Parsha Shemini, Neshama Food, Afterlife, stories

PESSACH IS COMING TIME TO START CLEANING OUR ROOMS SLOWLY BUT SURELY AND TO THINK OF OUR SHOPPING AND PERHAPS GUEST LISTS FOR THE SEDER.

Parsha Shemini

I remember in the late 1960’s or 5720’s the statement somebody made “you are what you eat”! I know the main point of this week’s Parsha is the dedication of the Mishkan and the loss of the two sons of Aaron just when the dedication was being completed. But I prefer to jump towards the end of our Parsha and go into Kashrus of animals.

9:1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; …

Sophia B. Wrote the following which I think is a nice introductory opening to this section. One of the reasons offered for the dietary laws is that everything a person eats is transformed into blood and flesh, becoming an integral part of that person. The Torah thus prohibits certain foods in order to prevent man from assimilating the evil characteristics of the forbidden food.

If there is a prohibition against eating animals which do not have a split hoof and do not chew the cud, it follows that the proper conduct for man should be one that embraces the concepts of a split hoof and chewing the cud. (Mild, humble and not the stubbornness of a donkey or mule or the proudness of a horse or the cunning of a fox or lion on the hunt.)

The hoof must be split entirely, from the top to the very bottom. The hoof is divided into two, to indicate that our walking on this earth, i.e., our mundane involvements, must include two basic principles: drawing near to oneself that which is good and proper and pushing away that which is not. But the sign of a split hoof by itself is not sufficient. There must also be the sign of chewing the cud.

One must very carefully "chew over" every mundane activity which one intends to undertake. One must clarify and determine, once and again, whether to do it altogether, and if so, how to do it. Only then will the action itself be a "pure animal" - something which can and is used for our spiritual mission in life.

Regarding fowl, we do not rely on signs alone, but we also require a tradition affirming that species' purity. Off hand, one could ask why we need such a tradition. Observing the signs would seem sufficient. However, this comes to teach us that one cannot rely on one's own intelligence. It is possible to study the Code of Jewish Law and even
follow a course of behavior which one's own intellect determines to be "beyond the letter of the law."

One must follow the tradition. The Hebrew word for tradition is mesora, which is related to the word mesira - devotion and being bound together. In order to follow the Jewish tradition we must be devoted to and bound together with other Jews and Torah leaders who can teach us the ways of our tradition.

Rabbi Yacov London Ztz”l used to say that of all the animals known to the ancients and all the animals discovered on continents after the writing of the Torah there is only one that has cloven hooves and does not chew its cud. The same occurrence exists with the three cud chewers that part not the hooves. 

The same what Sophia wrote about the split hooves and cud chewing animals applies to the birds and fish. We do no not want our traits coming from birds of prey who rip their food apart like the eagle or vulture or the fear of the ostrich but the birds that tend to peck on grains so that the Jew will not be a predator. We take kosher fish but not the intelligent whales or dolphins or the eels, stingrays, barracudas and sharks who hunt anything. Snakes, crabs, jellyfish and others are forbidden to us. (More at the conclusion of the Parsha)

11:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them:

There is a tradition that each word of Torah was learned four times in order to enter the soul. One might think the scenario as follows: First Moshe heard from HASHEM. Second He told Aaron. Third Aaron told Elazar and Itamar and then the fourth time the people were told. But perhaps the four times were more like this and this appears more likely and more logical. HASHEM to Moshe - first time, Moshe to Aaron - second time, Aaron repeats to his teacher Moshe the third time and then Aaron in front of Moshe tells his sons the fourth time. Aaron then hears the sons tell the people and the chain of four repeats continues so that it enters the soul.

[And the Lord spoke] to Moses and to Aaron: He told Moses that he should [in turn] tell Aaron. — [Torath Kohanim 1:4] To say to them: [Whom does “to them” refer to?] The Lord said that [Aaron] should tell Eleazar and Ithamar. Or perhaps it means only to tell the Israelites? However, when [Scripture] says (verse 2),“Speak to the children of Israel,” speaking to Israel is already mentioned. So how do I understand “to say to them”? [That Aaron was to say] to his sons, to Eleazar and to Ithamar [who, in turn, were to tell the children of Israel the laws that follow]. — [Torath Kohanim 11:61]

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: These are the living things which ye may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

Speak to the children of Israel: God made them all [namely Moses, Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar] equal messengers for [relaying] the following speech. [And why did Aaron and his sons deserve this special honor?] Because they all equally remained silent, accepting the Omnipresent’s decree [to put Nadab and Abihu to death] with love. These are the creatures: [The word חַיָּה, “living creature”] denotes חַיִּים, “life.” [In the context of this passage, which sets out the clean and unclean creatures, the meaning is expounded as follows:] Since the Israelites cleave to the Omnipresent and are therefore worthy of being alive, accordingly, God separated them from uncleanness and decreed commandments upon them [so that through these commandments Israel would live]. For the other nations, however, He prohibited nothing. This is comparable to a physician who went to visit a patient [who was incurable, and allowed him to eat anything he wished, whereas when he went to his patient who was to recover, the physician imposed restrictions on his diet that would ensure that the recoverable patient would live. So too, the nations and Israel…], etc. as is found in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma (6). These are the creatures: [When the verse says “These are…,” the word זֹאת] teaches us that Moses would hold up an animal and show it to the Israelites, saying, “This one you may eat,” and “This one you may not eat.” “You may eat the following!” (verse 9) even with the creatures of the water-he held up [one] of every species and showed it to them. And likewise with birds [as stated in verse 13], “you shall hold these in abomination….” Similarly with creeping creatures, (שְׁרָצִים) [as stated in verse 29], “these are unclean….” - [Torath Kohanim 11:62] These are the creatures…among all the animals: [The word חַיָּה, although usually denoting an undomesticated animal, such as a deer, also has the meaning of “living (חַי) creatures” in general; the word בְּהֵמָה, usually denoting domesticated animals like cattle, also has the meaning of large land animals, or mammals. We see this in our verse, for it says here, "These are the creatures (חַיָּה) that you may eat among all the animals (בְּהֵמָה) on earth, thus,] teaching that [the term] בְּהֵמָה is included in [the more general term] חַיָּה. - [Torath Kohanim 11:66; and see Rashi Chul. 70b]

3 Whatsoever parts the hoof, and is wholly cloven-footed, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat.

When one buys a washing machine and the manufacturer writes do not pour liquid tar into the machine one can understand why. When THE MASTER OF THE WORLD who is our CREATOR tells us that this type of mammal is kosher to eat for a Jew and other mammals are not suddenly so misguided souls question this for the non-Jews eat these animals call them tasty and enjoy them. I heard this true story of a Jew who was not observing Kashrus and traveled to Korea. In the restaurant the ordered what he thought was steak and got these little round pieces of a very tasty steak. His relative explained to him that the tasty food was snake. Yes, bacon and snakes and lobsters when prepared properly can be tasty physically to our body and taste buds but spiritually they are damaging like pouring liquid tar on the drum of our washing machine.

