Table of Contents
Gush Katif and Chagim
Rosh Hashanah
RH: Why Apple and Honey?
Rosh Hashanah 2013
Rosh Hashanah 2015
Succot
The Ugly Etrog
Simchat Torah
Thanksgivingukah (2013)
Thanksgiving Vayetze (2014)
Thanksgiving Tetsaveh (2017)
Thanksgiving (2018)
Thanksgiving (2023)
Chanukah
Purim
Purim 2019
Pesach
The Omer
Yom Haatzmaut 2016
Shavuot
Shavuot-1
Shavuot-2
Rosh Hashanah
RH: Why Apple and Honey?
Rosh Hashanah 2013
Rosh Hashanah 2015
Succot
The Ugly Etrog
Simchat Torah
Thanksgivingukah (2013)
Thanksgiving Vayetze (2014)
Thanksgiving Tetsaveh (2017)
Thanksgiving (2018)
Thanksgiving (2023)
Chanukah
Purim
Purim 2019
Pesach
The Omer
Yom Haatzmaut 2016
Shavuot
Shavuot-1
Shavuot-2
The Family – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Around about now throughout the Jewish world, outrageously-priced flights will be jam-packed as families living apart from each other fly thousands of miles to celebrate the upcoming High Holidays together. It doesn't matter how different their lives have become since they last met, they will still seek to reunite in the familial home at this time. In part this shows that the family is superior to material things; the family supersedes the house; the family establishes the home.
The other time of year this happens is פסח. Thus there must be a connection between family, ראש השנה and פסח. ראש השנה and פסח focus on the past and future and it is these times we most yearn to be with family. On פסח we relive the Exodus from Egypt (reflecting on the past); on ראש השנה we stand in judgment awaiting what Hashem determines will be in store for us (contemplating the future).
These ideas are both reflected in the liturgical prayers. For example, after the shofar blowing on ראש השנה, we sing: היום הרת עולם, היום יעמיד במשפט – “Today is the birth[day] of the world. Today all creatures of the world stand in judgment.” Let's put this in context. The portion we read on the שבת preceding ראש השנה is נצבים. In the one prior to that (כי תבא) we read about all the terrible things that will befall us if we do not keep the commandments. So now, just before ראש השנה we read אתם נצבים היום – Today you are standing here…before Hashem…all together, all of you, followed by a list of all the different types of people. So while we were frightened in כי תבא, so as not to lose hope before ראש השנה we are being told that it's okay, you are all standing here, together, as a unit; you are not alone.
This is why people hate being alone over these festivals – it is an awesome time during which we stand before G-d – at least we should stand together, united, not alone. The family is stronger than the individual. One commentator pointed out that in נצבים the word אתם – You – can be turned around to read אמת – truth. Standing alone, it can be hard to face the truth, but together, with family, the truth and the reality of what faces us is more bearable.
Further, we have an opportunity on ראש השנה to start afresh, begin anew and change the direction of our future. We can pause awhile and think about where we are going, alongside others in our family. When we are alone, it can be scary to question where we want to be this time next year; perhaps our lives are troubled financially or materially. Yet on ראש השנה this does not matter because it is our spiritual welfare we focus on. Standing with our families, we can request guidance from a familiar point of view. Interestingly, the word משפחה in Hebrew has no root (only in Yugoridic, a language Hebrew comes from). But in English – a language not based on roots – family/familial is similar to familiar, because there is more familiarity within the family than probably any other network of individuals. Families know us better than anyone else. And it is to families to whom we turn during new beginnings and as we apprehensively approach our futures. Clearly it is at this time – more than any other – we crave to be with family.
Turning to פסח during which we relive the Exodus story, telling our children the history of what befell us, reminding them (and us) from where they came. Regardless of how much we may have developed over the years – especially financially – we must never forget our beginnings: בכל דור ודור חיב אדם להראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים – “In every generation it is one’s duty to see himself as if he had come out of Egypt.” Do not forget that you too were slaves in Egypt; however far you have come since then, remember how you begun. It is imperative to your development and decisions in life today, to reflect upon your humble beginnings. Like thoughts of the future inherent to ראש השנה, while you consider your past on פסח, you will also want to be with those who remember it most – your family.
Each year, to move on in life and improve upon the year before – financially, emotionally and spiritually – the Jewish calendar sets it up, giving us time to both reflect and act. These two familial-based festivals are placed six months apart, encouraging us to either think about where we have come from, or consider our future direction. It is these times we must pause awhile to reflect on how much we appreciate and are grateful for – our family.
May this ראש השנה bring peace to all of עם ישראל and may we especially remember those from גוש קטיף who while they have lost their homes and financial stability, their emotional and spiritual strength, together with G-d's help will enable the rebuilding of their lives and homes. It is to these people – with stronger bonds in their families than any other community – we should be considering this ראש השנה because they have shown that it is not financial security that bonds a family, it is an unconditional belief in G-d, and living with a constant reminder of what it means to be truly humble. It is to this direction we should guide thoughts to our future as well.
May G-d bless and care for us all and give a special gift to those who are homeless that with the strength of all they have built spiritually, they will build materially too.
Around about now throughout the Jewish world, outrageously-priced flights will be jam-packed as families living apart from each other fly thousands of miles to celebrate the upcoming High Holidays together. It doesn't matter how different their lives have become since they last met, they will still seek to reunite in the familial home at this time. In part this shows that the family is superior to material things; the family supersedes the house; the family establishes the home.
The other time of year this happens is פסח. Thus there must be a connection between family, ראש השנה and פסח. ראש השנה and פסח focus on the past and future and it is these times we most yearn to be with family. On פסח we relive the Exodus from Egypt (reflecting on the past); on ראש השנה we stand in judgment awaiting what Hashem determines will be in store for us (contemplating the future).
These ideas are both reflected in the liturgical prayers. For example, after the shofar blowing on ראש השנה, we sing: היום הרת עולם, היום יעמיד במשפט – “Today is the birth[day] of the world. Today all creatures of the world stand in judgment.” Let's put this in context. The portion we read on the שבת preceding ראש השנה is נצבים. In the one prior to that (כי תבא) we read about all the terrible things that will befall us if we do not keep the commandments. So now, just before ראש השנה we read אתם נצבים היום – Today you are standing here…before Hashem…all together, all of you, followed by a list of all the different types of people. So while we were frightened in כי תבא, so as not to lose hope before ראש השנה we are being told that it's okay, you are all standing here, together, as a unit; you are not alone.
This is why people hate being alone over these festivals – it is an awesome time during which we stand before G-d – at least we should stand together, united, not alone. The family is stronger than the individual. One commentator pointed out that in נצבים the word אתם – You – can be turned around to read אמת – truth. Standing alone, it can be hard to face the truth, but together, with family, the truth and the reality of what faces us is more bearable.
Further, we have an opportunity on ראש השנה to start afresh, begin anew and change the direction of our future. We can pause awhile and think about where we are going, alongside others in our family. When we are alone, it can be scary to question where we want to be this time next year; perhaps our lives are troubled financially or materially. Yet on ראש השנה this does not matter because it is our spiritual welfare we focus on. Standing with our families, we can request guidance from a familiar point of view. Interestingly, the word משפחה in Hebrew has no root (only in Yugoridic, a language Hebrew comes from). But in English – a language not based on roots – family/familial is similar to familiar, because there is more familiarity within the family than probably any other network of individuals. Families know us better than anyone else. And it is to families to whom we turn during new beginnings and as we apprehensively approach our futures. Clearly it is at this time – more than any other – we crave to be with family.
Turning to פסח during which we relive the Exodus story, telling our children the history of what befell us, reminding them (and us) from where they came. Regardless of how much we may have developed over the years – especially financially – we must never forget our beginnings: בכל דור ודור חיב אדם להראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים – “In every generation it is one’s duty to see himself as if he had come out of Egypt.” Do not forget that you too were slaves in Egypt; however far you have come since then, remember how you begun. It is imperative to your development and decisions in life today, to reflect upon your humble beginnings. Like thoughts of the future inherent to ראש השנה, while you consider your past on פסח, you will also want to be with those who remember it most – your family.
Each year, to move on in life and improve upon the year before – financially, emotionally and spiritually – the Jewish calendar sets it up, giving us time to both reflect and act. These two familial-based festivals are placed six months apart, encouraging us to either think about where we have come from, or consider our future direction. It is these times we must pause awhile to reflect on how much we appreciate and are grateful for – our family.
May this ראש השנה bring peace to all of עם ישראל and may we especially remember those from גוש קטיף who while they have lost their homes and financial stability, their emotional and spiritual strength, together with G-d's help will enable the rebuilding of their lives and homes. It is to these people – with stronger bonds in their families than any other community – we should be considering this ראש השנה because they have shown that it is not financial security that bonds a family, it is an unconditional belief in G-d, and living with a constant reminder of what it means to be truly humble. It is to this direction we should guide thoughts to our future as well.
May G-d bless and care for us all and give a special gift to those who are homeless that with the strength of all they have built spiritually, they will build materially too.
Rosh Hashannah Musings, Based on Shiur by Leah Golomb
Our purpose on Rosh Hashannah
It may seem a little strange that Rosh Hashannah comes before Yom Kippur. Isn’t it better to atone for our sins, before beseeching Hashem for a whole slew of good things and a great new year? No. By Rosh Hashannah coming before Yom Kippur we are being told to use chodesh Elul – the month bereft of chagim – to reflect on our past and return to Hashem. Davka it is during this month that Hashem wants us to connect to Him in the every day, mundane regular time, and once we have done that we come to Rosh Hashannah, at which point we read, “Hayom Harat Olam.” Yes, the world is still pregnant, we are still waiting to give birth to ourselves. So if the reason Hashem created us hasn’t yet happened, He is waiting for our input to make it happen. It is true that our world is so full of sadness, but at the same time it is so pregnant with possibility.
Thus by Rosh Hashannah, we should be in a good place, a place where we can really feel like a ben or bat melech and have an internal glow of being a child of Hashem. We should believe in ourselves enough on Rosh Hashannah to be able to beseech Hashem and we do this through our Elul preparation.
In terms of believing in ourselves on Rosh Hashannah, the Ba’al Shem Tov explains that one is judged by their actions, for sure, but also by what they aspire and long for even if they mess up some of their actions. That is why on Rosh Hashannah we do not discuss our personal sins as it’s just not appropriate.
Hashem “remembers” Sara on Rosh Hashannah
We learn that it was on Rosh Hashannah when Hashem “remembered” Sara. What does this mean? That until then He forgot her? The phrase used is: “Hashem pakad et Sara,” rather than the more traditional “zachar.” Why? Pakad comes from the root pikadon which means deposit. So now we understand that it was something within Sara, a deposit that she had made throughout her years, that Hashem had given her, that led to her hope on Rosh Hashannah. So we too have to believe in ourselves enough to stand up to Hashem, like she did. She was known as Sara Immenu but it was only at age 90, and thus for the last 37 years of her life, that she was a mother. So why was she given this name? Because being a mother was the essence of her for her entire life and she knew that which was why she had the confidence, late in her years to beseech Hashem, as a bat melech; she believed in herself.
Rosh Hashannah and the Shofar
Rosh Hashannah is referred to as Yom Teruah and comes from the Hebrew root reut which means friend, or in Aramaic, something being broken. So the message is that on Rosh Hashannah, we need to have something broken open inside of us. The shofar is really the whole essence of Rosh Hashannah and thus we must all have our hearts broken a little bit, to really know who we are.
The shofar is made with a very small opening that gets wider because it has to start with the user making the breath and then slowly, gradually, returning to Hashem. We say “min hameytzr karati ya,” which means “from the depths I called out to You,” and so the shofar shows us that we have to start from the meitzar, from the individual in Elul and then by Rosh Hashannah we move to the public. We start alone (the small opening) and then we get wider and prayer becomes about the public (as the opening widens).
Types of Shofar
Rav Kook explains that according to halacha there are three types of shofar that can be used. The first (the best one to use) is of course the ram’s horn because of Akeidat Yitzchak (which we read on the second day of Rosh Hashannah). Avraham turned round to all his friends and family and said you know you don’t have to have a terrible life and sacrifice each other, there is something more, something greater, something higher – there is one G-d. And then he was told by his All-encompassing “better” one G-d, to sacrifice his child, his only child, whom he’d yearned for many years. At this point he still didn’t hesitate, despite the fact that it could have turned his whole philosophy and faith upside down. He still believed and that’s why on Rosh Hashannah (and in our daily prayers) we ask Hashem to remember Avraham for us and even though we’re not on that madreiga to ask that we never have to be tested like that. Thus the shofar is actually the cry of our own unconsciousness as well as Hashem saying, wake up, but it is so powerful that there are no words which can describe it.
The second kind of shofar to be used (the second best) is a horn of any kosher animal. This expresses Jews calling out to other Jews: come back, return to Torah, come back to Judaism.
The third type of shofar (the least desirable type, over which we do not even make a bracha), is a horn taken from a non-kosher animal. Rav Kook explained in 1933 – just after learning that Hitler had come to power – that this is the sound of the anti-Semites calling out to the Jews worldwide to get out and go to eretz Yisrael. So what Rav Kook thereafter explains is that if we have been unable to listen to the first or second calling of the shofarot, then we will be forced to listen to the third. And just like we don’t make a bracha on the cup of affliction, so we don’t make a bracha on this shofar.
