is an authentic declaration.

To put the above in contemporary terminology: The conscious state of a Jew can be affected by external pressures that induce states of mind and even behavior which are contrary to his subconscious, which is the Jew's essential nature. When the external pressures are removed, it does not constitute a change or transformation of his essential nature, but, on the contrary, is merely the reassertion of his innate and true character.

To a person of your background it is unnecessary to point out that nothing in the above can be construed as a confirmation of other aspects of the Freudian theory to the effect that man's psyche is primarily governed by libido, etc. For these ideas are contrary to those of the Torah, whose view is that the human being is essentially good (as the Rambam, above). The only similarity is in the general idea that human nature is a composite of a substratum and various layers, especially insofar as the Jew is concerned, as above.

I will conclude with the traditional blessing which I have already conveyed to you through Rabbi-: to receive the Torah with joy and inwardness, as a daily experience through the year.

dating

2010-12-23T23:01:00.001+11:00

Question of the Week:

Why is dating so hard these days? Never in history have people struggled with relationships so much. So many of my friends are still single and looking. And even my married friends seem to have to work hard to keep it together. What’s wrong with us?

Answer:

We are a generation of complicated souls. Some of it is our own doing, but some of it is the destiny thrust upon us. The knotty world of modern dating is partly a reflection of the complex nature of the modern soul.

The search for a soulmate will be made easier or harder depending on what type of soul you have. The master kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria taught that only new souls have an easy time finding their soulmate. When your soul comes to this world for the first time, you are fresh and unencumbered. Your vision is clear and your heart is open, and it is easy to recognise your soulmate.

But for those souls who have been here before, reincarnated souls, it doesn’t come so easily. Reincarnated souls come to the world with the baggage of their previous life, and though every soul is born pure, a reincarnated soul is born complicated.

So while a new soul will meet and recognise their soulmate immediately, an old soul will have to work harder. They may have to meet many others before they meet the right one. They may need to do a lot of growing and inner development before being ready to recognise their soulmate. There is a lot of stuff to get over first – like unrealistic expectations, over-specific requirements, exaggerated self-images, superficial hang-ups and the residue of relationships of the past. And even when soulmates do find each other, they will have to work hard to make things work.

The kabbalists declared that almost all souls these days have been here before. Very few new souls are coming down. So we can expect the search for soulmates to be more challenging now than ever. Our souls are carrying baggage – some we have inherited and some our own doing – and only by working through those layers do we remove the barriers that stand between our soul and our soulmate.

The best way to bring about meeting your soulmate is to be more in touch with your own soul. When your soul is pulsating with inspiration and clarity, when you are spiritually grounded and bringing goodness to your surroundings, then you are most prone to meeting your soulmate. It may take some effort, but that is your destiny.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Any individual who lifts his hand against another is termed a rasha

2010-12-23T22:54:00.001+11:00

In this week's Torah portion, Shemot, we read the incident where Moses came upon two Jews (Datan and Aviram) in the midst of an argument. When one man lifted his hand to strike the other, Moses cried out, "Rasha! (Evil one!) Why do you strike your fellow?" Moses called him a rasha even though he had not yet delivered the blow, as the very act of raising one's hand against another person is forbidden.
Any individual who lifts his hand against another is termed a rasha, even if he does not actually hit him. But why is it prohibited to raise one's hand?" Why is it considered such a serious transgression?

To explain:

Man was created for the sole purpose of serving his Maker, to learn Torah and perform mitzvot (commandments) in accordance with G-d's will.

The human body is comprised of many different limbs, each one of which must be properly utilized in the service of G-d. Some mitzvot are performed with the feet, others through the power of speech, and yet others with the nose. Each and every limb has a specific purpose, designed to carry out its own particular commandments.

So too has the human hand been created to perform G-d's mitzvot. There are many commandments that are done with the hands: donning tefilin, building a suka, lighting Shabbat candles, etc.

The hand is especially suited to perform the mitzva of tzedaka (charity). With our hands we take a coin and give it to a poor person or place it in a tzedaka box, as the Torah enjoins us: "You shall surely open up your hand."

The primary function of the hand is to do good for others. When a person argues with his fellow man and lifts his hand as if to strike him, he is using that hand to bring him harm - the opposite of the purpose for which it was created.

For this reason Moses called the man "evil one," for it is evil to use the hand which G-d has created for good in a negative fashion. Indeed, it is a serious transgression to pervert the potential for good into a potential for evil. Moses therefore became angry even before the blow was delivered.

A person who hits his fellow and causes him pain commits a sin "between man and his fellow man."

A person who lifts his hand in anger, even though he does not strike the other person, commits a sin "between man and G-d" by distorting the very purpose for which the hand was created.

Let us therefore use our hands - and all our limbs - to carry out G-d's will and serve Him. For that is the true purpose for which man was created.

Adapted from Likutei Sichot, Volume 31.

Jury Duty

2010-12-23T22:53:00.000+11:00

Jury Duty - It's one of those things every good citizen should do - has to do - but which often is just inconvenient.
First, the notice never seems to come at a good time, if there ever is a good time.

Then there's the parking. Why are courtrooms always placed in the most difficult-to-park parts of town?

Inside it's a giant waiting room - and we do mean waiting. With lots of noise and a blaring TV. So you can't get any work done. Or reading. Or resting.

Finally you get called to a judge's court (the lawyers just spent three hours trying to settle - three hours of your time wasted waiting in the "jury pool" - and couldn't).

The judge gives you a lecture. The prosecuting attorney gives you a lecture. The defense attorney gives you a lecture. Then they ask you a lot of questions, to make sure you can be an impartial and open minded juror.

If you're lucky (!?), you're selected. A fundamental right: trial by a jury of one's peers.

If you ever have to go to court, you want the jury to be composed of people - just like you! So, maybe it's worth a little time and sacrifice.

It varies from country to country how often you're called to jury duty. But in Judaism, you're on jury duty every day.

Every day you're called away from the conveniences - the "creature comforts" - of life. Every day you have to wait - prepare, really - in the jury pool until the judge is ready to begin the trial. Every day you have to listen to the prosecutor and the defender. Every day you have to weigh the evidence. Every day, you have to decide.

What are we talking about? Who's on trial? You are.

Every day we put ourselves on trial. We ask ourselves - did we perform a mitzva (commandment)? Did we use an opportunity we had to help another person. Did we give some extra charity?

The "trial" takes each time we pray. (In fact, one of the meanings of the Hebrew word for prayer, "tefila," is [self-]judgment.) That's part of what happens when we pray - we make an assessment of our accomplishments and missed opportunities, of mitzvot done and transgressions committed.

Our daily prayers precede the nightly assessment. The prayers for reciting the Shema before bed include a section for self-judgment. We are to judge ourselves and correct ourselves.

There's a famous story about the early Chasidic master, Rabbi Zushe of Anipol. Shortly before his death, his disciples came to visit him and saw that he was deeply concerned. They asked him what was troubling him. He replied, "I am worried that I won't have an answer for the Heavenly Tribunal." They asked him what he meant.

"When I stand before the Heavenly Court to be judged," he explained, "if I am asked why was I not like Moses, I will have an answer. I was not Moses. If asked why was I not like Rabbi Akiva, I will answer, 'I was not Rabbi Akiva.'

"But if they ask me, 'Zushe, why were you not like Zushe?' - what shall I answer them?"

Life, Death and Reality

2010-12-16T22:32:00.000+11:00

Jacob concluded commanding his sons. He gathered his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his people.
Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father...
They eulogized [Jacob] with a great and sore lamentation. And [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days...
And [Jacob's] sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the Machpeilah Field
Genesis 49:33-50:13

In describing Jacob's “expiration,” the Torah pointedly avoids the use of the word vayamat, “and he died,” a word it employs with all the other deaths it relates, including Abraham's (Genesis 25:8) and Isaac's (35:29). Instead, it uses the euphemisms “he expired” and “he was gathered to his people.” Hence, concludes talmudic sage Rabbi Jochanan, “Our father Jacob did not die.”[1]
The Talmud records the following exchange between Rav Nachman and Rav Yitzchak:
Rav Nachman said to Rav Yitzchak: “So said Rabbi Jochanan: Our father Jacob did not die.”
Asked Rav Yitzchak: “Was it for no reason that the eulogizers eulogized, the embalmers embalmed and the buriers buried?”
Responded Rav Nachman: “I am only citing a verse. It is written, ‘And you, my servant Jacob, fear not, says the L-rd, and do not tremble, O Israel. For behold, I shall save you from afar, and your descendants from the land of their captivity.’[2] The verse equates Jacob with his descendants: just as his descendants are alive, he, too, is alive.”[3]

Spiritually or Literally
There are two ways in which this exchange can be understood. One approach, adapted by several of the talmudic commentaries,[4] is that the statement “Jacob did not die” is not meant in the literal-physical sense--after all, as Rav Yitzchak points out, Jacob was eulogized, embalmed and buried--but in the conceptual-spiritual sense: Jacob is alive because his influence lives on. This, then, is the meaning of Rav Nachman's deduction from the verse in Jeremiah that “just as his descendants are alive, he, too, is alive”: as long as his descendants disseminate his teachings and carry on his work, Jacob lives.
However, this interpretation fails to explain the uniqueness of Jacob's eternity: the same can be (and is) said of all righteous individuals whose children or disciples perpetuate their lives. In the words of the Zohar, “when a tzaddik (righteous person) departs, he is present in all worlds even more than he was in his lifetime.”[5] Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains: “The life of a tzaddik is not a fleshly life but a spiritual life, consisting wholly of faith, awe, and love of G-d... While the tzaddik was alive on earth, these three attributes were contained in their physical vessel and garment (i.e. the body) on the plane of physical space... His disciples received but a reflection of these attributes, a ray radiating beyond this vessel by means of his holy utterances and thoughts... But after his passing... whoever is close to him can receive a [far loftier dimension] of these three attributes, since they are no longer confined within a [material] vessel, nor bounded by physical space...”[6]
In other words, for a person to whom “life” means the pursuit and attainment of material gains, life indeed ceases when his soul departs from his body. But one for whom life is defined in terms of his positive influence upon others is no less alive after physical “death,” since his positive influence upon others continues for as long as his teachings are studied, his directives are followed and his deeds are emulated. Indeed, he is even more alive than before, as his soul now relates to his disciples free of the physical constraints of time and space.
But this is true of all who live “not a fleshly life but a spiritual life.” Yet it is only in the case of Jacob that the Torah refuses to say “he died.” It is only of Jacob[7] that the Talmud unequivocally states “Our father Jacob did not die.” Rabbi Jochanan and Rav Nachman seem to be implying more than the “conventional” truism that a tzaddik's life is eternal in the non-corporeal sense.
Indeed, Rashi understands the Talmud's meaning in the most literal sense. In his commentary on the above-quoted passage, he writes: “Our father Jacob did not die, but lives forever... the fact that the ‘embalmers embalmed’ was only because they thought he had died.” Rabbi Nachman's proof from the verse in Jeremiah that “just as his descendants are alive, he, too, is alive” is not to be understood in the sense that Jacob lives on in the lives of his descendants, but that “just as when [G-d] gathers the people of Israel from the land of their captivity, He is gathering the living, for it is they who are in captivity--the dead are not in captivity--so, too, he (Jacob) is alive, and G-d will bring him along to the exile and redeem his children before his eyes. The fact that the ‘embalmers embalmed’ was only because to them it seemed that be was dead, but in truth he was alive.”

Reality in Two Dimensions
We thus have two perspectives on reality: the reality defined by Torah, in which Jacob does not die, and the reality of the “eulogizers, embalmers and buriers,” who perceived a lifeless Jacob. According to the first interpretation of Rav Nachman's and Rav Yitzchak's words, the difference lies in whether we view reality in spiritual or physical terms: if “life” is a spiritual state, Jacob's life is unaffected by his bodily demise; if “life” is defined by physical criteria, Jacob is indeed not alive.
According to Rashi's interpretation, both perspectives relate to the physical reality: while to the “eulogizers, embalmers and buriers” Jacob's body was a body from which life had departed, the Torah attests that there exists a higher, truer plane of reality, a reality in which Jacob remains physically alive. For Jacob is the embodiment of the attribute of truth,[8] and truth--in the ultimate and absolute sense of the term--tolerates no equivocations. A life confined to the spiritual realm may be “true” enough for other righteous men and women of history, but in the truth of Jacob--the essence and epitome of truth--there are no partial or relative truths. To say that Jacob's life is spiritually eternal but not physically so, to say that his physical life extended for so many years and then ceased, is to detract from its truth[9]---and everything about Jacob is wholly and utterly true.
According to this, we can better understand Rav Yitzchak's question, “Was it for no reason that the eulogizers eulogized, the embalmers embalmed and the buriers buried?” Indeed, what does he mean by asking, Was it for no reason that these things were done? Ought not the question to have been, How could the eulogizers have eulogized etc.?
But Rav Yitzchak is not bothered by the fact that Jacob's body seemed dead to Joseph's Egyptian servants, or even to Jacob' sons. The fact that they failed to perceive him as physically alive in no way detracts from the Torah's attestation that Jacob did not die, neither spiritually nor physically. Torah is the foundation and essence of creation,[10] and the supreme arbiter of reality; if mortal eyes and minds fail to corroborate what Torah establishes as fact, this in no way diminishes the truth of Torah's description of reality. Rather, Rav Yitzchak's challenge to Rav Nachman is from the fact that the Torah itself reports the “expiration,” mourning and burial of Jacob. Was the “death” of Jacob an event of no significance? Were the burial arrangements unnecessary? Was he mourned for no reason? But the Torah describes these events as having occurred, and in a manner that implies that Joseph and his brothers acted as they ought to have acted when they perceived Jacob's soul as having departed his body.
Rav Nachman's response is that, all this notwithstanding, the Torah clearly regards Jacob as alive, and alive in the same sense that his descendants are alive---as souls residing in physical bodies. So while Jacob's children's response to his “death” was the correct response according to Torah--Torah law mandated that Jacob be mourned and buried[11]--this is only because Torah relates to and instructs reality on all levels, including the level on which Jacob's physical life is perceived to have ceased. At the same time, Torah attests to the existence of the higher reality in which the truth and eternity of Jacob is never compromised, neither in the spiritual level nor on the physical level.

Possibling the Impossible
What are we to make of all this? What implications are there here for those of us who inhabit a reality defined by our five senses and the laws of nature---a reality in which physical life inevitably yields to the eulogizer and the grave-digger?
The Talmud relates that when Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah, the angels objected. The Torah had best be left where it is, they argued, here in the spiritual realm. Moses responded:
“What is written in the Torah? ‘I am the L-rd Your G-d who has taken you out from the land of Egypt.’ Have you been descended to Egypt? Have you been enslaved to Pharaoh? What else does it say? ‘You shall have no alien gods.’ Do you dwell amongst idol-worshiping nations? ‘Remember the day of Shabbat.’ Do you work? ‘Do not swear falsely.’ Do you do business? ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ Do you have parents? ‘Do not kill,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal’---Is there jealousy between you? Do you have an evil inclination?”[12]
The Torah, we are repeatedly told, is not in heaven, nor was it given to angels; it is a document communicated to mortal man to guide and sanctify physical life.[13] Virtually all the Torah's commandments are physical activities: giving a coin to charity, binding tefillin on one's arm and head, eating matzo on Passover. Even the more “spiritual” mitzvot--Torah study, prayer, love and awe of G-d--are deeds performed by the physical brain, heart and lips. Intrinsic to the nature of the mitzvah is that it is to be performed by natural means, and in the most natural manner possible.[14]
But there are two ways of viewing the Torah's delegation to the natural realm:
(a) Since G-d intended that the Torah serve as a guide to physical life, He designed it to conform to its rules and norms. Thus, Torah is subject to the laws of nature and cannot, or may not, supersede them.[15]
(b) Torah, as the divine wisdom and will, precedes and transcends creation itself[16] and is not subservient to natural law. Nature is merely its modus operandi: Torah confines itself to the natural realm because its function is to develop the physical reality, not to escape it or overturn it.
The distinction between (a) and (b) may seem a semantic mind game---the bottom line, after all, is that Torah operates within the confines of nature. But when applied to the business of daily living, it translates into all the difference in the world. What happens when Torah demands the impossible? When it expects a tiny nation to live for four thousand years as a “lamb in the midst of seventy wolves”[17] and not only survive but defang and civilize the seventy wolves? When it tells us to rise above the pain and mortality of the physical state and imbue it with light, joy and eternity? ---And to achieve this all with our humanly finite faculties and resources?
One who sees nature's laws as the basis upon which the divine blueprint for life is predicated, can only reiterate that the impossible is impossible. If the constraints of our empirical reality do not allow it, he maintains, then Torah, which is bound by these constraints, certainly does not expect it of us. Perhaps these are hypothetical goals to strive towards as we do the best we can with the tools at our disposal. But this is the world we live in, and its laws are what define and govern our mission in life.
But one who knows that “our father Jacob did not die,” that the Torah truth that Jacob embodies is not subject to the mortalities of the physical condition, knows that no law or norm can restrict the full and unequivocal implementation of the Torah's vision of reality. True, the same Torah recounts, lends credence to and instructs the behavior of those who perceived Jacob to have died, for Torah operates within the physical reality, within, even, finite man's perception of the physical reality; but at the same time, Torah is utterly free of its limits and conventions.
Torah is neither subject to the natural reality nor divorced from it, confined to the supernatural realm of the spirit. It embraces both realities, transcending nature even as it pervades and defines it, making real the impossible even as it employs only the most naturally possible means to do so.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Av 20, 5731 (August 11, 1971)[18]

follow in the footsteps of Jacob

2010-12-16T22:31:00.000+11:00

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt (Gen. 47:28)
Our forefather Jacob is symbolic of the attribute of truth, as it states in the Book of Mica (7:20), "You will give truth to Jacob." For with the quality of truth, a person can survive even the worst of times and live through the direst of circumstances. (The Hebrew name for Egypt, Mitzrayim, means narrow boundaries and limitations.)

(Chidushei HaRim)

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Gather together and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days (Gen. 49:1)

The Talmud relates that Jacob wished to reveal the end (of the exile) but it was concealed from him. The literal meaning, however, is that Jacob wished to "reveal, i.e., manifest and bring about, the end." In this context there is an important moral for every Jew. We are to follow in the footsteps of Jacob, and wish and pray for the manifestation of the ultimate end - the final Redemption. Seeking and contemplating this will of itself assist our service of G-d, inspiring us to attain our ultimate goal of Moshiach.

(Likutei Sichot, Vol. XX)

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And when he saw that the resting place was good...he bent his shoulder to bear (Gen. 49:15)

Issachar recognized that although leisure is a good and pleasant thing, it can also be dangerous. In times of peace and tranquility the Evil Inclination intensifies its efforts to lead a person astray, which can lead to disaster. Issachar therefore "bent his shoulder to bear" the yoke of Torah, for Torah study is the antidote to this pitfall.

(Likutei Diburim)

volunteer

2010-12-16T22:30:00.002+11:00

17th of Teves, 5734 (1974)
Greeting and Blessing:

It was good to see you at the recent Farbrengen [gathering], and now I have received your welcome letter of the 3rd of Teves.

To begin with your good wishes at the conclusion of your letter, the acknowledgment has already been made in the Torah, when G-d assured Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you," and G-d's blessings are, of course, much more generous than those of a human being can be. These Divine blessings will surely include a special blessing for your wife to complete her pregnancy and give birth to a healthy offspring in a happy and auspicious hour, and that together with your wife you should bring up all your children to a life of Torah, Chuppah [marriage] and Good Deeds, in good health and ample sustenance.

Needless to say, I was indeed gratified to read about your readiness to "volunteer," as you express it. The reason for the quotation marks is not, G-d forbid, to minimize in any way your dedicated resolve to do your utmost, but rather to emphasize that insofar as a Jew is concerned, while he is given the opportunity to be a "volunteer" out of his free volition, and as it is written [in translation] "Before you I have placed life. . . the blessing. . . Therefore, choose life, so that you and your descendants will live" (Devarim [Deut.] 30:19) - the Torah tells us at the same time that every Jew is indeed conscripted into Tzivos Hashem [G-d's Army]. Clearly, one who has the qualification to influence others is not to consider himself an ordinary draftee, but rather a Commanding Officer in G-d's Army, and one who has even greater qualifications to lead and inspire such "Officers," should consider himself a General. It is, therefore, in this elite corps that you have been "drafted," and the fact that you are at the same time a "volunteer," makes it certain that you will discharge your duties and privileges with the highest degree of dedication, which also ensures the utmost Zechus [merit] for you and all yours.

May G-d grant that you should always have good news to report about yourself and your family, as well as about your good works.

misbehaviour

2010-12-16T22:30:00.001+11:00

Question of the Week:

My child always blames everyone else for his own misbehaviour. It's always "he started it," "she made me do it," and nothing is ever his fault. How can I teach him to take responsibility for his actions and not shift blame to others?

Answer:

Yesterday my two year old son snatched a toy from his older sister. She was about to throttle him, so I intervened. I saw this as a chance to impart some Jewish wisdom, so I explained to my daughter the idea of our two inner voices - the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Hora.

There's a voice inside that tells me to be upright, moral and well-behaved. This is my drive to be good, called the Yetzer Tov. But I also have a deviant and rebellious side, an inner voice that tries to convince me to do whatever is wrong and hurtful and selfish, known as the Yetzer Hora.

These two voices constantly battle to win me over. I have to choose which side gets the upper hand. And I am responsible for my choice. If I listen to my darker side, then I only have myself to blame.

So before my daughter had the chance to attack her brother I asked her, "Are you going to listen to your Yetzer Hora and hit your brother, or are you going to listen to your Yetzer Tov and just find something else to play with?"

This turned things around. Instead of being in a fight with her brother, she was now facing an inner struggle of evil versus good. She can no longer excuse her behaviour by saying, "He started it." No matter who started it, if she hits him, she has made a bad choice. It was her own Yetzer Hora that she succumbed to.

On the other hand, if she chooses not to hurt her brother and walks away she is not a loser, but a winner. She didn't lose a fight with her brother, but rather won a battle with her own evil inclination. Either way, the choice is hers, and she is responsible for that choice.

She thought about it for a second, and then made her choice. She gave her brother a whack in the face.

Well, at least I tried.

But it was not a failure. Even though she didn't do what I wanted her to do, she heard what I had to say. This episode reinforced in her little mind the idea that there is an inner battle of good and evil. In the long run, with repetition and patience, that message will sink in.

Kids fight. They won't change so quickly. But by moving the battleground from the outside to a battle within, we can help our children channel their aggression toward fighting their own evil, and in the end, their own good side will win.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

at the very end of our long and bitter exile

2010-12-16T22:29:00.002+11:00

No words in the Torah are chosen arbitrarily, least of all the names of the weekly Torah portions. The name of a particular Torah portion expresses the essence of that section and tells us something about its content. This being the case, why is this week's portion entitled Vayechi ("and Jacob lived"), when it deals exclusively with the events which led up to his passing?
The answer to this question lies in understanding the true meaning of life. Is life our temporal existence in this world, where we are constantly faced with extinction from numerous forces threatening us at every turn? Or is true life something even greater?

Only G-d, the source of all life, can rightly be termed "alive," for He is never changing and exists forever. In this sense, only G-d truly lives, for His existence does not depend on outside forces. But human beings may also attain eternal life, by cleaving to that which is Eternal. G-d is the only entity which lives forever; attaching oneself to Him enables mere mortals to do the same.

"And you, who cleave unto G-d - all of you therefore live today." This is the reason that the Jews are called "alive" by our Sages, for they cleave unto the Eternal Living G-d.

This is demonstrated most clearly when a Jew encounters difficulties and obstacles lying in his path, which serve to make his passage through life all the more challenging. Leading a carefree existence unencumbered by problems is no test of our attachment to G-d; successfully overcoming life's hurdles is what reveals our true devotion and commitment to serving G-d. It is only then that we may be considered "alive."

This illustrates why this week's Torah portion is named Vayechi. It was precisely just prior to Jacob's passing in Egypt that the meaning and purpose of his life was fully revealed. The years Jacob had spent in the Holy Land, although fraught with various trials and tribulations, were insufficient to adequately demonstrate his true devotion to G-d. It was only on his deathbed, in the lowest and most abominable land on earth at the time, that Jacob's true "life" could be recognized by all.

The Talmud states that "Jacob did not die...as long as his seed is alive, he lives too." The continued existence of the Jewish people and their adherence to G-d and His Torah follows in the footsteps of their forefather Jacob and ensures his eternal perpetuation.

Furthermore, it is precisely now, at the very end of our long and bitter exile, that our adherence to Torah and our faith in the imminent coming of Moshiach demonstrates the attainment of true and eternal life.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

A House Full of Books

2010-12-16T22:29:00.001+11:00

What's the first thing you see when you walk into a person's house or apartment?
That depends, of course, on how the house is decorated as well as their own personal taste and style.

Sometimes the first thing you'll see are flowers.

Sometimes it's artwork.

Sometimes it's the dining room table, the sofa, a rug or an accent piece.

And sometimes it's the books.

There's something impressive, even awe-inspiring, about walking into a house full of books. Not just any set of books. Jewish books. Even if it's your own home. The mood changes, if only for an instant. Seeing the books, gives one pause.

You can observe this effect on anyone, no matter who. When they walk into a Jewish home and see shelves and shelves of Jewish books.

Why is this? What is it about books?

In this age of the computer and the iPad and the e-readers, books still carry within them a spark of the ancient, the valuable, the enduring. And they ignite a similar spark in us - a sense that as modern as we are, we are connected with something quite ancient; as insignificant as we sometimes feel, we have inherited something priceless; and as finite as we are, we are yet part of the eternal.

That is what a book, a Jewish book does for us. And for others who enter our home.

Thirty-five years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe started a campaign to transform Jewish homes, all Jewish homes, into places of holiness. There was the mezuza campaign, to put mezuzos up on one's doors; the kosher campaign - transforming the kitchen; and the home-full-of-books campaign.

Because a home is not the four walls, the roof, the food processor, the drapes or the garden furniture. The home is who lives there, and how they live there.

And books live. Especially Jewish books. They create an environment, provide balance, offer wisdom. They help the home become a place of tranquility and holiness.

You don't have to start with big expensive sets. Buy one book. A Chumash: the Five Books of Moses. In English. Then buy another. A Siddur - prayer book. And another, Tehilim - the Psalms of King David. Buy another.

Clear off a shelf for them. If you don't have a bookcase, buy one - just for those three (or five - or even one, to start with). When you see them sitting there, you'll want to provide them company. You can fill the empty spaces slowly.

Check online. Join a Jewish bookclub. (See Kehotonline, for example.)

And of course, read the books. Or even better, start a study group, so others can read them, too.

A house full of books. A house full of holiness. One book at a time. One spark at a time.

How can I go up to my Father in heaven "and the lad is not with me"

2010-12-09T22:37:00.003+11:00

And his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified at his presence (literally "his face") (Gen. 45:3)
When Joseph revealed himself to them, he no longer hid the light of his face from them. At that moment they truly recognized him, and were dumfounded by the light in his face.

(Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen)

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And behold, your own eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you (Gen. 45:12)

This was the first time that Joseph was speaking to his brothers in their native language. Prior to this time the brothers had spoken to him in Hebrew, but Joseph had answered in the Egyptian tongue. The only time a person can recognize another through his voice is when he has previously heard him speak the same language. When a person speaks a different language, his accent is different and it is difficult to identify him. Because Joseph was now speaking Hebrew his brothers would be able to recognize him.

(Our Sages)

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For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad is not with me (Gen. 44:34)

Every Jew must ask himself: How can I go up to my Father in heaven "and the lad is not with me" - without bringing the days of my youth? A person must be especially vigilant that he not squander away his younger years.

(Ma'ayana Shel Torah)

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And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my wanderings are one hundred and thirty years; the days of the years of my life were few and bad" (Gen. 47:9)

How could Jacob have said this when the average life span after the generation of the flood was one hundred and twenty years? Jacob was the third of the Patriarchs and thus most intimately bound up with the third and eternal Holy Temple, to be built by Moshiach. All his life Jacob yearned for the everlasting peace and tranquility of the Messianic era. For as long, then, as the Redemption did not come, Jacob regarded the years of his life as qualitatively few and meager, because they did not contain that which is most important of all.

(The Rebbe, Shabbat Parshat Mikeitz, 5752)

Ikvisa DiMishicho

2010-12-09T22:37:00.001+11:00

23rd of Adar, 5723 [1963]
I received your letter some time ago, but this is the first opportunity to reply to it.

You write about your background and how you have found your way to the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Lod [Israel]. I am gratified to note that you have adjusted yourself so well.

Your Chassidic ancestry certainly stands you in good stead, for spiritual qualities are hereditary, especially deep-rooted ones which the Chassidic teachings and way of life cultivate.

With regard to your question at the conclusion of your letter it is hardly necessary to seek guidance from across the sea when you are at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva and the Mashpi'im [mentors] and Rosh Hayeshiva [head of the yeshiva] are able and willing to help the students. However, since you have asked them of me I will reply briefly:

Re: Pronunciation, whether Sephardic or Ashkenazic, you should daven [pray] in the way you are used to, and not complicate matters by a change.

Re: Zohar, your question is most surprising, for as it is well known that the Zohar is an integral part of the Torah-Shebe'al-peh [the Oral Law], it is not a case of emphasis by the Alter Rebbe [Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the first Rebbe of Chabad], for it was just as sacred also to the Gaon of Vilna, though in certain respects his shitah [path] differed from that of the Alter Rebbe.

You question the propriety of religious people who give expression to their joy and enthusiasm by dancing, etc., in front of the Aron Hakodesh [the Holy Ark], and you wonder if a Chillul Hashem [desecration of G-d's name] is involved.
But of course, no chillul is involved there, because:

This is the expression of true joy with the Torah and mitzvoth [commandments]; on the contrary it would be a chillul not to participate. Moreover, it is not something which is limited to Chassidim, but a basic principle of halachah [Torah law] incumbent upon all Jews, based on the Torah and the famous narrative in Tanach [Torah, Prophets, Writings]. See also Rambam, end of Hilchoth Lulov, where the subject is treated (more) at length.

Even when the observer does not feel the same degree of joy, but being in the company of Jews expressing their joy with the Torah, if he should not participate, it would be almost like a counter-demonstration, not only in relation to the cause of simcha [joy]. See Igeres Hakodesh 24 by the Alter Rebbe, end of p. 274, and note it well there.

In reference to Tanya, where it is stated that the second soul of the Jew is truly a part of G-dliness, and you ask why is the Jew singled out, since all humanity descended from Adam?
The answer is that the distinction came with the Avoth [Patriarchs] and especially the Giving of the Torah at Sinai, when the souls were assigned their particular place and standing, though all souls were included in the soul of Adam.