Which has a cloven: Heb. מַפְרֶסֶת. [Although resembling the following word, פַּרְסָה, the word, מַפְרֶסֶת, is to be understood] as the Targum [Onkelos] renders it: סְדִיקָא, “split.” Hoof: Heb. פַּרְסָה, plante in French [meaning “ sole” or “hoof.” Thus, מַפְרֶסֶת פַּרְסָה means: “split or cloven hoof”]. That is completely separated into double hooves: Heb. וְשֹׁסַעַת שֶׁסַע [meaning that the hoof] is completely separated [i.e., split] from top to bottom, into two nails, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders it: וּמְטַלְפָא טִילְפִין, meaning “split into hooves” [i.e., split into two hoof sections,] because there are animals whose hooves are split at the top, but are not completely split and separated [into two hoof sections], since the bottom [sections of the hoof] are connected. Which brings up its cud: It brings up and regurgitates the [ingested] food from its stomach, returning the food to its mouth, in order to thoroughly crush it and grind it thoroughly.

Ruminates its food.

Cud: Heb. גֵּרָה. This is its name. [I.e., the name of the food that an animal regurgitates.] It possibly stems from the root [נגר, “to drag” or “flow,” as in the verse] “and as water which has flowed (הַנִּגָּרִים) ” (II Sam. 14:14), for the regurgitated food “flows back” to the mouth. Targum [Onkelos] renders the word גֵּרָה as פִּישְׁרָא, dissolved, since, through its being regurgitated, the food is dissolved and melted. Among the animals: Heb. בַּבְּהֵמָה, lit. in the animal. This is an extra word from which to derive that [if a pregnant animal is slaughtered properly,] the fetus inside its mother’s innards is permitted [to be eaten]. — [Torath Kohanim 11:67] That one you may eat: but not an unclean animal. However, is this [negative inference] not already included in the [explicit] prohibition [stated in verse 4, “…you must not eat…”]? Notwithstanding, [this positive statement is included here] so that [one who eats an unclean animal] transgresses a positive and a negative commandment [i.e., a negative inference of a positive commandment]. — [Torath Kohanim 11:69]

4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that only chew the cud, or of them that only part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but parts not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. 5 And the rock-badger, because he chews the cud but parts not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. 6 And the hare, because she chews the cud but parts not the hoof, she is unclean unto you. 7 And the swine, because he parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, but chews not the cud, he is unclean unto you. 8 Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch; they are unclean unto you.

Because of the Tuma my Rosh Yeshiva told the boys even within the Yeshiva Compound it is forbidden to throw an American Football aka Rugby Ball on Yom Tov or for that matter Shabbos even if there is an Eruv. I think that the Rosh Yeshiva knew that if the boys were to tell them that it was like a profane weekday act the sports game that they would not listen for they would counter that it is the enjoyment that adds to the Simcha of Shabbos but with this Pasuk and the football is called a ‘pigs skin’ they would listen.

9 These may ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them may ye eat. 10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that swarm in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are a detestable thing unto you, 11 and they shall be a detestable thing unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses ye shall have in detestation. 12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that is a detestable thing unto you.

The Kosher Mammals at only plants so they were completely kosher. However, fish eat insects, worms, plants and crustaceans or boneless creatures. Still they are not detestable as what they eat they digest and even if it becomes part of them, it has been filtered.

13 And these ye shall have in detestation among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are a detestable thing: the great vulture, and the bearded vulture, and the ospray; 14 and the kite, and the falcon after its kinds; 15 every raven after its kinds; 16 and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kinds; 17 and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl; 18 and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the carrion-vulture; 19 and the stork, and the heron after its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

A mouse is considered a creeping thing but Hebrew like English does not consider a bat the flying mouse as it is called in German so it gets special mention here.

20 All winged swarming things that go upon all fours are a detestable thing unto you. 21 Yet these may ye eat of all winged swarming things that go upon all fours, which have jointed legs above their feet, wherewith to leap upon the earth; 22 even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kinds, and the bald locust after its kinds, and the cricket after its kinds, and the grasshopper after its kinds. 23 But all winged swarming things, which have four feet, are a detestable thing unto you.

Locusts today only certain people like the Yemenis still have a tradition and eat them while the Ashkenazim have lost their tradition and no longer eat them.

24 And by these ye shall become unclean; whosoever touches the carcass of them shall be unclean until even. 25 And whosoever bears aught of the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. 26 Every beast which parts the hoof, but is not cloven footed, nor chews the cud, is unclean unto you; every one that touches them shall be unclean. 27 And whatsoever goes upon its paws, among all beasts that go on all fours, they are unclean unto you; whoso touchs their carcass shall be unclean until the even. 28 And he that bears the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even; they are unclean unto you. … 45 For I am the LORD that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 46 This is the law of the beast, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that swarms upon the earth; 47 to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.

Soul Food

All the animals that we are permitted are soul food. The soul has 4 sections for the Bnei Noach as they have 7 Mitzvos to Observe. As we have 613, we develop the fifth section. The sections are Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama which exists in every animal. The two sections of the Image of ELOKIM as stated in Beresheis with the creation of man. Chaya and Yechida. The Chaya allows a person like G-D to think for himself and not based on instinct but above logic. That is why a soldier can knock out a machinegun nest. It is above logic and instinct. Yechida is the joining of the soul to HASHEM’s desire.

This is why a non-Jew can eat lobster and snake and not be spiritually injured or drink open water as even if a poisonous snake drank from there, the non-kosher within his body will protect the non-Jew from being poisoned but might kill the Jew. As one increases in holiness – “light unto the nations” so too we have to be a Goy Kodesh or Holy Nation. As the level of holiness rises, the Cohain cannot eat when the Temple exists Tuma Food or go into the graveyard while an ordinary Levi or Jew can do these things. The laws of Kashrus is for the holiness of the Jew and his eternal soul (not that the non-Jew does not have an eternal soul or a non-Cohain cannot be very holy it is just a matter of job function not only for this world but also laying a foundation for the coming of the Moshiach.

What is required to be a Rabbi and who does not meet that requirement

Every year I come across potential converts henceforth Gerim who can’t distinguish between the Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox streams of Judaism. We should not be surprised as they also don’t know the difference between Litvaks, Yekes, Yemenites, Sephardim and Chassidim who are all Orthodox. I will go even further, I do not know the difference between Lutheran, Calvinists, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, etc. So as far as Judaism let me set the record straight.

Rabbi means teacher and the title is given from one Rabbi to another. However, there is a minimum qualification to go through and that is besides knowledge of Torah, Tanach and Jewish history and customs, one has to have learned Mishnah, Talmud and certain sections of the Shulchan Aruch which make for a minimum amount of knowledge. To be a Congregation Rabbi one needs more and to be a Rabbinical Judge one needs more sections of the Shulchan Aruch.