Apple and Honey
Why do we eat apple and honey on Rosh Hashannah? I’d like to suggest that we are trying to sweeten the sin of Adam and Chava who ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Yes, they sinned. Yes, they took from the tree they weren’t supposed to, and worse still, they wouldn’t take responsibility for it. Again, it’s not necessarily about the sin, but about what we do or don’t do with it after. As the Baal Shem Tov says, it’s about our potential (or lack thereof) and how we use it. So if today we take the apple, and sweeten it with a bit of honey, we’re saying, yes, I know I sinned, I know I did wrong, but I want to make it better. It doesn’t have to be all bad; it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I’m here today, hayom harat olam, the world is still pregnant and awaiting the move of my self-creation, me realizing my potential, so I begin that process by adding a bit of honey, a little bit of sticky sweetness, to be the antidote to the sourness of the win (and perhaps symbolically, a tart apple) and hope that You Hashem can see that as the first step in the direction of my returning to You. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s my start and I want you to judge me on my potential, as opposed to what I am right now as the world is still pregnant and awaiting my move.
Our purpose on Rosh Hashannah
It may seem a little strange that Rosh Hashannah comes before Yom Kippur. Isn’t it better to atone for our sins, before beseeching Hashem for a whole slew of good things and a great new year? No. By Rosh Hashannah coming before Yom Kippur we are being told to use chodesh Elul – the month bereft of chagim – to reflect on our past and return to Hashem. Davka it is during this month that Hashem wants us to connect to Him in the every day, mundane regular time, and once we have done that we come to Rosh Hashannah, at which point we read, “Hayom Harat Olam.” Yes, the world is still pregnant, we are still waiting to give birth to ourselves. So if the reason Hashem created us hasn’t yet happened, He is waiting for our input to make it happen. It is true that our world is so full of sadness, but at the same time it is so pregnant with possibility.
Thus by Rosh Hashannah, we should be in a good place, a place where we can really feel like a ben or bat melech and have an internal glow of being a child of Hashem. We should believe in ourselves enough on Rosh Hashannah to be able to beseech Hashem and we do this through our Elul preparation.
In terms of believing in ourselves on Rosh Hashannah, the Ba’al Shem Tov explains that one is judged by their actions, for sure, but also by what they aspire and long for even if they mess up some of their actions. That is why on Rosh Hashannah we do not discuss our personal sins as it’s just not appropriate.
Hashem “remembers” Sara on Rosh Hashannah
We learn that it was on Rosh Hashannah when Hashem “remembered” Sara. What does this mean? That until then He forgot her? The phrase used is: “Hashem pakad et Sara,” rather than the more traditional “zachar.” Why? Pakad comes from the root pikadon which means deposit. So now we understand that it was something within Sara, a deposit that she had made throughout her years, that Hashem had given her, that led to her hope on Rosh Hashannah. So we too have to believe in ourselves enough to stand up to Hashem, like she did. She was known as Sara Immenu but it was only at age 90, and thus for the last 37 years of her life, that she was a mother. So why was she given this name? Because being a mother was the essence of her for her entire life and she knew that which was why she had the confidence, late in her years to beseech Hashem, as a bat melech; she believed in herself.
Rosh Hashannah and the Shofar
Rosh Hashannah is referred to as Yom Teruah and comes from the Hebrew root reut which means friend, or in Aramaic, something being broken. So the message is that on Rosh Hashannah, we need to have something broken open inside of us. The shofar is really the whole essence of Rosh Hashannah and thus we must all have our hearts broken a little bit, to really know who we are.
The shofar is made with a very small opening that gets wider because it has to start with the user making the breath and then slowly, gradually, returning to Hashem. We say “min hameytzr karati ya,” which means “from the depths I called out to You,” and so the shofar shows us that we have to start from the meitzar, from the individual in Elul and then by Rosh Hashannah we move to the public. We start alone (the small opening) and then we get wider and prayer becomes about the public (as the opening widens).
Types of Shofar
Rav Kook explains that according to halacha there are three types of shofar that can be used. The first (the best one to use) is of course the ram’s horn because of Akeidat Yitzchak (which we read on the second day of Rosh Hashannah). Avraham turned round to all his friends and family and said you know you don’t have to have a terrible life and sacrifice each other, there is something more, something greater, something higher – there is one G-d. And then he was told by his All-encompassing “better” one G-d, to sacrifice his child, his only child, whom he’d yearned for many years. At this point he still didn’t hesitate, despite the fact that it could have turned his whole philosophy and faith upside down. He still believed and that’s why on Rosh Hashannah (and in our daily prayers) we ask Hashem to remember Avraham for us and even though we’re not on that madreiga to ask that we never have to be tested like that. Thus the shofar is actually the cry of our own unconsciousness as well as Hashem saying, wake up, but it is so powerful that there are no words which can describe it.
The second kind of shofar to be used (the second best) is a horn of any kosher animal. This expresses Jews calling out to other Jews: come back, return to Torah, come back to Judaism.
The third type of shofar (the least desirable type, over which we do not even make a bracha), is a horn taken from a non-kosher animal. Rav Kook explained in 1933 – just after learning that Hitler had come to power – that this is the sound of the anti-Semites calling out to the Jews worldwide to get out and go to eretz Yisrael. So what Rav Kook thereafter explains is that if we have been unable to listen to the first or second calling of the shofarot, then we will be forced to listen to the third. And just like we don’t make a bracha on the cup of affliction, so we don’t make a bracha on this shofar.
Apple and Honey
Why do we eat apple and honey on Rosh Hashannah? I’d like to suggest that we are trying to sweeten the sin of Adam and Chava who ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Yes, they sinned. Yes, they took from the tree they weren’t supposed to, and worse still, they wouldn’t take responsibility for it. Again, it’s not necessarily about the sin, but about what we do or don’t do with it after. As the Baal Shem Tov says, it’s about our potential (or lack thereof) and how we use it. So if today we take the apple, and sweeten it with a bit of honey, we’re saying, yes, I know I sinned, I know I did wrong, but I want to make it better. It doesn’t have to be all bad; it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I’m here today, hayom harat olam, the world is still pregnant and awaiting the move of my self-creation, me realizing my potential, so I begin that process by adding a bit of honey, a little bit of sticky sweetness, to be the antidote to the sourness of the win (and perhaps symbolically, a tart apple) and hope that You Hashem can see that as the first step in the direction of my returning to You. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s my start and I want you to judge me on my potential, as opposed to what I am right now as the world is still pregnant and awaiting my move.
What is the message of the honey?
In life things come our way that are obviously good. Like the apple, they look good and they taste good. But throughout life we also have many tests, many difficulties, many struggles…and they sting! They do not feel good. But what we have to remember is that even the things that sting us, that don’t seem to be good are all for our very best and can push us to our greatest heights. And so on Rosh Hashana we daven that we should have the clarity to be able to look past the sting of the bee to see and to taste the sweetness of the honey.
In life things come our way that are obviously good. Like the apple, they look good and they taste good. But throughout life we also have many tests, many difficulties, many struggles…and they sting! They do not feel good. But what we have to remember is that even the things that sting us, that don’t seem to be good are all for our very best and can push us to our greatest heights. And so on Rosh Hashana we daven that we should have the clarity to be able to look past the sting of the bee to see and to taste the sweetness of the honey.
Rosh Hashanah: A Perspective of Renewal
Renewing the New
Many people mistakenly think that Rosh Hashanah is all about celebrating the “new” year. This isn’t really all that accurate. First, Rosh means head and second, when we really understand the meaning of Rosh Hashanah we will come to realize that it’s actually about renewal, not new. Reb Shlomo Carlebach explained that new doesn’t mean that which we don’t have but rather trying to access that which we do have. There is enough newness and light in the world already: the ikkur is to find the vessel to house it and the light within the vessels to illuminate it into our lives.
Further the word Tishrei – the month in which Rosh Hashanah falls – is an anagram of Reishit –the beginning. It’s not the head, not something new, just the first step in trying again.
Reb Nachman teaches that on Rosh Hashanah we should be covering all the emotions: we should laugh a little, cry a little, dance a little, cry a little more, etc. We have to look at our friends and figure out which ones of them we can both laugh with and cry with. And ultimately when we answer that we should come to realize that if we can’t cry with them, we shouldn’t really want to laugh with them either.
So what does that mean in practice? The Lubbavitcher Rebbe in 1986 gave a “renewed” vort as it were explaining the well-known acronym of Elul – Ani L’Dodi vDodi Li – I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me. Each of these words ends with the letter Yud. Numerically these four yuds add up to 40, corresponding to the days between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur. It is thus our task during Elul and throughout the days leading up to Yom Kippur to bring Hashem into our space, to make Him into our personal G-d (the yud representing Hashem). And we do this the way we would bring our loved one in our lives into our space – we laugh a little, we cry a little, we go through all the emotions, but we experience each and every one of them.
We don’t actually need anything new – we just need to become the “head” of what we already have; understand what we have in a renewed way; appreciate what is in our lives in a more sophisticated, grateful manner; fall in love with our spouses again (not find new ones) and let our kids cry with us in their own chosen way, rather than the way we expect them to.
The Shofar
How does the shofar fit into all of this? The simple commandment is to hear the shofar. That is what the Torah says. Everyone has to hear the shofar. According to Rabbi Moishe Denburg of Chabad of Boca Raton, there are many explanations for the shape of the shofar – the ram’s horn. It has always been bent, never straight which represents our willingness to bend our hearts to Hashem. It is narrow on one side and wide on the other – “min hametzar karati yah, anani b'merchavya”; we start off blowing from a narrow end representing the pain and anguish of our own hearts, but by the time it reaches the other end we are confident G-d will respond, generously, kindly and with abounding mercy.
Rabbi Ruvi New also talks about why the blowing of the shofar is so important, explaining how it is the conduit through which all of our prayers ascend from on high. In the shofar service we read: “Ashrei ha’am yordi saruah” – happy are the people who know. Happy are those who understand its meaning and can relate to it. On Rosh Hashanah we need to map out our mission statement for the year: live a more Jewish year; affirmation in Hashem and His Torah and our purpose. But that’s just a broad affirmation so we need to split it into three corresponding with the three shofar blasts: Tekiya, being the general vision for the year; Shevarim, a bit more specific focusing on general areas in which we can live a more Jewish life, perhaps kashrut or Shabbat, but finding 3 specific targets and then finally Teruah which gets really specific, going into those 3 specific aims and finding 4 particular aspects of them (totaling 7) on how they can be implemented practically.
What’s fascinating also about the Tekiya, Shevarim, Teruah is the order, vis-à-vis our emotions. If we get to the place where we are whole with ourselves, with Hashem, with our interpersonal relationships and growth, it’s a process. We start by testing the waters – Tekiya – the strength. When we first get friendly with people we want to make a good impression, to show strength, to be attractive. Then, as the friendship develops we can slowly show some cracks – that’s the shevarim – and then by the time we really have a solid foundation we can move to the teruah – laughing, crying, laughing, crying, so much going on in seven sounds – but knowing always we can come back to solid ground, in a trusted, good, strong, healthy, dependable and safe Tekiya G’Dolah.
But it’s not easy, and it takes building that relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from the first day of Elul, slowly, focusing on Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, using each and every one of those 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur with G-d as our focal point. And there will be slips – and the teruah says that’s okay. And there will be laughter and tears. But be”H with loyalty, trust, solidity and a good friend, we will always know we can come back to the Tekiya G’Dola.
Renewing the New
Many people mistakenly think that Rosh Hashanah is all about celebrating the “new” year. This isn’t really all that accurate. First, Rosh means head and second, when we really understand the meaning of Rosh Hashanah we will come to realize that it’s actually about renewal, not new. Reb Shlomo Carlebach explained that new doesn’t mean that which we don’t have but rather trying to access that which we do have. There is enough newness and light in the world already: the ikkur is to find the vessel to house it and the light within the vessels to illuminate it into our lives.
Further the word Tishrei – the month in which Rosh Hashanah falls – is an anagram of Reishit –the beginning. It’s not the head, not something new, just the first step in trying again.
Reb Nachman teaches that on Rosh Hashanah we should be covering all the emotions: we should laugh a little, cry a little, dance a little, cry a little more, etc. We have to look at our friends and figure out which ones of them we can both laugh with and cry with. And ultimately when we answer that we should come to realize that if we can’t cry with them, we shouldn’t really want to laugh with them either.
So what does that mean in practice? The Lubbavitcher Rebbe in 1986 gave a “renewed” vort as it were explaining the well-known acronym of Elul – Ani L’Dodi vDodi Li – I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me. Each of these words ends with the letter Yud. Numerically these four yuds add up to 40, corresponding to the days between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur. It is thus our task during Elul and throughout the days leading up to Yom Kippur to bring Hashem into our space, to make Him into our personal G-d (the yud representing Hashem). And we do this the way we would bring our loved one in our lives into our space – we laugh a little, we cry a little, we go through all the emotions, but we experience each and every one of them.
We don’t actually need anything new – we just need to become the “head” of what we already have; understand what we have in a renewed way; appreciate what is in our lives in a more sophisticated, grateful manner; fall in love with our spouses again (not find new ones) and let our kids cry with us in their own chosen way, rather than the way we expect them to.
The Shofar
How does the shofar fit into all of this? The simple commandment is to hear the shofar. That is what the Torah says. Everyone has to hear the shofar. According to Rabbi Moishe Denburg of Chabad of Boca Raton, there are many explanations for the shape of the shofar – the ram’s horn. It has always been bent, never straight which represents our willingness to bend our hearts to Hashem. It is narrow on one side and wide on the other – “min hametzar karati yah, anani b'merchavya”; we start off blowing from a narrow end representing the pain and anguish of our own hearts, but by the time it reaches the other end we are confident G-d will respond, generously, kindly and with abounding mercy.
Rabbi Ruvi New also talks about why the blowing of the shofar is so important, explaining how it is the conduit through which all of our prayers ascend from on high. In the shofar service we read: “Ashrei ha’am yordi saruah” – happy are the people who know. Happy are those who understand its meaning and can relate to it. On Rosh Hashanah we need to map out our mission statement for the year: live a more Jewish year; affirmation in Hashem and His Torah and our purpose. But that’s just a broad affirmation so we need to split it into three corresponding with the three shofar blasts: Tekiya, being the general vision for the year; Shevarim, a bit more specific focusing on general areas in which we can live a more Jewish life, perhaps kashrut or Shabbat, but finding 3 specific targets and then finally Teruah which gets really specific, going into those 3 specific aims and finding 4 particular aspects of them (totaling 7) on how they can be implemented practically.