In fact, our Sages declare that even among Jews, the various souls are related to particular aspects of the souls of Adam HaRishon (the first man).

You ask for an explanation of a statement in one of the general messages, a statement to the effect that we are living in the era of "Ikvisa DiMishicho" [the footsteps of Moshiach].
This is based on many statements of my father-in-law (ztz"l). See also the signs of this era as indicated by Chazal [the Sages] (see end of Sota). It is not difficult to see these signs in our present generation.

I trust you are applying yourself with devotion and diligence to your learning of both nigleh [revealed Torah] and Chassidus, with the view to practice maalim b'Kodesh [ascending in holiness].
May your learning be the kind that prompts action: the fulfillment of the mitzvoth in daily life.

Joseph is yet alive

2010-12-09T22:35:00.002+11:00

In this week's Torah portion, Vayigash, Joseph's brothers return to Jacob and bring him the wonderful news that his son is still alive. "Joseph is yet alive, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt." Jacob, however, could not believe it was true until "he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him." Only then was he convinced, "and the spirit of Jacob their father was revived."
Rashi, the foremost Torah commentator, explains that the wagons, "agalot" in Hebrew, were a special sign from Joseph to Jacob. The last time Joseph and his father learned Torah together, 22 years before, they had studied the portion of the "egla arufa" - the calf that is killed to atone for a murder whose perpetrator is unknown.

When Jacob saw the "agalot" (a word similar to "egla") he understood the allusion, and was thus convinced that Joseph was indeed alive.

Nonetheless, this explanation is problematical. Surely Jacob did not suspect his sons of telling a falsehood; why then did he not immediately believe them when they stated that "Joseph is yet alive"?

Did Jacob truly think that they had been fooled by an Egyptian stranger, who had somehow tricked them into believing that he was their long-lost brother?

The answer is simple. To a tzadik, a truly righteous person such as Jacob, "life" is not a matter of the physical body but of the soul. When the brothers told him that Joseph was not only alive but "the ruler over all the land of Egypt," he could not believe that his son had been able to maintain his spirituality and continue to live as a Jew in such abject circumstances. After all, Joseph was completely alone for so many years, in the most corrupt and abominable civilization in the ancient world. Not only was he surrounded by the lowest class of people, the brothers had stated that Joseph was their leader! How then could he "live" - truly "live," the spiritual life of a Jew?

When, however, Jacob was given the sign of the "agalot" and understood that Joseph had not forgotten his Torah learning, he realized that his son was on the same high spiritual plane as before his descent to Egypt.

Joseph had managed to remain a tzadik, despite his degraded surroundings. Only then was Jacob convinced that his son still "lived," and "the spirit of Jacob their father was revived."

Adapted from the works of the Rebbe

Superheros

2010-12-09T22:35:00.001+11:00

Everybody wants to be a superhero. And why not? In a way it's a wonderful fantasy. To have the power to save lives, to help people in distress, to stop villains and evil-doers, simply and effectively.
And how much fun it would be to be different, to have a super-power. Everyone has his or her favorite super-power. Super-strength. Super-speed. Super-senses: X-ray vision or super-hearing. Super-magnetism. Flight - soaring like a bird, but without wings.

Not every superhero has a super-power, an enhancement of a natural trait (strong becomes super-strong) or some ability people don't normally possess (the ability to become invisible, to alter the mass of an object - making it heavier or lighter, to transform one's appearance like a chameleon). Some superheros have a device - a mystical ring, a rod of power, that sort of thing.

Other superheros are "just" super-skilled. A martial arts expert to the nth degree. A brilliant detective who's also a superb athlete.

Yes, it would be nice to be a superhero, to have a special power and help save the world.

But in one sense we already are superheros. All of us. We have a special power. More than one, actually. And when we use that super-power, we are literally helping hundreds and thousands and millions of people We're also saving the world.

Our super-powers are the mitzvot (commandments) we do. Every time we do a mitzva, we help save worlds. Literally. To paraphrase Maimonides, the world hangs in the balance, and the next good deed can tip the scales to the meritorious, bringing redemption not only to the individual, but to the whole world.

Indeed, the effect of a mitzva reverberates through all the worlds and all the planes of existence, elevating them - and all of the creation within each world - to a higher awareness of G-dliness. It's a spiritual rescue.

Each mitzva has the power - the super-power - to affect a different aspect of existence - the existence of the individual and the existence of worlds.

Nor is the impact of a mitzva limited to the specific spiritual source, or even to the individual exercising his or her spiritual super power. Assistants and aides - sidekicks - get rescued along with you, the spiritual superhero. That is, anyone - Jew or non-Jew - who helps you do a mitzva, however indirect that help, is carried along. The grocer who sells you the kosher food; the delivery guy who brings the food to the grocer; the warehouse manager who assigns the shift to the delivery guy.

But if each of us emphasizes a particular mitzva - super-power - one that we do with extra effort - super-strength, we also all share one super-power, regardless. That's the power to transform selves into someone completely new. Through teshuva, repentance, we all have that transformative ability.

So the next time you feel inspired by a superhero or dream about having a super-power and saving the world - remember you already are a superhero, you already have a super-power, and you do in fact save not just one world, but many worlds - every time you do a mitzva.

The Prostration of the Shepherds

2010-12-02T22:51:00.001+11:00

And Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the supplier of food to all its people.

Joseph’s brothers came [to Egypt] and prostrated themselves to him ... and Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them...

Genesis 42:6-9

Twenty years earlier, Joseph had dreamed two dreams which foretold the events of that day. In the first dream, “we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves stood round it and bowed down to my sheaf.”[1] In the second, Joseph saw “the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.”[2]

Joseph’s brothers, who were already jealous of their father’s special affection for him, “hated him even more for his dreams and his words.”[3] Jacob, however, “kept the matter in mind”[4] and “awaited and anticipated its fulfillment.”[5]

For that to happen, Jacob had to mourn the loss of his beloved son for twenty years, Joseph had to experience slavery and incarceration, and his brothers, anguished remorse, for that same period. Twenty painful years so that the sons of Jacob might prostrate themselves before the viceroy of Egypt, who, unbeknownst to them, was the very dreamer they had sold into slavery. Why was it so important that this submission take place? Why did Jacob “await and anticipate the fulfillment” of Joseph’s dreams, despite his realization[6] of the terrible animosity they provoked among his children?

The New Jew
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were shepherds, as were the sons of Jacob.[7] They chose this vocation because they found the life of the shepherd—a life of seclusion, communion with nature, and distance from the tumult and vanities of society—most conducive to their spiritual pursuits. Tending their sheep in the valleys and on the hills of Canaan, they could turn their backs on the mundane affairs of man, contemplate the majesty of the Creator, and serve Him with a clear mind and tranquil heart.[8]

Joseph was different. He was a man of the world, a “fortuitous achiever”[9] in commerce and politics. Sold into slavery, he was soon chief manager of his master’s affairs. Thrown into jail, he was soon a high-ranking member of the prison administration. He went on to become viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh in the most powerful nation on earth, and sole supplier of food for the entire region.

Yet none of this touched him. He remained the righteous Joseph who had studied Torah at the feet of his father.[10] Slave, prisoner, ruler of millions, controller of an empire’s wealth—it made no difference: the same Joseph who had meditated in the hills and valleys of Canaan walked the streets of a depraved Egypt. His spiritual and moral self derived utterly from within and was totally unaffected by his society, environment, or the occupation that claimed his involvement twenty-four hours a day.

The conflict between Joseph and his brothers ran deeper than a multi-colored coat or a favorite son’s share of his father’s affections. It was a conflict between a spiritual tradition and a new worldliness; between a community of shepherds and a politician. The brothers could not accept that a person could lead a worldly existence without becoming worldly, that a person could remain one with G-d while inhabiting the palaces and government halls of pagan Egypt.[11]

For two hundred years, the shepherd’s credo held sway. But Jacob knew that if his descendants were to survive the Egyptian galut (exile)—and the millennia of Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Eastern, Western, economic, religious and cultural galuyot that history held in store for them—this must be subordinated to the credo of Joseph. If the children of Israel are to pass through every social convulsion of the next four thousand years and persevere as G-d’s people, they must become subjects of Joseph.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Kislev 20, 5727 (December 3, 1966)[12]

Two kind of Dreamers

2010-12-02T22:50:00.001+11:00

And he woke up...and behold, it was a dream (Gen. 41:7)
There are two kinds of dreamers: those who know that they are only dreaming but enjoy the dream anyway, and those who do not realize that they are dreaming and mistake it for reality. The first type of person is able to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and realizes that his dream is deceptive. But the second kind cannot make this distinction, and holds his delusion to be true.

(From a letter of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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And they brought him hurriedly out of the dungeon (Gen: 41:14)

For 12 years Joseph languished in the dungeon without anyone lifting a finger to help him. Yet when the time came for him to be freed, he was brought out "hurriedly," in great haste. One moment he was a lowly prisoner, the next, a free man elegantly attired and brought before the king. From this we learn that when the right time comes for G-d to take us out of exile, He will not wait even a split second longer than necessary. At that precise moment Moshiach will come to redeem us.

(Chofetz Chaim)

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And Pharaoh said...Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom there is the spirit of G-d? (Gen. 41:38)

Joseph's suggestion that Egypt's grain be stored away for future consumption was surely a good one, but why was Pharaoh so convinced that he possessed "the spirit of G-d"? When relating his dream to Joseph, Pharaoh had deliberately changed certain details. Yet when Joseph interpreted the dream, he described the events as Pharaoh had really seen them. From this Pharaoh understood that Joseph was no ordinary wise man.

(Marganita Dvei Meir)

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And he sought to weep, and he entered his room and he wept there...and he restrained himself (Gen. 43:30-31)

The soul "weeps" because it does not want to be in a body; it abhors its fleshly confinement and longs to be reunited with G-d. Nonetheless, it "restrains" itself and overcomes its inclination, recognizing that G-d wants the body and soul to work in tandem to observe His commandments.

(Ohr HaTorah)

Growing & Outside

2010-12-02T22:49:00.002+11:00

Chanukah, 5715 [1954]
...In this connection, and apropos of Chanukah, it would be timely to reflect on the significance of the Chanukah Lights. Although all Mitzvoth [commandments] issue from One G-d, the perfect Unity, there are many aspects to every Mitzvah, just as the complexity of our physical world is likewise created from His Mitzvah. Nevertheless, the performance of the Mitzvah, accompanied by an appreciation of its significance, is definitely beneficial.

With this in mind, I wish to point out what I consider very significant in connection with the significance of Chanukah, as it is emphasized by the Chanukah Lights, specifically by the two conditions attending the performance of this Mitzvah: (a) The light is to shine forth "outside" and (b) the light is to grow every night by the addition of one more candle each night of Chanukah. Thus, the message of Chanukah is to bring home to every Jew his duty to spread the "light" of the Torah and the "candles" of the Mitzvoth, especially in times of darkness, and to do so with ever growing effort.

A man's influence is generally limited, either to his immediate environment, his family and friends, or if he is a teacher or lecturer, to a wider circle. The journalist, however, whose words and thoughts enjoy wide currency through the printed word, enjoys a much greater influence; he is less limited in space, since the printed word travels far, and in time, since it endures on record.

Thus you are privileged to have far greater opportunities in exercising influence than the average person, to help illuminate the darkness of the night with, I trust, ever growing effect. These are not mere opportunities, for as everything in Nature strives to transform itself form a state of potentiality to actuality, so all human potentialities must be actualized for the general good, the true good. The way of Providence is inscrutable. Although logically, as the Chanukah candles indicate, one should begin by lighting up his home first, and then seeing to it that its light dispels the darkness outside as far as possible, the process is sometimes reversed; bringing light to others far away, brings success in carrying the light closer home.

I send you my prayerful wishes for success in your personal affairs, which is closely associated with your public work and your influence, all the more so, since in addition to being a son of the "kingdom of priest and a holy nation," you are actually a kohen among Jews.

With blessing,

Intimacy

2010-12-02T22:49:00.001+11:00

I have an issue with religious Jews. They have this thing about not showing affection in public. You would never see a very religious couple holding hands walking down the street and certainly not kissing in public, as it is considered immodest. But I think this teaches children that affection is bad and romance is taboo. How will they ever get married if they don't see affectionate parents?

Answer:
Here is a true story that happened to a family I know. They are observant and G-d fearing people, and indeed the parents never showed physical affection, even in front of their own children.
It once happened that this family was out driving in their van, parents sitting in the front, and their large brood in the back. While stopped at a red light, one of the children pointed out a scene that caught his eye. Right beside the car, on the side of the road, was a young couple engaged in a very public display of affection.
The kids expressed their strong disapproval, with "ooooo" noises and calls of "yuck!" The oldest, a girl of twelve, loudly declared, "Disgusting!"
Now the parents had a few options as to how to react to this situation. They could have encouraged their children's innocent aversion to street corner romance by telling them not to look at such a yucky thing. Or perhaps they should correct their children's hard-line view and tell them that there is actually nothing yucky about love between two people. Or they could just smile to themselves and let it pass.
But any good parent knows that there are certain teaching moments that don't come along too often, and if they are not grabbed they will be missed. Some lessons are better taught spontaneously. Rather than the parent sitting down the child to talk about an issue, it is sometimes better to wait until the child sees or hears something, makes a comment or asks a question, and use that as an opening to address the topic. An alert parent will have a store house of lessons at the ready, and patiently wait for the right opportunity to share them.
This was one such moment. And the wise father of these children, who had labelled an act of love as disgusting, jumped at the opportunity to teach them a lesson for life.
"It is not disgusting," he told his children. "It's just in the wrong place."
I heard this story as it was told by the twelve year old daughter, now a mother of children of her own. She said that all these years later she still remembers what her father said, and what an impact his simple words had on her. At first she was shocked. Her father, a rabbi, didn't think this was disgusting? Do my parents do this too? But then it dawned on her. Of course they do. They love each other, and when people love each other, this is what they do. Just some things are supposed to be private. Not because it's disgusting, because it is precious, it doesn't belong on the street.
There are couples that no one will ever see touching each other, but anyone can see the deep love they share. It is reflected in the way they speak to each other, the way they look at each other, the way they talk about each other. And then there are couples who are all lovey-dovey-kissy-huggy, but it is no more than a show for the onlookers. How intimate can affection be if every passer-by is privy to it? Does romance have any real meaning if it is shared with strangers?
When a couple is secure in their love for each other, they don't feel the need to demonstrate their affection to others outside the relationship. And yet, everyone, including their children, will know that love is there. Physical affection is more powerful when kept private. It is not disgusting, as long as it is in the right place.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Far be it

2010-12-02T22:48:00.002+11:00

In the Torah portion of Mikeitz, Joseph orders his servants to hide his goblet in his brother's bags. He then sends a messenger to overtake them on the road. When the brothers learn that they are accused of stealing, they reply, "Far be it ("chalila") from your servants to do such a thing!"
One of the explanations offered by Rashi on the word "chalila," which is generally translated as "G-d forbid" or "heaven forefend," is derived from its root in the word "chulin," meaning profane or derogatory. The word also connotes common, i.e., anything that is not related to holiness. The brother's reply to Joseph's messenger thus not only denied their participation in the theft, but expressed a much deeper concept: that the very idea of their involvement in anything other than the realm of holiness was absurd. In other words, the brothers were on such a high spiritual level that relating to the mundane, physical world was somehow incongruous.

Each one of the Twelve Tribes embodied a different path in the service of G-d. And while not every individual Jew is blessed with all of their unique character attributes, there are certain general aspects of their service that we all share in common. The brothers' declaration of "chalila" thus contains a practical lesson to be applied in our daily lives.

A Jew must know that his entire being - his very essence - is holiness. The Jew and the secular realm are two entirely different worlds. The mundane level of existence does not truly pertain to the Jew, to the point that involvement in the material realm is essentially foreign to him.

This extremely high level is not only something the Jew must feel inwardly, but must also be reflected in all of its external manifestations. The nations of the world should be able to see that, to the Jew, the very notion of "mundane" is just as incongruous as the notion of stealing. Indeed, it is this concept that was proudly articulated by Joseph's brothers to the Egyptian messenger.

Of course, the Torah commands that a Jew work within the framework of the physical world. "Six days shall you labor, and do all your work." But the intention is not that the Jew lower himself to the level of the profane; on the contrary, it implies the exact opposite. A Jew is required to involve himself in the world for the purpose of elevating the material plane of existence to holiness. This demonstrates that all his deeds are for the sake of heaven, and brings sanctity into the world.

Adapted from Volume 15 of Likutei Sichot

Finding Your Passion

2010-12-02T22:48:00.001+11:00

It's fascinating to read about people and their passions. For example, there is a woman named Evelyn Hayes who has a passion for the tomb of our Matriarch Rachel (Kever Rachel). Her heart and soul are devoted to Israel, particularly to Kever Rachel. She bought property nearby, does fundraisers for Kever Rachel, writes poetry about it, etc. I wonder where this comes from! I wonder, who was she in a previous incarnation?!
Former president Kim of South Korea asked Stephen Covey (of the "Seven Habits" fame), "Do you really believe the things you teach?"

Covey: I was taken aback by this question and sobered by it. After a short pause I said, "Yes, I do."

He then asked me, "How do you know you do?"

Covey: I answered, "I try to live by these teachings. I know I fall short, falter a lot, but I keep coming back to them. I believe in them and am inspired by them and I keep returning to them."

Kim said, "That's not good enough for me. Are you prepared to die for them?"

Kim went on to tell his story of many, many years of banishment, of being exiled, of being imprisoned, of several assassination attempts, pressure to cooperate, threats that he'd be killed if he didn't cooperate. He told them, "Then kill me, because if you kill me I'll only die once, but if I cooperate with you, I will die 100 times every day for the rest of my life."

Now THAT'S passion!

And it reminds me of Chana and her seven sons. Despite the enticements and the threats, they were all willing to die for their beliefs.

Because Chana had taught her sons to love G-d and the Torah more than life itself.

The Antiochus' soldiers tried to convince Chana to save herself and her sons: "Foolish woman. Tell your sons to bow down to the idol so that they may live," the soldiers told her. But Chana knew that her definition of life was different from that of the pagan soldier. Her sons would die in this world sanctifying G-d's name, but they would live forever in the World to Come. She whispered encouragement to each son. "Remember that the L-rd is one, there is no other." Not one son bowed to the idol.

When they brought the youngest son, a boy of just seven, to the king - after having witnessed the cruel torture and brutal murder of his six older brothers - the king offered him gold and silver if he would do his will. The seven-year-old boy displayed the same courage as his brothers and taunted the king to carry out his threats.

"Who are you seeking to overpower with your words and enticements? I laugh at your foolishness. I believe in the Torah and in G-d Whom you blaspheme. You will remain an abomination upon all mankind, loathsome and far from G-d."

As the soldiers took her youngest son away to murder him like his brothers, Chana begged to kiss him one last time. As if speaking to all seven children, Chana said, "My children, tell your ancestor Abraham, 'You bound only one son upon an altar, but I bound seven."

The first column of this article is from bikores.blogspot.com/

Wherever secrecy exists - thievery exists

2010-11-26T10:12:00.001+11:00

What profit will it be if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? (Gen. 37:26)
The fact that we will be forced to conceal our deed indicates that it is wrong. "Wherever secrecy exists - thievery exists."

(Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk)

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We were binding sheaves in the field...and behold, your sheaves placed themselves round about, and bowed down to my sheaf (Gen. 37:7)

This world, in which physical objects appear to be distinct and separate entities from G-dliness, is likened to a field. To make a sheaf, the stalks of wheat must first be uprooted and then bound together. Similarly, the task of the Jew is to take physical objects, "uproot" them from their corporeality, and utilize them in the service of G-d so that they become vessels for holiness.

(Likutei Sichot)

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Reuven returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit (37:29)

Reuven's absence allowed the other brothers to sell Joseph; had Reuven been present, he would not have permitted them to do it. And where was he? Rashi says Reuven was preoccupied with fasting and perfecting himself. Because he was concerned only with himself, Joseph was sold and the whole series of events was set in motion that would lead to our forefathers' exile in Egypt. An important lesson is learned: One must not be concerned solely with his own perfection to the exclusion of others. We must always have our fellow Jew in mind and truly love him, lest he be ignored in his time of need.

(Likutei Sichot)

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And on the vine were three branches (Gen. 40:10)

According to our Sages, the Jews are likened to the vine, the fruit of which "gladdens G-d and man." For within every Jew exists this attribute of "wine" - the innate ability to delight in G-dliness, an inheritance from our forefathers. This love for G-d is hidden deep inside, much like the wine is hidden in the grape and not outwardly discernable. Likewise, just as squeezing the grape releases the treasure within, so does personal refinement and self-nullification reveal this inner love and bring it to its potential.

(Lubavitcher Rebbe)

the Redemption of the Alter Rebbe

2010-11-26T10:11:00.004+11:00

20 Kislev, 5719 (1959)
Yesterday we celebrated Yud Tes [19] Kislev, the Redemption of the Alter Rebbe [Rabbi Shneur Zalman], the founder of Chabad, and together with him the triumph of all matters connected with Chabad.

The day inspires every one of us to greater efforts in living up to the concepts of Chabad, the basis of which is the love of G-d, love of the Torah, and love of our fellow-Jews, all of which is truly one.

This is connected with the basic teachings of Chabad, requiring everyone of us to do our utmost to bring our fellow-Jews closer to G-d and to Torah and mitzvos [commandments], in their purest form, without compromise or concession, though the approach to each individual may differ in accordance with his spiritual state and background.

One cannot expect a Jew who has drifted from the Jewish way of life to transform himself suddenly, and it is necessary to bring him closer to G-d by stages, yet we have to present to him the true aspects of our Torah and mitzvos, not in any diluted form.

It is only then that the Jew is responsive to the truth, as is expressed the well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe that "No Jew wishes, nor can he, sever himself from G-d."

The 19th of Kislev, therefore, reminds us every year of these basic principles, and inspires us towards their fulfillment.

I know your late father of blessed memory, and I also had the opportunity to meet with you and your wife when you visited here.

My personal knowledge of the members of your family gives me every confidence that every one of you will do your utmost to work for the spreading of Torah and mitzvos in your community, in the spirit of the founder of Chabad, and his teachings.

The work of Chabad in every field of Jewish endeavor has always been on a non-sectarian basis and not confined to any particular group, but embraces all our fellow Jews.

It is because of this that it has remained free from outside influences and pressures, and it is because of this that it has succeeded so well, with the help of G-d.

Twins

2010-11-26T10:11:00.003+11:00

Twins
And it came to pass at the time that she gave birth, that, behold, there were twins in her womb.... And [the firstborn’s] name was called Peretz. Afterward came forth his brother ... and his name was called Zerach

Genesis 38:27-30

[Here it says,] “at the time that she gave birth”; in Rebecca’s case it says, “and her days to give birth were fulfilled.” For there it was a fulfilled term of pregnancy, while here it was unfulfilled.
[Here, the word] “twins” is written in its full spelling; there it is written in a deficient spelling. For [in Rebecca’s case] one of them was wicked, while here both were righteous

Rashi, ibid.

Among the numerous births recounted in the book of Genesis, two are of twins: the birth of Isaac’s and Rebecca’s twins, Jacob and Esau; and the birth of Peretz and Zerach, twin sons of Tamar and Judah.

While certain similarities mark the two births,[1] there are also some significant differences, both in the circumstances surrounding the two pregnancies as well as in the characters of the two sets of twins they produced.

Isaac and Rebecca were married for twenty childless years; they prayed for children, each evoking the righteousness of the other in their appeal to G-d.[2] Their sacred union produced two very different sons: Jacob grew to become a gentle scholar; Esau, a crass and conniving materialist.[3]

Tamar’s twins were conceived in far less exalted circumstances. Tamar was originally married to Judah’s eldest son, Er. Upon Er’s untimely death, she was given in levirate marriage[4] to his younger brother, Onan; but Onan, too, died childless. When Tamar realized that Judah had no intention of marrying her to his third son, Shelah, she disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced Judah himself. When her pregnancy became apparent, Tamar was almost put to death, on Judah’s orders, for harlotry; it was only when she produced certain personal effects which Judah had left with her as collateral against his payment to her that Judah realized that the “prostitute” with whom he had cohabited with was his former daughter-in-law and the twins in her womb were fathered by himself.[5]

Yet unlike the mixed progeny of Isaac and Rebecca’s marriage, the twin sons born out of this morally dubious union were both righteous men. Indeed, all kings of Israel, from David to Moshiach, are the issue of Tamar’s pregnancy.[6]

The inverse differences between these two pregnancies and births are alluded to in the verses that describe them. Regarding Rebecca’s pregnancy, the Torah says, “Her days to give birth were fulfilled; and, behold, there were twins in her womb”; with Tamar, the Torah writes: “At the time that she gave birth, behold, there were twins in her womb.” Our sages, noting the different phraseology, explain that Rebecca’s was a “fulfilled” pregnancy of nine full months, while Tamar gave birth after an “unfulfilled” pregnancy of only seven months.[7]

Our sages also note that the Hebrew word for “twins,” te’omim, is spelled differently in the two accounts. In the Holy Tongue, many words can be written in either a “full” spelling or a “deficient” spelling (i.e., lacking one or more letters). In the account of Peretz and Zerach’s birth, the word te’omim appears in its full spelling; but in the account of Jacob and Esau’s birth, it appears in deficient form, lacking the letters aleph and yud. This, explain the commentaries, alludes to the fact that Tamar’s twins “were both righteous, while in [Rebecca’s] case, one was righteous and the other wicked.”[8]

In other words, the “fulfilled” pregnancy of Rebecca produced a “deficient” set of twins, while Tamar’s “deficient” pregnancy produced a “full” and perfect progeny.

Seeds of Evil?
But was Rebecca’s indeed a perfect pregnancy? The Midrash seems to imply that the wicked half of her progeny was already asserting his evil nature while still in the womb.

The Torah relates that “The children struggled within her.”[9] The Midrash explains: “Whenever she would pass a house of prayer or house of study, Jacob would struggle to come out ... and when she passed a house of idolatry, Esau would struggle to come out.”[10] Rebecca, puzzled by the contrary strivings being exhibited by her offspring, “sought the counsel of G-d” and was told: “There are two nations in your womb; two peoples will separate from your innards.”[11]

There are, however, other Midrashic accounts that describe Esau and Jacob sharing a righteous childhood in the holy environment of their parents’ home and under the tutelage of their saintly grandfather, Abraham, and that “only later did Esau ruin himself with his deeds.”[12] This supports our initial conception of an impeccable conception, pregnancy and birth, followed by a “deficient” progeny that is attributable solely to the fact that Esau, by his own free will, chose to follow a path of evil.

But a similar contradiction is also to be found in our Sages’ remarks regarding G-d’s creation of the world. On the one hand, we have the Midrashic statement that “The world was created fulfilled”—i.e., fully matured and lacking nothing.[13] Yet the perfect world which G-d created contains the potential for imperfection, even evil. Indeed, this potential is an integral part of its perfection. The Midrash, citing the verse, “And G-d looked upon all that He made and, behold, it was very good,” comments: “‘Behold it was very good’—this is the good inclination; ‘and behold it was very good’—this is the inclination for evil ... ‘behold it was very good’—this is good fortune; ‘and behold it was very good’—this is suffering ... ‘behold it was very good’—this is paradise; ‘and behold it was very good’—this is hell ... ‘behold it was very good’—this is the angel of life; ‘and behold it was very good’—this is the angel of death....”[14]

The Two Delicacies
A fundamental principle of the Jewish faith is that, “Freedom of choice has been granted to every man: if he desires to turn himself to a path of good and be a righteous person, the option is in his hands; if he desires to turn himself to a path of evil and be a wicked person, the option is in his hands.”[15] Yet we observe that certain people are more susceptible to evil than others. The Talmud describes the prototypical victim of evil, Job, protesting to G-d: “Master of the universe! You have created righteous people, and you have created wicked people!”[16]

In his Tanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that G-d indeed created “righteous people” and “wicked people.” “Righteous people” (tzaddikim) are individuals who, by nature, abhor evil and desire only good, either because they have been born that way or because they have transformed their negative drives into positive ones. “Wicked people,” on the other hand, are those individuals who are destined “not to be wicked in actuality, G-d forbid, but that the doings of the wicked should approach them, in their minds and thoughts alone, so that they must constantly battle to avert their minds from them and suppress the evil; for they would not be able to annihilate it completely—as can only be achieved by the righteous.”[17]

For G-d desires both these types of human being in His world. “Just like in physical foods, for example, there exist two types of delicacies: sweet and luscious foods, and sharp or sour foods which have been spiced and garnished so that they are made into delicacies which gratify the soul,” so, too, “there are two kinds of gratification before G-d: one, from the complete annihilation of evil ... by the righteous; the second, when evil is subdued while it is still at its strongest and most powerful ... through the efforts of the intermediate man.”[18]

This is the deeper significance of the “two nations” which Rebecca was told dwelled in her womb. The gravitation to evil exhibited by one of her twins was not a deficiency—it was the potential for the “second delicacy” craved by G-d. It was only later, when Esau chose to surrender to his evil inclination rather than battle it, that the duality of forces she birthed became a “deficient” set of twins.

As they existed within Rebecca, however, Jacob and Esau constituted a “full” pregnancy, containing both of the two fundamental potentials that G-d implanted in His creation: the delight of utter goodness, and the distinct pleasure and sense of achievement that comes only from the struggle with adversity.[19]

Tamar’s pregnancy and delivery describe the reverse process: how negative circumstances and actions can be sublimated so that the original perfection, from which every potential in existence stems, is restored. Indeed, when the potential for evil, suffering, hell and death becomes actual, the opportunity exists for an even deeper perfection to be achieved, when these are vanquished and transformed into good.

The Ascent to Mount Zion
Hence the paradox of our existence: perfection begets imperfection (as in Rebecca’s pregnancy), for nothing can be said to be truly perfect unless it possesses the potential for struggle, which means that it must be vulnerable to imperfection. And imperfection gives birth to perfection (as in Tamar’s pregnancy) when that vulnerability is exploited to reap the rewards of struggle and to attain the perfect twinship of pristine goodness and vanquished evil.

The whole of history is the noble and painful progress toward the resolution of this paradox when, in the age of Moshiach, “the saviors (descendants of Tamar) shall ascend the mountain of Zion to judge the mountain of (Rebecca’s) Esau,”[20] uniting the vulnerabilities that are born out of the perfection of G-d’s creation with the perfection that is born out of the vulnerabilities of the human condition.[21]

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Toledot, 5744 (1983), and on other occasions[22]

Why do the good die young?

