PASSOVER 5778

   The glaring news report "Anti-Semitic Crimes Spike", brings shivers to my being. This sharp rise is due to a significant increase in incidents in schools and on college campuses. These expressions of hatred begin to affect our relationships with others and very often fosters greater disrespect and distrust resulting in communities becoming more and more secluded and isolated. 

   Leo Tolstoy once wrote "Anti-Semitism is a mad passion akin to the lowest perversion of diseased human nature. It is the will to hate". 

  With such an attitude spreading through our society, we begin to experience, misplaced anger, and simply a lack of common decency in our relationship with one another. 

  As Jews, we must always raise our voices against these ugly taunts.  We must never permit these acts to undermine nor interfere in our strong traditional observances. Our lives must never be determined by the vile of others. 

        My greatest fear is that our youth are not prepared to face these challenges on a daily basis - be it in our schools and/or in our work places.   It is interesting that we, all, can learn from the story of Purim how to face these challenges.   

   Purim  is a day dedicated to remembering  how two great Heroes, with indomitable strength, were able to foil the intentions of a Jew hater who planned  to, physically, annihilate the entire Jewish population of Shushan.

   It is no accident that the modern day Shushan is Iran, who, with distorted minds, think that they have the ability to finish the job that Haman started. They fail to realize that with G-D's help and the State of Israel, our Jewish State, in all its glory, will always protect our Jewish brethren. 

  With these thoughts in mind, I return to Megillat Esther for guidance, and to relive the way Esther and Mordechai acted at that historical crucial hour. 

   The Midrash relates a discussion between Moshe and Hashem.  Moshe believed that he is was not capable of leading the Jews to freedom, G-D admonishes him and says,  עד מתי אתה משפיל עצמך,"How long will you continue to make yourself small?"  In essence, this statement is saying to all of us as it did to Moshe, "How long will we be little ourselves, and continue to fear these people.  It is time to remove these fears and stand with great pride as we face this bigotry and hatred head on.  We must regain our pride and hear the words of Hashem, “We have been  selected to be the "light unto the nations of the world" and nothing must stand in the way of this achievement.” 

   It is sad to see that many people feel "superfluous" and insecure and unimportant and insignificant.  I would encourage them to turn to the Megillah for inspiration and Chizuk. 

   Remember, well, what Chazal say, אין השעה מצפה אלא לך, "The hour waits for no one, but you." 

  This is the most important message that we need to take away from the story of Purim.

   When things became serious and the Jewish People were threatened, Mordechai approaches Esther to go immediately to Achashverosh, to plead for the Jews survival.  At that point, for whatever reason, she hesitates, and Mordechai utters, what, I think, are the most dynamic words of the entire Megillah, "כי אם החרש תחרישי כעת הזאת רוח והצלה יעמד ליהודים ממקום אחר ואת ובית אביך תאבדו, "For if you insist in keeping silent at a time like this, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews, from some other place, while you and your father's house will perish."  And then Mordechai says to Esther the most enigmatic words for all of us to hear,

  ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות, "And who knows whether it was just for such a time that you were sent forth on this journey?"

    What powerful words for all of us to digest.  Esther and everyone are being told that there is a job to be done in life and there is no one else who can do it but us.

    There is a place in our society which is reserved just for us and only we can fulfill that mission. No one else can stand in that place.  No one else can do that particular job. So we need to hone up to it, or else our failure to do so will be our demise. 

    We need to invest all of our strength to achieve the betterment of our society and not to relegate it to someone else. “The hour waits for no one but you". Hatred cannot and must not rule our lives. We are enjoined to face up to it and to defeat it, wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head. 

    As we celebrate Purim, with our families and friends, let us always act with confidence, that there is a Divine Providential design that will bring our salvation and the salvation of all Jews throughout the world. 

   Let us dedicate ourselves to a greater allegiance and commitment to Judaism.  In doing so we will reap the blessing as recorded in the Megillah, 

" ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה, For the Jews there was light and joy, gladness and honor". 

May this holiday of Purim inspires greater loyalty to our Judaic way of life and may we be Zocheh, to experience the ביאת גואל צדק במהרה בימנו.  