What’s fascinating also about the Tekiya, Shevarim, Teruah is the order, vis-à-vis our emotions. If we get to the place where we are whole with ourselves, with Hashem, with our interpersonal relationships and growth, it’s a process. We start by testing the waters – Tekiya – the strength. When we first get friendly with people we want to make a good impression, to show strength, to be attractive. Then, as the friendship develops we can slowly show some cracks – that’s the shevarim – and then by the time we really have a solid foundation we can move to the teruah – laughing, crying, laughing, crying, so much going on in seven sounds – but knowing always we can come back to solid ground, in a trusted, good, strong, healthy, dependable and safe Tekiya G’Dolah.
But it’s not easy, and it takes building that relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from the first day of Elul, slowly, focusing on Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, using each and every one of those 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur with G-d as our focal point. And there will be slips – and the teruah says that’s okay. And there will be laughter and tears. But be”H with loyalty, trust, solidity and a good friend, we will always know we can come back to the Tekiya G’Dola.
Why “Head” of the Year?
I have often been perplexed as to why this חג is called ראש השנה rather than any of the other possible adjectives which could have been used to describe the year. How about new שנה חדשה? What about front מול השנה or שנה עליון ? It could have even been called a renewed year, שנה מחדשות but no, our Sages chose to give these two pertinent days in our calendar the name ראש השנה.
I decided therefore that there must be a reason and thus conducted an investigation from amongst our mepharshim and various other commentators. After much searching I finally came across a beautiful vort from a little-known-author hailing from Polish descent – the ראמ"ס. According to the ראמ"ס there are two main reasons the holiday was chosen to be called ראש השנה as opposed to all the other names.
First, the head is crucial in any serious scenario. It is not the front, or the top or anything else, but head. We use our head to make wise decisions. We don’t have to be up front or near the top to do this. But we do have to have a strong, conscious, and perceptive head to make wise decisions that are connected to our belief in הקב"ה and the Jewish people. Indeed, that is what the חג is all about – doing right and making amends with both Hashem and our fellow man. So we need to use our head for that.
The second reason struck an even deeper cord with me. Out of all these possible adjectives, it seems that ראש is the only one that makes an anagram of אשר. Hashem doesn’t want us to be sad. We are not Christians. We are not doing hail marys or crying for forgiveness or beating our brows and begging not to be thrown into the dungeon. That is not what Judaism is all about. Judaism is about serving Hashem with joy – עיבדו את ה' בשמחה – and we can only do that when we use our head and engage in this with happiness.
My wish for my family, friends and all of כלל ישראל this ראש השנה is to really imbue our חג with a thoughtful, pensive head and to do so with happiness as is taught by the ראמ"ס.
I have often been perplexed as to why this חג is called ראש השנה rather than any of the other possible adjectives which could have been used to describe the year. How about new שנה חדשה? What about front מול השנה or שנה עליון ? It could have even been called a renewed year, שנה מחדשות but no, our Sages chose to give these two pertinent days in our calendar the name ראש השנה.
I decided therefore that there must be a reason and thus conducted an investigation from amongst our mepharshim and various other commentators. After much searching I finally came across a beautiful vort from a little-known-author hailing from Polish descent – the ראמ"ס. According to the ראמ"ס there are two main reasons the holiday was chosen to be called ראש השנה as opposed to all the other names.
First, the head is crucial in any serious scenario. It is not the front, or the top or anything else, but head. We use our head to make wise decisions. We don’t have to be up front or near the top to do this. But we do have to have a strong, conscious, and perceptive head to make wise decisions that are connected to our belief in הקב"ה and the Jewish people. Indeed, that is what the חג is all about – doing right and making amends with both Hashem and our fellow man. So we need to use our head for that.
The second reason struck an even deeper cord with me. Out of all these possible adjectives, it seems that ראש is the only one that makes an anagram of אשר. Hashem doesn’t want us to be sad. We are not Christians. We are not doing hail marys or crying for forgiveness or beating our brows and begging not to be thrown into the dungeon. That is not what Judaism is all about. Judaism is about serving Hashem with joy – עיבדו את ה' בשמחה – and we can only do that when we use our head and engage in this with happiness.
My wish for my family, friends and all of כלל ישראל this ראש השנה is to really imbue our חג with a thoughtful, pensive head and to do so with happiness as is taught by the ראמ"ס.
On Succot are commanded to: "…make [for you] the festival of Succot seven-days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and from your wine cellar. You shall rejoice in your festival… Seven-days shall you celebrate for Hashem, your G-d…for Hashem will have blessed you in all your crop and in all your handiwork, and you will be completely joyous."
The question is asked: why are we commanded twice to be happy on Succot? We are commanded: [to] “rejoice in your festival.” Then we are told to: “…be completely joyous.”
On Pesach and Shavuot we are only commanded once, so what's different about this holiday? There are two ideas – central to Succot – the other holidays don’t share.
Another question that is posed is, in general why and how can there be a commandment to be happy? Rav Hillel provides an answer to the why, living by the principle: “To do good to yourself is a form of piety,” since we’ve all been created in the image of G-d, plus quite simply G-d commanded it.
We are first told to do the ground work, to: “make a succah” and then, following that,“you will be happy in your festival.” The idea thus is that when we are totally committed to Hashem, when we serve Him with our minds and bodies (by “sitting in the succah”), we will be joyous, as a result. That total commitment and dveikut will lead to joy and happiness as we will be enveloped by the shechina, both physically and spiritually.
So we are given the commandment twice to show the connection between the importance of serving G-d physically and thus reaping the spiritual benefits – both which will lead to rejoicing and joy. Shavuot on the other hand is more focused on the spiritual (learning all night) and Pesach more on the physical (cleaning the house, reliving yetziyat mitzrayim, etc.). Succot has both – the physical part of the succah building as well as shaking the arbaah minim and the spiritual part of trusting Hashem to take care of us while we sleep in the temporary dwellings.
As well, Succot begins – not coincidentally – 4 days after the intense period of introspection and teshuva of the yamim noraim, so we enter our succot, in a state of spiritual purity and happiness, cleansed of the stain of our past transgressions. It is such a time of joy to know (or at least trust) that we are starting afresh.
When we reach olam haba one of the first questions G-d asks us is “did you enjoy My world?” Let’s use our time here – especially with the opportunity and the command to be happy on Succot – to be able to answer “Hell, yes!”
The question is asked: why are we commanded twice to be happy on Succot? We are commanded: [to] “rejoice in your festival.” Then we are told to: “…be completely joyous.”
On Pesach and Shavuot we are only commanded once, so what's different about this holiday? There are two ideas – central to Succot – the other holidays don’t share.
Another question that is posed is, in general why and how can there be a commandment to be happy? Rav Hillel provides an answer to the why, living by the principle: “To do good to yourself is a form of piety,” since we’ve all been created in the image of G-d, plus quite simply G-d commanded it.
We are first told to do the ground work, to: “make a succah” and then, following that,“you will be happy in your festival.” The idea thus is that when we are totally committed to Hashem, when we serve Him with our minds and bodies (by “sitting in the succah”), we will be joyous, as a result. That total commitment and dveikut will lead to joy and happiness as we will be enveloped by the shechina, both physically and spiritually.
So we are given the commandment twice to show the connection between the importance of serving G-d physically and thus reaping the spiritual benefits – both which will lead to rejoicing and joy. Shavuot on the other hand is more focused on the spiritual (learning all night) and Pesach more on the physical (cleaning the house, reliving yetziyat mitzrayim, etc.). Succot has both – the physical part of the succah building as well as shaking the arbaah minim and the spiritual part of trusting Hashem to take care of us while we sleep in the temporary dwellings.
As well, Succot begins – not coincidentally – 4 days after the intense period of introspection and teshuva of the yamim noraim, so we enter our succot, in a state of spiritual purity and happiness, cleansed of the stain of our past transgressions. It is such a time of joy to know (or at least trust) that we are starting afresh.
When we reach olam haba one of the first questions G-d asks us is “did you enjoy My world?” Let’s use our time here – especially with the opportunity and the command to be happy on Succot – to be able to answer “Hell, yes!”
Why buy an ugly Etrog? How can we possibly believe an ugly Etrog can even be kosher given that it seems like the ikkur of the mitzvah is that this fruit be most beautiful (from theעץ הדר )? One possible explanation is that ancient Jewish sources tell us the Etrog was actually the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge (rather than the apple as we are often led to believe). In his book ‘The World of Biblical Flora,’ Y. Felix cites the Jerusalem Talmud on this issue.
Anyway if this citation is indeed true then it is quite fitting that my tsaddik of a husband purchased such an ugly Etrog. Because had the Etrog indeed been the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, then if Eve had seen such an ugly one as Daniel’s, she probably never would have eaten it and then, well, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Furthermore, it is a staunchly Zionistic move purchasing such an ugly Etrog. Think about it. Israelis are all about what’s on the inside. They’re gruff and rude on the outside (ugly) but inside, they are sweet and soft (beautiful, like the הדר). Very much like the sabra which, as well as being a fruit, is the term used to describe veteran Israelis. So that’s probably the case with the ugly Etrog too. Ugly on the outside but sweet and delicious on the inside.
Long live the ugly Etrog I say.
Anyway if this citation is indeed true then it is quite fitting that my tsaddik of a husband purchased such an ugly Etrog. Because had the Etrog indeed been the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, then if Eve had seen such an ugly one as Daniel’s, she probably never would have eaten it and then, well, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Furthermore, it is a staunchly Zionistic move purchasing such an ugly Etrog. Think about it. Israelis are all about what’s on the inside. They’re gruff and rude on the outside (ugly) but inside, they are sweet and soft (beautiful, like the הדר). Very much like the sabra which, as well as being a fruit, is the term used to describe veteran Israelis. So that’s probably the case with the ugly Etrog too. Ugly on the outside but sweet and delicious on the inside.
Long live the ugly Etrog I say.
On Simchat Torah we “rejoice with the Torah,” celebrating the culmination of 52 weeks of reading its portions. But why is it on this date and not on the date the Torah was given – Shavuot – that we celebrate?
Shavuot wasn’t such a clear-cut celebration of the Torah. The first set of Tablets had been smashed; not exactly something to shout about. So we wait until Simchat Torah to celebrate the second set, representing a second chance. That was just after we were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf (at the time of Yom Kippur) and Simchat Torah is also an incredibly happy time since it is the culmination of the shalosh regalim.
In each of these holidays our joy steadily increases: from Pesach when we got out of mitzrayim and received the opportunity to serve G-d, to getting the Torah on Shavuot, to trusting Hashem and thanking Him by living in our booths with “smachtaynu” on Succot. Then finally we reach the peak, Simchat Torah, when we show Hashem that joy as we ready ourselves to take on the gift of Matan Torah and becoming true, joyous avdei Hashem.
Simchat Torah is our opportunity. We messed up before and now we have another chance. We complained after being taken out of Egypt, were forgiven, got the tablets, smashed them, and were forgiven again. Then we sat in our booths and said Hashem, we are ready. We want to be your servants. We want to follow your Torah. Look, we trust you. And we are sitting in our booths in joy, come rain or shine, shaking around the lulav and etrog. What could be more evident of our faith in Hashem than our actions on succot?
So before we have a chance to mess up again, we dance with the Torah, we say thank you for the Torah and we promise to try to live up to true avdei Hashem as we begin again at the beginning – Bereishit Bara Elokim – in the beginning G-d created…and we – as ‘naaseh adam,’ and ‘betzelem elokim’ are going to try to be a part of that creation.
We got the first tablets as a gift from Hashem. But it was the second tablets – those that became our Torah – that we earned. And ultimately, that which is earned is so much more precious, so much more of a gift than anything we are simply given.
It is that – the backwards and forwards, the doing wrong and being forgiven, the temper and the recovery, the disappointment and the joy – all these parallels that truly prepare us to not only receive the Torah, but to bring it into our lives wholly, irrespective or our errors, as we do on Simchat Torah.
And it is for this reason the time we celebrate the Torah is called Simchat Torah, and the time we received the Torah, Matan Torah. Because true Simcha comes when a "gift" is earned - and it is today, on Simchat Torah - that we have "earned" the right to the "gift" of the Torah, through our toil and our G-d-given second chance.
Shavuot wasn’t such a clear-cut celebration of the Torah. The first set of Tablets had been smashed; not exactly something to shout about. So we wait until Simchat Torah to celebrate the second set, representing a second chance. That was just after we were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf (at the time of Yom Kippur) and Simchat Torah is also an incredibly happy time since it is the culmination of the shalosh regalim.
In each of these holidays our joy steadily increases: from Pesach when we got out of mitzrayim and received the opportunity to serve G-d, to getting the Torah on Shavuot, to trusting Hashem and thanking Him by living in our booths with “smachtaynu” on Succot. Then finally we reach the peak, Simchat Torah, when we show Hashem that joy as we ready ourselves to take on the gift of Matan Torah and becoming true, joyous avdei Hashem.
Simchat Torah is our opportunity. We messed up before and now we have another chance. We complained after being taken out of Egypt, were forgiven, got the tablets, smashed them, and were forgiven again. Then we sat in our booths and said Hashem, we are ready. We want to be your servants. We want to follow your Torah. Look, we trust you. And we are sitting in our booths in joy, come rain or shine, shaking around the lulav and etrog. What could be more evident of our faith in Hashem than our actions on succot?