2010-11-26T10:11:00.001+11:00

I don't understand. Why do the good die young? I have lost a friend who was the best person I know. And I can think of plenty of not-so-good people who are living it up. Where is the justice? Can you make any sense of this upside down world?
Answer:
Let me tell you a story.
A great debate once raged in heaven. It was over a most beautiful and precious new soul that G-d had created. The angels debated what should be done with this soul. One group of angels demanded that this soul remain in heaven. "She is too pure, too holy to face the ugliness of the lowly world," they said. "Who knows what will happen to her in a world of temptation and evil. This soul must stay with us here."
But the other group of angels said the exact opposite: "Indeed this soul glows with a unique divine glow. But for that very reason she must go down to earth. For imagine the beauty and goodness this soul can bring to a dark world. What good is there in keeping such a soul in heaven? Let her descend to earth and shine her light there."
And so they argued back and forth, each side unshakable in their view. Until it became clear that they could not resolve the issue themselves, they needed a Higher Authority. The case was brought before G-d Almighty. The angels stated their arguments before the heavenly court. G-d listened to the two opinions -the first group of angels arguing that this unspoiled soul is too holy to be plunged into the lowly world, the second countering that the world needs such souls more than anything.
And this was G-d's response:
"Indeed, it is sad to send such an immaculate soul into such a dark world. But this is My will. I only created darkness so souls like this one can transform darkness into light. The whole purpose of creation was that the lowly world be refined by the good deeds of mortal human beings. This cannot be achieved by souls in heaven. It can only be achieved through souls in bodies. And so even this most perfect and pure soul must descend to earth."
The first group of angels, who requested for the soul to remain in heaven, were disappointed. They couldn't fathom how such a spiritual being could be expected to survive such a physical world. G-d turned to them and said, "As for your request to keep this soul up here, I will grant it partially. Though she must leave us and go down to earth, it will not be long before she will return to us. Her sojourn on earth will be brief. Such a brilliant soul will not need long to fulfil her mission. Soon she will be free to come back to heaven."
G-d then turned to the second group and asked, "Are you satisfied with that? Do you accept that this soul can only be on earth for a limited time?"
The angels replied, "Yes we do. Every day that she is on earth is a blessing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a loved one passes away, we feel we have lost something precious. We are left with a gaping hole in our heart, and we often wonder why they were taken away from us. But at the same time we can be grateful for the very fact that they were given to us in the first place. We are blessed to have such beautiful souls in our lives. The world is privileged to have such heavenly guests come down on earth. And even if it can only be for a short while, we will take whatever we can get.
In time all souls will be reunited. In the meantime, let us be thankful for the gift of every day.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Joseph allways a Jew

2010-11-26T10:10:00.003+11:00

At first glance, this week's Torah portion, Vayeishev, chronicles the circumstances leading to Joseph's appointment as second in command over Egypt, subordinate only to Pharaoh. Yet, upon examination, we find that Joseph's story is synonymous with the history of the Jews.
Joseph, the pride of his father, at the age of 17 is suddenly plucked from his secure environment, family, and his country. Sold into slavery and finding himself in a foreign land, he must now cope with the most adverse and cruel of circumstances. Worst of all, Joseph is not to blame, for all this has come about through no action of his own.

A lesser individual would have surely succumbed to bitterness and depression. Another might have become indifferent. But Joseph realized that he must deal with the reality which presented itself. As the servant of Potifar, he fulfilled his duties to the best of his ability. It soon became apparent even to Potifar that it was in Joseph's merit that his household enjoyed its material blessings.

This, then, is the task of every Jew: No matter how adverse the circumstances, each Jew must live up to his full potential and fulfill his duties to the best of his ability.

But how was Joseph repaid for his loyalty? He was thrown into prison! Why? Because he refused to betray his master by succumbing to the advances of the master's wife. Not only didn't Joseph's honesty and integrity bring him any positive benefits, these very qualities caused him to be incarcerated. Was Joseph discouraged? Did he reject his lifestyle and renounce his high standards? Joseph's response to adversity was to continue in the same path, acting honestly and in good faith. Eventually his behavior and virtue drew the attention of his jailers.

This is the history of the Jew as well: No matter how depraved and corrupt his surroundings, he remains undeterred from his faith in G-d and His Torah.

When Joseph noticed that two of his fellow inmates, Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker, were distressed for some reason, he rushed to their aid, without thought of rejoicing at their misfortune or of taking revenge for the role they played in his downfall. Joseph could not bear to see people in need, and so he immediately offered his assistance. He was able to bring them relief by interpreting their respective dreams.

In return, Joseph did not ask for monetary payment or special treatment. He merely requested that the chief butler mention his name to Pharaoh when he was freed, which he didn't do. In his unbending faith in the goodness of man and in ultimate justice, Joseph believed that fairness would prevail if only Pharaoh was presented with the facts.

This theme has been played out time and again in Jewish history. Joseph unfortunately learned the hard way that this world is full of lies and deception. Yet when he later found himself in a position of almost unlimited power, he refused to exact revenge on those who had harmed him. This is not the way of the Jew. Joseph faithfully used his office to steer the Egyptians and the whole world from potential catastrophe during the years of famine, enacting, for the first time, the historic role the Jews have played during their exile among the nations.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Shlopping for Chanuka?

2010-11-26T10:09:00.000+11:00

by Rabbi Yisrael Rubin

The approach of Chanuka has many people shlepping and shopping (shlopping for short) around the malls for gifts.

Even if you're sitting at home in a comfortable chair with your feet up and a cup of tea in hand, perusing a catalogue or surfing the net for great gift ideas, it can still be a shlep to shop for Chanuka!

Whether you're driving around looking for a parking space or checking out the bargains in cyberspace, shlopping can take hours upon hours and can be very tiring.

Shlopping is especially draining, confusing and exhausting with all that goes on in the malls at this time of the year during the end of the shlopping days countdown.

Actually, shlopping malls may be the most inappropriate place to find the most appropriate Chanuka gift. The seasonal decorations, the rush and hassle, the here-today- gone-tomorrow trendiness of items ornately displayed in store windows, can detract from the Chanuka spirit.

Chanuka celebrates the triumph of the little cruse of purity over crass materialism. The Maccabees fought and were victorious in a battle of quality over quantity. They dedicated themselves to preserving Jewish identity and to resisting alien influences.

We can shop and shop, but not all that glitters is gold. A true Chanuka gift should have some inner content, not only superficial wrappings, fancy labels and pricey tags. Our family and friends certainly deserve more on Chanuka than just shlopping bags full of gizmos.

But can anyone hear us above all the noise? How can we focus on the true meaning of Chanuka amid all the surrounding sights and sounds, muzak and color?

The following proposed announcement may sound a little shloppy, but let's try to get someone's attention with it.

"Attention Shloppers! We draw your attention to a special in the Chanuka department.

"Remember: It's the thought that counts. Give something with meaning.

"Gone are the days when the only Jewish toy was a wobbly lead dreidle. We've come a long way.

"Experience the explosion of Jewish creativity. Go into your local Judaica store (or visit them online) and choose from a large and attractive selection of Jewish games, toys, art & crafts, books, tapes, software and CDs, with real, authentic Jewish content.

"Our rich and exciting heritage can come alive for Jewish kids of all ages. Give gifts that are educational and entertaining - the best of both worlds."

Shlep a friend along with you on this new Chanuka shlopping adventure.

Rabbi Yisrael Rubin is director of Chabad of the Capital District, Albany, NY

The Three Lives of Jacob

2010-11-18T22:46:00.002+11:00

“Everything that happened to the Patriarchs,” writes Nachmanides in his commentary on the Book of Genesis, “is a signpost for their children. This is why the Torah elaborates its account of their journeys, their well-digging and the other events [of their lives] ... these all come as an instruction for the future: for when something happens to one of the three Patriarchs, one understands from it what is decreed to occur to his descendants.”[1]

The Torah devotes more than twenty-five chapters (Genesis 25-50) to the life of Jacob, the third and “choicest of the Patriarchs”[2]—a life which spanned three lands:

a) The Holy Land, where he spent the first half of his life[3] secluded in “the tents of Torah.”[4]
b) The Mesopotamian city of Charan, where he spent 20 years in the employ of “Laban the Deceiver,” fathered 11 of his 12 sons, and amassed “much sheep, as well as maids, servants, camels and asses.”[5]
c) The land of Egypt, where he resided for the last 17 years of his life.[6]

Many events, triumphs and tribulations crowd each of these three epochs in the saga of Jacob. But each period also represents a particular state of affairs in Jacob’s life and in his relationship with his environment, providing us with three major “signposts” by which to negotiate our own lives’ reiteration of the lives of our ancestors.

Sovereignty, Struggle, and Subjugation
To what extent are we the master of our circumstances? Rare is the individual who could offer a single, consistent reply to this question. Rather, we recognize various states of dependency and control, various degrees of mastery over our lives. Generally speaking, we experience three such states: sovereignty, struggle, and subjugation.

We each harbor a vision of a transcendent self, of a soul, pure and inviolable, at the core of our being. This self, we are convinced, is not subject to the caprice of circumstance, remaining forever aloof from the shifting dictates of society and convention. And though this core self is not always accessible to us, there come moments in our lives—“moments of truth,” we call them—in which it asserts its will over every and any influence save its own internal truth.

But these moments, for most of us, are few and far between. More often, we are in a state of struggle—struggle with our environment, with our own habits and behavior patterns, with the passions of our divided hearts.

While a state of struggle indicates that we have not attained full mastery over our existence, it is also a sign of life: we have not succumbed. We are resisting the forces that seek to sway us from our internal truth; we are engaging them and battling them. Indeed, this is life at its fullest and most productive—even more so, in a certain sense, than those “moments of truth” of resolute perfection.

But we also know times of powerlessness and subordination. Times when we are faced with circumstances which we have neither the ability to control nor to even resist; times when it seems that life has been stopped dead in its tracks, arrested by an impregnable wall of helplessness and despair.

Jacob
Jacob was a tzaddik—a perfectly righteous person who never for a moment ceased to exercise a full and unequivocal mastery over his life.[7] But within the context of his perfect existence, he experienced the equivalents of all three states of life described above.

His years in the Holy Land were years of tranquil perfection—years in which nothing alien to his quintessential self intruded upon his life of Torah study, prayer and service of G-d.

His Charan years were characterized by challenge and struggle. There he locked horns with Laban the Deceiver and bested him at his own game;[8] there “heat consumed me by day, and frost at night; and sleep was banished from my eyes.”[9] In the words of Esau’s angel to Jacob upon Jacob’s return from Charan, “You have struggled with G-d and with men, and have prevailed.”[10]

For the last seventeen years of his life, Jacob lived in the land of Egypt. If Charan was “the object of G-d’s wrath in the world,”[11] Egypt was “the depravity of the earth”[12]—the most G-dless and debased society of all time. In Egypt, Jacob was forced to pay homage to Pharaoh,[13] the arch-idol and demigod of the land. Upon Jacob’s passing in Egypt, his body was in the possession of the Egyptian “physicians” for 40 days, who embalmed it after their custom.[14] Indeed, the reason why Jacob commanded Joseph to bury him in the Holy Land (a feat which required much maneuvering and manipulation to secure Pharaoh’s consent[15]) was that he feared that, in Egypt, his body and gravesite would become an object of idolatry.[16]

Jacob’s Egyptian years thus represent what, in the context of his perfectly sovereign life, were a time of subjugation to an alien power. Yet the Torah regards these as the best years of his life![17] For Jacob knew to exploit the very circumstances which, on the face of it, inhibit and arrest one’s vitality and achievement, as circumstances to foster the strivings of his soul and further its aims. Indeed, it was here in Egypt, under the rule and subsequent enslavement of the Pharaohs, that Jacob’s descendants were forged into the people of Israel.

The Signposts
“Everything that happened to the Patriarchs ... is decreed to occur to their descendants.” Not that they occur in exactly the same manner. Our own moments of transcendence seem fleeting and inconsequential in comparison with Jacob’s decades of tranquil perfection in the Holy Land; our own struggles seem wan and inept when measured against Jacob’s Charan years; our own lives under circumstances of subjugation and oppression seem black indeed when set against Jacob’s Egyptian period. Yet the three lives of Jacob are “signposts” that guide, inspire and enable our own.[18]

Jacob’s life in the Holy Land empowers us to experience moments of true freedom—moments in which we assert our true will over all forces, both external and internal, that seek to quell it.

Jacob’s Charan years inspire and enable us to not only persevere in our struggles but to revel in them, to experience them as vibrant and exhilarating periods in our lives.

And Jacob’s Egyptian period teaches us how to deal with those situations in which we feel overpowered by forces beyond our control. It teaches us that these times, too, are part and parcel of our lives; that these times, too, can be negotiated with wisdom, dignity and integrity. That these times, too, can be realized as vital and productive seasons of our lives.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Vayeitzei 5750 (1989)[19]

Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and distressed

2010-11-18T22:46:00.001+11:00

Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and distressed (Gen. 32:8)
According to Rashi, Jacob was worried over the possibility that he would be forced to kill "acheirim," literally "others." Our Sages, however, relate that "Acheirim" was also the name of the famous Rabbi Meir, who was descended from the Roman Emperor Nero, who converted to Judaism. Jacob was thus afraid that if he killed Esau, he would thereby be preventing the great sage from being born.

(Peninim Yekarim)

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Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau (Gen. 32:12)

The repetition of the word "hand" indicates that Jacob was afraid of two separate dangers: the "hand of Esau," Esau's brute physical power, and "the hand of my brother," Esau's brotherly love. Esau's sword posed a threat to Jacob's physical well-being, but socializing with him would be an even greater threat to his soul.

(Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik)

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And he commanded also (gam) the second, also (gam) the third, also (gam) all that followed the droves (Gen. 32:20)

The Hebrew word "gam" (spelled gimmel-mem) is used three times to allude to the three historical redemptions of the Jewish people through the three tzadikim [righteous]: The first was "geulat Moshe," the redemption from Egypt led by Moses. The second was "geulat Mordechai," the redemption in the times of Mordechai which culminated in the holiday of Purim. And the third will be "geulat Moshiach," who will usher in the Final Redemption.

(Yosher Adam)

Two observations

2010-11-18T22:45:00.000+11:00

16th of Tammuz, 5720 [1960]
After the very long interval, I was pleased to receive your letter of June 17th, in which you write about your wedding in a happy and auspicious hour. I was also especially interested to read about your having settled down to a family life based on the foundations of our Torah, which is called the Law of Life. Judging from the description of your experiences with a sense of humor, I trust that both you and your wife are sincerely determined to live up to the Jewish way of life, which will ensure a happy and harmonious life, both materially and spiritually. The important thing is to start with a firm determination, and then, as our Sages said, "One mitzvah [commandment] brings another in its train," and these are the channels and vessels to receive and enjoy G-d's blessings.

You write about meeting a Jew in the course of your travels who comes to the synagogue to help make up a minyan [prayer quorum], yet at the same time reads the newspaper. Everyone, of course, reacts to an experience in a way that is closest to him.

Thus, for my part, I make the following two extreme observations: First, I see in it the extreme Jewish attachment which one finds in every Jew. For here is a person who has wandered off to a remote part of the world, and has become so far removed, not only geographically, but also mentally and intellectually, as to have no concept of what prayer is or what a house of G-d is, etc; yet one finds in him that Jewish spark, or as the Alter Rebbe [Rabbi Shneur Zalman], the founder of Chabad, expressed it in his Tanya - "The Divine soul which is truly a part of G-d." This divine soul, which is the inheritance of every Jew, seeks expression as best it can, and in the case of this particular Jew, it seeks expression in at least enabling other Jews to pray congregationally, and he therefore goes out of his way to help them and at the same time to be counted with them.

My other observation, following from the above, is as follows: If, where the odds are so great against Jewish observance, yet a Jew can remain active and conscious of his Jewishness, it can easily be seen what great things could have been accomplished with this particular Jew if, at the proper time he should have received the right education in his early life, or at least the proper spiritual guidance in his adult life. This consideration surely emphasizes the mutual responsibility which rests upon all Jews, and particularly on those who can help others.

I will not deny that the above is said not in a spirit of philosophizing, but with a view to stimulate your thinking as to your own possibilities in your particular environment, and what the proper attitude should be.

We must never despair of any Jew, and at the same time we must do all we can to take the fullest advantage of our capacities and abilities to strengthen the Jewish consciousness among all Jews with whom we come in contact. For one can never tell how far-reaching such influence can be.

To conclude this letter on the happy note of the beginning of your letter relating to your marriage, may I again reiterate my prayerful wishes that you establish and conduct your home on everlasting foundations of the Torah and mitzvos, and thus enjoy a truly happy and productive life, both materially and spiritually which go hand in hand together.

I trust both you and your wife will find the enclosed copies of my recent message interesting and useful.

Hoping to hear good news from you always,

transitional nothingness

2010-11-18T22:44:00.002+11:00

My life has fallen apart. My husband left me, I have been kicked out of my home and my career is over. And now I am losing my faith too. I used to believe so strongly, but now my thinking has changed. Was I deluded to think that G-d would help me?

Answer:
I feel for you in what must be a huge test of your character. Your whole world has been shattered to pieces. Just to get up in the morning and face the day must take mammoth strength.

There is a name for your situation. The Kabbalists call it Ayin Baemtza - "transitional nothingness."

Between any two states of being lies an intermediary state of nonbeing. Like a seed that must become a tree, it first decomposes, nullifies itself and rots into oblivion. Just as it reaches the verge of complete nonexistence, the seed starts to sprout and reinvents itself into a new being. Only by losing its being as a seed and becoming nothing, can it reach a new being, a greater being, as a tree.
It has to be this way. To truly reinvent oneself, there must be a true and complete break from the past, a real nothingness, to make room for the new self to emerge.

You are presently going through an Ayin Baemtza stage in your life. The life that was is gone, the life that will be is yet to blossom, and you are left in a big black hole of confusion, pain and darkness. That is a very hard place to be. Because everyone knows that transitional nothingness is just a temporary state, a step between two stages in life. Everyone knows that except the one who is going through it themselves. For you the nothingness is real. It is hard - maybe impossible - for you to see any bright future ahead.

So what can you do to survive the transitional nothingness? What will keep you going until you transform into the you of tomorrow?

In your state of nothingness you need to hold on to something higher than yourself. Now, you need faith, not philosophy. Say to yourself: My life is in disarray, I don't know what's flying, I don't know what will be, but I am in G-d's hands. This is a process that for whatever reason I must go through. And with G-d's help, I will get through it.

When in an Ayin state, it is not the time to be changing belief systems, or making important life choices. The ground you are standing on is too unstable for you to be able to think clearly. It would be sad - no, it would be tragic - if in your frustration you made choices that you will later regret, but not be able to reverse.

I offer no solutions to your predicament. But I offer you one piece of advice. Just hold on to G-d, the one thing that even in your nothingness you haven't lost. You will get through this black hole and your life will be reborn. The seed is planted. Have faith, and your new tomorrow will blossom soon.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Israel

2010-11-18T22:44:00.001+11:00

This week's Torah portion, Vayishlach, narrates Jacob's victorious struggle with the angel and the subsequent changing of his name to Israel. "Not Jacob shall your name any more be called, but Israel, for you have striven with G-d and with men, and prevailed."
The names "Jacob" and "Israel" are used to refer to the entire Jewish people; each of the two terms emphasizes a particular characteristic of the Jewish nation. According to Chasidic philosophy, "Jacob" and "Israel" symbolize two levels in the Jew's relationship with G-d.

Jews are referred to as both servants of G-d and as G-d's sons. As "servants," they are called "Jacob" - "Hearken unto Me, Jacob my servant." As "sons," they are called "Israel" - "My son, My firstborn, Israel."

The difference between a servant and a son is obvious. When a son fulfills his father's wishes, he does so happily and out of love. A servant, however, is not necessarily overjoyed at the opportunity to carry out his master's command, quite frequently doing so only because he has no choice in the matter.

Both situations apply to our own lives, in our own personal service of G-d. A Jew can pray, learn Torah, observe the mitzvot and serve his Father like a son, or he can perform the very same actions without joy, like a servant serves his Master. When a Jew stands on the level of "Israel," he willingly fulfills his Father's commands, experiencing no inner conflict with the Evil Inclination. When, however, a Jew is on the level of "Jacob," it means he is forced to grapple with the Evil Inclination in order to properly fulfill his Master's command, quite frequently doing so only out of a sense of obligation and submission.

Obviously, the level of "Israel" is the one toward which we all strive, yet one cannot reach this level without first passing through the level of "Jacob." If a Jew is not always enthusiastic in his service, sometimes finding it difficult to serve G-d properly, he should know that this is only natural when one embarks upon a new course. The Evil Inclination is not vanquished all at once, and it takes time to transform the will of G-d into one's own personal will. At first (and this stage may last for years!), the Evil Inclination howls in protest, attempting to divert the Jew. But when a Jew consistently stands up for what is right and refuses to despair, the Evil Inclination is eventually conquered.

This is also one reason why, even after Jacob received the name Israel, he is sometimes referred to in the Torah by his old name. For although the level of "Israel" is superior, the level of "Jacob" is nonetheless a necessary component in the spiritual life of the Jew.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Breaking the Barriers

2010-11-18T22:42:00.000+11:00

Chasidim are known for their joyful approach to life, whether the mundane and material or the spiritual and inspirational. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Chasidism, established joy as one of the two "platforms" of Chasidic teachings: love your fellow as yourself is one, serve G-d with joy is the other.
At first this almost obsessive insistence on joy aroused the criticism of the opponents. Life is serious. Prayer is serious. Torah study requires gravity of mind. Etc.

There were other charges: By being so joyful, it was claimed, Chasidim minimized the sinfulness of mankind and trivialized the tragic.

Of course, the charges were false. A cursory glance through the writings of the Chasidic masters reveals they were fully aware of the trials and tribulations of life. Dealing with transgression and repentance also has a place in their teachings.

And while Chasidic prayer remains joyous, its intensity and importance cannot be doubted. For, while Chasidim reintroduced singing and vitality, they also emphasized why and to Whom we pray.

Still, the emphasis on joy can sometimes seem to be an over-emphasis, if not just wishful thinking. Arguing that the sadness, or depression, that follows a sin is in many ways worse than the sin itself, seems exaggerated. And claiming that "joy breaks through all barriers" sounds like a pep talk.

Except - modern science confirms what Chasidism has been saying for over two centuries. It seems that physical pain and depression aren't just connected, they actually travel together. And apparently, depression leads the way.

Scientists studying depression and pain discovered that it can cause "floating" pain - random and otherwise unexplainable pains in various parts of the body. Someone who's depressed can experience back pain, headaches, or just heightened sensitivity to pain - all of which may seem to come out of nowhere.

The reason is "that pain and emotion travel down some of the same neural pathways in your brain." So sometimes the neurotransmitters "carrying news of gloom and doom ... jump the tracks" resulting in very real physical pain. As the depression fades, so does the pain.

Of course, sometimes the depression is so serious and deep that the individual must take antidepressants or go into therapy - and for many, many people, such treatment is a life-saving necessity.

But for many of us, and most of the time, a little extra joy can go a long way. We really can "smile away" those aches and pains.

Joy does more than negate the negative, though. It also increases the positive. Joy energizes us. When the Baal Shem Tov said, "serve G-d with joy," he was telling us, among other things, that joy intensifies and gives significance to our actions. It's not just the difference between doing what we have to and what we want to. Without joy not only can we not truly appreciate the experience, we can't internalize it.

Joy breaks barriers: in a sense it travels the neural pathways opposed to depression, with the opposite result. If depression "jumps the track" into pain, joy helps us "jump the track" to pleasure - not just physical pleasure, but to material and intellectual achievement, as well.

I am His sheep

2010-11-11T22:36:00.001+11:00

This week’s Torah reading, Vayeitzei (Genesis 28:10–32:3), is veritably glutted with sheep: Laban’s sheep and Jacob’s sheep; white sheep, dark sheep, spotted sheep, speckled sheep, sheep with rings around their ankles. Jacob arrives in Charan, and the first sight to greet him is that of several flocks of sheep congregated around a sealed well; the second is his future wife, Rachel (the name is Hebrew for “sheep”), shepherding her father’s sheep. Soon Jacob is a shepherd himself, caring for sheep, receiving his wages in sheep, breeding sheep with special markings, dreaming of sheep, amassing a fortune in sheep, and finally leading his flocks back to the Holy Land where he will present his brother Esau with a huge gift comprised largely of... sheep.

Between flocks, we also read of Jacob’s marriages to Leah and Rachel and the birth of eleven of his twelve sons, progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. What are we to learn from the fact that the nation of Israel was founded in such sheepish surroundings?

The First Metaphor
“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, he who shepherds [me] among the roses.”[1] The voice of this verse, explains the Midrash,[2] is that of the community of Israel, speaking of her relationship with G-d. “He is my shepherd, [as it is written,] ‘Shepherd of Israel, listen’[3]; and I am His sheep, [as it is written,] ‘And[4] you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture.’”

The same Midrashic passage also describes our relationship with G-d as that of a child to his father, a sister to her brother, a bride to her groom, a vineyard to its watchman, among others. Each of these metaphors expresses another facet of the relationship: the inherent bond between G-d and Israel, the love and affection, G-d’s guardianship over us, our being a source of joy to Him, etc. What does the sheep/shepherd metaphor represent? If the point is that G-d provides for us and protects us, or that we are subservient and devoted to Him, these elements also exist in the father/child relationship. What unique aspect of our relationship with G-d can be expressed only by describing us as His sheep?

The sheep’s dominant trait is its docility and obedience. The child obeys his father, but does so out of an appreciation of his father’s greatness; the sheep does not obey for any reason—it is simply obedient by nature. It is this element of our relationship with G-d that the sheep represents: an unquestioning subservience which derives not from our understanding of His greatness and our feelings toward Him (in which case it would be defined by the limits of our understanding and feelings), but from the recognition that “I am His sheep.”

The Jewish nation was founded amidst sheep because our self-negation and unquestioning obedience to G-d is the foundation of our Jewishness. Of course, we are not only G-d’s sheep—we are also His children, His bride, His sister and His vineyard. By the same token, the Torah tells us that when Jacob left Charan after twenty years of shepherding, his wealth consisted not only of sheep: “He had much sheep, maids and servants, camels and donkeys.”[5] We have just read that Laban paid him his wages in sheep, and that his flocks multiplied exceedingly; but where did his other possessions come from? Rashi explains that “he sold his sheep for high prices and bought all these.”[6] Spiritually, too, Jacob’s “wealth” did not consist solely of docility and self-negation, but also included feeling and understanding, fortitude and vigor.[7] But the source and basis of it all were his “sheep.”

Being a Jew means studying the divine wisdom (revealed to us in His Torah), developing a passionate love and reverent awe for G-d, and teaching His wisdom and implementing His will in an oft-times hostile world—all of which require the optimal application of our mental, emotional and assertive powers. But the foundation of it all—the base from which all these derive and upon which they are all predicated—is our simple commitment to G-d, a commitment that transcends reason and emotion.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Kislev 10, 5737 (December 2, 1976)[8]

Gems

2010-11-11T22:35:00.001+11:00

And Jacob lifted up his feet ("raglav") (Gen. 29:1)
The Hebrew word for foot, "regel" is related to the word meaning habit, "hergel." Jacob "lifted up" and elevated his daily, mundane and habitual actions and transformed them into holiness. "If you turn away your foot because of the Sabbath," said the Prophet Isaiah, "I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." If you make an effort to rise above and transform your baser instincts in order to bring holiness into the world, you will be rewarded by G-d for your actions.

(Baal Shem Tov)

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And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth (Gen. 28:14)

The Jewish people is likened here to the dust of the earth, although sometimes the Torah compares the Jews to sand, and sometimes to the stars. We learn a lesson from each of these different expressions. Stars are far apart from one another in the heavens and never come into contact with each other. Grains of sand, on the other hand, are in close proximity to the other grains, but do not stick and adhere to each other. Dust, however, attaches to other particles and forms a cohesive mass. The Jewish people receives G-d's blessings when they are unified and undivided like dust.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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Surely G-d is present in this place and I did not know it (28:16)

When does man feel the presence of G-d? When "I did not know it" - when the "I" is ignored and the person works on negating his ego.

(Panim Yafot)

The Rebbe writes

2010-11-11T22:34:00.002+11:00

Continuation of a letter of the Rebbe written to Mrs. Devorah Groner, wife of Rabbi Yitzchok Groner (of blessed memory), emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Melbourne, Australia, who headed the institutions there, and was a pioneer and builder of the Melbourne Jewish community.
Finally, and this is the most basic consideration, it is necessary to bear in mind that "G-d directs the steps of man and finds delight in his (His) way," as explained at length by the Baal Shem Tov [founder of Chasidism] and the Alter Rebbe [Rabbi Shneur Zalman, founder of Chabad Chasidism]. When individual Divine Providence leads a Jew, man or woman, in a certain direction, and in a way that G-d finds delight in because it is His way, it is to be expected that the Yetzer Horah [evil inclination] will seek ways and means to lessen the enthusiasm and dampen the spirit. For the greater the accomplishments in the realm of holiness, the greater is the opposition on the part of the "other side."

As for what can actually be accomplished, I mentioned to your husband the experience in a somewhat similar situation, when the father of my father-in-law sent two Jews to Gruzia (Caucasia), a remote and neglected region, the two emissaries so transformed Jewish life there that even now, 45 years later, we find grandchildren of those native Jews in New York who are strictly religious and devoted Chassidim.

There is this difference, however, that those two Jews who revitalized Jewish life in that remote region, were the only pioneers and had no helpers. They had to start from scratch, whereas you and your husband came to Australia, finding there a group of Anash [Chabad-Lubavitch chasidim] who have, to a considerable extent, already prepared the ground, except that many phases of the work have still to be accomplished and could best be done by people who have all American-English background, since, basically, the Australian society is similar to that of the English-American society.

I hope that the above lines will suffice to form a basis for further reflection along the lines suggested, for, needless to say, the subject is by no means exhausted.

After all these reflections, I explicitly told your husband that as far as he and you are concerned, and as far as the continuation of your work in Australia is concerned, you have complete freedom of action now, as before you set out for Australia, when you were in Brooklyn or Buffalo. You have the freedom to decide whether you wish to continue your work in Australia at the end of the three year period, with all that it entails, or return to an easier job in this country. As a matter of fact, the job at the Yeshivah which your husband held before, would undoubtedly be available to him in the same capacity as before (which is that of the category of a "clerk", with all the "advantages" indicated earlier).

Furthermore, I assured your husband that there is no implication of Kepaida [harboring resentment] or reproof, from my part, whatever decision he and you make. The important thing is that if the task is to be done successfully, the work must be carried on willingly, without compulsion and without considering it as penal servitude or deportation. On the other hand, I wound be amiss of my duty if I were not to point out the essential differences between one job as against the other, in the light of the quotation mentioned above, "More knowledge, more pain."

