Parashat Hashavua

Portion VaYishLach - and the: US EMBASSY OPPOSITE and School across from my office

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 01 דצמבר 2023 10:55
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 Portion VaYishLach - and the: US EMBASSY OPPOSITE and School across from my office
 
 

Based on Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neriya - whose Yahrzeit is Shabbat 

 - Jacob bowed down 7 times before his brother Esau
Hoping to save his children from Esau and his army of 400
 
Over the millenia Israel has learned when to fight - and when not, if it saves the nation!
 
Some fought in the ghettos - so those saved would be able to re-plant the forests of Israel
(see pictures - Jerusalem hills, Jerusalem schools)
 
,But sometimes the heroes who saved Israel are forgotten - the heroes who sacrificed or gave in when necessary to save the nation as a whole
 
Those who gave in to the opressors in the short term - so our long tern -
the LONGEST IN KNOWN HISTORY
would outive the evil ones of the world
 
So we gave in for a while
 
but now we have no choice - but to save Israel with the war forced upon us
 
May our soldiers be protected
 
wishing
 
Love and Shabbat and Healt to all
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
 

Did it happen - in Gaza? - iIn the portion – twins are born to Isaac and

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בחמישי, 16 נובמבר 2023 16:24
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 Did it happen - in Gaza? - iIn the portion – twins are born to Isaac and  

 Rebecca

- were they born in Gaza 3000 yeards before Hamas?

? Or in Hebron AFTER ABRAHAM PASSED AWAY?
 

In Gaza 's main hospìta today Israel 

 troops found Hamas uniforms from when the cowardly  terrorists
changed into civilian clothes to escape   

leaving some troops to try to kill our soldiers who found their advanced technology commabd post and weaponds stored in (protected anti detection MRI U rooms)

THE PORTION tells us that

Yes , the brothers  argued over the birthright and over the blessings- 

handed-down-from Abraham

and Esau talked about killing his brother - our forfather Jacob

BUT will they - we - always Have to fight?

So here is a thought from Rabbi Soloveitchik (who passed away about 30 years ago)  from the weekday prayers.

We recite from the Psalms that

  "some (wage war) by chariot

Sand some by horses

But WE (Jews) by reminding of the Name of the Almighty"

Rabbi Soloveitchik says the chariot warriors refer to Rome descendants of Esau

The horsemen refers to the Ishmaelites

 THE BIG WAR will be FOUGHT by them OVER THE HOLY LAND

And the psalm relates to the Armeggadon –

While we Jews have to worry about the other antagonists – 

Amalek - anti-- Gd agitation 
–which can be from "outside" – or "inside"

And those destructive forcesmust be defeated

How? We show the world:

Israel is giving baby incubators to a Gaza hospital – while

 Jewish Children are still Kidnapped

But the leftist editor of HAARETZ (a newspaper in Israel) supported his leftwing journalist (living in the PA) saying Israeli "settlers" (whatever that means? Religious Jews that he hates? ) should be barred from European countries.

What stupidities the leftists use in trying to create a non-Jewish atmosphere!  that only aids anti-semites  all over

And that has to be countered by educating our children to 

be PROUD JEWS (NOT PROUD BOYS)

Pray for ALL our childrren ...teach them post-bar-mitzva-Jewish-learning and books, źand

if you can - Keep praying

than we can rescue the hostages

Be well Everyone And Shabbat Shalom

 

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

 
 

Portion Chaye Sara - A Hoot and a Brawl

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 10 נובמבר 2023 10:16
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 Portion Chaye Sara - A Hoot and a Brawl
 
 
Abraham buys the Double Cave - with Cash.
 
Now: About Abraham's exchange with the people of Hebron:
 
 
I heard a legal discussion about laws of War that  concluded there is NO LAW DEALING WITH HUMAN SHIELDS - used by Hamas in Gaza.
 
But Israel has to worry about international opinion alone - 
which is clearly being manipulated by Soros and Iran spending billions  -
To push a Nazi like stigma on the Jews.
 
There are about 5 million illegals that have come across the Mexican border.
 
American public opinion will be won over in the next few years - in SPANISH.
(Also South American public opinion - ONLY WITH HELP OF THE VATICAN)
 
So Yemen Houtis attacked Eilat last night with drones and missiles - paid for by Iran
 
And in Israel - There is a video of a few Gazans who got to Europe interviewed by an Israeli months ago -
and they say "if you disagree with Hamas you are done for...
or they arrest your family if you disagree with their war policies
 
Abraham spoke Iraqi and Egyptian and Hebrew - and I guess Hittite as well (in Hebron)
 
We need to get Israeli speakers to the US that speak spanish - Persian and Arabic won't help!
The masses of Arabs, sadly,  support dstruction of the Jews - in America as well.
 