So before we have a chance to mess up again, we dance with the Torah, we say thank you for the Torah and we promise to try to live up to true avdei Hashem as we begin again at the beginning – Bereishit Bara Elokim – in the beginning G-d created…and we – as ‘naaseh adam,’ and ‘betzelem elokim’ are going to try to be a part of that creation.
We got the first tablets as a gift from Hashem. But it was the second tablets – those that became our Torah – that we earned. And ultimately, that which is earned is so much more precious, so much more of a gift than anything we are simply given.
It is that – the backwards and forwards, the doing wrong and being forgiven, the temper and the recovery, the disappointment and the joy – all these parallels that truly prepare us to not only receive the Torah, but to bring it into our lives wholly, irrespective or our errors, as we do on Simchat Torah.
And it is for this reason the time we celebrate the Torah is called Simchat Torah, and the time we received the Torah, Matan Torah. Because true Simcha comes when a "gift" is earned - and it is today, on Simchat Torah - that we have "earned" the right to the "gift" of the Torah, through our toil and our G-d-given second chance.
Clearly it’s not just the Jews who have realized that this Thanksgiving – coinciding with Chanukah – is something special. Chanukah may have fallen close to parshat Miketzbefore, but it’s a first for Thanksgiving. As we learn from the Chassidishe source Fun Di Chassishe Ostros, miketzmeaning end, refers to the end of days, indicating the arrival of Moshiach. And there probably isn’t any better day/night for Moshiach to come than on the once-in-a-lifetime event of Thanksgivingukah.
It seems like it’s not only the Jews though who are thankful for the Thanksgivingukah milestone. The fact is, for the first time in its 155-year history, Macy’s will open for Thanksgiving – obviously in order not to miss out on the miracle of the Jewish holiday. Likewise, J.C. Penney will open at 8 p.m. to get a piece of the miraculous shopping action, which makes sense given the gematria of J. C. Penney is 233, a mere 50 less than Chag Haurim (at 233), 50 being the gematria of Nun, which is representative of the “Nes” of Chanukah. Hardly a coincidence.
Further, Kohl’s – boasting a gematria of 196 (which happens to be the same as for the word מַאֲפֵל[meaning darkness]) is opening for 28 hours straight from 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Kohl’s is obviously seeking to get out of its darkness and experience the miracle of the light of the Jewish holiday here. Of course it is, because ScrabbleFinder interprets the word Kohls as meaning: “A cosmetic preparation used by women in Egypt and Arabia to darkenthe edges of their eyelids.”
All of this is really just too much to be considered a coincidence, especially since 8pm is the chosen time for two of these stores to be unprecedentedly open, in conjunction with the 8 days of Chanukah. Added to the fact that the last time Chanukah and Thanksgiving shared a date was so long ago that Thanksgiving didn’t even exist yet! But the year would have been 1888 – lots of 8s there. And of course the date today is November 20 eighth.
And if that doesn’t convince you enough, drink 8 glasses of wine and go shoot the 8-ball after dinner with your host, my incredible, amazing, miraculous husband who is a constant source of light in my life as he and I mark 8+ years of marital happiness.
It seems like it’s not only the Jews though who are thankful for the Thanksgivingukah milestone. The fact is, for the first time in its 155-year history, Macy’s will open for Thanksgiving – obviously in order not to miss out on the miracle of the Jewish holiday. Likewise, J.C. Penney will open at 8 p.m. to get a piece of the miraculous shopping action, which makes sense given the gematria of J. C. Penney is 233, a mere 50 less than Chag Haurim (at 233), 50 being the gematria of Nun, which is representative of the “Nes” of Chanukah. Hardly a coincidence.
Further, Kohl’s – boasting a gematria of 196 (which happens to be the same as for the word מַאֲפֵל[meaning darkness]) is opening for 28 hours straight from 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Kohl’s is obviously seeking to get out of its darkness and experience the miracle of the light of the Jewish holiday here. Of course it is, because ScrabbleFinder interprets the word Kohls as meaning: “A cosmetic preparation used by women in Egypt and Arabia to darkenthe edges of their eyelids.”
All of this is really just too much to be considered a coincidence, especially since 8pm is the chosen time for two of these stores to be unprecedentedly open, in conjunction with the 8 days of Chanukah. Added to the fact that the last time Chanukah and Thanksgiving shared a date was so long ago that Thanksgiving didn’t even exist yet! But the year would have been 1888 – lots of 8s there. And of course the date today is November 20 eighth.
And if that doesn’t convince you enough, drink 8 glasses of wine and go shoot the 8-ball after dinner with your host, my incredible, amazing, miraculous husband who is a constant source of light in my life as he and I mark 8+ years of marital happiness.
This Shabbat we are reading parshat Vayetze, which means “to go out.” So first I want to thank everyone here who made the effort to “go out” and join us tonight (I know – especially since we’ve experienced the first rains and the nights are drawing in earlier – how hard it can be to motivate ourselves to actually “go out).”
Second, a few pasukim in we read:
And Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, "Indeed, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know [it]."
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַֽעֲקֹב֘ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָֽנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי:
What is the message here? What do we learn from Jacob with this comment? Literally – and figuratively – to “wake up.” Wake up, look around, realize how many brachot have been bestowed upon you and with that realization comes the knowledge of Hashem. I didn’t even know before – when I was asleep – (again, literally and figuratively) – that I had so many brachot and that they were all from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
So now that I do – conveniently on Thanksgiving – which may have originally been intended as an American holiday – I can say thank you for all my brachot.
One of the pasukimin our upcoming parsha, Vayetze, reads:מִשְׁתֶּהוַיַּעַשׂהַמָּקוֹםאַנְשֵׁיכָּלאֶתלָבָןוַיֶּאֱסֹף, which means “So Laban gathered all the people of the place, and he made a feast.”
Well we didn’t gather “all the people of the place,” but we did make a feast. And for those who challenge the idea that it is not “Jewish” for Jews to be celebrating Thanksgiving, I present to you the following:
The gematria of Hodiya – Thanksgiving in Hebrew – is 30. Likewise, the gematria of Yehuda is 30. Yehuda means praised, or it can mean the Jew. Thus Jews praising (thanking) is a very important concept in halachic Judaism. No Jew should feel above praising. We must all be full of praise, recognizing our Creator and praising Him and everything around us. Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to do that.
As well, the letter lamed (with the numerical value of 30) is actually often referred to as a majestic letter, symbolic even of the King of Kings, towering higher than all the others in the Hebrew alphabet.
Thanksgiving meals are all about being regal, eating like royals and feeling majestic. It is our wish that at this feast, as proud Yehudim, we will fulfill our duty. That being, to offer thanks to Hashem and everyone here who has made this possible. And it is through that, through the Lamed, that we should merit the true inner meaning of the Lamed via its acronym which is – Lev Mevin Daat – hearts that understand wisdom. (Wisdom in this case being eat, drink and be merry).
Second, a few pasukim in we read:
And Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, "Indeed, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know [it]."
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַֽעֲקֹב֘ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָֽנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי:
What is the message here? What do we learn from Jacob with this comment? Literally – and figuratively – to “wake up.” Wake up, look around, realize how many brachot have been bestowed upon you and with that realization comes the knowledge of Hashem. I didn’t even know before – when I was asleep – (again, literally and figuratively) – that I had so many brachot and that they were all from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
So now that I do – conveniently on Thanksgiving – which may have originally been intended as an American holiday – I can say thank you for all my brachot.
One of the pasukimin our upcoming parsha, Vayetze, reads:מִשְׁתֶּהוַיַּעַשׂהַמָּקוֹםאַנְשֵׁיכָּלאֶתלָבָןוַיֶּאֱסֹף, which means “So Laban gathered all the people of the place, and he made a feast.”
Well we didn’t gather “all the people of the place,” but we did make a feast. And for those who challenge the idea that it is not “Jewish” for Jews to be celebrating Thanksgiving, I present to you the following:
The gematria of Hodiya – Thanksgiving in Hebrew – is 30. Likewise, the gematria of Yehuda is 30. Yehuda means praised, or it can mean the Jew. Thus Jews praising (thanking) is a very important concept in halachic Judaism. No Jew should feel above praising. We must all be full of praise, recognizing our Creator and praising Him and everything around us. Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to do that.
As well, the letter lamed (with the numerical value of 30) is actually often referred to as a majestic letter, symbolic even of the King of Kings, towering higher than all the others in the Hebrew alphabet.
Thanksgiving meals are all about being regal, eating like royals and feeling majestic. It is our wish that at this feast, as proud Yehudim, we will fulfill our duty. That being, to offer thanks to Hashem and everyone here who has made this possible. And it is through that, through the Lamed, that we should merit the true inner meaning of the Lamed via its acronym which is – Lev Mevin Daat – hearts that understand wisdom. (Wisdom in this case being eat, drink and be merry).
Why oh why are we making Thanksgiving on erev Purim? And why this year, when it coincides with Parshat Tetsaveh? And why in particular, with three families, whose names begin with the letter Samech?
Given that there is a Purim connection here, let’s start bottom up from the families here tonight. Obviously we had to invite you guys because your names begin with Samech which is the closest letter we have in the Hebrew alphabet to the word Sameach which is basically what Purim is (at least meant to be) all about. Added to that the fact that Purim is ben hafochu and these two families we invited (we realized after the fact) are truly our most Israeli friends….celebrating the most un-Israeli, American holiday!
So what about the fact that this erev Shabbat (on which we are celebrating thanksgiving) is Tetzeve? In Tetzave we hear all about the clothes of the Cohen Gadol and the pure olive oil that needs to be used (for the Ner Tamid).
Well, in this food we’ve used olive oil (obviously) and tomorrow night we’ll all be focused on our “costumes,” which is what clothes of the Cohen Gadol looked to everyone else. Incidentally, the choshen (breastplate) and efod (colorful apron) looked quite a lot like what the Pilgrims on the table are wearing.
So now you all know why we have a thanksgiving meal on erev Tetsaveh-Purim! Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!
Given that there is a Purim connection here, let’s start bottom up from the families here tonight. Obviously we had to invite you guys because your names begin with Samech which is the closest letter we have in the Hebrew alphabet to the word Sameach which is basically what Purim is (at least meant to be) all about. Added to that the fact that Purim is ben hafochu and these two families we invited (we realized after the fact) are truly our most Israeli friends….celebrating the most un-Israeli, American holiday!
So what about the fact that this erev Shabbat (on which we are celebrating thanksgiving) is Tetzeve? In Tetzave we hear all about the clothes of the Cohen Gadol and the pure olive oil that needs to be used (for the Ner Tamid).
Well, in this food we’ve used olive oil (obviously) and tomorrow night we’ll all be focused on our “costumes,” which is what clothes of the Cohen Gadol looked to everyone else. Incidentally, the choshen (breastplate) and efod (colorful apron) looked quite a lot like what the Pilgrims on the table are wearing.
So now you all know why we have a thanksgiving meal on erev Tetsaveh-Purim! Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!
This year Thanksgiving comes out on 22ndNovember, 14thKislev, 10 days before Chanukah. This is significant for a few reasons. 22 is two 2s. Two is the amount of hands we have. Hands are very connected to Thanksgiving – we often give thanks with our hands, through hugs, via giving gratitude to others, and using our hands to literally giveto those around us. By this, we can actively use the opportunity of Thanksgiving as the mitzvah of chessed.
Numbers are used in this devar Torah since Daniel – creator of this Thanksgiving meal – is the son of Evelyn who, some years ago was a well-renowned Math teacher. In addition, the 22ndis the day Daniel was born – 22 April to be exact – which is now also celebrated as Earth Day. That too can be linked to giving as if we show consideration and respect to the earth, we will do this via environmental preservation using our hands.
Further, if you take the number 14 in Hebrew you have ידwhich, as we all know, is hand. And the 10 days before Chanukah is representative of the 10 fingers on our two hands.
As we have specified many times before “coincidences are just miracles in which Hashem chooses to remain anonymous.”
Our hope and prayer is that on this Thanksgiving – and throughout the days, weeks, months and years ahead – Hashem is anonymously using Hishands to keep the Jewish people safe, preserve our land and give us the opportunity to live his revealed miracles.
Numbers are used in this devar Torah since Daniel – creator of this Thanksgiving meal – is the son of Evelyn who, some years ago was a well-renowned Math teacher. In addition, the 22ndis the day Daniel was born – 22 April to be exact – which is now also celebrated as Earth Day. That too can be linked to giving as if we show consideration and respect to the earth, we will do this via environmental preservation using our hands.
Further, if you take the number 14 in Hebrew you have ידwhich, as we all know, is hand. And the 10 days before Chanukah is representative of the 10 fingers on our two hands.
As we have specified many times before “coincidences are just miracles in which Hashem chooses to remain anonymous.”
Our hope and prayer is that on this Thanksgiving – and throughout the days, weeks, months and years ahead – Hashem is anonymously using Hishands to keep the Jewish people safe, preserve our land and give us the opportunity to live his revealed miracles.
Thanksgiving - 2023
Definitely not the easiest Thanksgiving we’ve ever done with how we are witnessing our brethren – many of whom are here tonight – fighting a long and tough war against evil.
But Judaism tells us to always be thankful. There are countless examples of this. Elie Wiesel said: “No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.” Yes, this is definitely a kingdom of night.
As Jews we are taught to give thanks before anything else, even before thinking, as the late Rabbi Sacks explained. We start each day by saying Modeh ani, “I give thanks.” The word order should be ani modeh but since it is not the idea is that thanks comes before I, which is truly a poignant notion and indicative of who we are as Jews. I also personally believe that when there is stated gratitude there is actual thankfulness in our lives.
Let’s take a look at the parsha, Vayetzei, we’re going to be reading beH this shabbat. It begins with Yaacov:
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַֽעֲקֹב֘ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָֽנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי
“Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely Hashem is in this place and I did not know.’”