May G-d grant that you make your decision in a way that will be truly good for you both, materially and spiritually, and that you have good news to report.

With blessing,

P.S. What has been said in regard to your husband's work applies also to your work in disseminating Yiddishkeit among the women and daughters of Chabad, although perhaps not to the same extent, since among the women of Chabad there are a number of persons who have an American-English background. Needless to say, however, you have the advantage of having been in the proximity of my father-in-law and having imbibed directly from his fountains, whereas the other women in Australia could do so only from a "second or third" vessel.

Different gender roles

2010-11-11T22:34:00.001+11:00

I have often heard it said that Judaism believes that women are more spiritual than men. This is supposed to explain why men have more religious obligations than women - men need these things to become closer to G-d, women are there already. But do we really believe that? Is it not just a patronising way to avoid the question of the different gender roles in Judaism?

Answer:

I remember as a child being told that men and women are equal. I had a big problem with this. I asked, "If men and woman are equal, why do men and women never compete with each other in sports? You never see a man playing against a woman in tennis, or women's soccer teams facing men's, or a mixed gender 100 metre sprint. If we are all equal, why can't we compete together?"
The answer I received was unsatisfying. "Men are on average stronger physically than women. It would not be fair for them to compete against each other in sports which require bodily strength, because men would always win. But in every other way, men and women are equal."
This did not sit well with me. If men are superior to women in physical strength, but equal in all else, then men and women are not equal. Men have an edge. Unless there is some other area of human endeavour in which women are superior, we are not equal.
This bothered me for years. Until I learnt Judaism's attitude to women.
Women are more soulful than men. While men may excel in physical prowess, women are far ahead when it comes to spiritual strength. Women are more sensitive to matters of the soul, more receptive to ideas of faith, more drawn to the divine than men. The feminine soul has an openness to the abstract and a grasp of the intangible that a male soul can only yearn for. This is why G-d told Abraham, the first Jewish man, "Whatever Sarah your wife tells you, listen to her voice." She was the greater prophet, her soul more intuitive than his.
When I first heard this idea, it suddenly all made sense. There is indeed a balance between men and women. Men have stronger bodies, women have stronger souls.
Of course there are exceptions. Some women could beat any guy in an arm wrestle. And some men are more spiritually intuned than the women around them. But for the most part, men have bigger muscles, women have deeper feelings.
The Torah gives men more physical mitzvos, to tame the body and give the soul extra power. Women don't need this help. Because although men can jump higher in the air, women can reach higher into the heavens.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Success in the lowest place

2010-11-11T22:33:00.001+11:00

In this week's Torah portion, Vayeitzei, we read how Jacob left the home of his righteous father Isaac, left his studies in the yeshiva of Shem and Eber, and went to the home of the evil Laban in Charan. There he began a new chapter in his life, working as a shepherd day and night. Until then Jacob had concentrated on spiritual service, devoting himself solely to the study of Torah. In Charan, however, Jacob's focal point shifted, and he now found himself involved in more mundane tasks.
Surprisingly, it was precisely in Charan that Jacob achieved his highest level of success, as we are told, "And the man increased exceedingly." Jacob became very wealthy, both literally and figuratively. Moreover, it was there that Jacob married and established the Twelve Tribes, the foundation upon which the entire Jewish people would later be built.

But how is it possible that Jacob experienced his greatest success in a place as lowly as Charan? Why was it necessary for the Jewish people to establish its beginnings in such a sordid environment? (Charan is related to the Hebrew word for anger or wrath.)

A similar question can be asked about G-d's desire for a "dwelling place" in the physical world. Of all the higher celestial planes, G-d chose our lowly material world as the place where He wanted to dwell, to establish a permanent "residence."

The mitzvot of the holy Torah are practical commandments that we perform with simple, physical objects. Tefilin are made from the hide of an animal; tzitzit are made from wool; a suka, from planks of wood; candles for Shabbat and holidays from wax. G-d wants us to build for Him a "dwelling place down below" by using material objects in the performance of mitzvot. The life-long service of the Jew consists of utilizing whatever he comes in contact with to erect a permanent "residence" for G-d in the lower realms.

This desire for a "dwelling place down below" will be realized completely when Moshiach comes and ushers in the Final Redemption. At that time the purpose of creation will be fulfilled, "for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the L-rd, as the waters cover the sea."

This Divine plan for creation is reflected in Jacob's establishment of the Jewish people in as abject a location as Charan, precisely against a backdrop of involvement in material affairs:

In Charan, Jacob first began to fulfill G-d's intent in the creation of the world, the establishment of a "dwelling place" in this lowest of all possible worlds. In Laban's house he succeeded in laying the groundwork for the generations of Jews who would follow, foreshadowing their Divine mission to transform the physical world into an appropriate "residence" for G-d.

Adapted from Likutei Sichot, Volume 30

Don't Hope - Expect

2010-11-11T22:32:00.000+11:00

Any athlete will tell you that one of the hardest things to do is - expect to win. Every athlete hopes to win, but to expect to win? That requires a whole different mind-set.
And what's true of athletes is true of anyone who has to perform. Ask any artist. They all hope to perform well, win the prize, get the part, etc. Ask anyone in sales. They all hope to close the deal.

But expect to perform well, get the part, get the contract, close the deal? Only those who always win, the lucky ones, only they can expect to succeed.

If we ask those who do succeed, who do win, achieve, make it to "the other side of hope" - if we ask them how they do it, they'll tell us it requires two things: First, doing it, and doing it again. Second, practicing, and practicing it again.

Doing it the first time means doing it in your head. That's more than role-playing. That's more than conjuring a general sensation of what it feels like to win. That's playing the game, performing the piece, going through the conversation, in all its details, down to the last detail - but doing it first in our heads.

That's not just rehearsing. That's pre-experiencing.

There's a story of the Maggid of Mezritch who was questioned by a merchant why he took so long to complete his prayers. The Maggid replied that it takes time to make the spiritual journey. When the merchant looked skeptical, the Maggid changed the subject, asking the merchant about his business. He encouraged the merchant to describe in details the buying, bargaining, selling, calculating profit and loss. At the end, the merchant realized that just as one can't do business superficially, one must focus, mentally on the details, involving one's head so that is the only reality of the moment, so too with prayer.

In other words, one has to experience the experience, in all its details, moment to moment, in the mind, before experiencing it a second time, in the mind with the body.

And that brings us to practicing, and practicing again. Just as the mind has to experience the experience once before experiencing it "for real," so too the body. It has to build what athletes call "muscle memory" - practicing so that the performance is just another practice.

That's the difference between hoping and expecting. One hopes for what one hasn't experienced. One expects what one has experienced.

This is true, as in the story with the Maggid, with making our prayers meaningful. Or any mitzva (commandment).

But it's also true when it comes to Moshiach. We don't say, "I hope Moshiach comes." We say, "I expect Moshiach to come."

So, in order to experience the era of Redemption, we need to put in the time and effort to pre-experience the times of Moshiach - to leave in peace with our neighbors, to have harmonious family relationships, to immerse ourselves in Torah teachings, to work toward and end to poverty and illness. May the practice, experience and realization be simultaneous!

Redigging the Wells of Love

2010-11-04T22:20:00.001+11:00

Redigging the Wells of Love

“And all the wells that were ... dug in the days of Abraham his father were stopped by the Philistines and filled with earth...”

“And Isaac redug the wells of water dug in the days of Abraham his father... And he called them by the same names that his father had called them.”

Genesis 26:15-18

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are more than the forebears of the Jewish nation: they are the founding fathers of the Jewish soul. So we study their lives and analyze their every word and deed, for these are the foundations of our identity and the building blocks of our psyche and character.

In Abraham we see a fountainhead of Jewish generosity and social commitment. “I know him,” says G-d of the first Jew, “that he will command his children and his household after him, that they shall keep the way of G-d, to do charity and justice.”[1] Abraham, whose home and heart were open to every wayfarer, regardless of who he was and where he was coming from, offering food, drink, companionship and guidance.[2] Abraham, who challenged G-d's decree of destruction on the evil city of Sodom.[3] Abraham, who traversed the land bearing light and enlightenment to a dark and befuddled world.[4]

In Jacob we see a prototype of the Jew's devotion to learning. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are the hands of Esau”—Esau lives by the sword, while Jacob lives by the word.[5] For the first 77 years of his life, Jacob was “a dweller in the tents of study”[6]; his first act upon his arrival in Egypt-where he would live his final seventeen-was to establish a house of learning.[7] In Jacob we also find an archetype for the Jew's epochal perseverance under conditions of exile and adversity: in a foreign Charan, in the employ of the deceitful Laban, he built his family and fortune; in an alien Egypt, he imparted a lasting legacy to the fledgling nation of Israel. If Abraham exemplifies love, Jacob epitomizes truth-the quest for truth, and the consistency and persistency of truth.

But who was Isaac? The longest lived of the Patriarchs, we are told the least about him. The Torah recounts the story of the Akeidah, the “Binding of Isaac,” but tells it as Abraham's story, Abraham's test. Then comes the long chapter describing the process of finding of a bride for Isaac; but it is Eliezer, Abraham's servant, who is dispatched to Charan and who is the key figure in the drama of the choosing of Rebbeca, while Isaac's whereabouts and activities at the time remain unknown.

What does Isaac do? Basically, he stays put. By divine command, he is the only one of the three Patriarchs never to set foot outside of the Holy Land.[8] And he digs wells.

The Torah devotes an entire chapter to Isaac's well-digging activities. We are told that he reopened the wells that had been dug by Abraham and stopped by the Philistines after Abraham's death, and of a series of new wells he dug himself. Then, although he has at least another 80 years to live, we are told nothing more of Isaac's life other than his blessings to his children before his death.[9]

Awe
At his confrontation with Laban at Mt. Gilad, Jacob attributes his perseverance and success in Charan to “the G-d of Abraham and the awe of Isaac.”[10]

Therein lies the key to the enigma of Isaac: Isaac was awe to Abraham's love, restraint to Abraham's expansiveness, self-effacement to Abraham's self-assertion. Abraham's love of G-d and humanity took him on a journey from self outward, a journey etched in the roads of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan. Isaac's was an inward journey, a journey into the depths of self to the essence within.

Isaac is the fear of Heaven in the Jewish heart: the Jew’s self-censoring discipline, his silent sacrifice, his humble awe before the majesty of its Creator. Isaac was a digger of wells, boring through the stratum of emotion and experience in search of the quintessential waters of the soul. Boring deeper than feeling, deeper than desire, deeper than achievement, to the selflessness at the core of self.

Alien Love
Abraham, too, dug wells, but his were stopped by the Philistines.

“One opposite the other, G-d made,”[11] is a cardinal law of creation. Every virtue has its corresponding evil, every positive force its negative counterpart.

Love, too, has its rival evil. Love, after all, is an assertion of self-the extension of self to give and relate to another. Corrupted love is when the self asserts itself not to give but to take; not in Abrahamic love but in Philistine lust; not in caring compassion but in egotistic self-gratification.

As long as Abraham was alive, only pure love flowed from his righteous wells. But after his death, the Philistines commandeered the fountainheads of love he had established in the land. The Hebrew word plishtim means “open-ended ones”[12]; a plishtim love is an uninhibited, undisciplined love, a profane love bereft of the focus and commitment of Abraham's holy love.[13]

It was Isaac who redeemed Abraham's legacy of love. As redug by Isaac, Abraham's wells became immune to Philistine corruption. For love that flows from a well of selflessness and fear of Heaven flows faithful to its source and true to its objective.

The Jewish Soul
Every Jew is the child of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Every Jew has their love, awe and truth encoded in the spiritual DNA of his soul.

The Abraham in the Jew rushes to embrace the world, to champion its downtrodden, to extend himself heart, soul and checkbook to his fellow man. But love, to be true, must be restrained: the father who embraces his child with the full intensity of his love will hurt rather than comfort him. And love, unchecked, eventually disintegrates to the destructive, everything-goes “love” of the Philistine. Isaac is the Jew’s source of discipline, humility and reverence; of his appreciation of the nullity of finite man before the infinity of G-d.

The issue of this marriage of love and awe is truth; truth that focuses the Jew's outpourings of love in giving, holy expressions; truth that cultivates his inward retreat to selflessness toward creative and constructive ends. This is the legacy of Jacob, in whom the love of Abraham and the awe of Isaac alloyed into invincible truth.

Based on an address by the Rebbe, Tishrei 5, 5735 (September 21, 1974)

The Ladder

2010-11-04T22:19:00.002+11:00

A ladder was standing on the ground and the top of it reached to heaven (Gen. 28:12).
Prayer is the ladder that connects our souls with G-d. Although it stands "on the ground," beginning with no more than acknowledgment of G-d's greatness, its top (the Amida, or silent prayer) reaches this level through the prior attainment of understanding inherent in the Shema itself.

(Hayom Yom, from the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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And Isaac loved Esau...but Rebecca loved Jacob (Gen. 25:25)

Isaac was a "perfect offering," whose "style" of Divine service was somewhat removed from the material world and its concealments. Rebecca, by contrast, had grown up in household surrounded by devious people. When Esau asked his father how to "tithe salt" (Esau knew that it is not required to tithe salt, he was just trying to show his father how "pious" he was) it was beyond Isaac's imagination that his son was being deceitful. Rebecca, however, with her experience in the ways of the world, recognized that it was only a scheme to impress his father, and "loved Jacob" for his quality of truthfulness.

(Der Torah Kval)

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And the man became rich, and gained more and more, until he became very wealthy (Gen. 26:13)

It often happens that the richer a person gets, the smaller his essential "humanity" and regard for his fellow man becomes. Isaac, however, not only retained his quality of being a "man" the wealthier he grew, but continued his rise to perfection as an empathetic human being.

(Rabbi Yitzchak of Torchiv)

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Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother (Gen. 27:6)

Although Isaac had carried on his conversation with Esau in a whisper, Rivka had heard it as loudly as if he were speaking in a normal tone. She thus interpreted it as a sign from Above to intervene.

(The Rebbe of Dinov)

Australia

2010-11-04T22:19:00.001+11:00

The Rebbe Writes
The following letter was written to Mrs. Devorah Groner, wife of Rabbi Yitzchok Groner (of blessed memory), emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Melbourne, Australia, who headed the institutions there, and was a pioneer and builder of the Melbourne Jewish community.
11th of Cheshvan, 5721 [1960]
Blessing and Greeting:

I received your letter of Monday, Parshas Noah, and the two preceding letters. Although I have discussed the matter at length with your husband, who will undoubtedly convey to you my thoughts, I wish to put down in writing at least several points, in the hope that this letter will contribute to a happier outlook on the various matters about which you wrote in your letter.

First of all, in regard to your question, "Whose ship is it?" I am surprised that you should have any doubts about it, since, obviously, the ship is that of my father-in-law of saintly memory, our Nossi [leader] and the Nossi of our people. It is explained in the Zohar and in the Tanya at length that Tzadikim [the righteous] continue to partici-pate in our world even in afterlife, and, moreover, in a greater degree that during their life on this earth, since in their exalted state they are free from physical limitations. Happy are they whom he has enrolled in his crew and has assigned to them various tasks. The more responsible a task is, the greater is the reward, of course, both in this world and in the world-to-come.

You mention other points in your letters, concerning opinions and attitudes of other people, the lack of appreciation, etc., all of which you seem to have taken in a rather sensitive way, which gave rise to your thoughts on the relative disadvantages of your husband's present position by comparison with his previous one. As I have emphasized to your husband, the difference between his present work and his previous work is not a difference of place or surroundings, but a difference of the essential quality and character of the work itself. For previously he was in the capacity of an employed "clerk", and as such, there were certainly a number of advantages. A clerk has definite hours, and upon completion of his day's work he can dismiss it from his mind, knowing that the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of his superior. He need only to do the task given to him, in his best way, and he can then feel no worries, responsibilities or other commitments. Furthermore, such a job arouses a minimum of envy, less nervous strain, etc.

On the other hand, when one has the task of an executive, upon whom the full responsibility rests, all the more so being at a great distance, and having to make decisions, and especially when he takes up such a job willingly and enthusiastically and is successful, it is bound to call forth envy. And envy is such a mental state that it evokes various feelings in the envious person and other expressions, which frequently are inconsiderate and unjustified and very often - the envious person himself regrets them. It is also obvious that such a position entails greater personal commitment, nervous strain, etc.

Obviously, one whose capacity limits him to a secondary position, such as that of a clerk, there is little he can do about it, as this is all that he can accomplish. On the other hand, one who has the capacity to be an executive and in charge of a responsible undertaking, if such a person should confine himself within the framework of a clerk's job, it would be a gross injustice even to himself, not to mention to the cause. It is written, "More knowledge, more pain," and the more knowledgeable and advanced person is inevitably involved in more complicated things. One can say: "I don't want to be on the higher level, so that I be spared the pain." But this would be like a person saying: "I don't want to be a human being; I want to be like an animal and be spared all the pain associated with human life."

Aside from the above general considerations and principles, if one considers the specific work of disseminating and strengthening Yiddishkeit [Judaism], the outlook assumes new dimensions. For our Sages say that the first word of the Torah, Bereishis ["In the beginning"], indicates that the whole of creation is for the sake of Torah, which is called Reishis [the first]. Considering further that the work concerns education of Jewish boys and girls, which is not only of vital interest to themselves but also to posterity, for all generations to come, we arrive at a further dimension, namely, the second interpretation of Bereishis: "For the sake of the Jewish People who are called Reishis."

Furthermore, there is the added dimension in that the work is carried on in a country where Judaism is still in its infancy, requiring a real pioneering spirit to transform the whole of Jewish life in that remote continent. What a challenge and opportunity such work offers to the qualified person!

continued in next issue

Tooth Fairy

2010-11-04T22:18:00.001+11:00

My daughter just lost her first tooth, so I need to know: do Jews believe in the Tooth Fairy? It seems wrong to lie to kids and pretend a fairy gave them money for their tooth. Should I just be up front and give her the money myself instead of creating false beliefs?

Answer:

This is certainly not a Jewish thing. But I wouldn't call it a lie. It's more like a childish game of imagination. I doubt many kids have been damaged by the discovery that there is no fairy sneaking into their bedrooms at night. And they probably think that it's their parents who are being duped as they pocket the cash.
But there is a potential danger to the Tooth Fairy myth. It rewards children for doing nothing. Losing a tooth is a natural process that requires no effort on the part of the child. They have achieved nothing more than a bit of wobbling, and then you pay them for it. To reward a child for something that will happen anyway is a waste of the incentive power of money.
Even worse, it promotes the dangerous belief that you can get money for nothing. That is far more harmful for a child's future than believing in the Tooth Fairy. I have yet to meet an adult that still thinks fairies put money under pillows, but I certainly know some who still think the world owes them a free ride.
Better reward children for good behaviour, and teach them that hard work pays. When a child does something unnatural and difficult, like sharing their favourite toys even when they don't want to or cleaning up after themselves without being told, that warrants a little deposit under the pillow.
And if you want to capture their imagination, tell them some authentic Jewish wisdom: For every good deed you do, an angel is created to protect you. And every time you hold back from doing the wrong thing, G-d's light shines on you.
It's easy to lose a tooth. It's much harder to lose a bad habit. But good deeds create good energy. And self-control makes you stronger. That's no fairy tale.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham

2010-11-04T22:17:00.002+11:00

This week's Torah portion, Toldot, begins with the words, "These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac." What is the meaning of the repetition in this verse? By stating "the son of Abraham" and "Abraham begot Isaac" - two ways of expressing the same idea - the Torah offers us the reason for "the generations of Isaac":
The generations of Isaac are the consequence of Abraham having begotten Isaac.

Abraham, as the Torah relates, was "one" - the only Jew in the entire world. The whole world stood in opposition to Abraham, as the name "Ivri - Hebrew" (from the word "eiver - side") - implies. The entire world was on one side and Abraham on the other. Nonetheless, Abraham persisted in his mission to make G-d's Name known, as it states, "And he called there in the name of the L-rd, G-d of the world."

This approach was passed on to Abraham's son Isaac as an inheritance, thereby paving the way for the possibility of future "generations of Isaac" - both in the spiritual sense (according to the explanation of our Sages that the primary "descendants" of the righteous are their Torah, mitzvot (commandments) and good deeds) and the physical sense, actual offspring.

This contains a lesson for every Jew in his daily life. When a Jew takes a look at the world he is apt to become discouraged. Evil people seem to prosper and flourish, and countless obstacles stand in the way of his service of G-d. For most o f the day he must involve himself in mundane affairs; it is an ongoing struggle to bring holiness into his life. The Jew is liable to wonder where he will get the strength to observe the commandments and perform good deeds. How can he withstand the many trials that he must endure?

The answer is contained in this week's Torah portion.

"The deeds of the forefathers are a sign for their children" - and not only a sign or indication of how they should conduct themselves, but an infusion of strength. "Abraham begot Isaac" - Abraham was the rock from which Isaac was hewn, and t he source of strength for all Jews. Just as Abraham did not flinch at taking on the entire world, spreading the belief in one G-d and the knowledge that "there is none but Him," so too must every single one of Abraham's descendants take courage in his ability to overcome all hindrances and impediments that come his way.

By striving to fulfill "the generations of Isaac" in the spiritual sense, i.e., Torah, mitzvot and good deeds, we thereby merit to become "the generations of Isaac" in the literal sense as well, vanquishing the enemies of G-d and His Torah in preparation for the conquest of the holy land, at the hands of Moshiach.

Adapted for Maayan Chai from Likutei Sichot, vol. 1

2,000 feet, 69 days, 33 miners, 1 lesson

2010-11-04T22:17:00.001+11:00

2,000 feet, 69 days, 33 miners, 1 lesson
by Rabbi Yisroel Engel

Everything we experience in life serves as a hands-on lesson in our purpose on Earth.

Consider this: Thirty-three miners plunge into two months of darkness 2,000 feet below the surface, disconnected from their source. After 69 days of eternity, the moment they were praying for, has arrived. Their dream became a reality. They would finally see the light of day, the joy of freedom, the hug of their loved ones, and the tears of their children.

However, they needed to prepare for this transition before a 13 foot capsule would whisk them up and away to heaven on earth.

Special socks, dark glasses, high calorie fluids, properly anchored straps, and an escape hatch were precautions that were set into motion. To make it out safely, they were instructed, they must follow these guidelines.

And follow they did.

The miners were not doctors, scientists, nor engineers. They had no inside knowledge of the capsule's mechanism.

But they didn't need to know.

What was important is realizing that this is their connection to light, to freedom and to life.

The story of the miners is the story of our souls.

Our souls come from a source of light. Divine light.

And then it descends into this material world, exchanging a heaven of pristine light for an earth of confusing darkness.

Indeed, the Mishna (Avot ch. 4) tells us the soul is "forced" to descend against its will.

It would rather stay and bathe in light and holiness. But it descends for a purpose, a higher calling.

It will confront darkness and transform it. It will make this world a place where G-d chooses to "reside."

G-d engineers our "rescue mission" from above and provides the spiritual cable which elevates us, connects us to the divine, and empowers us to bring light into a world of darkness, meaning into a world of chaos, and goodness into a world of evil.

G-d told Noah to enter the capsule - the ark which would save himself and his family from the raging floods of evil and the vicissitudes of life.

The Hebrew word for ark/capsule is "teiva," which also means "word."

This is the deeper meaning of "Enter the teiva," says the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chasidic movement.

Entering the "word" means entering the words of prayer and the words of Torah.

Prayer and Jewish teachings are the food and garments for the soul.

Enter the protection of Torah and mitzvot (commandments) which elevates us and indeed, the entire world, to our divine source, the surface of light.

"A candle is a mitzva and Torah is light," King Solomon proclaims in Proverbs. Every mitzva reveals so much light in this world.

One more mitzva can bring Moshiach today.

And this will change the world. For good.

Rabbi Engel is co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Colorado and spiritual leader of Bais Menachem Synagogue in Denver.

Only woman whose age is mentioned in the Torah

2010-10-28T22:36:00.001+11:00

The years of Sara were one hundred and twenty-seven years (Gen. 23:1)
Sara is the only woman in the Torah whose lifetime is explicitly recorded. This is because she is considered to be the mother of the entire Jewish people, as it states (Isaiah 51:2), "And to Sara who gave birth to you."

(Zohar)

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If you wish to deal kindly and truly with my master (Gen. 24:49)

Why did Eliezer have to "beg" Rebecca's father Betuel and her brother Laban to agree to allow her to marry Isaac if Abraham was such a wealthy man? Wasn't it obvious that Rebecca would be well taken care of if she married Isaac? Rather, the prophecy concerning Abraham's descendents - "And they will afflict them for four hundred years" - was already well known, and Betuel and Laban hesitated before subjecting Rebecca's unborn children to the Egyptian exile. However, when they realized that it was ordained by G-d, they gave their consent and declared, "We cannot speak to you bad or good."

(Yalkut David)

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And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but to the sons of the concubines...he gave gifts (Gen. 25:5-6)

Isaac is symbolic of holiness and the spiritual realm; the "sons of the concubines" stand for the physical and corporeal world. The Torah teaches that we must give "all" of ourselves - the lion's share of our time, energy and talents - to spiritual matters. Worldly matters, however, can be placated with "gifts"...

(Lubavitcher Rebbe)

The thinker and philosopher

2010-10-28T22:35:00.000+11:00

14 Teves 5731 [1971]

Prof.[1] & Mrs. Abraham S. Luchins
Greeting & Blessing:

This is to thank you for Vols. II and III of Wertheimer's Seminars Revisited, which I have just received. While I have had no time as yet to look into them more closely, I have thumbed through the pages. In doing so, I was again reminded of the saying of our Sages to the effect that "if anyone says the nations of the world have a Torah, do not believe it; but if one says that they have science, do believe it."

In fact, I had occasion to discuss the subject at the farbrengen [Chasidic gathering]. The point of the said statement is that in the non-Jewish world it is possible to find outstanding thinkers and philosophers who might find solutions to the various problems confronting humanity, yet they can go through the process of thinking with complete detachment, so that the solutions which they come up with remains theoretical, and do not touch upon their own lives. Indeed, the thinker or philosopher or scientist might, in his personal life, act quite contrary to the high moral and ethical concepts which he expounds.

It is quite different in regard to our Torah, which is our wisdom and science in the eyes of the nations. For to us Torah means teaching and guidance (from the word horo'o), that is to say, that it penetrates and permeates our lives. This is because it has the power to compel, as it were, the Torah student and follower to translate the solution which it provides into practical deed. It gives the Torah Jew the strength to resist and subjugate the yetzer hara [evil inclination], as our Sages of blessed memory express it: barati yetzer hara, berati Torah tavlin ("I have created the yetzer hara, but I have also created the Torah as an antidote").

With all good wishes for your hatzlocho [success] in your work, as well as in your good influence to spread and strengthen the light of the Torah and mitzvoth [commandments] to the utmost of your capacities.

With blessing,

P.S. I was pleasantly surprised to see in the press that your son actively participated in the Convention of the Union of Orthodox Congregations in Washington.

Meaning of a Name

2010-10-28T22:34:00.001+11:00

The name of this week's Torah reading is Chayei Sara, literally the "life of Sara." As explained by Rabbi Shneur Zalman, founder of Chabad Chasidism, the Hebrew name of a particular object or creation is what gives it its vitality and sustains it. Thus we must conclude that the entire Torah portion is somehow connected with the "life of Sara."
This, however, appears difficult to understand at first glance. Only the first verse of the Torah portion relates to Sara's life, whereas the rest of it speaks of seemingly unrelated matters: the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, and the passing of Abraham. Why then is the entire portion known as Chayei Sara?

The answer is that in truth, all of the events related in Chayei Sara - the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, as well as the passing of Abraham - express the sum and substance of our Matriarch Sara's life.

Concerning the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, the Torah tells us, "And Isaac brought her into the tent of Sara his mother, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife." When did Isaac agree to marry Rebecca? Only after he brought her into his mother's tent, and the miracles that used to occur during Sara's lifetime resumed.

Rashi, the foremost Torah commentator, explains that there were three specific miracles: 1) the Shabbat candles Sara kindled burned from one Friday afternoon till the next; 2) the dough she kneaded was specially blessed, and; 3) a cloud of holiness hovered over her tent. After Sara's death these miracles ceased; in the merit of Rebecca, they returned.

This occurred three years after Sara passed away, yet we see in these miracles a continuation of her life.

A similar connection exists to the passing of our forefather Abraham. The Torah states, "His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him." Isaac is mentioned before Ishmael, for by the time Abraham died, Ishmael had already repented. By giving his younger brother precedence, Ishmael demonstrated that the birthright rightly belonged to him.

This development was in the sole merit of Sara, who when she saw that Ishmael was "mocking," i.e., not behaving properly, demanded that Abraham "cast him out...for he will not be heir." Sara's intent was for Ishmael to return to G-d in repentance, which indeed subsequently occurred. Many years later, after Sara was no longer alive, Ishmael allowed his younger brother to lead the way, again an expression of the continuation of Sara's life.

The entire Torah portion is therefore known as Chayei Sara, as all of the events it relates are connected to Sara's life.

Adapted from the Lubavitcher Rebbe's talk on Shabbat Chayei Sara, 1975

Kosher Wine

2010-10-28T22:33:00.001+11:00

My friend who is not Jewish asked me what makes kosher wine different to other wine. I didn't know what to say. How would you respond to him without getting into all the technicalities?

Answer:

There is no visible difference between kosher wine and other wines. The difference is purely spiritual.
Generally speaking, all fruits are kosher, and therefore any pure juice from a fruit, without any additives, should be kosher. The one exception to this is juice from a grape. For wine or grape juice to be kosher, they must be produced and supervised by Jews who are knowledgeable in the laws of keeping kosher.
The reason for this distinction is that wine, more than any other drink, is used for religious purposes. In Jewish tradition, wine is used at wedding ceremonies and Brisses, for Kiddush on Shabbos and festivals, and at the Havdalah ceremony at the conclusion of holy days. Many other religions also use wine in their ceremonies. And there are many other uses for wine that are profane and unholy. For the wine to be kosher and fit to use for Jewish ceremonies, we need to know that the intention of the winemakers was that the wine be used for such purposes, as opposed to any other less sacred purpose.
This teaches an amazing lesson. The thoughts put into creating something have an effect on that creation. Intentions have impact. If a foreign thought can make wine unkosher, imagine what good thoughts can do.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Baby Steps

2010-10-28T22:32:00.000+11:00

Have you ever watched a baby as she works toward upward mobility? At just a few months old, she's squirming around inch by inch. Months later, she's raising herself onto her hands and knees, rocking back and forth as she gets used to the new position and height. But her arms and legs aren't very strong and she plops down every once in a while, bumping her little nose or chin. But, don't worry, she'll be up again soon to try it again.
Months pass. Tentatively, she pulls herself up to a standing position using furniture and other objects as leverage. Even more cautiously she lets go for a few seconds and smiles, as if saying, "Look, no hands!" Oops, there she goes, plopping down once more, only to stand up again a few minutes later and repeat the whole exercise.

