COUNTING OUR MIRACLES

There was a really sad piece in the Israeli news regarding a terrible accident that took place last week. They were interviewing a male survivor of the accident who was pulled out from a burning car while he was in his hospital bed, “It is a miracle that you are alive,” said the interviewer. The injured man replied, “This is not a miracle, it would have been a miracle if the accident would have never happened in the first place.”.

He was wrong and right at the same time. For sure his survival from this terrible accident was a miracle. However, he was correct that should the accident have never occurred it would have been a miracle.

Everyday that goes by without any accidents or mishaps is a miracle and we need to appreciate and thank God.

On Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of a flask of oil’s light lasting for 8 days but we also need to celebrate something that we take for granted: The survival of the Jewish people despite thousands of years of persecution and antisemitism. This thanks we express in the second blessing that we recite when we light the candles each day of Hanukkah, Hashem made miracles for our forefathers in their days and in our days.

Today we don’t see today any miracles of oil lasting for 8 days but we see a bigger miracle the survival of the Jewish people after a holocaust, let us not take it for granted but thank Hashem. Also we all need to do our bit that Judaism does not only survive but also thrives.

Point To Ponder Before Simchat Torah

Three crowns were conferred upon Israel: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty. Aaron merited the crown of priesthood, as [Numbers 25:13] states: “And it will be an eternal covenant of priesthood for him and his descendants after him.”
David merited the crown of royalty, as [Psalms 89:37] states: “His seed will continue forever, and his throne will be as the sun before Me.”
The crown of Torah is set aside, waiting, and ready for each Jew, as [implied by Deuteronomy 33:4]: “The Torah which Moses commanded us is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” Whoever desires may come and take it.
Lest you say that the other crowns surpass the crown of Torah, the crown of Torah is greater than the other two.
Rambam Hilchot Talmud Torah 2:1
Let us be among the lucky ones who obtain the crown of Torah by devoting time to learn each day.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is the only day of the year that we say ‘Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto le’Olam Va’ed’ “Blessed is his honorable kingship forever” loud, why?

‘Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto le’Olam Va’ed’ does not appear anywhere in the Torah, what is the source for it?

1. The Midrash in Bereishit states that the source is the last encounter of Yaakov (Yisrael) with his sons. He asked them if they believed in Hashem and they answered ‘Shema Yisrael Hear Yisrael, t(hey were talking to their father) Hashem (your G-d) Elokeinu (is our G-d) Hashem Echad (like you, we believe in one G-d). When Yaakov heard their answer he was overjoyed and he replied: “Blessed is his honorable kingship forever.” This explains the custom of interrupting the first paragraph of the Shema with ‘Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto le’Olam Va’ed’.

2. The other source is the Midrash on Shemot that when Moshe Rabbenu (Moses our teacher) went up Har Sinai he saw the angels praising Hashem with: “Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto le’Olam Va’ed” he copied it and taught it to Bnei Yisrael, it was then incorporated into the Shema.

This latter reason is why we say the ‘‘Baruch Shem…’ quietly each day; we don’t want to flaunt that we are praying like angels. On Yom Kippur however, we are resemble angels in that we don’t focus on any physical needs and therefore we say ‘Baruch Shem…’ aloud.

When are we more like angels, at the start of Yom Kippur when we are stuffed with food and drink or at the end of Yom Kippur having gone without eating or drinking for twenty-five hours? The logical answer should be at the end, however in the Shema of the first prayer ‘Arvit – Maariv’ of Yom Kippur we say ‘Baruch Shem…’ aloud but in the ‘Arvit’ after Yom Kippur that is said while still fasting ‘Baruch Shem…’ is recited quietly, why?