The Reconstructionist and Reform Rabbis originally probably were learned and received regular Orthodox Semicha in the late 1700’s or 5500’s. They started out as an offshoot from the two false Moshiachs (Shabbtai Tzvi and Yacov Frank). Although one converted to Islam and the other to Catholicism with an orgiastic cult, the followers continued in Austria and Germany to flourish. Such people as Marx and Engels stem from this movement. By the mid 1800’s especially the revolution of 1848 aka 5608 they began to spread out their wings to the USA and their socialistic roots. They were beginning already to drop the requirement for Shabbos observance, family purity and separate seating for men and women were thrown out. [Maybe you can call me a man with bad thoughts but when I pray I like to be almost like an autistic person and between G-D and I but put a woman with perfume on one or both sides of me and I will be distracted starting from the smell and working elsewhere.] The Reform also changed the prayer service.

Around 1870 aka 5630 the Conservative movement was born considering the fact that these Rabbis allowed mixed seating but stressed traditional prayer and observance of Shabbos and Yom Tov. Somewhere between the late 1700’s and late 1800’s the Reform dropped their requirement that their Rabbis know Mishnah, Talmud and Halacha. They emphasized fund raising, how to talk to the Congregation to get the most donations, they placed in their places of worship an Organ like the non-Jews even though music in the service was prohibited since the destruction of our holy Temple aka Beis HaMikdash and women singing in a gospel like choir was par for the course. In the Conservative Movement, they kept the fact that musical instruments including the Shofar of Rosh Hashanah on Shabbos were forbidden in the Service. The Conservatives kept the requirement of learning Mishnah, Talmud and Shulchan Aruch (Halachos Kashrus and more).

In the years 1940 to 1945 the great leader of the Reform Movement was more concerned with blending into American Society than the Holocaust. They fought for civil rights and social reform but not for the bombing of the railroads to Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Only a handful of Conservative and almost all the Orthodox Rabbis were fighting. However, in the 1940’s the Orthodox Jews were at a nadir in the States. The people were required to work 6 days a week with Sunday off from work and the great depression had forced many to violate the Shabbos and not return so the Conservative Movement grew at that time to be the largest and is some places like Mississippi the Reform grew.

The Reform began in the 1960’s aka 5720’s to allow intermarriage and in the 5730’s women Rabbis and finally in 5750 or 5760 despite Lev. 18:22 and 20:13 where G-D calls the act an abomination תּוֹעֵבָה they started performing same sex marriages. In the year 5721 when my Reform Rabbi spoke of miracles being nonsense and he was an Atheist, I walked out only to return about Nov. 25, 1963 because I needed some spiritual fortification after the assassination of JFK and that was the last time I saw them at the age of 16. Did their Rabbi console me? No! For a man that does not believe in an eternal soul but nothing after death cannot console anyone!

It was not until I got until College that I because to explore the possibility of the existence of G-D as I explained last year around Israeli Independence Day in the rabbipauli.blogspot.com – being an inquisitive and intellectual person I explored at least superficially other religious and their philosophies before going towards Orthodox Judaism. However, on my way I did stop off at the Conservative Synagogue and was encouraged by two people there. Rabbi Alpert Zal who was an Rabbi who had an Orthodox Semicha from YU and a fellow younger than I named Steve who wanted to become a Conservative Rabbi.

To make a long story short in the past 45 years since I became Shomer Shabbos instead of moving closer to Orthodox, the Conservative Movement which does still give out Semicha for knowledge of Shulchan Aruch unlike the two weaker branches who produce “Rabbis”, has moved further to the left. I blame also the Israeli Rabbinute for this. The Reform and Reconstructionist Movements do not have kosher Conversions at all and their marriages are not real Halachic Marriages. The Conservatives may or may not have kosher conversions or marriages (not recognized by the Orthodox) if their Mikvah was Kosher and their Beit Din Shomer Shabbos but that is becoming a big “IF”. They also started changing their prayer books about 20 years ago and all three movements are making a joke out of our tradition handed down by our Sages.

There are difference customs among the Orthodox but the prayers are so similar that anybody can prayer in any other Synagogue and feel close to home not so with the other movements unless the person is so boorish in Judaism and does not know anything. This is the problem with potential converts who come without any knowledge and perhaps some no Jewish ideas and baggage as I knew more of Catholicism even though I was a Jew because I grew up in an Irish Catholic Neighborhood as sort of the only Jew on the block. A RABBI MUST BELIEVE IN THE 13 PRINCIPLES OF FAITH, HAVE LEARNED TORAH, MISHNAH, TALMUD AND SHULCHAN ARUCH. The Reform have for a long time not met this requirement and the Conservative Rabbis follow the Congregation with mixed seating and other things which deviate from 3300 years of Torah from Sinai. If one becomes Jewish they should do what the good L-RD expects them to do with the 613 Commandments and not their own convenient agenda.

Marvin’s Dance by Eli Levine http://www.aish.com/sp/so/Marvins-Dance.html

Marvin Casey’s amazing journey from black, Church-going hip hop dancer to yeshiva student, English/dance instructor in Israel.

How did Marvin Casey go from being an African-American, Church-going hip hop dancer from St. Louis to Yisrael Moshe, a married yeshiva student, part time English teacher living in Ramle, Israel?
Marvin grew up in Chesterfield, Missouri, attending church most Sundays and participating in his church’s youth group. Even though he didn’t really appreciate the meaning of the ritual, at age 17, Marvin was baptized in the church. That was the way it was done and Marvin followed suit.
But one week after his baptism, he decided he’d rather work on Sundays. “I just didn’t connect,” he told Aish.com. “There were certain things that didn’t sit with me – I don’t know if in religion in general or in Christianity – that if someone doesn’t believe what I believe, something is wrong with them. I was getting turned off by what I sensed was a disrespect for other faiths. You can’t really make the world a better place like that.”
So Marvin decided to leave religion all together, entering what he calls his “atheist phase.” During this time, Marvin immersed himself with his other love: hip hop dance, on the dance floor almost every night. He would often come home at 2 or 3 in the morning, and wake up for the 7 am shift at his local Sam’s Club, and then attend classes at his local community college.
With his intense dedication, he became a performance dancer. “I was in love with movement,” he said. He eventually transferred to the University of Illinois to join the university dance team.
Although things were going well and Marvin was extremely busy, fundamental questions began to gnaw at him, leaving him feeling somewhat disconnected. “I needed a belief in a higher power to help me connect and to keep me humble. But I didn’t know what I really believed.”
Knowing the potential power of religion, Marvin began to research other faiths at the religion section at his local Borders bookstore, searching for some answers to life’s biggest questions.
Marvin had a number of Jewish friends growing up, and he often asked them philosophical questions based on the ideas he was reading at Borders. “What is the meaning of ‘kosher’?” he asked his friend Josh. His questions sparked lively debates and discussions, leading to more questions, sparking Marvin’s curiosity even further.
“In the Christianity I was exposed to, there is no real need to ask questions. If you love Christ, all your questions are answered. In Judaism, you are supposed to ask questions. That intrigued me and re-energized me. Judaism offered me faith and connection, but it was based on reason and a strong intellectual foundation.”