Soon she'll be cruising along the furniture. Weeks later she'll be taking a step, unaided, from one piece of furniture to the next.

When she's much more confident, she'll try two and three steps, each time plopping down. But she'll get back up again. Then six or seven steps before plopping down. Then ten wobbly steps, then plop.

A baby's approach to learning a new skill, such as walking, is the approach Judaism demands of us when even we are learning a new mitzva-skill, whether a mitzva (commandment) between oneself and G-d or the interpersonal mitzvot between one person and another.

In general, we seek out experiences which enhance personal growth when there is a feeling of dissatisfaction with our present state. This is a good sign, for it indicates vitality and an urge to rise and improve oneself.

Unlike babies, however, many of us stop trying or slack off if we "fall," i.e., the attempt was not met with immediate success.

Today, when so much of our lives are measured in nanoseconds, we half expect to be able to eradicate a bad habit or master a new mitzva instantly. And when that doesn't happen, despondency or inertia can set in.

A little voice inside says, "Why bother, you'll fall back into your old routine anyway," or "You'll fall flat on your face trying and everyone will see." The little voice will use every means to prevent us from carrying out our good intentions of self-improvement and advancing in Jewish observance. An otherwise highly successful person can be paralyzed by that little voice, certain that he will fail miserably and that others will note his failure.

The misleading voice should be ignored. For, as Chasidism explains, the attempt itself is invaluable and esteemed by G-d. Only people who never try never make mistakes or fall short.

The next time we have the opportunity to learn something new or are presented with an obstacle that needs to be overcome, we should remind ourselves to take "baby steps." It's not just a matter of going slowly. More importantly, it means getting back up even if you've plopped down or fallen flat on your face.

The Oven Stokers of Mezerich

2010-10-22T11:16:00.001+11:00

The Oven Stokers of Mezerich

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi told:

In Mezeritch, it was extremely difficult to be accepted as a disciple of our master, Rabbi DovBer.[7] There were a group of chassidim who, having failed to merit to learn directly from our master, wanted at least to serve his pupils: to bring them water to wash their hands upon waking, to sweep the floors of the study hall, to heat the ovens during the winter months, etc. These were known as “the oven stokers.”

One winter night, as I lay on a bench in the study hall, I overheard a conversation between three of the “oven stokers.”
“What was the specialty of the test of the Akeidah?” [8] the first one asked. “If G-d revealed Himself to me and commanded me to sacrifice my only son, would I not obey?”

Answering his own question, he said: “If G-d told me to sacrifice my only son, I would delay my doing so for a while, to keep him with me for a few days. Abraham's greatness lay in that ‘he arose early in the morning’[9] to immediately fulfill the divine command.”

Said the second one: “If G-d told me to sacrifice my only son, I, like Abraham, would waste not a moment to carry out His command. But I would do so with a heavy heart. Abraham's greatness lay in that he went to the Akeidah with a heart full of joy over the opportunity to fulfill G-d's will.”[10]

Said the third: “I, too, would carry out G-d's will with joy. I think that Abraham's uniqueness lay in his reaction upon finding out that it was all a test. When G-d commanded him ‘Do not touch the child and do nothing to him,’[11] Abraham was overjoyed-not because his only child would not die, but over being given the opportunity to carry out another command of G-d: not to slaughter his son.”

Rabbi Schneur Zalman concluded: “Do you think this was mere talk? Each of them was describing the degree of self-sacrifice he had attained in his service of the Almighty.”

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

See yourself at the beginning...

2010-10-22T11:14:00.001+11:00

And he sat at the opening of the tent in the heat of the day (Gen. 18:1)
This is the mark of the truly righteous individual, who always sees himself "at the opening," i.e., the very beginning, along the path of righteousness. Considering himself still "outside" and far from spiritual perfection, he worries that his deeds haven't accomplished much...

(Toldot Yaakov Yosef)

And they said, So do as you have said (Gen. 18:5)

The way of the righteous is to say little, yet do much. The angels knew that Abraham was a tzadik (righteous), and that he would go out of his way - above and beyond what he had already offered - to make them feel at ease. They therefore asked him to "do as he had said" with regard to their comfort, and no more.

(Torat Moshe)

For I know him...that he will do justice and judgment (Gen. 18:19)

What is the connection between justice and judgment? Whenever G-d gives a person an abundance of blessings, he must ask himself: Do I really deserve so much goodness? Why me and not someone else? This "self-judgment" will then prompt him to give tzedaka (charity) in a generous and unstinting manner.

(Sefer HaMaamarim)

Rational Anwers to Circumcision

2010-10-22T11:13:00.000+11:00

Question of the Week:

We had a baby boy and we are very excited. But we are still undecided about the Bris. I have issues with it. I am aware of the spiritual significance of the circumcision, but I have much more practical concerns:
1) Is it not barbaric to put my baby through the pain of a medically unnecessary operation?
2) He was born uncircumcised, why should I mess with his natural state?
3) My son has no say in this, and can never reverse it. Shouldn't I let him choose later on in life if he wants this done to him?
Do you have any rational answers?

Answer:

Imagine the following scenario. Your baby is born, healthy and well. But there's something unusual. He has six fingers on each hand. An extra little growth protrudes right next to each pinkie.
What would you do about it? Have the extra fingers surgically removed? Or leave them? After all, he was born that way. And he can live with twelve fingers. Maybe the child should be allowed to choose whether or not he wants his extra fingers later in life. Can you think of anything more barbaric than chopping someone's fingers off?
And yet I suspect you would do what most parents have done in such circumstances. Better remove the extra fingers now, when it is relatively painless and quick to heal, than subject the child to feeling like an anomaly in his future life. He has no use for them anyway, and would later resent the fact that his parents didn't remove them for him.
And so, kind and loving parents will unflinchingly put their babies under the surgeon's knife. The short term pain is worth it to avoid any long term discomfort. All other concerns would quickly dissolve. What is called barbaric in one context is quite humane in another.
If this logic works for removing extra fingers, a purely cosmetic operation, how much more should it work in favour of the infinitely more meaningful act of circumcision. I am not suggesting that being uncircumcised is the same as being twelve-fingered. But for a Jewish child there are several similarities.
An uncircumcised Jew often feels like an outsider among his own people. He will always be a Jew, but may come to feel ambivalent about it, knowing that to actively embrace his Jewishness entails undergoing an operation - one that is minor at eight days old, but quite a bit more daunting in adulthood. I have attended adult circumcisions, and it is inspiring when someone makes that choice. The actual operation is not such a big deal. But the decision to actually do it is. You are in fact limiting his choices by not circumcising him.
So putting all spiritual considerations aside, from a practical perspective, here's the equation. Leave your son uncircumcised, and you leave him with a psychological barrier to exploring his own identity. Give your son a Bris, and he loses nothing more than a bit of skin. But he gains immediate entry into the four thousand year old covenant of Abraham. That is a gift you will not regret giving.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

A Limitless Treasure

2010-10-22T11:12:00.000+11:00

The disciples of the Maggid of Mezeritch had begged their master many times to show them Elijah the Prophet. Their persistence paid off; when a gathering of poritzim, wealthy Polish landowners, was being held, the Maggid agreed.
The Maggid instructed his disciples to stand in a certain location and watch the poritzim ride by. The third poritz, he informed them, would be Elijah the Prophet. "If you are worthy," the Maggid added, "you will even merit to hear words of Torah from his lips."

The disciples followed the Maggid's instructions. They waited in the exact spot the Maggid had indicated. When the third poritz rode by they hesitantly approached his carriage. True, he looked like an ordinary, non-Jewish Polish poritz, but hadn't the Maggid declared that he Elijah the prophet?

Addressing him in Polish, they deferentially asked if they could speak with his lordship as they had an important matter to discuss. To their surprise the "poritz" responded with insults and curses, after which he rode off to join the other poritzim.

The bewildered and heartbroken disciples returned to the Maggid. They told him that they had seen Elijah the Prophet, for they didn't doubt for a moment that the poritz was the prophet. But when they asked to speak with him he responded with a barrage of deprecations.

The Maggid's response was unexpected. "You deserved the treatment he gave you! You were certain, for I gave you all the signs, that you were standing in the very presence of Elijah the Prophet. You should have addressed him in the Holy Tongue! You should have said, 'Bless us!' instead of speaking to him in Polish and timidly asking the 'poritz' for an audience. If you could still relate to him as a poritz after I told you that he is Elijah the Prophet, you deserve what you got!"

The Torah (in Deuteronomy) states, "You are a holy people to G-d your G-d." Every Jew is holy. Every Jew is, as the Baal Shem Tov taught, a trove of unlimited treasures.

But it's not enough to know in our heads that a fellow Jew is holy, that he has a wealth of goodness and G-dliness within him. It's insufficient to believe with absolutely certainty that what the Torah and great Jewish teachers of all generations have said about the worth of every Jew is true.

We have to relate to our brother or sister not according to what appearances tell us. From the beginning our entire interaction has to be in accordance with his or her true, goodly and holy nature.

Then, surely, we will merit to see Elijah the Prophet - the harbinger of the Messianic Era - and ask of him, "Bless us."

Additional Thoughts
The sigh of a Jew over the suffering of another Jew breaks all the barriers of the Accusers, and the joy with which one rejoices in another's happiness and blesses him, is as acceptable by G-d as the prayer of the High Priest in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.

Reb Elimelech of Linznsk related from the Maggid: "Do you know what they say in Heaven? Love of a fellow Jew means loving the utterly wicked like the perfectly saintly."

"G-d forgoes love of G-d in favor of love of the Jewish people," Rabbi Shneur Zalman declared.

Planet of the Apes

2010-08-20T09:36:00.000+10:00

By Dr. Yaakov Brawer

"Dr. Teitelbaum! Excuse me Dr. Teitelbaum but you must help me! I'm supposed to graduate in November and I've just been notified that McGill won't credit me with Marketing Management II that I took last summer at U.B.C. and I won't have enough credits with out it and ..." I looked at the teary-eyed, agitated undergraduate and said nothing. Long experience has taught me that there is no point in explaining that I am not Dr. Teitelbaum until they calm down.

Although Avraham Dovid Teitlebaum (a fellow chassid) and I resemble each other only slightly, McGill students seem incapable of seeing beyond the beard, yarmulke and tzitzit, and I am forever being mistaken for the former Associate Dean of the Faculty of Management. Presently, the student stopped for a breath and I pointed out her error. However, it didn't register. Rejuvenated by a lung full of fresh air, she pressed her suit with renewed vigor. I identified myself again. She ignored me and continued pleading. I interrupted her and once more indicated that she had the wrong person. She frowned impatiently, clearly annoyed that I wasn't giving her proper attention, and without breaking stride, continued her presentation. As she paused to marshal her thoughts for the final assault, I took advantage of the lull and insisted slowly, distinctly, and emphatically that I was not Dr. Teitlebaum. She scrutinized me for a few moments and suddenly her face lit up with the wonder of discovery. Her eyes grew wide and she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! there are two of you!"

There are indeed two of me. What my flustered friend probably doesn't realize, however, is that there are also two of her. There is she1 who operates on the instinctive level and who equates appearance with reality, and there is she2 who is capable of recording, analyzing and weighing information and arriving at a reasoned conclusion, appearances notwithstanding. As far as she1 was concerned, I had to be Dr. Teitlebaum simply because it was counter-intuitive that there could be two people on a university faculty with the exotic appearance of Dr. Teitlebaum. She2, who emerged only after she1 had been repeatedly challenged, correctly interpreted the available evidence and surmised that there were, in truth, two faculty members at McGill who shared the same unconventional features.

The fact that there are two of everyone is unsettling. The idea that our consciousness is not the unitary expression of a single self but rather a composite of independent components seems absurd for the simple reason that no one feels like more than one person. Nonetheless, such is the case and it can be convincingly demonstrated using the diagram depicted below (taken from The Self and Its Brain by Karl Popper and John Eccles, 1977, Springer International. p.63)

The diagonal line in the center of the picture is divided into two segments A-B and B-C by the middle vertical line. If you had to determine which of these segments is longer, without measuring them, your inclination would be to select segment A-B because it looks longer than B-C. If you were then told that the three vertical lines are parallel and equidistant, you would have to conclude, on the basis of basic high school geometry, that segments A-B and B-C must be of equal length, regardless of appearance. You thus have 2 different answers produced by your two different "selves". The instinctive, unreflective, and uncritical self simply takes appearances at face value. The other self, who is intellective and analytical, assesses the data and arrives at conclusions based on abstract reasoning and logic.

How is it that most of us spend our lives blithely unaware that two such incompatible individuals room together in our heads ? The answer is that usually only one self is active at any particular time, and it is most often the intuitive, non-intellective self. Intellectual processes, whether creative or analytical, require effort. It is much easier and far more natural to simply accept things the way they appear to be. Thus, the instinctive self represents the default mode, and we, therefore, sail through life, oblivious to the appalling fact that our navigator is, distressingly often, a shallow simpleton. Worse, since we regard ourselves as intelligent beings, and since the "ourselves" that most often runs our brains is the shallow simpleton, we celebrate its fallacious, foolish, insubstantial fancies as wisdom.

In Chassidic terminology, the two disparate cognitive dimensions described above are defined as hergesh (instinct) and sechel (intelligence). Whereas hergesh is a trait common to all mammals, sechel, embodying abstract creative or analytical intelligence, is uniquely human. Consequently the description of man, by anthropologists, as an "intelligent ape" is singularly appropriate (albeit for reasons very different from those that led to the creation of the expression). Although hergesh is an attribute that we do indeed share with apes, we are also endowed with sechel, which would elevate us above all other members of the animal kingdom were we to make use of it. Since, however, this sublime quality is only sporadically engaged, the ape is alive and well, and very much in charge.

It is hergesh, not sechel, that generates the materialistic/naturalistic assumptions underlying modern secular man's view of the world and of himself. A mere glance out the window is sufficient to create a powerful impression of a multifarious world made out of variety of independent and self-sufficient things, held together by a few simple laws of nature. A brief perusal of the morning paper is all that one needs to conclude that earthly life is governed by random, chaotic, impersonal forces; natural, social, and economic. It is intuitively obvious that all forms of life evolved from simpler antecedent forms because, in our experience, everything comes from a prior something, and all animals do share common biological features. A glimpse at a corpse is proof enough that nothing survives bodily death. G-d and G-dliness are nowhere to be seen, and since, as far as hergesh is concerned, seeing is believing, they do not exist.

The common feature of all of these intuitive inferences (hergeshim) is that they are drawn from the perception of "things". Hergesh is not a function of the mind, but rather of the senses and as such, it does not deal in ideas or abstractions. Since hergesh can identify only "things" as real, it comes as no surprise that the values and goals of a hergesh-based society are centered on acquisition and power. Success in life is measured by the number of things that one is able to amass and the number of people (living things) over whom one has control.

One may well ask how it is possible that such a highly educated society should entertain an ape's-eye view of existence, and pursue such crass, shallow aspirations? The answer is that much of what the educational institutions impart is not sechel but rather hergesh disguised as sechel. The University is, after all, an instrument of society, and society runs on hergesh. The language, conventions, and styles are those of sechel, but the ideological content of a university education is based on hergesh. The curricula are contaminated with the germs of amoral, relativistic, materialistic, and secular bias and it is the rare student who emerges from the educational experience un-infected.

There is no joy on the planet of the apes. There are no lofty goals. There is no transcendent purpose, no meaning, no ultimate truth. There is prozac. There is also a burgeoning entertainment industry that keeps us anesthetized and oblivious to the painful realization that a hergesh-based life leads nowhere. There is also a way out. We can choose to stop being apes. We can think. We can break our addiction to hergesh and actively engage sechel, and if we do so, we will discover that the world is a very different place then it appears at first glance.

Revolutionary observations in physics, beginning in the early twentieth century, indicate that the "things" that constitute our world are shockingly ethereal. The discovery that mass is not a unique definitive physical property but rather a variant form of energy, that the electron described in high school physics as a little negatively charged BB can also be accurately characterized as an immaterial wave, and that subatomic particles/processes understand and obey abstract rules indicate that "being" is not a static, inanimate state but rather a dynamic, active process. The upshot of this is that a palpable, inert, "thing" such as a rock is, at its core, an incorporeal spiritual entity, pulsating with life, purpose and intelligence. Indeed, on the subatomic level, the rock has more in common with thoughts than with things. Moreover, the appearance of physical autonomy is an illusion. The recent experimental verifications of Bell's Theorem demonstrate a non-locality or "connectedness" underlying physical processes. In other words, at the subatomic level, the "things" that constitute our universe "know" each other and behave as different manifestations of a single, unified reality.

On another front, recent developments in the relatively new field of Cosmology show the universe to be far more improbable than any one ever imagined. In fact, a universe such as ours, designed to sustain intelligent life, is so improbable as to be virtually impossible. There are simply too many meaningful coincidences for it to have happened by chance. Intelligence and purpose permeate the cosmos. Remarkably, the only explanation as to why the myriad of diverse and seemingly unrelated physical constants and other parameters should converge to produce the universe in which we live is our presence. If any of these values were other than what they are, we could not exist. This realization has given rise to the Anthropic Cosmological Principle, the strong formulation of which concludes that man is the cornerstone of the universe, i.e. it was designed and implemented specifically with us in mind.

Similar advances in molecular and cell biology have inspired a biological version of the Anthropic Principle. It has become increasingly evident that the biochemical and molecular processes essential to the life of cells are far too complex and interdependent to have developed in response to natural forces and chance events. The irreducible complexity in fundamental biological systems and the expanding evidence of intelligent, purposeful design have rendered evolutionary explanations for the origin of life untenable.

Near death experiences have recently become a major focus of scientific exploration. Because of the subjective nature of these phenomena, they are very difficult to interpret, much less to explain. Research in this area has, nevertheless, produced powerful objective (corroborateable) evidence that awareness can exist independent of the brain and that the essence of human consciousness is spiritual.

A critical, impartial examination of a large body of hard evidence, readily available to anyone, does not support the materialist/reductionist view of reality with which we are so innately comfortable. One of the most delicious ironies in the history of science is that the very technology that was supposed to deliver mankind from the "higher superstition" (religion), has led it straight to G-d's door. Thus, counter-intuitively, sechel is a portal to faith, not an exit.

How, then, do we deal with hergesh? Do we view it as a pathology, an unfortunate but inescapable aberrant dimension of consciousness that must be constantly suppressed, the ape within? Hergesh is, in fact, a priceless gift, which if properly utilized, complements and perfects sechel. Finely honed and properly directed, intuition elevates the intellect and takes the mind beyond the structured logic of sechel. It is a unique source of insight that is unrestrained by the rules of language and mathematics. What about the ape? The ape is not hergesh, but rather hergesh abused. Hergesh functions properly only in concert with sechel. When it is focused on the intellection, the ideas, engendered by sechel, it illuminates the conceptual crannies inaccessible to formal thought and it imparts color to the black and white cogitations of the rationale mind. However, when sechel is inactive, hergesh is left without a mind, and its subsequent undisciplined, undiscerning and uncritical activity, directed toward things rather than ideas, produces the shallow, distorted world view and empty values so common in contemporary society.

Our challenge, then, is to be whole, to use all of our G-d-given faculties in pursuit of truth. King David perceived the hand of G-d in everything and encountered Divinity everywhere. "Yours is the heaven, Yours also the earth. The world and all it contains, You have established them" (Psalm 89, verse 12). The same Divine Providence that has designed the universe to meet our every need, has also imbued us with the intellectual attributes , sechel and hergesh, necessary to recognize the power of the creator in creation. It only remains for us to utilize them toward this end.

Dr. Yaakov Brawer is Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University Faculty of Medicine. He is the author of two books of Chassidic philosophy, Something From Nothing and Eyes That See

The most righteous will not live forever

2010-08-20T09:35:00.002+10:00

If a man will have a sin worthy of death and he will be put to death, You shall hang him on a tree (Deut. 21:22)

In the eulogy which the Holy Ari delivered on the passing of Rabbi Moshe Kordevero he translated this verse slightly differently. The word for "sin" is properly translated as "lacking." So, he said, "When you see a person who is lacking any reason that he should have been put to death and nevertheless he dies, hang it (his death) on the tree," - on the decree following the sin of the tree of knowledge that even the most righteous will not live forever.

* * *

You shall not see your brothers ox or lamb wandering and hide from them.
You shall surely return them to your brother (Deut. 22:1)

In this verse we are commanded to return a lost article. If we are instructed to be so careful not to ignore our neighbour’s monetary loss, how much more the loss of his soul. We surely have a double duty to attend to the welfare of a Jew who has wandered from the path of Torah and return him to his creator.

(Shaloh)

* * *

If a bird's nest chances to be before you...you shall not take the mother with the young ones. You shall send away the mother, and then you may take the young ones. (22:1,2)

We learn from this that we should have mercy on people. If G-d commanded that we show pity to birds, how much more must we have pity on people.

(Tzena Ur'ena)

Introspection

2010-08-20T09:35:00.001+10:00

Freely translated and adapted

18 Elul, 5744 [1984]
To the Sons and Daughters of Our People Israel, Everywhere
G-d bless you all!

Greeting and Blessing:

Bearing in mind that the last twelve days of Elul, beginning with Chai
((18) Elul, are days of introspections relating to the months of the outgoing year, each day corresponding to its respective month -

It is especially appropriate to extend to each of you, in the midst of all our Jewish people, the traditional and all inclusive blessing of "a good and sweet year" both materially and spiritually.

All the more so, since the said introspection, although it is a personal one, made by every Jew for himself, it is at the same time also an introspection which everyone makes as part of the whole Jewish people.

The purpose of the said introspection, an honest self-appraisal, is that it should determine most resolutely one's correct behaviour in the everyday life of the coming year. This is also indicated and emphasized in the name of the festival - Rosh Hashana - meaning that in addition to being the "beginning" of the year, it is also, and essentially, the "head" of the year: Just as the head directs all the organs of the body, and it is only in this way that each organ carries out its purpose in the fullest measure, also as an organ per se - so should Rosh Hashana direct and animate each and every day of the year, in all particulars of the daily life, in order that the person should attain his or her fulfilment according to the design of the Creator.

Through the fulfilment of the human being, also the entire created order in all its four divisions: domem, (inanimate), tzomeyach (vegetable), chai (animal), and medabber (man, the "speaker") - attains its fulfilment, both individually and collectively .

This is also underscored by the fact that Rosh Hashana has been designated to take place not on the first day of Creation, but on the sixth - the day when the first man, Adam, was created; and with his creation, the entire created order was concluded and completed, and through man's fulfilment all of Creation is fulfilled.

Because the order and purpose of Creation is that the inanimate (mineral), in addition to its task of serving its own end, should sustain (and be absorbed into) plant life, and thereby be elevated to the "world" of the vegetable; and the latter should sustain, and thereby be elevated to, the animal world; and all three - animal, vegetable and mineral - should support and serve mankind, and thereby become part of, and be elevated to, the world of man, "the chosen one of all creatures."

And through man's serving the Creator, man and (through him) all the said four divisions of Creation attain their complete and perfect fulfilment.

Indeed, as our Sages of blessed memory declare, this was attained in the very same day that the first man was created, when Adam immediately called upon all creatures, himself included: "Come, let us worship, bow down, and kneel, before G-d our Maker."

The said concept, namely, that the central point and original purpose of the whole created order is that it should attain perfect fulfilment - as it was attained when the Creator completed His creative work of the Six Days of Creation, in preparation for, and then by, the creation of man (Adam), and also that this fulfilment should be attained every day, year after year, through man's conduct in compliance with the teachings of the Torah -

[Can be actualized in] man's everyday service to his Creator:

After awakening from sleep, during which a person, with his intellect, abilities, knowledge, etc., is like an inanimate - yet it is the time when all forces of the soul and body should be refreshed and invigorated for serving G-d - one must rise from one's sleep, "immediately, with alacrity, to serve the Creator." Then one begins to grow ever higher through the fulfilment of the Creator's commandments, such as washing the hands, reciting the Morning blessings, etc., in preparation for the Morning Prayer; then one goes on to carry out the Divine edict, "and conquer (the world)," going about one's worldly affairs in the manner of "All your actions shall be for the sake of Heaven" - actions that involve all four categories of Creation (inanimate, vegetable, animal and man), the world all around, which one accomplishes with the aid of one's nefesh habehamis ("animal soul"). Thus, one attains the complete fulfilment expected of the "chosen creature" by "creating an abode for Him, blessed be He, in this lowest world," which is the ultimate purpose and fulfilment of the whole created order.

All this also brings closer the true and complete Redemption through Moshiach Tzidkeinu,

With esteem and blessing for success in all above, and that you be written and sealed for a good and sweet year, both materially and spiritually,

No Fireworks??

2010-08-20T09:34:00.002+10:00

Question of the Week:

I was not raised with Jewish traditions so I have never experienced a Jewish new year celebration. I always go to the dragon dance at Chinatown for Chinese new year, and I was in Times Square last year for new year's eve...I don't remember a thing, it was wild! I would love to see how Jews party. Can I join you for your new year celebrations?

Answer:

You are most welcome to come along, but let me warn you: nothing you have seen will prepare you for a Rosh Hashana service. The most exotic tribal dance, or the most outlandish new year's bash, will seem like a mild tea party in comparison.

It all starts off pretty tame. We gather in synagogue on the morning of Rosh Hashana to say the prayers. They are sung to powerful and moving tunes matching the flavour of the different prayers - melodic and up-beat songs for prayers of praise and celebration; deep and stirring songs for prayers of awe and introspection. The singing and praying goes on for a couple of hours, and it all seems like a pretty standard prayer service.

But that's just the build up. After reading from the Torah, the tension in the room grows and there is a sense that something big is about to happen.

Then it does. What happens next, the climax of the new year service, is nothing short of bizarre.

A guy takes the stage, covers his head with his prayer shawl and produces a velvet bag. He places the bag on the table, and opens it to pull out...a ram's horn. And you won't believe what follows. He puts the horn to his mouth and blows. And he blows and blows and blows.

The sound that comes out of that ram's horn can't be described. It is an ancient wordless voice that only the soul understands. Its piercing cry turns us inside out - the layers blocking our hearts are torn away and our souls are exposed. The deepest and most elemental level of our being is suddenly awakened by a three thousand year old call. The blow of the ram's horn fans the hidden flame in our soul, and latent spiritual senses swim to the surface.

The Jewish new year starts not on the calendar but in our souls. Consciously or not, we have been revitalised, a new page is opened in our inner life. Whether we go with this spark ignited in our soul or let it fizzle out is up to us.

The Rosh Hashana experience can be pretty wild, and you won't want the party to end. Once you have had a taste of Jewish soul inspiration, you desperately crave for more. You will be left with a spiritual hangover - the only hangover where your mind is clear and you just want to get up and change the world, starting with yourself.

The roof

2010-08-20T09:34:00.001+10:00

This week's Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, contains a commandment involving safe-guarding one's roof lest someone fall from it: "When you build a new house, you must place a guard-rail around your roof. Do not allow a dangerous situation to remain in your house, since someone can fall from [an unenclosed roof]."

A guard-rail is placed around the roof not only for self-protection, but even more to protect others from falling from one's roof.

With the help of Chasidic philosophy, this commandment can be understood in spiritual terms also. A roof - the highest part of the house - is indicative of egoism and conceit. Placing a guard-rail around the roof means that one must confine and limit these undesirable traits. This needs to be done "since someone can fall [from an unenclosed roof]" - i.e., the trait of egoism and conceit is at the root of every spiritual downfall; all evil traits stem from them.

The "guard-rail" placed around egoism and conceit is important not only to protect the person, himself, from negative trait, but it is also important as it relates to a fellow Jew; it is necessary to assure that the person's own ego not bring about another Jew's spiritual downfall.

When a Jew involves his fellow Jews with Judaism and bringing them closer to G-d, he might be filled with conceit. Then, not only is he lacking in terms of his own spiritual service, but his conceit may cause the person whom he is trying to teach to wonder, "What can I learn from a person whose personal gain and self-gratification are foremost in his mind?" This person might actually become distanced from Judaism.

Therefore, an egotistical person might wonder how he can embark on encouraging another Jew in his Jewishness. "How do I know," he asks himself, "if I will be able to build a proper guard-rail around my ego, thereby forestalling my own, or my friend's spiritual downfall?" Maybe it would be better not to "build a new house" - encourage other Jews - at all!

This, though, is not the case. The command begins with a blessing and injunction, "You shall build a new house." A Jew can and must build a house to G-d by creating an environment of Judaism. He cannot rely on others but must build a "new house" - a house which is uniquely his. A guard-rail can and must be made.

The affirmative language assures us that we will be successful in this endeavor.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Imbibing Judaism

2010-08-20T09:33:00.001+10:00

The Jewish calendar is unique; every month contains a special message and offers us its own energy to serve G-d.

Our current month Elul is known as the month of return - t'shuva. It is the month that we try to be truthful (especially to ourselves) and return everything (especially ourselves) to its proper spiritual place.
Therefore it is a month of intense introspection and self-correction.
And it is also a month of inventory and good resolutions for the future.

But just studying about this phenomena, even discussing it with friends, is not enough. It has to be imbibed, absorbed, internalized.

A story to illustrate:

Each year, a certain chasid would set out by foot at the beginning of the month of Elul to visit his Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel (the third Rebbe of Chabad, known as the Tzemach Tzedek) in order to be with the Rebbe for the High Holidays. Now this was no easy task, as the weather by that time was often freezing.

One year, the going was particularly slow, the offers for lifts were especially sparse, and the weather was unseasonably cold. A while into the journey the chasid had reached his last ounce of strength and was nearly ready to give up and sit down at the side of a lonely, snow-filled road. But suddenly he heard a wagon approaching.

It didn't take long before the open wagon, filled with large barrels, reached him.

"Want a ride?" The driver yelled. "Climb up and find a place." The chasid climbed into the wagon and wedged himself between the barrels.

Oy, was he grateful for the ride! But his gratitude did not keep him warm. After a few moments huddled between the barrels he was abruptly reminded that he was still freezing.

That was when he noticed a small spigot sticking out of one of the barrels.

"Perhaps it's vodka," he thought to himself. He craned his neck this way and that until he was able to read the markings on the barrel. It was vodka, all right!

"Ivan!" he yelled to the driver, "Do you mind if I sample a bit of your merchandise, I'm freezing out here!"