 

 Freilichin Purim 

 

       

FAITH FOR TOMORROW

The shooting this past week at the Stoneman Douglas School in Florida has left our country so shocked and so bereaved that the only response is a deafening silence. It is at these horrific times in life that we cannot ask Why? Too often there is no logical response to such a question when the absurd over powers us, and logic is replaced with absurdity. We cannot ask :"Why"?  But we can ask What? What do we do now? 

The poet John Whittier, in his moving and electrifying poem "Gone" comes to mind at this moment. 

“There seems to be a shadow on the day, 

Her smile no longer cheers;

A dimness on the stars at night,

Like eyes that look through tears. 

Alone unto our Father's will

One thought hath reconciled;

That He whose love exceedeth ours

Hath taken home His child. 

Fold her, O Father in Thine  arms,

And let her henceforth be

A messenger of love between

Our human hearts and Thee.” 

No words can assuage the pain that these families are going through.  I can hear the words of the anguished King David at the death of his beloved son Avshalom,

 "O my son Avshalom, my son, my son Avshalom.  Would I  had died for thee, Avshalom, my son". 

    With this in mind, I am reminded of the words in Megillat Esther that we will read this week, as the Jewish people were being threatened, 

כי איככה אוכל וראיתי ברעה, " How can I live to see the evil that befalls us, how can we stand still and do nothing and watch as this evil invade our country ". 

After reading this you can ask me, “Where do we go from here? Please give us some uplifting, wise words to be able to move forward with confidence, and hope for a better tomorrow, with greater optimism to bask in the light of a brighter future. 

For this Chizuk, I turn once again to the Megillah that we will read on Purim, the festival of joy and happiness and echo the words of  Esther as she deals with the seriousness of the hour by telling Mordechai, לך כנוס את כל היהודים, “Gather all the Jews together and fast and pray for me.” The crucial words are "all the Jews". 

There has to be unanimity and togetherness when evil befalls.  We must act in consanguinity, as one, for when humanity is threatened we all must be on the same page.  We need to reach out, not only to the families in Florida, but to reach out to each other with more love and compassion for our fellow man and to the show the world we care for each other and we do not live in a vacuum, We live in a world of G-Dliness and a world of true brotherly love.  We need not have to wait for tragedy to befall us before we realize this truism. 

This is a special message for our Jewish Brethren – a message that calls for greater unanimity, benevolence, kindness, understanding and Achdut.  Only then can we raise our voices loud and clear and enjoy the final words of the Megilla, 

" ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר"

And we can in unison reply כן תהיה לנו. 

                                 

     

SANCTUARY FOR LIFE

  I write my blog this week with a great sense of joy, happiness, and much Nachas, as our family prepares for the Aufruf and marriage of our grandson, Zev, the son of our children Avraham and Miriam, to Chayalah Hahn. 

  Marriage, in Judaism, is an act of Kidushin - a life that is consecrated and designated to a higher calling.  Marriage is not a temporal union between a man and a woman, but, more so, it is a union infused with a great act of Kedusha and with a life devoted to fashioning their own sanctuary, their own home and their own מקדש מעט.   

   Thinking of the family as a sanctuary, I begin to focus on this week's Sedrah, Terumah, wherein we read the most influential directive found in Judaism, 

ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם

" Let them make  me a Sanctuary," says Hashem, "that I may dwell amongst them."

  The Torah does not say בתוכו, "that I may dwell in 

it," referring to the tabernacle, but rather, "that I may dwell among them, בתוכם," amidst the people of Israel. Thus, we are told, the building of the Mishkan is not an end in itself, but rather a means of bringing the people closer to our Father in Heaven. 

    Hashem  dwells in the sanctuary of our personal lives when our activities are converted into divine encounters. Our aim is to bring Sinai into our daily existence. 

  G-D seeks to dwell in our lives, not to remain incarcerated in the walls of a building. 

  Every marriage brings two people together to forge a union that will create a family and a home into a Sanctuary of Kedusha. 

   One of the main objects in our  Mishkan  is the magnificent Aron Hakodesh, the Holy Ark, specifically  the pair of Keruvim placed on top of the ark. 

   ועשית שנים כרובים זהב  מקשה. " You shall make two Keruvim." Chazal describes to us what the Keruvim looked like. They possessed the faces of children, and their wings were outstretched lifted towards Heaven, and they faced each other. 

   We learn that each requirement of their appearance has a very important message in life and specifically to marriage. 

