PURIM IS ON OUR MINDS

   As we begin the joyous month of אדר שני, I begin to think about the forthcoming holiday of Purim.

   Permit me to share with you a very interesting and thought provoking idea that our Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik זצ״ל, reflected upon regarding the Holiday of Purim.

    Rabbi Soloveitchik outlined how the Megillah of Purim was, at first, not intended as part of the Biblical Canon. Initially, the story of Purim was transcribed by Mordechai, and shared far and wide with the Jewish community as an “Igeres”, a letter. 

    Esther wrote another letter, basically, a repetition of Mordechai’s initial request, seeking to establish these days of the 14th and 15th of Adar as Purim, for all times.

   “What did she ask for?” said Rabbi Soloveitchik. “Whatever she wanted had been fulfilled.  Her request for establishment of the holiday was granted.” Esther’s request, he explained, was that this “letter” be elevated to the level of the Holy Books.  Once that happened, the message of Megillat Esther — now one of the books of the Torah — became more powerful and eternal. 

    “An Igeres is a story — a true story,” said Rabbi Soloveitchik. “I don’t want to mitigate the importance of an Igeres. But once the recounted Purim story became an actual Book of the Bible, he continued, there’s a new dimension to the Megillah. The Megillah is, now, part of the Torah. Certain halachot must be derived from the Torah... its relevancy is for to today and for always.”

   Rabbi Soloveitchik shared his philosophy that “any book of the Torah must be a source of Torah knowledge, a source of halachot, of rules of conduct, a source of morality, a source on which one may draw from time to time, when he’s in doubt, in confusion. An Igeres is an historical document, not a source of knowledge.”  Biblical stories, stressed Rabbi Soloveitchik, are not merely stories. There are laws and directions in life to be learned from these narrative moments in the Torah. 

    As Rabbi Soloveitchik approached the conclusion of his lecture, he asked his listeners, “What Jewish law can we learn from the Purim story told in the Book of Esther?”

   There are multiple laws that can be derived, but Rabbi Soloveitchik was searching for the one that stood apart from the others. “The Central Halacha in Megillat Esther,” he answered, “is the duty of the individual to sacrifice his life, if the destiny and the future of the community is at stake.” And someone — in this case Mordechai — may also advise or coerce him/her to give his/her life if it will save the people.

       Rabbi Soloveitchik seems to suggest that Esther’s determination to have “Her” book, included in the Biblical Canon, went beyond a formal recognition of the salvation afforded the Jewish People. Her major intent may have been that her personal sacrifice — where she gave of her life, and could have in fact lost her life — would be conveyed to the generations as a proper approach for each Jew to take when they have the unique opportunity to act on behalf of their People. After all, the other halachot observed during the holiday, show Purim to be a celebration of Jewish connection, shared fate and shared fortune.

    May this Purim bring salvation to the Jewish people throughout the world and may we be Blessed with a lasting and permanent peace for the State of Israel.

 

 

 

 

HONOR AND DIGNITY

    Each day brings with it new dilemmas, more uncertainties and added complexities to our lives. Each one of us is constantly seeking  answers for ways to deal with life and for the problems that it brings our way. Often, we lose sight of the fact that many of these problems can be solved if we, but, put our trust in  Hashem and in man. 

Our parsha  this week תצוה discusses the clothing of the Kohen Gadol. The Torah states that it was 

לכבוד ולתפארת, 'It was for honor and glory.'

 The clothing for the Kohen Gadol represents, not only the glory and beauty of G-d but, also, indicates that he holds an important office and is endowed with authority.  Thereby, distinguishing himself from the rest of the population.

  The Rav said  that these special vestments are not an expression of intellect, but of the dignity of man. For the service in the Mikdash dignity is required. The Kohen who wears these garments shows that he was, specifically, selected by Hashem and accepted by mankind. 

  Dignity, unlike any other capability, must be implanted into a person through an educational process. Dignity does not come on its own. Clothing is not an expression of the intellect but of the dignity of man and certain clothing imply that those donning them are specifically selected by Hashem and the people and are given certain privileges that others do not receive. 

   With this aspect of dignity comes a need for a greater sense of humility, which is indispensable to positions of power. Hashem wanted the Kohen Gadol to realize that he was undeserving of his position but when he wore these special begadim he was to recognize that he was fulfilling his role not due to his own merits, but rather  due to the grace of G-D who has bestowed upon him this great honor and responsibility. 

  Moshe, on the other hand, required no special vestments in his position of leadership. His greatness was earned and not bestowed. 

  How meaningful is this idea as a lesson for life. Our aim in life is to live life in a most dignified and respectful way and we do so while wearing our special vestments. i.e. Talit, t'fillin ,tzizit, kipah, which will encourage us to be on our best behavior all the time.

   These are truly garments of holiness לשם ולתפארת. 

May we be זוכה to see the בנין בית המקדש and the glory and the dignity of the כהן גדול return to its rightful position. 

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

GO FORTH

    As we begin Sefer שמות, we.  are introduced, for the first time, to our great liberator, our masterful teacher, the ultimate representative and messenger of G-D, our beloved  משה רבינו.  Moshe was unique in every way.  His personal characteristics reflected a combination of attributes and standards for all of us to follow.  Moshe was the first to lead the Jewish People into history and has remained, for everlasting time, our inspiration and our emulating example, enriching our spiritual lives.

   Moshe showed us that Judaism is not only theology but a way of life that projects our actions as an expression of the will of Hashem that has become our Judaic hallmark throughout history. 

   The Torah states   ויצא אל אחיו "Moshe grew and went forth to his brethren and saw their burdens." The most crucial word is ויצא, "He went forth." Moshe was not content to live within his own environment. He went forth to see how others lived. He wanted to be able to influence his society to improve their way of life . 

    Too often people become prisoners of their own narrow environment, of their specific economic and social group, oblivious to what is happening around them. There is a need, as Moshe did, to ויצא, to move out of oneself, out of ones own personal interests and become less trapped by ones egos and open ones eyes and hearts to the needs of others.  

    This ויצא, takes  us out of the "I" and brings us into the "We", thereby forging a stronger אחדות between man and his fellow man.

  Moshe could have been living a more luxurious life in the palace of Pharoah, but his strong sense of Humanity and  his recognition of his identity with his people drew him out into the world of his brethren.  He began to identify with the woes of others and found a new life, a life worthy of reaching out. 

    Moshe reacted with his heart and eyes.  He reacted to their pain and acted upon their suffering, even to the extent of putting his life in jeopardy.

  Moshe had a throne, but he lost it and gained immortality for the sake of the betterment of his people.  In doing so he became the celestial flame igniting the Jewish world with great spirituality that has sustained Judaism's vibrancy down through the ages. 

   Moshe is our Rebbe and has become our emulating figure, showing us the need to reach out to others and become less absorbed in ourselves. 

    Today is the yarzheit for my Beloved Mother 

ריבה בת יחיאל ע׳ה.  She was truly a person that personifies this concept of  ויצא.  Her life was always thinking of others and how she could be of help to her family and those around her. May her memory be a Blessing to everyone who was touched by her generosity and love. 

     

                                                   שבת שלום