"Go ahead," shouted the driver.

Cupping a hand under the spigot, the chasid filled his other hand with vodka, recited the blessing, and drank a mouthful of the cold fire. A few more mouthfuls and he was warm, and happy! He was going to the Rebbe! And G-d had made a miracle for him personally by sending the wagon driver before he froze to death! The chasid began singing! In no time the driver was singing with him and the ten-hour drive passed like minutes.

Before they knew it they had reached the town of Lubavitch. The chasid walked straight to the Rebbe's synagogue where he began telling his fellow chasidim not only about his journey but about what he had learned from it, as well.

"The teachings of the Torah, even Chasidic teachings, can be likened to vodka. A person can be surrounded by barrels of Chasidic teachings, by a sea of Torah, and still be cold, even to the point of freezing to death.

"But, if just a little bit goes inside," he smiled to his friends, "then he becomes warm and alive!! In fact then, he can even warm up those around him as well!"

And that is the purpose of the month of Elul: To take Torah and Judaism to heart and experience how warm, alive and meaningful it is.

Adapted from an article by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton on ohrtmimim.org

Fear

2010-08-12T23:32:00.002+10:00

In the 20th chapter of Deuteronomy, the Torah instructs how a Jewish army is to prepare for battle:

When you come near to the battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he should say to them: “Hear, O Israel! You draw near today to wage war upon your enemies; let not your hearts soften, fear not, and do not panic nor break ranks before them. For it is G-d your G-d who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you.”

And the officers shall address the people, saying: “Is there a man [among you] who has built a new house and has not inaugurated it? Let him go and return to his home, lest he die in battle and another man inaugurate it.

“Is there a man who has planted a vineyard and has not redeemed[1] its first crop? Let him go and return to his home, lest he die in battle and another man redeem it.

“Is there a man who has betrothed a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his home, lest he die in battle and another man marry her.”

And the officers shall further address the people, and say: “Is there a man who is afraid and faint of heart? Let him go and return to his home, so that he not melt the hearts of his brothers as his own.”[2]

Righteous Warriors Only
The Talmud cites a disagreement between two sages as to the definition of “a man who is afraid and faint of heart.” According to Rabbi Akiva, “the meaning is as the simple reading of the verse implies: one who cannot stand firm in the joint ranks in battle and see a drawn sword.” Rabbi Yossi of Galilee maintains that the verse is referring to “one who fears because of his sins.” “Thus,” adds Rabbi Yossi, “the Torah added him on to those who return on account of a [new] home, vineyard or wife—to cover up for he who returns because of his sins.”[3]

Rabbi Yossi’s concluding words also explain the reasoning behind his interpretation. Rabbi Yossi is bothered by the fact that the announcement calling for the fainthearted to go home comes after those regarding a new home, vineyard or wife. Earlier, we read how the priest addressed the troops, enjoining them, “let not your hearts soften, fear not, and do not panic nor break ranks before them”; this would seem the natural place to announce that those who fear battle should go home. Why precede its mention with three completely unrelated subjects? Furthermore, a coward in the ranks presents a far greater problem than the possibility that a solider might fail to return to inaugurate his home, redeem his vineyard or marry his betrothed: the former places many lives, and perhaps the very outcome of the battle, in jeopardy, while the latter only concerns the dimensions of an individual tragedy. For both these reasons, one would expect that the first announcement would concern those who are “afraid and faint of heart,” followed then by the other announcements.

This leads Rabbi Yossi to conclude that the meaning of the verse is other than what a simple reading would imply, namely, that the priest’s assurance that “G-d goes with you, to fight for you with your enemies, to deliver you” surely suffices to allay the fears of any anxious soldier—except for the soldier who fears that he is undeserving of divine protection because of his sins. This is why the announcement regarding the fearful is appended to those regarding a new home, etc.—to cover-up for those who depart because of their sins.

An Oxymoron
Rabbi Akiva, however, does not accept Rabbi Yossi’s interpretation. Despite the said difficulties, he maintains that the verse should be understood in its most literal sense—as regarding one who fears the roar of battle and the sight of a drawn sword—and rejects the notion that it might be addressed to “one who fears because of his sins.”

Rabbi Akiva’s reasoning can be understood in light of a remarkable law cited in the Talmudic tractate of Kiddushin, which deals with the laws of marriage. “One who marries a woman on the condition that he is a perfectly righteous man,” rules the Talmud, “the marriage may be valid even if he is utterly wicked, since it is possible that he had a thought of teshuvah in his mind.”[4]

Such is the power of teshuvah (repentance; lit., “return”). Teshuvah is the ultimate transformation that a human being can undergo—the transformation from a state of rebellion against G-d and disconnection from one’s source of life and the very purpose of one’s existence, to a state of unblemished perfection and union with G-d. Teshuvah consists of three basic elements: a) the cessation of sin; b) the acknowledgment that one has done wrong; and c) the resolve never to repeat it. All three stages, however, are present in a single dynamic: regret. Thus teshuvah can be achieved instantaneously—in a single moment of profound regret.[5]

Rabbi Akiva, who was known for his tendency to focus on what is positive and meritorious in the soul of man,[6] insists that there is no such thing as “one who fears because of his sins,” thus lacking the protection that G-d confers on an army that does battle with the enemies of His people. For if he fears because of his sins, this means that he recognizes that he has done wrong and regrets his deed. Hence, he is no longer a sinner, but a perfectly righteous individual!

Based on the Rebbe’s talks, Shabbat Parshat Shoftim[7] 5727 (1967) and 5729 (1969)[8]

The Month of the Bride

In every relationship, there are times when the “male” or giving partner takes the initiative, and times when the “female” or receiving partner is the one to first express her feelings and thereby stimulate the feelings of her partner.

The question of who takes the initiative has a profound effect on the nature of the relationship. For though the end result is that both of them express their love for each other, the one who takes the initiative determines the nature of the other’s response. When initiated by the giving partner, the response stimulated in the recipient will likewise be a “masculine” response; when initiated by the recipient, the giver’s response will also be of a “feminine” nature, for it will be influenced and shaped by the source of its arousal.

In Song of Songs, which explores the relationship between G-d and Israel through the metaphor of the love between a bride and her groom, we find expressions of both male-initiated and female-initiated love. In one verse, the narratress proclaims, “My beloved is to me, and I am to him.”[9] In another, she says, “I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me.”[10]

There are times when the Almighty showers us with love and kindness, arousing in us a response in kind (“My beloved is to me, and I am to him”). But there are also times in which we take the initiative, expressing our love and devotion to Him despite His apparent distance from us, thereby arousing in Him His love for us (“I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me”).

It may be argued that the divinely-initiated love produces a higher and loftier love than that which is initiated by ourselves. When the initial arousal comes from G-d, it is a show of love that is as infinite and sublime as its source, arousing in us feelings that we could never have produced ourselves. Nevertheless, such a love cannot be said to be truly our own. We have been overwhelmed by something that is infinitely greater than ourselves, and our own response is likewise “larger than life,” bearing little relation to who and what we are in our natural state.

On the other hand, the love we generate from ourselves may be less magnificent and glorious, but it is a deeper and truer love. It is an integral love—a love that comes from within and expresses our deepest yearnings. And when we awaken such a love in ourselves, G-d responds in kind, showing us an integral, intimate love—a love that embraces us as we are, rather than transporting us to sublime yet alien peaks of spirituality and transcendence.

The Acronym
The month of Elul is a month in which the love between the divine Groom and His bride Israel is at its height. This is alluded to by the fact that, in Hebrew, the first letters of the verse “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me” (ani ledodi v’dodi li) spell the word Elul.

It is significant that the acronym for Elul comes from the verse that describes a love that is initiated by the bride, rather than the verse (“My beloved is to me, and I am to him”) in which the initial show of love comes from the groom. For despite its designation as a time for special closeness between G-d and man, Elul is a most “ordinary” month, conspicuously devoid of festivals and holy days (as opposed to the festival-rich month of Tishrei that follows it). Elul is not a time in which we are “lifted up” from our daily routine to the more spiritual atmosphere of a festival day; rather, it is a time in which we remain in our natural state as material beings inhabiting a material life.[11]

For the month of Elul, whose astral sign is the sign of betulah (“virgin”), is the month of the bride. Elul is a time when the initiative comes from our side of the relationship, and the divine response to our love is one that relates to us as finite, material beings and embraces our natural self and personality.

Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Av 27, 5750 (August 18, 1990)[12] and on numerous other occasions

The Military Method

When Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch[13] was in Petersburg to attend the Rabbinical Convention of 1843, he received a special permit from the Russian Minister of War to address the Jewish soldiers serving at the military installation in nearby Kronstadt.[14]

When the Rebbe arrived, he was greeted by the waiting soldiers, who said to him: “Rebbe! We’ve been toiling all morning to prepare for your coming, polishing our buttons in your honor. Now it’s your turn to toil: polish our souls, which have been dulled and coarsened by our many years of disconnection from Yiddishkeit.”

Following his address, in which he encouraged their heroic efforts to cling to their faith, the Rebbe said: “You polished your buttons with sand and water. The soul, too, is polished with sand and water: with the holy letters of Tehillim (Psalms) recited with a generous infusion of tears.”

One of the soldiers spoke up: “But Rebbe, battles are won with joy, not tears.”

“So speaks a soldier!” said the Rebbe, with obvious satisfaction. “Yes, you’re right. A soldier enters the fray of battle to the tune of a joyous march, not with tears. It is by the power of his joy that he is victorious even in the most dangerous and challenging endeavors.”

Told by the Rebbe, Simchat Torah, 5727 (1966)

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]. See Leviticus 19:24.

[2]. Deuteronomy 20:2-8.

[3]. Talmud, Sotah 44a; Rashi on Deuteronomy 20:8.

[4]. Talmud, Kiddushin 49b.

[5]. See stories related in the Talmud, Avodah Zarah 10b, 17a and 18a.

[6]. See Rashi on Talmud, Sanhedrin 110b (section beginning “Shavkei”)

[7]. It is noteworthy that the Torah section of Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16-21, which includes the above cited verses) is always read on the first Shabbat in Elul, the month of teshuvah.

[8]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. IX, pp. 121-129.

[9]. Song of Songs 2:16.

[10]. Ibid. 6:3.

[11]. See The King in the Field, WIR, vol. VIII, no. 54.

[12]. Sefer HaSichot 5750, vol. II, pp. 631-633.

[13]. 1789-1866. Rabbi Menachem Mendel, also known as the “Tzemach Tzedek” after his books by that name, was the third leader of Chabad Chassidism.

[14]. This was in the days of Czar Nikolai I, who had decreed that six- and seven-year-old Jewish children be conscripted into the Russian Army for a period of twenty-five years and be indoctrinated into Christianity, G-d forbid. The fact that the Rebbe was granted permission to address the Jewish soldiers at Kronstadt was nothing less than a miracle, since the primary purpose of their conscription was to tear them away from the faith of their fathers.

Rubies & Diamants

2010-08-12T23:32:00.001+10:00

You shall be perfect with the L-rd your G-d (Deut. 18:13)
Just as it is important to safeguard one's physical health, a Jew must take steps to ensure that his soul is whole and that all his spiritual "limbs" are healthy. For just as there are 613 components in the human body - 248 limbs and 365 sinews - so too are there 613 parts of the Jewish soul whose state of perfection is dependent on observing the 613 commandments of the Torah.

(Likrat Shabbat)

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In many prayer books, the words "I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment of 'And you shall love your fellow as yourself'" preface the prayers themselves. One reason for this is that because our prayers are offered instead of sacrifices (which have to be whole and unblemished), so too must the entire "body" of the Jewish people (each one of whom is considered a limb) be perfect and complete, united with love for one another, before we approach our Creator.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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You shall appoint a king over yourself (Deut. 17:15)

The inner intent of this commandment is to instill in the Jewish people a sense of nullification before G-d and acceptance of the yoke of heaven. For a Jewish king is completely nullified before G-d; submitting to his sovereignty contains an element of nullification before G-d as well.

(Derech Mitzvotecha)

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And this is the case of the slayer...whoever unwittingly kills his neighbor...he shall flee to one of those cities, and live (Deut. 19:4,5)

The Torah designates six cities of refuge to which a person who has inadvertently killed can flee and atone for his deed. When Moshiach comes and the borders of Israel are expanded to include the territory of the Kini, Kenizi and Kadmoni, three more cities of refuge will be established. But why will additional cities be necessary in the Messianic Era? In that time, peace will reign supreme and there will be no violence between men. What purpose, then, will these cities of refuge serve? Although no new acts of violence will occur, the cities of refuge will allow those Jews who accidentally killed someone throughout the centuries of exile to seek atonement and be worthy of the Messianic Era.

(Hitvaaduyot, Rosh Chodesh Elul 5746)

Ellul

2010-08-12T23:31:00.000+10:00

14th of Elul, 5727 [1967]
Greeting and Blessing:

I duly received your correspondence, and may G-d grant that you should have good news to report in regard to the contents of your letters.

No doubt you remember the Alter Rebbe's [Rabbi Shneur Zalman, founder of Chasidism] explanation of the significance of the month of Elul, in terms of the following analogy: There are times when a king leaves his palace and goes out to meet his subjects in the field, when everyone, regardless of his state and station, can approach the king, and the king receives everyone graciously and fulfills their petitions. The days of Elul are such a period when the King of Kings is, as it were, "in the field." This is, therefore, the proper time to strengthen the adherence to the commandments of the King, and to receive a greater measure of the King's blessings.

Wishing you and yours a Kesivo vaChasimo Tovo [to be written and sealed for good],

With blessing,

P.S. With regard to the question of Moshiach which you raise in your letter - I refer you to the Rambam, Hilchos Melochim, Chaps. 11-12 [Maimonides, Laws of Kings].

Enclosed is a copy of the general Rosh Hashono message, which you will surely put to good advantage.

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus

2010-08-12T23:30:00.002+10:00

Question of the Week:

My husband just doesn't seem to get it. He came home over an hour late last night without so much as calling to tell me that he won't be on time. This is the fifth time he has done this and we are only married three months! It may seem petty but it upsets me greatly. I don't want him to see me as a nagging wife. What should I do?

Answer:

This may be disappointing, but it sounds like your husband is acting like a pretty normal guy. And you sound pretty normal too. That's why you are having this problem.

There is something you need to know about men. They are loners. Being in a relationship is unnatural to them. They do not automatically think about how their actions affect someone else. The default emotional state of a man is loneliness.

This is not true of women. A woman has an innate sense of relationship, of connection to others. A woman naturally shares of herself and bonds with others. A man does not. She is a relationship being, he is a lonely being.

Of course, it is a big generalisation to say that all men are loners and all women are connectors, and generalisations are never accurate. But to say generalisations are never accurate is itself a generalisation, and thus not accurate either. So let's generalise: while there are of course many exceptions, generally speaking, man's natural state is to be single, woman's natural state is to be in a couple.

There is a solid base for this theory. It stretches all the way back to the beginning of time, to the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve.

Adam was created alone. His original state was that of a bachelor. But Eve was created from Adam. She was never single. Eve by her very nature was a relationship being, because she was created with her partner next to her. She had an inborn sense of interconnectedness, she intuitively knew that we are not alone in this world, that our actions impact others and that we can and must be sensitive to those around us. This was innate to her psyche, for she was never alone. But all this was new to Adam. He had to learn what a relationship means, and how to be aware of another, for at his core he was a lonely being.

Adam is the essential man, and Eve the essential woman. And so until today women are relationship beings and men are lonely beings. Not that all women are good at relationships, and not that all men are hopeless hermits. Rather, women are more likely to know how to bond with others, and men are more likely to keep their emotions to themselves.

So your husband has no idea why you are upset when he comes home late. He may be thinking, "Why can't she occupy herself until I get there? Is she so insecure that she can't look after herself for an extra hour or so?" What he doesn't yet understand is that while he is a loner, you are a connector. You don't need him to be physically with you all the time, but emotionally, he must be with you all the time. If he would just call to say he is late, you would not feel alone, because he showed that he cares, he has bonded with you.

Eve's mission was to help Adam come out of his isolation and learn how to connect. You need to do this too. Explain to your husband that it is not his lateness that upsets you, it is that he wasn't considerate enough to communicate his lateness to you. Help him understand that he is no longer alone, and show him how beautiful the world is when shared with someone else. Give it time. You can't cure existential loneliness overnight. But if you persevere, with gentleness and love, he will open up that lonely place inside him and let you in. Then you can share your lives in your own Garden of Eden, and never be lonely again.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Torah itself is the refuge in which all may seek asylum

2010-08-12T23:30:00.001+10:00

This week's Torah portion, Shoftim, speaks about the cities of refuge a person would flee to if he accidentally killed someone. There, the unintentional killer would dwell, protected from the wrath of the victim's relatives, until the High Priest who served in the Holy Temple passed away.
But not only unintentional killers sought refuge in these cities; even someone who committed murder intentionally was expected to flee there as well. The court would then convene and issue its ruling on the death. The cities of refuge offered protection, if only temporarily in some cases, to anyone who had caused a loss of life.

After the destruction of the Holy Temple and the dispersion of the Jewish people, the cities of refuge ceased to exist in the physical sense. Yet the Torah is eternal, and its lessons apply in every generation. In our times, therefore, the concept of "cities of refuge" finds expression in the spiritual dimension.

Our Sages taught that "the words of Torah absorb." In other words, the Torah itself is the refuge in which all may seek asylum. In the spiritual sense, "killing" symbolizes the act of committing a sin, causing a spiritual death to the G-dly soul, for the Torah's 613 commandments are the "ropes" that bind the soul to G-d. Transgressing the Torah's commandments damages those ties and threatens to cut the soul off from its G-dly source.

We learn from this week's Torah portion that it is never too late to repent, no matter how grave a transgression has been committed. Even the person who deliberately sinned can do teshuva (repentance) and seek protection in the refuge of Torah.

In one sense, nowadays we have a distinct advantage over our forefathers who lived during the times of the Holy Temple. In those days, repentance alone was not enough to atone for a sin. The unintentional killer had to remain exiled in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, and the intentional murderer (as defined by the Torah) received capital punishment. Yet after the destruction of the Temple, teshuva alone can atone for even the gravest sin.

Years ago, when Jewish courts had ultimate authority, a judge could only rule on what he himself had seen. G-d, however, can look into the heart of man and judge whether or not his repentance is sincere.

In the same way, the month of Elul, during which we take account of our actions of the previous year, is a "city of refuge" in time, offering us the same opportunity to clear the slate and merit a good and sweet year to come.

Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Precision Measurements

2010-08-12T23:29:00.000+10:00

Have you ever tried to build a bookcase? What about put a bike together? Maybe you're trying to replace some widget in an appliance. Hang wallpaper or retile a room. Maybe you're more ambitious, and you're putting an addition on your house.
Whatever you're building or repairing, you know that to build or construct properly, you need to measure precisely. Very precisely. If the measurements are off even a fraction of an inch, a smidgen of a millimeter, the whole project could fall apart.
Edges have to match; nuts-washers-screws have to be the same size and the right size. A misaligned window, even slightly, and all sorts of leaks can start.
In a sense, every Jew is a master builder, and a precision engineer. For we are commanded "build Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Just as the sanctuary made of stone and other material had to be built to the exact measurements and specific detail, so too each of us must build our "mini-Sanctuary" - our lives and our section of the world according to the specifications in our "instruction manual," the Torah.
For a builder, the tape measure is critical; so too when we are building G-dliness and goodness into the world, we must use the tape measure of the soul.
What does this mean? It means we have to be careful with our abilities and talents, to be conscientious with our opportunities, not to waste the smallest particular of who we are and what we can do. We must use what G-d has given us in the fullest measure, to the last iota, and for the G-d given purpose of serving the Creator.
When fulfilling a mitzva (commandment), it must be done down to the last detail, going the extra step ( known as hiddur, or beautifying, the mitzva).
The same precise measurements apply to our use of time - whatever we're doing, we can use every moment to serve G-d. We can conduct our business in an ethical manner, we can converse without speaking badly of another person, we can eat and drink kosher food after having recited a blessing over the food. We can relax and sleep knowing that after resting we will be reinvigorated to serve G-d in a complete and precise manner.
If we've measured out our activities for twenty three hours and fifty-nine minutes - allotting exactly the right portion of it to prayer, to study, to mitzvos, to work, to eating, sleeping and relaxing, as necessary - we still can't allow ourselves to waste that last minute.
This applies not only to ourselves, but to our part of the world, our sphere of influence and contact with others, and our activity with and use of the material of the earth.
When each of use uses our G-d-given abilities precisely and accu-rately, to elevate ourselves and our surroundings, so that no speck or scrap is left over, superfluous, extra or unused, then we, and others, and the world itself fulfill the mission and task of creation, to transform the world into a dwelling place - a properly and precisely built dwelling place - for G-dliness.

Meat

2010-08-05T21:41:00.000+10:00

When G-d your G-d shall broaden your borders, as He has promised you, and you will say, “I shall eat meat,” for your soul shall desire to eat meat, you may eat meat to your soul’s desire.
Deuteronomy 12:20-23

“Last and first You created me” (Psalms 139:5) ... If man is worthy, he is told: You are first among the works of creation. If he is not worthy, he is told: The flea preceded you, the earthworm preceded you.
Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra 14:1

There are those who contest the “morality” of eating meat. What gives man the right to consume another creature’s flesh? But the same can be said of man’s consumption of vegetable life, water or oxygen. What gives man the right to devour any of G-d’s creations simply to perpetuate his own existence?
Indeed, there is no such “natural” right. When man lives only to sustain and enhance his own being, there is no justification for him to tamper with any other existence to achieve this goal. As a great chassidic master put it, “When a person walks along without a thought of G-d in his head, the very ground under his feet cries out: ‘Boor! What makes you any better than me? By what rights do you step on me?!’”[1] The fact that man is a “higher” life form scarcely justifies the destruction of dumb or inanimate creatures. Moreover, according to the teachings of kabbalah, the souls of animals, plants and inanimate objects are actually loftier than that of the human being; for in the great collapse of the primordial world of Tohu[2] the higher elements fell lowest (as the highest stones in a collapsing wall fall farthest), so that the loftier sparks of divine light came to be incarnated in the lower tiers of the physical world.
Man does have the right to consume other creatures only because—and when—he serves as the agent of their elevation. The spiritual essence of a stone, plant or animal might be loftier than that of a man, but it is a static “spark,” bereft of the capacity to advance creation’s quest to unite with its Creator. The cruelty of the cat or the industry of the ant is not a moral failing or achievement, nor is the hardness of the rock or the sweetness of the apple. The mineral, vegetable and animal cannot do good or evil—they can only follow the dictates of their inborn nature. Only man has been granted freedom of choice and the ability to be better (or worse, G-d forbid) than his natural state. When a person drinks a glass of water, eats an apple, or slaughters an ox and consumes its flesh, these are converted into the stuff of the human body and the energy that drives it. When this person performs a G-dly deed—a deed that transcends his natural self and brings him closer to G-d—he “elevates” the elements he has incorporated into himself, reuniting the sparks of G-dliness they embody with their source. (Also elevated are the creations that enabled the G-dly deed—the soil that nourished the apple, the grass that fed the cow, the horse that hauled the water to town, and so on).
Therein lies the deeper significance of the above-quoted verse, “and you will say, ‘I shall eat meat,’ for your soul shall desire to eat meat.” You might express a desire for meat and be aware only of your body’s craving for the physical satisfaction it brings; in truth, however, this is the result of your soul’s desire to eat meat—your soul’s quest for the “sparks of G-dliness” it has been sent to earth to redeem.
Desire
There is, however, an important difference between the consumption of meat and that of other foods. The difference involves “desire” and the role it plays in the elevation of creation.
The human being cannot live without the vegetable and mineral components of his diet. Thus, he is compelled to eat them by the most basic of his physical drives—the preservation of his existence. Meat, however, is not a necessity but a luxury; the desire for meat is not a desire motivated by need, but desire in its purest sense—the desire to experience pleasure.
In other words, animals are elevated—their flesh integrated into the human body and their souls made partner in a G-dly deed—only because G-d has instilled the desire for pleasure in human nature.
This means that the elevation of meat requires a greater spiritual sensitivity on the part of its consumer than that of other foods. When a person eats a piece of bread and then studies Torah, prays or gives charity, the bread has directly contributed to these deeds. In order to perform these deeds, the soul of man must be fused with a physical body, and the piece of bread was indispensable to this fusion. Man eats bread in order to live; if he lives to fulfill his Creator’s will, the connection is complete. But man eats meat not to live, but to savor its taste; thus, it is not enough that a person lives in order to serve his Creator for the meat he eats to be elevated. Rather, he must be a person for whom the very experience of physical pleasure is a G-dly endeavor, something devoted solely toward a G-dly end; a person for whom the physical satisfaction generated by a tasty meal translates into a deeper understanding of Torah, a greater fervor in prayer, and a kinder smile to accompany the coin pressed into the palm of a beggar.[3]
Thus the Torah says: “When G-d your G-d shall broaden your borders, as He has promised you... you may eat meat to your soul’s desire.” From this the Talmud derives that, “originally, they were forbidden to eat ‘meat by desire’ (bassar taavah); it was only after they entered the Land [of Israel] that they were permitted to eat meat by desire.”[4] For the first generation of Israel’s existence as a nation—from the time they received the Torah and erected the Sanctuary in the Sinai Desert until they settled in the Holy Land—the only meat they were permitted to eat was the meat of the korbonot, the animal sacrifices offered to G-d in the Sanctuary. The consumption of this meat was a mitzvah, which meant that its elevation was achieved by the fact that eating it constitutes a direct fulfillment of a divine commandment. However, they did not have the capacity to elevate “meat of desire”—meat that is eaten for the purpose of granting pleasure to its consumer. So the consumption of such meat was forbidden.[5] It was only after G-d “broadened their borders,” granting them a mandate to make “holy” an adjective of “land,” that they were enabled to sanctify this most corporeal corner of human life.[6]
Similarly, our sages have said that “a boor is forbidden to eat meat.”[7] The license given to man to partake of the world and subjugate it to serve him is not unconditional. It is contingent upon his sensitivity to the spiritual essence of G-d’s creatures, and his commitment to serve them by making them component parts of his sanctified life. It takes an individual with broad spiritual horizons to properly relish a steak.
Based on the Rebbe’s talks, Shabbat Parshat Re’eh, 5719 (August 29, 1959) and Cheshvan 10, 5711 (October 21, 1950)[8]

[1]. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe (quoted in Hayom Yom, 7 Adar II).[2]. See A Visitor From the World of Tohu (WIR, vol. VI, no. 36) and The Father of the Bride (ibid., vol. VII, no. 43) and sources cited there.
[3]. See Talmud, Yoma 76b; ibid., Bava Kama 72a; Tanya, ch. 7.
“Bread” and “meat” are employed here as prototypes of necessity and luxury; in this context, a cream pie or a yacht would be a form of “meat,” while a piece of meat eaten to keep body and soul together would fall under the category of “bread.”
[4]. Rabbi Yishmael, cited by the Talmud in Chulin 16b. Rabbi Akiva (ibid., 17a) interprets the verse differently, understanding the words “when G-d your G-d shall broaden your borders” not as a qualification of “you may eat meat to your soul’s desire” but of what the Torah states immediately afterwards, “You shall slaughter of your herd and your flock which G-d has given you, as I have commanded you.” Thus, according to Rabbi Akiva, not only was “meat by desire” permitted in the desert, it was even permitted without shechitah (the halachically prescribed manner of slaughter), while all meat eaten following Israel’s entry into the Holy Land requires shechitah.
However, the deeper significance of the law that Rabbi Akiva derives from these verses is identical to that of the law derived by Rabbi Yishmael. “Shechitah” means “drawing forth” (Talmud, Kiddushin 82a); the slaughter of an animal in accordance with the divinely-mandated laws of shechitah is what enables its elevation—the drawing of the animal out from its beastly state into the domain of a life consecrated to the service of the Creator. In the desert, shechitah was limited to the animals offered in the Sanctuary, for only these could be “drawn forth” in the manner that shechitah makes possible. The only difference in the opinions of Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva is that Rabbi Yishmael states that since the full elevation of “meat of desire” was not possible in the desert, its consumption was prohibited, while Rabbi Akiva holds that it was nonetheless permitted, since a lesser elevation could be achieved.
[5]. Indeed, they were rebuked and punished for expressing a desire for meat (see Numbers ch. 11 and Rashi on Exodus 16:7-8).
[6]. What was the case in Jewish history was also the case in the history of mankind. Originally, man was granted license only to eat from “every seed-bearing herb on the face of the earth, and every tree on which there is fruit-bearing seed” (Genesis 1:29). It was only after the Flood, following which the world was imbued with a greater spiritual potential, that G-d told Noah that “every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.”
[7]. Talmud, Pesachim 49b.
[8]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. IV, pp. 1108-1114; Hitvaaduyot 5711, vol. I, pp. 70-71.

Be on top on money

2010-08-05T21:39:00.002+10:00

When you go over the Jordan and dwell in the land...He will give you rest from all your enemies ...and you will dwell in safety (Deut. 12:10)

If G-d gives the Jews "rest from all their enemies," isn't it obvious they will "dwell in safety"? The seeming repetition, however, contains valuable advice: G-d counsels, If you truly wish to "rest from all your enemies," you must "dwell in safety" within your own camp - in peace and brotherhood, without inner squabbling and political strife. Declared our Sages: "Were Israel united into one group, no nation or tongue could rule over them."

(G'lilei Zahav)

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Lest your eye be evil against your needy brother...and he cry out to G-d against you, and it be a sin in you (Deut. 15:9)

Not helping another person in his time of need is bad enough, but looking down on him and blaming him for his own predicament is even worse. For if "he cries out to G-d against you," your own behavior will be carefully scrutinized, and your own sins and failings come to light...

(Rabbi Shmelke of Nicholsburg)

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And you shall bind up the money in your hand (Deut. 14:25)

The Torah commands the Jew to "bind up" his money and rule over it, and not the other way around. In other words, his monetary affairs must never exert such an influence over him that they become his master.

(Rabbi Meir of Premishlan)

To live the Jewish way of life

2010-08-05T21:39:00.001+10:00

14th of Sivan, 5724 [1964]
Blessing and Greeting:

I am in receipt of your letter of May 21st, in which you write about your background and some highlights of your life.

In reply, I will address myself at once to the essential point in your letter, namely your attitude towards religious observance, as you describe in your letter, and especially to the particular Mitzvah [commandment] which is most essential for a happy married life, namely Taharas Hamishpocho [the Laws of Family Purity]. You write that you do not understand the importance of this Mitzvah, etc. This is not surprising, as is clear from the analogy of a small child being unable to understand a professor who is advanced in knowledge. Bear in mind that the condition between the small child and the advanced professor is only a difference in degree and not in kind, inasmuch as the child may, in due course, not only attain the same level of the professor, but even surpass him.