Discovering Judaism

One day Marvin asked Josh, “Are you going to the Kabbalat Shabbat service this week?”
“Are you serious?” Josh retorted. “I was not planning on going.”
“Well when you do go, can I come?”
“Are you okay?” josh responded with concern.
A week later, Josh made a special trip to a synagogue for Marvin. Marvin was drawn in with the singing. Even this budding semi-professional hip hop dancer found the music “kind of cool.”
Marvin came back for Rosh Hashanah services and tried out another synagogue for Yom Kippur. “I remember standing in front of the Aron HaKodesh and everything just felt right,” Marvin recalled.
A few weeks later, Marvin walked in to the office of the synagogue’s rabbi and asked to convert. “I know you are supposed to turn me away three times, so I’d like to get that part out of the way.”

Awkward Moments

Marvin began taking numerous classes on the practices and beliefs of Judaism. During the conversion process, Marvin experienced his share of awkward moments, prying questions, and uncomfortable stares. While his family and friends were fully supportive, that did not make the transition smooth.
At the time, Marvin would go to synagogue on Wednesday nights for the evening Minyan and then he’d take off his Kippah before heading out to dance with his hip hop buddies. They did not know he was in a conversion process. One night, he was running late. That particular evening, he forgot to take off the yarmulke. His buddies looked at Marvin like he was crazy.
“What’s that thing on your head?”  
“A yarmulke,” Marvin replied, as he quickly removed it and stuffed it in his pocket.  
“What? You’re not Jewish.” 
“Well, actually, I’m converting.”
His friends immediately responded, “You don’t need to take it off in front of us.”
Marvin eventually decided to stop going out on Friday night and to partially observe the Sabbath. At this point his friends were so understanding he wasn’t nervous when he told them, “Guys, I know Friday night is our big night, but I can’t do it anymore.”
“No problem dude, we’ll see you Saturday night.”
While it took them a while to learn and get used to his new customs, they supported Marvin however they could, even providing him kosher food at barbeques and birthday parties. His parents made the same accommodations.  
“Before, my role in the group was ‘the black guy.’ Now, I’m the ‘black Jewish guy.’”
Marvin delved into the intellectual side of Judaism. “I love to be intellectually challenged.” The aggressive questioning and independent inquiry in Judaism – balanced by its ironclad moral principles – appealed to both the bookworm in him and to the artistic young free spirit.
He also fell in love with Shabbat. “It’s my time to breathe and not worry about work or about being anywhere other than the present moment.”

Aliya to Israel

Three years after his conversion, Marvin – now Yisrael Moshe – made Aliyah, moving to Israel in 2006. When the plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, he froze. “I didn’t want to get off the plane! I had a moment where I had second thoughts, the change was too drastic. Making Aliyah is challenging enough, even more so for a black man who didn’t grow up with any Hebrew, with few Jewish friends, and with little Jewish culture. But I decided to stick to my path and with joy and trepidation, I got off that plane.”
Beginning his new life in Israel, he received many looks and questions: “Why did you move to Israel?” “Are you Jewish?” There were times people didn’t know whether to count him in their Minyan. “I think white converts have an easier time blending in and don’t get the same questions that I did.” To this day, there are times Yisrael doesn’t know if he is being counted.
Nevertheless, he adapted. He joined a major institution in Israel that brings Jews together: the Israel Defense Forces. The military is often called “the melting pot of Israel.” Yisrael is a case in point.
He met Jews who spoke Russian, Spanish, French, English, and Hebrew. He met fellow soldiers of Ethiopian, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Orthodox, secular, and traditional backgrounds. There were times Yisrael would find comfort socializing with other English-speaking soldiers, but when it came time to do the job, he says, they were all brothers. His army experience showed him how “so many facets of the Jewish people can co-exist in one place.”

Life Today

Today, Yisrael lives with his wife Oshrat – a Morrocan-Israeli – in Ramle, Israel, with their two year old son and a five-month-old daughter.
Yisrael teaches English at a high school by day, and teaches hip hop to various clients at night – including some of his rabbis. One of his most rewarding moment in his hip hop career came when he volunteered to teach a group of children with special needs in Ramle. One 10-year-old student with Downs syndrome would never dance. She would hide under the table as Yisrael would turn on the music.
One day, Yisrael met her mother. The woman greeted him with such enthusiasm. “Thank you so much! I know you don’t know me yet but thank you so much!”
When the mother identified herself, Yisrael responded with bewilderment. “Why are you thanking me?” he asked. “Your daughter always hides under the table.”
The mother explained, “When my daughter comes home every day, she turns on music and dances all around the house. She had never been so active but now she is.”
“That little girl taught me that someone is always paying attention to you. No matter what, someone is listening.”

The Sefer that Chabad abides by is the Tanya and one can go to them and learn it via e-mail with commentary. One of the favorite sections of the Tanya is Perek Lamed Bet aka Chapter 32 which is the Lev or heart of the Tanya. In this world we look at the body vs. the soul. As a man who works out in the gym mainly for health reasons I watch as people emphasize the body over the soul. But deep-deep down inside of oneself the little spark of a Jew knows that soul is more important. The Alter Rebbe who wrote the Tanya emphasized this. This is why a Chassid of his will go to a prisoner or a tattooed Jew with a crazy hair style and try to bring him to Torah or even a Shabbos violator. It is out of love that one tries to help his fellow Jew no matter how low he has sunk.

Life after death by Maurice Lamm http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281641/jewish/Life-After-Death.htm

Man has had an abiding faith in a world beyond the grave. The conviction in a life after death, unprovable but unshakeable, has been cherished since the beginning of thinking man’s life on earth. It makes its appearance in religious literature not as fiat, commanded irrevocably by an absolute G‑d, but rather arises plant-like, growing and developing naturally in the soul. It then sprouts forth through sublime prayer and sacred hymn. Only later does it become extrapolated in complicated metaphysical speculation.
The afterlife has not been “thought up”; it is not a rational construction of a religious philosophy imposed on believing man. It has sprung from within the hearts of masses of men, a sort of consensus gentium, inside out, a hope beyond and above the rational, a longing for the warm sun of eternity. The afterlife is not a theory to be proven logically or demonstrated by rational analysis. It is axiomatic. It is to the soul what oxygen is to the lungs. There is little meaning to life, to G‑d, to man’s constant strivings, to all of his achievements, unless there is a world beyond the grave.
The Bible, so vitally concerned with the actions of man in this world, and agonizing over his day-to-day morals, is relatively silent about the world to come. But precisely this very silence is a tribute to the awesome concept, taken for granted like the oxygen in the atmosphere. No elaborate apologia, no complex abstractions are necessary. The Bible, which records the sacred dialogue between G‑d and man, surely must be founded on the soul’s eternal existence. It was not a matter of debate, as it became later in history when whole movements interpreted scripture with slavish literalism and could not find the afterlife crystallized in letters and words, or later, when philosophers began to apply the yardstick of rationalism to man’s every hope and idea, and sought empirical proof for this conviction of the soul. It was a fundamental creed, always present, though rarely articulated.
If the soul is immortal, then death cannot be considered a final act. If the life of the soul is to be continued, then death, however bitter, is deprived of its treacherous power of casting mourners into a lifetime of agonizing hopelessness over an irretrievable loss. Terrible though it is, death is a threshold to a new world—the “world to come.”