Understanding that Hashem truly is in the places we find ourselves – even those rampant with evil – should be a comfort. The word ‘vayaketz’ is used (to describe Jacob’s awakening) rather than theverb lehitorarer or lakum. Ketz translates as end, destruction, loathe which is definitely what we have been encountering. An awakening (while liberating) can be a painful journey and can often feel loathsome which is what we have feared for so long but have now been forced into acknowledging as the painful reality of the evil of the Palestinians. Jacob – and the brutal attack on October 7th – has come to show us here how important and necessary it is. We have to wake up. And we have been.
Not that it’s easy. And it wasn’t easy for Yaacov either:
וַיִּירָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר מַה־נּוֹרָ֖א הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֣ין זֶ֗ה כִּ֚י אִם־בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְזֶ֖ה שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם
And he was frightened and he said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
The place – ie Israel – is indeed awesome. We do not have to fear as we read a few pasukim later:
וְהִנֵּ֨ה אָֽנֹכִ֜י עִמָּ֗ךְ וּשְׁמַרְתִּ֨יךָ֙ בְּכֹ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־תֵּלֵ֔ךְ וַֽהֲשִׁ֣בֹתִ֔יךָ אֶל־הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את כִּ֚י לֹ֣א אֶֽעֱזָבְךָ֔ עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִם־עָשִׂ֔יתִי אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֖רְתִּי לָֽךְ
And here I am with you and I will guard you wherever you go and I will restore you to this land, for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have spoken concerning you.”
I truly believe – and I think we all have a duty to our precious chayalim to also believe with perfect faith – that Hashem will not forsake us. And Hashem wants us to be grateful. And He also wants us to celebrate Thanksiving. What greater proof that when the parsha tells us
וַיֶּֽאֱסֹ֥ף לָבָ֛ן אֶת־כָּל־אַנְשֵׁ֥י הַמָּק֖וֹם וַיַּ֥עַשׂ מִשְׁתֶּֽה
“So Laban gathered all the people of the place, and he made a feast.”
And for this we are truly grateful to every single person who made this happen. As Rabbi Sacks so poignantly said: “Part of the essence of gratitude is that it recognizes that we are not the sole authors of what is good in our lives.”
I thank you all for being part of this special day, for being in our lives and we pray to Hashem that – Vayetze – our chayalim will ‘come out’ safe and sound.
Definitely not the easiest Thanksgiving we’ve ever done with how we are witnessing our brethren – many of whom are here tonight – fighting a long and tough war against evil.
But Judaism tells us to always be thankful. There are countless examples of this. Elie Wiesel said: “No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.” Yes, this is definitely a kingdom of night.
As Jews we are taught to give thanks before anything else, even before thinking, as the late Rabbi Sacks explained. We start each day by saying Modeh ani, “I give thanks.” The word order should be ani modeh but since it is not the idea is that thanks comes before I, which is truly a poignant notion and indicative of who we are as Jews. I also personally believe that when there is stated gratitude there is actual thankfulness in our lives.
Let’s take a look at the parsha, Vayetzei, we’re going to be reading beH this shabbat. It begins with Yaacov:
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַֽעֲקֹב֘ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָֽנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי
“Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely Hashem is in this place and I did not know.’”
Understanding that Hashem truly is in the places we find ourselves – even those rampant with evil – should be a comfort. The word ‘vayaketz’ is used (to describe Jacob’s awakening) rather than theverb lehitorarer or lakum. Ketz translates as end, destruction, loathe which is definitely what we have been encountering. An awakening (while liberating) can be a painful journey and can often feel loathsome which is what we have feared for so long but have now been forced into acknowledging as the painful reality of the evil of the Palestinians. Jacob – and the brutal attack on October 7th – has come to show us here how important and necessary it is. We have to wake up. And we have been.
Not that it’s easy. And it wasn’t easy for Yaacov either:
וַיִּירָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר מַה־נּוֹרָ֖א הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֣ין זֶ֗ה כִּ֚י אִם־בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְזֶ֖ה שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם
And he was frightened and he said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
The place – ie Israel – is indeed awesome. We do not have to fear as we read a few pasukim later:
וְהִנֵּ֨ה אָֽנֹכִ֜י עִמָּ֗ךְ וּשְׁמַרְתִּ֨יךָ֙ בְּכֹ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־תֵּלֵ֔ךְ וַֽהֲשִׁ֣בֹתִ֔יךָ אֶל־הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את כִּ֚י לֹ֣א אֶֽעֱזָבְךָ֔ עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִם־עָשִׂ֔יתִי אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֖רְתִּי לָֽךְ
And here I am with you and I will guard you wherever you go and I will restore you to this land, for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have spoken concerning you.”
I truly believe – and I think we all have a duty to our precious chayalim to also believe with perfect faith – that Hashem will not forsake us. And Hashem wants us to be grateful. And He also wants us to celebrate Thanksiving. What greater proof that when the parsha tells us
וַיֶּֽאֱסֹ֥ף לָבָ֛ן אֶת־כָּל־אַנְשֵׁ֥י הַמָּק֖וֹם וַיַּ֥עַשׂ מִשְׁתֶּֽה
“So Laban gathered all the people of the place, and he made a feast.”
And for this we are truly grateful to every single person who made this happen. As Rabbi Sacks so poignantly said: “Part of the essence of gratitude is that it recognizes that we are not the sole authors of what is good in our lives.”
I thank you all for being part of this special day, for being in our lives and we pray to Hashem that – Vayetze – our chayalim will ‘come out’ safe and sound.
Learning in the zechut that MalkaYenta Bat Reizel be blessed with a refuah shlayma.
Chanukah is one of those few times in the Jewish calendar where it really does feel like a holiday. Very few restrictions or commands, Chanukah oftentimes occurs the same time as Christmas. And no matter what everyone says, to me it does take on some of the bright gaiety of our neighbours’ celebration.
There are no coincidences. Perhaps the reason Chanukah falls in December – the depth of winter and darkness – is because its purpose is to bring light, and also to gain light and give light, to and from the world. The nights are drawing in, the days are becoming shorter and it’s important we somehow try and bring light at this time. Chanukah is also the only holiday that falls at the end of the month. That is often a time we worry about how we’re going to pay the bills etc. Chanukah comes to bring us the light for so many different seasonal circumstances.
The candlelight is always shivering, yearning. We live in a broken world and must fix it with light. When you give to someone, the best way to do it is through light as you don’t need to take anything away from yourselves and yet still an endless amount of other people can gain from the light. That is what Chanukah is all about – spreading the miracle; spreading hope.
As well, we can use the light of Chanukah to help us trust too and that is what the month of Kislev is all about: “And they placed in Hashem their kislam (trust).” Trust is harder when it is dark. So when we have a light to shine, it is easier. Likewise we can create our own light – through emunah – which will make the darker days lighter for all time. During Chanukah we have the gift of making this easier, through the candles. According to Antiquities 7:7 “Perhaps the reason [for the name Festival of Lights] is that a freedom beyond our hopes appeared to us, and so this was the name given to the festival.” When we are able to have pure hope – a.k.a. emunah in Hashem – we get light automatically. Chanukah comes in the Jewish and regular calendar at quite the perfect time to give us this.
Chanukah is one of those few times in the Jewish calendar where it really does feel like a holiday. Very few restrictions or commands, Chanukah oftentimes occurs the same time as Christmas. And no matter what everyone says, to me it does take on some of the bright gaiety of our neighbours’ celebration.
There are no coincidences. Perhaps the reason Chanukah falls in December – the depth of winter and darkness – is because its purpose is to bring light, and also to gain light and give light, to and from the world. The nights are drawing in, the days are becoming shorter and it’s important we somehow try and bring light at this time. Chanukah is also the only holiday that falls at the end of the month. That is often a time we worry about how we’re going to pay the bills etc. Chanukah comes to bring us the light for so many different seasonal circumstances.
The candlelight is always shivering, yearning. We live in a broken world and must fix it with light. When you give to someone, the best way to do it is through light as you don’t need to take anything away from yourselves and yet still an endless amount of other people can gain from the light. That is what Chanukah is all about – spreading the miracle; spreading hope.
As well, we can use the light of Chanukah to help us trust too and that is what the month of Kislev is all about: “And they placed in Hashem their kislam (trust).” Trust is harder when it is dark. So when we have a light to shine, it is easier. Likewise we can create our own light – through emunah – which will make the darker days lighter for all time. During Chanukah we have the gift of making this easier, through the candles. According to Antiquities 7:7 “Perhaps the reason [for the name Festival of Lights] is that a freedom beyond our hopes appeared to us, and so this was the name given to the festival.” When we are able to have pure hope – a.k.a. emunah in Hashem – we get light automatically. Chanukah comes in the Jewish and regular calendar at quite the perfect time to give us this.
Why was it sooo important for us to get out of bed (okay we went for a later reading) and go hear parshat Zachor and Amalek? Yes, we are commanded: “Remember what Amalek did to you as you were leaving Egypt,” so we could just leave it at that and say that “because G-d says so.” But that doesn’t seem adequate. The next verse expands upon Amalek that: “He happened upon you, and struck the weakest people trailing behind, when you were exhausted. And he did not fear G-d.”
First, the gematria of Amalek is the same as safek – doubt. This is the main point and the most comprehensible reason (at least to me) for why it is so essential that we “Remember what Amalek did.” He put doubt in the Children of Israel. He didn’t fear G-d. He had no faith. He was the complete opposite of Judaism and believed everything happened by chance (not ordained by G-d). Hence it says “He happened upon you.” He was the antithesis of Yiddishkeit. And he made us doubt our Yiddishkeit.
There is always an Amalek to be contended with. Hence the verse specifies “Remember what Amalek did to you [sing].” Each and every one of us has to battle the Amalek, that voice that raises doubt. But on Purim we have the zechut to turn this around. Purim is a day of miracles; but also a day of concealment and confusion. We are commanded to drink until we “don’t know the difference between Mordechai the righteous and Haman the wicked,” because if we get to that point, we are basically completely accepting Hakadosh Baruch Hu and all that He does. We have successfully negated Amalek, the cold, [karcha] doubt festering in our minds. It is so hard to accept G-d for all He does – good and bad – Mordechai and Haman – but if we do, then we are true believers and avdei Hashem. By not knowing the difference between what seems to be good and evil (as that is all we know in this world) we have successfully “remembered Amalek.”
First, the gematria of Amalek is the same as safek – doubt. This is the main point and the most comprehensible reason (at least to me) for why it is so essential that we “Remember what Amalek did.” He put doubt in the Children of Israel. He didn’t fear G-d. He had no faith. He was the complete opposite of Judaism and believed everything happened by chance (not ordained by G-d). Hence it says “He happened upon you.” He was the antithesis of Yiddishkeit. And he made us doubt our Yiddishkeit.
There is always an Amalek to be contended with. Hence the verse specifies “Remember what Amalek did to you [sing].” Each and every one of us has to battle the Amalek, that voice that raises doubt. But on Purim we have the zechut to turn this around. Purim is a day of miracles; but also a day of concealment and confusion. We are commanded to drink until we “don’t know the difference between Mordechai the righteous and Haman the wicked,” because if we get to that point, we are basically completely accepting Hakadosh Baruch Hu and all that He does. We have successfully negated Amalek, the cold, [karcha] doubt festering in our minds. It is so hard to accept G-d for all He does – good and bad – Mordechai and Haman – but if we do, then we are true believers and avdei Hashem. By not knowing the difference between what seems to be good and evil (as that is all we know in this world) we have successfully “remembered Amalek.”
חג פורים חג פורים חג גדול לילדים
Until today I took that song at face value. Of course it’s a great big festival for kids. It’s noisy, full of candies, dressing up and out of control-ness. How could it notbe a big celebration for kids?
But today in shul as we read parshat Vayikraand I began reviewing some Torahs on Purim, I had second thoughts. There’s all that chatter about the small aleph at the end of the word Vayikra. Hundreds – if not thousands – of ideas abound. But the one that struck me was quite pertinent, especially this year when it falls in Adar Sheni the Shabbat before Purim. There is a tradition that the very first day a Jewish child starts his learning in a formal setting he is given hard cookie Aleph Bet letters to partake in the “sweetness” of Yadahut. The teacher then reads and explains the first verses of Vayikra to him since the laws of korbanot are about taharah and so we should let those who are tahor come and learn them.
I would like to suggest something different. We get to Sefer Vayikra and truthfully it’s all a bit confusing – and perhaps dare I say it – disappointing for us adults. We like Bereishit and Shemot with its dramatic stories of Akeidat Yitzchak, Yetziyat Mitzrayim and Shirat Hayam to name but a few. But come Vayikra and all the korbanot, well, really, try find meaning and excitement in that. It’s hard. Or, it’s at least more of a challenge.
Not so for children. Children understand so much better what korbanotare. They know and are not afraid to get closer to others, to try to make peace, to put the issues behind them and to move forward in love. They’re not damaged by difficult relationships so even if Reuven had a fight with Shlomi on Shabbat parshat Vayikra, four days later by Purim he’ll be running to give him a mishloach manot, putting all the difficulties aside and really enacting a korban, an approach of love, of giving, of pure gratitude for the other.
But adults? When Ploni upset Almoni the fight went on for weeks, months, or even years. They weren’t able to put their differences aside. No, they would only give mishloach manot to the 7 friends they’d been giving to for each year, not wanting to have anything to do with the korban that should be part and parcel of mishloach manot.
Another idea I had about the small alephwas of our hero Esther. She was totally in line with the humility of life. She put on no make up, didn’t think anything about her beauty, came in quietly and almost timidly and literally stole the heart of Ahashverosh. She didn’t need to use anything to doll herself up to make herself fake, she just – in a beautiful almost childlike manner – approached him with her hidden tahorness.
And in fact we learn even more about the small Aleph in Vayikra relating to Purim from Hashem himself. even though He is the hero, he doesn’t even appear in the Megillah!
