Pessach
is coming April 10th to 18th was a notification on my
Chabad Parsha and Rashi this week. When we start reading Parsha HaChodesh this
week, it is basically two weeks to Pessach. This entails shopping, cleaning and
everything. If you have not started cleaning. With the exception of sticky
fingers of children, dirty window glass is not Chametz (leaven) so skip it and
return when the Chametz is cleaned. We must clean only where Chametz can be
found. A clean house and to some a painted house is wonderful but I am concerned
with Kashrus. In shopping one must be careful for some Ashkenazim eat peanuts
like Chabad and Rav Moshe Feinstein ZTZAL did and Satmar and others do not.
American Maize (Corn) by most
Ashkenazim is considered Kitniyos (that can be made into flour and mistaken with
the 5 species of grain that leaven). However, this is a mistaken concept as it
was unknown before America was discovered. It is also the main staple of the USA
as rice is to China, India, Iraq and Iran. Rav Moshe permitted all the oils from
the Kitniyos even if the item was customary not to eat the item such as cotton
seed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, etc.
I
was discussing with a guest at my afternoon Shabbos Table how a person trying to
force their custom on others turns off people to Orthodoxy. When I was a new
Baal Teshuva, I got mixed up with the no wetting of Matzos and my own family
custom of making Matzo ball soup. It was unclear to me where the Halacha began
and the Minchag began. The whole Glatt Kosher business started in the late
5720’s aka 1960’s and up until then the Rabbi giving the Heckshir was good
enough except for some Hungarian Satmar types and certain Tzaddikim. The Gaon
from Vilna did not eat Glatt Kosher. I have been told by Rabbi Yona Gewirtz that
there is not enough real Glatt to go around and some people who dress holier
than Rabbi Gewirtz and I are passing off Stam Kosher, but kosher as Glatt.
Unfortunately, the Yetzer Ha Business and Good Gelt (money in Yiddish) take
precedent over the Truth. Just try to follow the reliable Rabbis and Hechsherim
and you should be OK.
The following names from my prayer list I have no idea who sent me
them or if they still need prayers. The names will be removed if I do not get a
further request: Melech David ben Sulah Pearla, Aharon Zvi ben Chaya Perel, Dov
Ber Meyer ben Glicka.
Parshiyos Yayakhel-Pekudei
35:1 And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of
Israel, and said unto them: 'These are the words which the LORD hath commanded,
that ye should do them.
Moses
called… to assemble: Heb. וַיַּקְהֵל.
[He assembled them] on the day after Yom Kippur, when he came down from the
mountain. This [word] is a hiph’il [causative] expression [i.e., causing someone
to do something], because one does not assemble people with [one’s] hands [i.e.,
directly], but they are assembled through one’s speech. Its Aramaic translation
is וְאַכְנֵשׁ.
Question
what is the starting point and the most important on the list from HASHEM of
things to do and observe?
2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall
be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever doeth any
work therein shall be put to death.
The
answer to the question that I posed in the last Pasuk is Yom Shabbos Kodesh. For
it is the conclusion of the creation of the universe. Mankind is the last
physical creation and the creation of Shabbos ends the whole purpose of creation
and a gift to mankind.
3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the
Sabbath day.'
Of
the 39 Av Melachos (categories of Shabbos type of work done in the Mishkan aka
Tabernacle) this is the only one mentioned specifically. As I wrote in the past,
electricity is a question if it is of fire from a spark going from the conductor
to the receptor or if it is from building as a completion of a circuit. In the
hospitals today in Israel, a solid state device is attached to a power supply
and wheeled from patient to patient and can access records via the wifi
technology and is permitted. Cyber-threats and defense in the military are as
needed maybe even more so than my old border patrol in a half-track which is
outdated by an APC with anti-tank missile defense. Things are changing at a
tremendous speed in the technology world and Rabbis have to be up to
date.
[An
aside note: I have seen a Beit Din rule wrongly based on an auto-mechanic
instead of an engineer regarding a man who burned out the hand-brakes while the
regular brakes failed on the car. This was done as the mechanic and they did not
know the engineering aspect of the brake system. – All the more so when a Korban
Chatas (sin offering) is involved on Shabbos violation by Shogeg (accident) and
Kores (cutting off from the nation in the next world and possibly dying early or
without children in this world) or the death penalty by Mayzid (with intent and
witnesses)].