A Parable

An imaginative and telling analogy that conveys the hope and confidence in the afterlife, even though this hope must be refracted through the prism of death, is the tale of twins awaiting birth in the mother’s womb. It was created by a contemporary Israeli rabbi, the late Y. M. Tuckachinsky.
Imagine twins growing peacefully in the warmth of the womb. Their mouths are closed, and they are being fed via the navel. Their lives are serene. The whole world, to these brothers, is the interior of the womb. Who could conceive anything larger, better, more comfortable? They begin to wonder: “We are getting lower and lower. Surely, if it continues, we will exit one day. What will happen after we exit?”
Now the first infant is a believer. He is heir to a religious tradition which tells him that there will be a “new life” after this wet and warm existence of the womb. A strange belief, seemingly without foundation, but one to which he holds fast. The second infant is a thoroughgoing skeptic. Mere stories do not deceive him. He believes only in that which can be demonstrated. He is enlightened, and tolerates no idle conjecture. What is not within one’s experience can have no basis in one’s imagination.
Says the faithful brother: “After our ‘death’ here, there will be a new and great world. We will eat through the mouth! We will see great distances, and we will hear through the ears on the sides of our heads. Why, our feet will be straightened! And our heads will be up and free, rather than down and boxed in!”
Replies the skeptic: “Nonsense. You’re straining your imagination again. There is no foundation for this belief. It is only your survival instinct, an elaborate defense mechanism, a historically conditioned subterfuge. You are looking for something to calm your fear of ‘death.’ There is only this world. There is no world to come!”
“Well, then,” asks the first, “what do you say it will be like?”
The second brother snappily replies with all the assurance of the slightly knowledgeable: “We will go with a bang. Our world will collapse and we will sink into oblivion. No more. Nothing. Black void. An end to consciousness. Forgotten. This may not be a comforting thought, but it is a logical one.”
Suddenly, the water inside the womb bursts. The womb convulses. Upheaval. Turmoil. Writhing. Everything lets loose. Then a mysterious pounding—a crushing, staccato pounding. Faster, faster, lower, lower.
The believing brother exits. Tearing himself from the womb, he falls outward. The second brother shrieks, startled by the “accident” befallen his brother. He bewails and bemoans the tragedy—the death of a perfectly fine fellow. Why? Why? Why didn’t he take better care? Why did he fall into that terrible abyss?
As he thus laments, he hears a head-splitting cry, and a great tumult from the black abyss, and he trembles: “Oh my! What a horrible end! As I predicted!”
Meanwhile as the skeptic brother mourns, his “dead” brother has been born into the “new” world. The head-splitting cry is a sign of health and vigor, and the tumult is really a chorus of mazel tovs sounded by the waiting family thanking G‑d for the birth of a healthy son.
Indeed, in the words of a contemporary thinker, man comes from the darkness of the “not yet,” and proceeds to the darkness of the “no more.” While it is difficult to imagine the “not yet,” it is more difficult to picture the “no more.”
As we separate and “die” from the womb, only to be born to life, so we separate and die from our world, only to be reborn to life eternal. The exit from the womb is the birth of the body. The exit from the body is the birth of the soul. As the womb requires a gestation period of nine months, the world requires a residence of 70 or 80 years. As the womb is a prozdor, an anteroom preparatory to life, so our present existence is a prozdor to the world beyond.

Tanya Chapter Lamed Bet (32)

Acting on the suggestion mentioned above— to view one's body with scorn and contempt, and finding joy only in the joy of the soul alone— is a direct and easy way to attain the fulfillment of the commandment "Thou shalt love thy fellow as thyself" toward every soul of Israel, both great and small. This is the love even for a Jewish Criminal who even if he is guilty, he has a DIVINE Soul inside of him and we must bring that out over the mundane body of the criminal. – An idea from M. M. Schneerson!
For, whereas one despises and loathes one's body, while as for the soul and spirit, who can know their greatness and excellence in their root and source in the living G-d? Being, moreover, all of a kind and all having one Father— therefore, all Israelites are called real brothers by virtue of the source of their souls in the One G-d; only the bodies are separated. Hence in the case of those who give major consideration to their bodies while regarding their souls as of secondary importance, there can be no true love and brotherhood among them, but only [a love] which is dependent on a [transitory] thing. In this illusional world, we see the soul as separated from Am Yisrael and Am Yisrael from HASHEM while in the highest levels of the next world there is a direct connection between our FATHER IN HEAVEN and the NEFESH ELOKIM in us. Somewhere down deep in the most anti-religious member of the Knesset there is a pin point of Yiddishkeit buried deep down in the physical body. 
This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said in regard to the fulfillment of this commandment, "This is the whole Torah, whilst the rest is but commentary," and so on. For the basis and root of the entire Torah are to raise and exalt the soul high above the body, reaching unto the Source and Root of all the worlds, and also to bring down the blessed light of the En Sof upon the community of Israel, as will be explained later, i.e. into the fountain-head of the souls of all Israel, to become "One into One." This is impossible if there is, G-d forbid, disunity among the souls, for the Holy One, blessed be He, does not dwell in an imperfect place, as we pray: "Bless us, O our Father, all of us together, with the light of Thy countenance," as has been explained at great length elsewhere.
As for the Talmudic statement to the effect that one who sees his friend sinning should hate him and should tell his teacher to hate him also, this applies to a companion in Torah and precepts, having already applied to him the injunction, "Thou shalt repeatedly rebuke thy friend (amitecha)" meaning "Him who is with thee in Torah and precepts," and who, nevertheless, has not repented of his sin, as stated in Sefer Charedim. [I have not gained clarification if this person stole from you, besmirched your character or if you are a woman has abused you how the victim can love such a person – for up until now I have written about a neutral Jew who can love a criminal but a victim who has financial, physical wounds or psychological damage, I cannot see forgiveness coming so soon. See below for the answer.]
But as for the person who is not one's colleague and is not on intimate terms with him, Hillel the Elder said, "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving the creatures and drawing them near to the Torah." This means that even in the case of those who are removed from G-d's Torah and His service, and are therefore classified simply as "creatures," one must attract them with strong cords of love, perchance one might succeed in drawing them near to the Torah and Divine service. Even if one fails, one has not forfeited the merit of the precept of neighborly love. Again this is good for a Jew to his fellow if he is neutral. However, the recent case of the boy, now a man, who murdered in Maryland and fled to Israel and was serving a life sentence here and snuck a gun into his cell and shot four or more guards before being killed, I am sure that the family of the victim and the guard with head wounds who just woke up after a month cannot love such a person. 
Even with regard to those who are close to him, and whom he has rebuked, yet they had not repented of their sins, when he is enjoined to hate them, there still remains the duty to love them also, and both are right: hatred, because of the wickedness in them; and love on account of the aspect of the hidden good in them, which is the Divine spark in them, which animates their divine soul. This clarification was necessary for the victim for one who has suffered a financial loss, embarrassment, physical or psychological abuse can hate the person if it was done for personal gain. However, if a parent out of love did some misguided action towards his child, that is not the physical or psychological abuse that I am talking about for that was Shogeg (accidental) and not Mayzid (with intent). He should also awaken pity in his heart for [the divine soul], for she is held captive, as it were, in the evil of the sitra achra that triumphs over her in wicked people. Compassion destroys hatred and awakens love, as is known from the [interpretation of the] text, "To [the house of] Jacob who redeemed Abraham."
(As for King David, peace unto him, who said, "I hate them with a consummate hatred," he was referring to [Jewish] heretics and atheists who have no portion in the G-d of Israel, as stated in the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, beginning of ch.16).