   The suggestion that the Keruvim figures were shaped like the faces of children, implies that just as children are very innocent in their actions and pure in thoughts, so must we live lives with purity of thought and action, unspoiled by the decadence of modern society. 

  In addition, just as the wings of the figurines were spread out above reaching, if you will, to heaven, so must we strive that our hands of action are always spread up to heaven, lifting ourselves above the transient to live lives that examine our actions, not in a temporal way, but rather for eternity. 

   We need a purity of attitude, "Not, only, what I can get out of it now, but rather our thoughts and actions are to be heavenward and to possess consideration for our tomorrow."

   The last characteristic of the Keruvim, is perhaps most significant.  The figures are to confront each other, face to face.  Literally, each of us must always look toward one another and extend ourselves with warmth to the other. Man's attitude may be 'heaven bound', but his responsibilities must always be 'brother bound.' 

 The position of the Keruvim are instrumental in translating our lives into purity of action, with bonds of love and cords of friendship binding us together in Holiness. 

  As I think of the role that our Mishkan plays in our lives, I remember that the Aron, the Ark, was made of wood and overlaid with זהב טהור, pure gold, both on the inside and on the outside,מבית ומחוץ תצפנו. 

 From this requirement, our Rabbis promulgated a great and significant lesson, "A scholar whose inner life does not correspond to his outer appearance is not an authentic scholar". 

  In a like manner, every person must live a life that is מבית ומחוץ, in a manner that he is always, 

  תוכו כברו, alike inwardly and outwardly. This is our lesson for integrity of character. As we act outwadly should conform to what we really feel inwardly. We need to be true to our character, by our actions, and not to be hypercritical in how we project ourselves to the outer world.   

  These are amazing lessons derived from the building requirements for the Mikdash in Yerushalyim.  They are,equally, the requirements for the building of our own individual מקדש מעט, our own personal Holy Temple, that will bring glory to ourselves and to כלל ישראל.

 In this light we extend our sincerest Mazal and Bracha  to our חתן וכלה, as they enter into the world of marriage, to build their Mikdash together.  We are confident that they will do so, by merging all their efforts, using the lessons, that we have learned from the Keruvim, and the Aron Hakodesh. 

  May Hashem  bless this zivug, and may all the parents and grandparents continue to have Nachas from this beautiful couple.  

         

 

DISPOSABLE SOCIETY

  At my Shiur this week, I was asked to render an analysis of the status of our modern day society. I assured those in attendance that it was truly, an insightful question, for we need at times to evaluate the status of our life and begin to understand what our priorities are. When we are dissatisfied in what we see, we must learn how to extricate ourselves from the quagmires that modern life presents. 

  With this in mind, I began to realize that most of our problems stem from the fact that we live in a society that can be described in one word "disposable". For indeed, we live in a disposable society, a throwaway society.  For the most part it makes us happy, and makes life easier because what we don't need we just throw away. This not only applies to our disposable dishes, bottles and cans. It seems to even apply to disposable people. Look around and see that we are living in a time when human dignity and human worth are eroding. Our news media reports daily of rape, of murder, of mugging and of gun shootings.  The worth of a person to so many, is insignificant.  "Why worry? They  are disposable anyway." Our relationship with each other is also disposable. I see more and more couples and friends who are unable to develop long term relationships, and often are thrown away like kleenex  tissues, for we have become disposable humans, almost on the brink of uselessness. 

   My quest for a more humane, loving and caring society is found in this week's Sedrah Mishpatim. For herein, we see the important laws of בין אדם לחברו, relationships between man and his fellowman, emphasizing that we are not disposable, but rather every person has value and importance and is deemed to be respected and accepted. The mitzvah that should be uppermost in our minds and actions is,  ואהבת לרעך כמוך, "Love and respect your neighbor as yourself." Act to others as you would want others to act to you. 

  Many wonder, "How can one achieve this magnificent attitude of recognition and feelings for others?"

  In my search for greater clarification, I began to realize that this Sedrah occurred after the Jewish People beheld a vision of Divinity as they stood at Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. What a great and spiritual moment that must have been, and how inspirational it was as they were being enveloped by the Sh'china. That was the greatest religious moment ever in Jewish history. One wonders, "How did they act afterwards?"

  The Torah states, ויחזו את האלוקים ויאכלו וישתו , "And they beheld G-D, and they sat down to eat and drink."