And that brings me to my other point of how kids understand Purim (and Vayikra) so much more than adults ever will. Today we are so insistent on seeing everything, on having proof and on quoting Reb Google that we are incapable of understanding the hiddenness of Hashem and His miracles. The biggest miracles today are completely hidden, but we look for them in all the wrong places. It’s kids instead who are running late (as I read in a Jerusalem Post article by Batya Ludman this week) as they are fascinated by a colorful bug on the street. Parents however, are missing appointments because an automated Google alert came up on their phone, or a whatsapp message about an upcoming schedule change has caught their attention.
Yes, Purim is great for kids because of all the noise and the fanfare. But truthfully Purim is made great by kids. That is the meaning of the לילדים that because of children, Purim is great. Because it is they – with their personification of the small Aleph – who embody all the lessons inherent in the Chag.
Pesach seems like a pretty rough season for Jews today. The old joke about women wearing aprons that read “For this I came out of mitzrayim?” along with the would-be convert who suggests waiting ‘til after the holiday before converting, all suggest it’s not an easy ‘holiday.’ In addition, with all sorts of wayward family members getting together who usually don’t speak to each other – possibly for a whole week – hardly akin to a relaxing week in a spa.
So what is it that really lets us call this holiday Chag HaCheirut – the Festival of Freedom? Doesn’t it seem so antithetical to this? Yes, and that’s precisely why it’s not. Western ideas of freedom are doing what the *** you want, whenever you want. But Judaism says something different. Torah committed Judaism says (as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once put it) “Freedom is the opportunity to do what you have to do; not the ability to do what you want to do.” So indeed, when Bnei Yisrael were stuck in Mitzrayim (and today we all have our own personal Mitzrayaim – which can be read as Meitzarim – straits), they had no freedom. When G-d brought them out they had the opportunity to follow His law.
If there were no laws, there would be anarchy. That is freedom just for the strongest, loudest, and harshest people in society. That’s not the kind of freedom I want. I love the fact that my son is gentle, kind and has a wonderful nature. But if he lived in that kind of society, there would be no freedom for him at all. Thankfully, if someone smacks him (exercising this oft ideal of “freedom”), laws protect him, giving him the “freedom” to thrive in society.
This message seeps throughout the Haggadah. There are countless references to us coming out of Mitzrayim and every single individual – religious, secular, young, old, married, divorced, single, widowed, etc. etc. – at every stage in their lives, has to come out of their own Mitzrayim. And this is what we get just a glimpse of at the seder, and throughout Pesach.
Perhaps my favorite words in the seder are Tzei Ulemad translated in pshat as “Go out and Learn.” The Maggid of Mezeritch teaches us the beauty in these words for our own personal yetziya which is yes, indeed, go out [of yourselves, of your little mindsets; of your own arrogances; of your comfort zones; of everything you do and know] and learn. Learn from others. Learn from what is going on around you. Learn from the Torah, but most importantly, go out of what you know and what you are so sure is so right (that everyone else is wrong) and through that learning, you will really experience and understand what it means to live and thrive throughout Chag HaCherut and no longer will Pesach cleaning feel a burden to you…especially for me who’s being taken away to a hotel for the whole week!
One final idea from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: everyone on Pesach wishes their friends a Chag Kasher V’sameach and on Purim, a Chag Sameach. Really this is upside down. On Purim, where the sameach is so big and often so much, the kasher gets lost. On Pesach on the other hand, the kasher is so big (people drive themselves potty), that the sameach gets lost. Thus on Purim we should greet each other with Chag Kasher V’Sameach and on Pesach Chag Sameach V’Kasher. Wishing you all a Chag Sameach V’Kasher (and I think kitniyot in Israel is fine).
So what is it that really lets us call this holiday Chag HaCheirut – the Festival of Freedom? Doesn’t it seem so antithetical to this? Yes, and that’s precisely why it’s not. Western ideas of freedom are doing what the *** you want, whenever you want. But Judaism says something different. Torah committed Judaism says (as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once put it) “Freedom is the opportunity to do what you have to do; not the ability to do what you want to do.” So indeed, when Bnei Yisrael were stuck in Mitzrayim (and today we all have our own personal Mitzrayaim – which can be read as Meitzarim – straits), they had no freedom. When G-d brought them out they had the opportunity to follow His law.
If there were no laws, there would be anarchy. That is freedom just for the strongest, loudest, and harshest people in society. That’s not the kind of freedom I want. I love the fact that my son is gentle, kind and has a wonderful nature. But if he lived in that kind of society, there would be no freedom for him at all. Thankfully, if someone smacks him (exercising this oft ideal of “freedom”), laws protect him, giving him the “freedom” to thrive in society.
This message seeps throughout the Haggadah. There are countless references to us coming out of Mitzrayim and every single individual – religious, secular, young, old, married, divorced, single, widowed, etc. etc. – at every stage in their lives, has to come out of their own Mitzrayim. And this is what we get just a glimpse of at the seder, and throughout Pesach.
Perhaps my favorite words in the seder are Tzei Ulemad translated in pshat as “Go out and Learn.” The Maggid of Mezeritch teaches us the beauty in these words for our own personal yetziya which is yes, indeed, go out [of yourselves, of your little mindsets; of your own arrogances; of your comfort zones; of everything you do and know] and learn. Learn from others. Learn from what is going on around you. Learn from the Torah, but most importantly, go out of what you know and what you are so sure is so right (that everyone else is wrong) and through that learning, you will really experience and understand what it means to live and thrive throughout Chag HaCherut and no longer will Pesach cleaning feel a burden to you…especially for me who’s being taken away to a hotel for the whole week!
One final idea from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: everyone on Pesach wishes their friends a Chag Kasher V’sameach and on Purim, a Chag Sameach. Really this is upside down. On Purim, where the sameach is so big and often so much, the kasher gets lost. On Pesach on the other hand, the kasher is so big (people drive themselves potty), that the sameach gets lost. Thus on Purim we should greet each other with Chag Kasher V’Sameach and on Pesach Chag Sameach V’Kasher. Wishing you all a Chag Sameach V’Kasher (and I think kitniyot in Israel is fine).
From Pesach to Shavuot we are commanded to count 49 days…each one of us…every individual. The commandment is clear: “You shall count for yourselves – from the day after the rest day [Passover], from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving – seven weeks, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count, fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the L-rd.” In Judaism there are acts we do as a community, as a family, or as an individual. Clearly, sefirat haomer is the latter; we all have the obligation – as individuals – in our own way, to count the omer. Every single night after sunset. Not one night or one individual must be missed.
Why? Why is it so important? What can counting do? And for 49 days? The idea is that through this time – which is also a time when we are in a state of semi-mourning (due to Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students being killed by a plague)– we should uplift ourselves spiritually and take each of these days to refine our character traits a little bit more via a 7 weekly theme – chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, malchut. If we focus on these elements each week, we can narrow down our work to one specific area of improvement. This makes it not only more manageable but also more realistic and likely for success.
When one seeks to change any behaviour pattern (be it with diet, exercise, the way we speak to each other, patience, etc.), we can get motivated to continue with the behaviour if we see that we are maintaining it. If we start a diet on Monday and continue ‘til Tuesday, we can say we did one day. By Friday it’s five days. Knowing that we are maintaining the new behaviour is motivation. Hence counting the omer does the same.
The idea behind counting during this time is to prepare us from Pesach – Zman Cheruteynu – the time of our freedom – to Shavuot – Zman Matan Torateynu. If we’ve had freedom and have been excited by it and want to use it, then it is now the time to prepare ourselves to become avdei Hashem – real, true servants of G-d and accept the Torah. If we use this time wisely – from Pesach to Shavuot – to count, to reflect, to develop character traits well, then we will have accomplished the mission of sefirat omer.
Why? Why is it so important? What can counting do? And for 49 days? The idea is that through this time – which is also a time when we are in a state of semi-mourning (due to Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students being killed by a plague)– we should uplift ourselves spiritually and take each of these days to refine our character traits a little bit more via a 7 weekly theme – chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, malchut. If we focus on these elements each week, we can narrow down our work to one specific area of improvement. This makes it not only more manageable but also more realistic and likely for success.
When one seeks to change any behaviour pattern (be it with diet, exercise, the way we speak to each other, patience, etc.), we can get motivated to continue with the behaviour if we see that we are maintaining it. If we start a diet on Monday and continue ‘til Tuesday, we can say we did one day. By Friday it’s five days. Knowing that we are maintaining the new behaviour is motivation. Hence counting the omer does the same.
The idea behind counting during this time is to prepare us from Pesach – Zman Cheruteynu – the time of our freedom – to Shavuot – Zman Matan Torateynu. If we’ve had freedom and have been excited by it and want to use it, then it is now the time to prepare ourselves to become avdei Hashem – real, true servants of G-d and accept the Torah. If we use this time wisely – from Pesach to Shavuot – to count, to reflect, to develop character traits well, then we will have accomplished the mission of sefirat omer.
“If you come, they will build it.”
No, I didn’t just misquote from my husband’s favorite movie, Field of Dreams. I turned the quote on its head to illustrate the significance of Yom Haatzmaut, today, with this community, in Efrat, specifically on PHK.
In Pirkei Avot, Chapter 2, Rabbi Tarfon said:
לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה
“It is not your task to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either.”
Likewise with communities. It’s not the job of one person to build it, but every person has to take part in its construction. That’s the only way communities are built.
It was 2006. We’d been married a year. Daniel excitedly drove me, along with both sets of parents, to come see the house he really wanted to buy. I was very unsure. Likewise, the reactions of our parents were nervous at best, akin to each of their personalities: his mom: offered a sweet, but unsure smile. His dad: head shaking with a look that I’m sure was given to him during one of his teenage antics. My dad: quietly saying “I’m not sure this is such a great idea,” and my mum: not so quietly saying, “does anyone actually live here?”
It was 2014. Friday erev Shabbat. Daniel and his dad were going next door to shul, getting there early enough to make sure they had a seat. “Dad,” Daniel said, “do you remember what you said to me 8 years ago when you were standing on these very same steps?” “Yes,” his father replied, a broad smile now flashed across his face, “if only all the mistakes I made in my life had turned out as great as that.”
If you come, they will build it.
When we made our home in Efrat 9 years ago, this community did not exist. There was no need for the-bitch-from-next-door to have her husband paint a heliport landing sign to “save” a parking spot. And to close off the street like we’ve done today? What a laugh that would have created given that at best there were about 3 cars on the entire street at any one time.
We came and they built it. Every single person on the street, near this street, who takes part in Shirat David and community events, has built it. In the last 9 years this little street at the end of the world and turn left has transformed from a few houses and a bunch of empty plots into an incredible community where small basements are being rented for 4,000 NIS. We came – on Daniel’s inspiration – and the community – each and every one of you – built it.
If you build it, they will come.
After the war, Daniel’s maternal grandfather, Yitzchak, literally built the shul – Sharei Tefilah – in Los Angeles. Like his namesake Yitzchak Avinu who willingly offered himself as a sacrifice on the mountain (it is no coincidence Har and Yitzchak have the same gematria of 208), Daniel’s grandfather humbly struggled up his own mountain for the sake of the Jewish people, building a shul from nothing…so that they would come. And they did in their droves.
As a tribute to him, Daniel turned the concept on its head, came, and saw the potential in PHK for us to somehow (and I sure had no idea how) build a true בנין עדי עד (a home strong enough to withstand the tests of time), having two kids with the names Eitan, Golan (Eitan Golan being the name of one of Efrat’s Mayors) right here, a dog named Gal (gematria of 33 which is btw how old Efrat is today), seriously putting PHK on the map as the community built it.
In 1987, nearly 3 decades ago (before many of you were even born), Danny Bellar, z”l took my tour group on a visit through Efrat, pointing out the pizzeria. Wow, I thought to myself, what an idyllic place to live. How lucky those people are. And I went back to my home in London and quietly waved a flag in the comfort of a building fiercely guarded against the throes of anti-Semitism. And, like every other Anglo Jew living outside of his home, I didn’t make a noise about it, because it wasn’t appropriate in a country governed by non-Jews.
It was Jessica who reminded me this week how right my husband is in wanting to make a big noise on Yom Haatzmaut, here, on PHK. (It is also no coincidence that the gematria of ק.ה.פ is 175 and if you take that away from 208 you get 33 again.) And it was Shlomo who helped me see that while we so often question why Hashem lets the bad things happen, we rarely ask why He brings the miraculous things, like our lives, like Freezee in Efrat Pizzeria today, like our kids, and like life on PHK.
So even though in years’ past I’ve more just enjoyed this big bash for the sake of Shalom Bayit, I’m here to say I’m gonna enjoy it for so much more from here on out. Today I’ll enjoy it for every single person who came and let us build it: For the Chayalim and their families. For Daniel’s grandfather. For Danny Bellar. For the little Anglo Jewish kid who was scared to wave her flag in public. And for all of Am Yisrael who can come and take responsibility of the building of the community.
Here’s to the next 68 years PHK!
No, I didn’t just misquote from my husband’s favorite movie, Field of Dreams. I turned the quote on its head to illustrate the significance of Yom Haatzmaut, today, with this community, in Efrat, specifically on PHK.
In Pirkei Avot, Chapter 2, Rabbi Tarfon said:
לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה
“It is not your task to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either.”
Likewise with communities. It’s not the job of one person to build it, but every person has to take part in its construction. That’s the only way communities are built.
It was 2006. We’d been married a year. Daniel excitedly drove me, along with both sets of parents, to come see the house he really wanted to buy. I was very unsure. Likewise, the reactions of our parents were nervous at best, akin to each of their personalities: his mom: offered a sweet, but unsure smile. His dad: head shaking with a look that I’m sure was given to him during one of his teenage antics. My dad: quietly saying “I’m not sure this is such a great idea,” and my mum: not so quietly saying, “does anyone actually live here?”