 

We put the soul over the body and use the body as a vehicle for keeping the soul in this world to raise the spiritual level and work here for as long as possible at that. I want to thank the Rav of my local Chabad, Barak Kokavi Shlita for his lecture on this this and how he goes once a week to the airport to try to bring people to lighting Shabbos Candles and give them Shabbos times for outside of Israel. He works hard all day and once a week gives up his sleep to try out of love to bring another Jew to Torah.

Kosher meat is grass fed I don’t know what stuff non-kosher beef eats: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581918/Meat-cattle-slaughtered-cruel-kosher-ceremony-high-street-burger.html

Moderate modern Orthodox are also under attack not just the Charedi Yeshivos: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178481#.UyJvOG5WHIU

From Kosher Kulture Foundation: Shabbos saves a non-religious Jew: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/shabbat-saved-a-jew-from-the-malaysia-airlines-death-flight/2014/03/11/

If you think that only the Spanish, Portuguese, French, English and other Jews were the only ones with problems then think again Prague was a hot bed for blood libels and in Vienna: http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/this-day-in-jewish-history/.premium-1.579183

Blessed be the true Judge, I met this man who joined the first Mitnachelim as I was one of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Har-Zion

The graves of Mordechai and Esther thanks to Joel: http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/purim-treat-virtual-tour-of-grave-of.html

Ed Op: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4498640,00.html

This behavior by the woman may not be in line with Orthodox Judaism but this behavior by the Rabbinute goes against Hillel the Elder and we give certain allowances to Baalei Teshuva and Gerim in their adjustment: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Israeli-reality-TV-star-given-choice-Either-quit-acting-or-no-conversion-to-Judaism-345595

More injuries from giant firecrackers not the little ones I had as a child (without my parent’s knowledge): http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178597#.UydNdZtWHIU

Did this murderer also murder a soldier? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4500190,00.html

Inyanay Diyoma

I do not know if it was over 90 or about 100 rockets in a day but if NJ (larger than Israel) was attacked then the US would not bomb only a few targets. Last night we bombed 7 more targets. Our intelligence is working quite well and if the Jihad cried uncle after 30 some odd direct hits that was good but still their uncle cries could not be trusted. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4498956,00.html

You go against the Torah and you get rockets and it says in the Torah “The L-RD will come against you in Kerry” (Kerry is a Hebrew word in my ‘by chance’) http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-says-Netanyahu-wrong-to-insist-Palestinians-recognize-Israel-as-Jewish-state-345341

Rabbi David Lau Shlita tours the Negev (He was a Major in the IDF Rabbinute) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178508#.UyMLhZtWHIU

IDF and Hezballah exchange fire: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178510#.UySA7ptWHIU

Amalek terrorist who only murdered 8 Israelis dies in bomb work related accident: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4499254,00.html

This is not quite the truth: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4499287,00.html

Iran claims: http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Iranian-intelligence-thwarts-sabotage-attempt-at-nuclear-site-official-says-345437

Donald Trump stated that the number of people who gave up looking for work or went to food stamps gives us about 22% unemployment and there is more fudge and fiddling with the statistics: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304250204579433442474053878?mod=hp_opinion&mg=reno64-wsj

The article has the date off by a year: http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/allen-west-speaks-out-on-democrats-strategic-mistake-in-targeting-allen-west-12305/#geWuE3kozMHM9G6Q.99

Background:   The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located about 25 mi from Carlsbad, NM, stores highly radioactive nuclear waste about 1/2 mile underground in naturally occurring salt rock strata.  On Valentine's Day, apparently a huge chunk of the salt roof fell on numerous canisters holding the nuclear waste, crushing them, releasing radiation which goes out of the above-ground vents.  At least 13 workers at the site have been contaminated with Plutonium.  Plutonium exposure is extremely deadly, and unless a miracle occurs, they will all eventually die of radiation exposure.  The radiation plume goes near Dallas-Ft. Worth, and is approaching Little Rock and Wichita (see attachment).   Santa Fe is to the north. 

 This WIPP site is still spewing radiation and the gov't is not releasing much information, similar to what the government does regarding Fukushima.   The Southwest will be contaminated for years to come.   The site is still spewing radiation today.   Plutonium is very nasty stuff.  Anyone living in northern Texas and areas that could be affected by the radiation plume should be very concerned.  See http://enenews.com/gundersen-wipp-whistleblowers-say-mine-collapsed-directly-on-highly-radioactive-waste-many-canisters-may-have-failed-unfiltered-radioactive-contamination-escaped-for-at-least-30-minutes

    Meanwhile,  Fukushima, with THREE nuclear generator meltdowns, continues to spew massive amounts of radiation into the air and Pacific. There are no plans to cap the destroyed reactors, (unlike what they did with Chernobyl within 6 months).  It has now been 3 years since the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami which knocked out Fukushima's cooling systems leading to the disastrous meltdowns.  - Ben  

Brilliant you got rid of a dictator 4 dead Americans and now got Al Qaeda: http://debka.com/article/23766/US-Seals-seize-runaway-North-Korean-flagged-tanker-to-recover-Libyan-oil-cargo

From ORNIT: http://www.tlvfaces.com/dirty-jew-go-home-israel-jewish-girl-france-attacked-arab-mother-daughter/

Arabs planning cyber-attacks on April 7: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178596#.UydOQptWHIU

On Tuesday, I woke up to some very exciting news about the creation of the world. Radio Astronomers from Harvard stationed in Antarctica have found out the signals indicating the high speed explosion of the Big Bang aka "Let there be light”! http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/17/major-discovery-smoking-gun-for-big-bang-expansion-found/?intcmp=features If you read my rabbipauli.blogspot.com the past 3 or 4 years on Beresheis you have seen a combination of science and Kabbalah. This news is exciting for me. http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/And-the-Lord-said-let-there-be-a-Big-Bang-345752