So: Why are the billionaire leaders of Hamas Qatar and Hizbulla meeting in Egypt?
 
Are they all repenting their evil murders?
 
Will Egyptian rulers convince them to accept peace with Israel? Egypt is the country that controlled Gaza for years!
 
Will Hamas murder Mahmoud Abbas -  and take over Jordan as well?
 
What is the Almighty planning for this Shabbat?  Who can imagine?
 
Jews got along many times in much of the whole world - until Hitler - except for an occasional inquisition.
 
Is there someone to explain that in Spanish? In Latin? Maybe ...
 
A Rabbi wrote on the Aish Hatora email of meeting  Albert Einstein's great granddaughter in Jerusalem! Yes!
 
Rebbe Elimelech writes on this portion that the greatest of Jews are the 
 
holy humble helpful healers - 
 
of the soul - and also of the physical - 
 
who bring Joy into the world not by material things - but by combining
 
WORKING TO BRING OUR HOLY SPIRIT INTO OUR EVERY DAY ACTIONS AND MITZVAHS
 
Maybe that can work? Hasta Luego mis Amigos!
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
 
PS - Yad Sarah is the organization providing - freely - 
 
All the medical equipment used in rehabilitation ... Something a lot of soldiers will need after this war
 
 

 

 

--

"שמור וזכור את יום השבת לקדשו": בבקשה לא לשלוח הודעות בשבתות וחגים.
כדי ללמוד איך לשמור שבת, כנסו בימות החול לכתובת http://www.shabes.net
שבת שלום!

 

Portion: Noah and the War

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בחמישי, 19 אוקטובר 2023 15:12
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Portion: Noah and the War

What – no Noah war? Even Abraham had to fight a war (we'll see that in a couple of weeks)

So here's a free translation of last night's radio talk by Rabbi Zamir Cohen of the HeDabRoot Organization:

Chapter 30 in I Samuel of the Bible relates a story about King David – before he was the King

He and his army were living in a town called Ziklag. When they went on a diplomatic mission with the Phillistines – the Amalekites came, stole everything he and his 600 men owned, burned the town – and took the women and children with them off into the desert.

On their return - David and his men were destroyed emotionally. And they argued. Who could guess where the nomadic Amalekites could take their families?

Until David said – "We have to hold onto G-d."

So they went in search – and they found a wounded Egyptian slave starving in the desert – and they fed him and gave him water and first aid.

The slave pointed them in the direction of the Amalekite hordes – and David and his men defeated them in battle and got back their families!

So Rabbi Zamir Cohen said: today we just have to hold onto  our connection with the Almighty, do what's right – and do battle for what's just – and put things back together.

Is that in the Portion? No – but it's what the Bible is teaching us THIS WEEK.

Or maybe we need to flood-out Gaza? Flush out the terror tunnels?

Let's start by doing a few more MITZVAHS for the Almighty – like the guy at the OU Israel Center yesterday that donated over 100 toys – for all the displaced family REMNANTS that were brought to Jerusalem shelter from destroyed towns a couple of days ago.

The army has tons of donated junk food – but there are needs for solar charging batteries for their cell phones and specified first aid kits and a bunch of other stuff that can be sent via the American Friends of the IDF.

The Great Synagogue of Jerusalem is also putting together packages of requested items.

Etc.

Or just start to let all your friends know that we have recordings of terrorists planning that missile attack that backfired - and hit a hospital parking lot – so they don't all believe the lies being made up to discredit the ONLY army IN THE WORLD that tries not to cause unnecessary suffering – even to the population supporting and hiding murderers in Gaza
 
. Shabbat Shalom
 - to the World - and

Peace and Health and Hope – for all the destroyed families and the kidnapped

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz 

 
 

Portion Nitzavim Vayelech pre RoshHashono

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 08 ספטמבר 2023 10:55
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 Portion Nitzavim Vayelech pre RoshHashono 
 
 
 
This week we have another double portion-
Helping this Shabbat in getting us to the end of the old year  ,
And the beginning of a new one.
 
What can we take away from the last year - different from previous years?
 
Nitzavim means standing and looking:
Looking Down or Back?
 
 Vayelech means Going-
Going Straight? Or getting lost?
 
How can we uses these ideas as tools? Everyone has their focus.
 
Is our focus on starting he Head of the Year Rosh Hashono  - with a new frame of reference?
 
Isnt it easier just to do same old same old? -
 
It's never too late to learn new ways
 
How do we look down or look Back - and then go on? 
Hopefully with a new perspective!
 