These
three Pasukim sum up the importance of Shabbos observance unto the L-RD G-D our
creator. I BEG THOSE WHO LIVED ALL THEIR LIVES WITHOUT OBSERVANCE FOR THE SAKE
OF BOTH AM YISRAEL AND OUR REDEMPTION AND THEIR HOLY SOUL TO GRADUALLY START
OBSERVING SHABBOS. Going “COLD TURKEY” on Melachos does not work and I have seen
too many failures based on this. Stage one no writing and erasing on Shabbos and
reading a good book on Torah or what you like instead of the internet. The world
will not be destroyed if you wait 25 hours from Shabbos to a full Motzei Shabbos
to see a text, application or message. Shutting down the cell-phone and land
phone is done also over time. If one is addicted to a TV program one can DVR it
but should avoid a different series as he or she observes Shabbos. Not driving
or traveling is next. Until we work on carrying from a private domain to a
public domain (some cities have the Eruv which allows carrying and using baby
strollers {prams in the UK} in a certain area.) I cannot advise people on a
general basis and the same goes for Kashrus to take things slow like avoiding
all non-kosher animals and fish and then moving over to animals that are
slaughtered kosher. It took me in a non-religious household with little to no
guidance or a community two years so if one is part of a community and with
guidance and reinforcement it might take only six months to a year. The main
thing is giving it a good try. AND IF ONE FAULTERS DO NOT GIVE UP BUT KEEP
TRYING AS WITH PATIENCE AND PRACTICE IT WILL COME!
4 And Moses spoke unto all the congregation of the children of
Israel, saying: 'This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying: 5 Take ye
from among you an offering unto the LORD, whosoever is of a willing heart, let
him bring it, the LORD'S offering: gold, and silver, and brass; 6 and blue, and
purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair; 7 and rams' skins dyed
red, and giraffe-skins, and acacia-wood; 8 and oil for the light, and spices for
the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense; 9 and onyx stones, and stones to
be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
This
is a financial sacrifice and given from the heart is similar to any Korban but
this sacrifice is also psychological for a man to give of his gold, silver,
money, cloth is on a high level. Still it is not the same as giving oneself as
in Kashrus and Shabbos Kodesh.
…22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were
willing-hearted, and brought nose-rings, and ear-rings, and signet-rings, and
girdles, all jewels of gold; even every man that brought an offering of gold
unto the LORD. 23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and
giraffe-skins,
brought them. 24 Every one that did set apart an offering of silver and brass
brought the LORD'S offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia-wood for
any work of the service, brought it.
This
shows the love of Am Yisrael for HASHEM. Also as we see people volunteered their
knowledge and skill in a labor of love to build the
Mishkan.
…25 And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their
hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the
scarlet, and the fine linen. 26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in
wisdom spun the goats' hair. 27 And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the
stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; 28 and the spice, and
the oil, for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 29
The children of Israel brought a freewill-offering unto the LORD; every man and
woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD
had commanded by the hand of Moses to be made.
The
rest of work was done or supervised by the two master craftsmen mentioned
below.
30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel: 'See, the LORD hath
called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 31
And He hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and
in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. 32 And to devise skillful works,
to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 33 and in cutting of stones for
setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skilful workmanship.
34 And He hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son
of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 Them hath He filled with wisdom of heart,
to work all manner of workmanship, of the craftsman, and of the skillful
workman, and of the weaver in colors, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in
fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any workmanship, and of
those that devise skillful works.
Moshe
gave the commands after coming down from the mountain on Yom Kippur and the
commands were given on the 11th of Tishrei. It took quite a while for
the work to be done and then the preparations for the Mishkan. Finally, on the
first of Nissan, the dedication of the Mishkan took
place.
39:43 And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it;
as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it. And Moses blessed
them.
For
the Mishkan was completed in or by Adar and then we see the
following.
40:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 'On the first day of
the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. …33 And he reared up the court round about the
tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So
Moses finished the work.
Once
the Mishkan was complete the Shechina rested upon it.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of
the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent
of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled
the tabernacle. 36 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle,
the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys. 37 But if the
cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken
up.
Am
Yisrael had a special relationship with the L-RD that there was a cloud during
the day and fire or a light that came forth by night for 40
years.
38 For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and
there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel,
throughout all their journeys.
Chazak
– Chazak v’ nit Chazak
Parsha HaChodesh
12:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
saying: 2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the
first month of the year to you.
This
Parsha is read either before or on Rosh Chodesh Nissan to remind us of the
Pessach (Korban in the Temple times). Today we have no Mikdash, but we do have
the Pessach Seder which as not departed out of our people for the 3329 years
since the original Yetzias Mitzrayim when the first born children of Egypt
died.
There
is a fifth son not at the Pessach Seder and that is what I was some 60 years
ago. The boy that is so far assimilated and his parents too that no Pessach is
observed in the house. It was my fourth generation Reform Jew that my mother’s
father who insisted that I make a Reform Bar Mitzvah (which I didn’t) but it was
60 years ago that I reintroduced the Seder into our house with a Reform Haggada.