It is quite otherwise in the difference between a created being, be he the wisest person on earth, and the Creator Himself. How can we, humans, expect to understand the infinite wisdom of the Creator? It is only because of G-d's great kindness that He has revealed certain reasons with regard to certain Mitzvoth, that we can get some sort of a glimpse or insight into them. It is quite clear that G-d has given us the various commandments for our own sake and not in order to benefit Him. It is therefore clear what the sensible attitude towards the Mitzvoth should be. If this is so with regard to any Mitzvah, how much more so with regard to the said Mitzvah of Taharas Hamishpocho, which has a direct bearing not only on the mutual happiness of the husband and wife, but also on the well-being and happiness of their offspring, their children and children's children.

It is equally clear that parents are always anxious to do everything possible for their children, even if there is only a very small chance that their efforts would materialize, and even if these efforts entail considerable difficulties. How much more so in this case where the benefit to be derived is very great and lasting, while the sacrifice is negligible by comparison. Even where the difficulties are not entirely imaginary, it is certain that they become less and less with actual observance of the Mitzvah, so that they eventually disappear altogether.

Needless to say I am aware of the "argument" that there are many non-observant married couples, yet seemingly happy, etc. The answer is simple. First of all, it is well known that G-d is very merciful and patient, and waits for the erring sinner to return to Him in sincere repentance. Secondly, appearances are deceptive, and one can never know what the true facts are about somebody else's life, especially as certain things relating to children and other personal matters are, for obvious reasons, kept in strict confidence.

As a matter of fact, in regard to the observance of Taharas Hamishpocho, even the plain statistics of reports and tables by specialists, doctors and sociologists etc., who cannot be considered partial towards the religious Jew, clearly show the benefits which accrued to those Jewish circles which observed Taharas Hamishpocho. These statistics have also been published in various publications, but it is not my intention to dwell on this at length in this letter.

My intention in writing all the above is, of course, not to admonish or preach, but in the hope that upon receipt of my letter you will consider the matter more deeply, and will at once begin to observe the Mitzvah of Taharas Hamishpocho, within the framework of the general Jewish way of life which our Creator has clearly given to us in His Torah, which is called Toras Chaim, the Law of Life.

Even if it seems to you that you have some difficulties to overcome, you may be certain that you will overcome them and that the difficulties are only in the initial stages.

I understand that in your community there are young couples who are observant and you could discuss this matter with them, and find out all the laws and regulations of Taharas Hamishpocho. If, however, you find it inconvenient to seek the knowledge from friends, there are booklets which have been published, which contain the desired information, also a list of places where a Mikvah is available.

Next I will refer to the various undesirable events which occurred in your family, which left you confused, as you write. In view of what has been said above, it is not entirely unexpected. For, inasmuch as the essence of a Jew is to live in accordance with G-d's command, it is clear that if one disturbs the normal flow of this kind of life by disobeying G-d's command, it is not surprising that one should feel confused, lacking the true faith in G-d, which is the only terra firma for a Jew. Moreover, inasmuch as the Mitzvoth are also the channels through which to receive G-d's blessings, it is not surprising that a lack of observance prevents the fulfillment of G-d's blessings.

I repeat, it is not my intention to admonish with regard to the past, but if you want to follow my advice, I urge you to begin from now on to live the Jewish way of life with a firm resolution and determination, and this will surely bring you the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good....

With blessing,

My husband just doesn't seem to get it.

2010-08-05T21:38:00.000+10:00

When Jews keep G-d's laws...

2010-08-05T21:37:00.002+10:00

In this week's Torah portion, Re'ei, the Children of Israel are commanded to maintain their own code of behavior and not to learn from the nations that inhabited Israel before its conquest. "Take heed to yourself that you not be snared by following them." A Jew must never ask, "How do these gentiles worship their gods, that I may do the same?" For G-d has commanded us: "You must not do this before the L-rd your G-d... But hearken to the voice of the L-rd your G-d, to keep all His commandments... to do that which is right in the eyes of the L-rd your G-d."
Moses warned the Jews against imitating the gentiles' conduct. They have their own culture and customs, he explained. Some worship idols, some spend their lives trying to satisfy earthly lusts and desires, while others are motivated by the pursuit of power. But it is forbidden for a Jew to learn from their behavior.

From a numerical standpoint, of course, the Jewish people is the most insignificant of all the nations. Nonetheless, its conduct is entirely unique. Some Jews might mistakenly think that the key to earning the respect and admiration of the gentile nations is to copy their behavior. And yet the opposite is true. It is only when Jews proudly maintain their Jewish traditions and unwavering faith in G-d that they merit not only the respect of their gentile neighbors, but their support and assistance as well.

G-d placed the Jewish people among the nations so that others may see and learn from their simple and uncompromising faith. Jews must always remember that "You have chosen us from among the nations" and conduct themselves according to His will, as revealed in the Torah.

When Jews conduct themselves in such a manner, so as to serve as living examples to the gentiles, they demonstrate that it is indeed possible to adhere to the Seven Noahide Laws that apply to all mankind.

The Jewish people has lived according to the Torah's laws for over 3,000 years. Yet despite its antiquity, the Torah is equally relevant to our present day and age, imparting all who follow in its ways with renewed strength and vitality.

When Jews keep G-d's laws and refuse to mimic the surrounding nations, they merit a multitude of G-d's blessings: long life and good years, tranquility and peace, physical health and true pleasure.

Additionally, when Jews do what is right, the gentile nations not only hold them in high esteem, but lend their assistance as well.

Adapted for Maayan Chai from Hitva'aduyot 5745, Vol. 5

Moving Day

2010-08-05T21:37:00.001+10:00

When the movers arrive, with the packed boxes and wrapped furniture, it's a day of anxiety and bustle. Is anything damaged? Is anything missing?
As we unpack and arrange our belongings, we can't help but take pride in our possessions. Indeed, we make our home our own by what we have, what we've accumulated. We "move in" by setting things up.

When we have our possessions with us, arranged to our liking, reflecting our personality, that's when we feel we have fully "moved in" to our house, made it our home.

This concept of "moving into our home," of taking possession of our possessions, recalls a well-known story about the Maggid of Mezritch, successor to the Baal Shem Tov.

A wealthy merchant during his travels had occasion to pass through Mezritch and, having heard of the Maggid, decided to visit him. Going into the street where the Maggid lived, the man was a bit confused. His confusion grew as he approached the Maggid's house: it was not even a well-to-do dwelling, much less the mansion he had expected. Once inside, the man could not hide his shock.

The Maggid, seeing how perplexed the man was, asked what was troubling him.

"With all due respect," the wealthy merchant began, "I don't understand. A man of your reputation! I expected a more magnificent dwelling. But I can understand that in a small village such as Mezritch, a house suited to your station might be too glaring. But here, inside your home, surely there should be some lavish furnishings or other possessions worthy of a great Torah scholar, a leader of the generation."

"Tell me," the Maggid replied. "You are a man of wealth and stature. In your room, in the inn where you are staying, what have you there?"

"Just some items necessary for travel. A change of clothes, my account books. That sort of thing."

"What of your furniture, or other possessions worthy of your position?"

The merchant laughed. "It would indeed be foolish to carry my paintings, my antiques, my chandeliers throughout my journeys. No, in that room, there is barely a table to write on. It is only a temporary dwelling, so what of it? But in my home, ah, there I have such possessions, such works of art, such fine furnishings, that reflect my accomplishments and the wealth I have accumulated."

"Why, it is the same with me," said the Maggid with a smile. "This world is a temporary dwelling, and all my possessions here are few and only what I need for the journey. But in the world to come, ah, there, I assure you, I have accumulated many treasures. There I have all my possessions, the Torah I have learned and taught, and the mitzvot (commandments) I have observed and have encouraged others to observe."

If we remember the words of the Maggid, then, in a sense, every day is Moving Day! For we can always move into our spiritual home, set up our real furniture and display our real possessions - our Torah and mitzvot.

Mezuza

2010-07-29T21:58:00.001+10:00

About the commandment of mezuza, which is found in this week's Torah portion, Eikev, the Talmud relates that Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi once sent a mezuza as a gift to Artaban, king of Persia, explaining that the small scroll would protect him from harm.
At first glance, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi's gesture seems odd. The commandment to affix a mezuza upon one's door posts was given only to the Jewish nation. A non-Jewish king, therefore, would not be fulfilling a religious precept by possessing a mezuza. As such, he would also be ineligible for any reward resulting from the performance of a mitzva (commandment). Why then did Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi promise the gentile king that the mezuza would guard and protect him?

A similar question may also be asked about the common practice, dating back to the time of the Mishna, of inserting a mezuza scroll into one's walking stick, also done for the sake of the protection it afforded. A walking stick is certainly not included in the commandment of mezuza. If there is no commandment, there is certainly no reward. How then, did the mezuza afford protection?

A distinction must be made between the reward a person receives for performing a mitzva and the intrinsic attribute of the mitzva itself. When a person obeys G-d's command by fulfilling a mitzva, the reward he earns is a separate and distinct entity, additional to the essential nature of the mitzva. For example, the Torah states that the reward for the mitzva of mezuza is long life: "That your days be increased and the days of your children."

Yet besides the reward promised by the Torah, each mitzva has its own special attributes and characteristics that have nothing to do with reward, but are integral parts of the mitzva itself. The mezuza's attribute is protection. Our sages explained that when a kosher mezuza is affixed to the door post, G-d Himself watches over the occupants of the house, even when they are not at home. A mezuza is written solely for the purpose of protection, and, by its nature, it protects.

With this in mind, it becomes clear that even when no fulfillment of a religious precept is involved, a mezuza still possesses this attribute of protection, at least to some degree. It was for this reason that Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi sent the mezuza as a gift to the Persian king and that Jews took mezuzot with them wherever they went inside their walking sticks.

In a similar vein, speaking about and studying the laws of mezuza afford similar protection. The Talmud relates that in the house of one Jewish king a special sign was made on those door posts which were exempt from having a mezuza.

From this we learn the crucial importance of having kosher mezuzot.

The Jewish people, likened to "one sheep among 70 wolves," is always in need of special defense. Every additional mezuza affixed to a Jewish home extends G-d's Divine protection to the entire Jewish nation, for all Jews are ultimately responsible for one another.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Thoughts that count!

2010-07-29T21:57:00.001+10:00

And you shall eat and be sated. (Deut. 8:10)

The Maggid of Mezritch once asked a wealthy man what he eats every day. "Bread and salt, Rebbe, like a poor man," was his reply. The Maggid rebuked him and told him to eat meat and drink wine every day as wealthy men were accustomed to do. Later, when the Maggid's disciples asked for an explanation, he said: "If a rich man eats meat and drinks wine every day, then he will realize that a poor person needs at least bread and salt. If, however, he eats bread and salt, he will think that his poor neighbor can make do with stones!"
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And to serve Him with all your heart (Deut. 11:13)

Rashi explains that this verse refers to the service of the heart, namely prayer. Reb Yisrael of Ruzhin used to take a long time over his prayers; Reb Shalom of Belz would recite his prayers hastily. On this, one of their contemporaries commented that both of them cherished every word of the prayers: the former loved them so much that he could not bring himself to part with them, while the latter - for the same reason - could not restrain his eagerness to make them his.

(A Treasury of Chasidic Tales)
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A land whose stones are iron (Deut: 8:9)

Rabbi Abba said: A Torah scholar who is not as tough as iron is no Torah scholar, as it states, "whose stones are iron." Do not read "avaneha" (stones), but "boneha" (her builders). This Talmudic homily teaches us an important lesson in how to protect the land of Israel: Although it is certainly necessary to possess "iron" weapons in the literal sense - an army and ammunition to deter our enemies - we must always remember that the true "iron" and strength of the Jewish people is their Torah learning and observance of mitzvot (commandments).

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Poor blood circulation

2010-07-29T21:56:00.000+10:00

A common cause for the ailments of the feet is poor circulation. The foot is the part of the body furthest from the heart; thus, the feet are often the first to suffer from inadequate blood supply due to circulatory problems, especially in its smaller veins and capillaries.

This physical phenomenon also has its counterpart in the spiritual life of man, which depends on the lifeblood of the soul—the Torah and its mitzvot—for its vitality and health.

The Torah section of Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25), opens with the words, “And it shall come to pass, because you heed these laws and keep them and observe them...” The word eikev (“because”), which gives the section its name, is an uncommon term in the Hebrew language,[1] prompting a number of homiletic interpretations by our sages. One of these makes the correlation of eikev and akeiv (“heel”)—the two words have the identical Hebrew spelling—explaining that the verse is alluding to “those mitzvot which a person tramples under his heels.”[2]

Often we tend to distinguish between “important” mitzvot and “lesser” mitzvot. The same person who is outraged by an act of thievery or adultery, who wouldn’t think of eating pork or violating Shabbat, might casually transgress the prohibition against lashon hara (speaking ill of another). But a mitzvah is a divine commandment, an expression of the will of G-d; the human mind can hardly appraise a mitzvah’s true impact on his own life, much less its quintessential worth. So the ultimate test of a person’s commitment to G-d is to be found in those mitzvot which “people trample under their heels.” Is his observance of the mitzvot contingent upon his subjective appreciation of their social and spiritual utility, in which case he will inevitably discriminate between “greater” and “lesser” mitzvot, or has he indeed subjugated himself to the divine will, in which case he fulfills every divine command with equal joy and veneration?

When a soul’s heart—its commitment and bond to its Creator—is hale and fit, the distant heel also receives an adequate “blood supply,” and glows with the warmth and vivacity that are the hallmarks of spiritual life.

Based on a letter by the Rebbe dated Sivan 19, 5717 (June 18, 1957)[3]

Based on the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

[1]. Eikev, in the sense of “because,” appears only thirteen times in the Bible (it appears twice more in the sense of “completely”). In contrast, ki and ka’asher, the other Hebrew terms for “because,” each appear hundreds of times.
[2]. Rashi on verse; see Talmud, Avodah Zarah 18a.
[3]. Igrot Kodesh, vol XV, p. 213

the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself

2010-07-29T21:54:00.000+10:00

16th of Menachem Av, 5732 [1972]
I have just received a telephone report about the success of yesterday's event, at which you were not only the main speaker, but also the moving spirit. I was most gratified to be informed that the affair was a great success.

Although there is no need to express thanks for doing a mitzvah [commandment], for, as our Sages of the Mishnah declare, "the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself," I nevertheless want to express my gratification at receiving the above mentioned good report about the impact of your address on an audience which included Jews of considerable potential. It is good for people of their position and standing in the community to hear a presentation of Yiddishkeit [Judaism] in its true form, undiluted and uncompromised, especially, as I am told, that this was the first breakthrough into this circle. Furthermore, I am told that your address was received not only with an open mind and without prejudice, but also had an inspiring response.

There is the well known Talmudic parable about the person who enjoyed the full benefits of a fruitful tree and said to it: "Tree, oh tree, with what should I bless you?"

Similarly, the blessing that I wish to give you in connection with the above is that in your endeavors and accomplishments you should see the fulfillment of the saying of our Sages, "He who has 100, desires 200; and having attained 200, desires 400." This is to say that your hatzlochah [success] in inspiring Jewish souls and lighting them up with the light of "Torah-Or" [the Light of the Torah] should not only go from strength to strength, but should advance in geometrical progression, as indicated in the above saying. I also trust that the contacts you make in this way will be maintained and followed up, so that they may continue to enjoy your good influence. The Zechus Harabim [merit of the multitude] will surely stand you in good stead to receive G-d's blessings in similar growing proportions, both materially and spiritually.

The present days, especially now that we have passed the 15th of Av, are particularly auspicious for the study of the Torah and for all efforts to spread and strengthen Yiddishkeit in a growing measure. I trust this will be so with you, and that the concerted efforts by all who are aware of the significance of these days, will help to reverse the causes of the Churban [destruction of the Holy Temples] and Golus [Exile] ("Because of our sins we were exiled from our land"), and hasten the arrival of our righteous Moshiach, may he come speedily in our time.

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13th of Cheshvan, 5734 [1983]
With further reference to our correspondence, I wish to emphasize here another point about the urgency and speed that should propel every activity for the strengthening of Yiddishkeit in general, and Torah Chinuch [education] in particular.

In normal times, steady, albeit slow, progress might be satisfactory, and sometimes steady progress and speed may not even be compatible. However, we live in "abnormal" times, when things move with whirlwind speed, and we must not lag behind the times in our method of tackling problems in the vital area of Torah and Chinuch. Indeed, in light of the Baal Shem Tov's teaching that a person must learn from everything around him how better to fulfill his purpose in life, especially in fundamental matters, the present jet age and supersonic speed should inspire the idea of time-saving in the spiritual realm. A distance that not so very long ago took days and weeks to cover, can now be spanned in a matter of hours, and a message that took as long to communicate can now be transmitted instantly. If this could be accomplished in the physical and material world, surely the same should be true in the spiritual realm, whether in the area of personal achievement, or in the area of effecting a change in the environment. To be satisfied with less in the realm of the spirit would be like arguing to return to the era of the horse and buggy on the ground that this was satisfactory in olden days, all the more so since spiritual matters have never been subject to the limitations of time and space.

If anyone may entertain any doubt about his ability to meet a challenge which Divine Providence has thrown into his lap, suffice it to remember that G-d does not act despotically or capriciously, and most certainly provides the necessary capacity to meet the challenge, and to do so joyously, which is the way of all Divine service, as it is written, "Serve G-d with joy," and which, incidentally, is a basic tenet of the Chassidic approach to all matters.

With all good wishes, and

With blessing,

Rabbi, do you know why I don't go to shul?

2010-07-29T21:53:00.000+10:00

Question of the Week:

Rabbi, do you know why I don't go to shul? I used to go, but I started to notice that in my shul, the rich people get more noticed and average people like me were overlooked. So I stopped going. If you need to be wealthy to be respected I want no part of it. Am I right or wrong?

Answer:

You are the third person this week to explain to me why they don't go to shul. This happens to me all the time. At almost every function I attend, a wedding, kid's birthday party or communal gathering, someone comes up to me and says, "Rabbi, do you know why I don't go to shul...."
I have never asked anyone why they don't go to shul. I don't even know these people. And yet they feel the need to share with me their particular Jewish gripe, either about the unfriendly rabbi or the arrogant cantor, the grandfather who forced them to pray or the G-d who didn't answer their prayers.
It's funny, I don't feel the need to justify to my dentist why I never go to him, or the local gym why they never see me. And yet when people see a rabbi they are overcome with an urge to explain their absence from shul.
Mind you, the people who do attend shul don't seem to have a good reason why they come. Even someone who has not been to shul in years can rock up to a service, and without any justification for their sudden appearance, they walk in, take a prayer book and sit down, as if they always belonged there.
Because they do belong there. A Jew needs no reason to be in shul. There is no explanation necessary. Most of the time, they themselves don't know why they started coming to shul. And so they offer no rationalization. You only need a reason not to go to shul. But to go, no reason is required. I am here because I am Jewish, and going to shul is Jewish.
This is why I love hearing those alibis people present for not being in shul. A Jew needs a reason not to connect to Judaism. Some may have pretty good reasons, like yours. But they are reasons nonetheless. A Jew needs no reason to connect to Judaism. It is who we are.
If you don't like your shul, find another one. Until you do, all the justifications in world won't change the fact that you're a Jew, and a Jew wants to be Jewish.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Tzedaka is FUN!

2010-07-29T21:52:00.000+10:00

It'll never be one of the top ten songs of the year, but a ditty about charity is a favorite in many Hebrew schools, Sunday schools, camps and day schools. It was composed in the days when all pushkas (charity boxes) were the metal genre - with a keyhole on the bottom - and is accompanied by the shaking of the pushka as much or as little as the child wishes who is currently giving tzedaka (charity). It goes like this:

I'm a little hunk of tin
Every day a penny goes in

I go far and I go near

To help a poor Jew in despair

Clang, clang, jingle, jingle

The mitzva is done

Clang, clang jingle, jingle

Tzedaka is fun

Clang, clang, jingle, jingle

The mitzva is done

Clang, clang jingle, jingle

Tzedaka is fun

We're not going to have an English "lit" class on paper to discuss the song's timbre and rhythm, or the fact that "fun" is repeated and emphasized the last time, imprinting in one's mind the concept that tzedaka is fun. Nor will we bemoan the fact that most tzedaka boxes are no longer "hunks of tin" lessening the simple joy a child gets from shaking the pushka after putting in the tzedaka.
What we will consider, though, is the concept of a penny being able to help.

An organization called "Common Cents" created the idea of Penny Harvests which to date take place in 150 schools throughout the United States. In May they raised $27,518 and donated it to four organizations providing disaster relief in Haiti.

We all know that $27,518 won't save Haiti or stop world hunger. Nor is it enough to find the cure for even one cancer. And it won't pay the yearly operating costs of a women's shelter.

But $27,518 is a start. In fact, Since its inception in 1991, children between the ages of four and 14 have collected pennies and donated $7.7 million to community organizations through Penny Harvests! So, just as $27,518 is a start, so is a penny or a nickel, a dime or a quarter, in the pushka every day (except Shabbat and Jewish holidays).

Don't either belittle the actual deed of putting the coins in the pushka. For, although the amount in the tzedaka box is definitive, the ramifications and reward are unlimited.

Jewish teachings explain, "These are the precepts, the fruits of which man enjoys in this world, while the principal reward remains in the World to Come... performing deeds of kindness."

Knowing that there is a reward in the World to Come for deeds of kindness such as charity doesn't do it for most of us.

But how about the "fruits" in this world? They are unlimited.

Each time you give even one single penny you are: connecting with G-d; refining your character traits; becoming a kinder, more sensitive person; creating positive energy; and bringing non-material spirituality into our very material world.

Give tzedaka every day. Watch how the pennies grow and how you grow by doing this mitzva.

There were no greater festivals for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur

2010-07-22T22:26:00.002+10:00

There were no greater festivals for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out ... and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? "Young man, raise your eyes and see whom you select for yourself...."

And so it is written, "Go out, daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon,[1] in the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day and on the day of his heart's rejoicing".[2] "His wedding day" - this is the Giving of the Torah; "the day of his heart's rejoicing" - this is the building of the Holy Temple, which shall be rebuilt speedily in our days

Talmud, Taanit 26b

It is no coincidence that Yom Kippur and the 15th of Av served as occasions for matchmaking for the young men and women of Jerusalem: these two days are the respective betrothal and marriage[3] dates of G-d and Israel. Yom Kippur - the day on which the Second Tablets were given to Moses, marking the completion of the covenant at Mount Sinai[4] - is the day of Israel's betrothal to G-d. The 15th of Av - the day that represents the rebirth which follows the great fall of Holy Temple's destruction on the 9th of Av[5] - celebrates the ultimate consummation of our marriage with the final Redemption of Moshiach.

After relating how "the daughters of Jerusalem would go out ... and dance in the vineyards," and that "whoever did not have a wife would go there" to find himself a bride, the Talmud goes on to describe three different categories of "daughters" and how each would call out to her prospective bridegroom:

What would the beautiful ones among them say? "Look for beauty, for a woman is for beauty."

What would those of prestigious lineage say? "Look for family, for a woman is for children."

What would the ugly ones say? "Make your acquisition for the sake of Heaven, as long as you decorate us with jewels."[6]

The marriage of G-d and Israel also includes these three categories of "brides." Amongst the souls of Israel are "beautiful" souls, souls "of prestigious lineage," and "ugly" souls, and each type contributes its unique dimension to our relationship with G-d.

Love
There are two kinds of love, say the Chassidic masters. There is a love that is generated by the person's own mind and heart, when he dwells upon the beloved's greatness and desirability and thereby develops feelings of love and attraction to it. Then there is an inborn love: a love that a person has not created himself - indeed, he may be unaware that he possesses it - but which resides in his heart from birth, a natural bond and attraction that is implanted in his soul by virtue of who and what he is.

"You shall love G-d"[7] is a crucial component of our relationship with the Almighty. Aside from the fact that loving G-d is one of the 613 mitzvot (divine commandment), it is also a prerequisite for the proper observance of all the mitzvot. Mitzvot which are not motivated by a love of G-d are performed mechanically and erratically; only one who loves G-d serves Him in a manner that is both integral and enduring.[8]

Our love for G-d also comes in the two forms described above. By studying what G-d has revealed about Himself in His Torah and contemplating and meditating upon these truths, one develops a feeling of love toward Him - a desire to approach His great and magnificent being, to unite and become one with Him. Indeed, this is one of the primary functions of prayer, "the service of the heart"[9]: to generate a feeling of love for the Creator by meditating on His greatness and majesty.

But also the person who does not succeed in creating a "self-generated" love by these means can attain a love of G-d, by resorting to the inborn love for Him we each possess as "an inheritance from our forefathers."[10] Abraham, the first Jew, was the very embodiment of divine love ("Abraham, who loves Me,"[11] in G-d's words to Isaiah), and G-d rewarded him with the gift of "fatherhood" - the ability to bequeath this love to his descendants. So each and every Jew has Abraham's love of G-d encoded in his spiritual genes. As with all inborn characteristics, this love may be buried in the subconscious, stifled by the dross of material life; but it can always be wakened and called upon to stimulate and vitalize our observance of the mitzvot.

The advantages of the second type of love are obvious. Every Jew possesses it - and the ability to realize it - regardless of the extent of his cognitive and meditative skills or his spiritual sensitivity. Furthermore, a self-generated love will always be limited by the finite capacities of the mind and heart which have created it, and will fluctuate in accordance with the person's mental and emotional state at any given moment; our inborn love, being divinely granted, is infinite and unequivocal.

But there are advantages to self-generated love as well. Though lesser in essence and scope, it is more keenly felt, more exuberantly experienced. For such is our nature: what we create is more precious to us than the most valuable endowment, what we conceive of ourselves is somehow more relevant and real than what is learned from the greatest master. So although the stimulation of our inherited love for G-d would suffice to drive our observance of the mitzvot, we should nevertheless strive to enhance our relationship with Him with the ecstasy and passion that only a love created by our own faculties and initiative can bring. In the words of our sages, "Although a fire came down [on the Altar] from the heavens, it is imperative to also kindle a man-made fire."[12]

The Sallow-Skinned Bride
Therein lies the deeper significance of the Talmud's description of how "the beautiful ones," "those of prestigious lineage" and "the ugly ones" among the daughters of Jerusalem conducted their courtship dance in the vineyards on the 15th of Av.

The dancing maidens of Jerusalem calling out their virtues to their prospective bridegrooms echo the call of the souls of Israel to their Divine Groom. Among these are the beautiful souls, those who have achieved a "best of both worlds" perfection in their love of the Almighty: a passionate, self-generated love set upon the foundation of inherited love. "A woman is for beauty," call these souls to G-d; take us as Your bride, and You will be rewarded by the pleasure You derive when Your creations realize the potential for perfection You have invested in them.

Then there are the souls of "prestigious lineage." We cannot offer you the flawless beauty of our perfect sisters, they call to G-d, but we have unearthed the hereditary love You have implanted in us. "A woman is for children": our relationship might not, as of yet, yield beauty, but it will bear fruit - the mitzvot generated by our natural love for You. For is not Your ultimate purpose in creation that Your creations fulfill your will? Our love for you might not excite our senses and illuminate our lives, but we offer You the rewards of family - the good deeds that are the tangible, enduring offspring of Israel's commitment to her Creator.[13]

And the ugly ones? Those who have neither roused their minds and hearts to desire their Creator, nor wakened their hereditary loyalty to Him? Those who never created a self-generated love and whose inborn love lies dormant beneath a husk of apathy and iniquity? They cry: "Make Your acquisition for the sake of Heaven!"

"Do it for Your sake, if not for ours,"[14] call the "ugly" souls of Israel. Take us as Your own, despite our appearance, because only You know what lies behind our appearance; only You know the truth of what You can inspire in us. For You know that, in truth, "The daughters of Israel are beautiful, it is only that poverty obscures their beauty."[15] You know that our "ugliness" is not our true essence, but imposed upon us by the spiritual poverty of galut.

If we have failed to realize our potential for beauty and fruitfulness, then it is left to You to "decorate us with jewels" - to shower us with the gifts that will waken our quintessential bond to You and bring to light our innate perfection.

Based on a letter by the Rebbe, Tevet 9, 5722 (December 16, 1961)[16]

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber

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[1] In the metaphoric language of Song of Songs, "King Solomon" is a reference to G-d, "the King whom peace (shalom) is His."

[2] Song of Songs 3:11.

[3] According to Torah law, the marital union between husband and wife consists of two stages: kiddushin ("consecration" or "betrothal") and nissu'in ("marriage"). As we have elaborated on another occasion (Yes and No, WIR, vol. X, no. 36), the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai constituted the kiddushin in the marriage of G-d and Israel, while the ultimate consummation of our union awaits the rebuilding of our eternal home in the age of Moshiach.

[4] See the essays The 120-Day Version of the Human Story (WIR, vol. X, no. 1) and Daughters Far and Near (ibid., Issue no. 3).

[5] See The Day of the Breaking of the Ax, (WIR, vol. IX, no. 45).

[6] Talmud, Taanit 31a.

[7] Deuteronomy 6:5.

[8] Tanya, ch. 4.

[9] Talmud, Taanit 2a. One of the meanings of the Hebrew word for prayer, tefillah, is "attachment."

[10] Tanya, ch. 18.

[11] Isaiah 41:8; cf. Sefer HaBahir (quoted in Pardes, portal 22, ch. 4): "The attribute of chessed (divine benevolence and love) said to G-d: 'Master of the Universe! From the day that Abraham is in the world, there is no need for me to do my work, as Abraham fills my role.'"

[12] Talmud, Eruvin 63a.

[13] Cf. Pesikta Zutrati on Genesis 6:9: "The offspring of the righteous are good deeds."

[14] From the selichot prayers.

[15] Talmud, Nedarim 66a.

[16] Likkutei Sichot, vol. IX, pp. 261-263; see also Tanya, chs. 3 and 16-18. The three categories described here correspond to the tzaddik, beinoni and rasha as classified by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in the first eighteen chapters of his Tanya.

Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One

2010-07-22T22:26:00.001+10:00

From there you will seek the L-rd your G-d and will find Him (Deut. 4:29)
It is precisely when you seek the L-rd your G-d "from there" - from the depths of your heart and with a sense of complete nullification before the Creator, that "you shall find" - the sudden revelation of the greatest G-dly light.

(The Baal Shem Tov)

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Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One (Deut. 6:4)

"My children," G-d declares to Israel, "everything I created in the world I created in pairs: heaven and earth; sun and moon; Adam and Eve; this world and the world to come. I alone am without counterpart."