It was 2014. Friday erev Shabbat. Daniel and his dad were going next door to shul, getting there early enough to make sure they had a seat. “Dad,” Daniel said, “do you remember what you said to me 8 years ago when you were standing on these very same steps?” “Yes,” his father replied, a broad smile now flashed across his face, “if only all the mistakes I made in my life had turned out as great as that.”
If you come, they will build it.
When we made our home in Efrat 9 years ago, this community did not exist. There was no need for the-bitch-from-next-door to have her husband paint a heliport landing sign to “save” a parking spot. And to close off the street like we’ve done today? What a laugh that would have created given that at best there were about 3 cars on the entire street at any one time.
We came and they built it. Every single person on the street, near this street, who takes part in Shirat David and community events, has built it. In the last 9 years this little street at the end of the world and turn left has transformed from a few houses and a bunch of empty plots into an incredible community where small basements are being rented for 4,000 NIS. We came – on Daniel’s inspiration – and the community – each and every one of you – built it.
If you build it, they will come.
After the war, Daniel’s maternal grandfather, Yitzchak, literally built the shul – Sharei Tefilah – in Los Angeles. Like his namesake Yitzchak Avinu who willingly offered himself as a sacrifice on the mountain (it is no coincidence Har and Yitzchak have the same gematria of 208), Daniel’s grandfather humbly struggled up his own mountain for the sake of the Jewish people, building a shul from nothing…so that they would come. And they did in their droves.
As a tribute to him, Daniel turned the concept on its head, came, and saw the potential in PHK for us to somehow (and I sure had no idea how) build a true בנין עדי עד (a home strong enough to withstand the tests of time), having two kids with the names Eitan, Golan (Eitan Golan being the name of one of Efrat’s Mayors) right here, a dog named Gal (gematria of 33 which is btw how old Efrat is today), seriously putting PHK on the map as the community built it.
In 1987, nearly 3 decades ago (before many of you were even born), Danny Bellar, z”l took my tour group on a visit through Efrat, pointing out the pizzeria. Wow, I thought to myself, what an idyllic place to live. How lucky those people are. And I went back to my home in London and quietly waved a flag in the comfort of a building fiercely guarded against the throes of anti-Semitism. And, like every other Anglo Jew living outside of his home, I didn’t make a noise about it, because it wasn’t appropriate in a country governed by non-Jews.
It was Jessica who reminded me this week how right my husband is in wanting to make a big noise on Yom Haatzmaut, here, on PHK. (It is also no coincidence that the gematria of ק.ה.פ is 175 and if you take that away from 208 you get 33 again.) And it was Shlomo who helped me see that while we so often question why Hashem lets the bad things happen, we rarely ask why He brings the miraculous things, like our lives, like Freezee in Efrat Pizzeria today, like our kids, and like life on PHK.
So even though in years’ past I’ve more just enjoyed this big bash for the sake of Shalom Bayit, I’m here to say I’m gonna enjoy it for so much more from here on out. Today I’ll enjoy it for every single person who came and let us build it: For the Chayalim and their families. For Daniel’s grandfather. For Danny Bellar. For the little Anglo Jewish kid who was scared to wave her flag in public. And for all of Am Yisrael who can come and take responsibility of the building of the community.
Here’s to the next 68 years PHK!
"ותאמר רות אל תפבעי בי לעזבך לשוב מאחריך כי אל אשר לתכי אלך ובאשר תליני אלין עצך עמיואלקיך אלקי. באשר תנותי אמות ושם אקבר כה יעשה ה' לי חכה יסיף כי המבת יפריד ביניובינך. ותרא כי מתאמצת היא ללכת אתה ותחדל לדבר אליה..."
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your G-d is my G-d; where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may G-d do to me – and more! – if anything but death separates me from you.’ When she saw she was determined to go with her, she stopped arguing with her.”
The infamous quote. The unconditional commitment from Ruth, the stranger that we take so many lessons from. Let’s take an unconventional slant at this and see how it fits into the חג as a cyclical event, in relation toפסח and סוכות.
Shavuot has a few names. חג שבועות Festival of Weeks; חג הקציר The Festival of the Harvest; יוםהביקורים – The Festival of the First Fruits. It is discussed without a name in ויקרא. What’s even more interesting is that whenever the Mishna refers to it, it doesn’t use any of these names, simply terming it עצרת. This has been questioned by a variety of sources and different interpretations are offered, translating the term as restraint/assembly, explaining that the last days of סוכות and פסח are likewise referred to in this way because they involve no positive מצוה (such as sitting in the sukkah or eating matza). Likewise, except for bringing the שתי הלחם – a commandment that became redundant after the destruction of the בתי מקדש – our חג suffers from the same lack.
What else could it mean though? שבועות comes in between פסח and סוכות. There is a kind of steady progression from פסח to סוכות of less sleep too – on פסח we stay up pretty late to retell the story of יציאת מצרים, by שבועות it’s until the early hours of the morning that we are up learning, and סוכות sees the מצוה being extended until daybreak (sleeping in the sukkah). What is remarkable about Judaism is certainly it’s calendar, it’s ingrained capacity for one to do תשובה and חזרה and it’s ‘one-step-at-a-time limud’ This is where עצרת comes in. Take your time, don’t rush in, just go slow. In fact, to ensure that you really are going slowly, ‘step-by-step,’ רגל-ל-רגל, just stop – עצור – and reflect. שבועות is a mid-way point, a time we can stop, review the beauty of the gift we have been endowed with – our holy תורה – and just enjoy it for a while.
According to Maharal, the תורה does not refer to the חג as זמן מתן תורתנו as if it did that, it would be commanding us to rejoice for this reason and it is difficult to instruct someone in becoming happy (especially in our troubled times today). It is clear on פסח what we have to celebrate – the taking out of מצרים and likewise at סוכות for G-d protecting us in our huts, but receiving a תורהwould not necessarily be an assumption for a celebration. Therefore this term was only instituted by Chazal rather than the תורה, but this still does not negate the responsibility of each individual ensuring זמן מתן תורתנו becomes a personal celebration, so again we have cause to ‘pause awhile’ and ingrain happiness into our souls.
The second idea linked to the cyclical notion of the חגים is as follows: each of the שלוש רגלים use a different sense: פסח – פה סח – uses the mouth, words – as we retell the story; סוכות uses a more overall physical body encounter, what with the building of the sukkah, the waving of the ארבעמינים and sleeping in the sukkah with the entire body; but at שבועות we have a time to pause – we turn round and the first phrase we utter is נעשה ונשמע – we’re committed to doing unconditionally, without questions, words, just לשמע. In other words (‘scuse the pun!), in the midst of all our action throughout the year, we get a chance at עצרת to pause awhile. The idea is that it’s okay to talk a lot (פסח), but before we act (סוכות), we should pause (חג העצרת).
How else can we do this? Perhaps שבועות can be likened to שבת. Comprised of the same letters, the additional letters it carries are two ו’s and an ע. The first ו represents 6 – the 6th סיון; the second וrepresents 6 – the day on which man was created and the ע represents עין – the eye. The message is clear – take time to rest, like on שבת, but go the extra step – use your eye well, remembering what you allow yourself to see should be enveloped by תורה and personal judgement. Whatever we see and contemplate we should envelope via בין אדם למקום (6th סיון) and בין אדם לחברו (6th day of creation). We should always ensure that we are careful about how we view the world and if we do it through תורה and our own work, we will succeed in completing the מצוה of זמן מתן תורתינו – תיקון עולם partnering G-d in the all-encompassing work of נעשה אדם.
These ideas are merely expanded by our pasukim in מגילת רות. Ruth had seen enough, now she wanted to listen. She wanted to listen to what she knew was the אמת, whatever difficulties it would bring. And after she had ‘paused awhile,’ Naomi realized ותחדל לדבר אליה there would be no point in arguing with her.
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your G-d is my G-d; where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may G-d do to me – and more! – if anything but death separates me from you.’ When she saw she was determined to go with her, she stopped arguing with her.”
The infamous quote. The unconditional commitment from Ruth, the stranger that we take so many lessons from. Let’s take an unconventional slant at this and see how it fits into the חג as a cyclical event, in relation toפסח and סוכות.
Shavuot has a few names. חג שבועות Festival of Weeks; חג הקציר The Festival of the Harvest; יוםהביקורים – The Festival of the First Fruits. It is discussed without a name in ויקרא. What’s even more interesting is that whenever the Mishna refers to it, it doesn’t use any of these names, simply terming it עצרת. This has been questioned by a variety of sources and different interpretations are offered, translating the term as restraint/assembly, explaining that the last days of סוכות and פסח are likewise referred to in this way because they involve no positive מצוה (such as sitting in the sukkah or eating matza). Likewise, except for bringing the שתי הלחם – a commandment that became redundant after the destruction of the בתי מקדש – our חג suffers from the same lack.
What else could it mean though? שבועות comes in between פסח and סוכות. There is a kind of steady progression from פסח to סוכות of less sleep too – on פסח we stay up pretty late to retell the story of יציאת מצרים, by שבועות it’s until the early hours of the morning that we are up learning, and סוכות sees the מצוה being extended until daybreak (sleeping in the sukkah). What is remarkable about Judaism is certainly it’s calendar, it’s ingrained capacity for one to do תשובה and חזרה and it’s ‘one-step-at-a-time limud’ This is where עצרת comes in. Take your time, don’t rush in, just go slow. In fact, to ensure that you really are going slowly, ‘step-by-step,’ רגל-ל-רגל, just stop – עצור – and reflect. שבועות is a mid-way point, a time we can stop, review the beauty of the gift we have been endowed with – our holy תורה – and just enjoy it for a while.
According to Maharal, the תורה does not refer to the חג as זמן מתן תורתנו as if it did that, it would be commanding us to rejoice for this reason and it is difficult to instruct someone in becoming happy (especially in our troubled times today). It is clear on פסח what we have to celebrate – the taking out of מצרים and likewise at סוכות for G-d protecting us in our huts, but receiving a תורהwould not necessarily be an assumption for a celebration. Therefore this term was only instituted by Chazal rather than the תורה, but this still does not negate the responsibility of each individual ensuring זמן מתן תורתנו becomes a personal celebration, so again we have cause to ‘pause awhile’ and ingrain happiness into our souls.
The second idea linked to the cyclical notion of the חגים is as follows: each of the שלוש רגלים use a different sense: פסח – פה סח – uses the mouth, words – as we retell the story; סוכות uses a more overall physical body encounter, what with the building of the sukkah, the waving of the ארבעמינים and sleeping in the sukkah with the entire body; but at שבועות we have a time to pause – we turn round and the first phrase we utter is נעשה ונשמע – we’re committed to doing unconditionally, without questions, words, just לשמע. In other words (‘scuse the pun!), in the midst of all our action throughout the year, we get a chance at עצרת to pause awhile. The idea is that it’s okay to talk a lot (פסח), but before we act (סוכות), we should pause (חג העצרת).
How else can we do this? Perhaps שבועות can be likened to שבת. Comprised of the same letters, the additional letters it carries are two ו’s and an ע. The first ו represents 6 – the 6th סיון; the second וrepresents 6 – the day on which man was created and the ע represents עין – the eye. The message is clear – take time to rest, like on שבת, but go the extra step – use your eye well, remembering what you allow yourself to see should be enveloped by תורה and personal judgement. Whatever we see and contemplate we should envelope via בין אדם למקום (6th סיון) and בין אדם לחברו (6th day of creation). We should always ensure that we are careful about how we view the world and if we do it through תורה and our own work, we will succeed in completing the מצוה of זמן מתן תורתינו – תיקון עולם partnering G-d in the all-encompassing work of נעשה אדם.
These ideas are merely expanded by our pasukim in מגילת רות. Ruth had seen enough, now she wanted to listen. She wanted to listen to what she knew was the אמת, whatever difficulties it would bring. And after she had ‘paused awhile,’ Naomi realized ותחדל לדבר אליה there would be no point in arguing with her.
"בחדש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל מארץ מצרים ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני."
“In the third month, following Israel’s exodus from Egypt, on this day, they arrived in the Sinai desert.”
It’s a remarkable time for the Children of Israel. Earlier encampments endured grievances against משה and G-d, but at סיני, no-one complained; the nation knew they had arrived at their destiny[1].
The three areas that will be addressed in this essay are all referred to in the above pasuk: a) בחדש השלישי, b) יציאת מצרים and c) ביום הזה.
This alludes to the third month following יציאת מצרים so the two concepts (בחדש השלישי ויציאת מצרים)are inexorably linked. The question is, however, why was the תורה given in the third month anyway? If it’s so integral to the Jewish people, why wasn’t it given straightaway, in the first month, indeed, on the first day of the first week following their newfound freedom from יציאת מצרים?
One reason given is that the number three is connected to תורה: תורה, נביאים, כתובים (תנ"ך); further עם ישראל is comprised of three people: כהנים, לוים, ישראלים. And these people are meant to be a כלי (an acronym of כהנים, לוים, ישראלים), through which the תורה should be observed[2].
מתן תורה is precisely this: a merging of two entities (to become a third); G-d (תורה) and the Jews (עם ישראל). It is almost like sex – the כלי opening up for the conceptualization of תורה[3].
Nonetheless, why was שבועות so special anyway, given that prior to this time and the giving of the תורה we had already been keeping certain מצות? (Such as the Noahide laws[4], ברית מילה[5], the precepts ordained in Marah[6] [again the number three, with three different types of laws].) According to רמב"ן these laws weren’t as significant as those given at מתן תורה, but it should still be considered given the seemingly disproportionate significance of מתן תורה. The real difference is the inyan of מתן תורה – the gift. מצות act as a מרקבהchariot to Divinity and therefore remain a separate entity. תורה on the other hand, is in complete unity with G-d; a total, merging of two pieces[7].