When Yom Kippur starts we may be satiated but our minds are not thinking about food whereas at the end of Yom Kippur we may be starving but our minds are thinking about food. Being angel-like is based on our mental state, on the sanctity of our thoughts.
Tizkoo le-shanim rabot
May the Almighty accept our teshuvah and bless us all with a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

The Secret of Happiness – Contentment

And you shall rejoice with all the goodness that your God has given you and your household. This commandment applies to those who have harvested and gathered their harvest. Why did God have to command them to be happy? Wouldn’t a farmer who had a great crop automatically be happy? Here we find the perverseness of human nature which never allows a person to be content with what he or she has. Even when a person succeeds he or she remains restless, desires more and more again and worse measures his or her harvest and attainments against those of his neighbors. If they have more then jealousy consumes him and his Joy is marred. This jealousy robs a person of his or her peace of mind, happiness and contentment and generates bitterness, greed and hatred.
The Torah is telling us that we have to be happy, and content with what we have. And this is the famous rule in Ethics of the Fathers is it ‘who is a rich person? A person who is happy with what he or she has.’

THE MITZVAH TO BLESS GOD

It is a positive mitzvah from the Torah to bless [God] after eating satisfying food, as [Deuteronomy 8:10] states: “When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless God, your Lord.”

The Torah requires a person to recite grace only when he eats to the point of satiation, as implied by the above verse, “When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless….” The Sages, however, ordained that one should recite grace after eating [an amount of bread equal] to the size of an olive (approximately 1 oz).

Similarly, the Rabbis ordained that we recite blessings before partaking of any food even the slightest amount of food or drink and then derive benefit from it.

Similarly, when smelling a pleasant fragrance, one should recite a blessing and then smell. Anyone who derives benefit [from this world] without reciting a blessing is considered as if he misappropriated a sacred article.

The Rabbis also ordained that one should recite a blessing after eating or drinking, provided one drinks a revi’it and eats a k’zayit. A person who [merely] tastes food is not required to recite a blessing before partaking of it or afterwards unless he partakes of a revi’it.

Just as we recite blessings for benefit which we derive from the world, we should also recite blessings for each mitzvah before we fulfill it.

Similarly, the Sages instituted many blessings as expressions of praise and thanks to God and as a means of petition, so that we will always remember the Creator, even though we have not received any benefit or performed a mitzvah.

All the blessings can be divided into three categories:

a) blessings over benefit;

b) blessings over mitzvot;

c) blessings recited as expressions of praise and thanks to God and as a means of petition, so that we will always remember the Creator and fear Him.

The text of all the blessings was ordained by Ezra and his court. It is not fit to alter it in any way. Whoever alters the text of a blessing from that ordained by the Sages is making an error.

THE FOUR LEVELS OF REWARD FOR MITZVAH OBSERVANCE ACCORDING TO RAMBAN (VAYIKRA 18:4)

Know that a person’s reward for the observance of the commandments is in accordance with his/her preparation for them:

1. A person who fulfills the commandments not for Hashem’s sake, but in order to receive a material reward in this world, will be rewarded in this world with longevity, riches, possessions, and honor. It is concerning this kind of observance of the laws of the Torah that it is said, “in her left hand are riches and honor,” (Proverbs 3:16) which the Rabbis interpreted to mean: (Shabbat 63a) “to those who engage in the observance of the Torah not for its own sake, there are material riches and honor.”

2. Those who engage in the observance of the commandments so as to merit reward in the World to Come, people who serve Hashem out of fear of punishment and for reward in the next world, will be found worthy on account of their intention to be saved from the judgments that will come upon the wicked, and their souls shall abide in joyfulness in eternal life.

3. Those who engage in the observance of the commandments out of love of Hashem, as is right and proper, together with worldly occupation, similar to what is mentioned in the Torah in the section of Vayikra 26:5: “And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage.” They will merit good life in this world according to the usual nature of things, and life eternal, in the World to Come, their merits will still be complete before them since the reward they received in their lifetime will not reduce that which is to come to them, in the hereafter.