I had no sense of Halacha but my mother bought for the occasion Gefilte Fish,
Horse Radish, Parsley and lamb. It was a Pessach of a returning Jew from the
desolation of nothingness. There are still a few thousands of lost brethren that
do not even know what Pessach is.
From Gina about the Names of the Torah Books:
https://www.facebook.com/RabbiBrener/videos/1290476427655914/?autoplay_reason=all_page_organic_allowed&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0
From Rav Moshe Steinerman Shlita: When
the Gerrer Rebbe, R' Yitzchak Meir, was a little boy, his mother took him to see
the Maggid of Kozhnitz. There, someone said to him, "Yitzchak Meir, I'll give
you a gulden (like a dollar) if you tell me where God lives!" He replied: "And
I'll give you two gulden if you tell me where He doesn't!" (Excerpt from my next
book)
I saw this advertisement about wasting money and trees instead of
making your own coffee. I saw from a fellow I shall call Steve even though he
writes his name differently about a man who smokes a pack a day talking to a
woman with a luxury car. She asks him how much do you smoke a day. He says a
pack. For how long? He answers so and so many years. She says you see that
$250,000 car below? He replies affirmatively and she says that is what you burnt
up with cigarettes. http://finance.yahoo.com/video/biggest-waste-money-coffee-edition-151631553.html
Many
years ago, Rav Yona Sheba who was married over 55 years advised me on Shalom
Beis. He told me that if his wife wants something, he does not argue with her.
He explains to her the budget and gives her a blank signed check (we have a
joint account so this does not apply). He told if you think it is important to
you buy it. Well this week was our wedding anniversary. Yesterday, she bought a
skirt. Today she wanted to buy a black piece to match the skirt and a black and
white sort of blouse to have sleeves on it making it fancy.
My
wife called me for a Psak Halacha what second piece of black and white she
should buy. I said this one says "It is all mine and this one says it is all
mine" The Halacha is like Shlomo HaMelech divide the time between the two and
buy both. Somehow my wife was happy with my Psak. In the end my wife decided
like Rebbetzin Sheba and bought only one.
Personal disgust at this news item. I worked 27 years in IAI and
many of my friends 40 plus years. To get an advancement on time was next to
impossible for the average worker. But protection was rampant for families of
big shots. The son of Chaim Katz who was the head of the Union and now a
Minister was arrested this week. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227103
Pessach 101 Part 2: http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/3283320/jewish/Lesson-2-Four-Cups-of-Wine.htm
Marry
My Husband http://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=416303643§ion=/ci/s
The author, a prolific writer of children’s books who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, chose an entirely different theme for what she called her Valentine’s Day message to her husband. After 26 years of what she acknowledges as an idyllic marriage, she wanted more than anything else to leave this world with the assurance that the husband she loved so dearly would find another partner worthy of his qualities.
So she wrote a love letter to extol her husband’s unique assets and abilities. She tells us how easy a man he is to fall in love with – because she did it just one day. She praises his gifts as a father; his kindness and compassion; his fantastic skill in the kitchen; his artistic talent; his romantic nature - and with that all his incredible good looks. She shares with us how much she would have loved the next 26 years with him. But since she knows her days are numbered she concludes: “I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.”
It was heart wrenching to read. Even more so, to know that Amy’s death shortly followed. But what I think is the takeaway message from this remarkable story is something that I as a Rabbi have often tried to communicate – a message often difficult to absorb but deeply important in the lives of people forced to cope with the aftermath of tragedy.
Losing a loved one is an experience beyond compare. The Talmud recognized that “a husband chiefly dies only for his wife, a wife only for her husband.” Those who try to offer comfort by claiming they understand the mourner’s pain are untruthful as well as insensitive. The agony of loss for a beloved partner in life simply has no parallel.
And yet Jewish law has a remarkable demand upon the conclusion of the seven-day shiva period. With the close of the intense time of mourning, those who rise from their grief are to step outside and walk around the block – symbolically expressing the idea that life must go on and it is their duty to rejoin the living.
The Torah tells us that when Abraham lost his beloved wife Sarah he eulogized her and he wept over her. He recalled her beauty – both external and internal. He remembered that she was always at his side, when he invited guests to his tent and when he taught the truth of monotheism to nonbelievers. He paid an exorbitant sum to have her buried in the most special place on earth, according to tradition the cave of the final resting place for Adam and Eve.
And then the Torah tells us an amazing follow-up to the story. Abraham remarried. He had more children. Somehow Abraham knew that his life was not meant to be over as long as God gave him more years to live.