(Devarim Rabba)

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"In the heavens above and on the earth below" (Deut. 4:39).

When contemplating one's heavenly or spiritual condition one should look "above" to those who have attained a higher level; one can never be satisfied. However in "earthly" matters of wealth and so on, one should look "below," to the less fortunate, and be thankful for the blessings one has.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

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I stand between your G-d and you (Deut. 5:5).

Early chasidim used to explain that the "I," the awareness of self, the ego, stands between the person and his efforts to come closer to G-d.

Distractions from serving G-d

2010-07-22T22:24:00.001+10:00

5th of Nissan, 5735 [1975]

I am in receipt of your correspondence, and trust that you received my regards through your brother R. Zalman who was here for the Yud Shevat observance.

I must reiterate again what was said when you were here in regard to bitachon [trust] in G-d that all that He does is for the good. It is not easy to accept the passing of a near and dear one, but since our Torah, which is called Toras Chesed and Toras Chayim [the Torah of Kindness and Life], our guide in life, sets limits to mourning periods, it is clear that when the period ends it is no good to extend it not - good, not only because it disturbs the life that must go on here on earth, but also because it does not please the soul that is in the World of Truth.

A further point which, I believe, I mentioned during our conversation, but apparently from your letter not emphatically enough, is this: It would be contrary to plain common sense to assume that a sickness or accident and the like could affect the soul, for such physical things can affect only the physical body and its union with the soul, but certainly not the soul itself. It is also self-evident that the relationship between people, especially between parents and children, is in essence and content a spiritual one, transcending time and space - of qualities that are not subject to the influence of bodily accident, disease, etc.

It follows that when a close person passes on, by the will of G-d, those left here can no longer see him with their eyes or hear him with their ears; but the soul, in the World of Truth, can see and hear. And when he sees that his relatives are overly disturbed by his physical absence, it is saddened, and conversely, when it sees that after the mourning period prescribed by the Torah a normal and fully productive life is resumed, it can happily rest in peace.

Needless to say, in order that the above be accepted not only intellectually, but actually implemented in the everyday life, it is necessary to be occupied, preferably involved in matters of "personal" interest and gratification. As I also mentioned in our conversation, every Jew has a most gratifying and edifying task of spreading light in the world through promoting Yiddishkeit [Judaism]. Particularly, as in your case, where one can be of so much help and inspiration to children and grandchildren, who look up to you and your husband for encouragement, wisdom, etc.

Here is also the answer to your question, what you can do for the soul of the dear one. Spreading Yiddishkeit around you effectively, displaying simple Yiddish faith in G-d and in His benevolent Providence, doing all the good work that has to be done, with confidence and peace of mind - this is what truly gratifies the soul in Olam haEmes [the World of Truth], in addition to fulfilling your personal and most lofty mission in life as a daughter of our Mothers Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, and thereby also serving as an inspiring example for others to emulate.

It is possible to enlarge upon the above, but knowing your family background and tradition, I trust the above will suffice. I might add, however, that one must beware of the yetzer-hara [evil inclination] who is very crafty and knows that certain people cannot be approached openly and without disguise. So he tries to trick them by disguising himself in a mantle of piety and emotionalism, etc., saying: You know, G-d has prescribed a period of mourning, which shows that it is the right thing to do; so why not do more than that and extend the period? In this way he may have a chance to succeed in distracting the person from the fact that at the end of the said period, the Torah requires the Jew to serve G-d with joy.

The yetzer-hara will even encourage a person to give tzedokah [charity] in memory of the soul, learn Torah and do mitzvos [commandments] in memory of the soul, except that in each case it be associated with sadness and pain. But, as indicated, this is exactly contrary to the objective, which is to cause pleasure and gratification to the soul.

May G-d grant that, inasmuch as we are approaching the Festival of Our Freedom, including also freedom from everything that distracts a Jew from serving G-d wholeheartedly and with joy, that this should be so also with you, in the midst of all our people, and that you should be a source of inspiration and strength to your husband, children and grandchildren, and all around you...

How could G-d have first begun to show His greatness only in Moses' time?

2010-07-22T22:22:00.002+10:00

In this week's Torah portion, Va'etchanan, Moses addresses G-d: "O L-rd G-d," Moses opens his prayer, "You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand..." With these words, Moses establishes that it wasn't until his generation that G-d began to reveal His greatness in the world.

The Zohar asks how this can be possible. Many years before, it points out, there was a great tzadik (righteous person) named Jacob, who was one of the three Jewish Patriarchs. In fact, Jacob is called "the chosen" of the Forefathers, and he merited to see many G-dly miracles. So how could G-d have first begun to show His greatness only in Moses' time?

The Zohar answers its own question: "That which Moses had, was had by no other human being: many thousands and tens of thousands of Jews, etc."

In Jacob's time the Jewish people was very small in number, far fewer than the several million who existed in Moses' generation. From the "seventy souls" that went down to Egypt at the beginning of the exile, by the time of the Exodus they had already multiplied to 600,000 men between the ages of 20 and 60, not counting women and children and men in other age groups, .

It was not until Moses' generation, when the Jewish people had become "great" also in number, and stood together in unity and oneness, that the true "greatness" of G-d was manifested.

This contains a practical lesson for the Divine service of every Jew: Every individual, regardless of age, must do everything he can to strengthen Jewish unity and make the Jewish people more cohesive. Every person must strive to increase his love for his fellow Jew, and connect himself to as many Jews as possible.

This is one of the reasons we preface our daily prayers with the words "I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment of 'You shall love your fellow as yourself.'" Before we ask G-d to fulfill a personal request, we identify and connect ourselves to the totality of the Jewish people.

Indeed, it is then that the "greatness" of the Jew is expressed. A single Jew is not alone, nor is a single Jewish family or Jewish community. Every Jew is connected to every other Jew, and to all Jews throughout the generations.

As the Zohar explains, the process of showing G-d's "greatness," initiated by G-d in the generation of Moses, will reach its culmination with the coming of Moshiach, who will redeem not only the Jewish people but also the entire world. At that time we will experience wonders and miracles far greater than those witnessed during the Exodus, and indeed, incomparable to anything experienced in history.

Adapted from a talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on 7 Menachem Av 5740/1980

Saying Goodbye

2010-07-22T22:22:00.001+10:00

We've all seen or been part of a scenario repeated dozens of times. At a family gathering, a synagogue event, a Jewish lecture, a simcha, someone says, "I'm leaving," and moves to get his coat. Twenty minutes later he's still there. Either in to an all-new conversation, still hugging the Bubbies and Zeidies, or noticing an old friend/relative he didn't have a chance to chat with yet. This phenomenon transcends gender, age, and country of origin. But it does seem to be particularly prevalent among Jews.
It's called a Jewish good-bye and it seems to go on forever. Because Jews never really say "good-bye." We say "shalom - peace to you." Or we say in Hebrew "Go in peace." One whose background is more Yiddish might say, "fort gezunterheit - travel in health." But we never say "good-bye."

In fact, even were you to scour the modern Hebrew language, you wouldn't find a word for "good-bye." All you'd come up with is "l'hitraot," which means "see ya later." (Some Israelis do say, "bye- bye." But pronounced with that decidedly Hebrew accent you know that it's been borrowed from English.)

At a Jewish gathering, private or public, we take a long time to go because, after all, who wants to leave the warm embrace of family - and all Jews truly are one family. All Jews share in each others simchas and each others sorrows.

Is there any basis, though, in Jewish tradition, for this seeming inability to just say "good-bye"?

The Talmud enjoins us, "Whatever your host tells you, do, except leave." One of the commentaries explains that a guest must immediately comply with everything the host tells him to do except when the host tells him it is time to leave. The guest should show the host his reluctance to take leave of his company!

In addition, Jewish teachings encourage us that when we part from a friend, we should share a d'var halacha, meaning a "word of Jewish law." But d'var halacha can also be interpreted as a "word for the way."

So, it's not hard to understand why Jews don't say good-bye. Firstly, we don't really want to leave. Secondly, even when we do realize that we absolutely must leave, we should show our reluctance to leave. And lastly, when we already have our coat on, we should share a thought for the journey (however short) with our friend.

Ultimately, though, one might speculate that not saying "good-bye" has a more eternal and confident message. For, deep within every Jew is the fundamental belief in better times, the best times, the times of Moshiach. In that era - the Era of the Redemption - we will see the fulfillment of one of the principles of Jewish belief, the revival of the dead. And at that time, we will all be reunited with our loved ones. And when we rejoice in being together again with them, we will fully understand why we never really said, "good-bye."

Washing your hands before the meals?

2010-07-22T22:21:00.000+10:00

Question of the Week:

What is the meaning behind the ritual washing of hands before meals? Was this some ancient Jewish version of hygiene?

Answer:

One of the laws of the hand washing ritual is that the hands must already be completely clean before you wash them. You first clean the hands of any dirt, and only then do you pour water from a cup over each hand three times.
This is ridiculous: the prerequisite to washing hands is that they be clean?! The ritual washing of hands has no visible effect. It seemingly does nothing. So why do we do it?
The hand washing before meals has nothing to do with hygiene. It is not about cleanliness. It is about holiness.
Cleanliness is a physical state. By removing dirt you become clean. But holiness is an entirely spiritual concept. Holiness means a sense of something beyond, something higher, something with a higher purpose. You can be completely clean, but that doesn't mean you're holy.
You can have two business people who work side by side. They are both honest and good people. They are both clean. There is no visible difference between them. And yet one uses his wealth to help the poor and needy, while the other accumulates wealth purely for himself and his family. He is clean. He is not a bad man. But he is not holy.
You can have two plates of food. Both are made of healthy ingredients and prepared to the highest standards of hygiene. There is no visible difference between them. And yet one plate is kosher food, the other not. Kosher food is not healthier or cleaner. It is holy. It is prepared according to divine standards with a higher purpose in mind.
You can have two pairs of hands. Both have been cleaned and are spotless. And yet one hand has been ritually washed, the other not. There is no detectable difference between them. But these hands are holy, those are not.
Holiness means connecting to something higher. It means living with an awareness that not all dirt is visible, and we don't always see the effect of our actions. So before engaging in physical activity, before consuming the fruit of our handiwork, we wash our hands. They may be clean already, but we must ensure that they are pure and holy too.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Words of Rebuke

2010-07-15T21:25:00.000+10:00

“These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the [eastern] bank of the Jordan, in the desert, on the plain, opposite Suf, between Paran, Tofel, Lavan, Chatzeirot and Di Zahav.”

Thus opens the book of Deuteronomy, which relates Moses’ final message to the people of Israel, delivered in the thirty-seven days that preceded his passing. Here Moses recounts the events of the past forty years and restates Israel’s covenant with G-d at Mount Sinai, where G-d chose them as His people and they committed themselves to His Torah.

Moses’ address also includes words of rebuke to Israel, in which he reminds them of the occasions when their behavior was wanting. Indeed, our sages explain that all the “landmarks” referred to in the opening verse (“the desert,” “the plain,” “Suf,” “Paran,” etc.) are actually allusions to various sins committed by Israel during their forty-year journey from Egypt to the Holy Land.
Said one of the chassidic masters: “This is why the Torah emphasizes that ‘These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel.’ It was only to the people of Israel that Moses spoke of their iniquities and failings. To G-d, Moses spoke only of the virtues of Israel, and justified them no matter what they did.”

Personal Politics
Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Judah HaNassi would say... Be careful of the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress.

Ethics of the Fathers 2:3
Good advice for anyone lobbying for a cause among the wielders and brokers of power, and as pertinent today as when offered eighteen centuries ago. But Rabban Gamliel is not only speaking to community leaders and political activists, but to each and every one of us, including those fortunate enough never to have had any dealings with the government. What is his message to those of us whose involvement in politics is confined to the governance of the “miniature city”[11] that is man?
Indeed, the individual human being is a virtual “city” of thoughts, feelings and deeds, each with its own momentum and trajectory, converging, interacting and clashing with one another. What gives it all coherence and unity is the government of the city—the intellect and instincts which are the authorities in a person’s life.[12] As is the case with all governments, this internal authority is crucial, indeed indispensable: without it the city of man would be reduced to a chaotic mob. But as is also the case with all governments, it is profoundly selfish, its every act motivated solely by self-interest and geared solely toward self-perpetuation.
One must avail oneself of this government. But one must also deeply mistrust it, being aware of its self-bias. One must repeatedly challenge oneself: am I doing this because it is the right thing to do, or because it serves my selfish interests?
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Iyar 1, 5739 (April 28, 1979)[13]

[11]. Ecclesiastes 9:14, as per Talmud, Nedarim 32b; Tanya, ch. 9.
[12]. Cf. Zohar, part II, 153a: “There are three governors [within man]: the mind, the heart and the liver.”
[13]. Biurim L’Pirkei Avot (Kehot, 1996), p. 95.

Resurrection of the dead

2010-07-15T21:24:00.002+10:00

Behold, I have set the land before you...to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them (Deut. 1:8)

This verse does not say that the land will be given "to you," but "to them" - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - an allusion to the resurrection of the dead.

(Sanhedrin)
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How can I by myself alone bear your trouble, and your burden, and your strife? (Deut. 1:12)

Rashi comments: "And your burden" - this teaches that the Children of Israel were skeptics and heretics. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov used to say: The heaviest burden a man can endure is that of skepticism. The heart of the true believer is much lighter than that of the heretic, who is always weighed down by the yoke of his doubts.
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You shall not show favor (lit. "recognize") in judgment (Deut. 1:17)

This admonition cautions a judge to be fair and impartial, even if he is personally acquainted with one of the parties brought before him for judgment; he must not allow himself to be swayed by his prior association. Rather, both sides in the dispute must be treated as if he had never seen them before.

(Ibn Ezra)
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For unto Esau have I given Mount Seir as a possession (Deut. 2:5)

Although the Children of Israel fulfilled an express command of G-d when they took over the land Canaan, G-d warned them that their desire to conquer territory should not extend beyond those lands He had explicitly promised to them.

(Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch)
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May the L-rd G-d of your fathers make you a thousand times as many as you are (Deut. 1:11)

When will this blessing be fulfilled? In the World to Come, when, as the Prophet Isaiah states, "The least one shall become a thousand, and the smallest a great nation." The Jewish people, the "least" and "smallest," will multiply one thousand times in number, in fulfillment of Moses' blessing.

(Binyan Ariel)

Bring Jews closer to the Torah and Mitzvos

2010-07-15T21:24:00.001+10:00

26 of Tammuz, 5743 [1983]
Greeting and Blessing:

I received your correspondence.

In general, I have already expressed my opinion on the matters about which you wrote, and will again remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good.

Now that we are in the period of the Three Weeks, commemorating the sad events which led to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh [Holy Temple] and the dispersement of our people, we are reminded that every one of us has to do all in our power to minimize and eventually eliminate the cause that brought about the Destruction and Exile. The only cause of it is clearly spelled out in our Mussaf [additional prayer on holidays] Prayer: "Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land."

If alienation from the Jewish way of life, the way of the Torah and Mitzvos [commandments] has been the cause of the Golus [exile], every one of us must work all the harder to bring Jews closer to the Torah and Mitzvos. Thus, every effort in this direction brings all the nearer the appearance of Moshiach Tzidkeinu [our righteous Redeemer], who will usher in the true and complete Geulah [Redemption]. May it come speedily in our days.

With blessing,

Why do you dip the challah in salt?

2010-07-15T21:23:00.001+10:00

Question of the Week:

Quick question: why do you dip the challah in salt?

Quick Answer:

In the Temple in Jerusalem, every sacrifice was accompanied by salt. The salt symbolised our indestructible connection to G-d. Just as salt never goes bad, so too G-d's love for us never spoils. Even if we have done wrong and need to bring an offering to seek forgiveness, we are still as lovable as ever, for there is a part of the soul that always remains pure.

Without the Temple, our dinner table becomes the altar, and our meals the sacrifices. And so we dip our bread in salt. We are reminded that no matter what wrong we may have done, no matter how bad the mistakes we may have made, there is still hope for us. Even if we don't forgive ourselves G-d forgives us. Because like salt, G-d's love is undying.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

Preparation for Moshiach's imminent arrival

2010-07-15T21:22:00.002+10:00

This week's Torah reading, Devarim, is the first portion in the fifth and last book of the Torah, Devarim (Deuteronomy). The entire book was related to the Jewish people in their 40th year in the desert. By that time, the majority of the Jews who had left Egypt were no longer alive; only those who would enter the land of Israel remained. The messages in this book were intended as a preparation to help them make this transition.
Devarim begins by noting the location of the Jews' final encampment before entering Israel. "These are the words that Moses spoke...on this side of the Jordan." At the end of Bamidbar (Numbers), however, this same place is referred to as "the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho."

"The plains of Moab" and "this side of the Jordan" are both names that describe the same physical location. And yet, each name has a different connotation:

"The plains of Moab" identifies the location by its connection to the land of Moab. "This side of the Jordan," by contrast, associates it with the land of Israel, identifying it as lying on the eastern shore of the Jordan river, with the rest of the land of Israel lying toward the west.

What are we to learn from the Torah's usage of two names for the same place? The answer is in the name of each of the two books, Bamidbar (literally "in the desert") and Devarim (meaning "the words"). Bamidbar relates the various encounters and experiences of the Jewish people during their 40 years in the desert, while Devarim, relates Moses' exhortations to the generation that was about to enter Israel, as preparation for the new lives they would be leading there.

At the end of the book of Bamidbar, the site of the Jews' encampment is referred to as "the plains of Moab," as it expressed their connection to a land whose status was non-Jewish territory.

In Devarim, however, it is referred to as "this side of the Jordan," for at that time, the Jewish people were focused on their imminent entry into the land of Israel.

We find ourselves now in the last minutes of exile, poised on the brink of the Final Redemption. Our present era is analogous to the one we read about this week.

"The plains of Moab" is symbolic of the exile and its completion; "this side of the Jordan" is symbolic of our preparation for Moshiach's imminent arrival. Indeed, "this side of the Jordan" is a most appropriate name with which to characterize our present transitional period, for it corresponds to the Jews' heightened state of anticipation in the 40th year of their going out of Egypt.

Moshiach's coming is imminent. We must prepare to greet him. May it happen now.

Adapted for Maayan Chai from Likutei Sichot, Volume 2

All We Need is Love

2010-07-15T21:22:00.001+10:00

Before Tisha B'av (this year from Monday evening, July 19 through Tuesday night, July 20), when we commemorate the destruction of both the first and second Holy Temples, it is the perfect time to talk about love.
We are told that the reason for the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was because of "sinat chinam," literally "free hatred" of one Jew toward another. The antidote to this unwarranted hatred, explain our Sages, is "ahavat chinam-free love."[1]

Ahavat chinam is so important that even if it doesn't come "freely," even if one has to work at it, we are required to extend ourselves and toil away until we are successful.

Rabbi Gamliel (the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince) taught, "It is good to combine the study of Torah with an occupation, for the effort required by them both keeps sin out of mind; while all Torah study that is not combined with work will ultimately cease and will lead to sin."

The obvious meaning of the term "work" is actual labor. However, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev quoted the Baal Shem Tov as explaining that in this context, "work" refers to ahavat Yisrael ("love of a fellow Jew") - our efforts to establish bonds of love with other Jews. According to this interpretation, in order for Torah study to be perpetuated, it must be coupled with love toward our brethren.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, who was known as the consummate "lover of Israel," explained that it was this teaching that brought about a fundamental change in his life, motivating him to dedicate himself to the welfare of his fellow Jews.

Ahavat Yisrael is referred to here as "work" to teach us that we must work at extending ourselves in this area to include even those whom we have no inclination to love. And we must use every means possible to reach out to them.

It's easy to act lovingly toward our fellow Jew. It can be as simple as (but certainly not limited to) greeting a person properly. Said the Sage Shammai, "Receive every person with a cheerful countenance." "Every person" means just that, everyone, even someone we might not otherwise want to greet pleasantly!

Stated slightly differently, Rabbi Yishmael, a high priest, taught, "Receive every person cheerfully." Despite his high office and standing, he was prepared to show respect and warmth to "every person."

Finally, Rabbi Matya (son of Charash) said, "Be the first to extend greetings to anyone you meet." Again, the common thread of being pleasant to "anyone" or "everyone" runs through Rabbi Matya's teaching.

But it's not enough for us to just "study" about loving our fellow Jew. Let's stop talking and start rebuilding the Holy Temple now, by reaching out to someone else with true love and respect uppermost in our minds.

Notes:

(Back to text) When speaking of the love that each Jew is expected to have toward every other Jew, the term "free" love. is more accurate than "unwarranted" love, for every Jew deserves to be loved by his fellow due to the mere fact that he/she is a Jew, part of the Jewish nation, inse-parable from G-d and the Jewish people.

The First Feminist Revolution

2010-07-08T19:15:00.001+10:00

By Yanki Tauber

Not much is known about the lives of Machlah, Noah, Chaglah, Milkah and Tirtzah, the five sisters we encounter in last week’s Torah portion. But at a defining moment in the history of Israel, these five sisters, daughters of Tzelafchad the son of Chefer, profoundly influenced the Jew's approach to the world in which he lives.

Here is the story in brief:

Tzelafchad was of the generation born in Egyptian slavery, liberated by the Exodus, and granted the Land of Canaan as Israel's heritage. Although that generation did not take possession of the land themselves, when their children crossed the Jordan River to conquer it they did so as their fathers' heirs. Each family received its share in the land in accordance with its apportionment among the 600,000 members of the generation of the Exodus.

Tzelafchad had five daughters but no sons. The laws of inheritance as they were initially given in the Torah, which recognized only male heirs, made no provision for his share to be claimed by his descendants. Machlah, Noah, Chaglah, Milkah and Tirtzah refused to reconcile themselves to this, and approached Moses with the petition: "Why should our father's name be eliminated from his family, because he has no son? Grant us an estate amongst [the heirs of] our father's brothers (1)."

Moses presented their argument to G-d, who responded: "The daughters of Tzelafchad speak rightly. Give ... their father's estate to them (2)." G-d then instructed Moses to include the following clause in the Torah's laws of inheritance: If a man dies and he has no son, you shall pass his estate on to his daughter (3).

This story seems profoundly enigmatic. If G-d ultimately agrees that daughters ought to have inheritance rights just as sons, why did the Torah not submit so originally? And furthermore, if sisters share equal rights with their brothers, why do they receive their father’s estate only of there are no sons? The feminist spirit should be taken all the way!

Two Generations

The Exodus and the conquest of the Land -- the two events which framed the 40 years in which we were forged as a people -- represent the two primary endeavors of life. "Going out of Egypt" represents the liberation of the soul from all that confines and inhibits its true self and will (4); "conquering and settling the Land of Canaan" represents the conquest of the material world and its development as a "home for G-d" -- as an environment receptive to and expressive of the goodness and perfection of its Creator. The first represents the ability of a soul to liberate itself from the shackles of materialism and selfishness; the latter represents the objective to return to the physical and sanctify it.

The generation of the Exodus succeeded in the first endeavor but failed in the second. They extricated themselves to a certain degree from the pagan culture and slave mentality in which they were immersed, refining their souls to the point of worthiness to receive the Truth of Truths directly from G-d at Sinai. But they spurned the task of "conquering and settling the land," loath to abandon their spiritual hermitage in the desert in order to grapple with the materiality of the world and labor to transform "The Land of Canaan" into "The Holy Land." So it was decreed that they would live out their lives in the desert, leaving it to their children to settle the land in their stead.

On the individual level, each of us faces these two tasks throughout our lives: the endeavor to liberate and actualize our soul's spiritual potential, and the challenge to make our material life and environment a holy and G-dly place. The first is the journey from the physical to the spiritual; the second is the journey back from the spiritual to the physical.

A Different Conquest

But people are different from one another. In the words of the Talmud, "Just as their faces are different, so are their characters different (6)." There are bold characters and meek characters, aggressive natures and passive dispositions. There are those of us who revel in a challenge, and those who are all but devoid of the warrior instinct and the zeal for confrontation.

Therein lies the deeper significance of the laws of inheritance as commanded by G-d in response to the petition by the daughters of Tzelafchad. "If a man ... has no son" - if a person ascertains in his or her self a lack of "male" aggressiveness and combativeness -- he might deduce from this that he has no role to play in the "conquest of the land." Such a person might be inclined to devote all his energies to the refinement of his inner self, and leave the task of sanctifying an unholy world to those with "sons," to the aggressive combative type.

Says the Torah: conquering and settling the land is not an exclusively male endeavor. Each of Israel's souls has a "portion in the land" - a corner of the material world it is empowered to possess, civilize and sanctify. Indeed, this is a task which often calls for aggressiveness and confrontation; but there is also a "feminine" way to transform the materiality of our lives into a "Holy Land."

"If a man ... has no son, you shall pass his estate on to his daughter." The very fact that a person is by nature disinclined toward the aggressiveness of the "male warrior" indicates that he has been granted the capacity to transform his surroundings via his "daughter" - by employing the compassionate, sensitive and non-confrontational side of his soul.

This is the law of life revealed by the daughters of Tzelafchad: Not all conquests are achieved by overpowering one's adversary. At times, receptiveness and empathy are far more effective in overcoming the hostility of the "enemy" and transforming its very nature. The absence of a "male heir" in the soul may in fact indicate the presence of a "feminine" self no less capable of claiming the soul's portion in the world and transforming it into a "home for G-d."

(This essay is based on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's talks on Tammuz 13, 5715 (July 3, 1955) and on other occasions.)

~~~~~~~

Footnotes:

1) Numbers 27:4.

2) Ibid. v. 7.

3) Ibid. v. 8.

4) Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for "Egypt," means "confines" and "limitations" (see Freedom, WIR, vol. IX, no. 17).

5) Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 10. Talmud Sanhedrin 37a.

Who takes a stance against the Jews ...

2010-07-08T19:14:00.000+10:00

For I, the L-rd, dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel (Num. 35:43)
Our Rabbis elucidated: When the Jews were exiled to Edom (Rome, the West), the Shechina (G-d's presence) went with them. This also occurs on the personal level within the soul of every Jew. When a person commits a sin and causes his soul to go into its individual, private exile, G-d still accompanies him. The G-dly spark present in every Jewish soul is also dragged down with the sin.
(Tanya)
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To execute the vengeance of G-d on Midian (Num. 31:3)
Rashi explains that one who takes a stance against the Jews is actually standing against G-d. Midian tried to fight the Jews by causing them to sin, enticing them with their beautiful daughters and their idols. The sins of illicit relations and idolatry were against the will of G-d; therefore, when war was waged against Midian, G-d was taking His revenge on them. We also see the great love G-d had for the Children of Israel, for even when they sinned and died in the subsequent plague, G-d took His revenge because Midian had wronged them.

(Likutei Sichot)
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Arm some men from among you for war (Num. 31:3)
G-d instructed Moses to avenge the Jews against Midian. Why, then, did Moses send other to fight the battle? Moses had lived in the land of Midian and felt it was not right for him to personally harm those who had treated him well. This is in keeping with the saying, "don't throw stones into the well from which you drank."

(Bamidbar Rabba)

Episodes of weakness bring forth agression and terror

2010-07-08T19:11:00.000+10:00

Continuation of freely translated letter from 1969 of the Rebbe to (then) President of Israel Zalman Shazar

Regarding the concept of a state: If we are speaking about Eilat and the surrounding areas (which are outside of the acquisition of Joshua and Ezra) - were these areas to be made independent of Jerusalem and the rest of the Land of Israel - then these territories should be called "the State of Israel."

Regarding Jerusalem, etc.: The name has already been established by the Creator and Ruler of the world: Up until Yehoshua's conquest it was called the Land of Canaan, and afterwards, the Land of Israel. This precludes any further possibility of a referendum on the subject.

It is obvious that I have no opposition to the term "state" per se, even in reference to most of this area. On the contrary, according to the Torah, the Land of Israel includes a Temple and a state (using the terminology of the Sages in their teach-ings), like the one which includes Yehudah and the Galilee etc. But in my letter I was referring to the dispute over the two names (and the accompanying world view): the Land of Israel vs. the State of Israel - and the fact that the latter has prevailed (I add) for the time being (for my hope and belief is that ultimately the Glory of Yisroel in every single individual Jew shall prevail - and then they will proclaim before all the nations that a fundamental mistake has been made, and that the correct idea and name is The Land of Israel).

I did not write this letter directed at you - because why should I cause you distress for no reason (for you see nothing which you can do about it...)?

I wrote about this - not to some journalist - but to the woman who organized groups for Torah study (in places where, within the framework of nature, there was no chance of success) and who ran the campaign (and I hope she continues) against the scourge of abortions etc. Those who opposed her efforts suspected that I was one of the motivations for her activities. So it dawned upon them that by explaining to her that I oppose the State of Israel (and the proof is that I always say "the Land of Israel"), they could convince her that she shouldn't make efforts in spreading Torah, etc. I was concerned that this might weaken her resolve, so I wrote to her concerning these matters.

You wrote: "I swore loyalty to the State of Israel," - of course, I am aware of this. I am surprised that you did not notice that a long time before you took that oath, I requested that you not refuse this appointment. This was more that just a request - for certainly you know that I was aware even then of the swearing-in ceremony. But I was certain that when you took the oath and swore "loyalty to the State of Israel," you clearly had in mind the Land of Israel, and more than this - you intended the Holy Land. And even more - I was sure that you meant "the Land where G-d's eyes are affixed from the beginning of the year until the end of the year."

The talk of a Chabadnik must be open-hearted; so you are allowed - and obligated - to say what is in your heart. Moreover, I value this as one of the essential ingredients of our friendship. Yet it pains me that in your heart you suspected me of something of which I am not guilty. On the contrary, I emphatically say that the Nation which dwells in Zion, dwells in The Land of Israel, being a special land which has no comparison. It has absolutely nothing to do with the State which lies between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. And I demand (not "a bit excitedly" as you write in your letter - but in a greatly agitated way) that the Ambassador to Washington and to the UN make this known - pounding their fists on the tables! The non-Jews in Washington also believe in this, but the Israeli Diplomats maintain that they were instructed not to speak in this fashion, and certainly not to bang their fists on tables, since they represent a country which received permission from the other countries to exist and be considered a state. Therefore they feel that they must behave with proper protocol. And recently, when Israel's Ambassador's patience expired in the UN, and he publicly expressed a fraction of his "adoration" for them, the strongest words of rebuke were directed at him from Jerusalem for the next 24 hours - "Could it be that you actually spoke this way ..." and they forced him to retract his comments in public. Logically, these and similar episodes (of weakness) bring forth agression and terror - until there are deaths, may G-d avenge their blood....

Translated by Mordechai. E. Sones and Yankel Koncepolski for www.TruePeace.org