4. Those who completely abandon the concerns of this world and pay no attention to it, acting as if they themselves were not creatures of physical being, and all their thoughts and intentions are directed only to their Creator, just as was the case with Elijah, [these people] on account of their soul cleaving to the Glorious Name will live forever in body and soul, as is evidenced in Scripture concerning Elijah [2 Kings 2:11] and as the Midrashim speak of Hanoch [Bereshit 5:24] and of those belonging to the World to Come who will rise at the resurrection.

It is for this reason that on the subject of reward for observance of the commandments the verses speak [in different ways, such as]: that your days may be long” [Shemot 20:12] “that you may live;” [Devarim 16:20] “and that you may prolong your days.” [Devarim 22:7] For these expressions include all kinds of life, each according to his due.

THE SECRET OF SERVING GOD WELL

The Torah tells us that Noach was a righteous man in his generation and God saved him and his family from the great flood that wiped out humanity.
Noach had three sons: Shem; Cham and Yafet. If Noach was such a righteous man on a high spiritual level, what did he have in mind when he named his sons?
Noach had found the three ingredients involved in perfecting the service of God. He was on such a high level that the Torah testifies that he alone found grace (chen) in God’s view.
What are the three ingredients for perfection in the service of God? The secret is in the names of his sons.
1. Shem; in Hebrew Shem means name. Do a mitzvah or a good deed for the name of God i.e. for the sake of heaven. Le’shem’ Shamayim
2. Cham means hot or passionate. Perform a mitzvah with passion, zeal and excitement.
3. Yafet means beauty – do a beautiful mitzvah. The Rabbis tell us to spend a third extra on a more beautiful mitzvah. In Talmud Baba Kamma 9a, according to Rashi, hiddur mitzvah is expressed by spending up to a third more on the mitzvah’s cost. For example, if an etrog costs $30, one fulfills hiddur mitzvah by paying a third more for a more beautiful etrog, $40. Spending that additional $10 is a hiddur.

INTENSIFYING OUR IMPARTING JEWISH HERITAGE AND VALUES TO THE NEXT GENERATION By Rabbi David Bassous

Despite, or perhaps, because of the many controversies swirling around us this year it is more important than ever not to lose sight of one of our main goals as Jews, to pass on our glorious heritage to the next generation. One of the areas that we need to develop and strengthen as individuals and as community is how to transmit our Jewish heritage and values successfully to the next generation. I personally feel that previous generations have been woefully inadequate in this regard. I have made a list of the values that I think are really important:

1. Belief, knowledge and love of G-d from the heart.
2. Love of the Torah and love for learning. Inquisitiveness (thirst for learning), exhibiting itself as excellence in secular and Torah studies, not just knowledge of facts, but also understanding why.
3. Pride in the Jewish Heritage including: love of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, love of Am Yisrael, the Jewish people, Knowing our history and that that we are all part of a greater whole and responsible for each other’s welfare – kol Yisrael arevim zeh lazeh; love of the mitzvot, commandments.
4. Cheerfulness and pleasantness, both in the man and G-d relationship ‘Ivdu et Hashem besimcha’ and in the human relationships ‘vechol deracheha shalom.’
5. Middot – good character traits, exhibited through Derech Eretz (manners), tolerance, and cooperation with others, and chessed – kindness and giving. Respect and empathy for all humanity that was created betzelem elokim, in the image of G-d. Love and respect for parents and teachers.
6. Spirituality – deriving satisfaction, joy and a feeling of growth from tefillah, prayer and shemirat hamitzvot, acts of devotion.
7. The importance of donating to Jewish education and Jewish causes to perpetuate Judaism.
8. The importance of getting married and adding to the miniscule number of Jews in the world.

I would like to focus this short article on the latter two aspects of parental responsibility. Today we are all busy. Most parents enjoy very little quality time with their children during the week. The only quality time available is on weekends (thank G-d for Shabbat). Teaching and reinforcing good behavior in our children, teaching our children to derive satisfaction, joy and a feeling of growth from prayer and performance of the mitzvot must be applied during this short time that we spend with them each week.