  Rashi is in a quandary, "How is it possible that after such a spiritual experience, and being on such a lofty plain, did they respond by sitting down and partying?"

  I realize that there are so many people who live to party, to have a good time.  Many do so at the expense of others and that is unacceptable. However, there is nothing wrong in living a life of fun and happiness and even to party. But to truly party, appropriately, we need to 

ויחזו את האלוקים. First, we must realize that the essence of life is to behold Hashem, to see life in a G-Dly and spiritual way.  When we live a life of בין אדם למקום ובין אדם לחברו, we can sit down and  ויאכלו וישתו, eat and drink and enjoy life.  For then and only then our eating is always a סעודת מצוה, a joy that can only come from within and flows out and is not artificially stimulated. 

  Far to often we party away our life and then people become disposable when that type of fun runs out. 

   We are enjoined to remember that we are all created בצלם אלוקים and after מתן תורה we became a ממלכת כוהנים וגוי קדוש.  From that time in Jewish History, it became our individual and collective responsibility to live  a life that will always bring pride to the bearers of that title. 

    A person is Great - if today he is greater than yesterday and greater tomorrow than today.  

                 

SINAI EXPERIENCE

  In psychology, when we study neurosis, we begin to realize that many people who suffer from anxiety and unreasonable fears, may resort to a defense mechanism referred to as 'reaction formation.' Very often this occurs in children, when he or she builds conscious attitudes which are opposite to the child's real feelings. 

   This is not intended to give you a lesson in Behavioral Psychology, but rather to use this idea to understand the feelings and the attitude of the Jewish People as they stood at Har Sinai experiencing the  greatest  historic moment ever to take place in Jewish History, the Revelation of G-D as He gave the Ten Commandments , the Jewish Decalogue to Am Yisrael. What a thrilling and emotional moment for a people who only a short time ago were slaves in the land of Egypt.  

   How did they react, is my initial and probing question?  

   Chazal relates, at that moment, ויהי קולות וברקים, there was a frightening  sound of thunder and lightning, and ויחרד כל העם אשר במחנה, they were overwhelmed by the experience and out of fear stepped back away from the mountain. One could assume that the reason for this reaction was simply a fear of not being able to take and fulfill the responsibilities that comes with being the bearers of these Ten Commandments. I can imagine the people saying one to the other, "It's too much for us.  We can't handle it. The responsibility is too great." Therefore, they stepped back away from the acceptance. 

   Moshe seeing their reaction, needed to show them that it can be done, that they need not fear to undertake this great code of living laws. To do so the Torah states,ומשה נגש אל הערפל, "Moshe rushed into the flames that engulfed the mountain, and caught a glimpse oh G-D." The lesson that Moshe was teaching the Am, was simple and emphatic. To achieve the optimum bonum of Judaisn, we need to penetrate into the core of Judaism, not to move back and away from its teaching. As we delve deeper into the objectives of Torah,we begin to see its beauty and its magnificence, and we no longer fear its contents but rather, like Moshe, we begin to get a glimpse of Hashem. 

  What a powerful lesson for us to learn from.  A lesson that teaches us that we need not resort to any kind of reaction formation, for Torah is our true essence and we need to search and find the amazing feeling of happiness that comes with its observance. 

   There is one more point that must be emphasized. To reach that spiritual height of נגש אל הערפל, it needs constancy and reinforcement, great effort, and a strong desire to succeed. 

  This reminds me of the time that I was a guest at someone's home and I noticed a magnificent bouquet of flowers on the table.  As I was admiring  them the hostess told that they were artificial, plastic. I asked why not have live flowers? She replied, "Live  flowers must be watered everyday." This is a true observation for life - one needs to water it everyday.  You need to put all your כוחות and energy into whatever you do and then and only then will you reap the benefits and get a glimpse of the Holy One. 

   There is a sacred 'must' in the achievement of the highest aspect of life and they are loyalty and conscience and boldness in action in our obedience to Hashem. 

   Our philosophy of life, "I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have, than to have things I cannot appreciate."

Let us step into the Sinai experience. 

Let us pierce the walls of Torah.

Let us appreciate the beauty of Judaism.

Let us be enthusiastic about its way of life and always be impressed by the words of our Torah. 

   As I have said many times, 'Life is in our hands.' Are we ready to take hold of it? That question is yours to answer.