The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Vayeitzei

The Rebbe says:

1. The Torah is not a history book. Every story mentioned in the Torah is written for us to learn from. As we know that from one letter in the Torah our Sages learn out many Halachas (laws)!

This is why the Torah has the name “Torah” and not for example “Chochmah – Wisdom”. Seemingly, since Torah is the wisdom of Hashem it should be called “Chochmah – Wisdom”!? Instead Hashem named it “Torah” from the word Hora’ah meaning lesson. Hashem named the Torah “Torah – Lesson” because every detail in the Torah applies to every Jew in every generation to take a lesson from.

Therefore every Parshah in the Torah has its’ special lessons for each and every one of us.

No Title Yet, But that’s Ok…

Ever read your horoscope? Ever follow what it says? Ever base your life on it? Ever sell your child on E-bay©®™ because of it? No? Why not?

Perhaps you yourself were sold on E-bay©®™ as a child.
Or perhaps you’re one of those conceited individuals that are simply too stubborn or too proud to take advice from someone else. Or perhaps you just simply believe that your fate – despite the penetrating astrological insights of others – isn’t determined by the workings of the zodiac but by the consequences of your actions; that YOU control your destiny. AKA free-choice.

But even if, for whatever reason, that happens to be the case, doesn’t it sometimes seem that there are some things that are just out of your hands? Certain things which seem to have been determined for you, without so much as a telegram consultation? What exactly happened to your choice?

The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Toldos

The Rebbe says:

1. The first verse in this weeks Parshah says “V’Eyleh toldos Yitzchok ben Avraham, Avraham holid es Yitzchak – And these are the children of Yitzchak the son of Avraham, Avraham was the father of Yitzchak”.

2. Q: The question that begs to be asked here is obvious: Why does the verse say that Avraham was the father of Yitzchak after it already told us that Yitzchak was the son of Avraham?!?

3. Answer number 1: Rashi tells us that although the verse already mentioned that Yitzchak was the son of Avraham it still found it necessary to stress that Avraham fathered Yitzchak to tell us something: There were cynics of that generation saying “Avraham is not the father of Yitzchak, really Avimelech the king of the Plishtim is the father. Look, for many years Avraham and Sarah were married and Sarah did not give birth, only now after Sarah was with Avimelech in his palace did she give birth”. Hashems response to this was that He made Yitzchaks facial features exactly like Avrahams and therefore everyone saw without a doubt that Avraham Avinu was really Yitzchaks father. Therefore the verse says “Avraham fathered Yitzchak” to tell us that there was clear evidence that really Avraham Avinu was Yitzchaks father.

The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Chayei Sarah

The Rebbe says:

1. A big part of this week’s Parshah deals with the preparation and actual wedding of our father Yitzchak and our mother Rivkah. This is the first time the Torah clearly tells us about a wedding.

2. To make a long story short:

Avraham Avinu sent his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son Yitzchak in Aram Naharayim, the land of Avraham Avinu’s birth.
Avraham Avinu promises Eliezer that Hashem will send an angel with him to make sure he is successful in his mission. Avraham Avinu even sent Eliezer with a document stating that all his wealth (which was enormous) was now Yitzchak’s so that people would be willing to send their daughter back with Eliezer.

The Weekly Sedra – Chayei Sara – It’s All Good

Rabbi Shimon of Yaroslav lived to a ripe old age. When asked what the secret of his longevity was, he would respond in jest: “When a person is in the habit of complaining about the injustices of life and G-d’s mismanagement of the universe, he is called back to heaven where he is shown the overall scheme of things – how G-d is indeed just and kind. Since I always accept Divine judgment there was never a need to call me back to heaven. Thus my long life.”

The story is told about a student of the renowned Magid of Mezritch who complained that he cannot, for the life of him, comprehend the Talmudic statement that one is obligated to bless G-d for the bad in his life, as he is inclined to do over the good.

The Weekly Sedra – Vayeira – A White Lie

A woman once complained to me that when becoming more observant she had hoped that the struggle with the finer issues of right and wrong – with which she wrestled when she was not as religious – would be eliminated. She had anticipated that the principles and values of our religious belief system would eliminate the onus of having to discern and navigate the fine nuances and gray areas of morality and ethics, but, to her disappointment, it has only become more complicated.

Now that she had become more familiar with Torah and Jewish law, she was more sensitized to higher levels of morality, as well as many new Divine rights and wrongs. The more lines there are, the more fine lines there are. Fine lines leave room for doubt: “am I on the right side or the wrong side of the line?”

A Llama, a Trumpet, Inspiration and Lots of Other Words…

Once there was a llama. He had a trumpet. And he played his trumpet every day.

Oh, how he loved his trumpet. He was the happiest llama in the world.

But one day he got sick of his trumpet. So he broke it.

No more trumpet. No more happy llama…

(Based on a true story. Sort of.)
——————–
Inspiration: So amazing. So powerful. So transforming. So … fleeting.

We all experience it. And we all lose it.

The Weekly Sedra – Vayeira

This week’s Torah portion opens as G-d appears to comfort Patriarch Abraham just three days after he circumcised himself at the age of 99.

But strangely, instead of being incapacitated by pain and discomfort as would be befitting a 99 year old freshly circumcised man, when he saw three guests approaching his tent Abraham actually ‘left G-d’ and ran to meet them!!

Although the Rabbis learn from this that it is more worthy to take in guests than to greet the presence of G-d it’s really not so clear what happened here!