I remember in my own childhood (when I was six or seven years old), being woken up by my father or mother every Shabbat and being bundled off to synagogue with enthusiasm (Theirs, not mine. Believe me, it took a lot of persistence on their part.). One of my fondest memories was sitting close to my father, of blessed memory, enjoying the warmth and security of his presence, his continual pointing to the place in the siddur and telling me to follow the prayers. He would hush us when we kids would sometimes whisper together. On Shabbat afternoons, he was my teacher who used to ‘corner’ me and teach me to chant the ‘zemirot -psalms of praise’ in the synagogue on Shabbat. Needless to say my parents’ enthusiasm and warmth was infectious and my father’s insisting that I follow the prayers with the chazzan gave me the ability to follow the tefillah. It wasn’t very long before I became self-motivated and ran to synagogue early on Shabbat morning for the privilege of reading the ‘zemirot’ I am eternally grateful to them for imbuing me with these qualities.

It is a positive commandment to learn Torah and teach it. This is learned from the first paragraph of the Shema that a Jew should recite at least twice a day from Deuteronomy 6:7, “… and you shall teach them (the words of Torah) diligently to your children.” (Sefer Hahinukh, Mitzvah 419). The mitzvah to teach Torah to one’s children and grandchildren is derived from Deuteronomy 4:9: “… and you shall make them known to your children and your children’s children.” Sefer Hahinukh gives an interesting minimum for a father’s obligation to teach his child: “That the son will be able to read from a Sefer Torah and understand the simple meaning of the words.” The purpose of learning Torah is to enable a person to understand the ways of the Almighty and to provide the know-how to improve the character to make us better, more refined people.

It is important for all parents who attend minyan to engender in their children a sense of belonging, a sense of warmth, and a sense of respect and honor for a holy place. The impressions that a child receives at a young age remain with them for a lifetime. We have to inculcate in them this respect for a holy place, the love of being close to Hashem and the privilege of being able to approach Him and communicate with Him.

We ourselves have to set the example to make sure that we are not chatting with our friends in the lobby, and that we take pleasure in the prayers and Torah reading. We have to communicate this feeling to our children and the expectation that they also take the prayers and Torah reading seriously.

Persistence, firmness, understanding, enthusiasm and lots of love — these are a parent’s tools. Let us use them wisely to inculcate the above values into our children.

 

​Iggeret HaRamban – The Ramban’s Letter

Iggeret HaRamban – The Ramban’s Letter
(Written to his elder son, Nachman, with the instruction to read it weekly.)

Hear, my son, the instruction of your father and don’t forsake the teaching of your mother (Mishlei 1:8). Get into the habit of always speaking calmly to everyone. This will prevent you from anger, a serious character flaw which causes people to sin. As our Rabbis said (Nedarim 22a):Whoever flares up in anger is subject to the discipline of Gehinnom as it is says in (Koheles 12:10), “Cast out anger from your heart, and [by doing this] remove evil from your flesh.” “Evil” here means Gehinnom, as we read (Mishlei 16:4): “…and the wicked are destined for the day of evil.” Once you have distanced yourself from anger, the quality of humility will enter your heart. This radiant quality is the finest of all admirable traits (see Avodah Zarah 20b), (Mishlei 22:4), “Following humility comes the fear of Hashem.”

Through humility you will also come to fear Hashem. It will cause you to always think about (see Avos 3:1) where you came from and where you are going, and that while alive you are only like a maggot and a worm, and the same after death. It will also remind you before Whom you will be judged, the King of Glory, as it is stated (I Melachim 8:27; Mishlei 15:11), “Even the heaven and the heavens of heaven can’t contain You” — “How much less the hearts of people!” It is also written (Yirmeyahu 23:24), “Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Hashem.”