Yet this still does not directly address the issue of the third month. The Jews’ main purpose in G-d’s world is to improve it. What does this mean? That He did a lousy job in the beginning? No. Rather, that He intentionally merely made a start so that we would have a purpose – that of completion[8]. Therefore, it follows that we must destroy dualism (which exists in an incomplete world as there is physicality/ secularism and spirituality/holiness rather than a total integration of the two) and replace it with unity. We do this by merging the רוחניות with the גשמיעות; the חילוני with the קדושה; the גוף with the נפש, i.e. ourselves with G-d so that ultimately there is no distinction between us and מצות; there is no longer a chariot blocking the way and causing dualism; there is no one and two – just a merging, a centrality, a third, מתן תורה. We don’t have to look back to פסח and יציאת מצרים or forward to סוכות and our journeyings; we should have it right here, right now, with מתן תורה and שבועות, the second of the שלוש רגלים that falls in the third month.
There has to be integration, connection, to-ing and fro-ing, an exchange; something Eeyore complains one day to Rabbit he never gets any of. And why? Well, here Rabbit blames him for not making enough of an effort. It takes two to tango, to make a third – again the sex!:
“Nobody tells me,” said Eeyore. “Nobody keeps me informed. I make it seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me.”
“It certainly isn’t seventeen days –”
“Come Friday” explained Eeyore.
“And to-day’s Saturday,” said Rabbit. “So that would make it eleven days. And I was here myself a week ago.”
“Not conversing,” said Eeyore. “Not first one and then the other. You said ‘Hallo’ and Flashed Past. I saw your tail a hundred yards up the hill as I was meditating my reply. I had thought of saying ‘What?’ – but of, course, it was then too late.”
“Well, I was in a hurry.”
“No Give and Take,” Eeyore went on. “No Exchange of Thought. ‘Hallo – What’ – I mean, it gets you nowhere, particularly if the other person’s tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation.”
“It’s your fault, Eeyore. You’ve never been to see any of us. You just stay here in this one corner of the Forest waiting for the others to come to you. Why don’t you go to them sometimes?
Eeyore was silent for a while, thinking.
“There may be something in what you say, Rabbit,” he said at last. “I have been neglecting you. I must move about more. I must come and go.”
There is always a way to be dual in any event. By taking responsibility and actively participating, we help to close up the duality and unite – being active participators in the making of the ‘third.[9]’
Also connected to the ‘three’ concept, in ניסן we learn of G-d’s revelation to the people[10]. This came from above (G-d, spirituality) without any input from below (the Children of Israel, physicality). In אייר, we count the עמר in which the mundane and the sacred meet. It is a time when the soul has an opportunity to be refined. The main aspect is mundane, as it is not absorbed into Divinity, which is alluded to in its name, an acronym for אברהם, יצחק, יעקב, רחל – the four supports of the מקרבה[11]. סיון unites the two aspects of ‘above’ and ‘below’ into one aspect, transcending them both – real unity and Divinity absorption. Hence מתן תורה in סיון – man’s intellect uniting with the “wisdom and will of G-d.[12]” This is the idea of the third – man’s intellect and G-d’s wisdom becoming a new, third reality – altogether one.
Directly linked to our first subject, יציאת מצרים is one of the most talked-about concepts in Judaism, the הגדהbeing the second most widely-read text amongst Jews. Why though? It is the basis of Jewish faith – the idea, as mentioned above – of G-d with יד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה, taking us out, with us being totally passive and just being there for the ride, having complete faith in G-d and being totally reliant on Him and His miracles, understanding and witnessing clearly His omnipotence[13]. But it is more than just a theological idea[14]; it shows how redemption is always possible, תפילות can always be answered and G-d will respond. In all our prayers we mention the יציאה, referring to the big one from Egypt, but our personal prayers should also refer to the individual plight, the idea that we are again appealing to the Omnipresent one to save us, redeem us and bring us forth from out ‘straits.’ Hence the cycle of the festivals – yes, we received the תורה, as a wondrous gift, but it was only following our יציאה and when we receive gifts now, today, personally, the best way to do so is following a יציאה, a departure from personal straits.
ציא רש"י comments that the text should have read ביום ההוא on that day rather than ביום הזה. The reason it does not is to teach us that the words of תורה should be perceived anew, as if they were given ביום הזה, like today, every day we should be receiving the תורה, like every day we should be experiencing a יציאה from מצרים, understanding G-d’s power and compassion for us. So crucial (like יציאת מצרים) is the concept of ביום הזה, that we allude to it thrice daily in our recitation of the שמע[15]. Therefore, it should never become a mundane, antiquated document; rather it should be something new which all come to welcome[16].
We are commanded to receive the תורה anew each day, but this does not mean the תורה changes daily (as some would like to promote). Rather, the idea is that we, the מקרבים are new, having transcended the yesterday and making further strides today. The תורה requires new responses according to different daily challenges, or else we stagnate. שבועות is the peak experience of מתן תורה and when we receive the gift, we become duty-bound to reach towards it, further today than yesterday[17].
Therefore, although seemingly less important than its counterparts in the שלוש רגלים – פסח and סוכות – the seven-day long חגים, it is the bridge, the link that completes the Jewish lunar calendar[18].
[1] Taken from the Stone
Edition Chumash
[2] רמ"ק
[3] Ibid
[4] Sanhedrin 56aff
[5] 7:9-14בראשית
[6] שמות 15:25
[7] ליקותי סיכות (במדבר)
[8] רמ"ק
[9] Ibid.
[10] הגדה של פסח
[11] 1:156aזוהר
[12] Tanya, Ch.5
[13] רמ"ק
[14] R. Reuven Bulka,
Torah Therapy
[15] דברים 6:6
[16] ספרי
[17] R. Reuven Bulka
Torah Therapy
[18] רמ"ק
Megilat Rut
…עמך עמי ואלקיך אלקי ואשר כמותי אמות ושם אקבר.
“….Your people will be my people; your G-d my G-d; where you die I will die and there will I be buried.”
What is the message of מגילת רות – (Ruth)? What is this proselyte Ruth coming to tell us? That to welcome the stranger is not merely a matter of politeness; but a way of enabling the stranger to share fully in the all the bounties of life we share together as a people. Why now though? Why just after פסח and at מתן תורה – the giving of the Torah – perhaps the most pertinent time for the Jews? What’s so important about sharing? During the time between פסח and שבועות we spend each day desperately looking forward to the time we’ll belong; we’ll have a set of laws, our תורה and we’ll know what we should be striving for. To have a goal in life is simultaneously be given an opportunity to belong somewhere and this is crucial for everyone, but the more so for the stranger, the homeless individual.
During the counting of the עמר – omer, this is the commitment we must strive to reach at the 49th gate before G-d comes and eases open the 50th one for us. We must seek to reach this deveykut to G-d through other people; through true חסד – lovingkindness – אהבת ה' – love of G-d and integration into the other in our entirety.
עמך עמי – “Your people will be my people.” What does this mean? Your pain will be my pain; ואלקיך אלקי– “Your G-d will be my G-d” – your spirit will be my spirit. Your home will be my home and where your soul finds ultimate שלוה – tranquility – there you will find me too. This is the ultimate in תיקון עולם – repairing the world.
Let’s take a closer look: What does the עם – people – symbolize for us when we share in another’s pain? ע – עין – the eye; מ – מקום – place. Our eye follows their place; we get into their vibe as our perception extends to meet them wherever they are.
Ruth’s not just saying ‘I want to join you and take from you and become a member of your community’; she’s saying, ‘let me be you’ to the extent that she wants the role of primary carer for a troubled people. This is אהבת ה' – love of G-d, אהבת חינם – unconditional love – and a pure emulation of G-d’s works and traits.
What does it mean to take on someone else’s G-d? You’re not just saying you’re ready to commit to the positive and negative laws He imposes. At least not in תורה-Judaism. You’re saying instead ‘I’m willing, able and ready to open up the dialogue and begin engaging this G-d,’ not to give advice, but to form a dveykut, a devotion to a Higher Power you’ll never completely fathom and Whose control of you and the world will – from a human nature point of view – terrify, overwhelm and shock you vis-à-vis what society has so far taught you. You’re accepting a responsibility of not only keeping the laws, but enveloping your essence even in those you have no understanding of nor passion to attempt to comprehend. In other words, Ruth’s declaration of taking on this G-d was an illustration of man’s (or woman’s) tremendous capacity to go against the grain and embrace that which is right, morally and spiritually.
What about the G-d, the אלקיך? א – אשר – happy; ל – לימוד – learning – ה – הקשיב – listening; י – יד – hand; ך – כלי – vessel.
In other words, What is ‘your G-d’? אשר – happiness. This is what our G-d wants for us. How do we go about achieving that? Through לימוד – learning; through הקשיב – listening, with the יד – hand; through the כלי – vessel. What does this mean? Real happiness (aluf – אלוף – the symbol of the א) is gained via totality and cohesion of the mind, body and soul. The hand does the physical work (the body); the learning is a representation of the intellectual work (the mind) and the vessel is that which carries the other two (the soul). This was the G-d – the total, all-encompassing G-d – Ruth was committing her whole self to. Finally, to be dead and buried in the same place is a simple understanding that the commitment she has made toward her happiness will continue in עולם הבא – the world to come – where she can finally rest from the עבודה – work – that enables her to find true אשר – happiness.
Ultimately, what is so spectacular, unique and awesome about Ruth is her commitment on so many levels to בין אדם לחברו – (your people), בין אדם למקום – (your G-d) and a meeting of the two (there will I be buried). When one commits to a people like Ruth did it is pure אהבת ישראל – love of Israel – to a G-d like she did אהבת ה' – love of G-d – and to an ultimate resting place ensuring her mother-in-law couldn’t die alone, a culmination of the two מצות commandments which are a microcosm of the entire תורה.
…עמך עמי ואלקיך אלקי ואשר כמותי אמות ושם אקבר.
“….Your people will be my people; your G-d my G-d; where you die I will die and there will I be buried.”
What is the message of מגילת רות – (Ruth)? What is this proselyte Ruth coming to tell us? That to welcome the stranger is not merely a matter of politeness; but a way of enabling the stranger to share fully in the all the bounties of life we share together as a people. Why now though? Why just after פסח and at מתן תורה – the giving of the Torah – perhaps the most pertinent time for the Jews? What’s so important about sharing? During the time between פסח and שבועות we spend each day desperately looking forward to the time we’ll belong; we’ll have a set of laws, our תורה and we’ll know what we should be striving for. To have a goal in life is simultaneously be given an opportunity to belong somewhere and this is crucial for everyone, but the more so for the stranger, the homeless individual.
During the counting of the עמר – omer, this is the commitment we must strive to reach at the 49th gate before G-d comes and eases open the 50th one for us. We must seek to reach this deveykut to G-d through other people; through true חסד – lovingkindness – אהבת ה' – love of G-d and integration into the other in our entirety.
עמך עמי – “Your people will be my people.” What does this mean? Your pain will be my pain; ואלקיך אלקי– “Your G-d will be my G-d” – your spirit will be my spirit. Your home will be my home and where your soul finds ultimate שלוה – tranquility – there you will find me too. This is the ultimate in תיקון עולם – repairing the world.
Let’s take a closer look: What does the עם – people – symbolize for us when we share in another’s pain? ע – עין – the eye; מ – מקום – place. Our eye follows their place; we get into their vibe as our perception extends to meet them wherever they are.
Ruth’s not just saying ‘I want to join you and take from you and become a member of your community’; she’s saying, ‘let me be you’ to the extent that she wants the role of primary carer for a troubled people. This is אהבת ה' – love of G-d, אהבת חינם – unconditional love – and a pure emulation of G-d’s works and traits.
What does it mean to take on someone else’s G-d? You’re not just saying you’re ready to commit to the positive and negative laws He imposes. At least not in תורה-Judaism. You’re saying instead ‘I’m willing, able and ready to open up the dialogue and begin engaging this G-d,’ not to give advice, but to form a dveykut, a devotion to a Higher Power you’ll never completely fathom and Whose control of you and the world will – from a human nature point of view – terrify, overwhelm and shock you vis-à-vis what society has so far taught you. You’re accepting a responsibility of not only keeping the laws, but enveloping your essence even in those you have no understanding of nor passion to attempt to comprehend. In other words, Ruth’s declaration of taking on this G-d was an illustration of man’s (or woman’s) tremendous capacity to go against the grain and embrace that which is right, morally and spiritually.
What about the G-d, the אלקיך? א – אשר – happy; ל – לימוד – learning – ה – הקשיב – listening; י – יד – hand; ך – כלי – vessel.
In other words, What is ‘your G-d’? אשר – happiness. This is what our G-d wants for us. How do we go about achieving that? Through לימוד – learning; through הקשיב – listening, with the יד – hand; through the כלי – vessel. What does this mean? Real happiness (aluf – אלוף – the symbol of the א) is gained via totality and cohesion of the mind, body and soul. The hand does the physical work (the body); the learning is a representation of the intellectual work (the mind) and the vessel is that which carries the other two (the soul). This was the G-d – the total, all-encompassing G-d – Ruth was committing her whole self to. Finally, to be dead and buried in the same place is a simple understanding that the commitment she has made toward her happiness will continue in עולם הבא – the world to come – where she can finally rest from the עבודה – work – that enables her to find true אשר – happiness.
Ultimately, what is so spectacular, unique and awesome about Ruth is her commitment on so many levels to בין אדם לחברו – (your people), בין אדם למקום – (your G-d) and a meeting of the two (there will I be buried). When one commits to a people like Ruth did it is pure אהבת ישראל – love of Israel – to a G-d like she did אהבת ה' – love of G-d – and to an ultimate resting place ensuring her mother-in-law couldn’t die alone, a culmination of the two מצות commandments which are a microcosm of the entire תורה.