The bomb is quicker than the eye: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Mar-18/250588-iran-six-powers-seek-nuclear-progress-in-shadow-of-ukraine-crisis.ashx?src=iPhone#axzz2wJ2CNMmj

Internal revolt in the CIA: http://debka.com/article/23769/Chief-of-CIA-division-for-spying-on-Iran-is-suspended-over-internal-mutiny-

The religion of peace who have in the Koran Yeshu as a prophet love Christians on the grill and we Jews: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178624#.Uygg15tWHIU

If Obama thinks he can be a pussy cat then the lion of Judah will roar: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178623#.UygiOptWHIU

Where I patrolled the border - One soldier in serious to critical condition and 3 others either moderate or light injuries: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4500477,00.html

Ed-op from Martin Sherman of the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-The-bitter-fruits-of-Bibis-Bar-Ilan-blunder-345336

In the Yom Kippur War, Assad sent some frog rockets or missiles into Kibbutzim causing a lot of damage. A day or two later, the IAF sent him a message directly through an open window in the Syrian Defense Ministry Building that missiles that we will not tolerate this and he got the message. Recently the son released Hezballah to attack our border and yesterday we replied tit for tat but last night the IAF hit the area command post which faces the ‘good’ Sunni forces and not Al Qaeda. We will see if the eye Dr. has vision correction like his father: http://mail.aol.com/38442-111/aol-6/en-us/Suite.aspx Assad talks back but talk is cheap: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4500735,00.html

Putin gives the most acrimonious speech from Russia since WWII. http://debka.com/article/23773/After-a-harshly-anti-American-speech-to-Russian-parliament-Putin-signed-the-Crimean-treaty

Family claims that he was only picking flowers well now he will push up daisies: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178662#.UymfdptWHIU

Seeking a one state solution: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4500850,00.html

Remember Mr. Softie Soft Ice Cream: IDF Defense Minister Yaalon in a forum before students mentioned that because a certain country is not giving backing to Japan against China or the Ukraine against Russia that Israel might have to go it alone against Iran and the Chief of Staff mentioned that Israel had Farsi Speaking Soldiers operating in Iran. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178692#.UyqDPZtWHIU

We will retake Gaza if necessary and a few times I was in the back up force for clandestine operations 34 years ago: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178688#.UyqfHZtWHIU                                      

                                                                           

Remember Aharon Karov wounded in Gaza the day after his wedding from Naftali Bennett: Please meet and share with others, who the Hesder Yeshiva fighters really are.
The story of Lieutenant Tamir Movshowitz who got married, went to the front lines and was just wounded. Image: Pictured with his wife and the Prime Minister. After months of vicious attacks by Knesset members and members of the media, who have never seen a stretcher or put up a tent, the Hesder Yeshiva fighters, teach us what love for this country really means: Lieutenant Tamir Movshowitz got married, had a few days of vacation after the wedding, not exactly your idea of a real Honeymoon, came back from vacation, and after three hours was wounded on the Syrian border. Lieutenant Tamir Movshowitz, age 24, is a deputy platoon commander who lives in Chashmonayim. Tamir is a Hesder Yeshiva graduate. The nation of Israel thanks you for your combat service for our country. Tamir, you and your friends are living proof that you can combine Torah study with combat military service. We love you! The soldier wounded in Gaza was named Aron Karov. It was 10 days after his wedding. He returned to Gaza during sheva brachot. My son Yair Schrader, who was also a newlywed  was wounded with him, along with another Chayal, Nechemya, who was also a newlywed. All were Hesder Yeshiva students.-Chevi Schrader

 

Assad is playing with fire and most likely will get burned in the end. http://debka.com/article/23778/Al-Qaeda-Iraq-infiltrates-Golan-as-well-as-Sinai-plots-twin-attacks

I had my picture taken with the original Lavi this is our new training jet: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178718#.UytJVptWHIU

A miracle in our favor - Kidnapping tunnel from Gaza uncovered by the weather: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4501741,00.html

Iranian Jews murdered trying to escape: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/178727#.UywLa5tWHIU

Now for M. Wolfberg’s Good Shabbos Story (a repeat?) “Just Jew it” and “So-sure”

Good Shabbos Everyone.  This week's Parsha begins with the word Tzav. Rashi explains that "Tzav" indicates "zerizus" - alacrity. Alacrity - moving quickly and with enthusiasm- is an important aspect of serving Hashem. Because, one who does mitzvahs with an eagerness, will be able to do more mitzvahs and do the mitzvahs more completely. The following story illustrates the power of doing Mitzvahs with enthusiasm.
         Every Friday evening, just before sunset, Monica stared longingly at the parade that passed by the window of her home in Bat Yam. Everyone was going the same way – to shul. She saw fathers, in their best suits, along with sons, neat and clean, with shirttails firmly tucked in. Some were accompanied by freshly-scrubbed little girls wearing party dresses, and teenage daughters conscious of their new dignity as young women. The stores were closed, and traffic had dwindled. During this peaceful, weekly hush, Monica would step out outside and greet the people in the parade. "Shabbat Shalom! Shabbat Shalom!" she said to each one, beaming because she always received an answer.
         Soon after she was done wishing everyone "Shabbat Shalom" She herself also joined the festive march to shul. As the sun sank, Monica drank in the singing that poured out from the brightly-lit synagogue as the congregation welcomed the Sabbath. Then she would go home where she encountered a completely different atmosphere. Her parents were totally secular, so when she asked for a white tablecloth and Shabbos candles, her request was met with great surprise.
         Her mother had been raised by parents who severed their connection with the past. No trace of Judaism “sullied” their home. They had even opted to send their daughter to a convent school in Jaffa. As a result, even if Monica's mother had wanted to guide her daughter towards Judaism, she was completely ignorant of her heritage. Monica's father, too, was surprised by his daughter's request. To him, Shabbos was just another day of the week.
         One Friday night, surprised by her own daring, she knocked on the door of a Yemenite family which she had regularly wished "Shabbat Shalom."  "May I see the Shabbos?"  she asked.  The cordial Yemenites welcomed her into their dining room, where her eyes lit up at the sight of the beautifully set table. The Shabbos candles glowed peacefully as she listened to kiddush, and then enjoyed a sip of the sweet wine. She thanked her hosts and left, but did not go home.
         Instead she took a walk, for she felt as if she were in a different world. Not heeding to where she was going, Monica wound up in Bat Yam's Kiryat Bobov, a religious neighborhood comprised exclusively of Bobover Chassidim. The streets were empty and silent, but joyous singing resounded from each house she passed. From one dwelling came a particularly beautiful melody sung with enchanting harmonies.
         Like metal drawn to a magnet, Monica was pulled to the door. She knocked timidly, but with a great thirst in her soul. "May I please join you for your Shabbos meal?" A smiling Chassid led her to the table, where she was seated among several other young girls.
         Needless to say, Monica soon added to her weekly routine. She bought a small set of candlesticks with money she had saved from her allowance. Every Friday afternoon, before she went out to greet the families on their way to evening services, she would light her Shabbos candles. Once out on the street, she would remain there waiting for her Yemenite neighbors, to hear kiddush as she had that first, daring evening. Then she would set off for her Chassidic friends in Kiryat Bobov to join them for the Sabbath meal.
         Monica’s parents weren’t disturbed by the Shabbos routine. “It’s just the fleeting fancy of a little girl," they thought. "When she reaches her teens, she’ll forget it." The years went by. When Monica asked to attend a religious high school, her parents refused. She begged, pleaded and wept, but without success. She even arranged for rabbis to visit her parents, to outline the curriculum of the school she wished to attend. Her parents remained adamant. No school with even the slightest hint of religion was acceptable to them. They enrolled her in the nearby secular high school, but Monica refused to give up. She continued to attend lectures on Torah. She joined a group that studied Pirkei Avos, and continued as usual with her Shabbos routine. Clearly, her school environment was the antithesis of her real interests in life.
         Little by little, Monica became more and more observant, despite her parents' opposition.  She met a young man Dani, who was not so observant himself.  After Dani attended an Arachim Seminar, he became closer to Torah and Mitzvahs.  Monica and Dani were married and Dani served in the Israeli Navy in Haifa.   Soon, Dani and Monica were living a fully Torah observant lifestyle together.
         When Dani's tour of duty in Haifa ended, he was offered a position with a navy project in central Israel, enabling the couple to move to Kiryat Sefer. "Everyone is religious here," says Monica. Dani replies, "Isn't this what you wanted?" She looks at him and answers, "When I was very young, I would dream that one day I would hear the knock of a timid, little girl at my door, asking, 'May I come in and see the Shabbos?'"  Good Shabbos Everyone.