It is important to note that Abraham did not consider his subsequent remarriage in any sense a diminution of his previous relationship with the matriarch of our people. Sarah remains forevermore the esteemed and noble figure of our ancestry. But Abraham demonstrated by taking a wife after the loss of the love of his youth that he understood God’s decree from the time of creation that “it is not good for man to remain alone” – that human beings need companionship and that joy can only come about when the world is shared by four eyes rather than two.
I can think of nothing more noble than Amy Rosenthal’s public declaration of her desire for her husband’s happiness, to whatever extent possible, after her demise. Those who were critical of her essay and those who feel that true love ought to exclude the possibility for meaningful existence after its passing should find meaning from the life of Abraham - and keep faith, as Amy Rosenthal did, in life offering different, new and fulfilling blessings.
Death of a loved one should not move survivors to choose personal death as well. Indeed, the greatest gift we owe to those who truly loved us is to find the happiness they would surely have wanted for us.
Inyanay Diyoma
Another Rocket from Gaza # 11 this month with a response:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4936971,00.html
Revised:
The latest Public Opinion Poll shows Netanyahu will beat Lapid and
elections will delay the police investigation against him. So it could be in his
interest to force elections now. He does everything to stay in power and beat
down opposition even in his own party. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937027,00.html
After
the above post, Netanyahu realized that an alternative government could be
formed and a compromise was worked out – the current workers will move mostly to
the new agency and the heads of the new agency will be replaced.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937852,00.html
UN official resigns after anti-Israel comment it is not Obama
anymore with the purse strings! https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/17/top-un-official-resigns-over-pressure-to-withdraw-report-that-accused-israel-of-imposing-apartheid-regime-on-the-palestinians/
Assad is emboldened by Russia: https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/17/israeli-military-analyst-firing-of-missiles-at-iaf-planes-is-indication-of-syrian-president-assads-bolstered-confidence-thanks-to-russian-backing/
Will an alternative government be formed instead of elections? Has
Netanyahu over-played his hand on controlling State Radio and TV.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/226882
The late Akiva Schein of blessed memory used to complain to me
that my reporting on the border situation was like doom and gloom. I just report
how things are and not how HASHEM will help us. Surprise reserve call-up drill
in the south. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937494,00.html
As Lieberman escalates rhetoric, the Syrians also escalate:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937538,00.html
Alex Fishman analyses and finds the winds of war are blowing:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937438,00.html
IAF kills terrorist in Syria. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4937620,00.html
And
he was the Hezballah commander: http://debka.com/article/25972/Hizballah’s-trust-in-Russia-–-strategic-dilemma-for-Israel
Israel-Russia spar over Shiites on the Golan:
http://debka.com/article/25973/Israeli-Russian-clash-over-Hizballah’s-Golan-grab
Second Skylark Drone to fall in a few weeks first in Gaza now on
the Golan: http://debka.com/article/25974/Israeli-drone-crashes-Russia-fails-to-de-escalate
Senator Marco Rubio makes his third visit to Israel.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227056
Woman who joined ISIS gets only 4 years in jail:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4938492,00.html
From May - Combined Defense System tested in real time last
Shabbos with the Syrian Missile: https://www.idfblog.com/2017/03/20/davids-sling-protects-israel/
“Humanitarian Aid” Worker arrested for trying to get satellite
maps of Israel. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227062
What Israel destroyed was a N. Korean Missile shipment. N. Korea
threatens Israel. https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/20/report-pyongyang-military-exports-directly-threaten-israel-latest-arms-convoy-to-hezbollah-struck-by-idf-in-syria-contained-north-korean-missiles/
After the US computer on board travel ban from 13 countries the UK
follows with 6 as terrorism gets more sophisticated. I don’t know why not
Somalia? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4938762,00.html
Obama hold over ruining Israeli-US relations another started
investigating Tom Price and was fired. https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/21/israeli-officials-accuse-obama-holdover-of-straining-the-atmosphere-of-trump-envoys-recent-israel-visit/
Tunnels are threat but not strategic:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4938975,00.html
After Orly Airport in Londonstan attack by lone car rammer-stabber
one women pulled alive from the Thames. Policeman stabbed to death and two
others. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/22/shots-fired-outside-uk-parliament-reports-say.html
Facebook Fascism: http://dianebederman.com/facebook-fascism/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork
Time to use an economic stick to fight dark forces at the UN –
Ed-Op Ben Dror Yemini: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4938377,00.html
Ed-Op Y. Hendel the PM wants elections to save himself from his
promises and investigation: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4939003,00.html
Trump wants building halted outside of blocks:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227152
Iran continues to Harass US Ships:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227158
Tillerson removing ISIS leaders is a matter of time.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227156
Good
Shabbos and clean early and well for Pessach and shop early too. Stay
healthy,
Rachamim
Pauli
