GUARANTORS

  Our business in life is not to get ahead of others but to  get ahead of ourselves - to break our own records and to out strip our yesterdays by our todays. To take this philosophy one step further, we need to obey the voice within- it commands us to give of ourselves and to help others. As long as we have the capacity to give, we are alive. 

   These are my thoughts as we approach the greatest spiritual experience of Jewish History, the Revelation of G-D at Har Sinai, as He gave the Aseres Hadibros to the  Jewish People. 

  At this great moment Hashem tells Moshe " לך אל העם וקדשתם היום ומחר "Go to the People and sanctify them today and tomorrow". This directive is so meaningful for all eternity. It is relatively easy to sanctify oneself on the day of the great miraculous events of Matan Torah. However, we are challenged to sanctify ourselves on the many tomorrows that follow, the days and years after that great and magnificent spiritual expierence. To live  a true and exciting Judaic way of life we must feel that everyday is a new Matan Torah. Judaism beckons us to be מקדש החול, to sanctify the mundane and to live a life of Kedusha infusing our daily life with a greater calling, encouraging us always to climb higher and higher spiritually. 

  It is in this light that many have the Minhag of the Maharam M'Rottenberg, to stand during the reading of the Torah.  By doing so we are reinacting that great moment at Har Sinai, as בני ישראל stood and responded נעשה ונשמע, "We will act and we we will do".  We have that self same immense feeling of loyalty to our Torah and to the exhilarating feeling of Yiddishkeit. 

 These are times that demand of us and especially our children, acknowledgment of G-D's gift to Am Yisrael, a gift that will serve our people for eternity.

  The Rav relates how Hashem asked our forefathers at Sinai for sureties before giving the Jewish People the Torah. Hashem wanted to gurantee that the Torah would be observed and that it would become the cornerstone of the Jewish national existence.

   בני ישראל responded to G-D’s request . They offered the Patriachs as their guarantors and Hashem rejected the offer.

  Then they offered the Prophets and again Hashem rejected the offer.

   Finally the people said: “Our children will be our guarantors and only then did G-D accept their offer.

 This is our מתן תורה - this is our נעשה ונשמע.  Hashem looks towards our sureties and then and only then is our future guaranteed .

   As we read the עשרת הדברות this Shabbat, I ask you to remember, "The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it possible”. 

                                         שבת שלום.  Have an inspirational Shabbat.

 

IDENTITY AND IDENTIFICATION

  It is said, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning."

 A man goes into a restaurant and a waitress comes to take his order. He says, "I will have orange juice, scrambled eggs, toast, coffee, a danish and, oh yes, a good word." After a while, the waitress brings his order: Orange juice, scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and a danish.

  The man looks puzzled and she asks, "Did I forget something?"

  "Yes", he answers, "you forgot the good word."

"O.K.", she replies, "here's the good word, 

  don't eat the scrambled eggs."

   Let's talk words - words that will inspire and give us a direction in life. 

   The Torah Readiing, this morning, speaks of the historical event of קריעת ים סוף.  The Parsha  relates how the Jewish People escaped the onslaught of the Egyptian army by, miraculously, crossing over the Red Sea, reaching dry shore. At that moment they sang 'The Shirah' praising and giving thanks to Hashem.

   With this in mind, permit me to share with you two words that are often used, interchangeably, but are, actually, very different. 

  The two words are ״Identity״ and ״Identification״. Identity is a passive expression while Identification is active. One denotes conventionalism while the other connotes an act of commitment. 

    When one admits his Jewish lineage it confirms his Jewish identity. Identity even presupposes a feeling of national pride. 

  Identification is different, for it expands this identity syndrome. Identification is a desire to support those institutions which have insured Jewish survival. Jewish identity will fight to defend Jewish rights while Jewish identification will promote Jewish righteousness. 

   With this understanding, we can comprehend why the Jewish people waited till they crossed the Red Sea  to sing a Shirah to Hashem rather than doing so right after  they were redeemed from Egyptian slavery.

   Upon departing Egypt , the Jewish People had merely attained a Jewish Identity status as they did little to effectuate their deliverance. They were mere spectators as they watched Hashem vent His anger on the Egyptians and bring about their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. 

   However, on the shores of the Red Sea, with the Egyptians in hot pursuit, they had no alternative but to go forward or surrender to the enemy. It was at that moment that Nachshon showed  them the way, and jumped into the Sea, acting with Betachon and courage, bringing about the splitting of the Sea. At that moment they were no longer mere spectators they became proactive in bringing about their survival, culminating in their Geulah  Shlemah. Then and only then were they entitled  to sing that magnificent Shirah to Hashem. 

At that glorious moment in Jewish history this exhibited the true Jewish Identification, when the name Jew was more than a nominal designation.  

  At the Red Sea there was a metamorphosis from Identity to Identification. At that moment ישראל became an  עם, a great nation. 