Good Shabbos Everyone. In 1945, after World War II, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe came to Budapest Hungary, to comfort the countless Jews who had lost their families, friends, and possessions as the result of the horrible war. As the Rebbe made his way around the city, a group of young Holocaust survivors approached him.
        With great sincerity and heartache, the Jewish men told the Rebbe that they felt guilty for having eaten non-kosher food throughout their time in the camps. "Perhaps we should have been stronger," said one of the young men with remorse. "Perhaps we could have survived without eating the food from their kitchens. What should we do to repent for our sins?"
        The Rebbe was touched by their sincerity. He was quiet for a few moments and then he began to cry. He took the hand of one of the young men and clasped it warmly in his own hands. "The only reason you and your friends ate the treifah (non-kosher) food was so that you should survive, is that not so?" The young man nodded yes.
        "Surely the reason you felt you had to eat the food was because of the commandment "And you shall live by them [the commandments] (Leviticus 18:5)," said the Rebbe. Again the young man nodded. (The Torah commands us to violate all but three types of mitzvahs in order to save a life.)
        "The Germans did not give anyone a morsel of food more than what they needed for survival," said the Rebbe. "Thus in fulfilling the commandment [of saving your lives], you fulfilled it to the exact specifications required in Halachah (Jewish Law). In Heaven you will be rewarded in full measure for your observance of this sacred mitzvah." "I only wish," cried the Rebbe, "that the eating and drinking that I do for the purposes of a mitzvah (such as eating matzoh on Pesach) should be as perfect and as holy as your eating was!" (R. P. Krohn)
        We read about the importance of kosher eating in our Torah portion this week Shmini . The Torah describes in great detail the animals and the types of fish and birds we may and may not eat. Rashi explains that Hashem prescribed a special diet of kosher food for the Jews, so that we maintain our holy status. Non-kosher food clogs the spiritual arteries of a Jew, making it difficult for holiness to circulate. We are the Special Nation, so we have a special diet.
        The following amazing true story illustrates the power of kosher food to open up our hearts to spiritual growth and happiness. The Weinberg family lives in Nevada, where although there are many Jews, most of them have not yet been introduced to traditional Judaism. Like their neighbors, the Weinberg family had little connection with Torah true Judaism. All of this changed as the result of an incredible twist of circumstances.
        Several years ago, the Weinbergs had a baby boy. Early on, the Weinbergs noticed that the boy often had trouble breathing. After the condition continued, the Weinbergs brought their boy to a doctor. The doctor was perplexed; he did not know what to prescribe for the boy. The parents turned to specialists. After a battery of tests they too were dumbfounded. Several treatments were tried but none worked. The Weinbergs never gave up hope, however, that their son would somehow fully recover and be a normal healthy boy.
        After several thousands of dollars and many tears, the Weinbergs realized that they had exhausted all traditional avenues of medical treatment. With nowhere else to turn and nothing to lose, the Weinbergs turned to alternative medicine. As the name suggests, alternative medicine is an approach in medicine, which uses non-traditional ways to treat and cure illnesses.
        The Weinbergs had no idea what they were in for when they brought their boy in for treatment by an alternative medicine practitioner. The clinic suggested a very unusual treatment, a treatment which the Weinbergs had never expected: The Wienbergs should feed their boy kosher meat! The Weinbergs had never kept kosher before, and they had never seen the importance of eating kosher meat. Yet, they had tried everything else, so they were willing to try kosher meat.
        The Weinbergs were instructed to buy real kosher meat; Hebrew National would not do. Where would the Weinbergs find kosher meat in the middle of the desert? Enter Chabad Lubavitch… The Weinbergs turned to Chabad to ask them where they could find kosher meat.
        Soon after, the Weinbergs began giving their son only kosher meat. The results were miraculous! The condition in the lungs of the boy cleared up! The doctors called it a medical miracle. They had never seen such success.
        The Weinbergs were overjoyed by the newfound good health of their boy. They were very grateful to Chabad for helping then buy kosher meat. The Lubavitcher Chassidim had been so friendly and supportive during the trauma that the Weinbergs experienced. Little by little, the Weinbergs found themselves pulled to traditional Judaism. Led by Mrs. Weinberg, the Weinberg family began to learn about the beauty of Shabbos, kosher eating, Torah learning and spirituality. In order to be closer to the Chabad shul so that they could walk to shul on Shabbos, the Weinbergs sold their home and bought a new home closer to the shul. As we read these words, the Weinbergs are growing more and more in their Torah observance. Today they recognize that it was the kosher meat which opened up their hearts and souls to be able to feel the holiness of traditional Judaism. (as heard from R.Wolfberg, names and some details have been changed)
        Although we really do not know the reason why we must eat kosher, our souls definitely feel the difference. Hashem created the Universe and all that is in it. He gave the Jews the unique job of maintaining the spiritual guard over the world. In order best to be able to carry out our Holy mission in life, we must eat the right foods. Kosher eating is the special diet for the Special Nation. Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta  Refuah Shleima to Leah bas Tziporah

A good Shabbos to all and remember the earlier Pessach Cleaning and Shopping leads to a more relaxed atmosphere at home the last few days before Pessach,

Rachamim Pauli