We all want to live "better ... and longer..."
 
Learning new concepts whenever we can - helps.
 
Here is one from the portion: 
We are all in this together. And it's good to help one another.
 
And here is 1 from the Rosh Hashono Traditions...
 
Which we can translate into life lessons - that we can share 
To good advantage?
 
Blowing shofar is a tradition - and a G-dly Commandment
The sounds penetrate Time and Space.
 
So should following all our traditions - and Commandments.
 
Extra doesn't mean better.
 
With the shofar we blast a few different notes-
 to cover all possible meanings from the Torah Words ordaining the Shofar Blasts
to start the year!
 
Call to renewing - the Traditions and commandments - in our lives.
 
Many blessings
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Ki Tavo - Soup to Nuts – or Knots?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 01 ספטמבר 2023 11:56
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Portion Ki Tavo - Soup to Nuts – or Knots?

Really ,now - What ties us into a "Rosh Hashono Mood"?"

The smells of " cooking Jewish"?

The thought of relatives to visit – or coming to visit us?

What sometimes leaves us with knots in our stomachs?

Who is thinking about waking up the world?

Sefardic Jews say Selichot prayers for 30 days before Rosh Hashono(some times at midnight but I often join in to share the tunes and the communal spirit and love at an evening service)

Ashkenazi Jews are blowing Shofars all month (not on Shabbat)  to wake up the world

So what will make the next 2 weeks meaningful for you –

Extra Spirit or Extra Family  Normalcy?

I would suggest the best and most healthy thing I know of: for the next 2 weeks -

at this stage already -why not just get up in the AM and sing a few minutes –

and maybe even dance a little happy jig - to be alive!

And One thought from this Portion – the beginning tells us to "offer first fruits" (each year)at the Holy Temple – and to be joyous.

Later in the Portion when discussing wars and destruction that can happen –

It says  - Tach at Asher lo avadta Bsimcha  -

Its what happens when we don't  worship the Almighty with JOY.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion: Ki Tetzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) - and 100 years of Daf Yomi

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 25 אוגוסט 2023 06:09
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Portion: Ki Tetzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) - and 100 years of Daf Yomi
 
Idea of the week number 1.
100 years ago in Lublin the idea of Daf Yomi - all the world studyig the same page of Talmud each day - became accepted.
 
It takes a little over 7 years to review the whole Talmud (codified in Babylon 1500 years ago.). Thats called The Oral Tradition.
 
This Shabbat is the anniversary of starting that enterprise.
 
I have been following the routine over 30years. I - just wish I could remember all I have studied!
 
Imagine if every Jew studies  only one of the 613 Mitzvot in the Torah each day - 
they could review the whole WRITTEN Torah in less than 2 years1
 
Idea 2.
 
 
What does it mean in the portion by "key"? Ki?
 
There are a number of uses for that word.
 
But in the Kabbalah - 
written about this week by Rabbi Abergil (a scholar son of a great and renowned scholar/teacher )
there is a SPECIAL TEACHING.
 
He quotes Rabbi Ginsburg - from Tel Aviv-one of the great teachers and Kabbalists of our times -
 
who remarks that 22 of the 44 sections of our Portion start with the word "Key",
 
Hebrew letters 
Kuf
Yud
which stands for 
Knesset Yisrael (Israel) - the people of Israel-
Who should Study This!
 
Meaning it is the WHOLE PEOPLE TOGETHER
THAT 
The Torah was Given for and to-
 
To share as our true inhèitance
 
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Aykev – When Did Moshe NOT Listen to the Almighty

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 04 אוגוסט 2023 12:28
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Portion Aykev – When Did Moshe NOT Listen to the Almighty

Based on a talk by Rabbi Binyamin Miletsky on Radio Kol Chai 5 AM this morning.

What happened to all the pieces of the 2 Tablets of the Law that Moses threw down and broke?

And while this week's portion has the Almighty telling Moses – Moshe – "Write your own 2  Tablets and put them in an Ark " (out of respect),

The portion says that Moshe built the ark FIRST and afterwards chiseled the 2 New Tablets and THEN placed them the Ark he had made.Why didn't he follow orders exactly as he always did?

So the Medrash explains that Moshe felt badly after seeing all the broken pieces of the First Tablets lying on the ground, but when he was commanded to do the NEW tablets and an ARK  he understood that he needed to  build an ark for BOTH THE OLD AND THE SECOND TABLETS

And that would be the best way to fulfill ALL the words of the Almighty.

Let's Keep our Torah safe and always try to follow the will of G-d to do the best we can in this world

!!