   Thinking of this idea, I can appreciate the celebration of טו בשבט, this week.  For me, Arbor Day represents growth and renewal , not only for the trees , but more so for the Jewish People , as they take on their true Jewish identification and become active in their spiritual growth and not merely spectators in Jewish history. 

   Let us sing a song of praise to Hashem and as we do remember  Nachshon  as he jumped into the sea showing the world that we are active in our Jewish survival and that with our אמונת הי and our active commitment to our Judaic way of life we will be the catalyst to bring about our  

גאולה שלמה במהרה בימינו.  

                                    שבת שלום

  

       

   

ETERNAL LIGHT

   As I pen this blog I am reminded of a quote by the philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre,"I cannot judge the Jewish nation according to the regular laws of history. The Jewish nation is something above time".

   This is truly a remarkable and and an excellent assessment of the Jewish People. We are indeed a symbol of eternity. We are a nation that abides by the word of G-D, through our Torah and the words of our Prophets. This gives us our eternity. It is for these reasons the the Jew will be everlasting.  

    The prophet Yirmeyahu tells us that when the sun will stop shining and the moon will stop appearing, the Jewish nation will cease to exist. This simply means the world cannot exist without the Jewish People. 

  The first Mitzvah given to the Jewish People at the exodus from Egypt was: החדש הזה לכם, "This month shall be for you the beginning of the months". 

   The Jews were called on to remember the Exodus forever by calculating their calendar from the month of their deliverance. When we give precedence to our Jewish calendar which is based upon the renewal of the moon, we are essentially reflecting upon the Jews capability to constantly effectuate our ability to maintain an eternally youthful enthusiasm for a life of ethical and spiritual purity. The Jewish People recall, daily, their gratitude to Hashem's mercy at that historic time, by linking the cycles of its communal life on the same calendar. 

 Through this Mitzvah of החדש הזה we learn how to count time and how to use time rather than waste precious hours of our life. Even more so, this Mitzvah comes to teach us how to sanctify time. A major crisis in our time is that we do not know how to use our time constructively. We need to invest the mundane with sanctity.

    Just as the moon has no light of its own but is a reflection of the sun, so are the Jewish People a reflection of a higher light. 

    We can only shine resplendent and enjoy happiness if we reflect to a higher and inspiring light, a G-Dly light that will illuminate our way in this world. 

   May we continue to bask in the light of Hashem and may we be Zocheh  to see the ביאת גואל צדק. 

                                        שבת שלום 

     

BETACHON

    Britain's Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, wrote, "The challenge to a new generation of Jewish leaders is to think differently about the Jewish future, to stop thinking of ourselves as victims, stop thinking of ourselves as the people that dwell alone and start thinking about Judaism as a way of life, as a faith and as an approach to the world. A definition of Judaism; Judaism is the voice of hope in the condescension of humankind". 

     As I think of this, understanding what Judaism stands for, I am reminded of the opening sentence in this week's Sedrah, Vaeira,

    The Torah states ......  וארא אל אברהם אל יצחק

  "He appeared to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov as Kel Shakai".  The Baal Haturim , explains that the word וארא, is the Gematriah of יצחק, suggesting that יצחק was the catalyst that brought about the redemption from Egypt. 

 I sense that Yitzchak will be the spiritual force that will, in the future, bring about our Geulah, just like he inspired the Jewish People to be redeemed at גאולת מצרים.  One may ask, "Why will Yitzchak more than any of the other Avot, have such a great influence upon the Jewish people?"

 My answer centers around the entire personality and the Hashkafa that enveloped Yitzchak.

   When we look at the entire episode of the Akedah, we begin to realize that for Yitzchak to be willing to undergo such a drastic act of Mesiras Hanefesh, he had to be a unique person. First and foremost he had a tremendous allegiance to his father Avraham - a loyalty and a trust in his way of life and in his total dependence on Hashem, which became his modus operandi. Even more so, Yitzchak had a strong belief in the future. This was evident when he 

re-opened the wells that his father had dug that had been closed. These wells symbolized the future of עם ישראל.  A future that Yitzchak wanted to preserve. These were the wells of Torah that were to sustain and assure the dynamic future that Yitzchak almost gave his life for. These wells of Yahadus were a commitment to his father's  everlasting memory and to assure our future.

     The Rav said that the Patriachs had only been given a promise, and a long road still lay ahead of them before their descendants would eventually conquer the Land of Israel. The mystifying pattern of Jewish history demands our loyalty even as it defies our comprehension.There often seems to be a chasm between the promise and the fulfillment, but the Jew waits patiently, with an unshakeable faith, a faith that is a part of Yitzchak in everyone of us, knowing that the Geulah will inevitably be realized.   

    This is our faith, this is our strong Betachon,

 אף על פי שיתמהמה עם כל זה אחכה לו בכל יום שיבא.

                                     שבת שלום