When you think about all these things, you will come to fear Hashem who created you, and you will protect yourself from sinning and therefore be happy with whatever happens to you. Also, when you act humbly and modestly before everyone, and are afraid of Hashem and of sin, the radiance of His glory and the spirit of the Shechina will rest upon you, and you will live the life of the World-to-Come!

And now, my son, understand and observe that whoever feels that he is greater than others is rebelling against the Kingship of Hashem, because he is adorning himself with His garments, as it is written (Tehillim 93:1), “Hashem reigns, He wears clothes of pride.” Why should one feel proud? Is it because of wealth? Hashem makes one poor or rich (I Shmuel 2:7). Is it because of honor? It belongs to Hashem, as we read (I Divrei Hayamim 29:12), “Wealth and honor come from You.” So how could one adorn himself with Hashem’s honor? And one who is proud of his wisdom surely knows that Hashem “takes away the speech of assured men and reasoning from the sages” (Iyov 12:20)!? So we see that everyone is the same before Hashem, since with His anger He lowers the proud and when He wishes He raises the low. So lower yourself and Hashem will lift you up!

Therefore, I will now explain to you how to always behave humbly. Speak gently at all times, with your head bowed, your eyes looking down to the ground and your heart focusing on Hashem. Don’t look at the face of the person to whom you are speaking. Consider everyone as greater than yourself. If he is wise or rich, you should give him respect. If he is poor and you are richer — or wiser — than he, consider yourself to be more guilty than he, and that he is more worthy than you, since when he sins it is through error, while yours is deliberate and you should know better!

In all your actions, words and thoughts, always regard yourself as standing before Hashem, with His Shechinah above you, for His glory fills the whole world. Speak with fear and awe, as a slave standing before his master. Act with restraint in front of everyone. When someone calls you, don’t answer loudly, but gently and softly, as one who stands before his master.

Torah should always be learned diligently, so you will be able to fulfill it’s commands. When you arise from your learning reflect carefully on what you have studied, in order to see what in it that you can be put into practice. Examine your actions every morning and evening, and in this way every one of your days will be spent in teshuvah (repentance).

Concentrate on your prayers by removing all worldly concerns from your heart. Prepare your heart before Hashem, purify your thoughts and think about what you are going to say. If you follow this in all your daily actions, you will not come to sin. This way everything you do will be proper, and your prayer will be pure, clear, clean, devout and acceptable to Hashem, as it is written (Tehillim 10:17), “When their heart is directed to You, listen to them.”

Read this letter at least once a week and neglect none of it. Fulfill it, and in so doing, walk with it forever in the ways of Hashem, may he be blessed,so that you will succeed in all your ways. Thus you will succeed and merit the World to Come which lies hidden away for the righteous. Every day that you shall read this letter, heaven shall answer your heart’s desires. Amen, Sela!

SECURITY AND PEACE by Rabbi David Bassous

Leviticus Chapter 26 verses 3-6

‘If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them…and you will live in security in your land. And I will grant peace in the Land, and you will lie down with no one to frighten [you].’

Isn’t it strange that God promises that we will live in security isn’t this what we all want? Isn’t this on everyone’s mind now that Israel was attacked and defended itself. We hope and pray for security for all of us. Then why does He then promise peace in the land after the promise of security, aren’t peace and security synonymous? Must be they they are distinct from each other: (1) peace and (2) security.

These are the two things that the state of Israel has always demanded from its neighbors, what are they.

Security from attack from without and internal peace within. Peace not just with the neighboring countries but also within Am Yisrael, that we the Jewish people should be at peace and harmony with each other, including husbands and wives, parents and children and siblings.

There is also a third blessing ‘and you will lie down with no one to frighten [you].’ Anyone who has been abused like the Jewish people have over the millennia and Israel has over the last seventy years of existence, has phobias and nightmares of what the future holds. (3)God promises us a good unworried night’s sleep with no fear of what the future may hold.

Can’t wait!!!