Shabbat  Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Devarim : How to Escape the Holy Temple' s Destruction (9 AV)

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 21 יולי 2023 13:58
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Portion Devarim : How to Escape the Holy Temple' s Destruction (9 AV)
 
Moses - Moshe - faced a lot of criticism in his long and rough life but
 
Here at the end of his days - in the next few -  portions he teaches
How to survive - how we survived - in the Holy Land for 800 years!
 
And then with less than 100 years' exile - living surrounded by antisemites - 
 
how to make it for another 400 years!
 
How? What can we see in what seems just a portion of historical review?
 
It's the Holiness at EACH STEP that Answers the Crises of the Time.
 
Ttowards the end of the portiòn - Moses reviews
 the Israelites'  tribulations in the desert and says -
 
THOSE OLD WARRIERS. PASSED ON (from the time of the Spies)
 
And then he writes about those waiting to enter Israel
 
he praises the Israelites
 
AND THÈY LISTENED TO G-D'S COMMANDS
 
And finally towards the end of the portion
 
 he adds names of places the Israelites were conquering and hoping to live in
 
THÈIR NAMES ARE ... UNTIL THIS DAY
 
And Indeed the Names of most places hére in Isŕael 
 
are the same names given 3000 yeaŕs ago! Preserved despite all the nations who 
fought us and exiled us and moved populations into Israel
 
And Moshe says in the last sentence of the Portion
 
DO NOT BE ÀFRAÌD!
 
And to those words, I add, now a few days before Tisha B'Av
 
Don't be afraid TÒ CELEBRATE THE SHABBOS - that great gift
 
Shabbat Shalom - Shabbat of Chazon (of VISION)
 
Rabbì Andy Eichenholz

Double Portion Matos Masei. Double hot Weekend . doing right versus skirting the truth

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשישי, 14 יולי 2023 14:57
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Double Portion Matos Masei. Double hot Weekend . doing right versus skirting the truth


This week I was in the ER for breathing/oxygen issues.
I was pondering this Torah Portion Reading
Where our Israelite forebears stòod under
This same hot sun - preparing for battle

At least in the 1960's the Israeli tank soldiers
Had salt pills to help them survive the hèat!

ER to Me - I did my tests - no covid no pneumonia

(Also not a lot of oxygen...)

But there's more in the portion than conquering!

My old Yeshiva andCarlebach friend sent me (may he and his family be well):

Reb Shlomo Carlebach on Parshot Matos-Masai:

In this week's parsha, Matos, we read that when you make a neder (vow) and you didnt keep your vow, you can still fix it.

A person takes upon himself so many different things in a lifetime. Some I keep, and some (sadly) nebach I don't.
What happens if Chas Veshalom ( G-d forbid) I don’t keep my neder? Gevalt am I in bad spiritual shape.

So you see what the beauty of this parsha is? The Ribbono Shel Olam (Master Of The World) promises us there will always be : (real leaders) - Rashei Matos, heads of tribes, soul masters.
There will always be Rebbe’s in the world who are mamesh so desperate that you get back into (your spiritual) shape,
and you should be blessed to find them!
...
I see little people, water carriers, shoemakers, tailors and bakers whose children make it because of their parents, because their parents were really so desperate. They really wanted it with all their hearts

I”ll tell you what it is, What's the difference between a Rabbi and a Rebbe? .... It's like when you need directions on a journey, you drive into a gas station and they give you a map. But what happens to you if your car is broken? Does a map help?

A Rabbi is someone who fixes your car. But a Rebbe
Not only that, it's much deeper than all this. When I come into this gas station and my car is broken, a Rebbe, real true soul master says to me, “You know something, your car wasn't broken. You just didn't push the right buttons, but I'll teach you how to do it. “
If its a super soul master he says, “Obviously you don't know how to get there, I’ll go with you.”
Mamesh the highest!
Good Shabbos!

end of quote


Shlomo Ressler:_____________
Quotation of the week: "It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving."
____________
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

מאמרים נוספים...

  1. Did Bilam's donkey really talk? (As The Portion reports)
  2. Portion What? On the way to Where? NY! "Land of Korach"
  3. Portion Shlach : Send a few (good) Men...?
  4. Portion BeHa Alowt Cha - the Holy Sephardic Rabbis
  5. Portion Naso - and Shavuote - Murder on the Tel Aviv Beach
  6. Portioñ Bamidbar - Capturing - the Desert?
  7. Portìon Emor- Soup to Nuts
  8. Portions teh Tza Veh meh and Tzora : the Illnesses we Don't Understand
  9. Portions teh Tza Veh meh and Tzora : the Illnesses we Don't Understand
  10. Make the Bitter times into Sweet