Start With Your Own Brother – Live and Let Live

Chapter 13 of Genesis, this week’s portion, describes Abraham’s disengagement from his nephew Lot. The background to this development is clear. Both Abraham and Lot have become quite wealthy, their flocks have become numerous; the grazing lands are no longer large enough to meet their needs. Disputes brake out between the shepherds of Abraham and Lot.

So Abraham tells Lot (1): “Let there be no arguments between the two of us or between our shepherds, because, after all, we are brothers.” Abraham suggests that they part ways. “If you go left then I will go right, and if you go right then I will go left.” Immediately agreeing to Abraham’s proposal, Lot chooses the Jordan plain and Abraham settles in the Land of Canaan. They separate.

The story seems straightforward. Yet sensitive, as always, to subtle nuances in the biblical narrative, our sages exposed another dimension to the story.

The Weekly Sedra – Lech Lecha

During his monthly visits to the market in Krakow, a wealthy merchant took note of an extremely pious woman.

The woman; a widow, would huddle near her basket of bread reciting Psalms. She would only lift her eyes from her worn prayer book to sell a roll. After each sale, she would immediately return to the frayed pages that were moistened with teardrops, but not before thanking her customers and showering them with blessings.

The Weekly Sedra – Noach – A Tale of Two Souls

Two nations are in your womb. Two governments will separate from inside you; the upper hand will go from one government to the other.

The Holy One, blessed be He, created two impulses, one good and the other evil.

Like it or not, we are each engaged in a battle against our own set of mean genes. They are wily opponents too. Masters of the visceral, they control through satisfaction, pain, and pleasure.

Destroy man’s desire to sin, our sages tell us, and you would destroy the world.
Not that anyone needs to sin. But one who lacks the desire to sin is not a citizen of this world. And without citizens, who will effect lasting change?

Water, Water Everywhere… So Drink Up!

Disclaimer: readers of the following parsha article, may find the material interestingly different and possibly entertaining. That’s ok.

Face it – you’ve got problems. Who doesn’t? (Unless you really don’t. Then I apologize.) And it’s ok. Most normal breathing, walking, talking, yoga doing, karaoke singing people type persons constantly find themselves in situations that call for a couple less margaritas than usual.

Much of the time, your woefully woeful woes may not even be within your ability to control; what can you do about the sad fact that your pet moth has contracted severe cervical dysthymia? Not much.

Divine Time Management

“I do not expect from you to refrain from sin because of a lack of interest in sin; I want you to abstain from sin because of a lack of time for it.”
— Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kutzk, to his disciples.

“The world says, ‘Time is money.’ I say, ‘Time if life.’”
— Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to my father, Gershon Jacobson in 1985.

Cheating on the Sabbath?

The marvelous invention of the Sabbath — a day in which we put our stressful lives on hold and dedicate every moment to our souls, our loved ones, and our spiritual growth — is introduced in this weeks portion, the opening section of the Bible.

“And G-d saw all that He had made , and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus, the heaven and the earth were completed, and all their array. G-d completed, on the seventh day, His work, which He had done, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He ceased from all His work (1).”

The Weekly Sedra – Bereshis

Most people, even Gentiles, are familiar with the opening sentence of the Torah: “IN THE BEGINNING G-D CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH”

But at first glance it has no practical importance.

What do we care how the world got created. or if it was created at all? In any case it happened thousands (maybe millions!) of years ago! Why can’t the Torah just be like the other religions and say that G-d rewards and punishes whoever doesn’t follow the rules? Who cares how the world got here?

But the teachings of Chassidut and Kabala reveal several vital messages here.

First of all, the Torah is telling us what the world is made of: that the basic element of creation is neither atoms nor quarks of energy or even spirit… all these are themselves creations.

Festival of the Booths

After the miraculous exodus from Egypt the Jewish people wandered in the desert for a period of forty years, during which they lived in temporary booths that provided shelter. It is for this reason that every year, beginning on the fifteenth of the month of Tishrei, we commemorate and relive this experience with a festival named “Sukkot”.

The word “Sukkot” means “booths.” The commandment to “dwell” in a Sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one’s meals there. Many people even study and sleep in the Sukkah booth.

On this festive holiday we are also commanded to acquire the four species, referred to in Hebrew as “arbat haminim”. The four species are a citrus fruit (etrog), palm branch (lulav), myrtle branch (hadas), and willow branch (arava).

A Yom Kippur Thought

A twisted ritual

According to custom, on the morning before Yom Kippur when a thread of divine grace prevails in the world, Jewish people across the world will ritually slaughter a rooster, after having rotated it around their heads while saying: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation; This rooster shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.” The rooster is then slaughtered and its blood is spilled to “sweeten” and subdue the supernal severities. This ritual is known as ‘Kapparot,’ meaning forgiveness, in Hebrew.

One year, Moshe, a local shoemaker, was seen coming to the farm to do ‘Kapparot,’ but instead of buying a rooster, he pulled out two books from his bag, one much larger than the other. He then proceeded to mutter a few words, ceremoniously rotate the books around his head nine times and then toss the books into a fire.

The Weekly Sedra – Haazinu

This coming Shabbat is called Shabbat Tshuva the ‘Sabbath of Return’ and is a preparation for Yom Kippur, the ‘Day of Forgiveness’.

And the Torah portion read this Shabbat contains a fitting message. It is the song “Ha’azinu” dictated by G-d through Moses warning the Jewish people that abandoning the ways of the Torah will bring misfortune and tragedy.

Its purpose is that when the Jews see how G-d predicted their follies and resultant calamities and nevertheless declares He will always love them, they will return to their true identities as His Chosen People.

The perfect message for the Shabbat of Return.